UNEVEN PLAYING FIELD

With Friday’s ruling by SCOTUS on Roe, state legislatures are now bracing to take on the brunt of that decision…and much, much more.

The power of future rulings on abortion now falls to the individual states.

And…

This element will surely be a major factor, one would think, heading into the Midterms.

For Dems, that is bad news: In many states, including Wisconsin, Ohio, Georgia and Florida, abortion’s new battleground is decidedly unlevel, tilted by years of Republican efforts to gerrymander state legislatures while Democrats largely focused on federal politics.

As abortion now becomes illegal in half of the country, democratic self-governance may be nearly out of reach for some voters.

The Supreme Court has turned states into battle zones!!!

As I’ve ALREADY said in a previous posting, it looks like it could “open warfare” – NOT just organized rallies and reasonable discussion, but, sadly, in violence.

Throughout the weekend, leaders of conservative advocacy groups have been saying that they were/are ALREADY gearing up for the next phase of ‘the battle’ in statehouses and state Supreme Courts.

Democrats may have won the popular presidential vote in five out of the last six elections, but, AND THIS is A BIG ‘BUT,’ Republicans control 23 state legislatures while Democrats lead 14 – with 12 bicameral state legislatures divided between the parties. Nebraska’s legislature is elected on a nonpartisan basis.

In a very real sense, the country is pulling apart, with blocks of liberal states on the West Coast and in the Northeast moving ahead with one agenda as the conservative center of the country moves in the opposite direction.

Another profound example of polarization and tribalism.

The perfect explanation [of how did we get here?], is to remind everyone that divisions have only been compounded in Washington, where Congress’s extremely narrow Democratic majority has been unable to pass significant legislation on climate change, voting rights, immigration or abortion rights, leaving those weighty issues to the courts and regulatory agencies. 

Compromise is a lost element amongst our elected lawmakers!!!

Also, keep in mind, in states where the voting populations are ideologically divided, the political direction of governance in state capitals may be driven more by partisan power structures!!! put in place by politicians than by public opinion. 

h/t: National Constitution Center.

POLITICAL and LEGAL WARFARE

Since late Friday morning, we’ve been witnessing reaction across the county as regards the Supreme Court‘s ruling on Roe.

In a word: U-G-L-Y.

The court’s newly established conservative bloc has set the country on a course toward legal and political warfare destined to last for years, a conflict perhaps even more intense than the one that has raged since Roe was decided in 1973.

In ALL too many cases/cities, serious conversation has been replaced by pure VULARITY and OUTWARD THREATS OF VIOLENCE.

The implications of the court’s ruling are almost nearly impossible to predict. 

That said, what one can say, without hesitation, in today’s incoherent polarization it looks like there could be serious violence towards established institutions and many appointed individuals, as well as elected lawmakers.

NOT good for anyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As the old Lobsterman sees it, the most immediate effect may, I said may, contribute to a reshaping of the political landscape of the country, though that depends on the degree to which abortion rights supporters – and opponents of the court’s current composition – mobilize in the way that abortion opponents have done for decades.

The ’22 Midterms are 4-plus months away…

It’s also my sense, we are now living in a new era.

IT’S ONLY THE BEGINNING

The decision finally came down yesterday morning, and because of a leaked document to Politico, NO one was surprised or shocked.

Justice Samuel Alito and four other justices, ALL chosen by Republican presidents running on successive party platforms committed to overturning Roe v. Wade, erased the constitutional right to reproductive autonomy that the Supreme Court recognized more than 49 years ago. 

Abortion, now one of the most common medical procedures, will be banned or sharply limited in about half the country. 

With SCOTUS overturning Roe, the issue of abortion now returns to the individual states, where roughly half are expected to limit or ban the procedure altogether.

It is surely going to amplify the course of the Midterms in November by a factor of 20!!!

My immediate impression, throughout the day, whenever I could get a chance to watch and listen, was that during this time of radical polarization throughout American society, the rule of law is NO longer looked at with a sense of stability and continuity.

As it only can, in America, the earth started to move, throughout the day and evening of the coming political earthquake on the horizon.

Countless numbers on the Pro-Choice segment of this issue railed about how the conservative justices have broken the law and “opened the floodgates to chaos and anarchy.”

NEVER a good mix in the current era of collective tribalism across the country!!!

The politics of abortion for the better part of almost 50 years have been constantly overshadowed!!! by judicial controversy, rarely about the “unborn” and the care/welfare of the mother…ongoing.

That said, we, as a nation, are about to find out what the struggle really looks like. 

MINUTE-to-MINUTE COERCION

The 1/6 House Select Committee painted a lurid picture yesterday on how the Orange Despot conducted and directed a wide-ranging bid to strong-arm the Justice Department into overturning the ’20 election, the most brazen attempt by a sitting president since Watergate to manipulate !!! the nation’s law enforcement apparatus to keep himself in power.

When top Justice Department officials repeatedly !!! told Boy Orange that they had investigated and debunked his allegations !!! of widespread election fraud, Trump said they need NOT find evidence.

“Just say the election is corrupt and leave the rest to me,” he told them.

A pit of ravenous dogs would be too good for this triple-wide piece of excrement!!!

When the Justice officials refused to comply, Trump embraced a plan to remove the acting attorney general and install a loyalist, and circus clown of the week, Jeffrey Clark, to do his bidding.

During a heated showdown in the Oval Office, only the threat of a mass resignation at the Justice Department persuaded Trump to back down [casting for that scene will be priceless!].

Yesterday’s hearing clearly displayed a portrait of an embattled Justice Department that worked frantically to stave off a constitutional crisis driven by a complete and certifiable loon who refused !!! to relinquish his power, and showed how close the country came to such a breakdown.

WE’LL HAVE TO WAIT and SEE

On the same day that the Supreme Court struck down a New York law that placed strict limits on carrying guns outside the home, the Senate approved bipartisan legislation yesterday aimed at keeping firearms out of the hands of dangerous people, after a small group of Republicans joined Dems to break through their party’s longstanding blockade of gun safety measures and shatter nearly three decades of congressional paralysis on toughening the nation’s gun laws.

To state the obvious, the Senate‘s work reflects a stark divergence!!! between the conservative-leaning court and the Democratic-controlled Congress on one of the most politically intractable issues in the country.

The Senate passed the measure 65 to 33, with 15 Republicans, including, wait for it, Mitch McConnell (R-KY), the minority leader, breaking ranks to side with Dems in support of the measure; two Republican senators were absent.

The legislation would enhance background checks for prospective gun buyers ages 18 to 21, requiring for the first time that juvenile records, including mental health records beginning at age 16, be vetted for potentially disqualifying material.

The bill would provide incentives for states to pass “red flag” laws that allow guns to be temporarily confiscated from people deemed by a judge to be too dangerous to possess them.

And…

It would tighten a federal ban on domestic abusers buying firearms, and strengthen laws against straw purchasing and trafficking of guns.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) announced last night that the House would move to take up the measure this morning. 

JOHNNY GOT HIS GUN

The late Dalton Trumbo would have had a field-day writing about today’s SCOTUS decision on guns.

The Court’s ruling was only the second major statement on the scope of the individual constitutional right to keep and bear arms and its first on how the right applies to firearms in public places.

Basically, it struck down a New York law that placed strict limits on carrying guns outside the home, saying it was at odds with the Second Amendment.

The decision has far-reaching implications, particularly in cities that had sought to address gun crimes by putting restrictions on who can carry them.

The vote was 6 to 3, with the court’s three liberal members in dissent.

The court’s reluctance to hear Second Amendment cases changed as its membership shifted to the right in recent years.

Trump’s three appointees – Justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett – have ALL expressed support for gun rights.

Mass shootings are/will continue to be an everyday occurrence across the country.

Simply put: SCOTUS has made that possible by misinterpreting the Second Amendment by ignoring our growing militia component…and their troubling violent mindset!!!

HEARING #5

The 1/6 House Select Committee plans to unveil new evidence this afternoon about how the Orange Despot tried to manipulate the Justice Department to help him cling to power after he lost the ’20 election.

The committee plans to hear testimony from three former top Justice Department officials who are expected to lay out the ways in which Trump tried to misuse the attorney general’s office!!! to overturn his defeat.

Just think about that for a second, Donald John Trump – our former president – interfering with the nation’s law enforcement apparatus for his own personal ends!!!!!!

The aforementioned witnesses scheduled to testify are Jeffrey Rosen, the former acting attorney general; Richard Donoghue, the former acting deputy attorney general; and Steven Engel, the former assistant attorney general for the Office of Legal Counsel.

 Committee aides to the House inquiry said today’s hearing will contain new revelations.

Sic ’em, boys, sic ’em!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

KEVIN WAS/IS DUMB!

Pro-Trump Re’Trump’licans are collectively wringing their hands with regret about a decision made by their gutless House Minority leader, Kevin McCarthy, nearly a year ago.

After the fourth hearing by the 1/6 House Select Committee, with mounting evidence of clear, uninterrupted narratives about the Orange Despot‘s effort to undermine!!! the peaceful transfer of power, many of McCarthy’s mongrels recently have developed a growing bad taste about Kevin’s decision last summer.

Remember…

McCarthy chose to withdraw!!! ALL of his nominees to the committee – amid a spat with Speaker Pelosi over her rejection of his two choices – one of those turning points in history that left the nine-member investigative committee without a single ally of Donald John Trump.

The result of Kevin’s faux pas: Re’Trump’licans now have come to the realization that they have NO insight into the inner workings of the committee as it has issued dozens of subpoenas and conducted interviews behind closed doors with hundreds of witnesses.

Sadly, the irony of this clown’s credibility over this matter may yet result in McCarthy becoming the Speaker of the House after the ’22 Midterms!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Please have a “vomit bag” handy at ALL times in the coming weeks.

INTERESTING, but not surprising

The Granite State has some news that may piss off the Orange Despot once he’s had a chance to digest it.

A new poll taken by the University of New Hampshire is indicating that Boy Orange is NO longer the ‘flavor of the month’ for the ’24 election…

https://scholars.unh.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1696&context=survey_center_polls

Florida Governor Ronnie “It’s My State” DeSantis takes 39% in a poll of the Republican presidential primary in New Hampshire, while Trump is at 37%. 

NO other potential GOP contender manages double-digit support, with Pastor Mike Pence in third place at 9%.

But, boys and girls, we’re NOT even at the first turn yet…still miles and miles of ground to cover.

THANK YOU, RUSTY!

There are still heroes amongst us…