Bottom line.We gotta crush this guy,this vermin, at the polls in November.We now know that the courts aren’t going to save us, the media is certainly not going to save us, the putrid polls aren’t going to save us.WE are going to save us.We had a blue wave in 2020 which will be nothing to our blue tsunami of 2024.We gotta crush MAGA and make them nothing.
Michael Waldman of the Brennan Center: "Trying to overthrow the Constitution and subvert the peaceful transfer of power is not an official act."
This shouldn't have to be said -- but it does have to be said because of what Trump's lawyers are claiming. Their arguments in this case are a blend of Kafka and Catch-22, with A Clockwork Orange playing in the background.
My late friend when faced with an outrageous story would declare’You can’t make this sh!+ up, Louie!’ No one can willfully contort the English language like a magat in the service of the amoral orange creature!
Maybe the only good thing about Trump and his ilk is that they continually push me and others to find ways to convey ideas we never had to deal with before.
What the Supreme Court is really working toward is “Every Act of a President is Official. We cannot be bothered to distinguish between Private Acts and Official Acts again. Let’s keep this simple”
Some of them are most definitely flirting with it. It's still possible that some of them at least are wrestling with an issue that Trump has forced to an extent that none of his predecessors did. It remains to be seen where they end up.
They end up as traitors to the Constitution they so loosely define as Originalist, Texturalist, or Major Questions based
They have assumed the mantle of law writers in place of Congress ; and as they are virtually immune from oversight and working in conjunction with an anticipated executive office Trump/Leonard Leo cabal, the Congress no longer exists in the Checks and Balance equation
The thing that perplexes me about the "unitary executive" crew (including Barr) is that they're willing to imagine and support Trump in that role. As the saying goes, WYSIWYG, what you see is what you get, and we've all seen Trump in action. Do the Project 2025, Heritage Foundation, Federalist Society, et al. assume that they can control Trump and thus achieve their agenda? The elected Republicans, in Congress and in the states, are generally a sorry lot and not the sort of people I'd count on to further *my* agenda. The big donors, the so-called originalists, and those who've never been all that fond of democracy have known all along that they don't have the votes to get elected, so I wonder how they plan to pull this off.
After the qualification by the justices and trump’s attorney that a president could legally, as an official act, order the assassination of a political rival, depending on the circumstances, I would like to ask the court the following hypothetical question (since they are so enamored with hypotheticals).
“Under what circumstances would it be acceptable for President Biden to order the assassination of Mr. trump?” I am so f’ing tired of this nonsense and still haven’t figured out how to explain/apologize to the European part of my family for the ongoing idiocy of the American government right now.
They're going to delay making this decision until after the election, to make sure they don't give such power to a Democrat (since they think Trump will win). And if Biden wins (as he will) the decision will disappear into the "cloud."
Does it never occur to these radical justices that a president like tfg could declare the Court in recess, permanently. He would be immune under their absurd reasoning. A president with "immunity" and rule by decree. Such a president could "nationalize" a company, any company, and skim off profits. Thursday's oral arguments were utterly absurd. The five corrupt justices totally ignored the Constitution and the context of history. These people are contemptible liars, and as Liz Cheney said their dishonor will remain.
And THAT is the other question I felt should be asked. It has come up before in either this forum or one of the others I subscribe to.
With all these hypotheticals - I really question WHY those 2 questions werent asked - after all, what the h*ll is there to lose in front of these Magas? I cannot imagine the sheer frustration of the three women who are in the "minority"!
This may be wildly unpopular to write, but I thought that the Jack Smith representative lawyer I heard audio of completely lacked gravitas in his vocal quality. -Alito saying he didn't want to get into any specifics: it went like this in my head: a very weak and weird voice speaking and then the response from a authoritative and competent-sounding voice in response (sadly: Alito's - not the content, but the voice quality). If I was directing a propaganda documentary for the right wing I would have done it this way.
I didnt think the trump lawyer was all that effective - but it felt like he didnt need to be - listening to the little "jokes" & remarks from Alito regarding the government's case is worrisome.
Sorry, I can’t “like” your response, even though it’s the most likely outcome. However I would still love to see a photo of all their faces reacting if that question were asked.
Biden could justify such a criminal act by claiming that both the court and legislature failed to carry out their oaths so it was left to him to "eliminate" the threat to national security.
I had the same thought, Danielle, only I didn't think to phrase it as a question to SCOTUS. I was just thinking if they ok immunity, then couldn't President Biden just arrest TFG. I wonder how they would answer your question.
Once again, Tom, a great post. You have said all that needs to be said. I'm still concerned about this election - not because I think Biden will lose, I don't, I think he'll win. What I do think is all those imbecilic MAGAts will take to the streets of every major city in America with all the weapon they own or can beg, borrow, and steal and make January 6 like like child's play. We must be be prepared. The National Guard must be on alert. Unless, trump does us that favor of keeling over and dying.
I know it's very bad Karma, but I pray for his demise every dang day. But hey, I'm willing to take on the bad karma if we can just rid ourselves of this suppurating boil on the butt cheek of America. (Trump, I mean...I know there are several other people who could also be described in this manner)
Yes, I am with you on the death wish.I know it is bad karma too to wish someone would croak even though that person is evil incarnate ( my friend says he is Satan).His kicking the bucket is really the only way we will ever be truly rid of him as we all know he will never ride peacefully off into the sunset.He is the head of the snake and needs to be gone.
Snakes should be kept out of this. Most of them are benign, and even rattlesnakes are decent creatures, and important parts of the ecosystems they inhabit, and the rattle is proof. They don't want to poison anyone. Venom is expensive. The rattle serves as a warning, so that they should not have to poison anyone, and it has only evolved once. There is actually an African American folktale, "How the Snake Got His Rattle" which demonstrates an understanding of this. It's in a short book of African American folktales, put together by Julius Lester, which can be purchased online.
I stopped worrying about karma long ago, as it applies to me and my daily heartfelt wish for a swift end to the criminal mob boss. But I do hope karma kicks in before I kick the bucket as it applies to the "suppurating boil on the butt cheek of America" (which is a perfect way to describe that excuse for a human being!)
Well, I'd disagree about one thing. The derriere is a wonderful secondary sex characteristic, and I hate to see it associated with nasty stuff like tfg.
And I hope you're still around, compos mentis, able bodied, and ready to celebrate when the criminal mob boss breathes his last.
Lol! I'm working on that survival plan! I was laughing with a friend just yesterday that I now have just about every organ and joint of my body assigned to the care of some specialist!
In this case it's not bad karma. Trump is evil, and one of the most vile H. sapiens ever to walk the planet. It is absolutely a reasonable reaction to him to pray daily for his demise. I'm not given to praying, but I do find myself often hoping that he will depart this mortal coil sooner rather than later.
And when he does, I suspect I'll get some people over and celebrate!
The CONservative justices on the Supreme Court seem content to argue about how many angels can dance on the head of a pin while delaying trump’s trials, which is all he really wants, namely to delay, delay, delay. Like all his harebrained schemes to turn over fast cash to delay his financial ruination, it’s delay another day, another day to wheel and deal to keep his ass out of lockup, but now he’s got SCOTUS to run interference for him…Roy Cohn would be so proud of his protege…
Yes...I still am aghast/disgusted at the mindset of a parent who could even entertain the thought that Roy Cohn was a suitable mentor for their child. Fred, Sr. must have been a very sick, depraved person.
‘No previous President has……’! Indeed no previous POTUS was an amoral pathological liar and narcissist who used the highest office in our country to feed his greedy lust to enrich himself!
Repubbies are for all this disgusting subversion of the Constitution, because they are well aware that they support such unpopular positions and lousy policies that they would NEVER get elected on their own merits so they have to cheat...and cheat some more. Republicans, to quote Tolkien, are "apt to evil" and utterly corrupt.
Thanks for the gifted link from the Atlantic.Some of you may have seen this in LA Times, another version of the Trumpification of SCOTUS.
“Crime is a largely private endeavor. Corruption is public. It seeps into the muscle and sinew of democratic society and institutions; it devours from within. The Supreme Court, drunk on arrogated power, cut loose from rudimentary ethics, has been eaten alive by it. But the court is just one plot of a vast terrain that Trump has conquered — not with crime, but corruption.
Crime is when you launch a violent attempt to overthrow the republic. Corruption is when you convince an entire political party to pretend they didn’t watch it live on television, or cower from it inside the Capitol while dozens of police officers were being bludgeoned by the mob.”
Sadly, many voters & non voters do not realize how important the power to choose the SCOTUS appointments becomes & here we are. Looks like the new law is crime pays.
A bit of an off topic point, but how can the three “liberal” justices claim any sort of friendly feeling toward the cretins on that court? “Oh, we all get along just fine,” is what we hear in interviews. If that isn’t a bald faced lie I am sooooo disappointed in them.
It's hard to imagine how they could be anything but disgusted in them, with the exception of Amy Coney Barrett who seems to be taking a more reasonable view of what's going on.
Thanks for posting this TC. I was listening to it on NPR and my mind got so mixed up with what these R justices were saying. I guess I couldn't believe my ears at the time. Now that I've read it, I can see where it's leading to. I am so disgusted that this will most likely cause another delay until after the election, I could just throw up!
"Yet a legislature would be strongly I disinclined to impeach, much less convict, a president who could murder all of them with total immunity because he did so as an official act. The same scenario applies to the Supreme Court, which would probably not rule against a chief executive who could assassinate them and get away with it." Ya Think?! These juckers need to be impeached!
All of us can concoct scenarios in which a president can commit a first degree, death penalty level criminal act and argue that it was an official act of a presidency because that's part of the very definition of a dictatorship. SCOTUS kabuki is a sign that at least five robed fools need to resign and take their preening foolery to Off-Off Broadway.
Bottom line.We gotta crush this guy,this vermin, at the polls in November.We now know that the courts aren’t going to save us, the media is certainly not going to save us, the putrid polls aren’t going to save us.WE are going to save us.We had a blue wave in 2020 which will be nothing to our blue tsunami of 2024.We gotta crush MAGA and make them nothing.
Michael Waldman of the Brennan Center: "Trying to overthrow the Constitution and subvert the peaceful transfer of power is not an official act."
This shouldn't have to be said -- but it does have to be said because of what Trump's lawyers are claiming. Their arguments in this case are a blend of Kafka and Catch-22, with A Clockwork Orange playing in the background.
My late friend when faced with an outrageous story would declare’You can’t make this sh!+ up, Louie!’ No one can willfully contort the English language like a magat in the service of the amoral orange creature!
Your description of the blend is spot on. This court is moving in the direction of making up its own Burgesslike language in Clockwork.
Maybe the only good thing about Trump and his ilk is that they continually push me and others to find ways to convey ideas we never had to deal with before.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJUhlRoBL8M
What the Supreme Court is really working toward is “Every Act of a President is Official. We cannot be bothered to distinguish between Private Acts and Official Acts again. Let’s keep this simple”
Some of them are most definitely flirting with it. It's still possible that some of them at least are wrestling with an issue that Trump has forced to an extent that none of his predecessors did. It remains to be seen where they end up.
They end up as traitors to the Constitution they so loosely define as Originalist, Texturalist, or Major Questions based
They have assumed the mantle of law writers in place of Congress ; and as they are virtually immune from oversight and working in conjunction with an anticipated executive office Trump/Leonard Leo cabal, the Congress no longer exists in the Checks and Balance equation
The thing that perplexes me about the "unitary executive" crew (including Barr) is that they're willing to imagine and support Trump in that role. As the saying goes, WYSIWYG, what you see is what you get, and we've all seen Trump in action. Do the Project 2025, Heritage Foundation, Federalist Society, et al. assume that they can control Trump and thus achieve their agenda? The elected Republicans, in Congress and in the states, are generally a sorry lot and not the sort of people I'd count on to further *my* agenda. The big donors, the so-called originalists, and those who've never been all that fond of democracy have known all along that they don't have the votes to get elected, so I wonder how they plan to pull this off.
With Media propaganda money
After the qualification by the justices and trump’s attorney that a president could legally, as an official act, order the assassination of a political rival, depending on the circumstances, I would like to ask the court the following hypothetical question (since they are so enamored with hypotheticals).
“Under what circumstances would it be acceptable for President Biden to order the assassination of Mr. trump?” I am so f’ing tired of this nonsense and still haven’t figured out how to explain/apologize to the European part of my family for the ongoing idiocy of the American government right now.
They're going to delay making this decision until after the election, to make sure they don't give such power to a Democrat (since they think Trump will win). And if Biden wins (as he will) the decision will disappear into the "cloud."
Does it never occur to these radical justices that a president like tfg could declare the Court in recess, permanently. He would be immune under their absurd reasoning. A president with "immunity" and rule by decree. Such a president could "nationalize" a company, any company, and skim off profits. Thursday's oral arguments were utterly absurd. The five corrupt justices totally ignored the Constitution and the context of history. These people are contemptible liars, and as Liz Cheney said their dishonor will remain.
And THAT is the other question I felt should be asked. It has come up before in either this forum or one of the others I subscribe to.
With all these hypotheticals - I really question WHY those 2 questions werent asked - after all, what the h*ll is there to lose in front of these Magas? I cannot imagine the sheer frustration of the three women who are in the "minority"!
This may be wildly unpopular to write, but I thought that the Jack Smith representative lawyer I heard audio of completely lacked gravitas in his vocal quality. -Alito saying he didn't want to get into any specifics: it went like this in my head: a very weak and weird voice speaking and then the response from a authoritative and competent-sounding voice in response (sadly: Alito's - not the content, but the voice quality). If I was directing a propaganda documentary for the right wing I would have done it this way.
I didnt think the trump lawyer was all that effective - but it felt like he didnt need to be - listening to the little "jokes" & remarks from Alito regarding the government's case is worrisome.
Sorry, I can’t “like” your response, even though it’s the most likely outcome. However I would still love to see a photo of all their faces reacting if that question were asked.
Biden could justify such a criminal act by claiming that both the court and legislature failed to carry out their oaths so it was left to him to "eliminate" the threat to national security.
Judith, Wouldn't that just take the cake!
I fear we're just beginning to see how nuts this can get.
I had the same thought, Danielle, only I didn't think to phrase it as a question to SCOTUS. I was just thinking if they ok immunity, then couldn't President Biden just arrest TFG. I wonder how they would answer your question.
That would appear to be the logical question to ask these "justices" & push them to actually give an answer! I'd like to hear it.
I wonder why it wasn't asked.....
I wonder also,
Once again, Tom, a great post. You have said all that needs to be said. I'm still concerned about this election - not because I think Biden will lose, I don't, I think he'll win. What I do think is all those imbecilic MAGAts will take to the streets of every major city in America with all the weapon they own or can beg, borrow, and steal and make January 6 like like child's play. We must be be prepared. The National Guard must be on alert. Unless, trump does us that favor of keeling over and dying.
I know it's very bad Karma, but I pray for his demise every dang day. But hey, I'm willing to take on the bad karma if we can just rid ourselves of this suppurating boil on the butt cheek of America. (Trump, I mean...I know there are several other people who could also be described in this manner)
You're not the only one.
I'm in complete agreement - and he can take his Congress maggots with him (:-)
Yes, I am with you on the death wish.I know it is bad karma too to wish someone would croak even though that person is evil incarnate ( my friend says he is Satan).His kicking the bucket is really the only way we will ever be truly rid of him as we all know he will never ride peacefully off into the sunset.He is the head of the snake and needs to be gone.
Snakes should be kept out of this. Most of them are benign, and even rattlesnakes are decent creatures, and important parts of the ecosystems they inhabit, and the rattle is proof. They don't want to poison anyone. Venom is expensive. The rattle serves as a warning, so that they should not have to poison anyone, and it has only evolved once. There is actually an African American folktale, "How the Snake Got His Rattle" which demonstrates an understanding of this. It's in a short book of African American folktales, put together by Julius Lester, which can be purchased online.
Trump is in a class of evil by himself.
I stopped worrying about karma long ago, as it applies to me and my daily heartfelt wish for a swift end to the criminal mob boss. But I do hope karma kicks in before I kick the bucket as it applies to the "suppurating boil on the butt cheek of America" (which is a perfect way to describe that excuse for a human being!)
Well, I'd disagree about one thing. The derriere is a wonderful secondary sex characteristic, and I hate to see it associated with nasty stuff like tfg.
And I hope you're still around, compos mentis, able bodied, and ready to celebrate when the criminal mob boss breathes his last.
Lol! I'm working on that survival plan! I was laughing with a friend just yesterday that I now have just about every organ and joint of my body assigned to the care of some specialist!
In this case it's not bad karma. Trump is evil, and one of the most vile H. sapiens ever to walk the planet. It is absolutely a reasonable reaction to him to pray daily for his demise. I'm not given to praying, but I do find myself often hoping that he will depart this mortal coil sooner rather than later.
And when he does, I suspect I'll get some people over and celebrate!
Yes indeed! Break out the *expensive* single malt!
Yes indeed! It's sitting, waiting in the liquor cabinet.
Same here.
The CONservative justices on the Supreme Court seem content to argue about how many angels can dance on the head of a pin while delaying trump’s trials, which is all he really wants, namely to delay, delay, delay. Like all his harebrained schemes to turn over fast cash to delay his financial ruination, it’s delay another day, another day to wheel and deal to keep his ass out of lockup, but now he’s got SCOTUS to run interference for him…Roy Cohn would be so proud of his protege…
Yes...I still am aghast/disgusted at the mindset of a parent who could even entertain the thought that Roy Cohn was a suitable mentor for their child. Fred, Sr. must have been a very sick, depraved person.
‘No previous President has……’! Indeed no previous POTUS was an amoral pathological liar and narcissist who used the highest office in our country to feed his greedy lust to enrich himself!
Repubbies are for all this disgusting subversion of the Constitution, because they are well aware that they support such unpopular positions and lousy policies that they would NEVER get elected on their own merits so they have to cheat...and cheat some more. Republicans, to quote Tolkien, are "apt to evil" and utterly corrupt.
“The Twilight Zone” returned to tv on Thursday. Unfortunately it does not look like a limited series.
Thanks for the gifted link from the Atlantic.Some of you may have seen this in LA Times, another version of the Trumpification of SCOTUS.
“Crime is a largely private endeavor. Corruption is public. It seeps into the muscle and sinew of democratic society and institutions; it devours from within. The Supreme Court, drunk on arrogated power, cut loose from rudimentary ethics, has been eaten alive by it. But the court is just one plot of a vast terrain that Trump has conquered — not with crime, but corruption.
Crime is when you launch a violent attempt to overthrow the republic. Corruption is when you convince an entire political party to pretend they didn’t watch it live on television, or cower from it inside the Capitol while dozens of police officers were being bludgeoned by the mob.”
https://www.yahoo.com/news/opinion-supreme-court-just-showed-184314188.html
Thank You. That's it, sadly.
And Jeffrey Epstein is dead during TFG time in the White House. Do you really think that guy killed himself? I don’t—.
Sadly, many voters & non voters do not realize how important the power to choose the SCOTUS appointments becomes & here we are. Looks like the new law is crime pays.
A bit of an off topic point, but how can the three “liberal” justices claim any sort of friendly feeling toward the cretins on that court? “Oh, we all get along just fine,” is what we hear in interviews. If that isn’t a bald faced lie I am sooooo disappointed in them.
It's hard to imagine how they could be anything but disgusted in them, with the exception of Amy Coney Barrett who seems to be taking a more reasonable view of what's going on.
Thanks for posting this TC. I was listening to it on NPR and my mind got so mixed up with what these R justices were saying. I guess I couldn't believe my ears at the time. Now that I've read it, I can see where it's leading to. I am so disgusted that this will most likely cause another delay until after the election, I could just throw up!
"Yet a legislature would be strongly I disinclined to impeach, much less convict, a president who could murder all of them with total immunity because he did so as an official act. The same scenario applies to the Supreme Court, which would probably not rule against a chief executive who could assassinate them and get away with it." Ya Think?! These juckers need to be impeached!
All of us can concoct scenarios in which a president can commit a first degree, death penalty level criminal act and argue that it was an official act of a presidency because that's part of the very definition of a dictatorship. SCOTUS kabuki is a sign that at least five robed fools need to resign and take their preening foolery to Off-Off Broadway.