THIS IS YOUR WAKE UP CALL

Since 2011
Gabe Fleisher, Editor-in-Chief
wakeuptopolitics@gmail.com

wakeuptopolitics.com @WakeUp2Politics

From the Editors Desk

Introducing Event of the Year
Last year, while reading Times annual Person of the Year edition, I began
thinking: I want to do this too. Except for different.
I unveiled the Wake Up To Politics Person of the Year 2013, but while
editors at Time choose their Person of the Year, I told my readers that THEY
could pick ours. I presented a short list to the Wake Up To Politics
community, and many voted for their pick. Malala Yousafzai won, I wrote a
magazine about her, and the Wake Up To Politics Person of the Year
Magazine was born.
And you chose well: Wake Up readers picked Malala not just for what she
has done, but for what they believed she could achieve. And our first Person
of the Year was announced as co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in
October 2014, ten months after she was featured in the Wake Up To Politics
Person of the Year Magazine. Just last week, the prestigious award was
bestowed upon Malala in an Oslo ceremony.
In 2013, the criteria for Person of the Year voting were The Person of the
Year dominated, affected, and changed the political conversation, events,
and news in 2013 no matter if their politics match yours. This was similar
to Time, who choose based on who for better or for worse...has done the
most to influence the events of the year.

 This year, were going to be different yet again. As I sat down to create a
shortlist for Person of the Year 2014, I had a hard time coming up with
someone. And then I realized why: in 2014, we moved away from people
framing politics. Instead, moments, movements, and events did.
The history of the world is but the biography of great men, Scottish author
Thomas Carlyle once wrote, in the Great Man theory of history he
popularized. Perhaps true, and possibly not. I am not an expert on the
history of the world. But after hundreds of newsletters published this year,
I feel like I could be considered, at the very least, an interested party in the
field of American politics in 2014. Which may not be a college major
(yet), but I think may be a QuizUp topic. And yet, I see no great men [or
women].
You might call it the hashtagification of American politics (thats what Im
calling it, anyways). Looking back on the news of 2014, it is not people that
come to mind. Rather it is #Ferguson, #Ebola, #ISIS, #Ukraine, #Elections,
and so on.
Therefore, I am announcing the debut of the Wake Up To Politics Event of
the Year, which you will vote on and will be profiled in the upcoming Event
of the Year Magazine.
It is my belief that 2014 was not a year of people, but of moements, Event of
the Year will replace Person of the Year for 2014. But maybe not forever.
For that, well have to wait for 2015.
But now, the voting begins for Event of the Year 2014 in the next column.
And then, to the news!
Happy Voting,
Gabe Fleisher
Editor-in-Chief
Wake Up To Politics

Wake Up To Politics 2014 Event of the Year

As I explained in the last column, this year, you will be voting not for a
Person of the Year, but for an Event of the Year.

 Heres how it works: anyone can vote for Event of the Year in three ways
1) email me with your choice (options below) 2) Tweet the name of your
choice with #WakeUpEvent 3) Fill out the poll on wakeuptopolitics.com.
Voting closes at 11:59 PM Central Time on Friday, December 20, 2014, and
begins NOW. Your votes will be counted, and the winner will be featured in
the Wake Up To Politics Event of the Year Magazine in late December or
early January. Also, you can include a short explanation for your vote in
your email/tweet/comments section of the poll; explanations will be included
in the magazine.
Remember: your vote for Event of the Year should not (necessarily) be the
one you were most supportive of, but the event you believe changed and
impacted 2014 (see Person of the Year criteria in above column). Also, I
would appreciate feedback on the switch from Person to Event of the Year.
And now, without further ado, the list of choices you can vote from for the
2014 Event of the Year, which is proudly chosen entirely by readers. Here is
the list:

Crimea annexation
Ebola outbreak
Ferguson protests
Flight 370 disappearance
Gaza conflict
Immigration debate
ISIS executions
Midterm voting
NFL sexual assault
Nigeria kidnapping
Same-sex marriages recognized

White House Watch

The Presidents Schedule At 1:05 PM, President Obama will depart the
White House for Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in New Jersey, where
he will arrive at 2:10 PM.

 At 2:45 PM, Obama will deliver remarks expressing his gratitude for the
service and sacrifice of our troops and their families.

Capitol Hill News

Weekend Review: Senate Passes Spending Bill In a rare Saturday session,
the Senate passed the $1.1 trillion cromnibus sending bill after much
deliberation.
The chamber first passed a 4-day CR to keep the government open, before
turning to the cromnibus. The 60-vote cloture threshold was easily cleared
by a 77-19 vote, with just 13 Republicans and 6 Democrats voting to
filibuster. Then, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), in an attempt to repeat his effort last
year which shut down the government, raised a point of order over President
Obamas immigration executive order, which was killed by a 22-74 vote.
Finally, the cromnibus was voted on at 9:50 PM Saturday, passing 56-40,
with 22 Democrats and 18 Republicans voting no.
The cromnibus, which must be signed by President Barack Obama before
Wednesday, will fund the government through September.
Senate: Status Update Before relinquishing control of the Senate, Majority
Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) plans to ram through as many nominees as
possible, in hopes of filling vacancies across the government before
Republicans seize the Senate next month.
Today, the chamber will vote to confirm the controversial Vivek Murthy to
be U.S. Surgeon General, who is opposed by Republicans for his anti-gun
stance.
The Senate will also hold cloture votes on Daniel J. Santos to be a member
of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, and Frank A. Rose to be an
Assistant Secretary of State.

Today
The busiest mailing day of the year is today, according to the U.S. Postal
Service.

 The deadline to enroll for health insurance on HealthCare.gov for coverage

to begin January 1, 2015 is today.
Today is the deadline for an independent panel to deliver its
recommendations on improving White House security. The panel was
appointed in October, following a series of Secret Services lapses, and is
made up of Tom Perelli, former associate Attorney General, and Danielle
Gray, former White House Cabinet Secretary, both of whom served under
President Obama; and two officials who served under President George W.
Bush, Mark Flip, former deputy Attorney General, and Jospeh Hagin, former
Deputy White House Chief of Staff.