Two Things We Missed On Break, And One Current Event

I thought it would be a good idea to get us a little caught up on news that came out while we were on Thanksgiving Break.

First, General Petraeus testified before Congress about the September 11^th Benghazi attacks that resulted in the deaths of U.S. Ambassador, Chris Stevens, and three other Americans. One of the biggest concerns brought up by Republicans has been whether or not the President Obama was reluctant to call it a terror attack. Patreaus testified that al-Qaida was left out of CIA intelligence to keep al-Qaida from knowing the CIA was on to them and it was in no way politically motivated.

Walmart workers were talking about striking across the country in response to having to work on Thanksgiving. About 100 Walmart stores in the country had employees striking outside. Walmart employees are not unionized, so they can potentially be fired for striking, which Walmart has threatened to do. They do have Union support by the group OUR Walmart, who is now promising to fight on the behalf of any employees released by Walmart for participating.

Currently, not much progress has been made regarding the impending fiscal cliff. If you’re unaware of what the fiscal cliff means, basically at the start of the New Year, everyone’s taxes will go up and a lot of social programs will have funding cut. House of Representatives Majority Leader John Boehner doesn’t feel that Obama is treating the process seriously. It’s a very interesting situation given the fact that the Republicans want to keep taxes low on the rich and find government spending abhorant. While the Dems want more funding for social programs and raise taxes on the rich while also keeping taxes low for middle and lower class citizens. So, this Cliff has a bit of pros and cons for both sides, while also being a reelection death sentence if it goes through.

That should do it for this week’s beat update, thank you for reading and stay informed.