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This week in news - 24-28 June 02013
Jun. 29th, 2013 10:32 amIt's been a week that makes large amounts of news here in the United States. Here's your special report.
A six-woman jury was selected for the trial of George Zimmerman - there were no black people on the jury. The trial continues. I suspect, however, that the all-female jury will allow for the playing up of narratives painting Trayvon Martin as the Scary Black Man who hides and waits to do violence and sexual assault to women, and that they should be thanking Zimmerman for removing a threat to their patriarchal worth.
The Supreme Court of the United States strikes Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act, deleting the current formula for determining whether a state or county is required to clear proposed voting changes through the Justice Department, effectively nullifying the Voting Rights Act until Congress can pass a new formula into existence. In the void, states and counties are rushing to pass everything they can to disenfranchise minority voters. One example from Texas would redistrict so that a polling place in a mostly minority area will have to serve nearly ten times as many voters as a polling place in a mostly white area. The Court's Opinion, in its majesty, is available in full from their website.
The Supreme Court of the United States strikes Section 3 of the Defense Of Marriage Act, requiring all federal benefits conferred by marriage to be extended to all married couples, instead of just one man and one woman partnerships. The court's 5-4 ruling uses some interesting legal logic to achieve this purpose - because some states grant marriages to QUILTBAG couples, the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments requirements for equal protection under the law require the federal government to recognize those marriages as valid and grant them federal benefits. If we had no states that granted marriage equality, then this challenge might have failed by that logic. The Court's Opinion, in its unedited glory, is available to all from their website.
In a related manner, The Supreme Court of the United States also ruled that the plaintiffs in a case seeking to appeal a Circuit Court decision regarding the constitutionality of California's Proposition Eight lacked the standing to bring the case to the Supreme Court. In another 5-4 ruling, the Justices concluded that the State of California, which refused to appeal the case after the Circuit Court decision, was the only entity that could bring the case, and the Proposition's backers did not have an interest past that of ordinary citizens. The Court's Opinion, dissents and all, is available to all from their website. After this ruling, the Ninth Circuit Court Of Appeals sped up the process and declared that marriages could begin in California on Friday. Both sets of plaintiffs were wed.
In Texas, after citizens filled the public commentary period for hours on a bill to restrict abortions in the state, State Senator Wendy Davis spoke for nearly eleven hours on the bill before being finally ruled out of order for the third time two hours before the end of a special legislative session. What followed, instead of the planned vote, was a parliamentary procedure masterpiece of inquiry, appeal, and delay, aided in its final minutes by cheering and protesting from the gallery that burnt minutes of the clock in trying to restore order. In the end, after initially claiming a vote on the measure had begun before the expiry of the special session, the Republicans conceded the session had ended before they were able to vote. Some part of that may have been due to the rapid dissemination of documents and screenshots showing a vote time taken after midnight that was then changed to show a vote time before midnight. There were complaints from the Republican side about the behavior of the gallery in those last few minutes. A particular complaint was directed at the gallery that assised he filibuster, accusing it of "Occupy Wall Street" tactics. The underlying assumption that OWS is somehow a smear needs examination by the person making the accusation.
The Christian Science Monitor offers a short profile of State Senator Wendy Davis, as well as some of the rules that she had to abide by to continue her filibuster. There were several choice quotes from the filibuster, some of which were swiftly turned into image memes after their utterance. For example:
Senator Davis: “Lawmakers, either get out of the vagina business or go to medical school.”
Senator Leticia van De Putte, near the deadline: “At what point must a female Senator raise her voice to be recognized by her male colleagues?” That one set the gallery in motion.
Mainstream media coverage of the event as it happened was...lacking. Except, remarkably, Rolling Stone, who continue to build their reputation as a magazine with excellent reporters. They're nominally a music magazine, right?
And the end result? Governor Perry called the legislature back for another session to try again, citing his belief in a mandate from the people to pass the legislation, and blaming the lack of bill passage on the gallery from the filibuster. The Governor is wrong in his belief in a mandate from the people. SB5 could not pass in regular session, it failed in special session. It should be gracefully put to rest. Instead, he expressed his brief that the Rightness of his cause was proportionate to the amount of the protests against it while delivering a personal insult to State Senator Davis, claiming she hasn't learned from her own example about the Rightness of forced anti-choice scenarios.
Elsewhere, Ohio Republicans inserted several anti-choice provisions into the state budget and then passed them without any debate. So, unless the avowedly anti-choice governor of Ohio strikes them out with a line-item veto, the State of Ohio will redefine abortion to include hormonal birth control, among other anti-choice measures. Texas Republicans probably wish they had done it that way.
And in North Carolina, the State will mandate that health teachers lie to their students and tell them that abortion increases tgeir risk for premature birth should they get pregnant again.
Last out, A six year-old transgender child will be allowed to use the bathroom of her presentation, instead of being forced to use the bathroom of her assigned birth gender. It's not always all bad.
It's been a week of exclamation points.
A six-woman jury was selected for the trial of George Zimmerman - there were no black people on the jury. The trial continues. I suspect, however, that the all-female jury will allow for the playing up of narratives painting Trayvon Martin as the Scary Black Man who hides and waits to do violence and sexual assault to women, and that they should be thanking Zimmerman for removing a threat to their patriarchal worth.
The Supreme Court of the United States strikes Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act, deleting the current formula for determining whether a state or county is required to clear proposed voting changes through the Justice Department, effectively nullifying the Voting Rights Act until Congress can pass a new formula into existence. In the void, states and counties are rushing to pass everything they can to disenfranchise minority voters. One example from Texas would redistrict so that a polling place in a mostly minority area will have to serve nearly ten times as many voters as a polling place in a mostly white area. The Court's Opinion, in its majesty, is available in full from their website.
The Supreme Court of the United States strikes Section 3 of the Defense Of Marriage Act, requiring all federal benefits conferred by marriage to be extended to all married couples, instead of just one man and one woman partnerships. The court's 5-4 ruling uses some interesting legal logic to achieve this purpose - because some states grant marriages to QUILTBAG couples, the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments requirements for equal protection under the law require the federal government to recognize those marriages as valid and grant them federal benefits. If we had no states that granted marriage equality, then this challenge might have failed by that logic. The Court's Opinion, in its unedited glory, is available to all from their website.
In a related manner, The Supreme Court of the United States also ruled that the plaintiffs in a case seeking to appeal a Circuit Court decision regarding the constitutionality of California's Proposition Eight lacked the standing to bring the case to the Supreme Court. In another 5-4 ruling, the Justices concluded that the State of California, which refused to appeal the case after the Circuit Court decision, was the only entity that could bring the case, and the Proposition's backers did not have an interest past that of ordinary citizens. The Court's Opinion, dissents and all, is available to all from their website. After this ruling, the Ninth Circuit Court Of Appeals sped up the process and declared that marriages could begin in California on Friday. Both sets of plaintiffs were wed.
In Texas, after citizens filled the public commentary period for hours on a bill to restrict abortions in the state, State Senator Wendy Davis spoke for nearly eleven hours on the bill before being finally ruled out of order for the third time two hours before the end of a special legislative session. What followed, instead of the planned vote, was a parliamentary procedure masterpiece of inquiry, appeal, and delay, aided in its final minutes by cheering and protesting from the gallery that burnt minutes of the clock in trying to restore order. In the end, after initially claiming a vote on the measure had begun before the expiry of the special session, the Republicans conceded the session had ended before they were able to vote. Some part of that may have been due to the rapid dissemination of documents and screenshots showing a vote time taken after midnight that was then changed to show a vote time before midnight. There were complaints from the Republican side about the behavior of the gallery in those last few minutes. A particular complaint was directed at the gallery that assised he filibuster, accusing it of "Occupy Wall Street" tactics. The underlying assumption that OWS is somehow a smear needs examination by the person making the accusation.
The Christian Science Monitor offers a short profile of State Senator Wendy Davis, as well as some of the rules that she had to abide by to continue her filibuster. There were several choice quotes from the filibuster, some of which were swiftly turned into image memes after their utterance. For example:
Senator Davis: “Lawmakers, either get out of the vagina business or go to medical school.”
Senator Leticia van De Putte, near the deadline: “At what point must a female Senator raise her voice to be recognized by her male colleagues?” That one set the gallery in motion.
Mainstream media coverage of the event as it happened was...lacking. Except, remarkably, Rolling Stone, who continue to build their reputation as a magazine with excellent reporters. They're nominally a music magazine, right?
And the end result? Governor Perry called the legislature back for another session to try again, citing his belief in a mandate from the people to pass the legislation, and blaming the lack of bill passage on the gallery from the filibuster. The Governor is wrong in his belief in a mandate from the people. SB5 could not pass in regular session, it failed in special session. It should be gracefully put to rest. Instead, he expressed his brief that the Rightness of his cause was proportionate to the amount of the protests against it while delivering a personal insult to State Senator Davis, claiming she hasn't learned from her own example about the Rightness of forced anti-choice scenarios.
Elsewhere, Ohio Republicans inserted several anti-choice provisions into the state budget and then passed them without any debate. So, unless the avowedly anti-choice governor of Ohio strikes them out with a line-item veto, the State of Ohio will redefine abortion to include hormonal birth control, among other anti-choice measures. Texas Republicans probably wish they had done it that way.
And in North Carolina, the State will mandate that health teachers lie to their students and tell them that abortion increases tgeir risk for premature birth should they get pregnant again.
Last out, A six year-old transgender child will be allowed to use the bathroom of her presentation, instead of being forced to use the bathroom of her assigned birth gender. It's not always all bad.
It's been a week of exclamation points.
