US Prosecutors Seek Execution of Boston Marathon Bomber

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Photo Credit: AP Photo/Uncredited

Photo Credit: AP Photo/Uncredited

Federal prosecutors Thursday announced they will seek the death penalty against 20-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev in the Boston Marathon bombing, accusing him of betraying his adopted country by ruthlessly carrying out a terrorist attack calculated to cause maximum carnage.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder’s decision to press for Tsarnaev’s execution was widely expected. The twin blasts last April killed three people and wounded more than 260, and over half the 30 federal charges against Tsarnaev – including using a weapon of mass destruction to kill – carry a possible death sentence.

“The nature of the conduct at issue and the resultant harm compel this decision,” Holder said in a statement of just two terse and dispassionate sentences that instantly raised the stakes in one of the most wrenching criminal cases Boston has ever seen.

Tsarnaev has pleaded not guilty. No trial date has been set.

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RNC Chair Calls for MSNBC Guest Appearance Boycott Over Race Tweet

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Photo Credit: Breitbart

Photo Credit: Breitbart

Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus is launching a boycott of MSNBC over an incendiary tweet from the network that suggested “the rightwing” would “hate” a television ad featuring a biracial family, Breitbart News has learned.

“Until you personally and publicly apologize for this behavior, I have banned all RNC staff from appearing on, associating with, or booking any RNC surrogates on MSNBC. I have asked Republican surrogates and officials to follow our lead,” Priebus told MSNBC President Phil Griffin in a letter sent today.

Priebus also sent a memo to Republican officials and surrogates urging them not to appear on the network until Griffin apologizes.

MSNBC’s tweet, sent from the network’s official account last night at 8:06pm, said, “Maybe the rightwing will hate it, but everyone else will go aww” and linked to a Cherios ad “w/ biracial family.”

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State of the Union 2014 Fact Check

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Photo Credit: John Shinkle/POLITICO

Photo Credit: John Shinkle/POLITICO

President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address prodded Congress to act on issues like immigration and economic inequality, with a warning that he won’t hesitate to act unilaterally if lawmakers drag their feet.

But the real audience wasn’t the lawmakers in the chamber. The president was trying to sell his policies and his leadership to tens of millions of people watching at home.

With that rare, outsized audience comes the temptation for the president to put some spin on his arguments that might not otherwise fly or gain traction in Washington.

Here’s POLITICO’s analysis of some of the key parts of Obama’s speech, and where the truth may have been shaped or even stretched in the process:

Obamacare numbers game

Obama: “More than 9 million Americans have signed up for private health insurance or Medicaid coverage.”

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Former Bush Speechwriter Accuses Obama of Plagiarism (+video)

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Photo Credit: Twitter

Photo Credit: Twitter

Former George W. Bush speechwriter Marc Thiessen has accused President Obama of plagiarizing parts of his State of the Union address on Tuesday night.

“Barack Obama has gone from blaming George W. Bush to plagiarizing George W. Bush,” he said, adding that Tuesday night’s speech and Mr. Bush’s 2007 address were “eerily familiar.”

“There were lines like ‘Our job is to help Americans build a future of hope and opportunity, a future of hope and opportunity begins with a growing economy, a future of hope and opportunity requires that all citizens have affordable and available healthcare, extending opportunity and hope depends on a stable supply of energy,’ all of that came from the 2007 State of the Union from George W. Bush,” Mr. Thiessen said.

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Bachmann Says House Preparing to Sue Obama for Overreach: ‘He’s Not a King’

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Photo Credit: REUTERS/Larry Downing

Photo Credit: REUTERS/Larry Downing

Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann says House conservatives are preparing to sue President Barack Obama for executive overreach in response to his threats of unilateral action on a host of issues.

“He’s the president of the United States — he’s not a king,” the Republican lawmaker told reporters after Obama’s State of the Union address. “He may think he’s a king, he may declare himself king, but that’s not what he is under our Constitution.”

Bachmann said an effort is underway in Congress to take back their “authority under the Constitution as the House of Representatives.” She said the plan is to introduce legislation allowing lawmakers to hire an attorney, so “we can force the president to act under the Constitution.”

“We’ll sue the president of the United States and force him to no longer act unilaterally,” she said.

In his address at the Capitol Tuesday night, Obama said he plans to take unilateral action on the minimum wage for federal workers. He suggested he might go solo on guns, for example.

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Chick-fil-A Gives Free Food to Motorists Stranded in Southern Snowstorm

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Photo Credit: COURTESY LAUREN DANGO

Photo Credit: COURTESY LAUREN DANGO

A snowstorm in the South is about as rare as a glass of unsweetened tea at a church supper. Folks around Birmingham, Ala. weren’t all that worried though. The storm was only supposed to dust the city – not even enough powder for a Southern snowman.

So when the first snowflakes began to fall, no one paid all that much attention. But then, the flakes kept falling. Before too long folks in places like Hoover and Inverness realized it was much more than a dusting. By that point, it was too late for anyone to do anything.

Icy interstates and highways soon became clogged with cars and trucks. Thousands of motorists soon found themselves stranded with nowhere to go – including many stuck on Highway 280.

But a good number of those stranded motorists were able to find shelter in the storm thanks to the kindness and generosity of Chick-fil-A restaurant employees and the restaurant’s owner, Mark Meadows.

Once the snow started accumulating, Meadows closed the restaurant and sent his staff home. But a few hours later, many of them returned – unable to get to their homes.

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Christian Stars Kirk Cameron, Natalie Grant Blast Grammy Awards

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Photo Credit: Matt Sayles/Invision/AP

Photo Credit: Matt Sayles/Invision/AP

Christian actor Kirk Cameron criticized Sunday night’s Grammy Awards for what he called an “all out assault on the traditional family.”

During the ceremony, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis performed “Same Love” alongside Mary Lambert and Madonna while Queen Latifah officiated the marriages of 33 gay and straight couples, the Huffington Post reported.

“How did you like the Grammy’s all out assault on the traditional family?” the “Growing Pains” star asked on Facebook.

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Boehner Working with Obama to Ambush House Republicans on Bloomberg-Backed Immigration Changes

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Photo Credit: Gun Owners

Photo Credit: Gun Owners

The good thing about anti-gun liberals in Washington is that they are pathologically incapable of keeping their mouths shut.

And, this morning, shortly before 9:00, MSNBC commentator Dick Gregory announced that House Speaker John Boehner, the day before, had told a private meeting of reporters that he had been talking with Barack Obama “a lot” about pushing immigration reform.

It’s pretty clear why Barack Obama wants a bill which would either legalize or grant citizenship to as many as 11.5 million people who, according to Latinos expressing their opinions in a Pew poll, would cast 88% of their votes for liberals like Barack Obama.

It’s also clear what Speaker Boehner has in mind: If he sabotages his own party, the liberal media will throw him a “doggie treat.”

But, for other House Republicans, the advantage of having an Obama/Boehner knife in their back is a little less clear.

A note on why gun owners have “skin” in the immigration game: By turning a net 8,000,000 people into an “Obama army,” even “legalization” without immediate citizenship would fundamentally change electoral politics for the 2014 elections.

This is why, along with gun control, former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has made immigration “reform” his central priority.

The anti-gun Bloomberg knows that “legalization” of persons unlawfully in the U.S. will create an “Obama army” which will transform the 2014 elections and achieve the almost impossible task of delivering the House and the Senate to the party of gun control.

With Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid in power in 2015, the “Obama army” will then get their “citizenship” reward — and gun control will advance.

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Jack Lew: Congress Accepts White House Debt-Limit Deadline

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Photo Credit: AP/Manuel Balce Ceneta

Photo Credit: AP/Manuel Balce Ceneta

Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said lawmakers had accepted the administration’s deadline for raising the nation’s debt ceiling and that he expected Congress to act before Feb. 7.

“They need to act in that window,” Lew said of Congress, warning that “extraordinary measures” he was employing to avoid a default would run out next month.

He added that while there had been some confusion among lawmakers about when the Treasury would hit its borrowing limit, that had now been resolved.

“I think they’ve accepted the deadline,” the secretary told reporters aboard Air Force One, as he accompanies President Obama to an event in Pittsburgh, where they will tout new “MyRA” retirement accounts announced in Tuesday’s State of the Union speech.

In a letter to Congress last week, Lew said he would no longer be able to take steps to avoid a default by the end of February and told lawmakers they needed to act earlier in the month to provide a cushion. The revised date pushed up the deadline, which Lew had initially projected to fall in early March.

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How A Divorce Can Boost Health Insurance Subsidies

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Photo Credit: iStockphoto

Photo Credit: iStockphoto

As the enrollment period continues for health coverage on the state health insurance marketplaces, people continue to have many questions about buying a plan there.

What happens with premium tax credits if a couple gets divorced? If the premium tax credit is based on the previous year’s income when the couple filed taxes jointly, many wouldn’t qualify. But once someone is divorced, one individual might have little income. What is the subsidy based on in that situation?

If a couple divorces, each person’s eligibility for premium tax credits will generally be based on his or her own annual income. The former spouse’s income won’t be counted, even if the couple filed taxes jointly the previous year.

Premium tax credits are available to people with incomes up to 400 percent of the 2013 federal poverty level ($45,960 for an individual).

During the application process, people are asked to project their income for the year. If someone estimates income that’s more than 10 percent lower than the previous year’s taxes or wage information or Social Security data would suggest, the system will flag it.

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