As we approach a new year, Moyers & Company asked some of the people trying to change the world for the better to tell us what made them proud in 2013, and what their hopes and dreams are for 2014. Here’s what Sister Simone Campbell, leader of Nuns…
Anti-LGBT activists and other right-wing conservatives are calling for a boycott of the 2014 Rose Parade because of a parade float that will feature the wedding of a same-sex couple.
CBS Los Angeles reported on Monday that Aubrey Loots and Danny LeClair plan to formalize their partnership of 12 years atop a float sponsored by the AIDS Health Foundation in this year's parade.
The two will be the first same-sex couple to get married in the parade. On its Facebook Page, the foundation announced that the two men will be married on top of a float made of thousands of flowers shaped into a white wedding cake. The float will be one of 45 featured in this year's Rose Parade, a tradition that dates back 125 years.
The theme of the float will be "Dreams Come True," which for LeClair and Loots, could not be more true.
“AIDS Healthcare Foundation is about love is the ultimate protection. We’ve taken it to love saves lives. This is about love, across the world, no boundaries. We’re celebrating love,” Loots said to CBS. “This is also an opportunity, for us, to give a voice to people who don’t have a platform like this to express their love, in this country and many other countries, too.”
Last summer, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that supporters of California's ban on same-sex marriages, Proposition 8, had no grounds legally to deny same-sex couples the right to marry. The decision allowed the thousands of same-sex couples married in the state to remain married, and couples like Lootens and LeClair to get married.
Anti-LGBT conservatives, on the other hand, are incensed.
San Diego's Karen Grube is staunchly against same-sex marriage, and feels the parade won't be the same if the two men are allowed to marry, even if their union is legal. She doesn't want to see the old tradition fall prey to "political correctness."
"For that couple, it's a dream come true. Yes, but not for the 30 states that they're throwing this to and not for the people who voted against it," Gruber told Channel 10 News.
"Why would the Tournament of Roses promote something illegal like that? Pot smoking is legal in some states too, and some even claim it has medical benefits. What's next for the Rose Parade? A float touting the benefits of smoking pot?" Gruber wrote on Facebook.
The National Organization for Marriage (NOM)'s president Brian Brown announced that his organization supports the boycott, telling Fox News that Rose Parade viewers "will be exposed to the spectacle of men `marrying' men with the attendant public hugging and kissing."
Parade organizers stood firm on their decision to include AHF's float and the nuptials of LeClair and Loots.
"Like all of our sponsors and float designers, AHF continues to help make the Rose Parade a premier event through original and creative expressions that connect to parade themes," read a statement.
The couple will be married by Rev. Alfreda Lanoix of the Unity Fellowship Church of Christ.
LeClair's mother Nouhad told CBS, "I’m extremely proud of both of them. I’m very honored to have Aubrey as a second son.”
Watch videos about this story, embedded below:
[image of Danny LeClair and Aubrey Loots via Facebook]
A Pennsylvania State Trooper has been placed on unpaid leave after being charged for using pepper spray to punish his girlfriend's 13-year-old son for sleeping instead of going to school.
WTAE first reported that Trooper Ernest Boatright found the teen in bed earlier this year when he was supposed to be in school and discharged pepper spray into his eyes, according to court papers.
The boy told police that he began to cough and knew that it was pepper spray because Boatright had used the spray on him before.
Court records indicated that Boatright had admitted using pepper spray on two cats on an enclosed porch, but his attorney said that the trooper "vehemently denies the charges that have been filed against him."
"He is very much looking forward to the opportunity to defend himself and clear his name," attorney Matthew Zatko added.
Officials at the Pennsylvania State Police said that the charges of endangering the welfare of children and harassment meant that Boatright would be suspended without pay. He was currently assigned to the New Stanton barracks and had been with the department since 1989.
A preliminary court hearing was scheduled for Jan. 22.
Watch this video from WTAE, broadcast Dec. 31, 2013.
[Photo credit: sad and unhappy child via Shutterstock.]
A 15-year-old boy is in custody in South Carolina after shooting and killing a 12-year-old girl with his grandfather's handgun over the weekend.
According to WYFF, Laurens County deputies found Hope Alexandria Fair with a gunshot to the head at a mobile home Sunday night.
Lt. Jawarski Shelton explained that the 12-year-old girl had been visiting a friend at the mobile home when the 15-year-old suspect came inside the home with the gun at around 6:30 p.m.. The 15-year-old boy originally told police that the weapon had been fired by someone else.
"(He) called the Laurens County Sheriff’s Office stating that he had walked into a residence after hearing a gunshot and found a 12-year-old female on the floor with a gunshot wound," Shelton noted.
But a second caller, the victim's friend, told police that her 15-year-old cousin had been holding the gun when it discharged.
"Eventually, he admitted that he was actually holding the gun when it fired and that he was actually loading a magazine into the weapon," Shelton explained. "When he pulled the slide back, the gun fired."
The pistol was recovered after a search of a wooded area near the home. Investigators determined that the suspect had taken the weapon from his grandfather's vehicle, but did not have permission.
The 15-year-old boy was being held the Department of Juvenile Justice and will be charged with involuntary manslaughter. He was not expected to be tried as an adult.
Michelle Fair, the victim's mother, described her daughter as "strong" and "creative."
"She was definitely one of a kind," the mother recalled. "She was so beautiful."
"I know it was an accident, and he’ll have to pay for that accident for a long time," Michelle Fair said of the 15-year-old boy. "I feel sorry for them. I feel sorry for him. I’ll lose my daughter forever. They’re going to lose their kid for a long time, too."
Breanna Fair, the victim's sister, told WHNS that she was still trying to make sense of the shooting.
"Someone doesn't need to leave a gun laying out where kids can grab it," she said.
Watch this video from WYFF, broadcast Dec. 31, 2013.
A Republican gubernatorial candidate in Arizona said this week that he mistakenly misquoted former President Abraham Lincoln on class warfare to criticize President Barack Obama because the quotes "sounded good."
"You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich," State Sen. Al Melvin (R) wrote on Twitter last week. "You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong."
"You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred," another tweet said. "POTUS Obama needs to learn from these words."
Although Melvin attributed both quotes to the 16th president, there is no record of him actually saying those words.
“I can tell you that these quotes are spurious,” Arizona State University history professor Brooks Simpson told Capitol Media Services. “They do not appear in Lincoln’s writings or in his recollected words.”
For his part, Melvin said that the quotes came from a GOP newsletter and he used them because they "sounded good."
“It seemed like it was something that he would say," he said, adding that the misattribution was "news to me."
In fact, the quotes should have been attributed to William J. H. Boetcker, a conservative religious leader who is best known for a 1916 pamphlet emphasizing freedom and personal responsibility. Conservative politicians, including President Ronald Reagan, have repeatedly and incorrectly credited Lincoln with the quotations.
“If Obama had said it, I would have credited him,” Melvin remarked to Capitol News Services. “I know he wouldn’t have said it, but that was the point.”
Watch this video of Al Melvin campaigning against President Barack Obama in 2012.
(h/t: Talking Points Memo)
Background checks for gun purchases have hit a record high in Colorado following a number of mass shooting in the last year.
KKCO reported that figures provided by the Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI) indicated that the state had conducted 350,000 background checks through November, surpassing any previous year.
"January through November 2013 have passed all of 2012, so we're definitely higher than we were in 2012," CBI spokesperson Susan Medina explained.
While the final numbers for December have not been compiled, over 2,000 background checks were performed last weekend alone.
Gun retailers point to recent mass shootings, like the slaughter of 20 children at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut last year, as one factor driving sales.
"After the tragic school shooting when everybody started trying to hoard, then we had a great influx of people trying to purchase firearms," licensed firearms dealer Brian Langfitt told KKCO. "Because I think they were afraid that the government was going to step in and regulate a certain segment of the firearms, so what they were doing was rushing to do that."
Background checks in Colorado are expected to increase after January 1st because a new law will require private sales between individuals to include a background check at a licensed dealer.
"In the past, a seller in a private transaction just had to have a general knowledge that the person they were selling the firearm to could legally possess the firearm," Medina pointed out. "Now it's a new law and they need to take part in that background check process."
But gun advocates insist that background checks are not answer to gun violence.
"Blaming a gun for a shooting is like blaming a fork for being fat," Langfitt said.
Watch the video below from KKCO, broadcast Dec. 31, 2013.
[Stock photo of dealer with guns and assault rifle (Shutterstock.com)]
Police in Maryland are investigating the death of two bald eagles that were shot near Washington, D.C. in the last week.
According to D.C. Crime Stories, one of the birds was shot on Christmas day while it was feeding on a deer carcass in Brookville.
On Saturday, the second bird was found suffering from gun shot wounds at a home in Darnestown. X-rays later revealed that it had been injured with bird shot. That bird also died from its injuries.
"It's unusual to have them so close together," Maryland Natural Resources Police spokesperson Candy Thomson told WUSA. "But eagles get shot by accident on purpose. On most cases it's a case of mistaken identity, people think they're vultures or some other bird of prey."
"In some incidences though, it's just wanton destruction, somebody having a good time which is unfortunate," she said.
Bald eagles were taken off the endangered species list in 2007, but shooting them is still punishable by a $5,000 fine and up to one year in jail. However, a permit can be obtained from the Department of Interior to legally shoot the birds.
The Maryland Department of Natural Resources has encouraged anyone with information about the shootings to call 410-260-8888. Callers who wish to remain anonymous can contact the Catch-A-Poacher hotline at 1-800-635-6124.
Watch the video below from WTTG, broadcast Dec. 30, 2013.
[Photo credit: A beautiful American Bald Eagle as it searches for prey via Shutterstock.com]
Franklin Graham, the son of influential evangelist Billy Graham, does not think Christians should shy away from criticizing LGBT people and their relationships.
"God would have to shift and God doesn't," Graham said in an interview that aired NBC's Meet the Press on Sunday. "God's word is the same, yesterday and today and a million years from now. This is sin. But to wink at sin and to tell somebody it is OK when I know the consequences of what will happen one day when they have to stand before God, so I want to warn people."
"I think the pope is right when he says he’s not the judge,” he added. “He’s not the judge. God is the judge."
Pope Francis made international headlines in July after expressing a more friendly tone towards LGBT people.
"If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?" Francis told reporters.
A recent poll about how the United States views evolution may leave some believing that Republicans are definitely not evolving.
According to a Pew Research Center's Religion and Public Life Project telephone survey released on Monday, the number of Republicans who believe in evolution has dropped by 11 points in just four years.
The survey found that 54 percent of Republicans thought that humans evolved over time in 2009. But by 2013, that number had dropped to just 43 percent.
During the same time period, Democrats who believed in evolution increased from 64 percent to 67 percent.
Overall, 33 percent of American rejected the idea that humans evolved over time. Pew noted that the number of Americans embracing evolution had remained steady over time, but that there was an increasing divide between Democrats and Republicans.
"The gap is coming from the Republicans, where fewer are now saying that humans have evolved over time," Pew senior researcher Cary Funk pointed out.
White evangelical Protestants were the top religious group denying evolution, with 64 percent agreeing that "humans and other living things have existed in their present form since the beginning of time," Pew said.
Last year, Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA) -- who sits on the House of Representatives science committee -- and other scientific theories "lies from the pit of Hell."
Watch this video, uploaded to YouTube in 2012.
A Pittsburgh rabbi who has had no formal medical training is facing a lawsuit after allegedly severing a baby's penis while conducting a Jewish circumcision ritual at a synagogue earlier this year.
KDKA reported that Rabbi Mordechai Rosenberg "severed the baby boy’s penis" during the bris ceremony at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Squirrel Hill.
Sources told KDKA that doctors at Children’s Hospital successfully reattached the penis after eight hours of surgery and six blood transfusions. The child had to be hospitalized for almost two months.
According to Rosenberg's website, a "medical circumcision, usually performed in the hospital on the second or third day after birth, does not fulfill the requirements of a Bris Milah and is not considered valid according to Jewish law."
Attorney David Llewellyn told KDKA that the "average pediatric urologist probably spends about 20 percent of his or her time repairing children who have been circumcised."
Llewellyn said that there were no laws in the U.S. regulating religious circumcisions.
“There’s virtually no regulation of this any place in the United States that I know of,” Llewellyn explained. “I think the government probably should require some sort of training if this is going to be done.”
Rosenberg, however, insisted to KDKA that he had been "trained in this" and called the severed penis a "tragic accident."
Watch this video from KDKA, broadcast Dec. 27, 2013.
(h/t: Friendly Atheist)
Police in Arizona have accused a Casa Grande mother of stabbing her ex-husband and then force-feeding narcotics to her four children -- which killed her 13-year-old daughter -- on Christmas day.
According to KNXV, 33-year-old Adam Villa contacted police on Christmas night to say that he had been stabbed by his wife, 35-year-old Connie Villa, and was driving himself to the hospital.
Officers responding to the scene found Connie Villa holding a knife to her chest. She had already suffered multiple stab wounds.
Daughter Aniarael Macias, age 13, was found dead in a bathroom. And investigators were able to determine that three other children also had trace amounts of opiates in their system, according to The Arizona Republic. The surviving children were ages 3, 5 and 8.
Connie Villa was taken into custody and charged with one count of first degree murder and four counts of attempted murder.
At a press conference on Sunday, police said that the mother had forced the children to take "prescription narcotic drugs in an attempt to kill them."
"On behalf of Michael Macias, Ania’s father, Vera Macias, Ania’s grandmother and extended family, we request that the focus of this tragedy be a celebration of our precious Ania’s life," the family said in a statement on Sunday. "She was a gentle, kind and beautiful spirit who was taken from us much too soon."
"We are writing this statement in hopes that the media and other outlets will allow Michael and our family to grieve peacefully. We thank everyone for the outpouring of support for our family. We appreciate your prayers and positive thoughts. We pray that justice will be served."
A toxicology report was expected to take up to three weeks to complete.
Watch the video below from KNXV, broadcast Dec. 29, 2013.
The hosts of the Fox News morning show Fox & Friends said on Monday that a plus-sized Barbie doll might make girls think it was acceptable to be fat and then followed-up with a segment complaining that President Barack Obama's health care law was forcing companies to disclose nutritional information.
Fox News host Steve Doocy pointed out that a modeling agency had asked on their Facebook page if toy companies should create a plus-sized Barbie doll.
"That's probably because the majority of Americans are overweight and the problem with that is that it's an unhealthy figure," co-host Anna Kooiman observed. "I understand not having a little skinny, teeny, tiny Barbie. I mean, she's a perfect 10, she's better than a perfect 10. People say she can't even walk around on those two little legs if her measurements were real. So, how about just have a normal-sized Barbie?"
"That's not typically a healthy size," she said of the plus-sized doll. "So let's produce something in the middle."
About 10 minutes later, Kooiman was generating outrage in a segment about how "Obamacare now mandates all vending machines list the calories of every item they sell, a regulation that could cost distributors $25 million to implement in its first year."
Vending machine company owner Butch Yamali argued that food manufactures should be responsible for the labeling "if this is what Obama wants."
In the next hour, Fox & Friends again returned to the issue of the plus-sized Barbie, and Kooiman highlighted one viewer's email:
This is not good. This would tell our kids it's okay to be fat. I'm sorry, it's not okay. It's unhealthy to be overweight.
Watch this video from Fox News' Fox & Friends, broadcast Dec. 30, 2013.
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R) says that he has been trying to forget that he was forced to interview a woman who was fired because her boss thought her breasts were too large.
In a recent interview with Politico, Huckabee took a look back at his time being a radio host as The Mike Huckabee Show comes to an end after nearly two years of trying to go head-to-head against Rush Limbaugh.
He recalled that a producer scheduled one interview that really made him uncomfortable.
"It was a woman who got fired because she said that her boss thought that her breasts were too big. And I’m not making this up,” the one-time Republican presidential candidate explained. "So I’m sitting there having to interview this woman about her boss thought her breasts were too big. I’ve had conversations with a lot of people, public and private, but this is just not one I want to have on a national radio show."
"It was bizarre. It was absolutely the most awkward, uncomfortable conversation I think I’ve probably ever had."
Huckabee said that he told his producer: “Look, I don’t mind doing fun stuff, I don’t mind doing some stuff that’s off the wall, but this is the kind of topic — this isn’t going to happen again.”
But he added that the producer “didn’t last very long with the show and maybe this was why.”
Huckabee, who also hosts a Fox News show, noted that he had "tried to forget" talking to the woman, but "unfortunately I’m unable to."
(h/t: Talking Points Memo)
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