The week that just ended was a good one.
After the appalling tragedy of the previous week with the Charleston killings, things improved considerably this week with the confederate flag suddenly losing favor as a result of the killer’s fondness for it, then a key provision of Obamacare being upheld by the US Supreme Court, and then same body saying that bans on same-sex marriage were unconstitutional.
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I will have an extensive review of the same-sex marriage opinions tomorrow but here’s The Daily Show on the ugly history of the confederate flag and sudden unraveling of support for it with bastions of the south calling for its removal from public spaces.
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In a huge decision released just now, today the US Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that bans on same-sex marriages were unconstitutional under the Fourteenth Amendment. Justice Kennedy wrote the majority opinion, joined by Kagan, Ginsburg, Breyer, and Sotomayor.
This is a great day for the LGBT community and for everyone who believes in equal rights.
The ruling seems to go well beyond what I expected but I will write more about this later when I have had time to read the opinions and dissents. Unfortunately today is a very busy day for me.
But for now, all I will say is congratulations to those who fought so hard for this day.
As expected, the Supreme Court’s 6-3 decision to uphold the Obama administration’s understanding of the Obamacare law and reject the plaintiff’s claims that only health exchanges set up by the state could be used to provide the federal tax subsidies that made health insurance affordable to many has created a furious reaction from the right-wingers who seem to have become almost unhinged (I compiled a list of some of the immediate reactions yesterday.) The vehemence may be partly explained by their overly optimistic expectations that they would win, since they had won in the Appeals Court.
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Apparently Donald Trump has filed the paperwork for his candidacy, suggesting that he is serious about running, at least for now. Some observers seem surprised that polls show a surge in support for him. He is now in second place among the Republican candidates with support at 11%, just behind Jeb Bush at 12%.
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So the reviews are coming in from the right wing nutcases following today’s Supreme Court ruling upholding the subsidies provided by the federal exchanges in those states that did not set up state exchanges. They were predicted to be over the top and they did not disappoint, essentially claiming that democracy is dead and the system of government envisioned by the country’s founders has been replaced by a tyrannical president supported by judicial activist Supreme Court.
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By a 6-3 vote issued today in the case of King v. Burwell, the US Supreme Court upheld the subsidies for health insurance provided by the federal exchanges in those states that decided to not set up state exchanges. This will come as a huge relief to the Obama administration’s signature legislation. But more importantly, it will enable about 10 million people to continue to get affordable health care coverage.
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Pope Francis has created an interesting situation when it comes to political alliances. On the one hand, he has said some very positive things on the injustices waged against the poor, the evil of massive inequality with the rich getting much richer at the expense of the poor, and the importance of combating global warming and the resulting climate change.
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Back in April, I wrote about a ballot initiative proposed in California by a lawyer Matt McLaughlin that called for the death for anyone who engaged in homosexual activities. He called it the Sodomite Suppression Act though it quickly became dubbed the “Shoot the Gays” petition.
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