Conservative Blogger
Tuesday, June 30, 2015
Texas AG says clerks can cite religious objections on gay marriage, most states complying with ruling
The top law enforcement official in Texas said county clerks can cite religious objections in denying marriage licenses for gay couples -- though the Lone Star State and others have for the most part started complying with Friday’s Supreme Court ruling legalizing same-sex marriage.
Despite initial resistance in several of the 14 states that did not previously allow same-sex marriage, top officials in those states by Monday said they planned to comply. Among them were officials in Mississippi and Louisiana.
Even staunch conservative critics acknowledge states will have to, in the near-term, follow the court ruling.
But Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican, released a statement suggesting the next battle over gay marriage may be over how to balance that ruling with First Amendment religious freedoms. He predicted clerks and others could be at the center of it.
“[T]he United States Supreme Court again ignored the text and spirit of the Constitution to manufacture a right that simply does not exist,” he said in a statement released late Sunday. “… Importantly, the reach of the Court’s opinion stops at the door of the First Amendment and our laws protecting religious liberty.”
He warned that any clerk, justice of the peace or other administrator who declines to issue a license to a same-sex couple could face litigation or a fine.
But in the nonbinding legal opinion requested by Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, Paxton said "numerous lawyers" stand ready to defend, free of charge, any public official refusing to grant one. And Paxton said he would do “everything I can from this office to be a public voice” for them.
In its 5-4 opinion Friday, the Supreme Court did nothing to eliminate rights of religious liberty, Paxton's opinion states.
Carrie Severino, chief counsel and policy director for the conservative Judicial Crisis Network, agreed that the religious rights issue is the next thorny issue to resolve.
“The biggest question that was left in limbo is the next big challenge: how to balance these new-found constitutional rights and a long-standing and explicit right to exercise religion. That’ll be the next battleground,” she said.
Accepting the Supreme Court’s basic decision may be less of an issue. While several states initially slow-walked their compliance with the ruling, that resistance appears to be melting. Severino said she doesn’t expect further lawsuits challenging the ruling itself.
“If a state did attempt to challenge this decision, they would simply be struck down by the federal court that has jurisdiction over the state. It would be a beyond uphill battle. Federal courts are directly controlled by this decision,” she said.
The Supreme Court technically gave the losing side roughly three weeks to ask for reconsideration. And for the ruling to technically take effect in most states, the circuit courts will have to adopt the ruling, in turn sending an order to state agencies, which will be told to hand out the marriage licenses.
Immediately after Friday’s ruling, some states said they would wait, even as clerks in counties scattered across the country began issuing licenses.
In Mississippi, Attorney General Jim Hood initially said they would wait until the applicable circuit court lifted a stay on a prior order before issuing same-sex marriage licenses.
The Clarion-Ledger reported Monday that the same office has since sent a letter allowing circuit clerks to issue the licenses.
The letter reportedly said Friday’s ruling is now “the law of the land.”
Likewise, a parish in Louisiana reportedly has started to issue licenses after officials there resisting doing so on Friday.
Gov. Bobby Jindal, a Republican presidential candidate, told NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday that they, too, were waiting for the circuit court to reverse a prior ruling.
But, he acknowledged, “We have got no choice to comply, even though I think … this decision was the wrong one.”
Donald Trump calls NBC 'weak and foolish' after they sever ties with GOP hopeful
Donald Trump labeled NBC as "weak and foolish" after they ended their business relationship with the GOP hopeful over his comments about immigrants from Mexico, and said he'd see the Peacock network in court.
“If NBC is so weak and so foolish to not understand the serious illegal immigration problem in the United States, coupled with the horrendous and unfair trade deals we are making with Mexico, then their contract violating closure of Miss Universe/Miss USA will be determined in court," Trump said in a statement to FOXNews.com. "Furthermore, they will stand behind lying Brian Williams, but won’t stand behind people that tell it like it is, as unpleasant as that may be.”
NBC cut ties with Trump after he, in his announcement to run for president, described immigrants from Mexico as "bringing drugs, they're bringing crime, they're rapists, and some, I assume, are good people."
“At NBC, respect and dignity for all people are cornerstones of our values," the network said in a statement. "Due to the recent derogatory statements by Donald Trump regarding immigrants, NBCUniversal is ending its business relationship with Mr. Trump."
The network added that it was done with Trump's pageants as well.
"To that end, the annual Miss USA and Miss Universe Pageants, which are part of a joint venture between NBC and Trump, will no longer air on NBC."
NBC was co-owner with Trump of the pageants and is in business with him as host and producer of the popular show "The Celebrity Apprentice."
The network stated that their reality show with him was kaput, too.
"In addition, as Mr. Trump has already indicated, he will not be participating in 'The Celebrity Apprentice' on NBC. 'Celebrity Apprentice' is licensed from Mark Burnett's United Artists Media Group and that relationship will continue."
Before issuing his statement on the matter, Trump first addressed NBC's decision while speaking at an event at City Club of Chicago on Monday afternoon.
"Whatever they want to do is O.K. with me," he said. "I’ve had a lot of great relationships with NBC, I think as far as ending the relationship, I have to do that, because my view on immigration is much different than the people at NBC."
A petition posted on Change.org asking NBC to fire Trump had collected more than 215,000 signatures since being posted on June 26.
Last week, Univision, the nation's largest Spanish-language network, said it wouldn't air the Miss USA and Miss Universe pageants, and will cut all future business ties with him.
At the time, NBC responded only by saying the company doesn't "agree with his positions on a number of issues including his recent comments on immigration." A sister network of NBC is Telemundo, another major Spanish-language TV outlet, which aired the Miss Universe pageants before Univision won the contract.
Supreme Court blocks Texas abortion-clinic rules
The Supreme Court acted Monday to keep Texas' 19 abortion clinics open, amid a legal fight that threatens to close more than half of them.
The justices voted 5-4 to grant an emergency appeal from the clinics after a federal appeals court upheld new clinic regulations and refused to keep them on hold while the clinics appealed to the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court order will remain in effect at least until the court decides whether to hear the clinics' appeal of the lower court ruling, not before the fall.
The court's decision to block the regulations is a strong indication that the justices will hear the full appeal, which could be the biggest abortion case at the Supreme Court in nearly 25 years.
If the court steps in, the hearing and the eventual ruling would come amid the 2016 presidential campaign.
Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Samuel Alito, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas would have allowed the state to move ahead with regulations requiring abortion facilities to be constructed like surgical centers. Doctors at all clinics also would be required to have admitting privileges at a local hospital.
The clinics said enforcing the new regulations would lead to a second major wave of clinic closures statewide since the law was enacted in 2013. Texas had 41 abortion clinics in 2012; 19 remain.
The admitting privileges requirement already is in effect in much of the state. Stephanie Toti, a lawyer for the Center for Reproductive Rights who is representing the clinics, said some clinics that closed because doctors lacked admitting privileges might be able to reopen.
While the clinic operators said they were relieved by the court's action, supporters of the state law criticized the order. "Women and babies are being denied protections with the Supreme Court blocking pro-life legislation," said Lila Rose, president of Live Action, an anti-abortion advocacy group.
The regulations would have left the state with no clinic west of San Antonio. Only one would have been able to operate on a limited basis in the Rio Grande Valley.
The Supreme Court also is weighing an appeal from Mississippi, which is seeking to enforce an admitting privileges requirement that would close the last abortion clinic in the state. A different three-judge panel of the same federal appeals court, the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, has blocked the Mississippi law.
In November 2013, Justice Stephen Breyer wrote that four justices probably would want to review the constitutionality of the Texas regulations. Last year, the high court prevented enforcement while the case was on appeal to the 5th Circuit.
Backers of the regulations say they are common-sense measures intended to protect women. Abortion rights groups say the regulations have only one aim: to make it harder, if not impossible, for women to get abortions in Texas.
The case could be attractive to the justices because it might allow them to give more definition to the key phrase from their last big abortion ruling, Planned Parenthood v. Casey, in 1992. States generally can regulate abortion unless doing so places "an undue burden" on a woman's right to get an abortion.
Monday was the 23rd anniversary of the Casey ruling.
Obama proposal would make 5 million more eligible for OT
WASHINGTON – Salaried workers who earn nearly $1,000 per week would become eligible for overtime pay under a proposal President Barack Obama unveiled Monday, lamenting that too many Americans are working too many hours for less pay than they deserve.
The long-awaited overtime rule from the Labor Department would more than double the threshold at which employers can avoid paying overtime, from the current $455 a week to $970 a week by next year. That would mean salaried employees earning less than $50,440 a year would be assured overtime if they work more than 40 hours per week, up from the current $23,660 a year.
"We've got to keep making sure hard work is rewarded," Obama wrote in an op-ed in The Huffington Post. "That's how America should do business. In this country, a hard day's work deserves a fair day's pay."
To keep up with future inflation and wage growth, the proposal will peg the salary threshold at the 40th percentile of income, individuals familiar with the plan said. They requested anonymity to discuss the proposal ahead of the official announcement.
The president was to promote the proposal during a visit Thursday to La Crosse, Wisconsin.
Obama's proposal aims to narrow a loophole that the president has long said some employers exploit to avoid paying overtime.
Employees who make above the salary threshold can be denied overtime if they are deemed managers. Some work grueling schedules at fast food chains and retail stores, but with no overtime eligibility, their pay may be lower per hour than many workers they supervise.
The existing salary cap, established in 2004 under President George W. Bush, has been eroded by inflation and now relegates a family of four making just above the cap into poverty territory. Obama has long charged that the level is too low and undercuts the intent of the overtime law.
The proposed changes will be open for public comment and could take months to finalize. They can be enacted through regulation, without approval by the Republican-led Congress.
Although the Labor Department's estimates suggest the proposal would raise wages for 5 million people, other estimates are far higher. The Economic Policy Institute, a liberal think tank, recently estimated that a threshold of $984 a week would cover 15 million people.
"This is by definition middle-class people. This reverses decades of neglect," said EPI President Larry Mishel, adding that the proposal would also likely create jobs for hourly workers.
Under the current threshold, only about 8 percent of salaried workers are eligible for 1½ times their regular pay when they work overtime. The EPI estimates that doubling the salary level would make up to 40 percent of salaried workers eligible.
Yet many Republicans have opposed Obama's plans to increase the threshold, arguing that doing so would discourage companies from creating jobs and dampen economic growth. Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, who chairs the Senate's labor panel, has derided the idea as designed "to make it as unappealing as possible" for companies to create jobs.
Obama, in his op-ed, argued the exemption was intended for highly paid, white-collar employees but now punished lower-income workers because the government has failed to update the regulations. He said the proposal would be good not only for workers but also for employers that pay their employees what they deserve, because they will no longer be undercut by competitors who pay their workers less.
"Will we accept an economy where only a few of us do exceptionally well? Or will we push for an economy where every American who works hard can contribute to and benefit from our success?" Obama said, setting up a populist argument that Democrats are likely to embrace in the run-up to the 2016 presidential election.
The beneficiaries would be people like Brittany Swa, 30, a former manager of a Chipotle restaurant in Denver. As a management trainee, she started as an entry-level crew member in March 2010. After several months she began working as an "apprentice," which required a minimum 50-hour work week.
Yet her duties changed little. She had a key to the shop and could make bank deposits, but otherwise spent nearly all her time preparing orders and working the cash register. She frequently worked 60 hours a week but didn't get overtime because she earned $36,000.
The grueling hours continued after she was promoted to store manager in October 2010. She left two years later and has joined a class-action lawsuit against Chipotle, charging that apprentices shouldn't be classified as managers exempt from overtime. A spokesman for Chipotle declined to comment on the case.
Monday, June 29, 2015
Greek banks will not open Monday
ATHENS, Greece – Greece's five-year financial crisis took its most dramatic turn to date Sunday, with the cabinet deciding, after an 8-hour session, that Greek banks would remain shut for six working days and restrictions would be imposed on cash withdrawals.
The Athens Stock Exchange would also not open on Monday, financial sector officials confirmed.
A decree published in the official Government Gazette stipulates banks will not open Monday morning and will remain closed through Monday, July 6. The finance minister could decide to short or extend that period.
Withdrawals from ATM with credit or cash cards will be capped at 60 euros ($66) daily. The decree said ATMs would be working at the latest 12 hours from its publication, meaning cash machines would open by early afternoon, at the latest.
Web banking transactions will be mostly free, allowing people to pay their bills online. However, they cannot move money to accounts abroad.
Credit and bank cards issued abroad can be used at the ATMs with no restrictions. This will benefit foreign visitors to Greece and the tourist industry. Many anxious tourists had joined locals at ATM lines on Sunday, thinking the restrictions would apply to them, as well.
For emergency needs, such as importing medicines or sending remittances abroad, the Greek Treasury was creating a Banking Transactions Approval Committee to examine requests on a case-by-case basis.
The decision to impose capital controls came on the recommendation of the Bank of Greece, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said during a televised address to the nation. Tsipras blamed the Eurogroup, the gathering of the eurozone's finance ministers, and its decision to reject a request for the bailout program, which expires June 30, to be extended by a few days to allow for the referendum, for the imposition of controls.
Tsipras said he had renewed the extension request.
Tsipras also blamed the European Central Bank's Sunday decision not to increase the amount of emergency liquidity the lenders can access from the central bank — meaning they have no way to replenish fast diminishing deposits.
"It is now more than clear that this decision has no other aim than to blackmail the will of the Greek people and prevent the smooth democratic process of the referendum," Tsipras said.
"They will not succeed. These moves will have the exact opposite effect. They will make the Greek people more determined in their choice to reject the unacceptable ... proposals and ultimatums of the creditors," he said.
The developments have thrown into question Greece's financial future and continued membership in the 19-nation shared euro currency — and even the European Union.
For the past two days, Greeks have been rushing to ATMs to withdraw money across the country following Tsipras' sudden weekend decision to call a referendum on creditor proposals for Greek reforms in return for vital bailout funds.
The government is urging Greeks to vote against the proposals, arguing that they are humiliating and that they would prolong the country's financial woes.
Spooked by rumors concerning impending fuel shortages, drivers flooded gas stations across Greece, prompting the country's largest refiner, Hellenic Petroleum, to issue a statement reassuring there are sufficient reserves of gasoline to last several months. The rush to gas stations may have been prompted less by worries about shortages than the impending withdrawal limits and rumors, later proven untrue, that the use of credit or debit cards will not be permitted.
The referendum decision, which was ratified by parliament after a marathon 13-hour session that ended in the early hours of Sunday, shocked and angered Greece's European partners. The country's negotiations with its European creditors have been suspended, with both sides accusing each other of being responsible.
The referendum is set for next Sunday. But Greece's current bailout expires on Tuesday, and the 7.2 billion euros ($8 billion) remaining in it will no longer be available to Greece after that date.
Without those funds, Greece is unlikely to be able to pay a 1.6 billion-euro ($1.79 billion) International Monetary Fund debt repayment due the same day.
"We don't know — none of us — the consequences of an exit from the eurozone, either on the political or economic front. We must do everything so that Greece stays in the eurozone," French Prime Minister Manuel Valls told France's i-Tele TV earlier Sunday.
"But doing everything, that means respecting Greece and democracy, but it's also about respecting European rules. So Greece needs to come back to the negotiating table," he said.
On the streets of Athens, reactions to Tsipras' referendum call were mixed.
"I have no idea what we are voting for. Yes or no, we don't know what to say," 67-year-old Triandafila Bourbourda said as she walked in the capital's main Syntagma Square. "I think we shouldn't have gone so far to get into this mess."
But Voula Lambrou, attending a Sunday morning church service, said she believed Greece would be better off outside the 28-nation EU.
"If we exit the European Union, I believe things will be very good for Greece," she said. "It will be tough for some time, but we will be able to find strength in order to carry on ahead. We don't need the Europeans."
Two opinion polls published Sunday indicated that more Greeks want to stay in the eurozone and make a deal with creditors than want a rupture with the country's European partners. Both polls were conducted before Tsipras' referendum call, but they provide an indication of public sentiment.
In the poll by Alco for the Proto Thema paper, 57 percent said they believed Greece should make a deal while 29 percent wanted a rupture of ties. A Kapa Research poll for To Vima newspaper found that 47.2 percent would vote in favor of a new, painful agreement with Greece's creditors, compared to 33 percent who would vote no and 18.4 percent undecided.
Both polls were conducted from June 24-26 and had a margin of error of about 3.1 percent.
On the banking front, the ECB has said it could reconsider its decision on credit levels.
"We continue to work closely with the Bank of Greece and we strongly endorse the commitment of member states in pledging to take action to address the fragilities of euro-area economies," ECB chief Mario Draghi said.
Yannis Stournaras, governor of the Bank of Greece, said the bank would "take all measures necessary to ensure financial stability for Greek citizens in these difficult circumstances."
Puerto Rico governor warns public debt not payable
Puerto Rico's governor believes the U.S. territory will not be able to pay back its $72 billion public debt, a spokesman told the Associated Press late Sunday.
Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla's spokesman, Jesus Manuel Ortiz, confirmed that the island's government is seeking to defer payments while negotiating with creditors.
He confirmed comments by Garcia that appeared in a report in The New York Times published late Sunday, less than a day before Garcia is scheduled to deliver a public address amid debate on a $9.8 billion budget that calls for $674 million in cuts and sets aside $1.5 billion to help pay off the debt. The budget has to be approved by Tuesday.
"There is no other option. I would love to have an easier option. This is not politics, this is math," Garcia is quoted as saying in the Times.
The island's debt figure is four times that of Detroit, according to the Washington Post.
Puerto Rico's bonds were popular with U.S. mutual funds because they were tax-free, but hedge funds and distressed-debt buyers have been stepping in to buy up the debt as the island's economy worsened and its credit rating dropped.
Puerto Rico's constitution dictates that the debt has to be paid before any other financial obligation is met. If Garcia seeks to not pay the debt at all, it will require a referendum and a vote on a constitutional amendment, said Rep. Jenniffer Gonzalez, spokeswoman for the main opposition party.
She said in a phone interview that she was taken aback by Garcia's comments, which came out just hours before he was scheduled to meet with legislators.
"I think it's irresponsible," Gonzalez said. "He met privately with The New York Times last week, but he hasn't met with the leaders of this island."
Puerto Rico's central government could run out of cash as soon as July, possibly leading to a government shutdown, according to the Wall Street Journal.
“This is going to be painful for the next two to three years,” said Rep. Pedro Pierluisi, D-Puerto Rico, told the paper. Pierluisi, the Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico, is the island's non-voting representative to the U.S. House.
Puerto Rico's situation has drawn comparisons to Greece, where the government decreed this weekend that banks would be shuttered for six business days and restrictions imposed on cash withdrawals. The country's five-year financial crisis has sparked questions about its continued membership in the 19-nation shared euro currency and the European Union.
Puerto Rico's governor recently confirmed that he had considered having his government seek permission from the U.S. Congress to declare bankruptcy amid a nearly decade-long economic slump. His administration is currently pushing for the right for Puerto Rico's public agencies to file for bankruptcy under Chapter 9. Neither the agencies nor the island's government can file for bankruptcy under current U.S. rules.
Puerto Rico's public agencies owe a large portion of the debt, with the power company alone owing some $9 billion. The company is facing a restructuring as the government continues to negotiate with creditors as the deadline for a roughly $400 million payment nears.
Garcia has taken several measures to help generate more government revenue, including signing legislation raising the sales tax to 11.5 percent and creating a 4 percent tax on professional services. The sales tax increase goes into effect Wednesday and the new services tax on Oct. 1, to be followed by a transition to a value-added tax by April 1.
Calls grow for probe of Clinton's private server
Calls for Hillary Clinton to allow a third party to examine her private server grew louder Friday following revelations that she had withheld more than a dozen Benghazi-related emails from the State Department.
"Secretary Clinton's failure to turn over all Benghazi and Libya documents is the reason why we have been calling for an independent, third party review of her server," Rep. Lynn Westmoreland, R-Ga., a member of the House Select Committee on Benghazi, told the Washington Examiner.
"Her unusual email arrangement with herself allowed for Secretary Clinton to pick and choose which emails she deemed work related, and now we know that she failed to be honest and forthcoming with those emails to both the Select Committee and the State Department that were subpoenaed," Westmoreland added.
A State Department spokesman said Friday the agency had no plans to launch a probe of Clinton's private server, on which she hosted both her personal and work-related emails.
Police officer, law enforcement praised as escaped killer David Sweat is captured in upstate NY
A New York State police officer was being hailed as a hero Sunday for spotting and shooting escaped prisoner David Sweat, bringing to an end a marathon 22-day manhunt for the cop killer and a fellow inmate.
Sweat, 35, had been on the run since he and Richard Matt broke out of the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, N.Y., on June 6. The manhunt for the two killers involved 1,200 law enforcement personnel.
Sweat was taken into custody and is in stable condition at Albany Medical Center, authorities said Sunday. Matt was gunned down by police on Friday.
“This was an unprecedented coming together of law enforcement on every level,” New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo told reporters Sunday afternoon.
New York State Police Supt. Joseph D’Amico said Sgt. Jay Cook, a 21-year veteran of the force, first spotted Sweat jogging down a road in the town of Constable Sunday afternoon, about 2 miles from the Canadian border.
Cook, a local troop B member who was on patrol in the area alone, approached Sweat and recognized the convict from his description, Cuomo said.
Police then took Sweat into custody.
“It was a very courageous act,” Cuomo said at the press conference, which was filled with cheers from the audience.
According to U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., federal law enforcement said Sweat was coughing up blood as he was taken to a hospital. Sweat reportedly underwent surgery and was transferred to the state's capital to receive further medical attention.
Albany Medical Center medical director Dr. Dennis McKenna told reporters at a press conference that Sweat was in critical condition as of late Sunday.
“The nightmare is finally over,” Cuomo said. “It took 22 days but we can now confirm…Mr. Matt is deceased and Mr. Sweat is in custody is in stable condition.”
State police had flooded the area Saturday night after developing evidence that Sweat was there.
"I can only assume he was going for the border," D'Amico said.
Sweat, who was unarmed, has not been formally interviewed by investigators as of late Sunday, but any information he provides could be critical to the investigation, Clinton County District Attorney Andrew Wylie said.
An Amish dairy farmer said Sweat was captured on her property near a tree line, just feet from an electrified fence where the cows graze.
Verba Bontrager, 38, who has run her family's farm in Constable for the last nine years, said she was chatting with visitors inside when she heard two gunshots. Her children and a family friend went outside, saw a caravan of police cars and ambulances, and learned from a trooper that Sweat had been captured.
She said her children had been home alone earlier, and even though she knew police were looking for Sweat, she never thought to be worried. Now, she said, they're a little shaken.
"I think it's kind of hard for them to go back to bed and sleep because of everything that went on," Bontrager said. "We're all kind of scared, I guess."
Sweat will be charged with escape, burglary and other charges, Wylie said. The inmates are suspected of breaking into some of the region's many cabins during their time on the lam. Wylie said prosecutors would wait for Sweat to recover before charging him.
"I'm just glad it's over."The search for the escaped killers was initially concentrated around the prison and a rural community where search dogs had caught the scent of both men. The search had since been expanded to neighboring counties, and, while authorities said there was no evidence the men had gotten out of the general area, they conceded they could have been almost anywhere.
- Constable resident Trevor Buchanan
"It's a little unnerving, him being so close," said Constable resident Trevor Buchanan. "I'm just glad it's over."
D'Amico said the men may have used black pepper to mask their trail; he said Sweat's DNA was recovered from pepper shakers found at one camp where the fugitives may have spent time.
"We did have difficulty tracking so, you know, it was fairly effective in that respect," D'Amico said.
On Friday, Matt, 49, was killed by a border patrol agent near the town of Malone.
An autopsy showed Matt had been shot three times in the head, state police said Sunday. Officials say Matt also had bug bites on his legs, blisters and minor abrasions that would be expected for someone who had been living in the woods.
Matt smelled of alcohol after a border patrol agent killed him Friday, the Buffalo News reported. He was also sick, possibly after consuming spoiled food or bad water, a law enforcement source told the paper.
The indication Matt was ill came after searchers found soiled underwear at a burglarized cabin Wednesday, the Buffalo News reported.
A DNA test showed the underwear belonged to Matt, the paper said.
The paper also reported that based on his clothes and appearance, it looked like Matt had not bathed in a long time and had spent a great deal of time on the lam in the outdoors.
Authorities said Matt was shot by a border patrol agent when he failed to comply with orders to show his hands. A 20-gauge shotgun was found on Matt, though he didn’t fire it at officers, authorities said.
"They verbally challenged him, told him to put up his hands. And at that time, he was shot when he didn't comply," D'Amico said at a news conference late Friday.
The breakthrough came Friday shortly before 2 p.m., when a person towing a camper head a loud sound and thought a tire had blown out. Finding the tire intact, the driver drove another eight miles before discovering a bullet hole.
Authorities converged on the location where the sound was heard and discovered the smell of gunfire inside a cabin. D’Amico said there was also evidence someone had fled out the back door.
A noise -- perhaps a cough -- ultimately did Matt in. A border patrol team discovered Matt, who was shot after failing to heed a command to raise his hands.
"As we were doing the ground search in the area, there was movement detected by officers on the ground, what they believed to be coughs. So they knew that they were dealing with humans as opposed to wildlife," he said.
"We have a lot of people in the area. We have canines and we have a decent perimeter set up and we're searching for Sweat at this time," he said.
Mitch Johnson said one of his best friends checked on his hunting cabin in Malone Friday afternoon and called police after noticing the scent of grape flavored gin as soon as he stepped into his cabin and spotting the bottle that had gone untouched for years resting on a kitchen table.
Johnson said his friend, correction officer Bob Willett, told him he summoned police about an hour before Matt was fatally shot and then heard a flurry of gun blasts.
Sweat was serving a sentence of life without parole in the killing of a sheriff's deputy in Broome County in 2002. Matt was serving 25 years to life for the killing and dismembering of his former boss.
Matt and Sweat used power tools to saw through a steel cell wall and several steel steam pipes, bashed a hole through a 2-foot-thick brick wall, squirmed through pipes and emerged from a manhole outside the Clinton Correctional Facility.
A civilian worker at the prison, Joyce Mitchell, has been charged with helping the killers flee by giving them hacksaw blades, chisels and other tools. She has pleaded not guilty.
On June 24, authorities charged Clinton correction officer Gene Palmer with promoting prison contraband, tampering with physical evidence and official misconduct. Officials said he gave the two prisoners the frozen hamburger meat Joyce Mitchell had used to hide the tools she smuggled to Sweat and Matt. Palmer's attorney said he had no knowledge that the meat contained hacksaw blades, a bit and a screwdriver.
Sunday, June 28, 2015
Christie goes live with presidential campaign site
Republican Chris Christie's political team has gone live with a presidential campaign website days before he jumps into the 2016 race.
The new website -- www.chrischristie.com -- shows the New Jersey governor's name along with the slogan, "Telling it like it is."
Christie also is promoting the site with a short animated video posted on his Twitter feed. The site says it's paid for Chris Christie for President, Inc.
Christie has a "special announcement event" set for Tuesday in the gym of Livingston High School, from which he graduated in 1980. Donors and friends have gotten invitations, and Christie's team has invited reporters to attend.
After his announcement, Christie plans to go to New Hampshire for a town hall meeting.
The crowded GOP field already has 13 candidates.
Newspaper faces firestorm after attempted crack-down on anti-gay marriage op-eds
A Pennsylvania newspaper is facing a firestorm of criticism after the editorial board said it would "very strictly limit" op-eds and letters against same-sex marriage on the heels of Friday's historic Supreme Court ruling.
PennLive/The Patriot-News in Harrisburg has issued a string of statements on its opinion page policies since the ruling -- which legalized gay marriage nationwide -- and by Saturday morning, appeared to have softened its op-ed restrictions on the subject.
But the newspaper initially took a hard-line stance. Editorial Page Editor John Micek tweeted shortly after the ruling that the newspaper would "no longer accept" or print op-eds and letters to the editor in opposition to same-sex marriage.
He then tweeted:
A newspaper editorial published online was updated Friday afternoon to clarify the board's op-ed policy. In the editorial, which cheered the decision and said majority opinion author Justice Anthony Kennedy "nailed it," the board issued the following statement:
"As a result of Friday's ruling, PennLive/The Patriot-News will very strictly limit op-Eds and letters to the editor in opposition to same-sex marriage.
"These unions are now the law of the land. And we will not publish such letters and op-Eds any more than we would publish those that are racist, sexist or anti-Semitic.
"We will, however, for a limited time, accept letters and op-Eds on the high court's decision and its legal merits."
Micek also tweeted:
This apparently did not satisfy readers, who posted a cascade of critical comments online. One read: "Clearly, PennLive's policy is not to limit criticism of settled law, but rather to limit criticism of settled law that its editors like."
Saying he had been inundated with critical emails and phone calls, Micek then apologized in a column on Saturday morning -- saying they had made a "very genuine attempt at fostering a civil discussion" but recognize that "there are people of good conscience and of goodwill who will disagree with Friday's high court ruling."
He wrote: "They are, and always will be, welcome in these pages, along with all others of goodwill, who seek to have an intelligent and reasoned debate on the issues of the day. These pages, I remind myself finally, belong to the people of Central Pennsylvania. I'm a conduit, I recognize, for them to share their views and to have the arguments that make us better as a people. And all views are -- and always will be -- welcome."
Micek stressed that nobody at the newspaper is an opponent of the First Amendment. But he stressed that a civil debate is important, and the opinion page would draw the line when it comes to offensive speech.
"More than once yesterday I was referred to as 'f****t-lover,' among other slurs," he wrote. "And that's the point that I was trying to make with our statement: We will not publish such slurs any more than we would publish racist, sexist or anti-Semitic speech. There are ways to intelligently discuss an issue. The use of playground insults is not among them. And they are not welcome at PennLive/The Patriot-News."
Webb close to 2016 decision, insiders say Clinton camp helped delay launch
CLINTON, Iowa – Jim Webb was supposed to declare he was running for president Friday night. At least that's what the prevailing belief was inside his campaign.
Webb was scheduled to be the keynote speaker at the Clinton County Democratic Hall Of Fame dinner in Clinton, Iowa. While the timing was bad (Friday night, where news goes to die), insiders said Webb thought it would be a good place to drop the hammer on a presidential run.
Enter the Clinton campaign, which Webb confidantes grumble has been sandbagging them at every turn. They convinced the Clinton County Democratic Party to add Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar to the speakers roster. The intention was for her to give a spirited sales pitch for Hillary at the very same place and time Webb would launch his campaign.
For Webb, insiders say, that, plus the fact that a Friday night launch could have gotten lost in the news cycle, was enough to convince him to delay the announcement.
Until when, only Webb knows.
Fox News caught up with Webb before the dinner, after a three-hour drive from Chicago which he described as "long." He wasn't giving up anything on the Clinton campaign stealing his thunder. To do so would be to admit there was thunder in the first place, which candidates are loath to do until the words "I'm running for president" actually come out of their mouth. But he did allow that he is getting close to pulling the trigger.
"We're pretty close to being done ... that's the best thing I can say, really," Webb said.
It was typical understatement from a guy who plays his cards so close to the vest that even his closest advisers are left to do a lot of tea-leaf reading. But Webb himself has said he would make a decision sometime around the end of June, so "close to being done" could be read as "imminent."
And it became clear Friday night that Webb's campaign will be one of 'themes' and not specific policy proposals. Go to the "issues" section of his website and one can find his positions on the complex problems facing the nation summed up in a single paragraph.
Ask him about specifics on, for example, what he would do to grow the economy and he begins to bristle.
"I don't think that the issue right now for me is to bring in some sort of a specific set of numbers that I would pull out of the air," Webb told Fox News. "The issue is to lay down the themes that we would govern on and then to bring good people in."
That's the Webb formula -- one he employed successfully as a senator from Virginia. Take a problem, gather together the brightest minds you can find, examine it from every angle, then chart a course to fix it. It doesn't fit into a convenient sound bite, nor does it give the level of detail that politically savvy voters in Iowa and New Hampshire want to chew over. But it is classic Webb style.
"The most important thing a leader can do is to reach out and get good people -- the best minds in the country to come together and figure out solutions -- to give a vision of where you want the country to go," Webb told Fox News.
Webb has a reputation for meticulously thinking through every issue with the perseverance of an academic before rendering an opinion -- as he did earlier this week with a Facebook posting about the Confederate flag. Webb decreed that the issue was "complicated" and that any discussion about the flag needed to recognize that the majority of soldiers who fought for the South did not own slaves and that the nation needs "to respect good people who fought on both sides."
Many of Webb's most ardent fans saw it as a defense of a flag that has come to symbolize racism and vigorously disagreed with him.
"The Confederate battle flag was a battle flag," Webb told Fox News. "It was misused particularly during the civil rights era as a racist and political symbol. And I am fine with it coming down from public fora. At the same time, let's remember our history and let's not turn the acts of people who fought on either side in the Civil War into something they were not."
The nuance Webb expresses is a departure for most presidential candidates who speak in short, declarative sentences. Between his thought processes and his background in the military, politics and private sector, he has been described as a person who has the potential to be 'the most interesting candidate in the race.' Certainly, voters who spend time with him come away with a favorable opinion. But the big question -- can Webb take on the juggernaut that is the Hillary Clinton campaign?
Webb is confident.
"If I didn't think it was possible, I would not do it," Webb told Fox News.
Webb points to his Senate race, when he beat incumbent George Allen in Virginia. Webb was 33 points behind nine months before the race and managed to win. Of course, it helped that Allen imploded over his now-infamous "macaca" comments.
Can lightning strike twice? Could Hillary falter? Talk to Democratic voters in Iowa and many will tell you they are open to an alternative.
"We don't do coronations here, we do discussions," said Dr. Andy McGuire, chairwoman of the Iowa Democratic Party.
Even if Webb has no chance to become the nominee, his entry into the race would certainly add new energy to the debate, though voters may be hungry for a little more detail than Webb is presently willing to provide.
Surviving escaped prisoner likely fatigued and prone to mistakes, police say
Police searching for the second of two escaped prisoners who pulled off an elaborate breakout from a maximum-security New York prison three weeks ago say that the remaining escapee is fatigued and likely to make a mistake after law enforcement officers shot and killed his accomplice Friday.
Hundreds of law enforcement officers have converged on a wooded area 30 miles from the Clinton Correctional Facility with helicopters and search dogs, where David Sweat is believed to be hiding. Sweat and fellow escapee Richard Matt escaped from the maximum-security prison in Dannemora about three weeks ago.
Matt was shot Friday afternoon after an encounter with border patrol agents.
About 1,200 searchers focused intensely on 22 square miles Saturday encompassing thick forests and heavy brush around where Matt was killed.
Franklin County Sheriff Kevin Mulverhill told Fox News that police are very motivated after Friday's events, while Sweat is likely fatigued, increasing the chances he will slip up.
"He's been out of prison for three weeks. He's been on the run for three weeks," Mulverhill said. "He's in this area, he's now lost his cellmate, his escapemate is gone, he's alone."
"If he's in this perimeter, we're pushing him we're moving him around," Mulverhill said. He's tired, he's going to make a mistake."
Sweat also could have an even tougher time now without someone to take turns resting with and watch his back, said Clinton County Sheriff David Favro.
"Now it's a one-man show and it makes it more difficult for him," Favro said. "And I'm sure fatigue is setting in for him as well, knowing the guy he was with has already been shot."
Authorities said Matt was shot by a border patrol agent when he failed to comply with orders in the woods near a cabin where a shot had been fired earlier in the day at a camping trailer. A 20-gauge shotgun was found on Matt, though he didn’t fire it at officers, authorities said.
"They verbally challenged him, told him to put up his hands. And at that time, he was shot when he didn't comply," New York State Police Superintendent Joseph D'Amico said at a news conference late Friday.
The breakthrough came Friday shortly before 2 p.m., when a person towing a camper head a loud sound and thought a tire had blown out. Finding the tire intact, the driver drove another eight miles before discovering a bullet hole.
Authorities converged on the location where the sound was heard and discovered the smell of gunfire inside a cabin. D’Amico said there was also evidence someone had fled out the back door.
A noise -- perhaps a cough -- ultimately did Matt in. A border patrol team discovered Matt, who was shot after failing to heed a command to raise his hands.
"As we were doing the ground search in the area, there was movement detected by officers on the ground, what they believed to be coughs. So they knew that they were dealing with humans as opposed to wildlife," he said.
"We have a lot of people in the area. We have canines and we have a decent perimeter set up and we're searching for Sweat at this time," he said.
The pair escaped the prison together on June 6. Gov. Andrew Cuomo called them “dangerous, dangerous men.”
Police blocked off all roads as officers hunted for Sweat in an area around Titusville Mountain State Forest in Malone, spanning 22 square miles.
Mitch Johnson said one of his best friends checked on his hunting cabin in Malone Friday afternoon and called police after noticing the scent of grape flavored gin as soon as he stepped into his cabin and spotting the bottle that had gone untouched for years resting on a kitchen table.
Johnson said his friend, correction officer Bob Willett, told him he summoned police about an hour before Matt was fatally shot and then heard a flurry of gun blasts.
Matt and Sweat used power tools to saw through a steel cell wall and several steel steam pipes, bashed a hole through a 2-foot-thick brick wall, and squirmed through pipes to escape.
Sweat was serving a sentence of life without parole in the killing of a sheriff's deputy in Broome County in 2002. Matt was serving 25 years to life for the killing and dismembering of his former boss.
A civilian worker at the prison has been charged with helping the killers flee by giving them hacksaw blades, chisels and other tools.
Prosecutors said Joyce Mitchell, a prison tailoring shop instructor who got close to the men while working with them, had agreed to be their getaway driver but backed out because she felt guilty for participating. Mitchell pleaded not guilty June 15 to charges including felony promoting prison contraband.
Authorities said the men had filled their beds in their adjacent cells with clothes to make it appear they were sleeping when guards made overnight rounds. On a cut steam pipe, the prisoners left a taunting note containing a crude caricature of an Asian face and the words "Have a nice day."
Clinton County District Attorney Andrew Wylie said they apparently used tools stored by prison contractors, taking care to return them to their toolboxes after each night's work.
On June 24, authorities charged Clinton correction officer Gene Palmer with promoting prison contraband, tampering with physical evidence and official misconduct. Officials said he gave the two prisoners the frozen hamburger meat Joyce Mitchell had used to hide the tools she smuggled to Sweat and Matt. Palmer's attorney said he had no knowledge that the meat contained hacksaw blades, a bit and a screwdriver.
Dannemora, built in 1845, occupies just over 1 square mile within the northern reaches of the Adirondack Forest Preserve and is surrounded by forest and farmland. The stark white perimeter wall of the prison, topped with guard towers, borders a main street in the village's business district.
The escape was the first in history from Clinton Correctional's maximum-security portion. In July 2003, two convicted murderers used tools from a carpentry shop at Elmira Correctional Facility to dig a hole in the roof of their cell and a rope of bedsheets to go over the wall. They were captured within three days, and a subsequent state investigation cited lax inmate supervision, poor tool control and incomplete cell searches.
Saturday, June 27, 2015
Confederacy purge builds steam, while last century's worst villains spared
All symbols of the Confederacy are rapidly disappearing from stores, websites and the public square in the wake of last week's racially charged shooting in a Charleston, S.C., church, but the purge of some allegedly hateful icons has spared memorabilia linked to some of history's most infamous mass murderers, some critics are charging.
Amazon.com has now banned all Confederate battle flag items from being sold on its site, but the massive e-commerce site continues to allow the sale of dozens of apparel items featuring communist mass murderers such as Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin and Che Guevara, prompting some to accuse the site and others banning Confederate imagery of hypocrisy.
“If Amazon is removing the Confederate flag from its offerings, the logical and principled decision is to stop selling any promotional material, including T-shirts, of Che Guevara or any mass killer."“If Amazon is removing the Confederate flag from its offerings, the logical and principled decision is to stop selling any promotional material, including T-shirts, of Che Guevara or any mass killer,” said Maria Werlau, executive director of the Free Society Project. “It is very painful particularly to the loved ones of Guevara's victims as well as offensive to the Cuban people who continue to suffer repression and abhorrent human rights' abuses by the system he helped create and direct.”
- Maria Werlau, Free Society Project.
Although Guevara is a popular image on T-shirts, he executed many non-communists in Cuba. At one point he admitted in a speech to communist officials: "We executed many people by firing squad without knowing if they were fully guilty. At times, the Revolution cannot stop to conduct much investigation; it has the obligation to triumph."
Others also take offense to items that idolize communists.
“It's an insult to the more than 100 million people who have been killed… at the hands of communist governments,” Marion Smith, executive director of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, told FoxNews.com.
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Che Guevara memorabilia is popular, despite the former Cuban revolutionary's admitted role in mass murder.
There are also public displays of communist leaders on private property around the country. Seattle is home to a 16-foot bronze statue of Lenin, the founder of the Soviet Union. In New York City, a large statue of Lenin looks out over the city from atop a luxury apartment complex.
Smith said such statues are also offensive.
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A 16-foot statue of Russian Communist leader Vladimir Lenin stands in Seattle's Fremont section.
Some defend the statues, saying they are art and not necessarily supportive of communism.
“[The statue] is very controversial and it is that thought provoking spirit that is most enjoyed by [people who live here],” Jessica Vets, executive director of the Fremont Chamber of Commerce, where the statue is located, told FoxNews.com.
“History is less likely to repeat itself with thought-provoking dialog and historical facts,” she added.
In terms of historical facts, how bad were Lenin and the others? Lenin’s brutality is especially clear in an order of his from 1918, in which he directed his subordinates to kill middle-class farmers (derisively called “kulaks”) who opposed communist reforms.
“You need to hang… at least 100 notorious kulaks, the rich, and the bloodsuckers… This needs to be accomplished in such a way that people for hundreds of miles around will see, tremble, know and scream out: let's choke and strangle those blood-sucking kulaks,” he said to his subordinates.
But Lenin was considered a moderate compared to Joseph Stalin, who ruled shortly after him. Nobody knows how many Stalin killed, but estimates range between 20 and 30 million. One of the worst atrocities happened when Stalin’s government took all the food from parts of Ukraine, letting some 7 million of its citizens starve to death even while the country continued to export food to other parts of the world.
But communist atrocities aside, some say removing the Confederate flag is still a step in the right direction and that it is wrong to make a comparison with communism.
“Amazon is a public company and they want to respond to the public, and public opinion is against the confederate flag,” Nomiki Konst, executive director of The Accountability Project, told FoxNews.com. She also noted that the U.S. generally has not been directly at war with communist countries.
“We didn’t have a real war against communism, but a very large proportion of our population was killed under the Confederate flag," she said. "When the majority of Americans feel personally affected – the companies are being very smart about this.”
Although communism largely died along with the Soviet Union, a 2011 Rasmussen poll found that 11percent of Americans say they think communism works better than the U.S. system. In comparison, a 2011 Pew poll found that only 9 percent of Americans said seeing the Confederate flag made them feel positively.
Some say the different treatment shows hypocrisy.
“This is further evidence of the liberal crusade against American history,” Dan Gainor of the Media Research Center told FoxNews.com.
“Apple and other liberal tech firms are undermining the traditional support of free speech on the Internet. And the reason they haven't deleted communist items is they don't see those as bad,” he said.
BC distances itself from Donald Trump; Miss USA co-host quits over immigration comments
NBC released a statement distancing itself from GOP presidential hopeful Donald Trump over his comments on Mexican immigrants.
"Donald Trump's opinions do not represent those of NBC, and we do not agree with his positions on a number of issues, including his recent comments on immigration," NBC said in a statement.
Miss USA co-host Roselyn Sanchez cited Trump's comments about immigrants as her reason for severing ties with the show.
"Since I heard Trump's speech, as a Latina I felt a lump in my stomach. 'It's got to be a joke,' I thought," the star of the Lifetime series "Devious Maids" told The Associated Press.
Trump's fledgling GOP presidential bid quickly led to business fallout for him, with Univision saying it will drop the Miss USA pageant from its UniMas network and cut all ties with Trump.
The company said Thursday it was canceling its Spanish-language coverage of the pageant July 12. It also has severed its business relationship with the Miss Universe Organization, which produces the Miss USA pageant, because of what it called "insulting remarks about Mexican immigrants" by Trump, a part owner of Miss Universe.
NBC remained silent about its scheduled coverage of the pageant, which has aired on the network since 2003. Trump is featured on another NBC program, "Celebrity Apprentice."
During his presidential campaign kickoff speech last week, Trump portrayed immigrants from Mexico as "bringing drugs, they're bringing crime, they're rapists, and some, I assume, are good people." He also called for building a wall along the southern border of the U.S. The remarks drew condemnation from the Mexican government as "biased and absurd."
In an interview Thursday, Trump said his criticism was directed against U.S. policymakers, not the Mexican people or government, adding that Univision would be defaulting on its contract if it doesn't air the pageant and he would take legal action.
On Friday, a representative for Trump sent FOX411 a letter the mogul sent Univision president Randy Falco. The letter began, "Please be advised that under no circumstances is any officer or representative of Univision allowed to use Trump National Doral, Miami -- its golf courses or any of its facilities."
He added, " Also, it's too bad you didn't have the courage to call me yourself instead of delegating the task to Beau."
Trump concluded the letter with, "Please congratulate your Mexican Government officials for having made such outstanding trade deals with the United States. However, inform them that should I become President, those days are over. We are bringing jobs back to the U.S. Also, a border will be immediately created, not the laughingstock that currently exists."
"At Univision, we see firsthand the work ethic, love for family, strong religious values and the important role Mexican immigrants and Mexican-Americans have had and will continue to have in building the future of our country," said the New York-based Univision Communications Inc.
Trump said Univision is submitting to pressure from Mexican leaders to punish him for positions he voices as a candidate on the campaign trail.
"They don't want me saying that Mexico is killing the United States in trade and killing the United States at the border," Trump said. "Univision is totally laying down for the Mexican government. ... They want to silence Donald Trump. And Donald Trump can't be silenced. ... I have great respect for Mexico and I love the Mexican people, but my loyalty is to the United States."
Univision declined to comment on Trump's remarks. It also has the rights to air the Miss Universe pageant.
In an interview scheduled to air Sunday on Telemundo's "Enfoque con José Díaz-Balart," Trump said that "many bad people are coming in" from Mexico and elsewhere.
"You're going to have terrorists coming through the southern border. There's no question about it," he said.
The host challenged Trump, contending there has been no act of terrorism committed by someone crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.
"You don't know that," Trump replied, adding later: "See what happens tomorrow. See what happens in two weeks from now. ... I'm not even talking about terrorists from this region. I'm talking about from the Middle East they can come in. The border is totally open."
Also on Thursday, Chilean actor-producer Cristian de la Fuente, the show's other co-host, had strong words for Trump: "It's a shame that such an important institution as Miss USA is now in the hands of a clown."
Singer-songwriter Ricky Martin also took to Twitter to blast Trump.
"A lot of hatred and ignorance in his heart," he tweeted.
Miss California USA Natasha Martinez was asked about Trump's comments during an interview Thursday on Los Angeles TV station KCAL and said they were "a little bit tough to hear."
"But I know that this opportunity for me as Miss California-USA, and now competing for Miss USA, is a great bridge to kind of represent my community and let the world know that I am a proud Latino-American," she said.
This year's UniMas telecast would have been the first in a five-year contract that Trump said "has no termination rights." Univision's wholly owned Spanish-language UniMas network, founded in 2013, is available in 70 million U.S. homes.
Republicans weigh impeachment for IRS commissioner
House Republicans are considering launching impeachment proceedings against IRS Commissioner John Koskinen or other agency officials in connection with the destruction of emails potentially tied to the scandal over Tea Party targeting.
National Review first reported that Republicans are looking at the possibility. A House oversight committee aide confirmed to FoxNews.com that the panel, led by Chairman Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, indeed is "looking into it."
"We haven't come to any conclusions," the source said.
Speaking with Fox News on Friday, oversight committee member Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, also appeared to acknowledge the discussions. Asked why lawmakers might consider impeachment articles, Jordan cited Koskinen's questionable committee testimony.
"Every time Mr. Koskinen comes and testifies, we subsequently learn that something he said wasn't quite accurate," Jordan told Fox News.
He did not elaborate on the impeachment option. But the development comes as Republicans, including Jordan, fume over the revelation that 422 backup tapes were destroyed shortly after officials discovered emails related to the Tea Party scandal had been lost.
George said his office found no direct evidence the tapes were destroyed to hide information from Congress or law enforcement. But the destruction nevertheless defied a preservation order -- and Republicans complained that despite the destruction, Koskinen testified to Congress three weeks later that they would provide documents to Congress.
"Three weeks before he said that ... they'd already destroyed 422 tapes," Jordan said Friday. "Those kind of actions are, I think, something that we have to look into very seriously, and that's what the committee's doing."
FoxNews.com has reached out to the IRS for comment.
Koskinen has served as commissioner since late 2013. He previously served in top positions at Freddie Mac and a range of private companies, and worked at one point in the White House Office of Management and Budget.
Pursuing impeachment proceedings would be a step beyond contempt charges, which is the tool House Republicans tried to use against both Lerner and former Attorney General Eric Holder in past disputes.
While impeachment is often thought of as a congressional weapon reserved for presidents, it can apply to "all civil officers of the United States," on the grounds of treason, bribery or other "high crimes and misdemeanors."
National Review reported that Republicans are considering whether to base a case on alleged misdemeanors.
One unnamed member of the House oversight panel told National Review that while some are "open to it," others may argue "that's not how we do things, it's not really been used lately.'"
There was one case, more than a century ago, when articles of impeachment were brought against War Secretary William Belknap -- in 1876.
He resigned amid the proceedings.
Obama delivers eulogy for pastor killed in South Carolina
President Obama delivered an impassioned eulogy Friday for the pastor killed along with eight other churchgoers last week in South Carolina, memorializing him as a "man of God who lived by faith" and conducted himself with kindness and grace.
"What a good man," Obama said of state Sen. Clementa Pinckney.
Capping a service filled with rousing gospel numbers, Obama spoke at length about Pinckney's character, but also race relations and gun violence. He included another appeal for gun regulations toward the end of his remarks, saying, "It would be a betrayal of everything Reverend Pinckney stood for ... if we allow ourselves to slip into a comfortable silence again."
Obama ended by singing "Amazing Grace," and was joined by the thousands in attendance.
Pinckney, a state senator and pastor, was among the nine killed at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church. In Charleston for the service, Obama recalled a man dedicated to both the faith and his community, who "was full of empathy and full of feeling and able to walk in somebody else's shoes and look in their eyes."
"I did have the pleasure of knowing and meeting him in South Carolina both when we were both a little bit younger," Obama said. "The first thing I noticed was his gracious smile, his resonating baritone and deceptive sense of humor."
He noted that Pinckney had come from a long line of preachers and "a family of protesters who fought to extend voting rights and for desegregation in the South. ... He set an example worthy of this position, wise beyond his years."
Pinckney, 41, and eight others were gunned down during a prayer meeting at the church on the evening of June 17. Dylann Storm Roof, 21, was arrested and charged in the murders and has allegedly confessed to the crime. Justice Department investigators are pursuing the murders as a hate crime.
Friends and family who shared remarks ahead of Obama's remarks said Pinckney had a calling for the pulpit since an early age. Active in his community, he was first elected to the South Carolina General Assembly at the age of 23 and was later elected to the state Senate in 2000. He was appointed the pastor of the historic church, referred to as "Mother Emanuel," in 2010. He had been married since 1999 to wife Jennifer, whom he met in college, and leaves two daughters, Eliana and Malana.
The deaths of Pinckney and the eight others have resulted in a debate in Southern states over the Confederate battle flag. A number of stores began pulling Confederate flag merchandise from their shelves after Roof appeared with in photos holding it. South Carolina Gov. Nickki Haley has called for the removal of the flag from the Statehouse grounds, where it has been flying since 1962.
Obama said that "for too long" the nation has been "blind to the pain the Confederate flag stirred ... it has always represented more than just ancestral pride. For many, black and white, that flag is reminder of systematic oppression and racial subjugation." He said removing it from the state capital wouldn't be an act of political correctness, or an insult to the valor of the soldiers who fought for the South, but a recognition that "slavery was wrong ... the imposition of Jim Crow [laws] after the Civil War, the resistance of civil rights for all people, was wrong." Taking down the flag, he added, "would be one step in an honest accounting of America's history ... a modest and meaningful balm for many unhealed wounds."
First lady Michelle Obama, along with Vice President Joe Biden and his wife, Jill, joined the president at the funeral, which took place at the College of Charleston. Several members of Congress were also scheduled to attend, along with Hillary Clinton, who is seeking the Democratic presidential nomination.
Obama has been called upon throughout his presidency to help soothe the pain of communities mourning gun-related tragedies.He issued a powerful call for national unity in Tucson, Arizona, after a 2011 shooting that severely injured then-Rep. Gabby Giffords. His voice was filled with emotion in 2012 when he spoke at a prayer vigil for the elementary school students and adults killed in Newtown, Connecticut. He's also addressed grief-stricken communities in Fort Hood, Texas and Aurora, Colorado, as well as his own current hometown of Washington.
The morning after the Charleston shooting, Obama expressed his frustration with the frequency of such tragedies.
"I've had to make statements like this too many times," he said. "Communities like this have had to endure tragedies like this too many times."
Friday, June 26, 2015
Supreme Court ruling on ObamaCare subsidies harms taxpayers, hands victory to IRS
Thursday the Supreme Court handed a victory to the most hated agency of the federal government, the IRS. The Justices voted 6-3 that the IRS can continue to offer subsidies to ObamaCare buyers in all fifty states, contrary to what Section 1401 of the Affordable Care Act says.
The ruling puts a stamp of approval on IRS discretion to change provisions of the health law in order to make it work the way the administration wants. It means more discretion for an agency that has targeted conservative groups, stonewalled Congressional investigators, “lost” thousands of official emails (and later, conveniently found them) and strikes fear in the hearts of Americans.
Changing the health law by fiat is nothing new. The Obama administration has delayed, deleted, or distorted dozens of provisions. Remember the waivers for certain companies and unions, the employer mandate delays, the changed enrollment periods? The administration says they’re tweaks.
Critics call it lawlessness. The U.S. Constitution charges Congress with making the laws and the president with seeing that they are “faithfully executed.”
Now the fate of ObamaCare is up to the voters. Since May 1, nearly every poll shows that more than half the public opposes it.Section 1401 of the Affordable Care Act states unambiguously that ObamaCare buyers will only get subsidies “through an exchange established by the state.” The subsidies were intended as a carrot to persuade states to establish exchanges. Their residents would feel less of the sting of having to buy the pricey plans. But surprise, only 14 states went along. The others, mostly led by Republican governors, refused. Late in the game, the administration had to establish the federal healthcare.gov exchange (remember, the one that kept breaking down?) to get ObamaCare launched in three-quarters of the states.
Despite warnings from the Congressional Research Service that the text of the law did not permit it, the IRS handed out subsidies in those states too.
Politically, it was a no brainer. The president had promised “affordable” care. But without the subsidies, the plans are hugely unaffordable. Some 87 percent of ObamaCare buyers get subsidies, and pay only about one quarter of the true price, on average. John Q. Taxpayer picks up the rest. (About $22 billion this year for subsidies handed out through healthcare.gov).
Defending the IRS for playing fast and loose with the law and your money, the administration’s lawyers told the Justices that the end justifies the means. It will take the nation closer to universal coverage. Withdrawing the subsidies, they warned, would cause a “death spiral” in three quarters of the states, with healthy consumers dropping coverage and only the sick staying in the costly, unsubsidized plans. All possibly true. But contrary to the law Congress passed.
Even Jonathan Gruber, the notorious loud-mouth MIT economist credited with designing the Affordable Care Act, is on video explaining only twenty days after the law was passed that subsidies would only be available in states that set up exchanges. In states that don’t “your citizens don’t get their tax credits.”
Too bad the Justices didn’t hear that. The administration’s lawyers lied, insisting no distinction was ever intended between state and federal exchanges.
The decision notes that whether the ObamaCare subsidies “are available on Federal exchanges is thus a question of deep ‘economic and political significance.’” The majority called the law “ambiguous.” It is not. But clearly six of the justices had their eyes more on consequences than constitutionality. They said that eliminating the subsidies in most states would “likely create the very ‘death spirals’ that Congress designed the Act to avoid.”
On the other hand Justice Scalia’s dissent argues that “words no longer have meaning if an Exchange that is not established by a State is ‘established by the State.’”
The majority decision says “a fair reading of legislation demands a fair understanding of the legislative plan,” and that Congress passed ObamaCare “to improve health insurance markets, not to destroy them.”
There’s a lesson to be taken. The 2,572-page Affordable Care Act was passed before lawmakers read it, rammed through the U.S. Senate on Christmas Eve, with then Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid threatening to keep members at the Capitol for Christmas if they didn’t support it.
The law’s size and obfuscating language endanger our freedom. Politicians slip in exemptions for themselves, employers have to spend huge sums to have the law decoded. And the IRS can claim the law says one thing when it says something different. Who’s to know?
Now the fate of ObamaCare is up to the voters. Since May 1, nearly every poll shows that more than half the public opposes it. Republicans running for president all pledge to repeal it and replace it with something better. If that happens, don’t let Congress pass another unreadable monster health law.
We the people want a bill in plain, honest that our lawmakers can read before passing it and that Americans can actually decipher.
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