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Perry touts ‘Texas model’ after historic term, eyes 2016

 

Governors come and governors go, but Rick Perry is leaving a mark on Texas that won't soon be forgotten. 
With the new year, Texas' longest-serving governor will leave the office he's held for more than three consecutive terms. Handing the reins to Attorney General Greg Abbott, his transition marks the end of an era in Texas politics. 
And yet, Perry doesn't sound like a man hanging up his spurs. 
Already, he's stoking chatter of another White House run, reportedly courting donors and taking heed to brush up on his policy to avoid the stumbles of 2012 should he run again. The governor formed a political action committee, in support of fellow Republicans, earlier this year. And he recently confirmed he'll attend a high-profile conservative forum, the Iowa Freedom Summit hosted by Rep. Steve King, in politically important Iowa next month. 
Meanwhile, he's been spending his final days in the Governor's Mansion burnishing his legacy: what his supporters call the "Texas miracle." In an extensive interview with FoxNews.com, the outgoing governor said he has no regrets. 
"If I had any regrets I'd stick around for another four years," Perry said. "I'm ready to go." 
The "Texas miracle" refers to his state's steady job growth and sturdy economy. But Perry tamps down the buzz phrase just a little. 
"Miracles I can't explain, I'll leave those to the good Lord," he said. "This is not a miracle. We know how this happened." 
To hear Perry tell it, the "Texas model" is a proven blueprint that can work across the country. (Yet another Texas-sized hint he's seriously considering a White House run.) 
It's a mark even his critics can't ignore. 
"Governor Perry established in the national mind that Texas is the place for jobs and freedom where entrepreneurship thrives and the American dream is alive," said Cal Jillson, SMU political science professor and author of "Lone Star Tarnished." 
Indeed, Texas under Perry has outpaced any other state on the employment front, creating three out of 10 of all U.S. jobs. Forbes magazine recently named Texas as the leading state for economic climate and future job growth while Chief Executive Magazine readers have named Texas as the number one state to do business for 10 years running. Over 100 of America's top companies -- including AT&T, Fluor, Dell and ExxonMobil -- are based in Texas. Toyota, Apple, Charles Schwab and SpaceX are expanding operations in the state. Perry has crisscrossed the globe with missionary zeal, from Beijing to London, touting a flourishing Texas brand that looks a shade brighter against the national economy. Texas, in turn, is America's top exporting state averaging more than $1 billion in exports every working day. 
"I was always intrigued with economic development and an economic climate that frees people," Perry said. "It was innate, something I derived from watching people I admired like my father, and it wasn't something I read or studied in school." 
But Perry still has plenty of critics, who would no doubt pipe up should he try and bring the "Texas model" to the rest of the country in a 2016 presidential campaign. Plus, he continues to face an indictment for alleged abuse of power, after allegedly pressuring a Democratic prosecutor to resign after a drunk-driving conviction. Perry and his supporters blast the case as baseless and describe his own actions as lawful, but it's an undeniable wild card in his political future. 
Wealth inequality is a big beef with his detractors who prefer to cite other statistics on the state's economy. "Perry leaves everyday Texans with the 13th highest poverty rate in the country, limited access to affordable health care and underfunded neighborhood schools," Texas Democratic Party spokeswoman Rachel Boyer said. 
"If you're white and wealthy, Texas is a great place," said Jillson. "However, no Texas governor Republican or Democrat is eager to raise taxes and without that you can't expand access to health care or decrease the cost of higher education." 
Texas is still considered the uninsured capital of the United States. 
Perry counters that Texas has the lowest percentage of citizens on welfare in America and says the quality of Texas health care is substantially better than elsewhere in the nation. "I basically disregard the critics," he said. "They are most likely political hacks who don't have a real interest in having a legitimate conversation about reality." 
Among those realities, according to the Dallas Fed, is a state that leads the nation in job growth across all wage levels. There are almost 1 million more women in the workplace since Perry took office. In education, the on-time graduation rate for the class of 2012 was the highest in the nation. Perry championed in-state tuition for undocumented students during his first term, despite some pushback from his party. Now, undergraduate degrees and certificates awarded to Hispanics have increased 228.2 percent, and financial aid has increased 900 percent under Perry's watch.   
The nature of Perry's legacy, somewhat unavoidably, depends in large part on which stats one chooses to read. 
However, former Republican state legislator Brian McCall sums up that legacy in one word: Power.   
"Rick Perry has made every possible appointment in Texas government," said McCall, the author of "The Power of the Texas Governor: Connally to Bush." "This is the first time this has happened in Texas history." 
Another pillar of the Perry era has been the consolidation of the GOP majority in Texas. 
Ironically, Perry began his political career as a Democrat in the Texas House of Representatives in 1985. He changed parties shortly afterward. 
He has since won every statewide election he ran beginning in 1990 for agriculture commissioner, where he served for eight years before winning the number two spot as lieutenant governor. He became governor when then-Governor George W. Bush became the 43rd U.S. president -- and then went on to secure three elections, even fending off primary challenger Kay Bailey Hutchison, then a senator. 
"No Democrat has won or come within 15 points on Rick Perry's watch," Jillson noted. "Perry locked this down." 
But whether his legacy translates into a White House bid -- and a successful one at that -- is an open question. The last time around, he flamed and then fizzled amid attacks from his primary rivals and an embarrassing debate blunder where he forgot a federal agency he wanted to abolish. 
"Whoever the Republican nominee is, whether it's me or someone else, I hope we will have a legitimate intellectual conversation with the American people about federalism and how to make Washington inconsequential in people's lives," Perry told FoxNews.com. "The Texas model is a blueprint that works and I would suggest to you how to make your citizenry happier." 
An announcement could come in May or June. McCall said, "Rick Perry is a man with the wind at his back." 

Eric Garner’s daughter posts address of cop at his death

Real Classy.

One of Eric Garner’s daughters marked Christmas Day by spreading personal information about an NYPD cop who was present during the chokehold death of her father — outraging officers still reeling from last weekend’s execution-style slayings of two policemen in Brooklyn.
Erica Garner tweeted that cop Justin D’Amico was “another officer that helped killed [sic] my dad,” and directed her 5,000-plus Twitter followers to a Web page that lists ­addresses for D’Amico and five possible relatives.
The information was viewed about 500 times before Garner’s stunning tweet was deleted following inquiries by The Post.
The move came less than a week after a gunman fatally shot cops Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu, following the shooter’s online post that said he planned to avenge the police killings of Eric Garner on Staten Island and Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo.
It also came as cops were on high alert over dozens of copy-cat threats this week that have led to more than a half-dozen arrests.
An NYPD source said Erica Garner’s “disgusting” tweet “poses grave danger” to D’Amico.
“She clearly wants someone to go to the officer’s house and assassinate him in cold blood just like Ramos and Liu,” the source said.

N. Korea blames US for internet shutdown, hurls racist comment toward Obama

North Korea blames the U.S. for the country’s internet shutdown amid allegations of the country hacking Sony Pictures as retaliation for releasing a movie featuring the assassination of the Kim Jong-un.
The country’s National Defense Commission also hurled a racial insult toward President Obama calling him a “monkey inhabiting a tropical forest.”
The regime has vehemently denied any involvement in the cyberattack on Sony, but has expressed its displeasure of the movie.
It is not the first time North Korea has hurled insults toward Washington. Earlier this year, the North called U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry a wolf with a "hideous" lantern jaw and then called South Korean President Park Guen-hye a prostitute
The defense commission also accused Washington for intermittent outages of North Korea websites this week, which happened after the U.S. had promised to respond to the Sony hack. The U.S. government has declined to say if it was behind the shutdown.
According to the North Korea commission's spokesman, "the U.S., a big country, started disturbing the Internet operation of major media of the DPRK, not knowing shame like children playing a tag."
The commission said the movie was the results of a hostile U.S. policy toward North Korea, and threatened the U.S. with unspecified consequences.
North Korea and the U.S. remain technically in a state of war because the 1950-53 Korean War ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty. The rivals also are locked in an international standoff over the North's nuclear and missile programs and its alleged human rights abuses. The U.S. stations about 28,500 troops in South Korea as deterrence against North Korean aggression.

Wake held for Rafael Ramos, 1 of 2 NYPD officers gunned down in attack

Hundreds of uniformed officers joined the wife and two sons of a New York policeman who was gunned down in broad daylight at a wake Friday.
The tribute to Officer Rafael Ramos took place at a Queens church were friends and colleagues spoke highly of him. Ramos was seen as the embodiment of selflessness and the kind of officer the New York Police Department wants its officers to project.
"He was studying to be a pastor. He had Bible study books in his locker, which is rare for a police officer, but that goes to show you the type of man he was," NYPD Capt. Sergio Centa said before entering Christ Tabernacle Church.
Ramos was dressed in his full uniform in an open casket. His funeral Saturday is expected to be attended by Vice President Biden and Mayor Bill de Blasio.
Police union officials have criticized de Blasio, saying he contributed to a climate of mistrust toward police amid protests over the deaths of black men at the hands of white officers. Union officials have said the mayor's response, including his mention of how he often fears for the safety of his biracial son in his interactions with police, helped set the stage for the killings.
But de Blasio, who has praised officers for their service both before and amid the protests, has stood solidly behind the department since the Dec. 20 slayings of Ramos and Officer Wenjian Liu as they sat in their patrol car on a Brooklyn street. The shooter, Ismaaiyl Brinsley, later killed himself.
De Blasio temporarily called for a halt to demonstrations against police officers in the wake of grand juries in New York and Missouri declining to indict white police officers in killings of unarmed black men. He denounced as "divisive" a demonstration that took place anyway and on Thursday tweeted a thank you to police for arresting a man accused of threatening to kill officers. Still, on Friday an airplane hauling a banner insulting the mayor organized by a former police officer-turned-activist flew above New York City.
Pastor Ralph Castillo said Ramos was a beloved member of the church.
"Whether he was helping a mom with a carriage or bringing someone to their seats, he did it with so much love and so much vigor and so much joy," Castillo said.ork and Missouri declining to indict white officers in deaths of black men.
Mourners gathered in the streets to hear the eulogies. Ramos was a long-standing member of the church and served as an usher.
"We feel sorry for the family, and nobody deserves to die like this," said fellow churchgoer Hilda Kiefer as she waited to enter the wake.
His compassion was in contrast to the emotionally disturbed loner who killed the officers.
Investigators say Brinsley started his rampage by shooting and wounding an ex-girlfriend in Baltimore. He also posted online threats to police and made references to high-profile cases of unarmed black men killed by white officers.
Liu’s funeral arrangements have not been announced.
The life The Silver Shield Foundation, a charity founded by the late New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, has set aside $40,000 for the education of Ramos' sons. Bowdoin College said it will cover Ramos' older son's education costs as long as he remains a student there.
The Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation, a charity created after 9/11, says it will pay off the home mortgages of the two slain officers.
Meanwhile, Centa said he's instructed officers at the 84th Precinct where Ramos and Liu worked to be vigilant on patrol.
"Things we took for granted maybe a week or two ago we can't take for granted anymore," Centa said. "You may be in your car and see someone walking up the street toward you. You have to be prepared. You never know. It's a scary time for the police department right now" long Brooklyn resident joined the NYPD in 2012 after working as a school security officer.