Civil & Human Rights

Two Americas, and two alternate realities

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Remember when many pundits suggested that America had become a color-blind Post-racial America after the election of Barack Obama in 2008? Yeah . . .

I watched the news coverage from Ferguson, Missouri last night. It reminded me of  Mayor Daley’s police riot at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in 1968. Spike Lee could use Ferguson as the setting of a sequel to his Do the Right Thing (1989).

I was struck by the disparity between two events this year.

Screenshot from 2014-08-14 16:06:28First, the Bundy Ranch standoff between armed right-wing militias seeking a confrontation with the “tyrannical” federal “guvmint” come to enforce a lawful seizure order of the court for the cattle of a deadbeat rancher who does not recognize the federal government, the government to which he owes a $1 million dollars for grazing fees and court costs, because “freedom!” Not a single shot was fired, and not one person was arrested for their armed insurrection against law enforcement officers.

The conservative media entertainment complex portrayed these anti-government insurrectionists as “patriots.”

Second, Ferguson, Missouri, where an unarmed teenager, Michael Brown, was shot allegedly multiple times by a police officer for walking in the street. Ferguson has a history of racial tensions with the local police. Even before Michael Brown’s slaying in Ferguson, racial questions hung over police. Wednesday night was a peaceful protest of citizens exercising their First Amendment rights of freedom of speech, peaceable assembly, and to petition their local government for a redress of grievances. A militarized police force insisted that they could not. Nor could the media covering the protest exercise its First Amendment right to freedom of the press. The police opened fire with rubber bullets, tear gas, and flash grenades. And arrested members of the media.

The conservative media entertainment complex portrayed the Black citizens of Ferguson as “lynch mobs,” Laura Ingraham calls protestors in Ferguson “lynch mobs”, and Fox News Fearmongers About The New Black Panther Party. And Conservatives Attack Reporters For Being Arrested In Ferguson.

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Pima County Seniors Protest Martha McSally’s Attacks on Social Security

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Seniors Mark Social Security Anniversary, Protest McSally’s Support for Privatization Local seniors will gather this afternoon on the 79th anniversary of Social Security’s enactment to call on Martha McSally to stop attacking seniors’ retirement savings and start supporting this important program. McSally has repeatedly said she supports Republican efforts to undermine Social Security by trying … Read more

Virginia is for Lovers: 4th Circuit Court of Appeals will not stay its same-sex marriage ruling

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The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals denied a stay order Wednesday in Virginia’s same-sex marriage appeal. Unless the U.S. Supreme Court issues a stay order (as it has done for the state of Utah), same-sex couples could begin getting marriage licenses to wed as early as next Wednesday. Lyle Denniston at SCOTUSblog.com reports, No delay on Virginia same-sex marriage ruling (UPDATED):

EqualThe Fourth Circuit’s three-judge panel denied the stay, in a two-to-one decision.  The decision itself was similarly divided.

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The Fourth Circuit late last month struck down the Virginia ban on same-sex marriages, and the state has now appealed that to the Supreme Court (Rainey v. Bostic), even though state officials support the decision.  A county clerk who has been defending the Virginia ban is also expected to file a petition for review of that decision, and both are likely to be considered by the Court early in the new Term starting this fall.

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No, wobbly Democrats, Scott Smith is (still) not your GOP boyfriend

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Crossposted at DemocraticDiva.com

Former Mesa Mayor and AZ GOP Gubernatorial candidate Scott Smith got an undeniable boost on Thursday. He was not only endorsed by Governor Brewer (which everyone expected would happen, though it’s curious that they waited until after mail-in ballots dropped to do it) but AZ Cardinals owner Michael Bidwill swiftly cancelled a meeting with Smith backers in which he was going to try and get them to switch to Doug Ducey. This is a big deal. Smith’s team reports a big bump in fundraising overnight and, with Christine Jones’ campaign fading fast, Smith has a real chance in that primary. Smith will enjoy strong LDS support now that Ken Bennett is no longer a contender and it looks like he’s going to take business establishment support away from Ducey. (I still consider Ducey the favorite based on his early fundraising advantage, all the name ID he’s gotten with his feud with Jones, the continued dark money support from radical right wing moneybags, and the tendency of GOP primary voters to select the biggest asshole who is also electable in the general.)

Needless to say, this Scott Smith development caused a resurgence in the cooing and swooning that tends to overtake some of the more softhearted liberals/left-of-center types in Arizona where he is concerned. It’s so bad at this point that I’ve seen some Democrats bragging on Facebook how they changed their registration to get Republican ballots to vote for their dreamboat.

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‘Arizona Freedom Summer’ 2014

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latino_vote_110210-thumb-640xauto-1468One Arizona, a non-partisan partnership dedicated to voter registration and bringing about full electoral participation by the Latino Community, today  launched “Arizona Freedom Summer” (2014 is the 50th Anniversary of Mississippi Freedom Summer). The Phoenix New Times reports, Groups Launch “Arizona Freedom Summer,” Campaign to Get Out the Latino Vote:

A coalition of immigrant rights groups held a press conference this morning to announce the launch of “Arizona Freedom Summer,” a campaign to get out the Latino vote in this fall’s elections.

The campaign’s name references the push to register African-American voters in the segregated Deep South about 50 years ago. But this time, volunteers came from the south to register voters here in Arizona. This morning, a bus with 43 volunteers from Arkansas arrived at St. Matthew’s Catholic Church in Phoenix. The visitors, members of an immigrant-rights non-profit called the Arkansas United Community Coalition, are here to share their knowledge with members of One Arizona, a non-partisan coalition of church groups, student organizations, and individuals working to get out the Latino vote and push for immigration reform.

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