6.26.22: No More Complaining About Left-wing Activist Judges When You Have the Ultimate Closers

In successive days, over 150 years of precedent law was reversed by the United States Supreme Court. On June 23, the Court threw out a 109 year-old law in New York restricting individuals from carrying guns in public, and of course on the 24th reversed 49 years of precendent with the overturning of Roe vs. Wade, sending abortion rights back to the states.

Whether you agree with the decisions or not, the one thing you can confirm is that these are activist justices on the court and they're wielding their power that with a super majority can move unchecked. 

The other certainty is that both decisions were political, which is illustrated by the these two decisions themselves. In the New York case, no court touched it for over 100 years and the Supreme Court overturned it ruling that the state didn't have the right to make its own law. However, in the Roe case, they ruled the exact opposite and that states should decide.

Where do we go from here? Well, swallow hard because we have to live with it. Or until Democrats can focus and win back state houses and keep their majorities in Congress, which is another way of saying that we just have to live with it.

What we're left with in the Roe v Wade decision is that womens' rights are not equal depending on what state you live in. Andrea Mitchell of NBC made a good point in the Roe dealt with privacy and not equal protection, which women across the country clearly now do not have.  However, only when enough pain and suffering occurs to enough people would a case on equal protection under the law be brought. 

Now that Republicans have won on abortion, their statements really have become laughable in justifying a woman's right to bodily autonomy, starting with Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson (R) who said on today's program that it's not the debate right now about no exceptions for rape or incest only that he believes with the abortion ban his state is saving lives. However, this is where the ideology's callousness and cruelty come into play because it has nothing to do with real world circumstances. Judge Samuel Alito stated the it is not the responsbility of the court to recognize the social impact of its decisions. Obviously... but really?

And The Wall Street Journal's Peggy Noonan, God love her posed a next step for Republicans after their win that even everyone on the panel audibly laughed at when she explained the Republicans now have to change their image and become the 'party of women' and build the support systems for them. What a credibility grenade that was. Republicans certainly will solidify their image as the party of women when abortion procedures are banned in over half the country (we're looking at 26 potential states). Hardly.

With the current state of the economy with inflation and high gas prices, those will be the determining factors in November which only favors Republicans and if they win control of the house, make no mistake they will introduce a bill on a nation-wide ban.

If Republicans have the majority in the House they will also thrwart the findings of the January 6th Select Committee seeking to discredit them while actively obstructing the Justice Department investigation of the coup plot. This will leave the door open for the individual who said to the Attorney General and Deputy Attorney General of the United States, to just say the election was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the Republicans, to run again.

No matter, if a Republican candidate wins in 2024, it will not be with the popular vote, a trend that has now been established. The majority of the country doesn't have proportionate representation in the Senate, which ensures that the minority stays in control and with the backing of an extreme right Supreme Court there's no reason to see this trending losing momentum anytime soon.

And make no mistake, womens' healthcare rights are the end of the line for the Supreme Court. Take Justice Clarence Thomas, of whom it's now fair to say is corrupted because of his wife's political actions, at his word when he says that a revisiting of other privacy rights should be done. 

Even a 3-dollar fortune teller can predict that rights for LGBTQ Americans will be the next target for the right to put in front of their judicial enablers. 

No more complaining from right-wing pundits about left-wing activist judges, they have the ultimate closers.

Panel: Peggy Noonan, The Wall Street Journal; Kimberly Atkins Stohr, The Boston Globe; Andrea Mitchell, NBC News; Garrett Haake, NBC News

6.19.22: Hanging On by a Horse-Haired Thread

In the 4th century B.C., the king Dionysius would let his loyal soldier Damocles sit on the throne so that he could experience what it was like to be king. However, to illustrate more clearly the responsibility, the fear, the pending danger, Dionysius hung a sword over his thrown by a single horse hair. Precariously hanging over the throne by a single hair, ready to fall at anytime, Damocles could no longer take the pressure and stopped taking to the seat.

We mention this little bit of ancient history because it seems like that is where we are now, a metaphoric sword hanging over our country, by a single horse-hair thread. The sense of impending danger and dread.

President Biden said in an interview with the Associated Press that he knows the American people are "really, really down." Americans are down because what they witnessed this week during the Select Committee's January 6th hearings this week and that in fact our democracy was hanging by a thread. Despite knowing the fact that he lost and that the plan for the vice president to dispute the electoral count was illegal, the former president persisted in perpetuating that there was election fraud.

Not only that, but we also learned of the utter callousness (and that's being generous) the fmr. president had for his vice president's well-being and life. It's understandable that committee member Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) wouldn't give away any details, especially when pressed by Mr. Todd on why Mike Pence didn't trust his secret service detail; he's not at liberty to say. 

What we do know:

John Eastman knowingly attempted to commit a crime against the Constitution of the United States.

The fmr. president, knowing he lost the election, perpetrated a fraud against the people of the United States by lying about the election results to raise $250 million dollars for a non-existent defense fund, in which the monies went to the fmr. president's personal interests.

There was a tremendous pressure campaign, lead by the president, for Mike Pence to ignore the Constitution by not certifying the vote on January 6th. So much pressure that when Mr. Pence upheld the Constitution, his life and the lives of his family members were put in jeopardy.

The president broke his oath to the Constitution of the United States and abandoned his duty as president on that day.

If that wasn't enough to make the thin threads more taut, there's the economy, which this, that and the other thing that President Biden points to, two things are clear. One, the signs of a coming recession are ominous and the Biden Administration totally dropped the ball and is now playing catch-up.

Former Treasury Secretary Larry Sommers said that while nothing can be forecast with complete certainty, the indicators that he's seen are leading him to believe that a recession is coming.

Demand is way outpacing supply for energy which has been disrupted by war and oil companies cutting back on refining during the pandemic. The supply chain disruptions continue and are exascerbated by high fuel costs have made everything more expense. Not enough micro-chip manufactures, the list goes on. But the bottom line is the Biden Administration reacted too slowly and now the Fed is going to do what it can, but really it just has to run its course.

Mr. Sommers suggested three potential initiatives that could lessen the pain in the short term, while providing a plan for the longer-term. He suggested repealing some of the Trump era tax cuts, reduce the price of prescription drugs and take an 'all of the above' approach to energy in the short term and transition to clean energy.

Here's the rub. Repealing any part of a tax cut is a non-starter for Republicans. They'll message it as a tax hike and that message will get through. The 'all of the above' approach on energy gets a lot of support but any introduction of clean energy initiatives is another none starter. And lastly, we simply don't understand how Congress can't get the price of prescription drugs down. It's such a political winner for everyone, you'd think it's a no-brainer. Alas, to paraphrase Warren Zevon, big pharma brings lawyers, drugs, and money.

All this, on top of coming out of a mindbending, two-year pandemic where over 1 million Americans died then right into a catastrophic war in Europe and it's no wonder we're all hanging on by a horse-haired thread.

Panel: Betsy Woodruff Swann, Politico; Peter Alexander, NBC News; Brendan Buck, Republican Advisor and Strategist; Maria Teresa Kumar, Voto Latino

6.12.22: The Tragic Choice and the January 6th Commission

It is true that Americans' votes won't be decided by the January 6th Hearings. Not this year at least, but maybe in 2024. Representative Don Bacon (R-NE) said he did think there was too much information that he didn't already know, which may be the case for a member of Congress, however, for the American public there was almost too much to take it. 

The Special Committee on January 6th, 2021, as Representative Elaine Luria (D-VA) stated, has only presented and will be presenting statements backed up by hard evidence.  And the hard evidence will be damning, no bullshit, unlike how fmr. Attorney General William Barr describe the fmr. president's election fraud claims.

Unfortunately, Professor Eddie Glaude, Jr. of Princeton may be correct in assessing it as a tragic choice. 

If the evidence is too overwhelming, the Department of Justice may have no choice but to prosecute and if they do, Prof. Glaude predicts a steep rise in violence. However, if they do not prosecute, then what we're saying is that there are some who are above the law in the most glaring fashion. As for the 2024 presidential election, we of the same mind as Rep. Bacon in that he and also Republicans will be "looking for another candidate." 

Representative Bacon also mentioned the temperment of the former president being a disqualifier as well, which bring us to the whole episode with Vice President Mike Pence. How the former president said that the VP deserved the punishment of the crowd, which was hanging is truly sad on so many levels. However much we disagree with Mike Pence's policies and positions, we know for a fact that this is a man who has pledged an oath to the Constitution many times and did not break that oath. How many times has the fmr. president taken that oath - once. (The write of this week's column has taken multiple times.)

The panel agreed that the hearing really resonated with independents and though the frustration and perhaps anger may subside over time, the facts will not be forgotten. At the end of this road, whenever that is, there will not be a conviction, at most political radioactivity and exile... maybe.

What we're revved up about is all the Congressmen asking for pardons, specifically Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA) who was named during last Thursday's hearing. Who else was asking for a pardon? Why would these individuals feel they needed them? What did they do? If any convictions do come, they're going to be from this crop of jokers. Resignations at the least. 

Who can say for sure if these hearings will affect the mid-term elections later this November, but maybe, just maybe it will be one small step in cleaning a little house and cleaning up some of the doodoo-kaka-poo-poo the fmr. president left behind.

On the breaking front...

At the end of today's program, Lee Ann Caldwell of The Washington Post had breaking news that Senators Chris Murphy (D-CT) and John Cornyn (R-TX) have reached a deal on gun safety legislation. We'll wait and see but it's said to include state crisis intervention laws (red-flag), mental health provisions, upgrading school safety.  Small things around the margins of the problem, but things nonetheless. There Mr. Todd had a moment, reminding us that nothing's been announced and more importantly nothing has been voted on. Being skeptical is a truly tiresome fashion that simply will never go away. 

Panel: Amy Walter, The Cook Political Report; Eddie Glaude, Jr., Princeton University; David French, The Dispatch; Lee Ann Caldwell, The Washington Post

6.5.22: It is Us and Not Just Washington That Has to Decide

"Meet The Press" is preempted today by The French Open.

Since Wednesday, this has been top of mind for this week's column and that is if we should apologize for providing what we thought was a snide, hyperbolic, ludicrous example of a tragic mass shooting and three days later that exact scenario occurs. In Tulsa, Oklahoma a man bought an AR-15 and then hours later entered a hospital to kill the doctor who performed a surgery on him, along with anyone who tried to stop him. 

A group of Senators has ten days to come up with something bipartisan, bipartisan meaning cojoling 10 Republican Senators that it is in their political interest to pass some form law, a package of laws, that will slow the steady stream of mass gun violence EVERYWHERE in America. The aforementioned package puts on the table red flag laws, waiting periods, expanded background check (not universal) and raising the age to 21 to purchase an assault weapon.

All those proposals would be steps in the right direction, but frankly, at this point it's like holding back a flood with a two-foot wall. And if this group of senators do not come up with a proposal they can bring to the floor, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) will bring a House bill to the floor which Republicans and Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) will surely not vote for. As Americans, we can only hope these Republican Senators are being sincere in their negotiating efforts because we've seen this tragic theater play out too many times.

If no common sense gun-ownership legislation gets passed through Congress and Republicans win control of Congress in the fall, we are truly living in a broken democracy where the minority is in control. Our Constitution was constructed to respect the rights of the minority vote, not to have the minority vote control the majority.

If Congress does manage to pass something, anything, it will not serve as any kind of adequate panacea for the anxiety parents across this country feel who fear simply dropping their kids off a school, especially if mass shootings continue in spite of new legislation.

Make no mistake, if nothing stems the tide of these mass shootings and gun violence writ large, we, not only the politicians, we will have decided to put the Second Amendment and access to guns over our very own lives.