Hasta La Gadget!

WASHINGTON ― Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), who is up for re-election in 2018 in a state President Donald Trump won by double digits, announced Friday that she’ll vote against his Supreme Court nominee, appeals judge Neil Gorsuch.

McCaskill will join Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and a growing list of Democrats intent on denying Gorsuch the 60 votes he needs to clear a procedural hurdle before his nomination can proceed to the Senate floor.

“This is a really difficult decision for me. I am not comfortable with either choice,” McCaskill wrote on Medium, a social publishing platform.

“While I have come to the conclusion that I can’t support Neil Gorsuch for the Supreme Court  —  and will vote no on the procedural vote and his confirmation —  I remain very worried about our polarized politics and what the future will bring, since I’m certain we will have a Senate rule change that will usher in more extreme judges in the future,” she added.

McCaskill was struggling with her decision as recently as Thursday, when she declined to talk to reporters about which way she was leaning. She referred to Gorsuch as a “dangerous” nominee, but used the same word to describe the ramifications of blowing up Senate rules to confirm him.

In her Friday statement, the senator wrote that Trump broke a vow to Missouri voters who elected him by outsourcing his Supreme Court choice “to a right-wing group that fronts for large corporations and special interests” — a likely reference to dark-money groups that have spent heavily to boost the Gorsuch nomination in key states.

“He promised he would drain the swamp of the special interests, the lobbyists, and politicians who have overlooked the working people in this country,” McCaskill wrote. “This judicial nomination breaks those promises.”

This judicial nomination breaks those promises.
Claire McCaskill on President Trump’s nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch

This week, the Missouri incumbent was among four Democratic senators in states Trump carried in the 2016 election who were targeted with pro-Gorsuch ads by the National Rifle Association. She was also targeted in a separate media blitz by wealthy donors aimed at boosting Trump’s agenda.

After the Kansas City Star reported on a secret recording where McCaskill told donors her concerns about Democrats’ hard-line stance on Gorsuch, she quickly brushed off suggestions that she was waffling. 

“My words speak for themselves,” McCaskill told Capitol Hill reporters on Thursday. “Isn’t it refreshing that I say the same thing in private that I say in public?”

With McCaskill and Sen. Richard Blumenthal (Conn.) joining the opposition to Gorsuch on Friday, Democrats have gathered 38 votes against the nominee ― though two of them, Sens. Patrick Leahy (Vt.) and Ben Cardin (Md.) haven’t yet said they’ll also join the filibuster.

Only two Democrats, Sens. Joe Manchin (W.Va.) and Heidi Heitkamp (N.D.), have said they’ll support Gorsuch. Republicans need at least eight Democrats to break the promised Democratic filibuster. Major progressive organizations, including Credo, AllofUs and Friends of the Earth, are petitioning the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee to withhold campaign funds from any Democratic senators who break ranks and support Gorsuch.

Even if the Gorsuch nomination fails to gain enough Democratic votes to move forward, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has suggested he’s ready to change longstanding Senate rules for Supreme Court nominees and get the judge confirmed no matter what by next Friday.

Some Republicans who’d rather not go that route and prefer to try to find common ground with the other side to preserve the current rules say they’re worried what next week’s confirmation vote will mean for the Senate’s future.

“At this point, there’s been little or no progress,” Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) told The Huffington Post this week. “It makes me very sad. I’ve been involved in past efforts. I’ve failed.”

— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

Kotaku Ghost In The Shell Really Bummed Us Out | Jalopnik This Is What It Looks Like When You Don’t Change Your Oil | io9 Orlando Bloom Is Looking Very Crusty in New Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales Footage | Vitals You’re Probably Going to Get a Tick This Summer. Good Luck. |

Read more…

It is nearly April first, and that means companies are rolling out some amusing fables and faux products. Not to be left out of the fun is T-Mobile, which has gone to great lengths to introduce the T-Mobile ONEsie, a ‘full body wearable’ that has received its own press release, video, and supposed launch date. The ONEsie is exactly what … Continue reading

Rikers Island, the gigantic island of incarceration in New York City that serves as an embarrassing emblem of violence, cruelty and neglect in the American jail system, is finally on its way to shutting down for good.

Mayor Bill de Blasio confirmed Friday that a plan was in place to shutter the complex ― the nation’s second largest ― within the next 10 years. Many of the details are yet unclear, but at least part of the plan includes moving inmates to new, smaller jails scattered across the boroughs, according to The New York Times. Building those jails could cost around $10.6 billion.

An independent commission, created by City Council and headed by New York state chief judge Jonathan Lippman, reportedly plans to release more details on Sunday.

“New York City has always been better than Rikers Island,” de Blasio said in a press release. “[Its closure] will require that our state government, and each component of our criminal justice system, contribute to the reform efforts critical to reducing our jail population and improving re-entry services and educational programming.”

A draft of the Lippman’s report recommends reducing the Rikers population from 10,000 now to less than 5,000 in the near future, according to the New York Post.

“From 1991 to 2016, the daily jail population declined from more than 21,000 to 10,000,” the report states. “The recent history of New York City clearly demonstrates that crime and incarceration can be driven down simultaneously. Contrary to what many people believe, more jail does not mean more public safety.”

If it takes 10 years to close the facility completely, it may take a lifetime to shake off Rikers’ reputation.

Several federal reports over the years have found overwhelming evidence of systemic violence, excessive force and neglect at the facility. HuffPost’s Chris Mathias reports that solitary confinement is doled out like candy on Halloween. Assaults on inmates are a dime a dozen, and they’re often covered up. There are nearly 500 inmates between the ages of 16 to 18 there on any given day. It’s been called a revolving door for people of color and the poor.

Rikers also houses a disproportionate number of mentally ill inmates ― at one point, it had more mentally ill inmates than all of the state’s 24 psychiatric hospitals combined ― and critics have long said there’s not nearly enough treatment.

For many, its closure can’t come too soon.

“For too long, New Yorkers ― especially poor people of color ― have languished in this grist mill, where human rights abuses are routine,” Glenn E. Martin, president and founder of JustLeadershipUSA, said Friday. “Countless failed attempts at incremental reform have proven that the only viable solution is to close Rikers. I am grateful that Mayor de Blasio has joined the progressive majority.”

— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

When Kimber Walker celebrated her fifth birthday, she picked a pretty unconventional party theme. 

The North Carolina preschooler commemorated the occasion with a Costco-themed party at her home in February. 

“She is obsessed with Costco,” Kimber’s mom, Niki, told The Huffington Post. “We served hotdogs and pizza, set up sample stations, printed dollars with her face on them, had Costco pizza and Kirkland ice cream. We also had a little shop set up, and everyone designed their own ‘membership cards’.”

Niki said Kimber had been requesting a Costco-themed party for two years, so the family finally decided to bring her dream to life for her fifth birthday.

The Walkers declared their daughter “Employee of the Month” and set up a photo area for guests to take photos with a sign stating that. Their local Winston-Salem Costco even gave them a special employee badge for the little girl.

Kimber had a blast at the party, and her guests enjoyed the celebration as well.

“They thought it was hilarious and quirky, which both describe my daughter,” said the mom.  “One of the little girls that came said that it was the best party that she had ever been to, including all of her own. “

Keep scrolling to see more photos from Kimber’s awesome Costco party.

— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.