Sen. Wendy Davis planned to filibuster the bill, but its supporters weren't worried. Texas' rules for filibusters are quirky, draconian, and nearly impossible to follow. For Davis' filibuster to succeed, she would have to speak for 13 straight hours without pausing, sitting, leaning, eating, drinking, going to the bathroom, or addressing anything other than the specific topic of the specific bill in question. Read more
Samuel Alito can't bear to hear women talk. The IRS scandal was not a scandal. When did evangelicals start drinking beer? Feedly is glitchy. Texas men want women to sit down, shut up, and let others decide for them. Still leaning, leaning, leaning on. A tribute to Mama Colbert. Read more
For more than a dozen years, supporters of DOMA, the federal law banning the recognition of same-sex marriages, have advocated a constitutional amendment saying the same thing as that law. Because they knew, and we knew, and everybody knew that DOMA was unconstitutional. After all, there's really no point in even bothering with things like laws and rights and constitutions if at any point the majority can just start passing laws denying legal rights to minorities they don't like. And now that's official Read more
I get the impulse — a self-absorbed little prick really shouldn't be handed a diploma and declared "educated" until someone has pointed out to him that he shouldn't be such a self-absorbed little prick. And the idea of mandatory service for high school students begins to look more attractive the more you listen to the whining of its most vocal opponents. Yet for all of that "mandatory service" still seems like an oxymoron. Read more
Well, the 15th Amendment was nice while it lasted. And thanks to the Voting Rights Act, it was actually mostly enforced for almost 50 years. Here's a round-up of reactions and ramifications from yesterday's Supreme Court ruling neutering one of the capstones of the Civil Rights movement. Read more
Santorum's talk about making "a positive impact on our country's cultural challenges" is hogwash. EchoLight doesn't make movies that aspire to influence the wider culture. It makes movies that will be deemed safe and permissible within the white evangelical subculture. These are tribal movies produced by and for members of the tribe. And Santorum isn't really a member of that tribe. Read more
Before your first date, just answer these 423 questions. More big news on what's not big news. A Greenwald piece on the great potential for good from Big Data. "Safe and secure from all alarms." "A place that's far, so far away." "It's just a shot away." Read more
Much talk today in the sports world of the "risks" these teams are taking by drafting players so young. The teams, many are saying, are "gambling" on these kids. I'd suggest that it's possible for these teams to mitigate some of that risk. And I'd insist that it's their obligation when gambling on these kids not to also gamble with these kids. Read more
A Goodbye, Mr. Chips flash mob. "Public school" in the eyes of those who never went to public school. Greenwald and PETA. Jacques is not a reliable evaluator of his own melancholy. Sheep vs. Goats volleyball. Fugelsang on punching down. And calling it what it is. Read more
Fifty-four senators feel that top-secret interrogations of prisoners of war conducted to discover intelligence vital to our national security is the sort of tangential activity best outsourced to private contractors. What could possibly go wrong with that? Read more
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