This and that

1.   This week marks the 60th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education that overturned the "separate-but-equal" dodge in school desegregation.  

2.  Today is also the 10th anniversary of the first legal same-sex marriages in the U. S., after it became legal in Massachusetts.   Since then, 16 more states and the District of Columbia have settled law mandating marriage equality.   In 7 more states, a court decision has overturned the bans, which are all now in an appeal process.

3.  A non-partisan study group has calculated that, since the Affordable Care Act was passed in 2010, $445 million has been spent on political TV ads that mention the law.  The cost ratio of negative to positive ads is 15 to 1.

4.  Progressive firebrand Congressman Alan Grayson (D-FL) has volunteered to serve on the Select Committee created by House Republicans to investigate Benghazi.   The Democratic leadership has not yet decided whether to participate or to boycott the ill-conceived and unnecessary investigation.    If they do put anyone on it, Grayson would certainly be an aggressive and challenging liberal voice.

5.  They just had an important election in India in which half a billion people cast ballots.   That is mind-boggling -- almost four times the number who voted in our 2012 presidential election.

Ralph