(TPM) — The Senate on Wednesday defeated an amendment, introduced by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), that would have reinstated a federal assault weapons ban. The bill failed by a 40 to 60 vote, falling short of the 60-vote threshold to overcome a filibuster.
White House chief of staff Denis McDonough said in an interview Tuesday that Senate Democrats’ decision to introduce a gun control bill that doesn’t include an assault weapons ban does not constitute a setback for President Obama’s gun control efforts.
In an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper, McDonough said the bill can still be brought up as an amendment and that there should still be a concerted effort to pass it.
“We’re going to work on this. We’re going to find the votes,” McDonough said, according to a transcript. “And it deserves a vote and let’s see if we can get it done.”
The prospects for the assault weapons ban have never been good, even in the Senate, where Democrats have the majority. In announcing that it would likely not be part of the Senate’s package earlier today, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) spoke as if the effort was over and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said the ban was very far from the level of support needed for passage.
The petite, Brooklyn-born nurse who tussled with Robert F. Kennedy’s son in a hospital maternity ward was stunned that she fought with a member of Camelot, her husband said Saturday. [..]
He said his wife and nurse Anna Lane were simply trying to stop Kennedy, 44, from leaving the Northern Westchester Hospital with the baby, Boru, on Jan. 7 against hospital rules.
Steve Luciano said Kennedy kicked his wife in the pelvis and twisted Lane’s arm. The scuffle was caught on security camera.
“My wife was assisting Anna to simply encourage Mr. Kennedy to place the child back into its bassinet,” Luciano said. “It appears on camera that they stumbled into the stairwell and then he veered back and kicked Cari and she went sprawling to the floor.”
Both women filed police reports the night of the incident and appeared at the Mount Kisco police station a couple days later, Luciano said.
Cops arrested Kennedy on Thursday. He was charged with harassment and endangering the welfare of a child. Keep on reading...
Once again, conscious that a police helicopter with a high-resolution
I came to some time later (not sure exactly how long), to find my head being cradled by my friends, some of whom were doing their best to keep the police thugs at bay while the volunteer ambulance-men attended to me.
March 31, 2004: Iraqis chant anti-American slogans as the charred and mutilated bodies of U.S. contractors hang from a bridge over the Euphrates River in Fallujah, Iraq.
Navy SEALs have secretly captured one of the most wanted terrorists in Iraq -- the alleged mastermind of the murder and mutilation of four Blackwater USA security guards in Fallujah in 2004. And three of the SEALs who captured him are now facing criminal charges, sources told FoxNews.com.
Thursday, September 17, 2009 Houston Cops Handcuff, Assault Man For Posting Obama Joker Flyers. A Houston man was handcuffed and assaulted by cops for posting anti-Obama flyers around his town, actions described as criminal vandalism by police and some local residents, despite the fact that giant pro-Obama murals are openly displayed in the same neighborhood for all to see.
21-year-old Mark Fuhre, an Alex Jones Show listener, decided to post the flyers even though the Infowars Obama Joker Poster Contest had ended, because he wanted to alert his neighbors to the cult of personality being manufactured around Obama and how the establishment is stifling any criticism of the President by constantly invoking racism.
Fuhre believed that he had a first amendment right to express his opinion, just as those that spray painted giant Obama HOPE murals in the same neighborhood had done without opposition. However, shortly after he began to post the flyers, a local resident voiced his anger that Fuhre had the temerity to exercise his freedom of speech and called the police.
They slammed me against the hood of my car, cuffed me, threw me in the back of the car, Fuhre told local news station KPRC.
Obama Likely Won’t Pursue Assault Weapons Ban
President Obama said in Mexico Thursday that while he continues to back bringing back the expired assault weapons ban, it would be politically difficult to do so.
He called instead for greater enforcement of existing laws despite the fact that, according to Mexican President Filipe Calderon, such weapons have strengthened organized crime groups in Mexico who are fueling border violence and the drug trade.
“I have not backed off at all from my belief that the assault weapons ban makes sense, and I continue to believe that we can respect and honor the second amendment right in our Constitution,” he said during a press conference with Calderon.(excerpt) read more at cbsnews.com
