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Segami
Segami's Journal
Segami's Journal
November 5, 2013
By now you’ve probably heard horror stories about how the Affordable Care Act (ACA), otherwise known as Obamacare, has forced so many people to lose their insurance policies. You’ve heard that affordable health insurance policies are being canceled and replaced with policies that are far more expensive than the canceled policies. But have you heard that across the country, insurance regulators are cracking down on the private insurance companies, because of the scam they are running on their customers? Probably not.
Insurance companies, what’s going on?
What’s going on? Diane Barrette is a good example of what’s going on. Barrette, a 56 year old woman from Florida, who claimed on CBS News that her $54 life insurance policy was going to cost $591 a month because of Obamacare, was a victim of exactly the kind of scam that these state agencies are dealing with. Barrette had received a letter from one of the private insurance companies, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida, telling her that her old policy was canceled. The letter went on to say that the company would be replacing it with the new policy, and quoted a price that was ten times the cost of the old policy. CBS highlighted Barrette’s story as if she were the victim of Obamacare. She wasn’t. She was the victim of another private insurance industry scam. If CBS had been doing their job and acting as reporters and not right wing spokespeople, they would have known it, too.
Here’s how this scam works.
How this scam works is that private insurance companies send out letters notifying existing customers that their current policy has been canceled, because of the ACA’s new requirements. They then offer customers a new, ACA compliant policy at far higher rates than what the customer would pay if he went through the ACA marketplace. In most cases the insurance companies do not tell their customers what other options are available or even let them know they have a choice under the new law. Some insurance companies have pressed their customers to sign up for the new policies by a certain date, saying if they don’t, their health coverage will be lost.
Consumer Reports found her a policy for $165.00.
On the program, Barrette tells CBS that she has to hurry and make up her mind by November 1st or she will lose out on her chance to buy in. CBS offered her no explanation of her alternatives, but Consumer Reports examined Barrette’s story shortly after it aired. They easily found her a policy in the Marketplace for $165.00, not the $591 Blue Cross Blue Shield was shamelessly going to charge her. What’s more, Consumer Reports also looked at her old policy, the one she was paying $54 a month for. They determined that it was “junk.” In essence, Barrette had been paying one of these corrupt private insurance companies nearly $650 per year, to have almost no real medical coverage, under her previous Blue Cross Blue Shield policy.
cont'
http://www.addictinginfo.org/2013/11/05/insurance-companies-obamacare-scam/
INSURANCE SCAM; How Private Insurance Companies Are Using Obamacare FEARS TO RIP PEOPLE OFF
By now you’ve probably heard horror stories about how the Affordable Care Act (ACA), otherwise known as Obamacare, has forced so many people to lose their insurance policies. You’ve heard that affordable health insurance policies are being canceled and replaced with policies that are far more expensive than the canceled policies. But have you heard that across the country, insurance regulators are cracking down on the private insurance companies, because of the scam they are running on their customers? Probably not.
Insurance companies, what’s going on?
What’s going on? Diane Barrette is a good example of what’s going on. Barrette, a 56 year old woman from Florida, who claimed on CBS News that her $54 life insurance policy was going to cost $591 a month because of Obamacare, was a victim of exactly the kind of scam that these state agencies are dealing with. Barrette had received a letter from one of the private insurance companies, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida, telling her that her old policy was canceled. The letter went on to say that the company would be replacing it with the new policy, and quoted a price that was ten times the cost of the old policy. CBS highlighted Barrette’s story as if she were the victim of Obamacare. She wasn’t. She was the victim of another private insurance industry scam. If CBS had been doing their job and acting as reporters and not right wing spokespeople, they would have known it, too.
Here’s how this scam works.
How this scam works is that private insurance companies send out letters notifying existing customers that their current policy has been canceled, because of the ACA’s new requirements. They then offer customers a new, ACA compliant policy at far higher rates than what the customer would pay if he went through the ACA marketplace. In most cases the insurance companies do not tell their customers what other options are available or even let them know they have a choice under the new law. Some insurance companies have pressed their customers to sign up for the new policies by a certain date, saying if they don’t, their health coverage will be lost.
Consumer Reports found her a policy for $165.00.
On the program, Barrette tells CBS that she has to hurry and make up her mind by November 1st or she will lose out on her chance to buy in. CBS offered her no explanation of her alternatives, but Consumer Reports examined Barrette’s story shortly after it aired. They easily found her a policy in the Marketplace for $165.00, not the $591 Blue Cross Blue Shield was shamelessly going to charge her. What’s more, Consumer Reports also looked at her old policy, the one she was paying $54 a month for. They determined that it was “junk.” In essence, Barrette had been paying one of these corrupt private insurance companies nearly $650 per year, to have almost no real medical coverage, under her previous Blue Cross Blue Shield policy.
cont'
http://www.addictinginfo.org/2013/11/05/insurance-companies-obamacare-scam/
November 2, 2013
November 1, 2013 - Bill Maher offered some free advice to the Republican party on Friday night to appeal to young people. Firstly, stop going on hunting trips to prove you're a man of the people. And two, come out for legalizing weed so you can be a true dude of the people. The genesis of the bit was Ted Cruz going out and hunting this week, which Maher thought was unnecessary because "you've already proved your total dominion over creatures with brains the size of walnuts. After all, you're the leader of the tea party!"
Maher said young people don't care about hunting, that "if they want to kill something, there's an Xbox right downstairs." The average voter is not an elderly, gun-toting middle American, it's a "young Latino lesbian who smoked a boatload of dope."
But Maher may have only been suggesting the GOP embrace this issue because of his frustration with Democrats who have been far too quiet on this issue. He said if the Democrats want to win young people in 2016, they'll have to say "welcome back to stoner Hillary!"
Bill Maher’s Advice To Hillary Clinton On Marijuana Is ‘PASS THE TORCH’
November 1, 2013 - Bill Maher offered some free advice to the Republican party on Friday night to appeal to young people. Firstly, stop going on hunting trips to prove you're a man of the people. And two, come out for legalizing weed so you can be a true dude of the people. The genesis of the bit was Ted Cruz going out and hunting this week, which Maher thought was unnecessary because "you've already proved your total dominion over creatures with brains the size of walnuts. After all, you're the leader of the tea party!"
Maher said young people don't care about hunting, that "if they want to kill something, there's an Xbox right downstairs." The average voter is not an elderly, gun-toting middle American, it's a "young Latino lesbian who smoked a boatload of dope."
But Maher may have only been suggesting the GOP embrace this issue because of his frustration with Democrats who have been far too quiet on this issue. He said if the Democrats want to win young people in 2016, they'll have to say "welcome back to stoner Hillary!"
November 2, 2013
It's not official, and it may never come to pass. But various press sources are reporting about a growing movement to have NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden testify in Germany. According to the newspaper that broke the Snowden NSA revelations, The Guardian UK:
There is even talk in progressive circles of finding a legal way to grant Snowden asylum. With Chancellor Angela Merkel's outrage at having her cellphone tapped -- along with the apparently massive data mining of other German officials and German citizens -- the uproar is not likely to soon subside. On Tuesday, BuzzFlash at Truthout wrote a commentary, "What We Know About Government Malfeasance Is Primarily Due to Whistleblowers." As we pointed out, whistleblowers have shown that using massive surveillance to protect us from terrorists is a very small part of US surveillance objectives, which include political spying, suppression of protest movements, and corporate espionage conducted by the US government -- among other goals.
Many persons, even progressives, have argued that it is only natural to assume all governments, even friendly ones, spy on each other. Perhaps that is true, although to vastly varying degrees. But even if one accepts that premise, our nation has been lied to about what are the real objectives of the NSA and America's massive surveillance apparatus build-up since the Cold War. Hundreds of billions of dollars are being spent to find a few terrorists? If you believe that, we've got a three dollar bill to sell you.
cont'
http://www.truth-out.org/buzzflash/commentary/item/18290-call-in-germany-for-snowden-to-be-a-witness-to-nsa-wiretapping-of-merkel-deeply-embarrassing-to-obama
Call In Germany for SNOWDEN To Be WITNESS To NSA WIRETAPPING Of Merkel Deeply Embarrassing To Obama
It's not official, and it may never come to pass. But various press sources are reporting about a growing movement to have NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden testify in Germany. According to the newspaper that broke the Snowden NSA revelations, The Guardian UK:
Some German politicians and newspaper columnists have backed calls for Snowden to be invited as a witness. The justice minister, Sabine Leuheusser-Schnarrenberger, told the Passauer Neue Presse newspaper: "If the allegations build up and lead to an investigation, one could think about calling in Snowden as a witness."
Thomas Oppermann, of the Social Democrats, said: "Snowden's claims appear to be credible, while the US government has blatantly lied to us on this matter. That's why Snowden could be an important witness, also in clearing up the surveillance of the chancellor's mobile."
In Süddeutsche Zeitung, the columnist Heribert Prantl wrote: "Granting asylum to Snowden could be a way of restoring Germany's damaged sovereignty."
The Bundestag will hold a special session to discuss NSA spying on 18 November. The Green party and the leftwing Die Linke have been leading calls for that session to result in a parliamentary investigation.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/01/germany-edward-snowden-witness-nsa-inquiry
Thomas Oppermann, of the Social Democrats, said: "Snowden's claims appear to be credible, while the US government has blatantly lied to us on this matter. That's why Snowden could be an important witness, also in clearing up the surveillance of the chancellor's mobile."
In Süddeutsche Zeitung, the columnist Heribert Prantl wrote: "Granting asylum to Snowden could be a way of restoring Germany's damaged sovereignty."
The Bundestag will hold a special session to discuss NSA spying on 18 November. The Green party and the leftwing Die Linke have been leading calls for that session to result in a parliamentary investigation.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/01/germany-edward-snowden-witness-nsa-inquiry
There is even talk in progressive circles of finding a legal way to grant Snowden asylum. With Chancellor Angela Merkel's outrage at having her cellphone tapped -- along with the apparently massive data mining of other German officials and German citizens -- the uproar is not likely to soon subside. On Tuesday, BuzzFlash at Truthout wrote a commentary, "What We Know About Government Malfeasance Is Primarily Due to Whistleblowers." As we pointed out, whistleblowers have shown that using massive surveillance to protect us from terrorists is a very small part of US surveillance objectives, which include political spying, suppression of protest movements, and corporate espionage conducted by the US government -- among other goals.
Many persons, even progressives, have argued that it is only natural to assume all governments, even friendly ones, spy on each other. Perhaps that is true, although to vastly varying degrees. But even if one accepts that premise, our nation has been lied to about what are the real objectives of the NSA and America's massive surveillance apparatus build-up since the Cold War. Hundreds of billions of dollars are being spent to find a few terrorists? If you believe that, we've got a three dollar bill to sell you.
cont'
http://www.truth-out.org/buzzflash/commentary/item/18290-call-in-germany-for-snowden-to-be-a-witness-to-nsa-wiretapping-of-merkel-deeply-embarrassing-to-obama
November 2, 2013
Most Americans are confident that their nation will remain fundamentally unchanged forever and in part it is due to the once stable functioning government. However, as world leaders, political scholars, and economists have noted, America’s government has been, for all intents and purposes, brought to a standstill due to Republican denial they lost two presidential elections. There is a faction in this country made up of wealthy oligarchs, religious fanatics, and conservative extremists who have intimated in various ways their only raison d’être is to destroy America from within and transform it into a mirror image of a stone-age nation like Afghanistan under Taliban rule. The war for America has been in the planning stages for two decades, but when American voters elected (twice) an African American man as President the insurgency began enacting their plan to destroy the federal government and by extension the country itself.
The groups lusting to destroy America and transform it into a libertarian theocracy certainly know that their goal could never reach fruition if they announced they were actively seeking to eliminate the functioning government, so they use catch phrases such as the Koch brothers’ infamous “transforming America” to fit their lawless vision of a nation without rules and regulations. Their staunch ally, Grover Norquist has been forthcoming that his goal is to “shrink government down to a size he can drown in a bathtub,” but his goal, like the Koch brothers, is a nation steeped in anarchy where peasants are at the mercy of a few wealthy industrialists. Although the Kochs and Norquist wield inordinate power and influence over a major political party, they are not elected representatives and depend on dark money and loyalty oaths to control Republicans at the state and federal level to enact their anti-government agendas. Now they have a powerful ally in the U.S. Senate who controls Republicans in the House and Senate and last Sunday he let it slip that his ultimate goal is destroying America.
It is fairly well-known that Rafael “Ted” Cruz is running the Republican Party due to being anointed the evangelical conservative messiah, and that he publicly announced the recent government shutdown and debt crisis was only the first battle in a longer war. Cruz has been unapologetic that his destructive strategy is part of a plan to achieve his future policy goals that he readily admits are more than defunding the Affordable Care Act he claims is responsible for the nation’s sluggish economy. However, when he spoke to Fox News’ host Sean Hannity on Sunday, he revealed that in his “multi-stage extended battle” he discovered “a model that I think is the model going forward to,” among other things, “abolish the IRS.” Cruz’s remark was a stunning revelation that his goal is defunding the entire United States government that will serve to hasten the Koch brothers’ agenda of a nation void of laws, regulatory agencies’ enforcement, education, Social Security, healthcare, and national defense. Abolishing the I.R.S. will also invalidate the U.S. Constitution’s Article I, Section 8, Clause 1 that gives the federal government of the United States its power of taxation to fund the nation’s government. Without revenue to fund the government, America as it exists now would become a lawless, uneducated, and dangerous fascist state controlled by the wealthy and policed by religious extremists imposing the bible as the de facto law of the land.
If the power of taxation is eliminated, the government may be able to function for a couple of years at best, but it would mean selling off all federal assets and raiding Social Security’s $2.8 trillion reserves just to fund this nation’s national defense and nothing more. All regulatory and consumer protection agencies would be eliminated, education funding would cease to exist, and domestic programs would come to a screeching halt. In fact, with no revenue, the entire federal government would disappear and with it all the benefits the people depend on whether it is safe food, safe medicine, disaster relief, clean water, infrastructure, and security the people are guaranteed in the U.S. Constitution. Actually, without a government, the Constitution itself will be obsolete and it would open the floodgates of regional morality laws under the purview of whichever religious group had the largest armory to enforce their edicts and transform America into Afghanistan under Taliban rule.
cont'
http://www.politicususa.com/2013/11/01/america-faced-threat-posed-koch-brothers-congressional-republicans.html
America Has Never Faced The THREAT POSED By The Koch Brothers & Their OWNED Republicans
Most Americans are confident that their nation will remain fundamentally unchanged forever and in part it is due to the once stable functioning government. However, as world leaders, political scholars, and economists have noted, America’s government has been, for all intents and purposes, brought to a standstill due to Republican denial they lost two presidential elections. There is a faction in this country made up of wealthy oligarchs, religious fanatics, and conservative extremists who have intimated in various ways their only raison d’être is to destroy America from within and transform it into a mirror image of a stone-age nation like Afghanistan under Taliban rule. The war for America has been in the planning stages for two decades, but when American voters elected (twice) an African American man as President the insurgency began enacting their plan to destroy the federal government and by extension the country itself.
The groups lusting to destroy America and transform it into a libertarian theocracy certainly know that their goal could never reach fruition if they announced they were actively seeking to eliminate the functioning government, so they use catch phrases such as the Koch brothers’ infamous “transforming America” to fit their lawless vision of a nation without rules and regulations. Their staunch ally, Grover Norquist has been forthcoming that his goal is to “shrink government down to a size he can drown in a bathtub,” but his goal, like the Koch brothers, is a nation steeped in anarchy where peasants are at the mercy of a few wealthy industrialists. Although the Kochs and Norquist wield inordinate power and influence over a major political party, they are not elected representatives and depend on dark money and loyalty oaths to control Republicans at the state and federal level to enact their anti-government agendas. Now they have a powerful ally in the U.S. Senate who controls Republicans in the House and Senate and last Sunday he let it slip that his ultimate goal is destroying America.
It is fairly well-known that Rafael “Ted” Cruz is running the Republican Party due to being anointed the evangelical conservative messiah, and that he publicly announced the recent government shutdown and debt crisis was only the first battle in a longer war. Cruz has been unapologetic that his destructive strategy is part of a plan to achieve his future policy goals that he readily admits are more than defunding the Affordable Care Act he claims is responsible for the nation’s sluggish economy. However, when he spoke to Fox News’ host Sean Hannity on Sunday, he revealed that in his “multi-stage extended battle” he discovered “a model that I think is the model going forward to,” among other things, “abolish the IRS.” Cruz’s remark was a stunning revelation that his goal is defunding the entire United States government that will serve to hasten the Koch brothers’ agenda of a nation void of laws, regulatory agencies’ enforcement, education, Social Security, healthcare, and national defense. Abolishing the I.R.S. will also invalidate the U.S. Constitution’s Article I, Section 8, Clause 1 that gives the federal government of the United States its power of taxation to fund the nation’s government. Without revenue to fund the government, America as it exists now would become a lawless, uneducated, and dangerous fascist state controlled by the wealthy and policed by religious extremists imposing the bible as the de facto law of the land.
If the power of taxation is eliminated, the government may be able to function for a couple of years at best, but it would mean selling off all federal assets and raiding Social Security’s $2.8 trillion reserves just to fund this nation’s national defense and nothing more. All regulatory and consumer protection agencies would be eliminated, education funding would cease to exist, and domestic programs would come to a screeching halt. In fact, with no revenue, the entire federal government would disappear and with it all the benefits the people depend on whether it is safe food, safe medicine, disaster relief, clean water, infrastructure, and security the people are guaranteed in the U.S. Constitution. Actually, without a government, the Constitution itself will be obsolete and it would open the floodgates of regional morality laws under the purview of whichever religious group had the largest armory to enforce their edicts and transform America into Afghanistan under Taliban rule.
cont'
http://www.politicususa.com/2013/11/01/america-faced-threat-posed-koch-brothers-congressional-republicans.html
October 31, 2013
ALOHA!......
Wednesday evening, the Hawaii Senate passed marriage equality by a remarkable 20-4 vote as part of a special session convened primarily for that purpose. The House will begin consideration of the bill in committee Thursday morning, and it is expected to pass the full chamber with at least one vote to spare. Hawaii would become the 15th state to recognize same-sex marriage.
http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2013/10/30/2864311/breaking-hawaii-senate-passes-marriage-equality-overwhelming-majority/
BREAKING: Hawaii Senate PASSES MARRIAGE EQUALITY By Overwhelming Majority
ALOHA!......
Wednesday evening, the Hawaii Senate passed marriage equality by a remarkable 20-4 vote as part of a special session convened primarily for that purpose. The House will begin consideration of the bill in committee Thursday morning, and it is expected to pass the full chamber with at least one vote to spare. Hawaii would become the 15th state to recognize same-sex marriage.
http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2013/10/30/2864311/breaking-hawaii-senate-passes-marriage-equality-overwhelming-majority/
October 30, 2013
The Tea Party has lost. It knows it has lost. So it has resorted to the only tactics it knows, calling anyone who disagrees with them “Traitors.” So begins the new McCarthyism, and it will sink the Republican party. The words by Ronald Reagan meant to guide his party have long been forgotten.
Any Republican who did their job is on that list, labelled as traitors. The Tea Party Leadership Fund (who notably bankrolled Louie Gohmert and Allen West according to Opensecrets.org) has now decided to finance *any* candidate who runs against any ‘traitor’ who did their jobs. So, we can see more rape is “something that God intended to happen” and legitimate rape comments next year from the Tea Party. We will get more pushes to bring back slavery alongside admission that voter suppression efforts target black people. The Tea Party has decided that they hate the United States enough that they just want to burn it down, and they intend to play fiddle while it burns.
Exterminating The GOP One Congressman At A Time.
One person specifically picked out by this new push is House Speaker John Boehner, who already is facing a primary challenge from Eric Gurr, who was quick to jump on the attack angle the Tea Party has picked, tweeting this:
gurrforcongress @gurrforcongress
GOP leadership were the behind-the-scenes architects of surrender in the shutdown-debt ceiling standoff.
http://tinyurl.com/pzj82fd via @RealJTP
10:13 AM - 27 Oct 2013
Checking his positions, we find a grocery list of Tea Party approved messages, almost cookie cutter. From the worship of the failed policies of Milton Friedman to the insistence that there was a Benghazi cover-up. And he is but one of hundreds of primary contenders the Tea Party Leadership Fund hopes to finance. There is a sign of weakness from the GOP establishment, as they had over-relied upon the Tea Party for any national presence. Having lost that support, there is now a real possibility of major damage to the GOP across the nation. The GOP is now fighting to stay alive, sinking millions into these primary fights, which will leave these candidates weak against their Democratic opponents come November.
cont'
http://www.addictinginfo.org/2013/10/29/tea-party-traitors/
Republicans Find Themselves Facing NEW ATTACK AD Created By TEA PARTY
The personal attacks against me during the primary finally became so heavy that the state Republican chairman, Gaylord Parkinson, postulated what he called the Eleventh Commandment: Thou shalt not speak ill of any fellow Republican. It’s a rule I followed during that campaign and have ever since.
The Tea Party has lost. It knows it has lost. So it has resorted to the only tactics it knows, calling anyone who disagrees with them “Traitors.” So begins the new McCarthyism, and it will sink the Republican party. The words by Ronald Reagan meant to guide his party have long been forgotten.
Any Republican who did their job is on that list, labelled as traitors. The Tea Party Leadership Fund (who notably bankrolled Louie Gohmert and Allen West according to Opensecrets.org) has now decided to finance *any* candidate who runs against any ‘traitor’ who did their jobs. So, we can see more rape is “something that God intended to happen” and legitimate rape comments next year from the Tea Party. We will get more pushes to bring back slavery alongside admission that voter suppression efforts target black people. The Tea Party has decided that they hate the United States enough that they just want to burn it down, and they intend to play fiddle while it burns.
Exterminating The GOP One Congressman At A Time.
One person specifically picked out by this new push is House Speaker John Boehner, who already is facing a primary challenge from Eric Gurr, who was quick to jump on the attack angle the Tea Party has picked, tweeting this:
gurrforcongress @gurrforcongress
GOP leadership were the behind-the-scenes architects of surrender in the shutdown-debt ceiling standoff.
http://tinyurl.com/pzj82fd via @RealJTP
10:13 AM - 27 Oct 2013
Checking his positions, we find a grocery list of Tea Party approved messages, almost cookie cutter. From the worship of the failed policies of Milton Friedman to the insistence that there was a Benghazi cover-up. And he is but one of hundreds of primary contenders the Tea Party Leadership Fund hopes to finance. There is a sign of weakness from the GOP establishment, as they had over-relied upon the Tea Party for any national presence. Having lost that support, there is now a real possibility of major damage to the GOP across the nation. The GOP is now fighting to stay alive, sinking millions into these primary fights, which will leave these candidates weak against their Democratic opponents come November.
The Tea Party has lost. It knows it has lost. So it has resorted to calling anyone who disagrees with them ‘Traitors.’
So begins the new McCarthyism. John Darkow, Columbia Daily Tribune, Missouri
So begins the new McCarthyism. John Darkow, Columbia Daily Tribune, Missouri
cont'
http://www.addictinginfo.org/2013/10/29/tea-party-traitors/
October 29, 2013
Conservative Californians opposed to the state’s equal access laws for transgender students have been caught fabricating a second story about restroom harassment on school grounds. Think Progress reported that blogger Cristan Williams revealed that the group Salt and Light Ministry made up from whole cloth a story about a trans girl harassing other female students in a Los Angeles public school bathroom. Salt and Light Ministry — a division of Calvary Chapel Bible Fellowship in Temecula, California — is a partner in the conservative coalition determined to invalidate California’s Assembly Bill 1266, which was signed into law in August. The law stipulates that transgender students cannot be forced by school or other officials to use sex segregated facilities — like bathrooms or locker rooms — that do not correspond to their expressed gender.
The coalition of anti-LGBT groups is pushing a referendum called “Privacy for All Students” that aims to invalidate A.B. 1266. Williams — who is transgender — pointed out in her post that the alliance is deploying false, transphobic smears in an attempt to trump the anti-discrimination law. First came the story of a transgender girl harassing students in a girls’ bathroom in Colorado. That canard was propagated by the Pacific Justice Institute, an anti-LGBT group that the Southern Poverty Law Center lists among its roster of hate groups. The Colorado story was summarily debunked by Williams, who has now moved on to fact-checking Salt and Light leader Dran Reese and the bouquet of falsehoods she presented to Michael Chen of San Diego’s Channel 10 News. “Reese pointed out a recent case in which a Los Angeles-area high school student complained to her school that a transgender boy harassed her and peeked at girls over the stalls,” wrote Chen, who declined to contact the students involved, their school or the L.A. County School District. “The girl’s family hired an attorney, but has yet to file a lawsuit,” he parroted.
Williams contacted the school district and found that no such incident had been reported. “They did get the complaint,” a spokesperson for the school district said, “and it turned out that it was fabricated by one of the parents who opposes transgender students in schools. So it was an unfortunate situation, to have to put the students through, but it was fabricated.” Listen to embedded via Soundcloud:
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/10/29/trans-blogger-catches-california-christian-group-in-second-harassment-lie/
Trans Blogger CATCHES California Christian Group In SECOND HARASSMENT LIE
Conservative Californians opposed to the state’s equal access laws for transgender students have been caught fabricating a second story about restroom harassment on school grounds. Think Progress reported that blogger Cristan Williams revealed that the group Salt and Light Ministry made up from whole cloth a story about a trans girl harassing other female students in a Los Angeles public school bathroom. Salt and Light Ministry — a division of Calvary Chapel Bible Fellowship in Temecula, California — is a partner in the conservative coalition determined to invalidate California’s Assembly Bill 1266, which was signed into law in August. The law stipulates that transgender students cannot be forced by school or other officials to use sex segregated facilities — like bathrooms or locker rooms — that do not correspond to their expressed gender.
The coalition of anti-LGBT groups is pushing a referendum called “Privacy for All Students” that aims to invalidate A.B. 1266. Williams — who is transgender — pointed out in her post that the alliance is deploying false, transphobic smears in an attempt to trump the anti-discrimination law. First came the story of a transgender girl harassing students in a girls’ bathroom in Colorado. That canard was propagated by the Pacific Justice Institute, an anti-LGBT group that the Southern Poverty Law Center lists among its roster of hate groups. The Colorado story was summarily debunked by Williams, who has now moved on to fact-checking Salt and Light leader Dran Reese and the bouquet of falsehoods she presented to Michael Chen of San Diego’s Channel 10 News. “Reese pointed out a recent case in which a Los Angeles-area high school student complained to her school that a transgender boy harassed her and peeked at girls over the stalls,” wrote Chen, who declined to contact the students involved, their school or the L.A. County School District. “The girl’s family hired an attorney, but has yet to file a lawsuit,” he parroted.
Williams contacted the school district and found that no such incident had been reported. “They did get the complaint,” a spokesperson for the school district said, “and it turned out that it was fabricated by one of the parents who opposes transgender students in schools. So it was an unfortunate situation, to have to put the students through, but it was fabricated.” Listen to embedded via Soundcloud:
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/10/29/trans-blogger-catches-california-christian-group-in-second-harassment-lie/
October 29, 2013
Reports that the Mormon church had given up the fight over gay marriage were premature. Earlier this year, Mother Jones and other news outlets noted the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints was making a concerted effort to mend its tortured relationship with gay members and their families and to stay out of divisive political fights over gay marriage. The church sat out virtually every state ballot measure on the issue in 2012, helping assure that marriage equality bills passed in Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, and elsewhere. It launched a website, mormonsandgays.org, to urge better treatment of LGBT members. Mormons even marched in pride parades in Salt Lake City. Now that the 2012 election is over, and Mitt Romney, the nation's most famous Mormon, is no longer running for president, it seems the church is back in the ring. This week, the Hawaii state legislature began a special session to consider a bill that would legalize gay marriage in the state. The church is actively working to kill that measure.
One Sunday in September, local Mormon bishops read a letter from top Hawaii Mormon leadership instructing churchgoers to contact public officials about the same-sex marriage bill. The letter was not the full-throated call to action the church issued during the fight over California's anti-gay marriage measure, Proposition 8, when church leaders read letters directing members to "do all you can to support the proposed constitutional amendment by donating of your means and time." The September Hawaii letter was far subtler, and even acknowledged that some Mormons might actually be in favor of the marriage bill. Nonetheless, it urged members to "review" the church's "proclamation to the world," a 1995 speech given by church president Gordon Hinckley that spelled out the church's belief that marriage can only be between a man and woman. This latest letter also recommended members donate time and resources to groups working on the bill, though it didn't say on which side they should be working.
The church also suggested that regardless of how members felt about the marriage bill, they should advocate for an exemption that would protect religious organizations from having to perform same-sex marriages and to allow individuals and small businesses to refuse to cater to such marriages (a nod to the famous cases of photographers and bakeries that have refused to serve customers celebrating a same-sex wedding in states where it's now legal). The language the Mormon church favors mirrors the religious freedom argument the Catholic Church has adopted in its fights over everything from contraceptive coverage to gay marriage. But Salt Lake City's focus-grouped language didn't sit well with Hawaii church leaders, who wanted a more forceful message. On October 13, Hawaii church leaders read another letter to their flocks, this time stating flatly that the church's position on same-sex marriage had not changed and that the church "is opposed to the proposed legislation in Hawaii." The state church's letter argues that traditional marriage is "fundamental to successful families and a strong society," and directs members to actively oppose the legislation.
Cynics have suggested that the Hawaii campaign is evidence that the church was only temporarily backing away from the marriage fight to help Romney. Among those cynics is Fred Karger, a former California GOP political consultant who came out publicly at age 54, and became a same-sex marriage advocate. During the Prop. 8 battle, Karger helped publicize the fact that the Mormon church was directing millions of dollars into the campaign for the measure and attempting to hide its involvement. Karger thinks what's happening in Hawaii now is standard operating procedure for the church. Hawaii has a large Mormon population, and the church operates a large campus of Brigham Young University there. After Hawaii's supreme court ruled in 1993 that a ban on same-sex marriage likely violated the state's constitution, the LDS church got to work and organized a major lobbying campaign that was instrumental in the passage of a state constitutional amendment that allowed Hawaii's legislature to ban gay marriage, which it did, in 1998.
cont'
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/10/mormon-church-gay-marriage-hawaiii
.
Election Over, the Mormon Church QUIETLY Re-enters the GAY MARRIAGE FIGHT
"..After brief hiatus last year, Mormon officials are once again pushing back against gay-marriage legislation—this time in Hawaii..."
Reports that the Mormon church had given up the fight over gay marriage were premature. Earlier this year, Mother Jones and other news outlets noted the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints was making a concerted effort to mend its tortured relationship with gay members and their families and to stay out of divisive political fights over gay marriage. The church sat out virtually every state ballot measure on the issue in 2012, helping assure that marriage equality bills passed in Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, and elsewhere. It launched a website, mormonsandgays.org, to urge better treatment of LGBT members. Mormons even marched in pride parades in Salt Lake City. Now that the 2012 election is over, and Mitt Romney, the nation's most famous Mormon, is no longer running for president, it seems the church is back in the ring. This week, the Hawaii state legislature began a special session to consider a bill that would legalize gay marriage in the state. The church is actively working to kill that measure.
One Sunday in September, local Mormon bishops read a letter from top Hawaii Mormon leadership instructing churchgoers to contact public officials about the same-sex marriage bill. The letter was not the full-throated call to action the church issued during the fight over California's anti-gay marriage measure, Proposition 8, when church leaders read letters directing members to "do all you can to support the proposed constitutional amendment by donating of your means and time." The September Hawaii letter was far subtler, and even acknowledged that some Mormons might actually be in favor of the marriage bill. Nonetheless, it urged members to "review" the church's "proclamation to the world," a 1995 speech given by church president Gordon Hinckley that spelled out the church's belief that marriage can only be between a man and woman. This latest letter also recommended members donate time and resources to groups working on the bill, though it didn't say on which side they should be working.
The church also suggested that regardless of how members felt about the marriage bill, they should advocate for an exemption that would protect religious organizations from having to perform same-sex marriages and to allow individuals and small businesses to refuse to cater to such marriages (a nod to the famous cases of photographers and bakeries that have refused to serve customers celebrating a same-sex wedding in states where it's now legal). The language the Mormon church favors mirrors the religious freedom argument the Catholic Church has adopted in its fights over everything from contraceptive coverage to gay marriage. But Salt Lake City's focus-grouped language didn't sit well with Hawaii church leaders, who wanted a more forceful message. On October 13, Hawaii church leaders read another letter to their flocks, this time stating flatly that the church's position on same-sex marriage had not changed and that the church "is opposed to the proposed legislation in Hawaii." The state church's letter argues that traditional marriage is "fundamental to successful families and a strong society," and directs members to actively oppose the legislation.
Cynics have suggested that the Hawaii campaign is evidence that the church was only temporarily backing away from the marriage fight to help Romney. Among those cynics is Fred Karger, a former California GOP political consultant who came out publicly at age 54, and became a same-sex marriage advocate. During the Prop. 8 battle, Karger helped publicize the fact that the Mormon church was directing millions of dollars into the campaign for the measure and attempting to hide its involvement. Karger thinks what's happening in Hawaii now is standard operating procedure for the church. Hawaii has a large Mormon population, and the church operates a large campus of Brigham Young University there. After Hawaii's supreme court ruled in 1993 that a ban on same-sex marriage likely violated the state's constitution, the LDS church got to work and organized a major lobbying campaign that was instrumental in the passage of a state constitutional amendment that allowed Hawaii's legislature to ban gay marriage, which it did, in 1998.
cont'
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/10/mormon-church-gay-marriage-hawaiii
.
October 29, 2013
THE TURTLE HAS LANDED!.............
......
In an abrupt change in strategy, Sen. Mitch McConnell has decided to go after Ted Cruz, Sarah Palin, the Senate Victory Fund and other conservative groups who are backing his primary challenger.
According to the Lexington Herald-Leader,
Several allies of McConnell and other Senate Republicans say the senator is now planning a two-front war: one against Grimes and the other against the fundraising groups that are supporting Bevin. McConnell’s real targets are the Senate Conservatives Fund, which announced its endorsement of Bevin on Oct. 18, Heritage Action for America, Madison Project, FreedomWorks and other outside groups.
If McConnell can crush Bevin, the thinking goes, he can expose a lack of ideological consistency in the outside groups, allowing him to separate Tea Party voters from Tea Party fundraising groups.
…
McConnell has fumed for about four years as he watched outside groups back primary challengers who defeated Republican incumbents then lost to Democrats, making his dream of becoming Senate Majority Leader a nightmare.
The decision by Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, a Tea Party icon, to become the face of the government shutdown gave McConnell an opening to start pushing back. In an Oct. 11 interview with the Lexington Herald-Leader, the senator made his move, abruptly departing from the dominant no-compromise message and boasting of his record of making deals with Vice President Joe Biden.
http://www.kentucky.com/2013/10/28/2900114/sam-youngman-mitch-mcconnells.html#storylink=cpy
Sen. Ted Cruz, Jim DeMint, Sarah Palin, and the tea party supporting groups wanted a fight with McConnell, and now they’ve got it. Sen. McConnell has seen his chances to become Majority Leader destroyed by the tea party in 2010 and 2012, and the reality is that 2014 will probably be McConnell’s last chance to become Majority Leader. McConnell is 71 years old, and in 2016 Senate Republicans will be defending 24 seats to the Democrats 10. If Democrats hold on to control of the Senate in 2014, they could be in the majority for a long time.
For McConnell, this is also about payback. The Senate Conservatives Fund ran an ad against Mitch McConnell in Kentucky over the summer. Sarah Palin stuck her nose into the situation, and has been chirping about supporting McConnell’s primary challenger Matt Bevin. The decision to fight a two front war against both his primary challenger and his fall opponent Alison Lundergan Grimes is risky. If McConnell gets damaged in the primary, it could open the door for Grimes to take his seat in the fall.
cont'
http://www.politicususa.com/2013/10/29/mitch-mcconnell-declares-war-ted-cruz-sarah-palin-tea-party-groups.html
WAR! Mitch McConnell DECLARES WAR On Ted Cruz, Sarah Palin, & Tea Party Outside Groups
THE TURTLE HAS LANDED!.............
......
In an abrupt change in strategy, Sen. Mitch McConnell has decided to go after Ted Cruz, Sarah Palin, the Senate Victory Fund and other conservative groups who are backing his primary challenger.
According to the Lexington Herald-Leader,
Several allies of McConnell and other Senate Republicans say the senator is now planning a two-front war: one against Grimes and the other against the fundraising groups that are supporting Bevin. McConnell’s real targets are the Senate Conservatives Fund, which announced its endorsement of Bevin on Oct. 18, Heritage Action for America, Madison Project, FreedomWorks and other outside groups.
If McConnell can crush Bevin, the thinking goes, he can expose a lack of ideological consistency in the outside groups, allowing him to separate Tea Party voters from Tea Party fundraising groups.
…
McConnell has fumed for about four years as he watched outside groups back primary challengers who defeated Republican incumbents then lost to Democrats, making his dream of becoming Senate Majority Leader a nightmare.
The decision by Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, a Tea Party icon, to become the face of the government shutdown gave McConnell an opening to start pushing back. In an Oct. 11 interview with the Lexington Herald-Leader, the senator made his move, abruptly departing from the dominant no-compromise message and boasting of his record of making deals with Vice President Joe Biden.
http://www.kentucky.com/2013/10/28/2900114/sam-youngman-mitch-mcconnells.html#storylink=cpy
Sen. Ted Cruz, Jim DeMint, Sarah Palin, and the tea party supporting groups wanted a fight with McConnell, and now they’ve got it. Sen. McConnell has seen his chances to become Majority Leader destroyed by the tea party in 2010 and 2012, and the reality is that 2014 will probably be McConnell’s last chance to become Majority Leader. McConnell is 71 years old, and in 2016 Senate Republicans will be defending 24 seats to the Democrats 10. If Democrats hold on to control of the Senate in 2014, they could be in the majority for a long time.
For McConnell, this is also about payback. The Senate Conservatives Fund ran an ad against Mitch McConnell in Kentucky over the summer. Sarah Palin stuck her nose into the situation, and has been chirping about supporting McConnell’s primary challenger Matt Bevin. The decision to fight a two front war against both his primary challenger and his fall opponent Alison Lundergan Grimes is risky. If McConnell gets damaged in the primary, it could open the door for Grimes to take his seat in the fall.
cont'
http://www.politicususa.com/2013/10/29/mitch-mcconnell-declares-war-ted-cruz-sarah-palin-tea-party-groups.html
October 29, 2013
Intelligence officials said Monday that the White House and State Department approved surveillance of world leaders' phone calls, the Los Angeles Times reported. The LA Times report seems to contradict a Wall Street Journal report published Monday, which also cited anonymous officials, that said for almost five years President Barack Obama was unaware the National Security Agency monitored world leaders' communications.
One anonymous official told the newspaper that although Obama may not have been briefed specifically on those NSA programs, National Security Council staff would have known about the surveillance. Some officials also told the Times that professional staff at U.S. intelligence agencies believe the White House blamed them for conducting lawful surveillance in an attempt to distance itself from the fallout caused by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden's disclosures.
Senate Intelligence Chair Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) said Monday in a statement that she is "totally opposed" to monitoring allied leaders, adding it was "a big problem" that Obama was reportedly not aware of the surveillance. Obama declined to discuss those reports Monday night in an interview with Fusion.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/report-officials-say-white-house-ok-d-monitoring-of-world-leaders
.
Report: Officials Say White House OK'd MONITORING Of World Leaders
Intelligence officials said Monday that the White House and State Department approved surveillance of world leaders' phone calls, the Los Angeles Times reported. The LA Times report seems to contradict a Wall Street Journal report published Monday, which also cited anonymous officials, that said for almost five years President Barack Obama was unaware the National Security Agency monitored world leaders' communications.
One anonymous official told the newspaper that although Obama may not have been briefed specifically on those NSA programs, National Security Council staff would have known about the surveillance. Some officials also told the Times that professional staff at U.S. intelligence agencies believe the White House blamed them for conducting lawful surveillance in an attempt to distance itself from the fallout caused by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden's disclosures.
Senate Intelligence Chair Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) said Monday in a statement that she is "totally opposed" to monitoring allied leaders, adding it was "a big problem" that Obama was reportedly not aware of the surveillance. Obama declined to discuss those reports Monday night in an interview with Fusion.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/report-officials-say-white-house-ok-d-monitoring-of-world-leaders
.
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