Thursday Open Thread: WWI Edition
Today, in 1914, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. Within weeks Europe would be engulfed in World War I.
Today, in 1914, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. Within weeks Europe would be engulfed in World War I.
From Politico: Rep. James Clyburn and a group of House Democrats are urging President Barack Obama to invoke the 14th Amendment to raise the debt ceiling if Congress can’t come up with a satisfactory plan before the Tuesday deadline. Clyburn,
Today, in 1953, the United States, China and North Korea signed an armistice, halting fighting in the Korean War. No peace treaty has been signed.
From The Financial Times: George Soros, the billionaire hedge fund manager best known for defeating the Bank of England on “Black Wednesday” in 1992, is to close his Quantum fund to outside investors and hand back the remaining outside capital.
From The Associated Press: Democratic Rep. David Wu of Oregon announced Tuesday that he will resign amid political fallout from an 18-year-old woman’s allegations she had an unwanted sexual encounter with him. Within days of the allegation, Democratic leaders requested
The House GOP and the Senate Democrats are crafting a plan on the debt ceiling. The White House is AWOL. So much for leadership.
From The Associated Press: Decrying a “partisan three-ring circus” in the nation’s capital, President Barack Obama criticized a newly minted Republican plan to avert an unprecedented government default Monday night and said congressional leaders must produce a compromise that can
From Jennifer Rubin in The Washington Post: A Republican aide e-mails me: “The Speaker, Sen. Reid and Sen. McConnell all agreed on the general framework of a two-part plan. A short-term increase (with cuts greater than the increase), combined with
Today, in 1965, Bob Dylan went electric at the Newport Folk Festival. It was the beginning of the end of the Hippies, even if they didn’t realize it.
From Byron York in the Washington Examiner: House Republicans are finishing work on a new proposal to resolve the standoff over the debt ceiling. The proposal, set to be finished and crafted into the form of a bill by Sunday,
Today, in 1929, diplomats from around the world signed the Kellogg-Briand Pact, which repudiated war as a matter of policy. From that day forward, according to the international community, wars would never be fought again. So, we have that going
From The Financial Times: Barbara Mikulski, Democratic senator from Maryland, best captured the turn of events in the critical US debt talks. After emerging from a lunch meeting on Thursday with members of her party and Jack Lew, the White
From Politico: Rep. David Wu has been accused of an “unwanted sexual encounter” with the teenage daughter of a longtime friend, the latest scandal to engulf the troubled Oregon Democrat. The Oregonian reported that the 56-year-old Wu “acknowledged a sexual
From The Associated Press: The roller-coaster debate over raising the nation’s debt limit has forced the White House to explain away, brush aside or even ignore declarations by President Barack Obama and aides that no longer served much purpose in
Talks over lifting the debt ceiling have broken down. President Obama is a totally unserious leader. Should make for an electric week. (Happy Birthday, Dad.)
From the Associated Press: House Speaker John Boehner abruptly broke off talks with President Barack Obama Friday night on a deal to cut federal spending and avert a threatened government default, sending compromise efforts into an instant crisis. Within minutes,
From the Associated Press: Police say they are sending anti-terror police to a youth camp outside Oslo after reports of a shooting there following the bomb blast at the government headquarters. The news site VG reported that a man dressed
From the Associated Press: The Senate on Friday blocked a House Republican bill to require Congress to slash spending and pass a balanced-budget amendment before raising the nation’s borrowing powers. The vote left unresolved, with just days to go, the
Today, in 1934, the criminal John Dillinger was killed outside a movie theater in Chicago.
Today, in 1861, the First Battle of Bull Run was fought. It dissuaded any notion that the Civil War would be an easy thing.
From The Hill: President Obama could agree to a short-term hike of the debt ceiling if there are concrete plans in place to move quickly with a grand bargain, the White House said Wednesday. White House press secretary Jay Carney
From the Associated Press: The last of the more than 60,000 Confederate veterans who came home to Alabama after the Civil War died generations ago, yet residents are still paying a tax that supported the neediest among them. Despite fire-and-brimstone
Today, 1976, Hank Aaron hit his 755th, and final, home run.
From the Associated Press: Defying a veto threat, the Republican-controlled House voted Tuesday night to slice federal spending by $6 trillion and require a constitutional balanced budget amendment to be sent to the states in exchange for averting a threatened
Yesterday, General Petraeus ceded command of the US mission in Afghanistan.
