Photo Credit: APThe battle over gay marriage forges on. Civil rights lawyers said they filed the first known legal challenge Tuesday on behalf of 23 men, women and children seeking to overturn a state law effectively banning same-sex marriage in Pennsylvania, the only northeastern state that doesn’t allow it or civil unions.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Harrisburg, also will ask a federal judge to prevent state officials from stopping gay couples from getting married. It names Gov. Tom Corbett, Attorney General Kathleen Kane and three other officials. The plaintiffs are one widow, 10 couples and one of the couples’ two teenage daughters, and they include four couples who were legally married in other states but whose marriages go unrecognized by the state of Pennsylvania.
Pennsylvania would become the 14th state to legalize gay marriage if the lawsuit is successful. It also would force the state to recognize the legal marriages of all same-sex couples in other jurisdictions.
The plaintiffs, some of whom spoke during a news conference in the state Capitol after the lawsuit was filed, said their willingness to join was driven partly by a desire to have the same legal and financial protections afforded to opposite-sex couples, but mostly by the emotional satisfaction of seeking social justice.
“Everyone in our world recognizes us as a true family,” said Deb Whitewood, 45, who lives in the Pittsburgh suburb of Bridgeville with her partner of 22 years, Susan Whitewood, and their three children. “We feel that it’s time that the commonwealth of Pennsylvania did, too.”
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00kathleenhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngkathleen2013-07-10 01:07:492016-04-11 11:19:40The Next Gay Marriage Battle? ACLU Files First-Known Lawsuit Over State Bans on Same-Sex unions
Photo Credit: ReutersPresident Barack Obama likes burgers, hot dogs and such, but when it came time to answer a kid journalist’s question about his favorite food, broccoli was the first word that sprang from his lips.
This revelation came on Tuesday at a White House event that recognized children who won a healthy recipe contest, as part of first lady Michelle Obama’s anti-obesity campaign.
Having fun with the children, Obama agreed to take two questions from the journalists among them. The first asked what was Obama’s favorite food. Broccoli was the presidential reply, according to a White House aide.
This from a politician who has literally eaten his way across the country: Burgers in a Washington suburb with Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev; ribs in Asheville, North Carolina; hot dogs at a basketball game in Dayton, Ohio; and a tasty pastry called a kringle in Wisconsin.
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2013-07-10 01:07:452016-04-11 11:19:40After Eating Burgers, Ribs Throughout America, Obama Claims to Child that Broccoli is his Favorite Food
Photo Credit: Alexander HunterThe First, Second and Fourth Amendments to the Constitution aren’t much admired by liberals, or “progressives,” or whatever they’re calling themselves this month. Free speech is restrained by speech codes, President Obama’s disdain for the right to bear arms is well known, and the government’s electronic snooping has shredded the guarantees against self-incrimination.
Now even the Third Amendment, which guarantees that “no soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law,” is endangered, too. The courts have rarely considered this iron prohibition on quartering of troops, but now they must.
Two years ago, Christopher Worley, a police officer in Henderson, Nev., called on Anthony Mitchell to ask whether police could use the Mitchell home to keep watch on a neighbor. Mr. Mitchell declined. Soon he heard pounding on the front door. Henderson police officers arrived with orders from their superiors: “If Mitchell refused to answer the door, force entry would be made, and Mitchell would be arrested.” The door was battered down, and Mr. Mitchell was arrested at gunpoint for “obstructing an officer.” The frightened family dog was shot.
The Mitchell family sued, asking the U.S. District Court for Nevada to hold the cities of Henderson and North Las Vegas in violation of their constitutional rights when police seized their home and used it for a sting operation against a neighbor.
Photo Credit: Fox NewsBy Fox News. Defense lawyers will be permitted to show that Trayvon Martin had marijuana in his system when he and George Zimmerman had their fateful encounter in a gated community in Florida last year, the judge in Zimmerman’s murder trial ruled Monday.
Judge Debra Nelson denied a motion by prosecutors to keep toxicology results showing THC in Martin’s system from the jury, paving the way for Zimmerman’s lawyers to argue the drug may have influenced the teen’s behavior. Defense attorney Don West noted that in Zimmerman’s statement to the non-emergency 911 dispatcher that it appeared the person he was observing in the Sanford, Fla., community was “on drugs.”
Late Monday, Zimmerman defense spokesman Shawn Vincent said the defense could rest by the end of the day Tuesday or early Wednesday morning. The prosecution would then have rebuttal witnesses, with closing statements by Thursday or Friday. Vincent stressed this scenario depended on everything going as expected.
Nelson’s ruling on the toxicology results came after the jury was dismissed following a day of conflicting testimony about whose voice could be heard screaming on a subsequent 911 tape. A parade of Zimmerman’s friends said they recognized the neighborhood watch volunteer’s voice, but Martin’s father, who police said initially told them he did not recognize the voice, said he came to realize it was his son after hearing the tape some 20 times.
The testimony, in week three of Zimmerman’s murder trial, came after the mothers of both Zimmerman and Martin testified Friday it was their son doing the screaming in the Feb. 26, 2012, 911 call made to Sanford, Fla., police. The issue is critical because Zimmerman, a 29-year-old neighborhood watch volunteer, says he shot the 17-year-old in self-defense as he was being beaten.
Photo Credit: Breitbart Broward County Sheriff’s Office Prepares Zimmerman Verdict Riot Plan
By Ben Shapiro. On Monday, the Broward County Sheriff’s Office released a video calling on the public not to riot in the wake of the George Zimmerman verdict, expected this week or next in Florida. The Sheriff’s Office released a statement explaining that it was “working closely with the Sanford Police Department and other local law enforcement agencies” to coordinate “a response plan in anticipation of the verdict.”
The video, titled “Raise Your Voice, Not Your Hands,” focuses on attempting to channel reaction into non-violent response. It depicts two youngsters, one black teenage boy, one Hispanic teenage girl. “Raise your voice!” says the girl. “And not your hands!” says the boy. “We need to stand together as one, no cuffs, no guns,” says the girl. “Let’s give violence a rest, because we can easily end up arrested,” says the boy. “I know your patience will be tested,” says the girl, and then both conclude, “but law enforcement has your back!”
“Let’s back up and choose not to act up, and deputies are with us, so no need to act up,” says the boy. “Let it roll off your shoulders,” says the girl, “it’s water off your back, don’t lack composure, because in one instant it could be over.” Both conclude: “So let’s make the choice to raise your voice and not your hands.” Sheriff Scott Israel says, “I’m Sheriff Scott Israel, and law enforcement does have your back.” Read more from this story HERE.
By Jack Cashill. On Monday afternoon, the State of Florida’s case against George Zimmerman all but collapsed when the defense put a lie to the State’s claim that Trayvon Martin was the one whose voice was heard on the 9-1-1 tapes.
A critical part of the evidence to support the second-degree murder affidavit against Zimmerman was the identification by Martin’s mother, Sybrina Fulton, of her son’s screaming voice on what the defense calls the “Lauer tape,” the 9-1-1 call that recorded forty seconds of cries for help.
On Friday, July 8, the State closed its case by calling Fulton to the witness stand. As expected, and as highly anticipated by those wanting Zimmerman’s head, Fulton claimed that it was her son’s voice on the 9-1-1 tape…
Under defense attorney Mark O’Mara’s guidance [on Monday], Chris Serino, the lead investigator in the case, told how he played the 9-1-1 tapes for Tracy Martin, Trayvon’s father, two days after the shooting.
When Serino asked Martin if the screaming voice on the 9-1-1 tape was his son’s, Martin said “no.” Sanford PD officer Doris Singleton testified next. She witnessed the exchange and confirmed what Serino had said. “[Tracy Martin] was telling Chris it was not his son’s voice,” said Singleton. Read more from this story HERE.
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2013-07-09 02:42:432016-04-11 11:19:40Judge Rules Defense Can Show Trayvon Martin Died With Marijuana in His System; Sheriff Prepares for Riots (+video)
Photo Credit: STATE DEPARTMENTCameras Catch Mystery Break-In at Whistleblower’s Law Firm
By John Hudson. The offices of a Dallas law firm representing a high-profile State Department whistleblower were broken into last weekend. Burglars stole three computers and broke into the firm’s file cabinets. But silver bars, video equipment and other valuables were left untouched, according to local Fox affiliate KDFW, which aired security camera footage of the suspected burglars entering and leaving the offices around the time of the incident.
The firm Schulman & Mathias represents Aurelia Fedenisn, a former investigator at the State Department’s Office of the Inspector General. In recent weeks, she raised a slew of explosive allegations against the department and its contractors ranging from illicit drug use, soliciting sexual favors from minors and prostitutes and sexual harassment.
“It’s a crazy, strange and suspicious situation,” attorney Cary Schulman told The Cable. “It’s clear to me that it was somebody looking for information and not money. My most high-profile case right now is the Aurelia Fedenisn case, and I can’t think of any other case where someone would go to these great lengths to get our information.”
According to the KDFW report, the firm was the only suite burglarized in the high-rise office building and an unlocked office adjacent was left untouched.
The State Department, which has repeatedly disputed Fedenisn’s allegations, denied any involvement in the incident. “Any allegation that the Department of State authorized someone to break into Mr. Schulman’s law firm is false and baseless,” spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.
Sex for Visas? State Department now confirms probe of US consular official in Guyana
By Judson Berger. The State Department acknowledged it is investigating alleged “improprieties” regarding a consular official who until recently was posted to Guyana, following reports he was trading visas for money and possibly sex.
The department said in a statement it was “aware” of the allegations, without going into detail.
“The department takes all allegations of misconduct by employees seriously,” a spokeswoman said in an email.
“We are reviewing the matter thoroughly. If the allegations are substantiated, we will work with the relevant authorities to hold anyone involved accountable.”
The department would not identify the individual, though media reports in Guyana have. Read more from this story HERE.
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2013-07-09 02:32:342016-04-11 11:19:41Worse than Watergate? Cameras Catch Break-In at Law Firm Representing Whistleblower in Explosive State Department Sex, Molestation, Drug Scandal (+video)
Photo Credit: Patricia MartinWearing the uniform of the Few and Proud doesn’t rate preferential treatment from the Transportation Security Administration or California capitol security officers, retired Marine Cpl. Nathan Kemnitz recently found.
Kemnitz, severely injured in 2004 in a roadside bomb attack in Fallujah, has limited use of his right arm and cannot lift it above his head. So when security guards at the state capitol building in Sacramento, Calif., asked him to remove his dress blue blouse “because he was wearing too much metal,” and TSA asked him to raise his arms above his head for the full-body scanner at Sacramento International Airport, he could not comply.
“My right arm doesn’t work. It’s a lot of hassle for me to do that,” Kemntiz said.
At the state capitol, the Marine’s refusal to remove his uniform top grew into a heated exchange between Kemnitz, a friend who was accompanying him and security officers.
At the airport, bystanders stared as the TSA security screener looked under Kemnitz’s medals, ran his hands under the Marine’s waistband and swabbed his shoes for explosives.
Photo Credit: Highway Patrol ImagesA video affiliated with the Libertarian Party that involved Rutherford County Sheriff’s Deputy A.J. Ross went viral yesterday on social media sites.
“We’ve gotten worldwide response for this,” said Axl David, communications director for the Libertarian Party of Tennessee, a political party that encourages minimum government limited to following the Constitution and Bill of Rights.
The video depicted a verbal altercation between Chris Kalbaugh, a 21-year-old junior at Middle Tennessee State University, and Ross at a DUI checkpoint Thursday night…
When Kalbaugh continued to challenge Ross’ demands on the basis of “constitutional rights,” Ross ordered him to pull his car over and step out of the vehicle.
“I broke no laws, and I made sure to be respectful the entire time while still exercising my constitutional freedom,” Kalbaugh said. “The officers would not let me leave, but they would not answer if I was being detained.”
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2013-07-09 02:31:112016-04-11 11:19:41Cops Violate Student’s Constitutional Rights at Roadblock, Video Goes Viral
Photo Credit: The Guardian The Guardian released the second part of Snowden’s interview with Glenn Greenwald in Hong Kong. In it Snowden, made it clear that he loved America but hated what its government has become. He also predicted that the feds would ultimately accuse him of espionage. Here are excerpts of that interview:
“I think they are going to say I have committed grave crimes, I have violated the Espionage Act. They are going to say I have aided our enemies in making them aware of these systems. But this argument can be made against anyone who reveals information that points out mass surveillance systems,” he said.
Asked whether he had sought a career in the intelligence community specifically to become a mole and reveal secrets, Snowden, 30, said he had joined government service very young, first enlisting in the US army immediately after the invasion of Iraq out of a belief in “the goodness of what we were doing. I believed in the nobility of our intentions to free oppressed people overseas.”
But his views shifted over the length of his career as he watched the news, which he saw as propaganda, not truth. “We were actually involved in misleading the public and misleading all the publics, not just the American public, in order to create certain mindset in the global consciousness and I was actually a victim of that.”
He had not fallen out of love with America, only its government. “America is a fundamentally good country. We have good people with good values who want to do the right thing. But the structures of power that exist are working to their own ends to extend their capability at the expense of the freedom of all publics.”
In the new excerpts, he explained his motivation for revealing the information. “I don’t want to live in a world where everything that I say, everything I do, everyone I talk to, every expression of creativity or love or friendship is recorded,” he said. “And that’s not something I’m willing to support, it’s not something I’m willing to build and it’s not something I’m willing to live under.”
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2013-07-09 02:25:202016-04-11 11:19:41Snowden Loves America, Not Its Government; Says He’s Unwilling to Live Under Constant Surveillance
Last year, the official Twitter account for President Barack Obama was found to be following a semi-erotic website. Now, it appears that the account was following a full-on porn company.
Although the president doesn’t manage his own account — if a tweet is directly penned by Obama it’s signed “-bo” — but @BarackObama is curated by his Organizing for Action staff.
When it was found in April 2012 that the account was following @CelebritySideboob, Obama’s Twitter account followed more than 679,000 accounts. Since then, it appears that the staff has unfollowed many, dropping down to 660,850 followed by the president’s account. But one appears to have slipped through proper vetting.
Working in the last frontier often presents numerous challenges but when you are working in the northern most part of the last frontier, the challenges are aplenty. Some people would consider the polar bears the big threat and they occasionally are. But some consider the brown bears a larger errr…. more relevant issue.
Just two days ago I came upon an intersection where several trucks were stopped for no apparent reason. Then the reason became apparent to me. A large brown bear has chased a smaller bear up the road and toward our camp. The brown bear giving chase appeared to notice the audience and, apparently not wanting any witnesses, gave up the chase and slowly turned off the road and headed back to the tundra. This very large brown bear was so close I could see his breath in the cool morning air. A rare up close moment with wildlife, even for a sourdough Alaskan!
But, no, the brown bear doesn’t hold the title of deadliest Alaskan menace either. And unless you are a seal, forget the polar bear. Nope, rabid foxes aren’t it either. Instead, it’s the not-so-little mosquito.
Worldwide, the mosquito holds the record for deadliest animal, if you want to call it that. It’s more likely to be a problem than the bears. Heck, they were so bad in the parking lot this week, I had to take my cap off and fan it around my head, keeping nose and mouth closed with face pointed to ground, just to avoid eating them. Problem with that, it’s difficult to see where you are going and I almost ran right into a steel pole, avoiding it only at the last possible second.
So up here in the oil patch, this time of year it isn’t anything as glorious as avoiding getting attacked by the polar bears or tending to a rig blowing out. Sometimes it’s as simple as watching where we are walking. And in this video taken by a coworker, the mosquitoes demonstrate just how difficult that might be at times.
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2013-07-09 02:24:272016-04-11 11:19:42Exclusive: Prudhoe Bay Overrun by Red Cross Workers and They Ain’t Askin’ (+video)
