Wake Up To Politics - December 16, 2014
To read today's edition of Wake Up To Politics in a PDF format, click here. Continue reading to find the text of the Wake Up in the body of the email!
Tuesday, December 16, 2014
693 Days Until Election Day 2016It's Tuesday, December 16, 2014, I'm Gabe Fleisher for Wake Up To Politics, and reporting from WUTP world HQ in my bedroom - Good morning: THIS IS YOUR WAKE UP CALL!!!
To send me questions, comments, tips, new subscribers, and more: email me at wakeuptopolitics@gmail.com. To learn more about WUTP or subscribe, visit the site: wakeuptopolitics.com, or read my tweets and follow me on Twitter: twitter.com/Wakeup2Politics.
Event of the Year
- Voting continues for Wake Up To Politics Event of the Year continues until Friday. The top choice will be featured in the Event of the Year Magazine in late December or early January, and the decision belongs with you.
- You can vote in three ways: 1) fill out the 2-question survey on wakeuptopolitics.com 2) email me at wakeupolitics@gmail.com with your choice (list below) or 3) tweet your choice with #WakeUpEvent
- The survey has the chocies listed, but if you want to email or tweet – you must choose from the options below:
- Crimea annexation
- Ebola outbreak
- Ferguson protests
- Flight 370 disappearance
- Gaza conflict
- Immigration debate
- ISIS executions
- Midterm voting
- NFL sexual assault
- Nigeria kidnapping
- Same-sex marriages recognized
- Also, if you’d like to include an explanation of why you’re voting for your choice (these will be included in the Magazine), please do!
- Thanks, and Happy Voting!Capitol Hill News
- Murthy Confirmed as Surgeon General In a 51-43 vote Monday, the Senate confirmed Vivek Murthy as U.S. Surgeon General.
- The 37-year-old physician was opposed by the influential National Rifle Association (NRA) for his pro-gun control views.
- A lone Republican, Illinois’ Mark Kirk, voted to confirm Murthy, while three Democrats opposed him – Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, Joe Donnelly of Indiana and Joe Manchin of West Virginia. The three Democrats are all from pro-gun red states.
- “Our Surgeon General serves as America’s leader on public health services and chooses what health policies we should prioritize,” Manchin said in a release explaining his opposition. “For that reason, I don’t believe it’s appropriate for America’s number one doctor to participate in political activism.”
- Murthy, the president and co-founder of Doctors for America, has advocated for affordable health care – and called gun control a “public health issue,” even worse in the eyes of the NRA.
- “As ‘America’s Doctor,’ Vivek will hit the ground running to make sure every American has the information they need to keep themselves and their families safe,” President Barack Obama said in a release celebrating Murthy’s confirmation. “He’ll bring his lifetime of experience promoting public health to bear on priorities ranging from stopping new diseases to helping our kids grow up healthy and strong.”
- Obama also mentioned Ebola in his release, saying “Vivek will also help us build on the progress we’ve made combatting Ebola, both in our country and at its source. Combined with the crucial support for fighting Ebola included in the bill to fund our government next year, Vivek’s confirmation makes us better positioned to save lives around the world and protect the American people here at home.”
- When the Ebola outbreak first reached the United States, Republicans blamed the Obama Administration for not having a Surgeon General on the job. Democrats said it was Republicans’ fault for not confirming Murthy, who had been nominated over a year ago.
- Senate: Status Update Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid continues on his mission to confirm as many of Obama’s nominee as possible before relinquishing control of the chamber to Republicans next month.
- Today, the upper chamber will vote on confirmation of Daniel J. Santos to be a member of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, Sarah R. Saldana to be an Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security, and Antony Blinken to be Deputy Secretary of State; and hold cloture votes for Frank A. Rose to be an Assistant Secretary of State, as well as on the Saldana, Rose, and Blinken nominations (so the chamber can advance to the confirmation votes).
White House Watch
- The President’s Schedule At 11:05, President Obama will meet with Archbishop Jospeh Kurtz of Louisville, President of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
- At 12:30 PM, the President will have lunch with Vice President Joe Biden.
- Finally, at 4:40 PM, Obama will meet with his National Security Council in the Situation Room to “review potential threats during the holidays to US interests at home & abroad,” according to CBS’ Mark Knoller.
Today In...
- 1773 A group of Massachusetts colonists dress as Mohawk Indians and board three British tea ships on Boston Harbor, destroying 342 chests of tea by dumping them into the harbor, causing a value of $18,000 in damage.
- The group was the 60-member-strong Sons of Liberty, led by Samuel Adams, to protest the Tea Act, a bill passed by the British Parliament allowing the East India Company to gain a monopoly on the American tea trade.
- The event would become known as the “Boston Tea Party,” and the acts of rebellion would gain the Sons of Liberty a place in the history books, but also renewed outrage from Britain, who established military rule in Massachusetts. Colonists soon responded by calling the first Continental Congress to rise a rebellion against the British. The “shot heard ‘round the world” would be a few months later, the first Continental Congress would become the second, the second Congress would declare independence from Great Britain…and the rest is history.
- 1950 A national state of emergency is declared by President Harry Truman to fight “Communist imperialism”.
- 2000 President George W. Bush appoints Colin Powell as Secretary of State, the first African-American to hold the post.
