Another day in the news! Did you sign up for The Daily Beast, or better yet, this blog!? What are you waiting for!
Okay, enough about me. Here are some quick recaps for you:
Boo You Romney.
Every speaker wants to have an engaging audience…but only to a certain extent. While Mitt Romney was speaking this morning at the NAACP’s annual conference, he was booed not once, not twice, but three times. He was first met with disapproval when he discussed his plans to repeal Obamacare and continued to be greeted with discontent when he discussed Obama’s failures in helping the economy and Romney’s claim that he would be the best president to make African-Americans lives better. As remarkable as this occurrence is, it brings to light a bigger question: why did Romney make these bold claims to an audience of one of the largest African-American organizations, an audience that represents a voter block that is 96% likely to vote for Obama according the Washington Post—ABC News yesterday poll? Was he expecting to receive a warm welcome and sigh of relief? Or, as Jonathan Karl said on World News tonight, was he trying to prove to undecided voters that he stands by his true beliefs?
Health care repeal outcome goes as plan.
Picking up from yesterday, the House voted today to repeal the new health care legislation 244 to 185. Sadly for Republicans and the five Democrat congressmen who voted on the bill though, it will 99.99% never be approved by the Democrat Senate or Obama himself. So, nothing really was accomplished. But, fun fact of the day: Congress has spent a total of approximately 90 hours debating health care since January 2011. How do I know this? It was one of my daily intern tasks to count the total number of hours.
Hillary Clinton is mending old wounds in Laos.
Hillary Clinton is taking a little vacation from Washington to visit Laos. While jet-setting for the Secretary of State is nothing unusual, this trip holds special significance because it is the first time since the Vietnam War that a high-rank United States official has visited the country. While there, her itinerary ranges from seeing such figure heads as the Laotian Prime Minister to seeing average citizens and people directly affected by Vietnam War bombing. Her stop in Laos is just part of a grand tour that includes Vietnam and Cambodia as she tries to help build stronger relationships with the United States and other Asian countries.
Vamos a la taxes.
Okay, this sentence probably does not make sense once translated, but I am done with my español career. Spain received an early Feliz Navidad present yesterday when the EU agreed to give the country a bank bailout. But, the gift came with price. Today, Spain released new plans to redirect the country on a sound, economic track, including raising sale taxes on everything from churros to ZARA clothes to cervezas. Ay Dios Mio! The hopeful end result is in two and a half years to take out €65 billion ($79.85 billion) off the national budget.
Phone booths are becoming useful again.
Sick of going to Starbucks for free Wi-Fi? Well, you soon may get to find access in phone booths. New York City today opened 10 Wi-Fi access booths today located in Manhattan, Queens and the Brooklyn. Customers will be able to get internet free of charge up to 200 feet away from the pay phone area, but all users must agree to a terms and conditions page. You never know, this could be very useful; all it needs is an installed frappuccino machine.
The Newsroom continues to be greeted with criticism.
Okay, I have only gotten a chance to watch the first episode of HBO’s newest show The Newsroom, and while it has been met with some criticism I like what I see. However, today the show reached another hiccup when Mike Lee, a Tea Party Senator, called the network and complained his portrayal on the show was inaccurate. *Sigh* haters gonna hate. I still think my favorite piece of commentary about the series was an article from Thought Catalog. TC, you never fail to entertain me.
And that sums it up for the day! Check in tomorrow for some new news updates!