March 28, 2014 by the real Aj

News/Politics 3-28-14

What’s interesting in the news today?

Open Thread, as always.

1. It sure seems like a lot of Democrats are having legal issues lately.

I’ve already linked a couple of times to the story in PA of several officials taking bribes to oppose Voter ID. The AG dropped it for political reasons, and now the state legislature is looking into the whole affair. Also 4 Republicans were approached, but declined to take the bribes.

Now we have a new one, also a Democrat, and abuse of her official position.

From 6ABC “Pennsylvania state prosecutors won a first step Wednesday in their corruption case against state Sen. Leanna Washington, securing a judge’s ruling that they have enough evidence for a trial on charges that Washington crossed the line when she allegedly ordered taxpayer-paid employees to organize an annual “birthday party” political fundraiser.

For eight years, Washington pressured her Senate staff to devote weeks to drawing up guest lists that included city and state officials, creating invitations and taking money from invitees that ultimately went to Washington’s campaign account, prosecutors say.

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State Sen. LeAnna Washington was ordered held for trial yesterday on charges
Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/cityhall/LeAnna-Washington-to-see-her-day-in-court-.html#c5FbbmLdzPMA3T2O.99

State Sen. LeAnna Washington was ordered held for trial yesterday on charges she abused the authority and resources of her Senate office to raise money for her re-election campaign.
Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/cityhall/LeAnna-Washington-to-see-her-day-in-court-.html#c5FbbmLdzPMA3T2O.99

State Sen. LeAnna Washington was ordered held for trial yesterday on charges she abused the authority and resources of her Senate office to raise money for her re-election campaign.

Attorney General Kathleen Kane has accused Washington of directing her legislative staff to perform personal political campaign work while on taxpayer time.
Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/cityhall/LeAnna-Washington-to-see-her-day-in-court-.html#c5FbbmLdzPMA3T2O.99

State Sen. LeAnna Washington was ordered held for trial yesterday on charges she abused the authority and resources of her Senate office to raise money for her re-election campaign.

Next, the Mayor of Charlotte, NC.

From FoxNews “The mayor of Charlotte, N.C. — the state’s largest city and the site of the 2012 Democratic National Convention — resigned Wednesday hours after he was charged with federal public corruption and accused of taking bribes in an FBI sting.”

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Then a state Senator from Cali., with arms deals involving terrorists and taking cash to support marijuana legislation. Also arrested with him was a notorious gangster, who has been given awards by Sen. Diane Feinstein and other local Dems.

From TheSFGate “An outspoken advocate of gun control and open government, Yee is charged with conspiring to traffic in firearms as well as six counts of scheming to defraud citizens of honest services. He has not commented on the allegations.

Investigators say Yee took bribes in exchange for political favors in order to pay off a $70,000 debt from an unsuccessful run for San Francisco mayor in 2011 and to fund his run for secretary of state. The bribes were paid by undercover agents, the FBI said.”

So he’s an anti-gun hypocrite too.

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Next, to the other coast and election fraud. They even forged Derek Jeter’s signature.

From DNAInfo “Three former campaign workers for Bronx Councilwoman Maria Del Carmen Arroyo‘s reelection bid were charged with forging nearly 100 signatures, including Derek Jeter’s and Kate Moss’, on the candidate’s primary ballot petitions, according to the Bronx District Attorney’s Office.”

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And another case of bribery and corruption from earlier this month in NY.

From TheNYTimes “William F. Boyland Jr., an assemblyman from one of Brooklyn’s most prominent political families, was convicted on Thursday of bribery and several other federal crimes.”

“The subsequent four-week trial in Federal District Court featured undercover audio and video recordings of Mr. Boyland asking for money in exchange for political favors, including a request for $250,000 to pay for his legal fees in the Manhattan case.”

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2. Yet another ObamaCare lie. Illegals won’t be eligible.

From Breitbart “The Obama administration has been helping to facilitate a series of events nationwide at Mexican Consulate offices to enroll people in Obamacare – and a key activist says the efforts are “our responsibility” regardless of citizenship.

“Whether they’re Mexican nationals or whether they’re United States citizens or whether they’re in transition– and if they’re there it is our responsibility within all of America to educate on the Affordable Care Act,” Enroll America Field Organizer Jose Medrano told Breitbart News on Wednesday.

Health Care insurance navigator groups hosted an Obamacare enrollment fair on Tuesday in the Mexican Consulate’s Brownsville office, The Rio Grande Guardian reported last Friday, where Mexican nationals among others were counseled about enrolling in the ACA.”

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3. WooHoo!

From TheHoustonChronicle “A federal appeals court on Thursday upheld Texas’ tough abortion restrictions that have forced the closure of about 20 clinics around the state, saying the new rules don’t jeopardize women’s health.

A panel of judges at the New Orleans-based 5th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a lower court judge who said the rules violate the U.S. Constitution and serve no medical purpose. After the lower court’s ruling, the appeals court allowed the restrictions to go into effect while it considered the case, which ultimately could end up before the U.S. Supreme Court.

The new law requires abortion doctors to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital and places strict limits on doctors prescribing abortion-inducing pills. More regulations that are scheduled to begin later this year weren’t a part of the case.

In its opinion, the appeals court said the law “on its face does not impose an undue burden on the life and health of a woman.”

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4. You would think this should be causing liberal teachers to rethink their voting patterns, but their white guilt won’t allow them to think it thru.

From FrontPageMag “Nobody works harder or spends more money to elect liberals than teachers and their labor unions. But these same elected officials are now asking the one question that teachers never thought they would hear: “Why are you so racist?”

“The Department of Education has held since 2009 that any disparity in discipline or education achievement between white and black students is the result of racial discrimination. The President often refers to this racial disparity.

But here’s the catch: Most teachers are white, female, liberal and supporters of President Obama. They thought they were the solution. Turns out they were the problem.

Glenn Singleton is one of the people in charge of solving the problem of racial disparity. In hundreds of school districts around the country, his company has been hired to show this cohort of young, white, liberal and female teachers how they are racist; how their racism is responsible for the achievement gap; and how they have to admit their own racism in a series of “Courageous Conversations” if they ever want to be successful educating black students.”

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March 27, 2014 by the real Aj

News/Politics 3-27-14

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. Tone Deaf? Or good old-fashioned denial?

From TheHill “Senate Democratic leaders on Wednesday said the media is exaggerating public concern about ObamaCare and insisted they aren’t worried the law will cost them their majority.

Democratic leaders said voters care more about middle-class issues like raising the minimum wage, addressing college affordability, achieving paycheck parity between men and women and rebuilding infrastructure.

They expressed their frustration with reporters after a lengthy presentation on their “Fair Shot for Everyone” agenda was followed up by a salvo of questions on the implementation of ObamaCare.”

“This agenda is what the American people want to hear. You folks all want to ask about ObamaCare but the American people, most of them, are not directly affected by ObamaCare. They want to hear what we’re going to do for them,” Sen. Charles Schumer (N.Y.), the third-ranking Democratic leader, told reporters.”

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2. The myth that Obama is the Deporter in Chief has been proven false.

From Breitbart “Fully 98 percent of individuals deported from the United States in 2013 were either criminals, apprehended while illegally crossing the border, or had been previously deported, according to a new analysis from Senate Budget Committee ranking member Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL).

The three-page document, labeled a “Critical Alert” by the senator’s office, found three executive actions by President Barack Obama providing amnesty to groups of illegal aliens meant that virtually no one who did not meet other criteria beyond simply being in the country illegal was deported.

“The evidence reveals that the Administration has carried out a dramatic nullification of federal law,” Sessions said in a statement to Breitbart News. “Under the guise of setting ‘priorities’, the Administration has determined that almost anyone in the world who can enter the United States is free to illegally live, work and claim benefits here as long as they are not caught committing a felony or other serious crime.”

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More here from NationalReview “A little-known Department of Homeland Security (DHS) directive from 2012 has dramatically altered the enforcement of immigration laws by shielding most illegal immigrants without separate criminal convictions from deportation.

Data from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), reviewed by the office of Senator Jeff Sessions (R., Ala.), indicate that the “DHS has blocked the enforcement of immigration law for the overwhelming majority of violations — and is planning to widen that amnesty even further.”

A DHS directive from December 21, 2012, decreed that ICE agents could act against illegal immigrants only in limited circumstances — mainly if an illegal immigrant was previously charged with a serious crime or was physically caught crossing the border.

The effect, according to Sessions’s office, has been that many habitual immigration violators and the vast majority of illegal immigrants in the United States face no threat of deportation. “The Administration’s priorities,” Session’s writes, “have therefore provided an executive amnesty not only to the great majority of the 12 million living her illegally today . . . but to those who will violate immigration law tomorrow. It is an open invitation for a future immigrant to overstay a visa, or enter the U.S. illegally, knowing that they will be immune from enforcement as long as they avoid being convicted of a felony or other serious crime once here.”

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3. On a related note……

Using liberal logic, 78% of America must be racists. There’s just no other answer. 🙄

From Rasmussen “A federal judge last week upheld the right of states to require proof of citizenship before allowing someone to register to vote. Voters continue to overwhelmingly support such a requirement.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 78% of Likely U.S. Voters believe everyone should be required to prove his or her citizenship before being allowed to register to vote. That’s up from 71% a year ago. Just 19% oppose that requirement. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

Twenty-nine percent (29%) believe laws that require proof of citizenship before allowing voter registration discriminate against such voters. But more than twice as many (61%) say such laws do not discriminate, up three points from 58% who felt that way in March of last year. Ten percent (10%) are undecided.”

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4. Golf clap.

From TheWashingtonExaminer “The Southern Poverty Law Center, which has labeled several Washington, D.C.-based family organizations as “hate groups” for favoring traditional marriage, has been dumped as a “resource” on the FBI‘s Hate Crime Web page, a significant rejection of the influential legal group.

The Web page scrubbing, which also included eliminating the Anti-Defamation League, was not announced and came in the last month after 15 family groups pressed Attorney General Eric Holder and FBI Director James Comey to stop endorsing a group — SPLC — that inspired a recent case of domestic terrorism at the Family Research Council.

“We commend the FBI for removing website links to the Southern Poverty Law Center, an organization that not only dispenses erroneous data but has been linked to domestic terrorism in federal court. We hope this means the FBI leadership will avoid any kind of partnership with the SPLC,” Tony Perkins, FRC President, told Secrets.

“The Southern Poverty Law Center’s mission to push anti-Christian propaganda is inconsistent with the mission of both the military and the FBI, which is to defend and uphold the Constitution of the United States,” he added.”

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5. I have to question how smart a move this is. You usually don’t end successful programs like this until you have an adequate replacement.

From TheFreeBeacon “President Barack Obama is seeking to abolish two highly successful missile programs that experts say have helped the U.S. Navy maintain military superiority for the past several decades.

The Tomahawk missile program—known as “the world’s most advanced cruise missile”—is set to be cut by $128 million under Obama’s fiscal year 2015 budget proposal and completely eliminated by fiscal year 2016, according to budget documents released by the Navy.

In addition to the monetary cuts to the program, the number of actual Tomahawk missiles acquired by the United States would drop significantly—from 196 last year to just 100 in 2015. The number will then drop to zero in 2016.

The Navy will also be forced to cancel its acquisition of the well-regarded and highly effective Hellfire missiles in 2015, according to Obama’s proposal. The proposed elimination of these missile programs came as a shock to lawmakers and military experts, who warned ending cutting these missiles would significantly erode America’s ability to deter enemy forces.”

A replacement system won’t be battle ready for at least 10 years. This will weaken the Navy, and our enemies know it.

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6. Here’s some good news.

From ABCNews “A federal appeals court on Tuesday ruled that Kansas can strip two Planned Parenthood clinics of federal family planning money while the organization moves forward with its legal challenge of a state law it says is retaliation for its advocacy of abortion rights.

Kansas is among several conservative states that have sought in recent years to strip Planned Parenthood of funding. At issue in Tuesday’s ruling is money distributed to states under Title X, a federally financed family planning program. The Title X money targets low-income individuals seeking reproductive services such as birth control, pregnancy testing, cancer screenings and treatment for sexually transmitted diseases. It cannot be used for abortions.

U.S. District Court J. Thomas Marten blocked enforcement of the state law in 2011, ruling that it unconstitutionally was intended to punish Planned Parenthood for advocating for abortion rights and would likely be overturned. He ordered Kansas to continue funding Planned Parenthood until the case was resolved. He also found the state law violates the U.S. Constitution’s supremacy clause, saying states cannot impose additional requirements for entities to qualify for federal programs.

A divided panel of the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver overturned Marten’s rulings, saying Kansas can halt the funding. Tuesday’s decision is not a final ruling on the merits of the case itself, and the appeals court sent the case back to the lower court for further proceedings. Given the split 2-1 ruling and the issues at stake in the litigation, it is also likely that the panel’s decision could be appealed to the full court for a rehearing.”

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7. They have to ruin everything.

From TheBlaze “In a stunning ruling that could revolutionize college sports, a federal agency said Wednesday that football players at Northwestern University can create the nation’s first union of college athletes.

“The decision by a regional director of the National Labor Relations Board answered the question at the very heart of the debate of the unionization bid: The football players who receive full scholarships to the Big Ten school, the agency found, do qualify as employees under federal law and therefore can legally unionize.

“Based on the entire record in this case, I find that the Employer’s football players who receive scholarships fall squarely within (the) broad definition of ‘employee,” Peter Sung Ohr, the NLRB regional director, said in his 24-page decision.”

Yep.

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March 26, 2014 by the real Aj

News/Politics 3-26-14

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. The Navy is having problems retaining officers because they’re too worried about cultural issues and being PC. The weakening of our military continues under this admin.

From TheWashingtonTimes “Cmdr. Guy Snodgrass, until recently a Pentagon speech writer for the chief of naval operations, Adm. Jonathan Greenert, said sailors are becoming fed-up with the constant emphasis on social issues — an apparent reference to gays in the military, women in combat and ending sexual harassment.”

“Sailors continue to cite the over-focus on social issues by senior leadership, above and beyond discussions on war fighting — a fact that demoralizes junior and mid-grade officers alike,” Cmdr. Snodgrass wrote this month on the U.S. Naval Institute website, an independent forum for active and retired sailors and Marines.”

“He says retention racked up its “worst year in history” for the special warfare community, including Navy SEALs, with a record number of lieutenants declining to stay.”

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2. Senator Barbara Boxer would like to explain to you why it’s OK to force Hobby Lobby to violate their religious convictions.

Clueless.

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3. This one is tooooo funny.

From TheDailyCaller “Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, desperately trying to create a conservative bogeyman for the 2014 election cycle, often takes to the Senate floor to lambast the billionaire Koch brothers for their political contributions to conservative groups.

But a George Washington University Battleground poll released Tuesday indicates that more people have an unfavorable impression of the Nevada lawmaker than the Kochs. Thirty-five percent of those polled say they have a negative impression of Reid, compared to 25 percent for the Kochs.”

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4. Another bait and switch. This is how you know the numbers didn’t meet their expectations.

From TheWaPo “The Obama administration has decided to give extra time to Americans who say that they are unable to enroll in health plans through the federal insurance marketplace by the March 31 deadline.

Federal officials confirmed Tuesday evening that all consumers who have begun to apply for coverage on HealthCare.gov, but who do not finish by Monday, will have until about mid-April to ask for an extension.

Under the new rules, people will be able to qualify for an extension by checking a blue box on HealthCare.gov to indicate that they tried to enroll before the deadline. This method will rely on an honor system; the government will not try to determine whether the person is telling the truth.

The rules, which will apply to the federal exchanges operating in three dozen states, will essentially create a large loophole even as White House officials have repeatedly said that the March 31 deadline was firm. The extra time will not technically alter the deadline but will create a broad new category of people eligible for what’s known as a special enrollment period.”

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5. And this is after Sebelius testified to Congress 2 weeks ago that the deadline wouldn’t be delayed or changed.

From TheNYTimes “Kathleen Sebelius, the secretary of health and human services, said Wednesday that the Obama administration would not extend the deadline for people to sign up for health insurance or delay the requirement for most Americans to have coverage.

And she declined to say whether the administration was still committed to its original goal of enrolling seven million people in private coverage through federal and state exchanges by March 31.

Testifying before the House Ways and Means Committee, Ms. Sebelius said categorically that the administration would not delay the “individual mandate,” under which most Americans must have insurance or pay a tax penalty. In addition, she said that officials would not extend the six-month open enrollment period, scheduled to end on March 31.”

They’ve lied repeatedly, under oath too, and will continue to do so.

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March 25, 2014 by the real Aj

News/Politics 3-25-14

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. At least 14 people have died in a mudslide in Washington state. Many more are still missing.

From Seattle/CBSLocal “The search for survivors of a deadly Washington state mudslide grew Monday to include scores of people who were still unaccounted for as the death toll from the wall of trees, rocks and debris that swept through a rural community rose to at least 14.

In the struggle to find loved ones, family members and neighbors used chain saws and their bare hands to dig through wreckage that was tangled by the mud into broken piles.

Authorities said they were looking for more than 100 people who had not been heard from since the disaster about 55 miles northeast of Seattle. They predicted that the number of missing would decline as more people are found safe. But the startling initial length of the list added to the anxieties two days after a mile-wide layer of soft earth crashed onto a cluster of homes at the bottom of a river valley.”

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2. The failed results of this administration’s “smart” diplomacy. Failed state, failed diplomacy. We should never have gotten involved.

From HotAir “An anniversary passed this week that went almost completely unremarked — and for good reason. March 17th marked the three-year anniversary of the UN Security Council resolution imposing a no-fly zone over Libya to stop the Moammar Qaddafi regime from attacking rebel-held Benghazi and Ajdabiya, and the three-year anniversary on the 19th of the NATO war on Libya. French, British, and American planes began bombarding the Qaddafi regime, an air war that would continue for months — while Barack Obama refused to request Congressional approval for it. Later, Obama would claim that Libya represented the smart model of Western intervention.

If so, why did these anniversaries pass unremarked? The Associated Press report on the status of Libya today gives a very good answer, although it is not written as such. Libya has become a failed state, where the government’s writ doesn’t run outside of its capital, and not even everywhere within that. Not only is it a dangerous place, but it is a danger to the surrounding nations in north Africa too:

Libya, where hundreds of militias hold sway and the central government is virtually powerless, is awash in millions of weapons with no control over their trafficking. The arms free-for-all fuels not only Libya’s instability but also stokes conflicts around the region as guns are smuggled through the country’s wide-open borders to militants fighting in insurgencies and wars stretching from Syria to West Africa.

The lack of control is at times stunning. Last month, militia fighters stole a planeload of weapons sent by Russia for Libya’s military when it stopped to refuel at Tripoli International Airport on route to a base in the south. The fighters surrounded the plane on the tarmac and looted the shipment of automatic weapons and ammunition, Hashim Bishr, an official with a Tripoli security body under the Interior Ministry, told The Associated Press.”

And as the author notes later, the Obama admin relied on the same type of groups for security in Benghazi, and in Egypt as well.

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3. Democrats are now using the tactic of disparaging military service to help win elections. Rather cowardly, not to mention ungrateful of them, if you ask me.

Also from HotAir “In case you were wondering precisely how desperate Senate Democrats are getting as they watch the poll numbers shift and the pages of the calendar fall away toward November, the answer would appear to be, “a lot.” You can argue the relative merits of policy and legislation all day long and nobody will bat an eye, but who on Earth thought it would be a good idea to criticize your opponent for serving their country in the military? Well, two examples come to mind from recent weeks. The first was Sen. Mark Pryor (D-AR) going after Tom Cotton.

There’s a disgusting pattern emerging of Democrats attacking Republican candidates’ records of service to the nation. Sen. Mark Pryor (D-AR) recently complained that Rep. Tom Cotton (R-AR), his general election opponent, has a “sense of entitlement” because of his military service.

“There’s a lot of people in the Senate that didn’t serve in the military,” Pryor, who never served and is the son of a politician, told NBC News. “I think it’s part of this sense of entitlement that he gives off is that almost as like ‘I served my country, therefore elect me to the Senate.’ That’s not how it works in Arkansas.”

A “sense of entitlement” for mentioning your service record? That takes some serious chutzpah. It had the Morning Joe crew shaking their heads in disbelief.”

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4. Remember the old days when college campuses were the place to engage in debate, and all points of view were heard and considered, that whole free exchange of ideas thing?

Yeah, good times….. Nowadays you might get assaulted by a professor for not towing the liberal line.

From TheCollegeFix “The University of California-Santa Barbara professor who allegedly assaulted a pro-life student on campus has been charged with criminal battery.

The College Fix reported on March 12 that department of feminist studies professor Mireille Miller-Young, whose research emphasis is black studies, pornography, and sex work, had been caught on camera assaulting a 16-year-old student, Thrin Short.

Miller-Young led a small mob that approached a group of pro-life demonstrators who were holding signs. The mob chanted “tear down the sign.” Miller-Young then grabbed one of the signs and stormed off with it, eventually engaging in a physical altercation with 16-year-old Short, one of the pro-life demonstrators, when Short tried to retrieve the stolen sign.

The confrontation took place in the university’s designated “free speech area.”

The irony is strong with this one….

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5. The DoJ is trying to convince the Supreme Court that preventing an embryo in the womb from implanting is not abortion.

From CNSNews “The U.S. Justice Department is telling the Supreme Court that killing a human embryo by preventing the embryo from implanting in his or her mother’s uterus is not an “abortion” and, thus, drugs that kill embryos this way are not “abortion-inducing” drugs.”

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the case of Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby. The crux of the administration’s argument in this case is that when Christians form a corporation they give up the right to freely exercise their religion–n.b. live according to their Christian beliefs—in the way they run their business.

It is in the context of this case, that the administration is making its argument that killing an embryo seeking to implant in his or her mother’s womb is not an abortion.”

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6. This one is just disgusting. Talk about inhumane.

From TheTelegraph/UK “The bodies of thousands of aborted and miscarried babies were incinerated as clinical waste, with some even used to heat hospitals, an investigation has found.

Ten NHS trusts have admitted burning foetal remains alongside other rubbish while two others used the bodies in ‘waste-to-energy’ plants which generate power for heat.

Last night the Department of Health issued an instant ban on the practice which health minister Dr Dan Poulter branded ‘totally unacceptable.’

At least 15,500 foetal remains were incinerated by 27 NHS trusts over the last two years alone, Channel 4’s Dispatches discovered.”

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Kane alleges that these prosecutors, out of revenge, left her holding a damaged political-corruption case that she was forced to drop, and that they then leaked the story to the press in order to besmirch her reputation. But I have looked into the facts, and they conclusively disprove this charge. These prosecutors didn’t leak this story, and I believe that not just because they told me; I believe it because the reporters themselves have said so. Kane should know that too, because those reporters have explicitly advised her office that these prosecutors were not the source of the story.

And there’s another problem with this theory: The case files were not in her office when Kane became attorney general. I have been told that before she took office, the files had been given to federal authorities, and they have stated that they never made a conclusion as to the merits of the case. No one left her with a potentially embarrassing decision to make; all she had to do was leave the investigation in the hands of federal authorities. But she didn’t do that. Instead, she asked for the files back. And then, after going out of her way to reclaim the investigation, she shut it down.

For whatever reasons, Kane has been largely silent about this important fact. She has repeatedly claimed that it was federal prosecutors who ended the investigation, and that they did so because they concluded that it was without merit. I believe that to be untrue.
Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/opinion/20140323_Kane_s_account_of_case_doesn_t_add_up.html#aUyPTCkdv8mZYgWj.99

also have to address another conspiracy theory advanced by the attorney general. She says these career prosecutors are just out to get her. She says they were mad at her because she criticized their work on another high-profile case: the investigation of Jerry Sandusky, a former coach at my alma mater, Pennsylvania State University.

I also have to address another conspiracy theory advanced by the attorney general. She says these career prosecutors are just out to get her. She says they were mad at her because she criticized their work on another high-profile case: the investigation of Jerry Sandusky, a former coach at my alma mater, Pennsylvania State University.

But I’m familiar with the newspaper reports, and with the attorney general’s extensive comments disparaging her own case. Her central complaint, as I understand it, is that she couldn’t possibly prosecute, no matter how obvious the corruption, because the witness who recorded the payoffs was offered immunity for serious criminal charges he himself was facing.

In other words, she apparently has electronic recordings of numerous elected officials taking money while promising their votes – and she has to let them off scot-free because she would be incapable of convincing a jury of their guilt?

Prosecutors around the country – local, state, and federal – regularly and successfully bring cases based on the testimony of some very bad men, sometimes even men who have been granted complete immunity after committing multiple murders. But the attorney general of Pennsylvania drops a case supported by hundreds of hours of devastating tapes because the main witness got a deal on a bunch of government fraud charges.

As a district attorney, I think this might be the most disturbing aspect of the whole sordid spectacle. You don’t have to be a prosecutor to know this is how it’s done. The way to take down organized crime or major drug distribution – or political corruption – is to get someone on the inside, someone who has been part of the enterprise, to give evidence in exchange for favorable treatment. It happens all the time, in prosecutors’ offices everywhere – including in Kane’s own.
Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/opinion/20140323_Kane_s_account_of_case_doesn_t_add_up.html#7qVaLy6LQYZc98V1.99