What’s news today?
Boehner is about to roll over and give up the one bargaining chip Republicans have. Great.
🙄
From TheWashingtonPost
“House Speaker John A. Boehner has offered to push any fight over the federal debt limit off for a year, a concession that would deprive Republicans of leverage in the budget battle but is breathing new life into stalled talks over the year-end “fiscal cliff.”
The offer came Friday, according to people in both parties familiar with the talks, as part of the latest effort by Boehner (R-Ohio) to strike a deal with President Obama to replace more than $500 billion in painful deficit-reduction measures set to take effect in January.”
“Boehner’s offer signals that he expects a big deal with sufficient savings to meet his demand that any debt limit increase be paired dollar-for-dollar with spending cuts. That would permit him to keep a key vow to his party — and head off a potentially nasty debt-limit fight — at least until the end of next year.”
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Why doesn’t this surprise me? Never let a crisis go to waste right?
From the NYPost
“President Obama’s $60.4 billion request for Hurricane Sandy relief has morphed into a huge Christmas stocking of goodies for federal agencies and even the state of Alaska, The Post has learned.
The pork-barrel feast includes more than $8 million to buy cars and equipment for the Homeland Security and Justice departments. It also includes a whopping $150 million for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to dole out to fisheries in Alaska and $2 million for the Smithsonian Institution to repair museum roofs in DC.”
“Other big-ticket items in the bill include $207 million for the VA Manhattan Medical Center; $41 million to fix up eight military bases along the storm’s path, including Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; $4 million for repairs at Kennedy Space Center in Florida; $3.3 million for the Plum Island Animal Disease Center and $1.1 million to repair national cemeteries.”
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And on this one, well, I just don’t know. The pessimist in me says the fix is in.
She wasn’t hospitalized, yet she’ll be working from home this week and will skip her scheduled Benghazi testimony.
Convenient huh?
From CNN
“U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sustained a concussion after becoming dehydrated and fainting, and will no longer testify Thursday before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on the deadly attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya.
Clinton had been suffering from a stomach virus at the time, according to a statement on Saturday from Philippe Reines, deputy assistant secretary of state.
She is being monitored by doctors and is recovering at home. She was never hospitalized, Reines said.”
“Jodi Seth, spokeswoman for Democratic Sen. John Kerry, Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman, said in a statement that Clinton would not testify before that committee Thursday.”
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So what news has your attention today?
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UPDATE
Good choice Governor!
From CNN
“Republican Gov. Nikki Haley of South Carolina will announce Monday that she’s appointing GOP Rep. Tim Scott as Sen. Jim DeMint’s successor, according to Republican sources in South Carolina and Washington.
The announcement will come at noon ET at South Carolina’s state house in Columbia. Scott will become the Senate’s only African-American member and the GOP’s second African-American senator since Reconstruction.”
“Since DeMint’s retirement announcement, Scott emerged as a favorite of national grassroots conservatives. DeMint has long viewed Scott, a former state legislator who was first elected to Congress in 2010 with the help of tea party activists and national conservative groups, as a rising star and protégé.”
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UPDATE II
Not to be out done by Republicans, the Democrats are ready to appoint a replacement as well.
When John “reporting for duty” Kerry moves into Hillary’s job, guess who may be getting his?
A blast from the past. From TheHill
“Former Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis, the 1988 Democratic presidential nominee, may be headed back to the political spotlight as he’s considered a likely interim replacement for Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.).
President Obama is set to tap Kerry to succeed Hillary Clinton as secretary of State, according to media reports.”
I wonder if he still has the tank?
Oh well, can’t be any worse than picking a Kennedy I suppose.
Wandering Views 
Yep, that was my thought too…How con VEEN yent.
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Shocker the HC will not speak in front of Congres. She knows that if she wants tro win in 2016 she needs to avoid talking about this issue under oath.
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The only thing wrong with Hillary is fear of having to tell the truth to Congress.
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An excellent article by Will Grigg, who’s in the habit of writing excellent articles. It’s not out of line to point out the President’s hypocrisy, even including his “non-existent” tears.
http://lewrockwell.com/grigg/grigg-w294.html
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Yep, I’m not a conspiracy theorist, but “convenient” seems like an apt word in this case.
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This morning, 2 schools here in Connecticut were in lockdown due to a suspicious, possibly-armed man, at a train station.
And yesterday, the Catholic church in Newtown, which had held a prayer vigil for the victims, had to be evacuated during the noon mass due to some kind of threat.
http://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/local/Ridgefield-Public-Schools-in-Lockdown-183781611.html
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Ditto on the Hillary thing.
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Your government at work, secret dossiers kept on people who don’t commit crimes: http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/12/gov-dossiers-on-us-citizens/
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Another thought on how to deal with the mentally ill from National Review:
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/335767/five-point-action-plan-president-obama-reduce-violence-mentally-ill-d-j-jaffe#
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Michelle,
Interesting. And alot of what the author says can be found in this piece as well. It’s very sad, and parents face too many obstacles to getting proper treatment. I cannot imagine what it must be like to live in fear of one’s own child. That’s bad enough, but when the people who should be helping don’t, or can’t because of stupid rules and a poorly managed system, it must be even worse.
http://now.msn.com/i-am-adam-lanzas-mother-says-mom-of-mentally-ill-son?
“In the post-Newtown debate over mental illness, a distraught and exhausted mother has written a chilling article describing life with her troubled son and the health care system’s shortage of options. The boy, “Michael,” remains undiagnosed, and despite medication he continues to exhibit a hair-trigger temper. His mother says Michael shares characteristics with gunman Adam Lanza and other mass killers, and during his unpredictable episodes he makes frightening and violent threats. The mother’s lack of help is typified by her meeting with a social worker who informed her that their best option is to get Michael charged with a crime, because “That’s the only way you’re ever going to get anything done. No one will pay attention to you unless you’ve got charges.”
“On the intake form, under the question, “What are your expectations for treatment?” I wrote, “I need help.”
And I do. This problem is too big for me to handle on my own. Sometimes there are no good options. So you just pray for grace and trust that in hindsight, it will all make sense.
I am sharing this story because I am Adam Lanza’s mother. I am Dylan Klebold’s and Eric Harris’s mother. I am James Holmes’s mother. I am Jared Loughner’s mother. I am Seung-Hui Cho’s mother. And these boys—and their mothers—need help. In the wake of another horrific national tragedy, it’s easy to talk about guns. But it’s time to talk about mental illness.”
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Great, now not only do we have to worry about our kids being shot, now we have to worry about our kid being the one to grow up and shoot.
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