July 1, 2022

My pseudo-punditry re: the wingnut SCotUS judicial activism, Judicial Dictatorship

I’ve long said that wingnuts don’t believe in government and this Wingnut Court is putting the Wingnut deconstruction of democracy on BLAST. A partial review of the Court decrees and the local radio wingnuts’ reactions:

• The GUN thing, guns anywhere – wingnuts ECSTATIC.
• Roe – happy for the wingnut victory but not that thrilled, their being more secular, less Fundie about the religious impetus of the anti-Choice issue.
• The Praying Coach, end Church/State, another step towards the Sharia model – same as for Roe.
• No stay in Mexico – DISASTER for them – blame BIDEN for the coming DOOM. But my take, Court shares the blame, diffusing a bit.
• Crack the EPA, end of the Agencies not to mention the planet – wingnuts ECSTATIC.
• Upholding Repuke Gerrymandering, continued war on voting - too long range for ecstasy.

Two ways to explain: 1) The ‘murican culture, and, 2) the Roman model.

Let’s start with the Romans: Their cycle was KINGS for a few hundred years at first, then the REPUBLIC for another few hundreds, then the EMPIRE for a thousand. Civil wars at least in each transition.

• We’re at the End of the Republic part. Perhaps the cycle is inevitable, but The ‘murican Nature/Culture fits right in: That vaunted “Rugged individualism” and 18th Century mechanical (The Clock) Constitution – the former making “Every man a king” meaning every wiseass dude thinking he knows-it-all, making the country UNGOVERNABLE.

• The Constitution with the vaunted “separation of powers” being the seed for GRIDLOCK. In our times fueled by LIMBAUGH’s Scorched Earth/POLARIZATION – no cooperation/”bipartisanship” – only Winners/Losers.

I remember when the Court was “Liberal” that the wingnuts fumed about “JUDICIAL ACTIVISTS.” But it feels fine to them now that the activism is on the other foot. Now Judicial DICTATORSHIP is the m.o.

And the local wingnuts are claiming that the Court is NOT POLITICAL – hardeeharhar, yeah-right.

Since the end of a 50-50 Court with a swing vote, that the wingnuts rose and then gained confidence in their power, they went from chipping away at Voting Rights to now tsunami-ing their Judicial Dictatorship to destroying democracy.

Guess what’s on their docket for next term: Giving STATES power to regulate federal elections, reversing popular vote outcomes in the states.

June 22, 2022

So ANTI-secession (Texas) is *settled law*?! - wait a minnit! - where have we heard "settled law"

before?! --- oh, yes, it's coming to me, don't RUSH me: Here it is,

In all the sworn testimony of those wingnut nominees to the SCofUS, where they swore up and down that this-or-that was settled law. Also that they profoundly respected that other thing, "stare decisis" or somesuch.

So when the Texas wingnuts declared their wish to secede (again), all the so-called and self-called "legal experts" immediately went into their tut-tut, tsk-tsk, pooh-pooh mode, to the effect of their god SCALIA's saying, "It was settled in 1865."

*** Don't be too sure, especially where Texas wingnuts are involved, since *their* precedent goes along these lines: Crossing a "porous border" into a country of a different religion and a different policy against slavery, and these Whites spoke in tongues to their Brown hosts, swearing to at least put up with Catholicism and not own other people. When really, their concept of giving their word meant "biding time" to figure out the weak points and how soft the target was until they gathered the contents of their britches to take what they really wanted, Word or no word. And when they grabbed their Promised Land, they made up their own constitution making slavery legal.

And White wingnuts have found Teh "Brown ones" (said Poppy BUSH of his grandchildren) to be a soft target indeed, the BUSH Family Evil Empire being the shining example itself of a hot knife through butter. Poppy and Shrub had the touch with Teh Browns, about how needy they were for just a smile and a hug and just one little mangled WORD of "Spanish lingo" (LIMBAUGH), and used the touch as one brick in career building (and more feeding at the public trough). JEB's problem was not smiling enough to cover horrible policies, and son Pee Shrub just had NO charm at all, just sour besides being half-Brown. JEB was supposedly "smart" but didn't think outside the box like Poppy and Shrub.

*** So the Brits thought Brexit wouldn't happen; the "Royals" thought Mexit wouldn't happen; and most of the country thought Drumpf wouldn't happen.

Not saying the Texas wingnuts will secede, who knows how soon, but never underestimate the impossible. The whole planet might be blown up any given day, too, so there's that.

June 20, 2022

Australians have the simple answers to American mental gridlock over gun management

I haven't seen Meet the Press for a decade+ but just saw a clip of guest former (prime minister?) saying that after a gun massacre in the '90s, Australia enacted a prohibition on the assault type (am sure I'll be corrected), a 28 day waiting period on buying others, and a buy-back program removing a humongous number of guns. He also said, "You can CHANGE the law." And that there have been zero of the massacres the U.S. has been having all these years.

Then this Australian comedian popped into my machine, "shooting down" (so to speak) all the arguments that American gun nuts and NRA use here to fuel the gun mania.

*****PARAPHRASE, from bad memory (the dude is much more cogent and hilarious) : ***

(American gun nuts say: ) "You can't change the Second Amendment!1" - Yes you can, it's an *AMENDMENT*! If you don't know what that is, you don't need a constitution, you need a *THESAURUS*!

They say, "We need them for hunting." Australia is a rural country. We have more dangerous wild animals (and we don't need all that hunting).

(Gun nuts) argue the way slave owners could have done: "You can't take away my slaves - I take care of them, just because that other guy mistreats them why should you take MINE away?!1"

(Gun nuts) say, "I need them for my family's SECURITY!" - No, you don't, if you didn't leave the window open they wouldn't get in. They say, "I keep my guns safely LOCKED UP!" Then what do you need them for?

They say, "It's THE CONSTITUTION!" - We have a constitution in Australia. I don't know what it says. If something goes wrong, we'll check out what it says. Since things are going all right, just let it be.

You don't have reasons for all the gun mania, other than you JUST *LIKE* GUNS.

*************CLOSE PARAPHRASE***********

June 19, 2022

"Hollywood on Trial" documentary, 1976. Names and other names

In the snippets of the wingnuts who testified, ratted, stoolied, funny/odd how wingnuts are the same "type" then as now - yuk yuk good ol'boys with the inside "jokes", secret handshakes, and we're/wingnuts on the INSIDE - John WAYNE, RAYGUN blustering the same as he ever did, Gary COOPER saying his profession was "actor" with a shy aw-shucks "cuteness" pseudo-embarrassed self-deprecating smile, like he suspects *everybody* knows who/what he is. So cute (not). A-holes.

On the bright side, Lauren BACALL and BOGART and others attending to protest. And the Repuke chairman of the sub-committee eventually got jailed for corruption and ended up in the same Federal prison as Ring LARDNER, Jr.

********QUOTE*****

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Hollywood-Ten

in U.S. history, 10 motion-picture producers, directors, and screenwriters who appeared before the House Un-American Activities Committee in October 1947, refused to answer questions regarding their possible communist affiliations, and, after spending time in prison for contempt of Congress, were mostly blacklisted by the Hollywood studios. The 10 were Alvah Bessie, Herbert Biberman, Lester Cole, Edward Dmytryk, Ring Lardner, Jr., John Howard Lawson, Albert Maltz, Samuel Ornitz, Adrian Scott, and Dalton Trumbo.

The group originally included the German writer Bertolt Brecht, but Brecht fled the country on the day following his inquest, and the remaining 10 were voted in contempt of Congress on November 24, 1947. Convicted in federal court the following year, they were given sentences of six months to one year in prison. (While in prison, Dmytryk broke with the rest and agreed to cooperate, admitting being a communist and giving the names of 26 others.)


https://www.insidehook.com/article/history/hollywood-actors-blacklisted-during-the-red-scare

Back in 1947, a Congressional committee began investigating Communist influence in Hollywood starting Oct. 20th.

The Cold War began to heat up between the United States and communist-controlled Soviet Union after World War II, writes History. The House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) began questioning a number of prominent witnesses, asking “Are you or have you ever been a member of the Communist Party?” Some witnesses gave the committee names, whether out of fear or patriotism. A small group, called The Hollywood Ten, resisted, History explains, saying this violated their First Amendment rights. All 10 were convicted of obstructing the investigation and served jail time. Hollywood then started a blacklist policy, banning the work of about 325 screenwriters, directors and actors who the committee had not yet cleared. Some people were able to keep working, whether it was through pseudonyms or crediting their friends. It wasn’t until the 1960s that the ban began to lift, and finally, in 1997, the Writers’ Guild of America unanimously voted to change the writing credits of 23 films made during the blacklist period, reports History.

Time put together a list of entertainers who were blacklisted. Check out some of them below. ....

Charlie Chaplin
Burgess Meredith
Orson Welles
Lena Horne
Langston Hughes
Arthur Miller
Pete Seeger
Gypsy Rose Lee
Leonard Bernstein
Dorothy Parker
John Garfield
Burl Ives
Uta Hagen
Judy Holliday
Artie Shaw
Dashiell Hammet
Lloyd Bridges

*******UNQUOTE********