I am in complete sympathy with Justice Alito so I am going to recommend to him to retire so he can un- shoulder the heavy burdens of office as a result of his wild ass imbecile moronic decisions and briefs.
I couldn't agree more. It's a free country, I don't think anyone should be forced to do a job they hate. It's also pretty ironic he believes in free speech and protections for him and fellow court members but not for the people affected by his decisions. Further, it's absurd that he wants to talk about how he knows who possibly leaked the opinion, not even talking about how it's been shown that people close to him and Thomas have sometimes known a decision ahead of time. What a smug, self righteous person. Finally, I'll just end it by saying that he was more upset about how Kavanaugh was treated than he is that a colleague may actually be a rapist. Shows where his priorities are.
Reading the comments section on Alito’s interview is downright frightening. My father-in-law, now deceased, could have been one of these commentators. There was no talking to him. I am hopeful that there are more people aware of the corruption of the Supreme Court than those who are now applauding its decisions and direction.
He is a privileged white male and a smug, arrogant papist - both completely govern his thinking. Oh, and he's an AH. Like we don't know HE leaked the decision so we'd be inured to the outcome.
So am I and I agree with your recommendation Christopher. Also I like a Supreme Court Justice who doesn't cry in public. And I appreciate that swamp thing guy who sold condo futures where they don't belong for teaching us to pay more attention to politicians.
Of course, there are so many serious issues to work on, it's always difficult to tell which is "most" important at any given time! But I have to mention one that is falling through the cracks. We need to raise our voices in support of Montana State Rep. Zooey Zephyr, who has been silenced and banned from the chamber for saying Republicans will have "blood on their hands" if they vote for proposed anti-trans legislation. Her situation deserves as much attention and outrage as the Tennessee Three!
And today the bastards voted to ban all gender-affirming care for those under 18 in the state, and that pig governor Greg Giantasshole signed it in a "celebration event" tonight. Further proof Harry Truman was right in 1948 - "The only 'good Republicans' are pushing up daisies." Now 1,000x more true than back then.
He signed it despite a letter from his non-binary child urging him to veto the bill. And then he says he has "compassion and empathy" for the children!! What a hypocrite. He can file that along with his "tots and pears" for the victims of gun violence, and women dying of untreated miscarriages!
Say more, LaurieOregon. It is sometimes too easier for indignation to overwhelm thoughtful discourse. There may be wisdom in our collectively stepping back and calmly finding a constructive path forward.
I have the distinct honor of living in the same city, Billings, as State Rep. Kerri Seekins-Crowe, the mother who stated she would rather her child commit suicide than transition. She says her daughter was suicidal for 3 years, and she refused to give in to her "emotional manipulation" and tear her (the mother's) family apart. I am posting this story everywhere with her name so people know what we blue dots in red states are up against. I am surrounded by this in my neighborhood. I wonder how this child's mental health is today, including any other children this woman had.
Judd Legum at Popular Information requested things to look into. I said the closets are chock full in MT of the hypocrites that we've had quietly taking over our state for quite some time. They are no longer quiet or hiding it. This woman barely scratches the surface. My fervent wish is enough Montanans wake up out of their zombie slumber and come to the voting table armed with information and a decision they don't want to live in a community that marginalizes others.
I heard that story... :-( Props to you for standing firm in the face of that heartlessness. Let us know when an effort can be made to defeat her and others of her ilk at the ballot box. Prayers for all the children in harm's way.
Thank you, Denise. There are many smaller battles like the case of Zooey Zephyr and the bill that was then signed by the Montana Governor to deny transgender citizens the healthcare they need and deserve.
The Montana legislation was and is, like similar measures passed in other states, a denial of the existence of people who are different. It is a willful act of inhumane denial of the being of people. You would think these offenses would be obviously and outrageously recognized as historical demagoguery by officials who seem to be playing god. Yet, the Bible and those of the Christian faith and many others have all certainly been taught from the pulpit and Sunday School that we are all god’s children.
We must push back hard on the many state level initiatives to deny people and their right to be who they are. It is imperative to accept them and support their mental and physical needs. We know that young people and adults sometimes struggle with emotional needs and that the denial of care puts them at risk of physical self harm including higher rates of suicide. For that reason alone, the injustice of censuring a Zooey Zephyr cannot be left to stand or continue to spread through other state legislatures. Her words were not harsh but spoken as truth to those who are so unable to show a better side of humanity.
We must support people with differences and give them our best, not our worst.
No - they should not have to change the spelling of their name in a preemptive effort to stave off name-calling bullies. It is the bullies who are the problem, not the spelling of their name.
Constitution Article III: "The judicial Power of the United States, shall be vested in one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish. The Judges, both of the supreme and inferior Courts, shall hold their Offices during good Behaviour, and shall, at stated Times, receive for their Services, a Compensation, which shall not be diminished during their Continuance in Office."
Looks like it is time to impeach Chief Injustice Roberts. No wonder he didn't want to go before the Congressional Committee! And, perhaps Injustice Alito can be persuaded to retire. Injustices Gorsuch, Kavanaugh and Thomas should be investigated. The FBI was not allowed to do a thorough investigation of Kavanaugh. If at least two of them leave the court, then President Biden would nominate replacements and the Court would not have to be enlarged. Power corrupts; Absolute power corrupts absolutely. There should be some sort of limit on how long one could stay on the court -- say 20 years on the court or until 80 years of age. Good Behavior needs to be defined. Texas has a State Commission on Judicial Conduct, the independent Texas state agency responsible for investigating allegations of judicial misconduct and judicial disability. This includes investigating Texas Supreme Court Judges. We need such a Commission at the Federal level. Maybe we won't have to wait until January, 2025, to start fixing SCOTUS! Yeah!
The day you get 67 Democrats in the Senate (probably more, since some will be "squishes" on this) you can do all the impeaching you want. No Republican will ever join those votes.
Oh, and a good solid D majority in the House, too.
ALL the grassroots are working day and night the clock around to get Democrats to 55 percent wins for 2023 elections and 2024.
My family write postcards and Vote Forward letters (when VF posts campaigns), Markers For Democracy phone bank, do ballot curing, texting, voter registration, canvassing, door knocking, speakers, you-name-it.
Turnout, turnout, turnout.
Younger generation, high school, and college students must also be brought in to participate.
This all gives me a flicker of Hope, along with Robert B. Hubbell and Editor Jill, and this Community.
Thanks, Nancy, for all you are doing. Re the younger generation, check out The Civics Center (https://www.thecivicscenter.org) who work specifically to register younger potential voters. Superb organization and well worth your dollars in support as well.
The Civics Center is quite important to Markers For Democracy. My finances on a fixed income disallow donations. The work Civics Center does to encourage and support younger voters is terrific.
I totally understand, Nancy. However, one thing that is free for all of us is to tell someone else, or many someone else's, about good information such as this organization, to help get out the youth vote. So please pass it on to others. Word of mouth is priceless.
And to everyone on this Substack, an FYI, as I'm sure there are others in situations similar to Nancy. A few of us figured out a way to help lots of people inform voters and potential voters with organizations such as The Civics Center. TCC has a program to write postcards to youth to encourage them to vote in specific local elections. However, it costs money to obtain these postcards from TCC, and then we have to pay postage for each postcard. Not always an easy thing to do, as Nancy noted. Well, several of us got together with a friend who wants to help but has a very demanding schedule. She agreed to contribute most of the money to get us these postcards and to pay for the postage while we agreed to do all of the writing of the cards. So an interesting group effort to help get out the vote among our youth. So far we've written for two campaigns. And we are looking for a second "angel investor" so we can write even more cards for each campaign. Plus, we realized the cool thing is our investor does not even have to know us or live near us, but just be willing to kick in some money every now and then.
Postcarders in our Indivisible group use heavyweight 4x6" index cards, lined on one side, sold in packs of 100 from Staples. Inexpensive and easy to use. Item #TR50985. Possibly available elsewhere.
And the other way is to organize the way the GQP has. Prepare our judges the way the Federalists have. Win big in 2024 so we can stop the drift of courts to fascism.
It will take a long time to turn this ship around. I don't expect to see it landing in the port of democracy in my lifetime. But I hope I can see it steaming in the correct direction - full speed ahead.
The truth is ... here we are. All on the same page, pretty much. And mostly all within the same demographic. It's the young people we should be talking to.
I sympathize with all who have commented, but our problems have gotten deeper than when we controlled both Houses and the White House. If Manchin and Synema had not stood in the way, a simple majority in the Senate could have gotten rid of the Filibuster, as well as enlarged our Extreme Court (of Corrupt Injustices). Aside from our needing 67 Senators to Convict an Impeached Injustice or President, our newer problem--now that Quevin is the Majority Leader (by selling his soul to the Insurrectionists) of the House-- is that we do not even have a simple majority of Dems in the House to Impeach in the first place! In 2024, the Dems MUST take back the House, keep the White House, AND add several (3-5) seats in the Senate to attain real progress in this country--on Abortion, Guns, the Environment, Immigration, Voting Rights, and so much more.
I'm with you on almost everything, except immigration. Coastal/elite Dems are in denial about immigration in the same way that GOPers are in denial about global warming.
Real progress on immigration--which is a jobs and an environmental/quality of life issue--would be to prohibit admission of more immigrants than the numbers that emigrate.
On jobs: see Back of the Hiring Line: A 200-Year History of Immigration Surges, Employer Bias, and Depression of Black Wealth. The book is solid, the author goes through the academic economic lit, as well as black periodicals, statements of Black leaders beginning w/ Frederick Douglass, and gov't commisions on immigration reform.
Immigration is an env'tal issue b/c the average immigrant's GH emissions rise threefold after arrival in the US, since just about everything a person does in the US requires more fossil fuels than the equivalent in the third world countries most immigrants come from.
Additionally, population growth--immigrants will add 3 1/2 NY State equivalents to the population over the next 40 yrs per Census Bureau; native increase, just slightly more--will cause a huge amount of sprawl. That means building on virgin land. When virgin land is taken over for human uses--even agriculture--enormous amounts of CO2 sequestered therein are released to the atmosphere, further warming the planet.
Yes, I agree with you that Impeachment is a useless remedy in these times. What I was hoping is that a couple of them would Resign. I know that with their egos that is also very unlikely but I enjoyed considering the possibility! "Just" need to change two seats and we'll have a viable Supreme Court.
If he could just get that rock up the hill above the Supreme Court he could then just let it go and let it roll right thru the court taking them all with it. Well, one can dream can't they. Oh, and we have to have a few certain Justices over for tea or lunch or something at that precise time. :-)
I love the names “Injustice Roberts” and “Injustice Alito”. Thank you for the ideas, Cathy. I suggest we use those names on social media... until the injustices get tired of it.
Happy Birthday, Robert, and glad you got to see Tulare Lake in its glory. California is now fortunately out of a drought. Well, at least, in Northern California.
SCOTUS is truly sliding off its axis. Chief Roberts has exposed himself to be totally useless, especially after he refused to be questioned about ethics. Alito makes me ill. What am I saying? All of the Repub Justices suck!
"Chief Justice" Roberts clearly couldn't afford to question and admonish "associate Justices" Thomas and Gorsuch, since he and his missus aren't exactly innocent of stepping over the line on ethics. Did I say 'stepping over'? All 6 Republican-appointed members of this stinking corpse of a corrupt Court are rotten to their very core.
Several years ago I read First:Sandra Day O’Connor by Evan Thomas. Two things from that book keep coming to mind given current events.
First, the justices live in a very, very small bubble.
Second, O’Connor’s husband had been a very successful, high-powered lawyer prior to her confirmation. Once she was on the SC, his career changed dramatically because they didn’t want there to be even a hint of appearance of a conflict of interest. Such a quaint notion!
Expanding the court is one idea ... but there are other good proposals. One of my favorites is to enact term limits so that each president would appoint 2 judges during his/her term. This would eliminate the shenanigans we saw from McConnell.
This is an interesting suggestion. Thank you, Alice. I think we would have to pair it with a specific term limit in order for it to work. We also need to think about how it would function for a 2-term President. Would he or she get to nominate four candidates or only two? If a future President is from one party, the Senate is controlled by a different party, and the level of partisanship is as high and cutthroat as it is now, could the Senate simply refuse to confirm the President’s picks? Perhaps the majority party would decide that the balance of conservative v. liberal Justices on an understaffed Court would benefit them. I think I prefer a mandatory retirement age. And a standard of conduct enforced by an outside authority.
Last week Heather Cox Richardson and Joanne Freeman on their Now and Then podcast highlighted not-so-pleasant stories of the Supreme Court in our history.
I completely agree with Robert’s characterization of Alito’s whiney diatribe. This appeared to me to be the product of years of pampered, self-aggrandizing isolation. The message was detached from the realities of the impact of his rulings on millions of ordinary people not cloistered away in a marble “mausoleum” that
Has previously been the home of justices respecting the majesty of the law. It now has become a house of insular corruption inhabited by
Some who view themselves above the law and immune from any self-reflection or humility. Hubris without bounds!
It struck me as incongruous that someone with that much safety from accountability and with life tenure can possibly be legitimately as”aggrieved as he presents himself to be.
Its all about local politics. I live in North Carolina and this is what happened when the Republicans took control of the state Supreme Court.
We’ve talked about the North Carolina gerrymandering case, also called the independent state legislature theory case, that the Supreme Court is considering this term and how the Court’s continued jurisdiction was compromised when the North Carolina Supreme Court suddenly reopened proceedings. The U.S. Supreme Court has jurisdiction to hear only final decisions from lower courts in a case like this. So after the North Carolina Supreme Court decided to rehear the case, they asked the parties to brief whether they could still decide it. No ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court yet, but today the North Carolina court entered a decision in its reopened proceedings.
This shameful, delegitimizing decision to allow the unjust, blatant manipulation of North Carolina’s voting districts was not a function of legal principle, it was a function of political personnel and partisan opportunism. Neither the map nor the law have changed since last year’s landmark rulings—only the makeup of the majority of the North Carolina Supreme Court has changed.
Thanks, Stephen, for your cogent description of the "judicial" shenanigans in NC. I have to admit these openly political maneuvers by our judiciary are extremely disheartening!!
To be fair, it's a compilation of excerpts from Civil Discourse with Joyce Vance's Substack article written yesterday, April 28, and includes her quoting Eric Holder's statement regarding "This shameless, delegitimizing decision..."
Highly recommend subscribing to her if you appreciate intelligently written civil discourse.
I read the Alito interview. I wish I hadn't. For reasons too numerous to articulate. The most shocking confession to me is how Alito self-identifies as one of the five conservative justices. That puts the lie to Robert's consistent claim that "There are no Republican or Democratic justices. Only justices." Not only are there. But Alito puts the count at 5 vs 4 (I'm sure he doesn't count Thomas because Thomas stood in the way of things like abolishing Obamacare) and happily self-identifies as one. The other thing that really burns me is his total disgust at someone with a gun found outside of Robert's house. With. A. Gun. It's disgraceful in his opinion. Yet he's all for open carry and concealed weapons being on the NYC subways or protesting BLM protests. He's all for Kyle Rittenhouse or armed MAGAs assembling in the Michigan state house. I guess it's easy to be for no gun regulation when the one regulation that is in place is that they can't be within 100 yards of YOU!
Clearly, we must remember and resist. Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. It is past time to expand the SCOTUS and insert staggered term limits.
Yes! I think 10 years is long enough. And stagger the terms so every President can nominate perhaps 2. We need to consider that the future may include a President even worse than Trump.
Of course, we need a Senate that reflects America and its values. How about term limits on them as well. Two terms like the president, perhaps?
If I were a young lad, I would look at that institution and be disgusted. It's as if the Senate was actually a nursing home.
Mim, on a Mac keyboard there is a function key (fn 🌐) at the bottom left. On an iPhone, there is a 😀 key on the bottom of the keyboard to the left of the space key. Hope this is useful. If you're on a PC, I'm no use 🥴
I am in complete sympathy with Justice Alito so I am going to recommend to him to retire so he can un- shoulder the heavy burdens of office as a result of his wild ass imbecile moronic decisions and briefs.
I couldn't agree more. It's a free country, I don't think anyone should be forced to do a job they hate. It's also pretty ironic he believes in free speech and protections for him and fellow court members but not for the people affected by his decisions. Further, it's absurd that he wants to talk about how he knows who possibly leaked the opinion, not even talking about how it's been shown that people close to him and Thomas have sometimes known a decision ahead of time. What a smug, self righteous person. Finally, I'll just end it by saying that he was more upset about how Kavanaugh was treated than he is that a colleague may actually be a rapist. Shows where his priorities are.
Reading the comments section on Alito’s interview is downright frightening. My father-in-law, now deceased, could have been one of these commentators. There was no talking to him. I am hopeful that there are more people aware of the corruption of the Supreme Court than those who are now applauding its decisions and direction.
Not disagreeing at all, but wondering if he still has all his marbles.
…or ever had any…!
He certainly never had any decency!
Wish I could like your comment multiple times.
Thank you Cathleen D!
My thought also!
Agreed!!!
He is a privileged white male and a smug, arrogant papist - both completely govern his thinking. Oh, and he's an AH. Like we don't know HE leaked the decision so we'd be inured to the outcome.
Thank you so much Christopher L. Grosbeck, the giggle was much needed and much appreciated.
Hilarious!
Tell us what you really think!
So am I and I agree with your recommendation Christopher. Also I like a Supreme Court Justice who doesn't cry in public. And I appreciate that swamp thing guy who sold condo futures where they don't belong for teaching us to pay more attention to politicians.
Of course, there are so many serious issues to work on, it's always difficult to tell which is "most" important at any given time! But I have to mention one that is falling through the cracks. We need to raise our voices in support of Montana State Rep. Zooey Zephyr, who has been silenced and banned from the chamber for saying Republicans will have "blood on their hands" if they vote for proposed anti-trans legislation. Her situation deserves as much attention and outrage as the Tennessee Three!
And today the bastards voted to ban all gender-affirming care for those under 18 in the state, and that pig governor Greg Giantasshole signed it in a "celebration event" tonight. Further proof Harry Truman was right in 1948 - "The only 'good Republicans' are pushing up daisies." Now 1,000x more true than back then.
He signed it despite a letter from his non-binary child urging him to veto the bill. And then he says he has "compassion and empathy" for the children!! What a hypocrite. He can file that along with his "tots and pears" for the victims of gun violence, and women dying of untreated miscarriages!
I get why people are so fanatic about their guns. We have to fight at at some point. Two parties = terminal toxicity.
Frightening!
I am flummoxed by your name-calling. It echoes Trump and MAGA folks and distracts and detracts from the value - and readability - of your opinions.
Say more, LaurieOregon. It is sometimes too easier for indignation to overwhelm thoughtful discourse. There may be wisdom in our collectively stepping back and calmly finding a constructive path forward.
I have the distinct honor of living in the same city, Billings, as State Rep. Kerri Seekins-Crowe, the mother who stated she would rather her child commit suicide than transition. She says her daughter was suicidal for 3 years, and she refused to give in to her "emotional manipulation" and tear her (the mother's) family apart. I am posting this story everywhere with her name so people know what we blue dots in red states are up against. I am surrounded by this in my neighborhood. I wonder how this child's mental health is today, including any other children this woman had.
Judd Legum at Popular Information requested things to look into. I said the closets are chock full in MT of the hypocrites that we've had quietly taking over our state for quite some time. They are no longer quiet or hiding it. This woman barely scratches the surface. My fervent wish is enough Montanans wake up out of their zombie slumber and come to the voting table armed with information and a decision they don't want to live in a community that marginalizes others.
I also read that story, listened to her hateful words, and wondered if MTG would approve of this mother. I hope her daughter is ok.
I heard that story... :-( Props to you for standing firm in the face of that heartlessness. Let us know when an effort can be made to defeat her and others of her ilk at the ballot box. Prayers for all the children in harm's way.
Good gracious, Wendy. This is horrible and as inhumane as it gets. Thanks for writing of this.
“Fox News Poll: 86% Say Political Attacks On Trans Kids Are A Problem”
https://open.substack.com/pub/erininthemorn/p/fox-news-poll-86-say-political-attacks?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
Might there be a postcard campaign to support Montana State Rep Zoey Zephyr!?
Thank you, Denise. There are many smaller battles like the case of Zooey Zephyr and the bill that was then signed by the Montana Governor to deny transgender citizens the healthcare they need and deserve.
The Montana legislation was and is, like similar measures passed in other states, a denial of the existence of people who are different. It is a willful act of inhumane denial of the being of people. You would think these offenses would be obviously and outrageously recognized as historical demagoguery by officials who seem to be playing god. Yet, the Bible and those of the Christian faith and many others have all certainly been taught from the pulpit and Sunday School that we are all god’s children.
We must push back hard on the many state level initiatives to deny people and their right to be who they are. It is imperative to accept them and support their mental and physical needs. We know that young people and adults sometimes struggle with emotional needs and that the denial of care puts them at risk of physical self harm including higher rates of suicide. For that reason alone, the injustice of censuring a Zooey Zephyr cannot be left to stand or continue to spread through other state legislatures. Her words were not harsh but spoken as truth to those who are so unable to show a better side of humanity.
We must support people with differences and give them our best, not our worst.
Thank you, John. You've expressed the issue very well.
This is only a suggestion-change the spelling of your first name to Zoey because I can forsee jokes about the original
No - they should not have to change the spelling of their name in a preemptive effort to stave off name-calling bullies. It is the bullies who are the problem, not the spelling of their name.
Amen!
Interestingly, I've never heard anyone suggest that actor Zooey Deschanel change the spelling of her name.
Thanks for the shout out, Robert! The Vote Riders talk should be great.
Oh, and you forgot to mention the Guardian’s new reporting on Kavanaugh and the sad joke that was his “investigation.” Our court is broken, indeed.
Constitution Article III: "The judicial Power of the United States, shall be vested in one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish. The Judges, both of the supreme and inferior Courts, shall hold their Offices during good Behaviour, and shall, at stated Times, receive for their Services, a Compensation, which shall not be diminished during their Continuance in Office."
Looks like it is time to impeach Chief Injustice Roberts. No wonder he didn't want to go before the Congressional Committee! And, perhaps Injustice Alito can be persuaded to retire. Injustices Gorsuch, Kavanaugh and Thomas should be investigated. The FBI was not allowed to do a thorough investigation of Kavanaugh. If at least two of them leave the court, then President Biden would nominate replacements and the Court would not have to be enlarged. Power corrupts; Absolute power corrupts absolutely. There should be some sort of limit on how long one could stay on the court -- say 20 years on the court or until 80 years of age. Good Behavior needs to be defined. Texas has a State Commission on Judicial Conduct, the independent Texas state agency responsible for investigating allegations of judicial misconduct and judicial disability. This includes investigating Texas Supreme Court Judges. We need such a Commission at the Federal level. Maybe we won't have to wait until January, 2025, to start fixing SCOTUS! Yeah!
The day you get 67 Democrats in the Senate (probably more, since some will be "squishes" on this) you can do all the impeaching you want. No Republican will ever join those votes.
Oh, and a good solid D majority in the House, too.
ALL the grassroots are working day and night the clock around to get Democrats to 55 percent wins for 2023 elections and 2024.
My family write postcards and Vote Forward letters (when VF posts campaigns), Markers For Democracy phone bank, do ballot curing, texting, voter registration, canvassing, door knocking, speakers, you-name-it.
Turnout, turnout, turnout.
Younger generation, high school, and college students must also be brought in to participate.
This all gives me a flicker of Hope, along with Robert B. Hubbell and Editor Jill, and this Community.
Sanity!!
,
Yes. Definitely "all hands on deck" time.
Thanks, Nancy, for all you are doing. Re the younger generation, check out The Civics Center (https://www.thecivicscenter.org) who work specifically to register younger potential voters. Superb organization and well worth your dollars in support as well.
Cathleen D,
The Civics Center is quite important to Markers For Democracy. My finances on a fixed income disallow donations. The work Civics Center does to encourage and support younger voters is terrific.
I totally understand, Nancy. However, one thing that is free for all of us is to tell someone else, or many someone else's, about good information such as this organization, to help get out the youth vote. So please pass it on to others. Word of mouth is priceless.
And to everyone on this Substack, an FYI, as I'm sure there are others in situations similar to Nancy. A few of us figured out a way to help lots of people inform voters and potential voters with organizations such as The Civics Center. TCC has a program to write postcards to youth to encourage them to vote in specific local elections. However, it costs money to obtain these postcards from TCC, and then we have to pay postage for each postcard. Not always an easy thing to do, as Nancy noted. Well, several of us got together with a friend who wants to help but has a very demanding schedule. She agreed to contribute most of the money to get us these postcards and to pay for the postage while we agreed to do all of the writing of the cards. So an interesting group effort to help get out the vote among our youth. So far we've written for two campaigns. And we are looking for a second "angel investor" so we can write even more cards for each campaign. Plus, we realized the cool thing is our investor does not even have to know us or live near us, but just be willing to kick in some money every now and then.
Postcarders in our Indivisible group use heavyweight 4x6" index cards, lined on one side, sold in packs of 100 from Staples. Inexpensive and easy to use. Item #TR50985. Possibly available elsewhere.
https://www.staples.com/staples-heavyweight-ruled-4-x-6-index-cards-white-100-pack-50985/product_2622142
Good work, Catherine D.
Fortunately a colleague generously provides postcards and postage stamps.
Msy I enquire what the initials TCC represent?
How would your organization go about finding another “angel investor” to help continue your important work, I am wondering.
Sadly, you are absolutely correct, TC. It stinks to high heaven. The only way to fix this is to enlarge the Court.
That would be a good fix, TL.
And the other way is to organize the way the GQP has. Prepare our judges the way the Federalists have. Win big in 2024 so we can stop the drift of courts to fascism.
It will take a long time to turn this ship around. I don't expect to see it landing in the port of democracy in my lifetime. But I hope I can see it steaming in the correct direction - full speed ahead.
The truth is ... here we are. All on the same page, pretty much. And mostly all within the same demographic. It's the young people we should be talking to.
Dems are fired up. Dem leaders have stood down for way too long.
I sympathize with all who have commented, but our problems have gotten deeper than when we controlled both Houses and the White House. If Manchin and Synema had not stood in the way, a simple majority in the Senate could have gotten rid of the Filibuster, as well as enlarged our Extreme Court (of Corrupt Injustices). Aside from our needing 67 Senators to Convict an Impeached Injustice or President, our newer problem--now that Quevin is the Majority Leader (by selling his soul to the Insurrectionists) of the House-- is that we do not even have a simple majority of Dems in the House to Impeach in the first place! In 2024, the Dems MUST take back the House, keep the White House, AND add several (3-5) seats in the Senate to attain real progress in this country--on Abortion, Guns, the Environment, Immigration, Voting Rights, and so much more.
I sense you are right, Kenneth. To wit, we need clarity of purpose and many courageous leaders keeping us focused. Thanks.
I'm with you on almost everything, except immigration. Coastal/elite Dems are in denial about immigration in the same way that GOPers are in denial about global warming.
Real progress on immigration--which is a jobs and an environmental/quality of life issue--would be to prohibit admission of more immigrants than the numbers that emigrate.
On jobs: see Back of the Hiring Line: A 200-Year History of Immigration Surges, Employer Bias, and Depression of Black Wealth. The book is solid, the author goes through the academic economic lit, as well as black periodicals, statements of Black leaders beginning w/ Frederick Douglass, and gov't commisions on immigration reform.
Immigration is an env'tal issue b/c the average immigrant's GH emissions rise threefold after arrival in the US, since just about everything a person does in the US requires more fossil fuels than the equivalent in the third world countries most immigrants come from.
Additionally, population growth--immigrants will add 3 1/2 NY State equivalents to the population over the next 40 yrs per Census Bureau; native increase, just slightly more--will cause a huge amount of sprawl. That means building on virgin land. When virgin land is taken over for human uses--even agriculture--enormous amounts of CO2 sequestered therein are released to the atmosphere, further warming the planet.
Yes, I agree with you that Impeachment is a useless remedy in these times. What I was hoping is that a couple of them would Resign. I know that with their egos that is also very unlikely but I enjoyed considering the possibility! "Just" need to change two seats and we'll have a viable Supreme Court.
Like every other bit of "progress" these days, that is what they mean by the term "A Sisyphean task." :-)
That Sisyphus! How he ever kept rolling that rock up that hill!!! We need to enlist him to clean out the Court!
If he could just get that rock up the hill above the Supreme Court he could then just let it go and let it roll right thru the court taking them all with it. Well, one can dream can't they. Oh, and we have to have a few certain Justices over for tea or lunch or something at that precise time. :-)
Sounds good to me.
➡️ "good Behaviour" ⬅️
I love the names “Injustice Roberts” and “Injustice Alito”. Thank you for the ideas, Cathy. I suggest we use those names on social media... until the injustices get tired of it.
Happy Birthday Rob!!
Happy Birthday Robert B.Hubbell -- and always!
Happy Birthday, Robert, and glad you got to see Tulare Lake in its glory. California is now fortunately out of a drought. Well, at least, in Northern California.
SCOTUS is truly sliding off its axis. Chief Roberts has exposed himself to be totally useless, especially after he refused to be questioned about ethics. Alito makes me ill. What am I saying? All of the Repub Justices suck!
"Chief Justice" Roberts clearly couldn't afford to question and admonish "associate Justices" Thomas and Gorsuch, since he and his missus aren't exactly innocent of stepping over the line on ethics. Did I say 'stepping over'? All 6 Republican-appointed members of this stinking corpse of a corrupt Court are rotten to their very core.
The “stench of the Court”…
'stepping over'? Stepping ON!
At least now we know why Justice Roberts didn’t want to look into the Thomas and Gorsuch ethical issues.
I laughed out loud when I read the line that Alito “thinks he knows” who is the Dobbs leaker. He must have looked in the mirror while shaving.
I truly respect the notion of the Supreme Court. I despise most of the individuals currently occupying the position.
My thoughts exactly!!!~!
A man who cried on national television was confirmed as justice on the Supreme Court.
It's perfectly OK for men to cry, even on national TV. What is NOT OK is for Alito to have cried about what he did.
I get it. I have cried twice since I was a kid. Not in a job interview.
Several years ago I read First:Sandra Day O’Connor by Evan Thomas. Two things from that book keep coming to mind given current events.
First, the justices live in a very, very small bubble.
Second, O’Connor’s husband had been a very successful, high-powered lawyer prior to her confirmation. Once she was on the SC, his career changed dramatically because they didn’t want there to be even a hint of appearance of a conflict of interest. Such a quaint notion!
Expanding the court is one idea ... but there are other good proposals. One of my favorites is to enact term limits so that each president would appoint 2 judges during his/her term. This would eliminate the shenanigans we saw from McConnell.
This is an interesting suggestion. Thank you, Alice. I think we would have to pair it with a specific term limit in order for it to work. We also need to think about how it would function for a 2-term President. Would he or she get to nominate four candidates or only two? If a future President is from one party, the Senate is controlled by a different party, and the level of partisanship is as high and cutthroat as it is now, could the Senate simply refuse to confirm the President’s picks? Perhaps the majority party would decide that the balance of conservative v. liberal Justices on an understaffed Court would benefit them. I think I prefer a mandatory retirement age. And a standard of conduct enforced by an outside authority.
Last week Heather Cox Richardson and Joanne Freeman on their Now and Then podcast highlighted not-so-pleasant stories of the Supreme Court in our history.
https://cafe.com/now-and-then/supreme-court-scandals-a-story-of-justice/
Robert Hubble —We share a birthday.on April 26 . Wishing you a wonderful belated birthday and good health for the coming year
Happy Birthday, Nicky. My birthday is April 25th.
I completely agree with Robert’s characterization of Alito’s whiney diatribe. This appeared to me to be the product of years of pampered, self-aggrandizing isolation. The message was detached from the realities of the impact of his rulings on millions of ordinary people not cloistered away in a marble “mausoleum” that
Has previously been the home of justices respecting the majesty of the law. It now has become a house of insular corruption inhabited by
Some who view themselves above the law and immune from any self-reflection or humility. Hubris without bounds!
It struck me as incongruous that someone with that much safety from accountability and with life tenure can possibly be legitimately as”aggrieved as he presents himself to be.
Moreover, Alito doesn’t comprehend the fact that his statements and actions brought about the storm of criticism.
Its all about local politics. I live in North Carolina and this is what happened when the Republicans took control of the state Supreme Court.
We’ve talked about the North Carolina gerrymandering case, also called the independent state legislature theory case, that the Supreme Court is considering this term and how the Court’s continued jurisdiction was compromised when the North Carolina Supreme Court suddenly reopened proceedings. The U.S. Supreme Court has jurisdiction to hear only final decisions from lower courts in a case like this. So after the North Carolina Supreme Court decided to rehear the case, they asked the parties to brief whether they could still decide it. No ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court yet, but today the North Carolina court entered a decision in its reopened proceedings.
This shameful, delegitimizing decision to allow the unjust, blatant manipulation of North Carolina’s voting districts was not a function of legal principle, it was a function of political personnel and partisan opportunism. Neither the map nor the law have changed since last year’s landmark rulings—only the makeup of the majority of the North Carolina Supreme Court has changed.
This is what we need to protect against.
A bad day for democracy in NC.😪
Thanks, Stephen, for your cogent description of the "judicial" shenanigans in NC. I have to admit these openly political maneuvers by our judiciary are extremely disheartening!!
To be fair, it's a compilation of excerpts from Civil Discourse with Joyce Vance's Substack article written yesterday, April 28, and includes her quoting Eric Holder's statement regarding "This shameless, delegitimizing decision..."
Highly recommend subscribing to her if you appreciate intelligently written civil discourse.
edit: her link included.
https://joycevance.substack.com/p/the-north-carolina-supreme-court
I already subscribe to Joyce. Thanks for the link!
I read the Alito interview. I wish I hadn't. For reasons too numerous to articulate. The most shocking confession to me is how Alito self-identifies as one of the five conservative justices. That puts the lie to Robert's consistent claim that "There are no Republican or Democratic justices. Only justices." Not only are there. But Alito puts the count at 5 vs 4 (I'm sure he doesn't count Thomas because Thomas stood in the way of things like abolishing Obamacare) and happily self-identifies as one. The other thing that really burns me is his total disgust at someone with a gun found outside of Robert's house. With. A. Gun. It's disgraceful in his opinion. Yet he's all for open carry and concealed weapons being on the NYC subways or protesting BLM protests. He's all for Kyle Rittenhouse or armed MAGAs assembling in the Michigan state house. I guess it's easy to be for no gun regulation when the one regulation that is in place is that they can't be within 100 yards of YOU!
The five conservatives are INjustices.
Enjoy the valley! I’m enjoying reading this from Cádiz; lovely here. And SCOTUS is an immoral disaster.
Hola! Buenos días de Donostia!
Muchas gracias!
Clearly, we must remember and resist. Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. It is past time to expand the SCOTUS and insert staggered term limits.
Yes! I think 10 years is long enough. And stagger the terms so every President can nominate perhaps 2. We need to consider that the future may include a President even worse than Trump.
Of course, we need a Senate that reflects America and its values. How about term limits on them as well. Two terms like the president, perhaps?
If I were a young lad, I would look at that institution and be disgusted. It's as if the Senate was actually a nursing home.
What Bill says ⬆️
Beth, where do you get the up (and sideways) arrows and how do you get them to post in a Substack comment, please?
Mim, on a Mac keyboard there is a function key (fn 🌐) at the bottom left. On an iPhone, there is a 😀 key on the bottom of the keyboard to the left of the space key. Hope this is useful. If you're on a PC, I'm no use 🥴
I do use the iPhone emojis but don't have an iMac keyboard with that function key. But I just learned I can access them via
control/command/space.
Thanks, Beth.
Those are emojis, and easy to add from one's phone. I think they can be added also from a computer... but not yet tried that myself.
⬆️⬇️↔️🔄 ✅️
Silly me, I never noticed the arrow emojis on my iPhone.
I just looked up the command for my old iMac and, after all these many years, learned I can access the emojis via control/command/space.
😎😃
They have to be done one at a time, though, on the computer.