Wrongo and Ms. Right are in Charleston, SC. We will be heading back to CT on Monday. While this is time dedicated to family, the past week produced so much news that it seemed necessary to at least comment on some of it. But first, happy Easter to those who celebrate.
Letâs start with Mifepristone, one of two key drugs used for medicated abortion. On âgoodâ Friday, a federal judge in Amarillo, TX decided that it should be banned. This happened despite 20 years of data showing itâs safe and effective. Mifepristone has a lower rate of complications than Tylenol. The judgeâs opinion is equal parts junk science and religious screed. You can read the particulars of the case elsewhere. Itâs clear that religious extremists are continuing their assault on the status of American women as equal citizens under the law.
Clarence Thomas. Thomas released a statement saying that he did not disclose the lavish gifts he received from right-wing megadonor Harlan Crow on the advice of âcolleagues and others in the judiciary.â For more than 25 years, Thomas received free travel by jet and luxury accommodations (including stays on a yacht) that exceeded his salary by a significant percentage. Heather Cox Richardson pointed out that:
âThomas said that he and his wife Ginni had been dear friends of the Crows for over 25 years, but he joined the court over 30 years ago…â
Whatever the explicit rules were, when someone is receiving economic benefits that exceed your salary, that benefit is corrupt.
Finally, Tennessee. This isnât the first time the Right has denied elected representatives their seat, and it wonât be the last. Whenever they have the power, theyâll try it. It happened in Nashville last Thursday when the Republicans expelled two Black lawmakers, Justin Pierson and Justin Jones, for staging a protest for gun safety legislation on the floor of the Tennessee House. The punitive action for an act of protest marks just the third time since the Civil War era that the Tennessee House has expelled a lawmaker from its ranks.
This is another installment in the long-running series, “Black People Are Doing It Wrong”. Because there is no acceptable way for a Black person to express displeasure over anything in society. They just make White people too scared. Even a Black man kneeling down makes Whitey terrified. On to cartoons.
In another universe:
Tennessee operates a state park honoring Civil War soldier and KKK founder, Nathan Bedford Forrest, to this very day:
Congress pretends guns arenât the problem:
Easter Bunny gives Trump a few eggs:
The Thomas Rules:
More from Clarence:
I read much of the decision. It begins by describing the plaintiffs as if they were genuine caregivers, but they are not – in the suit they are right wing christian lobbyists. The judge also seems to take issue with the expedited process for approving drugs – as if only suitable for HIV or similar. Even the remedy seems weird if one looks to what justice means. So even if the approval was done in haste, the drug now has real use data – also litigation data and so the decision is all pretense – the scientific solution would be to ask the FDA to submit data now – and in essence correct the record.
It is an offensive ruling in so many ways.
I despise no current high official more than Clarence Thomas. He is # 5 on this list of five worst Supreme Court Justices (*). That make him the worst SCJ since 1910.
archive.thinkprogress.org/the-five-worst-supreme-court-justices-in-american-history-ranked-f725000b59e8.
(*) Ian Millheiser’s 2015 book: Injustices: “The Supreme Court’s History of Comforting the Comfortable and Afflicting the Afflicted”
Re: Who inspired Wrongo.
Some notables that inspire me (deceased) are George Marshall, Isaac Asimov, Christopher Hitchens, Bertrand Russell, Karl Popper and less well known Bryan Magee, as well as some on your list.
How about a list of still living notables whom we despise? đ