January 29, 2013

Hillary Clinton ‘not inclined’ to run for president in 2016

Source: Washington Post

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said on Tuesday that she’s “not inclined” to run for president in 2016 but left the door open for what is widely considered her likely return to politics after she steps down as secretary of state.

“I’m not thinking about anything like that right now,” Clinton smilingly told a questioner. “I am looking forward to finishing up my tenure as secretary of state and then catching up on about 20 years of sleep deprivation.”

Clinton, who steps down Friday as one of the best-known secretaries of state, is also among the world’s most admired women and the object of intense speculation about her future.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/clinton-not-inclined-to-run-for-president-in-2016/2013/01/29/abb63022-6a39-11e2-af53-7b2b2a7510a8_story.html?hpid=z4

January 29, 2013

IRONY: Fox News interviews Dick Cheney for gun control advice

Fox News interviews Dick Cheney for gun control advice

By David Edwards
Tuesday, January 29, 2013 14:16 EST



“How worried are you the President Obama’s gun control plan threatens the Second Amendment rights of every law-abiding American?” Jenkins asked.

“I think a lot of people are worried,” Cheney said, pointing to a recent ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit which found that Obama had violated the Constitution by making recess appointments while lawmakers were using gimmick to keep Congress in session over the holidays.

“So I think the concern is very real and very legitimate, that the administration sometimes isn’t as cautious or as precise, if you will,” Cheney opined.

While on a 2006 hunting trip for quail in Texas, Cheney mistakenly shot 78-year-old Harry Whittington in the face.




MORE:
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/01/29/fox-news-interviews-dick-cheney-for-gun-control-advice/

January 29, 2013

Lindsey Graham: Hillary Clinton 'Got Away With Murder' In Benghazi

Source: Huffington Post

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) has upped his already harsh rhetoric against outgoing Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, claiming that she "got away with murder" in the Benghazi, Libya, attack that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans.

"I haven't forgotten about Benghazi. Hillary Clinton got away with murder, in my view," Graham said on Fox News Monday evening, speaking to Greta Van Susteren. "She said they had a clear-eyed view of the threats. How could you have a clear-eyed view of the threats in Benghazi when you didn't know about the ambassador's cable coming back from Libya?"

He also threatened to block the nomination of former Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) as President Barack Obama's next secretary of defense until outgoing Defense Secretary Leon Panetta testifies about the attack.

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/29/lindsey-graham-hillary-clinton_n_2574701.html

January 29, 2013

Secretary of State Jon Husted & other Republicans say Electoral College changes not in store for OH

Source: Cleveland Plain Dealer

Secretary of State Jon Husted and other Republicans say Electoral College changes not in store for Ohio

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Count Ohio's Republican leaders out of a GOP-backed effort to end the Electoral College's winner-take-all format in the Buckeye State and other presidential battlegrounds.

Spokesmen for Gov. John Kasich, State Senate President Keith Faber and House Speaker William G. Batchelder told The Plain Dealer this week that they are not pursuing plans to award electoral votes proportionally by congressional district.

Batchelder went a step further, saying through his communications director that he "is not supportive of such a move." And Republican Secretary of State Jon Husted, the state's chief elections administrator, emphasized that he does not favor the plan either, despite Democratic suspicions based on reported comments that he said were taken out of context.

"Nobody in Ohio is advocating this," Husted said in a telephone interview.

Read more: http://www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2013/01/secretary_of_state_jon_husted_2.html

---

Victory For Democracy! Ohio Republicans Will Not Rig The Electoral College
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/01/29/1511561/victory-for-democracy-ohio-republicans-will-not-rig-the-electoral-college/

January 29, 2013

Rubio To Rush: I Have An Escape Hatch On Immigration

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) made the case for immigration reform to Rush Limbaugh on his radio show Tuesday, but made clear his willingness to blow up talks if he thinks a bill is moving too far to the left.

Limbaugh, who said on Monday that “it’s up to me and Fox News” to kill immigration reform efforts, gave Rubio a respectful hearing but said he feared the senator was being exploited to advance Democratic goals.

Rubio defended his efforts as a shield against accusations that Republicans don’t care about immigrants in case negotiations fail.

“If they want to go further than the Senate agreement, I think they have a problem because they cant argue we haven’t tried to do our part to come up with something that’s reasonable,” he said.

..................

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2013/01/rubio-to-rush-i-have-an-escape-hatch-on-immigration.php

January 29, 2013

Scalia: Constitution is ‘dead, dead, dead’

Source: The Hill

Scalia: Constitution is ‘dead, dead, dead’
By Jonathan Easley - 01/29/13 09:11 AM ET

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia emphatically rebutted the notion that the Constitution is a living document in a lecture at Southern Methodist University on Monday.

“It’s not a living document,” Scalia said, according to a report in the Dallas Morning News. “It’s dead, dead, dead.”

Scalia also told the crowd that sometimes the decisions he arrives at are not in concert with his political convictions.

“The judge who always likes the results he reaches is a bad judge,” he said.





Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/279789-scalia-constitution-is-dead-dead-dead#ixzz2JO4Hi7vI

January 29, 2013

McCain: Finds a way to weaponize the border-"We need border drones to get a deal on immigration"

Sen. McCain: We need border drones to get a deal on immigration reforms
By Justin Sink - 01/28/13 05:57 PM ET

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said Monday that he would like to see the implementation of high-tech border solutions — including drone aircraft — as part of a comprehensive immigration reform deal.

"A pre-condition is secure borders, and we have not done that," McCain told Fox News on Monday. "Now our borders are more secure, but they are by no means secure. In Arizona, the Sonora border is the major drug trafficking route for the drug cartels bringing drugs into the United States."


McCain went on to say that securing the borders was a necessity before the country could "move on with this issue."

"We have to use a lot of high-tech — we’ve got to use drones, we’ve got to do a lot of things to get that border secure, but that must be done," McCain said.


Read more: http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/279745-mccain-we-need-border-drones-for-immigration-deal#ixzz2JO2lCIU7


MR. MCCAIN:

THIS: IS WHAT YOU WANT ON OUR BORDERS?????
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/12/the-guilty-conscience-of-a-drone-pilot-who-killed-a-child/266453/

January 29, 2013

David Brooks, Tired Of The GOP, Wants New Friends, More Hotel Variety & Sympathy For Being SO Smart.

A Second G.O.P.
By DAVID BROOKS
Published: January 28, 2013

.........

Americans are still skeptical of Washington. If you shove a big government program down their throats they will recoil. But many of their immediate problems flow from globalization, the turmoil of technological change and social decay, and they’re looking for a bit of help. Moreover, given all the antigovernment rhetoric, they will never trust these Republicans to reform cherished programs like Social Security and Medicare. You can’t be for entitlement reform and today’s G.O.P., because politically the two will never go together.

Can current Republicans change their underlying mentality to adapt to these realities? Intellectual history says no. People almost never change their underlying narratives or unconscious frameworks. Moreover, in the South and rural West, where most Republicans are from, the Encroachment Story has deep historic and psychological roots. Anti-Washington, anti-urban sentiment has characterized those cultures for decades.

It’s probably futile to try to change current Republicans. It’s smarter to build a new wing of the Republican Party, one that can compete in the Northeast, the mid-Atlantic states, in the upper Midwest and along the West Coast. It’s smarter to build a new division that is different the way the Westin is different than the Sheraton.

...........

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/29/opinion/brooks-a-second-g-o-p.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

January 29, 2013

(CHICAGO) Cary Grove (HS) Drill To Include Shooting Blanks In Hallways

Source: CBS

CHICAGO (CBS) — A school shooting drill planned for tomorrow in the far northwestern suburbs has many parents upset.

According to a letter from Cary-Grove High School principal Jay Sargeant, there will be a code red drill at the school on Wednesday.

It will include somebody shooting blanks from a gun in the hallway “in an effort to provide our teachers and students some familiarity with the sound of gunfire.”

Parent Kassy Pinter says: “It’s probably necessary to have the ‘code red’ drill but not really necessary to shoot the blanks in the hallway.”

Read more: http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2013/01/29/cary-grove-drill-to-include-shooting-blanks-in-hallways/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

---

The full email:

Dear parents:

At Cary-Grove and across District 155, we make your child’s safety our number one priority each day. As a parent, I can assure you that we understand our responsibility to return your child safely at the end of each day. While we take many preventative steps to keep our building secure, we also practice our response should a crisis arise. Some examples include meetings with first responders, a comprehensive crisis response plan, and simulations. We are planning a code red simulation on Wednesday, January 30. We feel it is important to explain the simulation to you in advance so that you and your child might be able to better understand what will take place on Wednesday.

The simulation will take approximately 15-20 minutes, during which time teachers will secure their rooms, draw curtains, and keep their students from traveling throughout the building. Please note that we will be firing blanks in the hallway in an effort to provide our teachers and students some familiarity with the sound of gunfire. Our school resource officer and other members of the Cary Police Department will assist us in sweeping the building to ensure that all students are in a secure location during the drill. At the conclusion of the drill, we will take some time to process what occurred and then we will return to our normal classroom routine.

I encourage you to discuss the drill with your student both before it happens and after. These drills help our students and staff to be prepared should a crisis occur, but it may cause some students to have an emotional reaction. In those cases, your voice may provide reassurances of the drill’s importance. Additionally, we have trained social workers on staff who can speak directly with your child should he or she need added support.

Should you have any questions, please contact me or any member of the Cary-Grove’s administrative team. Together, we can keep our school a safe place for your child to learn and grow.

Sincerely,

Jay Sargeant
Principal

January 29, 2013

NRA's Blatant Lie About The Mental Illness Registry

the NRA blatantly lied about the mental illness registry issue:

In his Friday morning news conference, National Rifle Association chief executive Wayne LaPierre floated the idea of a national registry of the mentally ill as one way to stem gun violence.

The NRA lied to all of us. In fact, weapons salespeople actively and successfully fought attempts to create a national list of those who were too unstable or mentally ill to handle weapons. In fact, the NRA lobbied hard in 2007 to gut a law that was intended to do what LaPierre told us he wants to do.

After a Virginia Tech student killed 32 students and faculty in April 2007, the Bush administration proposed legislation that would require all states to share the names of residents involuntarily committed to mental health facilities. The information would be provided to a Federal Bureau of Investigation database.

..................................

The NRA wanted the government to change the way it deemed someone “mentally defective,” excluding people, for example, who were no longer under any psychiatric supervision or monitoring. The group also pushed for a way for the mentally ill to regain gun rights if they could prove in court that they’d been rehabilitated.

............................

MUCH MORE:
http://www.propublica.org/article/how-the-nra-gained-the-last-time-congress-strengthened-gun-laws
http://www.balloon-juice.com/2013/01/29/nra-gutted-2007-mental-health-registry-law/