Airhead Milano

Alyssa Milano ‏@Alyssa_Milano  Dec 9

Alyssa Milano Retweeted Mo Elleithee

Isn't that treason?

Alyssa Milano added,

Mo Elleithee @MoElleithee

The President-elect has just attacked US Intelligence agencies, in an attempt to defend Russia. For real. https://twitter.com/Olivianuzzi/status/807414254630539264 …

139 replies277 retweets694 likes

No, Alyssa, it isn't.

Criticizing the CIA isn't treason.


Poor Alyssa, she can't push around facts the way she did Shannen Doherty.

Translation, she can't stomp her  feet, have a hissy fit, and get facts fired.


What is treason?


Let's keep it simple for simple-minded Alyssa and go to CRAPAPEDIA:

United States[edit]

In the 1790s, opposition political parties were new and not fully accepted. Government leaders often considered their opponents to be some sort of traitors. Historian Ron Chernow reports that Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton and President George Washington "regarded much of the criticism fired at their administration as disloyal, even treasonous, in nature."^[28] When an undeclared Quasi-War broke out with France in 1797-98, "Hamilton increasingly mistook dissent for treason and engaged in hyperbole." Furthermore, the Jeffersonian opposition party behaved the same way.^[29] After 1801, with a peaceful transition in the political party in power, the rhetoric of "treason" against political opponents diminished.^[30][31] Vermont is the only U.S. state to have abolished capital punishment for all crimes except treason.

Federal[edit]

To avoid the abuses of the English law, treason was specifically defined in the United States Constitution, the only crime so defined. Article III, section 3 reads as follows:

Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court.
The Congress shall have Power to declare the Punishment of Treason, but no Attainder of Treason shall work Corruption of Blood, or Forfeiture except during the Life of the Person attainted.

However, Congress has passed laws creating related offenses that punish conduct that undermines the government or the national security, such as sedition in the 1798 Alien and Sedition Acts, or espionage and sedition in the 1917 Espionage Act, which do not require the testimony of two witnesses and have a much broader definition than Article Three treason. Some of these laws are still in effect. Some well-known spies have been convicted of espionage rather than treason.

The Constitution does not itself create the offense; it only restricts the definition (the first paragraph), permits Congress to create the offense, and restricts any punishment for treason to only the convicted (the second paragraph). The crime is prohibited by legislation passed by Congress. Therefore, the United States Code at 18 U.S.C. § 2381 states "whoever, owing allegiance to the United States, levies war against them or adheres to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort within the United States or elsewhere, is guilty of treason and shall suffer death, or shall be imprisoned not less than five years and fined under this title but not less than $10,000; and shall be incapable of holding any office under the United States." The requirement of testimony of two witnesses was inherited from the British Treason Act 1695.

Here's treason for you Alyssa: "the crime of betraying one's country, especially by attempting to kill the sovereign or overthrow the government."


Get it?


If not, we guess Marcia called it a month ago: "I guess you don't learn a great deal when you go to school on the sets of WHO'S THE BOSS and TEEN STEAM."

This edition's playlist

1) Alicia Keys' HERE.


2) Pretenders' ALONE.


3)  Sam Smith's IN THE LONELY HOUR DROWNING SHADOW EDITION.

4)  Aretha Franklin's ARETHA SINGS THE GREAT DIVA CLASSICS.

5) Stevie Nick's 24 KARAT GOLD.


6) Janet Jackson's UNBREAKABLE.


7) Kate Wolf's LINES ON THE PAPER.


8) Nick Jonas' LAST YEAR WAS COMPLICATED.


9) Ben Harper's CALL IT WHAT IT IS.



10) Laura Nyro's CHRISTMAS AND THE BEADS OF SWEAT.

This is a repost from Great Britain's SOCIALIST WORKER:

Doing Israel’s dirty work is taking its toll on Fatah

Displays of unity thinly mask a profound crisis in the party that runs the Palestinian Authority, writes Nick Clark

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Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas (right) shakes hands with Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu. Under Abbas' leadership Fatah and the Palestinian Authority have cooperated with the Israeli occupation (Pic: US department of State/Wikimedia Commons)

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A rift has grown so deep inside the Fatah party in Palestine that over the past few months it has even spilled over into gunfights in the street.

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas was comfortably re-elected as Fatah leader last week.

Delegates at the opening of Fatah’s conference last Tuesday voted unanimously to re-elect Abbas by cheering for him.

But the display of unity thinly masked a profound crisis inside the party. At the heart of it is the fact that the Palestinian Authority (PA)—which governs the West Bank and which Fatah leads—is increasingly unpopular.

Years of Fatah’s cooperation with the Israeli occupation—policing the resistance while pursuing futile negotiations with the Israeli state—have failed.

The PA is no nearer to ending the occupation in favour of its inadequate two-state solution than it was 20 years ago.

Now the PA faces growing discontent. A recent poll showed 47 percent of Palestinians see the PA as a burden.


And polls have consistently shown over 60 percent want Abbas to resign.

At the same time 48 percent want a return to armed intifada, or uprising. And at least 241 Palestinians have been killed by Israelis during sustained unrest that began in October last year.

But instead of organising the resistance, the PA has responded with a security crackdown targeting protests and refugee camps.

Raids on the camps by PA forces have ended in clashes with some of Fatah’s own armed militias.
Discontent with Abbas in Palestinian society has been reflected inside Fatah itself.

Meanwhile, Abbas has used the security crackdown as a way of getting rid of some of his leading critics.

One Fatah militia leader, Ahmad Izzat Halawa, was even arrested and beaten to death by PA forces—prompting street protests and resignations by senior Fatah members.

The Israeli state fears losing control when Abbas steps down

Opposition to Abbas inside Fatah has centred on multimillionaire Mohammed Dahlan, who has been living in exile since 2011.

Dahlan has picked up some support by throwing money at projects and charities in refugee camps outside of the West Bank. He has also called for the PA to end security coordination with Israel.

But in wider Palestinian society he is even more unpopular than Abbas. Only five percent of Palestinians would back him in a presidential election against Abbas—and 59 percent oppose his return to Fatah.

Dahlan’s real strength is that he is supported by the powerful governments of Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates—all US allies. For them, Dahlan’s ruthless reputation make him an ideal candidate to lead Fatah.

As the PA security chief in Gaza, Dahlan—backed by the US and Israel—set up paramilitary gangs to fight the elected Hamas government.

Prior to Dahlan’s failed coup against Hamas in 2007 thousands of Hamas members said they were tortured by his forces. Dahlan also threatened violence against Fatah supporters sympathetic to Hamas.

The Israeli state is worried that Abbas can no longer hold things together. Leaked comments from a closed Tel Aviv security forum show it fears losing control when Abbas eventually steps down.

Some at the forum worried that fighting would allow Hamas to take over in the West Bank. Others raised the prospect of Israel “reoccupying” the West Bank to take full control themselves.

But Abbas has managed to cling on to power for now. He used last week’s conference to reassert his authority, having managed to block his opponents from attending.

Yet the growing pressures on him mean he will eventually have to go. When he does it could pave the way for more repression.

But it could also open up space for renewed resistance from below.

Payments © Socialist Worker (unless otherwise stated). You may republish if you include an active link to the original.     

U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin Joins Bipartisan Effort Urging the VA to Comply with Law that Protects Veterans from Exorbitant ER Bills

Senator Tammy Baldwin's office issued this press release Friday:

For Immediate Release

Friday, December 9, 2016

Contact: press@baldwin.senate.gov

   (202) 224 - 6225

U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin Joins Bipartisan Effort Urging the VA to Comply with Law that Protects Veterans from Exorbitant ER Bills

WASHINGTON, D.C.— U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) joined a bipartisan group of 22 senators, led by Senators Mike Rounds (R-SD) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), in writing to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Secretary Robert McDonald, urging him to comply with the Emergency Care Fairness Act (ECFA). The ECFA was enacted in 2010 and directs the VA to cover veterans non-VA emergency care bills when their private health insurance doesn’t cover the full amount of care. Yet since 2010, the VA has not complied with the law, denying hundreds of thousands of veterans’ reimbursement claims for emergency care.

Earlier this year, a federal court ordered the VA to write regulations that comply with the ECFA.  In addition to urging the VA to comply with the law, the Senators also requested that the agency fix its mistake and re-open all previously-denied claims.

“Congress’s clear intent in passing the ECFA was to expand veteran eligibility for reimbursement for emergency treatment furnished to veterans in non-department facilities,” wrote the senators. “Specifically, congressional intent was to require the VA to act as a secondary payer for emergency treatment costs not covered by the veteran’s third-party insurance. It is evident that the VA has ignored congressional intent. Most troubling is the fact that those who are most affected by the VA’s non-compliance with the ECFA are our elderly veterans, many of whom are living on fixed incomes and have limited resources to pay medical bills.”

In addition to Baldwin, Rounds and Klobuchar, the letter was signed by Senators Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Claire McCaskill (D-MO), Mark Kirk (R-IL), Jon Tester (D-MT), John Boozman (R-AK), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Steve Daines (R-MT), Patty Murray (D-WA), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Jim Inhofe (R-OK), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Jerry Moran (R-KS), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Joni Ernst (R-IA), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Kelly Ayotte (R-NH), Al Franken (D-MN), John Cornyn (R-TX) and Jeff Merkley (D-OR).

 

The bipartisan effort is supported by The American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), Disabled American Veterans (DAV) and the Paralyzed Veterans of America (PVA).

 

A copy of the letter is available here.

An online version of this release is available here.

 

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Isakson, Blumenthal Hail Senate Passage of Bipartisan Veterans Reform Package

Senator Johnny Isakson (above) is the Chair of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee.  His office issued the following today:


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2016

Contact: Amanda Maddox, 202-224-7777

Isakson, Blumenthal Hail Senate Passage of Bipartisan Veterans Reform Package

Legislation to improve veterans’ access to health care, benefits now heads to president’s desk

 

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., chairman and ranking member of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, today applauded unanimous Senate passage of legislation to improve veterans’ access to health care, disability benefits, education and homelessness assistance, among other important benefits for our nation’s veterans.

 

“I am proud that the Senate has acted on this legislation to help our veterans,” said Isakson. “Regardless of political party, we are showing our veterans that we are on the same team when it comes to getting things right for them. With today’s vote, we are demonstrating our commitment to ensuring that our veterans receive what was promised to them and their families. This legislation will improve veterans’ access to health care and benefits and is an important down payment on the debt that we owe to the veterans of the United States of America.”

 

“This bipartisan, comprehensive legislation continues our progress toward leaving no veteran behind,” Blumenthal said. “With 76 separate provisions, it is broad in scope and scale. Hiring more mental health counselors and emergency room doctors will mean more veterans receive quality healthcare. Expanding eligibility for homelessness prevention programs will provide critical support to veterans at risk of homelessness. Extending critical education benefits to surviving family members will further our promise of education. Beginning work to help descendants of veterans exposed to toxic substances will help heal the residual wounds of war. But on these issues and so many more, we are only taking another step in what must be a journey toward ensuring our veterans receive the benefits they need and deserve.”

 

The Jeff Miller and Richard Blumenthal Veterans Health Care and Benefits Improvement Act of 2016 (H.R.6416) includes 76 bipartisan provisions that address a variety of areas in veterans’ services that are in need of reforms or improvements. It incorporates language from a number of previously introduced House and Senate bills, including several provisions from the Veterans First Act, which unanimously passed the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs in May 2016.

 

The measure is named after retiring chairman of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee, Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., as well as outgoing Senate VA committee ranking member Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., in tribute to their years-long commitment to serving veterans in Congress.

 

Earlier this week, Isakson delivered remarks on the Senate floor imploring “members of the United States Senate to help us pass this down payment on the promise and the debt that we owe to the veterans of the United States of America.”

 

Following today’s early morning Senate vote and a strong vote of 419-0 by the U.S. House on Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2016, the Jeff Miller and Richard Blumenthal Veterans Health Care and Benefits Improvement Act of 2016 now heads to the president’s desk for his signature.

 

Specifically, H.R.6416 will:

 

·       Streamline portions of the process for veterans, their families and their survivors to obtain disability compensation and benefits through the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA);

·       Expand the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims from seven to nine judges to help address the large backlog of veterans’ appeals that may soon arrive at the court;

·       Make changes to the VA’s burial benefits and interment policies, including expanding eligibility for presidential memorial certificates to certain individuals who served in reserve units of the Armed Forces, among others;

·       Provide a much-needed extension of education benefits for surviving spouses who lost a loved one on September 11, 2001, or during the early years of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq;

·       Improve how the VA administers and approves education benefits for veterans and allow mobilized reservists to keep their GI Bill eligibility when a deployment interrupts their schooling;

·       Modify ownership requirements for small businesses participating in the VA contract assistance programs and require the Department of Labor to conduct a five-year study of job counseling, training, and placement service for veterans;

·       Make improvements to the VA’s health care services and benefits to include:

o   Ensuring preventative health services for veterans include access to adult immunizations for veterans who wish to receive them;

o   Prioritizing access to care for medal of honor recipients;

o   Ensuring veterans who served in classified missions can access mental health care without disclosing classified information;

o   Requiring the VA to submit an annual report to Congress regarding the provision of hospital care, medical services and nursing home care by the Veterans Health Administration;

o   Expanding the qualification criteria to make it easier to hire qualified mental health care professionals;

o   Enhancing research on the potential health effects from toxic exposures to veterans and their descendants.

·       Increase access to benefits for homeless veterans.

 

A section-by-section summary of the H.R.6416 is available here.

 

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The Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs is chaired by U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., in the 114th Congress.

Isakson is a veteran himself – having served in the Georgia Air National Guard from 1966-1972 – and has been a member of the Senate VA Committee since he joined the Senate in 2005. Isakson’s home state of Georgia is home to more than a dozen military installations representing each branch of the military as well as more than 750,000 veterans.

Miller Statement on House Passage of Veterans Bills

US House Rep Jeff Miller (above) is the Chair of the House Veterans Affairs Committee.  His office issued the following:

     

Dec 7, 2016

Press Release

For more information, contact: Curt Cashour, (202) 225-3527

Today the House passed two veterans-related bills:

H.R. 5099, as amended, the Communities Helping Invest through Property and Improvements Needed for Veterans Act of 2016, also referred to as the CHIP IN for Vets Act of 2016, would authorize the Department of Veterans Affairs to carry out a pilot program to allow non-federal entities - including state or city governments, nonprofit organizations and benefactors - to donate up to five facilities to VA.

H.R. 6435 would allow directors of VA’s regional networks to enter into a contract with an appropriate non-VA entity with expertise in health care evaluation to investigate any VA medical center within that director’s jurisdiction.

These bills now await consideration by the Senate. Following House passage of the bills, Chairman Miller released the below statement.


“The support and involvement of outside stakeholders is absolutely crucial to VA’s success, and these bills would help facilitate more of that. H.R. 6435 allows vital third party oversight of VA facilities, and the CHIP IN for Vets Act would broaden the pool of resources available to VA for its infrastructure needs. I’m proud to stand with my colleagues in passing these bills and urge the Senate to consider them without delay.” - Rep. Jeff Miller, Chairman, House Committee on Veterans' Affairs

114th Congress

Highlights

This piece is written by Rebecca of Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude, Cedric of Cedric's Big Mix, Kat of Kat's Korner, Betty of Thomas Friedman is a Great Man, Mike of Mikey Likes It!, Elaine of Like Maria Said Paz, Ruth of Ruth's Report, Marcia of SICKOFITRADLZ, Stan of Oh Boy It Never Ends, Ann of Ann's Mega Dub, Isaiah of The World Today Just Nuts and Wally of The Daily Jot. Unless otherwise noted, we picked all highlights.




"Hillary's Love Slaves are out in full force again" and "Elise Labott makes clear that US journalists have ..." -- the most requested highlights by readers of this site -- who also registers that they're upset these Highlights haven't been a regular piece of late.

"OFFICE CHRISTMAS PARTY" and "Will Smith made the bad list too" -- Stan goes to the movies.

"They just hope we're stupid," "Can't forgive Jill," "the real fake news-ers," "MEDIA MATTERS? Try HIDEOUS NOTHINGS," "David Corn doesn't do corrections," "What should be front page and top of the broadcast news," "Joe Scarborough serves up a slice of truth," "David Brock attacked Anita Hill AND Michelle Obama," "Is is ever her fault?," "Moyers the eternal fake ass," "Does this worry anybody?," "The Hollow Man," "You know a Republican is headed for the White House . . .," "Shut it down," "That never-ending outrage," "hillary contrasted with bernie," "That ObamaCare scam,"

 "Who picked her BBQ?" and "THIS JUST IN! FOOL CAN'T EVEN PICK BBQ RIGHT!,"  "reject the msm (true fake news pushers)," "3 Americans are held prisoner in Iraq," "That awful speech,"  

"That never ending election," "MSNBC needs to pull conspiracy nut Joy Reid," "Fake News and stolen passwords," "Who's faking who?," "Look how presumptious they were," "Forget 2016, Clinton's focused on the 1965 election" and "THIS JUST IN! CLINTON WANTS ANOTHER RECOUNT!" -- coverage of the news, the fake news and the Hillary crazies.

"Ben Harper," "Andy Grammer, Charlie Puth, Meghan Trainor" and "Music criticism and more" -- Ruth and Kat listen to music.

Truest statement of the week

Most of all, I don't want to hear about how unfairly Clinton was treated by the media. In comparison to whom? All the other candidates who've run for president while under criminal investigation by the FBI? (Maybe that substantial handicap should have overridden the party's presumption that she was owed the nomination because it was "her turn.") Or do you mean, instead, that she was treated badly in comparison to her opponent? Really? You mean the one whose 24/7 media coverage was overwhelmingly, relentlessly negative in tone and content? Either way, a halfway competent campaign should have been able to take advantage of the great good fortune of running against Donald J. Trump and left him bleeding in the ditch.Most of all, I don't want to hear about how unfairly Clinton was treated by the media. In comparison to whom? All the other candidates who've run for president while under criminal investigation by the FBI? (Maybe that substantial handicap should have overridden the party's presumption that she was owed the nomination because it was "her turn.") Or do you mean, instead, that she was treated badly in comparison to her opponent? Really? You mean the one whose 24/7 media coverage was overwhelmingly, relentlessly negative in tone and content? Either way, a halfway competent campaign should have been able to take advantage of the great good fortune of running against Donald J. Trump and left him bleeding in the ditch.

-- David Linkler's "Hillary Clinton blew the most winnable election in modern American history. And it's her own fault." (THE WEEK):