Here’s CSPAN’s YouTube livestream in case anyone’s interested in following the “Grand Theft, SCOTUS” saga.
I half-assed watched yesterday’s proceedings, keeping my sanity by muting the Republican opening statements. I’m biased, but I thought the Dems did an excellent job of linking Barrett to Trump and diminishing the nomination by tying it to the farcical super-spreader event that kicked it off and to Republican bad faith and hypocrisy on the SCOTUS in general.
It seems inevitable that Republicans will win the prize. But the Dems made it clear that this SCOTUS seat is a tawdry Trump-branded bauble thanks to Republicans’ dishonest machinations, and the Dems are doing their best to extract the highest possible political cost. I was proud of their efforts yesterday; IMO, they played a crappy hand as best they could.
The Dems were extremely disciplined in their focus on the ACA, which was smart. It’ll be interesting to see how the questioning unfolds today. Barrett is a zealot who wants to impose her crackpot views on the rest of us. But by all accounts, she’s highly intelligent, and she’s obviously been training for this moment all her life. So I expect her to duck, dodge and demure ably, if dishonestly.
My take is that Whitehouse and Klobuchar were the stand-outs yesterday because they were the most openly contemptuous of the Republicans running this charade and least deferential to Barrett herself. Republicans are not only foisting this mendacious fanatic on us, they’re trying to sell her as a feminist icon. Well, fuck that noise!
If you also find this fraudulent proceeding outrageous and are represented by Republican senators, consider calling them to register your disapproval. It won’t stop them from this smash and grab, but it will let them know you see what they’re doing.
Open thread.
germy
Graham’s asking her about the ACA.
MattF
One would like to quantify Barrett’s cynicism. I’d guess between ‘very’ and ‘extremely’, but short of ‘delusional’. No doubt, though, that she’ll do or say whatever appears necessary to grasp the great prize she’s been groomed for.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
from what I can glean from twitter, there’s a movement on the right to say, “Who opposes the ACA? nobody! where did the whacky left get their latest whacky conspiracy theory?”
rikyrah
germy
@MattF:
Including “Gosh, Mr. President! I never expected this honor!”
cope
I’m sorry, I just can’t bring myself to watch the sausage being made especially if it’s going to be shit sausage.
I agree with your take that given the inevitablity of the outcome, the good guys need to squeeze the most political juice out of the hearings and vote as possible. One thing I keep telling myself is that there almost certainly will be a future time when smart people look back on the last 4 years of Republican treason and it will be necessary for them to be able to chronicle the voices of reason provided by the Democrats.
debbie
I didn’t last even 10 seconds listening to Miss Lindsey’s crap. 🤬
MomSense
NPR is live streaming the hearings.
I realize this is petty, but I hate her voice. She sounds like she is 12 years old.
SiubhanDuinne
Graham’s whining again about all the money out there going to campaigns. “I’d like to know where the hell it’s all coming from.” No, he didn’t mention Jaime Harrison’s fund-raising prowess directly, but it was pretty clear what was grinding at him.
germy
“A document called the constitution…” Lindsey really thinks he’s a spellbinder
SiubhanDuinne
@MomSense:
I had to slap my hand away from the keyboard to keep myself from saying exactly the same thing. Whiny and nasal, with a little bit of Valley Girl fry.
SiubhanDuinne
@germy:
“It’s a little piece of paper that I like to call … The Constitution!”
WereBear
I am hoping this will also reset Democratic persuasion goal from flipping R’s to waking up the disillusioned and apathetic. Dems who are fighters is how we can win over and over.
Bring out the shy Biden voters! In red states, they have to keep it quiet.
germy
@SiubhanDuinne:
I thought it was republicans who called money “free speech.”
Our money comes from millions of small donations from normal people.
Their money comes from shady PACs with checks signed by billionaires with bad haircuts.
germy
“Being a young conservative is not an easy path to take.”
I disagree with LIndsey. They’re taken care of cradle to grave.
germy
Her husband looks like a hitter.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
I am amazed the Republicans haven’t collectively screamed “Leroy Jenkins” and voted her in by now. They having second thoughts?
Enhanced Voting Techniques
Yes, just ask one in Germany in 1946. It’s not easy being on the wrong side of morality and history.
Betty Cracker
“I don’t have an agenda” — Barrett. Hahaha!
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: I think they’re torn between hoping this hearing helps endangered incumbent Republicans by focusing on something other than Trump’s bizarre antics and fear that Dems will successfully frame it as the farce it is.
Aleta
“Do you believe you can put all these ideas into one smooth answer: Large family, multi-racial, working mother, different choices, respecting others’ choices, excruciating process, our lives combed over, our family attacked, our faith disrespected, + rule of law ?”
“Senator, yes I can.”
A Ghost to Most
The final chapter of the 40 year R journey to force a christian fascist theocracy.
No thanks to all the appeasers who have greased the descent.
waspuppet
I know it’s not “helpful” or “relevant,” but I do wish someone would ask her in passing, “You know you will never, for the rest of your life, be seen as legitimate, don’t you?”
Perhaps more helpfully, I would also want someone to ask “When President Trump asked you to be loyal to him, and said he was expecting you to turn the election into a Supreme Court case in which you would vote for his reelection—because we all know he did these things—what did you say?”
zhena gogolia
@waspuppet:
I hope someone sees this and asks it:
Jim, Foolish Literalist
OT: I think one of the MSNBC doctors said something last night about trump still being on the euphoria-inducing steroid course, according to the protocol. This certainly looks like somebody’s on some kind of goofy juice.
bemused
@SiubhanDuinne:
Shouldn’t he be pissed off he’s not getting bucko funding from his party?
H.E.Wolf
I expect she will demurely demur, as is her wont; and as it’s what her puppeteers want.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Betty Cracker: I would think the Leroy Jenkins option would do that. The Wingtards do love it when their stuff get steamrolled threw and Leroy Jenkins wouldn’t give a chance for the Democrats to frame it for what it is.
Of course Repugs might be considering the idea that the Dems will just scream Leroy Jenkins for their own court packing next February.
Kay
@waspuppet:
I call them “the Trump judges” because none of the other judges would mind being tied to the President who chose them, so The Trump judges shouldn’t either.
Goku (Amerikan Baka)
@Betty Cracker:
I always know when somebody says this they’re full of shit and lying. Everybody has an agenda; it just depends on what that agenda is
MattF
@waspuppet: I do wonder if Trump asked her to be ‘loyal’. I’d assume he did. Will a D Senator ask her?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Has any Senator mentioned that she will be the fifth Justice appointed by a president who lost the popular vote?
BC in Illinois
I posted this quote yesterday.
It gives an explanation for how Amy C. Barrett — who undoubtably thinks of herself as a good person — lives with judicial goals that will do harm to many people. Barrett says courts are
So she can live with being part of injustice – to people needing health care; to voters, employees, consumers, individuals leading their private lives. She’ll just work for “liberty and justice for all.”
Or not. It’s not her job.
Quinerly
Who’s listening? Just walked in from JoJo walk. Caught DiFi questioning Barrett on whether Plague Rat In Chief could delay the election like he’s threatened. Barrett essentially wouldn’t answer. Gave the same type of answer that it is an issue she may have to rule on. This is the joke that I thought it would be.
Aleta
America, where any warped, unworthy but obedient person with the right political connections and powerful backers can hope to be shoehorned into the SC.
germy
“no hints, no previews, no forecast.”
She’s quoting RBG.
Patricia Kayden
Goku (Amerikan Baka)
@Quinerly:
I have to believe she would only do that because she doesn’t want Trump to pull her nomination; that’s not crazy enough to want to rule on something like that in Trump’s favor. It would completely destroy the SCOTUS’ institutional reputation
Goku (Amerikan Baka)
@germy:
A slap in the face
Quinerly
@germy: gag me. I have to turn this off. Plus, her fucking voice.
BC in Illinois
I can’t follow these hearings. The performances of L Graham and A C Barrett are untethered to reality.
From Yamiche Alcindor:
Correct / honest / constitutional answer: “No.”
If she can’t answer this question, she won’t answer any question. She’s a party-serving hack.
Betty Cracker
Someone in an earlier thread — Dorothy, maybe? — mentioned that major court-packing, e.g., where you end up with dozens of justices, might be the best-case scenario. I think there’s merit to that idea for a lot of reasons. There’s too much power invested in and too much of a fixation on these nine individuals.
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: Maybe, but that option wouldn’t give Graham a lot of free airtime to preen and simper, and he needs all the free airtime he can get.
BC in Illinois
@Quinerly:
Quinerly beat me to it.
germy
“Healthcare is the democrats entire game play” (game plan?)
Grassley, here we go again, says Amy has all those kids so of course she’ll protect healthcare.
Kay
The Best and Brightest on the Right filed a bullshit, wholly political lawsuit that they forced the public to pay for and now that their tactic is being used against them they are whining, as usual.
This is Barrett’s crowd. This is the far Right legal world she lives in, and has lived in for 20 years. The 20 million people they threatened with losing their health care? Not her concern.
Quinerly
@BC in Illinois: so I did hear what I thought I heard. That’s just when I walked in with JoJo.
germy
@Betty Cracker:
Gin & Tonic
I am pleased that Sheldon Whitehouse is one of my Senators.
Jerzy
I just realized where I’ve seen Barrett’s crazy eyes before – Michelle Bachman.
piratedan
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: seeing that kind of parsing showing up in ads in AZ, where McSally paints herself into being in support of coverage of pre-existing conditions, just not the ACA. So her votes were only against all of those other “bad things” with the ACA, like raising your rates and hurting “private insurers”. Complete and utter bullshit for anyone who was sentient prior to the passage of the ACA but their counting on confusing people with what the insurance companies said, versus what the private insurance companies DID.
germy
“Even the liberal Jeffrey Toobin…”
I wonder if Jeffrey is ashamed to hear his name in Grassley’s mouth.
Quinerly
This ranks up there with David Vitter’s wife getting a lifetime appointment by refusing to say whether Brown vs Board of Education was decided correctly.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/16/politics/wendy-vitter-confirmation-senate/index.html
Kay
We’re not even getting a conservative legal practitioner. We’re getting a conservative legal theorist. No real world impact of her work at all. She never sees the collateral damage – the real world effects- because nearly her entire career has been conducted within a conservative law school, among fellow travelers.
Quinerly
@Kay: she’s never practiced in the real world.
germy
50 Reasons Not To Vote For Trump
A brief video from the Simpsons Treehouse of Horror.
SiubhanDuinne
@zhena gogolia:
I’ve mentioned before how grateful I am to you for introducing and championing J. L. Cauvin. It’s nice to learn that he’s not only funny as hell, but also that he’s thoughtful and intelligent. I love that combination of brains and wit.
Kay
@Quinerly:
We’re all relying on her biography because she has a very thin work record. What are we supposed to ask this person? Recordings of her lectures? She’s worked entirely inside a conservative theorist legal bubble.
Democrats are asking about the ACA because there is nothing else to ask this person. She has no record. I give them credit for coming up with a substantive line of questions. If it wasn’t for them we’d be sitting in silence running the clock until Republicans rubberstamp the MAGA judge. At least we’re getting a lesson on the ACA.
LurkerNoLonger
I have a question: if Dominionist Skipper is confirmed and the ACA falls in June, what legislative remedies are available to Democrats and Biden to overcome that?
germy
The “high five” followed by the “nose rub-pick” reminds me why this virus isn’t going away.
germy
Trump was dancing at his rally. He also tossed his mask into the crowd. What a rockstar.
Josie (also)
@MomSense: I agree. I cannot imagine why she has not had voice lessons.
germy
germy
@Josie (also):
Maybe she has, and she was worse before!
VOR
They aren’t against the ACA, they are against Obamacare. Their base doesn’t know the difference so they can probably sell that.
Quinerly
@Kay: I had to turn it off when Grassley started. Not in the mood for this today. The Federal Judiciary is lost for at least 2 generations because some people couldn’t bring themselves to vote for Hillary. I’m glad I’m 59 and have no children and family… Especially girls.
debbie
@MomSense:
I thought the exact same thing! Baby doll!
Kay
@LurkerNoLonger:
They have a lot they can do. One thing they could do is just expand Medicare. If Right wing nuts get rid of the ACA all the alternatives and work arounds are more progressive than the ACA.
They’re going to end up with a more expansive voting rights act too. Broader. The effect of the far Right is to push legislation further Left, because they would accept no compromise of any kind.
germy
@Quinerly:
Quinerly
@germy: there’s no hint of NOLA/Louisiana accent. And that’s a strong one. Her parents are still there. I like to think I kept my strong Eastern NC accent even after living in St. Louis for 35 years by chatting on the phone almost everyday with my parents when they were still alive and frequent visits to see them.
ACB doesn’t love her parents. It would be irresponsible not to speculate. 😈
Kay
@Quinerly:
Turn it off but don’t despair. The far Right legal theorists really are far to the Right of the country. That can and should be used politically against conservatives who have to actually get elected.
Ohio Mom
I’d say it’s ridiculous that someone with such measly experience in the courtroom is being considered for the Supreme Court but then again, we installed a President who up until then had never been elected to a single office, not even something as simple as I don’t know, head of a voluntary neighborhood organization.
Ruckus
@germy:
And made sure that the trip was quick and a painful as possible for every one.
Ruckus
@Ohio Mom:
Not elected to any thing, simple or complicated because it’s all way, way above his skill set as a human being.
germy
@Ruckus:
Young conservatives are given sinecures at right wing think tanks. They write columns, they ratfuck, they go on Fox and other outlets. If they write a book and nobody reads it, it’s still bought in bulk to drive up the sales. The NYT has to add an asterisk or something to books on their bestseller list that got there from bulk sales
If you’re a young progressive, you can be a front pager at blogs like this. Lots of appreciative clicks, but you’ll still need a day job.
catclub
First describe trump asking Comey to be loyal to him, then Ask if Trump asked her to be loyal the Constitution. If she says yes, we know she is lying.
Aleta
She said the law of recusal? She’s quoted RBG’s words on the process of recusal, twice, but is it a law? Did Scalia follow this?
piratedan
@Kay: i was thinking that Dems could do something really evil. Create a new ACA but you could only get it if you were a registered Dem. Call it the Church of Healthcare. Sure it’s patently illegal and illogical but then again so are the people who want to return us to the day of private insurance company death panels…
germy
I love the look on her face when Democrats quote her words back to her.
Aleta
Imo a judge should have mental flexibility. Her mind seems brittle. I think she would contradict herself in response to a skillful concise questioner.
eta I appreciated what Leahy did though, keeping on insisting on Trump’s undeniable corruption wrt to his statements about her and the election. And that Leahy insisted the important issue was the reputation of the SC in the face of what Trump has announced about her nomination.
gene108
Leahy seems old and rattled. He’s not able to think quickly on his feet, and Mrs. Barrett is rolling him. Her expression says it all, “why is this old codger wasting my time with these questions?”
Juju
@Quinerly: I’m 59, single, no children as well, but i have nieces and friends with adult female children and female students. I understand the sentiment, but I am not ready to give up yet. The girls need us. Also, I hope we get a president Biden and can pack the hell out of the courts. I’m perfectly fine with that.
Almost Retired
@germy: This always cracks me up. Sometimes there will be as many as three Conservative vanity book projects on the NY Times bestsellers, and they almost always bear the mark of shame (the dreaded “bulk buy” asterisk). The only exception seems to be whenever the next published grift comes out from Bill O’Reilly in the “Killing Brain Cells” series.
Betty Cracker
@gene108: Agreed. His questions are pretty good, but the “optics” are terrible, and since this is all about “optics,” I wish the Dems would have outsourced all the questioning to better questioners.
Ruckus
@bemused:
He’s getting undulation from his racist supporters. That’s all he gives one little fuck about.
Ruckus
@BC in Illinois:
I’d like her to tell us what the fuck her job is then.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
From a meme I saw last week:
Upthread somebody mentioned the fact that Vitter’s wife got a judgeship. I’d forgotten about that and now I’ll be even more pissed off the rest of the day.
Jamie
I can’t watch these. I had a buddy in college who went on to get way into People of Praise, and those people are batshit crazy, and fundamentally opposed to liberal, pluralistic, American government. Fifteen years ago, all my college friends declared that he was in a cult and we cut ties. This whole thing is appalling.
gene108
@Betty Cracker:
His questions are good, but he’s not at all prepared for her dissembling.
For a guy, whose been in the Senate long enough to have voted for every member of the Supreme court and the judges the current ones replaced, he should know what to expect.
He’s not at all prepared.
germy
Harris is in favor, so I hope he listens to her.
Aleta
Ask her if a judge should be forced to step down if they lie under oath at their hearing.
geg6
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
You may need to provide some definitions here. I have no idea what Leeroy Jenkins means or who he is and what he is alleged to have done. Please enlighten.
oldgold
Has anyone asked Barrett what her thoughts were in attending the White House Super Spreader event with her family? Why were they unmasked? Was it to please Trump? Does she regret it? What does it reflect concerning her judgment?
Bostondreams
@geg6:
‘Leeroy Jenkins!’ is a gaming meme out of World of Warcraft. It’s when you throw planning to the wind and just charge in and go nuts, basically, usually leading to a team wipe though.
japa21
@germy: “Not a fan” is not the same as “against “.
Old School
@geg6: I’m probably missing some details, but Leroy Jenkins is a reference to an online video game where a new player joined the game and just started wrecking everything the other players were doing.
Leto
I’ve been up for 30 minutes and the amount of times she’s mentioned her kids… waaay too much.
Omnes Omnibus
@japa21: Agreed. And I would be perfectly fine with another “switch in time that saved nine.”
geg6
@Bostondreams:
@Old School:
Well, this explains why I know nothing about it. I haven’t played, let alone even looked at, a video game since Pong came out back in the ??70s??
boatboy_srq
@Betty Cracker: It strikes me that “agenda” is synonymous with “path forward”. And Barrett (along with the rest of the Reichwing), if they want movement, want it backward. So “not having an agenda” is potentially codespeak for “advocating against progress”, “returning to our Judeo-Christian™ roots”, or similar language advocating for a return to Hammurabi’s code.
hitless
@Goku (Amerikan Baka): Isn’t it pretty to think so. This court would be perfectly willing to come up with a reason to reinstall Trump, paint it with constitutional language, and leak that they personally didn’t want to do it but rules are rules.
Let’s not imagine the supreme court to something it isn’t. They already showed in 2000 what it is.
Ohio Mom
Re: Biden not being “a fan of court packing.”
As a long-time adult, I can’t tell you how many things I am “not a fan of” that I find myself doing, starting with cleaning toilets and balancing checkbooks.
I will not be surprised if President Biden finds himself “reluctantly” working to enlarge the Court.
burnspbesq
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Fine. Let them prove it by getting Paxton and the other Republican state AGs to confess error in the Supreme Court.
WereBear
@MomSense:
All forms of assertion in women are ruthlessly policed in Fundy-Land.
patroclus
Durbin is really focusing heavily on the gun issue and doing a good job. Barrett wants to allow felons to buy guns in Indiana and take them to Chicago and kill kids and the elderly. This is really awful and will result in more gun deaths in Chicago. Thanks Amy. According to her, felons can buy guns but can legitimately be barred from voting.
Betty Cracker
@gene108: True. It may have something to do with being 80 years old, I don’t know.
...now I try to be amused
@germy:
It reminds me of Olympic athletes when they were required to be “amateurs”. The conservatives are like the Soviet bloc athletes.
hitless
@germy: They’ve handled that question badly….Biden should have just said it’s not something the President can decide to do…it would take an act of Congress and he can’t speak to the will of Congress. End of statement.
On top of which, if by a miracle the Dems are in a position to pack the court, they d**n well better do it. It’s perfectly allowable under the constitution. How much does Biden need to see to know Democrats need to be as ruthless as Republicans?
There are people standing in line 11 hours to vote for this ticket in Georgia, fighting against a state using it’s power to deny people the vote. Biden and the Democrats owe it to those people to represent them to their utmost ability.
Kay
For GOP political operatives, it must be like plugging a boat that keeps springing leaks.
Kay
@burnspbesq:
They can’t. Then they’d be revealed as the political hacks they are instead of the conservative legal scholars they pretend to be.
They just made a political miscalculation on the ACA. So far up their own asses they failed to recognize that it gets more popular every year.
burnspbesq
BTW, there is a totally apolitical, judicial-administration-driven argument for increasing the number of Supreme Court Justices to 13.
When the number was set at nine, there were nine circuit courts of appeal. Now there are 13. Makes perfect sense, in light of Supreme Court Justices’ role in hearing emergency appeals from the circuits, that there be one per circuit.
And while the new Biden Administration and Democratic Congress are at it, 2021 would be a great time to address the enormous case backlogs in the Federal judicial system by adding a shitload of new positions in the District Courts and the Courts of Appeal.
germy
@hitless:
Agree.
A Ghost to Most
@burnspbesq: Excellent logic. Too bad facts don’t matter to fascists.
Betty Cracker
Durbin was pretty good. He pointed out the absurdity of the notion that “originalism” is divorced from personal agendas. Glad someone said it. Originalism, like fiscal prudence, morality, etc., is routinely thrown overboard by conservatives when it becomes an impediment to a power grab.
germy
germy
Lee seems agitated.
Sounds like he’s looking to have some clips featured on Laura Ingraham’s show or something.
Aleta
She described Kanter as ‘selling fraudulent shoe inserts.’ That sounds innocuous and sad, like how a defense team would put it. He was guilty of defrauding Medicare. His argument for his right to possess guns was that he was not a danger to anyone. Wouldn’t harm anyone? Has a conscience? Unproven.
JWR
@MomSense:
I noted yesterday that she has the voice of a 14 year old, but I agree. It seems almost an affectation with right-wing females of the Handmaid variety.
WereBear
@Jerzy:
The first time I saw them was Pat Nixon. Who I felt very very sorry for because she really didn’t sign up for what she got, I’m sure. Nixon snow-jobbed her.
It has expanded into Republican-Wife-Eyes. Part OverThorazined, part Panicked Horse who realizes the barn is on fire.
germy
Anomalous Cowherd
@MattF:
Unfortunately, when she grasps that great prize she’s been groomed for she will find it inevitably tarnished by the machinations the feckless senate republicans used to elevate her:
-Deny Obama his right to SC appointment – check
-Being hypocrites about it when they appoint – check
-Casting COVID relief aside in an unseemly race to appoint their choice in time to rule on the election – check
-Continuing refusal to exercise oversight of an out-of-control executive – check
If ACB thinks she will retain anything more than the merest shred of her dignity after accepting this appointment, that calls into question her moral and intellectual maturity. More to the point, she should recognize that a significant portion of people polled feel this appointment should be made by the winner of the November election. A rushed appointment doesn’t pass the smell test and ultimately damages the court’s reputation. She will grasp her prize. Let us pray it doesn’t turn into ashes in her hands.
germy
Kay
And when she was asked about it in ’17, she lied and said she didn’t know anything about the entire focus of the group who hired her 5 times.
No other nominee would have gotten the deference she has gotten on what are obvious lies. I don’t know how she justifies deceiving people like this, and I don’t care. Whatever her religion, it was a lie. She should be held accountable for it.
geg6
@Anomalous Cowherd:
No, let us pray it does.
Kay
I don’t care if she answers the questions. I knew she wouldn’t and she’s not credible anyway. She lied numerous times during her hearing in ’17 and unless she’s turned over a new leaf in the last three years, her word is no good anyway.
Leto
@Kay:
She should, but she won’t. Instead we’ll continue to hear about her kids, about how all of her previous body of work/thoughts don’t mean anything, and how it’ll be all alright. Just lay back and think of Lady Liberty.
germy
germy
germy
“It’s a disposable planet.”
UncleEbeneezer
Question for photographers here (Paging BillInGlendale!!):
I want to get a print of a digital picture of my late dog Juniper in 16″ x 16″ size. How big should my jpeg file be to ensure that it looks good? My pix are just iPhone snaps, look great on computer, but I don’t wanna shell out $20+ for something and have it look grainy when I get it. Cheers–
brantl
Is anybody else sick of hearing Mike Lee suck in his own face with every breath he takes. I really wish people would listen to themselves, and try not to sound as though they are eating tapioca pudding in the middle of a conversation.
SiubhanDuinne
@germy:
I think he will. I believe she is going to be a consequential VP in all kinds of policy areas.
germy
trollhattan
@Kay:
The whole concept of “lying for the greater good” is so vastly antithetical to what is supposedly expected of a judge, and a judge in the highest court of the land at that, I find it equally infuriating and demoralizing. After Kavanaugh I should expect it now and then I recall Clarence Thomas and recall it’s S.O.P. for judges nominated by Republicans. Woe is us.
Elie
I cannot bear to listen — I’m tapped out from most of the media coverage of everything related to Trump and Trumpism. I am doing my phone banking and sending some dough, but I can’t bear this shit much longer. Barrett is a monster in little girl voice and exterior trappings. She was the spiritual “spreader” of evil – at the spreader event in the rose garden and marks a huge and horrible milestone for our fragile democracy. I am hoping that the destruction of the ACA will result in more sweeping health care legislation.
I am filled with sadness and revulsion at this horrible proceeding and the lack of any shame or responsibility by the Republicans.
We cannot ever EVER forget this….
Betty Cracker
@germy: I had the same thought. Of course, no one but avid partisans (like us) watch the hearings anyway, so it probably won’t matter. To the extent that regular people become aware of these proceedings, it will be served up to them in soundbites. In this case, I’m relieved. We’ve got a gerontocracy problem.
Another Scott
@Kay: Yup.
The GOP has broken the advise and consent part of the SCOTUS and the Federal courts. ACB is now the 5th Justice to be nominated by a president to serve on this SCOTUS who did not win the popular vote. The Senate majority has sat on nominations for the Federal courts in contravention of the Constitution. It’s well past time for a rebalancing.
Cheers,
Scott.
germy
No notes on her desk, and she’s written nothing on the legal pad the senate provided her with.
She’s God Powered!
Baud
@Another Scott:
W’s picks were in his second term after he win the popular vote in 2004.
Another Scott
@germy: The memes are flying…
Cheers,
Scott.
SiubhanDuinne
@Betty Cracker:
Yeah, it’s the shadow side of the seniority system.
Another Scott
@Baud: “But, but, he wouldn’t have had a second term if he hadn’t been installed by the SCOTUS!!1ONE.”
;-)
Conterfactuals are fun, sometimes. (sigh)
Thanks.
Cheers,
Scott.
balconesfault
I think ACB should forever be referred to as “The Justice Susan Sarandon Helped Ascend to the Court”.
Baud
@balconesfault:
As opposed to the other two Trump picks?
cope
@UncleEbeneezer: From the website linked below, 2000 X 2000 pixels minimum, 4800 X 4800 pixels for high quality.
https://www.nationsphotolab.com/pixelchart.aspx
Betty Cracker
@SiubhanDuinne: I don’t know what the answer is. Some older lawmakers are really effective, e.g., Pelosi. Durbin did great in his questioning, and he’s 75. But doling out committee leadership on the basis of seniority maybe isn’t the way to go. I’m not sure how to fix it, but I think it’s a problem.
germy
McConnell’s debate performance:
The laughing turtle.
Sloane Ranger
Sorry for interrupting but this is advertised as an Open Thread so I thought I would get fellow jackals opinion on something.
I am currently doing a Future Learn course called “Peterloo to the Pankhursts” and I have got into a bit of an argument with a fellow learner (it started from a throw-away comment I made about the American Revolution). Anyway, he claims to be Canadian but is spouting a lot of RWNJ rhetoric.
This is what he recently wrote;_
And this was my response –
What do you think? Is there anything I should have/could have added. What points should I add when he comes back to me as he, assuredly will?
Patricia Kayden
schrodingers_cat
@Sloane Ranger: He is spouting talking points, are you sure that this is a real person, could be Russian bot for all you know.
jonas
Ugh. This whole charade is like Kavanaugh’s testimony about he was a total bookworm and choirboy in high school who only enjoyed the occasional snifter of sherry around the holidays and never made crude insinuations about girls in his high school yearbook. Give me a fucking break.
It’s as if a Democratic president, under withering pressure from labor groups and unions, were to nominate some long-time outspoken union leader and labor attorney to SCOTUS who then showed up and claimed not to have any preformed opinions about labor law or working conditions in America.
germy
Why are you engaging him? It sounds like he’ll want to “come back to you” with a gun. Why waste your time? You aren’t going to change his mind.
MattF
@Sloane Ranger: Your ‘fellow learner’ is hitting every point on the way to right-wing crazytown. As my old man used to say, there are people you enjoy keeping away from.
UncleEbeneezer
@cope: Thanks!!
geg6
@Sloane Ranger:
LOL, the vast majority of the gun owners LOVE the idea of a 1619 America. Religious fanatics who persecute independent women and enslave and murder people of color, whether those kidnapped from another continent or the denizens of the one they took over? They LOVE that shit.
balconesfault
@Baud: Yeah – but the ascenscion of a self-absorbed prick like Gorsuch, or even a rapey frat boy like Kavanaugh, does not really affect the feminist narrative much. It’s based on the idea that women have to suffer and work around those types all their lives.
OTOH, ACB is a major pushback against the feminist narrative. It’s saying “play by the men’s rules – and you will be rewarded.”
Baud
@Sloane Ranger:
I suggest “See you on the battlefield, old chum.”
Baud
Deleted.
gene108
@Sloane Ranger:
Answers are good and factual. I do not think there is anything to add.
Kay
And when the school was asked about it they responded that they looked at the board meeting notes and the judge just happened to have missed each meeting where the plainly discriminatory policy was discussed.
It’s not just lying at this hearing, it’s coordinated, planned deception over a period of years.
She can sit on a board that cruelly rejects children because they don’t approve of their parents but shouldn’t she have to be accountable for those decisions? Why does she think she doesn’t?
It’s the same entitlement we saw from Kavanaugh. They simply believe the rules don’t apply to them.
Sloane Ranger
@schrodingers_cat: It’s on Future Learn and some of his other posts have been more subtle so I wouldn’t have thought he was a bot. It’s like I’m slowly drawing out his inner RWNJ. But what do I know?
balconesfault
@Kay: I’m sure she would have forcefully objected to discrimination against these children based on the sexual preferences of their parents – both on legal AND moral grounds.
But perhaps she had to pick up her husband’s dry cleaning those evenings.
Chacal Charles Calthrop
@Sloane Ranger: the founding fathers in 1776 were Deists who would have been completely appalled by the elevation of a theocrat like Amy Covid Barrett to the highest courts. Her definition of “originalism” would have been alien to the actual original authors of the Constitution.
Baud
@Sloane Ranger:
You might want to acknowledge that there well may be people who turn to domestic terrorism in response to Democratic policy being implemented, and that is something we’ll have to deal with as a nation.
balconesfault
@Sloane Ranger: The “Biden as figurehead” is a clear OAN/Fox tip.
If they’re so far down that hole – they will respond to any reasoned rebuttals you make with the “fling massive amounts of shit against the wall” attack.
Be ready to spend the next few days explaining how each thing they throw out there is wrong, whereupon they will respond by simply upping the volume of the excretions.
balconesfault
@Chacal Charles Calthrop: I can imagine the response of most of the Founding Fathers if you had described a Supreme Court made up of 6 Catholics, and one Justice educated as a Catholic.
Another Scott
@Sloane Ranger: Only continue to engage if you enjoy it. As others have said, you’ll not convince him – he’s spouting talking points and doing a Gish Gallop.
Cheers,
Scott.
germy
A brief flash of terror in Barrett’s eyes when it came Whitehouse’s turn.
Now she’s clearing her throat a lot.
He knows all about the shady financial stuff behind her. And he’s got lots of quotes from her and her supporters.
Kay
@balconesfault:
Total phony. They carefully scrubbed her awful record so she wouldn’t have to be accountable for her actions.
The university where she works pulled down videos of “talks” she gave, and they did it 4 years ago, because of course her ascension was already in the works the moment her President was elected. Apparently the public is not permitted to see her actual work.
If they’re so proud of their opinions why do they hide them? I’m on a school committee. If you show me what we did over the course of a year I won’t pretend I didn’t know.
Betty Cracker
I put up a new thread.
trnc
@germy:
Yup, Whitehouse is going to town, kicking ass and taking names. Not to mention naming them (if they weren’t anonymous, which a lot are).
Aleta
@Patricia Kayden: As well as some workers at a catered event in MN that T attended, reported last week.
danielx
@Ohio Mom:
I add cleaning cat litter boxes. But it’s got to be done anyway, even if for reasons I’m at a total loss to explain I’m the only one who does it.
🐾BillinGlendaleCA
@UncleEbeneezer: Here’s a good chart for that.
There is software out there that can “up size” a photo, I use Topaz Lab’s Gigapixel AI and I think there are on-line sites that do it as well.
Ruckus
@germy:
I’d rather push the crotchety old fuck into the traffic than walk into it myself.
trollhattan
@Betty Cracker:
Feinstein is 87 and has 4 years left in her term. It’s not a Devin Nunes-level of poor voting decisions but I apologize for California we didn’t do better (Kevin de Leon was a lousy choice to run against her, thanks Cal Dems).
Bill Arnold
@germy:
Whitehouse has some talent. Wish he would not hold back so much.
Goku (Amerikan Baka)
@hitless:
Then there would be widespread popular unrest directed at the GOP, the Trump admin, and the conservative Supreme Court justices
Bill Arnold
@Bill Arnold:
Happy that I’m wrong; he’s not holding back. :-)
a thousand flouncing lurkers was fidelio
@Ohio Mom: Start by analyzing workloads, at district and circuit court levels, and go from there. “OMG!! We have all these backlogs? Whatever shall we do?! Maybe more judges is our only recourse!!” Then ask John Roberts about his schedule.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@a thousand flouncing lurkers was fidelio:
that’s good, as I recall Roberts and Rhenquist before him have complained to Congress about judicial workloads and backlogs….
Sister Golden Bear
@Kay: The only people who use “sexual preference”* these days are anti-LGBTQ folks. It’s a clear dog whistle.
*Because if it’s a “preference,” being LGBTQ can be “cured” by
conversion therapytorture. And if it’s a “preference” there’s no reason to have laws prohibiting anti-LGBTQ discrimination because it’s not an immutable characteristic. ‘Course I’ve never gotten a coherent answer when I point out neither is religion and we consider that worthy of constitutional protections.J R in WV
@Josie (also):
I think she was trained to speak in that voice before she entered high school. Remember, she grew up in the Theocratic Cult section of the Catholic Church, and needed to be a proper Handmaiden. So, yes, she has had voice training, all her life.
J R in WV
@Anomalous Cowherd:
I’m gonna have to fic your last sentence for ya:
What do you think about this updated?
Ruckus
@Anomalous Cowherd:
You are thinking she has any dignity to begin with.
She is an extreme conservative judge who subjugates herself to her husband and her church. All her dignity was stripped long ago.