The Bow Tie Is Back: After a few years of serving as an occasional Fox News contributor, the network has revealed that Tucker Carlson and his trademark bow tie (not pictured) will be joining the Fox & Friends weekend line-up. Carlson is perhaps best known for his time on CNN’s Crossfire, for his time on MSNBC, and as founder of The Daily Caller. (Which has been in the news lately, BTW.) He’ll replace Dave Briggs, who left the show in February to co-host The Crossover with Beadle and Briggs for the NBC Sports Network. (Photo via Gage Skidmore)
Reclusive North Korea is to cut the last channel of communications with the South because war could break out at “any moment”, it said on Wednesday, days of after warning the United States and South Korea of nuclear attack.
The move is the latest in a series of bellicose threats from North Korea in response to new U.N. sanctions imposed after its third nuclear test in February and to “hostile” military drills under way joining the United States and South Korea.
The North has already stopped responding to calls on the hotline to the U.S. military that supervises the heavily armed Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) and the Red Cross line that has been used by the governments of both sides.
While officials in South Korea and the United States continue to downplay recent threats from the North Korean government, both have also repeatedly condemned the increasingly incendiary rhetoric, which follows the implementation of new U.N. sanctions against the North. The United States has also bolstered its missile defense systems in the region as an added precaution.
President Barack Obama has chosen veteran Secret Service agent Julia Pierson as the first woman to become director of the agency that protects the president, two officials told Reuters on Tuesday.
Pierson has been chief of staff at the Secret Service, which last year became embroiled in a scandal involving agents taking prostitutes to their hotel rooms in Colombia before Obama visited the country.
Pierson will replace former Secret Service Mark Sullivan, who retired last month after 30 years with the agency. Unlike many of President Obama’s recent appointments, Pierson will not need approval from the Senate, meaning she’ll actually get to start working sometime this decade. source
North Dakota Governor Jack Dalrymple on Tuesday signed a measure giving the state the most restrictive abortion law in the United States, a bill banning the procedure in most cases once a fetal heartbeat can be detected, as early as six weeks.
Dalrymple also said the constitutionality of the measure was an open question and said state lawmakers should appropriate money to a litigation fund for the state attorney general to defend against any possible challenges to the law.
“Although the likelihood of this measure surviving a court challenge remains in question, this bill is nevertheless a legitimate attempt by a state legislature to discover the boundaries of Roe v. Wade,” Dalrymple said in a statement.
Considering many women don’t even receive confirmation that they’re pregnant until four to six weeks after conception, the decision essentially gives women roughly fourteen days (if they’re lucky) to decide whether or not they’d like to be a mother. Because forcing people to rush important decisions, like whether or not somebody wants to be a parent, is always a good idea, right?
Johnson Confirms Retirement: According to The Hill, South Dakota Sen. Tim Johnson will announce that he has no plans to seek reelection in 2014 on Tuesday, ending an 18-year career in the U.S. Senate. Sen. Johnson is the fifth Senate Democrat to announce retirement this year, leaving many to wonder if the Democratic Party will be able to maintain its majority after the midterm elections. (Photo via nnwo)
The Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) is currently investigating Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann’s 2012 presidential campaign, on suspicion of improper usage of campaign funds, according to a new report from The Daily Beast. While Rep. Bachmann is not believed to have personally committed any criminal actions, investigators are trying to ascertain whether or not Bachmann was aware of under-the-table payments to several advisers and, if so, when she became aware of the cash transfers. While OCE has no real enforcement powers of any kind, the board does make direct recommendations to the House Ethics Committee, though we don’t suspect the threat of censure (a.k.a a stern talking to from Congress) particularly frightens Rep. Bachmann. (Photo via Gage Skidmore) source
Put yourself in their shoes — look at the world through their eyes. It is not fair that a Palestinian child cannot grow up in a state of her own, and lives with the presence of a foreign army that controls the movements of her parents, every single day. It is not just when settler violence against Palestinians goes unpunished. It is not right to prevent Palestinians from farming their lands; to restrict a student’s ability to move around the West Bank; or to displace Palestinian families from their homes. Neither occupation nor expulsion is the answer. Just as Israelis built a state in their homeland, Palestinians have a right to be a free people in their own land.President Barack Obama • Urging Israeli citizens to pressure their own government to work harder on attaining the two-state solution which so many world leaders claim to want to see. President Obama told the crowd that “as a politician” he could assure them that their leaders would never do what wasn’t demanded of them. According to the NY Times, President Obama’s remarks were met with raucous applause, despite the generally skeptic view many Israelis have of the President. source
The Senate on Wednesday approved legislation that prevents a government shutdown and allows the upper chamber to begin work on passing a budget.
In a 73-26 vote, the Senate approved a $984 billion continuing resolution that keeps the government funded through the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30. The House is expected to approve the bill before adjourning on Thursday.
More than 20 Republicans and Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) voted against the measure.
We don’t know about you guys, but we’ll believe that Congress is ready to stop using potential government shutdowns as a negotiating chip every 4-6 weeks if/when it actually happens. That said, the thought of hearing about something other than the government spending bills for a few weeks is certainly a nice one.
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I’m not a sixth-grader. I’m not a lawyer, but after 20 years, I’ve been up close and personal to the Constitution. I have great respect for it. … It’s fine you want to lecture me on the Constitution. I appreciate it. Just know I’ve been here for a long time. I’ve passed on a number of bills. I’ve studied the Constitution myself. I am reasonably well-educated, and I thank you for the lecture.Sen. Dianne Feinstein • Responding to Republican Sen. Ted Cruz, who Sen. Feinstein believed was giving her an unrequested/undesired lecture on the U.S. Constitution and the wording used in its creation. The conflict arose during a heated debate between the two on a gun control bill (sponsored by Sen. Feinstein) which would ban the sale and manufacture of more than 150 types of military weapons, and was approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday. source
We don’t have an immediate crisis in terms of debt. In fact, for the next ten years, it’s gonna be in a sustainable place. The question is, can we do it smarter, can we do it better? And– you know, what I’m saying to them is I am prepared to do some tough stuff. Neither side’s gonna get 100%….But ultimately, it may be that– the differences are just– too wide. It may be that ideologically, if their position is ‘We can’t do any revenue’ or ‘We can only do revenue if we gut Medicare or gut Social Security or gut Medicaid,’ then we’re probably not gonna be able to get a deal.President Barack Obama • Speaking with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulus about the chances of Congressional Democrats and Republicans reaching any sort of compromise on Washington’s latest (semi-manufactured) budget crisis. source
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel is reviewing a lieutenant general’s decision to overturn a guilty verdict in a sexual assault case.
Hagel wrote in a letter to Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) that he told the Air Force secretary and Pentagon lawyers to review the case after Lt. Col. James Wilkerson’s guilty verdict was dismissed by Lt. Gen. Craig Franklin.
While he’s called for a review of the case, Sec. Hagel was also quick to remind reporters that he has no legal authority to overturn the decision himself; however, many on Capitol Hill are hopeful that this will be a first step towards overhauling the Pentagon’s existing policies for investigating/prosecuting cases of sexual assault.
They think the whole world is a battlefield, including America, and that the laws of war should apply…that’s not my understanding of the way America works. I don’t think the laws of war apply to America, I think the Bill of Rights do and I think it’s a disservice to our soldiers that our senators up there arguing that the Bill of Rights aren’t important.Sen. Rand Paul • Responding to criticism leveled against him by fellow Senators Lindsey Graham and John McCain on Thursday, less than a day after his impressive attempt to block the confirmation of John Brennan as head of the CIA. Both Graham and McCain attacked Paul on the floor of the Senate Thursday, saying the Kentucky Republican’s comments during his 13-hour filibuster were both untrue and disappointing. source
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