#second-class citizenship

Well, this month, actually

Here it is the last day of the month and I’m finally writing a post. It’s been a lot this month. A LOT. Recovery from COVID has been no joke for me. So exhausting. My advice: don’t get it. I know they say blithely “everyone will get it eventually” but honestly: just don’t. The fatigue alone. Of course, it effects everyone differently – or everyone gets a different strain? who knows? – some…

With all this talk of gay people marrying one another, some people on the right are starting to bleat about how they're being oppressed for their Christian beliefs—so oppressed, in fact, that they're starting to feel like "second-class citizens." Here's CBN's David Brody lamenting the sorrows of Kirk Cameron and Tim Tebow. Here's Red State's Erik Erikson predicting the coming pogrom ("Within a year or two we will see Christian schools attacked for refusing to admit students whose parents are gay. We will see churches suffer the loss of their tax exempt status for refusing to hold gay weddings. We will see private businesses shut down because they refuse to treat as legitimate that which perverts God’s own established plan."). Here's Fox News commentator Todd Starnes on the oppression that has already begun ("it’s as if we’re second-class citizens now because we support the traditional, Biblical definition of marriage"). And how is this second-class citizenship being thrust upon them back in the real world? Well, people are ... strongly disagreeing with their position on an issue of public concern! It's awful, I tell ya.

This brilliant young man is going to use quadrocopters to shoot overhead footage of OWS protests.  While traditional news copters can be restricted, any altitude at 400 feet or below is not restricted, FAA airspace. Both the quadrocopters and the smartphones are wireless technologies.  In the context of social engagement to address disparities that minorities are disproportionately affected by, this is far from being second class citizenship. 

[via Mashable]

"Occupy Wall Street broadcaster Tim Pool's protest coverage, shot entirely on smartphones, has received more attention than most mainstream media. The reporter - who doesn't identify with the term citizen journalist - is now devising ways mobile technology can provide unprecedented news coverage.

Pool rose to fame after his 21-hour live Ustream broadcast of the Nov. 15 raid on Zuccotti Park went viral on Twitter. His stream provided what large camera crews could not - an unfiltered take on the action as it unfolded. His footage was featured on Al Jazeera English, MSNBC and Time.com ..."

The District [of Columbia] has just over a half-million residents. If you are not one of them — that is, if you see Washington, D.C., as a place to visit museums or see cherry blossoms or check in on your elected representatives — then it's easy to see why this part of the budget deal might not register.

If you happen to agree with either or both of those policy decisions — that is, you happen to think abortion is morally wrong and should be outlawed, or that kids in failing schools ought to be able to enroll somewhere else with taxpayer help — then, again, it might not register.

But stick with me for a moment and, just for a few minutes, allow it to register.

Because what Congress — and the White House through its acquiescence — has just done is tell a half-million American citizens that their opinions on two of the most profound policy issues of our time do not matter in the city they call home, where they pay taxes and which some of them even defend with their lives.

For those who don't know, D.C. residents pay the same federal taxes that the residents of the 50 states pay, but they do not have congressional representation.