The Hollywood Liberal

A Brief History of Flag Day
Ingloriously crammed between the summer’s other two big holidays — that would be Memorial Day and Labor Day — Flag Day doesn’t tend to get much respect. Perhaps things would be different if we got the day off, or if there was any kind of actual glamour surrounding the holiday, perhaps the advent of a signature Flag Day snack or cocktail? Or maybe Flag Day just needs something simple — like a brief history — to help contextualize it against the backdrop of summer’s better-known holidays. Every June 14, the United States doesn’t just celebrate the flag as a single entity; it actually celebrates the adoption of the flag itself, which happened nice and early in American history on June 14, 1777. Basically, Flag Day is the birthday of the American flag. Please don’t celebrate with candles and cake.

Ukraine Military Plane Shot Down, 49 Die
A Ukrainian military plane was shot down by separatists early Saturday while approaching an airport in Luhansk, killing all 49 people on board. Ukraine’s defense ministry said the plane, which was transporting military personnel, was shot down by insurgents using anti-aircraft machine guns. French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel Saturday held telephone talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and stressed the importance of reaching a cease-fire in Ukraine and avoiding the transfer of fighters and weapons across the Ukrainian-Russian border.

Obama intervenes in Philadelphia rail strike
RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. (AP) — President Barack Obama is intervening to help resolve Philadelphia’s commuter rail strike.

Tom Coburn: VA problems go “far deeper” than treatment delays
Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., says veterans too often receive poor medical care at VA facilities even after they’ve waited too long for an appointment.

Hillary Clinton: Don’t twist my stance on gay marriage
Hillary Clinton grows testy after NPR’s Terry Gross presses her to explain her change of heart on same-sex marriage.

Obama: “Happy Father’s Day”
President Obama salutes America’s dads, saying he’s tried to be a good father to his daughters because he grew up without his own father around.

On Media Matters Radio , NOW President Terry O’Neill Says George Will “Doesn’t Deserve To Be In The Washington Post ” After Rape Column

From the June 14 edition of SiriusXM’s Media Matters Radio:

Previously:

Wash. Post‘s George Will: Sexual Assault Victim Is Now A “Coveted Status”

A College Rape Survivor Responds To George Will’s “Coveted Status” Remarks

NOW President Calls On Washington Post to Drop George Will Over Rape Column

Senators Criticize George Will For Trivializing Sexual Assault (UPDATE: Will Responds)

Maliki and Iraq’s Disaster
David Ignatius, RealClearPolitics
WASHINGTON — The stunning gains this week by Iraq’s Sunni insurgents carry a crucial political message: Nouri al-Maliki, the Shiite prime minister of Iraq, is a polarizing sectarian politician who has lost the confidence of his army and nation. He cannot put a splintered Iraq together again, no matter how many weapons the Obama administration sends him. Maliki’s failure has been increasingly obvious since the elections of 2010, when the Iraqi people in their wisdom elected a broader, less-sectarian coalition. But the Obama administration, bizarrely working in tandem with Iran, brokered a…

Our Polarized Democracy
Ruth Marcus, RealClearPolitics
WASHINGTON — “Congressional Democrats were ecstatic,” The New York Times reported the morning after House Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s unexpected trouncing in his Republican primary. “An informal dinner party at the Georgetown apartment of Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the Democratic leader, turned into a celebration.” On one level, this reaction is entirely understandable. Cantor’s political shape-shifting and overweening ambition earned him few friends in either party. His cynical willingness to torpedo deals worked out between President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner…

BBC ‘breached faith’ on HQ move
Former first minister Rhodri Morgan accuses BBC Wales of a “breach of faith” following decision to relocate HQ to Cardiff city centre.

Blair: ‘We didn’t cause Iraq crisis’
The 2003 invasion of Iraq is not to blame for the current crisis in the country, which is the “predictable” result of western inaction in Syria, Tony Blair says.

‘No nuke’ independence constitution
The removal of nuclear weapons from Scottish soil should be part of a post-independence constitution, according to Scotland’s deputy first minister.

Officials Fear Moner Mohammad Abusalha’s Jihad Video Will Inspire Others
After a young Florida man killed dozens in a suicide attack in Syria, American officials are concerned that others will join extremists there and in Iraq.

Frank Schirrmacher, German Newspaper Publisher, Dies at 54
Mr. Schirrmacher was co-publisher of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, one of Germany’s most respected publications.

Afghans, Looking Ahead to U.S. Withdrawal, Vote With Guarded Optimism
As voters chose Saturday between an ex-finance minister and an opposition politician, the Taliban appeared not to have launched any major attacks, at least in urban areas.

Ricky Martin Brilliantly Protests Morocco’s Anti-Gay Laws

While the sentiment in itself isn’t surprising, since Martin is gay, it made a political statement in a country where homosexuality is a crime.

The post Ricky Martin Brilliantly Protests Morocco’s Anti-Gay Laws appeared first on ThinkProgress.

CREDIT: AP Photo/Claude Paris

It was a minor change — simply dropping the ‘s’ from a pronoun — but it was a majorly subversive act.

Singer Ricky Martin last week briefly changed the lyrics in one of his love songs from “she” to “he” while performing in Morocco. And while the sentiment in itself isn’t surprising (the singer has been openly gay since 2010), it made a political statement in a country where being gay is a crime.

“It’s the way he makes me feel/ It’s the only thing that’s real,” the singer croons, in a video that’s posted online. “It’s the way he understands / He’s my lover, he’s my friend / When I look into his eyes it’s the way I feel inside / Like the man I want to be / He’s all I ever need.”

Watch it:

Under article 489 in Morocco’s penal code, being gay is a crime punishable by imprisonment. While there is something of a gay community in the country, arrests do happen. Just a month ago, six men there were jailed for being gay.

Martin was performing at the 13th Mawazine World Rhythms Festival, which takes place in Rabat and is presided over by Mounir Majidi, the personal secretary for King Mohammed VI.

The post Ricky Martin Brilliantly Protests Morocco’s Anti-Gay Laws appeared first on ThinkProgress.