Black Agenda Report Joins The Ghost on the NAACP and Sterling

For us at Black Agenda Report, the most telling angle on the story of Donald Sterling, the racist billionaire owner of the LA Clippers, was that the Los Angeles NAACP , which had been about to give Sterling a second – not a first but a second “Lifetime Achievement Award” eagerly stepped forward to offer redemption and forgiveness for the small cost of a few more strategic donations from the deep pockets of Donald Sterling.

But then again the NAACP was founded by folks with disdain for black folks. Garvey told on the NAACP a long time ago:

The greatest enemies of the Negro are among those who hypocritically profess love and fellowship for him, when, in truth, and deep down in their hearts, they despise and hate him. Pseudo-philanthropists and their organizations are killing the Negro. White men and women of the Moorefield Storey, Joel Spigarn, Julius Rosenwald, Oswald Garrison Villard, Congressman Dyer, [Donald Sterling] and Mary White Ovington Type, in conjunction with the above mentioned agencies, are disarming, dis-visioning, dis-ambitioning and fooling the Negro to death. They teach the Negro to look to the whites in a false direction...at the same time distracting the Negro from the real solution and objective of securing nationalism[My insertion of Donald Sterling] Race First pg 274

Two years before this bitter statement Mary White Ovington, chairman of the NAACP's board of directors, had expressed herself privately [Ahem] (perhaps in jest) in a way that seemed to go along with Garvey's accusations. In a letter to Arthor B. Spigarn, at the time an NAACP vice-president, she said, "only black people ought to live in these soft coal cities anyway! My lungs are daily growing as grey as the dingy curtains at my window[My emphasis and commentary] Race First Pg 275

Meanwhile, Negros are lining up to pay Donald Sterling billions in order to make the 80 year old "pay". Says Lebron James: "No matter how much money it costs, we need to get him out of there"

*laughing and shaking my head*

Fat chance you see me paying a racist money to not see him anymore. Really. Fat chance.

NAACP faces tough questions over ties to Donald Sterling

On Monday, Leon Jenkins, president of the Los Angeles branch of the NACCP, declined to say how much Sterling donated to the group but said it included funding for scholarships, summer camps and other programs.

Jenkins told reporters the relationship between Sterling and the Los Angeles branch office of the NAACP dated 15 to 20 years.

Sterling is known for his various charity events that have benefited organizations that help the needy, including nonprofits serving the local Latino and African American communities.

One day these folks will realize that they are simply places where folks go to donate money to the "poor black folks" to make themselves feel better about themselves. The NAACP and other organizations basically play the "Black friend" to folks who really do not have black folks interests at heart. Those scholarships and the like are like the fucking water wells that various celebrity and NGO organizations talk about making when they know damn well that THEY would not accept having to go to a well for their OWN water needs.

So yeah Sterling gave money to NAACP and whoever else he needed to in order to provide "not racist" cover. NAACP and others gladly took the money cause for real though, how else are they gonna get paid?

14-Year-Old Shot In The Head Was Son Of ‘Stop Snitching’ DVDs Creator

This would be an unfortunate case of the sins of the father passing to the son.

Rochelle Ritchie reports the most recently slain teen is the son of the man who created the “Stop Snitching” DVDs.

Fourteen-year-old Najee Thomas was fatally shot in the head Monday night while inside his Cherry Hill home in the 600-block of Roundview Road.

He is the son of Ronnie Thomas, also known as Skinny Suge, who created the “Stop Snitching” DVDs that gained national attention. The first video surfaced in 2004 and was followed by a sequel in 2007.... Skinny Suge was sentenced in 2010 and is now serving nearly 20 years in federal prison.

Question: Does Skinny Suge think that no one should snitch on his son's killer?

In Lagos, the 1% Takes Stock

An interesting piece on Lagos. I want to draw the reader's attention to the following:

Even though the district is one of the wealthier areas, many of the streets are rutted and the sidewalks cracked – if they are there at all....

he can’t produce clothes on a larger scale inside Nigeria, because the substandard power grid can’t support factories...

Chief Sonny Iwedike Odogwu invited me in for an audience at his labyrinthine gated palace with hand-tooled Moroccan filigree ceilings, on the palm-lined but rutted Queen’s Drive.

This is a common theme when I see stories about various African countries. You have this very rich elite and then you have these massive infrastructure fails. Why haven't these rich folks spent on public roads? Seriously.

Odogwu, like many of the old guard, is a very religious man. He has donated millions to the Catholic Church and is particularly proud of photographs of him and his wife in the Vatican earlier this year, renewing their marriage vows in front of Pope Francis. He believes they are the first African couple to have the Pope officiate at a marriage renewal ceremony.

I don't care about Pope Francis. Pope Francis and the Catholic Church doesn't need Nigeria money. The vatican has a steady power supply and decent roads. Why not spend that money to fix up the road right outside your home?

This is one of the major short sighted fails of many of Africa's elite. They are still too concerned about showing off what they have but not thinking in terms of nationalism. Fix the roads people. Finance power generation where the government is unwilling or unable.

I'm not hating on these business owners at all. I want them to succeed and to grow. But I need for them to see the larger picture. Someone should ask these returnees whether they would have found it acceptable to see power instability and non-existent roads when they were in London. If not, why they tolerate it in Lagos.

And here's the thing, Should these individuals create the businesses to say provide solar power where the grid is spotty and the build and maintain roads, they will create a class of people who will be their customers.

Jewish NYU students targeted by pro-Palestine activists: report

Jewish students living in an NYU dorm woke up Thursday to find threatening mock eviction notices left by pro-Palestinian activists, it was reported on Thursday...

“If you do not vacate the premise by midnight on 25 April, 2014 we reserve the right to destroy all remaining belongings. We cannot be held responsible for property or persons remaining inside the premises...

The “warnings” conclude “THIS IS NOT A REAL EVICTION NOTICE” in all capital letters, and the pro-Palestinian students said they were just replicas of notices routinely left at the homes of Palestinians by the Israeli government...

“Being very straightforward, this made me feel targeted and unsafe in my own dorm room and I know others feel exactly the same as myself. I understand free speech rights but if this was targeted solely to Jewish students then this appears to be of a more threatening nature rather than informative,”

Thinking that was exactly the point. If you feel "targeted" and "threatened" by the notice, imaging the folks who get it in real life.

From The Mouth of Cliven Bundy: Didn't Learn To Pick Cotton

So Cliven Bundy who is having a standoff with the US government over land grazing rights decided to add some commentary on African-American history and social welfare:

I want to tell you one more thing I know about the Negro,” he said in comments quoted by the New York Times. He recalled driving past a public-housing project in North Las Vegas, “and in front of that government house the door was usually open and the older people and the kids — and there is always at least a half a dozen people sitting on the porch — they didn’t have nothing to do. They didn’t have nothing for their kids to do. They didn’t have nothing for their young girls to do.”

He added: “And because they were basically on government subsidy, so now what do they do?” he asked. “They abort their young children, they put their young men in jail, because they never learned how to pick cotton. And I’ve often wondered, are they better off as slaves, picking cotton and having a family life and doing things, or are they better off under government subsidy? They didn’t get no more freedom. They got less freedom.”[My Underlines]

So the reason that African-Americans are, in general doing so poorly in America is because we haven't "learned to pick cotton". I see. Who knew! All this time I thought it was about education, proper diet, good parenting, Social systems and the like. Never knew that what was wrong all this time was the fact that we haven't learned to pick cotton (which I suppose is superior to picking tobacco or cane or whatever).

Who knew that all this time Slavery was the GOLDEN AGE of Black Americans.

Is The American Council on Education Against HBCUs?

As a Garveyite I believe that black students should attend and financially support black colleges and universities first and foremost. For me, affirmative action and the brain drain to HWCUs is a direct threat to black institutions. Of course most black people (anywhere) are NOT Garveyites and therefore do not particularly care about black colleges and universities. It is interesting that in the wake of the Supreme Court decision on Michigan's ban on using race, sex, ethnicity or national origins in admission criteria to see people make statements that directly condemn institutions such as Morehouse, Tuskegee and Spelman:

Molly Corbett Broad, president of the American Council on Education, issued a statement declaring her group’s disappointment with the Supreme Court’s ruling. She said: "All colleges and universities, in Michigan and every other state, should be able to seek to create the most challenging possible academic environment and produce students fully prepared to function in today’s society—and a diverse student body is critical to that pursuit."

So in essence the argument is that HBCUs, by virtue of being overwhelmingly black do not produce students "fully prepared to function in today's society".

Utter bullshit says this Tuskegee grad. And I'll take the opportunity to speak on the behalf of millions of HBCU graduates who are functioning quite well in this "modern society".

I call on all graduates of HBCUs and those who appreciate HBCUs to call out people who make statements such as that made by Molly Corbett Broad. We will not be kicked under the bus for the benefit of those students and their parents who wish to go to or send their children to HWIU.

Some Key Points On The SCOTUS Decision

If came here looking for comparisons to Dred Scott you came to the wrong place. This is a discussion of the Shuette vs. BAMN decision.

Lets first look at commentary from Justice Justice Kennedy:

(a) This case is not about the constitutionality, or the merits, of race-conscious admissions policies in higher education.

Well that is the first point. When we look at Sotomayor's dissent. Keep this in mind.

Unlike the injuries in Mulkey, Hunter, and Seattle, the question here is not how to address or prevent injury caused on account of race but whether voters may determine whether a policy of race-based preferences should be continued. By approving Proposal 2 and there­ by adding §26 to their State Constitution, Michigan voters exercised their privilege to enact laws as a basic exercise of their democratic power, bypassing public officials they deemed not responsive to their concerns about a policy of granting race-based preferences.

So again, this isn't actually about Affirmative Action but about the rights of citizens to vote for or against legislation by constitutional means. Note that there is no claim of injury. We do know that most times (if not all) the claimant must show damage.

The question here, as in every case in which neutral state action is said to deny equal protection on account of race, is whether the challenged action reflects a racially discriminatory pur­pose. It plainly does not.

Note the commentary about equal protection. This is where the complainant runs afoul of the law. See once folks started waving the equal protection flag, they failed to realize that it would come and bite them in the ass. Affirmative Action is definitively NOT equal protection. That's OK too. So long as you admit it and justify it. Say that you're bypassing equal protection for the purposes of seeking an advantage for your group. But to act as if a clearly non equal policy is equal is absurd. Says Kennedy:

More fundamentally, the analysis misreads the Equal Protection Clause to protect particular groups, a construction that has been repudiated in a “long line of cases under­standing equal protection as a personal right.” Adarand Constructors, Inc. v. Peña, 515 U. S. 200, 224, 230. Pp. 7–12.

I've made similar observations of late. Mozilla.org should take note. Eich was denied equal protection of employment law (particularly the 1964 Civil Rights Act) when Mozilla declined to discipline employees who created a hostile work environment for Eich due to his religious belief and practice and eventually forced him out (resigned my foot). But that's an entirely different case.

Furthermore, note that the case has to show discriminatory purpose. This is key because slowly but surely claims of disparate impact is also falling apart. Speaking of which...

(d) Hunter and Seattle also endorse a version of the propositionthat a facially neutral law may deny equal protection solely because it has a disparate racial impact. That equal-protection theory has been squarely and soundly rejected by an “unwavering line of cases” holding “that a violation of the Equal Protection Clause requiresstate action motivated by discriminatory intent,” Hernandez v. New York, 500 U. S. 352, 372–373 (O’Connor, J., concurring in judgment), and that “official action will not be held unconstitutional solely be­cause it results in a racially disproportionate impact,” Arlington Heights v. Metropolitan Housing Development Corp., 429 U. S. 252, 264–265.

Discriminatory intent. Not disparate impact. Look folks. People are simply not going to continue to accept the argument that because x group isn't seen in y numbers that there must be discrimination. It may be the case that such things do stem from discrimination but simply making the accusation is not going to hold water much longer. Not with readily available data at the fingertips of everybody.

Respondents cannot prove that the action here reflects a racially discriminatory purpose, for any law expressly requiring state actors to afford all persons equal protection of the laws does not— cannot—deny “to any person . . . equal protection of the laws,” U. S. Const., Amdt. 14, §1. Pp. 15–17.

I was saying....

Third, Hunter v. Erickson, 393 U. S. 385, and Washington v. Seattle School Dist. No. 1, 458 U. S. 457, which reflect the important principle that an individual’s ability to participate meaningfully in the political pro­cess should be independent of his race, do not apply here. Those cas­es involved a restructuring of the political process that changed thepolitical level at which policies were enacted, while this case involves an amendment that took decisionmaking authority away from une­lected actors and placed it in the hands of the voters. Hence, this case does not involve a diminution of the minority’s ability to partici­pate in the political process.

This is key to the entire decision. Essentially the claimant was saying that by reason of being a minority group that they should be able to overturn the votes of the majority simply because that minority disagreed with it. That is not how the political process works. The process works to make sure that the minority has equal access to the political process in order to organize and become a voting majority via voter growth or coalition. What the claimant wanted to do was far more dangerous than the legislation they disagreed with.

Now let's look at Sotoymayor's dissent:

At first, the majority acted with an open, invidious purpose. Notwithstanding the command of the Fifteenth Amend­ment, certain States shut racial minorities out of the political process altogether by withholding the right to vote. This Court intervened to preserve that right.

True. But note that the act that she discusses was a limiting of a given right. Affirmative Action is not an enumerated right under any constitutional reading. Therefore the voting example is irrelevant to the case at hand.

The majority tried again, replacing outright bans on votingwith literacy tests, good character requirements, poll taxes, and gerrymandering. The Court was not fooled; it invalidated those measures, too.

Yes, that is also true but it is also irrelevant to this case. As mentioned before the example here was an abridgment of an enumerated constitutional right. Affirmative Action is not an enumerated constitutional right.

This time, although it allowed the minority access to the political process, the majority changed the ground rules of the process so as to make it more difficult for the minority,and the minority alone, to obtain policies designed tofoster racial integration.

Really? How so? Did they stop the minority from voting? How does a ballot initiative “change the grounds”? Did they change how many votes were needed? Did they only allow voting during a certain time? Place? Secondly, since when did those without the votes to pass legislation get the right to determine certain pieces of legislation? That doesn't sound very democratic to me. Why have a vote if the losing party can simply claim that they don't like the outcome and therefore shall overturn the results?

purpose, the Court reaffirmed the right of minority members of our society to participate meaningfully and equally in the political process.

What exactly is “meaningfully”? Does that mean getting the outcome they want? What is equally? Getting the outcome you want? Participation does not mean getting what you want every time. It means you get an equal chance to (in this case) vote. But let's get to the meat of Sotomayor's complaint.

Prior to the enactment of the constitutional initiative at issue here, all of the admissions policies of Michigan’s public colleges and universities—including race-sensitive admissions poli- cies2—were in the hands of each institution’s governing board. The members of those boards are nominated by political parties and elected by the citizenry in statewide elections. After over a century of being shut out of Michi­gan’s institutions of higher education, racial minorities in Michigan had succeeded in persuading the elected board representatives to adopt admissions policies that took into account the benefits of racial diversity. … In the wake of Grutter, some voters in Michigan set out to eliminate the use of race-sensitive admissions policies.Those voters were of course free to pursue this end in any number of ways. For example, they could have persuaded existing board members to change their minds through individual or grassroots lobbying efforts, or through gen­eral public awareness campaigns. Or they could have mobilized efforts to vote uncooperative board members out of office, replacing them with members who would share their desire to abolish race-sensitive admissions policies.When this Court holds that the Constitution permits a particular policy, nothing prevents a majority of a State’s voters from choosing not to adopt that policy. Our system of government encourages—and indeed, depends on—that type of democratic action. But instead, the majority of Michigan voters changed the rules in the middle of the game, reconfiguring the existing political process in Michigan in a manner that burdened racial minorities. They did so in the 2006 elec­tion by amending the Michigan Constitution to enact Art.I, §26, which provides in relevant part that Michigan’s public universities “shall not discriminate against, or grant preferential treatment to, any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in the operation of public employment, public education, or public contracting.”

Here is Sotomayor's issue. She wants to limit what the Michigan voter can do in regards to it's public institutions. She says that the only and proper way to change the policies of Michigan public colleges and universities is to get the boards to change their minds rather than setting rules by which the board members must abide by. I wonder if she feels the same way about California's prop 8. Shouldn't those with an interest in same sex marriage waited on the legislature to make the change rather than using the court to overturn a voted on law?Secondly what if those who wanted the board to change it's policies had already gone through the process of changing the board members or asking for x,y or z changes and the board refused? What if the situation was that the board didn't think black folks should be in Michigan schools at all. What if the majority of voters disagreed with the board but the board never made the changes sought by the Michigan voters? Would Sotomayor still be of the position that the voters would be wrong to demand via legislation that blacks be admitted? This would be equal protection.

As a result of §26, there are now two very different processes through which a Michigan citizen is permitted to influence the admissions policies of the State’s universi­ties: one for persons interested in race-sensitive admis­sions policies and one for everyone else. A citizen who is a University of Michigan alumnus, for instance, can advo­cate for an admissions policy that considers an applicant’s legacy status by meeting individually with members of the Board of Regents to convince them of her views, by joining with other legacy parents to lobby the Board, or by voting for and supporting Board candidates who share her posi­tion. The same options are available to a citizen who wants the Board to adopt admissions policies that consider athleticism, geography, area of study, and so on. The one and only policy a Michigan citizen may not seek through this long-established process is a race-sensitive admissions policy that considers race in an individualized manner when it is clear that race-neutral alternatives are not adequate to achieve diversity. For that policy alone, the citizens of Michigan must undertake the daunting task of amending the State Constitution.

Question: Are all persons in Michigan under the same restriction of not being able to advocate for race-sensitive admissions? Yes? Then it is equal protection under the law.Question: Are there any black University of Michigan alumnus? Yes? Can they equally advocate for a legacy admission? Yes? Are they also barred from using race? Yes? Then it is equal protection.

Point: Sotomayor is absolutely incorrect in her assertion that the only policy that Michigan citizens may not seek is race. The language, which she quoted says:

“shall not discriminate against, or grant preferential treatment to, any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in the operation of public employment, public education, orpublic contracting.”

So actually, ALL Michigan citizens may not make race sex, color, ethnicity or national origins into consideration. Sotomayor can read. Why did she write as if she doesn't know this? That is because she's only interested in one portion of the rule. Women are quite secure in their status at Michigan institutions and are under no threat by such rules so that's OK.

Our precedents do not permit political restructurings that create one process for racial minorities and a sepa­rate, less burdensome process for everyone else.

Which of course it does not. Again, there was no process that singled out racial minorities, women, other nationals from voting for or against the proposition. It wasn't separate no matter how much she says it was.

This Court has held that the Fourteenth Amendment does not tolerate “a political structure that treats all individuals as equals, yet more subtly distorts governmental processes in such a way as to place special burdens on the ability of minority groups to achieve beneficial legislation.”

Justice Kennedy already gave the deathblow to this argument. It simply cannot be argued that certain groups, any group has a right to have legislation it wants and likes to be passed. Being a minority group comes with it the burden of having a harder time to get legislation you want passed (see Congress).

Rather, this case is about how the debate over the use of race-sensitive admissions policies may be resolved, contra, ibid.—that is, it must be resolved in constitution- ally permissible ways. While our Constitution does not guarantee minority groups victory in the political process, it does guarantee them meaningful and equal access tothat process. It guarantees that the majority may not win by stacking the political process against minority groups permanently, forcing the minority alone to surmount unique obstacles in pursuit of its goals—here, educational diversity that cannot reasonably be accomplished through race-neutral measures.

I'm glad Sotomayor realizes the Constitution does not guarantee minority groups victory. I was worried there for a minute. But again she is there with the “meaningful”. What is “meaningful”? That seems to me to be a backdoor way of saying “get victory”.

To the point of “permanent” staking against minority voter blocks. Again that is part and parcel of being a minority voting block. It is ALWAYS harder for the minority group to effect policy.
Secondly I repeat again that “diversity” is not an enumerated right that a group can sue over. It may be a laudable goal, but it is not a right. There is also the assumption that the ONLY groups interested in Affirmative Action for races are racial minorities. This is mistaken. While racial minorities may be the leading proponents of Affirmative Action (and recent events in California undercut that argument with Asian opposition to the re-instatement of racial considerations in college admissions) there are many non-minorities who also have an interest in the policy. So a proper question would be how come those who were for the policy were unable to get others into their camp?

Today, by permitting a majority of the voters in Michigan to do what our Constitution forbids,the Court ends the debate over race-sensitive admissions policies in Michigan in a manner that contravenes consti­tutional protections long recognized in our precedents.

Which isn't what happened. The Constitution prohibits taking away citizen's rights. That's the 15th Amendment. Nobody's rights were taken away. In fact had the court ruled differently then it would have in effect claimed that minority groups of any kind can overturn ballot initiatives they do not like just because they are a minority group. That is very dangerous.Sotomayor then goes on to cite many cases where states enacted laws that abridged the rights of certain citizens. There is no argument that those things were not only morally wrong but that they were unconstitutional. But in each example they were of laws abridging enumerated rights of citizens. The Michigan case has no such quality.
Sotomayor attempts to compare a case in Virginia where the school board was changed in an attempt to stop desegregation. Again this case is irrelevant to the Michigan case because Michigan is not trying to segregate it's student body. This is key. Arlington County was wrong because it intended to block the equal protection rights of blacks in that county. Michigan has no such intention or effect.

Similarly Sotomayor's example of the Miss. Legislature fails. In that case Miss decided to strip the rights of people to elect. That is the state abridged the rights of the citizenry. Michigan did no such thing. It did not remove the board members (which she herself pointed out). Nor did Michigan stop anyone from voting either way. Michigan simply decided to further narrow what the board could use in admission policies. It did not abridge the right of any person from applying to Michigan universities and to be considered on their academic merits.

Again with Sotomayor's Arkansas example. There the state not only stripped the board from making any decision, particularly as it regarded desegregation, thereby stripping black citizens of their equal protection rights, the Governor also closed schools in order to enforce this rule. That action also abridged the rights of black citizens of that state. Again, Michigan did no such thing. Not even close. It is also very strange that Sotomayor would use the example of state appointments in her dissenting opinion:

The States’ political restructuring efforts in the 1960’s and 1970’s went beyond the context of education. ManyStates tried to suppress the political voice of racial minori­ties more generally by reconfiguring the manner in whichthey filled vacancies in local offices, often transferring authority from the electorate (where minority citizens hada voice at the local level) to the States’ executive branch(where minorities wielded little if any influence). See, e.g., 1981 Hearings, pt. 1, at 815 (report of J. Cox & A. Turner) (the Alabama Legislature changed all municipal judge­ships from elective to appointive offices); id., at 1955 (report of R. Hudlin & K. Brimah, Voter Educ. Project, Inc.) (the Georgia Legislature eliminated some elective offices and made others appointive when it appeared that a minority candidate would be victorious); id., at 501 (statement of Frank R. Parker, Director, Lawyers’ Comm.for Civil Rights Under Law) (the Mississippi Legislature changed the manner of filling vacancies for various publicoffices from election to appointment).

Why? Because the Michigan board is appointed. It would seem from the language Sotomayor is using that she would WANT the citizenry to assert themselves over the board(s). But it is clear that she only wishes for certain groups to be able to do the asserting and only for goals she agrees with. That is not equal protection. In using the Hunter case Sotomayor show's how she conflates wildly different examples:

In Hunter, the City Council of Akron, Ohio, enacted afair housing ordinance to “assure equal opportunity to allpersons to live in decent housing facilities regardless ofrace, color, religion, ancestry, or national origin.” 393 U. S., at 386 (internal quotation marks omitted). A major­ity of the citizens of Akron disagreed with the ordinanceand overturned it. But the majority did not stop there; italso amended the city charter to prevent the City Councilfrom implementing any future ordinance dealing withracial, religious, or ancestral discrimination in housingwithout the approval of the majority of the Akron elec­torate. Ibid. That amendment changed the rules of the political process in Akron. The Court described the result of the change as follows: “[T]o enact an ordinance barring housing discrimina­tion on the basis of race or religion, proponents had toobtain the approval of the City Council and of a major­ity of the voters citywide. To enact an ordinance pre­venting housing discrimination on other grounds, or to enact any other type of housing ordinance, propo­nents needed the support of only the City Council.” Seattle, 458 U. S., at 468 (describing Hunter; empha­sis deleted).

Again see that the proposed legislation barring discrimination is actually the same as what Michigan did. It's odd that Sotomayor does not see that plain as day.

What is also clear is how the Akron decision made a law that made a two tier system for discrimination ordinances. This differs from Michigan in two ways:1) Sotomayor claims that persons asking for legacy admissions is the same as discrimination. It is not. The Michigan legislation is to prevent what the majority of voters considered to be discrimination. It was not put up roadblocks to equal opportunity and equal protection.

2) Sotomayor thinks that things such as legacy admissions should be handled at the ballot box because legacy admissions (and athletes) are the same as race, gender and nationality. While I disagree that legacies and athletes are anything close to race, gender, national origins and the like, it is also clear that any group, including the claimants can put forth a ballot initiative to remove legacy status as a consideration. Whether it would pass is another thing entirely. But whether such legislation would or would not pass is irrelevant. Only that all citizens have the right to propose such an initiative. That was Kennedy's point.

But here goes Sotomayor telling untruths again:

Before the enactment of §26, Michigan’s political struc­ture permitted both supporters and opponents of race­ sensitive admissions policies to vote for their candidates of choice and to lobby the elected and politically accountable boards. Section 26 reconfigured that structure. After §26,the boards retain plenary authority over all admissions criteria except for race-sensitive admissions policies.5

Nope. Race, sex, color, national origins are all included.

The effect of §26 is that a white graduate of a public Michigan university who wishes to pass his historical privilege on to his children may freely lobby the board of that university in favor of an expanded legacy admissions policy, whereas a black Michigander who was denied the opportunity to attend that very uni­versity cannot lobby the board in favor of a policy that might give his children a chance that he never had and that they might never have absent that policy. Such reordering of the political process contravenes

Absolute bullshit. No person has a “right” to attend the University of Michigan. One must be qualified for entry to the University of Michigan. This is why U of M and MSU and others can send letters declining admission. Secondly this is 2014 there are many, many, many black Michigan residents (and non-residents) who have graduated from U of M who can freely take advantage of the legacy program.

Thirdly any White, Asian, Black, Native American or whoever who never went to U of M cannot take advantage of the legacy program. All would be denied equally.

Fourthly no person of any persuasion should be able to lobby the board of any school to admit his or her child just because. How about that child do the work to qualify for admission? You know, how those Chinese and Indian students do year after year after year?

Sotomayor continues to cite case after case of discriminatory law and /or acts that abridge the enumerated rights of citizens but at no point shows that the Michigan law was discriminatory or abridged the enumerated rights of any of the groups mentioned in the law. The law removed what could be seen as an advantage given to a group based on race, sex, color or national origins. That is not discriminatory because none of the groups mentioned have a right to such consideration. Those groups may not like that such consideration is no longer extended to them, but it does not mean that they are suffering undue burdens.< P/> Sotomayor gives a nice overview of official discrimination and denial of equal protection. That's great. The problem is that most of what she says is irrelevant to the matter at hand. It is her job to focus on the matter at hand. Simply saying that what Michigan did looks like what Arkansas did or Akron did is not acceptable. Water and alcohol have a lot of things in common but they are definitely not the same.

Lastly I want to address the chart added to Sotomayor's dissent (pg 51). In it she shows the number of black persons of college age and then the enrollment of Freshmen. Let's be clear that when we look at the academic performances of African-Americans it is clear that many of them are simply not prepared for college work, particularly that required at such places as U of M. It is misleading to post a chart and say that because x-amount are college age thatx amount should be enrolled. I've seen what this can result in first hand.

I attended Michigan State in the early 90's. What the university did was enroll x amount of black students every year. The newspapers would ohh and ahh about how this class was so diverse and that x percent were African-American. By the middle of the semester many students were failing out. Many of those were already taking remedial classes. They eventually dropped out and had thousands of dollars in student debt and nothing to show for it. I looked at the data over a couple of years and saw the pattern of high enrollment followed by drop outs that brought the number of black students back to the mean. This helps no one with the possible exception of the banks that were to be paid back.
But what is MORE telling about the chart is the total absence of data for Asians. Why is it that Asians who are an even smaller minority than African-Americans are over-represented on campuses across the country? The very fact that Asian students outscore every other group in the US puts a lie to the idea that any group needs Affirmative Action to gain entry into schools. Grades matter. Preparation matters. All that matters more than any AA policy. This ruling is a great opportunity to address this blatant issue.

Schuette v. BAMN Text

While I read it (particularly the dissent) and prepare a more detailed commentary Schuette v. BAMN

Supreme Court upholds Michigan ban on affirmative action

Not shocked in the least bit. I told y'all that once Obama got elected AA would be on it's last legs.

I'll have to come back with a better post, but a quick comment on the report of Sotomayor's dissent:

Justice Sonia Sotomayor delivered a lengthy dissent which she read in court. She said the court had turned its back on earlier rulings that prohibited the states from withdrawing remedies for racial discrimination. The Constitution does not “give the majority free rein to erect selective barriers against racial minorities,” she said. Her opinion cited the steep decline in the percentage of black and Latino students who were admitted to UCLA and UC Berkeley after the passage of California’s Proposition 209.

First and foremost she in entirely wrong in saying that banning AA is a "selective barrier" against racial minorities". Affirmative Action as originally created; not to be mistaken for what it has morphed into: Job hiring plan for [white] women, was a means of increasing access due to past discrimination. Period. It was never meant to be permanent. Secondly what Sotomayor is also saying is that she thinks racial minorities cannot gain access to higher education WITHOUT such programs. Of course that is a lie because Asians (a racial minority by any classification) Get into colleges without much help from Affirmative Action. Asians are in fact over-represented on college campuses (particularly the higher end ones).

So really what Sotomayor is saying is that non-Asian minorities in the US are incapable of gaining admission to colleges and universities based on their own academic performances. THAT is pretty bad to be coming out of the mouth of a Supreme Court judge. As a matter of fact this would be similar to the thinking behind Brown V Board: Black children would feel inferior if they were not seated next to white students. No commentary on whether white students feel inferior in the absence of black students. No commentary on whether Asian students feel inferior with neither black or white students sitting next to them. No. Just the statement that black people by the very absence of white people around them feel inferior and the only way to alleviate this inferiority complex is to seat them next to white folks.

It is absurd. Now lets get to work on the grade school and high schools to make sure black children do not need Affirmative Action to get into their schools of choice. How about they do like the Asian students and kick tail on the standardized tests. Let's have them in the advanced classes. This way when their paper crosses the admissions officer's desk, that person says "Yes please!" rather than "well, is he at least poor and black?"

Wait Long Enough And They Say What They Mean

I remember a long time ago I was in a relationship that was basically going nowhere. I knew it. I'm not sure if she knew it, but I did. But being the person in "emotional control" of the relationship (The one with the least invested) it didn't bother me much because, well, I wasn't worried about losing anything. But of course, in order to retain access to The Goods(tm) I had to make sure to maintain a decent front. One day we were watching a TV show where a dude was CLEARLY stringing a chick along, I blurted out, DAMN it's so obvious that he's not interested cause if he was he would not have done...." And proceeded to detail exactly what I was doing. Ahh hubris. I realized that I had exposed my own game and hoped that it wasn't over, yet. I learned from then on to listen to what people are saying. Even the best tell on themselves. Latest example, Canada:

Is Harper just a useful idiot to the U.S. — ranting and raving about Russian expansionism and imperialism so that the U.S. position looks more reasonable by comparison? He declared:

“When a major power acts in a way that is so clearly aggressive, militaristic and imperialistic, this represents a significant threat to the peace and stability of the world, and it’s time we all recognized the depth and the seriousness of that threat.”

Really though. Where has Harper been since 2001? Really sir? Really? Now for the vast majority of people, the statement will not seem odd at all. Like the person in the preceding paragraph, if you're trapped up in relationship with the blinders on, there's nothing off putting about the remark. But when you know what's going on, Harper's statement makes no sense whatsoever and if he actually believed it, he wouldn't be sending warplanes to NATO.

So yeah, if upon hearing someone say something, you get the "but what about...?" feeling in your gut, run with it.

"Where Are The French When You Need Them?"

Watch the video carefully. Now imaging the following question: "Where are the Nigerians When You Need Them?" being asked in Ukraine. You can't can't you. Think about that. I'll ask again: Why do Africans need Europeans to police them?

Corey Stingley: The Wages Of Sin Is Death

Watch this video:

I know a lot of people, particularly African-Americans disagree with my previous commentary on this case but I stand by it. Now let's look at this video. What is missing from the entire piece? Not once. Not a one time did the father of Corey Stingley even mention that his son was a thief. Not once. How do you walk around talking about who should be charged with what and not once mention that your son is a thief. It's not even like the video was unclear. You see Corey move the 6 pack. Open the 6 pack. Take to bottles out the 6 pack. Put the two bottles into his bag. Close the bag. Go to the fridge and pick up something else. You see him put that one can on the counter. You see him lunge for his card.

The store owner's statement that he TOLD Corey to either pay up or return the merchandise went unheeded. Corey was given an out and decided to make the dash. Corey is dead because Corey made a series of bad decisions.

At no point do you see Corey's father even acknowledge that his son was a thief. While he states that the men could have done something different Corey's father NEVER EVER even hints that the ENTIRE situation could have been avoided had his son not been a thief. How hypocritical is it for people in protest the DA's office on the claim of "justice" when the "victim" is a thief?

Why weren't the men charged? Easy. Corey was attempting to commit a crime. It is not a crime to intervene in an ongoing crime. Any deaths that occur as a result of the crime is the fault of the person committing it. No reasonable jury is going to convict with that ready made reasonable doubt. Corey Stingley stands as an example to young boys and girls that making bad decisions can and will have long term consequences.

You want to live that life? Be prepared to die that death.

‘Letter to Jews’, Kerry cited, appears to be fake

There are similar letters not only addressed to Jews, but also to businessmen, foreign students, people of certain other occupations,” he told RT. “This is actually a fake, and not a good one. There’s a sign “People’s Governor”. First of all, no one calls me by that title, no one elected me. Secondly, the stamp is the former mayor’s. Everything’s photoshopped.”... Kolesnikov specifically referred to a video which earlier appeared online. In it a man in a military uniform told police officers, who switched sides in the city of Gorlovka and joined protesters, that he was Russian lieutenant-colonel from Simpheropol, Crimea. The man was later identified by Gorlovka residents as the former director of a local cemetery.

False news coming out of Ukraine making the Russians look bad? Impossible I say. Impossible!!!

Ukraine's Use of "Terrorism" and The Rush To War

I pointed out the other day that it was very odd that Ukraine "officials" were using the term "terrorism" to describe the secessionist movements in the east of the country. It was a very strange term to use in a conflict that is clearly developing into a civil war, but also does not have any of the hallmark "terrorist" actions such random bombings, suicide or non-suicide at places that are not government property. Recent events show that this use of "terrorism" is not accidental at all.

The CIA director was sent to Kiev to launch a military suppression of the Russian separatists in the eastern and southern portions of Ukraine,

Why is the director of the CIA going to Ukraine? Seriously. Why?

The CIA director instructed Washington’s hand-picked stooge government in Kiev to apply to the United Nations for help in repelling “terrorists” who with alleged Russian help are allegedly attacking Ukraine. In Washington’s vocabulary, self-determination is a sign of Russian interference. As the UN is essentially a Washington-financed organization, Washington will get what it wants.

This was also reported in RT.com and The Guardian UK. Why would the UN involve itself in what is currently a peaceful civil war? Furthermore why would the UN take the side of an coup government? Does Ban Ki Moon have any self respect whatsoever?

It is clear here that there are parties who wish to have war with Russia. Perhaps there is a wish to give the new Railgun a go. Perhaps there is intelligence telling US military commanders that they could prevail in a war with Russia. I don't know, but it is clear that there are enough people pushing for a war and that Obama currently is incapable or unwilling to to put a stop to those actors. Mike Whitney pointed his readership to the Wolfowitz doctrine:

The U.S. must show the leadership necessary to establish and protect a new order that holds the promise of convincing potential competitors that they need not aspire to a greater role or pursue a more aggressive posture to protect their legitimate interests. In non-defense areas, we must account sufficiently for the interests of the advanced industrial nations to discourage them from challenging our leadership or seeking to overturn the established political and economic order. We must maintain the mechanism for deterring potential competitors from even aspiring to a larger regional or global role.

You know what we call someone who attempts to keep another person from protecting their legitimate interests? Bullies. And depending on what they do, we call them criminals.

It is clear what NATO is for and what it is trying to do in Ukraine. The question is whether or not the so called anti-war left has the guts to stand up to Obama and the Democrats and let them know that they are out of office should it happen. From the e-mail I get from the usual suspects, that is not going to happen.

US Blames Russia For Own Incompetence

Today the US is essentially blaming Russia for the Boston Marathon bombing:

WASHINGTON — The Russian government declined to provide the F.B.I. with information about one of the Boston Marathon bombing suspects that would most likely have led to more extensive scrutiny of him at least two years before the attack, according to an inspector general’s report

Really? Well what did the Russians say?

Russian officials had told the F.B.I. in 2011 that the suspect, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, “was a follower of radical Islam and a strong believer” and that Mr. Tsarnaev “had changed drastically since 2010 as he prepared to leave the United States for travel to the country’s region to join unspecified underground groups.”

Oh I see. Post 9-11 officials saw a report that said Tsarnaev was a follower of "radical Islam" just like the fellows that flew a few airplanes into buildings in NY. and that he had plans to "join unspecified underground groups". And what did the FBI do with this information? Nothing. You would think an alien applying for or having requested asylum would, after having been named as a "strong believer" in "radial Islam" would be sent to the nearest international airport and deported.

Nope. The US authorities, so stuck on fucking with Russia does the following:

At the time, American law enforcement officials believed that Mr. Tsarnaev posed a far greater threat to Russia.

Ohh! I see. So the US authorities are OK with persons with "strong beliefs" in "radical Islam", like the fellows who flew planes into buildings in NYC, freely roaming around the US so long as they present a "far greater threat to Russia".

Seriously. Read that again! Nobody thought to put that fellow on the earliest available flight back to Russia or Chechnya on the hypothesis that this "strong believer" in "radical Islam" wouldn't even think about doing anything in the United States.

Seriously.

And now the US authorities want to blame Russia for not doing the Job that the US authorities were supposed to do themselves. This same report "exonerates" the FBI, because their failure, as well as DHS and INS to deport an alien reported to be a "strong believer" in "radical Islam", like the fellows who flew planes into buildings in NYC, because Russia didn't do their jobs for them.

This is passing the buck of the worst kind and an insult to the victims.

Cry Babies in The US Senate

However senior US lawmakers who accuse Aboutalebi of involvement in the siege are rallying around legislation to prevent him access to the UN headquarters. On Tuesday, in the wake of the Senate's endorsement of a bill that effectively targeted Aboutalebi, and as a new round of nuclear negotiations was getting underway in Vienna, Iran stood by its nomination...

Legislation authored by Republican senator Ted Cruz easily passed the Senate on Monday, after it received the backing of Democratic hawks such as Chuck Schumer. Cruz, a standard bearer of the rightwing of the GOP, called Iran’s nomination a “deliberate and unambiguous insult to the United States”.

“Given the larger strategic threats to the United States and our allies, represented by Iran’s nuclear ambitions, this is not the moment for diplomatic niceties,” he said. If put to the vote in the House, the bill is likely be supported by in the second chamber, however any visa ban on Aboutalebi would require the executive branch.

Yet another reason the UN should simply pack up and leave the US. Seriously. We have little cry babies running the US government.

Ukraine Setting Up Russia?

Reading The Guardian UK I saw the following:

The fight erupted hours after Ukraine launched an "anti-terrorist" operation against pro-Russian separatists occupying government buildings in several of its eastern cities.

This is an interesting choice of words, "anti-terrorism" because by calling the civil unrest "terrorism" Ukraine is laying groundwork for calling Russia a state sponsor of terrorism. Of course we know that what is going on in Ukraine is not terrorism. We know that the use of the word is meant to further malign Russia in the public eye. I have no doubt that some persons in the US government would be quite happy to run with this idea. On a side note:

The US secretary of state, John Kerry, is reported to have told the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, in a phone call that Washington was watching events in eastern Ukraine with great concern and any further moves by Moscow to destabilise Ukraine would "incur further costs for Russia".

Lavrov has far more patience and diplomatic skills than I do, 'cause I would have hung up on Kerry while he was speaking. In fact, I probably wouldn't even bother taking his phone calls as there really isn't any point in doing so. Or maybe I'd interrupt with the comment that I'm "concerned" about shit going on next door to my country that threatens our national security. How about you shut up and have a seat about something going on thousands of miles away from your borders.

How long before the world sees John Kerry for the clown he is?

Manny Pacquiao, Chik-Fil-A and Brendan Eich

The firing resignation of Brendan Eich from Mozilla is just another example of a growing string of the growing, and I really hate to use the word, fascism that is growing like a cancer on the left. I warned people in 2012 that the state needed to step in on the increasing and blatant violations of the 1964 Civil Rights Act by those calling themselves 'gay rights activists" and those disposed to be sympathetic to such groups and persons.

Earlier this year Manny Pacquiao expressed his religion based position on homosexuality by quoting a verse in the Bible that generally states that such persons should be stoned. Not that I personally agree with such a position but it's supposed to be "America" where two things are supposedly sacrosanct: speech and religion. The owners of The Grove in LA said that due to Pacquiao's comments he would be banned from the LA mall. While many people went on and on about Manny's statement, nobody, not a single person from the "gay rights" crowd or the so called "equal protection" crowd expressed alarm over a place of public accommodation blatantly violating the law and in particular the Civil Rights Act of 1964. You know, the one people like to beat over your head when there are threats of racial discrimination.

When this news broke the Department of Justice [sic] and the EEOC should have come down hard on The Grove's owners. You would think that business owners would know better than to announce such an action publicly. But no, There was no announcement by the Justice Department [sic] and apparently Pacquiao decided that he didn't want to file a discrimination suit.

Anyone who has been bullied knows that a bully usually tests the will of his or her potential victim. They do a small but obvious action in order to see if the potential victim will be compliant (and provide entertainment) or if they will put up resistance. And if they do put up resistance how much resistance they will give. Usually the way to effectively stop a bully is to make a large show of resistance so that the bully has to consider whether it is worth the risk to his reputation to attempt (and fail) to get submission from the mark or to move onto easier targets. Children who are bullied long term usually fail badly at resisting the initial test. The way I see it when The Grove got away with openly discriminating against Manny Pacquiao, the bullies knew they could continue.

Then came the Chik-Fil-A issue.

Anyone who has been paying attention (apparently that would be few of us) knows that Chik-Fil-A was founded by what we would call conservative Christians. The stores are not open on Sundays in order to observe the Protestant/Catholic Sabbath. In light of this to be surprised about the founder's position on marriage amounts to a whole lot of wishful thinking on the part of those so disposed. But in reality the position of the founder is of little relevance because the constitution, that pesky piece of paper, protects his right to his position as well as his right to open up any legal enterprise that meets all municipal codes and adheres to the rules laid out by the 1964 Civil Rights Act as it pertains to public accommodation... What was conspicuously absent from the threats agains Chik Fil-A was any charge of discriminatory practices in it's corporate HQ or at any one of it's local franchises. Not one of the talking bobble heads could point to any case where a homosexual, black, Hindu, Muslim or disabled person was discriminated against in any of the franchise locations. Not. A. One. Think about that. A store being threatened with denial of service by local governments for not discriminating against its customers. That's some bullshit. You may think that this is preposterous but it isn't. By threatening local franchisees with an illegal and unconstitutional denial of permits and the like based on some third party's opinion is exactly what is being proposed. That these mayors have to be reminded of this rather than they (except Bloomberg) didn't brush such idiocy aside from the beginning shows exactly what these people are about.

Again we ask: Where was the Department Of Justice [sic] when these clearly discriminatory actions were being proposed by the agents of the state? There should have been a swift and hard response from the federal government when this happened. There was not. So the lesson to the bullies here was clear not only will the state not pursue us when we discriminate in public accommodations held by private parties, but the state will not even police it's own. Therefore anyone can be targeted.

Enter Eich. I don't have to explain what happened to Eich. Essentially, under the law, Eich was subject to a hostile work environment by other employees at Mozilla. That is an actionable discrimination claim. The management at Mozilla (meaning HR) did nothing to make it clear to the employees of Mozilla that their actions constituted discrimination and harassment under employment law. I'm not saying that the employees with issues with Eich don't have a right to hold and discuss their positions on Eich's donation. They do. They even have the right to complain. They also can (and should have been) subject to firing(for cause) and whatever else that would constitute civil disobedience.

DISCRIMINATION BECAUSE OF RACE, COLOR, RELIGION, SEX, OR NATIONAL ORIGIN SEC. 703. (a) It shall be an unlawful employment practice for an employer--

(1) to fail or refuse to hire or to discharge any individual, or otherwise to discriminate against any individual with respect to his compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, because of such individual's race, color, religion, sex, or national origin; or

(2) to limit, segregate, or classify his employees in any way which would deprive or tend to deprive any individual of employment opportunities or otherwise adversely affect his status as an employee, because of such individual's race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.

If Eich supported Prop 208 because of his religious convictions then he was discriminated against by his employer, Mozilla, and was wrongfully discharged. Now I'm certain that by pressuring Eich to resign, Mozilla's lawyers were and are looking to get around this provision by saying Eich decided to leave. This puts the ball squarely in Eich's court. In my opinion Eich should not have agreed to resign. Eich should have stated that his support was an expression of his religious faith (which he may or may not have changed) and the Department of Justice[sic] should have immediately put Mozilla on notice about the apparent discrimination investigation that would be forthcoming.

While thinking of this situation I think of the one person who managed to beat off the bully: Phil Robertson of Duck Dynasty.

See, what Phil did, whether you like or agree with him or not, was not back down from the bully. He said what he said. He didn't apologize AND his people came to his defense in a very vocal and visible manner. How many more Mannys and Brendans will there be before you figure it out?

White House denies 'Cuban Twitter' ZunZuneo programme was covert

The White House is claiming that a secret programme to build a carefully-disguised “Cuban Twitter”, in order to foment political opposition to the Castro regime, was “not covert” but rather a “discreet” form of humanitarian assistance.

The kind that is afflicting Venzuela, Egypt, Ukraine, etc.

The AP revealed how the programme, engineered by the US Agency for International Development (USAid), was intended to encourage “flash mobs” in Cuba, emulating social media-based protests that had been occurring organically in countries such as Iran, the Philippines and Moldova.[my underline]

You know that Maidan was a "flash mob gone wrong", right?

Extensive efforts were undertaken to conceal the true nature of the social-media network, using offshore banks accounts, front companies and overseas servers.

Front companies. Offshore accounts! Nothing to see here folks. What's that folks say about the NSA? If you have nothing to hide....

White House press secretary Jay Carney said on Thursday that while in "non-permissive environments" it was necessary for USAid to be "discreet", the secret social-media initiative was “not a covert programme”.

“It was a development-assistance programme,” he said, adding: "I am not aware of individuals here in the White House who were involved.” He also said the programme was subject to congressional oversight.

Yes, a development program. Kinda like the blockade only, you know, on the internet. And yes, we in the White House have no clue, because, you know, we don't actually run anything. Serious question: with all the illegal and "not covert" things going on, does anyone at the White House actually know what any of the agencies that report to it ARE, doing?

Carney denied suggestions the programme was “under the table” or had “roped in” unsuspecting Cubans.

Never mind the offshore accounts and front companies!

He said "discretion" was necessary "not because it is an intelligence programme, but to protect individuals”.

What individuals?

Other countries, including some European allies, may have unknowingly become involved in the programme, which was run on foreign soil to avoid associations with the US. Spain, Ireland, the UK, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and the Cayman Islands hosted either servers, bank accounts or companies working on ZunZuneo, and it is not known if they were aware of the true nature of the company. Use of servers in Europe may constitute a breach of data protection law, according to a legal expert quoted by the AP.

Question: How many of these countries voted for the UN "resolution" in regards to Ukraine and Crimea?

The idea appears to have quickly evolved into a more interactive messaging network, in which users could also interact with one another and organise politically.

Yes, like Maidan.

Once sufficient numbers of Cubans had signed-up, ZunZeneo would become more political, inciting protest or, as one USAid document quoted by the AP put it, seeking to influence “the balance of power between the state and society".[my underline]

Like Ukraine?

I hope Putin and Lavrov have seen this report. I'll need to check the RT to see if they have run with this story. Don't expect the UN to do anything of value, if at all, with this evidence of fomenting political unrest and likely violence by the US.

Adventures in One Drop Rule Land

Today's post is an illustration of what would happen if we applied the One Drop Rule to everything.

1)This is a red rose.

This is a white rose.

This is a red rose. You thought it was pink? Sorry. In One Drop Rule land this is a red rose.

2)This is a Labrador Retriever.

This is a German Shepherd.

This is a Labrador Retriever. Or is it a German Shepherd. I don't know which would be the equivalent of "black" but for the sake of this post we'll say the Lab is the negro and therefore this is a Lab. Never mind the differences. It's a Lab because the One Drop Rule says so.

3)This is a black cow.

This is a white cow.

This is a black cow. Never mind the white on it. It's a black cow.

Recent Election Decision from SCOTUS is Good Sign For Hobby Lobby

I recently wrote about the Hobby Lobby case currently pending before the U.S. Supreme Court. In it I said that the fact that Hobby Lobby has an enumerated right to not have it's religious practices interfered with by the government means that it should get the benefit of the doubt and a higher consideration than the ACA contraception mandate. Today's decision is supporting of such thinking:

The line between quid pro quo corruption and general influence must be respected in order to safeguard basic First Amendment rights, and the Court must "err on the side of protecting political speech rather than suppressing it[My underlines]

One could easily see a similar line written for Hobby Lobby.