In order to maintain a veneer of legality,

This is Banned Book Week, a way to inform the public about censorship in libraries and schools. The American Library Association keeps track of the books that are challenged – documented requests to remove materials from schools and libraries. There were 377 such challenge in 2019 and only a few of those reported by the media. Of the top ten most challenged books last year eight of them, including the top six, are LGBTQIA related. A complaint for the top book, George by Alex Gino, said libraries should not “put books in a child’s hand that require discussion.” I think a book that requires discussion is a fine book! The two in the top ten not gay related are The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, and the Harry Potter series by JK Rowling. Dartagnan of the Daily Kos community wrote about what William Barr of the Department of No Justice is doing with the rule of law. We’ve long understood that to be everyone is treated equally under the law – the law applies to everyone. But under Barr and the nasty guy it has become “rule by law”

in this case, the act of deliberately weaponizing existing law as a vehicle to punish Donald Trump’s political opponents while rewarding his supporters. … In other words, in order to maintain a veneer of legality, a regime dedicated to “rule by law” selectively applies existing law in order to achieve its political ends and intimidate any opposition, but not to reach a “just” result. The distinction is important because of the ramifications it holds not only for the regime’s immediate targets and victims, but for the profound damage it does to the public’s perception of “the law” as a system to achieve equal justice. If allowed to continue, as [former federal prosecutor at the DoJ Ankush] Zhardori notes, this transformation has the potential to result in a despotic, oppressive society, one that is a far cry from what most Americans would expect or want. … The corruption of the legal process as a bludgeon to be wielded against Trump’s political enemies sends the tacit signal to individuals and corporations that if they break the law, their support or opposition of the administration will be a defining factor in whether they are prosecuted. That is the very essence of corruption.

Ian Reifowitz of the Kos community reviewed a few cases of Congress or a president affected the Supreme Court. For example, John Adams, just before he left office, reduced the number of Supremes from six to five and created 16 new circuit court judgeships. Once Thomas Jefferson was inaugurated he went about undoing what Adams had done. Andrew Johnson, the racist who became president when Lincoln was shot, had an opportunity to fill a vacant seat – except Congress eliminated it. They added it back when Ulysses Grant became president. There have been times that the Senate rejected a candidate. That happened when Reagan nominated Robert Bork. Even so the Senate confirmed another Reagan nomination and did so in an election year. The big change in 2016 wasn’t that the Senate rejected Obama’s nominee, it was that they ignored him. It is this misdeed that Reifowitz says gives Democrats sufficient justification for adding two more seats to the Court. Laura Sullivan of NPR reported on plastic recycling. This story has a four minute audio, though what I’m working from isn’t a transcript, but the information written as a news article. Back in the 1970s people were getting upset with all the plastic trash. So the plastic industry began campaigning on the benefits of plastic. In the late 1980s they campaigned to get almost 40 states to mandate recycling symbols be put on plastic containers. Consumers responded, throwing their plastic into recycling bins. Except… This was purely a public relations move. Yeah, used plastic can be collected, sorted, melted down, and turned into a fresh product. But that process is much more costly than making new plastic and the recycled stuff is never as good. Only about 10% of recycled plastic is actually recycled. The rest is sent to landfills. The profit is in generating new stuff. This was known way before the recycling campaign was started. There’s a new plastic plant in Sweeney, Texas. Company officials say it will recycle 100% of the plastic it makes by 2040. Recycling is much more efficient. This time it’s different. Industry insiders say, yeah, we’ve heard that before.