Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.

The next time the wall street journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

I’m pretty sure there’s only one Jack Smith.

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

Battle won, war still ongoing.

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

“Squeaker” McCarthy

He really is that stupid.

They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

Happy indictment week to all who celebrate!

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

You are here: Home / Politics / Activist Judges! / Monday Evening Open Thread: A Texas Handmaid’s Tale — So *Cunning*!

Monday Evening Open Thread: A Texas Handmaid’s Tale — So *Cunning*!

by | 153 Comments

This post is in: , , ,

Nobody the NYTimes editors know will ever have trouble accessing reproductive services, so why not publish a little beat-sweetner congratulating the Federalist Society on its clever, legalistic plans?


Betty Cracker already covered Judge Cunning-Bunny’s speech this morning, but frankly — they’re just gloating, now:

… Introduced by Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, who founded the center and played a key role in pushing through her confirmation in the last days of the Trump administration, Barrett spoke at length about her desire for others to see the Supreme Court as nonpartisan…

A Texas Handmaid's Tale: <em>So *Cunning*!</em> - STOCKPILE

(John Deering via GoComics.com)

Reader Interactions

153Comments

  1. 1.

    Baud

    When we hold 75% of Congress and pass a bill to expand the Court, I propose we call it the “Nonpartisan Supreme Court Reform Act of 20XX.”

  2. 2.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Baud: So that was the cunning ploy, the date was “20xx”? That’s almost so stupid I would believe a Conservative was baffled.

  6. 6.

    kindness

    Repubs and their enablers sure do seem to love patting themselves on the back.

    The jokes write themselves.

  7. 7.

    Brachiator

    I am not a lawyer and don’t even play one on the Internet. I do not understand the Texas law. I don’t understand how the state could say that something is illegal, but enforcement is left up to a civil suit by anyone, even if they are not directly affected. Maybe I don’t understand the law at all. But this seems like some stupid bullshit, not the work of some great legal mastermind.

  8. 8.

    Kristine

    Glad I finally canceled my subscription. I hung on for the science writers as long as I could, but after the last Biden/Beau smear job, I threw in the towel.

    At least they let you unsub online now. When I looked into the process last year–or maybe the year before–you needed to phone. Wondering if the number of cancellations increased to the point that they swamped their customer service department.

  9. 9.

    Ruckus

    @kindness:

    I’ve never been in a position to try this but it may be easier to pat yourself on the back with your head up your own ass.

    Which is one reason they are always doing it. It may also be easier to insert one’s head there if one has been drinking….

    Hence the need for the bars to remain open…

  10. 10.

    Betty

    I had the impression that Michael Schmidt was better than this. I think balance would have required noting that the DOJ does not think the little plan works. It’s why they sued.

  11. 11.

    Ruckus

    @Brachiator:

    But this seems like some stupid bullshit, not the work of some great legal mastermind.

    He’s a great legal mastermind in his own view, which may be explained in my answer to kindness at #9.

  12. 12.

    pajaro

    In Hitler’s American Model, by James Q. Whitman, the author relates the story of the hard-working German lawyers who came to the United States and, by so doing, were able to come up with ingenious (at the time) racist categories that became a part of the Nuremberg laws. We know that their ingenious work was in the service of evil. Shame, shame, shame on Michael Schmidt for not figuring out that the “hero” of the story was crafting an exercise in legal terrorism.

  13. 13.

    Kay

    It is really galling how much legal and lawyer commentary there has been and almost NO coverage of the women who are right now affected. It’s fucking appalling. Legal gamesmanship. That’s the coverage we get. A grossly backward and sexist country that has decided that the only people who will be allowed to speak on this law are elite lawyers.

  17. 17.

    Kay

    who quietly became legal mastermind behind Texas abortion law.

    Gross. They’re like some kind of archaic, cloistered guild lording it over the masses.
    The coverage was so much worse than I imagined and I have such low expectations. Could they possibly be more dismissive of the women affected? They’ve barely been mentioned.

  18. 18.

    hells littlest angel

    Michael Schmidt and Peter Baker: a matched pair of self-important shit-heads, suitable for bookends if you have some really bad books.

  21. 21.

    eclare

    @Brachiator:  IANAL either, but don’t you need standing to pursue a lawsuit?  That you, the plaintiff, were harmed in some way?  How does it harm nosy busybody if someone has an abortion?

  23. 23.

    Shalimar

     

    @eclare: Standing is a technical issue, and the statute theoretically grants standing to anyone who wants to sue.  It wouldn’t fail for that.  It should be unconstitutional for allowing individuals to do something through a court that the government itself can’t do.  Legislatures can’t delegate unconstitutional powers.

  24. 24.

    Woodrow/asim

    @Kay: The coverage was so much worse than I imagined and I have such low expectations.

    I’ll make it worse — the NYTimes appears to have swiped the reportage from Texas Monthly magazine, who wrote an article in early Sept. on this asshole: https://twitter.com/KatrinaNation/status/1434627103937413130

    So yeah, they can’t even credit who appears to have originated reporting on the guy.

    The same mag also did an Explainer on this shit law from just before the SCOTUS full ruling (if you wanna call it that); it looks to be the best/most detailed article I’ve seen detailing what you can, and cannot do: https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/texas-abortion-law-explained/

  29. 29.

    Edmund Dantes

    @eclare: as noted by others. This is the logical stuff that 5 year olds due when you say “no food in the bedroom”.

    so the kids sets up in the doorway of the bedroom and eats it there

    “see the food isn’t in the bedroom”

     

    the justices are only allowing it because they like the outcome. It’s  it some legalistic mastermind idea.

  34. 34.

    leeleeFL

    I cannot put into words how disgusting these ostensible 4th estate denizens really are.  It has reached a point of no fucking return.  I have never had, nor did I ever want an abortion. Both my live children, as well as the one that I miscarried, were wanted desperately, though totally unplanned.  But, I defend to my bones every woman’s right to not carry a pregnancy to term. The woman’s body is hers, and an unwanted pregnancy should not be continued unless the pregnant person wants it to continue.  These pathetic people, male and female, who profess to know what God wants and therefore they have the right to force a woman to carry a child inside her, whether she wants to or not, should spend more time examining their own lives and keep the fuck out of anyone elses.

    Reporters should tell the truth, for BOTH sides of the debate, and then SHUT RIGHT THE HELL UP.  If they want to give an opinion, they should call themselves commentators, and stop muddying the waters with their BS

    Amy Coney Barrett needs a bag of salted dicks.  Can we send her one, please and thank you?

  36. 36.

    mrmoshpotato

    If this reads like I copied it from this morning, well…

    Happy Monday! It’s always great when these fucking bastards just rub the horseshit right in our faces!

  37. 37.

    Ksmiami

    @leeleeFL: without abortion as an option real women die. That’s it – that’s the reality. Blood and tragedy and that’s why we need to take these motherfuckers down

  38. 38.

    Chetan Murthy

    I’m gonna ask a question here, and it’s just a question.  For preface, I know that things haven’t got this bad yet, and for sure, I hope they don’t.  But it’s still worth asking the question I think:

    During TFG’s reign, at a few points some minority group (like Muslims, trans people) were targeted harshly, and a discussion came up as to whether this was a red line for progressives.  Each time, lots of people discussed how it could not be such a red line, for thus-and-such reasons.  I’m not going to go into those reasons, b/c it’s only relevant by analogy to our current situation.

    Is women’s reproductive rights that red line?  I want to say “yes”, but I wonder what the answer is for progressives across the nation.  B/c if the answer is “yes,” then that informs the actions we take, doesn’t it?  It means that we need to act aggressively in ways that we would and did not for the cases I mentioned above.

    Maybe it’s time for us Californians to start pushing our elected officials to use “Stasi Law” tactics against gun owners.  Maybe it’s time to go even further and push those tactics against any legislator anywhere who curtails women’s reproductive rights anywhere.

  39. 39.

    laura

    A former clerk for Antonin Scalia has been working late nights to evade the justice system in the pursuit of denying women agency and constitutional rights. Would that be originalist textualist Antonin Scalia? The stank of judicial activism and the breathtaking headlong rush in Texas and other woman hating legislatures to adopt this horse shit really is something.

  41. 41.

    NotMax

    FYI.

    A California man who allegedly had a machete and bayonet in a truck with white supremacist symbols on it was arrested late Sunday night near the Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington, D.C.

    Donald Craighead, 44, of Oceanside, California, was arrested for unlawful possession of banned weapons, Capitol Police said in a press release Monday announcing the arrest. Source

  43. 43.

    scav

    They’re also laying a little sneaky “we’re not collectively responsible for this project” line down for if it goes really pear-shaped — or for the audience that needs a little moral cover for their low tax addiction. It was that single clever dude, according to the liberal FTFNYT, not the republican collective, so vote for innocent kindly widdle us.

  44. 44.

    eclare

    @leeleeFL:  Very well put, and I agree 1000%.  How ACB is not pelted with rotten fruit whenever she ventures outside her cozy castle is beyond me.

  45. 45.

    Roger Moore

    @Brachiator: ​
     

    I don’t understand how the state could say that something is illegal, but enforcement is left up to a civil suit by anyone, even if they are not directly affected.

    The trick is that something similar has been done before for civil rights laws. If I think a business is discriminating against me, I can sue them under the Civil Rights Act; I don’t have to convince my local prosecutor to do it for me. Of course that doesn’t mean the person I’m suing can’t challenge the Civil Rights Act in court as part of the suit, so it’s not as if this completely prevents the law from being challenged; it just means it will have to be challenged after someone actually sues over it in court.
    The thing that gets me is the idea that this somehow keeps the state government out of the issue. It doesn’t at all, at least as long as the state court system is part of the state government. I would think it should be possible to sue the Texas state courts, demanding an injunction to prevent them from awarding any damages under the law.

  46. 46.

    moops

    Whatever it takes to relabel conservatives as being savvy and liberals in disarray.

     

    Plus a helping of the USSC is non-partisan.

     

    plenty of NYT tropes to go around.

  47. 47.

    mrmoshpotato

    @leeleeFL:

    Reporters should tell the truth, for BOTH sides of the debate, and then SHUT RIGHT THE HELL UP. 

    Oh the shit Upchuck Todd would have to have reported on in 2015/16 then!

    Amy Coney Barrett needs a bag of salted dicks.  Can we send her one, please and thank you?

    No.  No seasoning.

  49. 49.

    Dan B

    @Kay:  Perhaps if the women affected all went to diners in Kansas dressed in coveralls the NYT could interview these “real Americans”.

    Nah, not even then. The story would be about an amazing insight that the heartland being taken over by whining lesbians…. or, make up your own clueless headline.

  50. 50.

    Chetan Murthy

    @Baud: [Re: the typo in your comment] I’m sure every reader here understood what you meant, but I wonder if an AI would have.  Got my doubts.

  51. 51.

    moops

    I’d like to also put to bed the stupid savvy talking point of the GOP being the dog that caught car.   That insider baseball BS that treats all issues like a horse race.   These monsters are fine with the ruling and the reason they are not bragging about it is they are not sure how it will all play out yet.  If the DOJ prevails in their lawsuit they can campaign on that. If the DOJ fails they can go forward with other state laws and campaign on that.

     

    It seems that can now safely murder Roe v Wade since now they have MAGA and COVID and QAnon and the Big Lie and a multitude of other wedge issues to drive turn out and froth up the base.

  53. 53.

    sab

    @Betty: Michael Schmidt’s book on impeaching Trump spent a lot of effort on defending Rod Rosenstein at DOJ, which left me pretty sceptical of him. Access journalism again, and his points of access seem to be pretty much GOP folks.

  54. 54.

    Roger Moore

    @Shalimar:

    It should be unconstitutional for allowing individuals to do something through a court that the government itself can’t do.

    The key thing is that the courts are still part of the government.  If something is a constitutionally protected right, the courts shouldn’t be able to issue a judgment against someone for asserting it.

  57. 57.

    Chetan Murthy

    @Baud: Others have said it better, but I’ll say it too: you’re a witty and interesting read, good sir.  And [IIUC] you’re an old fuddy-duddy for all that!

  58. 58.

    NotMax

    FYI (emphasis added).

    The family of a Cullman [Alabama] man who died of heart issues in Mississippi is asking people to get vaccinated for COVID after 43 hospitals across three states were unable to accept him because of full cardiac ICUs.
    [snip]
    As of Thursday, there are 60 more ICU patients in Alabama than there are beds, and 51% of those patients have tested positive for COVID-19. Source

  60. 60.

    trollhattan

    @Brachiator:

    Larry is a strange man with a fondness for some strange brew.

    What sticks with me is the two probably spend lots of energy convincing each other they’re “one of the good ones” in the eyes of the Klan and Nazi zealots they rely on for their money and power.

  61. 61.

    Baud

    Anonymous! A blast from the past.

    Texas GOP website down after Anonymous hack and replaced by Planned Parenthood fundraiser
    Website URL was reclaimed on Monday but most

  62. 62.

    NotMax

    Fumble fingers fix. FYI (emphasis added).

    The family of a Cullman [Alabama] man who died of heart issues in Mississippi is asking people to get vaccinated for COVID after 43 hospitals across three states were unable to accept him because of full cardiac ICUs.
    [snip]
    As of Thursday, there are 60 more ICU patients in Alabama than there are beds, and 51% of those patients have tested positive for COVID-19. Source

  65. 65.

    trollhattan

    @Baud:

    Test the first, said individually to identical twin alien hot chicks:

    “I love you. And I hate you.”

    Thus readeth the Book of Spock, Chapter 2, verse 5.

  69. 69.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @NotMax: Um, I dunno about that “not being a coincidence” – according to Quora there were a bunch of Sonderzüge named for continents:

    Hitler’s personal train was named Amerika. Göring’s personal train was named Asien. The personal train of the armed forces high command (OKW) was named Afrika. The personal train of the army general staff (OKH GS) was named Europa.​

    Then again, inasmuch as der Fuehrer had first pick… I seem to recall he had a childhood fascination with Karl May’s cowboy novels, & that might be part of it. YMMV​

  71. 71.

    Sure Lurkalot

    The NYT is truly crap and I quit it last year after 25 or 30 years.

    I admit to missing the crossword, food section and cooking app and the Sunday magazine.

    While I was typing this I got a popup from NYT stating “Biden’s Vaccine Mandate is a Big Mistake.”

    How can I be wrong when you make me right?

  72. 72.

    Chetan Murthy

    @Sure Lurkalot: [since I don’t care if they go bankrupt; hell, I’d like that] I understand that with standard cookie-blockers, the NYT cooking section is easily readable even when not in incognito mode.

  73. 73.

    Jim Appleton

    Just a note on the headline.

    Cunning derives from the same linguistic root as cunt.

    So does queen.

  74. 74.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    Nicki Minaj (@NICKIMINAJ):

    My cousin in Trinidad won’t get the vaccine cuz his friend got it & became impotent. His testicles became swollen. His friend was weeks away from getting married, now the girl called off the wedding. So just pray on it & make sure you’re comfortable with ur decision, not bullied.

    southpaw (@nycsouthpaw):

    Sorry to nicki minaj’s cousin’s friend whose alibi for getting swollen nuts and having his wedding called off is about to fall apart under the intense scrutiny of the global media.

    Ryan Mac ? (@RMac18):

    This thing has the escape velocity of the 30-50 feral hogs tweet.

  75. 75.

    Baud

    @mrmoshpotato:

    Yo
    (Open up, man) What do you want, man?
    (My girl just caught me) You let her catch you?
    (I don’t know how I let this happen) With who?
    (The girl next door, you know) Man
    (I don’t know what to do) Say it wasn’t you was the vaccine.
    (Alright)

  76. 76.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @hells littlest angel: ​It might be noted that by removing the even-numbered letters in Schmidt’s surname, one can get a fairly accurate idea of the content of his article.

    (Over 50 years ago one of my HS classmates showed me that alteration with one of the free ad-festooned brown book covers where Schmidt’s Bread was prominently featured on the front…)

  78. 78.

    Brachiator

    @Roger Moore:

    If I think a business is discriminating against me, I can sue them under the Civil Rights Act; I don’t have to convince my local prosecutor to do it for me.

    But this would personally affect you. And the state could separately get involved.

    With the Texas law, it seems as though the state is pretending not to get involved, and people who are not affected at all can interfere in the decisions of people they don’t know.

    It’s like someone you don’t know suing you because they don’t like what you cooked for dinner last week.

  80. 80.

    West of the Rockies

    Just delivered two more No votes on the CA gubernatorial recall.  I look forward to the gnashing of teeth and pulling of hair among Republicans tomorrow.

  86. 86.

    Bokonon

    @Kristine:  When I cancelled my New York Times subscription, they asked me my reason.  And when I told them, they essentially said “okay, well, we cover both sides.  Thanks and buh-bye.”  They really, really do not want to hear that their coverage choices and bias and normalizing of right wing attacks are pissing people off.

  87. 87.

    trollhattan

    @West of the Rockies:

    Here’s hoping. Am feeling positive TBH, once Larry sprang into the lead it was no longer “too boring” to send in that ballot.

    IMO it was a grift from start to finish, an opportunity to bank sweet advertising and campaign advisor bucks and to poke The Dems in the eye. Twofer. And honestly, fuck the whole lot of them.

  89. 89.

    trollhattan

    @Bokonon:

    “Boff sides” is why my local paper carries Mark Thiessen. For whatever reason they can’t find a liberal moronic sadistic liar to balance him, so only one side is present.

  90. 90.

    trollhattan

    @Baud: ​
     Sec of State has IIRC 30 days to certify the ballot. But if the early count shows it failing badly, the drama falls away quickly. With so many already in hand the first-run count will go fast.

  91. 91.

    Roger Moore

    @Brachiator:

    My point was that the state can create private causes for action for things that we think of as public issues.  This has frequently been done when there are worries the local prosecutor won’t be interested in taking on the case; it ensures that anyone can enforce the law.  That it’s being used for evil this time is important, but you do need to be at least marginally clever to explain the difference between this case and something like the Civil Rights Act.

  94. 94.

    debbie

    @Chetan Murthy:

    Maybe it’s time for us Californians to start pushing our elected officials to use “Stasi Law” tactics against gun owners.

    I’ve heard this suggested several times over the past week. It would be fun, but would be of no use in curing what is ailing this country.

  95. 95.

    Ksmiami

    @eclare: run these idealogues out of town. Make their lives hell – make them wish they were dead. And then press further. These people (Kavanaugh, Thomas, Alito, Barrett) are monsters, make them pay the price.

  96. 96.

    Chetan Murthy

    @Roger Moore: [IANAL but] My understanding is that the Civil Rights Act is constitutional, and that its constitutionality does not rest on the ability of private individuals to sue for its enforcement.  Whereas, this Stasi Law rests its constitutionality specifically on this ability, and that the state itself isn’t bringing the suits.  I could be wrong.

  104. 104.

    Chetan Murthy

    @debbie: [Let’s assume that it’s even possible to do: which I doubt, b/c too many Californians don’t recognize our parlous national state] That assumes that that’s merely where we stop.  Bankrupting the gun makers, every gun owner, isn’t nothing, and if we proceed from that to making it possible for any Gestation Slaver legislator to visit California, that’s another step.  Ditto anyone who donates $$ to Gestation Slaver legislators.  Doing that in every Deep Blue State will actually put a dent in their lifestyles.

    Taking away the money from these bastards is the only peacable [sp?] way to end this madness.

  105. 105.

    David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch

    @Bokonon: ​
     

    “okay, well, we cover both sides.

    They’re not supposed to cover both sides, they’re supposed to cover events. As K-Thug said on the eve of the 2000 election:

    If a presidential candidate were to declare that the earth is flat, you would be sure to see a news analysis under the headline ”Shape of the Planet: Both Sides Have a Point.”

  108. 108.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Baud:

    Travis Helwig @travishelwig 35m
    You’re just walking around Trinidad minding your own business when Nicki Minaj tweets about your swollen testicles.

    farhad manjoo @fmanjoo 3m
    the best part is how she is deeply engaged in her own research

  112. 112.

    Hoodie

    @Brachiator:  Correctomundo. I am a lawyer, and your initial assessment was on the mark; it is stupid bullshit.  The proper response would have been to either to dismiss this as pettifogging that allows a transparent end around existing law (as the three liberal justices argued) or to say that implementation of this law is stayed until its nonsensical provisions can be fully argued before the Court, where they will likely lose (as Roberts argued).   This is in the vein of “one weird trick” type of made up bullshit, and we now have a Court that loves – or at least has no problem with – that kind of made up bullshit, similar to the way base of the GOP accepts made up bullshit about elections and vaccines.  They like it because it gives them an excuse, they don’t need a reason.

  114. 114.

    Chetan Murthy

    @debbie:

    I’m looking forward to the lawsuits from ACLU, etc.

    If they work, that’s enough for me.  Certainly agree with you.  Thing is, if they don’t, we don’t have to curl up in a ball, and we don’t have to somehow “out-organize them”.  We can make them pay and force them to reckon with us.

    I’d appreciate any pointers you had to why and how such a strategy would be counterproductive, other than “SCOTUS will strike them down.”  B/c that’s something I fully expect, and at that point, the Blue States simply disregard SCOTUS.

  129. 129.

    Chetan Murthy

    @debbie: It would seem that that’s a reason for even more aggressively confronting them.  In short, I don’t agree with this “defensive crouch” stance.  That will only embolden the terrorists.

  130. 130.

    gene108

    @Ksmiami:

    I think we should organize a protest at the Court and blockade them from serving. Make them pay

    I think several thousand people should pay a tourist visit to SCOTUS, when they are in session and show them a collection of flags, flag poles, and bear spray.

  134. 134.

    mrmoshpotato

    @gene108:

    I think several thousand people should pay a tourist visit to SCOTUS, when they are in session and show them a collection of flags, flag poles, and bear spray. 

    No.  Stop it.

  138. 138.

    Kent

    @gene108:I think several thousand people should pay a tourist visit to SCOTUS, when they are in session and show them a collection of flags, flag poles, and bear spray.

    You looking for a felony conviction and a couple years in Federal lockup?

  146. 146.

    Ksmiami

    @mrmoshpotato: right but I think we are pretty much nearing the point of the real Tea Party – as the fascist Rt wing is a mortal threat. I think it’s time to be a little less peaceful since nothing is getting thru

  149. 149.

    mrmoshpotato

    @debbie:

     

    I have never yearned for a far-off desert island like I have after reading that tweet. The Stupid, it is so exhausting

    Yup.  And I hear there are 3 actual vaccines available!

  151. 151.

    Anne Laurie

    @Jim Appleton:

    Cunning derives from the same linguistic root as cunt.

    So does queen.

    Also ‘quaint’.

    I was aiming for the point between its vernacular use as ‘adorable’ and the infamous Blackadder ‘cunning plan’…

  152. 152.

    Misterpuff

    So we have this story of the dogged individual solving some legal puzzle to enable more misogamy and the newest Justice claiming the mantle of “balls and strikes” and absolutely no talk of reorganizing a Court that has been fashioned by corruption of the body politic and power plays of the brazen.

  153. 153.

    dave319

    @laura: You hit it. Win/win, for these bastards. Dismantle the rule of law, shred any and all respect for impartiality, be rewarded by the mega rich donor class. Wash, rinse, repeat.

Comments are closed.