Comments

1

Justice and karma will restore balance at the most unexpected moments.

2

The funny thing is that the Left (you Rich), think too highly of SCOTUS. The job of SCOTUS is to interpret the Constitution as it was written, not to rule by judicial fiat. You guys are so used to your people on the court doing so, that you are so terrified that you will lose that power. You can't get things passed by the vote of the people, so your will has to be crammed down the throats of the US citizens by activist judges. Now who is tyrannical? So, pick up the Constitution, understand "separate but equal powers" and if you want to change laws, etc. you should vote and uphold the process of how Congress makes laws. Stop calling names and being a child about it. The caption of your photo of this "piece" says it all. Aren't you ashamed of yourself? Would you like your children (or future children) to see that you wrote those words? Let's see some intellectual reasoning man. C'mon. You are embarrassing yourself (but not to most of your readers, because they only base policy on feelings and generally not reason). Step out of the muck and really think. Okay? Okay. BTW- your President nominated a fine man, and the Senate did the right thing today. Bye bye.

3

The process was definitely a sham but Rich has overstated the effect to the Court: http://afewbitsmore.com/madrants/2018/10/05/kennedy-no-swing-justice-kavanaugh-unlikely-as-dramatic-upset-to-courts-ideological-baseline/

4

"The funny thing is that the Left (you Rich), think too highly of SCOTUS. The job of SCOTUS is to interpret the Constitution as it was written, not to rule by judicial fiat. You guys are so used to your people on the court doing so..."

That's a bunch of bullshit.

Clarence Thomas replaced Thurgood Marshall on the Supreme Court almost 30 years ago. And the New Deal/Great Society has been in continuous judicial retreat ever since.

I guess probably the only court decision you've noticed in the last 25 years is Obergefell.

5

Manchin is not a Democrat. Everyone should stop calling him that. He's no more a Dem than Rodney Tom is.

6

@5

I think the Democratic Party said they'd pull funding for his campaign if he voted for Kavanaugh. Hopefully they follow through.

7

If Hillary Clinton and the Democrats ran a better campaign in 2016 we'd have two left leaning justices added to the court by now.

9

@3 That's certainly true. Even if Kavanaugh had been bounced, the next one they sent up would have ruled the same way on everything.

Kavanaugh clearly has a lot of skeletons in his closet - we never got a satisfactory answer about that massive debt that was abruptly paid off, for example - that whole thing stinks to high heaven. Its not impossible that details will eventually come out so embarrassing or crooked that Kavanaugh has to resign - we can always hope, right?

GOP should have nominated a straight arrow. Surely they could have found a better grade of upper class twit.

10

But his life and reputation have been ruined! Any woman can briefly delay a privileged white man's rightful place as Supreme Court Justice or President with a totally false accusation, or a hidden recording of them boasting about sexual assaults they've committed.

But I think I feel most sorry for all those kids in prep schools who dream of someday being a federal judge who will deny women control of their own bodies, end affirmative action programs, guarantee that all Americans have access to high-powered assault weapons, and make sure that bigoted bakers can deny service to gay people. Those beautiful innocent boys of privilege will be so afraid to pursue their dreams because some Clinton supporter can get in a time machine and find out they tried to rape a 15 year old girl in high school or drunkenly assaulted a guy who looks like the singer of UB40 in college. That's not the America I wanna live in!

11

I find the argument that courts are only supposed to interpret the law a little infuriating. There are a million instances that the framers couldn't have thought of in the late 18th Century. Make abortion illegal because there is no written right to abortion in the Constitution? That's really pretty moronic. Some people believe that life begins at conception. Others think life doesn't begin until birth. Someone has to decide that issue. There are no guideposts in the Constitution. Is homosexuality a crime? Again, someone has to decide that issue. There are no guarantees for gay people in the Constitution - other than the fact that we are supposedly equal under the law. Can a wealthy man foul everyone else's air and water indirectly? Nothing about that in the Constitution either. So these orientalists and their pure interpretations? Suck my dick.

And here's the kicker: if SCOTUS does take a stand on when life begins, or if gay people deserve the rights everyone else enjoys, or tells that rich motherfucker that he can't shit on everybody, it gets called activism.

12

Dear Sir,
Regarding your headline, are you declaring yourself to be intellectually and morally rich, or if you had the opportunity to vote, you would have voted nay?

13

@7 - I heard this week that if Gore had become president (he won the popular vote), and Hillary had become president (ditto), it'd be a 7-2 court.

15

We certainly are fucked. Anyone saying otherwise is some combination of naive and delusional.

That your best option at this point is to get rich enough to insulate yourself from the effects of legal oligarchic tyranny also sucks. Another very sad day for what once was a great country.

16

Time for champagne. This process took far too long, the judge was more than qualified.

17

13

True! If the far far far 'Right' John Roberts Activist Court hadn't stepped in to intervene (by calling balls and strikes? No. Fool! By calling for the Winning candidate [Gore] to step the fuck OFF), the CHENEY/bush Administration never couldda / wouldda invaded the Middle East ("we shore bombed the Wrong Country, eh, 'Dick'?!" --GeeDubya), where we're STILL totally fucking quagmired to this day -- with No End in sight for the foreseeable Future.

A dark past, brought to us by Citizens United, The KOCH Bros, LLC, etc. and the Republicans. Who'd far rather have POWER, any day, than a Just Nation.

Welcome home, Peons.
Get Used to it.

18

2

X1000000

19

Wow.....the crying rooms must be booked for the next week or so, because there sure seems to be a lot crying here.

Own it bitches.

20

Kavanaugh lied repeatedly, under oath. Not just huge lies, but easily proved small lies. He and the committee obviously didn't care about the truth, or oaths, or upholding any American standard for decency.

So the basic assumption of every Republican is that they are lying. They don't believe in America, far less the truth, and there is no decency among them.

21

Lied about what? Getting drunk in high school? Lolz.

Ya, your rapey Dave charges turned into a giant bag of nothing, so now it’s “ he drank in high school!!!1111eleven....

Meanwhile, over at the DNC.....

23

Sargon is a rapist.

27

The left always eats itself, because ultimately the left is all about eating everyone.

30

To quote another: we are a country where TWO presidents who BOTH LOST the popular vote have now placed four justices on the SCOTUS. Our "democracy" which was always not a true democracy has now become a total and complete farce, serving only one subset of people. Everyone else is going to pay dearly.

31

@28 - There wouldn't be a marriage equality amendment in the constitution even today. Are you kidding?

32

"Those on the left should have argued that Trump was unfit for office and so should not have been given the authority to pick a Supreme Court Justice in the first place."

Well, the Fourth Estate is now the highly-profitable Corporate State, so don't expect The Message to be broadcast, loud and clear to The Masses. They've got oodles of too much shit to sell us, and no Time for us to Question the Status fucking Quo, you know.

Plus, Trumpfy's just now been accused, by the New York Times (I bet they researched this one, pretty fucking good) of (I believe) massive tax fraud, having not paid half of a billion dollars worth of taxes in the transfer of Wealth from Daddy Megabucks Drumpf's prolific (One Billion!) Business portfolio to his progeny. Chief among them, our Prez.*

*our Donald, the "self-made" man, whose Daddy loaned him a Million Dollars, and, he paid him back, every single penny of it ... or at least, that used to be the rags-to-riches narrative he loved to tell.

Till this Times article called his bluff.

So, he's Unfit to nominate for that reason, alone.
He lied to US. Oh, and he fucked the IRS, too.

33

Well said xina.

34

It's a trip to see the slave owner mentality so out in the open now. Even more so how much the slave owners hate women more than their slaves. But no one sees it because all the political hipsters are too busy pea cocking. Listen dumbass, quit focusing on being right and concentrate on doing the right thing. If the slave owners can hoodwink a female politician to sell out her own kind, what hope do any of us have when the Gestapo come knocking.

35

@26 that's for damn sure. Today was already a done deal about two years ago. Gotta hand it to the shitbag Republicans, when it's time they get in line, and don't actually give a fuck about optics or ideological consistency.

36

@30: Add John Quincy Adams, Rutherford B. Hayes, and Benjamin Harrison to the list of whom lost the popular vote but won the presidency. This is not a new phenomena and our system is working exactly as our founders intended.

38

@16, @18, @19, @21, and @27: I notice the usual drooling trolls are out slobbering as usual in honor of the Rapist-in-Chief and its latest confirmed SCOTUS appointee. When these RepubliKKKan shitheads and their ilk go down in flames, I'll be laughing my ass off when YOU are among the ones in "the crying room". Rot in Hell, maggots.
@37: RGB must be reeling from this latest travesty.

39

The ones who are really fucked by this are the poor and people with brown or darker skin.

I'm starting to think that half the middle class white people in this country are active and outspoken racists and misogynists, and the other half of middle class white people in this country simply don't care that much about women and minorities.

This is what protest voting is. It's a fuck you to the poors and the browns because I'm white and have a tiny bit of financial security so I'll probably do ok no matter who's in power.

40

@8: I sure hope you're right.

@27: Eat me.

41

@27: Choke on it.
@40 Knat, re @8 I second that.

42

How can there be evidence of a rape. Some of you men really believe women are liars? That these accusations against this creepy little man were made up. If you believe all women are capable of falsely accusing men of sexual assault or rape, then stay away from them. You’ll be much safer if you never go near another woman again. And they will be saved wasting their time on such low life men.

44

Mr White - Waste resources chasing after a constitutional amendment that will never happen? Whatever might happen in Congress; we could never get even to 2/3 of the states, let alone 3/4. Far too much of the country is immovably opposed. The Rs would have a better chance at passing the FMA, as our support is so soft that Democratic legislators and blue states could be bribed with legislative goodies into turning on us.

45

How come Ed Murray was given the benefit of the doubt despite 5 accusers, a cousin, a prostitute he stiffed, a mole on his junk, and the State of Oregon declaring him a pedophile? Yet one drunk party girl from the 80's with zero reclection of anything is all it takes for Seattle to dawn their pussy hats, torches, and pitchforks?
https://www.thestranger.com/features/2018/01/31/25769813/staffing-the-accused-inside-the-intense-six-month-long-downfall-of-seattle-mayor-ed-murray

46

Per David Wasserman of the Cook Political Report: “a majority of the Senate now represents just 18 percent of the nation’s population.”

Just to be clear: The Rapeublinazis that have perpetrated this attack against us represent a whopping 18% of our nation and a mostly white, rural population.

Friends, that's the definition of tyranny.

47

Don't just get angry, get even! Donate to Democratic campaigns, and get people to the polls.

VOTE, VOTE, VOTE

It’s kinda incredible how the Republinazis have destroyed the integrity and legitimacy of all three branches of our government in under two years. That’s gotta be some kind of record.

Regardless, they can’t hold us hostage forever. Eventually, we’re gonna break free, and it could be as soon as next month. They may install a lying, alcoholic rapist on the court, but ultimately it will be an empty victory. They’ve proven themselves unfit and incompetent at actually governing, and they’ve earned the righteous scorn of decent people. Without any shred of decency, humanity, or moral authority, they ain’t got shit. The tide is gonna turn, and then they’ll get what’s coming to them.

This will not stand.

48

Dr. Ford could have lied her ass off, and there were still a shit-ton of extremely valid reasons to not confirm this degenerate.

49

40

Ummm, no. Tainted meat is not good.

51

46 47

Get back on them meds Andy.

52

Trumpfy, McConnell and Kavanaugh
Really put the (R)
In SCROTUS

53

There are elections. Some people turn out to vote in them, and some don't. Those who turn out to vote the most get their way. Four million people who voted for Barack Obama in 2008 decided not to vote in 2016. They are the reason that Bret Kavanaugh is on the Supreme Court today. Not "dark money." Not the Koch brothers. Not white nationalists. Not James Comey or Vladimir Putin. Stop crying in your herbal tea and get your family and friends to take their eyes for a few minutes off their televisions, and vote.

55

@17
Roberts wasn’t on the court for Bush v. Gore dipshit.

56

@42
Falsely accusing despised classes of rape is a time honored tradition. Read To Kill A Mockingbird. It’s not a new idea, and then, like now (apparently) it was indecent to question the honesty of a woman. And no class of man is more despised by liberals than “Rich White Men”.

57

Being a liar and possible rapist only added to Republican love for Kavy. You have to understand that conservatives admire those qualities. Once you do, you’ll be far less bothered by their actions and thoughts and can laugh at them like a rational person should.

58

‎55

"Roberts wasn’t on the court for Bush v. Gore dipshit."
-- YG_B_K_M _

omg -- you're right!

It was NOT the 'caller of balls and strikes' far far FAR right wing Activist Chief Justice Roberts, "Citizens United" far far FAR right wing HERO -- it was Chief Justice Rehnquist! who bailed out on Democracy!!! when Ideology was on The Line.

(How might I ever have gotten them confused?) (Perhaps it was all the Marijhuana?)

You got me, fair and square there!
Well done, and thank YOU, Dipshit.

59

@56, this guy is a white man and a judge, please spare us your sudden concern about rape allegations used by racists.
Leave women alone if you believe all of them are liars. If you have such lowly opinions of women, back the fuck off. Leave them be. There’s enough men around who trust women, and know it’s just a small no who would falsely accuse.

60

The allegations were one thing, his demeanour in the Senate, the way he was talking to women Senators was deplorable. That alone should have disqualified him. And Ford presented as a credible witness, to me. And that’s all I can go on. Whatever politics went on, that woman told the truth. We all saw it. And all his buddies calling out his lies? Universities firing him. His peers looking into his record. He’s been a dud judge all along.
Then given the toilet paper stuck to his shoe president, how symbolic of where he is taking America, has multiple accusations from credible women against him, another crud male getting power is him just welcoming like minded men to the throne.

61

@59&60
I found her sympathetic but not credible. Something obviously damaged her, but no one corroborated her story that it was Justice Kavanaugh. Not even her best friend (under pressure to change her testimony). Her family didn’t even give her a strong character reference, and her student Yelp reviews (even her positive ones) paint a portrait of a retaliatory and vindictive personality. I don’t believe “all women are liars” though I do generally avoid them as much as possible because most are silly, uninteresting, ruled by their feelings and void of reason or logic (except for a select few).

62

@61: Why you think would a professional woman, a professor no less, put her head on the block if she didn’t know for sure who attacked her? And she had told her therapist and husband.
Given your poor attitudes to women en masse, we’ll just toss you back in the sea, your opinions will no longer be considered measured and nuanced. Boring in truth.

63

Anyway, I don’t think you’re getting the picture @61.
Yep Kavanaugh has hobbled into the Supreme Court. Doubt his fellow judges will be very warmly welcoming given the scandal he caused.
Women don’t want these sad and pathetic examples of manhood anywhere near decisions which effect their bodies. Now you can give us your ignorant views of women, most of us know different. There is an army of young bright independent women not happy with these sexist directions, and best silly little boys like you get out of the way.

64

@62
Easy... She saw an opportunity to become a darling to the left, a permanent fixture on the lecture circuit (would anyone at all even know who Anita Hill is if not for Justice Thomas much less care what she “thinks” or says about anything today?) and then there is the $700,000+ her go fund me pages have raised to pay for her pro bono activist lawyers. She’s obviously much to intelligent and educated to be an accidental victim of her own actions. It would be deeply sexist to assume she isn’t in control of her life.

65

The GOP did what the GOP always does, why are we shocked? Maybe the left needs to stop eating itself. If we where less worried about clinton being too in the pocket of banks (even though she has the same policies as obama), or not socially progressive enough (even though she came around to game marriage the same time as obama), or one of the other stupid excuses people gave on the left for disliking her (usually while saying Obama was the best president of their life, while ignoring the fact that clinton and obama are pretty much in agreement on policy) and focused on what was at stake...

Anyone ask CM Sawant how she’s feeling about her national opt-ed encouraging people to vote against clinton as a protest? Well this is what we get when we don’t care enough to support and rally behind our side during an election.

66

Dr. Blasey Ford will get Time's person of the year. Will Kav make note of that in his calendar?

67

Okay, this proves it: @64 is full-on nuts.

68

If we learned anything from this exciting chapter in American history it's that at any time you are the victim of sexual violence of any sort YOU GET TO AN ER AND CALL THE POLICE! Get the rape kit done ASAP and file the police report. Even it the big bad cops and ER nurses think your full of shit at least get it documented.

69

You are a libtard moron to say that there were three credible accounts. Not one was credible. Since when is a person proven guilty without evidence. This is not a socialist commie society. Last I heard you are guilty until you are proven innocent. This was not a Bill Cosby type case where there was ample evidence. ...and BTW Bill Cosby never got a proper sentence for what he did. 3-7 years is nowhere near enough. Back to Kavanaugh though, we see a man that was slandered and convicted in the court of public opinion by idiots like you playing, jury and executioner without ANY corroborating evidence. SHAME ON YOU!

70

@69, it’s a bit hard to get evidence together after so many decades. It wasn’t a court case. This guy was going for a job, remember. And how do we know what others could have said when the FBI report was not a real investigation. You not notice what this all means for your democracy?

74

@69

It's a job interview, dumbass. Do you know you can fail a job interview just by chewing gum? Fuck off with your b.s.

75

Fine by us @72, men who can’t read the truth when it’s right in front of their faces are not worth the effort. And don’t be so sure the women who you thought compliant to your assumptions, stay that way. These silly tricks of trying to create competition between women don’t hold bud, so grow up.

77

Bork was rejected because of his extremist views — he went so far as to claim there was no inherent right to privacy in the American Constitution, 4th Amendment be damned.

If you want the Senate to reject a nominee, then make the case against his judicial work. Metoo nonsense won’t get the job done — in the few occasions it has worked, only liberals were hurt.

78

@51: Get off that high fructose corn syrup, Ogie, before it totally deletes your mush-brain.
@52 kristofarian: I know, right?
@72 & @73: ...said another typically stupid drooling troll in dire need of spell check.
@75: Lemme guess: all this rabid spewing because you're a fat, balding, desperately trolling white male who has to shell out big bucks to get laid. Waaah. Rot in your mom's fruit cellar, Norman.

79

@69, 76 et al. Former Justice John Paul Stevens (a Republican appointed to the SC by a Republican President) said that Brett Kavanaugh's disgraceful performance at the second hearing rendered him unfit to be appointed, for not having the proper respectful and nonpartisan approach to the law That's a truly extraordinary statement for a former SC judge to make, and one that should give you pause. Next time you go up for a job interview, you try yelling at the hiring committee and see how far that gets you. Promising retribution once he gets on the court was clearly improper. No matter whether you believe Dr. Ford or not, Kavanaugh's own behavior should have convinced you that he will not be a fair or unbiased justice.
The fact that he clearly lied about his past didn't help. A simple "I'm very sorry that Dr. Ford clearly has been hurt, but I know I was not the person who did this to her," with simple truthful admissions about his drinking would have made him much more believable: He HAD drank so much at times that he probably couldn't remember everything (which goes along with puking, which he clearly was bragging about in his Yearbook). And he DID get into fights when he was drunk (multiple witnesses), as unfortunately did many members of that fraternity - drinking was the only reason that fraternity existed (the only frat at Yale back then). He came across as a "dry drunk," obnoxious, violent, and vindictive. There's a reason why there was far less controversy over Neil Gorsuch. While Dems complained that Gorsuch should not have been appointed instead of Merrick Garland, we didn't hear any doubts about Gorsuch's character or his ability to control himself in the courtroom.

80

Well, at least objective reality has both Republicans and Democrats concurring that Julie Swetnick is a nothing but a piggybacking attention-seeking fraud.

81

@80: If we can't trust sleazy "lawyers" using washed up porn stars to extort money from the president of the United States, who can we trust?

82

@50: While Murray did resign, Seattle did not hold an election to replace him. We’d already replaced him per the succession plan in our City’s Charter. The election of Mayor Durkan happened after Murray was gone.

I also believe that @45 was correct to say we citizens of Seattle did indeed give Murray the benefit of the doubt. There’s simply no evidence to suggest we believed the unverifiable tales peddled by deceitful felons for cash. Consider that the calls for his resignation came from failed politicians on the make (Grant, Askini, Moon), not from ordinary citizens. There was no call for the City Council to impeach Murray. In the election, we chose the candidate Murray had endorsed.

83

It really doesn’t matter that Kavanaugh was confirmed. Everyone keeps saying the court will have a conservative lean for another generation.

In another generation, we’ll most likely all be dead as ecosystems start to collapse more rapidly than we or nature can react.

That’s the price of the selfishness at the heart of American culture and the death cult leadership of the GOP. Kavanaugh is just the little round cherry of shit on top of the vanilla sundae we all drowned in petro-sludge and rancor.

We humans are the dumbest animal of all.

85

84
Interesting point.

Also, perhaps somebuddy shouldda told Hillary
-- after having Fixed the Primary --
to make nice with Bernie Bros -- and, perhaps, Not tell them to
"Get the fuck in Line. Where the fuck Else ya gonna go!?"

I guess that strategy didn't pan out overly-well, did it?

Do you think she'll make the same Mistakes, next time?

86

@85
Oh god yes! Please nominate her again!

87

86

Democratically™ Done deal.
She deserves it now as much as she ever did.

88

"Everyone keeps saying the court will have a conservative lean for another generation."

Yeah, we've heard that Roe is doomed with every Republican Justice appointed. After thirty years of hearing that, in 2003, the Supreme Court's Lawrence v. Texas ruling (a) eliminated every remaining law in the country which criminalized gay sex by (b) citing Roe as valid precedent.

Bible-banging Republican voters believe Republican presidents nominate socially-conservative judges. Presidents of both parties actually nominate business-friendly judges. That's why nothing changes much -- except that the Court, and America, keep becoming ever more liberal.

89

88
Actually, conservative Judges and Justices are expected to tend to be Constitutionalists, meaning they are more apt to rely on the constitution and laws as originally written (and therefore more likely to honor established law and precedent by keeping ruling narrow). Liberal Judges and Justices are expected to be more apt to use the Thurgood Marshall approach of "Do what you think is right and let the law catch up" which some people fear leads to broader, less predictable rulings with more of a pick and choose approach to precedent. This is why I prefer "conservative" Judges and Justices. For the means they use, not the ends they reach.

90

@83 I was scrolling hoping to find someone would make this point so I didn't have to.

By 2050, our biggest concerns will be food,drinkable water and avoiding the smoke and heat. Enjoy your easy-peasy hyper-consumerist life while you can. This is as good as it gets.

91

Republicans are horrible people.

92

@91
People are horrible.

93

@83 seanat and @90 dex3703: Thank you both for beating me to it.
By 2050, should I still be around, I'll be 86. I weep for my nieces and all younger and future generations, however, who will never enjoy what I and many of my generation have been so fortunate to have and share. Among my only remaining comforts is leaving as small a carbon footprint as possible.
@91 Catalina Vel-DuRay: I know, right? I have been resorting to watching classic comedy films such as It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World for therapeutic diversion from the present insanity. Except I now consider director Stanley Kramer, the 1963 film's cast, and crew among the sanest.

94

@89: "...conservative Judges and Justices are expected to tend to be Constitutionalists,"

While, in reality, they're business-friendly.

"...meaning they are more apt to rely on the constitution and laws as originally written (and therefore more likely to honor established law and precedent by keeping ruling narrow)..."

Oh, please. Corporations magically became persons due to a note added to the Supreme Court's 1886 decision, "Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Rail Road". Creating a whole new category of protected entities -- corporations -- may be the greatest piece of judicial activism in all of American history. And while ignoring "established law and precedent" about corporations dating back to Colonial America made it very radical, it was extremely business-friendly. A whole slew of business-friendly decisions followed, right to the present day.

(https://www.history.com/news/14th-amendment-corporate-personhood-made-corporations-into-people)

(That same article also recounts how the 14th Amendment advanced human rights throughout the same period. In American jurisprudence, the rights of humans and the "rights" of corporations are one and the same, so it would be wildly inconsistent for any business-friendly jurist to denigrate one set of rights whilst supporting the other. And business-friendly justices are there to ensure corporations remain "persons" with the same civil rights as the rest of us.)


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