This means that the lower-court decisions striking down bans in Indiana, Wisconsin, Utah, Oklahoma, and Virginia should go into effect shortly, clearing the way for same-sex marriages in those states and any other state with similar bans in those circuits.

Do you recognize the kinds of characters from Portlandia from your memories of PDX? I find this city to be a gentle, somewhat odd, super 'progressive', great art (especially painting) city. As far as painting goes Portland is, IMO the absolute best in the country.

Other cities rule for photography (tho 'we' as in pdx, are good too) prints, performance and installation and "new media". Seattle still has a "glass hangover".  But painting, as an "out" and "not cool" form of art is portland. The city attracts counter-culture artists (painters) from all over. We (artists) are also very friendly with each other, come to each others' openings, support each other and don't do cliques. There are no "art stars" who make bloated amounts of $$, partly because to show here the prices have to be Portland prices or a living artist will get sort of laughed at. When I go to other cities - LA, Chicago, NYC - the painters are never as good as PDX painters.

I just finished the book last week, and have to say that I wasn't that crazy about how it ended, but overall, I thought it was good.  It sounds like the movie's ending was true to the book's - and that may be because Gillian Flynn also wrote the screenplay.  Makes me think the movie is true to the book, but again - some elements of books don't translate well to movies, especially books where a lot of what is going on is happening in someone's thoughts.

Twists and turns, and a lot of moments of thinking you know what's going on and then finding out you don't.  As Affleck said about it on Jimmy Fallon the other night, there's a point where you realize you don't like either of the main characters all that much.  I would amend that to say there's a point where you realize you may not like ANY of the characters very much, and yet you have been drawn into a relationship that works and doesn't work and isn't even what either of the characters think it is at any point along the way.

For me personally it wipes out much of the good that came before it.

It's why the Soprano's went down a peg for me and why Frasier did as well.   Those are TV series and harder to end but you get the point.

Sometimes when I'm reading a great book and I approach the end I get worried that the author isn't working toward a satisfying ending.   Sometimes I'm presently surprised but often I'm let down.

But, secondly, when Panetta says that Obama has a

"frustrating reticence to engage his opponents and rally support for his cause"

he is making an unwarranted assumption, imo.
That is, that Obama has some "cause" for which he is reticent to engage his opponents.
After all this time, it seems apparent to me that he has no particular cause. He says some things sometimes that would appear to be cause-worthy, but then lets it dangle in the wind. So, maybe it's just a fleeting thought rather than a "cause".

Example: John Oliver broadcast an interview with Obama - made around 2004 - in which he details the complete futility and failure of the embargo on Cuba. He also articulated that it harms the innocent. But that was obviously not a cause. Just a thought. A good one, but that's about it.

I'm not talking about policy things, or, things that the general public should know. I'm talking about things that could be discussed in private rather than in the media.

The full U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit has vacated the 2-1 panel decision issued July 22, 2014, in Halbig v. Burwell, which struck down the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Rule providing for Affordable Care Act (ACA) premium tax credits to be available to lower income exchange customers, regardless of their state of residence.  The plaintiffs' brief is due October 3, 2014, and the government's opposing brief is due a month later on November 3, 2014, to precede oral arguments on December 17, 2014.  It is likely that the full D.C. Circuit would not render its opinion before mid- to late Spring 2015.  This has the effect of preserving the status quo with respect to the availability of premium tax credits, at least until the full D.C. Circuit renders its decision.

Meanwhile, the plaintiffs have sought review by the Supreme Court of the United States in King v. Burwell, Halbig's sister case in which the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit upheld that same IRS Rule.  The Clerk of the Supreme Court has granted the government an extension until October 3, 2014, to respond to the petition for certiorari.  The plaintiffs have urged the highest court render its decision as quickly as possible to resolve the circuit split.  If the Supreme Court accepts King for review before mid-January, it could issue a ruling in the current term, which is scheduled to end in late June 2015.