Posts Tagged ‘Sonia Sotomayor’
LiveBlog for Thursday, August 13, 2009
Thursday, August 13th, 2009
• Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY) calls in at 8:30am Pacific to talk about health care reform.
• Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA) held four town hall meetings in his home state yesterday. He said that there were large turnouts because people are scared about health care reform. Some booing and arguments occurred, but the overall tone was more orderly than similar health care meetings by Dem politicians.
• With the recession easing, the Federal Reserve has begun pulling back. It said that in October, it will wind down a program to buy U.S. government bonds. The central bank seeks to remove its expansive efforts to support the economy soon enough to prevent inflation but not so son that the fragile economy is quashed.
• President Obama threw a big White House party yesterday to celebrate Sonia Sotomayor as the U.S. Supreme Court’s first Latino justice. The event was packed with Sotomayor’s family and friends, lawmakers, issue advocates, Hispanic community leaders, and two of her fellow Supreme Court justices.
• President Obama awarded the nation’s highest civilian honor, the Medal of Freedom to 16 “agents of change” yesterday, highlighting their accomplishments as examples of the heights a person can reach and the difference they can make in the lives of others. Recipients included Sidney Poitier, Ted Kennedy, Billie Jean King, Stephen Hawking, and Harvey Milk.
Tags: Barack Obama, Billie Jean King, Charles Grassley, Eliot Engel, Federal Reserve, Harvey Milk, Sidney Poitier, Sonia Sotomayor, Stephen Hawking, Ted Kennedy
Posted in liveblog | 431 Comments »
LiveBlog for Friday, August 7, 2009
Friday, August 7th, 2009
• Rep. Betty Sutton (D-OH) calls in at 6:30am Pacific to talk about Cash for Clunkers (which she introduced and advanced).
• Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA) calls in at 7:30am Pacific to talk about health care reform.
• Comedian John Fugelsang calls in at 8:30am Pacific to talk about health care protesters, cash for clunkers, and other news of the day.
• The Senate voted last night to extend the “Cash for Clunkers” program with an infusion of $2 billion. White House aides said earlier that President Obama will quickly sign the bill into law to prevent any interruption to the popular incentive.
• Judge Sonia Sotomayor made history yesterday when the Senate confirmed her to become the nation’s first Hispanic Supreme Court justice. Sotomayor was easily confirmed in a 68-31 vote. 9 GOP-ers joined a unanimous Dem caucus in supporting her nomination. She will be sworn in at the Supreme Court by Chief Justice John Roberts tomorrow.
• Pakistani intelligence officials say that Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud was killed in a CIA drone strike that targeted a house Wednesday. Mehsud is enemy number one in Pakistan and is believed to be behind some of the biggest attacks in that country.
• John Hughes, director of “The Breakfast Club,” “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” and “Sixteen Candles,” died of a heart attack in New York yesterday. He was 59.
Tags: Adam Smith, Baitullah Mehsud, Barack Obama, Betty Sutton, John Fugelsang, John Hughes, Sonia Sotomayor
Posted in liveblog | 430 Comments »
LiveBlog for Thursday, August 6, 2009
Thursday, August 6th, 2009
• Rep. Robert Andrews (D-NJ) calls in at 6:06am Pacific to talk about health care reform.
• Comedian Will Durst calls in at 6:30am Pacific to do a little bipartisan bashing and to promote his upcoming gigs in Washington, DC.
• Eric Boehlert, Senior Fellow at Media Matters for America, calls in at 7:05am Pacific to give us even more info about the Birthers.
• Rep. Chris Murphy (D-CT) calls in at 7:30am Pacific to talk about health care reform.
• Judge Sonia Sotomayor is expected to easily win Senate confirmation today as two more Republicans, Sen. Kit Bond of Missouri and Sen. Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, announced their support for the country’s first Hispanic high court pick.
• President Obama announced yesterday that the federal government will provide $2.4 billion in grants for the development of more fuel-efficient, battery-powered automobiles. Obama’s announcement was the latest in a series of administration initiatives designed to accelerate a nationwide transition to a “green economy.”
• Former U.S. Rep. William Jefferson of Louisiana was convicted yesterday on 11 of the 16 corruption charges against him in a case that included the discovery of $90,000 in his freezer. A federal court jury convicted Jefferson on four bribery counts, three counts of money laundering, three counts of wire fraud, and one count of racketeering.
Tags: Barack Obama, Chris Murphy, Eric Boehlert, Judd Gregg, Kit Bond, Media Matters for America, Robert Andrews, Sonia Sotomayor, Will Durst, William Jefferson
Posted in liveblog | 366 Comments »
LiveBlog for Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Wednesday, July 29th, 2009
PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION FOR SENS. SCHUMER, LEAHY, AND DURBIN! CITIZENS FOR A PUBLIC OPTION!
• Rep. John Yarmuth (D-KY) calls in at 6:30am Pacific to talk about health care reform.
• Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis calls in at 7:05am to give us the White House perspective on health care reform.
• Karl Frisch, Senior Fellow at Media Matters for America, calls in at 8:05am Pacific to talk about the “Birther” phenomenon.
• After more than six hours of negotiations among White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, talks between House Democratic leaders and key Blue Dog Democrats broke up last night without a deal on health care reform. The talks are expected to continue today.
• The Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday approved the nomination of federal Judge Sonia Sotomayor to become the nation’s first Hispanic Supreme Court justice, setting up a final confirmation vote by the Senate. At least 5 GOP senators have announced their intention to support Sotomayor, making a confirmation by the Dem-controlled Senate a virtual certainty.
• The top U.S. commander in Afghanistan is expected to ask the Obama administration for additional troops and equipment, according to a senior U.S. military official familiar with Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s thinking.
• Hawaiian officials this week said they have once again checked and confirmed that President Obama was born in Hawaii and is a natural-born citizen.
Tags: Barack Obama, Blue Dog Democrats, Health Care Reform, Hilda Solis, John Yarmuth, Karl Frisch, Media Matters for America, Rahm Emanuel, Sonia Sotomayor, Stanley McChrystal
Posted in liveblog | 471 Comments »
LiveBlog for Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Tuesday, July 28th, 2009
CALL AND WRITE YOUR SENATORS AND MEMBER OF CONGRESS AND LET THEM KNOW YOU DON’T WANT THE PUBLIC OPTION REMOVED FROM HEALTH CARE REFORM! FIND OUT WHO THEY ARE HERE!!!
• Rep. Ron Kind (D-WI) calls in at 6:05am Pacific to talk about health care reform.
• Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ) calls in at 8:30am Pacific to talk about health care reform.
• House Dem leaders conceded yesterday that concerns raised by fiscally Conservative Blue Dog Democrats will prevent the chamber from voting on a health care reform bill before the August recess begins at the end of the week.
• A senior administration official said Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Sgt. James Crowley of the Cambridge, MA Police Department will be visiting the White House on Thursday. The meeting among the three men will take place at 6pm.
• Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, announced yesterday that he will not vote to confirm Judge Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme Court. The committee is expected to vote today on Sotomayor’s confirmation.
• Michael Jackson’s personal doctor administered the powerful anesthetic Propofol to help him sleep, and authorities believe the drug is what killed the pop singer, a law enforcement official told the AP yesterday. On June 25, the day Jackson died, Dr. Conrad Murray gave him the drug sometime after midnight, the official said.
Tags: Barack Obama, Blue Dogs, Conrad Murray, Frank Pallone, Health Care Reform, Henry Louis Gates Jr, James Crowley, Jeff Sessions, Michael Jackson, Ron Kind, Sonia Sotomayor
Posted in liveblog | 530 Comments »
LiveBlog for Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009
• Rep. Allyson Schwartz (D-PA) calls in at 6:05am Pacific to talk about the progress being made with health care reform.
• Rep. Ron Kind (D-WI) calls in at 7:30am Pacific to talk about health care reform.
• Comedian Hal Sparks joins us in studio at 8:05am Pacific to talk about all things politics and pop culture, and to give Steph some backrubs.
• House Dems put their divisions on display over the details and timing of health care legislation yesterday despite fresh attempts by President Obama to hasten a compromise on the issue that looms increasingly as a major test of his clout. President Obama will hold a news conference on the issue tonight at 8pm Eastern.
• An Associated Press poll shows that a majority of Americans are back to thinking that the country is headed in the wrong direction. While President Obama still has a solid 55% approval rating, 54% think the country is going in the wrong direction, up from 46% in June.
• The Senate Judiciary Committee put off its vote yesterday on Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor for one week amid objections from the panel’s conservative GOP-ers, even as Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) became the latest GOP-er to publicly commit to voting for Sotomayor.
• Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV), the longest serving senator in history, returned to the chamber yesterday after being absent for more than two months due to illness.
Tags: Allyson Schwartz, Barack Obama, Hal Sparks, Health Care Reform, Robert Byrd, Ron Kind, Sonia Sotomayor, Susan Collins
Posted in liveblog | 358 Comments »
LiveBlog for Monday, July 20, 2009
Monday, July 20th, 2009
• The Rude Pundit (Lee Papa) calls in at 6:30am Pacific to talk about the Sotomayor hearings and the Right’s reaction to them (also about his upcoming appearance in San Francisco on Sunday, July 26).
• Administration officials defended President Obama’s broad health care proposals yesterday and urged a skeptical public not to judge the Dems’ overhaul until Congress writes the final version. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said that it’s “a work in progress,” and said “more will be done. The House and Senate are committed to working with the president to get this done.
• Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), the top GOPer on the Senate committee reviewing Sonia Sotomayor’s nomination said yesterday her testimony did not settle his concerns about elevating her to the Supreme Court. “I was troubled by a number of the things the nominee has said, a number of the rulings she has made,” he said.
• The House Intelligence Committee will investigate whether the CIA broke the law by not telling Congress earlier about a secret program to deploy hit teams to kill individual Al Qaida members. Rep. Silvestre Reyes (D-TX) announced the investigation in a statement on Friday.
• A self-described “more contrite” South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford wrote an op-ed, published in newspapers around South Carolina yesterday, trying to win forgiveness after admitting to an affair and being incommunicado while he left the state for several days. He vowed to “begin the journey of trying to get things more right with you and others.”
Tags: Barack Obama, CIA, Jeff Sessions, Kathleen Sebelius, Lee Papa, Mark Sanford, Rude Pundit, Silvestre Reyes, Sonia Sotomayor
Posted in liveblog | 329 Comments »
LiveBlog for Friday, July 17. 2009
Friday, July 17th, 2009
• CNN’s Senior Political Correspondent Candy Crowley calls in at 6:05am Pacific to talk about the Sonia Sotomayor confirmation hearings.
• Comedian John Fugelsang joins us in studio at 8:05am Pacific to talk about the news of the day.
• Questions surrounding Judge Sonia Sotomayor’s past speeches generated more controversy in the final day of her Supreme Court confirmation hearings yesterday, as Dems again called her a mainstream jurist and GOPers portrayed her as a liberal activist likely to legislate from the bench.
• Speaker Nancy Pelosi said yesterday she would be willing to lower the amount of a new surtax on wealthy Americans to pay for health care legislation if more savings from proposed reforms can cover the cost of the bill.
• Speaking at the NAACP’s annual convention in New York, President Obama last night commended the progress of African-Americans but said there was still much work to be done. Obama highlighted some of his administration’s policies as examples of how the government is attempting to break down the barriers of inequity.
• Explosions tore through the Ritz-Carlton and J.W. Marriott hotels this morning in south Jakarta, Indonesia, killing nine people and wounding at least 50. Police found an unexploded bomb on the 18th floor of the J.W. Marriott Hotel, but they were able to diffuse it.
Tags: Barack Obama, Candy Crowley, Indonesia, John Fugelsang, NAACP, Nancy Pelosi, Sonia Sotomayor
Posted in liveblog | 399 Comments »
LiveBlog for Thursday, July 16, 2009
Thursday, July 16th, 2009
• James Woolsey, former CIA Director, calls in at 6:05am Pacific to talk about clean energy and how it relates to our national security.
• Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-CA) calls in at 6:30am Pacific to talk about the Sotomayor hearings and about health care reform.
• The Rude Pundit (Lee Papa) calls in at 8:30am Pacific to talk about the Sotomayor hearings and Sen. Jeff Sessions’ racism.
• Sonia Sotomayor strongly asserted her adherence to the law while senators from both parties pressed her on her personal views on issues such as abortion, gun control, and executive powers on the third day of her Supreme Court confirmation hearings. Sotomayor consistently answered she needed to know the specifics of a particular case, such as applicable state statutes and other facts.
• One of several proposals to overhaul the U.S. health care system passed a Senate committee yesterday, with Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) praising the $600 billion plan as a step toward his longtime goals. GOPers said it costs too much and would ration care to Americans.
• Iran’s crackdown on protests after its disputed presidential election has “shifted” its prospects for direct talks with the United States, but they remain on the table, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said yesterday.
Tags: Hillary Clinton, Iran, James Woolsey, Lee Papa, Linda Sanchez, Rude Pundit, Sonia Sotomayor, Ted Kennedy
Posted in liveblog | 335 Comments »
LiveBlog for Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Wednesday, July 15th, 2009
• Rob Kar, Professor of Law and Philosophy at the University of Illinois, calls in at 6:05am Pacific to talk about his experiences clerking for Judge Sotomayor in 1998-99, and his impressions of being at her hearing yesterday.
• Comedian Michael Ian Black calls in at 6:30am Pacific to talk about his new Comedy Central show, “Michael & Michael Have Issues.”
• Veteran political reporter Richard Wolffe calls in at 7:05am Pacific to talk about his new book, “Renegade: The Making of a President,” and about the news of the day.
• Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) calls in at 7:30am Pacific to talk about health care reform.
• Sonia Sotomayor faced tough questioning yesterday on political issues and controversial statements from her past, with both Dems and GOPers saying she responded well and appeared certain to win confirmation as the nation’s first Hispanic Supreme Court justice.
• House Dems unveiled their revised version of health care reform yesterday, offering a proposal that includes a government-funded health insurance option, required both individuals and employers to participate, and taxes the wealthy to help cover costs.
• A passenger plane carrying 168 people crashed this morning in northwest Iran, and all on board were feared dead. 153 passengers and 15 crewmembers were on the Caspian Airlines jet.
Tags: Chris Van Hollen, Health Care Reform, Michael Ian Black, Richard Wolffe, Rob Kar, Sonia Sotomayor
Posted in liveblog | 260 Comments »
