On Wed., Sept. 5, 2012, from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., a house party in support of Referendum 74 for marriage equality will be held in Lakewood, with Ryan Mello as special guest.  --  More details and a link to a PDF flier below.[1] ...

On Jul. 2, CBS News reported on an interview with the wife of Robert Bales, the staff sergeant charged in the killing of sixteen or seventeen Afghan villagers in March.  --  Bales's wife, Kari, "believes her husband is innocent" but has no idea what happened in Afghanistan, she said.[1]  --  CBS billed its interview as Kari Bales's "first live interview," but the week before NBC broadcast a more probing and more emotional interview prerecorded at Joint Base Lewis-McChord with Matt Lauer.  --  Kari Bales told Matt Lauer that she has not wanted to speak to her husband about the events in Afghanistan "on a monitored phone call."[2]  --  On Wednesday, AP reported that Bales will face an Article 32 hearing (to examine charges against him prior to a court martial) that "is expected to be held at Joint Base Lewis-McChord south of Seattle."[3]  --  Bales si currently being held at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas.  --  AP said that Bales "faces 16 counts of premeditated murder; six of attempted murder; seven of assault; one of possessing steroids; one of using steroids; one of destroying a laptop computer; one of burning bodies; and one of using alcohol.  His attorneys have been reviewing 5,000 pages of discovery materials turned over by prosecutors."  --  John Henry Browne, Bales's attorney, "did not immediately return calls by Reuters seeking comment" about the hearing.[4] ...

On Thursday, May 24, 2012, at 7:00 p.m. Prof. Mark Neocleous of Brunel University in Uxbridge, U.K., will speak at the University of Washington-Tacoma on "Security as Pacification."[1]  --  This program is free and open to the public and is part of the Politics, Economics and Philosophy/Urban Studies Seminar Series....