Something to Know - 26 June

1.  Yesterday, the Supreme Court ruled that warrantless searches of cellphones by police is unconstitutional.   It is apparent that each judge on this high court has a stake in this argument, since each one can imagine how invasive the search is if he/she were the victim.   Imagine the how the Robert's Court would rule if the usual conservative majority had the same empathy for ethnic minority voters in the South who find it difficult to register and vote, or as pregnant women who are unable and willing to follow through on their condition, or to the general population that is fed up with the ease of acquiring any gun without controls?   Just imagine:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/26/opinion/linda-greenhouse-the-supreme-court-justices-have-cellphones-too.html?emc=edit_th_20140626&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=2318049

2.  The outcome to the recent Mississippi senate election is something that will always be talked about, especially in classes on American Politics.   It was a spectacle that criss-crossed party lines and ideologies.  It may be recognized as the point where the stake was driven that became a wedge that broke the GeeOpie:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/26/opinion/gail-collins-mississippi-goes-for-the-money.html?emc=eta1

3.  In a country where patriotism is often defined with big expensive fleets of jets screaming over the field as the band plays and the flags fly.  Our masculine definition of world leadership gets tangled with hawks who go anywhere to do anything with our pantry of military industrial complex hardware.   Being patient and pragmatic with the tools of soft diplomacy is not sexy at all, and that is Obama's problem with how he is perceived.   But, you know, it turns out to be the the better path:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/26/opinion/nicholas-kristof-obamas-weakness-or-ours.html?emc=eta1

--

****
Juan
 

 

The trouble with born-again Christians is that they are an even bigger pain the second time around.

-- Herb Caen