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Tag: State of the Union

  • Megyn Kelly: Is She Moderating Second Republican Debate?

    Megyn Kelly emerged from the first Republican debate as a feminist hero of sorts, for taking on Donald Trump and the sexist remarks he is known for making against women. Donald Trump emerged from the debate with a seething hatred for Megyn Kelly.

    On Wednesday night, Donald Trump will argue with his many opponents at the second Republican debate, sans Megyn Kelly at the helm. CNN State of the Union host Jake Tapper will serve as moderator instead.

    So what role will Megyn Kelly serve at this second debate? Will she provide coverage for Fox News?

    Much to Donald Trump’s delight, Kelly won’t be attending the GOP debate at all. Instead she will sit at the helm of her own show, The Kelly File, where she will provide live debate coverage for her viewers.

    Megyn Kelly has done her homework. A big part of it involved hosting some of the candidates competing with Trump for the Republican nomination. On Monday’s episode of The Kelly File, Megyn spoke with Mike Huckabee, Chris Christie, and Scott Walker. Where do they stand on the issues–and on Donald Trump as their opponent?

    “I look at it this way: Evangelicals are all over the map, and a lot of them are going with Trump. But this is the dating season, not the marrying season–that comes in February when the caucuses come,” Huckabee told Megyn Kelly.

    Chris Christie talked seriously, but managed to mock Trump, too.

    “I think if you try too hard, people see that. That’s not what they want in a leader. What they want in a leader is somebody’s who’s strong and knows who they are…and that’s exactly what I’ll show people on Wednesday night,” the New Jersey governor said.

    He does a great Donald Trump impression. Maybe he’s learned the fine art of impressions from all his appearances on The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon?

    “You want ratings?” he asked in his fake Trump voice, replete with facial expressions. “Christie is ratings. Ratings, Megyn. Total ratings. Big, very big!”

    Scott Walker didn’t diss Trump, but merely touched upon his strategy instead, saying, “If you want someone who’s been tested, I’ve been tested unlike anybody else on that stage.”

    On Tuesday night, Megyn Kelly chatted with Carly Fiorino, Marco Rubio, Rand Paul, and Ben Carson. None of them did any Donald Trump impersonations.

    Will you be tuning in to The Kelly File on Wednesday evening for her live coverage of the second GOP debate?

    Are you at all disappointed that Megyn Kelly won’t be at the debate in person, once again challenging Donald Trump?

  • Donald Trump Regrets Bashing Jeb Bush In Campaign Announcement

    Donald Trump, along with many of his fellow Republican candidates, said some pretty harsh things about Jeb Bush.

    In fact, in his big campaign announcement speech on Tuesday Donald Trump was a bit harsher than the rest, saying, “I don’t see how he can get the nomination. He’s weak on immigration and he supports Common Core. How the hell can you vote for this guy?”

    While bluntness and swagger are just part of Donald Trump’s style, he admitted to CNN‘s Jake Tapper that he regrets being so harsh.

    In an interview set to air Sunday during CNN’s State of the Union, Donald Trump said, “I think he’s a nice person. I actually felt bad because I hit him very hard one day like two days ago, three days ago, and I said, why am I hitting him so hard?”

    Donald Trump added, “I actually saw myself a couple of days ago and I said ‘…that’s, that’s too rough. Because I really think he’s a nice man, I think he’s a wonderful man.’ I don’t know if I want him negotiating with ISIS.”

    Do we really need another Bush in the White House— we have had enough of them.

    A photo posted by Donald J. Trump (@realdonaldtrump) on

    I am officially running for President of the United States. #MakeAmericaGreatAgain

    A photo posted by Donald J. Trump (@realdonaldtrump) on

    Of course in true Donald Trump style, he added, “I think Trump will do a lot better. You think so too, but you’re not going to say it.”

    During Donald Trump’s announcement, he didn’t just bash his counterparts, he also made some pretty hefty promises.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_q61B-DyPk

    For example, Donald Trump said, “I will be the greatest jobs president that God ever created. I tell you that. I’ll bring back our jobs from China, from Mexico, from Japan, from so many places. I’ll bring back our jobs, and I’ll bring back our money.”

    In one hour I will be making a major announcement from Trump Tower. Watch it live on Periscope!

    A photo posted by Donald J. Trump (@realdonaldtrump) on

    He also promised, “…I would do various things very quickly. I would repeal and replace the big lie, Obamacare.” and, “I would build a great wall, and nobody builds walls better than me, believe me, and I’ll build them very inexpensively, I will build a great, great wall on our southern border. And I will have Mexico pay for that wall.”

    What do you think about Donald Trump’s run for President?

  • State of the Union Address, GOP Responses All Streaming Live on YouTube

    State of the Union Address, GOP Responses All Streaming Live on YouTube

    At 9pm EST, President Obama will address the nation for the fifth time and tell us that the state of our union is strong (that’s what they all say, right?). And whether you’ll be nodding your head in agreement or shaking it in frustration, you can watch it live on YouTube.

    In fact, YouTube has a full slate of SOTU content tonight. This includes a handful of GOP responses as well as specific coverage from a variety of news outlets.

    “Tonight at 9 p.m. ET, President Obama’s fifth State of the Union address will stream live on the White House’s YouTube channel, followed by the Republican response by Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers on Speaker Boehner’s channel. Senator Mike Lee will deliver the Tea Party response and Senator Rand Paul will offer remarks as well. Several of our news partners will also share their coverage of the event on YouTube, including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, The Young Turks, and NowThis News,” says YouTube’s Brandon Feldman.

    The first pups are ready for the big speech.

    Political insiders say that you can expect the President to tackle a variety of issues tonight – many of which shouldn’t be all that surprising. The 2014 SOTU address should mention immigration, income inequality, and the situation in Afghanistan.

    Image via White House, Twitter

  • Anonymous Launches #opSOTU: Plans To Kill State Of The Union Address Live Stream

    President Obama will be meeting before a joint session of Congress tonight to deliver the annual State of the Union address. The address will be streamed live on the Internet to the millions of Americans who will be tuning in to hear the president talk about what the future holds. If a certain hacking collective has its way, however, nobody will be watching it.

    Anonymous announced this morning that it’s engaging in #opSOTU, or Battle Royale for the Internet. The operation will see Anonymous attempting to hijack and shutoff the State of the Union address live stream tonight. Here’s the full statement:

    Citizens of the Internet,

    Last year we faced our greatest threat from lawmakers. We faced down SOPA, PIPA, CISPA and ACTA.

    And we won!

    But that victory did not come easily. Nor did it come without a price.

    Aaron Swartz was one of the leading voices in the fight against these idiotic and destructive efforts to control the last free space on Earth.

    Aaron Swartz was persecuted. Now Aaron Swartz is dead.
    Tonight, the President of the United States will appear before a joint session of Congress to deliver the State of the Union Address and tomorrow he plans to sign an executive order for cyber-security as the House Intelligence committee reintroduces the defeated CISPA act which turns private companies into government informants.

    He will not be covering the NDAA, an act of outright tyrannical legislation allowing for indefinite detention of citizens completely outside due process and the rule of law. In fact, lawyers for the government have point-blank refused to state whether or not journalists who cover stories or groups the Government disfavors would be subject to this detention.

    He will not be covering the extra-judicial and unregulated justifications for targeted killings of citizens by military drones within the borders of America, or the fact that Orwellian newspeak had to be used to make words like “imminent” mean their opposite.

    He will not be covering Bradley Manning, 1000 days in detention with no trial for revealing military murders, told that his motive for leaking cannot be taken into consideration, that the Government does not have room for conscience.

    He will not be covering the secret interpretations of law that allow for warrant-less wiretapping and surveillance of any US citizen without probably cause of criminal acts, or the use of Catch-22 logic where no-one can complain about being snooped on because the state won’t tell you who they’re snooping on, and if you don’t know you’re being snooped on, you don’t have a right to complain.

    We reject the State of the Union. We reject the authority of the President to sign arbitrary orders and bring irresponsible and damaging controls to the Internet.

    The President of the United States of America, and the Joint Session of Congress will face an Army tonight.

    We will form a virtual blockade between Capitol Hill and the Internet. Armed with nothing more than Lulz, Nyancat and PEW-PEW-PEW! Lazers, we will face down the largest superpower on Earth.

    And we will win!

    There will be no State of the Union Address on the web tonight.

    For freedom, for Aaron Swartz, for the Internet, and of course, for the lulz.

    We Are Anonymous,
    We Are Legion,
    We Do Not forgive,
    We Do Not forget,
    Expect Us.

    It’s not clear if this is an extension of #OpLastResort, the op that saw the release of banker records and attacks on government Web sites in retaliation for Aaron Swartz’ suicide. It certainly sounds like it, but Anonymous is dragging other issues it’s heavily opposed to, like NDAA, into the mix this time as well.

    Will Anonymous be successful in their most daring and potentially visible operation yet? I highly doubt it, but it would certainly be something if Anonymous succeeded in hijacking the State of the Union address.

  • State of the Union: Obama’s Minimum Wage Bit Sees Biggest Twitter Spike

    Tuesday night’s State of the Union address contained 6,419 words and took just about an hour to deliver. 101 different lines in the speech were followed by applause, and President Obama mentioned defeated Republican challenger Mitt Romney a total of twice throughout the address.

    Twitter has provided us with some more figures – total tweets and tweets per minute. And according to their calculations, 1.36 million tweets were registered from the start of President Obama’s SOTU to the conclusion of Senator Marco Rubio’s GOP response speech.

    And if you think that Twitter buzzed the most during the President’s impassioned section on gun violence, you would be wrong. The moment of the speech with the highest tweets per minute registered was when he was discussing the minimum wage and “ladders of opportunity.” That saw 24,000 TPM.

    The gun violence part came in second with 23,700 TPM (the “they deserve a vote” part).

    As far Rubio’s speech goes, Twitter says they they saw a spike when he had to reach a little bit out of his comfort zone to grab a bottle to take a sip of water.

    State of the Union tweets

    If you need something to compare the SOTU tweet total to, let’s look back at this month’s Super Bowl. Twitter said that they counted 24.1 total Super Bowl-related tweets – 5.5 million of which were simply about Beyonce.

  • Child, 10, Killed In Random Shooting On Minnesota Road

    A 10-year old child was killed on Monday night in Oakdale, Minnesota when a gunman began spraying bullets into passing cars at random. The mother of the child was injured but is expected to survive; a woman in another car was also wounded.

    The gunman was taken into custody and police say they are investigating a motive, but for now it appears the shootings were completely random. The incidents occurred near a Rainbow Foods store in a suburb. It’s been reported that the man taken into custody–a 33-year old whose name has not been released–lives in the neighborhood.

    Residents are stunned and saddened today as news of the child’s death spreads; in the last several weeks, following the horrendous shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary, the media has been inundated with stories of tragic shootings that are getting national attention because of the ever-present conversation on gun control. President Obama has promised to make changes to gun control laws, but is coming against opposition from many sides. The president is expected to focus primarily on the economy in his State Of The Union address tonight, but many believe he will at least touch on the issue of gun control, especially since several victims of gun violence will be attending the speech–including former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.

    “When the president talks about guns, he’s going to have enormous support in the gallery and in the country. Ultimately we think he’ll have it in the Congress too,” said Mark Glaze, director of Mayors Against Illegal Guns.

  • Apple CEO Tim Cook is Michelle Obama’s Guest at Tuesday’s State of the Union

    Apple CEO Tim Cook is Michelle Obama’s Guest at Tuesday’s State of the Union

    It’s going to be another Apple-heavy FLOTUS box at Tuesday night’s State of the Union address.

    First Lady Michelle Obama will be welcoming Apple CEO Tim Cook as one of her guests at the SOTU. According to the White House, Cook will be accompanied by “military families, those championing immigration reform and those whose lives have been touched by gun violence.”

    Also sitting with Mrs. Obama tomorrow night: Bobak Ferdowsi, better known as the “Mohawk Guy” from NASA that gained an internet following after the Mars Curiosity rover landed successfully on the Martian surface.

    This is the second year in a row that Michelle Obama has tapped someone associated with Apple to be her guest at the SOTU. Last year, her featured guest was Laurene Powell Jobs, widow of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs.

    It’ll be interesting to see just how far the First Lady and Tim Cook are seated from Ted Nugent.

    [via Mercury News]

  • Ted Nugent Tweets He’ll Attend State of the Union

    Ted Nugent, who is neither dead or in jail, will be one of the guests present at Tuesday night’s State of the Union address.

    He’s attending as the guest of Steve Stockman, a Republican U.S. Representative from Texas’ 36th congressional district.

    Ted Nugent, a noted gun enthusiast and cat scratch fever sufferer, has been vocal in his criticisms of President Obama. Last year, at an NRA convention, Nugent said that “if Barack Obama becomes the president in November, again, I will be either be dead or in jail by this time next year.”

    He was shortly visited by the Secret Service, who later determined that there was nothing to worry about. “I’ve never threatened anybody’s life in my life,” said Nugent. “I don’t waste my breath threatening.”

    “I am excited to have a patriot like Ted Nugent joining me in the House Chamber to hear from President Obama,” said Stockman in a press release. “After the Address I’m sure Ted will have plenty to say.”

    He already has something to say on Twitter:

  • Bing Partners With FOX News On ‘Non-Partisan’ Politics Site

    Bing announced today that it has partnered with FOX News Channel and Foxnews.com to launch Bing Pulse, enabling users to give real-time feedback to President Obama’s State Of The Union address.

    This is part of a new political destination site from Bing at Bing.com/Politics, playing off Bing’s Elections offering. The company describes it as “a non-partisan online destination designed to meet this growing need for up-to-the-minute political information and second-screen experiences.”

    At this destination, users will be able to watch the speech live with commentary from FOX News pundits and “other political experts” via Twitter. They’ll also be able to participate in the Bing Pulse survey, filter news from left, center and right-leaning national and local news sources, according to Bing. Users will also be able to access original videos of Jimmy Carter and Newt Gingrich talking about the State of the Union address.

    “The Bing Pulse will allow people to join the conversation by ‘voting’ every five seconds on their reactions to the President’s speech,” Mark Penn, Corporate Vice President, Microsoft. “Real time results of the Bing Pulse will be shown at Bing.com/Politics and on FOX News Channel. We think this will be the largest live online poll in history.”

    Bing.com/Politics is also unveiling its “social sentiment tracker” called Bing Beat. This will analyze social sentiment on Twitter associated with the address – topics like immigration, gun control and the fiscal cliff.

    The new Bing.com/Politics will launch on Saturday.

  • Obama Talks Steve Jobs at State of the Union

    In his State of the Union address Tuesday night, President Obama talked a lot about jobs. And during a segment about jobs, he mentioned another important job(s) – Apple co-founder Steve Jobs.

    After finishing a point about immigration reform, Obama went into a bit about innovation and entrepreneurs. He said that the country should get behind everyone out there trying to become the next Steve Jobs. Here’s the full segment, for context:

    You see, an economy built to last is one where we encourage the talent and ingenuity of every person in this country. That means women should earn equal pay for equal work. It means we should support everyone who’s willing to work; and every risk-taker and entrepreneur who aspires to become the next Steve Jobs.

    After all, innovation is what America has always been about. Most new jobs are created in startups and small businesses, so let’s pass an agenda that helps them succeed. Tear down regulations that prevent aspiring entrepreneurs from getting the financing they need to grow. Expand tax relief to small businesses that are raising wages and creating good jobs. Both parties agree on these ideas – so put them in a bill and get it on my desk this year

    During this shoutout, the camera remained fixed on Laurene Powell Jobs, Steve’s widow. She was one of the handful of guests invited personally by First Lady Michelle Obama to join her in the balcony. Check out the moment below (video will start at the relevant segment).

  • Steve Jobs’s Widow To Join Michelle Obama At State Of The Union

    Did you see this tweet from First Lady Michelle Obama this afternoon:

    @MichelleObama
    Michelle Obama    I hope everyone’s made plans to watch tonight’s State of the Union—where will you be watching? -mo 9 minutes ago via web · powered by @socialditto

    If you’re Laurene Powell Jobs – which you’re not – you would be able to respond to the Ms. Obama in person because you would be one of a handful of guests invited to sit in the First Lady’s Box during tonight’s State of the Union Address. Jobs, the widow of Apple co-founder and resident spiritual leader, has been a noted philanthropist in her own right as she’s been involved in several non-profit organizations.

    The Wall Street Journal reports that Jobs inclusion among the First Lady’s list of personal guests – which also includes Debbie Bosanek, Warren Buffet’s secretary; Julian Castro, the mayor of San Antonio, Texas); and Bruce Cochrane, chief executive of Lincolnton Furniture – is a suggestion of the themes that can be expected to be addressed in the State of the Union speech tonight.

    As for the rest of you? Have fun watching SOTU from the comfortable curvatures of your own sofa.

  • Obama’s State of the Union Strategy: Social, Enhanced Broadcasts, and Watch Parties

    Tonight, President Obama will give the annual State of the Union address, and the White House wants this year’s SOTU to stand out in one specific way: increased interaction.

    As we approach the 2012 Election, Obama’s team has made a social media push that involves expanding into outlets that are a bit off the beaten path. Of course, the administration’s presence on both Twitter and Facebook is well documented and fierce. Both the official Barack Obama and White House Twitter accounts have millions of followers and have used strategies in the past to engage citizen participation. But they have moved into other networks in the past few months. In August 2011, the President joined Foursquare and the next month he joined Tumblr. Earlier this month, the campaign team joined photo-filtering social network Instagram. And last week, the White House finally joined the Google+ party.

    With social media obviously such a key part of the Obama team’s strategy, it should come as no shock that they are hoping to involve viewers of the SOTU via relevant channels.

    Social SOTU:

    The White House is asking that SOTU viewers participate in the discussion on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+. Users are being directed to used the #SOTU hashtag on Twitter, and Facebook users can join the discussion on the official White House page – where they can also RSVP to watch the address.

    There are also plans for a post-SOTU discussion panel. Senior Obama advisors will sit down and answer questions after the speech, and the questions will come from submissions on the White House site as well as ones posted to Twitter using the hashtag #WHChat.

    And in just under a week after the SOTU address, President Obama will sit down for a Google+ Hangout. The discussion during that event will be driven by top questions on YouTube. Some lucky YouTubers will be asked to take part in the live conversation on January 30th.

    Enhanced Broadcast:

    Whitehouse.gov is advertising an enhanced livestream of the President’s speech starting Tuesday at 9pm EST.

    There, the address will stream right next to accompanying charts, figures, and other graphics that support topics that the president is discussing in the speech. For instance, if Obama is talking about the gap between CEO and Worker salary in America, you might see a pie chart or other relevant graphic on the side.

    People that don’t want to deal with the enhanced broadcast can also watch the standard broadcast on the site.


    Host or Find a State of the Union Watch Party

    If you want to make watching the SOTU a real-life social event, you can create your own Watch Party event on barackobama.com. If you don’t feel like hosting, you can also search by zip code to find Watch Parties in your area.

    For instance, in my area, the State Democratic Headquarters have advertised a Watch Party, saying: “Join us for some good old Democratic fellowship and discuss how you can help this hard working President! In the past, President Obama’s State of the Union address has been a plan for the year ahead — and the priorities outlined in those speeches have led to many of this administration’s accomplish…”

    Will you be watching the President’s SOTU address? Will you participate using social media? Let us know in the comments.

  • Obama To Host Post-State of the Union Google+ Hangout

    Just a few days after joining Google+, President Obama isn’t wasting any time before interacting with the new social base. Monday morning, The White House announced that the President will be holding a special post-State of the Union Hangout, where he will answer user-submitted questions.

    The State of the Union address is set for Tuesday, January 24th and the special Google+ Hangout will take place on January 30th.

    In the first completely-virtual interview from the White House, President Obama will answer questions that have been submitted by Americans from across the country via YouTube. The virtual event with the President will happen through Google+ Hangouts, a live multi-person video chat.

    On Monday, January 30, the President will join a special Google+ Hangout from the West Wing. He’ll be answering several of the most popular questions that have been submitted through YouTube, and some of the people who submitted questions will even be invited to join the President in the Hangout and take part in the live conversation

    When the White House first joined Google+, they announced that staff members and experts would be answering user questions directly following the State of the Union, but the fact that this is all culminating with a Hangout with Obama himself is big news.

    You can submit your questions to the White House YouTube channel until January 28th.

    I guess the White House saw the latest figures that said Google+ has skyrocketed to 90+ million users. They also announced that Obama’s Weekly video address will be broadcast through Google+.