Who will be the next U.S. Secretary of State?

President Obama shares some amusing thoughts with his Secretary of State, Hillary Rodham Clinton.

When President Obama officially takes office for the second time on January 21, 2013, he will be doing so with a new Secretary of State. Current Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced her resignation from this cabinet post the day after President Obama was re-elected. She has said that she would like to go back to private life, rest, and perhaps write a book. People have speculated that she might attempt another Presidential run in 2016, but she has not confirmed this idea. Before being appointed Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton had served as Senator from New York from 2001 – 2009.

So, just what are the duties of Secretary of State? Like other members of the President’s cabinet, the Secretary of State serves as a close advisor to the President. Specifically, the Secretary of State serves as the President’s chief advisor in Foreign Affairs. The Secretary of State is also responsible for carrying out the President’s foreign policies. Secretary of State is the highest appointed office in the Executive Branch of government.

In order to be sworn in as a member of the President’s cabinet, a candidate must first be nominated by the President, and then confirmed by a majority vote of the Senate. Due to the bi-partisan conflict ever present in Washington, finding a candidate for a particular post who can be approved by both Democrats and Republicans can sometimes be tricky.

These are the various departments of the President’s cabinet. He must appoint a Secretary for each one.

President Obama’s lead candidate for Secretary of State is the current U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice. Ms. Rice served on the National Security Council during President Clinton’s administration and was also an Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs. She clearly has experience in foreign affairs, and serving in a Presidential administration, so she would seem like a good candidate.

Susan Rice, current U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, is Obama’s top choice for the next Secretary of State.

There is one big problem with Susan Rice, however. It has to do with an event that occurred on September 11 of this year, the 11-year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. On this day, a surprise terrorist attack was waged on The U.S. Consulate building in Benghazi, Libya. In the attack, four Americans, including U.S Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens, were killed. The White House’s response to the attack was sharply criticized. The details of the attack, its suspected perpetrators, and their motives were revealed to the public in a confusing and often contradictory manner.

Rubble from a blown-out room in the United States Consulate building after the Benghazi attack.

In particular, Susan Rice appeared on numerous news talk shows to give her account of the Benghazi events. In doing so, she appeared to be attempting to shield President Obama from any criticism regarding the attack, presumably in anticipation of the upcoming election. Since those early days after the attack, Ms. Rice has been accused of misleading the public about the Benghazi incident. In response, she has admitted that her early accounts of the attack were “partly inaccurate”.

However, the damage has been done. Meetings this week in Washington D.C. between Rice and Senate Republicans have gone poorly, with the Republican senators harshly criticizing Rice’s handling of the Benghazi affair and threatening to block her appointment to Secretary of State.

Instead, Republicans have said that they do favor a different candidate, John Kerry, the Democratic Senator from Massachusetts. Senator Kerry is currently the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations committee, and he was the Democratic Presidential nominee in 2004, losing to George W. Bush.

Might Massachusetts Senator John Kerry be nominated as the next U.S. Secretary of State?

Bonus fact: Although it is true that Kerry would be an excellent candidate for Secretary of State, some people are speculating that the reason Republicans want him to accept the position is so he will vacate his Senate seat, making way for a Republican to fill it. Then the Republicans would be even closer to having a majority in the Senate as well as in the House of Representatives.

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Civil War in Syria: The Fighting Rages on

A neighborhood in Homs, Syria, typifies the destruction wreaked on this country by a bitter civil war

For the past year and a half, the country of Syria has been engaged in a violent civil war. On March 15, 2011, protesters demonstrated against President Bashar al-Assad, demanding his resignation and attempting to end almost five decades of rule by the Ba’ath Party. President al-Assad had succeeded his father, the ruler of Syria for 29 years, and won unopposed elections in 2000 and 2007. While he was initially thought to be a fair and democratic ruler, increasingly, Bashar al-Assad has created a society where its citizens are punished or even imprisoned or tortured for expressing criticism toward the government. Within Syria, al-Assad has been accused of disregarding human rights, corruption, and mismanaging the economy. Internationally, relations between Syria and the U.S are strained, in part due to U.S. support of Israel.

(Syria is one of several Middle Eastern countries that does not recognize Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state. To add to strained relations between the two Middle Eastern neighbors, Israel was able to capture the strip of land between the two countries know as the Golan Heights (see map, below) during the infamous Six Day War in 1967. A conspiracy theory also exists that Israel purchased the Golan Heights from Syria for a cool $100 million (click here to read more), and this is why Syria tolerates the Israeli occupation in this land.)

Map of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, which provides a vantage point for Israel to look into Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan.

In addition to strained relations between the U.S and Syria due to Israel, the U.S classifies Syria as a “state sponsor of terrorism”, which means that the U.S. believes that Syria repeatedly provides support for international terrorism.

President Bashar al-Assad of Syria

When the opposition first began, citizens were hopeful that they could topple their dictator quickly, similar to the overthrow of Mubarak in Egypt the prior month. However, the rebellion has been going on for more than 20 months, and since then, over 40,000 Syrians have been killed. Sniper warfare, where exceedingly accurate sharpshooters target specific people, has been a popular and bloody addition to this conflict.

Click here for a rare video look by CBS news at the forefront of the civil war

While the rebels have gained significant strength as the war has raged on, their biggest disadvantage continues to be their lack of air power. Sadly, the attacks on both sides continue with no end in sight. Just this past Sunday, rebels reported that a cluster bomb dropped from a Syrian warplane onto a playground killed ten children.

Syria is located in the Middle East, between Africa and Asia. (see shaded area indicated by black arrow).  It is bordered by Turkey, Iraq, Jordan, Israel and Lebanon.

Some Syrian rebels have criticized the U.S. for not coming to their aid. Because Syria is a country already thought to support terrorism, the U.S is reluctant to provide weapons to the rebels for fear they will fall into the hands of terrorists.

A Syrian rebel mourns the loss of his young son in the conflict

A website has been set up to educate people on the little-reported violence occurring in this country, and particularly how it is affecting the children. Click here to read more or to donate to the cause.

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Hurricane Sandy: Aftermath of a $71 Billion Superstorm

A man sits in what is left of his home on Staten Island, New York, after Hurricane Sandy

Four weeks after Hurricane Sandy pounded the northeast coast of the United States with historically devastating high winds and rains, tens of thousands of residents of New York and New Jersey are still recovering from the disaster. Many thousands of people lost their homes and places of business. During the height of the storm, more than 8 million people had lost power; today, four weeks later, more than 30,000 people are still without power, and therefore heat. Between the high winds and the flooding, the storm’s effect on New York City was so dramatic that the New York Stock Exchange was closed for two consecutive days due to weather for the first time since the Blizzard of 1888, and the metropolitan subway system was closed for four days.

This photo was taken of the South Street Seaport District of New York three weeks after Hurricane Sandy had come and gone. The standing water now poses a serious health threat to residents.

One of the most dangerous aspects of the aftermath of this storm is now infection and illness from the toxic standing water that has destroyed so many homes and buildings. Makeshift medical clinics have been set up in storm-ravaged areas to treat residents who have become ill from dirty water in the streets and mold growing in their flooded homes.

The financial losses from the storm are estimated at $25 billion in damages, and another $40 billion in lost business revenues. Today, the Federal Emergency Management Agency    (FEMA) approved more than $664 million in aid for New Yorkers affected by the storm. This kind of government aid is paid for by federal income taxes.

Editor’s update November 27: Since this blog was published yesterday, the total cost of the storm is now estimated at $71 billion rather than $65 million. Click here to read more.

While the storm wreaked unprecedented damage on this corner of our country, luckily, only 131 people in the U.S. were killed. Unlike earthquakes and tsunamis, which strike suddenly and without warning, meteorologists are able to predict the path of a hurricane with almost pin point precision. In fact, Sandy was named as a tropical storm a full week before it barreled into the east coast, giving people plenty of time to prepare, and, if necessary, evacuate.

The path of Hurricane Sandy was almost certain once it had formed in the tropical waters of the Atlantic Ocean.

Here in the U.S., we have experienced very few natural disasters of the magnitude of damage done by earthquakes and tsunamis around the world. Just to give you an idea, here is a graph comparing the number of deaths from Hurricane Sandy to both Hurricane Katrina and the top four natural disasters of the 21st century.

While the death toll may have been small for Hurricane Sandy by comparison, still, the lasting damage caused by the storm will take years and cost millions of dollars to repair. For some people, everything they owned in the world is gone.

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What is the fiscal cliff and why is it important?

If the White House does not make some big decisions by January 1, our country appears fated to plunge into a recession.

Cease fire reached between Israel and Hamas

The cease fire may be in effect for now, but the damage has been done.

Last Wednesday, November 14, Israel launched “Operation Pillar of Defense”, using aircraft, tanks, and military boats to pound Gaza, the narrow strip of land on its east coast which borders the Mediterranean Sea.

The Gaza strip, shown in yellow, left, was awarded to Palestinian refugees in 1948 when Israel became a state. The tiny red box on the right shows just how small the Gaza strip is in relation to the entire country of Israel.

This graphic representation shows just how small the entire country of Israel is, by comparing it to the state of California.

Israeli leaders maintain that they could no longer tolerate of the constant onslaught of violence coming from the Gaza Strip, which is controlled by the terrorist organization Hamas. They decided it was finally time to stand up to Hamas and defend themselves, hence the carefully chosen name, “Operation Pillar of Defense.” According to the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, over 830 rockets have been launched from Gaza toward Israel from January 2011 to the present.

A rocket is launched from Gaza toward the Israeli city of Tel Aviv last Friday.

While the violence in this area has been escalating for several weeks now, it was brought to the forefront of the headlines because in the initial airstrikes launched by Israel, the military commander of Hamas, Ahmad Jabari, was killed.

Israeli airstrikes pummel buildings on the Gaza strip early Sunday morning

One of the most controversial aspects of Israel’s Operation Pillar of Defense is that innocent civilians living in Gaza, even women and children, have been inadvertently killed. When Israel realized that innocent civilians might be harmed, they distributed pamphlets to the residents, warning them to evacuate the areas that were to be attacked. But Hamas told the residents not to leave, calling the pamphlets “psychological warfare”. Despite warnings, 56 civilians were killed, including small children and even babies.

A Palestinian man rushes through the streets of Gaza, trying to find safety for himself and his child.

The current conflict between Israel and Hamas has elicited different reactions from different countries all over the world: some side with Israel, and some side with Hamas. The United States and Israel have always been allies. U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton traveled to the Middle East last week to meet with leaders of Egypt and Israel, in an attempt to help broker the cease fire. President Obama himself called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to say that the United States has “endorsed Israel’s right to defend herself”. While many Americans, particularly Jewish Americans, have been very vocal in their support of Israel during this conflict, some Americans feel unsure about it. And some Americans simply oppose violence and war at all costs. For thousands of years, Jews and Palestinians have been fighting over the land of Israel. Unfortunately, at the moment, a peaceful solution still appears out of reach.

Hilary Clinton and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu participate in a press conference on November 20.

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Welcome to Kitchen Table News!

Welcome to the coolest kids’ current events blog you will ever read.

The world around us is changing every day. Yet, how do you sift through the endless news outlets? I mean, seriously, with homework and sports, who has time to keep up with the news? Yet, you can’t just wander through your life in a bubble, unaware and uninformed of the events changing the world that you and your friends will inherit. By taking an interest in current events now, you will have a much better understanding of what kind of world you want to live in, and what you can do to shape it.

This blog is designed for the modern kid who is super busy with school and sports, yet who can take five minutes a day to learn a few important things from today’s headlines. Oh, and you will also be able to impress your parents at the dinner table with what you learned.