5/2 Loretta Lynch Says She Doesn't Support Marijuana Legalization Or Obama's Views On Pot

Loretta Lynch is the nominee for the next attorney general. Wednesday she said that she does not support the legalization of marijuana, and does not agree with Obama in his statement that it is no more dangerous than alcohol. Obama explains his views on marijuana are the same as smoking cigarettes- just a bad habit. She says that if she were to be attorney general she would not allow for the legalization of marijuana. Obama said recently that he thinks more states will follow the trend of legalizing marijuana. At least 10 more states are considering legalizing in the next 2 years. Under federal low, however, it remains illegal.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/28/loretta-lynch-marijuana_n_6565962.html

4/2 Springtime for Assad: Syria Dictator In Spotlight As Potential U.S. Ally Against ISIS

The president of Syria Bashar Assad is suddenly popular in the United States. He has killed thousands in the past four years in the fight against protesters and rebels who didn't support his rule. Assad is receiving better press from the U.S. than he has before, causing concern with some observers of the conflicts in Syria, including American lawmakers and allies. The Obama administration sees him as helpful to the fight against the Islamic State Group. Officials at the White House deny this. They say that Obama still believes that Assad needs to go through political negotiations with the Syrian opposition.

3/2 A Villain in 'Selma' but Not in Real Life

The makers of the movie "Selma" about Martin Luther King did not appreciate the fact that John Gardner, Lyndon B Johnson's cabinet secretary said that a necessity for effective citizen action and governing was to build an "inside outside alliance." The movie makes Lyndon B Johnson seem like he was a reluctant supporter of the Voting Rights Act, finally giving blacks in the south the right to vote. In the movie, Johnson decides to support this only after a lot of convincing from Martin Luther King. But actually, Johnson was a strong supporter of civil rights. He endorsed the civil rights act in his State of Union address 2 months before Selma.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/19/us/politics/a-villain-in-selma-but-not-in-real-life.html?ref=politics&_r=0

2/2 Richard Glossip, Death Row Inmate Set to Die Next Week

     51 year old Richard Glossip has been on death row for 17 years now ever since he was convicted of murder in the first degree. He was put there by a single witness. He has maintained his story of innocence hoping he would avoid being sentenced to death on January 29th. Justin Sneed, who worked for Glossip, confessed to beating Barry Van Treese with a baseball bat. Glossip was afraid of losing his job so he "recruited" Sneed to do this for him. Later, Sneed said that Glossip had paid him 10,000 dollars to kill him. They were both charged with first degree murder, but Sneed received life sentence as opposed to Glossip's death sentence. In this interview, Glossip talks about how he hasn't let being on death row change him. He talked about how he has tried to make the most of his time there. He claims to be innocent and hopes that the court will work in his favor and he will be let out before his execution day.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/22/richard-glossip_n_6520914.html

1/2 Ex-Cuba Captive and Astronaut Will Attend State of Union Speech

Alan Gross, who was released last month after being held captive in Cuba for five years, and Scott Kelly, who will soon be leaving to live on the International Space Station for a year, will both be going to this week's State of Union address. There are other important guests such as a war veteran from Afghanistan, a doctor from Africa fighting ebola, chief executive of CVS health, and many more. Obama will explain his agenda for his next year in office in this speech. Alan Gross was working in Cuba as a contractor and was arrested for trying to deliver satellite phone equipment. He was sentenced 15 years. Scott Kelly will be the first person to spend a year on the space station, already having spent a total of 180 days.

5/1 Obama Laws of Hacking and Policy

   On Monday, President Obama called for federal legislation on forcing companies to be more open about when credit card information is lost online like in the target scandal last year. This would be called the Personal Data Notification and Protection Act. It would demand one national standard that would inform the customer within 30 days if the company is hacked. The current state laws are not unified enough to protect people from this problem. President Obama also brought up the idea of the Student Data Privacy Act. This act would keep technology firms from profiting off information that is collected in schools by tablets, online software and internet projects.

1/1 Boehner Facing Dissent...

Speaker of the house John Boehner is not very assured of re-election to the top house leadership post. It could be embarrassing that a lot of his own republican conference is likely to vote against him. Republican leadership has been true to Mr. Scalise, still trying to get an in with the minority voters. There has also been trouble with the resignation of representative Michael Grimm who pleaded guilty to tax invasion. Democrats are not dropping the issue. Mr. Boehner is also facing dissent from previous supporters. It has been said that he didn't fight hard enough against Obama's executive overreach.

4/1 Obama Facing Rising Pressure on Keystone Oil Pipeline

   The pressure to decide whether or not to go forth on construction on the Keystone Oil line is getting greater and greater. The house passed the bill for construction and Nebraska Supreme Court cleared the way for construction of the project. All that is left to decide is President Obama as of Friday. The house vote was 266 to 153, the pipeline winning. Obama originally said he would wait to decide until the court did, but now that excuse is invalid. Republicans and some democrats support the pipeline. It will carry 830,000 barrels of oil per day from canada, creating jobs and economic growth. Democrats who are environmentalists, however, do not support the project. Obama signed a bill that transferred the power of making this decision to congress. Although, the Nebraska court is not allowing that to happen.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/10/us/keystone-pipeline-nebraska-supreme-court-transcanada.html?rref=politics

3/1 Kicking Dodd-Frank in the teeth

   The 114th congress has not been at work for very long, but the goal is already clear. They need a "further rollback of regulations put in place." This would be set to help keep markets and main street safe from wall street practices that are considered reckless. A bill that failed on Wednesday in the House of Representatives began the "attack." It was introduced by Representative Michael Fitzpatrick and had three elements that were worrisome. It would allow banks to hold onto "risky securities" until 2019, which is 2 years more than what is allowed right now. It would prevent the securities and exchange commission from regulating private equity firms. It would also allow risks in the system that are unseen. The bill was intended to make corrections to the Dodd Frank legislation. It was put forward only on the second day of the new congress, which did not allow time for debate on the topic. The bill gives institutions 2 extra years to get rid of their large amounts of debt.  Any more compromise on this bill would cause it to collapse, which seems to be what wall street is wanting from this argument.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/11/business/kicking-dodd-frank-in-the-teeth.html?ref=politics

2/1 Obama Misses French Unity March, His Absence Note

    On Monday, President Obama, Vice President Biden and Secretary of State John Kerry, all failed to attend the French Unity March held in Paris, France. The march was dedicated to antiterrorism.  The Prime Minister of both Isreal and the Palestinian Authority both marched. As well as the French President, German chancellor and the leader of Mali. The only person representing the United States was ambassador Jane Hartley, but no one noticed her amongst all the other great leaders. Obama is "under fire" by conservatives for his absence. It was noted that President Obama did seem to have time to meet the NBA champions in the White House that monday.


http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2015/01/12/?entry=8266&partner=rss&emc=rss