Thursday, October 09, 2014
October 9, 2014
By Andrew Kinney
By Andrew Kinney
RALEIGH — Chad Biggs, (click here) a Wake County sheriff’s deputy, and his partner, Chris Creech, also a sheriff’s office employee, are set to receive Wake County’s first same-sex marriage license, according to Laura Riddick, register of deeds for the county.
That marriage must wait for the legal maneuvering to settle, but experts say federal court decisions have set North Carolina on a path to legal gay marriage soon.
On Thursday morning, preparations were underway at the Wake County Justice Center. Riddick’s office was working with software vendors to prepare the county’s databases for changes to the marriage application.
There were no lines of couples in the morning, but court employees were casing the lobby, planning for potentially large crowds and trying to keep TV camera crews out of the way.
Biggs, who has been engaged for more than two years, was on duty at the courthouse in full uniform on Thursday morning. Riddick, the register of deeds, had his number on a sticky note attached to her identification badge, ready to call him as soon as word of a decision in the continuing court matters arrived. She had been brushing up on her clerical skills so she could issue the license herself, she said....
GOP will attempt to rewrite Prop 8.
This will go on forever until there is a marriage equality amendment. Please get this done. North Carolina passed the most heinous marriage amendment to their state constitution which victimized the LGBT community as well as those unmarried heterosexual couples and their children. People in this state were frantic about the continued integrity of their families. These people are not only hateful they are among the worst nightmares in the country. They don't care about a family unless it meets their theocratic definition.
October 9, 2014
October 9, 2014
October 9, 2014
Republican leaders (click here) in the North Carolina legislature apparently will make good Thursday on their pledge to fight the expected go-ahead for same-sex marriages in the state.
House Speaker Thom Tillis and Senate President Phil Berger reportedly have hired a conservative California legal expert to lead the effort.
John Eastman, a former Republican candidate for attorney general in California, is the former dean of the Chapman University School of Law in Orange, Calif. He is also chairman of the board of the National Organization for Marriage, a group involved in the legal defense of traditional unions between a man and a woman....
October 9, 2014
By Zaid Jilani
...But sure enough, (click here) as America finally inches towards joining numerous other countries where same-sex marriage is legal, the right-wing is freaking out, predicting all manner of doom. Here’s ten of the craziest reactions:
1. Gay Marriage Is Like The Pro-Slavery Dred Scott Decision: At The National Review, Matthew J. Franck, said that the expansion of marriage equality is like “a slow-motion Dred Scott for the twenty-first century.”
2. Gay Marriage Will Spread Disease: Liberty Counsel chairman Mat Staver warned that marriage equality would be “harmful to individuals” and lead to all “kinds of serious and deadly disease.”
3. Gay Marriage Will Of Course Lead To Polygamy: Right-wing radio host and activist Erick Erickson predicted that “all the people now saying polygamy is different from gay marriage will be polygamy’s chief advocates within the decade.”
4. We Need To Amend The Constitution To Stop Gay Marriage: Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) went as far as to say he will introduce an amendment to the Constitution to stop the national recognition of marriage equality....
N.C. Rep. Henry M. Michaux Jr., left, and House Speaker Thom Tillis meet at the State Capitol in Raleigh in May. Tillis and Senate President Phil Berger reportedly have hired a conservative California legal expert to lead the effort against same-sex marriage in North Carolina.
COREY LOWENSTEIN — clowenst@newsobserver.com
Washington - Today (click here) the Republican State Leadership Committee (RSLC), on behalf of the Republican Legislative Campaign Committee (RLCC), announced Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger as a 2014 RLCC Executive Committee Member. Senator Berger will serve as Immediate Past Chairman and will continue to serve the RLCC’s mission to support and build Republican representation in all fifty state legislatures....
"All around nice guy," except, when it comes to politics. He'll be sure you have your say and then stick a knife in your back. Others views and lives mean nothing unless it lines up with his agenda.
"All around nice guy," except, when it comes to politics. He'll be sure you have your say and then stick a knife in your back. Others views and lives mean nothing unless it lines up with his agenda.
May 10, 2014
By Jay Price
...As Berger, (click here) a 61-year-old lawyer from Eden, prepares for his fourth session at the helm of the Senate, many believe he is now the most powerful politician in North Carolina.
He became that through meticulous, long-range planning to craft a majority, a laserlike focus on major goals, a blue-collar work ethic that he honed with actual manual labor, and a natural geniality that he has used as a glue to bind his caucus. That caucus now holds a veto-proof 33-17 majority, thanks in part to his savvy candidate recruiting and ceaseless fundraising.
Since his elevation in 2011 to Senate president pro tem, Berger has been cast as villain and hero. Liberals believe changes like the tax cuts, changes to the education system and the voter ID law have placed the state on a path to ruin....
Honshu at 7:16 pm EDT Sunday, October 5, 2014 was hit by Typhoon Phanfone.
October 7, 2014
Super Typhoon Vongfong, (click here) currently tracking towards Japan, is being called the most powerful storm on earth this year. It underwent rapid intensification last night and is now packing maximum sustained winds of 155 mph. The storm comes just after the deadly Typhoon Phanfone made landfall in Japan earlier this week.
Vongfong is forecast to take a similar path to that of Phanfone. Although it may strengthen a bit over the next 24 hours, the long-term track shows it weakening while moving North. Officials in Japan will be monitoring the typhoon closely over the next few days. Heavy rain, strong winds and mudslides are possible as this storm tracks closer to the island.
This will be the second storm to hit Japan in one week. Sediment plumes, like the ones that appears below are good markers for estimating the amount of water leaving the land.
...Phanfone (click here) dumped 48 centimeters (19 inches) of rain in the mountainous region of Shizuoka Prefecture. At one point during the storm, rain fell in Shizuoka—the capital city of the prefecture—at a record-rate of 8.7 centimeters (3.4 inches) per hour. The 667,000 people living in the prefecture were urged to evacuate to safer ground.
The intense rain and resulting runoff led to sediment plumes in Suruga Bay, visible in the natural-color image (top) acquired October 6, 2014, by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA's Aqua satellite. Such plumes were not apparent on September 29 (bottom image).
Phanfone later turned northeast and headed for Tokyo, bringing torrential rain and strong winds to the city before moving out to sea....
US Naval vessels should be in port for this storm. I don't care if this is a low category typhoon or the captain thinks the ship can weather this storm at sea better than in port. That was proven differently.
US Naval vessels should be in port for this storm. I don't care if this is a low category typhoon or the captain thinks the ship can weather this storm at sea better than in port. That was proven differently.
President Obama's strategy to date is exactly correct.
October 8, 2014
By Mark Lowen
Could Turkey be about to return to the bad old days of armed conflict with the Kurds? (click here)
By Mark Lowen
Troops on the streets, curfews for the first time in 22 years, protests in almost 30 cities and state buildings attacked - the situation is dangerous and escalating fast.
Some of the fighting is among Kurds, between Turkey's Islamist Hezbollah group - which backs Islamic State (IS) - and supporters of the PKK, the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party, which is vehemently opposed to IS militants.
But the main protests - and the fiercest anger - are directed at the Turkish government.
Kurds feel Turkey sees them, rather than IS, as the real enemy.
They are furious at Turkish troops blocking them from crossing over into Syria to fight with the Kurdish militia there, the YPG....
American Armed Forces, such as the Marines and Army, are not lackeys for a Middle East coalition with divided priorities.
Turkey isn't interested in participating in the Syrian civil war. The Kurds maybe angry over Kobane, but, this is the paradox created by the Islamic State. The Islamic State is fighting Assad and his forces and the Kurds. It is the best of all worlds for Turkey.
Americans are in a political season. It is time they come to terms with the war mongering and crying about the southern border.
Picture USA troops deployed into Iraq fighting at the side of the Kurds while destroying ISIS. Now, enter Turkey. Who is fighting who?
This is all nonsense. The USA southern border is faced with some of the most violent organizations in the world, namely the Latin America drug cartels and yet for the most part the USA is only annoyed by undocumented WORKERS coming over the border. There is little in the way of drug cartel wars coming to the USA, spilling over it's border, while at the same time Mexico has an active war with these same cartels.
Now, since "W"'s illegal war has resulted in the sectarian division of Iraq and wars within Iraq to maintain the lives of Kurds and villages along the Euphrates River the USA is suppose to return to do what exactly? The USA is suppose to enter into an ENDLESS POLICING of the Middle East. I don't think so.
The air strikes are working. While the Islamic State is already degraded of sophisticated weapons thanks to "W" it is also scattered to hide away from the efforts of the coalition.
In the video released by the FBI, the Islamic State assassin proudly pointed to a building once considered the Syrian Guard's quarters. It was full of holes in walls due to the attacks of the Islamic State. Those holes in walls were made with USA tanks and mortars. Really terrible from most view points. But, how is the Islamic State going to rebuild that structure to use for their own guards? It can't. It can only fight a war without end. Any structure the Islamic State attempts to build will be knocked down again and again until it's fiscal resources are depleted.
The Islamic State is already defeated, they just don't want to admit it so they continue to produce films that are somewhat identical to Latin American Drug Lord videos.
Enough. The coalition currently at work to degrade the Islamic State are doing exactly what they are suppose to be doing. On the other hand, the USA Republicans are pretending they know better than the President.
October 8, 2014
By Joshua Brunstein
AT&T (T) has agreed (click here) to a $105 million settlement with federal agencies and state attorneys general for allowing companies to add fraudulent charges to its customers phone bills—and taking at least a 35 percent cut of what they made.
This process, known as cramming, has been around in various forms since the 1990s, and carriers have sworn numerous times to put an end to it. In total, customers have spent hundreds of millions of dollars on charges they never asked for, officials said in a press conference Wednesday. The Federal Communications Commission has taken 14 enforcement actions on cramming since 2010, covering $122 million in activity. The AT&T case is the largest such settlement in the agency’s history, according to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler....
By Erica Adams
...North Korea's Kim Jong-un (click here) has been absent from official duties throughout the month of September, reportedly due to ankle injuries caused by wearing Cuban heels to his public events. (Cuban heels are basically high-heeled shoes designed for men.) Korean newspaper The Chosun Ilbo reported that Kim Jong-un is being treated for fractured ankles due to the stress caused by the shoes, coupled with his noticeable cheese-induced weight gain....
October 7, 2014
By Geoffrey Cain
...So it’s been a month of oddities (click here) alongside an enormous North Korean charm offensive.
The peculiarities have led analysts to look at the appearance of another player in the North Korea elite: Kim Jong Un’s little sister, Kim Yo Jong.
She may be managing the country in her brother’s absence, claims the North Korean Intellectuals’ Solidarity, a Seoul-based advocacy organization started by former North Korean professors. The group hasn’t revealed its source, and the claim has not been confirmed. But it follows Kim Yo Jong’s apparent emergence within regime circles, probably as a key ally of her brother....
August 21, 2014
By Joe Conason
For decades the state has been a hot bed for the country's most virulent racists, from neo-Nazis to the KKK (click here)
...The Council of Conservative Citizens, headquartered in St. Louis, is a living legacy of Southern “white resistance” to desegregation, with historical roots in the so-called citizens councils that sprang up during the 1950s as a “respectable” adjunct to the Klan. Its website currently proclaims that the CCC is “the only serious nationwide activist group that sticks up for white rights!” What that means, more specifically, is promoting hatred of blacks, Jews, gays and lesbians, and Latino immigrants while extolling the virtues of the “Southern way of life,” the Confederacy and even slavery.
The group’s website goes on to brag that the CCC is the only group promoting “white rights” whose meetings regularly feature “numerous elected officials, important authors, talk-show hosts, active pastors, and other important people” as speakers....
An off-duty Caucasian police officer. What the heck was an off-duty police officer doing patrolling the streets?
October 9, 2014
Young black man (click here) was shot to death by an off-duty white police officer in St. Louis on Wednesday night, and a tense crowd gathered at the scene nearly two months to the day after a white policeman shot an unarmed black man to death in the nearby suburb of Ferguson.
This time, police say, the man was armed and shot at the officer, who returned fire. But a woman who identified herself as the dead man's cousin said he was holding a sandwich, not a weapon....
October 9. 2014
October 9. 2014
...St. Louis Police Lt. Col. Alfred Adkins (click here) said the 32-year-old officer was working a secondary security job late Wednesday when the shooting happened. Lt. Col. Adkins said the officer, a six-year veteran of the St. Louis Police Department, approached four men on the street.
“As he exited the car, the gentlemen took off running. He was able to follow one of them before he lost him and then found him again as the guy jumped out of some bushes across the street,” Lt. Col. Adkins said. “The officer approached, they got into a struggle, they ended up into a gangway, at which time the young man pulled a weapon and shots were fired. The officer returned fire and unfortunately the young man was killed.”...
...Police said a gun was retrieved from the scene in the Shaw neighborhood, near Missouri Botanical Gardens....
...People who described themselves as relatives of the man who was shot later told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that he wasn’t armed.
Lt. Col. Adkins didn’t describe any conversation between the officer and the four pedestrians, and didn’t explain why the officer gave chase.
...when the officer attempted a "pedestrian check," St. Louis police spokeswoman Schron Jackson said in an email. Police did not elaborate on what a pedestrian check is or why it is done.
Jackson said the officer was working a department-approved security job and wearing his uniform when he confronted the pedestrian....
A police officer does not need probable cause (click here) to stop a car or a pedestrian and investigate potential crime. According to the U.S. Supreme Court, a police officer may initiate a temporary stop, a level of intrusion short of an arrest, if the officer can articulate a reasonable suspicion that the suspect has committed a crime or is about to commit a crime.1 This is commonly known as a Terry stop. Further, if the officer can articulate a reasonable basis for suspecting that the subject might be armed, he can pat down the outer clothing of the suspect in a limited search for weapons. This is commonly referred to as a Terry frisk....
A police officer does not need probable cause (click here) to stop a car or a pedestrian and investigate potential crime. According to the U.S. Supreme Court, a police officer may initiate a temporary stop, a level of intrusion short of an arrest, if the officer can articulate a reasonable suspicion that the suspect has committed a crime or is about to commit a crime.1 This is commonly known as a Terry stop. Further, if the officer can articulate a reasonable basis for suspecting that the subject might be armed, he can pat down the outer clothing of the suspect in a limited search for weapons. This is commonly referred to as a Terry frisk....
...Officers conducting a lawful Terry stop may take steps reasonably necessary to protect their personal safety, check for identification, and maintain the status quo. Occasionally a suspect will refuse to identify himself. Pursuant to the Supreme Court’s opinion in Hiibel v. Sixth Judicial District Ct. of Nev., a state law requiring a subject to disclose his name during a Terry stop is consistent with the Fourth Amendment’s ban on unreasonable search and seizure:
Obtaining a suspect’s name in the course of a Terry stop serves important government interests. Knowledge of identity may inform an officer that a suspect is wanted for another offense, or has a record of violence or mental disorder. On the other hand, knowing identity may help clear a suspect and allow the police to concentrate their efforts elsewhere.
Such a statute does not implicate the subject’s Fifth Amendment right to avoid self-incrimination, as simple disclosure of one’s name presents no reasonable danger of incrimination. But the Court clearly limited the application of this new rule by also noting that an officer may not arrest a suspect for failing to identify himself if the identification request is not reasonably related to the circumstances justifying the stop. The question is, is the request for identity a commonsense inquiry or an effort to obtain an arrest for failure to identify after a Terry stop yielded insufficient evidence?...
This type of statue is basically a police state. When a citizen can't stand alone or with others without being harassed by police for absolutely no reason, that is a police state.
This is going from bad to worse.
...What Does It Mean to Criminalize the Conduct?
It is up to each state or municipality to criminalize a suspect’s failure to reveal his or her identity. Such laws may not make it a crime to fail to reveal one’s name during a consensual encounter; to avoid violating the Fourth Amendment there must, at a minimum, be reasonable suspicion of crime afoot by the subject.
Further, the stop-and-identify law must not be “vague,” according to the Supreme Court. In Kolender it found a California statute unconstitutionally vague because it required the subject to produce “credible and reliable” identification that carried a “reasonable assurance” of reliability, and left it up to the officer to determine what “credible and reliable” and “reasonable assurance” are. Acceptable statutes simply require disclosure and leave it to the subject to decide how to comply....
And if a person doesn't have their wallet with them to produce ID they are a criminal with or without a rape sheet. This is outrageous.
October 7, 2014
By William M. Welch and Yamiche Alcindor
A federal judge (click here) ruled Monday that a tactic police used to control protesters in Ferguson, Mo., is unconstitutional and issued a preliminary injunction halting the practice.
U.S. District Judge Catherine Perry in St. Louis ordered law enforcement agencies to stop enforcing a requirement that protesters keep moving rather than stand still....
Law enforcement officers, seeking to control angry crowds, had ordered people to walk and not stand still while demonstrating over the shooting death of Michael Brown by a Ferguson police officer. The American Civil Liberties Union sued to halt the practice...
...Perry's order stops police "from enforcing or threatening to enforce any rule, policy or practice that grants law enforcement officers the authority or discretion to arrest, threaten to arrest or order to move individuals who are violating no statute or regulation and who are peaceably standing, marching or assembling on public sidewalks in Ferguson, Missouri.''
What is so different between St. Louis and Ferguson? Geography?
This type of statue is basically a police state. When a citizen can't stand alone or with others without being harassed by police for absolutely no reason, that is a police state.
This is going from bad to worse.
...What Does It Mean to Criminalize the Conduct?
It is up to each state or municipality to criminalize a suspect’s failure to reveal his or her identity. Such laws may not make it a crime to fail to reveal one’s name during a consensual encounter; to avoid violating the Fourth Amendment there must, at a minimum, be reasonable suspicion of crime afoot by the subject.
Further, the stop-and-identify law must not be “vague,” according to the Supreme Court. In Kolender it found a California statute unconstitutionally vague because it required the subject to produce “credible and reliable” identification that carried a “reasonable assurance” of reliability, and left it up to the officer to determine what “credible and reliable” and “reasonable assurance” are. Acceptable statutes simply require disclosure and leave it to the subject to decide how to comply....
And if a person doesn't have their wallet with them to produce ID they are a criminal with or without a rape sheet. This is outrageous.
October 7, 2014
By William M. Welch and Yamiche Alcindor
A federal judge (click here) ruled Monday that a tactic police used to control protesters in Ferguson, Mo., is unconstitutional and issued a preliminary injunction halting the practice.
U.S. District Judge Catherine Perry in St. Louis ordered law enforcement agencies to stop enforcing a requirement that protesters keep moving rather than stand still....
Law enforcement officers, seeking to control angry crowds, had ordered people to walk and not stand still while demonstrating over the shooting death of Michael Brown by a Ferguson police officer. The American Civil Liberties Union sued to halt the practice...
...Perry's order stops police "from enforcing or threatening to enforce any rule, policy or practice that grants law enforcement officers the authority or discretion to arrest, threaten to arrest or order to move individuals who are violating no statute or regulation and who are peaceably standing, marching or assembling on public sidewalks in Ferguson, Missouri.''
What is so different between St. Louis and Ferguson? Geography?
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