Law of the Land, Escapee Killed

So Ordered: Same sex marriages began almost immediately yesterday in states where it had been illegal before the 5-4 Supreme Court ruling upholding marriage as a universal right. It could go down as one of the most monumental decisions in the history of the court.

President Obama described it as “justice that arrives like a thunderbolt.”

Writing for the majority, Justice Anthony Kennedy said, “The court in this decision holds that same-sex couples may exercise the fundamental right to marry in all States.”

Citing precedents for privacy, due process, and equal protection of the law, the majority opinion said, “couples of the same-sex may not be deprived of that right and that liberty.”

Taking note of arguments that it is up to state legislatures to decide the issue, the opinion said, “The dynamic of our constitutional system is that indi­viduals need not await legislative action before asserting a fundamental right.”

In his minority dissent, Chief Justice John Roberts confronted that point, writing, “But this Court is not a legislature. Whether same-sex marriage is a good idea should be of no concern to us. Under the Constitution, judges have power to say what the law is, not what it should be.”

Kennedy’s decision said same-sex couples “ask for equal dignity in the eyes of the law. The Constitution grants them that right.”

Nation: Escaped murderer Richard Matt was killed by a federal agent yesterday near Malone in far upstate New York. Officers said Matt was armed with a shotgun and failed to put up his hands when ordered. His fellow escapee James Sweat was believed to be in the nearby woods.

As many as 1,100 state and federal law enforcement officers have been hunting for the two men who broke out of the Clinton Correctional facility June 6th. Investigators said the two had been moving north toward Canada, only 10 miles away.

Permawar: Reports say Islamic State fighters have returned to the city of Kobane and have gone door-to-door killing people. ISIS is also claiming responsibility for a suicide bomb at a Kuwait mosque. >At least 37 people including British, German and Belgian tourists were killed yesterday in a terrorist attack on a Tunisian beach resort.

Charleston: After delivering the eulogy for the Rev. Clementa Pinckney in Charleston SC, yesterday President Obama eased into singing “Amazing Grace” and 6,000 mourners rose to their feet and joined him. It was a rare moment.

The Obit Page: Patrick Macnee, the British actor who played the dapper spy who wore a bulletproof bowler on television’s “The Avengers” has died at home in California at age 93. The 1960s series is considered a television classic with Macnee opposite the shapely Diana Rigg, the fellow agent who wore a leather cat suit and handled the bad guys with martial arts.

>Mario Biaggi, the former New York cop who became a powerful Congressman only to go to jail for corruption in the 1980s, has died at age 97.

>Phil Austin, 74, who played the detective Nick Danger in the absurdist Firesign Theater radio shows, died June 18 in Washington State. Firesign was popular in the days when comedians recorded their skits on record albums and fans could recite them verbatim. One of the group’s most popular titles: “Don’t Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me the Pliers.”

Wit’s End: For the second day in a row, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia delivered the dissenting color commentary on the court’s majority decision. Writing about the opinion legalizing same-sex marriage, Scalia said, “Who ever thought that intimacy and spirituality [whatever that means] were freedoms? And if intimacy is, one would think Freedom of Intimacy is abridged rather than expanded by marriage. Ask the nearest hippie.”

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Friday, April 19, 2024

Page Two

The Most Corrupt Justice

Monday, October 2, 2023

Democracy and Video in the Dark

Sunday, February 26, 2023

Page Two: Do the Right Thing

Tuesday, February 1, 2022

Page Two: Sound Recall

Monday, September 13, 2021

Page Two: Cuomo Must Go

Friday, August 13, 2021

Trump and the Truth

Tuesday, November 3, 2020

The “Great” President

Monday, March 30, 2020

The Wright Stuff

Saturday, February 29, 2020

It's Been Said

"In my mind, I’ve never crossed the line with anyone, but I didn’t realize the extent to which the line has been redrawn. There are generational and cultural shifts that I just didn’t fully appreciate, and I should have, no excuses."

-Andrew Cuomo, resigning as governor of New York after accusations of sexual harassment

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