News of Note

Santorum backs nullifying existing gay marriages

(También en Español) News of Note: Santorum backs nullifying existing gay marriages There are 18,000 married gay and lesbian couples in California and at least 131,000 nationwide according to the 2010 census, conducted before New York state legalized same-sex marriage in July. Rick Santorum says he'll try to unmarry all of them if he's elected president He would "unmarry" all same-sex marriages? Instead of listing reasons why gay marriage is a good thing and why it should have nothing to do with politics, I'd rather emphasize how terrible Rick Santorum is. I would normally disregard his comments as impossible or beneath ...

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in Key Issues / News of Note  by Jack Diehl 0 comments

25 Anonymous Arrested, Infiltrated, and the Fallout

(También en Español) News of Note: "Interpol: Suspected Anonymous Hackers Arrested" "February 28, 2012 Interpol said Tuesday that 25 suspected members of the loose-knit Anonymous hacker movement have been arrested in a sweep across Europe and South America. The international police agency said in a statement that the arrests in Argentina, Chile, Colombia and Spain were carried out by national law enforcement officers working under the support of Interpol's Latin American Working Group of Experts on Information Technology Crime. The suspects, aged between 17 and 40, are suspected of planning coordinated cyberattacks against institutions including Colombia's defense ministry and presidential websites, Chile's ...

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in News of Note  by Jack Diehl 0 comments

Wikileaks Releasing 5+ Million Emails From Intelligence Company Stratfor

(También en Español) On Monday Wikileaks began releasing the beginning of over 5 million emails taken from the Global Intelligence Company Stratfor. The information is believed to have been given to Wikileaks by Anonymous, who hacked Stratfor's servers in December 2011. According to Wikileaks: On Monday February 27th, 2012, WikiLeaks began publishing The Global Intelligence Files, over five million e-mails from the Texas headquartered "global intelligence" company Stratfor. The e-mails date between July 2004 and late December 2011. They reveal the inner workings of a company that fronts as an intelligence publisher, but provides confidential intelligence services ...

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in News of Note  by Jack Diehl 0 comments

Lesbian Judge No Longer Marrying Straight Couples

(También en Español) News of Note: Gay Texas judge won't marry straight couples Tonya Parker, an African-American lesbian judge in Texas, refuses to marry straight couples until everyone in the state has the right to marry. Turning away would-be newlyweds is "my opportunity to give them a lesson about marriage inequality in this state," Parker told a meeting of the Stonewall Democrats of Dallas earlier this week. She said it's "oxymoronic" for her to perform a ceremony that can't be performed for her. Instead, she refers couples to other judges in the courthouse with an explanation along the lines of "I'm sorry. ...

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in News of Note  by Jack Diehl 0 comments

Most single Christians are having sex

(También en Español) News of note: A recent study reveals most single Christians are having sex. We undress why. Dr. Jenell Williams Paris, an anthropologist and the author of The End of Sexual Identity: Why Sex Is Too Important to Define Who We Are, says the high rates of premarital sex are a call to the Church to live in reality. “We need to talk to people as they really live in the world they really live in,” Paris says. “If rates of premarital sex are really that high, but we continue to talk as if the vast majority of ...

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in News of Note  by Jack Diehl 0 comments

New Hampshire Lawmaker Urges Married Couples To Practice Abstinence

(También en Español) News of Note: New Hampshire Lawmaker Urges Married Couples To Practice Abstinence A New Hampshire lawmaker with a history of surprising statements suggested on Thursday that married couples who want to use contraception should practice abstinence instead of using birth control pills State Rep. Lynne Blankenbeker (R-Concord) made the claim -- noting that abstinence is available "over the counter" along with condoms -- during a legislative committee hearing on a resolution urging the Obama administration to drop the birth control requirement for religious organizations. Blankenbeker was trying to explain her position on why the administration's requirement to ...

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in News of Note  by Jack Diehl 0 comments

Occupy Joins the Fight Against Private Prisons

(También en Español) News of Note: Occupy Joins the Fight Against Private Prisons "Yango, a middle-aged African-American DC native active in both Occupy DC and the prison divestment movement, spent over a decade in Rivers Correctional Facility, a private prison located in Winton, North Carolina, 251 miles outside DC.... "Yango described his time there as "a horror story" marked by inedible sludge and negligent medical treatment, although he emphasized that the worst aspect was, "There are no programs for men who are housed there which means that when a guy comes out of Rivers, he is not prepared to come back ...

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in News of Note  by Jack Diehl 0 comments

“Whistleblower Improvement Act of 2011” does the exact opposite

(También en Español) H.R. 2483: "Whistleblower Improvement Act of 2011" introduced in July amends the  Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the Commodity Exchange Act to require a whistleblower employee to first report information relating to misconduct to his or her employer. It prohibits any award unless this is first step is taken unless the company lacks whistleblower protections or a anonymous reporting system, and permits the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) to make awards discretionary rather than mandatory. Further, it requires the SEC to notify the pertinent entity before beginning any enforcement when possible, and allows for an impact ...

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in News of Note  by Jack Diehl 0 comments

Romney, Santorum, and Gingrich All Promise To Ban Porn

(También en Español) News of Note: Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, and Newt Gingrich All Promise To Ban Porn The top three Republican presidential candidates pledged a war on porn today which means that they have promised more action to ban porn than to create jobs. The conservative group Morality In Media is head over heels today after all three top Republican candidates promised to go war against the distribution of porn. In a written statement, Rick Santorum said, “Federal obscenity laws should be vigorously enforced. If elected President, I will appoint an Attorney General who will do so.” Not to ...

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in Key Issues / News of Note  by Jack Diehl 0 comments

Russian cities introduce baby ‘drop boxes’ to stop unwanted children being left in bins

(También en Español) News of Note: Russian cities introduce baby 'drop boxes' to stop unwanted children being left in bins Anonymous baby drop boxes have been introduced for the first time in Russia. The Krasnodar Territory in south Russia bought five of the so-called baby drop boxes in the beginning of November so mothers could drop off unwanted children anonymously. The first three were installed in Sochi, Novorossiysk, and Armavir, and by the end of the month one child had already been left. The move was aimed at providing sanitary conditions for unwanted children, instead of 'having them left in garbage ...

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in Global Sexual Freedom Watch / Key Issues / News of Note  by Jack Diehl 0 comments