Yesterday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose above 40,000 but then dropped back below it; today it closed above 40,000 for the first time in history, ending the day at 40,003.59.
Alito flew a MAGA flag while adjudicating a 2020 election case. Ginni Thomas helped organize the attempt to the overthrow of the 2020 election in a violent attack on the Capitol. If the chief justice were not in on it, or merely possessed a spine, he would bar both Thomas and Alito from the immunity case. Why are we not in the streets demanding it ourselves?
Got my boots ready to put on…tho’ being in a very rural area not “much action” to be had on the ground. I *shake fists at the sky* frequently, but clearly not very effective overall! Do what I can, when I can, to support democracy for us all.
The Constitution assumed good will and a code of honor in men and women. Sadly that view turns out to have been extremely naive, with disastrous results.
Bruce, it is assumed that you would not take a gun to a shopping mall and shoot as many people as possible or take an assault weapon to a school and kill as many children as you have rounds in the gun.
Honor among thieves is nonexistent and many of our elected officials seem to regard that as a way to become very wealthy and part of the 1%. Until we remove the ability for politician wealth creation we will always find some trying to gain the almighty dollar.
The Founders could not have imagined the staggering amount of wealth used to influence our elections. The Constitution was written before railroads or telegraphs were invented. Now misinformation can spread faster than wild fire. I'm writing from Colorado. When I post this people from all over the country can read it instantly. Our laws have not kept up with our technology.
As we have been learning from the Manhattan "hush money" -- falsification of records -- campaign finance violations case, there is little if any honor among the wealthy who aspire to power.
Seems to me this has been the perennial struggle. It's in the declaration vs the constitution. Aspiration vs the protection of property. Wealth vs equality. We read Heather. We know the theme that runs through all her work is this struggle, whether it's native Americans or slaves or women or Asians or Hispanics. Always the same struggle
Hearing MTG "recognised" as "the gentlelady" is nothing short of grotesque. (She'd just been mocking AOC's false eyelashes, turning her Roman profile to the camera to show off her long, peroxided hair). To start with, it was never a word - what's the matter with "gentlewoman"? No, don't answer that, life's too short.
Good question, Jennifer. Would POTUS together with the Democratic senate have the authority to add justices to balance the court? That could result in a lot of big changes.
Gary:Right on. The Robert's court is tainted, a disgrace. It is corrupted and politicized. It is the clearest example of how tfg has progressed in destroying our democracy and Mitchell, as Speaker of the senate has facilitated it. Can Biden, if reelected, repair it? It is very disappointing that Roberts is willing to accept this situation. It puts his own reputation into question. We are a corrupt country but it is more subtle than in most other countries. Elected or appointed public figures can accept speaker's fees from political organizations. They can form charitable organizations which can accept bllnd donations. Their wives can do the same. We are in real trouble as cynicism has become realism.
We have created an imperfect democracy complete with imperfect registers. Shameful and disappointing to not have a method to rid the dangerous and corrupt. I don’t raise the flag anywhere. Any flag. I realize that people want to self identify on various causes and it makes them feel empowered. When I lived in Europe, you could always identify an American from a distance as Americans often had a flag on their clothing or backpack.
Bill, I'm no flag-waver, to be sure, but my wife and I firmly believe that each of us who find MAGA's use of the flag to support their un-American cause abominable should attempt to reclaim its true meaning and purpose by flying it.
Trump has taken our patriotism, the Christian faith, and even some of our relationships and turned us against each other. He made it ok to be an asshole out loud.
THAT is "supporting the troops." Shilling for candidates who think of the military as their personal toy and would send them needlessly into harm's way is NOT supporting the troops.
When I hitch-hiked around Europe in 1970 a lot of Americans wore a Canadian flag on their coat or their backpack, but their accent gave them away as soon as they spoke. As a Canadian, I felt sad for them.
Because there is no law against it and nothing in the Constitution foreseeing the present Court's behavior or providing us any remedy whatever. As far as I know, anyway.
Congress was given the authority over the court. It seems now if they try to exert any control, the CONservatives will start a lawsuit challenging that authority and the tilted court will just rule that the oversight is unconstitutional. Exactly how they planned it. Kind of like they are now attacking the federal agencies saying that only Congress can make rules and cannot delegate their authority. Congress is the law making body and can delegate authority because Congress has the authority. The stupid "originalists and textualists" are not trying to save America.
So what is the difference between Impunity and immunity?
immunity /ĭ-myoo͞′nĭ-tē/
noun
from certain generally applicable requirements of law or from certain liabilities, granted to special groups of people to facilitate the performance of their public functions.
In 1805 the House impeached Samuel Chase but the Senate acquitted him. So, apparently they cannot be removed from office because the Senate will never impeach them.
And apparently, the DOJ doesn't have the power to find them guilty of a crime either.
I despair that there might still be illusions that Supreme Court Justices give even a flicker of a care about what voters or the media think of them, or of what they do and do not do. They do not. This has has been proven more than a few times. Who can force them to recuse themselves, Alito and Thomas? Moral imperatives and public outrage seem to have little place with these men. Can the Kegan, Sotomeyer, and Jackson apply any effective pressure on the grounds of clear and simple moral principle? Can they make a noise about it? Might we appeal to them on our behalf?
The three liberal (ethical) justices won't make a peep. Because they live in a world of fantasy. They think if they don't stand up to the conservative (insurrectionist) justices, they will be able to maintain a relationship of give and take - one of finding balance, fairness and justice. They think they will "need" them in future cases. Harmony may have been practical back in the day. But now Alito and Thomas are chuckling over cocktails along with Leonard Leo and Harland Crow.
This feels like an alien invasion. The Federalist Empire has executed a long, well planned invasion and takeover of The Supreme Court. The Coup is in progress.
Kagan, Sotomayor and Jackson should stand together and publicly demand that Roberts act like a Chief Justice. Demand that he require Alito and Thomas to recuse themselves from any case involving the attempted coup or involving Donald Trump. If they won't recuse, he should demand they resign. If they don't resign, Roberts should make a formal demand of Congress that the two corrupt Insurrectionist justices be impeached. To do less than this is to join the coup.
Message to anyone who didn't vote for Hillary and isn't planning to vote for Joe Biden - this is what you get. An enemy of democracy within. A dictatorship in the making.
Roberts - Jane Roberts, the wife of Chief Justice John Roberts, made more than $10 million in commissions over an eight-year stretch where she matched top lawyers with elite law firms—including some that had cases before the Supreme Court—
Gorsuch - Law firm head bought Gorsuch-owned property. The Supreme Court justice did not report the identity of the purchaser, whose firm has had numerous cases before the court --
Kavanaugh - In 2016, Kavanaugh reported in a financial disclosure owing between $60,004 and $200,000 in credit card and loan debt. But when he was nominated to the Supreme Court that debt had gone.--
Bill, you said exactly what I was thinking. Unfortunately, with the crazy MAGA bunch in the House, I doubt anything that will rid us of these low life creeps can occur. Think of all those from Congress who have attended the Trump trial and acted as his mouthpiece. Speaker Johnson isn't going to do anything to let go of power.
I feel your pain, Patrice. But I for one will not "go gently into this good night." We may not get anywhere, but raising a ruckus will do me a world of good.
On May 17th I wrote a comment on the situation with the Supreme Court Justices. Approximately 35 people "liked" my comment. So, I am trying here to report back. I'm not sure anyone will see this but it's worth a try.
Thank you very much, Betsy, for your good letter to the Supreme Court Justices. I spent time over the weekend writing to each Supreme Court Justice, individually by ground mail, hand digned. Nine letters including Justice Alito and Justice Thomas. Each letter is a little different, but they were all basically the same. Here is one directly to Alito to give you the idea. Not so different from yours, Betsy!.
Subject: Justice Alito’s and Justice Thomas’s conflict of interest
Dear Justice Alito,
Thank you for your dedicated service to the Supreme Court and to our country.
This letter is written to respectfully request that you as a Justices of the Supreme Court, like all American citizens, recuse yourself from decisions having an obvious conflict of interest. It is shocking and disheartening to understand that Supreme Court Justices do not automatically recuse themselves when there is an issue in which they might have even a whisper of an interest in the decision-making process. It is also remarkable that business continues uninterrupted when Justices with known conflicts of interest do not recuse themselves. This creates an appearance that communicates that conflicts of interest do not matter and can be ignored, that voting in one’s own interests is normal and acceptable. It is not to me.
More specifically, I respectfully request that you, Justice Alito and Justice Thomas, recuse yourselves from all decisions concerning former president Trump, or decisions concerning the insurrection of January 6, 2021. If you refuse, then I have further respectfully requested of other Justices that they refuse to proceed until you, with vested interests in a decision, recuse yourself. If you were to continue to refuse, then I respectfully requested that your opinions be ignored and your votes on that issue not be counted.
It can be decided and announced before beginning that any Justices, and you should be named, who have a known vested interest in a decision, if you both dishonorably refuse to remove yourselves from these proceedings, that your opinions and votes will be disregarded. Is this not a sound approach to a distorted thing?
All my adult life I have worked for not-for-profit educational organizations, the boards of which follow this procedure of recusing themselves ethically, responsibly, and automatically whenever a decision concerns something in which they are involved or a family member of theirs is involved, or in which it is known that they have dealings with people connected to the decision who have curried favor with a board member or do business with the board member.
Am I to believe that these accepted practices on a level so small as my tiny not-for-profits hold to these ethical and automatic procedures, but Supreme Court Justices do not have to? Leadership is influential, Justice Alito, and ethical behavior helps the whole world to be a better place and gives our children adults to aspire to imitate and admire. Being a teacher and feeling deep concern that our children are often given grownups to consider who have little or no moral compass, I offer this plea on their behalf as well as mine.
Thank you for your consideration in doing the right and moral thing and for helping honorable Justices to do the right thing as well.
Thank you, Patrice, for sharing this very eloquent letter, and thank you even more for sending it to these two Justices. Thank you also for your suggestion to the other seven about how not to proceed until Alito and Thomas mend their ways.
Barbara, I intended to post the following yesterday but the Alito news got me sidetracked. But at least here's something we can do about Aileen Cannon.
Readers Scott and John over on Jessica Craven's ChopWood/CarryWater posted this link for citizens (that's us!) to send a complaint about Aileen Cannon.
Another reader, Colleen McGloughlin, posted this YouTube link from Glenn Kirschner. She tells us, "The second half [of the video] walks you through the steps of filling out the form. He doesn’t tell you what to write, but he points you to helpful articles." I have not yet watched the 20+ minute video, but plan to do so today.
For the sake of completeness, here's the link from the United States Courts on FAQs: Filing a Judicial Conduct or Disability Complaint Against a Federal Judge:
"I *shake fists at the sky* frequently, but clearly not very effective overall! Do what I can, when I can, to support democracy for us all."
*Shaking fists at the sky* certainly has its place. It's all the rest you do which helps save democracy for us all. Effectively.
It's said that the scene in the 1976 movie Network, in which a man exhorts everyone to stick their head out the window and yell "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take this anymore", inspired Howard Jarvis to amp up his anti-taxation activism. He founded an association and to get Proposition 13 on the California ballot he and his wife collected tens of thousands of signatures. The rest is history. (Among other things this gave us 'trickle down economics and brought Evangelicals (who were afraid their white supremacy Christian Academies would be taxed) into the antiabortion movement.
"Take the TCJA. In 2017, no Hill Democrats voted for the bill and in 2018 many campaigned against it as a give-away to corporations and the wealthy. TPC concluded almost everyone got a tax cut, though high-income households and corporations benefited the most.
But that was then. Those tax cuts are due to expire at the end of 2025. The federal budget deficit this year is $1.6 trillion. TPC estimates that extending the law’s individual tax cuts would add another $3.5 trillion to the debt over the next 10 years."
- Tax Policy Center review of
“The Power To Destroy: How the Anti-Tax Movement Hijacked America.”
More from the Tax Policy Center book review:
"The book’s title pretty much says it all: “The Power To Destroy: How the Anti-Tax Movement Hijacked America.” Graetz argues that anti-tax conservatives not only lowered taxes, especially for high-income households and corporations, but they changed government and politics in profound ways. And that, he says, was their ultimate goal...In Graetz’s telling, many Prop 13 supporters had more than property taxes in mind. Much of its support came from opponents of immigration and school integration. Key backing came from evangelical Christians, who objected to IRS efforts to deny tax exemptions to segregated private schools.
The mash-up of culture and economics became a centerpiece of the anti-tax agenda. Many backers, including Newt Gingrich, Grover Norquist, and Rush Limbaugh, and now Donald Trump successfully made taxes part of a broader anti-government narrative."
I called my reps yesterday and I suggest that others call,call and call again.Flood the Congressional switchboard or whatever it’s called today.This action by a SCROTUS judge is a blatant in your face middle finger to all Americans and the rule of law and should not be tolerated.
Same here in Indiana! And nearly 81 years old to boot. The young ones appear to not give a damn. So sad! I have seen all the complaints of Biden being old...but I see the younger ones in the House and Senate being totally stupid. The USA don't need those people to retain our democracy!
Field Team 6 I got an email from them yesterday to call. Help get out the folks who rarely vote. They're never asked, never talked to as if they're important. This year more than ever
Alito is truly a despicable man. Runs to Fox “News” to say his wife did it. Like a little kid tattling on his sibling! Thomas and Ginni, well, they are gawwwd awful people but they really are a match made in hell. I think Biden will wait to expand the Court until he’s elected. My prayers would be answered if we take both the House and Senate. Then Congress can get ERA and VRA back on the table and codify Wade, too, forever and a lifetime! As far as Roberts is concerned, Carol Boyd is right. He has been playing us for years. His court should be called the Injustice 6.
More incentive. From Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, Alito's origin story:
"Mr. President, I rise this evening, now for the 22nd time, to keep unmasking the far-right scheme to capture and control our Supreme Court. This scheme is funded by creepy rightwing billionaires who stay out of the limelight and let others— namely, Leonard Leo and his crew—operate their scheme. How are they benefiting from the scheme? It is hard to track which rightwing billionaires are involved— and that is by design—but thanks to intrepid reporting from ProPublica and others, we are learning more all the time. And every day it becomes harder for the billionaire-friendly Justices and their political allies to pretend, with a straight face, that all is kosher at the Court.
I have previously described the noxious cocktail of this court capture scheme: creepy rightwing billionaires, phony front groups, amenable Justices, large sums of money, and secrecy. I don’t know whether they take that shaken or stirred, but those seem to be the common ingredients. To chill that Court-capture cocktail, we can add one more ingredient: Alaskan glacier ice. But I will get back to that later.
First, let’s review the origin story of Justice Samuel Alito. It begins with the bipartisan Senate rejection of Judge Robert Bork, which infuriated Bork’s far-right backers. On the Court were Justices Souter and Stevens— both Republican appointees—but they wouldn’t help the billionaires, so the angry chant went out from the far right: No more Souters. No more Stevenses. Then President George W. Bush got an appointment and nominated his friend and trusted White House counsel, Harriet Miers. A Republican President nominates a personal friend and rock-ribbed conservative Republican— a woman to replace Sandra Day O’Connor. And the attack on her comes from the right."
The far-right billionaires won’t have it. And their operative—the aforementioned Leonard Leo—oversaw the project of taking her down. And in her place came the ever-so-reliably billionaire-friendly Sam Alito. This switch—Miers for Alito—gave Leo immense cred with the billionaires, who have since made him a very rich man and helped him launch his armada of front groups, of which this array is just a selection.
Since I have lived through much of this, I am still surprised that I had not put all the pieces together. And I have paid attention. It’s like the iceberg, only a small portion is visible. Republicans are expert at the subsurface machinations. Investigative reporters, where are you. Woodward and Bernstein surely weren’t the only ones. They may have been the only ones who had editors and owners with the balls to do the right thing for the country…
I watched the Alito confirmation and was horrified that a “sane” Republican senator from PA (as I remember though I cannot remember his name) was pushing the nomination of this person all of whose pre-SCOTUS nomination work had been anti-abortion. Now the whole world is seeing this little man in our high court.
I didn't watch, but I knew W/Dickie would do the worst possible thing. Yet both of those cretins are enjoying life as elder statesmen while we suffer from their very deliberate actions of insanity. They are guilty of so much, as is Kevin McCarthy. Just out of sight at the moment.
I’m not certain. Would recognize him if I saw him, but not by name. Too much political junk mucking up the head. Shall take a look. Spector looks too cheerful. I remember this senator as rather gaunt and unsmiling. Somewhere there is film of the hearing that would tell us.
I admired Senator Whitehouse for being vigilant and a advocate for the American people. He has been working non stop on the violations and the fraudulent behavior on the Supreme Court for years.
Whitehouse is a treasure and so is his staff! They never have stopped digging up dirt on Leonard Leo and his wealthy ilk. Leo established 40 shell companies all in the name of “Christian charities”, under 501 3 (c)’s. This gives them all tax-free status. They all launder money from each other. One of those companies is owned by Ginni Thomas (shocker, right?🙄). Leo is attached to the Russian Orthodox Church which is attached to Russian oligarchs. I also recommend people follow @mudpuppy_16 on “X”.
Well, well, well, the press is finally noticing. Will the NYT follow up on their revelation or just move on to the next shinny object. Heard yesterday on a Bill Maher show from before Mother’s Day that someone from the NYT was quoted as saying that it wasn’t their job to save democracy. (Joe Kahn). I thought most conceded that a free press was the bedrock of our democracy. A free press that I assume would report the truth, not just a tit for tat on what they see as a normal horse race. I have been mortified that Dems seem to ignore all the ads that write themselves coming from Repubs. The MSM does too, save a few that have limited readership and substacks that have even more limited readership. Of course, there is always Rupert’s crew of cretins who are most assuredly under reported as actors in the republican evil deeds, and have been since Ronnie imported Rupert for that very purpose. With social media aiding and abetting the Republican traitors, who will speak for the legitimate, elected officials who are doing the jobs they were elected to do. Democrats have accomplished much, despite the steady stream of vitriol from a party that is engaged in nonstop obstruction and Trojan Horse activities unprecedented in our time. FDR faced such, and it was Japan that shut the mouths of traitors. MSM had to report that. I hope it doesn’t take another such catastrophe to make them realize that it is indeed the job of a free press to save our democracy, now more than ever. I vote for news rooms that are not money-making enterprises. I doubt that Walter ever was concerned about ratings. NYT should dig into their archives and follow what HST said. “I don’t give the Republicans hell. I just tell the truth and they think it’s hell.” Try that MSM. The truth would sink the Republican traitors if you would focus on that (Project 2025 maybe). Fox surely won’t…. And you are cowards if you don’t.
Added blurb at 7am. Joe Kahn did say in the interview with Ben Smith of Semafor, reported by Margaret Sullivan podcast, May 10, 2024, that the NYT made coverage decisions based on public opinion polls. Well, that just made my blood boil. They, and other MSM editors, conduct polls (which are suspect under the best circumstances) and then make publishing decisions based on what they did. What a vicious cycle. One that screws the citizens of every stripe. Lordy, is there any hope. Keep it up journalists, report on your profession.
They left the room when you started this retort…Jeri.
Ha , all joking aside , ‘they’ don’t even read this. Why ? Because what they’re doing is working…
THE ONLY WAY TO STOP IT IS A BLUE TSUNAMI, 1st act of President Biden in Jan ‘25 would be to ‘CLEAN THE HOUSE ‘.
Hopes are Dems take control House, Senate, WH and codify the laws blantantly usurped .Theres an army working for
Is there not sufficient evidence how the insurrection and all those having fingers in that pudding plan ends? Is it not The Russian Federation (TRF) draped in red,white,and blue? What’s the percentage of the players in TRF that sail unfettered ie not fearing a fall out a window …assuredly ‘loyalty’ is their only ‘mouthedpiece’…(spelling intentional) .
I’ve heard enough reporting the inner group of TRF oligarchs are unscathed, and smirk at ‘the sanctions’. Does anyone know who those are…or OURS ?
I envision them ALL snickering …smoking fat cigars , sipping on an aged bourbon neat , at The Good Old Boys Club…no women allowed (nor ever will be) waited on by white coated blackies…
Every effort since the civil war has been to win this war that never ended ..so ‘they’ came in the (unguarded) back door …it’s May 18,2024 , not even 6 months left to finalized ‘IT’.
If you need another reason to vote the blue tsunami consider that Abbot in Texas just pardoned the convicted killer, serving a 25 year sentence, of a peaceful protestor.
I am so gobsmacked by this I can hardly focus on anything else.
It’s another power move to prove ‘they can’…and in fact ‘are doing’…but like the turtle said…😉 (stay the course ..there’s some interesting Republicans such as The Lincoln Project/Adam/Liz for headliners but …who are on the boot too…and could likely be in a new, revised, and worthy party 🙌
I have a meme from my FB and T years that has an image that you describe. Fat cats in charge, laughing at us “lessers.” The states (Texas the expert) have planned well. Passed laws, changed personnel and a myriad dirty tricks to assure that they control the election results. They must have read Stalin’s comment along the lines of - it matters not how many vote, it matters only who counts the votes. Take nothing for granted…
It used to be a great place to live, Rove and W changed all that. They “woke” up an army of haters. Some surprised me, some didn’t. The number was astonishing.
I’m on The Good Ship Principle , with you , bro …have been since first drill getting under our desks the Russian bombed/are coming and it’s time to KYAGB! ‘Kiss your a** goodbye’ …
His pronouncement that the press was our enemy really gave him a “get out of jail free card” for every ignorant utterance. They should, at that very moment, have blasted him (and Fox) with the truth, all day every day. Kellyanne and her alternative facts would have been buried in the bullshittery that they have buried us in. First thing that authoritarians do is muzzle the press or take them over. Ours have screwed themselves and us…
Thank you. Boiling blood can give my rage wings. Unbelievable that he could be so stupid. Maybe he needs to Google Ben Bradley. Doubt that his inane take on his job would change one iota. He is wrapped in protective bubble wrap so that he won’t realize the damage is he doing to us all. Sounds like a MAGAt…
I am surprised that I don't hear more of the famous Joseph Pulitzer quote. He wrote (warned?) in the North American Review in May 1904: Our Republic and its press will rise and fall together. An able, disinterested, public-spirited press, with trained intelligence to know the right and courage to do it, can preserve that public virtue without which popular government is a sham and a mockery. A cynical, mercenary, demagogic press will produce in time a people as base as itself. The power to mold the future of the republic will be in the hands of the journalists of future generations..
He really understood that critical relationship. Thank you. These days the color green has blinded them. Wonder if Pulitzer was alluding to Hearst and his slime journalism. It didn’t take a century for Ronnie and Rupert to come and do Hearst one better. Maybe before my NYT subscription runs out, I’ll do a letter to the editor and remind them of their sacred duty. Lot of good it’ll do, but been spinning my wheels for decades now.
GOTV, offer to drive people to the polls, become a poll worker, write postcards and/or letters (many orgs have campaigns you can join), write letters to the editor, etc., etc.
Call your Senators and demand that Alito recuse himself from the January cases. Post this piece all over your social media. Letter to the editor. Talk to friends, inform them and ask them to do the same. I called my senators yesterday and also talked about it at a party last night
I am not currently in the USA, but am going to be joining a couple of marches for Democracy here in Germany both a German protest against the AfD right-wing party before the EU elections, and the Democrats Abroad march for democracy in July. I agree that people in the USA should be organizing protests not just asking for Alito and Thomas to recuse themselves, but to be impeached. I would put this on the top rung of things to protest. They have totally compromised the third branch of government.
Demonstrate regularly in front of the SC building. Demonstrate relentlessly as Israelis did when Netanyahu tried to disembowel the judiciary (they were successful in stopping the plan.)
Same thought. Why are we not in the streets???? My answer is that we've all accepted the reality that this is not a government for the people and by the people. They simply will not listen to us. These justices have absolute power and they answer to the almighty dollar bill. Noting else. Democracy in action, aka Democracy inaction. I'd join a protest, even though I'm 99% sure it would not have the desired outcome. 1% is still worth it.
I knew that when we got no common sense legislation out of Sandy Hook that the cause was lost. The debacle of law enforcement conduct at Uvalde (which went against EVERY SINGLE PRINCIPLE TAUGHT in active shooter response) wasn't enough either. I can only think that it is what the ubiquitous "they" want.
I wonder about the left and its inability to support rallies anymore like in the 60s and 70s. Those were diverse people with causes bigger than either desires for fun or fear of violence. Nobody seems to be energized to thwart either the media or the extremists. Even during war in their own country, Ukrainians rally for their interests. Internationally, there seems to be actions only regarding right-wing issues or the Jewish/Palestinian issue.
Justice Alito (a contradiction of terms) didn't come out of nowhere. Here's Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse on Alito's origin story:
"Mr. President, I rise this evening, now for the 22nd time, to keep unmasking the far-right scheme to capture and control our Supreme Court. This scheme is funded by creepy rightwing billionaires who stay out of the limelight and let others— namely, Leonard Leo and his crew—operate their scheme. How are they benefiting from the scheme? It is hard to track which rightwing billionaires are involved— and that is by design—but thanks to intrepid reporting from ProPublica and others, we are learning more all the time. And every day it becomes harder for the billionaire-friendly Justices and their political allies to pretend, with a straight face, that all is kosher at the Court.
I have previously described the noxious cocktail of this court capture scheme: creepy rightwing billionaires, phony front groups, amenable Justices, large sums of money, and secrecy. I don’t know whether they take that shaken or stirred, but those seem to be the common ingredients. To chill that Court-capture cocktail, we can add one more ingredient: Alaskan glacier ice. But I will get back to that later.
First, let’s review the origin story of Justice Samuel Alito. It begins with the bipartisan Senate rejection of Judge Robert Bork, which infuriated Bork’s far-right backers. On the Court were Justices Souter and Stevens— both Republican appointees—but they wouldn’t help the billionaires, so the angry chant went out from the far right: No more Souters. No more Stevenses. Then President George W. Bush got an appointment and nominated his friend and trusted White House counsel, Harriet Miers. A Republican President nominates a personal friend and rock-ribbed conservative Republican— a woman to replace Sandra Day O’Connor. And the attack on her comes from the right.
The far-right billionaires won’t have it. And their operative—the aforementioned Leonard Leo—oversaw the project of taking her down. And in her place came the ever-so-reliably billionaire-friendly Sam Alito. This switch—Miers for Alito—gave Leo immense cred with the billionaires, who have since made him a very rich man and helped him launch his armada of front groups, of which this array is just a selection."
Bravo, Kathy! Thank you for your forthrightness in allegiance to maintaining our Democratic form of government, not the proposed Dictatorship of the imminent Republican presidential candidate, tRump, and his Project 2025 orches”traitors.”
Hahaha, you're right, and if their opinion mattered to me I'd let it stop me. As an animal rights activist and vegan I'm pretty used to being called worse - by the left and the right. People care about justice until it interferes with their "personal preferences" aka taste buds, or whatever other lame excuse. "Oh, but that's different, it's food." No it's not. It's violence, slavery, torture, mutilation, and murder. The way it tastes doesn't change those facts. So ask me if I care what Fox says. Let's do this.
Sarah, how do you feel about the AL & FL laws prohibiting the manufacturing of "meat"? I understand they start with "meat starter" and use amino acids and other stuff (technical chemistry term) to grow the meat.
I know it's not vegan, but someday the process may get to that point.
If there is any doubt that democracy now holds on by a thread, the events unfolding before us should shatter that doubt. If Trump regains power, he will end democracy here, pull us out of NATO and democracies around the world will begin to crumble. This November's election is the most important election in the history of the world. We are at war here with white Protestant nationalism, also known as the KKK or MAGA.
You can't tell me Alito wasn't aware of the meaning of the upside down flag but his wife was. How could he not have seen it when it was up anywhere from 2 - 5 days? If the House was under Dem control, we could impeach him.
I hope people take to the streets on this one. It's more than the wives! These two shysters will never recuse. There has to be a way to force them out. Could the Senate conduct a vote of no confidence?
Im not opposed to people marching in the streets, especially in front of the Supreme Court (you can’t get too close, because the Justices don’t want the First Amendment on their doorstep), but the Chief Justice does not have the power to keep other justices from sitting on a case.
It strikes me that the protests getting coverage are about Gaza, with young people taking an obtuse moral stage against... Something... Outrageous. While SCOTUS, the purported backbone of or democracy, one of the three branches to keep the other two in check, quietly bends the branch upon which or noose is hung.
It is one of the great failures of the upcoming generation. And it is impossible to get through regarding the true danger. Would that we could harness that energy…
For anyone here who is still a believer in "I must vote my conscience regardless" since the purity of your "conscience" is much more important than the welfare of the rest of us, remember that it was the Nader voters who gave us Bush II, and therefore also gave us Samuel Alito. I doubt either of those outcomes are what their "conscience" dictated as good, but that's what they got. Had they voted for the welfare of everybody and not made their precious little ego more important than anything else, President Gore would not have invaded Poland, er, I mean Iraq, destabilizing the Middle East far more than any terrorist could hope to accomplish; we would have been dealing seriously with the climate crisis for the past 24 years; Alito would not be on the court; and very likely Trump would not have run and been elected by fluke, so that the Court would not be a 6-3 fascist majority, Roe v Wade would still be the law of the land. In retrospect, voting for the good of all would likely have gotten the "conscience" voter more of what they said they wanted to achieve with their "conscience" vote.
To my ever lasting regret, I voted “my conscience” w/ a Nader vote….albeit in a safely “blue” state of CA…..still I lived to deeply regret it (given our current electoral system). Have communicated in past elections to friends & neighbors about the danger of 3rd party candidates (again a statement about our system)….and that they must pay attention to “the bottom line” and that, yes, the lesser of “two evils” is a better choice. I, like many, want our election “system” to be different….only, right now, it isn’t, so we MUST choose to cast a ballot for the “lesser of two evils”. That said, I support the Biden/Harris admin & all the qualified folks they’ve put in cabinet/gov’t positions. Biden/Harris is not big on tooting their own horn….they are busy getting the work of state done for the betterment of us all. Just sayin’…..
Barbara, You can discuss the problems resulting from the Electoral College after I'm dead and the new revolution is over. I'm with the Founders, regardless of whether they were able to predict every possible result and change, bad or good since their era. What I'm saying is that it's foundational. We must adjust to reality. That's on us. It comes with certain responsibilities. But it also can enable us to vote our conscience. TCinLA can pretend that this is a Greek Democracy all he wants to. It is not, and was not intended to be. Deal with it. I am proud that I voted for Ralph Nader in 2000. I'm a Californian also and I don't need a poll to tell me that it's been blue since 92.
Other than all that, I agree with you 100%. Just sayin'.
Ralph Nader could have never been born and Bush would still have stolen the election. Remember all the black voters who got visits from Florida State Troopers? Not to mention Al Gore's gutless capitulation. Just sayin'...
Instead, we ended up with this “Man in the High Castle” scenario. “Conscience” means inaction, and inaction results in tyranny. God save us from the “do-gooders”! Their righteousness will not protect us from the masses of conspiracy-filled “know-nothings”.
So very well said. I also reflect often with sadness how the path of our country snd the world could have been so different, and probably a lot saner than how it has evolved over this past 24 years.. I might also add 9/11 would not have happened, either. 😨
Yes, sanitized is the word, and I too had a civics class, though I wish the school had started earlier (we had civics our senior year). But I seriously doubt that many schools still teach it.
"Sanitized" is too kind. "Fictitious" would be more accurate. A number of reasons we are currently listed as a "flawed" democracy, a stressed out society, and as only a marginally free nation (second in North America) occurred by design of the founders to maintain an oligarchy of privileged land owners, slave owners, white males and prevent a real democracy from taking root. Operatives controlling both cartel parties do perpetuate this.
TC, it is also the "Bernie Bros" and their ilk that gave us fpotus instead of Hillary Clinton. I think that her Presidency would have seen ten times the vitriol that President Obama had leveled against him, but at least we'd have had someone who was a grifter and a serial abuser in office.
It is those "conscience voters" that gave us the the three SCROTUS judges that fpotus was able to appoint.
I often wonder what Hillary Clinton's response to COVID-19 would have been. For on thing, she would have utilized Obama's protocols for handling a pandemic. Maybe I wouldn't have spent two precious years confined mostly to my house. Fortunately, I was able to hug my little grandchildren on Fathers Day in 2020. The first months of the quarantine were hell. Our country still hasn't recovered.
As a musician I lost almost 2 years of my primary creative outlet. As one of the first people eligible to be vaccinated (I was working for the Sheriff's Department as Courthouse Security) I was our "framily" connection. For three solid months, I shopped for everybody as several of them were immunocompromised.
I can only imagine how much different the response would have been...
Come on, TC. The Nader voters in 2000, myself included, in no way led to Dubya, who lost the popular vote to Gore. Nobody could have foreseen the Floridian fiasco, and nobody knew that Sullen, Seditionist Sam Alito lurked in the wings.
Beyond that, let's face it: People can vote for whomever they choose, as that's the entire raison d'etre of elections, as Voltaire once said. Or was it John "Frenchy" Fuqua?!
We have enough to worry about without the baggage of guilt tripping over voting our judgments, and yes, our consciences
He is 109% right, I knew it and never would have voted for Nader even though I likely aligned with his views more than anyone else. His ego outshined any good he did. God forbid if everyone votes for their selfish wants and not for the country. Even the moronic MAGAts, in their cult devotion, think they are saving the country. I knew Bush was a creation of Rove and would be as horrible as he was in Texas. Duh
I find it ironic that you use the word ego. I watched An Inconvenient Truth in the theater, and was completely turned off by Al Gore's ego. The fact that it was dumbed down to an 8th grade level didn't help either. And to be honest, I was prejudiced against his southern accent. As it turns out, there's a lot of truth in that movie. It could have had a much bigger impact if it had been done well.
No I never thought Gore was toxic. He fell on his sword rather than drag out the battle with W because he didn't want to divide the country. Just the opposite of the power hungry super toxic Trump. But Gore did crave fame and glory, and I thought that his self glorification was obvious in the movie. He could have made a real difference with it if he had hired a scientific group or a good science promoter. I know I was inspired by Carl Sagan in when I was in the 10th grade. I tried to get my grandsons interested in science when they were in grade school by watching a couple of episodes of Cosmos by Neil deGrasse Tyson with them (It didn't work). Big oil and big gas are still lying about global warming and we are heading for disaster. It's later than we think.
Had I lived in a swing state I would have voted for Gore. I thought Nader deserved a bigger audience. Considering the chaos in Congress the last several years, you may be right about duopoly. It's just hard to imagine what might replace it.
Same here, Justin. I'm a Californian, and the then Governor of Tejas GWB had no chance here. Needless to say, both Gore and Nader knew that Slovakia was not Slovenia 🤣
Yes, Gore won the popular vote. But Hillary won the popular vote by almost three million! I proudly voted for Gore, Obama and especially Hillary Clinton. The press and the FBI were so hard on Hillary Clinton. In the end, there was really nothing. I'm so sick of people saying we must choose between the lesser of two evils. 45 is evil! W is an idiot, who couldn't manage a baseball franchise much less a country. Lots and lots of money and bad press buys incompetent and corrupt leadership. And we get tax cuts for the wealthy, huge deficits and war as a result.
Anyway Themon, that was meant for TC, not you. By the way, thank you for helping me get TC. Funny that you get his rants of causation but you don't get my humor. We could use a good translator around here. Good to meet you Bard.
Hey you, I mean yes, you… TCinLA, how dare you use my thoughts. I’m calling my attorney Bernie and I intend to sue you for stealing my very thoughts that are worth thousands. See ya in Court.
A vote for Nader was a vote against the duopoly. All those who don't fight the duopoly, and pride themselves on how they understand it, and supported it back then should be very pleased with the two choices we have in this election.
Priding oneself on some ineffectual Utopian idealism is not helping matters either.
I may not like the system as it is but the Democrats at least try to give us some semblance of a democracy and our right to vote. While the Republicans have consistently lurched so far to the right that they've gone so far past goosestepping towards fascism that we have now entered into some bizarro world totalitarian criminal kleptocracy as the other option in the next presidential electinon! That is not worth voting third party or your conscience or whatever you think is a good reason for letting a maniac charlatan back into the White House.
The Republicans are abysmal. Agreed. So the Democrats put the very unpopular Hillary Clinton up against the horrid orange turd. What could go wrong? Oh, well, then how about the very unpopular Biden who won by the slimmest of margins last time. Surely there won't be a problem with running him again, will there? I talk to people on the other side. They recognize how vile Trump is, but, for some reason, hate Biden more. Yet the RNC and the DNC have decided these are to be our choices. (I'm voting for Biden.)
The very unpopular Clinton won the national popular vote. The very unpopular Biden has been sweeping the primaries with large margins. They hate Biden more because they have been lied to and programmed to do so. We have primaries, and both Clinton and Biden were elected thereby to be our candidates. As Trump has been. And I’m glad you’ll be voting for Biden. Me, too.
Dennis, I’m as frustrated as you. So you say “The Democrats put up…” yes and no. Senator Sherwood Brown of Ohio was testing the waters in 2015 and I was very excited about the prospect of a Brown presidency. Then when Biden was showing interest in 2015, the Clintons met him on their respective planes remember the infamous plane meeting? They offered Biden something to drop out. My thought was they offered Biden a lot of money devoted to cancer research since his son had recently died. We’ll never know. And Clinton became the candidate that couldn’t walk straight even literally. The moment at 9/11 services when Clinton almost fainted and needed help getting into the car. The Comey announcement of an investigation days before the election. That alone sank her. Then the Benghazi hearings when the repuklicans wore her down until she yelled, “What difference does it make” the repuklicans had their sound bite.
And then our nation took a dive and will most certainly end as we have known it in November if Grandpa Joe doesn’t pull it off. And I have my secret thoughts on that.
But looking philosophically, if trump wins and most certainly installs an autocratic-like regime, later, the pendulum will shift and once again we will have democracy. But what a price to pay. The price is so dear after only losing the protection offered to women under Row verses Wade. So much loss. Maybe 25 of 50 years from now, we will once again have our democracy. Oops, did I say I had secret thoughts? I lied.
No, actually, for me I'd rather have either the Libertarians or the Progressives in office. Both, with different ideals, want government that's best for the people. I'd like the opportunity to vote for them. (Ranked choice voting.) I hate Trump, the MAGA folks as much as anyone, but I really put the blame on Congress. This racist country elected a black Democrat because he promised to do something for the people. Fix health care. And asked Congress to get rid of the corporate health care mess and give us either, he said either, free markets (libertarian) or national health (progressive). Congress didn't do it, basically kept the most lucrative (for the industry) health care system intact and put a mandate on people who didn't like it. Obama was great, but his Democrat Congress created the outrage that gave us Trump. Those idiots who vote for Trump were probably upset when Congress bailed out the banks, instead of the people in the sub prime crisis, maybe upset with Congress siding with the credit card companies on usurious fees, etc. etc. The problem is the government isn't working for a lot of people, and Trump is brilliant at channelling that frustration into his own support. Oh he's a con, what's happening in this country is despicable, but just consider that a Trump supporter might be one who lost their house in subprime, is stuck with credit card debt they can't pay back and looking at bankruptcy over health care bills. (I am voting for Biden.)
Best example of how people on the same side can think as differently as people on opposite sides. I am another one who dreams of a progressive country, but I am pragmatic enough to smell bullschittery.
Jeri, I was ruminating on a long winded reply, but I like your answer better. Yes, common sense trumps bullschittery, which I believe is Trump's true middle name.
As far as the Libertarians, I view them as an empty shell. They have ideas, but no substance. Their "free" markets are not free, just predatory. Their platform says one thing, but leaves out a method to protect their positions as they kind of just want to rely on the goodness of people. Matthew Hongolts-Hetling "A Libertarian Walks into a Bear" is a great book on how their ideas would work. A suggested read for anyone that might lean that way.
Thank you, love the title. Ideas without some bit of substance are as useless as one who no longer breathes. As the wind says, there is no one here by that name…
I did vote for Nader and didn't live in a swing state. Biden wasn't my first choice but has been a very good surprise, all things considered. But none of that matters now. Let's throw away all of our old theories. This will still be the easiest choice I've ever made. There's a greater priority. Democracy itself is on the line.
Yes, "For Alito to fly it was an indication that he was part of the insurrection."
The record is clear on Alito always arrogating himself and his medieval views.
He also, like Clarence, takes bribes from the rich – though, again like boy Clarence, he calls them “gifts” when caught trying to do it in secret.
Both voted for Citizens United in 2010, giving American government to the rich.
Might Chief Justice John Roberts exercise some spine and insist these most egregiously corrupt resign their life-long sinecures?
Sorry, but Roberts joined the 5-4 majority for Citizens United – he likes his boys blessing corporations and billionaires corrupting our government.
But it’s not ours anymore, no more than the average Russian serf or techie has any say in the murders Putin, his oligarchs, and their bearded eastern Orthodox priests bless over there – no more than the average Saudi has any say in the murders sadist Mohammed bin Salman arranges – no more than the average Israeli or Palestinian has any say in how Netanyahu aids the far right stealing more land from and killing more in the West Bank.
But doesn't America have a few women who might yet treasure their privacy, their right to coordinate with their families in how they live?
Might not some of these women act out in November in ways that the Clarence court bastards might not fully have crushed as have the despots of Russia, Saudi Arabia, and Israel?
Please note, too, that for Roberts, "boy" describes dutiful, paid-for followers of the rich, as in the line I also used here, "Roberts . . . likes his boys blessing corporations and billionaires corrupting our government," where the plural purposely, intentionally disregards mere race.
But, again, I do hear you -- and will be more circumspect in the future regarding any language any might suspect as from another era still ruling ours.
You are very kind, thank you! To be honest, I have definitely heard the use of the plural by my male relatives: “me and the boys are going to…” and it was commonly understood mean a group of men. In the singular and attached to a black person it does still have the trappings of an awful era here in the US. Thanks for your kind response…
It's a term that I associate with misbehaving children. I don't know how you meant it. Perhaps you were being humorous. But when talking about grown women it sounds paternal and perhaps sexist.
Now that you mention it, I recognize your connection to misbehaving children. My use of the term went to the civil rights era, and quite other, respectable, decent behavior then.
So while I defend myself that way, I also thank you again for notice of other linguistic context I'd forgotten.
This is horrifying, absolutely beyond anything we could expect of our Institutions regarding Alito and SCOTUS in general.
I would highly recommend the watching on Apple TV the series Franklin. It really fabulous and focuses on Franklins time in France convincing their government to support us in the revolutionary war when the come to a peace deal with England, Franklin along with John Jay and Samuel Addams celebrate with a drink (which Addams grudgingly agrees to because he is against drinking) Franklin asks Addams to propose a toast which Addams gives:
“To virtue, honesty, education of the people and the rule of law. We can have no country without one or be worthy of one”.
Imagine what they would think of Trump, MAGA, the GOP and SOTUS.
And can you imagine what they would think of at the demise & misuse of the First Amendment:
"Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Governement for a redress of grievances."?
The depth of corruption on the court is breathtaking. Alito and Thomas are waving it in our faces. The chief justice? Out to lunch. The history books, if there are any objective ones if Trump takes the presidency, will present John Roberts as a reviled weakling.
It's the lying too that is so outrageous and astounding. I still remember Alito saying 'You lie' during one of Obama's State of the Union addresses. But it is that little prick Alito and Thomas that are obvious partisan lying hacks, as well as the newbie justices that lied under oath about Roe vs. Wade being settled legal precedent.
I did misquote Alito, he said 'Not true' during Obama's State of the Union address in 2010 when he was speaking about the Citizen's United vs. FEC case. The camera caught him saying it but it wasn't audible although you can visibly see him mouthing it.
Alito has been a consistent liar though as he even lied during his confirmation hearings as this Nation article points out, as well as his unprofessional behavior during that State of the Union address.
Please subscribe to Jessica Craven's Substack "Chop Wood, Carry Water" as she will greatly help your mood. It took me at least six months of coaxing from others on the LFAA to do it, and I wish I had sooner.
It refers to someone trying to locate the source of threatening and harassing phone calls. Instead of the phone calls coming from an ex, or a stranger, or a pay phone that can't be traced, the threatening phone calls are coming from inside the very home they are being received - the danger is coming from someone very close and personal to the victim.
I believe that line was in the movie “When a Stranger Calls”. It’s a movie about a babysitter that is receiving harassing phone calls when she is babysitting. She contacts the police, the calls are traced, and the police tell her “the calls are coming from inside the house”. If you like to be scared, it’s a good movie.
We used to tell this as part of a spooky story at slumber parties in the 1970s, so I think it’s a trope that has shown up in a lot of forms over the years. Given the state of technology at the time, the concept is laughable. With current GPS and mobile phones, it’s a very different thing. Taken in the context I think Dr Richardson intended, it means it’s all around us. I saw an editorial recently discussing current poll numbers. (I ignore polls this far out for the most part, but it’s been everywhere.) The author pointed out that people outside the hardcore MAGA crowd are more likely to lie about voting for Trump, saying they won’t when they might than the reverse. This puts an added chilling spin on the idea that the call is coming from inside the house.
WHAT A BARN-BURNER OF A LETTER TONIGHT! And to think they have a tighter plan for 2024. We MUST urge everyone who is less than interested in voting to get a sense of urgency. It’s not enough to lose democracy over petty divisions without being clear about the consequences. People must quit obsessing over the dust in Biden’s eye and begin to notice the tree trunk in Trump’s eye.
We can expect no better of the Roberts Supreme Court. I have already emailed my Congressman (Dr. Ami Bera) and my Senator (Alex Padilla) asking Dr. Bera to draw up articles of impeachment on 4 counts of failure to uphold the Constitution, failure to fulfill their oaths of office, taking bribes.
No, the anti Constitutionalists will not face impeachment before January 20, 2025. But if the articles are drawn up and publicly announced it might reassure some voters that we will hold these unAmerican justices to law.
I agree, Daniel, but drawing up impeachment articles will direct needed attention to the issue. Republicans do this all the time for concocted nonsense. We must at least attempt to hold Roberts’s hand over the fire, no?
At 76 I can remember when the Supreme Court was looked up to. One had faith that even if one didn’t agree with the decision you knew it was well thought out .now I have zero faith in the court.somethings you can pretty well guess what the outcome is going to be so why waste everyone’s time.
Me too. And I’m further frustrated that we can do NOTHING. SC justices are not elected and so don’t face a vote; there is no method for removing them (that works). A couple lied during confirmation and no one seems to think lying SC justices is a problem.
Not the first, but this current crop outshines the Taney Court as the worst ever. By far.
I remember sometime back, John Roberts talking about how the "Roberts Court" would be remembered. I hate to break it to him, but he is presiding over what may be the end of that once great institution.
Something we need to remind him of constantly, his place in history will be in the sewer, permanently. These Justices are marked by their arrogance. It might help to remind Roberts and Leonard Leo's cronies where this will land in the end.
No matter what happens, if they succeed or fail in their attempt to destroy Democracy, if Roberts doesn't course correct, his reputation is in the toilet.
Systemic Curiosity, I am not sure that John Roberts' reputation is salvageable. It would take him completely changing everything he has stood for his adult life to even begin to salvage it.
This is the worst news about SCOTUS that I have heard to date. Clearly, Mitch McConnell and his party have politicized the court. It can no longer uphold the rule of law. So much for checks and balances. I’m getting more pessimistic about America’s future by the day. So sad. How did this happen to us?
I find the ongoing revelations of how deep and wide the anti-democratic, right-wing rot in our government is both appalling and terrifying ... the Trumpists from Congress vilifying our justice system (all of whom should face charges for their support of the insurrection!), the corruption of the Supreme Court by Thomas and Alito, with the ineffectual Roberts doing nothing, the states eager to roll back voting rights and reestablish women and POC as second class persons...when and how will this nightmare end?
Well, just for the record, the Montana daily papers did report on the Dow Jones closing over 40,000. And also reported on the Alito flag story. Is there any way Alito can be forced to recuse? My understanding is that it’s entirely up to him. Impeachment?
John Oliver, the Last Week Tonight host/ comedian, recently offered Clarence Thomas $1M per year for the rest of his life to quit. It was a legal, legitimate offer that he would've paid. Thomas did not take it. He had like 30 days to accept.
Follow the money behind Supreme Court corruption and arrogance - including both Justices and their spouses with this interactive map "SUPREME COURT MAP OF SHAME".
Alito flew a MAGA flag while adjudicating a 2020 election case. Ginni Thomas helped organize the attempt to the overthrow of the 2020 election in a violent attack on the Capitol. If the chief justice were not in on it, or merely possessed a spine, he would bar both Thomas and Alito from the immunity case. Why are we not in the streets demanding it ourselves?
Let’s go.
Got my boots ready to put on…tho’ being in a very rural area not “much action” to be had on the ground. I *shake fists at the sky* frequently, but clearly not very effective overall! Do what I can, when I can, to support democracy for us all.
Can someone explain why the Supreme Court justices act like they are above the law?
They accept bribes. They cheat on their taxes. The accept innumerable favors from the wealthy oligarchs in exchange for favorable decisions.
And we're supposed to believe that a code of ethics which they wrote, will keep them in line.
For a body that is obviously above the law, why are they deciding if Trump is?
The Constitution assumed good will and a code of honor in men and women. Sadly that view turns out to have been extremely naive, with disastrous results.
We have been running the country for over 200 years on the honor system, but that requires that our politicians have some honor. There's the rub.....
Bruce, it is assumed that you would not take a gun to a shopping mall and shoot as many people as possible or take an assault weapon to a school and kill as many children as you have rounds in the gun.
Yet, here we are.
Honor among thieves is nonexistent and many of our elected officials seem to regard that as a way to become very wealthy and part of the 1%. Until we remove the ability for politician wealth creation we will always find some trying to gain the almighty dollar.
The founders "assumed" just like the "norms" of a presidency "assumed" that anyone who reached that office would be honorable!
We know better now - have learned better for many years.
The Founders could not have imagined the staggering amount of wealth used to influence our elections. The Constitution was written before railroads or telegraphs were invented. Now misinformation can spread faster than wild fire. I'm writing from Colorado. When I post this people from all over the country can read it instantly. Our laws have not kept up with our technology.
As we have been learning from the Manhattan "hush money" -- falsification of records -- campaign finance violations case, there is little if any honor among the wealthy who aspire to power.
Seems to me this has been the perennial struggle. It's in the declaration vs the constitution. Aspiration vs the protection of property. Wealth vs equality. We read Heather. We know the theme that runs through all her work is this struggle, whether it's native Americans or slaves or women or Asians or Hispanics. Always the same struggle
. It's just our turn now.
We are of one mind Jen; many here, you, our dear professor and myself.
So much for assuming that "gentlemen" would always be honorable.
Hearing MTG "recognised" as "the gentlelady" is nothing short of grotesque. (She'd just been mocking AOC's false eyelashes, turning her Roman profile to the camera to show off her long, peroxided hair). To start with, it was never a word - what's the matter with "gentlewoman"? No, don't answer that, life's too short.
Add two avowed insurrectionists - and three others who turn from the reality of their misdeeds. Code must become rule of law
That is the strong view of the Founders.
Women, of any race, were not considered as anything re: the Constitution.
Gary:
Why is the sky blue? Short answer: because it is.
The short answer to your question is *because they can*. And it's shameful.
Can the POTUS step in and do anything?
Good question, Jennifer. Would POTUS together with the Democratic senate have the authority to add justices to balance the court? That could result in a lot of big changes.
No. That’s a question Trump would ask.
Because John Roberts has no … um … assertiveness.
No, I suspect, he also has enriched himself.
At least his wife has. She has an agency that places attorneys in firms likely to go before the Court.
Yeah, why not? Everyone else is.
John Roberts has planned and probably worked for decades to remake this country. He's no friend of democracy.
No guts to stand up. Maybe he agrees with them. The ethics they provided were worthless.
I think he actually agrees with them more than he values democracy and ethics.
Gary:Right on. The Robert's court is tainted, a disgrace. It is corrupted and politicized. It is the clearest example of how tfg has progressed in destroying our democracy and Mitchell, as Speaker of the senate has facilitated it. Can Biden, if reelected, repair it? It is very disappointing that Roberts is willing to accept this situation. It puts his own reputation into question. We are a corrupt country but it is more subtle than in most other countries. Elected or appointed public figures can accept speaker's fees from political organizations. They can form charitable organizations which can accept bllnd donations. Their wives can do the same. We are in real trouble as cynicism has become realism.
We have created an imperfect democracy complete with imperfect registers. Shameful and disappointing to not have a method to rid the dangerous and corrupt. I don’t raise the flag anywhere. Any flag. I realize that people want to self identify on various causes and it makes them feel empowered. When I lived in Europe, you could always identify an American from a distance as Americans often had a flag on their clothing or backpack.
Bill, I'm no flag-waver, to be sure, but my wife and I firmly believe that each of us who find MAGA's use of the flag to support their un-American cause abominable should attempt to reclaim its true meaning and purpose by flying it.
It's our flag, too.
Trump has taken our patriotism, the Christian faith, and even some of our relationships and turned us against each other. He made it ok to be an asshole out loud.
The American Flag flies proudly (and correctly) in front of my house.
I have flown the flag for a great many years and now am appalled that it has been repurposed.
Way back when during the Iraq War, we adopted a soldier through Soldiers Angel's.
Chris (our soldier) was in charge of about 100 young boys as he called them.
We sent him a box every month with little things we thought he and his boys would like.
Around OctoberI of that year I went to every store and business near where we lived asking for donations.
We sent 10 boxes filled with Christmas stuff that was either donated or we bought via cash donations.
We got an email from Chris few days after Christmas telling us how much he and his boys loved all the stuff we sent.
He told us that he was going to be sending us a package as soon as we could.
Chris and my husband developed a friendship and would send emails to each other.
About six months later, we got a package from Chris.
Inside was a picture of him.
Chris sent us an American flag with a certificate (letter) that said.
USMC takes pleasure in presenting this National Ensign Letter of Authenticity to Jeff and Beth Cobb.
The flag was flown over the Combat Logistics Battalion 8 Compound Aboard Camp Al Fallujah, Iraq During Operation Iraqi Freedom 06-08.2
On this 1st day of January in the year of our Lord 2008.
The picture, flag and certificate are on our wall.
Every day I see them multiple times a day and it makes me feel good that we supported our troops in our small way.
THAT is "supporting the troops." Shilling for candidates who think of the military as their personal toy and would send them needlessly into harm's way is NOT supporting the troops.
Beth Cobb, 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
Yes. Bragging rights. That’s why, living in Europe, I came to see US as “the bad teenagers on the block.”
Yep. The Australians were as bad as the Americans. At least in the bar I worked in in Florence, Italy.
When I hitch-hiked around Europe in 1970 a lot of Americans wore a Canadian flag on their coat or their backpack, but their accent gave them away as soon as they spoke. As a Canadian, I felt sad for them.
I once took a republican woman to bed with me but I made sure to wear a prophylactic.
So true. I know exactly who in the neighborhood votes maga by the flag they fly.
Gary- it is the CONservative members that act that way. the liberals recuse themselves.
Because like Elizabeth Warren said 'The system is rigged'.
And apparently are above the law.
Because there is no law against it and nothing in the Constitution foreseeing the present Court's behavior or providing us any remedy whatever. As far as I know, anyway.
Congress was given the authority over the court. It seems now if they try to exert any control, the CONservatives will start a lawsuit challenging that authority and the tilted court will just rule that the oversight is unconstitutional. Exactly how they planned it. Kind of like they are now attacking the federal agencies saying that only Congress can make rules and cannot delegate their authority. Congress is the law making body and can delegate authority because Congress has the authority. The stupid "originalists and textualists" are not trying to save America.
The Senate needs to take action. Enough of the "we won't be successful so why try?" crap.
Public awareness that both parties are not the same.
Totally. Awareness is the point, not passing any meaningful legislation on the topic.
You do not have a current majority that will support any change. Too many "collegial" dems who don't want to upset their "Republican friends..."
Then they need to be voted out. They have a job to do
im·pu·ni·ty
/imˈpyo͞onədē/
noun
exemption from punishment or freedom from the injurious consequences of an action.
Yeah, that's what I'm talking' about. Thank you.
So what is the difference between Impunity and immunity?
immunity /ĭ-myoo͞′nĭ-tē/
noun
from certain generally applicable requirements of law or from certain liabilities, granted to special groups of people to facilitate the performance of their public functions.
"diplomatic immunity; judicial immunity."
Well, clearly they ARE above the law, since no consequences attend their actions. :-(
For some reason I can’t get “like” symbol to take…
It seems it is now fixed for me. It was hit and miss the last couple of days.
Are they above the law? Who or what is the final arbiter when the Court or a member of the Court misbehaves?
In 1805 the House impeached Samuel Chase but the Senate acquitted him. So, apparently they cannot be removed from office because the Senate will never impeach them.
And apparently, the DOJ doesn't have the power to find them guilty of a crime either.
So they are above the law as far as I can tell.
You hit the nail on the head!!
I despair that there might still be illusions that Supreme Court Justices give even a flicker of a care about what voters or the media think of them, or of what they do and do not do. They do not. This has has been proven more than a few times. Who can force them to recuse themselves, Alito and Thomas? Moral imperatives and public outrage seem to have little place with these men. Can the Kegan, Sotomeyer, and Jackson apply any effective pressure on the grounds of clear and simple moral principle? Can they make a noise about it? Might we appeal to them on our behalf?
The three liberal (ethical) justices won't make a peep. Because they live in a world of fantasy. They think if they don't stand up to the conservative (insurrectionist) justices, they will be able to maintain a relationship of give and take - one of finding balance, fairness and justice. They think they will "need" them in future cases. Harmony may have been practical back in the day. But now Alito and Thomas are chuckling over cocktails along with Leonard Leo and Harland Crow.
This feels like an alien invasion. The Federalist Empire has executed a long, well planned invasion and takeover of The Supreme Court. The Coup is in progress.
Kagan, Sotomayor and Jackson should stand together and publicly demand that Roberts act like a Chief Justice. Demand that he require Alito and Thomas to recuse themselves from any case involving the attempted coup or involving Donald Trump. If they won't recuse, he should demand they resign. If they don't resign, Roberts should make a formal demand of Congress that the two corrupt Insurrectionist justices be impeached. To do less than this is to join the coup.
Message to anyone who didn't vote for Hillary and isn't planning to vote for Joe Biden - this is what you get. An enemy of democracy within. A dictatorship in the making.
Roberts - Jane Roberts, the wife of Chief Justice John Roberts, made more than $10 million in commissions over an eight-year stretch where she matched top lawyers with elite law firms—including some that had cases before the Supreme Court—
Gorsuch - Law firm head bought Gorsuch-owned property. The Supreme Court justice did not report the identity of the purchaser, whose firm has had numerous cases before the court --
Kavanaugh - In 2016, Kavanaugh reported in a financial disclosure owing between $60,004 and $200,000 in credit card and loan debt. But when he was nominated to the Supreme Court that debt had gone.--
You see the problem here.
I see the problem. I also see that corruption and abuses are embedded in the system. The public doesn't care. The media doesn't care.
Accountability and morality in the Supreme Court have gone missing.
Where are the likes of Ida Tarbell when we need her most?
Bill, you said exactly what I was thinking. Unfortunately, with the crazy MAGA bunch in the House, I doubt anything that will rid us of these low life creeps can occur. Think of all those from Congress who have attended the Trump trial and acted as his mouthpiece. Speaker Johnson isn't going to do anything to let go of power.
It feels like an alien invasion because it is an alien invasion! Aliens from within.
I feel your pain, Patrice. But I for one will not "go gently into this good night." We may not get anywhere, but raising a ruckus will do me a world of good.
Yep, Lynell, let’s keep makin’ “good trouble”!!!!
Thanks for that John Lewis reminder; how could I forget?!
While I have no illusions that the Justices will ever read my letter, I sent each of them the following:
As we await your decisions on this term's cases, decisions that will
determine the health of our democracy as well as the health of many of our
citizens, it seems like an opportune moment to leave legal matters behind
temporarily and to reflect instead on ethics, the moral principles that
govern our behavior.
As a teacher for more than 50 years, the institutions at which I taught,
ranging from K-12 public and private schools to public and private
colleges and universities, all expected their faculty members to take a
brief refresher course on ethics every so often and then to pass a test.
One constantly recurring question had to do with accepting gifts. At my
last institution before I retired, we were reminded that we were not
allowed to accept any remuneration with a value greater than $50.00.
Another reminder about our ethical obligations to our students and our
schools concerned honesty. As role models, we were expected, like
Caesar's wife, to be above suspicion. When we were hired, we were also
expected to be clear about our educational philosophy and our preferred
teaching methods. If we claimed to value engaging students in class
discussion over our lecturing to them, we were expected to exhibit this
behavior in our classroom.
In much the same way, when prospective Justices are interviewed in the
Senate, they are often asked about their legal philosophy. Frequently,
the question of stare decicis is raised. When the candidate affirms their
belief in the importance of relying on precedent, the American people
expect Justices to exhibit that behavior in their decision-making.
Many Americans these days see many members of the current Supreme Court
as not exemplifying these ethical principles. We see Justices accepting
gifts in disturbingly greater amounts than the $50.00 to which, ethically,
I was limited. We see Justices who claimed in their hiring hearings to be
guided by precedent making surprising reversals after they were confirmed
that ignored past decisions and that have now taken long-held rights from
Americans.
If I point out these surprising and disturbing trends, it is in the hope
that you will refresh your commitment to the ethical values we expect of
our Supreme Court Justices and that you will move forward with your
decision-making in that spirit. We, the American people, are watching and
expecting no less of you.
This is great. Certainly not too much to ask of Supreme Court justices, even lower court judges Even members of Congress.
👍👏
While I am not under any illusions that the Justices will ever read my letter, I sent each of them the following:
As we await your decisions on this term's cases, decisions that will
determine the health of our democracy as well as the health of many of our
citizens, it seems like an opportune moment to leave legal matters behind
temporarily and to reflect instead on ethics, the moral principles that
govern our behavior.
As a teacher for more than 50 years, the institutions at which I taught,
ranging from K-12 public and private schools to public and private
colleges and universities, all expected their faculty members to take a
brief refresher course on ethics every so often and then to pass a test.
One constantly recurring question had to do with accepting gifts. At my
last institution before I retired, we were reminded that we were not
allowed to accept any remuneration with a value greater than $50.00.
Another reminder about our ethical obligations to our students and our
schools concerned honesty. As role models, we were expected, like
Caesar's wife, to be above suspicion. When we were hired, we were also
expected to be clear about our educational philosophy and our preferred
teaching methods. If we claimed to value engaging students in class
discussion over our lecturing to them, we were expected to exhibit this
behavior in our classroom.
In much the same way, when prospective Justices are interviewed in the
Senate, they are often asked about their legal philosophy. Frequently,
the question of stare decicis is raised. When the candidate affirms their
belief in the importance of relying on precedent, the American people
expect Justices to exhibit that behavior in their decision-making.
Many Americans these days see many members of the current Supreme Court
as not exemplifying these ethical principles. We see Justices accepting
gifts in disturbingly greater amounts than the $50.00 to which, ethically,
I was limited. We see Justices who claimed in their hiring hearings to be
guided by precedent making surprising reversals after they were confirmed
that ignored past decisions and that have now taken long-held rights from
Americans.
If I point out these surprising and disturbing trends, it is in the hope
that you will refresh your commitment to the ethical values we expect of
our Supreme Court Justices and that you will move forward with your
decision-making in that spirit. We, the American people, are watching and
expecting no less of you.
On May 17th I wrote a comment on the situation with the Supreme Court Justices. Approximately 35 people "liked" my comment. So, I am trying here to report back. I'm not sure anyone will see this but it's worth a try.
Thank you very much, Betsy, for your good letter to the Supreme Court Justices. I spent time over the weekend writing to each Supreme Court Justice, individually by ground mail, hand digned. Nine letters including Justice Alito and Justice Thomas. Each letter is a little different, but they were all basically the same. Here is one directly to Alito to give you the idea. Not so different from yours, Betsy!.
Patrice O’Neill Maynard
83 May Hill Road, Stop 80
Ghent, NY 12075
518-929-5189 (cell)
518-672-4376 (home)
patricemaynard@gmail.com
May 18, 2024
Justice Alito
Supreme Court of the United States
1 First Street, NE
Washington, DC 20543.
Subject: Justice Alito’s and Justice Thomas’s conflict of interest
Dear Justice Alito,
Thank you for your dedicated service to the Supreme Court and to our country.
This letter is written to respectfully request that you as a Justices of the Supreme Court, like all American citizens, recuse yourself from decisions having an obvious conflict of interest. It is shocking and disheartening to understand that Supreme Court Justices do not automatically recuse themselves when there is an issue in which they might have even a whisper of an interest in the decision-making process. It is also remarkable that business continues uninterrupted when Justices with known conflicts of interest do not recuse themselves. This creates an appearance that communicates that conflicts of interest do not matter and can be ignored, that voting in one’s own interests is normal and acceptable. It is not to me.
More specifically, I respectfully request that you, Justice Alito and Justice Thomas, recuse yourselves from all decisions concerning former president Trump, or decisions concerning the insurrection of January 6, 2021. If you refuse, then I have further respectfully requested of other Justices that they refuse to proceed until you, with vested interests in a decision, recuse yourself. If you were to continue to refuse, then I respectfully requested that your opinions be ignored and your votes on that issue not be counted.
It can be decided and announced before beginning that any Justices, and you should be named, who have a known vested interest in a decision, if you both dishonorably refuse to remove yourselves from these proceedings, that your opinions and votes will be disregarded. Is this not a sound approach to a distorted thing?
All my adult life I have worked for not-for-profit educational organizations, the boards of which follow this procedure of recusing themselves ethically, responsibly, and automatically whenever a decision concerns something in which they are involved or a family member of theirs is involved, or in which it is known that they have dealings with people connected to the decision who have curried favor with a board member or do business with the board member.
Am I to believe that these accepted practices on a level so small as my tiny not-for-profits hold to these ethical and automatic procedures, but Supreme Court Justices do not have to? Leadership is influential, Justice Alito, and ethical behavior helps the whole world to be a better place and gives our children adults to aspire to imitate and admire. Being a teacher and feeling deep concern that our children are often given grownups to consider who have little or no moral compass, I offer this plea on their behalf as well as mine.
Thank you for your consideration in doing the right and moral thing and for helping honorable Justices to do the right thing as well.
Patrice O’Neill Maynard
Thank you, Patrice, for sharing this very eloquent letter, and thank you even more for sending it to these two Justices. Thank you also for your suggestion to the other seven about how not to proceed until Alito and Thomas mend their ways.
Barbara, I intended to post the following yesterday but the Alito news got me sidetracked. But at least here's something we can do about Aileen Cannon.
Readers Scott and John over on Jessica Craven's ChopWood/CarryWater posted this link for citizens (that's us!) to send a complaint about Aileen Cannon.
https://www.uscourts.gov/sites/default/files/ao310.pdf
Another reader, Colleen McGloughlin, posted this YouTube link from Glenn Kirschner. She tells us, "The second half [of the video] walks you through the steps of filling out the form. He doesn’t tell you what to write, but he points you to helpful articles." I have not yet watched the 20+ minute video, but plan to do so today.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=0MXVfiTa3KM
For the sake of completeness, here's the link from the United States Courts on FAQs: Filing a Judicial Conduct or Disability Complaint Against a Federal Judge:
https://www.uscourts.gov/judges-judgeships/judicial-conduct-disability/faqs-filing-judicial-conduct-or-disability-complaint#faq-Where-do-I-file-my-complaint
Thank you! Let’s all do this…
Morning, Lynell. Thanks for all of this info.
I am beyond disgusted with the conduct of several SCROTUS judges.
Agree completely, Ally; disgusted is the perfect word for it.
Thank you for the links. Very helpful.
You're very welcome, Dagmar.
"I *shake fists at the sky* frequently, but clearly not very effective overall! Do what I can, when I can, to support democracy for us all."
*Shaking fists at the sky* certainly has its place. It's all the rest you do which helps save democracy for us all. Effectively.
It's said that the scene in the 1976 movie Network, in which a man exhorts everyone to stick their head out the window and yell "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take this anymore", inspired Howard Jarvis to amp up his anti-taxation activism. He founded an association and to get Proposition 13 on the California ballot he and his wife collected tens of thousands of signatures. The rest is history. (Among other things this gave us 'trickle down economics and brought Evangelicals (who were afraid their white supremacy Christian Academies would be taxed) into the antiabortion movement.
"Take the TCJA. In 2017, no Hill Democrats voted for the bill and in 2018 many campaigned against it as a give-away to corporations and the wealthy. TPC concluded almost everyone got a tax cut, though high-income households and corporations benefited the most.
But that was then. Those tax cuts are due to expire at the end of 2025. The federal budget deficit this year is $1.6 trillion. TPC estimates that extending the law’s individual tax cuts would add another $3.5 trillion to the debt over the next 10 years."
- Tax Policy Center review of
“The Power To Destroy: How the Anti-Tax Movement Hijacked America.”
More from the Tax Policy Center book review:
"The book’s title pretty much says it all: “The Power To Destroy: How the Anti-Tax Movement Hijacked America.” Graetz argues that anti-tax conservatives not only lowered taxes, especially for high-income households and corporations, but they changed government and politics in profound ways. And that, he says, was their ultimate goal...In Graetz’s telling, many Prop 13 supporters had more than property taxes in mind. Much of its support came from opponents of immigration and school integration. Key backing came from evangelical Christians, who objected to IRS efforts to deny tax exemptions to segregated private schools.
The mash-up of culture and economics became a centerpiece of the anti-tax agenda. Many backers, including Newt Gingrich, Grover Norquist, and Rush Limbaugh, and now Donald Trump successfully made taxes part of a broader anti-government narrative."
https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxvox/how-anti-tax-movement-changed-politics-and-government
Glad you mentioned the greedy traitors, they have sullied our discourse and interfered in our functioning for decades. For their personal gain.
I called my reps yesterday and I suggest that others call,call and call again.Flood the Congressional switchboard or whatever it’s called today.This action by a SCROTUS judge is a blatant in your face middle finger to all Americans and the rule of law and should not be tolerated.
I'm rolling with you, Barbara
Same here in Indiana! And nearly 81 years old to boot. The young ones appear to not give a damn. So sad! I have seen all the complaints of Biden being old...but I see the younger ones in the House and Senate being totally stupid. The USA don't need those people to retain our democracy!
Field Team 6 I got an email from them yesterday to call. Help get out the folks who rarely vote. They're never asked, never talked to as if they're important. This year more than ever
Rural areas need special attention. Thank you.
Alito is truly a despicable man. Runs to Fox “News” to say his wife did it. Like a little kid tattling on his sibling! Thomas and Ginni, well, they are gawwwd awful people but they really are a match made in hell. I think Biden will wait to expand the Court until he’s elected. My prayers would be answered if we take both the House and Senate. Then Congress can get ERA and VRA back on the table and codify Wade, too, forever and a lifetime! As far as Roberts is concerned, Carol Boyd is right. He has been playing us for years. His court should be called the Injustice 6.
More incentive. From Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, Alito's origin story:
"Mr. President, I rise this evening, now for the 22nd time, to keep unmasking the far-right scheme to capture and control our Supreme Court. This scheme is funded by creepy rightwing billionaires who stay out of the limelight and let others— namely, Leonard Leo and his crew—operate their scheme. How are they benefiting from the scheme? It is hard to track which rightwing billionaires are involved— and that is by design—but thanks to intrepid reporting from ProPublica and others, we are learning more all the time. And every day it becomes harder for the billionaire-friendly Justices and their political allies to pretend, with a straight face, that all is kosher at the Court.
I have previously described the noxious cocktail of this court capture scheme: creepy rightwing billionaires, phony front groups, amenable Justices, large sums of money, and secrecy. I don’t know whether they take that shaken or stirred, but those seem to be the common ingredients. To chill that Court-capture cocktail, we can add one more ingredient: Alaskan glacier ice. But I will get back to that later.
First, let’s review the origin story of Justice Samuel Alito. It begins with the bipartisan Senate rejection of Judge Robert Bork, which infuriated Bork’s far-right backers. On the Court were Justices Souter and Stevens— both Republican appointees—but they wouldn’t help the billionaires, so the angry chant went out from the far right: No more Souters. No more Stevenses. Then President George W. Bush got an appointment and nominated his friend and trusted White House counsel, Harriet Miers. A Republican President nominates a personal friend and rock-ribbed conservative Republican— a woman to replace Sandra Day O’Connor. And the attack on her comes from the right."
The far-right billionaires won’t have it. And their operative—the aforementioned Leonard Leo—oversaw the project of taking her down. And in her place came the ever-so-reliably billionaire-friendly Sam Alito. This switch—Miers for Alito—gave Leo immense cred with the billionaires, who have since made him a very rich man and helped him launch his armada of front groups, of which this array is just a selection.
https://www.whitehouse.senate.gov/news/speeches/the-scheme-22-justice-alito-and-the-polluter-page/
https://www.propublica.org/article/we-dont-talk-about-leonard-podcast
Since I have lived through much of this, I am still surprised that I had not put all the pieces together. And I have paid attention. It’s like the iceberg, only a small portion is visible. Republicans are expert at the subsurface machinations. Investigative reporters, where are you. Woodward and Bernstein surely weren’t the only ones. They may have been the only ones who had editors and owners with the balls to do the right thing for the country…
I watched the Alito confirmation and was horrified that a “sane” Republican senator from PA (as I remember though I cannot remember his name) was pushing the nomination of this person all of whose pre-SCOTUS nomination work had been anti-abortion. Now the whole world is seeing this little man in our high court.
I didn't watch, but I knew W/Dickie would do the worst possible thing. Yet both of those cretins are enjoying life as elder statesmen while we suffer from their very deliberate actions of insanity. They are guilty of so much, as is Kevin McCarthy. Just out of sight at the moment.
Virginia,
Was that "sane" Republican senator from the Keystone State the one bullet theoretician, Arlen Spector?!?
I’m not certain. Would recognize him if I saw him, but not by name. Too much political junk mucking up the head. Shall take a look. Spector looks too cheerful. I remember this senator as rather gaunt and unsmiling. Somewhere there is film of the hearing that would tell us.
Yes! Senator Whitehouse must not grown weary in telling the truth but grow louder!
Thank you for this report, lin• A "noxious cocktail" indeed.
I admired Senator Whitehouse for being vigilant and a advocate for the American people. He has been working non stop on the violations and the fraudulent behavior on the Supreme Court for years.
Whitehouse is a treasure and so is his staff! They never have stopped digging up dirt on Leonard Leo and his wealthy ilk. Leo established 40 shell companies all in the name of “Christian charities”, under 501 3 (c)’s. This gives them all tax-free status. They all launder money from each other. One of those companies is owned by Ginni Thomas (shocker, right?🙄). Leo is attached to the Russian Orthodox Church which is attached to Russian oligarchs. I also recommend people follow @mudpuppy_16 on “X”.
We need a Sheldon Whitehouse in every state in the “Union”!
I want to know more. Is there a book on this?
Two books might help:
The Road to Unfreedom and Tyranny by Timothy Snyder.
I suspect much of the undercover manipulations by the right is the result of assertion of Fascist schemes to develop control by denying reality.
Borrowing
Well, well, well, the press is finally noticing. Will the NYT follow up on their revelation or just move on to the next shinny object. Heard yesterday on a Bill Maher show from before Mother’s Day that someone from the NYT was quoted as saying that it wasn’t their job to save democracy. (Joe Kahn). I thought most conceded that a free press was the bedrock of our democracy. A free press that I assume would report the truth, not just a tit for tat on what they see as a normal horse race. I have been mortified that Dems seem to ignore all the ads that write themselves coming from Repubs. The MSM does too, save a few that have limited readership and substacks that have even more limited readership. Of course, there is always Rupert’s crew of cretins who are most assuredly under reported as actors in the republican evil deeds, and have been since Ronnie imported Rupert for that very purpose. With social media aiding and abetting the Republican traitors, who will speak for the legitimate, elected officials who are doing the jobs they were elected to do. Democrats have accomplished much, despite the steady stream of vitriol from a party that is engaged in nonstop obstruction and Trojan Horse activities unprecedented in our time. FDR faced such, and it was Japan that shut the mouths of traitors. MSM had to report that. I hope it doesn’t take another such catastrophe to make them realize that it is indeed the job of a free press to save our democracy, now more than ever. I vote for news rooms that are not money-making enterprises. I doubt that Walter ever was concerned about ratings. NYT should dig into their archives and follow what HST said. “I don’t give the Republicans hell. I just tell the truth and they think it’s hell.” Try that MSM. The truth would sink the Republican traitors if you would focus on that (Project 2025 maybe). Fox surely won’t…. And you are cowards if you don’t.
Added blurb at 7am. Joe Kahn did say in the interview with Ben Smith of Semafor, reported by Margaret Sullivan podcast, May 10, 2024, that the NYT made coverage decisions based on public opinion polls. Well, that just made my blood boil. They, and other MSM editors, conduct polls (which are suspect under the best circumstances) and then make publishing decisions based on what they did. What a vicious cycle. One that screws the citizens of every stripe. Lordy, is there any hope. Keep it up journalists, report on your profession.
They left the room when you started this retort…Jeri.
Ha , all joking aside , ‘they’ don’t even read this. Why ? Because what they’re doing is working…
THE ONLY WAY TO STOP IT IS A BLUE TSUNAMI, 1st act of President Biden in Jan ‘25 would be to ‘CLEAN THE HOUSE ‘.
Hopes are Dems take control House, Senate, WH and codify the laws blantantly usurped .Theres an army working for
Is there not sufficient evidence how the insurrection and all those having fingers in that pudding plan ends? Is it not The Russian Federation (TRF) draped in red,white,and blue? What’s the percentage of the players in TRF that sail unfettered ie not fearing a fall out a window …assuredly ‘loyalty’ is their only ‘mouthedpiece’…(spelling intentional) .
I’ve heard enough reporting the inner group of TRF oligarchs are unscathed, and smirk at ‘the sanctions’. Does anyone know who those are…or OURS ?
I envision them ALL snickering …smoking fat cigars , sipping on an aged bourbon neat , at The Good Old Boys Club…no women allowed (nor ever will be) waited on by white coated blackies…
Every effort since the civil war has been to win this war that never ended ..so ‘they’ came in the (unguarded) back door …it’s May 18,2024 , not even 6 months left to finalized ‘IT’.
💙VOTE THE BLUE TSUNAMI💙
If you need another reason to vote the blue tsunami consider that Abbot in Texas just pardoned the convicted killer, serving a 25 year sentence, of a peaceful protestor.
I am so gobsmacked by this I can hardly focus on anything else.
It’s another power move to prove ‘they can’…and in fact ‘are doing’…but like the turtle said…😉 (stay the course ..there’s some interesting Republicans such as The Lincoln Project/Adam/Liz for headliners but …who are on the boot too…and could likely be in a new, revised, and worthy party 🙌
Boat!!! *
So am I, talked to a man who had known Abbott for a long time. He said deep down he’s ok. I begged to differ…
I have a meme from my FB and T years that has an image that you describe. Fat cats in charge, laughing at us “lessers.” The states (Texas the expert) have planned well. Passed laws, changed personnel and a myriad dirty tricks to assure that they control the election results. They must have read Stalin’s comment along the lines of - it matters not how many vote, it matters only who counts the votes. Take nothing for granted…
Well said, Jeri. I feel for you, living in Texas.
It used to be a great place to live, Rove and W changed all that. They “woke” up an army of haters. Some surprised me, some didn’t. The number was astonishing.
I’m on The Good Ship Principle , with you , bro …have been since first drill getting under our desks the Russian bombed/are coming and it’s time to KYAGB! ‘Kiss your a** goodbye’ …
Sincerest thanks to all aboard🫶
And tfg HATES the “fake news.” Do these news org think by currying MAGAts’ favor they will survive his dictatorial plans?
His pronouncement that the press was our enemy really gave him a “get out of jail free card” for every ignorant utterance. They should, at that very moment, have blasted him (and Fox) with the truth, all day every day. Kellyanne and her alternative facts would have been buried in the bullshittery that they have buried us in. First thing that authoritarians do is muzzle the press or take them over. Ours have screwed themselves and us…
I just became a follower of you, Jeri. I've been so enraged about Joe Kahn that I can't express my take cogently - thank you for doing that so well.
Thank you. Boiling blood can give my rage wings. Unbelievable that he could be so stupid. Maybe he needs to Google Ben Bradley. Doubt that his inane take on his job would change one iota. He is wrapped in protective bubble wrap so that he won’t realize the damage is he doing to us all. Sounds like a MAGAt…
Great choice John!
Same here
I am surprised that I don't hear more of the famous Joseph Pulitzer quote. He wrote (warned?) in the North American Review in May 1904: Our Republic and its press will rise and fall together. An able, disinterested, public-spirited press, with trained intelligence to know the right and courage to do it, can preserve that public virtue without which popular government is a sham and a mockery. A cynical, mercenary, demagogic press will produce in time a people as base as itself. The power to mold the future of the republic will be in the hands of the journalists of future generations..
He really understood that critical relationship. Thank you. These days the color green has blinded them. Wonder if Pulitzer was alluding to Hearst and his slime journalism. It didn’t take a century for Ronnie and Rupert to come and do Hearst one better. Maybe before my NYT subscription runs out, I’ll do a letter to the editor and remind them of their sacred duty. Lot of good it’ll do, but been spinning my wheels for decades now.
So besides going into the streets is there something anything we the people can do?
GOTV, offer to drive people to the polls, become a poll worker, write postcards and/or letters (many orgs have campaigns you can join), write letters to the editor, etc., etc.
Call your Senators and demand that Alito recuse himself from the January cases. Post this piece all over your social media. Letter to the editor. Talk to friends, inform them and ask them to do the same. I called my senators yesterday and also talked about it at a party last night
I am not currently in the USA, but am going to be joining a couple of marches for Democracy here in Germany both a German protest against the AfD right-wing party before the EU elections, and the Democrats Abroad march for democracy in July. I agree that people in the USA should be organizing protests not just asking for Alito and Thomas to recuse themselves, but to be impeached. I would put this on the top rung of things to protest. They have totally compromised the third branch of government.
How about the Senate codifying an ethics LAW instead of this nonsense the SC cooked up for itself?
Demonstrate regularly in front of the SC building. Demonstrate relentlessly as Israelis did when Netanyahu tried to disembowel the judiciary (they were successful in stopping the plan.)
July 4 might be good, maybe Granger and some of that ilk will go back to Moscow….
Same thought. Why are we not in the streets???? My answer is that we've all accepted the reality that this is not a government for the people and by the people. They simply will not listen to us. These justices have absolute power and they answer to the almighty dollar bill. Noting else. Democracy in action, aka Democracy inaction. I'd join a protest, even though I'm 99% sure it would not have the desired outcome. 1% is still worth it.
I still scratch my head we did not start a revolution when 26 babies were gunned down in Newtown CT.
I knew that when we got no common sense legislation out of Sandy Hook that the cause was lost. The debacle of law enforcement conduct at Uvalde (which went against EVERY SINGLE PRINCIPLE TAUGHT in active shooter response) wasn't enough either. I can only think that it is what the ubiquitous "they" want.
I wonder about the left and its inability to support rallies anymore like in the 60s and 70s. Those were diverse people with causes bigger than either desires for fun or fear of violence. Nobody seems to be energized to thwart either the media or the extremists. Even during war in their own country, Ukrainians rally for their interests. Internationally, there seems to be actions only regarding right-wing issues or the Jewish/Palestinian issue.
Justice Alito (a contradiction of terms) didn't come out of nowhere. Here's Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse on Alito's origin story:
"Mr. President, I rise this evening, now for the 22nd time, to keep unmasking the far-right scheme to capture and control our Supreme Court. This scheme is funded by creepy rightwing billionaires who stay out of the limelight and let others— namely, Leonard Leo and his crew—operate their scheme. How are they benefiting from the scheme? It is hard to track which rightwing billionaires are involved— and that is by design—but thanks to intrepid reporting from ProPublica and others, we are learning more all the time. And every day it becomes harder for the billionaire-friendly Justices and their political allies to pretend, with a straight face, that all is kosher at the Court.
I have previously described the noxious cocktail of this court capture scheme: creepy rightwing billionaires, phony front groups, amenable Justices, large sums of money, and secrecy. I don’t know whether they take that shaken or stirred, but those seem to be the common ingredients. To chill that Court-capture cocktail, we can add one more ingredient: Alaskan glacier ice. But I will get back to that later.
First, let’s review the origin story of Justice Samuel Alito. It begins with the bipartisan Senate rejection of Judge Robert Bork, which infuriated Bork’s far-right backers. On the Court were Justices Souter and Stevens— both Republican appointees—but they wouldn’t help the billionaires, so the angry chant went out from the far right: No more Souters. No more Stevenses. Then President George W. Bush got an appointment and nominated his friend and trusted White House counsel, Harriet Miers. A Republican President nominates a personal friend and rock-ribbed conservative Republican— a woman to replace Sandra Day O’Connor. And the attack on her comes from the right.
The far-right billionaires won’t have it. And their operative—the aforementioned Leonard Leo—oversaw the project of taking her down. And in her place came the ever-so-reliably billionaire-friendly Sam Alito. This switch—Miers for Alito—gave Leo immense cred with the billionaires, who have since made him a very rich man and helped him launch his armada of front groups, of which this array is just a selection."
https://www.whitehouse.senate.gov/news/speeches/the-scheme-22-justice-alito-and-the-polluter-page/
https://www.propublica.org/article/we-dont-talk-about-leonard-podcast
We proudly fly a U.S. flag….next to our Biden/Harris yard sign. We also live in a MAGA Fl county.
Join us !
🇺🇸🏡🪧
I'm with you, but I am much safer in Eugene, OR than you are in Magaville, Florida.
Bravo, Kathy! Thank you for your forthrightness in allegiance to maintaining our Democratic form of government, not the proposed Dictatorship of the imminent Republican presidential candidate, tRump, and his Project 2025 orches”traitors.”
Roberts is one of them.
Take to the streets - that'll shake them up.
Fox News will call you socialists, they will call you subversive snd anti-democratic.
Hahaha, you're right, and if their opinion mattered to me I'd let it stop me. As an animal rights activist and vegan I'm pretty used to being called worse - by the left and the right. People care about justice until it interferes with their "personal preferences" aka taste buds, or whatever other lame excuse. "Oh, but that's different, it's food." No it's not. It's violence, slavery, torture, mutilation, and murder. The way it tastes doesn't change those facts. So ask me if I care what Fox says. Let's do this.
Sarah, how do you feel about the AL & FL laws prohibiting the manufacturing of "meat"? I understand they start with "meat starter" and use amino acids and other stuff (technical chemistry term) to grow the meat.
I know it's not vegan, but someday the process may get to that point.
Soylent Green?
If the chief justice was true to the law, he would have asked them to step down from the court.
If there is any doubt that democracy now holds on by a thread, the events unfolding before us should shatter that doubt. If Trump regains power, he will end democracy here, pull us out of NATO and democracies around the world will begin to crumble. This November's election is the most important election in the history of the world. We are at war here with white Protestant nationalism, also known as the KKK or MAGA.
You can't tell me Alito wasn't aware of the meaning of the upside down flag but his wife was. How could he not have seen it when it was up anywhere from 2 - 5 days? If the House was under Dem control, we could impeach him.
I hope people take to the streets on this one. It's more than the wives! These two shysters will never recuse. There has to be a way to force them out. Could the Senate conduct a vote of no confidence?
The stock market cycles and so does fascism. Read Timothy Snyder's ''On Tyranny'' for more information.
.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timothy_Snyder
Alito and Thomas should be barred from any consideration of Trump case. They’re corrupt.
Im not opposed to people marching in the streets, especially in front of the Supreme Court (you can’t get too close, because the Justices don’t want the First Amendment on their doorstep), but the Chief Justice does not have the power to keep other justices from sitting on a case.
It strikes me that the protests getting coverage are about Gaza, with young people taking an obtuse moral stage against... Something... Outrageous. While SCOTUS, the purported backbone of or democracy, one of the three branches to keep the other two in check, quietly bends the branch upon which or noose is hung.
It is one of the great failures of the upcoming generation. And it is impossible to get through regarding the true danger. Would that we could harness that energy…
The Chief Justice has no power to do anything about SCOTUS corruption beyond persuasion, and we know how well that works on MAGA adherents.
For anyone here who is still a believer in "I must vote my conscience regardless" since the purity of your "conscience" is much more important than the welfare of the rest of us, remember that it was the Nader voters who gave us Bush II, and therefore also gave us Samuel Alito. I doubt either of those outcomes are what their "conscience" dictated as good, but that's what they got. Had they voted for the welfare of everybody and not made their precious little ego more important than anything else, President Gore would not have invaded Poland, er, I mean Iraq, destabilizing the Middle East far more than any terrorist could hope to accomplish; we would have been dealing seriously with the climate crisis for the past 24 years; Alito would not be on the court; and very likely Trump would not have run and been elected by fluke, so that the Court would not be a 6-3 fascist majority, Roe v Wade would still be the law of the land. In retrospect, voting for the good of all would likely have gotten the "conscience" voter more of what they said they wanted to achieve with their "conscience" vote.
To my ever lasting regret, I voted “my conscience” w/ a Nader vote….albeit in a safely “blue” state of CA…..still I lived to deeply regret it (given our current electoral system). Have communicated in past elections to friends & neighbors about the danger of 3rd party candidates (again a statement about our system)….and that they must pay attention to “the bottom line” and that, yes, the lesser of “two evils” is a better choice. I, like many, want our election “system” to be different….only, right now, it isn’t, so we MUST choose to cast a ballot for the “lesser of two evils”. That said, I support the Biden/Harris admin & all the qualified folks they’ve put in cabinet/gov’t positions. Biden/Harris is not big on tooting their own horn….they are busy getting the work of state done for the betterment of us all. Just sayin’…..
Well Barbara, at least Nader hadn’t announced that he had a brain worm before you voted for him. Points for that.
😂👏
The Supreme Court installed Bush in 2000. Sandra Day O’Conner said she regretted that decision. They were compromised then too.
And Kavanaugh and Cony Barret were in Florida to "help recount" the votes...
Oh, that’s just a coincidence🤣🤣
3rd Party candidates: the fascists' best friend.
Barbara, You can discuss the problems resulting from the Electoral College after I'm dead and the new revolution is over. I'm with the Founders, regardless of whether they were able to predict every possible result and change, bad or good since their era. What I'm saying is that it's foundational. We must adjust to reality. That's on us. It comes with certain responsibilities. But it also can enable us to vote our conscience. TCinLA can pretend that this is a Greek Democracy all he wants to. It is not, and was not intended to be. Deal with it. I am proud that I voted for Ralph Nader in 2000. I'm a Californian also and I don't need a poll to tell me that it's been blue since 92.
Other than all that, I agree with you 100%. Just sayin'.
Ralph Nader could have never been born and Bush would still have stolen the election. Remember all the black voters who got visits from Florida State Troopers? Not to mention Al Gore's gutless capitulation. Just sayin'...
And Young Kavanaugh and Cony Barrett " re-counting" the Florida ballots?
Instead, we ended up with this “Man in the High Castle” scenario. “Conscience” means inaction, and inaction results in tyranny. God save us from the “do-gooders”! Their righteousness will not protect us from the masses of conspiracy-filled “know-nothings”.
Hurray for Umbria!
With you — every time @Herb Klinker posts I am nostalgic for the places in Umbria that I love.
So very well said. I also reflect often with sadness how the path of our country snd the world could have been so different, and probably a lot saner than how it has evolved over this past 24 years.. I might also add 9/11 would not have happened, either. 😨
And if it had, we wouldn't have reacted as we did. But I think the anti-terrorism people would have caught the conspiracy.
So much for “To virtue, honesty, education of the people and the rule of law. We can have no country without one or be worthy of one.”
Interesting that one of the things the GOP has tried their best to do is destroy public education.
I got a very sanitized version of American History in school - but we did learn Civics. Do they even teach that anymore?
Yes, sanitized is the word, and I too had a civics class, though I wish the school had started earlier (we had civics our senior year). But I seriously doubt that many schools still teach it.
"Sanitized" is too kind. "Fictitious" would be more accurate. A number of reasons we are currently listed as a "flawed" democracy, a stressed out society, and as only a marginally free nation (second in North America) occurred by design of the founders to maintain an oligarchy of privileged land owners, slave owners, white males and prevent a real democracy from taking root. Operatives controlling both cartel parties do perpetuate this.
Great point Tom, if any staff of the DNC, DCCC, DSCC had even a modicum of intellect they'd pick it up and promote this.
TC, it is also the "Bernie Bros" and their ilk that gave us fpotus instead of Hillary Clinton. I think that her Presidency would have seen ten times the vitriol that President Obama had leveled against him, but at least we'd have had someone who was a grifter and a serial abuser in office.
It is those "conscience voters" that gave us the the three SCROTUS judges that fpotus was able to appoint.
I often wonder what Hillary Clinton's response to COVID-19 would have been. For on thing, she would have utilized Obama's protocols for handling a pandemic. Maybe I wouldn't have spent two precious years confined mostly to my house. Fortunately, I was able to hug my little grandchildren on Fathers Day in 2020. The first months of the quarantine were hell. Our country still hasn't recovered.
As a musician I lost almost 2 years of my primary creative outlet. As one of the first people eligible to be vaccinated (I was working for the Sheriff's Department as Courthouse Security) I was our "framily" connection. For three solid months, I shopped for everybody as several of them were immunocompromised.
I can only imagine how much different the response would have been...
Ha!
Come on, TC. The Nader voters in 2000, myself included, in no way led to Dubya, who lost the popular vote to Gore. Nobody could have foreseen the Floridian fiasco, and nobody knew that Sullen, Seditionist Sam Alito lurked in the wings.
Beyond that, let's face it: People can vote for whomever they choose, as that's the entire raison d'etre of elections, as Voltaire once said. Or was it John "Frenchy" Fuqua?!
We have enough to worry about without the baggage of guilt tripping over voting our judgments, and yes, our consciences
He is 109% right, I knew it and never would have voted for Nader even though I likely aligned with his views more than anyone else. His ego outshined any good he did. God forbid if everyone votes for their selfish wants and not for the country. Even the moronic MAGAts, in their cult devotion, think they are saving the country. I knew Bush was a creation of Rove and would be as horrible as he was in Texas. Duh
I find it ironic that you use the word ego. I watched An Inconvenient Truth in the theater, and was completely turned off by Al Gore's ego. The fact that it was dumbed down to an 8th grade level didn't help either. And to be honest, I was prejudiced against his southern accent. As it turns out, there's a lot of truth in that movie. It could have had a much bigger impact if it had been done well.
Egos abound, decide which are toxic. Eighth grade level is too high for some I know, take it and go from there.
No I never thought Gore was toxic. He fell on his sword rather than drag out the battle with W because he didn't want to divide the country. Just the opposite of the power hungry super toxic Trump. But Gore did crave fame and glory, and I thought that his self glorification was obvious in the movie. He could have made a real difference with it if he had hired a scientific group or a good science promoter. I know I was inspired by Carl Sagan in when I was in the 10th grade. I tried to get my grandsons interested in science when they were in grade school by watching a couple of episodes of Cosmos by Neil deGrasse Tyson with them (It didn't work). Big oil and big gas are still lying about global warming and we are heading for disaster. It's later than we think.
So loved Carl, I had already left NASA when I saw his Cosmos. The earth wept when he died…
Well, I guess we disagree on something, Jeri.
Ralph Nader was arguably the most piercingly perceptive and intelligent Presidential candidate in modern history.
His ego, however large it was and is, was certainly dwarfed by the range of his accomplishments and his wisdom on the issues.
I would also add that the two party duopoly we have had for way too long is a major problem
Had I lived in a swing state I would have voted for Gore. I thought Nader deserved a bigger audience. Considering the chaos in Congress the last several years, you may be right about duopoly. It's just hard to imagine what might replace it.
Same here, Justin. I'm a Californian, and the then Governor of Tejas GWB had no chance here. Needless to say, both Gore and Nader knew that Slovakia was not Slovenia 🤣
Yeah I thought he was the worst president ever. Of course that was before the Orange Turd proved that ANYBODY could be president.
Yes, Gore won the popular vote. But Hillary won the popular vote by almost three million! I proudly voted for Gore, Obama and especially Hillary Clinton. The press and the FBI were so hard on Hillary Clinton. In the end, there was really nothing. I'm so sick of people saying we must choose between the lesser of two evils. 45 is evil! W is an idiot, who couldn't manage a baseball franchise much less a country. Lots and lots of money and bad press buys incompetent and corrupt leadership. And we get tax cuts for the wealthy, huge deficits and war as a result.
To the gallows
You might want to go re-read the history of the Florida recount, Daniel.
...that, to me, is the greater "conscience".
What you are saying, TCinLA, is that we are already in a war, and we need to choose sides.
I can't disagree.
You got it, Themon.
💡🐴🦄 No VC! Respect soldier.
????????
VC = Victory Conditions? Venture Capital? Viet Cong? Vote of Confidence? Volume Control?
Anyway Themon, that was meant for TC, not you. By the way, thank you for helping me get TC. Funny that you get his rants of causation but you don't get my humor. We could use a good translator around here. Good to meet you Bard.
Viet Cong
Hey you, I mean yes, you… TCinLA, how dare you use my thoughts. I’m calling my attorney Bernie and I intend to sue you for stealing my very thoughts that are worth thousands. See ya in Court.
I laughed out loud. We're all "open source" here. :-)
🤣
A vote for Nader was a vote against the duopoly. All those who don't fight the duopoly, and pride themselves on how they understand it, and supported it back then should be very pleased with the two choices we have in this election.
Priding oneself on some ineffectual Utopian idealism is not helping matters either.
I may not like the system as it is but the Democrats at least try to give us some semblance of a democracy and our right to vote. While the Republicans have consistently lurched so far to the right that they've gone so far past goosestepping towards fascism that we have now entered into some bizarro world totalitarian criminal kleptocracy as the other option in the next presidential electinon! That is not worth voting third party or your conscience or whatever you think is a good reason for letting a maniac charlatan back into the White House.
The Republicans are abysmal. Agreed. So the Democrats put the very unpopular Hillary Clinton up against the horrid orange turd. What could go wrong? Oh, well, then how about the very unpopular Biden who won by the slimmest of margins last time. Surely there won't be a problem with running him again, will there? I talk to people on the other side. They recognize how vile Trump is, but, for some reason, hate Biden more. Yet the RNC and the DNC have decided these are to be our choices. (I'm voting for Biden.)
The very unpopular Clinton won the national popular vote. The very unpopular Biden has been sweeping the primaries with large margins. They hate Biden more because they have been lied to and programmed to do so. We have primaries, and both Clinton and Biden were elected thereby to be our candidates. As Trump has been. And I’m glad you’ll be voting for Biden. Me, too.
Dennis, I’m as frustrated as you. So you say “The Democrats put up…” yes and no. Senator Sherwood Brown of Ohio was testing the waters in 2015 and I was very excited about the prospect of a Brown presidency. Then when Biden was showing interest in 2015, the Clintons met him on their respective planes remember the infamous plane meeting? They offered Biden something to drop out. My thought was they offered Biden a lot of money devoted to cancer research since his son had recently died. We’ll never know. And Clinton became the candidate that couldn’t walk straight even literally. The moment at 9/11 services when Clinton almost fainted and needed help getting into the car. The Comey announcement of an investigation days before the election. That alone sank her. Then the Benghazi hearings when the repuklicans wore her down until she yelled, “What difference does it make” the repuklicans had their sound bite.
And then our nation took a dive and will most certainly end as we have known it in November if Grandpa Joe doesn’t pull it off. And I have my secret thoughts on that.
But looking philosophically, if trump wins and most certainly installs an autocratic-like regime, later, the pendulum will shift and once again we will have democracy. But what a price to pay. The price is so dear after only losing the protection offered to women under Row verses Wade. So much loss. Maybe 25 of 50 years from now, we will once again have our democracy. Oops, did I say I had secret thoughts? I lied.
As a matter of fact I do remember the infamous airplane meeting and that's not how it went down ai all. Check your facts.
Your "vote against the duopoly" got us to this. So thank you very much. You did want the Republicans in office, right?
No, actually, for me I'd rather have either the Libertarians or the Progressives in office. Both, with different ideals, want government that's best for the people. I'd like the opportunity to vote for them. (Ranked choice voting.) I hate Trump, the MAGA folks as much as anyone, but I really put the blame on Congress. This racist country elected a black Democrat because he promised to do something for the people. Fix health care. And asked Congress to get rid of the corporate health care mess and give us either, he said either, free markets (libertarian) or national health (progressive). Congress didn't do it, basically kept the most lucrative (for the industry) health care system intact and put a mandate on people who didn't like it. Obama was great, but his Democrat Congress created the outrage that gave us Trump. Those idiots who vote for Trump were probably upset when Congress bailed out the banks, instead of the people in the sub prime crisis, maybe upset with Congress siding with the credit card companies on usurious fees, etc. etc. The problem is the government isn't working for a lot of people, and Trump is brilliant at channelling that frustration into his own support. Oh he's a con, what's happening in this country is despicable, but just consider that a Trump supporter might be one who lost their house in subprime, is stuck with credit card debt they can't pay back and looking at bankruptcy over health care bills. (I am voting for Biden.)
Best example of how people on the same side can think as differently as people on opposite sides. I am another one who dreams of a progressive country, but I am pragmatic enough to smell bullschittery.
Jeri, I was ruminating on a long winded reply, but I like your answer better. Yes, common sense trumps bullschittery, which I believe is Trump's true middle name.
I ruminate a lot. Thank you
As far as the Libertarians, I view them as an empty shell. They have ideas, but no substance. Their "free" markets are not free, just predatory. Their platform says one thing, but leaves out a method to protect their positions as they kind of just want to rely on the goodness of people. Matthew Hongolts-Hetling "A Libertarian Walks into a Bear" is a great book on how their ideas would work. A suggested read for anyone that might lean that way.
Thank you, love the title. Ideas without some bit of substance are as useless as one who no longer breathes. As the wind says, there is no one here by that name…
I did vote for Nader and didn't live in a swing state. Biden wasn't my first choice but has been a very good surprise, all things considered. But none of that matters now. Let's throw away all of our old theories. This will still be the easiest choice I've ever made. There's a greater priority. Democracy itself is on the line.
The consequences indeed
Yes, "For Alito to fly it was an indication that he was part of the insurrection."
The record is clear on Alito always arrogating himself and his medieval views.
He also, like Clarence, takes bribes from the rich – though, again like boy Clarence, he calls them “gifts” when caught trying to do it in secret.
Both voted for Citizens United in 2010, giving American government to the rich.
Might Chief Justice John Roberts exercise some spine and insist these most egregiously corrupt resign their life-long sinecures?
Sorry, but Roberts joined the 5-4 majority for Citizens United – he likes his boys blessing corporations and billionaires corrupting our government.
But it’s not ours anymore, no more than the average Russian serf or techie has any say in the murders Putin, his oligarchs, and their bearded eastern Orthodox priests bless over there – no more than the average Saudi has any say in the murders sadist Mohammed bin Salman arranges – no more than the average Israeli or Palestinian has any say in how Netanyahu aids the far right stealing more land from and killing more in the West Bank.
But doesn't America have a few women who might yet treasure their privacy, their right to coordinate with their families in how they live?
Might not some of these women act out in November in ways that the Clarence court bastards might not fully have crushed as have the despots of Russia, Saudi Arabia, and Israel?
HERE’s THE CALL: ARISE, WOMEN OF AMERICA AND FIGHT (YET AGAIN) FOR YOUR RIGHTS!
May they all hear you! Please repost your comment on social media.
I am completely nauseated by Alito and Thomas. But, please, please, please do not refer to Thomas as a “boy.” I am sure it was unintentional, but …
I hear you, Concerned American.
Please note, too, that for Roberts, "boy" describes dutiful, paid-for followers of the rich, as in the line I also used here, "Roberts . . . likes his boys blessing corporations and billionaires corrupting our government," where the plural purposely, intentionally disregards mere race.
But, again, I do hear you -- and will be more circumspect in the future regarding any language any might suspect as from another era still ruling ours.
You are very kind, thank you! To be honest, I have definitely heard the use of the plural by my male relatives: “me and the boys are going to…” and it was commonly understood mean a group of men. In the singular and attached to a black person it does still have the trappings of an awful era here in the US. Thanks for your kind response…
Phil, you get a yes in answer to your question but not a like to your comment due to your use of the word "boy" and the phrase "act out".
I can see the warning lights for use of the word "boy," Justin.
But the verb "act out" bothers you? Something insincere or merely performative there?
It's a term that I associate with misbehaving children. I don't know how you meant it. Perhaps you were being humorous. But when talking about grown women it sounds paternal and perhaps sexist.
Thank you, Justin.
Now that you mention it, I recognize your connection to misbehaving children. My use of the term went to the civil rights era, and quite other, respectable, decent behavior then.
So while I defend myself that way, I also thank you again for notice of other linguistic context I'd forgotten.
You are welcome. No offense intended. That's why we are here, right?
This is horrifying, absolutely beyond anything we could expect of our Institutions regarding Alito and SCOTUS in general.
I would highly recommend the watching on Apple TV the series Franklin. It really fabulous and focuses on Franklins time in France convincing their government to support us in the revolutionary war when the come to a peace deal with England, Franklin along with John Jay and Samuel Addams celebrate with a drink (which Addams grudgingly agrees to because he is against drinking) Franklin asks Addams to propose a toast which Addams gives:
“To virtue, honesty, education of the people and the rule of law. We can have no country without one or be worthy of one”.
Imagine what they would think of Trump, MAGA, the GOP and SOTUS.
Thanks Heather!
And can you imagine what they would think of at the demise & misuse of the First Amendment:
"Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Governement for a redress of grievances."?
I believe I saw that on PBS.
I think that was one of Ken Burns' series, and I saw it on PBS as well. There is apparently a "biographical drama" series on Apple.
https://www.google.com/search?q=apple+tv+franklin&oq=apple+tv+fran&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUqEAgAEAAYgwEY4wIYsQMYgAQyEAgAEAAYgwEY4wIYsQMYgAQyDQgBEC4YgwEYsQMYgAQyBwgCEAAYgAQyBggDEEUYOTIHCAQQABiABDIHCAUQABiABDIHCAYQABiABDIHCAcQABiABDIHCAgQABiABDIHCAkQABiABKgCCLACAQ&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
The depth of corruption on the court is breathtaking. Alito and Thomas are waving it in our faces. The chief justice? Out to lunch. The history books, if there are any objective ones if Trump takes the presidency, will present John Roberts as a reviled weakling.
It's the lying too that is so outrageous and astounding. I still remember Alito saying 'You lie' during one of Obama's State of the Union addresses. But it is that little prick Alito and Thomas that are obvious partisan lying hacks, as well as the newbie justices that lied under oath about Roe vs. Wade being settled legal precedent.
That was Joe Wilson (R-SC).
Oh yes, that was the one.
I did misquote Alito, he said 'Not true' during Obama's State of the Union address in 2010 when he was speaking about the Citizen's United vs. FEC case. The camera caught him saying it but it wasn't audible although you can visibly see him mouthing it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k92SerxLWtc
Alito has been a consistent liar though as he even lied during his confirmation hearings as this Nation article points out, as well as his unprofessional behavior during that State of the Union address.
https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/calling-out-not-true-alito/
Agreed. John Roberts has apparently given up. Not a shred of dignity left in that court.
Roberts is one of them. Remember Citizens United? Remember gutting the Voters Rights Act. Both parties of the destruction of Democracy.
“The call is coming from inside the house.”
Both a timely warning and delightful deadpan humor rolled into one.
Chills.
Yup, me too.
Me too. Heebie geebies too.
I fail to see any humor any more. All I read makes me cry...
Please subscribe to Jessica Craven's Substack "Chop Wood, Carry Water" as she will greatly help your mood. It took me at least six months of coaxing from others on the LFAA to do it, and I wish I had sooner.
Adding to Miselle, I suggest "The Hopium Chronicles" as well. He writes on Substack and has a podcast.
https://www.hopiumchronicles.com/
That's what chills me, Sioux. From inside the house, indeed.
Indeed, but is it the house or the House?
Well, House, Senate, Supreme Court, FBI, etc.
That phrase, when coming across a 911 line is one of the worst things to hear. Trust me.
Feeling a little dense: what is Heather actually saying in this last sentence?
It refers to someone trying to locate the source of threatening and harassing phone calls. Instead of the phone calls coming from an ex, or a stranger, or a pay phone that can't be traced, the threatening phone calls are coming from inside the very home they are being received - the danger is coming from someone very close and personal to the victim.
Got it, thanks
I believe that line was in the movie “When a Stranger Calls”. It’s a movie about a babysitter that is receiving harassing phone calls when she is babysitting. She contacts the police, the calls are traced, and the police tell her “the calls are coming from inside the house”. If you like to be scared, it’s a good movie.
I remember it from the movie "Scream", the horror parody movie.
Thanks
We used to tell this as part of a spooky story at slumber parties in the 1970s, so I think it’s a trope that has shown up in a lot of forms over the years. Given the state of technology at the time, the concept is laughable. With current GPS and mobile phones, it’s a very different thing. Taken in the context I think Dr Richardson intended, it means it’s all around us. I saw an editorial recently discussing current poll numbers. (I ignore polls this far out for the most part, but it’s been everywhere.) The author pointed out that people outside the hardcore MAGA crowd are more likely to lie about voting for Trump, saying they won’t when they might than the reverse. This puts an added chilling spin on the idea that the call is coming from inside the house.
To put that in combat terms, it's like radioing for an airstrike on your own position. It doesn't get more serious than that.
WHAT A BARN-BURNER OF A LETTER TONIGHT! And to think they have a tighter plan for 2024. We MUST urge everyone who is less than interested in voting to get a sense of urgency. It’s not enough to lose democracy over petty divisions without being clear about the consequences. People must quit obsessing over the dust in Biden’s eye and begin to notice the tree trunk in Trump’s eye.
David Pepper- Laboratories of Autocracy.
We can expect no better of the Roberts Supreme Court. I have already emailed my Congressman (Dr. Ami Bera) and my Senator (Alex Padilla) asking Dr. Bera to draw up articles of impeachment on 4 counts of failure to uphold the Constitution, failure to fulfill their oaths of office, taking bribes.
No, the anti Constitutionalists will not face impeachment before January 20, 2025. But if the articles are drawn up and publicly announced it might reassure some voters that we will hold these unAmerican justices to law.
Nice! An excellent idea, Fay.
Without majorities in both houses, empty gestures. Instead, register Democrats - save the world.
https://www.fieldteam6.org/
I agree, Daniel, but drawing up impeachment articles will direct needed attention to the issue. Republicans do this all the time for concocted nonsense. We must at least attempt to hold Roberts’s hand over the fire, no?
And what does it get them? A few jokes on late night TV.
In 5 minutes, can register unregistered people who trend Democratic. https://www.fieldteam6.org/voterizer
Thank you, Faye. I’ve been asking when is impeachment going to enter the conversation?
Me too, Francine.
At 76 I can remember when the Supreme Court was looked up to. One had faith that even if one didn’t agree with the decision you knew it was well thought out .now I have zero faith in the court.somethings you can pretty well guess what the outcome is going to be so why waste everyone’s time.
I know. I'm just sick about what it's all become. Not to mention, terrified.
We are in our twilight years: how about our grandchildren? What kind of world are we leaving them with?
If the Hitler wannabe is re-elected: will we see massive exodus of our youth?
My two just-out-of-college grandsons are moving to Spain.
Me too. And I’m further frustrated that we can do NOTHING. SC justices are not elected and so don’t face a vote; there is no method for removing them (that works). A couple lied during confirmation and no one seems to think lying SC justices is a problem.
Since Citizens United it has been all down hill.
We've historically had some pretty awful Supreme Courts before. This isn't the first one.
Not the first, but this current crop outshines the Taney Court as the worst ever. By far.
I remember sometime back, John Roberts talking about how the "Roberts Court" would be remembered. I hate to break it to him, but he is presiding over what may be the end of that once great institution.
Something we need to remind him of constantly, his place in history will be in the sewer, permanently. These Justices are marked by their arrogance. It might help to remind Roberts and Leonard Leo's cronies where this will land in the end.
No matter what happens, if they succeed or fail in their attempt to destroy Democracy, if Roberts doesn't course correct, his reputation is in the toilet.
I'm picturing John Roberts running, as Josh Hawley did on January 6th.
Systemic Curiosity, I am not sure that John Roberts' reputation is salvageable. It would take him completely changing everything he has stood for his adult life to even begin to salvage it.
This is the worst news about SCOTUS that I have heard to date. Clearly, Mitch McConnell and his party have politicized the court. It can no longer uphold the rule of law. So much for checks and balances. I’m getting more pessimistic about America’s future by the day. So sad. How did this happen to us?
Capitalism.
Apathy.
I find the ongoing revelations of how deep and wide the anti-democratic, right-wing rot in our government is both appalling and terrifying ... the Trumpists from Congress vilifying our justice system (all of whom should face charges for their support of the insurrection!), the corruption of the Supreme Court by Thomas and Alito, with the ineffectual Roberts doing nothing, the states eager to roll back voting rights and reestablish women and POC as second class persons...when and how will this nightmare end?
Treason doth not prosper, for one good reason. For if it prospers, none dare call it treason
My mother always said: "He took it like a man. He blamed it on his wife."
LOL. Very funny mother.
Well, just for the record, the Montana daily papers did report on the Dow Jones closing over 40,000. And also reported on the Alito flag story. Is there any way Alito can be forced to recuse? My understanding is that it’s entirely up to him. Impeachment?
Maybe someone can buy him out? Make him a deal he cannot refuse.
John Oliver, the Last Week Tonight host/ comedian, recently offered Clarence Thomas $1M per year for the rest of his life to quit. It was a legal, legitimate offer that he would've paid. Thomas did not take it. He had like 30 days to accept.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/feb/19/john-oliver-clarence-thomas-resign-1-million-offer
John Oliver tried that with Thomas
With each passing day, this American horror story becomes more frightening.
But why did it take three-plus years for this despicable act to come to light?
“The call is coming from inside the house .”
Indeed!
And so it is.
Follow the money behind Supreme Court corruption and arrogance - including both Justices and their spouses with this interactive map "SUPREME COURT MAP OF SHAME".
https://thedemlabs.org/2024/05/17/supreme-court-map-of-shame-alito-violation-of-ethics/