Jesus Malverde
Jesus Malverde's JournalBerkeley bans tobacco smoking in apartments, condos
Smoking cigarettes will no longer be allowed inside the units of multi-family housing developments in Berkeley, effective May 2014, after a unanimous vote by the Berkeley City Council on Tuesday night.
The council decision, once it’s adopted on second reading, would prohibit tobacco smoke inside all residential buildings that have more than one unit, and in all common areas of those buildings as well.
After considering the issue twice earlier this year, the council voted, on first reading, to approve the new ordinance, which puts forward enforcement guidelines that officials hope will protect the rights of both non-smoking neighbors as well as residents who receive complaints.
The ordinance includes processes for tenants to get smoking cessation services, and an outreach and education campaign about the law, that will be in effect through December 2016. City staff will provide sample language about the ordinance and its enforcement to landlords to help spread the word.
http://www.berkeleyside.com/2013/12/05/berkeley-bans-tobacco-smoking-in-apartments-condos/
HRC and the vulture fund: Making Third World poverty pay for LGBT rights
The Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the largest US gay organization, is going international. It’s just been given at least $3 million to spread the word of marriage equality to benighted countries that treat gays badly. Unfortunately, there’s a catch. Its chief partner and donor in this project wants the people in those countries, LGBT folk included, to starve – their economies wrecked, their incomes shipped abroad, their resources squeezed and stolen to pay off odious debt. HRC is receiving its money for gay rights in the Third World from the man who “virtually invented vulture funds”: a form of speculation that’s one of the worst contributors to Third World poverty ever.
But if you’re poor and getting poorer, look on the bright side (as long as river blindness hasn’t got you, that is). You can still have a nice white wedding; and you’ll save on the food bill if your nation has no food.
HRC is understandably happy about the sunny prospects opening up. It says,
The need to support LGBT advocates and call out U.S.-based anti-equality organizations abroad has never been greater. … At the same time, opportunities exist for a global equality movement as a growing number of countries are passing pro-equality legislation and recognizing marriage equality. Seventeen countries around the world afford, or will soon afford, committed and loving gay and lesbian couples the legal right to marry.
One of the two big donors to this project is a little more explicit about how the enterprise relates to the projection of US power:
“Every day around the world, LGBT individuals face arrest, imprisonment, torture and even execution just for being who they are,” said Paul Singer. “Some of the worst offenders in this area also happen to be the same regimes that have dedicated themselves to harming the United States and its democratic allies across the globe. [Emphasis added] As an organization that has been at the forefront of the equality movement for over three decades, the Human Rights Campaign is uniquely positioned to work in tandem with NGOs to empower LGBT and human rights advocates abroad and help stop these abuses.”
Well, yes, except … this doesn’t quite sound like “human rights” envisioned from the high vantage of universality and internationalism. It sounds like LGBT rights uneasily painted into a picture of US interests.
On the other hand, it’s natural to couch the project in terms of what the US will get out of it. After all, its two deep-pocketed benefactors are Singer, who runs a hedge fund called Elliott Management, and Daniel S. Loeb, who runs another called Third Point LLC. They’re both conservatives and huge donors to the Republican Party. Singer underwrote last year’s GOP National Convention with $1 million of largesse. One operative called him “the big power broker in the Republican financial world.”
http://paper-bird.net/2013/11/04/hrc-and-the-vulture-fund-making-third-world-poverty-pay-for-lgbt-rights/
The number one target for religious lobbyists isn’t what you think
Which bill in Congress affects the deficit, abortion funding, gay rights, religious liberty, peace, nuclear arms, Israel, and even homeschooling? The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).
We reviewed the lobbying activity of over 300 religious interest groups. Of the over 500 bills that these interest groups lobbied on over the past two years, the annual defense spending bills were, by far, the biggest target of their advocacy.
The NDAA is so attractive to special interests because it is one of the few bills they can bet on becoming law. Even as Congress has failed to pass its other spending bills, it has managed to pass a Defense bill every year for the past five decades. If lobbyists can shoehorn a few words into the NDAA, they can rest assured that it will become law.
Very few of the changes religious interest groups push for in the NDAA address traditional military issues. Of course, some of these lobbyists are advocates for peace who always watch military bills. This year, these groups are concerned that riders to NDAA would direct U.S. foreign policy toward Iran, Hezbollah, and Syria.
Other groups are less concerned with turning swords into plowshares. The NDAA is just a big bill that can help them address other concerns. Homeschooling advocates have succeeded at including language that ensures that home-schooled students would be accepted under the same standards as those that attend public or private schools. Network, a Catholic social justice group, joined forces with taxpayer groups to fight efforts to break the sequestration spending limits because it would be raise the national debt.
The NDAA is also now a battleground in the culture wars, pitting advocates for LGBT rights against social conservatives who fear that chaplains in the military could be punished for their beliefs about homosexuality. A coalition of social conservatives lobbied successfully for rights of conscience protections in last year’s NDAA. This time around, they were able to include stronger language in this year’s House bill. This is getting a thumbs up from the Family Research Council, which sees the new language as necessary “to stop the raging secularism that has infected the Pentagon.”
- See more at: http://tobingrant.religionnews.com/2013/12/05/number-one-target-religious-lobbyists-isnt-think/
American teacher shot dead while jogging in Benghazi
Gunmen shot and killed a young American teacher as he was jogging in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi on Thursday, amid an upsurge of violence between radicals and security forces.
Ronnie Smith, a chemistry teacher at the city’s international school, was killed while on his regular afternoon running route in Dubai Street, an upmarket area of the city.
His death comes with Libya enduring some of the worst violence since the 2011 revolution, with nearly three weeks of clashes between militias and the army in both Benghazi and Tripoli, the capital. Three Libyan army soldiers were killed in the eastern port city earlier on Thursday.
Last week the army stormed four bases of Ansar al-Sharia, the Islamist militia blamed by some for the killing last year of American ambassador Chris Stevens at the US consulate. Bombings and assassinations have continued on a near-daily basis.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/05/american-teacher-ronnie-smith-shot-dead-jogging-benghazi
In Iceland, When Police Kill a Gunman, They Apologize
Icelandic police shot dead a man who refused to stop firing at them with a shotgun in the capital of Reykjavik earlier today -- and then they apologized. It was the first time that anyone in the country was killed by police gunfire.
"The police regret this incident and wishes to extend its condolences to the man's family," said national police chief Haraldur Johannessen.
Details of the event have yet to emerge, but this much is clear: Iceland is a weird place. The population of the island is 325,000, while the number of registered firearms is 90,000, which when you consider that Iceland also has children, suggests that more than a third of the population is armed. So why don't Iceland's police have to shoot people?
St. Louis happens to have about the same population as Iceland. Last year, the city's police chief ordered a study of incidents in which officers shot at suspects. As reported by the St. Louis Post Dispatch, that happened 98 times in the 2008-2011 period, and 12 of the people shot at died.
I don't think you can say the difference is because a lot of Iceland is rural -- all but about 25,000 of the population are urban dwellers. And the National Rifle Association will be pleased to hear that it can't all be accounted for by gun ownership: True, the U.S. has almost 90 guns per 100 people, compared with 30 per 100 in Iceland, but if gun ownership were the key difference you would expect a much narrower differential in police shootings.
One factor may be that only SWAT teams of the kind called in for in today's shooting are allowed to carry guns; the rest of the police don't. So the average officer -- let alone a neighborhood watch character such as Florida's George Zimmerman -- can't shoot anyone because they aren't armed. And one reason they don't need to be armed is that the homicide rate in Iceland is so low -- on average, fewer than 0.3 per 100,000 of population, compared with 5 per 100,000 in the U.S. In 2009, according to the Global Study on Homicide, just one person was murdered in Iceland.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-12-02/in-iceland-when-police-kill-a-gunman-they-apologize.html
One study found that Icelanders happily pick up strangers in their cars and leave their babies unattended in the street. To a Londoner, New Yorker or Bostonian, that's unheard of. He concluded that the biggest reason for Iceland's low violent-crime rate was social equality. Rich and poor go to the same schools, while 1.1 percent say they are upper class, 1.5 percent lower class -- and the rest in between. So there's less resentment and anger.
Another point might be that although there are a lot of guns in Iceland (Icelanders like to hunt), buying one requires stringent checks, including a medical exam and a written test. That may prevent people from buying and using guns in a fit of anger. It might also explain why very few of Iceland's very few homicides involve firearms.
Pentagon Urges China to Back Off No-Fly Zone
Source: military.com
The Pentagon's leadership on Wednesday offered a possible way for China to defuse the crisis over airspace control that has led both sides to flex their military might in the East China Sea.
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said the U.S. was looking at "mechanisms" to avoid a confrontation over China's declaration of an Air Defense Identification Zone over wide swaths of the East China Sea to include uninhabited islands claimed by Japan and China.
One of those mechanisms might be for China to make a distinction between aircraft bound for China intending to enter Chinese sovereign airspace and those intending to fly through international air space included in the ADIZ to other destinations, said Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
China has demanded that all aircraft, both military and commercial, file flight plans and identify themselves in the ADIZ. Dempsey said U.S. concerns might be eased if the Chinese limited their demands to aircraft bound for China, which already must file flight plans.
Read more: http://www.military.com/daily-news/2013/12/04/pentagon-urges-china-to-back-off-no-fly-zone.html?comp=700001075741&rank=1
Mystery tipper hits 2 S.F. restaurants
mystery do-gooder who has been leaving large, generous tips at eateries and bars throughout the country stopped by at least two San Francisco restaurants in the past two months.
The mystery tipper has been signing bills with the social media handle @tipsforjesus, and has an Instagram page at #tipsforjesus filled with pictures showing the hefty gratuity on receipts.
On Nov. 19, a $1,500 tip was left on a $468 bill at the steakhouse Harris’ Steakhouse, located at 2100 Van Ness Ave.
http://blog.sfgate.com/stew/2013/12/04/mystery-tipper-hits-2-s-f-restaurants/#18580101=0
I have yet to see a penny.
Church of England urged to offer same-sex blessings
Members of the clergy should be allowed to offer blessings to same-sex couples, a report commissioned by the Church of England has recommended.
The report, produced by four bishops and chaired by former civil servant Sir Joseph Pilling, does not propose offering a "formal liturgy".
But it says priests should be "free" to give gay couples a "public service".
The Church pointed out the report is for discussion and is "not a new policy statement from the Church of England".
The report says the Church must find "ways of honouring" gay Christians who "conscious of the Church's teaching, have embraced a chaste and single lifestyle, and also those who in good conscience have entered partnerships with a firm intention of life-long fidelity".
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-25141239
Vladimir Putin's new biography
Russian President Vladimir Putin Is 'Latently Gay,' Alleges Controversial New Biography
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/04/putin-gay-biography_n_4385360.html?utm_hp_ref=books&ir=Books
PUTIN IS 'LATENTLY GAY', NEW BIOGRAPHY SUGGESTS
http://www.towleroad.com/2013/12/putin-is-latently-gay-new-biography-suggests.html
Sex is alien to Putin, claims author
http://www.iol.co.za/news/back-page/sex-is-alien-to-putin-claims-author-1.1616468
Moscow invented rumours of Vladimir Putin affair with Olympic gymnast because he 'is gay' claims controversial new biography
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2517383/Russias-Vladimir-Putin-gay-claims-controversial-new-biography.html
Vladimir Putin Gay: New Biography Claims Russian President Is ‘Latently’ Homosexual
http://www.inquisitr.com/1050505/vladimir-putin-gay-new-biography-claims-russian-president-is-latently-homosexual/
'Vladimir Putin je gay i ne voli seks'
http://dnevnik.hr/vijesti/svijet/vladimir-putin-je-gay-i-ne-voli-seks---313813.html
«Putin? Un orfano con tendenze gay»
http://www.giornalettismo.com/archives/1247473/putin-lorfano-con-tendenze-gay/
Russian Scandal Book: Author Claims Putin's Pets His Best Friends
http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/new-book-on-vladimir-putin-claims-russian-president-flees-from-people-a-936801.html
The author Stanislav Alexandrovich Belkovsky (Russian: Станислав Александрович Белковский (born 7 February 1971, Moscow, USSR) is a Russian political analyst and communication specialist. A political conservative, he is the cousin of exiled Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky. He is a founder and director of the National Strategy Institute and of the communication company Politech.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanislav_Belkovsky
Susan Rice: LGBT rights an essential part of U.S. foreign policy
Source: Washington Blade
National Security Adviser Susan Rice on Wednesday stressed support of LGBT rights remains an essential part of American foreign policy.
“The United States remains firmly committed to promoting freedom, opportunity and prosperity everywhere,” she said during a speech at the Newseum in downtown Washington during Human Rights First’s annual Human Rights Summit. “We stand proudly for the rights of women, the LGBT community and minorities.”
Rice noted President Obama spoke in support of LGBT rights during a June press conference in the Senegalese capital with the African country’s president the day after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled a portion of the Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional and struck down California’s Proposition 8. Senegal is among the more than 70 countries in which homosexuality remains criminalized.
The former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations further highlighted Obama’s meeting with Russian LGBT Network Chair Igor Kochetkov, Olga Lenkova of Coming Out and seven other Russian human rights advocates during the G-20 summit that took place in St. Petersburg, Russia, in September.
Read more: http://www.washingtonblade.com/2013/12/04/susan-rice-lgbt-rights-essential-part-u-s-foreign-policy/
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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