January 15, 2015

EXCLUSIVE: State Dept. considers phasing out DP benefits

The Washington Blade has learned the State Department is considering phasing out domestic partner benefits for unmarried gay employees in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2013 ruling that struck down a portion of the Defense of Marriage Act.

Patrick Kennedy, under secretary for management at the State Department, told representatives of Gays and Lesbians in Foreign Affairs Agencies during a Dec. 22 meeting that the agency plans to move forward the proposed elimination of the Same-Sex Domestic Partner (SSDP) program.

GLIFAA President Selim Ariturk told the Washington Blade that many of his organization’s members come from states that have yet to extend marriage rights to same-sex couples. He said their partners could also lose their jobs “simply for getting married to someone of the same gender.” Ariturk further noted that legally married foreign-born partners of GLIFAA members could face additional threats in their respective homelands.

“A diplomat from the embassy of an anti-gay country could walk into D.C. City Hall today and ask to see the marriage records of such a couple,” Ariturk told the Blade. “Those records could then be used to ‘convict’ the foreign partner of homosexuality the next time he travels home. The danger is real.”

- See more at: http://www.washingtonblade.com/2015/01/14/exclusive-state-dept-considering-phasing-domestic-partner-benefits/?

January 14, 2015

“Join the club”: Rand Paul mocks people on disability

Likely presidential hopeful says most people on disabled aid are just anxious or have back problems

LUKE BRINKER

How’s that GOP rebrand going, you ask? Just in the last few days, a Republican congressman compared President Obama to Adolf Hitler; it emerged that Steve Scalise, the third-ranking House Republican, who spoke before a white supremacist group in 2002, voted as a Louisiana legislator against apologizing for slavery; and the GOP-controlled House passed a bill that would overturn President Obama’s executive actions sparing up to 5 million unauthorized immigrants from deportation. Meeting with legislators in New Hampshire on Wednesday, likely GOP presidential hopeful added disabled people to the group of Americans the party has insulted this week.

The Kentucky senator asserted that the Social Security benefits program is riddled with fraud, with most people who draw benefits suffering from nothing more serious than anxiety or back pain.

“The thing is that all of these programs, there’s always somebody who’s deserving, everybody in this room knows somebody who’s gaming the system. I tell people that if you look like me and you hop out of your truck, you shouldn’t be getting a disability check,” Paul said. “Over half the people on disability are either anxious or their back hurts. Join the club. Who doesn’t get up a little anxious for work every day and their back hurts? Everyone over 40 has a back pain.”

Bryce Covert dismantles Paul’s claim:

The disability insurance program, which is part of Social Security, has come under scrutiny after two media reports last year that focused on rising enrollment and implied that it was at least partly due to fraud. But the reality is different: fraud in disability programs is estimated to amount to less than 1 percent and is extremely rare, as the agency’s watchdog has found. Its inaccurate payments rate is also less than 1 percent, compared to about 8 percent for Medicaid and Medicare.

The benefits are also very hard to come by. Fewer than four in ten applications are approved even after all stages of appeal. Medical evidence from multiple medical professionals is required in most cases to determine eligibility, which means showing that an applicant suffers from a “severe, medically determinable physical or mental impairment that is expected to last 12 months or result in death.” The severity of the disabilities of those who get benefits is underscored by the fact that one in five men and nearly one in six women die within five years of being approved.

more
http://www.salon.com/2015/01/14/join_the_club_rand_paul_mocks_people_on_disability/

January 14, 2015

Elizabeth Warren Swiftly Backs Kamala Harris In California Senate Race

Source: TPM

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) is putting her significant influence and fundraising prowess behind California Attorney General Kamala Harris in the race to replace retiring Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA).

"California Attorney General Kamala Harris is a smart, tough, and experienced prosecutor who has consistently stood up to Wall Street," Warren said in an email to supporters that asked for donations to support Harris's campaign. "I worked with Kamala, and I saw up close and personal that she is tough, she is principled, and she fights hard."

Harris announced earlier this week that she would run to succeed Boxer, instantly making her a frontrunner in the race. Billionaire enviromentalist Tom Steyer and Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-CA) are two other prominent names who are considering a campaign.

###

Read more: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/elizabeth-warren-kamala-harris-california-senate

January 14, 2015

Email from Elizabeth Warren: I'm supporting Kamala

Don,

Barbara Boxer has been my friend and mentor in the United States Senate, and I’m very sorry that we’ll be losing her strong leadership when she retires in 2016.

But it is also true that I’m really excited about what’s in store for California and our country.

California Attorney General Kamala Harris is a smart, tough, and experienced prosecutor who has consistently stood up to Wall Street. Yesterday, she announced her candidacy for the United States Senate, and I’m happy to support her campaign.

Let’s help Kamala Harris build the grassroots team she’ll need to stand up to the powerful interests and win in California in 2016. Will you help us raise $25,000 for her Senate campaign right now?

Let me take just a moment to tell you what makes Kamala Harris so special.

When the housing market crashed in 2008, California was hit hard. Home prices had shot through the roof, and families that were desperately afraid they might be priced out of housing forever took on big mortgages. But those weren’t just standard, here-are-the-payments mortgages. No, millions of people ended up with mortgages that were loaded with tricks and traps, sold by both big banks and fly-by-night mortgage lenders. When the market collapsed, these people couldn’t pay their mortgages, they couldn’t refinance, and they couldn’t sell their homes.

Attorney General Kamala Harris demanded real accountability from the lenders. She wasn’t intimidated by the big banks. When the negotiations in the National Mortgage Settlement weren’t tough enough on the banks, Kamala took a bold move. She said that her job was to protect the people of California, not help the big banks, so she pulled out of the group negotiations and later secured $20 billion in relief for struggling California homeowners. And to help prevent another crisis from happening again, she fought for a new California Homeowner Bill of Rights – one of the most comprehensive sets of foreclosure reform laws in the country.

I worked with Kamala, and I saw up close and personal that she is tough, she is principled, and she fights hard.

We need more leaders in Washington who are willing to fight for a level playing field for working families. Kamala came to Massachusetts to help our campaign in 2012, and I’m doing what I can to make sure Kamala Harris makes it to the United States Senate in 2016.

Donate now to Kamala Harris’s campaign so she can fight by my side for America’s middle class.

Thank you for being a part of this,

Elizabeth

P.S. You and I know all too well what happens when you stand up to the big banks – they fight back with everything they’ve got. Let’s give Kamala the grassroots support she’ll need to stand up to the powerful interests. Become an early supporter of her campaign.

January 14, 2015

Ex-GOP Congressman Hopes 'Cowards At CNN, MSNBC' Are Beheaded

ByTRACY WALSHPublishedJANUARY 14, 2015, 3:41 PM EST

Former Rep. Joe Walsh (R-IL) said on Wednesday he hoped that staffers at news outlets like CNN and MSNBC would face beheadings for their refusals to air cartoons published by the satirical French newspaper Charlie Hebdo.

Walsh, who now works as a conservative radio host, made the comments on Twitter in light of reports that numerous media outlets were refusing to publish Charlie Hebdo's depictions of the Muslim prophet Muhammad in the wake of terror attacks at at the newspaper's Paris office.

Joe Walsh @WalshFreedom

Let's hope that when the Islamists next strike they first behead the appeasing cowards at CNN, MSNBC, etal who refused to show the cartoons.

1:59 PM - 14 Jan 2015

Walsh was an outspoken member of Congress when he served from 2011 through 2013, His time as a pundit since losing re-election has included using racial slurs on his radio show and calling for the profiling of "young Muslim men."

###

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/joe-walsh-cnn-msnbc-beheaded

January 14, 2015

Email from Elizabeth Warren: I'm supporting Kamala

Don,

Barbara Boxer has been my friend and mentor in the United States Senate, and I’m very sorry that we’ll be losing her strong leadership when she retires in 2016.

But it is also true that I’m really excited about what’s in store for California and our country.

California Attorney General Kamala Harris is a smart, tough, and experienced prosecutor who has consistently stood up to Wall Street. Yesterday, she announced her candidacy for the United States Senate, and I’m happy to support her campaign.

Let’s help Kamala Harris build the grassroots team she’ll need to stand up to the powerful interests and win in California in 2016. Will you help us raise $25,000 for her Senate campaign right now?



Let me take just a moment to tell you what makes Kamala Harris so special.

When the housing market crashed in 2008, California was hit hard. Home prices had shot through the roof, and families that were desperately afraid they might be priced out of housing forever took on big mortgages. But those weren’t just standard, here-are-the-payments mortgages. No, millions of people ended up with mortgages that were loaded with tricks and traps, sold by both big banks and fly-by-night mortgage lenders. When the market collapsed, these people couldn’t pay their mortgages, they couldn’t refinance, and they couldn’t sell their homes.

Attorney General Kamala Harris demanded real accountability from the lenders. She wasn’t intimidated by the big banks. When the negotiations in the National Mortgage Settlement weren’t tough enough on the banks, Kamala took a bold move. She said that her job was to protect the people of California, not help the big banks, so she pulled out of the group negotiations and later secured $20 billion in relief for struggling California homeowners. And to help prevent another crisis from happening again, she fought for a new California Homeowner Bill of Rights – one of the most comprehensive sets of foreclosure reform laws in the country.

I worked with Kamala, and I saw up close and personal that she is tough, she is principled, and she fights hard.

We need more leaders in Washington who are willing to fight for a level playing field for working families. Kamala came to Massachusetts to help our campaign in 2012, and I’m doing what I can to make sure Kamala Harris makes it to the United States Senate in 2016.

Donate now to Kamala Harris’s campaign so she can fight by my side for America’s middle class.

Thank you for being a part of this,

Elizabeth

P.S. You and I know all too well what happens when you stand up to the big banks – they fight back with everything they’ve got. Let’s give Kamala the grassroots support she’ll need to stand up to the powerful interests. Become an early supporter of her campaign.

January 13, 2015

Indiana Democrat André Carson Will Become First Muslim on Congressional Intelligence Committee

By Ben Mathis-Lilley

CNN reports that Indiana Rep. André Carson, a Democrat, will become the first Muslim to serve on a congressional intelligence committee. Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi announced the move at a caucus meeting Tuesday, the network says.

Carson represents Indiana’s 7th District, which encompasses much of the city of Indianapolis. He converted to Islam at some point in the late 1990s and succeeded his grandmother, Julia Carson, in Congress by winning a 2008 special election after she died in 2007. He won re-election in 2014 easily with 54.7 percent of the vote to his Republican opponent's 41.8 percent.

The first Muslim to become a congressional representative was Minnesota Democrat Keith Ellison, who won election in 2006 and continues to serve that state’s 5th District, which includes Minneapolis and some of its suburbs. Ellison and Carson are the only Muslims in the House or Senate.

###

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2015/01/13/first_muslim_on_house_intelligence_committee_andre_carson_to_serve.html?

January 13, 2015

Homophobic Lawyer Who Cyberbullied A Gay College Student Loses Again

Karma’s a bitch. Just ask Andrew Shirvell, the homophobic internet troll from Michigan who just had his request for unemployment benefits denied for being, well, a homophobic internet troll.

In 2010, Shirvell was canned from his job as assistant to Michigan Attorney-General Mike Cox after he called Chris Armstrong, a gay college student, a “radical homosexual activist,” “racist,” “elitist,” “liar,” and compared him to a Nazi and a member of the KKK. In his free time, Shirvell also maintained an antigay blog called the Chris Armstrong Watch, in which he frequently alleged that the 21-year-old student hosted orgies and had sex at a children’s playground and inside a church.

In addition to being fired from his job, Shirvell was also ordered to fork over $4.5 million to Anderson in a defamation lawsuit. In a 3-0 decision handed down on Friday, it was decided that Shrivell was not eligible for unemployment benefits. The court said that his antigay hate speech was in direct opposition to the anti-cyber bullying campaign launched by the Attorney-General’s office at the time.

“It was reasonable for the department to conclude in its termination letter that Shirvell’s conduct … had the potential to damage the public’s perception (of the department),” the judgement read. “Shirvell’s conduct reasonably could have created the impression that neither he nor the department enforced the law in a fair, even-handed manner without bias.”

-snip-

https://www.queerty.com/homophobic-lawyer-who-cyberbullied-a-gay-college-student-loses-again-20150112

January 13, 2015

Pope Francis slams ‘deviant forms of religion’ after Charlie Hebdo attack

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
12 JAN 2015 AT 06:22 ET

Pope Francis on Monday slammed “deviant forms of religion” following deadly attacks by Islamist militants in France last week which left 17 people dead.

“Losing their freedom, people become enslaved, whether to the latest fads, or to power, money, or even deviant forms of religion,” he said, laying the blame on “a culture of rejection” which leads to “the breakdown of society and spawning violence and death.”

“We see painful evidence of this in the events reported daily in the news, not least the tragic slayings which took place in Paris a few days ago,” he said in his yearly speech to the members of the Diplomatic Corps accredited to the Holy See.

###

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2015/01/pope-francis-slams-deviant-forms-of-religion-after-charlie-hebdo-attack/

January 13, 2015

Times Reporter Will Not Be Called to Testify in Leak Case, Lawyers Say

Source: New York Times

James Risen, a New York Times reporter, will not be called to testify at a leak trial, lawyers said Monday, ending a seven-year legal fight over whether he could be forced to identify his confidential sources.

The Justice Department said in court filings that it would not call Mr. Risen to testify at the trial of Jeffrey Sterling, a former C.I.A. officer charged with providing him details about a botched operation in Iran. Mr. Sterling’s lawyers, who had also left open the possibility of calling Mr. Risen to testify, said on Monday that they had withdrawn their subpoena.

The Justice Department first tried to compel Mr. Risen’s testimony in 2008 during the Bush administration, when it subpoenaed him to testify in the case against Mr. Sterling. Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. authorized the subpoena again in 2011, and the effort to obtain Mr. Risen’s testimony came to symbolize the Obama administration’s effort to crack down on government officials who talk to reporters about security matters.



Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/13/us/times-reporter-james-risen-will-not-be-called-to-testify-in-leak-case-lawyers-say.html?emc=edit_na_20150112