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Lamar Alexander’s Former Chief of Staff Commits Suicide

Jesse Ryan Loskarn, a former chief of staff to Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), was found dead Thursday in Carroll County, Md., following charges that he possessed and distributed child pornography. The Maryland medical examiner’s office confirmed Friday afternoon that the cause of death was suicide.

“At approximately 12pm yesterday, Carroll County Sheriff’s Deputies responded to a private residence … for a report of an unconscious male, believed to be deceased,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement on Friday. “Family members reported finding 35-year old Jesse Ryan Loskarn unresponsive in his basement where he’d been residing with family since this past December.”

Bruce Goldfarb, a spokesman for the Maryland medical examiner’s office, told the Los Angeles Times that Loskarn had died by hanging himself.

Loskarn had been arrested in December by U.S. Postal Service investigators on charges that he possessed and distributed child pornography after a raid on his home.

As a grand jury began its proceedings, Loskarn was released from custody and was residing at his parents’ home in Maryland. He was ordered not to use the Internet and to wear an ankle bracelet to track his movements.

The complaint filed against him alleged that he possessed a hard drive filled with “hundreds of videos depicting underage boys engaged in sexually explicit conduct.”

Loskarn had served as Alexander’s chief of staff for two years. The senator said in a December news release that he was “stunned, surprised and disappointed” by the allegations. On Friday, Alexander said, “For everyone involved, this is a sad and tragic story from beginning to end.”

Loskarn’s parents, Chuck and Gay Loskarn, also released a statement Friday.

“We loved our son very much, and we’re devastated by his death,” they said. “Please respect our privacy at this difficult time and let us grieve in peace. Pray for him, his family and friends.”

Prior to joining Alexander’s office, Loskarn had served as communications director for Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) from 2003 to 2007. In a statement to HuffPost, Blackburn said, “We received the news with sadness and are keeping his family in our thoughts and prayers.”

This story has been updated with comments from the medical examiner’s office, Loskarn’s parents, and Rep. Marsha Blackburn.

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Politics

Virginia Legislature Prohibits American Flags on Sticks – Allows Guns

What is the bigger risk inside a state capitol building: openly carrying an American flag or an assault rifle?

In Virginia, visitors to the state legislature cannot bring American flags and signs affixed to sticks, because capitol security considers sticks a public threat. Firearms, however, are allowed.

A group of gun violence prevention activists discovered this when they arrived on Monday to attend a Martin Luther King, Jr. Day event. According to Virginia Capitol Police, the groups were informed beforehand of the restriction barring sticks at permitted rallies, because they can be used as weapons.

Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America’s Gena Reeder said they were aware of the rules, but “certainly not in our wildest imagination thought that could apply to the American flag.”

While the moms tore out the dowels of their flags, capitol grounds visitors with firearms were ushered through the entrance. That day, Virginia Citizens Defense League and other gun rights groups organized a “Guns Save Lives” day. The Richmond Times-Dispatch reported that about half of the crowd was armed, packing weapons that ranged from handguns to assault rifles.

The anti-gun violence activists couldn’t reconcile this conflicting message in their heads, Reeder explained. “We are sending a message that you cannot hand carry an American flag into a state capitol, but you can bring a loaded weapon,” Reeder told ThinkProgress. “Are guns becoming more patriotic than an American flag?

h/t ThinkProgress

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MSNBC Politics

Priorities – MSNBC Interrupted Congresswoman for Justin Bieber News – Video

What is wrong with these people?

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Politics

New Poll: The Christie Ship is Sinkin’

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. – Following a second week of revelations about “Bridgegate,” Gov. Chris Christie’s job approval and favorability ratings have dropped dramatically among New Jerseyans, with Democrats driving the decline, according to a new Rutgers-Eagleton Poll. Following more than a year of strong bipartisan support, Christie’s favorability rating is now 46 percent favorable to 43 percent unfavorable, down from 65 percent favorable just before his landslide re-election. This drop in support is led by a 26-point decline among Democrats.

Voters are slightly more positive about Christie’s performance as governor, with 53 percent approving how he handles the job. But this is down 15 points since November; well below the 66 to 73 percent support Christie had enjoyed throughout the year since Superstorm Sandy. Asked to grade the Governor, 43 percent now award Christie an A or B – down 16 points– and 29 percent assign either a D or F, compared to just 18 percent two months ago.

Christie’s ratings drop is driven by a very large decline among Democrats while most Republicans – and many independents – continue to stand by the Governor. In November, 45 percent of Democrats were favorable, but with new challenges to Christie’s bipartisan leadership, only 19 percent of Democrats are now positive. Democratic approval of Christie’s job performance has dropped  from 51 percent to 29 percent. While noticeably down from November, Republicans are still very positive: 78 percent feel favorable, and 83 percent approve of the job Christie is doing. Independent support has also dropped, but a majority continues to favor Christie.

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Politics

Another Republican Activist Leaves The Republican Party

Gay political activist and longtime Republican, Jimmy LaSalvia, did not merely leave the GOP last week. He loudly denounced his former party for its “culture of intolerance” and predicted it will never “win another Presidential election.”

LaSalvia, who founded GOProud, and now plans to become independent, came to the inescapable conclusion that the party is just hopelessly “out of touch with life in America.”

“The changes the Republican Party is implementing really amount to nothing more than lipstick on a pig,” LaSalvia said on Yahoo! and ABC News program Top Line, echoing President Obama’s observation in 2008. “It’s a culture of intolerance that I just don’t think any amount of policy changes can fix.”

The 2012 election that sealed the deal for LaSalvia.

“It was the Romney campaign that really got me to understand just how severe the problem is,” LaSalvia told Top Line. “And after [that], I just thought, ‘I don’t know if [the GOP] will ever win another Presidential election again.’”

HIs analysis was as practical as it was brutal. The GOP is doomed because it continues to cater to intolerant people rather than tell them the word has changed and they need to get with it.

“The object of political parties is to win elections, and I’ve determined that the Republicans can never win a national election again, and so at that point, what’s the point?” While LaSalvia still identifies as a conservative, he feels he won’t be alone as an independent.

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Politics

John Boehner Blames The Republicans for The Government Shutdown – Video

The House Speaker and leader of the Republicans went on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno last night, and explained that the government shutdown of 2013 was a wrong move, and that the blame was squarely on the backs of the Republicans.

Boehner also explained that he told his “colleagues” not to shut down the government, but the chose not to listen.

“I told my colleagues in July that I don’t think shutting down the government over Obamacare was going to work, because the president ‘I’m not going to negotiate.’ So I told them in August, ‘Probably not a good idea.’ Told ‘em in early September.”

“But when I looked up,” he told Leno, “I saw my colleagues going this way. And you learn that a leader without followers is simply a man taking a walk. So I said, ‘You want to fight this fight? I’ll go fight the fight with you.’ But it was a very predictable disaster.”

“So the sooner we got it over with the better. We were fighting for the right thing, but I just thought tactfully it wasn’t the right thing to do.”

“Some members,” he continued, “I have to be the big brother figure. Some, I have to be the father figure. Others, I have to be the dean of students or the principal. Some of them, I have to be the Gestapo.”

“There’s nothing I could do that was ever conservative enough for them.”

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New Jersey New York Sports Super Bowl

Super Bowl: Bracing For Subzero Weather in an Open-air Stadium

America is set for the coldest month of the century as weather forecasters predict yet another freezing blast of Arctic air – putting Super Bowl Sunday in jeopardy.

Teams have been warned to stay on high alert for changes to the scheduling of the first Super Bowl to be played in an open-air stadium.

Temperatures have already hit record lows, at times making parts of the U.S. colder than the North Pole, and are expected to plunge in the coming days.

The timing could not be worse for one of the biggest global sporting events, which will be exposed to the full force of the elements at the MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey on February 2.

Eric Grubman, NFL vice president of business operations, told the Denver Post: ‘We are advising teams to prepare in case a contingency plan goes into effect.’

The game could be moved to the preceding Friday or Saturday or the following Monday if authorities decide the weather will constitute a danger to public health.

Broncos coach John Fox and Seattle coach Pete Carroll will be the first to know if the event is rescheduled.

Matt Rogers, president of Commodity Weather Group LLC, said: ‘The crazy thing is that the current cold snap this week look to be a bit more modest in the face of next week’s outbreak.

‘The cold coming for the end of January is sufficient to make this the coldest month of the century so far and the coldest the Lower 48 has felt in the last 20 years.’

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Politics

Poll: Republicans Know Nothing about The Poor and They Don’t Care

They think Americans are poor because they’re too lazy.

Findings released Thursday by Pew showed that most Republicans think rich people are largely responsible for their socioeconomic status. They also feel the same way about poor people.

Fifty-seven percent of GOP voters said that a person is rich because “he or she worked harder than others,” while just 32 percent attribute it to advantages they enjoyed. The results are almost completely flipped among Democrats.

Overall, 51 percent of Americans said that people are wealthy due to advantages in life, while 38 percent said it had more to do with hard work.

Pew also found that 51 percent of Republicans believe that people are poor due to a lack of hard work, compared with just 32 percent who attribute it to circumstances beyond their control.

Those results also put Republicans out of step with the rest of the country.

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Politics

Conservative Commentator Dinesh D’Souza Indicted – Arraignment on Friday

He’s been after president Obama for a while now, manufacturing a bunch of lies and conspiracies about the president of the United States. Now, it seems the conservative nut has found himself in some trouble.

According to reporting by USA Today, Dinesh D’Souza has been indicted on charges of violating federal election laws and could face up to seven years in prison if found guilty, according to documents released Thursday by the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York and the FBI.

According to a notice emailed to the press, authorities charge D’Souza made illegal contributions to a U.S. Senate campaign in the names of others and caused false statements connected with those contributions to be made to the Federal Election Commission.

Authorities did not name the U.S. Senate candidate. In 2012, D’Souza campaigned for Wendy Long, a Republican who challenged Democratic incumbent Kirsten Gillibrand to represent New York in the U.S. Senate. Long’s campaign website appeared to no longer be operating, and Reuters reported she could not be reached. Gillebrand won the election.

D’Souza, 52, a former policy analyst in the Ronald Reagan White House, will be arraigned Friday in federal court in Manhattan, according to the statement.

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Politics

Republicans New Plan – Kill Obamacare by Making it Unaffordable

Republicans are not ready to give up the fight to take away your healthcare. They have tried the failed strategy of repealing the entire Obamacare bill I’ve 40 tines already, and now,  they have a plan that just might achieve their ultimate goal of allowing Americans to die because they have no healthcare.

Their plan? To make Obamacare also called The Affordable Care Act, unaffordable. Their plan is to repeal a provision in the law that keeps premiums low, thus raising the oremiums.

The provision — called “risk corridors,” but dubbed the “Obamacare bailout” by the law’s opponents — seeks to stabilize costs by creating a pot of money that takes in funds from insurers who enroll healthier customers and uses it to pay out insurers who enroll sicker customers. It’s a safety valve that sunsets after 2016. The repeal push is clever messaging in a sense because it lets conservatives snatch the mantle of populism from liberals against wealthy insurance companies. But it comes with its share of dangers, too.

Last November, as TPM reported, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) introduced legislation to repeal this provision. Since then it has picked up 13 Republican co-sponsors, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, and spawned two companion bills in the House, which are supported by numerous Republicans. The idea has been championed by conservative lobbying groups like the Club For Growth and Heritage Action, and pushed by writers including Charles Krauthammer in the Washington Post, Ramesh Punnuru in Bloomberg View and Deroy Murdock in National Review.

The conservatives are open about the end goal: collapse Obamacare by causing higher premiums on the law’s marketplaces for the newly insured, which progressive experts who support Obamacare agree may occur if the provision is scrapped.

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arrested Celebrities Entertainment Music

Justin Bieber Arrested for Drag Racing and DUI

Justin Bieber has been arrested for allegedly drag racing in Miami Beach, Fla., and driving under the influence, the Miami Beach Police Department confirmed in a press conference.

Police said 19-year-old Bieber was arrested Thursday just after 4 a.m. on Pine Tree Drive and 26th Street. According to police, he was driving a yellow Lamborghini while under the influence of marijuana, prescription pills and alcohol.

Officers saw two cars racing at 4:09 a.m. Thursday, with two vehicles apparently used to block the area off, Miami Dade Police Chief Raymond A. Martinez said during a press conference. He says the second car was a red Ferrari, and that driver, R&B singer Khalil Sharief, was also arrested. Both cars were towed.

The singer was booked at Miami-Dade County jail, the Miami-Dade County Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation confirmed to FOX411. His bail was set at $2,500, and the star’s mug shot was released, showing him smiling for camera.

The pop star was stopped by police because his car was going nearly double the speed limit in the residential area, and when a police officer approached the singer the officer “smelled a strong odor of alcoholic beverage” coming from the Biebs’ car, Martinez told reporters. According to the arrest report, Bieber’s eyes were bloodshot and he had “a stuper [sic] look on his face.”

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Politics

Jon Stewart on Chris Christie – “That is some old-school New Jersey corruption” – Video

After scoffing at the allegations surrounding New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s (R) administration just two weeks ago, Daily Show host Jon Stewart changed his mind after hearing about Christie’s administration was accused of using Hurricane Sandy relief funds as political capital.

“Oh sh*t,” Stewart giggled. “That is some old-school New Jersey corruption: ‘Hey, nice city. Be a shame if anything happened to it.”

At the same time, Stewart was initially non-plussed by the federal lawsuit brought against former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) and his wife, Christine, for allegedly taking thousands of dollars in gifts and other favors from the head of a local dietary company.

“We’ve all seen this before,” he scoffed. “It explains the state’s new motto: ‘Virginia is for 10,000 milligrams of Niacin.’”

It wasn’t until he heard that the gifts included a lakehouse vacation — including the use of a $190,000 Ferrari — and 30 boxes of “an expensive anti-inflammatory” that Stewart perked up.

“Now you’re talking my language,” he woofed. “Thirty boxes of top-shelf, black-label anti-inflammatories. How does that backroom deal go down?”

Watch Stewart take on the dual controversies, as posted online on Wednesday, below.

h/t The Raw Story

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