Jesus Malverde
Jesus Malverde's JournalNew Mexico legalizes same-sex marriage
Source: AP
New Mexico became the latest state to legalize gay marriage Thursday as its highest court declared it is unconstitutional to deny marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples.
Justice Edward L. Chavez said in a ruling that none of New Mexico's marriage statutes specifically prohibits same-sex marriages, but the state's laws as a whole have prevented gay and lesbian couples from marrying.
Same-sex couples have been subjected to a history of discrimination and violence, the justices said. Barring them from getting married violates the state constitution's equal protection clause.
"We hold that the State of New Mexico is constitutionally required to allow same-gender couples to marry and must extend to them the rights, protections and responsibilities that derive from civil marriage under New Mexico law," Chavez wrote.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/news/us/article/New-Mexico-legalizes-same-sex-marriage-5078750.php
U.S. pressuring Israel not to announce new settlement construction
Source: Haaretz
According to a senior Israeli official, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, special envoy for the peace process Martin Indyk and several other senior American officials have all urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli officials to exercise maximum restraint in announcing new construction, lest the measure undermine the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian talks.
Kerry has visited Israel and the Palestinian Authority twice in the last three weeks, and had considered returning again on Thursday, on his way back to Washington from Southeast Asia. But he ultimately decided against it, and is now expected to return only in January, after the Christmas and New Year holidays.
Under the U.S.-brokered deal that enabled Israeli-Palestinian negotiations to begin in July, Israel is to release four groups of Palestinian prisoners over the course of the talks, all of whom have been in jail since before the 1993 Oslo Accord was signed. The principal challenge Kerry will face in the coming weeks is the release of the third batch on December 29. When the second batch was released two months ago, Netanyahu approved the publication of tenders for 5,000 housing units in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. In response, the Palestinians suspended negotiations with Israel for two weeks and threatened to pull out of the talks altogether.
The senior Israeli official said that during both of Kerry’s last two visits, Netanyahu warned the secretary of state that Israel would announce new construction tenders to coincide with the next prisoner release as well.
Read more: http://www.haaretz.com/misc/article-print-page/.premium-1.564252
'With the Jewish mind and the Chinese engine, the sky's the limit'
"My visit to China [in May], and your visit today in Jerusalem, showcases the determination our two governments have to strengthen our friendship and improve cooperation between us," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi Jerusalem on Wednesday.
Wang arrived in Israel Tuesday night for a three-day visit. "Our strengths complement one another," Netanyahu said. China has massive industrial and global reach. Israel has expertise in every area of high-tech. And I think the combination could be very, very beneficial to China and of course to Israel. Especially with regards to the fields we are talking about: science and technology, water management, agriculture, green energy and health services. Likewise we want to increase cooperation between us in global transportation. I would like to talk to you about the rail road that will connect Asia and Europe, by going from the port of Eilat on the Red Sea to the Ashdod port on the Mediterranean. I believe this is important to global and Chinese commerce."
Netanyahu highlighted the two countries' shared values. "We both value education and families. We value knowledge and learning. We place importance on taking initiative and being entrepreneurial, something which both Israel and China have in great supply. I think Israel could be a perfect partner for China in research and development
http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=14131
(Chinese Foreign Minister Wang) Yi praised the potential of Sino-Israeli cooperation Wednesday night at a banquet in the King David Hotel in Jerusalem. "With the Jewish mind, and a Chinese engine, we will build a machine that will reach the skies," he said.
All State National Guards Now Issuing Same-Sex IDs
Less than two months after Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel instructed the director of the National Guard Bureau to have all states issue dependent ID cards to spouses and dependents of gay and lesbian servicemembers, that mission has been accomplished, the Pentagon says.
"Following consultations between the National Guard Bureau and the adjutants general of the states, all eligible servicemembers, dependents and retirees --including same-sex spouses -- are now able to obtain ID cards in every state," Hagel said in a statement released Friday.
Hagel drew attention to the fact that several states were refusing to issue the IDs during a speech Oct. 31 before the Anti-Defamation League in New York City. He told the gathering that he had instructed Gen. Frank J. Grass, director of the Guard bureau, to "take immediate action to remedy this situation."
Grass told reporters during a Nov. 9 meeting with reporters that nine states originally refused to issue the IDs, but that four -- Indiana, Florida, Oklahoma, and West Virginia -- had come around by then, leaving Texas, Mississippi, Louisiana, South Carolina and Georgia as the holdouts.
Only two of the states, however, Indiana and West Virginia, are issuing the cards at all National Guard bases and using the same procedure they use in issuing the cards to spouses and dependents of straight soldiers and airmen.
http://www.military.com/daily-news/2013/12/13/all-state-national-guards-now-issuing-same-sex-ids.html?comp=7000023435700&rank=1
Israeli-American gets 25 years in Taliban weapons sting
Source: Reuters
Oded Orbach, an Israeli who immigrated to the US, one of two American citizens among a group of men accused in 2011 of trying to sell weapons to people they thought were Taliban militants, was sentenced to 25 years in prison on Wednesday in Manhattan federal court.
Orbach, 55, and former US Army translator Alwar Pouryan, the other US citizen netted in a sting, were convicted in April of conspiring to provide material support to terrorists and conspiring to acquire anti-aircraft missiles.
The two men were among seven indicted in 2011 following an undercover investigation by the US Drug Enforcement Administration into drug trafficking in West Africa.
In September, US District Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald, who sentenced Orbach, sentenced Pouryan to 25 years in prison.
Read more: http://www.jpost.com/International/Israeli-American-gets-25-years-in-Taliban-weapons-sting-335470
26 Senators Defy Obama, Back Iran Sanctions Bill
Source: ABC News
More than a quarter of the Senate defied President Barack Obama on Thursday by introducing legislation that could raise sanctions on Iran, and compel the United States to support Israel if it launches a pre-emptive attack on the Iranian nuclear program.
The bill, sponsored by 13 Democrats and 13 Republicans, sets sanctions that would go into effect if Tehran violates the nuclear deal it reached with world powers last month or lets it expire without a long-term accord. The measures include a global boycott on Iranian oil exports within one year and the blacklisting of Iran's mining, engineering and construction industries.
The goal, according to supporters, is to strengthen the negotiating leverage of the Obama administration as it seeks to pressure Iran into a comprehensive agreement next year that would eliminate the risk of the Islamic republic developing nuclear weapons. But it could also create added complications for U.S. negotiators, who promised Iran no new economic sanctions for the duration of the six-month interim pact that was finalized on Nov. 24 in Geneva.
"Current sanctions brought Iran to the negotiating table and a credible threat of future sanctions will require Iran to cooperate and act in good faith at the negotiating table," said Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., who spearheaded the effort with Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill.
Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/26-senators-defy-obama-back-iran-sanctions-bill-21279008
Putin 'to pardon' jailed former oil tycoon Khodorkovsky
Source: BBC
Russian President Vladimir Putin says he will soon pardon jailed former tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky.
Mr Putin said he had received a request from Khodorkovsky - in custody for a decade - to pardon him on humanitarian grounds as his mother is ill.
Khodorkovsky's representatives said they needed to meet him before commenting but that the family would be "elated to see him finally freed".
On Wednesday, MPs backed a wide-ranging amnesty for at least 20,000 prisoners.
Speaking to reporters after his annual news conference in Moscow on Thursday, Mr Putin confirmed the amnesty would apply to the two members of punk band Pussy Riot still in prison and Greenpeace activists detained for their protest at a Russian oil rig in the Arctic.
Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-25450785
In 2003 Khodorkovsky's shares in Yukos passed to Jacob Rothschild under a deal they concluded prior to Khodorkovsky's arrest.
Russian tycoon 'names successor'
"It is like every vile southern stereotype rolled up into one."
These guys are fake fake fake. I'm guessing even their bigotry is a story line...
We're being played...
Before meeting the Hollywood producers..
After meeting the Hollywood producers..
Willie Robertson (The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (1992)) is married to Korie Robertson who has credits for Fox and Friends (1998) and the The O'Reilly Factor (1996). The family has a long history in the media business.
"Racist dad" was a star quarterback at Louisiana Tech University. Teammate was Terry Bradshaw.
Read More http://www.gq.com/entertainment/television/201401/duck-dynasty-phil-robertson
This whole outrage is contrived and plays to their base. The republicans showed us long ago that bigotry sells. This is the show business version of it. Coming soon the story of the Robertson family redemption. It will be as hilarious as sending a "redneck" to a yoga class...
Now if willie was the popped collar DB from the first picture would anyone
A be surprised he's doing yoga
B think it was funny,
C appeal to any base
D watch it.
Put into context we see how fake and contrived this whole storyline is...
Note: I've never watched the show..
S.F. school bears brunt of 'merry Christmas' Atheist suspension hoax
Did you know a San Francisco elementary school suspended a student for wishing an atheist teacher a merry Christmas?
No?
That's because it didn't happen.
But an Internet hoax had people across the country believing it did, resulting in e-mail tirades and more than 75 phone complaints and veiled threats of violence against the fictitious teacher or the actual principal. And taxpayers picked up the tab for beefed-up security and staff time to deal with the phony story.
Because of the threats, Argonne elementary school administrators called an emergency teacher meeting to review security procedures and district officials assigned an extra security officer to the campus. In addition, police have increased patrols around the school this week, said district Assistant Superintendent Leticia Salinas.
The rumor originated about six days ago on what appears to be a satirical website called the National Report, which features content designed to look like real news stories.
A story on the site said a fourth-grader at "Argon Elementary" in San Francisco was given a weeklong suspension for saying "merry Christmas" to his homeroom teacher, an atheist. The site later changed the school name to "Anon."
Neither "Argon" nor "Anon" is a real school in the city.
The story also named the boy, the boy's mother and the teacher - none of whom exist.
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/S-F-school-bears-brunt-of-merry-Christmas-hoax-5073194.php
The nasty calls and e-mails started to hit the real Argonne elementary on Thursday and have continued this week, district officials said.
Ex-firefighter accused of sparking deadly blaze
A former firefighter for the U.S. Forest Service has been arrested on suspicion of setting a massive Shasta County wildfire in September that killed one person and destroyed 68 homes, authorities said Wednesday.
Zane Wallace Peterson, a 29-year-old resident of Happy Valley (Shasta County), intentionally lit at least seven fires this year, according to investigators from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
The most destructive, they said, was the 8,000-acre Clover Fire that began on Sept. 9 and raced out of control for a week through Redding's rural outskirts.
Peterson was taken into custody Tuesday and was expected to be charged Wednesday with murder and numerous counts of arson, said Capt. Scott McLean of the state firefighting agency.
"We don't know what the motive was," McLean said. "Hopefully something will come to light during his trial."
http://www.sfgate.com/crime/article/Ex-firefighter-accused-of-sparking-deadly-blaze-5076265.php
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Name: Jesus MalverdeGender: Male
Hometown: SF
Current location: Japan
Member since: Fri May 17, 2013, 11:44 PM
Number of posts: 10,274