A.M. Links: Romney Blasts White House Over National Security Leaks, More Police Protests in Anaheim, One Way Mission to Mars Envisioned for 2023
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Mitt Romney picked up on comments by Senator Dianne Feinstein yesterday suggesting certain national security leaks may have originated by the White House, calling for a "full and prompt" investigation of the leaks. Feinstein has since tried to walk back her comments, characterizing them as speculation.
- The Republican presidential candidate also said new federal gun control legislation was not needed and would not prevent a tragedy like the theater shooting in Aurora last week. He defended an assault weapons ban he signed into law as governor of Massachusetts, saying it garnered broad bipartisan support in the state legislature. "Where there are opportunities for people of reasonable minds to come together and find common ground, that's the kind of legislation I like," Romney said.
- Demonstrators clashed with police again last night in Anaheim, where two recent fatal police shootings have spurred protests from the community.
- A former Democratic governor is among the thousand plus people who have signed an online petition asking the current Democratic governor to suspend the use of tasers by law enforcement in the state of Vermont; MacAdam Mason was tased to death last month after calling a suicide hotline. The current governor, Peter Shumlin, has already dismissed the idea.
- The mayor of New Orleans wants fixing his city's infrastructure to be a national priority. "We're announcing to the rest of the country that they ignore us at their peril and that it's hypocritical to talk about economic security and national security without making this [$50 billion, 50 year state infrastructure plan] a national priority," Mitch Landrieu said.
- A former inmate is suing five officials of the Twin Falls County jail in Idaho; he alleges he was assaulted by jailers after rejecting one's advances. The man was serving a 180 day jail sentence for misdemeanor DUI.
- The start-up company Mars One is holding a lotto later this year to select 40 people to begin training for a one-way mission to Mars. The company's founder, a Dutch entrepreneur, hopes to send 4 of them on the interplanetary trip by 2023.
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