Same-Sex Marriage:
Maryland and Washington voted to uphold laws that legalized gay marriage, Maine voted by referendum to legalize gay marriage, and Minnesota rejected a constitutional amendment to define marriage as one man, one woman.
California Criminal Law
California failed to end the death penalty, but revised it’s overly harsh and prison-crowding three strikes rule to only apply to serious crime.
Marijuana Legalization
I don’t smoke pot, but boy do I approve of taxing it and ending the war on drugs. Medical Marijuana was rejected in Arkansas, but approved in Massachusetts and Montana. Full legalization and taxation was rejected in Oregon, but approved in Colorado and Washington.
Rape Gaffes Kill Campaigns
Todd Akin, Richard Mourdock, John Koster, Linda McMahon, and Tom Smith were easily defeated in their races, some of which weren’t even close before their mistakes. Steve King unfortunately managed to win his race.
Puerto Rico to Become a State?
Currently the vote to become a state is in the lead, and Obama has said he will accept a decision with a clear majority. The US could have 51 states soon!
Unhappy News:
Bachmann and Paul Ryan won their races. Pete Stark, the first open atheist in congress, lost his seat.
Happy News
Elizabeth Warren won! Tammy Baldwin will be our first LGBT senator. West Virginia elected an LGBT person to their state government. Kyrsten Sinema, atheist, looks like she’s going to win her election. Amendment 8 in Florida, which would allow government funded religion, was rejected. Big Bird is safe.
NATE SILVER IS A WITCH and the rest of the world loves him as much as I did back when he was lowly dude on DailyKos.
Ashley's co-blogger is a third year student at Northwestern University who runs on coffee and snark. . At some point, she'd like to make people sit on couches and tell her about their feelings, but right now she writes in different places around the internet and makes silly faces when she doesn't know what to say. She's the president of her local Secular Student Alliance affiliate, and she is on the Secular Woman speakers bureau. Opinions do not necessarily reflect those of the Secular Student Alliance
6 comments
Skip to comment form ↓
Katherine Lorraine, Chaton de la Mort
November 7, 2012 at 9:52 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I’m totally excited over the Puerto Rico statehood thing. It’s exciting! We might have a 51st state!
keith
November 7, 2012 at 10:08 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I was not aware of the statehood vote, but it does seem obvious that PR should be a state. I expect the republicans to fight it in the House because PR leans democratic, which could shift the balance of power congress.
Kaoru Negisa
November 7, 2012 at 10:25 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
You mean, “openly bisexual atheist”. I know it doesn’t matter to a lot of people, but it’s pretty major to those of us who fit both. Well, at least me and the other bi atheist I know.
Aratina Cage
November 7, 2012 at 10:34 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I’m still reeling over how well things went last night. That hopey-changey thing is working out extremely well all of a sudden! What country is this again?
ReneeHendricks
November 7, 2012 at 10:59 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Just a quick note – Ref 74 (Same Sex Marriage in WA state) hasn’t officially been approved yet. It’s sitting at about 52% but the state still has a number of ballots to go through. It appears to be on its way to approval but we can’t say “win” just yet.
Pieter B, FCD
November 7, 2012 at 5:46 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
[pedant] Paul Ryan won one of his races [/pedant]