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Hispanic Lawmakers Ask Justice Dept. For Stats On Latinos Killed By Police

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The letter sent July 28, and obtained by BuzzFeed News, asked for the number of Latino deaths resulting from police interaction during the last five years, as well as the immigration status of victims. The DOJ still has not responded to the request.

(AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Hispanic lawmakers have formally asked the Justice Department to release data about Latinos who have died after interactions with the police.

In a July 28 letter sent by Rep. Tony Cardenas and 13 other members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, the lawmakers asked the department to release the number of Latino deaths "resulting from police interaction during the preceding 5 years" — and a wide array of additional information about each instance.

The lawmakers asked for the ages and immigration status in each case, the law enforcement agency involved in each incident, a list of DOJ law enforcement agencies that exclude ethnicity as a variable in data collection, and the number of complaints and corresponding investigations received by Justice Department related to the deaths of Hispanics as a result of contact with police.

"As a group of concerned policymakers, and members of the Hispanic Caucus, we wrote the Department of Justice looking for unbiased statistics on Latinos' interactions with law enforcement in the U.S.," said Democratic Rep. Joaquin Castro.

Castro has spoken on CNN this week about Gilbert Flores, a Texas man who, in a video, appeared to have his hands up when he was shot and killed by police. Authorities said a second video, which may show Flores holding something in his hand, is being reviewed.

"The more data we have, the more informed our decisions will be and the better we can represent our constituents and our community. Transparency goes a long way," Castro said.

Cardenas and advocates also repeatedly invoked Donald Trump, saying they're concerned about the effect of harsh language about immigrants and Latinos. They pointed to the beating of a Hispanic homeless man in Boston; the two men said they agreed with Donald Trump about "illegals."

Right now, the problem, those who spoke with BuzzFeed News said, is there are no publicly available statistics or hard evidence to corroborate what they believe to be true based on more anecdotal evidence: that Hispanics must be included in the larger conversation about police violence.

A Justice Department official said the department will be responding to the lawmakers' letter soon. "We have received it, are reviewing it, and we do plan on responding," said spokesman Kevin Smith.

The DOJ Civil Rights division has investigated cities where police conduct toward Latinos is the focus, including Maricopa County, AZ, East Haven, CT, Albuquerque, NM, Alamance, NC, New Orleans and Puerto Rico.

The National Council of La Raza (NCLR), has also gotten involved with this effort, at the behest of its local affiliates who said Hispanic and immigrant communities face this issue.

"As police abuse has bubbled nationally, the intensity and desire to tell the Latino story has grown from communities," said Eric Rodriguez a vice president in advocacy and legislation for NCLR.

At the organization's national conference in Kansas City, a session featured advocates talking about the challenges Hispanics might face, like limited numbers of Spanish-speaking police officers and immigration status, which may make them targets or hesitant to speak to law enforcement about crimes they have witnessed.

Alberto Retana, the president of Community Coalition in south central Los Angeles, said that while the LAPD is instituting body cameras for officers, growing anti-Latino sentiment makes the Justice Department request imperative.

"This data is only going to amplify our ability to advance policy solutions that better protect black and brown lives from state violence," he said.

The data, the advocates say, is critical for addressing problems. The solution, they argue, will in part come from fostering closer relationships between Hispanic and immigrant communities and law enforcement.

Jessie Ulibarri, a Colorado state senator who previously served as policy director of the local ACLU chapter, was the lead sponsor on a bill for a body camera grant program that passed. The state also now has a "right to record" law enforcement law. He said the link has been broken between many local law enforcement agencies and immigration officials — and the result is more trust in the community. The Justice Department figures are a crucial part of this continuing fight, to him.

"Communities of color know this in their lives but the data would prove what people are seeing on the ground," he said.

He remembered Jessie Hernandez, a 17-year-old Latina teen killed in controversial circumstances, when she tried to evade police in a stolen car and was shot by two officers, one of whom said he feared he was going to be run over, which the family's lawyers disputed. No criminal charges were filed against the cops.

And his heart was broken, he said, when he visited a group of fifth graders in a largely minority part of north Denver, and he asked the students what they would tell him to focus on if they were his boss. Public safety, they answered.

"We don't see police officers in our community unless it's to arrest our parents or break up a fight," he recalled them saying.

Ulibarri said what makes him hopeful about the work that has been done in Colorado is that there has been a relationship established with Latino, immigrant, and police communities.

He remembered a meeting on the subject of how to collect data and prove whether officers are racially profiling motorists. A sheriff helpfully suggested that race and ethnicity could be optional information on someone's driver's license, which avoids asking about immigration status, but would be registered when a driver's license is scanned.

Similarly, Luz Gallegos, who was on the NCLR panel in Kansas City on the issue, said her work in Perris, California, with the TODEC legal center has seen tension between police and immigrants give way to a successful community policing program.

Where police used to immediately ask for a license during a stop — which made drivers feel like they were being profiled — now officers first inform motorists why they stopped them.

The Obama administration has also been involved in efforts to increase data collection, with the March release of its Task Force on 21st Century Policing report.

"The Administration launched the Police data Initiative to encourage law enforcement agencies to publicly release data, disaggregated by demographics, across a number of fields, including uses of force and officer-involved shootings," said White House spokeswoman Katherine Vargas.

So far 26 law enforcement agencies have voluntarily joined the Initiative and have started the process of publicly releasing certain data sets, which helps increase transparency and build community trust, she added.

In their letter, the CHC members said the data on Latino deaths was a continuation of the president's focus on criminal justice.

NCLR's Rodriguez said a consistent problem has been this lack of data to substantiate the issue of police abuse.

He rattled off a few instances, including the 13-year-old shot and killed in California after his pellet gun was mistaken for the real thing.

He doesn't want a huge national flashpoint to emerge to make people pay attention.

"We know it's a problem," he said. "Just like before Ferguson, people know we had a problem."

Here is the letter sent from CHC members to the DOJ.


Donald Trump Mixes Up The Quds Force And The Kurds In A Radio Interview

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Lucas Jackson / Reuters

Republican frontrunner Donald Trump appeared to be unfamiliar with well-known terrorist groups and leaders in an interview with radio host Hugh Hewitt on Thursday.

Trump was unable to explain the difference between Hamas and Hezbollah and mixed up Iran's Quds Force with Kurdish people in the interview with Hewitt, conducted on the same day that Trump signed a loyalty pledge with the Republican Party promising not to run as an independent.

Hewitt told Trump he was going to "turn to some of the commander-in-chief questions" and asked him about Qasem Soleimani, the the commander of the Quds Force, a special operations force of the IRGC.

"He runs the Quds Forces," Hewitt said.

"Yes, okay, right," Trump responded. "The Kurds, by the way, have been horribly mistreated by …"

"No, not the Kurds, the Quds Forces, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Quds Forces," Hewitt interjected.

Trump also avoided saying who exactly Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, Jabhat al-Nusra leader Abu Mohammad al-Julani, and ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi were when asked about them by Hewitt.

"I think by the time we get to office, they’ll all be changed," Trump said. "They’ll be all gone." Nasrallah has led Hezbollah since 1992.

Trump accused Hewitt of asking him "gotcha" questions and said Hewitt's asking him the difference between Hamas, Hezbollah, and Jabhat al-Nusra is "ridiculous."

When asked by Hewitt whether "the difference between Hezbollah and Hamas does not matter to you yet, but it will," Trump said, "It will when it’s appropriate. I will know more about it than you know, and believe me, it won’t take me long."

Jeb Bush: Kim Davis Is "Sworn To Uphold The Law"

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Brian Snyder / Reuters

LACONIA, New Hampshire — Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush said that the Kentucky clerk who is refusing to issue same-sex marriage licenses is "sworn to uphold the law" and that gay couples seeking marriage licenses should be allowed to get them.

"She is sworn to uphold the law," Bush told reporters after a town hall here. The clerk, Kim Davis, has been found in contempt of court and jailed after her office stopped issuing marriage licenses. Davis has said that her Christian faith prevents her from signing same-sex marriage licenses.

Bush said that a balance must be struck between Davis' religious liberty and the right of couples to get married.

"It seems to me that there ought to be common ground, there ought to be a big enough space for her to act on her conscience, and for now that the law is the law of the land, for a gay couple to be married in whatever jurisdiction that is," Bush said. "I'm a little confused about why that can’t be done."

"It's being done all across the country and it’s a sign of leadership to be able to make that climate," Bush said.

Bush said that "we shouldn't be pushing people out of the public square if they have deeply held views, nor should we discriminate against people, particularly after this court ruling as it relates to sexual orientation, so I think there ought to be a way to figure this out."

Bush suggested a compromise in which someone else in the office could issue the licenses, allowing Davis to avoid issuing them but for the couples who want them to still obtain them. "There are ways that other places are looking at it, which is to say you don’t have to exercise this responsibility, we’ll have someone else in the office do it, so that you can maintain your religious conscience, which I think is appropriate, but people have the right to get a certificate of marriage."

Situations like these "ought to be resolved at the local level," he said.

Davis has also barred her deputies from issuing marriage licenses; five of the six have testified that they would issue the licenses. Davis said through her lawyers that she would not allow them to issue the licenses, however, if she is released from prison.

Other Republican candidates have weighed in on the Davis case, with some offering full-throated defenses of Davis — Mike Huckabee is even holding a rally in her honor next week in Kentucky — and others, like Lindsey Graham and Carly Fiorina, saying that she should do her job regardless of her religious beliefs.

Joe Biden Says He's Not Sure He Has "Emotional Energy" To Run For President

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“Can my family undertake what is an arduous commitment?” the vice president asked. “The honest to God answer is, ‘I just don’t know.’”

Vice President Joe Biden talks to students and guests Wednesday at Miami Dade College in Miami.

Alan Diaz / AP

Biden made the comments while speaking at a synagogue in Atlanta — his first public remarks on the possibility of launching a White House bid since recent speculation has mounted. A presidential run would pit him against Hillary Clinton's powerful-but-beleaguered operation, but the vice president said there was only one factor that mattered.

"The factor is, can I do it?" Biden wondered aloud. "Can my family undertake what is an arduous commitment that we'd be proud to undertake under ordinary circumstances? But the honest to God answer is, 'I just don't know.'"

Biden said he couldn't "look you straight in the eye and say now" that he could undertake a presidential campaign. However, if he decides he and his family can take the rigors of a campaign, he "would not hesitate to do it."

"That's as honest as I can be," Biden concluded.

youtube.com

Beau Biden was only 46 years old when he died on May 30. A husband and father of two, Beau also was a popular politician in Delaware who was described as the "rising star of a family dynasty."

Beau had reportedly encouraged his father to run for president. In the wake of his death, rumors and speculation have run rampant about a potential Biden run, though the vice president has been tight-lipped.

If Biden does run, he will have to battle Clinton for the Democratic nomination. Long considered an obvious frontrunner, Clinton's campaign has more recently struggle to contain the ongoing scandal surrounding her use of a private email account and server while she was Secretary of State.


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Latino Leaders Slam Report That Jose Diaz-Balart's MSNBC Show Will Be Canceled

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After a behind the scenes conversation with the president of MSNBC, the letter from NHLA says they were promised more Latino representation, not less, and that Diaz-Balart is the only Hispanic anchor on the network since its inception in 1996.

President Barack Obama gestures during a town hall meeting on immigration with Jose Diaz-Balart, hosted by Telemundo and MSNBC, Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2015, at Florida International University in Miami.

Pedro Portal / AP

A coalition of 40 national Latino organizations sent a letter to Phil Griffin, the president of MSNBC, and Andrew Lack, the head of NBC News, saying that any effort to eliminate or minimize Jose Diaz-Balart's show would be met with strong organizational opposition, in response to a Thursday report that the anchor would be the odd man out in lineup changes.

The letter sent by Felix Sanchez, chairman of the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda's (NHLA) media committee, said that the group met with MSNBC executives to discuss increasing Latino representation on air, and noted that the network has only had one Hispanic anchor since its inception in 1996.

The Mediaite report Thursday said there would be changes in MSNBC's lineup, including extending Morning Joe an hour and Kate Snow and Tamron Hall taking over two time slots. The odd man out, the report said, would be Diaz-Balart.

Latino organizations mobilized soon after the report was released, contacting MSNBC and each other to first find out if it was true, and second to decide how they would respond. Alex Nogales, the president of the National Hispanic Media Coalition spoke with Griffin who reassured him that the report was inaccurate. Briefed on the call, NHLA leaders were given the indication that Griffin would release a clarifying statement but with the long labor day weekend coming, decided to send the letter.

An MSNBC source told BuzzFeed News that, "Jose is a highly valued part of the network and we expect him to continue to be for a long time."

The NHLA letter was also sent to the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and Latino leaders like Janet Murguia of NCLR, Brent Wilkes of LULAC, Tom Saenz of MALDEF and Nogales, as well as other NBC executives.

Other Latino organizations, including the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, also expressed displeasure with the report.

"NAHJ is advocating for more Latinos in newsrooms, including MSNBC. We are in contact with NBCU and are encouraging them to not only keep Jose Diaz-Balart in their lineup, but to expand the visibility of Latinos in their programming," NAHJ president Mekahlo Medina said. "It's not only important to our community, but important to the bottom line as more and more Latinos become the demographic news organizations will want to watch."

Alida Garcia, the executive director of Inclusv, an organization that works to get minorities hired in politics, said Diaz-Balart provides the critical perspective of the Latino community and has a dedication to diversity and inclusion in media. (Because of its focus, Diaz-Balart's show employs more Hispanics than most shows.)

"We hope it's not true because Jose Diaz-Balart is a beloved and necessary voice on MSNBC," she said. "Canceling The Rundown would take away opportunities of countless other reporters, strategists, advocates, and everyday American voices of color to be heard."

MSNBC has undergone changes this summer, after efforts by Lack to have the network work more closely with NBC News, and adopt more of a news focus, rather than be left leaning. Diaz-Balart, who also anchors two shows on Telemundo, has long been known as a straight news anchor.

While Hispanic organizations believe in Latino representation in the media, they also stressed that the show is important as the 2016 election barrels closer.

In recent weeks Morning Joe, the show that would be extended according to the report, has been criticized as tone deaf on Latino issues.

Host Joe Scarborough slammed Univision anchor Jorge Ramos for his confrontation with Donald Trump at a press conference that led to him being kicked out, saying that Ramos was looking for his "15 minutes of fame."

But Ramos show Noticiero Univision gets more than 1 million viewers a night and he is one of the most influential Latino voices in American media.

Thursday, the day of the report, Latinos in media, like Julio Ricardo Varela who founded Latino Rebels, blasted Morning Joe for a segment where a guest said George W. Bush could campaign well with both "illegal" and "legal" Hispanics.

There would be pushback against comments like these, Latino organizations say, if there were more Hispanic guests and hosts.

Kristian Ramos, with Inclusion Matters, a Media Matters project that monitors Latino media, said Diaz-Balart's loss would be a "real shock given that we are in the midst of the most Latino election cycle in recent memory."

"We've seen a rise of anti-Latino sentiment in the media and we need a counterbalance and objective voice like Diaz-Balart," he said.

Here is the NHLA letter sent to MSNBC.

NBCUniversal is an investor in BuzzFeed.


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The Judge In The Kentucky Clerk Case Is Making The Situation Worse

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In Kentucky, U.S. District Court Judge David Bunning has issued — or not issued — a series of orders and statements in the Kim Davis case that have left major questions about what he means.

Edgar Orea, right, preaches to a group of marriage equality supporters that have gathered outside the Carl D. Perkins Federal Building in Ashland, Ky., Thursday, Sept. 3, 2015.

Timothy D. Easley / AP

WASHINGTON — The situation is fraught. An elected official is refusing to follow the Supreme Court's marriage ruling, as well as a subsequent court order that her religious convictions do not exempt her from the ruling.

U.S. District Court Judge David Bunning, however, isn't making the situation in Kentucky any easier, issuing a series of vague or incomplete rulings over the past month that have added an element of confusion — even, at times, mystery — to the already precarious situation.

After the Supreme Court ruled in favor of nationwide marriage equality, Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis put into place her "no marriage licenses" policy — a response to her opposition to her name appearing on same-sex couples' marriage licenses. Four couples sued, and Davis was asked to defend the policy.

Judge Bunning — former Sen. Jim Bunning's son — was assigned to hear the case.

Fourteen years ago, when the Senate considered Bunning's nomination to the bench by President George W. Bush, the American Bar Association rated him "Not Qualified" for his appointment in 2001.

"President Bush has submitted to the Senate the names of 64 nominees for judicial appointment, and our Committee has found only this one candidate to be 'Not Qualified,'" the lawyer who ran the ABA investigation of Bunning, David C. Weiner, stated at the time. Neither his integrity nor his judicial temperament were questioned. "Rather, our conclusion that the nominee should be rated 'Not Qualified' is based on several, serious concerns relating to his competence."

Nonetheless, the Senate confirmed Bunning in February 2002. Now, he's found himself in the middle of the biggest story in the country — and, putting aside ideology on either side, his legal rulings over the past month have created substantial confusion in an already politically complex case.

On Friday morning, Davis woke up in jail and couples began getting marriage licenses in Rowan County for the first time since the Supreme Court ruled that Kentucky's ban on same-sex couples' marriages is unconstitutional. While both of those decisions might ultimately be correct, there is, as of now, no written explanation for why either of those things is happening — and at least one of them rests on shaky legal ground that could come back to hurt the couples marrying on Friday, a fact acknowledged by Bunning on Thursday.

Although five of Davis's deputies have stated that they would issue marriage licenses, at least two — through their lawyers — questioned whether they would have the authority to do so.

"Whether a license issued by the Rowan County Clerk's Office is valid or not," Bunning said in court, "I am not saying it is or it isn't."

Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis, right, talks with David Moore following her office's refusal to issue marriage licenses at the Rowan County Courthouse in Morehead, Ky., Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2015.

Timothy D. Easley / AP

How we got to this point is complex, even to lawyers who have closely followed the marriage cases, and the orders from Bunning have only added to the confusion.

On Aug. 12, Bunning issued an order that Davis stop the policy, specifically ordering that "Defendant Kim Davis, in her official capacity as Rowan County Clerk, is hereby preliminarily enjoined from applying her 'no marriage licenses' policy to future marriage license requests submitted by Plaintiffs."

The confusion started five days later. Davis requested that the ruling be put on hold — or stayed — while she appealed it. Bunning denied her request.

He added, however, that "this Order denying Kim Davis' Motion to Stay be, and is, hereby TEMPORARILY STAYED pending review of Defendant Davis' Motion to Stay (Doc. # 45) by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals."

What does that mean? It's not exactly clear. Lawyers on the case disagreed, as did lawyers around the country who have been following marriage cases for years. If Bunning had just denied her request, it would mean that he was keeping the preliminary injunction in effect — or, in other words, Davis would have to stop her "no marriage licenses" policy immediately. But then Bunning added the second part. Taken literally, Bunning temporarily put on hold his own denial, which does nothing since his injunction, issued five days earlier, would still be in effect.

Earlier in the opinion, Bunning wrote that he was staying the denial order "in recognition of the constitutional issues involved, and realizing that emotions are running high on both sides of the debate." That strongly suggests what he meant to do was to put a temporary hold on his injunction until the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals could consider whether to put on hold Bunning's order that Davis must issue licenses while she appealed.

Two days later, Bunning attempted to fix that confusion — without directly acknowledging it — while also admitting a second issue with his Aug. 17 order.

In describing the Aug. 17 order, Bunning wrote, "the Court temporarily stayed its August 12, 2015 Order to give the appellate court an opportunity to review, on an expedited basis, the August 17, 2015 Order denying the motion to stay." The Aug. 17 order had not, by its plain language, done that, but Bunning simply wrote on Aug. 19 that that's what his Aug. 17 order meant.

He then admitted that there had been something missing from his Aug. 17 order, writing, "Upon review of Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 8(a)(2), governing stays of injunctions pending appeal, the Court finds it necessary to set an expiration date for the temporary stay."

As such, Bunning ordered that "the Court's temporary stay of its August 17, 2015 Order shall expire on August 31, 2015, absent an Order to the contrary by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals."

When the 6th Circuit denied Davis's request for a stay pending appeal on Aug. 26, that raised a third question. Did the stay denial from the appeals court constitute "an Order to the contrary"?

On Aug. 27, an official in the Rowan County Clerk's Office made their answer to the question clear, denying a couple's request for a marriage license by saying, "There's a stay until the 31st."

On Aug. 28, Davis's lawyers from Liberty Counsel asked the Supreme Court for a stay pending appeal, as well as asking Bunning to extend his temporary stay until the Supreme Court ruled. Bunning denied the request the same day.

Then, with no word from the Supreme Court come the end of Sunday night, Aug. 30, a fourth issue was raised: If the stay expires "on August 31," does that mean the Aug. 12 order would be in effect on Monday morning or is the stay in place through the end of Aug. 31?

Even Davis's lawyers appeared to acknowledge the vagueness of the language, telling the Supreme Court — when attempting to get it to act quickly — that Bunning "stayed the Injunction until August 31, 2015," suggesting the court needed to act before Monday, Aug. 31, to keep a stay in place. When asking Bunning to extend his stay until the Supreme Court ruled on that request, however, they used language suggesting the stay continued into Monday, writing that Bunning "granted Davis a temporary stay of the Injunction Order through August 31, 2015."

With no clarification from Bunning and no answer from the Supreme Court, Monday, Aug. 31, was filled with confusion, with at least one couple seeking and being denied a marriage license — and lawyers uncertain of what the status of the law was.

Then, the Supreme Court weighed in, denying Davis's stay request a little past 7 p.m. And, as August made way to September, the question about the effect of Bunning's language became moot.

With the Aug. 12 order clearly in effect come Sept. 1, officials continued to deny couples marriage licenses in Rowan County — with Davis declaring that her authority to refuse to issue Kentucky marriage licenses came from God.

That, of course, led the plaintiffs' lawyers to file a motion seeking to have Davis held in contempt, which led to Thursday's hearing. Bunning, taking further action than requested by the plaintiffs, ordered Davis to be jailed.

More than 24 hours later, however, there is no entry on the case's docket noting, let alone explaining, his contempt order.

In an afternoon continuation of the Thursday contempt hearing, he also asked the deputy clerks — who Davis had refused to allow to issue licenses because, under state law, they must be issued in the clerk's name — whether they would be willing to issue licenses. When five said under oath that they would be willing to do so, Bunning said that marriages would then be able to start again soon in Rowan County, noting that "the court will continue to have oversight of this matter."

Because state law specifies that only the clerk or, in the clerk's absence, county judge or county executive, can issue marriage licenses in Kentucky, it is not clear what authority the deputy clerks have for issuing licenses. On Friday, marriage licenses were issued in the office of "Rowan County, Rowan County." Prior to June's marriage ruling, they had been issued in the office of "Kim Davis, Rowan County."

There is a possibility that, under federal court rules, Bunning has effectively "appointed" the deputy clerk's to carry out his Aug. 12 order. Others have pointed to a provision in state law permitting deputies of ministerial officers to perform duties of the officer as providing authority.

But, as with Davis's contempt citation itself, though, Bunning is yet to issue an order explaining his decision.


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Dueling Approaches As A Fun Rubio And A Serious Clinton Descend On Puerto Rico

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Rubio talked about the island’s financial crisis and Clinton took on its health care issues, but the events could not have been more different, except for the shots at each other.

Carlos Giusti / AP

Adrian Carrasquillo/BuzzFeed

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Marco Rubio came out to Pitbull. Hillary Clinton came out to a roundtable of physicians and health care officials.

Friday afternoon in San Juan, both candidates took on serious issues — Rubio, the island's financial crisis, and Clinton, its struggling health care system — but at two very different events. The trips reflect not just Puerto Rican voters who matter in the primary, but also Puerto Rican voters in the crucial state of Florida.

Rubio was up first at Aire Libre restaurant, an open-air restaurant (as its name suggests), where a ceiling fan wasn't enough to tame the sweltering heat.

Nuno Lopez, a member of the island's House of Representatives introduced Rubio, and cut to the chase: The 150 people in attendance should vote Rubio in the Republican primary. Rubio, Lopez told them, has worked closely with Florida's Puerto Rican population during his time as senator.

Puerto Ricans on the island woke up Friday to an op-ed by Rubio in the biggest newspaper El Nuevo Dia, where he came out against the Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection for municipalities in Puerto Rico, arguing that "liberal ideology" has created a "toxic brew of economic stagnation, higher taxes and bloated government," he wrote.

Both Clinton and Rubio's major rival for Florida voters, Jeb Bush, both support the bankruptcy protection approach.

"No organization, whether it's a government, a company, or a family, can survive long-term, spending more money than it takes in," Rubio said.

Dabbing his face occasionally with a small white towel, Rubio said that Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens and serve in the army but can't vote in the general election. He supports letting them decide for themselves, but believes they will choose statehood.

"Puerto Rico has the opportunity, the moment has come to unite with the United States," he said to the loudest cheers of the day. "After 100 years that moment has arrived."

He said the event was his first as a presidential candidate — but stressed it was not his first trip ever. But most of the event was spent answering the same question from Puerto Rican press: Did he support Chapter 9 protection for the island? (No.) Was he sure? (Yes.) Was there any wiggle room on that answer? (Not really.)

As he did in his op-ed, Rubio who spoke in Spanish during most of his 23 minute speech, did leave the door slightly ajar for bankruptcy protection for the island. Answering a question in Spanish, he relented saying, "At the end of the day if it's the only option we need to study it."

And he took a shot at Clinton, when a reporter asked him how he would contrast his plan for Puerto Rico with hers.

"I don't know what Secretary Clinton's plan is for Puerto Rico. I think it was on her server and she wiped it," he said, referring to her private email server.

Then as it began with Pitbull's Echa Pa'lla, Rubio was off, this time with Marc Anthony's Vivir Mi Vida blasting as the event's emcee yelled "Get your cameras ready!" into a microphone and a parade of selfies began.


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How Hillary Clinton Runs "Joyfully"

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Darren Mccollester / Getty Images

On Day One, Hillary Clinton climbed aboard her Secret Service seven-seater and, Iowa-bound, headed for I-80 West.

It was a fun idea. And after the long slog of the first Clinton campaign, “fun” appeared to be in high demand this time around. There was a fun nickname for the van (“Scooby”) and fun tweets from the road (“She loves her Scooby van,” read one from communications director Jennifer Palmieri). Upon her arrival in Iowa, Clinton told reporters that, yes, the road-trip had been fun. “I had a great drive,” she said.

All week, this was the message. At her first campaign stop, in response to a question about her strategy, Clinton said, “I’m having a great time.” Later that afternoon: “We’re having the best time.” Next day: “I’m having a great time.” In the Des Moines Register, as if to confirm these statements, an Iowa-based Clinton aide added, “She really had fun.”

Five months later, the campaign is bigger and faster — and far more mired in challenges. But Clinton has said, even when appearances suggest otherwise, that the good times keep coming. In August, she had a “great time” at the Iowa State Fair, surrounded by a crush so thick that conversation was nearly impossible. In July, she had a “great time” at a parade in New Hampshire, just paces from a heckler screaming insults.

And on Saturday, even after all the hand-wringing of the summer… her poll numbers, dropping… her favorability ratings, worse than in 2008… her lead in New Hampshire, erased by Bernie Sanders… and her emails. Week after week, the investigation into her personal server has continued to precipitate negative headlines. One day last month, when a reporter asked her again and again, Did you wipe your server, Clinton shot back, visibly frustrated. “What, like with a cloth or something?” The next week, urged by aides, Clinton returned to the subject again — this time with a contrite tone and quasi-apology for the server setup. Reporters developed a shorthand reference for these and other developments: The summer of 2015, they write, is the so-called “summer of discontent.”

Clinton is perhaps the most beleaguered candidate of the season. But she did not hesitate on Saturday at a press conference in Portsmouth, N.H., when asked if she considered herself a “joyful candidate.”

“I do,” said Clinton. “I do.”

This time, she went farther than the usual “great time.” In her reply, Clinton outlined a view of joyful politics that has little to do with the mass crowds that stalk her at state fairs and parades. She does not glorify the grind of the campaign trail — or revel in the back-slapping and glad-handing of the game. Her approach as a candidate hinges, she said, on conversations with voters, toward an end. She described the process in methodical, results-oriented terms: listen, identify a problem, propose a solution, get it fixed.

“I am a problem-solver,” Clinton said. “That gives me a lot of energy and a lot of satisfaction.”

In the first month as a candidate, for instance, Clinton heard repeated concerns about substance abuse and mental health. Voters in Iowa and New Hampshire raised the issues with such frequency that she vowed to make them a "big part" of her campaign. And last week, Clinton unveiled her plan — a $10 billion policy proposal.

“That’s what gets me up in the morning: What can I do and what will I do every day as president to try to make life better, so that by the time I end, the American people are better off than when I started,” she continued. “I have a very clear metric.”

As political brand, “problem-solver” hasn’t always translated across the frequencies of public life as easily as Bill Clinton’s inexhaustible political hunger. The couple’s close friend, Diane Blair, took note in November of 1996 that, about three weeks after the reelection campaign, Hillary still needed time “to relax and read.” Blair observed that Bill, on the other hand, “‘relaxes’ by touring, shaking hands, meeting new people.” And when Hillary doesn’t join him, she is cast publicly as “‘brooding, nursing her psychic wounds.’ Bullshit,” Blair wrote in private notes about the Clintons that have since been made public.

Twenty years later, not a lot has changed. Where he is energized by the campaign trail, she can tire of a process she’s called the most “grueling” of any democracy. In speeches, Clinton occasionally tells voters how much she deliberated about the decision to undergo a second presidential campaign.

“Especially with my new granddaughter,” Clinton said in Iowa this summer. She thought, “‘maybe, you know, this was something I should let pass.’”

“Look,” Clinton said on Saturday, “when you run for any office it’s a very challenging experience. Some days are better than other days. But from my perspective, I really like listening to people. I like getting out and talking and figuring out what’s on people’s minds.”

There is a long, and declining tradition of “joyful” campaigning in American politics. In the 1920s, Al Smith was christened the “Happy Warrior,” a grateful participant in the great electoral contest. And in 1968, Hubert Humphrey launched his presidential campaign on a call for “the politics of joy.”

A more recent addition to these optimists is Jeb Bush. His decision to run for president, he has said, came down to a single question: “Can I do it joyfully?” Bush has since cast himself as the “joyful tortoise” in the Republican primary. Accordingly, Donald Trump, maybe the “hare” in this metaphor, has responded by repeatedly stating that Bush is “low-energy.”

On Saturday, Clinton said that she, too, is running a joyful campaign. In an email, the Bush campaign spokesman, Tim Miller, provided a comment in the form of two pictures: the first, a grinning Bush, backdropped by a “Jeb!” campaign sign; the second, a frowning Clinton. Miller had nothing more to add.

Meanwhile, after the press conference in New Hampshire, Clinton's team volunteered evidence of their joyful campaign: cartoon depictions of Nick Merrill and Marlon Marshall, two aides, as rendered by the app, Bitmoji. In the images, Merrill and Marshall both look joyful. “Woot!” they exclaim. (The campaign has been experimenting with the popular app, which allows users to create custom comic-style emojis.)

Palmieri, the communications director, joined in. “Joyful moments,” she tweeted with a picture of the candidate, lost in a circle of supporters in downtown Portsmouth.

Before she left, Clinton told reporters she was ready for the next phase of the campaign: “making the Labor Day turn” to “the finish line,” she said. There will be more policy problem-solving. And of course all the other problems, less easily resolved: more email releases, server stories, and tightening polls. More of the grind.

“And off we go, joyfully!” Clinton said.


President Obama Signs Executive Order Granting Paid Sick Leave To Federal Contractors

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The president said in a Labor Day speech in Boston that not offering workers paid sick leave “is not good for anybody.”

President Obama announced on Monday that he is signing an executive order that requires federal contractors to give their employees up to seven days of paid sick leave a year.

President Obama announced on Monday that he is signing an executive order that requires federal contractors to give their employees up to seven days of paid sick leave a year.

Joe Raedle / Getty Images

"In most families today, both parents work and have responsibilities caring for their children, aging parents, or family members with disabilities," the White House said in a news release. "Yet the fundamental structure of work has not kept pace with the changing American family, and many families are struggling to balance obligations at home and on the job."

In his speech, Obama said that it is not right that parents are having to choose between staying home with their sick child or getting a paycheck, or that a sick waiter is forced to go to work to pay the bills.

"That's not good for anybody," he said.

Andrew Harnik / AP

The workers will earn a minimum of one hour of paid leave for every 30 hours worked. Employers can also offer more hours if they desire.

The White House also said Obama is "renewing his call for Congress to pass the Healthy Families Act."

The act would require businesses with 15 or more workers to give their employees seven days of paid sick leave a year.

The White House said that the policies Obama is proposing would be good for workers and companies alike.

"Paid sick days would help reduce lost productivity due to the spread of illness in the workplace," the White House said. "These policies can benefit our economy by fostering a more productive workforce."


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Senate Democrat: The Administration Could Be Taking More Syrian Refugees Now

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The U.S. is expected to resettle a total of 1,800 Syrian refugees by October, and says it will aim to increase that number to between 5,000 and 8,000 next year. Sen. Amy Klobuchar tells BuzzFeed News the administration could be doing more.

Angelos Tzortzinis / AFP / Getty Images

One of the leading advocates for admitting more Syrian refugees to the United States says the Obama administration could be doing more — and does not need to wait for Congress.

Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar, in a phone interview with BuzzFeed News Monday, said Congress doesn't need to act for the United States to process more refugees and said the focus should instead be on the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

"I think that the main thing right now is the State Department and the DHS upping their game," the Minnesota senator said.

"I feel like we have some obligation here to join the rest of the world," Klobuchar said. "Europe should clearly take the lead because they are close in proximity, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't take part, and doesn't mean some countries in the mideast like Saudi Arabia shouldn't take some refugees as well."

In recent days and weeks, some Europeans countries have significantly increased the number of Syrian refugees that they will admit.

In May of this year, 14 senators, led by Klobuchar and fellow Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin, wrote a letter to President Obama calling on the administration to significantly increase the number of Syrian refugees allowed to resettle in the United States to 65,000.

The letter was largely overlooked at the time, but 65,000 has since been picked up as a benchmark for the politicians pressuring the United States to take in more refugees after the image of a dead boy who drowned off the coast of Turkey brought renewed attention to the issue, and as Europe is flooded with refugees.

The number would be a drastic increase from the current number of refugees the U.S. resettles annually. Since the start of the Syrian Civil War in 2011, the U.S. has received 17,000 referrals for resettlement, but has only processed 1,500 refugees. The State Department says it expects to resettle 300 more by the end of the fiscal year in October, and announced in late August it intends to resettle a total of 5,000 to 8,000 refugees in 2016. Critics say that number still doesn't fully address the magnitude of the crisis.

One of the main challenges facing the State Department and DHS is the time and effort it takes to process Syrian refugees for resettlement. In July, the State Department, in response to the senators' letter, said due to the complex nature of Syrian cases, it was taking longer than usual for DHS to handle resettlement requests and that the administration planned to increase the size of the DHS teams.

According to the State Department, Syrian refugees are subjected to additional security screening (some of the details of which are classified) out of concerns that terrorist groups could use the asylum process to gain entry into the United States. The process takes anywhere from 18 to 24 months.

The threat to national security is also the reason why some lawmakers are urging caution in increasing the number of refugees resettled in America. House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Rep. Michael McCaul wrote a letter to the president in June arguing that the screening process for refugees suffered from "vulnerabilities."

"Terrorists have exploited the refugee process to sneak into our country in the past, and officials have warned my Committee that we lack the on-the-ground intelligence in Syria needed to confidently vet individuals for resettlement," McCaul said in a statement to BuzzFeed News. "Before taking on any new refugee admissions, the president must provide assurances to Congress and the American people that our security screening is up to the task."

Klobuchar told BuzzFeed News that the United States still needs to have limits and a thorough vetting process, but said the country had risen to the occasion before, when it resettled thousands of Hmong refugees from Vietnam and Laos in the 1980s and 90s. Today, more than 60,000 Hmong live in Minnesota, the largest population in the country.

"One of the things that we've learned in our state, is one, they are vetted, and two they are legal, so they can work," Klobuchar said.

"It shows you in the past, when there has been a major conflict or humanitarian crisis, we have risen to the occasion and taken in refugees."

Rubio: I'd Be Open To More Syrian Refugees If The Security Is Sound

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Bryan Thomas / Getty Images

Marco Rubio said he would be open to the United States accepting more Syrian refugees — if there is a way of ensuring the refugees don't include those part of a terrorist organization.

"We’ve always been a country that's been willing to accept people who have been displaced," Rubio said in an interview with Boston Herald radio, "and I would be open to that if it can done in a way that allows us to ensure that among them are not infiltrated — people who were, you know, part of a terrorist organization that are using this crisis."

"I think overwhelmingly, the vast and overwhelming majority of people that are seeking refuge are not terrorists, of course. But you always are concerned about that," he said.

Rubio also pointed to the displaced Syrian Christian community as a point of specific concern, and noted that many people currently fleeing the region have connections dating back thousands of years.

"They would prefer to stay in that region, so I think a better outcome here obviously is that we have to provide for their short term," Rubio said, "but long term, we have to have a precise regional strategy that allows, especially the Christians to go back to their ancient cities, and their ancient populations centers, where they have been for almost 2,000 years, up until recent times."

A spokesperson for Rubio did not respond Sunday to a BuzzFeed News request for comment on the matter of whether the United States should accept more refugees. His campaign did not respond to questions from the Guardian.

The issue of more refugees has become a flashpoint in recent weeks as a flood of Syrians arrives in Europe to mixed responses from the governments there, ranging from mass accommodation to restrictions.

Asked by Boston Herald radio whether Hillary Clinton bears responsibility for the refugee crisis (because, in the interviewer's framing, she didn't designate Boko Haram a terrorist organization), Rubio called the refugee crisis an outcome of a failed foreign policy.

"She was secretary of state, she was the architect of the foreign policy of this president, that has been a failure, which has now had a chain number of events that happened over a period of time," he said. "I mean these are the three, four-year out consequences of that failed foreign policy. That sort of instability in the region that we cannot isolate ourselves from, it will eventually impact us.

"Now it is potentially destabilizing many of our NATO allies in Europe, and has already asking questions of us," he went on. "Whether we are going to be prepared to accept the refugees the way we did for example, during the civil war in Sudan."

Kentucky Clerk Asks Appeals Court To Halt Governor's Marriage Equality "Mandate"

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After being jailed for violating a federal court order that she stop her “no marriage licenses” policy, Kim Davis presses forward in her own complaint against Gov. Steve Beshear.

Kim Davis, the Rowan County clerk, on September 2, 2015 in Morehead, Kentucky.

Ty Wright / Getty Images

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Kentucky clerk in the center of a fight to be exempted from having to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples went back to the federal appeals court on Monday, pressing her own case against Gov. Steve Beshear.

The move is Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis's latest attempt at being exempted from issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples in the wake of the Supreme Court decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, declaring marriage equality to be a nationwide right in June.

Davis, who was jailed after being held in contempt of court for refusing to follow a federal court order that she stop her "no marriage licenses" policy, went to the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday in a case she has brought against the governor.

In response to the first lawsuit, the case that led to her jailing, was brought by couples seeking to marry, Davis later brought her own complaint — suing the Kentucky governor for ordering that all clerks issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

Although Beshear's actions are referred to in Monday's appeals court filing more than two dozen times as a "mandate," the word "mandate" never appears in Davis's initial complaint against Beshear. There, Davis's lawyers lay out Beshear's quick implementation of the Supreme Court's marriage equality ruling. Then, they note, "Governor Beshear has maintained that county clerks must issue marriage licenses, including to same-sex couples, despite any clerk's 'own personal beliefs.'"

The trial court judge in the case, U.S. District Court Judge David Bunning, put Davis's request for a preliminary injunction halting Beshear's "mandate" on hold while the appeal of the case against Davis was pending. Davis had notified the court that she was appealing that decision.

She also asked Bunning to issue an injunction halting the governor from enforcing the so-called "mandate" while she appealed Bunning's decision to put her request for a preliminary injunction against Beshear on hold.

On Monday, Davis argued that Bunning's move to put a decision on that request off until at least Sept. 11 — particularly given that she is in jail — was "impracticable."

As such, she asked the appeals court to consider her emergency request now and issue an injunction stopping enforcement of "Gov. Beshear's SSM Mandate against her" and "exempting her from authorizing marriage licenses" until that appeal can be heard and decided.

"In an assault upon her individual liberty and dignity, Davis currently sits incarcerated in the Carter County Detention Center (Kentucky), in significant part, because Gov. Beshear has refused to take elementary steps to accommodate Davis' undisputed, sincerely-held religious beliefs about marriage," Davis's lawyers told the appeals court on Monday. "As a prisoner of her conscience, Davis continues to request a simple accommodation and exemption from Gov. Beshear, who is overseeing Kentucky marriage policy."

Read the appeal:

LINK: Kentucky Clerk To Appeal Jail Order For Refusing Same-Sex Marriage Licenses


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What Black Lives Matter Is Learning From Edward Snowden

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#CampaignZero’s DeRay Mckesson on Snowden and the media.

Frederick Florin / AFP / Getty Images

WASHINGTON — One of the leading figures in the Black Lives Matter movement, DeRay Mckesson, says he's interested in what the Black Lives Matter movement can learn from Edward Snowden.

In particular, he said, he was struck by one factor: The extent to which Snowden's story was shaped by, and through, a media that the Black Lives Matter movement has viewed with deep skepticism.

"I didn't know that Snowden gave over the information to journalists who made decisions about what to publish," he said. "In my head, it was a simple [narrative] in the sense that he just put it all online somewhere." In reality, Mckesson said, "there was a level of nuance to the way it all happened that had been completely foreign to me."

He said it reminded him of how in the movement "a single narrative can get out there that becomes so real to people."

Mckesson, one of the activists behind the new police violence prevention platform Campaign Zero, said he'd just watched Laura Poitras' CITIZENFOUR, which won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, and John Oliver's popular segment and interview with Snowden.

To him, it illustrated the extent to which a master, single narrative has the power shape public perception.

In recent weeks, the movement has reckoned with attempts to brand Black Lives Matter a hate group over the shooting of Deputy Darren Goforth was shot and killed at gas station outside of Houston.

Activists have rejected those characterizations, and Mckesson tweeted after the officer's death, "It is sad that some have chosen to politicize this tragedy by falsely attributing the officer's death to a movement seeking to end violence."

Black Lives Matter is rooted in Twitter and has primarily relied on, in this situation and others, social media to shape the movement's narrative.

But Mckesson said he's increasingly interested in the growth that comes from taking advice and learning from people whose ideas they wouldn't ordinarily encounter.

Whether or not they take the advice, Mckesson said, "We want to be open to it."

McKesson said he's also eager to take lessons from Snowden and his allies on government surveillance.

"As people who are working to confront and destruct a system that is killing people, are there any lessons we can learn from the information they exposed or from him?" he said.

Though he said he isn't much concerned about keeping his own secrets.

"I just assume that they're reading everything," Mckesson said. "I know that they want it to have a chilling effect and I'm just not feeding into it. All we're doing is telling the truth and I'll never be afraid to tell the truth.

If the government, he said, needs "to look at the tweets before I tweet them? Cool."

Kim Davis Released From Jail, Lawyer Says She Will Not "Violate Her Conscience"

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Judge David Bunning ordered the Rowan County clerk to be released — and that she not interfere with her deputy clerks’ efforts to grant marriage licenses to all couples. Here lawyer, however, says, “She cannot allow her name to be associated with something that conflicts with God’s definition of marriage.”

WASHINGTON — Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis, who had been held in jail since Sept. 3 for contempt for refusing to end her "no marriage licenses" policy, on Tuesday was released from jail.

"Defendant Davis shall be released from the custody of the U.S. Marshal forthwith," U.S. District Court Judge David Bunning ordered. "Defendant Davis shall not interfere in any way, directly or indirectly, with the efforts of her deputy clerks to issue marriage licenses to all legally eligible couples."

A crowd gathered outside the Carter County Detention Center, where Davis was held. The crowd played Christian rock and people held crosses, American flags, a flag that read "Liberty" and a "Mike Huckabee for President" sign.

In the order announcing her release, Bunning made clear that should Davis interfere with her clerks' efforts, he would consider "appropriate sanctions." Additionally, Bunning ordered the lawyers for the deputy clerks who agreed to issue licenses to file a status report with the court regarding their compliance with the court's orders in the case every two weeks.

When asked at a news conference whether Davis would do when she returned to work, her lawyer, Mat Staver, said, "Kim Davis cannot, will not violate her conscience."

Expanding on those comments at a rally that followed, Staver said of the licenses themselves, "Whether her name is on it or not, it's still under her authority. ... She cannot allow her name to be associated with something that conflicts with God's definition of marriage."

"She'll do her job, but she won't violate her conscience," he told reporters after Davis was released, calling the licenses issued recently "not valid."

When asked if spending time in jail was worth it, Davis seemed to nod her head "yes."

Staver and Huckabee both spoke at the rally, and Davis gave a brief statement thanking her supporters. The rally also featured several prominent national opponents of LGBT rights, including Family Research Council president Tony Perkins and the head of the National Organization for Marriage, Brian Brown — who talked about people throughout American history like Kim Davis who have stood up for "just causes," including "one woman on a bus."

To much applause at the rally, Staver said that Clerk Davis "will not resign [her] position."

Saying that he was "glad" to hear that Davis was released, Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear told reporters, "I took no joy at all in the fact that the clerk was in custody, but that was a matter between the judge and clerk. Hopefully we can move forward now."

He continued, however, to lay out his opposition to Davis's actions.

"I don't see that the religious freedom law has been trampled on," he said. "What you have here was a public official who voluntarily ran for election to that office who is being paid $80,000 in taxpayers' money, and the statute set out the duties of that office. But then she decided she could pick out the duties she would perform — and not perform some of the others."

Bunning had ordered Davis's release after receiving notice from the plaintiffs in the case on Tuesday morning that several of them were able to obtain marriage licenses on Sept. 4. "The Court is therefore satisfied that the Rowan County Clerk's Office is fulfilling its obligation to issue marriage licenses to all legally eligible couples, consistent with the U.S. Supreme Court's holding in Obergefell and this Court's August 12, 2015 Order."

Lawyers had informed the court on Tuesday morning that three of the four couples who brought the lawsuit — two same-sex couples and one opposite-sex couple — already had received marriage licenses.

"This case was brought to ensure that all residents of Rowan County, gay and straight, could obtain marriage licenses. That goal has been achieved," William Sharp, the legal director of the ACLU of Kentucky, who represented the plaintiffs in the case.

The judge's order came moments after Davis asked the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals to release her from jail immediately.

In Davis's appeal of the contempt order, her lawyers argued that her being jailed was inappropriate.

"Believing that marriage is the union of a man and a woman, only, and acting in accordance with those beliefs, are not crimes in Kentucky, or elsewhere," they wrote. "To prosecute Davis as if she is a criminal is wrong, and, to do so without guaranteeing her the rights of one so accused, is still worse."

Davis was held in contempt on Sept. 3 following a hearing over her refusal to comply with the trial court's Aug. 12 order that she stop her "no marriage licenses" policy, adopted because of Davis's religious opposition to her name appearing on same-sex couples' marriage licenses.

On Monday, Davis's lawyers asked for an emergency injunction halting Beshear from enforcing what they call his same-sex marriage mandate" against her.

Read Judge Bunning's order:

Read the contempt appeal:


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Lindsey Graham Calls On U.S. To Take More Syrian Refugees

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Alex Wong / Getty Images

WASHINGTON — Republican presidential candidate and South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham called on the U.S. to take its "fair share" of refugees from the Syrian conflict on Tuesday, but declined to name an exact number.

"We should take our fair share" of refugees, Graham said in response to a question after a speech he gave about the Iran deal at the National Press Club.

"We are good people. I don't think the average American has any idea what it's like to live in the Middle East right now," Graham said. "If I'm president, it's not about accepting refugees, it's about destroying the reason they leave. It's about sending them back to Syria with hope. It's about destroying a radical Islamic movement that would destroy everybody in this room."

Other presidential candidates have commented recently on the refugee issue, as the crisis of refugees fleeing conflict to reach Europe has dominated the headlines, particularly after the publication of a photo of a Syrian toddler lying dead on a beach in Turkey. Some have echoed Graham in saying that the U.S. can accept more refugees, while others have expressed concerns about the possibility of terrorists taking advantage of the system to come over as refugees. The U.S. has taken in about 1,500 refugees from the war in Syria.

"I understand that among [the refugees] can be terrorists, and we have to watch that," Graham said. "But the vast majority are little boys and little girls, and good people who have been kicked out of their homes by the most radical movement since the Nazis." Graham compared the refugee situation to the voyage of the St. Louis, a ship full of Jews fleeing Nazi Germany that was denied entry to Cuba and to the U.S., and that eventually sailed back to Europe.

Asked how many refugees the U.S. should take, Graham said that he would need to talk to the Department of Homeland Security about numbers and about the vetting process. "I don't see how we can lead the free world and turn our back when people are seeking it," Graham said. "We should take the Statue of Liberty and tear it down if this is our response as a nation. Just tear it down, because we don't need it anymore."

Graham told reporters after the event that he would "support an emergency appropriation for refugees." The Senate foreign aid bill for 2016 would cut refugee aid funding by $415 million. Graham said he would "sit down with Sen. Leahy and see if we can find some money to help the international refugee associations and UN particularly who are doing a good job trying to manage this."

"I don't know how many we should take, I don't know how much we should spend, but I know we should take our fair share and we need to spend more to get ahead of this," Graham said.

Speaking to reporters, Graham also commented on reported Russian moves to bolster the Assad regime's military in Syria in response to a question from BuzzFeed News.

"I can tell the administration that's a slap in your face," he said. "When Russia comes in to reinforce [Assad], that means that this war is gonna go on longer. That undercuts our efforts to push [Assad] out, it is a direct slap in the face to President Obama by Putin. This John Kerry initiative to draw Russia and Iran in to get Assad out is clearly not working."


Clinton And Her Supporters Reassure Each Other As Race Tightens

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David Greedy / Getty Images

BURLINGTON, Iowa — It was the last of nine campaign stops in three days. Her voice was hoarse from so much talking. And by the end of her Labor Day swing through New Hampshire and Iowa over the three-day weekend, aides worried she might be sick — or at least worn down. After her final event at a small park in the town of Burlington, as Hillary Clinton stepped over the line of haybales dividing her from the crowd, a man approached, leaned in, and offered some words of encouragement.

"Hang in there, Hillary,” he said. “We really like you.”

It was a message Clinton heard often as she traveled to six towns and cities in the two early-voting states, capping off a difficult summer for the campaign: Clinton’s lead in New Hampshire has been erased by Bernie Sanders, her poll numbers and favorability ratings have dipped over questions about trust and authenticity, and she continues to face scrutiny for a personal email account she used as secretary of state. Clinton and her aides have framed Labor Day as a sort of reset moment for the campaign — or, as Clinton said at the start of the weekend, a turn “toward the finish line.”

In the early states, supporters sought to reassure Clinton that they were in the fight with her. The man in Burlington was one of several who told Clinton to keep it up as she moved into a more challenging phase of the campaign.

In Cedar Rapids, at the center of a thick crowd following Clinton at a labor day picnic, one woman yelled, “You give ‘em hell!” Clinton reached out and grabbed her hand. “We will! We will!” she said. In Portsmouth, N.H., another woman told Clinton to keep her head up. “Stay strong and don’t let them get you down,” she said. And at her event there — a “Women for Hillary” rally overlooking South Mill Pond — Sen. Jeanne Shaheen endorsed Clinton to a crowd as a candidate who won’t “shrink from a fight”: “Hillary,” Shaheen said, “is as tough as they come.”

“I know that I’m just really getting warmed up,” Clinton said at the stop in Burlington. “It’s only Labor Day.”

Clinton, meanwhile, seemed to reassure her supporters right back. She made sure to tell nearly every crowd over the weekend that, setbacks aside, she is up for the fight.

“I know that I’m just really getting warmed up,” Clinton said at the stop in Burlington. “It’s only Labor Day.”

When a woman approached the candidate in downtown Portsmouth to say she’d been a supporter in 2008, Clinton told her this campaign would be different. “We are going to do it this time,” she said.

Although Sanders, the U.S. senator from Vermont, has mounted a serious, well-organized challenge to win the Democratic nomination — particularly in New Hampshire — Clinton cast the “real choice” as one between her and Republicans: “I am criticizing the Republicans on a very regular basis because I want the American people to know what the real choice is,” she told reporters during a press conference in New Hampshire.

There was no direct talk of the Democratic primary, or her opponents — only reminders from Clinton that a strong nominee would be needed to take on the Republican Party next November.

“I have no illusions about how hard all of this will be. Because the other side has already said they will spend, do, or say whatever it takes to win,” said Clinton in Burlington. “And they have a particular concern about me. I take it as sort of a compliment to be honest, right? Because they know I mean what I say. And I want you to know that.”

Donald Trump, in particular, has been “throwing a lot of heat my way,” Clinton noted in Portsmouth on Saturday. “That is fine. I can take it.” The next day, in Cedar Rapids, she said of the Republicans, “It is going to be a fight. Make no mistake about it.”

Clinton added that, in Iowa, where she holds a solid lead against Sanders, the caucuses could serve as a crucial “message” to the other party: “that we’re coming after those Republicans and their allies who would turn the clock back on America.”

“I am a proud Democrat,” she said at her last stop. Then added: “I am a true Democrat.”

It was perhaps the closest Clinton came over the weekend to acknowledging her closest competitor in the Democratic primary. Sanders, who has long described himself as a socialist, is a registered Independent. (Just last month, he attended his first Democratic National Committee meeting.)

Clinton acknowledged that, although operationally her campaign has focused on the early primary states — and on, as her aides often say, “taking nothing for granted” — her messaging is directed, exclusively, on contrasts with Republicans.

“It certainly is clear that my campaign is focused on the Republicans,” Clinton told reporters in Portsmouth. “That’s who I talk about. That’s who I criticize. Because I think they’ve earned it. I am very pleased to be running my campaign on the issues that I think are important to the American people.”

Last week, in an interview with NBC, when Clinton said it isn't enough to “wave your arms and give a speech," the Sanders campaign suggested the comment had been aimed at his large rallies. “I think they’re getting nervous,” Sanders said over the weekend.

Clinton denied any reference to Sanders. (She has not, in fact, said his name once publicly on the campaign trail.) “First of all,” she told reporters, “I was talking about Donald Trump.” On her Democratic opponents more broadly, Clinton said she looked forward to “chance to debate,” and suggested she’d be open to participating in more than the six already on the calendar. Other Democrats, including Martin O’Malley, the former governor of Maryland, have argued that the schedule is limiting and favors Clinton as the frontrunner.

“I debated a lot in 2008, and I certainly would be there with lots of enthusiasm and energy if they decide to add more debates,” said Clinton. “We will have a chance to debate, however many times we get that opportunity.”

Heading into the fall, Clinton’s aides hope to shift public focus away from the email controversy that still occupies headlines. In an interview with the Associated Press on Monday, Clinton called the investigation “a distraction, clearly,” but said it has not hurt her campaign.

“You know, I take seriously what I want to do as your president. And I know that, you know, it’s summertime,” said Clinton later that day in Burlington. ”It’s kind of hard to focus on the kind of things that I’ve been talking about. “But we’re gonna keep talking about them.”

Her senior strategist and pollster, Joel Benenson, told reporters last week on a campaign conference call that, even amid the developments of the summer, the campaign believes that not much has changed for Clinton: “Where we see the race right now is fundamentally unchanged from where we’ve been before.” And In New Hampshire, where Sanders leads in several polls, they always expected “a tight race,” Benenson said.

“That’s the nature of races in New Hampshire.”

Clinton, of course, knows that first hand. “I am going to work as hard as I can to earn every vote in the New Hampshire primary that I possibly can earn,” she said over the weekend. “I remember very well in 2008, I faced a similar situation. I worked really, really hard to make sure people knew what I was saying and what I stood for.”

“That’s what I’m going to do again.”

On "Ellen," Hillary Clinton Gets Dance Lesson, Warm Audience On Emails

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Hillary Clinton, center, dances with DJ Stephen "tWitch" Boss and Ellen DeGeneres during a break in the taping of DeGeneres's show on Tuesday.

Mary Altaffer / AP

Around 6:25 p.m. on Tuesday — just before an interview on ABC’s World News Tonight was set to air about her emails and flagging poll numbers — Hillary was on stage before a friendlier television audience, in commercial break, learning this summer’s popular dance, the “Nae Nae.”

Clinton taped a segment on the Ellen DeGeneres Show, which kicks off its 13th season this week. The interview, conducted on a makeshift stage constructed in front of Rockefeller Plaza, was the one of the first of what Clinton aides have promised will be many other national interviews, including with non-traditional outlets. The show will air on Thursday. Last season, episodes averaged about 3.4 million viewers, according to Nielsen.

Clinton's communications director, Jennifer Palmieri, told reporters last week that the campaign will be looking for opportunities to engage more with national audiences. On Tuesday, aides also announced a scheduled appearance on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. "She will be doing more national interviews," said Palmieri. "The emails will come up. We think that's a helpful thing obviously."

Clinton also sat for an interview with ABC News’s David Muir on Tuesday to discuss her campaign and the personal email account she used as secretary of state to conduct government business. But for about 20 minutes on Tuesday night, as the sun set over Rockefeller Plaza, before thousands of Ellen fans in the audience, Clinton could do no wrong.

She exchanged quips with Amy Schumer, quizzed a five-year-old “presidential expert,” and briefly rocked back and forth in the style of the “Nae Nae,” during a quick lesson from DeGeneres’s resident DJ, tWitch. (Clinton did not dance, as is the custom on the show, as she walked on stage to U2’s “Beautiful Day.”)

There was talk of Clinton’s granddaughter (“She doesn’t call me anything yet… I’m fine with grandma. I’m fine with Madame President.”) and of what she’d call her husband in the White House (“I would probably still call him Bill. But other people might call him… how about the first mate?"). And there was a question about her age — and whether that matters: ”One of the great experiences of living in this time is,” Clinton said, “people get to rewrite their lives. They get to make new decisions. They get to think about the future. And I’m so oriented about the future.”

“I feel as revved up and ready as I did 20, 30 years ago,” she said.

And almost as soon as Clinton sat down, DeGeneres asked about the email controversy still dogging the campaign. The host quickly dismissed the scandal — suggesting it was a result of an unjust double-standard for women in American politics — and all but offered her endorsement before the crowd of thousands.

“You think hosting the Oscar’s is thankless,” said DeGeneres. “Being president of the United States… You're just constantly criticized and attacked and scrutinized and — speaking of, let's just get this out of the way, let's talk about the emails.”

“Ok,” said Clinton.

“Ok,” said DeGeneres.

There was a pause. “What,” said Clinton, seeming to want a specific question.

“What?” said DeGeneres.

“Well,” Clinton started, “I want people to understand this, so I'm glad you asked. I used a personal email account. It was allowed by the State Department. But I should have used two different accounts. I made a mistake and I'm sorry for all the confusion that has ensued. I take responsibility for that. But I'm now I'm trying to be as transparent, not just as I can, but as anybody has been.”

She mentioned the 55,000 pages of correspondence she turned over to the State Department. It was a younger audience, and so what followed seemed like a Clinton’s SparkNotes version of what has become a complicated, multi-layered, inter-agency saga. (She did not reference an inspector general review that found four of Clinton's emails contained information that should have been classified at the time.)

“We’ve got the server," said Clinton, "and we’ve got the testifying before Congress, so I'm just, you know, I'm gonna keep talking about it and answering questions.”

Then DeGeneres personally weighed in: “I mean, I actually don't think you need to. It's just that people keep bringing it up.”

“They do.”

“They have not found a thing…”

“Right,” said Clinton.

“…They keep saying they've found something, but then we don't hear anything about it.”

“No,” Clinton agreed.

“I personally think that women — and I know you're not gonna say this, because you believe that there should not be a difference between women's rights and human rights, and I love that you say that because it shouldn’t,” said DeGeneres. “But I will say that I personally believe that women are held to a different standard than men. We are held to a different standard for our weight, for our age, for our looks…”

“Yep. Yep.”

“...for everything.”

“Yep.”

“And it's not fair,” said DeGeneres, “because you are the smartest, most qualified person for this job. If I'm looking for someone who’s qualified... If I wanna hire a plumber, I want someone who has snaked a drain. You know what I'm saying?”

“Yeah, I do. I’ve snaked a drain,” Clinton added.

“I want someone who is qualified and I feel like… if I look at all the other candidates — someone who is for rights across the board, equal rights for women, equal rights for every ethnicity, equal rights for everyone — the only person I can look at is you.”

“Thank you,” Clinton said. “First of all, look, I think it’s just a reality that we’re held to a higher, different double-standard. And it gets a little old to be honest.”

“But don’t let…” Clinton looked out in the audience. “All these wonderful, beautiful young women who are here — don’t get discouraged, don’t give in, don’t give up, don’t quit.”

DeGeneres heartily agreed.

Rick Santorum, Invoking MLK's Time In Jail, Says He's Proud Of Kim Davis

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“There’s a long precedent in America from people saying, ‘you know the law has to change to accommodate what is the right thing to do, in their own moral judgment.’”

Scott Olson / Getty Images

Rick Santorum invoked civil rights leader Martin Luther King's time in jail in his defense of Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis, saying Davis was following the "long precedent" of people in this country disobeying a law they found morally unjust.

"Well here's the situation. We shouldn't be in this position," the former senator from Pennsylvania said last week on New York's AM970 The Answer.

"We shouldn't be in a position where if you have an article of faith that literally prohibits you, from your own faith convictions, from participating in any way in this type of activity, there should be accommodation for people," Santorum said. "This is one of the reasons, as soon as the Supreme Court decision came down, the first thing I said, is we have to begin, because this assault on people of faith is gonna happen. And we have to protect people from the idea that you can't have an accommodation for people who have very strong religious beliefs that are antithetical to the 'new law' of the country."

Santorum said the case was a clear reason to pass the "First Amendment Defense Act" at the state and federal level. The bill would "bar the federal government from
discriminating against individuals and organizations based upon their religious beliefs or moral convictions that marriage is the union of one man and one woman or that sexual relations are properly reserved to such a marriage."

Santorum cited Dr. Martin Luther King's stints in jail for civil disobedience associated with the 1960s Civil Rights Movement.

"This shouldn't be a requirement in this country that you have to cooperate with something that in many religions is a grave sin in order to hold a job," he said. "Those are the kinds of things that we need to be immediately dealing with instead of, you know, going out and saying, 'wow, you know, we're going to put this person in jail if they don't follow the law.'"

"You know Martin Luther King went to jail because he didn't follow the law. There's a long precedent in America from people saying, 'you know the law has to change to accommodate what is the right thing to do, in their own moral judgment.'"

Santorum concluded by noting he was "proud" of Davis and that the Supreme Court abused their power in their landmark ruling allowing same-sex marriage nationwide.

"That we, you know, we should be able to figure out a way for this to be able to work so we're not forcing people to do things that are against their religious convictions," Santorum said. "And so in many respects, I can tell you I'm very proud of the fact that she stood up for those convictions and she should stood up for what I believe and I think most people who are commenting on this who agree with my position - is an abuse by the Supreme Court of their power.

"As Justice Roberts said that the court acted unconstitutionally. That's why I've said, as president, you know, I would do my best to counter the court's assertions and do what I'm responsible as president to do, which is to uphold the Constitution in a way that's consistent with its language."

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Bernie Sanders: Biden Jumping In Would Make Me Winning Nomination "Achievable Goal"

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Biden the Bern.

Cliff Owen / AP

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders says if Vice President Joe Biden decides to jump into the Democratic primary race it would lower the threshold to win the nomination, something the senator said would benefit his campaign.

"Well you remember that three or four months ago, if you looked at the polls, I was at three or four percent," Sanders said of The Biden Question to April Ryan on American Urban Radio Monday. "Now, depending on the polls -- most of the polls have me higher than that. There was another poll that just came out today in a two-way race that had me at 27 percent."

Sanders held no false expectations about his current position, saying based on current polls Hillary Clinton would defeat him.

"But, I freely concede that, you know, at a time when four months ago very few who knew the junior senator from Vermont or knew what I stood for -- we still have a long way to go. If the election were held today Hillary Clinton would defeat me. I think that's pretty clear."

The senator, however, said Biden would lower the percentage of the vote needed to win the primary contest to an "achievable goal" for him.

"I think a three way race with Vice President Joe Biden, if he chooses to get into it, would make it an interesting and different dynamic," Sanders added. "I think what it would end up doing is -- obviously making it, instead of having to get 50 percent of the vote, you'd probably have to get 35 percent of the vote, which I think for us is a very achievable goal."

"So the fact that we started at three or four percent and depending on the poll we're at 20 or 27 percent nationally, I think we made real progress and I think that we're gonna continue to make progress."

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Advocates Say U.S. Government Is Treating Some Syrian Refugees Like Terrorists

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Refugee resettlement advocates say that laws designed to protect U.S. national security are needlessly delaying or preventing Syrian refugees from being resettled in the United States.

Dan Kitwood / Getty Images

The United States government has, since 2012, been providing assistance in one form or another to moderate Syrian rebels who are fighting to topple the regime of Bashar Al-Assad. This year, the U.S. began training those rebels to defend their towns and villages against ISIS.

If those U.S.-backed rebels were to apply for asylum or resettlement inside the states, however, they could be categorically deemed inadmissible under current anti-terrorism laws for engaging in "terrorist activity." Other Syrians who assisted the armed opposition could also be found inadmissible for providing "material support" to a terrorist group.

It's one of the strict limitations of admitting refugees into the United States. The U.S. government is under renewed pressure to increase the number of Syrian refugees it resettles as Europe is flooded with Syrians trying to escape the horrors of their home country.

But the expansions of what it means to be or to provide support to terrorists after September 11th, as well as the deteriorating security situation in Syria which makes it difficult to vet refugee claims, complicates any effort to drastically increase the number of Syrian refugees taken in by the United States.

Since the passage of the USA Patriot Act in 2001, the United States has defined "terrorist activity" and "terrorist group" to be any armed opposition or any support for armed groups, even if those groups are receiving assistance from the U.S. government, like the moderate rebels in Syria.

That law, as well as the 2005 REAL ID Act, also expanded the definition of "material support" to terrorist groups to include, but not limit to, lodging, transportation, and or exchange of currency, no matter how insignificant.

Refugee advocates say it's one of the unfortunate ironies of post-9/11 immigration laws that provisions designed to cut off pathways for terrorists intent on harming the homeland to gain entry into the country instead have resulted in thousands of legitimate refugee resettlement cases being placed on hold or denied for something as minimal as serving a bowl of rice or providing lodging to a family member.

Advocates also say these provisions pose a serious challenge to the United States' ability to drastically increase the number of Syrian refugees it accepts for resettlement.

Refugee advocates have been fighting against the provisions, referred to as terrorism-related inadmissibility grounds, for the past decade, providing testimony at Congressional hearings and lobbying the administration to make changes to how the laws are enforced.

"This law is overbroad, it applies to conduct that none of us consider to be terrorism, and innocent refugees are being caught up in this process," said Melanie Nezer, vice president of policy and advocacy for the refugee resettlement agency HIAS.

"Our anti-terrorism law should serve to make us safe, and this specific law, and the ways it's applied, doesn't meet that goal," Nezer added. "Refugees have to go through an entire bureaucratic process to prove that they are admissible."

The laws, in the past, have barred entry into the United States for those who participated or assisted groups who actively resisted brutal regimes. Under the Bush Administration, the Department of Homeland Security and the State Department granted exemptions to some of these groups, such as Burmese religious and ethnic minorities. In 2008, Congress codified many of these exemptions and several others seen as unjustly barred by the law.

The Obama administration also issued exemptions for groups, including Iraqi participants in the uprisings against Saddam Hussein in 1991, as well as for activities committed under duress and for those who provided medical care.

In February of last year, the Obama administration issued two new exemptions in an effort to allow more Syrians to resettle in the United States. The exemptions are granted to those who provided so-called insignificant assistance or who engaged in certain routine commercial or social transactions, like serving a patron at a restaurant or lodging a family member.

By July 2015, however, only 10 cases have been approved for these new exemptions according to statistic provided to advocates by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. It is unknown if any of those cases are from Syria.

Despite these efforts, Nezer told BuzzFeed News she believes the administration wasn't using all of its authority to address the crisis.

"The administration should use the authority Congress gave them to issue exemptions more efficiently and more effectively than they are doing so now," Nezer said, but added, "Congress enacted this law, and congress needs to change this law."

Even with exemptions, advocates say the provisions create a bureaucratic nightmare that unnecessarily prolongs the time it takes to process resettlement requests. In order to be considered for an exemption, a refugee must first be deemed inadmissible on grounds of "material support."

One advocate says the delay in processing directly impacts the well-being of a refugee.

"Each delay in relocating people who have been identified as at-risk in their current situation contributes to their ongoing lack of protection and causes them to face continuing danger while they wait," Daryl Grisgraber, senior advocate for the Middle East for Refugees International, told BuzzFeed News.

A spokesperson for the State Department told BuzzFeed News that the U.S. government has worked to enhance the screening protocols for Syrians.

"The United States remains deeply committed to achieving the dual goals of safeguarding the American public from terrorists and providing refuge to some of the world's most vulnerable people, many of whom are themselves the victims of terrorism," the spokesperson said. "Mindful of the particular conditions of the Syria crisis, the United States has reviewed the security screening protocols for refugees, which are extremely rigorous, worked to further enhance the forms of security screening applicable to this particular population."

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