August 4, 2013

Considering that Eric Cantor told Chris Wallace that Obama needs to come up with

more 'entitlement' cuts before they get serious discussing a budget, I thought that maybe I'd post this so that you can see what real 'entitlements' looks like:

Pay and Perquisites of Members of Congress, Including A History of House and Senate Salaries

http://www.congresspay.com/

EDITED TO ADD:

This week, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor proudly announced the calendar for the new Congress in 2013. Here's the link. Working days for the entire year total 126, leaving 239 days off. This includes virtually the whole month of August, two weeks around Easter/Passover, not a single five-day work week and (God forbid) no

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kenneth-d-ackerman/congress-calendar_b_2219870.html

http://majorityleader.gov/calendar/113thCongressFirstSession.pdf

August 4, 2013

On Location Video: Mexico's drug cartels recruit migrant labor

Mexico — As the US Congress mulls legislation to increase fencing and manpower on the United States southern border, migrants from Central America face increasing perils as they cross Mexico. The Mexican crackdown on drug trafficking, partly financed by the US government, is prompting criminal gangs to exploit other revenue streams such as kidnapping and extortion. And these gangs are now tapping migrant streams for new recruits. Those fleeing poverty back home find it hard to resist the lure of a life of crime, and some are being given no choice.

http://www.globalpost.com/video/5900001/location-video-mexicos-drug-cartels-recruit-migrant-labor

***

Frightening video. And for a change you don't read the words and stories of the 'victims' of the cartels, you see them too. And that just makes this video more disturbing. Mexico is a failed country and I don't see who it can be fixed.

August 3, 2013

Fact: The Obama Administration Has Spent $120 Million More Than Bush Fighting Medicinal Marijuana

By Jonathan Wolfe, Fri, August 02, 2013

In December of 2012, President Obama did an interview with the ABC program 20/20. The focus of the interview was his administration’s drug enforcement policies. During the show, President Obama told reporters that cracking down on states that have legalized marijuana – either entirely or for medicinal use – would not be a priority for his administration.

“We’ve got bigger fish to fry … It would not make sense for us to see a top priority as going after recreational users in states that have determined that it’s legal,” he said.

**
To be specific, the administration has spent $289 million dollars fighting medicinal marijuana policies in the last four-and-a-half years. This breaks down to over $100,000 per-day spent fighting citizen-approved medicinal marijuana policies. For pro-legalization voters that elected President Obama in hopes of seeing federal marijuana policies loosened, this has to be disappointing.

What’s more disappointing is that in just four-and-half-years, the Obama administration has spent $120 million more fighting medicinal marijuana than the Bush administration did over eight years.

http://www.opposingviews.com/i/politics/obama-presidency/fact-obama-administration-has-spent-120-million-more-bush-fighting#

******************

Glad we're concentrating on the real important stuff. You know, the stuff Obama did and got away with as a kid. The stuff he wants to criminalize every pot smoker for.

Just think, we could have used that money for things like, oh, HEAD START. Or maybe MEALS ON WHEELS.

July 27, 2013

Huma Abedin, Anthony Weiner's Wife, Under Scrutiny For 2012 Role With State Department

(Like this poor woman doesn't have enough problems!)


By Jonathan Wolfe, Fri, July 26, 2013

Huma Abedin, the wife of notorious sexter Anthony Weiner, is probably receiving a lot of unwanted attention lately over her husband’s cell phone picture habits.

But as Fox News and CBS are reporting, she may have bigger worries on her hands (no pun intended).

Abedin is a longtime aide to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. For almost a year in 2012, she was recognized as a “special government employee” by the State Department. As a special government employee, Abedin received $135,000 a year as a part-time consultant for the State Department while also earning $355,000 as a consultant at Teneo, where former president Bill Clinton is a board member.

Last month, Senator Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) wrote an extensive letter questioning whether Abedin’s role as a government employee and a private-sector employee represented any conflict of interest.

http://www.opposingviews.com/i/politics/huma-abedin-anthony-weiners-wife-under-scrutiny-2012-role-state-department#

July 26, 2013

Turkey: bird suspected of spying for Israel is cleared

A bird tagged with a metallic ring that was recently captured in a Turkish village in the eastern province of Elazığ is not spying for Israel, Turkish officials have determined.

District officials sent the bird, a small kestrel, to Fırat University in Elazığ, where veterinary hospital personnel x-rayed it to make sure it was not carrying microchips or any other spy devices. The technicians – jokingly, we assume – labeled the x-rays, “Israeli spy.”

Turkish officials said in a statement that they released the falsely accused bird back into the wild.

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatches/globalpost-blogs/weird-wide-web/turkey-bird-suspected-spying-israel-cleared

July 26, 2013

Here is why I think police using 'informants' is a bad idea

Surveillance Video Catches Police Informant Planting Crack On Business Owner

The latest example of why paid police informants are not always a good idea.

Head-shop owner Donald Andrews was charged with felonies -- criminal sale and criminal possession of a controlled substance -- that could have put him behind bars for 25 years. Forced to close his store, Andrews had spent three weeks in county jail before his lawyer insisted the grand jury view the surveillance footage. On April 25, after authorities saw the tape, charges were dropped.


http://www.alternet.org/drugs/surveillance-video-shows-police-informant-planting-drugs?akid=10737.221277.sWIwhr&rd=1&src=newsletter874664&t=7

July 23, 2013

And yet once again the little fish will get eaten

and the big fish will swim away with the worm.

***


SEC Tries Last Ditch Move to Put SAC’s Cohen Out of Work
Jul 22, 2013 12:22 PM CT


In an administrative action that constitutes its first formal salvo against Cohen, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission alleged he failed to supervise two wayward portfolio managers and ignored “red flags.” The agency stops short of accusing the owner of SAC Capital Advisors LP of insider trading. While the proceeding may result in his being barred from managing other people’s money, it won’t carry the potential penalties available if the SEC had sued him. It also pales in comparison to a grand jury indictment for securities fraud, and the 20 year prison term a conviction could bring.

Instead, the SEC claim that Cohen should have known two of his subordinates were using material, non-public information to rack up hundreds of millions of dollars in trading profits will be easier to prove. The regulator will have a lesser burden of proof and won’t have to deal with all of the protections afforded a defendant in a lawsuit, let alone a prosecution.

“They are using an Al Capone-style tactic,” said John Coffee of Columbia Law School, referring to the prosecution of the Chicago gangster in 1931 on charges of tax evasion. “The SEC is aiming at his kneecaps, not his jugular,” he said. “This is a little like catching John Dillinger entering a bank with a submachine gun and charging him with double parking.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-07-21/sec-tries-al-capone-tactic-to-put-sac-s-cohen-out-of-business.html?alcmpid=markets

July 18, 2013

Okay, I'm a tad confused but I'm also new so that might be the problemI

I just got a post hidden. Which is fine. But I would like to know what this means:

CONSEQUENCES OF THIS DECISION

You will no longer be able to participate in this discussion thread,

OKAY, NOT A PROBLEM


and you will not be able to start a new discussion thread in this forum until 12:09 AM.

THAT'S FINE. NO BIG DEAL


This hidden post has been added to your <a href="/?com=profile&uid=305962&sub=trans">Transparency page</a>.

SO WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?

WHAT'S TABOO AND WHAT ISN'T? I didn't think I said anything too crazy considering someone told me to quit sucking tit tonight. So what is the criteria for avoiding this? And what are the ramifications?