@azuregris @bryanault It's hard to say what's going on. Are these common ground for enough people. I think likely most Democrats and a large chunk of Independents would fall into this category. Also traditional Republicans. But the ~35% that seem to be hard-core Trump supporters, at least so far? I don't think so. I don't actually buy into the economic anxiety theory of this phenomenon. I don't want common ground with them, unless it means their abandoning some of what appear to be core beliefs.

@badger33 I suspect that the court would rule based on whether the discrimination is based on what they wanted the cake to say vs. who they are. If the former, probably allow baker to refuse. If latter, then I don't see how they'd justify. Not any more than they could refuse a black-white couple, even if their religion prohibits mixing races.

@badger33 The idea that free speech has some sort of absolute protection even with the first amendment isn't right. 1A only protects against the government limiting speech, first of all. You can prohibit any speech you like in your home, and twitter can limit any kind of speech on its own commercial platform. Even public speech can be limited. Libel. Speech that causes danger (classic fire in crowded theater). Speech that directly incites violence.

@BaronVonTD @th3j35t3r There, I followed you. And you didn't even have to dress up.

@badger33 White supremacists aren't protected by civil rights legislation, right? I would assume this would only apply to classes of persons against whom it is not legal to discriminate. Perhaps some lawyers on here know. In Canada, that would be prohibited under hate speech laws, but speech rights here derive from different rights enshrined in law than the first amendment in US (which has its pluses and minuses for sure).

@bryanault @azuregris Isn't that just the Libertarians? That party hasn't gone anywhere.

@badger33 I'm not a lawyer, so thrush opinion isn't worth much. But, I don't see how the cake maker can claim the same status as an artist taking a commission. They have a shop open to the public, right? I think that then necessitates that they not infringe on rights of people who patronize it. The analogy is more art gallery than artist, I think. A gallery can't legally refuse to sell a painting to a black person, I assume. SCOTUS could consider it to be like that, if they rule that way.

@azuregris I myself am not a conservative. Dual citizen, vote Democrats in US, Liberal (centrist party) in Canada (there's another party, NDP, to left in Canada). But I agree, there needs to be a place for normal traditional conservatives to go. I don't see a viable 3rd party forming in the US system. So the only hope would seem to be that "good" conservatives manage to purge the frank scum who've taken over the GOP after whatever apocalypse it's hopefully headed for.

GOP losing members.

I had been wondering about this, particularly in connection with the polls that keep showing nearly complete support for Trump among Republicans. But indeed the number of people identifying as GOP is falling. Somewhat encouraging.

https://twitter.com/cnn/status/937920994903289856

Russia banned from 2018 Winter Olympics per NYT

I.O.C. Gives Russia Major Punishment for Winter Olympics
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/05/sports/olympics/ioc-russia-winter-olympics.html

Credit: ‪@[email protected]
https://counter.social/media/2nAtnUGTF3yyyJ7gDAU

@BlueStateBabe not even sure they block them. That violation message has just arrived when I checked.

So, the bird found this account in violation. It's the most vile I've seen there. Is it gone? No. Still there. They helpfully tell me that it has 370 tweets today. So WTF does in violation mean to them?

https://counter.social/media/wS63FaytsolyR8DUDr8

@deeplyshallow He's a republican, so you probably mean he can almost sexually harass Jeff Sessions.