When I dug into my corporate reporting for my volunteer group, I discovered I have until mid-May to get that done, so I decided to blog instead, in addition to delving into the mess I need to tackle for grocery delivery day tomorrow.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 2:38 (average 4:30). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From Daily Kos: South Carolina wants to be able to continue to ban gays and lesbians from marrying each other. They want to do that so much that they filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court that they should continue to be able to do so. In it, they make an "originalist" argument that if the Constitution is read just as its drafters understood it, gays can be discriminated against because women can be discriminated against. Mark Joseph Stern at Slate has all the crazy.
Here’s the gist of South Carolina’s fascinatingly sexist argument. The state wants to prove that the 14th Amendment—which guarantees "equal protection of the laws" to every "person"—was not intended to displace state marriage laws. And what did those laws look like at the time? One major feature: In many states, married women were not permitted to own property or enter into contracts and had no legal existence apart from their husbands. According to South Carolina, the framers of the 14th Amendment explicitly preserved the rights of states to deprive married women of the ability to function independently from her husband. This right to deprive married women of basic liberties, South Carolina argues, is enshrined in the 10th Amendment and is not at all undercut by the 14th Amendment’s guarantee of equality.
Were SCROTUS (Republican Constitutional VD) to agree with this brief, not only would gays become the subjects of continued discrimination, but also, "barefoot and pregnant" laws would sweep those states, where Republicans have complete control.
From The New Yorker: Hillary Clinton has followed up the official announcement of her candidacy with a new campaign ad featuring nothing but kittens.
The sixty-second spot stars an assortment of kittens—tabbies, calicoes, Siamese, and a dozen other breeds—in a variety of adorable vignettes.
At various points in the advertisement, the kittens are shown playing in a sock drawer, tangled up in yarn, and chasing a duckling.
Clinton herself appears only in the final seconds of the ad, saying merely, “Hi. I’m Hillary.”
Andy, I certainly hope my kitty cousins are not exploited in such a shameful manner. Wouldn’t it be better to portray the kittens using Republicans as a cat box? I might get in on that action myself!!
From NY Times: One by one, four former Blackwater security contractors wearing blue jumpsuits and leg irons stood before a federal judge on Monday and spoke publicly for the first time since a deadly 2007 shooting in Iraq.
The men had been among several private American security guards who fired into Baghdad’s crowded Nisour Square on Sept. 16, 2007, and last October they were convicted of killing 14 unarmed Iraqis in what prosecutors called a wartime atrocity. Yet on Monday, as they awaited sentences that they knew would send them to prison for most if not all of their lives, they defiantly asserted their innocence…
…The judge, Royce C. Lamberth, strongly disagreed, sentencing Mr. Slatten to life in prison and handing 30-year sentences to the three others.
My only regret is that the top war criminals, Bush and Cheney, were not sentenced with them.
Cartoon:
17 Responses to “Open Thread–4/14/2015”
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3:27 average 4:30. Well, it might be tasty.
Daily Kos – Excuse me, but aren't these the same people who voted down the ERA because "we don't need it, it's already in the 14th Amendment"?
New Yorker – Well, it's probably not a bad idea, considering. Consider http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/04/12/1377290/-Hillary-Clinton-Laid-a-Clever-Trap-For-Republicans and http://wellthisiswhatithink.com/2015/04/13/why-hillary-is-still-very-probably-going-to-be-the-next-president-of-the-usa/
NY Times – Good. I saw the article on the first one but these four had not yet been sentenced. I agree with you on Bush and Cheney (well, duh – so does every thinking person).
Cartoon – Google is all twitterpated that it is an anniversary for the Pony Express too, and has a cute little arcade game to prove it. Arcade games are not my thing, I like plots, but if you like them …
2:53 Jerry and Patty, I'm counting on one of you to keep Puddy Tat from having Carolina anole fricassée today!
2:45 Not me, Lynn. He slipped past me at the end. It's up to you, Patty.
No pressure Patty . . . just do it! . . . for the sake of that little Carolina anole.
3:25 Sorry. That little Anole was Tom's snack.
Excellent!! Sauteed to a golden brown in catnip oil.
Today also is equal pay day, which the GOP honored by blocking the vote on the relevant bill today.
Glad justice was served at last for some of the mercenaries with such a cavalier attitude about life and death…have been disappointed it took so long and wasn't more universal.
Officially, six others have also filed to run as democrats…the GOP list is more than double that.
Given how many equal rights issued SCOTUS rulings have deemed are federal territory agreeing with the argument would require abandoning a ton of precedents.
JL, the Republicans will NEVER vote for equal pay and am not surprised they blocked the vote.
Daily Kos: This is the most absurd thing they have come up with so far, in their efforts to discriminate against gays. Although, I am sure a lot of them would love for woment to be "put in their place" again. That is never going to happen.
The New Yorker: I love your summary, tossing Republicans into a cat box sounds good, so long as the cats don't actually have to use it, that would be cruel.
NY Times: We know that neither Bush nor Cheney will ever be prosecuted for anything. They are responsible for so much that is wrong in our world today that they certainly should be. There are probably a lot more of these private companies who committed atrocities that will never be prosecuted, either.
Puzzle — 2:53 Jerry and Patty, I'm counting on one of you to keep Puddy Tat from having Carolina anole fricassée today!
Daily Kos — Having reviewed the 14th amendment, it appears to disagree with itself. Section one refers to "persons" and "…nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." But then section two references the right to vote for "male citizens of the US being 21 years old". Section one also refers to "…nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law".
Some, me for instance, might argue that the pursuit of life and liberty includes the right to marry the person of choice, no matter opposite sex or same sex. Also, caught up in the dichotomy noted above, is the ability of women to vote, or should I say not vote, Of course, the Injustices of SCROTUS are not likely to agree with me. May the brief be FUBAR and die a thousand deaths in very short order. May South Carolina choke on its own BS!
The New Yorker — "Wouldn’t it be better to portray the kittens using Republicans as a cat box?" Amen!!! The only trouble with that is that the Republicanus/Teabaggerum would not even notice because THEY are so full of shit!
NY Times — Good that they are paying the price for their crimes. I certainly understand and agree that Cheney and Baby Bush should be with them. Canada's Harper, who allowed both Cheney and Bush into Canada for speaking engagements, should also face repercussions for violating the terms of the UN Convention Against Torture by not arresting Cheney and Baby Bush.
Cartoon — May the USS Republicanus/Teabaggerum suffer the same fate on 08 November 2016 as the Titanic did in April 2012!
It hit an Icebagger,
Make that:
Cartoon — May the USS Republicanus/Teabaggerum suffer the same fate on 08 November 2016 as the Titanic did in April 1912!
Amen!
New Yorker – I think that ad would be a success in some quarters!
2.44
NY Times – I completely agree. I hope they are imprisoned for life without parole.
You almost beat me!
Daily Kos ~ Regression is alive and well in the South and in TeapulicanT controlled states North of the Mason-Dixon Line. Is there not an ounce of sensibility left in their tea addled brains? Their bigotry consumes them. Like Lynn, I hope South Carolina chokes on its own BS along with all the others who are like minded.
New Yorker ~ I expected something funnier from Andy on her announcement.
NY Times ~ Long overdue!
Cartoon ~ The TeapublicanTs have already blamed this on President Obama.
Thanks all. Hugs!