CLG: Fiery oil train derailment along Columbia River in Oregon, Court upholds storage of nuclear waste at power plants, rebuffing states, Doctors Name Larvicide Manufactured by Monsanto Partner Sumitomo Chemical as Cause of Brazilian Microcephaly Outbreak

 News Updates from CLG
04 June 2016

http://www.legitgov.org/
All links are here:http://www.legitgov.org/#breaking_news

 

Previous edition: Breaking: Two dead in shooting at UCLA, campus on lockdown

 

Heads up on California primary day! June 7: FEMA, USNORTHCOM to hold drill to prepare for 9.0 Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake and tsunami | 30 May 2016 | Starting on June 7th, FEMA will be conducting a large-scale drill that has been named "Cascadia Rising" that will simulate the effects of a magnitude 9.0 earthquake along the Cascadia Subduction Zone and an accompanying west coast tsunami dozens of feet tall. According to the official flyer for the event, more than "50 counties, plus major cities, tribal nations, state and federal agencies, private sector businesses, and non-governmental organizations across three states – Washington, Oregon, and Idaho – will be participating." In addition to "Cascadia Rising," U.S. Northern Command will be holding five other exercises simultaneously. According to the final draft of the Cascadia Rising drill plan, those five exercises are entitled "Ardent Sentry 2016," "Vigilant Guard," "Special Focus Exercise," "Turbo Challenge," and "Joint Logistics Over-The-Shore."

 

Al Qaeda-linked Syrian 'rebel' granted visit to U.S. so he could lobby policymakers | 21 May 2016 | A senior figure from a Syrian 'rebel' group with links to al Qaeda [al-CIAduh] was allowed into the United States for a brief visit, raising questions about how much the Obama administration will compromise in the search for partners in the conflict. Labib al Nahhas, foreign affairs director for the Islamist fighting group Ahrar al Sham, spent a few days in Washington in December, according to four people with direct knowledge of the trip and who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of U.S. relations with Syrian rebels...National security analysts say U.S. authorities likely knew of Nahhas's arrival - intelligence agencies for years have watched his group's interactions with al Qaida's Syrian branch, the Nusra Front.

 

NATO to create intelligence chief position | 03 June 2016 | The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has a new position in the works that would likely be tasked with improving intelligence sharing on terrorist groups. The new post of assistant secretary general for intelligence will likely be approved by the alliance in July, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday. The Journal reported that whoever fills the new post will focus on providing strategic guidance to NATO's military commands and streamlining information sharing between members.

 

4 missing soldiers found dead, 9 killed in total in flood at Fort Hood | 03 June 2016 | Army aircraft, dogs and rescue watercraft on Friday were searching a 20-mile creek that winds through heavily wooded terrain at Fort Hood Army Base in Texas looking for four soldiers missing a day after their light vehicle overturned in fast-rising floodwaters, killing five soldiers. On Friday night, the bodies of the four missing soldiers who were swept away in the creek were found, the Associated Press reported. Three soldiers who were plucked from the swift floodwaters on Thursday were in stable condition, according to officials at the military facility in Killeen, in central Texas.

 

ISIS Sleeper Cell Planned to Blow Up Subway - German Federal Prosecutor | 02 June 2016 | Four Syrian nationals accused of being an ISIS sleeper cell are in custody after one in the group revealed a plot to unleash suicide bombs at a busy metro station in Germany, according to Germany's federal prosecutor. The plan, according to authorities, was to detonate two suicide bombs in a metro station in Dusseldorf in western Germany and then have at least one more attacker unleash gunfire and other explosives on bystanders. Planning for the attack went as far back as May 2014 when two of the men, identified as Saleh A. and Hamza C., received approval for the attack from ISIS leadership before slipping into Europe through Turkey and then Greece, according to a statement on the prosecutor's website.

 

No bomb found on flight from London to Newark airport | 02 June 2016 | No bomb was found on a flight from London that arrived at Newark Liberty International Airport Thursday afternoon after a bomb threat was called in, police said...Port Authority Police spokesman Joe Pentangelo said in an email that all cargo areas had also been cleared, and that the aircraft had been turned back over to British Airways. The flight was making its way across the Atlantic carrying 206 passengers and 13 crew, when police said the threat was phoned in.

 

Judge 'manipulated' 9/11 attacks case, court document alleges --Army colonel effectively conspired to destroy evidence to defend Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, accused architect of the terror attacks, according to court document | 31 May 2016 | The judge overseeing the premiere military tribunal at Guantánamo Bay effectively conspired with the prosecution to destroy evidence relevant to defending the accused architect of the 9/11 attacks, according to a scathing court document. Army Col James Pohl, who this week at Guantánamo is presiding over a resumption of pretrial hearings in the already troubled case, "in concert with the prosecution, manipulated secret proceedings and the use of secret orders", the document alleges, preventing Khalid Sheikh Mohammed’s defense team from learning Pohl had permitted the Obama administration to destroy the evidence.

 

Violence erupts as protesters chase and attack Trump supporters in San Jose --Trump supporters repeatedly attacked by protesters outside San Jose rally --Amid chaotic scenes, protesters burn US flag, throw eggs at rally attendees --Violence broke out shortly after candidate finished speaking | 03 June 2016 | Trump supporter has eggs thrown at her --NBC News correspondent Jacob Rascon tweeted early a photo of a woman being attacked by protesters with eggs and bottles...A videoposted by Tim Pool of Fusion shows a man coming up behind a Trump supporter in a yellow shirt and swinging something at the side of his head, striking him. (Updates)

 

California boy, 9, is banned from wearing Trump supporting 'Make America Great Again' cap in school but refuses to take hat off | 03 June 2016 | A nine-year-old in California has been banned from wearing a Trump-supporting 'Make America Great Again' hat at his elementary school. Logan Autry had to leave Powers-Ginsburg Elementary School early on Thursday because administrators felt his hat was a safety concern. Students began confronting Logan and having tense conversations with him about the presidential election, officials said. Logan wore his cap to school for three days and every day more students confronted the nine-year-old.

 

Paul Ryan endorses Donald Trump | 03 June 2016 | [Fearing a primary loss to Paul Nehlen,] House Speaker Paul Ryan on Thursday said he's voting for presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump. In an op-ed for the Janesville Gazette of Janesville, Wisconsin, Ryan -- who sparked a political firestorm last month when he told CNN he was "just not ready" to back his party's nominee -- says he is now convinced Trump will advance the Republican agenda. Late Thursday afternoon, Trump tweeted his appreciation for Ryan's support.

 

Clinton bashes Trump in 'foreign policy' speech | 02 June 2016 | Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton delivered a speech full of criticism of Republican presumptive nominee Donald Trump in San Diego, California, on a stage decorated with seventeen American flags. She talked about her foreign policy successes, but failed to mention Benghazi even once. She started by saying that Donald Trump's ideas "aren't just different, they are dangerous incoherent," calling them nothing but rants, personal feuds and outright lies...Clinton made caustic comments on Trump's mental state several times through her speech.

 

Fiery oil train derailment along Columbia River in Oregon --Train was operated by Union Pacific | 03 June 2016 | An oil train passing through the Columbia Gorge near Mosier has derailed. The accident happened just after noon. Flames and smoke can be seen from Interstate 84. The interstate was shut down from The Dalles to Mosier, transportation officials announced just after 1 p.m. Ken Armstrong, spokesman for the Oregon Department of Forestry, says the incident involves eight cars filled with oil and one is burning.

 

Court upholds storage of nuclear waste at power plants, rebuffing states --Rule [insanely] concluded that spent fuel rods can be stored safely at nuclear power plants indefinitely | 03 June 2016 | A federal appeals court Friday rejected a plea from four liberal [?] states to overturn a regulation allowing long-term storage of spent nuclear fuel at power plants. The District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) followed all relevant laws and standards when it wrote its 2014 regulation and an associated environmental impact statement...The attorneys general of New York, Vermont, Massachusetts and Connecticut filed the lawsuit shortly after the NRC voted to make its regulation and environmental impact statement final.

 

At least 33 US cities used water testing 'cheats' over lead concerns | 02 June 2016 | At least 33 cities across 17 US states have used water testing "cheats" that potentially conceal dangerous levels of lead, a Guardian investigation launched in the wake of the toxic water crisis in Flint, Michigan, has found. Of these cities, 21 used the same water testing methods that prompted criminal charges against three government employees in Flint over their role in one of the worst public health disasters in US history. The crisis that gripped Flint is an extreme case where a cost-cutting decision to divert the city's water supply to a polluted river was compounded by a poor testing regime and delays by environmental officials to respond to the health emergency. The Guardian's investigation demonstrates that similar testing regimes were in place in cities including Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, Detroit and Milwaukee.

 

Blue Cross asking for 60 percent rate hike for Obamacare plans in Texas in 2017 | 01 June 2016 | The largest health insurer in Texas wants to raise its rates on individual policies by an average of nearly 60 percent, a new sign that President Barack Obama's overhaul hasn't solved the problem of price spikes. Texas isn't alone. Citing financial losses under the health care law, many insurers around the country are requesting bigger premium increases for 2017. That's to account for lower-than-hoped enrollment, sicker-than-expected customers and problems with the government’s financial backstop for insurance markets.

 

Doctors Name Larvicide Manufactured by Monsanto Partner Sumitomo Chemical as Cause of Brazilian Microcephaly Outbreak | 03 Feb 2016 | A report from the Argentine doctors' organisation, Physicians in the Crop-Sprayed Towns, challenges the theory that the Zika virus epidemic in Brazil is the cause of the increase in the birth defect microcephaly among newborns. The increase in this birth defect, in which the baby is born with an abnormally small head and often has brain damage, was quickly linked to the Zika virus by the Brazilian Ministry of Health. However, according to the Physicians in the Crop-Sprayed Towns, the Ministry failed to recognise that in the area where most sick people live, a chemical larvicide that produces malformations in mosquitoes was introduced into the drinking water supply in 2014. This poison, Pyriproxyfen, is used in a state-controlled programme [allegedly] aimed at eradicating disease-carrying mosquitoes.

 

UCLA gunman had 'kill list' and is linked to second slaying in Minnesota | 02 June 2016 | The gunman who [allegedly] killed a UCLA professor before committing suicide on campus Wednesday left behind a "kill list" and is suspected in the shooting death of a woman in Minnesota, authorities said. Mainak Sarkar, 38, a former doctoral student and Minnesota resident, left a list at his home in that state that included the names of the woman, UCLA professor William Klug and a second professor who is safe, LAPD Chief Charlie Beck said Thursday. Sarkar shot Klug multiple times in a small office in UCLA Engineering Building 4 before taking his own life, authorities said. When detectives arrived at Klug's office on Wednesday morning and found both bodies, they also found a note from Sarkar listing his home address in Minnesota and asking someone to "check on my cat."

 

Medical student shot dead by UCLA gunman inside her home in Minnesota before he drove across the country to kill professor in LA and finish his 'kill list' | 02 June 2016 | A Minnesota woman was found murdered at her home yesterday, almost certainly at the hands of the [alleged] UCLA gunman before he drove to Los Angeles to kill his former professor. PhD graduate Mainak Sarkar was planning on carrying out more executions using a 'kill list' before he committed suicide, the LAPD revealed today. Sarkar, 38, who was born in India before coming to the US to study, is suspected of shooting the woman dead at her home near Minneapolis before driving to Los Angeles where he found and killed his former professor, William Klug, 39. The female victim, identified to the Star Tribune as Ashley Hasti, 31, was discovered by officers at around 12.30am carrying out a welfare check on behalf of the LAPD.

 

Muhammad Ali, boxing legend, cultural icon dies at 74 | 04 June 2016 | Muhammad Ali, the three-time heavyweight champion boxer whose electrifying prowess in the ring and controversial outspokenness outside of it made him one of the world's most recognizable personalities of the 20th Century, died after a battle with a respiratory illness. He was 74. Ali, who was diagnosed with Parkinson's syndrome in 1984, died at a Phoenix hospital.

Darwin Letter Recovered; FBI Returns 1875 Correspondence to Smithsonian Archives | 02 June 2016 | A handwritten letter by Charles Darwin that was stolen from the Smithsonian Institution Archives more than three decades ago was recovered by FBI special agents and returned last week to the care of the Smithsonian. The letter, written in 1875 by the British naturalist and geologist best known for his theory of evolution, was stolen in the mid-1970s from a collection of correspondence and documents relating to the history of North American geology. The letter, written to American geologist Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden, was part of the George Perkins Merrill Papers.  

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Or, please mail a check or m*ney order to CLG: Citizens for Legitimate Government (CLG) 
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CLG Editor-in-Chief: Lori Price. Copyright © 2016, Citizens for Legitimate Government ® All rights reserved.

CapeCodToday: Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant to refuel in 2017

Remember that ENTERGY also owns Indian Point and Vermont Yankee. 

Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant to refuel in 2017

Plant's owner Entergy sets date for closure of facility

ARTICLE | NEWS | APRIL 19, 2016 08:37 AM | BY CAPECODTODAY STAFF

- See more at: http://www.capecodtoday.com/article/2016/04/19/228577-Pilgrim-Nuclear-Power-Plant-refuel-2017#sthash.xwRRTEIs.dpuf

Entergy, the Louisiana-based company that owns Pilgrim Nuclear Plant, has announced a 2017 refueling date for the facility. In a statement, Entergy said the Plymouth power plant will be refueled in spring 2017. Last October, Entergy announced they would be closing the plant no later than June 1, 2019. 

A final date of operation had not been previously announced. Initially, Entergy had said Pilgrim would be closed sometime between 2017 and 2019.

With a scheduled refueling, Pilgrim will now cease operation on May 31, 2019, according to Pilgrim Nuclear Vice President John Dent. "We're pleased that we will be able to keep our team of hardworking, professional employees actively engaged in safe operations for the next three years and in a return to regular NRC and industry oversight," Dent said.

During an October press conference, Entergy Wholesale Commodities President Bill Mohl cited economics as the reason for shutting down the plant. Entergy had not decided at that time if the 2017 spring refueling would be done. Had Entergy decided not to refuel the plant, the closure would have likely come sooner.

Pilgrim will move forward with the biennial refueling outage in spring 2017. The last refueling outage was performed in April 2015. During the process, the facility is shutdown and removed from the grid. During the outage, equipment is also inspected and replaced and upgraded as needed. During the April 2015 refueling outage or RFO, an additional 1,100 temporary workers were brought in to assistance the full-time staff of 600.

Entergy will also begin the process of decommisioning the plant by first forming a dedicated team of people with experience at Pilgrim and people with experience in decommissioning nuclear facilities. The team will be charged with developing a "post-shutdown decommissioning activities report", Entergy said. The plan, which outlines dates, activities, estimated costs and environmental impacts, is due no later than two years after shutdown. Entergy will also create panel to share information with the public.

The Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant has been in service since 1972.

Related Content:

NRC: Pilgrim nuclear faces possible escalated enforcement action

DeLeo interested in assisting Pilgrim workers with employment

Entergy president: decision to close Pilgrim was "an agonizing one"

Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant to close by June 2019

- See more at: http://www.capecodtoday.com/article/2016/04/19/228577-Pilgrim-Nuclear-Power-Plant-refuel-2017#sthash.xwRRTEIs.dpuf

• 5 violations found in quarterly review of Pilgrim nuclear plant

All the infractions were considered of low safety impact, according to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.




By Christine Legere
clegere@capecodonline.com


Posted Nov. 14, 2015 at 2:00 AM
Updated at 7:01 AM 



PLYMOUTH — During April’s refueling at Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station, 10 contracted workers entered the main condenser of the reactor to deal with a faulty gasket without wearing the proper protective gear.

The plant’s radiation technician said he believed the workers were simply measuring the gasket. But after measuring it, they proceeded to cut it out in order to replace it.

As they left the condenser area, their personal contamination monitors sounded the alert.

All 10 were decontaminated, and after full body measurement of radiation levels, five were found to have low levels of radioactive contamination. Although those levels were far lower than what is allowable in the course of a year, the workers were monitored for the next several days.

A later check of contamination levels in the area of the joint gasket showed workers, who had worn a single set of protective clothing, should also have been equipped with respirators. Lack of discussion of the full scope of work between the plant’s radiation protection technician and the work crew was blamed for the unintended exposure.

That was one of five violations picked up in an analysis of Pilgrim’s performance during the third quarter of this year. All infractions were considered of low safety significance.

Also on the list were control room alarm panel failures on three occasions in February and May. Nuclear Regulatory Commission inspectors determined the plant personnel failed to monitor the alarm system adequately enough to ensure it would perform its intended function.

Federal inspectors determined plant personnel failed to perform required testing on a second emergency diesel generator within 24 hours of the time the first emergency generator was found to be inoperable.

According to NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan, another infraction involved the failure of plant personnel to adequately assess the operability of the plant’s shutdown transformer. “The transformer was incorrectly identified as operable even though that was not the case because of changes to an off-site power line that feeds the transformer,” Sheehan wrote in an email.

A final infraction was related to the alteration of an off-site power line without first securing the required NRC approval.

The commission released the report Friday. Entergy, Pilgrim’s owner and operator, has 30 days to contest the findings.

Entergy spokesman Patrick O’Brien did not return calls seeking comment.




http://www.capecodtimes.com/article/20151114/NEWS/151119696/101015/NEWSLETTER10
0

CLG: Dr. Ben Carson's prescription: Abolish Medicare and Medicaid, Nuclear plants dip into dismantling funds to pay for waste, U.S. troops to begin 'direct action on the ground' in Iraq and Syria, JLENS blimp

 News Updates from CLG
28 October 2015

http://www.legitgov.org/
All links are here:http://www.legitgov.org/#breaking_news

 

Previous edition: Vladimir Putin accuses US of backing terrorism in Middle East

 

Breaking: F-16 Fighter Jets Scrambled to Track Military Blimp Drifting Over Pennsylvania --NORAD unsure of 'explosive capability' (MSNBC) | 28 Oct 2015 | The Pentagon said Wednesday that U.S. fighter jets were tracking an unmanned Army surveillance blimp that tore loose from its ground tether in Maryland and drifted north over Pennsylvania. Details were sketchy, but a statement from the North American Aerospace Defense Command in Colorado said the blimp detached from its station at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, at about 12:20 p.m. EDT. Two F-16 fighter jets from the Atlantic City Air National Guard Base in New Jersey were monitoring the craft, which was traveling north at an altitude of about 16,000 feet.

 

JLENS blimp has come free of its tether at APG, now floating over Pennsylvania; fighter jets monitoring | 28 Oct 2015 | One of the two military surveillance blimps that has been watching the East Coast from Maryland has broken free of its mooring at Aberdeen Proving Ground and is now drifting over Pennsylvania, authorities said. Two F-16 fighter jets from an Air National Guard base in Atlantic City, N.J., are monitoring the unmanned aircraft, and the North American Aerospace Defense Command is working with the Federal Aviation Administration "to ensure air traffic safety," a spokesman said. The blimp is drifting at an altitude of 16,000 feet. The 243-foot-long, helium-filled JLENS aerostat detached from its mooring at the Edgewood Area of Aberdeen Proving Ground at about 11:54 a.m. Wednesday, a spokeswoman for the Army installation said. It was trailing approximately 6,700 feet of cable.

 

U.S. troops to begin 'direct action on the ground' in Iraq and Syria - Defense secretary | 27 Oct 2015 | Defense Secretary Ash Carter today revealed that the U.S. will openly begin "direct action on the ground" 'against' ISIS [I-CIA-SIS] forces in Iraq and Syria. In his testimony before the Senate Armed Services committee on Tuesday, Carter said "we won't hold back from supporting capable partners in opportunistic attacks against ISIL...or conducting such mission [sic] directly, whether by strikes from the air or direct action on the ground." ...This may mean some American soldiers "will be in harm's way, no question about it," Carter said last week.

 

China furious after US Navy destroyer passes disputed islands in South China Sea | 27 Oct 2015 | China has slammed the US for ignoring repeated warnings and allowing one of its destroyers to sail close to artificial islands created by Beijing in the South China Sea. It said the USS Lassen's actions "damage peace and stability in the region." "These actions of the US warship are a threat to the sovereignty and security of China, and safety of people living on the islands; they damage peace and stability in the region. In this regard, the Chinese side expresses extreme dissatisfaction and strongly protests," the statement posted on China's Foreign Ministry website says, according to Interfax.

 

US defies Beijing, sends warship near artificial islands built by China in South China Sea | 27 Oct 2015 | The US Navy sent a guided-missile destroyer within 12 nautical miles of artificial islands built by China in the South China Sea on Tuesday, a US defence official said, in a challenge to China's territorial claims in the area. The official said the USS Lassen was sailing near Subi and Mischief reefs in the Spratly archipelago, features that were submerged at high tide before China began a massive dredging project to turn them into islands in 2014...The second official earlier said the ship would likely be accompanied by a US Navy P-8A surveillance plane and possibly P-3 surveillance plane, which have been conducting regular surveillance missions in the region.

 

'Russia after terror groups in Syria, only hitting confirmed targets' - MoD | 25 Oct 2015 | Hundreds of terror targets have been eliminated in Syria after almost a month of Russia's military campaign. A Ministry of Defense spokesman told RT that Moscow only wants to eliminate extremist groups and is only hitting confirmed targets. "The [Russian] planes hit targets which have been confirmed to be the terrorist objects using several intelligence sources," Igor Konashenkov, a spokesman for the Ministry of Defense told RT. He also mentioned that the Russians have been using aerial reconnaissance, as well as intelligence from space.

 

WikiLeaks' third tranche of released CIA director's emails --Unidentified Brennan Group | 26 Oct 2015 | Table of 22 people, including John Brennan, that are members of a currently unidentified group. The list includes details for contact, previous employment, compensation, security clearance and identity. According to the document, Brennan himself was previously employed at "The Analysis Corporation". (16 November 2008: Metadata Authors: kyle_r, reedy_j)

 

Senate Passes CISA, the Surveillance Bill Masquerading as a Cybersecurity Bill --List of dirt-bags who voted for CISA | 27 Oct 2015 | After rejecting all the good privacy amendments to CISA, the Senate has now officially passed the legislation by a 74 to 21 vote. The Senate basically just passed a bill that will almost certainly be used mainly for warrantless domestic surveillance, rather than any actual cybersecurity concern. Here is the list of senators who voted for greater domestic surveillance...

 

38 pct of Fukushima evacuation workers exposed to radiation above limit | 26 Oct 2015 | The Japanese government on Monday said 38 percent of evacuation-related first responders and those involved in decontamination and clean-up operations in the days following the 2011 multiple meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power facility were exposed to radiation above the annual public limit. According to a survey conducted by the Cabinet Office on just under 3,000 personnel involved in operations within the 20-km evacuation zone around the stricken plant from March 12, a day after a massive earthquake triggered a tsunami which breached the nuclear facility's barriers, causing the worst commercial nuclear disaster in history, 38 percent were found to have been exposed to radiation levels of 1 millisievert or more. Of them, the survey revealed that 19 percent were exposed to between 1 to 2 millisieverts, while 5 percent from the sample were exposed to between 5 and 10 millisieverts.  

 

Nuclear plants dip into dismantling funds to pay for waste | 25 Oct 2015 | With a federal promise to take highly radioactive spent fuel from nuclear plants still unfulfilled, closed reactors are dipping into funds set aside for their eventual dismantling to build waste storage on-site, raising questions about whether there will be enough money when the time comes. It violates Nuclear Regulatory Commission rules for the plants to take money from their decommissioning trust funds to pay for building the concrete pads and rows of concrete and steel casks where waste is stored after it is cooled in special storage pools. But the NRC is granting exemptions from those rules every time it is asked.

 

Republicans officially nominate TPP lobbyist Paul Ryan for House speaker | 28 Oct 2015 | House Republicans on Wednesday nominated Rep. Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin, long seen as one of the party's brightest stars [but, in actuality, another Grade 'A' sociopath], to become their next speaker and standard-bearer. The internal party vote to choose a successor for outgoing Speaker John A. Boehner took place behind closed doors in an afternoon meeting. According to a tally announced inside the room, Ryan won support from 200 of the 247-member GOP conference. A House floor vote to select the new speaker is set for Thursday morning, bringing an end to a five-week scramble to find Boehner's replacement.

 

House GOP leaders push for floor vote on Obama-embraced budget that includes cuts to Medicare, Social Security | 28 Oct 2015 | Republican leaders are pushing a House floor vote on their budget package on Wednesday, after making last minute changes to the bill to quell discontent over its cost. If the deal makes it to the floor, it is likely to pass, if only because House GOP leaders need just 40 to 50 Republicans to back it. Democrats and GOP moderates have embraced the agreement, which raises the so-called "sequester" budget caps for two years for defense and domestic spending [with cuts to Medicare and Social Security] and increases the country's borrowing limit until March 2017...A senior Democratic aide said that Paul Ryan's staff was involved in drafting Social Security Disability program changes [aka cuts] and the Medicare portion of the bill.

 

Marco Rubio should resign, not rip us off --'If you hate your job, senator, follow the honorable lead of House Speaker John Boehner and resign it.' (Sun Sentinel Editorial Board) | 27 Oct 2015 | After five years in the U.S. Senate, Marco Rubio does not like his job. A long-time friend told The Washington Post "he hates it." Rubio says hate might be too strong a word, but he sure acts like he hates his job. Rubio has missed more votes than any other senator this year. His seat is regularly empty for floor votes, committee meetings and intelligence briefings. He says he's MIA from his J-O-B because he finds it frustrating and wants to be president, instead...Sorry, senator, but Floridians sent you to Washington to do a job.

 

Dr. Ben Carson's prescription: Abolish Medicare and Medicaid | 25 Oct 2015 | Republicans have fended off accusations for years that they'd gut Medicare for seniors and end the program "as we know it." Not [Grade 'A' sociopath] Ben Carson. The former neurosurgeon acknowledges he would abolish the program altogether. Carson would eliminate the program that provides health care to 49 million senior citizens, as well as Medicaid, and replace it with a system of cradle-to-grave savings accounts which would be funded with 2,000 a year in government contributions. Under the plan Carson outlined most specifically last year, the government would contribute 2,000 to each individual's tax-free account every year, with a third of the funding earmarked for insurance to cover severe medical incidents.

 

Poll: Republicans view Donald Trump as strongest presidential candidate | 25 Oct 1015 | Republican voters view Donald Trump as their strongest general election candidate, according to an Associated Press-GfK poll that highlights the sharp contrast between the party's voters and its top professionals regarding the billionaire businessman's ultimate political strength. Seven in 10 Republican and Republican-leaning registered voters say Trump could win in November 2016 if he is nominated, and that's the most who say so of any candidate.

 

Trump 2nd place Iowa Poll a SHAM - paid for by Club for Growth Action | 24 Oct 2015 | The poll that placed [Republican presidential candidate Donald] Trump in second place in Iowa was a fake--paid for by the Club for Growth Action and differs from the NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist poll over the weekend that has Trump in first place in Iowa by five points. Bragging in a press release, the Club For Growth raved about spending a million dollars in ads exposing Trump and used a skewed poll of 574 people to show their ads were effective...Trump was approached just before he launched his campaign by Club for Growth to run trash ads against the GOP for a million dollars. Trump turned them down and has since filed a 'Cease & Desist Demand' letter for their defamation attempts at his character during his political campaign.

 

Chris Christie is kicked out of Amtrak quiet car for talking too loudly on his phone while clutching strawberry smoothie | 25 Oct 2015 | Governor Chris Christie has apologized after getting kicked out of an Amtrak quiet car on Sunday morning for talking too loudly on his phone while clutching a strawberry smoothie from McDonald's. A spokeswoman for the New Jersey governor, Samantha Smith, said the Republican presidential hopeful accidentally took a seat in the car while traveling from Washington DC on Sunday morning. Another passenger on the 9.55 Amtrak train from Washington to New York City, Alexander Mann, was on the quiet car when Christie got on and he noticed the pink smoothie, according to Gawker.

 

Dennis Hastert pleads guilty to federal charge | 28 Oct 2015 | Former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert pleaded guilty Wednesday to evading currency-reporting requirements, but no further details came out about the underlying wrongdoing that led him to withdraw nearly $1 million in cash from four banks over 2 ½ years. Hastert entered his plea during a hearing before a judge in Chicago federal court. The judge set sentencing for Feb. 29. Hastert faces probation or up to 6 months in prison. Neither side anticipates calling witnesses for the sentencing.

 

Officer fired for violating policy in S.C. classroom arrest | 28 Oct 2015 | The white sheriff's deputy caught on video flipping a black high school student out of her classroom chair in Columbia, South Carolina, has been fired, a sheriff said on Wednesday. Deputy Ben Fields violated agency policy when he picked up the teenage girl and threw her across a classroom as he attempted to make an arrest, Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott told a news conference. Videos filmed by students showed Fields, 34, slam a 16-year-old girl to the ground and drag her across a classroom at Spring Valley High School on Monday after she apparently refused to hand her mobile phone to a teacher or leave the room.

 

Spring Valley High School officer suspended after violent classroom arrest | 27 Oct 2015 | A student slammed to the ground by a South Carolina school resource officer "bears some responsibility," Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott said Tuesday. The student's violent arrest was captured in videos that went viral and sparked widespread outrage...Lott said he expects to make a decision within the next 24 hours about the officer's continued employment.

 

*****

CLG needs your support.

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Or, please mail a check or m*ney order to CLG: Citizens for Legitimate Government (CLG) 
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