The telecommunications company T-Mobile has decided to leave the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), making it the latest in a long series of corporate giants to depart the conservative organization.
“T-Mobile is affiliated with many public policy organizations and we regularly evaluate these affiliations and associations based on our priorities,” the company said Wednesday in a statement provided to National Journal. “In line with this practice, in 2015 we decided not to renew our membership with ALEC.”
T-Mobile did not offer an explanation for why it decided to leave the ALEC. A number of organizations, in leaving, have griped about the organization’s position on climate change. Google CEO Eric Schmidt, for instance, said that ALEC is “literally lying” that there’s any question about climate change.
And once again, it has already started. Even with the video showing that the officer lied in his report on what happened in South Carolina, even with that video evidence showing a man being gunned down like an animal as, even with that video available for all to see, the supporters of the police who pulled the trigger are making themselves known with a GoFundMe page to raise money for the officer who shot the man in his back. But according to this report, that page was shut down by GoFundMe.
A fundraising page dedicated to South Carolina police officer Michael Slager was shut down by GoFundMe on Wednesday.
Slager was charged with the murder of 50-year-old Walter Scott after video surfaced of him shooting at the unarmed man eight times. GoFundMe’s public relations manager, Kelsea Little, told The Huffington Post that the page’s removal was “due to a violation of our terms and conditions.”
However, Little said GoFundMe was unable to discuss the details of the campaign with anyone other than the organizer because of “privacy concerns.”
One source of outside financial support for the Slager family will be North Charleston. In a press conference Wednesday, Mayor Keith Summey confirmed that the town would continue to pay for the medical insurance of the officer’s wife, who is eight months pregnant, until the birth of the child.
Remember when Republicans criticized the American judicial system as not being capable or equip to try and convict terrorists? It was very recently when President Obama wanted to try some of the Gitmo prisoners in the American court system. Well now, the American judicial system has once again proved Republicans wrong.
Shortly after he killed three people and wounded more than 250 others in the Boston Marathon bombing, surveillance images showed Dzhokhar Tsarnaev strolling through the aisles of Whole Foods to buy milk and smiling as he stopped by his college gym.
They were images of someone prosecutors described as a callous killer as they made their case against him.
It was a drastically different scene in court on Wednesday. The now 21-year-old Tsarnaev stood with his head bowed and his hands clasped, fidgeting as jurors dealt out a decisive verdict that could be the first step toward sending him to death row.
It was a decision they didn’t make quickly. It took the jury of seven women and five men 11½ hours of deliberations to reach a conclusion.
But when they did, they didn’t leave room for doubt about who was behind the 2013 attack, finding him guilty of all 30 counts that he faced in the deadly bombings and their aftermath.
Tsarnaev didn’t look at them as the verdict was read.
CNN is reporting that a South Carolina officer has been charged with murder after a video surfaced that appears to show him shooting an unarmed man who was running away.
Michael Slager, an officer with the North Charleston Police Department, was arrested Tuesday, according to a statement from the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, or SLED. If found guilty of murder, he could face up to life in prison or death.
The shooting took place Saturday morning after a traffic stop, SLED said. Video obtained by The New York Times shows what happened.
A black man, identified as 50-year-old Walter Scott, breaks away from the white officer. Something falls, and the officer fires eight shots at the man as he runs away. Scott, who appears to be unarmed, drops to the ground.
“I can tell you that as the result of that video and the bad decision made by our officer, he will be charged with murder,” North Charleston Mayor Keith Summey told reporters Tuesday. “When you’re wrong, you’re wrong. And if you make a bad decision — don’t care if you’re behind the shield or just a citizen on the street — you have to live by that decision.”
God – or in this case – Allah hates ugly. And although the Militant State, ah… I mean the Islamic State also known as ISIS claims that they are worshipping Allah through their murderous activities, a common and treatable disease is reportedly wiping out the group.
Islamic State militants in Raqqa, the group’s operations center in Syria, are succumbing to the flesh-eating parasitic disease leishmaniasis.
According to the anti-IS activist group “Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently,” the disease has affected around 3,000 people in the jihadis’ territory.
Leishmaniasis causes skin lesions, which are generally easily treatable. But if left alone, the disease eats away at the patient’s flesh and can be ultimately fatal.
The jihadi militants have blocked outside medical services’ access to their territory, leaving those who live their untreated and vulnerable.
The disease is transmitted by infected sandflies, and generally prevented in susceptible areas by the use of insecticidal bed nets while sleeping. Though the World Health Organization recognizes leishmaniasis as endemic to the Middle East, incidents were slowly decreasing in Syria as a result of an aggressive government health policy before that country’s civil war broke out in 2011.
The president couldn’t calm the children down as they screamed in horror at the president’s event.
“Hold on! Hold on! You guys are wild things!,” Mr.Obama said,as he continued his efforts to sooth the children. “You’re not supposed to be scared of bees when you’re a wild thing!”
“They won’t harm nothing. They won’t sting you,” Mr. Obama said on Wednesday as he read “Where the Wild Things Are” at an Easter event. The bees are kept at the White House and their honey is used in White House recipes. But on Wednesday, the kids were apparently on the menu.
That they cannot see something is terribly wrong and contradictory with bringing their guns to Church, shows just how mentally deranged these gun – fanatics really are.
In the middle of Sunday services, where God is supposed to be praised and where love is celebrated, a gun stored in someone’s pocket went off, grazing another man’s head… in church… during Sunday services!
The firearm’s safety was off and the trigger caught on the man’s pocket, firing off a shot and grazing the man’s hand, according to television station WTAE.
“I immediately took a step back and was about to take cover,” Jason Wagler, who was attending service at Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament, told the station.
“You never know if you’re safe anymore in this world. It’s a shame to know you can’t go into church without having something like this happen,” he said.
Wagler caught video on his phone of one man sat in a pew, flanked by two women appearing to care for him.
He said he also noticed that the man handed the gun off to someone else, who attempted to conceal the weapon in a church booklet amid the chaos.
“He immediately concealed it in a white program, so I took pictures of the gun inside this program,” Wagler said.
Authorities have not released the name of the man they suspect mistakenly fired the gun. WTAE reported that he was driven to to hospital.
All of the tension that’s been building in the grand Republican coalition, that uneasy mix of practical business, low taxes, libertarianism and the uncompromising religious sector is now being released. And it’s not working out for the most conservative of the party’s members.
Just a week ago it seemed that at least two new states, Indiana and Arkansas, would pass religious freedom laws that would, in essence, allow people to claim that a robust religious objection to a state or federal law was enough to nullify it, at least for the objector. By the end of the week, both states had to backtrack and add key provisions that did not allow religious people from discriminating against gays and lesbians, among others. Why the change?
Big business has seen the light and it’s a bright one. No, not the one that people who have near-death experiences talk about. This is the one that shines into the deep dark corners of discrimination, hatred and prejudice. Yes, corporations do love they money, but they’re also getting a bit of a soul. After all, corporations are people too, right?
But uncovering the cloistered minds of the far right isn’t the only move forward. Major national businesses are also starting to…wait for it…raise wages. Yes, I know that it’s only a dollar more an hour for now, but the prospect of rising wages for those most in need is a positive step.
Despite a conservative movement that’s made great inroads into American political, economic and social culture, the basic democratic ideals of tolerance, respect for diversity and fairness have endured and are now beginning to emerge from an era where they were somewhat battered and bruised. Americans truly want a government that will stay out of its bedrooms and workplaces even as they want to make sure that there is a safety net for life’s perplexities.
This is why I think the GOP will end up nominating another more moderate candidate in 2016. That won’t make the conservatives happy, but it really is the best hope for the party. And the Democrats had better not take their supporters for granted. The economy is better, but job growth seems to have slowed and the deal with Iran is not a slam dunk, nor should it be.
For now, though, business seems to be on the side of a wider, more inclusive market. And that’s good news.
Indiana’s Republican Governor Mike Pence proved in a recent interview last Sunday that the knew his state’s version of the “Religious Freedom” act opened the door to discrimination. When George Stephanopoulos asked that very specific question – “should it be legal to discriminate against gays and lesbians” – Pence dodged the question for almost 12 minutes. And now with continued pressure, the truth is finally coming out. And the rush is on to make changes to the law ASAP!
“What was intended as a message of inclusion was interpreted as a message of exclusion, especially for the LGBT community,” Indiana House Speaker Brian Bosma told reporters at a 9 a.m. news conference on Thursday. “Nothing could have been further from the truth, but it was clear the perception had to be addressed.”
The proposed update, as released by Indiana GOP lawmakers online, states that the controversial religious-freedom law does not allow any business to deny service to any customer — including on the grounds of sexual orientation or gender identity.
The new language will still have to be approved by Indiana’s legislature and signed by the state’s Republican governor, Mike Pence, before it goes into effect. Pence this week announced he would support changing the law.
“It’s basically a photographic project that started in Barcelona and continued in Buenos Aires,” Paula Brindisi, a model and artist in Argentina explained to Central European News. “It picks up the reactions that people have when seeing someone naked doing the same things as people wearing clothes.”
Acting in a totally “normal attitude” and “without being sexual,” the 30-year-old nude activist said she stripped down and stepped out in the Argentinian capital and Spanish city as her photographer friend snapped pictures of her visiting local businesses.
“No one had anything against it,” Brindisi recalled. “People told us we made their morning nicer and we even received two rounds of applause. They understood it as art.”
President Obama made his announcement today from the Rose Garden and he spoke about a framework of the new Iran deal, a deal the President said will be finalized in June.
In his announcement, the president warned that any “backsliding” from the deal by Iran, would lead to a collapse of the deal and increased sanctions on Iran. And the president also used the opportunity to quashed some of the Republican lies about him not backing Israel, by pledging his continued support for that country.
The voice of one only goes so far, but the voices of many echoes throughout the nation and the world, and the decision makers at McDonald’s took note.
In a statement released on Wednesday, McDonald’s announced wage increases for its employees and a benefit package including more paid time-off and educational opportunities for its full-time and part-time employees.
“We’ve been working on a comprehensive benefits package for our employees — the people who bring our brand to life for customers every day in our U.S. restaurants,” said McDonald’s President and CEO Steve Easterbrook. “We’ve listened to our employees and learned that — in addition to increased wages — paid personal leave and financial assistance for completing their education would make a real difference in their careers and lives.”
On July 1, 2015, starting wages at McDonald’s company-owned restaurants in the U.S. will be one dollar over the locally-mandated minimum wage. The wages of all employees up to restaurant manager will be adjusted accordingly based on tenure and job performance. By the end of 2016, McDonald’s projects that the average hourly wage rate for McDonald’s employees at company-owned restaurants will be in excess of $10.
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