What’s possible when Democrats finally stop wimping out

I wrote yesterday about the Supreme Court gutting the part of the Voting Rights Act that banned racial gerrymandering. Many Republican legislatures announced they were ready to rework district maps that would eliminate perhaps a dozen black Democrats from Congress. Emily Singer of Daily Kos wrote that the Democratic governors of New York and Illinois that they would work to eliminate more Republican seats. The redistricting race will continue. Back in 2010, when Republicans began to put serious, computerized effort into gerrymandering Democrats were more concerned about maintaining fairness. This time they’re willing to fight in the manner of Republicans.

Ultimately, this is a race to the bottom. But if Democrats don’t follow Republicans to the gates of Hell, then it gives Republicans carte blanche to draw their way to a permanent majority—something Republicans are already crowing about doing.

Illinois had been preparing a statewide Voting Rights Amendment. That effort is is being scrapped because it would have prevented this type of redistricting. In a second post Singer discussed the possibilities of Democratic gerrymandering efforts. She included a tweet by Stephen Wolf that showed by 2028 Democrats could flip 19 seats in 9 states (based on a Republican winning the seat in 2024, recognizing some may flip to Democrat this year). In addition to those mention this redistricting could be done in New Jersey, Maryland, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Colorado, Oregon, and Washington. In contrast Republicans might be able to squeeze out another 12 seats in eight Southern states. Of course, the Democratic response can only be done in states where there is a Democratic governor and Democrats control both chambers of the legislature. So vote for Democrats this fall. And we hope that in 2028 with Democrats in control of both chambers of Congress and with a Democrat as president they will pass a nationwide gerrymandering ban to stop this race. I’m hopeful, but they had a chance in 2022 and didn’t take it. Lisa Needham of Kos writes a weekly column on what the courts are doing. Alas, many of the stories are about how they support the nasty guy. This column is from last week. In what should have been an obvious decision Judge Kyle Duncan of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals said that Texas can require schools to display the King James version of the Ten Commandments because it “looks nothing like historical religious establishment.”

Per Duncan, the separation of church and state is only implicated if the state tells churches how they could worship or punishes someone for rejecting the Ten Commandments or takes your tax dollars to support clergy. It also “does not co-op churches to perform civic functions.” Come on, man. This is impossibly, deliberately slippery. No, the law didn’t say “we hereby outsource evangelical churches to perform the civic function of education,” but it did say, essentially, “the civic function of education now must include a specific religious text with the specific religious language used by specific, conservative, evangelical churches.”

Red states keep passing laws that they know lower courts will block. This is an example. They keep doing it so they can get the cases before the “theocrats” on the Supreme Court so they can explain our understanding of the separation of church and state has been wrong these past 250 years and our founders really did want to mandate the display of the Ten Commandments. There is news about the Senate race in Maine. Susan Collins has been one of their senators and is known for her “concern” about what her fellow Republicans were doing, yet would vote with them anyway. It’s a seat that seems within Democrat’s grasp. Thom Hartmann of the Kos community and an independent pundit described the Democrats campaigning for the seat. There is Governor Janet Mills, 78, who has done a fine job, is appreciated by the citizens, and is the darling of the party insiders who want the “safest, most ‘electable’” candidate to beat Collins. The other candidate is Graham Platner, oyster farmer, whom Hartmann describes this way:

Maine’s Democrats saw a guy who’d actually served three tours in Iraq, who runs a small business on the working waterfront, who talks the way they talk, and who isn’t afraid to say out loud that the people robbing them are the billionaire class and the Republican shills they own.

Platner has been across the state, speaking wherever a group will listen and raising lots of money. Yes, there have been problems, such as a tattoo of a Nazi emblem that has since been removed. Platner has become so popular and raised so much money that yesterday Mills suspended her campaign, even though the primary is still a couple months away. That leaves Platner as the presumptive challenger to Collins. Hartmann says Mills’ withdrawal is sending a message to the rest of the party and they had better listen. That message is adjacent to the reason I touched on yesterday.

People are sick and tired of mealy-mouthed corporate Democrats who run on focus-grouped slogans and govern like they’re scared of their own shadow. They want fighters.

Note the “corporate” label. That refers to Democrats who don’t want to upset the billionaire money spigot. As Mills withdrew the Congressional Progressive Caucus rolled out its New Affordability Agenda, a ten point plan. Here’s a bit of it: + Make drugs cheaper (and they provide detail on how). + Make utilities cheaper. + Make gas cheaper by taxing extra profits. + Make childcare cheaper, max of 7% of income. + Make housing cheaper. + Make groceries cheaper + Abolish Super PACs so billionaires can’t buy politicians so easily.

New polling from Data for Progress found that every single one of those proposals is supported by close to 60% of Republican voters. Among Democrats it pushes into the 80% range. That’s not a “leftist” agenda. That’s a genuine populist agenda that works for the actual American electorate.

Hartmann says Democrats began to go astray with Bill Clinton’s “triangulation” that included “End welfare as we know it” and sucking up to banks, Big Pharma, Big Insurance, Big Defense, and defending Netanyahu no matter the count of war crimes. Hartmann then reminded us what the Republicans have been doing with the power voters keep giving them. Here are the nine points Hartmann listed: + Cut taxes to billionaires (the national debt just crossed 100% of GDP). + Rigged elections. + Cheered wars. + Allowed the nasty guy’s grift. + Kept the minimum wage at $7.25. + Taken money from the fossil fuel industry in spite of global warming. + Taken money from the gun industry. + Hijacked Christianity, pushing a twisted version. + ICE. Sounding mealy-mouthed against that isn’t going to please voters. So if that New Affordability Agenda is popular with 80% of Democrats it is good politics.

Maine just showed the rest of the country what’s possible when Democrats finally stop wimping out and trying to appease Republicans. Voters want candidates like Graham Platner who’ll take names and kick ass.

Ruben Bolling of Kos, in his Tom the Dancing Bug cartoon poses an interesting idea. The nasty guy has been saying he needs a new ballroom as part of the White House for security. The shooting at the White House Correspondents Dinner confirmed the need (at least in his head). So a great way to keep children safe at school is to turn each school building into a ballroom. Though there is the problem of getting shrimp cocktail sauce on the math worksheet. Back in October I wondered if my blog had become famous because in September there were 163,988 views, beating by three times the previous record. Since then the peak in views was last month, at 67,191. April finished at 177,760 views, most of that in the second half of the month, setting a new record. Back then I had just cleared a million views (since 2010). New the all time tally is 1.47 million views. A bit more than a quarter of those views came from Brazil and the US. However, what caught my attention was this: Blogger tells me the top 19 countries that view this blog. It then groups all other countries under “Other.” And this group is close to a third of all views. Since Blogger orders countries by number of views those grouped under “Other” will have no more than the bottom country in the list. That means there are at least another 20 countries that have viewed this blog in the last month and the number is likely far higher than that. So compared to the record set last September this record appears to come from a much broader base.

Make resistance the safer bet

I finished the book Whistle-Stop Politics; Campaign Trains and the Reporters Who Covered Them by Edward Segal. The book is small scenes of when a politician climbs onto a train to take his message to the small towns across the country. Segal was the press secretary for an Oklahoman Congressman in 1984 and thought to use a campaign train to introduce his candidate to more of the state. He wanted to find a book or other resource about campaign trains and came up empty. So he started collecting stories, then did serious research, and 40 years later produced this book. Overall, it’s a lightweight book. He covers the campaigns from the late 1800s to Biden’s train in 2020, though the first train campaign was in 1836. Th coverage isn’t of the type of saying in 1896 this candidate was on the rails for this number of days, covered so many miles, gave this number of speeches, had these incidents along the way, and the trip had this consequence for the candidate or the future of campaign trains. Instead, the book is organized by topic. These campaigns had this type of incident. These had that type of incident. Each incident is described in a few paragraphs, up to a page or two. Campaigns can appear under several topics, but there isn’t a complete campaign narrative. Some of the topics: A description of the campaign train (the candidate’s car was always the last one and out its back door was the campaign platform). Who was on it (candidate, staff, reporters, regular train staff). Whether the candidate gave the same speech at every stop or how he pulled in local details. What local politicians were introduced. How the logistics of the trip were set up. What the Secret Service did to make the route safe. What happened when a doctor was needed. How the candidate dealt with hecklers or protesters. How the press managed enroute (no showers, no laundry, no direct communication while on the train). As to the last topic, occasionally the train stopped and everyone stayed at a hotel. Sometimes they stopped only during the day, so the hotel would get a request for six rooms and 150 towels. Segal also described some campaign imitators. In 1940 Gracie Allen of the comedy team Burns and Allen did a train tour as the candidate for the Surprise Party. Winnie the Pooh did one in 1972 with advisors Tigger and Eeyore. Mickey Mouse did one in 1978 to celebrate his 50th birthday. The top candidates that logged the most miles on a train were Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman, far more than any of the others. There is a description of the rail car built for Roosevelt to keep him comfortable and safe. The reason for campaigning by train was simple: There was a train depots downtown in practically every small city. Everyone knew where it was. The airport, if there was one, was a ways outside of town and few people knew about it. A train allowed the candidate get close to the people. I enjoyed the book, but glad it was just over 200 pages (plus 778 endnotes to list the sources that I could skip) and I could finish it in just a few days. As I said, these were short amusing stories without a comprehensive narrative. Oliver Willis of Daily Kos reported on Monday the nasty guy’s invasion of Chicago has begun. It’s over the objection of Gov. JB Pritzker and the city’s mayor. The justification for sending in the troops is, of course, lies. Also on Monday Lisa Needham of Kos reported on the state of the invasion of Portland. U.S. District Court Judge Karin Immergut ruled on Saturday that the nasty guy could not federalize the Oregon National Guard to protect federal agents in Portland. On Sunday the judge ruled that the nasty guy could not use California’s national guard protect federal agents in Portland. That ruling was at the request of both California and Oregon because neither wanted one state to invade the other. While she was at it the judge ruled the nasty guy couldn’t use the national guard from any other state either, even if Texas was offering. The case was appealed and I’m still behind in my reading. A week ago Needham reported that the nasty guy has a new effort to get colleges and universities to bend to his will. He came up with a ten point plan titled “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education.” Schools that agree to it will get preferential access to federal funds. Needham wrote about the points in the plan. Here’s some of them.

So a vibrant marketplace of ideas, but one where schools put their thumb on the scale for conservatives, who basically can’t compete in the marketplace of ideas in higher education. ...And, of course, there are demands that there be no race-or sex-based preferences in hiring and that transgender women be barred from women’s locker rooms and sports.

And they need to hire an independent auditor to ensure compliance.

So all that schools need to do to get “multiple positive benefits,” including “substantial and meaningful federal grants,” is to totally alter their curriculum, departments, admissions, hiring, and sports teams to conform to whatever racist, transphobic, or xenophobic thought that skitters across Trump’s gray matter at any given time. Just some minor tweaks, really.

Nine schools have received the “invitation.” One, the University of Texas at Austin, appears all in. On Monday Dalbert of the Kos community reported that Gov. Gavin Newsom of California has a response. Refuse the nasty guy’s offer a school could lose federal funding. But if a state school accepts the nasty guy’s offer they lose state funding, including grants to California students.

People cave to bullies when there’s no cost to giving in. Newsom’s changing that dynamic. The article urges other blue-state governors to follow suit: cut off state resources to institutions and officials who comply with Trump’s demands. Make resistance the safer bet.

Alix Breeden of Kos wrote that a few top level comedians have gotten themselves into a mess. The royal family of Saudi Arabia funded the Riyadh Comedy Festival. The royal money means they paid big bucks to the comedians, like $375K and upwards. They are working hard to burnish their image. With this royal family we know there is a catch – the entertainers signed contracts specifying they would say nothing bad about the country, the royals, the legal system, or the religion. But giving up free speech for a paycheck, especially a big one, means they are losing credibility in America, especially after Jimmy Kimmel was pulled off the air because of free speech. Fellow comedians are saying their hypocrisy is showing. In the comments of Monday’s pundit roundup for Kos paulpro posted a cartoon by Angel Boligan showing the nasty guy beating furiously at a huge drum set while the two speakers are aimed at earth. John Sipher posted a cartoon by Kal showing a big beefy American army man ready to fight foreign foes while a small Pete Hegseth tugs at his ankle and points to a cat named “Wokeness” and saying “You’re under attack!” In Tuesday’s roundup Chitown Kev quoted Paul Krugman writing for his Substack on why the nasty guy’s second term seems to have gotten so extreme so fast.

One reason things have gotten so extreme, so fast may be that Trump, Miller and company are in a race against time. Foreign autocrats like Orban or Vladimir Putin could afford to chip away gradually at the foundations of democracy because they were, at least initially, quite popular. Trump — although he won’t admit it — has very low approval, and the public opposes him on every major issue. Yet he and his minions control much of the machinery of government, and are trying to use it to intimidate — you might say terrorize — their opponents before public anger catches up with them.

In the comments exlrrp posted a meme showing, I think, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt. Whoever it is the text is fun. It says, “She’s going through the normal 5 stages of grief: pyrotechnics, merch, podcasting, grifting, and acceptance.” In the comments of Wednesday’s roundup is a cartoon posted by LJ Slater and created by Smit. It shows ICE agents standing around and one says, “I gotta leave early today, guys. We deported my kid’s babysitter.” A comment posted by paulpro shows a calm Chicago scene and two ICE agents are talking:

First: You see any Chicago Antifa rioters yet? Second: No, but there was a dress sale at the Water Tower my wife would kill for.

LJ Slater posted a cartoon by David Cohen. It shows a peace prize on the floor and the nasty guy reaching for it. To the side one guy tells another. “It’s an old bar trick. I glued it to the floor. Let’s see how long it takes him to get it.” In the comments of today’s roundup Fiona Webster posted a cartoon by Jesse Duquette showing a policeman cuffing a young black child (I’ve seen mentions that this is a thing). The policeman says, “Stop crying. America’s great now.” Webster also posted a cartoon by Lalo Alcaraz that has a caption, “Meanwhile, at the border... The president ordered that the border wall be painted black because it makes the wall hotter when migrants climb it. Also, it’s lunchtime.” The image shows the bottom of three beams of the wall bent up and being used as a grill attended by a Mexican man. Beside him is a sign, “Hot border tacos.” While checking one set of stats for this blog – the excitement of setting big viewing records in September – I forgot to keep track of other stats. I’ve passed mentioning the nasty guy in 700 posts, this one is 701. There are only two topics with more posts. One is “GOP” which is now at 1114 posts. The other is “Gay Marriage” and “Marriage Equality” (I switched tags) at 711.

Republicans need to watch more Sesame Street to learn to share

In today’s pundit roundup for Daily Kos Chitown Kev quoted Robin Pogrebin and Graham Bowley of the New York Times discussing a response to the nasty guy’s demands that the Smithsonian museums remove displays he doesn’t like:

The Smithsonian offered the first indication on Wednesday afternoon when Lonnie G. Bunch III, the Smithsonian’s secretary, sent a letter to the staff indicating that the institution had agreed to set up a team to review turning over materials to the White House, as requested, but to do so as an autonomous institution. “I take my responsibility to steward the institution on behalf of the American people very seriously,” the letter to staff said, adding, “Our independence is paramount.” [...] While complimenting Mr. Trump’s “admiration and regard for the Smithsonian,” Mr. Bunch told the staff that his response to the White House, sent in a letter on Tuesday, had reiterated the institution’s intention to rigorously review its content for inappropriate partisanship. But he said it would be the Smithsonian, not the executive branch, that would direct the effort. “Our own review of content to ensure our programming is nonpartisan and factual is ongoing, and it is consistent with our authority over our programming and content,” Mr. Bunch wrote in his letter to the staff.

Those bits about “inappropriate partisanship” and “nonpartisan and factual” along with “not the executive branch” mean to me that the Smithsonian will not bend the knee to the nasty guy. Paul Krugman wrote:

Donald Trump loves emergencies. He has been in office less than 8 months, but has already formally declared 9 national emergencies, as well as a “crime emergency” in Washington DC. He’s probably about to use similar claims about an urban crime emergency to send the National Guard into Chicago — which, as Jeff Asher notes, “has likely had fewer shootings this year than any year since 1965 or 1966.” As far as I can tell, so far all of Trump’s claims about emergency have been false excuses for power grabs. There is no national crime wave demanding military action — America’s big cities are, on average, safer than they’ve been since the 1960s. There is no economic emergency to justify the highest tariffs in 90 years — Trump himself keeps insisting that the U.S. economy is doing great. Given this pattern, the scariest words in the English language right now may be “Trump officials declare that we are facing a national emergency.” So I got a sinking feeling when I saw Scott Bessent, the Treasury secretary, saying that the administration may soon declare a national housing emergency.

What does one do to relieve a “housing emergency”? With the nasty guy supplying the solution I don’t want to find out. I can imagine it being (and would be horrified if it was) making more housing available by throwing immigrants out of their homes so white people could move in. The only (humane) relief I can see is building more housing. From the federal government side that means proving ways to encourage builders to build (I’ll leave the details to those who know). But that’s not what the nasty guy and Congressional Republicans are promoting. Also, there is that bit about the nasty guy saying the economy is doing great while also justifying tariffs because there is an economic emergency. The left side of his mouth doesn’t know what the right side is saying. In the comments a meme posted by exlrrp plays into the speculation that the nasty guy isn’t well:

Trump goes 2 full days without an impeachable offense, and we all just assume he’s dead.

Another meme posted by exlrrp, original author not given.

“Why should coal miners pay for PBS”? This was an actual question asked by the Trump administration yesterday. Obviously a blatantly stupid question. We have questions too. Why should a poor black family in Detroit pay for the president to go golfing? Why should a single mother of 3 who’s working two jobs in Louisianan be denied health-care so that the CEO Aetna can get a tax-break? Why is the guy washing dishes in Baton Rouge paying for the President’s wife’s secret service protection so she can live comfortably in NYC? We could do this all day. But here’s the real question in the Trump administration and the Republicans who empower him need to answer: Do you have a heart? Did no one teach you to care about your neighbors? Do you know what “empathy” means? Did no one ever teach you to “share” when you were in kindergarten? Have you never heard the phrase “do unto others”? I can’t think of a group of people who need to watch Sesame Street MORE than the Republican Party. Perhaps they would learn some common decency.

A third meme posted by exlrrp, this one from Allenanalysis:

The Trump White House is threatening Republican lawmakers – saying if they sign Congressman Thomas Massie’s petition to release the Epstein files, it’ll be treated as a “hostile act.” That’s not how innocent people act. That’s how coverups get enforced.

Chitown Kev quoted the first tweet in a thread by Michael Harriot, black historian. I found the whole thread on Treadreader. Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson mentioned land built by slaves. Sen. Ted Cruz asked “Which slaves built Chicago?” Which is enough to get Harriot started. Slavery was first brought to Illinois to work the salt mines (yeah, I didn’t know Illinois had salt mines, though I’ve visited the salt mines below Detroit). When Illinois became a state, it was declared free – with the exception of the salt mines. Blacks quickly learned to avoid being enslaved and forced into the mines they needed to move to Chicago. A third of the state’s revenue came from the salt mines. That money was channeled into building the biggest railroad, the Illinois Central. George Pullman got the idea of a hotel on wheels, the Pullman train cars. That prompted the developing the Chicago neighborhood of Pullman. Many leaders of the civil rights movement, such as Thurgood Marshall, were Pullman Porters. So, yeah, the money to build Chicago and turn it into a railroad hub came from slave labor. Walter Einenkel of Kos reported on what Rep. Joe Neguse, a Colorado Democrat, said on the House floor. He refers to CRAs, Congressional Review Acts, a tool to overturn agency rules, such as California’s Clean Air Act waivers.

It's unclear to me when Republicans are going to stop complaining and actually do something to address the challenges that face our country. They spend more time talking about Joe Biden than they do about reducing costs. Every sentence from that side of the aisle: Biden, a verb, an adjective, and more coal—that's essentially the sum total of every sentence. I know that more of my colleagues are going to come to the floor here to engage in debate on, I don't know—how many CRAs are they putting on the floor today? Three. Four. Five? All we do around here is CRAs. So I encourage them, as they're watching, to please when you come to the floor, maybe spend some time talking about your affirmative vision for the country, and not so much time talking about the prior president

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Just dismiss any evidence that clashes with your prejudices

No movie tonight because my entertainment was this afternoon. I saw a performance of Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo that was a part of their 50th anniversary tour. The “Trocks” are an all male ballet troupe, even the dancers wearing tutus. First, they are quite good in all the things one expects in ballet dancers. These men are able to dance en pointe and do it well. They do all the leaps and spins, as well as the solo, partnered, and ensemble dancing one expects. Second, a part of their performance is parody. There are frequent little things that don’t fit classical ballet – the “dying swan” that enters losing feathers, the glide around the stage the looks more like power walking, the dancer who appears onstage a bit too soon, steps that fit more with modern dance than ballet, and many more. In watching the swan ensemble dance in their white tutus I could tell these men do not shave their chests. The program lists the names of sixteen ballerinas and eleven male dancers. Their bios are similar to this:

Varvara Laptopova is one of those rare dancer who, with one look at a ballet, not only know all the steps but can also dance all the roles. As a former member of the Kiev Toe and Heel club, she was awarded first-prize at the Pan-Siberian Czardash and Kazotski Festival for artistic mis-interpretation.

But the page after the bios lists only fifteen men in the company. The Detroit Opera Orchestra supplied live music and did a fine job supporting the dancers. I had seen the Trocks once before, at least 35 years ago. They have been a part of several TV programs, including with Kermit and Miss Piggy in Muppet Babies. I’m sure they can be found online somewhere. Of course, with a ballet troupe in which men dance the women’s roles and where nearly all of the dancers are gay Between the Lines would have a nice article about them. Lindsay Beyerstein of The Editorial Board discussed that the nasty guy campaigned against reality and won. Every plank in his platform was based on easily provable lies. He created a “conspiracist permission structure” to ignore facts and focus on hate. An Ipsos poll towards the end of the campaign found the more a person believes the conspiracy theories the more likely they were to vote for the nasty guy. The more they understood the truth the more strongly they voted for Harris. Part of that is media that is shy about calling out the nasty guy and is in the game for the bucks, not the truth. Part of it is the conspiracist mindset that says the media is controlled by the deep state.

Once you adopt a conspiracist mindset where you can dismiss any evidence that clashes with your prejudices as part of the conspiracy, you are free to create your own reality. Since it’s a worldview that scapegoats your fellow citizens as diabolical deceivers, that reality is bound to be ugly. Worse still, your willingness to discount mainstream sources of evidence in favor of the outlandish claims of demagogues becomes a badge of ideological purity. You welcome the lies. This is why social scientists have been warning about the link between conspiracism and totalitarianism for a century. There was never any evidence that the Jews secretly controlled the world – but it didn’t matter because lack of evidence was proof that the Jews controlled the press, and the universities, and science and the arts. Jews in pre-war Germany didn’t control any of those things – but no evidence to the contrary could penetrate the conspiracy theory. And the complete absence of evidence for their hegemony was just proof of their total domination.

This mindset also removes the possibility of good-faith debates.

If everything you don’t like becomes evidence of your opponent’s plot to destroy you, you can’t discuss anything rationally.

An example is evidence that vaccines save lives and prevent suffering. A conspiracist would respond, “Well, that’s what conspirators to kill our children would say.” We have to address the conspiracist mindset. There is an adage that’s been around for a while: fool around and find out (though the original has a different first word). It essentially means do something wrong (even through omission) and you will discover the consequences. That adage is now being applied to nasty guy voters, especially the ones who voted for him out of some vague economic malaise that the few policies he’s stated will make worse. Once they suffer the consequences they will turn to Democrats. John Stoehr, also of The Editorial Board doesn’t believe these people will make the link to consequences. Yes, they’ll suffer. But they won’t connect their suffering to their vote.

So let me get this straight. People who can’t or won’t understand tariffs are going to deduce all by themselves that tariffs are the reason they’re now paying three and four times more for their sneakers, T-shirts and video-game consoles? People who voted against their own economic interests are going to figure out on their own what exactly those interests are, but only after they’ve been screwed over by the president they voted for? To paraphrase Mark Twain, it would be easier to continue scamming these people than convince them that they’ve been scammed. And the scamming will continue.

Stoehr lists several reasons why they won’t recognize what they did. + The the far right media apparatus, global in scale, blocked these people from knowing all the good things the Biden-Harris administration did to set the economy on a great path. That same apparatus will make sure the same people don’t know the cause of any economic downturn. + The nasty guy administration will certainly corrupt government data that would normally show what is happening in the economy. + No voter dissatisfaction will prompt the nasty to change from his stated goals. Either he won’t run because he’s term limited (or dead) or there won’t be elections. + See above about not believing in reality. + Even if they recognize the source of their suffering the far right media apparatus won’t let them know the Democrats are offering something better. + The don’t take democracy or their own lives seriously.

I’ll put my faith in good people who seek out good trouble in the name of liberty, equality and justice for all. They’re a minority these days, but that’s OK. The world never changed for the better because a majority wanted it to. It changed because a righteous minority demanded it.

A month ago – before the election – Kos of Daily Kos wrote about how Democrats can unintentionally hurt their cause. Kos criticized something Obama said at a campaign stop for Harris. He talked about the pandemic stimulus checks. Obama criticized the nasty guy for putting his name on the check that went out while he was still in the Oval Office. Those checks weren’t supposed to be about “feeding his ego.” But people remembered the first check came from the nasty guy. They did not connect that the second and third checks came through Biden’s efforts. They credited the nasty guy for caring about them. Biden didn’t get the same credit and people wonder why Biden didn’t care for them. A savvy marketing moment missed.

People have no clue what the government does, how it works, or how it serves them ... even when they’re getting checks from the government.

That same savvy marketing has been playing out with Republican members of Congress who voted against the big infrastructure act yet are taking credit when the dollars flow to their state or district. I’ve written a lot over the last two weeks about what the nasty guy has been doing. Here’s a bit of what the opposition is doing. Two weeks ago Morgan Stephens of Kos wrote that Biden and his team have been preparing for the last few months of his administration, no matter who won. Some of the things they’ve been doing: + Getting all of the already approved funds and weapons to Ukraine. + Getting infrastructure project money out the door. + Getting the money for clean energy projects spent and shifting as much policy as they can from executive orders to government regulations, which are harder to undo. + Help the Senate appoint as many judges as possible. A week ago Stephens reported that “Governors Safeguarding Democracy” is being formed. It already has Gov. JB Pritzker of Illinois, Gov. Jared Polis of Colorado, and Gov. Gavin Newsom of California. The number of additional governors is unclear and may include a few Republicans The group will have think tanks, legal experts, and democracy advocates. They will share tools and resources. They are working out how to protect their residents from deportation and are preparing legal challenges to efforts to undermine democracy. Also last week, Stephens discussed what Democratic governors might be able to do when the nasty guy sets his deportation plans in operation. But what can they reasonably do? Immigration advocates are pushing Democratic governors for executive orders and laws to tell state personnel to not voluntarily help with federal immigration enforcement. But some sheriffs will be glad to work with the feds. Beyond such laws there isn’t much Democratic governors can do. Last week Jon Stewart of The Daily Show noted a big difference between Democrats and Republicans. Democrats respect norms and traditions. Republicans look for loopholes. And with a bureaucracy as complex as our federal government there are always loopholes to the rules. Democrats need to also look for the loopholes. Alas, too many still are still respecting the norms and traditions Republicans rejected long ago.

Why was he so intent on getting to the Capitol?

Another mass shooting. This one in the well-to-do Chicago suburb of Highland Park. Mark Sumner gives the basics for Daily Kos, though one can get details from any news outlet. All I’ll say is shooting people at a Fourth of July parade is another way for the gun crowd to say to the rest of us: No place is safe. The fifth hearing of the January 6th Committee was almost two weeks ago. My discussion of it got left behind as I wrote about other things. So I’m not going to discuss it in detail. It’s old news, though I still want to mention it. Brandi Buchman of Kos liveblogged it, with part 1 here and part 2 here. The big thing from this hearing was the pressure the nasty guy applied to the Department of Justice and now they all threatened to resign of he installed Jeffrey Clark as AG. Sumner reported that the members of the committee have been receiving threats of violence. They’ve added security details for the members. Threats to the members were similar to threats to the various people who thwarted the nasty guy’s plans with the difference they weren’t offered protection. Sumner also discussed the fifth hearing in detail. Buchman’s summary of the day included how much pressure the nasty guy was placing on the DOJ and how many participants asked the nasty guy for a pardon – which means they knew what they were doing was criminal. Buchman also wrote about the important points: The nasty guy tried to corrupt the Department of Justice. And there was a scheme to submit fake slates of electors. Buchman also liveblogged the sixth hearing. The two parts are here and here. This the hearing featuring Cassidy Hutchinson, aide to Chief of Staff Mark Meadows. Her first big bit of testimony was the nasty guy wanting to remove the metal detectors from his morning speech at the Ellipse because he knew attendees would be armed yet they would not be aiming at him. Her second was that the nasty guy tried to grab the steering wheel when the Secret Service refused to take him to the Capitol to lead the assault in person. Here’s Sumner’s summary of the day. And here’s his discussion of the steering-wheel grabbing scene. The obvious reason for not going to the Capitol is because it wasn’t a secure location. That’s the reason the Secret Service gave. The other big reason, understood by the White House staff, was if the nasty guy was seen at the Capitol it would be obvious he ordered the attack. With him back at the White House there was still a small bit of deniability. Charles Fishman tweeted more about about the steering-wheel grabbing incident. Carl Bernstein, who helped unravel Watergate, asked an important question:

Why was Donald Trump so intent on getting to the Capitol? Why did he want to be there with all those armed people?

Fishman gave the reason that the nasty guy knew the vice nasty wasn’t going to interfere with the vote counting so he was going to do it himself. Another bit from the testimony wasn’t good for Meadows. It showed he was indifferent to violence. Of course, after Cassidy Hutchinson testified there were a lot of voices who tried to discredit her. That’s a sign of how potent her testimony was. Joan McCarter of Kos discussed some of these attacks. She also warned DC media that an anonymous source is not the same as testimony under oath, so stop with the both-sides nonsense. She also noted the discrediting attacks are all about little details and nothing about refuting the case being built. So don’t fall for that either. It has also been a while since I’ve written about the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Most of the daily updates on Kos add nothing new, so I have only a few posts to discuss. Kos of Kos reported that with the new long range artillery Ukraine has gotten from NATO Russian supply depots and command centers way behind the front are no longer safe from attack. There are a lot of videos of these types of places going boom. On Saturday, June 25 Kos reported that the inevitable happened – Ukraine pulled out of Severodonetsk. This was one of two cities in the Luhansk region still controlled by Ukraine. There wasn’t a lot of military importance, but a lot that’s symbolic. On Wednesday the 29th Kos reported that Turkey has removed its opposition to Sweden and Finland joining NATO. It looks like Turkey extracted the concessions it wanted. These are things like stopping support of the PKK, the party in Turkey working for Kurdish independence and perhaps being violent about it. Putin had said he started this war because NATO is too close. Well, now NATO will be closer. Also, NATO’s rapid reaction force is being increased ten times and much of the increase will be based in the Baltic countries and other places along eastern Europe. NATO even closer. Snake Island is in the Black Sea a ways off Ukraine’s coast. Russia captured it early in the war. And now Ukraine has reclaimed it. Tyler Rogoway, creator of The War Zone, tweeted:

That the Russian military & its much-touted Black Sea Fleet couldn't secure an island 170 miles from its homeport from a war-torn adversary with fixed-wing combat aircraft numbering in the dozens & no real operable Navy is an absolute stunning failure of massive proportions.

On Saturday, July 2 Sumner reported that Ukraine has been keeping quiet about their advances in the Kherson area, though on that day they started revealing a little bit. Ukraine is doing just fine making advances into Russian held territory. However, the important news is of Lysychansk. This is the city on the bluff above Severodonetsk, a great place to defend and to shoot artillery from. Alas, Ukraine has withdrawn from Lysychansk, and only a week after it left Severodonetsk. Again, there isn’t a whole lot of strategic value, but from Putin’s view a lot of propaganda value. When I taught music theory at the college level and in Detroit most of my students were black. In my third or fourth year there one student asked why I don’t have examples of music by black composers of classical music. My answer was mostly I didn’t know their music well enough to use them in teaching (note to self: about time I learned). Another part was the black composers I did know were from the 20th century and didn’t write the kind of music that matched the topics I was teaching. Since then I’ve heard a lot more about Joseph Bologne, the Chevalier de Saint-Georges, sometimes known as the Black Mozart. His physical prowess was the stuff of legends (fencing was just one of his skills) and his musical skills were right up there too. His star is shining brighter these days and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra has recently played a work or two. But beyond him I (and many others in the classical music world) could not name a black composer active before 1900. Dartagnan of the Kos community introduced me to Vincente Lusitano. He was born about 1520 of a Portuguese father and African mother. In 1551 he traveled to Rome and wrote some mighty fine Renaissance style music. Alas, his ancestry contributed to him not being well known through history. Dartagnan included a 12 minute video of one of his pieces. Quite beautiful.

One culture war over

News that has accumulated…

I should be careful what I wish for. That last snowstorm that set a record for snowfall in Detroit, over which I rejoiced, apparently also froze the buds on my forsythia bushes. One bush that usually has thousands of little bright yellow blossoms now has just three. I don't think it is just late -- forsythia along the highways has bloomed. I may have to be content with looking at the pictures I posted last year.



A third federal district judge in Texas has ruled that state's same-sex marriage ban to be unconstitutional. This case was about a lesbian couple who married out-of-state and now wanted a divorce. Texas had said since there is no recognition of your marriage you can't get divorced. Judge Orlando Garcia ruled that "a state cannot do what the federal government cannot — that is, it cannot discriminate against same-sex couples." All three of those cases are likely on their way to the 5th Circuit.



The same-sex marriage case in Pennsylvania will likely skip the trial and go straight to summary judgment. The state said the trial is not necessary because they will not call any witnesses. Perhaps the mauling those witnesses got in Michigan convinced Pennsylvania that it wasn't worth the effort.



A challenge to the same-sex marriage ban in Georgia has been filed. That means there are only two or three states that don't have marriage equality and also don't have a challenge case.



A year ago Pat Brady, chairman of the GOP in Illinois announced he is for marriage equality and started lobbying state legislators to pass such a bill. A few people of the GOP central committee didn't like that and called for a vote to remove Brady. They didn't have enough votes, only seven of 18. Later Brady resigned, but in such a way to show he wasn't forced out. Last November the legislature passed marriage equality with three GOP votes. The anti-gay crowd vowed revenge for those "betrayals."

Those three GOP legislators faced primary challengers and all three challengers lost. And all seven of the anti-gay central committee members have been replaced. One culture war over.



I feel a bit better about not witnessing the recent milestone with my car. While it was parked in the Orchestra Hall structure yesterday it showed the number 100100, a pretty pattern.

Early in Illinois!

My car is in the repair shop. It might sit there a week before they have time to get to it. In the meantime I'm still getting used to the rental.



Illinois passed a law a few months ago saying same-sex marriages would be legal beginning June 1. I guess various bureaucrats need that much time to get ready. But a same-sex couple in Chicago sued the clerk of Cook County, saying recent court cases in other states showed that denying marriage equality is unconstitutional. A couple weeks ago a district judge ruled that Cook County could issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. That has prompted the Attorney General to say that constitutional protections "must exist without regard to county lines." So marriage equality has come to Illinois three months early.



Kentucky has been ordered to recognize out-of-state same-sex marriages. The state will appeal. But they'll have to do it without the Attorney General. AG Jack Conway has said he refuses to defend KY's ban on recognizing same-sex marriages. He is joining a growing list of other state AGs who have made the same type of announcement.



A new nationwide poll shows 59% of Americans support marriage equality, setting a new polling high. Our current level of acceptance is likely due to the series of rulings in favor of marriage equality.



Polls similar to this new one are why many of our strongest GOP opponents say they agree with the veto of the Arizona law. Their strongly homophobic base is very much at odds with the rest of the country.



As the 10th Circuit Court prepares to hear marriage equality cases for Utah and Oklahoma, more than 20 prominent GOP lawmakers from Western states have filed a friend-of-the-court briefs saying they are in favor of equality. The most well known is Senator Alan Simpson of Wyoming.



Though the sweeping license to discriminate bill in Arizona was vetoed by the governor, a replacement bill is brewing. This one affirms that pastors and church officials can not be sued for refusing to perform same-sex ceremonies. Yeah, fine, that's granted by the constitution. But the bill goes another step extending that right of refusal to judges and justices of the peace who perform civil marriages and clerks who issue marriage licenses.



I had mentioned a potential license-to-discriminate in Mississippi. I had said it was so weakened, after the mess in Arizona, that nobody was much interested in it. Alas, recent reports say there are still ugly parts that remain. What those ugly things are and how eager the legislators are in getting it passed haven't been reported.



GOP Rep. Steven King of Iowa is annoyed that the Arizona license to discriminate law was vetoed. Gays aren't a protected class, he says, and to be a protected class, their gayness must be ”independently verified." Stephen Colbert has a great takedown of the whole thing. At the end Colbert proposes gay couples send photos of their proof of gayness so King might do his independent verification. The video is under five minutes.

Illinois!

The Illinois House approved marriage equality in a 61-54 vote. The bill needed 60. The governor won't sign it immediately because he has to plan an appropriate party. No rush, gay marriages won't begin until June 1.

The Illinois Senate had passed the bill last February. Laurel Ramseyer notes that in those 9 months, legislatures in Rhode Island, Delaware, and Minnesota approved marriage equality, the Supremes reinstated marriage equality in California, and the New Jersey Supremes made equality happen there.

It looks like Illinois just squeaked in front of Hawaii. Their final vote is tomorrow. The "citizen filibuster" went on for 55 hours and 5,182 citizens spoke. Some of the testimony was so nasty that one observer equated Hawaii with Alabama. Even so, the bill is out of the various House committees and ready for the full House. Alas, the bill now has provisions so that religious bigots can refuse to offer services to gay couples without legal consequence (but our allies will take business elsewhere).

The question is do we count marriage equality states in order of approval or of implementation. Hawaii (if approved) will start marrying gay couples on December 2. Illinois couples will have to wait until June 1. Either way the total will be 16 states plus DC.

Let's get those challenges rolling

We're not wasting any time capitalizing on the big gay rulings by the Supremes. The ACLU has filed a challenge in federal court to the Pennsylvania ban on gay marriage. There was no problem getting a slew of plaintiffs for the case. A second report is here.

And they are gearing up for a similar challenge in Virginia.

Even though a vote for marriage equality may come soon in Illinois (perhaps this fall) the ACLU and Lambda Legal have asked the state Supremes to hurry the process along by saying the situation in Illinois is the same as in Calif. -- civil unions are the same as marriage except in name. Whether the court will get around to ruling before the legislature gets around to voting is an open question.



The Campaign for Southern Equality is making a big push in its "We Do" campaign in Mississippi. That's likely the most homophobic state. The group's leader Rev. Jasmine Ferrara said, " the solution to the discrimination we face is not to move."

Next?

Erin McClam of MSNBC gives predictions of which states will be the next ten to get marriage equality.

Illinois, through the legislature this fall.

New Jersey, by overriding Christie's veto or showing the state Supremes that civil unions are not equal because there are no federal benefits. That case heats up this week.

Hawaii, through the legislature. Perhaps by the end of the year.

Oregon, by voter referendum in 2014.

Arizona, Michigan, Colorado, Ohio, by voter referendum in 2014 or 2016.

Nevada, by voter referendum in 2016 (it can't come any earlier).

New Mexico, could be through the legislature or courts, and maybe next year.



Andrew Sullivan notes the Catholic Church has no trouble existing in a society that permits divorce (though divorce within its membership is another matter). So the Catholic Church should have no trouble existing in a society that permits gay marriage, even if they don't approve of it for their own members.



David Boies, one of the wonderful lawyers on our side the Calif. gay marriage case, talks about the implications. He notes the pro-gay side did have standing before the Supremes, the anti-gay side did not. That implies that all gay marriage bans are unconstitutional. Is it a state's rights issue? Nope. The Supremes didn't allow Calif. to decide for itself. "The 14th Amendment was passed for the specific reason of saying states have rights but one of those rights is not to discriminate against its own citizens."

Another gay bishop

The ELCA Lutheran Church (the progressive ones) have elected a gay bishop to a six year term serving in the Los Angeles area. That's pretty cool, considering the denomination permitted gay pastors only 4 years ago.



Fingers are pointing in all directions about the failure of marriage equality in Illinois. I won't go into details. I wonder what is going on behind the scenes because the Democrats have 71 seats in the state House and the couldn't get the needed 60 votes.

Yeah, I know Illinois politics is strange, so I have no idea what to make of the latest development. The Illinois House Speaker extended the deadline for approval of the bill to August 31. Which means if the governor calls the chamber back into session for unfinished business (like pension reform) over the summer marriage equality could be taken up too. Maybe we won't have to wait for the regular session in November.

A step forward, a step back

Every two years I've been attending a Convocation put on by Reconciling Ministries Network, an organization that is working to make the United Methodist Church more gay-friendly. The next Convo is Labor Day weekend this year to be held in Maryland outside Washington, DC. This is the first time Convo will be held in a state that has marriage equality (though it didn't when the site was chosen). Event organizers will take advantage of that. They will offer wedding ceremonies, complete with presiding pastors, for attending couples who, according to their home pastor, are ready for marriage. This includes having taken a marriage preparation course (which UMC pastors may do, they just can't perform the ceremony). Organizers say this is not a part of the regular program, so the entire assembly may not witness their happy moment (but wouldn't you want 700 people cheering wildly that your wedding is even possible?).



Back in 1999 oil company Exxon bought out Mobil and became ExxonMobil. As part of the deal the domestic partner benefits that Mobil employees enjoyed were canceled. That gave the new company a negative score on the Human Rights Campaign Corporate Equality Index (most other oil companies have scores around 85 out of 100). As has happened every year since then proposals for gay equality have been presented at the annual shareholder meeting and rejected. This year the vote was 81% against us, our worst showing yet. Whoever owns ExxonMobil stock really doesn't like us and wants their corporation to remain stuck in the middle of the last century.



At the start of the week I wrote about the presentation that Jim Harrington gave about just war and peace as justice. I remembered one more detail that is important. As a part of describing peace as justice I wrote:

People have a fundamental right to life, food, shelter, health care, education, and employment.

Harrington says the wars being fought today are about those issues, not about religion. Deal with those issues and the need for war subsides.



This is the end of the legislative session in Illinois and -- alas -- the marriage equality bill did not come up for a vote in the House. It had already passed the Senate. The bill's sponsor said he would only call for a vote if he had the 60 needed to pass, and he doesn't. Not yet. A few members said they will be holding conversations in their districts and expect to be able to vote yes when the legislature reconvenes in November. Maybe you can enjoy Chicago at Christmas.

Delaware!

Just a few days ago the National Organization for Marriage didn't seem to be all that concerned that Rhode Island passed marriage equality. Even so they were raising money to hold the line at the next state. I commented that NOM had better act fast because Delaware was set to vote.

And so they did. They're the 11th state to approve marriage equality. Now please compare the state flag in this image (then scroll down to the photo of the signing ceremony) with this one.

And Minnesota is hard on Delaware's heels. The House passed the bill 75-59 (it was expected to be the tough chamber). The Senate will take it up perhaps on Monday.

NOM did fight hard in Minnesota last fall, failing to get a gay marriage ban into the state constitution. One can hope with this state voting for equality NOM will no longer be viable.

And Illinois is waiting in the wings.

I had reported that Pat Brady, chair of the GOP in Illinois, supported marriage equality and other GOP leaders tried to oust him and failed. Well, a second attempt succeeded.

That new pope thing

A new pope, I suppose, is worth a mention, if only because a lot of our troubles are rooted in his pronouncements. On the good side, he appears to genuinely care for the poor, to the point he did without a lot of trappings of his position as cardinal. On the bad side, his pronouncements about us are no different than his predecessors and he actively worked against gay marriage in Argentina.

According to Nate Silver, Pope Francis, at 76, probably won't last more than five years. We can hope the next pope…



Pat Brady, chairman of the GOP in Illinois, came out strongly in favor of gay marriage. That annoyed the social conservatives who set to work ousting him. But they couldn't get enough of their colleagues to vote with them.



The Colorado House has approved Civil Unions. The state Senate had already given their approval. The bill is off to the governor's desk, and he has said he'll sign it.

Culture wars over?

Yeah, another busy week with class and preparation for it. Some tidbits that accumulated during that time.

Rich Miller of the Chicago Sun-Times says that the GOP in Illinois want the marriage equality battle to be over quickly. And the only way to do that is to allow the Dems to pass it. They know a delay will hurt them. So, fine. Get it out of the way. On to the next battle.


Alas, that argument didn't work so well in Wyoming. The bill for marriage equality died in committee. The domestic partner bill got to the House, where it lost 24-34. A non-discrimination bill got to the Senate floor, where it lost 13-15. Supporters are actually encouraged by the closeness of the vote.



Zofie Mandelski, a teen (kids are so impatient now) in Colorado, has filed a ballot proposal to amend the Colorado constitution to permit marriage equality. Gay marriage was banned through an amendment in 2006. The results this time are likely to be different.



David Kochel, former Romney advisor, admits, "The culture wars are over. And the Republicans, largely, lost."

I relish the thought, though my friend and debate partner would caution doing the happy dance too soon.



A New York Times editorial says that if Obama is serious about the marriage equality thing he said in the Inaugural he can prove it by submitting a brief in the gay marriage cases before the Supremes this spring.

For the administration to be missing in action in this showdown risks conveying a message to the justices that it lacks confidence in the constitutional claims for ending gay people’s exclusion from marriage or that it believes Americans are not ready for a high court ruling making marriage equality the law of the land — impressions strikingly contradicted by legal precedent, the lessons of history and by the president’s own very powerful words.

Rev. Irene Monroe is a black lesbian and does an occasional column for Pam's House Blend. She says that many in the black community are miffed with Obama's equating gays with their own civil rights battles. Part of it is the continuing homophobia in black churches. Part of it is the sentiment, Hey dude, you're the black president — why have the living conditions for gays improved more in the last four years than those of blacks?



The NPR show On Point did an episode on Gay in America yesterday. The host, Tom Ashbrook, discussed the current situation with two gay men and a lesbian. Callers posed questions and provided insights. The consensus is we've come a long way, but we're not done yet. There's still discrimination out there. I'm glad they did it, though I can't say it is worth 45 minutes of your time.



Even Stephen Colbert agrees we've come a long way. In the first of two videos Colbert takes a look at the Defense of Marriage Act now before the Supremes. The House Republicans have authorized $2M to defend the law (your tax dollars at work) and Colbert pokes big holes in their defense of DOMA. In the second video, Colbert comments on a study that showed straight men are a lot more stressed out than gay men. Enjoy the fun.

The GOP support we need

I wrote a while back about the head of the GOP in Illinois throwing his support behind marriage equality. As expected, there are howls for him to resign. His reply is that his opponents are free to vote to remove him, but he isn't backing down. That's the kind of support we need.

Marriage Equality did not pass in Illinois in the legislature's lame-duck session. However, it has already been introduced in the new session.

Defiant nuns and a GOP leader

The legislature in Illinois is scrambling through all kinds of hurdles to vote on marriage equality before the new legislature is sworn in next Wednesday. At this point it is too iffy to tell whether they'll make it. Among the various people actively lobbying for (and alas, against) it is one everyone is delighted to see helping out -- Pat Brady, head of the Republican Party in the state (though he says when he calls GOP legislators he is just a citizen.) “I think it’s time for people to support this,” Brady said.

My lesbian sister saw a sweet video of a gay couple getting married and wondered why she couldn't marry her partner here in Michigan. A while later she wrote back with a link to an article in the Chicago Phoenix (a news outlet I'm unfamiliar with) about a coalition of nuns who support marriage equality in Illinois in defiance of their bishop. That coalition has members across the country, so my sister hopes they'll use some of that influence here in Michigan.



Timothy Kincaid of Box Turtle Bulletin has noticed that the Southern Baptist Convention has been mighty quiet in the marriage equality battle over the last year. Don't believe for a moment they have changed their theology, or be so quiet if someone tried to repeal the gay marriage ban in, say, Alabama. However, for now they seem to be content to let the Catholic Bishops and the National Organization for Marriage to speak for them. And not appear quite so blatantly anti-gay.



The Guardian has created a chart showing which states have which gay rights. The listed rights are schools (anti-bullying), hate crimes, housing, employment, adoption, hospital visits, and marriage. The brighter the color the more comprehensive the right. The Northeast is in bright colors, as is bits of the Northwest and Southwest and a touch of color in the Midwest. Other than adoption (for single gay people), the Southeast is mostly gray.



The site Upworthy has a timeline showing women, black, and gay rights through the centuries. Back before 1250 homosexual activity was legal across Europe. By 1300 such activity resulted in torture and perhaps death. The last such execution in Britain was in 1836. It is getting better.

Illinois!

I forgot to note an important bit of news last Monday. Governor Pat Quinn of Illinois signed a civil union bill! No, it isn't marriage or even equal to marriage. But it is a hard fought step forward. Congratulations Illinois! There are now five states, plus DC, that permit gays to marry and ten states that offer civil unions. Coming up soon are Maryland and Rhode Island. The law takes effect on June 1.

Illinois!

Illinois has approved Domestic Partnerships! Both state house and senate passed it with comfortable margins. The governor will sign it soon. It's not marriage, but it is a step in the right direction.


Jon Stewart has the latest on the Senate hearings on Don't Ask, Don't Tell. He even flattens McCain, the biggest obstacle. For those that don't recognize the two fighting knights, it is from Monty Python's spoof on King Arthur. And it was very effectively used.


Most maps don't show population density, so it isn't obvious how packed China is and how sparse much of Russia is. So here's another way to look at the population of each country. Reassign the country with the most land to the citizens of the country with the most people. Do the same with the second largest area and second most populous country, and the same on down the list. The Chinese take over Russia, the Indians take over Canada. USA (3rd), Brazil (5th), Yemen, and Ireland stay put. It makes for some interesting neighbors. Look here for more explanation and here for a map with enough detail to actually read (once loaded it can be enlarged).



Rafi Ron used to work as the Director of Security at the Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv (and was on duty there when 9/11 happened). He says the TSA's reliance on technology won't work. The terrorists are already a step ahead. Instead of focusing on the gadgetry, screeners should be studying the people -- human nature hasn't changed and a watchful and well informed screener can uncover explosives that machines can't. We spend too much time annoying harmless passengers and not enough time on actual threats. However, this makes me think the real goal (at least in the USA) is to annoy harmless passengers to get us used to excessive government intrusion and think it is normal and appropriate.