first posted at 11:14 am today: 2014 Barack Obama State of the Union: Legacy.
The U.S President said he would now close down the Guantanamo prisons… Finally!! Foreign nationals forcibly seized in another country were tagged as “enemy combatants” and detained without charges in Guantanamo, where torture, euphemistically called “enhanced interrogation techniques”, were routinely perpetrated. He also said he would end the 12-year war in Afghanistan.
(He also devoted one paragraph to the rescue and relief missions sent to the Philippines).
Longest standing ovation was given to a war hero in the audience.
(Let’s see … Will hebe able to leave such a legacy)
posted at 12:30pm: A Filipino nurse based in New York, Menchu Sanchez, was hailed by US President Barack Obama as a modern-day hero in his State of the Union address today for her selfless act of watching over infants in her care at the height of Superstorm Sandy even as her own house was submerged in flood.
From abclocal.go.com: “NYU nurse singled out in State of the Union by Jim Dolan
“New York (WABC) — During his State of the Union Address, President Obama singled out a hospital nurse in New York who, during Superstorm Sandy, jumped into action and saved the lives of newborns.
“It was some shout out from the President Tuesday night.
“ “We should follow the example of a New York City nurse named Menchu Sanchez,” President Obama said.
“Menchu Sanchez sat right next to the First Lady at the State of the Union address and the spotlight was mighty bright, especially compared to where this story starts, it was, a dark and stormy night.
“The first time two-month-old Andrew Blanco ever saw the outside of a hospital was in the depth of Superstorm Sandy.
“The machines that had kept Andrew alive suddenly went silent, the lights went out and if Andrew and 19 other infants were to survive, the nurses and doctors at NYU Langone would have to get them down nine flights of stairs, to safety.
“Andrew’s mom was racing to the hospital.
“A nation held its breath as the pictures aired live on Eyewitness News and across the country.
“One critically ill infant at a time, those nurses and doctors made the journey, one step at a time, as they later reenacted it for ABC’s “20/20”.
