M.D. Kittle – Neither snow nor rain
nor heat nor gloom of night may keep postal carriers from the swift
completion of their appointed rounds. But partisan politics, now that
may be another matter altogether.
An investigation has been launched into a Neenah, Wisconsin postal
carrier who allegedly dumped into a recycling bin hundreds of political
advertisement mailers from the campaign of Mike Rorhkaste, Republican
candidate for Wisconsin’s 55th Assembly District, Rorhkaste tells
Wisconsin Reporter.
Neenah Postmaster Brian Smoot, who was alerted to the incident on
Thursday, confirmed that there is an ongoing investigation into the
matter, and referred Wisconsin Reporter to the Office of the Inspector
General for the U.S. Postal Service. OIG representatives there did not
return several phone calls seeking comment Sunday.
“I am not allowed to comment because it is an active investigation,”
Smoot said of accusations that the unidentified mail carrier mishandled
the political literature.
A terminally ill woman who had decided to end her life after being
told her illness would be long and painful has died, advocacy
organization Compassion & Choices said Sunday.
Brittany Maynard, 29, who moved to Oregon where the “Death with
Dignity Act” allows people to choose to die using medication, was
diagnosed with a progressive brain tumor called glioblastoma multiforme.
The average life expectancy is 14 months.
Compassion & Choices said in a statement that Maynard took lethal
drugs prescribed by a doctor on Saturday and was surrounded by her
family.
"She died as she intended - peacefully in her bedroom, in the arms of her loved ones," the statement said.
The group said the Maynard family has asked for privacy. The family did not release a separate statement confirming the death.
Her story went viral after she posted a video on her website, The
Brittany Maynard Fund, explaining her decision to end her life rather
than try to fight the disease.
“If all my dreams came true, I would somehow survive this,” she said in a video. “But I likely won’t.”
Maynard chose Nov. 1 to die, but later said she would decided to
postpone the day, saying she still shared enough joy and laughter with
her family and friends that “it doesn’t seem like the right time right
now, but it will come because I feel myself getting sicker; it’s
happening each week.”
Maynard’s last days were spent completing a bucket list that included
a trip to the Grand Canyon, and surrounding herself with her family.
The California native was diagnosed with a progressive brain tumor shortly after her wedding last year.
In a video, Maynard said the worst thing that could happen to her ---
the most terrifying aspect – would be to wait too long and her autonomy
be taken away by the disease.
In the video, Maynard said she takes walks with her family and
husband, which “give her the greatest feelings of health I have these
days” and that her condition continues to worsen every day.
About a week before she filmed the video, Maynard had her most terrifying set of seizures, two in a day, which is unusual.
“I remember looking at my husband’s face and thinking ‘I know this is
my husband but I can’t say his name,’ and ended up going to the
hospital for that one.”
Dan, her husband, said they were taking things one day at a time.
“You take away all the material stuff, all the nonsense we seem to
latch on to as a society and you realize that those moments are really
what matter,” he said.
Maynard hopes that after her death, her husband can be happy and have a family.
Maynard said she has gained 25 pounds in the past three months
because of her prescription medications and that she finds it hard to
look at herself in photos or the mirror because her body has become so
unrecognizable.
Since Maynard’s story went viral, she has been working to raise
awareness of end-of-life rights by working with Compassion &
Choices, and The Brittany Maynard Fund. She has also been traveling and
spending time with her family.
“Sadly, it is impossible to forget my cancer. Severe headaches and
neck pain are never far away, and unfortunately the next morning I had
my worst seizure thus far. My speech was paralyzed for quite a while
after I regained consciousness, and the feeling of fatigue continued for
the rest of the day,” Maynard said on her website.
“The seizure was a harsh reminder that my symptoms continue to worsen
as the tumor runs its course. However, I find meaning and take pride
that the Compassion & Choices movement is accelerating rapidly,
thanks to supporters like you,” Maynard said.
Maynard had said she planned to die in her bedroom at home surrounded by her husband, mother, step-father and best friend.
Thirteen years after the 9/11 terrorist attack, World Trade Center is opening for business again.
Conde Nast will start moving Monday into One World Trade Center, a
104-story, $3.9 billion skyscraper that dominates the Manhattan skyline.
It's the centerpiece of the 16-acre site where the decimated twin
towers once stood and where more than 2,700 people died on Sept. 11,
2001, buried under smoking mounds of fiery debris.
"The New York City skyline is whole again, as One World Trade Center
takes its place in Lower Manhattan," said Patrick Foye, executive
director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey that owns both
the building and the World Trade Center site.
He said One World Trade Center "sets new standards of design,
construction, prestige and sustainability; the opening of this iconic
building is a major milestone in the transformation of Lower Manhattan
into a thriving 24/7 neighborhood."
With the construction fences gone, America’s tallest building is
considered by Conde Nast CEP Chuck Townsend as the, “most secure office
building in America.”
About 3,000 employees will join the 170 expected to move in Monday in
2015. The publishing giants will take over five floors of the building.
The building is 60 percent leased, with another 80,000 square feet
going to the advertising firm Kids Creative, the stadium operator
Legends Hospitality, the BMB Group investment adviser, and Servcorp, a
provider of executive offices.
The tower overlooks the National September 11 Memorial and Museum. Its aim is to honor those who died in the terrorist attacks.
For years, the grisly pit where workers found mostly body parts was dubbed the "ground zero" of the aerial terror attack.
At night, the incandescent steel-and-glass behemoth can be seen from vessels in New York Harbor approaching Manhattan.
Soon, an observation deck will be open to the public.
The eight-year construction of the 1,776-foot high skyscraper came
after years of political, financial and legal infighting that threatened
to derail the project.
The bickering slowly died down as two other towers started going up
on the southeast end of the site: the now completed 4 World Trade Center
whose anchor tenant is the Port Authority, and 3 World Trade Center
that's slowly rising.
Nearly 150 ballot measures across the country -- including ones on
abortion, guns and marijuana -- will be voted on Tuesday, key issues
that have the potential to influence voter turnout in state and national
races.
Voters in Alaska, Oregon and the District of Columbia will vote on
measures that would allow recreational use of marijuana for adults.
The measures in Oregon and Alaska would allow for the retail sale of
pot to anyone old enough to drink. The measure in the District of
Columbia would make it legal to grow and possess marijuana, but not sell
it.
And in Florida, residents will decide whether to make their state the 24th to allow marijuana use for medical reasons.
The measure has divided the rivals in Florida's closely contested
gubernatorial race between Republican incumbent Rick Scott and
Democratic challenger Charlie Crist, who supports the proposal.
The debate in Florida usually generates talk of young people
potentially flooding the polls. But seniors, who flock to the state to
retire, are the most reliable voters and could be key to the outcome of
the measure.
A total of 147 ballot measures will go before voters on Election Day,
according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Three measures related directly or indirectly to abortion have sparked sharp debate in several states.
In Colorado, a "personhood" amendment would add fetuses to those
protected by the state's criminal and wrongful death act. Opponents say
it could lead to a ban on abortions. Supporters say it's intended to
strengthen protections for pregnant women.
Colorado Sen. Mark Udall is relying on women voters to help him win
re-election in his close race with Republican challenger GOP Rep. Cory
Gardner.
Similar measures are on the ballot in North Dakota and Tennessee.
In Massachusetts, voters will decide on a ballot measure to repeal a
2011 law authorizing development of a slots parlor and up to three
resort casinos. The state has none now.
Washington voters will be faced with two competing gun-related measures.
One seeks background checks for all gun sales and transfers,
including private transactions. The other would prevent any such
expansion covering purchases from private sellers.
Six states require universal background checks for all sales and
transfers of firearms. Washington's law, like the federal law, requires
checks for sales or transfers by licensed dealers but not for purchases
from private sellers.
Colorado and Oregon have measures that would require labeling of
certain genetically modified foods. Each proposal would apply to raw and
packaged foods produced entirely or partially by genetic engineering,
but would not apply to food served in restaurants.
Midterm elections typically have a lower turnout than election years
with a presidential race. And voter enthusiasm is often lower for the
party that occupies the White House.
A recent study by Tufts University found turnout is higher in states
with a referendum, compared to states without them and that the
situation is particularly more prevalent in midterm elections. The study
also found that the increased turnout can be attributed to “campaigns
that use a ballot measure to mobilize voters.”
However, media coverage of the issue also appears necessary to increase the turnout, according to the study.
In Florida and elsewhere across the country, a greater percentage of
seniors vote than any other age group, and their share of the total
electorate is even more pronounced in years without a presidential
contest.
President Obama has tried in the closing weeks of the midterms to
appeal to African-American voters, who typically cast ballots for
Democratic candidates, to get out and vote.
The African-American turnout will be vital to Democrats’ hopes in
states such as Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana and North Carolina that will
help determine control of the Senate.
Kansas Independent Senate candidate Greg Orman’s suggesting on Friday
that top Republicans barnstorming the state for GOP incumbent Sen. Pat
Roberts is nothing more than a “Washington Establishment clown car” got a
sharp response from former Kansas GOP Sen. Bob Dole.
“I don't think I've ever been called a ‘clown’ before. I'm
disappointed by Mr. Orman's statement," said the 91-year-old Dole, who
was also the GOP presidential nominee in 1996 and served 35 years in
Congress.
Orman, in an unexpected, too-close-to-call race with Roberts, made the remark at a campaign stop.
"Mr. Orman’s personal attacks and disdain for Senator Dole and other
Republican leaders have no place in this campaign,” Roberts said. “If he
wants to attack me, that’s fine because I’m used to being attacked by
liberals. But Mr. Orman owes Senator Dole an apology.”
He also told Fox News on Saturday the comment was a “cheap shot” and
proves how out of touch the Orman campaign is because nobody running for
public office would ever criticize Dole.
“It’s unfortunate,” Roberts said.
The Orman campaign told the Kansas City Star that the candidate did not intend to slight Dole or anyone else at the rally.
Orman has based his campaign on his disdain for both major political parties.
But Democrats and Republicans have something the Kansas City
businessman could really use right now: an established get out the vote
operation.
In most elections, making sure that friendly voters cast their
ballots is more important for a candidate in a race's final days than
wooing new supporters.
Roberts, who is seeking a fourth term, has several thousand GOP
campaign workers and volunteers armed with the latest voter information
who are making sure his likely supporters vote in person or by mail, in
addition to Dole and other Republican heavy weights helping him on the
campaign tour.
This week, the National Republican Senatorial Committee dispatched a
top operative to help oversee his phone bank, door-knocking and
transportation efforts.
Orman, 45, hopes that a quickly assembled turnout effort using new
voter data techniques and about 800 volunteers will make up for his lack
of a party apparatus.
Orman, whose campaign surged in September when the Democratic
challenger dropped out of the race, is trying to appeal to voters
disgusted with partisan gridlock in Washington. He is especially
targeting registered independents, who make up 30 percent of Kansas'
electorate, along with any Republicans tired of Roberts, 78, after his
four decades in Washington. Forty-two percent of GOP voters supported
Roberts' opponent, a Tea Party advocate, in the primary.
A debate moderator apologized to Republican New Hampshire Senate
candidate Scott Brown Thursday night after accusing him on-air of
botching his state geography -- though Brown technically was correct.
The meandering conversation about New Hampshire regions started after
WMUR reporter James Pindell asked Brown at the debate Thursday about
what is going "right" and "wrong" in the economy of Sullivan County,
which hugs the western edge of New Hampshire.
Scott, who used to represent Massachusetts in the Senate, has faced
"carpetbagger" accusations throughout his campaign to unseat Democratic
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen in New Hampshire. In response to Pindell's question,
Brown launched into a general answer about different regions of the
state.
"Geography plays a role along the southern border. We have more jobs,
we have more opportunity, infrastructure, and other opportunities up
north are difficult," he said. "One of the biggest opportunities is
tourism. One of the biggest opportunities are ski areas and trails for
snowmobiles -- I support those efforts."
Pindell then interrupted to remind Brown they were talking about
Sullivan County. "I think you were talking about the North Country," he
said.
Brown responded: "I'm talking about any place past Concord, actually, and the challenges of our state."
This is where the disagreement arose. After Brown listed several "challenges," Pindell interrupted again, his voice raised.
"Sullivan County is west of Concord," he said. "It's not north of
Concord, Senator Brown. So what do you see as going well and what's not
going well there?"
Brown maintained that "the challenges are the same in every county in our state."
Pindell then pitched to Shaheen, with the introduction, "Of course
you've been that county's governor and senator for 12 years."
Brown's campaign reportedly claimed afterward that the GOP candidate
was referring to Mount Sunapee, a ski resort in Sullivan County he had
visited.
Though New Hampshire Democrats seized on the exchange to mock Brown,
Pindell later acknowledged that, while Sullivan County is west of
Concord, much of it also lies north of the capital.
Pindell also went on air to apologize.
"I said that Sullivan County was west of Concord, not north of
Concord. The truth is, it's both. So on this point, Scott Brown was
right, I was wrong, and I apologize to Scott Brown and to both
campaigns," he said. The incident was reminiscent of an exchange during a 2012 presidential
debate where CNN's Candy Crowley corrected Mitt Romney on a point about
Benghazi, though the matter was in dispute.
The campaign for Maryland GOP gubernatorial nominee Larry Hogan
earlier this week enthusiastically predicted that a win Tuesday would be
the surprise, upset victory of the midterm elections.
And it might well be correct.
Left off essentially everybody’s list of hot governors’ races, the
tightening Maryland contest has now captured the national spotlight with
big outside money and A-list politicians coming in to close the deal
for Hogan or Democratic nominee Anthony Brown, who has served eight
years as Gov. Martin O’Malley’s lieutenant governor.
That Hogan, a businessman and son of a former congressman, would even be close this late is a surprise.
Democratic voters outnumber Republicans 2-to-1 in Maryland. And only
two Republicans have held the governor’s office the past four decades.
But a sluggish local economy and years of tax increases by the
O’Malley administration -- including an infamous “rain water tax" --
appears to have voters looking for a change.
Brown had led the race by double digits from the start. But recent
polls -- including one by The Baltimore Sun in mid-October that
indicated Brown ahead by just 7 percentage points -- have shown his lead
starting to slip.
However, the turning point seemed to occur after a
Republican-sponsored poll released Monday showed Hogan trailing Brown by
just 2 percentage points, 46-to-44 percent.
“It’s a little crazy right now, but we believe everything is now
breaking our way,” Hogan said Wednesday from the campaign trail. “The
timing is perfect. The momentum is there for Democrats and independents.
There’s a full-scale tax revolt in deep-blue Maryland.”
Though the poll was commissioned by the Hogan campaign, pollsters,
Democrats, Republicans and essentially everybody else with an interest
in the midterms took notice.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, chairman of the Republican Governors
Association, arrived Tuesday in Maryland, for his third visit of the
cycle, and was followed two days later by Hillary Clinton, whose many
titles now include one of the most influential Democrats on the campaign
trail.
And within the past four days, two of Washington’s most respected,
nonpartisan pollsters have changed their handicap of the race to show
Brown on less-sure footing.
On Friday, the Cook Political Report moved the race into its “tossup”
category. And on Wednesday, the Rothenberg Political Report shifted the
race for Democrats from “favored” to the lesser “lean.”
Hogan spokesman Adam Dubitsky suggests Maryland Democrats have taken
Hogan too lightly, pointing out that Brown, a Harvard law school
graduate who served in Iraq, said during his tough primary race that
winning the general election would just be “a little bit of a mole
hill.”
The Brown campaign did not return calls seeking comment. However,
campaign spokesman Justin Schall has downplayed the notion that the
national attention suggests Brown is fading.
"That is Republicans' wishful thinking," he told The Sun.
The last Republican to win the Maryland governorship was Robert
Ehrlich in 2002. He was preceded by Spiro Agnew in 1967. Ehrlich was
defeated in 2006 by O’Malley, who must leave as a result of term limits
and appears to be strongly considering a run for president in 2016.
President Obama, who took nearly 62 percent of the Maryland vote in 2012, has also campaigned for Brown.
The RNC and its counterpart, the Democratic Governors Association, will reportedly spend $1.5 million collectively on TV ads.
And a political action committee for former New York Mayor Michael
Bloomberg has pledged to spend $500,000 on its own TV ads, to hammer
Hogan’s National Rifle Association endorsement.
While national political reporters largely saw Brown’s biggest
liability as the failed rollout of the state’s ObamaCare exchange that
Brown oversaw, state Republicans have clearly made the race about taxes
and have tried to convince Marylanders that a vote for Brown is a vote
for a third term of tax increases.
“It’s not fear of raising taxes,” said Rob Carter, former finance
chairman for the Maryland Republican Party. “It’s an absolute
certainty.”
O’Malley has signed into law 40 new taxes while in office, according to Forbes.com.
He signed the rain water tax bill in 2012, in response to an
Environmental Protection Agency mandate on cleaning up the Chesapeake
Bay. Property owners in 10 jurisdiction including Baltimore City now pay
an annual fee that ranges from rough $26 to $256.
“Anthony Brown means eight more years of Martin O’Malley,” Carter said. “They are two peas in a pod.”
Republicans on Saturday welcomed the news of Marine Sgt. Andrew
Tahmooressi being released from a Mexico prison and the efforts by GOP
congressmen to help broker a deal but questioned whether the Obama
administration did enough.
“President Obama still isn’t using all of the tools and levers that
we have as the world’s lone super power, whether it is as simple as
getting Sgt. Tahmooressi released from custody to defending our
interests or protecting our allies in the Middle East,” Arkansas GOP
Rep. Tom Cotton told Fox News.
Cotton, who is now running for Senate, wrote Obama asking him to intervene.
A Mexican judge on Friday ordered Tahmooressi’s immediate release,
after he spent seven months behind bars for crossing the border with
loaded guns.
The judge said Tahmooressi should be freed because of his mental
state. But he did not make a determination on the illegal-arms charges
against the Afghanistan veteran diagnosed with post-traumatic stress
disorder, according to a Mexican official who had knowledge of the
ruling but was not authorized to give his name.
California GOP Rep. Dana Rohrabacher told The Washington Times that Obama was “AWOL” throughout the process.
Rohrabacher said he, fellow California GOP Rep. Ed Royce, former New
Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and Arizona GOP Matt Salmon fought for
Tahmooressi’s release after President Obama did not.
“The president, who is also the commander in chief, didn’t do his
job,” Rohrabacher told the newspaper. “There is a lack of concern for
this man, for this American hero who served our country. As commander in
chief he showed a total disdain and non-interest in an American hero
who served us in Afghanistan and a total disregard for the fact that he
was suffering.”
Tahmooressi has said he took a wrong turn on a California freeway
that funneled him into a Tijuana port of entry with no way to turn back.
"It is with an overwhelming and humbling feeling of relief that we
confirm that Andrew was released today after spending 214 days in
Mexican Jail," his family said in a statement.
Former 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin
called the announcement of Tahmooressi’s release “wonderful news.”
But Palin also said she was disappointed to hear reports that the White House “never did fight” for his freedom.
“If true, then President Obama once again broke that sacred
commitment to never leave an American behind,” she said on her Facebook
page. “If I'm wrong on this, I'll be more than happy to acknowledge the
president's efforts to see an honored vet set free.”
Republican and Democratic politicians had held talks with Mexican
authorities to urge his release. A U.S. congressional committee also
held a public hearing to pressure Mexico to free him.
Royce, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said he was
"elated" by the news and that Tahmooressi’s PTSD will be treated by
specialists in the United States.
"As I said after visiting Andrew in the Mexican jail, he needs to
come home to the United States to be with his mother, Jill, and the
support network of friends I know to be standing by to help him,” Royce
said.
Richardson, who grew up in Mexico and has negotiated on a range of
international issues, said he met with Tahmooressi in jail in the border
city of Tecate, and he had talked to Mexican officials to urge them to
release him on humanitarian grounds.
Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., also applauded his release.
"As a mother, my heart is with Jill Tahmooressi tonight and I can
only imagine the many emotions she must be experiencing, namely the
relief in knowing her son is coming home and that they will soon be
reunited.”
Mexican authorities, however, had made clear that they would not be
influenced by politics and that the matter was in the hands of its
courts.
The Mexico Embassy said the judge’s rule was the correct legal
decision but disputed allegations that U.S. officials were blocked from
seeing Tahmooressi.
“From the first moment of his arrest up until his release, U.S.
consular officials had access to him,” the embassy said in a statement.
In Mexico, possession of weapons restricted for use by the Army is a
federal crime, and the country has been tightening up its border checks
to stop the flow of US weapons that have been used by drug cartels.
His attorney, Fernando Benitez, had pushed for the 26-year-old
Florida man to be released because Mexico has no experience in treating
combat-related PTSD, even in its own soldiers.
Benitez had argued that Tahmooressi carries loaded guns with him
because his weapons, which were bought legally in the U.S., make him
feel safer. He added that the veteran is often distracted, which could
have contributed to him becoming lost.
Still, Mexican prosecutors maintained Tahmooressi broke the law.
Tahmooressi was carrying in his truck a rifle, shotgun, pistol and hundreds of rounds of ammunition.
After being jailed in Tijuana, Tahmooressi's mother said, he tried to
kill himself by cutting his neck with a shard from a light bulb in his
cell because the guards and inmates threatened to rape, torture and kill
him and he feared she would be in danger.
He was transferred to another prison, where a pastor visited him
regularly and the Mexican government says he was under medical
observation.
But a psychiatrist hired by Mexican prosecutors to examine the
Afghanistan veteran agreed with the defense that he should get PTSD
treatment in the United States, noting in a Sept. 30 report that
Tahmooressi, who now serves in the Marine reserve, feels like he is
constantly in danger.
Tahmooressi did not admit wrongdoing, and he still maintains his innocence, his attorney said.
His mother has said her son's time in a Mexican jail has been worse than his two tours in Afghanistan.
Tahmooressi left Florida for San Diego in January to get help after
dropping out of college, unable to concentrate or sleep, his mother
said.
The case marks one of the first times Mexico made a ruling on PTSD —
though the psychological wound is increasingly used in U.S. courts,
especially in arguing for reduced sentences.
