Wednesday, July 03, 2024

Naseous Ball of Shite...

When I was a kid, my father would often lay a bit of Vince Lombardi wisdom on my gnarly, frequently alienated brow: "When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going."

That line would annoy the hell out of me. Now, of course, it is one of my go-to mottos. Although, it is a bit of a mystery, just where are the tough going?!  I have been in a bubble of pissed-off-ness ever since the Supreme Court unveiled it's naseous ball of shite, their recent Presidential Immunity Ruling.  Tough to swallow. My reaction: Tough Times, Tough Shit.

I am not a Constitutional Scholar, or a lawyer, just a concerned Citizen with a fairly good reading comprehension. At least according to me. Suddenly, I come to the conclusion that I have been wrong about everything. The hard-core, right-wing fanatics on the court have made an audcious power-grab and fundamentally altered my understanding of good old USA. Instead of this magnificent idea of equal treatment under the law, we are now being told that the law is designed to protect the powerful and to punish everyone else. Like I said, FUCK!

No one is above the law. 

Ha. That was the basic idea. Well, the court, in a 6-3 ruling trashed that idea. Gob-smackingly disappointing & infuriating. They have carved out a broad bubble of immunity for Presidents. Yikes. I am not a hair-or-pants-on-fire-type, but this seems fundamentally un-American. Our little Democratic experiment is being destroyed from the inside out.  

Don't take my word for it. Let's turn to Sonia Sotomayer, one of the black-robed judges who laid-down a "pants on fire," furiously damning dissent:

“The President of the United States is the most powerful person in the country, and possibly the world. When he uses his official powers in any way, under the majority’s reasoning, he now will be insulated from criminal prosecution,” Sotomayor wrote.

“Orders the Navy’s Seal Team 6 to assassinate a political rival? Immune. Organizes a military coup to hold onto power? Immune. Takes a bribe in exchange for a pardon? Immune. Immune, immune, immune.

“Let the President violate the law, let him exploit the trappings of his office for personal gain, let him use his official power for evil ends. Because if he knew that he may one day face liability for breaking the law, he might not be as bold and fearless as we would like him to be. That is the majority’s message today.

“Even if these nightmare scenarios never play out, and I pray they never do, the damage has been done. The relationship between the President and the people he serves has shifted irrevocably. In every use of official power, the President is now a king above the law.” - Sonia Sotomayer