As Republicans jump all over each other looking for a microphone and camera to debut their newest humiliating idea about the kids crossing the border, Democrats are more concerned about the kids’ humanitarian needs.
Appearing in the Capitol with the presidents of Honduras and Guatemala, the minority leader suggested Democrats wouldn’t accept any border-assistance bill that rolls back the mandatory due process rights currently afforded those children.
“We are committed to addressing their humanitarian needs; we are committed to due process for them,” Pelosi said during a briefing. “In order for that to happen, we must pass the president’s request.”
With more than 57,000 unaccompanied children crossing the border since October, Congress is wrestling with a legislative response that will speed the processing of those kids while ensuring they aren’t sent back into harm’s way.
Read more: http://thehill.com/homenews/house/213233-pelosi-dems-committed-to-protecting-rights-of-migrant-kids#ixzz38U0CjwSv
Follow us: @thehill on Twitter | TheHill on Facebook
In my late 50s, at a time of life when most people are supposed to be drifting into a cautious conservatism, I am surprised to find myself moving steadily leftward.
This is unexpected. It comes even as I am financially comfortable and enjoying my work. (I’m writing this from my summer home in Maine.) I’m not a natural progressive—I spent the last quarter century covering the U.S. military, first for the Wall Street Journal and then for the Washington Post, and now for Foreign Policy magazine. I have written five books about the Marines, the Army and our wars.
I am puzzled by this late-middle-age politicization. During the time I was a newspaper reporter, I didn’t participate in elections, because I didn’t want to vote for, or against, the people I covered. Mentally, I was a detached centrist. Today I remain oriented to the free market and in favor of a strong national defense, so I have hardly become a radical socialist.
But since leaving newspapers, I have again and again found myself shifting to the left in major areas such as foreign policy and domestic economic policy. I wonder whether others of my generation are similarly pausing, poking up their heads from their workplaces and wondering just what happened to this country over the last 15 years, and what do to about it.
The things that are pushed me leftward began with…
There are multiple reasons why the jobless claims data fall. The best reason however, is confidence in the economy, which leads to economic growth, which leads to fewer jobless claims being filed.
The number of unemployed workers applying for jobless benefits tumbled in the most recent weekly data to the lowest level in more than eight years, signaling that employers are letting go of very few workers.
Applicants for regular state unemployment-insurance benefits in the week that ended July 19 dropped by 19,000 to 284,000 — the lowest level since February 2006, the U.S. Labor Department reported Thursday. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch had expected initial claims of 310,000 in the most recent weekly data.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury 10_YEAR +1.98% edged higher, indicating traders growing slightly more confident in the economy.
“You thought, ‘OK, we elect Barack and that’s it,’” Obama told a crowd of big-dollar donors gathered in the lush Hancock Park backyard of TV producer Shonda Rhimes. He reminded them that he’d warned that it wasn’t about electing him but about getting “our democracy to work.”
“I have got to have a Congress that has some sense and is willing to work and is willing to compromise and is focused on the American people. And we don’t have that right now.”
Obama is often candid about what he describes as Democrats’ chronic problem: low turnout in midterm elections. But his remarks Wednesday came with a sharper ribbing for a crowd he seemed to think could take it.
Democrats like the fun of a presidential campaign, Obama said. But “we’ve got to step it up in the midterms. Not when it’s easy, not when it’s sexy, not when there’s hope posters….”
While Democrats “don’t even know there’s an election,” Obama said, Republicans get to the polls.
“Lo and behold we’re surprised when John Boehner is speaker of the House! What happened to Nancy Pelosi? What happened is y’all didn’t vote. And that’s when all kinds of … stuff happened,” Obama said, pausing as if deliberating on whether to keep the rant clean. “That’s what it was — stuff.”
They have been gunning after the Affordable Care Act since it was signed into law by President Obama over four years ago. One would think that a party so energized around the idea if ending Obamacare would have a replacement plan already in place.
But you would be wrong if you thought Republicans had a way for you to have or maintain your healthcare after they take away the one you already have. House Speaker John Boehner dashed the hopes of those who thought Republicans had a plan – “not there yet,” Boehner said.
“You know, the discussions about Obamacare and what the replacement bill would look like continue. We’re trying to build consensus around one plan,” the Ohio Republican told reporters. “Not there yet.”
Yep. Not there yet, not there ever! That’s how the Republicans are working for you.
The Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution clearly states that Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted. The Amendment was originally designed for the federal government, but the section about cruel and unusual punishment was adopted by the states.
The execution that happened in Arizona yesterday is clearly the definition of cruel and unusual punishment.
When describing Arizona execution of Joseph Rudolph Wood, a reporter Troy Hayden of Fox 10 News, said it was “very disturbing to watch … like a fish on shore gulping for air. At a certain point, you wondered whether he was ever going to die.”
The process at the state prison in Florence began about 1:30 p.m. Wednesday and dragged on long enough that, more than an hour after the execution started, Dale Baich of the Federal Public Defender’s Office sent two other lawyers out to file an emergency motion asking the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to halt it, saying it violated Wood’s Eighth Amendment right against cruel and unusual punishment. The motion noted that Wood “has been gasping and snorting for more than an hour” after being injected with a lethal cocktail of drugs.
Wood died before the appeals court responded.
“The experiment failed,” Baich said to reporters as he left the execution chamber. In a statement later, he added that “Arizona appears to have joined several other states who have been responsible for an entirely preventable horror — a bungled execution.”
I was raised on Staten Island. I won’t say I hated every minute or it because that wouldn’t be true. Every other minute. Staten Island is very Italian and very conservative. Many of those Italians hate blacks. Sorry just the way it is. Always has been. Not all but many.
So a black man was killed by cops on Staten Island. The names of the officers put on “desk duty” are Daniel Pantaleo and Justin Damico. The man they killed was Eric Garner. Cops seem to be killing lots of people these days and race doesn’t always factor in. There is also much more in the way of common excessive police force against all races. This time though it happened on Staten Island, where there are lots of white Italians who hate blacks.
There was a time, not too long ago where this kind of incident was rare. Where someone could use the term “rotten apple” when describing a rouge police officer. Not any more. Nope. There are far too many incidents like this one now. So the blame must be put in the recruiting process. They are simply not recruiting the kind of people they used to recruit to be police officers. You know, the kind of cop we would see in a Sidney Lumet film. Hardly perfect, but often compassionate and human. A human being.
Mr. Garner was a big man, all 350 pounds of him. He seemed to have been selling loose cigarettes, which I didn’t know people still did. A human being would see this as hardly an offense. Maybe a human being would say, “Come on buddy do that somewhere else, not on my beat” or “Put those away and just go on your way pal.” Something like that. I never wrote a Lumet film but the dialogue would go something like that.
Not this time. This time it escalated to the point where Garner was put in an illegal choke hold, yelling “I can’t breathe”, “I can’t breathe.” He had bad asthma, but these non humans didn’t know that, nor did they care. He was a black guy on White Island, doing something “illegal.” One has to wonder if it were a 20 year old Italian kid doing the same thing, what would have happened? Well that’s neither here nor there is it?
Let’s take the racial element out of this for a second. I know of a woman who is an anti-war protester. Here is a video of her being assaulted and arrested by police in Philadelphia because she was standing somewhere they didn’t want her to stand. This is public property, a park, she asks them why she can’t stand there, they don’t give an answer. Basically her liberalism is bothering them. The black officer in this video should be especially ashamed, since it was his relatives who were arrested and assaulted for wanting the rights he now has. I guess he thinks those rights include assault and battery of an anti-war protester.
Notice how these cops attack her when she turns her back. The same way thugs would attack someone when they aren’t expecting it, to steal their money. This brings up a question. Why does someone become a cop? Several people in my family were cops. Usually the answer was, “I wanted to make a difference.” Heck even “I needed a good job with benefits.” The first reason is honorable, the second is also fine, if not honorable. It seems that too many cops these days, especially the younger ones, would have to answer, “I wanna bust some heads!”
Of course that reason is criminal but they have a badge. Therefore the few, the very few times these cops are prosecuted, they are acquitted. That’s because the moron public has that good ole American, obey and submit mentality. If the person has a badge or a title, then they are above reproach. I mean they must be doing the right thing or at least for the right reason…right?
There has been a militarization of the police departments. They wear dark black and carry gear that is usually seen in war time situations. No wonder they feel like they are at war and need to act accordingly. They are no longer taught to respect the public, to deal with people on a human level. They are taught to “be careful out there.” Because everyone is out to get them.
All of this makes me wonder why anyone would want to be a cop. I hear people say all the time that these cops are only doing their jobs. Protecting and serving! But there is no “cop draft.” Nobody MUST become a cop. There are plenty of other jobs. Therefore someone should really really want to do it and for only the right reasons. This must be the question police departments ask to those who want these jobs. There must be an interrogation and those in command must be CERTAIN that the person applying is there for only the right reasons before their application is pushed through. Of course this is not a part of the hiring procedure in any police department in the United States.
No the U.S. police force has become a thug force. They are hiring too many people who get off on the fact that they can beat people up and order them around legally. The law is on their side. This is why we are seeing so much police brutality and murder by cop. There are protests in NYC now, People want the police chief, Bill Bratton, fired. The problem is that the department always, yes always, at least initially, backs the officer, as do most other officers. Here is a sample of what some of those officers are saying about the Garner murder.
The “Thin Blue Line” isn’t really thin at all. It’s a big glaring bold marked line that is easy to see and not hidden. There is very much an us vs. them mentality by cops. They don’t seem to realize that they work for the people, the people pay their salaries. The people are the bosses. Get it?
No they don’t get it. They dress in the darkest of blue or black. They carry tasers, guns, mace, handcuffs, batons, and they wear bullet proof vests. They are more protected than any citizen could or should ever be. I am all for the police not the citizenry to be armed. To protect us from each other. I’ve written about this in the past.
They don’t want to lose someone like me. I might need them on that beat but they need people like me on their side. The sooner they realize this the better. It’s beginning to slip away from them. I shudder to think about the consequences.
What’s a “Wrong Off” you ask? Well, it’s where opposite sides come together and point out areas where the other side have said something that turned out to be wrong. In this case, Jon Stewart is challenging Republican Senator John McCain because in an interview on Sunday, McCain threw the first hit at Stewart, implying that no one cares or pays attention to Stewart because Stewart is often wrong on the issues.
Stewart took offense to McCain’s statement and the challenge was born.
Will the Republican Senator accept the challenge? Don’t bet on it! He already know he would lose against Stewart. After all, Stewart is not exactly Fox News!
Page 6 is reporting that the departure will happen right after the midterm elections in November, and Chuck Todd will be the new host of ‘Meet The Press.’
While NBC News President Deborah Turness has publicly supported the embattled Gregory, there are serious concerns about the losing battle to turn around the show’s sinking ratings.
Viewership is down a whopping 43 percent compared to when Gregory ascended to the moderator’s chair in December 2008, after the death of Tim Russert. The show finished in third place behind CBS’s “Face the Nation” and ABC’s “This Week” in the second quarter of 2014.
An NBC source said, “The discussion is whether to make a change before or after the midterm elections. Just after the midterms would give the new moderator time to settle in.”
According to insiders, NBC political director and chief White House correspondent Chuck Todd is the rightful heir to Gregory, but he has not been officially offered the job.
Lol… as if the present stock of Republican candidates aren’t looney enough, looney tunes herself is hinting that she may run again in 2016.
In an interview with RealClearPolitics, Michele Bachman said that all the media does is speculate that only Republican men are running for president.
“The only thing that the media has speculated on is that it’s going to be various men that are running. They haven’t speculated, for instance, that I’m going to run. What if I decide to run? And there’s a chance I could run.”
Well, end the speculations Bachmann, make the announcement. There is always room for one more in the Republican clown car.
“The Republican Party is essentially dead to our community. They have killed the dreams of thousands of people,” said Greisa Martinez, an organizer with United We Dream, the youth-led immigration advocacy network that organized the event. Explaining that her mother is undocumented, Martinez said, “They have killed the dreams of my mother for not moving forward on immigration reform. They have killed the dreams of millions of people across the nation. And we’re here to say, ‘Enough.'”
Dressed in black and carrying a mock coffin, a coalition of immigration activists paraded through the halls of the Dirksen and Hart Senate buildings on Monday morning as part of a protest of the Republican Party’s stance on immigration.
During the staged funeral procession, demonstrators said that they wouldn’t cry for the Republican Party or mourn its death because its politicians are out of touch on immigration and no longer represent their community.
The procession started at Sen. Ted Cruz’s (R-Texas) office and meandered through the halls, stopping at the offices of Sens. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), John Thune (R-S.D.), Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and John Cornyn (R-Texas). At each office, the casket was laid outside the office doors while members of the procession, some of whom were undocumented, shared personal stories to suggest that the GOP is out of touch on immigration.
We use cookies to improve your experience on our site. By agreeing to this, we can analyze browsing behavior and unique IDs on this site. Declining or revoking consent may affect certain features.
Functional
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
