In Graphic Photos and On Twitter,ISIS Members Record and Tout Executions of Gay Men (NO PHOTO IN OP)

Source: TDB

Jacob Siegel

The attacks, which also include the stoning of an adulterer, appear to have taken place in Mosul and were distributed by ISIS social media accounts.

These are obscene images. They depict two men thrown from the roof of a building as a crowd watches them fall to their deaths, and they purport to show the Islamic State (or ISIS) carrying out public executions before an audience in Iraq’s Nineveh province.

The two victims’ alleged crimes? They are believed to be gay. In another photo, woman accused of being an adulterer is stoned to death, and two men charged with thievery are bound to crucifixes. Victims are commonly crucified, sometimes after they have been killed, in ISIS public executions.

more + vivid photos at link

Read more: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/01/16/in-graphic-videos-and-on-twitter-isis-members-record-and-tout-executions-of-gay-men.html

Dems Rally Around Muslim Congressman

Source: TDB/NPR

Top Democrats rallied around Rep. Andre Carson of Indiana, following online criticism that the congressman should not be allowed to sit on the House Intelligence Committee because he is a Muslim. Carson, one of only two Muslims in Congress, was appointed to the panel charged with overseeing the American intelligence community earlier this week.

"I am deeply disturbed that since his appointment to the committee, Congressman Carson has been subject to vicious, anti-Muslim attacks online and in social media, questioning his loyalty to our country solely because of his faith. These un-American and unfounded smears have no place in our national discourse and are contemptible," said Rep. Adam Schiff, the top-ranking Democrat on the committee.

Carson has national security qualifications: he worked full time in law enforcement, and was in the Indiana Department of Homeland Security's anti-terrorism unit.

"We should not tolerate anyone being targeted or denied opportunities because of their religious beliefs," said Rep. Jerrold Nadler, a Democrat from New York.

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Read more: http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2015/01/16/dems-rally-around-muslim-congressman.html

Obama Administration Will Ask SCOTUS To Rule For Marriage Equality

Source: TPM

By SAHIL KAPUR Published JANUARY 16, 2015, 4:45 PM EST

The Obama administration will formally ask the Supreme Court to "make marriage equality a reality for all Americans" in a landmark case.

In a statement issued on Friday, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said the Justice Department will file a friend-of-the-court brief calling for gay and lesbian Americans across the country to be able to marry.

"The Supreme Court has announced that it will soon hear several cases raising core questions concerning the constitutionality of same-sex marriages. As these cases proceed, the Department of Justice will remain committed to ensuring that the benefits of marriage are available as broadly as possible. And we will keep striving to secure equal treatment for all members of society—regardless of sexual orientation," Holder said.

Holder cited the Obama administration's decision to stop defending the Defense of Marriage Act in court, which led to a 2013 Supreme Court decision requiring federal recognition of legal same-sex marriages.

-snip-

Read more: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/eric-holder-supreme-court-gay-marrige

GOP tactics on ObamaCare move away from full repeal

By Sarah Ferris - 01/16/15 06:00 AM EST

Republicans are shifting their tactics on ObamaCare, an abrupt change from the party’s repeal-only rhetoric that dominated the last five years of debate.

The GOP is coalescing around the idea that incremental changes, rather than a sweeping repeal effort, can be more appealing to voters — while also holding out the possibility of hollowing out the law from within.

In the past, some conservatives objected to any ObamaCare bills that fell short of full repeal. They argued it was impossible to fix the flawed legislation by doing anything other than fully repealing it.
No more.

When the newly GOP-controlled Senate votes on its first anti-ObamaCare legislation in the next few weeks, none of its members is expected to block the bills, according to aides and lobbyists familiar with discussions.

more
http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/229730-gop-tactics-on-obamacare-move-away-from-full-repeal

NYC Turns Its Back on NYPD

Pat Lynch is deeply unpopular, an accolade he shares with Al Sharpton Voters give Patrolmen's Benevolent Assn. President Patrick Lynch a negative 18 - 39 percent favorability rating and say 43 - 27 percent that he is a mostly negative force in the city. Rev. Al Sharpton gets a negative 29 - 53 percent favorability, his lowest score ever, and voters say 51 - 37 percent that he is a mostly negative force in the city, also his worst score.

Prominent Mormon Faces Excommunication for Backing Gay Marriage

Source: New York Times

The Mormon Church has moved to excommunicate the prominent Utah-based founder of an online forum for critical or doubting Mormons, charging him with apostasy for supporting same-sex marriage and the ordination of women and for questioning church teaching.

John P. Dehlin, host of the Mormon Stories website and podcast — a hub of discussion for thousands of disaffected Mormons — said his regional church leader had scheduled a disciplinary hearing on Jan. 25. Mr. Dehlin said he would be excommunicated if he refused to take down podcasts that are critical of the church and to disavow his support for women’s ordination and gay marriage.

“I would prefer for them to leave me alone,” he said in an interview, “but if given the choice between denying my conscience and facing excommunication, I’d much rather be excommunicated.”

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/16/us/john-dehlin-mormon-critic-facing-excommunication.html?emc=edit_na_20150115

Giuliani Knows How Romney Can Win A Third Presidential Run: Benghazi

By CAITLIN MACNEAL Published JANUARY 15, 2015, 12:49 PM EST

If failed Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney decides to run again, he needs to focus more on issues like the administration's response to the Benghazi attack, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) said Thursday.

"He’s going to have to convince them that he’s going to run a different kind of campaign this time," Giuliani said on "Fox and Friends." The former mayor said Romney needs to show that "he’s not going to back away from topics like Benghazi."

"Even if he didn’t win, if he had made Benghazi a bigger issue, I think we would have had a better chance," Giuliani said about Romney's 2012 run.

Watch the video via Media Matters:

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/giuliani-mitt-romney-benghazi

Dave Agema’s Defense for Posting a Racist Article: I Got It From Allen West, and He’s Black!

By Betsy Woodruff

Former Republican Rep. Allen West posted a white supremacist article last December, and it’s helped create a huge headache for the RNC.

On Dec. 29, West pasted the text of a story called “Confessions of a Public Defender” on his website. That story was originally published at American Renaissance, a white supremacist magazine helmed by Jared Taylor, who seems to feel that “when blacks are left entirely to their own devices, Western civilization — any kind of civilization — disappears.”

West gave the American Renaissance story a ringing endorsement.

“It will take you only 5 minutes to read this article—and I would bet you’ll read it again,” he wrote on his site. “Then ask yourself, is this something you hear Al Sharpton addressing? Or President Obama, Eric Holder, Jeh Johnson or Jesse Jackson?”

“The facts and observations in this are not shocking to me,” West continued. “They are quite well known, but the manner in which the writer so eloquently presents them is quite commendable.”

more
http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2015/01/15/dave_agema_blames_allen_west_for_racist_article_while_the_rnc_tries_to_figure.html?

Obamacare Has Reversed A Negative Trend. Researchers Call It ‘Remarkable.’

BY TARA CULP-RESSLER POSTED ON JANUARY 15, 2015 AT 8:47 AM UPDATED: JANUARY 15, 2015 AT 10:20 AM

For the first time in a decade, the number of people struggling to pay their medical bills has started to decline, according to a new survey released on Thursday by the Commonwealth Fund. The researchers attributed the historic drop to the number of people gaining insurance under the health care reform law.

Between 2012 and 2014 — as Obamacare’s main coverage expansion took effect — the Commonwealth researchers found that the number of people who had issues paying for health treatment dropped from 41 percent to 35 percent. Over the same time period, the people who skipped out on health services because they couldn’t afford them declined from 43 percent to 36 percent:





In a press release, the researchers described the declines as “remarkable.” This marks the first time since 2005, when Commonwealth started surveying people on these questions, that the number of Americans struggling to afford medical care hasn’t increased.

“Health insurance really provides people with a financial means to get care,” Sara Collins, a vice president at the Commonwealth Fund and one of the people who worked on the study, told the New York Times. “We don’t know yet that the law is improving people’s health, but this is a first indication that people are affording care that they weren’t able to get in the past.”

more
http://thinkprogress.org/health/2015/01/15/3611905/obamacare-medical-bills-commonwealth/?utm_source=email&utm_medium=tptop3&utm_campaign=tptop3

3 Things We Know About Clinton’s Emerging Campaign