Prickly City by Scott Stantis for September 19, 2020

I do not hold current events against Scott today. He could not have known two weeks ago about Ruth Ginsburg.

In the meantime, Mitch McConnell has made it clear, there is one set of rules for Democrats and another set of rules for Republicans – though the rules for Republicans pretty much look like no rules at all.

Trump will have his next Supreme Court pick voted on in the Senate. The two-thirds rule is gone, and Republicans are still in the majority in the Senate.

I suppose it makes sense.

While Republicans did not know for sure that they were going to win in 2016, they took the gamble and one. This year, things don’t look so good for Republicans, so the reverse strategy is in place – again, with nothing but their consciences to prevent them from “stealing” (for lack of a better word) yet another Supreme Court pick.

And given the present state of the bench, I would not be surprised if there’s not another Supreme Court opening for the next four to eight years.

And it comes just in time, too, for Trump to claim once again that he is delivering on his promise to “stack” the courts.

At the end of the day, this might be the best news for the Trump campaign to date: Yet another Supreme Court pick to please his base and to distract everyone else…

I weep for our country.

Glen Kirschner has said that if Biden wins and appoints him or someone like him to be AG then they will go all truth commission on the trump cabal!

That includes Cavenaugh who will be impeached for lying to congress!

Getting back to the cartoon for a minute (that may be all it deserves) I for one have no problem with Republicans voting for a third party if they can’t stomach Trump and still can’t make themselves vote for a Democrat. A vote for a third party is only half a vote for Trump, for me, better than a whole vote… but progressives, please don’t be delusional (like Rall). Don’t even waist half a vote on Trump. And even a third party win for President wouldn’t get a progressive agenda moved forward in Congress.

With only two [obstructive, opposing, mutually-exclusive] political parties, the vote for SCOTUS justice must be unanimous for there to be an unbiased court … anything less will have a political bias. I worry that SCOTUS will be more out of touch with We The People than ever with the loss of RBG and an appointment by our mad dog ☠resident.

https://news.gallup.com/poll/4732/supreme-court.aspx

I’m liberal, and I think Ted Rall is a total jackass.

One of two people is going to be the next President. Period. A third party vote sends no message, it just makes you feel pure when you’re no purer than anyone else.

I’m fairly sure, Carmen, that one good reason would be why do you keep choosing to vote against your own economic interests?

Less than one hour after the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was announced, speculation began on Fox News about her replacement.

✁

The comments, while arguably answering a question looming large for many of Fox’s viewers in the wake of Ginsburg’s death, serve as a reminder of all that is at stake in nominating a new justice.

And they are also a reminder of the hypocrisy of Republicans like Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who infamously held the late Justice Antonin Scalia’s seat open in an election year.

At the time, he argued doing so would allow voters a chance to influence who was chosen.

Following Ginsburg’s death, McConnell said this time around: “President Trump’s nominee will receive a vote on the floor of the United States Senate.” (He declined to disclose the timing of the vote.)

✁

As Vox’s Ian Millhiser has written, judges — particularly those on the Supreme Court — have been responsible for most of the US’s most significant policy changes in recent years:

In an age of legislative dysfunction, whoever controls the courts controls the country.

In the past decade or so — or more precisely, since Republicans took over the House in 2011 — Congress has been barely functional.

You can count on one hand — and possibly on just a few fingers — the major legislation it has enacted.

Judges, by contrast, have become the most consequential policymakers in the nation.

They have gutted America’s campaign finance law and dismantled much of the Voting Rights Act.

They have allowed states to deny health coverage to millions of Americans.

They’ve held that religion can be wielded as a sword to cut away the rights of others.

They’ve drastically watered down the federal ban on sexual harassment. And that barely scratches the surface.

~

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/9/18/21446248/fox-news-reacts-ruth-bader-ginsburg-death-mcconnell

We are in the end game now. The choice is clear. You’re either for a democracy or a fascist, kleptocratic kakistocracy.

The gloves need to come off. We are literally fighting for our lives, our children’s and grandchildren’s, and that of our country’s.

The repugs. have proven over and over that they will lie, cheat and steal. This must be a decisive victory. No justice, no peace. No quarter given. No criminal act left unpunished.

We are in the end game now.

Ted Rall, you know. He’s that guy who understands Republicans will always vote Trump and Democrats will vote for whoever can do the best job. Somehow this gives us four more years of the worst president.

“No hot takes on RBG, just grief” https://twitter.com/paulkrugman/status/1307284381535535105

The reason for liberals and progressives to vote for Democrats even if they don’t think Democrats are nearly liberal or progressive enough is that Democrats won’t take away their right to vote.

Ted Rall is a miserable and hateful human being, much like our president. Rall is probably the last editorial cartoonist Carmen should emulate.

Good question, who IS Ted Rall? (and why does it matter?).

“Why should I vote for a party I disagree with on every fundamental issue?”

Because the other guy is worse.

Overwhelmingly, astoundingly, legendarily worse.

And like it or not we’ve got a two-party system. You can hold your breath until they nominate a candidate you like but all that’ll happen is you’ll pass out.

If Carmen wants to throw away her vote, that’s on Carmen. Rall, unfortunately, has more of a platform. But both are helping to re-elect Trump.

There is some thought that McConnell may hold off on the vote for SC justice until after Nov. 3 to gather more votes from dissident Republicans and anti-abortion activists for Trump.

Today is International Talk Like A Pirate Day, so Yo Ho Ho Ho and bottle of rum. “Hey! Whys the rum gone?”

Carmen, how old are you?

Rall is the kind of person for whom, “Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good,” was created. He wouldn’t meet you halfway if he was drowning nine feet away and your rope was only six feet long.

It’s your right, Carmen, and also Mr. Rall’s. You can abstain, which will be a vote for Trump. You can vote for a niche party, which will be a vote for Trump. The United States cannot survive another 4 years of Trump and his minons, but you just go vote your “conscience.”

Maybe Kruchev was right when he claimed Russia would bury us? Who knew they’d have The Repulsican Crime Cult helping them?

Please learn a few things before commenting. First, learn to spell. Then learn how to write grammatically. Then learn how to relay factual information.

I googled for the Ted Rall article that Carmen is referring to.

Amusingly, Rall write “Che Guevara said that the masses would not risk the violent upheaval of revolution as long as they still believed the old regime capable of addressing their needs and grievances to any significant degree.”

I’m not surprised a leftist would cite Che Guevara. But I think Thomas Jefferson said it better: “all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.”

First, no matter how depressed I am, reading Ted Rall can always make it worse. Second, Carmen has not stated specifically for whom (or if) she will vote, so all comments on her choice are idle speculation without any basis in fact. Third, Carmen has apparently shattered the Fourth (if not a Fifth) Wall. Who’s going to pick up the pieces?

I wonder if Justice Ginsburg realized she could see the future. In 2016 when the Senate tried slowing the process of nominating a new justice.Justice Ginsburg publicly called on the Senate to go through with the nomination.“That’s their job,” she said “There’s nothing in the Constitution that says the President stops being President in his last year.”“Eight is not a good number for a collegial body that sometimes disagrees.”

Again, condolence to her family, friends, and colleagues.

Just a man who won’t vote Biden either. He’s part of the problem

Well, frankly, you sound pathetic. Rall is just A$$hurt.