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McLellan himself doesn’t handle the deposits—that’s his niece’s responsibility—and a bank teller had previously advised her to make deposits of less than that amount. If cash deposits totaled more than $10,000, the bank had to file additional paperwork, the teller said.

Though the government will return all of the money it seized from McLellan, it dismissed the case without covering the store owner’s legal fees and expenses, as well as interest on the money.

In 2000, Congress passed a law that entitles McLellan to those fees and expenses, which total more than $20,000.

Additionally, government policies require the $107,702 seized is kept in an interest-bearing account. Though McLellan will receive the money, the government wants to keep the interest earned.

Members feel "that on the salary that they make, they're going to be unable to send their children to college," he added.

Members of Congress are paid $174,000 annually, and haven't enjoyed a pay raise since 2009.

In contrast, an American household's median net worth was estimated at $56,355 in a 2014 study.

Hastings himself is the second-poorest member of Congress, per CRP, with an estimated net worth of negative $2.23 million. But the personal story he used to illustrate his pitch is unlikely to win many Americans over. He described his experience renting a $2,100 apartment in a modern condo building in Northeast D.C. that eventually became too expensive for him.

The FBI has been leading the charge against what Comey calls the “going dark” problem.

As companies like Apple and Google encrypt their devices and products so that not even they can access the data, law enforcement officials claim they are being thwarted from obtaining data during investigations, even when armed with a warrant.

Security experts unanimously argue that any guaranteed access to encryption will create a vulnerability likely to be exploited by nefarious actors.

Comey brushed aside the concern.

“Technical people say it’s too hard,” he said. “My reaction to that is, really? Really too hard? Too hard for the people we have in his country to figure something out? I’m not that pessimistic.”

The half-finished hospital is expected to cost $1.73 billion to complete, nearly triple the estimates the VA gave last year.

Federal resources totaling $1.4 billion support education and outreach programs that are intended to discourage the use of controlled substances, while encouraging community outreach efforts focused on getting those who have begun to use illicit drugs to cease their use. This represents a 5 percent increase ($69.6 million) over the FY 2012 level

The VA has said it needs another $830 million to finish the project as designed and wanted to siphon the money from a fund Congress set up to resolve another scandal, long wait times for veterans to get health care.

Republicans and Democrats have balked, saying the VA needs to come up with a different funding plan and fire those responsible for the massive overruns.

TPRJones wrote:Yeah, that's like insisting that every bank vault should have additional access through a simple screen door, but it's okay because you'll put a sign on it that says "FBI only" so no one will walk in and take everything.

Far too stupid to be worth his paycheck.

The Obama administration has decided not to ask a secret court for a 90-day extension of Section 215 in the Patriot Act...

Leisher wrote:Bob Woodward (yes, that one) defneds Bush's WMD reasoning on Iraq and says Obama made a mistake pulling troops.

Strong statements from a left wing journalist.

Once or twice a year I will be exposed to some conversation here or there full of people who are lying, or were just too young to remember, the run-up to the second Gulf War. When the "bush lied" tropes are thrown out, I copy and paste this post:

http://www.dtman.com/archives_2005q2.htm#20050603_1

With all the quotes from every democrat in DC. It usually shuts people up, and I like planting those, "Could I be mistaken about all of this?" seeds in peoples' brains.

I like to think my post may have gotten to Woodward.

"We have 30,000 troops or more in South Korea still, 65 years or so after the war," Woodward said. "When you’re a superpower, you have to buy these insurance policies, and he didn’t in this case. I don’t think you can say everything is because of that decision — but clearly a factor."

Leisher wrote:Instead you incompetent boobs created a massive, convoluted, steaming pile of shit called The Affordable Care Act that actually punishes people with jobs and/or their own insurance.

Fuck you.

Under that plan, phone companies would store their customers' metadata and the NSA would need to obtain a specific, targeted warrant to get a customer's data.