Sherrod Brown Condemns Dangerous Move by the House That Would Undermine Social Security by Attacking Disability Insurance

More than a Third of Social Security Beneficiaries are Disabled Americans and Other Non-Retirees. House Rule Released Today Would Prevent Clean Reallocations of Social Security to Fund Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI)

Tuesday, January 6, 2015
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) condemned a dangerous new rule in the House of Representatives that would undermine Social Security by attacking Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI). The unprecedented rule change would prevent the House of Representatives from passing clean reallocations of the Social Security Trust Fund.

“Today, House Republicans are trying to change rules that have been in place for decades as a way to attack social insurance,” Brown said. “Rather than solve the short-term problems facing the Social Security Disability program as we have in the past, Republicans want to set the stage to cut benefits for seniors and disabled Americans.”

Reallocation is a simple procedure used by Congress to rebalance how Social Security payroll tax revenues are apportioned between the two trust funds - the equivalent of transferring money from a checking to a savings account.  Reallocation is commonsense, bipartisan policy that has been utilized by both parties 11 times since 1957– most recently in 1994. At that time, it was projected that reallocation would keep the trust fund solvent until 2016.

“Reallocation has never been controversial, but detractors working to privatize Social Security will do anything to manufacture a crisis out of a routine administrative function,” Brown continued.

“Reallocation is a routine housekeeping matter that has been used 11 times, including four times under Ronald Reagan. Modest reallocation of payroll taxes would ensure solvency of both trust funds until 2033. But if House Republicans block reallocation, insurance for disabled Americans, veterans, and children could face severe cuts once the trust fund is exhausted in 2016.”

In July, Brown attended a Senate Finance Committee hearing to examine SSDI and its importance to the entire Social Security system. The hearing was entitled “Social Security: A Fresh Look at Workers’ Disability Insurance.” That same month, Brown delivered a keynote speech on SSDI at the Center for American Progress (CAP) where he outlined future threats that Social Security faces from those who seek to privatize and cut the program. Brown warned how undermining SSDI represents an effort to siphon public support from the entire Social Security program and urged Social Security advocates to organize to prevent detractors from “dividing and conquering” the program.

With more than a third of Social Security beneficiaries being non-retirees, SSDI now more than ever needs to be protected. SSDI is one of our nation’s most successful insurance programs and helps millions of disabled Americans, children, and veterans. Further, SSDI is the sole source of income for one in every three beneficiaries. Without SSDI, half of all beneficiaries would be below the poverty line.

In December, Brown announced that he will introduce the Strengthening Social Security Act – championed by retired U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA). The bill would extend the solvency of the Social Security Trust Fund, which nearly two in three Americans rely on for at least half of their income in old age.

Brown’s prepared opening remarks from the July hearing on SSDI can be found below.

Senator Brown Prepared Opening Remarks for Finance Subcommittee Hearing on “Social Security Disability Insurance”

Thursday, July 24, 2014

I want to begin today’s hearing on Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) by talking about 52-year-old Sheila in Youngstown.

Sheila works in a steel factory along the Mahoning River. She punches a time clock each day on her way into the factory and again on her way out – the same routine every day for the last 18 years.

Sheila has no union strong enough to demand a defined pension, retirement savings account, or even a fair wage, and it’s a grueling job – standing on her feet all day.

But in a town that’s seen far too many factory gates closed and more plants shuttered than most will ever see in a lifetime, Sheila knows that she is fortunate.

One day before heading out the door to work, Sheila decides to throw a load of laundry in the washer before her shift.

She hoists the laundry basket onto her hip and opens the basement door with the other hand. But as she reaches to turn on the lights, Sheila loses her footing and falls down the hard, wooden steps to the concrete floor.

The accident leaves her permanently paralyzed.

Sheila can no longer work.

She doesn’t know how she is going to pay her mounting medical bills, let alone her regular bills now that she has lost her income. Then, Sheila finds out that she has been paying into Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) her entire working life.

This insurance is now Sheila’s lifeline.

She always thought Social Security would be there for her once she retired, but now – Social Security is all she has.

She is now one of the nearly one-third of Social Security beneficiaries who are not retirees.

Nearly nine million disabled workers are SSDI beneficiaries – and 4.4 million children also receive assistance.

One in five SSDI beneficiaries lives in poverty, and nearly half of disabled workers younger than 50 are poor or near poor.

Social Security – as a whole – is a plan that offers working families a bundle of insurance products: retirement, life, and disability insurance – social insurance that most working families couldn’t afford to buy on their own.

That’s why most Americans do not support making cuts to Social Security. In fact, overwhelming majorities are willing to pay more to preserve this program.

Detractors of Social Security know this so they seek backdoor ways to dismantle the program.

That backdoor?

SSDI.

Detractors divide Social Security into “good Social Security” and “bad Social Security.”

They say “bad Social Security” is disability insurance and that the program is bankrupt and rife with fraud, which in turn, undermines Social Security as a whole.

We will address these claims in today’s hearing.

Disability insurance is not bankrupt. The disability trust fund simply needs to be reallocated.

Reallocation is commonsense, bipartisan policy. Since 1957, it has been done 11 times– most recently in 1994.

At that time, it was projected that reallocation would keep the trust fund solvent until 2016 – which it did.

Rebalancing the fund ensures there is adequate funding so that SSDI is there for all of us, if the worst should happen.

Many in this town claim to sympathize with low-income workers.

But when it comes to supporting disability insurance – a program that provides a modest safety-net to the most vulnerable Americans – they dismiss beneficiaries as lazy scammers looking to game the system.

They’re wrong.

Keep in mind, the average SSDI check is about $300 a week.

In my home state of Ohio, the typical annual SSDI benefit for a disabled worker was $11,988 in 2012.

That’s barely over the federal poverty level for an individual.

Go back to Sheila. She worked 18 years in a factory, standing on her feet all day.

More than half of disability insurance beneficiaries are like her – they too worked in jobs that demanded physical labor.

To call people like Sheila lazy – to prey upon the most vulnerable in society – is wrong and unacceptable.

Where fraud exists, we can address it to maintain the protections that SSDI affords us all.

But to divide Social Security into good parts and bad parts is not how we will solve this issue.

I want to share a letter with you from the grandfather of one of my staff.

He received this letter from his employer, the Pennsylvania Gas and Electric Company, on December 24, 1936.

The letter reads:

“On August 14, 1935, Congress passed the Social Security Act. Under the provision of this Act, the company is required to deduct 1% of your wage beginning on January 1, 1937. These deductions, which are matched by your company, are designed to provide for a retirement at age 65.”

Imagine receiving this letter and being told your wages would start being taken away, and that you would get it back when you reached the age of 65.

This was a time when most people didn’t know anyone who lived to 65, so to receive a letter telling you this was controversial to say the least.

When Social Security began, it was an untested idea that was met with a great deal of misunderstanding and resistance.

Today, it is woven into the fabric of our country.

A few years ago, the idea that we would expand Social Security seemed unlikely. All of the conventional Washington wisdom was that we would have to cut the program.

Today, not only are cuts to Social Security deeply unpopular, we are now debating how much we need to expand Social Security to make sure the program continues to be there for all of us.

In today’s hearing, we will examine ways to strengthen Social Security by protecting disability insurance.

We will examine why reallocation is a simple and commonsense administrative function.

And, we will examine the need to cut fraud so the program continues to safeguard against fraud.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

###

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'Mercy' for Bob McDonnell

The Virginia Republican will serve two years in prison for corruption, capping his journey from the governor's mansion to the big house.

By David A. Graham Jan 6 2015, 4:30 PM ET

 

Bob McDonnell arrives at a courthouse in Richmond for sentencing on Tuesday. (Jay Westcott/Reuters)

It's not often that two years in prison is a win. Then again, it's not often that a former Virginia governor is found guilty of corruption. Bob McDonnell is the first holder of that office to be convicted on such charges, and he'll pay for it with 24 months in prison and then another 24 months of supervised release.

That's far short of what prosecutors had hoped for. Citing the gravity of the crimes and charging McDonnell with remorselessness since his conviction, they sought 10 to 12 years, in line with their construal of federal recommendations. (Defense attorneys successfully persuaded Judge James Spencer that the upper limit should be more like eight years.) But it's also way more than what McDonnell's team had asked for: a breathtaking 6,000 hours of community service, with no jail time.

(It's hard to find an example of any sentence like that. Junk-bond king Michael Milken had to serve 5,400 hours, but only after a decade in lockup; the captain of the Exxon Valdez got 1,000.) McDonnell is expected to appeal the ruling.

One lament about this case—aired in this space by Amitai Etzioni, but also elsewhere—is that the real scandal is what's legal, and that we should be dismayed but not too rattled by McDonnell's case since there's far worse bribery that's sanctioned under law. The Republican was convicted of 11 counts of corruption for accepting $165,000 in gifts and loans from businessman Johnnie Williams, in exchange for official government favors.

Related Story

Bob McDonnell's Corruption: The Real Scandal Is What's Legal

But it's possible to be worried about the corrupting effects of legal money on politics and still view this as a triumph for justice. McDonnell was caught, tried, and convicted, and now he'll do his time. The justice system worked—and with a healthy assist from the Fourth Estate, and especially The Washington Post's Rosalind Helderman, which dug into McDonnell's transgressions. That's how American democracy is supposed to function.

The case was always surprising. First, McDonnell seemed squeaky-clean right up to the moment when it was clear he wasn't, and he was on list after list of Republican rising stars. He was destined for the national spotlight, perhaps as a vice-presidential candidate. Second, Virginia has for many years had relatively loose ethics rules, trusting (anachronistically, it's now clear) that its elected officials were gentlemen in the mold of Jefferson who would never sully themselves. As a result, the prosecution was a shock to the Old Dominion's old establishment.

Spencer in part agreed in his comments during sentencing. “No one wants to see a former governor of this great commonwealth in this kind of trouble,” he said, according to The Post. And he acknowledged the outpouring of support on McDonnell's behalf, even while imposing the sentence. 

“The jury by its verdict found an intent to defraud. That is a serious offense that all the grace and mercy that I can muster, it can’t cover it all.” Spencer also said that the longer jail term sought by the prosecution "would be unfair, it would be ridiculous, under these facts.”

 

"While Mrs. McDonnell may have allowed the serpent into the mansion, the governor knowingly let him into his personal and business affairs."

The two-year term is on the short end of the sentences given to some politicians in recent corruption cases, though apples-to-apples comparisons are tricky. The flamboyantly unapologetic Louisiana Democrat Edwin Edwards served a decade in jail. Former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, a Democrat, was convicted of more serious offenses including trying to sell a Senate seat and received 14 years in federal prison. His predecessor, Republican George Ryan, went to jail for more than six years on corruption charges. Former Connecticut Governor John Rowland, a Republican, was convicted of a single corruption count and served 10 months.

Much of McDonnell's defense hinged on blaming his wife Maureen, who was close with Williams. The strategy turned the trial into a painful can't-watch-can't-look-away spectacle, as the McDonnells laid bare their clearly troubled marriage in a court of law, under oath. Before sentencing, one of their daughters wrote to the judge, asking for leniency for her father and blaming her mother for the trouble. (Prosecutors, in turn, said this proved he was not contrite.) Spencer seemed to buy this, but only in part: "While Mrs. McDonnell may have allowed the serpent into the mansion, the governor knowingly let him into his personal and business affairs," he said.

Maureen McDonnell, however, will not be sentenced until February 20. The former governor asked on Tuesday the judge to be merciful with her—and perhaps this late gesture on her behalf, after the rather sordid trial, will be better than none at all.

Hapless TV 'News' Hosts Refuse To Call Out Republicans False Equivalency Game With The Rev. Wright

By Heather

If there's one thing you can count on from our cable "news" hosts, it's that Republicans will never be called out for their false equivalencies and endless game of 'bothsiderism.' 



We expect this over at Fox "news" where they've been reflexively repeating the false equivalence that somehow the Rev. Jeremiah Wright is somehow the same or even worse than former Grand Wizard of the KKK David Duke and that President Obama sitting in Wright's church for years is supposedly more offensive than Rep. Steve Scalise paling around with some white supremacists since the day the Scalise scandal broke.

If anyone thought this was confined only to Faux "news" they'd be sadly mistaken. As our friend Driftglass pointed out, we've got former Cheney sycophant Ron Christie polluting his corner over at The Daily Beast with this same nonsense. And then there's Face the Nation host Bob Schieffer, who sat there like a potted plant this Sunday while one disgraced former House Speaker Newton Leroy Gingrich pulled the same stunt: Gingrich on Steve Scalise: Obama Got a Pass on Reverend Wright:

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich defended embattled House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) by bringing up President Barack Obama‘s association with Rev. Jeremiah Wright and questioning why Obama got a “pass.”

“The president explained he didn’t hear any of [Wright's controversial remarks about America], and we all gave him a pass,” Gingrich told Bob Scieffer on Face the Nation, adding Obama made a “great speech” in Philadelphia as a candidate when he attempted to distance himself from Wright.

Gingrich also invoked former Sen. Robert Byrd, a Democrat who was a former member of the Ku Klux Klan. He also brought up words of support from Rep.-Elect Mia Love (R-Utah), who stood by Scalise, and Rep. Cedric Richmond (D-La.), who said Scalise does not have a “racist bone” in his body.

“For a 12-year-old speech to be blown up into a national story, I think, is frankly one more example of a one-sided view of reality,” he added.

Yes, it's so one-sided alright. One sided that there's no one on that set to call you out for pretending that you can remotely compare the two.

And here's more from your supposedly "liberal" MSNBC, with host Steve Kornacki allowing former Rep. Nan Hayworth to do the same thing. Kornacki didn't so much as blink an eye and was just ready to move onto the next segment and more useless handicapping of the next presidential race.



I would like for one of these talking heads to please explain to me just what it is that Rev. Wright supposedly said that is "hateful" about America, or not true for that matter. Roland Martin did a very nice job back in 2008 of putting Wright's speech in context and it's worth a read again today. It would be nice if a few of these hosts took the time to read it as well before they allow another Republican to appear on one of their shows and claim that black liberation theology is exactly the same as white supremacy.

The full story behind Rev. Jeremiah Wright's 9/11 sermon:

As this whole sordid episode regarding the sermons of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright has played out over the last week, I wanted to understand what he ACTUALLY said in this speech. I've been saying all week on CNN that context is important, and I just wanted to know what the heck is going on.

I have now actually listened to the sermon Rev. Wright gave after September 11 titled, "The Day of Jerusalem's Fall." It was delivered on Sept. 16, 2001.

One of the most controversial statements in this sermon was when he mentioned "chickens coming home to roost." He was actually quoting Edward Peck, former U.S. Ambassador to Iraq and deputy director of President Reagan's terrorism task force, who was speaking on FOX News. That's what he told the congregation.

He was quoting Peck as saying that America's foreign policy has put the nation in peril:

"I heard Ambassador Peck on an interview yesterday did anybody else see or hear him? He was on FOX News, this is a white man, and he was upsetting the FOX News commentators to no end, he pointed out, a white man, an ambassador, he pointed out that what Malcolm X said when he was silenced by Elijah Mohammad was in fact true, he said Americas chickens, are coming home to roost.”

"We took this country by terror away from the Sioux, the Apache, Arikara, the Comanche, the Arapaho, the Navajo. Terrorism. "We took Africans away from their country to build our way of ease and kept them enslaved and living in fear. Terrorism.

"We bombed Grenada and killed innocent civilians, babies, non-military personnel.

"We bombed the black civilian community of Panama with stealth bombers and killed unarmed teenage and toddlers, pregnant mothers and hard working fathers.

"We bombed Qaddafi's home, and killed his child. Blessed are they who bash your children's head against the rock.

"We bombed Iraq. We killed unarmed civilians trying to make a living. We bombed a plant in Sudan to pay back for the attack on our embassy, killed hundreds of hard working people, mothers and fathers who left home to go that day not knowing that they'd never get back home.

"We bombed Hiroshima. We bombed Nagasaki, and we nuked far more than the thousands in New York and the Pentagon and we never batted an eye.

"Kids playing in the playground. Mothers picking up children after school. Civilians, not soldiers, people just trying to make it day by day.

"We have supported state terrorism against the Palestinians and black South Africans, and now we are indignant because the stuff that we have done overseas is now brought right back into our own front yards. America's chickens are coming home to roost.

"Violence begets violence. Hatred begets hatred. And terrorism begets terrorism. A white ambassador said that y'all, not a black militant. Not a reverend who preaches about racism. An ambassador whose eyes are wide open and who is trying to get us to wake up and move away from this dangerous precipice upon which we are now poised. The ambassador said the people we have wounded don't have the military capability we have. But they do have individuals who are willing to die and take thousands with them. And we need to come to grips with that."

He went on to describe seeing the photos of the aftermath of 9/11 because he was in Newark, N.J., when the planes struck. After turning on the TV and seeing the second plane slam into one of the twin towers, he spoke passionately about what if you never got a chance to say hello to your family again.

"What is the state of your family?" he asked.

And then he told his congregation that he loved them and asked the church to tell each other they loved themselves.

His sermon thesis:

1. This is a time for self-examination of ourselves and our families.
2. This is a time for social transformation (then he went on to say they won't put me on PBS or national cable for what I'm about to say. Talk about prophetic!)

"We have got to change the way we have been doing things as a society," he said.
Wright then said we can't stop messing over people and thinking they can't touch us. He said we may need to declare war on racism, injustice, and greed, instead of war on other countries.

Texas Server Fired After Using N-Word on Receipt to Label Diners

The server at a Lebanese restaurant allegedly used the slur on the customers’ receipts, followed by a number—apparently to keep their orders straight.

By: Breanna Edwards

Posted: Jan. 2 2015 2:45 PM

 

Copy of one of the receipts given to the table CBS DFW

One group of friends in Pantego, Texas, closed out their year in shock after discovering that their server had labeled each of their receipts with the word “nigga,” CBS DFW reports.

The group from North Texas wanted to celebrate New Year’s Eve at Shatila, a Lebanese restaurant, and had a good time, but when it came time to pay the bill, things took an unpleasant turn. Every ticket for the table had the n-word on it, marked by the server, followed by a number to separate the individual orders.

According to the news station, when the friends realized what had happened, they checked other tables to see if it was some sort of misunderstanding and if anyone had similar notes. However, no other receipts did—the racial slur had apparently been used only to describe their table, the group told the news station.

“It’s sad that it’s still occurring,” one of the customers, Ta’les Russell, told CBS DFW. “We are here in the new year, starting fresh, celebrating with family and friends. This is the worst way to start, with everything going on in our society, in Ferguson [in Missouri]. It’s sad that we have to experience this still today in 2015.”

CBS DFW reports that the manager did apologize and offered them a free meal and that the server has been fired. The manager, however, also “downplayed” the incident, according to the website, and said that “the server was new and didn’t mean any harm.”

That’s where the group took issue.

“We’re forgiving people. We’ve accepted their apology,” Justyce Hill told the news station. “But it’s more about allowing it to happen in the first place. It wasn’t something that should have been tolerated. Should have been noticed right then and there.”

“They need to emphasize it to their staff,” Jasmine Tucker said. “They can let go our waiter, but what if the rest of their waiters are doing the same thing? They need to emphasize this is not OK.”

Steve Scalise Called Himself David Duke Without The Baggage

BY STEPHANIE GRACE

This is what I remember about the first time I met Steve Scalise nearly 20 years ago: He told me he was like David Duke without the baggage.

I was a new reporter covering Jefferson Parish, and Scalise, now the majority whip in the U.S. House of Representatives, was just starting out in the Louisiana Legislature (I’m going from memory, but the exchange obviously stuck with me). It would be several years before I would fully decode just what he meant by the sentiment, which is similar to statements he would later make to at least one Washington news outlet, and what it said about Jefferson Parish and Louisiana politics.

The “baggage,” of course, was Duke’s past, his racist and anti-Semitic views and his former role as a KKK grand wizard. Scalise disavowed Duke then, as he did once again this week, when blogger Lamar White Jr. revealed that Scalise had spoken in 2002 at a meeting hosted by a Duke-founded white nationalist group.

But the other part of the sentence, the part about their similarity, was the rub. Scalise may have been naïve about how to express himself to a newcomer, but he was already a savvy politician who knew that, even though Duke had lost the governor’s race a few years earlier, Duke voters were still around. And those Duke voters also were potential Scalise voters.

This is, in effect, a dirty little secret of Louisiana politics, and the context in which Scalise made the fateful decision to show up at the EURO conference in 2002. The truth, as Scalise suggested that day, was that the actual governmental philosophy Duke espoused isn’t far off from what was becoming mainstream conservative thought, what with its suspicion of taxes, set-asides and safety net programs such as welfare. The problem in his view was the messenger, not the message.

Does Scalise endorse the racist goals of the European-American Unity and Rights Organization, a group so bigoted that the Southern Poverty Law Center has labeled it a hate group? I’ve never seen anything to suggest so, although there were times, like when he opposed establishing a holiday honoring Martin Luther King Jr., when he certainly could have shown more cultural sensitivity. I’ve watched him work closely with his fellow state legislator and now congressional colleague Cedric Richmond, who has defended him, and have seen him at campaign events in support of Richmond and other African-American colleagues, party and ideological differences notwithstanding.

But I also get how the invitation wouldn’t have set off alarm bells, given that Scalise had long since made his awkward peace with the situation.

In fact, by 2002, Scalise may have been so used to the idea of dealing with Duke voters that he really considered EURO just another part of his constituency, even if it was a distasteful one. Maybe not so different in his mind from the League of Women Voters, which he cited in an interview with The Times-Picayune as another group he’d addressed despite the fact that they didn’t agree on everything — an insulting comparison that suggests he still doesn’t fully grasp how bad this all looks from the outside.

Scalise claims he didn’t know the group’s origins, which is pretty implausible given how prominent Duke and his associates were in Jefferson political circles.

Instead, the most charitable explanation is that he chose not to think about it, that he opted instead to focus on areas of agreement. Indeed, sketchy reports of his speech suggest he talked not about race or religion but the legislative slush funds then allotted to urban lawmakers, which were indeed often abused, but which also would have validated stereotypes held by this particular group.

He’d hardly be the only politician to make such a deal with himself. In 1996, commentator and presidential candidate Pat Buchanan disavowed an endorsement from Duke, even as he fielded a Louisiana delegate slate with at least one former Duke campaign official. Former Gov. Mike Foster paid Duke for a valuable voter contact list, then failed to disclose it, explaining once word got out that it wasn’t “cool” to be associated with him.

No, it’s not. But like robbers drawn to banks because that’s where the money is, politicians go where the voters are. And they, I guess, tell themselves what they need to hear in order to sleep at night.

Stephanie Grace can be contacted at sgrace@theadvocate.com. Read her blog at http://blogs.theadvocate.com/gracenotes. Follow her on Twitter, @stephgracenola

Another Philly Charter School Bites The Dust

By Susie Madrak

Guess we know how those kids' parents are spending the holiday -- looking for another school! 

 

Once again, a Philadelphia charter school is closing unexpectedly, leaving students and parents in the lurch and screwing the school district out of $1.5 million illegally gotten:

The fallout from the abrupt closing of the Walter D. Palmer Leadership Learning Partners Charter School spreads.

Teachers say they fear they won't be paid money they're owed for working in December.

And amid rumors that the charter's flagship building in Northern Liberties would be liquidated to pay creditors, several teachers decided to retrieve personal items from the building on Monday - and were initially thwarted by security.

Frustrated parents held a protest.

"It's unfair to receive notification over the weekend that the school will be closed," said Jihan Pauling, a parent who organized a rally outside the charter's main campus.

Citing insurmountable financial obstacles, the Palmer charter sent letters to families and staff on Friday informing them that the school would close permanently Wednesday.

The move sent teachers on quests for new jobs and information about filing for unemployment and left families of the school's 675 students in kindergarten through eighth grade scrambling for new schools.

The younger students were based in Northern Liberties. The fifth through eighth graders had attended classes in the former St. Bartholomew Catholic school on Harbison Avenue in Frankford.

John L. Pund Jr., the financial consultant hired by the Palmer charter's board to handle the liquidation, said the board had no alternative to closing after the Philadelphia School District said it would require the charter to begin making monthly payments of $250,000.

That money was to repay the $1.5 million that the courts had ruled that the charter had collected for students it was not entitled to have.

Don't kid yourself that this "reform" is only happening to "bad schools" in urban centers. Once they're done taking over the cities, they're coming for your local schools.

The Apps You Need Now to Keep Your Privacy Intact

By Jay Cassano

There are the basic things you can do to protect your data and your phone, like avoiding public Wi-Fi networks, enabling built-in tools like "Find My iPhone," and using a good password. Both iOS and Android phones offer options for turning off "location services," so apps can't track your coordinates. But in an age of cyberattacks from renegade hackers, non-state actors, and government spies, it's not a terrible idea to arm your phone with apps that provide encrypted communication, anonymous browsing, and theft protection. Below, a tour of some of the best ones out there.

TextSecure (Android)

TextSecure, like its name suggests, secures your text messages. It's the easiest to use open source end-to-end encrypted messaging app out there. It can act as a full replacement for your default texting app or a standalone Wi-Fi/data messaging app like WhatsApp—or both. When messaging other TextSecure users, your messages are automatically encrypted on the fly, though both parties need to have TextSecure installed to benefit from its encrypted messaging. TextSecure handles all of the necessary key exchanges in the background. The app can be set to send messages only over the Internet or only SMS or to just use whichever is available.

TextSecure has two modes: It can handle all of your text messages or it can be used only for texts between TextSecure users. You might think that there's no reason to use TextSecure as your default texting app since the encrypted messaging only works with other TextSecure users. However, there's another privacy benefit to using TextSecure: All of the messages stored locally on your phone are kept in a password-protected encrypted database. So if your phone is ever lost or stolen, your texts can't be accessed by someone who otherwise compromises your phone.

WhatsApp recently integrated TextSecure's code for encrypted messaging. So WhatsApp users are already benefiting from TextSecure's work on messaging security. But to best ensure your privacy, opt for TextSecure because it's fully open source, with code that can be publicly audited.

RedPhone / Signal (Android / iOS)

RedPhone and its iOS equivalent Signal come from the makers of TextSecure and boasts the same ease of use not commonly found in encryption apps that aren't peddling snake oil. What TextSecure does for texting, these apps do for phone calls. (You remember phone calls, right?) Simply install the Android or iOS app and call a friend who also has one of the apps and your calls will be automatically encrypted. The apps are interoperable, so people who use RedPhone can call Signal users and vice versa.

If you're worried that you won't know who of your friends has one of these apps installed, don't worry, the developers have you covered. When you first launch RedPhone or Signal, you'll be prompted to register your phone in their database. That way, when you open your app, you'll instantly see who in your phone's address book is using RedPhone or Signal.

RedPhone comes with one feature boast over Signal. On Android, if you try to place a regular phone call to someone whose number is registered with either app, RedPhone will prompt you to ask if you want to upgrade to an encrypted call. Signal doesn't have that same functionality, presumably because Apple won't allow for the normal phone call user experience to be interrupted.

Orbot + Orweb (Android)

If you pay any attention to the world of digital privacy, you've most likely heard of Tor, the traffic routing software that makes it harder (but not impossible) for your web browsing to be tracked. Orbot brings Tor to Android. It allows other applications to connect to the Internet through Tor, which can help anonymize your traffic and also circumvent bans on websites that have been blocked by repressive governments.

Any app that can use specify proxy settings can route its traffic through Orbot. That includes the default Twitter app, so that you can tweet anonymously on the fly. But the most practical use case is probably for your general web browsing. Orweb is a mobile web browser that is built to work with Orbot out of the box.

ChatSecure (Android / iOS)

ChatSecure is also made by The Guardian Project, the same people who created Orweb. So naturally, you can run ChatSecure through Orbot to get the same benefits of traffic anonymization and firewall circumvention.
But you don't need Orbot to use ChatSecure (which is good for iOS users who don't have access to Orbot). Even if it doesn't anonymize your traffic through Tor, ChatSecure can still act as an encryption layer for messages you're already using to talk to your friends like Facebook chat. Using ChatSecure is a great middle ground to talk more securely with friends who aren't ready to take the leap off of precipices like Google or Facebook chat.

Prey (all platforms)

Prey is billed as an anti-theft tool. If your phone is lost or stolen, your online Prey account lets you track your phone using its GPS. It also lets you remotely lock your phone, sound a loud alarm, and display a message on your phone to whomever is looking at it. While your device is missing, Prey will send you email reports every five minutes (less frequently, if you'd prefer) that include your phone's location and a picture taken with your phone's camera, which might help you identify where exactly it is or who took it.

If everything goes to hell, Prey is also your nuclear security option. You can use it to remotely wipe your phone so that whoever stole it can't access your personal files and settings. There are lots of comparable anti-theft apps out there. But because you're giving permission to an app to remotely access your camera and location, it's important that you be able to trust that app. Because Prey's client software is open source, independent coders can verify that the app isn't doing anything it shouldn't be doing. Prey versions also exist for your Windows, Mac, and Linux laptops.

 

[Locks: Flickr user Tyler Nienhouse]

Most Of The Population Now Needs Government Assistance To Make Ends Meet

By Susie Madrak

Nearly 50 million Americans, (49.7 Million), are living below the poverty line, with 80% of the entire U.S. population living near poverty or below it.

 

All too true. It always amazes me to see people on my TV singing the praises of the growing new economy, and I think to myself: Don't you know any normal people? Via Political Blindspot:

If you live in the United States, there is a good chance that you are now living in poverty or near poverty. Nearly 50 million Americans, (49.7 Million), are living below the poverty line, with 80% of the entire U.S. population living near poverty or below it.

That near poverty statistic is perhaps more startling than the 50 million Americans below the poverty line, because it translates to a full 80% of the population struggling with joblessness, near-poverty or reliance on government assistance to help make ends meet.

In September, the Associated Press pointed to survey data that told of an increasingly widening gap between rich and poor, as well as the loss of good-paying manufacturing jobs that used to provide opportunities for the “Working Class” to explain an increasing trend towards poverty in the U.S.

But the numbers of those below the poverty line does not merely reflect the number of jobless Americans. Instead, according to a revised census measure released Wednesday, the number – 3 million higher than what the official government numbers imagine – are also due to out-of-pocket medical costs and work-related expenses.

The new measure is generally “considered more reliable by social scientists because it factors in living expenses as well as the effects of government aid, such as food stamps and tax credits,” according to Hope Yen reporting for the Associated Press.

Some other findings revealed that food stamps helped 5 million people barely reach above the poverty line. That means that the actual poverty rate is even higher, as without such aid, poverty rate would rise from 16 percent to 17.6 percent.

Latino and Asian Americans saw an increase in poverty, rising to 27.8 percent and 16.7 percent respectively, from 25.8 percent and 11.8 percent under official government numbers. African-Americans, however, saw a very small decrease, from 27.3 percent to 25.8 percent which the study documents is due to government assistance programs.

Non-Hispanic whites too rose from 9.8 percent to 10.7 percent in poverty.

“The primary reason that poverty remains so high,” Sheldon Danziger, a University of Michigan economist said, “is that the benefits of a growing economy are no longer being shared by all workers as they were in the quarter-century following the end of World War II.”

TYT: Obviously, “Jihad On Cops” To Be Blamed On ‘PigSharpton’ & deBlasio

“Actor James Woods appears to have gone full crackpot on Twitter this morning, blaming the shooting deaths of two NYPD officers on Al Sharpton and Mayor Bill deBlasio. The series of tweets are from his verified Twitter account @RealJamesWoods.

The 67 year old Ghost of Mississippi actor has called on police officers to turn their backs on the mayor and “PigSharpton” with the hashtag #BlueLivesMatter #TurnYourBacks on #RaceHucksters.”

Cenk Uygur (http://www.twitter.com/cenkuygur) and Ana Kasparian (http://www.twitter.com/AnaKasparian) break it down on The Young Turks.

Read more here from http://thegrio.com/2014/12/21/james-woods-stacey-dash-al-sharpton-bill-deblasio/

Antonio Martin, Black Teenager, Fatally Shot By Police 2 Miles From Ferguson, MO

By Sebastian Murdock



A black teen was fatally shot by an officer on Tuesday night just two miles from Ferguson, Mo., police said.

Antonio Martin, 18, was shot at a Mobil gas station in Berkeley, Mo., the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports. The alleged victim's mother, Toni Martin, spoke to The Dispatch and confirmed that her son had been shot by police.

It was originally reported that the shooting occurred early Wednesday. However, according to The Associated Press, the incident actually took place late Tuesday:

County police spokesman Sgt. Brian Schellman says a Berkeley police officer was conducting a routine business check at a gas station around 11:15 p.m. Tuesday when he saw two men and approached them.

Schellman says one of the men pulled a handgun and pointed it at the officer. The officer fired several shots, striking and fatally wounding the man. Schellman says that the second person fled and that the deceased man's handgun has been recovered.

The Berkeley Police Department requested that St. Louis County Police Department's Crimes Against Persons Unit handle the investigation, The St. Louis County Police Department noted on its Facebook page.

"At this time, we cannot confirm the identity of the deceased subject. The investigation is on-going and further details will be provided as the investigation proceeds," the Facebook notice said.

The hashtag #AntonioMartin is trending on social media. Those at the scene, along with The Dispatch, report approximately 60 to 100 people gathered around the gas station where the shooting took place.

Livestreams at the scene show residents verbally clashing with police. A woman identified as Martin's mother could be heard sobbing "That's my baby!" on the feed.

Mother of Antonio Martin, 18, says her son shot and killed by police at Berkeley Mobil station. pic.twitter.com/yyArlrqZmM
— Valerie Schremp Hahn (@valeriehahn) December 24, 2014

Young woman at left is Martin's girlfriend who was reportedly with him during shooting. pic.twitter.com/tDmDbYfBLK
— Valerie Schremp Hahn (@valeriehahn) December 24, 2014

The gas station appears to have security cameras trained on the parking lot, the Dispatch reported, so there may be a video of the incident.

CORRECTION: A previous version of this story included an interview with a man claiming to have been at the scene of the shooting and friends with the deceased. As police have released statements saying the second person involved in the incident has fled the scene, the source is now suggesting he was never there.

Beer can be delivered with food in PA

By Angela Couloumbis and Ben Finley, Inquirer Staff Writers


HARRISBURG, PA - 'Tis the season to be . . . hoppy.

Consider it a holiday gift of sorts from the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board, which has made it officially legal to get a six-pack - or two - delivered to your front door when ordering food.

The LCB, with little fanfare, issued an advisory opinion this month clarifying that restaurants, grocery stores, pizza and sub shops, and other outlets that serve food and beer can also deliver up to two six-packs of beer.

This being Pennsylvania, which has some of the strictest alcohol regulations in the country, there are catches. For instance, customers ordering beer must pay by credit card over the phone, rather than handing cash to the delivery person.

Still, Amy Christie is calling it progress.

"Overall, this is a great win," said Christie, executive director of the Pennsylvania Licensed Beverage and Tavern Association, which represents bars, taverns, restaurants, and alcohol retailers. "I would say there are a couple thousand places that could take advantage of this and use it to improve their business."

Stacy Kriedeman, the LCB's spokeswoman, stressed that the change is not a result of new laws but a legal opinion clarifying existing regulations.

Here's how it works: A business that sells malt-brewed beverages can apply for a "transporter-for-hire" license, which costs about $1,000, depending on the type of establishment. Anyone with that license can transport up to 192 ounces - or just over two six-packs - of beer.

Kriedeman said the license has been around for a long time, and the advisory opinion simply clarified that establishments selling food and beer can take advantage of it. In fact, a customer could call a licensed sub or pizza shop and just order beer, she said.

Most shoppers know that buying six-packs at bars, delis or restaurants - as opposed to cases at beer distributors, which also deliver to residences - usually involves a stiff markup.

Pete Gaeth, a Western Pennsylvania tavern owner whose letter to the LCB sparked the advisory opinion, said he was initially interested in delivering some of his establishment's long list of craft beers to people out-of-state - but may now take advantage of doing so in-state as well.

"That is definitely something we will be looking into," said Gaeth, co-owner of Roff School Tavern and an investor in Voodoo Brewery, both in Meadville.

Still, there are safety considerations. Topping the list is ensuring that minors don't take advantage of the change.

Craig Mosmen, co-owner of the Couch Tomato Café and the Tomato Bistro in Manayunk, which sells artisan pizzas and craft beer, was unaware of the legislation and said he doubted it would have much impact on his business.

"Our takeout beer program hasn't really been a huge draw," Mosmen said. "Most diners that are drawn to our beer list want to drink it here."

Delivering beer also poses liability issues, even if employees use a mobile scanner to check licenses to avoid selling to minors. "When you evaluate risk and reward, it doesn't seem like something that we would be necessarily interested in offering," Mosmen said.

Industry officials counter that restaurants, bars, and other places that sell alcohol have trained staff to seek proper identification and will not serve (or in this case, hand over) beer to people who cannot verify their age.

"You protect against [abuses] the exact same way you do inside your establishment," said John Longacre, who owns three businesses, including the South Philadelphia Tap Room.

Longacre, who is also president of the Philadelphia Tavern Owners Association, said people in his industry have been asking for the change for years - and said the real winner is the consumer.

"It's about convenience," said Longacre. "And it's a great way to make all sides happy."

11 Signs Your Neighborhood Is Being Gentrified

A Washington, D.C., resident describes the changes and privilege that have moved into her longtime neighborhood.

By Janelle Harris

In Washington, D.C., as in many cities undergoing extreme urban makeovers, if you miss a week of moving about in certain neighborhoods, you’ll miss a whole heck of a lot. Sad times for you if you’re a landmark driver like I am, when even a short trip on familiar streets can induce a fog of confusion. Buildings go down and buildings go up on blocks so quickly, you can be a whole mile out of your way before you realize you’ve been waiting to hook a left at a corner store that is no more.

Besides creating in me a deep regret for not going to college to enjoy what seems like an inevitably profitable career in real estate development, gentrification has impressed me with its swiftness. I don’t pretend or profess to understand the complete politics of it—I’m certain that money is the bottom line and power is the impetus—but I know the bastions of urban-conquer waste no time claiming an area as “up and coming” and then following that up with epic levels of condo-and-coffeehouse building.

What that essentially means: The people already living there are fittin’ to be economically priced out and residentially pushed out. That I’ve learned. In the meantime, there’s a shift to accommodate the newcomers, rarely an effort by the newcomers to adjust to the existing dynamic of a community. The boundless, ceaseless imagination of privilege does it again and again.

Georgia Avenue, the stretch of street that hugs the campus of Howard University, used to be quintessential D.C., full of contagious energy and all-black everything: barbershops and beauty salons, mom-and-pop stores, insurance agencies, restaurants. But you know how it goes: Powers discover that an area is gold, see its potential, put it in their construction crosshairs and start plucking off anything, one by one, that doesn’t fit into the blueprint for their new, improved iteration.

Anyone resilient or fortunate enough to remain needs to adjust in order to survive. Such is the case of Fish in the ’Hood, a beloved institution for college students and local lovers of soulful dining that, in 2012, was christened with a new storefront sign indicative of the changing surroundings: Fish in the Neighborhood. A new name on a 15 year old restaurant is telltale, but there are more indicators that change is gonna come:

1. Neighborhood boundary lines will be strategically reconfigured, and your new redistricted area will be outfitted with catchy, cutesy names.

Sign for NoMa, a quirky name for North of Massachusetts Avenue, a newly renovated neighborhood in Washington, D.C.   Janelle Harris

2. Lighting will crop up. Y’all lived for years in near-apocalyptic darkness as existing street lights went long malfunctioning. Now the block is lit up like a night game at FedExField. Magical.

Lighted street sign in Washington, D.C. KAREN BLEIER/AFP/Getty Images

3. “Liquor stores” will be euphemistically renamed “wine and spirits shops.”

Wine and spirits shop in a gentrified area of D.C. Janelle Harris

4. Cops will dutifully patrol your neighborhood in non-emergency situations. On foot, bike and vehicle patrols, sometimes even horses. No one has to call them. They’re already there.

Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Police Officer Tyrone Gross (left) writes a warning ticket for a motorist who was talking on her cellphone. Mark Wilson/Getty Images

5. You find out that the way you’ve been living is no longer “current.”

Real estate ad banner for a mixed-use development Janelle Harris

6. You get a store that stays open 24 hours. Up until now, you had to scream your pump number and request for soda and sunflower seeds through three layers of Plexiglas at the neighborhood gas station. Now doors are allowed to stay open 24-7.

A 7-Eleven store Janelle Harris

7. These show up, along with allocated lanes to ride them in the streets. It’s always a sign when people trust the community to borrow stuff and bring it back. (See also: Zipcar.)

Bike-sharing kiosk Janelle Harris

8. Your block is equipped with speed bumps. Amazingly, they are much more effective than your disapproving scowl in slowing drivers down.

Speed bump Janelle Harris

9. Parking starts getting real exclusive, and you’ll be needing an advanced degree in urban planning to understand when and where you can do it. Also, violations will become more expensive and more frequent.

Parking signage Janelle Harris

10. Wal-Mart will come calling.

Rendering of a Wal-Mart Courtesy of Wal-Mart

11. White people will show up. At first a pioneering few will forage the land, and once the signal goes up, that trickle will become a full-on influx. I have seen folks who would have taken terror steps through my neighborhood just a few months ago now frolicking in it. At night.

Generic image Thinkstock

Dressed up in prettier terms like “redevelopment” and “renewal,” gentrification moves with the swiftness of a swarm of locusts and the ferocity of a band of gangsters. It comes with community upgrades that, in many cases, are long overdue. Not that they’re not good things. It’s just that they come at the expense of people who aren’t intended to enjoy them.

Writer and editor Janelle Harris resides in Washington, D.C., frequents Twitter and lives on Facebook.

O Holy Night worst rendition ever FUNNIEST SONG ON EARTH

If you need a good laugh, and I mean 'can't breathe, stomach hurts' belly laugh, listen to the worst rendition of Oh Holy Night ever. Warning, put all drinks down and take a few deep breaths first so you don't suffocate from laughter. It starts out as sounding like a merely poor rendition of the song, but just wait.

 

Jesse Ventura Body Slams Sick Dick Cheney

America Wouldn’t Elect Another Bush…Would They?

By Gary Bentley

Ring of Fire’s Sam Seder and author Cliff Schecter discuss Jeb Bush’s unfortunate decision to throw his name into the 2016 presidential race.

Why the U.S. Can't Punish North Korea

The FBI formally accused the isolated country of the Sony hack, but the White House is basically powerless to do anything to respond

By Adam Chandler

Kevork Djansezian/Reuters

On Friday, the FBI announced that it "now has enough information to conclude that the North Korean government is responsible" for the Sony hacks that leaked a trove of private data, launched a thousand thinkpieces, and, following some threats, ultimately preempted the release of The Interview.

Speaking in a press conference later in the day, President Obama weighed in, characterizing Sony's decision to pull The Interview as "a mistake." He also said that the United States would "will respond proportionally, and we'll respond in a place and time and manner that we choose."

 

So what does the president's very vague promise of retaliation mean for North Korea?

So what does this very vague promise of retaliation mean for North Korea? As Reuters points out, Washington may not have a lot of options. Despite decades of sanctions against the isolated communist regime, "the U.S. Treasury has so far directly sanctioned only 41 companies and entities and 22 individuals."

Compare that to Russia or Iran, whose economies have been laid low by a strenuous sanctions regime across several industries and against countless companies and individuals. Part of it is that North Korea doesn't have much of an economy to punish. According to CIA figures, the country ranks 198 out of 228 in gross domestic product with just 1.3 percent growth in 2012. Reuters also pointed to Pyongyang's aversion to traditional banks, saying that the country has "become expert in hiding its often criminal money-raising activities."

But there's much more to it than that. Scott Snyder, a Senior Fellow for Korea Studies and Director of the Program on U.S.-Korea Policy at the Council for Foreign Relations, has his own take on l'affaire Sony.

He explained that part of why it's difficult to sanction and further isolate North Korea is that Pyongyang "isn't integrated with the rest of the world." That has made the country difficult to sanction or punish in the past as well. As Snyder reminds us, this isn't the first time we've had trouble with North Korea.

Historically, I think that North Korea has a record of having engaged in provocations that have international ramifications with relative impunity. So if we go back and look at the record of controversial provocations, we see the difficulty and the challenge of holding them to account. It goes back decades.

Those transgressions have included, at least recently, the holding of American hostages, the (alleged) sinking of a South Korean boat in 2010, along with the bombardment of a South Korean island.

Given that the United States has now named North Korea in the Sony hacks and given what's already happened, Snyder says we shouldn't expect much to come of it.

"All of these are examples of cases that have resulted in behavior or responses that are pretty exceptional compared to the way that other countries have been dealt with in similar circumstances," Snyder explains.

He adds that what makes this ordeal much more difficult to move away quietly from is Sony's decision to pull The Interview from theaters, a move that naturally begs a response from the United States.

"I do think that decision put the administration into a much more difficult circumstance," he said, adding that Sony's actions have created more pressure for the administration to respond. Essentially, Obama has to figure out a way to ensure The Interview cancellation hasn't convinced America's enemies that "these kinds of threats actually may be working."

Dick Cheney Should Be in Federal Prison, Not on Meet The Press

By Jon Queally

Journalist Glenn Greenwald did not mince words on Thursday when asked to respond to comments made by former vice president Dick Cheney when he appeared on NBC's Meet The Press last Sunday.

"The reason why Dick Cheney is able to go on 'Meet The Press' instead of being where he should be—which is in the dock at The Hague or in a federal prison—is because President Obama and his administration made the decision not to prosecute any of the people who implemented this torture regime despite the fact that it was illegal and criminal," Greenwald said in an interview with HuffPost Live's Alyona Minkovski.

In Sunday's interview with host Chuck Todd, Cheney claimed that CIA torture "worked" and announced he would "do it again in a minute" if given the opportunity.

As human rights advocates and international law experts have renewed their call for prosecutions against former Bush administration officials who ordered the CIA to torture detained terrorism suspects in the aftermath of 9/11, Greenwald said that whether tortured "worked" is irrelevant—"nobody should be interested in that"—and argued that much of the blame for the fact that Cheney still has the liberty to go on national television and brag about violating domestic and international laws should be placed at the feet of President Obama.

"When you send the signal, as the Obama administration did, that torture is not a crime that ought to be punished, it's just a policy dispute that you argue about on Sunday shows, of course it emboldens torturers like Dick Cheney to go around and say, 'What I did was absolutely right,'" Greenwald said.

Watch:

Analyst: We underestimated North Korea

By Dana Ford, CNN



(CNN) - As the United States gets ready to blame the Sony hack on North Korea, a troublesome question is emerging: Just what is North Korea capable of?

Experts say the nation has spent scarce resources on building up a unit called "Bureau 121" to carry out cyber-attacks.

North Korea has been blamed in the past for attacks in South Korea, but the Sony hack - if indeed North Korea is behind it - would seem to represent an escalation of tactics.

"I think we underestimated North Korea's cyber capabilities," said Victor Cha, director of Asian Studies at Georgetown University. "They certainly didn't evidence this sort of capability in the previous attacks."

Cha was referring to attacks on South Korean broadcasters and banks last year.

In March 2013, South Korean police said they were investigating a widespread computer outage that struck systems at leading television broadcasters and banks, prompting the military to step up its cyber-alert level.

The South Korean communications regulator reportedly linked the computer failures to hacking that used malicious code, or malware.

An investigation found that many of the malignant codes employed in the attacks were similar to ones used by the North previously, said Lee Seung-won, an official at the South Korean Ministry of Science.

North Korea denied responsibility.

A spokesman for the General Staff of the Korean People's Army labeled the allegations "groundless" and "a deliberate provocation to push the situation on the Korean Peninsula to an extreme phase," according to KCNA, the North Korean state news agency.

North Korea has similarly denied the massive hack of Sony Pictures, which has been forced to cancel next week's planned release of "The Interview," a comedy about an assassination attempt on North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

But KCNA applauded the attack.

"The hacking into the SONY Pictures might be a righteous deed of the supporters and sympathizers with the DPRK," it said, using the acronym of its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. "The hacking is so fatal that all the systems of the company have been paralyzed, causing the overall suspension of the work and supposedly a huge ensuing loss."

Experts point to several signs of North Korean involvement. They say there are similarities between the malware used in the Sony hack and previous attacks against South Korea. Both were written in Korean, an unusual language in the world of cyber crime.

"Unfortunately, it's a big win for North Korea. They were able to get Sony to shut down the picture. They got the U.S. government to admit that North Korea was the source of this and there's no action plan really, at least publicly no action plan, in response to it," said Cha. "I think from their perspective, in Pyongyang, they're probably popping the champagne corks."

CNN's Gregory Wallace, Brian Stelter, Evan Perez, K.J. Kwon and Jethro Mullen contributed to this report.

Tom Tomorrow's Yesteryear Coverage of Today's U.S. Senate Report on Bush-Era CIA Torture

By Brad Friedman

It's difficult to know where Rightwingers are now when it comes to the release of today's remarkable, horrifying, redacted 528-page executive summary [PDF] of the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee's 6,000-page report on Bush-era CIA torture.

"Torture never happened!," they used to say. Then, "Okay, it happened, but it wasn't torture!" Then, "Okay, torture happened, but it was necessary!" Now, "This report is just meant as a distraction from America's real problem: ObamaCare!"

You get the idea. So did legendary syndicated cartoonist and blogger Tom Tomorrow (aka Dan Perkins), and he's been covering it with brilliant, dead-on satire for years. With the release of the Senate report, almost a decade in the making, we're posting a few very-much-related Tom Tomorrow toons from over the years below, as self-selected by Perkins on Twitter today.

"It's not as if we've learned nothing in ten years," he tweeted. "In a 2004 cartoon, I still had to explain what 'waterboarding' was."

And, as he also made clear, none of what we are learning today is ultimately a surprise. "Presumably if the cartoonists knew about it, the White House did as well."

They did indeed, as a glance at these toons from over the years makes clear yet again...
2004
2005



2006

2009



2014

Woman visits Toys R Us, pays off everyone's layaway

By SUZAN CLARKE

‘Tis the season.

A woman is being hailed as a layaway angel after she went into a Toys ‘R’ Us store in Bellingham, Mass., on Wednesday and paid off every open layaway account -- giving about 150 customers with items on layaway an early Christmas present.

The generous donor paid $20,000 to wipe the entire layaway balance at that location, a spokeswoman for Toys ‘R’ Us confirmed to ABC News on Thursday.

“This incredible act of kindness is a true illustration of holiday giving at its best,” the company said in a statement.

The donor made the payment anonymously, but the Milford Daily News reported that she was a local resident who said she would sleep better at night knowing the accounts had been paid.

The newspaper reported that the store’s layaway customers were in tears when they heard the good news.

The holidays have inspired many others to do similar good deeds for total strangers.

Tom Gubitosi went to his local Walmart in Farmingdale, N.Y., on Wednesday, and gave $100 shopping sprees to about 200 children each. Gubitosi donated the money in honor of his late mother, who loved children, WABC TV reported.

Also on Wednesday, dozens of police officers in Cape Cod, Mass., treated 26 children to lunch and $200 gift cards for the annual "Shop with Cops" program.

Earlier this month, Houston Texans receiver Andre Johnson bought $16,266.26 worth of toys for 11 children in the care of Child Protective Services, ESPN reported. At Toys "R" Us, he gave them each 80 seconds to place what they could in shopping carts. He's been hosting shopping sprees for kids since 2007.

Last year, a Florida man used more than $21,000 of his own money to pay down layaway account balances at a Walmart in central Florida.

Greg Parady, who runs a financial planning company, told ABC News that his mother had struggled when he was growing up and he wanted to help others who may have had a similar experience.

“I was a layaway kid so it's nice to be able to help," he said.

 

ABC News’ Susanna Kim contributed to this report.