News You Can Use

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Huckabee Threatens To Leave GOP Over Gay Marriage, Abortion

Appearing on the American Family Association’s radio show this week, Huckabee was discussing gay marriage and said: “If the Republicans want to lose guys like me — and a whole bunch of still God-fearing Bible-believing people — go ahead and just abdicate on this issue, and why you’re at it, go ahead and say abortion doesn’t matter, either.”

“Because at that point, you lose me,” Huckabee said. “I’m gone. I’ll become an independent. I’ll start finding people that have guts to stand. I’m tired of this.”

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Christian College Told It Could Lose Accreditation For Its Policy On Homosexual Sex

Inclusiveness and diversity are perhaps valued more in modern American culture and government than any other characteristic — unless of course you’re dealing with Christians. Whether you’re a business like Chick-fil-A or Hobby Lobby or you’re a private organization like the Boy Scouts, there is no denying that taking a traditional Christian stance on sexuality is now a risky endeavor.

The latest to experience the warm and fuzzy hospitality of “inclusive” secularism is Gordon College, a private liberal arts college located in quaint Wenham, Massachusetts.

Like many Christian colleges, Gordon College requires its students to agree to a set of behavioral standards while they attend the school. Students are expected to refrain from “blasphemy, profanity, dishonesty, theft, drunkenness, sexual relations outside marriage, and homosexual practice,” and the college has plainly stated that these actions “will not be tolerated in the lives of Gordon community members, either on or off campus.”

The prohibition against “homosexual practice” led the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC), the most prominent accreditation organization in the region, to investigate whether its own standards of accreditation have been violated by Gordon College’s behavioral code, which at least some in the NEASC feel are discriminatory.

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City Orders Family to Get Rid of Special Needs Child’s Make-A-Wish Gift

10-year-old Tiffany Miranda of Santa Fe Springs, CA suffers from a severe seizure disorder that prevents her from playing on playground equipment in public parks. To ease her quality of life, the Make-A-Wish Foundation built her a playground play set, which her parents placed in the back yard of their own property. However, according to CBS Los Angeles, the Santa Fe Springs city government has issued a citation ordering the family to remove the play set from their back yard, claiming that it is an eyesore.

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JAPAN COURT ORDERS GOOGLE TO REMOVE SEARCH RESULTS

TOKYO (AP) — A Japanese judge has ordered Google to remove search results of a man's unflattering past in an order the plaintiff's lawyer compared to Europe's "right to be forgotten" ruling.
The Tokyo District Court ordered Google Japan on Thursday to remove search results that hinted at the man's relations with a criminal organization after he complained his privacy rights were violated.
Google spokesman Taj Meadows said the company has a standard process for removal requests, and people can come to Google.
"We remove pages from our search results when required by local law, including Japan's longstanding privacy and defamation laws," he said. He said the company was reviewing the ruling.
The plaintiff's lawyer, Tomohiro Kanda said the case addressed privacy, defamation and other issues defined by Japanese law but also took the European "right to be forgotten" ruling in May as an example and used some of its logic and language.
In that case, Europe's highest court ruled Google should delete references to negative past information, including old debts and past arrests.
"We asserted Google as a controller of the site had the duty to delete the material," Kanda told The Associated Press. "We are fighting the same battle as the one in Europe, and we won a similar decision."
Some experts say Japan needs to define the borders of privacy and search functions.
In the court injunction, Judge Nobuyuki Seki said some of the search results "infringe personal rights," and had harmed the plaintiff, according to Kyodo News.

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Obama: You Can't Get Ebola 'Sitting Next to Someone on a Bus;' CDC: 'Avoid Public Transportation'

(CNSNews.com) - Speaking in a video message to residents of West African countries currently experiencing outbreaks of Ebola, President Barack Obama dispensed advice on how residents can avoid the disease, including:"You cannot get it through casual contact like sitting next to someone on a bus."

At the same time, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is advising Americans who travel to the Ebola-stricken nations to "avoid public transportation."

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Seven witchcraft suspects burned to death in Tanzania

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Seattle police officers challenge new use-of-force policies in court

SEATTLE — There was a courtroom battle Thursday between Seattle cops and their own police department over new use-of-force polices.

Lawyers for more than 100 cops argued in front of a judge that their lives are in jeopardy because the policies restrict what they can do out on the street. They claim the interests of suspects are being put above that of officers and the public.

“It restricts their ability to defend themselves,” said attorney Athan Tramountanas, after the hearing. “The requirements of delay and de-escalation, and consideration of all these options, it’s not reality in a fast-evolving, dangerous situation.”

The policies went into effect earlier this year. They are a mandate of the federal government, which had previously found that Seattle officers engaged in a pattern of excessive force.

The judge is expected to decide in two weeks whether the officers’ claims are legitimate enough to go to a full civil trial.

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Sergeant found with dead man's watch, police say

DETROIT (AP) - Detroit police say a homicide sergeant has been suspended after officials found him with a watch that had been worn by a slain man.

Chief James Craig tells The Detroit News that the sergeant was in charge of the investigation into the man's death several months ago, but when detectives decided to look at evidence this week they found the watch had been replaced by a less-expensive one.

Craig says detectives informed police officials about the discrepancy and an internal investigation began. He says the FBI helped police recover the watch, which was being worn by the sergeant at an out-of-state training session. No charges have been filed.

Craig says prosecutors will be asked to review the matter. The homicide case is open and the victim hasn't been identified.

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Female sex hormone is 'fuelling male obesity epidemic and causing sperm counts to drop' as men become 'feminised'

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CU Boulder becomes latest university to cut student work hours under Obamacare

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Dozens of teens involved in fight at state fair

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5-year-old forced to sign “suicide contract”

MOBILE, Alabama (WPMI) – An Alabama mother is furious that her 5-year-old daughter was forced to sign a school contract stating she wouldn’t kill herself or anyone else at school.

School officials told Rebecca, who did not want to give her last name, they had to send 5-year-old Elizabeth home after an incident in class.

“They told me she drew something that resembled a gun. According to them she pointed a crayon at another student and said ‘pew pew’,” Rebecca explained.

Rebecca says her daughter was then given a questionnaire to evaluate her for suicidal thoughts and given a Mobile County Public School safety contract to sign stating she wouldn’t kill herself or others.

“While I was in the lobby waiting, they had my 5-year-old sign a contract about suicide and homicide,” Rebecca says. “There should be a different way to handle this situation. If this is protocol it needs to be looked at again.”

Rebecca is pushing to have the incident removed from her child’s record. She says school officials have requested her child see a psychiatrist. She refused.

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CREEPY CLOWN SIGHTINGS TROUBLE CALIFORNIA CITY

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Dick Morris: Clinton orchestrated Panetta's 'hit' on Obama

“What Panetta is doing is a hit – a contract killing – for Hillary. Panetta at core is a Clinton person, not an Obama person. By accurately and truthfully describing the deliberations in the [Obama] cabinet, he makes Hillary look better, and he makes Obama look worse … And I think he’ll get his reward in heaven.”

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Asset seizures fuel police spending

Police agencies have used hundreds of millions of dollars taken from Americans under federal civil forfeiture law in recent years to buy guns, armored cars and electronic surveillance gear. They have also spent money on luxury vehicles, travel and a clown named Sparkles.

The details are contained in thousands of annual reports submitted by local and state agencies to the Justice Department’s Equitable Sharing Program, an initiative that allows local and state police to keep up to 80 percent of the assets they seize. The Washington Post obtained 43,000 of the reports dating from 2008 through a Freedom of Information Act request.

The documents offer a sweeping look at how police departments and drug task forces across the country are benefiting from laws that allow them to take cash and property without proving a crime has occurred. The law was meant to decimate drug organizations, but The Post found that it has been used as a routine source of funding for law enforcement at every level.

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FBI Chief: Citizens Should Be 'Deeply Skeptical' of Government

Americans should be “deeply skeptical” of government power, says FBI Director James Comey, adding that law enforcement should be able to access someone’s telephone only with a court order.

“I believe that Americans should be deeply skeptical of government power,” Comey told CBS News’ Scott Pelley in an interview for “60 Minutes” that will air on Sunday. “You cannot trust people in power.”

“The Founders knew that,” he said. “That’s why they divided power among three branches, to set interest against interest.”

Comey, 53, who became FBI chief in September 2013, cautioned that courts must grant law-enforcement agencies permission to telephones if the information is deemed to be critical to a criminal case or national security.

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Edward Snowden’s Privacy Tips: “Get Rid Of Dropbox,” Avoid Facebook And Google

When you say, ‘I have nothing to hide,’ you’re saying, ‘I don’t care about this right.’ You’re saying, ‘I don’t have this right, because I’ve got to the point where I have to justify it.’ The way rights work is, the government has to justify its intrusion into your rights.

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State Trooper Headed To Prison For Stealing Jewelry And Cash From Dying Man

Bridgeport, CT- Former Connecticut State Trooper Aaron Huntsman was sentenced to five years in prison, one year mandatory, after he was found guilty of stealing pieces of jewelry and nearly $4,000 in cash from a dying man at the scene of a motorcycle crash.

On September 21st, 2012, Huntsman arrived at the scene of a collision between motorcyclist John Scalesse and a truck. Scalesse was gravely injured and had been quickly carried into an an ambulance.

Firefighter Michael Schumann, who was tending to Scalesse, said he’d discovered a large amount of cash and several cards that Scalesse was carrying in his pocket. Schumann said he was told by Trooper Mark DiCocco that police only needed Scalesse’s ID. As Schumann attempted to return the money to Scalesse’s pocket, Huntsman intervened and offered to take the cash and place it into evidence.

A gold chain and crucifix, belonging to Scalesse and covered in blood, was seen by DiCocco at the scene of the accident. Huntsman took the chain, offering to place that item into evidence as well.

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Banks Harvest Callers' Voiceprints To Fight Fraud

The caller said her home had burned down and her husband had been badly hurt in the blaze. On the telephone with her bank, she pleaded for a replacement credit card at her new address. As the woman poured out her story, a computer compared the biometric features of her voice against a database of suspected fraudsters. Not only was the caller not the person she claimed to be, "she" wasn't even a woman. The conversation released to the Associated Press by anti-fraud company Verint Systems, reflects the growing use of voice biometric technology to screen calls for signs of fraud. Sources say, two major U.S. banks, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo use voice screening, also known as voice biometric blacklists. Shirley Inscoe, an analyst with the Aite Group, a research and advisory firm said, altogether seven major American financial institutions are already using such blacklists or have run pilots.

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Hispanics want Obamacare for illegal immigrant ‘dreamers’

Top Hispanic leaders asked President Obama last week to grant some illegal immigrants access to Obamacare, saying the “dreamers” to whom the White House has given tentative work permits are already paying taxes, so they deserve government benefits.

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US SLIPS TO 12TH IN ECONOMIC FREEDOM

A new report of "economic freedom" around the world finds the US ranked 12th among 152 countries, tied with the United Kingdom, and lower than neighbor Canada or Australia. The index, published by the Cato Institute and Canada's Fraser Institute, has been published since 1996. As recently as 2000, the US ranked 2nd in the world, in terms of boasting a free economy. The US's declining ranking will lower future economic growth.

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Probe of silencers leads to web of Pentagon secrets

The mysterious workings of a Pentagon office that oversees clandestine operations are unraveling in federal court, where a criminal investigation has exposed a secret weapons program entwined with allegations of a sweetheart contract, fake badges and trails of destroyed evidence.

Capping an investigation that began almost two years ago, separate trials are scheduled this month in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Va., for a civilian Navy intelligence official and a hot-rod auto mechanic from California who prosecutors allege conspired to manufacture an untraceable batch of automatic-rifle silencers.

The exact purpose of the silencers remains hazy, but court filings and pretrial testimony suggest they were part of a top-secret operation that would help arm guerrillas or commandos overseas.

The silencers — 349 of them — were ordered by a little-known Navy intelligence office at the Pentagon known as the Directorate for Plans, Policy, Oversight and Integration, according to charging documents. The directorate is composed of fewer than 10 civilian employees, most of them retired military personnel.

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To grow cheap marijuana, Italy calls in the army

Starting next year, a high-security lab in a military compound in Florence will grow cannabis for Italy's health care system in an experiment the government says could bring safe, legal and affordable marijuana to suffering patients.

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Brandon Turbeville Interview on Perspectives with Kate Dalley on KZNU, Utah Discussing Syria, ISIS

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Bishops say gays have gifts to offer church

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Catholic bishops are showing unprecedented openness to accepting the real lives of many Catholics today, saying gays have gifts to offer the church and should be accepted and that there are "positive" aspects to a couple living together without being married.

A two-week meeting of bishops on family issues arrived at its halfway point Monday with a document summarizing the closed-door debate so far. No decisions were announced, but the tone of the preliminary document was one of almost-revolutionary acceptance, rather than condemnation, with the aim of guiding Catholics toward the ideal of a lasting marriage.

Vatican document challenges Church to change attitude to gays

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - In a dramatic shift in tone, a Vatican document said on Monday that homosexuals had "gifts and qualities to offer" and asked if Catholicism could accept gays and recognize positive aspects of same-sex couples.

Roman Catholic gay rights groups around the world hailed the paper as a breakthrough, but Church conservatives called it a betrayal of traditional family values.

The document, prepared after a week of discussions at an assembly of 200 bishops on the family, said the Church should challenge itself to find "a fraternal space" for homosexuals without compromising Catholic doctrine on family and matrimony.