February 13, 2014

Kentucky trooper wants job back because raping that girl was just a ‘moral mistake’

Source: Raw Story

By David Edwards
Thursday, February 13, 2014 13:49 EST

A Kentucky state trooper told a trial board last month that he would like to have his job back after he was fired for having sex with a 15-year-old girl, calling the relationship a “moral mistake.”

In a transcript obtained by WDRB, former Kentucky State Trooper Jerry Clanton asserted to the Kentucky State Police Trial Board that he was under the false impression that the 15-year-old girl was 18 years old when he started having sex with her.

“I made a moral mistake. And, I’ve gotten right with my family,” the married former trooper insisted. “I recognize that it is an embarrassment to the State Police. But I have not compromised myself in the fact that, in my mind, all I was doing was making a moral mistake.”


“I would never have gone over there. I would have never spoken to her, never texted her, never anything had I thought she was anything but 18.”

KSP Commander of Legal Services Capt. Matt Feltner, however, felt that the incident was more serious.

“You can’t put a 15-year-old girl in a car, drive her up in the middle of nowhere and have sex with her,” Feltner said. “I mean that doesn’t have to be written out somewhere to know it’s completely wrong and outside the lines.”

During the hearing, Clanton explained that State Trooper Stratford Young had sex with the girl first, which he said resulted in his inappropriate relationship.

Clanton admitted to having sex with the girl on at least four separate occasions, once on the trunk of his police cruiser while it was pulled over on the side of the road.

“I didn’t intend on having sex with her,” he said.

In the end, the trial board declined to give Clanton his job back.

Investigators believe that a Brandenburg officer and a Breckinridge County Sheriff’s deputy also had sex with the girl.

None of the four men had been charged as of Wednesday. According to WDRB, the girl is angry that no one is in jail. Her father has also called on prosecutors to take action, but it would be up to a grand jury to decide if anyone will be charged.

Watch the video below from WDRB, broadcast Feb. 13, 2013.



Read more: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/02/13/kentucky-trooper-wants-job-back-because-raping-that-girl-was-just-a-moral-mistake/

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Full article posted with permission

February 13, 2014

Brent Bozell Reportedly Forces Someone To Write All His Columns And Books For Him

TOM KLUDT – FEBRUARY 13, 2014, 3:16 PM EST

Brent Bozell uses his books and columns to rail against liberal media bias and dishonesty, but he reportedly doesn't write a word.

Jim Romenesko spoke to some people affiliated with Bozell's Media Research Center and learned from a former employee that the group's media analysis director, Tim Graham, writes “almost everything published under [Bozell's] name.”

The former employee also noted that, despite not actually writing any of the content, Bozell still collects 80-90 percent of the profits. Graham evidently hates the assignment, which one ex-employee called "forced ghostwriting."

The president of Creators Syndicate, which carries the column, told Romenesko that it's "absolutely false to say that Brent Bozell does not write his column," but nevertheless, Bozell and Graham will begin sharing a byline.

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http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/brent-bozell-does-not-write-columns-books

February 13, 2014

McCain Hints That Ted Cruz Is Ruining The GOP

CAITLIN MACNEAL – FEBRUARY 13, 2014, 2:31 PM EST

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) on Thursday indicated that he felt Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) did some damage to the Republican Party by forcing the Senate to clear a 60-vote threshold to raise the debt ceiling on Wednesday.

John McCain ✔ @SenJohnMcCain
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Must-read @WSJ: "The Minority Maker"
http://m.us.wsj.com/article_email/SB10001424052702304434104579379374287357650-lMyQjAxMTA0MDEwMzExNDMyWj …

11:44 AM - 13 Feb 2014

The Wall Street Journal editorial McCain posted to Twitter argues that Cruz's objection to voting with a simple majority, which forced GOP leaders to vote to raise the debt limit, could hurt the re-election prospects of senators facing primary challengers from the right. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's Tea Party opponent Matt Bevin quickly criticized the the Kentucky Republican after he voted for cloture on the bill.

McCain has been an outspoken critic of Cruz. He chided the Texas senator's plan to tie Obamacare repeal to a bill to fund the government and called Cruz a "wacko bird" in March.

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http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/mccain-cruz-debt-limit

February 13, 2014

Yep, The Supreme Court Lit A Fuse To End Gay Marriage Bans Across USA

SAHIL KAPUR – FEBRUARY 13, 2014, 1:00 PM EST4179
Last summer, the Supreme Court handed down a landmark decision equalizing the treatment of all married couples under federal law. But it opted not to address the more fundamental question in a related case: whether gay and straight couples are entitled to equal protection on the state level, where marriage law is made.

That extraordinary dodge was seen by some experts as a disingenuous way of seeking a middle ground in the rulings on the Defense of Marriage Act and California's ban on same-sex marriage. Dissenting Justice Antonin Scalia fumed that it amounted to "legalistic argle-bargle." And it appears he had a point: a number of federal judges from Utah to Kentucky have concluded that the Supreme Court's legal reasoning does not leave substantial room for state-based discrimination against gay marriage.

Recently, federal judges in Utah and Oklahoma overturned the states' bans on gay marriage as unconstitutional, leading to chaos as gay marriage was briefly legal there before the states appealed the decisions and halted them. In Ohio, a federal judge ordered the state to recognize same-sex marriages on death certificates. And on Wednesday, a federal judge in Kentucky ordered the state to recognize out-of-state gay marriages.

"To Kennedy, federalism was key to the DOMA decision. But it's the other parts of the decision that are influencing lower courts the most," said Adam Winkler, a professor at UCLA School of Law, who supports marriage equality. "Courts today are finding in Windsor strong support for the idea that denials of marriage benefits are based in anti-gay attitudes, not valid public policy goals. The Court in Windsor purposefully avoided ruling on the constitutionality of a marriage ban, so it's not a matter of following [or] not following the Court. Kennedy purposefully kept the window open for courts to strike down marriage bans."

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http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/supreme-court-judges-same-sex-marriage-doma

February 13, 2014

WaPo's Jennifer Rubin Already Eyeing Cabinet Members For President Christie's Administration

HUNTER WALKER – FEBRUARY 13, 2014, 11:52 AM EST

Conservative Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin published a piece Thursday suggesting New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) is still a player in the 2016 presidential election in spite of the scandals rocking his administration.

Rubin referenced Christie's chances while discussing a Politico story about how Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) was defending Christie against calls to resign as chairman of the Republican Governors Association.

Rubin described Walker as a potential 2016 candidate and said he still has incentive to support Christie even though they may be rivals in that race.

"Walker may not ultimately seek the presidency. Even if he does and does not win the top spot, he may not want to alienate the man who still might be the party’s nominee and possibly the president," Rubin wrote.

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http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/jen-rubin-christie-could-still-president

February 13, 2014

Kansas’ Anti-Gay Segregation Bill Is an Abomination

By Mark Joseph Stern

On Tuesday, the Kansas House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved a measure designed to bring anti-gay segregation—under the guise of “religious liberty”—to the already deep-red state. The bill, written out of fear that the state may soon face an Oklahoma-style gay marriage ruling, will now easily pass the Republican Senate and be signed into law by the Republican governor. The result will mark Kansas as the first state, though certainly not the last, to legalize segregation of gay and straight people in virtually every arena of life.

If that sounds overblown, consider the bill itself. When passed, the new law will allow any individual, group, or private business to refuse to serve gay couples if “it would be contrary to their sincerely held religious beliefs.” Private employers can continue to fire gay employees on account of their sexuality. Stores may deny gay couples goods and services because they are gay. Hotels can eject gay couples or deny them entry in the first place. Businesses that provide public accommodations—movie theaters, restaurants—can turn away gay couples at the door. And if a gay couple sues for discrimination, they won’t just lose; they’ll be forced to pay their opponent’s attorney’s fees. As I’ve noted before, anti-gay businesses might as well put out signs alerting gay people that their business isn’t welcome.

But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. In addition to barring all anti-discrimination lawsuits against private employers, the new law permits government employees to deny service to gays in the name of “religious liberty.” This is nothing new, but the sweep of Kansas’ statute is breathtaking. Any government employee is given explicit permission to discriminate against gay couples—not just county clerks and DMV employees, but literally anyone who works for the state of Kansas. If a gay couple calls the police, an officer may refuse to help them if interacting with a gay couple violates his religious principles. State hospitals can turn away gay couples at the door and deny them treatment with impunity. Gay couples can be banned from public parks, public pools, anything that operates under the aegis of the Kansas state government.

It gets worse. The law’s advocates claim that it applies only to gay couples—but there’s no clear limiting principle in the text of the bill that would keep it from applying to gay individuals as well. A catch-all clause allows businesses and bureaucrats to discriminate against gay people so long as this discrimination is somehow “related to, or related to the celebration of, any marriage, domestic partnership, civil union or similar arrangement.” (Emphases mine.) This subtle loophole is really just a blank check to discriminate: As long as an individual believes that his service is somehow linked to a gay union of any form, he can legally refuse his services. And since anyone who denies gays service is completely shielded from any charges, no one will ever have to prove that their particular form of discrimination fell within the four corners of the law.

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http://www.slate.com/blogs/outward/2014/02/13/kansas_anti_gay_segregation_bill_is_an_abomination.html?

February 13, 2014

Russia Just Made Its Anti-Gay Laws Even Stricter

Source: Slate

By Josh Voorhees

The world's attention may be focused on Sochi, but that isn't stopping Moscow from reminding everyone exactly how Vladimir Putin's government feels about gays and lesbians. Here's the Wall Street Journal with the latest anti-gay decision from Putin's government:

The measure came as an amendment to last year's law that banned any and all same-sex couples from adopting children (a law that came only days after the country implemented its absurd ban on "gay propaganda.&quot The new decree doesn't impact Americans, but that's only because all American citizens were already banned from adopting Russian children back at the end of 2012. It does, however, mean singles in a whole host of countries—Great Britain, Brazil, France, etc.—will now be ineligible from adopting Russian children.

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Read more: http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2014/02/13/russia_gay_adoption_ban_medvedev_extends_ban_to_singles_in_countries_where.html?wpisrc=newsletter_jcr:content&mc_cid=c956dc4a7a&mc_eid=7a8b58c8c3

February 13, 2014

Rand Paul’s sloppy Tea Party showboating: Another plagiarism mess!

Teaming up with Ken Cuccinelli to sue the NSA, he’s accused of stealing the lawsuit from another lawyer

JOAN WALSH

You can’t make this stuff up. Sen. Rand Paul, who endured a multi-chaptered scandal involving his plagiarizing speeches and book chapters, is now accused of stealing the work of constitutional lawyer Bruce Fein for his lawsuit against the National Security Agency.

Even more remarkable, he replaced Fein as his legal partner with Ken Cuccinelli, the former Virginia Attorney General who lost his race for governor to Terry McAuliffe. Nothing says “liberty” like the Cooch, especially for women. Cuccinelli is an anti-abortion zealot, opposed to exceptions for rape and incest. He supports personhood legislation that could criminalize some forms of birth control and opposes public funding for contraception. He also pushed to reinstate Virginia’s anti-sodomy laws after a court struck them down.

A side-question for Paul and other libertarians: Why are they usually most agitated to protect the liberty of straight white men?

The Washington Post’s Dana Milbank broke the news of the purloined lawsuit. He saw both documents and found whole passages had been lifted from Fein’s work. “Except for some cuts and minor wording changes, they are clearly the same documents,” Milbank wrote.

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http://www.salon.com/2014/02/13/rand_paul%E2%80%99s_sloppy_tea_party_showboating_another_plagiarism_mess/

February 13, 2014

GOP leaders get their just deserts: How the debt limit fight blew up in their faces

Republicans praised Mitch McConnell for taking one for the team -- but he brought this on himself

BRIAN BEUTLER

Nobody expected Senate Republicans would kill a House-passed bill to unconditionally extend the debt limit through 2014 and, as predicted, it overcame a filibuster Wednesday evening with weeks to spare before the deadline.

But for a brief moment, Senate Republicans were overcome by a collective action problem. As a group, they surely didn’t want to vote the debt limit increase down and own the ensuing market panic. But as individuals, none of them wanted their names associated with its passage.

Paul Kane @pkcapitol
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Thune: "I'm guessing not" on getting 60 votes.
2:09 PM - 12 Feb 2014

For what seemed like an eternity (but was actually only about 30 minutes) the bill wobbled in limbo on the Senate floor with 58 votes — 55 from Dems, three from Republicans — two shy of the 60 required to break a filibuster and no GOP volunteers forthcoming.

It was at this point that Republican operatives across Washington began cursing Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, for having made a big show of erecting the 60-vote hurdle in the first place. Without a filibuster, Democrats could’ve carried it by themselves. With a filibuster, at least five Republicans had to walk the plank. And they weren’t going to do that without cover from GOP leaders, the two highest ranking of which are both in cycle this year.

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http://www.salon.com/2014/02/13/gop_leaders_get_their_just_desserts_how_the_debt_limit_fight_blew_up_in_their_faces/

February 13, 2014

Tea Party’s fringe isolation: How a conspiracist mind-set poses long-term electoral danger

From economics to immigration, fear of mythical evil characterizes the loony right -- and now they'll pay the price

PAUL ROSENBERG

The week before Obama’s State of the Union, the Washington Post’s Greg Sargent wrote a piece “The Tea Party and the Hammock Theory of Poverty” in which he noted: “Here’s a striking finding: The ideas and assumptions underlying the GOP economic and poverty agenda are far and away more reflective of the preoccupations of Tea Party Republicans. Meanwhile, non-Tea Party Republicans are much more in line with the rest of the public on these matters.”

In the speech itself, Obama characteristically steered away from finger-pointing at GOP obstructionists, but his broad themes clearly struck a chord with the American people, above all his call to raise the minimum wage — a call that he cannily directed to all levels of government as well as to private businesses. The title, and core argument of Brian Beutler’s postmortem captured it well — “The Right’s Agenda Is Reviled: The Lesson From Obama’s Confident State of the Union.” The fragmented, four-part GOP “response” may have blurred the picture somewhat, but Sargent’s earlier analysis is a potent reminder that the Tea Party’s ideological isolation lies right at the core of the GOP’s problem. Their economic agenda is key to how they’ve defined themselves, but it reflects a similar, quite visible isolation on immigration and women’s issues as well. In all these areas, a conspiracist mind-set can be observed: The problem is a morally suspect out-group, being coddled and encouraged by big bad government, which is trying to destroy America, because of Evil.

Obviously, not everyone who agrees with those specific positions subscribes to the full-blown conspiracy mind-set. But the more vehemently they reject contrary evidence and arguments, the less open to honest discussion and dialogue they appear, the more powerful the evidence is that a close-minded conspiracist outlook is at work, with a chillingly narrow predetermined cast of heroes and villains. Hence, if ideologically purity is what’s wanted — as many on the right repeatedly say — it’s hard to see how that doesn’t include this conspiracist mind-set as well. It’s no accident that Glenn Beck did so much to help launch their movement.

In all three issue areas, the GOP as a whole faces real, long-term electoral dangers if the underlying logic of their actual positions becomes too clear to everyone outside their base. You can’t get people to vote for you if they know you despise them on some level. At the same time, GOP politicians individually need to make sure those positions are clear to those in their base. Their base won’t passionately support them otherwise. It’s a delicate balancing act, which Republicans are quite accustomed to in some areas — particularly when it comes to racial politics, for example. But what happens when too many people start catching on — as seems to have happened with women and Hispanic voters in 2012, for example? And now a further complication: What happens when a whole new category of people gets added — the poor/working poor/near poor who have become increasingly indistinguishable from the middle class since the financial crisis?

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http://www.salon.com/2014/02/13/tea_partys_fringe_isolation_how_a_conspiracist_mind_set_poses_long_term_electoral_danger/