From the reasoning behind the U.S. Supreme Court decisions, you don’t have to know that it’s mostly conservative and mostly consists of Boomers. The fact that they’re willing to change the laws based on two hypothetical situations that didn’t really happen is the typical Chicken-Little-Sky-Is-Falling mentality that has sprung up a lot in the last few decades. Something doesn’t need to happen for it to become law. Just as long as something might happen once between now and the end of human civilization is enough to create a major law is their rationale.
About a decade ago when I was still working as a news editor of the Wagoner Tribune, I got a DM for another newspaper. Apparently the county sheriff at the time ran to one of the Tulsa news stations to tell them he isn’t going to comply if the Obama Presidential Administration imposes firearm regulations. I think it was a few months after the Sandy Hook Massacre. There was a growing fear in America, most of it egged on by conspiracy theorists like Alex Jones, it was a hoax to create legislation to remove guns from people.
Anyway, they were wanting to know if I did a story on this. No, I didn’t do a story. The sheriff didn’t contact me. Even if he did, I didn’t see a story. What I saw was someone who was starved for attention and needed his 15 minutes. The sheriff might as well said his department won’t be a safehaven to fire-breathing dragons.
Oklahoma, like many other states, has laws in place that convicted felons can’t own or be in possession of firearms. Oklahoma, also like other states, have implemented more lax gun legislation where you don’t even need a permit to carry a firearm out in public. Why did the sheriff run to the TV stations? Easy, it was a media whore. He wanted so much attention for every arrest he made he even used copies of the newspapers in his own campaign advertising even though this could be copyright infringement. But since my bosses didn’t do anything, I guess they didn’t care.
Needless to say he was later accused and charged with trying to extort money out of people and had to be removed from office. But this whole hypothetical notion that Barack Obama or even Hillary Clinton were going to take out guns was enough to instill fear of what America would be like. For the eight years from Jan. 20, 2009 to Jan. 20, 2017, Obama didn’t take anyone’s guns. We actually ran a story talking to local gun dealers who said that Obama’s re-election was more beneficial to dealerships who saw more sales.
But more the most part, conservative, Christians and Republicans (oh, my!) live in this frantic, delusional world where at any given time they will be required to do something they don’t want to do. I attribute it to the fact most of these people were raised during the Cold War and as Friedrich Nietzche said, “He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster . . . when you gaze long into the abyss the abyss also gazes into you.”
They’ve become so afraid of a world where the Fascists and the evils of Communist Soviet Union would rule that they fought fire with fire. And sometimes that’s the worst you can do because everyone ends up getting burned. Take the Supreme Court’s ruling on 303 Creative LLC vs. Elenis. Lorie Smith, who is the owner/operator of the 303 lives and works in Colorado where she was afraid she would be required to develop a web design for a gay couple, Stewart and Mike.
There’s just one problem – there is no Mike. And the Stewart she and her lawyers pointed to was actually happily married to his wife and has a family in California. Oh, yeah, he’s also a fucking web designer himself. This isn’t a “Who cuts the barber’s hair?” A web designer would design his own web. And the lower courts couldn’t understand why as Nic Cage said, “in Zeus’ butthole” Smith was doing all this.
Also, 303 Creative has never sold a web design for any wedding. So, what the blue fuck was Smith trying to do? Was she trying to stir up publicity for her company? Hey, in this crazy society, Chick-fil-A gets the top notch for fast food just because it plays into the foolishness of Christians to buy anything religious. I don’t care for Chick-fil-A and only have eaten there twice in the last 20-something years. The last time, someone else paid too.
Of course, Smith claims to be a “Christian artist.” So, it’s no surprise she’s so full of hate toward other people she creates a hypothetical situation and even drags someone else’s name through the muck. I’m just wonder if the real Stewart is going to countersue. I would. This is the type of thing that could lead to harassment and defamation on Stewart’s employment as well as his family’s safety.
And conservatives obviously don’t realize this opens up more flood gates because the door swings both ways. There’s nothing stopping a proprietor from refusing service to someone who is wearing a crucifix or even against any type of couples. And Catholics can refuse service to people who have been divorced. We will definitely see more interracial couples being treated with more discrimination.
It’s going to open up a lot of cases that will tie up the courts for the rest of the decade and into the 2030s. If it’s perfectly acceptable to refuse service to someone on the basis they might go against your beliefs, then that means it’s fair game on discrimination. Wouldn’t you like to see restaurants refuse service to all churchgoers on a Sunday afternoon? Hey, the Supreme Court says it’s okay now. Go eat somewhere else.
Of course, expect a lot of Christians and conservatives to play the victim. That’s what they’re good at and that’s the only thing they can do better than anyone else. This brings me to the case involving that colleges don’t have to consider Affirmative Action in admitting students. This is the typical hypothetical scenario that somewhere out there, a white student with perfect test scores, a great transcript and amazing extracurricular activities and potential, will be denied acceptance into a college or university because they have to let a BIPOC in.
I grew up in Georgia in the 1980s and 1990s. I’ve heard this bullshit so many times. It basically is meant to imply that black and Latino students are stereotypically considered intellectually inferior and getting a “free ride.” Yet this isn’t the case when it comes to college athletes. As long as they can play the foos-ball, what does it matter they can’t even spell their own name?
I even knew a guy in college who said he didn’t get a scholarship that went to a black student. And this guy didn’t do shit his first year except stay up late and sleep all day. He even got mad at us when we were playing GoldenEye on N64 one afternoon. It wasn’t the quiet hours time and we really weren’t being loud. I don’t even think he ever graduated from Georgia Southern University. Yet, did the student who got the scholarship use to the best they could?
That’s what people don’t want to answer. I knew a guy in high school who got a great scholarship through the McDonald’s corporation in which they could get money and use a card to get free McDonald’s once a week for a year. He didn’t even last one week at college. And he wasn’t going to school many, many miles away. Some people just don’t see the advantages they have.
Sadly, most schools are intentionally dividing and discriminating against the students from pre-school through 12th grade. I had a school counselor yell at me like I was an idiot because I told her I would need transcripts to apply for schools. I didn’t know they had to be official. That’s part of her job. Thankfully, a teacher was in the room. Otherwise, I’m sure she wouldn’t have done anything. So, after that, I wasn’t going to go to her about scholarship applications. I told my parents but nothing came of it.
But it was obvious, I and so many other students across this country are shunned, overlooked and just forgotten about because most of the people who get the scholarships and benefits are those who don’t really need them. Who knows how many other students at my school alone didn’t get the same treatment and consideration other students did? Counselors and administrators can make or break your educational future.
My step-granddaughter was a National Merit Scholar along with about two or three dozen other students at Jenks High School in the Class of 2016. Because she is multiracial, people questioned her selection even though she was active in programs and had good grades and test scores. There was the hypothetical idea that she was taken away the scholarship from someone else who deserved it.
But, yet, people are often cheated out of stuff they deserve. The oldest, more loyal employees at jobs don’t get promotions as they hire from outside the company. Even with sporting events, the brackets in a playoff can give a team with a so-so record a better advantage over a school with a better record. Even even the school itself can be in a district where it has an advantage.
The racism, bigotry and prejudice from people who have strongly opposed Affirmative Action don’t realize that it’s helped people who normally wouldn’t have a snowball chance in Hell.. People who live in rural areas will always be overlooked than people from more affluent areas. Affirmative Action has benefitted white women more and more since the 1960s than it has any other demographic. So, it’s common for that same demographic to be the one so opposed to it. Because many of them don’t know the true benefits.
The SCOTUS case was led by Students for Fair Admissions, Inc., a conservative group led by Ed Blum, a white man, who is another person born in a post-WWII who only saw the benefits of Affirmative Action. The organization’s argument was that schools such as Harvard and the University of North Carolina weren’t favoring Asian-American students and was rejecting white/caucasian students over black or Latino students.
The Court ruled the policies violated the 14th Amendment and a recent poll showed 52 percent in favor of overturning Affirmative Action. But do they fully understand the benefits? It’s a good bet some of those 52 percenters are white women who have achieved more because of Affirmative Action. But the main issue people have against Affirmative Action is they think it’s favoritism that doesn’t benefit them and them alone.
There’s always favoritism in America. I was almost thrown out of the reserved seating of a football game because a P.E. coach (who had a long affair with another teacher and others maybe) felt my parents weren’t important enough. Even after showing her the reserved seating ticket, she acted like I should’ve show her it. And she was standing at the stairwell even though no one authorized her. It was just so she could tell other people they didn’t belong. I had been using the ticket belonging to my friend’s family. His father was on the school board. He didn’t question him. Yet, another friend of mine didn’t have reserved seating tickets but his father was the Chair of the English Department.
People always want to tell you that you don’t deserve things that you rightfully earned. That’s why they criticize your job, your house, your cars, your spouse/partner and so much more about you. They need to have that little bit extra over you. Someone throws morsels then they fight over who gets the most morsels. And there are people scramblings for those morsels defending everything the more privileged person throws them.
I’ve often said a lot of white women can quickly change this country in no time but they refuse to do so because they’re worried about lossing some of their privileges, even if it’s only temporary. What we’re seeing now in the last 20 years is more Gen Xer and Millennials women realizing they don’t need to get married and have children to be fulfilled. And people telling them they’re being selfish for focusing more on their careers and other aspects of their lives that don’t begin and end at being Betty Homemaker.
It’s no suprise Justice Amy Coney Barrett voted the way she did. She’s been indoctrinated into believing she has to be subservient. And Justice Clarence Thomas doesn’t see the fact that Affirmative Action benefitted him. Also, being an Italian-American, Justice Samuel Alito has faced some discrimination he refuses to acknowledge. I mean he was the U.S. Attorney in one of the longest crminal cases against the Italian Mafia (which he lost), so it’s obvious he has a chip on his shoulder.
With both Alito and Thomas facing criticism that they voting in favor of what lobbyists wanted, it’s hard to accept anything they say as for the good of the people. Their actions have been criticized by both sides and in a perfect society, they would’ve been removed. Also, while Donald Trump is under indictment with violations under the Espionage Act, his appointments of Barrett, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh should make them null and void. I know Republicans wouldn’t want that yet they’d be asking for it if it was a Democrat president.
This what makes the 2024 election so critical. I expect Alito and especially Thomas to stay on until they’re forcibly removed or they die. Progressive Democrats have asked President Joe Biden to add more justices but it could backfire especially if a Republican wins in 2024. Not to wish Alito. Thomas or anyone on the Court ill-will, but lifetimes appointments have to end. There’s nothing wrong having a justice serve 15-20 years. Considering we’re probably going to see these decisions questions and coming back to the courts, we shouldn’t have people in a position of 30 years making policies went they’re technically not going to be around much longer.
Honor and integrity needs to come back to the Supreme Court. Our judicial system in general has become a joke in which judges by far have no oversight whatsoever. I’m all for checks and balances but having people appointed by two Presidents who didn’t receive the popular vote isn’t what this country should stand on. There should be some more balance instead of judges with an agenda.
What do you think? Please comment.
Zane Says 