Todd Starnes: John Boehner Needs To Go

Today In GOP Infighting

House Dems Reject Stopgap Homeland Security Funding Bill By 222-204 Vote

The GOP put forward a bill to fund Homeland Security for the next three weeks only. Democrats just refused and unless another vote is taken tonight, the agency will effectively shut down at midnight. As you can see, 50 Republicans refused to even vote for three more weeks. The Senate has approved a bill to fund Homeland Security until the end of the fiscal year.

Most Major Theater Chains Pull The Interview Over Terrorist ThreatsUPDATE: Sony Has Pulled The Film

Via the Los Angeles Times:

The nation's leading theater chains are pulling the plug on screening "The Interview." Regal, AMC and Cinemark -- the three largest chains in the United States -- have decided not to screen “The Interview” when it debuts on Christmas Day in the wake of threats made by Sony hackers, said people familiar with the decision. The chains have asked Sony to postpone the release date of the controversial film. The decision represents a major blow to Sony Pictures Entertainment, which has been under siege by a hack attack that became public Nov. 24. A representative of Sony Pictures Entertainment declined to comment. Late Tuesday, Carmike Cinemas, the fourth-largest theater chain, with 2,917 screens in 41 states, became the first major exhibitor to scrap plans to screen "The Interview."

More from the Associated Press:

The fallout from the Sony Pictures Entertainment hack that began four weeks ago exploded Tuesday after the shadowy group calling themselves Guardians of Peace escalated their attack beyond corporate espionage and threatened moviegoers with violence reminiscent of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. The Department of Homeland Security said there was "no credible intelligence to indicate an active plot against movie theaters," but noted it was still analyzing messages from the group, dubbed GOP. The warning did prompt law enforcement in New York and Los Angeles to address measures to ramp up security.

UPDATE: Sony has pulled the film entirely.

In light of the decision by the majority of our exhibitors not to show the film The Interview, we have decided not to move forward with the planned December 25 theatrical release. We respect and understand our partners’ decision and, of course, completely share their paramount interest in the safety of employees and theater-goers. Sony Pictures has been the victim of an unprecedented criminal assault against our employees, our customers, and our business. Those who attacked us stole our intellectual property, private emails, and sensitive and proprietary material, and sought to destroy our spirit and our morale – all apparently to thwart the release of a movie they did not like. We are deeply saddened at this brazen effort to suppress the distribution of a movie, and in the process do damage to our company, our employees, and the American public. We stand by our filmmakers and their right to free expression and are extremely disappointed by this outcome.

Sony could lose $100M.

VIDEO: BASE Jumpers Leap From 1WTC

Four BASE jumpers turned themselves in to the NYPD yesterday after having parachuted from the top of 1WTC in September. This is the second report of major 1WTC security lapses this week and the tabloids are, correctly this time, going nuts.

Police told the Daily News that former WTC ironworker James Brady, 32, Andrew Rossig, 33, Marco Markovich, 27, and lookout Kyle Hartwell, 29, were charged with burglary, reckless endangerment and jumping from a structure before being released on $3,500 bail. Rossig told the Daily News that the skydivers accessed Ground Zero by slipping through a hole in the fence and then "just kind of walked in." The New Jersey teen similarly made his way into the tower without encountering much security. If the helmet camera footage Brady filmed pulls in any money, Rossig's attorney told the newspaper, the skydivers plan to donate the proceeds to a charity for families of 9/11 victims.

(Tipped by JMG reader Dwight)

Super Bowl Security Oops

(Tipped by JMG reader Jeff)

Homeland Security Descends On AMC Theatres Patron Wearing Google Glass

AMC Theatres has banned patrons from wearing Google Glass after Homeland Security yanked a patron wearing the device out of one of their Ohio multiplexes. Via the Guardian:

Writing anonymously on The Gadgeteer blog, the man explained that halfway into the screening at an AMC in Columbus, Ohio, he was hauled out by police and officers from homeland security's ICE unit, which monitors piracy. "A guy comes near my seat, shoves a badge that had some sort of a shield on it, yanks the Google Glass off my face and says 'Follow me outside immediately'," said the man, who was taken into a room for interrogation. His Glass had been switched off during the movie, and he was wearing it for its prescription lenses. "After a long time somebody came with a laptop and an USB cable at which point he told me it was my last chance to come clean. I repeated for the hundredth time there is nothing to come clean about and this is a big misunderstanding so the [ICE officer] finally connected my Glass to the computer, downloaded all my personal photos and started going though them one by one … Then they went through my phone, and five minutes later they concluded I had done nothing wrong." He wasn't apologised to, but was offered four free movie passes, which "infuriated" him.

AMC says they are "very concerned" about the potential for stealing movies via Google Glass. The Motion Picture Association of America disagrees: "Google Glass is an incredible innovation in the mobile sphere, and we have seen no proof that it is currently a significant threat that could result in content theft." (Tipped by JMG reader Kevin)

RELATED: As I mentioned here recently, I ran Miami-area theaters for AMC back in the stone age of VHS when movie pirates would occasionally bribe employees to smuggle new releases out of the projection booth for overnight duplication. It was quite the operation back in those days as the films arrived on six to ten small reels in two 50-lb canisters. Pirates, with the aid of an employee, had to break the film back down onto the small reels, take it elsewhere, splice it back together, then film it off their own screen. A couple of days later the tapes would appear at shops across South America. More often, however, they would just slip into one of our early matinees and make a shitty handheld recording off our own screen, a la Seinfeld. We threw them out all the time, but the local cops weren't very interested in making arrests.

Janet Napolitano Quits Homeland Security

Janet Napolitano today announced that she will be resigning her Cabinet post with the Obama administration to become the president of the California state university system.

Napolitano’s nomination by a committee of UC regents came after a secretive process that insiders said focused on her early as a high-profile, although untraditional, candidate who has led large public agencies and shown a strong interest in improving education. UC officials believe that her Cabinet experiences –- which include helping to lead responses to hurricanes and tornadoes and overseeing some anti-terrorism measures -- will help UC administer its federal energy and nuclear weapons labs and aid its federally funded research in medicine and other areas.

Napolitano will become the first woman to head the University of California's ten-school system since its founding 145 years ago.

Napolitano: Come Get Your Green Cards

"I applaud the Supreme Court decision in United States v. Windsor holding that the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is unconstitutional. This discriminatory law denied thousands of legally married same-sex couples many important federal benefits, including immigration benefits. I am pleased the Court agreed with the Administration's position that DOMA's restrictions violate the Constitution. Working with our federal partners, including the Department of Justice, we will implement the decision so that all married couples will be treated equally and fairly in the administration of our immigration laws." - Homeland Security head Janet Napolitano, via press release.

Tweet Of The Day - Lizz Winstead

RELATED: Some are saying that Glenn Greenwald's story is falling apart.

Enter The "Resilient Tunnel Plug"

In the wake of widespread flooding to most of New York City's subway and vehicle tunnels, Homeland Security has renewed testing of a giant inflatable plug.

The Resilient Tunnel Plug has been years in development and testing, but it may be more relevant than ever: Superstorm Sandy sent a record 14-foot storm surge into New York Harbor, flooding subway tunnels that move some 5.2 million people a day. There is no telling how well ILC Dover's Resilient Tunnel Plug could have helped prevent damage, "but that's the kind of thing we're designing these things for," Homeland Security spokesman John Verrico said Thursday as the latest testing got under way in an airplane hangar.

Packed like an air bag, the oblong balloon made of Space Age materials flopped out of the wall of a scale-model subway tunnel that WVU engineers developed several years ago, inflating in about two minutes. While contact sensors monitored the pressure, engineers with WVU, ILC and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory visually inspected the edges to see how tightly the tube filled the tunnel. A proper fit is critical to the plug's success, said John Fortune, project manager for the Department of Homeland Security. "If there's not a good seal, we're going to see substantial flooding," he said. And while there will always be some leakage, the goal is to make it minimal.

Climate change? Feh! We got plugs!

Brian Brown: Pissed At Homeland Security

Hate group leader Brian Brown is ever so pissed at Homeland Security's move to formally consider the relationship status of LGBT potential deportees. Via the Vatican puppet site EWTN News:

“This is just another example of the federal government trying to skirt the Defense of Marriage Act,” said Brian Brown, president of the National Organization for Marriage. “The reality is that this administration, whenever it has had a chance, has tried to undermine the Defense of Marriage Act,” Brown told EWTN News on Oct. 2. “I think it’s trickling down into agency after agency.” “It’s clear that you’re not going to be able to overturn DOMA through Congress,” he explained, so instead, same-sex unions are being promoted “incrementally through administrative changes.” “The question is whether people will wake up and say enough is enough,” Brown remarked. He believes that “marriage is going to be a key issue” in the upcoming election. “People are suffering. The economy is bad,” he acknowledged. “But that doesn’t mean that people aren’t voting their values. This is going to be a major issue this election.” Brown explained that the exact states that Obama needs to win in order to succeed in the election are the same states that have “overwhelmingly” voted to preserve marriage as the union of one man and one woman.

Homeland Security Issues Written Guidelines On Delaying LGBT Deportations

Immigration Equality is thrilled:

Immigration Equality today praised the Obama Administration, and specifically the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), for new, written guidance that will extend discretionary relief to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) immigrants with U.S. citizen spouses and partners. The new written directive, which was announced in response to a Congressional letter spearheaded by Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Congressman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), marks one of the very first times LGBT families have been recognized within federal immigration policies. The guidelines, which are expected to be distributed soon to field offices across the country, will instruct officers and field agents to recognize LGBT families for purposes of relief as defined by a June 2011 memo from Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director John Morton.

Rep. Jerry Nadler reacts via press release:

“I am thrilled that the Obama Administration has taken to heart my concern about the need to explicitly protect LGBT immigrant families from being torn apart by needless and unwarranted immigration enforcement actions. I thank Secretary Napolitano for listening and supporting a policy that protects all American families, both straight and LGBT. With the written guidelines that I requested and which will be issued by ICE, federal immigration officials will finally have the clear direction they need to make responsible and compassionate decisions on family ties in immigration cases.”

UPDATE: The Washington Blade has posted Secretary Napolitano's letter to Nadler.

Geraldo Rivera: A Lesbian Cabal Secretly Runs Homeland Security

Homeland Security To Consider Marriage Status Before Deporting Foreign Gays

After pressure earlier this week from Rep. Nancy Pelosi and a coalition of more than 80 Democrats, Homeland Security says it will consider the partner status of gay potential deportees. Chris Geidner reports at Buzzfeed:

The department has issued a new policy governing the issuances of "Notice to Appear" documents, which is the step that starts removal proceedings, which can lead to deportation. The new policy will put the policies of U.S Citizenship and Immigration Services — which considers green card applications — in alignment with Immigrations and Customs Enforcement policies for "low priority" enforcement cases, according to the department — which means that USCIS won't likely issue the notices unless other negative factors, like a criminal record, are found. A spokesman did not respond to an immediate request for a copy of the policy.

Well-known LGBT immigration advocate Lavi Soloway is thrilled. Via press release:

After a two-year campaign urging the Obama administration to stop the deportations of spouses of gay and lesbian Americans, we welcome the announcement by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that it will formally recognize same-sex marriages as part of its year-old ‘prosecutorial discretion’ deportation policy. By articulating the first federal policy to recognize marriages of gay and lesbian couples, the administration signals to deportations officers, Immigration Judges, and Immigration & Customs Enforcement prosecutors that our marriages must be considered when determining whether a case is deemed low priority for deportation.

Until DOMA is repealed Homeland Security will continue to deny green cards to the spouses of LGBT Americans.

How To Escape A Mass Shooting At Work

Buzzfeed takes a dim view of this new instructional video.

Too soon? The somewhat helpful—and also somewhat comical—video is via the Houston mayor's office, made with grant money from the Department of Homeland Security. There's this bit of flip copy at the beginning: "It may just feel like another day at the office. But occasionally, life feels more like an action movie..." An action movie? Why not a "video game?" Or a "Batman movie?" And this: "But sometimes, bad people do bad things." Was this video made for eight year-olds?

The clip was posted to YouTube only three days after the Colorado shooting and therefore had to have been in production well before then. Comments are disabled and the clip already has more than 100K views.

U.S. Customs To Recognize Gay Families

Homeland Security today announced a proposed rule change that will allow gay families to go through U.S. Customs together. Zack Ford notes at Think Progress: "Before, married same-sex couples had to go through customs separately because the policy referred to married couples, and thus fell under the purview of the Defense of Marriage Act." Yet another advance from the Obama administration.

NEW YORK: Church Rakes In $150K From Federal Anti-Terrorism Fund

Claiming that they are at risk of a terrorist attack, a Long Island evangelical church that regularly broadcasts an anti-Muslim radio show was granted $150,000 from a Homeland Security fund. The money, they say, will be used to add video surveillance and other security features. Lots of groups are raking in the dough from the fund and even the wingnuts are pissed.

"It's ridiculous," James Carafano, a security expert with the conservative Heritage Foundation, said of some of the grants. "It makes no sense." Carafano says the entire grant program has little value and would be better spent on active counterterrorism efforts. Henry Willis at the Rand Corp. also takes issue with the spending. "We haven't done a good job of understanding how our investments in these programs come together to increase our capability," Willis said. Hundreds of New York nonprofits got $18.9 million of the $2 billion nationwide total because they were deemed to be at "high risk" of terrorist attack. The money, usually $75,000 a group, is supposed to pay for equipment such as security cameras and metal detectors.

Pointless, Abused, Faked Terrorism Threat Level System To Be Abolished

Remember in 2009 when former Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge confessed that he'd been pressured to raise the terrorism threat level in order to help Dubya's 2004 campaign? And how that totally worked? Today Homeland Security announced that they are doing away with the color-coded system, effective in March. The new system will only announce known threats to specific locations, so they say.

No More Flying With Toner

Homeland Security announced today that effective immediately you can no longer bring toner or ink cartridges weighing more than one pound onto your plane. Not that anybody was actually doing that.

The ban, announced today by Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, also covers other cargo deemed high-risk. The changes follow the discovery of bombs concealed in ink cartridges on a U.S.-bound flight from the Middle East. The bombs, which contained PETN, are believed to be part of a Yemen-based plot. "These security measures reflect our commitment to using current intelligence to stay ahead of adversaries," Napolitano said, according to Bloomberg.

What are they going to do when they find the first iPhone bomb?