🇺🇸 Gay Marriage Dot Com

POWERED BY

Good morning. Today is Pearl Harbor Day, a “day that will live in infamy,” as per the words of FDR. This veteran miraculously survived the attack, and will be honored with a “dream flight”...

Plus, an extreme shortage led to this Chinese woman faking a pregnancy…

Also, do you know of an industry that is currently defying inflation but still has an edge? We do…

FLAG POLLS

🐎 Georgia: Trump vs. Biden: Biden 47, Trump 43 (UMass Lowell)

🐘 Georgia: DeSantis vs. Biden: DeSantis 47, Biden 46 (UMass Lowell)

📉 President Biden Job Approval: Approve 43, Disapprove 55 (Rasmussen Reports)

📉 Direction of Country: Right Track 30, Wrong Track 66 (Rasmussen Reports)

TRENDING

Right: Joe Biden’s 2024 Bid Is Meant to Save Democrats from Themselves (National Review)

Right: Democrats move to lower voting age to 16 in Boston and beyond (Washington Examiner)

Right: Fauci Knows Everything But Remembers Nothing In His Big Tech Collusion Deposition (The Federalist)

Left: The GOP’s House Majority Is Even Flimsier Than We Thought (Daily Beast)

Left: Jan. 6 Congressional Gold Medal Honorees Snub Kevin McCarthy, Mitch McConnell (Huffington Post)

Left: “Deep psychological need”: Reagan speechwriter explains why GOP is so obsessed with Hunter Biden (Salon)

POWERED BY REALPHA

Invest In The Startup Unlocking A New Asset Class For The Everyday Investor

Companies like Coinbase and Masterworks made billions of dollars simplifying crypto and art investing for the everyday investor.

Now, reAlpha is doing the same thing for an even more lucrative (and stable) asset class: real estate.

reAlpha is making Airbnb ownership as easy as using an app: users purchase fractional shares and collect rent from high-potential properties without ever having to maintain or manage them.

It’s such a solid idea that reAlpha closed a $200M financing deal with Churchill Real Estate––one of the largest in industry history––to kick off acquisition of some seriously high profit-potential properties.

But instead of investing in just one property, you can get in on the ground floor of reAlpha’s business as they democratize the $1.2T global short-term real estate industry.

Learn more about reAlpha's shareholder offering and invest before the opportunity ends Dec. 8.

QUICK CLICKS

Beijing Backs Off, Trump Organization Tax Conviction, Putin's Enemies Plotting

US: Suspect in Colorado LGBTQ nightclub massacre is charged with 305 counts, including murder and hate crimes (NBC News)

World: Beijing no longer requires negative COVID test to enter many public spaces (Axios)

Business: Chipmaker Triples Investment In New Arizona Plant To $40 Billion (Daily Wire)

Business: FTX's Bankman-Fried Hires White Collar Defense Attorney Mark Cohen (US News)

US: Trump Organization found guilty on 17 counts in NY tax fraud case (NY Post)

Economy: Rail workers warn of exodus after Congress forces through deal (The Hill)

World: How Putin's enemies would mount a coup, as rumours of plotting inside the Kremlin grow (Daily Mail)

POLITICS

Gay Marriage Dot Com

The US Supreme Court is considering a case out of Colorado, 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis, which concerns whether or not a website designer must offer its services to LGBTQ couples that are getting married. Many are comparing it to the 2018 case, Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, in which a similar debate centered on wedding cakes.

Reporting from the Left: Supreme Court appears sympathetic to Colorado designer who opposes creating same-sex wedding sites (CBS News)

Reporting from the Right: Faith Advocates: Religious Freedom ‘at Risk’ in Christian Website Designer Supreme Court Case (Breitbart)

From The Flag: Lorie Smith, the owner of 303 Creative, is looking to expand into wedding website creation. She wants to be assured the company won’t be sued if they refuse to make wedding websites for same-sex couples. Smith is a Christian and says doing so would violate her religious beliefs. Here’s more from both sides.

RIGHT-LEANING SENTIMENT

Upholding Business Owners' Rights Is Not An Unfair Trade Practice

• The ACLU is embarrassing itself by coming out in opposition to 303 Creative, as there’s a difference between a customer’s identity and the event they aim to celebrate.

• The 10th Circuit of Appeals bizarrely ruled that Smith cannot refuse service because she would then own a “monopoly” on her own designs.

• Even people who support the right to gay marriage are backing Smith’s rights and liberties as a private business owner.

“The ACLU’s embarrassing case for government-compelled speech” Conn Carroll, Washington Examiner Opinion: “Both 303 Creative and Masterpiece Cakeshop are happy to serve gay people. If a gay person wants a Masterpiece cake and a 303 website to celebrate their birthday, both businesses will happily comply. Similarly, if a wedding planner who happened to be gay were planning a straight wedding… both businesses would happily comply. The identity of the customer is irrelevant to the decision of both businesses. What is relevant is the specific event they are being forced to support. So imagine an agnostic florist who… has a moral objection to circumcision and refuses to provide flowers for a bris. Is this florist an antisemite? No. She’s just against circumcision, and the state of Colorado should not force her to help celebrate one. That the ACLU can’t recognize this very clear legal distinction — or more likely, that it feels a need to feign ignorance… shows just how far the organization has fallen.”

“SCOTUS Should Hold States Can't Compel Politically Correct Wedding Messages” Ilya Shapiro, Newsweek Op-ed: “Although Smith is perfectly willing to work for LGBTQ customers, her religious convictions preclude her from creating graphics for same-sex marriages. But the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act requires her to create custom websites celebrating the marriages of same-sex couples if she does so for opposite-sex couples. … Not waiting to be prosecuted, Smith sought a ruling in federal court that Colorado could not enforce its anti-discrimination law against her. The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals… characterized Smith as having ‘monopolistic’ control over her specific designs. Refusing to provide her services would thus result in some Coloradans being denied access to an entire ‘market.’ That's a bizarre ruling, which effectively says that every commercial enterprise is a monopoly unto itself—and that any artist or other expressive professional can be compelled to speak because that speech is, in every instance, unique. … I'd never before encountered that specific argument.”

One more opinion piece from the Right: The Supreme Court has another chance to uphold religious liberty for small business owners David Boaz, The Hill Op-ed

LEFT-LEANING SENTIMENT

Even Amid Disagreement, Public Protections Must Be Granted To All

• This case is misleading on its face because Colorado’s law only stipulates that a ready-made website template must be made available to same-sex couples.

• Pluralism is something our society should be committed to, in that people from all walks of life can co-exist in the public sphere.

• The conservative Supreme Court majority is likely to rule in Smith’s favor – how far will they go in rolling back LGBTQ protections?

“The Easy-to-Miss Twist That Makes the Supreme Court’s New Gay Rights Case So Strange” Mark Joseph Stern, Slate: “Colorado law does not compel Smith to create a wedding website for a same-sex couple, or for anyone else. It only insists that once Smith has designed a wedding website, she must allow same-sex couples to purchase that product. In essence, Colorado says she must sell her website template to all customers, regardless of their identity. She need not create a new template or ‘speak’ in support of any marriage. At most, if she makes a wedding website for Henry and Fiona, she must sell the same template to Henry and Frank. As Colorado Solicitor General Eric Olson acknowledged, she could even make a template that (for some reason) condemned same-sex marriage. This speech is permitted. Colorado targets only the conduct of refusing to sell that product to gay people. … And now a handful of conservative justices… believe the rights of discriminators matter more than equality for everyone else.”

“When Gay Rights Clash With Religious Freedom” Tish Harrison Warren, New York Times Opinion: “This week’s legal arguments will most likely focus primarily on questions around free speech… more broadly though, this case, like the Masterpiece Cakeshop case in 2018, poses a question to us as a culture: How committed are we to true pluralism? Pluralism is not the same as relativism — we don’t have to pretend that there is no right or wrong or that beliefs don’t matter. It is instead a commitment to form a society where individuals and groups who hold profoundly different and mutually opposed beliefs are welcome at the table of public life. It is rooted in love of neighbor and asks us to extend the same freedoms to others that we ourselves want to enjoy. Without a commitment to pluralism, we are left with a society that either forces conformity or splinters and falls apart.”

One more opinion piece from the Left: The US supreme court is poised to strike another blow against gay rights Moira Donegan, The Guardian Opinion

FLAG THIS

Strong Support for Gay Marriage, Democrats Say Service Must Be Provided

This past June, which marked Pride Month – a celebration of LGBTQ rights – more than 7 in 10 indicated they support same-sex marriage, a new all-time high. In 1996 just 27% were in support (Gallup).

In March, polling results found 66% believe business owners should not have the right to refuse service if the decision is based off a potential customer’s sexual identity. Of that group, 85% of Democrats agreed, as well as 66% of Independents (Public Religion Research Institute).

In 2016, when the Masterpiece Cakeshop vs. Colorado case was making headlines, 48% said businesses should have the right to refuse service to LGBTQ customers, while 49% said providing service should be required (Pew Research).

FLAG FINDS

Accessible Investing, Wine a Day, Workout From Home

🏠 Investors have long eyed the real estate market as an income stream, but massive barriers to entry have kept the everyday investor out. Too expensive. Too stressful. Too inaccessible. That’s all changing thanks to reAlpha. Today, you can invest in reAlpha at the cutting edge of real estate disruption for as little as $1,000. Learn more about reAlpha's shareholder offering and invest before the opportunity ends Dec. 8.

🍷 A glass of wine a day keeps the doctor away. Seriously. It’s, like, legit really good for you. So don’t settle for mediocre vino while getting your vital antioxidant kick. Enjoy self-care in style with Wander + Ivy. They deliver award-winning, organic wines in sleek single-serve bottles. Try a variety pack, so you can switch up what you’re sipping every night, without risking a bottle going bad. Or, if you fall in love with one, sign up for regular deliveries so you never come home to an empty glass again. Put your self-care first.

💪 The hardest part of going to the gym is… actually going to the gym. It’s too cold out for compression shorts, and besides, who’s gonna hold you accountable, your phone? Well, yes, it will–if you have obé, at least. They’re so much more than just a collection of fitness videos. obé provides motivation on demand. Their 8,000+ routines are the perfect length, intensity, and level of fun for you to keep coming back, day after day. Plus, with 20 live classes per day, you get the accountability of working out with a community, without having to leave your living room. Start your free trial today. ¡obé!

WATERCOOLER

Day of Infamy, Disappearing Whales, Indiana McDuck

On December 7, 1941, at around 1:30 pm, President Franklin Roosevelt is conferring with advisor Harry Hopkins in his study when Navy Secretary Frank Knox bursts in and announces that Japan had attacked Pearl Harbor. The attack killed more than 2,400 naval and military personnel. Above, Roosevelt delivers his "Day of Infamy" speech before Congress on the following day.

Undark: In Alaska, a Mystery Over Disappearing Whales

Big Think: 3 rules to express your thoughts so that everyone will understand you

Insider: The Great Purpling

Today I Learned Indiana Jones was inspired by Scrooge McDuck, not the other way around. George Lucas was a big fan of the comics growing up. The famous boulder sequence in Raiders of the Lost Ark was directly lifted from a 1954 issue of the McDuck comic.