A law trapped in amber

Last September Anna Liz Nichols of Michigan Advance wrote about “gay panic” as a defense used by those who committed violence against an LGBTQ person. It was in the news then because the Michigan House began hearings on banning its use. Rep. Laurie Pohutsky, who is bisexual, is leading the effort. Pohutsky said this defense is based on LGBTQ people being considered inherently less human. Research out of St. Edward’s University found that 104 cases across 35 states attempted to use a “gay panic” defense between 1970 to 2020. Yeah, that’s only about two cases a year (which is still too many). Michigan had four cases and ranked sixth among the states. Examples of gay panic are an 18 year old getting bludgeoned to death when her attacker realized she had male anatomy. A 15 year old boy wore a dress and heels to class and the next day was shot in front of other students. That the “panic” happened the next day is one of the absurd parts of its use. Back in 2013 the American Bar Association asked federal, state, and local governments to ban the use of the “gay panic” defense. Even so the majority of states still allow its use. That article was posted before the House voted to approve the ban. Yesterday, Jon King of Michigan Advance reported that it did pass the House, though King didn’t say how long ago. It passed with a vote of 56-53 along party lines. King wrote about it because it has now passed the Senate, 24-14, and included four Republicans joining all the Democrats. The bill now must return to the House for one more vote, then on to Gov. Whitmer for her expected signature. Mark Sumner of Daily Kos reported that Moody’s Analytics analyzed the economic plans of both Biden and the nasty guy. It tempered its forecasts with “and can implement his plans.” Then it went on to say under Biden inflation would drop below 2% and the economy would continue steady growth. Under the nasty guy and because of his plans for mass deportation there would be a sharp increase in inflation and interest rates, followed by depressed growth and a recession next year. That would happen because mass deportation would choke a labor market that’s already tight. Disrupting immigrant lives would be especially hard on agriculture, leading to food shortages and high food prices. One reason for this analysis is Florida is already trying it. Republicans limited immigrant workers on farms that are now unable to get the help they need. Sumner concluded:

This is just one more area where it seems like the choice should be blindingly obvious. And that’s before even considering the other effects, like the damage done by tearing apart immigrant families and destroying environmental progress.

Sumner also reported on current campaign fundraising in May. Biden did quite well, pulling in $60 million. The nasty guy pulled in $141 million, $53 million on just one day after his conviction. The nasty guy’s haul didn’t come entirely from the little people enamored with him. One check of $50 million came from Tim Mellon, whose wealth is in banking and was begun three generations back. Mellon also donated another $25 million to the nasty guy and $25 million to RFK Jr. That means he may be the first person in history to donate $100 million in one election cycle. There was also a $10 million check from Richard and Elizabeth Uihlein. Their money comes from beer and also began three generations back. That means neither one of these families has experience with why people are poor, so their comments about the poor are rather stupid. Yet, their donations to the nasty guy are a pretty big bribe for him to trash the already shaky social safety net. Aldous Pennyfarthing of Kos has yet another post on all the Ten Commandments the nasty guy has violated, even though he say how much he loves them. In the comments of a pundit roundup by Greg Dworkin for Kos are a few good cartoons and memes. Phil Hands has Ten Commandments by the nasty guy for Christians who support him. A few of them:

1. Thou shalt have no other politicians before me. 4. Remember my Supreme Court nominees and keep them holy. 7. Thou shalt not admit adultery.

Rambler797 posted a tweet by Thomas Horrocks with a quote by Kurt Vonnegut that essentially asks why the commandments of Moses and not the Beatitudes of Jesus? These are the verses that include “Blessed are the merciful,” and “Blessed are the peacemakers.” exlrrp posted a meme showing when it gets really hot in New York City, as it is now, the Statue of Liberty drops the robe and stands there in her bikini. And way down in the comments is a tweet by Jane of the North showing a woman holding a protest sign that says, “‘He who hath not a uterus should shut the fucketh up.’ ~Fallopians 13:13” For my non Christian readers, the Bible doesn’t have that book but it does have a book with the name “Philippians.” Now back to one of the pundits. Dworkin quoted CNN writing about the Supreme Court upholding the ban on domestic abusers having guns.

Justice Amy Coney Barrett, a conservative who has been raising concerns about the Supreme Court’s approach on history in recent cases, penned a brief concurrence criticizing how some lower courts were looking for near-identical historical gun laws when examining modern regulations. “Imposing a test that demands overly specific analogues has serious problems,” Barrett wrote. “It forces 21st-century regulations to follow late-18th-century policy choices, giving us ‘a law trapped in amber.’”

Dworkin added:

Amy Coney Barrett is clearly the sharpest of the court’s conservatives. I would not be surprised to see her as Chief Justice some day. That’s an observation, not an endorsement.

Enough of that guy. Let’s talk about his opponent. Sumner wrote that one of Biden’s greatest achievements is one no one knows about. I’ll try to summarize. Back in 2020 as the economy was heading into recession and the highest unemployment rate in 90 years the nasty guy went to Saudi Arabia and demanded they cut production to keep oil prices up. When Biden took office prices rose sharply as renewed demand outpaced supply. In 2022, as Russia began to be sanctioned, Biden went to Saudi Arabia to ask them to keep the oil flowing. They refused. The US is both the world’s largest oil producer and has the largest reserves. And Biden was able to manipulate the reserves. He released oil to counteract the price surge from Russia’s war, then bought back reserves and made a profit for the US treasury. And for US oil companies. Who look to be supporting the nasty guy. Back at the start of the month Dartagnan of the Kos community reported that Biden’s 200th and 201st nominees for the federal judiciary had been confirmed. That’s a lot of nominees (though there are still seats to fill). It also means Biden has nominated and gotten confirmed more black women to Courts of Appeal than all prior presidents combined. While the nasty guy’s appointments were 65% white men, Biden’s appointments have been just 13% white men. This article doesn’t say the number of LGBTQ people appointed, also much larger than before. Biden said, “Judges matter.” They can uphold basic rights or roll them back. Over the last four years (and longer than that) we can see judges are not totally objective and unbiased. The difference between judges appointed by Democrats and Republicans have been stark. Alito, Thomas, and district judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, appointed by Republicans, routinely make the news. The headlines are about denying rights and often are abrupt departure from law or precedent. But judges should not be making news. They should be upholding laws and the Constitution. And the ones appointed by Democrats don’t seek or attain notoriety. Dartagnan then reviewed how much judges and justices have strayed from that job into having the only goal of upholding Republican goals and domination.

So it’s important that Americans appreciate what Biden has done. He has nominated judges not simply to correspond to the racial demographics in this country, and not simply to give more deference and representation to women, though he’s done both of these things. More importantly, he is appointing jurists whose vocation is to simply apply the law fairly, not in the service of some radical dogma they feel they must adhere to. Put simply, Biden is appointing judges who are doing their jobs. And that’s a very, very good thing.