Lifetime appointments

This afternoon I saw the movie How to Train Your Dragon, the Hidden World. I enjoyed the two previous movies in the series. I quite enjoyed this one as well. I think it had the charm and depth of story that was missing from *Mary Poppins Returns* which I saw last week.



Just another day in America … NOT!

Since migrants wanting to seek asylum in the United States near San Diego now have to stay in Tijuana, Mexico until their turn comes, American lawyers, as well as immigration activists and journalists, have to frequently cross the border. Customs and Border Protection have compiled a list of dozens of these helpful people with a directive to stop them for questioning. The list describes them as “Suspected Organizers, Coordinators, Instigators, and Media.”

Melissa McEwan of Shakesville reminds us:

This is rank authoritarian intimidation right at the intersection of the Trump Regime's wars on the press, immigrants, and dissidents.
…
This administration's vile nativist agenda treats migrants, refugees, and their advocates as the collective canary in their coal mine.

The targeting and intimidation of journalists, lawyers, and immigration activists under the auspices of "national security" is intolerable on its face, but understand that whatever the Trump Regime is doing to people at the southern border, they will expand to the broader population eventually.

We must resist these authoritarian strategies not only because they are cruel and indecent and unjust, but also because if we fail to resist them, they will proliferate.

Time to make some noise. Call your Senators and rep.

Jennifer Bendery, reporting for The Huffington Post has been following the nasty guy’s judicial nominees and their approvals by the GOP majority in the Senate. A couple things Bendery found:

Some of these nominees are really young. Allison Jones Rushing is only 37. And this is for a lifetime appointment.

Before being nominated for the Circuit Court, Rushing worked for Alliance Defending Freedom, which the Southern Poverty Law Center has classified as a hate group. A lot of nominees are recommended by ADF or the Federalist Society.

Many of these nominees, such as Rushing, have little experience.

1 in 6 seats on the US Circuit Courts is now filled by a judge nominated by the nasty guy.

McEwan adds:

The primary — indeed only — qualification is being a conservative ideologue who will limit the rights of marginalized people and protect privilege (and the people who enjoy it).

The nasty guy has been able to move so many nominations so quickly is because gravedigger McConnell refused to confirm judges during Obama’s presidency, leaving well over 100 vacant seats the nasty guy is rapidly filling.

The Circuit Courts are important. They hear more than 7,000 cases a year. The Supremes review less than 150 of them.

McEwan again:

The Republican Party, led by Mitch McConnell, Donald Trump, and Mike Pence — and let us never forget the contributions of erstwhile Speakers John Boehner and Paul Ryan — are reshaping the judiciary to ensure that it has little power or wont to provide checks and balances on the executive branch.

Right now, with the exception of newly-empowered House Democrats, the courts are We the People's only possibly remedy to Trump's attempts to subvert our democracy *permanently*. The courts are where we turn to deliver checks and consequences on a president who has zero respect for the rule of law or democratic norms.

The GOP knows that. And they want to remove that barrier to their goal of unfettered power. Chillingly, it's working.

There was an oil spill from a damaged ship near the Solomon Islands, threatening an environmental gem and a UNESCO Heritage Site. That allowed Bill in Portland Maine to change a few words and make an interesting point on his Cheers and Jeers post on Daily Kos.

A sunshine spill in the Pacific Ocean's Solomon Islands after a solar energy's cargo ship ran aground is threatening an endangered environmental gem.

"The impact of this sunshine spill will have a devastating effect on the surrounding environment … ” Australia's High Commissioner to the Solomon Islands Rod Brazier said in a statement.
…
Press reports said that 75 tons of solar energy have spilled into the ocean already…

I'm sure that by now you know it wasn't really a "sunshine spill," because that would be nonsensical. I was, of course, just making a point by changing a key word to demonstrate what could never happen with solar energy. … I just hope they figure out how to safely dispose of those 675 tons of wind.