I'm not sure if everyone knows just how bad things are in America right now, how fast the "shining beacon of liberty and opportunity" is descending into a nightmarish state of theocratic fascism. And most of it is caused by the so called "pro life" party.
source: YouTube
Let me start this unprepared rant by making an observation that's baffled me for years; what's the sense in term limits as they are implemented right now? I can't see it, so maybe you can help me out here. Why do we have term limits for democratically elected officials, and at the same time lifetime appointments for the Supreme Court? It makes no sense to me to have term limits for presidents or other democratically elected officials; if they win election after election, clearly they're doing something good for the majority of the populous. There should be no problem with that, especially if there's also a strong constitution with strong protections for minorities.
There is however a BIG problem with unelected officials getting lifetime appointments. So riddle me this: why have term limits for popular leaders and no limits for appointed leaders we get stuck with by a toss of a coin? I don't remember exactly where I read it, but it's indeed true that the judicial branch is a lagging indicator of party power in America. And Americans are now stuck with the lagging consequences of the last conservative president, Donald Trump, having appointed three extremely conservative justices. The overturning of Roe, however impactful, is just the beginning and just the tip of the proverbial iceberg of basic rights in America being turned back.
Today I'll link not just one, but a couple of videos in which are discussed all of the rights taken away in just the last week of this term of SCOTUS. Luckily they're now on summer recess, but they've already announced that come next autumn they'll discuss a ruling that will potentially give states sole power over their own election laws. To just impress how catastrophic that would be, I'll just say that if that ruling was already done in 2020, it would have given Georgia the power to overturn Trump's loss in the election, Trump would still be POTUS today...
The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case in its fall term that has the potential to make partisan gerrymandering an unstoppable political force and gut voting rights protections. That may be a best-case scenario.
[...]
The case, Moore v. Harper, will address North Carolina’s congressional map. The state Supreme Court held that the map drawn by the Legislature violated state constitutional provisions against partisan gerrymandering and replaced it with its own map. Republican legislators sued, seeking emergency relief in March — which the Supreme Court did not grant — but now they’ll get their hearing in the fall.
The case will address a previously obscure legal claim known as the independent state legislature theory. It holds that state legislatures — and only state legislatures — can set the rules regarding federal elections. The Elections Clause of the U.S. Constitution states, “The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof,” subject to congressional review.
source: Governing
Note that the above discussed election map concentrated all black and mixed color voters into one district; a classical case of racial gerrymandering taking away democratic power from colored voters. SCOTUS is acting nothing like the independent institution raised above party differences it should be. The Supreme Court is now populated with a 6 - 3 majority of far right religious extremists hell-bent on taking the country back to times when hierarchies were much clearer and safer for white males, destroying what's left of democracy along the way. They've already ruled on a case, Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, eroding the separation between church and state:
The court has adopted an approach that would see the lines between church and state hopelessly blurred, if not eliminated altogether.
[...]
For nearly 75 years, the court has recognized that both of the First Amendment’s religion clauses are vital to protecting religious freedom: The Establishment Clause protects against governmental endorsement and imposition of religion, and the Free Exercise Clause ensures the right to practice your faith without harming others. No more. The court has increasingly treated the Establishment Clause as a historical footnote, threatening both the independence of religion and the religious neutrality of the state.
source: ACLU
Are these people even aware of the fact that the Founders explicitly did NOT base the constitution in faith or religion? God or the Bible aren't mentioned even once in there! Oh wait, He is mentioned once, at the bottom just above the signatures where it says "in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty seven"... So... There... Of course you know already that America is becoming a theocracy and that they're not at all pro-life as soon as new life leaves the womb if you've read my posts U.S. Theocracy and Pro-Life? Anti-Life?. Look, I'm not even an American, so why should I care? Well, I just do, and the better question is why some Americans don't seem to care. SCOTUS has overturned a more than a century old gun-control law in New York, but they don't bat an eye when the next mass shooting takes place during celebrations on the 4th of July. News reports on that stated that these mass shootings are now "as American as apple pie." States with the highest numbers of child mortality and teen pregnancy are the same states that have trigger laws in preparation of the overturning of Roe. And SCOTUS has recently also taken away the power of the EPA to take measures against climate change... Pro Life? I think not.
It has just begun. These justices are here for as long as they live. The below linked videos are all from one of the few real TV journalists left in America's mainstream media, and it should tell something that he's an ex-employee of Al Jazeera... Mehdi Hasan spells out how dire the situation has become in the United States, and he also criticizes, as he should, the Democrats for their perpetual inaction in the face of this onslaught...
Fred Guttenberg: SCOTUS' Gun Ruling Is ‘Deadly’ | The Mehdi Hasan Show
What Post-Roe Activism Looks Like In Mississippi | The Mehdi Hasan Show
Dems Have Energy After Roe. What About a Plan? | The Mehdi Hasan Show
The Supreme Court's Minority Rulings Aren't Over | The Mehdi Hasan Show
SCOTUS' Major Blow To Biden's Climate Agenda | The Mehdi Hasan Show
The GOP's Indifference To Gun Violence In America | The Mehdi Hasan Show
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