Tag: SCOTUS

Saturda’s Wandering Political Thoughts

Some things catching my attention in the week’s news…

I enjoy Ali’s regular offering, Peace & Justice History. Posted every day on Scottie’s Playground, the post provides a high-level recap of the day in history in the realm of peace, law, and justice. I like it as a reminder of the history which has gone before. While there is sometimes a sinking sensation that history is part of a wash cycle, and we’re going through the spin and rinse once again, reading about others stands against war and for justice and human dignity can inspire and fuel my need for optimism.

Infidel753 provided a good overview of the Bond market and the huge implications for the U.S. when our bonds fall out of favor. As several have suggested, the bond market drop probably caused the pause in Trump’s wacky tariff scheme.

“The sale of Treasury bonds is how the US government borrows money.  A bond’s value at maturity is fixed; its initial sale price is lower and is determined by supply and demand, with the difference between sale price and maturity value being the interest paid by the government to the investor.  For example, if a bond is worth $100 at maturity, and you buy it for $95, then the $5 difference is the interest you get on the investment, effectively paid to you by the government.  If you are less confident that the bond is a good investment, and you pay only $90, then your return is $10 when the bond matures, and the government is having to pay twice as much interest to borrow the money from you.  In practice, the sale price of Treasury bonds is set by supply and demand and reflects investors’ collective level of confidence in the US economy at any given moment.“

“The reason this matters for the future of Trump’s befuddled trade and foreign policy is that huge quantities of US bonds are owned by foreign governments.  Japan holds over a trillion dollars worth of them, China holds $760 billion, the UK holds $720 billion, Canada holds $380 billion, and many others also hold substantial amounts.  Even by the standards of the US federal budget, these are very large amounts of money.  And these governments have now learned that turmoil in the bond market can get Trump to back down even when nothing else can.“

Some hope was found that the Roberts Court finally, finally, took a stronger stance against the Trump Regime’s mass deportation scheme, the one that pretends that due process has no place in the U.S. no matter what the Constitution and legal precedence says. Jennifer Rubin at The Contrarian gave a concise summary of the latest ruling. Now we all wait to see what happens next. I haven’t perused the news yet, but something else may have already happened. Whatever else, the Trump Regime is an evil and diabolical machine in its pursuit of unlawfully getting people out of the country.

Milwaukee, Wisconsin is coping with lead paint in its schools. The Biden administration was working with them to help them out of this mess. Isn’t working for the common welfare one reason for the Federal government’s existence? But under the Trump Regime, the CDC experts who were going to help Milwaukee have been fired. And, the Trump Regime told them that it’s declining their request for help. I’m sure that Milwaukee citizens are probably wondering, why the fuck are we paying taxes, then. I know that would be my reaction. Not sure how this fits, but Wisconsin was a swing state that went for Trump while Milwaukee went for Harris.

A confusing piece was in The Hill. Trump on egg costs: ‘If anything, the prices are getting too low’. It was a real head-scratching read.

‘President Trump weighed in on the cost of eggs around the country, claiming Friday at the White House that the prices are “getting too low.”

‘Trump praised Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins for doing a “great” job and then asserted that egg prices are “down 87 percent, but nobody talks about that.”’  

“Bullshit,” my wife said. “I just bought eggs. They’re not down ’87 percent’. If that’s right, why are they still so expensive in Oregon?”

Yes, it’s something else to ponder.

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Twosda’s Theme Music

The weather disappoints me. Sunshine awoke me. That’s faded. Clouds rolled in. Yesterday afternoon turned into a rain marathon. I hoped it rain itself out.

It’s not raining now. It’s just not my idea of ‘nice’. That term for weather has gained a narrower scope as I age.

Not just the weather disappointing me. Papi fractured my sleep with his complaining and in-and-out capades. “Are you getting revenge because we took you to the vet yesterday?”

The cat miaws back. Not his usual sound, which is an extended, “Eeeeppp.”

“I didn’t want to do it,” I tell him. That’s true. “It was for your own good.” Just as Mom used to tell me about almost everything upsetting me as a child.

The vet wants us to have the cat’s teeth worked on. “She’s aggressive about having his teeth worked on,” my wife says.

“She was the same with Tucker.” Tucker had all his teeth removed. “Poor Tucker.”

“He was happier after his teeth were taken out.”

Papi’s teeth estimate is $1900. It shocked us. “Should we do Papi’s teeth?” I ask.

“Let me think about it.”

That’s just how Mom used to say no.

Besides those things, recent SCOTUS rulings have me wringing my hands. Also, I read an article about how surprised financial advisors and stock brokers were that Trump actually went through with the tariffs.

“We’re stepping into the most pro-growth, pro-business, pro-American administration I’ve perhaps seen in my adult lifetime,” gushed the hedge fund manager Bill Ackman in December.

“I don’t think this was foreseeable,” a mournful Ackman posted on X on Monday. “I assumed economic rationality would be paramount.” What an odd assumption to make about a man who bankrupted casinos.

But it was foreseeable. Those of us who didn’t vote for Trump readily foresaw it.

I’m disappointed that Ackman and his kind didn’t foresee it. I’m disappointed that he didn’t believe us when we told him this was going to happen.

BTW, this is Twosda. April 8, 2025. It’s 52 F outside. Partly cloudy. It might rain.

The Neurons are playing “Lithium” by Nirvana in the morning mental music stream. The song was released in 1991. I was still a military member then. Just arrived back to the U.S. in Feb. that year after almost four years in Germany. I was assigned to Onizuka Air Station in California. Some good years were had there.

Nursing coffee, I hear a squeegee sound. The cat runs his wet pads on the door glass when he wants in. “Swqueek swqueek swqueek swqueek.” Sunshine is up. So is the wind. I let in the cat. He turns to me and says, “Merow?”

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Saturda’s Wandering Political Thoughts

I read Raw Story’s coverage of a Daily Beast piece. This was written by Carl Gibson, Alternet.

‘Hugely unpopular’: Columnist flags 5 ways Trump has already ‘failed spectacularly’

Even though he has Republican majorities in both chambers of Congress and Democrats are in the midst of an apparent leadership crisis, President Donald Trump’s second term has so far been a massive failure, according to one columnist.

Even though he has Republican majorities in both chambers of Congress and Democrats are in the midst of an apparent leadership crisis, President Donald Trump’s second term has so far been a massive failure, according to one columnist.

Gibson closed, Rothkopf stressed that while there is a lot of bad news for Democrats, Trump and Republicans have much more to worry about given their lack of success.

I snickered, sighed, and shook my head over this. To me, both pieces normalize what’s going on with PINO Trusk and his regime. Trump is in now. He’s dismantling the government. Stopping spending on anything he declares ‘woke’ or DEI. Terminating anyone and any program that doesn’t align with his prejudices. Dumping on the courts. Blowing up history. Destroying treaties and alliances and wrecking the economy.

He’s deliberately doing these things. He installed thirteen billionaires as cabinet members and has aligned his administration with Putin in Russia. The GOP is now the GOTP. Republican Senators and Representatives are having shouting matches with voters who protest what Trump and Musk are doing, or these Senators and Reps are running and hiding from their constituents. Republicans have shown they’re worried way less than about voters and elections; they’re worried more about falling from Trump’s grace.

In July 2024, former U.S. President Donald Trump told a crowd, “Get out and vote! Just this time. You won’t have to do it anymore! Four more years, you know what? It’ll be fixed, it’ll be fine, you won’t have to vote anymore.”

With DOGE under Elon Reeve Musk gutting agencies and raiding the nation’s computer systems, accessing everyone’s personal information, do you really think the Trusk Regime is concerned what Trump promised voters? Do you think he’s worried about approval ratings?

No. Trump is in; he has control. Everyone must bow to him.

That’s all that matters to him.

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Twosda’s Wandering Political Thoughts

Stories I followed today.

Elon Musk’s satellite business Starlink may not have officially taken over Verizon’s $2.4 billion contract with the Federal Aviation Administration yet to upgrade the systems it uses to manage America’s airspace. However, on Friday, FAA officials ordered staff to begin finding tens of millions of dollars for a Starlink deal, according to a source with knowledge of the FAA and two people briefed on the situation. 

The sources note that these internal directives have mostly, if not entirely, been delivered verbally — which they say is unusual for a matter like this. The source with knowledge of the FAA tells Rolling Stone that it appears as though “someone does not want a paper trail.”

Isn’t it amazing that while Elon Reeve Musk is busy cutting projects, programs, funding, and contracts legally established by the voters and Congress, he’s working hard to enrich himself.

Kansas Senator Roger Marshall Runs From Veterans – Marshall held a rural town hall expecting softball questions. Instead, his own voters confronted him about Trump’s VA cuts and mass firings under the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). His response? He fled the room mid-question. SMITE!

Rep. Diana Harshbarger Gets Roasted by Her Own Voters – She confidently declared that “there’s been a mandate for the president from the American people.” The crowd immediately shouted back “NO!!” in unison, shutting her down instantly. SMITE!

Texas Rep. Keith Self Owns Himself – In deep-red Texas, Self tried to calm an audience furious over federal cuts and layoffs. Instead, they booed him and chanted “Do your job!” SMITE!

Just a timely reminder of who the fuck Russia is. I stand with President Zelensky, Ukraine, and NATO. They’re our allies.

The administration’s lawyers waited until the literal 11th hour last Wednesday to appeal the DC Circuit’s action to the SCOTUS, which for all the reasons noted above should have routinely refused to consider it. So it wasn’t a good sign when John Roberts, who oversees appeals from the circuit, paused the operation of the already appealed District Court order requiring the Trump administration to release the already appropriated money.

Now what REALLY isn’t a good sign is that here we are six days later, and the SCOTUS as a whole hasn’t already gotten rid of this ridiculous appeal of a wildly illegal act on the part of the government. 

The Roberts Court, already complicit in the creation of the Trusk Regime, seems to be lending it another helping hand by stalling taking action. WTF.

Georgia recently relaunched its maternal mortality review committee after dismissing all 32 of its members last year. But state officials won’t say who the current members are.

Hiding in the dark, they can do whatever they want and then shift and squirm and pretend that it wasn’t them and avoid responsibility for their actions and try to dodge repercussions. It’s the Grand Ol’ Trump Party way.

‘I don’t know where to begin!’ Morning Joe angrily shreds JD Vance’s diplomatic blunder – Raw Story

Speaking with host Sean Hannity, Vance downplayed Britain’s support for Ukraine and President Volodymyr Zelensky as “some random country that hasn’t fought a war in 30 or 40 years“

I was appalled, disgusted, and furious over Jackass Vance’s ridiculous fucking comments. How goddamn dare he? True to the Trump Regime nature, Vance shows no honor and little intelligence. He blurts shit, too stupid to realize what he doesn’t know, insulting the fallen and our allies. Damn him, damn him, damn him.

First Trump threatened to nuke hurricanes. Now he’s waging war on weather forecasters – The Guardian

Six weeks into Trump’s second term, the president hasn’t bombed any hurricanes, but he has nuked the US’s weather-forecasting capabilities. Last week, hundreds of workers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa), the US’s pre-eminent climate research agency, were abruptly fired.

Experts and lawmakers have warned that the ramifications could be wide-ranging and deadly. “Ships will not be able to safely navigate through our waterways. Farmers will not have the data they need to manage their crops,” Maria Cantwell, a Democratic senator from Washington, said in a statement. “This action is a direct hit to our economy, because Noaa’s specialised workforce provides products and services that support more than a third of the nation’s GDP.”

Six weeks in, and Donald Trump and his Project 2025 regime has proven to be the most damaging force the United States has faced in our history.

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Sa’day’s Theme Music

Mood: Politicynicsm

It’s an autner morning with winter impression holding a slight edge. A freezing cold night was had with temperatures lowering to 18 F around my place. I know that’s not so cold in many places; I’ve lived in a few of them. But that’s chill for us.

Since dawn, the sun put the hammer to the temps. We’re into the low thirties now. The splash dab white crystals decorating the greenery is giving way as the sun’s fingers stroke the land into warmth. A high of 56 F is contemplated, with clouds, blue skies, and sunshine.

This is Sa’day, November 30, 2024, the last day of the year’s eleventh month. Just one more for the historic records and we’ll put 2024 to bed.

Keeping Papi the ginger blade in and safe from icy temperatures was a big challenge for us. He gave me his patented cheetah stare whenever I told him no.

Note: this is not Papi. Papi looks nothing like this, except for that staring, judging expression.

But we were successful without too much floofma. Now he is up and up, patrolling and sniffing to see who floofpassed on his realm while he was suffering the indignation of being kept warm and safe.

Been thinking about the Trump presidency and how it’s going down. He and his teams have not signed the transition docs. Therefore, no transition can begin. But, he’ll be sworn in on 1/20/25, won’t he? And then he’ll be POTUS. And then he’ll say, “Fuck those documents. I don’t need to sign shit. I’m the president.” SCOTUS has already established that these things he does as POTUS aren’t illegal, so… I’m sure the Senate will go into a legislative tantrum but the reality is, what will they do? Are the oaths really needed? Not in Trump’s newly minted prezzy immunity. Prezmunity.

Yes, feeling cynical this morning. But that’s the battle and potential outcome I see brewing. Of course, I’m crap at these predictions so I wouldn’t put any money on it.

Hmm…is Vegas laying odds on it? That would seem appropriate. Electing a proven con, liar, incompetent wanna-be dictator and fascist is a gamble…

Oh, wait. I see that he has signed some of the docs now. Sorry, been avoiding the news cycle. That’ll teach me.

So last night, I bit into a Kind drizzle bar. Off came part of one molar. Had to laugh. Just fits in so well with this year’s progression of events. My wife has been claiming that I’m held together by bubblegum and tape. Looks like it’s all coming apart.

I originally had songs about ice or white in the morning mental music stream (Trademark frozen). Ya know, things like “Cold as Ice” and “Ice Ice Baby”. “White Wedding” and “Nights in White Satin”. “Whiter Shade of Pale”. But The Neurons used their veto-override and inserted “Take My Breath Away”. The song was a creation for the Top Gun movie a zillion and two years ago. Berlin, an American new wave musical group, performed it for the movie and achieved a respectable hit for it.

I asked The Neurons, why this? They smugly deigned to voice an answer. But it’s in the stream, so I’m forced to share it to get it out. Kind of a tedious song to me. I mean, I admire the singer’s talents and the band’s skills, and respect the songwriters. Just not my cuppa. I’m low on the romance scale, though, so don’t judge it by my impressions. Listen for yourself.

Try to be positive. I grok that’s an easy expression to state but hard to manifest at times. Do your best, right? I will, too. Aided by coffee, the positivity function is stirring anew. Here we go, another day in 2024. Here’s the music from 1986 to take you there. Cheers

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Just An Opinion

Mitch McConnell is down on President Biden’s SCOTUS reform proposals.

Who is surprised?

Well, anyone who isn’t paying attention would be surprised.

For McConnell to support Mr. Biden’s proposal would be like Putin announcing the end of his war against Ukraine. Or Hamas’s declaration of an immediate cease fire with a follow up that they were disbanding and beginning a new peace union.

Just not gonna happen.

Mitch McConnell perverted the people’s will by keeping Merrick Garland’s nomination from progressing on the specious grounds that it was an election year. Meanwhile, he rammed Trump’s nomination through, even though it was ten days before the election.

Can you say fucking hypocrite?

I look forward to the day when Mitch McConnell crawls back into the earth like the worm he is and is never heard from again. Meanwhile, here is the Ira Shapiro opinion which triggered my thoughts today.

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Tuesday’s Theme Music

Mood: recoffeefied

Tuesday, July 2, 2024, begins with a cool breeze talking to me as quiet coddles the area and black coffee takes my throat. It’s a peaceful and relaxed moment, diametrically opposed to the world exposed on the world wide web.

The cats are fed. They washed themselves and bedded down in outside locations for a while. It’s 70 F as I write but the expectation is for an 88 degrees F high. Sunshine is ruling without much challenge from clouds, and it’s a blue, unscathed sky.

My ankle is improving. Most striking to me is how it felt as I walked. Slightly off-balance and hitched to me, others often said, “You don’t seem to be limping.” Maybe they didn’t see it but I felt it. Yesterday was the first time that I felt like I walked using my usual stride.

Also, received my blood test results, and they all look good. Nothing worried my PCP, so nothing is worrying me.

I have been reading political news, especially concerning the qualified immunity bullshit being ladled on Donald Trump by the Roberts Supreme Court. If the GOP wins in 2024 and Trump is POTUS again, a lot of bad shit will probably go down in the U.S. I mean, much of it already began under his first efforts to undermine progress. Then the SCOTUS issued its Dobbs ruling and stripped women of their right to decide what to do when pregnant. Right wing states piled on. So, if the GOP wins, history will write that the Roberts Supreme Court was a noble instrument in guiding the United States to a benevolent theocracy ruled by a Christian white patriarchy.

But if the Democrats prevail, the Roberts Supreme Court will be called out as corrupt and misguided. Honestly, look at how these self-professed conservative originalists pulled immunity for the POTUS out of their asses. Where in the fucking U.S. Constitution does it say anything about the POTUS enjoying qualified immunity? Nor does it address abortion, but these right-wing miscreants are as hypocritical and unethical as anything ever seen in any nation in the last two hundred years. Yes, I have little faith in them.

I agree with Robert Hubbell’s assessment, that we — progressives, like the progressives who started the nation — will eventually prevail. He wrote, “My only hopeful comment is that the decision is so bad it will not stand. Like Dred Scott (enslaved people are not citizens and not entitled to judicial protections), Plessy v. Ferguson (upholding segregation), Koramatsu v US (upholding the Japanese internment camps), today’s decision will be overturned and remembered as a mark of shame on the Roberts Court.”. Then he opened his comments section for anyone to weigh in. There are some solid, re-affirming comments in there. Some uplifting, motivating comments. If you need a kick of positive energy, as I did, go to his site and read some. They’ll help.

Just as a final aside on that, I’ll mention that besides the three rulings that R. Hubbell listed, I’ll include the 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization as a decision that will someday be overturned as wrong and another mark of shame on the Roberts Court. May that day come soon.

For today’s music, I’ve turned to the late Tom Petty. “I Won’t Back Down” came out in 1989, while I was stationed and living in Germany with the U.S. Air Force. I immediately took to the song and its declarations.

Well I know what’s right
I got just one life
In a world that keeps on pushin’ me around
But I’ll stand my ground
And I won’t back down

h/t to Genius.com

The song is filling my morning mental music stream (Trademark immune), and it’s a good thing.

Be positive, stay strong, and Vote Blue in 2024. Coffee has rehabilitated my brain, so here’s the music. Cheers

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Andy Gets It Right

Andy Borowitz wrote in The Borowitz Report:

Americans Ask Supreme Court for Immunity From Trump

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—In a lawsuit filed on Monday, millions of Americans asked the U.S. Supreme Court to grant them immunity from Donald J. Trump.

The lawsuit argues that the Constitution was intended to protect the people from Trump, unlike the Court’s recent actions, which have protected Trump from the Constitution.

“The Constitution was designed to shield the people from domestic tyranny and foreign threats,” the filing reads. “Trump represents both.”

As a Democrat, I don’t expect relief from the SCOTUS. The damn Republicans are only interested in the Founders’ tenets which support the MAGA apparatus’s ideals of a white, ‘christian’ dictatorship led by the patriarchy. Liars, felons, and rapists accepted. Violence applauded.

No others need apply.

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Monday’s Theme Music

Mood: bumgry (bummed out and angry; could be depgry – depressed and angry)

Julying if you say you didn’t realize June was over. Yes, that’s a feeble attempt at levity.

It’s July 1, 2024, and Monday, a day which will go do in infamy, perhaps, with the SCOTUS rulings. It’s 70 F now, sunny under a preternatural blue sky sky, and feels like 82. Today’s high will crank us into the mid 80s. But we’re sailing into the hundreds by mid week and then look at residing in the upper 90s thereafter. Little relief will come at night as temps hang around the neighborhood of high sixties to low 70s. This will be a bake off.

Over to the SCOTUS ruling on Trump’s immunity, it was as bad as Democrats fucking feared. The skewering of the US Constitution and Bill of Rights continues under MAGA Republican influence. Depressing as hell to witness this, to be part, unable to do much except vote and protest. I continue to blame Mitch McConnell for manipulating Senate procedures and blocking Democratic nominees to the Supreme Court. I hope he rots in fucking hell.

I’m just full of bellyaches today. No wonder that I have Talking Heads and “Road to Nowhere” from 1985 in my morning mental music stream (Trademark sent down).

Coffee has been consumed. Here’s the music. Enjoy the “joyful look at doom.” See you later.

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