In case you missed it, I pointed out that this ruling continues an unbroken streak of successful challenges to state marriage equality bans following the Supreme Court's US v. Windsor ruling. Attorneys General defending their states' laws have all wasted their time -- and taxpayer money -- on doomed cases that can no longer be won. Unless someone can come up with a some argument or approach to the question that no one has so far thought of, marriage equality seems to be the law of the land. Deal with it, haters.
In other hate news: Arizona Governor Jan Brewer is reportedly holding a series of emergency meetings to try to figure out whether or not she should sign the pro-discrimination bill into law. It should be a nobrainer, but for the Arizona state GOP, it's a real stumper. That she has to even think about it for a second speaks volumes about Brewer's character -- and none of it good -- and here it is a big puzzle that needs to be worked out with top staffers in crisis mode. Pathetic. BREAKING AS I WRITE: Brewer, after hours of handwringing, dithering, and testing the political winds with her finger, vetoes SB1062. This has not been a Profile in Courage.
A CBS News poll shows that -- post-Christie, -Walker implosions -- Republicans' top picks for the 2016 nomination are Jeb Bush and Rand Paul. In any other cycle, these would both be dark horses and in this one they still kind of are; neither can pull a majority. 41% say they'd like to see Bush run and 39% say the same about Paul (in this poll, you can answer positively for more than one candidate -- it's not who they'd choose, it's who they'd like their choices to be). Democrats have no such problems identifying their frontrunner, however: 82% say they would like to see Hillary Clinton run. The closest contender is Joe Biden, at 42%.
Secretary of State Kerry pulls no punches in criticizing Uganda's new anti-gay law, "You could change the focus of this legislation to black or Jew, Jewish, and you could be in 1930s Germany or you could be 1950s, 60s apartheid South Africa," he told reporters. Case in point, a Ugandan newspaper prints an article titled, "EXPOSED! Uganda's 200 Top Homos Named." This could go very, very badly, very, very quickly. When we start seeing shameful human rights abuses, remember these Americans as the architects.
Harry Reid on the Brothers Koch: "When you make billions of dollars a year you can be as immoral and dishonest as your money will allow you to be. It’s too bad that they’re trying to buy America, and it’s time that the American people spoke out against this terrible dishonesty of these two brothers who are about as un-American as anyone that I can imagine." So expect vapors, fainting, and victim cards from the right.
Wow. Rep. Steve King gives a rambling speech where he seems to believe that people in Latin America aren't overwhelmingly Christian, that Christopher Columbus did indigenous people a great favor, and that only Protestants have a "work ethic." This is one seriously deranged, ignorant, and hateful individual.
Finally, Rand Paul grandstands by blocking a Surgeon General nominee. Sen. Poodlehair's problem? That Dr. Vivek Murthy supports Obamacare and thinks that guns are dangerous. The Republican Party deserves this stupid parade float of a perpetual candidate. May he make them all look as shallow and hamhandedly opportunist as he is.
[cartoon via About.com]
