The defense rested its case Wednesday after presenting little evidence in a pre-trial hearing to counter charges that Pfc. Bradley Manning illegally downloaded and leaked hundreds of thousands of sensitive government documents to the anti-secrecy Web site WikiLeaks. Indeed, reports The Washington Post, defense attorney David E. Coombs this week appeared at one point to have all but conceded the main point of the prosecution’s case: “The government has told you a lot of stuff about how things happened,” he said Tuesday. “We’re telling you why things happened. That’s also important.” But, legal experts said, an absence of exculpatory evidence now could also mean that Manning’s defense team is reserving its strongest argument for an eventual court-martial of the soldier, legal experts said. “They’re keeping their powder dry,” said Michael J. Navarre, a military law expert and former lieutenant commander in the Navy Judge Advocate General’s Corps. “Why preview your case in a proceeding you’re probably not going to win anyway?” The government lawyers’ burden of proof to proceed to trial is quite low, Navarre said. Given the evidence presented, the pressing of at least one charge is practically “a foregone conclusion,” he said. On Wednesday, Coombs called two witnesses, and both covered ground that had been discussed earlier in the hearing that began Friday at Fort Meade. One, Sgt. Daniel Padgett, testified about one of Manning’s emotional outbursts while he was serving as an intelligence analyst at a military base in Baghdad. Padgett was in a counselling session with Manning in December 2009, after he had arrived late for duty, when Manning “got a look in his eye that made me uncomfortable,” Padgett said. Manning flipped the table over and had to be restrained in a “full nelson” by another officer, Padgett testified. Padgett’s account was consistent with other testimony elicited from government witnesses by Coombs, who likely was trying to establish material that could serve to soften any sentence should Manning be found guilty, Navarre said. During the hearing, Coombs has tried to portray Manning, 24, as a troubled young man whose signs of distress were repeatedly ignored by superiors. Manning could face up to 22 charges, ranging from adding unauthorized software to a classified computer to aiding the enemy. Although the latter carries a potential death penalty, prosecutors have said they would seek nothing more than life in prison. But the actual charges he might face are up to a military commander known as a “convening authority,” who will consider the recommendation made by the pre-trial hearing investigating officer. The most likely charges to go forward are the more minor ones, such as uploading unauthorized software and wrongfully storing classified information, which carry penalties of two years per charge, Navarre said. The defense team has tried to poke holes in some of the witnesses’ accounts, by eliciting admissions that they could not rule out that other soldiers had not had access to computers on which incriminating evidence was found. Defense lawyers also asserted that a video of an Apache helicopter firing on civilians in Iraq, which Manning is alleged to have leaked, was not classified. Closing arguments will take place Thursday.
An advocate group for gay Republicans says it appreciates the challenge of Southaven Mississippi’s mayor coming out but the investigation into his spending habits is a separate matter. Log Cabin Republicans is the only Republican organization dedicated to representing the interests of gays and lesbians in America. The group has not heard from Southaven Mayor Greg Davis since he made his private life public. They don’t know if he is aware when he made the announcement he was gay, he made history. “When we heard about Mayor Davis, we checked our records and other records and did find that yes indeed, he turns out to be the first,” said R. Clarke Cooper, Executive Dir. Log Cabin Republicans. Clarke Cooper says Southaven Mayor Greg Davis is the first elected official in Mississippi to come out. Davis made the revelation he was homosexual after receipts collected by the state auditor showed he’d visited a gay retail store for men while in Canada on a business trip. In an interview with the Commercial Appeal newspaper Davis said, “I think it's important that I discuss the struggles I have had over the last few years when I came to the realization that I am gay." There are no Log Cabin Republican chapters in Mississippi, Tennessee or Arkansas. Cooper says Davis has a rare opportunity to help change that for Mississippi. “What probably drew him to the Republican Party is still going to remain the same. The difference is folks I still have these core values. I believe I just happen to be born a different way,” said Cooper. The Log Cabin Republicans say they can relate to Davis’ struggle but stress when it comes to the criminal investigation brewing into the mayor’s duties that is a separate issue. “We have the freedom to succeed and we have the freedom to fail but our successes aren't determined by whether or not you happen to have been born heterosexual or homosexual,” said Cooper. Cooper says Davis’ announcement means Mississippi is still one of the last states to have an elected gay politician come out publically. Only two other states, South Dakota and Alaska are left. Mayor Davis did not return requests by News Channel 3 to comment on this story.
The Los Angeles Times wonders why openly gay GOP presidential candidate Fred Karger’s campaign has suddenly taken a turn for the bigoted. According to the Times, “Negative campaigns and ugly smears might be the stuff of politics these days, but within this category, Karger gets a special space all his own after launching an attack website against Mormonism that purportedly reveals the 10 "craziest beliefs" of Mormons, lest voters consider voting for Mormon candidate Mitt Romney. The site doesn't actually have such a list; it's more a place where anyone can anonymously post any sort of canard about Mormonism. Perhaps rational people could also try inserting some truths, if those are actually allowed.”
Gary Johnson, the former governor of New Mexico who is on record supporting same sex marriage, will quit the Republican primaries and seek the Libertarian Party nomination instead, Politico has learned. The former two-term New Mexico governor, whose campaign for the GOP nomination never caught fire, will make the announcement at a news conference in Santa Fe on December 28. Johnson state directors will be informed of his plans on a campaign conference call Tuesday night, a Johnson campaign source said. The move has been expected for weeks — Johnson had run a New Hampshire-centric effort that never got him past a blip in the polls. He appeared at only two nationally televised debates, and only one in which other major candidates took part. Johnson expressed deep disillusionment with the process as his libertarian message failed to catch fire and he received almost no attention for his bid. He soon began flirting with the Libertarians when it became clear that he was gaining no traction in GOP primaries. “I’m still in the race,” Johnson said in November. “I’m registered in New Hampshire and the intention would be, hope against hope that I would be able to be heard. But there is not much hope. Johnson has announced the December 28 event on his Facebook page. Campaign spokesman Joe Hunter said only that it would be “a significant announcement.” Calling news of the switch “the worst kept secret,” Libertarian Party Chairman Mark Hinkle said Johnson will change his voter registration to Libertarian at the news conference. Johnson’s campaign has been talking to Libertarian officials for months, Hinkle said, adding, “It looks like it’s definitely going to come to fruition here.”
An update on a previous post, CNN reporting that one of Archie Comics' archetypal all-American teens is getting married – and it is not to girl-next-door Betty Cooper or scheming sophisticate Veronica Lodge. A year after introducing Riverdale’s first gay character, Kevin Keller, Archie Comics is showing his marriage to an African-American physical therapist named Clay Walker. The issue with their wedding, Life with Archie #16, debuts at comic book stores January 4 and newsstands January 10. It's part of a series that imagines the gang five or six years after graduation, with two alternate timelines - one in which Archie married Betty, another in which he married Veronica. Kevin's wedding appears as part of a story showing Archie and Betty's married life. Kevin Keller is shown to have followed in his Army father's footsteps - in images released to CNN, readers learn that he served in the military and was injured while serving in Iraq. He meets Dr. Clay Walker while in a hospital’s rehabilitation unit. Clay helps Kevin regain his ability to walk, and the two become friends. But it is not until a chance meeting in an airport that they start dating. Archie Comics CEO Jonathan Goldwater said it's part of a concerted effort to make Archie's universe mirror the diversity and complexity that today's readers encounter in their lives. Archie's first comic book appearance was in 1941, and the core "gang" of Archie, Jughead, Betty and Veronica had, for the most part, changed only cosmetically. "Riverdale, Archie and the gang are set in high school, and we ran a risk, unless we reflect what's going on with kids today in the real world, of becoming irrelevant," said Goldwater, the son of Archie creator John L. Goldwater.
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