Roughly 23% of the population has enormous power. We were all witness to SCOTUS decisions when the entire court was white male protestants. Just a simple thought I wanted to ponder. If we had a majority of Jewish justices would you be concerned? Native Americans? Moslems?
Thank God for Joe Biden and the Democrats.
WASHINGTON — I was watching Vogue’s live feed as Kim Kardashian tried to walk the red carpet at the Met Gala in her skintight, flesh-tone dress, gallantly helped up the stairs by Pete Davidson. I flashed back to Marilyn Monroe on another May night in Gotham, doing similar mincing steps in a similar shimmering dress she was sewn into, when she suspired “Happy Birthday” to J.F.K.
Then Variety sent out a news bulletin that Kim was actually wearing Marilyn’s dress. I had last seen the crystal-strewn souffle concoction back in 1999, at a Christie’s exhibit for an auction of Marilyn’s property. It sparkled amid detritus such as sombreros, see-through nighties, and lighters from Frank Sinatra’s Cal-Neva lodge. The “nudest dress,” as the designer Jean Louis called it, was reverently displayed in a room by itself, lit from above like the Pieta.
As I was contemplating the comeback of this sartorial symbol of American seduction, I got another news bulletin: The Supreme Court was going to yank away the right of women to control their own bodies, strapping us into a time machine hurtling backward.
The two simultaneous emails were a perfect distillation of America’s bizarre duality — our contradictory strains of sexuality and priggishness.
Samuel Alito’s antediluvian draft opinion is the Puritans’ greatest victory since they expelled Roger Williams from the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
Alito is a familiar type in American literature: the holier-than-thou preacher, so overzealous in his attempts to rein in female sexuality and slap on a scarlet letter that one suspects he must be hiding some dark yearnings of his own.
That was certainly the case with Clarence Thomas, another of the justices wanting to turn America into Saudi Arabia. (Saudi Arabia at least allows abortions if the woman’s physical or mental health is at risk.) Thomas — married to the off-the-wall right-wing activist Ginni — got on the court with the help of Republican senators who smeared Anita Hill as a pervy liar when they knew all along that Thomas was the pervy liar. The senators claimed Thomas could not possibly have been talking about porn in the office, as Hill said, even though they knew from his D.C. video store visits that he was indeed a connoisseur of so-called “freak-of-nature” porn, especially the movies of Bad Mama Jama, a porn star so sadly obese she could barely move.
Newt Gingrich pursued Bill Clinton like Javert, even as he was having an affair with a young political aide (whom he later married). And prissy Ken Starr hounded Monica Lewinsky, producing a seven-volume report that read like a panting bodice-ripper, full of lurid passages about breasts, stains and genitalia. The Pharisaic Holy Roller, who sang hymns while he jogged, became fixated on Bill Clinton’s sex life in a warped way.
The 1999 version of Donald Trump, when he was still a fan of the Clintons and boasting that he was “pro-choice in every respect,” was appalled. “Starr’s a freak,” he told me back then. “I bet he’s got something in his closet.” It was no surprise last year when Judi Hershman, who worked with Starr on P.R. through that shameful period, wrote that she had an affair with Rev. Ken Dimmesdale.
Like Reagan, Trump was a Democrat who turned conservative, latching onto the Christian evangelical electorate. As Carl Hulse reported in “Confirmation Bias,” Trump soothed conservatives uneasy with his lax morality by promising to appoint justices who would overturn Roe v. Wade, chosen from a Federalist Society-approved list. The libertine who transgressed with women traded off their rights to nail down a base.
Now pervy Matt Gaetz tweets: “How many of the women rallying against overturning Roe are overeducated, under-loved millennials who sadly return from protests to a lonely microwave dinner with their cats, and no Bumble matches?” This is a man under investigation over whether he had sex with a 17-year-old and was a sex trafficker.
And let’s not even start on Madison Cawthorn’s fantasies of drug-fueled orgies.
This week’s stunning reversal on women’s rights is the apotheosis of the last 40 years, through Reagan, Schlafly, Meese, Rehnquist and Scalia, climaxing in Mitch McConnell, who made a Faustian bargain to support chuckleheaded Trump to get a conservative court. Because of McConnell’s machinations blocking Merrick Garland and ramming through Amy Coney Barrett, Trump was able to name three anti-abortion conservatives to the court, all of whom prevaricated under oath before the Senate about their intentions on Roe.
When will the Democrats stop being betas? As an emotional Gavin Newsom said at Planned Parenthood’s L.A. headquarters, “Where the hell’s my party? Where’s the Democratic Party? Why aren’t we standing up more firmly, more resolutely?”
The founding fathers would be less surprised that there’s a popular musical about Alexander Hamilton than they would be that, in an age of space travel, the internet, Netflix and in vitro fertilization, the majority of the court is relying on a literal interpretation of a document conceived in the agrarian 1780s.
They would be devastated that the court is just another hack institution with partisan leaks. Alito helped open the door to dark money and helped gut the Voting Rights Act; but he wants to ban abortion largely because, he says, the Constitution doesn’t expressly allow it. That’s so fatuous. The Constitution doesn’t mention an awful lot of things that the court involves itself with. But while it expressly prohibits state-sanctioned religion, this court seems ready to let some rebel public school football coach convene a prayer session after games. These rogue justices are always ready to twist the Constitution to their purposes.
They are strict constructionists all right, strictly interested in constructing a society that comports with their rigid, religiously driven worldview. It is outrageous that five unelected, unaccountable and relatively unknown political operatives masquerading as impartial jurists can so profoundly alter our lives.
Chief Justice Roberts has been trying to protect the court’s reputation by working to split the difference on some of these explosive decisions. He may be doing that in this case. But he has lost control of a lost-its-marbles majority. To borrow an image from the great Mary McGrory, Roberts seems like a small man trying to walk a large dog. At this point, he can’t even see the end of the leash.
The author claims Alito wants a legal ban on abortion. LIE. The draft specifically states it is up to the people's representatives to decide this issue.
And the author decries the fact that "the majority of the court is relying on a literal interpretation of a document conceived in the agrarian 1780s." What? That's exactly what SCOTUS is supposed to be doing.
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What's wrong with that?
One size fits all is for autocratic regimes.
Our strength is in the diversity of our states.
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Alito, Kavanaugh and Barrett.
Thomas and Gorsuch became Protestants, and Sotomayor and Roberts are CINOs.
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You don’t get to define what a Catholic is.
Sorry.
And it’s sad that abortion is the litmus test for wingnuts. As opposed to, you know, something that might actually relate to Jesus.
like with gender, eh?
They can drop every belief that the Church holds in it's doctrine, but still get to have the smells and bells on the holidays?
And even MORE importantly, they get to say, "Hey, I think it's ok to kill a baby (or whatever other action contraindicated by the Chruch is being discussed)....AND I AM CATHOLIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" because that adds even more gravitas during the debate against those crazy practicing catholics and mystified christians who can't believe the Church has changed on something so fundamental (which it hasn't).
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You really need to stop arguing with Chris. He knows more than everyone, about everything. He’ll even spout some Bible verses when it fits the narrative.
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Church...not just over abortion, but also the whole notion of "Separation of Church and State"...which JFK had to emphatically assure he'd abide by...not sure this will happen, but SCOTUS situation we have right now isn't helping...btw, it might also make it harder for a Catholic to be nominated to the Supreme Court in the future.
In case you haven't noticed, Catholic institutions are very liberal. The Catholic leadership is too. You don't hear too many of these cowards speaking up against Biden, Pelosi, Georgetown, & Catholic University. That's because they are down with it. They are definitely open border people, except the part of these "immigrants" living in their rectories and palaces. Gay marriage is not spoken about to the point it is tolerated. I haven't heard my Pastor and the one before him speak up against abortion in years. Don't upset the liberal parishioners who support the parish financially.
should not be overturned...and the fact that the six conservative Justices who come from Roman Catholic backgrounds are the ones most likely to vote to overturn RvW...it is certainly logical to expect that majority of Americans to connect dots in their minds and seek ways of not repeating the injustice they see...i.e. don't elect Presidents who will nominate Catholics...also, they will start looking at Catholics as a group that fails to respect the plurality of America's religions and ignores the principle of "Separation of Church and State".
The attached article is even more explicit regarding this issue....
My concern is by no means "wishful"...I am a Catholic and a graduate of ND...I don't want to lose what has been gained over many years of hard work.
Link: https://www.theglobalist.com/the-u-s-supreme-court-now-a-roman-catholic-institution/
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quite see things as you do...
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and also by definition...you are still in the minority.
What's the upside of later term abortion, abortion on demand , tax payer funded abortion, and abortion clinics over taking the minority communities? You racists. If these black preachers had any kind of backbone, they would highlight this in this week's sermon. How does abortion make this world a better place? You dudes need to be called out as the P hat wearers that you are. You guys are supposed to be the caretakers. The protectors. Act like it.
few days...
...and as for your "Racism" comment...39% of African Americans voted for Ike in 1956...but following the "Southern Strategy" of the GOP, that percentage of African American voters dropped to 3% in 2016...in the meantime, it was Johnson's Democrats (along with ND's Father Ted) who fought for...and won...the 1965 Voting Rights Act...
Stop making up false claims that are so easily refuted...you're exposing yourself as untrustworthy...at best.
Nothing personal, but I'd rather attend a life insurance seminar than do a search of all your previous posts.
are you Ok?...did you actually think that was clever on your part?
Let me know if you change your mind on that...
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