I read Clarence Thomas' autobiography. It's a good book. Thomas grew up in Pinpoint, GA which is a bunch of shacks and trailers in the pines on the Savannah marshes. My parents' former home on the Intracoastal Waterway is only a couple miles from Pinpoint. Thomas came from nothing, but his Dad was a hauler with a truck who did odd jobs. His Dad instilled a tough work ethic in Clarence Thomas. His Dad was an honest entrepreneur who worked hard for his family.
If only more politicians and bureaucrats came from the same type of background.
Even as a check on power the Supreme Court is lacking due to how they are appointed, they are less judicious and more political as a result. I shouldn't know beforehand and without even looking for precedent what the individual judges will decide, but somehow I magically know how they will rule 90% of the time and so does everyone else.
These are essentially political appointees who side with their party and the powers that be as a general rule, so when even their pro-State bias isn't enough for our current dictator and thief, you know it's bad.
How many really "Good" supreme court justices have we had in the last fifty years? One for sure and he died with a pillow over his head.
Biden's scapegoats the Supreme Court in the same way he does Corporations and for the same reason. His voters are dumb enough to buy it and they like blaming everyone but their own dear leader, so it works. Meanwhile the corporations who profit from government corruption will continue to toss money at him anyway and half the judges (or a little less than that right now) will rule in his favor regardless of the merits of the case.
I have to say I'm fairly happy with the Chevron case, but their other decisions have been really hit and miss, even with Trump's picks in there. Sadly I think the courts are almost as corrupt as everything else in Washington or course that's not why Biden has a problem with them.
Overall, my impression is that everyone—literally everyone—is looking for near perfection. It ain't happenin'. In our case, the Founding Dads gave it their best shots (Feds and Anti-Feds), as you nicely summarized on FB. It's reasonable to conclude some of them knew the Constitution was problematic due to the short supply of Perfection and the overabundance of Human Nature.
Since I've been paying attention, all but a handful of SCOTUS decisions have dissents based on hypotheticals, extended What Ifs, Dancing Angels, or—in Sotomayor's recent rant—blithering idiocy for political purposes. The fantasies aired by the liberal justices are great examples - and should be grounds for some act of dismissal. People that deranged and delusional aren't qualified for the job.
The Chevron decision deserves applause as does any act or ruling that retards Govt control and/or benefits individual Freedom from it.
Scalia and Thomas are the only two justices I've met. I cannot recall an affirmation or dissent by either I did not concur—as if my agreement was necessary!
The corruption of the courts is a given, whether judges and officers are elected or appointed. IMO, as a society, we are too far gone to expect judicial purity and integrity when appointments are made on C-SPAN and openly based on political ideology. OTOH, certain 'conservative' justices have surprised with some of their 'decisions' (Roberts-Obamacare-Tax opinion may be the All-Time Champion Smell Test Failure), while liberal appointees, like Democrats in Congress, vote 'along party lines' with almost perfect consistency.
It's been interesting reading The Federalist Papers again, along with my family history, it's brought it alive in a way that surprised me, especially reading about the start of the King Phillips war and imagining what it must have been like having family killed by Indians, houses burnt out, surviving sieges, etc. Then reading about the family members on both sides of the Revolutionary war really brought it home. Somehow it just doesn't seem that long ago to me anymore.
The founders definitely did have a focus on avoiding war, I'll give them credit for at least trying. Their checks and balances help, but too many people think of them in darn near magical terms, same thing for the constitution. Too often I've heard libertarians argue that "it's in the constitution" as if that makes it automatically moral be default.
Brian, I also watched China Joe’s rant against the SCOTUS. In my 81 years there have been very few persons that I truly desise. Biden is at the top of the list. I just hope that I live long enough to read his obituary.
I read Clarence Thomas' autobiography. It's a good book. Thomas grew up in Pinpoint, GA which is a bunch of shacks and trailers in the pines on the Savannah marshes. My parents' former home on the Intracoastal Waterway is only a couple miles from Pinpoint. Thomas came from nothing, but his Dad was a hauler with a truck who did odd jobs. His Dad instilled a tough work ethic in Clarence Thomas. His Dad was an honest entrepreneur who worked hard for his family.
If only more politicians and bureaucrats came from the same type of background.
My kids in their forties, don't even know the three branches of government. They probably think the Supreme Court is a TV show with Judge Judy.
Even as a check on power the Supreme Court is lacking due to how they are appointed, they are less judicious and more political as a result. I shouldn't know beforehand and without even looking for precedent what the individual judges will decide, but somehow I magically know how they will rule 90% of the time and so does everyone else.
These are essentially political appointees who side with their party and the powers that be as a general rule, so when even their pro-State bias isn't enough for our current dictator and thief, you know it's bad.
How many really "Good" supreme court justices have we had in the last fifty years? One for sure and he died with a pillow over his head.
Biden's scapegoats the Supreme Court in the same way he does Corporations and for the same reason. His voters are dumb enough to buy it and they like blaming everyone but their own dear leader, so it works. Meanwhile the corporations who profit from government corruption will continue to toss money at him anyway and half the judges (or a little less than that right now) will rule in his favor regardless of the merits of the case.
I have to say I'm fairly happy with the Chevron case, but their other decisions have been really hit and miss, even with Trump's picks in there. Sadly I think the courts are almost as corrupt as everything else in Washington or course that's not why Biden has a problem with them.
Overall, my impression is that everyone—literally everyone—is looking for near perfection. It ain't happenin'. In our case, the Founding Dads gave it their best shots (Feds and Anti-Feds), as you nicely summarized on FB. It's reasonable to conclude some of them knew the Constitution was problematic due to the short supply of Perfection and the overabundance of Human Nature.
Since I've been paying attention, all but a handful of SCOTUS decisions have dissents based on hypotheticals, extended What Ifs, Dancing Angels, or—in Sotomayor's recent rant—blithering idiocy for political purposes. The fantasies aired by the liberal justices are great examples - and should be grounds for some act of dismissal. People that deranged and delusional aren't qualified for the job.
The Chevron decision deserves applause as does any act or ruling that retards Govt control and/or benefits individual Freedom from it.
Scalia and Thomas are the only two justices I've met. I cannot recall an affirmation or dissent by either I did not concur—as if my agreement was necessary!
The corruption of the courts is a given, whether judges and officers are elected or appointed. IMO, as a society, we are too far gone to expect judicial purity and integrity when appointments are made on C-SPAN and openly based on political ideology. OTOH, certain 'conservative' justices have surprised with some of their 'decisions' (Roberts-Obamacare-Tax opinion may be the All-Time Champion Smell Test Failure), while liberal appointees, like Democrats in Congress, vote 'along party lines' with almost perfect consistency.
And so it goes...
It's been interesting reading The Federalist Papers again, along with my family history, it's brought it alive in a way that surprised me, especially reading about the start of the King Phillips war and imagining what it must have been like having family killed by Indians, houses burnt out, surviving sieges, etc. Then reading about the family members on both sides of the Revolutionary war really brought it home. Somehow it just doesn't seem that long ago to me anymore.
The founders definitely did have a focus on avoiding war, I'll give them credit for at least trying. Their checks and balances help, but too many people think of them in darn near magical terms, same thing for the constitution. Too often I've heard libertarians argue that "it's in the constitution" as if that makes it automatically moral be default.
Not just our libertarian friends. Rs&Ds do it whenever it suits their nefarious agenda or they want to indict the other guy for some perceived no-no.
Brian, I also watched China Joe’s rant against the SCOTUS. In my 81 years there have been very few persons that I truly desise. Biden is at the top of the list. I just hope that I live long enough to read his obituary.