August 3, 2014

Justice Kennedy Opened the Door to Same-Sex Marriage, Will He Walk Through Next?

Geoffrey R. Stone

Twenty-nine consecutive judicial decisions in the past year have held bans on gay marriage are unconstitutional. This is nothing short of extraordinary.

The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit this week held unconstitutional a Virginia law prohibiting the recognition of same-sex marriage. This was the twenty-ninth consecutive judicial decision in the past 12 months holding that such are laws unconstitutional. This is nothing short of extraordinary. How did we get to this point?

In 1996, only 27 percent of Americans supported the legalization of same-sex marriage. In that year, Congress, by overwhelming majorities, enacted the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which denied federal marriage benefits to legally-married same-sex couples and authorized states to refuse to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states.. In the years since then, more than 30 states have amended their state constitutions expressly to forbid the recognition of same-sex marriage.

In supporting these laws, our elected representatives were fearsome in their contempt for same-sex marriage and their condemnation of homosexuality. Oklahoma Congressman Tom Coburn declared “homosexuality is based on perversion.” Florida Congressman Charles Canady thundered that only opposite-sex marriage “comports with . . . our Judeo-Christian moral heritage,” and Indiana Congressman Stephen Buyer proclaimed that the very notion of same-sex marriage constituted “an attack upon God’s principles.” Georgia Congressman Bob Barr warned that “the flames of hedonism . . . are licking at the very foundations of our society.”

Nonetheless, today, only 18 years later, 55 percent of Americans support same-sex marriage. But that doesn’t explain the avalanche of judicial decisions invalidating laws prohibiting marriage by same-sex couples right and left. There are lots of laws that the majority of people don’t like that courts don’t hold unconstitutional. Unpopular and unconstitutional are not the same thing.

- See more at: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/08/03/justice-kennedy-opened-the-door-to-same-sex-marriage-will-he-walk-through-next.html#sthash.ro3gWwmv.dpuf

August 2, 2014

Peggy Noonan: America is divided because Obama is “out there dropping his g’s”

The WSJ columnist says the country can't come together until the president starts enunciating properly

SIMON MALOY

Peggy Noonan is worried about America. Again. The Wall Street Journal columnist’s newest worry arises, as is so often the case, from “a conversation this week with an acquaintance of considerable accomplishment in the political and financial worlds” who thinks America is going to break apart into red and blue factions. “I think a lot about the general subject of what deeply divides us,” Noonan writes, “occasionally with a feeling of some alarm.”

Like any pundit worth her salt, Noonan assumes that her own personal sense of alarm is shared by the country as a whole, and after many paragraphs of gauzy ruminations on the nature of political division, she finally arrives at her point: “No nation’s unity, cohesion and feeling of being at peace with itself can be taken for granted, even ours. They have to be protected day by day, in part by what politicians say. They shouldn’t be making it worse. They shouldn’t make divisions deeper.”

And who are we to blame specifically for these deepening divisions?

In just the past week that means:

The president shouldn’t be using a fateful and divisive word like “impeachment” to raise money and rouse his base. He shouldn’t be at campaign-type rallies where he speaks only to the base, he should be speaking to the country. He shouldn’t be out there dropping his g’s, slouching around a podium, complaining about his ill treatment, describing his opponents with disdain: “Stop just hatin’ all the time.”

more
http://www.salon.com/2014/08/01/peggy_noonan_america_is_divided_because_obama_is_out_there_dropping_his_gs/

August 2, 2014

House votes to approve border security measure

Source: Washington Post

House Republicans managed Friday to overcome deep divisions within the party and passed a measure to address the child-migrant surge at the U.S.-Mexico border.

The bill would provide emergency funding to deal with the crisis and speed up the deportations of most border crossers. A second measure, scheduled to be voted on later Friday, would rescind President Obama’s authority to decide whether to deport certain illegal immigrants in the United States.

The measures are unlikely to ever become law, as the White House, most Democrats and immigration advocates strongly oppose the proposals.


Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/house-gop-moves-closer-on-immigration-bill-ahead-of-recess/2014/08/01/11084a2e-1983-11e4-9e3b-7f2f110c6265_story.html

August 1, 2014

GOP Disarray Hands Democrats a Big Midterm Gift

Another stunning legislative embarrassment for House Republicans has handed Democrats a mighty big talking point over the next three months until the midterm elections: The GOP is incapable -- if not unwilling -- to govern, they will argue. “Republicans,” you’re going to hear Democrats say, “can’t even agree how to respond to a serious crisis on our borders. But where they do agree is launching a partisan lawsuit against the president of the United States. That’s your ‘Do-Nothing’ Republican Party.” Of course, Republicans have powerful talking points of their own and have had them for months. “The world is on fire!” “Obama and Obamacare are unpopular!” “It’s time to boot Harry Reid out of being Senate majority leader!” Indeed, when you think about it, the past month has been a rough stretch for Democrats. President Obama’s approval rating is stuck in the low 40s (high 30s in some key Senate swing states), and the dominant news stories have been violence and instability around the globe. But the past 48 hours might have been even worse for Republicans -- suing the president for taking executive action, not passing legislation to provide relief at the border, and then saying that there are executive actions Obama should be taking on the border. (Huh?) As even Charles Krauthammer said on Fox, “It is ridiculous to sue the president on a Wednesday because he oversteps the law … and then on a Thursday say that he should overstep the law.” Here’s the deal: If Democrats hold serve in November (retain control of the Senate, minimize losses or even pick up seats in the House), we’ll all look back on the last two days as the week the GOP blew it.

Why it could resonate into the fall

In other words, Democrats now have something fresh to run against. And you couldn’t necessarily say that on July 1. Yes, there was the government shutdown last fall. But that was a year ago -- and it got immediately overshadowed by the months-long story about HealthCare.Gov’s failure (an example of the Obama’s administration own difficulty in governing). But what’s significant about yesterday’s legislative embarrassment for Republicans is that 1) it comes just three months before the midterm elections, and 2) it came a day after the House, in a partisan vote, moved to sue the president. That’s why Democrats have a chance to exploit this -- that is, of course, until we see the next Democratic misstep or national/international crisis.

A dysfunctional House -- and a dysfunctional Congress

Moving from a look at the upcoming elections to examining Capitol Hill itself, Washington might be broken right now, but your House of Representatives is in shambles, even making the gridlocked Harry Reid-led Senate seem more functional (though it also couldn’t pass its own border bill yesterday). Yesterday’s inability for Republicans to get 218 votes on a border-relief bill was just the latest example of House Speaker John Boehner’s and his leadership team’s inability to manage the House GOP caucus. If you’re not going to pursue legislation that will get significant Democratic support, then you need to get nearly all House Republicans to support it. But that didn’t happen. Yet let’s also not ignore the games that Democrats played here: Senate Majority Leader Reid was saying that the House border bill could be a conference vehicle to pass comprehensive immigration reform. And that comes as the Senate itself was unable to move its own border-relief bill (Republicans, joined by a couple of Democrats, voted to block it last night.) A final note here: We’ve been saying it for a while, but immigration reform’s chances are really, really, really dead in this Congress. Folks, this was a House bill to give the administration the ability to DEPORT these undocumented children, and the House couldn’t even pass that.

Do-over time for House Republicans

All of that said, House Republicans will meet at 9:00 am ET for another try at passing a border-relief measure, because they realize they HAVE to do something. “I think at the end of the day we’re going to end up getting to a majority and get this thing passed,” Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) told the New York Times. “We’re not going to leave here until this is done.” A House GOP aide adds to First Read: “Oh, I think we'll get there. It just ain't pretty.” But the price for getting the votes today -- going on the record wanting to repeal the president’s DACA executive action or trying to prevent him from expanding it -- only will exasperate the GOP’s problems with Latinos in the long term. It’s your political rock and a hard place.

more
http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/first-read/gop-disarray-hands-democrats-big-midterm-gift-n170421

August 1, 2014

You Can Learn The Exact Day Of Christ's Return If You Give $5 To WorldNetDaily

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But all the spam can sometimes yield a great benefit, as it did with today’s email offering a set of DVDs that predict “the specific day of the Lord’s return” — information that even the Bible says is unknowable.

Unsurprisingly, the sales pitch doesn’t divulge this information, but does offer the set of DVDs — which have been endorsed by WorldNetDaily editor Joseph Farah —for the bargain price of $4.95.

Pastor Mark Biltz, an expert in the Hebrew roots of Christianity, believes he knows when Jesus will return – the exact day, if not the specific year. And today only, WND readers can get this acclaimed teaching in the 2-DVD set, "The Feasts of the Lord," for only $4.95 – an unprecedented $35 discount off the regular $39.95 price!

- See more at: http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/you-can-learn-exact-day-christs-return-if-you-give-5-worldnetdaily#sthash.H65zUDIe.dpuf

August 1, 2014

Ann Coulter: Why can’t we deal with our border the way Netanyahu deals with Hamas?

Appearing on Fox News Hannity, frequent guest Ann Coulter told host Sean Hannity that she wished Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was “our president,” so he could deal with our border problems the way he deals with border issues in his own country.

Comparing tunnels found at the U.S./Mexican border with tunnels used by Hamas, Coulter asserted the U.S. is being invaded.

“More than a hundred tunnels have been found on our border,” Coulter said. “To smuggle in weapons, guns, they’re invading, They’re murdering, they’re raping. The head of the DEA said about a year ago that he thinks the surge of homicides in Chicago is a Mexican drug cartel.”

Coulter added, “I just wish we would talk about our border the way we talk about Israel’s border.”

more
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/08/01/ann-coulter-why-cant-we-deal-with-our-border-the-way-netanyahu-deals-with-hamas/

August 1, 2014

Proof that the GOP’s newfound “libertarianism” is a big ol’ sham

How the Koch brothers and their conservative allies are using the "L" word to disguise their latest schemes

HEATHER DIGBY PARTON

Earlier this week, ace researcher Lee Fang did a little digging and found that for all their alleged commitment to libertarianism, the Koch Brothers are helping to elect a whole lot of right-wing theocrats and national security hawks, which seems just a little bit hypocritical. After all, everyone says that this libertarian influence in the GOP is bound to create a new and different party which will inevitably become more socially tolerant and less given to imperial ambition. Fang lays out example after example of Koch groups backing conservative extremists whose idea of freedom and liberty consists of a strong commitment to ensuring that gays and women are denied full human rights. And many of these fine folks aren’t too concerned about due process for “certain” people who don’t deserve all those human rights to which Real Americans are entitled. (And foreigners always deserve what they get. Especially the French.)

This should not be too surprising to anyone who’s been following the rise of the Koch brothers since they burst on the scene in the 1970s. They were at that time, as much younger men, committed to forming a viable Libertarian Party, and created the Cato Institute as its philosophical and ideological home base. David Koch ran for vice president on the Libertarian ticket in 1980 and campaigned for full abortion rights and the decriminalization of drugs, homosexuality and prostitution, while calling Ronald Reagan nothing more than a liberal squish. But no one should be shocked to find out that these billionaires really had one big priority: themselves. Charles Koch spelled it out as early as 1974 when he was formulating the rationale for a Libertarian party:

more
http://www.salon.com/2014/08/01/proof_that_the_gops_newfound_libertarianism_is_a_big_ol_sham/

August 1, 2014

This is what incompetence looks like: John Boehner keeps reliving the same failure, over and over

The least effective speaker in decades, Boehner's tenure is a string of embarrassing face plants like yesterday's

SIMON MALOY

Sit down for moment. I’d like to tell you a story. It’s called “Stepping on Rakes,” and it’s the story of Speaker John Boehner and a piece of legislation that he was under intense pressure to pass. A crisis was looming, and members on both sides of the aisle recognized that legislative action had to be taken. But Boehner, unwilling to cave to demands from the White House and the Senate, thought he could put pressure on the Democrats by rallying his members to pass his own conservative-friendly bill.

So he put the bill before the House GOP and began whipping up votes to back the legislation. A vote was scheduled, but conservatives in the House rebelled, arguing that his legislation didn’t go far enough to satisfy their demands. Lacking the votes, the bill was pulled and Boehner released a statement punting responsibility to the White House.

Yes, of course I’m talking about Boehner’s embarrassing and incompetent handling of the border crisis legislation yesterday. But I’m also talking about Boehner’s embarrassing and incompetent handling of the fiscal cliff negotiations back in December 2012.

If you’ll recall, the country was facing a double-whammy of tax increases and spending cuts set to go into effect on New Year’s Day. Negotiations between the White House and Congress on the details of the tax package were proceeding apace until Boehner blew the whole thing up by introducing “Plan B” – a bill that would lock in the Bush tax cuts for everyone making less than $1 million annually. Boehner put it before his caucus, and the conservatives rejected it because they wouldn’t accept any tax hikes, even just for millionaires. He yanked the bill and said, “Now it is up to the president to work with Senator Reid on legislation to avert the fiscal cliff.”

more
http://www.salon.com/2014/08/01/this_is_what_incompetence_looks_like_john_boehner_keeps_reliving_the_same_failure_over_and_over/