House votes to block EPA from implementing new water-regulation plan

The House of Representatives on Tuesday voted to block the EPA from implementing a new plan that critics say could significantly broaden the agency's ability to impose environmental regulations over America's waterways.
Many farmers and landowners across the country say rules proposed last year by the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers would give federal regulators even more say over waters. The issue had become a hotly contested one for many who say there are already too many government regulations affecting their businesses.
The House bill, approved by a 261-155 vote, would force the EPA to withdraw the rules and consult with state and local officials before rewriting them.
The rules would clarify which streams, tributaries and wetlands should be protected from pollution and development under the Clean Water Act.
EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy said one out of three Americans get their drinking water from sources that aren't clearly protected, and the rules would make sure those waters aren't polluted.
Some lawmakers said it was overreach and was aggravating longstanding trust issues between rural areas and the federal government.
The rule would "trample on private property rights and hold back our economy," read a memo sent out by the office of House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., before the House floor debate.
The White House has threatened to veto the legislation.

A bipartisan group of senators introduced a bill last month that would lay out what bodies of water should be covered and force the EPA to rewrite the rules by the end of next year.

"We've got a whole lot of pent-up frustration and concern because it seems like every time they turn around, there is a new set of regulations for farmers to be concerned about," says North Dakota Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, a Democrat who is backing the Senate bill. Heitkamp, narrowly elected in a competitive Senate race in 2012, says it's the number one issue she hears about from farmers.

"It's the perfect example of the disconnect between Washington and rural areas," says Indiana Sen. Joe Donnelly, another Democrat backing the legislation.

Lawmakers say they believe that the proposed "waters of the United States" rules would expand the government's reach over these smaller bodies of water. They say the proposal is too vague and could be subject to misinterpretation.

Under fire, EPA officials have acknowledged they may not have written the proposal clearly enough, and said final rules expected in the coming months will better define which waters would fall under the law.

"I want to tell you up front that I wish we had done a better job of rolling out our clean water rule," McCarthy told the National Farm Bureau Federation, a staunch opponent, in March.

Still, the agency argues the rules are necessary to make clear which waters are regulated in the wake of decades-long uncertainty and two U.S. Supreme Court rulings on the issue. The 2001 and 2006 decisions limited regulators' reach but left unclear the scope of authority over some small waterways, like those that flow intermittently.

Broadly, the EPA's proposed rules would assert federal regulatory authority over streams, tributaries, wetlands and other flowing waters that significantly affect other protected waters downstream. That means some operations that wanted to dump pollutants into those waters or develop around them would have to get a federal permit.

Senate Dems block key plank of Obama trade agenda

Own Party is weary of him.

President Obama suffered a defeat at the hands of his own party on Tuesday, as Senate Democrats blocked a key component of the president's trade agenda.
After fierce lobbying on both sides of the issue, the bid to start debate -- on expanding the president's authority to negotiate trade deals -- failed on a 52-45 vote. It needed 60 votes to advance.
The president's supporters will likely try again, but the vote nevertheless marks a stinging rebuke of a major Obama priority by members of his own party. Republicans mostly had aligned with Obama on the issue and, after the failed test vote, urged Obama's fellow Democrats to drop their resistance.
"What we just saw here is pretty shocking," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said, accusing congressional Democrats of standing with "special interests."
At issue is Obama's push for so-called "fast track" authority -- which would let him negotiate trade deals that Congress can reject or ratify, but not amend. In the short-term, he wants to use this to pursue a broad trade pact with Japan and other Pacific nations.
But many Democrats aligned with labor unions in warning about the impact on U.S. jobs, and openly opposed the White House. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., recently told reporters he's a "hell no" on the proposal. And Obama and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., for days have traded jabs on the matter, with the president calling Warren's claims "absolutely wrong."

More on this...

• Obama and Warren have 'war of words' over trade deal

• Democrats divided over multi-nation trade deal

Several Democrats later said Obama erred by pointedly criticizing Warren, most recently in an interview with Yahoo News. Democratic senators said they also are tired of seeing the Democratic president cozy up to Republicans on trade.
The issue indeed has left Obama oddly aligned with Republicans, while trying to sway enough Democrats to join in support. With 54 Republicans in the Senate, the White House needed a handful of Democrats on board.
But labor unions, liberal groups and others vehemently oppose the legislation. It faces "poison pill" amendments, showdowns over "currency manipulation" and, eventually, similar confrontations in the House.
Lobbying for and against the legislation hit overdrive this week. Key groups scheduled almost hourly events on Capitol Hill ahead of Tuesday afternoon's vote. Obama devoted much of the weekend to trade, visiting a Nike plant in Oregon. Obama maintains that U.S. goods and services need better access to the 95 percent of world consumers who live in other countries.
If Obama can ultimately get the trade measure passed, he's likely to ask Congress to approve the Trans-Pacific Partnership being negotiated with 11 other countries, including Japan, Vietnam, Canada and Mexico. Other free-trade proposals could follow.
 But several Democrats say they will back fast track only if Republican leaders clear a path for three other trade measures. One, to renew the African Growth and Opportunity Act, is uncontroversial.
The second calls for Trade Adjustment Assistance, which provides federal aid to workers displaced by trade agreements. Republicans don't like it, but reluctantly acknowledge it's the price for winning even modest Democratic support.
The third bill, involving Customs enforcement, is the stickiest. It includes a measure to take actions against countries that keep their currency artificially low, which makes their exports more attractive. The Obama administration opposes the "currency manipulation" measure, saying it could invite international challenges to the Federal Reserve's policies meant to boost the economy.
Some Democrats also want to force Republicans to deal first with a surveillance measure that Democrats consider more pressing. That strategy suggests Obama might have better luck on trade in a month or so.

Brady Cartoon

Boston University condemns prof's racist tweets after Terrier alums bark

Boston University had a weekend change of heart about a new professor's angry tweets about white people, after FoxNews.com and others reported on the racially-charged comments -- and Terrier alumni threatened to stop writing checks.
Saida Grundy, an incoming assistant professor of sociology and African-American studies at the school, tweeted in recent weeks that "white masculinity is THE problem for america’s (sic) colleges," white men are a "problem population,” and that she tries to avoid shopping at white-owned businesses. On Friday, her new employer's spokesman, Colin Riley, told FoxNews.com that the tweets came from Grundy's personal Twitter account and that she was "exercising her right to free speech and we respect her right to do so.”

" ... we are deeply saddened when anyone makes such offensive statements.”
- Colin Riley, Boston University spokesman

Then, amid a deluge of angry emails from former students, the school sought to amend the comment.
“The University does not condone racism or bigotry in any form and we are deeply saddened when anyone makes such offensive statements,” Riley told FoxNews.com Saturday.
The tweets were first noticed by a student at University of Massachusetts Amherst, Nick Pappas, who posted them on his website “SoCawlege.com” and questioned how Grundy could teach a diverse classroom given the racial hostility in her tweets.

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Boston University Professor Saida Grundy's tweets deriding white men are her business, according to the school. (Boston University)

“You have to teach college-aged white males eventually, no?... this seems like you are unqualified to grade their work as you clearly demonstrate some kind of special bias against them,” he wrote.
After the news broke, some alumni and donors wrote the school to complain.
“It is truly a sad day to be a BU alum,” one Boston University graduate from the class of 2008 told FoxNews.com, and shared a letter he had sent to University President Robert Brown and the dean of students.
“In light of the university’s willingness to invite vile rhetoric onto a campus that I spent four wonderful years at, I commit to never donate to Boston University,” he wrote in his letter.
Another wrote, “As a Boston University alumnus and a father of a son who will graduate from BU next week, I am deeply saddened by this revelation. It has become apparent that BU no longer supports a value system in line with human decency.”
Although Riley's condemnation of the racist tweets was new, he reiterated that Grundy had a right to sound off against white males.
“ ... the opinions expressed by Dr. Grundy, in what were seemingly private electronic messages, constitutes her opinion and we must recognize her right to have that opinion whether or not we agree,” Riley said.
Grundy did not respond to requests for comment from FoxNews.com, and has made her twitter account private. She will start working at the university in June.
Those who follow campus politics say they are not shocked.
"I'm not surprised that Boston University is hiring a racist to teach African-American Studies," David Horowitz, author of “Reforming our Univerisities,” told FoxNews.com. "Anti-white racism is rampant in Black Studies programs."
Horowitz added that the university’s reaction betrays double-standards on race.
“If she were a white racist rather than an anti-white racist, she would never be hired. Professors are supposed to be experts in some scholarly field, and professionals in their classroom discourse. They don't have a license to indoctrinate students in their prejudices -- whether those prejudices are right or left,” he said.
Grundy posted a number of other controversial tweets, for instance incorrectly claiming that only whites enslaved entire generations of people. “Deal with your white sh*t, white people. slavery is a *YALL* thing,” she said.
Free speech advocates say that Grundy should have a right to her speech, but say the university speech policy is hypocritical because it allows the university to censor offensive or bigoted speech if it wanted to.
“Professor Grundy should and must have the freedom to publicly express her opinions on controversial topics. Unfortunately, though, [she] could be punished if she were to send such tweets through the BU computer network, as the university bans ‘transmitting...offensive’ material,” Robert Shibley of Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) told FoxNews.com.
“In addition, if she were a student, she could also potentially be punished for violating policies banning ‘bigotry, hatred, and intolerance,’ and for not expressing her opinion ‘in good taste and decency.’ … [BU] should eliminate these policies so that it can defend every student and faculty member's right to free speech – not just Professor Grundy's.”

Jeb Bush dismisses dip in polls, defends immigration stance

Jeb Bush, in an exclusive interview with Fox News’ “The Kelly File,” rejected the suggestion that the momentum behind his likely presidential bid has slowed – calling recent polls “irrelevant” and urging those closely watching them to “take a chill pill.”
Bush, though widely expected to run for the Republican nomination, has held back as several other Republicans have officially announced their 2016 campaigns in recent weeks. As they dominate the headlines, some – notably, Bush’s presumed home-state rival, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio – have enjoyed a surge in the polls.
But Bush stressed in the interview with Fox News that he’s not a candidate yet.
“The polls are totally irrelevant,” the former Florida governor told show host Megyn Kelly. “I’m not a candidate yet. So … everybody needs to take a chill pill on the polls until it gets closer.”
In the roughly 22-minute interview, Bush addressed Common Core, immigration reform and his family’s political dynasty – all issues posing early challenges for him in a potential GOP primary. And he defended his 2016 exploratory efforts – first announced in mid-December – while taking a swipe at the campaign for Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton.
“I godo town hall meetings, don’t screen the questions, don’t have a protected bubble like Mrs. Clinton does, don’t have town hall meetings or roundtable discussion where I pick who gets to come and I screen the questions, and the press has to behave a certain way,” he said in his first full, on-camera TV interview this year.
While Bush continues to stay visible, his poll numbers have jumped around since he emerged as an initial GOP frontrunner earlier this year.
Fox News polling released late last month showed Rubio enjoying a bump after his mid-April campaign announcement, polling at 13 percent in the race for the GOP nomination. Bush slipped down to 9 percent in that survey.
The average of polling on RealClearPolitics.com shows Bush slipping only slightly, but his advantage over the rest of the field slimming considerably. He now pulls 16 percent of the vote but leads Rubio by just 1 percentage point, according to RealClearPolitics.com.
Bush, in the Fox News interview, continued to defend his stance on the English and math standards known as Common Core while acknowledging conservative criticisms.
He argued that schools must be held to higher standards and pointed to the program’s success in Florida, where he was governor from 1997 to 2007.
“I respect people having a view,” Bush said. “But the simple fact is, we need higher standards. They need to be state driven. The federal government should play no part in this either, either in the creation of standards, content or curriculum.”
He argued that only one-third of U.S. students are college or career ready and that Florida under his leadership led the country in learning gains, includes vastly improved graduation rates.
In response to criticism by conservatives that he supports a form of amnesty for illegal immigrants, Bush said he backs legal status -- but not citizenship -- for those who have entered the country illegally.
“A practical solution of getting to fixing the legal system is also allowing for a path to legalized status, not necessarily citizenship,” he said.
Nevertheless, he suggested that the country must take some kind of common sense approach to what to do with an estimated 11 million people living illegally in the United States, particularly children of illegal immigrants.
“What are we supposed to do, marginalize these people forever?” Bush asked.
He also suggested he would undo President Obama’s executive actions that suspend deportation for some illegal immigrants, under comprehensive reform legislation.
On the foreign policy front, Bush said that he would have authorized the 2003 invasion of Iraq, like his brother, President George W. Bush did, and said Clinton – who backed the authorization for use of force as senator -- also would have.
“And so would almost everybody that was confronted with the intelligence they got,” he told Megyn Kelly.
He also acknowledged that he indeed uses his brother as a foreign policy adviser but said he is not the only adviser. And he dismissed criticism that winning the White House would only extend the family’s presidential dynasty that started with his father, George H.W. Bush, in 1989.
“I love my brother, and I respect his service,” Bush said. “I haven’t been in Washington … ever. I’m not part of Washington.”

Federal judge agrees to reopen Hillary Clinton email lawsuit

A federal judge has agreed to reopen a lawsuit that seeks to gain access to emails from former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s private server.
Judge Reggie B. Walton’s decision Friday came after the State Department and Judicial Watch, which brought the lawsuit, agreed that the documents that Clinton kept on her own email server separate from the government should be turned over.
“This is the first case that’s been reopened,” Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch told The Washington Times. “It’s a significant development. It points to the fraud by this administration and Mrs. Clinton.”
Previously, the court dismissed Judicial Watch's request, on the grounds that the documents did not exist.
Judicial Watch is a conservative, non-partisan educational foundation that promotes transparency and accountability in government.
Clinton provided about 30,000 emails to a House committee investigating the 2012 terror attack on the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya but deleted 32,000 emails she considered personal and not government business.
According to The Washington Times, panel Chairman Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., cited “obstacles and frustrations” in dealing with the administration when pursuing access to Clinton’s emails.
“The legislative branch’s constitutional toolbox seems inadequate to uphold out task in seeking the truth,” Gowdy said.

Kremlin confirms Putin to meet with Kerry in Sochi

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Russia Tuesday to news that the Kremlin had confirmed a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Black Sea resort town of Sochi.
The confirmation followed hours of limbo Monday during which the Kremlin refused to say whether Kerry and Putin would meet, despite U.S. officials' insistence that the talks would take place. A senior State Department official told the Associated Press tersely, "We usually don't go to Sochi to see Foreign Minister Lavrov."
Putin's spokesman welcomed Kerry's decision to travel to Russia. "We have repeatedly stated at various levels and the president has said that Russia never initiated the freeze in relations and we are always open for displays of political will for a broader dialogue," Dmitry Peskov told journalists in Sochi.
Kerry was to lay a wreath at a World War II memorial before meeting Putin and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on the brief visit, his first to Russia since May 2013 and the advent of the Ukraine crisis.
"This trip is part of our ongoing effort to maintain direct lines of communication with senior Russian officials and to ensure U.S. views are clearly conveyed," State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said in a statement.
Kerry plans to test Putin's willingness to push pro-Russia separatists in Ukraine to comply with an increasingly fragile ceasefire agreement, according to U.S. officials traveling with him.
Kerry will also seek to gauge the status of Russia's support for embattled Syrian President Bashar Assad, whose forces have been losing ground to rebels, and press Moscow to support a political transition that could end that war, the officials said.
In addition, Kerry will make the case to Putin that Russia should not proceed with its planned transfer of an advanced air defense system to Iran.
The Russian Foreign Ministry set a hostile tone for the visit by issuing a statement blaming Washington for the breakdown in relations between the two countries.
"The Obama administration chose the path of scaling back bilateral relations, proclaimed a course of isolating Russia on the international arena and demanded that those states that traditionally follow the lead of Washington support its confrontational steps," said the statement, which also claimed that Ukraine's crisis "was largely provoked by the United States itself."
White House spokesman Josh Earnest acknowledged the "complicated" relationship between the former foes, but insisted they could cooperate on "interests that benefit the citizens of both our countries."
Much hinges on violence decreasing in Ukraine, however.
The Western-backed government in Kiev continues to be embroiled in a sporadic conflict between government and separatist rebel forces in its eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk despite a cease-fire agreement sealed in mid-February. Russia was party to that deal; although the U.S. was not, one State Department official said it is important for Putin "to hear directly from the United States that we are firmly committed to (its) implementation."
Western nations say Russia supports the separatists with arms and manpower, and even directs some battlefield operations -- all claims Moscow denies. In return, the Russians bristle at Washington's provisions to Ukraine of military assistance in the form of hardware and training.
Diplomats in Moscow and Washington are at odds over a range of other issues.
Russia last month announced it would lift a five-year ban on delivery of an air defense missile system to Iran, drawing a hasty rebuke from the United States.
The White House said the missile system would give the Islamic republic's military a strong deterrent against any air attack. The Kremlin argues that the S-300 is a purely defensive system that will not jeopardize the security of Israel or any other countries in the Middle East.
On Syria, Russia has defied a chorus of international condemnation to remain allied with Assad.
Following his stop in Sochi, Kerry will travel to Antalya, Turkey, where he will attend a meeting of NATO foreign ministers Wednesday. Kerry will then return to Washington to attend meetings Thursday with Obama and top officials of the Persian Gulf Arab states, who are concerned about the possibility of a nuclear deal with Iran.

WWII soldier's lost gift to mom returns home for Mother's Day

MILLVILLE, Mass. –  This is the story of a loving tribute from a soldier preparing for war to his mother on the other side of the continent, who didn't know if she would ever see her boy again.
The elaborate pillow sham he sent her, lost for more than 70 years, has finally come home, just in time for Mother's Day.
The sham, emblazoned with the word "Mother" and sent in 1942 by Dominic O'Gara from his Army base in California to his mother in the small Massachusetts town of Millville, was discovered last month by a town native on eBay.
The hope now is to put the sham on display in the town's senior center, just yards from the house where the O'Gara family once lived.
"To me, it's come back to where it belongs," said Margaret Carroll, chairwoman of the town Historical Commission. "It's as close to Mrs. O'Gara as it can get."
Donald Lamoureux, who lives in Cumberland, Rhode Island, but who grew up in Millville, spotted an envelope for sale on eBay, and even though he had no idea what was inside, he knew he had to have it when he saw the date and the Millville address. He paid $5 for it.
He was stunned when he looked inside.
"There was this pillow sham that had been sealed away for 73 years, and it looked brand new," he said.
Although it had deep creases from being folded for decades, it wasn't frayed, stained or faded.
The white pillow cover has a blue fringe, and in addition to the word "Mother" in blue, is decorated with red roses with green stems, and the words "Camp McQuaide, Calif.," where O'Gara was stationed.
It also has this famous poem, written by lyricist Howard Johnson:
___
M is for the million things she gave me
O means only that she's growing old
T is for the tears she shed to save me
H is for her heart of purest gold
E is for her eyes with love light shining
R means right and right she'll always be
Put them all together they spell mother
A word that means the world to me
___
"It was very touching," Lamoureux said.
Millville, about 40 miles southwest of Boston, had a population of about 1,800 in the 1940s. Even these days, it holds only about 3,200 people.
"My grandfather (Rodrique "Pete" Lamoureux) was a World War II veteran, and Millville is such a small town, I just knew they had to have known each other," he said. "I felt this instant connection."
Where the pillow sham has been the past 70-plus years is a mystery. The 6-cent airmail stamp on the envelope was canceled, indicating it had been delivered. But the cover appeared pristine. O'Gara's mother, Catherine, died in 1956.
Lamoureux bought it from a Rhode Island man who runs a collectibles shop and found the envelope in a box of junk acquired from an anonymous seller.
Of course, Lamoureux wanted to return the pillow cover to O'Gara's family, but he couldn't find any living relatives.
He found that O'Gara, the son of Irish immigrants, was an artilleryman who served in Italy in World War II, then lived for years in the nearby town of Milford before dying in 1998. His wife died in 1974.
Lamoureux turned to his own parents, Donald and Diane Lamoureux, and their friends in Millville, including Carroll and Council on Aging member Ellen Ethier Bowen, who both remembered the O'Gara family. But even Carroll, who has an almost encyclopedic knowledge of town history, came up empty.
The group discussed it and came up with the idea of framing the pillow sham and envelope and hanging them in the senior center. The building is a short walk from the O'Garas' former home in a section of town known as Banigan City, named for the former president of a now-closed rubber manufacturing plant who built the homes for his workers.
Bowen hopes to bring the proposal to the full Council on Aging. It would be perfect if the pillow sham could be hung by Memorial Day, she said.
"This whole story just tugs at your heartstrings," she said.

California Cartoon

Students at Texas university look to rid campus of Jefferson Davis memorial

Student leaders at a Texas university are looking to remove a statue memorializing Confederate president Jefferson Davis from its campus.
"We thought, there are those old ties to slavery and some would find it offensive," said senior Jamie Nalley, who joined an overwhelming majority of the Student Government at the University of Texas at Austin in adopting a resolution in March supporting his ouster.
As students take aim at Davis, the number of sites in Texas on public and private land that honor the Confederacy is growing, despite the opposition from the NAACP and other groups. Supports say they have a right to support Confederate veterans because of their role in Texas history, while opponents argue that memorials are too often insensitive or antagonistic, while having the backing of public institutions like UT.
The Texas Historical Commission has recognized more than 1,000 Confederate memorial sites from far South Texas to the upper reaches of the Panhandle. The Sons of Confederate Veterans are planning more monuments, including a 10-foot obelisk a few miles from the Davis statue to honor about 450 Confederate soldiers buried at the city-owned Oakwood Cemetery.
"I don't think we're trying to put up stuff just to put up stuff," said Marshall Davis, spokesman for the Sons of Confederate Veterans in Texas. "We don't want to impede anyone else from honoring their heroes. We would like to honor our heroes with the same consideration, tolerance and diversity."
Besides the obelisk, other projects include a Confederate memorial along Interstate 10 in the city of Orange will feature 32 waving flags representing Texas regiments of the Confederate army, along with 13 columns for each Confederate state. That projected started after a Confederate Veterans Memorial Plaza was unveiled two years ago in downtown Palestine, near what the NAACP claims was the site of a “hanging tree.”
Student leaders and the NAAP say the Jefferson Davis statue has not place on the UT campus since his link to Texas is primarily based on the state’s ties to the Confederacy.
“I think it's offensive that you exalt Jefferson Davis but you don't exalt Abraham Lincoln," said Gary Bledsoe, president of the Texas NAACP.
The Student Government resolution has been forwarded to campus administrators but no action has been taken, according to a university spokesman.
Don Carleton, executive director of the Briscoe Center for American History at UT, said the statue and many other memorials across the South in the early 1900s were commissioned by aging Civil War veterans who were outspoken that it was states’ rights and not slavery that motivated their actions.
Late in his life, George Washington Littlefield — a Confederate officer, UT regent and prominent benefactor to the school — had commissioned Italian artist Pompeo Coppini to build a fountain and statues to Littlefield's heroes, Carleton said. The artist sought to include a statue of President Woodrow Wilson and arrange a fountain configuration that represented the country moving beyond its fractured past and unifying behind the fight against Germany and its allies in World War I.
But Littlefield later died, money dried up and Coppini's vision was never fully realized, Carleton said. Instead, statues of Davis, President George Washington, Confederate General Robert E. Lee, Confederate Postmaster General John Reagan and others were scattered about the campus without context.
Carleton said aside from the symbolism of the statues, they're works of art and should be preserved. He suggests adding explanatory plaques that describe the original intention.
"That's not going to placate everyone, and I understand that, but I think it's a lot better in explaining them to people rather than leaving it just as it is," he said.
The Texas Historical Commission has records of the more than 1,000 sites in the state that memorialize the Confederacy — from a Confederate cemetery in San Antonio and marker honoring Gen. Lawrence "Sul" Ross at Sul Ross State University in Alpine to a building in Marshall that housed the Civil War State Government of Missouri in exile.
The effort to remove the Davis statue is ill-conceived, said Marshall Davis.
"The fact that the state of Texas joined the Confederate States of America is history. It happened," he said. "It's not a matter of opinion."

Student leaders at a Texas university?

Bledsoe, president of the Texas NAACP.

Republicans embrace new social media tech, in drive to 2016

Republican presidential hopefuls trying to break from the crowded primary field are taking to cutting-edge social media to connect with more and younger voters, in the latest sign that -- come 2016 -- GOP candidates are determined to close the digital divide with historically tech-savvy Democrats.
While still stumbling on some digital basics, the fluid procession of Republicans jumping into the 2016 race are showing a willingness to experiment. Not only blanketing social-media megaphones Facebook and Twitter, the campaigns are road-testing new apps in a bid to quickly build their circle of political friends.
Earlier this week, former Hewlett-Packard chief executive Carly Fiorina announced her candidacy on Facebook and Twitter, but then turned to the video-streaming app Periscope to connect more directly with voters.
In the hyper-paced world of social media, Twitter-owned Periscope debuted shortly before the Fiorina announcement, and allows users to broadcast and view live events on mobile devices. And its video-streaming rival, Meerkat, has been up and running only since late February. Already, both are being used heavily in the presidential campaign.
Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul -- one of more than a dozen Republicans who have either announced a 2016 White House bid or are considering one -- was the first in the pack to use the Meerkat smartphone app. He live-streamed a March 15 appearance at the South by Southwest festival, in Austin, Texas.
Craig Agranoff, a Florida-based digital marketer specializing in political campaigns, predicts that video streaming will be to the 2016 race what Facebook was to President Obama’s 2008, and to a lesser extent, 2012 victories -- reaching millions of young and previously untapped voters.

2 Mississippi police officers dead after shooting at traffic stop

Did what happen in Ferguson and Boston empower these Two?

Two suspects accused of killing two Mississippi police officers Saturday night were reportedly arrested early Sunday morning.
The Hattiesburg American reports that Curtis Banks was brought to the Mississippi Highway Patrol Troop J headquarters at around 3 a.m. local time. His brother Marvin Banks was arrested about two hours earlier.
The Jackson Clarion-Ledger reported that as reporters were asking Curtis Banks if he had shot two of the Hattiesburg patrolmen he blurted out “no sir, I didn’t do it.”
The killings prompted a statewide manhunt for the two suspects late Saturday.
Warren Strain, a spokesman for the Mississippi Department of Public Safety, said one Hattiesburg officer had initially stopped a 2000 Gold Cadillac Escalade in an industrial part of the city at around 8:30 p.m. local time Saturday. A second officer arrived afterward to assist him and that is when shots were fired. Those were reported to be the first deaths on the Hattiesburg police force in three decades.
"Obviously these suspects are armed and dangerous. There is a danger, a threat for sure," Strain told The Associated Press by telephone early Sunday from the scene, an industrial corridor fronting a housing area. He said officers had told people in the immediate area to "take shelter."
Strain said both officers died of their injuries at a hospital. He said law enforcement agencies across the state were searching for two men identified as 26-year-old Curtis Banks and his 29-year-old brother Marvin Banks.
A Hattiesburg Police Department spokesman, Lt. Jon Traxler told The Associated Press the officers who died were 34-year-old Benjamin Deen and 25-year-old Liquori Tate.
"All I know right now is that there was a traffic stop and someone started shooting at them and both of the officers were struck," Traxler said. He said he didn't know how many shots were fired, or exactly by whom, adding that was now part of the investigation.
He said the state's chief law enforcement agency, the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation, had taken up the probe of the shooting. 
"That's still under investigation. The crime scene unit is processing the scene," said Strain.  .
Hattiesburg Mayor Johnny DuPree told the Clarion-Ledger he lamented the deaths.
"The men and women who go out every day to protect us, the men and woman who go out every day to make sure that we're safe, they were turned on (Saturday) night," DuPree said outside Forrest General Hospital in Hattiesburg, where the officers were taken. 
The Clarion-Ledger reports these are the first Hattiesburg officers to die in the line of duty in 30 years. It said Tate was a recent police academy graduate while Deen was a K-9 officer who had been honored as the department's "Officer of the Year" in 2012.

Obama rebukes ‘politician’ Warren as trade feud escalates

A growing feud between President Obama and Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren kicked up a notch Saturday, with the president rejecting her recent warnings about a long-sought trade deal and saying in an interview, “Elizabeth is a politician just like everybody else.”
The president and the liberal Massachusetts senator have been sparring amid an internal Democratic battle over Obama’s trade push.
The administration wants Congress to give the president so-called “fast-track” authority, which would ease the ability of the president to secure trade pacts – in this case, a major agreement with Pacific nations called the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
Most recently, Warren has argued that giving Obama the new authority could open the door for a future administration to strike a deal rolling back provisions of the landmark 2010 financial industry regulatory overhaul.
The president, in an interview with Yahoo News, said that’s “wrong.”
He challenged the notion that he would have had “this massive fight with Wall Street” and then sign a provision to undo that legislation.
“I'd have to be pretty stupid and it doesn't make any sense,” Obama said. “There is no evidence that could ever be used in this way. This is pure speculation. She and I both taught law school and one of the things you do as a law professor is you spin out hypotheticals and this is all hypothetical, speculative.”
Asked if this is personal, Obama said, “You know the truth of the matter is … Elizabeth is a politician just like everybody else, and she has a voice that she wants to get out there and I understand that, and on most issues she and I deeply agree. On this one, though, her arguments don't stand the test of fact and scrutiny.”
Politico recently reported that Warren’s criticism has administration officials fuming, and calling her attacks “baseless.” It comes as the administration is trying to win over a bipartisan coalition to green-light the “fast-track” authority.
From his left flank, Obama has also faced transparency concerns. Warren recently co-authored a letter asking Obama to make public classified information on the trade deal.
While some liberal groups have urged Warren to run for president in 2016, so far she has denied interest in doing so.

Economy and Isis Cartoon

Krauthammer: Stop nationalizing local enforcement

Syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer told viewers on "Special Report with Bret Baier" Friday that the federal government should "stop nationalizing the local law enforcement."
He questioned Attorney General Loretta Lynch's announcement that the Justice Department will investigate the Baltimore police's handling of the case of Freddie Gray, the 25-year old who died from a spinal injury suffered while in custody.
Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake made the request to Lynch, who in recent days took over from Eric Holder and visited Baltimore in the aftermath of riots and unrest.
"These laws originally intended to deal with recalcitrant, hostile often racially hostile administrations using their power against minorities," said Krauthammer.
Krauthammer said the situation in Baltimore does not rise to the level of an outside review. "
We have an African-American mayor, an African-American police chief,  African-American city attorney, and of the six people charged in that wrongful death, let's say allegedly wrongful death, three of them are African-American and the one facing the most serious charges is himself African-American," he said.
"It doesn't fit the pattern. At some point we're going to have to say look, localities have to regulate themselves unless there is something egregious and some reason why you cannot trust the local administration," Krauthammer added.

Sources: Graham to announce 2016 White House bid on June 1

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham plans to announce his presidential campaign on June 1, GOP sources tell Fox News. 
Graham, a three-term senator from South Carolina, is known as a foreign policy hawk in Congress. Though he is considered a long shot -- and ranks near the bottom in recent polls of declared and potential Republican presidential candidates -- Graham could help drive the debate on national security among a GOP field that includes candidates who sharply question policies ranging from drone strikes to NSA surveillance.
Graham, however, polls better in his home state of South Carolina, which holds the critical first-in-the-South primary. Graham is considering launching the campaign from Seneca, S.C., where he lives.
A Graham spokesperson would not confirm the June 1 date when reached by Fox News.
Several other Republicans are considering jumping in the race in the coming weeks. Currently declared candidates include: Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas; Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky; Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida; former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee; former HP head Carly Fiorina; and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson.

Illinois justices overturn state's landmark 2013 pension law

The Illinois Supreme Court on Friday struck down a 2013 law that sought to fix the nation's worst government-employee pension crisis, a ruling that forces the state to find another way to overcome a massive budget deficit. 
In a unanimous decision, the seven justices declared the law passed 18 months ago violates the state constitution because it would leave pension promises "diminished or impaired."
"In enacting the provisions, the General Assembly overstepped the scope of its legislative power. This court is therefore obligated to declare those provisions invalid," Justice Lloyd Karmeier said in writing the court's opinion.
The decree puts new Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner and Democrats who control the General Assembly back at the starting line in trying to figure out how to wrestle down a $111 billion deficit in what's necessary to cover its state employee retirement obligations. The hole is so deep the state has in recent years had to reserve up to $7 billion -- or one-fifth of its operating funds -- to keep pace.
Most states faced the same public employee pension crisis, exacerbated by the Great Recession, and took steps to remedy the problem. But Illinois balked for years at addressing the crisis until former Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn and fellow Democrats who control the General Assembly overcame opposition from union allies and struck the deal, amid warnings that it might not pass constitutional muster.
After the changes were adopted in December 2013, retired employees, state-worker labor unions and others filed a lawsuit seeking to invalidate the law on constitutional grounds.
The high court opinion means the state must keep its pledge on pensions.
The law dealt with four of the state's five pension programs -- the Legislature did not include the judges' account because of the conflict posed by expected legal action.  The shortfall in the amount of money necessary to meet all pension obligations has reached stifling depths largely because of years of skimping on -- or skipping -- on annual pension contributions by past governors and General Assemblies.
It would have crimped pensions perks in several ways in an effort to erase the shortfall by 2044. Perhaps most significantly, it would have erased the 3 percent compounded cost-of-living adjustment added in 1989, replacing it with a formula that gave the increases on a portion of benefits, depending on years of service. Some would have had the option of freezing their pensions and contributing to a 401(k)-style plan.
It also would have delayed the retirement age for workers aged 45 and younger, on a sliding scale. Workers would have had to contribute 1 percent less to their retirements and the pension agencies would have been allowed to sue the state if it didn't contribute its full annual portion to the funds. Those were additions to help the matter survive a court challenge.
At the March argument before the high court, the opponents to the law argued that the constitution's language was clear -- promised pensions could not be reduced.
State lawyers contended the government had the right to exercise "police powers" in time of crisis, and that the 2008 recession, which decimated retirement fund investment portfolios, provided the crisis. But under close questioning from the bench, the state's lawyer acknowledged that past governors and legislatures shorted pension payments to save money in the short term.

Boston University prof flunks 'white masculinity' in controversial tweets

Higher Education?

Critics say a newly-hired Boston University professor has crossed the line with recent tweets bashing whites, but the school says it’s simply free speech.
“White masculinity isn’t a problem for america’s colleges, white masculinity is THE problem for america’s colleges,” Saida Grundy, an incoming assistant professor of sociology and African-American studies at Boston University, tweeted in March.
In another tweet from January, she wrote: “Every MLK week I commit myself to not spending a dime in white-owned businesses. and every year i find it nearly impossible.”
In another, she called white males a “problem population.”

“White masculinity isn’t a problem for america’s colleges, white masculinity is THE problem for america’s colleges.”
- Saida Grundy, incoming assistant professor at Boston University

“Why is white America so reluctant to identify white college males as a problem population?” she asked.
The tweets were first noticed by student Nick Pappas, who posted them on his website “SoCawlege.com” and questioned how Grundy could be able to teach a diverse classroom given the racial hostility in her tweets.
“You have to teach college aged white males eventually, no?... this seems like you are unqualified to grade their work as you clearly demonstrate some kind of special bias against them,” he wrote.

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Pappas, a junior at University of Massachusetts Amherst, told FoxNews.com that he hopes to “show the rest of America how nasty people on the far left can get at colleges.”
Those who follow campus politics say they are not shocked.
"I'm not surprised that Boston University is hiring a racist to teach African American Studies," David Horowitz, author of “Reforming our Univerisities” told FoxNews.com. "Anti-white racism is rampant in Black Studies programs which are generally indoctrination programs in left wing politics."
Boston University stands by the professor, who will start working at the college in June.
“Professor Grundy is exercising her right to free speech and we respect her right to do so,” Boston University spokesman Colin Riley said.
Grundy did not respond to a request for comment from FoxNews.com, and has made her twitter account private.
Horowitz said the university’s reaction betrays double-standards on race.
“If she were a white racist rather than an anti-white racist, she would never be hired. Professors are supposed to be experts in some scholarly field, and professionals in their classroom discourse. They don't have a license to indoctrinate students in their prejudices - whether those prejudices are right or left,” he said.
Grundy posted a number of other controversial tweets, for instance claiming that only whites enslaved entire generations of people. “Deal with your white sh*t, white people. slavery is a *YALL* thing,” she said.
Free speech advocates say that Grundy should have a right to her speech, but say the university speech policy is hypocritical because it allows the university to censor offensive or bigoted speech if it wanted to.
“Professor Grundy should and must have the freedom to publicly express her opinions on controversial topics. Unfortunately, though, [she] could be punished if she were to send such tweets through the BU computer network, as the university bans ‘transmitting...offensive’ material,” Robert Shibley of Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) told FoxNews.com.
“In addition, if she were a student, she could also potentially be punished for violating policies banning ‘bigotry, hatred, and intolerance,’ and for not expressing her opinion ‘in good taste and decency.’ … [BU] should eliminate these policies so that it can defend every student and faculty member's right to free speech – not just Professor Grundy's.”

Defense attorneys in Gray case call for state's attorney to be recused

Defense attorneys representing six Baltimore police officers charged in the death of Freddie Gray filed a motion Friday to have the case dismissed, or for the city’s top prosecutor to be recused from the case and replaced by a special prosecutor, citing alleged conflict of interest.
The attorneys argue in the documents that the officers were victims of an 'overzealous prosecution' by State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby, who they claim has personal and political motivations in the case.
Among the alleged conflicts of interest cited, the motion includes Mosby's marriage to the city councilman who represents the district where Gray died. 
The motion claims that Mike Mosby had a professional and personal interest in having riots in his district that erupted after Gray's death come to an end, and that Marilyn Mosby therefore had an interest in filing charges quickly.
“...His wife, Marilyn Mosby, had a professional and personal interest in accommodating the needs of her husband – his political future directly affects her personal, professional and political interests,” the motion argues.
Defense attorneys contend that Mosby's relationship with the Gray family attorney also creates a conflict of interest. The attorney, William Murphy, is a close friend, ally and lawyer for Mosby.
The filing also cites a pending motion against her office, her office’s role in investigating the case and Mosby’s personal relationships with potential witnesses as reasons she should be recused from the case.
The defense also argues that Mosby denied the officers their right to due process by using inciting rhetoric when announcing the charges last week. Mosby told protesters: “I heard your call for ‘no justice no peace.’ Your peace is sincerely needed as I work to deliver justice on behalf of this young man…You’re at the forefront of this cause and as young people, our time is now.”
The motion claims her words betrayed her personal and political motivations and were another sign of a conflict of interest.
“Rarely in the history of any criminal case has a prosecutor so directly maintained so many conflicts of interest. Rarer still are instances where such clear conflicts exist and a prosecutor steadfastly refuses to recuse him or herself,” the motion says.
The court filings come as Attorney General Loretta Lynch announced the Department of Justice intends to launch a civil rights investigation into the practices of the Baltimore Police Department, particularly allegations of excessive force and widespread discrimination.
The civil rights investigation, similar to ones undertaken in cities including Ferguson, Missouri, and Cleveland, will examine the policing patterns and practices of the entire police department. It is far broader in scope than a separate Justice Department investigation that aims to determine whether Gray's civil rights were violated.
Baltimore suffered days of unrest after Gray died April 19 following a week in a coma after his arrest. Protesters threw bottles and bricks at police the night of his funeral on April 27, injuring nearly 100 officers. More than 200 people were arrested as cars and businesses burned.

Muhammad Cartoon

Judge slaps down U.N. on sex crimes reporting

The United Nations’ suspension of a top human rights official who passed evidence to French authorities of rape and sexual abuse of starving children in the Central African Republic by French and African troops  last year was unlawful,  a U.N. judge has ruled.
The judge also rejected U.N. concerns that “the interest of the Organization” required that the official, Anders Kompass, be suspended “to avoid any interference with the investigation” of his actions, and ordered that the April 17 suspension be lifted until the allegations against Kompass were  fully investigated.
The judicial order from a body known as the United Nations Dispute Tribunal—part of an internal justice system for a world organization that has diplomatic immunity from everyone else’s law-- amounted to an egg-on-the-face moment for U.N. Secretary General Ki-moon, who personally  took note of the suspension last week and gave it implicit blessing by declaring that Kompass’ actions—without referring to him by name-- had been “a serious breach of protocol” which “requires redaction of any information that could endanger victims, witnesses and investigators.”
Ban also explicitly declared that “Our preliminary assessment is that such conduct does not constitute whistleblowing”—a designation that would have given Kompass limited protection for his information handover.
Despite the alleged seriousness of his offense, it took the U.N. a full month to order up an investigation of Kompass’ conduct and declare his suspension after  Kompass refused to resign in March 2015 at the request of the High Commissioner for Human Rights himself, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein of Jordan, for his alleged violation of U.N. investigation protocol
Kompass,  a top official of the U.N.’s Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights in Geneva, had never made any secret of his actions, and indeed told his bosses about handing over the information to the French shortly after he did so in December last year.
Under the U.N.’s cumbersome rules, a  confidential investigation of the sexual crimes that took place nearly a year ago would have required further internal vetting –including the removal of the names of child victims and witnesses of the alleged sex crimes--before it would have gone to the French for action.
That process would have involved further delays in action  against the wrongdoers, and potentially further crimes against vulnerable children.
The French not only began their own investigation but sent a formal letter of thanks to Kompass last July, assuring him that a military inquiry had begun “without delay”  due to his actions.
CLICK HERE FOR THE FRENCH LETTER
The fact that the French officials responsible for the military force in Central African Republic (subsequently replaced by a formal U.N. peacekeeping force) were more grateful than the U.N. to get speedy notification of alleged crimes by its troops is only one of several ironies surrounding the Kompass case.
It is also seen by many critics as a rebuff of the U.N.’s own procedures for dealing with sex crimes by U.N. peacekeepers, which according to a long-suppressed internal report are  under-reported, under-investigated and subject to little consequential follow-up, despite Ban claims of “zero tolerance.”
Ban has yet to implement a number of reforms suggested as long ago as 2005 in a special report on sexual exploitation and abuse in U.N. peacekeeping operations—whose author was none other than the current High Commissioner for Human Rights, Prince Zeid, the man who unsuccessfully demanded Kompass resignation.
The same kind of bureaucratic lethargy was noted by U.N. Dispute Tribunal Judge Thomas Laker in his 18-page rejection of the suspension, which largely turned on the fact that the U.N. official who declared Kompass’ suspension did not have the authority to do so.
Lakers pooh-poohed ostensible U.N. concerns that without being suspended from work,  Kompass might have destroyed evidence or otherwise interfered with internal investigators, noting that “he could easily have done so” in the month after he was requested to resign. The decision to suspend Kompass, he ruled, “defeats its purpose.”
CLICK HERE FOR THE JUDGEMENT          
Laker’s ruling was hailed by supporters who also feel his actions, despite Secretary General Ban’s “preliminary assessment,” also deserve protected whistleblower status—which in their view is under increasing hostile pressure at the U.N.
“We’re hoping the UN recognizes it has overreached and abandons efforts to retaliate against Anders Kompass  and other whistleblowers,” observed Bea Edwards, executive director of the Government Accountability Project, a Washington-based whistleblower protection organization.
Edwards noted  that nine U.N. whistleblowers in April sent an open letter to Ban, warning that current U.N. policies “afford little to no measure of real or meaningful protection for whistleblowers. ”
The group noted that “most of us have been forced to leave the UN to save our livelihoods, our health and our reputations” and urged specific reforms, including  “immediately end the practice of subjecting known U.N. whistleblowers to lengthy internal appeals processes for contesting the loss of their job or other adverse employment decisions.”
CLICK HERE FOR THE WHISTLEBLOWER LETTER
A similar concern for protecting those, like Kompass, who have gone public to prevent additional wrongdoing is included in a declaration published on May 4 by a group of four  international rapporteurs and special representatives on freedom of expression.
They  declared that “individuals who expose wrongdoing, serious maladministration, a breach of human rights, humanitarian law violations or other threats to the overall public interest,”  should be protected against “legal, administrative or employment-related sanction, even if they have otherwise acted in breach of a binding rule or contract, as long as at the time of the disclosure they had reasonable grounds to believe that the information disclosed was substantially true and exposed wrongdoing or the other threats noted above.”
One of the authors of that “Joint Declaration on Freedom of Expression and responses to conflict situations” was the U.N.’s own Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Opinion and Expression, David Kaye.
The Joint Declaration was posted, among other places, on the website of the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights—the same office where Anders Kompass now works again, and where he continues to be investigated.

Vegas suburb under fire for reportedly looking at stripping ‘integrity’ from ‘core values’

Amid financial woes and political upheaval, one of America's fastest-growing cities is scrambling to defend itself following a report that "integrity" is being stripped from its employees' official list of core values.
The Las Vegas Review-Journal first reported that North Las Vegas is looking to edit down its lengthy list of "core values," and that values like "integrity" and "respect" and "leadership" might be on the chopping block.
But North Las Vegas city spokesman Mitch Fox ripped what he described as "terrible reporting."
Fox acknowledged an 11-member employee committee is looking to streamline the city's "core values" because "no one knew what they were."
But Fox stressed that nothing has been decided, and, "No decision will be made for two months."
"We want to hear from the 1,200 employees," he said. (He noted the Las Vegas Review-Journal toned down its online headline -- "City of North Las Vegas wants to dump 'integrity' from core values" -- to "NLV debates core values" in its print edition.)
For all its growth in the past four decades, North Las Vegas remains the poor cousin in the Las Vegas valley. The suburb's population soared 89.9 percent to 216,961 from 2000-2010, but per-capita incomes remain at the region's low end. The average population increase nationally was 9.7 percent during the period.
The city's workforce has expanded, too, along with union influence, from cops to janitors.
Former Mayor Shari Buck, speaking with Watchdog.org, backed the "core values" in their original form. "When we set those core values, we wanted the public to know that those areas were important to us as their elected representatives and staff," Buck said.

Asylum is 'secret password' for immigrants looking to enter US, say critics

Critics say there's a secret password that allows immigrants access into the U.S., and one that can be uttered in a short phone interview in a process they say exposes border security to widespread fraud.
The word: Asylum.
“Almost anyone at all can call themselves an asylum seeker and get in. It’s a global joke," said Kenneth Palinkas, president of the National Citizenship and Immigration Services Council. “It’s not border security if anyone can recite the magic words and get waved right on in.”
Under current policy, aliens caught crossing the border illegally can claim asylum, and with it receive authorization to work in the United States. Once a work permit is conferred , then comes a social security card and a variety of taxpayer funded benefits such as are Supplemental Security Income, SNAP/Food Stamps, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, and Medicaid. Some of which even legal, permanent residents do not receive.

“Asylum is the trump card of immigration.”
- Jan Ting, Temple University law professor

It’s a tactic most often used by 19 to 21 year-olds, according to a recent Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) report to Congress.Examples of terrorists who applied for asylum include Sheik Omar Abdul Rahman, the blind sheik behind the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, and Ramzi Yousef, another of the '93 plotters and the nephew of Khalid Sheik Mohammed.
The House Judiciary Committee last year uncovered an internal Department of Homeland Security report demonstrating at least 70 percent of asylum cases contained proven or possible fraud. Despite this, more than 90 percent of cases in which applicants claimed a "credible fear" in their nation of origin were approved. And yet, even when the asylum officer denies the case, the alien may still be awarded benefits by appealing to a judge using a “credible fear” defense and in the meantime roam freely across the country.
“Unfortunately our generous asylum polices have become subject to ever increasing levels of abuse largely due to the Obama Administration’s pattern of rubber stamping “credible fear” claims and asylum cases,” said Bob Goodlatte, R.-Va., chairman of the House Committee on the Judiciary. “Instead of detaining asylum seekers while the government determines whether their cases are legitimate, the Obama administration simply releases them into the United States.”
According to the Committee, credible fear claims have increased 586 percent -- an unprecedented surge.
“It’s the second bite out of the apple,” said Jessica Vaughan, director of policy studies at the Center for Immigration Studies. "You just have to be on the docket to derive the benefits. But before 2009, there wasn’t an incentive. People don’t come here to sit in detention, they come here for the work permits.”
The Center for Immigration Studies found that the number of work permits given to asylum seekers has tripled since 2008.Vaughan points to the December 2009 policy directive issued by former ICE Director John Morton, which provided that any arriving alien found to have a credible fear who could establish identity, not be a flight risk or a danger to the community should be released, as the driving force.She said the law requires all aliens seeking asylum to remain detained while their case is pending.
“Once they’re here, it’s not a priority for immigration. They’re in the wind,” said Vaughan.
Immigration dockets remain hefty. According to the Executive Office for Immigration Review, as of Dec. 31, 2014, there were 415,060 non-detained cases before the court with hearing dates stretching out into 2017.
The House Judiciary Committee recently released a bill addressing some of the issues regarding asylum and while that legislation beefs up the standard for credible fear, Vaughn said it was a “missed opportunity” and does not go after the incentives. The bill does, however, attempt to forestall the administration’s plans to use $50 million in taxpayer dollars for lawyers for unaccompanied alien minors in removal proceedings, a practice already prohibited by law.
The misapplication of “credible fear” and lack of detention are not only breaches of law according to Jan Ting, a law professor at Temple University. Ting said the expanding definition of “who is legal” puts the entire system in jeopardy.
“Asylum is the trump card of immigration,” said Ting. “Credible fear was an informal procedure intended to keep people out, what’s its doing now is letting people in. People have learned the right words and phrases whether true or not.”
According to Ting, poverty and violence are not grounds for asylum and officials are watering down and misapplying the basic threshold.
“A natural disaster or flood of bullets flying around your neighborhood doesn’t meet the standard,” said Ting. “If the government wanted to deter illegal immigration, they would alter the cost-benefit analysis. Instead, they are looking for ways to help them stay.”
Ting said the situation is a legal and economic “formula for permanent dysfunction” and a core reason for the lack of jobs for Americans and stagnates wages.
“It isn’t border security if all you need is a story,” said Ting.

British Prime Minister David Cameron on track for narrow majority, exit poll suggests

David Cameron was all but certain of remaining Britain's Prime Minister early Friday after a revised exit poll predicted his Conservative party would secure a narrow majority in Britain's 650-member House of Commons.
Shortly after 6 a.m. Friday London time, a revised poll released by the BBC projected the Conservative, or Tory party to win 325 seats in the next Parliament. The opposition Labour Party slumped to a projected 232 seats, while the Scottish National Party, which advocates Scottish independence from the United Kingdom won a projected 56 seats, 50 more than it garnered at the last election in 2010.
The projected 325 seats are one short of an absolute majority. However, in practice Cameron can form a government with that number of Conservative Members of Parliament since the roster of 650 includes the non-partisan Speaker of the House, as well as a handful of Irish nationalist MPs who do not sit in the House of Commons on principle.
Cameron stopped short of declaring full victory when he spoke Friday morning at his constituency in Oxfordshire, northwest of London after being easily re-elected.
"This is clearly a very strong night for the Conservative Party," Cameron said.
The Prime Minister also vowed to counter the rise of Scottish nationalism with more powers for Scotland and Wales, saying "I want my party, and I hope a government that I would like to lead, to reclaim a mantle that we should never have lost -- the mantle of one nation, one United Kingdom."
The rise of the SNP was in many ways the main story of the evening, as an election once billed as the tightest in decades turned into a rout for Labour with the help of a seismic shift in its longtime bulwark north of the border. If the revised exit poll numbers held, the SNP would have gained 50 seats in Parliament over its performance at the prior election in 2010. Of those 50 seats, 40 would have come at the expense of Labour members, including some of the party's senior politicians.
"What we're seeing tonight is Scotland voting to put its trust in the SNP to make Scotland's voice heard, a clear voice for an end to austerity, better public services and more progressive politics at Westminster," party leader Nicola Sturgeon told the BBC.
"The Scottish lion has roared this morning across the country," said former SNP leader Alex Salmond, who was elected in the seat of Gordon.
Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy insisted he would not resign despite losing his seat but Labour leader Ed Miliband's grip seemed more tenuous, as the party failed to make predicted gains against the Conservatives across the rest of Britain.
"This has clearly been a very disappointing and difficult night for the Labour Party," said Miliband. "In Scotland we have seen a surge of nationalism overcome our party."
Cameron's coalition partner, the Liberal Democrat party, also faced an electoral disaster, predicted to lose most of its seats as punishment for supporting a Conservative agenda since 2010.
"It is now painfully clear that this has been a cruel and punishing night for the Liberal Democrats," said leader Nick Clegg, who held onto his own seat. He said he would discuss his future with colleagues later Friday.
An initial exit poll released as voting ended and counting began at 10 p.m. Thursday projected that the Conservatives would get 316 seats -- up from 302 and far more than had been predicted -- and Labour 239, down from 256. It said the Liberal Democrats would shrink from 56 seats to 10, while the Scottish nationalists would grow from six to 58. The anti-immigration, anti-Europe UK Independence Party was projected to win two seats.
Based on interviews with 22,000 voters, the poll differed strongly from opinion polls conducted during the monthlong election campaign, which had put the Conservatives and Labour neck-and-neck.
The chief exit pollster, John Curtice of Strathclyde University, said it looked as if Conservative and Labour gains had canceled each other out across England and Wales, and that Labour had lost much of its support in Scotland to the SNP.
Each of the 650 constituencies are counted by hand and the results follow a familiar ritual. Candidates -- each wearing a bright rosette in the color of their party -- line up onstage like boxers as a returning officer reads out the results.
But if the form was familiar, the results were often shocking.
Among the early Scottish National Party winners was 20-year-old student Mhairi Black, who became Britain's youngest lawmaker since the 17th century by defeating Douglas Alexander, Labour's 47-year-old foreign policy spokesman and one of its most senior figures. Black is the youngest lawmaker since 13-year-old Christopher Monck entered Parliament in 1667.
The UK Independence Party ran third in opinion polls, but by early Friday had won only one seat because its support isn't concentrated in specific areas. Leader Nigel Farage said he would resign if he does not win the seat of Thanet South -- an outcome that looked a distinct possibility.
Britain's economy -- recovering after years of turmoil that followed the 2008 financial crisis -- was at the core of many voters' concerns. The results suggest that many heeded Cameron's entreaties to back the Conservatives as the party of financial stability. Public questions at television debates made plain that many voters distrusted politicians' promises to safeguard the economy, protect the National Health Service from severe cutbacks and control the number of immigrants from eastern Europe.
In Whitechapel, one of London's poorest communities, voters struggling in the wake of the worst recession since the 1930s wanted a change in leadership.
"The first priority is the economy, the second one is creating more jobs, and the third is living expenses -- they're going higher and higher," said Shariq ul-Islam, a 24-year-old student.
But just a few minutes away in the City of London, the traditional financial district where many bankers earn enormous salaries, Christopher Gardner, a 34-year-old finance industry official, put his trust in the Conservatives.
"There are some issues that have been caused by austerity previously," he said. "They're the only people that I'm confident will resolve that."

Poor Bill Cartoon

Md. governor lifts state of emergency for Baltimore

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan says he has rescinded a state of emergency for Baltimore and all National Guard and state police have been pulled out.
Hogan made the announcement Wednesday, more than a week after 2,000 National Guardsmen were called into the city when protesters overwhelmed police by throwing bricks and bottles at them.
Stores were looted, cars and businesses were burned and nearly 100 officers were injured during the riot April 27.
The Guard and state police helped local officers enforce a city-wide curfew for a week.
Hogan lifted the state of emergency as the mayor called on the Justice Department to investigate whether city police use excessive force and discriminatory practices.
Hogan says that request was "probably a step in the right direction."