Mayor Annise Parker and Sermons

Mayor Annise Parker and Sermons 

The Gist

Annise Parker, mayor of Houston and the first openly gay person to lead a major American city, has been in the national spotlight as of late. This past May, the city of Houston passed the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance (HERO) which bans discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity, sex, race, color, ethnicity, national origin, age, religion, disability, pregnancy and genetic information, and family, marital or military status. Conservative groups in Houston then launched a petition drive that would put a repeal of the ordinance on the November ballot. They were able to obtain close to 50,000 signatures, but the City of Houston threw them out because the majority of the signatures were found to be defective. The City was then sued, with parties arguing that they were unaware of the rules pertaining to obtaining signatures.  As part of a routine discovery request, lawyers for the city asked for sermons that mentioned the following: the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance, the Petition, Mayor Annise Parker, homosexuality, or gender identity. The point was to see what, if anything, the pastors told their parishioners about how to obtain signatures and what the city rules were on obtaining these signatures (since the argument on the other side was that they didn’t actually know the rules).  Although broad discovery requests are the norm in any litigation, Mayor Parker (who was not told of the subpoenas until after they were sent) conceded that they may have asked for too much. The subpoenas have since been narrowed to simply communications on the HERO petition process….and now you know the gist.     

Mexico's 43 Disappeared Students

Mexico's 43 Disappeared Students

The Gist

This week, the New Yorker published a piece chronicling the disappearance (and probable death) of forty-three students in Iguala, Guerrero. The forty-three students, all in their late teens and early twenties, were training to be teachers and were heading to Mexico City. No one really knows why they were abducted. Reasons run the gamut: they angered the mayor of Iguala’s wife (pictured; her family runs the local drug gang), they were an example to other leftist groups to keep their mouths shut, etc. Whatever the reason, the disappearance has galvanized Mexico and sparked protests all over the country, leading the resignation of the governor (especially after it was realized the mayor and his wife had fled).The fact that peaceful protests have led to some sort of political change would be considered impossible twenty years ago. This upheaval comes at a time when the once murder capital of the world, Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, has seen an economic resurgence. American companies Delphi and Honeywell, as well as various Chinese companies, have expanded their operations. The State Department has even downgraded their warning for the border city: you just have to be careful, rather than staying completely away. The optimistic view is that the Mexican people, finally fed up with their lackluster politicians, are slowly creating a more peaceful and robust Mexico….and now you know the gist.

    

Conan, Condi, and Albright

Conan, Condi, and Albright

The Gist

In a hilarious convergence of Hollywood and Washington, former Secretary of State Madeline Albright and late night talk show host Conan O’Brien have engaged in a friendly Twitter war. O’Brien tweeted that his Halloween costume would be a “slutty Madeline Albright” to which Albright replied, “I'm considering going as hunky Conan O'Brien - but that might be too far fetched." Madeline Albright was America’s first female secretary of state, appointed by President Bill Clinton in 1997. Previously, she had served as American ambassador to the United Nations. Her father, Josef Korbel, was a professor of International Relations at the University of Denver. While there, Korbel’s favorite student was a former music major: Condoleezza Rice (the second female secretary of state). One of the more fascinating parts of Albright’s life was the fact that she didn't know she was Jewish until she was almost 60. Needless to say, O’Brien should have thought twice before getting into it with a woman who stood firm against Cuba’s Fidel Castro and North Korea’s Kim Jong-Il….and now you know the gist.   

Soccer, Suárez, and Biting

Soccer , Suárez, and Biting

The Gist

This week, it was reported that FC Barcelona/Uruguay national team player Luis Suárez was seeking help for his biting “problem.” During the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, he bit Italy defender Giorgio Chiellini’s ear and banned from playing for four months (sparking some pretty creative GIFs). Interestingly, Chiellini said he thought the punishment was excessive. Officials, however, said they took Suárez’s other biting incidents into account; he bit PSV Eindhoven's Otman Bakkal in 2010, and Chelsea's Branislav Ivanovic in 2013. So it should come as a relief to opposing players that he has admitted he has a problem. His biting “impulse” has not made him any less popular among club owners. During his suspension, he left Liverpool for Barcelona for a reported $120 million contract, making him one of the highest paid soccer players in the world. It should be noted, that Suárez is not the Beautiful Games’ most infamous biter: in 2001, Sevilla striker Francisco Gallardo bit his teammate Jose Antonio Reyes … in the scrotum.

WASPS, Watergate, and Bradlee

WASPS, Watergate, and Bradlee

The Gist

                                                                                   
Yesterday, Benjamin "Ben" 
Crowninshield Bradlee died of natural causes in his Washington, D.C. home. He was best known for his roles in publishing the Pentagon Papers and breaking the Watergate scandal in the early 1970s while executive editor of the Washington Post. His career coincided with what scholars have called the “WASP Ascendancy” (think the men in Matt Damon’s The Good Shepherd). The men who were part of this phenomenon had impeccable lineage, Ivy League educations, lived in upper class enclaves such as the Main Line in Philadelphia, and counted as their de facto leader President John F. Kennedy (even though he was Roman Catholic and Irish). Bradlee’s decision to publish the “Pentagon Papers” (that showed the Johnson administration was lying about American involvement in Vietnam) led to the landmark New York Times Co. v. United States Supreme court decision that said the newspaper’s first amendment rights trumped the government’s national security concerns. Under him, the Washington Post was at the forefront of reporting on the Watergate Scandal. He would later be immortalized by Jason Robards in the Oscar-winning All the President’s Men, starring Dustin Hoffman (pictured with Bradlee) and Robert Redford. He is survived by four children and his wife, former Washington Post society reporter Sally Quinn (who Secretary of State Henry Kissinger famously said felt like he wanted to commit suicide after being interview by her)....and now you know the gist. 

The Kurds

The Kurds

The Gist

With ISIS in the news, the plight of the Kurds (and the not-real-country of Kurdistan) has come to forefront…again. The Kurds, until recently, have simply had a century’s long streak of bad luck. It doesn’t help that the four countries they live in are as follows: Iran (currently under western sanctions and accused of wanting to obtain nuclear weapons), Iraq (no explanation necessary), Syria (in the midst of a civil war) and Turkey (who has worked against an independent Kurdistan since the founding of modern day Turkey in the 1920s). After the end of the World War I, when the Ottoman Empire’s Middle Eastern empire was being divided up, the Allied victors overlooked the Kurds. Since the time, they have been one of the largest stateless people in the world. Since the first Persian Gulf War, the Kurds of Iraq have enjoyed a certain level of autonomy (after then President Saddam Hussein gassed them, the international community thought it might be a good idea). Will the Kurds get their own country, especially after they have been at the forefront in the battle against ISIS? Probably not. They are not economically self-sufficient, the United States is not keen on breaking up the federal Republic of Iraq, and an independent Kurdistan would strengthen Iran and embolden Turkish Kurds (something that the United States sees as detrimental to American interests in the region)...and now you now the gist. 

The Clooneys and Art

The Clooneys and Art

The Gist

Ever since respected, multilingual attorney Amal Clooney née Alamuddin married Oscar winner George Clooney, her work has made news. It was reported that her honeymoon is now over and the British barrister has gone back to work helping the Greek government recover the Elgin Marbles (also known as the Parthenon Marbles) which have been in the possession of the British Museum since 1816. At first glance it may seem a simple argument: the Marbles were obtained by the then British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire under what many believe were dubious circumstances (all of the Ambassador’s “permissions” from the Sultan’s government have been lost). However, some argue that the return of the Marbles would set a very VERY bad precedent that would cause museums all around the world to lose their collections. Other famous artifacts that have caused similar rows have been the bust of Nefriti in the Neues Museum in Berlin, the Cyrus Cylinder and the Rosetta Stone, both in the British Museum. Greece, Ethiopia and Peru have all been successful in repatriating art in the past. However, none of the repatriations have been as high profile as the Elgin Marbles. As the centerpiece of the British Museums Greek collection, it is unlikely that Mrs. Clooney’s high profile will be enough to bring the marbles back to Athens...and now you know the gist.

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