GOP-Controlled Senate May Reject House Bill Defunding Obama’s Amnesty

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By David Lawder. U.S. Senate Republicans on Tuesday said it was unclear if they could pass a Department of Homeland Security funding bill that blocks President Barack Obama’s immigration initiatives, raising an early stumbling block for the new Republican Congress.

Senate Republicans acknowledged that the measure, expected to win approval in the House of Representatives on Wednesday, may not get the 60 Senate votes needed to clear procedural hurdles erected by Democrats.

Republicans have a 54-46 Senate majority and would need to persuade some Democrats to vote against Obama’s executive action to lift the threat of deportation for millions of undocumented immigrants. The House measure is expected to ban money from being used to implement the order.

“If we can’t pass the House bill we’d have to come up with an idea of what could pass the Senate,” said John Cornyn of Texas, the Senate’s second-ranking Republican. (Read more about the GOP-controlled senate decision HERE)

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Obama’s Immigration Actions Raising Concerns

By Kelley Beaucar Vlahos. Nearly two months after President Obama announced his immigration executive actions, questions remain over whether the Department of Homeland Security can be ready to process millions of additional immigrants through an already-burdened system.

DHS is on a hiring spree as it sets an ambitious schedule – outlined in a recent memo from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the DHS agency in charge of processing the requests — for accepting new applicants.

The agency plans to begin accepting applications in late February under an expanded program for those who came to the U.S. illegally as children (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA). And the agency is looking to May to implement the biggest, and most controversial, plank of Obama’s plan – effectively legalizing potentially millions of parents of U.S. citizens and legal residents.

But the colossal effort, on a tight timetable, perhaps inevitably has some questioning whether they can pull it off. (Read more about the concerns on Obama’s immigration actions HERE)

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Banner Around NYC Calls for Mayor de Blasio to ‘Get Off the Pot’

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By Bruce Golding. The latest pro-cop banner to fly over New York City blasted Mayor Bill de Blasio on Tuesday morning with a sly reference to his admitted past drug use.

“DE BLASIO GET OFF THE POT. RESIGN. WE ♥ NYPD,” the aerial message read.

De Blasio — who infamously appeared bleary-eyed and baked in his college yearbook photo — last week denied smoking pot inside Gracie Mansion in response to a question posed at a news conference.

“I haven’t smoked marijuana since I was at NYU,” he said to chuckles from his aides.

An organizer behind the high-flying dig at Hizzoner insisted the banner was aimed only at prompting a decision by de Blasio to abandon City Hall — and that any allusion to drugs was unintentional. (Read more about the banner around NYC HERE)

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Tempers Flare at PBA Meeting Where Patrick Lynch Says De Blasio Owes an Apology

By Rocco Parascandola. Shouting and shoving erupted among cops at a tense Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association meeting in Queens on Tuesday, according to union sources.

Tempers flared toward the end of the nearly two-hour session at Antun’s in Queens Village when some members began yelling at PBA President Patrick Lynch over his declaration that Mayor de Blasio owes cops an apology.

“This is what my members want: they want more cars, better vests, more manpower,” one cop shouted, according to the sources. “They don’t want an apology.”

Another union member told Lynch: “I don’t care about an apology. I want to know what you’re going to do to protect us.”

Lynch said he disagreed about the importance of an apology, according to the sources. (Read more from this story HERE)

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Scandal-Plagued Democrat Reelected While in Prison

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A state lawmaker who resigned his seat following a sex scandal involving a teenage employee won it back during a special election Tuesday.

The majority of voters in Joseph D. Morrissey’s Richmond-area House of Delegates district appeared to be okay with his conviction in the scandal involving his 17-year-old secretary, whose nude photo was found on his cellphone and allegedly shared with a friend. Morrissey has repeatedly denied the allegations, saying his phone was hacked. The young woman, who denies they had sex, is now pregnant.

In unofficial returns, Morrissey defeated Democrat Kevin J. Sullivan and Republican Matt D. Walton by more than 2,800 votes. Morrissey won 42 percent of the vote, compared to 33 percent for Sullivan and 24 percent for Walton.

Morrissey’s victory was not unprecedented: Through four previous elections, most voters overlooked or even embraced the lawmaker’s flamboyant history of fistfights, contempt-of-court citations and disbarment. The 57-year-old bachelor, who fathered three children out of wedlock with three different women, repeatedly won at least 70 percent of the vote as a Democrat.

Morrissey said in a telephone interview that the results show people aren’t interested in the drama that landed him in jail. (Read more about the politician reelected while in prison HERE)

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Obama Hopes ‘Climate of Fear’ Will Boost Cyber Security Push

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President Obama is banking that a spate of high-profile hacks at major American companies will help his new cybersecurity standards succeed where others failed.

The president called Monday for separate bills that would require companies to notify customers within 30 days if their personal information had been compromised and prohibit the selling of student data to third parties for non-education purposes.

But for Obama to leverage the panic over data breaches at Sony Pictures Entertainment, Target and Home Depot, he’ll have to navigate between governmental and business bureaucracies and find a solution amenable to both sides.

As the president laid out his recommendations, the extent of the cyber problem was made even clearer, when hackers tied to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria took over the U.S. Central Command Twitter feed.

The broader challenge for the White House now is determining how to address concerns among private companies about the extent of information they would have to turn over to the federal government in warding off cyber attacks. And government agencies already under fire for cyber snooping would also have to consent to sharing a greater level of data with private businesses, a development that makes some in the intelligence community uneasy. (Read more about Obama’s cyber security push HERE)

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While Overall Jobless Numbers Remain at Record Highs, U.S. Job Openings Near 5 Million

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Photo Credit: Washington Examiner By Joseph Lawler. There were just under 5 million job postings advertised in November, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Tuesday.

The job openings number beat Wall Street’s expectations, as businesses continued to add positions at a fast pace toward the end of 2014.

Hiring was flat in the month, while job separations were down, according to the BLS’ Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey.

The data on job openings and hiring released by the Labor Department on Tuesday lags the more widely-followed jobs report by a month. Officials at the Federal Reserve and investors still watch the report closely, however, because it contains more detailed information about the state of labor markets in the U.S. relating to the pace of labor market churn.

With 4.97 million job openings advertised on the last day of November, total job openings were up 20 percent year over year. The highest job creation mark on record is 5.27 million, set in 2001. (Read more about “Job Openings Near 5 million” HERE)

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San Bernardino Ranked Worst in Nation for a Job

By Rob Mcmillan. San Bernarndino has been rated the worst place for finding a job in the nation, according to financial website WalletHub.

The website’s list featured 150 different cities ranked from best to worst with San Bernardino listed in the very last spot.

San Bernardino resident Kevin Kenaga said he is a good example of the struggling economy in the city. He has to take a bus to get to his job in Redlands.

“There isn’t very much work here,” he said.

Wallethub looked at the number of job opportunities, starting salary and the rate of job growth for each city ranked. (Read more from this story HERE)

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Duopoly in Action: Dems and GOP Agree it’s a Great Time for a Gas Tax Hike

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You might have noticed the spectacular collapse of global crude oil prices reflected in the commensurate reduction of your weekly gasoline bill. Gas prices are lower, much lower, than they were just a few months ago. For Washington D.C., that represents an opportunity. Even for congressional Republicans, even a little bit more money in your wallet presents a chance to hike your taxes.

On Wednesday, the new GOP chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works panel, Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK), said a hike in the gasoline tax is on the table as a means of paying into the Highway Trust Fund. As President Barack Obama would no doubt note, that fund is of vital importance for keeping the nation’s roads and bridge up to code.

“It’s not a tax,” Inhofe said. “It’s a user fee.”

Outside Beltway, that’s a distinction without a difference.

Inhofe’s embrace of a new, ahem, “user fee” for those who purchase the gasoline was shared by the new Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-UT). “We’ll have to look at that. I’m looking at everything—every possible way of taking care of the highway bill,” Hatch echoed. (Read more about the gas tax hike HERE)

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“We Are Coming”: ISIS Hacks US Central Command, Publishes Residences of High Level Officers

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By Fox News. The Twitter account and YouTube page for U.S. Central Command were hacked on Monday and for several minutes carried incendiary messages promoting the Islamic State — including one that said, “AMERICAN SOLDIERS, WE ARE COMING, WATCH YOUR BACK. ISIS.”

The cyber-attack sent U.S. military officials scrambling to respond, and they quickly suspended both accounts.

Officials said they’re still investigating the hack, but claimed it appears no classified information was released.

“We’re still looking into this,” Central Command spokesman Col. Patrick S. Ryder said. “Our initial assessment is that no classified information was posted.”

A statement from Central Command added that their operational military networks “were not compromised” and downplayed the incident as “a case of cybervandalism.” (Read more from “ISIS Hacks Central Command” HERE)

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Senior Officers’ Personal Information, Addresses Published by ‘ISIS’ Group

Photo Credit: Interdependent By Aaron Mesmer. The @CentCom Twitter account’s first hacked tweet came at 12:29 Monday afternoon, after the account’s profile images had been changed to black and white graphics with the phrases “Cyber Caliphate” and “I love you isis.”

“AMERICAN SOLDIERS, WE ARE COMING, WATCH YOUR BACK. ISIS,” warned the first tweet.

That was soon followed by more posts ranging from apparent military scenarios on PowerPoint to listings of officers’ personal information. Another tweet included a photo apparently showing the inside of a military office space.

One tweet featured a spreadsheet titled “Retired Army General Officer Roster” and listed the home addresses, phone numbers and email accounts of generals like Colin Powell, David Petraeus, and Tommy Franks.

“We won’t stop! We know everything about you, your wives and children,” read another tweet. (Read more from this story HERE)

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Obama May Get Congress to Cooperate After All, When They Vote to Override His Keystone XL Veto

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Photo Credit: TownHallSenator John Hoeven (R-ND) told Fox News’ Chris Wallace on Sunday that only 4 more votes are needed in order to override the veto on the Keystone XL pipeline that the Obama administration has promised.

He said this about the current vote count and what they’re doing about it:

“Right now we’ve got about 63, but we’re going to the floor with an open amendment process trying to foster more bipartisanship, getting the Senate to work the way it’s supposed to work so that we can pass this measure and other measures and either override the veto or attach the bill to other legislation either that will get 67 votes.”

Obviously, there is no question that it will pass, just as it did in the House — with 28 Democrat votes in support of the measure — on Friday.

Joe Manchin (D-WV) is a the co-sponsor of the bill and would be the frontman on any Democrat-corraling efforts. New Majority leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has said that it’s passage will be the first order of business for the Senate. (Read more from this story HERE)

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Texas Earthquakes Rattling Nerves

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Photo Credit: BreitbartWhen you think “earthquake,” you don’t exactly think of Texas but it continues to be seismic central in Dallas. On Sunday, January 11 at 7:46pm, the Richter scale hit magnitude 2.5. This newest shaker was centered in the City of Irving near the former site of the Texas Stadium, the site of much of the rumbling in North Texas. Although there has been no damage, it has rattled nerves, caused schools to run earthquake drills, and gotten some folks to ask about earthquake insurance policies.

The Dallas Morning News reported that the latest tiny temblor marked the 16th occurance. The most notable of the shakers came on Tuesday, January 6. It was a magnitude 3.5 and it was felt citywide across Dallas. The Sunday night quake was felt from East Dallas to Irving to Northwest Dallas, based on emails and tweets.

Previously, on Thursday, January 8, two mild shockwaves each measuring 1.9 magnitude rolled through the Dallas suburb of Irving at 4:08am and 7:24am, according to NBC-5. Both were centered near the same former site of Texas Stadium where 12 earthquakes already rocked the area to varying degrees. Later that day, a 2.7 magnitude shaker occurred at 2:12, approximately four miles west-northwest of Midlothian in Ellis County.

These are not big quakes by California standards but, relatively speaking, Texans are not used to feeling like they are living on top of the San Andreas Fault, which runs across so much of the state of California. The frequency of the shakers has not calmed any nerves in Dallas either.

In response to all the ground movement, on Friday, January 9, the Dallas Independent School District (ISD) Department of Emergency Management issued an earthquake preparedness information memo outlining procedures. It noted that before 2008, North Texas had no real discernible seismic activity. The memo stated that since that time, over 120 earthquakes have occurred in North Texas, mainly centered in Irving. (Read more about the Texas earthquakes HERE)

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Paul Ryan is not Running in 2016

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By NBC News. Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan, the Republican Party’s vice presidential nominee in 2012, told NBC News in an interview Monday that he will not seek the presidency in 2016.

“I have decided that I am not going to run for president in 2016,” Ryan said in a phone interview, noting that he is “at peace” with the decision he made “weeks ago” to forgo a bid for the White House.

“It is amazing the amount of encouragement I have gotten from people – from friends and supporters – but I feel like I am in a position to make a big difference where I am and I want to do that,” he said.

The nine-term congressman believes he can make that “big difference” in his new role as chairman of the influential House Ways and Means Committee rather than as a presidential contender. (Read more from this story HERE)

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Campaigns are now Courting Teenagers

By Darren Samuelsohn. Coming soon to a battleground state near you: White House campaigns combining census reports with Instagram and Twitter posts to target teenagers who aren’t yet 18 but will be by Election Day 2016.

It’s an aggressive strategy with an obvious reward. More than eight million people will become legal adults eligible to vote for the first time by the next general election. Campaigns are eager to find ways to get through to these 16- and 17-year-olds who are still minors and, in most cases, more likely to be concerned with making it to class on time than who should be elected president.

“It’s got to be the right candidate with the right message to excite and motivate that age demographic, with so many distractions in their life, to register, and then turn out,” said Vincent Harris, digital director for Rand Paul’s political operation. (Read more from this story HERE)

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