MISSOURI LAWMAKERS PLAN TO OVERRIDE VETO OF 2ND AMENDMENT PROTECTION ACT

When the Missouri legislature convenes in September, Republican lawmakers plan to override Democrat Governor Jay Nixon's veto of The Second Amendment Protection Act, a bill that both expands gun rights and "makes federal gun regulations unenforceable."

Moreover, several Democrat lawmakers are planning on voting to override the veto as well.

According to Fox News, the "legislation would make it a misdemeanor for federal agents to attempt to enforce any federal gun regulations that 'infringe on the people's right to keep and bear arms.'" These same charges would also be applicable to journalists "who publish any identifying information about gun owners."

Nixon opposes the law because he says it gives precedence to state laws over federal. 

As Breitbart News reported when this legislation was initially being debated in February, the superiority of a state's law over a federal one is a common theme in Thomas Jefferson's writing on states' powers of nullification. However, nullification has been rejected by the Supreme Court each time it has been presented as an argument to support a state's position, presenting an uphill battle for the Missouri legislation.

Republicans only need one Democrat to vote with them in order to override the veto, and three have already signaled that they will: T.J. McKenna (D-Festus), Keith English (D-Florissant), and Ben Harris (D-Hillsboro).

Via: Breitbart

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Pennsylvania Ripe for the Picking

Pennsylvania is approaching the Nov. 6 presidential election with 3 percent fewer registered voters than in fall 2008, an unusual slip that political analysts blame on a drop in voter enthusiasm across the country.

Democrats especially experienced a slump, bleeding 229,396 registered voters in Pennsylvania since the last presidential race, state data show. Republicans are down 112,796 registrants, but voters unconnected to either major party grew by 7 percent, or 73,043, according to Pennsylvania Department of State figures. As of Monday the state had 8,487,093 voters, down from 8,755,588 in November 2008, despite a 2 percent population gain. Democrats still hold a 50-37 percentage registration edge over Republicans, down one point from 2008.

The registration deadline for the election was Oct. 9.

“This year, we don’t have such a sense that this election is going to make history the way we did in 2008,” said Pat Dunham, chairwoman of the political science department at Duquesne University. “Enthusiasm in general may have dampened a little. Three-and-a-half years after electing Barack Obama, we see it’s not that easy to change things. ”

For Democrats in particular, “there’s not the same excitement” as four years ago, when the party tallied thousands of registrations, said political analyst Geoffrey Skelley of the University of Virginia Center for Politics.

“There are probably no states that have had incredible increases in voter registration” this time, Skelley said.

Swing states that are losing that status may experience declines in voter registration when candidate visits and advertising shift to areas more in play, political scientists said.

Pennsylvania, which typically votes Democrat for presidents, joined Michigan, Indiana and Missouri to become less of a swing state, said Keystone College professor Jeff Brauer.

Via: Trib Live

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Claire McCaskill Camp Rocked By Shocking Allegations

Feds paid $40M to firms tied to McCaskill's spouse 

BY DAVID A. LIEB
ASSOCIATED PRESS

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Businesses affiliated with the husband of Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill have received almost $40 million in federal subsidies for low-income housing developments during her first five years in office, though it appears only fraction of that has made it to the family's bank accounts, according to an Associated Press analysis.

McCaskill's Republican challenger, Rep. Todd Akin, says the federal payments should be a cause for concern among voters. He's attempting to portray the Democratic senator's family as a prime beneficiary of government largesse.

"There is a conflict of interest and a breach of trust with the citizens of our state," Akin said in an interview with the AP.

McCaskill campaign spokesman Caitlin Legacki called such assertions "flat-out wrong."

There is no evidence that McCaskill personally routed the money to her husband's businesses. But she voted for some - and against other - bills that funded the federal housing and agriculture departments, which in turn provide subsidies to businesses with federal contracts to provide low-income housing.

The AP reviewed five years' worth of federal personal financial disclosure statements filed by McCaskill, which list more than 300 "affordable housing" businesses in which her husband, Joseph Shepard, had at least a partial ownership during the time she has been in office. At least one-third of those businesses also appear to be listed as recipients of federal payments in an online government database that tracks spending.

VIa: The Miami Herald

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ICE Chief Of Staff On Leave After New Allegations Of Lewd Conduct Surface

The top Homeland Security official accused of cultivating a "frat-house"-style work environment has "voluntarily placed herself on leave" amid an internal review, the department told FoxNews.com late Tuesday evening -- just hours after FoxNews.com contacted the agency about new allegations against her. 

The official, Suzanne Barr, is chief of staff for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Two more ICE employees came forward this week to complain about "lewd" conduct inside the agency, submitting sworn affidavits that depict graphic comments made by two top officials working under DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano. 

The affidavits were given as part of a discrimination and retaliation suit filed earlier this year by James T. Hayes Jr., the head of the New York office for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. 

The two new affidavits described separate incidents in 2009. Both accounts described the actions of Barr, who was also mentioned in Hayes' lawsuit. 

Via Fox News

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