Respectfully submitted by Lawrence E. Rafferty(rafflaw)-Guest Blogger
With the end of 2013 fast approaching, I have begun to wonder what the New Year holds for the country. It looks like the Affordable Care Act is finally getting its website to function properly and the sign ups are now being counted in the millions. Wall Street is still booming with the Dow Jones over 16,000, but yet unemployment is still too high and Congress is still trying to push austerity for the middle class and the poor, while doing everything in its power to prevent corporations and the wealthy from paying their fair share of taxes. The Citizen’s United decision opened the money floodgates and needs to be curbed. The military budget was spared in the recent Budget Deal, but yet unemployment benefits for millions have not been extended.
The gun lobby continues to prevent reasonable gun control legislation and needless scores of innocents continue to be slaughtered. Instead of closing the gun show loophole or mandating reasonable and effective universal background checks, Congress did nothing. Although there has been some recent movement from the Obama Administration to push Congress to allow the closing of the prison at Guantanamo Bay, the facility remains open after 12 years. With all of the bad news or non-action on many fronts, is it possible to have hope that 2014 will bring better news for all Americans?
I do have high hopes for the country in this New Year, but Congress and the rest of Washington will have to make some significant changes before the hopes can be realized. Ever since the Sandy Hook school shooting, the NRA has been pouring money into Washington in an attempt to stem the tide of public support for reasonable gun control legislation. It is obvious to me, that without a culture change in how Americans and government officials look at guns in this country, the mass shootings and needless killings that happened in 2013, will continue unabated.
Even though the killings are still rampant, one of my biggest hopes is that Congress will see past the NRA and corporate money and agree on universal background checks in 2014. I don’t have any evidence that my hope will come to fruition, but at some point, the killings will over take our Wild West mentality and people will come together to help relieve the problem. Maybe that will begin to happen in 2014.
Another of my hopes for 2014 is the closure of Guantanamo military prison. We have seen some movement on the part of Congress to agree with the Obama administration’s plans to close the facility. However, much has to be done and President Obama needs to use his bully pulpit to move the closure ahead, but President Obama’s actions to push for closure leave something to be desired.
“As a notable improvement, NDAA 2014 includes a provision that Obama called a “welcome step” toward fulfilling his longtime promise to close the Guantanamo Bay prison camp. The bill relaxes regulations that have held up the transfer of detainees out of the detention center.
The defense act also includes provisions aimed at intervening in the epidemic of sexual assault in the U.S. military. But, as the Washington Post noted, “it stops short of the broad reforms that Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and other advocates have been calling for.”
While legislative movement on Gitmo’s closure is necessary, it is insufficient. As Amnesty International USA’s director Zeke Johnson commented, “[the president] should move forward with foreign transfers immediately and lobby Congress hard to end the ban on transfers to the U.S. mainland. Guantanamo must be closed by ensuring that each detainee is either fairly tried in U.S. federal court or released to a country that will respect his human rights.”
Meanwhile the troubling NDAA provision first signed into law in 2012, which permits the military to detain individuals indefinitely without trial, remains on the books for 2014. Efforts to quash or reform the provision (especially with regard to the indefinite detention of U.S. citizens) have failed and have been fiercely fought by the administration.” Salon
Hopefully, Congress will allow for detainees to be transferred or tried in a Federal court, as suggested by Amnesty International. We need to keep the Democrat’s feet to the fire.
My last hope for the New Year revolves around reforming the NSA. As we have seen and heard here and in the mass media, the NSA has turned the 4th Amendment into a mockery. The latest Federal court judge’s decision that the mass retention and collection of phone data is legal, is in conflict with another recent District Court decision and the Supreme Court may need to decide once and for all, just how far the NSA and other intelligence agencies can go.
It is amazing that in the judge’s decision, he stated that the 4th Amendment is not absolute. However, why is it that the 2nd Amendment seems to be absolute, but the First Amendment and the Fourth Amendment must be subject to limitations? If the NSA is allowed to continue to collect all calls and all data, shouldn’t they at least have to pay a portion of my phone bill? It is my sincere hope that the NSA can be restrained in the New Year, but it may be a long fight.
I have listed just a few of my “hopes” for the New Year. I have some others, but I want to hear what your thoughts are for the New Year. What hopes do you have for 2014? Let us know what you are hoping for and why you are think it is important for the country. It doesn’t matter what side of the aisle you favor, because most of these issues should be non-partisan. It is not a Democratic or a Republican problem when scores of people are being murdered and killed by people who have no reason to own guns or could have been prevented from acquiring the deadly weapons.
It isn’t a partisan issue when the NSA is collecting almost all of our phone calls. Just where does the Fourth Amendment begin and end? I look forward to reading your hopes and the reasons why they are important to you and to the country.
Happy New Year to all and let’s hope that Congress and the President can make progress on my Hopes and on your Hopes.
You released the name of my friend who was commenting anonymously. It’s on the record. You scared the shit out of him after a year of me coaxing him to comment and vent about what he reads almost daily. He is not sophisticated, so I explained to him what happened. That you abused your authority and violated a cardinal rule, but that you did not have the intelligence or ability to hack my computer. For chrissake, don’t you have even a bit of a conscience? You’re the sociopath.
Mike, he has done the same thing to me here on this blog. None of you could know his meaning, but he knew I would. This has happened several times since I began posting here.
Unbelievable. Oh what a tangled web we weave…..
Just. Exactly . What. I’ve. Been. Saying. About . This . Person.
LISTEN. I have a friend who has been reading this blog for some time. He is not very sophisticated. He goes nuts w/ some of the abuse he see. My friend does not have a computer. He goes to coffee shops, the library, etc. to use the internet. I have told him for a long time he can go on anonymous. He’s not very sophisticated. He’s one of the guys I have mentioned previously who is black and can’t believe what is written here. He came over today to give me a birthday gift. FINALLY, after all this time, he gives it a shot. I gave him the name to use and explained the background. He REALLY doesn’t like that person the name is a riff on. I know in your insular world all people have their own computer. Well, that’s not reality, particularly in lower socioeconomic groups. I’ve see a lot of evil things done to people here. I think what was done to David and that food stamp guy[another person not in you social class] is a bit worse. Do you have the integrity to report yourself, after Mr. Turley’s vacation[you know if it’s over yet, I don’t]? Silly question, you have zero integrity. But, I’ll give you the opportunity. I have mentioned this guy several times. It’s on the record. I NEVER gave his name, but MikeS just did. A blatant violation of anonymous policy. I will almost certainly have to report this so please let me know when to email Mr. Turley. Oh, and I understand how email works. But responsible people respond to emails that are marked as urgent quickly. I won’t be so presumptuous. It will just be labeled MikeS.
This is outrageous. My last name is Schultz which you released. I use yahoo email which you said @ the same time. You have access to my IP address7 How can you release all this personal information? I’ve had my email address for at least 10 years and now you have hacked it just because you have a grudge against Nick? How do you get and then release any information about Schultz, Nick, IP addresses, last names. I chose to use an anonymous name and you are breaking a rule that Dave was screamed @ for supposedly doing. Are you some kind of liberal Grand Wizard Fat beard?
Spinelli knows he can’t do his stalking under his own name anymore, so now he uses a sock puppet from the same IP address, the stupidity is astounding, the pathology is scary.
What a sicko.
I asked you a question beard man. How can you release my name and email company. Are you some kind of assistant manager like @ McDonalds?
“I asked you a question beard man. How can you release my name and email company.”
Nonsense Nick, you are letting your anger carry you away. Where in what I’ve written is their a usable E mail address for anyone. As for your name it is Nick Spinelli, is it not?
How did you get my name and email? Did you hack me?
Listen beard man, my name and email is none of you business. I thought this was an anonymous blog. I read all this stuff about not disclosing names or information on that other blog and you start giving out my name and email. How do I report this? Are you looking for trouble Mike Spindell?
Why whatever are you talking about Nick…..er Confucius?
Nick,
Isn’t it strange that both you and Confucius have the same IP addresses? You are stalking Nick and I am publicly confronting you with that fact. You disclosed certain information as Confucius that only a dick like you could have gotten, or are you telling me that this was announced on the blog.
Some yahoo names schultz is crapping on the ether.
Democrats should not drive foreign cars. A Beemer is conspicuous consumerism. That is worse than killing a few ducks. Kill some ducks, make soup.
rafflaw,
Here’s a Happy New Year story from the “Live Free or Die” state:
New Hampshire Democrat Admits Mowing Down Group Of Ducks With BMW
HUNTER WALKER
DECEMBER 30, 2013
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/new-hampshire-democrat-accused-of-mowing-down-as-many-as-six-ducks-with-his-car
Excerpt:
He said the ducks had it coming.
New Hampshire state Rep. David Campbell (D) said in an interview published Sunday that he was the driver of a BMW that ran over a group of ducks that “didn’t move” out of his way outside a hotel last week in Nashua, N.H.
The Nashua Telegraph newspaper reported that a witness said “as many as six” ducks were hit on Dec. 23 outside the Crowne Plaza Hotel.
“I hit some ducks,” Campbell told the newspaper. “Some people were feeding ducks on the driveway in front of the Crowne Plaza at 10 o’clock at night … and they didn’t move, and I hit some ducks.”
According to the Telegraph, a retired U.S. Marine from Florida named James Murphy was feeding the ducks when Campbell’s car approached.
“All of a sudden, this 5 Series BMW comes up, it’s going about 15 miles an hour, and then when he gets to the ducks, it’s not like it even slowed down,” Murphy said. “It just crushed all of the ducks.”
The newspaper reported that Murphy believed “as many as six ducks were killed” and multiple other ducks left the scene with “apparent injuries.” Murphy said he photographed Campbell’s license plate, which caused the politician to exclaim something along the lines of, “The ducks should have moved.”
Enuf, already!
I guess we know why people shoot people at work, in coffee houses, at home.
There is always outer space.
nick,
I’ve been waiting for that!. I don’t resent Mike’s comment at all. He didn’t feel compelled to “defend my honor.” He decided to address you and your behavior. Like him, I wonder why you’re such an angry man–a person who seems to enjoy agitating others. I’m inured to your tactics. Keep trying to poke at me in an attempt to get an angry reaction, though, if that’s what floats your boat.
So now Spinelli attempts to make Elaine look like a wilting lilly. Good lord does he never quit? What a despicable little creature he is.
Elaine, Don’t you get a bit resentful of men feeling compelled to come to your aid? I know you are quite capable of handling yourself. Not a patriarchal bone in my body. My wife and daughter are tougher than the paternalistic men who come to rescue you. Apparently the paternalism doesn’t bother you. To each their own.
“My wife and daughter are tougher than the paternalistic men who come to rescue you.”
I have no doubt you are right about your wife and daughter being tough, they’ve had to put up with you.
By the way Nick, is it possible that you’ve developed a “Confucius is Laughing” sockpuppet, because the phrasing of the two messages fits perfectly with your own phrasing and the oblique messaging possibly directed at someone does imply that the dick is using his rather limited skills. Is this kind of behavior, in addition to your normal crudity, what got you banned at other websites?
Mike S.,
Thanks for the Robert Reich video!
Mike and Elaine, yes that is evident to anyone here I suspect. His scenarios of himself as hail fellow well met are horseshit in his own vernacular.