Month: September 2011

A recent RAND study (pdf) found that closing marijuana dispensaries in California actually increased crime. Tim Cavanaugh defends the study from some criticism:

The rebuttals are less than persuasive because they seek to convince you of an absurdity: that the forced closing of a thriving business does not have a negative effect on a local area. Why isn't the L.A. Times this open to heterodoxy when repeating the old canard about how foreclosures cause crime to increase in a neighborhood? RAND speculates that the loss of security cameras, lights, security personnel and other accoutrements of functioning retail business contributes to the loss of security in areas hit by pot shop closings. The City of Angels is already rich in vacant storefront property. If there's some reason not to presume that artificially adding to those vacancies lowers the city's quality of life, neither the Times reporters nor their establishment sources have discovered it.

(Image source here)

Chait analyzes some awkward rhetoric from Karl Rove and Jennifer Rubin:

How to steer the voters away from the guy who makes their right-wing hearts flutter, and toward the electable guy? …  If you're a Republican opinion leader, you want to promote Romney over Perry. At the same time, you have to account for the possibility that Perry might win the nomination anyway, which means that you can't say anything that could be used against him in the general election. You need to gently suggest to Republicans that Perry is too crazy to be elected president, without suggesting to swing voters that he's too crazy to be elected president.

Where gays can openly serve in the military:

(Hat tip: Joe. My. God.)

Or so argues Marvin Weinbaum:

For some time now, the Taliban, by their words and deeds, have shown that they lack interest in compromising with the Karzai government or its international allies. The idea that Mullah Omar’s Quetta Shura or the Haqqani leadership would bid for cabinet positions or provincial appointments was an essentially Western notion. It assumed that the Taliban could be induced to accept a democratically inclined, coalition government that could also constitutionally incorporate their Islamic doctrinal aims—this with a movement whose leadership has never shown much tolerance for those who did not share their particular worldview.

Earlier commentary along these lines here.

A reader writes:

What?  Martina Navratilova?  She takes a well deserved back seat to Billie Jean King. This from a straight man, who as a youngster, began his education on gay and lesbian matters because of all the hype that surrounded her. She was incandescent and those who aren't familiar with her should let your fingers do the walking and look her up.  It's a great story.

Come on! Twelve Grand Slam singles titles, 16 Grand Slam women's doubles titles, 11 Grand Slam mixed doubles titles, 20 Wimbledon titles, The "Battle of the Sexes" winner, "galimony."  She was outed but rose above that and become the leading spokesperson against sexism in sports. She's been the recipient of countless awards, but I suspect one of her most satisfying was receiving, from President Barack Obama, the Presidential Medal of Freedom for her work advocating for the rights of women and the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered community. 

Another writes:

Saw your post just now about female basketball players featuring the picture of Sheryl Swoopes.  Sheryl was originally married to a male, and they had a son.  She divorced and later came out as a lesbian in a relationship.  Now she is engaged to a male.

Also, a lot has changed since 1985 in women's college basketball, some players even show their partners in Facebook.  In one article I read a WNBA player was asked if she was a lesbian, her reply was "no she wasn't but her girlfriend was".  However, some problems still exist – see this recent article.

My question is what is the definition of "OUT", if everyone around a female player can see their girlfriends or see them hit on a girl and try to get their phone number does that count.  Or do they have to call a press conference and shout it out to the world? 

Okay, now I'm back to lurking…

Another:

I think I emailed you this Outsports story about my friend Brian Sims, who came out to his team while in college. He was the defensive captain of his Division II Football team at the time, and they went on to compete for the National Championship that year. While he never went pro or competed at the highest NCAA level, it is a compelling story, and worth reading if you haven't yet seen it. 

What's notable is that, since that time, he's become very active in the community, and he's just recently announced a run for the PA House, seeking to become the first openly gay legislator in the state. 

He may not be a superstar in sports, but he's well on his way to becoming a superstar in real life. 

(Top photo: Billie Jean King of the USA returns a volley during the 1981 Lawn Tennis Championships at the All-England Club in Wimbledon, England. By Tony Duffy /Allsport)

And rightly so.

William Jelani Cobb was among the crowd outside the prison where Troy Davis was executed last night:

[W]hat was most surprising and disturbing is that the group was more than 90% black. For all the discussion about the implications of the death penalty for the country at large this broke down, as always, to an issue of race and black people would have to do the heavy lifting if any change were going to occur. The racial balance skewed so heavily that when a young white couple sat down on the grass next to me I asked them what organization they were with. The woman reply hit me hard: "We're not with an organization. I know Troy Davis — my brother is on death row with him."

Hind Ahmas, 32, leaves court on September 22, 2011 in Meaux, France after being convicted as the first woman wearing a niqab following France's nationwide ban. Ahmas was fined 120 Euros – and Najate Nait Ali, 80 Euros – after breaking the newly implemented law. Belgium, Italy, Denmark, Austria, the Netherlands and Switzerland either have or are considering the banning of full-face veils. France was the first European country to do so. By Franck Prevel/Getty Images.

Andrew Cohen situates the Davis and Buck cases within the context of capital punishment in the US:

The roiling uncertainty surrounding the Buck and Davis cases is a sad but timely reminder that the center has not held on capital punishment in America. The legal compact demanded by the United States Supreme Court when it reinstituted capital punishment as a sentencing option in 1976 has been broken, repeatedly, not by convicts, but by hundreds of overzealous administrators of the nation's justice systems. In Texas, Georgia, Florida, and in the other states which continue to push capital punishment, the "law" in capital cases now is mostly used as a weapon – not as a shield for the individual against the might of government. It is not justice under law. And it is certainly not equal justice under the law. It is instead far too often a perversion of justice — and of the Court's well-meant  precedent.

Feel the catharsis (NSFW):