herding cats
herding cats's JournalPregnant Lesbian Couples Sue Tennessee Governor Over 'Natural' Language Law
Source: NBC
Four married lesbian couples, each expecting children in the fall, have filed a lawsuit against Tennessee over the state's new "Natural and Ordinary" language law.
The law signed Friday by Gov. Bill Haslam mandates that all words in the state's various legal codes be interpreted to have "natural and ordinary" meanings including words like "wife" and "mother," which the couples say could interfere with their parental rights.
The law, which seems vague and semantic at first glance, came after conservative legislators filed a motion to intervene in a high-profile lesbian custody battle in Knoxville last fall. A handful of bills proposed in January sought to restrict the definition of terms like "husband" and "wife" in response and while Senate Bill 1085 never specifically mentions LGBT couples, critics and supporters alike have pointed out its intent.
"Undefined words shall be given their natural and ordinary meaning," the law reads, "Without forced or subtle construction that would limit or extend the meaning of the language, except when a contrary intention is clearly manifest."
Read more: http://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/amp/pregnant-lesbian-couples-sue-tennessee-governor-over-natural-language-law-n756591
NEW: Flynn never received broader security clearance needed to serve as Natl Security Advisor before
NEW: Flynn never received broader security clearance needed to serve as Natl Security Advisor before his firing. via @KenDilanianNBC
https://twitter.com/PeterAlexander/status/861643841182597120
Be afraid of your vote on the healthcare bill R's, be very afraid. Tom Perriello's new Ad.
https://m.Tom's running for governor of Virginia.
This is the GOP's plan B for Obamacare
Trump signed an EO back in mid February telling the IRS to stop enforcing the mandate.
Here's an article from then explaining what he did.
The Internal Revenue Service has become the first agency to follow President Trumps directive to start undermining the Affordable Care Act.
In a quiet rule change, but an important one, the IRS has told tax preparers and software firms that it wont automatically reject tax returns that fail to state whether the tax filer had health insurance during the year. That effectively loosens enforcement of the ACAs individual mandate. It appears to be a direct response to Trumps Jan. 20 executive order requiring federal agencies minimize...the economic and regulatory burdens of the Act.
We observed at the time that the executive order would cripple ACA insurance exchanges, not only by signaling the Trump Administrations open hostility to Obamacare, but by kicking a leg out from the regulatory stool supporting the act.
The IRS action its the first manifestation of that. The agency hasnt announced its rule change publicly, but it was picked up by Peter Suderman of Reason and Kathleen Pender of the San Francisco Chronicle, who both reported it Tuesday.
http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-hiltzik-irs-obamacare-20170215-story.html
My guess is they're now planning to let it bleed out and then blame Obama and the Democrats in 2018. Be prepared to counter this BS when and if it pops up.
My cat Tink and I are spending our last weekend together.
I read these to her while she was hanging out in my lap this weekend. We both appreciated the overwhelming love we received here.
She went peacefully this morning.
******************
I'm sorry to share sad news. I know we all are dealing with so much right now. I feel selfish even mentioning this now.
Tink's around 21-22 years old (yes, she's extremely old for a cat), and she's been with me for more than 20 years now. When I found her she'd been badly mangled in a dog attack and the vet said I should seriously consider euthanasia. Her huge golden-green eyes had already told me that wasn't an option, and I told him no way are we putting her down. It wasn't her time yet. It almost broke me financially back then, but I never regreted my decision. She went on to become my dearest companion, neck masseuse, therapist and general confidant. She's a Main Coon, big beautiful and one tough cookie. Most important, she's a dearly beloved part of my family.
She'd been losing some weight over the past year and the vet changed her food to a prescription. No big deal, she's an older cat and such is normal. Then I noticed blood in her urine on November 12th of 2016. A week and two vet trips later and I find out it was kidney cancer. There's no cure according to my vet, and we've been on supportive care ever since. Which reaching an end now. She went in today for an evaluation, it wasn't good. Even I see the fading with my jaundiced eyes. She had a treatment of medications today and I was told to consider euthanasia in the next week. Much as it breaks my heart, I don't want her to suffer so I scheduled to bring her in early Monday. I wanted one last weekend with my little buddy.
I purchased her a fresh tuna steak today, her favorite, and seared it for her tonight. The leftovers are hers for the next two days. Not that she has much of an appetite compared to her old self, but she still seems to appreciate fresh tuna.
I know she's had a very long life, but my heart is still breaking knowing our time is almost over. Please, just keep her in your thoughts if you have room, and wish her a gentle passing
Jon Snow U.K. Channel 4 News interviews Carter Page on Russian investigations.
JON SNOW
Presenter
Carter Page, the former foreign policy adviser to the Trump campaign.
I will say the Brits are much more direct than US reporters. Page is literally squirming.
I can't embed the video since it's not uploaded to YouTube yet, but you can find it at the link.
https://www.channel4.com/news/trump-carter-page-interview
White House Denies Trump Will Call Up National Guard for Immigrant Roundup
Source: Bloomberg
White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer denied a report by the Associated Press that President Donald Trump was considering using the National Guard to round up undocumented immigrants.
"That is 100 percent not true. It is false," Spicer told reporters aboard Air Force One, calling the APs report that Trump may call up as many as 100,000 troops "irresponsible."
Spicer said he had no information about the origin of the report.
Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2017-02-17/spicer-denies-trump-will-call-up-guard-for-immigrant-roundup?utm_content=politics&utm_campaign=socialflow-organic&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&cmpid%3D=socialflow-twitter-politics
IMO, this was a setup to discredit the media and panic our Latino population, folks.
Natasha Bertrand? @NatashaBertrand
"AP reporter noted they asked [for WH comment] multiple times before publication"
Embedded
Jenna Johnson? @wpjenna
Sean Spicer tells press pool that AP report on National Guard being used to round up people in the U.S. illegally is "100% not true."
https://mobile.twitter.com/NatashaBertrand/status/832617494338605059
Anti-Semitism searches surge after Trump press conference
The statement was part of Trumps response to a Jewish reporter who asked a question about how Trump might address the recent rise of anti-Semitic violence.
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/320000-anti-semitism-search-surges-after-trump-press-conference
The White House has found ways to end protection for 'Dreamers' while shielding Trump from blowback
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But senior Trump aides are holding fast to their goal of strengthening immigration enforcement, the presidents chief campaign promise. They have examined at least two options that would not directly involve Trump, according to two immigration policy advisors to the White House: a lawsuit brought by states, and new legal guidance that details who is a priority for deportation.
Under that option, Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions, a vocal critic of deportation relief as a senator, would direct Department of Justice lawyers to review the program, which issues two-year work permits to people who qualify and keeps them from being categorized as deportation priorities.
If the Justice Department determines that DACA is not legal or is no longer a responsible use of prosecutorial discretion, the Department of Homeland Security would be instructed to stop awarding and renewing work permits.
Another possible path involves the courts. A handful of governors are considering a challenge patterned on the 2014 lawsuit filed by several conservative state officials against the Obama administrations expansion of deportation protections. If they sue, Sessions could instruct his lawyers not to defend the program in court, exposing it to indefinite suspension by a federal judge.
http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-trump-daca-20170216-story.html
One of the only black people in Trumps team has been fired for criticizing Trump
A senior adviser to Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson was suddenly fired Wednesday, apparently because the White House discovered he had criticized President Donald Trump.
Shermichael Singleton, 26, had worked on Carsons own presidential bid in 2016 before joining the administration. In the closing weeks of the election, Singleton wrote an op-ed critical of Trump in which he blasted the then-nominees rhetoric toward black voters as a coded message from an era in our history that should stay in the past.
Singleton had already answered a number of questions regarding the article and expressed remorse for the piece and support for Mr. Trump prior to assuming his HUD position in January, the New York Times reports. But administration staff hadnt finished his background check and this week, Mr. Trumps advisers turned up the op-ed and some related tweets, according to the Times.
Singleton, who the Huffington Post notes is one of the few black Republicans in the Trump administration, told the Times he could not discuss the circumstances of his abrupt firing.
https://thinkprogress.org/one-of-the-only-black-people-in-trumps-team-has-been-fired-for-criticizing-trump-5748f2d6f247#.tbcdri2tt
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