SOMEBODY PUT THAT ALEPH BACK ON HIS FOREHEAD THIS INSTANT
I am seriously considering asking the university for permission. (I don't think I should graffiti one of their most recognizable monuments otherwise.) Even as a symbolic gesture, it feels better than doing nothing.
It seems that so many countries- yours, mine, so many others, are heading in a direction which looks awfully like a form of national socialism in the broadest sense of that term. :o(
It seems that so many countries- yours, mine, so many others, are heading in a direction which looks awfully like a form of national socialism in the broadest sense of that term.
It is certainly fascism. It is certainly authoritarianism. I continue to feel that to call it American Nazism shortchanges how much of it is not only homegrown but derived from the built-in levers of this country (remember the Confederate flags at Charlottesville—we did not need to import those from the Third Reich, which took so many of its cues from American institutional racism in the first place), but I don't feel the comparisons are inapt.
Why couldn't the guy have just hung in there another couple of years...
I get paranoid in a political climate like this. I start wondering if he just didn't care what happened to his country, or if maybe he was told that retirement would be good for his health. I know the former is more likely, because a surprising number of people have turned out not to care so long as they die with the most toys, but now I worry about Ginsburg and Sotomayor and Kagan. Even sticking around still 2019 would have been less "dump kerosene on the Constitution, flick a match as you walk away."
It just seems so monumentally selfish. "More time with my family" F- you dude; hope you enjoy yourself. And yeah, poor Ruth Bader "never mind my cancer, I'm not gonna die I promise" Ginsburg.
I’ve seen other people noting this today and claiming the Democratic presidents try to install Chief Justices with, y’know, actual large quantities of experience whereas the Republicans put in ones who’ll toe the party line for as many decades to come as possible...
Oh that's interesting. Because the Wiki page has their age at nomination and who nominated them:
Roberts - 50, W Kennedy - 51, Reagan Thomas - 43 (!!), W Sr RBG - 60, Clinton Breyer - 55, Clinton Alito - 55, W Sotomayor - 55, Obama Kagan - 50, Obama Gorsuch - 49, Cheetolini
(Scalia was 50, O'Connor 51 and Rehnquist 62 when they were nominated by Reagan.)
So it looks like no Democrat nominated someone under 50 (take Kagan out and that goes up to 55) and no Republican nominated someone over 55, or over 60 if you take out Rehnquist).
The one after him is CLARENCE THOMAS, BARF, and then RBG. That's a whole lot of institutional knowledge and experience going with Kennedy, even if he was a fucking coward at the end.
Merrick Garland fits the Dem pattern, he was 63 when Obama nominated him.
There was an analyst on Maddow last night who described Kennedy's opinion on the Muslim ban ruling as 'tortured,' and he voted consistently against the liberal bloc this year. I honestly think he looked ahead, saw years of total combat and feeling like he should vote what he thinks is the law one way, and his conscience another, and just quit. He never liked being the swing vote, and he didn't want to go down in history as a secret liberal.
What REALLY sucks is Trump is saying they'll have a candidate 'immediately' and McConnell says they will vote on it.
Senator Mitch McConnell quickly promised on Wednesday a Senate vote on a new Supreme Court nominee by the fall, and Democrats will have little power to prevent confirmation of President Trump’s choice on their own.
“The Senate stands ready to fulfill its constitutional role by offering advice and consent on President Trump’s nominee to fill this vacancy,” Mr. McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the majority leader, said after Justice Anthony Kennedy announced his retirement. “We will vote to confirm Justice Kennedy’s successor this fall.”
That makes me so angry and hopeless it feels like I'm going nuts.
Even worse, I read an article which quoted some Joe McCarthy Blow from a conservative think tank or something and he was all, "Well this is what the people who hated voting for Trump but did it voted for. They wanted the judiciary. It's going to energize them for the midterms because nothing unites the Republicans like the judiciary." And I'm just like, we're all fucked, because that's completely true; I think it was Boehner (not sure) who said "Hold your nose and think of the Supreme Court." They've apparently just gone insane at the rights given to people who aren't straight cis white men since the 1960s, IDEFK, and want to undo them all, completely. It's like having a black man be President -- a GOOD President despite their complete unwillingness to help or even work with him -- drove them out of their horrible little minds.
That kind of White Rage is animating some of these people. Dammit.
For all his flaws, Obama would still make a good Prime Minister if he ever moved up here to Canada and made a go of it. Most of us, I suspect, would be glad to have him.
This is so amazingly bad I don't even know how to react to it really. Well, I kind of want to see Kennedy hit by lightning, but I don't think that would improve anything.
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I am seriously considering asking the university for permission. (I don't think I should graffiti one of their most recognizable monuments otherwise.) Even as a symbolic gesture, it feels better than doing nothing.
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It is certainly fascism. It is certainly authoritarianism. I continue to feel that to call it American Nazism shortchanges how much of it is not only homegrown but derived from the built-in levers of this country (remember the Confederate flags at Charlottesville—we did not need to import those from the Third Reich, which took so many of its cues from American institutional racism in the first place), but I don't feel the comparisons are inapt.
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Trump is no sort of socialist but then, neither was Hitler.
Mussolini, on the other hand........
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I get paranoid in a political climate like this. I start wondering if he just didn't care what happened to his country, or if maybe he was told that retirement would be good for his health. I know the former is more likely, because a surprising number of people have turned out not to care so long as they die with the most toys, but now I worry about Ginsburg and Sotomayor and Kagan. Even sticking around still 2019 would have been less "dump kerosene on the Constitution, flick a match as you walk away."
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John Roberts (Chief Justice AUGH) - 63
Kennedy - 81
Thomas - 70
RBG - 85
Breyer - 79
Alito - 68
Sotomayor - 64
Kagan - 58
Gorsuch - FIFTY
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I freely admit my bias.
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Roberts - 50, W
Kennedy - 51, Reagan
Thomas - 43 (!!), W Sr
RBG - 60, Clinton
Breyer - 55, Clinton
Alito - 55, W
Sotomayor - 55, Obama
Kagan - 50, Obama
Gorsuch - 49, Cheetolini
(Scalia was 50, O'Connor 51 and Rehnquist 62 when they were nominated by Reagan.)
So it looks like no Democrat nominated someone under 50 (take Kagan out and that goes up to 55) and no Republican nominated someone over 55, or over 60 if you take out Rehnquist).
What also sucks is if I'm reading this right Kennedy is the one with the most seniority on the court https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_Supreme_Court_Justices_by_time_in_office
The one after him is CLARENCE THOMAS, BARF, and then RBG. That's a whole lot of institutional knowledge and experience going with Kennedy, even if he was a fucking coward at the end.
Merrick Garland fits the Dem pattern, he was 63 when Obama nominated him.
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I am still angry about Garland and I expect to be for a long, long, long time.
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What REALLY sucks is Trump is saying they'll have a candidate 'immediately' and McConnell says they will vote on it.
Senator Mitch McConnell quickly promised on Wednesday a Senate vote on a new Supreme Court nominee by the fall, and Democrats will have little power to prevent confirmation of President Trump’s choice on their own.
“The Senate stands ready to fulfill its constitutional role by offering advice and consent on President Trump’s nominee to fill this vacancy,” Mr. McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the majority leader, said after Justice Anthony Kennedy announced his retirement. “We will vote to confirm Justice Kennedy’s successor this fall.”
That makes me so angry and hopeless it feels like I'm going nuts.
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Being an open liberal would have been better.
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For all his flaws, Obama would still make a good Prime Minister if he ever moved up here to Canada and made a go of it. Most of us, I suspect, would be glad to have him.
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It looks like it may have been common or garden bribery after all.
Feh.
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Lightning and meteor are my preferred forms of exit for political figures these days. Acts of God, locusts optional.
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Yes. Some things are bad enough to blot the rest out.