http://news.yahoo.com/rss-ticket/ en-US Copyright (c) 2013 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved Thu, 23 May 2013 16:20:22 -0400 5 http://news.yahoo.com/rss-ticket/ http://l.yimg.com/a/i/us/nws/th/main_142c.gif Saying it's time "to fight terrorists without keeping America on a perpetual wartime footing," President Barack Obama invited Congress in a speech on Thursday to help him scale back the country's 12-year conflict against al-Qaida and its affiliates. "America is at a crossroads. We must define the nature and scope of this struggle, or else [...]http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/questions-obama-drones-guantanamo-counter-terrorism-speech-141259101.htmlThu, 23 May 2013 16:20:22 -0400blogs/ticket/questions-obama-drones-guantanamo-counter-terrorism-speech-141259101President Barack Obama's planned counterterrorism speech was temporarily derailed several times on Thursday when activist Medea Benjamin shouted criticisms of the administration's use of drones and operation of the Guantanamo Bay detention camp. Benjamin, co-founder of peace activist group Code Pink, was seated in the audience at National Defense University in Washington, D.C., where Obama [...]http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/code-pink-activist-medea-benjamin-heckles-obama-195521792.htmlThu, 23 May 2013 15:55:21 -0400blogs/ticket/code-pink-activist-medea-benjamin-heckles-obama-195521792Anthony Weiner's nascent New York City mayoral campaign might have hit a slight snag. Azi Paybarah at Capital New York notes on Thursday that the skyline featured in a banner on Weiner's campaign site appears to picture the lovely city of Pittsburgh, not New York. Weiner announced his candidacy in a video posted to the [...]http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/anthony-weiner-logo-features-pittsburgh-skyline-193243770.htmlThu, 23 May 2013 15:32:43 -0400blogs/ticket/anthony-weiner-logo-features-pittsburgh-skyline-193243770Mayoral hopeful Anthony Weiner made his first appearance on Thursday since declaring his candidacy, apologizing again for his bizarre, Internet-only infidelity scandal that forced him out of Congress nearly two years ago. "There may be people who will never vote for me, and I respect that," Weiner told the phalanx of reporters who surrounded him [...]http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/anthony-weiner-courts-nyc-voters-second-chance-city-150226386.htmlThu, 23 May 2013 11:02:26 -0400blogs/ticket/anthony-weiner-courts-nyc-voters-second-chance-city-150226386With a trio of scandals swirling around the White House, President Barack Obama could use some good press. Time magazine did its best to deliver just that on Thursday, releasing some vintage photos of a then 17-year-old Obama on prom night. The magazine obtained the photos from Kelli Allman (née McCormack), Obama's classmate at Punahou [...]http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/obama-prom-photos-124524785.htmlThu, 23 May 2013 08:45:24 -0400blogs/ticket/obama-prom-photos-124524785It's been a good week for proponents of immigration reform. The sweeping bill that seeks to legalize most of the country's 11 million unauthorized immigrants was passed by the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday night, after five full days of debate and amendments that did little to significantly change the original compromise. So, what's next [...]http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/next-immigration-reform-bill-204958093.htmlWed, 22 May 2013 16:49:58 -0400blogs/ticket/next-immigration-reform-bill-204958093Attorney General Eric Holder informed Congress on Wednesday that the U.S. has killed four Americans in drone strikes since 2009: radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki and three others who were “not specifically targeted.” Holder’s disclosure, first reported by the New York Times, came a day before President Barack Obama was to defend his counterterrorism strategy in [...]http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/holder-four-americans-killed-overseas-drone-strikes-since-204200672.htmlWed, 22 May 2013 16:42:00 -0400blogs/ticket/holder-four-americans-killed-overseas-drone-strikes-since-204200672Think of it as a sort of reverse birthday gift. After a tense few days in the White House Brady Press Briefing Room as the Internal Revenue Service scandal, Benghazi emails and the Justice Department's secret seizure of journalists' phone records put White House press secretary Jay Carney on defense, he decided to strike a [...]http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/carney-press-good-enough-smart-enough-doggone-200324217.htmlWed, 22 May 2013 16:03:24 -0400blogs/ticket/carney-press-good-enough-smart-enough-doggone-200324217Lois Lerner, the Internal Revenue Service official in charge of approving applications for tax-exempt status, denied wrongdoing in response to accusations that the IRS targeted conservative organizations seeking nonprofit status for heavier scrutiny between 2010 and 2012. "I have not done anything wrong," Lerner told the House Oversight Committee during a hearing about the IRS' [...]http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/irs-official-lois-lerner-not-done-anything-wrong-153037583.htmlWed, 22 May 2013 11:30:37 -0400blogs/ticket/irs-official-lois-lerner-not-done-anything-wrong-153037583Confirming the worst-kept secret in politics, former Rep. Anthony Weiner has announced he’s running for New York City mayor—telling voters that he wants a second chance in politics. "I made some big mistakes, and I know I let a lot of people down, but I also learned some tough lessons," Weiner said in the two-minute [...]http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/anthony-weiner-confirms-running-nyc-mayor-105226905.htmlWed, 22 May 2013 06:52:26 -0400blogs/ticket/anthony-weiner-confirms-running-nyc-mayor-105226905For a talented, creative few, there’s David Letterman. For most, there’s a labyrinth of paperwork, hard decisions and painful sacrifices that could have dramatic repercussions on their financial health decades from now. Paying for college in America is hard. And a fight may be brewing in Washington that could leave college grads paying more—maybe a [...]http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/college-expensive-thanks-washington-might-soon-paying-more-094712032.htmlWed, 22 May 2013 05:47:12 -0400blogs/ticket/college-expensive-thanks-washington-might-soon-paying-more-094712032Internal Revenue Service official Lois Lerner, who leads the exempt organizations division under scrutiny for targeting conservative groups that applied for tax-exempt status, is refusing to testify before Congress, the Los Angeles Times reports. Lerner was supposed to appear before the House Oversight Committee Wednesday. The Times reports that Lerner's attorney, William W. Taylor III, [...]http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/irs-official-lerner-refuses-testify-congress-210326599.htmlTue, 21 May 2013 17:03:26 -0400blogs/ticket/irs-official-lerner-refuses-testify-congress-210326599President Barack Obama on Tuesday filled out his Presidential Commission on Election Administration, which was created to improve election systems in the United States. "As I said in my State of the Union Address, when any American, no matter where they live or what their party, is denied that right [to vote] simply because too [...]http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/president-fills-commission-improve-election-systems-194533953.htmlTue, 21 May 2013 15:45:33 -0400blogs/ticket/president-fills-commission-improve-election-systems-194533953Former Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Douglas Shulman said that he was "not personally responsible" for the agency's practice of placing elevated scrutiny on conservative groups that applied for nonprofit status, but that he regrets it occurred during his tenure. "I certainly am not personally responsible for creating a list that had inappropriate criteria on it. [...]http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/former-irs-commissioner-not-personally-responsible-targeting-conservative-164324385.htmlTue, 21 May 2013 12:43:24 -0400blogs/ticket/former-irs-commissioner-not-personally-responsible-targeting-conservative-164324385Two top Internal Revenue Service officials knew that the agency was using a list to scrutinize applications for tax-exempt status that included the phrase "tea party" as early as the spring of 2012, but did not tell lawmakers until this year. Former IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman and outgoing Commissioner Steven Miller told the Senate Finance [...]http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/senator-accuses-irs-officials-withholding-information-2012-agency-154929004.htmlTue, 21 May 2013 11:49:29 -0400blogs/ticket/senator-accuses-irs-officials-withholding-information-2012-agency-154929004A bipartisan group of senators begins a fifth full day of debating changes to the immigration reform bill Tuesday. So far, the so-called mark-up process has left the sweeping overhaul of the nation's immigration laws—which would legalize most of the country's 11 million undocumented immigrants—largely untouched. On Tuesday, the senators will address some of the [...]http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/immigration-reform-bill-largely-untouched-going-fifth-day-140819202.htmlTue, 21 May 2013 10:08:19 -0400blogs/ticket/immigration-reform-bill-largely-untouched-going-fifth-day-140819202President Barack Obama on Tuesday morning assured residents of Oklahoma that they have both the nation's support and the federal government's assistance as they reel from the aftermath of a deadly tornado. "Our prayers are with the people of Oklahoma today," Obama said during remarks delivered at the White House after a giant tornado tore [...]http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/obama-publicly-addresses-oklahoma-tornado-disaster-134953646.htmlTue, 21 May 2013 09:49:53 -0400blogs/ticket/obama-publicly-addresses-oklahoma-tornado-disaster-134953646Conservative radio talk show hosts have signed a letter opposing the sweeping immigration reform bill in the Senate, bucking tea party favorite Sen. Marco Rubio's attempts to win their support for the bill, which would combine enhanced border security with a legalization program for the nation's unauthorized immigrants. Rubio, a member of the "gang of [...]http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/despite-rubio-wooing-radio-hosts-protest-immigration-reform-040037879.htmlTue, 21 May 2013 00:00:37 -0400blogs/ticket/despite-rubio-wooing-radio-hosts-protest-immigration-reform-040037879President Barack Obama has been getting updates on the massive tornado that ravaged homes and schools near Oklahoma City and has directed the Federal Emergency Management Agency to prepare to get "all available assistance" to the disaster-hit area, the White House said Monday. FEMA has been closely monitoring the storm. Obama has discussed it with [...]http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/obama-directs-fema-ready-help-tornado-ravaged-oklahoma-221049324.htmlMon, 20 May 2013 18:10:49 -0400blogs/ticket/obama-directs-fema-ready-help-tornado-ravaged-oklahoma-221049324President Barack Obama will meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping for the first time on June 7-8 in California, the White House announced on Monday. The talks come amid rising U.S. anger at alleged cyberattacks originating in China and concerns about Beijing’s expanding global influence. “The two leaders will review progress & challenges in U.S.-China [...]http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/obama-meet-chinese-pres-xi-june-212849906.htmlMon, 20 May 2013 17:28:49 -0400blogs/ticket/obama-meet-chinese-pres-xi-june-212849906The Republican Party is actively working to recruit more women to run for public office, but they still face "institutional barriers" to getting involved in GOP politics at the ground level, Republican State Leadership Committee President Chris Jankowski said on Monday. As part of the RSLC's Right Women Right Now project, the organization, which specializes [...]http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/gop-official-still-institutional-barriers-republican-women-running-205021143.htmlMon, 20 May 2013 16:50:21 -0400blogs/ticket/gop-official-still-institutional-barriers-republican-women-running-205021143President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama will visit Senegal, South Africa and Tanzania from June 26 to July 3, the White House announced on Monday. The Obamas spent one emotionally charged day in Ghana in July 2009—the president's only other visit to sub-Saharan Africa since taking office. "The president will reinforce the importance [...]http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/obama-visit-senegal-south-africa-tanzania-203546237.htmlMon, 20 May 2013 16:35:46 -0400blogs/ticket/obama-visit-senegal-south-africa-tanzania-203546237It seems we didn't know the whole story about what the White House knew when about the Internal Revenue Service's improper targeting of conservatives. And neither did the White House spokesman. White House press secretary Jay Carney revealed during Monday's briefing that in addition to White House counsel Kathy Ruemmler, White House chief of staff [...]http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/white-house-chief-staff-mcdonough-others-knew-irs-201700994.htmlMon, 20 May 2013 16:17:00 -0400blogs/ticket/white-house-chief-staff-mcdonough-others-knew-irs-201700994Fox News on Monday angrily denounced the Justice Department’s “downright chilling” decision to target of one of its reporters, James Rosen, in a national security leak investigation. Executive Vice President Michael Clemente portrayed the government’s actions as an assault on “what up until now has always been a free press.” “We are outraged to learn [...]http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/fox-news-govt-spying-reporter-downright-chilling-182908982.htmlMon, 20 May 2013 14:29:08 -0400blogs/ticket/fox-news-govt-spying-reporter-downright-chilling-182908982The president of a union that represents 12,000 U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services employees announced his opposition to the immigration reform bill in the Senate on Monday morning. "The legislation will provide legal status to millions of visa overstays while failing to provide for necessary in-person interviews," union President Kenneth Palinkas said in a statement. [...]http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/uscis-union-president-fights-immigration-reform-bill-151954357.htmlMon, 20 May 2013 11:19:54 -0400blogs/ticket/uscis-union-president-fights-immigration-reform-bill-151954357The Justice Department spied extensively on Fox News reporter James Rosen in 2010, collecting his telephone records, tracking his movements in and out of the State Department and seizing two days of Rosen’s personal emails, the Washington Post reported on Monday. In a chilling move sure to rile defenders of civil liberties, an FBI agent [...]http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/obama-admin-spied-fox-news-reporter-james-rosen-134204299.htmlMon, 20 May 2013 09:42:04 -0400blogs/ticket/obama-admin-spied-fox-news-reporter-james-rosen-134204299Republican Senators Rand Paul, Mitch McConnell and Rob Portman continued Sunday to press the Obama administration on the Internal Revenue Service scandal that's engulfed the White House. On CNN's "State of the Union," Paul told Candy Crowley he heard about a "written policy" that encouraged IRS officials to target "those who are critical of the [...]http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/irs-scandal-mcconnell-paul-obama-191839606.htmlSun, 19 May 2013 15:18:39 -0400blogs/ticket/irs-scandal-mcconnell-paul-obama-191839606President Barack Obama took a break from the trifecta of controversies—IRS, Department of Justice, Benghazi—swirling around the White House on Sunday to deliver the commencement address at Morehouse College, the historically black, all-male institution in Atlanta. "What I ask of you today is the same thing I ask of every graduating class I address," Obama [...]http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/obama-morehouse-commencement-speech-172854207.htmlSun, 19 May 2013 13:28:54 -0400blogs/ticket/obama-morehouse-commencement-speech-172854207While applying with the Internal Revenue Service for tax-exempt status in 2009, an Iowa-based anti-abortion group was asked to provide information about its members' prayer meetings, documents sent by an IRS official to the organization reveal. On June 22, 2009, the Coalition for Life of Iowa received a letter from the IRS office in Cincinnati, [...]http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/irs-conservative-group-2009-members-pray-193833144.htmlFri, 17 May 2013 15:38:33 -0400blogs/ticket/irs-conservative-group-2009-members-pray-193833144Following a rough, scandal-filled week in Washington, President Barack Obama got dressed down by a bunch of kids. During a visit to Moravia Park Elementary School in Baltimore, Md., Friday, the president was asked to do another challenging task: Draw a tiger. "I got to help with one of the lessons. We were having to [...]http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/obama-tiger-not-gr-r-reat-190153960.htmlFri, 17 May 2013 15:01:53 -0400blogs/ticket/obama-tiger-not-gr-r-reat-190153960Today marks the one-week anniversary of the Internal Revenue Service's disclosure that it improperly scrutinized certain conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status. As an inspector general report on the practice found, groups with phrases like "tea party," "patriots" and "9/12 project" were targeted for the "Be On the Look Out" or "BOLO" list, and often [...]http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/irs-targeted-tea-party-groups-did-liberal-groups-172738397.htmlFri, 17 May 2013 13:27:38 -0400blogs/ticket/irs-targeted-tea-party-groups-did-liberal-groups-172738397After a week filled with controversy and criticism, President Barack Obama left town Friday for Baltimore, the second stop on his "Middle Class Jobs & Opportunity Tour." The trip, which was previously scheduled, took him to a dredging manufacturer and an elementary school, with the next stop on the itinerary a community center. At Ellicott [...]http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/obama-leaves-scandals-washington-pushes-jobs-economy-baltimore-160836939.htmlFri, 17 May 2013 12:08:36 -0400blogs/ticket/obama-leaves-scandals-washington-pushes-jobs-economy-baltimore-160836939Outgoing IRS Commissioner Steven Miller apologized Friday on behalf of the federal tax collection agency for unfairly targeting conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status. But Miller insisted the practice was "absolutely not illegal." The IRS is under fire for placing heavier scrutiny on organizations with words like "tea party" or "patriots" in their name when [...]http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/irs-commissioner-says-partisanship-not-involved-agency-behavior-134141319.htmlFri, 17 May 2013 09:41:41 -0400blogs/ticket/irs-commissioner-says-partisanship-not-involved-agency-behavior-134141319The 100 pages of emails that the White House released on Wednesday, which cover the administration's crafting of its talking points about the Sept. 11, 2012, attack in Benghazi, Libya, do not contain any clear indications of a political cover-up. But they do indicate that the CIA, FBI, State Department and the White House operate [...]http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/benghazi-messages-browse-administration-emails-inbox-153342167.htmlFri, 17 May 2013 07:31:45 -0400blogs/ticket/benghazi-messages-browse-administration-emails-inbox-153342167In what has become an annual tradition, the Republican-led House of Representatives on Thursday voted again to fully repeal the federal health care law passed by Democrats and signed by President Barack Obama in 2010. The House first voted for full repeal in January 2011 when Republicans took control of the chamber, and again in [...]http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/house-republicans-repealing-obamacare-annual-tradition-222826899.htmlThu, 16 May 2013 18:28:26 -0400blogs/ticket/house-republicans-repealing-obamacare-annual-tradition-222826899Former Rep. Anthony Weiner is apparently close to making his run for New York City mayor official. According to WNBC-TV, the former congressman was spotted filming what appeared to be a campaign ad on the front steps of his childhood home in Park Slope, Brooklyn, on Thursday. Weiner was joined by his wife, Huma Abedin, [...]http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/anthony-weiner-spotted-filming-campaign-ad-amid-rumors-211527295.htmlThu, 16 May 2013 17:15:27 -0400blogs/ticket/anthony-weiner-spotted-filming-campaign-ad-amid-rumors-211527295President Barack Obama said on Thursday he reserves the right to step up American military and diplomatic efforts to push out Syria’s Bashar Assad, but warned he has “no magic formula” to end that country’s civil war. Speaking at a joint press conference in the White House Rose Garden with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip [...]http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/obama-no-magic-formula-end-syria-civil-war-200242390.htmlThu, 16 May 2013 16:02:42 -0400blogs/ticket/obama-no-magic-formula-end-syria-civil-war-200242390President Barack Obama on Thursday appointed Danny Werfel, an official with the Office of Management and Budget, as acting commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service. Werfel replaces Steven Miller, the acting commissioner forced to resign on Wednesday over the IRS having targeted conservative groups for special scrutiny. Werfel, whose appointment will be effective May 22, [...]http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/obama-choose-omb-official-danny-werfel-head-irs-191121420.htmlThu, 16 May 2013 15:11:21 -0400blogs/ticket/obama-choose-omb-official-danny-werfel-head-irs-191121420House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi accused Republicans of using the alleged scandals involving the Internal Revenue Service, Department of Justice and the State Department as an "evasion" from passing bills she said would increase job growth. Over the past few weeks, the IRS admitted to targeting conservative groups applying for nonprofit status and the Department [...]http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/pelosi-gop-using-irs-benghazi-doj-issues-evasion-173845377.htmlThu, 16 May 2013 13:38:45 -0400blogs/ticket/pelosi-gop-using-irs-benghazi-doj-issues-evasion-173845377Playing hardball? Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas announced on Thursday that the IRS softball team (“The Cheetahs”—no, really) had canceled a planned faceoff against his office’s team ("The RBIs of Texas"). “We contacted them to confirm our game, which was scheduled for tomorrow night, and they said they needed to reschedule,” Cornyn spokesman Drew [...]http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/irs-cancels-softball-game-against-gop-sen-cornyn-165355642.htmlThu, 16 May 2013 12:53:55 -0400blogs/ticket/irs-cancels-softball-game-against-gop-sen-cornyn-165355642