This morning the Supreme Court ruled on the Colorado case striking Donald Trump from its election ballot because, as the Colorado Supreme Court held, he is an insurrectionist as defined under paragraph 3 of the 14th Amendment. As expected, they threw the case out, effectively deciding for Trump and against Colorado. The decision was interpreted as a huge win for Trump practically everywhere: “A massive victory for Trump” screamed CNN; “The U.S.
Of course, this is just the beginning they’ve stopped even the slightest pretense of doing anything other than the bidding of the Federalist Society. Because this isn’t Trump he’s their puppet. I keep telling myself not to get tossed back-and-forth by all of the media stirring up of anxiety, but today? Between this decision, and putting off completely the January 6 trial by pushing the absurd question of presidential immunity until April, they’ve pretty much made it very clear. Screw you, peasants.
In other irritating news, the once respectable but now the arm of Jeff Bezos, Washington Post ran an article in its style section about Lauren Boebert. Are you fucking kidding me? Other independent journalists are talking about the really poor reception she’s getting from her new district. She should be in the crime blotter. Katherine Graham is just vomiting in her grave
With all due respect, those on the crypto-fascist (and not so crypto-) political right rant at WaPo and NYT as being socialist/commie. Both papers have their glaring faults. LKTIV has detailed the Times' grotesqueries at length. Let's not fotget, however, that it was Times reporting which revealed that the Deranged Convicted Sex Offender Defendant had managed to inherit over $400 million from his father with no taxes being paid (among other exclusive work), and the Post continually reported his misdeeds when he was living at the White House.
It is not exaggerating to say this November is the tipping point for democracy, and I, along with most people I know, am quietly frantic. I'm not in any shape to uproot and move - and to where? Other countries are not much better. Canada too cold. I like Brooklyn. Even as it falls short of so many ideals, I don't want to leave America. But the courts have made it clear they will help rather than take a proper stand on getting the fat orange puke re-elected. It is an outrage, we are watching in real time., how the Hell is Clarence thomas making decisions on the court? And to my mind both the Times and WaPo are falling woefully short of talking the way journos like Lucian and the others I follow do, clearly, well informed, laying out truth. Where is the hard investigations of SCOTUS? Of how Clarence and Ginni Thomas are still influencing the handling of an insurrection for Chrissakes that happened 3 years ago. It is their responsibility to quit doing both sides reporting as if it is a duty to be balanced when the situation is anything but, and harping on Biden's age while rump is visibly deteriorating mentally, and is raving about revenge and concentration camps is at the very least irresponsible. The Times reporting on the Israel side of the conflict is abysmal. That they get anything right is a credit to the hard work of the investigative reporters, but you can smell the rot from above. Watergate was a very long time ago.
Oh, I kind of enjoyed the Lauren puff piece, if people are dumb enough to keep voting for her they're, and the rest of us sadly, are getting what we deserve.
Good old days... a few years ago Karl Rove was asked what everyone in DC read first thing every morning. He said, "The Washington Post and the New York Times." Who are journalism professors touting these days?
I read that piece in the Post as having been written with an extremely sharp, extremely thin blade. It didn't need heavy-handed pejorative adjectives to paint a very, very unflattering picture of Boobs Boebert --- but there I go with a heavy-handed, pejorative adjective.
What we have witnessed today is nothing short of a shocking abdication of judicial responsibility by the highest court in the land. In a ruling that will be remembered as a dark day in American history, five Justices of the Supreme Court have taken it upon themselves to reach far beyond the narrow question presented to them and instead, have chosen to issue a sweeping and unprecedented decision that will have profound consequences for the future of our democracy.
These five Justices, with a stroke of their pen, have effectively granted immunity to anyone who would seek to undermine the very foundation of our Constitution. They have sent a message, loud and clear, that insurrection against the United States will not be punished, that those who would seek to tear down our democratic institutions will face no consequences for their actions.
This is not just a matter of legal interpretation. This is a matter of moral courage, of standing up for the principles that define us as a nation. And yet, these five Justices have chosen to turn a blind eye to the gravity of the situation, to ignore the urgent warnings of their colleagues, Justices Sotomayor, Kagan, and Jackson, who have laid bare the dangerous implications of this ruling in their scathing dissent.
Let me be very, very clear: this decision is a betrayal of the trust placed in the Supreme Court by the American people. It is a betrayal of the sacrifices made by countless generations who have fought and died to defend our Constitution. And it is a betrayal of the very idea of justice itself.
They are in the tank for Trump and they don't care who knows it. The arrogance is breathtaking, and this is only the beginning of their assault on the post-Civil War amendments. Equal protection and due process will be the next 14th Amendment rights to be shredded.
The foot soldiers of the insurrection were punished, but the instigator was not, and now it's just hunky dory for him to run for the presidency. This is certainly not equal justice under the law.
Trump was impeached in the house and convicted in the Senate 57 to 43. The Congress has as a matter of record has already acted. If elected he cannot serve.
David French has an excellent column in the NY Times. Here's an excerpt:
It’s extremely difficult to square this ruling with the text of Section 3. The language is clearly mandatory. The first words are “No person shall be” a member of Congress or a state or federal officer if that person has engaged in insurrection or rebellion or provided aid or comfort to the enemies of the Constitution. The Section then says, “But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each house, remove such disability.”
In other words, the Constitution imposes the disability, and only a supermajority of Congress can remove it. But under the Supreme Court’s reasoning, the meaning is inverted: The Constitution merely allows Congress to impose the disability, and if Congress chooses not to enact legislation enforcing the section, then the disability does not exist. The Supreme Court has effectively replaced a very high bar for allowing insurrectionists into federal office — a supermajority vote by Congress — with the lowest bar imaginable: congressional inaction.
Thank you, but all I did was to quote David French. I don't question any of the justices' intelligence. I question their good faith. The six Republican politicians on the Court are just that; they have abandoned their role as justices and decided that, rather than examining the Constitution as objectively as they can, they will reach the result they prefer. All judges occasionally may be less than objective, but these six don't even try.
Besides the ruling itself we've got media headlines like this from AXIOS: "1 big thing: Courts won't save Democrats". The Courts aren't supposed to be saving ANY political party - they're supposed to be upholding the rule of law and the Constitution and in the process saving the Country.
Since SCOTUS is tossing the issue back to Congress, it is up to us, American voters, to make sure Democrats are the majority in the Senate and the House and to defeat MAGA candidates at every level of government. Get active with your local Indivisible or other grassroots group; support Field Team 6, Movement Voter Project, and other get-out-the-vote (GOTV) groups; write to voters through Postcards to Voters, Swing Left, and other groups.
It feels good to rant at SCOTUS, but it won't change a thing. Instead, stay informed, volunteer, and donate, so you can enjoy the good feeling of saving our freedoms.
I would "like" this comment 1,000 times if I could.
Whining about circumstances without action makes us no better than the orange turd.
Voter turnout in America is among the lowest in the civilized world; it is this indolence that has brought us to this point.
As a side note, it seems like there is more to this decision than just blind fealty to the OT and the Federalist Society. What I wouldn't give for an hour with Kagan, Jackson and Sotomayor to better understand why they signed on to this profile in faint-heartedness.
IV, if you take a breath I will as well. I keep telling myself this Loser can't win a general election. Thanks for sticking your head in another bucket of sH*t and reading the fine print. We owe you.
How dare this SCOTUS with Thomas’s non-recusal declare any attempt at legitimacy?This is a court gone rogue and they are coming for our democracy in defense of TGF and really Putin.We The People need one more reason to kick total butt in November and rid us of this judicial scourge among other things.
I’ll have the resident, retired Prosecutor in our house check out the specifics of your piece on the Court that’s afraid of its own shadow. Good Old Harry is usually impressed by your legal acumen, Lucian. And adding your colourful linguistic twist gives it an extra kick!
You have a knack for cooking up the unique brew that makes the poisonous pill that much more palatable! Despicable implications for a nation that coming apart at the seams!
Agree. Today I learned that 9-0 is not unanimous because for many it was actually 5-4 and for others, it shoulda have been 0-9. Do find that to be consistent with the century-to-date
with the single exception of the night O announced "We got him (UBL) ".
A songworm better captures this entire century and your point, Patris.
Well, its nor surprising, the Court is being clear. It's like my old boss used to say to angry divorce clients, "you picked him, not me." They're just confirming, you voted for him, not us, now you deal with him in an election, don't rely on us. This is the same power that Hitler demonstrated you can have just by ignoring democratic norms. Drumpf just keeps saying no and we're helpless to constrain him. Joe had best be on his game Thursday and start to turn things around.
Absent specific Congressional legislation enforcing the each provision of Art 14 (legislation that is of course subject to their review), they also just granted Trump and his fellow insurrectionists (who include members of a political party that controls one house of Congress that would need to pass such legislation) the right to abridge all of the rights and privileges guaranteed under Art 14.
Just another chapter in the prequel to Orwell's 1984.
Supremes to Americans: Due process? Feh! Equal justice under the law? Feh! Birthright citizenship? (Is that a thing?) Keeping insurrectionists from holding office? Nah, not our job!
Mark my words, they will claim that Trump's attempts to overthrow the election and seize dictatorial power were "official acts" and therefore immune from criminal prosecution. I am terrified that Trump is going to walk free of all charges.
If those were "official acts," then Biden and Harris would be doing "official acts" to defy any adverse result in November and have Drumpf and his associates locked away. But it never works that way.
Well, it seems the deus ex machina is in for repairs, and it needs parts which would have to come through the area where the Houthis are raising hell. The guy that does the estimates said they might be able to get it back in running order by late August and asked if that would be okay. I told him if that’s the best they could do, okay, but we really need it. I did say that the racing stripe doesn’t have to be replaced, but to make sure the steering doesn’t pull to the right any more.
Your language, Lucian, is as colorful as mine has been and will always be when describing this Court. So the news pundits say that they came to this hideous conclusion because they are afraid of Trump’s/Putin’s hired help. I say they’ve been bought and paid for by their lord and master, Leonard Leo, the billionaire chump who helps set up expensive vacations and travel excursions for the 5 (or 6). If you notice, Mike Johnson looks like his mini-me. So this brings me to tell ya’ll that I attended Barb McQuade’s talk in San Francisco (via YouTube) tonight based on her book, “Attack From Within”. For those who don’t know who she is, she frequents MSNBC as a legal analyst. She served as Michigan’s US Atty. for the Eastern District under Obama. Anyway, she broke down the difference between misinformation and disinformation which I thought was helpful. Disinformation: Deliberate use of lies. Malicious acts. Misinfo: May tell lies without realizing it. Word of mouth. One of things she mentioned that was at the government level, Citizens United must be taken down because when the law was passed by SCOTUS, dark money has flowed in from all over the place because SCOTUS, again, did not impose restrictions in campaign money. Barb said there must be disclosures as to who is financing candidates and by how much. Also, social media must reduce misinfo by disclosing their algorithms. You know, they follow us. We go to a page that has shoes and the next thing you know, they are placing shoe places in our feed! What I found interesting about Barb is that she started out being a journalist. She realizes that news agencies are governed by clickbaits now so they deliberately write titles that draw people in. What she stated was that we have to know exactly when we are being manipulated. Disinformation is examined as fraud when it comes to voting. You see all of the restrictions in shithole states, right? The lies make it harder for students, POC, and the poor to vote. Case in point: No early voting, no water or food to be given to people when they’re in line, etc. She also mentioned that AI is having influence on people. Recently, a picture came out with Trump surrounded with black folks. The campaign was falsely promoting how much blacks were loving Trump. If you look carefully at the pic, there are white hands that are seen. Somebody screwed up. This is what she was trying to tell us. Voters must take back their power. We are dealing with an illegitimate court. We have a lot of fucking work to do and loads of us are doing it!! DO NOT DESPAIR! WE WILL PREVAIL!
Sorry, Lucian…guess I had a lot to get off my chest.
Hypothetically, it seems this could happen in light of the SCOTUS decision that only says that states can't disqualify a candidate per the 14A (only Congress can):
- Trump wins the 2024 election
But:
- After a new Congress is sworn in on 1/3/25 (and it’s a Democratic majority) several weeks before the presidential inauguration, Congress acts to disqualify Trump
Not saying it would happen, but in accordance with this decision, it could happen.
Of course, this is just the beginning they’ve stopped even the slightest pretense of doing anything other than the bidding of the Federalist Society. Because this isn’t Trump he’s their puppet. I keep telling myself not to get tossed back-and-forth by all of the media stirring up of anxiety, but today? Between this decision, and putting off completely the January 6 trial by pushing the absurd question of presidential immunity until April, they’ve pretty much made it very clear. Screw you, peasants.
In other irritating news, the once respectable but now the arm of Jeff Bezos, Washington Post ran an article in its style section about Lauren Boebert. Are you fucking kidding me? Other independent journalists are talking about the really poor reception she’s getting from her new district. She should be in the crime blotter. Katherine Graham is just vomiting in her grave
I have canceled my subscription to the WaPo as well as to the NY Times. I will not pay for fascist propaganda.
With all due respect, those on the crypto-fascist (and not so crypto-) political right rant at WaPo and NYT as being socialist/commie. Both papers have their glaring faults. LKTIV has detailed the Times' grotesqueries at length. Let's not fotget, however, that it was Times reporting which revealed that the Deranged Convicted Sex Offender Defendant had managed to inherit over $400 million from his father with no taxes being paid (among other exclusive work), and the Post continually reported his misdeeds when he was living at the White House.
It is not exaggerating to say this November is the tipping point for democracy, and I, along with most people I know, am quietly frantic. I'm not in any shape to uproot and move - and to where? Other countries are not much better. Canada too cold. I like Brooklyn. Even as it falls short of so many ideals, I don't want to leave America. But the courts have made it clear they will help rather than take a proper stand on getting the fat orange puke re-elected. It is an outrage, we are watching in real time., how the Hell is Clarence thomas making decisions on the court? And to my mind both the Times and WaPo are falling woefully short of talking the way journos like Lucian and the others I follow do, clearly, well informed, laying out truth. Where is the hard investigations of SCOTUS? Of how Clarence and Ginni Thomas are still influencing the handling of an insurrection for Chrissakes that happened 3 years ago. It is their responsibility to quit doing both sides reporting as if it is a duty to be balanced when the situation is anything but, and harping on Biden's age while rump is visibly deteriorating mentally, and is raving about revenge and concentration camps is at the very least irresponsible. The Times reporting on the Israel side of the conflict is abysmal. That they get anything right is a credit to the hard work of the investigative reporters, but you can smell the rot from above. Watergate was a very long time ago.
That was then. What's important is their utter lack of interest in exposing Trump now.
I refused to read that dreck
Someone posted about it on Facebook with a photo of the layout and a rather scathing appraisal of the obscenity of it
Oh, I kind of enjoyed the Lauren puff piece, if people are dumb enough to keep voting for her they're, and the rest of us sadly, are getting what we deserve.
The people who vote for her do NOT read the NYT.
Do they know how to read?
Good old days... a few years ago Karl Rove was asked what everyone in DC read first thing every morning. He said, "The Washington Post and the New York Times." Who are journalism professors touting these days?
I read that piece in the Post as having been written with an extremely sharp, extremely thin blade. It didn't need heavy-handed pejorative adjectives to paint a very, very unflattering picture of Boobs Boebert --- but there I go with a heavy-handed, pejorative adjective.
Looks like Boburger picked the wrong neighborhood, oops.
What we have witnessed today is nothing short of a shocking abdication of judicial responsibility by the highest court in the land. In a ruling that will be remembered as a dark day in American history, five Justices of the Supreme Court have taken it upon themselves to reach far beyond the narrow question presented to them and instead, have chosen to issue a sweeping and unprecedented decision that will have profound consequences for the future of our democracy.
These five Justices, with a stroke of their pen, have effectively granted immunity to anyone who would seek to undermine the very foundation of our Constitution. They have sent a message, loud and clear, that insurrection against the United States will not be punished, that those who would seek to tear down our democratic institutions will face no consequences for their actions.
This is not just a matter of legal interpretation. This is a matter of moral courage, of standing up for the principles that define us as a nation. And yet, these five Justices have chosen to turn a blind eye to the gravity of the situation, to ignore the urgent warnings of their colleagues, Justices Sotomayor, Kagan, and Jackson, who have laid bare the dangerous implications of this ruling in their scathing dissent.
Let me be very, very clear: this decision is a betrayal of the trust placed in the Supreme Court by the American people. It is a betrayal of the sacrifices made by countless generations who have fought and died to defend our Constitution. And it is a betrayal of the very idea of justice itself.
They are in the tank for Trump and they don't care who knows it. The arrogance is breathtaking, and this is only the beginning of their assault on the post-Civil War amendments. Equal protection and due process will be the next 14th Amendment rights to be shredded.
The foot soldiers of the insurrection were punished, but the instigator was not, and now it's just hunky dory for him to run for the presidency. This is certainly not equal justice under the law.
Could this decision lead to the release of prisoners convicted for January 6 insurrection crimes??
It opens a Pandora’s Box and we all know how well that went.
Trump was impeached in the house and convicted in the Senate 57 to 43. The Congress has as a matter of record has already acted. If elected he cannot serve.
Bingo!
David French has an excellent column in the NY Times. Here's an excerpt:
It’s extremely difficult to square this ruling with the text of Section 3. The language is clearly mandatory. The first words are “No person shall be” a member of Congress or a state or federal officer if that person has engaged in insurrection or rebellion or provided aid or comfort to the enemies of the Constitution. The Section then says, “But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each house, remove such disability.”
In other words, the Constitution imposes the disability, and only a supermajority of Congress can remove it. But under the Supreme Court’s reasoning, the meaning is inverted: The Constitution merely allows Congress to impose the disability, and if Congress chooses not to enact legislation enforcing the section, then the disability does not exist. The Supreme Court has effectively replaced a very high bar for allowing insurrectionists into federal office — a supermajority vote by Congress — with the lowest bar imaginable: congressional inaction.
You are smarter than all the justices combined. Didn't they go to law school and then have to pass the Bar?
Thank you, but all I did was to quote David French. I don't question any of the justices' intelligence. I question their good faith. The six Republican politicians on the Court are just that; they have abandoned their role as justices and decided that, rather than examining the Constitution as objectively as they can, they will reach the result they prefer. All judges occasionally may be less than objective, but these six don't even try.
Yup, but I haven't gotten to tat one yet.
Thank You Henry..
Yes more of the ‘George W’ chicken sh*t decision making..
Gilded & Gutless
Besides the ruling itself we've got media headlines like this from AXIOS: "1 big thing: Courts won't save Democrats". The Courts aren't supposed to be saving ANY political party - they're supposed to be upholding the rule of law and the Constitution and in the process saving the Country.
Terrific comment!
Since SCOTUS is tossing the issue back to Congress, it is up to us, American voters, to make sure Democrats are the majority in the Senate and the House and to defeat MAGA candidates at every level of government. Get active with your local Indivisible or other grassroots group; support Field Team 6, Movement Voter Project, and other get-out-the-vote (GOTV) groups; write to voters through Postcards to Voters, Swing Left, and other groups.
It feels good to rant at SCOTUS, but it won't change a thing. Instead, stay informed, volunteer, and donate, so you can enjoy the good feeling of saving our freedoms.
I would "like" this comment 1,000 times if I could.
Whining about circumstances without action makes us no better than the orange turd.
Voter turnout in America is among the lowest in the civilized world; it is this indolence that has brought us to this point.
As a side note, it seems like there is more to this decision than just blind fealty to the OT and the Federalist Society. What I wouldn't give for an hour with Kagan, Jackson and Sotomayor to better understand why they signed on to this profile in faint-heartedness.
Exactamundo
IV, if you take a breath I will as well. I keep telling myself this Loser can't win a general election. Thanks for sticking your head in another bucket of sH*t and reading the fine print. We owe you.
How dare this SCOTUS with Thomas’s non-recusal declare any attempt at legitimacy?This is a court gone rogue and they are coming for our democracy in defense of TGF and really Putin.We The People need one more reason to kick total butt in November and rid us of this judicial scourge among other things.
Every single news "report" should have begun with the lead using your line: "a lesson in cowardice."
I’ll have the resident, retired Prosecutor in our house check out the specifics of your piece on the Court that’s afraid of its own shadow. Good Old Harry is usually impressed by your legal acumen, Lucian. And adding your colourful linguistic twist gives it an extra kick!
You have a knack for cooking up the unique brew that makes the poisonous pill that much more palatable! Despicable implications for a nation that coming apart at the seams!
It will get worse before it gets better.
Agree. Today I learned that 9-0 is not unanimous because for many it was actually 5-4 and for others, it shoulda have been 0-9. Do find that to be consistent with the century-to-date
with the single exception of the night O announced "We got him (UBL) ".
A songworm better captures this entire century and your point, Patris.
Things have come to a pretty pass
Our romance is growing flat
For you like this and the other
While I go for this and that
Goodness knows what the end will be
Oh, I don't know where I'm at
It looks as if we two will never be one
Something must be done
You say either, I say either
You say neither and I say neither
Either, either, neither, neither
Let's call the whole thing off, yes
You like potato and I like potato
You like tomato and I like tomato
Potato, potahto, tomato, tomahto
Let's call the whole thing off
But oh, if we call the whole thing off
Then we must part
And oh, if we ever part
Then that might break my heart
So if you like pyjamas and I like pyjahmas
I'll wear pyjamas and give up pyajahmas
For we know, we need each other
So we better call the calling off, off
Oh, let's call the whole thing off, yes
You say laughter and I say larfter
You say after and I say arfter
Laughter, larfter, after, arfter
Let's call the whole thing off
You like vanilla and I like vanella
You saspiralla and I saspirella
Vanilla, vanella, chocolate, strawberry
Let's call the whole thing off
But oh, if we call the whole thing off
Then we must part
And, oh, if we ever part
Then that might break my heart
So if you go for oysters and I go for ersters
I'll order oysters and cancel the ersters
For we know, we need each other
So we better call the calling off, off
Let's call the whole thing off
Yes, you say either and you say either
You say neither and you say neither
Either, either, a-neither, a-neither
Let's call the whole thing off, oh, yes
You like potato and you like potahto
You like tomato and you like tomahto
Potato, potahto, tomato, tomahto
Let's call the whole thing off
But oh, if we call the whole thing off
Then we must part
And oh, if we ever part
Then that might break my heart
So if you like pyjamas (I like pyjahmas)
I'll wear pyjamas (you got pyjamas)
For we know, we need each other
So we better call the calling off, off
Let's call the whole thing off
Let's call the whole thing off (yes)
Ella and Louis.
Yikes!
Well, its nor surprising, the Court is being clear. It's like my old boss used to say to angry divorce clients, "you picked him, not me." They're just confirming, you voted for him, not us, now you deal with him in an election, don't rely on us. This is the same power that Hitler demonstrated you can have just by ignoring democratic norms. Drumpf just keeps saying no and we're helpless to constrain him. Joe had best be on his game Thursday and start to turn things around.
Too bad Biden doesn't have doctor Ronnie to give him some uppers.
According to Rolling Stone, Ronnie was doling out all kinds of fun things for the employees in the west wing!
No i know that. I just didn’t understand katy’s statement.
I don’t understand what you mean.
SCOTUS just condoned and sanctioned insurrection.
Absent specific Congressional legislation enforcing the each provision of Art 14 (legislation that is of course subject to their review), they also just granted Trump and his fellow insurrectionists (who include members of a political party that controls one house of Congress that would need to pass such legislation) the right to abridge all of the rights and privileges guaranteed under Art 14.
Just another chapter in the prequel to Orwell's 1984.
Supremes to Americans: Due process? Feh! Equal justice under the law? Feh! Birthright citizenship? (Is that a thing?) Keeping insurrectionists from holding office? Nah, not our job!
They will find a way to grant tangeranus but only tangeranus immunity. You can count on it no matter what all these law skool grads keep telling us.
Mark my words, they will claim that Trump's attempts to overthrow the election and seize dictatorial power were "official acts" and therefore immune from criminal prosecution. I am terrified that Trump is going to walk free of all charges.
If those were "official acts," then Biden and Harris would be doing "official acts" to defy any adverse result in November and have Drumpf and his associates locked away. But it never works that way.
yes
NONONONONONONONONO!!!
Oh God No!!! It cannot be...do you really think so??
I hope I am wrong but yes.
Well, it seems the deus ex machina is in for repairs, and it needs parts which would have to come through the area where the Houthis are raising hell. The guy that does the estimates said they might be able to get it back in running order by late August and asked if that would be okay. I told him if that’s the best they could do, okay, but we really need it. I did say that the racing stripe doesn’t have to be replaced, but to make sure the steering doesn’t pull to the right any more.
For maintenance of the metaphor 🏆
Delightful!
Thank you!
Your language, Lucian, is as colorful as mine has been and will always be when describing this Court. So the news pundits say that they came to this hideous conclusion because they are afraid of Trump’s/Putin’s hired help. I say they’ve been bought and paid for by their lord and master, Leonard Leo, the billionaire chump who helps set up expensive vacations and travel excursions for the 5 (or 6). If you notice, Mike Johnson looks like his mini-me. So this brings me to tell ya’ll that I attended Barb McQuade’s talk in San Francisco (via YouTube) tonight based on her book, “Attack From Within”. For those who don’t know who she is, she frequents MSNBC as a legal analyst. She served as Michigan’s US Atty. for the Eastern District under Obama. Anyway, she broke down the difference between misinformation and disinformation which I thought was helpful. Disinformation: Deliberate use of lies. Malicious acts. Misinfo: May tell lies without realizing it. Word of mouth. One of things she mentioned that was at the government level, Citizens United must be taken down because when the law was passed by SCOTUS, dark money has flowed in from all over the place because SCOTUS, again, did not impose restrictions in campaign money. Barb said there must be disclosures as to who is financing candidates and by how much. Also, social media must reduce misinfo by disclosing their algorithms. You know, they follow us. We go to a page that has shoes and the next thing you know, they are placing shoe places in our feed! What I found interesting about Barb is that she started out being a journalist. She realizes that news agencies are governed by clickbaits now so they deliberately write titles that draw people in. What she stated was that we have to know exactly when we are being manipulated. Disinformation is examined as fraud when it comes to voting. You see all of the restrictions in shithole states, right? The lies make it harder for students, POC, and the poor to vote. Case in point: No early voting, no water or food to be given to people when they’re in line, etc. She also mentioned that AI is having influence on people. Recently, a picture came out with Trump surrounded with black folks. The campaign was falsely promoting how much blacks were loving Trump. If you look carefully at the pic, there are white hands that are seen. Somebody screwed up. This is what she was trying to tell us. Voters must take back their power. We are dealing with an illegitimate court. We have a lot of fucking work to do and loads of us are doing it!! DO NOT DESPAIR! WE WILL PREVAIL!
Sorry, Lucian…guess I had a lot to get off my chest.
Hypothetically, it seems this could happen in light of the SCOTUS decision that only says that states can't disqualify a candidate per the 14A (only Congress can):
- Trump wins the 2024 election
But:
- After a new Congress is sworn in on 1/3/25 (and it’s a Democratic majority) several weeks before the presidential inauguration, Congress acts to disqualify Trump
Not saying it would happen, but in accordance with this decision, it could happen.