Poor Mojo's Newswire

Obama signed a new law expanding whistleblower protections for some government employees in November, and on January 2, he signed the 2013 National Defense Authorization Act, which extends similar protections to defense contractors who expose waste and corruption. But the NDAA signing came with a caveat that blindsided the bill's backers and has some in the whistleblower community up in arms: In a signing statement, Obama wrote that the bill's whistleblowing protections "could be interpreted in a manner that would interfere with my authority to manage and direct executive branch officials," and he promised to ignore them if they conflicted with his power to "supervise, control, and correct employees' communications with the Congress in cases where such communications would be unlawful or would reveal information that is properly privileged or otherwise confidential." "12 million contractors are going to be out in the cold because of this," warns Jesselyn Radack, the national security and human rights director for the Government Accountability Project and a former whistleblower. "Asking employees to go to their boss before going to Congress defeats the purpose of blowing the whistle." Radack adds that presidents "use signing statements to direct their subordinates on how to interpret and administer a law, and it can have substantial legal impact." She points to George W. Bush's signing statements on torture and the USA PATRIOT Act as examples, both of which allowed the former president to dodge parts of those laws. "The language Obama used wasn't defined, it's completely ambiguous, and it's already led to confusion," says Angela Canterbury, director of public policy at the Project on Government Oversight. "I can imagine contractors claiming that disclosures made by whistleblowers are 'confidential,' and I think it could likely have a chilling effect."

Faculty members at Kalamazoo Valley Community College are gathering nonperishable food items, gift cards, and cash donations in one of the lounges on the campus. But the collection isn't for a local charity; it's for their colleagues. The college's part-time employees will not receive their first checks of the year until February 1, and many are struggling to make ends meet until then. Classes for the spring term began on January 7, and full-time faculty members were paid on January 15. Kelly O'Leary, a part-time instructor and co-president of the college's Federation of Teachers, a union that represents part-time workers, helped organize the drive for her struggling co-workers. "People let us know they were in dire trouble," she said. When the drive began last week, they first distributed aid to employees who had the greatest needs. "There was someone who has diabetes and won't get through the month without insulin," she said. "She got a gift card."

Dudes and ladies, straight or gay — If you go out this weekend with three or more condoms in your pocket or purse, there's a chance the San Francisco Police could keep you locked up for up to three days on suspicion of prostitution. This has been the case in the city since the dawn of prophylactics, apparently, but the disappointing update to the ancient policy comes by way of an announcement that the District Attorney and the Public Defender's offices are holding up a policy change while awaiting a review of how it will affect ongoing cases. Three months ago, SFPD started testing a much more progressive condom stance when Chief Greg Suhr said his department would no longer take photographs of condoms or mention them in police reports, thus allowing the city to use them as evidence that a suspect could be a prostitute. Under the old rules, police could actually accuse anyone of being a sex worker just because they were optimistic enough to be carrying three or more condoms on their person (one for good luck, one in case of accidental breakage and a third, just in case things went well and you feel like sticking around a little longer in the morning). Of course, said person would have to be arrested for something else first, so it's a bit like getting a ticket for not using your seatbelt during a DUI stop.