Forever Notorious

The Supreme Supreme:  Given her age, the number of times she had been hospitalized in recent months and her numerous cancer reoccurrences the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the forever notorious icon, wasn’t unexpected but that doesn’t make her passing any less of a shock to our collective cores already traumatized by the pandemic, election and all things Trump. It’s also not surprising that neither Trump nor Senate Majority Leader McConnell had the decency to wait until the end of her shiva period to announce their intention to ram a new conservative justice through the Senate as soon as possible.  That rule that McConnell ginned up to prevent President Obama’s choice, moderate Merrick Garland, from being confirmed nine months before a presidential election, who but everyone would have guessed that it only applies when a Democratic president is in office. The many Republican senators honoring their promises to apply it regardless of who was in office, including South Carolina’s Lindsey Graham now the Chair of the Senate Justice Department who is on tape saying he would apply the “rule” consistently and should be held accountable to do so, is rapidly shrinking because at the end of the day Graham and most of the others do what they’re told to do and with supporting conservative justices and overturning Roe a priority for McConnell, the evangelical base, and Republican big money donors, consistency, honor and accountability, to the extent that any of that ever mattered, is long gone.  So far only Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski and Maine’s Susan Collins are on the record saying that whoever wins the election should get to nominate the next justice.  It’s not surprising that either woman has said so, say what you like about the pearl clutching Collins, neither she nor Murkowski are likely to vote for Trump’s next nominee anyway since he’s on record saying that he will only pick an anti-abortion candidate and in all likelihood his candidate will be so obviously anti-abortion and happy to overturn Roe v Wade that she, and the candidate will most certainly be a she, won’t be able to snow even Collins with a Kavanaugh two-step.  Right now Trump’s likely choice will be either Amy Coney Barrett or Barbara Lagoa, both Appeals Court Judges that he appointed.  Until now Coney Barrett, already vetted because she was considered for the seat that ultimately went to Justice Kavanaugh, had been the front runner but reports are that Trump is now seriously considering advancing Cuban American Lagoa because he believes that nominating her will give him a boost in Florida. As to the process, it’s not clear whether McConnell or Trump will try to squeeze the confirmation vote through before the election.  It’s also not clear if two other Republicans will join Collins and Murkowski and all the Democrats in opposing the nomination. The group of potential Republican naysayers has already lost one possibility as Tennessee’s Lamar Alexander has already said that he’s sticking with Trump on this one.  All eyes are on Mitt Romney, a few of the vulnerable up for reelection Senators, and those not running again,  but it’s not clear that even Romney will abandon Trump on this one, he’s been a fairly reliable Republican vote when it comes to judge appointments.  One added wrinkle is the Arizona Senate race where Democrat Mark Kelly is expected to trounce John McCain fill-in temporary Senator  Martha McSally. Assuming that election goes as anticipated Kelly should be seated by the end of November, of course that assumes that the Republicans don’t figure how a way to screw that too. 

Viral Musings:  RBG’s passing diverted attention from the virus but unfortunately the virus rages with or without attention. The US coronavirus death toll is now north of 204,000 and climbing at a rate of about 1000 per day but Trump insists we’re lucky, that it’s only due to his excellent stewardship that we’re not at 2 million.  That’s Trump who continues to hold super spreader rallies where he disses facemask wearing, insists that testing causes COVID cases and alternatively promises a vaccine by November or April depending on the day. In addition to  pushing dangerous virus myths, Trump is also continuing with his racist dog whistles, in Minnesota, a state he desperately hopes to win, he told his audience that they have “good genes, you know that, right? You have good genes. A lot of it is about the genes, isn’t it, don't you believe? The racehorse theory. You think we’re so different? You have good genes in Minnesota.”  And of course by good genes, Trump means Caucasian ones. Trump, who was accused of still another case of sexual assault last week by former model Amy Doris, has also taken to retweeting assertions that Joe Biden is into pedophilia, a false and absurd accusation that has gained steam on Facebook, at least to those whose Facebook feeds are dominated by rightwing news feeds. 

October Surprise:  It’s not yet clear how or even if the Supreme Court opening will influence the election.  A few quick polls conducted over the weekend indicate that the majority believe that the winner of the November election should get to nominate the next Supreme Court Justice.  Additionally, Biden continues to lead in the national polls by 7 to 9%.  However, as we all know by now it’s the state polls that matter and in some states like Maine, the court opening could further damage the Republican party while in others like North Carolina it could help.  We’ll have to wait a few more days for a more up to date indication. It’s not just the courts, there are a few other “surprises” looming.  Senate Homeland Security Chairman/Trump ally Ron Johnson is expected to release his committee’s report on his investigation into Joe and Hunter Biden’s Ukraine stuff.  Johnson has already teased that the report will “prove,” or at least prove to him and anyone he can convince, that Joe Biden is unfit for office.  The report is based on evidence provided by questionable Russian influenced Ukrainian  sources one of whom who has been sanctioned by the US Treasury but none of that will prevent Johnson from creating a ruckus.  And don’t forget the long awaited US Attorney John Durham Report, according to Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, who shouldn’t have seen any of it but is talking as if he’s in the know, that report will “prove” that people like former FBI Director Comey and CIA agent Peter Strzok acted illegally by investigating  Trump’s 2016 election shenanigans even though they didn’t and its not clear that the Durham report, if it is released, will say any of that. As to that report, on Friday Democratic leadership asked the Justice Department Inspector General to investigate whether Attorney General Bill Barr and Durham are seeking to improperly influence the upcoming 2020 presidential election as if there is any question that Barr, at least, is.  And while everyone’s attention was directed elsewhere on Friday lawyers representing the US at Julian Assange’s extradition trial in Britain accepted the claim that the WikiLeaks founder was offered a presidential pardon on the condition that he would help cover up Russia’s involvement in hacking emails from the DNC.   

One More Thing: One way to honor RBG’s memory would be to help turn the Senate blue.  So think about making some contributions.  If you are so inclined go to ActBlue.com and donate across the board to Dr. Al Gross (Alaska), Doug Jones (Alabama), Mark Kelly (Arizona), John Hickenlooper (Colorado), John Ossoff (Georgia), Rev Raphael Warnock (Georgia), Theresa Greenfield (Iowa), Barbara Bollier (Kansas), Amy McGrath (Kentucky), Sara Gideon (Maine), Gary Peters (Michigan), Steve Bullock (Montana), Cal Cunningham (North Carolina), Jaime Harrison (South Carolina)  and MJ Hegar (Texas). 

Al Gross is running as an independent but will caucus with the Democrats if he wins.  Doug Jones is very vulnerable but is worthy of support because he is such a super nice guy and a long time champion for Civil Rights who successfully prosecuted two KKK members for the 1963 Birmingham Church bombing.  Gary Peters is also a vulnerable incumbent, less so than Jones, but his state Michigan is unpredictable so every bit helps. Georgia has two candidates. Jon Ossoff is competing in the regular election and stands a chance against incumbent Senator David Perdue while Raphael Warnock is competing in a special election against a number of Republican wannabees including fill-in Senator/accused inside trader Kelly Loeffler and Congressman Trump/ fan Doug Collins.