The Bad Guys Are No Longer Hiding It

Four glimpses of a dystopian future wanted by Republicans

Whoa.  I feel obligated to write a Saturday morning post because so much has transpired over the past 48 hours. Take your pick: racists running amok in Tennessee, a Texas judge’s extra-legal attempt to ban medicine use in abortions, a Supreme Court Justice failing to disclose gifts from a billionaire who keeps a gallery of sculptures of dictators in his house, and Florida’s Governor deciding that financial crimes are actually anti-woke.

Tennessee.

It shouldn’t be too surprising to hear about blatant racism in the Volunteer State. After all, Pulaski, Tenn. was the birthplace of the Ku Klux Klan, started as a social club by six bored Confederate veterans.

What occurred this week has been subject to a lot of inaccurate reporting, most of it in the form of omissions designed to portray Republicans as victims of a lawless mob.

In the wake of yet another school shooting, thousands of young people joined protests calling for dialing down the state’s anytime, anywhere gun laws. They marched on the state capitol building, filed through security at the entrances, and filled the galleries to make their opinions known.

The meeting of the legislature was adjourned, and three representatives took to the floor to show support for the chanting students. Upon finding that their microphones had been turned off by the GOP leadership, a megaphone was used to make themselves heard.

This set of actions, according to the leadership, was characterized as fomenting an “insurrection,” despite the fact that there was no damage to the building, nobody was assaulted or injured, and students left when asked to by authorities. 

What did happen were breaches of decorum. Three Democrats were facing expulsion: Justin Jones, Justin J. Pearson and Gloria Johnson. The two Black representatives were voted out, while the white woman who stood in solidarity with them was spared. 

• “It might have to do with the color of my skin,” Johnson said Thursday after seven Republicans joined Democrats in voting against her expulsion.

For the Republicans running the show in the state capitol, this was just business as usual. After all, they’d recently reduced the size of the Memphis city council as revenge for a decision by the city not to host the 2024 GOP Convention.

What they didn’t see coming was a national reaction, with many saying these actions were undemocratic and petty.

Vice President Kamala Harris flew in to address a rally supporting the Tennessee Three.

• “The children should be able to live and be safe and go to school and not be in fear,” she said. “A democracy says you don’t silence the people. You do not stifle the people. You don’t turn off their microphones when they are speaking. You don’t turn off their mic when they are talking about the importance of life and liberty.”

President Biden spoke to the representatives via a phone call and sent out the following message on social media.

• After a tragic mass shooting in Tennessee, state Republican lawmakers called votes to expel three Democratic legislators who stood in solidarity with students and families. 

• The expulsion of lawmakers who engaged in peaceful protest is shocking, undemocratic, and unprecedented.

Tennessee Republican legislators are now doubling down. In the wake of news that both expelled representatives would be named to fill their now vacant positions by locally elected officials, they’re now threatening to cut funding for state projects in Nashville and Shelby County.

Here’s Memphis City Councilman JB Smiley, Jr:

• This is the same general assembly that took money away from Shelby County when we removed confederate statues from a predominantly black city. They think very little of us. It is not surprising. We must not back down from our oppressors.

Once upon a time not that long ago, the Tennessee legislature allowed a publicly exposed child rapist molester to retain his seat. 

This should tell people about the real priorities of Republicans in Tennessee and elsewhere. Women and minorities aren’t really people as far as they are concerned.

**(Unattributed quotes are lifted from Twitter, which now bans independent writers on the Substack platform for linking to their content.)

Texas 

A Trump appointed federal Judge in Amarillo, Texas has issued a nationwide ban on a medication typically used in abortions. To understand the significance of this ruling consider that more than half of abortions in the United States are medically induced. 

The ruling affirms a claim by an extremist group –who shopped jurisdictions to get a sympathetic judge– that the Food and Drug Administration erred more than two decades ago when it approved the use of Mifeprestone.

Sadly, this particular medicine has been the subject of years of misinformation claims by anti-abortion groups.

Here’s Jill Filipovic, a renowned reporter who focuses on human rights and women’s health issues:

• Nearly 10 times as many people in the US died from taking Viagra in the first eight months after that drug’s approval than have died from abortion pills in 23 years. And of course the opposite of abortion is not “nothing” but continued pregnancy and childbirth, which is nearly five times as dangerous as ending a pregnancy with abortion pills.

• You can feel however you want about abortion, but there are also basic facts at hand. The fact is that Mifepristone is far safer than many of the drugs Americans take every day, from penicillin to Viagra. And it is far, far safer than childbirth.

As many analysts have pointed out, this decision had nothing to do with life, women’s health, drug regulation, or the law. It was a declaration based on the concept of male dominance and women as chattel. Among its many nonsensical assertions are texts cut and pasted from anti-abortion tracts and, taken literally, defining fetal life as beginning at the moment of conception.   

Since a judge in Washington State has made a contrary decision, this issue will be fast tracked to the Supreme Court. And, if you haven’t figured it out yet, be aware that the majority’s mission aligns with the Christofacsists rooting for an authoritarian state ruled by plutocrats.

Washington DC

Propublica and other outlets have revealed that Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas failed to report hundreds of thousands of dollars in free vacations and travel paid for by a right wing billionaire over the past 19 years.

The vacations included trips to Indonesia and to Bohemian Grove, an exclusive retreat nestled in the redwoods in Northern California. A luxury superyacht and private jets were at the disposal of the justice, who regularly ruled on matters brought to the court by real estate mogul Harlan Crow and groups he sponsored.

Thomas claims his relationship with Crow didn’t affect his rulings and that the gifts in question weren’t reported because he’d been told it wasn’t required.

Ah, our budding plutocracy in action. I’ll bet that there will be no consequences; Thomas is one of the “good ones.”

Florida

It wouldn’t be a news roundup without an item referring to Gov. Ron DeSantis.

In this case, I’m referring to a column by economist Paul Krugman.  It was published in the New York Times–behind a paywall– so you’ll have to take my word for it if you don’t subscribe.

He focuses on the governor’s anti-woke crusades, which in addition to racism, homophobia, and getting revenge on perceived enemies, include opposition to creation of a central bank digital currency. Government-run or authorized digital dollar systems mirroring hard currency. 

Ah, yes, that would be the purview of the Fed, often portrayed by fabulists as controlled by whatever group they have standing in for Jews.

• Right now the demand for cryptocurrency comes partly from people who honestly, rightly or wrongly, don’t trust banks, and partly from people engaged in illicit activities. The former group would probably flock to a central bank digital currency, which would offer the convenience of banking without its perceived risks. This would, however, help to deflate the crypto bubble. Maybe more important, it would suggest that those still using private digital currencies are probably up to no good. In effect, it would strip away the veil obscuring the dark side of crypto.

• Which tells us what DeSantis’s attack on central bank digital currency would actually do. It wouldn’t protect the rights of Floridians to buy gas or guns; instead, it would protect the ability of wiseguys to evade taxes, launder money, buy and sell illegal drugs, and engage in extortion

• But hey, I guess thinking that money laundering and extortion are bad things is just another example of the wokeness that DeSantis is trying to kill.

There’s lots of other news today. Below are links to stories I think are worth sharing.

Lobbyists Begin Chipping Away at Biden’s $80 Billion I.R.S. Overhaul (NY Times) - It’s totally not about the imaginary 87,000 IRS agents coming to seize memaw’s house.

Is the US a failed state? Healthcare points to yes.- Morgan Stephens explains just how bad it really is. It is kind of shocking that the other 23 major industrialized nations have a version of national healthcare.

Millions of Americans at risk of losing free preventive care after Texas ruling on ACA - Via The Conversation. Thanks for nothing, Texas.

MLB home run counts are rising – and global warming is playing a role - Via The Conversation

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