Category Archives: News

Gay Couple Legally Wed in Oklahoma Despite Statewide Ban

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Gay couple in Oklahoma legally wed despite state ban on same-sex marriage – LGBTQ Nation.
My new favorite tribe! Congratulations!

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In this photo provided by All Shots Photgraphy, the Rev. Floyd Black Bear, left, officiates the wedding of his son, Darren Black Bear, second from left, to Jason Pickel, second from right, at Fort Reno in Oklahoma. They are the third same-sex couple to be issued a marriage license from the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes since 2012.| Brandi Duvall AP

Despite a gay marriage ban in the Oklahoma Constitution, Darren Black Bear, 45, and Jason Pickel, 36, wed before about 50 friends and family members at the Fort Reno chapel after being granted a marriage license from the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes. 

Greenwald On leaving the Guardian

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On leaving the Guardian | Glenn Greenwald | Comment is free | theguardian.com.

Glenn Greenwald is leaving Britain’s The Guardian newspaper to begin a new reporting structure with a couple of other journalists. Greenwald, most famous for his access to Edward Snowden and his NSA leaks, is also partner to David Miranda, who was detained while passing through Heathrow Airport earlier this year.

Greenwald, who lives with Miranda in Brazil, is, I believe, one of the great heroes of the free press in the 21st century. I look forward to his next series of adventures.

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Google Donates 17,000 Tablets to Hurricane Sandy Communities

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Google Donates 17,000 Nexus Tablets to Hurricane Sandy Communities. | Mashable

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Google has donated 17,000 tablets, with a total retail value of over $2.7 million, to libraries, senior centers and business and community centers in areas affected by Hurricane Sandy.

Okay. Well. That’s nice of Google. Surely the residents of New York and New Jersey who were affected by Sandy could use the cash instead?

House Republicans Show Themselves To Be Dangerously Incompetent, Again – Business Insider

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In fact, this is the least stunning event ever. The bill would have raised the debt ceiling. It would have changed Obamacare, Republicans\’ white whale, in only the most trivial ways. The powerful conservative pressure group Heritage Action opposed it. Of course Speaker John Boehner couldn\’t get the votes.

The only stunning thing is that anyone still looks at House Republicans and says: “You know what would be great? Giving these people more power over public policy.”

via House Republicans Show Themselves To Be Dangerously Incompetent, Again – Business Insider.

A decent article by Barro on the clusterfuck that is Washington these days. [H/T to Andrew Sullivan BTW for this.]

I’m not nearly as bullish on Chris Christie as Barro seems to be, but most of his other ruminations are sound.

It is just an embarrassment to be an American just now, I find.

I lived in D.C. when the Gingrich Congress shut down the government. That was ridiculous, but this is just mentally ill. How did we get here? … Well, I have an answer, but it would require a bunch of lazy Americans to get up off their asses and get to the voting booth and standing up to corporate bullshit. But … since that ain’t gonna happen, I guess I’ll just have to keep tilting at windmills on my own.

Thought for the Day…

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Your purpose, then, plainly stated, is that you will destroy the Government, unless you be allowed to construe and enforce the Constitution as you please, on all points in dispute between you and us. You will rule or ruin in all events. This, plainly stated, is your language…

In that supposed event, you say, you will destroy the Union; and then, you say, the great crime of having destroyed it will be upon us! That is cool. A highwayman holds a pistol to my ear, and mutters through his teeth, “Stand and deliver, or I shall kill you, and then you will be a murderer!”

To be sure, what the robber demanded of me – my money – was my own; and I had a clear right to keep it; but it was no more my own than my vote is my own; and the threat of death to me, to extort my money, and the threat of destruction to the Union, to extort my vote, can scarcely be distinguished in principle….

Let us be diverted by none of those sophistical contrivances wherewith we are so industriously plied and belabored – contrivances such as groping for some middle ground between the right and the wrong…

—Abraham Lincoln, Cooper Union address of 1860.

P.S. – For a comically tragic account of the goings-on in Washington, find a copy go Jon Stewart’s opener from the 9/30/13 Daily Show. Brilliant.

Follow, Follow, Follow

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Two points if you know what musical the title’s from! (If you don’t know, I’m going to box you severely around the ears!)

I’ve taken up a new full-time job recently and it may suck me dry, though I’m hoping to have time to continue to ruminate here on a regular basis.

I’ll have time to tweet more than blog, I think, at least for the first few months while I try to wrestle the unruly beast to the ground as I create a communications plan and system for this organization out of whole cloth. So, please follow me on the Twit at @markrblackmon — there’s a link over there (points left) to make it easy.

Thanks for following, liking and commenting on the blog; I appreciate it. … Good God, it’s October. How did that happen???

Report: Hollywood is less gay-friendly off-screen – LGBTQ Nation

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The online survey of nearly 5,700 SAG/AFTRA members also found that more than half of the gay, transgender and bisexual respondents had heard pro ducers and directors make anti-gay comments while working on-set.

The performers’ union, which is holding its annual convention in Los Angeles, said it pursued the first-of-its-kind research at the request of a committee that represents lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender members and as a methodical way to explore an issue usually discussed through anecdotes.

via Report: Hollywood is less gay-friendly off-screen – LGBTQ Nation.

OHMIGOD! How many times have I said this on this blog alone? THIS IS NOT NEWS. News would be actually fixing this problem. LGBT discrimination in Hollywood? Yes. Every day. Dammit.

I am Cassandra!

What Soap Operas Can Teach Newspapers About Survival

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Like soap operas, the newspaper industry has been slow to innovate and adapt to the digital age. Instead of embracing new ways to tell stories, and new platforms to tell them on, soap operas — like newspapers — resisted. That is, until now. This week Bloomberg TV interviewed veteran soap actress Deidre Hall and co-executive producer Greg Meng from the daytime serial Days of Our Lives, which has seen a four percent resurgence in ratings since the show revamped itself in 2011 (and it’s not even the most popular afternoon soap on air). The Bloomberg segment reveals several interesting points that I believe are applicable to the news industry in its report, ”You thought soap operas were dead…. They’re Not.” The same holds true for newspapers.

via What Soap Operas Can Teach Newspapers About Survival | allDigitocracy.

A good piece. The Bloomberg segment (linked in the cut above) is good, but it would have been better if the empty-headed anchors knew a scintilla about what they were talking about. Well, not like we’ve never seen THAT before!

OK Gov. Tells Guard Not to Process Benefits for Gay Couples

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Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin has ordered the National Guard to stop processing requests for military benefits for same-sex couples, her office confirmed Tuesday, despite a Pentagon directive to do so.

Fallin spokesman Alex Weintz said the governor was following the wish of Oklahoma voters, who approved a constitutional amendment in 2004 that prohibits giving benefits of marriage to gay couples.

via Mary Fallin, Oklahoma Gov., Tells National Guard To Stop Processing Benefits For Gay Couples.

*sigh* It’s like living in a country run by wolves sometimes. With apologies to smart wolves.

Out Mass. Legislator Releases ‘Adorable’ Ad Featuring His Dad

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You’ve got to take a look at this. One of the best political spots I’ve seen in a long time. Maybe that’s because it’s about issues, it’s lighthearted and it doesn’t make out the opposition to be the worst thing since Hitler. He’s selling himself. And doing a damn fine job of it, I think.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3S1zcbWkoM

According to the Huffington Post, Massachusetts State House member Carl Sciortino, Jr., 35, “is running to fill Sen. Ed Markey’s (D) empty House seat. The special election in the heavily Democratic district is set for Dec. 10, with the primary on Oct. 15. Sciortino is facing four other Democratic candidates.”

Sciortino is having a very busy fall. In addition to running for Congress, he’s set to marry his partner on October 5.

www.carlforcongress.com