Extent of AZ SB 1062
I’m sure most have heard about Arizona law, SB 1062, but like me most don’t know the extent of this law and how many it could affect. Or what the ramifications could be.
I’m not even going to try to paraphrase all this. It’s something that could be a legal mess if AZ Gov. Jan Brewer doesn’t veto it this week.
Second, SB 1062 does much more than ADF admits. Businesses of course must comply with state and local law. SB 1062 radically expands RFRA’s limit on government action to include action by private parties that are merely complying with the law.
That means that if an employee believes his employer’s compliance with a local law would violate the employee’s religious beliefs, SB 1062 allows the employee to sue the employer.
You can read more here.
The most startling thing about this law for many is that it’s using religion to base a state law in a country with a firm stand that has always separated church and state.
It should be interesting to see what Gov. Brewer does. Aside from everything else, this could be the defining moment in her entire political career.
Cutting Aid to Uganda
President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda signed a bill that would allow gays to be jailed for life. As a result, several countries have aggressively stated they will cut AID to Uganda.
Norway, Denmark and The Netherlands have become the first countries to either redirect aid away from the Ugandan Government or freeze aid.
The Netherlands froze $9.6 million in aid to Uganda’s legal system, saying that if Uganda’s courts were to enforce the country’s new harsh laws further criminalizing homosexuality then they did not want to assist that process.
Denmark and Norway have also said they both planned to redirect around $8.5 million in aid, to a combined total of $17 million, away from the Ugandan Government – with that money instead going to Non-Government Organizations and human rights groups in Uganda
US Secretary of State John Kerry stated the US will do a full review now, too.
LinkedIn for Publishing
I’m usually a big fan of the old phrase never say never these days as so many things continue to change in publishing. I posted a while back on LinkedIn and how I wasn’t a member because I always thought of it as more of a place where people in business, mostly corporate, went to network. However, I recently joined after I got a few requests from other publishing professionals I know…including two agents and several authors. I’m not certain, but this might be the reason why.
LinkedIn is opening its publishing platform to all its members. Last week, the platform was opened to about 25,000 users. More will be added gradually until every member has publishing privileges. Multiple languages will also be supported when the service is fully implemented.
Until recently, the ability to publish articles was reserved for well-known leaders like Bill Gates, Martha Stewart, and Richard Branson. With publishing privileges being opened to all members soon, LinkedIn can become a place where you build your brand and share your expertise too.
I haven’t looked into it much yet, but I will check it down the line and post more.