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March 15, 2012 | | EXCLUSIVE Robert Platshorn was sentenced to a record 64 years in jail as America's biggest weed smuggler. Now he says the case was mostly hype—and, in exclusive interviews, the government agrees. The Daily Beast's Tony Dokoupil reports. ON THE HILL The battle over President Obama's contraception mandate is just winding down, but Congress looks set to divide along party and gender lines once again. This time the issue is the Violence Against Women Act. The legislation would extend grant programs to law enforcement and shelters for battered women, expanding free legal assistance to victims of domestic violence. It would also allow more abused illegal immigrants to claim temporary visas, and would extend programs to same-sex couples, two aspects that Republicans object to. Democratic women plan to march to the Senate floor today and demand passage of the bill. “I am furious,” said Senator Maria Cantwell, a Democrat from Washington, speaking about the Republican Party's opposition to contraception and now domestic violence legislation. “We’re mad, and we’re tired of it.” FALLOUT A U.S. soldier's alleged massacre of 16 Afghan civilians may be about to scuttle the two countries’ agreement on post-combat operations in Afghanistan. Lawmakers there, furious that the suspect has been flown out of the country to Kuwait, are saying Kabul shouldn't sign the strategic partnership with the U.S., which would govern the presence of U.S. forces after the 2014 withdrawal. The U.S. military says that they did fly the suspect to Kuwait, but that he may still be tried in Afghanistan. OUCH Introducing the first $2.15 billion op-ed. After a resigning Goldman Sachs employee wrote a scathing piece for The New York Times about the company’s moral bankruptcy, Goldman Sach’s market value took a $2.15 billion hit. The company's share price tumbled 3.4 percent in trading Wednesday. The writer was Greg Smith, who spent 12 years at the company and held nothing back when blasting CEO Lloyd C. Blankfein and the culture of greed. The company sent a memo to employees on Wednesday, saying that Smith was wrong. Shares are still up 33 percent for the year. HOMOPHOBIA A Ugandan gay rights group is suing American evangelist Scott Lively in Massachusetts for encouraging violence against gay men and lesbians in Uganda. In 2009, and again last month, Uganda considered a bill that would have made homosexuality punishable by death. One of Lively's contacts introduced the original bill. Lively said he doesn't know anything about the suit. “That’s about as ridiculous as it gets. I’ve never done anything in Uganda except preach the Gospel and speak my opinion about the homosexual issue.” | | 
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