Stupid and Stupider Cartoon.

Georgetown basketball players sport 'I Can't Breathe' shirts in warm-ups

Stupid.

The first major "I Can't Breathe" protest from college sports would naturally come from Georgetown, where societal statements are part of the school's DNA.
And what a powerful one it was. The entire roster emerged for the final warmups before the Hoyas' loss to No. 10 Kansas on Wednesday night wearing black short-sleeve T-shirts with the words "I CAN'T BREATHE" in bold white letters.
The players wore the T-shirts during the national anthem while lined up across the court, an image that could bring to mind protesters blocking traffic on a city street in silent, nonviolent defiance. Then they shook hands with the Jayhawks before taking off the shirts for the announcement of the starting lineups.
Many notable professional athletes — including LeBron James and Kobe Bryant — have written the message on their warmups or other equipment in recent days, echoing the last words spoken by Eric Garner as police were attempting to arrest him in New York in July. A grand jury decided last week not to indict the officers involved, spurring protests across the country.
It should be no surprise that coach John Thompson III would allow his players to make such a statement. His father, longtime Hoyas coach John Thompson Jr., was known for taking bold positions during a Hall of Fame career, especially in support of minorities. Most famously, the elder Thompson walked off the court before a home game in 1989 to protest NCAA Proposition 42, which restricted the criteria under which athletes could receive scholarships.
After the game, Thompson III gave a detailed, eloquent explanation for the T-shirts, saying it was a player-driven idea that had its origins after the team watched a similar grand jury decision concerning another shooting — that of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri — live on television while in the Bahamas for a holiday tournament.
The coach said the players initially wanted to wear the shirts at the Hoyas' previous game, but he first wanted to have more conversations with them to make sure they all understood the answer to the question: "Why do you want to wear this shirt?"
"You can go from Patrick Ewing wearing a T-shirt underneath his jersey, then it becomes something that everyone does," Thompson III said. "Allen Iverson braiding his hair and playing in the league, then it becomes something everyone does. Kobe wearing the tights and then everyone does it.
"And this isn't that. This isn't one of those things where you go along just because it's something that's trending. We have had a lot of discussions, and the emotions as it relates to the protest the guys wanted to do today, the emotions and the feelings in the locker room are all over the place, meaning not necessarily everyone feels the same way.
"The emotions are from fear to frustration to confusion to anger, and the reasons why every individual wanted to wear it is all over the place, too, which is probably pretty consistent with the emotions across the country right now. ... I think the group wanted to possibly put ourselves in the position to be a part of a process, to help where there's positive change, as opposed to just negative reactions."
Junior guard D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera referenced the names of Brown and Trayvon Martin as he spoke about the protest, saying it goes beyond one case in New York.
"We really wanted to represent those families that all lost (a loved) one," Smith-Rivera said.
Added senior center Joshua Smith: "We didn't wear the shirts to say that the cops were wrong or the system was wrong. We just wore the shirts just to show our condolences to the family because no matter how you look at it, we don't know who was right or wrong, but they still lost somebody. And they won't get that person back."
When Thompson III was asked about his father's legacy of speaking his mind, the elder Thompson spoke up from the back of the room.
"It's a (expletive) school, man," Thompson Jr. said. "That's your responsibility to deal with things like that. We're not a ... damn pro team."
Kansas freshman guard Kelly Oubre was impressed by the Georgetown players' stand.
"That's definitely a powerful statement that those guys collectively made," Oubre said. "I respect them for doing that, and they did it all as a team, too, so it was something good to watch."
Jayhawks coach Bill Self didn't see the protest because he was focused on preparing for the game, but he also supported the players' action.
"It's a pretty strong stance," Self said. "And I think it's pretty good, and it certainly shows a lot of solidarity amongst their unit. And I don't see anything negative with it at all."

Fox News Poll: Voters worry about checks and balances after Obama immigration action

Majorities of American voters think President Barack Obama exceeded his authority with recent executive actions on immigration -- and are worried he may be permanently altering the system of checks and balances established by the Constitution. 
That’s according to a new Fox News poll released Wednesday.
Click here for the poll results.
By an 8-point margin, more voters disapprove (51 percent) than approve (43 percent) of the specific policy changes Obama made that will, among other things, allow millions of illegal immigrants to remain temporarily in the United States to work. 
Meanwhile, nearly three quarters think this easing of immigration laws will encourage more people to enter the country illegally (74 percent).  That includes 50 percent who believe Obama’s actions are “very likely” to result in more people illegally entering the U.S. 
Even more voters are unhappy with how Obama made these changes.  By a 60-38 percent margin, voters disapprove of the president bypassing Congress to change how the government deals with illegal immigration. 
In addition, a 54-percent majority thinks Obama “exceeded his authority” under the Constitution by making the immigration changes unilaterally.  Thirty-eight percent say he “acted within his authority.” 
The poll goes on to ask what such actions mean for the country in the long term and finds more than two-thirds -- 68 percent of voters -- are concerned Obama’s use of executive orders and unilateral actions may be “permanently altering” our country’s system of checks and balances. That includes 42 percent of Democrats, 72 percent of independents and 93 percent of Republicans.
Hispanic voters -- who are almost twice as likely as white voters to approve of the recent changes Obama made on immigration (66 percent vs. 34 percent) -- like how the president went about making the changes as well.  Fifty-six percent of Hispanics approve of Obama bypassing Congress compared to 29 percent of whites.  Even so, views among Hispanics are about evenly divided over Obama’s authority under the Constitution: 48 percent say he acted within his authority, while 44 percent say he exceeded it.  By two-to-one white voters say Obama exceeded his authority under the Constitution (62 percent-31 percent). 
In general, a 63-percent majority wants the government to allow illegal immigrants to remain in the U.S. and eventually qualify for citizenship after meeting certain requirements.  Some 16 percent favor a guest-worker program, while 17 percent say deport all illegal immigrants.  Despite the president’s recent actions and the reactions they have sparked, these sentiments are mostly unchanged since 2011. 
While Hispanic voters (77 percent) are more likely than white voters (59 percent) to think the government should allow illegal immigrants to stay in the country, majorities of both groups favor that option. 
Many lawmakers and commentators questioned the timing of Obama’s actions on immigration -- especially given the thumping his party received during the midterms. And voters certainly don’t think immigration should be at the top of the president’s to-do list.
The economy is the priority at 38 percent, followed by terrorism from groups like ISIS at 21 percent.  Next on the list is health care at 12 percent, immigration comes in fourth for voters at 10 percent and race relations follows at 9 percent.
Those voters saying immigration should be the president’s top priority are split on the changes Obama made:  48 percent approve and 48 percent disapprove. 
Thirty-six percent of voters approve of the job Obama is doing on immigration, while 60 percent disapprove. Obama’s record-high approval on immigration was 47 percent in February 2013, around the time he was proposing a comprehensive immigration reform plan.
Hispanic voters (55 percent) are twice as likely as white voters (27 percent) to approve of Obama’s job performance on immigration.
Obama’s overall job rating held steady this week: 42 percent of voters approve and 53 percent disapprove.  Just before the midterms it was 41 approve - 54 disapprove. 
The average for Obama’s ratings since becoming president is now split: 46 approve - 46 disapprove. 
The Fox News poll is based on landline and cell phone interviews with 1,043 randomly chosen registered voters nationwide and was conducted under the joint direction of Anderson Robbins Research (D) and Shaw & Company Research (R) from December 7-9, 2014. The full poll has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points. The poll includes additional interviews (an oversample) of randomly selected Hispanics to allow analysis of the subgroup.

State Department 'stonewalling' requests for Hillary Clinton's files

The State Department has failed to turn over government documents covering Hillary Clinton's tenure as secretary of state that The Associated Press and others requested under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act ahead of her presumptive presidential campaign. They include one request AP made four years ago and others pending for more than one year. 
The agency already has missed deadlines it set for itself to turn over the material. 
The State Department denied the AP's requests, and rejected the AP's subsequent appeals, to release the records sought quickly under a provision in the law reserved for journalists requesting federal records about especially newsworthy topics. 
In its requests, the AP cited the likely prospect of Clinton entering the 2016 race. The former first lady is widely considered the leading Democratic contender hoping to succeed President Obama. She has made scores of recent high-profile speeches and public appearances. 
On Wednesday, the conservative political advocacy group Citizens United sued the State Department for failing to disclose flight records showing who accompanied Clinton on overseas trips. 
Citizens United, which in 2009 mounted a legal battle that led to the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning campaign finance limits, said the department unlawfully was withholding the records it sought nearly five months ago. 
The State Department is among the U.S. government's worst-performing federal agencies under the Freedom of Information Act. There is no direct evidence that political considerations in a Democratic presidential administration have delayed the release of files about the party's leading contender for 2016. But the agency's delays, unusual even by government standards, have stoked perceptions about what could be taking so long. 
"There may not necessarily be political interference, but if the department went out of its way to speed these documents there would be no way for people to accuse them of it," said Thomas Blanton, who has previously sued the State Department for access to records as director of George Washington University's National Security Archive, a research organization. 
The department "is stonewalling us," said Citizen United's president, David Bossie. He asserted that "these decisions are being made with Hillary Clinton's intentions at heart," but acknowledged he could provide no evidence of political interference. 
Bossie, a former Republican congressional investigator who researched figures in the Clinton administration, said his group's film unit wants the records for a sequel to its documentary about Clinton, which spurred the Citizens United court decision. 
The group first asked Air Force officials for passenger lists from Clinton's overseas trips but was told all flight records were under the State Department's control. "These were Air Force flights and crews but State has the records?" he said, adding that his group has submitted 15 Clinton-related requests in the past six months. 
The AP's requests go further back. 
The AP requested copies of Clinton's full schedules and calendars from her four years as secretary of state; her department's decision to grant a special position for longtime aide Huma Abedin; Clinton's and the agency's roles in the Osama bin Laden raid and National Security Agency surveillance practices; and her role overseeing a major Defense Department contractor. The AP made most of its requests last summer, although one was filed in March 2010. 
State Department spokesman Alec Gerlach cited the department's heavy annual load of FOIA requests -- 19,000 last year -- in saying that the department "does its best to meet its FOIA responsibilities." He said the department takes requests "first in, first out," but noted that timing depends on "the complexity of the request." He declined to comment on Citizen United's suit. 
In a previous communication, a State Department official apologized for its own delays responding to AP's records requests without offering any explanation for the delays. 
"We sincerely regret the delay," said Lela H. Ross of the Office of Information Programs and Services, which administers the agency's requests. The official did not explain the delays but cited the agency's "complex and lengthy administrative FOIA process." 
Last May, the State Department told the AP that its search for records pertaining to Clinton and the defense contractor would be completed by August. The agency said it now expects the files to be available later this month. Similarly, the agency said the Clinton and Abedin records would likely be completed in September. Now it says it will not finish until next April. The 4-year-old FOIA request still has no estimated completion date. 
The agency's pace responding to requests for Clinton-related files has frustrated news organizations, archivists and political groups trying to research her role at the State Department in the months before Clinton decides whether to formally enter the 2016 race. 
At stake is the public's access to thousands of documents that could help understand and define her activities as the nation's chief diplomat under Obama. 
Other major document repositories have released thousands of pages of files about Clinton's private and public life. 
Since February, lots of previously restricted records from her years as first lady to President Bill Clinton have been made public by the Clinton Presidential Library. Last month, the University of Virginia's Miller Center presidential oral history collection unveiled dozens of interviews with key players from the Clinton White House. 
The State Department generally takes about 450 days to turn over records it considers to be part of complex requests under the Freedom of Information Act. That is seven times longer than the Justice Department and CIA, and 30 times longer than the Treasury Department. 
An inspector general's report in 2012 criticized the State Department's practices as "inefficient and ineffective," citing a heavy workload, small staff and interagency problems. A study in March by the nonpartisan Center for Effective Government said the State Department was the worst-performing agency because of its delays and frequent failure to deliver the full number of files that people requested.

Cheney defends CIA interrogation techniques, calls Senate report 'deeply flawed'

WASHINGTON –  Former Vice President Dick Cheney slammed the recently released Senate report on CIA interrogation techniques Wednesday, calling it “full of crap,” and a “terrible piece of work” that was “deeply flawed.”
Cheney, speaking on Fox News' “Special Report with Bret Baier,” said some of the controversial techniques used on militants had been previously tested and the interrogations produced results.
Cheney acknowledged he had not read the entire 500-page report summary. He strongly defended the tactics, including waterboarding and rectal hydration.
“What are you prepared to do to get the truth against future attacks against the United States?” Cheney asked.
Cheney also refuted claims that President George W. Bush was kept in the dark about the interrogations.
“I think he knew everything he wanted to know and needed to know,” Cheney told Baier.
A Democrat-led Senate panel released a scathing report Tuesday on CIA interrogation practices amid warnings from lawmakers that the findings could "endanger the lives of Americans" -- a concern the Obama administration apparently shared as it put more than 6,000 Marines overseas on high alert.
The report, from the Senate intelligence committee, claimed the interrogation techniques used were "brutal and far worse" than the CIA represented to lawmakers. Further, the report claimed the tactics were not effective and the spy agency gave "inaccurate" information about it to Congress and the White House.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., the head of the intelligence panel who ordered the release of the report, alleged on the Senate floor on Tuesday that the CIA techniques in some cases amounted to "torture."
"History will judge us by our commitment to a just society governed by law and the willingness to face an ugly truth and say 'never again'," she said on the floor. "There may never be the right time to release this report. ... But this report is too important to shelve indefinitely."
The White House and President Obama backed the decision to release the report, despite warnings from lawmakers and some inside the administration that it could lead to a backlash against Americans.