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Rick Perry, Jimmy Kimmel Talk Marijuana Decriminalization, 2016

Huffington Post News - 1 hour 32 min ago

Texas Gov. Rick Perry was booed as he joined Jimmy Kimmel on stage for an early taping of the host's late-night talk show on Tuesday at the South by Southwest conference in Austin.

Perry, a Republican, held his own, telling Kimmel, "After 14 years of this kind of love, it's all good, man."

The crowd's sentiments shifted when the host of ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live" asked Perry his position on decriminalizing marijuana. Perry nodded when Kimmel suggested the governor may decriminalize pot in Texas by January 2015.

"We've kind of done that," Perry said. "You don't want to ruin a kid's life for having a joint."

But when asked if he'd ever smoked marijuana himself, Perry responded, "No, thank God!"

"But does second-hand count?" Perry continued. "Because I think there's still some left in there where Snoop [Dogg] was."

Perry confirmed, answering Kimmel's inquiries, that he shot a coyote while he was jogging, that he jogs and participates in interviews while carrying a gun, and that his mother made his underwear when he was a child.

"If you want to find out everything, I mean everything about yourself -- some of which is even true -- run for president," Perry said.

Kimmel also asked Perry whether he planned to run for president in 2016, after an unsuccessful attempt in 2012.

"This is not the crowd that I want to make this announcement to," Perry said.

“America is a great place for second chances," he added.

Prior to the taping, Kimmel told The Huffington Post he wasn't responsible for landing the interview with Perry.

"I don't think it was hard to get him," Kimmel said. "I actually didn't really have much to do with it, I just saw his name on the list and thought, 'Now I have to figure out what I'm going to talk to him about.'"

Categories: Political News and Opinion

Tuesday's high schools roundup: Farmington Hills Mercy girls' press ousts ... - The Detroit News

Berkley Information from Google News - 1 hour 51 min ago

Tuesday's high schools roundup: Farmington Hills Mercy girls' press ousts ...
The Detroit News
Ferndale — Farmington Hills Mercy used its relentless full-court pressure defense to run over Romulus, 64-27, in a Class A quarterfinal Tuesday night to punch its ticket to the state finals and a trip to the Breslin Center. After putting No. 2 Grosse ...
Mick McCabe: Farmington Hills Mercy shows no mercy vs. RomulusDetroit Free Press
Purcell's Picks: Predictions for Metro Detroit Detroit girls basketball ...MLive.com

all 8 news articles »

Categories: Berkley Area News

How A Court Secretly Evolved, Extending U.S. Spies' Reach

Huffington Post News - 1 hour 51 min ago

WASHINGTON — Ten months after the Sept. 11 attacks, the nation’s surveillance court delivered a ruling that intelligence officials consider a milestone in the secret history of American spying and privacy law.

Categories: Political News and Opinion

Bill O'Reilly Is Super Upset About 'Between Two Ferns'

Huffington Post News - 1 hour 52 min ago

One thing I've got to give President Barack Obama -- when it comes to trolling his ideological opponents, the president is a master of the game.

Last week, Obama was agreeing to a major expansion of the Earned Income Tax Credit because he suspected conservative support for that measure as a means of boosting low-income individuals' wages was insincere. Quality trolling, there.

This week, it was appearing on "Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianikis" in order to promote the Obamacare exchanges ahead of the March 31 signup deadline. So, the trolling is getting pretty high-concept.

The White House has made claims that appearing on "Between Two Ferns" turned Funny Or Die into a powerhouse of Healthcare.gov referrals. But beyond that, wow. Obama made every just about every conservative with a Twitter account whine and cry Tuesday. From a policy standpoint, I'd still fret about getting the right mix of "young and healthies" into the Obamacare mix. But from a political standpoint, any day you are having demonstrably more fun than your political opponents is an okay consolation prize.

Bill O'Reilly, naturally, just adds a cherry to the sundae.



Oh, wouldn't he?



Okay, no, he wouldn't have. When you think about it, O'Reilly really has got a pretty slam-dunk case, because chances are, Lincoln would have insisted his health care plan be called "Lincolncare." Also, all the teevee cameras and laptops and cars and modern plumbing and dentistry would have terrified him completely. "Who are you Devil people?" he would have said.

But seriously, if Abe Lincoln actually had the opportunity to weigh in here, he'd probably just clout O'Reilly on the head for all the factual errors in "Killing Lincoln."

Of course, it's true that not all presidents have promoted themselves or their ideas through comedy. But a lot of them have, as have those who have aspired to high office. Richard Nixon, famously, did "Laugh-In." Bill Clinton sat in with Arsenio Hall's band. Jay Leno and "Saturday Night Live" have been the stomping grounds of all manner of political figures. Sarah Palin's bits on "SNL," in fact, were great! President George H.W. Bush famously had his "SNL" double, Dana Carvey, over to the White House -- a fine example of the sort of thick skin and good humor that today's Republican scolds sorely lack. (The elder Bush was a real live war hero, if you recall, so perhaps he was simply made of sterner stuff.)

What O'Reilly seems to be all in a lather about is about "the dignity of the office." New York Magazine's Jesse David Fox talked to "Between Two Ferns" producer/director Scott Aukerman about that, and here's what Aukerman had to say:

FOX: Now that the video is out there, have you read any comments from conservatives saying it demeans the presidency?

AUKERMAN: I’ve seen some tweets about that kind of stuff. Like someone wrote like, "How does the president have time to do this?" And it’s like, how does anyone have time to do anything? The great part about it is, this president knows how to reach young people in a way that no other president has, and it’s very important that he reach young people with this issue. This is so much better and will attract so much more attention than him going on a Sunday morning show and talking about this issue when most people I know of this generation aren’t even up that early on a Sunday morning.

Two important points there, the first being that metrics win. All that matters, in the end, is whether Obama's effort was successful in getting younger Americans to -- in the parlance of the web campaign -- "#getcovered." If it did, it's a success. If not, it's a failure.

More importantly, that's a pretty great assessment of the Sunday shows from Aukerman. That is precisely what normal human Americans outside the Beltway bubble think about those shows, and it's nice to have someone with real-world perspective just lay it bare like that.

Moreover, I watched the Sunday morning political shows for six years, and if you want to talk about a venue that is just pure and unadulterated indignity, those shows are pig troughs compared with "Between Two Ferns."

[Would you like to follow me on Twitter? Because why not?]

Categories: Political News and Opinion

Benjamin Bishop, Defense Contractor Accused Of Spilling Military Secrets, To Plead Guilty

Huffington Post News - 1 hour 59 min ago

HONOLULU (AP) — A civilian defense contractor accused of giving military secrets to a Chinese girlfriend half his age will be entering a guilty plea, his attorney said Tuesday.

Benjamin Bishop was expected to plead guilty in federal court on Thursday to one count of transmitting national defense information to a person not entitled to receive it and one count of unlawfully retaining national defense documents and plans. Bishop, 60, was arrested last March at the headquarters for the U.S. Pacific Command, where he worked.

A document for the plea agreement filed Tuesday said Bishop emailed his girlfriend classified information on joint training and planning sessions between the U.S. and South Korea.

It said Bishop had classified documents at his Hawaii home, including one titled "U.S. Department of Defense China Strategy," another on U.S. force posture in Asia and the Pacific and a U.S. Pacific Command joint intelligence operations center special report.

An FBI affidavit last year alleged the then-59-year-old gave his 27-year-old girlfriend classified information about war plans, nuclear weapons, missile defenses and other topics.

Bervar has said the two were in love and that the case was about love, not espionage.

Bishop has been in federal detention in Honolulu for the majority of time since his March 2013 arrest.

U.S. District Court Judge Leslie Kobayashi allowed him to move to a halfway house last June. But a magistrate judge ordered him back to jail in December after he violated the terms of his release by emailing his girlfriend and writing her a letter.

The FBI alleged Bishop and the woman, now 28, started an intimate, romantic relationship in June 2011. The prosecution said she was a graduate student and she and Bishop were having an extramarital affair.

Utah state records show Bishop was married until 2012.

The FBI's affidavit alleged the woman may have attended an international defense conference in Hawaii, where she initially met Bishop, specifically to target people like Bishop who have access to classified information.

Authorities haven't released her identity or whereabouts. They also haven't said publicly whether they believe she was working for the Chinese government.

She was living in the United States as a student on a J-1 visa, according to the FBI.

Defendants must normally be indicted within a month of their arrest, but Bishop's defense team waived the deadline in exchange for an opportunity to view the prosecution's evidence, much of which is classified.

Bishop, who is a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve, worked in the field of cyber defense at Pacific Command from May 2011 until his arrest. Prior to that, he helped develop Pacific Command strategy and policy.

Bishop was familiar with the Pacific Command's highest priority capability gaps, the command's chief of staff, Maj. Gen. Anthony Crutchfield, said in a declaration filed in support of the prosecution's motion to have him detained without bail.

From 2010 to 2012, Bishop had access to "top secret" information on efforts to defend against a ballistic missile attack from North Korea, Crutchfield said.

Categories: Political News and Opinion

Best of the best: 5 fun things to do March 13-19 - Detroit Free Press

Berkley Information from Google News - 2 hours 17 min ago

Best of the best: 5 fun things to do March 13-19
Detroit Free Press
NBC is thinking outside the box to promote its upcoming sitcom “Undateable.” The network is sending the show's cast on the road to stir up some audience excitement and chuckles. THE UNDATEABLE COMEDY TOUR, which lands Tuesday at the Magic Bag, ...

Categories: Berkley Area News

Royal Oak Earns Bronze for Being Green - Patch.com

Berkley Information from Google News - Tue, 03/11/2014 - 11:23pm

Royal Oak Earns Bronze for Being Green
Patch.com
The City of Royal Oak can add a Bronze seal of achievement for environmental leadership to its recent trophies. Posted by Judy Davids (Editor) , March 11, 2014 at 04:29 PM. Comment0 0. More. Repost; Print · Email; Flag as inappropriate. The Royal Oak ...

Categories: Berkley Area News

Downtown Royal Oak Picks Up Awards for Streetscape Design, Holiday Lights - Patch.com

Berkley Information from Google News - Tue, 03/11/2014 - 11:23pm

Downtown Royal Oak Picks Up Awards for Streetscape Design, Holiday Lights
Patch.com
Streetscape improvements at Third, Fourth, Troy and Williams Streets earned recognition from the Michigan Concrete Association. Credit: Judy Davids. Loading... x. ×. Next Previous Slideshow Download. The Michigan Concrete Association recently ...

Categories: Berkley Area News

Senators Okay With Spying On Citizens, But Outraged It Happened To Congress

Huffington Post News - Tue, 03/11/2014 - 11:02pm

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), a staunch defender of government surveillance of ordinary citizens, took to the Senate floor Tuesday with the stunning accusation that the Central Intelligence Agency may have violated federal law to spy on Congress.

Feinstein, head of the Senate Intelligence Committee, railed against the CIA for compromising the legislative branch's oversight role -- a theme echoed by many of her Senate colleagues throughout the day. The outrage was palpable among lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, and some suggested CIA Director John Brennan should resign if the allegations are true. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who has stuck up for intelligence agencies in the past, declared a potential war.

"This is Richard Nixon stuff," Graham told reporters. "This is dangerous to the democracy. Heads should roll, people should go to jail if it’s true. If it is, the legislative branch should declare war on the CIA."

When former contractor Edward Snowden revealed last year that the National Security Agency was secretly collecting phone and electronic records from millions of ordinary Americans, the response in Congress was far more muted. Top senators insisted the surveillance was critical to U.S. counterterrorism activities.

"It's called protecting America," Feinstein said then. Graham said he was glad Verizon was turning over customer records to the government to ensure that his phone was not linked to any terrorist activity.

It was not until reports that the NSA had spied on foreign leaders and allies, such as German Chancellor Angela Merkel, that Feinstein offered criticism of the agency's surveillance.

Snowden said Tuesday it was hypocritical for some lawmakers to finally express anger when the privacy of elected officials was breached.

"It’s clear the CIA was trying to play 'keep away' with documents relevant to an investigation by their overseers in Congress, and that’s a serious constitutional concern," Snowden said in a statement to NBC News. "But it’s equally if not more concerning that we’re seeing another 'Merkel Effect,' where an elected official does not care at all that the rights of millions of ordinary citizens are violated by our spies, but suddenly it’s a scandal when a politician finds out the same thing happens to them."

Libertarians and liberals in Congress were the NSA's primary critics throughout 2013, trying repeatedly -- and unsuccessfully -- to curb some of the bulk data collection programs. That same bloc of lawmakers argued Tuesday that whether it was citizens or Congress being spied on, both were worthy of condemnation.

"It's outrageous when this happens to Congress, and it's outrageous when this happens to the American people," Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) told The Huffington Post.

Lee added that the CIA's alleged actions may give lawmakers a better understanding of what it feels like to be secretly surveilled.

"I think when it happens to them, it certainly demonstrates that this is more than just a hypothetical concern," Lee said. "It helps bring the issue home, it helps bring the issue into perspective."

Sen. Mark Udall (D-Colo.), another vocal critic of the NSA, told HuffPost it was important to uphold the public's trust "at every juncture." His constituents already shared "broad concern" about the NSA's metadata program and would now be "deeply concerned" about the CIA spying on the body designated with oversight of the federal government's executive branch.

"Over time, I believe my point of view, which is that we ought to be outraged about both situations, has begun to take hold," Udall said.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) has been a leading advocate for reforming the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which authorizes some of the NSA surveillance programs. If the CIA spied on Congress, it would raise legal questions that may get a great deal of scrutiny, he said.

"There's the additional constitutional considerations involving two separate branches of government, one taking illegal action against another," Blumenthal told HuffPost. "The constitutional ramifications elevate the issue to a higher level."

Blumenthal added that "any illegal wiretapping or surveillance ought to shock the conscience."

Categories: Political News and Opinion

Obama Will Seek Broad Expansion Of Overtime Pay

Huffington Post News - Tue, 03/11/2014 - 10:20pm

WASHINGTON — President Obama this week will seek to force American businesses to pay more overtime to millions of workers, the latest move by his administration to confront corporations that have had soaring profits even as wages have stagnated.

Categories: Political News and Opinion

Obama Approval Rating Bounces Back After Career Low

Huffington Post News - Tue, 03/11/2014 - 9:47pm

A new poll shows President Barack Obama has bounced back from a career-low approval rating.

According to a Bloomberg National Poll released Tuesday, 48 percent of Americans approve of the job Obama is doing. The president's approval rating hit a record low of 42 percent in November. Bloomberg reports the increase of 6 percentage points is the largest positive change in Obama's career.

“The 6-point increase in Obama’s approval rating puts him back in the territory he typically occupies,” said Ann Selzer, founder of Selzer & Co., the Iowa-based firm that conducted the poll.

The firm surveyed 1,001 adults from March 7 to March 10 for the poll, which has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.

Obama's favorability rose to 49 percent, the highest it has been since June 2013. The same percentage of respondents said they had unfavorable feelings about the president.

The results come eight months before the midterm elections, as Obama makes rounds to raise support for the Democratic Party. The president has made fundraising stops in Boston, Virginia and New York in the last week.

Obama has been reminding Democrats he'll accomplish more with a cooperative Congress, encouraging them to focus on 2014 before setting their sights on the 2016 presidential race.

"I hope that just because I'm not on the ballot that people aren't going to take it easy this time, because the ideas I care about and am fighting for are on the ballot," Obama said in New York.

Categories: Political News and Opinion

Washington Detention Center Hunger Strike On Day 5

Huffington Post News - Tue, 03/11/2014 - 8:50pm

TACOMA, Wash. (AP) — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials say a hunger strike at the Northwest Detention Center in Washington state that started with hundreds of participants is down to five detainees on its fifth day, and they are under medical evaluation.

The agency said Tuesday that 27 people had refused to eat at the start of the day. They were placed under medical observation and separated from others at the Tacoma facility. By Tuesday afternoon, 22 detainees had eaten, and five remained on hunger strike and under medical evaluation. Detainees are seeking better food and treatment. Some want to be released on bond while their cases are heard.

At one point, about 750 of the center's nearly 1,300 detainees refused to eat.

Detainees were told Monday of the potential consequences of remaining on a hunger strike, including forced feeding.

Categories: Political News and Opinion

ISS Calling Russia: Friend or Foe?

Huffington Post News - Tue, 03/11/2014 - 8:43pm

I guess I've always been a little bit cynical -- not much, mind you, but enough to cause me to look at the current happenings between Russia and Ukraine with a slightly jaundiced eye. How might this affect our relationship in outer space? Is Russia a friend, or are they a foe?

At my grassroots experience level -- the "astronaut trained in their country" level -- the Russians are steadfast colleagues. A tremendously humble people, they are capable, dedicated, professional, and ever-friendly. I have lifelong friends from my experiences living and working in Star City at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center, some 50 miles northeast of Moscow. It's at the much higher (nearly orbital?) "trust-in-government" level where I struggle to gauge their intentions.

The U.S. Space Program desperately needs Russia. Until commercial space companies are ready to consistently launch American astronauts safely into space -- and it's going to be a while before they are -- we are beholden to our Putin-led compatriots from the Russian Federation. NASA inherently trusts the Russian Space Agency to carry our American heroes to and from the International Space Station (ISS). We must -- we don't have a choice -- and, to their credit, they have done so admirably for quite some time now. After all, they're our friends, right?

As much as we need the Russians, they need us too. Currently, the estimated cost to train and prepare one U.S. astronaut to "catch a ride" on Russia's space-taxi Soyuz is upwards of $70 million. After recently extending our agreement requiring Russian-provided rides to ISS, we will continue to provide a steady stream of income into their oft-depleted coffers for years to come. Isn't that what friends do?

But our space relationship is changing. As a crewmember on the ISS back in 2007 and a Space Shuttle-to-ISS visitor in 2010 (STS-131) -- my heyday as an astronaut -- I was trained to be an integral part of an international ISS crew. I was trained to fly in the Soyuz. I was trained to perform spacewalks in the Russian Orlan spacesuit. Along with my Russian crewmates, Fyodor Yurchikin and Ukrainian Oleg Kotov (both three-time ISS fliers), we were trained to fly the Canadian-built robotic arm and perform spacewalks in American Extra-Vehicular Mobility Units (EMUs).

We were a space-based composite, a coherent and integrated crew, trained to execute competently in both the Russian and U.S. segments of the ISS. Not so today.

It has been quite some time since Russians were trained to perform in U.S. spacesuits. American astronauts no longer don the Orlan. As a matter of fact, rarely do Russian cosmonauts assist U.S. astronauts -- or vice versa -- in daily prescribed tasks on the ISS, unless "permission" has been received from controlling program managers on the ground. When it does happen, it is highly probable that additional funding has been transferred between the two organizations. Our programs are becoming more segregated, and that concerns me, as does the situation unfolding in Ukraine.

The potential impact of the current unrest in Ukraine on ISS operations is not trivial. Recall the well-chronicled incident of Russian cosmonaut and NASA "guest astronaut" Sergei Krikalev. Living on the Russian Space Station Mir, he had established communication with Moscow, enabling him to talk to his family. Speaking first to his son, the space-flying father asked why he wasn't in school. His son's honest reply: "There is no school today because of the tanks in the streets." Sergei's response was swift: "Please put your mom back on now." Not the best way to find out about the collapse of the Soviet Union -- while in orbit. (The Soviet Union was dissolved on Dec. 26, 1991. These events are chronicled in Romanian filmmaker Andrei Ujică's 1995 documentary Out of the Present.) Furthermore, Sergei did not know what that meant for him, his on-Earth support team or his Soyuz ride home.

The same is true today. We don't know what the outcome of this political game of chess could mean to U.S. space efforts. While 14 years of apolitical U.S./Russian operations in space is noteworthy and calming, NASA can only speculate that "everything's OK." Voluminous amounts of expert commentary exist stating that "there will be minimal impact." I hope so. On one thing we can agree: The situation clearly illustrates the need for speeding up the ability of U.S. commercial companies to ferry our astronauts to and from the ISS. While ably demonstrating their prowess for consistently sending (and in the case of Space X, returning) cargo to the ISS -- which NASA and Russia have been doing for nearly 30 years -- doing the same with humans is tougher, not to mention more expensive. And make no mistake about it: These commercial companies are being propped up by U.S. tax dollars. Tax dollars from a government running trillion-dollar deficits and giving the impression of enjoying the uncertainty of continuing resolutions more than well-thought-out, balanced and bipartisan annual budgets. This position is unenviable and puts undue pressure on our continued space partnerships -- old and new. It's time to step up budgetary support that focuses on nurturing the relationships with our newfound friends who operate right here in America.

During NASA's glory days of Apollo, when we battled and ultimately defeated our former foes, the dreaded Soviets, in being first to the Moon, the United States exerted powerful control in the race to inhabit the heavens. It is time for us to recapture that glory, for if we are not careful, we will once again be in the unfamiliar territory of chasing, not leading, the world.

Categories: Political News and Opinion

U.S. Military Braces For Budget Battles With Congress

Huffington Post News - Tue, 03/11/2014 - 8:42pm

By Andrea Shalal

WASHINGTON, March 11 (Reuters) - Top U.S. defense officials are bracing for a brutal season of budget negotiations, warning U.S. lawmakers that the U.S. military will gradually become unable to respond to emerging crises if Congress blocks the Pentagon's plans to cut military compensation, close bases and retire entire fleets of aircraft.

Senior officials have also begun mapping out in stark terms what additional weapons and capabilities will be sacrificed if Congress does not reverse mandatory budget cuts that are due to resume in fiscal 2016 under a process known as sequestration.

Air Force Undersecretary Eric Fanning told reporters on Tuesday other programs would have to be cut if Congress blocked the service's plan to retire both its U-2 spy plane fleet and its fleet of A-10 Warthog planes for close air support.

"In my view, we can't cut into readiness far enough to cover keeping those two fleets. Something would have to give," he said.

He said the Air Force faced big bills in coming years for its three top priorities: Lockheed Martin Corp's F-35 fighter jet, a new long-range bomber, and Boeing Co's new tanker to refuel fighter jets in mid-air.

Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Jonathan Greenert told reporters late on Monday that the Navy would have no choice but to curtail funding for a planned refueling of the nuclear-powered USS George Washington aircraft carrier if sharp cuts in military spending remained in effect for 2016 and beyond.

Such a decision, he said, would have a big impact on the shipbuilding industrial base, noting that the refueling involved several hundred thousand man-days of work, and could affect the ability of carrier building Huntington Ingalls Industries Inc to build the next aircraft carrier.

Huntington Ingalls, General Dynamics Corp, Lockheed, Boeing and other weapons makers are each lobbying to maintain or increase funding for their programs, warning that big cutbacks will be especially hard on smaller suppliers.

Greenert said the Navy had included money in the fiscal 2015 budget to get the carrier ready for de-fueling beginning in September 2016, something that will have to happen regardless whether the ship is ultimately retired or refueled.

If Congress blocked those plans - which the Navy estimates would save $7 billion - the Navy would be forced to reduce its orders of submarines and destroyers instead, he said, noting that it would be hard to find big enough cuts elsewhere.

Greenert said the Navy still had a requirement for 11 carriers, but had been forced to make tough choices in its fiscal 2015 budget as it tried to balance competing priorities, including the need to start work on a replacement for the Ohio-class submarines that now carry nuclear weapons.

Greenert is due to testify before the House Armed Services Committee along with Navy Secretary Ray Mabus and Marine Corps Commandant General James Amos on Wednesday.

Lawmakers are already resisting specific proposals in the Pentagon's budget plan, often based on their interest in preserving jobs in their home districts. But they have also said they don't expect lawmakers to agree on other deficit reducing measure that could allow them to end sequestration.

Army General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, last week told lawmakers he knew the proposed reforms were "unpleasant and unpopular" but the department urgently needed to cut its overhead to keep pace with growing threats.

He appealed to lawmakers to allow the Pentagon to cut infrastructure, slow the rate of growth in military pay and retire older weapons so it could invest in new technologies.

"We simply can't ignore the imbalances that ultimately make our force less effective than what the nation needs," he told the Senate Armed Services Committee last week. "Kicking the can down the road will set up our successors for an almost impossible problem. We have to take the long view here."

Byron Callan, analyst with Capital Alpha Securities, said the Pentagon's Quadrennial Defense Review made it clear that the biggest threat facing the U.S. military was not China or some other military power, but dealing with the budget cuts.

He said military officials had thus far failed to explain in clear terms what effect the budget cuts would have on the military's ability to respond to military conflicts or disasters like the disappearance of a Malaysian airliner.

"The bottom line is that we won't be able to do some of the things that we're accustomed to doing," he said, noting that fewer military assets would invariably lead to higher casualty rates and potentially longer military conflicts.

Given continued uncertainty about future budget levels, top Pentagon leaders have told the services to once again prepare two alternate budgets for fiscal 2016 - one that reflects the mandatory budget cuts, and another that adds about $115 billion of funding as proposed under the five-year plan through 2019.

Categories: Political News and Opinion

Now That the Future's Back in California, What's Up and Why with Jerry Brown, Democrats, and Republicans

Huffington Post News - Tue, 03/11/2014 - 8:37pm

California still has some big problems, as pretty much always, but as observers across the spectrum and around the world have noted, the state's political system, long mired in gridlock has become increasingly functional. Especially compared to national politics and governance and the ongoing clown show that Washington has become.

Is it because of Arnold Schwarzenegger's process reforms in the form of the open primary and the citizens redistricting commission? Is it because of Jerry Brown's leadership skills, his "insider's knowledge and outsider's mind?" Is it because California Democrats have their act together? Is it because California Republicans have run their party into the ground? Or some combination thereof?

Some good clues were available at this past weekend's California Democratic Party convention in downtown Los Angeles. And still more are available from what we already know of next weekend's state Republican convention in Burlingame, near San Francisco International Airport.

While Hillary Clinton spoke a few days earlier at UCLA, the 2016 presidential frontrunner did not put in an appearance at the California party conclave, leaving the field to Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley, a would-be dark horse candidate, and Governor Jerry Brown, who, though he gave Bill Clinton a hard run for his money two decades ago says he has no plan to run in 2016. It was just as well, for the California gathering was all about California and the party's strong hold on a Golden State whose luster is being at least somewhat restored.

California Democratic chairman John Burton set a tone for the weekend at his chairman's reception Friday evening at the Bonaventure Hotel. The former state Senate leader and San Francisco congressman, known for his trademark '70s Vegas tourist/Mexican wedding shirt look at these conventions, was unusually dapper in a blazer, perhaps befitting the reception area surrounded by glittering LA skyscrapers. Acknowledging widespread Democratic successes and Brown's accomplishment in stabilizing state government through a combination new taxes, budget cuts, and an improving economy, Burton nonetheless cautioned Democrats against over-confidence in this year's elections.

"We cannot be complacent," he warned. While Republicans are having trouble fielding candidates for all the statewide offices -- all of which they lost in a Jerry Brown-led sweep in 2010 -- there are key legislative races to determine whether Democrats can hold a two-thirds super-majority in both houses and key congressional races to determine whether Democrats will pick up more seats here.

Confidence is high among Democrats, some of whom believe they may be on the verge of finishing off the Republicans as any sort of real force in the state. Which is why Burton, perhaps thinking of the governor's race, said "It's tough to be enthusiastic when you think you have a cinch."

But on the Republican side, many worry that running a relative nonentity against the popular and canny governor carries its own sort of risk, that of sliding participation among Republicans and Republican-leaning independents who will interpret a collapse at the top of the ticket as a death knell, creating a self-fulfilling prophecy in many down-ticket races.


Just before their convention began, Brown's operatives Ace Smith and Dan Newman attended the Sacramento Press Club debut of the candidate that most Republican elites hope emerges from the June primary as their standard-bearer, former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury Neel Kashkari, picked by the Bush Administration to coordinate the Wall Street bailout.

For their effort, they witnessed Kashkari declaring that "Jerry Brown's legacy is the destruction of the middle class in California."

How exactly he figures that, since financial and economic conditions have improved under Brown -- not that Schwarzenegger was responsible for all the problems before, either -- is unclear. If he's talking about changes in California since the first time Brown was governor in the 1970s and early 1980s, he conveniently forgets that the governors who followed Brown 1.0 and preceded Brown 2.0 were, with the exception of Gray Davis, all Republicans.

Newman, functioning as a campaign press secretary with Smith taking on the lead consultant role he played with Brown in the governor's 2006 election as state attorney general and the 2012 passage of the game-changing Proposition 30 revenue initiative, had little difficulty brushing back Kashkari's speech, noting the wildness of the charge and that the rookie candidate offered no solutions of his own.

With a massive campaign warchest and Republican opposition consisting of Kashkari, fire-breathing far right state Assemblyman Tim Donnelly and the little-known mayor of Laguna Hills who just tossed his hat into the ring, the Brown campaign still hasn't sent out any press releases. The governor focuses on governing, though not without an eye to the politics to be sure, while Newman and Smith offer brushback comments to deal with challengers.

Later, of course, there will be a full-tilt campaign, with TV ads and speeches and the general panoply of campaigning, albeit pared down more than a bit as Brown and First Lady/Special Counsel Anne Gust Brown -- the other part of the shrewd duo occupying the pivot point of California governance -- believe that much of what is done in campaigns is wasted effort.

But for now, it is what it is. And what is is not good for the Republicans. Indeed, the party's gubernatorial candidates are not being granted slots to address next weekend's state convention, though they will be able to talk at various smaller gatherings of party interest groups and others in and around the convention site near San Francisco's airport. The scrappy Donnelly, eager to cast his rival as a big-spending RINO, wants a debate with Kashkari, but it's no go so far.

Meanwhile, state Republican chairman Jim Brulte wants the focus elsewhere, on national speakers like former Secretary of State Condi Rice and Republican National Chairman Reince Priebus, and on selected races for state legislature and Congress. Brulte has already helped Republicans win back a Central Valley state Senate seat in a special election last year and re-take the mayoralty of San Diego, long a Republican preserve despite changing demographics, after Mayor Bob Filner was forced to resign in disgrace.

And the Democrats do have some problems.

Two state senators, indicted on very different sorts of felony charges, are on leave of absence pending dismissal from the legislature. Longtime LA area player Ron Calderon, a wheel-dealing moderate in the Senate, is up on an array of corruption charges while veteran LA pol Rod Wright is looking at the exit after it was determined he didn't really live in his district, something which is not entirely uncommon.

And Democrats from Brown on down still need to do more about a public employee retirement system which sees its contractual promises out-stripping its resources.

Brown also may be facing a passive-aggressive revolt against his prison realignment policy, in which he has brought the state close to compliance with federal judicial demands to roll back state prison overcrowding by moving low-level offenders to local jails. Just as that policy went into effect, prosecutors in some counties ramped up their discretionary prosecutions of second offense felonies, thus reversing the realignment effect by sending more folks back to state prison.

And just as Brown has determined to overcome opposition from the fossil fuel lobby and like-minded critics to California's controversial high-speed rail program by investing part of the proceeds from the state's carbon market -- a key part of California's landmark climate change program from here till 2050 -- his measured support for fracking is leading to high-profile protests against him.

After dogging him at some other public events, several dozen activists hoisted signs and heckled Brown during his otherwise very well-received convention address on Saturday.

As on high-speed rail, Brown has not responded with a sustained PR effort around fracking, the short form name for hydraulic fracturing, the process by which rock is fractured in order to drill for harder-to-access natural gas and oil. Brown last year signed legislation by state Senator Fran Pavley, a principal author of California's landmark climate change legislation, to regulate and monitor fracking in California, where large reserves seem to be available such that the state could join and perhaps lead what has become an American gas and oil boom.

Brown and others say that fracking could result in a bonanza for California, with major advances in state income, employment, and government revenue. But some environmentalists are vehemently opposed.

Brown is pursuing a full-spectrum energy agenda, allowing and regulating fracking activity in developing oil and natural gas resources which appear to lie in abundance beneath much of central California while studies continue. The reality is that fracking is nothing new in California, having been around for some five decades. I first saw it over 30 years ago in Kern County, likely a center for a new generation of fracking, which did not collapse into the hellish conditions that vehement fracking opponents insist will happen. While opponents act as though there is a scientific consensus against fracking, there is not.

Opponents, including some former Brown aides and advisors, insist also that Brown's leadership against climate change is inconsistent with allowing fracking because all fossil fuel development is bad. The reality, of course, is that we are going to keep using fossil fuels for the foreseeable future even as California continues to promote renewable resources and energy efficiency and new vehicles and transportation systems. The obvious national security question is whether it is better for those fuels to come from, say, the middle of California than from the the Middle East. And whether California should reap a bonanza in the process which just might make many things more possible in the Golden State. Assuming, of course, that ongoing further research does not indicate the worst from fracking.

Billionaire environmentalist Tom Steyer, the former hedge fund operator who after helping then Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and company defeat an initiative by out-of-state oil companies to gut California's climate change program in 2010 has gone on to position himself nationally as a sort of left wing counter to the Koch Brothers, piled on after the heckling by calling for legislation requiring a two-thirds vote in any county before fracking could go forward there. I doubt that sort of NIMBY-ism will fly.

But former state Senator Tom Hayden, a veteran pro-renewable energy/anti-corporate leader who keynoted a rump group of left-liberal Democrats at the convention, told me he thinks that "Fracking politics will change as the issue comes to the LA Basin." Citing "great inner city organizing against it" and an LA City Council-adopted resolution in support of a statewide fracking moratorium, Hayden sees increased prospects for moratorium legislation this year.

Like nuclear fission power, fracking has a somewhat frightening sound to it. But after Brown blocked a huge pro-nuclear surge in the '70s, nuclear fission power in California declined not because of a serious deleterious impact on the environment but because it was inefficient. The San Onofre plant outside San Diego, where I once spoke at a huge anti-nuclear rally in the early '80s, has finally been closed by the utility that owns it. Not because it had damaged the environment, as most of the rally speakers claimed it would, but because a history of problems with equipment, which caused it to be off-line for much of the state's ballyhooed electric power crisis early in the last decade, finally made it more trouble than it was worth.

If the oil and gas industry can get ahead of the curve on fracking by taking steps to make it clear the industry is confident in its technology and practices, and if Brown and other state leaders make sure the state is exercising clear oversight, fracking could have a promising future in California.

In the meantime, the future is back in California, with the state's people contemplating and debating things off in the distance, free from having to constantly worry about the state's chronic operating budget deficit.

A study last month from the policy center Schwarzenegger started a year and a half ago, the USC Schwarzenegger Institute on State and Global Policy, released at a forum featuring MSNBC hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski, strongly suggested that political reform initiatives pushed by the former governor tamed the wild beast of "hyper-partisanship" and created a more moderate and productive state legislature.

The USC prof who conducted the study used floor votes on Chamber of Commerce priority bills to gauge this end of gridlock in California even as Congress was becoming more gridlocked and polarized. The finding? That the advent of the citizens redistricting commission, which ended backroom partisan gerrymandering, and of the open primary, which is designed to force pols to address broader audiences than the partisan core from the primary election on by putting the top two primary finishers in the general election regardless of party registration, coincides with the legislature moving more toward the center.

Of course, this also coincides with Brown's governorship. (Brown was supportive of these reforms, but it was Schwarzenegger who took by far the lead role.) Brown and a number of supportive commentators have repeatedly urged Democrats to exercise caution in their big majorities, with some observers thinking Brown's intention was to wean business money even more so away from the troubled Republicans.

It turns out that legislative Democrats, probably also chastened by the defeat of a couple of labor Democrats by more moderate business-backed Democrats, something which would not have occurred in the old system, have become more moderate on the measure at hand.

But Republicans have actually become somewhat more conservative.

The upshot? Although journalistic critics point out that it does not measure social issues, or votes in committee, where ideological interests are often haggled out before more pressure comes down from the governor and legislative leaders, the reforms are probably already having their intended effect of helping reduce gridlock and moderating at least one party. Especially with Jerry Brown, who as attorney general not infrequently worked with Schwarzenegger on shared substantive priorities, as governor.

But the hoped for kumbaya long sought by Schwarzenegger, and of course Barack Obama, of "post-partisanship," in which both parties come together to work cooperatively toward the common good? That hasn't shown up yet.

Categories: Political News and Opinion

David Jolly Wins Special Election For Florida House Seat

Huffington Post News - Tue, 03/11/2014 - 8:31pm

David Jolly has won the special election for Florida's vacant congressional seat, the Associated Press reports.

Jolly, a Republican, defeated Democratic opponent Alex Sink by a 2-point margin. Sink conceded just before 8 p.m. ET on Tuesday.

The race, which was held to fill the seat left vacant by the late Rep. Bill Young (R-Fla.), drew national attention as operatives on both sides saw the election as an opportunity to test out campaign strategies for the upcoming midterm races. Outside groups poured money into the race, outspending the candidate's own campaign committees. High-profile surrogates, including Vice President Joe Biden, came down to Florida to campaign.

“Tonight, one of Nancy Pelosi’s most prized candidates was ultimately brought down because of her unwavering support for Obamacare, and that should be a loud warning for other Democrats running coast to coast," National Republican Congressional Committee chair Greg Walden said in a statement, according to The Hill.

Click here to read more on the special election.

Categories: Political News and Opinion

Real-World Lessons From the Crimean Crisis

Huffington Post News - Tue, 03/11/2014 - 8:30pm

The late spy-thriller novelist and military historian Tom Clancy's posthumous novel Command Authority, published in December of last year, revolves around an ex-spy strongman president of Russia who gambles that he can make an armed incursion into Ukraine while NATO and the world watch powerlessly as he flexes his military might with impunity. The novel's characters, as with most works of fiction, are based on real situations, but I can't decide if his story is eerily prescient or just the playing out of a predictable scenario that was well understood in the policy and military arena. Regardless, the crisis unfolding in the Eastern Ukraine and the Crimean peninsula is very real, revealing once more that the global governance system is ill-equipped to effectively handle real-world power dynamics, in this case Putin's realpolitik maneuvering.

After now-exiled Ukrainian President Yanukovych abandoned a trade agreement with the EU, over 100,000 people flooded Kiev's Independence Square in protest. They could not have picked a more aptly named site to stage their rejection of a de facto reinstatement of the Soviet-era client-state relationship with Moscow by replacing the EU agreement with Russian credit financing and deeply discounted energy, among other things. It is suspected that Russian intelligence services, in an attempt to fracture a rapidly organizing opposition, leaked an intercepted communication between U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland and U.S. Ambassador to the Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt in which they discussed behind-the-scenes political maneuvering; to add insult to injury, the conversation culminated with Nuland cursing at the EU. The protests intensified, resulting in the tragic loss of civilian lives at the hands of police forces, which ultimately drove Yanukovych to abandon the presidency and vanish into the night. In the days that followed, masked soldiers in unmarked uniforms appeared throughout Crimea, occupying government buildings and confining the Ukrainian armed forces to their bases. The dreaded Russian occupation took place in the blink of an eye, without a single shot fired.

Russian President Putin has defended his (admittedly masterfully executed) combat-free occupation of Crimea as the right of the Russian Federation to protect ethnic Russians and citizens anywhere. Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton likened the tactics to those employed by Hitler in the '30s to invade Austria and Czechoslovakia. The UN has denounced the warrantless territorial invasion and blatant violation of international law, just like they did with Assad's violation of human rights in Syria, without being able to produce a single binding resolution due to Russia's veto power in the Security Council.

The EU also condemned the incursion, but both Brussels and the individual governments of the union recognize that they must acquiesce to Russia's actions or risk an economic calamity by aggravating relations with the supplier of the lion's share of Europe's energy. Finally, U.S. President Obama has employed diplomatic and economic measures as a response, but he has little leverage, since he lacks the political willingness, economic stability, or public support to pursue any military option. Perhaps most importantly, the security assurances given to Ukraine by Russia, the UK and the U.S. under the 1994 Budapest Memorandum in exchange for the dismantling of its post-Cold War inheritance that represented the third-largest nuclear arsenal in the world have effectively disintegrated. Neither the U.S. nor the UK nor Russia has held up its commitment: Russia violated Ukraine's territorial integrity, and the others failed to protect it.

Although diplomacy and international law have failed, this is an opportunity to revise some harsh lessons in realpolitik. Having given up its nukes, and seeing security guarantees evaporate, Ukraine is now effectively defenseless and at the mercy of Putin's economic, military, and energetic lockdown; at this point there is a real likelihood that it might loose Crimea and even parts of Eastern Ukraine. I don't advocate armaments, but the Ukrainian and global community's impotence to release Russia's grip highlights the practical value of nuclear energy and weapon-based deterrence. This lesson is not lost to foreign policy and military strategists around the world.

This twinned relationship between the virtually limitless energy and the potential for mass extinction of life on Earth is a powerful sword, even if it's double-edged. Energy supply is one of the most important determinants of global power dynamics; it's a soft weapon as well, but a weapon nonetheless. The threat of fuel shocks is sending ripples through Europe's economic plans, which will lead them to reconsider plans to divest from nuclear energy. Hopefully this will renew interest in safer nuclear energy.

However, the most dangerous aspect of this crisis is that Putin's realpolitik approach exposes, once again, the failure of the international community and global governance structures to solve armed conflicts. Countries like North Korea will doubtlessly consider their options for security: nuclear deterrence or international "assurances" when faced with calls for disarmament.

In fact, countries are always learning and improving these realpolitik stratagems. Russia improved on the tactics employed to invade Georgia, and ironically, even Iran has borrowed a page from the Israeli clandestine nuclear weapons development playbook, allaying international security bodies through delay and misdirection, but ultimately achieving their goals. Alas, President Putin's moves might endanger much more than Crimea's standing as a Ukrainian territory by inadvertently stoking the fires of nuclear arms races.

Categories: Political News and Opinion

DC Mayor Vince Gray Makes Pitch For 2nd Term Despite Scandal

Huffington Post News - Tue, 03/11/2014 - 8:10pm

WASHINGTON (AP) — District of Columbia Mayor Vincent Gray pressed ahead Tuesday with his re-election bid but acknowledged he took a political hit from allegations that he led a "shadow campaign" with a convicted donor nicknamed "Uncle Earl."

With the Democratic primary just three weeks away, Gray is trying to convince voters in the nation's capital that he didn't do anything wrong during his campaign in 2010 and that he is still the best choice to lead the city. The mayor used his State of the District speech Tuesday night to reiterate that message, receiving a partial standing ovation from a crowd of a few hundred supporters in a middle school auditorium as he told them, "I didn't break the law."

Gray asked residents to look at his "clean and unblemished" record of public service, saying it doesn't make sense that he'd turn on that record.

"So I ask you, who do you believe?" Gray said to cheers and applause. "A greedy man attempting to save himself, or me, a public servant, who has dedicated my entire career and my entire life to giving back to our communities in the District of Columbia?"

On Monday, his previous campaign's benefactor, Jeffrey Thompson, who asked Gray to refer to him as "Uncle Earl," pleaded guilty to two conspiracy charges. Prosecutors alleged in court documents detailing Thompson's activities that Gray knew about the off-the-books campaign, but the mayor has not been charged with any crime.

Gray's opponents called him corrupt and pledged to restore integrity to the office. Barbara Wells, the wife of D.C. Councilmember and mayoral candidate Tommy Wells, mocked the mayor in an email to supporters, with "Uncle Earl" as the subject line.

"I've spent most of this mayoral campaign waiting for federal prosecutor Ron Machen to blow this race apart," Barbara Wells wrote, adding that the details in Thompson's plea agreement "did not disappoint."

Thompson admitted to setting up a $668,000 slush fund to aid Gray's 2010 campaign when Gray defeated then-Mayor Adrian Fenty by 10 percentage points. The existence of the "shadow campaign," as prosecutors called it, was no revelation — but Thompson went further, by telling prosecutors that Gray knew about the illegal funding and personally requested $425,000 to pay for get-out-the-vote efforts.

The district's Democratic primary is April 1, and early voting begins next Monday.

Gray told The Associated Press that Thompson — an influential businessman and government contractor — lied to investigators, possibly to get a reduced sentence. Prosecutors have agreed to seek a six-month prison term for Thompson provided that he continues to cooperate.

"I can only speculate, but I know that for all of the things that were listed in that document," Gray said, "six months is pretty light."

Machen, the U.S. attorney for the district, said the charges against Thompson were "the tip of the iceberg."

Gray's supporters, and even some of his detractors, say he's done a good job as mayor, pointing to the city's robust finances, swelling population and booming real estate market. But the allegations led some voters to reconsider their support.

"I voted for him the last time. But now I have to rethink that," said Muhammad Jallow, 44, who works in security. "If what they said about Gray is true, then he's no better than Fenty."

Gray campaigned in 2010 on a pledge to restore integrity to the mayor's office, criticizing Fenty for, among other things, giving city contracts to his fraternity brothers.

Gray spent Tuesday in his office, defending himself in a series of interviews and working on revisions to the State of the District speech.

While he initially characterized Thompson's allegations as "all lies," the mayor clarified that he was only referring to allegations that he knew about or participated in illegal activity. It's true that Thompson asked Gray to refer to him as "Uncle Earl," the mayor said. And it's true that Thompson didn't want his support for Gray to be made public.

"I said, 'If that's what you want, fine,'" Gray said, adding he did not think it was an unusual request. "He was fearful of retribution from the Fenty administration. They had already been after him."

Political observers said the revelations have damaged Gray, but they're not writing him off. Two polls taken before the latest allegations showed him leading his seven challengers, albeit with no more than 28 percent support. However, the divided field could help Gray in the winner-take-all primary.

"There will be some voters who will lose trust in the mayor, who will be disappointed," Democratic political consultant Donna Brazile said. "But many of these allegations have been known. I don't see it impacting him completely."

In addition to Wells, Gray's challengers include D.C. councilmembers Muriel Bowser, Jack Evans and Vincent Orange; restaurateur Andy Shallal, and former State Department official Reta Lewis. Bowser, who was endorsed by The Washington Post, said the Thompson plea deal "detailed the worst kind of corruption: trading illegal, under-the-table campaign cash for political contracts and favors for the mayor's family and friends."

And while general elections historically haven't been competitive in the overwhelmingly Democratic city, a credible challenger awaits this year. David Catania, an independent, at-large councilmember will formally announce his bid later this week.

Catania can be expected to court the new residents who have fueled an economic boom in the district — as well as the city's 75,000 independents. But longtime voters in the city can be forgiving of homegrown politicians, most notably Marion Barry, who was elected to a fourth term in 1994 after serving a prison sentence for smoking crack cocaine.

"I think his base will stay with him, and, I think, will even be energized by this," said Mark Plotkin, a political analyst and contributor to BBC News. And if Gray gets through the primary, Plotkin said, "this is still a Democratic town, and it's very difficult, especially for African-Americans, to abandon a Democratic candidate."

___

Follow Ben Nuckols on Twitter at https://twitter.com/APBenNuckols.

Categories: Political News and Opinion

Alex Sink Loses Special Election For Florida House Seat

Huffington Post News - Tue, 03/11/2014 - 8:03pm

Alex Sink, the Democrat vying to represent Florida's 13th congressional district, lost Tuesday's special election to Republican David Jolly.

The extremely close race captured national attention with high levels of outside funding and big-name surrogates stepping in to campaign on both sides. Jolly ultimately bested Sink with 49 percent of the vote, compared to Sink's 47 percent.

Sink, formerly the state's Chief Financial Officer, was the Democratic gubernatorial nominee in 2010, losing to now-Gov. Rick Scott (R).

Below, more from the Associated Press:

Republican David Jolly is the winner of a hard-fought congressional election in Florida to replace the late Rep. Bill Young.

With nearly 100 percent of the vote counted, The Associated Press says Jolly bested Democrat Alex Sink in a contest that attracted national attention and millions of dollars.

The special election served as the first test of President Barack Obama's health care overhaul ahead of November's midterm elections. Local issues took a backseat to the health care law as both national parties and outside groups flooded the swing-voting district with ads, phone calls and mailings about "Obamacare." Democrats and Republicans used the race to audition national strategies.

While Republicans held the congressional seat for more than four decades until Young's death last year, district's voters favored Obama in the 2008 and 2012.

Categories: Political News and Opinion

9/11 Plotter Released In Syria Prisoner Exchange: Report

Huffington Post News - Tue, 03/11/2014 - 8:00pm

The al-Qaeda recruiter reputed to have assembled the so-called Hamburg Cell, which planned and largely carried out the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington, has been set free in a prisoner exchange between rebel and regime forces in Syria.

Categories: Political News and Opinion