In The Room Where America Was Born

Signing of the Declaration of Independence by John Trumbull, 1819.
Click to enlarge.

Instead of the usual Friday assortment of several handsome men, today the Blue Truck features just one - which ought to satisfy everybody.

Independence Hall in Philadelphia is familiar to all Americans as the birthplace of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, as well as the original home of the Liberty Bell.  The Hall is in the care and custody of the National Park Service.  Those who remember fondly the denizens of Jellystone Park know that relations between bears and rangers have often been problematic.  

But now in this equal-opportunity era, here is Ranger Bigbear giving a really excellent and accurate narration of the events that occurred in the Assembly Room when the Founding Fathers gathered there.  Highly educational and enjoyable - if you can keep your mind on the history.

By the way, various authoritative sources tell me that the Assembly Room where the delegates met and debated is about 40 by 40 feet - more than twice the size of a typical high-school classroom today.  About 60 delegates attended in the summer of 1776; 56 of them signed the Declaration sometime in August - not on July 4th.  Believe it or not!

-----

Obama Rips Trump in Pittsburgh Speech

A few highlights: 

 

The full speech: 

-----

DON'T CELEBRATE

ABC news reports on the attempt to assassinate Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, about 35 miles (55 kilometers) north of Pittsburgh:

 

NBC provides this aerial photo of the location where the shooting occurred during a Trump campaign rally.  (148 yards = 444 feet = 135 meters)

Click to enlarge.

According to early reports, the shooter on a nearby rooftop fired at least eight shots from an automatic rifle.  On spectator was shot in the head and died instantly.  Two others are in critical condition at a local hospital.

The shooter was killed by a police sniper.  Details are yet to be provided.

This despicable act will only infuriate and energize the Trumpists.  Political violence has no place in American life.  What goes around, comes around, fellas.  Don't rejoice, don't gloat.  Biden could be next. 

And now Trump is a kind of martyr:  the Passion of the Donald will be a powerful icon.  This changes everything.  

Pray for our country:  deliver us from evil.

CBS News:

NBC News:

 President Biden spoke at an impromptu press conference shortly after the shooting:

-----

Brian Sims for Congress

Brian at work.

All-American hunk Brian Sims announced today that he is running for a Congressional seat.  The 37-year-old was elected to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in 2012.




Gee, I sure wish I could vote for him.

Brian off duty.

Marriage Victory in Colorado

Yesterday, Adams County District Judge Scott Crabtree struck down Colorado's same-sex marriage ban as a violation of constitutional guarantees of Due Process and Equal Protection, as Freedom to Marry reports:

In the ruling, Judge Crabtree explained how civil union - which Colorado has had in effect since 2013 - is a lesser, unequal form of family status that does not compare to marriage. He writes:

The fact that the State has created two classes of legally recognized relationships, marriages and civil unions, is compelling evidence they are not the same. If civil unions were truly the same as marriages, they would be called marriages and not civil unions. If they were the same, there would be no need for both of them. The fact that Colorado denies same gender couples the same right to apply for federal benefits that it grants to opposite gender couples is a violation of the Equal Protection Clause.

Read the full ruling here.

Notably, Judge Crabtree was appointed by Republican Governor Bill Owens in 2001. He is the fifth Republican-appointed judge to rule in favor of the freedom to marry, following judges in New Jersey, Kentucky, Michigan, and Pennsylvania.

This is the 24th consecutive ruling in favor of marriage equality since the U. S. Supreme Court's Windsor ruling last year: a complete list is here.


And in other news, the U. S. Supreme Court declined without comment to hear an appeal brought by a Pennsylvania county clerk seeking to stop same-sex marriages in that state.

Also, the Utah Attorney General announced that he will appeal last month's 10th Circuit ruling striking down Utah's marriage ban directly to the Supreme Court.

Freedom to Marry has a comprehensive nationwide database of all 75+ marriage cases now pending, resolved, or on appeal here.

Defrocked Methodist Pastor Reinstated

The Rev. Frank Schaefer, formerly pastor of a United Methodist church in Pennsylvania, who was defrocked last year for officiating at the same-sex wedding of his own son, was reinstated to the ministry today by an appeals panel, reports the Washington Post:

The nine-person panel ordered the church to restore Frank Schaefer’s pastoral credentials, saying the jury that convicted him last year erred when fashioning his punishment. He was then transferred to the California conference of the church, effective July 1.

“I’ve devoted my life to this church, to serving this church, and to be restored and to be able to call myself a reverend again and to speak with this voice means so much to me,” an exultant Schaefer told The Associated Press, adding he intends to work for gay rights “with an even stronger voice from within the United Methodist Church.”

The church suspended Schaefer, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, for officiating his son’s 2007 wedding, then defrocked him when he refused to promise to uphold the Methodist law book “in its entirety,” including its ban on clergy performing same-sex marriages.

Pennsylvania Marriage Ban Overturned

Reuters reports:

A federal judge on Tuesday struck down Pennsylvania's ban on same-sex marriage, the latest in a series of court decisions across the country confirming gay couples' rights to wed. Finding Pennsylvania's 1996 Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional, District Court Judge John Jones III wrote: "By virtue of this ruling, same-sex couples who seek to marry in Pennsylvania may do so, and already married same-sex couples will be recognized as such in the Commonwealth."

The ruling makes Pennsylvania the 19th U.S. state where gay marriage is allowed, a movement that has gained momentum since the Supreme Court ruled last June that legally married same-sex couples are eligible for federal benefits.

Most recent court rulings allowing gay marriage have included a stay pending appeal, but Jones' ruling does not. There is, however, a mandatory three-day waiting period for all weddings in Pennsylvania.

In the ruling, the judge noted that the issue of gay marriage "is a divisive one."

"Some of our citizens are made deeply uncomfortable by the notion of same-sex marriage," he wrote. "However, that same sex marriage causes discomfort in some does not make its prohibition constitutional. Nor can past tradition trump the bedrock constitutional guarantees of due process and equal protection."

He compared Pennsylvania's ban on same-sex marriage to the school segregation laws overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court's 1954 landmark Brown vs. Board of Education decision.

"We are a better people than what these laws represent, and it is time to discard them into the ash heap of history," he wrote.

Full transcript of the ruling is here, and the accompanying order here.


Tweet of the Day, via Joe.My.God.:

Update, 5/21/14:  Pennyslvania Governor Tom Corbett announced today that he will not appeal the court's ruling.  Since nobody else has standing to appeal, it seems marriage equality is there to stay in the Keystone State.