TPMMuckraker

Report: Schilling's Video Game Company Lays Off All Staff

2012-05-24T21:44:59Z

Former Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling's video game company, 38 Studios, has laid off all its employees, an anonymous source at the company told The Boston Globe on Thursday.

The company, which moved from Massachusetts to Rhode Island in 2010 in exchange for $75 million in guaranteed loans, started to get headlines earlier this month after it missed a $1.1 million loan payment to the state. While it later made the payment, it was reportedly having trouble making payroll. Schilling has asked Rhode Island for more money, but the state has refused.

"There's no more easy money," Governor Lincoln Chafee said at a press conference last Friday.

According to the Globe, the Providence-based company had close to 400 employees.

NJ Mayor, Son Arrested For Hacking Recall Website

2012-05-24T21:00:09Z

A New Jersey mayor and his 22-year-old son were arrested Thursday for allegedly hacking into an e-mail account and website set up in an effort to recall him.

West New York Mayor Felix Roque, 55, and his 22-year-old son Joseph Roque allegedly worked together to take down RecallRoque.com by hacking into an associated email account.

The feds said that "Victim 1," a resident and government official in the county, anonymously established and moderated RecallRoque.com in early February. The Democratic mayor and his son, along with an unnamed conspirator allegedly began plotting to harass whoever was behind the website.

Joseph Roque was allegedly able to successfully hack into an email account associated with the website and had GoDaddy.com take the site down because of his unauthorized access to the email account. Mayor Roque allegedly soon called up several victims to tell them he knew they were involved in the website. Roque allegedly threatened to refer at least one victim to the IRS for audits.

He allegedly reminded one victim he was in the Army and falsely told another that a government spook helped him take down the website, saying "a friend of mine he works in the -- I can't tell you -- three letters -- CIA. You know. That's how I get information. So, what I'm doing is not very kosher."

Meeting with two other public officials in his medical office, Roque allegedly said they needed to "go after" any West New York employees opposed to him.

In Joseph Roque's interview with the FBI on March 22, he took responsibility for hacking the website but claimed his father didn't know about it. When officials told him they had his father's cell phone records, Joseph Roque allegedly looked towards the ceiling and "appeared to mouth the words 'Oh, Fuck,'" according to an FBI affidavit.

Roque allegedly told law enforcement officers on March 22 that his son should go to jail if he did something wrong but denied instructing Joseph to hack the website. The elder Roque allegedly said he would be fine going to jail because he had "lived the dream" and would be able to work out and read in prison.

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2012-05-24T21:00:09Z

Segregationist's Stationery Spells Trouble For Anti-Muslim California Republican

2012-05-24T16:35:00Z

Update: May 24, 2012, 5:35 PM

The ghost of Alabama's segregationist former Gov. George Wallace brought trouble to the conservative stronghold of Orange County, Calif., this month and an anti-Muslim Republican is paying a political price for it.

It started last week when people complained about letters a local businessman sent out in support of Deborah Pauly, a local councilwoman and a leader in the Orange County GOP who drew nationwide attention last year when she helped lead an angry protest against Muslims with chants like "terrorists go home." Pauly is now running for a seat on the Orange County Board of Supervisors.

The letters, it turns out, weren't like most other pitches for support that flood mailboxes each election year. They appeared on old letterhead from one of Wallace's failed campaigns for president. The Los Angeles Times reported they carried an embossed portrait of the former Alabama governor and the slogan, "Wallace for President, Stand up for America."

According to the Orange County Register, the letters were sent to 7,900 voters by businessman Robert Walters, 70, who identified himself as Wallace's presidential campaign chairman in 1967. Wallace ran as an American Independent Party candidate in the 1968 race for president.

Both newspapers said Walters praised Pauly's protests against Muslims in the letter and wrote: "We need Deborah Pauly and her brand of hard core limited government, fiscally-conservative positions on the County Board of Supervisors." (Update: See letter at right. Click to enlarge.)

The businessman told the Register he, his wife and his daughter paid for the printing and mailing. He sent Pauly a copy of the letter as a courtesy but did not clear it with her.

Wallace served as the governor of Alabama during the civil rights era and advocated for racial segregation when he ran for president in 1968. He famously stood in the doorway of the University of Alabama in 1963 in an attempt to block black students from enrolling. Later in his political career, Wallace renounced his earlier segregationist views and apologize for them Wallace died in 1998.

Pauly is perhaps best known for the protest last year of the southern California fundraiser that featured Muslim speakers. Protesters shouted chants describing Muslims as perverts and terrorists, saying followers of the religion had blood on their hands. The protest, which drew about 100 people, was condemned by the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

But Pauly has been at the center of other recent uproars, too. Last year, the Register reported, she defended a fellow Orange County Republican who sent out an email depicting President Obama as a chimpanzee.

In 2010, according to the L.A. Times, she also drew criticism after posting a message on her Facebook page that compared applauding the president's health care reform plan to "applauding a mugging or a rape."

On Monday, the Wallace letter became the final straw for the Orange County GOP. The party voted to remove her as vice-chair, according to the Times.

Pauly didn't leave quietly, though. She told those who voted for her removal, "You are being used as political pawns in a game."

But Scott Baugh, the chairman of the county party, said it was too late. "She makes statements out there that I'm constantly having to defend," he said.

From Investor Exuberance To Congressional Investigations: A Timeline of Facebook's Rocky IPO

2012-05-23T20:06:09Z

It is safe to say that the Facebook IPO has not gone as planned. A slumping stock price, and several sensational reports about what went on behind the scenes, have resulted in lawsuits, attention from regulators, and a lot of sniping and second-guessing from pundits. This week's critical coverage is a complete 180 from the breathless, rapturous reports in the days leading up to last Friday.

Take a step back. Here's a timeline of key events in the run-up to and brief history of Facebook's life as a publicly traded company:

January 27: The Wall Street Journal reported that Facebook is getting ready to file papers with the Securities and Exchange Commission for its long-awaited initial public offering. This is surprising news -- the paper had previous anticipated that the IPO filing would between April and June 2012.

February 1: Facebook filed its prospectus paperwork with the Securities and Exchange Commission, saying it intends to raise $5 billion when it goes public, "as soon as practicable." Morgan Stanley is named as the lead underwriter, followed by JP Morgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, BofA Merrill Lynch, Barclays Capital and the boutique firm Allen & Company.

Among other things, Facebook revealed in the filing that: the company had revenue of $3.7 billion in 2011, compared to $1.9 billion in 2010, and $777 million in 2009; the company had $3.9 billion in cash or liquid assets; that "in 2009, 2010, and 2011, advertising accounted for 98%, 95%, and 85%, respectively, of our revenue"; and that CEO Mark Zuckerberg received a base salary of $500,000 in 2011, plus a $220,500 bonus.

April 9: Facebook announced the $1 billion acquisition of Instagram, the popular photo-sharing app.

"I'm excited to share the news that we've agreed to acquire Instagram and that their talented team will be joining Facebook," Zuckerberg wrote on his Facebook page.

April 23: In an updated filing with the SEC, Facebook reported that net income fell 12 percent to $205 million in the first quarter, compared to $233 million in the first quarter a year earlier. Reuters reported it was the "first quarter-to-quarter revenue slide in at least two years" for the company. From Reuters:

Facebook said its advertising business, which accounts for the bulk of its revenue, typically slows down in the first three months of the year. The rapid advertising growth may have "partially masked" such trends to date, and seasonal impacts may be more pronounced in the future, it noted.

May 3: Facebook sets a minimum price it will trade per share at $28 and maximum at $35, giving the entire company a valuation between $77 billion to $96 billion.

The company also launched a webpage on RetailRoadshow.com, which featured a 30 minute video starring Facebook executives, including Zuckerberg touting a "hacker value system."

May 7: Facebook kicked of its investor "road show." Zuckerberg, COO Sheryl Sandberg, and CFO David Ebersman spent 25 minutes answering questions from 400 investors in a ballroom at a Sheraton hotel in Manhattan. The attendees raised several concerns, according to CNN:

Chief among them: How will Facebook make money on mobile devices? Zuckerberg admitted that the social network is having trouble charting its growth in mobile and tracking its user base.

May 8: Road show goes to Boston. Tech analyst Michael Pachter, of Wedbush Securities, makes headlines after criticizing Zuckerberg for wearing a hoodie during road show events.

"I mean he's actually showing investors he doesn't care that much, he's gonna be him and he's gonna do what he's always done, and I think that's a mark of immaturity," Pachter told Bloomberg TV.

May 9: Facebook amended its SEC filing and noted that users were moving to mobile, and the company was not yet making much money off mobile. Here's the passage:

Based upon our experience in the second quarter of 2012 to date, the trend we saw in the first quarter of DAUs increasing more rapidly than the increase in number of ads delivered has continued. We believe this trend is driven in part by increased usage of Facebook on mobile devices where we have only recently begun showing an immaterial number of sponsored stories in News Feed, and in part due to certain pages having fewer ads per page as a result of product decisions.

According to Reuters, within the next two days, four of Facebook's major underwriters -- Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and Bank of America -- reduced their earnings and revenue estimates for the company.

May 10: According to Reuters, Bank of America analyst Justin Post held a conference call with big investors where he revealed the lower estimates.

May 11: The road show wrapped up in Palo Alto, California. The company "signals" that it may start showing ads on websites other than Facebook, according to the Associated Press.

May 15: Facebook increased its share price range for the IPO to between $34 and $38, valuing the company between $93 billion to $104 billion. A source told Reuters the IPO was already "well-oversubscribed" and that the company planned to close the books on the deal on May 16.

Meanwhile, news broke that GM planned to pull its advertising on Facebook.

May 16: Facebook added 84 million shares, worth up to $3.2 billion, to the IPO, according to the AP. Today, the Wall Street Journal reported that "as word spread that the deal would be growing, investors got nervous that demand would be sated before the shares even began to trade... Many learned of the growth in the deal's size after the change was filed Wednesday morning with regulators, according to people familiar with the matter."

May 17: Thursday morning, Facebook CFO David Ebersman and Michael Grimes, the co-head of global technology banking at Morgan Stanley, and "directionally agreed" that the offer price should be $38 a share, according to the Journal.

May 18: After a 30 minute delay, NASDAQ manually opens Facebook, which begins trading at $42.05. Shares begin falling. One investor, according to The New York Times, sells hundreds of thousands of shares at about $42. Retail brokerage firms, meanwhile, get swarmed by customers looking to own a piece of Facebook.

The stock closes just above the IPO price.

May 21: Facebook ended the day $34.03, down 11 percent from Friday's close.

May 22: Reports, including one from Business Insider, begin raising questions about the inner workings of the IPO. Regulators start to speak up.

"That's a matter of regulatory concern to us and I'm sure to the SEC," Richard Ketchum, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority's chairman and chief executive, said, according to Reuters. "And without saying whether it's us or the SEC, we will collectively be focusing on it.

On her way out of a Senate Banking Committee hearing, SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro tell reporters, "I think there is a lot of reason to have confidence in our markets and in the integrity of how they operate, but there are issues that we need to look at specifically with respect to Facebook."

Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin, meanwhile, announced that he'd subpoenaed Morgan Stanley over the disclosure allegations.

In a statement later, Morgan Stanley said that it "followed the same procedures for the Facebook offering that it follows for all IPOs. These procedures are in compliance with all applicable regulations."

Facebook stocks closed at $31.

May 23: Shareholders sued Facebook, Morgan Stanley, and others, filing lawsuit seeking class-action status in U.S. District Court in Manhattan. (A similar suit was filed on behalf of an investor in California on Tuesday.) The suit claims the defendants hid Facebook's growth forecasts.

Facebook spokesman Andrew Noyes told TPM, "We believe the lawsuit is without merit and will defend ourselves vigorously."

Arizona's Secretary Of State Finally Gets What He Asked For

2012-05-23T18:59:00Z

This is what Arizona Secretary of State Ken Bennett has to show for two months of writing emails and nearly a week of nationwide ridicule in his investigation of President Obama's birth certificate: a single sheet of paper.

Hawaii officials sent the man in charge of Arizona's elections a one-page verification late Tuesday that President Obama was indeed born in their state in 1961.

There were no surprises in the document. It said the same things Hawaii officials and the president himself have been saying for years and it matched the information that appeared in a copy of the president's long-form birth certificate released by the White House last year.

But for Bennett, a Republican and co-chairman of Mitt Romney's Arizona campaign, it was something he hoped would quickly put a bewildering chapter of his career behind him.

"At the request of numerous constituents, I merely asked Hawaiian officials to verify the information contained within President Obama's original birth certificate," Bennett said in a written statement on Wednesday. "They have complied with the request and I consider the matter closed."

The previous day, Bennett apologized on a Phoenix radio station for embarrassing Arizona with his conspiracy theory-fueled investigation into the president's birth certificate. He said he only starting looking into Obama's birth after being heckled with angry emails from people who didn't believe the president was truly a natural born citizen of the United States.

Bennett had told another local radio station six days earlier that he might keep Obama off the November ballot if he didn't get the answers he wanted from Hawaii. He also said he had no plans to investigate Romney's birth. In his apology, he backed away from the Obama threat, saying the president would be on the ballot if he filled out the same paperwork all the other candidates did.

Hours after the apology, Hawaii sent Bennett the verification he was looking for. His office released it to the media on Wednesday. The document (above, click to enlarge) was signed by Hawaii state registrar Alvin T. Onaka.

After the document was sent Bennett the document on Tuesday, the Hawaii attorney general's office released a statement declaring the issue "resolved."

Sentencing Means White Supremacist 'Serial' Bomber Likely To Die Behind Bars For Arizona Attack

2012-05-23T17:23:00Z

Chances are, unless he lives to 102, a white supremacist who bragged about being a serial bomber will die in prison for his role in the 2004 mail bombing of a city office in Arizona.

Dennis Mahon, 61, was sentenced by a federal judge on Tuesday in Phoenix to spend the next 40 years in prison for the bombing, which injured three employees of the Scottsdale city government, including its diversity director.

A former leader of the Ku Klux Klan who maintained a profile in the white supremacist movement even after leaving the organization, Mahon was once recorded by authorities bragging about carrying out numerous bombings throughout the nation since the early 1980s.

Authorities hailed his sentencing on Tuesday as a blow against racial hatred in America. The investigation was run by veteran U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives special agent Tristan Moreland, who tracked the white supremacist for years and arrested Mahon and his twin brother in 2009 at a house in rural Illinois.

"Today's sentence makes clear that such acts of violence will not be tolerated in Arizona," Thomas Atteberry, the special agent in charge of the ATF's Phoenix office, said in a written statement. "We will continue to use every tool in our arsenal to put criminal hatemongers on notice — no matter how long it takes — they are not beyond our reach."

At the sentencing, Mahon was unapologetic, According to the Associated Press, he said he couldn't apologize to the victims because "I didn't do this bombing."

Mahon was tried earlier this year alongside his twin brother, Daniel Mahon, who authorities also accused of helping in the bombing of Scottsdale's Office of Diversity and Dialogue. A jury, however, acquitted Daniel Mahon and he was set free.

The jury also ruled that the bombing was not a hate crime. Despite that, the AP reported, U.S. District Judge David Campbell called it an "act of domestic terrorism" during the sentencing.

Still, Campbell didn't completely side with prosecutors, either. The U.S. Attorney's Office in Phoenix asked last wek for Mahon to be sentenced to 63 years in prison.

According to authorities, Mahon at the time of his arrest was a follower of a hate group called the White Aryan Resistance, or WAR, which was run by one of the nation's best known white supremacist leaders, Tom Metzger.

Undead Birtherism: The Zombie Conspiracy Can't Be Killed

2012-05-23T08:55:00Z

Like the monster at the end of a horror movie, birtherism refuses to stay down, no matter how many times it's left for dead. It has been over a year since the White House tried to shove a long-form stake through the heart of the conspiracy, and yet some Republican politicians continue to offer fodder for the fringe which refuses to accept that Barack Obama is the legitimate President of the United States.

TPM's Nick Martin has been closely following Arizona Secretary of State Ken Bennett's recent adventures in birther-mongering. Bennett, the man in charge of running Arizona's elections, threatened last week to keep Obama off the state's ballots in November. Bennett's shenanigans followed the lead of Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who earlier this year announced that members of a special posse had determined that a copy of Obama's birth certificate released last year by the White House was a fraud. (Arpaio saw Bennett's move this week and raised him an absurdity by dispatching a deputy from his "threats unit" to Hawaii as part of his probe.)

But birtherism is hardly an Arizona-only phenomenon. Signs of life from the birther hive have also recently been reported in Iowa, Colorado, Missouri, North Carolina, and Florida. (It is also worth noting, as TPM reported last week, that some of the most hardcore birthers are now so far gone that they're saying Obama was born in America after all, only now they think his Kenyan father was a cover for his "real" father, communist Frank Marshall Davis..)

Just this week, TheIowaRepublican.com and other outlets acquired a draft of the proposed platform Iowa Republicans will adopt at their state convention on June 16. The document contained the following line: "We believe candidates for President of the United States must show proof of being a 'natural born citizen' as required by Article II, Section I of the Constitution -- beginning with the 2012 election." In an interview with Radio Iowa on Monday, Don Racheter, chairman of the Iowa GOP's 2012 platform committee, said the section was "a shot" at the president.

"There are many Republicans who feel that Barack Obama is not a 'natural born citizen' because his father was not an American when he was born and, therefore, feel that according to the Constitution he's not qualified to be president, should not have been allowed to be elected by the Electoral College or even nominated by the Democratic Party in 2008, so this is an election year," Racheter said.

North Carolina, meanwhile, boasts not one but two Republican Congressional candidates who've dabbled in birtherism.

Jim Pendergraph, who on July 17 will face fellow Republican Robert Pittenger in a Republican primary runoff for the state's 9th District House seat, last month had Arpaio join for a campaign event, and said the following, when asked about Obama's birth certificate.

"I have reason to be suspicious," Pendergraph said, according to The Huffington Post. "But I don't know. I haven't seen the facts. I think there's a lot of smoke and generally when there's smoke there's got to be fire somewhere."

Earlier in April, Republican Richard Hudson, now facing a primary run off in North Carolina's 8th District, raised his own questions about Obama's citizenship at a Tea Party forum.

"There's no question President Obama is hiding something on his citizenship," Hudson said, according to Roll Call. "And if you elect me to Congress to represent you, I'll introduce legislation that requires any candidate for president or vice president to be certified by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court as being a citizen."

Asked later about the comments by Roll Call, Hudson explained that "there's a lot of people that think that he's not a citizen. I don't know."

"In the future, let's just set a standard that if you're going to run, you have to have your citizenship certified in advance and then you won't have all this lingering, you know, questions and conspiracy theories and so forth," he said.

Aspiring lawmakers aren't the only ones playing this game. Three members of Congress have raised similar kinds of "concerns" over the last few months.

On May 12, at a fundraiser in Elbert County, Colorado, Rep. Mike Coffman (R-CO) told a crowd that he didn't know if Barack Obama was born in the United States of America.

"I don't know that," he said. "But I do know this, that in his heart, he's not an American. He's just not an American."

Coffman later apologized, releasing a statement saying, "I misspoke and I apologize."

In April, Rep. Vicky Hartzler (R-MO) told constituents at a town hall event that she had doubts about Obama's birth certificate.

"You know, I have a lot of doubts about all that. But I don't know, I haven't seen it," Hartzler said when asked about the issue, according to The Huffington Post. "I'm just at the same place you are on that. You read this, you read that. But I don't understand why he didn't show that right away. I mean, if someone asked for my birth certificate, I'd get my baby book and hand it out and say 'Here it is,' so I don't know."

After the event, The Sedalia Democrat asked Hartzler to clarify her comments, and the Congresswoman responded: "I have doubts that it is really his real birth certificate, and I think a lot of Americans do, but they claim it is, so we are just going to go with that."

She declined to say whether she believes the president is a U.S. citizen, calling the issue "irrelevant."

Back in February, Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-FL) offered perhaps the best example of how this undead issue survives even after it's been debunked time and again. During a meeting with constituents, Stearns offered the following thoughts (via Think Progress):

All I can tell you is that the general consensus is that he has produced a birth certificate. The question is, is it legitimate? That's where we stand now. I've seen a copy of it on television. But you know the Governor of Hawaii couldn't get what he felt was an original of the birth certificate. He tried to do it and gave up on it. So I think what Obama's showing is a facsimile, but I think that debate probably is not enough, shall we say, just to impeach him. We're going to have an election in five or six months so we can change the course of history by electing someone other than Obama. That's what elections are all about. If we started impeachment this time of year, very difficult in terms of time and strength.

In March, Stearns doubled down.

"I am, shall we say, looking at all the evidence," he told reporters in Washington, according to The Hill. "... some of these people seem to have legitimate concerns, so I don't think it is unreasonable just to see what they have to say."

Composite includes image via Shutterstock

Bennett Backs Off Birther Threat, Apologizes To Arizona

2012-05-22T22:43:00Z

Updated: May 22, 2012, 7:01 PM

After days of ridicule for launching a conspiracy theory-fueled investigation into Barack Obama's birth certificate, Arizona Secretary of State Ken Bennett on Tuesday backed off his threat to keep the president off the ballot in November and apologized to his state.

RELATED: Emails Show How Hawaii Stiffed Arizona Secretary Of State's Birther Investigation

"If I embarrassed the state, I apologize, but that certainly wasn't my intent," Bennett said in an interview with Phoenix radio station KTAR. "He'll be on the ballot as long as he fills out the same paperwork and does the same things that everybody else has."

Bennett said he still intends to keep asking Hawaii for verification that Obama's birth certificate is authentic. But he said he only plans to use Hawaii's answer as a way to satisfy demands from constituents who remain unconvinced Obama is a natural born citizen of the United States and so therefore eligible to be president.

He also said he talked to Hawaii's attorney general on Monday night and clarified what he is looking to have verified. He said he "reworded" his request and expects to receive a response from Hawaii officials "in the next 24 to 48 hours."

Last week, Bennett told a different Phoenix radio station it was "possible" he would keep Obama off the state's ballot in November if Hawaii did not provide him with a satisfactory answers to his investigation.

On Tuesday, Bennett told talk show hosts Mac Watson and Larry Gaydos he had no idea about the wave of criticism he endure get after launching his investigation into the president's birth certificate. He said again that he doesn't consider himself a birther and he believes the president was born in Hawaii but he did this to satisfy a small number of vocal people who kept sending him angry emails about it.

"I feel like I was just trying to glue the far little corner of the carpet down," Bennett said. "And as soon as you just touch the carpet, the whole floor buckles."

Is Mitt Romney A Unicorn? Arizona Secretary Of State's Birther Probe Ridiculed (Update)

2012-05-22T21:20:00Z

In case there was any doubt about it before: The man in charge of running Arizona's elections has no plans to investigate Mitt Romney's birth certificate the way he's been looking into President Obama's.

"No, we haven't contacted Michigan," a spokesman for Secretary of State Ken Bennett told TPM in an email on Tuesday. "I don't know if Michigan has the same statute that Hawaii has."

Since he first revealed his conspiracy theory-fueled investigation into Obama's birth certificate and threatened last week to keep the president off the state's ballot, Bennett and his staff have been ducking for political cover behind the people they say really started it: the 1,200 constituents who sent angry emails begging him to take up their cause.

It was only because of them, Bennett said, that he began to look into the birth certificate issue in the first place. His spokesman, Matt Roberts, told TPM "with complete and utter honesty" it has nothing to do with Bennett's affiliation as a Republican or his role as Romney's Arizona campaign co-chair.

But those excuses apparently didn't sit well with the legions of the president's supporters and others convinced by clear evidence that Obama really is a natural born citizen of the United States and therefore eligible to serve as president.

"The reaction has been largely negative since the story broke," Roberts said. It "balanced out the thousands of people who advocated for Mr. Bennett to keep (Obama) off the ballot in the first place."

Balanced is one term for it. Tipped the scales might be another. At least one progressive online network, Left Action, took up the cause this week under the theory that if 1,200 emails can convince Bennett to investigate one conspiracy theory, maybe they can cobble together enough support to get him to investigate anything.

As of Tuesday afternoon some 15,000 people and counting had already put their names on Left Action's online petition asking Bennett to investigate whether Mitt Romney is really a unicorn. (Yes, a unicorn. The petition even has its own domain name: MittRomneyIsAUnicorn.com.) That's more than 10 times the number of people who asked Bennett to investigate the president in the first place.

While Roberts said he hadn't seen the unicorn petition, he's heard about it through a litany of nasty emails in recent days.

"We have received emails containing that request," he said, "usually followed by some colorful language suggesting things I don't think I can physically perform."

The anger is something of an echo to the rage Bennett heard from the right even after he launched the investigation in March, including emails calling him "week-kneed" (sic) and saying he obviously had little interest in upholding his oath of office.

Still, despite the reversal in rhetoric, Roberts said his boss has no regrets about launching the investigation and no plans to call it off until he gets the answers he's looking for from Hawaii. Roberts said they're just hoping that comes as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, Hawaii officials, tired of the mountains of requests they have gotten about Obama's birth certificate from conspiracy theorists over the years, have made Bennett jump though a series of hoops to prove he's qualified to investigate the matter.

As of Friday, a spokesman for the Hawaii attorney general's office said Bennett still hadn't qualified despite two months of trying.

"We're hopeful to have some closure from HI very soon," Bennett's spokesman wrote in an email on Tuesday, "and if they supply us with the verification in-lieu of certified copy, the issue will be over as far as we're concerned."

Update: Late Tuesday, Bennett backed off his threat to keep Obama off the ballot and apologized for embarrassing Arizona.

Auction Site Claims To Have Vial Of Reagan's Blood For Sale

2012-05-22T15:24:37Z

It's the stuff presidents are made of.

A British auction website has put up for sale a vial which it says was used to hold a sample of President Ronald Reagan's blood, drawn after Reagan was shot by John Hinckley Jr. on March 30, 1981.

The 5-inch glass vial has a green stopper, and "dried blood residue" is visible inside, according to the listing on pfcauctions.com. From the listing:

A 3½" x 1" white label has been affixed to the vial. It is printed, in purple ink, "REAGAN RONALD 940029 THOR / 610892572 AARON PRESIDENTIAL / SUITE 3/30/81 M 2/02/11 JAP." 940029 was Reagan's patient ID. AARON refers to Benjamin L. Aaron who was Chief of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery at George Washington University Hospital where Reagan was in the Presidential Suite. THOR refers to thoracic. Reagan was admitted on March 30 1981 and M refers to male. The President's date of birth is incorrectly stated as "2/02/11" when his actual date of birth is February 6 1911.

The auction winner will also get a printed form on light green paper from Bio-Science Laboratories with further information, plus a letter of provenance from the current owner.

As of Tuesday morning, the high bid for the item was £7,587, or roughly $12,000.

John Heubusch, executive director of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation, told Reuters in a statement that, "If indeed this story is true, it's a craven act and we will use every legal means to stop its sale or purchase."

In the letter of provenance, the unnamed owner details how he or she came to own the vial:

"Her laboratory was the laboratory contracted by Walter Reed Army Medical Center as well as the George Washington University Hospital to handle blood testing as well as other types of testing," the letter states. "Her lab did the blood work and testing for President Reagan. The test tube and the lab slip that I have are for his blood work to be tested for lead on [Monday] 03/30/1981. The testing was completed and the test tube was sitting on my mother's desk. At the end of the week, she asked the director of her laboratory if she could keep the paper work and the test tube. The director of the lab told her no problem and really never gave it a second thought. It has been in my family ever since."

The owner claims that they contacted the Reagan National Library several months ago about the vial, and was told that the Reagan family was interested in the vial being returned.

"I told him that I didn't think that was something that I was going to consider, since I had served under Pres. Reagan when he was my Commander in Chief when I was in the ARMY from '87-'91 and that I was a real fan of Reaganomics and felt that Pres. Reagan himself would rather see me sell it rather than donating it," the letter concludes.

Update 1:13 p.m.: In an interview with FoxNews.com, Reagan's son Michael Reagan called the whole thing "bogus."

"This is somebody just trying to make money ... trying to make money off Reagan," he said.

Presented By:

2012-05-22T15:24:37Z

Sheriff Joe Arpaio Sends 'Threats Unit' Investigator To Hawaii To Escalate Birther Probe

2012-05-22T13:55:00Z

Not to be outdone by the Arizona secretary of state's recent flirtation with birtherism, Sheriff Joe Arpaio escalated his probe into President Obama's birth certificate this week by dispatching a deputy from his "threats unit" to Hawaii.

Both the Arizona Republic and the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported deputy Brian Mackiewcz traveled with Arpaio's volunteer posse member Michael Zullo on Monday to try to get an official confirmation that Hawaii has the president's birth certificate on file.

Earlier this year, the Arizona sheriff fanned the flames of the birther conspiracy theory when he announced that Zullo and other posse members had determined a copy of the birth certificate released last year by the White House was a fraud. More recently, Arizona Secretary of State Ken Bennett has said he is following the sheriff's lead and considering keeping the president off the state's ballot in November unless he gets confirmation the document is real.

Both Arpaio and Bennett are Republicans and the latter is co-chairman of Mitt Romney's presidential campaign in Arizona. In their efforts, they have essentially caved to pressure from a small but vocal fringe of writers and activists unwilling to believe the president is a natural born citizen of the United States no matter how much evidence they get. The conspiracy theorists say a fake birth certificate would mean Obama is ineligible for the presidency because it would show he was not born a citizen.

The Star-Advertiser reported that Zullo and Mackiewcz flashed badges on Monday when they showed up at the Hawaii Department of Health. Mackiewcz apparently also handed over a business card showing he is part of the Arizona sheriff's "Threats Management Unit."

Before now, the unit was perhaps best known for its role in a criminal investigation into Arpaio's opponent during the 2004 Republican primary for sheriff. Arpaio's investigators accused the challenger of sexually assaulting his adoptive mother 30 years earlier when he was in his mid-teens. (The challenger later said it was his mother who assaulted him and ended up suing Arpaio.) It's unclear whether Mackiewcz was part of the unit at the time.

Arpaio declined to explain to the Arizona Republic why the threats unit was involved in the birth certificate investigation, instead making only a vague reference to "security issues...that I can't got into."

He said taxpayers were footing the tab for the airfare and hotel for the investigators, but he hopes the agency will be paid back through private donations. Before now, Arpaio has said the investigation was funded entirely through donations, which are being encouraged by the conspiracy website WorldNetDaily.

Arpaio's volunteer investigator, Zullo, has even gone as far as to link up with WorldNetDaily's top conspiracy theorist, Jerome Corsi, to co-author an e-book about the birther probe. The two men have said they're splitting the profits from sales of the book.

Emails Show How Hawaii Stiffed Arizona Secretary Of State's Birther Investigation

2012-05-21T21:16:00Z

One of the more amusing things revealed last week when Arizona's secretary of state came out as birther curious was that Hawaii officials just simply don't believe he's qualified to investigate Barack Obama's birth certificate.

Sure, Ken Bennett says he's the man in charge of deciding whether President Obama is eligible to be on Arizona's ballot in November, but the response from people in Hawaii's government has been: Prove it. In essence, they're giving Bennett a taste of his own medicine, making him jump through a series of hoops to prove he has the legal authority to investigate the matter, much the same way the birthers have made Hawaii prove time and time again that the president is indeed a natural born citizen of the United States.

On Monday, TPM filed a public records request for the correspondence between the Hawaii government and the Arizona Secretary of State's Office. The results show Bennett and his staff grew ever more impatient with the slow pace of Hawaii's response before the secretary finally took to a local conservative radio talk show on Thursday to voice his concerns.

"Hello Jill. I just left you a brief voice mail message," Arizona Deputy Secretary of State Jim Drake wrote in an email to a Hawaii attorney on May 1. "I am wondering whether you can give me a ballpark timeframe on our request. As you know, the closer we get to November, the more my phone rings. I believe that having Hawaii's response on hand might help to quell the inquiries!"

Deputy Attorney General Jill Nagamine's response? "We need more information to substantiate that you are eligible to receive verification."

In an interview with the Associated Press late Friday, a spokesman for the Hawaii attorney general said Bennett still has yet to show that he legitimately needs a verification of Hawaii's birth certificate despite numerous emails back and forth.

Hawaii officials have plenty of reasons to push back. Birtherism is a conspiracy theory fueled by a fringe group of writers and activists unwilling to believe Obama is a natural born citizen and therefore eligible for the presidency no matter how much evidence they get.

The effect is that Hawaii has been overloaded for years with requests for verification of the president's birth certificate, getting as many as 50 new requests a month. Hawaii officials have passed laws and filed sworn affidavits to deal with the matter. The White House has even gone as far as to release a copy of the president's long-form birth certificate to the public. Yet requests like Bennett's still keep coming.

In the interview with the conservative radio host last week in Phoenix, Bennett described himself as "not a birther." He said he believed the president was born in Hawaii, but he qualified it by adding "or at least I hope he was." His investigation, he said, wasn't driven by his personal belief. It began after a flood of emails into his office from birthers in Arizona, asking him to look into the president's eligibility.

But during the interview, Bennett, a Republican and Mitt Romney's Arizona co-chair, also said that if he doesn't get a satisfactory answer from Hawaii, it's "possible" he'll keep the president off the ballot in November.

Here now is the correspondence chain, starting with an email from Nagamine, the Hawaii deputy attorney general, which apparently followed a phone conversation between her and Bennett. The secretary's first written request comes after that. Also included at the end are two emails Bennett sent to birthers who had been heckling him about the fact that Obama was still on track to be on Arizona's ballot. TPM has edited out things like home addresses, email addresses and phone numbers.

—

From: Jill T. Nagamine
Sent: Saturday, March 17, 2012 8:15 PM
To: Bennett, Ken
Subject: Link to Hawaii laws and the Department of Health webpage

Hi Ken--

So sorry I've taken so long to get back to you. I may take a few more days to get your final response about what we can verify and how we will do so. I have been tied up with some legislative deadlines that take precedence. To start with, here are the links that I mentioned to you.

The first link is to the Department of Health's website that was created in response to the high volume of inquiries about the President's birth certificate. It includes the press releases issued by the former Republican-appointed Director of Health.
http://hawaii.gov/health/vital-records/obama.html

The second is to section 338-18, Hawaii Revised Statutes, which governs the confidentiality of vital records. Let me direct you to paragraph (g) which relates to verification of records.
http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol06_Ch0321-0344/HRS0338/HRS_0338-0018.htm

Another link is to section 338-14.3, Hawaii Revised Statutes, which pertains to verification.
http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol06_Ch0321-0344/HRS0338/HRS_0338-0014_0003.htm

The last link is to all of chapter 338, Hawaii Revised Statutes, Hawaii's vital statistics law.
http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol06_Ch0321-0344/HRS0338/

Jill T. Nagamine
Deputy Attorney General
State of Hawaii

—

March 30, 2012

Hawaii Department of Health
Office of Health Status Monitoring
Vital Records Issuance Section
P.O. Box 3378
Honolulu, HI 96801

Ladies and gentlemen:

Enclosed please find a request for a verification in lieu of a certified copy for the birth record of Barack Hussein Obama II. In addition to the items to be verified in the attached form, please verify the following items from the record of birth:

Department of Health File #151 61 10641
Time of birth: 7:24 p.m.
Name of hospital: Kapiolani Maternity and Gynecological Hospital
Age of father: 25
Birthplace of Father: Kenya, East Africa
Age of mother: 18
Birthplace of mother: Wichita, Kansas
Date of signature of parent: 8-7-1961
Date of signature of attendant: 8-8-1961
Date accepted by local registrar: August-8 1961

Additionally, please verify that the attached copy of the Certificate of Live Birth for Mr. Obama is a true and accurate representation of the original record in your files.

Thank you for your assistance in this matter.

Sincerely,

Ken Bennett
Arizona Secretary of State

—

From: Bennett, Ken
To: Jill T. Nagamine
Date: 04/16/2012 01:48 PM
Subject: RE: Link to Hawaii laws and the Department of Health webpage

Dear Jill,

Thank you for speaking with me several weeks ago and providing the helpful links below. I sent a request for a verification in lieu of a certified copy of President Obama's birth record to the Dept. of Health on March 30th. I was just wondering if you knew whether the request was received and how long it usually takes to process? Thanx.

Ken Bennett
Arizona Secretary of State

—

From: Jill T. Nagamine
Sent: Monday, April 16, 2012 5:39 PM
To: Bennett, Ken
Subject: RE: Link to Hawaii laws and the Department of Health webpage

Ken--

Thank you for this heads up. This is the first I heard of it. I will check with my client to see if they received your request.

Jill

Jill T. Nagamine
Deputy Attorney General
State of Hawaii

—

To: Jill T. Nagamine
From: Drake, Jim
Date: 05/01/2012 11:52AM
Subject: Request from the Arizona Secretary of State's Office

Hello Jill. I just left you a brief voice mail message. I am wondering whether you can give me a ballpark timeframe on our request. As you know, the closer we get to November, the more my phone rings. I believe that having Hawaii's response on hand might help to quell the inquiries! Thanks in advance. Jim

Jim Drake
Deputy Secretary of State

—

From: Jill T. Nagamine
Sent: Tuesday, May 01, 2012 5:11 PM
To: Drake, Jim; Bennett, Ken
Subject: Re: Request from the Arizona Secretary of State's Office

Dear Mr. Bennett and Mr. Drake--

My apologies for not responding immediately. I have recently been away from my office a great deal, including today. My client, the Department of Health, has forwarded your request for verification of President Obama's birth record to me. We need more information to substantiate that you are eligible to receive verification. Hawaii Revised Statutes, section 338-18(g), provides:

(g) The department shall not issue a verification in lieu of a certified copy of any such record, or any part thereof, unless it is satisfied that the applicant requesting a verification is:

(1) A person who has a direct and tangible interest in the record but requests a verification in lieu of a certified copy;
(2) A governmental agency or organization who for a legitimate government purpose maintains and needs to update official lists of persons in the ordinary course of the agency's or organization's activities;
(3) A governmental, private, social, or educational agency or organization who seeks confirmation of a certified copy of any such record submitted in support of or information provided about a vital event relating to any such record and contained in an official application made in the ordinary course of the agency's or organization's activities by an individual seeking employment with, entrance to, or the services or products of the agency or organization;
(4) A private or government attorney who seeks to confirm information about a vital event relating to any such record which was acquired during the course of or for purposes of legal proceedings; or
(5) An individual employed, endorsed, or sponsored by a governmental, private, social, or educational agency or organization who seeks to confirm information about a vital event relating to any such record in preparation of reports or publications by the agency or organization for research or educational purposes.

As the Secretary and I initially discussed, it appears that you might be eligible for verification of the record based on subparagraph (2), but we need to see what your authority is "to update official lists of persons in the ordinary course of your activities." Will you send me a copy of your law that allows this, and will you send me information that shows:

(1) What list are you updating?
(2) Is it your normal procedure to update all entries on your list by requiring birth data verification?
(3) Are you requiring birth data verification of all entries on your list, rather than just targeting one name on your list? (please provide evidence that you are doing so)

You may address your response directly to me, and I will relay it to my client.

Thank you,
Jill T. Nagamine
Deputy Attorney General
State of Hawaii

—

From: Bennett, Ken
Sent: Thursday, May 17, 2012 3:12 PM
To: Jill T. Nagamine; Drake, Jim
Subject: RE: Request from the Arizona Secretary of State's Office

Dear Ms. Nagamine:

As the chief elections officer for the State of Arizona and pursuant to Arizona Revised Statutes, sections 16-212, 16-301, 16-502, 16-507 and others, my office is tasked with quadrennially compiling a list of candidates for the Office of the President of the United States. This list is then officially "certified" by my office and transmitted to the fifteen counties for creation of the official ballots. The list is generated in the "ordinary course" of my office's activities (every four years) and it is certainly made for a "legitimate government purpose" (elections).

Based on the above representation, I believe that my office has strictly and expressly complied with all of the elements found in Hawaii Revised Statutes, section 338-18(g).

I understand your client's initial trepidation in responding to this request given the significant amount of email, fax and phone call traffic that this issue has spawned. My office too has received numerous constituent requests and I agree with Director Fuddy's assertion in her letter of April 25, 2011 that the sheer volume of inquires has "been disruptive to staff operations and have strained State resources." However, I am concerned that a rejection of a request by another State's chief elections official will dramatically exacerbate an already untenable situation.

Thank you in advance for your attention to this matter.

Sincerely,

Ken Bennett
Secretary of State

—

From: Jill T. Nagamine
Sent: Saturday, May 19, 2012 3:38 PM
To: Bennett, Ken
Subject: RE: Request from the Arizona Secretary of State's Office

Dear Mr. Bennett:

I am in receipt of your email dated May 17, 2012. As I have informed you and Mr. Drake, Hawaii law requires that for verification of a vital record the requestor must satisfy the requirements of section 338-18(g), Hawaii Revised Statutes, which provides:

(g) The department shall not issue a verification in lieu of a certified copy of any such record, or any part thereof, unless it is satisfied that the applicant requesting a verification is:
(1) A person who has a direct and tangible interest in the record but requests a verification in lieu of a certified copy;
(2) A governmental agency or organization who for a legitimate government purpose maintains and needs to update official lists of persons in the ordinary course of the agency's or organization's activities;
(3) A governmental, private, social, or educational agency or organization who seeks confirmation of a certified copy of any such record submitted in support of or information provided about a vital event relating to any such record and contained in an official application made in the ordinary course of the agency's or organization's activities by an individual seeking employment with, entrance to, or the services or products of the agency or organization;
(4) A private or government attorney who seeks to confirm information about a vital event relating to any such record which was acquired during the course of or for purposes of legal proceedings; or
(5) An individual employed, endorsed, or sponsored by a governmental, private, social, or educational agency or organization who seeks to confirm information about a vital event relating to any such record in preparation of reports or publications by the agency or organization for research or educational purposes.

I asked you for legal authority that establishes your right to obtain verification, and your email of May 17, 2012 provides me with references to Arizona Revised Statutes 16-212, 16-301, 16-502, 16-507, and unnamed others. These statutes seem to deal with election of presidential electors, nomination of candidates for printing on official ballot of general or special election, form and contents of ballot, and presentation of presidential candidates on ballot, but none, as far as I can tell, establish the authority of the Secretary of State to maintain and update official lists of persons in the ordinary course of his activities. I researched other sections of the Arizona Revised Statutes and was unable to find the necessary authority.

If I have missed something, please let me know. My client stands willing to provide you with the verification you seek as soon as you are able to show that you are entitled to it.

Thank you,
Jill T. Nagamine
Deputy Attorney General
State of Hawaii

—

Emails Bennett Sent To Birthers:

On Mon, Apr 16, 2012 at 4:37 PM, Bennett, Ken wrote:

Dear Tom,

It offends and saddens me that anyone would characterize me as having "little interest" in the electoral eligibility of the President. Nothing could be further from the truth.

I have personally met with Representative Seel, Jeff Lichter, and many others on multiple occasions. After considering the various options when we started working on this two or three years ago, I have consistently suggested what I believe is the best action: establishing a special private right of action in state law allowing any Arizona elector to challenge a presidential candidate's qualification for office under expedited time frames in the courts. Ironically, I think that, after trying several other approaches, that's what was most recently proposed in the Legislature by Carl. As the filing office for statewide, legislative and federal offices, our office does not have the resources, nor would I think it appropriate, to verify filings other than for elements that can be determined on their face: number of signatures submitted, completeness of documents, formation of committees, etc. Only in the courts can subpoena power, rules of evidence, and other judicial tools compel the production of and give impartial consideration to evidence on both sides.

Having said that, there are things we have been and are doing to insure the integrity of our ballot. First, we have revised the nomination forms and informed the parties that we will not include a Presidential or VP candidate on the ballot unless the candidates personally swear to meeting the itemized qualifications required in the Constitution. (In 2008, the Democrat nomination form simply said that their candidates had been "nominated" at the Party Convention)

Additionally, I have asked the State of Hawaii for a "verification in lieu of a certified copy" of the birth record of President Obama, as contemplated under HRS 338-18. This action was prompted, in large part, by constituents here in Arizona who wanted me to do whatever I could to verify the President's eligibility. If the State of Hawaii does not confirm that he was born in Hawaii, his name will not appear on Arizona ballots.

From the tone of your letter, I assume you have personally concluded that Barack Obama is not qualified to hold his office, so the above actions probably fall far short of your desired outcome. However, I am doing what I think fulfills my oath of office based on the rule of Law. If you disagree with my past or future actions, you can obviously seek judicial review in the Courts.

Sincerely,

Ken Bennett
Arizona Secretary of State

—

From: Bennett, Ken
Sent: Friday, April 27, 2012 11:00 AM
To: 'Brian Reilly'
Cc: Tom Ballantyne; Jeff Lichter; Jim Wise; Gabe Zolna; 'crossroadswithvan'; Wesley W. Harris; Tom Jenney; 'rodriddle'
Subject: RE: Your Oath of Office, Ken?

Dear Brian, Tom, and All,

Thank you for your emails seeking resolution to President Obama's qualification for office and, therefore, his right to be on our ballot. In your calls for me to make sure he follows the law and is "subject to the same rational and reasonable standards as every other citizen", it is imperative that we follow the rule of law as well.

Arizona law requires an individual to file nomination papers wherein they certify they meet the qualifications of the office sought and have met other requirements such as committee formation and signatures. We review elements in the filing that can be verified on their face (completeness, numbers of signatures, etc.). Challenges to the remaining facts in the filing (validity of each signature, residency and other qualification aspects) are solely brought through legal process in the courts.

Because of the importance and profile of the President's case, and at the request of many constituents, I have gone the extra step of asking the State of Hawaii to verify the facts contained in his birth certificate. Hawaii is bound by their own statutes to provide such verification to other state officials in their official duties and, to Brian's point, I do not believe they can avoid their duty to me under a criminal investigation loophole because I am not investigating them.

The fact that Obama certified his citizenship on the 2008 PPE form is irrelevant to me because Arizona does not grant its electoral votes in the PPE. I believe there is significance in changing our nomination form for the actual election to include the certification.

With all due respect, the MCSO investigation has not proven anything other than raised probable cause that the birth certificate posted on the Whitehouse website "may be" a forgery. The next lawful step would be for the Sheriff's office to turn their findings over to the County Attorney for prosecution. Evidence would be brought on both sides and a judge should issue a decision. Whether or not that happens, if Hawaii can't or won't provide verification of the President's birth certificate, I will not put his name on the ballot.

I can tell from the tone and language of your letters that the only acceptable outcome for you is that his name not be on the ballot, period. That may be what happens, but under my watch, it won't happen based on opinions, petitions, probability or pledges to support or oppose me in the 2014 Governor's race. My oath of office is to uphold the Constitution and laws of our State and country, and I'm going to do that by following the law. I look forward to continuing to work this issue under those parameters. Otherwise, I will respectfully agree to disagree.

Sincerely,

Ken Bennett
Secretary of State

Guard Killed In Riot At Private Immigration Prison In Mississippi

2012-05-21T20:33:03Z

One guard was killed and 19 other people were injured on Sunday during a riot at a private Mississippi prison that holds illegal immigrants. The Associated Press reports that as many as 300 inmates, "some of them armed with makeshift weapons such as broomsticks," were involved in the incident at the Adams County Correctional Facility in Natchez, Miss.

From the AP:

More than two dozen officers were held hostage at some point during the hours-long spate of violence Sunday, including a group of 15 who had to be rescued by special response teams, Adams County Sheriff Chuck Mayfield said. A gang fight set off the violence, the sheriff said. The guard was killed on the roof of one of the prison buildings.

Sixteen prison employees and three inmates were hurt during the incident.

The prison is owned and operated by the Correction Corporation of America (CCA), the nation's largest private prison company. The Natchez facility houses around 2,500 adult males, most serving sentences for returning to the United States after being deported. The Federal Bureau of Prisons told the AP that the facility holds low-security inmates.

The guard who was killed, Catlin Carithers, was a 24-year-old senior correctional officer who joined the company in 2009.

In a statement on the company's website, CCA President and CEO Damon Hininger said the Natchez facility was placed on lockdown following Sunday's incident, and all inmates were accounted for. Hininger said an investigation into the incident will include the Federal Bureau of Prisons and other law enforcement officials. He also expressed sadness over Carithers' death.

"It is often said in corrections that no matter how prepared we are - indeed, no matter how well-trained and experienced we become - nothing can brace us for the sobering loss of one of our own," Hininger wrote. "Whether we are employees at the impacted facility or many miles away, we are all affected, saddened and, in ways both small and great, changed... In difficult times like these, we truly face and acknowledge the incredible calling and sacrifice we've undertaken in providing this vital public service. Let us continue to keep each other in our thoughts at this time."

CCA houses around 75,000 offenders and detainees in more than 60 facilities around the country, 44 of which are company-owned. The company employs nearly 17,000 people.

The ACLU, which has been highly critical of CCA and the rest of the private prison industry in the past, released a statement Monday saying that this weekend's incident "should make clear to Mississippi and every other state that for-profit incarceration must end."

"The riot this past weekend at the Adams County Correctional Center is indicative of what can happen at facilities run by private prison companies like Corrections Corporation of America, who have incentives to cut corners even at the expense of decent and safe conditions," the statement said. "Staff and guards are too often poorly paid and trained, conditions of confinement are often woefully inadequate and levels of violence can be higher at for-profit facilities."

Report: FBI Investigating Donations To Ohio Republicans

2012-05-21T16:43:37Z

The FBI is investigating campaign payments to two Ohio Republicans made by employees of the Suarez Corporation Industries, the New Republic reports.

The direct marketing company is owned by Benjamin Suarez, a major Republican donor. The Toledo Blade reported back in August that 17 employees of the company had given large sums of money to Republican Senate candidate Josh Mandel and Rep. Jim Renacci (R-OH). That raised suspicions that Suarez might have been illegally reimbursing the employees for their donations to the campaigns.

Alec MacGillis reports for the New Republic that the FBI is looking into it:

I visited the home of Michael Blubaugh, a copywriter at Suarez who had given $5,000 each to Renacci and Mandel last year--and whose wife, Donna, had done the same. They live in a modest subdivision, in a home valued by Zillow at about $142,000. When Donna came to the door, she said she had already been asked about the donations by the FBI. The inquiry had caught her by surprise, she said, "because I didn't know about the rules, so I was like, 'What?'" But she said the $20,000 had been given of her and her husband's free wills. "Our house may not look it, because we're saving for retirement, but my husband makes good money as a copywriter," she said. But why give so much to the candidates? "My husband made the decision, not me," she said.

Suarez headquarters couldn't address the issue, nor could the FBI. A Mandel spokesman did not return requests for comment, but Renacci's chief of staff James Slepian told MacGillis that investigators asked Renacci's treasurer for records. "To our knowledge, no donations made from any donors were made impurely," Slepian told the magazine.

Alleged Chicago Bombing Targets Included Obama Campaign HQ, Mayor Rahm Emanuel's House

2012-05-19T20:12:00Z

Prosecutors said on Saturday that a trio of protestors arrested this week in Chicago were allegedly planning to target President Obama's campaign headquarters, Mayor Rahm Emanuel's house and some of the city's financial institutions with homemade bombs in a series of attacks timed to coincide with this weekend's NATO summit there.

Court documents posted online by the Chicago Tribune said the three men were anarchists who traveled together from Florida to Chicago to carry out the attacks and hoped to recruit as many as 16 people to help.

Brian Church, Jared Chase and Brent Betterly were charged in Cook County Circuit Court with conspiracy to commit terrorism, material support for terrorism and possession of an explosive or incendiary device.

The charges come as Obama and dozens of other world leaders are arriving in Chicago for the two-day North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit to discuss global issues. The city has been filled with protesters demonstrating about wars, immigration and other concerns.

Lawyers for the men said earlier the arrests were merely a way for authorities to harass legitimate protesters with trumped up charges. They said investigators only found home beer brewing equipment when they raided the apartment on the city's south side earlier in the week.

Prosecutors, however, painted a different picture in the charging documents. They wrote that the trio made Molotov cocktails out of empty beer bottles, gasoline and cut up bandanas. The records indicate investigators found four such firebombs in the apartment along with plans for making pipe bombs. The items were discovered after Chicago police, along with the FBI and U.S. Secret Service, obtained a no-knock search warrant to raid the place.

Prosecutors also revealed that investigators apparently had an informant or undercover agent inside the group who reported back on their activities. One of the defendants, according to the documents, said at some point: "After NATO, the city will never be the same" and Chicago "doesn't know what it's in for."

Additionally, the records allege the trio managed to amass an unusual collection of weapons, including swords, throwing stars and a hunting bow, which they planned to use during their operations.

Beyond the Obama campaign headquarters and mayor's house, the trio allegedly also talked about firebombing Chicago police headquarters and numerous police stations to slow the emergency response to their other activities.

Michael Deutsch, a lawyer for the defendants denied that they were anything but peaceful protestors and called the arrests "entrapment to the highest degree," according to the Tribune. "What we believe is that this is a way to stir up prejudice against people exercising their First Amendment rights."

Prosecutors Want Arizona White Supremacist Bomber To Spend The Rest Of His Days In Prison

2012-05-18T20:41:00Z

If federal prosecutors get their way next week, an aging white supremacist who bragged about being a serial bomber and who was convicted earlier this year of sending explosives to a city office in Arizona will never see the outside world again.

A jury in Phoenix found Dennis Mahon guilty in February on three charges related to the 2004 bombing in Scottsdale that injured three city employees, including the director of the Office of Diversity and Dialogue.

Now, with Mahon's sentencing scheduled for Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Arizona, prosecutors are asking Judge David Campbell to send the 61-year-old bomber to prison for the next 63 years, which would effectively mean he would die behind bars.

"The amount of premeditation in this case is stunning," Assistant U.S. Attorney John Boyle wrote in his sentencing recommendation filed late Thursday. He said Mahon "bought generic parts from different locations, assembled the bomb, devised a method to insure the survival of a note, wrote and attached labels to lure the victim into a false sense of security, devised a switch and packing to insure the bomb was not detected before it detonated, and wrote a will to memorialize that his actions were in memory of Bob Mathews and Timothy McVeigh."

Mahon was tried alongside his twin brother Daniel Mahon, who prosecutors also alleged took part in the bombing. However, despite convicting Dennis on a conspiracy charge, the jury acquitted Daniel Mahon for the same count. He was set free and his whereabouts are currently unknown.

The investigation, led by special agent Tristan Moreland of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, took more than eight years and spanned several states. The back story sounds like something out of a movie script.

Investigators relied on a woman who went undercover and managed to get close to the brothers. She first met them when she and an undercover agent set up a camper in a trailer park in Catoosa, Okla., and hung a Confederate flag in the window. The brothers soon came over and introduced themselves to the woman.

After that, the woman, a civilian, acted as an informant for the feds and helped record audio and video of the brothers bragging about being behind numerous bombings throughout the nation.

Along the way, it became clear that the brothers were in close contact with and possibly inspired by Tom Metzger, one of the nation's best known white supremacist leaders. Metzger at the time ran an association called the White Aryan Resistance, or WAR, that investigators say promoted the idea of its followers carrying out acts of violence as lone wolves so as to avoid detection by law enforcement. Metzger has denied ever advocating violence.

In 2009 federal authorities had enough evidence to arrest the two brothers who by then were living at their parents' house in rural Illinois. On the same day, agents searched Metzger's home in Warsaw, Ind., but never arrested the racist leader.

In requesting the tough sentence for Dennis Mahon, the prosecutor described the bombing as nothing less than "terrorism."

He "did not merely speak in the abstract in favor of violence," the prosecutor wrote. "He conspired to and committed actual acts of violence. Rather than express remorse after the Scottsdale bombing, (Mahon) took pride in his actions."

'Small-Goverment' Schilling's Biz Goes Bad, Asks Rhode Island For More Taxpayer Cash

2012-05-18T17:51:24Z

This post has been updated.

Curt Schilling is a hero to New England baseball fans, known for his performances in high pressure situations. But as a businessman, he's in big trouble, and not the kind he can pitch his way out of.

The former MLB all-star's start-up video game company, 38 Studios, missed a $1.1 million payment to the state of Rhode Island on May 1, and things have only gotten more complicated since.

Rhode Island lured 38 Studios away from Massachusetts in 2010, in exchange for $75 million in guaranteed loans. At the time, then-Governor Donald Carcieri, a Republican, considered the company a chance to jump-start a new business sector in the state. The company promised to create 450 jobs in three years. Massachusetts officials declined to match Rhode Island's offer. Earlier this year, the company's first game, "Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning," came out to positive reviews. "It sings with infectious, engaging excellence," raved The New York Times.

But the company missed a payment earlier this month, and Schilling was forced to ask for more public assistance this week, The Boston Globe reports. The company said it did not have enough money to make payroll for its nearly 300 employees. The Rhode Island official who oversaw the loan guarantee resigned on Wednesday. And the troubles reached an absurd high point on Thursday, when the company hand-delivered a check to the state for $1.1 million before warning that it didn't have the funds to cover it.

"38 Studios arrived at [Rhode Island's Economic Development Corporation] at 5 p.m. with a check. Upon learning from the CFO of 38 Studios that there were insufficient funds in the account to cover the check, EDC returned the check to 38 Studios," Christine Hunsinger, a spokesman for Governor Lincoln Chafee, told The Providence Journal on Thursday. "EDC remains willing to accept payment with readily available funds."

Late Thursday, Schilling took to his Facebook page to offer a few words on the situation.

"To all the prayers and well wishes to the team and families at 38, God Bless and thank you! We will find a way, and the strength, to endure," he wrote.

But some people aren't offering an well wishes.

"We got hoodwinked; we got played,'' Republican state Representative Robert Watson told the Globe. "How many millions of dollars does Curt Schilling have? He can't write a check? It's Rhode Island that is supposed to provide the money? I think not.''

On Friday, Globe columnist Brian McGrory unloaded on Schilling, who over the years has made no secret of his conservative politics.

"Schilling spent no small amount of time in his career preaching the Republican mantra of smaller government and personal responsibility. He did this fresh off the historic Red Sox World Series win when he backed George W. Bush in the 2004 campaign. He did it on the stump on behalf of John McCain in 2008," McGrory wrote. "Smaller government? Call me crazy, but I'm betting that wasn't exactly what Schilling was extolling when he sat behind closed doors on Wednesday pleading with the members of the Rhode Island Economic Development Corp. to put more public money behind his fantasy video game venture."

Update 4:10 p.m.: 38 Studios has paid the $1.1 million it owed the state after missing a payment May 1, Governor Lincoln Chafee said at a press conference Friday. According the Associated Press, Chafee said the company should now seek private money to stay in business.

"There's no more easy money," Chafee said.

Arizona Goes Birther: Secretary Of State Says It's 'Possible' Obama Won't Be On Ballot

2012-05-18T14:53:00Z

The man in charge of running Arizona's elections has gone to the birthers. Secretary of State Ken Bennett now says he's not convinced Barack Obama was really born in the United States and so he is threatening to keep the president off the ballot in November.

Bennett's comments came in an interview late Thursday with conservative radio talk show host Mike Broomhead on Phoenix station KFYI.

Bennett said he was following the lead of the state's eccentric Sheriff Joe Arpaio, a fellow Republican who ordered an investigation into the president's birth certificate last year and concluded the document released by the White House is a forgery. Bennett said he is now trying to get verification from state officials in Hawaii that the certificate is authentic.

In doing so, Bennett caved to a fringe group of activists and writers who believe in a conspiracy theory that just never seems to die no matter how much proof they get. Hawaiian officials have said time and again that Obama was born there in 1961, yet the theory persists.

Bennett, the state's No. 2 elected official just below Gov. Jan Brewer (R), said his investigation isn't personal. He said the reason he started looking into it is because he got more than 1,200 emails asking him to do so after Arpaio's investigation came out.

"I'm not a birther. I believe the president was born in Hawaii — or at least I hope he was," Bennett said on the show. "But my responsibility as secretary of state is to make sure the ballots in Arizona are correct and that those people whose names are on the ballot have met the qualifications for the office they are seeking."

SLIDESHOW: There's The Birth Certificate: TPM's Best Of The Birthers

Bennett's newfound birtherism also breaks with Brewer, who led the secretary of state's office in 2008 when Obama last appeared on the Arizona ballot. Brewer said last year that despite her disagreements with Obama, she is fully convinced the president is eligible for office and believes the birth certificate issue is a "huge distraction."

"It's just something I believe is leading our country down a path of destruction and it just is not serving any good purpose," she told CNN's John King.

Meanwhile, Bennett is hoping to take Brewer's job when she becomes term limited in two years. The Arizona Capitol Times reported (paywall) earlier this week that he is already collecting signatures to get on the 2014 ballot for governor.

On Thursday, Bennett said he sent his request to Hawaii officials eight weeks ago but has yet to get the proof he was hoping for. He said he didn't want another copy of the birth certificate. He wants Hawaii to give him what he described as "a verification in lieu of a certified copy of a birth certificate."

In the weeks since then, Bennett said, Hawaii officials have forced him to provide proof that he is who he says he is. They asked him to send them copies of the Arizona laws that prove the secretary of state really is the person in charge of handling the ballots. Admittedly, Bennett said they told him they were "tired of all the requests." But he is continuing anyway.

Broomhead, the radio host, pressed Bennett on what he would do if he didn't get the right response back from Hawaii.

"If they won't comply, if they refuse to comply with this, will you remove the president from the ballot?" Broomhead asked. "Will you exclude him from the ballot?"

"That's possible," Bennett said. "Or the other option would be I would ask all of candidates, including the president, maybe to submit a certified copy of their birth certificate. But I don't want to do that."

Listen to the whole interview from KFYI:

Presented By:

2012-05-18T14:53:00Z

Who Is Joe Ricketts?

2012-05-18T09:33:00Z

In April 2011, Hollywood stars and D.C. VIPs gathered at Ford's Theatre in Washington for a movie premiere, the first film screening at the theater in 20 years. Kevin Kline, Evan Rachel Wood, Robin Wright, and Tom Wilkinson were there. So were Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Attorney General Eric Holder, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. The film was "The Conspirator," the story of the only woman charged in the conspiracy to assassinate Abraham Lincoln. It had been directed by Robert Redford. And it had been bankrolled by Joe Ricketts.

On Thursday, Ricketts was hit by a different kind of limelight, after The New York Times published a report suggesting he might pay for a $10 million ad campaign focused on President Obama's relationship with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Ricketts' super PAC, Ending Spending Action Fund, released a statement later in the day repudiating the proposal, saying it "reflects an approach to politics that Mr. Ricketts rejects." But even if Ricketts won't spend his money on Jeremiah Wright ads, he clearly has an interest in spending it -- he recently dropped $200,000 on the Nebraska Republican Senate primary.

So who is the man who cuts a check for liberal darling Robert Redford one day, then comes close to lighting the fuse of Republican dynamite the next? Meet Joe Ricketts, a man with a thumb in many pies, a man who loves his family, his iPhone, and his motorcycle, and yet another super-rich political donor taking advantage of the post-Citizens United environment to let his money do the talking.

An Entrepreneur

"I'm an entrepreneur, and it's been my observation that we tend not to become involved in public policy," Ricketts says in a video on his website. "But, the reason I became involved is because I've been able to see and understand the benefits that happen when our free enterprise flourishes... Everybody flourishes, everybody does well."

Ricketts, 70, did well. He made a fortune after founding the company that become TD Ameritrade. A Nebraska native, Ricketts graduated from Creighton University with a degree in economics in 1968. Over the next several years, he spent time working at Dean Witter and Dun & Bradstreet. In 1975, Ricketts borrowed $12,000 to co-found First Omaha Securities, a retail securities brokerage firm in Omaha. In 1988, as Ameritrade Clearing, the company became the first brokerage firm to offer touch-tone trading. In 1995, it acquired K. Aufhauser & Co., Inc., the first firm to offer Internet trading. Today, the company says it places more trades online than any other brokerage. Ricketts, who stepped down from the company's board last fall, served as CEO of Ameritrade Holding Corp. from 1982 to 2001 and Chairman from 1982 to 2008. According to Forbes, Ricketts still owns 9.5 percent of the company, while his wife holds 2.5 percent. Two of their sons sit on the company's board of directors. In February, TD Ameritrade "devoted much of the annual meeting to a tribute to founder Joe Ricketts," according the Associated Press.

Ricketts is being widely described in news reports as a billionaire, and his family's net worth -- which now includes the Chicago Cubs -- easily surpasses the billion dollar mark. But Forbes reports that because the Cubs are technically owned by a Ricketts family trust, "[Ricketts] just missed the billionaire cut" in the Fall of 2011 "as TD Ameritrade's stock was down." Still, Ricketts is loaded. In 2009, Forbes ranked Ricketts as the 371st richest person in America, and in 2008 he was pegged as the 962nd richest person in the world.

A Political Activist

A registered independent, Ricketts personally gave $2,500 to both Mitt Romney and Ron Paul in December. In 2000, he was elected to the board of the conservative American Enterprise Institute (AEI). In the video on his website, Ricketts says that he is an independent "because I don't really care which party is going to be in favor or which party is going to be in control, but I do care about what they do in order to make our country prosper."

"If we want the next generation to have the same type of opportunity I had, if we're
going to have them have the same type of opportunities we've had, that previous generations have had, we need to become involved," he says. "And that's why I'm becoming involved right now."

In 2010, Ricketts founded Taxpayers Against Earmarks, which pushed for an earmark ban that lawmakers in Washington eventually adopted. Encouraged by that success, the organization changed its name to Ending Spending and "expanded its focus to the broader fiscal challenges facing the country." Ricketts then also founded the Ending Spending Action Fund. Brian Baker, a lawyer who has worked for Republican Senators Bob Dole and Richard Shelby, serves as president and general counsel for both groups. In early 2010, in an article about the then-recent Citizens United decision, The Wall Street Journal noted that Ricketts was already forming an organization to play by the new rules. In an interview, Baker praised the Supreme Court's decision.

"The right to speak in association with other people was affirmed today by the court, and that will be incredibly important for us in the coming year," Baker told the paper. "We can advertise around election time, when it matters most."

Politics runs in the Ricketts family. Pete Ricketts, a son, was the Republican nominee for Senate in Nebraska in 2006. He lost to Democrat Ben Nelson, but not before pouring $12 million of his own money into the race, according to the Associated Press (via Nexis). Pete Ricketts is now on TD Ameritrade's board, while also serving on various other boards including those of the Chicago Cubs, the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, and AEI.

Meanwhile, Laura Ricketts, a daughter, is a major fundraiser for Obama. Earlier this week, Open Secrets included her on a list of 27 prominent LGBT Obama bundlers, and reported that she had raised at least $500,000 for the president's reelection. In the wake of the attention on her father Thursday, Laura Ricketts released a statement saying that her family's "love of country was instilled in us by my father."

"Though we may have diverse political views, above all we love and respect each other," Ricketts said. "My own personal view is that President Obama has been a great leader in very difficult times. He has been leading us to an economic recovery; served with great honor as commander-in-chief during a time of war; been a strong proponent on issues important to women and just last week he exhibited great courage in endorsing the freedom to marry for gay and lesbian Americans."

A Rich Jack Of All Trades

In recent years, as his role at TD Ameritrade wound down, Ricketts has used his astounding wealth to get involved in all manner of projects and businesses. His family bought the Chicago Cubs. He's also gotten involved in bison raising, film financing, hyper-local journalism, and third-world education. He even owns a little "luxury-casual" lodge in Bondurant, Wyoming.

Let's start with the Cubs. In October 2009, a trust that Joe and Marlene Ricketts established on behalf of their family acquired a 95-percent controlling interest in the Cubs and the team's home park, Wrigley Field. Tom Ricketts, a son, is team chairman, and Pete Ricketts, Laura Ricketts, and Todd Ricketts (another son) all serve on the board. Dad's place in the headlines this week actually comes at a bad time for the Cubs: the team is trying to work out a deal with the city "that would involve using $150 million in city amusement taxes for a $300 million renovation of Wrigley Field," The Chicago Tribune reports. An aide to Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel told The Washington Post that the former White House Chief of Staff was "livid" over the Times story.

"The Ricketts have tried to contact the mayor, but he's said that he does not want to talk with them today, tomorrow or anytime soon," the aide said.

Now, about the bison. In 2003, Ricketts founded High Plains Bison, which is now the world's largest online retail bison provider. The official lean meat of the Chicago Cubs, the company says its herds are "humanely raised on the high plains of North America." On its website, the company touts standards even a lefty could love: "no hormones, fillers, antibiotics or artificial ingredients." In a video, Ricketts touts the relative health benefits of bison meat. (Ricketts website features videos of him explaining his many ventures.)

In 2005, Ricketts founded Opportunity Education, which calls itself "the largest non-government, secular organization providing elementary-school education in developing countries."

Ricketts has also become a hyper-local media mogul. He provided the funding behind DNAinfo.com, a news website covering New York City that launched in November 2009. (While Rickett's personal biography says he lives in Little Jackson Hole, Wyoming, Capital reports he owns a "massive 78th floor apartment" in the Time Warner Center in New York.) Earlier this month, DNAinfo won six New York Press Club awards.

"He likes the idea of running to a business when others are running away from it," Editorial Director & Publisher Leela de Kretser said of Ricketts last year, in an interview with Ad Week. "He saw people leaving the news business, and he believes that there is a model there--particularly in the neighborhood model."

On his bio page on the DNAinfo website, Ricketts provides an email address (joe.ricketts@dnainfo.com) for readers to contact him. It also mentions that "though Joe prefers bison to beef, he has a soft spot for the corned beef from the Carnegie and 2nd Avenue delis."

Finally, there's the movies. In 2008, Ricketts founded The American Film Company, with a goal to make films that "accurately portray extraordinary characters and events from American history." Redford's "The Conspirator" was the company's first movie, and had a $25 million budget.

"Like so many people my age, you come to a time in your life when you want to take some more free time," Ricketts told the Times last April, for an article about "The Conspirator." "Every once in a while I'd say to my wife, 'Let's pretend we're kids, and go get a hamburger and go to a movie.' Well, we could never find anything we want to see."

The newspaper said that Redford was impressed by Ricketts.

"He's a big, strong guy from Omaha, straightforward, like a fullback," Redford said. "Nothing fancy, very solid, but a great supporter of the film. He only came to the set once, made no presumptions, didn't interfere. He told me he trusted us to make the film. The only thing was, when we discussed me taking the job, he said: 'O.K., great, but you have to let me know by this afternoon. I want to leave here knowing whether or not you're on board.' He was all business."

Documents Show Cops Believed Trayvon Martin Killing Was 'Ultimately Avoidable'

2012-05-18T00:28:00Z

The killing of Trayvon Martin was "ultimately avoidable" if George Zimmerman had just stayed in his vehicle instead of pursuing the unarmed teen, Florida police investigators concluded in one of a series of reports on the case released late Thursday.

Instead, the Sanford Police Department investigators wrote, Zimmerman confronted the teen, ended up in a struggle and eventually shot him in the chest. In the end, Martin was dead and police were recommending the neighborhood watchman be brought up on a criminal charge of manslaughter.

The conclusions came to light on Thursday as part of a huge release of evidence by the Florida prosecutors who later performed their own investigation and charged Zimmerman with the more serious crime of second-degree murder. Totaling 183 pages, the heavily redacted documents include police narratives, witness interviews, autopsy reports and photos of Zimmerman bloodied after the Feb. 26 struggle.

"The encounter between George Zimmerman and Trayvon Martin was ultimately avoidable by Zimmerman," the report said, "if Zimmerman had remained in his vehicle and awaited the arrival of law enforcement, or conversely if he had identified himself to Martin as a concerned citizen and initiated dialogue in an effort to dispel each party's concern. There is no indication that Trayvon Martin was involved in any criminal activity at the time of the encounter."

The documents [PDF] were obtained by several news outlets, including NBC News, which put them online Thursday.

The investigators' conclusions were in a document dated March 13. Zimmerman wasn't charged until April 11 after special prosecutor Angela Corey was assigned to the case by Florida Gov. Rick Scott. By then, the killing was already the focus of international attention and outrage.

Previously, Zimmerman has said he believed the teen looked "suspicious" as he crossed through the gated neighborhood in Sanford, Fla. Zimmerman called 911 at the time but ignored the requests of a police dispatcher who told him not to pursue the teen.

Zimmerman has pleaded not guilty to the second-degree murder charge, claiming he acted in self defense, saying Martin attacked him first and he had to shoot him to save his own life.

Donations To George Zimmerman's Defense Fund Slow In Trayvon Martin Case

2012-05-17T21:37:00Z

Donations to George Zimmerman's defense fund have slowed considerably since his attorneys forced him to shut down his old website last month and opened a new one in his name days later.

The man charged with second-degree murder in the killing of unarmed Florida teenager Trayvon Martin had managed on his own to raise more than $200,000 in just a few weeks using a crudely built website and a PayPal account.

But in late April, his new lawyer ordered him to shut down the site. That's when Zimmerman revealed he had raised all that cash.

Days later, attorney Mark O'Mara announced he would open a new website in his client's name to keep the donations flowing. He hired a former IRS agent to watch over the funds and promised donors that their identities would be kept confidential.

The promises haven't seemed to convince potential donors, however. Late Wednesday, Zimmerman's defense team said he had only been able to raise about $15,000 since the new site went live on May 3. The biggest donation was $3,000, they said, while most ranged between $25 and $100.

While that still averages more than $1,000 a day, it's a far cry from the rate Zimmerman was hauling in on his own.

O'Mara has said the money will be used for defense costs and Zimmerman's living expenses.

Fallen Televangelist Jim Bakker Now Hawking Apocalyptic Survivalist Gear On The Web

2012-05-17T16:01:00Z

What kind of gift can you get for the budding survivalist in your life? How about a great big Jim Bakker food bucket.

The disgraced televangelist is now hawking survivalist gear and books about the apocalypse on his website almost 20 years after he was released from prison on a conviction of bilking followers out of millions of dollars.

Back from the evangelical wilderness, Bakker now tapes a daily TV show from the rolling Ozarks of Missouri and uses his website to pitch what he calls "love gifts," essentially a variety of odd products including "Tiffany style" jewelery, fuel-less generators and buckets of dried food.

For just $500, you can get "Jim's All American 4 Star Vegetable" buckets. A cool two grand will get you the "Jerry Jones Special," which promises "over 3,300 servings of food and enough fuel to cook 480 meals."

Preparing for the end of the world is nothing new for Bakker, who served almost five years in prison following his conviction for the $158 million rip off of his followers. "Pastor Jim," as he calls himself now, published a book in 1998 called Prosperity and the Coming Apocalypse, which he sells on his site for $20 and proclaims: "This is not just a book of prophecy, it is a book of survival."

His longtime wife Tammy Faye having divorced him while he was in prison, Bakker married his new wife, Lori, the same year he published the book. She now works beside him as a pastor at the Jim Bakker Show and offers her own line of products like the "Lori's Little Lambs Chrystal Necklace" for $35.

Most of the goods, the Bakkers assure their followers, are at least partially tax deductible.

And by the way, if you buy into Bakker's new pitch and end up getting impatient waiting for the end of the world or the next earth-changing disaster, there's another place where you might be able to put the survivalist gear to use. As io9 noted earlier this year, Bakker's long abandoned amusement park called Heritage USA is something of a "post-apocalyptic ghost town" these days.

Ed Note: A previous version of this post misidentified the name of the Bakker's former amusement park.

Virginia GOPer Who Opposed Gay Judge: 'Sodomy Is Not A Civil Right' (VIDEO)

2012-05-17T14:41:50Z

Virginia Delegate and Republican Senate candidate Bob Marshall, who led the battle against the judicial nomination of an openly gay Richmond prosecutor, appeared on CNN Thursday and defended his position, saying, among other arguments, that "sodomy is not a civil right" and that he was worried how a gay judge would rule in the case of a "bar room fight between a homosexual and heterosexual."

Virginia's House of Delegates defeated the nomination of Tracy Thorne-Begland earlier this week, after what The Richmond Times-Dispatch called a "late-hour lobbying offensive by social conservatives." Thorne-Begland would have been the first openly gay judge elected in Virginia.

In his CNN appearance, Marshall criticized Thorne-Begland, a former Naval officer who came out as gay 20 years ago, for lying about his sexuality to the military.

"He displayed a pattern of behavior that was inconsistent with what we have come to expect in Virginia judges," Marshall said. "We've never appointed an activist of any kind along these lines, much less somebody who has a long history of this."

"Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks never took an oath of office they broke," Marshall said, in response to a question from host Brooke Baldwin. "Sodomy is not a civil right, it's not the same as the civil rights movement. You have to look at the past. In late 2011, he was critical of the 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell.' He criticized our attorney general simply for explaining what the law of Virginia is with respect to certain protected classes. So, he has gone beyond that. He can be a prosecutor, if he wants to. We don't want advocates as judges."

Baldwin then asked: "You bring up sodomy. Is the reason why you voted against him because he's gay, pure and simple?"

"No. Sorry, you're mischaracterizing that," Marshall said. "I said sodomy is not a civil right and there's an effort by homosexual lobbyists to equate the two. That's wrong."

Watch:

Missouri National Guard Investigates Another Soldier's Alleged Racist Ties

2012-05-17T08:50:00Z

For the second time this year, officials with the Missouri National Guard are investigating whether a white supremacist has been serving in their midst.

In March, officials accused a Missouri guardsman of participating in neo-Nazi activities while also serving in the military's honor guard, which routinely helped pay last respects at funerals for veterans who fought in WWII. The sergeant was fired from the honor guard after former coworkers said he kept a picture of Adolf Hitler in his living room and tried to recruit them to the white supremacist movement.

Now, the military is investigating whether another guardsman, an Iraq War veteran, might have traveled to Florida to train a group of white supremacists who were accused earlier this month of planning to start a race war and arrested as part of a domestic terrorism probe.

"Active membership in an extremist organization is not consistent with the values of the Missouri National Guard or the Department of Defense," guard spokeswoman Maj. Tammy Spicer said on Wednesday while confirming the military had launched an investigation into the latest case.

The newest soldier in question, Spc. Ryan Riley, shares the same name as a man who surfaced in court documents last week as part of the probe into the Florida chapter of the white supremacist group American Front.

The investigation, run by a joint terrorism task force of the FBI and local law enforcement, resulted in the arrests of the chapter's leader, Marcus Faella, his wife, and ten other alleged American Front members. They were accused of stockpiling weapons, experimenting with the creation of the toxin ricin and plotting some sort of "disturbance" on Orlando City Hall.

Riley has not been arrested. Documents detailing the probe described him as a "patched" or recognized member of the hate group's Missouri chapter. They also said he was as a "member of the United States National Guard."

"Faella had Riley conduct Paramilitary training on techniques (Hand to Hand Combat, edge weapon techniques) he learned from the National Guard," the court documents said. "Additional training was held on breaking down assault rifles, water purification and other survival skills."

On Wednesday, Spicer, the military spokeswoman, said it was too early to say for sure whether the person mentioned in the documents is the same person still serving as a specialist in the National Guard.

"We do not have any conclusions that this would be the same person at this point," she said.

She said the National Guard's Riley joined the the force a year ago and that he is on a typical part-time status, serving one weekend a month and two weeks a year. He served in another branch of the military for about seven years before that, but Spicer did not know which branch it was. She said, however, he served in Korea from 2004 to 2005 and Iraq from 2006 to 2007.

Riley could not be reached for comment.

The last time the Missouri National Guard took action because of the alleged racist ties of one of its members was earlier this year after guardsmen complained about a sergeant who served a full-time role on the honor guard.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch broke the story in March. It revealed that Sgt. Nathan Wooten had been the subject of complaints by his colleagues for months over vile, racist comments he apparently made. They said Wooten claimed to be a member of the National Socialist Movement, the largest neo-Nazi organization in the nation.

"He always talked about how great of an organization it is and how they hate minorities like blacks, Mexicans and Jews and how great the U.S. would be without them," one of his colleagues said, according to the newspaper. Wooten also reportedly kept a picture of Hitler in his living room and balked at presenting flags to the families of black and Jewish veterans.

Wooten denied the allegations to the newspaper, but just before publication of the Post-Dispatch story, he was fired from his full-time role with the honor guard.

FBI Snags Arizona Republican-Turned-Democrat In Ticket-Bribery Sting

2012-05-16T23:02:16Z

Update: May 16, 2012, 7:37 PM

A three-year undercover FBI operation has nabbed an Arizona Democrat who allegedly accepted thousands of dollars' worth of tickets to sporting and charity events in exchange for advancing the interests of a fake real estate company in Tempe.

Ben Arredondo, 63, was charged by a federal grand jury with bribery, fraud, attempted extortion and making false statements to FBI agents. The Republican-turned-Democrat allegedly received over $6,000 in tickets when he was a member of the Tempe City Council and member-elect of the Arizona House.

The indictment brought swift calls for Arredondo to resign. Sen. David Schapira, the top Democrat in the state Senate, put out a statement after the news hit: "The Department of Justice allegations against him are deeply troubling and, whether he is guilty or innocent, will pose too great a distraction for him to fulfill the duties of his office."

As part of the sting, the FBI bought tables at charity events and tickets to Arizona Cardinals and Arizona Diamondbacks games on Arredondo's behalf. In June 2010, Arredondo allegedly told the undercover FBI agent working for "Company A" to mail 18 Diamondbacks tickets, worth about $2,400, to his home to "make it a lot easier" for him.

In exchange for the tickets, the feds allege that Arredondo set up meetings between Tempe city officials and gave them inside information on how to maximize their chances of buying city-owned property.

Prior to one April 2010 meeting, Arredondo allegedly spelled out his relationship with the real estate company in clear terms. "You guys will ask, you guys will have. I don't know how else to say it," he allegedly said. "We'll be just fine because not only we're covered at the city, we're covered now at the state," referring to his state House seat.

A few months before his 2010 election to the Arizona House, Arredondo set up a meeting between a "Company A" representative, two other council members and a Tempe council member-elect to help the company advance their real estate plan, according to the indictment. The case appears to have languished without much activity until Jan. 17, 2012, when Arredondo allegedly lied to FBI agents interviewing him about his role in the scheme.

This isn't the first time tickets to sporting events have landed Arredondo in hot water. He was one of about 30 lawmakers investigated but ultimately cleared by state prosecutors last year for taking tickets and other gifts from the Fiesta Bowl, one of the biggest college football games in the nation.

Arredondo was one of the largest recipients of gifts from the bowl. According to the Arizona Republic, he accepted more than $4,000 in tickets and $2,000 in donations from the bowl from 2001 through 2009. Meanwhile, he helped the organization that ran the bowl obtain a $6.45 million subsidy from Tempe.

Additional reporting by Nick Martin.

Arrendondo

Widow Unnerved By James O'Keefe Voter Fraud Stunt

2012-05-16T20:30:00Z

"If he were my son I would spank him."

That's how the widow of a North Carolina man whose name was presented at a polling station by an activist working with James O'Keefe's Project Veritas responded to a video the group released this week showing an individual using her deceased husband's name.

As Media Matters points out, Michael Bolton, Jr. -- a very much alive son of the widow who spoke to TPM -- is registered to vote at the same address as his recently deceased father. The poll watcher in the extended version of the O'Keefe video asks if he was the junior Bolton to which the Project Veritas operative responds: "That would be correct."

"I don't like the way they just felt that they could use my husband's name and put it out there," the widow told TPM. "It just wasn't right. My husband just died, and then they do that? Why didn't they use somebody from a year ago or five years ago. It was just very insensitive."

Winifred, wife to Michael G. Bolton and mother of Michael G. Bolton, Jr., said she supported the implementation of voter ID laws O'Keefe's group backs, she just wished they'd talked to her first.

"I agree that there should be picture ID, I don't understand why you don't have to have picture ID, I don't understand how that is so hard to get," Bolton told TPM. "I sort of wish they had called first and asked permission, because it was very unnerving. I'm sympathetic to the message that they're trying to get out, but being a new widow, it was really unnerving when it went up there. I am upset that it was a little insensitive that they didn't call."

Bolton told TPM that one of the polling watchers informed her that someone had tried to vote on behalf of her son when she went to vote. The poll watchers told her the individual acted weird and nervous. Her son returned to the polling station to vote later in the day. She found out about the Project Veritas video after her sister saw it on Facebook.

This isn't the first O'Keefe voter fraud video which has confused a living voter for a dead one. Project Veritas' New Hampshire sting mixed up a 23-year-old voter for a dead 84-year-old. Meanwhile, Think Progress reports that the North Carolina video has other flaws -- two of the "non-citizens" in O'Keefe's latest video turned out to be naturalized citizens.

Presented By:

2012-05-16T20:30:00Z

Obama Order Looks To Deter Disruptions In Yemen

2012-05-16T19:56:12Z

An executive order issued by President Obama today authorizes sanctions against people and entities who "obstruct" Yemen's political transition, the latest sign of the administration's increased focus on the country.

The order allows the Treasury Department, in consultation with the Secretary of State, to seize the U.S.-based assets, or assets that come under the control of a U.S. person or entity, of anyone who has "engaged in acts that directly or indirectly threaten the peace, security, or stability of Yemen, such as acts that obstruct the implementation of the agreement of November 23, 2011, between the Government of Yemen and those in opposition to it." The order also allows for sanctions against those who support such acts, and those who work on behalf of people performing such acts.

"This Executive Order will allow the United States to take action against those who seek to undermine Yemen's transition and the Yemeni peoples' clear desire for change," Press Secretary Jay Carney said in a statement. "The President took this step because he believes that the legitimate aspirations of the Yemeni people, along with the urgent humanitarian and security challenges, cannot be addressed if political progress stalls."

The order refers to "certain members of the Government of Yemen and others" that "threaten Yemen's peace," but does not name anyone explicitly. An administration official told TPM that it is too early to say who will be targeted under the order, but that it could be used against military and political leaders both inside and outside the government of Yemen who meet the criteria.

One official told The Washington Post the order was designed as a "deterrent" to "make clear to those who are even thinking of spoiling the transition" to think again.

Former Yemeni Vice President Abed Rabbo Hadi took over the presidency from long-time leader Ali Abdullah Saleh in February, as part of the transition deal. Hadi has since vowed to eradicate Al Qaeda in the country.

The U.S. has recently stepped up military operations in Yemen, home to Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. According to The Long War Journal, which keeps an unofficial tally, the CIA and the Joint Special Operations Command are known to have conducted at least 35 air and missile strikes inside Yemen since December 2009. At least 18 strikes have been carried out since March. Earlier this month, it was revealed that U.S. and Saudi intelligence had foiled a new AQAP underwear bomb plot hatched in Yemen.

Today, the Associated Press reported that U.S. troops are operating from a desert air base in the country, helping to coordinate assaults and airstrikes against AQAP, whose fighters have taken over territory in the south of the country.

Critics of expanded executive power are voicing concerns over the order, among them journalist Jeremy Scahill, who has reported extensively from Yemen.

"For the record, I don't think the Obama Administration would be so brazen as to freeze Jeremy Scahill's assets because he reported critically on Obama's Yemen policy," Marcy Wheeler wrote on her blog. "But the Executive Order they're rolling out today is reportedly written so broadly so as to make something like that possible."

Batty 'Birther' Movie Divides Conspiracy Diehards

2012-05-16T08:56:00Z

"Birthers" are flipping their tinfoil hats over a new film that claims President Barack Obama's father was not a Kenyan goat herder but rather a communist journalist nearly four decades older than his mother. The problem? It undermines a bedrock of birther lore: that the president is ineligible to be commander-in-chief.

"Dreams From My Real Father," a 97-minute film narrated by an Obama impersonator, weaves the narrative that Obama's grandfather wasn't a furniture salesman but an undercover CIA agent who convinced Barack Obama Sr. to marry his teenage daughter to hide the fact that she was impregnated by a 55-year-old communist named Frank Marshall Davis.

The fake Obama narrator sets up the tale as the "the story I would have told if I were being honest with you." Built through archival black and white footage, the film's disclaimer states that it includes "re-creations of probable events, using reasoned logic, speculation, and approximated conversations in an attempt to provide a cohesive understanding of Obama's history."

Using that disclaimer, the filmmakers assert that Obama had a nose job ahead of his 2004 run for Senate, that his mother posed for naked photos when she was five weeks pregnant with him and that Bill Ayers nurtured Obama's career.

SLIDESHOW: There's The Birth Certificate: TPM's Best Of The Birthers

The film is produced by Highway 61 Entertainment, the same company behind "Farewell Israel," "Atomic Jihad" and the mockumentaries "Elvis Found Alive" and "Paul McCartney Really Is Dead." Director Joel Gilbert, who has spoken at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), writes columns for FamilySecurityMatters.org, a website run by Frank Gaffney's Center for Security Policy.

The film has been favorably reviewed by WND's Jerome R. Corsi, who wrote an entire book arguing that Obama's birth certificate is a fake and that he was really born in Kenya and ineligible to be president of the United States.

But the suggestion that Obama really was born in Hawaii and that his father was an American citizen has some conspiracy theorists upset. Birther queen Orly Taitz is troubled by the film because it undermines the theory that Obama's father had to be a U.S. citizen for him to be a "natural born citizen" (a qualification which would have eliminated several other presidents). WND and Corsi, wrote Taitz, are "trying to kill the case by making up an American citizen father for Obama."

"Who are they working for? What incentive did they get to do so? Please, tell Corsi and Farah to stop this. Enough and enough," she wrote.

Ex-Ensign Aide Doug Hampton Reaches Plea Deal

2012-05-15T22:33:00Z

Doug Hampton, the former aide to ex-Sen. John Ensign, has reached a plea deal with federal prosecutors, according to a court records.

Details of the plea deal were not immediately available, but court records show that Hampton has a plea agreement hearing scheduled for June 7. Hampton, whose wife Cynthia Hampton had an affair with Ensign, pleaded not guilty to seven separate charges in April 2011 of violating laws banning congressional staffers and members of Congress from lobbying the legislative branch for a year after they leave their positions.

Hampton's plea deal was first reported by the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Hampton last appeared in federal court in D.C. in January, where there were no signs he was cooperating with the federal government. His trip was paid for by the U.S. Marshals Service because he was financially unable to pay his own way.

A Senate Ethics Committee report found there was substantial and credible evidence that Ensign conspired to violate the post-employment lobbying restriction but he was never charged by the Justice Department. Ensign is currently working as a veterinarian.

A.J. Kramer, Hampton's public defender, did not immediately respond to TPM's requests for comment. Justice Department spokeswoman Alisa Finelli declined to comment.

Late update: Kramer told TPM that the agreement hasn't yet been signed but said it could happen next week.

DOJ: Issa's Move To Hold AG In Contempt 'Unprecedented'

2012-05-15T22:16:15Z

Rep. Darrell Issa's drive to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt is "unwarranted," "unprecedented" and "ill-advised," a top Justice Department official said in a letter to the California Republican, who is chair of the House Oversight Committee, on Tuesday.

Deputy Attorney General James Cole also wrote that the committee's "core questions" on the flawed gun trafficking operation known as Fast and Furious "have been answered."

Cole suggested that the lack of documents showing high-level discussions about the tactics used in Fast and Furious show the problem grew out of offices in Arizona and that top Obama administration were not aware that ATF agents were telling gun shop dealers to sell large quantities of weapons to individuals they suspected were "straw purchasers" for Mexican drug cartels.

"Far from reflecting a 'cover-up,' as some have claimed, the lack of documents makes clear that these tactics had their origin in the field in Arizona and not among Department leaders in Washington," Cole wrote.

"The record makes clear that Department leadership was unaware of the inappropriate tactics used in Fast and Furious until allegations about those tactics were made public in early 2011," Cole wrote.

Some Republican members of the House have suggested the Obama administration purposefully allowed guns to "walk" and wind up in the hands of Mexican drug cartels in an effort to create enough political will to enact gun-control measures.

Issa released a draft contempt resolution earlier this month that charges Holder should be held in contempt for failing to properly respond to Issa's subpoena, but he's reportedly faced opposition from within his own party. Politico reported that House Speaker John Boehner, Majority Leader Eric Cantor and Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy decided to slow Issa's push over concerns about the optics of holding the attorney general in contempt during an election year.

As Cole writes, Issa's contempt proceeding would be unprecedented even outside of election season.

"Congress has never held an Attorney General in contempt based on a failure to provide documents relating to open criminal investigations and prosecutions," Cole wrote.

"We readily acknowledge that, like our predecessors in Administrations of both parties, we have protected documents where we have believed that their disclosure would jeopardize the independence, integrity, and effectiveness of our continuing law enforcement efforts," he wrote.

Cole wrote that the Justice Department is "absolutely committed to bringing the killers of Brian Terry and Jaime Zapata to justice" and successfully prosecuting cases related to Fast and Furious.

"We know that the Committee shares these goals and we ask that the Committee work with us to ensure that we are able to hold accountable those who violate the law," Cole wrote to Issa.

Late update: Issa spokesman Frederick Hill responds:

Instead of providing straightforward and fact based answers, the Justice Department continues to distort the outstanding questions about reckless conduct in Operation Fast and Furious. While the Committee has subpoenaed documents that address what senior officials were told about controversial gunwalking tactics during Operation Fast and Furious, the Justice Department pointedly refuses to provide them or to deny that senior officials were given information in the course of the Operation indicating the existence of reckless tactics. Instead, the Justice Department merely restates that certain officials have indicated that they personally did not inform senior officials. Rather than agreeing to provide documents that include details about officials calling ATF whistleblowers liars and retaliating against them, the Department seems to believe a recounting of the Department's public positions on Operation Fast and Furious over a ten month period is a sufficient response. This response fails to provide critical details about unacceptable behavior by senior officials toward whistleblowers and how the Department reversed course from indicating that whistleblowers were lying to acknowledging they were right. If the Justice Department seeks to avoid contempt, it knows the questions for which it owes the American people answers.

Cole's letter to Issa is embedded below.

DAG Letter 5-15-12