News Live Cast

Inside a West Tennessee barn, the horses are whipped and beaten. Trainers drag them by their heads. Some are kicked. Chemicals are dripped on their ankles which are then bound tightly with plastic wrap.

It was all done in an effort to accentuate the well-known, high leg kick of the Tennessee Walking Horse, animal rights advocates say. And, it all unfolds on an undercover video.

The Humane Society of the United States released the footage Thursday to urge the horse industry, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Congress to crack down on “soring.” The practice is illegal under federal and state law.

It involves using chemicals on the horses’ ankles as a way to force them, because of pain, to lift their legs higher when they walk. The walk, known as the “Big Lick,” is prized in Walking Horse competitions.

Read the full article here.

If the 2008 presidential election was nearly derailed by absurd posturing about “God, guns and gays,” look for this year’s contest to ballyhoo illegal immigration.

The stage was set by the 2010 midterm elections, as several states enacted draconian anti-immigrant measures. The worst was Arizona’s, which tasked police with ascertaining the legal status of people they stop for any reason, and required that they detain anyone with the “reasonable suspicion” of being in the country illegally. It also empowered citizens to sue police if they failed to comply.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals blocked many of the law’s most egregious provisions from being implemented. If it were allowed to stand, the law’s most notable effect would be to make life very unpleasant for anyone unlucky enough to look or sound like an illegal immigrant. But that may have been the point to begin with.

The Arizona law will come under scrutiny at the federal level later this month, both in the Supreme Court and in Congress. On April 25, the Supreme Court will hear arguments on whether Arizona has pre-empted the federal government’s longstanding powers to enforce immigration policy. The U.S. Department of Justice has brought the suit. The day before the court hearing, a Senate subcommittee headed by Democrat Charles Schumer will do some political grandstanding on the issue in a hearing of its own.

Schumer sent a letter to Arizona Gov. Jan Brewerasking her to testify. Specifically, he asked her to comment on whether the law is still necessary, given $600 million in enhancements to border security that he helped pass. Brewer declined.

Schumer’s kidding, right? Of course Brewer’s not going to back down on her state’s law. To do so would give up her law-and-order credentials. Few issues stoke the GOP base as much as tough talk about illegal immigration. The party is counting on the issue to keep people fired up and ready to donate this year.

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Proceedings begin Monday in the murder trial of William Balfour, accused of murdering Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson’s mother, brother and 7-year-old nephew.

Judge Charles Burns plans to start questioning would-be jurors one by one, trying to weed out anyone who could be swayed by Hudson’s celebrity status.

Hudson is expected to be at the trial every day once testimony begins, court officials say. She is also on the 300-name list of witnesses who could testify.

Legal experts widely agree on the No. 1 challenge at trials involving megastars. It is the task of identifying 12 jurors able and willing to assess guilt solely on what they hear in court.

This dilemma became clear last week, when 150 potential jurors filled out their questionnaires in court. Nine of the 66 questions dealt with Hudson’s career: Would-be jurors were asked if they’d ever seen her Academy Award-winning film “Dreamgirls” and if they belong to an organization for which Hudson is a spokesperson, presumably a reference to Weight Watchers.

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PRINCE GEORGE, Va. — Kevin Foster said President Barack Obama’s visit to Prince George County on Friday was a once-in-a-lifetime chance for his two children to see a sitting president just five minutes from their home.

He may have been right.

Jim Guyette, president and CEO of Rolls-Royce North America, told an enthusiastic crowd of about 1,000 that Obama was the first president to visit Prince George since William Howard Taft in 1909. Obama spoke about the economy and touted partnerships between universities and advanced manufacturing facilities at Rolls-Royce Crosspointe, which manufactures discs for jet engines.

Foster, a Republican, said Obama’s appearance in a battleground state just three days after its GOP presidential primary was “probably a strategic move on his part,” but he was happy to see the president no matter what the circumstances were. In 2008, Obama became the first Democratic presidential candidate to carry Virginia in 44 years.

Read the full article here.

President Obama announced a plan today that attempts to accommodate religious employers opposed to a rule that would require them to provide access to birth control for women free of charge.

Obama announced that the rule would be tweaked, so in cases where non-profit religious organizations have objections, their insurance companies will be required to reach out to employees and offer the coverage directly.

“Under the rule, women will still have access to free preventive care that includes contraceptive service no matter where they work,” Obama said. “That core principle remains. But if a woman’s employer is a charity or a hospital that has a religious objection to providing contraceptive services as part of their health plan. The insurance company–not the hospital, not the charity–will be required to reach out and offer the woman contraceptive care free of charge without co-pays, without hassle.”

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This will be a tough month for Newt Gingrich. The former House speaker has lost momentum following his win in South Carolina, he lacks free media opportunities and he can’t match Mitt Romney in money or organization — as the race heads into states that are strong for Romney.

Below, five key reasons why February will be challenging for Gingrich’s campaign:

Romney friendly landscape: There are eight caucuses or primaries in the five weeks between Florida’s vote and the “Super Tuesday” group of 10 contests on March 6 (Super Tuesday isn’t what it once was; there used to be 21 states voting on that day). Nevada, Missouri, Minnesota, Colorado, Maine, Michigan, Arizona and Washington are the states, representing 250 delegates (there are 437 on Super Tuesday). Romney won five of the eight last time: Nevada, Minnesota, Colorado, Maine and Michigan. He came in second to favorite son McCain in Arizona and dropped out before Washington.

In addition to history, Romney has organization. Several of these states are caucus states which require organization which Romney has. Ron Paul could also come in ahead of Gingrich in some places.

Romney has money: At the end of last year, Romney had $20 million cash on hand to Gingrich’s $2 million. Gingrich raised money in Jan. but burned through a lot of it on ads. Billionaire Sheldon Adelson, who has already given $10 million to the super PAC backing Gingrich, tempers this a bit, obviously.

No debates: There are 20 days before the next debate — February 22 in Arizona — which limits Gingrich’s ability to leverage free media.

Bad polls: Newt has argued that Florida didn’t matter because he was up in the national polls. But he no longer leads in national polls. He is down six points in Gallup to Romney.

Read the full article here.

American Airlines announced yesterday that it wants to get rid of 13,000 workers, or 16% of its work force. That’s terrible news for company employees and their families. It’s also bad news for people who have accumulated frequent flyer miles.

After AMR Corporation, American’s parent company, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in November, I wrote on this page that frequent flyer miles may be worth less. The airline promised business as usual. But as I explained here, points are meaningless unless you can redeem them for a seat to a particular destination, on the date of your choice and in the desired class of service. Yesterday’s drastic staff cuts give us every reason to believe that American will be flying fewer planes. That will make fewer seats available for purchase – either with dollars or with points.

Read the full article here.

Last week, talk show host Stephen Colbert announced he was running in the GOP primary in South Carolina, and gave control of his very real Super PAC to fellow talk show host Jon Stewart.

Colbert then announced on his show Monday that he’s unable to run as a candidate in South Carolina because the state does not allow write-ins in the primary. So he urged his supporters to instead vote for a surrogate candidate: Herman Cain. Why? Because though Cain is officially out of the race, his name remains on the ballot.

Tuesday, Stewart’s pro-Colbert PAC released a commercial in South Carolina that urged voters to cast their ballot … for Cain. None of this came as a shock to Cain, because the businessman is in on the joke.

Read the full article here.

President Barack Obama installed Richard Cordray as head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau with a recess appointment today, testing the limits of his executive authority to fill the post without Senate approval.

“I am now the director and my work will be to protect American consumers,” Cordray said at the airport in Cleveland, where he was accompanying the president to a speech on the economy. “I’m going to be 100 percent focused on that.”

Obama nominated Cordray to be the bureau’s first director in July, almost one year after enactment of the Dodd-Frank financial regulatory law creating the agency. Republicans blocked Cordray’s confirmation by the Senate last month. Putting him in the job today may set up an election-year court fight between the White House and Congress.

The president’s decision drew quick criticism from Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, who said in a statement that Obama “arrogantly circumvented” the American people and upended “long-standing” practices that limited recess appointments.

“Breaking from this precedent lands this appointee in uncertain legal territory, threatens the confirmation process and fundamentally endangers the Congress’s role in providing a check on the excesses of the executive branch,” said McConnell, of Kentucky.

House Speaker John Boehner, an Ohio Republican, called the appointment an “extraordinary and entirely unprecedented power grab” by the president.

Ohio Announcement

Obama, who is making confrontation with congressional Republicans a part of his re-election strategy, has said filling the consumer bureau post is critical to protecting middle-income Americans from “unscrupulous” lenders. He plans to make the announcement this afternoon in Ohio, a key battleground for the 2012 presidential election.

Cordray is the former attorney general of Ohio and accompanied Obama on Air Force One for the trip to the state.

The Constitution gives a president the power to make appointments when the U.S. Senate is in recess. To keep Obama from appointing officials after Congress started a holiday break last month, congressional Republicans refused to adopt a resolution to formally adjourn and senators have appeared every three days for a brief pro forma session.

Senate Recess

The Congressional Research Service, in a 2001 memo, said congressional practice and Justice Department opinions have backed the position that the Senate should be out of session for more than three days before the president can make a recess appointment.

Pfeiffer, in a post on the White House website, accused Senate Republicans of making an “overt attempt” to block the president from using his constitutional authority to make recess appointments by insisting the chamber remain in pro forma session.

“Gimmicks do not override the president’s constitutional authority to make appointments to keep the government running,” Pfeiffer wrote. Lawyers who advised President George W. Bush on recess appointments wrote that the Senate “cannot use sham ‘pro forma’ sessions to prevent the president from exercising a constitutional power,” he wrote.

Obama’s press secretary, Jay Carney, cited a legal opinion by the White House counsel’s office that determined the Senate was in recess and not conducting any business.

Legal Justification

“When the Congress refuses to act, the president will,” Carney told reporters traveling with the president. “The fact of the matter is that the Senate has been in recess and will continue to be in recess.”

In making the appointment, Obama is going beyond the power asserted by previous administrations to install officials without Senate action. In a 1993 court case involving the Postal Service Board of Governors, Justice Department lawyers argued in court papers that presidents can make recess appointments when the Senate is out of session for more than three days.

The brief suggested that a president might lack that authority during shorter breaks. Pointing to the constitutional requirement that the Senate and House get one another’s consent before adjourning for more than three days, the Justice Department said the constitutional framers might not have considered shorter recesses to be significant.

“If the recess here were of three days or less, a closer question would be presented,” the Justice Department argued.

Support from Democrats

Obama was backed by congressional Democrats, including Senate Majority Leader Harry Reidof Nevada and Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Johnson, a South Dakota Democrat.

Reid said in a statement that filling the job will give middle-income families “the advocate they deserve to fight on their behalf against the reckless practices that denied so many their economic security.”

In choosing Cordray last July, Obama passed over Elizabeth Warren, the Harvard University professor who set up the bureau and is running for the U.S. Senate from Massachusetts.

Read the full article here.