Motley Moose – Archive

(last year)

Declaration of Independence

A few protestors in Egypt, photo credit here.  

Massive Protests Hit Egypt

MATT BRADLEY And REEM ABDELLATIF, Wall Street Journal

Egyptians took to the streets on Sunday for nationwide protests against President Mohammed Morsi, presenting a massive popular opposition that rivaled the size of demonstrations that toppled President Hosni Mubarak more than two years ago.

By early evening, legions of protesters had crowded into Cairo’s Tahrir Square and filled several city blocks in front of Ittihadiya Palace, the president’s main residence, demanding that Mr. Morsi step down and call early elections.

In most protest areas, the atmosphere was ebullient. Families walked with children in tow, some with their faces painted, munching on snacks and waving Egyptian flags. Passing motorists honked their horns, lending a festival aspect to the marches despite weeks of concern over the potential for violence.

H/T to @hrana – This is only the smallest slice of news about a very large event.  Some of the tweets look grim.  

I had some open tabs.  Now I am sharing.  

Please comment, share, and enjoy.  

UPDATED:

– Shelby County v Holder – Section 4 of VRA declared unconstitutional, Roberts writing for majority

– Tomorrow at 10am the remaining decisions from the October 2012 term will be released

– The Moose will liveblog starting at 9am Eastern

Today more decisions on the merit cases argued in the October 2012 term will be announced starting at 10am Eastern.

SCOTUS Blog for liveblog starting at 9:00am Eastern.  

The remaining cases in PDF format: Cases Remaining for October Term 2012 (not updated to reflect the 5 decided yesterday).

Pending cases include:

– Shelby County v. Holder 12-96, heard 02/27/2013, (Voting Rights Act)

– Hollingsworth v. Perry 12-144, heard 03/26/2013 (Prop 8)

– United States v. Windsor 12-307, heard 03/27/2013 (DOMA)

UPDATE:

– Fisher remanded to appeals court by a 7-1 vote.

– No ruling on DOMA, Prop 8

– No ruling on Voting Rights Act

From SCOTUSblog: On Tuesday, June 25, at 10 a.m. ET we expect opinions in argued cases. We will begin the Live Blog at 9 a.m

And so will we!

Today more decisions on the merit cases argued in the October 2012 term will be announced starting at 10am Eastern.

SCOTUS Blog for liveblog starting at 9:00am Eastern.  

The 11 remaining cases in PDF format: Cases Remaining for October Term 2012.

Those cases include:

– Fisher v. University of Texas 11-345, heard 10/10/2012 (Affirmative Action)

– Shelby County v. Holder 12-96, heard 02/27/2013, (Voting Rights Act)

– Hollingsworth v. Perry 12-144, heard 03/26/2013 (Prop 8)

– United States v. Windsor 12-307, heard 03/27/2013 (DOMA)

This monument to Nelson Mandela is by Marco Cianfanelli.

Award for Courage in Editorial Cartooning for 2013

CCRI announcement

Mr. Joel Pett, President of the Board of Directors of the Cartoonists Rights Network International announces that the recipient of the Award for Courage in Editorial Cartooning for 2013 is Syrian cartoonist Akram Raslan.

Mr. Raslan was arrested by Syrian authorities at the offices of his newspaper, Al-Fida in the city of Hama, Syria approximately 6 months ago.  He has been held incommunicado since then.  A reliable source reports that he has been tortured and abused, deprived of any legal counsel, and is now to be put on trial in a special court that has been created for enemies of the state.

CRNI gives Akram Aslan our annual Award for Courage in Editorial Cartooning in recognition of his extraordinary courage in confronting the forces of violence with cartoons that told only the truth.

The cartoonists are coming!  The cartoonists are coming to my town!  

AAEC 2013 Convention  The Association of American Editorial Cartoonists

Pat Bagley: Editorial Cartoonists Convention On his process, the convention and cartooning in Utah

City Weekly; Rachel Piper

Brace for scrutiny, Salt Lakers: The Association of American Editorial Cartoonists is holding its 2013 convention here at the end of the month (June 27-29, EditorialCartoonists.com).

You’ve been on hiatus from your daily cartoon in preparation for the conference. Is it odd?

I was listening to the radio on the way over, and I heard something about Nelson Mandela. And I was thinking, “If he dies, and I’m not there to do a cartoon about it, that would be bad.” There are things that could bring me to do another cartoon.

What’s your process for generating a cartoon every day since 1979?

As you go through life, you stash away information-whatever you read, whatever you watch on television, what you see in the movies, it’s just more material that goes in your attic. The messier your attic is, the more material you’ve got to go through. You think about this and that, and you can maybe make some odd connections. But it’s hard to say what makes that connection. All I can say is, expose yourself to a lot of stuff, intellectually. I like history, and I read a lot, and I think that helps.

I do it all kinds of ways. Sometimes I just want to draw a dinosaur that day, and I’ll doodle until I come up with a caption.

Has there ever been a day when you’re just like, “I got nothin.”?

Oh God, yeah. It’s only happened four times in the 30, 40 years I’ve been there. You can always do a bad cartoon.

Today more decisions on the merit cases argued in the October 2012 term will be announced starting at 10am Eastern.

SCOTUS Blog for liveblog starting at approximately 9:00am Eastern.  

The 14 remaining cases in PDF format: Cases Remaining for October Term 2012.

Here is the summary of the cases many of us are watching closely:

Fisher v. University of Texas 11-345 CA5 Oct 10, 2012

Whether this Court’s decisions interpreting the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, including Grutter v. Bollinger, permit the University of Texas at Austin’s use of race in undergraduate admissions decisions. (Kagan, J., recused)

Hollingsworth v. Perry 12-144 CA9 Mar 26, 2013

(1) Whether the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment prohibits the State of California from defining marriage as the union of a man and a woman; and (2) whether petitioners have standing under Article III, §2 of the Constitution in this case.

Shelby County v. Holder 12-96 CADC Feb 27, 2013

Whether Congress’ decision in 2006 to reauthorize Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act under the pre-existing coverage formula of Section 4(b) of the Voting Rights Act exceeded its authority under the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments and thus violated the Tenth Amendment and Article IV of the United States Constitution.

United States v. Windsor 12-307 CA2 Mar 27, 2013

(1) Whether Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) violates the Fifth Amendment’s guarantee of equal protection of the laws as applied to persons of the same sex who are legally married under the laws of their State; (2) whether the Executive Branch’s agreement with the court below that DOMA is unconstitutional deprives this Court of jurisdiction to decide this case; and (3) whether the Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group of the United States House of Representatives has Article III standing in this case.

National Archives, US Gov’t.  Navajo man and family.  

All The News is a semi-regular feature here in purple.  I select articles from news sites around the world, and use other social media for possible stories too.  Please share stories you find interesting or comment on anything included here.  

Judge: Obama sex assault comments ‘unlawful command influence’

Stars & Stripes; Eric Slavin

Two defendants in military sexual assault cases cannot be punitively discharged, if found guilty, because of “unlawful command influence” derived from comments made by President Barack Obama, a judge ruled in a Hawaii military court this week.

Navy Judge Cmdr. Marcus Fulton ruled during pretrial hearings in two sexual assault cases – U.S. vs. Johnson and U.S. vs. Fuentes – that comments made by Obama as commander in chief would unduly influence any potential sentencing, according to a court documents obtained by Stars and Stripes.

On Wednesday and Thursday, Fulton approved the pretrial defense motions, which used as evidence comments that Obama made about sexual assault at a May 7 news conference.

…

The judge’s pretrial ruling means that if either defendant is found guilty, whether by a jury or a military judge, they cannot receive a bad conduct discharge or a dishonorable discharge. Sailors found guilty under the Uniform Code of Military Justice’s Article 120, which covers several sexual crimes including assault and rape, generally receive punitive discharges.

The ruling sets the stage for defense attorneys to use the same arguments in sexual assault cases throughout the military.

Obama makes policy comments.  Defense lawyer says “oh noes!!!!”  Judge rules no one may be discharged for bad conduct?  #wtf  

Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS):

UPDATE: No rulings in affirmative action, marriage equality cases or voting rights today. We will post another SCOTUS thread on Thursday …

Today more rulings on the merit cases argued in the October 2012 term will be issued at 10am Eastern.

SCOTUS Blog has started their liveblog.  

The 19 remaining cases in PDF: Cases Remaining for October Term 2012.

The cases many of us are watching:

Fisher v. University of Texas 11-345 CA5 Oct 10, 2012

Whether this Court’s decisions interpreting the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth

Amendment, including Grutter v. Bollinger, permit the University of Texas at Austin’s use of race in undergraduate admissions decisions. (Kagan, J., recused)

Hollingsworth v. Perry 12-144 CA9 Mar 26, 2013

(1) Whether the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment prohibits the State

of California from defining marriage as the union of a man and a woman; and (2) whether

petitioners have standing under Article III, §2 of the Constitution in this case.

Shelby County v. Holder 12-96 CADC Feb 27, 2013

Whether Congress’ decision in 2006 to reauthorize Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act under

the pre-existing coverage formula of Section 4(b) of the Voting Rights Act exceeded its

authority under the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments and thus violated the Tenth

Amendment and Article IV of the United States Constitution.

United States v. Windsor 12-307 CA2 Mar 27, 2013

(1) Whether Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) violates the Fifth Amendment’s guarantee of equal protection of the laws as applied to persons of the same sex who are legally married under the laws of their State; (2) whether the Executive Branch’s agreement with the court below that DOMA is unconstitutional deprives this Court of jurisdiction to decide this case; and (3) whether the Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group of the United States House of Representatives has Article III standing in this case.

National News



Abducted Cleveland Women Bill Would Provide Them an Income, Education and Health Care

By CHRISTINA NG An Ohio lawmaker is looking to pass a bill that would pay for a lifetime of medical care, a college education and $25,000 a year to the three Cleveland women who were held captive as sex slaves for more than a decade. The bill is named after the three Cleveland women. It is called the Michelle Knight, Amanda Berry, and Gina DeJesus Survivors of Abduction Act and it has been introduced by Ohio state Rep. John Barnes, Jr. who said he wanted to restore some of the things the women were deprived of. Knight, 32, Berry, 27, and DeJesus, 23, have kept a low profile since Berry escaped and the other two women were rescued May 6. “This was perhaps one of the most tragic and protracted crimes in the history of our community here,” Barnes, a Democrat, told ABCNews.com. “They were deprived of an education, they were deprived of health care, they were deprived of a normal life–a prom, an ice cream cone and all of that.”

Powerball Record Winner Is 84-Year-Old Woman Gloria Mackenzie

By GEETIKA RUDRA An elderly Florida woman has claimed the $590 million Powerball bonanza and revealed that she bought the winning ticket when another person waiting to buy a ticket let her jump the line. Gloria C. Mackenzie, 84, of Zephyrhills, Fla., was named the winner of the largest Powerball jackpot in history, but was not present at the televised press conference. Florida Lottery officials read a statement from her in which the elderly woman said: “We bought the winning ticket as a single ticket, even though we bought four other tickets before the drawing. While in line at Publix another lottery player was kind enough to let me go ahead of them in line to purchase the winning Quick Pick ticket. “We are grateful for this blessing of winning the Florida jackpot… We hope that everyone will give us an opportunity to maintain our privacy for our family’s benefit,” her statement said.

Heather McGill, Wife of Alabama Sen. Shadrack McGill, Warns on Facebook to Keep Off Her Man

By ABC News An Alabama politician’s wife who took to Facebook to warn women to stay away from her husband said a “righteous anger” pushed her to write a post that has now gone viral. “I know that I can’t bring about change in other people’s lifestyles but I can protect my household, my husband and my children,” Heather McGill, the wife of Alabama state Sen. Shadrack McGill, told ABC News. Heather McGill logged on to her husband’s Facebook page Monday night to write a post targeted at the women she claims are soliciting her husband, a Republican who has served in the Senate since 2010, for sex. “Multiple times since being in office he has gotten emails from women (who may not even be real) inviting him to explore, also sending pictures of themselves. NO MORE!!!,” McGill wrote.  “We have children that look at our face books from time to time! Shame on you!” Sen. McGill told ABC News that, during his 2010 campaign, strippers arrived at his family’s home in the middle of the night and that, since being elected, he has received numerous photos on Facebook of scantily clad women.

DEA Arrests Scarsdale Mom In Massive Pot-Growing Scheme

by Bill Chappell Andrea Sanderlin, a mother who drives a Mercedes SUV and lives in a large Scarsdale, N.Y., home, is facing serious drug charges after federal investigators accused her of being the mastermind behind an operation growing nearly 3,000 marijuana plants in a warehouse in Queens. “The DEA’s arrest of Sanderlin – an attractive, divorced mother of two girls (ages 3 and 13) who lives in tony Scarsdale, New York – will likely draw comparisons to the Showtime series Weeds,” reports , which first reported the story, “which starred Mary-Louise Parker as the sexy young matriarch of the hydroponic pot-distributing Botwin family.” Sanderlin, who is currently being held in Brooklyn without bail, has pleaded not guilty to trafficking in narcotics, The Smoking Gun reports. If convicted of that charge, she could face a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison. Her lawyer, Joel Winograd, tells New York’s that his client is a full-time mother who has “never been in trouble before.” He added, “It’s rare that you get a woman accused of running a grow house.”

Amazon’s Grocery Delivery: A Trojan Horse To Get In Your Door

by Maria Godoy Amazon already delivers everything from toothpaste to televisions to your doorstep. Now, it wants to bring your berries and beer, too. The online retailing behemoth is planning a major expansion of , the home delivery service of meat, dairy and other fresh and frozen foods that it has been field-testing in Seattle since 2007. The service could launch in Los Angeles as early as this week, and delivery in San Francisco is on the horizon for later this year, according to . By 2014, the company could expand grocery delivery to as many as 40 major urban areas. So why would a heavyweight like Amazon bother diving into the grocery business, with its notoriously razor-thin profit margins? After all, the online grocery business has become a sort of Bermuda Triangle for many companies, including , one of the most spectacular failures of the dot-com era at the turn of the 21st century. But home grocery delivery could prove to be a Trojan horse for Amazon to get inside your home more frequently, says , a senior analyst with , which released a research note on AmazonFresh in April. (The firm shared the note, which requires registration to access, with The Salt.) “What this does is give Amazon the opportunity to connect with customers on a more frequent basis,” he tells The Salt.

International News



Woman labeled ‘icon’ of Turkey protests: It’s not about me

By Ashley Fantz, CNN (CNN) — She has become a symbol of the violent protests in Turkey. Across social media, she’s known as “The Woman in Red.” Wearing a red summer dress and a delicate necklace, the woman walked among demonstrators in Istanbul’s Taksim Square when a security officer lurched at her and pepper-sprayed her so powerfully her hair was blown upward. She could do nothing but turn away from the toxic spray. The officer, wearing a gas mask, lunged closer to her, unleashing more spray on the back of her neck. She covered her mouth as officers spray others. The photos of the incident have been shared widely on social media in recent days. International headlines have proclaimed her an “icon” of the movement against the government of Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan.

‘What kind of country is this?’ Families demand answers after China plant fire

By Nic Robertson, Steven Jiang and Jethro Mullen, CNN Mishazi, China (CNN) — The 38-year-old man stands on the road outside the burned out poultry processing plant, yelling at passing vehicles and demanding answers. He blocks the path of a local official’s car and shouts, “My wife’s just gone like that — what kind of country is this?” Wang Shoufeng is very angry, and he’s not alone. He says he last saw his wife before she went to work at 4 a.m. Monday to start her 14-hour shift at the poultry factory in this town in the northeastern Chinese province of Jilin. About two hours later, according to authorities, a fire broke out in the plant’s slaughterhouse and spread through the building. The lights went off, witnesses say, and smoke quickly filled the rooms and passageways. Workers rushed to escape the rising flames, stumbling into one another and slipping over in the confusion. Their panic deepened when they found many of the exits were locked or blocked.

Wasting food is like stealing from the poor, says pope

By Reuters Pope Francis denounced on Wednesday what he called a “culture of waste” in an increasingly consumerist world and said throwing away good food was like stealing from poor people. “Our grandparents used to make a point of not throwing away leftover food. Consumerism has made us accustomed to wasting food daily and we are unable to see its real value,” Francis said at his weekly audience in St. Peter’s Square. “Throwing away food is like stealing from the table of those who are poor and hungry,” he said. Since taking office in March, Pope Francis has said he wants the 1.2-billion-strong Roman Catholic Church to defend the poor and to practice greater austerity itself. He has also made several calls for global financial reform. Around 1.43 billion tons of food, or one third of what is produced for human consumption, gets lost or wasted every year, according to the United Nations’ food agency.

Rescuers winch families to safety in German flood town

BBC Rescuers used helicopters to pluck families from rooftops in the southern German town of Deggendorf on Wednesday as the Danube flood crisis continues. Meanwhile more than 30,000 people in the eastern city of Halle have been told to leave their homes after rivers reached their highest level in 400 years. Floodwater is also threatening parts of Austria and the Czech Republic. At least 13 people have died and two are missing as a result of the floods. Rising waters have been triggered by heavy rain following a wet spring. Eight deaths were recorded in the Czech Republic and three in Germany, while two people were reported dead and two missing in Austria, according to a European Commission update on Tuesday evening. Parts of Germany have not seen such severe flooding in centuries. However, in the Czech Republic, the water level has stabilised in the capital Prague, where there had been fears of a repeat of disasters in 2002 and 1997.

Venezuela expels West Hollywood filmmaker

By Mery Mogollon CARACAS, Venezuela — Interior Minister Miguel Rodriguez Torres of Venezuela confirmed Wednesday that West Hollywood filmmaker Timothy Tracy had been expelled from the country earlier in the day, six weeks after he was arrested on espionage charges. Tracy was put on an American Airlines flight bound for Miami. The documentary filmmaker was arrested April 24 by operatives in the SEBIN intelligence agency on accusations of “gathering information” including video and photographic images for what Torres described as the April Connection, an alleged conspiracy to overthrow the government. The alleged conspiracy included youths affiliated with opposition political parties such as Justice First and Popular Will. “The method of this person was to mix with violent sectors of the right,” Torres said. Torres said the arrest after an investigation and on “instructions of President Nicolas Maduro.”