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You are here: Home / Justice / On today’s court ruling

On today’s court ruling

by | 96 Comments

This post is in: 

I wrote the excerpt below on the day that gay marriage became legal across all of America:

I don’t know much about how my kids will turn out when they get older.  I know a few things though.

I know my daughter will be a massive dork ….  I know she will be a goof ball with a massive amount of empathy and a strongly developed sense of fairness.  I know that when she is adult, her possibility space will be massive.

I know even less about my son’s adulthood as his personality is still developing.

I won’t be surprised if his primary interaction mechanism is as the smart ass class clown persona as he has already developped a good sense of timing for the prat-fall.  I think he’ll be reasonably atheletic when he can breathe.  His possibility space at 18 will also be much larger than my self-imposed limited possibility space when I was eighteen.

I have no clue who they will love, I have no clue who will make their motor turn on…

Their possibility space just widened a little bit this morning.  Being their dad, that makes my day.

 

I just needed to repeat this for today. My kids’ possibility space just got bigger today.

Reader Interactions

96Comments

  1. 1.

    Mowgli

    As a parent of six, including one LGBTQ identifying (so far), it is a very good day.

  2. 2.

    WaterGirl

    For several years, I have been thinking that surely the pendulum has swung as far as it could possibly go in the wrong direction, and that soon it would start to swing back.  The past 3 weeks – has it been 3 weeks, it’s hard to know any more? – have left me hoping that we are finally there.

    We’ll never know, but I would be very surprised if this ruling is the same ruling that would have come down 2 months ago.

  4. 4.

    JPL

    I know what the original ruling meant for my sons, because they both texted me.  Both of them work for major companies and sent the reaction of their fellow employees which was one of joy.   Today was more subtle since they are working at home.   I do hope that someday my grandchildren and even great grandchildren will look back and say, I can’t believe that this was even an issue.

  5. 5.

    Roger Moore

    @WaterGirl:

    We’ll never know, but I would be very surprised if this ruling is the same ruling that would have come down 2 months ago.

    I think it probably would have come out the same way 2 months ago.  The arguments were apparently aimed specifically at getting Gorsuch to agree, and I think it’s very likely they would have been just as effective 2 months ago.

  6. 6.

    Martin

    Don’t give Roberts and Gorsuch too much credit. There’s an abortion case coming up, and this carries the whiff of ‘ground we’re willing to cede today to claim nonpartisanship later’.

    Legitimately good news for the LGBTQ community, but these are not the good guys.

  7. 7.

    Chetan Murthy

    It’s a great ruling.  We have to remember, though, that it tells us nothing about the moral compass of Gorsuch & Roberts.  They’re the same awful retro-cons we thought they were before.  They’re doing this b/c they fear us in November, and fear court-packing.  We need to give them what they fear, good and hard.  Because otherwise, eventually, they’ll take this back.  They’ll.  Take.  This.  Back.

    From TPM: talkingpointsmemo.com/news/neil-gorsuch-conservatives-disappointed

    “For many people, [the Supreme Court] was and still is  the most important part of the election process,” [Mat Staver, whose law firm Liberty Counsel spearheads cases for religious causes] said. “They wouldn’t have expected something like this, of Gorsuch.”

  8. 8.

    germy

    Alito says that "sex" must be defined exactly the way that lawmakers understood that term in 1964. I'm skeptical he'll apply that same rule to defining what counts as "arms" when reading the Second Amendment.

    — Adam Winkler (@adamwinkler) June 15, 2020

  10. 10.

    Chetan Murthy

    Another little bit of evidence that we can’t relax for an instant: mustelid.blogspot.com/2020/06/legislation-bostock-v-clayton-county.html

    the dissent says: At oral argument, the attorney representing the employees, a prominent professor of constitutional law, was asked if there would be discrimination because of sex if an employer with a blanket policy against hiring gays, lesbians, and transgender individuals implemented that policy without knowing the biological sex of any job applicants. Her candid answer was that this would “not” be sex discrimination.10 And she was right.

    Roberts&Gorsuch had everything they needed to decide to strip these protections: a facially textualist interpretation that still gave them cover to be the evil assholes we know they are.  And they blinked.  They’re runnin’ scared.

  14. 14.

    Nora

    Roberts has so many black marks on “his” supreme court that he’s trying to erase (you’d think Citizens United would be enough to embarrass any justice, but no, he’s also got Hobby Lobby and Shelby and I’m probably missing a couple more) that he’s probably trying to do something about his legacy.

    Gorsuch I don’t trust as far as I could throw him.

    And let’s give a cheer for our stalwarts who have never backed down: Breyer, Kagan, Sotomayor and Ginsburg.

  16. 16.

    Baud

    @germy: A little off the mark, I think.  No one redefined “sex” in today’s opinions. What they disagreed on was how sexual orientation or gender identity relates to “sex.”

  17. 17.

    Martin

    @Chetan Murthy: They’re not scared. I’m telling you, they’re going to make their role clear in June Medical Services v. Russo. They’re ceding a bit of ground on an issue that the momentum against the right is so strong that there’s nothing really to hold up. Most of the GOP is not upset by this ruling (though some is VERY upset).

    June v. Russo is the case that matters to them. They’ll allow states to legislate abortion out of their state completely. Popular opinion is not running so strongly against them there.

  18. 18.

    chopper

    our kids are the same age (i think one of them even has the same birthday) and gender IIRC, and my daughter is the same way – gonna be a huge dork, really empathetic. she heard the scotus news today and started cheering.

    my kids are driving me up the wall these last two months with covid home schooling and all, but it’s not hard to remind myself that they’re good goddamn people.

  20. 20.

    lollipopguild

    @Martin: We are a very different country than we were in 1964. We are dealing with people who cannot change and want to make sure the country cannot change either. But then we have a president who is 74 going on 8.

  21. 21.

    Chetan Murthy

    @Martin: Interesting.  I hadn’t thought about that way, but yeah, makes sense.  After all, abortion is what their base cares about before all other things.  Well, that and the racism (so no way anybody touches qualified immunity, sigh).

  22. 22.

    Baud

    You take your wins when you can get them, but GOP appointees are always going to be worse than Dem appointees on average.

  23. 23.

    Sister Golden Bear

    This article sums up my feelings far better than I can myself: The Supreme Court has given trans people reason to hope again

    Like the author, I’d also hit rock bottom over the weekend, and spent most of it in a deep depression.

    The past week has maybe been the grimmest yet. We started with beloved author J.K. Rowling writing a 3,700-word screed about how trans women and our rights should be considered a threat to women and children. We also lost two of our black sisters, Riah Milton in Ohio and Dominique “Rem’Mie” Fells in Pennsylvania, who were brutally murdered. They were the 13th and 14th trans women in the US to be killed this year, according to the Human Rights Campaign.

    Then came an attack on trans homeless people, culminating in the Department of Housing and Urban Development announcing a proposed rule Friday allowing shelters to strictly house homeless trans people according to their biological sex.

    It seemed to end Friday with the Trump administration finalizing a Department of Health and Human Services rule that had been in the making for years, one that said sex is defined by biology, essentially giving doctors, insurers, and other medical providers the right to turn away LGBTQ people. This rule would inevitably fall hardest on the trans community since so many of us depend on access to transition care just to exist peacefully in our own bodies.

    But then on Saturday, security footage was released showing prison guards laughing at Layleen Polanco, a black trans woman who was locked up on Rikers Island in New York City because she couldn’t post $500 bail, as she lay lifeless in her cell.

    Several of my trans friends, most of them white, privileged professionals in their fields, quietly talked privately about calling suicide hotlines. The trendlines were too awful. It felt like we had run out of chances and society was closing its fist around our lives.

    Then we realized that Monday would be a Supreme Court decision day and that the court was running out of time in its current session to rule on the Stephens case and two other cases on LGBTQ employment rights.

    That was the moment I lost hope….

    The trans community has been bracing for a bad Supreme Court result for months now. There was simply no way that a conservative Court, with two justices appointed by a president who specifically ran on arguably the most anti-transgender platform in US history, would rule our way in our first major court case….

    It’s a strange feeling, winning such an unexpected yet decisive victory with the trans community at such a low point. We don’t know yet how this decision will carry into the future, but it is a moment that will stick with trans Americans for a long time. It was then that I suddenly recognized that strange feeling coming over me: hope.

    I thought again about my conversation with Stephens back in October. I asked her how she was feeling about her case; her answer gives the trans community and our allies guidance on what to do next. “Regardless of whether it’s a favorable decision or not, we still have a lot of work to do,” she said. “When this part’s over, we just work on the next issue, and work hard and keeping going.”

    The fight is far from over. While it would appear the HHS and HUD rulings are now void, I’m sure it will take years of lawsuits — or a win in November — to confirm this. In the meantime my trans and non-binary sisters, brothers and siblings will continue to be harmed.

    Even in liberal California, where despite trans protections, just last year Catholic hospitals in different parts of the state cancelled two trans men’s hysterectomies right before each of their surgeries because they were transgender.

    But at least for one day I can savor a win. Although it’s still bittersweet thanks to quarantine. I want celebrate with my peers, to be in the company of them, to be together in spaces that are ours. For now, I’m having to settle with texts, Zoom and Facebook.*

    *And lest I trigger yet around round in the great BJ Facebook war, I’ll just point out that for all it’s many, many faults, FB (and social media as while) has been invaluable for helping minority groups like my find and build a sense of community. We may not dismantle the master’s house using the master’s tools, but the street finds its own uses for things.

  24. 24.

    Martin

    @lollipopguild: To be fair, this school of legal theory would argue that if you want a 2020 read of the law, then pass a law in 2020. That’s more than a little harder with regard to the 2nd amendment, but Congress could at any time pass a law clarifying that they meant the Civil Rights Act to apply to these cases. Of course, Dems have been trying to do exactly this, and the GOP has blocked that.

    This is the whole strategy – the courts block any expanded interpretation of prior laws, and GOP House or Senate leadership blocks any effort to clarify that expanded interpretation.

    Why do you think McConnell is salting the earth on the judicial nominations?  He knows they’re going to lose soon. And during the period that the GOP needs to rebuild around any kind of public majority, the judges can keep the effort going, forcing Dems to do everything in the periods when they control congress and the WH. If we ever get a window, Dems are going to need to write 20 years of legislation in 2 years.

  27. 27.

    randy khan

    @Roger Moore:

    I think it probably would have come out the same way 2 months ago.  The arguments were apparently aimed specifically at getting Gorsuch to agree, and I think it’s very likely they would have been just as effective 2 months ago.

    I think this is right.  Gorsuch is a jerk, but kind of a principled jerk, and he’s apparently proud enough of those principles that you can appeal (sorry) to them successfully even when it goes against his politics.  I’ve read that Supreme Court advocates essentially have a playbook for him now.

  28. 28.

    Baud

    Today’s decision is another step in our march toward equality for all. The Supreme Court has confirmed the simple but profoundly American idea that every human being should be treated with respect. But we’re not done. t.co/Bz4SMA9tgb
    — Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) June 15, 2020

  29. 29.

    Baud

    Being who you are shouldn’t be a fireable offense, and today the Supreme Court has affirmed that truth for the LGBTQ community under our laws. It’s a victory for liberty and justice for all. Happy Pride.— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) June 15, 2020

  30. 30.

    Martin

    @Sister Golden Bear: I’ll offer up some more hope. Democrats are fighting pretty hard across the country for trans rights, and slowly and irregularly they are succeeding.

    What’s notable about that is that Dems historically have really only fought hard for civil rights legislation when the demographic group most directly affected was also a key electoral group. Dems didn’t really give a shit about black voters until black voters were key to winning (and even after that they didn’t really give a shit for quite a while).

    But transgender voters aren’t a key constituency to winning election. Transgender voters have no electoral power whatsoever – there aren’t enough transgender voters and they aren’t particularly powerful in terms of wealth, etc., and yet, we’re getting real progress for the community. That’s a new dynamic, because people like my kids really understand intersectionality and recognize that all forms of discrimination need to be addressed, even for groups that they may not associate with.

    I think that part of the liberal base making these kinds of demands represent a fundamental change in Democratic political control, society, and it’s clear that base is growing rapidly so it’s a fundamental change to electoral politics.

    I’m sure parts of the country will fight this for some time, but most of the country is barreling toward a much broader notion of civil rights. Trump is probably serving in some way to accelerate that given how widely loathed he is.

  32. 32.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Ken: They are expecting a ruling on Thursday, what it will be is anybody’s guess. If DACA is rescinded most recipients won’t be eligible for asylum under the current rules so the consequences of a negative decision will be beyond terrible.

    For most DACA this is the only home they know

  34. 34.

    Chyron HR

    @Chetan Murthy:

    I dunno, Justice Rohypnaugh is definitely a 4chan troll with a fake veneer of professionalism, but I think it’s quite possible that Gorsuch is just on the court to hand down corporate-friendly rulings and legitimately doesn’t care about oppressing trans people for fun.

  35. 35.

    FlyingToaster

    @NotMax:

    Have seen mention that FOX isn’t reporting on this.

    O, for fucks sake.

    I’m sure this will get trumpeted in every fucking political race and pulpit this summer, so what on earth is FoxNoise waiting for?

  39. 39.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Baud:

    phillip anderson @phillipanderso 5h
    It’s times like these that I’m reminded that Fran Lebowitz has the all-time best quote our stupefyingly dumb president. “You do not know anyone as stupid as Donald Trump. You just don’t.”

  40. 40.

    leeleeFL

    When I was 16 or 17, a friend of my Mom’s told me about a book she loved called “The Lord Don’t  (or Won’t?) Mind”.  It posited the idea there was such a lack of love in the world, the Lord would accept love in any and all forms.  Always loved that notion.

    As they said in Britain at least on Downton Abbey, I’m that chuffed by this decision.

    I will worry tomorrow about what comes next.  We needed this one.

  41. 41.

    Kent

    The fundies are freaking the fuck out on one of the religious forums that I ghost and troll.  Lots of panic and flop sweat, along with no small amount of butt hurt regarding Gorsuch.  Here’s a typical example of their train of thought:

    Make no mistake, as a Christian employer, you’ll be required to allow gay employees to promote their own homosexuality in the workplace, and under threat of lawsuits. If one of them sues you, you’ll probably have to settle out of court to allow the to promote things like PRIDE in the workplace and so on.

    We already have plenty of precedent from seeing how other discrimination lawsuits have been handled.

    Anything that makes a gay person feel uncomfortable (like, perhaps, the owner of the business reading his Bible, or finding out coworkers attend a church that is not gay affirming) could be grounds for discrimination and “harassment”.

    And this extends to transsexual people, too, so if one of your male employees shows up tomorrow in a dress and demanding to use the same women’s bathroom that employees and customers use, you have no choice but to go along with it and affirm their decisions. If you mess up once and use the wrong pronouns, you’ll get a lawsuit.

    Let’s not forget that several of the “conservatives” on the Supreme Court, including Gorsuch (one that the liberals were all shrieking about) went along with this, proving that conservatives aren’t good at conserving anything. The writers of the Constitution absolutely did not foresee a world where the federal government would force every employer to make sure gay and transgendered employees feel “accepted” in their lifestyle.

    The big question is – what should the Christian do? There won’t be a Supreme Court with nine robed men on it on judgment day, telling God himself that he is full of hate and engaging in unlawful discrimination. Who will be brave enough to stand up to this sin, lest many souls be lost for eternity?

  42. 42.

    Cermet

    As a father of a daughter who graduated from the number one school in physics with a physics degree, all I can say is the world she will see in the next thirty years of her career will be one full of wars for resources, new and more terrible atrocities’, ever growing famines as AGW makes more and more of the equatorial areas uninhabitable for humans and ultimately – what? This is the future our children have inherited from us. This is baked in thanks to what we’ve done to date and it looks like far worse will continue. I’m not optimistic at all.

  44. 44.

    Sister Golden Bear

    @Martin: True. There is a sea change going on.

    That said, someone on Twitter put it well: “almost every single LGBTQ+ on my TL rn is like ‘i no longer recall how to process good news and as a result, will be dissociating today. thank u’”

    It all still feels a bit unreal, and I’m still a bit nervous I’ll wake up and discover it was only a dream.

  49. 49.

    Miss Bianca

    @Martin:

    Popular opinion is not running so strongly against them there.

    Well, it will be when states start trying to outlaw abortion and women start dying of self-induced ABs again.

  51. 51.

    Calouste

    @Kent: Dollars to donuts that whoever wrote that is an employee, not a business owner, and possibly even works for the government.

  54. 54.

    Kent

    @Baud:

    @Kent:

    Can you convince them to vote for Jill Stein?

    That would be a leap too far.  I’m working on convincing them to going back to their former non-voting.  These are conservative Mennonites who didn’t used to vote until Bush got them all riled up in 2000 or 2004 with the gay marriage thing.  Concern trolling is way fun.  And they mostly live in PA and OH.  Basically the people I grew up with.

  56. 56.

    Ken

    @FlyingToaster: Fox may be trying to find a suitable spin.  “The Supreme Court today invalidated many of President Trump’s recent acts, restoring the legal interpretations of the Obama administration” wouldn’t sit well with the one viewer they really care about, would it?

  57. 57.

    Kent

    @Cermet:As a father of a daughter who graduated from the number one school in physics with a physics degree, all I can say is the world she will see in the next thirty years of her career will be one full of wars for resources, new and more terrible atrocities’, ever growing famines as AGW makes more and more of the equatorial areas uninhabitable for humans and ultimately – what? This is the future our children have inherited from us. This is baked in thanks to what we’ve done to date and it looks like far worse will continue. I’m not optimistic at all.

    This country has two original sins:  slavery and genocide of the native peoples and cultures.   We also have two modern mortal sins, the effects of which have not yet been fully been realized:  Unleashing nuclear weapons on the planet, and unleashing climate change.

    But I have kids too, so I have to be at least a little optimistic.  You can roll back to any other point in history and find reasons to have been pessimistic too.

  61. 61.

    Kent

    @Baud:@Kent: You’re doing the Lord’s work.

    Someone (no me) recently wrote:  The evangelicals have been warning us about the anti-christ for generations.  When he finally showed up they couldn’t wait to vote him into office.

    My people aren’t evangelical.  They are pretty much the opposite of evangelical.  What they are is fundamentalist.

  62. 62.

    zhena gogolia

    @schrodingers_cat:

    I was thinking of her today. I just signed up for Disney+ so I can watch Hamilton. Then I realized that I can now watch any Disney movie I want whenever I want. This is a kind of dizzying thought.

  63. 63.

    Krope, the Formerly Dope

    I’m reminded of a recent conversation between two of my Trumpier friends.  Talking about how “we have to let the gay rights thing go” alongside wanting to push hard on banning abortions.  Are the Republicans making a play to get more gay votes by giving up that vector of the culture war?

  64. 64.

    Ken

    @Baud: Maybe this will lead to more private public bathroom stalls.

    It just occurred to me, many of the people who complain about forcing businesses to spend money to be ADA compliant, also profess horror at the thought of a business saving money by putting in a unisex bathroom.

  66. 66.

    Martin

    @Kent: Shit, I went to college around them. All they ever wanted was for the english to leave them the fuck alone, and we did. Guess that’s off the table.

  67. 67.

    Kent

    @schrodingers_cat:@NotMax: I sometimes wonder what is it that these conservatives do in public bathrooms given the time they spent obsessing about it.

    They are a horrid sweaty mess of repressed sexuality.  That’s also why there are so many sex abuse scandals in conservative churches.  When you have horrid preachers screaming at you 24/7 “Danger!  Don’t Think About the Pink Elephant!!!!” all they can end up thinking about is Pink Elephants.

  68. 68.

    Miss Bianca

    @Kent: Oh, ffs. Can we just start telling all these right-wing men to calm down and stop being hysterical?

    I’ve decided that “hysterical” is an adjective I am applying only to cishet men. Suck it, haters – get a taste of your own (badly) gendered medicine!

  69. 69.

    Cermet

    @Kent: You nailed those issues very well in a manner I’ve never fully appreciated. I’ve been searching for reasons to be optimistic. I understand as the fire burns we should enjoy these victories.

  73. 73.

    Martin

    @Krope, the Formerly Dope: Yeah, basically. I mean, that’s all politics has ever been – adapting policies to capture more of the demographic you need to win.

    It’s not that the GOP thinks they can win over gay voters, it’s that they need to stop losing voters who aren’t hung up on gay rights (which is most voters).

    I’ll contend that most elected GOPs could really care less about either issue, but abortion and gay rights are lines around which they can draw a demographic majority and stay in power. Move those lines and their position will instantly shift.

  74. 74.

    Miss Bianca

    @Ken: That movie does have a wonderful soundtrack, tho. I had that album when I was a kid and listened to it over and over. I mean, everybody knows “Zippy-dee-doo-dah”, which is catchy, but my favorite was always Let the Rain Pour Down.

  76. 76.

    Martin

    @Kent: So, I’m a bit torn on them. They have all the hallmarks of the SF liberal that you can count on for every vote, but whose hulk-like NIMBYism (I mean, Pacific Heights, come the fuck on) makes them rationalize really stupid shit.

    Pretty sure these folks are reachable. I run into it a LOT with Dems in their 40s+. I live in a slightly blue area, but I swear 80% of them would have done the same thing – very politely speak, not diminish the BLM message, but either assume the black guy can’t afford to live there, or support BLM provided it doesn’t affect the aesthetics of the neighborhood. (Reminded me of my generally reliable Dem voting neighbor all aflutter she could hear the BLM protest half a mile from the house as if she could visualize her property value dropping with every chant.)

  77. 77.

    Kent

    @Martin:

    @Krope, the Formerly Dope: Yeah, basically. I mean, that’s all politics has ever been – adapting policies to capture more of the demographic you need to win.

    It’s not that the GOP thinks they can win over gay voters, it’s that they need to stop losing voters who aren’t hung up on gay rights (which is most voters).

    I’ll contend that most elected GOPs could really care less about either issue, but abortion and gay rights are lines around which they can draw a demographic majority and stay in power. Move those lines and their position will instantly shift.

    I think SCOTUS has one finger in the wind and the other in the back pocket of their corporate and business elite.  I honestly don’t think big business gives the slightest shit about this ruling and probably favors it because it gives them cover to stop pandering to the fundies for fear of boycotts and such.   I’m talking about corporate America, not the random fundie-owned wedding cake shop or whatever.  Or even the embarrassing fundie corporations like Hobby Lobby.

    When the rulings actually affect the bottom lines of businesses then this SCOTUS religiously steers hard right.  Anything to do with curtailing regulations or labor rights, they are all over that.

    The culture war stuff?  I think they just keep a finger to the wind.  The ACA was a culture war issue when they made their ruling back in….2012?   To let states opt out.  Not so much anymore.  And discriminating against LGBT folks has pretty much gone out of fashion in mainstream corporate America.  Last pride parade here in Portland there were more corporate floats than anything else, and more participants wearing color-coded corporate t-shirts than anything else.   My wife and daughters were out marching with another 100+ Kaiser Permanente co-workers and they had all manner of rainbow swag with the corporate logo on it.

    For predicting any future SCOTUS ruling, calculate if it (1) affects the bottom line of big business, or (2) the electoral chances of Republicans and you know how they will vote.  If it doesn’t do either of those then they are not afraid to toss the occasional bone as we see here.  To give themselves cover.

  78. 78.

    Kent

    @Martin: The are the homeowner version of the white SF tech bros who tried to run the Hispanic kids off the city soccer field because they didn’t use some app to reserve the field online.

    Just goes to show you that racism isn’t a partisan issue in this country.  It is a white issue.  I see it all the time in my semi-liberal white suburb in Portland.  All you have to do is follow the next-door app to get horrified by all the liberal NIMBYs who freak out when someone driving a car older than 5 years is parked somewhere.

  79. 79.

    J R in WV

    @Kent:

    All you have to do is follow the next-door app to get horrified by all the liberal NIMBYs who freak out when someone driving a car older than 5 years is parked somewhere.

    Geez — I have a Chrysler  TC roadster my dad bought back in 1990. Classic roadster, now over 30 years old. The NIMBYs you’re talking about have NO TASTE in autos whatsoever. Horrifying!!!

  84. 84.

    Kent

    @raven: Not in my suburb.  You aren’t even supposed to have business vehicles parked in your driveway overnight.  You know, trucks with door signs on them.  That sort of thing.  They are OK if you garage them out of sight.  HOA rules.  No one really pays them all that much attention but they do freak if you paint your house in a non-approved color.

    I personally wouldn’t have chosen to live in this exact development.  But we needed a house fast and my wife really liked it.  Neighbors are actually mostly pretty cool and diverse.  You don’t encounter the freak show until you go online to find all the local Karens hiding in plain sight.

  87. 87.

    Formerly disgruntled in Oregon

    @WaterGirl: 

    Disney and LMM were going to release an original cast recording, filmed a few years back, to theaters in 2021. Thanks to Covid, release has been pulled up to July 3rd, 2020, exclusively on Disney+.

  88. 88.

    Kent

    @raven:@Kent: You mean they wouldn’t have been down with my 62 Jimmy with the Standard Oil sign???

    Back in Texas we lived in a HOA community and the old ladies would power walk around the neighborhood every morning finding violations and reporting them.  Unbelievable ticky tack shit, mostly to do with unapproved landscaping and such.  Or commercial vehicles that were ungaraged.

    Here in Camas WA the HOA just hired a management company from Portland to do all the work.  They make sure the landscaping gets done to the common areas and trails and one of the hired managers seems to drive through the neighborhood every month or so and leaves notes on doors for stuff like having your garbage cans sitting in your driveway instead of out of sight.  Or having too much moss on your roof.  It’s pretty tame and far less arbitrary than the Texas version run by retired “volunteers”.    I don’t let it bother me.  I knew what it was when we move in.  It’s hard to find homes around here that aren’t in a HOA unless you buy really old ones or way out in the country and we didn’t want to do either.

  90. 90.

    Bill Arnold

    @Cermet: 

    You nailed those issues very well in a manner I’ve never fully appreciated. I’ve been searching for reasons to be optimistic. I understand as the fire burns we should enjoy these victories.

    It’s going to be a fight against very wealthy entrenched interests for the next few decades. Particularly fossil carbon extraction interests, which will be fighting to be allowed to extract and sell trillions of dollars of fossil carbon. (Allowing this is not an option. Seriously.)
    I suggest that everyone skill up on (personal+) defenses against general propaganda and more targeted influence operations, especially including the smart young people. Intelligent hard science people can be very clear eyed politically if they spend some effort on it and don’t get tricked down one or more of the pathological paths that capture so many.

  91. 91.

    Dan B

    Gorsuch wrote that the RFRA applies so religious institutions can discriminate.  Does this mean that employees in secular businesses and organizations can as well?  Seems like Liberty Counsel could make this messy.

  93. 93.

    Ruckus

    My sister came out over 40 yrs ago. She passed 12 yrs ago from cancer. She would have liked this day.

    Her coming out partner passed 3 yrs ago, we were friends for decades, still am with her partner from when she passed from complications of sickle cell and from what I consider a racist doctor who should have known and done better than what he did. I haven’t had a chance to talk to her but will very soon to see how she’s doing. Probably tomorrow.

    Victories small and not so small are how the world advances. As long as it’s 2 or 20 steps forward for ever one back, it’s a good day. I know of people who won’t see it that way but they are in personal danger from it getting worse. As it has over the last 3 1/2 yrs.

  94. 94.

    frosty

    @raven: Dead thread, but you have SO MANY pictures! That was the time period when I decided pictures weren’t cool so I didn’t take many. Big regret. I’m making up for it now.

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