 | March 3, 2015 |
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| NETANYAHU VISIT |
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Washington Post: Netanyahu: Speech Not Intended As A Show Of Disrespect To Obama
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that his planned speech to Congress is not meant to signal any disrespect for President Obama, nor to insert political partisanship into the U.S.-Israel relationship. “Never has so much been written about a speech that hasn’t been given,” Netanyahu said about the address to a joint session of Congress Tuesday. “My speech is not intended to show any disrespect to President Obama or the esteemed office that he holds. I have great respect for both.” Speaking at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee on Monday, Netanyahu said he intends to focus his remarks to Congress on the potential of an international nuclear deal with Iran that he believes could "threaten the survival of Israel." Read more..
Politico: Elizabeth Warren To Skip Benjamin Netanyahu Speech
Elizabeth Warren waited all the way up to the night before Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to announce that she would skip Tuesday’s speech by the Israeli prime minister. The Massachusetts Democrat confirmed in a statement to the Boston Globe that she would not attend the speech due, she said, to the manner in which House Speaker John Boehner invited Netanyahu to address Congress: in the middle of Netanyahu’s election campaign. “It’s unfortunate that Speaker Boehner’s actions on the eve of a national election in Israel have made Tuesday’s event more political and less helpful for addressing the critical issue of nuclear nonproliferation and the safety of our most important ally in the Middle East,’ Warren said, emphasizing her support for Israel and her worry over nuclear proliferation in Iran. Read more..
NOTE: According to The Hill, as of midnight, 55 Democrats in Congress have said they plan to skip Netanyahu's speech.
NBC News: Obama: Iran Must Halt Key Nuclear Work For At Least A Decade
U.S. President Barack Obama said on Monday that Iran should commit to a verifiable freeze of at least 10 years on its nuclear activity for a landmark atomic deal to be reached, but that the odds were still against sealing a final agreement. In an interview with Reuters at the White House, Obama said that a rift over Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's planned speech to Congress opposing the Iran deal on Tuesday was a distraction that would not be "permanently destructive" to U.S.-Israeli ties. But he said there was a "substantial disagreement" between his administration and the Israeli government over how to achieve their shared goal of preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. "If, in fact, Iran is willing to agree to double-digit years of keeping their program where it is right now and, in fact, rolling back elements of it that currently exist ... if we've got that, and we've got a way of verifying that, there's no other steps we can take that would give us such assurance that they don't have a nuclear weapon," he said. Read more..
The Hill: Susan Rice: 'Sound Bites Won’t Stop Iran From Getting A Nuclear Weapon'
National Security Adviser Susan Rice vigorously defended talks between the U.S. and Iran that have strained the U.S.-Israel relationship in recent months, while saying that the relationship should not be split along partisan lines. While she said, to great applause, at the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee’s (AIPAC) annual conference in Washington that “a bad deal [with Iran] is worse than no deal,” she defended the talks over Iran’s nuclear program. “Sound bites won’t stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, strong diplomacy backed by pressure can,” she said, in a possible shot at the rhetoric of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has vocally objected to the talks. Read more..
NYT: The Cry Being Heard Around Washington: ‘I Need A Netanyahu Ticket’
For Senator Lindsey Graham, the only ticket more in demand than a seat inside the House chamber for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to Congress on Tuesday morning would be “if it was Garth Brooks — maybe.” “I’m having to tell people who supported me for decades I can’t find a ticket,” said Mr. Graham, Republican of South Carolina, referring to the country music star. “If I had 100 tickets, I’d be the most popular guy in town.” But, alas, Mr. Graham — like almost every member of Congress — has just one ticket to dole out to a constituent, lobbyist or donor eager to hear Mr. Netanyahu make his case for opposing the Obama administration’s nuclear talks with Iran. And demand is fast outpacing supply for what lawmaker after lawmaker called “the hottest ticket in town.” How hot? “The tickets are hotter than fresh latkes,” said Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York. Read more..
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| POLITICAL NEWS |
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NYT: Hillary Clinton Used Personal Email At State Dept., Possibly Breaking Rules
Hillary Rodham Clinton exclusively used a personal email account to conduct government business as secretary of state, State Department officials said, and may have violated federal requirements that officials’ correspondence be retained as part of the agency’s record. Mrs. Clinton did not have a government email address during her four-year tenure at the State Department. Her aides took no actions to have her personal emails preserved on department servers at the time, as required by the Federal Records Act. It was only two months ago, in response to a new State Department effort to comply with federal record-keeping practices, that Mrs. Clinton’s advisers reviewed tens of thousands of pages of her personal emails and decided which ones to turn over to the State Department. All told, 55,000 pages of emails were given to the department. Mrs. Clinton stepped down from the secretary’s post in early 2013. Her expansive use of the private account was alarming to current and former National Archives and Records Administration officials and government watchdogs, who called it a serious breach. Read more..
@JebBush: Transparency matters. Unclassified @HillaryClinton emails should be released. You can see mine, here. http://jebbushemails.com
Business Insider: Warren Buffett: Elizabeth Warren Should Be 'Less Angry'
Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett isn't a fan of Sen. Elizabeth Warren's (D-Massachusetts) populist style. In a Monday interview on CNBC's "Squawk Box," Buffett argued that Warren should be "less angry and demonizing." "I think that she would do better if she was less angry and demonizing. I believe in 'hate the sin but love the sinner,'" he said. "And I'm not sure that I've fully convinced Elizabeth Warren that that's the way to go." Read more..
The Hill: Senate Dems Block Conference On DHS
Senate Democrats on Monday blocked the formation of a conference committee with the House to agree to funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). If the 47-43 procedural vote had been successful, senators would have moved immediately to a final vote on the motion to go to conference with the House. Lawmakers on Friday passed a one-week spending bill to avoid a DHS shutdown. Republicans hoped to use the extra time to reach a deal with senators on longer-term department funding and legislation to roll back President Obama’s executive actions on immigration. But Democrats vowed repeatedly to block any attempt to go to conference, arguing the Congress should approve a clean bill funding the agency — without immigration measures attached. Read more..
Chicago Sun Times: Rep. Aaron Schock Used Taxpayer Money For Private Plane Flight To Bears Game
Rep. Aaron Schock, R-Ill., used taxpayer money to pay for a private plane to travel from Peoria to Chicago for the Bears-Vikings game on Nov. 16, the Chicago Sun-Times has learned. And a Sun-Times examination of House disbursement records and campaign finance reports suggests that Schock used taxpayer money to help underwrite a September trip to New York, where a political action committee he controls spent $3,000 for Global Citizen Festival concert tickets. The use of $20,855 in taxpayer money for the Chicago and New York trips will raise more legal and ethical issues for Schock. These new Sun-Times revelations are part of a growing number of questions surrounding Schock’s use of campaign and government funds to support his extravagant jet-set lifestyle. Read more..
The Hill: Mikulski To Retire From Senate
Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) announced her retirement on Monday, setting off a scramble among Democrats to succeed her in the Senate. An emotional Mikulksi, flanked by Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) at her press conference in East Baltimore, explained that she had to “face the reality of a clock” ticking on her upcoming reelection bid, and that she determined she wanted to spend the next two years focused on the Democratic legislative agenda rather than a campaign. “Now in 2016, my election would be on the horizon,” Mikulksi said at the press conference. “I have thought long and hard about the next two years, and had to ask myself, who am I campaigning for? For me or my constituents?...Do I spend my time raising money or raising hell? Do I focus on my election or the next generation? Do I spend my time promising what I’ll do, or doing it now?” Read more..
Washington Post: McDonnell Launches Bid To Have Corruption Conviction Thrown Out
Former Virginia governor Robert F. McDonnell on Monday fired the opening salvo in a bid to get his public corruption conviction thrown out, arguing in a filing that the case against him was “built on a boundless definition of bribery” and that the judge made legal errors throughout the process that warrant a new trial. The brief — 103 pages, including indexes and other administrative sheets — restated many of the arguments that McDonnell made at various points during the case against him, arguments that were rejected by a U.S. District Court judge. But McDonnell (R) is trying to persuade a different audience — a three-judge panel at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit, which will look at the case with fresh eyes. Read more..
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| IRAN TAKES LEADING ROLE IN IRAQI MILITARY'S PUSH TO RETAKE TIKRIT & OTHER STORIES FOR THIS TUESDAY MORNING... |
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WSJ: Iran Backs Iraq Military Campaign To Reclaim Tikrit From Islamic State
Iran took a leading role in the Iraqi military’s largest offensive yet to reclaim territory from Islamic State, throwing drones, heavy weaponry and ground forces into the battle while the U.S. remained on the sidelines. The operation that began Monday aims to retake Tikrit, best known as the hometown of Saddam Hussein, 80 miles north of the capital Baghdad. In addition to supplying drones, Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard force has fighters on the ground with Iraqi units, mostly operating artillery and rocket batteries, according to a U.S. military official. Iraqi Shiite militias closely allied with Iran are also heavily involved. Iran’s semiofficial Fars news agency reported that Qasem Soleimani, head of the Revolutionary Guard’s overseas unit Quds Force, was on the ground near Tikrit advising commanders. Read more..
NBC News: ISIS Rules Revealed: Foosball's Fine, And AK-47's For Women — Leaving? Not So Much
Men are forbidden from wearing western clothing. A woman is free to carry a Kalashnikov rifle, as long as it's not slung over the shoulder in such a way to give definition to her body — which is to be covered in a traditional cloak. Playing foosball is OK, as long as there is no gambling involved. And, you cannot leave. These are only a few of the rules governing all corners of life under ISIS, according to a newly revealed series of religious rulings purportedly issued by a council of clerics wielding wide authority inside the so-called Islamic State. The rulings, or Fatwas, were published Monday by the scholarly website Jihadica, which monitors and offers analysis on militant groups like ISIS. Author Cole Bunzel, an American terrorism analyst who translated the rulings, says photographs of the documents were first published over Twitter last month by a man purporting to be a member of ISIS. ... The rulings, varied in subject matter and structured in a question-and-answer format, provide insight into the group's effort to govern the wide territory it holds across Iraq and Syria. Read more..
AP: New Boko Haram Video Appears To Show Two Captives Beheaded
The latest video from Nigeria's Boko Haram Islamic extremist group shows the bodies of two beheaded men accused of spying, and copies some of the hallmarks of propaganda from the Islamic State group. The SITE intelligence group said the video called "Harvest of Spies" was posted Monday on Twitter by Boko Haram's new media arm. The video is much slicker than previous ones and SITE said it borrows certain elements from IS productions, such as the sound of a beating heart and heavy breathing immediately before the execution. Boko Haram has said in social media messages last month that it is considering swearing allegiance to IS. Read more..
NYT: State To Seek Death Penalty In Killing Of Students In North Carolina
Prosecutors will seek the death penalty for the man charged with the killings of three Arab-American students in a Chapel Hill, N.C., apartment complex, the district attorney’s office handling the case said Monday. The suspect, Craig Stephen Hicks, 46, turned himself into a sheriff’s office shortly after 6 p.m. on Feb. 10. That was less than an hour after police found the bodies of Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha, 21; her husband, Deah Shaddy Barakat, 23; and her sister, Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, 19. Roger Echols, the Durham County district attorney, notified Judge Orlando F. Hudson on Wednesday of his intention to seek capital punishment, according to a document filed with the Superior Court. Read more..
AP: Man Fatally Shot By LAPD Reached For Cop's Gun, Chief Says
Police fatally shot a homeless man on Skid Row during a "brutal" videotaped struggle in which a rookie officer cried out that the man had hold of his gun before three other officers opened fire, the Los Angeles police chief said Monday. Chief Charlie Beck said video showed the man reaching toward the officer's waistband. The officer's gun was found partly cocked and jammed with a bullet in the chamber and another in the ejection port, indicating a struggle for the weapon. "You can hear the young officer who was primarily engaged in the confrontation saying that `He has my gun. He has my gun,'" Beck said. "He says it several times, with conviction." Read more..
NBC News: Georgia Execution Of Kelly Gissendaner Postponed For Drug Issue
The execution of the only woman on Georgia's death row was postponed late Monday because of a problem with the lethal-injection drugs. Kelly Gissendaner was waiting to hear if the U.S. Supreme Court would halt her execution when the Georgia Department of Corrections called it off about 11 p.m. "Prior to the execution, the drugs were sent to an independent lab for testing of potency," the agency said. "The drugs fell within the acceptable testing limits." But, officials said, in the hours leading up to the execution, the chemicals appeared cloudy. "The Department of Corrections immediately consulted with a pharmacist, and in an abundance of caution, Inmate Gissendaner's execution has been postponed." Gissendaner was sentenced to death for the 1997 murder of her husband — carried out by her lover, who got a life sentence. A letter to the governor signed by 500 Georgia clergy members said the mother of three, who completed a theology program in prison, has turned her life around since the murder. Read more..
NYT: Cleveland Mayor Apologizes For Language Used To Blame Tamir Rice For His Death
Moving to stem fresh anger over how Cleveland has handled the killing of 12-year-old Tamir Rice, Mayor Frank G. Jackson apologized on Monday for language that the city’s lawyers used in court filings to assert that the boy’s death was his own fault. Tamir was fatally wounded on Nov. 22 by a rookie Cleveland police officer who shot him in the abdomen within two seconds of arriving at a neighborhood recreation center where the boy was playing outside with a toy pistol. The newest controversy was spurred by a filing made in federal court late last week by lawyers for the city in response to a wrongful-death lawsuit brought by Tamir’s family. The city’s lawyers argued in the filing that the boy died because of his own actions and not because of police department errors. Read more..
NBC News: Gold Heist: Robbers In North Carolina Steal More Than $4 Million
A trio of men stole several barrels of gold worth more than $4 million from a truck traveling through eastern North Carolina, leaving the vehicle's drivers tied up in the woods after they fled the scene, authorities said Monday. The heist happened after the truck began experiencing mechanical problems late Sunday on Interstate 95 in Wilson County, the local sheriff said in a statement. The robbers tied up the two armed security guards escorting the shipment from Miami to Massachusetts and fled. Calvin Woodward Jr., the local sheriff, said the FBI has been contacted. "We have been notified and are coordinating with our law enforcement partners to determine whether a federal crime has been committed," the FBI said in a statement. Read more..
NYT: Attica Guards Resign In Deal To Avoid Jail
Three guards accused of beating an inmate at the Attica Correctional Facility so severely that doctors had to insert a plate and six pins into his leg, each pleaded guilty on Monday to a single misdemeanor charge of misconduct. The last-minute plea deal spared them any jail time in exchange for quitting their jobs. The resolution of the case came more than three years after corrections officers beat a 29-year-old inmate, George Williams. He suffered two broken legs, broken ribs, a broken shoulder and a severe fracture of his eye socket, among other injuries. Read more..
AP: Amish Jailed In Beard-Cutting Attacks Win Lower Sentences
A judge reduced the prison sentences Monday for the leader of a breakaway Amish group and seven followers after their hate-crime convictions were thrown out in their hair- and beard-chopping attacks against fellow members of the faith. The Ohio group's leader, Samuel Mullet Sr., saw his 15-year term reduced to 10 years, nine months. His followers got up to two years taken off their sentences and will serve 3 1/2 or five years. Sixteen men and women in all were convicted in a string of attacks on seven fellow Amish in 2011. Most of the victims were awakened in the middle of the night and restrained while their hair - an important symbol of their faith - was cut. Read more..
NPR: Riddle Of Mysterious Tunnel Solved, Toronto Police Say
Police in Toronto say they have solved the riddle of a mysterious tunnel discovered near a venue for the upcoming Pan American and Parapan American Games. Maybe. Police say two men told investigators that they built the tunnel for "personal reasons." Police verified their account, deemed there was no criminal intent or concerns about security, and closed the case. According to The Associated Press, Police Constable Victor Kwong said tips from the public helped authorities identify and interview two men apparently responsible for building the underground chamber, adding it has been determined there was never any danger to public safety. Read more..
BBC News: Afghan President Ghani Sacks Kabul Police Chiefs
Twenty-seven senior Afghan police officers have been sacked as part of what the government calls a drive towards good governance. The move involves 17 district police chiefs in the capital Kabul, along with officers involved in counter-narcotics. The changes were ordered by Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, who has said many officers had links to warlords. Since taking office last September, Mr Ghani has repeatedly sacked officials accused of corruption. Recently he sacked dozens of officials just hours into a snap inspection. However the BBC's Jonathan Beale in Kabul says the latest dismissals are not as radical as they appears. Many of the police officers removed have been handed new jobs and awards. Read more..
AP: Google To Offer Its Own Cellular Network Plan
Search giant, self-driving car developer, smartphone and tablet maker. Turned data plan provider? Google wants more people to get online so they can search around and click on its ads. And it's shaking up the telecom world to do it. The company said Monday at the wireless show in Barcelona, Spain, that it will soon sell data plans for smartphones and tablets in the U.S. The announcement confirmed leaks and media reports in late January that Google planned to enter the telecom market. More information will be released "in the coming months," Sundar Pichai, Google Inc.'s senior vice president of products, said during his presentation. Read more..
Washington Post: Nasdaq Tops 5,000, Approaching Record High
The last time the Nasdaq was this high, Bill Clinton was president, your Internet connection was probably still dial-up and the iPod, iPhone and iPad didn’t exist. Fifteen years later the Nasdaq has again closed above 5,000 and is close to topping its record from the dot-com boom. The index has clawed back, riding a six-year bull market, and is now 40 points from its all-time closing high of 5,048.62 reached March 10, 2000. But this isn’t the Nasdaq of Pets.com and Webvan, when companies were valued on “cash burn rates” and “eyeballs.” Read more..
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| 'Suge' Knight goes to hospital after complaining of blindness and saying he fired his lawyers http://nbcnews.to/1M2nF8i |
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 | @NBCNews |
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