Sens. John McCain and Chuck Schumer said they were encouraged after a meeting with President Obama at the White House Tuesday, saying he supports the immigration reform bill they plan to introduce tonight and hope to pass by June.
“We’re feeling very good about this,” Schumer said outside the West Wing. “The president’s supportive of our proposal.”
“The president realizes that everybody didn’t get what they wanted,” McCain said. “We appreciate the president’s support. We believe that that’s important as we move forward with the process.”
One of the things the president didn’t want, Schumer said, was a trigger that tied the opening of a pathway to citizenship to tighter border security. But, he said, he and the other members of the Gang of 8 senators who brokered the legislation felt it was important to prevent a so-called third wave of immigrants, who would flood the country and require another immigration-reform bill in the future.
McCain credited the election in November with helping to build support for the measure, and he said it has a much better chance of succeeding than previous efforts. “Most Americans support this proposal far more than did in 2007,” he said.
A Manchester, N.H., man was arrested Thursday after he attempted to steal a diamond engagement ring by swallowing it at Bellman’s Jewelers, reported WMUR-New Hampshire.
52-year-old Ronald Perley allegedly attempted to flee with a $2,000 white gold and diamond ring but was stopped by employee-controlled safety door looks.
“The gentleman walks in and says, ‘I’m looking for an engagement ring,’ so she brings him over to the showcase and she starts showing him a few rings,” said owner of Bellman’s Jewelers, David Bellman.
“While she’s doing that he takes one of the rings and says, ‘Thank you very much,’ and then goes to run out the door,” he said.
Perley can be seen on the store’s surveillance footage quickly putting the ring in his mouth, but according to employees, Perley refused to admit to any wrongdoing and waited peacefully for police.
A police official at a Massachusetts veterans hospital and a former New York City high school librarian were charged in a plot to kidnap, rape, torture and kill women, children and infants, authorities said Monday.
The case against Robert Christopher Asch, 61, and Richard Meltz, 65, was built by many of the same investigators who successfully prosecuted a former New York City police officer [Gilberto Valle] on kidnap conspiracy charges in a high-profile cannibalism plot case…
There was no mention of cooking or eating women in the charges unveiled Monday against Asch, a former librarian at Stuyvesant High School in lower Manhattan, and Meltz, the chief of police at the Bedford Veterans Administration Medical Center in Massachusetts. Both were ordered held without bail after an initial court appearance.
Authorities said in court papers filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan that the men conspired since the spring of 2011 to attack multiple victims, including the relatives of an unidentified co-conspirator who claimed in Internet communications that he wanted to solicit individuals to kidnap, rape and kill his wife, his sister-in-law and her children, and his stepdaughter. A criminal complaint said the men referred to the planned killings in communications as the “snuffing” of women, children and infants.
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2013-04-17 02:02:582013-04-17 02:02:58Police Chief, Former High School Librarian Charged in Kidnap, Rape, Torture, Murder Plot
In an interview on the Daily Rundown, Chuck Todd discusses with David Axelrod why Obama didn’t describe the bombings in Boston as a “terrorist attack.”
Axelrod says that Obama was thinking at the time of the bombing that “it was Tax Day, was it someone who was prot[esting]…”
Axelrod also contends that “terrorist attack” now means something different in the US than before 9/11 and that wrongly characterizing the bombings could have “reverberations all over the world.”
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2013-04-16 12:28:442013-04-16 12:28:44Axelrod: Obama Thinks Boston Bombings Could be Related to Tax Day (+video)
By Victor Medina. In the early hours after the Boston Marathon was attacked with multiple bomb blasts, both CNN and Esquire Magazine indulged in speculation that right wing extremists may be responsible for the attacks. In one instance, Esquire Magazine’s Charles P. Pierce attempted to link the bombings to right wing extremists similar to Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma City bomber. In another, CNN national security analyst Peter Bergen speculated that the type of bomb device could link it to right wing extremist groups:
Esquire’s Charles P. Pierce wrote in an online post on the magazine’s website that we should not jump to conclusions and blame foreign terrorists, then blames it on right-wing domestic terrorists. He stated “remember that this is the official Patriots Day holiday in Massachusetts, celebrating the Battles at Lexington and Concord, and that the actual date (April 19) was of some significance to, among other people, Tim McVeigh, because he fancied himself a waterer of the tree of liberty and the like.” Read more from this story HERE.
Boston Marathon bombing: The latest Patriots Day tragedy
By Emanuella Grinberg. It didn’t take long Monday for speculation to ramp up online over the timing of the Boston Marathon bombings, which came on Patriots Day, a state holiday in Massachusetts and Maine marking the anniversary of the opening battles of the American Revolutionary War.
The American uprising against British authority in Lexington, Massachusetts, was on April 19, 1775, but Patriots Day is celebrated on the third Monday in April, falling this year on April 15.
“It’s a day that celebrates the free and fiercely independent spirit that this great American city of Boston has reflected from the earliest days of our nation,” President Obama said Monday, a few hours after a pair of bombs rocked the finish line of the Boston Marathon, killing at least three and injuring dozens more.
For many New Englanders, it is a day of pride that comes with historical re-enactments, the Boston Marathon, baseball and a day off for schools and government employees.
It’s now a day that will go down in history along with other violent U.S. incidents in April, including the 1993 FBI siege of David Koresh’s compound in Waco, Texas, the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, a mass shooting at Columbine High School in 1999 and the Virginia Tech massacre in 2007. Read more from this story HERE.
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2013-04-16 03:32:052013-04-16 03:32:05CNN, Esquire Blame the 'Right Wing' For Boston Marathon Bombing
Video surveillance footage from an Albany Wal-Mart store shows a uniformed U.S. Army officer being attacked by a man who police say verbally harassed the soldier for his military service.
Albany police released the footage after charging 47-year-old Yiqiang Wu of Schenectady with assault as a hate crime for Thursday’s fight at a checkout line.
Capt. Andrew McClure of the New York Army National Guard told police that a man behind him in line began to yell derogatory comments about the United States and his service to the nation. Police say Wu then struck the officer several times in the face. The officer was treated at the scene.
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2013-04-16 03:29:042013-04-16 03:29:04Video: Man Attacks Uniformed Military Officer in Walmart, Charged with Hate Crime
New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof responded to the explosions that blasted the Boston Marathon on Monday with an eyebrow-raising comment about Republicans on Capitol Hill.
In a tweet during the aftermath of the apparent attacks, Kristof wrote, “Explosion is a reminder that ATF needs a director. Shame on Senate Republicans for blocking apptment.”
The columnist linked to a Feb. 1 article in the Washington Post about Republicans not supporting President Obama’s nominee to lead the Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives bureau.
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2013-04-16 03:24:352013-04-16 03:24:35NY Times Columnist Kristof Slams ‘Senate Republicans’ after Boston Explosions
An Alaska-based military policeman will serve 16 years in prison and will be dishonorably discharged for selling military secrets to a Russian agent, who was an undercover FBI agent, a military panel decided Monday.
A panel of eight military members from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage recommended a 19-year sentence for Spec. William Colton Millay, but that was dropped to 16 years because of a pretrial agreement. He will receive credit for the 535 days he’s been jailed since his Oct. 28, 2011, arrest. The panel also reduced him in rank to private and he will forfeit all pay and allowances.
Millay pleaded guilty last month to attempted espionage and other counts. A sentencing panel of male military members began deliberations late Monday afternoon.
Military prosecutors painted Millay as a white supremacist who was fed up with the Army and the United States, and was willing to sell secrets to an enemy agent, even if that would cost his fellow soldiers their lives. Defense attorneys said Millay was emotionally stunted, was only seeking attention and was a candidate for rehabilitation.
Millay’s attorney, Seattle-based Charles Swift, said they understand and accept the sentence. However, “We do intend to seek further clemency as this case goes forward for the reasons that were set forth in the trial: his mental state, his emotional age, and the motivation for it, and the circumstances.”
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2013-04-16 03:23:082013-04-16 03:23:08Alaska-Based Soldier Gets 16 Years in Spy Case
[T]he most shocking portion of today’s hearing revolved around Gosnell’s habit of storing the bodies of babies he butchered in abortions.
“This morning’s testimony from the medical examiner discussed remains of 47 babies found in cat food and cherry lime ade containers,” says Cheryl Sullenger of Operation Rescue, who is in the courtroom listening to the trial. “All containers contained bloody fluid and human remains.”
She said it took the medical examiner, Dr. Gulino, five days just to catalog the containers of fetal parts and the examiner also examined feet and lower extremity found in jars of formaldehyde belonging to five babies Gosnell killed. The ages of the unborn children ranged from first trimester to 22 weeks and the latter baby was possibly viable.
“Most fetuses he examined were found in cat food, other containers. Frozen in red plastic bags,” Sullenger said. “He never encountered situation before and attempted to get guidance. This case was ‘unprecedented’ he said”…
Gosnell faces 43 criminal counts, including eight counts of murder in the death of one patient, Karnamaya Monger, and seven newborn infants. Additional charges include conspiracy, drug delivery resulting in death, infanticide, corruption of minors, evidence tampering, theft by deception, abuse of corpse, and corruption. Gosnell could face the death penalty if convicted and he faces a mandatory minimum 20 years.
The Hawaii First Circuit Court judge ruled in favor of a Southern California couple who sued Aloha Bed & Breakfast for discrimination in 2011, Lambda Legal announced Monday. In 2007, Diane Cervelli and Taeko Bufford tried to book a room at the bed and breakfast because it’s in Hawaii Kai, the same east Honolulu neighborhood where the friend they were visiting lived.
When Cervelli specified they would need one bed, the owner asked if they were lesbians. Cervelli responded truthfully and the owner said she was uncomfortable having lesbians in her house because of her religious views, the lawsuit said.
The bed and breakfast violated the state public accommodations law and is ordered to stop discriminating against same-sex couples, according to the ruling dated April 11.
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00kathleenhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngkathleen2013-04-16 03:21:002013-04-16 03:21:00Judge: Lesbians' Right to Sleep Together Trumps Bed and Breakfast Owner's Religious Rights
