New SCOTUS Judge II: The Wrath of Kavanaugh

[dmaker]

Sexual assault allegations aside, I don't believe he was truthful on multiple questions during his sworn testimony and he displayed poor temperament while showing a strong political bias as well. Those things alone should have been enough to keep him off the bench. Republicans don't seem to care about those points, however.

 

[ahhell]

"As soon as the Dems take a majority back we're gonna...."

Do nothing. That's how that sentence ends. You're gonna do nothing. Because if you lock a Democrat in an empty room he's gonna find a way to get filibustered by his own necktie. If Congress all jumped out of a plane while Democrats where pushing "We need to find the ground" legislation, they would miss the ground.

There could be a 100% Democratic Senate, House, Presidency, SCOTUS, Every Governorship, Every State House Seat, Every State Senate Seat and the only Republican left in the county was a third assistant muskrat wrangler in Dishrag County, West Virginia and the Democrats would still find a way to be a milquetoast floor-mat to him while he walks all over them

…. while he somehow passes more legislation then they do.

I find that last bit funny considering how little the GOP congress is actually getting done these days. What has the GOP actually accomplished in the last two years? The passed a tax bill and...…?

 

[luchog]

He taught me to play guitar by ear. I also studied music theory and learned how to read and eventually teach guitar after that.

Did you pay for the lessons, or did you get them for free? If they were free, how many other people had that advantage?

I did everything from roofing, to framing houses, to cleaning gutters, digging trenches, saline torch cutting metal and welding, jack hammering cement to pay the bills. Meanwhile I was performing and recording with some decent acts/artists after a few years. I've also taught youngsters to play guitar to return the favor i was given. I still do when I see someone showing a real interest.

And that is still going over your head, apparently. You're looking less and less like the "self-made man" that you claim you are.

 

[acbytesla]

In Kavanaugh news, theres this.

He's like Charlie Wilson.

You can teach them to type, but you can't teach them to grow tits.

 

[JoeMorgue]

I find that last bit funny considering how little the GOP congress is actually getting done these days. What has the GOP actually accomplished in the last two years? The passed a tax bill and...…?

If they aren't getting anything done what are we so afraid of? What disaster do we need a Blue Wave to save us from?

Or is this just the "As soon as we get in office..." but in the other direction? A list of catastrophes that will descend upon the Earth when the Republicans seize power... that never actually happen when they are in power and stay in a perpetual state of "any day now."

This question does have to be asked. The Republicans have owned the government for over two years now. Why aren't the gays in camps and abortions outlawed yet? Why is it always going to happen the next little bit of power they get?

 

[theprestige]

The GOP is completely tone-deaf when it comes to #MeToo - they just don't understand how insulting it is to tell a victim: "you got the wrong guy".

When I'm being falsely accused, insulting my accuser is the least of my problems. Your concerns about tone deafness are laughably selective.

 

[Belz...]

If they aren't getting anything done what are we so afraid of? What disaster do we need a Blue Wave to save us from?

Or is this just the "As soon as we get in office..." but in the other direction? A list of catastrophes that will descend upon the Earth when the Republicans seize power... that never actually happen when they are in power and stay in a perpetual state of "any day now."

This question does have to be asked. The Republicans have owned the government for over two years now. Why aren't the gays in camps and abortions outlawed yet? Why is it always going to happen the next little bit of power they get?

Well, there's a little thing coming that's going to nearly wipe us all out from the surface of the Earth. I'd like _someone_ to do something about it, and I can't trust the GOP to do so. At this time, this consideration outweighs all others.

 

[applecorped]

It is almost as if elections have consequences

 

[Belz...]

When I'm being falsely accused, insulting my accuser is the least of my problems. Your concerns about tone deafness are laughably selective.

How do you know whether he's falsely accused?

 

[Andy_Ross]

Trump tweets

"The paid D.C. protesters are now ready to REALLY protest because they haven’t gotten their checks - in other words, they weren’t paid! Screamers in Congress, and outside, were far too obvious - less professional than anticipated by those paying (or not paying) the bills!"

Still pushing the conspiracy.

 

[luchog]

This question does have to be asked. The Republicans have owned the government for over two years now. Why aren't the gays in camps and abortions outlawed yet? Why is it always going to happen the next little bit of power they get?

Gays people aren't in camps? Right now, only 14 US states and a tiny handful of counties and municipalities ban conversion therapy for minors. It is still full legal in the overwhelming majority of the country, and actively supported by some local government bodies. There is no federal ban on conversion therapy for minors, and not a single state in the US bans conversion therapy for adults. Admittedly not internment camps as such, but the bulk of the GOP fully supports these therapies, which are nothing short of torture and rape, and with a Supreme Court now leaning heavily toward the religious right, we could see existing bans tested and overturned, and more children forced into these awful practices with the full blessing of the local and federal governments, and quite possibly public funding as well.

Abortions not outlawed? You clearly haven't been paying attention to this thread, since it has already been posted that there are multiple states now that have effectively de facto prohibited abortions from being done despite no de novo ban being in place, and more are moving in that direction as we sit here discussing this.

You've also obviously missed the growing popularity of "bathroom bills"[/i] intended to discriminate against transpeople. While only one has been semi-successful at this time, that has not diminished the fervour of the legislators in "bible belt" states from trying to push more through. You also seem to have missed the Trump administration's rescinding of the Obama-era guidance on transgender people, and his attempt to ban transpeople from entering the military.

But gays and transpeople are not their pet scapegoats right now, immigrants and Muslims are. Did you miss the fact that asylum seekers, including minors and children, are being kept in internment camps? Did you miss immigrant children being forcibly removed from their parents and kept in cages? Over a hundred of which have still not been returned to their families, many of whom will likely never be returned to their families. Then there's also Trump's Muslim ban, a modified version of which passed the Supreme Court.

Not to mention the fact that a whole host of environmental regulation and policy intended to fight the problem of climate change, which threatens to greatly damage our ability to live on this world, has already been repealed, or is in the process of being repealed, and the current head of the EPA is a staunchly pro-business and anti-EPA arch-conservative.

And, of course, you'd be fully aware that for the last two years, the Supreme Court has been fairly well balanced, and leaning only slightly right-of-center, and prone to shifting to the left nearly as often as it shifted to the right. Now, with the appointment of Gorsuch and especially Kavanaugh, we have a Supreme Court that is heavily weighted to the hardline conservative side, and will be far more amenable to upholding the abuses inflicted on the country by the Trump administration than the previous liberal and swing justices were.

The last remaining check and balance has been removed. If the GOP manages to hold onto their majorities in both the Senate and House, then time will tell how effective they will be at pushing their racist, sexist, xenophobic, anti-LGBTQ, anti-worker, anti-poor agendas.

If you're paying attention, you can see that there is a whole raft of pending and proposed legislation intended to, not overturn the established case law, but to whittle away at its edges, slowly grind it down into ineffectuality, so that instead of a high profile overturning which would bring out protests and counter-legislation, the GOP is playing the long game where they can claim that these legal precedents are still in place, while effectively ignoring and nullifying those precedents through a myriad of other channels. Others have already detailed in this thread how effective the GOP has been in doing this even without the full support of a Supreme Court majority.

I have no doubt that, barring a massive and effective liberal/left uprising, things are going to get a whole lot worse for those of use who aren't cisgendered, heterosexual, rich, white, Christian men.

 

[River]

He's like Charlie Wilson.

You can teach them to type, but you can't teach them to grow tits.

Uhm, why do people insinuating others are sexist, speak in blatantly sexist language? Interesting.

 

[Ziggurat]

Gays people aren't in camps? Right now, only 14 US states and a tiny handful of counties and municipalities ban conversion therapy for minors. It is still full legal in the overwhelming majority of the country, and actively supported by some local government bodies. There is no federal ban on conversion therapy for minors, and not a single state in the US bans conversion therapy for adults.

And how is that different from when Obama was president and the Democrats had majorities in both houses?

 

[acbytesla]

Uhm, why do people insinuating others are sexist, speak in blatantly sexist language? Interesting.

I guess you never saw Charlie Wilson's War starring Tom Hanks.

Pity.

 

[Segnosaur]

This question does have to be asked. The Republicans have owned the government for over two years now. Why aren't the gays in camps and abortions outlawed yet? Why is it always going to happen the next little bit of power they get?

The rational answer is that any such changes will take time to enact, and the effects of republican changes will take years (if not decades) to be felt.

For example, for abortion rights to be repealed (either a complete overturn of Roe v Wade, or a gradual chipping away at abortion rights through multiple smaller cases), you likely need:
- A law to be passed that involves abortion rights. (Such laws can take months to enact)
- A person or group to be negatively affected by such a law (or at least to have standing to challenge such law)
- The case to find its way through the court system (going through multiple lower courts until it reaches the supreme court)
- Weeks/months of deliberation at the supreme court (Sometimes with interim rulings before a final verdict is reached)

For example, in June 2013, Texas introduced a law that restricted abortion access. After multiple lawsuits and various appeal rulings, the final ruling on the case wasn't made until June 2016, approximately 3 years AFTER the bill was first introduced.

Now that we have Rapey McRapeface and Gorsuch on the supreme court, Texas could bring in a similar bill today, and the supreme court wouldn't rule on it (probably ruling against abortion rights this time) until months/years after Trump has left office (and probably been locked in jail for illegal financial activities or election fraud).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whole_Woman's_Health_v._Hellerstedt

So, oppression is coming... against Women's rights, against homosexual rights, against minorities. The fact that it didn't happen the day after Trump was sworn in doesn't mean that people won't be losing rights.

 

[phiwum]

Uh, are you aware that Obama deported more people than any other president?

Tell that to the guy who wrote this.

1863 Democrats: without slaves, who will pick our crops?
2018 Democrats: without illegal aliens who will pick our crops?

He seems to think Democrats are soft on illegal immigration. Obama is a Democrat, isn't he?

 

[Segnosaur]

Admittedly not internment camps as such, but the bulk of the GOP fully supports these therapies, which are nothing short of torture and rape...

Woah, back up a second. What?

Well, from Wikipedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conversion_therapy
Ariel Shidlo and Michael Schroeder found in "Changing Sexual Orientation: A Consumer's Report", a peer-reviewed study of 202 respondents... Many respondents felt harmed by the attempt to change, and reported depression, suicidal ideation and attempts, hypervigilance of gender-deviant mannerisms, social isolation, fear of being a child abuser and poor self-esteem.

Or here's a first-hand account of someone who went through conversion therapy.

From: https://www.macleans.ca/opinion/i-e...therapy-and-its-time-to-ban-it-across-canada/
over the next six years, the doctor prescribed near fatal dosages of various concurrent psychiatric medications... He even used aversion therapy—exposing me to a stimulus while simultaneously subjecting me to some form of discomfort.

 

[Segnosaur]

Gays people aren't in camps? Right now, only 14 US states and a tiny handful of counties and municipalities ban conversion therapy for minors. It is still full legal in the overwhelming majority of the country, and actively supported by some local government bodies. There is no federal ban on conversion therapy for minors, and not a single state in the US bans conversion therapy for adults.

And how is that different from when Obama was president and the Democrats had majorities in both houses?

From: https://obamawhitehouse.archives.go...ama-administrations-record-and-lgbt-community
The President (Obama) has supported legislative efforts to ban the use of so-called “conversion therapy” against minors and released a Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) study condemning the practice.

Looks like he tried, but since banning conversion therapy would require legislation to be passed (and the republicans in congress were hostile) his efforts would have gone nowhere.

However, under Obama:
- Gay marriage was endorsed
- Laws were passed to prevent bullying of homosexual individuals
- The 'don't ask don't tell' rule was repealed

 

[Ziggurat]

From: https://obamawhitehouse.archives.go...ama-administrations-record-and-lgbt-community
The President (Obama) has supported legislative efforts to ban the use of so-called “conversion therapy” against minors and released a Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) study condemning the practice.

Looks like he tried, but since banning conversion therapy would require legislation to be passed (and the republicans in congress were hostile) his efforts would have gone nowhere.

So he didn't even try back when he had a Democratic majority in both houses. And regardless of whatever credit you want to give him for trying in 2015, he failed. Which means that the situation now regarding conversion therapy isn't actually different.

Look, I'm not asking anyone to be happy about that. But this the-end-is-neigh stuff isn't really credible.

 

[Segnosaur]

So he didn't even try back when he had a Democratic majority in both houses.

At the time, the U.S. had to deal with a recession and health care reform (both important issues that had to be dealt with.) Legislation takes time to enact (even if the president has a friendly congress) and other issues probably were seen as a higher priority.

Do you think the president has some sort of magic wand that he can wave that automatically makes legislation automatically appear? Do you think he wakes up with a bill ready to sign under his pillow?

And regardless of whatever credit you want to give him for trying in 2015, he failed. Which means that the situation now regarding conversion therapy isn't actually different.

Actually it is different.

Now that we have Rapey McRapeface and Gorsuch on the supreme court, any such legislation that is passed in the future (by either a future federal Democratic congress/president, or by some state) is more likely to be found unconstitutional because Baby Jesus wanted gays to be straight (according to the evangelicals who hold sway).

Look, I'm not asking anyone to be happy about that. But this the-end-is-neigh stuff isn't really credible.

You should be happy about it. You got a rapist on the supreme court. You should be proud of the republican accomplishments. The party that "freed the slaves" back in the time of Lincoln now views women as second class citizens. Pat yourself on the back.