Friday, October 30, 2015
Wednesday, October 28, 2015
Chicago Tribune: House Republicans nominate Rep. Paul Ryan to be next speaker
The House was poised Wednesday to approve a bipartisan pact charting a two-year budget truce and Republicans were set to nominate Rep. Paul Ryan as the new speaker, milestones GOP leaders hope will transform their party's recent chaos into calm in time for next year's presidential and congressional campaigns.
Democratic and Republican leaders in the House and Senate were urging lawmakers to back the agreement, which would resolve fights over defense and domestic spending and federal borrowing until early 2017. Expectations were for House passage Wednesday and final Senate approval by next week, even as hard-right conservatives and farm-state lawmakers arrayed against the deal.
Hours before the vote, Ryan, R-Wis., said he will support the bill because it makes "meaningful reforms" that strengthen safety net programs like Social Security and provides sufficient resources for the military.
More: www.chicagotribune.com
Monday, October 26, 2015
The Los Angeles Times: Presidential debates have become must-watch television - Next Debate Oct. 28
The surprise breakout hit of this television season isn't some Kardashian spinoff or another cheesy competition among aspiring songsters.
It's the prime-time presidential debates, which have attracted huge national audiences and shaped and reshaped the 2016 race long before the calendar turns, or any real votes have been cast.
Much of that can be credited to Republican Donald Trump, a singular personality when it comes to getting noticed, and to Bernie Sanders, the charismatically cantankerous Vermont senator, who is Hillary Rodham Clinton's chief Democratic rival and the year's other political phenomenon.
In a sense, the two are cast members, along with the rest of the presidential candidates, in a wonky form of reality TV. "We can't wait to see who's going to do what onstage, and how they respond to one another," said Marty Kaplan, a former Democratic campaign strategist who teaches in the communications school at USC.
More: www.latimes.com
Friday, October 23, 2015
The Hill: Boehner appoints woman to lead Planned Parenthood investigation
Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) will chair the new select committee investigating Planned Parenthood, Speaker John Boehner announced Friday.
Blackburn will be the second House GOP committee chairwoman, apart from House Administration Committee Chairwoman Candice Miller (R-Mich.), in this Congress.
The committee’s setup is similar to that of the select panel investigating the 2012 terrorist attack on the U.S. diplomatic facility in Benghazi, Libya.
Three other House committees — Energy and Commerce, Oversight and Judiciary — have also been conducting an investigation into Planned Parenthood following controversial videos purporting to show the organization’s practice of donating aborted fetal tissue for medical research.
More: www.thehill.com
CNN: Lincoln Chafee drops out of Democratic primary race
(CNN)Former Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee ended his long-shot bid for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination, he announced Friday.
"As you know, I have been campaigning on a platform of Prosperity Through Peace," Chafee said at the DNC's annual Women's Leadership Forum in Washington. "But after much thought I have decided to end my campaign for president today. I would like to take this opportunity one last time to advocate for a chance be given to peace."
The Democrat declared his presidential campaign in June, shortly after announcing that he had formed an exploratory committee.
More: www.cnn.com
Thursday, October 22, 2015
Daily Caller: Hillary Admits Chris Stevens Did Not Have Her Email Address
In a tense line of exchange during Thursday’s House Select Committee on Benghazi hearing, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton admitted that while her longtime friend Sidney Blumenthal had her personal email address and frequently used it, Ambassador Chris Stevens did not have that level of access.
“You got that from Sidney Blumenthal and you say Mr. Blumenthal was a friend of yours and he had your personal email address. You say Chris Stevens was a friend of yours,” Georgia Rep. Lynn Westermoreland said to Clinton.
Blumenthal emailed Clinton more than 180 times while she was in office. Many of those exchanges included intelligence reports and analysis provided by Blumenthal, often advancing his business interests in Libya and other nations.
More: www.dailycaller.com
ICYMI: June 25, 2015, Select Committee on Benghazi: State Confirms Clinton Failed to Turn Over ALL Benghazi and Libya Documents
State Confirms Clinton Failed to Turn Over ALL #Benghazi and Libya Documents http://t.co/qs4VYZ2CYr
— Benghazi Committee (@HouseBenghazi) June 25, 2015
Wednesday, October 21, 2015
Reuters: Vice President Joe Biden will not run for president
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| Reuters |
By Jeff Mason, Oct. 21, 2015, Reuters
Biden, who had been pondering a run since August, appeared in the White House Rose Garden with his wife Jill and President Barack Obama to say the window for mounting a successful campaign had closed.
"While I will not be a candidate, I will not be silent," Biden told reporters. "I intend to speak out clearly and forcefully to influence as much as I can where we stand as a party and where we need to go as a nation," Biden said.
Biden, 72, had been wrestling with his own doubts about whether he and his family were ready for a grueling campaign while still mourning his son Beau, who died of brain cancer in May. His son had urged him to run.
More: www.reuters.com
Tuesday, October 20, 2015
CSM: Martin O'Malley: Can a progressive work with the other side?
Former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley hit the campaign hustings in New Hampshire last Thursday, hoping to build momentum off what most observers thought was a strong, if overshadowed, debate performance last Tuesday, and your intrepid blogger was there to chronicle the event.
The event, held at Dartmouth College’s Hopkins Center for the Arts, drew a standing room only crowd of about 200 (when I tweeted out that total during the event, a Twitter follower [and likely Sanders supporter] tweeted back: “That’s a large crowd?”) In contrast to the Kasich NH event I attended, which attracted mostly middle-aged people, this crowd was composed primarily of students, which is not surprising given the location. But it is also the case that O’Malley is really targeting this age demographic, as he seeks to supplant Bernie Sanders as the main Democratic alternative to Hillary Clinton. Most of the O’Malley staff there were also young, and they were busy taking names and handing out swag (I scored a nice O’Malley Blue thermal sleeve.)
O’Malley was wearing a dress shirt and tie, with sleeves slightly rolled up, and was greeted with polite applause as entered the room. He opened with a short – perhaps 10 minute – stump speech touting his record as governor, and as mayor of Baltimore, before taking questions, which covered a number of topics, ranging from climate change to combating racial bias to protecting union rights.
More: www.csmonitor.com
CNN: Jim Webb to drop out of Democratic presidential primary
(CNN)Jim Webb will end his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination at a press conference Tuesday, according to two sources with knowledge of the decision.
The former Virginia senator who launched a longshot presidential bid earlier this year is considering an independent run, according to his campaign. Craig Crawford, Webb's spokesman, declined to comment on whether the senator was dropping out of the Democratic race, however.
"Jim will have the first word at 1 p.m.," Crawford said, referring to the senator's press conference at the National Press Club in Washington.
After a prolonged exploration of a presidential bid, Webb used a more than 2,000-word blog post to announce his run.
More: www.cnn.com
Monday, October 19, 2015
The Hill: High stakes for Hillary, lawmakers in Benghazi panel showdown
Hillary Clinton isn't the only one with a lot riding on this week’s Capitol Hill hearing on the 2012 Benghazi terrorist attacks.
The 12-member Select Committee on Benghazi is loaded with ambitious lawmakers from both parties looking for a breakout moment on the national stage with the Democratic presidential front-runner.
More than half the Republicans serving on the panel have been mentioned as potential candidates to replace Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio). And the committee’s chairman, GOP Rep. Trey Gowdy (S.C.), is widely viewed as having a bright political future back home in South Carolina.
Clinton’s Democratic allies on the panel include one declared Senate candidate, Rep. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, and another potential one, veteran Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland.
Here’s a look at seven members of the Benghazi panel who could shine in the spotlight during Thursday’s showdown.
Reps. Jim Jordan, Peter Roskam, Mike Pompeo and Lynn Westmoreland
The Benghazi panel is small but counts at least four potential Speaker candidates among its ranks: Freedom Caucus Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), former Chief Deputy Whip Peter Roskam (R-Ill.), and Reps. Mike Pompeo (R-Kan.) and Lynn Westmoreland (R-Ga.).
More: www.thehill.com
Time: Anti-Immigration Party Triumphs in Swiss Parliamentary Elections
Election reflects deep anxiety over the huge influx of migrants and refugees to Europe this year
The rightist Swiss People’s Party (SVP) triumphed in the country’s parliamentary elections Sunday, winning just under 30% of the vote for its vigorous stance against immigration. The right-leaning Liberal Party (FDP) also increased its share of parliamentary seats,Reuters reported, prompting analysts to talk of a Rechtsrutsch, or shift to the right, in the national political mood.
The SVP now controls 65 seats in the legislature — the highest of any party since the early 1960s.
Before the polls, Swiss voters listed immigration, integration and foreigners as their main concerns, the Associated Press says. Hundreds of thousands of refugees and migrants have poured into Europe this year and the SVP reflected anxieties over the influx in its campaigning, making pledges to tighten restrictions on who can enter and remain in the country — including not just asylum seekers but nationals from E.U. member states. (Switzerland is not an E.U. member.)
More: www.time.com
Sunday, October 18, 2015
The New York Times: Which Presidential Candidates Are Winning the Money Race
On Oct. 15, candidates filed reports with the Federal Election Commission on their finances through Sept. 30. The filings paint only a partial picture, however, because most outside groups supporting the candidates, like “super PACs,” will not submit their latest figures until Jan. 31.
See all candidate fundraising totals: www.nytimes.com
CNN: Hillary Clinton dismisses Benghazi 'conspiracy theories'
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| AP File |
In the wide-ranging 20-minute interview Friday on CNN's "The Lead with Jake Tapper," Clinton addressed everything from her performance in the first Democratic debate and her top rival for the Democratic nomination Sen. Bernie Sanders to Republican front-runner Donald Trump's "oversize personality" and whether Vice President Joe Biden should jump into the race.
But less than a week before she testifies for the first time before the panel and on the same day as her top aide Huma Abedin testified privately before the committee, Clinton previewed her testimony and girded herself for the tough questioning she is expected to endure by pointing to the committee's political motivations.
More: www.cnn.com
Friday, October 16, 2015
Daily Caller: Bernie Backers Declare War On CNN For Naming Hillary Debate Winner
By Blake Neff, Oct. 15, 2015
Supporters of Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders are clashing with CNN, claiming the channel is censoring them and building a false narrative that Hillary Clinton won Tuesday’s presidential primary debate.
The current dispute begins with the Tuesday night presidential debate. Since the debate was co-hosted by Facebook, CNN showcased a Facebook poll in its post-debate coverage that suggested Sanders won the debate in a landslide.
More: www.dailycaller.com
Supporters of Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders are clashing with CNN, claiming the channel is censoring them and building a false narrative that Hillary Clinton won Tuesday’s presidential primary debate.
The current dispute begins with the Tuesday night presidential debate. Since the debate was co-hosted by Facebook, CNN showcased a Facebook poll in its post-debate coverage that suggested Sanders won the debate in a landslide.
More: www.dailycaller.com
Wednesday, October 14, 2015
Monday, October 12, 2015
ABC News: What to Expect From Bernie Sanders at Tuesday's Democratic Debate
Bernie Sanders may be the outsider in the Democratic nomination race, but that doesn't mean he's a stranger to the debate stage.
Sanders (I-Vermont) has run for elected office more than a dozen times and is a veteran debater. As all eyes turn to Tuesday's first Democratic debate of the 2016 campaign, the big question is now: How will Sanders' fiery rhetoric and pointed platform play on the national stage?
"I think he's going to do very well," said Greg Guma, a Vermont-based journalist. “He is a strong debater. He will be speaking from the heart, from the basis of principles…he has fundamental positions that he does not equivocate on."
Guma said that another one of Sanders’ strengths is the ability to put opponents on the defensive by putting the issues in stark terms. “He has talked this year about how we are heading towards an oligarchy, and so, in a sense, he has said it is a choice between me and building a political movement to save the country or we’re heading toward oligarchy,” Guma explained. “Even the Democrat is in a sense put on the other side.”
More: www.abcnews.go.com
Friday, October 9, 2015
Thursday, October 8, 2015
CBS News: Conservatives to back Daniel Webster over Kevin McCarthy for House speaker
The House Freedom Caucus, a group of about 40 anti-establishment conservatives, announced Wednesday that they are endorsing Rep. Daniel Webster, R-Florida, to serve as the next speaker of the House.
The House Republican conference will vote by secret ballot on Thursday to nominate its candidate for speaker. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-California -- currently No. 2 in the House -- is likely to emerge as the nominee, even without the support of the Freedom Caucus.
However, McCarthy will need the support of at least some Freedom Caucus members when the full House of Representatives votes for the new speaker on October 29. A candidate will need at least 218 votes to be elected speaker, …
More: www.cbsnews.com
Tuesday, October 6, 2015
ABC News: These 6 Stalled Bills Aimed at Mass Shootings Like Umpqua Flounder in Congress
President Obama expressed frustration that Thursday’s shooting in Oregon would likely not spur Congress to pass legislation geared at reducing gun violence.
“This is a political choice that we make to allow this to happen every few months in America. We collectively are answerable to those families who lose their loved ones because of our inaction,” he said during his address from the White House briefing room Thursday night.
Congress’ last big push on big-ticket gun control legislation came in 2013, with Sens. Joe Manchin, D-Va., and Pat Toomey, R-Va., responding to the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Connecticut by crafting a bill that would have expanded background checks for online sales and gun shows.
But it still faced resistance from conservative groups and the National Rifle Association, and did not clear the Senate, nor was it expected to clear the Republican-controlled House.
Since Manchin-Toomey, members of Congress from both sides of the aisle have continued to push new legislation, but all have been, at some point or another in the legislative process, become stalled.
More: www.abcnews.go.com
Washington Post: Shooting in Oregon: 11 essential facts about guns and mass shootings in America
Numerous people are reportedly dead in a shooting on the campus of a community college in rural Oregon. It's the latest incident of gun violence in a series this year, including a shooting at a movie theater in Lafayette, La. and another at a church in Charleston, S.C.
It is not yet clear how many people have been killed in Thursday morning's incident at Umqua Community College in Douglas County or the full circumstances of the shooting.
In this post, adapted from previous versions after mass killings in the past, we explore America's unique role among advanced countries as a place where support for guns is widespread -- as is violence involving firearms. There are some perhaps surprising findings -- gun ownership in the United States is declining overall, for instance. But although mass killings have occurred with increasing frequency in recent years, support for gun rights is still resolute in America.
More: www.washingtonpost.com
RCP: Presidential Tantrums Won't End Gun Violence
WASHINGTON -- Following the mass shooting at Umpqua Community College, a "smoldering" (as one commentator put it) President Obama gave a revealing speech -- a clarification, a culmination, of much that had come before. "What has become routine," he said, "of course, is the response of those who oppose any kind of commonsense gun legislation. Right now, I can imagine the press releases being cranked out. 'We need more guns,' they'll argue. ... Does anybody believe that?" "This is a political choice we make," he claimed, "to allow this to happen every few months in America."
The president's frustration, after delivering a sad series of similar speeches, is understandable. But his argument is still indefensible.
Even if you support "commonsense gun legislation" (as I do), there was nothing in Obama's speech that effectively argued for it. No policy proposals or serious justifications. No one listening to the speech would be persuaded to take a position he or she did not already hold. Obama was saying, in essence, that it is obvious what we should do about mass gun violence, that evil people are blocking it, and that they have innocent blood on their hands.
More: www.realclearpolitics.com
Monday, October 5, 2015
The Hill: Clinton unveils gun-control plan
Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton announced new gun-control measures on Monday in the wake of the mass shooting at a community college in Oregon.
Clinton's gun-control proposal, announced in New Hampshire, calls for closing the so-called gun show loophole on private gun sales, potentially through executive action, and allow victims of gun violence to sue weapon manufacturers by proposing a repeal of legislation.
During a pair of town halls in New Hampshire, Clinton also called for eliminating the "Charleston loophole," a reference to the June shooting at a church in Charleston, S.C., by barring those with felony records from buying guns if results of a federal background check aren't returned within three days.
"I really do want to push hard to get more sensible restraints on gun ownership in the wrong hands, and then to try and keep track of people who shouldn’t have guns," Clinton said during the first event aired on NBC's "Today Show."
"I want to work with the Congress – we got very close. There was a bipartisan bill, it didn’t go all the way, but I will also look for ways as president to tighten some of these checks, to get more of the background checks done on more of the sales at gun shows and online than we currently have," she added.
More: www.thehill.com
Ted Kennedy Jr. Ought To Apologize To Patrick Kennedy For Ridiculing Him Over His New Book On Addiction And Mental Illness By Alexandra D. Datig
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| Available on Amazon.com |
The Boston Globe published an article on Sunday about an
interview Patrick Kennedy gave regarding his new book “A Common Struggle: A
Personal Journey Through the Past and Future of Mental Illness and Addiction.”
It may come as a surprise to some that Patrick Kennedy, who
is in recovery more than four consecutive years, found himself being criticized
by his own family for courageously talking about his battles with addiction and
mental illness. In the Boston Globe
article Kennedy’s brother Ted Jr. is quoted as having said about his brother’s
account that it is an “inaccurate and unfair portrayal of our family.”
The Kennedy Family is one of America’s most prominent
families that has seen the dark side of public life in the most devastating
ways imaginable. The prolonged suffering
resulting from shooting deaths of his brothers, President John F. Kennedy and
Senator Robert Kennedy are without a doubt a lifelong reflection of sorrow for
Patrick Kennedy and the Kennedy family as a whole. Many Americans can probably understand how
such devastation can result in finding comfort in the bottle to numb out the
reality of what took place. The question
is however; can Americans understand with the same level of empathy how Patrick
Kennedy found solace in recovery to deal with the reality of the devastation he
is reminded of for the rest of his life?
Beating addiction is the toughest thing I have ever
done. Even after 16 years of recovery, I
realize I know very little about addiction, especially someone else’s. What I do know is addiction is a daily
reprieve. It is a second chance at life.
A chance every addict deserves.
Why is it then we don’t see the kind of family support people in
recovery deserve?
While drinking and drugging is a conscious choice, the
progressive brain disease resulting from addiction is not. Bottles of alcohol do not warn drinking may
cause lack of impulse control that cause behavior which may be harmful to the
user and may cause the user to become a danger to him or herself and others. Families should to be educated to become more
understanding of the helplessness and hopelessness addiction brings.
Patrick Kennedy is courageous and brave to take on the issue
of addiction and mental illness at the government level. His work to bring about much needed change in
how we view addiction as a health problem instead of a moral failing and a
criminal justice problem ought to be strongly supported, especially by his
family.
Lack of family support can further devastate and even
trigger harmful relapse in an addict.
Family support is essential for the mental health of the entire family
as addiction affects those around the user in ways that warrant treatment. In essence, the entire family becomes ill
when having to defend the addict’s actions because we don’t know enough about
the type of mental illness addiction brings as each case is uniquely different.
Patrick Kennedy is working on behalf of so may to bring
change to understanding the intervention process, so we can begin to fight
addiction and mental illness with love, empathy and understanding, not
merciless shaming and ridicule.
Ted Kennedy Jr. should apologize to Patrick Kennedy for ridiculing him over his new book on addiction and mental illness, instead of making him more vulnerable by criticizing him for doing the best he could.
Ted Kennedy Jr. should apologize to Patrick Kennedy for ridiculing him over his new book on addiction and mental illness, instead of making him more vulnerable by criticizing him for doing the best he could.
Boston Globe: Patrick Kennedy defends book about family’s problems
Patrick Kennedy on Sunday defended himself against criticism from relatives over revelations about his father, the late Senator Edward M. Kennedy, and other family members in his new book about substance abuse, insisting what he wrote is accurate.
Kennedy, in an interview with the Globe and in an appearance on CBS’s “60 Minutes,” acknowledged that he had created divisions in his family over what he says is members’ tendency to deny problems with addiction.
“I’m writing very truthfully,” Patrick Kennedy said during a telephone interview with the Globe Sunday while he was attending a “Unite to Face Addiction” rally in Washington, D.C.
His remarks came after his older brother, Ted Kennedy Jr., 54, said in a statement the book paints an “inaccurate and unfair portrayal of our family.’’
He added that while he admired Patrick Kennedy’s “candor about his own challenges” with addiction, he was “heartbroken” about the book.
More: www.bostonglobe.com
Sunday, October 4, 2015
Saturday, October 3, 2015
Times Free Press: Tennessee Lt. Gov. Ramsey encourages 'fellow Christians' to get gun permits
NASHVILLE — Tennessee Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey is encouraging Christians to arm themselves following Thursday's mass shooting in Oregon in which the gunman reportedly singled out Christians.
But the Republican Senate speaker's call drew criticism from Tennessee Democratic Party Chairwoman Mary Mancini, who charged him with "fearmongering" and "apocalyptic delusions."
In a Facebook post Friday, Ramsey referred to a "recent spike in mass shootings across the nation" as "truly troubling."
"Whether the perpetrators are motivated by aggressive secularism, jihadist extremism or racial supremacy, their targets remain the same: Christians and defenders of the West," he wrote.
"While this is not the time for widespread panic," Ramsey added, "it is a time to prepare. I would encourage my fellow Christians who are serious about their faith to think about getting a handgun carry permit. I have always believed that it is better to have a gun and not need it than to need a gun and not have it.
"Our enemies are armed," he added. "We must do likewise."
More: www.timesfreepress.com
Baltimore Sun: Martin O'Malley seeks campaign finance reform as rivals post big hauls
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|
Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg
|
WASHINGTON -- Democratic presidential candidate Martin O'Malley said Thursday he would require companies to disclose their political donations and would advocate for other changes to the campaign finance system as his rivals for the nomination reported raising huge sums over the past three months.
The former two-term Maryland governor, who has been lagging in early state polls, said he would direct the Securities and Exchange Commission to require the publicly traded companies they regulate to disclose political spending to shareholders -- echoing an idea proposed by Hillary Clinton last month.
He also vowed to appoint commissioners at the Federal Election Commission to "assertively" enforce existing law.
O'Malley unveiled the ideas as his rivals, Clinton and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, pointed to major fundraising efforts in the third quarter. Clinton raised $28 million and Sanders brought in $26 million, according to the Associated Press.
O'Malley did not release figures, but his haul is likely to be significantly lower.
More: www.baltimoresun.com
Friday, October 2, 2015
ABC News: These 6 Stalled Bills Aimed at Mass Shootings Like Umpqua Flounder in Congress
President Obama expressed frustration that Thursday’s shooting in Oregon would likely not spur Congress to pass legislation geared at reducing gun violence.
“This is a political choice that we make to allow this to happen every few months in America. We collectively are answerable to those families who lose their loved ones because of our inaction,” he said during his address from the White House briefing room Thursday night.
Congress’ last big push on big-ticket gun control legislation came in 2013, with Sens. Joe Manchin, D-Va., and Pat Toomey, R-Va., responding to the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Connecticut by crafting a bill that would have expanded background checks for online sales and gun shows.
But it still faced resistance from conservative groups and the National Rifle Association, and did not clear the Senate, nor was it expected to clear the Republican-controlled House.
Since Manchin-Toomey, members of Congress from both sides of the aisle have continued to push new legislation, but all have been, at some point or another in the legislative process, become stalled.
More: www.abcnews.go.com
CNN: Oregon shooting: 6 guns on campus, 7 at shooter's home, ATF says
Roseburg, Oregon (CNN) - Douglas County, Oregon, Sheriff John Hanlin said in a news release Friday that gunman Christopher Sean Harper-Mercer was enrolled in the class where the fatal shootings occurred at Umpqua Community College.
Investigators found 13 firearms connected to the man who killed nine people at Oregon's Umpqua Community College, Celinez Nunez of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said Friday.
Six weapons were found at the college, where the shooter died Thursday after a gun battle with police, she said at a news conference. Those weapons included five pistols and one rifle.
Police searched his residence and found seven firearms -- two pistols, four rifles and a shotgun, she said.
More: www.cnn.com
USA Today: James Alan Fox: Umpqua shooting - a tragedy, not a trend
Another mass shooting sears deep into the collective consciousness of the American people. Another school — this time a community college in an otherwise peaceful town in rural Oregon — is devastated by a young man taking aim at students trapped in classrooms. Nine are murdered, and many others wounded, before the gunman is killed in a shootout with the police.
Within a few hours, President Obama appeared before the camera, reinforcing the notion that America is under siege. “Somehow this has become routine,” noted Obama with obvious emotion. “The reporting is routine.”
Although the sense of urgency may be overstated, Obama is certainly correct about the almost formulaic media response. The Oregon shooting had countless news outlets flooding the airwaves and the Internet with questionable statistics on the incidence of mass shootings along with sidebar listings of the deadliest shooting sprees in U.S. history. In the usual rush to offer up some breaking information, news reports were embellished with unconfirmed details about the massacre and the assailant that did little but fuel a contagion of fear.
More: www.usatoday.com
CBS: Why did Ted Cruz's PAC give half a million to Carly Fiorina's?
The Federal Election Commission (FEC) has asked a Ted Cruz super PAC to explain why it gave $500,000 to another super PAC supporting one of his Republican rivals.
According to financial disclosures from June, Keep the Promise I - one of four separate committees backing Cruz - gave half a million dollars to CARLY for America, the political action committee supporting Carly Fiorina.
Super PACs are legally allowed to give money to other super PACs - they are only prohibited from donating directly to any political campaign. But it's unusual for one of these groups to give money to an opponent, especially when the candidate it supports is still in the race.
"Keep the Promise I made the donation in June to Ms. Fiorina at that time because we thought she had important things to say that weren't being heard, including her poignant and effective criticism of Mrs. Clinton, at the time, the likely Democratic nominee," Kellyanne Conway, president of Keep the Promise I told CBS News in an email.
More: www.cbsnews.com
CNN: Judge drops 4 bribery charges, leaves most of case against Menendez intact
Washington (CNN)A federal judge on Monday dismissed four bribery counts against New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez, leaving intact most of the Justice Department's case against the Democrat.
Menendez was charged in April with 18 counts, including 12 bribery counts that survived Monday's ruling.
The four counts dismissed by U.S. District Court Judge William Walls relate to donations Menendez's friend and Democratic Party donor Salomon Melgen made to a Menendez legal defense fund called "The Fund to Uphold the Constitution."
The judge said the government's charges didn't meet the necessary legal hurdle to show specific a quid pro quo for the donations.
More: www.cnn.com
Thursday, October 1, 2015
Fox News: Obama says response to shootings has become too routine in wake of Oregon college shooting
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| CNN |
WASHINGTON – A visibly frustrated President Obama said Thursday that thoughts and prayers are no longer enough as Americans respond to another deadly school shooting, and he challenged voters wanting to deal with the problem to vote for elected officials who will do something.
Obama addressed the nation from the White House after at least 10 people were killed by a 20-year-old gunman at Umpqua Community College in southwestern Oregon. As he noted, he's done this before. Mass shootings have become embedded in the arc of Obama's presidency. He's traveled to Aurora, Colorado; Tucson, Arizona; Charleston, South Carolina, and numerous other cities to mourn victims of gun violence.
Obama said the nation's response to mass shootings has become routine — from the reporting by the media, to his own comments, to the opposition to legislative changes aimed at deterring the violence.
"We've become numb to this," Obama said.
Defund Planned Parenthood By Alexandra D. Datig
A young, pregnant woman seeks out an abortion. She goes to her local Planned Parenthood center where she visits with a doctor and a nurse who sell her an abortion. In the mind of the young woman she doesn’t understand abortion is a business and abortion providers must meet their quota to stay in business. She foolishly believes the abortion providers actually care about her life, her mental health and her overall wellbeing.
A few days later, she shows up for her appointment and enters the abortion clinic. She is convinced she will face too much conflict and hardship in the future if she keeps her baby. The father is nowhere to be found and she just got laid-off and is already behind on her bills. No one offers her an alternative plan or solution for the little life she carries inside her. No one has even made her aware that her baby’s little heart is already beating.
A nurse welcomes her and brings her to a room where the young woman’s vital signs are taken. “You’re alive and well” says the nurse after taking her pulse. She is brought to another room where she is asked to disrobe, put on hospital garb and is asked to wait for the abortion doctor. A few minutes later, a doctor arrives and asks her to lie down on the abortion table. Very little is said as the nurse enters and prepares a shot of morphine. A speculum is inserted, and a painful sting tells the young woman the morphine is injected locally. She doesn’t know it but it is at this time her baby dies.
The Morphine has taken a crippling but temporary effect as the room starts spinning and the young woman hears a dim sounding motor from the abortion vacuum aspiration machine. She feels another sting and then excruciating pain as the now dead fetal tissue is sucked out of her uterus. The procedure is over within a few minutes and the morphine is already starting to wear off. A cab driver is waiting in the lobby to bring her home where she rests for the next few days.
This heartless scenario plays out every day in abortion clinics all over the world. The way abortion is sold to young women is fraudulent on the basis alone that women are not made aware they have other choices. Based on this lack of principle and ethics, Planned Parenthood should be defunded for the fraudulent methods they use to sell abortions to unsuspecting women. No taxpayer should be made responsible for this type of barbarity.
We have had more than 55 million abortions since Roe v. Wade was enacted into law. That number represents an entire generation.
Planned Parenthood says it does not use taxpayer dollars to provide abortions. Yet it is hard to believe the $450 million they receive in taxpayer dollars to service 2.7 million patients, which represents 41% of Planned Parenthood’s money, is not used, in part, on abortion. Given abortion is one of the most expensive services at Planned Parenthood, the House Oversight Government Reform Committee should hire forensic accountants to get to the bottom of how exactly taxpayer money is allocated.
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