I want to share with you a pretty amazing development on the union activism front. We’re used to right-to-work states resisting labor friendly legislation in their states. And major corporations usually resist unionization, at least within the bounds of the what the labor laws allow – and then often beyond them. But here in Tennessee we’ve got a case where the the corporation, Volkswagen, is not resisting unionization and perhaps actually mildly promoting it. In response, the state’s politicians are coming in threatening to pull a series of tax incentives if Volkswagen doesn’t change its tune and get on the anti-union bandwagon.
Seth Michaels explain what’s at stake and why the Tennessee GOP political establishment is so adamant.
Amanda Marcotte on how Wendy Davis’ backing of a 20-week abortion ban is good politics in Texas, but totally crap policy. Sarah Erdreich takes a closer look at what Wendy Davis said.
Seth D. Michaels: “It’s not just that these Republican legislators are willing to side with a corporation against a union; it’s that when it comes to being pro-business or anti-union, they’ll choose anti-union. So much for the idea that Republicans just want to stay out of a business’ way.”
The United Arab Emirates wants to become the drone capital of the world, using drones with fingerprint and eye-recognition for government services like delivering documents, drivers licenses and basically everything else.
Harsh new Tea Party ad bashing Mitch McConnell says he bullies conservatives just like the baddies at the IRS do.
Where to start? But then I guess you make your own bed.
The direct impact is limited. But we now have yet another case where a federal judge – this time a Republican appointee – has ruled against gay marriage bans based on the Windsor case which overturned DOMA. As we found in Utah, Ohio and in a few other instances, pretty much all federal judges (though we still haven’t heard from enough GOP-appointed judges) seem to agree with Antonin Scalia that Windsor simply makes state laws that discriminate against same sex marriage untenable.
This is why I love you people. This morning I’m writing about my longstanding belief in the excessive use of high speed chases by police departments, especially as they may lead to the premature death of upstanding citizens like myself. And now multiple readers have told me about this hot – and, let’s be honest, awesome – new technology called a GPS Cannon. And yes, it’s awesome.
Federal judge rules that Kentucky can no longer refuse to recognize the validity of same-sex marriages conducted out of state.
Late Update: The judge, John G. Heyburn II, is a Bush I appointee. In his opinion (read it here), Heyburn notes, “All federal courts that have considered same-sex marriage rights post-Windsor have ruled in favor of same-sex marriage rights.” Windsor is the landmark Supreme Court case last year that struck down the Defense of Marriage Act. But I believe this is the first of those post-Windsor cases decided by a Republican-appointed federal judge.
Chris Christie now running a mere 21 points behind Hillary Clinton in hypothetical 2016 match up.
About 5:30 this morning NYPD patrol cars were engaged in a high speed chase of a stolen truck in Greenwich Village when the truck collided with an MTA commuter bus. Both vehicles then careened up onto a sidewalk and plowed into building scaffolding where both vehicles came to a stop. William Pena, who had been driving city buses since 1996, was pronounced dead on the scene. Three passengers were taken to a local hospital. The driver of the truck suffered minor neck injuries and was taken into custody.