June 19, 2013

Politics

  • Compromise among senators eyed on border security - June 19 2013 15:51

    People shout out against the Strengthen and Fortify Enforcement Act in the hall outside the House Judiciary Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, June 18, 2013. The committee in the Republican-led House is preparing to cast its first votes on immigration this year, on a tough enforcement-focused measure that Democrats and immigrant groups are protesting loudly. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)WASHINGTON (AP) — After secretive talks, key senators express optimism they are closing in on a bipartisan agreement to toughen the border security requirements in immigration legislation that also offers a path to citizenship to millions living in the country illegally.


  • Senate backs Froman as next trade representative - June 19 2013 15:46
    WASHINGTON (AP) — Michael Froman, a senior White House economic adviser and classmate of President Barack Obama at Harvard Law School, on Wednesday won Senate confirmation to be the next U.S. trade representative.
  • Obama making plans to tackle global warming - June 19 2013 15:39

    President Barack Obama speaks in front of the iconic Brandenburg Gate in Berlin Germany, Wednesday, June 19, 2013. Obama is planning a major push using executive powers to tackle the pollution blamed for global warming in an effort to make good on promises he made at the start of his second term. "We know we have to do more — and we will do more," Obama said in Berlin. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is planning a major push using executive powers to tackle the pollution blamed for global warming in an effort to make good on promises he made at the start of his second term. "We know we have to do more — and we will do more," Obama said Wednesday in Berlin.


  • Mueller: FBI uses drones for surveillance - June 19 2013 15:38

    FBI Director Robert Mueller testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, June 19, 2013, before the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on national security matters. As Mueller nears the end of his 12 years as head of the law enforcement agency, lawmakers questioned him about the IRS, surveillance activities, and the Boston Marathon bombing. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)WASHINGTON (AP) — The FBI uses drones for surveillance of stationary subjects, and the privacy implications of such operations are "worthy of debate," FBI Director Robert Mueller said Wednesday.


  • House votes to cut food stamps - June 19 2013 15:30
    WASHINGTON (AP) — The House has voted to cut food stamps by $2 billion a year.
  • Weiner Won't Get Women's Votes but He'll Take Their Money - June 19 2013 14:17

    Weiner Won't Get Women's Votes but He'll Take Their MoneyAnthony Weiner is holding a fundraiser called "Women for Weiner" next week, Politico's Maggie Haberman reports. The politicians who really need "Women for…" groups are the ones who have women problems. Weiner is one of those guys, having apologized for tweeting a photo of his crotch, and explained in an excruitiating interview with The New York Times Magazine that he did it because he just wanted people to like him. The New York City mayoral candidate is now going where Herman Cain and Todd Akin have boldly gone before.


  • Obama job approval unchanged, views of economy improve - June 19 2013 13:09
    President Barack Obama's job approval rating slipped slightly to 49 percent in June despite controversies over National Security Agency surveillance and the IRS targeting of conservative groups, according to a new poll from the nonpartisan Pew Research Center. Oh, and fewer Americans are using the word "socialist" now than in early 2009 as a one-word [...]
  • Bloomberg Group Called Tsarnaev a Gun Victim on a List It Copied from Slate - June 19 2013 12:23

    Bloomberg Group Called Tsarnaev a Gun Victim on a List It Copied from SlateMayor Michael Bloomberg's organization Mayors Against Illegal Guns organized an event in Concord, New Hampshire, yesterday, during which the names of victims of gun violence since Newtown were read for several hours. Included among those names: Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the Boston bombing suspect killed during a shoot-out with police. But the group suggests it's not their fault. Tsarnaev's name came from a list posted at Slate.com, as Bloomberg's group told The Atlantic Wire on Wednesday afternoon.


  • FBI Nails an Alleged KKK Member for Wacky Terrorist Death Ray Plot - June 19 2013 12:20

    FBI Nails an Alleged KKK Member for Wacky Terrorist Death Ray PlotOne of the FBI's methods of fighting terrorism in America is to have undercover agents or informants recruit Muslims for fake terror groups, give them ideas for fake terror plots, and in some cases, arm them with fake terrorist weapons. For those troubled by these methods, perhaps it will be some comfort to know the FBI also recruits white guys as terrorists. Glendon Scott Crawford has been charged with trying to create a mobile radiation death ray to sell to Jewish groups and the Ku Klux Klan, according to a federal complaint unsealed on Wednesday. ...


  • Letter at auction shows Washington’s thoughts about the Constitution - June 19 2013 12:16
    A very rare private letter from George Washington is on the auction block on Friday, but what is priceless to scholars are the first president’s private thoughts about the Constitution.
  • NYC mayoral hopeful Christine Quinn’s memoir so far sells just 100 copies - June 19 2013 12:01
    Christine Quinn is vying to be New York City’s first female and first openly gay mayor, but even as polls suggest she still remains the candidate to beat, it appears Quinn will not add the title of “best-selling author” to her resume. The New York Times reports that Quinn’s memoir, “With Patience and Fortitude,” sold [...]
  • Senate on Verge of Border-Security Deal - June 19 2013 11:50
    Senate negotiators are on the verge of a breakthrough on border security that is designed to bring a handful of Republicans on board for final passage of a sweeping immigration bill, lawmakers involved in the talks said Wednesday.
  • Wikileaks founder Assange: We are helping NSA leaker Snowden - June 19 2013 11:35
    Wikileaks founder Julian Assange said on Wednesday that his antisecrecy group has been in touch with National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden’s legal team in a bid to help him secure asylum in Iceland. “I feel a great deal of personal sympathy with Mr Snowden,” Assange told reporters on a conference call. He joined the [...]
  • The Science of Lisa Murkowski's Gay Marriage Evolution - June 19 2013 11:24

    The Science of Lisa Murkowski's Gay Marriage EvolutionSen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska has announced her support for same-sex marriage. This used to be a more common thing, back when there were more moderate and Democratic senators who hadn't yet made the announcement. Or who hadn't yet "evolved," as politicians say these days. Thanks to Murkowski, we now have a better sense for how long that evolution takes. And she was right on schedule.


  • New Probe Sought for 1996 Airline Disaster Off the Coast of Long Island, N.Y - June 19 2013 10:52
    The National Transportation Safety Board said Wednesday it is being petitioned to reactivate its investigation into the 1996 crash of TWA Flight 800, which disintegrated shortly after takeoff from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, killing all 230 on board. The request for a new probe came from former investigators who now claim they were silenced about the real cause of the disaster and that the official findings released by the government were "falsified."