Posted: 10:30 am PT
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Russia’s ambassador to Turkey, Andrei Karlov, was killed on Monday, while attending an art exhibition in the Turkish capital of Ankara. Daily Sabah reports that Turkish security officials identified the attacker as Mert Altıntaş, who had graduated from İzmir Rüştü Ünsal Police Academy in 2014. Hurriyet Daily News says that Ambassador Karlov started his career as a diplomat in 1976 and worked extensively in North Korea over three decades before moving to Ankara in 2007. He became ambassador in July 2013.
LATEST — Russian Foreign Ministry says Russia treats the killing of its ambassador to Ankara as a terrorist act https://t.co/8JwzE0kU24
The Obama administration has not only sent openly gay ambassadors into countries that are culturally opposed to homosexuality, they’ve used foreign aid to force nations opposed to homosexuality to change their laws to provide special protections for such behavior. And even flown the rainbow flag at U.S. embassies around the world! Equally, the Obama State Department under Hillary Clinton also promoted abortion, declaring reproductive healthcare a basic human right. […] …. I have raised concerns about the nomination of ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson for secretary of state. I certainly don’t see Tillerson cut from the same cloth as Clinton or Kerry, but he doesn’t have to be for these anti-life, liberal social policies to continue. He must have the courage to stop the promotion of this anti-family, anti-life agenda, which is very much a question mark given that he capitulated to activists pushing to liberalize the Boy Scouts’ policy on homosexuality when he was at the helm of the organization.
The incoming administration needs to make clear that these liberal policies will be reversed and the “activists” within the State Department promoting them will be ferreted out and will be replaced by conservatives who will ensure the State Department focuses on true international human rights like religious liberty which is under unprecedented assault.
According to the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), the Family Research Council (FRC) is an anti-LGBT extreme group that bills itself as “the leading voice for the family in our nation’s halls of power,” but that “its real specialty is defaming gays and lesbians.” SPLC has also published an extremist profile of Perkins here.
Updated: According to HuffPo, Trump’s transition team released a statement expressing strong opposition to the Family Research Council’s appeal. “President-elect Trump campaigned on a message of unity in order to bring all Americans together. To think that discrimination of any kind will be condoned or tolerated in a Trump Administration is simply absurd,” Trump spokesman Jason Miller said.
This is worrisome because “ferreting out” LGBT “activists” can easily expand to the purging of LGBT employees. Trump has a “complicated track record on LGTBQ issues” but given the people in his orbit, it is important to remember that in 1953, under the guise of national security, President Eisenhower signed Executive Order 10450 which expanded the grounds for dismissal to cover homosexuality. Under the guise of seeking “true international human rights” or something else, this could easily go from worrisome to alarming.
There’s a dark history of employee purges in the federal government, most especially at the State Department. The National Archives notes that beginning in the late 1940s and continuing through the 1960s, thousands of gay employees were fired or forced to resign from the federal workforce because of their sexuality. Dubbed the Lavender Scare, this wave of repression was also bound up with anti-Communism and fueled by the power of congressional investigation.
According to the State Department, on February 28, 1950, in testimony before the subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Deputy Under Secretary for Administration John Peurifoy noted that 91 employees in the “shady category” had been dismissed since January 1, 1947. “When pressed to define this category, Peurifoy alluded to “moral weakness.” He seemed too hesitant to offer specifics, and the number of dismissals was too large for the matter to be easily dropped. Senator Styles Bridges (R-NH) pressed Peurifoy further, and the Deputy Under Secretary finally admitted that the category referred to homosexuals.”
Stay aware. Stay engage.
President Obama appointed gay ambassadors to Australia, Dominican Republic, Denmark, OSCE, Spain, and Vietnam. To say that these missions are in countries “culturally opposed to homosexuality” is false. Among the six missions, only one has faced blatant, persistent bigotry and discrimination in his host country; that’s Ambassador Wally Brewster who is accredited to the Dominican Republic (see Pres. Obama’s Personal Representative Faces Anti-Gay Bigotry in the Dominican Republic.
The Foreign Service Act and appropriate personnel regulations require commitments from candidates for appointment to the Foreign Service to commit to three (3) conditions of employment — availability for worldwide assignment, willingness to accept out-of-function assignments, and observance of Foreign Service discipline with respect to public support of established United States policy. “In the official performance of their duties as representatives of the United States Government, Foreign Service members may be called upon to support and defend policies with which they may not be personally in full agreement. On such occasions, normal standards of Foreign Service discipline will apply. Ample opportunity is provided within official channels for discussion and dissent with respect to the development and conduct of United States Foreign policy.” (See DS4146). Also see Joseph Cassidy’s Twelve Tips For Surviving Life In The New Foggy Bottom.
More clips below:
Conservative Group Wants Trump To ‘Ferret Out’ Pro-LGBT State Department Workers https://t.co/AHOZq6x6Hi
Posted: 12:29 am ET
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On December 7, the Senate confirmed the nominations of the following-named Career Members of the Senior Foreign Service of the Department of State for the personal rank of Career Ambassador in recognition of especially distinguished service over a sustained period:
Nominee
State
Stephen Donald Mull
Virginia
Victoria Jane Nuland
Virginia
2016-12-07 PN1907 Foreign Service | Nominations beginning Stephen Donald Mull, and ending Victoria Jane Nuland, which 2 nominations were received by the Senate and appeared in the Congressional Record on November 29, 2016.
Under the 1980 Foreign Service Act (P.L. 96-465; 94 Stat. 2084), which repealed the 1946 Act as amended, the President is empowered with the advice and consent of the Senate to confer the personal rank of Career Ambassador upon a career member of the Senior Foreign Service in recognition of especially distinguished service over a sustained period.
Per 3 FAM 2323.1-5 the Secretary may recommend to the President the conferral of the personal rank of Career Ambassador on a limited number of career members of the SFS of the class of Career Minister whose careers have been characterized by especially distinguished service over a sustained period and who meet the requirements of 3 FAM 2324.2. The Secretary’s recommendations will be based on the recommendations of a Career Ambassador Review Panel. Conferral of the personal rank of Career Ambassador will be made by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate.
Posted: 12:26 am ET
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The following-named Career Members of the Senior Foreign Service of the Department of State for promotion within the Senior Foreign Service of the United States of America, Class of Career Minister (FE-CM):
Robert Stephen Beecroft
California
Arnold A. Chacon
Virginia
Tracey Ann Jacobson
District of Columbia
Geoffrey R. Pyatt
California
Marie L. Yovanovitch
Connecticut
2016-12-07 PN1909 Foreign Service | Nominations beginning Robert Stephen Beecroft, and ending Marie L. Yovanovitch, which 5 nominations were received by the Senate and appeared in the Congressional Record on November 29, 2016.
Posted: 12:24 am ET
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The following-named Career Members of the Senior Foreign Service of the Department of State for promotion within the Senior Foreign Service of the United States of America, Class of Minister-Counselor:
Nominee
State
Robert L. Adams
Texas
Brian C. Aggeler
District of Columbia
Tanya Cecelia Anderson
District of Columbia
Michael Adam Barkin
Florida
Stanley H. Bennett
Minnesota
Randy William Berry
Colorado
Timothy A. Betts
District of Columbia
Virginia Meade Blaser
Virginia
Steven Craig Bondy
Virginia
Maria Elena Brewer
Virginia
Bridget A. Brink
Michigan
John Leslie Carwile
Virginia
Carmen Margarita Castro
Virginia
Craig Lewis Cloud
Florida
Theodore Raymond Coley
Virginia
Marie Christine Damour
Virginia
Nicholas Julian Dean
Virginia
Robin D. Diallo
Maryland
John Walter Dinkelman
Virginia
Michael J. Dodman
District of Columbia
Christine Ann Elder
Washington
Michelle M. Esperdy
Pennsylvania
Nina Maria Fite
Virginia
Bradley Alan Freden
Arizona
Rebecca Eliza Gonzales
District of Columbia
Alyson Lynn Grunder
New York
Todd Philip Haskell
Florida
Jeffrey J. Hawkins Jr.
Maryland
Peter Mark Haymond
Virginia
Brian George Heath
District of Columbia
Jonathan Henick
California
Elizabeth Ann Hopkins
District of Columbia
Virginia Idelle Keener
Maryland
Kevin J. Kilpatrick
Indiana
Douglas A. Koneff
Connecticut
Donald William Koran
Virginia
Steven Herbert Kraft
Virginia
Suzanne I. Lawrence
Virginia
Thomas H. Lloyd
Virginia
Najib Mahmood
Virginia
Jean Elizabeth Manes
Florida
Joseph Manso
District of Columbia
Jennifer Allyn McIntyre
District of Columbia
David Meale
Virginia
John S. Moretti
Virginia
Katherine Anne Munchmeyer
District of Columbia
Michael John Murphy
Virginia
Mirembe L. Nantongo
Virginia
Susan Butler Niblock
Maryland
Francisco Luis Palmieri
Connecticut
Charisse Melanie Phillips
Florida
Beth L. Poisson
Maryland
Lynette Joyce Poulton
Virginia
Wayne F. Quillin
New York
Joseph N. Rawlings
Georgia
Kurt R. Rice
Virginia
Joan Marie Richards
Virginia
Christopher J. Sandrolini
Virginia
Stephen M. Schwartz
Maryland
Dorothy Camille Shea
District of Columbia
George N. Sibley
Virginia
Adnan A. Siddiqi
Virginia
Adam H. Sterling
Virginia
Stephanie Faye Syptak-Ramnath
Virginia
Melinda C. Tabler-Stone
Virginia
John Stephen Tavenner
Texas
Dean Thompson
Maryland
Lisa Annette Vickers
California
Samuel R. Watson III
Virginia
Eugene Stewart Young
Virginia
2016-12-07 PN1908 Foreign Service | Nominations beginning Robert L. Adams, and ending Laura Ann Griesmer, which 181 nominations were received by the Senate and appeared in the Congressional Record on November 29, 2016.
Posted: 12:22 am ET
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The following-named Career Member of the Foreign Service for promotion into the Senior Foreign Service, as a Career Member of the Senior Foreign Service of the United States of America, Class of Counselor, effective February 21, 2016.
Nominee
State
Laura Ann Griesmer
Washington
2016-12-07 PN1908 Foreign Service | Nominations beginning Robert L. Adams, and ending Laura Ann Griesmer, which 181 nominations were received by the Senate and appeared in the Congressional Record on November 29, 2016.
The following-named Career Members of the Foreign Service for promotion into the Senior Foreign Service, as a Career Member of the Senior Foreign Service of the United States of America, Class of Counselor:
The following-named Career Members of the Foreign Service for promotion into the Senior Foreign Service, as a Career Member of the Senior Foreign Service, Class of Counselor, and a Consular Officer and a Secretary in the Diplomatic Service of the United States of America:
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