GOP Douche Nozzles: Obama Broke The Law With Prisoner Exchange

WASHINGTON (AP) — Two Republican lawmakers on Saturday accused President Barack Obama of breaking the law by approving the release of five Afghan detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in exchange for a U.S. soldier believed held by Islamist insurgents for five years.

The White House agreed that actions were taken in spite of legal requirements and cited "unique and exigent circumstances" as justification.
Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, 28, of Hailey, Idaho, was handed over to U.S. special operations forces by the Taliban. In return, five Afghans who were held at a U.S. detention facility in Cuba were released to the custody of the government of Qatar, which served as a go-between in negotiations for the trade.
Rep. Howard "Buck" McKeon of California and Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma said in a statement that Obama is required by law to notify Congress 30 days before any terrorists are transferred from the U.S. facility. They said Obama also is required to explain how the threat posed by such terrorists has been substantially mitigated.
McKeon is chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. Inhofe is the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee.
In response, the White House said it moved as quickly as possible given the opportunity that arose to secure Bergdahl's release. Citing "these unique and exigent circumstances," the White House said a decision was made to go ahead with the transfer despite the legal requirement of 30 days advance notice to Congress.
While saying they celebrate Bergdahl's release, McKeon and Inhofe warned that the exchange "may have consequences for the rest of our forces and all Americans."
"Our terrorist adversaries now have a strong incentive to capture Americans. That incentive will put our forces in Afghanistan and around the world at even greater risk," they said.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, said in a statement that "the safe return of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl is an answer to the prayers of the Bergdahl family and a powerful reinforcement of our nation's commitment to leave no service member behind."

WYCLEF JEAN - "If I Was PRESIDENT"

Miss. Judge Allegedly Struck, Yelled Slur At Mentally Disabled Black Man

TPM

A Mississippi judge allegedly slapped a young mentally disabled black man earlier this month at a flea market and yelled "run, n----, run," the Jackson Clarion-Ledger reported Sunday.

The family of Eric Rivers, 20, filed a complaint against Madison County Justice Court Judge Bill Weisenberger, who is white, accusing him of striking Rivers at the market on May 8 in Canton, Miss.
"This is 2014, not 1960, where someone could slap a young man and call out, 'Run, n-----, run,'" former Canton Mayor William Truly, now president of the Canton branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, told the Clarion-Ledger.
An apparent witness, Tammy Westbrook, told the newspaper Rivers was offering to help flea market vendors unload their goods when Weisenberger slapped him twice, then yelled "run, n----, run" as he fled. Westbrook and her sister, a vendor at the flea market, recalled that they thought Weisenberger was a law enforcement officer because he was wearing a security guard's uniform.
Weisenberger did not respond to the Clarion-Ledger's requests for comment.
The local NAACP head told the newspaper that he plans to file further complaints against Weisenberger and expects a grand jury will eventually hear the case.
"No citizen should have to face justice before a judge who holds such a high degree of racial animus and hatred," Truly said Friday in a news conference, as quoted by the Clarion-Ledger.

China sentences mining tycoon Liu Han to death

2014 AFP

A Chinese court on Friday convicted a mining billionaire said to have links with former security tsar Zhou Yongkang of murder and sentenced him to death.

Liu Han led private company Hanlong, which once launched a billion-dollar bid for an Australian firm. He and his brother Liu Wei were found guilty of "organising and leading a mafia-style group", murder and other crimes, the Xianning Intermediate People's Court said.
They and three accomplices were sentenced to death.
The Liu brothers' gang, based in the southwestern province of Sichuan, killed eight people and wounded many others over nearly 20 years, the court said in a posting on China's Twitter-like Sina Weibo.
"Liu Han and Liu Wei had extremely malicious intentions, their acts were exceptionally atrocious, their social influences were extremely vile and their crimes and the consequences were extremely serious," it said. "They should be severely punished according to the law."
Another 31 accused were given penalties ranging from suspended death sentences -- normally commuted to life imprisonment -- to three years in jail, state media said.
Sichuan is one of the power bases of Zhou Yongkang, who once enjoyed vast power as China's security chief but is now at the centre of rumours about a corruption investigation. He has not been seen in public for months.
The influential business magazine Caixin has reported that Liu Han once had dealings with a businessman believed to be Zhou's son. State media have also hinted that the gang had connections to central government officials.
The verdicts suggest officials are building a case against Zhou Yongkang, said Zhang Ming, a political scientist at Renmin University in Beijing.
"These cases are being used to collect evidence against Zhou, I think this verdict is preparation for Zhou's trial," he said.
Senior party leaders "don't want to punish Zhou Yongkang as a political case, but as a corruption case. Although it could be hard to find evidence against him," he added.
Scores of people with connections to Zhou have reportedly been detained in recent months.
"It's not certain whether he will face trial, that depends on how strong his remaining political ties are," Zhang said.
- 'Huge amount of money' -
The court said Friday that the gang were "sheltered by staff members of state organs".
The Beijing News previously quoted a friend of Liu Han as saying that he spent "huge amount of money" to get to know a "leader" in 2001 and from then "rapidly expanded his business to other provinces and foreign countries".
Zhou was the party boss of Sichuan from 1999 to 2002 before he was promoted to China's all-powerful Politburo Standing Committee, whose members have generally been regarded as untouchable even after retirement.
If the investigation into him is confirmed, it would mark the first time in decades that such a high-ranking figure has been targeted in a formal inquiry, a move that would send shockwaves through China's political elite.
Liu Han's Hanlong group is a diversified firm with interests ranging from tourism to minerals, and has assets of more than 20 billion yuan ($3.2 billion).
It launched a takeover bid of more than $1.0 billion for listed Australian iron ore company Sundance Resources in 2011. But the deal collapsed last year after the Chinese firm failed to follow through. Chinese media reports said at the time that Liu Han had been detained.
China's Communist Party authorities have been waging a much-publicised anti-graft campaign in the year since President Xi Jinping came to power.
But critics contend that no systemic reforms have been introduced, and that moves targeting Zhou are intended to sideline a political figure rather than battle corruption.

Radio Hosts Mimic Fox's Transphobia, Promptly Get Fired

MMFA

Two radio hosts in Rochester, NY lost their jobs following a grossly transphobic segment mocking the transgender community. But the vicious comments that got them fired are nearly identical to the kind of transphobic hate speech Fox News regularly peddles to its national audience with impunity.
On May 22, Rochester radio station 98.9 The Buzz announced that it had fired Kimberly and Beck - the hosts of the station's morning talk radio show "The Breakfast Buzz' - following outrage over a segment criticizing Rochester's plan to cover transgender healthcare for employees and their families. According to a statement from Entercom Rochester:

This morning Entercom fired Kimberly and Beck effective immediately. Their hateful comments against the transgender community do not represent our station or our company. We deeply apologize to the transgender community, the community of Rochester, and anyone else who was offended by their hateful comments. We are proud of our past work on behalf of the local LGBT community and we remain committed to that partnership.

The May 21 segment in question was an "atrocious" train wreck of transphobic slurs, misinformation, and hate speech. Kimberly and Beck called transgender people "nut jobs," trivialized the need for transgender health care, and played Aerosmith's Dude Looks Like A Lady throughout the segment. They accused a transgender high school athlete of having an unfair advantage over her opponents and joked about her using her genitals to play baseball. And when a caller expressed disappointment in the hosts' transphobic commentary, another host responded "thank you, sir," in an attempt to mock the caller's gender:



98.9 The Buzz was right to act quickly to shut down Kimberly and Beck's hateful transphobic commentary.
But Kimberly and Beck's comments aren't all that extreme when compared to the way conservative media outlets talk about the transgender community. In reality, the segment might have been entirely unremarkable had it been aired on Fox News.
Playing Dude Looks Like A Lady to mock transgender people? Fox has done it.
Depicting transgender people as delusional or crazy? Check, check, and check.
Worrying that transgender people have an unfair advantage in sports? Fox has that covered.
Intentionally misgendering transgender people against their wishes? Common practice at Fox.
Trivializing transgender healthcare as cosmetic or unnecessary? Megyn Kelly is all over it.
Generally making crude jokes at transgender people's expense? You get the idea.
Kimberly and Beck's comments are inexcusable, but they also reached a relatively small audience of listeners. Now that the embattled hosts are looking for work, they might want to consider applying at Fox News. They'll be able to reach a much broader audience without having to worry about any pesky rules against using hate speech.

Metallica S&M 1999 Full Concert

Business That Bashed Obama's OSHA Just Had Horrifying Industrial Accident

WASHINGTON -- During the 2012 presidential campaign, Wisconsin businessman Lance Johnson said President Barack Obama's workplace safety inspectors were burdening him and killing jobs with too much red tape.
"I've never been audited by more government agencies in my life than I have under Obama," Johnson, president of Johnson Brass & Machine Foundry Inc., in Saukville, Wisconsin, told The Wall Street Journal in a Nov. 2, 2012, campaign story.
On Monday, Johnson's foundry was the site of a horrifying industrial accident.
As reported by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, a "catastrophic failure" of machinery sprayed molten metal on workers, injuring eight and sending four of them to the hospital. According to a statement from Johnson issued Tuesday, the molten metal hit workers on their legs and backs. None of the injuries were life-threatening.
"For more than one hundred years my family has taken great pride in our safety record and our close relationship with our employees," Johnson said in a statement. "As the fourth president of this family-owned business, I can say we are all deeply saddened by the accident at our plant."
Speaking to the Journal in 2012, Johnson claimed that OSHA, which is tasked with monitoring the health and safety of workplaces, was subjecting him to duplicative audits. The story detailed how most of the U.S. business community was throwing its weight behind GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney rather than Obama, in part because of the incumbent president's "aggressive regulators."
That sentiment quite clearly applied to Johnson.
Johnson claimed the cost of dealing with those unnecessary OSHA audits went "well into the six figures." OSHA disputed that the audits were duplicative.
"I would have spent that on more equipment. That would have created more jobs down the line," Johnson told the paper.
Through a spokesman, The Huffington Post asked Johnson if he still believed OSHA regulation was too burdensome. He had no immediate response.
According to OSHA records, Johnson's company was hit with proposed penalties of $9,638 for exposing workers to apparent hazards in 2011.

Bush-Appointed Judge Cites Scalia In Axing Pennsylvania Gay Marriage Ban

TPM

Upon striking down Pennsylvania's gay marriage ban Tuesday, a federal judge cited Justice Antonin Scalia's "cogen[t]" argument that the Supreme Court had essentially paved the way for nationwide marriage equality last year.

Here's the relevant passage from George W. Bush-appointed Judge John E. Jones III in his 39-page opinion:

As Justice Scalia cogently remarked in his dissent, “if [Windsor] is meant to be an equal-protection opinion, it is a confusing one.” Windsor, 133 S. Ct. at 2706 (Scalia, J., dissenting). Although Windsor did not identify the appropriate level of scrutiny, its discussion is manifestly not representative of deferential review. See id. (Scalia, J., dissenting) (observing that “the Court certainly does not apply anything that resembles [the rational-basis] framework” (emphasis omitted)). The Court did not evaluate hypothetical justifications for the law but rather focused on the harm resulting from DOMA, which is inharmonious with deferential review.

It was a reference to Scalia's scathing dissent against the Court's 5-4 opinion that struck down a portion of the Defense of Marriage Act which prohibited federal recognition of same-sex marriages. The Reagan-appointed justice warned that the majority decision -- despite officially staying neutral on whether gay marriage was a Constitutional right -- relied upon reasoning that would lead to that conclusion.
"As I have said, the real rationale of today’s opinion ... is that DOMA is motivated by 'bare ... desire' to harm couples in same-sex marriages," Scalia wrote in the 2013 dissent. "How easy it is, indeed how inevitable, to reach the same conclusion with regard to state laws denying same-sex couples marital status."
Jones is one of several district court judges in numerous states to cite Scalia's prescient warning about the broader legal consequences of the DOMA reasoning. Same-sex marriage has enjoyed a remarkable winning streak since the ruling.

Pennsylvania Judge Ruling On Gay Marriage - 5/20  ..............