Good morning! It’s National Hat Day, so dress appropriately. Here are some of the stories we’re reading on a crisp Wednesday in NYC…
Fight continues –> A federal judge has ordered supervision for elections in Evergreen, Alabama, through 202o — the first such ruling since the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act last year.
Speaking of Alabama –> Salon’s Natasha Lennard writes that the case of Roger Shuler, the blogger imprisoned indefinitely for refusing to remove posts about local politicians, is even worse than some outlets have reported.
But still no high-level bankers –> Josh Harkinson reports for MoJo that an 83-year-old nun who broke into a weapons complex in an act of protest faces 30 years in prison.
R.I.P. –> Michael Hiltzik in the LAT: “Net neutrality is dead. Bow to Comcast and Verizon, your overlords.”
Report card –> ProPublica’s Charles Ornstein grades Obamacare at the midway point of the rollout.
Love wins again –> Oklahoma gay marriage ban ruled unconstitutional. The decision won’t go into effect pending a certain appeal. ALSO: Amanda Holpuch reports for The Guardian that a prominent Republican gay rights advocate who co-founded GOProud is quitting the party over its “tolerance of bigotry.
Watching the watchers –> NSA won’t tell Sen. Bernie Sanders if it’s spied on him because that would violate his privacy, according to HuffPo’s Sam Stein and Matt Sledge. ALSO: Great piece by Virginia Eubanks at TAP about how poor people have long lived with incredibly intrusive surveillance.
Compromise still a dirty word –> At The Daily Beast, Ben Jacobs reports that the usual outside conservative groups are lining up against the budget deal announced earlier this week.
Capitalism’s cheerleaders –> At TNR, Tod Lindberg argues that the decline of upward mobility is posing a big problem for promoters of unfettered capitalism.
Plucked from obscurity, and then destroyed –> Mark O’Connell writes (beautifully) about the dark side of social media for The New Yorker. A good one for writing buffs.
Numerology –> Colorado, which just legalized marijuana, has grown weary of having its 420 mile marker on I-70 stolen, and is replacing it with one that reads, “Mile 419.99.”
