It’s now been revealed that the luxury hunting ranch vacation Antonin Scalia was on when he died was a gift from someone who Scalia indirectly helped with a recent Supreme Court decision.

In late 2015, the Supreme Court declined to hear an age discrimination suit (Hinga, James V. Mic Group, LLC) against a subsidiary of the manufacturing company J.B. Poindexter, which is owned by John B. Poindexter. Poindexter also owns the 30,000-acre Cibolo Creek Ranch in Shafter, Texas, where Scalia was vacationing when he died last weekend. According to the Washington Post, Scalia didn’t pay for his flight to the ranch, or for his room at the luxury ranch. His food and beverages were also free. Poindexter maintains that Scalia wasn’t given any preferential treatment, as the 36 people staying at the ranch that weekend were all staying for free.

However, the Post also reports that lingering questions remain about who else was staying at the ranch, and whether or not Poindexter or any of the ranch’s guests were trying to curry favor with the late Justice:

The nature of Poindexter’s relationship with Scalia remained unclear Tuesday, one of several lingering questions about his visit. It was not known whether Scalia had paid for his own ticket to fly to the ranch or if someone else picked up the tab, just as it was not immediately clear if Scalia had visited before.

It is also still not known who else was at the Texas ranch for the weekend, and unless that is revealed, there could be concerns about who could have tried to raise an issue around Scalia, said Stephen Gillers, who teaches legal and judicial ethics at the New York University School of Law. He compared it to unease that arises when judges and officials from major companies are invited to seminars or educational events that bring them together for periods of time.

During Justice Scalia’s tenure on the nation’s highest court, an astonishing number of decisions favored corporate plaintiffs and defendants, prompting the New York Times to call it the most corporate-friendly court since the World War II era. An op-ed in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution called the current Supreme Court — which, including Scalia, had the conservative majority of Roberts-Alito-Thomas-Scalia-Kennedy deciding cases in favor of big business — an “enforcer of corporate power.” The op-ed cited a professional statistical review that examined the results of over 2,000 cases:

http://usuncut.com/news/scalia-hunting-trip-was-a-gift/

MUNICH — Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart, Sergey V. Lavrov, announced that they had agreed on the delivery over the next few days of desperately needed aid to besieged Syrian cities, to be followed by a “cessation of hostilities” within a week on the way to a more formal cease-fire.

“We have agreed to implement a nationwide cessation of hostilities in one week’s time,” Mr. Kerry said early Friday morning, after all-day meetings. “That is ambitious.”

“The real test is whether all the parties honor those commitments,” he said, sitting next to Mr. Lavrov, the two men doing their best to appear cooperative after weeks of trading accusations over the accelerated Russian air campaign that has given new support to the government of Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad.

If executed, the agreement, forged by the International Syria Support Group, would mark the first sustained and formally declared halt to fighting in Syria since the civil war began in 2011, early in the Arab uprisings. But even a formal cease-fire would be partial — it excludes the Islamic State and the Nusra Front, both designated as terrorist organizations by the United Nations — and highly fragile.

At moments during a nearly hourlong news conference Mr. Kerry and Mr. Lavrov used the phrase “cessation of hostilities” and “cease-fire” interchangeably. But Mr. Kerry acknowledged the first was more temporary, and “a cease-fire is more permanent,” a recognized series of steps in international law.

*snip*
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/12/world/middleeast/us-and-russia-announce-plan-for-humanitarian-aid-and-a-cease-fire-in-syria.html?smid=tw-bna

Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina dropped out of the 2016 race on Wednesday, according to a post on her Facebook account.

The former Hewlett-Packard CEO didn't qualify for the last GOP debate and she placed seventh in the New Hampshire primary.

As preliminary results of the primary rolled in, she told a crowd of her supporters that New Hampshire had given her the boost she needed to keep going.

Here's her full statement:

This campaign was always about citizenship—taking back our country from a political class that only serves the big, the powerful, the wealthy, and the well connected. Election after election, the same empty promises are made and the same poll-tested stump speeches are given, but nothing changes. I've said throughout this campaign that I will not sit down and be quiet. I'm not going to start now. While I suspend my candidacy today, I will continue to travel this country and fight for those Americans who refuse to settle for the way things are and a status quo that no longer works for them.

Our Republican Party must fight alongside these Americans as well. We must end crony capitalism by fighting the policies that allow it to flourish. We must fix our festering problems by holding our bloated, inept government bureaucracy accountable. Republicans must stand for conservative principles that lift people up and recognize all Americans have the right to fulfill their God-given potential.

To young girls and women across the country, I say: do not let others define you. Do not listen to anyone who says you have to vote a certain way or for a certain candidate because you're a woman. That is not feminism. Feminism doesn't shut down conversations or threaten women. It is not about ideology. It is not a weapon to wield against your political opponent. A feminist is a woman who lives the life she chooses and uses all her God-given gifts. And always remember that a leader is not born, but made. Choose leadership.

As I have said to the many wonderful Americans I have met throughout this campaign, a leader is a servant whose highest calling is to unlock potential in others. I will continue to serve in order to restore citizen government to this great nation so that together we may fulfill our potential.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/fiorina-expected-to-drop-out

The 2016 presidential election has been one to remember, with mini-feuds breaking out in the Republican and Democratic primaries. Republican candidate Carly Fiornia hasn't been able to gain much traction, but was back in the news on the morning of the all-important New Hampshire primary.

Fiornia was the odd candidate out of the final debate before the New Hampshire primary, and most political pundits believe her campaign could end as soon as Wednesday morning. With the exception of a brief surge in late 2015, the former CEO of Hewlett-Packard has landed at the bottom of most recent polls. As pointed out by The Hill on Feb. 9, Clinton ran into Fiornia's husband while making the rounds in Derry, New Hampshire, and had a message for the struggling conservative.

At a polling station in the small town of Derry, Clinton wore a smile on her face as she recognized and old friend in the distance. That friend was Frank Fiorina whose wife has made it a common theme to constantly attack Clinton on the campaign trail and during the debates.

"Great to see you!" Clinton said to Frank. Responding back, Frank asked if Hillary remembered him, to which she answered back, "I sure do." The two continued to exchange pleasantries, ending with Hillary telling Frank, "Give my best to Carly."

*snip*

http://www.examiner.com/article/hillary-clinton-trolls-carly-fiorina-takes-picture-with-her-husband-n-h

The 23-year-old reportedly shot and killed himself around 6 p.m. Monday after posting a cryptic message on Facebook.

Around 3 p.m. Monday, a cryptic message was left on the Facebook page of Ohio Black Lives Matter activist MarShawn M. McCarrel II: "My demons won today. I'm sorry."

Around 6 p.m. that day, McCarrel's body was found outside the front door of the Ohio Statehouse, the Columbus Dispatch reports. It's believed that McCarrel died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, although no one witnessed the shooting. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

The 23-year-old activist was instrumental in organizing protests in Ohio after the death of Ferguson, Mo., teenager Michael Brown in 2014.

According to the New York Daily News, McCarrel founded the "youth mentorship program Pursuing Our Dreams, which launched Feed the Streets, a project to help Ohio's homeless." Earlier this year, McCarrel was named one of Radio One's Hometown Champions, an award given to community activists.



"He is selfless and will give his last in order to make sure others don't go without,” read a nomination page for the Hometown Champions Award. "MarShawn has come so far in life and has inspired so many people to help others."

On Friday, McCarrel attended the NAACP Image Awards with his mother, according to the Daily News.


*snip*

http://www.theroot.com/articles/news/2016/02/ohio_blm_activist_marshawn_mccarrell_ii_commits_suicide_outside_statehouse.html

Conservative columnist David Brooks realized even he was going to miss President Barack Obama in 2017, according to his New York Times column published Tuesday morning.

"I’ve been disappointed by aspects of his presidency. ... But over the course of this campaign it feels as if there’s been a decline in behavioral standards across the board," Brooks wrote in the column titled, "I Miss Barack Obama."

Brooks wrote that presidential candidates on both sides of the aisle are lacking five character traits that we've "taken too much for granted" from Obama: "basic integrity," "sense of basic humanity," soundness" in decision making, "grace under pressure," and "resilient sense of optimism."

*snip*

Brooks said he "obviously" disagreed with many of Obama's decisions, but appreciated the President's "ethos of integrity."

"Obama radiates an ethos of integrity, humanity, good manners and elegance that I’m beginning to miss, and that I suspect we will all miss a bit, regardless of who replaces him," he concluded.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/david-brooks-i-will-miss-barack-obama