NOW

 We have a Royal Caste System in our nation, which was founded to rally against such a dire situation: “The foundations of the government of the United States are oriented around the ideas of liberty and equality as articulated in the natural rights tradition of John Locke and others.”

Yet one branch of Government has no boundaries, no restrictions, no limitations, and as such can decide its own version of morality, conscience, righteousness, callowness, and integrity, ignoring the will of the people, placing its OWN wants as a priority! The Judicial Branch, as in the US Supreme Court, all Justices with a lifetime appointment, with limited ethics checks and balances, and absolutely no one to report to, or to be reprimanded by, can and will and HAVE decided that THEY and only THEY can make the law of the land, even if they do not follow that same law.

 

Majority opinions by the People. The will of the People. The changes in societal norms, by the People, seem to place little to no priority for the 6 Republican-appointed activist Justices, who it seems, INSTEAD have willfully followed the WILL of their wealthy donors. 

 

We must demand that lifetime appointments end. We must demand that a strong WATCHDOG agency be established. We must demand accountability be immediately initiated.  We must demand that Congress begins to find its own backbones and actually MAKE LAWS, rather than readily, and easily permit the unelected Supreme Court to act as the Branch that creates laws! NOW!

Intentionally Oblivious

 Supreme Court guts affirmative action, effectively ending race-conscious admissions.

"The Court subverts the constitutional guarantee of equal protection by further entrenching racial inequality in education, the very foundation of our democratic government and pluralistic society," Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote.

Added Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson: "With let-them-eat-cake obliviousness, today, the majority pulls the ripcord and announces 'colorblindness for all' by legal fiat. But deeming race irrelevant in law does not make it so in life. And having so detached itself from this country's actual past and present experiences, the Court has now been lured into interfering with the crucial work that UNC and other institutions of higher learning are doing to solve America's real-world problems." (NPR)

 

When candidates for the Supreme Court are prioritized NOT by their legal briefings, or actual caseloads, BUT are selected, instead, as candidates due to their political affinities and affiliations, AND supported by men and women not honed into the real hard-core knowledge of governing, but instead govern from the aspect that having enough wealth equates to having enough clout, which translates into POWER to bribe politicians. We the people become the recipients of hacks, shills, and puppets playing a political party line, not for the good of all, but the machinations and selfishness and self-serving for the few.

 

Be it 50, 40, 30, or 20 years of precedent law, a law which had changed and been challenged to represent the real-life experiences of our society and to become more inclusive and more insightful toward the current real life and more relevant toward the needs of the American citizen, these laws have grown as our future provides a more realistic photo of today. They became foundations for a way forward. BUT when justices are selected not for their merits or education regarding America now but prefer to live in an America then, we have nothing but disregard for the common citizen, but MORE laws for the DONOR CLASS, who do not live their lives in any shape or form as the rest of us. And when we have activist Jurists who seem more and more to be paid to play. The only concepts that win, become fodder for the wealthy, and estranged ideology.

 

And add to that the fact that lifetime appointees, living in an Ivory Tower, with no consequences, laws of land seem only to be made for the LAND OWNERS! 

29th day of June

 Topsy-Turvy

in utter confusion or disorder

1: in utter confusion or disorder. 2. : with the top or head downward : upside down.

 

As I wake up on this 29^th day of June, all I see, hear and read about is that President Biden’s approval ratings are way too low. A man who had brought us back from the brink of COVID, has provided BILLS for infrastructure, and inflation reduction, says the words Gay, and Trans, and fights hard for equality, who has taken us from the brink of economic collapse regarding the debt limit. A man who says climate change is real and takes action to help curb it, a man who believes that our Constitution is sacred, instead of the words in some self-chosen Bible.

 

Once again, the Media plays into the hands of the Republican propagandist, repeating lies, fabrications, and bullshit used to distract from the truth.

 

HOW.  And on this 29^th day of June, as if once before never happened, an insurrectionist, Fascist leaning, Autocrat, Criminal, and Traitor, still stands a chance of becoming President…AGAIN!

429 Days

 “It ain't over 'til it's over, no matter how over it looks.” Yogi Berra

Mr. Berra’s quote regarding a baseball game, as mundane or maudlin or miraculous, as it may sound, has, for me, taken on the truest of meanings and the most nerve-racking intentions, for me, ever since Trump, I believe, had been hacked into office. (And I believe also, with the aid and support of the Russian government.)

 

Trump was not elected to a second term. He has been accused of espionage. He has been accused of plotting and planning a coup. He has been found guilty of paying hush money. He has been accused of inciting an insurrection. AND yet, he is not only running for the office of President, once more, but he is leading by double digits within a now very enemy of the state like the Republican Party.

                                                                                                                                                 

Every day is like a YEA-BOO, kind of day for me. I hear more and more incriminating evidence against Trump, and almost as quickly I then hear about his rising poll numbers. Every day I read about the latest bombshell bit of evidence, and almost as quickly I hear about House Republicans trying to muck up any and all legal proceedings. Every day I hear more ex-Republican talking heads proclaim how evil Trump is, and almost as quickly there is a slew of current MAGA-Republicans declaring that in fact, Trump may be a disciple of Jesus!

 

We have 429 days to the 2024 election, (as I write my blog on June 27, 2023), and maybe then, some of “IT,” may be over, but what will “IT” then look like?

 

Until the next 429 days, we still have to deal with the fact, Trump could once again lose the Popular Vote, but win the Electoral College tally (how unfair for the premise, one person one vote. Until the next 429 days, states can still appoint Electors, but as in 2020, some states can decide they do not like the outcome. Until the next 429 days, voter restriction laws, and gerrymandered districts in various states remain in place. Trump ain’t in jail, even if Trump is in jail it seems just as easy for him to run for President and still be elected. “It ain't over 'til it's over, no matter how over it looks.” Yogi Berra

 

It is NOT Popular

 Based on the Electoral College, Presidential campaigns prioritize victories in states that will total more than 270 electoral votes, rather than trying to win the most actual direct votes nationwide. The key reason for this strategy is that in every state, except Nebraska and Maine, the candidate who wins the most votes in a state also wins all the electors from that state, regardless of the margin of victory. This winner-take-all electoral system makes it possible for one candidate to get more votes nationwide, but a different candidate to win in the Electoral College and ultimately, win the Presidency. (ADL)

Critics of the Electoral College believe that it compromises the “one person, one vote” principle and it is less democratic than a popular vote. Not only can someone win the presidency without winning the popular vote, another consequence is that it influences how and where candidates campaign. (ADL)

 

There have been five times in U.S. history when the candidate who won the Electoral College (and ultimately won the election) did not get the most popular votes. It happened in 1824, 1876, 1888 and in the last two out of five Presidential elections (in 2000 won by George W. Bush and 2016 won by Donald Trump), when the Presidential election was determined by the Electoral College, not the popular vote. (ADL)

 

TRUMP! He has no love for this nation, or this nation’s democracy. Yet, he still stands a chance to lose the popular vote once again by millions of votes, and CAN once again rise to the office of President, permitting him to finally dismantle any and all remanent of democracy remaining. Insurrection, Sedition, Espionage, Cover Ups, and Coercion, with regards to the Electoral College, they matter very little, when in fact hordes of Fascist loving, Neo Nazi, Right Wing  Billionaire Backed Politicians refuse to place PEOPLE before PARTY, and instead, place PERSONAL gain over Democracy.

 

We knew this fact, and we still know this fact. We can elect Representatives, Senators, Governors, and even Mayors by a majority vote, but somehow the most important Government job, the one to almost make or break FREEDOM/EQUALITY/CHOICE/LIBERTY, AND JUSTICE is still decided by a few and not the many!

Even When It Ain't

 About 43 million people across the South are at risk as severe weather batters the region. (CNN) Enhanced risk for severe weather Sunday for Alabama. (AL.com) Severe storms, strong winds cause widespread damage across Oklahoma. (KOKO 5) 4 dead, dozens injured after tornadoes hit Texas and Florida. (Deseret News) Severe weather expected in nation’s heartland.

Powerful thunderstorms are expected to cause problems across the midsection of the country once again. This time the worst storms are expected in Iowa, Missouri and Illinois. Tornadoes, large hail and damaging wind are possible with any severe storms that develop. (FOX Weather)

 

Alabama, Oklahoma, Texas, Florida, Missouri, the so-called “Heartland of America,” the so-called “Bible Belt,” some of the RED STATES, whose members of Congress, will swear on their own assorted stack of Bibles, that Climate Change is a Liberal Hoax, a Progressive slight of hand, and even a voodoo trick conjured up by Joe Biden and his cabal of anti-Christian Democrats.

 

Ain’t nothing to be alarmed about, these Republicans shout, it is ANTIFA trying to fool everyone that the environment is haywire. These same shysters are also recipients of dark money from way too many Corporations whose PROFIT BASE is based upon polluting this world in which we all live. These same Evangelical or Orthodox Christian American Taliban will also invoke their MAGA-styled Jesus swearing that this is Jesus’s Nation and Earth, and as long we believe and ignore the satanic Leftists, nothing bad will happen. It is a ploy, a trick, a conspiracy, and LIBERAL PROPAGANDA.

 

Just provide thoughts and prayers for one more manmade disaster, they proclaim, and all will be well, EVEN WHEN IT AIN’T! 

This is NOT a movie

 Excessive heat in Texas to continue, millions on alert for severe storms. (ABC News) Second ‘rare’ tornado in less than a month touches down in eastern Idaho. (Idaho Statesman) For the first time in decades, 2 tropical storms are spinning in the Atlantic in June. (USA Today) 100-mph tornado confirmed in North Carolina city, National Weather Service says. (The Charlotte Observer) ‘Beyond extreme’ ocean heat wave in North Atlantic is worst in 170 years.

The exceptionally warm waters could pose a deadly threat to marine life and impact summer weather in the U.K. and Europe. (The Washington Post)

 

I had, and have always been a fan of movies and TV shows, whose plot is about some APOCALYPTIC event taking place on Earth. Be it an alien invasion, Zombies gone wild, a Tsunami 5 miles high, Earthquakes, or comets about to fall onto Earth, I have gone out of my way to watch these, be they top-notch films, or the schlockiest of B-grade presentations. When I watch these APOCALYPTIC works, a few things enter my brain. The first is PHEW, I am glad this is not real. The second is, what might I do in these fictional situations? The third is, most end with the hope of tomorrow, except for those in which the Producers have already prepared sequels, prequels, etc., (then I know that hope will have to wait for part 2, or three or God forbid, part 10.)

 

The headlines at the top of this blog, are just a few from this weekend, as in this weekend in 2023, as in this weekend no on film or on TV, as in this weekend IN REAL LIFE.

 

AND THEN I READ ANOTHER HEADLINE. A headline from this REAL WORLD:

Now the Biden administration is facing a critical test of its authority to enact climate policy, as Republicans in Congress attack new regulations by the Environmental Protection Agency on emissions from vehicles and power plants as overly costly and overstepping the bounds of executive authority. (Houston Chronicle)

 

WTF? Seriously, the REPUBLICANS once again are trying to place their Wealthy Puppet Master Billionaire CEOs above the welfare, the hope, and the future of anyone who is not a CEO, a CORPORATION, or a Billionaire. Kind of sort of like they have always done regarding the TOBACCO CARTELL/OIL CARTEL/and of course the MURDER CARTELL of the NRA and Gun Manufacturers.