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Category: Foreign policy

Barbara Boxer endorses Chuck Hagel; Schumer on board

California Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer endorsed her former GOP colleague for Defense Secretary late Monday evening. Boxer had withheld support after President Obama nominated the Nebraskan last week, citing questions about his position on Israel, women’s issues and gays and lesbians. Boxer said she spoke with Hagel “extensively” by telephone last week and received a […]

Solar chief argues for natural gas exports

With a huge fight heating up over whether to allow exports of U.S. natural gas, California solar executive Arno Harris argued that allowing exports would help the solar industry and reduce global carbon emissions. The U.S. shale-gas boom (fracking) has up-ended global energy markets, lowering energy costs in the U.S. and promising to make the […]

11 ill-starred presidential picks, from Abe Fortas to Susan Rice

Most presidential nominations to key government posts sail through the Senate with little debate and (occasionally these days) little delay. Not so with Susan Rice, President Obama’s first choice to serve as Secretary of State in the president’s second term. Republicans had put Obama on notice that they would do everything they can — that […]

Dianne Feinstein torture report may conflict with Bin Laden movie

Senate Intelligence Committee chair Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., will hold a a committee vote Thursday on a comprehensive report on U.S. torture (“enhanced interrogation techniques”) since 9/11, but anti-torture advocates said its findings could be swamped by a hot new movie that glorifies torture. Zero Dark Thirty, set for release Dec. 19 in New York and […]

House passes bill to increase visas for highly educated immigrants

A bill to increase the number of visas for highly educated immigrants and allow families to stay in the United State while their visas are processed was passed in the House today by a vote of 245-139.

The STEM Jobs Act, sponsored by Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, would increase the number of visas available for students who graduated from American universities with advanced degrees in science, technology, engineering and mathematics degrees by 55,000 a year.

President-elect of Mexico to visit White House

President-elect Enrique Peña Nieto of Mexico will visit President Obama at the White House on Tuesday, Nov. 27, the White House announced Monday.

Gov. Bobby Jindal, Republicans turn attention to immigration reform

Republicans are in damage-control mode after their rough election and they’re zeroing in on a new goal. It’s immigration, stupid.

Top GOP members are turning to immigration reform as the solution to an image of the party tainted by negative rhetoric toward Latinos that came up this election. Mitt Romney reopened fresh wounds when he said President Barack Obama was reelected because he bribed minority groups with “extraordinary gifts from the government.”

Dianne Feinstein defends Susan Rice, says Iraq intel bad too

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the California Democrat who chairs the Intelligence Committee, defended U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice Friday, saying “We have seen wrong intelligence before, and it all surrounded our going into Iraq, and a lot of people were killed based on bad intelligence. And I don’t think that’s fair game. I think mistakes get made– […]

Confused about the Petraeus scandal? Here is a flowchart from Gawker that explains all

On Friday, CIA Director David Petraeus announced that he is resigned from the agency due to having engaged in an extramarital affair.

Colin Powell says he’s sticking with Obama in 2012

“I think that the actions he’s taken with respect to protecting us from terrorism have been very, very solid. I think we ought to keep on the track that we are on,” Powell said on CBS News this morning.