It’s another busy Wednesday. I lay down after finishing my research this morning. I have a grocery delivery coming this afternoon, and I have to unpack and put them away. Later, Wendy is coming to wash the TomCat, do some light cleaning and have dinner. I made a one-day chili for us this morning, so we can send a double green cloud after the Squatch. 
Happy hump day to all!!
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:52 (average 5:51). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From CCR (Hat-Tip JL A, who sent me an email about it): Today, nearly 14 years after the case began, the Supreme Court granted John Ashcroft and other Bush-era government officials’ requests to review CCR’s class action challenge to the post-9/11 immigration detentions. In Turkmen v. Ashcroft, the Supreme Court will directly confront, for the first time, whether the Constitution guarantees non-citizens the right to sue cabinet-level officials for clearly unconstitutional discrimination and abuse in a US prison.
In some ways, the answer seems obvious. In the wake of the 9/11 attacks, hundreds of Muslim, Arab, and South Asian men were arrested on civil immigration charges and treated as suspected terrorists based on nothing more than their race and religion. As a panel of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals explained last year, “detaining individuals as if they were terrorists, in the most restrictive conditions of confinement available, simply because these individuals were, or appeared to be, Arab or Muslim exceeds [constitutional] limits. It might well be that national security concerns motivated the Defendants to take action, but that is of little solace to those who felt the brunt of that decision. The suffering endured by those who were imprisoned merely because they were caught up in the hysteria of the days immediately following 9/11 is not without a remedy.”
And yet. Ashcroft, along with former-FBI director Robert Mueller, and former-INS Commissioner James Ziglar, are arguing that non-citizens injured in the name of national security, and pursuant to high-level policy, should not even be allowed in the courthouse door. A doctrine called “qualified immunity” already provides these Government actors with substantial protection, allowing them to be held personally liable only if they are shown to have violated clearly established law about which any reasonable official would have known. These defendants want more. Represented by the current Solicitor General of the United States, former government officials are asking the Supreme Court to grant them the right to violate clearly established constitutional rights at will. Perhaps even more troubling, they are also arguing that it is not clearly established that our Constitutional guaranty of equal protection prohibits the government from placing people in the most restrictive conditions of confinement that exist in the federal prison system based only on their race, religion, ethnicity and national origin, while knowing there is no non-discriminatory reason to suspect them of ties to terrorism.
In my opinion, the Republicans that committed this war crime should be convicted both civilly and criminally. This case also shows how important it is to have Supreme Court vacancies filled by Clinton, not Trump. Trump Injustices would criminalize refraining from committing war crimes.
From TPM: Four former contestants in the 1997 Miss Teen USA pageant told Buzzfeed News that Donald Trump walked into the dressing room while they were changing clothes.
"I remember putting on my dress really quick because I was like, ‘Oh my god, there’s a man in here,’" Mariah Billado, former Miss Vermont Teen USA, told Buzzfeed News.
Billado said that Trump said something along the lines of, "Don’t worry, ladies, I’ve seen it all before," when he walked into the room.
As Buzzfeed News noted, girls as young as 15 competed in the pageant, and contestants told Buzzfeed that the dressing rooms were typically open spaces without barriers shielding them while they changed clothes.
Three other former contestants in the Miss Teen USA pageant confirmed to Buzzfeed News that Trump walked into the dressing room, but they asked to not be named. One former contestant said that Trump’s decision to enter the dressing room was "shocking" and "creepy," according to Buzzfeed News.
We now have enough Republican smoking guns to start WWIII.
From NY Times: With early voting already underway in many of the states that will decide the presidency, Hillary Clinton is beginning to reap the benefits of years of Democratic efforts to target and register voters, even as Republicans steadily close their disadvantage in party registration.
The first wave of data from states like Florida and North Carolina shows preliminary signs that Mrs. Clinton was building a slight edge even before the revelation that Donald J. Trump had bragged about sexual assault roiled the race.
The closer we get to election day, the more news of this kind we will get. We must not allow complacency to set in.
Cartoon:
15 Responses to “Open Thread – 10/12/2016”
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4:37 Looks more like cookies to me, actually. Either way, lots of sugar.
My, it's a week for greeting cards!
Hillary birthday: http://signforgood.com/smp-clinton-birthday/
Thanks Obama: http://go.traindemocrats.org/page/s/thank-obama-2
CCR – Wow. The first place my eye went was to the previous decision, because that's what it will revert to if they are deadlocked, and I would expect a deadlock on this. As far as vacancies needing to filled by Clinton, not Trump – you are preaching to the choir here, yet it can hardly be said too often or too loudly.
TPM – And now, years later, these poor women are again being triggered to re-live the assault (plus triggers aren't picky about what they trigger; who knows how many other assaults they are re-living?) I can't help thinking they are heroes for coming forward.
NY Times – The presidential forecast is up again at Daily Kos, but the Senate forecast is DOWN – two days ago it was 55%, yesterday 57%, today back to 55%.
NO COMPLACENCY!
VOTE BLUE ALL THE WAY!
Cartoon – Of course they did. And of course Doug Lamborn says "Congressman Lamborn Stands With Israel." I'm not going to quote the email, I don't want to be responsible for barf. Anyone who cares to can probably find it at his shamelessly self-puffing website.
Stay strong, VOTE,don't get complacent
Both cards signed
CCR: Horrible. What a travesty of justice! for those charged and treated as terrorists based on ethnicity & religion. I hope that the SCOTUS finds this in favor of these men. They certainly deserve better!!
TPM: Glad to read of these brave women courageously stepping forward to tell their stories.
Cartoon: A very tragic day.
Chili sounds good for a green cloud. Enjoy your evening, take care, and Thanks, Tom.
A green cloud sounds good if you're not in the direct line of fire!
I thought the prevailing wonds were easterly, which would send the cloud to Oregon Trumpland. I know we say here Colorado is windy because Utah blows and Kansas sucks.
CCR: The Bush associates ought to be punished to the full extent of the law, one of their favorite sayings, I would believe.
TPM: I hope this gets major circulation! What scuz!!! So, he's not just a scuz, but aIl but a pedophile. I was behind a car with a particular set of bumper stickers, last night. One was "I'm Catholic, and I vote." The other was "Trump." I have to wonder whether, or not, the owner still feels that way, and if he/she does, how she/he, or anyone who identifes as Catholic, or, an adherent of any "maineline" religion, can justify that pairing!
What a pair of bumper stickers. I wonder what that person's take is on pedophile priests!
Puzzle — 4:06 Too much sugar for me! Enjoy!
CCR — "…arguing that non-citizens injured in the name of national security, and pursuant to high-level policy, should not even be allowed in the courthouse door. … asking the Supreme Court to grant them the right to violate clearly established constitutional rights at will." — Under the UN Convention Against Torture (signed by the US 18/04/1988 and ratified 21/10/1994) and other international human rights declarations, Ashcroft would appear to be wrong. IMO, they are wrong and should be held accountable. Further, being given the right to violate at will makes a mockery of the idea of innocent until proven guilty.
TPM — In a comment Drumpf made about entering the dressing rooms of beauty pageants, he said "he owned the pageant and therefore he could enter at any time". Drumpf has no sense of the right of others to their own dignity. It sounds a lot like the rights that slave owners took — a slave was classified as property; these young women were considered his property by Drumpf. Seems in keeping with Republican the war on women.
NY Times —
DO NOT BE COMPLACENT!
GET OUT THE VOTE!
VOTE BLUE ALL DOWN THE TICKET!!!
YOUR LIFE DEPENDS ON IT!!!
Cartoon — I'm just wondering what the event is —- USS Cole was in Aden when it was attacked 12/10/2000 by Al Qaeda, and the USS Liberty was attacked by Israel on 09/06/1967?
Nice try with the green cloud but it missed!!! We have rain and wind tonight! You missed but I heard someone east of here is pissed off about the cloud. I'm already sick with the sinus infection so I don't need any of your "gifts". BTW, anti biotics are definitely helping although I seem to still need a lot of sleep. It is much easier to tolerate light and I can wear my glasses now without getting headaches.
CCR: I agree with your assessment. If they can do this to anyone they choose, none of us have any rights. My brother in law, who has brown eyes, continually says "They will go after the blue eyed people next" and he is right. Where would it end if our government is allowed to do this to ANYONE they perceive as dangerous? I seriously doubt that any of the Republicans involved in the heinous act will ever be charged.
TPM: I watched RAchel Madow and Lawrence O'Donnell tonight, and they covered this subject. He is such a vile person, yet so many women keep defending him. Makes me wonder about their sanity and self respect.
NY Times: We cannot be complacent, we all need to vote and VOTE BLUE!
I came across this a few minutes ago. I hope Drumpf's supporters take his advice and vote on 28/11/16.
http://www.reuters.com/video/2016/10/12/trump-urges-supporters-to-vote-on-wrong?videoId=370117640&videoChannel=1003&channelName=Politics
Yes, well, that's his court date. Apparently it's more to the front of his mind than the election is.
Make sure Wendy's not going to perfume you with that green cloud of chili, TomCat, nor you yourself. That would be such a waste of a nice shower.
CCR: A SCOTUS ruling in favor of the defendants based on the argument that your Constitutional guaranty of equal protection doesn't necessarily prohibit a government from locking up people any way they want for whatever reason they want, will have dire consequences right now, especially for those living in or visiting a red state, but is a nuclear health hazard should Drumpf get elected. SCOTUS couldn't do him a bigger favor by supporting his dictatorship by allowing the Constitution to be eroded this way.
TPM: We already knew he likes his women young: whenever the current wife gets too old, she's traded in for a newer model. And the photographs with his teenage daughter on his lap have been circulating for the best part of the year now. So why are Republicans so shocked? Could it be that, despite the seemingly unlimited capacity of garbage they can swallow, this finally was the last straw (or the drop that made the bucket flow over, as we say)?
NYT: News here is that some Republicans who had "denounced" Drumpf after the tapes came out are now endorsing him again because they're afraid Drumpf will personally (Twitter) attack them to make his Voters retaliate at the down-ballot elections and not vote for them. With nearly a month to go it certainly isn't smart for Democrats to get complacent now: get those votes out.
So, that was the October 12th surprise… wonder what today's October surprise will be? Heh Naturally, Trump reacts with threats of lawsuits and lies. He was a dirty old man at 60 and he's still a dirty old man. The only real question is whether those who crept away and then crept back will now creep away again…
You've made me hungry for chili, TC….
Trump was a "dirty old man" well before he turned 60. I think he has always been a "dirty
oldmiddle ageyoung. . . er man"Thanks all! Hugs!!
The green cloud is empowered with sccret Squatch seeking.