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via Evan McMorris-Santoro, Talking Points Memo Rep. Todd Akin, the Republican nominee for Senate in Missouri who is running against Sen. Claire McCaskill, justified his opposition to abortion rights even in case of rape with a claim that victims of “legitimate rape” have unnamed biological defenses that prevent pregnancy. “First of all, from what I … Continue reading
via Jeff Zeleny, The New York Times Four years ago, John Brooks cast his ballot for Barack Obama, becoming one of the voters won over by his promise for changing Washington. This time, he had been undecided, but he said Mitt Romney made his decision easier by placing Representative Paul D. Ryan on the Republican … Continue reading
via M.S. Bellows, Jr., The Guardian There has been much speculation about why Romney refuses to disclose earlier tax returns. Could it be as simple as an address? Friday’s exchange of letters between the election campaigns of Barack Obama and Mitt Romney, in which Romney rejected Obama’s offer to drop the tax return issue if … Continue reading
via Elizabeth Hewitt and Abby Ohlheiser, Slate The Obama campaign has an offer for Team Romney: Release five years’ worth of tax returns and they’ll stop asking to see more. Obama campaign manager Jim Messina released an open letter to the candidate on Friday outlining the deal: “If the governor will release five years of … Continue reading
via Susan Page, USA Today They could turn a too-close-to-call race into a landslide for President Obama— but by definition they probably won’t. Call them the unlikely voters. A nationwide USA TODAY/Suffolk University Poll of people who are eligible to vote but aren’t likely to do so finds that these stay-at-home Americans back Obama’s re-election … Continue reading
via Robert Burns, The Huffington Post Suicides among active-duty soldiers in July more than doubled from June, accelerating a trend throughout the military this year that has prompted Pentagon leaders to redouble efforts to solve a puzzling problem. The Army, which is the only branch of the military that issues monthly press statements on suicides, … Continue reading
via Cord Jefferson, Gawker Two months before alleged killer James Holmes stormed a Colorado movie theater, murdering 12 and injuring dozens more, police and politicians in a different place were trying to squelch the tremors from their own mass killing. It was in Chicago, over Memorial Day weekend, when police responded to more than 40 … Continue reading
via Bob Egelko, Politics Blog, The San Francisco Chronicle Mitt Romney’s selection of Paul Ryan as his running mate cements Romney’s own 180-degree turnabout on abortion. Ten years ago, as a candidate for governor, Romney promised to “protect the right of a woman to choose,” and pledged not to change “our pro-choice laws in Massachusetts.” … Continue reading
via Basil Katz, The Huffington Post Last week, federal prosecutors appealed a U.S. judge’s order barring enforcement of part of a law that permits indefinite military detention for those deemed to have “substantially supported” al Qaeda, the Taliban or “associated forces.” Manhattan federal court Judge Katherine Forrest in May ruled in favor of activists and … Continue reading
via Steve Hendrix, The Washington Post The Obama administration will kick off one of the most sweeping changes in immigration policy in decades Wednesday, allowing an estimated 1.7 million young undocumented immigrants to apply for the temporary right to live and work openly in the United States without fear of deportation. Immigrants have waited for … Continue reading
via Ryan Grenoble, The Huffington Post Most people view Facebook as an ideal time-waster, a way to step back from the hustle and bustle of daily life and click around idly. Need a mental breather at work? Scroll through the News Feed. Insufferable urge to gossip? There’s a relationship rumor out there, somewhere. In one … Continue reading
via Jonathan Easley, The Hill’s Ballot Box A plurality of Americans are not enthusiastic about Mitt Romney’s selection of Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) as his running mate, according to a USA Today/Gallup poll released Monday. Forty-two percent said they viewed Ryan’s candidacy as a “fair” or “poor” move by the Romney campaign, compared to 39 … Continue reading
via Brian Montopoli, CBS News The Commission on Presidential Debates have announced the moderators for the three presidential debates and the vice presidential debate set to take place in October. Among them is the first female presidential debate moderator in two decades. CNN’s Candy Crowley is set to moderate a town hall-style debate on October … Continue reading
via Matt Williams, The Guardian Mitt Romney’s decision to put Paul Ryan on the White House ticket has seemingly done that rarest of things in American politics: delighted both sides of the party divide in equal measure. Republican grandees gushed over the youngish star of the GOP, even those – such as former House speaker … Continue reading
via Nick Wing, The Huffington Post A Washington group supporting a state ballot effort to legalize and regulate marijuana rolled out an ambitious new ad campaign this week, seeking to put a spotlight on the initiative ahead of the November election. New Approach Washington unveiled the $1 million buy on Monday, and the 30-second spot … Continue reading
via Nicholas Confessore and Michael D. Shear, The New York Times The fund-raising machine behind Mitt Romney and the Republican Party once again outperformed President Obama and the Democrats last month, raising $25 million more in July than the president and his Democratic allies. Mr. Romney and the Republican National Committee took in $101.3 million … Continue reading
via Graham Cluley, Naked Security Facebook has released statistics showing that it believes there are more than 83 million fake accounts on its social network. Some 8.7% of the site’s 955 million users are believed to be bogus, according to documents that the company filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) earlier this week. … Continue reading
via Cecilia Kang, The Washington Post Devra Davis, a long-ignored evangelist on the health dangers of cellphones, finally feels like she’s been heard. As soon as next week, Congress is expected to say that a year-long investigation by the Government Accountability Office has found the Federal Communications Commission’s cellphone-safety regulations are woefully out of date. … Continue reading
via Jens Hansegard, The Wall Street Journal Jim Butcher’s decision to join Sweden’s army of “latte dads” last year didn’t win him any popularity contests with family and friends back home in the U.K. “When I told my friends in England, they spat up their tea,” said the 35-year-old head of communications for digital-music company … Continue reading
via Nick Wing, The Huffington Post President Barack Obama signed the Honoring America’s Veterans and Caring for Camp Lejeune Families Act of 2012 into law last week, providing a wide-ranging package of benefits to military personnel and enacting new restrictions on protests of service member funerals. “We have a moral sacred duty to our men … Continue reading
via Robert Lee Hotz, The Wall Street Journal Precisely on time and target, NASA’s Curiosity rover touched down safely on Mars Monday to begin an ambitious two-year trek through a mountainous crater that promises to reveal whether the red planet was ever hospitable to life. The one ton, $2.5 billion Curiosity is the most scientifically … Continue reading
via Martin Austermuhle, DCist With same-sex marriage on Maryland’s November ballot, advocates on both sides of the debate are raising money, tightening up their talking points and looking for as many votes as possible. For now, though, it looks like the pro-marriage equality forces have the advantage. The Huffington Post reports that a new poll … Continue reading
via L.A. Times Blog, L.A. Now As part of the event, gay marriage advocates were encouraging same-sex couples to go to one of the chicken restaurants and take a photo or video of themselves kissing. Huge crowds turned out Wednesday in a show of support for company President Dan Cathy, who ignited a national debate … Continue reading
via Lauren Petrecca, USA Today The heated debate over Chick-fil-A and same-sex marriage is about to get a touch softer with a kiss-in protest scheduled for Friday. Gay rights organizations and other advocacy groups are promoting a “National Same-Sex Kiss Day,” where people are encouraged to head to a Chick-fil-A and lock lips with a … Continue reading
via Devin Leonard, Businessweek The U.S. Postal Service essentially went broke yesterday. It skipped a $5.5 billion payment to the U.S. Treasury for future retiree health-care payments and said it would do the same early next month when another $5.6 billion is due. This comes as no surprise. The USPS has been losing $25 million … Continue reading
The Brandt Standard 