Year: 2014
Forecast Predicts Democrats Likely to Hold the Senate
70%
The probability of Democrats retaining control of the upper chamber, according to Sam Wang’s updated Senate forecast. One reason his forecast is more favorable to Democrats than others is that he’s relying more on actual polls than so-called “fundamentals.”
RNC to Spend $100 Million on Voter Turnout
$100 million
Amount the Republican National Committee is on track to spend in the midterm campaign, “with virtually every dime plowed into the party’s new digital voter-turnout program,” the Washington Examiner reports.
Perry Not Sure What He’s Been Indicted For
I’ve been indicted by that same body now for I think two counts, one of bribery, which I’m not a lawyer, so I don’t really understand the details here.
— Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R), quoted by the Houston Chronicle, talking about the indictments against him of which bribery was not one.
Washington Post: ISIS Used Bush-Approved Torture Technique on Journalist James Foley And Other American Hostages
In late 2002 and early 2003, a group of top Bush administration officials approved a set of torture techniques for use on prisoners captured during the so-called War on Terror. Known as the Principals Committee, the officials who signed off on the torture manual included Vice Pres. Cheney, former National Security Adviser (and later Secretary of State) Condoleezza Rice, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Colin Powell, CIA Director George Tenet and Attorney General John Ashcroft. Ultimately, however, the decision to turn America into a torture state was made by Pres. Bush.
Pres. Reagan signed an international anti-torture treaty that enjoined member nations to invade a country where torture was known to be occurring, arrest its leaders and bring them justice before a Nuremberg-style tribunal.
Among the torture techniques approved by Bush’s Principals Committee was waterboarding, a practice that the United States had deemed a war crime for which the penalty was death by hanging during World War II.
The Bush administration’s torture manual was also prima facie violation of the international anti-torture treaty passed by Congress and signed by Ronald Reagan in 1984 — a treaty that required member nations to invade a country where torture was known to be occurring, arrest its leaders and bring them justice before an Nuremberg-style tribunal.
Bush’s decision to torture prisoners not only reduced the United States to the same base level as its worst enemies, it guaranteed that terrorists would deploy the same techniques against American hostages some day. According to the Washington Post, that day has arrived.
Majority of Blacks Say Police Forces Don’t Hold Officers Accountable
70%
Of blacks say police departments around the country do a poor job in holding officers accountable for misconduct; an identical percentage says they do a poor job of treating racial and ethnic groups equally. And 57% of African Americans think police departments do a poor job of using the right amount of force, according to Pew Research.
King Threatens Government Shutdown Over Immigration
If the president wields his pen and commits that unconstitutional act to legalize millions, I think that becomes something that is nearly political nuclear… I think the public would be mobilized and galvanized and that changes the dynamic of any continuing resolution and how we might deal with that.
— Rep. Steve King (R-IA), asserting that “the threat of another government shutdown could be Republicans’ leverage to pass border security and immigration legislation this fall,” the Des Moines Register reports.
McConnell Says Obama Needs the Senate
There’s only one thing Barack Obama needs to keep his grip on power. He needs the U.S. Senate!
— Senate Minority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), quoted by the New York Times Magazine.
Deficit Continues to Drop But Low Corporate Tax Rates Threaten Outlook
The federal deficit continues to decline thanks to budget cuts and slower growth in Medicare costs, but lower than expected corporate tax revenues dimmed some of the improved outlook, according to a report Wednesday from the Congressional Budget Office…
Declining corporate tax revenues are largely to blame for a $26 billion dip in overall revenue projections from the non-partisan budget office’s April forecast, and the budget director called the change not particularly large, but “notable.”
