| Did Justice Clarence Thomas tip the Supreme Court's hand on marriage equality? | Same-sex couples began marrying in parts of Alabama on Monday, acting on the strongest signal yet from the Supreme Court in favor of gay marriage ahead of an expected ruling. Numerous state judges avoided granting marriage licenses to gay couples in apparent defiance of the high court.
+ In a blistering three-page dissent, Justice Clarence Thomas argued that the Court's decision to allow marriages to proceed before the question of gay marriage is decided later this year was "indecorous" and "cavalier."
+ "Justice Thomas isn't just furious because of the Alabama ruling," explains Mic's Tom McKay. "He's furious because, as far as he's concerned, the Supreme Court just signaled to the country that it will likely rule in favor of marriage equality."
+ These 12 photos of same-sex couples marrying in Alabama reminds us of the people and stories whose lives were changed by Monday's ceremonies. | | | A massive leak reveals the Swiss banking secrets of drug cartels, arms dealers and dictators | In 2007, IT technician Hervé Falciani of the Swiss arm of British bank HSBC fled to France with a massive treasure trove of banking data stolen from his former employer — including account information for many of the world's richest tax evaders.
An investigation by the Guardian, the French paper Le Monde, BBC Panorama and other journalists working with the Washington-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists dug through those files and come to some astonishing conclusions:
+ Bloomberg reports that the full list of account holders include "drug cartels, arms dealers, tax evaders and fugitive diamond merchants," as well as "terror suspects" and people linked to autocratic regimes.
+ HSBC provided a secret account for Frantz Merceron, political operative for the late Haitian President Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier, who was accused of embezzling hundreds of millions before fleeing his country.
+ A finance minister who fled Egypt during the 2011 protests against then-President Hosni Mubarak, Rachid Mohamed Rachid, had an account worth $31 million. | | | It's easy to connect with someone. What happens next is the hard part | Introducing Mic's newest section: Connections.
"Connecting with another human being can be shockingly easy in the digital age," writes Mic Connections editor Ellie Krupnick. "Whether it's through texting, 'liking,' tweeting, Vine-ing, Snapchatting, reblogging or, you know, making actual human eye contact (yes, it still happens), we are forming links between one another all the time, deeply embedded in each other's lives and headspaces."
"But defining and understanding those relationships? That is an eternal human struggle, one we face now more than ever. Unmasking and confronting this challenge is the mission of Mic's newest section: Connections." | | |
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