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Tag: Obama

  • Obamacare Delayed: 2015 Enrollment Will Now Start After 2014 Elections

    Obamacare Delayed: 2015 Enrollment Will Now Start After 2014 Elections

    After a slow start to the enrollment of Obamacare, the Obama administration is set to delay enrollment for 2015 by one month from October 15 to November 15. This means that while the 2015 enrollment period had been set to begin Oct. 15, 2014 and end Dec. 7, it will now begin Nov. 15, 2014, and end Jan. 15, 2015.

    White House spokesman Jay Carney said pushing back the start date will give insurers more time to get an idea of their new pool of customers before they set their 2015 premiums accordingly. “What was already going to be a back-loaded process is going to be more back-loaded, and that’s going to leave insurers a lot of data to sort through in a short period of time,” Carney said in a statement.

    This latest Obamacare adjustment will definitely add more political controversy over the embattled new healthcare law. Senator Chuck Grassley, a Republican has already described the move as “a cynical political move” and added that any changes to healthcare plans such as premium increase should be made public before the 2014 election.

    Carney has also denied that next year’s elections are the reason for the postponement but House Majority Leader Eric Cantor has a different view.  Cantor said that the move is meant to hide some weaknesses in the health care act before the election. “Clearly, President Obama does not want voters to see increased prices, more cancellations and decreased options under Obamacare before they go to the ballot box” Cantor said in a statement “If Obamacare is so great, why are Democrats so scared of voters knowing its consequences?”

    But there are others who have welcomed the move saying the postponement will give consumers more time to learn about plans before enrolling. Carney has said that the administration expects more people to sign up for the health care insurance at the end of the current open enrollment period ending 31st march 2014.

    However, this means that the Americans will have to wait until after election before hearing about any potential premium increase rather than in the weeks before.

    (main photo via whitehouse.org)

  • U.S., Afghanistan Agree to Terms For Security Pact

    A deal has been tentatively reached between U.S. and Afghanistan for a security pact, according to the New York Times.

    Reports say that the Afghan leader would accept wording allowing American-led raids on Afghan homes under “extraordinary circumstances”, or in order to save the lives of American soldiers. The breakthrough came during a phone call by Secretary of State John Kerry to President Karzai today.

    Karzai said he will make the way clear for a deal to insure a long-term security pact under one condition. Basically, Obama has to apologize. Karzai wants a letter from President Obama acknowledging American military mistakes in Afghanistan and promising not to make those mistakes again.

    Mr. Karzai’s spokesman, Mr. Faizi said, “The idea was to indeed mention that there were mistakes made in the conduct of military operations in the past, in the conduct of military operations by United States forces in the last decade, and that Afghans have suffered, and that we understand the pain and therefore we give assurances and make sure those mistakes are not repeated.”, which pretty much outlines what they want Obama’s letter to read like.

    Kerry agreed to the letter, but White House spokesperson Jay Carney doesn’t know if the President is on board. “I don’t have any specifics on any language of a letter that has not been written.” he said, according to AFP.

    The deal is not sealed, yet, however, as the terms must pass approval by a loya jirga, which is a grand council of Afghan elders. The bad thing is, that any wording that allows raids on Afghan homes is likely to be met with resistance at the meeting.

    Mr. Carney seemed to acknowledge the council’s potential deal-breaking role on Tuesday. “There are ongoing negotiations,” he said. “I would simply say this agreement is not reached until it goes through the loya jirga.”

    This was the last remaining issue in the talks, which included President Karzai with the American ambassador James B. Cunningham, and the American military commander, Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr. This was the last day to wrap up the talks before the loya jirga will meet. “The rest, everything is solved,” Mr. Faizi said.

    The BSA (Bilateral Security Treaty) will determine the terms of home searches, but another key factor agreed on will determine how many US soldiers stay in Afghanistan when most of NATO’s troops deployed in the country since 2001, which currently number 75,000, leave at the end of 2014.

    Now, whether the loya jirga goes well or not, Afghan officials have another problem to worry about. The Taliban have claimed that the loya jirga meeting a US-designed plot. They are therefore vowing to pursue and punish its delegates as traitors if they approve the BSA.

    I suppose we will have to wait to see what happens after the loya jirga meets to see what our future in Afghanistan will look like.

    Image via wikimedia commons

  • JFK Grave Site To Be Visited By Obama And Clinton

    The 50th anniversary of the former US president, John F. Kennedy will be commemorated on Friday, November 22.  Before the commemoration, President Obama, accompanied by Bill and Hillary Clinton will visit JFK’s grave site on Wednesday, USA today reports.

    An administration official revealed that Obama will make a visit to the Eternal Flame at Arlington National Cemetery accompanied by Michelle Obama and the Clintons.

    Obama will lay a wreath close to the eternal flame. The visit comes 2 days before the November 22nd half-century of John F. Kennedy’s assassination. Kennedy was shot twice on Friday, November 22, 1963 as he entered Dealey Plaza in an open Presidential limousine in Dallas.

    On Wednesday Obama will present the Presidential Medals of Freedom (the nation’s highest civilian honors) to this year’s recipients in a morning ceremony at the White House.

    Former president, Bill Clinton, will be one of this year’s 16 recipients of the award, according to a statement from the White House. Other awardees include: media mogul and philanthropist, Oprah Winfrey,  astronaut Sally Ride, and Nobel Prize winner Mario Molina among others. On Friday, the actual anniversary day, Obama will meet leaders and volunteers from Peace Corps, an organization established by JFK in 1961.

    John Fitzgerald Kennedy, was the 35th President of the United States, holding office from January 1961 until he was assassinated in November 1963 . JFK’s body is buried in Arlington National Cemetery next to his wife, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.

    Footage from the day President Kennedy was assassinated

    http://youtu.be/V-LA0ypFXig

    (image via Wikipedia)

  • JFK Assassination Changed Secret Service

    JFK Assassination Changed Secret Service

    Times have changed for the Secret Service since the ill-fated day of November 22, 1963, when John F. Kennedy was shot. Riding in the back of a convertible is absolutely unthinkable these days, after numerous assassination attempts since JFK have made it impossible for a president, or even a candidate, to be unprotected during appearances.

    When Kennedy was shot, his bodyguards were powerless to help him, according to Yahoo. There was nothing they could do. “It isn’t something that we’re marking. It wasn’t a good day for us or for the country,” Secret Service spokesman Brian Leary said. “It was a dark day.”

    That “dark day” began round after round of changes in order to do the absolute most that the Secret Service could do to protect our country’s leader. It began with JFK. After his assassination, there were obviously no more convertibles. As the years went by, and Robert Kennedy was killed, followed by an attempt on President Reagan, things have become very, very different for the Secret Service.

    Now, Obama rides around in a limousine-shaped fortress, called “The Beast” that is reportedly outfitted with its own oxygen supply, as well as blood transfusion supplies. Just in case. The fuel tank is sealed in foam so that it won’t explode. It’s also sealed against biological or chemical attack and the doors weigh as much as those on a Boeing 757!

    “The Beast” is never alone. There can be dozens of vehicles in the presidential motorcade, and the arrangement changes all the time, depending on the Secret Services perceived threat. He could be absent from the motorcade altogether, in a helicopter above, for example.

    Of course, there are times when a president just wants to step out and wave to the people, like Obama did on Inauguration day in January. A past member of the Secret Service said their “collective blood pressure spikes” during those surprise moments.

    Image via wikimedia commons

  • Obama Makes Announcement on ACA Fix

    Obama Makes Announcement on ACA Fix

    President Obama announced a new proposition for a fix to the issue that has lost many Americans the insurance that they were perfectly fine with, and has even his own party turning against him, according to the New York Times. The fix could not come a moment too soon for the President, as Democrats have been expressing some frustrations over the failed rollout, as well as some unkept promises.

    A house Democrat speaking anonymously before the announcement disclosed that insurance companies supplying current, but not future, policy holders with plans that are sub-par, according to the ACA, would be able to renew those plans for one year. But, there’s a catch. They would be required to notify policy holders of alternative available coverage options, as well any benefits they might lose by staying on their existing plan, which Obama said is fine “until you get sick”.

    The announcement took place at 11:30 am, but earlier this morning, Nancy Pelosi dropped a hint about the content of the President’s speech. “Stay tuned. It could be an administrative fix, it could be a legislative fix,” said Ms. Pelosi. “I would rather it be done administratively, because then it could be done much more quickly without any accompanying agendas.”

    The announcement appears to be an attempt on the part of the administration to keep angry Democrats from voting for a Republican-backed law that is set to come up for a vote tomorrow. That law would allow Americans to keep their existing health coverage through 2014 without penalties, and is backed by popular Representative Fred Upton, Republican of Michigan and chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee.

    “I completely get how upsetting this can be for a lot of Americans,” Obama told reporters Thursday, on a streaming broadcast on ABC.

    The cancellation notices are estimated to affect up to 7 million Americans, many of those Obama is hoping will go to the “marketplace” to get better plans, since the new fix will only last for one year.

    Several times during the announcement, the President said, “That’s on me.” or “That’s on us.” It certainly is on them, but is his own party throwing him under the bus in the face of extreme criticism after they have been trying to help him justify this thing for years? With recent polls showing that the majority of Americans don’t think Obama is honest or trustworthy, this seems to be the case.

    Time will tell how this fix will help the millions who are angry about losing the coverage they have depended on.

    Image via wikimedia

  • Redskins: Obama Thinks Team Should Change Its Name

    President Obama’s comments against the Washington Redskins received much approval from Native American leaders led by Ray Halbritter of the Oneida Nation. The tribe leaders used the meeting at White House on Tuesday to express their gratitude for Obama’s stand against the team’s controversial name.

    Obama’s meeting with the tribal leaders was closed to reporters. The developments in the meeting were recounted by a tribal representative who asked to remain anonymous because he is not authorized to speak on behalf of the leaders. The issues discussed included economic development issues affecting Native Americans, capital jurisdictional challenges, job creations and of course the issue of the “Redskins” name was brought up too.

    In October Obama had an interview with The Associated Press, in which he had said that if he was the owner of the Redskins he would consider changing the name because the name is offensive to some people. “I don’t know whether our attachment to a particular name should override the real legitimate concerns that people have about these things,” Obama said. The President’s remarks sparked increased public debate with many Native American groups and the greater public.

    Daniel Snyder, the owner of the Washington Redskin team had earlier said that he would not consider changing the name.

    “We will never change the name of the team,” Snyder had told USA TODAY Sports.  “As a lifelong Redskins fan, I think that the Redskins fans understand the great tradition and what it’s all about and what it means, so we feel pretty fortunate to be just working on next season”.

    Meanwhile, the Redskins attorney, Lanny Davis rebutted Obama’s comments with a statement highlighting opinion polls in which the majority of respondents said they were not bothered by the team’s name and did not think it should be changed.

    Here Are Some Opinions

     

    The Ed Show

    http://youtu.be/HUEDPPOnN54

    ESPN

    http://youtu.be/ljbcRR-fk5Y

    Kat Williams

    http://youtu.be/DmMu03RsQCU

    (main image via YouTube)

  • Obama Apologizes To Americans Losing Their Health Insurance

    Obama Apologizes To Americans Losing Their Health Insurance

    President Obama on Thursday apologized to all Americans who are now receiving cancellation notices from their health insurers. His apology comes after his assurances that no one would have to give up a health plan they like.

    President Obama told NBC news that he failed to do enough to ensure that the law did not force the termination of insurance policies that people like because they do not meet the requirements. “But obviously, we didn’t do a good enough job in terms of how we crafted the law,” Obama said. “And, you know, that’s something that I regret. That’s something that we’re going to do everything we can to get fixed.”

    Millions of Americans who had purchased health coverage on their own have been receiving cancellation notices from their insurers. Health insurers are now cancelling customer plans because they no longer meet the new minimum standards set under the Affordable Care Act. This comes days after NBC News’ Lisa Myers had reported the Obama administration knew that about 5% of Americans could lose their insurance under the new law, Affordable Care Act. Despite that, Obama has repeatedly told people that they can keep their health plan if they like it.

    Obama said that he regretted any confusion that resulted from the roll-out and said that, “we weren’t as clear as we needed to be in terms of the changes that were taking place. And I want to do everything we can to make sure that people are finding themselves in a good position, a better position than before this law happened.”

    In the NBC News Interview, Obama said that he did not purposely mislead people because it was his intention that no one should lose a plan they like. However, he assured those who had lost their plans that they could find better insurance cover that was cheaper and provided better coverage than what they had before.

    The president has come under increasing pressure from the public, including members from his own party to address the situation. Earlier in the week, he met senate democrats who also vented their frustrations on problems that are plaguing the ObamaCare website.

    (image via NBC)

  • Obamacare CMAs: Country Music Awards Go Political

    By now we’ve seen Obamacare mocked by, well, pretty much everyone. SNL got their jabs in, Jon Stewart skewered the healthcare plan on his show (“Democrats can’t spin this turd,” Stewart said) and now it has served as fodder for a skit during the Country Music Awards.

    Maybe that comes a little out of left field since the CMAs are supposed to be about country music, but that is exactly what happened when Carrie Underwood and Brad Paisley hosted the show on Wednesday night. The two did a skit making fun of Obamacare, complete with Paisley strumming his guitar and singing a song.

    Watch the entire segment including the lead-up to the skit below (the Obamacare part starts at around the 3:00 mark):

    What did you think of Paisley and Underwood’s Obamacare skit? Respond below.

    “Ow! Oh God! I twerked my back! I twerked it good!” Paisley yelled while he and Underwood were in the middle of a song. After Underwood told Paisley he wasn’t using “twerking” properly, Paisley responded with, “Yes it is, twerking is a medical term Carrie.”

    After a couple more jokes, the conversation eventually steered to the new healthcare marketplace. “Hey, do you have that Obamacare?” Underwood asked Paisley, much to the crowd’s delight. Paisley pretended not to know what Obamacare is, so Underwood pulled out a laptop to show off the beleaguered Obamacare website.

    “Oh it’s great, it’s great…I started signing up last Thursday and I’m almost done!” Underwood said enthusiastically. “Let’s go to the website and get you signed up!”

    Naturally, jokes about the glitchy website were made. “Why’s it spinning? Why is it smoking?” Paisley asked. The pair then broke into a song:

    “Obamacare by morning …Why is it taking so long? I’m gonna wind up with hemorrhoids, if I sit here till dawn. Well, I’ve got cataracts and dementia, oh this is getting on my last nerve. Obamacare by morning, over six people served!”

    Let’s just say that some people enjoyed the skit more so than others. The skit spurred Twitter rants from more liberal users and high praises from conservative users.

    [Image via YouTube]

  • Obama Approval Rating Hits All-Time Low

    The numbers are in and President Barack Obama’s approval rating has dropped to an all-time low of 42 percent according to a new poll from NBC News and Wall Street Journal. This is a drop in 5 percentage points from his previous approval rating in this poll, a rather significant drop after Obamacare went into effect at the beginning of the month.

    Obama’s all-time approval high in this poll, which is updated a few times per year, was at 61 percent back in April 2009, just months after he took office. When the people that took the poll were asked about their general feelings towards the president, 24 percent responded that they felt”Very Positive” towards the president and 32 percent said they felt “Very Negative.”

    According to NBCNews, there is no single reason to explain Obama’s approval rating drop. Instead, “they attribute it to the accumulation of setbacks since the summer–allegations of spying by the National Security Agency, the debate over Syria’s chemical weapons, the government shutdown and now intense scrutiny over the problems associated with the health care law’s federal website and its overall implementation.”

    The NBCNews/WSJ poll also asked some other questions about how people felt about Obamacare and the general state of the country. Apparently most Americans are pretty dissatisfied with, well, everything.

    Republican and Democratic Parties

    The president wasn’t the only one to get steamrolled in this new poll. Only 6 percent of pollsters felt “Very Positive” about the Republican Party, while only 15 percent felt “Very Positive” about the Democratic Party. Considering the government shutdown that ended just a couple of weeks ago, no surprise there.

    Obamacare

    Information was also released on how people feel about the new healthcare law. Just under half of the voters thought Obamacare was a really bad idea, while 37 percent thought it was a very good idea. About 14 percent of people polled were still undecided on how they felt about the law.

    Direction of the U.S.

    When people were asked about how they felt about the direction the country is heading in, only 22 percent of people polled thought the country is heading in the right direction. A whopping 70 percent of people thought the country is on the wrong track. These numbers were pretty consistent with another question asked about the general decline of the country. 63 percent of people say that the United States is in a general state of decline and only 34 percent thought the country was fine.

    Do you think Obama deserves such a low approval rating? Respond below.

    [Image via YouTube]

  • Sean Hannity Gives Fired Obamacare Worker $25K

    Sean Hannity Gives Fired Obamacare Worker $25K

    After contributing to the firing of an Obamacare telephone operator, Fox News Channel’s Sean Hannity has reached out to help the woman. Not only did he gift the operator, Earlene Davis, a year’s salary, he has offered to help her find another job.

    It’s no secret by now that the Healthcare Marketplace website has been pretty glitchy. In fact, there have been so many complaints about it that President Barack Obama announced a toll-free number earlier this week for people to call to submit an application. Fox News Channel’s Sean Hannity decided to put the hotline number to the test on Monday.

    When Hannity eventually reached Davis, the Obamacare hotline operator, he told her who he was and that she was live, and she agreed to talk with him. The host talked to Davis for about 10 minutes and asked her some questions about signing up for Obamacare, politics and the weather in her home state. Unfortunately for Davis, she was let go after she spoke with Hannity.

    After Davis finished her conversation with Hannity, she says she was escorted to Human Resources and was told she was being fired. “I remember her saying, ‘We can’t have this type of stuff going on here, so we have to release you.’ They said no contact with the media. No type of media whatsoever. We’re not allowed to do that at that company,” the mother of two said.

    While Davis could have certainly refused to talk to Hannity when he called in, Hannity felt pretty bad about playing a role in Davis’s firing. Hannity had Davis on his show on Thursday and apologized to her and offered to gift her a year’s salary tax-free–$25,000.

    “First of all, I’m very sorry that you had to go through that. Especially because you were really nice, you were very kind, you were very honest, and I don’t want you to have to pay a price just for taking our phone call and their being punitive in some way, so I want to help you out here,” Hannity told Davis and then offered her the money.

    Davis was very grateful for Hannity’s offer. “I thank God for you and your crew and everybody that’s listening,” she said. “This is really a blessing, I wasn’t expecting all of this.” Hannity has also offered to help Davis find another job.

    Some Twitter users are giving Sean Hannity a lot of praise for helping out Davis financially after she was fired. What do you think of Hannity’s gift? Respond below.

    [Image via Twitter]

  • Government Shutdown Delays Tax Filing Season

    The IRS announced today that the government shutdown that lasted from October 1 to October 16 will cause the start of the 2014 tax filing season to be delayed. Unfortunately, the deadline to file taxes (unless you file for an extension) is still April 15, so this does nothing to help taxpayers who like to wait until later to file their returns.

    According to a statement released by the IRS, “about 90 percent of IRS operations were closed during the shutdown…putting the IRS nearly three weeks behind its tight timetable for being ready to start the 2014 filing season.”

    The IRS employees were just a part of the nearly 1 million government workers that were furloughed during the shutdown. “Readying our systems to handle the tax season is an intricate, detailed process, and we must take the time to get it right,” Acting IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel said. “The adjustment to the start of the filing season provides us the necessary time to program, test and validate our systems so that we can provide a smooth filing and refund process for the nation’s taxpayers. We want the public and tax professionals to know about the delay well in advance so they can prepare for a later start of the filing season.”

    The IRS says that it is possible that they could shorten the delay and will make an announcement in December with the final decision. For now, though, the agency wants everyone to prepare for the January 21 filing date that was planned to be pushed to as late as February 4. This move will hurt a lot of people that like to file early to get their tax refunds at the earliest possible date.

    The delay in the start of tax filing season will also be problematic for CPAs and others who prepare tax returns. Not only will their customers’ returns be delayed, they will be expected to process the same amount of returns in less time. “While H&R Block is well prepared to adjust to the IRS announcement of a delay in the opening of the 2014 tax season, we are frustrated for our clients who are among the estimated 18 million taxpayers who typically file a return in January,” the tax preparation company said in a statement.

    Image via YouTube

  • Obama Catches Fainting Woman During Speech

    It was a real Hail To the Chief moment for President Barack Obama in the Rose Garden at the White House today. Most news outlets reported that the Commander-in-Chief was there to add his own voice to the throng of dissatisfied Americans who were up in arms over not being able to get signed up for the public insurance exchanges under the newly implemented Affordable Care Act. The big problem, it seems, is the same thing almost every startup faces – web glitches. As it turns out, there was no way to do a beta rollout on the exchange program, since the program’s very existence was still being fought over as it rolled out. And the president took ownership of the glitchy implementation, promising that things would get better.

    But it was a totally unscripted moment in the speech that the stole the spotlight. According to the New York Post, a woman standing behind the president – one Karmel Allison – started to faint. The president heard a slight commotion behind him, turned around, and caught Allison around the waist.

    “There you go. You’re ok,” the president assured the woman, whose knees were buckling. “I got you.”

    The assembled press and observers laughed nervously, not sure what was going on.

    “This happens when I talk too long,” he joked to the crowd.

    Event staff showed up and quietly whisked the woman away to get medical attention. The White House later released a statement that Allison was fine. She revealed that she is not only a Type I diabetic, but also pregnant. Her story was that she had remained on the same insurance plan for years, even as it got more and more expensive for her, afraid to change plans for fear of being denied coverage due to her preexisting condition. Now, thanks to rules within the Affordable Care Act, she can now shop for better rates without that concern.

    Allison later tweeted: “I’m ok world- just got a little lightheaded. Thanks, @BarackObama for catching me!”

  • Jeh Johnson: Controversial Lawyer To Be Nominated as Head of Homeland Security

    According to an unidentified White House official, President Barack Obama will nominate criminal trial lawyer Jeh Johnson on Friday 18, 2013, to be the next secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

    The official made the following remarks on Johnson,

    “He is one of the most highly qualified and respected national security leaders, having served as the senior lawyer for the largest government agency in the world…”By advising the president and two secretaries of defense, he was at the center of the development of some of the most sensitive and important national security policies and strategies during the first term.”

    During Obama’s first term, Johnson served as general counsel in the Department of Defense. If nominated and approved by the Congress, Johnson would succeed Janet Napolitano, who relinquished her post earlier this year. Johnson is currently a partner at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, LLP.

    Johnson helped repeal the “Don’t’ Ask, Don’t Tell” policy in 2010, by writing a report assailing it on the grounds that it prevented gays and lesbians from serving openly in US armed forces.

    This will be the second high profile nomination coming from the White House, after last week’s nomination of Janet Yellen as the new head of Federal Reserve to replace outgoing Chairman Ben Shalom Bernanke.

    Jeh Johnson strongly supports the Democratic Party and has been a key figure in fundraising and advising Democratic presidential campaigns. Johnson was active as a special counsel to John Kerry’s 2004 presidential bid, and was an early supporter of Obama’s presidential campaign, when he was fighting as an underdog against Hillary Clinton.

    He has been one of key advisers to Barack Obama in foreign policy and finance. Johnson has been assailed by author and investigator Jeremy Scahill, for his eagerness and “banality” to sign off on drone strikes without any due process, that has been called unconstitutional.

    In August 2012, Johnson sent a stern warning to decorated Navy seal Matt Bissonnette, who authored No Easy Day, a book covering the targeted strike by a team of Navy Seals to kill Osama Bin-Laden, regarding material breach of his non-disclosure agreements with DoD.

    If confirmed, Johnson will be overseeing the DHS, which boasts an almost $60 billion budget, larger than the gross national income of more than half the countries in the world.

    [image from wikipedia]

  • The Government Shutdown Is Over, Debt Ceiling Raised

    The Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, have come up with the Reid McConnel deal, which was passed earlier Wednesday by both the House and Senate, ultimately ending the government shutdown and avoiding default.The plan will fund the government through January 15th, and then raise the debt ceiling through February 7th of next year.

    (image) (image)

    The Reid McConnel deal passed the Democratic-led Senate at a staggering 81-18 through a bi-partisan vote. The bill was then sent to the US House of Representatives and passed by 285 votes to 144, making up just a smidge over the two thirds to pass it, with support of the bill coming from a minority of Republicans, and a majority of Democrats. Obama signed the bill into law at about 11:30 AM CST.

    The White House budget office announced that federal workers are planned to return to work on Thursday. “Non-essential” parts of government will be up and running again, with reopened parks, thorough inspections by the USDA, and funding for NASA.

    The bill does not make any noticeable changes regarding the Affordable Care Act, to which House Republican leaders originally sought to fight and derail.

    Reid and McConnel came together earlier this week to come up with a plan, since discussion of a potential compromise between President Obama and House Republicans was stonewalled.

    After the announcement about the agreement with McConnell, Reid urged Congress to consider finally burying the axe of the divide created by the partisanship.

    “This is not a time for pointing fingers and blame. This is a time of reconciliation,” Reid said “I look forward to working with my colleagues on both sides of this great Capitol to pass this remarkable agreement that will protect the long term health of our economy and avert a default on our nation’s debt, and allow us to set a foundation for economic expansion.”

    “What we’ve done is sent a message to Americans from every one of our 50 states, but in addition to that, to the citizens of every country in the world, that the United States lives up to its obligations.”

    (Pictures via WikiCommons (1), (2) (3))

     

  • Government Shutdown Ends: House and Senate Reach a Deal

    Who saw this coming? The House and Senate have reached a deal at the 11th hour and the government shutdown is over. Lawmakers in D.C. squabbled back and forth for weeks about the budget, causing around 1 million government workers to be furloughed for 16 days. Just before we reached the October 17 deadline–the date the U.S. would go into default if the debt-ceiling wasn’t increased–a deal was finally struck.

    “We fought the good fight, we just didn’t win,” House Speaker John Boehner said today, in his admission of defeat.

    The Senate announced a deal earlier today that would lift the debt-ceiling limit so that the United States doesn’t go into default. Boehner, who has been fighting tooth and nail to get Obamacare defunded in order to pass the new budget, said that House republicans wouldn’t try to block the effort–and many didn’t, as the deal was passed 285-144. After Boehner said that the House wouldn’t go against the deal, it was smooth sailing from there, as President Barack Obama was eager to get his hands on a bill that would end the mess.

    “Once this agreement arrives on my desk, I will sign it immediately,” Obama said. “Hopefully next time it won’t be in the eleventh hour. We’ve got to get out of the habit of governing by crisis.” Quite pleased with the bipartisan effort, Obama also said, “I’m eager to work with anybody, Democrat or Republican. I’ve never believed Democrats have a monopoly on good ideas.”

    Just because the government shutdown is over, don’t expect the squabbling to stop. Democrats and Republicans are still pointing fingers at each other.

    Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky wants people to forget about the deadline and shutdown for a moment and focus on a bigger problem–America’s debt.

    Twitter has exploded with posts about the government shutdown being over. Post your thoughts on the government shutdown ending below.

    Image via YouTube

  • Capt. William Swenson to be Awarded Medal of Honor

    On October 15, President Barack Obama will award Captain William Swenson with the highest military honor in the Nation.

    Swenson joined the United States Army in 2002, and is being acknowledged for his bravery during combat in Afghan National Security Forces in Kunar Province in northeastern Afghanistan on Sept. 8, 2009.

    According to the official narrative, “It would be determined after the engagement that Swenson’s actions directly contributed to the preservation of more than a dozen Afghan lives. Swenson was the core of the initial defense and two subsequent rescue efforts. In seven hours of continuous fighting, Swenson braved intense enemy fire, and willfully put his life in danger against the enemy’s main effort, multiple times in service of his fallen and wounded comrades, his unit, his country, and his endangered Afghan partners.”

    On February 1, 2011, Swenson retired from the military. Along with the Medal of Honor, his other awards and decorations include, the U.S. Army Parachutist Badge, the Ranger tab, the Combat Infantryman Badge, Bronze Star (2 Oak Leaf Clusters), the Purple Heart, the Army Commendation Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, The Iraq Campaign Medal with two campaign stars, the Afghanistan Campaign Medal with one campaign star, the National Defense Service Medal, the Army Service Ribbon, the Overseas Service Ribbon (Numeral 2 device) and the NATO Medal.

    Swenson invited several family members of those who did not make it out of the battle alive, to attend his ceremony.

    The invitation read:

    We have never met. We have never spoken. But I would like to believe that I know something about each of you through the actions of your loved ones on that day. They were a part of a Team. And you are now a part of that Team. I would be honored for you to attend a ceremony that will acknowledge what that team represented.

    The ceremony will be October 15th and 16th, respectively at the White House and Pentagon. If you wish to attend, please contact me and I will provide whatever information I can. I sincerely look forward to meeting you.

    Will Swenson

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Food Stamps Glitch Not Caused by Shutdown

    People who receive food stamps were in for a shock today when they tried to pay for their groceries. A glitch in the national EBT system halted payments on Saturday, which meant people across 17 states had no money to pay for groceries.

    The error scared many people, as they thought this was the end of their food stamp benefits until the government shutdown is over.

    “When we went to go use them today after 12 o’clock–no food stamps,” said Lakendra Washington, a Maryland resident. Washington said her sister called to let her know about the issue after having to leave her groceries at the checkout counter. “She was like, ‘I went to CVS and the machines were down there, went to 7-11 and machines were down there.’”

    “So we decided to call the card, and it says that you can’t get your balance,” Washington said. “You can’t do anything until further notice. We have four children that live in our home. It’s us two adults and there’s only one income right now, and food is expensive.”

    Have you or anyone you know experienced issues because of the food stamp glitch? Share your experience below.

    Washington and her sister were just two of many customers who had to leave their groceries at the register today. Corner Grocery cashier Eliza Shook described the situation as being “terrible.” Shook said that dozens of people had to put back their groceries. “It’s just been some angry folks. That’s what a lot of folks depend on,” Shook said.

    Despite initial assumptions that food stamp benefits had been cut off because of the government shutdown, the USDA says this isn’t the case.

    “EBT cards in a number of states have temporarily stopped working today due to a technical issue that the vendor that serves these states is experiencing,” a USDA spokesperson said. “The vendor is working to fix this issue and EBT cards will work again once it is resolved. This issue is not related to the government shutdown.” Funding for food stamps should be available for at least a year, if the shutdown lasts that long.

    While this doesn’t immediately help the families who didn’t have the means to pay for their groceries today, their benefits should be restored soon. A timeframe hasn’t been given for when EBT users can expect for their funds to be available on their cards, but the computer glitch has been corrected.

    “We realize that access to these benefits is important to families in the states we serve,” said the spokesperson for Xerox, the company responsible for maintaining the system that experienced the glitch. “We continue to investigate the cause of the issue so we can take steps to ensure a similar interruption does not re-occur,” Jennifer Wasmer said.

    Image via YouTube

  • President Rejects House Proposal, Talks Break Down

    “It’s now up to the Senate Republicans to stand up,” said Representative Raúl R. Labrador of Idaho after House Republicans left today’s meeting on the fiscal crisis in the Capitol. Angry Republicans reported that Obama has rejected yet another offer to ease the stalemate over raising the Debt Ceiling, opening the government, and other urgent issues.

    Representative John Carter of Texas showed his dismay as he described Mr. Obama as “acting like a royal president.” He added, “He’s still ‘my way or the highway’”.

    Unfortunately, the House is not scheduled to meet again until Monday, and House Republicans insist they are pretty much out of options.

    The New York Times reports that negotiations have broken down between House Republicans and Obama on finding a solution to the impending Debt Ceiling crunch.

    Attention now turns to the Senate. Republicans have spent the past several days trying to garner Democratic support for a proposal that they hope could reopen the government and extend the debt-ceiling through the end of January.

    House Republicans remain reluctant to accept any proposal that comes out of the Democratic-controlled Senate, even if it has substantial Republican support. However, Mr. Boehner now has to be concerned about whether he will be forced to put any Senate-offering on the House floor for a vote.

    “The problem here is that we don’t have a functioning majority,” said Representative Devin Nunes, a California Republican. “After three weeks of this, they’re still not figuring it out. I don’t know what it takes.”

    The President is unwilling to compromise on any proposal that would suggest limiting his Affordable Care Act. The proposal presented last week by the House called for increasing the Treasury Department’s authority to borrow money through Nov. 22, but only if Mr. Obama agreed to more expansive talks about overhauling the budget. No dice.

    Representative Aaron Schock, Republican in Illinois, speaking of the detriment this meeting imparted to an already tense relationship, called the development “a total breakdown in trust.”

    “You don’t tell the speaker, the majority leader, the majority whip ‘we’re going to negotiate’, then they come and tell our entire conference ‘we’re going to negotiate’ and then 24 hours later, you recant,” he said.

    House Republicans remain skeptical that any Senate plan could gain support in the House. Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky said the Republicans remain “very united” and were unlikely to cede any ground as long as Mr. Obama continues to treat the standoff as “still a game.”

    Global financial markets could be thrown into turmoil if Congress does not agree to raise the debt ceiling by Thursday, but there is a lot of water to tread for that to happen. Unfortunately for America, this is not a government that is particularly keen on compromise right now.

    Image via wikimedia commons

  • Truckers Ride for the Constitution Event Will Begin Friday

    First it was on. Then it was off. Now it’s back on again.

    No, we aren’t talking about Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson (pretty sure that relationship is still over)–we’re taking about the “Truckers Ride for the Constitution” protest that is heading to Washington. Congress has their shutdown, and now a bunch of truckers are planning a D.C. shutdown of their own.

    According to the “Truckers Ride for the Constitution” group on Facebook that has more than 100,000 fans, “The American people are sick and tired of the corruption that is destroying America! We therefore declare a GENERAL STRIKE on the weekend of October 11-13, 2013! Truck drivers will not haul freight! Americans can strike in solidarity with truck drivers!”

    The group was created September 23, just a week before the government shutdown went into effect. The truckers, whose numbers could reach 10,000, plan to shutdown the Beltway for three days, taking up two lanes and keeping a third clear for emergency vehicles. The I-495 Beltway is a 64-mile stretch of Interstate highway that surrounds Washington, D.C.

    Earl Conlon, the face of the protest, says that only supporters of the Constitution ride will be allowed a relatively easy passage on the Beltway. “Everybody that doesn’t have a supporter sticker on their window, good luck. Nobody in, nobody out. It’s going to be real fun for anyone who is not a supporter, if cops decide to give us a hard time, we’re going to lock the brakes up, we’re going to stop right there, we’re going to be a three lane roadblock,” Conlon said.

    Conlon and his group, who say they aren’t affiliated with either Republicans or Democrats, plan to demand the arrest of Congressmen for violating the Constitution, plus they want Obama to step down.

    “”We are coming whether they like it or not. We are not going to ask for impeachment,” Conlon said. “We’re asking for the arrest of everyone in government who has violated their oath of office.”

    State police in Virginia won’t interfere with the truckers as long as no laws are broken:

    What do you think about the Truckers Ride for the Constitution event? Respond below.

    Images via Facebook

  • Republican Party’s Approval At All-Time Low; Will the Debt Ceiling Be Raised?

    This probably shouldn’t come as much of a surprise since Republicans are getting the bulk of the blame for the government shutdown, but the approval rating of the Republican Party is now at an all-time low.

    According to a Gallup poll released on Wednesday, the Republican Party is now viewed favorably by only 28 percent of people, which is down 10 percentage points from September.

    While the Republican Party has certainly seen the biggest drop-off in approval ratings over the past month, they aren’t the only ones with trouble–Americans aren’t viewing the Democratic Party and Barack Obama quite as favorably, either.

    Obama’s approval rating dipped to 37 percent and the Democrats are down four percentage points to 43 percent approval.

    After refusing to pass a new budget unless Obamacare is defunded, House Republicans are hoping to negotiate a short-term debt ceiling increase–if they’re successful, this might help with their approval ratings. If something doesn’t give before October 17, the U.S. government won’t be able to borrow any more money to pay its bills. Obama says that not raising the debt ceiling will sink the economy into a “very deep recession.”

    The president is reportedly willing to accept a temporary debt-ceiling increase, but only if there aren’t any strings attached. House Speaker John Boehner is adamant that Obama will compromise. “There’s going to be a negotiation here,” Boehner said. “We can’t raise the debt ceiling without doing something about what’s driving it to borrow more money and live beyond our means.”

    While both sides are in agreement that the debt ceiling needs to be increased, it still doesn’t sound like either side is willing to compromise, which is par for the course.

    Images via YouTube and Gallup

  • Redskins Name Change: Owner Writes a Letter to Fans

    Washington Redskins owner Dan Snyder has previously said that he wouldn’t change the name of his team, a stance he upheld in a letter he sent out today. The Redskins owner has been under pressure from numerous groups and individuals, including President Barack Obama, to change the name of the Washington, D.C. team to something less racially offensive.

    The push to change the Redskins name comes from the Oneida Indian Nation. Tribe members plan to meet with NFL officials next month on getting the name changed. This news prompted Snyder to send a letter to the fans, and he is adamant that the name won’t be changed.

    “I’ve listened carefully to the commentary and perspectives on all sides, and I respect the feelings of those who are offended by the team name,” Snyder said in the lengthy letter. “But I hope such individuals also try to respect what the name means, not only for all of us in the extended Washington Redskins family, but among Native Americans too.”

    Snyder also said that the vast majority of people who responded to an April poll about the issue don’t think the Redskins name should be changed. “In an April 2013 Associated Press survey, 79% of the respondents stated the Washington Redskins should not change their name, while only 11% believed the team’s name should change,” Snyder wrote.

    President Obama weighed in on the Redskins name over the weekend and said he would ditch the name. “If I were the owner of the team and I knew that there was a name of my team–even if it had a storied history–that was offending a sizable group of people, I’d think about changing it,” Obama said.

    Do you think the Redskins name should be changed? Respond below.

    Not all Native Americans are bothered by the Redskins name, including Robert Green, retired Chief of the Fredericksburg area Patawomeck Tribe. “Frankly, the members of my tribe–the vast majority–don’t find it offensive,” Green said. The chief also said that as a long-time Redskins fan, he’d be offended if the name was changed.

    More information about progress in the push to change the Redskins name can be found on the Change the Mascot website. The website tracks teams with “racially insensitive” names or mascots from the high school level to the professional level. One success mentioned is when the Peoria Chiefs, a minor league affiliate of the Chicago Cubs, changed its logo from an American Indian to a Dalmatian fire chief back in 2003.

    Image via Change The Mascot