Debt ceiling, government shutdown battles simmer in summer recess | Fox News

Debt ceiling, government shutdown battles simmer in summer recess | Fox News: The Washington dance of flirting with fiscal catastrophe intensified this week, as the Obama administration warned House Republicans that a deal on increasing the federal debt limit may have to come sooner than expected.

The warning came in a letter from Treasury Secretary Jack Lew to House Speaker John Boehner, who along with other members of Congress is still on summer recess and not expected to return until early September. That leaves little time to deal with two looming deadlines that have not yet been addressed.

18 athletes who refused to visit the White House - Yahoo! News

18 athletes who refused to visit the White House - Yahoo! News: "If the president wants to see me, he knows where to find me"
President Obama honored the 1972 Miami Dolphins this week, the only NFL team to complete an undefeated season (sorry, Patriots fans). However, three members of that team — Hall of Fame center Jim Langer, guard Bob Kuechenberg, and defensive tackle Manny Fernandez — declined the invite, citing political differences.

Kuechenberg: "I just don't believe in this administration at all."

Fernandez: "[M]y views are diametrically opposed to the president's."

“Indescribably insane”: A public school system from hell - Salon.com

“Indescribably insane”: A public school system from hell - Salon.com: Want to see a public school system in its death throes? Look no further than Philadelphia. There, the school district is facing end times, with teachers, parents and students staring into the abyss created by a state intent on destroying public education.

On Thursday the city of Philadelphia announced that it would be borrowing $50 million to give the district, just so it can open schools as planned on Sept. 9, after Superintendent William Hite threatened to keep the doors closed without a cash infusion. The schools may open without counselors, administrative staff, noon aids, nurses, librarians or even pens and paper, but hey, kids will have a place to go and sit.

Obama administration asks Supreme Court to allow warrantless cellphone searches

Obama administration asks Supreme Court to allow warrantless cellphone searches: If the police arrest you, do they need a warrant to rifle through your cellphone? Courts have been split on the question. Last week the Obama administration asked the Supreme Court to resolve the issue and rule that the Fourth Amendment allows warrantless cellphone searches.

In 2007, the police arrested a Massachusetts man who appeared to be selling crack cocaine from his car. The cops seized his cellphone and noticed that it was receiving calls from “My House.” They opened the phone to determine the number for “My House.” That led them to the man’s home, where the police found drugs, cash and guns.

McDonnell and Christie: A tale of two governors - The Washington Post

McDonnell and Christie: A tale of two governors - The Washington Post: August 19, 2013 4:54 PM EDT — When they won election in 2009, both Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie were seen as having national potential for the GOP. A few years later, one is barely clinging to office, while the other is a possible 2016 contender. (The Washington Post)

Senator: Obama Administration Secretly Suspended Military Aid to Egypt - The Daily Beast

Senator: Obama Administration Secretly Suspended Military Aid to Egypt - The Daily Beast: The U.S. government has decided privately to act as if the military takeover of Egypt was a coup, temporarily suspending most forms of military aid, despite deciding not to announce publicly a coup determination one way or the other, according to a leading U.S. senator.In the latest example of its poorly understood Egypt policy, the Obama administration has decided to temporarily suspend the disbursement of most direct military aid, the delivery of weapons to the Egyptian military, and some forms of economic aid to the Egyptian government while it conducts a broad review of the relationship. The administration won’t publicly acknowledge all aspects of the aid suspension and maintains its rhetorical line that no official coup determination has been made, but behind the scenes, extensive measures to treat the military takeover of Egypt last month as a coup are being implemented on a temporary basis.

Scandal-Weary San Diego Asks a Question - Where’s the Mayor? - NYTimes.com

Scandal-Weary San Diego Asks a Question - Where’s the Mayor? - NYTimes.com: On Monday, television cameras were lined up at City Hall hoping to catch a glimpse of his return, since it was supposed to be his first day back after two weeks at a rehabilitation program and a week of personal leave. His top aide said she had no idea where he was.

About 1,000 residents volunteered to fan out across this normally unhurried, sun-drenched city, hustling to collect the 101,157 signatures needed to force a recall election. And the City Council president said his goal was to get rid of the mayor “and get this city back on track.”

Kerry Clears Benghazi Officials Clinton Punished - The Daily Beast

Kerry Clears Benghazi Officials Clinton Punished - The Daily Beast: Secretary of State John Kerry has determined that the four State Department officials placed on administrative leave by Hillary Clinton after the terrorist attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi do not deserve any formal disciplinary action and has asked them to come back to work at the State Department starting Tuesday.

Self-deportation: Reince Priebus' "racist" misquote.

Self-deportation: Reince Priebus' "racist" misquote.: Twitter is a fantastic medium for breaking news, but as we learned during virtually every major breaking news event in the past year, it can also turn into a veritable aviary of users parroting each other's falsehoods. Just that happened today, when a Business Insider story mistakenly quoted Reince Priebus, the chairman of the Republican National Committee, as saying self-deportation is "racist" during the RNC's summer meeting in Boston. The misquote in question comes in around the 30-second mark here:

Banishing the word drone won't solve the UAV industry's real problems.

Banishing the word drone won't solve the UAV industry's real problems.: At this week’s industry conference on drones, in Washington, D.C., a group of police and fire chiefs gathered to discuss how to increase their use of drones. But they used a different term: “UAS operations.” (UAS stands for “unmanned aircraft system.”)
You see, they have a problem with the word drone, wary of its negative connotations. They are trying to do their jobs, which are difficult, as best they can. They feel drones and the people who fly them have been unfairly demonized. “We need to band together,” said Jon Hansen, the head of Oklahoma’s Council on Firefighter Training, speaking to the police officers in the room.

Lawmakers Backed By Chamber Of Commerce Spending Stall Business Lobby's Legislative Priorities

Lawmakers Backed By Chamber Of Commerce Spending Stall Business Lobby's Legislative Priorities: WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is a political powerhouse that tops spending on lobbying in Washington year after year. In the past two elections, the pro-business group doled out $69.5 million to send candidates to Congress.

The checks, however, have not always translated into legislative success.

Over the past 4 1/2 years, the Chamber of Commerce has lost most of its important legislative battles. Health care and Wall Street reform laws were enacted and face little threat of repeal. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau finally has an appointed director and Democratic members of the National Labor Relations Board were approved by the Senate.

Rand Paul: Chris Christie Started It!

Rand Paul: Chris Christie Started It!: The Rand Paul-Chris Christie feud just won't end.

Paul commented on his beef with the New Jersey Governor on Fox News Sunday, saying "The party is big enough for both of us. It’s big enough for a lot of different Republicans."

Then, seeming to place blame on Christie for the dispute, the Kentucky Senator said, "This all started with him saying, ‘Oh, we don’t have room for libertarian Republicans.’ The thing is, that’s how we grow our party.”"

CIA Confirms Role in 1953 Iran Coup

CIA Confirms Role in 1953 Iran Coup: Washington, D.C., August 19, 2013 – Marking the sixtieth anniversary of the overthrow of Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddeq, the National Security Archive is today posting recently declassified CIA documents on the United States' role in the controversial operation. American and British involvement in Mosaddeq's ouster has long been public knowledge, but today's posting includes what is believed to be the CIA's first formal acknowledgement that the agency helped to plan and execute the coup.

NSA admits 'mistakes' amid criticism over breaking of privacy rules - CNN.com

NSA admits 'mistakes' amid criticism over breaking of privacy rules - CNN.com: Washington (CNN) -- The National Security Agency spent Friday on the defensive, after details got out about an internal audit that found the agency had broken privacy rules "thousands of times each year" since 2008.

The audit was first reported by the Washington Post on Thursday, setting off another round of heated discussion -- and criticism -- in Washington over how the NSA had wrongly impinged on Americans' privacy.

Low-Income Women Often Can't Get An Abortion Because It Takes Too Long To Save Up The Money For It | ThinkProgress

Low-Income Women Often Can't Get An Abortion Because It Takes Too Long To Save Up The Money For It | ThinkProgress: More than 4,000 U.S. women were denied abortions in 2008 because they had surpassed the gestational age limit for the legal procedure, according to new research published in the American Journal of Public Health. Those women — who ultimately carried unwanted pregnancies to term — were forced to delay their abortions because they needed to save up money, either to pay for the procedure itself or to fund their travel to a clinic.

Sequestration Ushers In A Dark Age For Science In America

Sequestration Ushers In A Dark Age For Science In America: CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- On the first floor of Jordan Hall at the University of Virginia School of Medicine is a 12-by-8 room that, at first glance, looks like a rundown storage space. The floor is a mix of white, teal and purple tiles, in a pattern reminiscent of the 1970s. Trash cans are without tops and half filled. There are rust stains on the tiles, and a loose air vent dangles a bit from the ceiling.

It is only when you see four incubators attached to six tanks of carbon dioxide that you get the feeling something more intriguing is taking place here.

Inside these incubators Dr. Anindya Dutta stores cell cultures that he believes hold the key to a massive advancement in health care. He has identified the specific strands of microRNA, the molecule that plays a large role in gene expression, that are responsible for promoting the formation and fusion of muscular tissue.

- The Washington Post

- The Washington Post: SEDALIA, Mo. — As some people at the Missouri State Fair see it, the rodeo incident last weekend in which a ringleader taunted a clown wearing a mask of President Obama and played with his lips as a bull charged after him was neither racist nor disrespectful.
It was a joke, they said, overblown by a news media that’s hypersensitive to any possible slight against the nation’s first black president. They said the hooting and hollering from the crowd that night was because of a fundamental dislike of the president.
“I’ve got no respect for him,” said Virgil Henke, 65, a livestock farmer who explained his distaste for Obama with several falsehoods about his background: “Why, he’s destroyed this country. How much freedom have we lost? I don’t care whether it’s a black man in office, but we have to have a true-blooded American. I think he is Muslim and trying to destroy the country, catering to the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.”

NSA: 1.6 Percent Of Internet Information 'Touched' By Us

NSA: 1.6 Percent Of Internet Information 'Touched' By Us: On the day President Barack Obama proposed reforms to the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, the National Security Agency shared a paper claiming legal authority for its spying and revealing that it "touches" 1.6 percent of Internet information.

The memo says that after the 2001 terror attacks, "Several programs were developed to address the U.S. Government's need to connect the dots of information available to the intelligence community and to strengthen the coordination between foreign intelligence and domestic law enforcement agencies," including the bulk collection of telephone and email records.

Mitch McConnell, GOP Should Fear the Death of the Filibuster | New Republic

Mitch McConnell, GOP Should Fear the Death of the Filibuster | New Republic: Up until three weeks ago, Senate Republicans had gone out of their way to block Obama’s highest-profile executive-branch nominees, typically for no other reason than that the president had selected them. The GOP finally backed down after Majority Leader Harry Reid threatened to do away with the filibuster for such appointments, and seven nominees promptly sailed through the Senate. But the victory was fleeting. Last week, Republicans simply shifted their fight from the executive to the judicial branch, vowing to deny an up-or-down vote on all three of Obama’s picks for the critical DC court of appeals.

President Moves to Ease Worries on Surveillance - NYTimes.com

President Moves to Ease Worries on Surveillance - NYTimes.com: WASHINGTON — President Obama on Friday sought to take control of the roiling debate over the National Security Agency’s surveillance practices, releasing a more detailed legal justification for domestic spying and calling for more openness and scrutiny of the N.S.A.’s programs to reassure a skeptical public that its privacy is not being violated.

How Virginia's Attorney General Would Turn Thousands Of High School Students Into Felony Sex Offenders | ThinkProgress

How Virginia's Attorney General Would Turn Thousands Of High School Students Into Felony Sex Offenders | ThinkProgress: Walk into any eleventh grade classroom in Virginia. If Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli (R-VA) has his way, close to forty percent of the students will be felony sex offenders.

Dahlia Lithwick breaks down the implications of Cuccinelli’s plan in a must-read piece over at Slate. In short, Cuccinelli’s petition asking the Supreme Court to reinstate much of Virginia’s so-called “crimes against nature” law — which criminalizes oral and anal sex — is unlikely to impact adults who have sex with adults because the Court’s previous decision in Lawrence v. Texas held that the Constitution protects non-commercial sexual activity among adults. The tea partying attorney general’s petition, however, largely relies on a line in Lawrence suggesting that underage sexual activity can still be criminalized.

30 Of The Greatest Patriotic American Quotes In US History -

30 Of The Greatest Patriotic American Quotes In US History -: Patriotism. It is one of the many characteristics that make America great. Citizens of this nation show their patriotism in many different ways, such as joining the armed forces, voting, entering public service, volunteering, or just celebrating the Fourth of July. But no matter how you show your patriotic spirit, we are all Americans. Throughout our nation’s history, there have been many patriotic quotes uttered by a number of well-known and not so well-known individuals. Whether spoken by Presidents, soldiers, philosophers, or regular citizens, all of these quotes are sources of inspiration and pride that we should all share. So, without further introduction, here are 30 of the top patriotic quotes in American history

35 Founding Father Quotes Conservative Christians Will Hate -

35 Founding Father Quotes Conservative Christians Will Hate -: The separation of church and state is one of the cornerstones of America’s foundation. Conservative Christian fundamentalists have sought to crush this cornerstone in the hopes of establishing Christianity as the state religion, an action that would threaten the rest of the foundation that makes up the Constitution. These conservatives contend that the Founding Fathers dreamed of making America a Christian state at the expense of those who practice other religions or none at all.

16 Reasons Why Hillary Clinton Will Win 2016 - The Daily Beast

16 Reasons Why Hillary Clinton Will Win 2016 - The Daily Beast: Here are 16 reasons why Hillary Clinton is poised to be elected the next president of the United States, in order of importance.


1. Madame President: A Great Social Movement in the Making


A great social movement to elect the first Madame President is gathering wind and will reach sustained hurricane strength on November 5, 2014—the day after the midterm elections and the “official start” of the 2016 presidential campaign.


Akin to the movement that elected the first African-American president in 2008, the “Madame President movement” will be propelled by the mainstream media, Hollywood, and social media. Together they will build momentum and coalitions across all platforms, while reveling in their awesome social and cultural significance. You will hear the “triumph of the ’60s feminist movement.” You will hear that you will be “voting to make history.” And you will hear that your vote will be used as a “hammer to break through the glass ceiling of the Oval Office.”

Florida To Hold 'Stand Your Ground' Hearings After Will Weatherford Agrees To Revisit Law

Florida To Hold 'Stand Your Ground' Hearings After Will Weatherford Agrees To Revisit Law: MIAMI, Aug 2 (Reuters) - Florida lawmakers will hold hearings this fall on the state's "Stand Your Ground" self-defense law, which has become a lightning rod for criticism following the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the shooting death of unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin.

The announcement on Friday by Will Weatherford, the speaker of Florida's House of Representatives, marked the biggest concession yet by the state's Republican leaders to protesters' demands for a top-to-bottom review of the law, which allows people in fear of serious injury to use deadly force to defend themselves rather than retreat.

New Democrat Coalition Issues Ultimatum On Immigration Reform

New Democrat Coalition Issues Ultimatum On Immigration Reform: WASHINGTON -- Moderate Democrats working to gather support from Republicans for comprehensive immigration reform sent an ultimatum Friday to Speaker John Boehner: introduce a bill by Sept. 30 or they'll introduce their own.

"[W]e are frustrated that there was not a bipartisan immigration reform bill introduced prior to the August recess," reads the letter from 39 members of the New Democrat Coalition, a 53-member group, including co-chairmen Reps. Joaquín Castro (D-Texas) and Jared Polis (D-Colo.).

"Therefore, we write to inform you that if a bipartisan immigration reform package is not introduced in the House of Representatives -- one that includes a pathway to citizenship, helps grow American jobs, and fixes our immigration system once and for all -- by September 30th, we as New Democrats will consider introducing a comprehensive immigration reform bill," the letter continues

Day 1 of 40 Days Of Protests: More Than 40 Activists Arrested At Peaceful Civil Disobedience Rally | ThinkProgress

Day 1 of 40 Days Of Protests: More Than 40 Activists Arrested At Peaceful Civil Disobedience Rally | ThinkProgress: WASHINGTON, D.C. — More than 40 immigration activists, labor union organizers, and faith leaders were arrested in two civil disobedience protests that took place on Capitol Hill on Thursday. The organizers held the event in response to House Republicans missing the August 1 deadline of producing an immigration reform bill. The event marks the beginning of national immigration rallies labeled “40 Days of Action” that will continue through the August recess when House representatives head back to their districts

Climate Change And Violence Linked, Breakthrough Study Finds

Climate Change And Violence Linked, Breakthrough Study Finds: Shifts in climate change are strongly linked to human violence around the world, according to a comprehensive new study released Thursday by the University of California, Berkeley and Princeton University.

The research, which was published in Science, examined 60 previous studies from all major regions of the globe. The results suggest that changes such as drought, flood and high temperatures strongly correlate with spikes in conflict.

Researchers noted examples including increased domestic violence in India and Australia, assaults and murders in the United States and Tanzania, ethnic violence in Europe and South Asia, land invasions in Brazil, police violence in the Netherlands and civil conflicts throughout the tropics.

Cord Jefferson, Chris Hayes Ask What White Community Will Do About 'White Criminal Culture' (VIDEO)

Cord Jefferson, Chris Hayes Ask What White Community Will Do About 'White Criminal Culture' (VIDEO): After an unruly mob ran amuck on the heels of the U.S. Open of Surfing in Huntington Beach, California on Sunday, Gawker columnist Cord Jefferson penned a piece taking oft-made generalizations about "violent black youth" and turning them around on white people.

Jefferson expanded on that theme in a segment on "All In With Chris Hayes" Tuesday night, playing the part of a concerned citizen wondering how the white community is going to deal with the "problems of white culture."

"You probably haven't heard much about the white riot in Huntington Beach," Hayes began. "That's because the story of white criminal culture is not a story the mainstream media will tell you. But once you scratch the surface, these stories are everywhere you look."

Washington Legislator Calls For Tea Party To Stockpile Ammunition For Dystopic Future | ThinkProgress

Washington Legislator Calls For Tea Party To Stockpile Ammunition For Dystopic Future | ThinkProgress: At a Tea Party “Self Reliance Rally” in Idaho, organized by the Oath Keepers, Washington State Rep. Matt Shea (R) reportedly warned survivalist attendees to stockpile ammo, practice shooting, and learn defense tactics to prepare for a massive economic collapse.

According to the Coeur d’Alene Press, Shea — an Assistant Republican Floor Leader — told the crowd to be ready for an impending government takeover after the U.S. economy falls apart:

Eliot Spitzer: I Would Have Fired Anthony Weiner For His 'Improper' Behavior

Eliot Spitzer: I Would Have Fired Anthony Weiner For His 'Improper' Behavior: Former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer (D), who resigned from office due to a sex scandal, came down hard on former Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) on Monday for his inappropriate online conversations with women.

During an appearance on MSNBC's "Hardball" on Monday, host Chris Matthews asked Spitzer, "If a public official used their office equipment to engage in the kind of pastime that Anthony Wiener's been involved in in the last couple years, would you fire them?"

"I think the answer is yes," replied Spitzer, who is running for New York City comptroller. Weiner is running for New York City mayor.