The headline reads… "Sen. Rob Portman comes out in favor of gay marriage after son comes out as gay": Republican U.S. Sen. Rob Portman on Thursday announced he has reversed his longtime opposition to same-sex marriage after reconsidering the issue because his 21-year-old son, Will, is gay. Portman said his son, a junior at Yale University, told him and his wife, … Read More
Live Vatican Smoke Cam
…if you care about that sort of thing. White smoke at 2:07 pm EST. Who will it be? 3:15pm: Cardinal Mario Bergoglio of Argentina(!) is now Pope Francis. First pope from the Americas and the first from outside Europe in 1000 years. Conservative, "never smiles", thinks gay adoption is "discrimination against children". Bio below the fold
Ignorance
Nothing is going to get solved when you have people so… what's the word… stupid in government.
Quote Of The Day
During U.S. Supreme Court oral argument on the constitutionality of a key section of the Voting Rights Act this morning, several justices expressed extreme hostility to the civil rights statute, according to early reports from the courthouse. Justice Antonin Scalia called it “perpetuation of racial entitlement.” That's right. Why should black people be entitled to vote, and why perpatuate it? … Read More
UNC Handling Rape Issues Badly
The University of North Carolina is allowing revenge against one of their students, a rape survivor, who reported on their failed administrative policies on sexual assault. After the initial report, she discussed her experience with The Daily Tarheel: “It’s incredibly clear that those people had no idea what sexual assault is, what consent is,” said Landen Gambill, a sophomore whose assault … Read More
Never Thought I’d Read Something Like This
Here it is: A new effort by a large group of influential Republican luminaries to champion same sex marriage represents a breakthrough for the party and the cause. At least 75 current and former Republican officials and intellectuals have signed on to a draft legal brief calling on the Supreme Court to overturn California’s Proposition 8 and similar laws prohibiting … Read More
Bad Lip Reading Does Movies
FWIW, 17 out of 24 for my Oscar picks. Pretty decent.
Raping Women Twice
It was just over one year ago when I wrote about how the Virginia legislature were attempting to pass a bill requiring women who want to have an abortion to submit to a mandatory transvaginal ultrasound — an unnecessary medical procedure involving the insertion of a medical probe into a woman's vagina. The hope was that having such an intrusive procedure (which, … Read More
2013 Oscar Predictions
Actor in a Leading Role Bradley Cooper in "Silver Linings Playbook" Daniel Day-Lewis in "Lincoln" Hugh Jackman in "Les Misérables" Joaquin Phoenix in "The Master" Denzel Washington in "Flight" WILL WIN: Daniel Day-Lewis – This is easily predictable. Actor in a Supporting Role Alan Arkin in "Argo" Robert De Niro in "Silver Linings Playbook" Philip Seymour Hoffman in "The Master" Tommy Lee Jones in "Lincoln" Christoph Waltz in "Django Unchained" … Read More
It’s Official: Mississippi Finally Ratifies The Ban On Slavery
Yes, it took that long. Full story here.
Downton Abbey, Season 3, Final Episode Thoughts
SPOILER ALERTS!! First of all, I must acknowledge the bad plot line of the season: Mrs. O'Brien's attempt to get her nephew, Alfred, into a higher position. As far as I can tell, her plan was half-baked to begin with — something akin to the Underpants Gnome strategy: (1) Get Thomas and Jimmy James in bed together, even though Jimmy … Read More
Illinois Next
Just moments ago, the Illinois Senate voted to approve same-sex marriages. The final vote was 34-21 (with 2 voting "present"). The bill goes now to the House, where it has strong support.Though the Catholic Church and conservative evangelical groups oppose the bill, polling shows that most Illinois voters support marriage equality.
Gallup Poll Shows Most/Least Religious States
The full results and article are here. It's not too surprising, actually. Map is interesting, though.
So… This Happened
It's truly childish to focus on what has now been dubbed "Watergate", but to be completely honest, it was really awkward.
Senate Passes VAWA
First Read: The Senate approved legislation to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act on Tuesday over the objections of a handful of Republicans. Democrats were joined by several Republican senators in voting to renew the landmark gender and domestic violence law, which lapsed at the end of 2012 after lawmakers in the last Congress failed to reach agreement on a … Read More