The Obama Administration's strategy to flood the health care exchanges with healthy Americans has backfired. ...
By a 9-0 vote, the justices said smart phones and other electronic devices were not in the same category as wallets, briefcases, and vehicles -- all currently subject to limited initial examination by law enforcement. Generally such searches are permitted if there is "probable cause" that a crime has been committed, to ensure officers' safety and prevent destruction of evidence.Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the opinion in Riley v. California and Justice Antonin Scalia agreed with the majority but wrote a concurring opinion. In the ruling Roberts strongly cited the Fourth Amendment's protection of an individual rights and the advances of technology that the cellphone represents.
We cannot deny that our decision today will have an impact on the ability of law enforcement to combat crime. Cell phones have become important tools in facilitating coordination and communication among members of criminal enterprises, and can provide valuable incriminating information about dangerous criminals. Privacy comes at a cost. Our cases have recognized that the Fourth Amendment was the founding generation’s response to the reviled “general warrants” and “writs of assistance” of the colonial era, which allowed British officers to rummage through homes in an unrestrained search for evidence of criminal activity. Opposition to such searches was in fact one of the driving forces behind the Revolution itself. In 1761, the patriot James Otis delivered a speech in Boston denouncing the use of writs of assistance. A young John Adams was there, and he would later write that “[e]very man of a crowded audience appeared to me to go away, as I did, ready to take arms against writs of assistance.” According to Adams, Otis’s speech was “the first scene of the first act of opposition to the arbitrary claims of Great Britain. Then and there the child Independence was born.”
Two veterans in a Veterans Affairs psychiatric facility languished for years without proper treatment, according to a scathing letter and report sent Monday to the White House by the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, or OSC. In one case, a veteran with a service-connected psychiatric condition was in the facility for eight years before he received a comprehensive psychiatric evaluation; in another case, a veteran only had one psychiatric note in his medical chart in seven years as an inpatient at the Brockton, Massachusetts, facility. Examples such as those are the core of the report released Monday by the OSC, an independent government agency that protects whistleblowers.The OSC letter/report references issues at a number of VA facilities, including several previously reported problems at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Jackson, Mississippi that were noted in a September 17, 2013 letter. The OSC concluded in that earlier letter that “[T]he Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has consistently failed to take responsibility for identified problems. Even in cases of substantiated misconduct, including acknowledged violations of state and federal law, the VA routinely suggests that the problems do not affect patient care.” The report also goes on to note that OSC currently has over 50 pending cases of whistleblower disclosures from VA employees that “allege threats to patient health or safety,” 29 of which have been referred to the VA for investigation.
Republican incumbent Richard Hanna either is a liberal or "moderate" Republican, depending who you ask. Few people call him a conservative, and he's rated as one of the most liberal Republicans in Congress.
Hanna was challenged by Claudia Tenney, a conservative, Tea Party Republican state assemblywoman.
The race was far tighter than the mainstream media expected. At the end of the evening, Hanna won by about 1600 votes, 52.8% to 47.2%. To barely win, Hanna and his supportive SuperPACs spent $2 million to Tenney's $150,000.
Contrary to how many in the media are portraying the race, Hanna did not win because he was liberal or moderate. To the contrary, Hanna's campaign and SuperPACs supporting him ran away from his "moderate" label and fully towards portraying Hanna as the more conservative candidate.
Did Hillary Clinton disagree with Obama on using the video lie to handle the Benghazi spin, despite the fact that she ultimately went along with it?...
Story of #NY22 is that liberal Hanna wins by SuperPACs portraying him as more conserv than real conserv opponent http://t.co/ExcSqfjugV
— Legal Insurrection (@LegInsurrection) June 25, 2014For ppl reporting on #NY22 1st time tonite -- Hanna SuperPACs attacked Tenney as not conserv - false but effective http://t.co/COmfEbSSU7
— Legal Insurrection (@LegInsurrection) June 25, 2014Tenney says she's proud of results so far, comparing her grassroots, $150K campaign to the $2m in super PACs from Hanna. #NY22
— Nick Will (@DispatchNick) June 25, 2014
Cochran wins MS GOP Senate primary runoff; 98.5% reporting. (#MSSEN) http://t.co/AroEEKRBHu
— Legal Insurrection (@LegInsurrection) June 25, 2014#Sen Thad Cochran celebrates with supporters. #GOP Primary #mssen #mcdaniel @clarionledger http://t.co/5zHB2VBi2Y pic.twitter.com/KF9sdmtxRt
— G. Jenson (@gcjenson1) June 25, 2014
U.S. President Barack Obama promised ...to beef up military support for eastern European members of the NATO alliance who fear they could be next in the firing line after the Kremlin's intervention in Ukraine. Under attack from critics at home who say his leadership on the world stage has not been muscular enough, Obama unveiled plans to spend up to $1 billion in supporting and training the armed forces of NATO states on Russia's borders. The White House also said it would review permanent troop deployments in Europe in the light of the Ukraine crisis -- though that fell short of a firm commitment to put troops on the ground that Poland and some of its neighbors had sought.This is in addition to the U.S. Army paratroopers who were sent to Poland in April for a series of military exercises in four countries across Eastern Europe to counter the crisis in Ukraine. However, it seems that in some quarters of that country, Polish opinion of our assistance is on par with the substantially decreased popularity of our Commander-in-Chief. A Polish news magazine provided excerpts of a secretly recorded conversation with Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski, during which he called his country's ties with the US "worthless".
According to a transcript of excerpts of the conversation that was published by Wprost on its Internet site, Sikorski told Rostowski: "You know that the Polish-US alliance isn't worth anything." "It is downright harmful, because it creates a false sense of security ... Complete bullshit. We'll get in conflict with the Germans, Russians and we'll think that everything is super, because we gave the Americans a blow job. Losers. Complete losers."
“Other countries know how to do this,” Obama said. “If France can figure this out, we can figure it out.” “Many women can't even get a paid day off to give birth,” Obama said. “There is only one developed country in the world that does not offer paid maternity leave, and that is us. And that is not a list you want to be on, by your lonesome.”On the surface, this sounds like a fair enough argument, but then so does raising the minimum wage... until you consider the numeric reality. Unlike the United States, France's unemployment rate clocks in at a steady 10% for workers over 25. Under 25, the rate is closer to 25% unemployed. For perspective, the US and the UK both hover around a 6% unemployment rate. But that's not the only factor worth considering. Remember the infamous 75% tax? That was France, all France. Take a look at where France ranks in taxation comparable to the United States: [caption id="attachment_90228" align="aligncenter" width="639"]
Source: Tax Policy Center[/caption]
Tax conditions in France are so horrid, that entrepreneurs are fleeing to countries with more agreeable taxation rates. The New York Times discussed this phenomenon. This aspiring entrepreneur left for the UK:
A Shorewood man has been charged with more than a dozen counts of illegal voting, accused of casting multiple ballots in four elections in 2011 and 2012, including five in the 2012 gubernatorial recall. Robert D. Monroe, 50, used addresses in Shorewood, Milwaukee and Indiana, according to the complaint, and cast some votes in the names of his son and his girlfriend's son.Does this matter? Yes, of course. We have seen razor-tight elections. A few votes here or there could make a difference.
One wonders if they had to work extra hard to get four errors into a single headline, or if it's just a talent. I guess we'll never know, because no authorship is associated with the piece. If I'd written this post, I'd want to be anonymous, too. Let's take a look at the errors one at a time.Marissa Alexander, who fired warning shot at husband attacking her, likely won't see prison after Florida changes 'Stand Your Ground' law
AP has called #OKSen open seat GOP primary for Lankford.
— John Celock (@JohnCelock) June 25, 2014
We all know as much as I love Thad Cochran, he's an appropriator and I have fought him hard time after time after time on these pork barrel projects he's been famous for, many of which in my view have been harmful to the economy and harmful to our environment. We've had strong words from time to time about pork barrel spending. He's one of the great pork barrelers and he's very proud of that.Emphasis mine, because well, that's the money line. You can watch McCain's 2008 remarks here:
