Sour grapes » « The new NATO

Yesterday was a good day

Several things that make me happy occurred.

  • Trump was arrested. That’s nice.
  • A liberal won the Chicago mayoral race.

    Brandon Johnson, a county commissioner and former public school teacher, was projected to win Tuesday’s mayoral runoff after promising to increase investment in social programs to address public safety fears in the nation’s third-largest city.

  • The Wisconsin supreme court was flipped to a majority liberal

    Liberals claimed control of Wisconsin’s high court in an election Tuesday, giving them a one-vote majority on a body that in the coming years will likely consider the state’s abortion ban, its gerrymandered legislative districts and its voting rules for the 2024 presidential election.
    Milwaukee County Judge Janet Protasiewicz’s victory over former state Supreme Court justice Daniel Kelly will end 15 years of conservative control of the Wisconsin Supreme Court. She could face ethical questions when the court takes up politically charged cases because she campaigned heavily on abortion rights and repeatedly called the state’s election maps “rigged.”

    This is the one I cared about most, because it’s the state next door, and I’ve got a grandchild living there. Wisconsin has been on a long slow ugly slide to the dark side, and this is a welcome and meaningful reversal. Also — a Democrat campaigning on abortion rights won? Please, Democratic party, realize that this is a winning issue for you.

I think that one thing that has been dragging Democrats down for decades is the timidity of conservative Democrats who want to be Republican Lite and refuse to embrace what the party stands for — progressive values, equality, and labor (they still suck on that last one).

Sour grapes » « The new NATO

Comments

  1. says

    And immediately the Wisconsin GOP has said they will start investigations into her and floated the possibility of impeachment.

  2. Reginald Selkirk says

    She could face ethical questions when the court takes up politically charged cases because she campaigned heavily on abortion rights and repeatedly called the state’s election maps “rigged.”

    As if her opponent was any less political! I have had enough of justice candidates insisting they will be impartial while blinking out in Morse code that they will overturn precedents like Roe v. Wade.

  3. Reginald Selkirk says

    Wisconsin Supreme Court candidates dispute one another’s impartiality

    Kelly also conceded that he holds personal political beliefs — and said any jurist does — but that he uses a methodology that allows him to put those politics aside and rule fairly.

    “When you’re done (assessing a case), you should be able to look back and see an unbroken chain of logic between the conclusion and the premises,” he said. “And if you can, that’s your guarantee that the conclusion is commanded by law, and is not influenced by politics, because logic doesn’t care about your politics.”

    Ha ha ha. What we see in conservative justices these days is that they start with their conclusion and work from there. An “unbroken chain of logic” means nothing when you’re doing it backwards.

    When Republicans first redrew Wisconsin’s legislative maps more than a decade ago, Kelly, who was then a private attorney, defended the GOP redistricting plan in federal court.

    douche nozzle.

  4. billseymour says

    drksky @1:  and they might do it, too.  It looks like the state senator for the WOW counties will be a far-right guy who has stated publicly that he’ll vote to impeach Protasiewicz; and his win will give Republicans the supermajority that they’d need.

    Reginald Selkirk@3 on Kelly:

    What we see in conservative justices these days is that they start with their conclusion and work from there.  An “unbroken chain of logic” means nothing when you’re doing it backwards.

    You beat me to it.

  5. acroyear says

    I’m gonna see Wisconsin start a new trend of the GOP-dominated states getting rid of elected judges and moving to appointed judges that have to pass legislative approval (as the Federal system does), to avoid this ever happening again. Given that even most states that are ‘blue’ as a whole tend to have extremely red legislators due to gerrymandering (GA, VA, NV, even NH and VT), it seems inevitable that they’ll take this democracy-driven freedom back since it no longer can be trusted to ensure cronyism continues.

  7. StevoR says

    Yes. All that is good. Very good and a relief.

    I really wish the Democratic party in general and Biden in particular wouldn’t keep pulling their punches and would come out far more strongly against the traitors and unAmerican nazi scum that the USA’s reichwing of politics has degenerated into under the Trump cult. Call them what they are and treat them accordingly.

    Oh & FFS do something about Trump’s treason SCOTUS & the undemocratic Electoral College – two things that really shouldn’t be allowed to stand.

  8. Matt G says

    Reginald@3- Funny, starting with conclusions is exactly how creationists work, but I’m totally sure that’s just a coincidence….

  9. birgerjohansson says

    It seems like the leaders of the Democratic party are the only ones that have not noticed USA is in the middle of a low-intensity civil war where the rules of the Clinton years are completely irrelevant.
    I would remind you that it takes two to get peace, but only one to get war.

    The analogy to how the western nations dealt with the increasing aggression of Putin is apt.

  10. StevoR says

    Apparently Trump could well be facing Contempt of Court and Obstruction of Justice charges soon after his Mar-e-lago ravings post arraignment. He was warhed and did it anyhow and one commentator on Aussie ABC news who was a legal expert & professor of Curtin University seemed very sure he’s going to be in a world of legal – & other – pain for going after the Judges and court system. Hope that’s right and expect we’ll find out soon.

  12. birgerjohansson says

    Please enlighten me about a detail.

    The president cannot fire the (republican) boss of the federal mail (who is sabotaging the voting system).

    But at The Young Turks, a member said that the president can dismiss and appoint members of a body of people that has the power to dismiss the chairman of the mail. Appoint new ones, and the leader of the mail is gone.
    Biden has simply not got around to doing it.
    It seemed absurd at first, but this is Biden and the legacy Democrats we are talking about.

    Does anybody reading this have enough insight into the mail leadership to conferm or debunk this?

  14. birgerjohansson says

    Some homework for the Eastern holiday: read about president Buchanan.
    Read about the dysfunctional political landscape of Italy ca. 1920.

  16. jsrtheta says

    One point: Trump was not “arrested”. Anyone who has ever actually been arrested will be happy to tell you that.

    Arrest is a constitutionally significant action and, most importantly, means one has been deprived of freedom, because the arrestee is not free to leave. Being arrested means handcuffs or other physical restraints. It does not mean arriving in court under one’s own power, as Trump did. It does not mean you will not be required to have your mugshot taken. It means you must post bond to be released.

    None of these things happened to Trump.

  18. says

    think that one thing that has been dragging Democrats down for decades is the timidity of conservative Democrats who want to be Republican Lite and refuse to embrace what the party stands for — progressive values, equality, and labor (they still suck on that last one).

    Yes. I think older Democrats are still stuck in a loser’s mindset resulting from having lost five out of six presidential elections between 1968 and 1988. They think the only way to win is to co-opt Republican talking points Clinton-style. It doesn’t work because, first of all, Republicans will portray any Democratic politician as a dangerous left-wing Commie radical, even a conservative southern governor like Clinton or Carter, and secondly, Democrats come off as willing to compromise, which often sounds like weakness. Americans hate weakness.

    Oh & FFS do something about Trump’s treason SCOTUS & the undemocratic Electoral College – two things that really shouldn’t be allowed to stand.

    You’re right, of course, but SCOTUS appointments are approved or rejected by the Senate, and getting rid of the Electoral College requires a Constitutional amendment approved by three-quarters of the state legislatures–both of which are skewed by the Constitutional setup giving states where nobody lives power equal to that of our most populous states.
    Our “founding fathers” didn’t give us a democracy–actually, the Constitution doesn’t even mention having a popular vote for anything. This is especially worrisome regarding presidential elections to come; we are nearing a point where a state legislature will vote to override the vote of the people and award electoral votes to its preferred candidate–and the Supreme Court will back them up.
    Meanwhile, I guess we should take a good day when we get one.

  22. Nemo says

    @birgerjohansson #12:

    Does anybody reading this have enough insight into the mail leadership to confirm or debunk this?

    It’s complicated. See here to start with: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Board_of_Governors_of_the_United_States_Postal_Service

    There are nine governors with staggered terms, only five of whom are even allowed to be Democrats. Then, you’ve got the U.S. Senate to contend with, which as you may know is running the narrowest of majorities. That said, it looks like Biden has already placed five governors (including one independent and one Republican), but may (?) need one more to achieve effective control.

  23. Akira MacKenzie says

    @ 18

    </>Democrats come off as willing to compromise, which often sounds like weakness.

    Sounds? When you’re willing to compromise basic morality just so you can claim electoral victory for toothless, milquetoast policy, compromise IS a weakness.

  24. birgerjohansson says

    Akira McKenzie @ 23

    Seconded. In the long run, the small delay you get by giving away Czechoslovakia is not worth it.
    Also, ask the old English kings about paying the Danes to stay away.

  25. macallan says

    @19

    Also Stephen Colbert the day before arraignment & Colbert into song sabotage here 1 min 16 secs plus Parody Project musical take at the hyperlink.

    Gah, every time I see ‘song’ and ‘sabotage’ in the same sentence I think Beastie Boys.