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marmar
marmar's Journal
marmar's Journal
May 20, 2025
A man was arrested after he allegedly broke the window of a Del Taco in Florida because he was denied service, according to the Charlotte County Sheriff's Office.
It was around midnight Sundaywhen the suspect Anthony Izzo pulled into the drive-thru in Port Charlotte, a city about 30 miles northwest of Fort Myers, according to NBC affiliate Gulf Coast News, citing the sheriff's office.
Employees told Izzo they were closed, and couldn't take his order because they had shut the kitchen down and put away the meat, authorities said.
Moments later, employees heard loud popping noises, and one worker called 911. She told the operator she heard popping noises that sounded like gunshots near the drive-thru window. ................(more)
https://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/florida-man-breaks-del-taco-window-after-being-denied-tacos-at-closing-time-sheriff/3617676/
Florida man breaks Del Taco window after he's denied tacos at closing time
A man was arrested after he allegedly broke the window of a Del Taco in Florida because he was denied service, according to the Charlotte County Sheriff's Office.
It was around midnight Sundaywhen the suspect Anthony Izzo pulled into the drive-thru in Port Charlotte, a city about 30 miles northwest of Fort Myers, according to NBC affiliate Gulf Coast News, citing the sheriff's office.
Employees told Izzo they were closed, and couldn't take his order because they had shut the kitchen down and put away the meat, authorities said.
Moments later, employees heard loud popping noises, and one worker called 911. She told the operator she heard popping noises that sounded like gunshots near the drive-thru window. ................(more)
https://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/florida-man-breaks-del-taco-window-after-being-denied-tacos-at-closing-time-sheriff/3617676/
May 20, 2025
U.S. public transit ridership has rebounded to 85 percent of pre-pandemic levels, according to two new reports from the American Public Transportation Association (APTA). APTA notes the national office occupancy rate is trailing behind transit’s recovery, sitting at 52 percent.
APTA’s 75th edition of the Public Transportation Fact Book and its latest Ridership Policy Brief highlight the industry's rebound, with transit agencies delivering 7.7 billion passenger trips in 2024 – 491 million more than the previous year.
“We’re seeing remarkable recovery across all modes of public transportation, demonstrating the resilience and ongoing importance of public transit and passenger rail in connecting our communities,” said APTA President and CEO Paul P. Skoutelas. “Ridership continues to rebound despite limited office attendance, proving public transportation serves far more than traditional commuters. Our systems are vital lifelines, taking people to work, school, healthcare and special community events.”
APTA found that bus ridership has shown a particularly strong resurgence since bus riders tend to be younger and work in service industry jobs that require in-person attendance. APTA also found that ridership patterns vary based on city size. In general, smaller cities have restored their ridership to higher levels than larger cities. ...............(more)
https://www.masstransitmag.com/management/press-release/55290558/american-public-transportation-association-aptas-new-report-reveals-us-transit-ridership-increasing-to-85-percent-of-pre-pandemic-levels
APTA's new report reveals U.S. transit ridership increasing to 85 percent of pre-pandemic levels
U.S. public transit ridership has rebounded to 85 percent of pre-pandemic levels, according to two new reports from the American Public Transportation Association (APTA). APTA notes the national office occupancy rate is trailing behind transit’s recovery, sitting at 52 percent.
APTA’s 75th edition of the Public Transportation Fact Book and its latest Ridership Policy Brief highlight the industry's rebound, with transit agencies delivering 7.7 billion passenger trips in 2024 – 491 million more than the previous year.
“We’re seeing remarkable recovery across all modes of public transportation, demonstrating the resilience and ongoing importance of public transit and passenger rail in connecting our communities,” said APTA President and CEO Paul P. Skoutelas. “Ridership continues to rebound despite limited office attendance, proving public transportation serves far more than traditional commuters. Our systems are vital lifelines, taking people to work, school, healthcare and special community events.”
APTA found that bus ridership has shown a particularly strong resurgence since bus riders tend to be younger and work in service industry jobs that require in-person attendance. APTA also found that ridership patterns vary based on city size. In general, smaller cities have restored their ridership to higher levels than larger cities. ...............(more)
https://www.masstransitmag.com/management/press-release/55290558/american-public-transportation-association-aptas-new-report-reveals-us-transit-ridership-increasing-to-85-percent-of-pre-pandemic-levels
May 20, 2025
The next stage of our democracy crisis: competitive authoritarianism
America’s democracy is rapidly collapsing. Examining its present state offers clues to prevent catastrophe
By Chauncey DeVega
Senior Writer
Published May 20, 2025 5:51AM (EDT)
(Salon) The mainstream American news media have failed as an institution to properly confront the country’s worsening democracy crisis in the Age of Trump. He is America’s first elected autocrat. His appetite for unlimited power is growing. It will likely never be satisfied.
In one of the most recent examples, Trump recently told NBC News’ Kristen Welker that he does not know if he is obligated to uphold and obey the United States Constitution. In response to a question about the constitutionally-guaranteed right of due process and the migrants and others deported to the infamous foreign prison in El Salvador, Trump said, “I don’t know. I have to respond by saying, again, I have brilliant lawyers that work for me, and they are going to obviously follow what the Supreme Court said. What you said is not what I heard the Supreme Court say. They have a different interpretation.”
....(snip)....
Conservative legal scholar and former judge Michael Luttig told MSNBC’s Nicole Wallace that Trump’s answer is “perhaps the most important words ever spoken by a president of the United States.” Luttig warned that this is “one of the most important stories of our times.” He continued: “I’m quite confident that the president was saying what is on his mind, and that is that he, the president of the United States, doesn’t necessarily believe that he is obligated to uphold the Constitution of the United States, as it is interpreted by the Supreme Court.”
....(snip)....
Kenneth Lowande, a professor of political science and public policy at the University of Michigan, explained how this many years-long pattern of failures by the American news media is collectively enabling Donald Trump and his MAGA movement’s authoritarian agenda:
.......................(more)
https://www.salon.com/2025/05/20/the-next-stage-of-our-democracy-crisis-competitive-authoritarianism/
The next stage of our democracy crisis: competitive authoritarianism
The next stage of our democracy crisis: competitive authoritarianism
America’s democracy is rapidly collapsing. Examining its present state offers clues to prevent catastrophe
By Chauncey DeVega
Senior Writer
Published May 20, 2025 5:51AM (EDT)
(Salon) The mainstream American news media have failed as an institution to properly confront the country’s worsening democracy crisis in the Age of Trump. He is America’s first elected autocrat. His appetite for unlimited power is growing. It will likely never be satisfied.
In one of the most recent examples, Trump recently told NBC News’ Kristen Welker that he does not know if he is obligated to uphold and obey the United States Constitution. In response to a question about the constitutionally-guaranteed right of due process and the migrants and others deported to the infamous foreign prison in El Salvador, Trump said, “I don’t know. I have to respond by saying, again, I have brilliant lawyers that work for me, and they are going to obviously follow what the Supreme Court said. What you said is not what I heard the Supreme Court say. They have a different interpretation.”
....(snip)....
Conservative legal scholar and former judge Michael Luttig told MSNBC’s Nicole Wallace that Trump’s answer is “perhaps the most important words ever spoken by a president of the United States.” Luttig warned that this is “one of the most important stories of our times.” He continued: “I’m quite confident that the president was saying what is on his mind, and that is that he, the president of the United States, doesn’t necessarily believe that he is obligated to uphold the Constitution of the United States, as it is interpreted by the Supreme Court.”
....(snip)....
Kenneth Lowande, a professor of political science and public policy at the University of Michigan, explained how this many years-long pattern of failures by the American news media is collectively enabling Donald Trump and his MAGA movement’s authoritarian agenda:
The Trump administration is extremely effective at playing to the weaknesses of news organizations like the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post. They are being taken advantage of. From Day 1 of the Trump administration, they have written relentless, daily headlines that announce President Trump’s executive actions as if they are new laws. When readers see these, they give the President credit. They see it as an accomplishment.
This has been a problem for decades. I show in my book that news coverage of executive action is shallow, brief, and very positive for the President. The media might as well be allowing the White House to write its own coverage.
What can be done? The press needs to treat each new executive action for what it is: an order to bureaucrats. Nothing more, nothing less. These orders are remarkably contingent. Most of them don’t produce the success they promise.
In short: if people do not want the public to get used to having a dictator, then the media need to stop covering his actions as if he already is one.
https://www.salon.com/2025/05/20/the-next-stage-of-our-democracy-crisis-competitive-authoritarianism/
May 20, 2025
Harvard draws the legal blueprint for how to fight back Trump’s revenge campaign
Trump and his subordinates are using every lever at their disposal to make the university pay for disobedience
By Austin Sarat
Published May 20, 2025 4:56AM (EDT)
(Salon) The legal system in this country has long prided itself on supplying justice in a measured way. Government officials are required to abide by an elaborate set of procedures before they can impose penalties on anyone. But all that seems to have fallen by the wayside in the second Trump administration. Nowhere has that been more evident than in its dealings with Harvard University.
....(snip)....
The administration is using it as a tool of vengeance because Harvard has had the temerity to resist the administration’s various edicts. In return, Trump and his subordinates are using every lever at their disposal to make the university pay the steep price for doing so.
That is revenge pure and simple. Revenge, law professor William Miller contends, is “crazed, uncontrolled, subjective, individual, admitting… no rule of limitation.” And it proceeds in an escalating cycle of tit-for-tat moves until one of the parties involved surrenders.
....(snip)....
Harvard publicly denounced the proposal. “The University will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights.” In short order, the president threatened to withdraw Harvard’s Tax Exempt Status, The Department of Homeland Security said it might revoke Harvard’s certification to participate in the Student and Exchange Visa Program, jeopardizing the enrollment of thousands of international students, and The Department of Education sends a records request to Harvard demanding information on all overseas gifts, plus information relating to “expelled foreign students.”
Harvard again poked the bear on April 21 when it filed suit against the administration. ..................(more)
https://www.salon.com/2025/05/20/harvard-draws-the-legal-blueprint-for-how-to-fight-back-trumps-revenge-campaign/
Harvard draws the legal blueprint for how to fight back Trump's revenge campaign
Harvard draws the legal blueprint for how to fight back Trump’s revenge campaign
Trump and his subordinates are using every lever at their disposal to make the university pay for disobedience
By Austin Sarat
Published May 20, 2025 4:56AM (EDT)
(Salon) The legal system in this country has long prided itself on supplying justice in a measured way. Government officials are required to abide by an elaborate set of procedures before they can impose penalties on anyone. But all that seems to have fallen by the wayside in the second Trump administration. Nowhere has that been more evident than in its dealings with Harvard University.
....(snip)....
The administration is using it as a tool of vengeance because Harvard has had the temerity to resist the administration’s various edicts. In return, Trump and his subordinates are using every lever at their disposal to make the university pay the steep price for doing so.
That is revenge pure and simple. Revenge, law professor William Miller contends, is “crazed, uncontrolled, subjective, individual, admitting… no rule of limitation.” And it proceeds in an escalating cycle of tit-for-tat moves until one of the parties involved surrenders.
....(snip)....
Harvard publicly denounced the proposal. “The University will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights.” In short order, the president threatened to withdraw Harvard’s Tax Exempt Status, The Department of Homeland Security said it might revoke Harvard’s certification to participate in the Student and Exchange Visa Program, jeopardizing the enrollment of thousands of international students, and The Department of Education sends a records request to Harvard demanding information on all overseas gifts, plus information relating to “expelled foreign students.”
Harvard again poked the bear on April 21 when it filed suit against the administration. ..................(more)
https://www.salon.com/2025/05/20/harvard-draws-the-legal-blueprint-for-how-to-fight-back-trumps-revenge-campaign/
May 19, 2025
RFK Jr. is laundering Christian right views as MAHA
Christian conservatives know they have a branding problem with women
By Amanda Marcotte
Senior Writer
Published May 19, 2025 6:00AM (EDT)
(Salon) At first blush, Casey Means seems like the last person Christian conservatives would want as the Surgeon General. Donald Trump's new pick for the nation's top doctor, though she does not have a medical license, favors the occult-speak popular in the "wellness" influencer world where she makes her money. As Kiera Butler and Anna Merlan at Mother Jones documented, Means veers "in a more New Age direction" in her "medical" writing. "Perhaps the body is simply the material ‘radio receiver’ through which we can ‘tune in’ to the divine," she mused in her October newsletter, where she also speculated about "the vibration of humanity" and how the "future of medicine will be about light." In another, she wrote about how she found love after she built a "small meditation shrine in my house," performed "full moon ceremonies," and spoke with trees, "letting them know I was ready for partnership, and asking them if they could help."
One MAGA influencer, Laura Loomer, did try to make hay over this, but she's Jewish and so is largely ignored by the Christian right on matters like this. But Loomer isn't wrong that, in the past, this behavior would get the evangelical world all worked up over the evils of paganism and witchcraft. So far, however, they're mostly silent on the matter. That's likely because Means is aligned with them against an enemy they hate far more than Satan: feminists. Along with her shrines-and-moons talk, Means also wrote that she had shed "my identity as a 'feminist,'" giving up on wanting "'equality' in a relationship" to instead embrace "a completely different and greater power: the divine feminine." It's woo-woo, but ultimately no different than the message promoted by conservative Christians: that a woman's role is as a man's helpmeet, not his equal.
Christian conservatives know they have a branding problem. Increasing numbers of Americans in recent years are rejecting organized religion, seeing it as cruel, restrictive and close-minded. At the same time, interest in a more vague spirituality is on the rise, fueled by "wellness" influencers framing spirituality as a shortcut to worldly gains like money, fitness, and romance. The Christian right was always more interested in social control than in Jesus. Increasingly, they seem comfortable with reskinning their retrograde ideas with the aesthetics of woo-woo instead of Christianity, so long as it serves the goal of crushing social progress.
....(snip)....
Casey and her brother, Calley Means, are tight with Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert Kennedy, which is why she got the surgeon general nod and her brother got a position as a "special government employee" assisting Kennedy. Kennedy has exploited the false perception that he's a liberal Democrat to bamboozle some people into thinking far-right health policies, such as slashing Medicaid, are "moderate" positions. Like the Means siblings, he's also using his appeal to people outside the religious right as a way to launder Christian right views. .......................(more)
https://www.salon.com/2025/05/19/rfk-jr-is-laundering-christian-right-views-as-maha/
RFK Jr. is laundering Christian right views as MAHA
RFK Jr. is laundering Christian right views as MAHA
Christian conservatives know they have a branding problem with women
By Amanda Marcotte
Senior Writer
Published May 19, 2025 6:00AM (EDT)
(Salon) At first blush, Casey Means seems like the last person Christian conservatives would want as the Surgeon General. Donald Trump's new pick for the nation's top doctor, though she does not have a medical license, favors the occult-speak popular in the "wellness" influencer world where she makes her money. As Kiera Butler and Anna Merlan at Mother Jones documented, Means veers "in a more New Age direction" in her "medical" writing. "Perhaps the body is simply the material ‘radio receiver’ through which we can ‘tune in’ to the divine," she mused in her October newsletter, where she also speculated about "the vibration of humanity" and how the "future of medicine will be about light." In another, she wrote about how she found love after she built a "small meditation shrine in my house," performed "full moon ceremonies," and spoke with trees, "letting them know I was ready for partnership, and asking them if they could help."
One MAGA influencer, Laura Loomer, did try to make hay over this, but she's Jewish and so is largely ignored by the Christian right on matters like this. But Loomer isn't wrong that, in the past, this behavior would get the evangelical world all worked up over the evils of paganism and witchcraft. So far, however, they're mostly silent on the matter. That's likely because Means is aligned with them against an enemy they hate far more than Satan: feminists. Along with her shrines-and-moons talk, Means also wrote that she had shed "my identity as a 'feminist,'" giving up on wanting "'equality' in a relationship" to instead embrace "a completely different and greater power: the divine feminine." It's woo-woo, but ultimately no different than the message promoted by conservative Christians: that a woman's role is as a man's helpmeet, not his equal.
Christian conservatives know they have a branding problem. Increasing numbers of Americans in recent years are rejecting organized religion, seeing it as cruel, restrictive and close-minded. At the same time, interest in a more vague spirituality is on the rise, fueled by "wellness" influencers framing spirituality as a shortcut to worldly gains like money, fitness, and romance. The Christian right was always more interested in social control than in Jesus. Increasingly, they seem comfortable with reskinning their retrograde ideas with the aesthetics of woo-woo instead of Christianity, so long as it serves the goal of crushing social progress.
....(snip)....
Casey and her brother, Calley Means, are tight with Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert Kennedy, which is why she got the surgeon general nod and her brother got a position as a "special government employee" assisting Kennedy. Kennedy has exploited the false perception that he's a liberal Democrat to bamboozle some people into thinking far-right health policies, such as slashing Medicaid, are "moderate" positions. Like the Means siblings, he's also using his appeal to people outside the religious right as a way to launder Christian right views. .......................(more)
https://www.salon.com/2025/05/19/rfk-jr-is-laundering-christian-right-views-as-maha/
May 19, 2025
Trump is trying to COVID hack the economy
The White House prepares to falsify data and cook the books in order to sell their schemes to the American people
By Heather Digby Parton
Columnist
Published May 19, 2025 9:00AM (EDT)
(Salon) During the COVID pandemic, Donald Trump said many unforgettable things. Perhaps his most memorable line came during his daily press "briefing," during which he quizzed one of the scientists who had told him that household disinfectant could kill the virus on surfaces, saying he could "see the disinfectant, where it knocks it out in a minute. One minute. And is there a way we can do something like that, by injection inside or almost a cleaning?"
....(snip)....
But perhaps the most disturbing Trump line, which he repeated endlessly, was “if you don’t test, you don’t have any cases. If we stopped testing right now, we’d have very few cases, if any.” He apparently issued directives to that end as well
....(snip)....
The difference in this term is that there are people around him who want to institutionalize that kind of innumeracy and irrationality as part of the administration's larger plot to dismantle the government and fulfill Trump's agenda. They are preparing to falsify data and cook the books in order to sell their schemes to the American people.
....(snip)....
That's certainly dangerous. But just as dangerous is the plan to start manipulating the economic numbers in order to make the results of his policies look better. We know that he's lying egregiously about them in public comments, as he usually does. But they have bigger plans.
Just last week, the administration eliminated the Federal Economic Statistics Advisory Committee and the Bureau of Economic Analysis, just days after Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick announced that he was changing the way GDP is calculated, which would provide more upbeat figures. ...................(more)
https://www.salon.com/2025/05/19/is-trying-to-hack-the-economy/
Trump is trying to COVID hack the economy
Trump is trying to COVID hack the economy
The White House prepares to falsify data and cook the books in order to sell their schemes to the American people
By Heather Digby Parton
Columnist
Published May 19, 2025 9:00AM (EDT)
(Salon) During the COVID pandemic, Donald Trump said many unforgettable things. Perhaps his most memorable line came during his daily press "briefing," during which he quizzed one of the scientists who had told him that household disinfectant could kill the virus on surfaces, saying he could "see the disinfectant, where it knocks it out in a minute. One minute. And is there a way we can do something like that, by injection inside or almost a cleaning?"
....(snip)....
But perhaps the most disturbing Trump line, which he repeated endlessly, was “if you don’t test, you don’t have any cases. If we stopped testing right now, we’d have very few cases, if any.” He apparently issued directives to that end as well
....(snip)....
The difference in this term is that there are people around him who want to institutionalize that kind of innumeracy and irrationality as part of the administration's larger plot to dismantle the government and fulfill Trump's agenda. They are preparing to falsify data and cook the books in order to sell their schemes to the American people.
....(snip)....
That's certainly dangerous. But just as dangerous is the plan to start manipulating the economic numbers in order to make the results of his policies look better. We know that he's lying egregiously about them in public comments, as he usually does. But they have bigger plans.
Just last week, the administration eliminated the Federal Economic Statistics Advisory Committee and the Bureau of Economic Analysis, just days after Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick announced that he was changing the way GDP is calculated, which would provide more upbeat figures. ...................(more)
https://www.salon.com/2025/05/19/is-trying-to-hack-the-economy/
May 17, 2025
(Guardian UK) US judges who have increasingly rebuked the Trump administration’s harsh deportation agenda and other Maga policies are facing intense verbal assaults from the president and his allies, which seem to be spurring other dangerous threats against judges, say legal experts and former judges.
The Trump administration’s escalating fight with the courts has come as more than 200 lawsuits have challenged executive orders and policies on multiple issues including immigrant deportations, penalizing law firms with links to political foes, agency spending and workforce cuts, and other matters.
The wave of litigation has resulted in more than 100 executive orders by Trump and other initiatives being halted temporarily or paused by court rulings from judges appointed by both Democrats and Republicans including some by Trump.
Increasingly, ex-judges and legal experts warn the verbal attacks by Trump, his attorney general, Pam Bondi, and Maga allies are creating a hostile climate that endangers the safety of judges and their families. .................(more)
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/may/17/trump-judges-courts-threats
US judges ruling against Trump barraged with abuse and threats, experts warn
(Guardian UK) US judges who have increasingly rebuked the Trump administration’s harsh deportation agenda and other Maga policies are facing intense verbal assaults from the president and his allies, which seem to be spurring other dangerous threats against judges, say legal experts and former judges.
The Trump administration’s escalating fight with the courts has come as more than 200 lawsuits have challenged executive orders and policies on multiple issues including immigrant deportations, penalizing law firms with links to political foes, agency spending and workforce cuts, and other matters.
The wave of litigation has resulted in more than 100 executive orders by Trump and other initiatives being halted temporarily or paused by court rulings from judges appointed by both Democrats and Republicans including some by Trump.
Increasingly, ex-judges and legal experts warn the verbal attacks by Trump, his attorney general, Pam Bondi, and Maga allies are creating a hostile climate that endangers the safety of judges and their families. .................(more)
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/may/17/trump-judges-courts-threats
May 17, 2025
Neal Rubin
Detroit Free Press
As a mommy goose and daddy goose escorted five adorable goslings across a neighborhood pond and onto the grass in Farmington Hills the other day, I had to wonder:
At what point do they teach the kiddies to be malevolent bastards?
The Michigan Department of Natural Resources, in tribute to the foul temper, prodigious pooping and other grating characteristics of Canada geese, had announced in March that it was planning to collect and whack thousands of them, rather than just relocate them and let them get back to the business of creating further objectionable versions of themselves.
The public squawked, and as our Jalen Williams reported March 13, the DNR has decided to instead just speak to them sternly and return to the controls that don't seem to do much, but don't involve goose murder. ...................(more)
https://www.freep.com/story/news/columnists/neal-rubin/2025/05/17/michigan-dnr-not-euthanizing-geese-fight-infestation/83657846007/
Michigan won't exterminate geese -- so what's the next step?
Neal Rubin
Detroit Free Press
As a mommy goose and daddy goose escorted five adorable goslings across a neighborhood pond and onto the grass in Farmington Hills the other day, I had to wonder:
At what point do they teach the kiddies to be malevolent bastards?
The Michigan Department of Natural Resources, in tribute to the foul temper, prodigious pooping and other grating characteristics of Canada geese, had announced in March that it was planning to collect and whack thousands of them, rather than just relocate them and let them get back to the business of creating further objectionable versions of themselves.
The public squawked, and as our Jalen Williams reported March 13, the DNR has decided to instead just speak to them sternly and return to the controls that don't seem to do much, but don't involve goose murder. ...................(more)
https://www.freep.com/story/news/columnists/neal-rubin/2025/05/17/michigan-dnr-not-euthanizing-geese-fight-infestation/83657846007/
May 16, 2025
In her new book "Lawless," law professor Leah Litman chronicles the collapse of reason at the highest court
By Amanda Marcotte
Senior Writer
Published May 16, 2025 7:41AM (EDT)
(Salon) "Strict Scrutiny" cohost Leah Litman has the profile of a person who, in previous eras, would seem like a defender of the Supreme Court. She's a law professor at the University of Michigan and once worked as a law clerk for former Justice Anthony Kennedy. In recent years, she's become one of the most outspoken critics of how the current iteration of the nation's highest court has abandoned good faith readings of the law, basic legal reasoning, and even facts in pursuit of a far-right agenda. In her new book, "Lawless: How the Supreme Court Runs on Conservative Grievance, Fringe Theories, and Bad Vibes," Litman chronicles the decline of this once-venerated institution. She spoke with Salon about her book and how recent cases suggest the court is getting even more unhinged in this second Donald Trump administration.
I listened to oral arguments for Mahmoud v. Taylor, and I was struck by how victimized Sam Alito acted during the entire thing. He felt he was being oppressed by this children's book called "Uncle Bobby's Wedding." It perfectly illustrated the thesis of your book, which is about how much the jurisprudence of the current Supreme Court is all vibes and grievance. What were you thinking when you listened to those arguments?
I don't know whether to laugh or to cry. The justices keep providing me with so much content and so much material after I finished the manuscript. It perfectly reflects this notion of conservative grievance: the idea that social conservatives, religious conservatives, all the core parts of the Republican constituency, are the real victims. And there's no discrimination except against white evangelical Christians. That worldview was on display.
This is a children's book about a young girl being concerned that when her favorite uncle got married, he'd have less time for her. Justice Alito read it as a personal attack and rank discrimination against religious conservatives like him because her favorite uncle happened to be getting married to a man. Apparently, acknowledging that some men marry men whom they love is discrimination against Sam Alito and people who believe that marriage is between a man and a woman. It was stunning in its clarity.
....(snip)....
There's been this myth for a long time that there might be liberal judges and conservative judges, but they all adhere to the same belief that they should follow the facts and they should follow the law. Brett Kavanaugh talked about it as "calling balls and strikes." To reject the obvious reading of a children's picture book suggests that's not the case. How far have they drifted from those basic principles?
Oh, I would say quite far. It wasn't just Sam Alito, although he is the best example and encapsulation of this conservative grievance, bad vibes, fringe theory direction that the Supreme Court is headed in. During the same oral argument, you had Neil Gorsuch insisting that the book "Pride Puppy" involved a sex worker who was into bondage. If you read the book, there is a woman wearing a leather jacket, and she's at a Pride parade. Neil Gorsuch took from that and insisted, no, the book actually involves bondage and sex workers. ......................(more)
https://www.salon.com/2025/05/16/a-captured-by-far-right-conspiracy-theories-how-the-drove-the-off-a-cliff/
"A court captured by far-right conspiracy theories": How the GOP drove the Supreme Court off a cliff
"A court captured by far-right conspiracy theories": How the GOP drove the Supreme Court off a cliffIn her new book "Lawless," law professor Leah Litman chronicles the collapse of reason at the highest court
By Amanda Marcotte
Senior Writer
Published May 16, 2025 7:41AM (EDT)
(Salon) "Strict Scrutiny" cohost Leah Litman has the profile of a person who, in previous eras, would seem like a defender of the Supreme Court. She's a law professor at the University of Michigan and once worked as a law clerk for former Justice Anthony Kennedy. In recent years, she's become one of the most outspoken critics of how the current iteration of the nation's highest court has abandoned good faith readings of the law, basic legal reasoning, and even facts in pursuit of a far-right agenda. In her new book, "Lawless: How the Supreme Court Runs on Conservative Grievance, Fringe Theories, and Bad Vibes," Litman chronicles the decline of this once-venerated institution. She spoke with Salon about her book and how recent cases suggest the court is getting even more unhinged in this second Donald Trump administration.
I listened to oral arguments for Mahmoud v. Taylor, and I was struck by how victimized Sam Alito acted during the entire thing. He felt he was being oppressed by this children's book called "Uncle Bobby's Wedding." It perfectly illustrated the thesis of your book, which is about how much the jurisprudence of the current Supreme Court is all vibes and grievance. What were you thinking when you listened to those arguments?
I don't know whether to laugh or to cry. The justices keep providing me with so much content and so much material after I finished the manuscript. It perfectly reflects this notion of conservative grievance: the idea that social conservatives, religious conservatives, all the core parts of the Republican constituency, are the real victims. And there's no discrimination except against white evangelical Christians. That worldview was on display.
This is a children's book about a young girl being concerned that when her favorite uncle got married, he'd have less time for her. Justice Alito read it as a personal attack and rank discrimination against religious conservatives like him because her favorite uncle happened to be getting married to a man. Apparently, acknowledging that some men marry men whom they love is discrimination against Sam Alito and people who believe that marriage is between a man and a woman. It was stunning in its clarity.
....(snip)....
There's been this myth for a long time that there might be liberal judges and conservative judges, but they all adhere to the same belief that they should follow the facts and they should follow the law. Brett Kavanaugh talked about it as "calling balls and strikes." To reject the obvious reading of a children's picture book suggests that's not the case. How far have they drifted from those basic principles?
Oh, I would say quite far. It wasn't just Sam Alito, although he is the best example and encapsulation of this conservative grievance, bad vibes, fringe theory direction that the Supreme Court is headed in. During the same oral argument, you had Neil Gorsuch insisting that the book "Pride Puppy" involved a sex worker who was into bondage. If you read the book, there is a woman wearing a leather jacket, and she's at a Pride parade. Neil Gorsuch took from that and insisted, no, the book actually involves bondage and sex workers. ......................(more)
https://www.salon.com/2025/05/16/a-captured-by-far-right-conspiracy-theories-how-the-drove-the-off-a-cliff/
May 16, 2025
Woolly mice and "dire wolves" are a distraction from attacks on endangered species, experts caution
"De-extinction" takes center stage as environmentalists express dismay over erosion of the Endangered Species Act
By Carlyn Zwarenstein
Published May 15, 2025 12:00PM (EDT)
(Salon) On April 7, Colossal Biosciences, a biotech company founded in Dallas in 2021 with the goal of “de-extincting” animals, announced it had brought back the dire wolf, a creature last seen in these parts around 10,000 years ago. That same day, the U.S. Department of the Interior sent a proposal to the White House to weaken the Endangered Species Act by removing a single, vital word – “harm” – from the definition of what you can’t do to an endangered species.
And two days later, during a livestreamed town hall on Wednesday, April 9, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, the former governor of North Dakota, told department employees, now concerned about threatened weakening of the ESA, to just “pick your favorite species and call up Colossal,” explicitly tying the company’s latest success to a change that employees and other conservation experts fear would make it easier for companies or governments to degrade or destroy habitats.
....(snip)....
Colossal Biosciences has been widely criticized for its somewhat huckster-ish style and the ease with which it’s captured the attention of people like Burgum and a prominent investors, a criticism that may reveal a touch of envy – as well as for making claims that inflate the actual science involved to the point it’s easy to pop. But the company is more than a pretty gimmick.
....(snip)....
Still, if it wants to be taken seriously when it says that conservation is as important an aspect of its work as de-extinction, the highly politicized times we live in mean that Colossal, and Lamm as its figurehead, are going to have to decide which side they’re on. This is something they have tried ardently to avoid. ................(more)
https://www.salon.com/2025/05/15/woolly-mice-and-dire-wolves-are-a-distraction-from-on-endangered-species-experts-caution/
Woolly mice and "dire wolves" are a distraction from attacks on endangered species, experts caution
Woolly mice and "dire wolves" are a distraction from attacks on endangered species, experts caution
"De-extinction" takes center stage as environmentalists express dismay over erosion of the Endangered Species Act
By Carlyn Zwarenstein
Published May 15, 2025 12:00PM (EDT)
(Salon) On April 7, Colossal Biosciences, a biotech company founded in Dallas in 2021 with the goal of “de-extincting” animals, announced it had brought back the dire wolf, a creature last seen in these parts around 10,000 years ago. That same day, the U.S. Department of the Interior sent a proposal to the White House to weaken the Endangered Species Act by removing a single, vital word – “harm” – from the definition of what you can’t do to an endangered species.
And two days later, during a livestreamed town hall on Wednesday, April 9, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, the former governor of North Dakota, told department employees, now concerned about threatened weakening of the ESA, to just “pick your favorite species and call up Colossal,” explicitly tying the company’s latest success to a change that employees and other conservation experts fear would make it easier for companies or governments to degrade or destroy habitats.
....(snip)....
Colossal Biosciences has been widely criticized for its somewhat huckster-ish style and the ease with which it’s captured the attention of people like Burgum and a prominent investors, a criticism that may reveal a touch of envy – as well as for making claims that inflate the actual science involved to the point it’s easy to pop. But the company is more than a pretty gimmick.
....(snip)....
Still, if it wants to be taken seriously when it says that conservation is as important an aspect of its work as de-extinction, the highly politicized times we live in mean that Colossal, and Lamm as its figurehead, are going to have to decide which side they’re on. This is something they have tried ardently to avoid. ................(more)
https://www.salon.com/2025/05/15/woolly-mice-and-dire-wolves-are-a-distraction-from-on-endangered-species-experts-caution/
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