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Tennessee ‘natural meaning’ law raises fears in LGBT community

Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam on Friday enacted a bill that critics say is an underhanded way of denying rights to same-sex couples by insisting on the “natural and ordinary meaning” of words in state statues.
The legislation, which was signed by the Republican governor despite pressure from civil liberty and gay-rights groups, requires words in Tennessee law be interpreted with their “natural and ordinary meaning, without forced or subtle construction that would limit or extend the meaning of the language.” It did not explain, however, what that means.
Civil rights and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) advocates warned the law is meant to undermine the rights of same-sex couples in any statutes that include words like “husband,” “wife,” “mother” or “father.”
Neither of the two sponsoring lawmakers, Republican state Senator John Stevens and Republican state Representative Andrew Farmer, could be reached to comment.
However, the Knoxville News Sentinel reported Stevens said he proposed the measure partly to compel courts to side more closely with the dissenting opinion in the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark 2015 ruling in the case of Obergefell v. Hodges which legalized same-sex marriage.
Haslam said on Friday he believes the law will not change how courts interpret legal precedent.
“While I understand the concerns raised about this bill, the Obergefell decision is the law of the land, and this legislation does not change a principle relied upon by the courts for more than a century, mitigating the substantive impact of this legislation,” he said in a statement.
The Tennessee measure is one of more than 100 bills introduced in U.S. state legislatures this year that to curtail LGBT rights, said Cathryn Oakley, senior legislative counsel for the LGBT advocacy group Human Rights Campaign.
While public opinion polls and court rulings have shifted in favor of same-sex rights in recent years, there is ongoing pushback from the 2015 ruling, Oakley said.
Last month, a Kentucky family court judge made headlines by issuing an order stating he would not hear adoption cases involving same-sex couples due to personal objections. That echoed Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis’ 2015 refusal to issue same-sex marriage licenses because it violated her religious beliefs.
Gay-rights groups previously warned the law could create an economic backlash against Tennessee similar to that suffered by North Carolina, where a law requiring students use the restroom of the gender on their birth certificates led sports organizations and musicians to cancel events.

Iowa Supreme Court blocks portion of 20-week abortion ban

The Iowa Supreme Court on Friday granted an emergency temporary injunction halting a portion of a 20-week abortion ban that was signed into law by Republican Governor Terry Branstad just hours earlier.
The law, passed by Iowa’s Republican-controlled House and Senate last month, bans abortions once a pregnancy reaches 20 weeks and stipulates a three-day waiting period before women can undergo any abortion.
The law does not make exceptions for instances of rape or incest but does allow for abortions if the mother’s life or health is at risk.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Planned Parenthood, a group that provides family planning services, including abortions, challenged the waiting-period part of the legislation in court as well as the requirement for an additional clinical visit women must make before an abortion.
The state Supreme Court on Friday issued the injunction after it was denied Thursday by a district judge.
“We are pleased that the court granted the temporary injunction, ruling on the side of Iowa women who need access to, and have a constitutional right, to safe, legal abortion,” Suzanna de Baca, chief executive of Planned Parenthood of the Heartland said in a statement.
The state will have an opportunity to respond to the court’s decision on Monday.
“This is all part of the process and we’re confident that the stay will be lifted very shortly,” said Ben Hammes, a spokesman for the Republican governor.
Women in the United States have the right under the Constitution to end a pregnancy, but abortion opponents have pushed for tougher regulations, particularly in conservative states.
There are 24 states that impose prohibitions on abortions after a certain number of weeks, according to the Guttmacher Institute, which tracks reproductive policy.
Seventeen of these states ban abortion at about 20 weeks and after.
Iowa’s law, Hammes said after the signing, marked a “return to a culture that once again respects human life.”
In Tennessee, a bill similar to the Iowa measure was sent to the desk of that state’s Republican governor on Wednesday to possibly be signed into law.

Pentagon to lease privately owned Trump Tower apartment for nuclear ‘football’: letter

The U.S. Defense Department is finalizing a lease on a privately owned apartment in New York’s Trump Tower for the White House Military Office to use for supporting President Donald Trump without providing any benefit to Trump or his organization, according to a Pentagon letter seen by Reuters.
The Military Office carries and safeguards the “football,” the device that contains the top secret launch codes the president needs to order a nuclear attack, as well as providing him secure communications wherever he is.
The White House, Secret Service, and Defense Department had no comment on whether similar arrangements have been made at other properties Trump frequents – Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida and the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey, where Trump is spending this weekend.
In a letter to Representative Jackie Speier, a Democrat on the House Armed Services and intelligence committees, Defense Department official James MacStravic, said the apartment is “privately owned and … lease negotiations have been with the owner’s representatives only.”
MacStravic, who wrote that he was “temporarily performing the duties of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics,” said any acquisition of leased space with “an annual rental in excess of $1 million must first be approved by my office.”
He “approved this action” after consulting with the White House Military Office and other officials, he said.
Officials declined to reveal the cost of the lease or identify the owners of the apartment.
MacStravic’s letter, dated March 3, added: “We are not aware of any means through which the President would personally benefit from a Government lease of this space.”
The letter explained that the White House Military Office, a Pentagon unit, “requested approval to lease space in the Trump Tower for personnel assigned to support the President when at his private residence.”
The letter said such arrangements are “typical of support provided” by the Military Office to previous U.S. presidents and vice presidents at their private residences. It is not clear, however, whether the office has ever paid to rent space to house the classified equipment presidents need when they are staying at homes they own outside Washington.
A White House spokeswoman said the White House had no information on the leasing issue. The Defense Department and U.S. Secret Service declined to comment.
The Trump Organization did not reply to an email requesting comment.
When the Pentagon in February first acknowledged that it was seeking to lease space in Trump Tower, some Democrats questioned whether such a move would produce a financial windfall for Trump.
“I am concerned by the appearance that the President of the United States will financially benefit from this deal at the expense of the Department of Defense – and ultimately, taxpayers,” Speier wrote to Defense Secretary James Mattis shortly after the Trump Tower issue became public in February.
By negotiating only with representatives of the owners of a private apartment, the Pentagon said it was seeking to avoid such concerns.

Iranian supreme leader critical of ‘Western-influenced’ Rouhani education plan

Iran’s supreme leader on Sunday criticized the government of President Hassan Rouhani for promoting a “Western-influenced” United Nations education plan which his hardline allies have said contradicts Islamic principles.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s remarks came ahead of May 19 polls, in which the president is seeking re-election.
“In this country, the basis is Islam and the Koran. This is not a place where the faulty, corrupt and destructive Western lifestyle will be allowed to spread its influence,” Khamenei told a gathering of educators, according to his website.
“It makes no sense to accept such a document in the Islamic Republic,” Khamenei said, referring to the Education 2030 plan proposed by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
Khamenei did not give details of his opposition to the UNESCO plan, but hardline commentators in Iran have said its promotion of gender equality in education contravened Islam.
“How can a so-called international body which is under the influence of the great powers allow itself to assign duties for countries with different histories, cultures and civilizations?” said Khamenei, who often warns of a “soft war” mounted by the West to topple Iran’s Islamic government.
Khamenei has the final say over policy in Iran and has repeatedly distanced himself from Rouhani in recent weeks.
But he has stopped short of backing any of Rouhani’s hardline opponents, who include influential cleric Ebrahim Raisi and Tehran Mayor Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf.
A U.N. human rights report issued in August 2015 said Iran had almost achieved universal enrolment and gender parity at all educational levels.
But the report said that gender-ratio policies adopted in 2012 had led to a fall in enrolment of female students in universities.

Macron favourite as France votes for new president, early turnout low

French voters choose on Sunday whether a pro-European Union centrist or a eurosceptic, anti-immigration far-rightist will lead them for the next five years, with early figures indicating turnout could be low, but above most recent forecasts.
Opinion polls predict that after 8 p.m. (1800 GMT) Emmanuel Macron, a 39-year-old ex-economy minister who wants to bridge the left-right divide, will be named as president, seeing off the challenge from National Front leader Marine Le Pen.
A Macron victory would further stem the tide of nativist, anti-globalisation voting outcomes like those that will see Britain quit the EU and which made Donald Trump U.S. president.
Macron, who wants to deregulate the economy and deepen EU integration, is set to win the head-to-head with between 61.5 and 63 percent of the vote, according to the last opinion polls on Friday.
Should an upset occur and Le Pen win, the very future of the EU could be on the line given her desire to close borders, dump the euro currency, and tear up trade treaties.
Even in defeat, the 48 year-old’s vote is likely to be about twice what her party scored the last time it reached the presidential second round in 2002, demonstrating the scale of voter disaffection with mainstream politics in France.
By midday, both candidates had voted, he in Le Touquet on the north coast, and she in the northern town of Henin-Beaumont.
Midday turnout figures from the Interior Ministry said 28.23 percent of voters had turned out so far, the lowest at this stage of the day since the 2002 presidential poll, when it was 26.19 percent. Turnouts at midday in 2012 and 2007 were 30.66 percent and 34.11 percent respectively.
A poll on Friday had predicted a final turnout of 75 percent this time. The eventual turnouts in 2002, 2007 and 2012 were all above 80 percent.
Pollsters see likely abstentions as highest among left-wing voters who feel disenfranchised by Sunday’s choice after nine other candidates were eliminated in first round, but it is unclear what a high or low turnout could mean for the outcome.
Nevertheless, voter surveys forecasting the result itself proved accurate for the tight first round race last month.
Markets have risen in response to Macron’s widening lead over his rival after a bitter television debate on Wednesday.
“We increased our equity exposure and added some French stocks after the first round,” said Francois Savary, chief investment officer at Geneva-based fund management firm Prime Partners. “The major political risk of a Le Pen victory appears to be disappearing.”
After a campaign in which favourites dropped out of the race one after the other, Le Pen is nevertheless closer to elected power than the far right has been in France since World War Two.
If opinion polls prove accurate and the country elects its youngest-ever president rather than its first female leader, Macron himself has said himself he expects no honeymoon period.
Close to 60 percent of those who plan to vote for Macron say they will do so to stop Le Pen from being elected to lead the euro zone’s second-largest economy, rather than because they fully support the former banker turned politician.
“I don’t necessarily agree with either of the candidates,” psychotherapist Denise Dulliand, who was voting in Annecy in the mountainous southeast, told Reuters.
“But I wanted to express my voice, to be able to say that I came, even if I am really not satisfied with what is happening in our country, and that I would like to see less stupidity, less money and more fraternity.”
MORE ELECTIONS TO COME
The battle between mainstream and more radical policies in France will continue into parliamentary elections next month in which the new president will try to secure a majority in parliament. One poll this week suggested that was within reach for Macron.
Much will also depend on how the candidates score on Sunday. Le Pen’s niece, Marion Marechal-Le Pen, on Thursday told L’Opinion daily that winning 40 percent of the vote would be “a huge victory” for the National Front.
Whoever wins will open a new chapter in French politics, after the major left- and right-wing parties — the Socialists and The Republicans — that have ruled France for decades both suffered humiliating defeats in the election’s first round.
The campaign was hit by yet another surprise on Friday night, just as the quiet period in which politicians are forbidden from commenting began. Macron’s team said a massive hack had dumped emails, documents and campaign-financing information online.
Exit polls will be published when voting ends at 8 pm (1800 GMT).
With security a prime concern More than 50,000 police officers were on duty on Sunday. A series of militant attacks in Paris, Nice and elsewhere in France have killed more than 230 people in recent years.

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Hillary Clinton Email Cases Still Smolder, With Foes Eager to Spark New Investigation

She just won't go away.

Conservative transparency group Judicial Watch continued its carousel of court hearings Tuesday, seeking records relating to Hillary Clinton’s time as secretary of state, hoping to uncover evidence of wrongdoing.
The legal pursuit of the former Democratic presidential nominee remained hot inside a federal courthouse in the nation's capital, even if fewer reporters showed up than before her surprise November defeat.
At one hearing, appeals judges reviewed a request to identify all State Department employees who used personal email for work after Clinton took office. At the other, a district court judge considered the speed of redacting and releasing FBI investigative records about a cloud service backup of Clinton’s private email server.
Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said outside the group’s second hearing that there remains an objective to the legal onslaught, even if Clinton holds no office.
Fitton wants President Donald Trump to make good on a campaign promise to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Clinton, whose handling of classified records and interactions with family foundation donors were major election issues.
“We want the thumbs to be taken off the scale, finally,” he says, alleging the State Department and FBI may be slow-walking disclosure because they fear triggering Trump to reconsider his walk-back of the campaign pledge.
Currently a new probe of Clinton, who maintained her innocence and against whom FBI Director James Comey in July recommended no charges for mishandling classified records, does not appear likely.
After defeating her, Trump downplayed his talk about a special prosecutor, saying "I don't want to hurt the Clintons." And attorneys now facing off against Judicial Watch's Freedom of Information Act demands work for the new Trump administration.
In court Tuesday, the group sought FOIA processing priority for 785 pages of FBI investigative records -- of about 10,000 pages of FBI Clinton investigation records -- that it believes could be explosive.
The pages relate to the Datto cloud backup service, which stored data from Clinton’s private server -- something discovered to the apparent displeasure of Platte River Networks CEO Treve Suazo, whose company helped maintain Clinton's server.
“This data should not be stored in the Datto Cloud, but because the backup data exists, we cannot delete it,” Suazo wrote in a 2015 email to a Datto employee, which was released in a congressional committee investigating Clinton's email server.
Judicial Watch believes investigative records about Datto may include information about the 30,000 or so emails that Clinton's team deleted before turning over content it deemed work-related to the State Department. Many but not all of those emails were later recovered by the FBI and determined to be work-related.
Justice Department attorney Cesar Lopez-Morales said in court Tuesday that a heavy FOIA request burden prevented authorities from agreeing to Judicial Watch's request to prioritize the 785 pages.
“A lot of the Clinton investigation remains sensitive,” Lopez-Morales said, meaning “a limited number” of people can access the documents. And, he said, “there’s a risk of missing files as you’re pulling out the specific files” from folders.
Judicial Watch attorney Michael Bekesha suggested copying files rather than removing them from folders, but U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss said he was inclined to side with the administration.
Moss expressed concern it would be “inefficient and unfair” to prioritize the pages and asked rhetorically, “what happens if everyone comes in and does this?”
Lopez-Morales said the full set of FBI investigatory files are likely to be fully processed for redaction and release within about 17 months, down from the 20 months previously estimated.
The approximately 10,000 pages of FBI records are distinct from State Department documents from Clinton's tenure, including emails, being processed for release. A hearing in March is scheduled to review the pace of State Department processing, which as of November was calculated to take five years in response to lawsuits from Judicial Watch and Vice journalist Jason Leopold.
The tangle of Clinton emails cases can be difficult to follow, even for leaders of Judicial Watch, which is known as a prolific document requester and FOIA litigator. But the effort continues to see successes. In December, a federal appeals panel revived a pair of lawsuits -- one from Judicial Watch -- to force authorities to do more to compel recovery of Clinton emails. Last week, the group published 549 pages of State Department documents a judge ordered released in a different case targeting Clinton aide Huma Abedin's emails.
Fitton concedes it’s difficult to keep all of the Clinton email lawsuits straight, and Bekesha deferred to spokeswoman Jill Farrell for a precise number of active cases relating to Clinton’s emails. Farrell says the group has 13 Clinton email lawsuits currently pending.