What’s news today?

Let’s start with this, Boehner extends the olive branch, from CNBC

“House Speaker John Boehner offered Wednesday to pursue a deal with a victorious President Barack Obama that will include higher taxes “under the right conditions” to help reduce the nation’s staggering debt and put its finances in order.”

“His comments were generally along the lines of proposals by vanquished Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney that also were vague on specifics. Still, the speaker’s comments signaled a willingness to enter into talks. He suggested Congress could use its upcoming lame-duck session to get the ball moving on such a compromise.”

Harry Reid has his own plans, from TheWashingtonTimes

“Senate Majority Leader Harry  Reid said Wednesday that he will try to push through a change to Senate  rules that would limit the GOP’s ability to filibuster bills.

Speaking in the wake of Tuesday’s election, which boosted Senate  Democrats’ numbers slightly, Mr. Reid said  he won’t end filibusters  altogether but that the rules need to change so that  the minority party  cannot use the legislative blocking tool as often.

“I think that the rules have been abused and that we’re going to work to change them,” he told reporters.  “Were not going to do away with the  filibuster but we’re going to make the Senate a more meaningful  place.””

Still no word on a budget Harry? Do your job!

Re-election or not, Hillary’s still gonna bail, via CNSNews

“State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland said Wednesday that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton still plans to step down after her successor is chosen despite President Barack Obama winning a second term.

“I don’t think the secretary’s plans have changed. You’ve heard her say many times that she intends to see through transition of a successor and then she will go back to private life and enjoy some rest and think and write and all those things,” Nuland said.”

And before the Benghazi investigation findings are revealed I’d bet.

Day 1 of the 2nd term agenda.

From Yahoo

“Hours after U.S. President Barack Obama was re-elected, the United States backed a U.N. committee’s call on Wednesday to renew debate over a draft international treaty to regulate the $70 billion global conventional arms trade.

 U.N. delegates and gun control activists have complained that talks collapsed in July largely because Obama feared attacks from Republican rival Mitt Romney if his administration was seen as supporting the pact, a charge Washington denies.”

“But the U.N. General Assembly’s disarmament committee moved quickly after Obama’s win to approve a resolution calling for a new round of talks March 18-28. It passed with 157 votes in favor, none against and 18 abstentions.”

I’m sure it’s completeley coincidental that this happened after the election.

And let’s not forget this looming over the country’s head.

From ZeroHedge

“Previewing Four More Years Of The Divided States Of America”

“Do not expect any changes to the trends of polarization and party non-conformists is the message from JPMorgan’s CIO Michael Cembalest. As he explains moderates like Blue Dog Democrats and Rockefeller Republicans are now artifacts in the Natural History Museum, having given way to their more ideological offspring (through retirement or after having been beaten in primaries).”

“However, defusing the cliff contributes to rising Federal debt unless the growth payoff is huge. In recognition of that reality, 80 US CEOs published a letter calling for Washington to strike a long-term fiscal “grand bargain” that includes higher tax revenues (but not in 2013). Here’s our latest Federal debt chart as a way to visualize the problem. The contours show the Congressional Budget Office Baseline Case and Alternative Case. As explained last week, while the Baseline Case represents “current law”, it has become increasingly preposterous, since it includes items that Congress passed but has been deferring for a decade (changes to the Alternative Minimum Tax and Medicare), and a wholesale resumption of 2001 tax rates that Congress has no intention of implementing. The CBO should put a unicorn next to it as an indication of how likely it is to happen.”

If yesterday was any indication, Wall St. doesn’t seem too excited about the prospects in an Obama 2nd term.

Also from ZeroHedge

“It seems like only last night everyone was celebrating more hope, if not much change. Now comes the hangover. The Dow Jones intraday drop is now 2.23% (and rising), greater than the biggest drop so far in 2012 record on June 1. The last time the market plunged as much: literally one year ago, or November 9, 2011.

Sadly, it appears that one can’t have their Dow Jones Industrial Average and redistribute it too.”

What’s news today?

The re-election of President Obama is the obvious choice.

From the NYTimes

“Barack Hussein Obama was re-elected president of the United States on Tuesday, overcoming powerful economic headwinds, a lock-step resistance to his agenda by Republicans in Congress and an unprecedented torrent of advertising as a divided nation voted to give him more time.”

““Tonight in this election, you, the American people, reminded us that while our road has been hard, while our journey has been long, we have picked ourselves up, we have fought our way back,” Mr. Obama told his supporters early Wednesday. “We know in our hearts that for the United States of America, the best is yet to come.””

I guess he means in 4 years.

The voters have voted for 4 more years like the last 4, as much will remain the same. I keep wondering what voters were thinking?

Then I read stuff like this, and it becomes apparent that many weren’t thinking at all.

From NBC Chicago

“Jesse Jackson Jr. Wins Reelection From Mayo Clinic”

🙄

The consequences of re-electing Pres. Obama have already started.

From Bloomberg

“The dollar dropped the most in a week against the euro on speculation Barack Obama’s re-election as president will boost chances the U.S. will maintain monetary stimulus policies that tend to weaken the greenback.

The U.S. currency fell versus all except two of its 16 major peers as Obama defeated Republican challenger Mitt Romney, who disagrees with current Federal Reserve policy. Obama now faces the so-called fiscal cliff, $600 billion in tax increases and spending cuts due to be implemented in 2013. Australia’s dollar rose for a third day as stocks rallied, boosting demand for higher-yielding assets. The euro gained against the dollar as the Greek parliament prepared to vote on austerity measures.”

In other news……

From Reuters

“Families and victims of a mass shooting in 2009 at the Fort Hood military base in Texas filed a wrongful death suit on Monday against the U.S. government, the accused gunman and the estate of an alleged al Qaeda leader.

The 148 plaintiffs are seeking damages and a ruling that the rampage was a terrorist attack. The finding would clear the way for them to receive benefits.

Major Nidal Hasan, an Army psychiatrist, faces 13 charges of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder for the November 5, 2009, attack on soldiers preparing to deploy to Iraq.”

And FEMA is still a joke. A really bad joke.

From the WashingtonFreeBeacon

“Eight days after Hurricane Sandy, Accetta is still waiting for FEMA to come and assess the damage to his home. After the hurricane, he was given a case number by FEMA. Now he waits in the cold.

“FEMA came to my block and a few neighbors were assessed,” he said. “I asked the worker if he could check my home and he replied, ‘You’re not on my list.’ “

President Barack Obama promised during his visit to the Northeast as he surveyed the damage that there would be no “red tape.”

That promise has not been fulfilled.”

What I’ll do here is give you links to the networks coverage and updates throughout the day.

If you come across something of interest from your neck of the woods, share it with the rest of us.

YouTubePolitics has a page with running updates from several sources.

WallStreetJournal is here.

CBS coverage is here.

CNN has it here.

FoxNews is here

PBS has it here.

NPR is here as well.

ABC has a live stream here.

And lastly, this one from MSNBC, purely for comedic value, especially if Obama loses.

🙂

NOW GO VOTE!

UPDATE 1

They’re baaaack!

FoxNews has video of the New Black Panther Party threatening monitoring the same polling place as last time. Eric Holder is unavailable for comment.

UPDATE 2

More funny business in Philadelphia

From the WashingtonExaminer

“Court-appointed Republican poll inspectors are being forcibly removed from voting stations in some Philadelphia wards and replaced in some cases by Democratic inspectors and even members of the Black Panthers, according to GOP officials.

Secrets just received this memo from GOP officials:

The Philadelphia GOP is reporting that court appointed Minority (read GOP) Inspectors are being thrown out of polling locations in several Wards.

These Inspectors are election officials – again, court appointed — and are reportedly being thrown out by the Head Judges of Elections (these Judges are elected Democrats) and being replaced by Democrats.”

Also, from FoxNews

“A Pennsylvania judge is issuing an order to reinstate Republican election  officials across Philadelphia who allegedly were ejected or refused entry by  on-site Democratic voting chief judges, GOP officials tell Fox News.

One Republican official claimed that “just under 70” Republican election  officials were blocked from Philadelphia polling sites Tuesday morning by  Democrats on site. One of them, the official claimed, “was shoved out of the  polling place.””

Twitchy has more.

UPDATE 3

From DetroitNews, now THAT is dedication. Coming back from the dead to vote, is usually a bad thing. But not in this case.

“”I was filling out the form as were an elderly couple sitting at a nearby  table,” said Houston on Tuesday. “His wife, who was helping him fill out the  ballot, asked him a couple of questions but he didn’t respond. She screamed for  help and I went over to see what I could do.”

Houston laid the victim on the floor and went to work.

“He was dead,” Houston said. “He had no heartbeat and he wasn’t breathing. I  started CPR, and after a few minutes, he revived and started breathing again. He  knew his name and his wife’s name.”

What happened next astounded Houston and the victim’s wife.

“The first question he asked was ‘Did I vote?'”

Voting machine shenanigans? From CBS

“A video posted on YouTube at a Pennsylvania polling station allegedly shows an electronic voting machine changing a man’s vote from President Barack Obama to Mitt Romney.

The video, published by “centralpavote,” shows the man pushing the Obama tab on the Perry County machine, but highlighting Romney.”

And another from ForeignPolicy.com I’m amazed too.

“It’s very difficult to transfer this system as it is to any other country. This system is built according to trust and this trust needs a lot of procedures and a lot of education for other countries to adopt it,” Elabbar said.

The most often noted difference between American elections among the visitors was that in most U.S. states, voters need no identification. Voters can also vote by mail, sometimes online, and there’s often no way to know if one person has voted several times under different names, unlike in some Arab countries, where voters ink their fingers when casting their ballots.”

UPDATE 4

Here’s a link shared by Debra for NPR’s BigBoard

And another from Peter L for World Mag’s results

UPDATE 6

From FoxNews

“ROMNEY WINS: AL, AR, GA, IN, KY, KS, LA, MS, NE, ND, OK, SC, SD,
TN, TX,WV…
OBAMA WINS: CT, DC, DE, IL, MA, ME, MD, MI, NJ, NY, RI, VT,
WY…

UPDATE 7

FoxNews has called Ohio, and the election, for Pres. Obama

What’s news today?

I guess there’s really no need to ask is there?

The Election. The Storm.

So let’s get to it.

I’ll post some election related stories, and some storm related. We’ll do another election post on coverage as things progress, along with updates.

From CBSNews

“Mayor Michael Bloomberg said 30,000 to 40,000 New Yorkers may need to be relocated — a monumental task in a city where housing is scarce and expensive — though he said that number would probably drop to 20,000 within a couple of weeks as power is restored in more places.

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said on Sunday federal agencies are looking for apartments and hotel rooms for people displaced by Superstorm Sandy, Reuters reports.”

Rudy says FEMA blew it. Again. From Politico

“Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani slammed FEMA and President Barack  Obama on Monday over the response to super storm Sandy-inflicted damages, saying the emergency agency is  failing as badly to as it did during Katrina.

“The response since the time the president got all this praise and credit and  press ops has been abysmal,” Giuliani said on Fox News Channel’s “America’s  Newsroom.” “FEMA is as much a failure now as at the time of Katrina.””

Obama goes with the “heckuva job Brownie” type response. Also from Politico

“Speaking to a Hollywood, Fla., crowd that local officials estimated at 23,000, Obama trumpeted his response to last week’s hurricane, noting he’s been talking to “governors and mayors every single day” about the recovery effort.”

In other news, Romney has reason to be encouraged, if his internal numbers are accurate

From TheDailyMail

“Romney is also three points up in New  Hampshire

But he is trailing in Nevada, according  to campaign pollster Neil  Newhouse

If the figures hold true Romney will  almost certainly become the 45th President of the United  States”

Meanwhile, the Obama campaign tries to rally the faithful.

From Politiker.com

“In a conference call this afternoon, President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign had one central message for their supporters when Election Day arrives tomorrow: They should “keep calm,” even if they hear snippets of information favoring Republican Mitt Romney.”

This is disturbing.

From TheHill.com

““We write to express concerns over another serious failure by the Department of Defense (DoD) to safeguard the voting rights of our overseas military service members, which we believe could result in the imminent disenfranchisement of thousands,” the letter stated.

Mail redirection in the military can take between 14 to 50 days, meaning a ballot could reach the voter possibly more than a month after ballots have to be mailed back in order to be counted. The Military Postal Service Agency (MPSA) identified problems with the system after the 2010 election, but hasn’t implemented changes.”

Why am I not shocked?

LifeNews has the Top 10 Reasons For Pro-lifers to Vote for Romney.

“In the election between pro-abortion President Barack Obama and former Governor Mitt Romney, there is a wide chasm between the two when it comes to the concerns pro-life voters have about abortion.

Whereas Obama has crafted a lengthy pro-abortion record, with more than 240 anti-life actions and a zealous effort to keep virtually unlimited abortions in place for another 40 years, Mitt Romney has taken pro-life positions that should earn him the vote of every pro-life voter on election day.”

And this one? Well, it’s just for fun.

From Mediate.com

“While examining some possible Electoral College scenarios with NBC News White House Correspondent Chuck Todd, Andrea Mitchell wondered why President Barack Obama’s campaign would send former President Bill Clinton to Philadelphia if they were confident the Keystone State was unlikely to flip to Mitt Romney on Tuesday. “If Pennsylvania is in play, then this is all over for the president,” Mitchell said. ”

Heh.

🙂

And finally, a message from Bill Whittle for potential 3rd party voters.