DonViejo
DonViejo's Journal‘We crossed the line’, US admits to UN anti-torture body
Source: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
The United States said Wednesday it did not condone torture under any circumstances, but acknowledged to a UN anti-torture watchdog it had “crossed the line” following the September 11 attacks.
“The US is proud of its record as a leader in respecting, promoting and defending human rights and the rule of law, both at home and around the world,” acting US legal advisor Mary McLeod told the 10-member UN Committee on Torture.
“But in the wake of 9/11 attacks, we regrettably did not always live up to our own values,” she said. “We crossed the line and we take responsibility for that,” she said, quoting US President Barack Obama.
McLeod was one of about 30 top US officials gathered in Geneva for Washington’s first grilling by the committee since 2006.
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Read more: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/11/we-crossed-the-line-us-admits-to-un-anti-torture-body/
Eyeing 2016, Clinton calls for female empowerment
Source: ASSOCIATED PRESS
MIAMI BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Hillary Rodham Clinton says she has a “grandmother glow” that’s fueling her campaign for gender equality around the globe.
Clinton spoke Thursday to a convention of women real estate professionals. The potential 2016 Democratic presidential contender is calling on business and political leaders to close the gap between men and women in wages and leadership positions. She says all women should grow up in a world of “full participation and shared prosperity.”
Clinton says new granddaughter Charlotte “has just as much God-given potential as a boy who was born in that hospital on the same day.”
The former U.S. senator is also in Florida promoting her book and helping Democrat Charlie Crist raise money for his gubernatorial campaign against Republican Gov. Rick Scott.
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Read more: http://www.salon.com/2014/10/02/eyeing_2016_clinton_calls_for_female_empowerment/
Justice Antonin Scalia: Constitution allows religion to be favored over secularism
TRAVIS GETTYS
02 OCT 2014
Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia told a conservative Christian audience Wednesday that secular arguments about the public role of religion were “absurd.”
“I think the main fight is to dissuade Americans from what the secularists are trying to persuade them to be true: that the separation of church and state means that the government cannot favor religion over non-religion,” Scalia told a crowd at Colorado Christian University.
He said many Europeans nations demonstrate that’s one possible way to run a government, the Washington Times reported, but he said the U.S. system was not set up to promote secular values.
“If the American people want to do it, I suppose they can enact that by statute, but to say that’s what the Constitution requires is utterly absurd,” Scalia said.
As Right Wing Watch reported, Scalia’s comments came the same week many religious conservatives have called on Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg to recuse herself from abortion-related cases over recent public comments.
more
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/10/justice-antonin-scalia-constitution-allows-religion-to-be-favored-over-secularism/
Koch Group In Hot Water Over Misleading Voters With Mailers
By DANIEL STRAUSS Published OCTOBER 2, 2014, 4:38 PM EDT
In the last few weeks before the Nov. 4 midterm elections Americans for Prosperity, the Koch Brothers-backed conservative organization plans to spend millions in key senate races through digital mail, door-to-door campaigning and other types of advertising.
Those states include, according to The New York Times which first reported the push, Arkansas, Colorado, Iowa and North Carolina, where the group has found itself under fire recently over sending out mailers that included misleading information about voting.
On Tuesday, North Carolina's ABC affiliate reported that "hundreds of complaints" are flooding into the state Board of elections over "hundreds of thousands of mailers with false information about voter registration sent by Americans for Prosperity." That report cited Jenifer Odum, who received a letter addressed to her young daughter who would only be about four years old if she had not died two years ago.
On Tuesday, North Carolina's ABC affiliate reported that "hundreds of complaints" are flooding into the state Board of elections over "hundreds of thousands of mailers with false information about voter registration sent by Americans for Prosperity." That report cited Jenifer Odum, who received a letter addressed to her young daughter who would only be about four years old if she had not died two years ago.
The report is the latest of a string of coverage about the mailers that started with a piece in The Raleigh News & Observer. A before the North Carolina affiliate report Zachary Roth at MSNBC reported that AFP was being investigated over the mailers, which were sent to hundreds of voters in North Carolina and a cat.
more
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/koch-brothers-mailer-north-carolina
Family of Texas Ebola patient ordered to stay home, comply with blood tests
By Amy Ellis Nutt October 2 at 8:03 AM
DALLAS -- Citing "an abundance of caution," Texas and Dallas County health officials ordered four close family members of hospitalized Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan to remain home and not see any visitors to prevent the spread of the disease.
The order was hand-delivered to the family at the Ivy Apartments, in northeast Dallas, on Wednesday night and legally requires the four relatives of Duncan to stay home until at least Oct. 19.
"The order is in place until the incubation period has passed and the family is no longer at risk of having the disease," a news release from Dallas health officials said. The family must also provide blood samples, agree to any other testing and report any symptoms to the Dallas County Health and Human Services Department immediately, including any fever above 100.5 degrees, headache, nausea, diarrhea or abdominal pain.
"We have tried and true protocols to protect the public and stop the spread of this disease," David Lakey, Texas's health commissioner, said in the news release. "This order gives us the ability to monitor the situation in the most meticulous way."
more
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2014/10/02/family-of-texas-ebola-patient-ordered-to-stay-home-comply-with-blood-tests/
Ex-Secret Service Director: Agency Needs To Be 'More Like Disney World'
By CATHERINE THOMPSON Published OCTOBER 2, 2014, 11:26 AM EDT
U.S. Secret Service Director Julia Pierson resigned Wednesday after being hammered by both lawmakers and the press for a series of embarrassing missteps committed by the President's and White House's security detail.
The Washington Post's Carol D. Leonnig, who broke the news that the man who jumped the White House fence last month went far deeper into the building than the agency originally disclosed, offered more insight late Wednesday into Pierson's tenure with the Secret Service:
That "Disney World" mentality also may have contributed to Pierson suggesting that the White House reduce the recommended numbers of officers patrolling the perimeter of the White House complex by a third, as the Post reported.
more
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/julia-pierson-secret-service-disney-world
Kobach Surrenders: Ballots Will Be Printed With No Dem Senate Nominee
By DYLAN SCOTT Published OCTOBER 2, 2014, 11:05 AM EDT
After a Kansas district court ruled on Wednesday that the Kansas Democratic Party did not have to name a new Senate nominee, it seems that Secretary of State Kris Kobach effectively threw in the towel in his bid to force Democrats to put somebody on the ballot in the November.
Kobach's office sent an order to local election officials Wednesday after the ruling instructing them to prepare and print ballots with no Democratic nominee.
"There will be no Democratic candidate on the ballot," the order, obtained by TPM, said. "There will be no position on the ballot for the Democratic Party for US Senate. Remember to include a write-in blank."
"There is no change to the candidate list that was certified to you on September 19 in an email," the order said. That referred to a previous order, issued after the Kansas Supreme Court ruled that Kobach could not force withdrawn Democratic nominee Chad Taylor to stay on the ballot. So at the time, the certified candidate list had no Democratic candidate.
more
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/kobach-surrenders-kansas-senate-race
Supreme Court Puts Off Action On Same-Sex Marriage
Source: ASSOCIATED PRESS
By SAHIL KAPUR Published OCTOBER 2, 2014, 10:37 AM EDT
The Supreme Court on Thursday announced eleven cases it will hear in the new term, but same-sex marriage wasn't one of them.
That Court may still review the hotly anticipated issue of whether the Constitution provides a right for gay couples to marry, but Americans will have to wait until — at least — next week to find out.
The issue has quickly made its way through the courts as judges have struck down bans on gay marriage in states including Utah, Wisconsin and Virginia.
Among the cases the Court said it will review: access to the courts for prisoners, housing discrimination, redistricting in Arizona and a Florida dispute about judicial campaign contributions.
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Read more: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/supreme-court-defers-action-gay-marriage
Pelosi: Dems will take Congress, WH in '16
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) predicted a Democratic sweep in 2016.
If Republicans keep the House in November, Pelosi said they wouldn’t hold their majority for long.
“Their days are numbered. I know that in two years, I know we’ll have a Democratic Congress and a Democratic president,” she told reporters at her weekly press conference.
“I’d like it to be in two months,” she added.
Asked if she was conceding that Republicans would hold the House in November’s midterms, Pelosi insisted, “No, I’m not."
“I think we’ll do okay,” said Pelosi, who was headed to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee to discuss the elections.
more
http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/219461-dems-will-win-control-of-congress-wh-in-2016-pelosi
IMPORTANT UPDATE: Patient isolated in Honolulu hospital as officials say Ebola case possible
Source: Hawaii News Now
HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - The Hawaii Department of Health says a patient at a local hospital in Honolulu was placed into isolation on Wednesday, and officials have not ruled out the possibility that the individual may have contracted the Ebola virus.
A patient who checked into the hospital on Wednesday morning is currently undergoing testing for several conditions, Health Department officials said. The patient had not yet been tested for the Ebola virus late Wednesday afternoon, and any tests for the virus would need to be sent to the U.S. mainland for analysis before any confirmation could be made, according to the Department of Health.
"We have not definitively said, we don't know why this person is ill," said Dr. Melissa Viray of the Department of Health in Hawaii. "But because we have concerns regarding Ebola as a possibility, even as a distant one, [the hospital] is taking all the precautions necessary to keep people safe."
Hospitals across the state have been briefed by the Department of Health about standing operating procedure from the Centers for Disease Control in the event of a possible Ebola case, Dr. Viray says.
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Read more: http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/story/26683295/patient-isolated-in-honolulu-hospital-as-officials-say-ebola-case-possible
UPDATE:
...the Hawaii state Department of Health said Thursday that it has ruled out the possibility that a patient isolated at a Honolulu hospital has the Ebola virus, CBS affiliate KGMB reports.
The patient, an unidentified man, was admitted to Queen's Medical Center Wednesday after experiencing what hospital officials called "possible symptoms that may be consistent with Ebola."
"The hospital acted in the best interests of the community, with an abundance of caution," said Hawaii Department of Health Director Dr. Linda Rosen. "We commend the facility for being prepared and remaining vigilant regarding the risk of Ebola. After investigation by the health department, it was determined that the individual did not meet the clinical or travel exposure criteria for an Ebola infection."
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http://www.cbsnews.com/news/ebola-virus-investigation-finds-hawaii-patient-doesnt-meet-criteria/
Thank you DU'er pnwmom for providing us with this important update! Much appreciated!
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Name: DonGender: Male
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