January 21, 2015

Justice Dept. to Recommend No Civil Rights Charges in Ferguson Shooting

Source: New York Times

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department has begun work on a legal memo recommending no civil rights charges against a white police officer in Ferguson, Mo., who killed an unarmed black teenager in August, law enforcement officials said.

That would close the politically charged case in the shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown. The investigation by the F.B.I., which is complete, found no evidence to support civil rights charges against the officer, Darren Wilson, the officials said.

A broader civil rights investigation into allegations of discriminatory traffic stops and excessive force by the Ferguson Police Department remains open, however. That investigation could lead to significant changes at the department, which is overwhelmingly white despite serving a city that is mostly black.

The state authorities concluded their investigation into Mr. Brown’s death in November and similarly recommended no charges.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/22/us/justice-department-ferguson-civil-rights-darren-wilson.html?smid=tw-share&_r=0

January 21, 2015

Joni Ernst Wore Plastic Bags Over Her Shoes Because She Grew Up Under GOP Presidents

In the GOP response to the Senator Joni Ernst President's State of the Union address, Sen. Joni Ernst lamented wearing bread bags over her shoes as a child. Here's why she had to

Freshman U.S. Senator Joni Ernst delivered the Republican response to the President's State of the Union address Tuesday night. The key takeaway from her speech seemed to be that her parents put plastic bread bags on her shoes when it rained to protect them (video below).

“You see, growing up, I had only one good pair of shoes. So on rainy school days, my mom would slip plastic bread bags over them to keep them dry,” Ernst said. “But I was never embarrassed. Because the school bus would be filled with rows and rows of young Iowans with bread bags slipped over their feet.”

Senator Ernst, born in 1970, today is 44.

But growing up, she lived the vast majority of her life under Republican presidents, including Ronald Reagan, who raised taxes eleven times in seven of his eight years as president. Sen. Ernst was born during the Nixon administration, started school under the Ford administration, had four years under the Carter administration, and graduated high school under the Reagan administration.

more
http://www.thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/davidbadash/joni_ernst_wore_plastic_bags_over_her_shoes_because_she_grew_up_under_gop_presidents

January 21, 2015

House GOP leaders try to quell female revolt on abortion bill

Up to two dozen Republicans — many of them women — might vote against the 20-week abortion ban, GOP sources say.

By Jake Sherman and Lauren French

1/21/15 2:22 PM EST
Updated 1/21/15 2:39 PM EST

House Republican leaders are struggling with a more-aggressive-than-expected revolt by female legislators against the anti-abortion bill scheduled for a floor vote Thursday.

Several GOP sources estimate that up to two dozen Republicans — many of them women — might vote against the 20-week abortion ban, whose critics call the measure politically wrongheaded and harsh. The optics of a large number of women opposing a piece of abortion legislation could be politically tricky for the party, which has had to counter Democratic accusations that it’s waging a “war on women.”

The bill’s scheduled vote is on the same day as the annual anti-abortion March for Life in Washington.

The women — led by North Carolina Rep. Renee Ellmers — have been meeting with GOP leadership Wednesday to see if they can tweak the bill to satisfy their concerns. They’re mostly worried that the bill allows abortions after the 20th week of pregnancy only in cases of rape and incest, and only if the victim has filed a police report. Many opponents believe the victim shouldn’t have to go to police.


Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/01/house-gop-abortion-vote-114454.html#ixzz3PUNHcpxX

January 21, 2015

Ted Cruz flubs, deletes YouTube response to Obama

By KENDALL BREITMAN 1/21/15 6:52 AM EST

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) learned the hard way on Tuesday why his fellow Republicans decided to pre-record their State of the Union responses.

In a video posted to YouTube shortly after President Barack Obama wrapped up his State of the Union address, Cruz offered his rebuttal, saying that it is “time to move on beyond” the president. But before he could move on, Cruz needed to start over.

Just shy of one minute into the video, Cruz is seen saying, “Let me start over.” The video then cuts to Cruz redelivering his response criticizing Obama’s claims of an American economy on the mend.

The video, which was quickly deleted, was recovered and made available by the blog Mediaite.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/01/ted-cruz-response-youtube-state-union-114434.html#ixzz3PULbQoeq

January 21, 2015

Huckabee: States Shouldn't Follow Supreme Court Gay Marriage Ruling

Former Arkansas governor and potential Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee on Tuesday said that if the Supreme Court rules in favor of same sex marriage, states don't necessarily need to begin issuing marriage licenses to gay couples.

Huckabee told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt that he was "angry" with the "notion of judicial supremacy. If the courts make a decision, I hear governors and even some aspirants to the presidency say well, that's settled, and it’s the law of the land," he said. "No, it isn't the law of the land. Constitutionally, the courts cannot make a law. They can interpret one. And then the legislature has to create enabling legislation, and the executive has to sign it, and has to enforce it."

According to Huckabee, the legislative branch would need to draw up legislation to legalize same sex marriage.

"This idea that a judge makes a ruling on Friday afternoon, and Saturday morning same sex marriage licenses are being given out, that’s utter nonsense, because there’s not been any agreement with the other two branches of government," he said.

more
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/huckabee-states-ignore-supreme-court-gay-marriage

January 21, 2015

Poll: Chris Christie Approval Worst It's Been In Almost Four Years

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's (R) approval rating among New Jersey voters is at the lowest it's been in almost four years, according to a new Quinnipiac University poll released on Wednesday.

The poll found that 46 percent of New Jerseyans approve of the job he's doing as governor while 48 percent disapprove. That finding is the worst showing for Christie in almost four years, Quinnipiac noted.

The last time Christie was able to get 50 percent support or more was almost exactly a year ago, in a January 15, 2014 Quinnipiac poll. That poll found the New Jersey governor who's believed to be planning to run for president with 55 percent of New Jerseyans approving of his job performance while 38 percent disapproved.

Broken down by party affiliation, 74 percent of Republicans approve of the job Christie is doing while 21 percent disapprove. Among Democrats just 26 percent approve of the job Christie is doing while 69 percent disapprove. The poll was conducted between January 15 and January 19 among 1,211 New Jersey voters. The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.8 percentage points.

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http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/quinnipiac-poll-chris-christie-approval-disapproval-worst-almost-four-years

January 21, 2015

Ben Carson: Congress Should Remove Judges Who Rule For Gay Marriage

Former pediatric neurosurgeon and possible 2016 presidential candidate Ben Carson explained to an Iowa broadcaster on Tuesday that Congress can and should eject judges who rule in favor of gay marriage.

On the conservative Steve Deace Show podcast ("Fear God. Tell The Truth. Make Money.&quot Carson said most Americans are unaware of this authority "because they don't know the Constitution."

"When judges do not carry out their duties in an appropriate way, our Congress actually has the right to reprimand or remove them," Carson said. Any law on marriage should be decided by a popular referendum, and any decisions made by courts are "unconstitutional," justifying dismissal of judges, he added.

Later on in the interview, Carson agreed with Deace that ongoing spread of legalized gay marriage would make it “open season on Christians." Values and principles cannot be drummed out of us," Carson said. "They’re going to try, and the only way we maintain a country with values and principles is we have to be brave enough to stand up for what we believe.”

more
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/ben-carson-remove-judges-gay-marriage

January 21, 2015

Obama Kicks Off the Next Presidential Campaign

http://politicalwire.com/2015/01/21/obama-kicks-off-next-presidential-campaign/

January 21, 2015

The Guardian: Obama full of swagger: State of the Union leaves GOP enraged

PAUL LEWIS, THE GUARDIAN
21 JAN 2015 AT 09:07 ET

When Barack Obama looked out into the audience of his State of the Union speech on Tuesday, he was met with a truly historic sight. No Democratic president in the last century has addressed a Congress dominated by so many Republican lawmakers.

The last time a US president delivered a State of the Union address in front of such a large number of Republicans was 1930. And that was president Herbert Hoover, a fellow Republican.

Yet anyone who expected Obama to begin his second-to-last year in office by courting the very adversaries he will need to pass any significant legislation – from tax reform to investment in infrastructure – left disappointed.


There was no sign of a president humbled by November’s electoral defeat. On the contrary, Obama seemed impervious to the new political balance of power in Washington, appearing at times to even goad his political enemies.

There were two especially revealing examples of Obama’s defiance, both of them unscripted. The first came after one of his opening lines, when the incoming Republican majority declined to applaud Obama’s praise for the economic recovery.

-snip-

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2015/01/obama-full-of-swagger-state-of-the-union-leaves-gop-enraged/

January 21, 2015

Obama trolls the GOP: How a not-so-lame-duck president left them bumbling - By Joan Walsh

With his modest tax proposals Obama is neither Piketty nor Robin Hood -- but here's why his SOTU riled up the right

JOAN WALSH

President Obama delivered his second to last State of the Union address with an epic combination of sweet-talking and trash-talking, cajoling and trolling. He brought us the story of Rebekah and Ben Erler, who got through some economic troubles with their family intact. “It is amazing,” Rebekah wrote the president, “what you can bounce back from when you have to…we are a strong, tight-knit family who has made it through some very, very hard times.” You knew what was coming: Yes, Americans, we too are “a strong, tight-knit family who has made it through some very, very hard times.”

Or more specifically, we’re a strong, tight-knit family whose Republican relatives have been wrong on Russia and Iraq, clueless about climate change and can’t even get right with the pope on Cuba. When he commented, “I have no more campaigns to run,” and Republicans applauded, Obama shot back: “I know, because I’ve won both of them.”

My personal favorite Obama taunt came during his call for a minimum wage hike. “To everyone in this Congress who still refuses to raise the minimum wage, I say this: If you truly believe you could work full-time and support a family on less than $15,000 a year, go try it. If not, vote to give millions of the hardest-working people in America a raise.”

Anyone who tuned in expecting a conciliatory lame duck president was disappointed.

Since almost all of the president’s SOTU proposals were available for mass consumption days before the address, the night’s big questions involved theater, much of which was provided by Obama himself. But it was fun to watch Republicans frown at so many ideas they once supported. While much of the media framed Obama’s plan as a radical break from his first six years, that’s silly. I’m happy with what the president outlined, but it’s essential to say that aside from his community college proposal, he’s using mostly old-fashioned GOP ideas, though they’re DOA in this Congress.

more
http://www.salon.com/2015/01/21/not_so_lame_duck_president_cajoles_trolls_the_gop/