Alito = aaarrrrgggghhhh! Sadly, his anti-democratic mindset is trickling down even to rural Oregon. At a local Indivisible rally here yesterday, we protested the 6-week walkout of GOP senators from the Oregon senate, denying the quorum needed to vote on pending bills. A MAGA counter-demonstrator insisted that legislators were right to walk out because they shouldn't have to vote on bills they don't agree with. Aaaaaarrrrrgggghhhh!
Robert, as always, thank you for your informed and impassioned take on the world!
Showing up to help constitute the quorum is a duty. There is no expectation that a legislator will vote for legislation that one opposes, much less a duty to do so. This is the respectful message for the MAGA demonstrators.
Diane=Oregon here. I totally share your disappointment and disgust with our GOP senators and wonder how long it will take our citizens to get a belly full of this and vote them out of office!!
I assume none of this can happen until we have a Democratic majority in both the House and the Senate. If it only requires the Senate, what would it take to make this happen? Replacing Mitch McConnell with a Democrat? Also, this still does not reassure me after reading Tom Hartmann's speculation today that Tommy Tuberville is holding up military appointments because he is place holding for Trump to be reelected and to fill them. Since my biggest worries are that Trump or one of his ilk will end up in the White House, destroying our democracy and engaging in nuclear Holocaust, that tied both of my worries together. I wish someone would speak to what can be done about Tommy Tuberville. Why should this incompetent PE teacher be able to destroy the entire security of my country and that of many others that rely on us too?
We need to put pressure on Kevin McCarthy to do something as well as pressuring Tuberville. I think that all funding from his state should be taken away by the federal government. Secondly, I think that all military bases in Alabama should be shut and transferred to Blue States, because that would make the people of Alabama wake up.
There must be consequences for the state that have the people angry with Tuberville instead of supporting him, so that every man, woman, and child is working against his campaign. I realize that something like the Redstone base could not be replaced overnight, but perhaps it should be. We would all be a lot safer than to have our military bases in a state that supports a representative like Tuberville.
It is so mystifying to me that ONE PERSON can hold up so much (all the judicial appointments, etc.). Where did that "rule" come from? It is so illogical! Seems to me that someone in the House should propose a new rule to supercede that one that gives so much power to only one representative. And his reasoning? All because he doesn't "approve" of the military funding abortions for its female members? Good grief! You'd think people would be up in arms about this! Where are the vocal opponents to his idiocy? I'm glad I'm old and on my way outta here! The world is getting crazier by the minute.
And to add another quick comment: I haven't heard ONE WORD on the news media about Wyoming and West Virginia still digging COAL out of the ground and shipping it to China. How bad do things have to get before America stops promoting the use of fossil fuels?
The fact one Senator can hold things up is absurd and more importantly when will Republicans wake up and realize he is also killing there “ strong on military “ platform
I think someone should be using the carrot and the stick with Tuberville. I think all military bases should be closed in AL and I offer that they can be moved to Illinois. There are 5 in AL and 4 in IL, whereas CA has 41.
Carrot might be some sort of reward his state can earn. I also think it would be nice if some enterprising reporters, think ProPublica, find out instances where Tuberville has not supported the well-being of fetuses or children. His state is abysmal when it comes to health care.
The big Naval shipyard in Alabama is a relative newbie. It stole the work from the shipyard in Bath, ME, and the Norfolk, VA, areas (the Bath shipyard is now moribund).
Since the transfer of shipyard work to AL was patently political, a political restoration of the work would be sweet justice.
I also read today in some publication, could be Politico, that European use of coal has not subsided, but is on the rise, as it replaces other sources of energy for industry. As an asthmatic mother of an asthmatic child, I am certainly not happy about that. I know that Joe Manchin is a democrat in name only. I can easily see him supporting coal being sold anywhere in the world.
In Germany the increased use of coal for electric power generation resulted from the headlong rush to shut down nuclear power plants. To replace nuclear power generation, Germany turned to ‘clean’ natural gas.
Unfortunately, Germany’s natural gas came via pipeline from Russia; that was shut off when Russia invaded Ukraine.
That forced Germany to turn to coal. The alternative would have been freezing in winter and shutting down much of the economy.
I also think Germany is making a mistake to invest in so called "green Hydrogen" because right now Hydrogen is not green, it takes a lot of energy to make it. I would like to see Germany invest in geothermal energy, and I keep writing to the politicians to tell them that. I will continue to do that. When I talk with people in Germany there is no way that they want to walk back the decision to quit nuclear because of the long life of the waste. They point out how dangerous it is in France to have nuclear reactors that they do not always have the water to cool. This is a concern too with the increasing drought. I was also reading that Germany needs to have a water management plan. Don't we all! Anyway, when I tell people I know in Germany that I have been keeping an eye on the developments with nuclear, like mini reactors, they don't look into it, they are just skeptical. That is the current problem in Germany, no one is a risk taker, innovator. In that way, I think like an American, which is I want to know more about some ideas. Germany has pretty much gotten off of Russian gas, and everyone kept their thermostats down last winter, but the fact that we are in the process of making our home in Germany run totally on solar, and otherwise generated electricity seems dangerous and risky to our friends. Oh well. We are the guinea pigs.
The allergy to things nuclear go beyond electric power generation. For example, readers are familiar with MRI – “Magnetic Resonance Imaging”. Actually, the method should be known as NMRI – *Nuclear* Magnetic Resonance Imaging – since it employs nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR).
Absolutely no radioactivity is involved in NMRI, so there are no associated health hazards. Nevertheless, to facilitate acceptance of NMRI by our scientifically illiterate public, “Nuclear” had to be removed.
The word is a powerful word. I also was talking about a mini nuclear reactor that University of Illinois at Champaign is developing. It claims to use no water for coolant, is seamless, so no leakage, and can withstand high heat making it ideal for the desert, and low temps. It also is buried underground, making it safer from attacks. It certainly would not be visible. I think they have gotten some stage of go ahead, and might be working with the private sector to bring it about. There are many university mini reactors. I am not saying I support them, only that I want to know more about them and the answers to the questions they raise. This article here discusses some projects and their potential problems.
I get a daily report on German energy news for free, that is in English. Sometimes the links to articles are in German, but most are not. It is called CLEW Clean Energy Wire https://www.cleanenergywire.org/
I love your suggestions to make Tuberville pay for his words with real-life consequences for Alabama. The GQP is quick to defund anyone and anything they don’t like. The Democrats should play the same game to shut this fool up…………
It’s insane and personal for my family…so I ✍️ and 📞 to help allay my concerns.We need to be loud, and NOT proud about the Repubs who sponsored/voted for the amendment to ban abortion services and tie them to Tuberville’s threat to national security.
Representative Posey, a Freedom Caucus member, co-sponsored Amendment #377 to the National Defense Authorization Act.The Amendment prohibits the Secretary of Defense from paying for or reimbursing for abortion services.This is regardless of where service members are stationed while also ignoring the possibility of fatal pregnancy complications and the high rate of military sexual assault. Amendment #377 also coincides with Senator Tuberville’s reasoning for the blockade of military promotions and nominations,endangering our national security.
This multigenerational military family feels defenseless.
I think that we should be moving bases out of states that have blocked abortion access for women. And we need to appoint people to the positions they should be going in in the military. I have written to ProPublica about it, as a possible investigation on Tommy Tuberville, which does not mean they will pursue it. I just don't know how the mainstream press can drop the story. They should be deeply into investigating Tommy Tuberville by now.
Right you are- Tuberville wants to prevent the government from paying for travel from a state without reproductive freedom- move all the military from those states- starting with Alabama- let’s see how Tuberville’s constituents like all the personnel moving out of Ft Rucker and Maxwell.
I agree that they are, although there is a lot of discussion of research on PE. My school had excellent PE teachers, which is supposed to be effective, however the research is showing that PE is not effective in fact can be harmful if it is not well done. Unfortunately that is most PE programs.
A former student was telling me how awful PE is in her new school. She says they don't teach the sports, they just play them, and spend time playing. That at least does not scare children off of going. However, my daughter who also used to go to my school felt her new school did a much better job of teaching PE. They also had great things like Parkour. I see walking offered in one of our local high schools for PE credit, and if people are on sports teams they can get out of PE. One of the reasons we chose the high school we did for our daughter was that it has PE every year which is required. It has good PE though.
The U.S. Constitution imposes a system of checks and balances on and between all three branches of the Federal government. Perhaps you might read the document sometime.
Alito et al. might reply that the Constitution is what the Supreme Court says it is.
Nowhere does the Constitution give the Supreme Court the power to declare something unconstitutional. It’s tradition – a tradition stemming from the Marbury v. Madison ruling – *a Supreme Court dictum*!
Thank you for your smart insights to The Supreme Court. Never have we ever had to think about our justices act like caring, responsible, educated and informed human beings and not greedy racist grifters. I guess we will implement laws when we get The Presidency, The House and the Senate in 2024 that will make us stronger. We have to try and take money out of politics but I am afraid it will be a hard job. I looked up Kevin McCarthy's net worth. It is 95 million dollars. He is a moron and he is worth 95 million dollars. That is why politics is so seductive. Mitch McConnell and Diane Feinstein are examples of people that need to step down as well. What is going on? I guess the money and power is just too much to give up.
I occasionally turn on Fox News to see what the crazies are up to. I really can't watch it for long because it is so bad. Poor Hunter Biden and The Biden Family are their only topic of conversation. I give the Fox Entertainment News anchors names to help me tolerate them. When people like Piromaniac (Jeanine Pirro) rake the Biden family over the coals it makes me physically sick. My heart goes out to them. When Hunter was a child he lost his mother and then like a lot of people (myself included) he turned to drugs. These people deserve a special place in hell for using him to get to his father and the Democrats. I hope it is headed their way in 2024...the Super Blue Tsunami. When the Big Orange Thug gets locked in his cell I will feel that we have finally been vindicated.
Fox News should be made into Public Television and taken away from the Murdoch family. As a foreign investor he should not be allowed to own more than 25% in total with other foreign investors of any American media.
Robert - The facts and perspectives in your daily newsletter help those of us who live in "red" areas to express ourselves in our daily newspapers. Most of the letters submitted to papers by our LTE Team here in Southwest Fl get published. Their content is often based on info you provide. A recent example of an LTE:
Bidenomics
President Joe Biden is getting the job done for average Americans.
Unemployment is under 4%; manufacturing jobs, according to organizations such as American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), are returning to the United States; inflation continues to go down; U.S. employment, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, is expected to increase by 8.3 million jobs in the coming years; gas prices continue to decline. The list goes on and on.
What is astonishing is that Biden’s team is accomplishing these results while capably managing a myriad of international issues such as the recent uprising in Russia.
We should count our blessings that we have a person in the White House who is working for all of us.
Thanks, Robert for keeping us up to date with facts.
Not knowing what is in the Constitution--or lying about it--by any appellate judge, much less the Extremes--should be an impeachable offense. (So should the inability of a president to read above a 4th grade level.)
I agree that this past week was a positive time for progressive logical thinking and the rule of law. Individuals such as Trump, McCarthy, MT Greene, Tuberville, Alito have become too influential within our government. They seek power to obtain public attention and media time of which we give them too much. I long for a future when we have forgotten these fools’ names and highlight individuals such as Jack Smith who quietly do the work of the people. Mr. Hubbell’s analysis of Alito’s arrogant use of the WSJ forum to rant publicly at people whom he is representing badly reinforces my decision to have cancelled our WSJ subscription and expanded the subscriptions that we now have accumulated with a smart group of SubStack’s expert citizen journalists. Indeed, this has been a rewarding week.
So nice to hear positive progress and so happy Jack Smith is an aggressive advocate for the truth! YES- let’s add our voices to the upward movement for clarity!
So much of what is wrong in our country today is because our legal system, and its constitutional foundation, is too complicated for anyone to understand who hasn't gone to ilaw school and, indeed, excelled at it. That's why people like Alito and Trump and MTG and The Federalist Society and Tucker Carlson can influence the minds of people who don't understand why Trump's behavior is so dangerous. Those people apply comic book reasoning to American problems and have no idea the dangers that are bubbling below the surface. Alito is not willing to be bothered by the truth of his robe and is corrupted by desire. Our rules of law require self constraint and sacrifice, and personal desires are what all legal controversies are about. When personal desires overtake the rules of law, this is what we get. That Alito's "lay" views can be found in public discourse in frightening to those who understand how dangerous they are to our democracy.
I think you are on to something with your words about ‘comic book reasoning.’ I wish a clever comic or manga writer would frame the exploits of Dark Brandon in such a way as to get across the good he has done. All the talking points in the world aren’t getting across if people’s eyes glaze over with facts. They need to see it graphically and obviously in a simplified way.
Robert, I'm glad you highlighted "the incredible tenacity and thoroughness of special prosecutor Jack Smith." He seems uniquely qualified and capable of delivering the justice that we and TFG deserve. While we all were frustrated by AG Garland's apparent reticence to pursue charges against TFG after J6, I've got to believe that negotiations were underway with Jack Smith for some time before he was brought on. In the end, slow and deliberate with a sprint to the finish may win the race.
This seems to be off-topic, but sadly it is not. Yossi Klein Halevi wrote a loooong, powerful and insightful piece on the current situation in Israel. Rightwing extremism, religious zealotry, autocracy, efforts to abolish checks and balances (in the case of Israel by sidelining the Supreme Court, not by usurping it). The parallels abound. Beware the beginnings.
Thanks so much for that beautiful piece! Living in the US, it isn't easy to get the full picture of what's going on in Israel. Yet it is important for us to understand ALL of the elements that are coming together to undermine Israel's hard fought for democracy.
In many ways I see the US struggling with similar problems. Perhaps we can learn.
Thank you Stefan: My husband's Aunt just yesterday expressed concern about Israel and the outcome of the current situation in that country. We hope for the best to actualize in all areas of Israel and its people. And soon!
A goodly part of the problems in Israel is that there is NO constitution to provide checks and balances for the various branches of Gov't and there are no cross branches of the legislation branch since it's a unicameral format.
Yes, a good week for our side, a bad weak for the fanatical Trumpology cult. Great eye opener on Congress and the Supreme Court, Now if we could just get the justices to read it they might learn something.
I think if okay with Robert I'll repost it here as well worth reading again "Justice Alito flipped his judicial middle finger at the American people during the interview by saying,
Congress did not create the Supreme Court” and that while it might be “controversial” to say so, “No provision in the Constitution gives [lawmakers] the authority to regulate the Supreme Court—period.
For a guy who is supposed to be smart, that is one of the stupidest statements ever uttered by a Supreme Court Justice. First, to state the obvious, Congress funds the Court. It can reduce the Court’s lavish budgets and give each justice a 4x4 cubicle in the WeWork shared-office space in D.C. Congress has the power to remove the justices through impeachment. Congress has the power to enlarge the Court. Each of those powers has the effect of regulating the Court.
Finally, Congress—not the Supreme Court—is empowered to limit the appellate jurisdiction of the Supreme Court. (The original jurisdiction of the Court set forth in the Constitution is limited to cases involving “Ambassadors, Ministers and Consuls, and those in which a State shall be Party.”)
The “Exceptions Clause” of the Constitution addresses the appellate jurisdiction of the Court and states:
In all the other Cases before mentioned, the supreme Court shall have appellate Jurisdiction, both as to Law and Fact, with such Exceptions, and under such Regulations as the Congress shall make.
See that word—“regulation”—in the Exceptions Clause? Alito apparently forgot about the Exceptions Clause when he said, “No provision in the Constitution gives [lawmakers] the authority to regulate the Supreme Court—period.”
So, if Congress decides it can’t trust guys like Alito to behave themselves while sitting as an appellate court of last resort, Congress can simply remove appellate review from the Supreme Court or impose regulations on the ability of the Court when exercising such review!"
I must be dead inside, because I did not find it at all shocking that Trump tried to destroy evidence. I mean it’s totally in line with his behavior. Thank god he was ratted out and Trump employ #4 refused to do his bidding by erasing the server.
Thank you. That was my first thought when I read that. Robert, I have enormous respect for you, so I have to ask, were you actually shocked? Also, sadly, I'm not sure I agree with your statement that "The strength of the indictment filed by Jack Smith has undoubtedly quelled some of the outrage that Trump's supporters will gin up in their attempt to elect Trump in 2024." I certainly hope you're right about that, but it seems to me that True Trumpers will not let their outrage be quelled by anything as "trivial" as, you know, trump's actual actions.
Jocelyn, I agree. I don’t see this changing anyone’s mind. Maga news sources aren’t accurately reporting facts. And any fact will be construed as conspiracy theory. I’m not trying to be defeatist here. I think our best hope is to get democrats to out to the polls. Converting hearts and minds will not happen by 2024 (if ever).
Every polemic against the corrupt (and therefore illegitimate) members of the Supreme Court is interesting to read; but it is Congressional action to enact Court reform measures (such as an enforceable ethics code) that is immediately required in order to curb the repeatedly manifested corruption.
Gym Jordan is an idiot. There, I said it. The citizen voters of Ohio's 4th are ill served by the bloviating congressman who's life has, it appears, two key foci: chasing the drug addled prodigal son of President Biden into a corner and securing a spot on an anchor desk at FOX. Once he's proven he can weaponize our legislative branch effectively, he'll be well qualified for an important role in a Trump Administration.
Alito = aaarrrrgggghhhh! Sadly, his anti-democratic mindset is trickling down even to rural Oregon. At a local Indivisible rally here yesterday, we protested the 6-week walkout of GOP senators from the Oregon senate, denying the quorum needed to vote on pending bills. A MAGA counter-demonstrator insisted that legislators were right to walk out because they shouldn't have to vote on bills they don't agree with. Aaaaaarrrrrgggghhhh!
Robert, as always, thank you for your informed and impassioned take on the world!
Showing up to help constitute the quorum is a duty. There is no expectation that a legislator will vote for legislation that one opposes, much less a duty to do so. This is the respectful message for the MAGA demonstrators.
Diane=Oregon here. I totally share your disappointment and disgust with our GOP senators and wonder how long it will take our citizens to get a belly full of this and vote them out of office!!
I assume none of this can happen until we have a Democratic majority in both the House and the Senate. If it only requires the Senate, what would it take to make this happen? Replacing Mitch McConnell with a Democrat? Also, this still does not reassure me after reading Tom Hartmann's speculation today that Tommy Tuberville is holding up military appointments because he is place holding for Trump to be reelected and to fill them. Since my biggest worries are that Trump or one of his ilk will end up in the White House, destroying our democracy and engaging in nuclear Holocaust, that tied both of my worries together. I wish someone would speak to what can be done about Tommy Tuberville. Why should this incompetent PE teacher be able to destroy the entire security of my country and that of many others that rely on us too?
https://hartmannreport.com/p/is-tubervilles-senate-hold-on-military-1ad?utm_source=profile&utm_medium=reader2
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/tommy-tuberville-coward-retired-general-military-promotion-freeze-1234796827/
We need to put pressure on Kevin McCarthy to do something as well as pressuring Tuberville. I think that all funding from his state should be taken away by the federal government. Secondly, I think that all military bases in Alabama should be shut and transferred to Blue States, because that would make the people of Alabama wake up.
https://installations.militaryonesource.mil/state/AL/state-installations
There must be consequences for the state that have the people angry with Tuberville instead of supporting him, so that every man, woman, and child is working against his campaign. I realize that something like the Redstone base could not be replaced overnight, but perhaps it should be. We would all be a lot safer than to have our military bases in a state that supports a representative like Tuberville.
It is so mystifying to me that ONE PERSON can hold up so much (all the judicial appointments, etc.). Where did that "rule" come from? It is so illogical! Seems to me that someone in the House should propose a new rule to supercede that one that gives so much power to only one representative. And his reasoning? All because he doesn't "approve" of the military funding abortions for its female members? Good grief! You'd think people would be up in arms about this! Where are the vocal opponents to his idiocy? I'm glad I'm old and on my way outta here! The world is getting crazier by the minute.
And to add another quick comment: I haven't heard ONE WORD on the news media about Wyoming and West Virginia still digging COAL out of the ground and shipping it to China. How bad do things have to get before America stops promoting the use of fossil fuels?
Tim Kaine, Senator from Virginia, pushes back on Tuberville on the Senate Floor. Unfortunately, this plus other push-backs don't get any traction.
15 minutes:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVQW_VabOmo
The fact one Senator can hold things up is absurd and more importantly when will Republicans wake up and realize he is also killing there “ strong on military “ platform
I think someone should be using the carrot and the stick with Tuberville. I think all military bases should be closed in AL and I offer that they can be moved to Illinois. There are 5 in AL and 4 in IL, whereas CA has 41.
https://militarybases.com/by-state/
Carrot might be some sort of reward his state can earn. I also think it would be nice if some enterprising reporters, think ProPublica, find out instances where Tuberville has not supported the well-being of fetuses or children. His state is abysmal when it comes to health care.
https://eji.org/news/alabama-governor-refusal-to-expand-medicaid-to-cost-billions/#:~:text=Alabama%20is%20one%20of%20fourteen,of%20the%20federal%20poverty%20level.
How can Tommy Tuberville be gotten rid of, if the carrot and stick don't work?
The big Naval shipyard in Alabama is a relative newbie. It stole the work from the shipyard in Bath, ME, and the Norfolk, VA, areas (the Bath shipyard is now moribund).
Since the transfer of shipyard work to AL was patently political, a political restoration of the work would be sweet justice.
Bath deserves its ship work back. I'm not familiar with Norfolk VA, but I spent three weeks in Bath once. It's a good Maine town.
I agree. Please write this to Biden at https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/
I have written complaining about Tuberville and asking for the carrot and stick to be used.
Alas, the voters in Alabama can answer the last question. May it be so!
I also read today in some publication, could be Politico, that European use of coal has not subsided, but is on the rise, as it replaces other sources of energy for industry. As an asthmatic mother of an asthmatic child, I am certainly not happy about that. I know that Joe Manchin is a democrat in name only. I can easily see him supporting coal being sold anywhere in the world.
In Germany the increased use of coal for electric power generation resulted from the headlong rush to shut down nuclear power plants. To replace nuclear power generation, Germany turned to ‘clean’ natural gas.
Unfortunately, Germany’s natural gas came via pipeline from Russia; that was shut off when Russia invaded Ukraine.
That forced Germany to turn to coal. The alternative would have been freezing in winter and shutting down much of the economy.
I also think Germany is making a mistake to invest in so called "green Hydrogen" because right now Hydrogen is not green, it takes a lot of energy to make it. I would like to see Germany invest in geothermal energy, and I keep writing to the politicians to tell them that. I will continue to do that. When I talk with people in Germany there is no way that they want to walk back the decision to quit nuclear because of the long life of the waste. They point out how dangerous it is in France to have nuclear reactors that they do not always have the water to cool. This is a concern too with the increasing drought. I was also reading that Germany needs to have a water management plan. Don't we all! Anyway, when I tell people I know in Germany that I have been keeping an eye on the developments with nuclear, like mini reactors, they don't look into it, they are just skeptical. That is the current problem in Germany, no one is a risk taker, innovator. In that way, I think like an American, which is I want to know more about some ideas. Germany has pretty much gotten off of Russian gas, and everyone kept their thermostats down last winter, but the fact that we are in the process of making our home in Germany run totally on solar, and otherwise generated electricity seems dangerous and risky to our friends. Oh well. We are the guinea pigs.
The allergy to things nuclear go beyond electric power generation. For example, readers are familiar with MRI – “Magnetic Resonance Imaging”. Actually, the method should be known as NMRI – *Nuclear* Magnetic Resonance Imaging – since it employs nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR).
Absolutely no radioactivity is involved in NMRI, so there are no associated health hazards. Nevertheless, to facilitate acceptance of NMRI by our scientifically illiterate public, “Nuclear” had to be removed.
The word is a powerful word. I also was talking about a mini nuclear reactor that University of Illinois at Champaign is developing. It claims to use no water for coolant, is seamless, so no leakage, and can withstand high heat making it ideal for the desert, and low temps. It also is buried underground, making it safer from attacks. It certainly would not be visible. I think they have gotten some stage of go ahead, and might be working with the private sector to bring it about. There are many university mini reactors. I am not saying I support them, only that I want to know more about them and the answers to the questions they raise. This article here discusses some projects and their potential problems.
https://apnews.com/article/sxsw-education-business-climate-and-environment-86f6e0aadd29090b347ac2272c595d55
However, I also thought that Germany was working with Denmark or Finland to build facilities to store or dispose of nuclear waste.
https://world-nuclear.org/information-library/nuclear-fuel-cycle/nuclear-waste/storage-and-disposal-of-radioactive-waste.aspx
I was never a fan of nuclear power, but Germany sure made a huge mistake shutting down those plants.
I get a daily report on German energy news for free, that is in English. Sometimes the links to articles are in German, but most are not. It is called CLEW Clean Energy Wire https://www.cleanenergywire.org/
I love your suggestions to make Tuberville pay for his words with real-life consequences for Alabama. The GQP is quick to defund anyone and anything they don’t like. The Democrats should play the same game to shut this fool up…………
Okay. But what Democrats should *really* do is repeal its rules that give individual Senators the power to gum up the works.
That too! That seems downright irresponsible………
It’s insane and personal for my family…so I ✍️ and 📞 to help allay my concerns.We need to be loud, and NOT proud about the Repubs who sponsored/voted for the amendment to ban abortion services and tie them to Tuberville’s threat to national security.
⬇️co-sponsors
https://tcinla757.substack.com/p/the-kulturkampf-continues?utm_medium=reader2
Part of my letter published in Orlando Sentinel⬇️
Representative Posey, a Freedom Caucus member, co-sponsored Amendment #377 to the National Defense Authorization Act.The Amendment prohibits the Secretary of Defense from paying for or reimbursing for abortion services.This is regardless of where service members are stationed while also ignoring the possibility of fatal pregnancy complications and the high rate of military sexual assault. Amendment #377 also coincides with Senator Tuberville’s reasoning for the blockade of military promotions and nominations,endangering our national security.
This multigenerational military family feels defenseless.
I think that we should be moving bases out of states that have blocked abortion access for women. And we need to appoint people to the positions they should be going in in the military. I have written to ProPublica about it, as a possible investigation on Tommy Tuberville, which does not mean they will pursue it. I just don't know how the mainstream press can drop the story. They should be deeply into investigating Tommy Tuberville by now.
Kudos on getting your letter published, Kathy.
Right you are- Tuberville wants to prevent the government from paying for travel from a state without reproductive freedom- move all the military from those states- starting with Alabama- let’s see how Tuberville’s constituents like all the personnel moving out of Ft Rucker and Maxwell.
Incompetent POS! PE teachers are important!
I agree that they are, although there is a lot of discussion of research on PE. My school had excellent PE teachers, which is supposed to be effective, however the research is showing that PE is not effective in fact can be harmful if it is not well done. Unfortunately that is most PE programs.
https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2019/01/why-pe-is-terrible/581467/
A former student was telling me how awful PE is in her new school. She says they don't teach the sports, they just play them, and spend time playing. That at least does not scare children off of going. However, my daughter who also used to go to my school felt her new school did a much better job of teaching PE. They also had great things like Parkour. I see walking offered in one of our local high schools for PE credit, and if people are on sports teams they can get out of PE. One of the reasons we chose the high school we did for our daughter was that it has PE every year which is required. It has good PE though.
Dear Justice Alito:
The U.S. Constitution imposes a system of checks and balances on and between all three branches of the Federal government. Perhaps you might read the document sometime.
Alito et al. might reply that the Constitution is what the Supreme Court says it is.
Nowhere does the Constitution give the Supreme Court the power to declare something unconstitutional. It’s tradition – a tradition stemming from the Marbury v. Madison ruling – *a Supreme Court dictum*!
Traditions are most often extralegal. This is no different.
Thank you for your smart insights to The Supreme Court. Never have we ever had to think about our justices act like caring, responsible, educated and informed human beings and not greedy racist grifters. I guess we will implement laws when we get The Presidency, The House and the Senate in 2024 that will make us stronger. We have to try and take money out of politics but I am afraid it will be a hard job. I looked up Kevin McCarthy's net worth. It is 95 million dollars. He is a moron and he is worth 95 million dollars. That is why politics is so seductive. Mitch McConnell and Diane Feinstein are examples of people that need to step down as well. What is going on? I guess the money and power is just too much to give up.
I occasionally turn on Fox News to see what the crazies are up to. I really can't watch it for long because it is so bad. Poor Hunter Biden and The Biden Family are their only topic of conversation. I give the Fox Entertainment News anchors names to help me tolerate them. When people like Piromaniac (Jeanine Pirro) rake the Biden family over the coals it makes me physically sick. My heart goes out to them. When Hunter was a child he lost his mother and then like a lot of people (myself included) he turned to drugs. These people deserve a special place in hell for using him to get to his father and the Democrats. I hope it is headed their way in 2024...the Super Blue Tsunami. When the Big Orange Thug gets locked in his cell I will feel that we have finally been vindicated.
Fox News should be made into Public Television and taken away from the Murdoch family. As a foreign investor he should not be allowed to own more than 25% in total with other foreign investors of any American media.
NYT should drill down on where the 95 mil originated.
$95million?!?!? Wish he had 1/10 as many brain cells.
Robert - The facts and perspectives in your daily newsletter help those of us who live in "red" areas to express ourselves in our daily newspapers. Most of the letters submitted to papers by our LTE Team here in Southwest Fl get published. Their content is often based on info you provide. A recent example of an LTE:
Bidenomics
President Joe Biden is getting the job done for average Americans.
Unemployment is under 4%; manufacturing jobs, according to organizations such as American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), are returning to the United States; inflation continues to go down; U.S. employment, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, is expected to increase by 8.3 million jobs in the coming years; gas prices continue to decline. The list goes on and on.
What is astonishing is that Biden’s team is accomplishing these results while capably managing a myriad of international issues such as the recent uprising in Russia.
We should count our blessings that we have a person in the White House who is working for all of us.
Thanks, Robert for keeping us up to date with facts.
Bill Welsch, Punta Gorda, FL
Not knowing what is in the Constitution--or lying about it--by any appellate judge, much less the Extremes--should be an impeachable offense. (So should the inability of a president to read above a 4th grade level.)
I agree that this past week was a positive time for progressive logical thinking and the rule of law. Individuals such as Trump, McCarthy, MT Greene, Tuberville, Alito have become too influential within our government. They seek power to obtain public attention and media time of which we give them too much. I long for a future when we have forgotten these fools’ names and highlight individuals such as Jack Smith who quietly do the work of the people. Mr. Hubbell’s analysis of Alito’s arrogant use of the WSJ forum to rant publicly at people whom he is representing badly reinforces my decision to have cancelled our WSJ subscription and expanded the subscriptions that we now have accumulated with a smart group of SubStack’s expert citizen journalists. Indeed, this has been a rewarding week.
Cancelled that rag 3 years ago. They are a sham and pushing authoritarianism.
So nice to hear positive progress and so happy Jack Smith is an aggressive advocate for the truth! YES- let’s add our voices to the upward movement for clarity!
So much of what is wrong in our country today is because our legal system, and its constitutional foundation, is too complicated for anyone to understand who hasn't gone to ilaw school and, indeed, excelled at it. That's why people like Alito and Trump and MTG and The Federalist Society and Tucker Carlson can influence the minds of people who don't understand why Trump's behavior is so dangerous. Those people apply comic book reasoning to American problems and have no idea the dangers that are bubbling below the surface. Alito is not willing to be bothered by the truth of his robe and is corrupted by desire. Our rules of law require self constraint and sacrifice, and personal desires are what all legal controversies are about. When personal desires overtake the rules of law, this is what we get. That Alito's "lay" views can be found in public discourse in frightening to those who understand how dangerous they are to our democracy.
I think you are on to something with your words about ‘comic book reasoning.’ I wish a clever comic or manga writer would frame the exploits of Dark Brandon in such a way as to get across the good he has done. All the talking points in the world aren’t getting across if people’s eyes glaze over with facts. They need to see it graphically and obviously in a simplified way.
Love this idea!
Great idea! Visuals appeal to all ages especially young voters.
Robert, I'm glad you highlighted "the incredible tenacity and thoroughness of special prosecutor Jack Smith." He seems uniquely qualified and capable of delivering the justice that we and TFG deserve. While we all were frustrated by AG Garland's apparent reticence to pursue charges against TFG after J6, I've got to believe that negotiations were underway with Jack Smith for some time before he was brought on. In the end, slow and deliberate with a sprint to the finish may win the race.
This seems to be off-topic, but sadly it is not. Yossi Klein Halevi wrote a loooong, powerful and insightful piece on the current situation in Israel. Rightwing extremism, religious zealotry, autocracy, efforts to abolish checks and balances (in the case of Israel by sidelining the Supreme Court, not by usurping it). The parallels abound. Beware the beginnings.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/the-wounded-jewish-psyche-and-the-divided-israeli-soul
Thanks so much for that beautiful piece! Living in the US, it isn't easy to get the full picture of what's going on in Israel. Yet it is important for us to understand ALL of the elements that are coming together to undermine Israel's hard fought for democracy.
In many ways I see the US struggling with similar problems. Perhaps we can learn.
Thank you Stefan: My husband's Aunt just yesterday expressed concern about Israel and the outcome of the current situation in that country. We hope for the best to actualize in all areas of Israel and its people. And soon!
A goodly part of the problems in Israel is that there is NO constitution to provide checks and balances for the various branches of Gov't and there are no cross branches of the legislation branch since it's a unicameral format.
Yes, a good week for our side, a bad weak for the fanatical Trumpology cult. Great eye opener on Congress and the Supreme Court, Now if we could just get the justices to read it they might learn something.
I think if okay with Robert I'll repost it here as well worth reading again "Justice Alito flipped his judicial middle finger at the American people during the interview by saying,
Congress did not create the Supreme Court” and that while it might be “controversial” to say so, “No provision in the Constitution gives [lawmakers] the authority to regulate the Supreme Court—period.
For a guy who is supposed to be smart, that is one of the stupidest statements ever uttered by a Supreme Court Justice. First, to state the obvious, Congress funds the Court. It can reduce the Court’s lavish budgets and give each justice a 4x4 cubicle in the WeWork shared-office space in D.C. Congress has the power to remove the justices through impeachment. Congress has the power to enlarge the Court. Each of those powers has the effect of regulating the Court.
Finally, Congress—not the Supreme Court—is empowered to limit the appellate jurisdiction of the Supreme Court. (The original jurisdiction of the Court set forth in the Constitution is limited to cases involving “Ambassadors, Ministers and Consuls, and those in which a State shall be Party.”)
The “Exceptions Clause” of the Constitution addresses the appellate jurisdiction of the Court and states:
In all the other Cases before mentioned, the supreme Court shall have appellate Jurisdiction, both as to Law and Fact, with such Exceptions, and under such Regulations as the Congress shall make.
See that word—“regulation”—in the Exceptions Clause? Alito apparently forgot about the Exceptions Clause when he said, “No provision in the Constitution gives [lawmakers] the authority to regulate the Supreme Court—period.”
So, if Congress decides it can’t trust guys like Alito to behave themselves while sitting as an appellate court of last resort, Congress can simply remove appellate review from the Supreme Court or impose regulations on the ability of the Court when exercising such review!"
I must be dead inside, because I did not find it at all shocking that Trump tried to destroy evidence. I mean it’s totally in line with his behavior. Thank god he was ratted out and Trump employ #4 refused to do his bidding by erasing the server.
Thank you. That was my first thought when I read that. Robert, I have enormous respect for you, so I have to ask, were you actually shocked? Also, sadly, I'm not sure I agree with your statement that "The strength of the indictment filed by Jack Smith has undoubtedly quelled some of the outrage that Trump's supporters will gin up in their attempt to elect Trump in 2024." I certainly hope you're right about that, but it seems to me that True Trumpers will not let their outrage be quelled by anything as "trivial" as, you know, trump's actual actions.
Jocelyn, I agree. I don’t see this changing anyone’s mind. Maga news sources aren’t accurately reporting facts. And any fact will be construed as conspiracy theory. I’m not trying to be defeatist here. I think our best hope is to get democrats to out to the polls. Converting hearts and minds will not happen by 2024 (if ever).
Agreed.
Every polemic against the corrupt (and therefore illegitimate) members of the Supreme Court is interesting to read; but it is Congressional action to enact Court reform measures (such as an enforceable ethics code) that is immediately required in order to curb the repeatedly manifested corruption.
The senate IS working on ethics legislation and Sen. Chris Murphy called out Justice Alito's claim that the Congress can't pass legislation on this. https://news.yahoo.com/chris-murphy-alito-stunningly-wrong-151948761.html?fr=yhssrp_catchall
Thank you for the report of this strong Congressional rebuttal to Justice Alito's "stunningly wrong" claim.
Trump is beyond insane. Cannot wait to see him convicted.
Gym Jordan is an idiot. There, I said it. The citizen voters of Ohio's 4th are ill served by the bloviating congressman who's life has, it appears, two key foci: chasing the drug addled prodigal son of President Biden into a corner and securing a spot on an anchor desk at FOX. Once he's proven he can weaponize our legislative branch effectively, he'll be well qualified for an important role in a Trump Administration.
But he has not weaponized it effectively!
I agree about Jordan, but am curious as to why you refer to him as "Gym."
In an earlier life, Jordan was a coach – a gym teacher.
Thanks for explaining.
Jocelyn: Jordan has a history of ignoring students' reports of sexual abuse by a Ohio University doctor: https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/7/7/17542878/jim-jordan-richard-strauss-ohio