Where Things Stand: Watching The Christian Right’s Power Play Out In Real Time

I made the point yesterday that the language Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) is using to clean up his past marriage equality remarks — earlier this summer he said he had no reason to “oppose” codifying same-sex marriage into federal law — is an obvious cave to the Christian right. In frantic messaging in recent days, Johnson has flip-flopped on his previous position as he struggles with the impossible task of casting himself as a reasonable guy to Wisconsin voters and a reliable ally to Christian conservatives.

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Big News Out of Michigan

The Michigan Supreme Court has ruled 5-2 that the proposed abortion rights measure will appear on the state’s ballot in November. This is good news for all Democratic candidates in the state, since it will literally put robust abortion rights protections on the ballot in the state. That will almost certainly mean robust protections in the state going forward. It will likely also bring marginal Democratic candidates to victory with the tide of voters who turn out to vote for the amendment.

But it’s a very important development in a more general way.

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Michigan Supreme Court Puts Pro-Choice Measure On Ballot, Rejecting Word-Spacing Challenge

A 5-2 majority of the Michigan Supreme Court ruled Thursday that a pro-choice amendment seeking to enshrine abortion rights in the Michigan constitution would appear on this November’s ballot, despite a challenge from anti-abortion activists that focused on the spacing between the printed words of the proposed amendment.

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Queen Elizabeth, Britain’s Longest-Reigning Monarch, Dies At 96

96-year-old Queen Elizabeth II, who ruled Britain for a record 70 years, died at Balmoral Castle in Scotland, the Royal Family announced on Thursday.

“The Queen died peacefully at Balmoral this afternoon,” the Royal Family’s official Twitter account said. “The King and The Queen Consort will remain at Balmoral this evening and will return to London tomorrow.”

Buckingham Palace had reported earlier in the day that the Queen’s doctors were “concerned for Her Majesty’s health” and that she was under medical supervision.

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Charles III

One of the minor questions with today’s news was whether Charles would become King Charles III. It seems obvious. But in the past it was frequently the case that a monarch would choose a regnal name which was not the one they were known by familiarly before taking the throne. But Liz Truss, who just became Prime Minister two days ago, just made a statement in which she referred to Charles as King Charles III. So that settles it. Seems like a rather dramatic hogging of the mic. But who knows? Not my country, not my circus. But that settles it. Charles III.

Bannon Faces State Indictment In ‘We Build The Wall’ Scam After Trump’s Federal Pardon

A New York grand jury has indicted former Trump advisor Steve Bannon on charges related to the private border wall fundraising scam “We Build The Wall.” Bannon and others faced a federal indictment over the scheme in 2020, but, unlike his codefendants, Bannon received a last-minute pardon from then-President Donald Trump on Trump’s way out the door. 

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