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via Richard Wolf and Brad Heath, USA Today WASHINGTON — A fractured Supreme Court effectively opened the door for same-sex marriages to resume throughout California on Wednesday, saying it did not have the authority to hear a case challenging that state’s ban on gay and lesbian weddings. The court’s 5-4 decision, written by Chief Justice … Continue reading
via Richard Wolf, USA Today WASHINGTON — If the range of possible Supreme Court rulings on gay marriage this month requires a scorecard, the potential confusion arising from those decisions may demand a manual. It’s not as simple as whether gays and lesbians can marry or not, and whether they become eligible for federal benefits. … Continue reading
via New Jersey Area News Group Things were so bad for Speaker John Boehner Thursday night, support for his Plan B tax bill so diminished, the limits of his power with his own party laid bare, that he stood in front of the House Republican Conference and recited the Serenity Prayer. “God grant me the … Continue reading
via Patricia Zengerle and Susan Heavey, Reuters A growing number of lawmakers – including a leading pro-gun senator – called on Monday for a look at curbing assault weapons like the one used in a massacre at a Connecticut grade school, a sign that attitudes toward gun control could be shifting. Senator Joe Manchin, a … Continue reading
via Lauren McGaughy, New Orleans Times Picayune Gov. Bobby Jindal said oral contraceptives should be available over-the-counter in a Thursday evening op-ed for the Wall Street Journal. The self-described “unapologetic pro-life Republican” governor of Louisiana said this would lower health-care costs, prevent government intrusion into citizens’ lives and fight the influence of big pharmaceutical companies. … Continue reading
via Susan Heavey, Reuters President Barack Obama says federal authorities should not target recreational marijuana use in two Western states where it has been made legal given limited government resources and growing public acceptance of the controlled substance. His first comments on the issue come weeks after Washington state and Colorado voters supported legalizing pot, … Continue reading
via Matthew Dolan and Kris Maher, The Wall Street Journal The Republican-led Michigan legislature approved a pair of right-to-work bills, sending them on for the governor’s expected signature, as thousands of union activists continued protesting outside the state capitol. Two votes in the state House approved bills to allow workers in unionized workplaces in the … Continue reading
via Mark Sherman, Associated Press The Supreme Court plunged into the contentious issue of gay marriage Friday when it agreed to take up California’s ban on same-sex unions and a separate dispute about federal benefits for legally married gay couples. The court’s action gives the justices the chance to say by late June whether gay … Continue reading
via Dan Eggen, The Washington Post Ten days after failing to sail into the White House, Mitt Romney is already being tossed overboard by his party. The former Massachusetts governor — who attracted $1 billion in funding and 59 million votes in his bid to unseat President Obama — has rapidly become persona non grata … Continue reading
via Paul Kane, The Washington Post House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) will remain atop the Democratic caucus for at least two more years, extending her role as Congress’s most vocal liberal voice opposing the Republican agenda despite a second straight election in which her party failed to win back the majority. She said she … Continue reading
via Erin Fuchs, Business Insider A whopping 75 percent of Montana’s voters approved an initiative Tuesday stating corporations are not people. Montana voters specifically said “corporations are not entitled to constitutional rights because they are not human beings,” Courthouse News Service reported. The measure was a stinging rebuke to the U.S. Supreme Court’s June decision … Continue reading
via John Dickerson, Slate Mitt Romney says he is a numbers guy, but in the end he got the numbers wrong. His campaign was adamant that public polls in the swing states were mistaken. They claimed the pollsters were over-estimating the number of Democrats who would turn out on Election Day. Romney’s campaign was certain … 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 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 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
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 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 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 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 Bob Egelko, San Francisco Chronicle The next president may have the power to change the direction of the Supreme Court – and determine the future of abortion, gay rights, corporate influence in politics and much more. The subject has hardly surfaced during the campaign, apart from Vice President Joe Biden’s brief reference at Thursday’s debate … Continue reading
via The Salt Lake Tribune The Supreme Court sided with Democrats on Tuesday in refusing to block a decision over disputed early voting days in the battleground state of Ohio, giving President Barack Obama’s campaign a victory three weeks before the election. The court refused a request by the state’s Republican elections chief and attorney … Continue reading
via Gregory J. Krieg, ABC News Mitt Romney says he has no plans to push new anti-abortion laws if elected, a position that could put him at odds with parts of his core constituency and his own running mate, Paul Ryan. “There’s no legislation with regards to abortion that I’m familiar with that would become … Continue reading
The Brandt Standard 