Civil & Human Rights

6th Circuit Court of Appeals upholds Ohio District Court ruling restoring early voting

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The Cleveland Plain Dealer reports, Ohio loses early voting appeal; order to expand hours remains intact:

VotersA federal appeals court on Wednesday affirmed a district court decision restoring early voting cuts and expanding early voting hours.

The ruling from the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals is a setback for Secretary of State Jon Husted, who had appealed a lower court’s order that he expand early voting hours and move the first day of early voting from Oct. 7 to Sept. 30.

The three-judge panel previously rejected a request to delay the court order pending Husted’s appeal. Husted then expanded statewide early, in-person voting hours while the case proceeded.

Husted, in a statement released late Wednesday afternoon, said he will ask the full appeals court to overturn the panel’s ruling.

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GOP chickens

Ducey, Brnovich, Douglas & Forese: Why Are You Afraid of Tucson?

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GOP chickens
If Tea Party Republicans can’t bother to come to Tucson to meet us, they don’t deserve our votes!

It was bad enough when Republican gubernatorial candidate Dicey Doug Ducey decided to duck debates in Tucson, but now the League of Women Voters of Greater Tucson (LWVGT) has reported that only ONE of the invited Republicans– Corporation Commission candidate Doug  “I Heart APS” Little– will participate in a televised LWVGT debate in Tucson. All of the Democratic candidates agreed to the LWVGT debate invitation, along with Libertarian Barry Hess and “Independent Constitutionalist” J.L. Mealer.

“Dark Money” Ducey, Attorney General candidate Mark “Nullify the Constitution” Brnovich, Diane “Tea Party Tool” Douglas, and Tom “I Heart APS” Forese have all decided that debating in Arizona’s second largest city is not worth their time. These cowardly Republicans are taking a page from the playbooks of Senators Jeff Flake and John McCain: don’t go south of Oro Valley, unless you have to rush to the border for a photo opp.

Was it something we said? Or something they’re afraid we’ll say? Did someone tell them that every old hippie artist in Tucson has protest signs tucked behind the couch? Let’s face it. These bought-and-paid-for Koch Brothers candidates can’t hold a candle to the Democratic Party’s slate, and they know it. They don’t want to look stupid on camera. They prefer to hide and hope no one will notice. (Remember Jan Brewer’s on-camera brain fart in 2010?)

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State court judge in Louisiana contradicts a federal court judge in striking down state’s same-sex marriage ban

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A state court judge in Louisiana on Monday struck down that state’s same-sex marriage ban as unconstitutional. The Times-Picayune reports Lafayette judge strikes down state’s ban on same-sex marriage:

EqualA Lafayette judge Monday ruled Louisiana’s ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional. But Attorney General Buddy Caldwell plans to appeal the decision directly to the Louisiana Supreme Court, a Caldwell spokesperson said.

Details of the ruling by Judge Edward Rubin of the 15th Judicial District Court weren’t immediately known because it was sealed. Caldwell’s office said the judgement is likely sealed because it involves adoption issues.

People close to the case said they think Rubin invalidated the ban for violating the due process and equal protection clauses of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Representatives for the plaintiff’s attorney, Joshua Guillory, said he could not comment until the ruling is unsealed.

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The Wisconsin Poll Watcher Militia: thugs to threaten and intimidate voters

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A number of years ago I was working an election in Wisconsin, and one of the local voter suppression groups had distributed fliers in African-American neighborhoods advising voters that if they had any outstanding warrants, or unpaid child support, or unpaid traffic tickets, etc. they could be subject to arrest. On election day, police vehicles were parked close by to polling locations just to emphasize the point. (FYI: All of this is illegal voter intimidation).

Now there is the Wisconsin Poll Watcher Militia, a bunch of thugs who plan to  threaten and intimidate Democratic voters who signed recall petitions against Tea-Publican Governor Scott Walker, “the goggle-eyed homunculus hired by Koch Industries to manage their midwest subsidiary formerly known as the state of Wisconsin,” as Charles Pierce of Esquire calls him.

The Capitol Times in Madison reports a developing story in Wisconsin, ‘Wisconsin Poll Watcher Militia<‘ plans to confront Scott Walker recall petition signers at polls:

TotalRecallA self-described militia group claims to be checking names on the 2012 Scott Walker recall petition and plans to confront those found to have outstanding warrants or tax defaults at the polls on Nov. 4.

“We prefer our people be armed,” reads a Facebook post by Wisconsin Poll Watcher Militia, screen captured on a blog at Politicususa.com. “Some will be heading to some of Milwaukee, Racine, and Beloit’s worst areas. We will be armed with a list of people to look for at each location.”

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Strike Fast Food

Fast Food Giants Want Congressional Lackeys to Protect Them from Unionization

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Strike Fast Food
Burger King workers in Tucson went on strike in early September 2014. It was part of a 150-city nationwide action organized by SEIU.

Over the past few years, fast food workers have made strides in their fight for a living wage, fair treatment by their corporate masters, and the right to unionize.

Nationwide fast food strikes organized by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) have brought the issues of chronically low wages and wage theft in the fast food industry into the limelight.

Since millionaire franchisee owners and their billionaire corporate parents are not succeeding in their fight to keep the highly-profitable status quo, they are turning to Congress for help in fighting to keep their workers poor and non-union.

From Think Progress…

The fast food industry is hoping that a day of lobbying on Capitol Hill can blunt the momentum that fast food workers have gained through nearly two years of strikes and multiple lawsuits.

The International Franchise Association (IFA) is flying fast food store owners and other franchisees into Washington on Tuesday to drum up congressional opposition to a recent legal decision that could make corporations liable for how franchise employees are treated. The trade group expects more than 350 business owners from both the franchisee and franchisor sides of the business model to show up at its event this week, according toThe Hill. Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and former Republican Governors Association head and Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour are scheduled to speak to the group, and the paper reports that top Senate Republicans will introduce legislation targeting federal labor regulators in general later this week.

The top attorney for the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) determined in July that McDonald’s exerts so much control over how franchisees operate that they are responsible for labor law violations committed by franchise owners. That finding has yet to be tested in court, but if it holds up and is applied beyond the nation’s largest fast food chain, it would make it much harder for industries that rely on franchising to stymie workers’ attempts to exercise their labor rights.

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