TOM TOMORROW: Year In Crazy 2013, Part 2

New York Is Said to Settle Suits Over Arrests at 2004 G.O.P. Convention

Source: New York Times

New York Is Said to Settle Suits Over Arrests at 2004 G.O.P. Convention

By COLIN MOYNIHAN
Published: December 23, 2013

The City of New York has agreed to resolve hundreds of federal civil rights claims filed by people who said they were unjustly arrested during the 2004 Republican National Convention, according to people familiar with the cases.

- snip -

The arrests led to more than 600 individual claims, of which 112 have been settled. Lawyers also filed a class-action claim covering those who did not file suits.

The agreement would settle all or most remaining lawsuits, and is expected to include payments totaling several million dollars, according to people with knowledge of the cases, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the agreement had not yet been made public.

- snip -

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly have said repeatedly that the police performed admirably, allowing hundreds of thousands to protest peacefully while guarding against the possibility of vandalism and violence.

Yet there were many critics of the Police Department’s actions: Officers with long orange nets swept up dozens of people at a time, including bicyclists on a raucous ride, people engaged in civil disobedience and passers-by who said that they had no connection to demonstrations.

Last year, a Federal District Court judge ruled that the police had wrongly surrounded and arrested more than 200 marchers on a sidewalk in Lower Manhattan during the convention.

Protesters contended that the mass arrests and prolonged detentions had been calculated to keep them off the streets. Police officials said the many arrests simply overwhelmed the system. On the last day of the convention, a State Supreme Court justice ordered the release of more than 550 of those arrested who had not seen a judge.

Charges against most of the 1,806 people arrested during the convention were dismissed outright or dropped after six months as part of an agreement typical for minor offenses. Of those, about 400 cases were dismissed based on videotape evidence that contradicted the original charges.


Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/24/nyregion/new-york-is-said-to-settle-suits-over-arrests-at-2004-gop-convention.html

Iraq Officials: Car Bomb Explosion Near Baghdad Church During Christmas Mass Kills at Least 15

Source: Associated Press / Reuters

BREAKING: Iraq officials: Car bomb explosion near Baghdad church during Christmas Mass kills at least 15

Car bomb near church kills 14 in southern Baghdad: police, medics

Wed Dec 25, 2013 4:40am EST

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - At least 14 people were killed when a car bomb exploded near a church in southern Baghdad after a Christmas service on Wednesday, police and medics said.

The bomb went off in the Doura district while worshippers were leaving the church, police said, and most of the victims were Christian.


Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSBRE9BO02R20131225

"I Believe In Father Christmas" - Greg Lake

MERRY CHRISTMAS 2013, DEMOCRATIC UNDERGROUND

Breaking: Federal judge denies Utah's request for a stay on same-sex marriages

Source: NBC News

@BreakingNews: Federal judge denies Utah's request for a stay on same-sex marriages - @sltrib http://t.co/15qF9n7m3a

Judge denies Utah AG’s request to halt same-sex marriages

By Marissa Lang And Brooke Adams | The Salt Lake Tribune
First Published Dec 22 2013 06:15 pm • Updated 1 minute ago

After listening to an hour of arguments regarding his controversial ruling last week allowing same-sex marriages in Utah, a federal judge on Monday denied the state’s request for a stay.

State attorneys had argued before U.S. District Judge Robert J. Shelby that same-sex couples who marry in Utah may be irreparably harmed if efforts to overturn his ruling succeed and those marriages are later invalidated.

Federal district Judge Robert Shelby’s ruling that struck down Utah’s Amendment 3 touched off a political firestorm and a mad rush by LGBT Utahns seeking marriage licenses to county clerks’ offices across the state.

On Monday at 12:15 p.m., Jennifer Napier-Pearce discusses the legal, cultural and political repercussions of the opinion with University of Utah law professor Clifford Rosky, Q Salt Lake editor Michael Aaron and BYU law professor Lynn Wardle.

A hearing began at 9 a.m. to hear the state’s request for a stay. Shelby retired to deliberate at about 10:20 a.m. He issued his decision at about 11:15 a.m.

Meanwhile, hundreds of same-sex couples resumed obtaining marriage licenses on Monday.


Read more: http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/57299146-78/marriage-state-sex-stay.html.csp

TOM TOMORROW: Year In Crazy 2013, Part 1

Pussy Riot Member Released From Prison

Source: Associated Press

Dec 23, 1:45 AM EST

PUSSY RIOT MEMBER RELEASED FROM PRISON

BY NATALIYA VASILYEVA
ASSOCIATED PRESS


MOSCOW (AP) -- A jailed member of the Russian punk band Pussy Riot, who was found guilty of hooliganism after a performance critical of President Vladimir Putin, has been released from prison, her lawyer said Monday.

Maria Alekhina, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Yekaterina Samutsevich were found guilty of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred and sentenced to two years in prison for the performance at Moscow's main cathedral in March 2012. Samutsevich was released several months later on suspended sentence.

The band insisted that their protest was meant to raise their concern about increasingly close ties between the state and the church.

Alekhina's lawyer, Irina Khrunova, told The Associated Press that Alekhina was released from the prison colony outside the Volga river city of Nizhny Novgorod on Monday morning. Khrunova said that upon release Alekhina went into town to meet with human rights activists.

Read more: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_RUSSIA_PUSSY_RIOT

How Did I Miss This??

BREAKING: Federal Judge Strikes Down Utah’s Ban on Same-Sex Marriage

Source: Salt Lake Tribune

Federal judge strikes down Utah’s ban on same-sex marriage

By Brooke Adams | The Salt Lake Tribune

First Published 17 minutes ago • Updated 1 minute ago

A federal judge in Utah Friday struck down the state’s ban on same-sex marriage, saying the ban violates the U.S. Constitution’s guarantees of equal protection and due process.

"The state’s current laws deny its gay and lesbian citizens their fundamental right to marry and, in so doing, demean the dignity of these same-sex couples for no rational reason," wrote U.S. District Court Judge Robert J. Shelby. "Accordingly, the court finds that these laws are unconstitutional."


Read more: http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/57291925-78/ban-judge-sex-court.html.csp