Dear Mr Butker

The Yankee Farm Wife would like a word

Here We Go

I guess I can hope that by making the public aware that there's a chance for violence, the feds may be putting it out there to tell the bad guys "We know what you're up to, so don't."

And I can hope the cops aren't overlooking the domestic shitburgers who might be planning a surprise or two.

FBI, Homeland Security warn of possible threats to LGBTQ events, including Pride Month activities

WASHINGTON (AP) — Foreign terrorist organizations or their supporters might target LGBTQ-related events and venues as part of June’s Pride Month, federal agencies warned in a recent public announcement.

The FBI and the Department of Homeland Security issued the announcement May 10 to raise awareness of “foreign terrorist organizations (FTOS) or their supporters potential targeting of LGBTQIA+-related events and venues.”

“Foreign terrorist organizations or supporters may seek to exploit increased gatherings associated with the upcoming June 2024 Pride Month,” the agencies wrote.

The announcement did not specify any locations or indicate the agencies were tracking any specific threats. According to the release, foreign terrorist groups and supporters have in the past promoted anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and targeted related events.

The release noted that June 12 marks the eighth anniversary of the attack on the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, Florida. That was the deadliest attack on the LGBTQ community in U.S. history, leaving 49 people dead and 53 people wounded as “Latin Night” was being celebrated at the club. Gunman Omar Mateen was killed by SWAT team members after a three-hour standoff. He had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State.

In June of last year, three alleged sympathizers of the Islamic State group were arrested in Vienna for attempting to attack a Pride event there, the release noted.

The release also noted possible signs to watch out for that might indicate a potential problem, such as violent threats made online or in the mail. Potential attackers might also try to take photos of security-related equipment or access points at events; attempt to get into restricted areas or impersonate law enforcement personnel; or chat up staff at various venues to get information like what types of events they have upcoming and what the crowd sizes might be.

Pride Month, held in June, is a particularly important time in the LGBTQ+ rights movement. After starting June 28, 1970, as New York City’s first Pride march, it has evolved into a nationwide event in which cities and towns across America hold marches both to call attention to specific issues such as same-sex marriage and to celebrate.

Progress

I wonder if this'll show up in some MAGAdick's timeline as 'too woke'.

All-terrain wheelchairs arrive at U.S. parks: ‘This is life-changing’

Georgia and South Dakota are the latest states to provide off-road wheelchairs on public trails

Cory Lee has visited 40 countries on seven continents, and yet the Georgia native has never explored Cloudland Canyon State Park, about 20 minutes from his home. His wheelchair was tough enough for the trip to Antarctica but not for the rugged terrain in his backyard.

Lee’s circumstances changed Friday, when Georgia’s Department of Natural Resources and the Aimee Copeland Foundation unveiled a fleet of all-terrain power wheelchairs for rent at 11 state parks and outdoorsy destinations, including Cloudland Canyon. The Action Trackchair models are equipped with tank-like tracks capable of traversing rocks, roots, streams and sand; clearing fallen trees; plowing through tall grass; and tackling uphill climbs.

“I’ll finally be able to go on these trails for the first time in my life,” said the 32-year-old travel blogger, who shares his adventures on Curb Free With Cory Lee. “The trails are off-limits in my regular wheelchair.”

Georgia is one of the latest states to provide the Land Rover of wheelchairs to outdoor enthusiasts with mobility issues.

In 2017, Colorado Parks and Wildlife launched its Staunton State Park Track-Chair Program, which provides free adaptive equipment, though guests must pay the $10 entrance fee. Michigan’s Department of Natural Resources has placed off-road track chairs in nearly a dozen parks, including Muskegon State Park. In 2018, Lee reserved a chair at the park that boasts three miles of shoreline on Lake Michigan and Muskegon Lake. “It allowed me to have so much independence on the sand,” he said.

In 2019, Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore in Michigan became the first national park to offer a track chair, said superintendent Scott Tucker. This year, Friends of Sleeping Bear Dunes, the nonprofit that oversees the program, added a third.

“We want to create an unforgettable outdoor experience for everyone, not just for people who can walk.”
— Jamie McBride, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources

South Dakota is also expanding its squadron: On Tuesday, the South Dakota Parks and Wildlife Foundation unveils its second all-terrain chair. South Dakota resident Michael M. Samp is leading a fundraising campaign to purchase up to 30 chairs. Last year, Samp’s father packed up his fishing pole and piloted a track chair to Center Lake in Custer State Park. He reeled in trout, just as he had before he was diagnosed with spinal cerebral ataxia.

“The plan is to have the chairs spread throughout the state and available for various outdoor activities including, but not limited to, park and trail enjoyment, hunting and fishing,” said Kristina Coby, the foundation’s director.

This month, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources will wrap up its months-long pilot program that tested out the chairs in five parks. On Nov. 16, the agency will evaluate the success of the amenity. Early indications are positive.

“We want to create an unforgettable outdoor experience for everyone, not just for people who can walk,” said Jamie McBride, a state parks and recreation area program consultant with the Parks and Trails division of the Minnesota DNR. “People have told us this is life-changing.”

The Georgia initiative was spearheaded by Aimee Copeland Mercier, who suffered a zip-lining accident in 2012 and lost both hands, her right foot and her left leg to a flesh-eating bacterial infection. Copeland Mercier, a psychotherapist and licensed clinical social worker, tested several types of all-terrain chairs before committing to the Action Trackchair, which several other state programs also use.

The Minnesota-based company was founded by Tim and Donna Swenson, whose son, Jeff, was paralyzed in a car accident. The original design resembled a Frankenstein of sporting goods parts, with snow bike tracks and a busted boat seat. Today’s model could be an opening act at a monster truck rally.

“I was floored by what it could do,” said Copeland Mercier, whose foundation raised $200,000 to purchase the chairs at $12,500 each. “Oh my gosh! I can go over a whole tree trunk, up a steep incline and through snow, swamps and wetlands. If I took my regular wheelchair, I’d get stuck in five minutes.”

Each program has its own reservations system and requirements. For Georgia’s service, visitors must provide proof of their disability and a photo ID, plus complete an online training course available through All Terrain Georgia. Once certified, the organization will forward the rental request to the park. Copeland Mercier urges visitors to plan ahead: The certification course takes about an hour, the foundation needs 72-hour advance notice and the park requires a 48-hour head’s up.

“These are 500-pound chairs,” she said. “There are some risks involved.”

The Minnesota DNR, which owns and maintains its five chairs, advises visitors to call the park to reserve a chair.

“We have a few screening questions,” McBride said, “but we leave the eligibility up to the user.”

Since launching the program in June, McBride said, the chairs are booked three to four days a week, with heavier interest on weekends. “We haven’t turned too many people away at this point,” he said.

Track chairs can conquer a range of obstacles, but they do not work in all environments.

“You need the width. If two trees are too close together, the wheelchair can’t pass between them,” Copeland Mercier said. “And some inclines are too steep. The chair also can’t go down staircases.”

To steer visitors in the right direction, parks have created maps highlighting the trails designated for the track chairs, such as Staunton State Park’s trio of routes that range from roughly three to four miles. Visitors center staff members are also ready with recommendations. (To transfer from chair to chair, visitors will need a companion to assist.)

McBride said one goal is to erect markers that would provide detailed information about the hike, such the extent of accessibility. “We want to let people know if they can get all the way to the waterfall or halfway,” he said, using a hypothetical example.

Copeland Mercier also has a wish list. She hopes to expand the network of chairs to other parts of Georgia, such as the coastal, southern and central regions. Once the foundation acquires several vans (another aspiration), the staff could move the 30 to 40 chairs (ditto) around the state to fill fluctuating demand. She is also eyeing other states.

“North Carolina is next,” said Copeland Mercier, who divides her time between Atlanta and Asheville, N.C. But the grand plan is even bigger. “The goal is to alter the U.S.A.,” she said.

Embarrassed

This bible-thumpin' god-knobber is my US Representative.

Stop hiding your own marital angst behind some imaginary threat manufactured by your imaginary friend. If you think a coupla gay people getting married poses a threat to your marriage, then the trouble lies with you, not them.

Respect For Marriage

In America - pretty soon - 2 consenting adult humans, who wanna get married, can get married.

Doesn't matter if you're black or white or red or blue, or Cis-Straight or Bi, or Queer to the point where you're sliding up and down the spectrum on your bare ass.

Ya wanna get married, get married.

Senate Vote
Yeas =  61
Nays = 36
No Vote =  3

They even shit-canned a couple of amendments aimed at carving out "religious objections".

How a bipartisan group of senators got same-sex marriage protections passed

A group of Democrats and Republicans, led by Sen. Tammy Baldwin, spent months working to get 12 Republicans onboard with the legislation

In July, Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) spotted some of her Republican colleagues on the Senate floor and rushed over to tell them the good news. Forty-seven House Republicans had just voted in favor of protecting same-sex marriage rights for gay couples, following the Supreme Court’s decision reversing Roe v Wade that raised fears the court could overturn same-sex marriage next.

“We could do this,” she recalled saying excitedly to Sens. Susan Collins (Maine), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), Rob Portman (Ohio) and Thom Tillis (N.C.), who Baldwin, the first openly gay senator, had worked with before in other discussions on protecting LGBTQ rights. Portman, who was the first in his caucus to endorse same-sex marriage back in 2013 and whose son is gay, said he initially felt less optimistic, aware of just how many of his colleagues had “strongly held views” on the issue.

- more -

I don't harbor much in the way of warm-n-fuzzy expectations that a bunch of dog-ass politicians are doing something for reasons other than furthering their own ambitions, so we'll just have to watch for signs of whatever had to be bargained away in order to get Republicans to vote in favor of something that tries to make things better for most instead of their normal shit of making some things worse for a select group of "others" - in the name of all things holy and patriotic of course.

"We'll see", said the Zen Master.

Yeas
Roy Blunt Mo.
Richard Burr N.C.
Shelley Moore Capito W.Va.
Susan Collins Maine
Joni Ernst Iowa
Cynthia Lummis Wyo.
Lisa Murkowski Alaska
Rob Portman Ohio
Mitt Romney Utah
Dan Sullivan Alaska
Thom Tillis N.C.
Todd C. Young Ind.
Tammy Baldwin Wis.
Michael F. Bennet Colo.
Richard Blumenthal Conn.
Cory Booker N.J.
Sherrod Brown Ohio
Maria Cantwell Wash.
Benjamin L. Cardin Md.
Thomas R. Carper Del.
Robert P. Casey Jr. Pa.
Christopher A. Coons Del.
Catherine Cortez Masto Nev.
Tammy Duckworth Ill.
Richard J. Durbin Ill.
Dianne Feinstein Calif.
Kirsten Gillibrand N.Y.
Margaret Wood Hassan N.H.
Martin Heinrich N.M.
John Hickenlooper Colo.
Mazie Hirono Hawaii
Tim Kaine Va.
Mark Kelly Ariz.
Amy Klobuchar Minn.
Patrick J. Leahy Vt.
Ben Ray Luján N.M.
Joe Manchin III W.Va.
Edward J. Markey Mass.
Robert Menendez N.J.
Jeff Merkley Ore.
Chris Murphy Conn.
Patty Murray Wash.
Jon Ossoff Ga.
Alex Padilla Calif.
Gary Peters Mich.
Jack Reed R.I.
Jacky Rosen Nev.
Brian Schatz Hawaii
Charles E. Schumer N.Y.
Jeanne Shaheen N.H.
Kyrsten Sinema Ariz.
Tina Smith Minn.
Debbie Stabenow Mich.
Jon Tester Mont.
Chris Van Hollen Md.
Mark R. Warner Va.
Elizabeth Warren Mass.
Sheldon Whitehouse R.I.
Ron Wyden Ore.
Angus King Maine
Bernie Sanders Vt.

Nays
John Barrasso Wyo.
Marsha Blackburn Tenn.
John Boozman Ark.
Mike Braun Ind.
Bill Cassidy La.
John Cornyn Tex.
Tom Cotton Ark.
Kevin Cramer N.D.
Mike Crapo Idaho
Ted Cruz Tex.
Steve Daines Mont.
Deb Fischer Neb.
Lindsey Graham S.C.
Charles E. Grassley Iowa
Bill Hagerty Tenn.
Josh Hawley Mo.
John Hoeven N.D.
Cindy Hyde-Smith Miss.
James M. Inhofe Okla.
Ron Johnson Wis.
John Neely Kennedy La.
James Lankford Okla.
Mike Lee Utah
Roger Marshall Kan.
Mitch McConnell Ky.
Jerry Moran Kan.
Rand Paul Ky.
James E. Risch Idaho
Mike Rounds S.D.
Marco Rubio Fla.
Tim Scott S.C.
Rick Scott Fla.
Richard C. Shelby Ala.
John Thune S.D.
Tommy Tuberville Ala.
Roger Wicker Miss.

No vote:
Ben Sasse Neb.
Patrick J. Toomey Pa.
Raphael G. Warnock Ga.

Today's Faint Glimmer

It costs me nothing to be an ally - or at least a decent person who wants everybody to enjoy the same rights and freedoms I enjoy.

It's really hard to get my brain around the concept of somebody with rights and privileges who then goes out of his way to deny others the same.

 By Jennifer Bendery

'We Have The Votes': The Senate Will Act This Week To Codify Same-Sex Marriage

With the midterm elections over, Democrats have found enough Republicans ready to join them in advancing basic LGBTQ rights.

The Senate is expected to vote this week on legislation to codify same-sex marriage and, more importantly, the bill has enough GOP support to pass, HuffPost has learned.

“We have the votes,” a source close to negotiations confirmed Monday.

A bipartisan group of senators has been trying for months to pass a marriage equality bill to protect same-sex and interracial relationships. The House passed its own legislation in July, but that proposal stalled in the Senate, where some Republicans raised concerns that it would stifle religious liberty.

Things got more complicated when, around the same time, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) announced a surprise deal on a massive tax and climate change bill. Republicans were so mad that Democrats were ready to pass that deal without them that some signaled they would pull their support for a forthcoming same-sex marriage bill.

But with the midterm elections over and Democrats in position to hold the Senate for another two years, it looks like some Republicans are coming back to the table.

Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), the lead Democrat on the forthcoming bill, tweeted Monday that the Senate is “going to get this done.”

The Respect for Marriage Act will protect marriage equality and ensure individuals in same-sex and interracial marriages are guaranteed the same rights & freedoms as every other marriage.

We are going to get this done for loving families across America.

— Sen. Tammy Baldwin (@SenatorBaldwin) November 14, 2022

Baldwin also released an overview of what the Senate proposal will do.

Same-sex marriage has been legal nationwide since 2015, when the Supreme Court ruled that same-sex couples are guaranteed the fundamental right to marry under the Constitution. But after the now-conservative court struck down Roe v. Wade in June ― tossing out nearly 50 years of precedent on reproductive rights ― Democrats and some Republicans are anxious about the court’s plans for weakening other civil rights.

In terms of timing on the marriage equality bill, the Senate is expected to vote on it “later this week,” per the source familiar with negotiations.

And because the Senate plans to take the House bill and simply amend it, versus senators introducing an entirely new bill, the House only has to vote to accept the changes to their bill versus starting the process over again.

All 50 Democratic senators have said they’d support legislation to codify same-sex marriage. That means the Senate bill needs at least 10 Republicans to support it, too, in order to overcome a filibuster. So who are they?

So far, the only GOP senators saying anything about this week’s forthcoming bill are the three who are in the bipartisan group that helped get a deal on the bill in the first place: Sens. Susan Collins (Maine), Rob Portman (Ohio) and Thom Tillis (N.C.). The Democrats they’ve been working with are Baldwin and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (Ariz.).

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), for one, wouldn’t say either way how he’d vote.

✅ That's against my religion, so I can't do it.

❌ That's against my religion, so you can't do it.

Those Plucky Persians

For almost 2 months, Iranian women have been standing up and telling the government in Tehran to take their Morailty Police and shove it.

Yes, Morality Police really is what they named it.

Listen up, America - our own future is calling.

Students defy protest ultimatum despite crackdown across Iran

Summary

• Protests show no sign of easing amid fierce state warnings
• University students clash with security forces
• Journalists demand release of their jailed colleagues
• Rights groups report arrests of activists, students

DUBAI, Oct 30 (Reuters) - Iranian students defied warnings from the feared Revolutionary Guards that nationwide protests must end by Sunday and were met with tear gas, beatings and gunfire from riot police and militia, videos on social media showed.

The confrontations at dozens of universities, along with threats of a tougher crackdown, indicated that the demonstrations, now in their seventh week, were entering a more violent phase.

Iranians from all walks of life have been protesting since the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in the custody of the morality police after she was arrested for attire deemed inappropriate.

What began as outrage over Amini's death on Sept. 16 has evolved into one of the toughest challenges to clerical rulers since the 1979 revolution, with some protesters calling for the death of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The top commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards warned protesters that Saturday would be their last day of taking to the streets, the harshest warning yet by Iranian authorities.

Nevertheless, videos on social media, unverifiable by Reuters, showed confrontations between students and riot police and Basij forces on Sunday at universities all over Iran.

One video showed a member of Basij forces firing a gun at close range at students protesting at a branch of Azad University in Tehran. Gunshots were also heard in a video shared by rights group HENGAW from protests at the University of Kurdistan in Sanandaj. Videos from universities in some other cities also showed Basij forces opening fire at students.

Across the country, security forces tried to block students inside university buildings, firing tear gas and beating protesters with sticks. The students, who appeared to be unarmed, pushed back, with some chanting "dishonoured Basij get lost" and "Death to Khamenei".

HISTORY OF CRACKDOWNS

• The activist HRANA news agency said 283 protesters had been killed in the unrest as of Saturday including 44 minors. Some 34 members of the security forces were also killed.
• More than 14,000 people have been arrested, including 253 students, in protests in 132 cities and towns, and 122 universities, it said.
• The Guards and its affiliated Basij force have crushed dissent in the past. They said on Sunday, "seditionists" were insulting them at universities and in the streets, and warned they may use more force if the anti-government unrest continued.
• "So far, Basijis have shown restraint and they have been patient," the head of the Revolutionary Guards in the Khorasan Junubi province, Brigadier General Mohammadreza Mahdavi, was quoted as saying by the state news agency IRNA.
• "But it will get out of our control if the situation continues."

JOURNALISTS APPEAL

More than 300 Iranian journalists demanded the release of two colleagues jailed for their coverage of Amini in a statement published by the Iranian Etemad and other newspapers on Sunday.

Niloofar Hamedi took a photo of Amini's parents hugging each other in a Tehran hospital where their daughter was lying in a coma.

The image, which Hamedi posted on Twitter, was the first signal to the world that all was not well with Amini, who had been detained three days earlier by Iran's morality police for what they deemed inappropriate dress.

Elaheh Mohammadi covered Amini's funeral in her Kurdish hometown Saqez, where the protests began. A joint statement released by Iran’s intelligence ministry and the intelligence organisation of the Revolutionary Guards on Friday had accused Hamedi and Mohammadi of being CIA foreign agents.

The arrests match an official narrative that Iran's arch-enemy the United States, Israel and other Western powers and their local agents are behind the unrest and are determined to destabilise the country.

At least 40 journalists have been detained in the past six weeks, according to rights groups, and the number is growing.

Students and women have played a prominent role in the unrest, burning their veils as crowds call for the fall of the Islamic Republic, which came to power in 1979.

An official said on Sunday the establishment had no plan to retreat from compulsory veiling but should be "wise" about enforcement.

"Removing the veil is against our law and this headquarters will not retreat from its position," Ali Khanmohammadi, the spokesman of Iran’s headquarters for "Promoting Virtue and Preventing Vice" told the Khabaronline website.

"However, our actions should be wise to avoid giving enemies a pretext to use it against us."

The apparent hint at compromise is unlikely to appease the protesters, most of whose demands have moved beyond dress code changes to calls for an end to clerical rule.

In a further apparent bid to defuse the situation, Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf said people were right to call for change and their demands would be met if they distanced themselves from the "criminals" taking to the streets.

"We consider the protests to be not only correct and the cause of progress, but we also believe that these social movements will change policies and decisions, provided that they are separated from violent people, criminals and separatists," he said, using terms officials typically use for the protesters.

Nobody Has Rights

 ... until everybody has rights.

Equal rights. Not more. Not almost. Not maybe some day if you're really good - have a little patience - you're moving too fast and that scares people.

The Constitution of The United States was ratified more than 230 years ago, and we have yet to make sure everybody enjoys the same rights and protections under the law.

Democrats are fighting for us - to secure those rights - while Republicans are always fighting against us - trying to take those rights away.

The Professional Left

Jan6 Update

"The Great Replacement" is today's terminology for White Fright - the fear that brown people will treat us as badly as we've treated them, so we can't afford to allow "those people" to gain an equal footing.

Keeping us in conflict with one another is a straight-up divide-n-conquer strategy on the part of a "conservative ruling class" that wants to tear down our traditions of democratic self-government in order to replace it with plutocracy.

When I reach back and help others achieve or approach equity with me, we all gain some power, which strengthens my own position.

Let's stop being stoopid about this rights thing.

More for me doesn't mean less for you -

it's not a fuckin' pizza, mushbrain.

Professor Robert Pape:

Today's Today

120 years ago today - Black Friday Demonstration for women's right to vote.

Flipping The Script

Grand Master Jay turned out his NFAC guys in Louisville yesterday.

Reuters:

A group of heavily armed Black protesters marched through Louisville, Kentucky on Saturday demanding justice for Breonna Taylor, a Black woman killed in March by police officers who burst into her apartment.

Scores of the demonstrators, carrying semi-automatic rifles and shotguns and clad in black paramilitary gear, walked in formation to a fenced off intersection where they were separated by police from a smaller group of armed counter-protesters.

The Black militia dubbed NFAC want justice for Taylor, a 26-year-old emergency medical technician who died in a hail of gunfire when drug investigators bearing a “no-knock” warrant entered her Louisville home four months ago.

To be clear, I can do without the macho bullshit with the Emotional Support Weapons.

But, 2 things:

First, ain't it funny how the cops don't wanna fuck with you when you're packin'?

I don't like that line of thinking, because it seems to lend a little credence to the 2A fetishists' arguments about needing guns to stand against the tyrannical gubmint. I don't believe that's a valid conclusion here, but it's worth thinking about.

Second, there is definitely a weird kind of Good Karma vibe about this. And a call back to the Black Panthers demonstration in California 50 years ago - which funnily enough prompted then-Gov Ronald Reagan to help hustle through a piece of legislation that put some limits on open carry at the time.

And that's always been pretty interesting - that white people can get pretty reasonable all of a sudden when black people stand up and push back, giving us a little taste of our our shit.

But back to the but - even if your main intent is simply a show of force, some jagoff yahoo is going to obsess on "An unused weapon is a useless weapon", and there will be blood.

If you believe in the power of prayer, now is another really good time to pray.

Today's Today

They really weren't asking for much. They just wanted a pig-headed and corrupt government to leave them alone so they could love each other and be a family like any other family.

Loving v Virginia (1967)

...a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court which struck down all state laws banning interracial marriage as violations of the Equal Protection and Due Process Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.[2] The case was brought by Mildred Loving (née Jeter), a woman of color, and Richard Loving, a white man, who had been sentenced to a year in prison in Virginia for marrying each other. Their marriage violated Virginia's Racial Integrity Act of 1924, which criminalized marriage between people classified as "white" and people classified as "colored".

The Lovings appealed their conviction to the Supreme Court of Virginia, which upheld it. They then appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which agreed to hear their case. On June 12, 1967, the Court issued a unanimous decision in their favor and overturned their convictions. The Court struck down Virginia's anti-miscegenation law, thereby overruling the 1883 case Pace v. Alabama and ending all race-based legal restrictions on marriage in the United States. Virginia had argued that its law was not a violation of the Equal Protection Clause because the punishment was the same regardless of the offender's race, and thus it "equally burdened" both whites and non-whites.[3] The Court found that the law nonetheless violated the Equal Protection Clause because it was based solely on "distinctions drawn according to race" and outlawed conduct—namely, getting married—that was otherwise generally accepted and which citizens were free to do.[3] Additionally, the Court ruled that the freedom to marry was a constitutionally protected fundamental liberty, and therefore the government's deprivation of it on an arbitrary basis such as race was violation of the Due Process Clause.

The decision was followed by an increase in interracial marriages in the U.S. and is remembered annually on Loving Day. It has been the subject of several songs and three movies, including the 2016 film Loving. Beginning in 2013, it was cited as precedent in U.S. federal court decisions holding restrictions on same-sex marriage in the United States unconstitutional, including in the 2015 Supreme Court decision Obergefell v. Hodges.[4]

Today's Today

Happy birthday to an American hero.

Jeannette Rankin, born this day in 1880.

Jeannette Pickering Rankin (June 11, 1880 – May 18, 1973) was an American politician and women's rights advocate, and the first woman to hold federal office in the United States. She was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from Montana in 1916, and again in 1940. She remains the only woman elected to Congress by Montana.

Each of Rankin's Congressional terms coincided with initiation of U.S. military intervention in each of the two world wars. A lifelong pacifist and a supporter of non-interventionism, she was one of 50 House members, along with six Senators, who opposed the war declaration of 1917, and the only member of Congress to vote against declaring war on Japan after the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941.

- and -

On December 8, Rankin was the only member of either house of Congress to vote against the declaration of war on Japan. Hisses could be heard in the gallery as she cast the vote; several colleagues, including Rep. (later Senator) Everett Dirksen, asked her to change it to make the resolution unanimous—or at very least, to abstain—but she refused. "As a woman I can't go to war," she said, "and I refuse to send anyone else."

After the vote, a crowd of reporters pursued Rankin. She took refuge in a phone booth until Capitol Police arrived to escort her to her office. There, she was inundated with angry telegrams and phone calls, including one from her brother, who said, "Montana is 100 percent against you." Rankin refused to apologize. "Everyone knew that I was opposed to the war, and they elected me," she said. "I voted as the mothers would have had me vote." A wire service photo of Rankin sequestered in the phone booth, calling for assistance, appeared the following day in newspapers across the country.

While her action was widely ridiculed in the press, William Allen White, writing in the Kansas Emporia Gazette, acknowledged her courage in taking it:

Probably a hundred men in Congress would have liked to do what she did. Not one of them had the courage to do it. The Gazette entirely disagrees with the wisdom of her position. But Lord, it was a brave thing! And its bravery someway discounted its folly. When, in a hundred years from now, courage, sheer courage based upon moral indignation is celebrated in this country, the name of Jeannette Rankin, who stood firm in folly for her faith, will be written in monumental bronze, not for what she did, but for the way she did it.

Two days later, a similar war declaration against Germany and Italy came to a vote; Rankin abstained. Her political career effectively over; she did not run for reelection in 1942. Asked years later if she had ever regretted her action, Rankin replied, "Never. If you're against war, you're against war regardless of what happens. It's a wrong method of trying to settle a dispute."

- and -

A member of the Republican Party during the Progressive Era, Rankin was also instrumental in initiating the legislation that eventually became the 19th Constitutional Amendment, granting unrestricted voting rights to women. In her victory speech, she recognized the power she held as the only woman able to vote in Congress, saying "I am deeply conscious of the responsibility resting upon me". She championed the causes of women's rights and civil rights throughout a career that spanned more than six decades.

Today's Beau

The Fifth Column - Justin King

Numbers, Chapter 5:

11 Then the Lord said to Moses, 12 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘If a man’s wife goes astray and is unfaithful to him 13 so that another man has sexual relations with her, and this is hidden from her husband and her impurity is undetected (since there is no witness against her and she has not been caught in the act), 14 and if feelings of jealousy come over her husband and he suspects his wife and she is impure—or if he is jealous and suspects her even though she is not impure— 15 then he is to take his wife to the priest. He must also take an offering of a tenth of an ephah[c] of barley flour on her behalf. He must not pour olive oil on it or put incense on it, because it is a grain offering for jealousy, a reminder-offeringto draw attention to wrongdoing.

16 “‘The priest shall bring her and have her stand before the Lord. 17 Then he shall take some holy water in a clay jar and put some dust from the tabernacle floor into the water. 18 After the priest has had the woman stand before the Lord, he shall loosen her hair and place in her hands the reminder-offering, the grain offering for jealousy, while he himself holds the bitter water that brings a curse. 19 Then the priest shall put the woman under oath and say to her, “If no other man has had sexual relations with you and you have not gone astray and become impure while married to your husband, may this bitter water that brings a curse not harm you.20 But if you have gone astray while married to your husband and you have made yourself impure by having sexual relations with a man other than your husband”—21 here the priest is to put the woman under this curse—“may the Lord cause you to become a curse[d] among your people when he makes your womb miscarry and your abdomen swell. 22 May this water that brings a curse enter your body so that your abdomen swells or your womb miscarries.”

“‘Then the woman is to say, “Amen. So be it.”

It's The Autonomy, Stupid

Mayor Pete

Yes - you have to articulate the values that inform your policy.

But you can't ignore the absolute need to demonstrate how those values - through the implementation of the policies - work to improve people's lives. 

Not to solve their problems for them, but to remove obstacles that the Republicans (mostly) have been putting in everybody's way for more than a generation.

Pete Buttigieg:

Beau Of The Fifth Column

Hillbilly wisdom - yes it's a real thing.

The aggressor backed off, not because he felt threatened, but because he respected Beau's "proprietorship" more than he respected her as a person.

More NFL Stoopid

Elizabeth Bruenig, WaPo

On one level, it does seem just as cold and calculated as the old days, when the NFL was swapping salutes for cash. If you have to threaten someone into showing respect, whatever they end up showing isn’t respect but a simulation of it for someone else’s consumption. The fact that the rule has already been made public just means that everyone is aware that this is the portion of the game when the NFL forces its players to stand still while they play a song, or else. The meaning of it all washes out; the fines make it entirely situational: It’s a workplace compliance issue, a matter of the NFL making its performers sell its customers what they want to buy. The content is meaningless.

From Mike’s 10 Commandments:

2. Be true to the ideal, not just to the symbol.

- and -

If not money, then what? There is the evident racial component, bolstered by the bizarre involvement of the president, which has everything to do with disciplining black people in public, a long-running American obsession. But I suspect there’s something more, something wider and stranger, at the root of all this fury over a few athletes quietly kneeling during their country’s anthem. For one, there’s the straightforward fact that kneeling isn’t a sign of disrespect, and nobody brought up in a country with the faintest hint of Christian culture actually thinks it is. As Luke Bretherton, a professor of theological ethics at Duke University, wrote last year in The Post: “New Testament stories describe people who kneel before Jesus in supplication or lament. With their kneeling, these biblical figures say: Something is desperately wrong, please hear us and use your power to help us. Their act of submission signals their faith that healing will come and their prayers will be answered.”

- and a tweet:

The NFL just banned players from kneeling during the national anthem.

Take a look at the image below.

Three of these men are mass murderers & three of them didn’t kill anybody.

Can you spot the difference in their mugshots?

This is why we kneel. #BlackLivesMatter pic.twitter.com/9pOdawG8Bd

— Millennial Politics (@MillenPolitics) May 23, 2018

Today's Tweet

And some history:

Barbara Rose Johns Powell (March 6, 1935 – September 25, 1991) was a young, American civil rights leader-pioneer and the niece of one of the "fathers of the Civil Rights Movement," Vernon Johns.[1] On April 23, 1951, at the age of 16, Powell led a student strike for equal education at R.R. Moton High School in Farmville, Prince Edward County, Virginia. After securing NAACP legal support, the Moton students filed Davis v. Prince Edward County, the largest and only student initiated case consolidated into Brown v. Board of Education, the landmark 1954 U.S. Supreme Court decision declaring "separate but equal" public schools unconstitutional.

“IT SEEMED LIKE REACHING FOR THE MOON.” -Barbara Johns pic.twitter.com/TMYudewnYN

— John Schu (@MrSchuReads) March 8, 2018

 

Today's Today

Wanna make your economy hum? Take the shackles off of 50% of your talent pool, dummy.

Want your political system to work better? (see answer above)

Wanna fix what's wrong with the culture? (see answer above)

Get 'em, ladies. We need you.

The Guardian has a rundown on International Women's Day:

Kosovo

Turkey

Ukraine