For many Americans, the religious extremists taking over the Supreme Court to tear down our Constitution, civil rights and protections against autocracy has been like watching a slow-motion car accident.
You could see it coming.
- In 2000: The Republicans on The Supreme Court crowned G.W. Bush as President despite all votes in the state of Florida not being re-counted…and after the fact, it was shown that Bush most likely did lose the race and presidency.
- In 2010: The SCOTUS decided to strike down campaign finance laws and open the floodgates to dark money via the Citizen’s United ruling, claiming money was speech and non-living corporate entities were people.
- In 2013: John Roberts led the assault on the Voting Rights Amendment to hobble it and empower racist and corrupt gerrymandering with the decision to strike down pre-clearance.
- In 2017: Mitch McConnell orchestrated Republicans in The Senate to end the filibuster on Supreme Court nominations which led to their ability to confirm extremist and unqualified (and now proven perjurer) nominees like Brett Kavanaugh, Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett to sit on the highest court in the land.
- In 2018: In the Masterpiece Cake case, the SCOTUS decided that bigotry was a legal right as long as a bigot claimed it was a religious belief.
- In 2020: Mitch McConnell led the GOP members of The Senate to practice nullification of the Constitution when they prevented Pres. Obama from rightfully nominating Merrick Garland to join the Supreme Court.
- In 2022: The extremist members of the SCOTUS began more frequent use of the Shadow Docket to quickly make unjust decisions without public hearings or transparency, depriving those about to be harmed a chance to argue their case. Despite its purpose to be used for time-sensitive, emergency decisions, they have exercised corrupt and unchecked power in this way to take away civil rights, to take away power from the presidency and from Congress. Then came the actual decisions to take away the rights of states to regulate concealed carry of guns, the erasing of the line between church and state by ruling that public money must be provided to religious schools and the ultimate Christian extremist ruling that precedent and stare decisis be damned along with their under-oath testimony to Congress, Roe v. Wade was killed. And along with this and their other decisions, the SCOTUS theocrats also declared that they were stripping Americans of the right to privacy, that it doesn’t exist and all privacy-related decisions including the right to birth control, gay marriage and much more were wrong in their fanatical eyes.
Are we now living in a theocracy? At least partially? Here is the definition of a Theocracy at Dictionary.com:
![](https://i0.wp.com/planetpov.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/image.png?resize=696%2C313&ssl=1)
And consider that this person is not only one of the Supreme Court justices but is aligned with four others (the article is from The Washington Post):
Yes. Our Supreme Court is composed of members of religious cults, men credibly accused sexual assaults and proven perjurers. These “anti-justices” have already torn down central pillars of The Supreme Court including respecting established law in order to make pronouncements that strip Americans of rights and conform to their religious, misogynist and authoritarian thinking. This assemblage of miscreants more resembles residents of Arkham Asylum than The Supreme Court of any nation. Cultwoman, The Molester, LieMaster, and the rest, they’re all really Jokers.
Also keep in mind that the selection of justices by Republican presidents has been led and managed for decades by The Federalist Society. All six of the Republican appointed justices now sitting on The SCOTUS were handpicked and members of The Federalist Society. Trump openly announced that The Federalist Society would be in charge of providing him with the candidates he would nominate.
What is The Federalist Society and what are their long pursued goals?
As a Washington Post article described in a 2019 article after Kavanaugh was foisted onto The Supreme Court:
The newly solidified conservative majority on the court will inevitably decide more cases in line with the [federalist] society’s ideals — which include checking federal power, protecting individual liberty and interpreting the Constitution according to its original meaning. In practice, this could mean fewer regulations of the environment and health care, more businesses allowed to refuse service to customers on religious grounds, and denial of protections claimed by newly vocal classes of minorities, such as transgender people.
I guess we can remove that “could” now and add the oppression of a majority in this country, Americans who are women.
While the above has barely scratched the surface of the past decades of pursuit of control by these power-obsessed, elitist, mostly hetero white males seeking domination of those they see as inferior and unentitled to power and self-determination, this has been the long game for these beasts. And keep in mind, the billionaire class including the Koch groups, Peter Theil, The Mercers, and many whose names we don’t know, may or may not share the Dominionist extremism that they’re constantly funding but they all come together behind the concept of tearing down U.S. democracy and replacing it with a tyranny.
In shameless Orwell Doublespeak, their term for supporting undercutting our elections as fraudulent, the planning and launch of an insurrection against American democracy and buying positions of power for bigoted religious extremists like those in Congress and on the court, is “Freedom!”. But that “Freedom!” is only intended for them, at the expense of everyone else’s.
They have used their money and power to build their army to fight for that “Freedom”, both within the political and judicial system and among the more easily manipulated public. And they have now overthrown one branch of our government, the judicial branch, and intend to takeover Congress this November and finally, hammer the stake into the heart of our democracy in the 2024 election and cement their autocracy/theocracy from then on.
This is the plan, you can see Republicans in states around the country prepping for this and changing the election laws in states they control so that they can oppress the votes of Democrats and overrule the votes of their state if the Republican candidate doesn’t win. Trump exposed this lie by explaining it openly, elections that Republicans lose are always fraudulent, the only valid elections are the ones they win.
We are in the midst of a very public overthrow of our democracy, The Supreme Court is hard at work ripping it up as best as they can and it can succeed in total within the next four years if Democrats and other Americans of conscience don’t take the loss of our rights as seriously as they should have taken the threat to Roe V. Wade in previous elections.
What we don’t need from our Democratic politicians are symbolic gestures, signals and assurances. The first response of Democrats in Congress to the killing of Roe v. Wade was to stand on the steps and sing, “God Bless America”. Sorry about the language and capitalization but WHAT THE FUCK?! This is exactly the behavior of clueless representatives who are so wholly out of touch with the anger of the majority and the urgency of action that is required. So please, knock it off! No more political performance art, these times demand doing something meaningful.
The Democratic statements opposing the decision are fine as is urging people to vote Dem in November to help them have control to pass laws in Congress to override SCOTUS rulings like this horrible one but that is not actually a plan. And winning a war requires strategy and actual plans. What Democratic politicians need to do right now is rally the public behind immediate and short term actions and aggressively promote the specifics on what they would do after a big Democratic win this year.
What Democratic Politicians Should Be Saying Right Now
- “The current Supreme Court is illegitimate because it is dominated by extremists who ignore legal and Constitutional precedents to arrive at extremist decisions. This is not a court that is providing or representing justice or the majority of the American people. It does not deserve respect.”
- “This SCOTUS was deligitimized when it was stacked by Senate Republicans who violated their constitutional duty to advise and consent on justices when Pres. Obama was in office, denying his constitutional right to have a justice nominated and confirmed then hypocritically rushed an unqualified Trump-nominated justice onto the court during the 2020 presidential election.”
- “Civil disobedience is an important tool when the majority’s rights are denied by a corrupt and unethical court.”
- “If Democrats win big this November, netting at least 2 more seats in The Senate and retaining control in The House, we promise to end the Senate filibuster, at least in cases involving constitutional rights. Having done so, we will immediately pass a law that legalizes abortion nationally, we will pass voting rights legislation to prevent future attempts at rigging elections to allow the tyranny of a fringe minority over the majority, we will enlarge the court to 13 members so power resides with justices who respect the Constitution and precedent and pass further reforms on the court, and we will pass strong gun control legislation to get assault weapons out of the hands of mass shooters and reduce the plague of gun violence. And that’s just the start to the work we will do to restore and fortify our democracy so that it reflectes the will of the people.” And adding DC and Puerto Rico as states would also help better democratize The Senate and The House (they are citizens!).
What Democratic Politicians Should Be Doing Right Now
- Proposing bills that offer workarounds for women trapped in forced-pregancy states such as providing Morning After pills at federal facilities in each state including post offices and federal office buildings. Subsidizing or offering tax credits to those who must travel out-of-state for abortion services. Expanding VA and any other federal medical facilities for citizens in a state that outlaws abortion.
- Preparing the next budget bill that can pass through reconciliation with funding for abortion services on federal property in states that have banned it as a wedge to reverse the killing of Roe v. Wade. Since items in reconciliation bills need to display a fiscal impact as a central component, develop projections of the massive cost to the U.S. economy, federal medical programs, and the skyrocketing social and economic costs of greatly increased poverty from forced pregancies year after year. Also, the costs of sidelining thousands of women from high income jobs and socially critical work.
- Begin impeachment hearings of Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsich for perjuring themselves under oath during their congressional hearings when both stated that they firmly viewed Roe as settled law and they respect stare decisis/legal precedent. Without their perjury, they would not be on the court to perpetrate this betrayal of legal precedent.
- Subpoena Clarence Thomas for hearings on ethics issues regarding his decisions on matters involving his wife Ginni and her work with seditionists.
- Draft a proposal for enlarging and reforming the Supreme Court, ending lifetime appointments, possibly rotating justices in and out of the court.
- Work with organizers and politicians in abortion-ban states to mount propositions on state ballots to make abortion a right.
- Collaborate with Dems running for state offices to turn legislatures and governors’ offices Democratic and able to overturn anti-choice laws.
- Provide Dem voters with a gameplan that lays out which Democrats in which states need the most support to best help Democrats increase their control in The Senate to overturn the filibuster and help Democrats hold onto control in The House.
- Organize all Democratic politicians behind the same message for November’s election and repeat it endlessly in the media (like republicans do with “Inflation!” and “Gas prices!”), “Even if you like the Republican who represents you, the party with the majority of members in Congress controls the country. Vote for Democrats if you want to rescue our democracy, vote for Republicans if you want them to finish the job of destroying it.”
We are at war right now and we just lost a major battle. Those intent on crushing our democracy are energized by their coup over the majority and they’re frothing at the mouth to build upon it with outlawing other civil rights like the right to contraception and gay marriage. As the old saying goes, you can’t win a war if you don’t even know you’re in one. Our politicians need to be on a wartime footing now. This is a time for bold statements and rallying cries, for leadership on what specifically we can do now and what we need to do in November and beyond to win this war.
There’s a reason that each recent election has been deemed “the most important election in our lifetimes”. Because each year, we slide deeper into an unprecedented depth, away from a constitutional democracy.
It was true in the past and just as true this November. We represent the majority, we have the strength to pull it back in place if we only use it.
To all who love this country, believe in justice and want to protect our democracy from the political thugs who are rabidly taking it down…let’s do this!
Before I read this, and I will. And am.
My sous chef threw down the gauntlet.
Stop talking about how this is such a big deal.
I stepped out and took out the trash – literally and unfortunately not figuratively.
I respect my sous, and he respects me as a hard worker.
But I wanted to go into a rage.
It was verbatim FAUX talking points.
I’m fucking here to wash your dishes and prep your food and serve your salads and desserts.
He’s openly admitted to having anger problems.
Sometimes I do, as well.
But, my anger issues are not authoritarian – and yes – he’s Latino and takes every Sunday off for family.
One of my co-workers – who is playful and cherubic – doesn’t know what Wicca or Satanism is – just a mensch.
He was topping pizzas with basil oil in a pentagram.
My sous chef lost it on him.
Here’s the thing, you can’t even see basil oil. It’s basically fancy olive oil.
Even the Front of the House manager (who is very very very very gay – and very out of the closet) called it a Jesus Star.
I lost my shit (in a good way). I couldn’t help it. I couldn’t help it. I laughed so fucking hard.
In any case, I’ll read the article.
There’s an old socialist – John Maclean. He talked of ca’ canny. It’s a Scots’ term for keeping your head down.
That’s what I’m doing. I know you know me. And he doesn’t know I was on the debate team in High School.
I just want to say – I CAME HERE TO WORK AND NOT LISTEN TO Fox News. Like, STFU.
I enjoyed your anecdotes, especially the basil oil pentagram, that’s pretty funny.
I would assume first that your soup chef is not a woman and thus the oppression of women is irrelevant to him and his misogynist Fox News mentality. Now, if a federal law was passed that forced men to put up a $100,000 bond whenever a man impregnated a woman as a down payment on paying the costs of a forced pregnancy and birth, he might start to care.
I’ve considered the issue of debating politics in work and social situations and my conclusion is that when one considers that there is a 99% chance that you can’t change their mind and a 100% chance that you’ll have to see each again and again, it’s not as much worth it to get into the inevitable frustrated stalemate.
As I always say, you can’t use reason to convince people out of beliefs that they didn’t use reason to adopt.
That said, your co-worker sounds like a good guy with a good sense of humor so conversations with him are no doubt a good thing.
Some people just don’t deserve the gift of clever and thoughtful conversation. They’re the ones who lose out.
Look forward to your thoughts on this article. Today I heard state propositions are moving forward in states, MI first, to allow the popular vote decide on abortion instead of gerrymandered fascists. If it works there, I expect that tactic to be used in many of the less intensely red states that are banning abortion.
And maybe the $100,000 bond thing should be attempted in those states at the same time, driving up support for the abortion amendment?
I don’t know if the soup chef was an autocorrect or a reference to the soup nazi from Seinfeld?
This belabors how much I need to write about chef culture. For those that don’t know, the sous is equivalent to a drill sergeant in chef hierarchy.
And, one of the best things about working in the kitchen is all the super slutty girls. I have no chance with any of them, but even when I don’t want to wake up, I can still “get up” for the ambiance.
Point being, he’s a new Sous and I have better knives than him. Also, I’m 6’3 and caucasian. I’m very aware to check my privilege at the door. I don’t walk in like Marylin Manson with a pussy hat. I check my politics at the door – because, to quote Bourdain, we need to feed the bitches. [so yeah, I should maybe write something about that – Gordon Ramsay is a celebrity chef and reality star – but… Hell’s Kitchen, though contrived, is not far off – we can all fly off the handle]
——
To the article, sir. I’ll stop the chef speak. Sir. Thank you [when you mean fuck you – not you AL]!
In 2000 I could see it coming, as well. I voted for the first time. I had barely turned 18. I voted for Nader. But relax, I was 18 and lived in Washington (THE STATE!) – it was safe Gore. I don’t regret it, just regret whatever happened to Ralph.
I was also – and – still am – a fan of a little band called Rage Against the Machine. However; they did a music video calle Testify which equated Gore and Bush.
That purism irks me to this day – for predictable reasons. I, as you are, am a student of history and I cringe that I ever had arguments with people that could not suck it up for Hillary but loved Tulsi.
I hate to say I told you so, but…
I was reading Nietzsche and Trotsky in High School. I would cut class and sneak into the school library I was so bored.
Don’t pretend to be pretentious and more progressive than me. Like…. FUUUUUCK.
I love magic unicorns and the burn and farting rainbows. Those beliefs don’t solve anything in real life, fore real people.
I’m more left than you in your wildest imagination, but —– I’m gonna get pissed off – because nobody offers any actual solutions.
We don’t have a d’Hondt, proportional, or or any of the other systems. There’s absolutely no reason – as with Bernie and Angus, or even Specter that we can’t caucus independently.
But as to the parliamentary systems? I mean Colombia elected its first leftist, but the Israili Knesset is having it’s 5th (or 6th?) election in Five years. Mussolini didn’t make the trains run on time, but Italy is worse.
ErdoÄŸan, Orbán, and fucking Boris Johnson. [We’re biding our time – Alba gu brà th!]
I lost my point being all Hessian in a Glass Bead Game and not Headless Christopher Walkin way [call back, in the kitchen – we have a big refrigerator – sometimes two – called a Walk-in – so, another peak at chef humor there – because I Amber Heard that sir! – I’ll work on a glossary]
Fuck Mitch. I fucking respect that though. Like Cheney the elder on Meet the Press. “I didn’t say that” – play the tape. “No, I didn’t say that.” We just saw you say that. (He fucking shot someone famously – I was Binging Boston Legal… it’s very depressing – and was strikingly poignant I was watching them talk about Roe v Wade just as it was in reall life being struck down … to incarnate George Carlin… holyyyyy fuuuuuck).
Say what you will about Bill Maher and his Islamophobia and such, but he’s right on this: DEMOCRATS ARE PUSSIES.
Hold the phone, – hold my beer…. I repeat:
DEMOCRATS ARE PUSSIES
– I actually don’t give a shit about the cake case. I’m gonna be Crowder and say: change my mind? Unlike Crowder I mean it. Like, you’re a pastry business that discriminates against gays? Goood luck with that. I don’t care how far down south you are. Who do you think does catering for weddings?
Let’s pick our battles.
Shooters of Boobert fame – yeah – she’s a tough one. I’d gimp her – like so she couldn’t talk. She is kinda hot except for everything thing else about her that is repulsive.
Nullification? Huh – it’s almost like I’ve heard that word…. and I’ve never even been to South Carolina….
—————–Shadow docket. Okay, that’s new to me. I want to pretend, but – this intrigues me. I’m not being sarcastic for once. I will look into this.
Message discipline is for Commies.
I mean… ?
I’m not a member of any organized party… I’m a Democrat.
You keep on reporting the majority.
————-
I just think politics are very personal. And I wish we could communicate that.
As purist as you might think Chomsky (who is at the U of A here in Tucson now) is, even he has always argued to vote the lesser of two evils.
Because, … history again, it has always been thus.
As a side note, I was in love with a girl from high school. She loved the character of Ron Swanson from Parks and Recreation. I was driving her from the Oregon coast to north of Porland a couple years ago on one of my sojourns back to Cascadia.
I remarked how it was funny how he played a libertarian. She’s was a hot artsy girl. I can’t imagine she’d vote Republican. She definitely is progressive I’m sure to this day. But, she was confused when I remarked on his libertarian character. She literally said – unironically – but that’s like liberal, right?
In Satanism, one of the Satanic Sins is solipsism. Satanists have empathy. But; we also don’t assume everyone is as clever as we are.
I know that sounds awful – but fit it on a bumpersticker goddamit and don’t windbag it like John Kerry.
uggggggggggggggh
Anyway, I hope to have a job tomorrow after being kicked out of my apartment [I still have a few weeks to move out]. If all goes well, there will be soup for you.[I get it, chef slang is kinda cultish – like our own secret language – if you’re truly interested I’ll get Escoffier on that shit and the recipe for basil oil – it’s just blanching basil and spinach leaves, straining it a chinoise with cheesecloth, after its been emulsified in a roto-coop – and then, of course putting it in one of those squeezing bottles, don’t tell anyone I gave you a secret from our “Bible” = kitchen cookbook].