Last Call For Equality, Even In Kentucky

The string of federal judges who have declared the Supreme Court's ruling on DOMA to mean that states must recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states as legal grew by one yesterday...and that state was, of all places, right here in Kentucky.

In Wednesday’s ruling, U.S. District Judge John G. Heyburn II was not asked to decide whether Kentucky itself must issue marriage licenses to gay couples. But he said “there is no doubt that Windsor and this court’s analysis suggest a possible result to that question.” 

Heyburn was asked by four same-sex couples — married in either Canada or U.S. states that allow such unions — to make Kentucky recognize their marriages. 

“It is clear that Kentucky’s laws treat gay and lesbian persons differently in a way that demeans them,” Heyburn wrote. 

Striking them down, he said, will “make real the promise of equal protection under the law. It will profoundly affect validly married same-sex couples’ experience of living in the commonwealth and elevate their marriage to an equal status in the eyes of state law.”

Since Judge Heyburn was appointed by Poppy Bush on the recommendation of a Senator at the time by the name of Mitch McConnell, Turtle Boy's primary opponent, Matt Bevin, is blaming him for this JUDICIAL OVERREACH WITH LOTS OF EXCLAMATION POINTS.

“It is no surprise that Judge Heyburn was Mitch McConnell's general counsel, and McConnell recommended him for the federal bench. Kentucky deserves better,” Bevin said in a statement. 

The Madison Project, a conservative group backing Bevin also sent out a press release headlined, “A McConnell crony forces gay marriage on Kentucky.”

McConnell trashed the ruling too.

On Wednesday, McConnell said in a statement that the courts should not stepped in and the 2004 state constitutional amendment barring same-sex marriage should stand. 

“I am a traditionalist and support that position, but regardless of one’s personal view on the issue, we should be able to agree that only the people of Kentucky, through the legislative process, should have the authority to change the law, not the courts,” McConnell said in a statement.

Alison Grimes's camp released a very...careful...statement.

Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes issued an oblique statement appearing to support gay marriage but saying the courts shouldn’t have stepped in. 

“Alison has been married for seven years and has stated publicly that she wouldn’t want to deny other couples the opportunity to make that same commitment,” spokeswoman Charly Norton said in statement. “She’s also made clear that while the Supreme Court has ruled that state sovereignty applies, churches should not be forced to recognize anything inconsistent with their teachings,” 

When asked to clarify, Norton said, the statement “means that that’s where she personally stands, but that state sovereignty should be respected.”

Take that as you will.  It's Kentucky, folks.  Grimes can't exactly come out and say "Hooray for same-sex marriage!" even if she is a Democrat in this state.  Well, she could, but she won't.

Chattanooga Hardball

Next time you hear someone complain about how Obama "targets his political enemies" point them to this example of Republicans openly threatening to pass legislation to hurt those who don't agree with them politically by punishing hundreds of working Americans in Tennessee.

The crusade by anti-union forces in Tennessee, including the state’s governor and senior senator, is as much a fight with Volkswagen management as with the UAW. 

Not only are Republican legislators accusing Volkswagen of backing the UAW, some of their leaders on Monday threatened to withhold tax incentives for future expansion of the three-year-old assembly plant in Chattanooga if workers vote this week to join the UAW. 

About 1,500 workers will vote from Wednesday through Friday in an election that the National Labor Relations Board will conduct. 

The company plans to expand in Chattanooga or at a Mexican plant to produce a midsize SUV. Overall, Volkswagen intends to invest about $7 billion in North America over the next five years to achieve a goal of selling more than 1 million Volkswagen and Audi vehicles in the U.S. by 2018. 

“It has been widely reported that Volkswagen has promoted a campaign that has been unfair, unbalanced and, quite frankly, un-American in the traditions of American labor campaigns,” State Sen. Bo Watson, R-Chattanooga, said in a statement sent to the Free Press. “Should the workers choose to be represented by the United Auto Workers, then I believe additional incentives for expansion will have a very tough time passing the Tennessee Senate.”

This is an open, bald threat made by bullying Republicans.  They are apparently threatening to hurt Volkswagen to the point of making them take the 1500 Tennessee jobs and move them to Mexico rather than have them vote to be represented by the UAW as auto workers.

This is what Republicans do with power.  Just like Chris Christie, just like Scott Walker, just like this.  They punish those who they don't agree with every chance they get.  Because if they vote to be represented by a union, which is something Volkswagen is okay with, being a German company that has trade unions and recognizes their benefits, then the workers at the Chattanooga plant must be destroyed, their jobs destroyed, their livelihood destroyed.

They are the party of fear and hatred, period.  Republicans destroy.

Cruz-in' For A Bruisin'

That clean debt celing hike the House passed isn't signed into law yet, folks.  It still has to get past the Senate, and GOP Sen. Ted "Government Shutdown" Cruz of Texas says he'll filibuster and force Sen. Harry Reid and the Democrats to come up with 60 votes.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) will push a 60-vote threshold, meaning he's threatening to filibuster, on a clean debt ceiling increase extension.

Cruz's office confirmed the Texas senator's plans to TPM on Tuesday afternoon.

Cruz's move means lawmakers will need to rally 60 votes in the chamber to pass the bill, and Democrats only control 55 votes.

The announcement came the same day that House Republicans dropped a previous debt ceiling increase proposal and embraced a clean hike instead.

Oh, what's your big plan, Ted?

“Historically, the debt ceiling has proven the most effective leverage for reining in spending; 28 times, Congress has attached meaningful conditions to debt ceiling increases. We should do so again to address the real problem. I intend to object to any effort to raise the debt ceiling on a 50-vote threshold. I will insist instead on a 60-vote threshold, and if Republicans stand together we can demand meaningful spending restraint to help pull our Nation back from the fiscal and economic cliff.”

Sure, just like they stood together on the government shutdown.   Somehow I'm betting Harry Reid will get at least 5 Republicans, and this will pass.

Of course, if it doesn't, Ted Cruz and the GOP will get the blame.

A recent CNN/ORC International poll found that 54% of respondents would blame congressional Republicans for a failure to raise the debt ceiling, while 29% would blame Obama and 12% would blame both.

A majority would blame the GOP solely, and two-thirds would assign at least some blame to the Republicans.  Sure, Ted.  This seems like another winning strategy.  But please, take Obamacare off the front pages and replace them with shutdown talk.  The Dems will thank you for it. 

StupidiNews!

• A series of avalanches in the western US this week have killed six across Utah, Colorado, and Oregon.
• Washington State police say a man caught on a grocery store security tape trying to fondle an 11-year old girl is also a wanted fugitive who bombed several abortion clinics decades ago.
• Virtual currency Bitcoin is under attack from hackers who are disrupting transactions and exchange operations with "mutating" code.
• Two Hong Kong trading firms have agreed to $11 million in SEC fines for improperly trading news of a Chinese venture capital group buying a Canadian energy company.
• The FBI is offering a $10,000 reward for reports of people using high-intensity laser pointers at commercial aircraft as incidents have increased tenfold since 2005.

Last Call For The War Of The Oranges

And John Boehner and the House GOP lose yet another debt ceiling battle, this time with a complete victory for the White House.

The House passed a yearlong suspension of the Treasury’s debt limit Tuesday in a vote that left Republicans once again ceding control to Democrats, following a collapse in support for an earlier proposal advanced by GOP leaders.

In a narrow vote, 221-201, 28 Republicans voted with 193 Democrats to approve a “clean” extension of the federal government’s borrowing authority — one without strings attached — sending the legislation to the Senate for a posssible final vote later this week. Two Democrats and 199 Republicans voted no.

The vote came two weeks before the Feb. 27 debt-limit deadline set by Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, and once again underscored the House leadership’s inability to corral Republicans behind a debt-ceiling plan. “The natural reluctance is obvious,” said Rep. Peter Roskam (R-Ill.), the chief deputy whip. 

The Tea Party is not happy about this, you know, complete and utter defeat thing.

Conservative advocacy groups reacted negatively to Boehner’s plan to bring the clean bill to a vote, with spokesmen for Heritage Action for America and the Club for Growth urging members to vote “no” and including the vote on their scorecards, which serve as guides for their supporters. “When we heard that House leadership was scheduling a clean debt-ceiling increase, we thought it was a joke,” said Barney Keller, a Club for Growth adviser. “But it’s not. Something is very wrong with House leadership, or with the Republican Party.”

The Senate Conservatives Fund, an outspoken tea-party group, blasted Boehner for his eleventh-hour decision in an e-mail, saying “Boehner must be replaced.” They also launched a petition seeking to encourage at least 15 House Republicans to refuse to support Boehner for speaker -- a move that would deprive him of a majority of the House.

Robert Costa, now at the Washington Post, recounts Boehner telling the Tea Party to go to hell:

The scene happened Tuesday morning at the Capitol Hill Club, where House Republicans had gathered for a private breakfast.

After listening to a handful of colleagues flatly discuss fundraising strategy for 30 minutes, Boehner stood up, walked past dozens of sleepy, coffee-sipping Republicans and tersely woke up the room with an update.

“Listen – we’re going to move forward,” Boehner said. Instead of bringing up the leadership’s plan, which would link a restoration of recently cut military benefits to a debt-ceiling extension, he would push a “clean” bill, averting default more than two weeks before the Treasury Department’s debt-limit deadline.

“We’re going to get this done,” Boehner continued, according to several people present for his remarks. No strings attached, he added. He said he was going stop reaching for votes on the plan, an effort that had stalled on Monday. And he wasn’t going to even think of floating another proposal. He was going to do what he thought was best for the GOP, in spite of the widespread angst.

So now we're at the point where the Tea Party either must replace Boehner, or admit they have no power.  Make your move, boys.  I'll bring the popcorn.

The GOP internal civil war is now truly on.

My Frenemy Claire

Missouri Democrat Sen. Claire McCaskill isn't beating around the bush when asked if she would be seen with President Obama this year if she had to run in this election cycle:  her answer is of course, "Probably not."

Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) said Tuesday that she wouldn't roll out the welcome mat for President Obama if she were seeking re-election in Missouri this year.

McCaskill was asked during an appearance on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" if she would campaign alongside Obama if she were running in red states like Louisiana, North Carolina or Arkansas.

"Probably not," McCaskill said. "I mean, I try to be really candid and honest on this show. The President's numbers are not strong in my state or in Arkansas or Louisiana or North Carolina. He did not win those states when he ran for re-election in 2012."

But McCaskill said the Democratic incumbents running for re-election in the aforementioned states — Mark Pryor (AR), Mary Landrieu (LA) and Kay Hagan (NC) — can still win, and she dismissed the notion that avoiding Obama on the campaign trail matters to voters.

"I think this issue of whether or not you have Obama come to your state is something we like to focus on in Washington, but probably is not that important when you get out to these states," McCaskill said.

Yeah, right. Somebody tell Alison Lundergan Grimes that.  Barack who?

Barriers Have To Be Broken For A Reason

Ta-Nehisi Coates argues that NFL draft hopeful and SEC Defensive Player of the Year Michael Sam of Missouri, who announced this week that he is gay, is going to have to force change upon the NFL and its culture because otherwise, they will never be "ready" for an openly gay player.

In that sense he will be challenging  a deep and discrepant mythology of who is capable of inflicting violence and who isn't. Last week, Jonathan Vilma speculated about how he might feel if a gay teammate saw him naked:

Imagine if he's the guy next to me and, you know, I get dressed, naked, taking a shower, the whole nine, and it just so happens he looks at me. How am I supposed to respond?

What undergirds this logic is a fear of being made into a woman, which is to say a fear of being regarded sexually by someone who is as strong as, or stronger than, you. Implicit to the fear is the gay player's ability to do violence. It exists right alongside a belief that the gay player is a "sissy." ("Grown men should not have female tendencies. Period," Vilma once tweeted.) The logic is kin to the old Confederate belief that Southern slaves were so loyal and cowardly yet they must never be given guns.

The mythology Jonathan Vilma endorses will not fade through vague endorsements of "tolerance," lectures on "acceptance," nor any other species of heartfelt magic. The question which we so often have been offered—is the NFL ready for a gay player?—is backwards. Powerful interests are rarely "ready" for change, so much as they are assaulted by it. We refer to barriers being "broken" for a reason. The reason is not because great powers generally like to unbar the gates and hold a picnic in the honor of the previously excluded. The NFL has no moral right to be "ready" for a gay player, which is to say it has no right to discriminate against gay men at its leisure which anyone is bound to respect.

So yes, it's as much about race as it is his sexual orientation, and this battle is going to be pretty ugly.  But Nancy Goldstein makes the argument that the biggest problem for Sam won't be players like Jonathan Vilma, but the NFL front offices and teams.

If public response thus far is any indication, Sam’s problem won’t be the other players in the NFL. It’s going to be, as former Minnesota Viking Chris Kluwe tweeted, the folks in the front office. While congratulations from Sam’s teammates, other athletes, and well-wishers flooded Twitter (his account drew 18,000 new followers less than an hour after the news broke), the eight NFL executives and coaches who spoke with Sports Illustrated on condition of anonymity were decidedly less optimistic.

"I don't think football is ready for [an openly gay player] just yet," said an NFL player personnel assistant, adding, “It'd chemically imbalance an NFL locker room and meeting room.” An NFL assistant coach called Sam's decision "not a smart move,” saying that it "legitimately affects [his] potential earnings." A former general manager alleged that his concerns were rooted in avoiding a possible media circus that might distract attention from the game: “Every Tom, Dick and Harry in the media is going to show up, from Good Housekeeping to the Today show. A general manager is going to ask, 'Why are we going to do that to ourselves?'" Every single one of them agreed that Sam’s announcement would cause him to drop in this May’s draft, and today’s news that Sam fell 70 points on CBS’s draft prospect board overnight indicate an early negative response to his announcement. 

Collectively, this is a sad prophecy. But if it comes true, it’ll be a self-fulfilling one set in motion by the homophobia of the NFL’s front office.

What this says to me is that very few people in the NFL want to be the person fired by the owner when Michael Sam "ruins" their team's season.  Anything less than a Super Bowl victory is going to be blamed on Sam and his "negative effect on the locker room".

They're cowards, of course.  But in the end, the cowards always lose.

StupidiNews!

• Shirley Temple Black, former child movie star of the 30's and US Ambassador to Ghana in the 1970's, has died at the age of 85.
• One person is dead and another injured when a package delivered to a Tennessee home in Lebanon exploded when opened, police continue to investigate.
• Relations between China and Taiwan continue to improve as the two will set up trade representative offices after historic talks earlier this year.
• Businesses with less than 100 employees won't face penalties from the Affordable Care Act this year as the Obama administration has delayed part of the employer mandate until 2015.
• Planetary scientists now believe that, like Tatooine in Star Wars, that planets orbiting binary star systems actually exist.

Last Call For The Banana Splits

I got nothin'.

KBMT

A Beaumont man was cited by police after riling up motorists by standing at an intersection carrying an AK-47 while dressed as a banana. 

Derek Poe, owner of Golden Triangle Tactical gun shop, said the stunt was part of the store's grand opening after moving locations. 

Poe said the man in the banana suit was holding an AK-47 across his back with the barrel pointing down and holding a sign with an arrow pointing toward the store. 

He said this idea was to attract customers to the store. 

A Beaumont police spokesperson said officers temporarily detained the 18-year-old and found he had the rifle with a drum magazine attached with at least a 50-round capacity. 

The spokesperson said the teen was cited for violating a city ordinance that prohibits soliciting in and alongside roadways.

Nope.  Nothin'.  Not a gorram thing.

Scott Walker Screws Up Again

Wisconsin GOP Gov. Scott Walker apparently has a bit of an issue with the truth, which should be no surprise to anyone at this point considering he's most likely under federal investigation at this point for campaign issues related to the recall vote two years ago.

In August 2012, Milwaukee County prosecutors filed a petition seeking to launch the John Doe investigation into the recall races prompted by Gov. Scott Walker's legislation to curb the power of state employee unions.

From the outset, the probe focused on possible "illegal campaign coordination between (name redacted), a campaign committee, and certain special interest groups," according to a filing signed by the five district attorneys in the case.

The campaign committee under the microscope?

Almost certainly it's the Friends of Scott Walker, the governor's campaign committee.

"Good guess," said one source familiar with the probe. "That's it."

Now it seems Walker can't even tell the truth about something as simple as voting for Ronald Reagan for President.

It appears Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker has stepped in it a bit in a recent boast that his conservative bona fides dated back to a vote he cast for Ronald Reagan for president. As James Rowan of the Wisconsin-based blog The Political Environment quickly noted, Walker was 13 years old in 1980 and 17 in 1984. Thus, concludes Zach Wisniewski of Blogging Blue, it seems Walker is “either lying about having voted for Ronald Reagan or he voted illegally.”

Oops.   Walker's name has been kicked around as the new Chris Christie.  Looks like he really is the new Chris Christie...and may be in as much legal trouble as well.

Hail To Not The Washington NFL Team

Congress is apparently getting serious about Washington DC changing the name of its storied NFL franchise to something other than what it is now, and they're playing smashmouth.

Two members of Congress plan to send a strongly worded letter to the commissioner of the National Football League on Monday urging him to support changing the name of the Washington Redskins because it offends Native Americans and others, with one lawmaker saying she might reconsider the league’s tax-exempt status if it does not comply. 

Senator Maria Cantwell, Democrat of Washington State and chairwoman of the Indian Affairs Committee, said in an interview on Sunday that lawmakers would “definitely” examine the N.F.L.’s tax-exempt status and other ways to pressure the league. 

“You’re getting a tax break for educational purposes, but you’re still embracing a name that people see as a slur and encouraging it,” Ms. Cantwell said. 

In a copy of the letter released on Sunday, Ms. Cantwell and Representative Tom Cole, Republican of Oklahoma and a member of the Native American Caucus, chided the N.F.L. commissioner, Roger Goodell, for his recent remark that the name of the team, based near Washington, D.C., “honored” Native Americans. 

“The N.F.L. can no longer ignore this and perpetuate the use of this name as anything but what it is: a racial slur,” they said.

That tax-exempt status is the major reason why NFL owners are rich, rich, rich.  They don't have to pay taxes on these billion dollar franchises.  If Congress is going to reconsider that for the entire league, then this is going to hit them in the wallet.  Big time.

Personally I think all sports leagues should be stripped of tax exempt status.  They're billion dollar businesses and they need to be taxed like them.  Regardless, Washington needs to change the name.

StupidiNews!

• Former Missouri Tigers football star Michael Sam has publicly announced that he is gay as he heads into this year's NFL Draft.
• Russian authorities have banned the trading of internet currency Bitcoin in the country, saying it could be a way to finance terrorism.
• The US and South Korea will proceed with planned joint military exercises despite warnings from North Korea.
• Swiss officials are preparing to deal with the aftermath of a successful weekend ballot measure to impose strict immigration quotas, drawing harsh criticism from the EU.
• California lawmakers are looking to pass legislation that would require smartphones to have a "kill switch" to render a phone useless if stolen, which could become a new national standard.

Last Call For Meanwhile, In Iran...

Yep, looks like Smart Power and engagement with Tehran keeps on working.

The U.N. nuclear agency said on Sunday that Iran had agreed to start addressing suspicions that it may have worked on designing an atomic weapon, a potential breakthrough in a long-stalled investigation into Tehran's atomic activities.

The development - although limited for now - marked a step forward in an international push to settle a decade-old dispute over Iran's nuclear program. Tehran says this is peaceful, while the West fears that Iran wants to develop atomic arms. 

The deal could also send a positive signal to separate, high-stakes negotiations between Iran and six world powers which are due to start on February 18 in Vienna, aimed at reaching a broader diplomatic settlement with the Islamic state.

Iran is moving.  Slowly.  But it is moving forward.  Letting UN nuclear inspectors take a look at what Iran is really up to is a big deal, and it's one that's necessary.  Here's hoping there's more to it, as well.

Remember, if the GOP was in charge, we'd already be at war with them.

The Randian Ideal On Immigration

Sen. Rand Paul went to Houston to speak at a fundraiser for the Harris County GOP, and they didn't exactly like what he had to say about immigration.

Sen. Rand Paul on Saturday predicted that Texas would turn blue within a decade if the Republican Party doesn’t become more inclusive.

“What I do believe is Texas is going to be a Democrat state within 10 years if we don’t change,” Paul (R-Ky.), who grew up in Texas, said at a dinner held by the Harris County GOP. “That means we evolve, it doesn’t mean we give up on what we believe in, but it means we have to be a welcoming party.”

What's this?  Rand Paul pitching a pro-immigration message in Texas?  I bet that went over well.

“We won’t all agree on it,” he said. “But I’ll tell you, what I will say and what I’ll continue to say, and it’s not an exact policy prescription … but if you want to work and you want a job and you want to be part of America, we’ll find a place for you.”

There was some quiet applause in the massive hotel ballroom, in which hundreds of Republicans — a mix of high-dollar donors, activists and state officials — were gathered. But Paul remarked that the response was “kind of tepid.”

You don't say.  So if you're wonder what the change of heart is it's simple:  Randian free-market utopias need ditch diggers too after the minimum wage is gone, right?

I bet he just made a major enemy of Malkinvania.  Time for popcorn!

Eric Holder Comes Through Again

Eric Holder and the Department of Justice look like they're ready to make the next step in forcing LGBTQ equality at the federal level:

The federal government will soon treat married same-sex couples the same as heterosexual couples when they file for bankruptcy, testify in court or visit family in prison. 

Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. was preparing to issue policies aimed at eliminating the distinction between same-sex and opposite-sex married couples in the federal criminal justice system, according to excerpts from a speech prepared for a Saturday event organized by a prominent gay-rights group. 

“In every courthouse, in every proceeding and in every place where a member of the Department of Justice stands on behalf of the United States, they will strive to ensure that same-sex marriages receive the same privileges, protections and rights as opposite-sex marriages,” Mr. Holder’s prepared remarks said, according to the excerpts circulated by the Justice Department.

This is great news.  The response by some advocates, not so much.

Gay-rights advocates welcomed the changes but had hoped Mr. Holder would use his address before the Human Rights Campaign to announce that the president would sign an order prohibiting federal contractors from discriminating based on sexual orientation. 

“That would be big,” said Gary Buseck, legal director for Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders.

It would be big.  I'm betting it'll happen.  There's infinitely more chance of that happening than under any Republican President, just so you know...and any Republican in the White House would be under tremendous pressure to reverse all of this, and probably would.