Tag: Legal Issues

Political Hacks Are Butt Hurt

I make no bones about it that I think that SCOTUS is nothing more than a group of political hacks that are doing partisan work and in the process destroying what is left of this nation.

Then and when you need confirmation of their partisan crap Chief Justice had to go and whine about our perception of the court.

Chief Justice John Roberts wants Americans to know he doesn’t see the Supreme Court the way some critics might. Speaking Wednesday at a legal conference in Hershey, Pa., Roberts said many people wrongly believe the justices are “political actors” choosing outcomes based on policy preferences rather than legal analysis, NBC News reports. “I think they view us as truly political actors, which I don’t think is an accurate understanding of what we do,” he said. He was responding to a question about what the public most misunderstands regarding the high court, Politico reports.

Roberts, part of the court’s 6-3 conservative majority that has shifted federal law rightward on issues including abortion, guns, and voting rights, didn’t address any specific cases. But he stressed that the court is often obligated to hand down decisions that are disliked, saying rulings are “based on our best effort to figure out what the Constitution means and how it applies.” He acknowledged that the public is free to criticize the court’s work, while urging that critiques target decisions, not individual judges, warning personal attacks are “not appropriate” and can lead to “very serious problems,” especially amid heightened security concerns. He also did not mention President Trump, who himself has been among critics of the court at times, CNN reports.

Seriously?

This POS is saying this crap without laughing?

Our criticism can lead to ‘very serious problems’?  Really thanx to the Roberts court we already ass deep in serious problems and they can thank themselves for all the problems…..Citizens United, abortion rulings, education rulings, allowing insider trading by politicians, gutted voting rights etc etc….

Roberts and his happy band of hacks have turned the court into a partisan political arm of government.

I have no sympathy for Roberts and his fragile feelings.

If he wants us to stop hating them then I propose he and his partisan dipsticks retire to Mar-A-Lago and let the country move forward for with them it will stand still and then start in reverse.

Any thoughts?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

The News May Be Treason

Little Donny Do-Little has now thumped his chest and called for news reporting contrary to his lies as treason…..

US President Donald Trump late Sunday floated “treason” charges against media outlets that he accused of reporting false information about the Iran war as the human and economic costs of his illegal military assault continued to mount.

In a tirade posted to his Truth Social platform, Trump wrote that media outlets he accused of circulating “fake news” should “be brought up on Charges for TREASON for the dissemination of false information.” The maximum penalty for treason in the US is death.

Trump specifically called out the Rupert Murdoch-owned Wall Street Journal for reporting over the weekend that “five US Air Force refueling planes were struck and damaged on the ground at Prince Sultan air base in Saudi Arabia.” Citing two unnamed US officials, the Journal noted that “the tankers were hit during an Iranian missile strike on the Saudi base,” and that the planes were “damaged but not fully destroyed and are being repaired.”

The US president called the story “false reporting” without substantively refuting its content. Trump wrote that four of the refueling planes are “in service” and one “will soon be flying the skies”—none of which is inconsistent with the Journal’s reporting.

Trump, who regularly uses his social media platform to circulate AI-generated videos and photos, also complained about an AI video purportedly showing the USS Abraham Lincoln on fire. The president claimed the video was “distributed by Corrupt Media Outlets,” without offering any examples. AFP published a fact-check of the video last week, deeming it “fabricated footage.”

Trump’s latest attack on the US media came after his Federal Communications Commission chair, Brendan Carr, threatened Saturday to pull the broadcasting licenses of media outlets he accused of “running hoaxes and news distortions.” Carr did not provide specific examples.

The US president said Sunday that he was “thrilled to see” Carr’s threat, railing against “Corrupt and Highly Unpatriotic” news organizations.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/trump-treason-charges-media

What’s next on Donny’s stupid list to be called ‘treason’?

The most treasonous person calling some one on treason….now that is rich.

Any thoughts my good readers?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

The End Is Simple

Keeping with the drug meme for today…..

Since 1971 the USA has been fighting a war of drugs and has spent an estimated $1 trillion on that fight and yet there has been no evidence that all the cash spent is winning the war or even making a dent.

Since about 1990 I have been writing that if we are serious about this then put an end to the profit margins for drug dealers and legalize.

I know this will offend the sensibilities of some but they will get over it.

I have not been alone in this call over the years and it has arisen again thanx to the attack on all those small narco boats…..

This is another opinion on the legalization thing…..

I was never that into cocaine — preferring the euphoria promised by MDMA or the relaxation offered by cannabis — but back in 2015, a cocaine-serving lounge bar, Route 36, in La Paz, Bolivia, was the talk of the backpacking circuit, and the scarcely-believable novelty of the place was alluring.

At Route 36, bags of cocaine are served on silver platters, and a friend and I got incredibly high that night. Too high, perhaps, though it was all undeniably good fun. But as soon as my first-person dispatch for Vice from the lively dusk-till-dawn session went viral, I feared that I perhaps shouldn’t have glorified the use of a moreish drug that typically leaves a trail of violent destruction in its wake.

As the years passed, however — with cocaine becoming both unprecedentedly popular and increasingly affordable despite the billions spent on the war on drugs to avoid these exact outcomes — I’ve come to realize that accepting that adults take cocaine, and legally regulating the drug, is the only sensible path forward. Establishments like Route 36, the world’s first cocaine bar, might just represent a more enlightened, peaceful future for us all.

After all, U.S.-led authorities around the world have tried everything else, and to great human cost. Coca fields across the Andes, where cocaine’s main ingredient grows, have been sprayed with harmful herbicides like glyphosate, harming the local Indigenous people for whom coca holds unique spiritual and nutritional value, and killing anything that tries to grow in the contaminated soil. Consumers and traffickers of cocaine have been imprisoned en masse, helping to create a prison–industrial complex which serves as a university of crime for its incarcerated and a fertile recruitment ground for armed drug gangs.

Legalizing Cocaine Is the Only Way to End the Drug War

This is the only way we can ‘win’ the war on drugs…..for we have had 50+ years of failed policies and wasted money.

Do the country a favor and end this war and get back to make the well-being of people of this country a priority.

Enjoy your Cyber Monday and be vigil.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

SCOTUS Crap Again

Those political hacks we called the Supreme Court has weakened voting rights yet again….was there ever any doubt?

These worthless lumps of crap did what they always do….and this time it was for Louisiana…..

The Supreme Court signaled Wednesday that it may further weaken the Voting Rights Act, as justices heard arguments in a Louisiana redistricting case that could reshape how race can be considered in drawing voting districts.

  • The case centers on whether states can use race at all when redrawing congressional maps to comply with Section 2 of the 1965 law, a key provision meant to protect minority voters from discrimination, NBC News reports. All six of the court’s conservative justices seemed open to limiting Section 2’s reach—potentially making it harder for civil rights groups to challenge maps they say dilute minority voting power.
  • The dispute began when Louisiana, which has six seats in the House and a population that is one-third Black, was required—following a lawsuit—to create a second majority-Black congressional district. The state now opposes the redrawn map, joining a group of “non-African-American” voters who argue that any consideration of race in redistricting violates the Constitution’s 14th and 15th amendments. The Trump administration backs this new position, arguing for a “colorblind” approach that the court embraced in last year’s decision ending race-based college admissions.
  • The court could adopt a narrower proposal backed by the Trump administration that would keep Section 2 but alter the standard set in the 1986 Thornburg v. Gingles case, which would give states more flexibility to draw maps for partisan reasons instead of racial ones.
  • Justice Brett Kavanaugh appeared receptive to this approach, saying recent rulings held that “race-based remedies are permissible, but they should not be indefinite,” the Washington Post reports. Liberal justices and civil rights advocates, however, argue that such a ruling would effectively gut Section 2, undermining protections for minority voters.
  • A ruling favoring Louisiana could reduce the number of districts drawn to give minority voters a fair shot at electing their preferred candidates, likely leading to fewer minority lawmakers in Congress and state legislatures.
    The AP reports that the ruling, expected by June, could lead to voting maps across the South being redrawn to eliminate majority Black or Latino districts that tend to favor Democrats. NBC reports that conservatives have long targeted the Voting Rights Act; the top court weakened it in previous decisions in 2013 and 2021.

This will have lasting consequences across the South.

All this bigotry is no longer semi-covert…..it is an assault on minorities and anyone that votes against the strong arm of the GOP.

Next up probably will be a take on the old Citizen United ruling…..which could make bribery more easily acquired….

Fifteen years after the Citizens Unitedruling opened the gates for corporate money to flow into US elections, the Supreme Court will soon hear another pair of cases that journalist David Sirota says are aimed at “eliminating the last restrictions on campaign donations and obstructing law enforcement’s efforts to halt bribery.”

One of the cases, National Republican Senatorial Committee v. Federal Elections Commission (FEC), was launched in 2022 by then-Ohio Senate candidate JD Vance (R-Ohio), now the vice president of the United States, and several other Republicans, who argued that limits on coordinated spending violated the First Amendment.

…

This time, Republicans in all three branches of government have seemed to work in tandem to get the law overturned.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/gop-scotus-legalize-bribery-sirota

SCOTUS is a worthless, useless appendage of our government that we need to eliminate as soon as possible.

Would you like to enter any thoughts?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

A Real Life ‘Godfather’ Saga

I have read many articles about the government we have under the watchful eye of His Majesty, Little Donny….some say it is an oligarchy…..others claim it is a kleptocracy….and yet others see it as a kakistocracy….but in reality it looks more like a mob operation with Donny playing the part of ‘Godfather’….

Donald Trump is going to make you an offer you can’t refuse… and if you do, he will get his way regardless.

At least that is what some are claiming is happening during his presidency, as Trump is being accused of running the White House “like a mob boss,” RadarOnline.com can reveal.

Representative Jamie Raskin has been open about his concerns about the current climate among legislators; some are terrified of pushing back against the controversial president, or even some of his powerful donors, who may make their lives a nightmare.

“If you’re a freshman Republican, and they’re telling you Elon Musk will spend $5 million in a primary to defeat you… You’re not going to mess with them anymore,” Raskin explained in an interview.

He added the volatile environment compels these officials to “just get in line like sheep.”

The Tesla founder, 54, spent millions of his own money to help Trump beat Kamala Harris in November 2024, but his friendship with Trump has completely fallen apart over the last couple of months

Raskin has made it clear that he believes everything is currently being run like a “mafia operation,” and it doesn’t hurt that the former reality star was brought up in the gritty world of New York’s real estate, helping him define his modus operandi.

The 79-year-old has also formed a huge network of political operators through relationships with the city’s key figures, something that began with his father, Fred, who mentored him in a world where “politically connected” meant the ability to flex financial muscle for favors.

“Most of the people on this stage I’ve given to, just so you understand, a lot of money… I give to everybody,” Trump once said during a GOP debate, once again showing off his connections.

He added at the time: “When they call, I give. And do you know what? When I need something from them… they are there for me.”

https://radaronline.com/p/donald-trump-running-white-house-like-mob-boss-godfather/

For me it is a kakistocracy…..that being a government of incompetent boobs.

An organization, Donny’s organization, where loyalty overrules everything else….

In 50 years, when we talk about this era of American politics, it will be truly impossible to capture the chaos, exhaustion, darkness, and insanity of Donald Trump’s presidencies.

There won’t be adequate words to describe how much changed in such a short period of time, thanks to Trump’s utter debasement of the office, and the GOP’s decision to follow him down one of the ugliest paths imaginable, all the while abandoning principles, morals, and basic common decency.

When we tell our kids and grandkids that a major political party in America nominated a convicted felon to be president, a man who incited an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, a man who was found liable for sexual abuse — and that that party was once the party of “family values,” the Christian Coalition, and law and order, who would believe us?

Trump’s corruption of conservatism, evangelicalism, the law, the Constitution, and democracy has also had the regrettable effect of turning MAGA’s mouthpieces, including sitting lawmakers, into absolutely reprehensible ghouls.

https://thefulcrum.us/loyalty-to-donald-trump-overrides-basic-decency

All this smacks of a mob run entity…..and apparently just as lucrative.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

SCOTUS: Political Hacks

This past session of the all powerful SCOTUS I believe that they have proved my point that they are nothing but political hacks.

But the one ruling that meant the most was their neutering the lower courts….

President Trump quickly celebrated Friday’s ruling by the Supreme Court that drastically limits the power of federal judges to impose national injunctions on his policies. The case in question involved his executive order to undo birthright citizenship—the idea that anyone born in the US is automatically a citizen—but Trump suggested at a news conference that he would press his advantage on a range of issues:

  • He mentioned funding for sanctuary cities, bans on the use of federal money for transgender surgeries, and the suspension of refugee settlement programs, reports the Washington Post. “We have so many of them,” Trump said. “I have a whole list.”
  • Trump said he would “promptly file” to advance other issues that have been blocked in similar fashion, per the AP.
  • To be clear, the court didn’t rule directly on Trump’s plan to undo birthright citizenship, but it found that federal judges who imposed nationwide bans on the policies in the interim went too far. Such bans should only apply to their jurisdictions, the court ruled. The upshot is that Trump “opponents will have to jump through additional hoops to try to shut down policies on a nationwide basis,” per CNN.
  • Trump called the ruling “giant,” adding, “Our country should be very proud of the Supreme Court today,” per the New York Times. He lavished particular praise on Justice Amy Coney Barrett, author of the majority opinion. “I just have great respect for her,” he said when asked about criticism of her by some of his supporters. “I always have. And her decision was brilliantly written today—from all accounts.”
  • Attorney General Pam Bondi also praised the court for ruling against what she called “lawless injunctions” imposed by federal judges: “They turned district courts into the imperial judiciary.” Bondi also expressed confidence the court would eventually rule in favor of ending birthright citizenship as well, probably in October.

The criminals on the Court are assisting in the destruction of the whole checks and balances thing that has proved needed for this country to progress.

The Roberts court has driven one of the last nails in the coffin that use to be a thriving republic…..to them it appears that the Constitution means nothing….only political ideology.

…

John Roberts has spent his fundamentally hypocritical career bleating to the press about how much he values the Court’s reputation and seeks to protect it, all while making shambolically corrupt rulings proving it to be a legally and morally illegitimate institution. He was advertised to us by the Very Serious people during the Bush Administration as a Very Serious man we should be excited about who won’t let the Court go off the rails, then Roberts let some of the most corrupt people to ever exist in Sam Alito and Clarence Thomas serve as his North Stars. Roberts’ entire legal doctrine is “whatever daddy Trump wants,” proving him to be more unserious than Trump in many ways, as there is at least a cynical honesty to Trump’s politics that Roberts is too much of a duplicitous coward to admit to.

But perhaps now he is admitting to his and the conservatives’ staggeringly cynical worldview that the Constitution enshrined Trump’s id above the Bill of Rights. From the moment Roberts gave Trump immunity, it has become clearer and clearer with each ruling that the Roberts Court does not seek to rein Trump in, but to torch the Constitution and replace it with Trump as King. The Roberts Court’s entire theory of jurisprudence is antithetical to the intellectual Constitutional framework that at least attempts to provide a legal foundation for its depraved views on the worth of Black people. The Roberts Court is just naked authoritarianism that even doesn’t pretend to be anything else. These six hacks are out here contradicting themselves from a year ago, plainly showing the entire world what kind of people they are and what they truly value and how little the law actually means to them.

Trump has completely usurped Congress’s power (which the Republicans were happy to abdicate, because the lone commonality among the GOP is abandoning all your principles and personal ambitions to get in line to lick dear leader’s boot), and the Roberts Court is now helping him do it to the judiciary. It’s clear as day that if Trump asks Roberts to start repealing Amendments, Roberts simply would ask how many his master would like.

https://www.splinter.com/republicans-have-turned-the-supreme-court-into-an-illegitimate-institution

The elimination of any opposition the court has given Donny the power to do as he wants and the country can go get screwed.

“I agree, Judge Sotomayor, no right is safe under the new regime, not even the ones clearly guaranteed under our Constitution.”

I am so proud what the voters have done to this country (sarcasm in case you missed it)

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Is This A ‘Reichstag Fire’ Moment?

BY now with all the media coverage every swing dick in this country has an opinion on what is happening in LA.

For me it is a “Reichstage Fire” moment…..if you have no damn idea what I am saying then ask Google….after many years of threatening the use of American military an opportunity has finally arrives and Donny found his excuse.

As President Donald Trump deployed U.S. Marines to Los Angeles on Monday in response to protests against immigration raids and the violent arrest of a popular labor leader, California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office announced that he and Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom sued Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over their weekend takeover of the state’s National Guard.

“President Trump’s order calling federalized National Guard troops into Los Angeles—over the objections of the governor and local law enforcement—is unnecessary and counterproductive. It’s also deeply unfair to the members of the National Guard who are hard at work every day protecting our state, preparing for and responding to emergencies, and training so that, if called, they can fight our nation’s wars,” Bonta said in a statement.

“Let me be clear: There is no invasion. There is no rebellion. The president is trying to manufacture chaos and crisis on the ground for his own political ends,” he added. “Federalizing the California National Guard is an abuse of the president’s authority under the law—and not one we take lightly. We’re asking a court to put a stop to the unlawful, unprecedented order.”

…

“Donald Trump is creating fear and terror by failing to adhere to the U.S. Constitution and overstepping his authority. This is a manufactured crisis to allow him to take over a state militia, damaging the very foundation of our republic,” Newsom, who widely seen as a 2028 presidential contender, said Monday.

“Every governor, red or blue, should reject this outrageous overreach,” he argued. “This is beyond incompetence—this is him intentionally causing chaos, terrorizing communities, and endangering the principles of our great democracy. It is an unmistakable step toward authoritarianism. We will not let this stand.”

https://www.commondreams.org/news/california-ice-trump

This is smelling like something that has happened in the past….

My fellow Americans be afraid….be very afraid….

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Butt Licker To The Rescue

Just days ago the US Court of International Trade put a whammy on Donny’s dreams of harsh tariffs on the world…..and yesterday a Trumpite came to the rescue.

President Trump’s tariffs were reinstated by a federal appeals court ruling on Thursday. The court’s ruling came after a second federal court found that an emergency powers law does not give Trump authority to enact tariffs, and that most of the ones he’s already ordered after invoking the International Emergency Economic Powers Act are unlawful.

  • US District Judge Rudolph Contreras ruled that the law does not permit the president to “unilaterally impose, revoke, pause, reinstate, and adjust tariffs to reorder the global economy,” the Hill reports. The US Court of International Trade reached the same conclusion on Wednesday.
  • The appeals court didn’t rule on the merits of the tariffs or the trade court’s ruling, but granted an emergency request to hold up the ruling, allowing Trump to keep collecting the tariffs while the issue is being decided in the courts, per the AP.
  • The Justice Department asked two sets of judges to let the Trump administration proceed with its tariffs, per the New York Times. If need be, administration officials had said they’d ask the Supreme Court on Friday for emergency relief, per the Washington Post.
  • After the 33-page ruling by Contreras, who was appointed by Barack Obama, for the DC District Court, the government filed another appeal. His ruling gave the government 14 days to appeal before it took effect, meaning the tariffs are still in place for now.
  • White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Thursday that there are “other legal authorities” Trump could use to impose tariffs, per the Guardian, and that he “is willing to use those.” She criticized what she called “a troubling and dangerous trend of unelected judges inserting themselves into the presidential decision-making process.”
  • The Guardian notes that only three of the 11 judges who granted the stay were appointed by Republican presidents. After the ruling, Trump trade adviser Peter Navarro blasted the 12 states that sued as elitist Democratic coastal states, though Arizona, Nevada, Colorado, Illinois, and Minnesota aren’t on either coast and the first two voted for Trump last year.

A loyal visitor to IST asked if this could be settled by the Supreme Court…..and I answered that I did not know for sure….and now the answer is yes if could be settled by SCOTUS.

SCOTUS has been in Trump’s corner for many of its rulings….so the pathetic tariff question will be answered by a pack of political hacks.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Bad News For Donny’s Tariffs

The news broke that a US court has peed all over Donny’s pet policy…..tariffs.

President Trump does not have the authority to impose broad tariffs on imports, a federal court ruled Wednesday, rejecting the argument that the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act gives him that power. The US Court of International Trade had been asked to issue an injunction in the case involving lawsuits trying to block the tariffs. Instead, the three-judge panel skipped directly to issuing a judgment, Axios reports. The emergency legislation, the judges ruled, does not authorize any of the “Worldwide, Retaliatory or Trafficking” orders, adding, “the challenged Tariff Orders will be vacated and their operation permanently enjoined.”

The unanimous decision applies to the 10% “Liberation Day” tariffs Trump slapped on all foreign products on April 2, as well as the higher levies on goods coming from several dozen nations. Ruling on two cases at once, the court ordered that the tariffs already collected also be vacated, per Politico. At least seven lawsuits challenging the tariffs have been filed. White House aides had said before the ruling that the decision would be appealed if it went against the administration, per the Washington Post. The case could well go to the Supreme Court, per the New York Times, but if the ruling stands, it could be the end of Trump’s trade war.

Tariffs usually need congressional approval, but Trump maintains he has the authority now because the US trade deficits are so high they constitute a national emergency, per the AP. The law does not say the president can use tariffs to protect the nation from economic threats, per the Times, but Trump invoked it anyway. One of the panel’s judges was appointed by Ronald Reagan, one by Barack Obama, and one by Trump.

But how will this ruling effect things?

  • Ruling: The Court of International Trade—a federal body made up of Reagan, Obama, and Trump appointees—decreed that Trump doesn’t have the legal authority to impose most of the sweeping tariffs he has enacted. Trump did so under his interpretation of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977, notes the Wall Street Journal, but the court found that he overreached and invalidated them.
  • Affected: This means most of the tariffs Trump imposed, or imposed and then lifted pending negotiations, are gone, though Axios notes some exceptions: those on autos, steel, and aluminum were not enacted under the 1970s law and stand.
  • Fallout: The ruling “blows a hole in global trade talks, already under way with more than a dozen nations,” per the Journal, and it “throws into question recent agreements with the UK and China.” The New York Times finds that the court essentially wiped out Trump’s leverage with US trading partners.
  • What now: The court gave the Trump administration 10 days to formally unwind the tariffs, but the White House plans to appeal. “The judicial coup is out of control,” tweeted Trump adviser Stephen Miller.
  • Markets: Dow futures were up 300 points Thursday morning, reports CNBC, and world stocks also rallied.

Good to see that there are still some judges that Donald the Orange does not own….and there is still a small amount of commonsense.

But like in the past he will probably disregard and judgments against him as he has done so many times in the past.

Is it possible that Congress will now jump to Donny’s aid on this issue?

Will the bully now go after this court in revenge?

Any thoughts?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”