Don’t forget if you have any questions or comments about anything Jaime mentioned drop us a comment and we will makes sure it gets answered, either by Jaime or a State Farm agent.

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The New Jersey State Senate passed a marriage equality bill on Monday in a 24-16 vote. Passage in the Senate was quickly followed by passage in the State Assembly on Thursday. The legislation passed in a 41-33 vote.

On Friday Governor Chris Christie (R) kept his promise and vetoed the bill. He also reasserted his belief the issue should be decided by a ballot measure.

The veto comes only days after Washington State Gov. Gregoire (D) signed marriage equality into law in her state.

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Lart Friday, the San Fransisico Police Department released an ‘It Get’s Better’ video. Watch it below.

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The U.S. Department of Justice announced on Friday it would no longer defend federal law that bans same-sex couples from receiving military and veterans benefits.

In a letter to House Speaker John Boehnar (R-Ohio), Attorney General Eric Holder wrote:

“The legislative record of these provisions contains no rationale for providing veterans’ benefits to opposite-sex couples of veterans but not to legally married same-sex spouses of veterans. Neither the Department of Defense nor the Department of Veterans Affairs identified any justifications for that distinction that would warrant treating these provisions differently from Section 3 of DOMA.”

Holder is referring to Title 38 of the U.S. Code. Title 38 governs veterans benefits and defines ’spouse’ similar to the definition in DOMA; ‘a person of the opposite sex who is a wife or husband.’

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On Thursday, The Baltimore Sun reported former Vice President Dick Cheney is part of lobbying efforts in Maryland to convince at least one of it’s state lawmakers to support the marriage equality bill currently pending in the House of Delegates. The full extent of his involvement is unknown.

Since leaving office in 2008, former Vice President Cheney has become increasingly vocal in support of marriage equality.

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Jury selection has begun in the trial of former Rutgers University student Dharun Ravi. Ravi was roommates with Tyler Clementi

Ravi is facing 15 charges including invasion of privacy and bias intimidation. Bias intimidation is a hate crime and punishable by 10 years in prison. However, he has not been charged in connection to Clementi’s death.

When jury selection will conclude and when opening arguments will be held are unknown.

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Canadian lawmakers introduced legislation this week to close the loophole in the Civil Marriage Act. The loophole brought into to question thousands of same-sex marriages performed between non-residents in Canada by claiming they may not be legally valid if the marriage is not recognized in their home country or state.

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The Maryland House of Delegates delayed consideration of a marriage equality bill on Thursday amid fear they do not have enough votes for passage.

The bill, introduced by Gov. Martin O’Malley (D), had already been delayed earlier in the day.

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The controversial ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill passed its first hurdle on Wednesday in the state’s House of Representatives. The bill was approved by the House Education subcommittee in a voice vote. The version accepted by the subcommittee is the same as that passed by the state Senate in last year’s session.

The legislation limits all sexually related instruction to “natural human reproduction science” in kindergarten through eighth grade, the Associated Press noted.

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Lart Saturday, ‘White Collar’ actor Matt Bomer came out in an acceptance speech at the Steve Chase Humanitarian Awards. In his speech he thanked his partner Simon Halls and his three children.

“I’d really especially like to thank my beautiful family: Simon, Kit, Walker, Henry,” he told the crowd. “Thank you for teaching me what unconditional love is. You will always be my proudest accomplishment.”

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Australian actress Magda Szubanski came out this week on an Australian television show.

Szubanski is known to audiences in the U.S. as Mrs. Hoggett, the farmer’s wife in the ‘Babe’ movies, and as the voice of Miss Viola in ‘Happy Feet.’

“I absolutely identify as gay … and it must be hard for people who don’t experience it to know what the pressures of being gay are,” she said.

• The liars begin the week by meeting the owner of the mystery phone number from Alison’s coat. Aria ends up meeting the mystery person pseudo by herself, she is sitting alone at one table while the others are sitting at the table behind her. Turns out he’s a guy who used to work for the phone company that Alison, pretending to be someone else, bribed to get info on who ever A is. He tells Aria he got the information but didn’t give it to Alison because she disappeared and she stiffed him money. He ended up getting fired from his job because his boss found out he illegally accessed the information Alison wanted. Aria asks him if she can have the information he found. He agrees, but only if she pays him $2,000. After the meeting the Liars try and figure out how they are going to be able to come up with that much money.
• We got to learn this week what A was doing to Caleb’s computer when they swiped it at the end of last week’s episode. They planted a bunch of sensitive school files on his computer and the cops found out. So officers showed up at the school to seize Caleb’s laptop. Being his hacker self, he attempted to remotely connect to his computer and delete whatever files the police think he stole. Unfortunately the police knew he would do this so they kept his computer off. Finally Caleb agrees to go to station to unlock his computer so the police can poke around. He ends up enlisting Hanna’s help to wipe the school files while he is at the station. She ends up not quite being able to remember his password but then suddenly remembers with some help from Spencer. In the end Hanna, with Spencer’s help, delete the files just before the police can get to them.
• Spencer ends up going to talk to Jason about the massive news that was dropped last week. She ends up finding him talking to Maya (more on that in a minute). They end up talking about how Jason figured out Spencer’s father is also his father. He said he found one of Alison’s boxes under a floor board in his Grandmother’s house in Georgia. In the box were love letters from Spencer’s Dad to Jason’s Mom and $15,000. Spencer jumps to thinking that maybe Alison blackmailed her dad for the money in exchange for her silence. She later confronts him and he denies he ever gave anyone in Alison’s family money. Spencer tells this to Jason who doesn’t believe her. Eventually he comes around and admits he wanted it to be him because of how angry he is at Mr. Hastings. One thing leads to another and she ends up asking Jason for the $2,000 that Creepy phone guy wanted.
• Turns out the Principal kept his word and Emily is back on the swim team helping them win championships. She’s even hosting a victory party at her/Hanna’s house for the team. Everyone is there including Maya but Maya has some bad news to share with Emily. Maya’s mom found an old joint in one of the boxes they  have been getting out of storage from their move out of the DiLaurentis house and is threatening to send Maya back to True North, the drug rehab center Maya was sent to last season. Maya tells Emily that she won’t go back there, she can’t go back there. Emily reassures her and tells her they will figure something out. Later Emily is having a great time hanging out with the team celebrating their victory that she completely forgets about how miserable Maya is feeling until Spencer points out a crying Maya to her. Emily goes to comfort her and Maya asks if they can go somewhere. Emily responds, ‘After the party? Sure.’ One of her teammates summons her and Maya tells her to go she’ll be okay so Emily does. Even later, Emily goes to get something off the back patio and finds Maya lighting a joint. Emily is totally flabbergasted and the two have a fight. In the end Maya says she has friends in San Francisco that she can runaway to and asks Emily to join her. Emily says she can’t run away with her and Maya leaves broken hearted. After the party Emily calls Maya multiple times telling her not to do anything until they talk.
• Aria is done trying to cover for Holden unless he tells her what he’s been doing. Turns out he’s involved in some Korean martial arts that his parents don’t approve of and that the pills in his bag were just pain meds which he didn’t end up needing. Aria is satisfied with this answer and they make plans for the following evening. Aria’s Dad ends up finding a note on his windshield asking him if he knows where is daughter is going to be at 8 and then gives the address of the french vegan bistro Aria and Mr. Fitz have dinner plans at. He ends up showing it to Aria’s Mom, who confronts her about it and Aria says she has no idea. Ella then makes the connection that the note that clued her in on her husband’s affair was also signed by A and asks Aria about A, Aria again denies any knowledge. Then Ella clues Aria in on Holden’s heart condition, which has her worried. So worried Aria cancels her plans with Fitz to follow Holden to his martial arts meet to confront him. She does and he tells her the details and how if he’s going to die he wants to die doing something he loves not vegging on the couch. Aria ends up staying to watch him kick ass. To bad Fitz doesn’t get the message their date has been canceled until he is at the restaurant, it does however come in the nick of time to stop him from walking into the restaurant to see Aria’s Dad sitting in the corner. He immediately does an about-face and quickly walks away hiding his face.
• Hanna’s plot was super interwoven with Caleb’s this week but the small bit she did on her own was go to police station with her mom. Turns out the police have figured out that all copies of page 5 of Alison’s autopsy are missing and they have a photo of Hanna, Emily and Spencer standing outside the morgue. The creepy detective that blackmailed Hanna’s mom accuses the Liars of taking the missing page. Hanna denies they took it and she and Ashley leave. Ashley confronts Hanna about it and Hanna tells her they didn’t take that page.

• It was Valentine’s week at McKinley and everyone has big plans, Sugar has invited them to Breadstix for her party she’s calling Sugar Shack. She tells them they all need to bring a date because single people are grumpy and boring. Mercedes points out Sugar herself is single to which Sugar responds not for long. Cue a fight between Artie and Rory for Sugar’s affection. Both try to impress her by singing to her; Artie goes with the boy band approach and chooses ‘Let Me Love You’ by Mario. Rory goes with ‘Home’ by Michael Bublé and a story about how he couldn’t get his student visa renewed for next semester so as soon as the year is over he has to go back to Ireland. Rory ends up winning.
• Mike and Tina do an adorable rendition of Nat King Cole’s ‘L-O-V-E’ which is pretty much the extent of their participation in this episode other than telling Rachel and Finn they support their decision to get married.
• After Artie’s performance, Rachel and Finn announce to the rest of the glee club their impending nuptials, the reactions are mixed but mostly negative. As previously mentioned Mike and Tina support it where as both Quinn and Kurt are vocal about their disapproval. Puck’s only response is by asking when the baby is due.
• Since the glee club turned down Mr.Shue’s idea of singing valentines, Sam suggests that he, Quinn, Mercedes and new kid Joe should do them to raise money for a shoe drive the Christian club ‘The God Squad’ (of which they are all members) is holding.
• We finally get to meet Rachel’s Dads who have decided, in tandem with Burt and Carol, they are going to try to use reverse psychology to get Rachel and Finn to realize they don’t want to get married.  They throw a large Hudson-Hummel/Berry family dinner and then let Finn spend the night. The way the parents announce it to Rachel and Finn is priceless, they end up saying there isn’t desert so Rachel and Finn better run off and have teenage sex now. Carol tells Finn she even packed him an over night bag. Rachel and Finn seem thrown back by this but role with it. Things go great until Finn needs to poop, Rachel tells him he can’t do it in her bathroom so he asks where he should, she responds with his house. A fight then ensues. They end up making up and head off to the Sugar Shack.
• Brittany and Santana are adorable as ever. Brittany made Santana a playlist of all the songs she hears when they are together or she’s thinking about her. The songs include ‘Purple People Eater’ and ‘Disco Duck’. She even made a cover for the playlist. Santana thanks her and goes to kiss her when Figgins interrupts and calls them into his office. He then informs them they aren’t allowed to show PDA. Santana says its bullcrap and points out the massive double standard that Rachel and Finn are allowed to suck face for several minutes but Santana and Brittany can’t even peck. Figgins tells them he would much rather see Santana and Brittany kiss over Rachel and Finn but a student complained on religious grounds and he is just trying to keep the peace at McKinley. Santana ends up walking out of Figgin’s office.
• Later in the courtyard she tells Rachel she fully supports he decision to marry Finn because she should be able to be miserable for the rest of her life with whomever she wants. The God Squad shows up and sings ‘Stereo Hearts’ by Gym Class Heroes feat. Adam Lavine to Rachel as a vocal valentine from Finn. After the song Santana confirms that if she pays $10 they will sing to whomever she wants and then hands over $10 saying she wants to send one to her girlfriend Brittany, not her girl who is a friend but her girlfriend girlfriend. Joe the looks at her confused and conflicted. At the next God Squad meeting Mercedes says she has no problem with it but wants to respect both Joe’s beliefs and Santana’s feelings. Sam agrees and Joe says he doesn’t think he’s ever met a gay person before. Quinn tells him he has he just didn’t know it and goes into a speech about how the Bible says a lot of things but Jesus never talked about gay people. Joe says he’s not sure he’ll have to pray on it.
• At some point during the week Sam goes up to Mercedes and gives her a Valentine’s Day gift. Mercedes accepts it and then tells him she told her boyfriend about her and Sam. Her boyfriend was heart broken and Mercedes feels terrible about cheating on him and therefore cannot be with Sam. A heart-broken Sam walks away and Mercedes starts singing ‘I Will Always Love You’ by the late Whitney Houston. After her performance a crying Sam flees the choir room.
• Even though Blaine is recovering from eye surgery and therefore M.I.A. Kurt has been getting random gifts fro a secret admirer, whom he is convinced is Blaine. Eventually one of the valentine’s cards tells Kurt to show up to Breadstix before Sugar Shack to meet. Kurt shows up and is looking around when someone in a gorilla suit walks in holding a box of chocolates with a card that reads ‘Happy Valentine’s Day Kurt. I think I love you.’ Kurt is confused by this because he still thinks its Blaine and asks ‘you think you love me?’ The person in the gorilla suit takes the head off and reveals themselves. Turns out it was Karofsky the whole time. Kurt tells him he is flattered but a little confused, after bullying him and one conversation in a bar Dave can’t really think he’s in love. Karofsky tells him that Kurt has helped him more then he will know and he feels terribly about what he did to Kurt but he really wants them to be together. Kurt turns him down again citing Blaine. Karofsky gives up and goes to leave but turns around and tells him he hopes he likes the chocolates, the butterscotch ones are his favorite. Kurt goes to chase after him but they run into someone I’m guessing is on Karofsky’s new football team. Karofsky tries to make an accuse for being with Kurt and Kurt supports his story but the teammate isn’t buying it and Karofsky flees quickly.
• The whole gang is gathered at Sugar Shack. Sugar gives a little welcome speech, hands out some gifts and introduces the God Squad. Joe takes the mic and explains Santana asked him and the rest of the Squad to sing a song to Brittany from her. Santana starts to look worried when he mentions he wasn’t sure and needed to pray on it. He eventually says love is love and starts the song. They sing a mash up of The Association’s ‘Cherish’ with Madonna’s ‘Cherish’. Santana and Brittany act all cute and couple-ly and eventually get up to dance. While dancing Brittany says ‘You did all this for me? Thank you.’ and then they kiss.
• After the song, Sugar gets the mic back and introduces Blaine who starts to sing the B-52’s ‘Love Shack’.

• Phil finally sold a house to some of Cam and Mitchell’s friends after he has shown the house to them 4 times. In celebration he and Claire take Cam and Mitchell to dinner where they proceed to get very drunk. During dinner Cam and Mitchell talk about how their friends just had a baby via surrogate and how they are tired of waiting to adopt a baby. Claire then offers to donate an egg so they can use Cam’s sperm and have a baby that is both Pritchett and Tucker. Cam and Mitchell agree and everyone ends up crying.
• When they all wake up in the morning they regret it but Phil and Claire don’t have the heart to tell Cam and Mitchell. Cam and Mitchell don’t have the heart to tell Phil and Claire. At brunch later Hailey, Alex and Luke all find out and approve of the decision. Jay and Gloria find out and don’t approve of the idea. A fight ensues and Claire and Mitchell discuss it under the table where they both say they don’t think its a good idea.
• Jay ends up going behind Gloria’s back to get Manny in on a football game with the other boys in the neighborhood. Jay is concerned that Manny’s only friend is Gloria and thinks he needs to make friends with other boys his age. Manny ends up getting injured in the football game and Gloria is upset about it. In the end Jay gives in and accepts that Manny and Gloria are super close.

• Cristina and Owen spend the whole episode in couple’s therapy yelling, crying, and not making any head way in their problems. Everything keeps coming back to the fact that Owen is upset that Cristina had an abortion and doesn’t want kids.
• The Chief goes to Callie and asks him to help Meredith with her boards by giving her the Torres study method after over hearing her talk about her study buddy Cristina is distracted trying to save her marriage. If you remember back in season 3 it was also Callie who had the much desired intern test flash cards. Callie says she’ll think about it but a) Meredith has to come to her and b) Meredith has to impress her. They end up working on a case together and Meredith impresses Callie so she agrees to help Meredith study for her boards.
• Jackson and April are also study buddies and Alex is using his interns to quiz him. The intern that is quizzing Alex ends up suffering from a heart attack and something more serious causing her to need surgery. She’s also 24 weeks pregnant so Arizona has to deliver her baby so Teddy can put her on bypass. In the end everyone lived but Alex is beating himself up because he was so distracted studying for his boards and looking out for himself that he never bothered to learn his interns’ names. He ends up telling Arizona he doesn’t deserve the fellowship to which Arizona tells him she likes him because he reminds her of herself.
• Lexie is still on Derek’s service and his sister (the one who is also a neurosurgeon and on Private Practice) has brought him a case. He thinks its hopeless and turns her down because he doesn’t think that is receiving drug addict sister could handle loosing a patient she is so emotionally involved with. Lexie calls Derek out and tells him if it were another doctor he would still be looking at the scans. He then goes to his sister who tells him, she’s a lot stronger than he gives her credit for. They end up figuring out a course of action.
• Jackson and Mark are working on a patient that used to be Dr. Bailey’s. Dr. B saved this woman from a very strong case of cancer, she call the patient a miracle, so Dr. B is pretty protective of her. She ends up being so protective that she back seat cuts during Jackson and Mark’s surgery. She does so to the extent that it distracts Jackson who makes a mistake. Mark tells Jackson he needs to kick Bailey out of the OR and he does so. Later Dr. B apologizes to Mark for her behavior. Mark tells her that she’s finally made the full transformation to attending and that if she ever tries that again he will report her.

I’m sorry I have been M.I.A. for these past couple of months; last semester was brutal on me, but don’t worry I will begin regularly updating you again on all my current adventures. A lot has changed since the conclusion of last semester but more on that in a bit. I have so much to share regarding what I have been up to but I guess I should talk about something finance related in honor of Financial February.

As previously mentioned a big change has occurred since last semester. I am spending this semester studying abroad in London, England. Living in New York has did very little to prepare me for London finically. Not only is it generally more expensive, the current exchange rate between the Dollar and the British Pound Sterling (aka a quid) is $1.5 = £1. Then the nature of my student visa means I cannot get a job here in the U.K. so the only money I have is the money I arrived with. Because my funds are so limited I have found myself budgeting my money much more carefully than I have in previous semesters.

When I go to the grocery store I try to purchase things in bulk or the cheapest option available as well as forgoing certain luxury items such as junk food and candy. I purchase a significant number of fresh fruits and vegetables, avoiding the processed pre-packaged ones. In an effort to not waste any of it, I cook it all up as soon as I get home and freeze it to then be eaten at my leisure. So far I have made things like eggplant parmesan, veggie burritos, and risotto. I also try to avoid going out to eat as much as possible. This is aided by the fact I only have classes 2.5 days a week so I’m only regularly eating two meals out. Having frozen meals ready also helps because I don’t see the hassle of cooking for one as an incentive to eat out.

Another one of my tricks to attempt to save money is to always use cash never my card, this way I can physically see myself spending money rather then handing over my card. The ATMs here don’t usually charge a fee for withdrawing money and my bank in Colorado doesn’t apply a fee for using an ATM that isn’t theirs. The only fee on my card is a 1% international fee Visa takes every time I use it. Plus using cash makes it slightly easier to set myself a weekly budget because I can take out money and tell myself that is all the money I get for the week. usually £100 or less is plenty to get me through the week.

I have found that the main money sink is alcohol, which is legal for me to purchase here as the drinking age is 18. I have found pubs/clubs will charge anywhere from £2.80 ($4.40) to £11 ($17.26) for a drink. Because of this, I a) rarely go clubbing as that is where they charge the larger sums for drinks and b) set myself a drink budget of £10 (~$16) at most places and £8 (~$13) at the University run pub. This usually translates to between 2-4 drinks (depending on what I’m drinking and what the deal of the day is). 2-4 drinks for me is a good amount, it gives me a nice medium buzz that I am happy with.

Another way I have been saving money is by avoiding a lot of the touristy areas/attractions. It helps that I have previously been to London and seen a lot of the touristy things but by avoiding touristy areas like Piccadilily Circus, I avoid a lot of the outrageous touristy prices. When I do partake in touristy things its almost exclusively through NYU because it means they are paying for it. Example, last night I went on a Jack the Ripper walking tour and on Saturday I am attending a rugby game, all paid for by NYU.

I’ve been here nearly a month and I have a feeling I am spending under what NYU said we would be likely to spend in a month. When this weekend is over I plan on going back through my bank statements and adding up how much I have actually spent on day to day living to see if my current course is sustainable. I have a feeling it will be but only time will tell.

Financially, this semester will be a good one because it will get me in the habit of actually looking at how much money I have been spending, where I can cut costs, and where I can afford to make small sacrifices.

I leave you with these words of wisdom; ‘Its amazing how much less money you spend when you aren’t constantly buying junk food or a daily grande latte at Starbucks.’

A new month is here and what’s a better way to greet it than with living in a new apartment? Yes – you got that right – a new apartment. You might be thinking “wait, didn’t Shea move into an apartment in December?” Yeah you’re right. I did. But – a few things happened.

1) Zander moved in!

Yay Zander for moving in…yeah so that means there’s not enough space.

2) Our apartment got broken into!

Not yay for me paying a HUGE amount for 24/7 security to have someone walk right past security (on camera, may I add) and just break into my apartment and steal things.

3) Me and Zander wanted to figure out a financial plan that was doable for both of us – so we decided to move.

This month has given us a lot to reflect on when it comes to the swipe of my credit card or flick of a pen finishing a check that usually would make me cry at the amount in fear when I was younger. Thank God I was saving.

Finances aren’t anything new to me though. I’ve been saving and spending money my entire life – whether it’s for personal or business reasons when it comes to running JEMS Productions. I’m so anal about planning for the future when it includes all of my ventures (which now include Zander, which is amazing). Now being out of school and on my own completely, all I can say is PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE IS ESSENTIAL!!!

The only reason why I am not in financial shambles right now is because I was thinking ahead, saved money, started building credit, and a big book of “how to do financial planning for dummies”.

So right now, I’m sitting in my brand spanking new loft apartment in downtown Los Angeles with the love of my life…and a new puppy we just adopted. While he wasn’t in our budget before, we are somehow fitting him in. He’s worth it. His name is Remy. He’s a Catahoula Leopard Dog. Cool, right?

My dream is that I can sell Breaking the Silence soon, then I won’t have to worry as much about paying next month’s rent. Any buyers out there? Selling it sooner rather than later would be preferable so I can buy my man something nice for Valentine’s Day…and our anniversary. We’re getting tattoos together for it. Sounds really naive and stupid but we don’t care. We love each other. We’re committed to each other for life. What’s the big deal? Don’t answer that. Let me live in blissful love.

But yet again – thank God I saved so we can afford this.

Our Story Continues Another Day,

Shea

Read the Matthew Shepard Foundation’s thoughts on this historic moment here.

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In Washington, DC a suspect was arrested in the murder of a transgender woman. Gary Montgomery, 55, is being charged with second degree murder after allegedly stabbing JaParker Jones in the head while at a bus stop. Jones later died at a hospital as a result of the stabbing.

NBC News is reporting the suspect has not been charged with a hate crime but notes it is still a possibility.

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California’s Proposition 8 was declared unconstitutional by the Federal 9th Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday. The three judge panel decided to up hold the ruling reached by Judge Walker in 2010. The 9th Circuit held the law “serves no purpose, and has no effect, other than to lessen the status and human dignity of gays and lesbians in California, and to officially reclassify their relationships and families as inferior to those of opposite-sex couples.”

The court also held that there was no evidence that Judge Walker was biased in his decision or that he should have disclosed his sexual orientation and relationship status. This was a key issue in recent months, as those defending Prop. 8 leveled claims that Judge Walker was biased in striking down Prop. 8 because he himself is gay and in a long term relationship.

Read the court’s full holding here.

• Spencer went and picked up the item that Alison’s claim ticket was for. It turned out to be a red coat with a phone number in the pocket. They decided to call the number but have to leave a voicemail.
• This weekend is a bullying awareness weekend at Rosewood High, which means all of the students will be spending the night at the school. All the students are divided into different groups; Aria, Caleb, and Jenna in one, Emily and Mona in another, Spencer by herself in a third, and Hanna is forced to be in a group with her new stepsister. I say forced because the school’s principal thought it would be a good start in terms of punishment for Hanna for sending out a naked picture of her stepsister.
• Caleb quickly makes an enemy of Jenna and her latest boy toy, Noel, by standing up to her in his group. Noel then spends the whole episode tracking him down trying to find out what he knows.
• Aria spends the whole episode fighting with Holden over what he could potentially be doing while they are on their fake dates. My money is on fight club as those looked like Tylenol that spilled out of his bag.
• Emily quickly noticed the principal (who won’t let Emily back on the swim team)  is observing her group so she puts on a show for him. He gets upset and practically threatens her to just sit down and shut up. Mona sees this and decides she is going to help Emily get back on the team as she knowns the principal’s dirty secrets (turns out Mona was an office assistant in his office back when she was unpopular). Mona discretely gets Emily to the principal’s office and they root around on his computer until they find evidence that he has taken bribes. Bribes to allow the football players back on the team after their indiscretions. Turns out Emily doesn’t quite feel comfortable with the whole idea of blackmailing the principal (who would blame her?) so she tells Mona to just leave it alone. Mona being Mona doesn’t and confronts the principal. He reluctantly allows Emily back on the team leading Mona to ask Emily ‘What does one wear to a swim meet? Will my wedges get ruined?’ Emily just kinda looks at her with her curious face. I’m with Emily, what’s Mona’s angle here?
• Jason is back in town and is leading a group of students with Spencer’s mom, who is less than thrilled about the prospect. Spencer spends the longest time confronting both Jason and her mom as to why a) Jason is pressing her father and b) why her father is avoiding him. Eventually she puts it together after hearing her mom and Jason talking as well as having a flashback to something Alison said. It turns out Jason and Spencer are half siblings. Spencer confirms the news with Jason and then goes and takes her anger out on her mother.
• Hanna eventually figures out that the photo of her stepsister that everyone got was photoshop-ed as the photo is missing her birthmark. Hanna then jumps to the conclusion that it had to be her stepsister that made and sent out the photo, so she, Aria and Emily  set a trap for her. Hanna manages to get her to admit she created the photo because what better way to win points her first week than by taking out Hanna and making herself a martyr. Aria and Emily recorded the whole conversation on their phones and take it the the principal who lets Hanna off the hook and punishes the stepsister.
• Eventually the mysterious person who belongs to the phone number in Alison’s coat pocket calls back and asks to meet the Liars. They agree.

• This week is latin week on Glee as Will’s teaching ability is called into question. Turns out a student complained to Principal Figgins about his teaching (turns out Will can’t really speak basic Spanish). Figgins tells him there is a new tenured position available at McKinley and he happens to be on the short list but this complaint hurts his chances so he needs to prove to Figgins he’s the right choice. Figgins suggests that actually learning Spanish is a good place to start.
• Will then goes to night classes being held at McKinley to learn Spanish so he can teach it. It is here that he meets David Martinez, aka Ricky Martin, who informs him that kids learn a language better when it is accompanied with music.
• In response Will decides the glee club will be singing nothing but songs by people of latin decent, sung in Spanish or sung bilingually. Will even invites David to perform a song in front of the glee club, he picks LMFAO’s ‘I’m Sexy and I Know it’ sung mostly in Spanish. Everyone loves it and now Will is worried.
• Sam and Mercedes still don’t know what to call their relationship as Mercedes is still dating her football player boyfriend. Emma suggests they go a week without speaking to each other so they can spend more time listening to what they want rather than talking. It seams to work and Mercedes and Sam sing songs to each other in glee. Mercedes sings Tina Turner’s ‘Don’t Want to Lose You’ bilingually. Sam singings the Gypsy King’s ‘Bamboleo’ mashed with Enrique Iglesias’ ‘Hero’.
• After Sam’s performance Santana turns to Will and tells him she can’t wait to see his performance. He questions her and she responds by saying its to defend his ‘honor’ as a Spanish Teacher. Will then spends the whole next couple of nights agonizing over his song, translating lines from english to spanish, and being a jerk to Emma. Will tells Emma he has to get this tenure position so he can protect and provide for her. She snaps back, telling him she doesn’t need him to take care of her, she can take care of herself.
• Santana then performs Madonna’s ‘La Isla Bonita’ with David as his contribution to the whole Spanish-teacher-off. Everyone loves it but Will questions why Santana performed with him. She says its because they are both hot, she says it in Spanish which confuses Will. She then tells him that the stage is all his.
• Will performs Elvis Presley’s ‘A Little Less Conversation’ bilingually while wearing a matador’s outfit. Part way through the song Mike and Brittany come on stage dressed as bulls and Will pretends to be a matador and keeps throwing in ‘aye aye aye’. At the end of the performance everyone is clapping and cheering except for Santana and Will finally puts it together that it was Santana who complained to Principal Figgins. Santana responds, ‘Yeah I did and I would do it all over again after that performance.’ Will responds by telling her she is messing with ‘adult things. This is my job. This is my life.’ Santana then throws it right back at him and says, ‘This is my education and it’s not a joke to me, although it seems to be one to you.’ Then after some more back and forth Santana points out that Will ‘doesn’t even know enough to be embarrassed about these stereotypes [he] is perpetuating’ and calls into question why he wanted to be a spanish teacher in the first place. Will responds with the truth that it was the only open teaching position at the time. Santana then reminds him that he is a wonderful glee club teacher and that everyday he teaches her ‘that without passion you can’t succeed.’
• Turns out Emma got the tenured position because of the pamphlets she makes and how they really help people. Will is genuinely happy for her and then goes to David and offers him his position as spanish teacher. David accepts only to ask what this means for Will. He responds by saying there is an open position teaching history and he is taking it.
• Sue spends the whole week fighting a complaint of her own while attempting to get pregnant. Everyone laughs in her face; Santana, Will, the synchronized swimming coach, everyone. Sue finally figures out it was Becky who complained to Figgins. Turns out Becky believes that Sue’s plots to destroy the glee club have gotten in the way of her being an excellent cheerleading coach. Sue agrees and thanks Becky for helping her see the light and Becky responds by telling her she would be a great mother.

• Cam and Mitchell are staying with Jay and Gloria while their house is being fumigated. Cam and Gloria end up butting heads because Cam is a much better housewife than Gloria and Lily is excited to be spending time with Gloria. Cam points out that he has always felt insecure about Lily not having a mother and Gloria points out she has always felt insecure about her homemaking abilities. In the end they work it out with the help of Manny.
• Phil is attempting to land a new client at his agency and he needs Claire’s help to do so. Phil invites the prospective client over for dinner and things go great until he kisses Claire on the lips as he is leaving. Phil ignores it saying he is just well cultured and that must be how they do it in other countries. After a few more times of his kissing Claire, she and Phil go to his home for dinner where Claire sees he kisses everyone on the lips; his nanny, his children and even his ex-wife. Claire begins to feel better about the situation and it is only when the prospective client makes Claire laugh does Phil become jealous. They end up leaving, working the whole thing out in the driveway and return to enjoy the meal the client has prepared.

• It’s Valentine’s Day at Seattle Grace Mercy West and love is in the air, for almost everyone.
• Teddy still isn’t talking to Owen who still isn’t talking to Cristina. Owen confronts Teddy about how he wishes they were talking because he could really use a friend. Teddy then yells at him telling him she hates him for putting the needs of the hospital over her. She says she will never forgive her for not telling her about Henry as soon as it happened and that anything he has to say to her has to be work related. Cristina spends the episode trying to figure out how to get Owen to talk to her, especially after he announces he is moving out. She ends up finding him in their special place from when they first started dating and ends up begging him not to leave. The end up embracing but no other words are exchanged.
• Ben has big plans for he and Dr. Bailey for Valentine’s Day. He has made reservations at some really nice restaurant for them but Bailey keeps getting pulled into surgery and they miss their reservations. But it turns out Ben knew this would happen and rather than make reservations in a restaurant, he brought the food to them by hiring a chef for the evening. He even takes the time to point out he is dating Dr. Bailey and this is something he is prepared for. He also notes to her that he remembered she likes extra breadcrumbs on top of her mac & cheese.
• Callie has surprise plans for her and Arizona. Arizona is asking what she should pack and suggests a bathing suit or heels? Callie says no to the bathing suit but suggests boots wouldn’t be a bad idea as well as extra socks and maybe some long underwear. Arizona is less than thrilled by the potential idea and grills Mark about Callie’s plans saying she hates camping. Mark says he doesn’t know but it better not be camping because Sofia wouldn’t like that. Arizona looks at him questioningly as Callie had mentioned Mark was babysitting. The play rock-paper-scissors for who is going to babysit and Mark looses. In the end Callie asked Derek if she could borrow his trailer and decks it out in a Moroccan theme. Arizona is pleased that Callie remembered she hates camping.
• Meredith and Derek spend the whole episode attempting to have sex but Zola keeps interrupting. First Zola is sleeping in the bed with them, then her toys are all over the shower/tub and then they try the car but Zola wakes up. Lexie ends up offering to babysit Zola while they have some alone time. They take her up on that offer and head up to their bedroom leaving Lexie and Zola in the living room.
• Lexie then ends up going over to Mark’s with Zola because she figured the girls could play together while they talked. As it turns out Jackson also had no plans for Valentine’s Day other than buying Mark an expensive bottle of wine and cooking him dinner. It also helped the situation that Mark’s girlfriend ended up getting stuck in surgery. Lexie ends up joining her ex-boyfriends for a Valentine’s Day dinner.
• The Chief has a less then splendid Valentine’s Day/Wedding Anniversary as Adele doesn’t know who he his when he goes home to be with her. She thinks he is a handsome, nice, man who she could be falling in love with and the Chief wants nothing more than to distract himself with surgery.

Have faith in me….

Kat Wells

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Lawmakers in Virgina passed a controversial adoption bill on Friday. The bill stipulates that private adoption agencies can refuse placing a child in a home if it goes against their religious ideology. This includes not placing children in the homes of same-sex couples.

Governor Bob McDonnell (R) is expected to sign the legislation.

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New Jersey Governor Chris Christie (R) says he is offering marriage equality advocates the ‘bargain of their lives’. He says they should work with members of the legislature to have the issue put on the November ballot as a referendum rather than support the bill that is currently in the state legislature.

“I’ve called upon every Republican in the state legislature to vote to put it on the ballot. Well, you need three-fifths to put it on the ballot. The Republicans have two-fifths in the legislature. So that means the Democrats only need to come up with one-fifth of the legislature,” Christie said at a town hall meeting in Denville, N.J. “This is the bargain of their life. I’m giving you two-fifths! And the polls they show me say that if it goes on the ballot, it will lose. How much more magnanimous can I be? What else do you want me to do? Go campaign for it too? Look, I’m doing the best I can here!”

Christie has previously stated that it is not the government’s responsibility to handle social issues.

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Up and coming hip-hop artist Azealia Banks, 20, came out as a bisexual this week in a new interview with the New York Times. The admission itself took up only two lines at the end of the interview:

“Ms. Banks considers herself bisexual, but, she said: “I’m not trying to be, like, the bisexual, lesbian rapper. I don’t live on other people’s terms.’”

Banks has been pegged ‘the next big thing’ in the hip-hop world.

• This week The Good Wife focused on Will and the grand jury the State’s Attorney’s office was pursuing against him. Several people were called to testify against him and all of them ended up working in his favor. It also helped that the information Kalinda had been feeding the State’s Attorney’s office was fake so they really had nothing.
• Kalinda and Alicia really make up in this episode, especially after Will’s win.
• Eli plays a game of cat and mouse with a rival of his. They end up sleeping together but Eli is angered to find out his rival is working on his ex-wife’s state senate campaign and really only slept with him to rub it in his face.
• Cary actually has a heart in this episode and calls out the special prosecutor for going to far in her questioning of Alicia.

• Pretty Little Liars was a bit slow this week as I have a feeling we’re in that brief bit of safe straight track before the roller coaster starts back up.
• Spencer is still upset about breaking up with Toby and is kinda sulking around wearing his clothing.
• Hanna’s evil new step sister is attending Rosewood High and seems like she is going to make her life a living hell. Hanna also finds out about Caleb continuing to help the other liars after A sends her a text telling her to call him off. Hanna gets super upset with Spencer but eventually forgives her. Hanna ends up telling Caleb a bit about A and the fact that Ashley stole money from the bank last season to keep their house from being repossessed.
• Emily’s mom is in town for a visit and wants to have dinner with Emily and Maya. Maya spends the whole dinner making not-so-funny jokes about Pam getting her sent to druggie boot camp. They end up making up in the end after Maya apologizes and goes out of her way to do something sweet for Emily.
• Aria spends the whole episode scheming of ways to see Mr. Fitz and is still using her buddy Holden as an excuse with her parents. Eventually both Aria’s plans with Fitz as well as whatever Holden has been up to fall through and they spend the date together playing air hockey.
• Hanna and Spencer end up figuring out that Alison had an alter ego that she liked to use sometimes when she was out and about. They eventually find a claim stub for something. Spencer calls the company to get the stuff. Unfortunately, we don’t find out what it is.

• This week was finally the Michael Jackson tribute episode. For those who don’t know the rationale behind the episode, the Troubletones are upset that they didn’t get to sing any Michael at sectionals so Will makes it Michael Jackson week in prep for regionals. They sing to kick off the week “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’”.  ”Human Nature”, “Ben”, “Smooth Criminal”, “I Just Can’t Stop Loving You”, and “Black or White”.
• Blaine let it slip to Sebastian that New Directions was looking to do Michael again for regionals and changed the Warblers’ set list to be Michael as well after they drew performing first. This leads to a Michael-off in a parking garage late at night. They perform “Bad”. At the end, Sebastian goes to slushy Kurt but Blaine jumps in front of him. It turns out Sebastian put something special in the slushy and now Blaine’s cornea is deeply scratched and he needs surgery. He is subsequently absent from the majority of the rest of the episode.
• At the beginning of the episode, Rachel still hadn’t made up her mind about marrying Finn so she goes to Quinn for advice. Quinn tells her she is all for making the most of the next few months but is against the idea of dragging anchors from the past into the bright lights of her future, since she got accepted to Yale. She tells Rachel that she dated Finn, Puck and Sam and thought she loved some of that but by the time the snow falls in New Haven next winter she won’t know why. This leads to Quinn performing “Never Can Say Goodbye” and telling the rest of the club she got accepted to Yale.
• Artie is super upset by Sebastian’s dirty tricks and wants revenge for Blaine. He ends up lashing out at Will and goes into a dream sequence of he and Mike performing “Scream”.
• Sam is still trying to win Mercedes’s heart. This week he does so by convincing her to sing “Human Nature” with him and tells her that after this duet she can go back to Shane if that’s what she really wants and he will back off. They end up kissing at the end of the number.
• Kurt goes to sit at Blaine’s bedside and Rachel and Finn bring him soup and a movie. Kurt, Rachel and Finn sing “Ben” to help Blaine feel included in this week’s assignment.
• Santana goes to get answers from Sebastian regarding what he put in the slushy. It leads to them performing “Smooth Criminal” as a duel. In the end Sebastian tells her it was rock salt he put in the slushy before slushying her. Santana later reveals to the rest of the Glee club that she secretly recorded the whole conversation and therefore has Sebastian on tape admitting to it. She wants to turn it over to the police and have Sebastian arrested for assault. Kurt is against this idea and says rather than punish him, they are going to teach him and the rest of the Warblers a lesson.
• Kurt gets his finalist letter from NYADA and shares the good news with Rachel but it turns out that Rachel hasn’t gotten her letter yet. She breaks down in tears and tells Kurt the only future she has is in Lima with Finn.
• Finn ends up performing “I Just Can’t Stop Loving You” to Rachel and again asks her to marry him. Rachel says yes because she feels like it’s her only option.
• Finn and Rachel then rejoin the rest of the glee club where they have invited the Warblers for their lesson. Artie tells them if they want Michael, they can have him. He says that just because they are doing Michael doesn’t mean they understand him. They then proceed to perform “Black or White”. By the end all of the Warblers except Sebastian jump up on stage and are singing with the New Directions.
• Sebastian sarcastically tells them the performance was moving while the other Warblers tell him to give it up. He responds that it was exactly that attitude that lost them regionals last year. Santana chimes in that she could go to the cops about him as she has his confession on tape. Kurt adds they aren’t going to do that though because what fun would it be to beat the Warblers at regionals if Sebastian wasn’t there for it.
• At the end of the episode, Rachel ends up getting her finalist letter from NYADA and is celebrating with Kurt when he asks if she has told Finn yet. A rush of panic is then visible on Rachel’s face.

No new Modern Family this week. They should be back next week.

• This week was the much hyped about alternate universe episode in which Meredith contemplated how her life would be if her mom was still alive minus the Alzheimer’s. All I can say is it is one crazy universe.
• Here is the break down of the fundamental differences of the universe: Meredith is all shiny and happy living at home with her mother who is Chief of Surgery at Seattle Grace and her step-father, Richard Webber (Meredith’s last name is also Webber, not Grey). Mer is also recently engaged to Chief Resident Alex Carev who is also shiny and happy and sporting Clark Kent glasses. April is still a virgin and is also Meredith’s person, not Cristina. In fact, she and Cristina aren’t even on speaking terms. Jackson is also just a regular resident, along with none other than Charles from season 6, the one who got shot and died in Bailey’s arms. Bailey is the quiet, timid self she was back when she was an intern and seems to be pseudo-running general surgery with Richard. Addison is back, married to Derek and pregnant with his child. Callie and Owen are married with 3 kids and Teddy is still in Iraq. Therefore, no one has met her yet. Callie is also the head of Cardio, she took over after Burke left so she never met Erica. Therefore, Arizona is single. Lexie is a cocaine addict who started after her mother died and her father killed himself; Meredith doesn’t know she exists. Mark only shows up at the end of the episode and just moved to Seattle from New York.George and Izzie are mentioned in the episode but only in passing; it is revealed that George disappeared after failing his intern exam and Meredith got Izzie fired for sleeping with Denny and was never heard from again.
• As the episode progresses, all of the characters realize they dislike and don’t even recognize their lives. Meredith and Ellis still don’t get along and Richard is a pretty weak, passive person.
• Derek is dreary and in a pseudo-depression. He and Addison spend the whole episode fighting until she reveals Derek isn’t the father of the baby, Mark is.
• Alex ends up screwing things up with Meredith by fooling around with April.
• Owen is still suffering from PTSD and is hitting interns and punching holes in windows. Cristina comes to his aid and says she won’t tell Callie but he should so he can get help.
• Callie ends up finding herself drawn to Arizona and in more than a friendly way.
• Bailey ends up getting fired because she won’t stand up for herself.
• Lexie spends the whole episode spiraling downward until Meredith and Cristina save her. They end up bonding over this.
• Charles has a minor role in the episode but makes a joke about someone needing to shoot him now.
• The episode ends with Meredith and Cristina in Joe’s bar bonding and being all Meredith and Cristina about it. After Cristina leaves, Derek turns to talk to Meredith. The two end their exchange with the two phrases that started it all (well, versions of them anyway); “You’re just a guy in a bar” and “You’re just a girl in a bar”
• Meredith’s voice-over says something to the effect that, even though the journey maybe different, our destiny always has a way of finding us.