Stephen King rips NRA, Pepé Le Pew, Wayne LaPierre

In a 99-cent Kindle "Single" ebook, Guns, horror novelist Stephen King argues for a ban on assault rifle sales to civilians by telling the NRA to do what he did with an incendiary book:

I didn’t pull Rage from publication because the law demanded it; I was protected under the First Amendment and the law couldn’t demand it. I pulled it because in my judgement it might be hurting people, and that made it the responsible thing to do. Assault weapons will remain readily available to crazy people until the powerful pro-gun forces in this country decide to do a similar turnaround. They must accept responsibility, recognizing that responsilibity is not the same as culpability. They need to say, “we support these measures not because the law demands we support them, but because it’s the sensible thing."

Earlier in the tract, King let the NRA prez and board have it:

...One only wishes Wayne LaPierre and his NRA board of directors could be drafted to some of these [violent] scenes, where they would be required to put on booties and rubber gloves and help clean up the blood, the brains, and the chunks of intestine still containing the poor wads of half-digested food that were some innocent bystander’s last meal.

Santa Maria, Brazil: 245 dead, 48 in hospital after fire started by pyrotechnics at Kiss, college town nightclub

"There are 245 dead and 48 in the hospital," Major Cleberson Bastianello, a military police commander in the southern Brazilian city of Santa Maria, told the AFP news agency.
Most appeared to be dead of smoke inhalation, said Col. Adilomar Silva, the regional coordinator of civil defense, although a security guard told CNN affiliate Band News that many people were trampled.
     The acoustic insulation caught fire during a pyrotechnics show -- virtually the same thing that happened in Rhode Island nightclub fire in which more than 90 people died in 2003 during a heavy metal performance by Great White.
      Between 2,000 and 3,000 people routinely fill Kiss on weekends.

LGBT legislative news short takes: Poland, Wyoming, Virginia and Maryland

Poland’s lower house of parliament has voted to reject three separate draft laws which would have given legal rights to unmarried couples, effectively preventing same-sex couples from receiving any such rights.

Russia's Duma passed a first reading by 390-1 (with one abstention and 52 not voting) of a draconian law attacking LGBT free speech. A second reading incorporating possible amendments, including one to determine the term "homosexualism," will take place after May 25.

Wyoming lawmakers will consider two bills on Monday, one granting same-sex marriage and the other providing domestic partnership benefits. A nondiscrimination bill also is under consideration.
     Testimony on the marriage equality and domestic partnership bills will be heard Monday by the House Corporations Committee, followed on Wednesday by a hearing in Judiciary for the nondiscrimination bill.
     Equality Wyoming will rally Monday in support of all three bills at 9 AM on the front steps of the Capitol Building in Cheyenne.

In Virginia, SB701, to protect LGBT state employees from workplace discrimination, has passed 24-16 in the Senate.

The Maryland Rhode Island House passed marriage equality 51-19 on Thursday but rougher sledding is expected in the state's senate.

West Virginia: social gay climbers

(Via Towleroad)

Eight Arizona GOP chuckleheads introduce wildly unconstitutional bill to make students swear to defend constitution against domestic enemies like themselves

From left: Sonny Borrelli (602-926-5051), Chester Crandell (602-926-5409), Jeff Dial (602-926-5550), David Livingston (602-926-4178), Carl Seel (602-926-3018), TJ Shope (602-926-3012), Steve Smith (602-926-5685) and "Constitutional Author" Bob Thorpe (602-926-5219).

You'd think that Arizona Republicans would be embarrassed that the Ridgenosed Rattlesnake/Bolo Tie state has the highest high school dropout rate in the USA and would want to do something meaningful about it.

     Instead, they've sponsored HB 2467, which would prevent otherwise qualified Arizona high school students from graduating unless they swear to God (no exceptions for atheists or agnostics) that they have "freely" undertaken an obligation to defend the constitution against foreign and domestic enemies.
     One of the sponsors, Thorpe, describes himself as a "Constitutional Author" but is evidently too stupid to have discovered that the Constitution itself provides an opt-out ("affirm") for atheists and agnostics who refuse to swear to god. It's in the presidential oath of office, which constitutional scholar Thorpe obviously has not bothered to read or else is too dumb to understand. From Wikipedia:

The oath of office of the President of the United States is an oath or affirmation required by the United States Constitution before the President begins the execution of the office. The wording is specified in Article Two, Section One, Clause Eight:

Before he enter on the Execution of his Office, he shall take the following Oath or Affirmation:— “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

Here's the bill, which, if passed, will surely cost Arizona taxpayers a lot of money by the time the ACLU successfully sues to have it nullified:

Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Arizona:

Section 1.  Title 15, chapter 7, article 1, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended by adding section 15-701.03, to read:

15-701.03.  Graduation requirement; constitutional oath

Beginning in the 2013‑2014 school year, In addition to fulfilling the course of study and assessment requirements prescribed in this chapter, before a pupil is allowed to graduate from a public high school in this state, the principal or head teacher of the school shall verify in writing that the pupil has recited the following oath:

I, _________, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge these duties; So help me God.

(Sources: JMG/Homer)

US Figure Skaters borrow a GoPro from WOWT, make their own video; this weekend's NBC Figure Skating schedule

This weekend, NBC will broadcast seven live hours of the U.S. Figure Skating Championships from Omaha's Century Link Center:

Saturday, Jan. 26
LIVE pairs free skate and free dance
2-5 p.m. (CST)
Saturday, Jan. 26
Ladies short program
7-8 p.m. (CST)
Saturday, Jan. 26
LIVE Ladies free skate
8-10 p.m. (CST)
Sunday, Jan. 27
LIVE Men’s free skate
2-4 p.m. (CST)

Video: Ford Motor Company rips Jeremy Irons for trashing Downton Abbey — and one of its cars

Ford mocked Jeremy Irons' roles in Eragon and Dungeons
and Dragons: "I don't remember Shakespeare writing any
sonnets about dragon eggs or a role-playing game for
nerds..." In the notes to the above video, Ford opined that
Irons "doth protest too much."

Continuing the BBC's series of nasty skirmishes with WGBH/Masterpiece/Carnival/ITV over the worldwide smash, Downton Abbey, Jeremy Irons trashed DA by likening his new BBC series, Shakespeare Uncovered to an examination of a luxurious Aston Martin vs. Downton Abbey's Ford Fiesta.
     An obviously jealous BBC has ripped DA in elaborate parodies not once, but twice.
Irons' ham-fisted remarks at the Television Critics Association tour put PBS, which has two dogs in Irons' fight, in a very awkward position.
     Here's what Jack Myers saw:

[Irons:] ...actually, television doesn't end with 'Downton Abbey.' If you think that's good, then watch these Shakespeare productions, and you'll see what real writing, what real stories, what real characters are about, and …"
     "But we do love 'Downton Abbey,' too," chimed in WNET Vice President of Programming Stephen Segaller, who was on stage with Irons.
     "We do love 'Downton Abbey,'" Irons agreed, smiling.
     "Just a footnote," Segaller added. "We love it a lot. Quite a lot."
     Irons couldn't stop. "It's sort of like -- I mean, I don't know your cars well enough -- but it's like a Ford Fiesta will get you there and give you a good time … but, actually, you know … an Aston Martin, that's what you've got with Shakespeare."

WNET Vice President of Programming Stephen Segaller (left):
"If I shot myself now, would it create enough of a diversion?
Because I'm willing to do it."

     A few minutes later, in responding to a question about mastering Shakespeare, Irons teased, "It's practice, practice, practice, I think, with Shakespeare. You can't sort of mutter it in a 'Downton Abbey' way." At this point, certain heads among the PBS executive ranks were starting to spin.
     As the session progressed, a curious reporter asked Irons to clarify his thoughts about "Downton Abbey." The room was hushed.
     "If I shot myself now, would it create enough of a diversion?" Segaller interjected, "because I'm willing to do it."
     "I'm a terrible television snob," Irons laughed. "I don't watch very much television. I've never seen 'Downton Abbey.'" As the critics exploded in laughter, he added, "So I don't know what I'm talking about, basically, when it comes to that. I'm sure it's splendid."

The Car Connection weighed in:

He could've stopped right there and walked away with a few bags of hate mail from Dame Maggie Smith fans... But no, Irons was on a roll, and apparently, the press was eating it up. So, like many hams/actors, he kept at it, adding, "A Ford Fiesta will get you there and give you a good time. But actually, an Aston Martin…"
     We don't know how Irons intended to end that sentence ("...will set you back hundreds of thousands of dollars more"? "...comes with eggroll"? "...will cook you breakfast in the morning"?).
     What Irons seemed to be saying, though, was that Downton Abbey is middlebrow entertainment for the hoi polloi, while Shakespeare Uncovered is high art for the thinking man and woman. It's the sort of predictable, condescending rhetoric that's been used for centuries to celebrate Shakespeare and turn off mass audiences...
     Eager to capitalize on the public put-down, Ford responded with a painfully unfunny video in defense of the Fiesta. As Fiesta fans ourselves, we thought we'd play a bit dirtier...

Regarding Shakespeare Uncovered, premiering tonight on PBS, Trudy Ring wrote, in The Advocate:

Scholars have noted that there’s ample gender-bending in Shakespeare’s work and pointed out that the playwright, a man of sophistication, was certainly aware of same-sex love. Some think he had gay relationships, and most recognize that there are gay characters in his plays. The series will touch on the latter, said producer Richard Denton, in dealing with Twelfth Night, in which one character, Antonio, is obviously in love with another man, Sebastian, and some other characters form relationships while disguising their true gender. Denton, who joined Irons at the TCA event, said he’d like to do another set of Shakespeare Uncovered episodes, in hopes of featuring The Merchant of Venice, which strongly suggests a sexual relationship between two men, Bassanio and (another) Antonio.

Esteemed gay critic Daniel Mendelsohn, who, at 15, became Mary Renault's 'young American' pen pal, has a video chat with the New Yorker

Band of Thebes has much more about this.

At the stair-foot Hephaistion was waiting. He happened to be there, as he happened to have a ball handy if Alexander wanted a game, or water if he was thirsty; not by calculation, but in a constant awareness by which no smallest trifle was missed. Now, when he came down the stairs with a shut mouth and blue lines under his eyes, Hephaistion received some mute signal he understood, and fell into step beside him.

— Mary Renault, Fire from Heaven                    

Outsports: Ronaiah Tuiasosopo confirmed ESPN phone records showing he talked to Manti Te'o for 500 hours; Couric: Are you gay? Te'o: Far from it.

After the following introduction, Cyd Zeigler of OutSports reached exactly the conclusion you might have, had you framed it as carefully as Zeigler did...

The Manti Te’o hoax story just got, well, gayer. Ronaiah Tuiasosopo, the man clearly involved with the “Lennay Kekua” hoax, now claims it was he whom Te’o spoke with on the phone for over 500 hours (that’s the equivalent of 21 days). Te’o has maintained that he thought it was Kekua, a woman, on the other end of the line.

From ESPN, which obtained the phone records of Te’o:

The records show that in that four-month span — when Te’o has said he believed Kekua to be in a Los Angeles hospital recovering from an accident and being treated for cancer — Te’o made and received more than 1,000 calls totaling more than 500 hours in length from the same number in the 661 area code. The 661 area code covers Lancaster, Calif., which is part of Los Angeles County. The source told Schaap that Te’o believed the 661 phone number in question was Kekua’s.
Of these calls, 110 were more than 60 minutes in length, including several that were several hundred minutes long. In an ESPN interview Friday, and in interviews with both ESPN and Sports Illustrated last fall, Te’o said he was on the phone “every single night” with a person he believed to be Kekua, often for long stretches late at night.

Expensive low carb dog food may not be worth it

Photo: never going home, Flickr

Rosie Mestel of the Los Angeles Times examined an article published Wednesday by the journal Nature, in which geneticists claim to have identified one of the key reasons some wolves morphed into domesticated tail-thumpers well-suited to become human companions — the ability to digest carbohydrates with ease.

     The report, published online Wednesday by the journal Nature, found signs that dogs can break down starch into sugar, and then transport those sugars from the gut into the bloodstream, more efficiently than can wolves. Comparing dog and wolf DNA, the authors pinpointed several changes in starch and sugar-processing genes that would have made early dogs better able to digest the scraps they scavenged from dumps in early farming villages, helping them to thrive as they gave up the independent life of the pack to entwine their lives with ours.
     Oscar Chavez, director of the veterinary technician program at Cal Poly Pomona, said the findings served as a reminder that dogs don't eat like wolves. He said he and his colleagues were befuddled by the trend toward pricey low-carb dog foods and raw diets, which could stress dogs' kidneys with their extra protein load.
     "Dogs are dogs — they're more reliant on starches and grains," he said, which is why commercial dog foods are formulated to contain about 20% to 30% protein and 40% to 50% carbs. "I don't know any veterinarian in my circle of colleagues that would recommend a low-grain diet."

Privacy: Google says officials asked it for user data 8,500 times in last half of 2012; 68% of requests (covering 15,000 users) lacked a search warrant

Politico reports that almost 70% percent of U.S. law enforcement requests for access to email and other data from Google in the past six months occurred without a warrant, according to the company's blog. (Note: "Government requests for user data from the United States include those issued by U.S. authorities for U.S. investigations as well as requests made on behalf of other governments pursuant to mutual legal assistance treaties and other diplomatic mechanisms.")
     Evidently the company doesn't roll over for every request; Google said it complied partially or fully 88% of the time.

Robotic tape library at Google Iowa data center. Photo by Connie Zhou.

...The Electronic Communications Privacy Act, a 1986 law that privacy advocates have eyed for years for reform, ...requires no warrants for access to data more than 180 days old. The issue is quickly emerging as a congressional legislative privacy priority in 2013, as chairmen of both Hill Judiciary Committees have pledged to take a close look at overhauling the law to prevent government access to old emails without a warrant.

LB152, an eminent domain bill to protect landowners, introduced in Nebraska Unicameral

Gotschall

From Ben Gotschall's post at Bold Nebraska:

On January 11, 2013, District 34 Senator Annette Dubas introduced LB152, which deals with eminent domain in our state.  The simple 2-page bill, though never specifically mentioning pipelines, could have huge implications when it comes to the Keystone XL pipeline and TransCanada.  The hearing for LB 152 will be held on Wednesday, January 30th, at 1:30 PM in Room 113 at the State Capitol.

Nebraska State Sen. Annette Dubas (foreground) and others follow
testimony at a State Department public hearing on the proposed
Keystone XL pipeline, in Atkinson, Neb., on 9/29/2011.
(Photo: Nati Harnik / AP)

The common-sense bill would require:

1. Complete and accurate information regarding the purpose of the condemnation to be given to landowners.  This would prevent TransCanada from telling landowners their tarsands oil pipeline would be carrying conventional crude, a misleading statement that has been challenged in a Texas court.
2. All permits to be in place, including a present plan and public purpose.  This would prevent TransCanada from repeating their past bad actions when they threatened Nebraska landowners with eminent domain condemnation, telling landowners to sign an easement or TransCanada would take their land for nothing, before they had a Presidential permit to build their pipeline.
3. Entitlement to injuctive relief, attorney's fees, and damages for landowners abused by violation of #2 above.  This gives the law "teeth" and enacts punishment on bad actors, which is a needed element when dealing with companies like TransCanada, who has a history of using their power and money to strong-arm landowners. 

Unlike last year's LB1161 proposed by TransCanada-loving Sen. Jim Smith (and which is being challenged in court by a citizen lawsuit), LB152 would not allow TransCanada to have immediate eminent domain powers upon approval of a pipeline route through Nebraska...

Read more at Bold Nebraska, including contact info for Judiciary Committee senators.

Sued in twins' death, Catholic Health Initiatives told court not to consider fetuses people; CHI members: Bergan Mercy, Immanuel, Creighton, Alegent and St. Elizabeth

John Tomasic of the Colorado Independent reports that pregnant Lori Stodghill died less than an hour after arriving at the emergency room of St. Thomas More Hospital in Canon City, CO. Stodghill’s obstetrician, Dr. Pelham Staples, also the obstetrician on call for emergencies that night, never answered a page. Stodghill's twins died in her womb.
     A defendent in her wrongful death suit, Catholic Health Initiatives, argued that the court

“should not overturn the long-standing rule in Colorado that the term ‘person,’ as is used in the Wrongful Death Act, encompasses only individuals born alive. Colorado state courts define ‘person’ under the Act to include only those born alive. Therefore Plaintiffs cannot maintain wrongful death claims based on two unborn fetuses.”

(Via JoeMyGod)

Frank Rich on Obama's Seneca-Selma-Stonewall linkage

He told Rachel Maddow that he thinks the remark was aimed squarely at Justice Roberts in advance of upcoming Supreme Court Decisions on Prop 8/DOMA.

GOP strategy: win state houses, leverage that to gerrymander US house districts to keep control as fewer people vote Republican

ProPublica has a lot of evidence of GOP (and some Democratic) gerrymandering. Here's a GOP memo bragging about the party's redistricting shennanigans and below is Tuesday's examination of the scourge by Rachel Maddow.
     Interestingly, the GOP is trying to convert more states from winner-take-all electoral voting to the Nebraska/Maine system which breaks off House district electors as reps of whomever won that district. This backfired on the Nebraska GOP in 2008 when Obama peeled off Omaha from a state which hadn't given a Democratic presidential candidate a single vote since 1966. The Nebraska GOP has made noises about going back to Plan A.




 

Russian Orthodox Church members pound some sense into protesters of Putin-propelled anti-LGBT law

Self-identified members of Russia's hardline Christian orthodox church claimed credit for the beatings. It's a dirty job, but somebody has to consecrate thuggery.

Modern Family, assisted by a comma, cleverly slides a 'God Damn It' past ABC standards and practices

We've heard of the Oxford comma, but this must be the Trojan Horse comma, as seen in last night's Fulgencio episode.

Facebook screws up again: blocks founder of popular Marriage Equality page after homophobes complained

Murray Lipp, the founder of the Gay Marriage USA Facebook page, which has 300,000 fans, was barred from posting content to his page he for a week following a notice from Facebook that he violated the company's "policies and community standards" after an apparent campaign by homophobic subscribers to his page.

Lipp claimed that he has been reprimanded by Facebook numerous times over the past year following complaints that he perceived to have originated from homophobic subscribers to his page. He told the Guardian: "Not once has Facebook ever contacted me to give me an opportunity to respond – it simply blocks me each time and each time the block is for a longer period of time. It's totally unjust that I should be punished for someone else's homophobia."

     Only after one of the largest and most influential newspapers in Britain, The Guardian, contacted Facebook about the situation, did it relent and reinstate the Gay Marriage USA page.
     Earlier this month, Facebook had to apologize for deleting of content containing the word "faggot," posted by PinkNews' report on a homophobic outburst made by the singer Azealia Banks.
     After that, several PinkNews staff members were temporarily blocked from Facebook.

(Via Queerty)

International House of Prayer prominent among US evangelical groups fomenting terrorism against Uganda's LGBT citizens

Roger Ross Williams is a filmmaker based in New York. His film “Music by Prudence” won the 2010 Academy Award for documentary short subject. Gospel of Intolerance is part of a 3-part series made by independent filmmakers supported partly by the nonprofit Sundance Institute. Here is part of his introduction to his contribution to the New York Times Op-Doc series, which addresses the phenomenon of US evangelicals fueling anti-LGBT violence in Africa:

But as you’ll see in this Op-Doc video, some of their efforts and money feed a dangerous ideology that seeks to demonize L.G.B.T. people and intensifies religious rhetoric until it results in violence. It is important for American congregations to hold their churches accountable for what their money does in Africa.

(Via JMG)

Gaydar gets the New Normal treatment and Ellen Barkin gets the John Stamos treatment

Disgraced, recalled Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez surfaces after almost two years, in skimpy black briefs

The Miami Herald reports that the ripoff ex cop ripped Alvarez won first prize in the National Physique Committee’s South Florida “Over 60s” Master’s bodybuilding competition at Miami’s James L. Knight Center and that the promoter, Sergio Pacheco, noted that Alvarez’s victory over five other men makes him eligible for the more prestigious Junior National Master’s competition.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/01/22/3195163/recalled-mayor-carlos-alvarez.html#storylink=cpy

The former mayor and county police director was recalled from office in March 2011 by 88 percent of the electorate, after constituents had a hard time wrestling with a series of raises he awarded his inner circle and with his backing of the new, $634 million Miami Marlins ballpark in Little Havana.
     ...When the former mayor left office, he was earning salary and benefits worth $325,309, county records show. His last financial disclosure put his net worth at $1.74 million.
     Alvarez’s annual police pension pays him $180,216, and he received a one-time payout of $287,879 for entering an early retirement plan.

London police arrest two 'Muslim Patrol' antigay vigilantes

Pink News says "a 22-year-old man was arrested in the Acton area of west London on Sunday and a 19-year-old man was arrested after going to an east London police station on Monday."

The pair were arrested on suspicion of causing grievous bodily harm and public order offences and have been bailed to return to an east London police station in February and March pending further inquiries.

This indoor cloud is real, not photoshopped

Photo: Cassander Eeftinck Schattenkerk

According to photography magazine, Vignette, Dutch artist Berndnaut Smilde's clouds are real (in the sense that manufactured diamonds are real), made with a smoke machine and controlled moisture.

Pat Buchanan dismissed Stonewall as a 'barroom brawl in Greenwich Village in 1969'

Buchanan's cluelessness begins at the 1:05 mark. Jon Stewart promptly mocked him by adding "I'm Pat Buchannan, reporting from the wrong side of history."

Diane O'Meara, face of Manti Te'o's phony girlfriend, tells NBC theft of her identity was 'bizarre' and 'twisted'

National Public Radio helpfully explains Obama's 'Stonewall' reference to its audience

If you read with some bemusement NPR's explanation to its internet audience yesterday of the Stonewall Tavern incident, referred to in President Obama's 2013 inaugural address, you were probably sobered by the realization (after some quick arithmetic) that no one under 44 was even alive on the 28th of June, 1969, when hundreds of gay New Yorkers finally got sick of being pawns in monetary disputes between mafia owners of gay bars and those cops being extravagantly tipped to withold their customary harassment of said establishments and patrons.
     Seven years earlier(!), San Franciscans had already taken steps which avoided the spectacle of parking meters being heaved through plate glass windows at their city's finest by organizing the Tavern Guild to provide a united front against police harassment and wholesale mafia incursions into liquor-by-the-drink retailing.
     A fund was established by participating gay bars to pay for legal representation for any customers arrested on trumped-up charges, provided they were willing to plead not guilty. San Francisco cops soon got the message that the days were over for them of easy arrests, copped pleas and a lack of  unflattering testimony by witnesses about their dubious behavior. Game over.

Martin Duberman, born in 1930, in
a screencap from the documentary
Before Stonewall (1984).

     NPR interviewed gay historian Martin Duberman, now 82:

It wasn't the first time gay men had pushed back, said Duberman, who earned his doctorate at Harvard, taught at Princeton and Yale, and as a distinguished professor at the City University of New York founded the Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies.
     Gay men in San Francisco had already been protesting their treatment at the hands of police. But, for whatever reason, he said, "Stonewall somehow became the symbol for all of this."

What Obama should do to translate his inaugural words about gay equality into greater action

Greg Sargent is the (straight) author of The Plum Line blog.

     ...The legal team representing the plaintiffs in the Prop 8 case are lobbying Obama’s Justice Department to file a brief arguing that Prop 8 is unconstitutional, sources say, and the Justice Department is mulling the request. Obama has taken a position against Prop 8 on the policy merits, but his administration has not declared whether it believes the law is constitutional or not...
     White House press secretary Jay Carney said today that Obama still believes gay marriage should be an issue for the states. But Obama can believe this while simultaneously claiming he believes Prop 8 crossed a line into unconstitutionality. That would not be an argument for a federal gay marriage statute, but rather only a declaration that this particular state law is unconstitutional.
     The argument that the Justice Department should weigh in on Prop 8 is not to say Obama’s words yesterday were unimportant. They were historic, and his record on gay rights has been sterling. It’s only to say that Obama’s own words — that we should not rest until gay couples are treated equally “under the law” — are an eloquent reminder that he should take this next step, and declare whether Prop 8 violates the Constitutional right to equal protection “under the law.”
      After all, Obama’s speech yesterday described gay rights as an extension of the battle for civil rights for African Americans — an area where the federal courts did step in and override states-based efforts to deprive blacks of their rights, including in the area of interracial marriage...

Video: Omaha Archdiocese thumbed its nose at laws prohibiting poll politicking

Other fascinating activities of Omaha's busy archdiocese

Filmed at St. Francis of Assisi Church, 4513 S 32nd St., by Omaha videographer shoot-to-fill during the general election last November 6th: electioneering at the polling place. In fact, if you look close, you may even spot what we think is bilingual electioneering!
     Wonder what the calculus of this decision sounded like, provided there was any clerical soul-searching over it in the first place (which may assume way too much.)

     Hmm. Shall we beat our breasts about how "religious liberty" is infringed when Catholic polling places are made to follow the rules covering lesser secular institutions or shall we pragmatically undermine the law and illicitly influence voters by simply ignoring it?

     Practicality vs. Godly Principal, and the former seems to have prevailed. Imagine that.
     Here's the law, in case you're interested. Obviously, the unindicted criminals at Omaha's Roman Catholic Archdiocese aren't.

Above: from the website touted
by Omaha Archdiocese at polls

No person shall do any electioneering, circulate petitions, or perform any action that involves solicitation within any polling place or any building designated for voters to cast ballots by the election commissioner or county clerk pursuant to the Election Act while the polling place or building is set up for voters to cast ballots or within two hundred feet of any such polling place or building. Any person violating this section shall be guilty of a Class V misdemeanor. (Neb. Rev. Stat. § 32-1524(2))

Milky Way alone may have 100 billion planets; here's a catalog of a few which may be inhabited

Post-DADT, military chaplains still marginalizing gay couples

Now that the abandonment of DADT has given way to new rules governing the treatment of gay soldiers, right-wing politicians and the antigay-for-pay industry have attempted to exclude military chaplains from accountability to those rules by advancing the fiction that new policies significantly threaten religious freedom in the military.
     A OneIowa tweet reminded us and its other followers of the reality check to all of that of Rachel Swarns New York Times examination of a few of myriad ways that military policies and rules still exclude gay couples from the support other couples receive:

     Nakisha Hardy spent the first nine months of her marriage on a remote Army base in Afghanistan...The strains of that separation lingered even after First Lt. Hardy returned to Fort Bragg in September. So she signed up for a military retreat to help soldiers and their husbands and wives cope with the pressures of deployments and relocations.

     But less than 24 hours after arriving at the retreat, she and her spouse were told to leave. The military chaplains who organized the program last month said that the couple was making others uncomfortable. They said they had determined that under federal law the program could serve only heterosexual married couples.

     ...Lieutenant Hardy had been assured by the chaplain’s office in the weeks before the retreat that she and her wife were welcome to attend. The chaplains said in hindsight that those assurances were given in error.

     “I felt hurt, humiliated,” said Lieutenant Hardy, 28. “These were people I had been deployed with. And they were telling me I can go to fight the war on terrorism with them, but I can’t attend a seminar with them to keep my marriage healthy.”