June 21, 2016

'Mississippi Burning' Civil Rights Murder Case Closed After 52 Years

Source: Associated Press

By JEFF AMY Published JUNE 21, 2016, 8:06 AM EDT

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — One day short of the 52nd anniversary of three civil rights workers' disappearance during Mississippi's "Freedom Summer," state and federal prosecutors said Monday that the investigation into the slayings is over.

The decision "closes a chapter" in the state's divisive civil rights history, Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood said.

"The evidence has been degraded by memory over time, and so there are no individuals that are living now that we can make a case on at this point," Hood said.

He said, however, that if new information comes forward because of the announcement that the case is closed, prosecutors could reconsider and pursue a case.

-snip-

Read more: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/mississippi-burning-case-closed

June 21, 2016

Health Care Costs Grow Dramatically Slower Than Expected After Obamacare

A new report by the Urban Institute analyzing government projections in U.S. health care spending shows that it is growing at even slower rates than what was originally projected with the passage of Affordable Care Act. The study predicts that the U.S. will spend $2.6 trillion less on health care between 2014-2019 than what was initially anticipated when Obamacare was passed in 2010.

“Health care costs have had several years of really historic low spending during the period, so overall, public programs, private spending is all less than we thought it would be,” said Gary Claxton, vice president at the Kaiser Family Foundation. “Each year we see spending going up 3 percent, 2 percent, whatever, and not 5 percent, and because that stuff compounds, when it continues to go up more slowly ... it starts to really add up.”

The study, released Monday, compares what the government anticipates the country will spend on health care through 2019 in its forecast released in 2015 versus what was expected through that period in 2010. The more recent forecast numbers take into account the actual spending from 2013, as well as the legislation passed by Congress in 2015 to permanently fix a major gap in Medicare funding. They also reflect how sequestration, the stunted economic recovery and a Supreme Court ruling that made Medicaid expansion optional for states affected overall health care spending.

-snip-

The latest projections predict U.S. health care spending for the years 2014-2019 will be 11 percent less than what was projected just after the passage of the ACA. The 2015 numbers suggest an increase of $49 billion in health care spending -- including private health insurance, out-of–pocket spending, and other health spending -- than what was predicted the year before, but spending on Medicaid is now projected to be $123 billion less than what was expected in 2014. “Despite the modest increase in projected national health spending since the 2014 forecast, however, the 2015 forecast still reflects a decline of $2.6 trillion from 2014 to 2019 compared with the 2010 ACA baseline forecast,” the report said.

more
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/health-care-spending-growth-urban-institute-study

June 21, 2016

A week after Orlando, Republicans protect terrorists’ right to bear arms - By Dana Milbank

On May 24, the House Appropriations Committee took up a proposal “to deny transfers of firearms to persons known or suspected to be engaged in conduct related to terrorism.” In a party-line vote, Republicans defeated the plan 29 to 17.

Nineteen days later, a man whom the FBI had investigated as a possible terrorist went into an Orlando nightclub and, claiming solidarity with the Islamic State, shot 49 people to death with weapons he bought legally.

The legislation couldn’t have prevented the massacre; it wouldn’t have taken effect for months. But it highlights an absurd situation: Lawmakers have known for a long time that those suspected of terrorist activities can legally buy guns, but the Republican majority, putting Second Amendment absolutism above modest national-security considerations, is refusing to fix the problem.

At least twice before, the same House committee had votes on the same proposal, and both times it was also defeated — in 2015, by a vote of 32 to 19, and 2013, 29 to 19. The Senate, for its part, voted down similar legislation in December, following the San Bernardino, Calif., killings.

And Monday night, a week after the Orlando killings, this tragedy repeated itself as farce. Republicans defeated Democratic legislation to keep those on terrorism watch lists from getting guns. Democrats defeated a fig-leaf measure proposed by Republicans that would have made it virtually impossible to block those on the watch lists from getting guns. For kicks, lawmakers also voted down dueling Republican and Democratic proposals on gun-purchase background checks.

more
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/a-week-after-orlando-massacre-republicans-ensure-terrorists-can-still-get-guns/2016/06/20/f0b0b28c-3737-11e6-8f7c-d4c723a2becb_story.html

June 21, 2016

Talk of Labor secretary as VP alarms industry

Vice President Tom Perez? Hillary Clinton is considering it, much to the displeasure of business interests in Washington that have clashed frequently with the Labor secretary during his time in President Obama’s Cabinet.

Perez has moved aggressively on the regulatory front since taking over as the Department of Labor’s chief in 2013, expanding overtime pay to some 4 million Americans, requiring that employers disclose actions taken to counter union organizing efforts and pushing a rule not yet completed that would force federal contractors to disclose labor law violations.

Those actions have endeared Perez to the left, stirring talk that he could be an effective running mate for Clinton, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee.

But some industry groups in Washington say picking Perez would be a slap in the face.

more
http://thehill.com/regulation/labor/284172-talk-of-labor-secretary-as-vp-alarms-industry

June 21, 2016

Trump on Warren: 'I do regret calling her Pocahontas’

Donald Trump on Monday said that calling Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) “Pocahontas” is only demeaning to the renowned Native American.

“I do regret calling her Pocahontas, because I think it’s a tremendous insult to Pocahontas,” he said on Fox News’s “The O’Reilly Factor" Monday night. "So, to Pocahontas, I would like to apologize to you.”

Anchor Bill O’Reilly also asked Trump, the GOP’s presumptive presidential nominee, whether he would consider Warren for “ambassador to Tonga.”

“No, she wouldn’t be my first choice,” Trump responded. "You know, she’s been a very, very poor senator. You know the funny thing about Elizabeth Warren, she’s been a lousy senator. She’s done a terrible job.”

more
http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/284205-trump-on-warren-i-do-regret-calling-her-pocahontas

June 21, 2016

How Much Has the NRA Spent to Influence Your Representatives?

Slate’s NRA Influence Tracker

Find out how much the group has helped—or hindered—your representatives in Congress.

By Chris Kirk

Following the Orlando massacre that left 49 people dead, legislators and commentators are blasting the National Rifle Association for its role in blocking gun-control legislation. The New York Times editorial board has gone so far as to call the gun rights advocacy organization “complicit” in terrorism. The NRA spends millions of dollars each year lobbying Congress, donates roughly $1 million directly to congressional campaigns and party committees each election cycle, and runs tens of millions of dollars worth of political advertising, according to OpenSecrets, a nonprofit that tracks money in politics. Have your representatives in Congress been helped or hindered by the NRA? Type in your address below to find out.

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Follow the link below, type in your address to see how much the National Rifle Association has worked to influence the elections of your Congress members.

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2016/06/slate_s_nra_influence_tracker_find_out_if_the_group_helped_your_congress.html

June 20, 2016

Trump’s Charity Claims May Be Fraudulent

He could be held liable if he failed to fulfill promises to donate proceeds from his book, 'Crippled America.'

By Ben Schreckinger

06/20/16 05:18 AM EDT

If Donald Trump’s claims that certain of his commercial ventures benefit charity are untrue, he could be held liable under Section 349 of New York’s General Business Law, which forbids deceptive business acts and practices, as well as under charitable solicitation laws, according to legal experts.

In promoting products as varied as Trump University, Trump Vodka, a Trump board game, and his new book “Crippled America,” the businessman has declared that the proceeds would go to charity. None of Trump’s proceeds from Trump University have gone to charity, and only a few hundred dollars of charitable giving related to Trump Vodka has been accounted for. News organizations have been unable to verify his other claims, and his representatives have been unwilling to provide more information about them or even to confirm them.

While lawyers say Trump could be liable in a number of states for false claims, the official most likely to take up the matter would be Attorney General Eric Schneiderman of New York, where Trump resides and is already the defendant in a consumer fraud case brought by the state over Trump University.

Referring to Trump’s claims about his “Crippled America” book profits, a spokesman for Scheiderman’s office said that the law against deceptive business practices was a more likely avenue of pursuit than the charitable solicitation law. But he added that lawyers at the attorney general’s office had not yet decided whether to look into the matter.

In recent weeks, Trump has come under fire for exaggerating the amount of money he raised for veterans at a campaign event in January and for donating much of that money only after reporters began asking questions about it. A state AG investigation of Trump’s other claims of charitable giving would keep the issue alive and burden the presumptive Republican nominee – already embroiled in a number of lawsuits – with another legal headache.


Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/06/donald-trump-charities-fraud-laws-224510#ixzz4C8jFa0EQ

June 20, 2016

Trump insiders disappointed Orlando shooting didn’t give him a ‘bump in the polls’: report

People close to Donald Trump are reportedly scrambling to come up with a political strategy to save his campaign after last week’s mass shooting in Orlando failed to give the candidate a “bump in the polls” as his aides had hoped.

According to a report published by Bloomberg on Monday, top campaign officials and members of Trump’s family were gathering in New York in an effort to get the presumptive Republican nominee back on track after a series of missteps following the shooting at Pulse nightclub in Orlando.

“The frustration among Trump’s allies increased after his speech last week in Manchester, N.H., where he responded to the mass shooting at an Orlando nightclub,” Bloomberg reported. “Many in Trump’s inner-circle had predicted that he would get a bump in the polls, as he did following the terror attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, Calif. Instead, he faced a well-orchestrated rapid response machine from the Clinton campaign and the Democratic Party, which hammered him for days.” (emphasis added by me -- DV)

The New York Times confirmed on Monday that Trump had once again reshuffled the roles of his top advisers, and that controversial Campaign Manager Corey Lewandowski would be leaving.

-snip- (Trump's Press release about Lewandowski leaving the campaign)

http://www.rawstory.com/2016/06/trump-insiders-disappointed-orlando-shooting-didnt-give-him-a-bump-in-the-polls-report/

June 20, 2016

Panicked Utah GOP Chair Is Another Sign That GOP Stronghold Is In Play

Utah Republicans' concern that Hillary Clinton could beat Donald Trump in the state and endanger down-ballot Republicans bubbled to the surface over the weekend with the state GOP chair meeting with Trump.

Utah Republican Party Chair James Evans sat down with Trump in Las Vegas on Saturday before the presumptive nominee's rally there. Evans asked Trump to campaign in Utah again and to tone down his "unproductive" rhetoric about Muslims and the Hispanic judge in the Trump University case, according to the Salt Lake Tribune. He said that voters in the state want "consistency and predictability."

Evans told the Salt Lake Tribune that Trump "recognizes he shouldn't have made those comments," and that the candidate will definitely return to Utah after the national convention.

The state GOP chair also observed that Trump's racially-tinged comments are not genuine, but part of an act.

more
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/panic-utah-gop-trump

June 20, 2016

Perfect match: Sen. Jeff Sessions sees eye-to-eye with Donald Trump and his most appalling positions

Jeff Sessions has a long record of racism and bigotry — he'd be Donald Trump's ideal vice president

HEATHER DIGBY PARTON

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Jefferson Beauregard Sessions is really a throwback to the time Donald Trump thinks America was great — the 1950s — and is, therefore, perfect for the 2016 GOP ticket.

You may recall that Sessions first came to national prominence back in 1986 when Ronald Reagan nominated him for a federal judgeship. He was only 39 years old and considered quite the up and comer. ,. As Sarah Wildman wrote in this article for The New Republic, his record was ugly indeed:



-snip-

The people of Alabama had his back however, and he went on to become the state’s Attorney General where he was accused of vote suppression in the black community with zealous pursuit of bogus voter fraud cases. In 1996, they sent him to the Senate where he has consistently received a “0” rating from every civil rights and civil liberties organization in the country. Nonetheless, he found himself on the Senate Judiciary Committee and as ranking member in 2009 led the charge against the nomination of Justice Sonia Sotomayor, largely on the basis of her alleged inability to be fair due to her Puerto Rican heritage. (And you wonder why Trump likes this guy so much?)

more
http://www.salon.com/2016/06/20/perfect_match_sen_jeff_sessions_sees_eye_to_eye_with_donald_trump_and_his_most_appalling_positions/