RetireSafe

Seniors Group With Republican Ties Honors Republicans For Protecting Seniors

Jillian Rayfield | December 3, 2011, 10:44AM

A seniors group that claims to be grassroots but has ties to Republicans and members of the pharmaceutical industry has been handing out awards to vulnerable Republicans for standing up for senior citizens.

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Warner Brothers

Right-Wing Freak-Out: Children's Movies Pushing Liberal Agenda

David Taintor | December 3, 2011, 10:10AM

A screen shot from the Happy Feet Two trailer

On its surface, Happy Feet Two is a cutesy sequel about a young penguin who is reluctant to dance. But could there be a radical left-wing agenda lurking below the arctic ice?

Some conservatives think so, The Hollywood Reporter reports, suggesting that the movie's politics might be a reason why the film has been off to a sluggish start at the box office.

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Fast And Furious

Ex U.S. Attorney Called Grassley's Staff 'Stooges For The Gun Lobby' For Fast And Furious Probe

Ryan J. Reilly | December 2, 2011, 3:48PM

Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA)

A former U.S. Attorney who resigned in the wake of ATF's botched operation Fast and Furious called Sen. Chuck Grassley's staff "willing stooges for the Gun Lobby" when the Senator started investigating the issue in early 2011, according to emails DOJ sent up to congressional investigators and released to news organizations, including TPM, on Friday afternoon.

"I am so personally outraged by Senator Grassley's falsehoods," former Arizona U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke wrote in an email regarding the allegation that a weapon connected to the ATF operation was found at the murder scene of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry. "It is one of the lowest acts I have ever seen in politics."

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Barack Obama

White House Still Threatening Veto Over Terrorists In Military Custody Mandate

Ryan J. Reilly | December 2, 2011, 12:00PM

Administration officials are continuing to express concern that section 1032 of the National Defense Authorization Act passed by the Senate Thursday night will present big problems for counterterrorism officials in their efforts to stop future attacks. The Senate killed an amendment that would have explicitly said U.S. citizens can't be held in custody indefinitely but passed language that said the law on the mater hasn't changed.

The White House confirmed to TPM on Friday morning that their veto threat still stands. They believe that the "unnecessary, untested, and legally controversial" restrictions that would mandate certain terrorist suspects go into military custody would "disrupt the Executive branch's ability to enforce the law and impose unwise and unwarranted restrictions on the U.S. Government's ability to aggressively combat international terrorism."

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Bell, CA

Judge: Bell City Council Officials Would Just Meet For Votes To Increase Their Pay

Jillian Rayfield | December 2, 2011, 11:57AM

A judge in California rejected a motion for dismissal by former Bell City Council officials, writing that there is "ample probable cause" to believe that the officials knew they were breaking the law, or they "should have known that their conduct was illegal" when they allegedly inflated their salaries.

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Sovereign Citizens

WA 'Sovereign Citizen' Blamed The Rothschild Family For The Iraq War

Jillian Rayfield | December 2, 2011, 5:30AM

(Katherine Welles / Shutterstock)

A sovereign citizen in Washington state was charged with filing false tax liens against a number of state officials, and is accused of describing his plans to petition "off-duty" Supreme Court justices to try to get his business partner released from prison.

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FBI

Muslim Officials Want Answers From FBI Over Data Collection During Outreach Efforts

Ryan J. Reilly | December 1, 2011, 5:45PM

The American Civil Liberties Union charged Thursday that the FBI is using the "guise" of "community outreach" to the Muslim community to "collect and illegally store intelligence information on Americans' political and religious beliefs" in violation of the Privacy Act.

Bureau officials counter that the latest batch of documents obtained by the ACLU through the Freedom of Information Act are just standard internal reports intended to help manage the FBI's resources and make sure agents are following protocol.

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William Gheen

Anti-Immigration Group May Shut Down And Rebrand Because Of Financial Issues

Jillian Rayfield | December 1, 2011, 4:35PM

William Gheen, head of ALIPAC

The anti-immigration group ALIPAC may be forced to shut down and relaunch because of fundraising issues, which the group attributes to the economic downturn, the Republican field and, of course, President Obama.

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Federal Election Commission

FEC Deadlocks On Question Of 'Uncoordinated' Coordination

Ryan J. Reilly | December 1, 2011, 12:30PM

Updated: Dec. 1, 1:05PM

The Federal Election Commission deadlocked on a request by Karl Rove's "super PAC" to allow advertisements shot in coordination with candidates for federal office to be considered uncoordinated and not amount to in-kind donations. A motion in support of a draft opinion to reject the request failed on a three-to-three party line vote.

Republican FEC member Donald McGhan lead the questioning of a lawyer for American Crossroads, the conservative "super PAC" that is requesting to run advertisements featuring federal candidates for office.

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Kenneth Kratz

Sexting Former Wisconsin DA Accused Of Sexual Harrassment By State Agency

Jillian Rayfield | December 1, 2011, 11:12AM

Calumet County, Wisconsin, District Attorney Kenneth Kratz

The Office of Lawyer Regulation in Wisconsin released a report this week that accuses former Wisconsin District Attorney Kenneth Kratz of sexual harassment and eleven violations of state rules of conduct for his alleged "sexting" of domestic abuse victims whose cases he was handling.

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Amish

Agents Found Drugs, Hair Clippers During Raid On Amish Beard-Cutters

Jillian Rayfield | December 1, 2011, 10:32AM

Johnny Mullet, Lester Mullet, Daniel Mullet, Levi Miller and Eli Miller wait to make their pleas in Holmes County Municipal Court in Millersburg, Ohio. October 19, 2011. (AP Photo)

Federal agents say that they found evidence of marijuana and cocaine, as well as clippers and scissors during a raid on the compound of the Amish beard-cutting suspects, now charged with hate crimes.

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William Boyland, Jr.

NY Assemblyman Accused Of Soliciting Bribes To Pay Legal Fees For Corruption Trial

Jillian Rayfield | December 1, 2011, 6:00AM

New York Assemblyman William Boyland, Jr. was arrested this week for allegedly soliciting $250,000 in bribes from undercover FBI agents, just a short time after he was cleared of other corruption charges.

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Militia movement

Mugshots Of The Senior Citizen Militia Members Charged In Attack Plot

Ryan J. Reilly | November 30, 2011, 6:56PM

Mugshots of Ray H. Adams, Samuel J. Crump, Emory Dan Roberts, and Frederick Thomas

Meet 65-year-old Ray Adams, 68-year-old Samuel Crump, 67-year-old Dan Roberts and 73-year-old Frederick Thomas. They're the four senior citizen militia members from Georgia the feds say plotted an attack on federal workers, former Rep. Cynthia McKinney and Attorney General Eric Holder.

TPM obtained their mugshots, taken by the U.S. Marshals Service after their arrests, through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

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Sheriff Patrick Sullivan

Ex-Sheriff Arrested For Allegedly Trying To Trade Meth For Sex

Jillian Rayfield | November 30, 2011, 6:30PM

Former Arapahoe County, Colorado Sheriff Pat Sullivan

A Republican former sheriff in Colorado was arrested on Tuesday for allegedly trying to trade meth for sex with a man, as his former colleagues from the Sheriff's department were "visually monitoring" the deal.

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National Labor Relations Board

NLRB Advances Union Rule Despite GOP Board Member's Threat To Quit

Ryan J. Reilly | November 30, 2011, 4:10PM

Union members rally against SB5 at the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus

Updated: Nov. 30, 4:30PM

Despite threats from the sole Republican member of the National Labor Relations Board that he'd quit over a controversial union elections law, the board voted two-to-one on Wednesday to advance part of a rule that union leaders said would decrease delays in the elections process.

The board only voted on portions of the rule that would limit litigation surrounding elections. But GOP member Brian Hayes said that the board's decision to advance the rules went against tradition.

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Mob Bust

Feds Bust Mob Scheme To Recruit Russian Strippers, Set Up Sham Marriages

Ryan J. Reilly | November 30, 2011, 2:54PM

Federal authorities on Wednesday arrested 20 people they say took part in a scheme to recruit women from Russia and eastern European countries to illegally work in strip clubs controlled by the Gambino and Bonanno crime families of La Cosa Nostra. Many of the defendants have also been charged with arranging for the women to enter into sham marriages with U.S. citizens.

Among the defendants are alleged mob figures with nicknames like "Old Man Willy," "Big Alex" and "The Walker." The strip clubs in questions -- which aren't specifically named in the charging documents -- are located in Queens and Long Island in New York.

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Barbara Arnwine

Civil Rights Leader Considering Suit Over Police Raid

Ryan J. Reilly | November 30, 2011, 1:18PM

If you've been to an event in D.C. about civil rights issues, Barbara Arnwine is probably a familiar face. As executive director of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, she's most recently been calling attention to the impact that voter ID laws could have on keeping minorities from the polls.

But this week Arnwine has been in the news for a different reason: her home was raided by Prince George's County Police on Nov. 21 because police suspect her nephew in an armed robbery. Arnwine says that police didn't tell her why her home was being searched and held her family at gunpoint for several hours. She's considering a lawsuit.

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Jan Schakowsky

Rep. Schakowsky: Erik Prince Of Blackwater Tried To Intimidate Me

Jillian Rayfield | November 30, 2011, 12:37PM

Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL)

Jan Schakowsky says that former Blackwater CEO Erik Prince has "attempted intimidation" of her in response to Schakowsky's campaign to reduce U.S. reliance on private military contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan.

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ACORN

DOJ Inspector General: NY Organization Was An ACORN Front

Ryan J. Reilly | November 30, 2011, 9:55AM

The New York Agency for Community Affairs worked as a front group for the Association of Community Organizers for Reform Now (ACORN) and used federal grant funds to make ACORN's payroll back in 2005 and 2006, according to a new report by the Justice Department's Inspector General.

Investigators questioned $138,129 in grant money spent by NYACA. They found that the organization "did not have any paid employees at the time it received the grant or at any time during the life of the grant-funded project." From the report:

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Norm Coleman

Norm Coleman: Let's Just See How This Super PAC Thing Plays Out

Ryan J. Reilly | November 30, 2011, 9:47AM

Former Senator Norm Coleman (R-MN)

Does the introduction of so-called "super PACs" drastically change the political landscape or is it just the next logical step of increasing the impact of money in politics? One person who's not sure: former Republican Senator and current super PAC chairman Norm Coleman.

"So is it a continuum? Is it an ebb and flow? Or is it -- from a little different perspective -- a fundamental paradigm shift in the way American elections are conducted? Because I feel it's a little of that too, even though it's an ebb and flow, because the level of coordination that outside groups can do among themselves but not with candidates and not with parties is pretty incredible," Coleman said at a breakfast with reporters hosted by the Christian Science Monitor on Tuesday.

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Miami

Report: Miami's Federal Prison Plagued By Strippers Posing As 'Legal Assistants'

Jillian Rayfield | November 30, 2011, 9:30AM

(Hugo Silveirinha Felix / Shutterstock)

The Miami Federal Detention Center is reportedly plagued by women posing as paralegals who instead strip for incarcerated drug lords, according to several people interviewed by the Miami New-Times.

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Arizona

This Christmas, Pose With Santa And His Machine Guns

David Taintor | November 30, 2011, 6:06AM

"Santa's back with his bag of goodies," the Scottsdale Gun Club in Arizona announces on its website. Instead of toy soldiers, Santa's carrying real machine guns, and for $10, non-members can get a picture taken with Santa and his hardware.

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Tennessee

TN Tea Party Prez Sort Of Apologizes For Tweet Calling Barney Frank 'Perverted Sodomite'

Jillian Rayfield | November 30, 2011, 5:57AM

The president of the Tennessee Tea Party apologized for a tweet someone in his group sent out calling Barney Frank a "perverted sodomite," though she added a caveat: "While privately and inwardly I may agree with the commentary, it is completely irresponsible for any one of us to write these kinds of commentaries."

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Robert Rizzo

More Former Bell Officials Sue Scandalized City For Benefits

Jillian Rayfield | November 29, 2011, 3:56PM

Five former administrators for the city of Bell, California, two of whom resigned following the city's salary inflation scandal, are suing the city for pensions and benefits.

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Eric Holder

'You Guys Are Behind This': Eric Holder Says Daily Caller Pushing For His Resignation

Ryan J. Reilly | November 29, 2011, 3:27PM

FBI Director Robert Mueller (Left) And U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder (Right)

Attorney General Eric Holder on Tuesday told a reporter with the conservative news website The Daily Caller that the news organization was ginning up calls for him to resign over ATF's botched Operation Fast and Furious.

The reporter approached Holder after an event at the White House on the federal government's efforts to combat counterfeit goods.

"You guys need to... you guys need to stop this," TPM heard Holder tell the reporter. "There's not an organic thing happening, you guys are behind this."

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Bill Fulton

The Strange Case Of The FBI's Second Schaeffer Cox Informant

Jillian Rayfield | November 29, 2011, 12:29PM

Second Amendment Task Force organizer Schaeffer Cox prepares to address fellow gun rights supporters on Thursday, March 5, 2009, at Friends Community Church.

Remember when Republican senate candidate Joe Miller hired a security team for that ill-fated campaign event at a public school last fall? Well, as it turns out, the head of the security team was moonlighting as a confidential informant infiltrating the Alaska militia movement for the FBI, in an effort that eventually helped lead to the arrest of Schaeffer Cox and his followers on weapons charges and an alleged plot to kill state officials.

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Florida

Three Accused In $1 Million Toilet Paper Scam

David Taintor | November 29, 2011, 11:44AM

That's a lot of money down the toilet.

The Miami Herald reports that three people in south Florida allegedly conned elderly customers into buying more than 70 years-worth of toilet paper in a $1 million scam involving dozens across the country.

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Gay Marriage

Anti-Gay Marriage Groups Lose Another Battle To Keep Supporters Secret

Jillian Rayfield | November 29, 2011, 5:08AM

Gay marriage opponents are fighting (and, for the most part, losing) the battle to keep their supporters and donors secret from the "homosexual lobby" that they claim is seeking to intimidate them.

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Sam Brownback

Brownback Apologizes To Teen Tweeter

David Taintor | November 28, 2011, 1:56PM

Maybe it wasn't such a good idea for Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback (R) to get up in arms over a teenager's disparaging tweet.

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Rezwan Ferdaus

Judge: It Doesn't Matter If The Remote Controlled Plane Plot Would Have Worked

Ryan J. Reilly | November 28, 2011, 1:32PM

The plot Rezwan Ferdaus allegedly developed to fly remote controlled planes carrying C-4 explosives into the Pentagon and the dome of the Capitol might have been far-fetched, but a federal judge has ruled he's still a danger to the community and agreed to the government's request to detain him.

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FEC

Four Ways The FEC Could Rule On Uncoordinated Coordination By American Crossroads

Ryan J. Reilly | November 28, 2011, 1:05PM

The Federal Election Commission is supposed to rule this week on an issue Stephen Colbert has given a lot of attention: a request from Karl Rove's American Crossroads "super PAC" to let groups like theirs coordinate filming "uncoordinated" advertisements with federal candidates.

Last week, the FEC posted four draft responses to the request for an advisory opinion. That means there's a strong possibility that the FEC wouldn't give any advice on the topic because they can't get four votes for any of the drafts. But just in case they do, here's how each finding would break down.

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Jack Abramoff

Jack Abramoff Doesn't Care If Reformers Think He's Sincere

Ryan J. Reilly | November 28, 2011, 11:15AM

Jack Abramoff is a man who knows his audience.

On his promotional tour touting his new book, he customizes the message depending on the crowd. Speaking at his World Net Daily book party? He'll crack wise about the "bolsheviks" at MSNBC. Speaking on MSNBC? He'll have a go-to quote about what he calls Newt Gingrich's corruption.

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