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January 2015

Posted by Amy Miller on January 04, 2015 4 Comments
Get ready for the next big net neutrality fight, because it's coming sooner than you think. The FCC has released statements indicating that it's ready to decide the future of the internet, and will do so at its February 26th monthly meeting. The Washington Post had it first:
President Obama's top telecom regulator, Tom Wheeler, told fellow FCC commissioners before the Christmas holiday that he intends to circulate a draft proposal internally next month with an eye toward approving the measure weeks later, said one official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the agency's deliberations are ongoing. The rules are meant to keep broadband providers such as Verizon and Comcast from speeding up or slowing down some Web sites compared to others. ... It's still unclear what rules Wheeler has in mind for Internet providers. Analysts and officials close to the agency say that momentum has been building recently for far more aggressive regulations than Wheeler had initially proposed. Advocates of strong net neutrality, including President Obama, have urged the FCC to begin regulating Internet service providers using the same law it uses to oversee telephone companies — Title II of the Communications Act. Industry advocates have resisted that call, saying the FCC should continue to lightly regulate Internet providers under Title I of the act.
If the vote proceeds as planned, it will mean that the FCC won't have time to process any remaining public comments on the issue. Although public opinion doesn't necessarily determine the outcome of these decisions, conservative groups like TechFreedom and American Commitment have largely dominated the official conversation via comment drives, which means that progressive, pro-net neutrality groups are going to have to take their fight to the mainstream media if they want to improve their optics. Both policy analysts and Republicans in Congress saw this move by the FCC coming, and lawmakers have taken steps to preempt the FCC from making new rules regulating internet providers:

Posted by Casey Breznick on January 04, 2015 5 Comments
With low oil prices threatening the country’s economic survival and the Islamic terrorist group Boko Haram threatening the lives citizens daily, Nigeria finds itself entering 2015 in a dangerous and deteriorating position. Back in April reports of Boko Haram’s abduction of 300 teenage girls in a Nigerian village shocked the mild sensibilities of the Western world. Despite a massive, multi-national search, none of the 219 unreturned girls has been found. Most likely, they were forcibly converted to Islam and wedded to guerilla fighters in Boko Haram, whose name means “Western education is forbidden.” Boko Haram traces its roots back to 2002 and is a group dedicated to establishing an Islamic caliphate in Nigeria, a country that is approximately half Christian and half Islamic. The northern half of the country is primarily Islamic, as well as mostly rural and poor, allowing Boko Haram to thrive in undeveloped swaths of territory and forested areas. Boko Haram experienced a resurgence in 2009 and 2010, coinciding almost with the start of the presidency of Goodluck Johnathan. In 2014, the group killed at least 2,000 civilians, according to a BBC report. Another source implicates them for as many as 8,362 deaths since May of 2011.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on January 04, 2015 53 Comments
Rep. Louie Gohmert announded on Fox and Friends this morning that he will challenge John Boehner for Speaker of the House:
Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) announced on "Fox and Friends Weekend" this morning that he will challenge John Boehner for Speaker of the House when Congress returns to Washington this week. "We have heard from a lot of Republicans that said, ‘Gee, I would vote for somebody besides Speaker Boehner.’ But nobody will put their name out there as running, so there's nobody else to vote for,” Gohmert told Tucker Carlson. Gohmert said that changed yesterday when Rep. Ted Yoho (R-MN) announced his candidacy. Gohmert then announced that he too will be a candidate for Speaker. "A poll came out Friday saying 60-percent or more of Republicans in the country that voted in the last election, including independents who voted Republican, they want a change, they want a different Speaker," he said. Gohmert said as Speaker, he would fight Obama's amnesty plan tooth and nail, use the powers of the purse, have better government oversight and fight to defund ObamaCare.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on January 04, 2015 10 Comments
Today Officer Wenjian Liu will be buried.  His partner, Rafael Ramos, was buried a week ago.  Both were assassinated by Ismaaiyl Brinsley, who posted online prior to the murders his anger over the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner. Officers attending the funeral have been ordered not to turn their backs on Mayor Bill de Blasio, as happened at the Ramos funeral. Wenjian Liu NYPD Funderal Podium Live Video and Twitter Coverage below.

Posted by Mike LaChance on January 04, 2015 13 Comments
Tax season is right around the corner and this year brings another consequence of the Affordable Care Act. Many Americans are going to discover that instead of getting a tax refund, they will owe money to the IRS. Tami Luhby of CNN Money reports:
Obamacare tax surprise looming Obamacare enrollees who received subsidies to help pay for coverage will soon have to reconcile how much they actually earned in 2014 with how much they estimated when they applied many, many months ago. This will likely lead to some very unhappy Americans. Those who underestimated their income either will receive smaller tax refunds or will owe the IRS money. That's because subsidies are actually tax credits and are based on annual income, but folks got their 2014 subsidy before knowing exactly what they'd make in 2014. So you'll have to reconcile the two with the IRS during the upcoming tax filing season. It won't be surprising if many enrollees guessed wrong. The sign up period began in October 2013 and many people did not know what they'd earn in 2014. Some went off what they earned in 2012... Those who underestimated their earnings could owe thousands of dollars, though there is a $2,500 cap for those who remain eligible for subsidies. The threshold for eligibility is based on income - $45,900 for an individual and $94,200 for a family in 2014.
Isn't it great how Democrats have tied our healthcare system to our tax system?

Posted by Amy Miller on January 04, 2015 4 Comments
Last time the Keystone XL Pipeline showed up on our radar, it was when embattled former Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu (D-efeated) attempted to use her support of the authorization bill to boost her spiraling poll numbers. That vote died at the hands of a single Democrat vote held hostage by former Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Landrieu lost the election, and Republicans left Washington ready to bide their time and pass Keystone with their incoming thin-but-comfortable majority. This time around, though, Republicans aren't just working to move a bill that by all accounts should pass the Senate without a second thought. On Thursday, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will hold a vote on legislation approving the pipeline; the bill is expected to move out of committee without much trouble, but this time around, Senate leadership is aiming not only for 60 votes, but for enough support to override a future Presidential veto. The first few weeks of the new Congress won't focus exclusively on energy, but instead on a series of issues Republicans are confident they can move through Congress and send to the President's desk. From Politico:
The goal, quite simply, is to begin passing bills that will clear both the House and the Senate and end up on President Barack Obama’s desk. Almost all of the bills Republicans will put on the floor passed the House last Congress, when Democrats held the majority in the Senate. The agenda was described by leadership aides who were not authorized to discuss the plan on the record.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on January 03, 2015 37 Comments
Reports are that tonight will be Mike Huckabee's last Saturday night show due to some political announcement he's probably going to be making, if not tonight then soon. Huckabee issued the following statement:
Governor Mike Huckabee will announce tonight on his Fox News show that he is leaving the network after six-and-a-half years as the host of "Huckabee." To close out his final show, Gov. Huckabee said: "Tonight I will do more than just say goodnight. I will say goodbye. This is the last edition of 'Huckabee' on the Fox News Channel. It's been the ride of a lifetime, and I have never had so much fun in my life. But I also realize that God hasn't put me on earth just to have a good time or to make a good living, but rather has put me on earth to try to make a good life. "There has been a great deal of speculation as to whether I would run for President. If I were willing to absolutely rule that out, I could keep doing this show. But I can't make such a declaration. I won't make a decision about running until late in the spring of 2015, but the continued chatter has put Fox News into a position that is not fair to them nor is it possible for me to openly determine political and financial support to justify a race. The honorable thing to do at this point is to end my tenure here at Fox. As much as I have loved doing the show, I cannot bring myself to rule out another Presidential run. So as we say in television, stay tuned!"
So what do you think? Should he run?

Posted by William A. Jacobson on January 03, 2015 12 Comments
King v. Burwell is the case the Supreme Court agreed to hear involving Obamacare subsidies on federal exchange. You will recall that the legal issue is whether the IRS violated the express provisions of Obamacare by issuing rules allowing taxpayers to claims federal subsidies when purchasing on the federal exchange, even though the language of the statute appears not to allow that. In King, the Fourth Circuit ruled that there was possible ambiguity and another potential reading of the law, such that apparently clear language was not that clear, giving the IRS leeway to interpret the statute. In another case, Halbig v. Burwell, a D.C. Circuit panel had ruled that the subsidies were not available on the federal exchange, but that ruling was vacated pending the entire D.C. Circuit Court hearing the case en banc. In a surprise move, the Supreme Court agreed to hear the King case even though there was no split in the Circuits (after the Halbig decision was vacated). King will be one of the biggest decisions of this term, and if the Obama administration loses the case, it could be the death of Obamacare as we know it, because 37 states have refused to create state exchanges. Obamacare is affordable only with subsidies, and if the subsidies are not available to citizens of 37 states, the system likely collapses. One key issue is whether the wording of the statute was a mistake or misstatement, or reflected a logical policy. Obamacare was set up in such a way as to put pressure on states to create state exchanges by providing for federal subsidies in the form of tax credits only for purchases on state exchanges. This was a conscious decision, as explained by none other than Jonathan Gruber: Into the fray leaps Mark Levin and his Landmark Legal Foundation, which just filed a friend of the court, Amicus Curiae Brief. The full Brief is embedded below.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on January 03, 2015 8 Comments
Some Americans are experiencing an entirely different way of "painting the town red" this New Year. Measles infections are being reported in a number of states. North Carolina's case is sparking concerns about a possible outbreak.
A case of red measles, also known as Rubeola, was diagnosed earlier this week in Moorseville, North Carolina -- worrying health officials and highlighting the renewed threat of measles in this country. The infected person was unvaccinated and had recently returned from a trip to India confirmed Rebecca Carter, the public information officer for Mecklenburg county. Carter said she could not release any additional details such as the age or sex of the person due to patient confidentiality. Dr. William Schaffner said this case is no trivial matter, warning that measles is highly contagious, spreading easily through coughing and sneezing. Symptoms include high fever, cough, runny nose, red eyes and sore throat followed by a rash that spreads all over the body. It can also lead to death, he added. “People without gray hair forget that before vaccines became available, measles used to kill approximately 400 children a year in this country,” he said.
Pennsylvania health officials are sounding the alarm about the potential spread of the disease at a popular children's spot in the Philadelphia area.

Posted by Mike LaChance on January 03, 2015 14 Comments
Democrats, who have spent the better part of the last six years politicizing... everything, are suddenly concerned that Republicans might politicize the Congressional Budget Office with a new appointment. Vicki Needham of The Hill reported:
Dems warn GOP: No 'ideologue' in budget job Senate Democrats are warning Republicans to tread carefully with their selection of a budget scorekeeper for the new Congress, saying they will “strongly object to any effort to politicize this important office." "Appointing a new [Congressional Budget Office] director on the basis of ideology would fundamentally compromise the integrity of an institution that has served as a trusted scorekeeper," a group of Senate Democrats wrote in a letter sent to Republican leaders and budget chairmen. As one of their first acts this year Republicans must decide whether to give another term to Douglas Elmendorf, the director of the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). While the CBO job is little-known outside Washington, it holds enormous power. The “scores” handed out by the office — measuring the impact of legislation on the budget — are often make-or-break for legislation, particularly if a bill is found to add to the deficit.
Too bad Senate Democrats didn't have the same concerns about politicization when they released the so-called "torture report" last month, huh?

Posted by Amy Miller on January 03, 2015 21 Comments
Between the President's executive orders, a spiraling health care delivery infrastructure, and a bloated welfare state, candidates gearing up for a run in 2016 have no shortage of material for stump speeches and e-mail blasts. But, as anyone who has looked at the data from previous cycles knows, some issues move voters to the polls, while others move voters to remain on the couch rating movies on Netflix. Willingness to prioritize issues has been a problem for the right at least as long as I've been involved in politics. We worry that strategically promoting, say, conservative economic policies, means that we're somehow downplaying the importance of other issues such as abortion, immigration, or the country's whirling moral compass. I don't have a solution to this problem; but as a strategist, when it comes to choosing which issues to throw on the front burner during a political campaign, I look to the data. A new poll by Gallup rounds up the top concerns of Americans in 2014, and offers valuable insight for those looking to get an early start on platform building. 2014 was unique in that over the course of the year, four issues dominated the conversation enough to break double digits in the percentage of people who thought that particular problem was the nation's most troubling. Gallup explains how the numbers have shifted:

Posted by Amy Miller on January 02, 2015 12 Comments
There are some narratives that not even MSNBC should be expected to screw up---and yet, here we are. Today, Tamron Hall hosted former New Mexico Governor and UN Ambassador Bill Richardson to talk about Kim Jong Un's barely-precedented call for a summit between between the leadership of North Korea and South Korea. Throughout the interview, Richardson did a good job of pointing out how erratic the actions of North Korean regime has been, and was quick to put a damper on hopeful expectations that this proposed summit could mean a change in how the divided countries interact with one another. Then, of course, whatever is in the water over at MSNBC's studios seeped in to Richardson's consciousness and took the wheel. When asked about the possibility of Kim Jung Un wanting to define himself as a leader, Richardson went off the rails and blamed the media for North Korea's problems: Politico has the money quote:
“He has been the victim, Kim Jong Un, of a lot of bad press, a lot of bad international attention, with the Sony hacking, with [being] taken to the International Criminal Court by some U.N. countries, a number of other very destabilizing moves that he has made, shooting the missiles, nuclear testing,” Richardson said on Friday on MSNBC’s “News Nation with Tamron Hall.”
Watch it here:

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on January 02, 2015 24 Comments
New dietary guidelines being considered by the Agricultural Department take into consideration "environmental cost." The USDA's recommendations eventually trickle down into school lunches and other federal programs. Every five years the USDA updates their dietary guidelines. Remember when we lost the iconic food pyramid to the "My Plate" thing? That was all the USDA's doing. And we all know how well it goes when government restrictions end up on school lunch plates... According to the AP:
That means that when the latest version of the government's dietary guidelines comes out, it may push even harder than it has in recent years for people to choose more fruits, vegetables, nuts, whole grains and other plant-based foods — at the expense of meat. The beef and agriculture industries are crying foul, saying an environmental agenda has no place in what has always been a practical blueprint for a healthy lifestyle. The advisory panel has been discussing the idea of sustainability in public meetings, indicating that its recommendations, expected early this year, may address the environment. A draft recommendation circulated last month said a sustainable diet helps ensure food access for both the current population and future generations. A dietary pattern higher in plant-based foods and lower in animal-based foods is "more health promoting and is associated with lesser environmental impact than is the current average U.S. diet," the draft said.
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