US Politics Mega-thread - Page 1566

On January 07 2015 19:23 RvB wrote:
Why does the tea party matter? If it's a compromise between the president and the republicans shouldn't democrats in Congress also vote for the bills?

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — Authorities are looking for a man who may have information about a homemade explosive that someone set off near the Colorado Springs chapter of the NAACP.

The blast happened Tuesday outside a barber shop that's next door to the group's office, which is about an hour south of Denver. There were no injuries and only minor damage, police said.

An improvised explosive device was detonated against the building, but it was too soon to know whether the nation's oldest civil rights organization was the target, FBI spokeswoman Amy Sanders said. The agency sent members of its Joint Terrorism Task Force to help investigate.

Sanders said investigators were looking for a balding white man in his 40s who may be driving a dirty pickup truck. It could have an open tailgate or a missing or covered license plate.

Investigators Tuesday were examining a red gasoline canister with a yellow nozzle that had been placed next to the explosive device but did not ignite. They also checked pieces of duct tape and metal lying 40 to 50 feet away from the explosion site.

Something surprising happened in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives Wednesday afternoon: the chamber, with a large Republican majority, failed to pass a GOP-backed jobs regulation and reform bill.

The bill was expected to pass handily but since it was being treated as a "suspension" Democrats were able to defeat it.

Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) quickly released a statement hailing the unexpected victory and highlighted aspects of the legislation that would have undercut parts of Dodd-Frank and the Volcker rule in particular.

"I’m proud House Democrats stood together today to protect critical Wall Street reforms," Ellison said in a statement. "Families are only now starting to recover from the devastating financial crisis. Congress must strengthen and fully enforce the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act."

The surprising defeat is reminiscent of a surprise rejection of a farm bill House Republicans brought to a vote June 2013 even though they controlled the chamber.

Other Democrats said the entire skirmish showed the level of Wall Street's infestation in Congress.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler today is proposing to raise the definition of broadband from 4Mbps downstream and 1Mbps upstream to 25Mbps down and 3Mbps up.

As part of the Annual Broadband Progress Report mandated by Congress, the Federal Communications Commission has to determine whether broadband “is being deployed to all Americans in a reasonable and timely fashion.” The FCC’s latest report, circulated by Wheeler in draft form to fellow commissioners, “finds that broadband is not being deployed to all Americans in a reasonable and timely fashion, especially in rural areas, on Tribal lands, and in US Territories,” according to a fact sheet the FCC provided to Ars.

The FCC also gets to define what speeds qualify as broadband, or “advanced telecommunications capability,” as it’s called in policy documents. The FCC last updated that definition in 2010, raising it from 200Kbps to the current 4/1 standard. The Telecommunications Act of 1996 said that advanced telecommunications capability must “enable users to originate and receive high-quality voice, data, graphics, and video telecommunications using any technology.” Wheeler’s proposed annual report says the 4/1 definition adopted in 2010 “is inadequate for evaluating whether broadband capable of supporting today’s high-quality voice, data, graphics, and video is being deployed to all Americans in a timely way.” (Despite the annual requirement, this would be the first such report since 2012.)

Wheeler previously considered raising the standard to 10Mbps downstream, but left the door open for a definition of 25Mbps. In a related proceeding, the FCC ruled last month that ISPs receiving Universal Service funds to build rural broadband networks must provide at least 10Mbps downstream and 1Mbps upstream. AT&T and Verizon had objected to the 10Mbps requirement, claiming that 4Mbps is good enough for Americans.

The bill was sponsored by Representative Chris Stewart (R-UT), and passed the House on a vote of 229 to 191 – on what amounts to a party-line vote, with one Republican voting against the bill and only 4 Democrats voting in favor. All of the bill’s 21 co-sponsors are also Republican.

If passed, the new law would require that ten percent of SAB members be employed by a state, local or tribal government, regardless of any scientific expertise. It also would prohibit an SAB member from participating in “advisory activities that directly or indirectly involve review and evaluation of their own work,” but does not clearly define what indirect involvement means. “Determining the practical meaning of “indirect” involvement will be difficult and consequently problematic to implement,” writes the OMB. The bottom line on the bill is that its provisions could mean excluding scientists from the EPA’s Scientific Advisory Boards in order to meet its membership requirements. In the White House’s view, H.R. 1422, would also add additional requirements that could make it harder for the science panels to carry out their work.

On January 09 2015 07:13 Introvert wrote:
In other news,goodbye Senator Boxer.

I just wish Dianne Feinstein was leaving. At least Boxer didn't make a lot of noise.

On January 09 2015 07:49 xDaunt wrote:

Hah, Feinstein is far more palatable than Boxer. At least Feinstein is halfway competent on foreign policy and intelligence issues.

On January 09 2015 08:32 Liquid`Drone wrote:
maybe she knew it wasn't loaded or somethin

On January 09 2015 08:35 oneofthem wrote:
that post just tells me you are loafing around some gun right activist forum and she's one of the antichrist figures

On January 09 2015 08:21 Millitron wrote:

Yeah, defending the NSA surveillance and disregarding gun safety is totally palatable.


She's breaking just about every rule of firearm safety. Finger is on the trigger, muzzle is pointed at the crowd, bolt is closed.

And yet she claims to know enough about guns to legislate about them.

On January 09 2015 08:55 GreenHorizons wrote:
I'm all for congress getting younger.

The picture does say a lot. one's pretty right on for that.

It's also true that she doesn't know much about guns. Ensuring a weapon isn't loaded isn't something you can trust an aide to do. I doubt she made sure the chamber was clear herself and she is breaking a lot of common sense gun safety procedures.

This bothers me just as much as the science crap or not even knowing what an ATM is. She thinks guns are dangerous and wants to legislate away the danger, but she doesn't/can't observe basic gun safety herself. Our legislators ignorance of the matters they legislate is bothersome regardless of where it falls politically.

On January 09 2015 08:57 farvacola wrote:
Really now, let's not play the "who can find a picture of someone using poor trigger discipline" game because the knife cuts both ways, muchacho.

Pentagon's Money-Saver: U.S. Troops To Leave 15 European Sites

The Pentagon announced a plan on Thursday to save a half-billion dollars annually in a major scaling back of the U.S. military presence in Europe — including a withdrawal from an airbase in the U.K. and handing back 14 other sites to NATO allies.

It also said that its presence at one British airbase would be beefed up as part of a planned deployment of the F-35 fighter aircraft.

The U.S. has more than 60,000 troops stationed primarily in Britain, Germany and Italy. The changes would affect mainly the Army and Air Force.

The Associated Press notes: "The restructuring will take place over the next several years, and the first F-35 aircraft would arrive in the U.K. in 2020. They will replace F-15 fighter jets, which are leaving."

Two operational squadrons of the F-35 Lightning II joint strike fighter are eventually to be stationed at RAF Lakenheath, about 70 miles northeast of London.

Facilities in Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy and Portugal would be closed between 2018 and 2021 under the plan, according to The Hill. ...