As the hearings on the events of January 6th and the attempt to overturn the 2020 election approach, the extent of the operation is becoming clearer. Last night, lawyers for John Eastman filed a brief arguing, once again, that Eastman should be able to hide documents associated with the attempt to overturn the 2020 election on the grounds that he was working for former president Trump and so their communications are protected by attorney-client privilege. Eastman was the author of the infamous Eastman memo that provided a blueprint for then–vice president Mike Pence to throw the election to Trump, and he has done his best to delay the release of documents despite court orders to turn them over.
Here is a fabulous article making the case that overturning Roe would be an unconscionable infringement on the religious freedom of orthodox Jews. Jewish law goes back over 5,000 years or something like that. I had really been wondering why Freedom of Religion wasn't part of the discussion arguing against Alito's draft position on Roe. Alito also ignores Amendment 9 of the Bill of Rights which should be an integral part of originalist thinking. "The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people." The Constitution explicitly says it is not naming all the rights RETAINED BY THE PEOPLE. To me that means if the significant majority of the people say it is their right it is a right. Time to impeach Alito and Thomas.
Another thing I like about the explanation of Jewish Law in this article is a theme I've been stating many times over. The OR world of black and white is just not sufficient in dealing with all the implications of many issues in life and most certainly in a women's choice. To me Patriarchy is the OR world - you're right or wrong, one up or one down, very primitive. The AND world is egalitarianism where you have the Synergy of multiple perspectives brought together to come up with better solutions for all.
Cafe Insider Preet Bharara writes this letter to his readers. All that follows is a direct quote from him:
Dear Reader,
Justice Clarence Thomas is famously reticent on the bench. He doesn’t talk much. He doesn’t ask questions often. He once went a full decade without making a single query of counsel at oral argument. But in the wake of the leaked Alito draft opinion that would undo Roe v. Wade and the ensuing protests, Thomas is raising his voice. But it is impossible to accept the truth of the matters he has asserted in recent out-of-court statements.
Speaking at a judicial conference in Georgia two weeks ago, Thomas said that, as a society, "we are becoming addicted to wanting particular outcomes, not living with the outcomes we don't like.” He went on: "We can't be an institution that can be bullied into giving you just the outcomes you want. The events from earlier this week are a symptom of that."
Well, that’s almost as rich as Elon Musk.
Let’s talk about outcomes and discuss who the addicts are. Thomas willfully ignores 49 years of agitation by anti-abortion activists who have never been able to abide an outcome they didn’t like.
Because of an addiction to a particular outcome, legislatures in at least 13 states have passed so-called trigger laws, which would ban abortion to varying degrees in the event Roe is overturned. The legislature in Texas, in passing the bounty provisions in SB8, and the legislature in Mississippi, in passing the anti-abortion law now being considered by the Supreme Court, announced loudly and clearly that they could not abide the outcome in Roe, which has been settled law for half a century.
Consider the endless campaign to alter the balance of the Court, a counter-majoritarian effort undertaken with particular zeal and focus. And the singular agenda item was to undo an outcome they have never liked or learned to live with.
Consider also the record of violence and murder (and bullying) by anti-abortion forces over the years.
In fact, in the wake of pervasive harassment and obstruction outside abortion clinics, in 1994 Congress passed the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act (FACE Act) to protect the rights guaranteed by Roe.
In July 1994, Paul Hill, an anti-abortion protester and former pastor, murdered Dr. John Bayard Britton and James H. Barrett, a clinic volunteer. The attack took place outside of a women’s health center.
In January 1998, anti-abortion activist Eric Rudolph planted and detonated a bomb outside of an abortion clinic in Birmingham, Alabama, killing Robert Sanderson, a security guard for the clinic. The other victim was Emily Lyons, a nurse at the clinic, who was maimed and left half-blind.
In October of that year, anti-abortionist James Kopp killed Dr. Barnett Slepian with a high-powered rifle. Dr. Slepian was standing in his kitchen with his family when Kopp shot him through the window.
In November 2015, Robert Lewis Dear Jr., shot 12 people in a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs. Three were killed while nine others were injured. Dear later turned himself in stating, “I am a warrior for the babies.”
According to an analysis by Vox, between 1977 and 2015, there were eight murders, 17 attempted murders, 42 bombings, and 186 arsons targeted at abortion clinics and providers across the United States.
Clarence Thomas is up in arms over some peaceful protests. He might think about all the murder and mayhem visited upon doctors and women and clinics since Roe was decided.
There is, of course, another rich irony in Thomas’s lecturing us about accepting outcomes. What, in recent times, is the least accepted outcome on the part of a radical group of conspiracy-theorists in America? It’s the election of 2020. We had a free and fair process. The outcome was that Biden won, and Trump lost. And yet we have legions of elected officials and Kraken lawyers and cable television hosts who have not learned to live with that outcome.
More than that, we had a group of violent rioters try to bully a co-equal branch of government into doing that which they could not achieve fair and square at the ballot box – installing Donald Trump in the White House for a second term. They didn’t hold up some signs on a street; they stormed the Capitol, chanted “Hang Mike Pence,” and looked for members of Congress to hurt.
More than that, among the group of deniers and insurrectionist sympathizers is Justice Thomas’s very own wife, who was advocating to the Trump circle that the election outcome must be reversed. Given his wife’s involvement in the Big Lie, instead of doing the ethical thing and recusing himself from matters relating to January 6th, Thomas has the nerve to berate peaceful pro-choice advocates about the need to accept outcomes they don’t like.
Here’s the thing about outcomes. People are more likely to live with one if the process leading to the outcome has indicia of fairness and good faith. If there is a perception of cheating or gamesmanship or mendacity, acceptance will naturally be more difficult. For many, the near certainty that Roe will be overruled is a hard pill to swallow for just these reasons. The denial of a seat to Merrick Garland; the rush to seat Amy Coney Barrett; the insincere reverence for settled precedents mouthed by various Republican nominees at their confirmation hearings; and the bad faith constitutional arguments contained in the draft opinion – all of these conspire to undermine the legitimacy of this new outcome, perceived to be wrought by radicals who couldn’t live with the last outcome.
Whatever else may be true, on the issue of living with outcomes you don’t like, Clarence Thomas should sit this one out.
These people are descending on our democracy like a murder of crows. I hope the DOJ springs into action soon after the hearings on the events of January 6 and the attempt to overturn the 2020 election begins in June.
Ellison's a strange guy. 30 years ago, he was a Clintonite, then he "got religion" and decided he was a Jew after all, and he became an Uber-Zionist and major partner/supporter with Netanyahu, or as I call him, Nitwityahoo, and has moved progressively right. Mostly he's just another good argument in favor of grabbing up the billionaire class, stuffing them in Musk's rockets, and firing them into the sun to Make The Universe Great Again.
As the list of co-conspirators in the 2020 tragi-comic attempt to defraud the American people of their duly elected president, President Biden, grows ever longer, I find myself getting very upset, even very very upset. Then, Sidney Powell and Rudi Guilty-who-me, pull up in front of the What House in a clown car and request that the day be cancelled for TOTAL lack of interest, President Trump in his hair helmet-hardhat waltzes around the crowd of cracked incompetents with his Covid-19 breath spray and his trick lapel flower squirt gun that never fails to get lots of laughs. I slap myself twice because none of the criminal conspirators shows any sign that anything awful has, and is, happening, and I wonder if I've fallen asleep and wasn't getting the joke. Now, the windpower EKG I'm wearing with the propeller cap feeding on all the hot air about the place sends me flashing red lights that indicate I'm really getting upset, almost angry. Perhaps I exaggerate a bit, maybe cheesed-off is better. I respond by speed-dialing my pay-by-the month dial-a-prayer number and Bob Dylan tells me if I'm not annoyed, almost angry about what I see happening, I'm probably near 9 out of 8 on the brain-death scale. I silently start to raise my voice, muttering gee gosh, holy moly, pants on fire, but I turn any rage I feel inside my personal black hole and ask Alice when the Keystone Cops will arrive to remove these crispy Creeps to a free AttaBoy buffet at the Not Ok Corral for the Ring-a-ding-ding signet ring kissing party. Plato comes out of his coo-coo clock and confesses no one ever admits to doing evil on purpose. With reality-tv, don't get upset, tell yourself you don't feel the actual pain you feel twisting your ear like a wind-up child's duck, swear in nine languages—just wait for the moment of complete calm that comes with the commercial break. I must be cross wired, I still feel very, very upset as a coup happens before my own eyes and no one but I finds it odd that it's all happening without proper chickens. Watching this outrageous display of anger might be really upsetting for you. Sorry. There's a pill for everything. I suggest the blue one.
I am gobsmacked that so many perpetrators in the BIG LIE and January 6th insurrection against Congress and the Constitution are able to protest 1/6 committee subpoenas interminably—presumably until the Republicans control the House and deep six the 1/6 committee.
As a non-lawyer, I thought that the unanimous Supreme Court 1974 ruling on the Nixon Watergate tapes established that criminal action abolished any White House claim of ‘executive privilege’ in withholding documents. Clearly, all of these shenanigans by Eastman, Powell, Giuliani, and countless other gum shoes are awash in conspiracy and a coup against the Constitution.
The public hearings of the 1/6 House Committee are scheduled to commence (far too late) in June. I impatiently await for Attorney General Garland to drop the other shoe with indictments against the Trump Mafiosos and, perhaps, against Jabba the Hutt.
This is late May, 2022. The BIG LIE commenced in November, 2020 followed by the January 6, 2021 insurrection. To quote Elisa in My Fair lady: MOVE YOUR BLOODY ARSE!
Morning, all!! Morning, Dr. R!! Wow, these voting machines that are counting lots of wins for R's (both in 2020 and primary) really need to be reined in. Thanks, Pillow Guy!!!
Speaking of Secretary of State ABLinken, who not only is a rock star but makes a pretty good ambassador for all things USA, weighs in with Stephen Colbert. Below are the links to his interview. Sorry this is in pieces but that's how I could find all of it, and to me all of it is well worth watching.
Each day of late I think why do not We The People file a Class Action Lawsuit against these politicians and against the Supreme Court. Who is set to adjudicate such a case? Currently it seems like the President is not allowed to even exist in his job because every single thing he does the Republicans go to court and the Republican dominated Supreme Court just overturns whatever he does. I think We The People need to sue the Republicans for undermining our system of government. And, I think it is time for Democrats to start openly saying that we will not accept any election in which Republicans just put Republicans in place, or deny Democrats opportunities to vote. We will sue and we should use the Republican playbook. No point in reinventing the wheel. We can take things up to the Supreme Court and if we do not like what the Supreme Court says we can deny it and get everyone saying this is not legitimate, just like the Republicans have been doing, only the difference is that we will be right. We can start off by saying STOP THE STEAL! Let us see how they handle that. I am advocating that everyone on this list serve put this right back in their faces, and in the words of John Lewis, make good trouble. We need to start doing it now, so that while they are all gathering all self assured in Hungary we are getting ready to salvage our democracy. We need to let them know that a government that the people do not accept as legitimate is not going to fly. What need to do what we should have done when Al Gore was deposed by the so called hanging chads. We should not accept anything that does not seem legitimate. Any state where they make laws that do not jibe with free and fair elections we need to take it to court. If they refuse then there is going to be massive non acceptance of the legitimacy of the government and there should be planning now on what that will look like. I am a big believer in contingency plans.
I think it is becoming plain as day now that, unless the January 6 committee public hearings make such huge waves that the corrupt Trump ship is capsized, the Republicans will wipe out our democracy. There will be several Trumpist Secretaries of State elected in a few purple states who will throw the election to their side. Lawsuits may be filed but anyone who trusts our current Supreme Court to maintain our democracy just has not been paying attention. And when angry progressive voters and Democrats scream about a stolen election the Republicans will just jeer. “Hey,” they will say, “where were you when we cried about our stolen election in 2020?” Unless the January 6th committee really has an impact, Democrats won’t have a powerful answer.
We can only hope that the Committee members can cut through the noise and figure out just how much of what these people are doing is based on their fanaticism and malevolence, and how much is intentional "culture jamming".
They're taking brutal advantage of our legal system's insistence on objectivity, and that forces the 'good guys' to consider their clown antics as gravely as they must those times when the clown pulled a knife and cut somebody. I just hope when this is all over that besides bringing these criminals to justice, that we learn how to proof our system aginst recurrances.
A good start beyond fixing Citizens United might be a hardened code of judicial ethics, along with specific punishments for political malpractice.
Thank you for this powerful letter Heather. I absolutely love some of the conversations today. Lately I've been trying to determine when America lost a shared sense of ethics, morals, and holding offenders accountable. Public schools are one issue. Teachers are paid so poorly and teaching to testing has been a failure. That there are so many who believe and support the lies astounds. Also, when athletes and ¨stars¨ have gotten away with cheating, lying, abusive behavior, many young people have begun to see that integrity and ethics don't matter. The Me Too movement finally began to hold abusers accountable around the world, but, in the U.S., that could change. Here in Europe many, many were shocked that America voted for Trump. And this, ¨Justice Thomas was apparently talking about the leak of the draft decision overturning Roe v. Wade when on May 6 he told a group of judges and lawyers that our justice system is in danger if people are unwilling to “live with outcomes we don’t agree with,” is the keg of dynamite we are sitting on now because it says what they all now believe. If they don't want it, they'll create their own and damn the rest of us because one of them became president of the United States and got away with every deadly sin. And grew richer while in office. I'm beginning to visualize the dissolution of the states and the creation of countries. California would be the 5th largest country in the world and would no longer have to support those poor Southern states where the worst offenders holding office reign. There is just nothing united about my country anymore, and if the democrats don't take the mid terms.......................................
How will we deal with the traitors of our country?
‘As the hearings on the events of January 6th and the attempt to overturn the 2020 election approach, the extent of the operation is becoming clearer.’ (Letter)
What followed was a parade of shady characters made smaller as their plans to overthrow the United States of America were described. Upon finishing it, the country’s founding documents, presidents and national holidays came to mind. But, no, I’ll begin at the beginning, instead, to see this band of traitors against the country’s earliest days.
‘1492: An Ongoing Voyage’
‘What Came To Be Called “America”
'By 1492 people had lived in the Western Hemisphere for tens of thousands of years. For much of this time it is believed that they experienced virtually no recorded, sustained contact with other parts of the world—Europe, Africa, or Asia.'
'Millions of people lived in an area some five times the size of Europe. In strikingly diverse habitats and climates they developed possibly the most varied and productive agriculture in the world. Their lifestyles and belief systems differed widely and they spoke hundreds of distinct languages.'
'Throughout the hemisphere, states and centers of high civilization had risen and fallen. The dynamic Mexica (Aztec) and Inca empires were still expanding at this time and internal migration and warfare were common. The peoples did not see themselves as part of an entity. Only later would this area be given a unifying name—America—and the people labeled “Indians” by Europe.'
'We have focused on five geographical areas of the region to represent the variety and complexity of peoples and cultures before 1492: the Caribbean, Middle America, the Andean region, the South Atlantic, and North America. In order to understand what came to be called America we are often dependent on European observations.'
'In late August, 1619, 20-30 enslaved Africans landed at Point Comfort, today's Fort Monroe in Hampton, Va., aboard the English privateer ship White Lion. In Virginia, these Africans were traded in exchange for supplies. Several days later, a second ship (Treasurer) arrived in Virginia with additional enslaved Africans. Both groups had been captured by English privateers from the Spanish slave ship San Juan Bautista. They are the first recorded Africans to arrive in England's mainland American colonies.'
'The landing of the first Africans in Virginia is one of the most significant events we interpret. Although English colonists in Virginia did not invent slavery, and the transition from a handful of bound African laborers to a legalized system of full-blown chattel slavery took many decades, 1619 marks the beginning of race-based bondage that defined the African American experience.'
'The United States dates its origins to not one but two founding moments: the drafting of the Constitution in 1787 and the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. The foundation of the American government, its purpose, form, and structure, are in the Constitution of the United States. The Constitutional Convention adopted the Constitution on September 17, 1787.'
We formed a system of government with all the eligible members of a state, through elected representatives.
The Constitution of the United States is a document that serves as the fundamental law of the country. It established how the federal and state governments should be organized, and it guarantees a number of basic rights and liberties to American citizens.
The Bill of Rights is the first 10 Amendments to the Constitution. It spells out Americans’ rights in relation to their government. It guarantees civil rights and liberties to the individual—like freedom of speech, press, and religion. It sets rules for due process of law and reserves all powers not delegated to the Federal Government to the people or the States. And it specifies that “the enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.” There are 27 Constitutional Amendments in all. The 27th Amendment, which was originally proposed in 1789, was not ratified until 1992.'
The first three words of the Constitution are “We the People.” The document says that the people of the United States choose to create the government. “We the People” also explains that people elect representatives to make laws. This is a form of self-government.
The United States of America has moved forward and backward in carrying out its obligations to these democratic principles. The band of traitors featured in today's Letter are a small number of the entire cast out to destroy all we have created in their own self interest. The BAND of TRAITORS are the enemies of 'we the people' -- enemies of all Americans and of our democracy.
These traitors think that they are not done with us, but, in truth, WE ARE NOT DONE WITH THEM.
If all of this wasn't so disturbing, it would be laughable. Eastman's defense, and those of others, defy logic. Were the coup perpetrators so drunk on their fervor for power and hatred of democracy that they believed none of this would ever come to light? If they weren't so dangerous they'd be seen as buffoons.
The facts are coming together. Only a fool argues with the Truth when it’s staring him in the face. Or one who believes he (or she) is above the Law. Todays letter gathers together facts that are backed by evidence. These fools are in our government. Or are wannabes. REPUGS. . They suffer from an ancient disease.
Diagnosis: HUBRIS
“English picked up both the concept of hubris and the term for that particular brand of cockiness from the ancient Greeks, who considered hubris a dangerous character flaw capable of provoking the wrath of the gods. In classical Greek tragedy, hubris was often a fatal shortcoming that brought about the fall of the tragic hero. Typically, overconfidence led the hero to attempt to overstep the boundaries of human limitations and assume a godlike status, and the gods inevitably humbled the offender with a sharp reminder of their mortality.”
If you don’t already follow Seth Abramson, I recommend that you do so. He started writing about Ginni Thomas & her involvement in the January 6th insurrection on 01/30/22.
I’m hoping that the public hearings have an impact on those voters who lean conservative but don’t blindly follow Trump. The elections this year are key for the ability of Congress to dig deep & reveal the truth behind this attempt to overthrow our government.
The justification of the coup includes the complete demonization of the party of reason, the party that does not support an oligarchy / theocracy / authoritarian government. Nancy Pelosi has now been denied communion, as was Joe Biden previously, by the Catholic Church. Would that not make this church a political organization, thereby becoming ineligible for tax-exempt status? Because it seems to me the church is being pointedly political in choosing one “sin” for denying communion in a media blitz, and it’s not for actually having an abortion but for politically supporting a woman’s right to make that choice— what about divorce? Adultery? Sexual assault? Treason? Lying? Bullying? Theft? Deceptive business practices? Cheating? Ignoring the needs of the poor? Racism? Assault? Is communion denied for any of these sins, with an accompanying media blitz, with the goal of influencing elections? No. The church has grows more and more hollow with every such pronouncement, and meanwhile, our democracy is burning. As for our Supreme Court, I fear they are cheering for the arsonists.
https://www.jta.org/2022/05/19/opinion/overturning-roe-would-be-an-unconscionable-infringement-on-the-religious-freedom-of-orthodox-jews
Here is a fabulous article making the case that overturning Roe would be an unconscionable infringement on the religious freedom of orthodox Jews. Jewish law goes back over 5,000 years or something like that. I had really been wondering why Freedom of Religion wasn't part of the discussion arguing against Alito's draft position on Roe. Alito also ignores Amendment 9 of the Bill of Rights which should be an integral part of originalist thinking. "The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people." The Constitution explicitly says it is not naming all the rights RETAINED BY THE PEOPLE. To me that means if the significant majority of the people say it is their right it is a right. Time to impeach Alito and Thomas.
Another thing I like about the explanation of Jewish Law in this article is a theme I've been stating many times over. The OR world of black and white is just not sufficient in dealing with all the implications of many issues in life and most certainly in a women's choice. To me Patriarchy is the OR world - you're right or wrong, one up or one down, very primitive. The AND world is egalitarianism where you have the Synergy of multiple perspectives brought together to come up with better solutions for all.
Cafe Insider Preet Bharara writes this letter to his readers. All that follows is a direct quote from him:
Dear Reader,
Justice Clarence Thomas is famously reticent on the bench. He doesn’t talk much. He doesn’t ask questions often. He once went a full decade without making a single query of counsel at oral argument. But in the wake of the leaked Alito draft opinion that would undo Roe v. Wade and the ensuing protests, Thomas is raising his voice. But it is impossible to accept the truth of the matters he has asserted in recent out-of-court statements.
Speaking at a judicial conference in Georgia two weeks ago, Thomas said that, as a society, "we are becoming addicted to wanting particular outcomes, not living with the outcomes we don't like.” He went on: "We can't be an institution that can be bullied into giving you just the outcomes you want. The events from earlier this week are a symptom of that."
Well, that’s almost as rich as Elon Musk.
Let’s talk about outcomes and discuss who the addicts are. Thomas willfully ignores 49 years of agitation by anti-abortion activists who have never been able to abide an outcome they didn’t like.
Because of an addiction to a particular outcome, legislatures in at least 13 states have passed so-called trigger laws, which would ban abortion to varying degrees in the event Roe is overturned. The legislature in Texas, in passing the bounty provisions in SB8, and the legislature in Mississippi, in passing the anti-abortion law now being considered by the Supreme Court, announced loudly and clearly that they could not abide the outcome in Roe, which has been settled law for half a century.
Consider the endless campaign to alter the balance of the Court, a counter-majoritarian effort undertaken with particular zeal and focus. And the singular agenda item was to undo an outcome they have never liked or learned to live with.
Consider also the record of violence and murder (and bullying) by anti-abortion forces over the years.
In fact, in the wake of pervasive harassment and obstruction outside abortion clinics, in 1994 Congress passed the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act (FACE Act) to protect the rights guaranteed by Roe.
In July 1994, Paul Hill, an anti-abortion protester and former pastor, murdered Dr. John Bayard Britton and James H. Barrett, a clinic volunteer. The attack took place outside of a women’s health center.
In January 1998, anti-abortion activist Eric Rudolph planted and detonated a bomb outside of an abortion clinic in Birmingham, Alabama, killing Robert Sanderson, a security guard for the clinic. The other victim was Emily Lyons, a nurse at the clinic, who was maimed and left half-blind.
In October of that year, anti-abortionist James Kopp killed Dr. Barnett Slepian with a high-powered rifle. Dr. Slepian was standing in his kitchen with his family when Kopp shot him through the window.
In November 2015, Robert Lewis Dear Jr., shot 12 people in a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs. Three were killed while nine others were injured. Dear later turned himself in stating, “I am a warrior for the babies.”
According to an analysis by Vox, between 1977 and 2015, there were eight murders, 17 attempted murders, 42 bombings, and 186 arsons targeted at abortion clinics and providers across the United States.
Clarence Thomas is up in arms over some peaceful protests. He might think about all the murder and mayhem visited upon doctors and women and clinics since Roe was decided.
There is, of course, another rich irony in Thomas’s lecturing us about accepting outcomes. What, in recent times, is the least accepted outcome on the part of a radical group of conspiracy-theorists in America? It’s the election of 2020. We had a free and fair process. The outcome was that Biden won, and Trump lost. And yet we have legions of elected officials and Kraken lawyers and cable television hosts who have not learned to live with that outcome.
More than that, we had a group of violent rioters try to bully a co-equal branch of government into doing that which they could not achieve fair and square at the ballot box – installing Donald Trump in the White House for a second term. They didn’t hold up some signs on a street; they stormed the Capitol, chanted “Hang Mike Pence,” and looked for members of Congress to hurt.
More than that, among the group of deniers and insurrectionist sympathizers is Justice Thomas’s very own wife, who was advocating to the Trump circle that the election outcome must be reversed. Given his wife’s involvement in the Big Lie, instead of doing the ethical thing and recusing himself from matters relating to January 6th, Thomas has the nerve to berate peaceful pro-choice advocates about the need to accept outcomes they don’t like.
Here’s the thing about outcomes. People are more likely to live with one if the process leading to the outcome has indicia of fairness and good faith. If there is a perception of cheating or gamesmanship or mendacity, acceptance will naturally be more difficult. For many, the near certainty that Roe will be overruled is a hard pill to swallow for just these reasons. The denial of a seat to Merrick Garland; the rush to seat Amy Coney Barrett; the insincere reverence for settled precedents mouthed by various Republican nominees at their confirmation hearings; and the bad faith constitutional arguments contained in the draft opinion – all of these conspire to undermine the legitimacy of this new outcome, perceived to be wrought by radicals who couldn’t live with the last outcome.
Whatever else may be true, on the issue of living with outcomes you don’t like, Clarence Thomas should sit this one out.
My best, Preet
These people are descending on our democracy like a murder of crows. I hope the DOJ springs into action soon after the hearings on the events of January 6 and the attempt to overturn the 2020 election begins in June.
Ellison's a strange guy. 30 years ago, he was a Clintonite, then he "got religion" and decided he was a Jew after all, and he became an Uber-Zionist and major partner/supporter with Netanyahu, or as I call him, Nitwityahoo, and has moved progressively right. Mostly he's just another good argument in favor of grabbing up the billionaire class, stuffing them in Musk's rockets, and firing them into the sun to Make The Universe Great Again.
As the list of co-conspirators in the 2020 tragi-comic attempt to defraud the American people of their duly elected president, President Biden, grows ever longer, I find myself getting very upset, even very very upset. Then, Sidney Powell and Rudi Guilty-who-me, pull up in front of the What House in a clown car and request that the day be cancelled for TOTAL lack of interest, President Trump in his hair helmet-hardhat waltzes around the crowd of cracked incompetents with his Covid-19 breath spray and his trick lapel flower squirt gun that never fails to get lots of laughs. I slap myself twice because none of the criminal conspirators shows any sign that anything awful has, and is, happening, and I wonder if I've fallen asleep and wasn't getting the joke. Now, the windpower EKG I'm wearing with the propeller cap feeding on all the hot air about the place sends me flashing red lights that indicate I'm really getting upset, almost angry. Perhaps I exaggerate a bit, maybe cheesed-off is better. I respond by speed-dialing my pay-by-the month dial-a-prayer number and Bob Dylan tells me if I'm not annoyed, almost angry about what I see happening, I'm probably near 9 out of 8 on the brain-death scale. I silently start to raise my voice, muttering gee gosh, holy moly, pants on fire, but I turn any rage I feel inside my personal black hole and ask Alice when the Keystone Cops will arrive to remove these crispy Creeps to a free AttaBoy buffet at the Not Ok Corral for the Ring-a-ding-ding signet ring kissing party. Plato comes out of his coo-coo clock and confesses no one ever admits to doing evil on purpose. With reality-tv, don't get upset, tell yourself you don't feel the actual pain you feel twisting your ear like a wind-up child's duck, swear in nine languages—just wait for the moment of complete calm that comes with the commercial break. I must be cross wired, I still feel very, very upset as a coup happens before my own eyes and no one but I finds it odd that it's all happening without proper chickens. Watching this outrageous display of anger might be really upsetting for you. Sorry. There's a pill for everything. I suggest the blue one.
I am gobsmacked that so many perpetrators in the BIG LIE and January 6th insurrection against Congress and the Constitution are able to protest 1/6 committee subpoenas interminably—presumably until the Republicans control the House and deep six the 1/6 committee.
As a non-lawyer, I thought that the unanimous Supreme Court 1974 ruling on the Nixon Watergate tapes established that criminal action abolished any White House claim of ‘executive privilege’ in withholding documents. Clearly, all of these shenanigans by Eastman, Powell, Giuliani, and countless other gum shoes are awash in conspiracy and a coup against the Constitution.
The public hearings of the 1/6 House Committee are scheduled to commence (far too late) in June. I impatiently await for Attorney General Garland to drop the other shoe with indictments against the Trump Mafiosos and, perhaps, against Jabba the Hutt.
This is late May, 2022. The BIG LIE commenced in November, 2020 followed by the January 6, 2021 insurrection. To quote Elisa in My Fair lady: MOVE YOUR BLOODY ARSE!
Morning, all!! Morning, Dr. R!! Wow, these voting machines that are counting lots of wins for R's (both in 2020 and primary) really need to be reined in. Thanks, Pillow Guy!!!
Speaking of Secretary of State ABLinken, who not only is a rock star but makes a pretty good ambassador for all things USA, weighs in with Stephen Colbert. Below are the links to his interview. Sorry this is in pieces but that's how I could find all of it, and to me all of it is well worth watching.
First part: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/missingchildren/ukraine-is-going-to-be-around-a-lot-longer-than-vladimir-putin-sec-antony-blinken/vi-AAXrCcw?category=foryou
Blinken on Zelenskyy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_9rwvTSOGk
Blinken on what does the State Department actually do, and why he is a rock star: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AFUBkjO0Wo
Each day of late I think why do not We The People file a Class Action Lawsuit against these politicians and against the Supreme Court. Who is set to adjudicate such a case? Currently it seems like the President is not allowed to even exist in his job because every single thing he does the Republicans go to court and the Republican dominated Supreme Court just overturns whatever he does. I think We The People need to sue the Republicans for undermining our system of government. And, I think it is time for Democrats to start openly saying that we will not accept any election in which Republicans just put Republicans in place, or deny Democrats opportunities to vote. We will sue and we should use the Republican playbook. No point in reinventing the wheel. We can take things up to the Supreme Court and if we do not like what the Supreme Court says we can deny it and get everyone saying this is not legitimate, just like the Republicans have been doing, only the difference is that we will be right. We can start off by saying STOP THE STEAL! Let us see how they handle that. I am advocating that everyone on this list serve put this right back in their faces, and in the words of John Lewis, make good trouble. We need to start doing it now, so that while they are all gathering all self assured in Hungary we are getting ready to salvage our democracy. We need to let them know that a government that the people do not accept as legitimate is not going to fly. What need to do what we should have done when Al Gore was deposed by the so called hanging chads. We should not accept anything that does not seem legitimate. Any state where they make laws that do not jibe with free and fair elections we need to take it to court. If they refuse then there is going to be massive non acceptance of the legitimacy of the government and there should be planning now on what that will look like. I am a big believer in contingency plans.
I think it is becoming plain as day now that, unless the January 6 committee public hearings make such huge waves that the corrupt Trump ship is capsized, the Republicans will wipe out our democracy. There will be several Trumpist Secretaries of State elected in a few purple states who will throw the election to their side. Lawsuits may be filed but anyone who trusts our current Supreme Court to maintain our democracy just has not been paying attention. And when angry progressive voters and Democrats scream about a stolen election the Republicans will just jeer. “Hey,” they will say, “where were you when we cried about our stolen election in 2020?” Unless the January 6th committee really has an impact, Democrats won’t have a powerful answer.
We can only hope that the Committee members can cut through the noise and figure out just how much of what these people are doing is based on their fanaticism and malevolence, and how much is intentional "culture jamming".
They're taking brutal advantage of our legal system's insistence on objectivity, and that forces the 'good guys' to consider their clown antics as gravely as they must those times when the clown pulled a knife and cut somebody. I just hope when this is all over that besides bringing these criminals to justice, that we learn how to proof our system aginst recurrances.
A good start beyond fixing Citizens United might be a hardened code of judicial ethics, along with specific punishments for political malpractice.
Thank you for this powerful letter Heather. I absolutely love some of the conversations today. Lately I've been trying to determine when America lost a shared sense of ethics, morals, and holding offenders accountable. Public schools are one issue. Teachers are paid so poorly and teaching to testing has been a failure. That there are so many who believe and support the lies astounds. Also, when athletes and ¨stars¨ have gotten away with cheating, lying, abusive behavior, many young people have begun to see that integrity and ethics don't matter. The Me Too movement finally began to hold abusers accountable around the world, but, in the U.S., that could change. Here in Europe many, many were shocked that America voted for Trump. And this, ¨Justice Thomas was apparently talking about the leak of the draft decision overturning Roe v. Wade when on May 6 he told a group of judges and lawyers that our justice system is in danger if people are unwilling to “live with outcomes we don’t agree with,” is the keg of dynamite we are sitting on now because it says what they all now believe. If they don't want it, they'll create their own and damn the rest of us because one of them became president of the United States and got away with every deadly sin. And grew richer while in office. I'm beginning to visualize the dissolution of the states and the creation of countries. California would be the 5th largest country in the world and would no longer have to support those poor Southern states where the worst offenders holding office reign. There is just nothing united about my country anymore, and if the democrats don't take the mid terms.......................................
How will we deal with the traitors of our country?
‘As the hearings on the events of January 6th and the attempt to overturn the 2020 election approach, the extent of the operation is becoming clearer.’ (Letter)
What followed was a parade of shady characters made smaller as their plans to overthrow the United States of America were described. Upon finishing it, the country’s founding documents, presidents and national holidays came to mind. But, no, I’ll begin at the beginning, instead, to see this band of traitors against the country’s earliest days.
‘1492: An Ongoing Voyage’
‘What Came To Be Called “America”
'By 1492 people had lived in the Western Hemisphere for tens of thousands of years. For much of this time it is believed that they experienced virtually no recorded, sustained contact with other parts of the world—Europe, Africa, or Asia.'
'Millions of people lived in an area some five times the size of Europe. In strikingly diverse habitats and climates they developed possibly the most varied and productive agriculture in the world. Their lifestyles and belief systems differed widely and they spoke hundreds of distinct languages.'
'Throughout the hemisphere, states and centers of high civilization had risen and fallen. The dynamic Mexica (Aztec) and Inca empires were still expanding at this time and internal migration and warfare were common. The peoples did not see themselves as part of an entity. Only later would this area be given a unifying name—America—and the people labeled “Indians” by Europe.'
'We have focused on five geographical areas of the region to represent the variety and complexity of peoples and cultures before 1492: the Caribbean, Middle America, the Andean region, the South Atlantic, and North America. In order to understand what came to be called America we are often dependent on European observations.'
https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/1492/america.html
'In late August, 1619, 20-30 enslaved Africans landed at Point Comfort, today's Fort Monroe in Hampton, Va., aboard the English privateer ship White Lion. In Virginia, these Africans were traded in exchange for supplies. Several days later, a second ship (Treasurer) arrived in Virginia with additional enslaved Africans. Both groups had been captured by English privateers from the Spanish slave ship San Juan Bautista. They are the first recorded Africans to arrive in England's mainland American colonies.'
'The landing of the first Africans in Virginia is one of the most significant events we interpret. Although English colonists in Virginia did not invent slavery, and the transition from a handful of bound African laborers to a legalized system of full-blown chattel slavery took many decades, 1619 marks the beginning of race-based bondage that defined the African American experience.'
https://hampton.gov/3580/The-1619-Landing-Report-FAQs
'The United States dates its origins to not one but two founding moments: the drafting of the Constitution in 1787 and the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. The foundation of the American government, its purpose, form, and structure, are in the Constitution of the United States. The Constitutional Convention adopted the Constitution on September 17, 1787.'
We formed a system of government with all the eligible members of a state, through elected representatives.
The Constitution of the United States is a document that serves as the fundamental law of the country. It established how the federal and state governments should be organized, and it guarantees a number of basic rights and liberties to American citizens.
The Bill of Rights is the first 10 Amendments to the Constitution. It spells out Americans’ rights in relation to their government. It guarantees civil rights and liberties to the individual—like freedom of speech, press, and religion. It sets rules for due process of law and reserves all powers not delegated to the Federal Government to the people or the States. And it specifies that “the enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.” There are 27 Constitutional Amendments in all. The 27th Amendment, which was originally proposed in 1789, was not ratified until 1992.'
The first three words of the Constitution are “We the People.” The document says that the people of the United States choose to create the government. “We the People” also explains that people elect representatives to make laws. This is a form of self-government.
https://www.usa.gov/history#:~:text=and%20Records%20Administration.-,U.S.%20Constitution,10%20amendments%20to%20the%20Constitution.
The United States of America has moved forward and backward in carrying out its obligations to these democratic principles. The band of traitors featured in today's Letter are a small number of the entire cast out to destroy all we have created in their own self interest. The BAND of TRAITORS are the enemies of 'we the people' -- enemies of all Americans and of our democracy.
These traitors think that they are not done with us, but, in truth, WE ARE NOT DONE WITH THEM.
If all of this wasn't so disturbing, it would be laughable. Eastman's defense, and those of others, defy logic. Were the coup perpetrators so drunk on their fervor for power and hatred of democracy that they believed none of this would ever come to light? If they weren't so dangerous they'd be seen as buffoons.
The facts are coming together. Only a fool argues with the Truth when it’s staring him in the face. Or one who believes he (or she) is above the Law. Todays letter gathers together facts that are backed by evidence. These fools are in our government. Or are wannabes. REPUGS. . They suffer from an ancient disease.
Diagnosis: HUBRIS
“English picked up both the concept of hubris and the term for that particular brand of cockiness from the ancient Greeks, who considered hubris a dangerous character flaw capable of provoking the wrath of the gods. In classical Greek tragedy, hubris was often a fatal shortcoming that brought about the fall of the tragic hero. Typically, overconfidence led the hero to attempt to overstep the boundaries of human limitations and assume a godlike status, and the gods inevitably humbled the offender with a sharp reminder of their mortality.”
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hubris
Hoping this Democracy can recover.
If you don’t already follow Seth Abramson, I recommend that you do so. He started writing about Ginni Thomas & her involvement in the January 6th insurrection on 01/30/22.
I’m hoping that the public hearings have an impact on those voters who lean conservative but don’t blindly follow Trump. The elections this year are key for the ability of Congress to dig deep & reveal the truth behind this attempt to overthrow our government.
The justification of the coup includes the complete demonization of the party of reason, the party that does not support an oligarchy / theocracy / authoritarian government. Nancy Pelosi has now been denied communion, as was Joe Biden previously, by the Catholic Church. Would that not make this church a political organization, thereby becoming ineligible for tax-exempt status? Because it seems to me the church is being pointedly political in choosing one “sin” for denying communion in a media blitz, and it’s not for actually having an abortion but for politically supporting a woman’s right to make that choice— what about divorce? Adultery? Sexual assault? Treason? Lying? Bullying? Theft? Deceptive business practices? Cheating? Ignoring the needs of the poor? Racism? Assault? Is communion denied for any of these sins, with an accompanying media blitz, with the goal of influencing elections? No. The church has grows more and more hollow with every such pronouncement, and meanwhile, our democracy is burning. As for our Supreme Court, I fear they are cheering for the arsonists.