Daily Threat Assessment
The good, the bad, and the scary
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AGAINST US
Father Muammar: Emancipator of Women
Muammar al-Qaddafi may have lost the loyalty of half his country, including a number of top generals, but the Libyan dictator can still count on support from women professionals, AP reports. Women make up about a quarter of Libya's labor force – a low number by Western standards, but among the highest in the Arab world. Many have risen to high-profile positions in the police, military and government, and credit Qaddafi with giving them opportunities – opportunities that might not survive his ouster. "This is all because of Father Muammar," says Ibtisam Saadeddin, a 35-year-old soldier. "He is our air and sustenance. We can't be without him." [AP, 6/8/11]
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AGAINST US
Chinese Soup Habit Wiping Out Sharks
Demand for shark fin soup from China's growing middle class could be the No. 1 threat to sharks worldwide, a new book claims. Chinese demand is so high that 73 million sharks are killed each year to supply the market, even as the soup goes out of style in other places, like Hong Kong. The weirdest/saddest part: the fins themselves are flavorless; having one in your soup is purely a status symbol. [Washington Post via Treehugger, 6/7/11]
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Hitler's First Anti-Semitic Writing Revealed
The original copy of Adolf Hitler's first known anti-Semitic screed was unveiled today in New York City. Known as the "Gemlich Letter" (for the name of the man it was sent to in 1919), the was obtained from a dealer for $150,000 by the Simon Wiesenthal Center. The letter features such lines as: "This thinking and striving after money and power, and the feelings that go along with it, serve the purposes of the Jew." It will be on permanent display at the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles at the entrance to the Holocaust section, opening on July 11, 2011." [NPR]
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The (possibly) hassle-free future of air travel
Behold the airport "Checkpoint of the Future," complete with eye scanners and security tunnels that can scan shoes and carry-on luggage, doing away with the need for all that stripping, unpacking, waiting, and of course groping. "Passengers should be able to get from curb to boarding gate with dignity," said a rep of the International Air Transport Association in Singapore, where this futuristic mock-up was unveiled. [AP]
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Margaret Thatcher Snubs Sarah Palin
Sarah Palin recently told a British journalist she hoped to meet former British prime minister and Ronald Reagan buddy Margaret Thatcher this summer on a stopover in London. "I so admire her," she said. Doesn't look like the meeting's going to happen, though. As a close Thatcher ally told the Guardian, "Lady Thatcher will not be seeing Sarah Palin. That would be belittling for Margaret. Sarah Palin is nuts." [Guardian]
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Frog skin as cancer treatment
Scientists from Northern Ireland have won an award for work on frog and toad skins which could lead to treatments for over 70 major diseases. They discovered that a protein from the waxy monkey frog can inhibit the growth of blood vessels and could be used to kill cancer tumors. Said the lead researcher on the project, "This has the potential to transform cancer from a terminal illness into a chronic condition." [BBC]
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Hookah lounges on the defense
Hookah lounges, popular across the country, are under pressure from lawmakers and health advocates alike. State legislators are seeking to amend cigarette control laws with provisions that limit the use of the water pipes in public spaces and homes alike. A bill proposed in Connecticut would prevent any hookah lounge from opening after July 1, and would force all existing ones to close by July 2013. Gayle Slossberg, the state senator who proposed the bill, seems to specifically targeting teenagers: "They think that because it is smoking over water it is somehow just not going to harm them in anyway, she said."[BBC]
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Pot superstore opens in Arizona
Pot impresario Dhar Mann just opened a medical marijuana emporium, his third, in Phoenix, Arizona. At 21,000 square feet, the weGrow store carries hydroponic supplies and growing equipment and features a clinic where licensed patients can get marijuana recommendations after seeing a doctor. "Arizona is a state where there's high demand and very little information," said Mann. "Now it's more about serving the patients so they can grow their own medicine." [AZ Central]
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Soldier fought off 30 Taliban attackers on his own
Nepalese-British soldier Dipprasad Pun managed to fend off 30 Taliban attackers in a remote Afghanistan village – by himself. All it took was 400 machine gun rounds, 17 grenades and a landmine. Pun, a member of the British Royal Ghurka Rifles, received Britain's Conspicuous Gallantry Cross last week for his 2010 feat. [The Atlantic, 6/2/11]
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Dispersants only worsen spills
The dispersants used to clean the waters of the Gulf after the BP oil spill may have only made things worse, causing serious harm to plant and animal life, say two new studies. This despite the fact that BP called one of the agents, Corexit, "one of the most well-studied dispersants" and noted its safety and biodegradability, leading one researcher, Susan Laramore, to observe: "These results are backwards of what the oil companies are reporting." [ThinkProgress Green, 6/2/11]
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Al Qaeda plotters targeted wrong company
David Coleman Headly, one of the men allegedly responsible for the 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai, provided a striking tidbit while taking the stand on terrorism charges in Chicago last week. Headly testified that he had been instructed by (recently killed) Al Qaeda commander Ilyas Kashmiri to research U.S. weapons maker Lockheed Martin with a view to attacking it. Lockheed had landed on the Qaeda hit list for building the unmanned aerial drones used to devastating effect against Qaeda in Pakistan. But, as Headly found after some cursory Googling, Lockheed doesn't actually produce drones; another company, General Atomics Aeronautical, does. In the event, neither company was attacked. [Wired, 6/2/11]
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Big coal in the classroom
The energy industry is spending big to shape education in communities with oil, gas, and coal exploration projects, reports The Washington Post. All over the country, groups are shelling out grants and supplying curriculum materials that talk up Big Coal, Gas, and Oil's contributions to local economies and rebut criticism from environmental groups. "Where there’s coal, there’s opportunity," a Virginia teacher, reading from a coal industry script, is quoted as telling her class. The "increasingly cozy relationship" between industry groups and public schools is something we should be worried about, say critics. "We’re talking about catering our public school curriculum to those who can pay for it," says an education activist. [Washington Post, 6/2/11]
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In-flight kerfuffle causes jets to scramble
A fight broke out the other day on a Washington-to-Ghana flight just after takeoff, when a passenger reclined his seat a little too far and got a whack in the head from the guy behind him. Flight attendants and other passengers tried to intervene, the pilot turned the plane to Dulles Airport and Air Force fighters scrambled from Andrews Air Force Base. (In a few cases since 9/11, "disturbances have revealed terrorist attempts to ignite explosives hidden in shoes and underwear," notes one report.) No arrests were made, and the flight took off the following day. No word on whether the two guys were onboard. [Washington Post]
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Japan gets "super cool"
To cope with a potentially limited supply of electricity this summer, the Japanese government has asked companies to cut their usage and set their room temperatures to 82 degrees. However, officials have also set out to revive a stuffy corporate culture in the process; their "Super Cool Biz" campaign encourages Japanese workers to wear more casual, summer-approrpriate outfits to deal with the heat. Sneakers, jeans and sandals are now acceptable, as is carrying a fan to work. "This is not just a temporary measure to survive this summer," said Ryu Matsumoto, Japan's environment minister. "This is going to be a big event to change the way of life in Japan and people's lifestyles." [AP]
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AGAINST US
Afghan judge whips man in courtroom – for drinking
The BBC has uncovered a video of a man being publicly whipped by a judge as a punishment for drinking alcohol. The punishment, which is legal, albeit rare, in Afghanistan, was carried out in a courtroom in the eastern city of Jalalabad. Correspondents say that most punishments of this type are meted out by the Taliban. [BBC]
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Hotel maids to be armed with panic buttons
Following the sexual assault charges against IMF's Dominique Strauss-Kahn and two other alleged attacks on hotel maids, two luxury New York hotels will equip in-house staff with "panic buttons." The Pierre and the Sofitel hotels will hand out the devices, modeled after medical alert buttons for the elderly, allowing housekeeping staff to quickly alert hotel security. "Let everybody in the world traveling to New York know that when they stay in a hotel room, the person cleaning that room is armed with a button that they can immediately press if you're stupid enough to get inappropriate," said Peter Ward, president of the New York Hotel & Motel Trades Council. [WSJ]
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AGAINST US
Food prices on the rise
Food prices are set to double in the next 20 years, as demand outstrips the world's capacity to step up production, according to a report from Oxfam. "We have entered an age of growing crisis, of shock piled upon shock," the report says, citing "vertiginous food price spikes and oil price hikes, devastating weather events, financial meltdowns and global contagion." [Reuters via Scientific American]
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Kansas slashes arts funding
Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback cut funding for the state's arts programs this weekend, approving a $13.8 billion budget but slashing the $689,000 Kansas Art Commission allotment. "In difficult fiscal times such as these, the state must prioritize how to spend its limited resources and focus its attention on providing core services," said Brownback. "The arts will continue to thrive in Kansas when funded by private donations." Arts advocates note that getting rid of the Commission's funding may cost the state a hefty $1.2 million in federal funds. [Business Week]
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Obama's Limousine Liberals
During the first two years of Obama's presidency, the number of limousines owned by the U.S. government increased by 73 percent, according to research done by the Center for Public Integrity. Government officials said that the spike was indicative of the need to keep diplomats and lawmakers safe, but critics railed against the apparent hypocrisy: expanding a fleet of limousines during a budget crisis and a push for fuel efficiency? Really? [Center for Public Integrity]
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Elephants to the rescue in Joplin, Mo.
Much-needed assistance in tornado-ravaged Joplin, Missouri has come from an unlikely source: circus elephants. The Picadilly Circus was slated to perform in Joplin but was forced to cancel in the wake of the disaster. The show's elephants didn't get the day off, however: they instead cleared heavy debris, like totaled cars, from the wreckage. [Atlantic Wire]
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AGAINST US
Egyptian "virginity checks" revealed
An Egyptian army general recently told CNN that eighteen female democracy protesters were taken into military custody and "beaten, given electric shocks, subjected to strip searches while being photographed by male soldiers, then forced to submit to 'virginity checks' and threatened with prostitution charges." The Egyptian general defends the practice, claiming that the checks were performed "so that the women wouldn't later claim they had been raped by Egyptian authorities." [CNN]
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Cell Phones 'Possibly' Cause Cancer
Cell phones are "possibly carcinogenic to humans," an expert panel convened by the World Health Organization announced after finding limited evidence cellphone use was linked to two types of brain tumors. Cell phones now fall into the same category as DDT and gasoline engine exhaust in terms of risk. Classifying something as "possibly carcinogenic" doesn't mean it automatically causes cancer and some experts said the ruling shouldn't change the way people use their cellphones, although others recommend people use a headset or earpiece. Since it's virtually impossible for experts to compare cellphone users who develop brain tumors with people who don't use them – the number of cellphone users hit 5 billion last year – "possibly" is likely as definitive as we'll get, at least for a while. [AP]
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Scannable Gravestones Bring Dead to Life
Seattle-based company Quiring Monuments has begun to create burial markers and gravestones that include QR codes – digital barcodes that, when scanned by a smartphone, bring up information, stories and even pictures of the deceased. Dave Quiring, head of Quiring Monuments, hopes to have QR codes affixed to every grave, so that "you could make a tour through [the cemetery] and it would be more than just a bunch of white monuments." He says, "It would be distinct lives of people who really deserve to have their story told." [NPR]
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Hack My Ride
Hackers can use a car's Bluetooth and cell connections to co-opt the vehicle's computer system, unlocking a car's doors, turning on its engine and perhaps even driving it remotely, according to new research. While many car companies claim that their in-car networks are safe, the research "shows the need for security measures in vehicular onboard networks." [Scientific American]
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Kamikaze Seniors Offer Help at Nuke Plant
A group of 200-plus Japanese seniors has volunteered to help out in place of their younger counterparts at the crippled, radioactive Fukushima nuclear plant. The so-called Skilled Veterans Corps, made up of retired engineers and other professionals, all over the age of 60 and led by 72-year-old Yasuteru Yamada, has been petitioning the government for access to the power station. Yamada has been getting in touch with old friends via email and Twitter to recruit them to the effort. "Even if I were exposed to radiation, cancer could take 20 or 30 years to develop," he says. "I am 72 and on average I probably have 13 to 15 years left to live …. Therefore us older ones have less chance of getting cancer." [BBC]
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Arizona to Penalize Obese and Smokers
Like a lot of states, Arizona is struggling to cover Medicaid costs; but it has hit upon a particularly harsh way to scrounge up more money: via a $50 fee on Medicaid patients who are obese or who smoke. "There's plenty of evidence and studies that show there is an undeniable link between smoking and obesity and health care costs," says a spokeswoman for Arizona's Medicaid program. "Some people have suggested [the program] is discriminating against obese people. To me, it is a matter of fairness." [NYT]
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Singing Teacher Calms Students As Bullets Fly
Mexican kindergarten teacher Martha Riviera was quick to calm her students as a firefight began outside the classroom. Drug-related violence in the northern town of Monterrey isn't uncommon, but the four-year-olds were understandably terrified by the gunfire. Riviera got the students to lay on the floor and led them in singing songs until the shooting stopped. Five people were killed in the shoot-out. Thankfully, no students were injured. [BBC]
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Americans Hurting for Bucks
Hard times: nearly half of Americans would be unable to come up with $2,000 for "an unexpected expense in the next month," according to new numbers. 28 percent of respondents said they wouldn't be able to cope with a financial emergency, and a full quarter that they'd resort to "extreme measures" to money in such a case. [The Atlantic Wire]
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Apocalypse Rescheduled
Radio preacher Harold Camping, who wrongly predicted the end of the world for May 21, is now insisting it's in the cards for October. Camping spent the weekend holed up in a hotel to avoid an onslaught of reporters, but has emerged to discuss his apparent miscalculation. "I can tell you when 21 May came and went it was a very difficult time for me – a very difficult time," he said. "What in the world was happening. I really was praying and praying: 'Lord, what happened?'" [Guardian]
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12-Ton Cocaine Shipment Seized
Drug-sniffing dogs found more than 12 tons of cocaine hidden on a ship en route from Colombia to Mexico. The drugs were quite creatively hidden in a shipment of brown sugar. In a related arrest, Colombian police also nabbed a Mexican man who flew into the country with $2.8 million in his carry-on luggage. [BBC]
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Violent Crime Way Down, Nobody Knows Why
Violent crime in the U.S. dropped to the lowest rate in 40 years, reports the FBI. Criminology experts are baffled by the news, since crime is generally tipped to rise during a recession. The number of violent crimes fell by 5.5 percent, and murder fell 4.4 percent, on par with the previous year's drop. A top criminologist, calling the decline "remarkable," told the Times: "Given the fact that we have had some healthy declines in recent years, I fully expected that the improvement would slow," he said. "There is only so much air you can squeeze out of a balloon." [NYT]
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McDonald's to continue peddling to kids
McDonald's CEO Jim skinner defended the company's kid-focused marketing, saying that responsibility falls to parents when it comes to what children eat. Skinner was responding to an ad campaign by Corporate Accountability International, which called for McDonald's to stop using Ronald McDonald to market to kids. Skinner said that "this is about choice" and added that "Ronald McDonald an ambassador to McDonald's, and he is an ambassador for good …. Ronald McDonald isn't going anywhere." [CTNow]
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U.S Actually Making Stuff Again
Recent reports indicate that manufacturing growth will outpace that of the overall economy, and will boast a hiring increase of approximately 288,000 jobs this year alone. "The economy is continuing to grow at a moderate pace with consumer durable goods, business equipment, and exports leading the way," said economist Daniel J. Meckstroth. Also, the manufacturing deficit is decreasing – it's currently half as large a portion of GDP as it was at the height of the housing bubble. [SDCEXEC] [NYT]
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YouTube driving video lands Saudi woman in jail
Manal al-Sherif, a Saudi woman tired of the kingdom's longtime ban on female drivers, posted a video of herself driving in Khobar. She created a Facebook campaign to accompany the video, and supporters had set June 17 as the date for Saudi women to get behind the wheel. Saudi authorities have charged al-Sherif with "violating public order" and "inciting public opinion," and jailed her while the case is investigated; she was briefly released on Sunday after signing a pledge not to drive. Al-Sherif's brother, who appeared in the car with her, was also detained by police for his role in the video. [AP]
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Apocalypse Not Now
Many of Apocalypse-predicting Harold Camping's followers, still reeling from the world's failure to end, now have to deal with growing debt and contemptuous family members. Consider Keith Bauer; given his "maxed-out credit cards and a growing mountain of bills," the LA Times reports, "the Rapture would have been a relief." Or retired transportation worker Robert Fitzpatrick, who spent over $140,000 of his savings on Rapture-related subway posters and outdoor advertisements. "I do not understand why nothing has happened." [Atlantic Wire]
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Science on the Mic
What better way to teach about hydraulic fracturing than through a viral YouTube track? That's the logic of a joint NYU/ProPublica project that brings us "My Water's on Fire Tonight (The Fracking Song)" a music video mashup mixing rap with, yes, complicated science. [HCN.org]
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The dark read: Dick Cheney’s new memoir
Dick Cheney's memoir, In My Time, will drop in August. Co-written with daughter Liz, the book will be "very straightforward," she said, with "very strong views and … very clear perspective." "There's a whole range of interesting stories that haven't been talked about," she told reporters. [POLITICO]
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Gingrich Gets Glitter-Bombed
Political prankster and gay marriage activist Robert Erickson became instantly immortal by dumping a box of glitter on delusional presidential candidate Newt Gingrich and his wife at a Minneapolis book store, while chanting: "Feel the rainbow! Stop the hate!" The Gingriches were in town for a get-together with the Minnesota Family Council, a conservative marriage group. [AP]
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Citigroup Chief Rakes in $23.4m bonus
CitiGroup honcho Vikram Pandit has been awarded $23.4 in potential bonus stock, according to a regulatory filing on Wednesday. The bonus comes in the form of deferred stock, which will come in three installments between 2013 and 2015, so long as the Citigroup board finds he has met "performance objectives." [AP]
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Blathergate: Secret Service Tweets Fox News Diss
Yesterday, a Secret Service employee indiscreetly tweeted from the agency's official account: "Had to monitor Fox for a story. Can't. Deal. With. The. Blathering." Though the tweet was quickly deleted, liberal media outlets quickly grabbed screen shots of the offending message. The Secret Service promptly apologized, but that didn't spoil the fun. [POLITICO]
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AGAINST US
MUSLIMS KICKED OFF FLIGHT TO TOLERANCE CONFERENCE
Two men clad in traditional Islamic clothing were recently kicked off an Atlantic Southeast Airlines flight because their attire was making passengers, you know, uncomfortable. Despite having cleared TSA checkpoints at Memphis International Airport, Masudur Rahman and Mohamed Zaghloul were removed from the plane and re-screened, only to still be kept off the flight. They were headed to North Carolina for a conference about Islamophobia. [CNN]
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FLA DOCTORS CAN'T ASK ABOUT GUNS
Florida is now the first state in the nation to have a law barring doctors from asking patients if they own guns. The law is targeted at pediatricians who provide what is called "anticipatory guidance"– asking new parents if they have guns at home and helping them to guard against accidental injuries. Opponents of the new law say doctors ask about guns in order to keep children safe, but NRA lobbyist Marion Hamer retorts, "We take our children to pediatricians for medical care – not moral judgment, not privacy intrusions." [NPR]
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THE DONALD DOWNTURN
Last month, Trump led the Republican field with 26 percent of the vote. Then President Obama dispatched birtherism (courtesy of his long-form birth certificate) and Osama bin Laden (courtesy of a bullet). Donald now languishes in fifth place, with 8 percent.
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OH, THE MONEY YOU'LL OWE!
The average college senior is graduating with $22,900 of debt, an all-time high . Accounting for inflation, the figure is 47 percent higher than students' debt a decade ago. The job market won't help much: researchers say first-year post-graduate salaries average around $36,866 (down from $46,500 in 2009).
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THE DRIVER OF THE BUS SAYS 'DROP THE GUN'
"I was driving the bus approaching one of the student's stops when he stood and approached me with a gun in his hand," said North Carolina school bus driver Evans Okoduwa. By calmly speaking with the seventh-grade boy, the Okoduwa was able to convince him to hand over the gun. Witnesses say the student wanted to drive to D.C. to shoot government officials; local police wouldn't comment. [ABC News]
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TALIBAN PULLS OFF HUGE JAILBREAK
In a ballsy operation, the Taliban tunneled into a jail in Kandahar, Afghanistan and sprang 600 prisoners. The U.S. fears many escapees will join (or rejoin) the fight against American troops. "We have a major situation on our hands," a U.S. soldier said. "Basically there's an order out to arrest anyone walking around barefoot in Kandahar City." [TIME]
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"Don't Say Gay" Bill Advances in TN
A committee in the Tennessee State Senate has okayed a bill that, if passed, would ban elementary and middle teachers from discussing homosexuality at school. Dubbed the "don't say gay" bill, the legislation would ban teachers from any instruction that discusses sexual orientation other than heterosexuality. Gay-rights activists understandably say the bill is discriminatory, not least because it bars teachers from talking about gay issues or sexuality even with students who identify as gay or have gay parents. Next up: a full vote in the state's full (Republican-controlled) senate.
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Law Firm Backs Out of Defending DOMA
The Atlanta law firm King & Spalding on Monday withdrew from defending the Defense of Marriage Act on behalf of Republican House leaders. The law firm had gotten heat from gay rights groups when partner Paul Clement — a former U.S. solicitor general for President George W. Bush — agreed to fight for the law, which the Obama administration has said it will no longer back in court. (Clement promptly quit the firm, vowing to keep up the DOMA fight.)
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Raging Bull Takes on The Donald
Robert DeNiro hit out at playing-it-coy presidential candidate Donald Trump during an interview at the Tribeca Film Festival on Saturday. "It's like a big hustle," he said of Trump's recent birther ravings. "It's like being a car salesman. Don't go out there and say things unless you can back them up. How dare you? It's awful … crazy." Trump fired back Monday morning on Fox News, saying, “Well, he’s not the brightest bulb on the planet."
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Gay Republican Presidential Hopeful Invited to Debate
Gay rights activist and Republican presidential candidate Fred Karger has been invited to the first GOP primary debate, in South Carolina in May. The openly-gay Karger has to pay a $35,000 filing fee to the state party and average at least 1 percentage point in five national polls leading up to the debate. The first requirement, he's got covered; the second might be a stretch. Karger has said he'd consider his campaign a success if he got into a debate. (More)