14 Year Old Charged With First-Degree Murder and Aggravated Child Abuse
http://digitaljournal.com/article/334035
http://bit.ly/P5mQUJ
+
Warning: Graphic story, reader discretion is strongly advised
Lakeland - Cassidy Goodson, 14, of Lakeland, Fla., a ninth-grader at Kathleen High School, has been charged with first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse after she allegedly choked her newborn to death while it was still attached to her by the umbilical cord. According to a press release by the Polk County Sheriff's Office, she then stuffed the dead body in a shoebox and left it to decompose in her bedroom till the odor alerted members of her family. The Daily Mail reports that shortly after Cassidy gave birth to the baby in the bathroom, her mother, Teresa Goodson, noticed blood in the toilet and took her to the Lakeland Hospital. Cassidy told her mother and the hospital staff that she had suffered a miscarriage. She claimed that she accidentally flushed the fetus down the toilet after it was born. But after lacerations were found in her vaginal wall that appeared self-inflicted, hospital staff called Polk County sheriff's deputies and officials of the Florida Department of Children and Families and gave them details of the case for closer investigation. The facts of the case came to light gradually. A few days after Cassidy gave birth, deputies received a call that the body of a full-term baby had been found inside a shoebox at the girl's residence. According to the Polk County Sheriff's Office, Cassidy's mother detected the odor while collecting dirty laundry in her daughter's room. Cassidy had given birth to the baby on September 19, unaided. She told detectives she began feeling sick on Sep. 17, and two day later, she went into the bathroom. To hide her moans during labor, she clenched with her teeth on a towel and ran the water. She delivered the baby in the bathroom and used a pair of scissors to pry it out into the toilet. She then lifted the baby out of the toilet and felt for its pulse. When she found one, she placed her hand on the infant's neck and squeezed until it stopped moving and breathing. She then bathed herself and the dead baby, cleaned the bathroom and concealed the dead baby, the soiled towel and clothing in a shoebox. The baby, according to the Polk County Sheriff's Office press release, was rather large, reportedly weighing almost 10 pounds and measuring 20 inches long. Autopsy confirmed the baby was full term and that it was a live-birth. The cause of death was determined as "asphyxia from strangulation and blunt force trauma." According to officials, Cassidy is a tiny girl who weighs 100 pounds and is about 5 ft 3 inches tall. The Polk Country Sheriff's Office reports Cassidy said she killed the child because she "didn't know what to do with it." The Daily Mail reports she told detectives she was forced to kill the baby because she was afraid that "her relationship with her parents would change if they found out the truth." According to The Huffington Post, Cassidy wore baggy clothes during the course of her pregnancy to hide the fact from her family. However, two aunts grew suspicious of her appearance and attempted to alert her mother to the possibility that she was pregnant. But according to The Ledger, Sheriff Grady Judd said that although the two aunts suspected Cassidy was pregnant, her mother, Teresa Goodson, "was in complete denial." Cassidy reportedly showed her mother two home pregnancy tests she conducted that returned negative as evidence that she was not pregnant when suspicion grew. The Ledger, however, reports that Sheriff Grady Judd said Cassidy conducted the tests alone because "her mother wanted to protect her daughter's privacy." The sheriff expressed the opinion that Cassidy Goodson's young age should be taken into account in passing judgment on her actions. He said: "Let's remember she is a child. Where was her support system?" The Huffington Post reports prosecutors are considering whether to charge her as an adult. The prosecutors are also considering the option of charging adult members of her family instead. The Blaze reports detectives are also working to determine the father of the baby. They said they have an idea of his identity but that they need confirmation. According to the sheriff, Cassidy showed little emotion when she was interviewed. The Ledger reports that North Lakeland Little League President Bubba Garcia, said she is a skilled softball player and that she has played on several youth teams. Garcia said "she is pretty good" in the infield and as a catcher. According to Garcia, there had been rumors rumors that she was pregnant. The Ledger reports circuit Judge Mark Carpanini ordered her to remain in secure detention. She will be represented by a public defender. Polk County Public Information officer, Donna Wood, told the Daily Mail: "This is the most perplexing, confusing, disheartening case I've ever seen in my 18 years on this job. Everyone has been touched by it."
Read more: http://digitaljournal.com/article/334035#ixzz29OxW4DID
http://digitaljournal.com/article/334035
http://bit.ly/P5mQUJ
+
Warning: Graphic story, reader discretion is strongly advised
Lakeland - Cassidy Goodson, 14, of Lakeland, Fla., a ninth-grader at Kathleen High School, has been charged with first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse after she allegedly choked her newborn to death while it was still attached to her by the umbilical cord. According to a press release by the Polk County Sheriff's Office, she then stuffed the dead body in a shoebox and left it to decompose in her bedroom till the odor alerted members of her family. The Daily Mail reports that shortly after Cassidy gave birth to the baby in the bathroom, her mother, Teresa Goodson, noticed blood in the toilet and took her to the Lakeland Hospital. Cassidy told her mother and the hospital staff that she had suffered a miscarriage. She claimed that she accidentally flushed the fetus down the toilet after it was born. But after lacerations were found in her vaginal wall that appeared self-inflicted, hospital staff called Polk County sheriff's deputies and officials of the Florida Department of Children and Families and gave them details of the case for closer investigation. The facts of the case came to light gradually. A few days after Cassidy gave birth, deputies received a call that the body of a full-term baby had been found inside a shoebox at the girl's residence. According to the Polk County Sheriff's Office, Cassidy's mother detected the odor while collecting dirty laundry in her daughter's room. Cassidy had given birth to the baby on September 19, unaided. She told detectives she began feeling sick on Sep. 17, and two day later, she went into the bathroom. To hide her moans during labor, she clenched with her teeth on a towel and ran the water. She delivered the baby in the bathroom and used a pair of scissors to pry it out into the toilet. She then lifted the baby out of the toilet and felt for its pulse. When she found one, she placed her hand on the infant's neck and squeezed until it stopped moving and breathing. She then bathed herself and the dead baby, cleaned the bathroom and concealed the dead baby, the soiled towel and clothing in a shoebox. The baby, according to the Polk County Sheriff's Office press release, was rather large, reportedly weighing almost 10 pounds and measuring 20 inches long. Autopsy confirmed the baby was full term and that it was a live-birth. The cause of death was determined as "asphyxia from strangulation and blunt force trauma." According to officials, Cassidy is a tiny girl who weighs 100 pounds and is about 5 ft 3 inches tall. The Polk Country Sheriff's Office reports Cassidy said she killed the child because she "didn't know what to do with it." The Daily Mail reports she told detectives she was forced to kill the baby because she was afraid that "her relationship with her parents would change if they found out the truth." According to The Huffington Post, Cassidy wore baggy clothes during the course of her pregnancy to hide the fact from her family. However, two aunts grew suspicious of her appearance and attempted to alert her mother to the possibility that she was pregnant. But according to The Ledger, Sheriff Grady Judd said that although the two aunts suspected Cassidy was pregnant, her mother, Teresa Goodson, "was in complete denial." Cassidy reportedly showed her mother two home pregnancy tests she conducted that returned negative as evidence that she was not pregnant when suspicion grew. The Ledger, however, reports that Sheriff Grady Judd said Cassidy conducted the tests alone because "her mother wanted to protect her daughter's privacy." The sheriff expressed the opinion that Cassidy Goodson's young age should be taken into account in passing judgment on her actions. He said: "Let's remember she is a child. Where was her support system?" The Huffington Post reports prosecutors are considering whether to charge her as an adult. The prosecutors are also considering the option of charging adult members of her family instead. The Blaze reports detectives are also working to determine the father of the baby. They said they have an idea of his identity but that they need confirmation. According to the sheriff, Cassidy showed little emotion when she was interviewed. The Ledger reports that North Lakeland Little League President Bubba Garcia, said she is a skilled softball player and that she has played on several youth teams. Garcia said "she is pretty good" in the infield and as a catcher. According to Garcia, there had been rumors rumors that she was pregnant. The Ledger reports circuit Judge Mark Carpanini ordered her to remain in secure detention. She will be represented by a public defender. Polk County Public Information officer, Donna Wood, told the Daily Mail: "This is the most perplexing, confusing, disheartening case I've ever seen in my 18 years on this job. Everyone has been touched by it."
Read more: http://digitaljournal.com/article/334035#ixzz29OxW4DID
New York Couple Arrested for Possession of Guns, Alligator
http://nbcnews.to/T1iahV
Police in New York arrested a man and woman for allegedly stashing illegal handguns, drugs and an alligator in their Brooklyn home, authorities said. Michael Volpe, 32, and Alisa Volpe, 25, were taken into custody Monday and charged with criminal possession of a weapon, including two handguns and a shotgun.They were also charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance and harboring an alligator, which is prohibited in New York. Police discovered the 3.5-foot reptile while they executed a search warrant at about 5:30 a.m., the New York Daily News reported. Other items found were a pair of brass knuckles and a stash of pills and marijuana. Michael Volpe has had four prior arrests, including a weapons-possession charge, police said.
http://nbcnews.to/T1iahV
Police in New York arrested a man and woman for allegedly stashing illegal handguns, drugs and an alligator in their Brooklyn home, authorities said. Michael Volpe, 32, and Alisa Volpe, 25, were taken into custody Monday and charged with criminal possession of a weapon, including two handguns and a shotgun.They were also charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance and harboring an alligator, which is prohibited in New York. Police discovered the 3.5-foot reptile while they executed a search warrant at about 5:30 a.m., the New York Daily News reported. Other items found were a pair of brass knuckles and a stash of pills and marijuana. Michael Volpe has had four prior arrests, including a weapons-possession charge, police said.
Man arrested in plot to blow up Federal Reserve bank in New York
http://bit.ly/OJcEjy
His name is QUAZI MOHAMMAD REZWANUL AHSAN NAFIS. Federal authorities running a sting operation arrested a 21-year-old Bangladeshi man, who came to the U.S. on a student visa and was allegedly planning to blow up the Federal Reserve Bank of New York with what he believed was a 1,000-pound bomb, officials said. QUAZI MOHAMMAD REZWANUL AHSAN NAFIS was detained Wednesday after an alleged attempt to detonate the device, which was inert and part of an elaborate investigation by federal authorities and NYPD detectives. Prosecutors say NAFIS was apparently motivated by al Qaeda and traveled to the United States in January under the pretext of attending college in Missouri in order carry out "a terrorist attack on U.S. soil" and to recruit members to form a terrorist cell. It's not clear whether NAFIS maintained al Qaeda ties, but authorities say he apparently claimed that the plot was his own, and that it was his sole motivation for the U.S. trip. One of the people NAFIS apparently contacted was an FBI source to whom he proposed multiple targets, including a high-ranking U.S. official as well as the New York Stock Exchange, authorities said. While the details surrounding the suspected plot remain murky, prosecutors say NAFIS indicated that he wanted to "destroy America" by going after the nation's financial institutions and ultimately settled on the landmark bank.The undercover agent, authorities say, also provided 20 bags of 50 pounds each of purported explosives to NAFIS, who then stored the material in a warehouse in preparation for the strike. They say NAFIS further divulged a "Plan B" that involved carrying out a suicide attack should police thwart his initial effort. "We will not stop until we attain victory or martyrdom," he allegedly said, covering his face, donning sunglasses and disguising his voice. While en route to his target, authorities say, NAFIS detailed how his jihadist views were -- at least in part -- formed by watching video sermons by American-born al Qaeda cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who was killed last year by a U.S. drone strike in Yemen. Packing his van with what he apparently believed were explosives, NAFIS then allegedly traveled with the undercover agent to Manhattan's financial district, attached a detonator to the material and recorded a video statement in a nearby hotel. The effort failed, and he was arrested soon after, authorities said. With his van parked next to the Federal Reserve, NAFIS allegedly attempted to detonate the inert device by using his cell phone. Much of the sting operation was also captured on video, according to a source with knowledge of the investigation. NAFIS faces charges of "attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction and attempting to provide material support to al Qaeda." His arrest came as a result of the "culmination of an undercover operation" after he was being monitored by NYPD detectives and the FBI New York Field Office's Joint Terrorism Task Force, the statement said. The Federal Reserve declined to comment, while Police Commissioner Ray Kelly reminded New Yorkers to remain vigilant against potential threats." Al Qaeda operatives and those they have inspired have tried time and again to make New York City their killing field," he said in a prepared statement. "We are up to 15 plots and counting since 9/11, with the Federal Reserve now added to a list of iconic targets that previously included the Brooklyn Bridge, the New York Stock Exchange and Citicorp Center." He added that "after 11 years without a successful attack, it's understandable if the public becomes complacent." "But that's a luxury law enforcement can't afford," he said. Jay Carney, White House press secretary, told CNN that President Barack Obama has been briefed on the threat. Meanwhile, NAFIS made an initial court appearance Wednesday at a federal courthouse in Brooklyn. His attorney, a public defender, declined to comment.
http://bit.ly/OJcEjy
His name is QUAZI MOHAMMAD REZWANUL AHSAN NAFIS. Federal authorities running a sting operation arrested a 21-year-old Bangladeshi man, who came to the U.S. on a student visa and was allegedly planning to blow up the Federal Reserve Bank of New York with what he believed was a 1,000-pound bomb, officials said. QUAZI MOHAMMAD REZWANUL AHSAN NAFIS was detained Wednesday after an alleged attempt to detonate the device, which was inert and part of an elaborate investigation by federal authorities and NYPD detectives. Prosecutors say NAFIS was apparently motivated by al Qaeda and traveled to the United States in January under the pretext of attending college in Missouri in order carry out "a terrorist attack on U.S. soil" and to recruit members to form a terrorist cell. It's not clear whether NAFIS maintained al Qaeda ties, but authorities say he apparently claimed that the plot was his own, and that it was his sole motivation for the U.S. trip. One of the people NAFIS apparently contacted was an FBI source to whom he proposed multiple targets, including a high-ranking U.S. official as well as the New York Stock Exchange, authorities said. While the details surrounding the suspected plot remain murky, prosecutors say NAFIS indicated that he wanted to "destroy America" by going after the nation's financial institutions and ultimately settled on the landmark bank.The undercover agent, authorities say, also provided 20 bags of 50 pounds each of purported explosives to NAFIS, who then stored the material in a warehouse in preparation for the strike. They say NAFIS further divulged a "Plan B" that involved carrying out a suicide attack should police thwart his initial effort. "We will not stop until we attain victory or martyrdom," he allegedly said, covering his face, donning sunglasses and disguising his voice. While en route to his target, authorities say, NAFIS detailed how his jihadist views were -- at least in part -- formed by watching video sermons by American-born al Qaeda cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who was killed last year by a U.S. drone strike in Yemen. Packing his van with what he apparently believed were explosives, NAFIS then allegedly traveled with the undercover agent to Manhattan's financial district, attached a detonator to the material and recorded a video statement in a nearby hotel. The effort failed, and he was arrested soon after, authorities said. With his van parked next to the Federal Reserve, NAFIS allegedly attempted to detonate the inert device by using his cell phone. Much of the sting operation was also captured on video, according to a source with knowledge of the investigation. NAFIS faces charges of "attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction and attempting to provide material support to al Qaeda." His arrest came as a result of the "culmination of an undercover operation" after he was being monitored by NYPD detectives and the FBI New York Field Office's Joint Terrorism Task Force, the statement said. The Federal Reserve declined to comment, while Police Commissioner Ray Kelly reminded New Yorkers to remain vigilant against potential threats." Al Qaeda operatives and those they have inspired have tried time and again to make New York City their killing field," he said in a prepared statement. "We are up to 15 plots and counting since 9/11, with the Federal Reserve now added to a list of iconic targets that previously included the Brooklyn Bridge, the New York Stock Exchange and Citicorp Center." He added that "after 11 years without a successful attack, it's understandable if the public becomes complacent." "But that's a luxury law enforcement can't afford," he said. Jay Carney, White House press secretary, told CNN that President Barack Obama has been briefed on the threat. Meanwhile, NAFIS made an initial court appearance Wednesday at a federal courthouse in Brooklyn. His attorney, a public defender, declined to comment.
US by 554630 and 553110
100 Car pileup in texas
Fog suspected in 100-vehicle Texas wrecks that claim at least two lives By Vivian Kuo, CNN updated 7:27 PM EST, Thu November 22, 2012 Deadly 100-vehicle pileup in Texas STORY HIGHLIGHTS
(CNN) -- At least two people were killed and as many as 120 injured in Thanksgiving pileups involving an estimated 100 cars on a foggy stretch of highway in southeast Texas, authorities said.
The first accident -- a multi-car wreck in the eastbound lands of Interstate 10 -- occurred about 8:45 a.m., according to the Texas Department of Public Safety. Chain-reaction crashes followed, the department said in a news release, and included several accidents in the westbound lanes of the intersate, southwest of Beaumont in Jefferson County.
"Initial reports at the time of the crash indicated there was dense fog, which could be a contributing factor to those crashes," Texas Highway Patrol Trooper Stephanie Davis said.
The two fatalities occurred in the same vehicle, authorities said. The victims were identified as Vincent Leggio, 64, and Debra Leggio, 60, both of Pearland, Texas.
The two were killed when their vehicle was hit from behind by an 18-wheeler, the Department of Public Safety said.
Video from CNN affiliate KBMT showed badly mangled vehicles atop one another and people who appeared to be injured stretched out in grass alongside the highway and on ambulance gurneys. Long lines of cars, each battered and some appearing to be totaled, lined the roadway. The vehicles included cars, minivans, pickups, tractor-trailer trucks and at least one FedEx truck.
No details were known about the fatalities or exactly how many injuries resulted from the accidents, officials said. The role of fog and the causes of the accidents were still under investigation Thursday. In several pictures, there appeared to be a slight sheen of fog.
It was not known exactly how many injuries resulted from the accidents, said Davis.
Jefferson County Deputy Sheriff Rod Carroll said that at least 80 and as many as 120 injured people were taken from the scene. The most seriously injured were being transported to Houston, about 75 miles away.
Several victims were transported to neighboring hospitals in Beaumont and Port Arthur.
The role of fog and the causes of the accidents were still under investigation, Davis said.
Westbound lanes of the interstate were closed for nearly four hours before being reopened. The eastbound lanes of I-10 were closed after the accident throughout most of the day, with the Department of Public Safety saying shortly after 5 p.m. that those lanes had been cleared of debris and reopened.
http://www.cnn.com/2012/11/22/us/texas-highway-pileup/index.html?hpt=us_c2
Fog suspected in 100-vehicle Texas wrecks that claim at least two lives By Vivian Kuo, CNN updated 7:27 PM EST, Thu November 22, 2012 Deadly 100-vehicle pileup in Texas STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- After being closed for hours following the accident, all lanes of Interstae 10 reopened
- The two fatalities occurred after a vehicle was hit from behind by an 18-wheeler
- Some 100 cars were in a series of pileups on Interstate 10 near Beaumont, Texas
- As many as 120 injured were taken to hospitals
(CNN) -- At least two people were killed and as many as 120 injured in Thanksgiving pileups involving an estimated 100 cars on a foggy stretch of highway in southeast Texas, authorities said.
The first accident -- a multi-car wreck in the eastbound lands of Interstate 10 -- occurred about 8:45 a.m., according to the Texas Department of Public Safety. Chain-reaction crashes followed, the department said in a news release, and included several accidents in the westbound lanes of the intersate, southwest of Beaumont in Jefferson County.
"Initial reports at the time of the crash indicated there was dense fog, which could be a contributing factor to those crashes," Texas Highway Patrol Trooper Stephanie Davis said.
The two fatalities occurred in the same vehicle, authorities said. The victims were identified as Vincent Leggio, 64, and Debra Leggio, 60, both of Pearland, Texas.
The two were killed when their vehicle was hit from behind by an 18-wheeler, the Department of Public Safety said.
Video from CNN affiliate KBMT showed badly mangled vehicles atop one another and people who appeared to be injured stretched out in grass alongside the highway and on ambulance gurneys. Long lines of cars, each battered and some appearing to be totaled, lined the roadway. The vehicles included cars, minivans, pickups, tractor-trailer trucks and at least one FedEx truck.
No details were known about the fatalities or exactly how many injuries resulted from the accidents, officials said. The role of fog and the causes of the accidents were still under investigation Thursday. In several pictures, there appeared to be a slight sheen of fog.
It was not known exactly how many injuries resulted from the accidents, said Davis.
Jefferson County Deputy Sheriff Rod Carroll said that at least 80 and as many as 120 injured people were taken from the scene. The most seriously injured were being transported to Houston, about 75 miles away.
Several victims were transported to neighboring hospitals in Beaumont and Port Arthur.
The role of fog and the causes of the accidents were still under investigation, Davis said.
Westbound lanes of the interstate were closed for nearly four hours before being reopened. The eastbound lanes of I-10 were closed after the accident throughout most of the day, with the Department of Public Safety saying shortly after 5 p.m. that those lanes had been cleared of debris and reopened.
http://www.cnn.com/2012/11/22/us/texas-highway-pileup/index.html?hpt=us_c2
What's really at stake in election 2012 By John Avlon, CNN Contributor updated 1:21 PM EST, Sun November 4, 2012
(CNN) -- The stakes in this election go far beyond just who takes the oath of office in January.
Each of us is faced with choices that will have huge ramifications in our nation for decades -- and the choice is not simply about Democrats versus Republicans or even Obama versus Romney. The real stakes are this: The political strategies that prove successful in this election will be replicated far into the future.
Throughout this election cycle, we've seen hyperpartisan narratives resonate more than facts, total opposition embraced as a congressional tactic, and unprecedented dark money flow through our airwaves in an avalanche of negative ads.
f those forces are rewarded, we'll see much more of them from both parties going forward. They will become the new normal. Opinion: Vote, damn it!
If they are rejected, it may inspire a necessary recalibration and a renewed focus on finding ways to work together in Washington. This won't be just because it's the right thing to do; it will be because it is what is seen as practical and politically expedient.
When President Obama took office, the fiscal crisis was in full effect, but our nation was briefly united after the 2008 election. Then the partisan media started to try to repolarize the nation for their profit.
A relentless drumbeat of demonizing the president gave rise to all sorts of dark conspiracy theories, driven by the conviction that the first African-American president of the United States was somehow un-American. Hating Obama became a profitable cottage industry, with the publication of at least 89 different obsessively anti-Obama books -- more than twice the number that were directed at President George W. Bush by the end of his first term. Unhinged ideas seeped perilously close to the mainstream, to the point that the gap between partisan narrative and actual facts seems cavernous and finds fellow Americans divided beyond reason.
This has real civic cost. A president who has presided over a doubling of the stock market is called socialist or even communist. A president who ordered the killing of Osama bin Laden is seen by some as secret Islamist-sympathizer. And perhaps most important, a president whose actual record leads respected nonpartisan political scientists at the VoteView blog to say "President Obama is the most moderate Democratic president since the end of World War II" is instead seen as a far-left liberal. A reality check is overdue.
This hyperpartisan reality distortion field has impacted Congress as well. In the past, we've achieved a great deal with divided government -- ranging from the Marshall Plan, to the interstate highway system, to the achievements of the Reagan administration, to welfare reform and the turning of deficits into surpluses under President Bill Clinton and then-Speaker Newt Gingrich. But the current congressional environment has led to division and dysfunction, Super Committee fails and justifiably low congressional approval rates.
Too many conservative members of Congress took Rush Limbaugh's 2009 anti-Obama admonition -- "I hope he fails" -- to heart. They argued that confrontation rather than cooperation with the new president was the best strategy. Thanks to Obama's unwise overdelegation to congressional Democrats on the stimulus bill, their approach was validated, and so an economic recovery effort that was one-third tax cuts passed along stark partisan lines. A pattern was established.
President Barack Obama: My vision for America
An individual mandate-driven health care bill, based on proposals from the conservative Heritage Foundation implemented by Mitt Romney in Massachusetts, was not praised as policy triangulation -- taking a Republican approach to achieve a Democratic goal -- but called an unconstitutional gallop toward socialism. Rational debate stopped when talk of "death panels" started taking hold. And so health care reform became the first major piece of social legislation to pass along stark partisan lines.
Even onetime bipartisan legislation was no longer embraced by Congress. For example, Obama's proposed jobs bill was almost entirely composed of what had been bipartisan proposals -- but it was considered DOA on Capitol Hill. The debt ceiling was used to hold America's full faith and credit hostage, with disastrous results, including the downgrading of our AAA credit rating.
The source of much congressional dysfunction is the now-routine use of the filibuster by the Senate, making a supermajority of 60 votes necessary for meaningful action. As a point of historical perspective: In the eight years that Republican Dwight Eisenhower was president, from 1953 to 1961, the filibuster was used only two times. In the four years that Barack Obama has been president, the filibuster has been invoked more than 200 times by Senate Republicans.
Add to this unhealthy civic mix the unprecedented amount of money flowing into this election -- expected to exceed $6 billion total. The most troubling aspect is the rise of dark money, the abuse of tax-exempt 501(c)(4) organizations to hide donors while flooding the airwaves with negative ads.
According to the Center for Responsive Politics, spending from these nondisclosing groups has passed $200 million in this election -- more than every other election cycle over the past 20 years combined -- and 88% of the ads airing now from outside groups are negative.
Just three groups -- the Karl Rove-founded Crossroads GPS, the Koch Brothers-backed Americans for Prosperity, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce -- account for more spending than the next 17 outside groups combined. This makes a mockery of post-Citizens United promises about unlimited money being combined with unprecedented disclosure, and the net impact is chilling: This is perilously close to what trying to buy an election looks like.
All this matters, because if outside money spent on negative ads can indeed sway an election, we will see much more of it in the future. But if partisan billionaires believe that their money has been wasted, it will help rein in such efforts going forward.
We need to stop the cycle of incitement in our politics, where every action creates an equal and opposite reaction. In the closing weeks of this campaign, Romney has been promising that he will bring bipartisanship back to Washington. But simply slapping on a new slogan won't solve these underlying problems.
Mitt Romney: My vision for America
If Romney is elected president, Democrats will likely decide to follow the apparently successful path of the Republicans in recent years -- play to the base with fear-mongering claims, demonize the new president from Day One, and obstruct his agenda in Congress. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat, has already announced that he will not work with a President Romney, taking a page from his Republican counterpart, Mitch McConnell, who pledged that making President Obama a one-term president was his No. 1 priority. Republicans will complain, but they will have their own precedent to thank. The result will be all-but-guaranteed gridlock and division over the next four years.
If Obama is re-elected, it will send the message that all the hyperpartisan distortions, the intensely ideological congressional obstruction and the flood of dark money didn't work.
Republicans will have to confront the fact that these extreme tactics backfired by alienating the moderate majority of Americans (and interestingly, Obama currently leads among moderate voters in key swing states like Ohio by nearly 20 points). This will alter the landscape of the next Congress and shift the incentives back toward working together on a more bipartisan basis. It might even help re-center the Republican Party going forward, something I would sincerely like to see because it would be good for our democracy.
America needs to break this fever of hyperpartisanship. The day after the election, we will have to start healing as a nation. Members of Congress will be confronted with a fiscal cliff and serious questions about how to deal with taxes, spending, the deficit and the debt. If they feel that extremism and obstruction have been punished by the voters, they will find a way to work together. If either party feels it has achieved an ideological mandate, it will be tempted to play chicken with the fiscal cliff.
The stakes are so high because they cut to the heart of the American experiment. We cannot continue to allow extreme partisan distortions to define our policy debates and paralyze our capacity for constructive self-government.
We need Washington to get the message that I've heard from swing voters so often on the CNN Battleground Bus Tour -- stop fighting and start fixing. Find a way to work together, especially on our long-term economic problems. That means both parties agreeing to compromise on issues of taxes, spending and entitlement reform -- a balanced bipartisan plan to deal with deficits and debt. It will require putting the national interest ahead of all partisan special interests -- and we won't be able to do that until this fever breaks.
Washington is looking to your lead at the voting booth. These are the stakes. Now it is your decision. Go out and vote on November 6.
The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of John Avlon.
(CNN) -- The stakes in this election go far beyond just who takes the oath of office in January.
Each of us is faced with choices that will have huge ramifications in our nation for decades -- and the choice is not simply about Democrats versus Republicans or even Obama versus Romney. The real stakes are this: The political strategies that prove successful in this election will be replicated far into the future.
Throughout this election cycle, we've seen hyperpartisan narratives resonate more than facts, total opposition embraced as a congressional tactic, and unprecedented dark money flow through our airwaves in an avalanche of negative ads.
f those forces are rewarded, we'll see much more of them from both parties going forward. They will become the new normal. Opinion: Vote, damn it!
If they are rejected, it may inspire a necessary recalibration and a renewed focus on finding ways to work together in Washington. This won't be just because it's the right thing to do; it will be because it is what is seen as practical and politically expedient.
When President Obama took office, the fiscal crisis was in full effect, but our nation was briefly united after the 2008 election. Then the partisan media started to try to repolarize the nation for their profit.
A relentless drumbeat of demonizing the president gave rise to all sorts of dark conspiracy theories, driven by the conviction that the first African-American president of the United States was somehow un-American. Hating Obama became a profitable cottage industry, with the publication of at least 89 different obsessively anti-Obama books -- more than twice the number that were directed at President George W. Bush by the end of his first term. Unhinged ideas seeped perilously close to the mainstream, to the point that the gap between partisan narrative and actual facts seems cavernous and finds fellow Americans divided beyond reason.
This has real civic cost. A president who has presided over a doubling of the stock market is called socialist or even communist. A president who ordered the killing of Osama bin Laden is seen by some as secret Islamist-sympathizer. And perhaps most important, a president whose actual record leads respected nonpartisan political scientists at the VoteView blog to say "President Obama is the most moderate Democratic president since the end of World War II" is instead seen as a far-left liberal. A reality check is overdue.
This hyperpartisan reality distortion field has impacted Congress as well. In the past, we've achieved a great deal with divided government -- ranging from the Marshall Plan, to the interstate highway system, to the achievements of the Reagan administration, to welfare reform and the turning of deficits into surpluses under President Bill Clinton and then-Speaker Newt Gingrich. But the current congressional environment has led to division and dysfunction, Super Committee fails and justifiably low congressional approval rates.
Too many conservative members of Congress took Rush Limbaugh's 2009 anti-Obama admonition -- "I hope he fails" -- to heart. They argued that confrontation rather than cooperation with the new president was the best strategy. Thanks to Obama's unwise overdelegation to congressional Democrats on the stimulus bill, their approach was validated, and so an economic recovery effort that was one-third tax cuts passed along stark partisan lines. A pattern was established.
President Barack Obama: My vision for America
An individual mandate-driven health care bill, based on proposals from the conservative Heritage Foundation implemented by Mitt Romney in Massachusetts, was not praised as policy triangulation -- taking a Republican approach to achieve a Democratic goal -- but called an unconstitutional gallop toward socialism. Rational debate stopped when talk of "death panels" started taking hold. And so health care reform became the first major piece of social legislation to pass along stark partisan lines.
Even onetime bipartisan legislation was no longer embraced by Congress. For example, Obama's proposed jobs bill was almost entirely composed of what had been bipartisan proposals -- but it was considered DOA on Capitol Hill. The debt ceiling was used to hold America's full faith and credit hostage, with disastrous results, including the downgrading of our AAA credit rating.
The source of much congressional dysfunction is the now-routine use of the filibuster by the Senate, making a supermajority of 60 votes necessary for meaningful action. As a point of historical perspective: In the eight years that Republican Dwight Eisenhower was president, from 1953 to 1961, the filibuster was used only two times. In the four years that Barack Obama has been president, the filibuster has been invoked more than 200 times by Senate Republicans.
Add to this unhealthy civic mix the unprecedented amount of money flowing into this election -- expected to exceed $6 billion total. The most troubling aspect is the rise of dark money, the abuse of tax-exempt 501(c)(4) organizations to hide donors while flooding the airwaves with negative ads.
According to the Center for Responsive Politics, spending from these nondisclosing groups has passed $200 million in this election -- more than every other election cycle over the past 20 years combined -- and 88% of the ads airing now from outside groups are negative.
Just three groups -- the Karl Rove-founded Crossroads GPS, the Koch Brothers-backed Americans for Prosperity, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce -- account for more spending than the next 17 outside groups combined. This makes a mockery of post-Citizens United promises about unlimited money being combined with unprecedented disclosure, and the net impact is chilling: This is perilously close to what trying to buy an election looks like.
All this matters, because if outside money spent on negative ads can indeed sway an election, we will see much more of it in the future. But if partisan billionaires believe that their money has been wasted, it will help rein in such efforts going forward.
We need to stop the cycle of incitement in our politics, where every action creates an equal and opposite reaction. In the closing weeks of this campaign, Romney has been promising that he will bring bipartisanship back to Washington. But simply slapping on a new slogan won't solve these underlying problems.
Mitt Romney: My vision for America
If Romney is elected president, Democrats will likely decide to follow the apparently successful path of the Republicans in recent years -- play to the base with fear-mongering claims, demonize the new president from Day One, and obstruct his agenda in Congress. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat, has already announced that he will not work with a President Romney, taking a page from his Republican counterpart, Mitch McConnell, who pledged that making President Obama a one-term president was his No. 1 priority. Republicans will complain, but they will have their own precedent to thank. The result will be all-but-guaranteed gridlock and division over the next four years.
If Obama is re-elected, it will send the message that all the hyperpartisan distortions, the intensely ideological congressional obstruction and the flood of dark money didn't work.
Republicans will have to confront the fact that these extreme tactics backfired by alienating the moderate majority of Americans (and interestingly, Obama currently leads among moderate voters in key swing states like Ohio by nearly 20 points). This will alter the landscape of the next Congress and shift the incentives back toward working together on a more bipartisan basis. It might even help re-center the Republican Party going forward, something I would sincerely like to see because it would be good for our democracy.
America needs to break this fever of hyperpartisanship. The day after the election, we will have to start healing as a nation. Members of Congress will be confronted with a fiscal cliff and serious questions about how to deal with taxes, spending, the deficit and the debt. If they feel that extremism and obstruction have been punished by the voters, they will find a way to work together. If either party feels it has achieved an ideological mandate, it will be tempted to play chicken with the fiscal cliff.
The stakes are so high because they cut to the heart of the American experiment. We cannot continue to allow extreme partisan distortions to define our policy debates and paralyze our capacity for constructive self-government.
We need Washington to get the message that I've heard from swing voters so often on the CNN Battleground Bus Tour -- stop fighting and start fixing. Find a way to work together, especially on our long-term economic problems. That means both parties agreeing to compromise on issues of taxes, spending and entitlement reform -- a balanced bipartisan plan to deal with deficits and debt. It will require putting the national interest ahead of all partisan special interests -- and we won't be able to do that until this fever breaks.
Washington is looking to your lead at the voting booth. These are the stakes. Now it is your decision. Go out and vote on November 6.
The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of John Avlon.
Nanny pleads innocent
New York (CNN) -- Handcuffed to a bed and wrapped in a hospital blanket, a New York nanny accused of killing a sister and her toddler brother pleaded not guilty Wednesday to murder.
In a case that has given many parents nightmares, Yoselyn Ortega was watching 6-year-old Lucia and 2-year-old Leo Krim at their Upper Westside Manhattan home in late October when police say she stabbed the kids to death.
Their mother came home, police said, and found her children in the bathroom. She also saw the nanny stab herself with a kitchen knife, authorities said.
"This crime shocked and horrified parents around the city, many of whom entrust their children to the care of others both by necessity and by choice," Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance said in a statement. "My heart goes out to the family of those beautiful young children, and I hope that, with time, this family will heal."
Wednesday's hearing took place -- not in a courtroom -- but at Manhattan's Weill Cornell Medical Center.
Ortega, 50, did not speak, and her lawyer entered her plea for her. The nanny is expected to undergo psychological evaluation, said authorities. She has been indicted and charged with first- and second-degree murder in both deaths.
A native of the Dominican Republic, Ortega had been a naturalized U.S. citizen for 10 years. Her next court date is scheduled for January 16.
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