Mozilla appoints new CEO after gay marriage controversy

The open source advocacy group and creator of the Firefox browser, Mozilla, has appointed former marketing man Chris Beard as interim chief executive after a newly-promoted boss was forced to resign over his controversial donation to an anti-gay marriage campaign.

Brendan Eich was promoted to the top job from chief technology officer and had a long history with Mozilla dating back to before its formation from Netscape, having worked on the Navigator browser in the 90s and creating JavaScript in a marathon, ten-day programming session in 1995.

But controversy erupted over a $1,000 donation he made in 2008 to support California's Proposition 8, which opposed gay marriage. The donation was listed in a public database with Mozilla appearing next to Eich's name as his employer.

Despite a blog post by Eich in which he said he wanted to "express my sorrow at having caused pain" and promised an "active commitment to equality" at Mozilla, employees were unconvinced. Chris McAvoy, who leads Mozilla's Open Badges project, took to Twitter to call for the new chief executive to stand down and said that he had been "disapointed" by his promotion. The tweet was soon echoed by other Mozilla staff.

Independent developer Hampton Catlin also wrote a blog post announcing that the company founded by him and his husband would no longer support Mozilla: "As a gay couple who were unable to get married in California until recently, we morally cannot support a Foundation that would not only leave someone with hateful views in power, but will give them a promotion and put them in charge of the entire organization.

"By the very bones in our body, we cannot dare use our creativity, experience, knowledge, and passion to further the career of a man who has to this day not apologized for his support. I can't spend hours and days and years polishing, building, and upgrading applications that make him richer than he is."

In a blog post last night Mozilla's executive chairwoman Mitchell Baker said that the company had found itself in the midst of an "unexpected leadership transition" and that there was "no better person to lead us" than Chris Beard. She also added that he was a "strong candidate" for the permanent chief executive position.

"Chris has been a Mozillian longer than most. He's been actively involved with Mozilla since before we shipped Firefox 1.0, he's guided and directed many of our innovative projects, and his vision and sense of Mozilla is equal to anyone's. I have relied on his judgement and advice for nearly a decade," she said.

"We intend to use recent events as a catalyst to develop and expand Mozilla's leadership. Appointing Chris as our interim CEO is a first step in this process. Next steps include a long-term plan for the CEO role, adding board members who can help Mozilla succeed and continuing our efforts to actively support each Mozillian to reach his or her full potential as a leader."

Mozilla appoints new CEO after gay marriage controversy

Obama: Right to vote is under threat in U.S.

Barry:

"I want to be clear: (Like he was with Benghazi and the IRS scandals) I am not against reasonable attempts to secure the ballot. We understand that. There has to be rules in place," Obama said. "But I am against requiring an ID that millions of Americans don't have." 

Really? 
Why can't they get a photo ID... especially when it's free at their local DOT? Why is it they can't seem to find the wherewithal to get a free ID but have no problem getting to the voting booth? How do they go about their day to day business without one?  

I can't. Occasionally at my local supermarket, bank, Home Depot, etc they want to see my ID to make a purchase on my credit card. What happens if you don't have one?

"But I am against requiring an ID that millions of Americans don't have." 

He's also addressing the "Americans"  (millions of illegal Mexicans) who vote for Democrats. 

Voter fraud isn’t a problem?

Yeah.. voting just once is so...yesterday.

This would  benefit committed Democrats like Melowese Richardson who voted five times. She was sentenced to 5 years in prison, but the Democratic Party does not abandon its own. So she got probation instead.

Wonder if they took her voting rights away... or cloned her?

After the lie of the decade.
 "You can keep your insurance period. No matter what."       

Can you really believe a word this guy says anymore?

DID OBAMA STEAL THE 2012 ELECTION?

Overwhelming evidence shows vote fraud, abuse played major role in outcome

http://www.wnd.com/2012/12/did-obama-steal-the-2012-election/

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Jim Kuhnhenn, Associated Press

Posted: Sunday, April 13, 2014, 3:01 AM 

NEW YORK - In an unsparing critique of Republicans, President Obama on Friday accused the GOP of using voting restrictions to keep voters from the polls and of jeopardizing 50 years of expanded ballot box access for millions of black Americans and other minorities. 

"The stark, simple truth is this: The right to vote is threatened today in a way that it has not been since the Voting Rights Act became law nearly five decades ago," Obama said in a fiery speech at civil rights activist and television talk host Al Sharpton's National Action Network conference. 

Obama waded into the acrid debate over voting access in an election year where control of the Senate, now in the hands of Democrats, is at stake, as is Obama's already limited ability to push his agenda through Congress. 

Republicans say the voting measures guard against voter fraud, but Democrats say they erode the landmark 1965 law that helped pave Obama's path in politics. 

"Across the country, Republicans have led efforts to pass laws making it harder, not easier, for people to vote," he said, relating anecdotes of voters turned away because they didn't have the right identification or because they needed a passport or birth certificate to register. 

"About 60 percent of Americans don't have a passport," he said. "Just because you can't have the money to travel abroad doesn't mean you shouldn't be able to vote here at home." 

Obama's speech to a crowd of about 1,600 in a New York hotel ballroom came a day after he marked the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act at the LBJ Library in Austin, Texas, where he praised President Lyndon Johnson's understanding of presidential power and its use to create new opportunities for millions of Americans. 

The president pinned efforts to curb access to the ballot box directly on the GOP, declaring that the effort "has not been led by both parties. It's been led by the Republican Party." Mocking the Republicans, he said, "What kind of political platform is that? Why would you make that a part of your agenda, preventing people from voting?" 

Republicans have argued that the voter laws seek to safeguard the voting process and are not an attempt to limit Democratic turnout. 

A spokeswoman for Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, a state whose voting laws are being challenged by the Obama administration, said the Supreme Court has ruled that voter identification laws are constitutional. 

"Protecting the integrity of the voting process is something that benefits everyone, partisan politics do not," the spokeswoman, Megan Mitchell, said. 

For Democrats this year, no political issue stands out more prominently than their ability to motivate voters to turn out at the polls in November.

But traditionally weak midterm turnout by Democrats coupled with efforts in some states to limit early voting and to enact voter identification requirements have prompted the president and his party to raise alarms and step up their get-out-the-vote efforts. 

"I want to be clear: I am not against reasonable attempts to secure the ballot. We understand that. There has to be rules in place," Obama said. "But I am against requiring an ID that millions of Americans don't have." 

Just last year, seven states passed voter restrictions, ranging from reductions in early voting periods to identification requirements, according to the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law.

North Carolina alone adopted a photo ID requirement, eliminated registrations on election day, and reduced the number of early voting days. 

The North Carolina steps, which take effect in the 2016 election, came after the Supreme Court in June threw out the crucial section of the Voting Rights Act that required that all or parts of 15 states with a history of discrimination in voting, mainly in the South, get federal approval before changing their election laws. 

Obama: Right to vote is under threat in U.S.

If this bastard is a reverend I'm Saint Peter

I was not a rat! Al Sharpton defends recording mob bosses as 'what was right'



I'm sure Al is elated this video surfaced.

(If video won't load click post title)

Video 64

I like the hat he's wearing. He missed his calling. Should have been a pimp.

Now he has his own TV show "Politics Nation".  This video confirms what I knew all along. Sharpton has absolutely no credibility! MSNBC has even less for giving this scumbag the show. Wasn't Olbermann suspended and eventually let go for breaking company rules over campaign contributions. Doesn't that pale in comparison to what Sharpton has done?

-----------------------------------

By Associated Press and Daily Mail Reporter

Published: 10:53 EST, 8 April 2014 | Updated: 11:40 EST, 8 April 2014

The Rev. Al Sharpton said today that a report that he spied on New York Mafia figures for the FBI in the 1980s is old news, adding that he never considered himself an informant.

'In my own mind I was not an informant,' Sharpton said. 'I was cooperating with an investigation.'

Sharpton called a news conference at his Harlem headquarters to talk about a story The Smoking Gun website posted on Monday claiming he had recorded conversations with mobsters.

Defiant:

 He said he was simply cooperating with an investigation and was not an informant.

Bo Dietl had a slightly different account

Ex NYPD Cop: We Used to Call Sharpton ‘The Fat Rat’

'When he says he didn't know he was an informant that's a lot of baloney. Al Sharpton knew what he was doing'

April 8, 2014 11:04 pm

Former NYPD detective Bo Dietl told Sean Hannity Al Sharpton’s contention that he did not know he was an FBI informant in the 1980s is “a lot of baloney.”

Sharpton fiercely maintained in a press conference earlier today that he was not a “rat” following revelations Sharpton attempted to buy cocaine from an undercover FBI agent.

Dietl, speaking Tuesday evening on Fox News, revealed the NYPD had a special nickname for Sharpton after the current MSNBC host became an informant:

BO DIETL: There was a lot of involvement with the music industry at that time that Al was involved in. And then all of the sudden we used to pass through East Harlem, and everyone knew it. We used to call him the fat rat.

SEAN HANNITY: What do you make of that video with cocaine?

DIETL: The video stands for itself right there. He was talking about buying kilos of coke with an undercover. So who is he representing?

HANNITY: Do you think that resulted in him becoming — he was flipped as a result of that because they threatened to indict him?

DIETL: The majority of the times when we develop informants is when you get them on a felony case and then you flip them and they become an informant. When he says he didn’t know he was an informant that’s a lot of baloney. Al Sharpton knew what he was doing, he was cooperating with the FBI.

So who do you think is lying?

Vincent 'Chin' Gigante (C) was a Genovese crime family boss who pretended to be mentally ill in order to escape responsibility for his crimes -- but Sharpton helped foil his plot when he taped other mob figures discussing the ruse.

Wonder what the Gambino and Genovese family are thinking right now?

If this bastard is a reverend I'm Saint Peter

Brandeis to Ali...Check your freedom of expression at the door

Lib's where are you.. ya know...war on women?

I forgot it's a one way street.

Brandeis Not To Honor Muslim Women for Being Critical of Islam

PC or fear? I suspect a combination of both.

This is similar to the treatment the CEO of Mozilla received having to resign because he believes in traditional marriage. You would have thought he slapped Rosa Parks. BTW…if this woman was speaking out against Christianity she would have been the keynote speaker.

What she said about Islam could not have been said any better. She has first hand experience.

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Apr 09, 2014 05:42 AM EDT 

By Stephen Adkins, UniversityHerald Reporter 

Brandeis University in Boston, Massachusetts, has decided not to grant an honorary degree to a Muslim woman and a supporter of women's rights at its May 18 commencement ceremony for making critical comments on Islam.

Somali-born Ayaan Hirsi Ali has been a member of the Dutch Parliament from 2003 to 2006 and is a public figure. The university said that it admired and recognized her work to defend the rights of women and girls worldwide. However, Ali's earlier statements conflicting with Brandeis University's core values could not be ignored, said university officials in a statement, Tuesday.

The officials said that they were not aware of Ali's past statements.

Speaking about the religion in a 2007 interview with Reason Magazine, Ali said, "Once it's defeated (Islam), it can mutate into something peaceful. It's very difficult to even talk about peace now. They're not interested in peace. I think that we are at war with Islam. And there's no middle ground in wars."

(Someday in a very painful way we'll all learn this.)

Ali, brought up in a conservative Muslim family, survived a civil war, genital mutilation and physical abuse. 

In a separate letter, more than 85 of 350 faculty members requested Brandeis to remove Ali's name from the list of honorary degree recipients. Meanwhile, students created an online petition Monday, seeking her removal from the list too and have gathered thousands of signatures as of Tuesday afternoon.

"This is a real slap in the face to Muslim students," said senior Sarah Fahmy, a member of the Muslim Student Association who created the petition. "But it's not just the Muslim community that is upset but students and faculty of all religious beliefs. A university that prides itself on social justice and equality should not hold up someone who is an outright Islamophobic."

In a letter to Brandeis President Frederick M. Lawrence, Council on American-Islamic Relations' National Executive Director Nihad Awad said that presenting an award to an advocate of religious discrimination like Ali is similar to encouraging work of "white supremacists and anti-Semites."

...REALLY?

"Granting her an honorary degree is unworthy of the American tradition of civil liberty and religious freedom represented by Justice Louis Brandeis and the great university that carries his name," Awad said in the letter, PR Newswire reports.

Thomas Doherty, chairman of American studies, declined to sign the faculty letter. He said that it would have been fantastic for the university to honor a strong believer in human freedom and women's rights.

Brandeis to Ali...Check your freedom of expression at the door

A marked man

Prelude to the story below.

Fundamentally changing America…taken to a whole new level.

Haven't we seen this movie before?

BTW…Someone should ask Stedman why the Mexicans he gave guns to which killed Brian Terry and Jamie Zapata were not wearing bracelets.

Then again this statement disarmed just about everyone in the "hood".

"By making them either through finger print identification, the gun talks to a bracelet or something that you might wear, how guns can be used only by the person who is lawfully in possession of the weapon."

-------------------------------------------------------

Holder: We want to explore gun tracking bracelets

April 3, 2014: Attorney General Eric Holder testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington.AP

Attorney General Eric Holder said gun tracking bracelets are something the Justice Department (DOJ) wants to "explore" as part of its gun control efforts. 

When discussing gun violence prevention programs within the DOJ, Holder told a House appropriations subcommittee on Friday that his agency is looking into technological innovations. 

"I think that one of the things that we learned when we were trying to get passed those common sense reforms last year, Vice President Biden and I had a meeting with a group of technology people and we talked about how guns can be made more safe," he said. 

"By making them either through finger print identification, the gun talks to a bracelet or something that you might wear, how guns can be used only by the person who is lawfully in possession of the weapon." 

"It's those kinds of things that I think we want to try to explore so that we can make sure that people have the ability to enjoy their Second Amendment rights, but at the same time decreasing the misuse of weapons that lead to the kinds of things that we see on a daily basis," Holder said. 

The Justice Department has requested $382.1 million in increased spending for its fiscal year 2014 budget for "gun safety." 

Included in the proposal is $2 million for "Gun Safety Technology" grants, which would award prizes for technologies that are "proven to be reliable and effective." 


On a side note:


A convicted felon can't purchase a gun. That makes sense. But someone who has a mental illness and is seeing a psychiatrist while taking 3 medications can??? 

A marked man