May 4, 2023·edited May 4, 2023Liked by Bill Astore
Every institution within The Beltway is highly politicized and, with no true oversight body, truly "a law unto themselves." That's the Supreme Court, The Pentagon/Pentagram, both houses of Congress, and any and all agencies associated with them. And it's all beyond the ken of the electorate, just too big, and little more than a distraction from the endless quest for peak experiences, compelling TV drama, and sports. Like climate change and mass shootings, it's all here to stay.
(Not that anyone else seems to have noticed, but today is the 53rd anniversary of the shootings at Kent State. No mention of it in the Washington Post. I expect it has finally been erased from the collective memory.)
The rot and corruption have infested the entire political system in the USA. All branches of the USG drink at the same trough of pay-offs and bribes. While such practice in other countries is denounced as corruption, here the rulers just slap the word "donations" on to the payments to cover their tracks and legitimize the status quo. The system is totally, 100% rigged--let's stop kidding ourselves and stop holding on to the delusional fiction that this is a democracy. We live in a plutocracy controlled by oligarchs and corporations, backed up by the bought-off politicians and Supreme Court judges. It is best to conceptualize it as a self-reinforcing ecosystem that ensures concentration and control of wealth and power. Once we come to this realization and finally let go of the fiction, we might actually figure out what the hell to do about it.
Was just reading yesterday how Sandra Day O'Connor (a conservative) provided the structure of the ruling that gave Bush II the win over Al Gore in 2000. She had her opinion finished before the conclusion of oral arguments. In other words, she'd decided ahead of time how she'd come down on the issue. The other justices were kind of one-upped by her tactic, and the rest of the conservatives agreed to adopt her reasoning. That reasoning, as laid out in the article, sounded pretty sketchy to this layperson, almost as if O'Connor had cherry-picked some rather obscure precedents to bolster her opinion. Where have we seen THAT before???
Word. We have to break from decorum. Decorum and sacntimonious bullshit allows the status quo to push us backward toward the precipice of Nevermore. It's time to ask ask some hard questions - like Bill Astore.
P.S. I interviewed the sister of Kent Sate victim Allison Krause on the 52nd anniversary: https://youtu.be/7jhPRH8E2yU
I'm more inclined to fault the people who are assailing the Justices than the Justices themselves. It seems like the left goes to the wall every time they don't get a nomination to their liking. And since our news media is also on the left the stories get magnified. It's all so predictable.
Every institution within The Beltway is highly politicized and, with no true oversight body, truly "a law unto themselves." That's the Supreme Court, The Pentagon/Pentagram, both houses of Congress, and any and all agencies associated with them. And it's all beyond the ken of the electorate, just too big, and little more than a distraction from the endless quest for peak experiences, compelling TV drama, and sports. Like climate change and mass shootings, it's all here to stay.
(Not that anyone else seems to have noticed, but today is the 53rd anniversary of the shootings at Kent State. No mention of it in the Washington Post. I expect it has finally been erased from the collective memory.)
The rot and corruption have infested the entire political system in the USA. All branches of the USG drink at the same trough of pay-offs and bribes. While such practice in other countries is denounced as corruption, here the rulers just slap the word "donations" on to the payments to cover their tracks and legitimize the status quo. The system is totally, 100% rigged--let's stop kidding ourselves and stop holding on to the delusional fiction that this is a democracy. We live in a plutocracy controlled by oligarchs and corporations, backed up by the bought-off politicians and Supreme Court judges. It is best to conceptualize it as a self-reinforcing ecosystem that ensures concentration and control of wealth and power. Once we come to this realization and finally let go of the fiction, we might actually figure out what the hell to do about it.
Judge Sotomayor took millions in book payments, and failed to recuse herself In Publishers' SCOTUS Cases eh?
Apparently Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor declined to recuse herself from multiple copyright infringement cases involving Penguin Random House.
Oh dear!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KY2lmGE2sM
Was just reading yesterday how Sandra Day O'Connor (a conservative) provided the structure of the ruling that gave Bush II the win over Al Gore in 2000. She had her opinion finished before the conclusion of oral arguments. In other words, she'd decided ahead of time how she'd come down on the issue. The other justices were kind of one-upped by her tactic, and the rest of the conservatives agreed to adopt her reasoning. That reasoning, as laid out in the article, sounded pretty sketchy to this layperson, almost as if O'Connor had cherry-picked some rather obscure precedents to bolster her opinion. Where have we seen THAT before???
https://www.cnn.com/2023/05/02/politics/bush-gore-oconnor-supreme-court-2000/index.html
It seems there's no way to keep SCOTUS honest for any length of time.
Wasn't the appointment of a SCOTUS judge FOR LIFE a dumb idea?
Could this be changed/repealed constitutionally by due process?
Word. We have to break from decorum. Decorum and sacntimonious bullshit allows the status quo to push us backward toward the precipice of Nevermore. It's time to ask ask some hard questions - like Bill Astore.
P.S. I interviewed the sister of Kent Sate victim Allison Krause on the 52nd anniversary: https://youtu.be/7jhPRH8E2yU
I'm more inclined to fault the people who are assailing the Justices than the Justices themselves. It seems like the left goes to the wall every time they don't get a nomination to their liking. And since our news media is also on the left the stories get magnified. It's all so predictable.