Congressional Republicans are playing hardball with America’s security because they don’t want any immigration reform. And as far as they are concerned, the perfect way to hammer at immigration reform is to include repeal language in a funding bill for Homeland Security. Their stance is clear – if they can’t repeal the president’s immigration order, they will provide zero funds for America’s security.
Funding for Homeland Security runs out February 28th.
“There’s not a Plan B,” said Republican Senate Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.), moments after the Senate vote, “because this is the plan.”
No plan B. The only plan these Republicans have is all politics – dismantle the all the immigration reforms put in place by President Obama, and do it by any means necessary. And after the reforms are dismantled, chalk up a win for the party regardless of the consequences to the nation.
Rep. John Fleming (R-La.) echoed that message, saying “many of us agree that we should stand behind the one bill that we sent over there.”
“Most of us feel that way,” he said just before the Senate vote. “Anything less than that, we’re not going to get any better result anyway. So why not just go for what’s really right?”
Tuesday’s Senate vote was 51-48 to end debate on the House-passed Homeland Security bill — far shy of the 60 supporters GOP leaders needed to move to a vote on final passage.
Every Senate Democrat voted against proceeding to the package, as did Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.).
It’s unclear how GOP leaders intend to proceed. Republican leaders in both chambers are under pressure to stand firm in opposition to Obama’s actions.
DHS funding is set to expire on Feb. 28, and Republicans are also wary of the political blowback if they’re seen as threatening a shutdown of the agency, particularly in the immediate wake of the deadly terrorist attacks in Paris last month.
After seeing one of their own murdered in a cage by ISIS today, Jordan officials announced that they have executed two prisoners associated to with the terrorist group.
Jordan said it had executed 2 prisoners early Wednesday after a new video surfaced on the Internet Tuesday showing ISIS burning alive a Jordanian pilot the terror group had held since December.
Government spokesman Mohammed al-Momani said that prisoners Sajida al-Rishawi and Ziad al-Karbouli were executed. Al-Rishawi has been on death row for her role in a triple hotel bombing in the Jordanian capital Amman in 2005 that killed dozens. Over the past week, Jordan had twice offered to swap her for the pilot, Lt. Muath al-Kaseasbeh. However, officials have said his captors did not deliver proof he was still alive, and the swap never moved forward.
The 44-year-old Iraqi woman’s suicide belt did not detonate at the time of the Amman attack and she fled the scene, but was quickly arrested. After a televised confession, she recanted, but her appeal was turned down.
Al-Rishawi had family ties to the Iraqi branch of Al Qaeda, a precursor of ISIS. Ziad Al-Karbuli was a former aide to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian Al Qaeda operative who was killed in 2006.
I have no clue why guns should be allowed in schools. We all know they’re not going to learn anything, but Republicans obviously think guns will benefit somehow if they’re allowed in schools. Or maybe it’s the NRA that benefits.
The bill, supported by leaders of the Republican-led House, would repeal “gun-free zones” carved out around elementary and secondary schools, as well as colleges and universities.
Passed on a 42-17 vote, the measure also would grant concealed-carry permit holders the right to take their guns into meetings of the state Legislature and local government meetings.
The bill must clear the Republican-controlled state Senate before it can be submitted to Governor Matt Mead, also a Republican, for his signature or veto. Mead has in recent years sought to welcome firearms-related companies to Wyoming by promoting it as a gun-friendly state
I mean, just when you thought you’ve heard it all from these backward Republicans, they hit you in the kneecap with another outlandish statement.
During a Q&A at the Bipartisan Policy Center on Monday, Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) related a story from his time in the state legislature in 2010, complaining that the U.S. is “one of the most regulated nations in the history of the planet.”
“I was having a discussion with someone, and we were at a Starbucks in my district, and we were talking about certain regulations where I felt like ‘maybe you should allow businesses to opt out,'” the senator said.
Tillis said his interlocutor was in disbelief, and asked whether he thought businesses should be allowed to “opt out” of requiring employees to wash their hands after using the restroom.
The senator said he’d be fine with it, so long as businesses made this clear in “advertising” and “employment literature.”
“I said: ‘I don’t have any problem with Starbucks if they choose to opt out of this policy as long as they post a sign that says “We don’t require our employees to wash their hands after leaving the restroom,” Tillis said.
“The market will take care of that,” he added, to laughter from the audience.
Wrapping up the Q&A, the moderator joked to Tillis, “I’m not sure I’m gonna shake your hand.”
The gruesomeness of this so called Islamic group fell to an even more unbelievable level, when a video was released showing their latest murder – the execution of the Jordanian pilot, Lt. Muath al-Kaseasbeh.
Although there were ongoing talks and negotiations between ISIS and the Jordanian government surrounding the release of the pilot, ISIS went ahead killed the pilot in their most gruesome video yet.
Dressed in the customary orange outfit now recognized by ISIS prisoners, Mauth al-Kaseasbeh is seen in a cage with ISIS members looking on. A trail of accelerate is lit by an ISIS member and the flame eventually makes its way to the cage where the pilot is burned to death. The video was posted on YouTube but has since been taken down.
The Jordanian government has verified the authenticity of the video and vows retaliation. “The military forces announce that the hero pilot, Muath al-Kaseasbeh, has fallen as a matryr, and ask God to accept him with the martyrs,” Jordanian armed forces spokesman Mamdouh al-Ameri said in a statement. “While the military forces mourn the martyr, they emphasize his blood will not be shed in vain. Our punishment and revenge will be as huge as the loss of the Jordanians.”
And President Obama also responded to the cowardly act.”Should this be authentic, it’s just one more indication of the viciousness and barbarity of this organization,” he told reporters. “It will redouble the vigilance and determination on the part of our global coalition to make sure they are degraded and ultimately defeated.”
President Obama also said “that whatever ideology they’re operating off of is bankrupt. This organization appears only interested in death and destruction.”
The pilot was captured by ISIS back in late December.
When James Robertson’s 1988 Honda Accord broke down a decade ago, the Detroit man didn’t just go out and buy a new one.
Instead, Robertson, who makes $10.55 an hour – not enough to buy, maintain and insure a car – decided he was going to walk to and from work, a journey that stretches a marathon-length 21 miles.
He also takes a bus partway to his job destination: Schain Mold & Engineering.
Last Sunday, the Detroit Free Press reported that the 56-year-old has been making this long trek for years, no matter the weather.
“I don’t think what I do is big deal,” Robertson tells PEOPLE. “I do what I have to do to get to work in the morning. It’s just a part of my life.”
What it takes, he says, is determination and faith.
“My parents taught me hard work ethic growing up in Detroit,” he says. “It’s all about keeping your schedule on track and focusing your mind on what matters.”
After the newspaper article on Robertson was published, Evan Leedy, 19, a student at Wayne State University, became inspired.
“I was blown away,” Leedy tells PEOPLE. “He has been doing this for so long and doesn’t complain. I thought of myself and how most people could never do what he does every single day.”
As Leedy was looking through the readers’ comments on the story, he saw people asking how they could donate money to help Robertson get a car.
“I then decided to create a GoFundMe page where people could donate,” says Leedy. “I set the goal for $5,000, but I really didn’t think many people would see it or donate.”
Before he knew it, thousands of dollars were coming in. One day later, more 5,300 people donated a total in excess of $149,000.
“We now have car dealerships and car companies saying they will donate a car,” Leedy says. “We can now use this money to truly change James’ life.”
Robertson currently doesn’t live in a great neighborhood, and even with a car, he lives far from work.
“We can get him a nice place to live,” Leedy says. “A place he deserves.”
On Monday night, Leedy and Robertson met for the first time.
“It was so amazing to finally meet James,” Leedy said. “I am really just so happy people trusted that the money was going to him so we can help turn his life around. He deserves it.”
The first word that comes to Robertson’s mind when he thinks of Leedy and the thousands that have donated: Shocked.
“I am just so stunned,” he says. “Who would have thought that just a simple walk would have turned into this? I would have told you that you were crazy a few days ago.”
Robertson is looking forward to putting his walking days behind him.
“I am taking this as a sign that it’s time I start driving again,” he said. “And getting more than two hours of sleep a night.”
Robertson leaves for work at 8 a.m. to get to work in time for his 2 p.m. shift as an injection molder.
When he finishes work at 10 p.m, he starts his trek home.
His colleagues notice that although he never complains about having to walk, they can see it’s taking a toll on his body.
“He comes in here looking real tired – his legs, his knees,” his coworker Janet Vallardo, 59, of Auburn Hills, told the Free Press.
Robertson doesn’t just make this walk for his paycheck. He also cares about the people he has worked with for so many years.
“We’re like a family,” Robertson, who also gets fed dinner every weeknight by the plant manager’s wife, tells the newspaper. “I look at her food, I always say, ‘Excellent. No, not excellent. Phenomenal.'”
Despite his long and strenuous commute, Robertson is never late for work.
“I set our attendance standard by this man,” Todd Wilson, plant manager at Schain Mold & Engineering, told the newspaper. “I say, ‘If this man can get here, walking all those miles through snow and rain ….’ Well, I’ll tell you, I have people in Pontiac, 10 minutes away, and they say they can’t get here – Bull!”
Here is a bit of news that is bound to piss Republicans off – Obamacare is costing much less than the CBO original predicted.
In January 2010, the Congressional Budget Office projected that the federal health spending would total a bit more than $11 trillion between 2011 and 2020.
Today, the Congressional Budget Office thinks it made a mistake. Costs are coming in lower-than-expected, and the CBO’s newest projections suggest the federal government will spend $600 billion less on health care than they predicted back in 2010.
So far, so good: projections are always wrong by at least a bit, and it’s nice to have the extra $600 billion in America’s pocket.
But here’s the incredible thing: as Paul Van de Water, a health care expert at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, points out, the January 2010 projection didn’t include any of the spending associated with Obamacare. The latest projections include all of the spending associated with Obamacare.
Scott Walker – the man who went on a mission to dismantle the unions in his state of Wisconsin, a state with a dismal economic outlook due to weak job growth since Walker became governor – now has his eyes set in the White House, and according to this new poll, Walker is leading all the potential Republican wannabes for the 2016 presidential election.
Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker is surging, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush is an also-ran and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is dominating in a new poll of Iowans likely to vote in the nation’s first presidential nominating contest.
The Bloomberg Politics/Des Moines Register Iowa Poll, taken Monday through Thursday, shows Walker leading a wide-open Republican race with 15 percent, up from just 4 percent in the same poll in October. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky was at 14 percent and former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, who won the Iowa caucuses in 2008, stood at 10 percent.
Bush trailed with 8 percent and increasingly is viewed negatively by likely Republican caucus-goers. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is in even worse shape, with support from just 4 percent. More troubling for Christie: He’s viewed unfavorably by 54 percent, among the highest negative ratings in the potential field. At 9 percent, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson pulls more support than either Bush or Christie.
While performing at the 2015 Jazz and Blues Festival on Friday, Mariah Carey cheated her fans when she did not even try to sing her own songs, but choose instead to lip sync… when she felt like it.
Who would have thought that a snowball fight by a bunch of young people would result in a police officer pointing his gun at them? The conclusion I came up with is that snowballs are apparently lethal weapons, and this police officer was apparently scared for his life. I guess he really wanted to go home to his family after witnessing this snowball fight by a group of teenagers.
When he pulled his gun, the officer is heard saying, “Don’t f*cking move, guys.”
“They were having a snowball fight,” said the woman who filmed the incident on her cellphone. “This group of guys was having a snowball fight and now a cop has a gun on them.”
The incident happened Westchester New York last week. The police department did not issue an official statement on the incident.
Another week, and more snow is expected in the northeast. There’s more over the PARCC testing storm as well, but this time, there is a ray of sane sunshine.
Here in New Jersey, State Assemblyman Patrick Diegnan Jr. (D-Middlesex), chairman of the Assembly’s education committee, has introduced a bill that would detail a procedure for how parents could opt out of the tests. He’s working on another bill that would delay the use of the tests to evaluate students and teachers for up to three years. Not that using tests for such evaluation is ever a good idea, whether it’s now or in 2018, but a delay might give testing opponents, which include most educators who work in classrooms, an opportunity to put the movement out of our misery.
The other good news is that another bill sponsored by state Assemblyman David Rible (R-Monmouth) would put limits on how student data is used and disseminated. The Christie administration has said that student privacy protections are in place, but that’s quickly becoming the most laughable line in any industry, much less in education. See Target, Home Depot, and anyone involved in The Interview. Plus, Christie can’t even keep his political operatives from talking about their political contretemps. How is he going to safeguard the privacy of all the schoolchildren in New Jersey?
New FAQs about the PARCC tests released by the state Department of Education do say that the tests are not mandatory even though many districts are sending the implicit message that they are. Other districts and organizations are sponsoring evenings where members of the community can come and take a sample test to see what their children will experience. These evenings are being presented as informational sessions, but clearly if parents don’t like what they see, they could take action.
Right now, the opt-out movement is small, but it is growing. As we get closer to the March administration, I would expect that more parents will take their children out of the tests. There might even be more opt-outs after the March tests once students go home and tell their parents/caregivers about their experiences. The final administration is in late April or early May.
For all the talk about the procedural aspects of PARCC, the real issue is what the tests actually measure and whether students are doing their best, either because they’ve decided that they don’t want to bother or are flummoxed by technology issues.
These are high stakes tests for only one group: teachers, because student scores can determine whether one is retained or fired. The ultimate irony is that the people who will be most affected will be the ones with the least amount of control on test day.
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