Header cartoon aside, there will be no April Fool's Day jokes on this blog today.
I just fixed the link on the previous item. It now actually takes you to the article mentioned, which I thought would be a nice touch.
Looks like RadioShack has received a last minute reprieve from the governor…or actually from a judge in bankruptcy court. Perhaps the new owners can morph the stores into something more successful. I hope it will occur to them to try hiring employees who know something and paying them well enough that they'll stick around.
I'm thinking this whole mess over "religious rights" in Indiana shows us how far we've come in terms of L.G.B.T. rights in this country. Few if any of the politicians who ever want to get elected or re-elected and who are defending the law are saying, "Yeah, it discriminates against gays and we think that's good." Governor Pence instead has had to come out and say he wants legislation "…that makes it clear that this law does not give businesses a right to deny services to anyone."
He won't go so far as to come out for statewide anti-discrimination protections for L.G.B.T. Hoosiers. After all, he still wants the Republican nomination for president. But not all that long ago, the argument would have been that businesses should be able to kick out gay couples who want to buy wedding cakes…and now the folks who believe that have pretty much been driven into the closet.
This morning, Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson who was expected to sign a bill similar to Indiana's, has said he wants modifications in it. Here's how I think that roughly translates…
Listen, I need to sign an anti-gay bill because my base will be furious with me if I don't. But too many people will be pissed at me if I sign an anti-gay bill so I need an anti-gay bill that I can argue isn't one.
This kind of thing may work but not for much longer.