POLITICO: … Obamacare is upheld … and then sustains fresh wounds: The Affordable Care Act survived another major legal challenge in June when the Supreme Court sided with the Obama administration and upheld government subsidies to residents in the 34 states that rely on HealthCare.gov as a marketplace. The King v. Burwell case could have resulted in […]
Month: December 2015
TSUKERMAN: Russian mentality today
By Slava Tsukerman On Monday, December 21, celebrating the birthday of Joseph Stalin, Russian communists’ leader Gennady Zyuganov made a statement: “One sees and feels, Stalin spring is coming. The current time had finally claimed Stalin, his great ideas and victorious actions.” The same day Interfax agency published a statement of George Kamenev, the first […]
Sixty years of trying to understand the tragedy of Richard Nixon
By Robert Field For those of us who came to voting age in 1960 when Republican Vice President Richard M. Nixon and Democrat Senator John F. Kennedy vied for the Presidency, Nixon looms large in our lives. However they felt about Nixon over the course of time, all would gain insight from Evan […]
Timeline of the gathering Kane-storm
WITF: State Attorney General Kathleen Kane has been charged with perjury and other offenses stemming from an alleged scheme to exact revenge on her critics. Kane says the present case against her goes back to porn e-mails exchanged by her detractors that she wants to make public. How did we get here?… 2012 – […]
Boo! Ghost voters make a return to the Pennsylvania House floor in tight budget votes
PENNLIVE: ….The language was passed on a 100-99 vote in which, according to Metcalfe, three ‘yes’ votes were cast on behalf of members who were not present as per House rules. The votes in question, [Rep. Daryl ] Metcalfe said, were cast for Reps. Leslie Acosta, D-Philadelphia, Pete Daley, D-Washington, and John Maher, R-Allegheny. Metcalfe […]
City taxpayers guarantee $6.08 in “grants” to convention center and private shopping center
An article in lancasteroneline.com is headed “CRIZ authority secures $6.08 million loan,” It relates that the Convention Center will receive an immediate $500,00 and “Eventually, another $1.4 million of the loan proceeds will go to the convention center, fulfilling the city’s required payments of $700,000 each for 2016 and 2017. (After that, three more payments are […]
Capitolwire: Senate sends Wolf a budget before Christmas, but will it be a present he wants?
By Chris Comisac Bureau Chief Capitolwire HARRISBURG (Dec. 23) – Senate Republicans shrugged off the blame directed at them by the House Wednesday and still gave House Republicans an early Christmas gift, sending to Gov. Tom Wolf the $30.3 billion spending plan the House sent to the Senate on Dec. 8. “This is the only […]
KEISLING: Senate unwittingly exposes darkest chapter in state legislative history in Kane removal bid
Senate invokes constitutional provision against AG Kathleen Kane tied to era of eugenics, forced sterilizations, and the Holocaust by Bill Keisling The Pennsylvania Senate, carelessly hoping to remove state Attorney General Kathleen Kane from office, has unwittingly invoked an obscure and long-forgotten clause in the state constitution that’s rooted in some of the […]
AG Kathleen Kane’s office hands over 1 million emails, including Kane’s, to special prosecutor
PENN LIVE: Special prosecutors investigating public corruption and the exchange of vulgar and offensive material have taken possession of nearly 1 million emails from Attorney General Kathleen Kane’s office. Doug Gansler, the former Maryland attorney general who was tapped by Kane to lead the review, said he received a hard drive of emails from the office’s […]
Congress enables states and localities to spend federal funds on syringe access programs
DRUG POLICY ALLIANCE: …Meanwhile, in a huge win for public health, Congress has included language in the spending bill that would enable states and localities to spend federal funds on syringe access programs, effectively lifting the decades-long ban on federal funding for such life-saving programs. “Syringe access programs are a sound public health intervention, rooted in science, […]
Eakin Suspended With Pay by CJD
EDITOR: More to follow. But the below just in. THE LEGAL INTELLIGENCER: The Court of Judicial Discipline has suspended Justice J. Michael Eakin with pay pending his trial on the merits over his involvement in the exchange of offensive emails. The suspension, the third of a sitting state Supreme Court justice since 2012, comes […]
Marijuana Movement Agrees On Legalization Initiative In California
[Note from Kevin Zeese: It is great to see those working for legalization in California united. Knowing the various players, I am sure the conflict was a constructive one (though I’m sure it did not always feel that way) that resulted in a stronger voter initiative that is more likely to pass. Resolving internal divisions […]
PRESS RELEASE: Martin endorsed for State Senate by Lancaster County leaders
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE DECEMBER 22, 2015 [FROM: Friends of Scott Martin] CONTACT: SCOTT MARTIN // 717.615.8427 MARTIN ENDORSED FOR STATE SENATE BY LANCASTER COUNTY’S MOST TRUSTED LEADERS LANCASTER COUNTY, PA – Scott Martin, who is running for State Senate in the 13th District of Pennsylvania, today announced that he has received the support and endorsement […]
How Marco Rubio Could Lose All the Key Early States and Still Win
NEW YORK TIMES: People who make bets on the presidential election give Marco Rubio a slight edge for the Republican nomination. But there’s a catch: The same betting markets show that he’s an underdog in all of the early states, and not favored in any of the Super Tuesday states. It’s not clear even the Rubio team disagrees. My […]