Remember, before you read this, it is 2015:
Speaking at Georgetown University Law School Monday, Scalia said the Constitution guaranteed only religious and political protections, The New York Times reported, and that it was not up to judges to determine which other minority groups deserved legal protections.
“What minorities deserve protection?” he said rhetorically. “What? It’s up to me to identify deserving minorities?”
“What about pederasts?” he asked. “What about child abusers?”
“This is a deserving minority,” he went on, jokingly. “Nobody loves them.”
The number one reason I will crawl over broken glass to vote for a Democrat in 2016.
Corner Stone
Minorities are now all pederasts? He realizes he is Italian, right?
Schlemazel
@Corner Stone:
Just the Italian Catholic ones.
I grew up in a predominantly Catholic city at a time when there was still lingering anti-Catholic feelings in much of the country. This was pre-1960 pre-JFK. It stuns me that someone old enough to remember those days could be such an inflamed asshole.
Omnes Omnibus
@Corner Stone: He may be generalizing based on his own example.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
He’s an abomination.
Mike in NC
Scalia is such an asshole. Makes Tony Soprano look warm and cuddly.
Baud
Who do minorities think they are? Corporations?
Baud
@efgoldman: I think srv wouldn’t vote for any Dem.
SP
Hey, he’s just a strict constructionist and only religion, not race or color, is explicitly mentioned in the text of… Wait, what? “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.”
Baud
And thanks to new voter ID laws, you just might have to.
MomSense
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q):
Word.
Baud
The sad part is, Thomas and Alito are much, much worse. They are just not as vocal.
JPL
Has Scalia never heard about loving vs virginia? Maybe he thinks that ruling was wrong.
JPL
@Mike in NC: yup
jl
OK, IANAL, but, what does giving everyone equal rights to enter civil contracts when there is no social harm in letting them do so have to do with “What minorities deserve protection” ?
Help me out here. Throw me a legal bone on this one. I’m in over my head with his legal brilliance.
Roger Moore
Shorter Scalia: What 14th Amendment?
MomSense
@efgoldman:
Are we sure srv and Scalia are not the same person?
Uncle Jeffy
And if anyone would know about pederasts and child abusers, it’s Fat Tony……
Mnemosyne (tablet)
I can’t help but see this as yet another example of conservative laziness — it’s hard work to look at the facts and draw conclusions, and Tony just doesn’t want to have to think anymore when there are penned birds he could be shooting by the dozen.
Schlemazel
@JPL:
Of course he does. He also thinks Brown v. Board of Education got it wrong. He would gladly write the majority opinion for Dredd Scott however.
JPL
@Schlemazel: Ginny Thomas must be so proud. Clarence probably agrees with Scalia.
redshirt
I’m a minority of 1 and I demand equal rights.
Suzanne
@efgoldman: Word. I will very happily cast my vote for The Hillz in order to keep fuckers like this from the levers of power. It’s all academic, until it isn’t.
gwangung
@efgoldman:
I think these guys are just tired of picking the lesser evil.
However, it’s objectively true IT’S LESS EVIL.
I’ll take less evil over more evil. And I’ll work to get even less evil.
Betty Cracker
Did y’all see that clip of PBO calling out GOP presidential candidates and state governors for being a bunch of incontinent cowards on the Syrian refugee issue? Man, it was a thing of beauty!
He openly mocked them for bragging about being able to stare down Putin and bring down foreign enemies with “rhetoric” and then turning around an whining that debate questions were too tough and being afraid of “widows and orphans.” Awe. Some.
Benw
@Baud: unfortunately the remaining locations available for crawling over broken glass are only open 10-4 on weekdays and there’s no more early crawling over broken glass. Get ready to wait in line!
JPL
@Betty Cracker: That might be your next post. Buzzfeed has pictures of Syrian children.
SiubhanDuinne
@Betty Cracker:
Is this something new since the thing last week? Have a link?
max
@SP: “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.”
max
[‘So, you know, whatever.’]
Omnes Omnibus
@gwangung: There is a difference between lesser evil and “not as good as I wanted.”
feebog
The Asshole can’t go face down into a platter of lasagna soon enough for me.
JPL
@SiubhanDuinne: Lamb has the link down below.. comment 145
redshirt
@Betty Cracker: I hope BHO goes badass – within reason – on the Republican party for the rest of his term.
Run interference.
Spray flack.
Provide alternate and ineffective targets.
BHO can, with just a few words, completely consume the right wing focus, at least for a few days. Strategic use of it will do the Dem nominee a world of good.
M. Bouffant
Gee, one would think a bead-rattling mackerel-snapper like that son-of-a-bitch would be a little more careful about referring to the Catholic clergy in such terms.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@MomSense: I’ve never seen them together.
redshirt
Also, Betty, you should start an Open Thread with that topic.
Steeplejack
@SiubhanDuinne:
It’s from today. Lamh36 has a link to (painfully slow-loading) video downstairs.
EricNNY
You know, I love RBG. How she can be friends with him….well needless to say, she’s a much, much better person than I can ever hope to be.
Omnes Omnibus
@Betty Cracker: lamh26 has been pushing this as a possible FP in other threads and on twitter. She’ll keep doing it until someone gives in.
quaker in a basement
@Roger Moore: There ya go. All citizens…equal protection of laws. Etc.
redshirt
@Omnes Omnibus: It’s a good topic.
Do you think it would be effective if the President outright named the Republican Party as cowards and fear-mongers? As borderline traitors to this country, since they actively seek to harm it?
Anoniminous
@Betty Cracker:
Never been an Obama fan but I’m liking this new President Barack “Bite Me” Obama.
Suzanne
Some miscellaneous governmental arglebargle:
So tonight, I was at a meeting of the Scottsdale City Council, because the building and site plan I’ve designed had to go before the Council for approval. We got it. Okay.
So I do not actually live in Scottsdale, for many reasons, first and foremost because it is full of the kind of people I hate. So I get to the meeting early, and meet up with my client and project team. A rando comes up to us and starts bitching about a proposed anti-LGBT-discrimination ordinance being discussed that night. As I am there in my professional capacity, and I am not a resident/voter, I would not engage this asshole. All of my clients were annoyed by the douche, and he kept hassling them, even though it was clear that they didn’t agree with him, and we were not there to speak on that issue. He kept saying that “being gay isn’t measurable!”.
Then they started the meeting with a prayer. Yaaaaay.
Then a bunch of people, including the wonderful UU minister of a congregation I sometimes attend, spoke in favor of the ordinance. Then a bigot pastor warned against how good Christians would be forced to violate their freedoms by taking pictures of gay weddings.
Then I had to listen to more complaining about my project from this resident jackass who is scared to people with mental illness, even though he bought a house a block away from a psychiatric hospital that has been there for 35 years.
I NEED A MARTINI.
magurakurin
@efgoldman: srv won’t vote for Clinton because he is a Republican. But otherwise, I agree totally. Gotta pull the big D lever, no other choice. And Hillary Clinton will be fine. I have no reservations about voting for her at all. Sanders as well, but he isn’t going to get the nomination.
redshirt
@Anoniminous: Even early in 2008, January in Iowa, you weren’t an Obama fan? Against the mighty power of the Clinton machine? C’mon!
scav
@M. Bouffant: Maybe he has inside information that such behavior is a majority behavior among the frocked and cassocked crowd?
EricNNY
@Suzanne: wow. Needless to say, you’re a much, much better person than I.
Anoniminous
@Suzanne hath writ, “I NEED A MARTINI”
Martini-Henry or Martini-Rossi.
It makes a difference.
JPL
@Suzanne: Sounds like you need two. Recently, I was campaigning for a candidate running for city council. Fortunately, he can’t rule on gay marriage. Local politics make for strange bedfellows.
Suzanne
@Anoniminous: No, at this point, it doesn’t really make a difference.
I wanted to tell that tool off so badly, but I was not there as a private citizen, oh well.
Anoniminous
@redshirt:
Nope.
BECAUSE I WASN’T LIVING IN IOWA IN 2008!!!!
(Cue: maniacal laughter, “HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!”)
Anne Laurie
@Suzanne:
Oh, if only there were a blood quantum, so “we” could institute a new one-drop rule, like Repub Jeebus intended!
Drunkenhausfrau
As we head into thanksgiving, I just want to thank this community for keeping me sane and preventing death. By stupid overload. That is all. Qh, yeah, and fat tony is an ass.
Omnes Omnibus
@Suzanne:
SO FUCKING MAKE ONE FOR YOURSELF! As long as we are being shouty.
redshirt
@Anoniminous: Not sure I get the joke.
If the Obama campaign in late 2007 and early 2008 didn’t excite you, then you probably have no soul. Or are a hardcore Naderite.
Anoniminous
@Suzanne:
Ah, stress! That feeling one gets when repressing the overwhelming need to strangle the ever-lovin’ bejesus out of a well deserving person.
My prescription is Debussy. Take as needed with a glass or two of a mellow wine of choice.
Nate Dawg
I know it’s tacky, but I will be happy when he kicks it.*
*assuming we have a democratic president.
Mike J
Power came back on about 6pm. Cooked my chicken pot pie. Now watching the muppets. What a great show.
Anoniminous
@redshirt:
I lived in Iowa during the 80s and most of the 90s and worked on many a campaign.
Been in this game a long time. Obama didn’t excite me because I listened to his speeches and deduced to my own satisfaction he was (1) better than Clinton but (2) still not what we needed.
Mike J
@Anoniminous:
That’s the sign of a fucking moron.
redshirt
@Anoniminous: Wow. Cool.
Did you donate to Obama? Time and/or money?
David Koch
Scalia and Kennedy both turn 81 in 2017.
If somehow Baud! doesn’t get the nomination, Clinton will likely appoint him to replace one of the two.
redshirt
@Mike J: I’m really enjoying the Muppets as well, but then, I don’t trust my TV judgement anymore since it’s all so strange and weird and I even like the commercials as long as it’s not the same one over and over.
redshirt
Evil never dies.
BR
Are other folks not seeing the latest posts on the front page? I’m still having to use the right arrows on each page to get to the latest posts.
EricNNY
@Anne Laurie: I’m gay AND measurable….
(sorry, had to.)
redshirt
The frequent outages are fun!
gwangung
@Anoniminous: Waiting for the next Harmonic Convervence, I take it.
@Mike J: I think the concept of incremental improvement is a useless concept for some people. Therefore, I find them useless; they’re not willing to put in the work to get where we need to be.
Omnes Omnibus
@efgoldman: Let’s not. But others control the blog, so who knows?
Old Dan and Little Anne
I enjoyed reading Red State’s whining about PBO calling out the Governors being scared of widows and orphans.
EricNNY
@BR: on my Samsung / Android I have to refresh no matter what. It always brings up where I was last time I was on the page.
Omnes Omnibus
S.O.B.
BR
@EricNNY:
I mean not on an individual post page but the front page. Even if I reload the front page, I still get stale day-old posts to click on. It seems to update only once per day or so, and I can’t get it to show the latest posts by hitting reload.
Mnemosyne (tablet)
@BR:
There seems to be a problem specifically with Android and Kindle devices. I’m on iOS and I’m not having the same problem.
Betty Cracker
@redshirt: At the risk of seeming to obey you, I have done so.
Redshift
@Suzanne:
Weird how religion isn’t either, but they expect protection on that basis.
NotMax
@EricNNY
Shouldn’t have to do it, but clearing the cache ought to remedy that.
redshirt
@Betty Cracker: It was just common sense, really.
Redshift
@Old Dan and Little Anne: Sounds pretty awesome. While it’s great to cite our long tradition of providing refuge, and how many Americans are descended from refugees, I suspect those arguments fall into the usual liberal category of “if we just explain clearly enough, surely they’ll understand.” Even more so with the argument that turning this into a war against Muslims is counterproductive and exactly what Daesh wants.
For actually fighting back, I think a better argument is:
“You’re a bunch of bedwetting cowards who have been terrorized into doing exactly what the terrorist want. Congratulations, you must be so proud!”
Which is pretty much what Obama said, in slightly more polite terms.
redshirt
@Redshift:
Yes. Calling out Republicans as cowards is exactly the strategy the Democratic Party should use.
Now, imagine them doing so. LOL.
scav
@Redshift: Hey, those blank coffee cups are a existential menace.
Omnes Omnibus
@redshirt: I plan to do so over the next several days. Phone calls matter.
redshirt
@Omnes Omnibus: You’re calling up Registered Republicans and mocking them?
Where do I sign up?
Steeplejack
@BR:
Yes, it’s a known problem.
Also, it is always helpful when reporting problems to note your platform (device, OS, browser).
EricNNY
@efgoldman: wait, metric or English? I’m easily confused….to my advantage of course.
Steeplejack
@BR:
Clear your browser’s cache. That was suggested earlier as something that works.
burnspbesq
@Mnemosyne (tablet):
Appellate judges, as a general rule, aren’t supposed to weigh evidence and determine facts. They can look at the trial court’s findings of fact in light of the record, but the standard of review, “clearly erroneous,” is pretty deferential.
EricNNY
@Omnes Omnibus: love that tune
EricNNY
@BR: sometimes I have to shut browser down, re-open, and then refresh on front page. BUT that normally does the trick. It’s hell to miss the latest kitten updates from Marc.
burnspbesq
@efgoldman:
Have you figured out a way for “them” to get what “they” have coming without us being collateral damage?
danielx
If there was ever a photo where that most excellent German word backpfeifengesicht leaps to the forefront of my mind, this is it. I like the translation “a face that cries out for a fist” best in this context.
Nate Dawg
Number of comments is wrong on front page. Page will not load entirely. Edit function is broken on mobile. And now, WE DONT GET OPEN THREADS.
Bonnie
My dad molested my sister. He attempted to molest me. He was not gay. In my lifetime, I estimate that about 40 percent of the women I have been acquainted with have the same story to tell. I believe that all of those heterosexual men have proven themselves to be pedophiles. And, I personally suspect Scalia to have bothered a few very young women himself. He is holier than thou just like my dad.
TriassicSands
And while you’re crawling over broken glass to vote, millions of Democrats will be just too busy to bother.
I don’t know whether it’s easier to hate Republicans or to be disgusted with those Democrats.
goblue72
I swear, having followed Scalia’s public statements for quite some time, that as he has gotten older, he has gotten more reactionary and much more of an outspoken wingnut.
Thomas, OTOH, was always a turnip. And Alito came out of his mother’s womb wishing he’d been born in 1450 instead of 1950.
Sherparick
@JPL: I think he does. I think he thinks that whole line if jurisprudence is wrong. He is far more comfortable with Dredd Scott then he is with the Loving decision.
Another Holocene Human
@Schlemazel: Oh, it’s okay. He started off with saying he can be protected by creed.
And in that other case, he presumed to judge which creeds were valid and which were not. (Hobby Lobby, I think.)
Another Holocene Human
@SP: Double digit amendments don’t cooooouuuuuunnt.
Another Holocene Human
@Uncle Jeffy: Those children led them on! They had it coming! You think children can’t be wicked–they can! And all the tortures of the damned await them!
Consent? What’s that?
Paul in KY
@EricNNY: I’m sure it is strategic, in some way.
SFAW
@Omnes Omnibus:
“It’s the feel-good song of the year!”
If you like songs about the DTs, that is.
SFAW
@David Koch:
Why not both of them (, Katie)? Baud! has enough is easily more rational than any three of the RWNJ Justices put together.
SFAW
@redshirt:
Is being a Naderite a bad thing? I think his long-term “plan” has benefited unmeasurably.
You know which plan I Mean, of course: the one where “things will get so bad under a Bush Administration, that a new generation of liberalism will result.” (Can I use quotation marks around a paraphrased statement?) I think it’s worked out surprisingly well, don’t you?
g
what an asshole.
Brandon
Self-proclaimed “Constitutional Originalist” doesn’t seem to have bothered to read the Federalist Papers. If he had, he would understand that the system of Separation of Powers that was designed by our Founders and enshrined in the Constitution was precisely for the purpose of protecting our democracy from the “tyranny of the majority”. In particular, I would refer him to Federalist No. 10.
The fact that this is the type of stuff that a high school student would be expected to learn in AP Government, but that this justice of the US Supreme Court seems not to know or understand is truly frightening.