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Politics

Bob Menendez

Bob Menendez, D-N.J., speaks to reporters during a news conference in Newark, N.J. on Friday, March 6, 2015. (Photo: AP/John Minchillo)

The Justice Department reportedly will soon file corruption charges against Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., a vocal critic of President Obama’s policies on Cuba and Iran. The DOJ charges will make various allegations that he used his office to help a Democratic donor.

A defiant Sen. Menendez held a press conference roughly four hours after the reports first surfaced Friday, during which he said he had “always conducted myself appropriately and in accordance with the law.”

“I fight for things I believe important…and for the people of our country. That’s who I am,” Sen. Menendez added. “I am not going anywhere.”

Menendez took no questions from reporters because of the “ongoing inquiry,” but the senator’s spokeswoman Tricia Enright did give PPD a statement.

“As we have said before, we believe all of the Senator’s actions have been appropriate and lawful and the facts will ultimately confirm that. Any actions taken by Senator Menendez or his office have been to appropriately address public policy issues and not for any other reason.”

The timing of these federal charges against the powerful senior lawmaker is blatantly suspicious for numerous reasons. Sen. Menendez has been a leading and very vocal critic of the president’s unpopular diplomatic policy regarding Iran and its nuclear program, and was even gearing up to co-sponsor draft legislation meant to check the administration’s power to negotiate a deal.

In mid-January, during a summit held in Baltimore following the Democrats’ historical midterm defeat, Sen. Menendez and President Obama traded “sharp words” over the issue. Attendees told PPD the senator was outwardly frustrated by the fact the president didn’t seem to care that if nuclear talks failed, then the U.S. could not expeditiously impose new sanctions. The president flat-out threatened members of his own party who might have been thinking of compromising with the new Republican majority on Iran and a host of other issues.

As a Cuban-American lawmaker, Menendez had also has criticized the Obama administration’s decision to normalize ties with Cuba. The president’s push to end the 1960s-era Cuban embargo, which was instituted in a bipartisan fashion, came soon after American hostage Alan Gross was released from a Cuban prison.

“President Obama’s actions have vindicated the brutal behavior of the Cuban government,” Menendez, then-outgoing Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman said in a statement. “Trading Mr. Gross for three convicted criminals sets an extremely dangerous precedent.”

Not only did the administration claim the deal with Cuba was unrelated to the prisoner swap, but also failed to demand the return of convicted cop-killer Joanne Chesimard, an issue that was particularly important to both New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Sen. Menendez.

The 67-year-old Chesimard, who now goes by the name of Assata Shakur, was found guilty of killing New Jersey State Trooper Werner Foerster in 1973 before she escaped from prison and fled to Cuba, where notorious socialist dictator President Fidel Castro gave her asylum. Fidel’s brother Raul, an equally oppressive tyrant, now leads the still-communist country. Obama and Raul, who by all accounts are getting pretty chummy with each other, personally negotiated the deal.

While various allegations have indeed swirled around the New Jersey lawmaker — including a pre-2012 election story claiming he solicited prostitutes in the Dominican Republic — the Justice Department publicly refused to investigate them in the past, thus the allegations have never been substantiated. Yet, according to the CNN report, the Justice Department’s case against Menendez is more than two years in the making.

Not surprisingly, the Justice Department would not respond to a request to comment on the criminal charges or the investigation Friday, but also did not deny that charges are coming.

Further, the federal case as reported, which involves Florida ophthalmologist Salomon Melgen, is equally suspicious. According to one legal expert who spoke to the Washington Post, the Justice Department has chosen not to prosecute similar “friend and donor” cases in the past. Prosecuting a sitting senator or any lawmaker over political favors he allegedly did for a genuine personal friend in return for gifts and donations, “is an uphill battle.”

salomon-melgen-ap

Salomon Melgen, 59, is a Florida ophthalmologist and Dominican native who settled in the United States in 1980.

“The Senator has counted Dr. Melgen as one of his closest personal friends for decades,” Enright said. “The two have spent holidays together and have gone to each other’s family funerals and weddings and have exchanged personal gifts. As has been reported, the start of this investigation is suspect. We know many false allegations have been made about this matter, allegations that were ultimately publicly discredited. We also know that the official investigation of this matter is ongoing, and therefore cannot address allegations being made anonymously.”

Investigators cite a plane trip the senator took as the donor’s guest to the Dominican Republic. Melgen, a 59-year-old Florida ophthalmologist, has often flown influential lawmakers on his private plane, including then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., who reimbursed the doctor. Another pre-2012 election story involved the same plane trip cited in the report. He later reimbursed the doctor for the trips, saying the failure to report the trips had been an oversight.

Menendez has vacationed with Melgen and his wife at their mansion in the Dominican Republic on at least three occasions.

The feds also investigated how the senator allegedly advocated for Melgen with Medicare officials, who accused him of over-billing. Melgen was one of the top recipients of Medicare reimbursements at a time when he was contributing heavily to Democrats. In 2012, alone, Melgen received $21 million in Medicare reimbursements, while he and his family have donated roughly $1 million to Menendez’s campaigns, as well as committees on which he served.

In one example, the feds claim Melgen would be reimbursed $6,000 to $8,000 for a vial that cost him $2,000, as he used one vial to treat three or four patients but billed as if he had purchased a new vial each time. For example, in 2007 and 2008, he overbilled Medicare by $9 million, which he then paid back.

While top Senate Democrats have close relationships with the donor, there is no love-loss between Melgen and President Obama, himself. In 2010, he co-hosted a fundraiser to benefit the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, and was furious when President Obama didn’t give him the time of day, save for posing for a picture. He chastised Obama for not having the ability to make and maintain relationships with people who fork out $30,000 to the DSCC, let alone lawmakers in Congress.

The bottom line is that these allegations are nothing new, yet are suspiciously resurrected at a time when President Obama has clearly lost the argument on Iran and, with the public staunchly in support of Israel, the most difficult obstacle for an administration desperate to strike a deal with the mullahs that kicks the can down the road, is Sen. Bob Menendez.

“When it comes to defending the U.S.-Israeli relationship, I am not intimidated by anyone,” Menendez said last week at AIPAC 2015, just one day before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave a speech Obama never wanted him to give. “Not Israel’s political enemies, and not my political friends when I believe they’re wrong.”

The prime minister gave his high-profile yet controversial and long-awaited speech last week after Republican House Speaker John Boehner extended an invitation. The Obama administration considered the invitation a breach in protocol, slamming Israel and Republicans ahead of the speech. But GOP leaders weren’t the only ones defending the move.

“Now I agree with some Democrats that the political timing of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s invitation to speak to Congress tomorrow may have been unfortunate, and we must work fervently to keep the U.S.-Israel relationship a strong, bipartisan endeavor,” Sen. Menendez said. “But, I must disagree with those who say that the prime minister’s visit to the United States is destructive to U.S.-Israel relations.”

Menendez drug along many other Democrats in arguing alongside Republicans that it was important for Netanyahu to explain the threats posed by Iran and Israel’s concerns over the still-largely secretive terms of the nuclear deal.

“And tomorrow,” he shouted over eruptions of applause and cheering from the crowd, “I will be proud when I escort the prime minister to the House chamber to give his speech, to show him the respect he deserves from every American who cares about our relationship with the only true democracy in the Middle East.”

The Justice Department reportedly will soon file

World

Bad ideas definitely have the ability to cross borders.

The income tax first appeared in England, on a temporary basis during the Napoleonic wars and then permanently in 1842. It then spread like a cancer to other parts of the world, eventually reaching – and plaguing – the United States starting in 1913.

Government-run Social Security schemes were started by the Germans in 1889 under Chancellor Otto von Bismarck. Similar programs then were adopted elsewhere, including the United States as part of FDR’s misguided New Deal in 1935.

Now we have another example.

I wrote last month about how the State Department’s refugee program is a train wreck because it is bringing Somalis (many of whom have an anti-Western ideology) to America and trapping them in government dependency with a plethora of handouts (and also creating a breeding ground for terrorists).

Well, our cousins in the United Kingdom also have a refugee program that is similarly counterproductive.

I don’t know which country was dumb enough to first create its program, but the Brits win the prize for subsidizing the most infamous terrorist (and new member of the Moocher Hall of Fame).

Here are some excerpts from a story in the U.K.-based Daily Mail.

Jihadi John and his asylum-seeking family have milked the British benefits system for 20 years, the Mail can reveal today. Housing the Islamic State executioner and his relatives in affluent parts of London has cost taxpayers up to £400,000. One landlord said Mohammed Emwazi’s family were ‘parasites’ and ‘tenants from hell’. Incredibly, they are still believed to be pocketing £40,000 a year in handouts despite there being no sign of them in Britain. …Westminster City Council is still paying the rent on the family’s £600,000 flat even though the rules say housing benefit should normally be stopped after 13 weeks.

So did all these handouts to the Emwazi family turn them into good citizens?

holder foley split

Attorney General Eric Holder said that the Justice Department has opened a criminal investigation into the cowardly execution of journalist James Foley by the terrorist group ISIS.

Hardly. One of the kids, Mohammed Emwazi has gone to the Middle East to fight for ISIS and is now infamous at “Jihadi John,” the psychopath that beheads innocent people.

MPs said they were horrified that the child of a family given refugee status, citizenship and benefits had returned the favour by orchestrating the murder of two of its citizens. …In sickening propaganda videos, his son led the beheadings of Britons Alan Henning and David Haines.

But even if Jihadi John hadn’t turned into a nutjob, British taxpayers still got a very bad deal from the Emwazi clan.

The family apparently is still on the dole, continuing an unbroken 20-year tradition of mooching off British taxpayers.

During their time in Britain, neither Jasem nor Ghaneya officially worked. …With a 12-year-old daughter, Hana, they are still believed to be claiming an estimated £7,821 a year in child benefits and child tax credits. That is on top of annual claims of about £23,400 in housing benefit, £678 in council tax support and £5,929 in jobseeker’s allowance.

Looking at this result, logical people might be tempted conclude that it’s time to rethink refugee programs.

Or, at the very least, change the rules that funnel these people into government dependency.

But since many politicians aren’t logical, there are probably British versions of Barack Obama who are urging job training programs or similar nonsense (for a humorous take on that topic, see the cartoons at the bottom of this post).

P.S. Jihadi John featured in one of the most effectively snarky anti-Obama cartoons I’ve ever seen, which is at the end of this post.

P.P.S. Switching to a different topic, I’ve written (some would say ad nauseam) about disproportionately generous pay and benefits for government bureaucrats. Particularly for the gilded class in Washington.

I think the evidence for excessive bureaucratic compensation is ironclad, particularly if you look at “quit rates” by sector.

But now we have yet another piece of evidence that the federal workforce is living on Easy Street. Check out this new polling data from Gallup.

Remember, this is polling data with federal workers describing their own status, not what taxpayers think.

So let’s give 44 percent of bureaucrats credit for honesty, which is ironic because bureaucrats in polls have acknowledged they’re more likely to be dishonest! Andlazy as well.

Though the real moral of the story is not compensation. As I explain at the end of this video, the real problem is that many government jobs shouldn’t exist in the first place.

P.P.P.S. If you want to enjoy bureaucrat humor, click here, here, here, here, here,here, here, here, here, and here.

Welfare Mohammed Emwazi, or 'Jihadi John, has

Economy

jobs report applications

Americans seeking full- and part-time work fill out job applications at a workshop. (Photo: REUTERS)

The Labor Department said Friday that the U.S. economy added 295,000 jobs in February, fueled largely by gains in food services and drinking places, as well as retail trade. The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ February jobs report also shows the unemployment rate fell to 5.5 percent, while the labor force participation rate fell to 62.8 percent for the month, down from 62.9 the month prior.

Job gains occurred in food services and drinking places (59,000), professional and business services (51,000), construction (29,000), health care (24,000), and in transportation and warehousing (19,000). Employment in mining was down over the month, decreasing by 9,000 in February.

The civilian labor force participation rate has remained within a 36-low range since April 2014, while the less-cited but more important employment-population ratio remained an abysmal 59.3 percent. Fortunately, though mediocre, it is up by 0.5 percent over the year.

The number of long-term unemployed — or, those without a job for 27 weeks or more — remained at 2.7 million in February. These individuals, who do not include workers who have given up, accounted for 31.1 percent of the unemployed.

The number of persons employed part time for economic reasons — or, so-called involuntary part-time workers — was also staggeringly high at 6.6 million. These individual prefer full-time employment, but were working part time at the time of the survey because their hours had been cut back or because they were unable to find a full-time job.

These individuals represent the vast majority of the group Gallup CEO Jim Clifton was referring to when he made headlines recently by calling the unemployment rate “a big lie.”

As Clifton explained, Gallup’s Job Creation Index, which just released data showing the labor market in the same condition as it was in 2014, defines a good job as 30+ hours per week for an organization that provides a regular paycheck. However, the government considers an individual who clocks in a minimum of one hour of work in a week and was paid at least $20, as employed.

“There’s no other way to say this,” said Clifton. “The official unemployment rate, which cruelly overlooks the suffering of the long-term and often permanently unemployed as well as the depressingly underemployed, amounts to a Big Lie.”

Clifton later walked back his criticisms for fear he might “suddenly disappear” for telling the truth.

In February, 2.2 million persons were still marginally attached to the labor force, including 732,000 discouraged workers, both of which have remained unchanged over the past year. These individuals were not in the labor force, wanted and were available for work, and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. However, these Americans are not counted in the BLS jobs report as “unemployed” because they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey.

Discouraged workers are persons not currently looking for work because they believe no jobs are available for them, or basically, have quit on the American dream. The remaining 1.4 million persons marginally attached to the labor force in February had not searched for work for reasons such as school attendance or family responsibilities.

Meanwhile, policy makers at the Federal Open Markets Committee (FOMC) are keeping a close eye on wage growth and the labor force participation rate, two economic indicators that have lagged behind stubbornly in recent months. Wage growth and labor force participation both impact inflation, which has remained far below the Fed’s target rate of 2 percent.

In February, average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls rose by an almost-non-existent and slim 3 cents to $24.78. Over the past year, average hourly earnings have risen by just 2 percent, which is also well below the already-mediocre 3 percent target. Economists agree that at least 3 percent is needed to indicate a somewhat healthy economy.

In February, average hourly earnings of private-sector production and nonsupervisory employees were unchanged — in other words, were stagnant — at $20.80.

The Labor Department's February jobs report said

Video, World

The Iraqi government confirmed Thursday that ISIS militants had “bulldozed” the renowned Nimrud archaeological site, located in the northern region. The statement came shortly after ISIS released a video showing the destruction of artifacts from the ancient city.

The country’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities said in a statement that the terror group continues to “defy the will of the world and the feelings of humanity.” The statement did not speak to the the extent of the damage to the site.

Nimrud, the second capital of an ancient Assyrian kingdom that began in about 900 B.C., was destroyed in 612 B.C. and is located on the Tigris River just south of Iraq’s second largest city, Mosul. The city and the region were captured by the Islamic State terror army in June.

The late 1980s discovery of treasures in Nimrud’s royal tombs was one of the 20th century’s most significant archaeological finds. After Iraq was invaded in 2003, archaeologists were relieved when they were found hidden in the country’s central Bank — in a secret vault-inside-a-vault submerged in sewage water.

The effort to wipe out the ancient relics and city of Nimrud is but the latest in a long series of assaults by ISIS on historical artifacts. Jack Green, chief curator of the Oriental Institute Museum at the University of Chicago and expert on Iraqi art, said Thursday that ISIS aims to destroy objects they view as idols representing religions and cultures that don’t reflect their radical views.

“It’s the deliberate destruction of a heritage and its images, intended to erase history and the identity of the people of Iraq, whether in the past or the present,” Green said. “And it has a major impact on the heritage of the region.”

Another video published in late February showed Islamic State militants attacking other Iraqi artifacts, some of which were identified as antiquities from the 7th century BC, with sledgehammers and drills. The men could be heard saying they were symbols of idolatry.

“The Prophet ordered us to get rid of statues and relics, and his companions did the same when they conquered countries after him,” an unidentified man said in the video.

 

Meanwhile, international outrage over the destruction of Nimrud is growing as witnesses provide media with grim reports.

“Islamic State members came to the Nimrud archaeological city and looted the valuables in it and then they proceeded to level the site to the ground,” one local tribal leader told Reuters. “There used to be statues and walls as well as a castle that Islamic State has destroyed completely.”

In the two videos, Islamic militants appear to destroy Assyrian statues of winged bulls from the Mesopotamian cities of Nineveh and Nimrud, as well as statues from Hatra, a Hellenistic-Parthian city in northern Iraq dating back around 2,000 years.

“It’s really called the cradle of Western civilization, that’s why this particular loss is so devastating,” said Suzanne Bott, the heritage conservation project director for Iraq and Afghanistan in the University of Arizona’s College of Architecture, Planning and Archaeology, who worked at Nimrud on and off for two years between 2008 and 2010. “What was left on site was stunning in the information it was able to convey about ancient life.”

Bott helped stabilize structures and survey Nimrud for the U.S. State Department as part of a joint U.S. military and civilian unit. Drawing from her experiences and expertise, she described Nimrud as one of four main Assyrian capital cities that practiced medicine, astrology, agriculture, trade and commerce, and had some of the earliest writings.

“People have compared it to King Tut’s tomb,” she said.

In July of 2014, the ISIS militants destroyed the tomb of the Prophet Jonah — otherwise known as the Mosque of the Prophet Younis — a the site that was holy to Christians, Jews and Muslims. They later destroyed the Mosque of the Prophet Jirjis, marking the second revered and ancient shrine that is located in Mosul. They also threatened to destroy Mosul’s 850-year old Crooked Minaret, but residents surrounded the structure and prevented the militants from carrying out their planned destruction.

Axel Plathe, the director of UNESCO’s Iraq office, first tweeted that the attack was an “appalling attack on Iraq’s heritage”,

He later tweeted that the acts constitute war crimes, adding to a growing number of entities and individuals calling on the United Nations to step in to protect the artifacts.

Iraqi archaeologist Lamia al-Gailani told the BBC that the destruction of the sites by ISIS was like a nightmare”erasing our history.”

“They are erasing our history,” al-Gailani said. “I wish it was a nightmare and I could wake up.”

The Tourism and Antiquities Ministry is calling on the U.N. Security Council to meet and discuss how to best take action to protect cultural heritage in Iraq. Iraq’s national museum in Baghdad just opened its doors to the public last week for the first time in 12 years. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said the decision was made to defy efforts “to destroy the heritage of mankind and Iraq’s civilization.”

Green noted that in many of these attacks on art, pieces that can be carried away are then sold to fund the IS group, while the larger artifacts and sculptures are destroyed at the site.

The Iraqi government confirmed Thursday that ISIS

Entertainment

harrison-ford-plane-crash

Harrison Ford, the actor best known for his roles as Indiana Jones and Han Solo in the “Star Wars” movie franchise, crashed landed his plane in a golf course in L.A.

Actor Harrison Ford was injured and taken to a hospital after a small plane he was piloting crash-landed at an L.A. golf course Thursday, reports said.

Ford was flying a vintage two-seater plane that crashed at Penmar golf course in Venice, California Thursday afternoon, officials said in a press conference. A source at the scene confirmed to MyFoxLA that Ford was involved in the crash.

L.A. Fire Dept. spokesman Patrick Butler said that a man approximately 70-years-old was taken to a local hospital in fair-to-moderate condition, and was alert and breathing.

Butler wouldn’t confirm the victim was Ford for privacy reasons, but said that the pilot was found outside the plane and was met by bystanders even before paramedics arrived. According to report, they administered spinal mobilization and started an IV treatment.

Celebrity stalkers TMZ reported that Ford, 72, who is best known for his roles as Indiana Jones and Han Solo in the “Star Wars” franchise, had multiple gashes to the head and was bleeding when two nearby doctors at the golf course rushed over to treat the actor.

An email to his representative sent PPD was not immediately returned, but witnesses told The Associated Press he was golfing when he saw the plane taking off.

“Immediately you could see the engine started to sputter and just cut out, and he banked sharply to the left,” said Jeff Kuprycz, who recalled the plane was about 200 feet overhead when it plunged to the ground. “He ended up crashing around the eighth hole. There was no explosion or anything. It just sounded like a car hitting the ground or a tree or something. Like that one little bang, and that was it.”

Ford was hospitalized in 2012 after injuring his ankle in an accident on the London set of “Star Wars: Episode VII.” Always his own stunt man, Ford got his pilot’s license in the late 1980s and has served as a spokesman to various airline associations. In 2009, he stepped down as chairman of a youth program for the Experimental Aircraft Association.

The real-life Indiana Jones made headlines in 2001 when he rescued a missing Boy Scout on his helicopter, and nearly a year before, he rescued an ailing mountain climber in Jackson, Wyoming. He has also volunteered his services during forest-fire season, when rescue helicopter are busy fighting blazes.

The actor has said his rescues “had nothing to do with heroism.”

“It had to do with flying a helicopter. That’s all,” he said.

Actor Harrison Ford was injured and taken

Policy, Video

regulations

Obama at business roundtable summit proposing more regulations on April 18, 2014.

I’m not reflexively opposed to executive orders and other unilateral actions by the White House. A president and his appointees, after all, have a lot of regulatory authority.

This is because, for better or worse, many of the laws approved in Washington basically express a goal and identify some tools. It’s then up to the relevant agency or agencies to promulgate regulations to enforce and implement those tools in order to supposedly achieve those goals.

But here’s the catch. The executive branch has to make at least a semi-plausible case that any given action is consistent with the law.

And the problem with this White House is that it has been using regulations and executive orders to change laws, thwart laws, and ignore laws.

There have been several instances of the White House arbitrarily deciding to ignore or alter major parts of Obamacare.

The Obama Administration has decided a law giving the federal government authority over the “navigable waterways” of the United States also means the federal government can regulate ponds on private land.

President Obama’s Treasury Department not only used a regulation to force American banks to put foreign law above American law, it also dealt with the unworkability of FATCA by creating an intergovernmental agreement mechanism that isn’t even mentioned in the law.

And don’t forget, regardless of what you think about immigration, the President also unilaterally decided to grant amnesty to millions of illegal aliens.

And that issue served as a springboard for a discussion with Fox News about a possible White House scheme to unilaterally impose big tax hikes on the business sector.

I’m surprised that I didn’t splutter with outrage during the interview. You don’t need to be a constitutional scholar, or even a lawyer, to be able to read Article 1, Section 7, of the Constitution.

And while Obama may not have a problem with the notion of America becoming a banana republic, we actually have co-equal branches of government, each with specific roles and powers.

Here’s the relevant text from the Constitution, as contained in the official repository at the National Archives.

All Bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur with Amendments as on other Bills. Every Bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate, shall, before it become a Law, be presented to the President of the United States.

Maybe I’m not very careful reader, but I don’t see anything in that passage about “unless President Obama feels otherwise” or “with the exception of unilateral tax hikes on companies.”

Though I imagine Ruth Bader Ginsburg could rationalize that such hidden clauses actually exist.

For additional background, here’s some of what The Hill has reported.

The Obama administration is not ruling out using executive powers to also address the tax code. With Senate Democrats openly pushing the administration to take its own action on the tax front, the White House is not shooting down the idea. …Earnest noted that the president has told lawmakers what he is interested in on taxes — closing loopholes for the wealthy and corporations… Earnest said he was not “ruling anything in or out,” when it came to specific executive steps. “This is related to the president’s ability to use his executive authority to do what he thinks is the right thing for the country,” he said.

By the way, my opposition to unilateral changes is based on principle.

So I’d be opposed even if a pro-freedom President wanted to suspend bad parts of the tax code or use “prosecutorial discretion” to provide de facto amnesty to taxpayers who refused to comply with an immoral part of the tax code, such as the death tax.

Though you won’t be surprised to learn that Obama isn’t contemplating any good unilateral changes. Instead, the policies being examined would exacerbate double taxation and extend worldwide taxation.

So we may get the worst of all worlds. Unilateral action on taxes that makes a mockery of our Constitution and rule of law while also making an already terrible business tax system even worse.

P.S. The United States only ranks #19 in an international comparison of what nations do a good job of upholding the rule of law. Makes you wonder where we’ll rank by the time Obama leaves office.

While the executive branch has to make

US

jodi-arias

Jodi Arias, the woman convicted of murdering Travis Alexander, a prior boyfriend, escaped the death penalty.

Jodi Arias, the convicted of murder in a 2013 trial that garnered national attention over her relationship with victim Travis Alexander, has escaped the death penalty. The family of the victim, particularly Travis’ sister Samantha Alexander, could be heard whaling as the judge announced a second jury had hung resulting in a mistrial.

The judge will sentence Arias to either life in prison or a life term with the possibility of release after 25 years.

It marked the second time a jury deadlocked over her fate, a clear disappointment and defeat for prosecutors who argued for the death penalty during the nearly seven-year legal battle against Arias that has cost the state millions of dollars.

The jurors deliberated for 26.5 hours over the last five days span. Earlier this week, the judge denied a mistrial request from Arias’ attorneys, who argued jurors were at an impasse, because a verdict does not necessarily rule out the possibility of a hung jury.

Arias initially denied stabbing and slashing Travis Alexander nearly 30 times, before slitting his throat so deeply that she nearly decapitated him. She also shot him in the forehead and left his body in his shower at his suburban Phoenix home where friends found him nearly five days later.

She later admitted that she killed Alexander, but shockingly, claimed it was self-defense after he had attacked her. The defense team began dragging Travis’ reputation through the mud, while Prosecutors said it was premeditated murder carried out in a jealous rage after he wanted to end their affair and planned a trip to Mexico with another woman.

Even though the second jury had never heard the previous accounts, that first jury, too, deadlocked on her punishment, resulting in the sentencing retrial that began in October.

Chris Hughes, a friend of Alexander, told KPHO that a hung jury would be frustrating.

“My personal opinion is that she earned the death penalty,” Hughes said. “I would be OK with life in prison, if she never gets out again, but she deserves the life of a death row inmate.”

The day she was convicted of murder, Arias gave a jailhouse interview with a local Fox reporter in which she said she’d rather have the death penalty. “I believe death is the ultimate freedom,” she said.

The interview led many to speculate if a clearly capable Arias wasn’t trying to manipulate the jurors into giving her life rather than death. Whether Arias was employing a reverse-psychology tactic or not, we may never know.

Jodi Arias, the convicted of murder in

Economy

jobs-fair-weekly-jobs-report

An unemployed American speaks to a recruiter at a jobs fair. (Photo: Mark Ralston AFP/Getty)

The Labor Department said their weekly jobs report shows initial claims for state unemployment benefits rose sharply last week, easily missing estimates. The number of Americans filing for first-time unemployment benefits increased to 320,000 for the week ended Feb. 28, up from an unchanged 313,000 the week prior.

Wall Street expected claims to fall to 295,000, according to a Reuters poll of economists. The Labor Department also said non-farm productivity contracted more sharply than previously thought in the fourth quarter, revealing the latest piece of concerning data in what was allegedly a “tightening labor market.”

Unlike previous weeks of concerning data, those arguing that the U.S. labor market was improving have two issues they can no longer fall back on. First, the Labor Department said there were no special factors impacting this week’s initial claims. Second, the 4-week moving average — which is widely considered a more accurate gauge, as it irons out volatility — was 304,750, an increase of 10,250 from the previous week’s unrevised average of 294,500.

A 4-week rolling average increasingly above 300,000 is a bad sign anyway economists slice it. Further, the number of eligible Americans participating in the labor force is an ever-shrinking pool, in which it is concerning to see these large numbers of claims. While many hoped last weeks weekly jobs report would be an anomaly, those hopes are now significantly dashed.

“The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.8 percent for the week ending February 21, unchanged from the previous week’s unrevised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending February 21 was 2,421,000, an increase of 17,000 from the previous week’s revised level,” the Labor Department report stated. “The previous week’s level was revised up 3,000 from 2,401,000 to 2,404,000. The 4-week moving average was 2,403,500, an increase of 3,750 from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was revised up by 750 from 2,399,000 to 2,399,750.”

The Labor Department further said productivity fell at a 2.2 percent annual rate in the fourth quarter, instead of the 1.8 percent pace it had initially reported last month.

The Labor Department said their weekly jobs

Polls

iran deal

President Barack Obama gives Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a glaring look as he publicly states Israel will never return to the pre-1967 borders.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this week made an impassioned case against President Obama’s terms in the nuclear negotiations with Iran. In his roughly 40-minute speech that was interrupted by bipartisan applause some 40 times by Congress, Netanyahu said the “bad deal” doesn’t block Iran’s path to the bomb, but rather “paves the path for Iran to the bomb.”

By a 56-27 percent margin, Americans not only say it was a good idea for Speaker John Boehner, R-OH, to invite Netanyahu to speak to Congress, but 55 percent also agree with the Israeli prime minister. A 55-percent majority said it would be “a disaster” if Iran obtains the capability to use nuclear weapons, with nearly two-thirds of voters (65 percent) supporting the use of military force to stop them.

Support by party is broad — Republicans (81 percent), Democrats (54 percent) and independents (53 percent) — and only 28 percent of voters oppose the use of U.S. military force.

In response to the speech that some 55 Democrats didn’t even bother to attend, President Obama confirmed to Reuters Monday that the U.S. is, in fact, conceding to a so-called sunset provision, a term even Democrats such as New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez have opposed.

“If, in fact, Iran is willing to agree to double-digit years of keeping their program where it is right now and, in fact, rolling back elements of it that currently exist … if we’ve got that, and we’ve got a way of verifying that, there’s no other steps we can take that would give us such assurance that they don’t have a nuclear weapon.”

But American voters overwhelming — 84 percent — say a deal that simply delays Iran’s nuclear time-table by 10 years, or until the end of Obama’s tenure is a bad idea, including 80 percent of Democrats.

Interestingly, because the poll was conducted Sunday through Tuesday during the evenings, about a third of the interviewing was done after Netanyahu’s speech.

Finally, a 57-percent majority voters say the U.S. has not been aggressive enough in stopping Iran from getting nukes, while a 59-percent majority said that Barack Obama is a weak negotiator with foreign leaders, up from 54 percent measured the year prior.

Voters’s views of the country of Israel in the FOX Poll pretty much mirror the results of a recent Gallup survey, with a 58 – 25 percent margin viewing America’s closest ally positively. That’s more than can be said for either party; Democratic Party (43 vs. 50 percent); and, the GOP (41 vs. 52 percent).

Barack Obama is currently underwater with a 43 – 54 percent unfavorable balance, while Benjamin Netanyahu is above water at a 32 – 26 percent margin. More than four voters in 10 were unable to rate Netanyahu (19 percent “can’t say” and 24 percent “never heard of”).

Currently 42 percent of voters approve of the job Obama is doing as president, while 53 percent disapprove. A month ago it was 45-49 percent. A year ago it was 38-54 percent (March 2014).

The Fox News poll is conducted by telephone with live interviewers under the joint direction of Anderson Robbins Research (D) and Shaw & Company Research (R). The 1,011 registered voters were reached via landline and cell phone numbers randomly selected for inclusion in this nationwide survey from March 1-3, 2015. The full poll has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points.

A new bipartisan poll finds American voters

Politics, Video

Mar. 04, 2015 – 4:49 – Comedian and weekly O’Reilly Factor guest Dennis Miller weighed in on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to Congress.

“My favorite line is when he said Iran’s promises are as empty as Nancy Pelosi’s stare,” Miller joked, mocking the minority leader’s awkward behavior many criticized as an inappropriate act. “What was that all about, huh?”

Miller also said the prime minister was forced to come to the Congress to give the speech because “the world is a mad house, it’s a mad house.”

“Everyone knows we should do to Iran what Harry Reid’s Bow-flex machine did to him a couple of months ago,” he said. The now-minority leader of the Senate was in attendance still wearing bandages around his head and eye from an exercise accident he suffered.

(MUST READ: Voters Back Bibi: Support Use Of Force Against Iran, 84% Say Obama’s Plan ‘Bad Idea’ )

Mar. 04, 2015 - 4:49 - Comedian

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