Update no.698

Update from the Heartland

No.698

27.4.15 – 3.5.15

Blog version:  http://heartlandupdate.blogspot.com/

To all,

The follow-up news items:

-- The Supremes heard oral arguments in the appeal of marriage rights cases from four states – Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee.  The Court’s ruling is expected by the end of June.  The Stonewall riots of 1969 sparked the civil rights movement for non-heterosexual citizens.  We have been discussing the civil rights, including marriage rights, of non-heterosexual citizens for a long time [171 & sub].  We have a plethora of state and federal, lower and appeals court decisions as well as the nibbling of the Supreme Court of the United States of America.  The usual swing vote in narrow judgments of the Roberts Court rests with Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy.  A key word in Justice Kennedy’s queries during oral arguments was “millennia,” as in monogamous, heterosexual, bilateral marriage has been defined, established and enforced for millennia.   Whether the Court’s widely anticipated decision is definitive or just another nibble, we must wait two months to learn.

            I should reserve my opinion comment until we have the Court’s decision.  However, Justice Kennedy’s concern for millennia of tradition and the convention of normalcy exceeds my capacity to resist.  Human history has myriad milestones of evolution and maturation.  Respecting the rights and dignity of non-heterosexual citizens is LONG, LONG overdue.  The loss of genius minds and monumental contributors to the history of mankind simply because of our induced homophobia must end, like so many other traits of our past.  Let us mature, Justice Kennedy, and exceed the constraints of that past.

The latest potential police misconduct event came to us from Baltimore, Maryland, shortly after the reported death of Freddie Carlos Gray, Jr., 25, yet another citizen with dark skin pigmentation (19.April.2015).  Gray suffered a fatal injury to his spinal cord while under arrest, confined, in restraints, and being transported in a police van (12.April.2015).  After a comparatively brief investigation, State’s Attorney for Baltimore Marilyn Jones Mosby announced criminal charges against six of the involved police officers – the most serious being second-degree murder against the driver of the van.  The investigation indicated the police confrontation with the police escalated quickly, resulting in Gray’s arrest for what turned out to be bogus reasons.  Based on the publicly available information, the Gray arrest and fatal injury is one of the clearest examples of police misconduct in recent times.

            Public protests began before Gray’s death.  Unfortunately, as is so often the case in events like this, the protests turned violent on Saturday, 25.April.2015, with potentially lethal assaults on police officers, destruction of property and looting.  The violence prompted the deployment of the Maryland National Guard and the imposition of a nighttime curfew.  I have long touted the wisdom of Doctor King, yet there are limits.

 “A riot is the language of the unheard.”

               -- Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. (14.March.1968)

King’s statement was marginally understandable and perhaps even acceptable in the heady days of the 1960s civil rights movement; however, his words of disenfranchisement have become a rationale for unjustifiable, criminal behavior, often sparked by blue-on-black incidents.  In the scheme of “black lives matter,” this was a near-perfect event to let the justice system work and set the stage for corrections to the police-community relationship and interactions.  The violence and looting diminished the potential benefit of this unfortunate event.

News from the economic front:

-- The Commerce Department reported the U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) expanded at a paltry 0.2% seasonally adjusted annual rate in 1Q2015, compared to a 2.2% pace in 4Q2014 and 5.0% in 3Q2014, and well below expectations.  The report cites the slowing in the economy due to businesses reducing investment, exports dropping and consumers showing signs of caution.  The uneven growth seems to be a hallmark of the post-Great-Recession economic recovery.  The Federal Reserve attributed the slowdown to transitory factors, in effect signaling an increase in short-term interest rates remains on the table for the months ahead although the timing has become more uncertain, which means the chances of a rate increase by midyear have greatly diminished.

Comments and contributions from Update no.697:

Comment to the Blog:

“Your new web site is clean, clear, and well suited to its purpose. You have a good result for your effort.

“The only design quibbles I found are (a) no apparent link to this blog, and (b) you mention Wichita prominently, which carries a much more localized and parochial connotation than your career and viewpoint deserve. You carry experience and insight derived from traveling and working across a large slice of the world. The local reference takes away from that.”

My response to the Blog:

            Thank you for your comments.

            Re: Blog link.  Actually, it is at the top of the “Other Writing” page.  I should be more specific on my Home page.

            Re: Wichita “Kansas.”  Well, now, that you mention it, my location has no bearing on my writing.  And, again, thank you very much for your generous words.

Cheers,

Cap

Postscript: I thought the suggestions were quite appropriate.  I have modified and uploaded the website with these changes.  Thank you very much.

My very best wishes to all.  Take care of yourselves and each other.

Cheers,

Cap                        :-)