In the News

Here is some stuff in the news today!

Congratulations to Meryl Davis and Charlie White, who won the first ever Olympic gold for the US in ice dance. You can see their winning performance here.

Federal Judge Arenda L. Wright Allen has declared Virginia's same-sex marriage ban unconstitutional, writing: "The plaintiffs [two same-sex couples] ask for nothing more than to exercise a right that is enjoyed by the vast majority of Virginia's adult citizens. They seek simply the same right that is currently enjoyed by heterosexual individuals: the right to make a public commitment to form an exclusive relationship and create a family with a partner with whom the person shares an intimate and sustaining emotional bond." Judge Wright Allen's decision is stayed pending appeal, so same-sex couples won't be able to legally wed until the case is resolved in the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.

[Content Note: Violence; guns] Adrian Broadway, a 15-year-old Arkansas teenager, is dead after the father of a classmate on whom she and friends were playing a prank shot and killed her. "The teenagers told police they had thrown toilet paper, eggs and mayonnaise on a car parked there. As they were leaving, a man came out of the house and opened fire. Broadway was struck in the head and died." Broadway is black, as is the man who shot her, Willie Noble. Noble has been charged with "one count of first-degree murder, one count of a terroristic act, and five counts of aggravated assault." Which, you know, probably would not have been the case if Noble were white. That's not an argument against charging Noble; it's an argument for charging white men who kill black teenagers.

[CN: Gun violence; racism] George Zimmerman, citing an ongoing Department of Justice civil rights investigation, refuses to say whether he regrets killing Trayvon Martin. "Certainly, I think about that night and I think my life would be tremendously easier if I stayed home." Fuck. You.

[CN: Food insecurity; class warfare] Food stamp use among military families is again on the rise. This is not what "support the troops" is supposed to mean. I'd love to hear conservatives who incessantly wail about the moochers and takers on SNAP practice some ideological consistency and argue that the people serving the nation are also just lazy and need to work harder. (No, I wouldn't. I'd love for them to abandon that bootstrap bullshit altogether.)

Actress Ellen Page publicly discloses that she is a lesbian in a moving speech about the harm being obliged to remain publicly closeted does: "I suffered for years because I was scared to be out. My spirit suffered, my mental health suffered and my relationship suffered. ...We deserve to experience love fully equally without shame and without compromise."

[CN: Rape; domestic violence] Last night was the premiere of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, which I was really enjoying until Mike Tyson appeared as part of a comedy bit. It was really jarring to see Fallon, who spoke lovingly about his baby daughter in his opening monologue, yuk it up with a man who has raped and beaten other people's daughters. Boo.