Trump: Yes, It Is a Muslim Ban

President Donald J. Trump commemorated Saturday’s tragedy in London by tweeting a renewed call to ban travel to the US from six predominantly Muslim countries. A second version of his presidential order (he now calls it “watered-down“) is headed to the Supreme Court, and this presidential tweetstorm may have doomed the administration’s case. Even Kellyanne Conway’s husband thinks so.

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North Carolina Kinda Sorta Repeals the ‘Bathroom Bill’

After an Associated Press analysis projected that North Carolina’s HB2 “bathroom bill” limiting LGBT protections will cost the state more than $3.76 billion in lost business, the state’s Republican legislature voted to repeal HB2 but puts state legislators in charge of public restrooms. The new measure, HB142, forbids local governments from passing nondiscrimination ordinances covering sexual orientation and gender identity until the end of 2020. “It’s not a perfect deal, but it repeals House Bill 2 and begins to repair our reputation,” said Governor Roy Cooper, who signed the bill on Thursday.

Why the rush to yesterday’s sloppy compromise? The NCAA set a Thursday deadline for HB2 repeal; without that, the state would lose hosting rights at all NCAA tournaments through 2022.​ The ultimatum is convincing, since North Carolina lost the league’s March Madness tournament games this year due to the discriminatory law. NCAA is reviewing the new law to see if it passes muster.

HB 142 apparently doesn’t repeal HB2’s other repressive elements, which bar Tarheel State cities and counties from adopting minimum wages above the $7.25 level, except for government employees (must be a lot of cousins on those county payrolls). The law also limits how people pursue claims of discrimination in state courts, forcing these matters into the federal court system. There’s a lot of things in the new bathroom bill that still doesn’t smell right.

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‘March Madness’ Leaves North Carolina Over Bathroom Bill

North Carolina’s “Bathroom Bill” has cost it two rounds of 2017’s “March Madness” Division I men’s college basketball tournament games. The National Collegiate Athletic Association has relocated those games and six other championship events out of the state due to the North Carolina state law known as HB2, which requires people to use public bathrooms based on their sex as designated on their birth certificates. The law, which also nullifies local laws protecting the civil rights of LGBT citizens, had already lost Charlotte the NBA All Star Game and millions of tourist dollars. The NCAA decision is arguably a bigger blow to the Tarheel State, where college basketball has deep roots and a wide following, and Duke and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill are legendary contenders. This won’t help North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory’s reelection bid, either.

Here are the NCAA championships North Carolina is losing to bigotry:

• 2016 Division I Women’s Soccer Championship, College Cup (Cary), Dec. 2 and 4.
• 2016 Division III Men’s and Women’s Soccer Championships (Greensboro), Dec. 2 and 3.
• 2017 Division I Men’s Basketball Championship, first/second rounds (Greensboro), March 17 and 19.
• 2017 Division I Women’s Golf Championships, regional (Greenville), May 8-10.
• 2017 Division III Men’s and Women’s Tennis Championships (Cary), May 22-27.
• 2017 Division I Women’s Lacrosse Championship (Cary), May 26 and 28.
• 2017 Division II Baseball Championship (Cary), May 27-June 3.

More:

“NCAA  Moves Championship Events From North Carolina, Citing Anti-Gay-Rights Law,” Marc Tracy and Alan Blinder, New York Times

“NCAA had enough of NC inaction on HB2,” Luke DeCock, Charlotte Observer

Related:

“North Carolina’s HB2 Is Not Just a ‘Bathroom Bill,'” NotionsCapital

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NBA Flushes North Carolina’s All-Star Game Down the Toilet

The 2017 NBA All-Star game will be moved from Charlotte, North Carolina to another location because of the Tarheel State’s bathroom legislation, the Association announced last Thursday.  The “Bathroom Law,” aka HB2, requires people to use gender-separated bathrooms and changing rooms according to the sex on their birth certificates, which denies transgender people access to public facilities.The All Star Game isn’t just a single pro hoops contest; it’s a 3-day weekend series of events for basketball fans, supported by the NBA, league sponsors, and local businesses, and the cancellation will cost state businesses an estimated $100 million.

ARRGHHH!!! responded North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory, or words to that effect. The NBA’s Charlotte Hornets issued a perfunctory statement accepting the situation and urging Carolinians to get it together or lose any chance at the 2019 All Star Game.

Other businesses and events have also cancelled plans for activities in North Carolina. Over 200 CEOs of major companies (including the state’s largest employers) have signed an open letter urging the law’s repeal. Scores of state, county, and city governments have forbidden government-related travel to North Carolina due to the law.The bathroom law is flushing billions of dollars in business activity and tax revenue down the toilet.

More:

“The NBA Has Moved The All-Star Game From North Carolina Because Of Anti-LGBT Law,” Kevin Draper, Deadspin

“NBA pulls 2017 All-Star Game from Charlotte over HB2 law,” Sports Illustrated

“NBA will move 2017 All-Star Game from Charlotte over HB2 law,” Tim Bontemps, Washington Post

Related:

“House Bill 2 could cost N.C. $5 billion a year, report says,” Katherine Peralta, Charlotte Observer 

“Police officers have no idea how to enforce North Carolina’s new ‘bathroom law,” Mark Abadi, Business Insider

“North Carolina’s ‘bathroom’ law is about more than who’s in the next stall,” Paul Woolverton, Fayetteville Observer

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Privilege

“Let’s Talk About Privilege,” a short video by SNL’s Sasheer Zamata.

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Hoosier Hospitality

Indiana Governor Mike Pence, a formerly prominent Republican, is flabbergasted by the uproar about Indiana’s new Religious Freedom Restoration Act. After all, it has the same name as a Federal law and laws in 19 other states.

There are three main differences:

1.  Indiana’s law explicitly allows for-profit businesses to assert a right to “the free exercise of religion.”

2. Indiana’s law allows businesses to assert such rights as a defense against lawsuits by private individuals, not just against actions brought by government.

“So, let’s review the evidence: … there’s ‘nothing significant’ about this law that differs from the federal one, and other state ones—except that it has been carefully written to make clear that 1) businesses can use it against 2) civil-rights suits brought by individuals.”

— “What Makes Indiana’s Religious-Freedom Law Different?” Garrett Epps, The Atlantic

3. Timing. Public opinion in America has swung in favor of same-sex marriage, and Indiana Republicans are out of step with their “freedom to discriminate” legislation.

More:

“Indiana’s Mike Pence is starting to look like Lester Maddox — without the spine,” Joan Walsh, Salon

Legal types can see a letter by 30 law school professors here.

Related:

“When ‘Religious Liberty’ Was Used To Justify Racism Instead Of Homophobia,” Ian Millhiser, Think Progress

“Disciples Of Christ Cancels 2017 Convention In Protest Of Religious Freedom Law,” Daniel Strauss, TPM Livewire

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Indiana Welcomes … Some of You!

The Indiana legislature passed a law, and Republican Governor Mike Pence is so proud of it that he boldly signed it when no one was looking. The so-called ‘Religious Freedom Restoraction Act‘ grants individuals and businesses the right to discriminate against people unlike them and claim their religion mandates their bigotry.

Wholesome, honest-to-goodness Hoosier intolerance. Who could be against that?

Everyone. The ACLU. The Disciples of Christ. The NCAA. The Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce. USA Track & Field. NASCAR. Corporations like Yelp, Salesforce, Ennis Communications, Cummins, Angie’s List, Twitter, Subaru, General Electric and Indianapolis-based pharma giant Eli Lilly & Company. The mayors of Indianapolis, South Bend, Evansville, Washington DC, Seattle and San Francisco. The governors of Connecticut, New York, and Washington. U.S. Senator Mark Kirk (R-IL). Annual conventions like the AFSCME Conference and the $50 million Gen Con. The editors of the Indianapolis Star. Tim Cook. Audra McDonald. Miley Cyrus. Larry King. Charles Barkley. Nick Offerman. David Letterman. Wilco. Ashton Kutcher. Arnold Schwarzenegger. And many more.

There’s a petition, a boycott movement, and this:

Arizona: Show Me Your Papers!

The Supreme Court of the United States has overturned most of Arizona’s immigration law, denying the state’s right to make its own immigration policy. The court reasserted the constitutionally mandated powers of the Federal Government in these matters.

Some Ugly Research

Beauty isn’t just in the eye of the beholder, it’s in the wallets of good-looking folks. Over the course of their work lives, conventionally attractive people make $230,000 more than less prepossessing employees and get better jobs and mortgages. Economist Daniel S. Hamermesh calls the difference in pay the “ugliness penalty” and believes unattractive people can sue to collect the balance under equal opportunity laws. Job discrimination on the basis of looks is already illegal in District of Columbia and some jurisdictions in California.

Dr. Hamermesh has written about this field of research in a book, Beauty Pays: Why Attractive People Are More Successful (2011, Princeton University Press). Although we personally find such comparisons odious, if you must know what the author looks like, click here.

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