Last Call For Making Good On Their Threat

Behold what two-thirds of you not voting in November hath wrought, America.  Republicans are now making the country choose between the Secret Service and President Obama's immigration order, and one of them will be getting the budget axe thanks to the GOP.

Indeed, the whole arrangement is a fragile patchwork since the Department of Homeland Security — of which the Service is a part — is guaranteed funding only under a continuing resolution that expires Feb. 27.

How did it reach this point?

Top lawmakers in both parties and the White House acquiesced to the compromise, which was judged the fastest way to send Congress home, avoid a shutdown and put the rest of the government on permanent footing through Sept. 30 next year.

But it was House Republicans who really drove the bargain because the GOP insisted on holding Homeland hostage as a spending vehicle with which to challenge Obama over his Nov. 20 executive order shielding millions of undocumented immigrants from the threat of deportation.

Before the Homeland CR runs out, Republicans can count on being fully in charge of Congress. Their immediate target is the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, the office within Homeland that will implement Obama’s order including the issuance of temporary work permits for qualified individuals who come forward.

Ironically enough, USCIS is largely self-funded, living off the fees it collects and not the relatively small share of annual appropriations it gets from Congress. By contrast, the Secret Service is wholly dependent on appropriations and now caught in the political crossfire.

“There was absolutely no intention to freeze the Secret Service,” said a House Republican aide, who quickly added that “the president must bear some responsibility for any fallout that occurs as a result of the Homeland CR.”

So after complaining that the US Secret Service is underfunded, understaffed, and in need of reform Republicans cut $50 million from the USSS budget to put Obama in his place over immigration.  So if the Secret Service is stretched too thin, with a President that already gets more threats than any in modern history, of course that's where "patriots" like today's GOP make budget cuts.

After all, "the president must bear some responsibility for any fallout that occurs".

Republican hatred of Obama is now a direct threat to the safety of the President of the United States.  Remember that.

Backs To The Wall

New York's Finest continue to show their asses.

Hundreds of officers outside the church where a funeral was held for a policeman killed along with his partner in an ambush shooting turned their backs on the mayor as he spoke during Saturday's service.

The reaction from officers watching Officer Rafael Ramos' funeral on giant TV screens followed comments from police union officials who had said Mayor Bill de Blasio contributed to a climate of mistrust that contributed to the killings of the two New York Police Department officers.

Inside Christ Tabernacle Church in Queens, however, mourners gave de Blasio polite applause before and after his speech.

The mayor said hearts citywide were aching after the Dec. 20 shootings that left Ramos and his partner, Wenjian Liu, dead.

"All of this city is grieving and grieving for so many reasons," de Blasio said. "But the most personal is that we've lost such a good man, and the family is in such pain."

Police union officials have blamed de Blasio for fostering anti-police sentiment for his support of protesters angry that no charges will be filed in the police deaths of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and Eric Garner on Staten Island. At a hospital after the officers' slayings, the police union's president, Patrick Lynch, and others turned their backs on de Blasio in a sign of disrespect. Lynch said the mayor had "blood on his hands."

Why, you'd almost think there was a new police union contract coming up for negotiations or something, and that the police union has hated de Blasio since he was elected last year.

Bernie's Game

Will Vermont independent Sen. Bernie Sanders join the 2016 dance?  He says he'll decide by March whether or not to join the race.

Sanders said the issues about which he's been railing all these years are only becoming more dire. The wealth gap has grown, and the middle class, he says, is "collapsing."

"You have one family, the Walton family of Walmart, owning more wealth than the bottom 40 percent of the American people," he said. "We have 95 percent of all new income going to the top 1 percent. You have millions of families unable to afford to send their kids to college. People are desperately worried about whether or not they are going to retire with dignity."

Sanders has a 12-step plan that he says will restore the economy and especially the middle class, most of it dependent on higher taxes on the rich and corporations. Among the proposals: A $1 trillion infrastructure building program that would "create 13 million decent-paying jobs," more worker-friendly international trade deals and legislation to strengthen unions, and transforming the U.S. energy system "away from fossil fuels and into energy efficiency and sustainable energy."

He says he'll make a "gut decision" about running for the presidency - and, perhaps, challenging Democratic favorite Hillary Rodham Clinton.

And he has a message that has resonated with the left for years.  But he's exactly the person the GOP wants to run against that would let them put up a Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, or Paul Ryan as a clear favorite to win.  And as much as I think he'd make a great President, he'd also be the McGovern to the GOP's Nixon.

After twenty years of "taxation is theft" America is not a center-right nation, it's a Tea Party one.  November proved that, the lowest turnout in 84 years.  We don't care anymore.  Sanders running wouldn't be enough of a reason to care, frankly.

Last Call For SCOTUS In 2015

Sam Baker at National Journal (which at this point just exists to scold liberals) is warning that SCOTUS will pretty much destroy Obama's second term.  I've talked about King v. Burwell before:

The justices will hear oral arguments March 4 in a lawsuit that threatens to cripple the health care law, just three years after Chief Justice John Roberts helped save it. This time, the challengers want the Court to invalidate the law's premium subsidies in states that didn't set up their own insurance exchanges. Most states didn't establish their own exchanges, and more than 80 percent of enrollees are getting subsidies—so a win for the challengers here would likely make insurance unaffordable for about 5 million people and could make insurance markets unstable in most of the country.

But there's the Sixth Circuit's decision on upholding same-sex marriage bans as constitutional, which could force the Supremes to act.

When a federal Appeals Court upheld same-sex marriage in several states, the justices declined to hear an appeal. But then the Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit upheld bans on same-sex marriage in Michigan and Kentucky, as well as state laws in Ohio and Tennessee. So now the Appeals Courts are divided over the constitutionality of state laws banning same-sex marriage, and almost all of the states in question have asked the Supreme Court to settle the issue for good. Given the patchwork of laws from state to state, many legal observers say it'll be hard for the Court to stay on the sidelines this time.

And there's the fallout from last year's Hobby Lobby case and the next set of questions involving religious freedoms that will be answered:

Religious liberty was the defining issue of 2014's biggest ruling—the Hobby Lobby decision involving Obamacare's contraception mandate—and it's back in a big way this term. The Court has already heard oral arguments in a suit filed by an Arkansas inmate who wants to grow a beard, in accordance with his Muslim faith but in violation of prison rules. During oral arguments, the justices reportedly seemed to be siding with the inmate, questioning whether the prison system could ensure inmates' safety without such strict rules against beards.

The Court has agreed to hear a second, similar case, but hasn't yet scheduled oral arguments. This one concerns a woman who was denied a job at an Abercrombie & Fitch store because the head scarf she wore, as a practicing Muslim, wasn't consistent with the company's "Look Policy." The question in the case is whether a business can discriminate against someone's religion if it didn't know that a religious accommodation was needed.

There are also several free speech issues in front of SCOTUS, one involving what constitutes a threat online, one involving Florida's ban on judges personally soliciting campaign contributions, and one involving putting a Confederate flag design on Texas license plates.

A lot on SCOTUS's plate in the next six months, and the decisions could seriously blow a hole in Obama's second term if they are decided by that infamous 5-4 bloc involving Justice Kennedy and the four conservatives.

We'll see.

Jeb Sweeps His Past Under The Rug

Jeb Bush has a number of problems that will prevent him from winning the White House in 2016, but the reality is that he won't even make it past the primaries with his history in profiting from big banks and Obamacare.

Bush is quitting Tenet Healthcare Corp. — a company that has profited from Obamacare — and is ending a consulting contract with Barclays Bank to focus on his political future. Aides say he also has stopped giving highly paid speeches to focus on traveling America, meeting with potential donors and testing what a friend calls a “visionary” brand of campaigning.

But Bush’s business record, enmeshed in international finance and some troubled former ventures in south Florida, could end up complicating his return to politics and his hopes to follow his father, George H.W. Bush, and his older brother, George W. Bush, into the Oval Office.

Last year, he took a step into the rarefied world of private equity and offshore investments, joining with former banking executives and a Chinese airline company to make bets on natural gas exploration and shipping. One of the funds was set up in the United Kingdom, a structure that allows the company to shield overseas investors from U.S. taxes.

His primary opponents are going to eat him alive.

"Jeb Bush made millions from Obamacare and only quit his job as a Washington lobbyist when he decided to run for President.  He's hoping none of us remember."  And fade to black.

Good luck getting past Super Tuesday, Jebbie.

StupidiNews!

• PlayStation and Xbox users spent Christmas Day getting Grinched as hackers brought down both consoles' online gaming networks.
• A Texas security guard who ditched the armored car he was driving and took $200,000 on Monday has been caught in Colorado.
• Russia is warning its neighbors that Ukraine's entry into NATO will be "dangerous for Europe" as Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov denounced the move as a "provocative" one.
• Saudi Arabia's 2015 budget assumes oil will be $80 a barrel for most of next year, raising confidence in commodities markets and pushing oil back towards $60.
• Samsung's brand-new flagship London store didn't even last through 2014 as sales of the Galaxy S5 smartphone continue to come in well below estimates.

Last Call For They See When You Are Sleeping

Merry Christmas from the NSA.  It seems the Puzzle Palace has 12 years' worth of presents to give to Americans.

The NSA, responding to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit from the American Civil Liberties Union, released a series of required quarterly and annual reportsto the President’s Intelligence Oversight Board that cover the period from the fourth quarter of 2001 to the second quarter of 2013.

The heavily-redacted reports include examples of data on Americans being e-mailed to unauthorized recipients, stored in unsecured computers and retained after it was supposed to be destroyed, according to the documents. They were posted on the NSA’s website at around 1:30 p.m. on Christmas Eve.

In a 2012 case, for example, an NSA analyst “searched her spouse’s personal telephone directory without his knowledge to obtain names and telephone numbers for targeting,” according to one report. The analyst “has been advised to cease her activities,” it said.

Other unauthorized cases were a matter of human error, not intentional misconduct.

Last year, an analyst “mistakenly requested” surveillance “of his own personal identifier instead of the selector associated with a foreign intelligence target,” according to another report.

In 2012, an analyst conducted surveillance “on a U.S. organization in a raw traffic database without formal authorization because the analyst incorrectly believed that he was authorized to query due to a potential threat,” according to the fourth-quarter report from 2012. The surveillance yielded nothing.

Two thoughts:  One, as I've said numerous times, it's entirely possible to hold the position that both the NSA needs massive reform to prevent civil liberties abuses, and that Edward Snowden went about exposing these abuses in a way that damaged national security.  The ACLU on the other hand requested this information through FOIA, and got it.  No espionage or skullduggery was required, and the information clearly shows the NSA isn't following its own oversight procedures.  This was the right way to get evidence of these massive abuses and does so in a manner that's both responsible and powerful.

Two, please remember that Senate Republicans, including Rand Paul, killed legislation that would have increased oversight and civil liberties protections involving the NSA just last month, so the opportunity to do something about this was killed by the GOP.  They're not interested in reforming the NSA, they're interested in allowing these abuses to continue.

It's pretty rancid for a Christmas Day news dump, but there you have it.

Toying With The Crowd

President Obama, being a father of two daughters, might know a thing or two about what toys girls like to play with.

The answer of course is "all of them."




Merry Christmas, folks.

StupidiNews, Xmas Edition!

• People in Hong Kong got quite the Christmas treat when a wrecked transport van spilled millions in Hong Kong dollars on a busy highway.
• A Utah man ended up in the hospital for three days after trying to chug a quart of eggnog and nearly "dry-drowning" himself.
• Former President George HW Bush remains in good condition after the 90-year old father of George W Bush was admitted earlier this week to a Houston hospital for shortness of breath.
• Merry Christmas to the Sunshine State as Florida's population has now surpassed that of New York to become the third most populous state in the US.
• Sony's dubious Christmas present to America is the fact The Interview will be streamed on YouTube, Google Play, and Xbox Video.

Last Call For Horrible Bosses, NKY Edition

Two elected officials here in NKY, both defeated in November elections, made eBossWatch's list of America's Worst Bosses.

Park Hills Mayor Don Catchen and Grant County Jailer Terry Peeples – neither of whom was re-elected – deny the allegations that put them among the top 100 worst bosses.

“You can make accusations about anybody,” Catchen said Wednesday. “None of it was substantiated. I left our city in a much better position than it’s ever been.”

The Enquirer reported in August that Park Hills settled two lawsuits involving an allegation that Catchen fired the city's former female police chief, Amy Schworer, because of her gender. During depositions in the case, Catchen was also accused of making racist remarks toward black residents in Park Hills, statements Catchen vehemently denies.

Catchen was defeated in the Nov. 4 general election by write-in candidate Matthew Mattone.

A lawsuit filed in July by one current and two former jail employees accuse Grant County Jailer Terry Peeples of sexual harassment and sexual assault. It also alleged Peeples threatened the employees from going to authorities and coerced them into lying under oath.

“There’s been a bevy of lawsuits,” Peeples’ attorney, Jeff Mando, said Wednesday. “There has been no court that has found that Terry Peeples has discriminated against any of his employees. It is all bogus, and we’re going to fight it tooth and nail in court.”

Chris Hankins defeated Peeples in the Nov. 4 election for Grant County jailer.

I'm glad these two lumps of coal are gone for the New Year, frankly.  Want to see which bosses made the list where you live?  Check it out here.

Back home in NC, I see Iredell County Sheriff Phil Redmond and his sexual assault lawsuit landed him at number 6 for preying on domestic violence victims.

Way to protect and serve, Phil!

A Merry Christmas to all, and to all, a good night.

Another Death In St. Louis

St. Louis County police has released video they say shows that 18-year old black teen pulled a 9mm handgun on two police officers at a gas station in the suburb of Berkeley, Missouri.  One of the officers fired his weapon several times and one shot struck and killed the teen, Antonio Martin.

The shooting happened about 5 miles northwest of Ferguson, where a white police officer fatally shot unarmed Michael Brown in August, sparking months of civil unrest.

At about 11:15 p.m. CT Tuesday while conducting a routine business check, a police officer saw two males at the side of a gas station, Sgt. Brian Schellman, a St. Louis County police spokesman, said in a statement.

The officer, whose name has not been released, approached them. Then one of the men pulled out a handgun and pointed it at the officer, Schellman said.

"Fearing for his life, the Berkeley officer fired several shots, striking the subject, fatally wounding him," Schellman said. "The second subject fled the scene."

It's difficult to see what was in the video.  It's not clear that anything happened other than Martin's arm was raised.  The police are saying that Martin had priors for armed robbery and was "known" to the Berkley cops.  Oh, and the cop's body camera was turned off.

Hmm.

What the video does show is several witnesses however: the person with Martin at the time of the shooting, and at least two people who pull up in a car to the gas station during the conversation Martin had with the two officers.

Somehow, I doubt there will be a trial.  Antonio Martin will be just another "armed thug" who "got what he deserved".  What really happened? Most likely we'll never know, right?  Never trust a government employee unless he's got a grainy picture of a black man "pointing a gun" I guess.

Meanwhile in Houston, a grand jury refused to indict a cop there for shooting an unarmed black man.

Darrell Issa's Crap-Ass Christmas

After 18 months of wasting taxpayer money, professional car thief and California Republican Rep. Darrell Issa hasn't been able to find anything at the IRS other than people who think Republicans are jackasses.

An 18-month congressional investigation into the Internal Revenue Service’s mistreatment of conservative political groups seeking tax exemptions failed to show coordination between agency officials and political operatives in the White House, according to a report released on Tuesday.

The I.R.S. has admitted that before the 2012 election it inappropriately delayed approval of tax exemption applications by groups affiliated with the Tea Party movement, but the I.R.S. and its parent agency, the Treasury Department, have said that the errors were not motivated by partisanship.

Republican lawmakers, dismissing the Obama administration’s denials, have suggested that the delays were not only politically motivated but also orchestrated by the White House.

Some of the most strident comments have come from Representative Darrell Issa, Republican of California and the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, which has issued subpoenas to compel testimony from administration officials and held a series of tumultuous hearings on the I.R.S. scandal.

Mr. Issa, who is stepping down from the chairmanship, has accused the I.R.S. commissioner of engaging in a Watergate-style cover-up and accused administration officials of obstructing his investigation.

In a parting shot, Mr. Issa released the 226-page summary of the panel’s findings on Tuesday. It said that language used in emails collected by the committee suggested that I.R.S. officials in the tax-exemption unit were trying to find ways to penalize groups they disliked.

In one email, for example, an I.R.S. official said of a conservative group, “I think there may be a number of ways to deny them,” adding, “This sounds like a bad org,” and “This org gives me an icky feeling.”

Surely somebody needs to be impeached for having an icky feeling.

And so, this version of the GOP Clown Show comes to an end, bought and paid for with millions of your tax dollars.  And because we sat home and blamed Obama, we now get another two years of the GOP Clown Show starting in January, with a different ringmaster.

Good job, America!

StupidiNews!

• A string of tornadoes ripped through Mississippi last night, killing four, injuring dozens and leaving thousands without power.
• South Korea is the latest location to take on ride share service Uber, charging the company with operating an illegal cab company in Seoul.
• A number of independent and art-house theaters will end up showing Sony's "The Interview" after all on Christmas Day as the studio has agreed to a limited release.
• A police officer has shot and killed another black teenager near Ferguson, Missouri last night, setting off another round of protests in the St. Louis area.
• The latest self-driving prototype vehicle from Google will hit public roads for trials in January, according to the company.

Grimm Fandango, Con't

Remember New York GOP Rep. Michael Grimm?  The guy who threatened to break a reporter in half "like a boy" and got himself deep into tax evasion charges?  Well, he won re-election in 2014. And he may not have that seat much longer.

Representative Michael G. Grimm, a Republican from Staten Island who was elected to a second term in November despite having been indicted on federal fraud charges, has agreed to plead guilty to a single felony charge of tax evasion, according to two people with knowledge of the matter. 

Mr. Grimm, a former Marine and agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation who first ran for office as a law-and-order corruption fighter, is scheduled to appear in federal court in Brooklyn at 1 p.m. on Tuesday for a plea hearing, according to the docket sheet in his case, which provides no further detail. 

He has said he would immediately resign if he were convicted. A guilty plea would almost certainly put him under tremendous pressure to do so.

Hey, let's not forget how long former Florida GOP Rep. Trey Radel held out before he was forced to resign over cocaine use (and he was replaced by the even dumber Curt Clawson.)  Mikey Suits might stick around for a while, convicted felon or not.

But it's Staten Island, and I'm thinking that Grimm's eventual replacement will still be a Republican colostomy bag of an individual.  We'll see how Cuomo handles it should Grimm be out.

Good News Out Of Kentucky

Over in Louisville, the City Council and Mayor Greg Fischer have worked out a deal to raise the city's minimum wage to $9 a hour in 2017.

The lawmakers’ agreement resulted from a series of debates prior to the Louisville Metro Council meeting on Thursday night. All 16 Democrats favored raising the minimum wage, and the nine Republicans voted against it.

Previously, Mayor Greg Fischer had said he would veto the Metro Council’s original proposal to increase the wage to $10.10 an hour over a three-year period. But after the decision on Thursday, he said he agreed to support the increase to $9 during the same time span because “it is a balanced compromised solution.”

“I’m pleased with the Council’s vote, appreciate their hard work on this important issue, and look forward to signing the ordinance into law,” Fischer, a Democrat, wrote on Twitter.

But not everyone is happy with the change as business groups are considering taking the city ordinance to court, claiming the city doesn't have the authority.

Passage of a "compromise" ordinance to eventually raise the minimum wage to $9 an hour in Jefferson County has not diminished concerns of opponents, and a lawsuit over the Metro Council action is possible but not a certainty, business leaders said Friday. 

"We never said we would definitely sue, but our legal concerns remain and our attorneys have drafted papers" with a lawsuit ready to go, if officials decide to pursue that route, said Sarah Davasher-Wisdom, vice president of public policy for Greater Louisville Inc., the metro chamber of commerce.

Where this goes from here is anyone's guess.  Louisville would be the first city in the South to enact a minimum wage law, but whether or not that law ever goes into effect?  I have my doubts.

We'll see.