October 26, 2015

GOP Candidate in Indiana Opposed to LGBT Protections Has a Profile on a Gay Dating Website

A City Council candidate from Indiana who opposes LGBT protections maintains a profile on a gay dating website.

Brent Randall, 53, a Republican who’s running for City Council in Goshen, Indiana, confirmed to the local newspaper that a profile on Adam4Adam.com belongs to him, and that he’s used it to connect with gay men.

Randall, the radio voice for Goshen High School football and basketball as well as the school’s head golf coach, is against amending the city’s civil rights ordinance to include sexual orientation and gender identity. From The Goshen News:

“I don’t know if I thought this wouldn’t come up or would (when running for office),” Randall said. “But I still believe in my heart of hearts that our gay and lesbian communities are protected currently under the law. If there are cases that need to be brought, let’s bring them. I don’t know why they feel they need special protections when there are other categories that might need protections. My little experimentation over the last six years hasn’t changed my view on that.”

Contrary to Randall’s statement, neither federal nor Indiana law explicitly protects LGBT people against discrimination. Randall’s opponent, Democrat Adam Scharf, supports an LGBT-inclusive nondiscrimination ordinance.

Read more: http://www.towleroad.com/2015/10/gop-candidate-indiana-opposed-lgbt-protections-profile-gay-dating-website/

October 26, 2015

Teach for America leaves Black Lives behind

[font color=330099]Note: JustAnotherGen requested that I cross-post this article from General Discussion into this group.[/font]

A debate has developed among leading voices of the Black Lives Matter movement about the connection, or lack of one, between the antiracist struggle to the battle against the education reform movement, including Teach for America (TFA), an organization that recruits college graduates without any teaching experience and places them in schools in low-income communities, often in cooperation with charter school operators. Here, New York City educator, activist and writer Brian Jones sets out the context of this discussion and examines the arguments of those who believe Teach for America can help make Black Lives Matter.


THE DIVERSE and determined movement against police violence and murder--now known to so many as Black Lives Matter--is facing a series of political challenges, as grassroots movements inevitably do. Choosing demands, deciding on strategy and tactics, selecting leaders and holding them accountable--all of these are difficult matters, and the road to success has potholes to avoid at every turn.

The phrase "Black Lives Matter" is open to a wide number of interpretations. Making Black lives matter in anonymous encounters with police officers is one, obviously. But many in the movement make connections to the fight for the $15-an-hour minimum wage or the struggle against violence directed at Black women and LGBTQ Black people. Connecting these proverbial dots will only make the movement stronger.

Another obviously connected issue is K-12 schooling. Sixty years after the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision, American schools are more racially segregated than ever, with Black children overwhelmingly concentrated in underfunded schools. They are disproportionately subject to significantly harsher disciplinary procedures than their peers, starting from pre-K--to such an extent that there is even a phrase for it: the "school-to-prison pipeline."

Across the country, parents, teachers and students have challenged the policies that uphold these patterns, consciously seeking to connect the Black Lives Matter movement to the effort to end institutional racism in public schooling. The students in Seattle who walked out of school to protest the decision not to indict Darren Wilson for the murder of Mike Brown are just one example.

Read more: http://socialistworker.org/2015/10/26/teach-for-america-leaves-black-lives-behind

October 26, 2015

Chinese Firm Plans $1.3 Billion Purchase Of Texas Oil Lands

A Chinese investment holding company intends to put down stakes in the United States after signing a letter of intent to purchase oil properties in western Texas for $1.3 billion through a limited liability partnership.

The Shanghai-listed Yantai Xinchao Industry Co., said in a securities filing over the weekend, it was a purchasing oil lands in the Texas counties of Howard and Borden as part of the proposed acquisition of Ningbo Dingliang Huitong Equity Investment Center, according to the Associated Press.

The news service also reports Yantai Xinchao said in its letter of intent, the transaction, worth 8.3 billion yuan, has been "approved by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States" which is part of the Treasury Department.

The oil properties are being purchased from Tall City Exploration LLC and Plymouth Petroleum LLC, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Read more: http://kut.org/post/chinese-firm-plans-13-billion-purchase-texas-oil-lands

October 26, 2015

Aging Supreme Court energizes Republicans more than Democrats in 2016 race

WASHINGTON — Wedged between the Republican and Democratic national conventions next July will fall an event of greater long-term significance for the future of the republic: Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy's 80th birthday.

Barring unforeseen events, Kennedy will become the third sitting octogenarian on the court — Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is 82, and Justice Antonin Scalia turns 80 in March. That will mark the first time since George H.W. Bush entered the White House more than a quarter century ago that a president has inherited three justices that old. At 78 by then, Justice Stephen Breyer will be close behind.

Of all the reasons why the high court will loom large in the presidential election — from a docket brimming with hot-button issues to intensive lobbying campaigns on the right and left — none looms as large as simple arithmetic and actuarial tables. The average age for Supreme Court retirements is just shy of 79. Since 1900, the average age of those who died while still serving was 69.

With the court narrowly divided, whoever wins the White House next November might enjoy the best chance to recast the high court in his or her image since Franklin Roosevelt did from 1937-43, when he named eight new justices. A Democrat such as Hillary Clinton might get to replace Kennedy or Scalia, both named to the court by President Ronald Reagan. A Republican such as Jeb Bush might get to replace Ginsburg or Breyer, President Bill Clinton's nominees.

Read more: http://www.elpasotimes.com/story/news/politics/elections/2015/10/25/supreme-court-president-age-80-election/74003698/

October 26, 2015

Texas riders deliver Ten Commandments to Oklahoma governor

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Horseback riders from a cowboy church in Texas on Friday delivered a stone tablet engraved with the Ten Commandments to Gov. Mary Fallin and bemoaned the court-ordered removal of a large granite monument from the state Capitol grounds they said represents rejection of God's law.

Eleven riders, led by the Rev. John Riggs of the Texoma Cowboy Church in Wichita Falls, Texas, delivered the tablet to Fallin during an impromptu ceremony on the Capitol's south plaza attended by more than 40 members of Christian churches in Texas and Oklahoma who followed the group's progress during their trek and greeted them with applause.

"We're riding for the law of God today," Riggs said shortly after dismounting his horse. "We fully believe that this country was founded upon the principles of God's word. It breaks our hearts to see where this country is headed and to see the removal of the law of God from our land, from our buildings."

Fallin accepted the stone tablet, measuring about 2-feet long and 1-foot wide, and said she will place it in her office.

Read more: http://amarillo.com/news/latest-news/2015-10-23/texas-riders-deliver-ten-commandments-oklahoma-governor

October 26, 2015

Teach for America leaves Black Lives behind

A debate has developed among leading voices of the Black Lives Matter movement about the connection, or lack of one, between the antiracist struggle to the battle against the education reform movement, including Teach for America (TFA), an organization that recruits college graduates without any teaching experience and places them in schools in low-income communities, often in cooperation with charter school operators. Here, New York City educator, activist and writer Brian Jones sets out the context of this discussion and examines the arguments of those who believe Teach for America can help make Black Lives Matter.


THE DIVERSE and determined movement against police violence and murder--now known to so many as Black Lives Matter--is facing a series of political challenges, as grassroots movements inevitably do. Choosing demands, deciding on strategy and tactics, selecting leaders and holding them accountable--all of these are difficult matters, and the road to success has potholes to avoid at every turn.

The phrase "Black Lives Matter" is open to a wide number of interpretations. Making Black lives matter in anonymous encounters with police officers is one, obviously. But many in the movement make connections to the fight for the $15-an-hour minimum wage or the struggle against violence directed at Black women and LGBTQ Black people. Connecting these proverbial dots will only make the movement stronger.

Another obviously connected issue is K-12 schooling. Sixty years after the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision, American schools are more racially segregated than ever, with Black children overwhelmingly concentrated in underfunded schools. They are disproportionately subject to significantly harsher disciplinary procedures than their peers, starting from pre-K--to such an extent that there is even a phrase for it: the "school-to-prison pipeline."

Across the country, parents, teachers and students have challenged the policies that uphold these patterns, consciously seeking to connect the Black Lives Matter movement to the effort to end institutional racism in public schooling. The students in Seattle who walked out of school to protest the decision not to indict Darren Wilson for the murder of Mike Brown are just one example.

Read more: http://socialistworker.org/2015/10/26/teach-for-america-leaves-black-lives-behind

October 26, 2015

Oklahoma State parade crash suspect charged with murder; her lawyer denies she was drinking

STILLWATER, Okla. — A woman faces second-degree murder charges after authorities said she plowed a car into the crowd at the Oklahoma State University homecoming parade, killing four people including a toddler.

Adacia Chambers, 25, was arrested after the crash on a driving while under the influence charge, and authorities said Sunday they added four charges of second-degree murder. Police did not immediately respond to messages seeking a more detailed explanation of the new charges.

But Chambers' attorney Tony Coleman said she did not smell of alcohol when he met her hours after the crash and did not appear to be someone who had been in a "drunken stupor." Police are awaiting blood tests to determine if she was impaired by drugs or alcohol.

"I absolutely can rule out alcohol," Coleman told a press conference in Oklahoma City, adding that he had spoken to her aunt, grandmother and boyfriend and all had said she was not drinking.

Read more: http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2015/10/oklahoma_state_parade_crash_su.html#incart_river_home

October 26, 2015

Expect a brawl in Louisiana gubernatorial contest

Get ready for a knock-down, drag-out fight for the next four weeks in the governor’s race between John Bel Edwards and David Vitter.

It won’t be old-fashioned.

Instead, the weapons of choice for state Rep. Edwards and U.S. Sen. Vitter will be 30-second TV commercials and targeted social media posts on Facebook and Twitter.

And it won’t be pretty.

Each man will spend part of his time extolling his record and plans for state government to eliminate business tax breaks and wasteful spending to end the budget mess left behind by Gov. Bobby Jindal and the outgoing Republican-majority state Legislature.

Read more: http://theadvocate.com/news/13800150-55/expect-a-brawl-in-louisiana

[font color=330099]My favorite line of this piece:

"But Vitter, a family-values Republican, limped into the runoff, tarred by his divisive reputation and a 2007 sex scandal, with nearly half of the state’s voters holding an unfavorable view of him."

Which family? The family of the prostitute that he impregnated and asked her to get an abortion or the family that includes the wife he cheated on?[/font]

October 26, 2015

New Mexico man says he beat friend for turning into a zombie

GRANTS, N.M. (AP) — A New Mexico man who had been watching TV’s “The Walking Dead” says he fatally beat his friend before he could become a zombie.

Grants police spokesman Moses Marquez said Sunday that 23-year-old Christopher Paquin was beaten and that 23-year-old Damon Perry is being held on a murder charge.

Officers were called Thursday afternoon to an apartment complex where Perry was allegedly wielding a knife.

They found Paquin’s body inside an apartment and maintenance workers detaining Perry.

Read more: http://lubbockonline.com/filed-online/2015-10-25/new-mexico-man-says-he-beat-friend-turning-zombie#.Vi3RdivziBY

October 26, 2015

Official: Actions Against Planned Parenthood Are Not Final

The Texas official in charge of the Medicaid inquiry of Planned Parenthood says that the organization has not been terminated from that federal health care program and that it would take at least a month to determine whether it should be.

In an interview Saturday with The Texas Tribune, Stuart Bowen Jr., head of the Office of Inspector General at the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, said the “notice of termination” sent to Planned Parenthood last week is the start of a civil enforcement process — and not a final determination of the organization’s status as a Medicaid provider in Texas.

“We did not terminate them,” he said. “We began a process ... inclusive of the development of evidence.”

The wording of that notice, along with public statements from the governor and other top state officials, made last week’s actions sound more final than they are.

Read more: http://www.texastribune.org/2015/10/24/bowen-actions-against-planned-parenthood-are-not-f/