Ny Safidinao

President Obama will deliver the first State of the Union address of his second term on February 12, having received a formal invitation from House Speaker John A. Boehner on Friday to address a joint session of Congress on that date. State of the Union speeches typically take place in late January, except for years in which presidents are sworn in and deliver an inaugural address. President Obama delivered his first such address to a joint session of Congress in late February 2009, and President George W. Bush delivered both of his post-inaugural State of the Union speeches in February. In his letter, Mr. Boehner said, “Our country continues to face immense challenges, and the American people expect us to work together in the new year to find meaningful solutions. This will require a willingness to seek common ground as well as presidential leadership.” By MARK LANDLER State of the Union Date Is Set

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Washington National Cathedral, where the nation gathers to mourn tragedies and celebrate new presidents, will soon begin performing same-sex marriages . Cathedral officials tell The Associated Press the church will be among the first Episcopal congregations to implement a new rite of marriage for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender members. The church will announce its new policy Wednesday.        As the nation's most prominent church, the decision carries huge symbolism. The 106-year-old cathedral has long been a spiritual center for the nation, hosting presidential inaugural services and funerals for Ronald Reagan and Gerald Ford. It draws hundreds of thousands of visitors.        In light of the legality of same-sex marriage in the District of Columbia and now Maryland, the Rt. Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde, the Episcopal bishop of Washington, decided in December to allow an expansion of the Chris...

The election ushered in a number of big changes in the states, with several for the first time legalizing gay marriage and marijuana , but one of the most dramatic shifts might be a change to the actual number of states. Puerto Ricans voted Tuesday to change their relationship with the United States and become the 51st U.S. state in a non-binding referendum that would require final approval from Congress. The AP wrote : The two-part referendum asked whether the island wanted to change its 114-year relationship with the United States. Nearly 54 percent, or 922,374 people, sought to change it, while 46 percent, or 786,749 people, favored the status quo. Voters then chose among three options for their new status, and statehood won with 61 percent. “Sovereign free association,” which would have allowed for more autonomy, received 33 percent, and independence garnered 5 percent. It’s the fourth time in 45 years that Puerto Rico has voted on changing its national status — it’s current...

Geithner Puts Issue of Debt Limit in Writing At the end of the year, the United States will hit its statutory borrowing limit, starting a countdown clock that would within a matter of weeks lead to it failing to pay all of its obligations, according to a statement from the Treasury Department. On Wednesday, Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner wrote a letter to Congress informing it that the United States would hit its $16.4 trillion borrowing limit on Dec. 31. The Treasury will “shortly” begin undertaking “extraordinary measures” to avoid the limit — essentially moving money from pocket to pocket to give the government enough breathing room to pay all of its bills, from soldiers’ salaries to Social Security payments, after that date. But within weeks — sometime in February or March, analysts estimate — its required payments would overwhelm its receipts, leaving an unprecedented cash shortfall. That would most likely send financial markets into a tailspin and lead to another downgr...

A collection of classroom-safe training pistols from a concealed-weapons permit class in Florida. (BRIAN BLANCO/REUTERS) “The facts are every time guns have been allowed, concealed-carry has been allowed, the crime rate has gone down.” --Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Tex.), on “Fox News Sunday,” Dec. 16, 2012 In the wake of the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., a number of lawmakers have pushed for new gun-control legislation. But some gun-control foes, such as Rep. Louie Gohmert, have argued that instead more guns, not more controls, are needed. Appearing on Fox News Sunday, Gohmert said of slain principal Dawn Hochsprung: “I wish to God she had had an M-4 [assault rifle] in her office, locked up so when she heard gunfire, she pulls it out and she didn’t have to lunge heroically with nothing in her hands, but she takes him out, takes his head off before he can kill those precious kids.” Laying aside the question of armed teachers in schools, we w...

GREENCASTLE, Pa. — The Green Grove Gardens banquet hall was decked out for Christmas, but the atmosphere at the Franklin County Republicans’ annual Eisenhower dinner here was anything but cheery. As the evening’s speaker, former Pennsylvania senator and 2012 presidential contender Rick Santorum, made a meet-and-greet round of the tables Tuesday, one woman implored him to “get rid of Obamacare.” “We had a chance,” Santorum told her. “It was called the last election.” So much for comfort and joy. Not quite six weeks after Republicans lost a presidential contest that many of them thought was in the bag, the shock has begun to wear off. The recriminations, on the other hand, are likely to go on for quite some time. And the tough work — figuring out what needs fixing — has only just begun. Some Republicans still argue that nothing is fundamentally wrong with the party. Or nothing that a better get-out-the-vote operation, a field of more appealing candidates, and more outreach to...

On the wish lists of Americans: A fully operational Death Star, a nationalized Twinkie industry, and motorcycle-riding "judges" who also act as jury and executioner The White House 's "We the People..." website allows Americans to petition the Obama administration on a variety of issues citizens believe need addressing. Requests range from serious ( petition to have the White House publicly acknowledge the U.S. drone program ) to self-interested ( federally legalize weed now! ) to completely absurd (have Vice-President Joe Biden serve as Guy Fieri's sidekick on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives ). Most are angry with the administration, with roughly 70 percent of current petitions asking that individual states — like Texas — be allowed to peacefully secede. What's more: Anyone can create a petition, with the caveat that each request must garner 25,000 signatures in order to be considered for an official White House response. Presente...

BOSTON (AP) — Mitt Romney 's shadow looms over a Republican Party in disarray.   The face of the GOP for much of the last year, the failed presidential candidate has been a virtual ghost since his defeat Nov. 6. He has quietly weathered the fallout of the campaign from the seclusion of his Southern California home, emerging only momentarily for a private lunch at the White House with President Barack Obama on Thursday. His loss and immediate withdrawal from politics, while welcomed by most, has created a leadership vacuum within his party. It's left the GOP rudderless, lacking an overarching agenda and mired in infighting, with competing visions for the way ahead, during what may be the most important policy debate in a generation. In his final meeting with campaign staffers at his Boston headquarters, Romney promised to remain "a strong voice for the party," according to those in attendance. But so far he has offered little to the Capitol Hill n...

It may take election experts years to unravel the mystery of why Mitt Romney was convinced he had won the 2012 presidential election , as a new report shows some skewed internal poll numbers, and explains Romney’s two trips to Pennsylvania . romney wins Image of Romney's "transition" website. But at the same time, the article from The New Republic ’s Noam Scheiber shows inconsistencies with reports from November 5 and November 6 about the numbers that might have convinced Romney and his team that he had a good chance of beating President Barack Obama in Ohio . Obama’s resounding win is starting to take on more of a resemblance to Harry Truman’s “upset” in 1948, with Romney playing the role of Thomas Dewey. Obama wound up with 332 electoral votes, taking every swing state except North Carolina. Somehow, the Romney campaign was seemingly convinced that he would win one of the final three swing states , or make a strong showing in Pennsylvania. In th...

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — San Francisco may be getting ready to shed its image as a city where anything goes, including clothing.   City lawmakers are scheduled to vote Tuesday on an ordinance that would prohibit nudity in most public places, a blanket ban that represents an escalation of a two-year tiff between a devoted group of men who strut their stuff through the city's famously gay Castro District and the supervisor who represents the area. Supervisor Scott Wiener 's proposal would make it illegal for a person over the age of 5 to "expose his or her genitals, perineum or anal region on any public street, sidewalk, street median, parklet or plaza" or while using public transit. A first offense would carry a maximum penalty of a $100 fine, but prosecutors would have authority to charge a third violation as a misdemeanor punishable by up to a $500 fine and a year in jail. Exemptions would be made for participants at permitted street fairs and parades, such as the ci...

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Louisiana's Bobby Jindal is urging the Republican Party to rethink its pitch to voters. Bob McDonnell of Virginia says Republicans should look to outsiders to fix partisan gridlock in Washington. Their fellow governor, Wisconsin 's Scott Walker , says the next GOP leader must do a better job explaining why the party's policies will help ordinary Americans.   New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is holding court with admirers — and ignoring reporters as he ducks into nominally private meetings. And Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida is packing his bags for a very public trip to Iowa . Yes, the jockeying for 2016 has already begun. Less than two weeks after Republican nominee Mitt Romney came up short in his bid to unseat President Barack Obama , the next class of potential GOP presidential hopefuls is laying the groundwork for bids of their own. Some subtle and some overt, the maneuvering by would-be-candidates runs along a sometimes perilous path marked by donors,...