Thursday Open Thread [8.21.14]

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So the U.S. Supreme Court indicated this week that it will decide marriage equality for the entire country next year. A new Marist Poll shows that a "majority of Americans favor legalizing same-sex marriage, but there is little consensus about whether the decision should be made on the federal or state level."
"Supporters of legalizing same-sex marriage think the issue should be decided for the entire country by a federal law. Half of those who oppose it believe it should be determined by the states. And, while Americans' position on legalizing same sex marriage is a driving factor in the debate, political party affiliation matters, too. Democrats are more likely to turn to the federal level, and Republicans look more to the states. Independents are closer to the Democrats on whether to seek federal or state action."
And here is a host of new polls from the last week....

Anyone Notice the Silence from the NRA on Ferguson?

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After most of America's high profile shootings, you can count on the NRA to immediately get their PR Offensive on -- using tragic incidents to extend their lobbying for the gun manufacturers who call the tune over there now and to do even more fundraising. All of this is focused around pushing back on any common sense controls on weapons and advocating that more of us carry -- so that everyday can be the OK Corral or some such. But for this -- a cop shooting an unarmed kid over jaywalking -- they've been pretty quiet. It is a surprise, because you'd think that they'd see the government tyranny that they keep insisting that people need guns for and would be out defending this community that is clearly pushing back against that tyranny. As Cliff Schecter points out in the Daily Beast: