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Hong Kong to grant spousal visas to same-sex expat couple

Lily Kuo
The Guardian
Wed, 04 Jul 2018 15:32 UTC
lgbt hong kong
© Isaac Lawrence/AFP/Getty ImagesThe awarding of spousal visas to a same-sex couple in Hong Kong marks the end of a long legal battle.
Hong Kong's highest court on Wednesday ordered immigration officials to grant spousal visas to a same-sex expatriate couple, ending a closely watched years-long legal battle.

Since 2014 a British national, known in court as QT, has been trying to apply for a spousal visa to accompany her partner, also a British national, who works in Hong Kong. The couple, who entered a civil partnership in the UK in 2004, have been repeatedly denied a spousal visa for QT on the basis that Hong Kong does not recognise same-sex unions as marriages.

In a landmark decision last year, Hong Kong's court of appeals overturned a lower court's ruling to uphold the immigration department's judgment. The government then appealed that decision in Hong Kong's court of final appeal in a case that became a rallying point for LGBT advocates, as well as the city's financial industry.

On Wednesday, the court upheld the appeals court ruling, judging the immigration department's behaviour as discriminatory and unjustified.

"Today's ruling by the Court of Final Appeal affirms what millions of us in this wonderful and vibrant city know to be true, that discrimination based on sexual orientation, like any other form of discrimination is offensive and demeaning," QT said in a statement read out by her lawyer after the ruling.
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Attention

Violence erupts as police clear out Philadelphia ICE demonstrators

Greg Norman
Fox News
Wed, 04 Jul 2018 15:15 UTC
ICE officer
Police removed protesters who had been blocking the entrance to an ICE office in Philadelphia.
Police got into violent scuffles with protesters in Philadelphia on Tuesday, reportedly hauling away at least a dozen people who had been blocking the front door of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office.

Philadelphia Police started directing the protesters away from the Center City office around noon Tuesday, but some of the removals turned violent. Video footage broadcast on local news stations showed some of the protesters scuffling with police. The exact number of arrests was not immediately clear.

"You said if we took the tents down you would arrest nobody. But you still arrested people what the f--- is wrong with you?" one of the protesters tells police in a video clip.

Comment: More video footage:



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Bullseye

Police 'find 81 grams of narcotics inside woman's privates


RT
Sat, 07 Jul 2018 14:41 UTC
Drugs
© Krisanapong Detraphiphat / Getty Images
Cocaine, marijuana, MDMA - you name it, and one suspected Wisconsin drug dealer could have a fist-sized bundle of it packed away somewhere discreet.

When police searched a car driven by Jaral McCollum and his girlfriend Desiree Webster in Shawano in the north of the state on June 25, they were acting on a tip that the pair were transporting drugs. After finding little on them, police took the pair into custody before conducting a strip search on Webster. A corrections officer then told officers she believed the man's 20-year-old partner was hiding something in her vaginal cavity.
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People 2

Canadian journalist who accused PM Trudeau of groping her breaks silence


Yahoo News
Fri, 06 Jul 2018 15:11 UTC
Trudeau
A former journalist broke her silence on Friday to stand by her allegation that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau groped her nearly two decades ago, when he was not politically involved.

"I issue this statement reluctantly, in response to mounting media pressure to confirm that I was the reporter who was the subject of the Open Eyes editorial, published in the Creston Valley Advance in August of 2000," Rose Knight said in a statement to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC).

She was referring to the original Canadian report on the allegation, which said that Trudeau, who was 28 at the time and not involved in politics, had apologized to the reporter in question.

In that story he was also quoted as saying "I would never have been so forward" had he known she was a reporter.

"The incident referred to in the editorial did occur, as reported. Mr Trudeau did apologize the next day. I did not pursue the incident at the time and will not be pursuing the incident further. I have had no subsequent contact with Mr Trudeau, before or after he became prime minister," said Knight.

Knight said she will not be commenting further on the issue, according to CBC.

Comment: See also:

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Attention

Candace Owens predicts there will be a major black exit from the Democrat Party leading up to the 2020 election

Frieda Powers
Biz Pac Review
Fri, 06 Jul 2018 14:36 UTC
Candace Owens
Candace Owens predicted a future shift in the Democratic Party as black voters make a "major exit" leading up to the 2020 election.

The Turning Point USA communications director believes that that black men and women will become the "most relevant vote" in the nation by 2020, not the white middle-class women others have focused on.

"There is going to be a major black exit from the Democrat Party and they are going to actually have to actually compete for their votes in 2020," Owens said on "Fox & Friends" Thursday.

With more African-Americans hearing "different ideas" through digital and social media, Owens pointed back to the 2016 election campaign and noted that President Trump was right when he told black voters they had "nothing to lose" in supporting him over Hillary Clinton.


Comment: See also:

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Compass

Former Navy Seal dies in Thai cave rescue operation; Elon Musk offers help

Alex Diaz
The Sun
Sat, 07 Jul 2018 13:26 UTC
Thai cave boys
Our graphic shows the most perilous section of the path to freedom the boys and coach may be forced to take over the next few days.
A diver died yesterday trying to help the young footballers trapped in a Thai cave - and with him died hopes of an easy rescue for the 12 boys and their coach.

Former Thai Navy SEAL Saman Kunan, 37, ran out of oxygen as he returned from delivering air tanks to the flooded cave where the team has now been stranded for two weeks.

Officials initially planned to continue delivering supplies to the trapped team for up to four months, until waters dropped sufficiently for them to walk out.

But the death of experienced diver Saman, coupled with news that oxygen levels are down to 15 per cent and decreasing in the cave - where the normal level is 21 per cent - has forced the realisation that time is running out.

Thai Navy SEAL commander Apakorn Yookongkaew said: "At first we thought we could stay for a long time. Now things have changed. We have a limited time."
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Handcuffs

Oklahoma Senator facing life for pleading guilty to child sex trafficking and getting caught with child porn

Matt Agorist
The Free Thought Project
Sat, 07 Jul 2018 14:42 UTC
Ralph Shortey
Over a year has passed since Oklahoma state senator, Ralph Shortey was busted for child sex trafficking and now, on Friday, he's finally been scheduled for sentencing.

In September of 2017, Shortey was accused in a federal indictment of multiple counts of child sex trafficking and child pornography offenses. In November, Shortey agreed to plead guilty to a single child sex trafficking charge in exchange for the three other charges to be dismissed. He now faces a minimum of 10 years in prison but could be sent away for life.

Court documents filed in the United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma show that the disgraced two-term former senator will face a sentencing hearing at 10 a.m. Sept. 5.

The age of consent for sexual activity is 16 in Oklahoma. However, it is against both state and federal law for anyone under the age of 18 to be involved in the commercial sex industry.

As a result, anyone who prostitutes a minor under the age of 18, like Ralph Shortey, can be charged with either child prostitution or trafficking in minors - thus the charge of child sex trafficking.
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Handcuffs

Tulsa man faces jail time for overdue $5 movie rental

Rachel Blevins
The Free Thought Project
Thu, 05 Jul 2018 14:36 UTC
ted movie cop
A man who never returned the copy of the movie "Ted" he rented for $5 from a local store in 2014 was contacted by police and threatened with jail time if he did not pay the hefty fine that has accumulated over the last four years.

Lonnie Perry said he vaguely remembers renting the movie, watching it and then forgetting to return it-but he became homeless around that time, and he believes the DVD copy of "Ted" was just another one of the possessions he packed into a box when he moved to a neighboring town.

The local store insisted that it tried to reach out to Perry multiple times, but when they could not contact him, they turned the case over to the Rogers County District Attorney's Office and listed the DVD as "stolen property" that must be returned.

The local news apparently had no trouble finding the man, and in an interview with ABC 8 in Tulsa, Perry said he was shocked when he received a letter from the DA notifying him that he could face jail time if he did not pay the $218.07 fee for the movie rental.

The fact that is even more incredible is that out of the money Perry owes, the movie store will only receive a small portion-$19 for the movie and $25 for "lost profits"-while the DA will receive $174 as part of "a state statute that deals with unreturned movies," according to the report.

"I just don't have that kind of money right off. I'll get it, and I'll pay it. I'll do what I have to do. I just think it could have gone a different route," Perry said. "I understand the video place having to do what they've got to do. There's other means of trying to get a hold of people without a warrant."

In response to reports about the fines and jail time Perry was facing over a $5 movie rental, a local handyman company, Jeff of All Trades, stepped in and paid all of the fines Perry owed.
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Clipboard

Poll shows large numbers of Democrats and liberals want to 'abolish ICE'

Neil Munro
Breitbart
Thu, 05 Jul 2018 14:24 UTC
ICE families together protests
© Tamir Kalifa/Getty Images
A Rasmussen poll shows that 36 percent of Democrats and 45 percent of liberals want to abolish the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.

Fifty-two percent of Democrats and 65 percent of liberals also say "the government is too aggressive ... in deporting those who are in this country illegally," according to the poll.

That response is a big problem for Democratic politicians because the anti-ICE views are a huge outlier among voters, yet are thrilling the Democrats' base in the primary elections. In a June 26 primary in New York, for example, Democratic leader Rep. Joe Crowley was beaten by a young anti-ICE candidate, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

In contrast, the Rasmussen poll of 1,000 likely voters shows that the views of swing voters are a close match to GOP voters.
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Sheriff

Border Patrol arrests nine US citizens for smuggling 64 illegal aliens last weekend


Caliconservative.com
Thu, 05 Jul 2018 14:02 UTC
illegal aliens Mexico US border patrol
More news from the Frontline in the war on illegal immigration, trafficking, illicit drugs and other crime, the United States border with Mexico. Indeed even in Mexico the border is more commonly known as "La Frontera", the frontier, or the frontline:

U.S. Customs and Border Protection arrested nine U.S. citizens for smuggling 64 illegal aliens in five separate events over the weekend.

According to United States Custom and Border Protection, in the last two months, Border Patrol agents have thwarted 42 smuggling attempts involving tractor trailers, rescuing 406 people from possible death due to soaring temperatures along the Southwest border.

Normally I like to talk about news topics that relate specifically to the President or to California, but I have been taking the time lately to highlight the incredibly dangerous situation at the US-Mexico border.
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