Greetings from Netroots Nation in San Jose! California knows how to party.
- Not able to attend in person? Attend virtually! The Netroots Nation site has you covered.
- The United States has filed a criminal complaint for espionage against NSA leaker Snowden. Here's it is in full.
- Embarrassing: Yahoo went full birther, but has since corrected itself.
- Looks like we won't have a repeat of Martha Coakley and Scott Brown in this Massachusetts special Senate election: Markey holds a commanding lead in latest polling.
- The American Medical Association is now opposing the 30-year-old ban preventing gay and bisexual men from donating blood:
During a board meeting Tuesday, the American Medical Association voted to oppose the U.S. Food and Drug Administration policy that has prohibited gay men from donating blood for the past 30 years, reports ABC News.
The ban was originally put into place in 1983 as a response to the AIDS epidemic. Since then, it has become standard practice for all blood donations to be tested for HIV, making the FDA’s ban an outdated policy, according to some experts.
"The lifetime ban on blood donation for men who have sex with men is discriminatory and not based on sound science," AMA board member William Kobler said in a statement. "This new policy urges a federal policy change to ensure blood donation bans or deferrals are applied to donors according to their individual level of risk and are not based on sexual orientation alone."
About time.
- Barney Frank gave some sage advice during his address to Netroots Nation:
"Harass us, because we really do pay attention. Look at who's on the ballot, and vote for the candidate you agree with the most. The next time, you get better choices."
- The Senate Minority Leader thinks it's absurd to ban corporations from having the same rights as people:
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) on Friday said that he opposed a constitutional amendment to ban corporations from having the same rights as people because the idea was "absurd."
Speaking to the conservative American Enterprise Institute, McConnell accused President Barack Obama's administration of using a "culture of intimidation" to stifle free speech.
Following the remarks, the Washington Free Beacon's Lachlan Markay asked McConnell for his thoughts on a constitutional amendment proposed by Sens. Jon Tester (D-MT) and Chris Murphy (D-CT) to clarify that corporations are not "people" and restore Congress' ability to limit corporate influence in elections.
"Well you have to give them some points for not hiding it," McConnell quipped. "They are uncomfortable with corporate free speech obviously."
Shorter McConnell: I'm for sale, and I like it!