Supreme Court paves way for gay marriage in several states, leaves issue unresolved nationally

The Supreme Court on Monday turned away appeals from five states looking to prohibit gay marriage, effectively legalizing same-sex marriage in those states and likely others -- but also leaving the issue unresolved nationally. 
The justices rejected appeals from Indiana, Oklahoma, Utah, Virginia and Wisconsin. The court's order immediately ends delays on gay marriage in those states. 
Couples in six other states -- Colorado, Kansas, North Carolina, South Carolina, West Virginia and Wyoming -- also should be able to get married in short order. Those states would be bound by the same appellate rulings that were put on hold pending the Supreme Court's review. That would make same-sex marriage legal in 30 states and the District of Columbia. 
In Utah, Gov. Gary Herbert said he was "surprised" and "disappointed" by Monday's development. But the Republican governor said that "while I continue to believe that the states do have the right to define marriage and create laws regarding marriage, ultimately we are a nation of laws, and we here in Utah will uphold the law." 
With no other state cases currently pending before the court, the decision to reject the appeals means the justices -- for now -- will not be considering the question of same-sex marriage nationwide. 
Experts and advocates on both sides of the issue believed the justices would step in and decide gay marriage cases this term. The justices have an obligation to settle an issue of such national importance, not abdicate that responsibility to lower court judges, the advocates said. Opting out of hearing the cases leaves those lower court rulings in place. 
Evan Wolfson, president of Freedom to Marry, called on the high court to "finish the job." Wolfson said the court's "delay in affirming the freedom to marry nationwide prolongs the patchwork of state-to-state discrimination and the harms and indignity that the denial of marriage still inflicts on too many couples in too many places." 
Ed Whelan of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, an opponent of same-sex marriage, also chastised the court for its "irresponsible denial of review in the cases." 
However, several other lower-court cases still are percolating and eventually could make their way to the Supreme Court. 
Two other appeals courts, in Cincinnati and San Francisco, could issue decisions any time in same-sex marriage cases. Judges in the Cincinnati-based 6th Circuit who are weighing pro-gay marriage rulings in Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee, appeared more likely to rule in favor of state bans than did the 9th Circuit judges in San Francisco, who are considering Idaho and Nevada restrictions on marriage. 
The situation, meanwhile, was changing rapidly Monday in the states affected by the court's latest announcement: 
-- Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, a Republican, said the fight against same-sex marriage "is over" in Wisconsin. "With the Supreme Court's announcement today, it is clear that the position of the court of appeals at the federal level is the law of the land and we're going to go forward enacting it." 
-- Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring, a Democrat, said marriage licenses could start to be issued to same-sex couples as early as Monday afternoon. 
-- In North Carolina, lawyers for same-sex couples said they planned to ask a judge Monday to overturn the state's gay marriage ban. 
-- In Oklahoma, the clerk in the largest county said he would await a formal order from the Denver-based 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals before he begins issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. That court had placed its ruling striking down the state ban on hold. 
It takes just four of the nine justices to vote to hear a case, but it takes a majority of at least five for an eventual ruling. Monday's opaque order did not indicate how the justices voted on whether to hear the appeals.

Ebola strikes Spanish nurse who treated priests, 30 people under surveillance in Madrid

A Spanish nurse who treated two missionaries for Ebola at a Madrid hospital has tested positive for the virus, Spain's health minister said Monday.
It is the first known transmission of the current outbreak of the disease outside West Africa.
The female nurse was part of the medical team that treated priests Manuel García Viejo, who died on Sept. 26, and Miguel Pajares, who died Aug. 12, at the hospital Carlos III de Madrid.
The infection was confirmed by two separate tests, Health Minister Ana Mato said after an emergency meeting held Monday afternoon in Madrid.
According to El País newspaper, the woman checked herself Monday morning in a hospital in Alcorcón, a suburb southwest of Madrid, with a high fever. The identity of the woman, who according to El Pais is 44 years and has no children, has not been released.
Health officials quoted by the paper say 30 people are currently under surveillance, and it is still being determined who she has been in contact with.
Nobody apart from the woman is in quarantine at the moment.
They said the woman went on vacation after García Viejo’s death, but did not disclose the destination. She led a normal life in recent weeks and her only symptoms were a fever and fatigue, Antonio Alemany, Madrid director of primary health care, said in the news conference.
"We do not know yet what could have failed, we are investigating the mechanism of infection," he said.
The World Health Organization confirmed there has not been a previous transmission outside West Africa in the current outbreak. WHO spokeswoman Fadela Chaib told The Associated Press that so far there have only been confirmed cases in West Africa and the United States, and no known transmission outside West Africa. The organization is awaiting official notification of the case from Spanish authorities.
The woman will be transferred for treatment to Madrid's Carlos III hospital, where she has been a nurse for 15 years.
The virus that causes Ebola spreads only through direct contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person who is showing symptoms.
Spanish authorities said they were investigating how the nurse became infected at a hospital with modern health care facilities and special equipment for handling cases of deadly viruses.
More than 370 health workers in West Africa have become infected in this outbreak, and more than half of those have died. Doctors and nurses there have worked under difficult conditions, treating patients in overflowing wards, sometimes without proper protection. But even under ideal conditions, experts warn that caring for Ebola patients always involves a risk.
WHO estimates the latest Ebola outbreak has killed more than 3,400 people.

Ex-Fed chief Bernanke denied loan to refinance his home

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke revealed last week that he was turned down when he tried to refinance his home loan.
According to Bloomberg News, Bernanke, in speaking at a conference in Chicago Thursday, told the crowd, “I recently tried to refinance my mortgage and I was unsuccessful in doing so.”

“I recently tried to refinance my mortgage and I was unsuccessful . . ."- Ben Bernanke

The audience reportedly laughed, and Bernanke responded: “I’m not making that up.”
“I think it’s entirely possible” that lenders “may have gone a little bit too far on mortgage credit conditions,” he said.
Bernanke also told the conference of the National Investment Center for Seniors Housing and Care that the first-time homebuyer market is “not what it should be.”
Bernanke was paid $199,750 annually as head of the central bank and reportedly earned $250,000 in March for his first public speaking engagement since stepping down in January.
He also reportedly received $1 million in a deal to write his memoirs.

Shipment of medical supplies to fight Ebola in Sierra Leone reportedly delayed for weeks

A shipping container filled with approximately $140,000 worth of medical equipment needed to fight the spread of the Ebola virus in the West African country of Sierra Leone has sat untouched on the docks of the country's capital for nearly two months according to a published report. 
According to The New York Times the shipment of hospital linens, protective suits, face masks, and other items arrived in the port of Freetown Aug. 9, but has still not been cleared by government officials.
The Ebola outbreak has killed over 3,000 people, with the vast majority of deaths occurring in Sierra Leone and two other West African countries, Liberia and Guinea. Local health officials have been overwhelmed by the spread of the virus, and some say the case of the delayed container is a vivid illustration of how government corruption has undercut efforts to fight Ebola as well. 
The Times reports that the shipment was organized by Chernoh Alpha Bah, an opposition politician in Sierra Leone. A government official told the paper that approval of the shipment may have been delayed to prevent the opposition from scoring political points about their response to the outbreak. 
The paper also reported that the $6,500 shipping fee for the container had not been paid by the Sierra Leone government, resulting in three other other containers of supplies being kept at the docks by the shipping company. According to The Times, government officials disputed the fee before arguing that proper shipping protocols had not been followed. An official at the country's health ministry said the shipment should have been cleared with them first, before adding that the supplies would be cleared "very soon."
Meanwhile, another would-be donor, an expatriate Sierra Leonean living in Canada, tells the paper his shipment has been delayed for over a month because of the government's unwillingness to pay a $5,000 shipping fee. In context, the government official told The Times that the country has received over $40 million in cash donations to help fight Ebola. 
Sierra Leone is still recovering from an 11-year-long civil war, and the country's health ministry was beset by corruption charges levied at dozens of health officials over misappropriation of vaccination funds.

Biden issues second apology of weekend, after offending US allies in fight to destroy Islamic State

Vice President Biden on Sunday issued his second apology of the weekend for remarks that offended allies that the U.S. needs in the fight to destroy the Islamic State.
Biden apologized by phone Sunday to Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, saying he never meant to imply that his country was supporting Al Qaeda fighters in Syria. Al Nahyan is also the deputy supreme commander of the United Arab Emirates’ armed forces. 
Biden made the remarks at a speech Thursday, suggesting U.S. allies including Turkey, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates had funded and armed extremist groups linked to Al Qaeda. The UAE was exasperated and requested a formal clarification.
"The Turks … the Saudis, the Emirates, etc. What were they doing? They were so determined to take down (Syrian President Bashar) Assad and essentially have a proxy Sunni-Shia war," Biden said during the speech at Harvard University.
"What did they do?” he continued. “They poured hundreds of millions of dollars and thousands of tons of weapons into anyone who would fight against Assad -- except that the people who were being supplied were al Nusra and Al Qaeda and the extremist elements of jihadis coming from other parts of the world."
The White House said Biden clarified his remarks Sunday and recognized the UAE's strong steps to counter extremists and participation in U.S.-led air strikes on the Islamic State, also known as ISIL and ISIS.
On Saturday, Biden apologized to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for also saying during the speech that the Turkish leader admitted his country made mistakes by allowing foreign fighters to cross into Syria.
Biden also spoke directly to Erdogan -- to “clarify” his comments and to apologize for “any implication" that Turkey or the other allies had intentionally supplied or helped in the growth of the Islamic State or other extremists groups in Syria, the White House said.
Erdogan denied making such remarks and said Biden would become "history to me" over the comments unless he fixed the situation.
The speech was an especially bad event for the vice president, who has a history of gaffes and unscripted, problem-causing remarks.
Biden also took a question from a student who identified himself as being the vice president of the student body by jokingly saying first: "Ain't that a b-tch? … I mean ... excuse me, the vice president thing?”
In 2010, after President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act into law on national TV, Biden was caught on a live microphone saying to the president this is "a big f---ing deal."
Turkey, a NATO ally, is expected to define the role it will play in the U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State militants who have captured a swath of Iraq and Syria, in some cases right up to the Turkish border.

Netanyahu: US criticism of Israeli settlements ‘against the American values’

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday criticized the White House’s rebuke of his country’s settlement construction as “against American values,” but praised President Obama’s decision to launch airstrikes against the Islamic State militant group in Iraq and Syria.
Israel came under fire last week after a Jerusalem city official signed the final go-ahead for construction of a new housing development in east Jerusalem. Israel says east Jerusalem is part of its capital and considers Jewish housing developments there to be neighborhoods of the city, but the international community, including the U.S., does not recognize Israel's annexation of the area and considers construction there to be illegitimate settlement activity.
In a striking public rebuke last week, the Obama administration warned Israel that the new project would distance Israel from "even its closest allies" and raise questions about its commitment to seeking peace with Palestinians.
Netanyahu, in an interview on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” called the administration’s condemnation of the project “baffling.”
"It's against the American values. And it doesn't bode well for peace," he said. "The idea that we'd have this ethnic purification as a condition for peace, I think it's anti-peace."
However, Netanyahu said he supported the Obama administration’s decision to launch airstrikes in the battle against the Islamic State, and that Israel is ready to help the U.S. in “every way that we're asked.”
Netanyahu said he believes the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, Hamas and Iran are all locked in a competition to be the dominant militant Islamist group in the Middle East. He said the greatest threat to both the U.S. and Israel is the possibility that one of the groups could “marry their mad ideologies to weapons of mass death.”
"ISIS has got to be defeated because it's doing what all these militant Islamists are trying to do. They all want to first dominate their part of the Middle East, and then go on for their twisted idea of world domination," Netanyahu said. “The difference between ISIS and Hamas and ISIS and Iran and so on is they all agree that the world should be an Islamist hill, but ... each of them wants to be the king of the hill."
Netanyahu also spoke positively about his sometimes testy relationship with Obama, saying he has a good working relationship with the president.
"I don't want to say like an old married couple, but the president said that we had-- he's had more meetings with me than with any other foreign leader,” he said. “And I think you get to a point of mutual respect. You cut to the chase very quickly. You talk about the real things openly, as befitting real allies."

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Greta Van Susteren Scolds Obama for ‘ Childish ’ Snipe at Fox News - " Act Presidential "

Biden apologizes to Turkish President Erdogan for saying Turkey allowed foreign fighters into Syria

Good Old Democrat.

Vice President Biden on Saturday apologized to Turkey President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for saying the Turkish leader admitted his country made mistakes by allowing foreign fighters to cross into Syria.
Biden spoke directly to Erdogan to “clarify” comments made on Thursday at Harvard University and apologized for “any implication" that Turkey or other allies had intentionally supplied or helped in the growth of the Islamic State or other extremists groups in Syria, the White House said.
Erdogan denied making such remarks and said Biden would become "history to me" over the comments at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, in Cambridge, Mass., unless he fixed the situation.
The speech was an especially bad event for the vice president who has a history of gaffes and unscripted, problem-causing remarks.
Biden also took a question from a student who identified himself as being the vice president of the student body by jokingly saying first: Ain't that a b-tch? … I mean ... excuse me, the vice president thing?”
In 2010, after President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act into law on national TV, Biden was caught on a live microphone saying to the president this is "a big f---ing deal."
Biden on Thursday also described Erdogan as "an old friend" but suggested he said privately: “You were right. We let too many people through.”
Turkey is now trying to seal its border.
Erdogan also said: "I have never said to (Biden) that we had made a mistake, never. If he did say this…, then he has to apologize to us.
"Foreign fighters have never entered Syria from our country. They may come to our country as tourists and cross into Syria, but no one can say that they cross in with their arms."
He said Turkey had prevented 6,000 suspected jihadis from entering the country and deported another 1,000.
The spat comes as Turkey, a NATO ally, is expected to define the role it will play in the U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State militants who have captured a swath of Iraq and Syria, in some cases right up to the Turkish border.
This week Turkey's parliament approved a motion giving the government powers for military operations across the border in Syria and Iraq and for foreign troops to use Turkey's territory.
A day earlier, Biden and Erdogan held a telephone discussion on ways their countries can work together to degrade and destroy Islamic State and restore security and stability to the region, according to the White House.
At Harvard, Biden said that "our biggest problem is our allies" in responding to the civil war in Syria.
"The Turks … the Saudis, the Emiratis, etc. What were they doing? They were so determined to take down (Syrian President Bashar) Assad and essentially have a proxy Sunni-Shia war," Biden said.
"What did they do?” he continued. “They poured hundreds of millions of dollars and thousands of tons of weapons into anyone who would fight against Assad -- except that the people who were being supplied were al Nusra and al Qaeda and the extremist elements of jihadis coming from other parts of the world."
The White House also said in readout of the Biden-Erdogan conversation Saturday: "The two leaders reaffirmed the importance of Turkey and the United States working closely together to confront ISIL," as Islamic State is also known.

CDC chief warns travel ban could make Ebola crisis worse

The head of the CDC said Saturday that imposing a travel ban between the U.S. and West African countries dealing with the Ebola virus could worsen the outbreak that has killed over 3,000 people in five countries. 
"Though we might wish we can seal ourselves off from the world, there are Americans who have the right of return and many other people that have the right to enter this country," Dr. Thomas Frieden told a press conference. "We're not going to be able to get to zero risk no matter what we do unless we control the outbreak in West Africa."
Frieden added that a travel ban could make it difficult to get medical supplies and aid workers to the affected regions in West Africa. 
"We really need to be clear that we don't inadvertently increase the risk to people in this country by making it harder for us to respond to the needs in those countries," he said, "by making it harder to get assistance in and therefore those outbreaks would become worse, go on longer, and paradoxically, something that we did to try and protect ourselves might actually increase our risk."
Health officials have ruled out two potential Ebola cases in the Washington D.C. area, with Howard University Hospital in the District and Shady Grove Adventist Hospital in suburban Maryland confirming that patients who had been kept in isolation did not have the virus. A similar scare in New Jersey, when a passenger on a United Airlines flight from Brussels fell ill, also turned out not to be the virus. 
Frieden said Saturday that officials are “beginning to see some progress” toward controlling the outbreak, “but it's going to be a long hard road.”
Frieden said that they've already gotten "well over" 100 inquiries on suspicious cases in recent months, with an uptick coming after the Dallas patient was diagnosed. Federal officials have said tests have been done on about 15 and all but one -- Duncan -- were false alarms.
Most of the cases don't involve travel to West Africa, "but we'd rather have a wider net cast," said Frieden. That way "we're more likely to find someone promptly if they did actually have exposure and they do actually have symptoms," he said.
The virus that causes Ebola is not airborne and can only be spread through direct contact with the bodily fluids -- blood, sweat, vomit, feces, urine, saliva or semen -- of an infected person who is showing symptoms.
The first person diagnosed with Ebola in the United Sates went to a Dallas hospital last week but was mistakenly sent home, despite revealing he was visiting from Liberia, before returning by ambulance days later.
"There were things that did not go the way they should have in Dallas," Dr. Anthony Fauci, infectious diseases chief at the National Institutes of Health, said Friday. "But there were a lot of things that went right and are going right."
Texas officials now are monitoring 50 people, 10 of whom they consider at high risk, who came into contact with the man, identified as Thomas Eric Duncan. They've had to quarantine four of them, and even had problems getting rid of the infectious waste left in the apartment where the patient stayed.
Texas health officials say Duncan is now in critical condition.
Dallas County Judge Clay Lewis Jenkins said during the Saturday press conference that he took the four to a new home where they will be quarantined for 21 days.
Jenkins, the county top elected official, urged Americans to show compassion for them, saying they are deeply concerned about the public’s health and are people “just like in your family.”