The fact that we are already familiar with almost all of the facts in the first volume of Jack Smith's final report on January 6th and Donald Trump's attempted self-coup, makes them no less horrifying.
It is both. We have a Supreme Court that has been following the agenda of Project 2025 along with members of the court being Christian Nationalists. As CNs, they have allegience to their interpretation of the bible, not to the Constitution. That means that they are part of turning the US into a Christian Nationalist Theocracy. One whose rules Trump will never have to live by, or the Tech Billionaire Oligarch who bought him, but the rest of us are supposed to.
The goal is to keep us laser focused on the culture war so we have no time or energy for the class war which needs to be dealt with. The Dominionists and Reichwing Catholics get what they are yearning for - a real, live Gilead. The Oligarchs basically get to enslave an entire society and country... And just to stir the whole thing up with a long-handled spoon, we have an executive who is for all intents and purposes an agent of Putin and an agent of chaos.
The planet is plunged into darkness. Under what conditions will they allow the stranded astronauts to return to earth? NASA has to rely on SpaceX, which is owned by Musk, to get them back because Boeing has deteriorated or been sabotaged and can't do the job they've been doing for decades.
This thought experiment is EXTREMELY helpful because it shows us exactly how bad things can get when the government allows itself to be co-opted in this way. Such an emergency would be unrecoverable! Design more thought experiments, please!
I found her discussion of the difference between older branches of CN and the newer New Apostolic Reformation End-of-Days beliefs interesting and informative.
I presume all the school children in Oklahoma have read it since the Governor bought influence with Trump by using taxpayer dollars to buy them for all the school children. Americans who are not Christian Nationalists should be filing a class action suit with the Supreme Court objecting to the merging of Church and State, or lack of separation thereof. There should be lawsuits in every state. Where are the
These are Catholic christian* nationalists, right? As such, don’t they answer to the pope? Why isn’t he condemning them? Why did Biden just give him a medal of freedom? I’m not Catholic, so I don’t know just how fragmented that church is. Are there Catholics that prominently and openly ignore the pope yet still claim the name? Or is the pope okay with christian nationalism?
*I don’t capitalize this because we’re not talking about real Christianity here. This is far from following Christ.
I understand that it is not real Christianity, and a friend of mine gets mad if I use their self designated term for that reason, like I should not use the term Christian at all. But, it defines the group. According to Andra Watkins they can be Catholic or Protestant, though she feels that there is some anti Israel or anti-Semitic sentiment among Catholic CNs, and has not been her observation of Protestant CNs so much, even though they believe that as the Chosen People Jews will still have to convert to their version of Christianity in the end to be saved. If you see the link I Posted above about the New Apostolic Reformation, they have different end of days beliefs, and it is my understanding that both Mike Johnson and Sam Alito are members of this section of beliefs.
The Opus Dei branch are a cult, within a cult. They want the church to go back in time. They hate the pope because he is trying to bring them into this millennia, and they want to go back even further.
And term limits. Future generations should not be captive to the decisions of past ones. 18 years is more than sufficient for a Supreme Court justice. Lifetime appointments enables a politicized and corrupt court, especially whe Congress no longer serves all of their constituents, but only the wealty ones.
Yes, and the reason for lifetime appointments is supposed to be so that each Justice feels secure enough financially and career-wise that they aren't vulnerable to corruption - - that was found not to have been effective.
When you outsource the nominee selection process to a right wing advocacy group, as the GOP has since the Powell Memorandum, you get what we have. The fact that several of these Jurists were seated during GOP administrations without a popular mandate makes it all the more galling to Democrats. The corrective is a larger Court, enforceable ethics rules, and a system like the one Pete Buttegieg describes ith term limits and a regular schedule of replacement.
It seems to have had the exact opposite effect. Because they feel absolutely secure in their jobs, they are free to not only accept multi-million dollar gifts, but also decided that it is ok for them and other elected officals to accept "gratuitites". What an obscene joke.
In Britain, judges are given generous salaries and pensions for the exact same reason, to prevent them from being vulnerable to corruption – and yet they're still expected to retire at seventy.
Full financial disclosure should be a requirement for sure. It has always baffled me that elected officials are not required to fully disclose their finances but every homeowner has no choice but for their name and amount they paid for their house is public information. If someone gets to make decisions that rule the lives of 330 million people, those people damn sure have a right to know if and how those justices might be compromised. Because this court clearly is compromised.
The point of mentioning what you paid for your house being public is that we, the citizens, have limited privacy on financial matters but elected officials do not have to disclose potential (and real) conflicts-of-interest.
Not to mention Amy Coney Barrett being rammed through 8 weeks before the election when Mitch McConnell would not meet with Merick Garland 11 months before the election! And then there was McConnell acquitting DJT
IMO 5 is too short. I do believe that stability is needed and having justices serve for 18 years - almost a full generation, fosters stability. Especially since this court has thrown out even its own precedent. Lifetime is too long but perhaps something between 10-18 years would alleviate the risk of constant back-and-forth in decisions but also prevent octogenarians from imposing laws that will dictate the lives of generations after they are dead. So maybe a compromise, longer than 5 but less than 18? :)
Actually, one way to incentivize an 18-year limit is to offer pay for life, at least for those who came in with that expectation. I'd give in there to have them out.
Women should be permanently excluded from the Supreme Court. They vote socialist or communist most of the time and are a disgrace to oir country and Constiturion
In my 82 us years this is the worse that I have seen our court and Republican Congress. I left the party after 60 years when I saw what happened on January 6th and that night. And when Republicans said the insurrectionists were just tourists that sealed it for me. Look, I understand no party or President is perfect, but I'm glad I changed parties. But as I see it the Democratic Party needs to get some balls. Yes, imagine an old lady say that but it is true. I will stand strong and demand accountability to anyone who is suppose to serve us.
Impeach the traitors. And I don't say that lightly- but given the Republican-appointed Justices ALL lied about RvW being settled law and how they wouldn't change it while they were under oath says they have no place on the SCOTUS.
Impeachment requires both a House Leader willing to put a motion to the floor, AND a Senate supermajority to convict. Seriously, now...do you really think that those conditions could be met in this day and age? I don't. Given his immunity, it is far more likely that Trump or a successor would simply arrest and jail Democrat appointed Justices based on some ficticious allegations, and name more Federalist Society stooges to sit in the vacated seat. This is what I hoped Biden would do with the most corrupt two, without the need for fiction.
I still hope Biden asks or orders Garland to release the Jack Smith report Vol 2. Since the 11th Circuit is sitting around twiddling it's thumbs instead of immediately sanctioning Cannon for issuing an order for a case that was in the 11th Court's jurisdiction and no longer in hers, there's nothing but tomfoolery afoot. Trump will pardon his two henchman anyway. The biggest question is it worth losing the evidence on the documents case merely to have the 11th circuit answer the DOJ's appeal on the Special Counsel question? I certainly don't think so. But to your point- absolutely correct- Biden should have pushed Garland AND Congress to investigate SCOTUS and their blatant partisanship.
And require SCOTUS to adhere to the same ethical standards and reporting/transparency requirements as the lower federal courts.
And legislate private money out of politics, for ----'s sake. Citzens United was as willfully corrupting a decision, if somewhat less immediately and overtly so, as the infamous immunity decision.
All of the above -- reforming SCOTUS in multiple ways and cleaning up the political process -- is possible. We just need to have the will (or cojones, principles, integrity, commitment to democracy) to do it. And that means we need to make way for the incoming generation of leadership talent. Demand the best, demand the best from them, and hold them accountable constantly.
THIS. NO government agency should be allowed to police itself. Not the police, not the military, not the Supreme Court. Every government agency/body should ultimately be accountable to the people in verifiable ways with clearly defined consequences for failing to adhere to ethical standards.
You are so right - make way for the incoming generation! I'm 75, I know we are past our prime (we can still march, vote, etc) and support the ones we need in front!
I think the best hopes for this country lie with Gen-z and Millennials. My generation, Gen-X, has turned out to be an abysmal failure. Despite our protestations that we would never turn into our parents - we turned into our parents. At least most of us did. We were supposed to be the counter-culture, punk rock generation. Turns out it was all just marketing. Capitalism is great at this - selling rebellion as a commodity for profit.
Good comment. I don't know if any of Herbert Marcuse's books are still around, but it might be interesting to give some of them a try. Somewhere in his work he showed how capitalism works to eventually co-opt and commercialize and thus remove the essence from everything that comes along, whether it be silly pop culture stuff or radical ideas about reshaping society (think: many of the big ideas that got examination in the '60s and early '70s). Sorry, I can't recall specific titles to recommend -- it's been many decades since I read any Marcuse.
Badger your state Dem party reps relentlessly to put Ben Wikler at the head of the DNC. Do this right now.
Badger our current representatives to do the right thing -- not nibble-at-the-margins incremental tweaks or let's-just-get-back-to-the-old-status-quo, or perish the thought, appeasement (or worse, solidarity) with the christofascists. To figure out what some of the right things are, for starters refresh yourself on what Bernie's been saying for a long time, what AOC is standing for, what Maxwell Frost is saying. At the very least, demand that our government swiftly fix the two main items noted earlier. Not gonna happen in the 119th Congress, I realize; nevertheless, keep the heat on. Be a squeaky wheel.
Work locally to identify smart young talent committed to transformational change for the benefit of the entire country, and promote that talent in primary and final elections.
Work locally to educate voters, especially younger and low-information voters, non-confrontationally about the lies they've been fed and how voters are being and will be betrayed, about the factual realities of the past eight years and the incoming administration's personnel and policies, and about how civics and basic economics actually work, and how your conversant's life is actually affected. This can happen in any number of ways, even in brief, casual conversations in which you plant a couple of thought seeds for people to consider.
Starting with the special elections this year, the gubernatorial elections this year. Local, county, and state elections this year. DON'T WAIT FOR THE MIDTERMS. VOTE NOW IN EVERY ELECTION YOU CAN
This is an interesting concept. Not agreeing or disagreeing but interesting. In reality, these problems would not exist if Congress actually did its damn job and vetted judges based on what is best for the citizens. But Congress is wholly caputred by corporate interests and lobbyists. Citizens United was one of the worst decisions in the history of our nation. One person, one vote is irrelevant when a single person or entity can pour 1/4 billion dollars into elections. The game is rigged. The fact that we can still even somewhat resist is a miracle and testament to the fortitude of average citizens.
As is a politicized military. In 2022 every single GOP house member voted against rooting out extremism in the armed services. Fortunately the larger bill was passes so they didn't get their way, but I found this chilling. And Pete Hegseth, if confirmed, and being a stooge for the MAGA folks, sounds like he's not one who's going to take the high road.
I do not doubt the outcome, but I mourn the unnecessary suffering. As Eisenhower stated about war,
“Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.
This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children.”
The cost of this struggle is all of the good things that might have come to pass, will be neglected for some mean and spiteful purposes.
The MAGA Party is no longer a fitting name for the GOP. It is the Fascist party. They should be called out as such. I'm tired of our democratic politeness and benefit of the doubt.
There has always been at least one party that supports racism, represses voting, and is perfectly fine lying to do those things. They usually support the wealthy too. Till civil war the Dems and whigs had that distinction. Then Lincoln and the Republicans became the more racially just party. Then backsliding and both parties vied for that role. LBJ made Dems the more votes for all party. Since then Dems hold that distinction. Read some history. In broad brushstrkes this is our nation's history.
"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.
This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. The cost of one modern heavy bomber is this: a modern brick school in more than 30 cities. It is two electric power plants, each serving a town of 60,000 population. It is two fine, fully equipped hospitals. It is some fifty miles of concrete pavement. We pay for a single fighter with a half-million bushels of wheat. We pay for a single destroyer with new homes that could have housed more than 8,000 people. . . . This is not a way of life at all, in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron."
It would be helpful to create a chart showing what the top high-priced military items could fund in the civilian economy that could be easily accessible for discussions advocating turning swords into plowshares.
Let's also never forget Mitch McConnell's role in the appointment of justices in the Supreme Court when, as Senate leader, he didn't allow Obama to fill vacancies. And, thank you, Mr. Eisen for putting this all so succinctly––it truly helps. I'm so glad The Contrarian is here.
And not voting for a conviction when he had the chance, after stating that Trump was guilty. Such a coward, as were all of the Republicans in the Senate at the time who voted with him. That one act has forced Trump on us again, to utter disaster.
The money I used to spend on LA Times, NYT, and WaPo is now going to independent journalism. I want multiple viewpoints in the reporting I read. Kudos to Mr. Eisen and Ms. Rubin for pulling this off!
As it turns out, the fix was in with McTurtle from the minute Obama was inaugurated. RBG could have resigned any time between 2009 and 2016 and Machiavellian Mitch would have found a way to steal the seat.
Why did Biden feel he needed to give the inept Merrick Garland a consolidation prize of AG??? That is the single worst decision Biden mae in his entire life. He let Trump off the hook completely and dogged Biden's own son over nothing. What worthless AG. Despicable.
Well they will struggle more now considering he lied about everything he said. He cannot make vendors proces go down, just like Mexico will not pay for a damn wall!!!
Honestly focusing in on democracy on the State level for now. Follow Chop Wood, Carry Water; Indivisible; Rogan's List; and People Power United for action items on state and local level elections. I also call my elected daily.
People ask for tips and plans here. As the Dem Party has none to offer I will share those of a small group of individuals and myself. I live n Sam Alito’s hometown. Our police department is located on Justice Samual A. Alito Way. As our agency to enact change is local-we are petitioning the town of Hamilton, NJ to change the name. This is a small thing. This is a symbolic thing. We have chosen this because we want to be on the public record for our values. We believe that small, local work -remember the success of the Tea Parties?- may be all we are capable of. So my hint is start small, start local - hell, start anywhere. Take other people with you. Do anything and fear not.
Sorry to see Jack Smith go, but I know that he and his work will be significant in the months/years to come. He will be an important person in history, even if the GOP and Magas try to erase him. We should never let that happen!! Thank you, Contrarian.
Good journalism can fill in a power vacuum. But with the fragmentation and politicization of mass media, it's hard to make yourself heard if you don't have a big enough megaphone on your own.
We are going to see how far he takes it on the afternoon of the 20th. If he proclaims his emergency declaration and subsequent martial law, we are in a whole heap of trouble. If Congress grows a collective spine, there may be hope.
Subscribe to another great Substack column, Chop Wood Carry Water. 5-6 days a week Jessica gives us quick tasks to do to effect change. Most take only a few minutes. Then on Sundays she gives us a list of all the good news that happened in the previous week thruout the world. It’s become a wonderful habit to have.
The article spoke of how Poland threw off their oppressive rulers. It was on the 1980’s, remember? The workers there banded together across specific job types and walked off their various jobs. This had meaningful impact on the upper class and brought meaningful change.
That same cudgel was demonstrated behind the scenes in South Korea recently. Politicians reigned in a leader who had “gone rouge” and tried to mandate martial law. Umbrella unions are strong there, and they were displeased with the turn of events.
Powers that be are aware that unified labor could affect their designs on US society and do all they can to keep laborers weak: division and reliant on employers dependent on them for benefits, instead of getting those benefits from unions. Worker solidarity is something that can happen and will bring change, but it will mean setting aside the divisions that keep us conquered.
I think you meant “gone rogue.” If he had “gone rouge,” he would’ve just starting using makeup, and I don’t think they would have impeached him for that.
Put this together with the 45-day public comment period required for most federal rule-making and citizens can flood the Federal Register with actual information (from the journalists who follow the people's cabinet) supporting their opinions. Even if the rules were made anyway, the public comments would be a matter of public record, unlike letters we write to representative lawmakers.
Based on the trajectory of public media consumption over the past 15-odd years, I'm really not surprised that something like January 6 could be either "normalized" or swept under a rug of Trump's lies. But it doesn't make it any less shocking.
Mr Smith's report is damning for sure. I was surprised at his charging decision on the insurrection issue. To be clear in my opinion, I went back and re-read the Colorado supreme court decision in Anderson (the trump ballot eligibility case). It is unequivocal that trump participated in an insurrection under every definition of the word according to the Colorado justices. It is also clear the Sec 3 of the 14th A is self-executing as is the other Sections of the 14th A and that Congress "may" enact legislation to enforce, but this is not necessary to enforce the section. The only thing the SCOTUS decision did was say that states can not determine eligibility on their own for federal offices. The did NOT state an opinion on 1)trumps participation in an insurrection or 2) can you enforce sec 3 of the 14th A. there was a brief dicta from Thomas, but that is not a factual finding or controlling. Enforce the 14th A.
Actually, amendments to the Constitution require all the states to hold Constitutional Conventions. This could be extremely dangerous as there are more R states than D states and any topic can be voted on and be put up for a vote to their citizens. A certain number of states have to vote yes in order to get an amendment within an agreed upon time limit. May I remind you that we are still waiting for the ERA to be adopted? I believe most of the necessary states voted for that in the 1970s...
My suggestion is work with your local or state Democratic party and help strengthen them. We need to look at national elections, especially for President, as a 50 state campaign, not as a six or seven state campaign. I came to this site from Hopium Chronicles ( also on substack ) where we learn strategies. Simon Rosenberg leads it and he basically teaches and encourages us. We are now trying to defeat Trump's 4 nastiest picks for cabinet posts.
I agree that Section 3 of the 14th Amendment holds and that Donald Trump is disqualified from holding the office of the president because he instigated an insurrection against our Constitution. Only the current Congress can remove that disqualification, and doing so requires 2/3 of each chamber to agree. Until this disqualification is lifted, Donald Trump will be an illegitimate president and his orders must be ignored.
The fact that SCOTUS didn't rule on 1. or 2. in your last paragraph means little if anything about the merits of those points in Colorado's brief. The case was about the ballots, Scotus ruled on that issue, and nothing else can be assumed.
CO looked at both questions and made an extensive factual analysis of the merits. As of today, this is the highest court to make such an analysis and as such, it stands as the last word. SCOTUS likely made every effort to NOT rule on this as the degree of legal gymnastics required for their desired conclusion might have been fatal.
Three problems we need to address: a Supreme Court justice for each federal circuit (13 as of now) with term limits for them (18 years) and an enforceable code of ethics; gerrymandering allowing for reps to choose their voters instead of vice-versa; the electoral college dilution of everyone’s vote instead of direct election of the president. Solve two out of three of those EXTREME weaknesses in our democracy and we will have the tools to heal ourselves.
So damned depressing. Although the Not-So-Supreme Court covered for Trump, no one should forget the delay to bring the case forward that lands squarely at Garland's feet. He failed magnificently, giving Trump the time he needed to squirrel out of it.
I hope that Jack Smith's report also sheds light on two unanswered questions: why and how was ANYONE given a permit to hold a rally so close to the Capitol on the day that Congress was certifying the results of the 2020 election; and why was the head of the Secret Service never fully taken to task after service members' January 5th and 6th text messages were conveniently erased as part of a "device replacement program." It would seem that many more individuals working at different levels in our government are as committed to supporting dictatorship as our appallingly partisan SCOTUS.
Mr Eisen, so you think "America has the wherewithal to stop democratic backsliding." Coincidentally enough, I just now got Sen Chris Murphy's fundraising e-mail, and he lists the (anti)social media magnates who have given very large amounts of money to Donnie's inauguration party fund so that Donnie will, as Murphy phrases it, "look the other way" while these obscenely rich people fuck over the public somehow to get themselves richer. Why people with that much money want more money is a complete mystery. So I don't see anyone who is stopping democratic backsliding. We have very recently been made aware of the Dem legislators who sheepishly voted for the very undemocratic Laken Riley Act. And before that, it was Sinema, Manchin, Fetterman, and Menendez. And, as Alice Goldbloom reminds in her comment, there's a SCOTUS we're going to have to deal with (that's going to victimize us) for decades. Thomas may well resign, and Donnie will replace him with Cannon or some other very hard right wing (antidemocracy) youngster.
You think the Democrats in Congress will do that? Bwhahahaha! Hell, we gave them the Senate and for four years they did nothing but send angry letters. The Democrats desperately need new leadership. I'm not even sure Jeffries is the right guy.
Yes Margaret, but wouldn’t we have to win all three branches of government and also have the majority longer than one term to actually achieve that? I guess I’m just loosing faith in half this country’s electorate to vote for democracy :(
You're ahead of me. I've lost my faith completely. Too many gullible imbeciles in this country who believe EVERYTHING they see on social media as truth.
A politicized Supreme Court is indeed a major problem for a democracy.
. . . as is a corrupt one.
Can't it be both?
It is both. We have a Supreme Court that has been following the agenda of Project 2025 along with members of the court being Christian Nationalists. As CNs, they have allegience to their interpretation of the bible, not to the Constitution. That means that they are part of turning the US into a Christian Nationalist Theocracy. One whose rules Trump will never have to live by, or the Tech Billionaire Oligarch who bought him, but the rest of us are supposed to.
The goal is to keep us laser focused on the culture war so we have no time or energy for the class war which needs to be dealt with. The Dominionists and Reichwing Catholics get what they are yearning for - a real, live Gilead. The Oligarchs basically get to enslave an entire society and country... And just to stir the whole thing up with a long-handled spoon, we have an executive who is for all intents and purposes an agent of Putin and an agent of chaos.
The planet is plunged into darkness. Under what conditions will they allow the stranded astronauts to return to earth? NASA has to rely on SpaceX, which is owned by Musk, to get them back because Boeing has deteriorated or been sabotaged and can't do the job they've been doing for decades.
This thought experiment is EXTREMELY helpful because it shows us exactly how bad things can get when the government allows itself to be co-opted in this way. Such an emergency would be unrecoverable! Design more thought experiments, please!
The Opus Dei portion of Scotus.
Started to read _Opus_ and am horrified!
Well put!
Well said.
Sadly.
In the New Testament of the King James Bible, there is nothing Christian about the "Christian Nationalist Theocracy." Nothing at all.
There is nothing about Christian Nationalism in the RSV or NRSV versions of the Holy Bible, either.
It was James VI and I who asserted Divine Right, even before Louis XIV.
Understood! I have been learning about CNs and what they believe from Andra Watkins' Sustack. https://andrawatkins.substack.com/
I found her discussion of the difference between older branches of CN and the newer New Apostolic Reformation End-of-Days beliefs interesting and informative.
https://andrawatkins.substack.com/p/what-is-the-new-apostolic-reformation?utm_source=publication-search
Yes, she's great, she lived it and escaped.
Thanks for posting. Looks interesting. I'll be investigating shortly.
What about the new Trump Bible? Anyone read that?
it's pages are solid black...
I presume all the school children in Oklahoma have read it since the Governor bought influence with Trump by using taxpayer dollars to buy them for all the school children. Americans who are not Christian Nationalists should be filing a class action suit with the Supreme Court objecting to the merging of Church and State, or lack of separation thereof. There should be lawsuits in every state. Where are the
These are Catholic christian* nationalists, right? As such, don’t they answer to the pope? Why isn’t he condemning them? Why did Biden just give him a medal of freedom? I’m not Catholic, so I don’t know just how fragmented that church is. Are there Catholics that prominently and openly ignore the pope yet still claim the name? Or is the pope okay with christian nationalism?
*I don’t capitalize this because we’re not talking about real Christianity here. This is far from following Christ.
I understand that it is not real Christianity, and a friend of mine gets mad if I use their self designated term for that reason, like I should not use the term Christian at all. But, it defines the group. According to Andra Watkins they can be Catholic or Protestant, though she feels that there is some anti Israel or anti-Semitic sentiment among Catholic CNs, and has not been her observation of Protestant CNs so much, even though they believe that as the Chosen People Jews will still have to convert to their version of Christianity in the end to be saved. If you see the link I Posted above about the New Apostolic Reformation, they have different end of days beliefs, and it is my understanding that both Mike Johnson and Sam Alito are members of this section of beliefs.
Bill Barr, his dad converted from being Jewish, and Samuel Alito and Scalia were too.
The Opus Dei branch are a cult, within a cult. They want the church to go back in time. They hate the pope because he is trying to bring them into this millennia, and they want to go back even further.
It is both
Yes!
Expand the Court
And term limits. Future generations should not be captive to the decisions of past ones. 18 years is more than sufficient for a Supreme Court justice. Lifetime appointments enables a politicized and corrupt court, especially whe Congress no longer serves all of their constituents, but only the wealty ones.
Democrats need to run on this issue. Sadly, I doubt that they ever will. They continually come to the fight with a butter knife.
I'm pushing my reps and senators to come with weapons at lease as strong as those used against them. I trust Schiff to do just that.
Just the butter. No knives.
5 years îs more than enough!!! Considering several of these morons have been there over 20 years!!!
Yes, and the reason for lifetime appointments is supposed to be so that each Justice feels secure enough financially and career-wise that they aren't vulnerable to corruption - - that was found not to have been effective.
When you outsource the nominee selection process to a right wing advocacy group, as the GOP has since the Powell Memorandum, you get what we have. The fact that several of these Jurists were seated during GOP administrations without a popular mandate makes it all the more galling to Democrats. The corrective is a larger Court, enforceable ethics rules, and a system like the one Pete Buttegieg describes ith term limits and a regular schedule of replacement.
It seems to have had the exact opposite effect. Because they feel absolutely secure in their jobs, they are free to not only accept multi-million dollar gifts, but also decided that it is ok for them and other elected officals to accept "gratuitites". What an obscene joke.
In Britain, judges are given generous salaries and pensions for the exact same reason, to prevent them from being vulnerable to corruption – and yet they're still expected to retire at seventy.
We all see how well THAT worked!
and at least 2 (Thomas and Kavanaugh) placed there under big cloud!
Full financial disclosure should be a requirement for sure. It has always baffled me that elected officials are not required to fully disclose their finances but every homeowner has no choice but for their name and amount they paid for their house is public information. If someone gets to make decisions that rule the lives of 330 million people, those people damn sure have a right to know if and how those justices might be compromised. Because this court clearly is compromised.
The point of mentioning what you paid for your house being public is that we, the citizens, have limited privacy on financial matters but elected officials do not have to disclose potential (and real) conflicts-of-interest.
Not to mention Amy Coney Barrett being rammed through 8 weeks before the election when Mitch McConnell would not meet with Merick Garland 11 months before the election! And then there was McConnell acquitting DJT
Sex pests both of them.
IMO 5 is too short. I do believe that stability is needed and having justices serve for 18 years - almost a full generation, fosters stability. Especially since this court has thrown out even its own precedent. Lifetime is too long but perhaps something between 10-18 years would alleviate the risk of constant back-and-forth in decisions but also prevent octogenarians from imposing laws that will dictate the lives of generations after they are dead. So maybe a compromise, longer than 5 but less than 18? :)
But several of them have already been there for already 25 years!! Don't give them any more free time collecting your and my taxes for doing nothing!!
Actually, one way to incentivize an 18-year limit is to offer pay for life, at least for those who came in with that expectation. I'd give in there to have them out.
Women should be permanently excluded from the Supreme Court. They vote socialist or communist most of the time and are a disgrace to oir country and Constiturion
Are you being serious or is this some kind of sarcastic joke?
In my 82 us years this is the worse that I have seen our court and Republican Congress. I left the party after 60 years when I saw what happened on January 6th and that night. And when Republicans said the insurrectionists were just tourists that sealed it for me. Look, I understand no party or President is perfect, but I'm glad I changed parties. But as I see it the Democratic Party needs to get some balls. Yes, imagine an old lady say that but it is true. I will stand strong and demand accountability to anyone who is suppose to serve us.
Impeach the traitors. And I don't say that lightly- but given the Republican-appointed Justices ALL lied about RvW being settled law and how they wouldn't change it while they were under oath says they have no place on the SCOTUS.
Impeachment requires both a House Leader willing to put a motion to the floor, AND a Senate supermajority to convict. Seriously, now...do you really think that those conditions could be met in this day and age? I don't. Given his immunity, it is far more likely that Trump or a successor would simply arrest and jail Democrat appointed Justices based on some ficticious allegations, and name more Federalist Society stooges to sit in the vacated seat. This is what I hoped Biden would do with the most corrupt two, without the need for fiction.
I still hope Biden asks or orders Garland to release the Jack Smith report Vol 2. Since the 11th Circuit is sitting around twiddling it's thumbs instead of immediately sanctioning Cannon for issuing an order for a case that was in the 11th Court's jurisdiction and no longer in hers, there's nothing but tomfoolery afoot. Trump will pardon his two henchman anyway. The biggest question is it worth losing the evidence on the documents case merely to have the 11th circuit answer the DOJ's appeal on the Special Counsel question? I certainly don't think so. But to your point- absolutely correct- Biden should have pushed Garland AND Congress to investigate SCOTUS and their blatant partisanship.
And require SCOTUS to adhere to the same ethical standards and reporting/transparency requirements as the lower federal courts.
And legislate private money out of politics, for ----'s sake. Citzens United was as willfully corrupting a decision, if somewhat less immediately and overtly so, as the infamous immunity decision.
All of the above -- reforming SCOTUS in multiple ways and cleaning up the political process -- is possible. We just need to have the will (or cojones, principles, integrity, commitment to democracy) to do it. And that means we need to make way for the incoming generation of leadership talent. Demand the best, demand the best from them, and hold them accountable constantly.
THIS. NO government agency should be allowed to police itself. Not the police, not the military, not the Supreme Court. Every government agency/body should ultimately be accountable to the people in verifiable ways with clearly defined consequences for failing to adhere to ethical standards.
Yes, THIS is a huge point where reform is needed.
You are so right - make way for the incoming generation! I'm 75, I know we are past our prime (we can still march, vote, etc) and support the ones we need in front!
Whatever happened to AOC's filing of impeachment articles against Alito and Thomas on July 10th 2024?
You would need MAGA Mike to bring such a motion to the floor of the House...never gonna happen!
And what are the practical steps for us-we the people-to accomplish this?
I think the best hopes for this country lie with Gen-z and Millennials. My generation, Gen-X, has turned out to be an abysmal failure. Despite our protestations that we would never turn into our parents - we turned into our parents. At least most of us did. We were supposed to be the counter-culture, punk rock generation. Turns out it was all just marketing. Capitalism is great at this - selling rebellion as a commodity for profit.
Good comment. I don't know if any of Herbert Marcuse's books are still around, but it might be interesting to give some of them a try. Somewhere in his work he showed how capitalism works to eventually co-opt and commercialize and thus remove the essence from everything that comes along, whether it be silly pop culture stuff or radical ideas about reshaping society (think: many of the big ideas that got examination in the '60s and early '70s). Sorry, I can't recall specific titles to recommend -- it's been many decades since I read any Marcuse.
A few suggestions:
Badger your state Dem party reps relentlessly to put Ben Wikler at the head of the DNC. Do this right now.
Badger our current representatives to do the right thing -- not nibble-at-the-margins incremental tweaks or let's-just-get-back-to-the-old-status-quo, or perish the thought, appeasement (or worse, solidarity) with the christofascists. To figure out what some of the right things are, for starters refresh yourself on what Bernie's been saying for a long time, what AOC is standing for, what Maxwell Frost is saying. At the very least, demand that our government swiftly fix the two main items noted earlier. Not gonna happen in the 119th Congress, I realize; nevertheless, keep the heat on. Be a squeaky wheel.
Work locally to identify smart young talent committed to transformational change for the benefit of the entire country, and promote that talent in primary and final elections.
Work locally to educate voters, especially younger and low-information voters, non-confrontationally about the lies they've been fed and how voters are being and will be betrayed, about the factual realities of the past eight years and the incoming administration's personnel and policies, and about how civics and basic economics actually work, and how your conversant's life is actually affected. This can happen in any number of ways, even in brief, casual conversations in which you plant a couple of thought seeds for people to consider.
You need to win a lot of elections first.
Starting with the special elections this year, the gubernatorial elections this year. Local, county, and state elections this year. DON'T WAIT FOR THE MIDTERMS. VOTE NOW IN EVERY ELECTION YOU CAN
I think district judges should rotate through the Supreme Court, maybe serving two years and returning to their district.
This is an interesting concept. Not agreeing or disagreeing but interesting. In reality, these problems would not exist if Congress actually did its damn job and vetted judges based on what is best for the citizens. But Congress is wholly caputred by corporate interests and lobbyists. Citizens United was one of the worst decisions in the history of our nation. One person, one vote is irrelevant when a single person or entity can pour 1/4 billion dollars into elections. The game is rigged. The fact that we can still even somewhat resist is a miracle and testament to the fortitude of average citizens.
I agree. I honestly don't think there's anything we can do at this point but hunker down and prepare for the worst.
I agree with 5 more Trumpie picks
Well, too late for that to help us -- it would be THE END of us were it to happen now.
this is a probem which won't be soon solved
As is a politicized military. In 2022 every single GOP house member voted against rooting out extremism in the armed services. Fortunately the larger bill was passes so they didn't get their way, but I found this chilling. And Pete Hegseth, if confirmed, and being a stooge for the MAGA folks, sounds like he's not one who's going to take the high road.
It is a problem very hard to fix for the future.
And sadly is our reality.
I do not doubt the outcome, but I mourn the unnecessary suffering. As Eisenhower stated about war,
“Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.
This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children.”
The cost of this struggle is all of the good things that might have come to pass, will be neglected for some mean and spiteful purposes.
Oh, how the GOP has changed!
Yes, they aren’t the GOP anymore, they are the MAGA party.
The MAGA Party is no longer a fitting name for the GOP. It is the Fascist party. They should be called out as such. I'm tired of our democratic politeness and benefit of the doubt.
It could be called the anti-Christian Fascist Party. Don’t call them Christian Fascists, they are following a different leader.
Good idea
I stopped referring to it as the GOP after Jan6. It is the MAGA party. It really was this since 2016.
I agree, but not as fully converted in 2016 compared to today, but yes.
Absolutely correct. 😎
It has been on that path at least since Nixon.
More so Reagan!
I think it started to heat up around the time LBJ signed the Civil Rights Act. The McCarthy hearings were likely part of it. IMHO.
The push for a conservative supreme court started during FDR'S time. Read the WORST HARD TIME, a book about the dust bowl.
Indeed. It's been amazing to watch it slide into authoritarianism.
They have always been this way!!!
Has it really?
There has always been at least one party that supports racism, represses voting, and is perfectly fine lying to do those things. They usually support the wealthy too. Till civil war the Dems and whigs had that distinction. Then Lincoln and the Republicans became the more racially just party. Then backsliding and both parties vied for that role. LBJ made Dems the more votes for all party. Since then Dems hold that distinction. Read some history. In broad brushstrkes this is our nation's history.
I am so enraged at the gaslighting and find it violent.
How some of the military leadership has changed. I’m thing of Flynn…
Don't forget his brother who was in the situation room at the Pentagon on Jan6 insurrection was occurring. Don't tell me he didn't exert influence.
The full quote is pretty deep...
"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.
This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. The cost of one modern heavy bomber is this: a modern brick school in more than 30 cities. It is two electric power plants, each serving a town of 60,000 population. It is two fine, fully equipped hospitals. It is some fifty miles of concrete pavement. We pay for a single fighter with a half-million bushels of wheat. We pay for a single destroyer with new homes that could have housed more than 8,000 people. . . . This is not a way of life at all, in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron."
It would be helpful to create a chart showing what the top high-priced military items could fund in the civilian economy that could be easily accessible for discussions advocating turning swords into plowshares.
Well said.
WOW! Hear! Hear👏
Beware the military industrial complex
and now, the financial technical industrial complex
Thank you for creating The Contrarian.
I have HUGE concerns about SCOTUS.
Let's also never forget Mitch McConnell's role in the appointment of justices in the Supreme Court when, as Senate leader, he didn't allow Obama to fill vacancies. And, thank you, Mr. Eisen for putting this all so succinctly––it truly helps. I'm so glad The Contrarian is here.
And not voting for a conviction when he had the chance, after stating that Trump was guilty. Such a coward, as were all of the Republicans in the Senate at the time who voted with him. That one act has forced Trump on us again, to utter disaster.
The revel of the rubble.. pride comes before the fall…as a few others
The money I used to spend on LA Times, NYT, and WaPo is now going to independent journalism. I want multiple viewpoints in the reporting I read. Kudos to Mr. Eisen and Ms. Rubin for pulling this off!
Mitch also could have voted to impeach
Also, RBG could have retired, during a Democratic administration
As it turns out, the fix was in with McTurtle from the minute Obama was inaugurated. RBG could have resigned any time between 2009 and 2016 and Machiavellian Mitch would have found a way to steal the seat.
A good point that deserves mentioning and one that reflects the GOP as a whole - they will do ANYTHING to hold on to power.
Why did Biden feel he needed to give the inept Merrick Garland a consolidation prize of AG??? That is the single worst decision Biden mae in his entire life. He let Trump off the hook completely and dogged Biden's own son over nothing. What worthless AG. Despicable.
My question is…where do we go from here? We knew he was culpable and yet, here we are. Very depressing.
Republicans needed him to win elections. When he's not on the ballot, they struggle.
Not sure that's true anymore. You have people in power who can literally buy elections.
It was true in Virginia last week.
When forced to admit their actual desired outcomes - I won't use the word policy with them - they are deeply unpopular.
Well they will struggle more now considering he lied about everything he said. He cannot make vendors proces go down, just like Mexico will not pay for a damn wall!!!
Honestly focusing in on democracy on the State level for now. Follow Chop Wood, Carry Water; Indivisible; Rogan's List; and People Power United for action items on state and local level elections. I also call my elected daily.
People ask for tips and plans here. As the Dem Party has none to offer I will share those of a small group of individuals and myself. I live n Sam Alito’s hometown. Our police department is located on Justice Samual A. Alito Way. As our agency to enact change is local-we are petitioning the town of Hamilton, NJ to change the name. This is a small thing. This is a symbolic thing. We have chosen this because we want to be on the public record for our values. We believe that small, local work -remember the success of the Tea Parties?- may be all we are capable of. So my hint is start small, start local - hell, start anywhere. Take other people with you. Do anything and fear not.
Sorry to see Jack Smith go, but I know that he and his work will be significant in the months/years to come. He will be an important person in history, even if the GOP and Magas try to erase him. We should never let that happen!! Thank you, Contrarian.
And thanks to Jack Smith!
Wake up? For those of us who are awake, what is the action to take? There must be calls for clear action and not wait until 2026. Any ideas?
Good journalism can fill in a power vacuum. But with the fragmentation and politicization of mass media, it's hard to make yourself heard if you don't have a big enough megaphone on your own.
We are going to see how far he takes it on the afternoon of the 20th. If he proclaims his emergency declaration and subsequent martial law, we are in a whole heap of trouble. If Congress grows a collective spine, there may be hope.
My concern as well. I wouldn't put it past him.
Stick together. There is power in mass!
In addition to sticking together, we need to join groups like Indivisible and Field Team 6. www.indivisible.org/groups and https://www.fieldteam6.org/
Subscribe to another great Substack column, Chop Wood Carry Water. 5-6 days a week Jessica gives us quick tasks to do to effect change. Most take only a few minutes. Then on Sundays she gives us a list of all the good news that happened in the previous week thruout the world. It’s become a wonderful habit to have.
https://chopwoodcarrywaterdailyactions.substack.com/account
100% agree! Would-be activists will find something to do every day.
Love Jess!
The article spoke of how Poland threw off their oppressive rulers. It was on the 1980’s, remember? The workers there banded together across specific job types and walked off their various jobs. This had meaningful impact on the upper class and brought meaningful change.
That same cudgel was demonstrated behind the scenes in South Korea recently. Politicians reigned in a leader who had “gone rouge” and tried to mandate martial law. Umbrella unions are strong there, and they were displeased with the turn of events.
Powers that be are aware that unified labor could affect their designs on US society and do all they can to keep laborers weak: division and reliant on employers dependent on them for benefits, instead of getting those benefits from unions. Worker solidarity is something that can happen and will bring change, but it will mean setting aside the divisions that keep us conquered.
I think you meant “gone rogue.” If he had “gone rouge,” he would’ve just starting using makeup, and I don’t think they would have impeached him for that.
🤪😜
Check out Tim Snyder's "people's cabinet" idea. https://snyder.substack.com/p/an-alternative-cabinet
Put this together with the 45-day public comment period required for most federal rule-making and citizens can flood the Federal Register with actual information (from the journalists who follow the people's cabinet) supporting their opinions. Even if the rules were made anyway, the public comments would be a matter of public record, unlike letters we write to representative lawmakers.
It’s too bad Merrick Garland was asleep at the wheel.
Asleep? He is complicit.
The DoJ had one pre-eminently significant task following Jan6, 2021: to uncover the movers of the insurrection
My second most disappointment! The first was Democrats(so called) lying to get elected!
Who are you talking about, exactly?
Based on the trajectory of public media consumption over the past 15-odd years, I'm really not surprised that something like January 6 could be either "normalized" or swept under a rug of Trump's lies. But it doesn't make it any less shocking.
No one who watched it happen on TV can doubt what it was!
Mr Smith's report is damning for sure. I was surprised at his charging decision on the insurrection issue. To be clear in my opinion, I went back and re-read the Colorado supreme court decision in Anderson (the trump ballot eligibility case). It is unequivocal that trump participated in an insurrection under every definition of the word according to the Colorado justices. It is also clear the Sec 3 of the 14th A is self-executing as is the other Sections of the 14th A and that Congress "may" enact legislation to enforce, but this is not necessary to enforce the section. The only thing the SCOTUS decision did was say that states can not determine eligibility on their own for federal offices. The did NOT state an opinion on 1)trumps participation in an insurrection or 2) can you enforce sec 3 of the 14th A. there was a brief dicta from Thomas, but that is not a factual finding or controlling. Enforce the 14th A.
If we survive this, we will need to enact multiple amendments to The Constitution.
Actually, amendments to the Constitution require all the states to hold Constitutional Conventions. This could be extremely dangerous as there are more R states than D states and any topic can be voted on and be put up for a vote to their citizens. A certain number of states have to vote yes in order to get an amendment within an agreed upon time limit. May I remind you that we are still waiting for the ERA to be adopted? I believe most of the necessary states voted for that in the 1970s...
My suggestion is work with your local or state Democratic party and help strengthen them. We need to look at national elections, especially for President, as a 50 state campaign, not as a six or seven state campaign. I came to this site from Hopium Chronicles ( also on substack ) where we learn strategies. Simon Rosenberg leads it and he basically teaches and encourages us. We are now trying to defeat Trump's 4 nastiest picks for cabinet posts.
I agree that Section 3 of the 14th Amendment holds and that Donald Trump is disqualified from holding the office of the president because he instigated an insurrection against our Constitution. Only the current Congress can remove that disqualification, and doing so requires 2/3 of each chamber to agree. Until this disqualification is lifted, Donald Trump will be an illegitimate president and his orders must be ignored.
The fact that SCOTUS didn't rule on 1. or 2. in your last paragraph means little if anything about the merits of those points in Colorado's brief. The case was about the ballots, Scotus ruled on that issue, and nothing else can be assumed.
CO looked at both questions and made an extensive factual analysis of the merits. As of today, this is the highest court to make such an analysis and as such, it stands as the last word. SCOTUS likely made every effort to NOT rule on this as the degree of legal gymnastics required for their desired conclusion might have been fatal.
and yet Jack Smith himself said an insurrection charge would not have been a winner...too vague of a term and with very little precedent.
Three problems we need to address: a Supreme Court justice for each federal circuit (13 as of now) with term limits for them (18 years) and an enforceable code of ethics; gerrymandering allowing for reps to choose their voters instead of vice-versa; the electoral college dilution of everyone’s vote instead of direct election of the president. Solve two out of three of those EXTREME weaknesses in our democracy and we will have the tools to heal ourselves.
So damned depressing. Although the Not-So-Supreme Court covered for Trump, no one should forget the delay to bring the case forward that lands squarely at Garland's feet. He failed magnificently, giving Trump the time he needed to squirrel out of it.
I’m calling it the “Supreme Corrupt”
That works really well and is completely accurate.
R
I hope that Jack Smith's report also sheds light on two unanswered questions: why and how was ANYONE given a permit to hold a rally so close to the Capitol on the day that Congress was certifying the results of the 2020 election; and why was the head of the Secret Service never fully taken to task after service members' January 5th and 6th text messages were conveniently erased as part of a "device replacement program." It would seem that many more individuals working at different levels in our government are as committed to supporting dictatorship as our appallingly partisan SCOTUS.
Mr Eisen, so you think "America has the wherewithal to stop democratic backsliding." Coincidentally enough, I just now got Sen Chris Murphy's fundraising e-mail, and he lists the (anti)social media magnates who have given very large amounts of money to Donnie's inauguration party fund so that Donnie will, as Murphy phrases it, "look the other way" while these obscenely rich people fuck over the public somehow to get themselves richer. Why people with that much money want more money is a complete mystery. So I don't see anyone who is stopping democratic backsliding. We have very recently been made aware of the Dem legislators who sheepishly voted for the very undemocratic Laken Riley Act. And before that, it was Sinema, Manchin, Fetterman, and Menendez. And, as Alice Goldbloom reminds in her comment, there's a SCOTUS we're going to have to deal with (that's going to victimize us) for decades. Thomas may well resign, and Donnie will replace him with Cannon or some other very hard right wing (antidemocracy) youngster.
I'm not sure of the source, but a rap artist was quoted as saying: "To much money is never enough"
I have a friend who has a very remote history of substance abuse: abstinent 42 years. My friend says the watchword of addicts is "more."
By the way, wasn't it Mary Trump who wrote a book and called it "Too Much, and Never Enough?" Maybe she took the title from that rapper.
How is it possible to still have even a chance at a democracy with a corrupt Supreme Court ?
Congress can address the Supreme Court if the Republicans lose power!
You think the Democrats in Congress will do that? Bwhahahaha! Hell, we gave them the Senate and for four years they did nothing but send angry letters. The Democrats desperately need new leadership. I'm not even sure Jeffries is the right guy.
Yes Margaret, but wouldn’t we have to win all three branches of government and also have the majority longer than one term to actually achieve that? I guess I’m just loosing faith in half this country’s electorate to vote for democracy :(
You're ahead of me. I've lost my faith completely. Too many gullible imbeciles in this country who believe EVERYTHING they see on social media as truth.