Supreme Partial Justice

U.S. Supreme Court building. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

As another U.S. Supreme Court session concludes for the summer, we're getting the usual run of controversial decisions and what cases the justices want to hear next fall.  All this with a full bench too, as Neil Gorsuch joined in halfway through after being confirmed.

This year's prize for the most controversial decision goes to the Court's partially upholding President Donald Trump's travel ban.  It bars people from six Muslim-majority countries--Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen--from entering the U.S. unless they already have an existing relationship such as relatives, students and workers.  It's not the total ban the President sought in the name of national security, nor is it the repudiation of Trump's executive orders that lower courts have blocked in the name of civil liberties.  But it'll have to do until the Court decides on the constitutional issues in the next session.  By then, the 90-day ban should be over with.

Elsewhere, the Court ruled in favor of same sex couples in Arkansas who claimed that they were discriminated against because their kids' birth certificates were treated differently than other couples.  The justices will also hear the case of a Colorado baker who refused to bake a cake for a same sex wedding, citing religious beliefs.  They won't, however, hear arguments for and against carrying guns in public.

The makeup of the Supreme Court is always a concern, and if the reports are true, the Republicans and President Trump will soon be picking someone who will make the Court more conservative than it already is.  Justice Anthony Kennedy is reportedly thinking of stepping down, either before the next term or afterwards.  If that is the case, the fate of the Constitution lies in whoever replaces them.

Random Thoughts 2017, Volume 1

Official portrait of United States Senator (R-KY) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Republican Senate is making another attempt to "repeal and replace" the Affordable Care Act with its own version of the health care law the House passed recently.  Despite all the secrecy majority leader Mitch McConnell surrounded the bill with, Senate Democrats complaining about the lack of their input and the haste with which this is all being put together before the July Fourth recess, not much has changed.  Medicaid will be cut way back, tax breaks for the wealthy are included, and penalties for skipping out on health care will be retained.  According to the Congressional Budget Office, however, 22 million folks will end up without any kind of health insurance if the law passes--15 million in 2018 alone.  More to the point, most everybody outside the GOP and President Donald Trump hates the Senate bill.  But there are those GOP senators who need to be convinced that this is a good idea, so the vote will be close.  Meanwhile, more and more health insurance companies are getting out of state exchanges, so something needs to be done.

UPDATE (6/27/17):  The vote now won't take place until after the July 4th recess.  Maybe that'll get some of those senators to actually read the bill.

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The Russian hacking scandal was enlivened by the testimony before Senate committees and national TV audiences of former FBI director James Comey and current Attorney General Jeff Sessions, neither of whom succeeded in nailing Trump and his cronies to the wall on whether they had anything to do with it.  Instead, the headline was that the closer special prosecutor Robert Mueller  got to the truth, the more the President is inclined to fire him.  Meanwhile, a Washington Post article seems to have put the blame on former President Barack Obama for not doing enough to stop the Russians during the 2016 campaign.  Trump, as usual, gloats over Twitter.

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Recent special elections in which Democrats keep losing to GOP candidates should have told the party to come up with a different message besides being anti-Trump.  And to start thinking beyond Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders and Nancy Pelosi.

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Why are there no cameras allowed at White House press briefings any more?  Does Trump and his staff hate the American people and their representatives in the media so much  that we're now on a "need to know" basis?  And why is the mainstream media putting up with this?

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The family of Philando Castile has reached a $3 million out-of-court settlement with the city of St. Anthony, Minnesota, after one of their police officers was exonerated for killing Castile during a traffic stop--with the whole world watching.  No amount of compensation will be enough to ease the pain and suffering of Castile's family.  But if it takes a bad cop off the street, it's a small comfort.

America in Black and Blue, Revisited

Before we begin, we should tell you that this is an update on a post we did nearly a year ago, with new information added and/or substituted.

The United States is about to celebrate its 241st birthday with fireworks, Pentagon-sponsored salutes to the troops at Major League Baseball games, tweets and speeches from President Donald Trump boasting about Making America Great Again, and heightened security at public venues prompted by terror attacks in Paris, London and Manchester, England.

Land of the free, home of the secure.  Unless, of course, you happen to be African-American.  It's all part of what's been going on since the murder of Trayvon Martin and the disturbances in Ferguson, Missouri:  Misguided police officers who target African-Americans for even the most minor offenses,  No matter how much of a model citizen you are, if you take one step out of line, you're dead.  Or get sent to prison if you're lucky.

Friday, after a long trial and almost a week of deliberations, a jury in St. Paul, Minnesota acquits a police officer from nearby Falcon Heights named Jeronimo Yanez, who shot and killed an African-American man named Philando Castile during a traffic stop for a broken tail light on his car.  Yanez believed Castile was about to reach for his gun, when he was really fishing for his ID.

There was video of the incident taken by Castile's girlfriend (who was driving the car), which was shown live on Facebook.  The jury apparently thought there was more to this story than the camera did not cover, and chose to believe Yanez' side of the story.  Which is unfortunately not surprising, because juries more often than not would rather side with the men and women in blue in spite of damning evidence to the contrary.

After the verdict, Castile's supporters and others reacted in a form of protest that's become unique to Minnesota.  They didn't just take it to the streets, they also chose to make their stands by blocking traffic on the freeway.  On past occasions, such venues as shopping malls and the entrance to the Minnesota State Fair (which just happens to be in Falcon Heights) were also used for staging protests.  The majority of them have been peaceful, but there have been some arrests.  These situations, while understandable, do tend to leave ordinary (white) folks angered and confused over whether the unorthodox protesting is really accomplishing anything.

Not all police officers are trigger-happy racists, but there are enough of them to make everyone uncomfortable no matter who you are.  And using military-style weapons on Main Street, especially tanks and 'robot bombs', is not a good look.  This isn't Kandahar or Baghdad.

Just as law enforcement expects us to follow the rules put down by society, we expect them to treat everyone with the respect and dignity we deserve.  Having said that, how can they respect us if they know they're not going to be prosecuted for some of the reprehensible things that they do?

In 2017, we don't need al-Qaeda or the Islamic State to come over and kill Americans.  We can handle that job ourselves, thank you very much.  Every mass shooting, every racially-motivated murder-by-cop, and every dollar sent to the National Rifle Association to make sure that Congress keeps the Second Amendment intact just adds to the perception that we never really left the Wild West.

As long as guns--its misuse by criminals, authority figures and reputed racists remain facts of life, the potential for catastrophe remains high.  We need a real solution, and no more wasting time on prayers, flags at half staff, moments of silence and expressing condolences.  What's it going to take?

Happy birthday, America.  How many more?

Shots Fired at Partisanship

Photo of Congressman Steve Scalise (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

We interrupt coverage of Russia-gate for breaking news:  Four people were shot and wounded during a baseball practice in Alexandria, Virginia early Wednesday morning.  Among them was Steve Scalise, a Republican congressman from Louisiana who is also House Majority Whip.  As of this posting, he is hospitalized in critical condition.

The man who local police say did the shooting supported Senator Bernie Sanders in the last presidential campaign, and who allegedly had an intense dislike for the GOP and President Donald Trump.  The suspect was killed by police.

With all the incendiary political rhetoric by both Republicans and Democrats in the past few years, we should have seen this coming.  Whether it's politicians who put party before country, Presidents who turn their backs on the rest of the world, conservative talk radio, raucous open forums, name-calling on the campaign trail and other things, it doesn't take much for some demented individual to take matters into his or her hands.  Just ask Gabrielle Giffords.

Gun control?  Are you kidding?  Congress won't pass legislation even when thousands of kids  are murdered every year due to gun violence on the streets.  Or, if you believe people like Alex Jones, it's all fake news.

Of course, Alexandria wasn't the only place where violence has occurred.  In San Francisco later that morning, four people including the gunman were killed at a UPS facility.  Just recently, London and Manchester, England were hit by terrorists, killing dozens.  And maybe in your town, there have been reports of random shootings resulting in the deaths of those who were in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Everyone in Washington from the President on down offered messages of unity and outrage as one of their own lies in a hospital fighting for his life.  The baseball game Rep. Scalise was preparing for, which is the annual tilt between the Republicans and Democrats, will go on as scheduled Thursday.  Obviously, it's going to take more than a game to heal the nation's divisions that the participants themselves helped to create.  It is they who must set an example in toning down the toxic and divisive political rhetoric, which threatens to do more damage to this country than the Russians ever could.

Until then, we return you to our regularly scheduled scandal and gridlock.