A GOP lawmaker in Colorado says it was “maybe a good thing” Aurora movie theater shooter James Holmes had a 100-round magazine.
An old time Texas sportscaster, Dale Hansen, who looks to be in his mid-60s, slams anonymous NFL execs for questioning whether the league wants openly gay Missouri defensive end Michael Sam. What gives it special poignance is that Hansen is open about the fact that he himself is not without some lingering discomfort about homosexuality …
He went on to slam NFL executives for saying Sam’s prospects would be hurt in the draft because he came out as gay, while being perfectly fine with drafting players who “lie to police trying to cover up a murder” and “beat a woman and drag her down a flight of stairs.”
“I’m not always comfortable when a man tells me he’s gay. I don’t understand his world,” Hansen admitted. “But I do understand that he’s part of mine.”
Check out the video here.
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.