The FAA against Amazon’s drones, though given Jeff Bezos’ ingenuity, he’ll probably duct tape some guns to them and accuse the agency of violating his Second Amendment rights. Scott Brown was caught driving something other than his famed truck, which we can only assume is on loan to some king or queen he knows. And a GOP rep is planning a measure that would halt marijuana decriminalization in Washington, D.C. because everyone knows that home rule is a gateway drug. This is HUFFPOST HILL for Tuesday, June 24th, 2014:
BOEHNER PLANNING LAWSUIT AGAINST WHITE HOUSE EXECUTIVE ACTIONS - We believe the technical legal term for what Boehner is attempting to do is "HELL NO YOU CAN'T." Roll Call: "Speaker John A. Boehner, R-Ohio, told Republicans Tuesday he could have an announcement within days on whether the House will file a lawsuit against President Barack Obama, challenging the executive actions that have become the keystone of the administration. The lawsuit could set up a significant test of constitutional checks and balances, with the legislative branch suing the executive branch for ignoring its mandates, and the judiciary branch deciding the outcome. Boehner told the House Republican Conference during a closed-door meeting Tuesday morning that he has been consulting with legal scholars and plans to unveil his next steps this week or next, according to sources in the room. Boehner spokesman Michael Steel said further action is necessary because the Senate has not taken up bills passed by the House targeting executive actions. The House has passed a bill expediting court consideration of House resolutions starting lawsuits targeting executive overreach and another mandating that the attorney general notify Congress when the administration decides to take executive action outside of what has been authorized by Congress...It remains unclear which executive action or actions the House would challenge, but Obama has given Congress ample targets. In the last several years, he has issued executive actions halting deportations of hundreds of thousands of immigrants who came to the country as children, extending the family and medical leave benefits to gay couples and raising the minimum wage for federal contractors. He has also worked around legislative deadlines for enacting provisions of the Affordable Care Act and issued other executive actions relating to the environment and the gender and race pay gap." [Roll Call]
@FrankthorpNBC: So this happened at the Congressional Gold Medal Ceremony just now vine.co/v/Mt1MWHqbDZH
GOP REP TRYING TO BLOCK DC MARIJUANA DECRIMINALIZATION - David McCabe: "Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.) will introduce an amendment to an appropriations bill that would prohibit the District of Columbia from expending funds to implement policies that would lower the penalties for marijuana possession, a source with knowledge of his plans told The Huffington Post. Roll Call's Hannah Hess confirmed the news on Twitter. In March, D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray (D) signed a bill into law that would lessen the penalties for possessing small amounts of the drug, making possession a civil infraction akin to a parking ticket. Harris will put forth his proposal as an amendment to the Financial Services and General Government funding bill, which controls the District's budget and is being considered by the House Appropriations Committee on Wednesday. Harris's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Earlier this year, members of both the House and the Senate told Roll Call that they were unlikely to block the D.C. bill. A measure passed by the House of Representatives in May would bar the federal government from blocking medical marijuana laws in the District and 32 states." [HuffPost]
Don't take it too personally, Josh Earnest: "Not much news over here today so far, except a White House comms intern fainted at the end of Josh Earnest's press briefing a few minutes ago. A White House official tells me it was the intern's first day here (and asked that I don't use her name), along with a group of other brand new comms interns. Earnest and Eric Schultz rushed water over to her, and another aide brought out a small box of m&ms." [Jen Bendery's pool report]
DAILY DELANEY DOWNER - Sens. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) and Dean Heller (R-Nev.) unveiled a bill that would provide aid to jobless workers who use up the standard six months of benefits available in most states….Unlike the previous bill that passed the Senate, the new one would not provide retroactive lump-sum payments to some 3 million jobless workers who have not gotten a check since December. But if someone who would have been eligible for additional weeks of benefits after December is currently looking for work, under the new bill they could resume their unemployment claims where they left off. The measure's cost would be offset with the same revenue increases proposed in the previous legislation -- offsets that were crucial to winning enough Republican support to pass the Senate. But the bill faces the same obstacle as before: House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), who showed little interest in the legislation and was happy to run out the clock after the Senate passed it in April. A spokesman for Boehner told HuffPost on Tuesday that the speaker's response would remain the same. [HuffPost]
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PUBLIC DISAPPROVES OF OBAMA'S HANDLING OF IRAQ - Someone get a DeLorean, a flux capacitor and a letter to 2003 Joe Biden, because we need to split this sucker in three. WaPo: "President Obama receives his worst marks yet for handling the situation in Iraq, with 52 percent disapproving and strong negative sentiment now outpacing strong approval by 2 to 1 (34 to 17 percent) in a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. Asked whether the U.S. should launch air strikes against Sunni insurgents, 45 percent support and 46 percent oppose that idea. Fifty-eight percent of Republicans support air strikes, compared with 44 percent among Democrats and 41 percent of independents. The gap between men and women is just as large and extends across party lines. Men support air strikes by a 54 to 40 percent margin, while women oppose them by 52 to 38 percent. Nearly two-thirds of the public, however, opposes sending U.S. ground forces to combat insurgents, including at least six in 10 Democrats, Republicans and independents. No demographic or political group in the poll expresses majority support for deploying ground troops, while opposition surges to above 70 percent among those over age 50 and post-graduates." [WaPo]
WHITE HOUSE PLANS ANOTHER BIG GREEN PUSH - The family who brought you "Let's Move!" is proud to bring you "Let's Not Flush The Toilet When We Pee!" Kate Sheppard: "The White House plans to host two roundtable discussions this week on the economic threats that climate change poses and the 'opportunities to overcome those risks,' a White House official said in an email Monday night, which emphasized the potential costs of not addressing planet-warming emissions. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew and White House leaders also plan to meet with billionaire climate activist Tom Steyer and former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson on Wednesday to discuss a report they will release this week titled, "Risky Business," which assess the economic costs of climate change. Steyer and Paulson are the co-chairs for the report. Steyer, a former hedge fund manager turned environmental activist, has pledged to spend $100 million backing political candidates who support action on climate change through his political group, NextGen Climate Action. He has focused much of his political work on opposing the Keystone XL pipeline, which the Obama administration is considering for possible approval...Obama himself will address the annual dinner of the League of Conservation Voters on Wednesday night. Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz and Secretary of Interior Sally Jewell plan to speak earlier Wednesday at an event sponsored by the League of Conservation Voters. The group is the biggest electoral spender among environmental groups." [HuffPost]
HOUSE ACTUALLY UPHOLDS ABORTION RIGHTS - Foreign aid AND abortion rights in the same bill? Maybe the GOP is just relegating everything it hates to the Peace Corps. Laura Bassett: "The House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday approved by voice vote an amendment that will extend abortion coverage to Peace Corps volunteers who are raped during their service. The GOP-controlled committee blocked the abortion coverage provision last year after the Senate tried to include it in the State and Foreign Operations Appropriations Bill. But no Republicans spoke out against the measure on Tuesday at a committee mark-up of the FY 2015 version of the bill, and the provision passed quickly by a voice vote. Since 1979, the federal appropriations provision that funds the Peace Corps has contained a rider that bars funding for abortion, even in cases of rape, incest or when the mother's life is in danger. All other women who receive health coverage through federal streams, including Medicaid recipients, federal employees, residents of the District of Columbia and even women in federal prisons, can have their abortions covered in cases of rape, incest, or when the life of the mother is in danger. The provision approved on Tuesday would cover abortions for Peace Corps volunteers in all three cases." [HuffPost]
EVEN SCOTT BROWN'S TRUCK IS PHONY NOW - Evan McMorris-Santoro: "Former Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown still talks a lot about his old pickup. The truck starred in his first TV ad of the 2014 cycle, and he talks often about driving it on the campaign trail. But the 2005 GMC Canyon that has become Brown’s mascot is not his sole mode of transportation on the campaign trail. A Democratic tracker captured Brown hopping in a new Ford Expedition with Texas plates outside a fundraiser in Salem, New Hampshire, Monday." [BuzzFeed]
FAA BLOCKS AMAZON'S DRONES - Your order of "50 Akin Gump Partners" has shipped! "The Federal Aviation Administration has said that online shopping powerhouse Amazon may not employ drones to deliver packages, at least not anytime soon. The revelation was buried in a FAA document (PDF) unveiled Monday seeking public comment on its policy on drones, or what the agency calls 'model aircraft.' The FAA has maintained since at least 2007 that the commercial operation of drones is illegal. A federal judge ruled in March, however, that the FAA enacted the regulations illegally because it did not take public input before adopting the rules, which is a violation of federal law. Flight regulators have appealed the decision, maintaining that commercial applications are still barred. The agency has promised that it would revisit the commercial application of small drones later this year, with potential new rules in place perhaps by the end of 2015. But for now, the agency is taking a hard line against the commercial use of drones, and it's unclear whether that policy would change...In Monday's announcement, published in the Federal Register, the FAA named Amazon's December proposal as an example of what is barred under regulations that allow the use of drones for hobby and recreational purposes. The agency did not mention Amazon Prime Air by name, but it didn't have to." [Ars Technica]
Ron Johnson doesn't mind if government stays out of the bedroom, but still wants it out of the carried interest loophole: "Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) is against gay marriage, he said Monday, but if voters support it, he's 'not going to oppose it.' Johnson was on CNBC's 'Squawk Box' when co-anchor Andrew Ross Sorkin asked about his stance on gay marriage. 'I'm a pretty traditional guy, you know, I'm almost 60 years old,' the first-term senator said. 'I think marriage is between a man and a woman. But, again, if the voters decide they want gay marriage, I'm not going to oppose it.' During the segment, Johnson emphasized the importance of fiscal issues over social issues for national elections." [HuffPost]
BECAUSE YOU'VE READ THIS FAR - Here is a bear taking a bath.
HOW MANY TIME DO WE HAVE TO TELL YOU PEOPLE NOT TO TAKE PHOTOS OF YOUR PENISES - John Bresnahan: "The chief of staff to Ohio GOP Rep. Steve Stivers has resigned after a former porn actress posted an explicit photo of the aide online. Adam Kuhn, a longtime Stivers aide, resigned on Tuesday. Kuhn is single, while the actress is married. 'Congressman Stivers accepted Adam Kuhn’s resignation today,' said Courtney Whetstone, a Stivers spokeswoman. 'The office is not commenting on his personal life.' In his own statement to POLITICO on Tuesday, Kuhn offered an apology for his actions. 'Over the weekend, I was the victim of an attack on Twitter from a woman I had a relationship with in my personal life,' Kuhn said. 'I realize and apologize I had used poor judgement in my personal life regarding this relationship. The woman who posted this has reached out to me to apologize.' [Politico]
COMFORT FOOD
- Cats trying to reach under doors... and failing. [http://bit.ly/1l7GWqy]
- Animated rendering of Meryl Streep discussing beauty in a 2008 interview. [http://bit.ly/1l7GtVy]
- Google accidentally made Skynet. [http://bit.ly/1qHlXCP]
- Grizzly bear gnaws on a GoPro camera. [http://bit.ly/1iCpH6i]
- Red tail hawk has a very intense way of saying "hello." [http://bit.ly/UGSKe2]
- Just a mashup of Sean Bean calling people bastards. [http://bit.ly/1mk3jOI]
" Whole Lotta Love" played on on a dulcimer. [http://bit.ly/1jeKXtL]
TWITTERAMA
@AdamSerwer: Republicans are tired of Barack Obama's executive overreach and long for Dick Cheney's modest vision of the presidency.
@KagroX: Your religion isn't real, and my gun rights come from God. This is where we are.
@dceiver: Biting?
Ecuador!
Not
Good!
Have
A
Zima
Instead
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