“Letters from an American” Professor Heather Cox Richardson’s column today I find interesting and hopefully AB readers do also. Professor Cox Richardson’s first topic of the day discusses the Justice system and how it is being influenced by political moneyed interests. Her second topic touches on McConnell warning Democrats not to change the filibuster. McConnell’s warning comes across as a threat not just to Democrats but to all Americans. I have added a Medscape topic discussing vaccinations and requiring people to be vaccinated. The last topic is Republicans whining about the military defending women soldier’s capabilities from Tucker Carlson’s prejudice. The Role of Big Money in Our Justice System First, Senator Sheldon
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“Letters from an American” Professor Heather Cox Richardson’s column today I find interesting and hopefully AB readers do also.
Professor Cox Richardson’s first topic of the day discusses the Justice system and how it is being influenced by political moneyed interests.
Her second topic touches on McConnell warning Democrats not to change the filibuster. McConnell’s warning comes across as a threat not just to Democrats but to all Americans.
I have added a Medscape topic discussing vaccinations and requiring people to be vaccinated.
The last topic is Republicans whining about the military defending women soldier’s capabilities from Tucker Carlson’s prejudice.
The Role of Big Money in Our Justice System
First, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) has asked the Justice Department, now overseen by Attorney General Merrick Garland, to look into the unusual circumstances through which Brett Kavanaugh’s large debts disappeared before his nomination to the Supreme Court. While this question is important to understanding Kavanaugh’s position on our Supreme Court, it is more than that:
it is part of a larger investigation into the role of big money in our justice system.
Last May, Whitehouse, along with Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY), released a report titled
“Captured Courts: The GOP’s Big Money Assault On The Constitution, Our Independent Judiciary, And The Rule of Law.”
It outlined how the “Conservative Legal Movement has rewritten federal law to favor the rich and powerful,” how the Federalist Society and special-interest money control our courts, and how the system benefits the big-money donors behind the Republicans.
On March 10, Whitehouse began hearings to investigate the role of big money in Supreme Court nominations and decisions. Aside from Chief Justice John Roberts, every Supreme Court justice named by a Republican president has ties to the Federalist Society, a group that advocates an originalist interpretation of the Constitution, which prohibits the use of the courts to regulate business or to defend civil rights.
While the Kavanaugh story that is getting media attention, the longer story is whether our courts have been bought.
McConnell Threatening America Over the Filibuster
“Another story on my (Professor Cox) list is Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell today warning Democrats in the Senate not to get rid of the filibuster to pass voting rights legislation.
‘Nobody serving in this chamber can even begin, can even begin, to imagine what a completely scorched-earth Senate would look like.’
Democrats can imagine such actions as it was McConnell himself who rid the Senate of the filibuster to hammer through Trump’s Supreme Court nominees. He pushed through Trump’s 2017 tax cuts, which benefited only the very wealthy, by using a technique that avoided the filibuster.
McConnell warned that, without the filibuster, he would defund Planned Parenthood, pass anti-abortion legislation, and create national concealed-carry gun laws. Defunding such measures would be unpopular in the nation. It is not clear these are threats the Democrats want to avoid. And Republicans passing these measures would hurt Democrats?”
This is not what the Senate is to be about and it is what McConnell wants it to be about.
Americans Support Restricting Unvaccinated People From Offices, Travel: Poll
From Medscape, this article popped up in my email account this morning. I was in Home Depot yesterday and there were several construction types wandering around mask-less unhindered by store employees. These people believe required masks hinder their liberty without regard for another’s liberty.
“Twenty-seven percent of Americans are not interested in getting vaccinated. This is relatively unchanged from a similar poll ran in May.
But foreshadowing the social challenges that may emerge as the United States begins to pull out of the yearlong pandemic, the latest poll showed a majority of Americans want to limit the ways in which unvaccinated people can mix in public.
Seventy-two percent of Americans said it was important to know “if the people around me have been vaccinated,” according to the poll.
A majority – 62% said unvaccinated people should not be allowed to travel on airplanes. Fifty-five percent agreed that unvaccinated people should not work out at public gyms, enter movie theaters, or attend public concerts.
When asked about the workplace, 60% of Americans want to work for an employer “who requires everyone to get a coronavirus vaccine before returning to the office” and 56% thought unvaccinated workers should stay home.”
This is a partial of the Medscape article and it behooves a reader to catch the rest of it and then form an opinion. I believe I have pretty much stated my opinion. Your opinion may differ?
Watching Republicans Get Uptight After Military Officers Criticize Tucker Carlson’s Remarks
“House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy is demanding that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin stop troops from being used for partisan purposes after National Guard personnel accompanied a Democratic lawmaker as he visited a Republican member of congress’ office.”
What was this over?
“Uniformed service members recently criticized a private citizen for his First Amendment rights, & today a Dem lawmaker used soldiers in a political stunt against a GOP member,” the California Republican wrote on Twitter on Monday. “@SecDef Austin – This sets a dangerous precedent. It must stop now.”
Private citizen being Tucker Carlson:
“while “China’s military becomes more masculine . . . our military needs to become, as Joe Biden says, more feminine.”
and again Tucker:
“So, we’ve got new hairstyles and maternity flight suits. Pregnant women are going to fight our wars. It’s a mockery of the U.S. military,”
Ted Cruz is asking for a meeting with the Commandant of the Marine Corps to talk about “systematic public attacks” against a conservative commentator by the military?
This is not like Joe-Citizen on the street making a statement as to women in the military. This is a person who has access to the public air waves being critiqued by citizen-soldiers. How private is a citizen who makes it a practice to be on the public airways asking people to follow his views?
Neither of the two politicians are x-military and neither is commentator Carlson. Their exposure to soldiers of any gender is as limited as their knowledge of what a soldier does in the military. USMC 68 -74 SGT.