U.S. Politics

[Rick Plant]

‘Very bad day for Trump’: Morning Joe says latest Jan. 6 hearing exposed ‘sheer idiocy’ of his presidency
https://www.rawstory.com/trump-crimes-2657557491/

[Rick Plant]

Yesterday, the Extreme Court stripped away Americans' Miranda Rights and ruled against New York state's concealed weapons ban law. 

Now today, we get another disastrous ruling that we all knew was going to happen at the end of June, as the Extreme Court overturned Roe vs Wade taking away the rights of women and putting their lives in danger.

In America, the Constitution explicitly states that there is a "separation of church and state".   

But with these far right wing radical religious extremists in the GOP,  and the religious fanatics that are on the Extreme Court, they ignore what our Constitution defines as the bedrock of our nation and rule on their own personal religious beliefs.

Republicans are no longer allowed to talk about the Constitution because they just ruled against the Constitution with their extreme and barbaric ruling against women.

This is an illegal ruling because it goes against what our Founding Fathers explicitly defined our nation to be, a "separation of church and state".

What the Extreme Court did was give a middle finger to the Constitution and our Founding Fathers, saying their religious beliefs is superior to what's written in our Constitution. 

With this right wing extreme ruling, the Extreme Court says that their evangelical religion trumps what our Constitution defines. Therefore, these right wing extremists can base any ruling they want based on their religion and simply ignore what our Constitution defines. This will allow other far right wing radicals to simply ignore what our Constitution defines and implement laws based on their own personal religious beliefs.       

Every single one of these Supreme Court extremists lied under oath during their confirmation hearings, and therefore should be charged with perjury and impeached. They said in their hearing statements that "Roe was settled precedent and they would not seek to overturn the decision". It was clearly obvious they were lying so they could get on the Supreme Court to overturn Roe when they had a chance. If they told the truth about overturning Roe, they never would have been confirmed. So, when you lie under oath you deserve to be charged with perjury and impeached from the Court.

Republican extremists are now calling for a total ban on abortion nationwide. Red states will now implement a total ban on abortion with no exceptions.

This disastrous ruling will affect men as well. Some people don't seem to understand the dangerous ramifications that will occur because of this insane ruling.

Understand what the word "No Exceptions" means. 

If your mother, sister, daughter, girlfriend, cousin, aunt, friend is brutally attacked and raped she will be forced to carry a rapists child to term under these radical inhumane Republican anti abortion laws. If the trauma become so unbearable that she tries to get an abortion, she will be charged with murder and imprisoned under these radical religious Republican anti abortion laws.           

If your mother, sister, daughter, girlfriend, cousin, aunt, friend has complications with her pregnancy and suffers a heartbreaking miscarriage, she could be imprisoned under radical religious Republican anti abortion laws because she did not bring the fetus to full term. She could be accused of inducing an abortion and she has no legal rights. These radical laws are being implemented in red states. So, through no fault of her own, she could be imprisoned for suffering a miscarriage.

If your mother, sister, daughter, girlfriend, cousin, aunt, friend has a serious life threatening complication with her pregnancy, she under no circumstances is allowed to abort the fetus to save her life. If she tries to get an abortion to save her own life, she will be charged with homicide and thrown in prison. So, Republicans expect the woman to die and there is nothing you can do to save her life. Thousands of women will die because of these radical right wing Republicans.

And if the husband tries to help save his wife's life because of a life threatening pregnancy, right wing radical Republican laws says the he will be an accessory the "murder of a fetus". So, the only thing the husband can do is watch his wife die from an excruciating painful death as he will become a widower because of radical right wing Republicans banning abortion and allowing no exceptions.     

Are you ok with this?

Don't forget that radical religious Republicans running for office all condone and support these inhumane anti abortion laws.

Republicans are stripping away your rights and they won't stop at Miranda Rights and abortion rights. They will take away whatever rights they feel you shouldn't have based on their extreme radical evangelical religion. They believe their "Christian Nationalism" is superior to anybody else's religion or if a person doesn't even practice a religion.       

The overwhelming majority of Americans support abortion rights which is over 85%. Even a large portion of Republican voters support abortion in cases of rape and when the mother's life is in danger. The problem is, we are being held hostage by a minority of the population who are extremist religious radicals that controls the Supreme Court and legislatures in red states pushing these barbaric laws.

The overwhelming  majority of Americans are angry and they should be. No right wing Republican should be allowed to prevent a woman from saving her own life and that is exactly what they doing. They will be killing women with these barbaric anti abortion laws and there is nothing we will be able to do to save their lives.
       
These are the same radicals from the GOP death cult who screamed and cried when elected officials mandated masks to stop the spread of a deadly virus. They cried "you can't force me to wear a mask" but they are now forcing women to give birth even though it could kill her.

These radicals are not "Pro Life'. And if they ever get full control of the government, they will do even more damage as Americans will be forced to live under radical religious laws that our Constitution prohibits. But if they are in charge, our Constitution will no longer matter because they will simply ignore it for their own Christian Nationalist beliefs.     

[Rick Plant]

Just as I stated above, these right wing radicals on the Extreme Court are using their religious beliefs to abolish what they want. They have no regard for the Constitution which declares America is founded on a "separation of church and state". These right wing radicals dismiss what the Constitution says and they implement laws based on their own far right religious beliefs. Now the right wing Extreme Court is going after contraception and same sex marriages because of their evangelical teachings that the overwhelming majority of Americans are not affiliated with.

So once again, the minority of the country is holding the overwhelming majority of Americans hostage with their far right wing extremist laws.

Another dream Republicans have had for decades is to eliminate Social Security and Medicare. Right wingers like Lindsey Graham and Rick Scott are already talking about doing away with both if Republican gain control of the Senate and the House. Rick Scott already has a plan to soak middle class Americans and seniors with high taxes so they can give their billionaire buddies huge tax breaks again. That disastrous plan also calls to sunset Social Security and Medicare which is essentially killing it off because Republicans will simply vote "NO" to keep it functioning. This is a Republican party that voted "NO" to cap insulin at $35 and for middle class tax cuts so you know they will also vote "NO" to keep social security and Medicare. This is also a Republican party that told us to sacrifice seniors to the Covid virus to save the economy, so we know Republicans have no regard for seniors.       

The radical right has been talking about eliminating abortion and they finally achieved it by stealing a Supreme Court seat from President Obama. Once they stole the seat and Trump was installed to appoint 3 far right wingers, they were able to end a woman's right to choose with these radical right wing "justices". So, if Republicans control both chambers of Congress they will quickly do away with Social Security and Medicare just like they have been telling us they will do.

Texas Lt. Governor: Old People Should Volunteer to Die to Save the Economy
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/03/dan-patrick-coronavirus-grandparents

NEW: The GOP Plan to Sunset Medicare and Social Security is Massively Unpopular
https://michigandems.com/new-the-gop-plan-to-sunset-medicare-and-social-security-is-massively-unpopular/

Republicans want to ‘reform’ Social Security behind closed doors — beware!
https://thehill.com/opinion/congress-blog/3525372-republicans-want-to-reform-social-security-behind-closed-doors-beware/

Clarence Thomas calls on court to undo rulings on same-sex relationships and contraception: 'We have a duty to correct the error'



Justice Clarence Thomas on Friday confirmed some of the darkest warnings about the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade.

The conservative-dominated court overturned the landmark decision that enshrined a woman's right to an abortion and said individual states can permit or restrict the procedure themselves.

"The Constitution does not confer a right to abortion; Roe and Casey are overruled; and the authority to regulate abortion is returned to the people and their elected representatives," the court said.

The right-wing court had been expected to overturn the ruling after a draft circulated showing that Justice Samuel Alito had written a decision striking down Roe in the case Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, and many warned the court would next target other agreed-upon rights.

Thomas opened the door to that in a concurring opinion to the 6-3 ruling in Dobbs, saying the court should reconsider rulings that protect the rights to contraception, same-sex relationships and same-sex marriage.

"In future cases, we should reconsider all of this Court’s substantive due process precedents, including Griswold, Lawrence, and Obergefell," Thomas wrote. "Because any substantive due process decision is 'demonstrably erroneous' ... we have a duty to 'correct the error' established in those precedents ... After overruling these demonstrably erroneous decisions, the question would remain whether other constitutional provisions guarantee the myriad rights that our substantive due process cases have generated."

Democrats blasted Thomas for his opinion.

"If you think the Dobbs decision doesn’t affect you, think again. Justice Thomas says the quiet part out loud: he thinks the Court should revoke protections for contraceptive care, sexual intimacy, and marriage equality. This radical Court can’t be trusted to protect your rights," said Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) in a message posted on Twitter.

“This is the first time in our nation's history that the Supreme Court has ruled to eliminate a right that it had previously protected. As Justice Thomas states in his concurring opinion, other rights could follow,” Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NY) wrote on Twitter.

https://www.rawstory.com/clarence-thomas-marriage/

[Rick Plant]

This racist tweet is from a sitting Senator in the United States Senate. Texas Senator John Cornyn is advocating for segregation to return in America. The radical right just took away women's rights and don't think for a minute these open right wing racists won't strip away civil rights from African Americans If they get control of both chambers of Congress and the presidency. They aren't even hiding it anymore. Cornyn is advocating for segregation in his reply to President Obama. This is a dog whistle to the white supremacist Republican base.     

[Rick Plant]

Radical Republicans are banning books, taking over what they want to be taught in schools, going after gay people, taking away women's rights and soon will strip away civil rights and Social Security and Medicare. Republicans are taking us backwards with their radical extreme agenda.

'I can't imagine a better turnout engine': CNN conservative warns GOP about Roe ruling blowback

On CNN Saturday afternoon, conservative commentator S.E. Cupp insisted the Supreme Court ruling dismantling Roe v Wade after 50 years of allowing women to make choices about their reproductive freedom no matter where they live, will come back the haunt the Republican Party in the 2022 midterms.

As Cupp explained, combined with the battle over gun laws, the unpopular 6-3 decision by the conservative court could be a defining issue that increases voter turnout that will, in turn, cripple GOP efforts to reclaim both chambers of Congress.

Speaking with CNN hosts Christ Paul and Boris Sanchez, Cupp insisted the past week's news has benefitted Democrats as they make their case for November 2022 and beyond.

"Yeah, I think the Roe ruling was a huge -- they [Republicans] might like the outcome, but politically I can't imagine a better turnout engine than this ruling for democrats," Cupp claimed. "And you can make the argument that the Republicans' legislative victories and the Supreme Court victory by a conservative court are regressive, they're taking us backwards. Whether you like them or not, you can't deny the fact that they're going backwards, right? They're taking us back to a different time when these weren't rights."

"Republicans are banning books," she continued. "I mean, it really does feel anachronistic where the country is, so I think that's a good message for Democrats."

Watch below:

[Rick Plant]

Democratic senator forced to double-check if Kyrsten Sinema was 'serious' she wanted to be involved in gun bill



Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) has long been working on attempts to establish gun safety legislation that could help stem the national epidemic of gun deaths. He was among those who were working on the bipartisan effort to help bring about a soft bill that made small steps forward on gun issues.

One of the officials that hasn't been part of gun legislation negotiations was Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ), who has been persona non grata among Democrats because she refused to support the "Build Back Better" plan and eliminate the filibuster to help codify Roe v. Wade, which was ultimately overturned by the Supreme Court this week.

In a text message conversation, Murphy revealed that Sinema expressed interest in the bipartisan legislation negotiations, the New York Times.

Sinema told the press that she wanted to work with members of both parties to write a bill. So, Murphy had reached out to her asking about her statement. She told Murphy that she was interested.

"Are you serious?" Murphy text messaged in response, the report said.

Sinema first worked at a domestic violence shelter and sought tighter restrictions about abusers trying to buy guns, the Times reported. That said, Sinema also previously indicated she was pro-choice and supportive of the Voting Rights Act, but she has refused to shore up those freedoms.

While Sinema signed onto co-sponsor 32 bills in 2021-2022, about 11 of them were only supported by Republicans, ProPublica's bill tracking site recorded. Sinema has been criticized for spending a lot of her time fundraising from political action groups and big business, which has drawn accusations that she's a corporate Democrat.

Read the full report in the New York Times:

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/24/us/politics/guns-bill-senate-negotiations.html

[Rick Plant]

Dark Money Led To This Moment

A secretive donor network built the Supreme Court’s conservative supermajority, and brought them the case and arguments to overturn Roe v. Wade.

The Supreme Court on Friday overturned its landmark Roe v. Wade decision, invalidating federal protections for abortion rights. The decision will quickly limit reproductive health care access for tens of millions of people.

The decision, which is part of a barrage of devastating, precedent-setting Supreme Court rulings this term, surely has many Americans wondering how we arrived at such a dark moment. The answer is simple, even if it is rarely discussed in corporate media: It lies in a giant pile of anonymous cash that was deployed to buy Supreme Court seats, help determine justices’ caseload, and shape their decisions.

A secretive, well-financed dark money network has spent years working to build the Supreme Court’s radical conservative supermajority and bankrolling many of the politicians and organizations involved in the most controversial cases now before the court, including the abortion rights case decided Friday.

The public will almost certainly never know the identities of the ultra-wealthy individuals and interests who paid to stack this court and influence its decisions, but much of the credit should go to an an anti-abortion zealot named Leonard Leo and his cadre of conservative activists.

The co-chairman of the Federalist Society, the conservative lawyers group in Washington, Leo is best known for serving as President Donald Trump’s top judicial adviser. Leo helped select Trump’s Supreme Court picks while simultaneously leading a dark money network that boosted their confirmations with TV ads and contributions to conservative groups that promoted the judges.

Leo’s dark money network has also funded Republican state attorneys general and conservative nonprofits that are backing and even directly arguing some of the most contentious cases before the high court right now.

It is with these cases that the Supreme Court has ended federal protections for abortion rights, dismantled the high court precedent requiring police officers to inform people of their rights to remain silent and to an attorney when they’re being detained, struck down blue-state restrictions on carrying concealed firearms, and handed conservative state lawmakers more power to chip away at Americans’ voting rights.

In other upcoming decisions, the court could soon strip environmental regulators of their ability to regulate carbon emissions, and weaken tribal sovereignty.

So to fully understand how we got here, it’s important to follow the money — at least to the extent that we can.

Quietly Building The Court’s Conservative Supermajority

Leo and his allies first formed the Judicial Crisis Network in 2005 to help confirm George W. Bush’s Justices, John Roberts and Samuel Alito — and Leo reportedly played a “decisive role” in both of their selections. The organization has grown quietly and steadily since then, and played a key role in flipping the court and building its 6-3 conservative supermajority.

In 2016, following the death of conservative Justice Antonin Scalia, the Judicial Crisis Network spent $7 million on an advertising and advocacy campaign to pave the way for Republican senators to avoid holding a vote on President Barack Obama’s court pick, Merrick Garland.

Under Trump, Leo helped select Trump’s Supreme Court picks, while the Judicial Crisis Network spent tens of millions of dollars on ad campaigns to confirm Justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett.

The Judicial Crisis Network and its sister group, a charitable organization called the Judicial Education Project, both routinely funneled big donations to allied conservative nonprofits that helped create an echo chamber supporting the judges’ nominations.

In early 2020, Leo told Axios of his plans to remake the Judicial Crisis Network and Judicial Education Project and expand their scope.

The Judicial Crisis Network was rebranded as the Concord Fund, while the Judicial Education Project was renamed the 85 Fund. Both organizations maintained their original names as trade names; the Concord Fund continues to run ads under the alias of the Judicial Crisis Network.

Now, both organizations have grown into financial juggernauts. The Concord Fund reported raising more than $48 million between July 2020 and June 2021, a period of time that included Barrett’s confirmation. The 85 Fund brought in nearly $66 million in 2020.

Throughout their history, these organizations have done an exceptional job of keeping their donors secret, while raising giant sums from just a few contributors.

According to its most recent tax return, which was obtained by the watchdog Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, the Concord Fund raised nearly all of its recent $48 million haul from two anonymous donors. As The Lever previously reported, one of those donors is the Rule of Law Trust, a nonprofit helmed by Leo, which gave the group $22 million in 2020. None of the very few and obviously ludicrously wealthy donors to the Rule of Law Trust have been disclosed.

Between 2018-19, the Concord Fund received $3 million from the 45Committee, a dark money group affiliated with the billionaire Ricketts family, which owns the Chicago Cubs.

The 85 Fund, meanwhile, received more than $20 million in 2020 from a nonprofit called Donors Trust. The latter organization has long been known as a “dark money ATM,” because billionaires use it as a pass-through vehicle to disguise their donations to conservative groups.

A Two-Pronged Attack On The Judiciary

Leo’s dark money network has spearheaded a two-pronged attack on the judiciary: First it has worked to install conservative judges, then it has worked to bring those appointees specific cases designed to destroy previous precedents, along with amicus briefs, or “friend of the court” filings, offering them rationales for doing so.

In its first mission to populate the bench with right-wing ideologues, Leo and his allies have worked closely with Republican Senate leaders. In its 2020-21 tax return, the Concord Fund reported donating $9 million to One Nation, a dark money group affiliated with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who led the Republican strategy to deny Garland a vote as Obama’s nominee in 2016.

At the time, McConnell justified blocking a vote on Garland’s nomination by arguing that the seat should not be filled in an election year. But in 2020, McConnell led the campaign to swiftly install Barrett to the court despite Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death coming just 46 days before the election. Barrett was confirmed eight days before the election.

Those maneuvers, supported with advocacy and donations from Leo’s Concord Fund and 85 Fund, helped turn what could be a 5-4 Democratic majority now into a 6-3 conservative supermajority that just overturned longstanding Supreme Court precedents on abortion rights and policing, and may soon gut the government’s ability to regulate greenhouse gases and potentially much more.

As conservative judges have been installed throughout the judiciary, the Concord Fund and the 85 Fund have simultaneously financed the Republican attorneys general and nonprofits that are supporting and, in some instances, directly leading the highest-stakes cases before the Supreme Court right now. The Concord Fund has long been the top financier of the Republican Attorneys General Association (RAGA), which works to elect GOP state attorneys general, donating more than $17 million to the organization since 2014, according to The New York Times.

Meanwhile, other groups funded by Leo’s network have been filing amicus briefs offering legal justification for some of the more destructive cases before the Supreme Court this term.  In their most recent annual tax returns, the 85 Fund reported distributing $34 million in grants to political groups and nonprofits, while the Concord Fund gave out $28 million to nonprofits.

How The Scheme Works

The playbook is now straightforward: Leo’s dark-money network installs right-wing judges, then Republican attorneys general boosted by Leo’s network bring cases and amicus briefs, while other groups funded by the same network file their own briefs — all to create the appearance of broad-based support for extremist rulings.

The Supreme Court’s devastating Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision, handed down Friday, illustrates how the multi-faceted scheme works in practice.

Mississippi Republican Attorney General Lynn Fitch led the case to overturn Roe. Fitch, who benefited from $225,000 in donations and spending by the Concord Fund-backed RAGA in her 2018 race, asked the Supreme Court to uphold a Mississippi law that would ban most abortions at 15 weeks of pregnancy, even in cases of rape or incest. Eighteen Republican attorneys general filed a brief supporting Mississippi’s petition, as did a dozen Republican governors. The Concord Fund has donated $1 million to the Republican Governors Association this election cycle, according to Political MoneyLine.

According to a Lever review of their most recent tax returns, the Concord Fund and the 85 Fund donated to a long list of groups that filed amicus briefs in the Supreme Court abortion case: the Susan B. Anthony List ($2.3 million from the Concord Fund); Former Vice President Mike Pence’s Advancing American Freedom ($1 million from the Concord Fund); Concerned Women for America ($440,000 from the Concord Fund, $100,000 from the 85 Fund); the Ethics and Public Policy Center ($488,000 from 85 Fund); the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty ($150,000 from the 85 Fund); CatholicVote.org Education Fund ($50,000 from the Concord Fund to Catholic Vote Civic Action); and Family Research Council ($25,000 from the Concord Fund to Family Research Council Action).

This scheme has been consistently replicated in other cases before the high court:

• Carson v. Makin — In a 6-3 decision handed down Tuesday, the court’s conservatives held that Maine must give public money to private religious schools. The decision represents a major infringement on the notion of separation between church and state in the U.S., and threatens the concept of a secular public education.

The Carson decision was undergirded with an amicus brief signed by 21 Republican state attorneys general, who are generally elected with support from the Concord Fund-backed RAGA. Briefs were also filed by Advancing American Freedom and the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which received $150,000 from the 85 Fund in 2020.

Another brief was filed by the Independent Women’s Forum and its Independent Women’s Law Center. The 85 Fund donated $310,000 to the Independent Women’s Forum in 2020, while the Concord Fund donated $500,000 to its sister group, Independent Women’s Voice, between 2020-21.

• New York State Rifle & Pistol Association Inc. v. Bruen — The Supreme Court handed down a ruling in this major gun case on Thursday knocking down New York’s concealed carry law. The ruling could invalidate most gun control laws in this country.

Twenty-six Republican attorneys general, many of whom are supported by RAGA, filed an amicus brief supporting the New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, which is fighting to weaken the state’s gun laws. The Leo-backed Independent Women’s Law Center also filed a brief.

• Vega v. Tekoh — This case considered whether a person’s constitutional rights are violated if law enforcement officers do not inform them of their so-called Miranda rights — their right to remain silent and right to have legal representation when they’re being detained. On Thursday, the Supreme Court gutted its 1966 Miranda decision, ruling that suspects cannot sue police for damages for violating these rights. Twenty-two Republican attorneys general, many of whom were elected with the help of RAGA, filed an amicus brief supporting the petitioner.

• Berger v. North Carolina State Conference of the NAACP — On Thursday, Justices ruled that state lawmakers can intervene in a lawsuit filed against North Carolina concerning the constitutionality of the state’s restrictive voter ID law. Lawmakers sought to intervene in the case because they disagree with the state attorney general’s handling of the matter.

The upshot of the ruling is that in states with a GOP-controlled legislature and a Democratic attorney general, Republican lawmakers will be able to defend voter suppression laws from challenges, even if the state’s attorney general wanted to settle.

Nine Republican attorneys general with ties to RAGA filed a brief in the case, as did the Republican State Leadership Committee, which has received $1 million from the Concord Fund this cycle. The Honest Elections Project, an organization that’s part of Leo’s 85 Fund, submitted a brief in the case, too.

• West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency— The case could decide whether the EPA is allowed to issue rules to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and could have significant implications for the government’s ability to tackle the climate crisis, as well as for other federal agencies’ rulemaking abilities. According to The New York Times, “the Supreme Court is expected to hand down a decision that could severely limit the federal government’s authority to reduce carbon dioxide from power plants.”

West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey (R) is leading the case, with 17 Republican attorneys general signing onto his petition. Kentucky Republican Attorney General Daniel Cameron offered his own amicus brief on the matter to the high court. The New Civil Liberties Alliance, which received $1 million from the 85 Fund in 2020, also filed a brief.

• Oklahoma v. Castro-Huerta — The case will determine whether states have the authority to prosecute non-Native Americans who commit crimes against Indigenous people on tribal lands. States currently have jurisdiction when the culprit and victim are both non-Indian. Handing states the authority to prosecute in the cases where offenders are non-Indian would have sweeping consequences for tribal sovereignty, upsetting “the balances struck between Congress, the tribes, and the states for more than a century,” as The New Republic wrote.

Once again, RAGA members are involved. Oklahoma Attorney General John O’Connor (R) is leading the case, with five more Republican attorneys general signing on to his petition.

https://www.levernews.com/dark-money-went-in-supreme-court-rulings-are-coming-out/