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 | February 25, 2015 |
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| POLITICAL NEWS |
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The Hill: McConnell Puts Squeeze On House Over Immigration
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is shifting tactics, saying Tuesday he is willing to allow a vote on a “clean” bill funding the Department of Homeland Security that would prevent a shutdown. The Kentucky Republican said the legislation would be stripped of language attacking President Obama’s 2014 executive actions on immigration. That move has set up a fight with House Republicans, with fewer than 80 hours to the DHS shutdown deadline. “I’ve indicated to [Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.)] that I’d be happy to have his cooperation to advance the consideration of a clean DHS bill, which would carry us through until Sept. 30,” McConnell told reporters after a GOP conference meeting. “With Democratic cooperation on a position they have been advocating for the last two months, we could have that vote very quickly." McConnell said he would be willing to vote on the clean measure before considering a separate bill that would prohibit the administration from implementing Obama’s executive actions shielding the immediate family members of citizens and permanent legal residents from deportation. Read more..
USA Today: Obama: Keystone Pipeline Ill 'Has Earned My Veto'
President Obama vetoed a bill Tuesday that would have approved the Keystone XL pipeline, making good on a threat to reject a proposal embraced by Republicans as a jobs measure but opposed by environmentalists as contributing to climate change. "The presidential power to veto legislation is one I take seriously," Obama said in his veto message to the Senate. "But I also take seriously my responsibility to the American people. And because this act of Congress conflicts with established executive branch procedures and cuts short thorough consideration of issues that could bear on our national interest — including our security, safety, and environment — it has earned my veto." Read more..
NYT: F.C.C. Net Neutrality Rules Clear Hurdle As Republicans Concede To Obama
Senior Republicans conceded on Tuesday that the grueling fight with President Obama over the regulation of Internet service appears over, with the president and an army of Internet activists victorious. The Federal Communications Commission is expected on Thursday to approve regulating Internet service like a public utility, prohibiting companies from paying for faster lanes on the Internet. While the two Democratic commissioners are negotiating over technical details, they are widely expected to side with the Democratic chairman, Tom Wheeler, against the two Republican commissioners. And Republicans on Capitol Hill, who once criticized the plan as “Obamacare for the Internet,” now say they are unlikely to pass a legislative response that would undo perhaps the biggest policy shift since the Internet became a reality. Read more..
Jerusalem Post: White House Denies 10-Year Agreement With Iran
Reports that the United States was negotiating a 10-year nuclear deal with Iran are not true, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said on Tuesday. The Wall Street Journal reported that the United States and Iran were exploring the option of a 10-year nuclear freeze as part of talks over Tehran's nuclear program. AP reported the deal would initially freeze Iran’s nuclear program but gradually allow it to increase activities that could enable it to produce nuclear arms in the last years of the agreement, which is expected to last some 10 years. The Jerusalem Post reported in November that Israeli officials were very concerned about the agreement’s definitive end date – or “sunset clause” – saying that, after the agreement’s expiration date, when Iran’s nuclear infrastructure will not have been dismantled, it will essentially be free to do whatever it wants. Read more..
NYT: Pensions Haunt Christie 4 Years After Being ‘Fixed’
Four years ago, Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey signed bipartisan legislation to overhaul public employee pensions and declared he had “fixed” the problem that was crushing state and local governments across the country with enormous debts. He held up New Jersey as a model. On Tuesday, he was back at the State House here talking about public employee pensions, pushing again “a bipartisan solution” that he vowed would be a “national model” to “once and for all fix this problem.” The broad outlines of his plan, like his language, were much the same as what he signed in 2011 — public employees will give up benefits, the state will promise to make full payments into the pension system. ... The fact that he was making essentially the same case about public pensions that he had four years ago demonstrated just how this topic, once something Mr. Christie trumpeted as a great success, has become more of an albatross — and one that will not go away. Read more..
Buzzfeed: Ron Paul: Black Caucus Only Against War Because They Want That Money For Food Stamps
Former Republican Rep. Ron Paul, the father of potential presidential candidate Rand Paul and a former presidential candidate himself, said the Congressional Black Caucus does not support war because they want that money for food stamps. “I was always annoyed with it in Congress because we had an anti-war unofficial group, a few libertarian Republicans and generally the Black Caucus and others did not—they are really against war because they want all of that money to go to food stamps for people here,” Ron Paul told Lew Rockwell in early February during a discussion on sanctions. “But when it came to sanctions they just could never vote against sanctions that would prevent war and they wanted to look tough and they would go on with the sanctions but never get the results that they thought there were going to get.” Read more..
Salon: Sheldon Adelson Signals He’ll Bankroll Effort To Stop Rand Paul
Casino magnate and Republican megadonor Sheldon Adelson, one of the GOP’s most forceful advocates for a hawkish foreign policy, is willing to fund an effort to stop Rand Paul from securing the party’s presidential nomination, should the libertarian-leaning Kentucky senator’s campaign pick up steam. The revelation comes in a New York Times analysis of the GOP’s internal divisions over foreign policy heading into next year’s campaign. The rise of the Islamic State militant group has reinvigorated interventionists like Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Marco Rubio (R-FL), both of whom would make national security and global affairs central themes of their presidential campaigns, should they run. Read more..
USA Today: Rahm Emanuel Faces Runoff Election For Chicago Mayor Seat
Rahm Emanuel was dealt a tough political blow on Tuesday, after he was forced into a runoff election to hold onto his seat as mayor of the Windy City. Emanuel, who raised about $15 million for the campaign, finished first in the five candidate field, but fell far short of garnering the 50% plus one vote he needed to win outright and avoid a runoff election. He will now face the second place finisher, Cook County Commissioner, Jesus "Chuy" Garcia, on April 7. With 95.7% of precincts reporting, Emanuel had 45.3% of the vote and Garcia had 33.9%. Read more..
Richmond Times-Dispatch: Bob McDonnell, Children, Asked Leniency For Maureen McDonnell
Maureen McDonnell’s husband, former Gov. Bob McDonnell; four of her five children; other family members; friends; and clergy wrote letters asking leniency in her sentence. Judge James R. Spencer on Friday sentenced the former first lady to a year and a day in prison for eight corruption convictions. One hundred pages of support letters were made public by the U.S. District Court on Tuesday. “Judge Spencer, I respectfully ask you to take into account that Maureen was at all times a volunteer public servant with no real authority, only her drive to showcase the greatness of the state,” wrote Virginia’s 71st governor. Read more..
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| ISIS LATEST |
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Pew: Support Grows For Campaign Against ISIS – And Possible Use Of U.S. Ground Troops
The public has grown more supportive of the U.S. fight against ISIS, as about twice as many approve (63%) as disapprove (30%) of the military campaign against the Islamic militant group in Iraq and Syria. Last October, 57% approved and 33% disapproved. The possibility of sending U.S. ground troops to the region is more divisive, although the idea draws more support than it did four months ago. Currently, about as many favor (47%) as oppose (49%) sending U.S. ground troops to fight Islamic militants in Iraq and Syria; in October, 39% favored the idea and 55% opposed it. Read more..
BBC News: Missing Teenage Girls Have Crossed Into Syria, Police Say
Three missing teenagers believed to be heading to join Islamic State militants are thought to have crossed into Syria, UK police say. The London schoolgirls were smuggled into Syria from Turkey four or five days ago, the BBC understands. Sources suggest the girls entered Syria near the Kilis border crossing. Bethnal Green Academy pupils Shamima Begum and Amira Abase, both 15, and Kadiza Sultana, 16, traveled to Istanbul on 17 February. They flew from Gatwick to Turkey after telling their parents they were going out for the day. The Metropolitan Police said it "now had reason to believe that they are no longer in Turkey and have crossed into Syria". "Officers continue to work closely with the Turkish authorities on this investigation," the force said in a statement. Read more..
Reuters: Islamic State In Syria Abducts At Least 150 Christians
Islamic State militants have abducted at least 150 people from Assyrian Christian villages in northeastern Syria they had raided, Christian Syrian activists said on Tuesday. A Syrian Christian group representing several NGO's inside and outside the country said it had verified at least 150 people missing, including women and elderly, who had been kidnapped by the militants. "We have verified at least 150 people who have been abducted from sources on the ground," Bassam Ishak, President of the Syriac National Council of Syria, whose family itself is from Hasaka, told Reuters from Amman. Earlier the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 90 were abducted when the militants carried out dawn raids on rural villages inhabited by the ancient Christian minority west of Hasaka, a city mainly held by the Kurds. Read more..
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| 'AMERICAN SNIPER' VERDICT ANNOUNCED & OTHER STORIES FOR THIS WEDNESDAY MORNING... |
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NYT: 'American Sniper’ Jury Finds Ex-Marine Guilty Of Murder
Eddie Ray Routh, the mentally disturbed veteran who killed Chris Kyle, the former Navy SEAL marksman who inspired the movie “American Sniper,” was sentenced Tuesday to life in prison after a jury here found him guilty of murder, rejecting his claims that he was legally insane at the time. Mr. Routh and his lawyers had argued that he was not guilty by reason of insanity and that he belonged not in prison but at a state mental hospital. His two-week trial for the killings of Mr. Kyle and Mr. Kyle’s friend Chad Littlefield in 2013 centered on Mr. Routh’s state of mind. Jurors had to decide whether Mr. Routh’s erratic behavior, his delusions about hybrid pig people and his heavy drug use were proof of insanity or evidence that he was troubled but criminally responsible. Read more..
WSJ: Eric Holder: No Federal Charges Against George Zimmerman
Attorney General Eric Holder on Tuesday said the Justice Department won’t bring federal charges against former neighborhood-watch volunteer George Zimmerman in connection with the 2012 shooting death of Florida teen Trayvon Martin. “A comprehensive investigation found that the high standard for a federal hate-crime prosecution cannot be met under the circumstances here,” Mr. Holder said in a news release on Tuesday, reports WSJ. The acquittal of Mr. Zimmerman in the shooting death of Mr. Martin, a black 17-year-old who was unarmed, spurred calls by groups including the NAACP, ACLU and others for further legal action. But it was long expected that a federal probe — with its high bar for prosecutions — would face significant obstacles. Read more..
NBC News: Video Shows New Jersey Home 'Disentegrated' In Gas Explosion; 15 Injured
Police released dashcam video of a gas explosion that leveled an Ocean County, New Jersey, home, injured 15 people, and shook homes in every direction Tuesday morning, including one of a young mother. "My windows blew out of my house, and I dropped, and I covered my daughter, because she was next to me," said Stafford Township resident Melissa Lewis. "I stood up, and I heard them screaming outside, and there were people being taken to the ambulance." Police received the initial call for an odor inspection in the Cedar Run neighborhood of the township near U.S. Route 9 around 8:55 a.m., about an hour and a half before the blast occurred, according to Stafford Twp. Police Captain Tom Dellane. Read more..
The Guardian: The Disappeared: Chicago Police Detain Americans At Abuse-Laden 'Black Site'
The Chicago police department operates an off-the-books interrogation compound, rendering Americans unable to be found by family or attorneys while locked inside what lawyers say is the domestic equivalent of a CIA black site. The facility, a nondescript warehouse on Chicago’s west side known as Homan Square, has long been the scene of secretive work by special police units. Interviews with local attorneys and one protester who spent the better part of a day shackled in Homan Square describe operations that deny access to basic constitutional rights. Alleged police practices at Homan Square, according to those familiar with the facility who spoke out to the Guardian after its investigation into Chicago police abuse, include:
- Keeping arrestees out of official booking databases.
- Beating by police, resulting in head wounds.
- Shackling for prolonged periods.
- Denying attorneys access to the “secure” facility.
- Holding people without legal counsel for between 12 and 24 hours, including people as young as 15.
Read more..
AFP: Drones Spotted Flying Over Paris Landmarks
Paris police were hunting on Tuesday for clues as to who carried out late night drone flights over at least five landmarks in the French capital, including the Eiffel Tower. The mysterious flyovers came after a series of drone spottings at French nuclear plants, and more recently over the presidential palace. The fresh sightings also come at a time of heightened security in Paris following last month's jihadist attacks that left 17 people dead. The first drone sighting was near the US embassy in the French capital just after midnight, prompting police to follow the unmanned aircraft which continued on towards the Invalides military museum. Read more..
NYT: Annotated Version of Hitler’s ‘Mein Kampf’ to Be Published Next Year In German
Researchers are on track to finish roughly 4,000 annotations and historical notes to accompany a new German-language edition of Hitler’s manifest, “Mein Kampf,” to be published in January 2016, after the existing copyright expires. A noted center for the study of Nazism, The Institute for Contemporary History, in Munich, has been working on the edition for several years. The copyright held by the German state of Bavaria expires at the end of 2015. Simone Paulmichl, a spokeswoman for the institute, said Tuesday that the addition of the critical commentary was expected to more than double the length of the original, which was more than 700 pages, to about 2,000 pages to be published in two volumes. The institute plans to put out the annotated version itself, to prevent it from being published as a commercial endeavor. Read more..
NBC Southern California: Truck Driver In Custody In Train Crash That Injured 28
The driver of a truck accused of causing a train derailment Tuesday morning that injured nearly 30 people, four critically, was arrested on a felony hit-and-run charge, police said. Jose Alejandro Sanchez Ramirez, 54, of Yuma, Arizona, was taken into custody in connection with the crash that happened before 6 a.m. on the Ventura County Line tracks between Camarillo and Oxnard, about 70 miles northwest of Los Angeles. He has a valid commercial drivers license and was driving a 2005 F-450 truck towing a trailer filled with equipment, possibly welding equipment, police said. The engineer of the Los Angeles-bound train used its emergency-braking system after noticing the truck and trailer on the tracks near Fifth Street and Rice Avenue, according to officials with the Oxnard Fire Department. Read more..
NYT: Mystery Surrounds A Tunnel In Toronto
It was a baffling discovery: a hand-dug tunnel just over 33 feet long, tall enough for an adult to stand inside, fed with electricity, drained by a water pump and expertly reinforced with lumber and plywood. It started in dense woods near a tennis stadium — and it did not lead anywhere. After more than a month of investigation by the Toronto police, the identities and motives of whoever built the tunnel remain as mysterious as they were the day it was found. So on Tuesday, the police turned to the public for help. “It’s not your everyday find,” Deputy Chief Mark Saunders said at a news conference. “My concern is that I don’t know why this is here.” Read more..
NYT: ‘Parks and Recreation’ Finale Ends Show’s Run, Sunny as Ever
On the series finale of “Parks and Recreation,” one of the show’s more likable losers finally made good with a best-selling advice book titled “Failure: An American Success Story.” That joke has a second bounce. This NBC sitcom, which starred Amy Poehler as a dedicated civil servant and ardent feminist in Pawnee, Ind., was never a ratings giant, but it had a well-deserved following. The little comedy that could lasted seven seasons and was very funny and sweet all the way to its Tuesday night end. “Parks and Recreation” was a celebration of workplace friendships and well-meaning underdogs that lived up to its promise: The series finale, which kept flashing forward, lovingly tied up loose ends without undoing the bond among the show’s core characters. Read more..
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