President Obama calls for moment of silence for victims of Arizona mass shooting

U.S. President Barack Obama on Sunday called on Americans to observe a moment of silence on Monday to honor the victims of a mass shooting in Arizona on Saturday, the White House said.

The shooting happened just after 10 a.m. MST at a supermarket in northwest Tucson on Saturday where Giffords was hosting her first "Congress on Your Corner" of the year. A gunman, identified as 22-year-old Jared Loughner, opened fire, killing six people and injuring 14 others.

AlJazeera: The US is planning to cut its defence expenditure by $78bn

Six dead, U.S. Congresswoman Giffords among at least 12 injured in Az. shooting

At least six people were killed and U.S. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was among twelve people injured on Saturday morning when a gunman opened fire at a public event in Tucson, Arizona, officials said.

The shooting happened just after 10 a.m. MST at a supermarket in northwest Tucson where Giffords was hosting her first "Congress on Your Corner" of the year. "My 1st Congress on Your Corner starts now," Giffords tweeted just before the shooting. "Please stop by to let me know what is on your mind or tweet me later."

According to local officials, a 21-year-old man identified as Jared Laughner walked up to Giffords and shot her in the head before turning the gun on others at the event. The Pima County Sheriff's Department said a total of 18 people were shot, six of them fatally.

U.S. Congresswoman Giffords critically injured in Arizona mass shooting

U.S. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was seriously injured on Saturday when a gunman opened fire at a public event in Tucson, Arizona, officials said. Several others were killed and injured.

The shooting happened just after 10 a.m. MST at a supermarket in northwest Tucson where Giffords was hosting her first "Congress on Your Corner" of the year. "My 1st Congress on Your Corner starts now," Giffords tweeted just before the shooting. "Please stop by to let me know what is on your mind or tweet me later."

According to local officials, a 21-year-old gunman walked up to Giffords and shot her in the head, seriously injuring her. The gunman, who was later arrested, also shot numerous other people.

President Obama appoints new Director of the National Economic Council

U.S. President Barack Obama on Friday announced the appointment of Gene Sperling as Director of the National Economic Council (NEC).

Sperling has been working in the Obama administration for the past two years and helped in the efforts to pass the small business jobs bill to help companies all across America and negotiate the tax compromise passed at the end of last year.

This would be the second tenure of Sperling in the NEC. During the Clinton Administration, he helped formulate the policies that contributed to turning deficits to surpluses.

U.S. partners with World Customs Organization to strengthen global security

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Thursday announced a new partnership with the World Customs Organization (WCO) to strengthen global security.

DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano said that the agreement was reached in order to enlist other nations, international bodies and the private sector in increasing the security of the global supply chain.

Napolitano remarked that the strategy includes a series of new initiatives to make the system stronger, smarter and more resilient. The U.S. expects that the partnership will maintain the engine of commerce, jobs, and prosperity protected from any threat.

"Securing the global supply chain is part and parcel of securing both the lives of people around the world, and the stability of the global economy," Napolitano said.

U.S. Debt ceiling debate. Is America heading to default?

Republicans are threatening to vote against raising the U.S. debt ceiling, sending the U.S. into default. Will they really do it and if yes, what will happen then?


Analysis

• What Is the Debt Ceiling Debate All About?
• Federal debt ceiling: The looming showdown
• The Big Story: McConnell, Boehner move to capitol's center stage

Opinions

• TheAtlanticWire: How, Exactly, Will House Republicans Cut $100 Billion from the Budget?
• HuffPost: "Gut Or Shut" -- Is America Ready?
• NYPost: Ceiling off spending: The debt stops here
• NYPost: America's coming collapse

Obama chooses William Daley as new White House Chief of Staff

President Barack Obama has decided to choose former U.S. Secretary of Commerce William Daley as his next chief of staff, NBC News and other U.S. media reported. He is expected to make the formal announcement on Thursday afternoon.

Daley, if confirmed, will replace former White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel who left on October 1st to run for mayor of Chicago. Pete Rouse has since served as interim Chief of Staff.

With the arrival of Daley, yet another Clinton administration official will join Obama's team. Daley, who is 62, has previously served as U.S. Secretary of Commerce from January 1997 until July 2000 under former President Bill Clinton.


Copyright 2010 by BNO News B.V. All rights reserved.

Press Secretary Gibbs to leave White House

WASHINGTON D.C.- Press Secretary Robert Gibbs on Wednesday announced that he is leaving the White House after two years at the position, the New York Times reported.

Gibbs, 39, would be the latest top U.S. official to leave the Obama administration. He told his staffers that he is exploring the possibility of establishing his own consulting shop.

The press secretary intends to become an outside political adviser to the president and his re-election campaign in 2012. Gibbs is expected to leave his post by February. His successor will likely be announced during the next two weeks.

President Barack Obama said that Gibbs will continue to be a close adviser and will continue being an important political figure in the years to come.

"He’s had a six-year stretch now where basically he’s been going 24/7 with relatively modest pay," said Obama. "I think it’s natural for someone like Robert to want to step back for a second to reflect, retool and that, as a consequence, brings about both challenges and opportunities for the White House."

Gibbs' dismissal came as the White House is currently undergoing a restructure. Amidst the changes highlights the possibility of a new White House chief of staff. Obama is expected to announce a decision by the end of the week.

It appears that Obama's decision for new White House chief of staff would be between Pete Rouse, interim chief of staff, or William Daley, former Commerce Secretary and brother of Chicago’s mayor, Richard Daley.

“The American people are expecting us to hit the ground running and start working with this new Congress to promote job growth and keep the recovery going,” said the U.S. President.

The soon-to-be vacant Press Secretary post could be likely filled by Jay Carney, spokesman for Vice President Joseph Biden, Bill Burton and Josh Earnest, who work as deputies to Gibbs.


Copyright 2010 by BNO News B.V. All rights reserved.

The 'Governator' to leave California's political scene on Monday

LOS ANGELES (BNO NEWS) -- California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, also known as the state's 'Governator', will leave the political scene on Monday when California Attorney General Jerry Brown takes over.

Schwarzenegger, 63, will be leaving office on Monday as term limits prevented him from running for a governor for a third time in November. But re-election, even if he had been allowed to, would have been uncertain due to his falling popularity.

It will be an end of an era when the Austria-born movie star leaves office as Governor next week. But, as he as always said, he'll be back. How exactly is not yet clear, although an immediate return to movies appears unlikely.

In October, Schwarzenegger was asked if he would return to the big screen after leaving office. "It depends," he said. "If someone comes with a great script, with a great idea. Will I still have the patience to sit on the set and do a movie for three months? I don't know," he said, while also expressing interest in writing a book.

TRNN: Tax the richest 1%

NATO forces in Afghanistan end 2010 with highest death toll since war began

KABUL - Troops with the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan welcomed the year 2011 on Saturday as the alliance said goodbye to a grim year with the highest coalition death toll on record.

NATO forces in Afghanistan end 2010 with highest death toll since war beganIn 2010, NATO and its partner allies reported a total coalition death toll of at least 709, which is considerably higher than the 521 fatalities in 2009. But it is even more grim when compared to previous years, showing a rapidly increasing death toll as insurgents continue to bring heavy losses to international troops.

The darkest month of the war was perhaps in July, with around 90 fatalities in this month alone, making it the deadliest month for U.S. forces since the war began on October 7, 2001 in response to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States.

US: Year in Review 2010

US: The decline of the death penalty

Executions have fallen by half since 1999. The number of new death sentences is about one-third what it was at the 1996 peak. Even in Texas, long the leading practitioner, death sentences are off by 80 percent. Several states that retain capital punishment have not administered a single lethal injection in the past five years.

The exoneration of 138 death row inmates has weakened public support for the ultimate sanction. In a recent Gallup poll, 64 percent of Americans endorsed it, down from 80 percent in 1994, while opposition has nearly doubled.

A survey commissioned by the Death Penalty Information Center found that 61 percent prefer that murderers get some sort of life sentence instead. As a budget priority, the death penalty was ranked seventh out of seven issues.

Read the editorial at the Chicago Tribune
Also read John Duty: human guinea pig in Oklahoma's cruel experiment

QuestionsView Results

Can the FCC rule the Internet?

The sound and fury over the Federal Communications Commission's attempt to exert regulatory power over the Internet largely ignores one important reality.

The legal footing for the authority the FCC has tried to claim with its Tuesday vote is so shaky as to make these rules a tenuous proposition at best.

It would be prudent for Congress to study the issue in hearings and come up with proposed changes in law that would give the FCC the legal wherewithal to take a light approach to regulating the Internet.

Of course, the political reality of Republicans taking control of the House might not make that idea very feasible, but that doesn't change the fact that Congress is the appropriate venue for the matter.

Read more:Editorial: Can FCC rule the Internet? - The Denver Posthttp://www.denverpost.com/opinion/ci_16922886#ixzz193cvXGKK

Bitter Memories of War on the Way to Jail

by Chris Hedges

We reached the fence. The real prisoners, the ones who blindly serve systems of power and force, are the mandarins inside the White House, the Congress and the Pentagon. The masters of war are slaves to the idols of empire, power and greed, to the idols of careers, to the dead language of interests, national security, politics and propaganda. They kill and do not know what killing is. In the rise to power, they became smaller. Power consumes them. Once power is obtained they become its pawn. Like Shakespeare’s Richard III, politicians such as Barack Obama fall prey to the forces they thought they had harnessed. The capacity to love, to cherish and protect life, may not always triumph, but it saves us. It keeps us human. It offers the only chance to escape from the contagion of war. Perhaps it is the only antidote. There are times when remaining human is the only victory possible.

Read full article here

Obama’s Afghanistan Talk Is Vietnam Time Warp

by Matthew Rothschild

When President Obama spoke on Thursday about Afghanistan, it was like being in a Vietnam time warp.

“This continues to be a very difficult endeavor. But I can report that thanks to the extraordinary service of our troops and civilians on the ground, we are on track to achieve our goals.”

Flashback to November 1967, when President Johnson had ordered a Pentagon review. “The President took control of the campaign to dramatize progress to the American people but in ways that grossly exaggerated future military prospects,” writes Larry Berman in his book, Lyndon Johnson’s War: The Road to Stalemate in Vietnam.

Read full article here

Obama Is Suffering Because of His Achievements, Not Despite Them

by Todd S. Purdum

With this weekend’s decisive Senate repeal of the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy for gay service members, can anyone seriously doubt Barack Obama’s patient willingness to play the long game? Or his remarkable success in doing so? In less than two years in office—often against the odds and the smart money’s predictions at any given moment—Obama has managed to achieve a landmark overhaul of the nation’s health insurance system; the most sweeping change in the financial regulatory system since the Great Depression; the stabilization of the domestic auto industry; and the repeal of a once well-intended policy that even the military itself had come to see as unnecessary and unfair.

Read full article here

Have Election Results Hurt Democrats or Republicans More?

MORE: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704828104576021900230935000.html

NEW CNAS REPORT OFFERS STRATEGY FOR SECURING U.S. INTERESTS IN AFGHANISTAN BEYOND 2011

In Responsible Transition, Barno and Exum provide policy recommendations - military and political - for how the United States and its NATO allies can get from summer 2011, when U.S. and coalition troops begin to draw down in Afghanistan, to 2014, when U.S. forces transition to a residual force and transfer full leadership of operations to Afghan security forces. Barno and Exum also consider "spoilers," or disruptive events, that could affect the success of any plan, including: a terror attack on U.S. soil originating in Pakistan; an adversarial Pakistan; a resurgent Taliban; and Afghan National Security Forces failure. Key recommendations include:

Read full article here