Saturday, October 2, 2021

The Supreme Court's Grift Is Making It Easier For The GOP To Strike Down Fair Election Results

The Supreme Court is involved in a right-wing grift which aims to upset duly elected politicians, and to water down our voting rights to favor Republicans in upcoming elections.

Simply put, the ultra-conservative Federalist Society has stacked the court with Trump and McConnell's help. The Big Goal - spawned from the Big Lie -has been to undermine our electoral system, which in turn undermines democracy. 

The beginning of the end of justice in the highest court of the land can be traced to McConnell's obstruction of Merrick Garland while Obama was still in office.

But it was Trump who installed the partisan trio during his regime (Gorsuch, Barrett, and Kavanaugh), who paved the way towards this current corrupt court.

For example, Neil Gorsuch has launched direct attacks on the free press - an institution that is essential to any democracy. He, along with Clarence Thomas, have explicitly called on the court to strip away First Amendment rights from journalists.

I still remember when Gorsuch went on a "thank you tour" rewarding Republican officials and activists who gave him the lifetime job. 

After a couple of speeches at Trump's hotel in DC and another one at the University of Louisville's McConnell Center, he took a victory lap at the Federalist Society's annual convention.

Brett Kavanaugh shouldn't have been appointed, but Trump and cronies hid the salacious episodes in his past during a hurried confirmation.

In addition, evidence has just surfaced that Kavanaugh lied repeatedly under oath to the US Senate Judiciary Committee in his 2004 and 2006 confirmation hearings to serve on the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit and in his 2018 confirmation hearing to serve on the Supreme Court.

I find it amusing and disgusting that these same judicial grifters are complaining about the media that's been discovering how corrupt they are.

As for the American public, the Supreme Court is being viewed as a partisan GOP flunky willing to overturn long-established laws to please Trump and his crooked cohorts. It's never polled lower than it does today.

Disapproval of the high court just hit a new high of 53 percent. The recent plunging approval for the court comes on the heels of controversial "shadow docket" emergency rulings - without hearings or significant internal argument.

The plain fact is not since Bush v. Gore has the public perception of the court's legitimacy seemed so seriously threatened.

Thursday, September 30, 2021

As The Stomach Turns: Republican Rhetorical Games Keep Setting New Lows

There's no middle ground anymore.

Either you make apologies for the Big Lie and minimize the insurrection, or you recognize the fact that Trump almost pulled off a coup and is still trying to derail democracy.

This latest game of seeing how low the Republican party can go has reached a fever pitch.

By trying to claim the assault on the Capitol was nothing more than patriots protesting, the GOP has descended into another reality benefiting a faded reality star who won't admit he lost the 2020 election.

When you hear Republicans use words like "integrity," it simply means the opposite of the commonly held definition in American English.

Make no mistake, those rhetorical games are precursors to try and steal the next election.

The sniveling cowards in the party think Trump will steal the next election, opening the door to plundering the government if they stay loyal. 

Trump's minions will continue to gaslight, deflect, and outright lie about what happened on Jan. 6 because they don't have a problem with having a dictator in charge of the nation.

Fascism has grown like malignant mushrooms during Trump's regime. 

The GOP's embrace of authoritarian leadership should be enough to turn any real American's stomach that believe in freedom and democracy.

The only way to defeat Trump (again) and the lowlifes that crawl behind him, is with the truth and hard facts. We'll be seeing both in the days ahead as the House Select Committee on Jan. 6 exposes the scheme to overthrow our government.

Wednesday, September 29, 2021

The Good News and the Bad News About Everything


Let' start with some good news:

Scientists found a new species of lizard (left) in Peru, and promptly named it a tongue-twister; the Lioaemus warjantay. Anytime there's a new species discovered its a plus for researchers.

On the flip side:

Say goodbye to the ivory-billed woodpecker, along with 22 other species of birds, fish, mussels and other wildlife that have been officially declared extinct. 

Under Good News:

The Pope set a good example for millions of Catholics by getting vaccinated and encouraging others to do the same.

The Bad News:

Unvaccinated healthcare worker called the Pope a "hypocritefor getting the shot.

Some Good News:

No one in America has died of rabies in over 70 years.

On The Flip Side:

An Illinois man was bitten by a rabid bat last month...and died.

Under Good News:

YouTube is cracking down on the numerous anti-vaccine videos on it's platform by banning major accounts. #1 internet anti-vaxer Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is among the most egregious accounts banned.

The Bad News:

It won't make Kennedy, and the other anti-vaxxers, stop spreading their deadly misinformation on other internet platforms.

More Tech Good News

Twitch announced that it's rolling out phone-verified chats, a new safety feature designed to get harassment, malicious users and "hate raids" under control.

The Flip Side:

Although live user attacks are a problem on Twitch, bot attacks are a ferocious problem on the platform without a simple solution.

That's all for today folks. Thanks for stopping by.

Tuesday, September 28, 2021

Two Americas: A Divide That Kills Facts and People With Impunity

As the country faces a plague of unvaccinated people it's apparent the deaths aren't going to stop soon.

We may never get over the coronavirus that has already taken nearly 700,000 American lives. 

The odds are against it when the nation is divided along political lines so toxic that dying from the virus is almost a badge of honor among Republicans who worship Trump.

CNN's Chris Cillizza recently reported just how bad the situation is in an article titled, "We've Reached the 'Red Covid' Phase of the Pandemic' 

In it he said, "The result of all of this misinformation and politicization of Covid-19 is stark. The 12 states with the highest case rate for every 100,000 people are all run by Republican governors. 

The 13 states with the highest hospitalization rate per 100,000 residents are all run by Republican governors. The 15 states with the highest percentage of deaths per 100,000 are all run by Republican governors."

David Leonhardt of the New York Times dubbed the vaccination rate disparity "Red Covid" for obvious reasons. It's the red states that are fighting CDC guidelines to staying safe.

Leonhardt succinctly summed up the current situation;

"The political divide over vaccinations is so large that almost every reliably blue state now has a higher vaccination rate than almost every reliably red state. 

Because the vaccines are so effective at preventing serious illness, Covid deaths are also showing a partisan pattern. Covid is still a national crisis, but the worst forms of it are increasingly concentrated in red America."

That troubling statement is backed up with the latest data from Gallup.

Thanks to Trump and the right-wing media like Fox and Newsmax, pandemic misinformation continues to be spread like toxic mold with no end in sight.

It's stunning to think that Republicans who are getting sick - and dying - are doing it for political reasons. Facts are discarded like trash in a heap of lies. 

As Chris Cillizza summed it up;

"This isn't complicated. We are not just divided along political lines now. Our political divisions have created two entirely different Americas:

One in which the vast majority of people are vaccinated and hospitalizations are low, and the other where the coronavirus continues to ravage the population."

Monday, September 27, 2021

Was Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito a Key Player in The Jan. 6 Insurrection?

I'm looking forward to Supreme Court justice Samuel Alito's reply to Sidney Powell's claim that he was going to help decertify the 2020 election.

Powell's latest batshit crazy assertion would normally defy belief, but in these chaotic times anything is possible.

She claimed that as a pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6 her team was seeking an emergency injunction to prevent the certification of Biden's win.

Powell said that "We were filing a 12th Amendment constitutional challenge to the process that the Congress was about to use under the Electoral Act provisions that simply don't jive with the 12th Amendment to the United States Constitution. And Justice Alito was our circuit justice for that."

Was Alito even aware Powell was throwing out his name as a co-conspirator in the coup attempt? If he was, then we have a real constitutional crisis on our hands that dwarves anything we've seen yet.

It's unthinkable. The idea that Trumpism has infected the Supreme Court is horrifying, if true. Maybe he'll speak up today as his name is trending on Twitter.

According to Powell's feverish ranting the idea was to DELAY the electoral college certification to give time for Alito to intervene on the legal challenge brought by Rep. Louis Gohmert.

So what happened?

Powell alleged that Nancy Pelosi learned about her plot and reconvened Congress to get the vote before Alito could issue an injunction.

Because nearly every word out of Powell's gaping trap is a lie, it may take a while to get to the bottom of this latest bogus attempt at undermining our democracy.

Sunday, September 26, 2021

Georgia Is On Trump's Mind: Think Tank Says He Could Be Charged With Multiple Crimes

Trump can't let go of Georgia.

He was in the Peach Tree state yesterday holding a rally and repeating the Big Lie when a report was released by the Brookings Institution, a leading think tank in Washington DC, that suggested he could be tried for multiple crimes there.

Another blow to his Big Lie was delivered with the results of the bogus Arizona audit which showed Biden had won with more votes than initially reported.

Just last week Trump was still pushing for a re-certification of votes in Georgia by openly imploring Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to overturn Biden's win.

Trump faces numerous lawsuits but the investigation into his actions in Georgia may be the one that hurts him the most.

According to the report the charges include criminal solicitation to commit election fraud; intentional interference with performance duties; conspiracy to commit election fraud; criminal solicitation; and state RICO violations.

The report also noted that criminal liability could extend to some Trump allies, including Rudy Giuliani.

The probe into Trump's actions began in February when Fulton County District Attorney, Fani Willis, launched a criminal investigation into Trump's conduct relating to the election.

One of the most dangerous parts for Trump in this investigation is he's NOT going to be able to use executive privilege to claim immunity.

That's because Trump's actions were "well outside the scope of his official duties" according to the analyses.

At this point in time there's good reason for Trump to have his mind on Georgia; going to prison is a real possibility.

Universal Music Power

In a delightful description of the power of music William Congreve wrote "Music hath charms to sooth a savage beast..." in his 16...