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25 Feb 2012 11:13

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U.S.: Vermont same-sex couple vows to fight DOMA, deportation

  • How can our country, with a President who knows discrimination in his core, how can they continue to uphold DOMA?
  • Vermont resident Frances Herbert • Discussing the issues her wife, Takaka Ueda, is facing. Herbert is legally married to Ueda — a native of Japan and her partner of 13 years — and in shock, after the Department of Homeland Security sent a letter denying Ueda’s request to stay in the country. Ueda moved to the US from Japan in 1999, but is now living in the country illegally and faces deportation. Vermont’s congressional delegation has even stepped in, submitting a letter to the Department of Homeland Security, asking them to reconsider. Now the couple plans to fight the ruling, and the Defense of Marriage Act in general, in hopes of preventing this from happening to anyone else. Think they’ll succeed? source

19 Aug 2011 14:17

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U.S.: Obama administration eases up on deportation case prosecution

  • what The Obama administration has chosen to prioritize its deportation cases — focusing mostly on those accused or convicted of criminal activity rather than immigrants who may not have come to the country on their own accord as children.
  • why Obama faced criticism, particularly from Hispanics, that the administration was being too tough on immigration issues by focusing on deportation cases of those that been productive members of society. source

24 Nov 2010 07:53

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U.S.: About time: Color-coded threat level system may disappear

  • Anyone else feel safer because of these colors? Didn’t think so. So the Obama administration, smarting from that whole TSA backlash thing, is actually talking about replacing this overly-basic scare system with something that actually tells people what’s going on. Great. About freaking time we got out of the color business. The only people this benefited were those working in print shops who got to charge more for the extra use of color. source

18 Nov 2010 09:46

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U.S., World: Homeland Security: Stuxnet may be most dangerous virus yet

  • This code can automatically enter a system, steal the formula for the product you are manufacturing, alter the ingredients being mixed in your product, and indicate to the operator and your anti-virus software that everything is functioning as expected.
  • The Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity Center head, Sean McGurk • Explaining why the Stuxnet computer virus is unprecedented and scary and stuff. The virus, which appears to be targeting Iran’s nuclear power plants, has infected 44,000 computers worldwide, mostly in Iran, although around 1,600 are in the U.S. Even though it’s targeted against Iran right now, it’s clear what McGurk is implying here: That the virus could be rewritten to attack other systems, at which point it could prove extremely dangerous. source

28 Dec 2009 21:41

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Politics: DHS head Janet Napolitano’s getting resignation calls already

  • Does she not realize how sick we are of government officials responding to obvious mistakes, errors and failures by bragging about what they did get right?
  • Andrew Sullivan (our second link to him today!) • Regarding the perceived ineptitude of Homeland Security chief Janet Napolitano, who took credit for getting the job done regarding the underwear bomber, only to get trashed by everybody around because, well, she didn’t. Her second half-apology on Today this morning has people calling for her head all around the table. source