Pete Speaks at Montana Town Hall

On Sunday, Pete Buttigieg spoke at a town hall in Butte, Montana, once the copper capital of the world, where a citizens' initiative, the Montana Plan, is a lively topic just now.  He's been going around the country in recent months making speeches and taking questions at events like this.  I haven't watched any of them because I know I would agree with just about everything he says; and also because I'm sick to death of political speechmaking, which seems so futile in the face of the calamity that has engulfed our country.  

But I said to myself, you ought to listen to him and post his video for others who just might want to hear what he has to say.  So here you go, fellas.  I will just add that I admire Pete tremendously, and he will certainly get my vote for president, if I live long enough to see another free and fair election.  

In my estimation, Pete is a damn good man, a fine man, honest, honorable, intelligent, compassionate, and courageous.  A man at once humble and inspiring.  I wept listening to his simple speech, which seemed to me the prologue to a noble story:  David versus Goliath, perhaps.  He is marked out for some high destiny, I do believe.  

But what do I know.  Listen and judge for yourself.

P. S. -- I will note here that I don't quite agree with Pete's thesis that "the system is broken."  When a man's body is overwhelmed by a filthy contagion, it's not his system that is broken.  Our body politic has been overwhelmed by disease and corruption that may prove fatal unless a remedy is found, and soon.  That's how I would put it.

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Marriage News Watch, 11/24/14

Matt Baume of the American Foundation for Equal Rights reports:




Better late than never: Congrats to Dan Hunter and Randy Paul, who were among the first couples to marry in Butte, Montana, last Thursday, the Montana Standard reports. The guys have been a couple for 22 years.

More Marriage News

Current map of U. S. marriage equality per Wikipedia.
Click to enlarge.

Wow, take your eyes off the headlines for just a day, and you miss so much. But here's the skinny:

South Carolina's first same-sex marriage happened Wednesday.

And Montana will soon have them too, if the AG's appeal to the Supremes doesn't work.

Good news - enjoy it fellas, before we plunge into the deep darkness of another fascist Republican era, now fast approaching. All bets will be off then.


Update, 6:15 p.m.:

The U.S. Supreme Court today denied South Carolina's request for a stay, so couples all over the Palmetto State began marrying shortly after 4 p.m., mirabile dictu.

You Yankee boys should understand - South Carolina is deeply conservative, even more so than Alabama or Mississippi.  They have lovely manners, but they are Bourbons who refuse to advance beyond the 19th century.  There's a reason why South Carolina was the first state to secede from the Union.  This will fry all their tomatoes.

And in Montana: