In the News
- Ebola: Nurse vs Maine?
- Can Maine prove Hickox is a threat?
- Hickox slams Christie
- Hagel approves strict monitoring for Christie
- The great Obama/Bibi “chicken$hit” flap
- Trouble in Obama’s cabinet: Ch-ch-changes?
- Obama may cut deportations – really
- Conservatives ready to give leaders hell
- Midterm Madness: Massive voter purge threat
- St Louis County PD stockpiling riot gear?
Ebola: Nurse vs Maine?
• Nurse Kaci Hickox broke her Maine quarantine by leaving her home with her boyfriend and speaking briefly to reporters in her driveway Wednesday evening. State and local police could only watch from across the street because a judge hadn’t signed off on a court order sought by state health officials (AP, NYT, Hill, BBC, me)
• Hickox, who had treated Ebola patients in West Africa, reiterated that she planned to fight the state’s quarantine and said there was no need to stay inside because she’s not exhibiting any symptoms. “I’m not willing to stand here and let my civil rights be violated when it’s not science-based,” she told reporters (go girl)
• One of her lawyers, Norman Siegel, said she isn’t willing to cooperate further unless the state lifts “all or most of the restrictions.” But state officials continued to assert that she should remain in isolation until 10 Nov, the end of the 21-day isolation period for Ebola
• A judge would have to grant the state’s request in what could serve as a test case. Until an order is signed by a judge, state police will monitor Hickox’s movements and interactions if she leaves home but can’t physically detain her
Can Maine Prove Hickox is a Threat?
• Generally, states have broad authority when it comes to such matters. But Maine health officials could have a hard time convincing a judge that Hickox poses a threat, as she isn’t showing signs of infection, said attorney Jackie Canyon III, who specializes in health law in Worcester MA
• Gov Paul LePage, who’s up for re-election, commended all health workers who’ve volunteered in Africa to treat Ebola patients, but said the state must be “vigilant.” Maine law allows a judge to grant temporary custody of someone if health officials demonstrate “a clear and immediate public health threat.”
• If a judge grants the state’s request, then Hickox will appeal the decision on constitutional grounds, Siegel said. Hickox made the point by shaking a hand offered by one of the reporters
• Hickox also disputed the characterization of her four-day detainment in NJ by Gov Chris Christie, who Tuesday told reporters she’d been “inside the hospital in a climate-controlled area with access to her cellphone, access to the internet, and takeout food from the best restaurants in Newark.” (I’ve eaten in Newark…)
Hickox Slams Christie
• Hickox said she had been dressed in paper scrubs in the tent, which was “chilly,” and was only warm after workers from Doctors Without Borders delivered warm clothing. She was given hospital food, except for one meal of Kentucky Fried Chicken, and had no shower and no internet access until a friend brought her a computer and an internet hot spot
• Meanwhile, speaking at an event at the WH where he met with medical professionals volunteering to treat Ebola patients, President Obama called the doctors and nurses “heroes” who deserve to be treated “with dignity and respect.”
• “I put those on notice who think we should hide from these problems. This is America. We do things differently,” he said. Obama said that “when other people are losing their heads,” the U.S. reacts without fear, hysteria or misinformation.” (er – where exactly does he get his news?)
• California went further than the CDC on Wednesday, announcing a mandatory 21-day quarantine for any travelers who had contact with an Ebola patient, but said it would allow health authorities to enforce the order on a “case-by-case” basis
• In Connecticut Tuesday, the Opayemi family filed a lawsuit in federal court after their daughter Ikeoluwa, seven, was barred from attending school until November due to “rumors, panic and climate at Meadowside Elementary School,” because she had visited Nigeria. That country hasn’t had a case of Ebola since August
Hagel Approves Strict Monitoring for Military
• SecDef Chuck Hagel on Wednesday approved strict, quarantine-like monitoring for all U.S. military personnel returning from the Ebola relief mission in West Africa, the Pentagon said. The U.S. Army adopted such a policy earlier in the week before Hagel approved it for all branches of the military (Reuters, me)
• Hagel signed a memo asking top military commanders to develop a plan to place U.S. military personnel returning from Ebola-affected countries into a “21-day controlled monitoring regimen,” Rear Adm John Kirby, the Pentagon spox, said in a statement
• The Pentagon had said on Monday that Major Gen Darryl Williams, commander of U.S. Army Africa, and 11 of his staff were put in isolation for 21 days of monitoring after returning from West Africa to their home base in Vicenza in northeastern Italy
• Army chief of staff, Ray Odierno, ordered the isolation not because of medical necessity but to reassure troops and local communities that the Army was taking “all steps necessary to protect their health,” an Army statement said
• Israeli police shot dead a Palestinian today after he fired at them resisting arrest in East Jerusalem hours after the attempted assassination of far-right an Israeli activist. Yehuda Glick was shot and severely wounded as he left a conference promoting a Jewish campaign to promote praying at the Temple Mount also known as the Noble Sanctuary (Reuters)
The Great Obama, Bibi “Chicken$hit” Flap
• The feathers are flying after anonymous WH criticism of Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu. The Obama admin is on the defensive (again) and there are congressional demands – bipartisan – for the president to repudiate the remarks (Atlantic, Politico, Hill, WaPo, Fox, Haaretz, NYT, CNN, AP, TRNS, me)
• The Atlantic quoted an unidentified admin official saying Netanyahu is a “chicken$hit” and a “coward” who’s “got no guts” and, referring to Iran, is “scared to launch wars.” “The bad thing about him is that he won’t do anything to reach an accommodation with the Palestinians or with the Sunni Arab states.”
• WH spox Josh Earnest said, ‘The prime minister and the president have forged an effective partnership, they consult closely and frequently and did so as recently as this month right here at the WH in the oval Office.” Earnest said there was no effort to determine the identities of the official who made the remark (already know – or don’t want to know?)
• In a speech to the Knesset, Netanyahu lashed out: “Our vital interests, first and foremost our security and a unified Jerusalem, are not the uppermost interests of the unnamed officials who attacked our govt and me personally. I’m being attacked simply because I defend the State of Israel.”
Boehner Chimes In – Also An Offender
• Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) jumped in: “The president sets the tone for his admin. He either condones the profanity and disrespect used by the most senior members of his admin, or he does not. It is time for him to get his house in order and tell the people that can’t muster professionalism that it is time to move on.”
• Earnest said it was “a little rich to have a lecture in profanity from the Speaker of the House,” noting Boehner’s “penchant for using some pretty salty language himself.” Earnest said he didn’t know who had made the comments to the Atlantic, and that he doubted Obama knew
• A report by ABC News in 2008 quoted a Miami University newspaper as saying Boehner suggested Obama was a “chicken$hit” for voting “present” while a member of the Illinois legislature. “Green means ‘yes,’ red means ‘no,’ and yellow means you’re a chicken$hit.” (Boehner’s known for swearing like a trooper)
Trouble in Obama’s Cabinet: Ch-Ch-Changes?
• Early stumbles in the govt’s handling of the Ebola crisis as well as its belated response to ISIS have fueled speculation that President Obama may shake up his team, which is stocked with battle-tested but exhausted WH loyalists and cabinet members, like SecState John Kerry and SecDef Chuck Hagel, who are viewed as less cohesive than first cabinet members
• There’s little evidence that Obama plans a wholesale shake-up. But he’s already brought in new blood: Ron Klain, a former chief of staff to VP Joe Biden, to manage the Ebola response, and Gen John Allen, a former commander in Afghanistan, to marshal the coalition against ISIS (NYT, me)
• Obama’s also leaning more than ever on his small circle of WH aides. Over the Columbus Day weekend, WH chief of staff, Denis McDonough, traveled to the San Francisco home of Sen Dianne Feinstein, chair of the Intelligence Committee, to negotiate personally over redactions in the Senate’s CIA report on detention/interrogation policies
• That testifies to how Obama tends to hand delicate assignments to his most trusted advisers. Kerry and Hagel, meanwhile, are struggling to penetrate the tightly knit circle around the president and carve out a place in the admin
Inside / Outside
• Kerry is vocal and forceful in internal debates, and gets credit for putting together the coalition of Arab states that conducted military strikes in Syria. But he often seems out of sync with the WH in his public statements. (I’ll say) However, aides said a long memo he wrote on ISIS has become the playbook for combating the group
• Hagel has a different problem. A respected former senator, like Kerry, Hagel says little in policy meetings, and has largely ceded the stage to chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen Martin Dempsey, who’s won the confidence of Obama
• Defenders of Hagel attribute his reticence in meetings to fears that the details will leak in the news media, and say he’s more vocal in one-on-one sessions with the president. They also insist he’s more assertive on policy, citing a sharply critical memo that he sent to Susan Rice last week, warning of possible unraveling of Syria policy
• But outsiders like Klain and Allen, sometimes called czars, can cause their own problems. General Allen’s appt antagonized General Dempsey, several officials said, because he worried that the retired general would stray onto the Pentagon’s turf
All Comes Down to Obama
• McDonough’s broad portfolio has posed a particular challenge to Rice, a blunt-spoken former ambassador to the UN, who also has close ties to the president. Whatever their jurisdictional issues, officials said McDonough and Rice were generally aligned on policy (just not the right policy?)
• Both were skeptical about being drawn into the civil war in Syria and about providing weapons to Ukrainian forces to push back Russian-supported rebels. That may have been a factor in the slow American response to the threat of ISIS. McDonough said he wished the admin had acted sooner and acknowledged the admin had misjudged the Iraqi Army
• Ultimately, of course, the admin’s crisis management reflects the president. Obama, several officials said, came back from his summer vacation frustrated that the WH seemed reactive to events and instructed his staff to move into a higher gear
• Yet he remains deliberative, methodical and not swayed by outside criticism. His blowup during a meeting on the response to Ebola two weeks ago was the exception rather than the rule, they said
• Astonishing vid: Two years ago today, Superstorm Sandy hit the North East. Here’s an amazing time lapse video of the hurricane hitting New York City. Aid still hasn’t reached everyone
Obama May Cut Deportations
• The WH is considering two central requirements in deciding which of the nation’s 11 million illegal immigrants would gain protections through an expected executive action: a minimum length of time in the U.S., maybe 10 years, and a person’s family ties to others in the country, said people familiar with the admin’s thinking (WSJ, me)
• Those requirements, depending on how broadly they’re drawn, could offer protection to between one million and four million people in the country illegally
• Republicans have protested that Obama would overstep his authority by acting alone. Several Democrats in tight races have also complained, and last month the president canceled plans to announce the changes before the election
• Obama wants to grant new protections to many people who are in the U.S. illegally but have significant ties to the country. Such protections would be temporary since the president lacks the authority to give people permanent legal status
• Parents of U.S. citizens are likely to qualify, as long as they meet other criteria. But it’s unclear whether the policy would include parents of so-called Dreamers – people brought to the U.S. illegally as children, and who were given a temporary legal status in 2012. (will be uproar if not) Also unclear is whether being married to a U.S. citizen would qualify
• Sound: OMG OMG! Martians have invaded!!!
Conservatives Ready to Give Leaders Hell
• Interviews with more than a dozen conservative lawmakers and senior aides found a consensus among the right wing of the GOP: If Republicans take the Senate, they want to push an agenda they believe was hamstrung by the Democratic-controlled chamber, even if their bills end up getting vetoed by President Obama (Politico, me)
• Their plan is to pressure John Boehner and Mitch McConnell into taking up bills designed to force the Obama admin to defend some of its most unpopular policies, including the 2010 health care law. And they want to increase border security without any legislative sweeteners. They also want to create work requirements for welfare recipients and for Obama to veto Keystone
• All of these legislative priorities are top goals for Republicans broadly, but conservatives want to keep the bills “pure” rather than make deals with Democrats. Their vision could create problems for congressional leaders who want to show they aren’t just the party of “hell no.”
• It’s an ad hoc effort of now, but members like Reps Mick Mulvaney (SC), Trey Gowdy (SC), Tom Graves (GA), Jim Jordan (OH), Reid Ribble (WI), Jason Chaffetz (UT) and Marsha Blackburn (TN) have discussed ways to highlight a more conservative agenda in the next Congress. Members also want an early vote on Obamacare
• With the likelihood of a slim majority in the Senate, Republicans could face a united Democratic caucus that’s in no mood to cut deals. And Democrats would be looking to pay back their GOP colleagues for “obstructionist tactics” during the past two years and blocking the Democratic agenda. The drama’s like to play out quickly after the midterms
Midterm Madness: Massive Voter Purge Threatened
• Election officials in 27 states, most of them Republicans, have launched a program that threatens a massive purge of voter rolls, especially targeting minority voters. Al Jazeera has obtained 2.1 million names from the target lists. Experts reviewing the list conclude they’re over-weighted with Black, Hispanic and Asian-American voters
• The targeted voters have been tagged as “potential duplicate voters,” suspected of voting twice in the same election, in two different states, a felony punishable by 2-10 years in prison. Until now, state officials conducting the purge have refused to turn over their lists on grounds that these voters are subjects of s criminal investigation
• The match lists of suspected double voters, called Interstate Crosscheck, has been compiled for each state by Kansas’ controversial Republican Secretary of State, Kris Kobach. The lists as said to be rife with millions of obvious mismatches, including things like:
• Al Jazeera found that nearly a fourth (23%) of the accused voters lack matching middle names. For example, Kevin Thomas Hayes of Durham NC is allegedly the same man who voted in Alexandria VA as Kevin Antonio Hayes. “Jr” and “Sr” are regularly mismatched, potentially disenfranchising two generations in the same family
No One Charged; Thousands Can’t Vote
• While Kobach claims that double voters are matched by Social Security number, in fact, internal documents admit that “Social Security numbers might or might not match.” So far, no case has been made against a single one of the accused double-voters on the list, though tens of thousands have already lost their right to vote based on inclusion in the lists
• North Carolina has hired a full-time former FBI agent to arrest double voters. However, the Board of Elections has admitted to Al Jazeera that not one voter has been charged with the crime of voting twice. Nevertheless, the Republican-controlled Board of Elections has begun the process of removing the registration of voters on the lists
• The lists are heavily weighted with names such as Jackson, Garcia, Patel and Kim, common to minorities who vote overwhelmingly Democratic. Indeed, one in seven African-Americans in those 27 states are listed as suspected of the crime of voting twice, one in eight Asian-Americans and one in eight Hispanic voters
• “It’s Jim Crow all over again,” said Rev Joseph Lowery, who succeeded Martin Luther King as chairman of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Lowery, now 93, said, “I think
|
|
 The Talk Radio News Service is the only information, news booking and host service dedicated to serving the talk radio community. TRNS maintains a Washington office that includes White House, Capitol Hill and Pentagon staffed bureaus, and a New York office with a United Nations staffed bureau. Talk Radio News Service has permanent access to every breaking newsevent in the Washington, D.C. area and beyond.
|
|
|
|
|
[…] Victoria Jones’ News Notes today, she writes about The Great Obama, Bibi “Chicken$hit” […]