I’m going to be writing about this over and over again, so get used to it, but this is merely the first announcement so it will be short:
Justice Anthony Kennedy of the Supreme Court of the United States is retiring. We already have a court dominated by republican picks. As a “centrist” Kennedy is far to the right of where we were until Clarence Thomas replaced Thurgood Marshall. The center of the court has been pushed and pushed, and now after the Senate republicans stole the seat that was Obama’s to nominate and fill, Trump will nominate his second justice.
Abortion will be illegal in a huge number of states within 3 months of the end of the next SCOTUS term. Just fucking watch.
We. Are. All. Dead.
We. Are. All. Dead.
It was “game over” when Obama was unable to get even a moderately moderate justice confirmed. The whole thing feels like when one of those deeply evil plots on Game of Thrones is suddenly revealed, and it’s time for the headsman to get to work. They worked hard to get this, the motherfuckers.
It’s sick to see how RBG has clearly decided that she’s going to do everything that she can to survive. She’s a toughie (much respect!) but the odds are good Trump’s going to get to put another cryptofascist on the bench.
Yeah, I’ve been worried about RBG for a while now. Who knows what will happen.
Should I pray for modern medicine, or is that too much irony for one blog comment?
There are a few causes for hope left. Flip the democratic party for progressives that can win elections. They can legislate at a state level to make, say, new york oregon washington california and minnesota into haven states with local systems to offset some of the federal atrocities, and if they swing the national conversation hard enough with that kind of shit, enough young people come up in swing states to get a few of them to flip, and a better legislature manages to actually pass pro-abortion law for the first time ever. Take the court out of the equation, so that they’ll just be a collection of musty liches trying to kill everything precious and beautiful unfortunate enough to be dragged within a mile of their cold stone chambers.
But even if that stuff comes to pass, we are presently in a worst timeline hell dimension of fuckery. Children are having their telomeres rasped off in concentration camps, islamophobia is getting the seal of approval from every branch of the federal government now, and the drain of the national wellbeing into the coffers of trillionaires and bloodthirsty cyborg generals is full steam ahead.
You’re right enough, is what I’m saying. We’re already fucked, the fucking is speeding up, and if we manage to claw our way back from being the Aeternal Reich, there are things we’ll never get back. So many lives ruined or lost, so many things gone from the world forever, so much misery it will stay with us for a long damn time.
And it’s always possible global warming will cause our extinction within that time frame, so this could just be, like, yeah, we’re already dead and this is just a metric of how much pain we’ll have to endure while we circle the drain.
G.A.S:
And it’s always possible global warming will cause our extinction within that time frame, so this could just be, like, yeah, we’re already dead and this is just a metric of how much pain we’ll have to endure while we circle the drain
Sounds about right.
@GAS:
The political jerrymandering cases, though, make it really hard for swing states to flip. Consider Wisconsin, after all.
Perhaps the best thing that liberal states can do is to ram through a combination of jerrymanders and/or voting reforms (like instant runoff or range voting) that are specifically designed to screw republicans harder than Freud.
We know that Republicans are already fucking over voters in red states. The point would be to take the political fuckery to such heights that SCOTUS couldn’t ignore it.
But really, is that possible? I don’t think so. I think we’re just completely, inevitably screwed.
We know that Republicans are already fucking over voters in red states. The point would be to take the political fuckery to such heights that SCOTUS couldn’t ignore it.
Except that, soon, SCOTUS will be able to ignore whatever they want.
One of the leading indicators that politics are over is when a political party can, and does, simply outlaw the opposition. The republicans are positioned to actually do that. It makes the Trumpists’ chants of “lock her up” especially foreboding. I doubt that the republicans are stupid enough that they’re going to do that; they’re just going to allow the democratic party to exist as a sort of house eunuch that they can kick the shit out of when they’ve had a bad day. Constitutional crisis? They’re positioning themselves to ignore that rag wherever and however they see fit.
;___;
yeap.
Marcus Ranum @ 2# : … the odds are good Trump’s going to get to put another cryptofascist on the bench.
I wouldn’t make any major bets on that “crypto” part.
Does this mean that I cannot fall in love with another man if I feel like it? If it does, I think I’m going to end my life.