Day: July 16, 2014

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Politics

Woman Who Sent Ricin Laced Letter to President Obama Gets 18 Years in Prison

Yes, only 18 years!

A Texas actress who tried to blame her husband after sending ricin-laced letters to officials including President Barack Obama was sentenced Wednesday to 18 years in prison.

A federal judge gave Shannon Guess Richardson, 36, the maximum sentence under her plea deal on a federal charge of possessing and producing a biological toxin. Richardson was also ordered to pay restitution of about $367,000. She had pleaded guilty to the charge in December.

“I never intended for anybody to be hurt,” she told the court, adding later, “I’m not a bad person; I don’t have it in me to hurt anyone.”

Judge Michael H. Schneider noted that she had put many lives in danger and threatened public officials.

Richardson, who had minor acting roles in film and television including in the series “The Walking Dead” and the movie “The Blind Side,” said she thought security measures would prevent anyone from opening the letters addressed to Obama, then New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Mark Glaze, who at the time was director of Mayors Against Illegal Guns, Bloomberg’s group advocating for tougher gun control.

Prosecutors say Richardson mailed the three letters from New Boston, outside Texarkana, then went to police and claimed that her husband had done it. She was arrested last June. The day before her arrest, Nathan Richardson filed for divorce; it was finalized in January.

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Politics

Lawyers: Boehner’s Lawsuit Gives Too Much Power To The Courts

Republicans brought their lawyers to give their opinion on Boehner’s lawsuit against President Obama. And naturally, their lawyers agreed that the president has overreached his boundaries when he slowed down the implementation of the employer mandate in The Affordable Care Act.

But the Democrats have lawyers too, and they were invited to give their opinion on the lawsuit.

At Wednesday’s hearing, a pair of lawyers invited by Democrats said the Republicans’ expected lawsuit was itself an overreach and an attempt, they said, to stop the White House from making reasonable adjustments to the law.

The GOP’s frustration with Obama extends far beyond his handling of the healthcare law, stretching into his actions on immigration, environmental regulations and a host of other areas.

Simon Lazarus, a former adviser to President Carter, said that the House should respond to those actions by passing laws, not taking the president to court. His statements illustrated the skepticism that many lawyers have about the lawsuit, and whether the GOP can prove the president’s actions have harmed them.

“The president has authorized a minor, temporary course correction,” Lazarus said about the delay of the employer mandate. “As a legal and practical matter, that’s well within his judgment.”

Walter Dellinger, an acting solicitor general under President Clinton, added that the House’s proposed action would give too much power to the courts, by allowing the judiciary to weigh in on disputes between the executive and legislative branches.

Allowing the House to sue Obama or the president to sue Congress, Dellinger said, “would entrust with the unelected judges the power they should not have in the American system.”

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Politics

Hillary Clinton Kinda Answers the Question About Running For President in 2016

Hillary Clinton appeared on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart to promote her new book, “Hard Choices.” Stewart however, had other more pressing things to talk about and got straight to the point.

“I think I speak for everybody when I say, ‘No one cares,'” Stewart said, referring to Clinton’s book. “They just want to know if you are running for President.”

“Jon, I was going to make an announcement, but you kind of spoiled it,” she responded.

Stewart pushed a little more and asked the former Secretary of State a few questions to determine what she would possibly be doing in 2016. Questions like whether she likes to commute to work or prefers a home office. Clinton answered home office. Stewart asked about her preference for offices, whether she prefers an office with or without corners. Clinton responded jokingly that she prefers an office with “fewer corners,” a clear reference to the Oval Office in the White House.

“So it sounds like to me, if I may, you have declared your candidacy,” Stewart said.

Watch the video below

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Mitch McConnell Politics

Alison Lundergan Grimes Giving Mitch McConnell a Run For His Money

The Democratic challenger to Mitch McConnell is breaking all the fund raising records in Kentucky.

Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes, the Democratic challenger to Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), raised more than $4 million from April through June, breaking a state fundraising record.

In a press release, her campaign also announced that Grimes had pulled in a total of $11.3 million in her U.S. Senate run and had $6.2 million cash on hand at the end of June.

The $4 million-plus raised in a single quarter surpasses the previous $2.9 million record for a Senate race in Kentucky — a record that McConnell set in 2008.

“Kentuckians are coming together to invest in our campaign because they recognize that Alison Lundergan Grimes will bring a new generation of leadership to the U.S. Senate,” Grimes campaign manager Jonathan Hurst said in a statement.

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