So yes, Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reidcaved on filibuster reform, despite telling various reporters that changing the filibuster has to happen. In an interview with Rachel Maddow back in October 2010, Reid said, “this has to change. It’s wrong what they’re doing, cause it’s has never happened before. The Republicans, just this time, have abused the system. And it’s gonna have to change. We’re gonna have to look at ways to change that, because there should not be a 60 vote threshold in the Senate.”
Then on Thursday, when he had a chance to change the filibuster, Reid went back on his “no-60-votes-threshold” claim and for some strange reason, he basically left the filibuster in place.
But he has a reason…
Ezra Klein summed it up best when he said, “Reid and McConnell have come to a deal on filibuster reform. The deal is this: The filibuster will not be reformed.”
This bill is being pushed in New Mexico by… guess who… a Republican! She wants to throw rape victims in jail for aborting a pregnancy due to rape. That’s right, if this bill goes through, the victim of a rape would then go to jail if she aborts the rapist’s seed!
We have seen multiple attemps by Republicans to exert FREEDOM on the bodies of women by telling them what they can and cannot do with their own body. This FREEDOM was on full display during the 2012 elections when contraceptives, rape and abortions played a major role in the voting booths. Americans spoke up loud and clear by voting for candidates with more progressive ideas on the rights of women over their own bodies, but like everything else, Republicans fail to accept the results of the election.
Huffington Post reports that House Bill 206, introduced by state Rep. Cathrynn Brown (R), would charge a rape victim who ended her pregnancy with a third-degree felony for “tampering with evidence.”
“Tampering with evidence shall include procuring or facilitating an abortion, or compelling or coercing another to obtain an abortion, of a fetus that is the result of criminal sexual penetration or incest with the intent to destroy evidence of the crime,” the bill says.
Third-degree felonies in New Mexico carry a sentence of up to three years in prison.
We are now back to their War on Women. Time to dust off the hashtag #WarOnWomen!
Well, the word on the street is that a “deal” was reached on Filibuster reform. This “deal” was negotiated between Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid and Republican Minority Leader, Mitch McConnell.
According to reports, this new “deal” will make some changes to how filibusters are done. These changes are:
Make it harder to filibuster the “motion to proceed,” which allows the Senate to start debate on a piece of legislation. Senators can still filibuster the actual legislation.
Eliminate some of the procedural hurdles to send legislation to a conference with the U.S. House to resolve differences between competing bills.
Make it easier to confirm certain judicial nominations. It does not apply to Cabinet positions, circuit court nominations or Supreme Court nominations.
Notice any changes yet? No? Well you’re not alone. Anyone looking at this “deal” is left wondering exactly what did Harry Reid get in return. He basically allowed Mitch McConnell and the Republicans to continue blocking bills just because they feel like it. And what did Reid and the Democrats get in this “deal?”As far as I could see, nothing.
Republicans are ecstatic though! Said Republican Senator Lamar Alexander, “We all want the Senate to function. I’m optimistic about it.”
Yes Lamar, you should be. You basically have things just the way they were before this so-called “deal” was reached.
You hear this all the time… Democrats have no backbone. Well based on what happened with the filibuster, you’d have to agree that at least in this case, that saying is correct.
Today, Twitter unveiledVine, a new service that allows users to take videos on their cell phone, then embed that video into their tweets.
Vine videos are limited to a maximum of six seconds, and play in a continuous loop. They are shot using the Vine app, and users can choose to have sound on or off, as can anyone who encounters a Vine video in a tweet or blog post. In a blog post, Vine co-founder and general manager Dom Hofmann wrote that, “Posts on Vine are about abbreviation — the shortened form of something larger. They’re little windows into the people, settings, ideas and objects that make up your life. They’re quirky, and we think that’s part of what makes them so special.”
The six-second limitation on Vine posts appears to be Twitter’s new atomic unit for video. A Twitter spokesperson said, “The team tested various video lengths, ranging from about 4 seconds to 10 seconds, as they were building Vine. They found that six seconds was the ideal length, from both the production and consumption side.”
When I say the words, Cry Baby, who do you think of. That’s right, Republican House Speaker John Boehner is the first person that comes to mind. Boehner will cry long streaming tears at the drop of a dime and everyone is okay with that.
But yesterday as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton testified about the events in Benghazi, including the four Americans who died – people she knew personally – she was understandably shaken up, her voice cracking at times.
The same Republicans however, who sit and watch Boehner cry on almost a daily basis, is calling this an act by Mrs. Clinton.
Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson pressed Clinton on why her office wasn’t able to immediately discover whether the Sept. 11 attacks on the U.S. consulate in Libya were executed by terrorists or spontaneous protesters. He repeatedly asked her why she didn’t pick up the phone that day and find out the facts, to which Clinton eventually responded sharply, “With all due respect, the fact is we had four dead Americans. What difference, at this point, does it make?”
“I’m not sure she had rehearsed for that type of question,” Johnson told BuzzFeed Wednesday afternoon, after the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing. “I think she just decided before she was going to describe emotionally the four dead Americans, the heroes, and use that as her trump card to get out of the questions. It was a good way of getting out of really having to respond to me.”
He said it was clear, at other points during the hearing, that Clinton was working off a set of talking points, but that his questions “got under her skin” because “they’re just so common sense.”
“I just don’t think she had an answer to that,” he said. “Maybe it embarrassed her. Maybe she hadn’t thought of it that way.”
Last October, 28-year-0ld iNYPD officer Gilbert Valle III, aka the Cannibal Cop, was arrested and charged with “conspiracy to kidnap, cook, and eat” up to 100 women. In court on Wednesday, prosecutors provided additional online chats (some online conversations were released in October) between Valle and one of his online cannibal buddies, who uses the screen name “Moody Blues.” This Moody Blues character was, apparently, far more experienced than Valle, who hadn’t actually eaten anyone yet.
According to the New York Post, Moody Blues boasted about having eaten both a “black woman and a small child.” Valle’s response? “I’ve not had a young white woman. Looking forward to it.”
After that, Moody Blues shared some of his favorite recipes: “I also love roasting whole pelvises, mind you only did that with the little one so far.”
There was also this exchange:
Moody Blues: “If we get someone…and we finish the meat early, would you go for another?”
Valle: “Yeah. I think we would have to give it time though.”
Moody Blues: “Why? Go for a completely different type. I’d love to eat another child.”
And Moody Blues described the taste of human flesh, saying it “isn’t quite like pork, but very meaty.”
So, just another normal day in court for everyone.
I was watching a program on MSNBC today and saw a clip from Republican House Speaker, John Boehner. Apparently, it is the Speaker’s belief that President Obama is out to get the Republican party. Mr. Boehner thinks that the President is out to “annihilate the Republican Party.”
“Given what we heard yesterday about the president’s vision for his second term, it’s pretty clear to me that he knows he can’t do any of that as long as the House is controlled by Republicans,” Boehner said in a speech Tuesday to The Ripon Society. “So we’re expecting over the next 22 months to be the focus of this administration as they attempt to annihilate the Republican Party.
“And let me just tell you, I do believe that is their goal — to just shove us into the dustbin of history.”
People who smoke take at least 10 years off their life expectancy, a new study has found.
On the other hand, those who kick the habit before age 40 reduce the excess risk of death associated with continued smoking by about 90%, according to the study in Thursday’s New England Journal of Medicine.
“Smoking is the No. 1 preventable cause of death in the U.S.,” says Tim McAfee, a co-author of the study. “We need to do more to educate the American people about these findings,” adds McAfee, director of the Office on Smoking and Health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The study examined data from the U.S. National Health Interview Survey between 1997 and 2004.
Women who smoke now die at a similar rate for men, the study also found. Previous research from the 1980s showed that women were less affected.
“Women now lose about 11 years of life expectancy if they smoke,” McAfee says. “Men lose about 12 years.” He adds that it is presumed that women’s smoking patterns are now more similar to men’s in terms of picking up the habit at younger ages and smoking a larger number of cigarettes.
McAfee says the study has global implications because most of the world’s 1.3 billion smokers live in low- and middle-income countries, where cessation is less common.
A few days ago, we told you about the iPhone 5 and the lack of interest the product was generating. The iPhone 5 even came in worst among the top smart phones. And now this. The company’s shares fell over 6% today.
Apple Inc. shares tumbled more than 6 percent on Wednesday, chalking up their biggest single-day loss in four years as fears grow about intensifying competition in the mobile device market.
The sell-off, fueled by a forecast by an influential research firm that the iPad maker is continuing to cede ground to rival Google Inc. Android gadgets, rounded off a bleak 10 weeks for the most valuable U.S. company.
The stock was one of Wednesday’s biggest percentage losers on the S&P 500, shedding $35 billion of market value as more than 37 million shares changed hands — blowing past the company’s average daily volume over 50 days of 21 million.
Apple’s shares, once among the most desirable of portfolio holdings, have headed steadily south since September on growing uncertainty about the company’s ability to fend off unprecedented competition. This year saw a surge in sales of Amazon.com Inc.’s cheaper Kindle Fire and Microsoft Corp.’s first foray into the tablet market with its Surface.
Meanwhile, Samsung Electronics continues to chip away at the iPad’s dominance with its Galaxy line.
Let’s get real: Every character on The Walking Dead is up a zombie creek without a paddle to bash the undead’s heads in.
That being said, a new Season 3 trailer is here! And, predictably, things are looking grim. There’s creepy backwoods music, a prison surrounded by zombies, and some spooky-sexy eye patches.
On the plus side, looks like Andrea might try to take out the governor! While naked! For whatever reason! Yay!
Susan Rice. Remember her? She was one of the names being talked about to take over as Secretary of State when Hillary Clinton steps down later this month. But Mrs. Rice had to withdraw her name after Republicans, specifically John McCain and Lindsey Graham, placed a target on her back and relentlessly fired away, blaming her it seemed, for the events in Benghazi where four Americans including Ambassador Chris Stevens were killed.
The unwarranted attacks on Rice came after she went on television and repeated the talking points given to her about the events in Benghazi. Rice, who is the United States Ambassador to the United Nations, had no first hand knowledge of the events in Benghazi, but Republicans crucified her anyway, causing her to withdraw her name from consideration for Secretary of State. And it is noteworthy to point out that since Rice withdrew her name, the attacks mysteriously stopped.
For Months since the Benghazi September 11th, 2012 attacks, Republicans wanted blood. They wanted someone from the Obama Administration to pay for what happened in Libya. Their next target after Rice, was the Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Previous attempts to get Mrs. Clinton to testify failed due to some health issues. After it was reported that Mrs. Clinton suffered a concussion in her home, Republicans tagged that news as her trying to avoid the testimony. They called it Benghazi-gate.
Well now the time has come. The climax of the Republican party is here. Hillary Clinton is testifying today about the events in Benghazi and Republicans are having the time of their lives and the time of their political career. This is their opportunity to bring the Obama administration to its knees. This is their chance to blame a high-ranking official for the four American deaths in Libya.
But their plan may not be working out just yet. Early reports from the testimony are showing that Mrs. Clinton is holding her own. Apparently she is not the raving lunatic Republicans would have us believe. Apparently she has a heart and although she acknowledged that things could have went differently, it seems that she and her department are doing everything possible, including implementing 29 recommendations from an independent review board, to make sure another future Benghazi does not happen.
Almost coming to tears at times, the Secretary of State tried to reassure the Republicans on the panel. “Make no mistake about it, we have got to have a better strategy,” she said. “I stood next to President Obama as the Marines carried those flag-draped caskets off the plane at Andrews,’ she said. ‘I put my arms around the mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers, sons and daughters.”
A Republican representing Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker, dug in.”There were systemic [security] deficiencies and I know you know that,” he said. “To my knowledge no one has been held accountable.”
‘These officials were screaming out for more security.
Mrs Clinton replied;
“We can’t think now about what could have, should have, would have happened. Benghazi didn’t happen in a vacuum,’ she said. ‘The Arab revolutions have scrambled power dynamics and shattered security forces across the region. And instability in Mali has created an expanding safe haven for terrorists who look to extend their influence and plot further attacks of the kind we saw just last week in Algeria.”
Senator John McCain, the man responsible for the personally attacking Susan Rice and questioning her education and experience, called Benghazi “a cover-up from the beginning.” He is the newest member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
It is the hope of Republicans to take Hillary Clinton out now. She is the Democratic favorite to run for President in 2016 and tarnishing her exceptional job as Secretary of State they hope, will be a deciding factor for many Americans if she runs. But so far, these hearings are not turning out the way Republicans plan. They are coming off as a group of hypocrites, who ignored the attacks on September 11th where almost three thousand people died in New York, focused instead on Benghazi where four Americans were killed.
If they can ask about security now, why shouldn’t they answer that same question about September 11, 2001? After all, there are documented proof that their president, George W. Bush, had intelligence that Bin Laden was about to attack.
How do you suppress a controversy? You take control of it and the message. That’s exactly what Beyance is trying to do after it was revealed that she lip-sync the national anthem at President Obama‘s second historical inauguration. The famous R&B singer is taking control of this controversy by sharing pictures of her rehearsing the song for all to see.
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