via Robert Hulshof-Schmidt, The Examiner Three days after the 2012 general election Washington became the ninth state to achieve marriage equality for same sex couples. Referendum 74, a measure allowing voters to approve or reject legislatively-approved equality, is headed to passage with over 52% of the vote. With the matter decided, same sex couples in … Continue reading
via Mark Hosenball and Tabassum Zakaria, Reuters CIA Director David Petraeus resigned as head of the leading U.S. spy agency on Friday, saying he had engaged in an extramarital affair and acknowledging he “showed extremely poor judgment.” In a letter to the CIA workforce, Petraeus, 60, said he met with President Barack Obama at the … Continue reading
via Nicole Perlroth, The New York Times Not long after I began writing about cybersecurity, I became a paranoid caricature of my former self. It’s hard to maintain peace of mind when hackers remind me every day, all day, just how easy it is to steal my personal data. Within weeks, I set up unique, … Continue reading
via Tyler Kingkade, The Huffington Post Mitt Romney lost the youth vote by a huge margin, and with it, he lost the presidency. Sixty percent of young voters who cast ballots chose to reelect President Barack Obama, against the 36 percent who voted for Mitt Romney. That’s a six point slide in youth support for … Continue reading
via WBEZ Chicago A slim majority of Puerto Ricans Tuesday sought to change their ties with the United States and become the 51st U.S. state in a non-binding referendum that would require final approval from Congress. The two-part referendum asked whether the island wanted to change its 114-year relationship with the United States. Nearly 54 … Continue reading
via CNN Three states voted on referendums Tuesday on legalizing marijuana for recreational use: Colorado passes marijuana legalization, but there’s a catch Colorado voters have approved a referendum that supports the legalization of marijuana on a recreational basis. Amendment 64 in Colorado will amend the state constitution to legalize and regulate the production, possession, and … Continue reading
via Joel Connelly, San Francisco Chronicle Statewide ballot measures to legalize same-sex marriage took the lead in Washington and passed in Maryland and Maine on Tuesday, as proponents of marriage equality broke a string of 32 consecutive losses in statewide votes on the contentious social issue. Referendum 74 in this state was leading 51.8 percent … Continue reading
via Lucy Madison, CBS News Despite hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of spending in races across the country, the political composition of Congress will look much the same next year as it does now, CBS News projects, with Democrats holding onto a majority in the Senate and Republicans retaining power in the House of … Continue reading
via Steve Holland and John Whitesides, Reuters President Barack Obama rolled to re-election and a second term in the White House on Tuesday with a clear victory over Republican challenger Mitt Romney as the Democrat overcame deep doubts about his handling of the U.S. economy. Romney called Obama to concede after the president’s victories in … Continue reading
ELECTION DAY 2012 Participate. Be Heard. VOTE. Everything you need to know to VOTE: 1. Am I REGISTERED to VOTE? Find out if you are REGISTERED to VOTE here 2. WHAT kind of ID do I need to bring to VOTE? Find your state’s VOTER ID requirements here 3. WHERE do I go to VOTE? Find your … Continue reading
via John Whitesides, Reuters President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney make a frenetic dash to a series of crucial swing states on Monday, delivering their final arguments to voters on the last day of an extraordinarily close race for the White House. After a long, bitter and expensive campaign, national polls show Obama … Continue reading
via Craig Unger, Salon The fatal meningitis epidemic sweeping the United States can now be traced to the failure of then-Gov. Mitt Romney to adequately regulate the Massachusetts pharmaceutical company that is being blamed for the deaths. At least 344 people in 18 states have been infected by the growing public health crisis and 25 … Continue reading
via David McCumber, San Francisco Chronicle Take your choice. Hurricane Sandy is an advantage for: — President Obama, because it blunts Mitt Romney’s perceived momentum. — Romney, because it suppresses early voting. — Obama, because it allows him to look presidential. — Romney, because it puts Obama on the hot seat. — Obama, because it reminds people that Romney wanted … Continue reading
via Shay O’Reilly, Campus Progress “Community, NOT commodity!” chanted an “OccuPride” contingent that interrupted—then joined—San Francisco’s Pride march this summer. Along with similar groups in Chicago and New York, the San Francisco group carried signs denouncing corporate sponsorship of Pride parades and events. Even as parade marshals shooed them away from the float of Pride … Continue reading
via Keith Bradsher, The New York Times The Chinese government swiftly blocked access Friday morning to the English-language and Chinese-language Web sites of The New York Times from computers in mainland China in response to an article in both languages describing wealth accumulated by the family of the country’s prime minister. The authorities were also blocking … Continue reading
via Dan Froomkin, The Huffington Post Republican officials, who have used hysteria about alleged voter fraud as an excuse to support measures that disproportionately block Democratic voters, are furiously trying to distance themselves from a growing number of GOP voter registration drives that either submitted false applications or threw away authentic ones. The incidents might … Continue reading
via Laura Bassett, The Huffington Post When 24-year-old preschool teacher Katherine Fenton stood up at the second presidential debate and asked the candidates what they planned to do about the gender wage gap, both candidates dodged the question, and conservatives collectively rolled their eyes at the mention of one of their least favorite of the … Continue reading
via Tara Culp-Ressler, ThinkProgress Planned Parenthood scored two legal victories this week, with rulings in both Arizona and Indiana preventing the healthcare provider from being defunded. A federal judge has blocked Arizona from implementing HB 2800, a measure that would have revoked Medicaid funding for family planning services at any health organization that also provides … Continue reading
via David Jackson, USA Today President Obama won Monday’s foreign policy debate in a pair of instant polls, in one of them decisively. In a survey by CBS News, 53% awarded the debate to Obama, to 23% for Republican Mitt Romney and 24% undecided. An instant CNN poll found a closer contest as 48% favored … Continue reading
via Reuters, The Huffington Post As polls point to a close U.S. presidential election, the country faces the possibility of political chaos – from a repeat of the disputed 2000 election to the remote possibility of a new administration with a president from one party and a vice president from the other. The most likely … Continue reading
via Gerry Bello, Bob Fitrakis, and Harvey Wasserman, Truth Out Will you cast your vote this fall on a faulty electronic machine that’s partly owned by the Romney Family? Will that machine decide whether Romney will then inherit the White House Through a closely held equity fund called Solamere, Mitt Romney and his wife, son … Continue reading
via Chicago Sun-Times Media mogul Rupert Murdoch may be looking to buy the Chicago Tribune and the Los Angeles Times as the parent company for the two newspapers attempts to exit from bankruptcy, according to a report. Executives from Murdoch’s News Corp. are in “preliminary talks” with Tribune Co.’s debt holders, who are expected to … Continue reading
via Kirk Johnson, The New York Times Details of decades of sexual abuse in the Boy Scouts of America, and what child welfare experts say was a corrosive culture of secrecy that compounded the damage, were cast into full public view for the first time on Thursday with the release of thousands of pages of … Continue reading
via Lila Shapiro, The Huffington Post Continuing its efforts to fight same-sex marriage in four ballot measures around the United States, the Catholic Church is now the top donor to the cause among religious institutions, according to a new report from the Human Rights Campaign. This fall in Washington, Maryland and Maine, voters will decide … Continue reading
via David Ariosio, CNN A federal appeals court in New York on Thursday became the nation’s second to strike down the Defense of Marriage Act, finding that the Clinton-era law’s denial of federal benefits to married same-sex couples is unconstitutional. The divisive act, which was passed in 1996, bars federal recognition of same-sex marriages and … Continue reading