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via Steve Kornacki, Salon Mitt Romney has gotten to be pretty good at playing dumb, and he showed it Sunday morning. The setting was the fifteenth Republican presidential debate, the final such event before Tuesday’s Republican presidential primary. One of the most baffling features of the previous debates — including the one held just ten hours before … Continue reading
via Erin Sherbert, The Snitch What some healthy and spry Occupy Movements across the nation couldn’t quite accomplish, San Francisco geriatrics have! KCBS reports that a small group of senior citizens between the ages of 69 and 82 successfully shut down a Bank of America in Bernal Heights on Thursday with nothing more than walkers … Continue reading
via Jennifer Bendery and Zach Carter, The Huffington Post In a move that next to nobody in the White House saw coming, President Barack Obama announced Monday that William Daley is resigning as his chief of staff and being replaced by budget director Jacob Lew. “Last week, my chief of staff Bill Daley informed me … Continue reading
via Maggie Haberman, Politico If it’s Sunday, it’s meet the candidates. In a debate moderated by “Meet the Press” host David Gregory, the six remaining major GOP presidential hopefuls took the stage for the second time in 12 hours — and this one was a far livelier and entertaining debate than the forum the night … Continue reading
via Amanda Lee Myers, AP, The Washington Post Bells rang out across Tucson on Sunday to mark exactly one year since a bloody morning when a gunman’s deadly rampage shook a community and shocked a nation. It’s been a year of reflecting on lives shattered, of struggling with flashbacks and nightmares, of replaying the what-ifs … Continue reading
via Brenna Cammeron, The Huffington Post We’ve seen plenty of weird crime mugshots and heard plenty of bizarre stories. But when it comes to criminal names, this one is … a mouthful. Beezow Doo-Doo Zopittybop-Bop-Bop, 30, was arrested Thursday afternoon on charges of carrying a concealed weapon, possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of marijuana and … Continue reading
via Christopher Helman, Forbes Showing that it isn’t worried about the upswell of angst over hydraulic fracking technology, the Chinese government, through state-controlled Sinopec, today struck a deal with Devon Energy to buy into five prospective new exploration areas in the U.S. The deal, which includes $900 million in cash upfront and a promise of … Continue reading
via Diane Anderson-Minshall, The Advocate Gay travelers just got another reason to head to the Caribbean. According to Fox News Latino, Cancun, Cozumel, and other resort areas in the Mexican Caribbean will soon allow same-sex couples to legally marry, thanks largely to a recently discovered quirk in the local civil code. The area is already … Continue reading
via Sarah Wheaton, The New York Times On the morning before Iowa’s first-in-the-nation caucuses, Representative Michele Bachmann of Minnesota said she was counting on a “miracle” to resurrect her faltering campaign. On the morning after, she acknowledged that it was beyond saving. Mrs. Bachmann said on Wednesday morning that she would not continue her campaign … Continue reading
via Michael D. Shear, The New York Times It was, perhaps, the closest finish ever between two candidates in a presidential caucus. At just before 3 a.m. Eastern time on Wednesday, the chairman of the Iowa Republican Party went on television to announce the official result: Mitt Romney had beaten Rick Santorum by eight votes … Continue reading
via Christina Boyle, NY Daily News Same-sex pairs in Hawaii and Delaware began the new year as officially recognized couples as historic laws allowing civil unions in the two states took effect. The long-awaited moment brings the number of states that grant civil unions or marriages to gay and lesbian couples to 11, in addition … Continue reading
via Laura Bassett, The Huffington Post In the competition for the toughest anti-abortion stance in Iowa, GOP candidates this week have adopted more extreme positions on abortion than they have previously ever held. But their shift toward extremity for the sake of Iowa’s evangelical base could come back to haunt the eventual nominee in the … Continue reading
via Jonathan Turley, The Guardian President Barack Obama rang in the New Year by signing the NDAA law with its provision allowing him to indefinitely detain citizens. It was a symbolic moment, to say the least. With Americans distracted with drinking and celebrating, Obama signed one of the greatest rollbacks of civil liberties in the … Continue reading
via Associated Press, WBEZ Got a new computer for Christmas? Finally replaced that old cell phone? Ready to toss the fax machine? Don’t plan on throwing old electronics in the trash or setting them out on the curb. Starting Jan. 1, Illinois residents must recycle them under a law aimed at keeping the gadgets — and … Continue reading
The Brandt Standard will return Monday, January 2, 2012. Happy New Year, from your Editress-in-Chief.
via Rachel Leven, The Hill Donald Trump changed his voter registration Thursday to Independent, his special counsel confirmed to The Hill. “[Trump registered] in order to preserve his right to run as an Independent after the finale of ‘The Apprentice’ in May, if he is not satisfied with whom the candidate is,” Michael Cohen told … Continue reading
via Jennifer Lind, Foreign Affairs Pity Kim Jong Un. In one day, he lost his father and inherited the worst job in the world. Yes, pity is far more appropriately bestowed on the millions of victims of his scurrilous family (think just of the one to two million North Koreans who perished during the famine … Continue reading
via Kate Sosin, Windy City Times In a move shocking LGBT rights groups in Illinois, Springfield’s city government has voted not to extend health benefits to civil union spouses. The Joint Labor/Management Health Care Committee, a Springfield committee comprised of staffers from various city positions as well as retirees, voted to keep its current eligibility … Continue reading
via Chicago Tribune Organizers with Chicago’s annual gay pride parade have agreed to a later start time after one of Chicago’s oldest Roman Catholic churches objected to a newly-proposed route they claimed would block access to Sunday Masses. Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church leaders said the new route — which would go by the … Continue reading
via Malcolm Ritter, AP Scientists have found two Earth-sized planets orbiting a star outside the solar system, an encouraging sign for prospects of finding life elsewhere. The discovery shows that such planets exist and that they can be detected by the Kepler spacecraft, said Francois Fressin of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Mass. … Continue reading
via Monica Hesse, The Washington Post The scent inside this squat federal building is not fir or cinnamon, but it does have its own particular holiday aroma: cardboard Priority Mail envelopes and packing tape. Christmas at the post office. Possibly the one time of year when everybody still makes a pilgrimage here. Over a lunch … Continue reading
via Choe Sang-Hun, The New York Times The leadership of North Korea moved swiftly on Wednesday to portray Kim Jong-un, thrust into the international spotlight after the death of his father, as the country’s unchallenged ruler. With the military’s allegiance a central question to the new leader’s success in consolidating power, North Korean television showed senior military leaders … Continue reading
via Luke Johnson, The Huffington Post Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum explained how he would win support from gay voters despite his long opposition to same-sex marriage Tuesday night on Fox News’ “On The Record” with Greta Van Susteren. Van Susteren asked how he could get votes from “the gay citizens of Iowa” despite being … Continue reading
via Kevin Drum, Mother Jones In theory, any woman 17 or older can buy the Plan B emergency contraceptive over the counter. Younger teens can’t, and the Obama administration’s recent decision on Plan B keeps it that way despite the unanimous recommendation of an FDA panel. But at least 17-year-olds have easy access to Plan B, … Continue reading
The Brandt Standard 