SCOTUS – Page 2 – Politics Plus

Open Thread January 20, 2024

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:06 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jan 202024

Yesterday, I worked on educating myself for today’s opera – “Dead Man Walking” by Jake Heggie. Obviously it is based on the book, but has probably also taken a thing or two from the movie. The book was published in 1993, the movie produced in 1995, and the opera premiered in 2000. Considering all that, I’d say the Met was dragging its feet. And I’m not alone in that – because this season is being different. Thankfully. The book is purely non-fiction, and includes Sister Helen’s experiences with two death row inmates … and their families. For both the movie and the opera, these two men were conflated into one and given the name Joseph de Rocher, which is far from close to either real name.It struck me as interesting (probably meaningless) that at the premier in San Francisco Sister Helen was sung by Susan Graham and the convict’s mother by Frederica von Stade. In the 2023 Met production 23 years later, Susan Graham is singing the convict’s mother and Sister Helen portrayed by Joyce di Donato – she’s a trifle older than Graham was when she sang it, but she also has real experience working with convicts in at least one prison that I know of – Sing Sing in New York. This opera is set in the Louisiana State Penitentiary, which, if you are aware of it, it’s probably under another name – Angola. Wikipedia has a fairly detailed sumary, and I will probably keep it open while listening. It certainly doesn’t appear that the opera shies away from anything. And, as if to demonstrate that capital punishment is an issue which has not gone away, here is a petition written by Sister Helen herself, sponsored/promoted by Move On, with whom Robert Reich works so much.

I haven’t mentioned Loper Bright v. Raimondo yet, but you may have heard about it anyway. It’s been before the Supreme Court this week. If it is decided wrongly (and of course the crazy justices are leaning that way), regulatory agencies will not be allowed to regulate. I can hardly begin to describe how catastrophic that would be. Little Sammy is calling regulation “the administrative state” as if it were a bad thing. It actually isn’t – it’s far preferable to an “anarchic state,” which is what we are likely to get. This quote is from Wonkette’s newsletter , and is chock full of links to blogs by people who actually have the credentials to have opinions:

What smart things do we need to know about Loper Bright v. Raimondo (the Supreme Court case in which they’re probably about to ban “agencies doing regulations”) today? Here’s Madibe K. Dennie on Samuel Alito’s latest power grab disguised as a legal theory. (Balls and Strikes) Here’s Justice Kegs pretending not to understand that agencies have different policies during different administrations because voters chose a new administration to make different policy — plus some bullshit on the “major questions doctrine” (made up) and delegation. (Dorf on Law) The Only Republicans Are Allowed to Govern Doctrine. (Lawyers Guns & Money) Chris Geidner says it’s one of the most disingenuous arguments he’s ever seen. It must have been SOMETHING. (Law Dork)

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/no-labels-party-2024-presidential-ballot-access-effort-complaint/
Some people are saying that “No Labels” has lost, or is losing, it’s collective mind. Personally, I am not sure that No Labels has a mind to lose. It has made a complaint to DOJ with the premise that anyone who doesn’t want to see their candidate, whoever that may be (they don’t even have a clue yet), on the November ballot is part of a RICO conspiracy against them. The Justice Department has not yet responded. Hopefully someone will tell them that, because the Constitution directs them to, states have laws in place covering every aspect of elections, including who may and may not appear on the ballot, and that if the No Labels candidate doesn’t qualify, it is the duty of the state not to put them on it.

Open Thread January 17, 2024

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 5:48 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jan 172024

Yesterday, we received some unsurprising results from the Iowa Republican caucus (which they held on MLK Day, I presume because they don’t recognize it.) Of course the weather was not suchas to encourage participation … but those who think making Election Day a federal holiday will solve all ourtuenout problems might want to rethink that. Otherwise, the news today has for some reason given me this song (introduced by the Kingston Trio) as an earworm:

They’re rioting in Africa, they’re starving in Spain.
There’s hurricanes in Florida, and Texas needs rain.
The whole world is festering with unhappy souls.
The French hate the Germans, the Germans hate the Poles.
Italians hate Yugoslavs, South Africans hate the Dutch.
And I don’t like anybody very much!

Now here’s something to save and share. Blue Voters Guide is a non-profit which analyzes elections all over the country for you, so that if there’s some candidate you haven’t heard of – or for your friends who are wellintentioned but don’t follow politics – you will always be able to find out who is blue. 41 states have primaries scheduled between now and about June. Right now the guide for Colorado’s March 5 Presidential primary is pretty simple – though you’d be amazed by the length of the list of rag-tag nobodies who are running against Joe Biden. But later in the year we’ll have primaries for candidates for the House of Representatives and possibly for the Colorado House and the Colorado Senate, and who knows what. It probably won’t cover school board elections, which is IMO what we need the most at this time, but with enough support, it might be able to get there. In any case, I’m sure we all know someone (or someones) who could benefit from it. This information is courtesy of Robert Hubbell on Substack, whom I occasionally quote.

Joyce Vance’s “tomorrow” is now “today.” So it’s happening now. And it’s important enough that Robert Reich also addresses it, possibly even more starkly. So I’m providing both links, you can read or skim one or both. I expect eveeryone here can put their mind back to the days when we had rivers burning – and lakes full of dead fish – and that just scratches the surface. I don’t know whether this is accurate, but someone in a comment over at Crooks & Liars said that ancient Sumeria lasted for 3000 years. From the beginning, they had a legal system which protected the poor and weak and there were strict legal punishments for breaking those laws. But, every 300 years or so, the laws had been strayed from, but they had a king who brought the country into line with “the old laws.” We will be celebrating 250 years in just two years. (If it were up to me I would date our existence as a country from April 30, 1789, when George Washington took office and set the Constitution in motion, but no one asked me. And maybe I’m being unfair to the Articles fof Confederation which were the stopgap – but I don’t think so.)

Personal Update December 19, 2023

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 10:25 am Politics

Dec 192023

I’m having issues getting my HSA moved to a new provider, and with it I’m having issues keeping my part D on track. I think the Part D is resolved now, but the HSA is going to require a phone call and they say the best times to call are Wednesday and Thursday afternoons. (The Part D required a phone call too, but I was able to make an online appointment with them to call me, which they did.)

I realize this article, with all the comments, is basically an echo chamber of random people who belong to Democratic Underground. But it’s an echo chamber I agree with on almost every point.

This article, on the other hand, is the product of informed analysis and should you happen to be talking to anyone who is rational could be very helpful.

Here is Beau with some reporting from Pro Publica. He says it will get picked up widely, and this is already starting.

God, how I miss real journalism! Yes, ProPublica does it, and they do it well, and I’m grateful to them for it. But I still miss being able to count on it – being able to read a newspaper for facts – or turn on the TV and see Walter Cronkite or Edward R. Murrow and be confident the reporting had been researched and confirmed – and in the rare instance something did slip through, there would be retractions and apologies. Remember those days?

Personal Update 11/17/ 23 – First Full Day Home

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 3:42 pm Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Nov 172023

So, first full day home amd I am grumpy as a grinch. No one’s fault (unless there are some kind of gremllins that are in charge of these things.) And it’s a story going back to 1976, when , newly out of the Marine Corps, I sprained my ankle. Of course I used “RICE” and eventually it stopped hurting – until the late 1990s, when it started to notify me that I had osteoarthritis there. That was when I started using a cane. I would not call that a flare-up – just a more or less constant annoyance which gradually eased off. I didn’t forget about the sprain, because it had affected the angle of the left foot a little, as well as the configuration of the arch area (which is a story in itself, but not for now), which were always reminders, but I had forgotten about the pain – until today, when I woke up with a full-blown flare-up – along with my usual back pain, which is on the right side. Suddenly, when neither leg is weightbearing, using a walker wasn’t so easy any more. Normally I ise the TENS in the den (at the opposite end of the house from the bedroom) but I wasn’t going to get there without something giving. Fortunately I remembered I had taken a spare TENS to the bedroom ages ago – the pads were smaller than I use on my back (they were intended for my shoulder) and the TENS had gottn unplugged from the charger somehow (fortunately there was enough charge to get me vertical) so I made it to the den, getting ice for the ankle along the way, so I’m much more comfortable now. Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean the flareup won’t be back tomorrow morning, and the next morning, and the morning after that, for up to four weeks. I did get a new wheelchair ordered, the samre make and model I have been using to visit Virgil, but one size smaller because doors (and just enough weight loss to fit comfortably),but that was about it. I did note that, one day after SCOTUS adopted a “Code of Ethics, ” pundits are saying it is about as efficacious as a paper parasol in a hurricane – which was what I had guessed, and y’all had probably also guessed.

I shall now leave the “den” (and therefore the good computer) for the living room for a while, and attempt to find some things that I know I packed to come home with me – so they must be somewhere – but I haven’t figured out where yet. Wish me luck!

Open Thread October 4, 2023

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:01 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Oct 042023

Yesterday, Trump** exhausted the patience of Judge Arthur Engoron by doxing his clerk, getting her name right, but calling her “Chuck Schumer’s girfriend,” which was and is a lie. Unfortunately, the gag order Engoron issued appears to only apply to mmembers of the judge’s staff. But it is something. Also, from Beau of the Fifth Column (I won’t post the video), if you have a second phone or any phone for your personal safety which other members of your family, or people who live with you, do not and must not know about, the Emergency Alert System today is runing a test which is likely to reveal it unless you turn it off – not on silent, but completely powered off. The test will be run in the time frame of 2:20-2:50 pm Eastern (11:20-11:50 am Pacific). Noone else (except perhaps someone who has such a phone for illegal reasons) needs to worry. If you need to know more, here’s the link. Also, McCarthy was ousted as Speaker – and says he will not run for that position again. I never quite know what to do when most people are breaking out the popcorn – I guess knitting would be the closest thing for me. But I’ll have to do it. This is going to be – interesting.

Cartoon – 04 new OrientX

Short Takes –

Civil Discourse – Looking Ahead: The Supreme Court
Quote – While the Court has come a long way from its earlier incarnations, with women and people of color now among its ranks, this is going to be a challenging term. It starts off with a bang, in a case called Consumer Financial Protection Bureau v. Community Financial Services Association that will be argued on Tuesday, October 3. You may recall Elizabeth Warren’s tireless work before she became a senator to create a federal agency that would protect consumers from powerful financial interests that were unregulated and under-regulated. That’s the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), an agency that protects students, military families, people doing business with payday lenders, and so much more. The CFPB has been in existence for just over 12 years and has done profoundly impactful work in that time to make sure Americans are treated fairly by banks, lenders and other financial institutions. But now, powerful forces who encouraged Republican senators to deny Warren the opportunity to lead the agency she worked so hard to create—she was nominated but the Senate refused to confirm her—are trying to put an end to the CFPB altogether. The legal issue is a technical one about whether the funding mechanism used for the CFPB, which is somewhat different from the usual path than for most federal agencies, is unconstitutional.
Click through for column. Yes, it came Sunday, and this is Wednesday, but they are hardly even getting into their stride yet. I think it’s pretty current – and some of it is future anyway.

Wonkette – NC Classical Station Scandalized By Operas About Anti-Death Penalty Nuns, Gay People, Malcolm X
Quote – A classical music station in North Carolina, WCPE, has announced that it will not be airing several of the Met’s productions this season, citing violence, adult themes (largely code for “gay people” or “racism, but not the kind of racism that is usual for the genre”) and, in one case, being “non-Biblical.” The stations general manager, Deborah S. Proctor sent out a letter explaining this to its patrons in late August…. Champion (which I look forward to seeing this year at the Lyric), is Terence Blanchard’s “opera in jazz,” telling the true life story of bisexual welterweight boxer Emile Griffith, who notably killed his rival Benny Paret in the ring, after the homophobic boxer had taunted him with anti-gay slurs. It’s an incredible composition — and it would be one thing if it were just an issue with the language, with not wanting to broadcast swear words on their classical music station, but Proctor’s suggestion that it’s an “unsuitable theme”? It’s pretty clear what that’s about…. Um. This woman runs a classical music station. Has she not heard of Tosca? I mean, I love Tosca, but there’s a whole lot of rape, murder and torture in that one as well. Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro, which the station did decide to broadcast this year, is literally a comedy about a woman and her fiancé trying to trick her boss into not raping her before she gets married…. Dead Man Walking is, actually, the story of Sister Helen Prejean, a Catholic nun and anti-death penalty activist. The story of a Catholic nun is just too racy for Deborah.
Click through – I just had to share this. I like to say that opera is all about sex (including rape, adultery, and incest), death (including murder, both with and without torture, and suicide), treachery and betrayal – what is there about it not to like? (And I might add child endangerment, as in Hänsel und Gretel, for instance.) What they don’t like is pretty much everything that has me excited about the season. Sigh. I would love to publicize all over North Carolina that you don’t need a local radio station to listen to the Met’s Saturday Matinees for free. You can do it on the Internet.

Food For Thought

Open Thread September 2, 2023

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:03 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Sep 022023

Yesterday, Mary Trump (Mary L. Trump, to distinguish her from her grandmother) wrote about the Supreme Court, in an essay on Substack she calls “The Lowest Court, Part 2.” She remarks, not just on the ethics issues, but on the contempt shown by the court for the people, which really is reminiscent of France before the Revolution. If you were to tell me that Alito, or Kavanaugh, or even Roberts had said “Let them eat cake,” I’d probably believe it. If you want to look deeper, here’s the link – just remember to look for the “continue reading” and click it.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

HuffPost – Biden Administration Reveals First 10 Drugs For Medicare Price Negotiation
Quote – All told, the 10 drugs on the list accounted for $50.5 billion in total spending in Medicare’s outpatient prescription drug program for the period between June 1, 2022, and May 31, 2023, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. That’s about one-fifth of what the program, known as Part D, spent on all prescription drugs during that period. The announcement represents the first step in a process set to unfold over the coming year, with the government collecting data and public input, and then exchanging price offers with manufacturers over how much Medicare will pay for the named drugs.
Click through for details. Not surprisingly, the article bears the subtitle “It’s the first step in a process that will mean lower prices in 2026 ― unless the drug industry and its allies find a way to block it.”

The Daiy Beast – How One Citizen Fought Back Against a Cop’s Road Rage
Quote – While driving home in his Ford Mustang, [New Mexico motorist Mario Rosales] legally passed a pickup truck, and the other driver started tailgating him. Road rage can be deadly, so Rosales grew concerned. No matter which way he went, the truck stayed in his rearview mirror. Rosales eventually reached his home in Roswell, New Mexico, hoping the truck would keep going. Instead, the vehicle blocked Rosales in his driveway, and the stranger behind the wheel started yelling and cursing at him. At this point Rosales was not just concerned. He was scared for himself and his family members in the house.
Click through for the story, which has a happy ending – this time – finally. Too many do not.

Food For Thought

Video Thread 7/31/2023

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 12:03 pm Open Thread, Politics

Jul 312023

Glenn Kirschner – Trump indicted again; CNN defamation suit dismissed; Georgia preparing to indict. SO MUCH LOSING!

The Lincoln Project – DeSantis Trade School

This ad, made by Eric Swalwell, is only on TwitterX by itself. I have cut evrything before it starts, but I don’t have edit privileges to cut after it stops.
MSNBC – Swalwell – “We’re going to call you a creep.”

Farron Balanced – Biblical Plagues Descend Upon Republican Controlled Florida

When Everyone Else Gave Up On This Pittie, This Guy Didn’t (“This Guy” – Luke – may be the real Wizard of Oz.)

Beau – Let’s talk about Alabama and SCOTUS….

Open Thread July 28, 2023

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:00 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jul 282023

Yesterday, a hot topic was “many people are saying” that Mark Meadows has already flipped on Trump**. This mostly on the basis of his demeanor. But it shouldn’t be all that hard to prove or disprove – just find out who hired his lawyers. Also, I received a breaking news alert from Axios with the subject line “White House rules out pardon for Hunter Biden.” Well, duh. Because that’s what people who believe in accountability do. But what do you want to bet Rethuglicans scream just as loudly over this as if he had done the opposite. And one more thing – everyone discussing Mitch McConnell’s awkward moment is talking about strokes or TIAs. But Robert Reich’s theory is a petit mal seizure. It happened to him once, years ago now, and that’s how he was diagnosed. It seems unusual for a person with no history of epilepsy to have one little seizure and then no more, but apparently it happens more often than anyone but a specialist would imagine.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

https://joycevance.substack.com/p/on-being-wrong
Civil Discourse with Joyce Vance – On Being Wrong
Quote – The hearing turned out to be anything but a formality. It was more of a debacle, although I suspect that ultimately, the issues that emerged today will get resolved and a guilty plea will go forward. During the hearing, the plea deal between the United States and Hunter Biden was on again and off again, like a ping pong ball being batted back and forth. By the end of the hearing, it was off, at least for now. Hunter Biden’s plea remained one of “not guilty.” The Judge gave the parties 30 days to try and work it out. When a plea deal breaks down in court, it is almost always because a defendant doesn’t want to have to acknowledge, in front of friends and family, the crime or crimes they committed…. But that’s not what Hunter Biden’s situation is about. There seem to be two rather confusing issues that led to the derailment of the agreement.
Click through for full article. This happened on Wednesday, and today is Friday, and I expect eveyone’s heard it happened, but maybe not all the details. This really is very unusual. (Don’t forget to click “Continue Reading”)

Will Alabama be allowed to defy the Supreme Court?

The Hill – Will Alabama be allowed to defy the Supreme Court?
Quote – As for flaunting her state’s defiance of the law, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey added insult to injury when she tweeted, “The Legislature knows our state, our people, and our districts better than the federal courts …” Such contempt for courts is in service of national GOP power. Alabama journalist Brian Lyman reported that House Speaker Kevin McCarthy had told state Rep. Brian Livingston, the map’s sponsor, “I’m interested in keeping my majority.” Meaning that the House GOP’s narrow, five-seat majority is at risk in 2024, and McCarthy can’t afford to lose a seat in Alabama to a second all-Black district.
Click through for full opinion. It appears we are approaching a moment of truth – one way or the other.

Food For Thought

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