Implanting Bill Gates's Micro-chips In Brains For Over 20 Years!

[Greedy,Greedy,Greedy]

Originally Posted by Tyrone Slothrop

A lot of conservatives were pissed off that Souter didn't give them the kind of rulings they wanted, and the lesson they took was that they needed to exert pressure on the nomination process to make sure they got the kind of judge they wanted. When another Bush tried to nominate another Souter, W. and Harriet Miers, conservatives revolted and prevented that from happening, and got Alito instead, and we all can see how that turned out.

I think they also really got into grooming their candidates through the FedSoc. Most Supreme Court justices from the right have been getting talked up in a small circle of right wing DC insiders for years; the FedSoc can name their best candidates for the next decade or two. This just doesn't happen on the left. I think we have some idea of where our bench is, but no one is consciously grooming them for the big show.

A candidate carefully groomed over many years is much less likely to succomb to things like reasoning and so much less likely to evolve.

[Greedy,Greedy,Greedy]

Originally Posted by sebastian_dangerfield

Mathematically, the Court isn't in that bad of condition. It just needs a fourth liberal judge and Roberts to play the swing vote.

As to quality/stridency of the ideologues, well, that's different. Alito is a crypto-fascist. Gorsuch seems fine, however. I know little about Kavanaugh, but he is technically qualified. I know nothing about Barrett, but her loony religious views render her unqualified IMO.

It's not really a numbers game anymore. Sure, numbers matter.

But the big problem is that we have some real wackos on the court, people who couldn't give a shit whether their thinking is consistent or provided steady guidance to all the other courts. I think Gorsuch may be the worst of them, but Thomas, Alito and Barrett all given him a run for his money.

I think the jury is still out on Kavanaugh. Sure, he's a creepy guy chock-full of grievances. Sure, his thinking is often reptilian and his training was that of a political hack. But his writing isn't bad and shows some signs of actually trying not to be a hypocrite (Alito is, I am sure, gravely disappointed).

Even if the wackos never make it to a full majority, a court with a bunch of wackos is very dangerous.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally Posted by Greedy,Greedy,Greedy

I think they also really got into grooming their candidates through the FedSoc. Most Supreme Court justices from the right have been getting talked up in a small circle of right wing DC insiders for years; the FedSoc can name their best candidates for the next decade or two. This just doesn't happen on the left. I think we have some idea of where our bench is, but no one is consciously grooming them for the big show.

A candidate carefully groomed over many years is much less likely to succomb to things like reasoning and so much less likely to evolve.

Souter is big part of the reason for that.

Agree that the left doesn't do this. Conservatives care about the Court more (which is why McConnell blocked Garland before an election), and they are trying to change the status quo.

[Replaced_Texan]

Originally Posted by Greedy,Greedy,Greedy

My favorite Souter story though is about why he moved from his family's farmhouse to a new place, which is a pretty humble single story ranch nearby. He decided he needed a new place because the weight of his books was causing the floors to buckle and the books were more important than the house.

Some friends of mine are an architect and a book buyer. When they designed their dream home, the architect had to account for the weight of the larger than average book collection.

[Icky Thump]

Originally Posted by Greedy,Greedy,Greedy

I think the jury is still out on Kavanaugh. Sure, he's a creepy guy chock-full of grievances. Sure, his thinking is often reptilian and his training was that of a political hack. But his writing isn't bad and shows some signs of actually trying not to be a hypocrite (Alito is, I am sure, gravely disappointed).

He gave plaintiffs' lawyers the single best decision in the history of plaintiffs' lawyers so we have to like beer too.

Dems too busy trying to do the right thing while repubs trying to win. That's how you get slaughter sides.

[Adder]

Originally Posted by Greedy,Greedy,Greedy

I think they also really got into grooming their candidates through the FedSoc. Most Supreme Court justices from the right have been getting talked up in a small circle of right wing DC insiders for years; the FedSoc can name their best candidates for the next decade or two. This just doesn't happen on the left. I think we have some idea of where our bench is, but no one is consciously grooming them for the big show.

True, although Brown Jackson has been pretty obviously on he trajectory for years.

That said, if Thomas's mystery illness suddenly goes south, I do not know who is next up.

[LessinSF]

Originally Posted by Adder

True, although Brown Jackson has been pretty obviously on he trajectory for years.

That said, if Thomas's mystery illness suddenly goes south, I do not know who is next up.

Please let it be another non-Catholic.

[Greedy,Greedy,Greedy]

Originally Posted by LessinSF

Please let it be another non-Catholic.

Catholic though I be, I say "endorse" to this.

Catholic thinking is increasingly weird these days. I mean, surrealistically weird. Reading even the left wing Catholic journals has become challenging. I'm starting to find myself suspect based on some of the people I'm hanging out with.

[LessinSF]

Originally Posted by Icky Thump

He gave plaintiffs' lawyers the single best decision in the history of plaintiffs' lawyers so we have to like beer too.

Dems too busy trying to do the right thing while repubs trying to win. That's how you get slaughter sides.

Since we're referring to important legal opinions today, please note that the Second Circuit held that disgruntled fantasy baseball players could not sue Major League Baseball, the Red Sox, and the Astros, alleging that they would have done better in their fantasy leagues if the Sox and the Astros hadn't cheated.

Attorneys involved include SulCrom, Boies Schiller, and Cravath.

[Did you just call me Coltrane?]

Originally Posted by replaced_texan

sorry all for the brief downtime! My credit card number changed and i forgot to update the host. All is clear, and i also renewed the domain for another three years. Hopefully that'll keep us up and running for awhile.

Also, my son was born two weeks ago today, and i've sort of been distracted.

:d

his pictures are all over my facebook and twitter if you follow such things.

I'm in love.

congrats!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Did you just call me Coltrane?]

Originally Posted by LessinSF

Please let it be another non-Catholic.

Pastafarian.

“We are not saying that Evolution can’t exist, only that it is guided by His Noodly Appendage. And our Spaghedeity is extremely modest. For some reason, He went through a great deal of trouble to make us believe that Evolution is true--masking the prominent role of Pirates in our origins, making monkeys seem more important than they really are, generally keeping behind the scenes and out of the spotlight.”

[Greedy,Greedy,Greedy]

Originally Posted by Did you just call me Coltrane?

Pastafarian.

“We are not saying that Evolution can’t exist, only that it is guided by His Noodly Appendage. And our Spaghedeity is extremely modest. For some reason, He went through a great deal of trouble to make us believe that Evolution is true--masking the prominent role of Pirates in our origins, making monkeys seem more important than they really are, generally keeping behind the scenes and out of the spotlight.”

Yeah, if you think that is weird, try reading Vermeule.

[sebastian_dangerfield]

Originally Posted by LessinSF

Please let it be another non-Catholic.

That’s inadequate. It should be an openly atheist person. (How you gonna gird against inherent religious bias better than that?)

But no. That’ll never happen. Because as woke as this country may become, there’s one bigotry that’s always okay: Anti-Atheism.

Fuck micro-aggressions. Even as children, it’s been totally okay to call us immoral, amoral, bad people, bound for hell, people of poor ethics, suspicious, even evil.

Seriously. I still have to bite my lip because many of these people who believe in Men in the Sky will not deal with me if I admit I don’t believe in god.

It’s fucking annoying.

[Greedy,Greedy,Greedy]

Originally Posted by sebastian_dangerfield

That’s inadequate. It should be an openly atheist person. (How you gonna gird against inherent religious bias better than that?)

But no. That’ll never happen. Because as woke as this country may become, there’s one bigotry that’s always okay: Anti-Atheism.

Fuck micro-aggressions. Even as children, it’s been totally okay to call us immoral, amoral, bad people, bound for hell, people of poor ethics, suspicious, even evil.

Seriously. I still have to bite my lip because many of these people who believe in Men in the Sky will not deal with me if I admit I don’t believe in god.

It’s fucking annoying.

I'd like to nominate my old law school study partner, the Congressman from Northern California, Jared Huffman. He formed the Athiest Caucus in the House, which I think currently has 3 members.

[Icky Thump]

and it is better than any drugs