Tag Archives: obama

Palestinian kills Israeli in West Bank

Posted on April 30, 2013

Grand jury begins work in Ohio rape investigation Grand jury begins work in Ohio rape investigation An eastern Ohio grand jury is ready to begin hearing from witnesses and examining evidence in the case of a 16-year-old girl raped by two high school football players. A grand jury prepared to start examining evidence and hearing from witnesses in the case of a 16-year-old girl raped by two high school football players after an alcohol-fueled party last summer. Jury set to start weighing Pa. abortion deaths Jury set to start weighing Pa. abortion deaths A Philadelphia jury is set to start weighing murder charges against a veteran abortion provider charged with killing four viable babies allegedly born alive. A Philadelphia jury is expected to start weighing murder charges in the trial of a veteran abortion provider charged with killing four viable babies after they were born alive. Sources: FBI questions link between Va. gov, donor Sources: FBI questions link between Va. gov, donor A former chef at the Virginia governor’s mansion who is facing felony embezzlement charges filed court papers Monday saying he gave investigators evidence alleging lavish gift-taking and other wrongdoing… The FBI has begun examining the relationship between Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell and his wife Maureen and the chief executive of a nutritional supplements manufacturer that is the subject of a federal investigation, two… Pa. abortion trial stirs debate on when life ends Pa. abortion trial stirs debate on when life ends A Philadelphia jury is set to hear closing arguments in the capital murder trial of an abortion doctor accused of killing babies born alive at his clinic. The high-profile murder trial of a Philadelphia abortion provider sparked courtroom debate Monday over when life ends, a tweak of the politically charged question of when life begins. Rural Calif community on lockdown as killer sought Rural Calif community on lockdown as killer sought After door-to-door sweeps proved fruitless, law officers urged residents of a small town in Northern California to lock their door and keep a close eye on streets and yards for a man who stabbed an 8-year-old girl to… A region of oak-studded hills in California, where big-city dwellers come to get away from crime, was on lockdown Monday, two days after a mysterious intruder stabbed an 8-year-old girl to death at home before being spotted… Lawyer: Former ricin suspect’s home is unlivable Lawyer: Former ricin suspect’s home is unlivable The Mississippi man charged with making and possessing ricin as part of the investigation into poison-laced letters sent to President Barack Obama and others was expected to appear in court Monday. 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Bob McDonnell… Hospitals see surge of superbug-fighting products Hospitals see surge of superbug-fighting products Hospitals see wave of products to fight superbugs; penalties loom if patients catch infections Hospitals see wave of products to fight superbugs; penalties loom if patients catch infections Researchers track evolution of Philly’s odd accent Researchers track evolution of Philly’s odd accent Researchers track the ‘northernization’ of Philly’s unusual accent; ‘wooder’ becoming ‘water’ Researchers track the ‘northernization’ of Philly’s unusual accent; ‘wooder’ becoming ‘water’ Obama jokes about aging during 2nd term Obama jokes about aging during 2nd term At annual correspondents’ dinner, Obama jokes about growing older during his 2nd term At annual correspondents’ dinner, Obama jokes about growing older during his 2nd term US tries new aerial tools in Caribbean drug fight US tries new aerial tools in Caribbean drug fight From 1 battlefield to another: US tries 2 new aerial tools to search for drugs in Caribbean From 1 battlefield to another: US tries 2 new aerial tools to search for drugs in Caribbean Police: Boston suspects planned to attack New York Police: Boston suspects planned to attack New York Police: Boston Marathon bomb suspects planned to attack New York’s Times Square next Police: Boston Marathon bomb suspects planned to attack New York’s Times Square next Officials: Bomb suspect silent after read rights Officials: Bomb suspect silent after read rights AP sources: Boston bomb suspect says brother recruited him, goes silent after Miranda warning AP sources: Boston bomb suspect says brother recruited him, goes silent after Miranda warning US hospitals send hundreds of immigrants back home US hospitals send hundreds of immigrants back home US hospitals send hundreds of immigrant patients back to home countries to curb cost of care US hospitals send hundreds of immigrant patients back to home countries to curb cost of care Aunt: Boston bombings suspect struggled with Islam Aunt: Boston bombings suspect struggled with Islam Aunt: Caught between 2 cultures, elder Boston bombings suspect struggled with Islamic identity Aunt: Caught between 2 cultures, elder Boston bombings suspect struggled with Islamic identity Boston Marathon bombing suspect is charged Boston Marathon bombing suspect is charged Boston Marathon bombing suspect is charged, could face the death penalty Boston Marathon bombing suspect is charged, could face the death penalty Final shootout, then Boston bombing suspect caught Final shootout, then Boston bombing suspect caught After final shootout, bloody Boston Marathon bombing suspect captured in backyard boat After final shootout, bloody Boston Marathon bombing suspect captured in backyard boat

JERUSALEM (AP) – Israeli police say a Palestinian killed an Israeli in the West Bank and was later shot and detained by officers.

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld says that a “Palestinian terrorist attacked an Israeli civilian at a bus stop” at the Tapuah junction in the northern West Bank.

He says the Palestinian either stabbed or shot the Israeli man who died of his wounds at the scene Tuesday morning.

Rosenfeld says the Palestinian then shot at border police nearby who returned fire, wounding him. Officers detained the man and are investigating the incident.

The West Bank, captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war from Jordan and claimed by Palestinians as part of their future state, has experienced a rise in violence lately but attacks like this one are rare.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Palestinian kills Israeli in West Bank

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Russell Peters on 9/11

Posted on April 15, 2013



Russell Peters on 9/11 Bilderberg
At a charity event for Sting, Luke Rudkowski interviewed comedian Russell Peters about his thoughts on Obama's drone policy. The conversation led to Russell …

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Russell Peters on 9/11

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John Kerry: Israel, Palestinians to push West Bank economy as step to peace

Posted on April 10, 2013

TEL AVIV, Israel Secretary of State John Kerry said Tuesday that Israeli and Palestinian officials had agreed on a plan to boost the dismal economy of the West Bank, the first concrete measure to emerge from an ambitious new U.S.-led push to restart peace talks after a four-year deadlock.

Kerry said the plan called for moving very rapidly toward business expansion and private investment in the West Bank, though he declined to get into specifics, saying he didnt want the developing framework to come out piecemeal. He said that multiple U.S. government financial institutions, including the Overseas Private Investment Corp., the Export-Import Bank of the United States and the State Departments Agency for International Development, would be involved, along with private corporations and European allies.

Kerrys plans are likely to involve changes in Area C of the West Bank, where Israel has full civil and security control despite it being an area shared by Israelis and Palestinians. In recent years, Israeli authorities have delayed Palestinian-backed construction and tourism projects.

Kerry said the initiative would address the bottlenecks and barriers to doing business in the West Bank.

Economic growth will help us be able to provide a climate, if you will, an atmosphere, within which people have greater confidence about moving forward, Kerry told a news conference in the Israeli capital of Tel Aviv that wrapped up three days of meetings with Palestinian and Israeli leaders.

Kerrys trip to the Middle East at first appeared to be an afterthought, tacked on at the last minute to an itinerary that focused on a G-8 foreign ministers conference in London and his first trip to Asia as secretary. Instead, Kerry unveiled what he called a quiet strategy toward setting conditions for an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement, a risky move that tethers the new secretary to a conflict thats bedeviled successive U.S. administrations.

This is the Obama administrations first serious consideration of the conflict. First-term Secretary of State Hillary Clinton shied away from tackling it and was preoccupied with the Arab Spring revolts, while Middle East envoy George Mitchell resigned in 2011 after failing to make any headway on the issue.

This effort has been dogged by good intentions and failed efforts at one time or another for a lot of reasons, Kerry said. I think weve all had enough time to analyze those reasons and understand some of the lessons we need to learn in trying to go forward now.

Still, perhaps keenly aware of the outcomes potential to shape his legacy, Kerry emphasized several times during his visit that he understood the complexities of the conflict, and he cautioned against too much optimism.

The president has not sent me here to propose or impose an American plan or to dictate to anybody the way forward, he said. Ultimately, this negotiation is between the state of Israel and the Palestinian Authority. We are not naive about the challenges before us, but we believe very deeply that it is our duty to give every effort we can.

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John Kerry: Israel, Palestinians to push West Bank economy as step to peace

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Oh, Look: Another Democratic Senator Now Supports Gay Marriage

Posted on April 5, 2013

America has officially become indifferent to Democratic senators declaring support for gay marriage. Today, Bill Nelson of Florida indicated that he’d switched positions. Very few people seemed to care.

RELATED: Battle Over Gay Marriage in Maine Goes Down to the Wire

Nelson made his announcement in a statement given to the editorial board of the Tampa Bay Times. It read, in part:

Thus, to discriminate against one class and not another is wrong for me.

It’s not an insignificant announcement. Nelson becomes the 51st senator to declare his support, meaning that for the first time, same-sex marriage supporters have a majority in the chamber. As the Huffington Post notes, only six Democratic senators have yet to indicate support. Each represents a state that Mitt Romney carried last November.

RELATED: Obama, New York Senate Dodge Decisiveness on Gay Marriage

The map below indicates states in which one or both senators has expressed support for gay marriage. (Darker blue indicates both senators do.)

RELATED: A Breakdown of Gay Marriage Support by Religion

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Granted, the news came out late on a busy afternoon, but it appears to have been met mostly with a shrug. At this point, capitulation on the issue seems all but inevitable, particularly for Democrats. Two days ago, the Washington Post presented a graph showing the exponential growth of support in the Senate. (Since then, two additional senators have flipped.) The natural short-term ceiling for the graph isn’t necessarily 100 senators, but it seems clearly to be 57 every Democrat and independent, and the two Republicans who’ve joined them. Until the graph hits that point, it’s likely that these announcements will be cheered, but quietly. The days when every convert received the equivalent of a social media ticker tape parade are over.

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Kirk becomes second Republican senator to back gay marriage

Posted on April 2, 2013

By Patricia Zengerle

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Senator Mark Kirk announced on Tuesday that he supports gay marriage, suggesting a brush with death had helped shift his attitude as he became the second Republican to join dozens of Democratic senators who back homosexuals’ right to wed.

“When I climbed the Capitol steps in January, I promised myself that I would return to the Senate with an open mind and greater respect for others,” said Kirk, an Illinois senator who returned to the Senate in January almost a year after suffering a major stroke.

“Same-sex couples should have the right to civil marriage,” he said in a statement. “Our time on this Earth is limited, I know that better than most. Life comes down to who you love and who loves you back – government has no place in the middle.”

Public opinion polls show a majority of Americans believe that homosexuals should have the right to wed, and a growing number of politicians are declaring themselves in favor of same-sex marriage rights.

The Supreme Court heard arguments in two major cases on marriage equality last week.

But Republicans, who are generally more socially conservative than Democrats, remain largely opposed.

Ohio Senator Rob Portman became one of the most prominent members of the party to back gay marriage rights when he announced his support in mid-March, two years after his son told him he was gay.

Kirk, who holds the Senate seat once occupied by President Barack Obama, represents a Democratic-leaning state and is considered a fairly moderate Republican. Illinois’ other senator, Democrat Richard Durbin, also supports gay marriage, as do all but seven of the 53 Democrats in the Senate.

Eight Democratic senators have come out in support of gay marriage within the last week.

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Kirk becomes second Republican senator to back gay marriage

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The 7 Senate Democratic Holdouts on Gay Marriage

Posted on April 2, 2013

With thedecision TuesdaybySen. Tom Carper of Delawareto endorse gay marriage, only seven Democratic senators are left who have not publicly announced their support, and there’s good political reason behind their reticence.

With Carper flip-flopping, nearly all of the Democrats who oppose gay marriage are from Republican states, with the exception of Floridas Bill Nelson. Two are up for reelection in 2014, and are unlikely to change their mind before then.

Heres a look at where all of them stand.

Mark Pryor of Arkansas

Why he will flip: He could feel pressure from his own party, especially as his colleagues are quickly flipping on the issue. Will Pryor want to be the last Democrat standing against gay marriage?

Why he won’t flip: Pryor is up for reelection in deeply conservative Arkansas, which went for Mitt Romney over Barack Obama by 23 points in 2012. Pryor is socially conservative and has saidthrough a spokesmanthat he has a moral belief that marriage should be between a man and a woman. Plus, Arkansas is one of 11 states that voted to ban gay marriage. It would be politically risky for Pryor to tack to the left ahead of the election.

Bill Nelson of Florida

Why he will flip: Florida voters are split on the issue, but a majority said gay marriage should be legal. According to aWashington Postpoll from October, 54 percent of the states voters favored legalizing gay marriage. Still a perennial battleground, Florida has voted for Obama in each of the past two presidential elections. Nelson wont be able to hold out against the tide of public opinion much longer.

Why he won’t flip: In a recent interview, Nelson said he personally believes marriage should be between a man and a woman. Despite Floridas battleground status, the Panhandles voters are much more similar to those in the Deep South on social issues. Being one of the last Democrats to change his mind would make it seem more politically craven, rather than out of principle.

(AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

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The 7 Senate Democratic Holdouts on Gay Marriage

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Hasty Embrace for Some Lawmakers on Gay Marriage

Posted on March 30, 2013

As the Supreme Court considered two landmark cases on gay marriage this week, the flood of activity across the street in the Capitol was not lost on Chief Justice John Roberts.

“As far as I can tell, political leaders are falling all over themselves to endorse your side of the case,” Roberts told lawyers urging the court to rule that married gay couples should receive federal benefits.

Roberts was hardly exaggerating. In the span of two weeks, seven senators have announced support for gay marriage, despite representing moderate or Republican-leaning states where such a move long has been considered a major political risk. One by one they fell like dominos, declaring on Facebook or quietly issuing a statement to say that they, too, now support gay marriage.

Taken together, their proclamations reflected a profound change in the American political calculus: For the first time, elected officials from traditionally conservative states are starting to feel it’s safer to back same-sex marriage than to be among the last to join the cause.

For some Democrats, like Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill and Montana Sen. Jon Tester, the reversal would have been almost unfathomable just a few months ago as they fought for re-election. The potential risks were even greater for other Democrats like North Carolina Sen. Kay Hagan and Alaska Sen. Mark Begich, already top GOP targets when they face voters next year in states that President Barack Obama lost in November. It was less than a year ago that voters in Hagan’s state approved a ban on gay marriage.

Those four Democrats and two others Mark Warner of Virginia and Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia were swept up in a shifting tide that began to take shape last year, when Obama, in the heat of his re-election campaign, became the first sitting president to endorse gay marriage. Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, a potential contender in the next presidential election, followed suit in mid-March.

As support among party leaders builds, rank-and-file Democrats appear wary of being perceived as hold-outs in what both parties are increasingly describing as a civil-rights issue.

“They’re reflecting what they’re seeing in the polls except the most extreme of the Republican base,” former New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman, a Republican who supports gay marriage, said in an interview. “From a purely political perspective, if you want to be a leader of the future, you look at the next generation. They are overwhelmingly in favor of this.”

Reince Priebus, the national chairman of the Republican Party, cautioned in a USA Today interview that the GOP should not “act like Old Testament heretics.”

Among Republicans, whose party platform opposes gay marriage, the shift in position has mostly been limited to former lawmakers and prominent strategists. Still, a distinct change in tone was palpable this month when Ohio Sen. Rob Portman, a whom presidential candidate Mitt Romney vetted last year as a potential running mate, declared his support, citing a personal conversion stemming from his son coming out to him as gay.

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Hasty Embrace for Some Lawmakers on Gay Marriage

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How gay marriage ‘s fate was sealed more than 50 years ago

Posted on March 30, 2013

It has to do with the introduction of birth control pills

How will the Supreme Court rule in this week’s gay marriage cases? I have no idea. What I do know is that the outcome almost doesn’t matter. One way or another, gay marriage will be legal throughout the country before long.

That’s not the riskiest prediction. Plenty of pundits have said the same thing based on the stunningly rapid shift of public opinion on the issue. But public opinion can be fickle. How do we know that current trends will continue and that a backlash against gay marriage isn’t right around the corner? Because even the best arguments employed by its smartest opponents are utterly unconvincing.

SEE MORE: 9 negative effects divorce reportedly has on children

To be clear, I’m not talking about the explicitly religious case against gay marriage. Arguments based on orthodox Catholic, evangelical Protestant, Orthodox Jewish, or Mormon premises premises grounded in the revelations, scriptures, and traditions of particular faith communities are often perfectly valid. It’s just that our constitutional order doesn’t rest on those premises, and members of those communities lack the numbers to impose their views on the country as a whole through majority vote.

What I mean are the arguments advanced by those opponents of gay marriage who claim to have reason on their side who wish to persuade citizens of goodwill regardless of their religious commitments (or lack of commitments). Foremost among these opponents is Robert P. George of Princeton University, lead author of an amicus brief filed with the Supreme Court. No critic of gay marriage has gone further in claiming that reason alone can tell us to reject gay marriage and no critic has done more to demonstrate (inadvertently) how deeply confused the case against gay marriage really is.

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George and his co-authors Sherif Girgis and Ryan T. Anderson make the following argument: “Our civilization” has univocally defined marriage as a “conjugal union” between one man and one woman that is, a union between two people that is oriented to the goal of producing children. Whether or not a particular male-female couple can produce a child is irrelevant. In cases of infertility due to medical defect or advanced age on the part of one or both members of the marriage, the union falls short of reaching its goal but remains oriented to that goal nonetheless. (The union would produce a child if the bodies of both members were functioning as they should.)

Advocates of gay marriage, by contrast, seek to promulgate an alternative a “revisionist” definition of marriage, one based not on producing children but on “emotional fulfillment, without any inherent connections to bodily union or procreation and family life.” (“Inherent” does a lot of work in that sentence, since gay couples can and do adopt children and devote themselves to family life. But because such couples can’t produce the children themselves, their union remains, by George’s definition, a non-procreative partnership.) This revisionist, non-procreative form of marriage would detach the institution from ideals of “permanence and exclusivity” that flow from child-rearing. That is, once couples cease viewing their union as oriented to the goal of producing children, divorce and infidelity will become commonplace. And since society has a stake in encouraging stable families, advocates of gay marriage must not be allowed to prevail.

SEE MORE: Bully pulpit: Can Obama save gun legislation?

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How gay marriage ‘s fate was sealed more than 50 years ago

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BBC NEWS – Obama tours symbolic sites in Israel and West Bank – Video

Posted on March 28, 2013



BBC NEWS – Obama tours symbolic sites in Israel and West Bank

By: packagenews

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Calif. Gay Marriage Argument at High Court Tuesday

Posted on March 27, 2013

The Supreme Court is wading into the fight over same-sex marriage at a time when public opinion is shifting rapidly in favor of permitting gay and lesbian couples to wed, but 40 states don’t allow it.

The court’s first major examination of gay rights in 10 years begins Tuesday with a hearing on California’s ban on same-sex marriage. On Wednesday, the justices will consider the federal law that prevents legally married gay couples from receiving a range of benefits afforded straight married Americans.

Actor-director Rob Reiner, who helped lead the fight against California’s Proposition 8, was at the head of line Tuesday morning. Some people waited since Thursday even through light snow for coveted seats for the argument.

Both sides of the case were represented outside the courthouse. Supporters of gay marriage came with homemade signs including ones that read “a more perfect union” and “love is love.”

Among the opponents was retired metal worker Mike Krzywonos, 57, of Pawtucket, R.I. He wore a button that read “marriage 1 man + 1 woman” and said his group represents the “silent majority.”

The two California couples challenging the voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage in the nation’s largest state also are at the court for the argument and are urging the justices to strike down not just the California provision, but constitutional amendments and statutes in every state that define marriage as the union of a man and a woman.

They envision the 21st century equivalent of the court’s 1967 decision in Loving v. Virginia that struck down state bans on interracial marriages.

The Obama administration has weighed in on behalf of the challengers, following President Barack Obama’s declaration of support for same-sex marriage last year and his invocation of gay rights at his inauguration in January.

Supporters of Proposition 8 say the court should respect the verdict of California voters who approved the ban in 2008 and let the fast-changing politics of gay marriage evolve on their own, through ballot measures and legislative action, not judicial decrees.

Same-sex marriage is legal in nine states and the District of Columbia. The states are Connecticut, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Vermont and Washington.

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Calif. Gay Marriage Argument at High Court Tuesday

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