It has been clear for some time that, since their actual policies and practices are so unpopular with key demographics, the GOP strategy for winning elections is to try and reduce voting by likely Democratic voters by enacting strict voter ID laws under the pretext of preventing fraud, a problem that does not exist in any significant way to matter. But yesterday, these measures received two significant setbacks.
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On two consecutive days, Stephen Colbert looked at those who seem to thrive on dismissing health experts about the threat of an Ebola epidemic in the US and instead wallow in mindless fear and fear-mongering.
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John Freshwater was a public school teacher in Ohio who was teaching creationist ideas in his science classes, keeping Bibles on his desk, and had the 10 Commandments posted on the wall. In one case, parents charged that he had used a Tesla coil to make the sign of a cross on a student’s arm. He was dismissed in 2011 after he refused to obey a district demand that he refrain from such actions.
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Gabriel Sherman says that NBC News aggressively courted Jon Stewart to take over the role of host of Meet the Press held by David Gregory when the latter was kicked out. NBC offered him practically anything he wanted but it did not work out. Sherman then goes on:
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When it comes to same-sex marriage, the current state of play can be a little confusing, consisting as it does of a mixture of legislative and judicial decisions. Since the US Supreme Court has declined to hear, for now at least, cases that deal with this issue, we are left with a patchwork of laws passed by referenda and legislatures and state and federal courts. We have basically three different situations:
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With all the stories about the police shooting of civilians, I was curious about how many people are killed each year this way. Samantha Bee of The Daily Show tries to get this number and, incredibly, finds that that this important piece of data does not exist, though they can tell you many bicycles are stolen.
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Chris Hamby writes about the latest outrage, consisting of an FBI agent setting up a Facebook account in a real woman’s name using her private information in order to lure a suspect, all without her knowledge. And the Justice Department is claiming to a judge that it has a perfect right to do so.
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This year’s Nobel prizes for physics were announced yesterday and went to three scientists for their work in developing blue light emitting diodes, something that has had a big impact on technology because without it, we could not create white light.
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The more inscrutable an important organization is, the more effort that goes into trying to discern why they behave the way they do. The US Supreme Court is a prime example. It almost never gives reasons as to why it accepts or rejects cases for review and has been quite successful in having the justices and their clerks not reveal their internal discussions and workings, at least until their papers are released long after they have retired or died.
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