Ginsburg has passed!!

[crazyfingers]

I actually think the country's best hope is, regardless of the makeup of the court going forward, the justices individually recognize the need for balance to maintain our democracy in these troubling times. No one expects Thomas or Alito to move toward the center but Kavanaugh, short as his record may be has been so far straddling the ideological fence with Roberts. So I ask myself, would these most learned individuals brazenly push a contested election toward Trump?

View attachment 29423

Hard to know what to make of that chart. The 0 on the vertical axis is not a constant. What's liberal and what's conservative has changed massively since 1991. Mostly conservatives have become hard conservatives.

 

[J842P]

Does anyone know, realistically, what the prospects are for Schumer being able to prevent a nomination from going through before January?

The Republicans are ruthless and the Democrats are spineless, so I don't have much hope either way.

 

[hurtinbuckaroo]

I wonder if any action on this by Trump will show up in polls within 3 days on what will happen to Red Senate Candidates. If SC, AZ, IA, MT and yea, even KY polls tank for the GOP, they might be inspired to stay heir hand. This would get out the Dem vote like nothing else.

It is possible that the timing is not a disaster. It will not be quiet. At. All.

The GOP is suffering from OJ Simpson disease. They feel like they can get away with anything. And they’d be right.

OJ served a 9 year prison sentence.

I expect to see a lot of non-Republicans change their minds about not bothering to vote.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

I wonder if any action on this by Trump will show up in polls within 3 days on what will happen to Red Senate Candidates. If SC, AZ, IA, MT and yea, even KY polls tank for the GOP, they might be inspired to stay heir hand. This would get out the Dem vote like nothing else.

It is possible that the timing is not a disaster. It will not be quiet. At. All.

The GOP is suffering from OJ Simpson disease. They feel like they can get away with anything. And they’d be right.

OJ served a 9 year prison sentence.

I expect to see a lot of non-Republicans change their minds about not bothering to vote.

Well, that is the hope. And the nine years was well after getting away with premeditated murder.

 

[TV and credit cards]

I actually think the country's best hope is, regardless of the makeup of the court going forward, the justices individually recognize the need for balance to maintain our democracy in these troubling times. No one expects Thomas or Alito to move toward the center but Kavanaugh, short as his record may be has been so far straddling the ideological fence with Roberts. So I ask myself, would these most learned individuals brazenly push a contested election toward Trump?

View attachment 29423

That's a very interesting graph. Yes, Alito is too hardened to move to the center. I hope that you're right about Kavanaugh. I hadn't realized that he had been demonstrating the courage to move center. There have been many rumors that Thomas is in bad health and has been considering retirement.

I’m not willing to throw in the towel just yet, not on this branch of government.

So I’m hearing Amy Coney-Barrett’s name bandied about. Her Wikipedia page doesn’t read so bad given the times we live in. We could do worse. And Trump, concerned with nothing but getting re-elected may just go this route figuring it would be in his best interest to fill the vacancy with a woman.

 

[Don2 (Don1 Revised)]

He most likely will choose a Qaren...

Or Ted Cruz.

 

[Toni]

I wonder if any action on this by Trump will show up in polls within 3 days on what will happen to Red Senate Candidates. If SC, AZ, IA, MT and yea, even KY polls tank for the GOP, they might be inspired to stay heir hand. This would get out the Dem vote like nothing else.

It is possible that the timing is not a disaster. It will not be quiet. At. All.

The GOP is suffering from OJ Simpson disease. They feel like they can get away with anything. And they’d be right.

OJ served a 9 year prison sentence.

I expect to see a lot of non-Republicans change their minds about not bothering to vote.

Not for murdering his wife, he didn't.

 

[Deepak]

Does anyone know, realistically, what the prospects are for Schumer being able to prevent a nomination from going through before January?

The Republicans are ruthless and the Democrats are spineless, so I don't have much hope either way.

In what sense are you asking the question? Procedurally there’s nothing he can do to prevent it. There are some potential political maneuvers, but I’m not sure if that’s the sense you’re asking in.

 

[ruby sparks]

She didn't 'pass away', she died. WASPs and their euphemisms.

I'm sorry, but that's just sad. If you have any sense, you will at least try to do something about that. just sayin'. It's your life, not mine.

Seriously man. How many lives do you get? Is this the one you want for yourself? Is this what you hoped you'd be like when you were little?

I'm pretty sure you know what I'm saying here.

 

[crazyfingers]

Does anyone know, realistically, what the prospects are for Schumer being able to prevent a nomination from going through before January?

The Republicans are ruthless and the Democrats are spineless, so I don't have much hope either way.

In what sense are you asking the question? Procedurally there’s nothing he can do to prevent it. There are some potential political maneuvers, but I’m not sure if that’s the sense you’re asking in.

As I see it, some GOP senators who are facing reelection may see an election risk for them to have a vote prior to the elections. Collins in Maine comes to mind. Biden has a pretty strong margin in Maine and Collins is behind her Democratic challenger. Collins voting for a Trump nominated SCJ prior to election day would reduce Collin's chances of reelection as voters will be pissed even more at her. But win or lose I believe that senators exit/enter office on Jan 3. So nothing but any shred of decency would prevent Collins from voting on a Trump nominee after the election but before Jan 3.

I don't see this coming down to anything but whether enough GOP senators have a shred of honor left in them to prevent a vote. I wouldn't bank on it.

 

[lpetrich]

US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg to Egyptians: Look to the Constitutions of South Africa or Canada, Not to the US Constitution | MEMRI TV
What Did Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Thomas Jefferson Say About the Constitution?

My favorite thing that RBG said was that she would not recommend using the US Constitution as a model for a nation that wanted a new Constitution. I'll quote the Internet Archive's capture of MEMRI's collected excerpts from an interview at Al Hayat TV in 2012:

It is a very inspiring time - that you have overthrown a dictator, and that you are striving to achieve a genuine democracy. So I think people in the United States are hoping that this transition will work, and that there will genuinely be a government of, by, and for the people.

...
I met with the head of the elections commission. I think that the first step has gone well, and that elections have been held for the lower house that everyone has considered to be free and fair. So that's one milestone, and the next will be the drafting of a constitution.

I can't speak about what the Egyptian experience should be, because I'm operating under a rather old constitution. The United States, in comparison to Egypt, is a very new nation, and yet we have the oldest written constitution still in force in the world.

...
Let me say first that a constitution, as important as it is, will mean nothing unless the people are yearning for liberty and freedom. If the people don't care, then the best constitution in the world won't make any difference. So the spirit of liberty has to be in the population, and then the constitution - first, it should safeguard basic fundamental human rights, like our First Amendment, the right to speak freely, and to publish freely, without the government as a censor.

...
You should certainly be aided by all the constitution-writing that has gone one since the end of World War II. I would not look to the US constitution, if I were drafting a constitution in the year 2012. I might look at the constitution of South Africa. That was a deliberate attempt to have a fundamental instrument of government that embraced basic human rights, had an independent judiciary... It really is, I think, a great piece of work that was done. Much more recent than the US constitution - Canada has a Charter of Rights and Freedoms. It dates from 1982. You would almost certainly look at the European Convention on Human Rights. Yes, why not take advantage of what there is elsewhere in the world?

Ginsburg Likes S. Africa as Model for Egypt - ABC News has more from her interview.

Ginsburg, who spent her career before taking the bench advocating for gender equality, praised the U.S. Constitution and the founders, saying, "we were just tremendously fortunate in the U.S. that the men that met in Philadelphia were very wise." But "it's true that they were lacking one thing, that is there were no women as part of the Constitutional Convention, but there were women around who sparked the idea."

Ginsburg said "we are still forming the more perfect union" and noted that "when the Constitution was new in the 1780s, we still had slavery in the U.S."

But, she added, "The genius of the Constitution, I think, is that it has this notion of who composes 'We the people'. It has expanded and expanded over the years so now it includes people who were left out in the beginning. Native Americans were left out, certainly people held in human bondage, women, and people that were new comers to our shores. "

Right-wingers howled about how supposedly unpatriotic she was for saying that, but I think that she was very right about that. Not only about what rights that a constitution may recognize, but also about structure of government. If one was to take top-rated countries by various indices and put together a sort of average sort of government, one would find something rather different from the US one. It would have a parliamentary system with proportional representation, where the acting leader is chosen by the legislature, and where the head of state is a mostly ceremonial position.

During that controversy, someone noted that there was a big case of US constitution writers disregarding their nation's constitution when composing a constitution for another nation. Japan after World War II. General Douglas MacArthur was in charge of composing a constitution for that defeated nation, and he modeled it after what the UK does, with a parliament that picks the acting executive, and a ceremonial monarch.

 

[lpetrich]

Instagram photo by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez • Sep 19, 2020 at 9:16 AM
I've OCRed the text in those pictures:

What Do We Do?
Vote on November 3rd

1. Check and, if needed, update your voter registration
2. Vote This is not about personality politics. This is a vote for our democracy's survival.
3. Use your relationships. Each week write down a list of five people, particularly people in swing states, who might not turn out, who might not vote for VP Biden, and get through to them. There are some people only you can reach.
4. Be ready because Mitch McConnell is. Be ready to organize. Be ready to follow grassroots leaders on the ground. Do not be cynical. Do not give up.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Instagram: “Here’s what we’re NOT gonna do: give up. …”

Here’s what we’re NOT gonna do: give up. We do not give up when the world needs us most. That’s not who we are. We are organizers. We are leaders. We are committed to community and caring for one another. Yes, we are going through hell. Yes, it can get worse. Yes, our democracy is at a faint heartbeat - it was broken even before this administration began. But so long as possibilities remain before us, so long as we can save lives, we have an obligation to generations who will come after us to do everything we can to grow the future.
.
And guess what? After we work for victory in November, there’s no going back to brunch. We can’t go back to the way things were even before Trump came into office, because they set the conditions for today. So get ready, because we’ve got a whole world to build from here.
.
Stay blessed and safe everyone. I’m right here with you.

So one shouldn't accept defeat. Get organized. Fight back.

 

[Jason Harvestdancer]

SCOTUS is lost for a generation. This is what happens when you vote third parties in 2000 and 2016.

Yeah, those who had nothing to do with it are always to blame.

 

[Toni]

SCOTUS is lost for a generation. This is what happens when you vote third parties in 2000 and 2016.

Yeah, those who had nothing to do with it are always to blame.

I understand voting third party. I've done it myself. But honestly? I'm ashamed that I did so. Each time, the worst candidate won. In 2016, the worst candidate won. Sometimes the only choices we have are between bad and worse. In 2016, every vote not for Clinton was a vote for worse. In 2020, every vote not for Biden is a vote for worse.

 

[laughing dog]

Whether or not voting 3rd party helped Mr. Trump win in 2016 depends on where people voted 3rd party. In any state that Mrs. Clinton carried, 3rd party votes had no effect on the Presidential outcome.

In those states that Mr. Trump carried, if Mr. Trump's margin of victory exceeded the 3rd party votes, then the 3rd party votes did not affect the outcome.

It is only in the states where the 3rd party votes were greater than or equal to the Mr. Trump's margin of victory could 3rd party votes possibly swung the outcome. And that assumes that 3rd party voters would have voted for Mrs. Clinton in the absence of the 3rd party instead of either not voting or voting for Mr. Trump.

From what I can tell, I doubt 3rd party votes tipped the race to Mr. Trump.

 

[repoman]

 

[Brian63]

SCOTUS is lost for a generation. This is what happens when you vote third parties in 2000 and 2016.

Yeah, those who had nothing to do with it are always to blame.

I understand voting third party. I've done it myself. But honestly? I'm ashamed that I did so. Each time, the worst candidate won. In 2016, the worst candidate won. Sometimes the only choices we have are between bad and worse. In 2016, every vote not for Clinton was a vote for worse. In 2020, every vote not for Biden is a vote for worse.

For the last several weeks I have worked as a volunteer for the Michigan Democrat party, making calls out to voters. One extremely bitter and angry woman was a Bernie supporter and was furious at the Democrat party for not nominating him in 2020. Out of spite and retaliation, she even shouted to me that she was going to vote for Trump in this year's election. Yeah, irrational x 1,000. She was so emotionally and psychologically lost though. Nothing I could say was going to help her, or us.

 

[Jayjay]

So I’m hearing Amy Coney-Barrett’s name bandied about. Her Wikipedia page doesn’t read so bad given the times we live in. We could do worse. And Trump, concerned with nothing but getting re-elected may just go this route figuring it would be in his best interest to fill the vacancy with a woman.

Knowing Trump, I find it very unlikely. Sure it would look good to appoint a woman. But there is no way in hell he would leave the possibility of staying in office up to one, unless she was either a Fox News host or her name is Ivanka.

 

[Jason Harvestdancer]

I understand voting third party. I've done it myself. But honestly? I'm ashamed that I did so. Each time, the worst candidate won. In 2016, the worst candidate won. Sometimes the only choices we have are between bad and worse. In 2016, every vote not for Clinton was a vote for worse. In 2020, every vote not for Biden is a vote for worse.

For the last several weeks I have worked as a volunteer for the Michigan Democrat party, making calls out to voters. One extremely bitter and angry woman was a Bernie supporter and was furious at the Democrat party for not nominating him in 2020. Out of spite and retaliation, she even shouted to me that she was going to vote for Trump in this year's election. Yeah, irrational x 1,000. She was so emotionally and psychologically lost though. Nothing I could say was going to help her, or us.

At least she's not voting third party. </sarcasm>

 

[bilby]

SCOTUS is lost for a generation. This is what happens when you vote third parties in 2000 and 2016.

Yeah, those who had nothing to do with it are always to blame.

You say this sarcastically, but it's true.

All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing. Or to vote for a third candidate in a system that only allows two candidates a chance of victory, which has the exact same effect as doing nothing.

If someone is drowning and you don't make any effort to help, you are to blame for their death. It's irrelevant whether you pushed them in, or merely stood by and watched rather than getting involved. And it's irrelevant that you did something that didn't help, just so you could claim that you didn't do nothing.