Brett Kavanaugh, who is incredibly anti-gay, won’t say on the record his opinions about same-sex marriage and anti-discrimination laws. But his court writings reveal he’s as far, if not further right, than Scalia.
The Russo Brothers put out an awesome video that goes over all the deaths in the MCU:
Kipchoge broke the World Record in the Berlin Marathon this morning. Dumb Runner, always spots on, weighs in.
I wrote a while back, at least I think I did, about the article ‘the epidemic of gay loneliness,’ and a recent Savage Love column looks at that as well, a good read for everybody.
In case you (for whatever reason) thought otherwise, the SCOTUS nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, is opposed to same-sex marriage and would certainly rule against it (if there is a conservative majority on the court, it will be back and I’ll lose my rights).
While the Catholic Church was protecting and covering up the sex-crimes of some of its members, let’s all remember that it was also lecturing everyone else on the evils of:
Birth control
Abortion
Masturbation
Sex outside of marriage
Not being straight (i.e. being either “L” or “G” or “B” or “T” and so on)
Any number of other issues regarding “sexual morality”
The word you’re looking for is hypocrisy. Huge blatant hypocrisy.
No amount of contemporary apologies will change that.
Okay, onto some better and more beautiful news, there is a fake final image sent by the Cassini probe, which is beautiful (but fake because it wasn’t the last photo sent). The last photo is also breathtaking:
After the election, I knew four couples who quickly got married, afraid that we would lose the right. And that’s a fear that straight people don’t understand. The few civil rights we have are new, and are still fragile. And as it turns out, they might have been right to be so worried:
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday let stand a Texas ruling that said the right to a marriage license did not entitle same-sex couples to spousal benefits under employee insurance plans.
Limiting same-sex marriage is the objective here – benefits, adoption, tax deductions, legal rights, etc. Restricting LGBTQ people across the board is the goal.
That decision was followed up with the arguments in Masterpiece Cake Shop which looks to use the bullshit idea of ‘religious freedom’ to hide bigotry and legal discrimination. There are a lot of lines being drawn between this case and the racial discrimination case Piggie Park Barbecue from the sixties.
If a business is open to the public, what they sell should be available to all of the public. The baker would be just as wrong if he declined to make a wedding cake for a black couple, citing his religious beliefs. If you sell a product (in this case, wedding cakes), you should not be able to put restrictions as to who you will sell it to, that would take us back to the times of delis with signs saying they would not serve Irish and lunch counter sit-ins.
Although, to no one’s surprise, the white house would be all for bakeries (and other businesses) hanging up “no gays” signs.
Slate has a great article going through the myriad of reasons why this is insanity, give it a read. It rips apart most of the arguments I’ve heard, including this quote:
Telling minorities who have suffered a history of discrimination that it’s unneighborly, unseemly, or discourteous to fight for rights that they’re being denied but you’re enjoying is shameless—ultimately just another mechanism for denying those rights in the first place. Do you actually think the minority members love always having to be the loudmouths reminding the world that they deserve the same rights as you already have? And to the extent that some activists become almost permanently wedded to the “angry activist” position, can you really blame them?
Sadly though, legal scholars (and myself, not a legal scholar) are not optimistic about the outcome, which will open a floodgate of further discrimination where literally any business could turn me away at a moment’s notice. Not exactly a world I want to have to navigate.
We’ll find out over the summer when the ruling comes down, until then, I’ll be a ball of nerves over this hugely important case.
Gingrich would like to remind everybody that that marriage is between one man and one woman whom you abandon riddled with cancer on her hospital bed while you fuck the shit out of your mistress whom you later marry and cheat on with a third woman while screaming with Godly moral outrage about the infidelities of the president.
Bill Gates talks about this latest endeavor, eradicating polio around the world. My favorite quote however, is where he states the vaccine-autism link is an ‘absolute lie.’ I’ve never really listened to him speak for that long, but he is very well spoken. Maybe not as good as Steve Jobs, but better than what I had perceived he would be. Anyway, here’s the clip:
And lastly today, this is scary first, because of the oppression of expression (and bloggers) and two, because it is a reality that in some areas, certain ethnic groups have limited rights.
Alright everyone, I have a lot of stuff to post again, so bear with me.
First off, Dollhouse went off the air two weeks ago, I’m still sad about it, but I highly suggest you watch it on DVD (skip the first few episodes of Season 1 and start with “Man on the Street”), in case you’re wondering here’s what you missed (spoilers, obviously):
Priya’s painting from season one was auctioned off for over $6,000, all going to the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles. And io9 recaps why we’ll miss Dollhouse, and it’s an excellent read.
But luckily, Lost is back. Here’s what you missed the first five seasons:
And here are Newsweek staffers who have never seen Lost trying to explain what’s going on:
A new series of books is going to be published via Geocaching. I saw an updated interview with the author, and he’s trying to spread them all over the globe, pretty cool, but kind of impractical. Also, I don’t seem very interested in the books themselves. Oh well.
Thankfully, PG+ has more than 35 members. And by the way, it’s awesome! I’ll be writing about it over at Metblogs pretty soon I hope.
Thanks Supreme Court:
I’m not sold on the iPad, if it was open to more than just the app store, I think I would get one, but right now, I don’t think it’s worth it. Check out Slog’s coverage of it, icnluding this gem of a sentence:
UPDATE: Post edited and cleaned up, because I was drunk.
Pensblog has an awesome guide to hockey fans. Check it out here. And the game is still going on tonight but the doors open early at 6 p.m.
One of the guys I work with is the Mayor of North Irwin! I call him Mr. Mayor now. Apparently the city council just fights a lot, so I want to get a group from work to show up with posters and bells like at a little league game or something. I think it would be fun. Also, as I like to mention, he won by 23 votes: mandate of the people!
NPR has a great article about the passage of time, and how we perceive it as we age. Check it out.
Rob Tisinai is back, his videos are articulate, well researched, and just all around amazing:
The Don’t Ask Don’t Tell hearings continue on. Want to see McCain absolutely owned? Check out this link. Not that he’ll change his stance, but it’s great to see nonetheless. Here’s more reactions to the hearings.
This is pretty awesome, and I think Pat would really dig it:
I commented earlier about the first legal male prostitute, and how he, ahem, compared himself to Rosa Parks. Yeah, he’s not bright at all. Well, the New York Post partook in his services (not all of them), check it out, but be ready to laugh a lot, and barf.
And if that didn’t enrage you enough, check out these three links about the “relief work” Scientologists are doing in Haiti. Disgusting. Because Haiti doesn’t need food or water, no, they need machines to con them into thinking they have dead alien spirits inside them. If you’re still looking for something to do to help, look no further than Savage Love, Facebook, and an awesome idea.
I like the ads, especially the first one, a lot. However, I do have to agree, I won’t be taking marriage advise from Utah thankyouverymuch. Also, the comments are a great read!
Want to commemorate the recent snow, get the t-shirt (I also suggest the map of Pittsburgh shirt):
That’s all I have for now, I have more, but I need to take a break, this has been a long post, but I’m almost all caught up! Catch everyone in a little bit!
