Russia Punishes U.S. By Blocking Adoption Of Russian Orphans

In retaliation for the United States placing sanctions on Russian human rights violators, Russia has banned U.S. citizens from adopting Russian orphans.

Originally just a bill to permanently normalize trade relations with Russia, an additional piece of legislation became attached to the provision. As it passed through the U.S. Congress it became known as the “Magnitsky Act,” named for a Russian lawyer who died in while held in prison, and placing sanctions on Russian citizens deemed to have violated human rights. While having warned Congress against approving Magnitsky by the White House, President Obama signed the Act into law on Dec. 14.

Now, Russia is striking back by passing what has been called the “anti-Magnitsky Act”, or the Dima Yakovlev bill. Named for a young boy adopted from Russia who later died in the U.S, the bill also places travel sanctions on those Americans whom Russia has deemed violate the human rights of Russian citizens, along with the ban on adoption.

The Russian Duma, or Parliament, voted unanimously in favor of the bill on Wednesday, and President Vladimir Putin is fully prepared to sign it into law. Putin attempted to head off criticism about the effect the ban will have on the already strained Russian system of care for its orphans:

In televised comments, Putin tried to appeal to people’s patriotism by suggesting that strong and responsible countries should take care of their own and lent his support to a bill that has further strained U.S.-Russia relations.

“There are probably many places in the world where living standards are higher than ours. So what, are we going to send all our children there? Maybe we should move there ourselves?” he said, with sarcasm.

Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister for Social Affairs Olga Golodets says that putting the ban into effect would not only violate Russian federal law, but also international law and a 2011 agreement that the U.S. and Russia put into place regarding adoption. At present, Americans adopt more orphans from Russian than they do any other country.

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The Craziest Republican Legislative Proposals Of 2012

1. Outlawing the dollar.

Washington state lawmakers introduced a bill that would have outlawed the paper dollar, because “only gold and silver may be recognized as government legal tender.” This is just part and parcel of the extreme right’s continuing fascination with goldbuggery, a fascination to which the Republican party’s presidential candidates gladly pandered.

2. Striking the words ‘sea level rise.’

In Virginia, the Republican-led legislature commissioned a study to determine the impacts of manmade warming on the state’s shores, only to ban terms like “climate change” and “sea level rise,” deeming them “liberal code words.” And North Carolina Republicans voted to ignore studies that predict rapid sea level rise due to global warming.

3. Banning ‘Sharia Law.’

Republicans in states like Florida and Kansas passed Sharia-law bans in their state legislatures. In Kansas, a spokeswoman for Gov. Sam Brownback (R-KS) went so far as to say that the ban meant that the state “will not consider the laws of foreign jurisdictions.” The bans signified yet another year of the Republican establishment endorsing fringe Islamophobes.

4. Defining life as beginning before conception.

In Arizona, Republicans passed a new round of restrictive, anti-choice laws in the last year, chief among them HB 954. The bill, which one Republican defended by comparing women to cows and pigs, outlaws abortions after 20 weeks and actually starts the clock after a woman’s last menstrual period.

5. Allowing citizens to shoot at cops.

The NRA pushed Republicans in Indiana to pass a law that allows any citizen to open fire on a “public servant” for “unlawful intrusion.” Police fear this means a citizen could shoot at a cop, then claim the cop was trying to enter his or her property.

6. Zeroing out foreign aid.

American foreign aid saves literally millions of lives at miniscule cost to taxpayers. And there are millions still dying that more American support could help. Yet Republican Presidential candidates, including Mitt Romney, proposed cutting the entire foreign aid budget and starting from scratch. Though Romney later changed course, House Republicans proposed draconian cuts to lifesaving aid.

7. Creationism in schools.

The movement to question the science of evolution was alive and well this year, as Indiana state senator Dennis Kruse (R) proposed not one, but two bills to inject creationist teachings into the public school curriculum.

8. Promoting discrimination on military bases.

Though H.R.3828, Rep. Tim Huelskamp’s (R-KS) Military Religious Freedom Protection Act, appears to be about protecting military chaplains from having to violate their faith, it would ban using any military facilities for same-sex marriages and even “marriage-like” ceremonies.

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Rocky Road Ahead For Implementation Of ObamaCare

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Remarks by the President at the Diplomatic Corps Reception

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

State Department
Washington D.C.

6:57 P.M. EST

THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you.  (Applause.)   Well, good evening, everyone.  It is wonderful to see all of you. 

I want to publicly thank Deputy Secretary Bill Burns.  For those of you who don’t know, Bill is only the second career diplomat in American history to rise to the level of Deputy Secretary.  (Applause.)   It is a tribute to Bill’s extraordinary skills.  I first met him when I was a new senator, and I traveled to Moscow.  And he was then the ambassador in Moscow, and he immediately impressed me.  One of these guys who doesn't speak loud, but actually has something to say.  (Laughter.)  Which is hard to find in Washington.  (Laughter.)  In Washington you have a lot of folks who speak loud and have nothing to say.  (Laughter.)

And so we’re thrilled obviously with the work that he has done, but Bill I think is representative of our incredible Foreign Service officers.  So thanks not only to Bill, but to all the outstanding State Department personnel who are working every day, often at great risk, to advance our interests and our ideals around the world.

Had Secretary Clinton been able to join us, I was going to congratulate her on her record-breaking travels, visiting 112 nations, just about every one of the countries that are represented here this evening -- more than 400 travel days; nearly 1 million miles.  These are not frequent flyer miles.  (Laughter.)  She does not get discounts.  I suspect she’s not going to be flying commercial that much after she leaves the State Department.  But she is tireless and extraordinary.

I spoke with her this past week.  We can’t wait to have her back.  And I know that all of you join me in sending her wishes for a speedy recovery. 

Now, we get together like this every year or so around the holidays -— either here or at the White House.  It’s a chance for me to express my appreciation for the cooperation and partnership between our countries.  That includes the hospitality that you and your fellow citizens show every single day to our diplomats and their families -— Americans who are serving far from home.  

But tonight, I also want to thank you for something else.  This obviously continues to be a very difficult week here in America.  We’re still grieving and reeling from unspeakable violence that took place in Newtown.  I was up there on Sunday.  I told the families there that they are not alone; that our entire nation stands with them.  But over the past few days what we’ve also seen is that the entire world stands with them; and so many of your countries, your citizens, your leaders have sent messages to them.  And I know they are grateful and certainly I am grateful. 

At our embassies and consulates, people are placing flowers and leaving notes.  We’ve seen candlelight vigils, and makeshift memorials -— including a beach in Brazil marked by 26 crosses and a bright American flag.  Across the globe, people are going online and posting messages and sending emails and texts of support.  I think of the woman, a teacher in Lithuania, who said, “I send all my love and prayers to the families.  It’s all I can do from so far away, but my heart is now in Newtown.”

So this evening, I want you and your fellow citizens back home to know how much this has meant to all of us -— to the good people of Newtown, to me, and to the American people.  You’ve stood with us, just as we’ve stood with you in similar moments -—whether it’s been a Scottish village, an Australian town, most recently the terrible tragedy at a youth camp in Norway.

Whether it’s a tsunami that strikes, or an earthquake that levels communities, or when a young girl is targeted and nearly killed, just for wanting to go to school, we’re reminded that terrible things happen in this world, but there are more people of goodwill than people of ill will.  And that if we can just remind ourselves of our common humanity, perhaps we can make progress. 

These are moments that pierce through all the noise of our daily lives.  And they speak to a larger truth that permeates our work together.  You turn on the TV, you open the newspaper, and every day it seems we’re bombarded with images of tension and conflict and division and differences.  And that sometimes seems to validate those who believe that civilizations are destined to clash.

But when you think about the last few days, you’re reminded that there’s a fundamental human response that transcends cultures and transcends borders.  And that’s what is represented in this room.  You look around the room and we reflect this vast tapestry of human experience -- people from every continent and every culture; North, South, East and West; from all the great faiths, every creed and color; men and women.  And we’re reminded that whatever differences on the surface, deep down we’re bound by a certain set of basic aspirations. 

We want our children to be safe and free from fear.  We want people to live in dignity and prosperity, free from want.  We want people to be free to think for themselves, and speak their minds and pray as they choose.  We want them to surpass or do a little bit better than we did.  That’s what we want for our children.  That’s why we’re here -- to serve them to do everything in our power to leave our children, and the next generation a better, safer world.

And that’s why, over the past four years, we’ve worked together, wherever we can, with your nations in a new era of engagement, based on mutual interest and mutual respect.  Strengthening alliances.  Forging new partnerships.  Confronting the spread of nuclear weapons.  Promoting open government, global health and food security, and fighting human trafficking.  Ending one war in Iraq.  Winding down another war in Afghanistan.  Going after terrorist networks that threaten all of our people.  Standing up for self-determination and freedom -- from South Sudan to the Arab Spring to Burma.  (Applause.)

At the same time, we’re mindful that we’ve got so much more work to do together.  There still are wars to end.  There are still democratic transitions to sustain.  Violent extremism remains out there and has to be confronted and deadly weapons still have to be contained.  We have to work to ease tensions between nations and uphold human rights.  There are still political prisoners that need to be freed and children that deserve a better education.  And all of us have to be concerned about a changing climate that could have a profound impact on every single country here. 

This must be our work.  And I’m here to say tonight that this spirit of partnership with your nations that defined my first term will remain a core principle of my second term.  That’s my commitment.  That is America’s commitment.  And that, I think, is one of the ways we can honor all these beautiful children and incredible teachers who were lost this past Friday -- by building a future that is equal to their dreams, and delivers on the dreams of children all around the world just like them. 

So as we gather this holiday season and look ahead to the New Year, I’d leave you with a simple message, a wish:  In the face of violence, let’s seek peace.  In the face of injustice, let’s strive for dignity.  In the face of oppression, let’s stand for liberty.  And in the face of suspicion and mistrust, let’s build the empathy and understanding.  Let’s understand that we need to live together -- as nations and as peoples and as brothers and sisters, as children of a loving God.  I hope all of you have a wonderful holiday season and I look forward to seeing you in the New Year.

God bless you.  God bless America.

END                       
7:07 P.M. EST

December 24, 2012 11:46 AM EST

The Energy Department's Los Alamos National Lab is using state-of-the-art technology to track Santa Claus as he circles the globe the night before Christmas.

Some of our followers on Pinterest joined us at the White House for a holiday social. Take a look at their experience.

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Bipartisan Group Of Former National Security Advisers Condemn Attacks On Hagel

Four former national security advisers in a letter to the editor in the Washington Post published on Tuesday denounced what New York TImes columnist Tom Friedman described as “disgusting” attacks on former Republican senator Chuck Hagel and praised Hagel’s prior service to the United States.

Responding to a Dec. 21 Post story on Hagel’s potential nomination to be Secretary of Defense, the former national security advisers, James L. Jones (Obama), Brent Scowcroft (Ford, H.W Bush) , Zbigniew Brzezinski (Carter) and Frank Carlucci (Reagan), said they “strongly object…to the attacks on the character of former senator Chuck Hagel,” whom they called “a man of unshakable integrity and wisdom who has served his country in the most distinguished manner in peace and war”:

He is a rare example of a public servant willing to rise above partisan politics to advance the interests of the United States and its friends and allies. Moreover, it is damaging to the quality of our civic discourse for prospective Cabinet nominees to be subjected to such vicious attacks on their character before an official nomination.

This type of behavior will only discourage future prospective nominees from public service when our country badly needs quality leadership in government.

Scowcroft and 10 other retired senior U.S. military officials, including William Fallon and Anthony Zinni, signed a letter last week saying that Hagel would be “a strong leader at the Pentagon” and that he’s “eminently qualified for the job.” That letter came on the heals of one just days prior in which nine former U.S. Ambassadors, including Ryan Crocker, signed a letter praising Hagel’s qualifications for the top Pentagon job.

The high-level support for Hagel comes after the “neocon smear machine” recently began a campaign to tar Hagel as an anti-Semite and anti-Israel and not sufficiently militaristic toward Iran after news reports that he is President Obama’s top choice to succeed Leon Panetta.

Friedman defended Hagel against the backlash in his Times column today. “I think he would make a fine secretary of defense — precisely because some of his views are not ‘mainstream.’”

In its Dec. 21 article on Hagel, the Post quoted Sen. Dick Lugar (R-IN) calling the former Nebraska Republican an “excellent candidate” for Pentagon chief. “Most senators who served with Chuck would be favorable to his nomination,” Lugar said.

The Atlantic’s Robert Wright notes today that Hagel has now drawn wide ranging support from across the ideological spectrum. “[B]y and large this fight is between some neocons (plus a few reliable supporters) and everybody else,” he writes, adding: “So it’s in Obama’s hands. There’s a lot at stake here — not just whether McCarthyite smears will be allowed to succeed, but whether Obama, in the wake of the Susan Rice episode, will now get a reputation as someone who caves whenever he faces resistance.”

(Photo: Brent Scowcroft and Zbigniew Brzezinski – Getty)

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Even Leftist Nun Can't Use 'God' In Her Convention Speech

All the liberals (especially liberal Catholics) who complained the church was entering partisan politics when Cardinal Timothy Dolan agreed to give a blessing to the Republican National Convention -- before he accepted the same assignment for the Democrats -- apparently had no complaint about Catholics entering partisan politics when Sister Simone Campbell drew standing ovations on Wednesday night in a convention address attacking Paul Ryan as a terrible Catholic.

A peek at the transcript suggests something amusing: at the same time Democrats scrapped the word "God" from the platform, and then hastily returned it despite heavy booing, Sister Simone never used the word "God" in her anti-Ryan lecture. She began:

In June, I joined other Catholic sisters on a 2,700-mile bus journey through nine states to tell Americans about the budget Congressman Paul Ryan wrote and Governor Romney endorsed.

Paul Ryan claims his budget reflects the principles of our shared Catholic faith. But the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops stated that the Ryan budget failed a basic moral test, because it would harm families living in poverty.

We agree with our bishops, and that's why we went on the road: to stand with struggling families and to lift up our Catholic sisters who serve them. Their work to alleviate suffering would be seriously harmed by the Romney-Ryan budget, and that is wrong.

During our journey, I rediscovered a few truths. First, Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan are correct when they say that each individual should be responsible. But their budget goes astray in not acknowledging that we are responsible not only for ourselves and our immediate families. Rather, our faith strongly affirms that we are all responsible for one another. I am my sister's keeper. I am my brother's keeper.

The most obnoxious part of this speech was this dissident Catholic hailing Obamacare as the truly pro-life social program: "The Affordable Care Act will cover people like Margaret. We all share responsibility to ensure that this vital health care reform law is properly implemented and that all governors expand Medicaid coverage so no more Margarets die from lack of care. This is part of my pro-life stance and the right thing to do."

Or it came at the end, where the same Sister Simone who slammed the bishops of her church as being clueless males urged the nation to listen and not "yell at each other." Listen, and then slam your opponent for an "immoral budget" that attacks the poor:

She wishes they, and the rest of the nation, would listen to one another with kindness and compassion. Listen to one another rather than yell at each other. I told her then, and I tell her now, that she is not alone.

Looking out at you tonight, I feel your presence combined with that of the thousands of caring people we met on our journey. Together, we understand that an immoral budget that hurts already struggling families does not reflect our nation's values. We are better than that.

So I urge you to join us on the bus. Join us as together we stand with Matt and Mark, Billy and his family, the woman in Hershey and the Margarets of our nation.

This is what we nuns on the bus are all about: We care for the 100 percent, and that will secure the blessings of liberty for our nation. So join us as we nuns and all of us drive for faith, family and fairness.

Tim Graham is Director of Media Analysis at the Media Research Center. Click here to follow Tim Graham on Twitter.

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The Biggest Republican Miscalculations Of 2012

1. Romney can still win.

Karl Rove didn’t just predict Romney would win beforehand; he actually insisted that Romney still may win Ohio after Fox News called Ohio for Obama. Fox host Megyn Kelly even replied, “Is this the math you do as a Republican to make yourself feel better?”

2. Romney would win in an ‘unskewed’ landslide.

Claiming that the polls finding Obama in the lead before the election had a “liberal bias,” Dean Chambers founded UnskewedPolls.com, a Republican alternate universe. UnskewedPolls.com predicted Romney would win 275 electoral votes. After the election, Chambers admitted he was wrong and started another site accusing Obama of winning with voter fraud.

3. Latinos would vote for Romney.

The Romney campaign said its goal was to win at least 38 percent of Latino voters, but after Mitt Romney staked out the most extreme immigration stances — and Ann Romney claimed Latino voters needed to get past “their biases” — he won less than a quarter of the Latino vote.

4. Marriage equality would be defeated.

Brian Brown, president of the National Organization for Marriage, told SiriusXM host Michelangelo Signorile, that marriage equality opponents would prevail on ballot referenda Maine, Maryland, Washington and Minnesota, boasting “I think we’re going to win all four. But say we were to lose one — but still, we lost [just] one… Anyone who looks as an objective observer will still be able to say, if we lose one state, the record still shows that [we’ve] won, whatever, 35 out of 36.” The pro-marriage-equality side prevailed in all four states.

5. Obama juiced the jobs numbers.

After a significant drop in unemployment, conservatives on Twitter, led by former General Electrics CEO Jack Welch, claimed the numbers were fabricated by the Obama administration. Needless to say, they weren’t, and Welch ended up stepping down — briefly — from his job at Forbes.

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