WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who skipped an overseas trip this past week because of a stomach virus, sustained a concussion after fainting, the State Department said Saturday.
The 65-year-old Clinton, who’s expected to leave her job soon, was recovering at home after the incident last week and is being monitored by doctors, according to a statement by aide Philippe Reines.
No further details were immediately available.
President Barack Obama telephoned his top diplomat Saturday to wish her well, a White House official said.
The State Department said Clinton was dehydrated because of the virus, fainted and sustained a concussion. She will continue to work from home in the week ahead and looks forward to returning to the office “soon,” the statement said.
House Representative Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY) told POLITICO Friday that if President Obama fails to act on gun control in the wake of the tragic shootings in Connecticut, she would have no problem “embarrassing everybody” in the administration into action.
McCarthy said before the election, she had spoken with White House Chief of Staff Jack Lew about the issue and told him, “Jack, I know the president is going through an election and I’m telling you after the election I’m coming out full force.” According to McCarthy, after the Connecticut incident, “the gloves are off” and she plans to do “everything” she possibly can to strengthen our gun control laws.
McCarthy’s plans include a campaign to pressure the White House into instituting an assault weapons ban. She acknowledged that the president might have his hands full immediately after the tragedy, but made clear that she expects a swift plan of action: “I want to talk to the White House. I know that they can’t give me an answer tonight, but I want to know what they’re going to do. I need to know what they’re going to do.”
The death of her husband and son in a mass shooting in 1993 was the impetus for McCarthy to join Congress fifteen years ago.
This afternoon I spoke with Governor Malloy and FBI Director Mueller. I offered Governor Malloy my condolences on behalf of the nation and made it clear he will have every single resource that he needs to investigate this heinous crime, care for the victims, counsel (for ?) their families.
We’ve endured too many of these tragedies in the past few years, and each time I learn the news, I react the not as a president but as anybody would, as a parent. And that was especially true today. I know there’s not a parent in America who doesn’t feel the same overwhelming grief that I do.
The majority of those who died today were children, beautiful little kids between the ages of 5 and 10 years old. (Pause.) They had their entire lives ahead of them — birthdays, graduations, weddings, kids of their own. (Pause.)
Among the fallen were also teachers, men and women who devoted their lives to helping our children fulfill their dreams.
So our hearts are broken today — for the parents and grandparents, sisters and brothers of these little children, and for the families of the adults who were lost.
Our hearts are broken for the parents of the survivors as well, for, as blessed as they are to have their children home tonight, they know that their children’s innocence has been torn away from them too early, and there are no words that will ease their pain.
As a country, we have been through this too many times, whether it’s an elementary school in Newtown or a shopping mall in Oregon or a temple in Wisconsin or a movie theater in Aurora or a street corner in Chicago. These neighborhoods are our neighborhoods, and these children are our children, and we’re going to have to come together and take meaningful action to prevent more tragedies like this, regardless of the politics.
This evening, Michelle and I will do what I know every parent in America will do, which is hug our children a little tighter, and we’ll tell them that we love them, and we’ll remind each other how deeply we love one another. But there are families in Connecticut who cannot do that tonight, and they need all of us right now.
In the hard days to come, that community needs us to be at our best as Americans, and I will do everything in my power as president to help, because while nothing can fill the space of a lost child or a loved one, all of us can extend a hand to those in need to remind them that we are there for them, that we are praying for them, that the love they felt for those they lost endures not just in their memories but also in ours.
May God bless the memory of the victims and, in the words of Scripture, heal the broken-hearted and bind up their wounds.
If confirmed, it would be one of the worst mass shootings in U.S. history. It comes after a series of shooting rampages in the United States this year that have killed multiple victims.
The principal and school psychologist were among the dead, CNN said.
The shooter, an adult, was dead and two handguns were recovered from the scene, NBC News reported without citing a source.
There were unconfirmed reports of a second shooter after witnesses reported hearing dozens of shots, CBS reported.
Sandy Hook Elementary School teaches children from kindergarten through fourth grade – roughly ages 5 to 10.
“It was horrendous,” said parent Brenda Lebinski, who rushed to the school where her daughter is in the third grade. “Everyone was in hysterics – parents, students. There were kids coming out of the school bloodied. I don’t know if they were shot, but they were bloodied.”
Television images showed police and ambulances at the scene, and parents rushing toward the school. Parents were seen reuniting with their children and taking them home.
“This is going to be bad,” a state official told Reuters, requesting anonymity because the scope of the tragedy remained uncertain.
President Obama has given the clearest sign yet that the federal government has no intention of challenging those states which voted on Nov. 7 to legalize the recreational use and sale of marijuana.
Speaking to ABC News’ Barbara Walters, the president said that the prosecution of recreational marijuana users in states that have legalized the substance won’t be a ‘top priority’ for federal law enforcement officials in the war on drugs.
‘We’ve got bigger fish to fry,’ said the president, who was speaking about cannabis for the first time since Colorado and Washington voted to legalize it.
‘It would not make sense for us to see a top priority as going after recreational users in states that have determined that it’s legal,’ he told Walters in a 20/20 interview which airs Friday night.
Although the sale and use of marijuana is in defiance of federal law, the president’s comments are the strongest suggestion yet that he plans to adopt a ‘hands-off’ approach, similar to that taken toward users of medicinal marijuana in the 18 states where it is legal.
In the ongoing fiscal cliff chess match playing out on Capitol Hill, Democrats have a message for Republicans: checkmate.
Democrats look at the political landscape and see a win whether a deal gets cut now or after the country goes over the cliff. Worst-case scenario, they say, the House will approve legislation the Senate passed in July extending Bush-era tax cuts for everyone but the rich, an idea that Republican House Speaker John Boehner has flatly rejected.
If Boehner refuses to pass the Senate bill before the end of the year, Democrats say their hand only gets stronger in the new year when the Senate will have 55 Democrats and at least five Republicans who have signaled they could vote to extend the middle-class tax cuts.
“We have the political high ground — there is no question about it. The sooner they realize it, the better it will be for them,” Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer said of the Republicans. “In 2010 it was the opposite. They had the political high ground and we had to do just about all cuts and no revenues. Now, the election was fought on revenues; we won it on revenues; the public is with us on revenues.”
Indeed, polls show that a majority of Americans favor raising taxes on the wealthy and will blame the GOP if the country goes over the cliff. And Democrats don’t believe that Republicans have the time, the megaphone or the leverage to force Democrats into making significant entitlement cuts right now. Congress just spent the last year making more than $1 trillion in cuts and Democrats say they are well-insulated from charges that they’re unwilling to slash spending.
Thanks to the lies of Fox News and the Republicans in Congress, one of the most qualified people ever to be considered for Secretary of State has withdraw her name from consideration. Susan Rice, whose only fault was repeating the official talking points regarding the attack in Benghazi, has decided that the confirmation process is “simply not worth it.”
Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations who drew heavy criticism from Republicans over her statements after the September attacks on a U.S. diplomatic mission, withdrew her name from consideration for secretary of state on Thursday.
In a letter to President Barack Obama, she said “the confirmation process would be lengthy, disruptive, and costly — to you and to our most pressing national and international priorities. That trade-off is simply not worth it to our country.”
Obama acknowledged her letter in a statement that described her as “an extraordinarily capable, patriotic, and passionate public servant.”
She was thought to be a frontrunner for the post, which Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she would vacate as soon as a successor is confirmed.
“The poll comes from the McClatchy News Service and was conducted by Marist. It asked respondents what they would and would not support as part of a grand fiscal bargain. The top-line results are typical: People first and foremost want to see taxes go up on the high end.
“But here’s the good stuff. Breaking down results to Republican respondents only, their positions are as follows. By 47-37, they oppose letting the current payroll tax cut expire (an Obama position). By 68-26, they’re against cutting Medicare spending. By 61-33, they oppose cutting Medicaid spending (yes, Medicaid spending!). By 66-28, they’re against eliminating the home-mortgage interest deduction. By 72-25, they oppose eliminating the charitable contribution deduction. And by 56-44, less overwhelming but still very much a landslide in political terms, they just say no to raising the Medicare eligibility age.”
More proof that Republicans are not working for the people, but for whatever string their corporate masters pull.
Graphic footage of a police officer shooting a man eleven times outside a suburban home – killing him – has been released a day after the officer was cleared of wrongdoing.
Attorneys for Ernesto Duenez Jr., 34, showed the video, which was recorded by a camera in the cop’s patrol car on June 8, 2011, at a press conference in Oakland, California on Wednesday.
It shows police waiting for Duenez, who was wanted in connection with a domestic violence incident that day, to arrive at a friend’s home. They swoop on the home once he arrives in a pickup truck.
Duenez, a passenger in the truck, can be seen climbing across the seats and opening a door as Manteca police officer James Moody runs towards the vehicle with his gun pointed.
Police have claimed the officer saw a knife in the man’s right hand and feared he might throw it or charge at him in the frantic, fast-paced exchange. Duenez’s family’s attorney says he was unarmed.
On the video, Moody is heard shouting: ‘Drop the knife now!’ and ‘Hands up! Hands up, Ernie! Don’t you move, Ernie, don’t you move or I’ll shoot you!’
The officer is seen firing 13 bullets in 4.2 seconds as Duenez moves to get out of the car.
He was shot 11 times – once in the head, eight times in the body and twice in the extremities – and four were while he was on the ground. He died of gunshot wounds to his chest and abdomen.
So the middle class could continue getting a tax cut come January. This tax cut saves the average family over $2,000.00 a year. The only thing standing in the way of this continued middle class tax cut, is Republicans insisting that the rich must get more tax cuts.
John Boehner’s recent counter offer to the White House where he demands extending the Bush tax cuts to America’s richest 2%, explains this perfectly.
“One of the reasons Tuesday night’s conversation between President Barack Obama and John Boehner did not go well was because the GOP House speaker sent the White House a fiscal cliff proposal calling for a permanent extension of Bush-era tax cuts for all Americans, including for incomes in the top 2%, a Democratic source said Wednesday.
“Democrats took the GOP counter offer to mean that tax reform cannot result in any marginal rates higher than current law, according to the source, who said Boehner’s proposal was a “sign” to Democrats that “Boehner and the GOP are unwilling or unable to do any sort of deal that can pass the Senate or be signed by the president.”
“Democrats favor raising tax rates on wealthy Americans as part of a deal to avoid the year-end fiscal cliff, while Republicans want to extend the Bush-era cuts for all income levels.”
In addition to all the tax loopholes that the rich now enjoy, Republicans are trying to guarantee that they also get a permanent tax cut from the government. And if they cannot continue putting more money into the pockets of the richest 2%, Republicans are more than willing to plunge this economy over the fiscal cliff.
President Obama is crushing John Boehner in the fiscal cliff battle—at least in the polls.
An ABC/Washington Post survey out this morning finds 49 percent of those questioned approving of Obama’s handling of the budget negotiations, compared with 42 percent who disapprove.
Now look at the House speaker’s numbers: Some 49 percent disapprove of his performance, with only 25 percent giving a thumbs up.
So Obama is winning the public relations battle over the effort to avert automatic tax hikes and spending cuts by a whopping 2-1 margin.
Even among Republicans, according to the poll, Boehner barely breaks even: 39 percent approval, 37 percent disapproval.
Separately, a Bloomberg poll says Americans believe by a 2-to-1 majority that the election results were an endorsement of Obama’s promise to protest Medicare and Social Security benefits–and nearly half the Republicans surveyed say he has a mandate to raise taxes on the wealthy.
His entire campaign could have won this dubious honor, but it was the lie he told in the final stages of his campaign that put Romney over the top and earned him PolitiFact’s liar of the year award.
It was a lie told in the critical state of Ohio in the final days of a close campaign — that Jeep was moving its U.S. production to China. It originated with a conservative blogger, who twisted an accurate news story into a falsehood. Then it picked up steam when the Drudge Report ran with it. Even though Jeep’s parent company gave a quick and clear denial, Mitt Romney repeated it and his campaign turned it into a TV ad.
And they stood by the claim, even as the media and the public expressed collective outrage against something so obviously false.
People often say that politicians don’t pay a price for deception, but this time was different: A flood of negative press coverage rained down on the Romney campaign, and he failed to turn the tide in Ohio, the most important state in the presidential election.
PolitiFact has selected Romney’s claim that Barack Obama “sold Chrysler to Italians who are going to build Jeeps in China” at the cost of American jobs as the 2012 Lie of the Year.
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