civil rights

August 9, 2013April 18, 2020

What’s More Important, Sports Or Human Rights?

photo of woman Protesting 2014 Sochi Olympics

Russia is hosting the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. Russia also recently passed a new law banning ‘propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations around minors’ which has been used to attack LGBT groups in the country. The law means gay pride parades are forbidden as is any literature or signs supporting gay rights. Although the Russian government has told the International Olympic Committee (IOC) that the law won’t be applied to athletes, there are calls for a boycott of the games. Of course the people who will profit from the games are against the boycott. They have put sports ahead of human rights.

July 16, 2013April 18, 2020

White Supremacists Don’t Always Wear Hoods

created image of a guy in suit wearing a Klan hood

The Supreme Court overturned part of the Voting Rights Act, overturned DOMA based on a ‘state’s rights’ claim, and a jury in Florida found nothing criminal when George Zimmerman shot and killed an unarmed black teenager. Why does this trouble me in the so-called ‘post-racial’ United States? Paul Rosenberg over at Crooks and Liars has the answer. In 2013, white supremacy is alive and well and it isn’t always burning crosses or wearing hoods.

Rosenburg makes a point that we shouldn’t call what is going on racism because it lets white supremacists off the hook. That’s how we get four frames of colorblind racism:

June 26, 2013April 18, 2020

Scalia: We Have No Power To Invalidate Legislation Except When I Don’t Like It

Justice Antonin Scalia: Hypocritical Asshat

In his dissent in United States v. Windsor, Justice Antonin Scalia once again showed he lacks any judicial values beyond his selfish ends. His reasoning for dissenting basically came down to his view that the court lacked the power to invalidate a law democratically adopted. Yet he found no such concern in invalidating the Voting Rights Act yesterday. It is obvious that his personal view of the law determines if he thinks the court has the power to give a ruling. In my world that is known as being a hypocritical asshat.

June 24, 2013April 18, 2020

Dear Media: I Don’t Care Where Edward Snowden Is

I don’t give a shit where Edward Snowden is

One of the big reasons I don’t trust ‘The Media’ nor like them much is their complicity in supporting the one percenters. Corporate control of news media gives us press releases passed off as facts and political talking points going unchallenged as long as they support the corporations. We see the same behavior in the coverage of whistle blower Edward Snowden, where ‘The Media’ is more concerned in his location than in the facts he disclosed about the domestic surveillance program by the NSA. Hey media, I don’t give a shit where the guy is – when are you going to talk about the spying he uncovered?

This past Sunday, corporate tool David Gregory said some stupid shit as David Sirota points out:

June 13, 2013April 18, 2020

Florida School District Sued For Treating Atheist Group Differently Than Christian Group

created image showing The Wall Between Church and State

Some Christians and right wingers cry and whine about their freedom of religion being suppressed when their Christian privilege is called out or shut down. But time and again, when the roles are reversed, those same Christians see no problem in suppressing points of view that contradict their beliefs. Orange County School Board in Florida allowed a Christian group to distribute literature, including the Holy Bible, in their high schools. When an atheist group wanted to do the same the school district and the schools did everything they could to sabotage the effort. The Freedom from Religion Foundation (FFRF) is suing the school district in Federal court.

Hemant Mehta at Friendly Atheist has the details: