The $300 Million Contract Awarded to the Interior Secretary's Friend's Company Is Exempt from Government Audits

The federal government has awarded a tiny Montana company a $300 million no-bid contract to repair Puerto Rico's hurricane-wrecked electrical grid. The company, Whitefish Energy, has close ties to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke. A copy of that contract leaked last night, and it seems to prohibit the federal government from auditing Whitefish's work and to shield other details of the company's efforts from being disclosed via open records laws.

"In no event," the contract says, will the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Comptroller General of the United States, "or any of their authorized representatives have the right to audit or review the cost and profit elements" of the deal.

The contract was posted online by Ken Klippenstein, a contributor to The Daily Beast, the first publication to report on the connections between the company and the secretary of the interior.

The leaked document seems to confirm concerns—voiced by lawmakers, pundits, and reform groups—that the Whitefish contract is a lucrative special deal for a friend of a top administration official, and that it places politics ahead of what's in the best interest of Puerto Ricans, many of whom are still without electricity.

Andy Techmanski, owner of Whitefish Energy, is a neighbor and friend of Secretary Zinke, according to multiple news reports. The two men have publicly disclosed their acquaintance. The company has only a handful of employees and is relying almost entirely on subcontractors to do the actual work of restoring power in Peurto Rico.

Members of Congress have called for an investigation into the Whitefish contract. Yesterday members of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce sent a letter to Techmanski seeking copies of all contracts and subcontracts signed by Whitefish as part of its work in Puerto Rico. Meanwhile, members of the House Natural Resources Committee wrote to the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) requesting more information about how and why Whitefish was selected for this work.

Separately, Sens. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) have requested a Government Accountability Office review of the "use of public money to reimburse work completed by Whitefish Energy," according to Reuters.

Prior to landing the contract for repair work in Puerto Rico, Whitefish's largest project had been a $1.3 million deal to rebuild less than 5 miles of electrical lines in Arizona, The Washington Post reported this week. By comparison, there are more than 2,400 miles of transmission lines and 30,000 of distribution electrical lines in Puerto Rico.

The Trump administration and the company itself have offered only the barest of explanations for how a small electrical firm from Montana managed to land a lucrative contract for work in the Caribbean. Both have claimed that the company has experience working in mountain ranges and on rugged terrain and have denied that cronyism played a role in awarding the contract.

"There was no federal involvement," Chris Chiames, a spokesman for Whitefish Energy, told BuzzFeed this week. "There was never any special favors asked, nor would there have been."

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which is no stranger to fiscal malfeasance, said Friday that it had "significant concerns" about the Whitefish contract. According to The Hill, FEMA denied having signed off on the contract and said details of the contract suggesting as much were inaccurate.

Whether Whitefish gets the job done is supposed to be shrouded in secrecy. The copy of the contract posted by Klippenstein includes a provision prohibiting the government from auditing its work. Another part of the contract says the Puerto Rican government "waives any claim against [Whitefish Energy] related to delayed completion of work."

Until the Trump administration can offer a better explanation for the decision to award a multi-million no-bid contract to a company with close ties to a top administration official, this whole thing smells really bad. The administration sure looks like it's been swallowed by the very swamp it promised to drain.

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Apple's Real Reason for Finally Joining the Net Neutrality Fight

OVER THE PAST few months, as the Federal Communications Commission has moved closer to weakening net neutrality protections, countless tech companies have signaled their support for a strong and open internet. The lone voice missing through the debate: Apple. Yesterday, the final day to comment on the FCC's current net neutrality proceedings, the company finally broke its silence with a comment filed in support of strong rules to protect the open internet. But why, at the 11th hour and well after other tech giants joined the fight, is Apple speaking up now? And why, for that matter, is it speaking up at all?

Apple's filing outlines several key principles it sees as important for protecting the open internet: consumer choice, transparency, competition, investment and innovation, and a ban on paid fast lanes. "These key principles are reflected in the FCC’s current rules and should form the foundation of any net neutrality framework going forward," the filing says. "Apple remains open to alternative sources of legal authority, but only if they provide for strong, enforceable, and legally sustainable protections, like those in place today."

Apple hasn't always stood up for these principles. In 2009, the company was caught blocking Skype calls from iPhones at the request of AT&T, a textbook example of violating net neutrality. Apple was conspicuously missing from a 2014 open letter signed by 100 different tech companies–including Amazon, Google, Facebook, and Microsoft–in support of net neutrality. It didn't join the Internet Association, a coalition of internet heavyweights that has lobbied in support of open internet rules, nor did it participate in this year's Day of Action.

The first sign that Apple was rethinking its position came earlier this year, when CEO Tim Cook voiced support for net neutrality regulations during a shareholder meeting earlier this year. "We stay out of politics but stay in policy," Cook said during the meeting, according to 9to5Mac. "If net neutrality became a top thing, we would definitely engage in it."
So what made Cook and co. decide that net neutrality was "a top thing?" Apple didn't respond to a request for comment on why the company held off for so long. And given that its fellow tech giants have already thrown their lobbying weight behind net neutrality, Apple's support for net neutrality probably won't do much to sway the FCC at this point. (It might motivate the company's cult following to start paying attention to the issue, which could make a difference as the fight shifts from the FCC to courts and Congress.)

The real significance of Apple's filing is what it says about the company's future. The company has long aspired to be more than just a hardware company, and now that Apple is in the streaming video business, net neutrality will become increasingly important to the company's bottom line. Apple's first two original shows Carpool Karaoke and Planet of the Apps debuted this year, and it reportedly plans to spend $1 billion to produce even more content. If companies like AT&T and Verizon can hobble Apple's streams while boosting their own, it could be a real problem for Cupertino's video (and revenue) ambitions.

Yes, Apple's interest in net neutrality is likely driven by its business agenda. The same goes for the other tech giants lobbying to preserve the FCC regulations. But as the FCC moves forward with its plan to gut net neutrality, the open internet will need all the support it can get.

Why You Should Care About Net Neutrality?

A world without net neutrality might end up meaning that you have to pay more to access the internet content that you want. But it also might crush innovation.

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China pledges neutrality unless US strikes North Korea first

China’s government says it would remain neutral if North Korea attacks the United States, but warned it would defend its Asian neighbor if the U.S. strikes first and tries to overthrow Kim Jong Un’s regime, Chinese state media said Friday.

“If the U.S. and South Korea carry out strikes and try to overthrow the North Korean regime, and change the political pattern of the Korean Peninsula, China will prevent them from doing so,” reported the Global Times, a daily Chinese newspaper controlled by the Communist Party.

Meanwhile, other Asia-Pacific countries have come out in support of the United States in the event of a North Korean nuclear attack.

Japan’s defense minister, Itsunori Onodera, said this week that his nation’s military was ready to shoot down North Korean nuclear missiles, if necessary.

In Australia, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull described his country and the U.S. as being “joined at the hip,” the South China Morning Post reported.

“If there is an attack on the U.S., the Anzus Treaty would be invoked,” and Australia would aid the U.S., Turnbull told Australia’s 3AW radio Friday morning. Turnbull was referring to a collective security agreement between the United States, Australia and New Zealand.

The Chinese response to the heightened tensions between the U.S. and North Korea followed a number of hot-headed proclamations.

North Korea has threatened the U.S. with a nuclear attack on Guam, a U.S. territory south of Japan, after President Donald Trump said additional threats against the country or its allies would be met with “fire and fury.”

On Thursday, the president doubled-down on the remarks, saying his original comment possibly “wasn’t tough enough.”

In a separate appearance, Trump added: “Let’s see what [Kim Jong Un] does with Guam. He does something in Guam, it will be an event the likes of which nobody has seen before – what will happen in North Korea.”

One North Korean government official, meanwhile, accused Trump of “going senile,” Fox News reported.

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Russia no longer denies hacking DNC

WASHINGTON — The Federal Bureau of Investigation suspects Russian intelligence agencies are behind the recent hacking of the emails of Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman and of a contractor handling Florida voter data, according to people briefed on the investigations.

Top Russian officials on Wednesday, meanwhile, shifted away from denying a role in a separate hack of the Democratic National Committee. President Vladimir Putin said it is irrelevant who stole the computer records, and the foreign minister said that the U.S. hasn’t proven anything so far.

The comments, made in separate public appearances, reflect an ambivalence among top Russian officials about accusations made Friday by U.S. intelligence agencies that Moscow directed a hack-and-leak campaign aimed at interfering in the U.S. election.

“Everyone is saying, ‘Who did it?’” Putin said Wednesday at an investor forum in Moscow. “But does it matter that much? It’s what’s inside the information that matters.”

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday, in an interview on CNN, didn’t deny involvement in the recent hacking operation. “We did not deny this,” he said, but added, “They did not prove it.”

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Cop Stages Own Murder After Stealing from Kids Program to Pay for Porn, Mortgage Payments

Illinois police Wednesday confirmed that one of its officers executed "a carefully staged suicide" which triggered an extensive manhunt for suspects that did not exist, after the cop became nervous about an audit he believed would expose his years-long embezzlement of public funds.

At a press conference Wednesday, authorities revealed that Lieutenant Charles Joseph Gliniewicz's had committed suicide in September, but staged it to look like he had been killed in the line of duty.

"Gliniewicz committed the ultimate betrayal to the citizens he served and the entire law enforcement community," said Lake County Major Crimes Task Force commander George Filenko. "The facts of his actions prove he behaved for years in a manner completely contrary to the image he portrayed."

The revelations Wednesday morning came at the end of a two-month probe, which found that over a seven-year period, Gliniewicz, 52, had stolen thousands of dollars from the Fox Lake Police Explorer program, a youth program that the officer oversaw. He then used the money for personal purchases, including on adult websites, travel, mortgage payments, gym memberships, and cash withdrawals, police said.

Related: This Black American Wants Refugee Status in Canada Because of Police Brutality

Filenko did not specify the exact amount stolen, but said that it was in the "five figures." He added that the evidence also "strongly indicates" at least two other people were involved, but declined from further comment, citing an ongoing investigation.

Shortly before the shooting suicide on September 1, Gliniewicz became concerned about a village of Fox Lake internal audit of inventory that would have potentially exposed his criminal activities, Filenko said.

"We have determined this staged suicide was the end result of extensive criminal acts that Gliniewicz had been committing – in fact he was under increasing levels of personal stress from scrutiny of his management of the Fox Lake Police Explorer program," Filenko said.

The morning of his death, the officer, who was a 30-year Fox Lake police veteran, made a radio call to dispatchers to say that he was chasing three male suspects on foot, according to police. Gliniewicz, who was experienced in setting up mock crime scenes, left a staged trail of police equipment, including pepper spray, a baton and his glasses, to mislead investigators and emergency workers into believing there had been a homicide, Filenko said. The officer then shot himself twice in the chest. He was found at the scene and later died from his injuries.

Related: Video Shows NYPD Officer Tackling, Choking, and Pepper-spraying a Skateboarder

The shooting drew hundreds of local, state and federal officers to search around Fox Lake, about 60 miles north of Chicago and near the Wisconsin border. The Federal Aviation Administration also ordered a no-fly zone over the search area.

Around Fox Lake, a village of around 10,000 people, Gliniewicz was known as "GI Joe" because he had served in the military. At the officer's vigil, where his wife and sons were also present, colleagues called him a "fallen hero."

On Wednesday Filenko said the embarrassment felt personal.

"This is my first time as a law enforcement officer, in my career, that I felt ashamed by the acts of another police officer," he said.

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Chinese hack attacks against US companies persist despite leader's pledge, report says

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WASHINGTON –  Chinese hacking attempts on American corporate intellectual property have occurred with regularity over the past three weeks, suggesting that China almost immediately began violating its newly minted cyberagreement with the United States, according to a newly published analysis by a cybersecurity company with close ties to the U.S. government.

The Irvine, California-based company, CrowdStrike, says it documented seven Chinese cyberattacks against U.S. technology and pharmaceuticals companies "where the primary benefit of the intrusions seems clearly aligned to facilitate theft of intellectual property and trade secrets, rather than to conduct traditional national security-related intelligence collection."

"We've seen no change in behavior," said Dmitri Alperovich, a founder of CrowdStrike who wrote one of the first public accounts of commercial cyberespionage linked to China in 2011.

One attack came on Sept. 26, CrowdStrike says, the day after President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping announced their deal in the White House Rose Garden. CrowdStrike, which employs former FBI and National Security Agency cyberexperts, did not name the corporate victims, citing client confidentiality. And the company says it detected and thwarted the attacks before any corporate secrets were stolen.

A senior Obama administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not allowed to discuss the matter publicly, said officials are aware of the report but would not comment on its conclusions. The official did not dispute them, however.

The U.S. will continue to directly raise concerns regarding cybersecurity with the Chinese, monitor the country's cyberactivities closely and press China to abide by all of its commitments, the official added.

The U.S.-China agreement forged last month does not prohibit cyberspying for national security purposes, but it bans economic espionage designed to steal trade secrets for the benefit of competitors. That is something the U.S. says it doesn't do, but Western intelligence agencies have documented such attacks by China on a massive scale for years.

China denies engaging in such behavior, but threats of U.S. sanctions led Chinese officials to conduct a flurry of last-minute negotiations which led to the deal.

CrowdStrike on Monday released a timeline of recent intrusions linked to China that it says it documented against "commercial entities that fit squarely within the hacking prohibitions covered under the cyberagreement."

The intrusion attempts are continuing, the company says, "with many of the China-affiliated actors persistently attempting to regain access to victim networks even in the face of repeated failures."

CrowdStrike did not explain in detail how it attributes the intrusions to China, an omission that is likely to draw criticism, given the ability of hackers to disguise their origins. But the company has a long track record of gathering intelligence on Chinese hacking groups, and U.S. intelligence officials have often pointed to the company's work.

"We assess with a high degree of confidence that these intrusions were undertaken by a variety of different Chinese actors, including Deep Panda, which CrowdStrike has tracked for many years breaking into national security targets of strategic importance to China," Alperovich wrote in a blog posting that laid out his findings.

The hacking group known as Deep Panda, which has been linked to the Chinese military, is believed by many researchers to have carried out the attack on insurer Anthem Health earlier this year.

CrowdStrike and other companies have tracked Deep Panda back to China based on the malware and techniques it uses, its working hours and other intelligence.

In 2013, another cybersecurity company, Mandiant, published a report exposing what it said was a hacking unit linked to China's People's Liberation Army, including identifying the building housing the unit in Beijing. Those findings were later validated by American intelligence officials.
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US Defense Official: Russia Launchs Airstrikes in Syria

A U.S. defense official tells The Associated Press that Russia has launched airstrikes in Syria.
The move follows a unanimous vote by Russian lawmakers to allow President Vladimir Putin to order airstrikes in Syria, where Russia has deployed fighter jets and other weapons in recent weeks. The Kremlin sought to play down the decision, saying it will only use its air force in the Mideast country, not ground troops.

UPDATEDMom Threw Newborn Out 7th-Floor Window to Death: Police
The U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to discuss the airstrikes publicly, said they were launched Wednesday near Homs.
In a statement Wednesday, the office of Syrian President Bashar Assad said Russia's decision to send troops to Syria came at the request of Damascus.

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Russian fighter jets enter Syria with transponders off

Washington (CNN)A U.S. official told CNN Thursday that Russian fighter jets turned off their transponders as they flew into Syria in an apparent attempt to avoid detection. The official said the fighters flew very close to a transport plane that had its transponder on and functioning.

U.S. satellites rapidly saw that the aircraft were there, according to the official.

The assessment over the weekend was that the fighter jets were on their way. The same official said the Russians have begun flying drones around the coastal city of Latakia.

Russia launches drones in Syria

With no ISIS fighters in the area, the move raises serious questions about the Russians' intentions with their military buildup, which the U.S. has questioned the purpose of and watched with wariness. The action points to a higher likelihood that the Russian plan is to prop up Syrian President Bashar al-Assad rather than fight the terror group.

Is Russia preparing to move troops to 2 new Syria bases?

The U.S. has its own effort underway to defeat ISIS but has also said that Assad must go.

Asked about what the U.S. can do about the situation, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter told CNN at a press conference Thursday that "it's a matter of seeing what the Russians do."


Carter said he hopes the Russians will fight ISIS, "but if it's a matter of pouring gasoline on the civil war in Syria, that is certainly not productive from our point of view."

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Russian troops in Syria could end up helping Isis, report claims

The deployment of Russian troops in Syria could end up helping Islamic State as they have been sent to areas where they are most likely to fight other groups opposed to Isis, according to a new report.

The Royal United Services Institute (Rusi) report comes ahead of a US-Russian summit meeting at the UN on Monday, when Barack Obama will question Vladimir Putin on the intention behind Russia’s deepening military involvement in Syria, according to US officials.

The Iranian president, Hassan Rouhani – also in New York for the UN general assembly meeting – rejected suggestions that his country was operating in concert with Russia against Isis. “I do not see a coalition between Iran and Russia on fighting terrorism in Syria,” Rouhani said.

The Rusi report, titled Inherently Unresolved, assesses the global effort to counter the spread of Isis, and warns that Iraq and Syria may not survive as unitary states. It includes a section on Russian aims, particularly those underpinning Putin’s despatch this month of warplanes and troops to Tartus and Latakia in support of Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

Igor Sutyagin, a Russian strategic analyst, said there was an air regiment at Latakia with 28 planes, a battalion of motorised infantry and military engineers as well as a marine battalion at the naval base in Tartus.

The deployment, Sutyagin said, “underlines the contradictions of the Kremlin’s policy”, because the troops were in areas where Isis is not present.

“In this way, Russian troops are backing Assad in the fight against groups such as Jabhat al-Nusra and Ahrar al-Sham, which are themselves opposed to Isis. If Russian troops do eventually join combat, therefore, they would also – technically – be assisting Isis,” Sutyagin argued.


The report says the Russian deployment should not therefore be seen as a change of policy towards fighting Isis directly, but a largely political move designed to save Assad and consolidate Russia’s hold over its naval base at Tartus and its newly built air base in Latakia, while currying favour with the west and the Gulf Arab states who are themselves reluctant to fight Isis on the ground.

“Indeed, the Kremlin may well be hoping that the west will show its appreciation by lifting the sanctions imposed in response to the situation in Ukraine,” Sutyagin said.

The tensions hanging over the Obama-Putin meeting on Monday were highlighted by discord between Washington and Moscow in describing the summit. US officials said it had been requested by Putin. A Russian spokesman insisted it was Obama who asked to meet. The White House said the meeting would address both the conflicts in Ukraine and Syria. The Kremlin said Ukraine would only be raised “if there was time”.

Celeste Wallander, the White House National Security Council’s senior director for Russia, said that Obama would press Putin on his objectives in Syria.


“There’s a lot of talk, and now it’s time for clarity and for Russia to come clear – come clean and come clear on just exactly how it proposes to be a constructive contributor to what is already an ongoing multi-nation coalition,” Wallander told journalists.

Putin meanwhile told CBS News: “There is no other solution to the Syrian crisis than strengthening the effective government structures and rendering them help in fighting terrorism. But at the same time, urging them to engage in positive dialogue with the rational opposition and conduct reform.”

The White House argues that the Russian strategy of entrenching Assad will only serve to deepen the roots of extremism in Syria. Ben Rhodes, a White House spokesman, said that at the UN meeting “the president will have the opportunity to make clear to President Putin that we share the determination to counter Isil [Isis], that we welcome constructive contributions to counter Isil. But at the same time, we believe that one of the principal motivating factors for people who are fighting with Isil is the Assad regime.”

The Rusi report said that it would be “perfectly feasible” to defeat Isis if Turkey and Iran were also engaged in the search for a regional solution. It advised US policymakers to “not give up on the possibility of maintaining the unity of Iraq and Syria, but not be beholden or obsessed with this idea either”.


“If the US could ‘father’ two brand-new states in the Balkans during the 1990s, there is no reason why Washington should not tolerate at least the informal emergence of new states in the Middle East,” the report argued.

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US Admits Hackers Stole 5.6 Million Fingerprints in Massive Data Breach

The United States government confirmed that some 5.6 million fingerprint records were stolen during a mass hack of Defense Department security clearance data.

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) originally reported that hackers stole 1.1 fingerprints, but updated their figures in a statement issued Wednesday.

OPM now estimates that a total of 21.5 million people had their Social Security identification numbers and other sensitive information stolen in the hacking incident earlier this spring. The discovery of additional missing fingerprints did not affect that overall total, it said.

US officials have privately blamed the breach on Chinese government hackers, but they have avoided saying so publicly. Officials also have said no evidence has surfaced yet suggesting the stolen data has been abused, though they fear the theft could present counterintelligence problems.

OPM downplayed the danger of stolen fingerprint records, saying the ability to misuse the data is currently limited. But it acknowledged the threat could increase over time as technology evolves.

"Therefore, an interagency working group with expertise in this area… will review the potential ways adversaries could misuse fingerprint data now and in the future," it said.

The group includes members of the Intelligence Community, as well as the FBI, Department of Homeland Security, and the Pentagon.

"If, in the future, new means are developed to misuse the fingerprint data, the government will provide additional information to individuals whose fingerprints may have been stolen in this breach," OPM said.

The Defense Department and OPM are working together to begin mailing notifications to the people whose information was stolen, the OPM statement said.

Reuters contributed to this report

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SHAKIRA WILL SING FOR POPE FRANCIS AT UN

Shakira will have the honor to sing for Pope Francis next Sept 26th during the Pontifex's visit at The United Nations (UN) in New York City.

This news was reported by The Guardian telling that the 37-year-old Colombian will take advantage of her visit to The Big Apple to release her new products of Fisher Price which will destiny money from the sales for her Barefoot Foundation.

In other news, 'Empire' singer recently announced that will have her own character on the famous game Angry Birds.

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Taco Bell in Chicago debuts with beer and sangria

CHICAGO (AP) — Taco Bell customers in Chicago can now have beer with their burritos and sangria with their soft tacos.

The chain opened a location that serves wine, beer, sangria and frozen mixed drinks in Chicago on Wednesday. It's a first in the U.S. for Taco Bell, which is owned by Louisville, Kentucky-based Yum Brands Inc.

A similar location will open in San Francisco later this month.

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What a Time to Be Alive: NASA Says They Could Have People on Mars in Less Than 20 Years

Assuming you're not overwhelmed by both Jon Hamm's Emmy win and Drake's historical team-up with Future, here's some more news to properly send your Monday into the stratosphere. NASA is again speaking quite confidently about the future of mankind's admittedly complicated relationship with Earth's elusive cousin Mars.

"We are farther down the path to sending humans to Mars than at any point in NASA's history," NASA administrator Charles Bolden said at a recent NASA event, according to the Huffington Post. "We have a lot of work to do to get humans to Mars, but we'll get there." Bolden also confirms that preparations for the Red Planet's inaugural manned mission are moving forward as anticipated, with the first human foot expected to touch the planet's surface as soon as 2030.

"We're going to make oxygen on another planet, the first time ever to make oxygen on another planet," NASA's deputy administrator Dava Newman says of the next Mars rover mission's initiation of the Mars Oxygen ISRU experiment. "These experiments, they're real. They're here." As always, the chief hurdle in need of crossing is securing the funds needed to make these futuristic leaps a certainty.

Pay up!

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House Passes Bill to Deny/Revoke Passports for Americans Deemed to Have ‘Helped’ Terrorist Organizations [UPDATED w/ even more outrage!]

On Tuesday, without much notice, and after a whopping 15-minute debate, the U.S. House of Representatives passed via voice vote the Foreign Terrorist Organization Passport Revocation Act of 2015. Its intent: "To authorize the revocation or denial of passports and passport cards to individuals affiliated with foreign terrorist organizations, and for other purposes." Some of the bill's sparse details:

the Secretary of State may refuse to issue a passport [or revoke a previously issued one] to any individual whom the Secretary has determined has aided, assisted, abetted, or otherwise helped an organization the Secretary has designated as a foreign terrorist organization

How does today's John Kerry or tomorrow's John Bolton make such a determination? The bill doesn't say. Can we at least define "helped," given how such mushy and expansive language in the Patriot Act led to some unjust outcomes? No, we cannot. Can the so-determined terrorist-helpers appeal? Not a word about that. This is a 2001-style removal of due process in the face of a terrorism panic. Here’s Yahoo! News:

US law currently allows passports to be revoked for national security or foreign policy reasons, but Americans whose passports are revoked can appeal through administrative channels. Rep. Ed Royce (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, has argued – like other conservatives before him – that a more explicit measure is necessary.

Those "other conservatives" notably include presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who last year introduced the similar Expatriate Terrorist Act, which goes as far as actually stripping the nationality of Americans who are deemed to have given "material assistance" to organizations designated as terrorist. As Steve Chapman explained last year, this gifting of power to the Executive Branch at the expense of individual liberty is a "really bad idea."

The House bill's author, Rep. Ted Poe (R-Texas), sold the idea back in January with a blast of full metal hysteria:

Recent deadly terrorist attacks in France, Australia and Canada have reminded us that radical Islamic terrorists are ready and eager to take their murderous rampage worldwide. The threat to America from these groups has never been greater. Unfortunately, some of our citizens have travelled to the terrorist hotbeds in Syria and beyond to help extremist groups accomplish that goal. The Benedict Arnold traitors who have turned against America and joined the ranks of foreign radical terrorist armies should lose all rights afforded to our citizens. This bill will help law enforcement locate these individuals by preventing them from travelling internationally so that they can be captured and brought to justice. Most importantly, this legislation will prevent turned Americans from entering the United States undetected.  These people are not returning to America to open coffee shops; they are coming back to kill. We must stop them from coming back at all.

Once again, conservatives are demonstrating that their skepticism of government infallibility can disappear overnight in the face of a real or imagined threat. The arbirtrary, inevitably politicized Executive Branch definition of the term "foreign terrorist organization" alone should be enough to give any backer the willies; preferably, members of the U.S. Senate will see this bill as the unnecessary, rights-shredding menace that it is.

UPDATE: Freedom fighter Norm Singleton alerts me to the gobsmacking fact that the latest iteration of the godawful transportation bill includes a provision to cover the perpetual Highway Trust Fund shortfall by allowing the IRS to revoke your passport if you owe more than $50,000 in unpaid taxes. Better travel while you still can, Al Sharpton!

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New York Yankees Legend Yogi Berra Dies at 90

Yogi Berra, the New York Yankees All-Star catcher who became as famed for his humorous adages as his athletic prowess, died Tuesday, the Yogi Berra Museum reported. He was 90.

"It is with heavy hearts that we share the news that Yogi Berra passed away Tuesday night at the age of 90," the museum wrote in a statement.

The New York Yankees and Major League Baseball also reported news of Berra's death

The legendary athlete was one of the most beloved competitors of our time -- his kindness, humility and good humor complemented his gifts on the baseball diamond. Some of Berra's famous quotes, such as "It ain't over 'til it's over," became timeless and are still repeated today.

Berra played on 14 pennant-winning and 10 World Championship teams -- more than any other player in baseball history.

A notorious bad-ball hitter, Berra was a constant threat offensively, particularly with men on base. His offensive highlights include setting the career home-run record for American League catchers and topping the 100 RBI mark four years in a row.

Impressive Career

Born Lawrence Peter Berra on May 12, 1925, the Yankees catcher grew up in the Italian district of St. Louis. He was nicknamed Yogi by childhood friends who, when watching a movie, noted Berra's resemblance to a Hindu practicing yoga.

An athlete at heart, Berra played softball, baseball, soccer, football and roller hockey as a boy.

He first played organized baseball with a YMCA team in his hometown and later played American Legion baseball. In 1942, he turned down a $250 offer from the St. Louis Cardinals because he was insulted he didn't get the same $500 offer given to Joe Garagiola. He signed with the Yankees a year later.

Berra was ambidextrous, batting left-handed and throwing right-handed. He spent one season in the Yankees minor leagues, but after turning 18 in 1943 he spent three years in the Navy.

In 1946, after World War II, Berra exchanged his Navy uniform for baseball pinstripes. He came up to the major-league Yankees toward the end of the 1946 season and was the regular catcher through 1963.

He wasn't a star catcher, at first. In fact, he played mostly in the outfield until 1949 because his catching was inconsistent.

With the help of Yankees' great Bill Dickey, he became a star behind the plate. He caught two no-hitters by Allie Reynolds in 1951 and Don Larsen's perfect game in the 1956 World Series.

He went on to become a 15-time All-Star, winning the American League MVP three times, in 1951, 1954 and 1955.

He holds numerous World Series records, including most games by a catcher, 75.

Coach and Manager

After retiring as a player, Berra became a manager for the Yankees in 1964. He was fired after leading the Bronx Bombers to a pennant win, but losing the World Series.

He was a coach for the National League New York Mets from 1965 to 1972. He managed the Mets from 1972 to 1975, and thereafter was a coach with the Yankees.

In 1983, he was once again made manager of the Yankees but was fired during the 1985 season by Yankees owner George Steinbrenner. This left a deep rift between the two, and it wasn't until Steinbrenner's heartfelt apology to Berra in 1999 that he returned to Yankees Stadium.

In 1986, Berra signed on as a coach with the Houston Astros and remained with them until his retirement in 1992.

He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1972 and was a member of Major League Baseball's All-Century Team.

Berra is survived by his three sons -- Larry, a former minor-league catcher; Tim, a former NFL receiver; and Dale, a former major-league infielder – along with several grandchildren and one great-grandchild. He was preceded in death by his wife of 65 years, Carmen.

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All the 'Happy Birthday' song copyright claims are invalid, federal judge rules

One of the companies that have collected royalties on the "Happy Birthday" song for the past 80 years held a valid copyright claim to one of the most popular songs in history, a federal judge in Los Angeles ruled on Tuesday.

In a stunning reversal of decades of copyright claims, the judge ruled that Warner/Chappell never had the right to charge for the use of the "Happy Birthday To You" song. Warner had been enforcing a copyright since 1988, when it bought Birch Tree Group, the successor to Clayton F. Summy Co., which claimed the original disputed copyright.

Judge George H. King ruled that a copyright filed by the Summy Co. in 1935 granted only the rights to specific piano arrangements of the music, not the actual song.

"'Happy Birthday' is finally free after 80 years," said Randall Newman, an attorney for the plaintiffs in the suit, which included a group of filmmakers who are producing a documentary about the song. "Finally, the charade is over. It's unbelievable."

A spokesman for Warner/Chappell, the publishing arm of Warner Music, said, "We are looking at the court's lengthy opinion and considering our options."

The plaintiffs' attorneys had characterized the years-long legal fight as a David vs. Goliath battle that pitted independent filmmakers against a large corporation collecting profits on a song whose authors had long since died.


Until now, Warner has asked for royalties from anyone who wanted to sing or play “Happy Birthday to You” -- with the lyrics -- as part of a profit-making enterprise. Royalties were most often collected from stage productions, television shows, movies or greeting cards. But even those who wanted to sing the song publicly as part of a business, say a restaurant owner giving out free birthday cake to patrons, technically had to pay to use the song, prompting creative renditions at chain eateries trying to avoid paying royalties.


The fact that the birthday tune can't be played or sung without permission from Warner has been little more than a surprising piece of trivia for most, but for Warner Music Group, it has meant big business. Two of the filmmaker plaintiffs paid $1,500 and $3,000 for the rights to use the song, their attorneys said. Filmmaker Steve James paid Warner $5,000 to use the song in his 1994 documentary "Hoop Dreams."

"It was quite expensive for us at that time and with our budget. And we only used it for 9 seconds," James wrote in an email passed along by his publicist. James said the scene was "essential" to the film and ultimately decided to pay up.

At a March hearing in the case, records show, a Warner/Chappell representative seated in the audience told the judge that the company collects as much as "six figures" for certain single uses of the song. The song brings in about $2 million a year in royalties for Warner, according to some estimates.

The complex saga of the six-note ditty has spanned more than 120 years, withstanding two world wars and several eras of copyright law. The song has seen the rise and fall of vinyl records, cassette tapes, CDs and now, the era of digital streaming music.

The story began in 1893, with a Kentucky schoolteacher and her older sister. Patty Smith Hill and Mildred J. Hill wrote the song for Patty’s kindergarten students, titling it “Good Morning To All.” The original lyrics Patty wrote were: “Good morning to you / Good morning to you / Good morning, dear children / Good morning to all."

Patty later said that she had worked with her sister to compose a simple melody to match the words that could be easily sung by young children.

The sisters published the song in a book called “Song Stories for the Kindergarten,” and assigned the copyright to their publisher, Clayton F. Summy Co., in exchange for a cut of the sales.

That was only the beginning of the tangled web of copyright law various attorneys have argued may or may not apply to one of the world’s most famous songs.

Warner and the plaintiffs both agreed that the melody of the familiar song, first written as "Good Morning To All," had entered the public domain decades ago. But Warner claimed it still owned the rights to the "Happy Birthday" lyrics, leaning on the 1935 copyright claim.

At various turns in the case, attorneys argued over whether the Hill sisters had actually written the song, whether they had "abandoned" their rights to what became the "Happy Birthday" tune and even whether Patty Smith Hill had been accurately quoted in a 1935 Time magazine article about the song.

It is not entirely clear, the judge ruled, that the Hill sisters wrote the lyrics for "Happy Birthday To You." But either way, they never asserted a copyright claim for the lyrics, even though they sued for the rights to the original melody.


Ultimately, the judge ruled that no evidence existed that the Summy Co. -- the original company to assert a copyright claim -- ever legally obtained the rights to the "Happy Birthday To You" song from whomever wrote it.

Tuesday's ruling means that the song is now considered a public work and is free for everyone to use without fear of having to pay for it, according to a statement from the plaintiffs' attorneys.

Jennifer Nelson, one of the filmmaker plaintiffs and owner of Good Morning to You productions, called the decision a "great victory for musicians, artists and people around the world who have waited decades for this."

Robert Brauneis, a George Washington University law professor who has extensively researched the copyright history of the song, says the ruling does not explicitly place "Happy Birthday To You" in the public domain.

"It does leave open some questions," Brauneis said Tuesday night. "If [the Hill sisters] didn't convey the rights to Summy Co., then is there someone else that might still own them?"


With Mildred Hill dead for nearly a century now, Brauneis said, "Figuring out who owned [the rights] at this point would be quite an interesting job."

The plaintiff's attorneys have said that they will move to qualify the lawsuit as a class-action in an effort to recoup millions of dollars in licensing fees Warner/Chappell has collected on the tune over the years.

Mark C. Rifkin, one of Nelson's attorneys, said the plaintiffs will pursue Warner for royalties paid since "at least" 1988, and could also ask the company to repay royalties that have been collected all the way back to 1935. It's not clear how much money that could entail.

A third of the profits from licensing the song still go to a designated charity of the Hill family, the Association for Childhood Education International, which promotes global education efforts for children and the professional growth of educators. The association’s 2012 nonprofit tax return, the most recent available, indicates it received $754,108 in royalties.


Warner could still appeal King's decision, but it will have to ask the judge to permit an appeal to go forward. The company has not indicated that it will do so.

For more breaking news, follow me @cmaiduc

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GOP Threatens To Shut Down Government Over Planned Parenthood — But it Probably Won't Happen

Last week, Carly Fiorina, the new darling of the 2016 Republican nominee pool, claimed she watched footage of a "fully formed fetus on the table, its heart beating, its legs kicking, while someone says we have to keep it alive to harvest its brain."

The former Hewlett-Packard CEO made the allegations at the second GOP debate last Wednesday about one of several sting videos recently released by undercover pro-life activists — this one purportedly showing a live-abortion at a Planned Parenthood clinic. Fact checkers say that footage doesn't actually exist and the video only describes the act. Yet Fiorina continued to defend her statements this week and at least four of her fellow Republican candidates have also jumped on board with legislative attempts to defund Planned Parenthood — a measure passed by the House at the end of last week following the video fiasco.

Misinformation has commonly dogged the heated debates on abortion that continue to inform and divide the political landscape. Yet this time, the fight has led a handful of lawmakers to threaten to shut down the US government shutdown for the second time in two years, unless Congress strips the nation's largest women's reproductive health provider of its roughly half-billion dollars of annual federal funding before the fiscal year ends on September 30.

Leading the pack is Texas Senator and 2016 presidential hopeful Ted Cruz, the chief agitator of the previous 16-day partial government shutdown in 2013 over Obamacare. At least 31 Republicans have also signed onto a letter vowing to block any spending bill that maintains funding for Planned Parenthood.

Yet other candidates, like Democratic presidential front runner Hillary Clinton, maintain such intimidation is the "height of irresponsibility," especially considering abortion-related services account for only three percent of services provided by Planned Parenthood, which also provides screenings for cancer and sexually transmitted diseases, and contraception.

Planned parenthood has denied selling fetal tissue, instead claiming the transactions were donations and that the videos were heavily edited and obtained under false pretenses.

Related: Planned Parenthood Calls Out Fiorina's Garbage Dump of Lies at GOP Debate

It wouldn't be the first time a government shutdown closes office doors and furloughs tens of thousands of public service workers over a hyperemotional political issue. Lawmakers have long used the appropriations process to try to settle specific policy crusades, and have succeeded in shutting down government at least nine times since Congressional Budget Act was passed roughly 40 years ago, according to a report this month by the Partnership for Public Service (PPS).

That's precisely why Washington must avoid a sequel to the disastrous political standstill of 2013, says NYU professor of Public Service Paul C. Light. Light says there's a 40 to 60 percent chance the government would shut down on October 1.

"I know there's a gloom and doom scenario that Republicans are going to shoot themselves in the electorate again, but as Donald Trump would say: 'How stupid could they be?'" Said Light. "Planned Parenthood is activating a significant strain within the Republican base — Carly Fiorina clearly used it — but whether or not anybody wants to shut down government to prove that point, I don't know."

"I guess I'm just a believer that no Republican is really that much of a risk taker or that ignorant of the public opinion against a shutdown," he added.

A recent CNN/ORC poll found that a majority of Americans (71 percent) believe passing a spending bill takes precedence over defunding Planned Parenthood. Only 22 percent of respondents chose the latter issue as more important.

The more likely scenario is that Congress will instead pass a short-term continuing resolution to keep funding flowing to government while a larger package is worked out, PPS's Vice President of Policy, John Palguta, said.

"They don't have time to pass a full appropriation for each agency, so there'll be continuing resolutions, which could last for 1-2 weeks or until the end of the calendar year. They'll figure that out," said Palguta. "The longer the [continuing resolution] the better it is for operations, as government managers can at least plan a little bit in advance."

Light said that the "significant damage" inflicted by the last shutdown should serve as a warning against engaging again in the same type of frenzied brinkmanship that brought the government to its knees two years ago.

The PPS report, titled Government Disservice, measured the negative effects of the last government shutdown in 2013, during which some 800,000 federal employees were furloughed across a range of sectors interrupting numerous critical services to do with public health, environmental protection, food safety, small business loans, and nuclear and chemical plant safety.

The shutdown also cost taxpayers an estimated $24 billion in lost output, revenue, and stymied economic growth, according to Standard & Poor's. But the more damaging cost of shutdowns is actually in productivity and public confidence in the government, said Palguta.

"If you were investing in a major business, you'd take your money out of that corporation if something like [a shutdown] happened," said Palguta. "It does cause people to wonder about the ability of government to function, especially because you're devoting resources to shutdown activities and a lot of notifications to get ready for the shutdown, and then afterward to bring things back to speed. It's all a wasted effort and resources that could be better spent elsewhere."

Related: Planned Parenthood Wasn't Invited To Congress' Hearings on Planned Parenthood

Ahead of the October 2013 shutdown, government agencies began their contingency planning weeks in advance, to figure out the best way to close services, triaging essential and non-essential services in order of priority, with the intent to minimize disruption to the public in the event of a shutdown.

Yet even if Republican lawmakers succeed in shutting down government, and/or curbing funding to Planned Parenthood — most of which actually flow through entitlement programs like Medicaid and Title X — states can still spend money for Medicaid recipients to use the organization's services.

Even some anti-abortion groups were inclined to agree that a shutdown isn't the answer. The National Right to Life Committee, the largest anti-abortion/pro-life organization in the US, said that the current game plan is only serving to hurt the GOP and the pro-life cause.

"How long would the government be shut down? Two weeks? Two months? Six months? 15 months?" NRL president, Carol Tobias, said last week. "I do not believe that Obama will 'cave' to demands to sign legislation that blocks funding for Planned Parenthood, no matter how long he has to wait for the situation to be resolved — especially since he knows that every day that shutdown continues, Republican approval numbers will sink in the polls."

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Trump & GOP Panic As Obama Launches Plan To Make 8 Million Immigrants Eligible To Vote

Immigration and the 11 million undocumented folks living in the United States have been catapulted to the forefront of American politics and have become the over-hyped, fabricated non-problem of the day. Donald Trump launched his campaign for president by spewing hateful rhetoric about “Mexican rapists” and scapegoating minorities in a shameful appeal to the Republican Party’s xenophobic, racist base. While the move may have allowed Trump to skyrocket to number one in the polls, it 

prompted millions of Americans with an undocumented immigrant family member to start looking for ways to push back against the right-wing hate that has been the focal point of the race for the White House; luckily for us, President Obama is stepping in and has sent a resounding message of support to legal American immigrants and a firm rebuke of Trump’s divisive rabble-rousing.

On Thursday, the White House announced plans to help the 8.8 million legal immigrants in the country to become American citizens. The  “Stand Stronger” Citizenship Awareness Campaign will be a multifaceted effort to change their immigration status so that they can fight back against the GOP hate in voting booths.

The outreach program will include a number of new ways to help the immigrants who want to become citizens. It includes:

• allow naturalization fees to be paid by credit card
• online civics practice tests
• a mobile citizenship class locator, including where to find English classes
• four prominent new Americans and children of immigrants as Presidential Ambassadors for Citizenship and Naturalization.
• expand the availability of pro-bono legal services to eligible legal immigrants

The pro-bono legal service expansion is huge. Contrary to popular Republican belief, the road to citizenship is not only difficult, but is costs thousands of dollars — and that’s before attorney fees. For this reason many immigrants receive their “green card” and never become full-fledged American citizens- many of them just cannot afford it. Pro-bono legal services will help millions of people who do not have the money to pay a lawyer who will help them navigate the bumpy road to citizenship.

While the Obama Administration is not necessarily saying this new push for citizenship is a partisan effort, it almost certainly is. Karthick Ramakrishnan, a public policy professor at the University of California, explained why:

“Anytime there’s a major push for naturalization by the White House … especially when a Democratic administration does it, there’s always the allegation that this is an attempt to try to get more Democratic voters.”

The Republican Party is terrified of millions of new citizens, because they know that Latinos vote for Democratic candidates in much higher numbers (2-1) than they vote for GOP candidates. The reason Hispanic voters are not fond of the right-wing isn’t that difficult to figure out- just take a look at Donald Trump. However, the New York billionaire isn’t the first member of his party to use immigrants as his personal punching bag, the GOP has been doing it for years; but the rhetoric is especially vile and inflammatory this campaign season and has prompted widespread condemnation and outrage across the country. The easiest way to fight against hate is at the polls and that’s what they are going to do.

Tara Raghuveer, the policy and advocacy director at the National Partnership for New Americans, one of the community partners working with the White House to promote citizenship, said her organization is encouraging people to become citizens “specifically in response to all the hate we’ve been seeing on a national stage about immigration recently.”

She added, “We’re telling people to naturalize now; we’ve had enough of this anti-immigrant rhetoric, and it’s time for us to step up.”

It is unlikely that there will suddenly be more than eight million new voters in time for the next election, but it could have an effect on long-term public policy. Manuel Pastor, director of the University of Southern California’s Center for the Study of Immigrant Integration told NPR that after California passed the anti-immigrant Prop 187 in the 1990s, naturalization rates increased dramatically.

This push for citizenship is an amazing move by President Obama. He is going to help millions of people protect themselves against the vitriolic, anti-immigrant Republican Party, who would love nothing more than to rip millions of families apart. The GOP should be absolutely terrified, in order to win a presidential election they need more than 40 percent of the Latino vote to win; Mitt Romney only received 23 percent and he was far less hateful than Trump. Imagine what would happen if there are 8 million new voters in the next decade, 5.4 million of them Latino? The Republican Party will never see the inside of the White House again.

Watch President Obama’s first “Stand Stronger” initiative video:

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