Civil & Human Rights

Hero Dem candidate in AZ05 responds to anti-choicers in the most delightful way

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Crossposted from DemocraticDiva.com

james woods

Arizona Congressional District 5 is currently represented by Matt Salmon (who, when he ran for Governor in 2002, was considered to be firmly in the GOP establishment but is now a member of the Tea Party Caucus in Congress) and is viewed as an unwinnable district for Democrats. Nonetheless, James Woods has mounted a serious challenge and I don’t think I’ve ever found myself in more agreement with a candidate before.

I have a vision for an America in which we approach governance with the best evidence we have available–not ideology, revelation or religion. Public policy decisions should be made rationally through an unbiased examination of facts, efficacy and outcomes. This gives us the best possible chance of steering the country toward the advancement of prosperity for all. We must thoughtfully avoid the unverified opinions and irrational prejudices in our lawmaking process that thwart our common pursuit of happiness.

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Eric Holder: A message to the people of Ferguson

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U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, who was in Ferguson, Missouri today for a briefing on the investigation, had this op-ed published by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch this morning. A message to the people of Ferguson:

Eric_Holder_official_portraitSince the Aug. 9 shooting death of Michael Brown, the nation and the world have witnessed the unrest that has gripped Ferguson, Mo. At the core of these demonstrations is a demand for answers about the circumstances of this young man’s death and a broader concern about the state of our criminal justice system.

At a time when so much may seem uncertain, the people of Ferguson can have confidence that the Justice Department intends to learn — in a fair and thorough manner — exactly what happened.

Today, I will be in Ferguson to be briefed on the federal civil rights investigation that I have closely monitored since I launched it more than one week ago. I will meet personally with community leaders, FBI investigators and federal prosecutors from the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office to receive detailed briefings on the status of this case.

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SCOTUS stays marriage equality in Virginia

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EqualJust as I expected, the U.S. Supreme Court granted a request for stay of the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals decision striking down Virginia’s ban on same-sex marriage.What makes this situation different from the stay granted in the appeal from the state of Utah is that the request did not come from the state of  Virginia, but from a county clerk in Prince William County.

Amy Howe at SCOTUSblog.com reports, Court blocks Virginia same-sex marriage ruling:

Just as it did when a federal trial judge in Utah struck down that state’s ban on same-sex marriage, this afternoon the Supreme Court put on hold a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, which had held that Virginia’s ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional.

Michele McQuigg, the county clerk for Prince William County, Virginia, had asked the Court to step in to stay the Fourth Circuit’s decision, which otherwise would have gone into effect tomorrow.  The application for a stay went to Chief Justice John Roberts, who handles such requests from the geographic area that includes Virginia.  Roberts then referred the application to the full Court; there were no recorded dissents from today’s order.

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UPDATE: Guatemalan Children Get Six-Month Reprieve on Deportation

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Yesterday, I juxtaposed three immigration stories in my post— the sad news about the murder of 5-10 Honduran refugee children that the US deported recently, the plight of a young Guatemalan mother and her three children who crossed the border alone and are facing deportation, and the callous reaction to the child refugee crisis by … Read more

Guest post: Put Your Muzzle Where Your Mouth Is

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Muzzle_of_the_40.6_cm_gun

Put Your Muzzle Where Your Mouth Is

By Jeremy M. Helfgot

To America’s staunch supporters of gun rights:

Over the past several years, we’ve engaged in an ongoing dialogue regarding the interpretation and merits of the Second Amendment, and how it is currently applied.

And over and over, you have collectively expressed the same repeated argument: We need to have our firearms to protect ourselves in case the government ever becomes tyrannical and turns on us, creating a police state against which we must defend ourselves and our fellow citizens.

Nonsense.

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