What they say about assuming Change may indeed make fools of us all, as Ezra Klein writes in reference to the failure of Silicon Valley Bank. Was SVB a “bank run by idiots” or a “bank-run by idiots,” posed financial journalist Matt Klein. Perhaps both, the former Klein poses back. History, too, makes fools of us all by keeping a record. Conservatives who once believed they “defend the unchanging ground of our changing experience” now twist democracy into a pretzel to justify minority rule as long as they’re the minority — “Hehehe” — to borrow from an amateur painter in Texas. The Federalist Society faces the uncomfortable realization that “most conservatives couldn’t care less about their high-minded principles, and, even worse, that many of their allies view their attachment to those principles as a quaint — and slightly embarrassing — relic of the bygone era when conservatives still had to be coy about what they actually believed.” That era is not entirely gone.
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The Federalist Society goes wobbly on democracy A report from a Federalist Society confab: To those who have followed the Federalist Society closely since its triumphs at the Supreme Court last year, the symposium’s focus on law and democracy may hardly seem incidental. Since its founding in 1982, the Federalist Society has championed “judicial restraint,” the notion that judges should limit their roles to interpreting the law as written, leaving the actual business of lawmaking to democratically elected legislatures. That approach made sense for conservatives when they still saw the federal judiciary as a liberal force dragging the country to the left. But now that conservatives have secured a solid majority on the Supreme Court — and voters in several red states have soundly rejected hard-line positions on abortion — a spirited debate is underway within the Federalist Society about the wisdom of deferring to democratic majorities as a matter of principle.
The right just love bans They’re not waiting for that federal judge in Texas in Wyoming. Look for more of this: Wyoming on Friday became the first state to ban the use of pills for abortion, adding momentum to a growing push by conservative states and anti-abortion groups to target medication abortion, the method now used in a majority of pregnancy terminations in the United States. Wyoming’s new law comes as a preliminary ruling is expected soon by a Texas judge that could order the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to withdraw its approval of mifepristone, the first pill in the two-drug medication abortion regimen. Such a ruling, if it stands, could upend how abortion is provided nationally, affecting states where abortion is legal as well as states with bans and restrictions. Legislation to ban or add restrictions on medication abortion has been introduced in several states this year, including a bill in Texas that would not only ban abortion pills but also require internet service providers to take steps to block medication abortion websites so people in Texas could not view them.
Does anyone doubt there’ll be trouble? NBC News reports: Law enforcement agencies are prepping for a possible Trump indictment as early as next week Meaning pro-Trump violence: Local, state and federal law enforcement and security agencies are preparing for the possibility that former President Donald Trump will be indicted as early as next week, according to five senior officials familiar with the preparations. Law enforcement agencies are conducting preliminary security assessments, the officials said, and are discussing potential security plans in and around the Manhattan Criminal Court, at 100 Centre Street, in case Trump is charged in connection with an alleged hush money payment to Stormy Daniels and travels to New York to face any charges. The officials stress that the interagency conversations and planning are precautionary in nature because no charges have been filed. The agencies involved include the NYPD, New York State Court Officers, the U.S. Secret Service, the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force, and the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, the officials said.
What could go wrong? And what happens if this “protest” doesn’t materialize? Update:
Say it ain’t so! It seems as though every few years some Republican decides to unburden himself about the dirty tricks and sabotage he engaged in on behalf of a GOP candidate. Here’s the latest: It has been more than four decades, but Ben Barnes said he remembers it vividly. His longtime political mentor invited him on a mission to the Middle East. What Mr. Barnes said he did not realize until later was the real purpose of the mission: to sabotage the re-election campaign of the president of the United States. It was 1980 and Jimmy Carter was in the White House, bedeviled by a hostage crisis in Iran that had paralyzed his presidency and hampered his effort to win a second term. Mr. Carter’s best chance for victory was to free the 52 Americans held captive before Election Day. That was something that Mr. Barnes said his mentor was determined to prevent. His mentor was John B. Connally Jr., a titan of American politics and former Texas governor who had served three presidents and just lost his own bid for the White House. A former Democrat, Mr.
Nikki Haley whipping the woke: Don’t be surprised to see teachers threatened with violence. These candiates are whipping the MAGA freaks into a frenzy. And they are lying. Of course.
The banality of Tiny D and Donald News outlets broadcast the Trumpist riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 live from coast to coast. An hours-long insurrection was underway. Against the U.S. government, against our government, not some remote country in Asia, Africa, or South America. As unsettling as watching that was asking who are these people battling police with their Trump and Confederate flags, Christian nationalist, and even Nazi symbols? Unsettling answer: They walk among us. The United States of America did not end that day. But reflecting on events in HBO’s postapocalyptic “The Last of Us,” Tom Nichols ponders “Who Would You Be If the World Ended?” In his newsletter for The Atlantic, Nichols drops a lot of spoilers I’ll try to avoid here. What’s different about the series is how it differs from the Cold War versions of the genre. Mostly lone-wolf “Radioactive Rambos” would “would wander the wasteland, killing mutants and stray Communists” while shooting everything in sight and “saving a girl, or a town, or even the world” along the way. Nichols observes: But we live in more ambiguous times.
Com a saída de Amoedo para salvar sua biografia e a contratação de Leandro Narloch, partido mostra que quer abertamente se abraçar com a ultradireita.
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MAGA writes a new script on January 6th As the GOP presidential primary campaign gets underway it’s fascinating to see how the Republican Party has changed since Donald Trump descended onto the scene back in 2015. Ever since the successful White House runs of Ronald Reagan, virtually every Republican seeking higher office called themselves “conservative” and hewed to the Reagan revolution ideology — described as a “three-legged stool” — that centers global leadership and a strong national defense, traditional family values, low taxes and small government. Within that framework, there were minor differences on specific issues but generally speaking, in order to win the GOP nomination it was required that Republican candidates adhere to that basic philosophy. In hindsight, it’s clear that this may not have been the huge winner Republicans assumed it to be since the party’s nominee has won the popular vote for president only once in 35 years.