Left Side of the Aisle #235

Left Side of the Aisle
for the weeks of January 21 - February 3, 2016

This week:

Notes on progress on LGBTQ rights
http://www.aol.com/article/2016/01/08/lawmaker-proposes-removing-husband-and-wife-from-utah-law/21294045/
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/roy-moore-alabama-chief-justice-orders-state-judges-to-disregard-same-sex-marriage-law-a6799726.html
http://www.towleroad.com/2016/01/protesters-decry-alabama-chief-justice-roy-moores-gay-marriage-ban-video/
http://www.aol.com/article/2016/01/07/alabama-court-stops-then-resumes-issuing-same-sex-marriage-lic/21293486/
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/gay-marriage-internment-sterilization
http://www.ibtimes.com/greek-parliament-passes-bill-recognizing-same-sex-unions-2237451
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/dec/14/greek-parliament-moves-towards-legalising-same-sex-unions
http://www.towleroad.com/2015/12/greek-orthodox-bishop-urges-faithful-spit-gay-freaks-nature-civil-union-debate/
http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/1/5/1466279/-One-of-Greece-s-respected-religious-leaders-says-homosexuals-are-created-by-God-and-deserve-respect?detail=email
http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/962038.shtml
http://www.care2.com/causes/gay-marriage-lawsuit-in-china-signals-possible-change-on-horizon.html

RIP: Alan Rickman
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Rickman
http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2016/01/14/by-grabthars-hammer-alan-rickman-will-be-missed/#7fb0fb6c23b3

RIP: Glenn Frey
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/glenn-frey-eagles-guitarist-dead-at-67-20160118
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/la-et-ms-glenn-frey-appreciation-20160119-story.html?track=lat-pick

Clown Award: SC Gov. Nikki Haley
http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/1/13/1469333/-Virginia-Republican-wants-to-protect-children-by-mandating-their-genitals-are-inspected-in-school?detail=email
https://www.richmondsunlight.com/bill/2016/hb663/fulltext/
http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/265775-haley-hits-rubio-on-amnesty-bush-on-common-core
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/nikki-haley-gop-response-backlash

Prosecutor in Tamir Rice case may have lied to the Grand Jury
http://whoviating.blogspot.com/2015/12/2305-outrage-of-week-prosecutors-trying.html
http://www.salon.com/2015/12/29/the_american_criminal_justice_system_is_guilty_of_killing_tamir_rice/
http://www.scribd.com/doc/291575202/Roger-Clark-Preliminary-Report
http://www.scribd.com/doc/291575968/Jeffrey-Noble-Preliminary-Report

2015 was the warmest year on record
http://www.usatoday.com/story/weather/2016/01/20/earths-warmest-year-record-global-warming/79051806/
http://time.com/4154331/warmest-year-2016-climate-change-el-nino/?xid=homepage
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/man-made-heat-put-in-oceans-has-doubled-since-1997/
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Joules
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zetta-
http://fortune.com/2016/01/16/davos-risk-report-world-economic-forum/
http://www.mlive.com/news/index.ssf/2016/01/msu_climate_change_denial_stud.html

Income inequality is growing, hideous, and immoral
http://www.salon.com/2016/01/14/myth_of_the_middle_class_most_americans_dont_even_have_1000_in_savings/
http://whoviating.blogspot.com/2015/06/2077-clown-award-jon-hilsenrath-of-wall.html
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-davos-meeting-divisions-idUSKCN0UW007?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews
http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Davros
http://whoviating.blogspot.com/2012/09/left-side-of-aisle-72-part-5.html
http://whoviating.blogspot.com/2014/03/1516-outrage-of-week-fraud-about.html
http://www.cnbc.com/id/101204216

Outrage of the Week: forced arbitration
http://www.afj.org/our-work/issues/eliminating-forced-arbitration
https://www.citizen.org/forced-arbitration-rogues-gallery
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/terisa-e-chaw/companies-that-violate-wo_b_8547412.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/23/business/dealbook/sued-over-old-debt-and-blocked-from-suing-back.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=first-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=1

NOTE: As I indicated in last week's show, starting with January we will be taking the last week of each month off. So the next LSOTA will be in two weeks, for the period of February 4 to 10.

Left Side of the Aisle #172

Left Side of the Aisle
for the week of August 28 - September 3, 2014

This week:

Good News: Israeli-Hamas truce
http://www.firstpost.com/world/gaza-live-israel-accepts-unlimited-truce-confirms-government-1671989.html
http://www.smh.com.au/world/gaza-truce-agreed-for-permanent-ceasefire-between-israel-and-palestine-20140827-108t3j.html
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.612631
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.612650

Good News: marriage justice advances
http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/21/justice/florida-same-sex-marriage/
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/08/21/florida-same-sex-marriage-ban-ruled-unconstitutional/14399809/
http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/stateroundup/for-first-time-federal-judge-rules-floridas-gay-marriage-ban/2194065
http://wlfi.com/2014/08/26/judges-blast-indiana-wisconsin-gay-marriage-bans/
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/wisconsin-indiana-set-defend-gay-marriage-bans-25124116
http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/gay-marriage-lawsuits-go-7th-circuit-court-appeals

Update 1: special proscutor in John Crawford case
http://whoviating.blogspot.com/2014/08/1705-guns-this-is-not-about-guns.html
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/26/us-usa-ohio-shooting-police-idUSKBN0GQ1U420140826
http://www.businessweek.com/ap/2014-08-26/veteran-prosecutor-to-take-fatal-wal-mart-shooting

Update 2: homelessness
http://whoviating.blogspot.com/2014/08/1718-outrage-of-week-making.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/22/portland-oregon-tiny-homes_n_5698214.html?cps=gravity
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/12/tiny-homes-homeless_n_5300716.html

Update 3: John DeLeonardis
http://whoviating.blogspot.com/2014/08/1714-clown-award-john-deleonardis-owner.html
http://www.delseadrive-in.com/houserules.php

Unintentional Humor: Delsea Drive-In
http://www.delseadrive-in.com/houserules.php

Outrage of the Week: NSA goes Google
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jun/06/nsa-phone-records-verizon-court-order
https://firstlook.org/theintercept/article/2014/08/25/icreach-nsa-cia-secret-google-crisscross-proton/
http://www.delhidailynews.com/news/US--foreign-agencies-using-NSAs-metadata-search-engine-1409069512/
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/80945.html

More on Ferguson
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/08/14/340336291/how-people-in-ferguson-see-the-police-in-ferguson
http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/08/how-much-racial-profiling-happens-in-ferguson/378606/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2014/08/19/im-a-cop-if-you-dont-want-to-get-hurt-dont-challenge-me/
http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/20/us/ferguson-column-police-reaction/index.html?iid=article_sidebar
http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/25/opinion/norwood-ferguson-sons-brown-police/
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/08/24/1324279/--Sir-what-is-going-on-Oh-my-God-You-will-terrify-my-children
http://7online.com/news/police-pull-mother-and-children-over-at-gunpoint-by-mistake/277733/
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/08/americans-deep-racial-divide-on-trusting-the-police/378848/

Hero Award: John Stewart
http://thedailyshow.cc.com/
http://thedailyshow.cc.com/full-episodes/mglrnd/august-26--2014---david-rose

Clown Award: war hawks
http://www.buzzfeed.com/andrewkaczynski/paul-ryan-doesnt-think-sending-troops-to-fight-is#r24r7n
http://www.politico.com/story/2014/08/time-kaine-congress-iraq-vote-110328.html?hp=l5
http://www.salon.com/2014/08/26/right_wing_hawks_want_another_war_make_them_vote_on_it/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apocalypse_Now
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m57gzA2JCcM

Footnote: WBC are wimps
https://vine.co/v/MLZKbhaPEaH
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/22/equality-house-westboro-baptist_n_5700961.html

163.2 - Good News: Obama to bar LGBT discrimination in federal contracts

Good News: Obama to bar LGBT discrimination in federal contracts

Next up this week, we have the fact that Barack Obama has decided to do the right thing - which frankly happens sufficiently rarely to deserve notice.

The Amazing Mr. O has directed his staff to prepare an Executive Order that will prohibit federal contractors from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.

This is something Obama has been promising for nearly six years now, since his 2008 campaign for president.

It appears that what finally brought this to a head was the failure last year of the Employee Non-Discrimination Act to get through Congress, meaning that it was still legal under federal law for members of the LGBT community to be fired or denied public accommodation.

Obama can't do anything about the public accommodation part by executive order, but he can say that any company that does business with the federal government - and if you count both direct federal employees and those working for contracting companies, you are talking about nearly a quarter of the nation's workforce - Obama can say that any company that does business with the federal government can't discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.

And now it appears he has finally faced the fact that Congress isn't going to fix this so he has to step up if he's ever going to. It appears now that he intends to do just that. And that is good news.

Sources cited in links:
http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/obama-sign-order-banning-federal-discrimination-against-gays-n132276
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2014/06/obama-will-ban-gay-job-discrimination-by-himself.html

Left Side of the Aisle #163

Left Side of the Aisle
for the week of June 19-25, 2014

This week:

Good News: Voter photo ID drive stalls in Nevada
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2014/06/18/3450206/nevada-voter-suppression-initiative-crashes-and-burns/

Good News: Obama to bar LGBT discrimination in federal contracts
http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/obama-sign-order-banning-federal-discrimination-against-gays-n132276
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2014/06/obama-will-ban-gay-job-discrimination-by-himself.html

Good News: SCOTUS takes stuffing out of straw gun purchases
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/06/16/supreme-court-guns-straw-purchasers/6180633/
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/06/16/us-usa-court-guns-idUSKBN0ER2FG20140616
http://www.care2.com/causes/background-checks-for-gun-purchases-save-lives-study-proves.html

Clown Award: CNN
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/06/13/1306613/-CNN-Decides-80-of-Reported-School-Shootings-Don-t-Count
http://us.cnn.com/2014/06/11/us/school-shootings-cnn-number/index.html?hpt=hp_c2
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2014/06/12/3448604/how-cnn-slashed-the-number-of-school-shootings-from-74-to-15/
http://mediamatters.org/blog/2014/06/12/cnn-adopts-flawed-right-wing-logic-on-school-sh/199699

The illness of guns
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/west-virginia-hospital-handgun-raffle
https://www.prestonmemorial.org/foundation/fundraising_events/community_bbq.aspx
http://connecticut.cbslocal.com/2014/03/09/church-offering-free-ar-15-as-part-of-gun-giveaway-raffle/
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2578873/A-rifle-raffle-Really-Church-giving-away-guns-entice-people-hear-word-God-just-towns-away-Sandy-Hook.html
http://www.latimes.com/opinion/opinion-la/la-ol-guns-for-jesus-as-churches-fill-the-pews-with-weapons-giveaways-20140311-story.html#axzz2vfAF2CEU
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/10/business/tsa-charts-a-rise-in-guns-at-checkpoints.html?_r=2

Update: Even the IMF says "raise the minimum wage"
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/16/imf-minimum-wage_n_5499420.html
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2014/06/12/3448134/the-completely-bonkers-lawsuit-seeking-to-kill-seattles-minimum-wage-repeal-the-twentieth-century/

Footnote: Workers rights in US are substandard
http://www.ituc-csi.org/IMG/pdf/survey_ra_2014_eng_v2.pdf
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2014/05/29/3442519/us-labor-rights-rankings/
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/10/31/2864651/workers-rights-states/

Outrage of the Week: US worst in health care
http://www.commonwealthfund.org/~/media/files/publications/fund-report/2014/jun/1755_davis_mirror_mirror_2014.pdf
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2014/06/16/once-again-u-s-has-most-expensive-least-effective-health-care-system-in-survey/
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/u-s-health-care-system-ranks-lowest-in-international-survey/
http://www.latimes.com/business/healthcare/la-fi-us-health-system-ranks-last-20140613-story.html

Iraq: No! and Why?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/16/obama-troops-iraq_n_5501305.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/katrina-vanden-heuvel-where-is-the-accountability-on-iraq/2014/06/16/eba0ff24-f597-11e3-a3a5-42be35962a52_story.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/16/iraq-war-media_n_5500372.html

162.2 - Good News: same-sex marriage comes to Wisconsin

Good News: same-sex marriage comes to Wisconsin

Updated On another front, as I said last week was expected, Wisconsin's ban on same-sex marriage was struck down as unconstitutional. This is the 14th consecutive failure by the bigots to maintain legal approval of their bigotry.

US District Judge Barbara Crabb said that her review of the law "convinces me that plaintiffs are entitled to the same treatment as any heterosexual couple," and so "I conclude that the Wisconsin laws banning marriage between same-sex couples are unconstitutional."

She created some confusion because despite striking down the law, she did not immediately issue an order blocking its enforcement - but neither did she issue a stay, saying she would not act on the request for a one until after the American Civil Liberties Union, which had filed the suit on behalf of eight same-sex couples, tells her exactly what it wants her to block in the law. So there was some confusion among county clerks as to whether or not they should issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, although within a couple of days most had decided to go ahead.

It seems that every one of these pro-marriage-justice decisions has some memorable line in it. I loved this bit from Judge Crabb, smacking down the "it's traditional" argument:

As an initial matter defendants and amici have overstated their argument. Throughout history, the most "traditional" form of marriage has not been between one man and one woman, but between one man and multiple women, which presumably is not a tradition that defendants and amici would like to continue.

Slammer.

Updated with the news that Judge Crabb has issued a stay of her ruling while the state appeals. She said she was conflicted, but felt obliged to follow the guidance of the Supreme Court, which issued a stay in another same-sex marriage case when the district judge did not.

More than 500 same-sex couples got married in the week between the ruling and the stay. However, those in counties with did not waive the standard five-day waiting period are now in legal limbo: They have marriage licenses but can't get married.

Sources cited in links:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/06/wisconsin-gay-marriage_n_5462121.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/09/wisconsin-same-sex-marriage_n_5474708.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/06/gay-marriage-wisconsin-history_n_5462356.html

Sources cited in Update:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/13/wisconsin-gay-marriages-halted_n_5493690.html

161.1 - Good News: hope for LGBT rights

Good News: hope for LGBT rights

Updated Starting, as I try to do whenever I can, with some good news, I have this week some bits of news that, rather than "good," I would prefer to call "hopeful."

The first bit is filed under the heading "Even in Texas."

On May 28, the city council of Houston, the nation's fourth largest city, passed its own Equal Rights Ordinance, which creates nondiscrimination protections for many classes, including sexual orientation and gender identity. The protections cover employment, housing, and public accommodations.

Houston is the fifth city in Texas to adopt such an ordinance, following Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, and San Antonio.

Now, the state as a whole continues to be an ethical backwater, exemplified by Big Earl’s Bait House and Country Store - and yes, that is the real name - in Pittsburg, Texas, which recently banned a same-sex couple from ever returning to the restaurant, citing a policy of only serving men who “act like men.”

When the place got flak about it, management defended a server who was accused of telling the couple "we don’t serve fags here" by tut-tutting that what she actually said was "We do not like fags," which was apparently supposed to be much, much better.

Despite that, it remains true that Houston, one of the last large cities in the country to lack a municipal nondiscrimination policy, now has one and its one that includes recognition of how reality and society are changing. And that's good news.

On another front, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walkalloveryou, who has long backed the state's ban on same-sex marriage, is suddenly getting all squishy about the issue.

This likely has something to do with the fact that he's facing a challenge to that ban in federal court, a challenge the state is already preparing to lose. So despite his long support for the ban, now he's saying well golly gee whiz he doesn't know if it violates the US Constitution, or if the ban would be approved by voters if it was up for a vote today, or even if it would amount to a big change for the state if it was overturned, and he is certainly not going to tell a federal judge what to do about it! Which is really weird because his administration is in court defending the ban, which means they are trying to tell a federal judge what to do about it.

The bottom line here? Openly endorsing the ban in an election year is a political liability, one Walkalloveryou wants no part of.

The last bit here bit is more philosophical but maybe for just that reason even more meaningful.

Around the end of March, I noted the death of Fred Phelps, who I described as

[a] notorious and gross bigot, founder of the notoriously and grossly bigoted Westboro Baptist Church, which isn't part of any Baptist convention and isn't really a church but more like a family cult.

At that time, I noted that news had leaked out that last summer, Phelps had been excommunicated from his own church for reasons unknown but which supposedly had to to with him urging "kinder treatment of fellow church members" in the wake of an internal power struggle.

Now there is a new wrinkle: Several weeks ago, Zacharias Phelps-Roper, Phelps' grandson, bolted from the group. Something over a week ago, he said that on the day that Phelps was excommunicated, he stood outside of the front door of the church and said, not loud enough for anyone but a few nearby church members to hear, "You are good people."

Why is that important? Because the sentiment was not directed at members of his former church, but across the street at The Equality House, the rainbow-painted house directly opposite the compound of the WBC. It's run by a group called Planting Peace, which among other things advocates for LGBT rights, the very thing the members of the Westboro Baptist Church most hate.

It remains true that Fred Phelps lived his life as a notorious and gross bigot. But as one person said, if even he could be moved, there isn't a heart out there that can't be.

Martin Luther King, Jr., has often been credited with the saying "the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice." Although he did say that, the saying seems to have originated with Theodore Parker, a 19th-century Unitarian minister and anti-slavery activist who published a book of Ten Sermons on Religion in 1857. In one of those, he said

I do not pretend to understand the moral universe, the arc is a long one, my eye reaches but little ways. I cannot calculate the curve and complete the figure by the experience of sight; I can divine it by conscience. But from what I see I am sure it bends towards justice.

Our eyes still see but a little ways, but in the case of LGBT rights, we surely can see the bending of that arc.

Updated with the news that on June 6, as expected, US District Judge Barbara Crabb struck down Wisconsin's ban on same-sex marriage as an unconstitutional violation of the right of equal protection. More next week.

Sources cited in links:
http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2014/05/28/3442505/houston-approves-nondiscrimination-ordinance/
http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2013/09/05/2579071/san-antonio-passes-lgbt-nondiscrimination-public-outcry/
http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/scott-walker-addresses-presidency-talk-gay-marriage-m697004-198820411.html
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/05/27/1302369/-Scott-Walker-is-suddenly-unsure-what-he-thinks-about-this-whole-marriage-equality-thing
http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/van-hollen-braces-for-judge-to-toss-gay-marriage-ban-b99276581z1-260421611.html
http://bringmethenews.com/2014/05/30/wisconsin-prepares-for-same-sex-marriage-ruling/
http://whoviating.blogspot.com/2014/03/1523-rip-fred-phelps.html
http://cjonline.com/news/2014-05-05/fourth-phelps-roper-sibling-leaves-westboro-baptist-church
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/05/23/1301451/-Prior-to-death-Fred-Phelps-had-change-of-heart-according-to-grandson?detail=email
http://www.towleroad.com/2014/05/grandson-of-anti-gay-wbc-pastor-fred-phelps-says-he-had-change-of-heart-before-he-was-voted-out.html
http://quoteinvestigator.com/2012/11/15/arc-of-universe/

Source cited in Update:
http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/federal-judge-overturns-wisconsins-gay-marriage-ban-b99286138z1-262161851.html