Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg dies at 87

[Mr Quatro]

Odd timing,but may she rest in peace ... Now the race will be on to replace her, but it won't be before the election that's for sure.

Saying who you want to replace her could sink your chance for the POTUS :yep:

https://www.chron.com/news/article/Supreme-Court-Justice-Ruth-Bader-Ginsburg-dies-at-15579237.php

https://th.bing.com/th/id/OIP.A36zXF-Lhs0b43WQ12Pi8QHaJQ?w=150&h=188&c=7&o=5&dpr=1.5&pid=1.7

[August]

Odd timing,but may she rest in peace ... Now the race will be on to replace her, but it won't be before the election that's for sure.

Saying who you want to replace her could sink your chance for the POTUS :yep:



I'll bet that Trump picks the next one on his SCJ list and McConnell lets it go forward. Question is whether the Repubs will have the votes to pass it. It would only take a few defections to scuttle the attempt.

[Onkel Neal]

Now things get interesting....

[Buddahaid]

Trump has at least until January to get it done and McConnell has stated in a letter the nominee will get a vote on the Senate floor.

[Skybird]

I dont get it, never got. What is the argument behind this for-remaining-lifetime thing?


I think German Federal Constitutional Court is like that, too, but has changing presidencies. I am not certain.


But seating for lifetime in positions at the very top, imo simply is dangerous, and against the principle of why in politics they hold frequent elections.

[Jimbuna]

Based upon past programmes/documentaries she has been mentioned in or been a part of I formed a feeling of admiration for her.

May she rest in peace.

[August]

I think German Federal Constitutional Court is like that, too, but has changing presidencies. I am not certain.


Maybe you should learn the details of your own high court before you start criticizing ours.

[MaDef]

I dont get it, never got. What is the argument behind this for-remaining-lifetime thing?


I think German Federal Constitutional Court is like that, too, but has changing presidencies. I am not certain.


But seating for lifetime in positions at the very top, imo simply is dangerous, and against the principle of why in politics they hold frequent elections.

Federal judges are Nominated by the president, and then approved by Congress, lifetime appointment for Federal Judges minimizes the influence of the executive and legislative branches of government on the Supreme Court and the other Appellate Courts (there are 13). They deal almost exclusively with Constitutional Law with the SCOTUS being the final arbiter of Constitutional questions.

[Onkel Neal]

I dont get it, never got. What is the argument behind this for-remaining-lifetime thing?


I think German Federal Constitutional Court is like that, too, but has changing presidencies. I am not certain.


But seating for lifetime in positions at the very top, imo simply is dangerous, and against the principle of why in politics they hold frequent elections.


Basically it's so they do not have to curry favor to get re-elected. I think a single ten year term would be better.

Now we get to witness some hypocrisy topped with a Clintonesque does of hair-splitting by the Republicans as they rush to nominate and confirm one more SCJ.

[Aktungbby]

Based upon past programmes/documentaries she has been mentioned in or been a part of I formed a feeling of admiration for her.

May she rest in peace."They go in threes": Diana Rigg(Avenger Emma Peel), Ruth Bader Ginsburg(the 'Notorious RBG' to her fans-incl. my lawyer spouse)...who's next I wonder:hmmm:

[Skybird]

Basically it's so they do not have to curry favor to get re-elected. I think a single ten year term would be better.



Yeah, one term, long enough of not needing to collect favours, but then automatic end of term after a time frame as you mentioned, eight years, ten, I would be fine with that.


Else it ends like with judges at the European court who serve short terms and miust please the heads of governments to get called in for another term. It has been designed this way so that the EU court has little interest to piss the EU memberstate'S giovenrment too often.

[em2nought]

Now we're being spoon fed some B.S. that her dying wish was to "not" have Trump select her replacement. :har:

[Skybird]

The ideological balance of the nine-member court is crucial to its rulings on the most important issues in US law.
In 2016, Senate Republicans blocked Democratic President Barack Obama's pick for the US top court. At the time, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell justified the move on grounds that it was an election year.
But on Friday Senator McConnell said he intended to act on any nomination Mr Trump made.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-54216710

Double standards from the usual suzspects.

McConnel also was the one who insisted on that the Senate will block any impeachment NO MATTER THE EVIDENCE, and that he does not care for facts and right and wrong, truth and untruth, guilt and non-guilt.

A moral moron of hand-selected quality. Like so many actors in politics. They seem to vary only in the sheer amount of their individual unscrupulousness.

[August]

Now we're being spoon fed some B.S. that her dying wish was to "not" have Trump select her replacement. :har:
So says Maxine Waters. :haha:

[Mr Quatro]

Now we're being spoon fed some B.S. that her dying wish was to "not" have Trump select her replacement. :har:

On her death bed surrounded by her relatives no less :hmmm:

ACLU attorney chosen by Clinton :o

[u crank]

The ideological balance of the nine-member court is crucial to its rulings on the most important issues in US law.
In 2016, Senate Republicans blocked Democratic President Barack Obama's pick for the US top court. At the time, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell justified the move on grounds that it was an election year.
But on Friday Senator McConnell said he intended to act on any nomination Mr Trump made.


Politics is about power and the wise and judicious use of that power. When Obama nominated Merrick Garland in March 2016 the Senate was controlled by the GOP 54 to 44 seats. There was almost no chance that Garland would be confirmed. Obama would have known that. Right now the President is a Republican and the GOP controls the Senate. Failure to use that power would be a political mistake.

One of Obama's more ironic statements ... "Elections have consequences".

[Jimbuna]

US President Donald Trump has said he will next week nominate a woman to replace the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, escalating a political row over her successor.

"I will be putting forth a nominee next week. It will be a woman," Mr Trump said at a campaign rally in Fayetteville, North Carolina on Saturday. "I think it should be a woman because I actually like women much more than men."
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-54216710

[Onkel Neal]

Yeah, one term, long enough of not needing to collect favours, but then automatic end of term after a time frame as you mentioned, eight years, ten, I would be fine with that.


Else it ends like with judges at the European court who serve short terms and miust please the heads of governments to get called in for another term. It has been designed this way so that the EU court has little interest to piss the EU memberstate'S giovenrment too often.

Exactly, one long-ish term and that's it. Because the person who is chosen to serve is not the same person 25 years later.

[MaDef]

Basically it's so they do not have to curry favor to get re-elected. I think a single ten year term would be better.

Now we get to witness some hypocrisy topped with a Clintonesque does of hair-splitting by the Republicans as they rush to nominate and confirm one more SCJ.

Ten year term is a colossally bad idea, because the Justices have no "term limit", there is a very robust vetting process, and because of that, of the 112 Justices that have served on the court, only one has ever been fired (he resigned before the end of impeachment proceedings) that was Abe Fortas in 1969.

What I find appalling, is the level of violence being threatened by liberals if Trump nominates a successor.

[Aktungbby]

..., only one has ever been fired (he resigned before the end of impeachment proceedings) that was Abe Fortas in 1969.Indeed, Fortas' "Jewish seat" on the Supreme Court remained vacant for a year until it was filled by Jewish "the Notorious RBG!"(Justice Ginzburg)...for a well-rounded demographic representation on the highest court. :yep:

[Mr Quatro]

Don't forget the democrats want to appoint twenty new supreme court judges ... Not just one :o

[MaDef]

Indeed, Fortas' "Jewish seat" on the Supreme Court remained vacant for a year until it was filled by Jewish "the Notorious RBG!"(Justice Ginzburg)...for a well-rounded demographic representation on the highest court. :yep:
That's not right, Harry Blackmun succeeded Fortas in 70', Justice Ginsburg didn't join the Court until 93'.

[Aktungbby]

That's not right, Harry Blackmun succeeded Fortas in 70', Justice Ginsburg didn't join the Court until 93'.

Fortas's seat on the Supreme Court was vacant for nearly the court's entire 1969–70 term. President Nixon eventually appointed Harry Blackmun (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Blackmun) as Fortas's replacement after the nominations of Clement Haynsworth (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clement_Haynsworth) and G. Harrold Carswell (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G._Harrold_Carswell) had failed.
After Fortas's resignation, no one held the "Jewish seat" on the Supreme Court (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_the_Supreme_Court_of_the_United_St ates#Jewish_justices) until Ruth Bader Ginsburg (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruth_Bader_Ginsburg) was appointed in 1993. Stephen Breyer (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Breyer), who is also Jewish, was confirmed to succeed Blackmun in 1994. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Blackmun (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Blackmun) Frankfurter was followed by Arthur Goldberg (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Goldberg) and Abe Fortas (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abe_Fortas), each of whom filled what became known as the "Jewish Seat". After Fortas resigned in 1969, he was replaced by Protestant Harry Blackmun (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Blackmun). No Jewish justices were nominated thereafter until Ronald Reagan nominated Douglas H. Ginsburg (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_H._Ginsburg) in 1987, to fill the vacancy created by the retirement of Lewis F. Powell (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_F._Powell); however, this nomination was withdrawn, and the Court remained without any Jewish justices until 1993, when Ruth Bader Ginsburg (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruth_Bader_Ginsburg) (unrelated to Douglas Ginsburg) was appointed to replace Byron White (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byron_White). Ginsburg was followed in relatively quick succession by the appointment of Stephen Breyer (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Breyer), also Jewish, in 1994 to replace Harry Blackmun (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Blackmun). In 2010, the confirmation of President Barack Obama's nomination of Elena Kagan to the Court ensured that three Jewish justices would serve simultaneously. Prior to this confirmation, conservative (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservatism_in_the_United_States)political commentator (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_commentator)Pat Buchanan (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_Buchanan) stated that, "If Kagan is confirmed, Jews, who represent less than 2 percent of the U.S. population, will have 33 percent of the Supreme Court seats". At the time of his remarks, 6.4 percent of justices had been Jewish in the history of the court. Whoops! yer right!:up::yep: :oops: :doh:

[u crank]

In 2008 when Barack Obama became President, Ruth Bader Ginsburg was 75 years old and had been on the Supreme Court for 15 years. For the next 6 years Democrats controlled the Senate. During that time Ginsburg turned 80 years old. It would seem that the prudent thing for her to do would have been to retire and let President Obama and Harry Reid pick and confirm her successor. In hindsight this now seems like a error in judgement.

It is possible that her replacement could be Amy Coney Barrett, a pro life, Catholic originalist. Not much of a 'notorious' legacy.

[eddie]

Ten year term is a colossally bad idea, because the Justices have no "term limit", there is a very robust vetting process, and because of that, of the 112 Justices that have served on the court, only one has ever been fired (he resigned before the end of impeachment proceedings) that was Abe Fortas in 1969.

What I find appalling, is the level of violence being threatened by liberals if Trump nominates a successor.


You spend way too much time listening to *ucker Carlson, lol Violence, my butt, just keep pushing more division, works great for the country. Besides, what side of the political system are the White Nationalists and Boogaloo boys on any way, sure as heck isn't the democratic side. What BS!

[MaDef]

You spend way too much time listening to *ucker Carlson, lol Violence, my butt, just keep pushing more division, works great for the country. Besides, what side of the political system are the White Nationalists and Boogaloo boys on any way, sure as heck isn't the democratic side. What BS!
Explain the following:

"If they even TRY to replace RBG we burn the entire f-----g thing down," author Reza Aslan tweeted

The liberals in this country have gone off the deep end period. I'm not the one in the streets protesting and looting, I'm not on the streets counter protesting either. I've never felt the need to carry a gun except when I was hunting or in bear/mountain lion country, but because of these protests/counter protests, I now carry a gun in public. I should not have to do that.

[Skybird]

What its about.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/timing-everything-mcconnell-flexes-muscle-trump-court-pick-n1240655

Power. Just this.

[u crank]

What its about.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/timing-everything-mcconnell-flexes-muscle-trump-court-pick-n1240655

Power. Just this.

From the article.

McConnell is exercising raw political power for the purpose of acquiring and maintaining more power. Other explanations are quickly stripped away when matched against facts.

Well what are the facts? How about the fact that President Trump will be President until at least Jan. 20, 2021. McConnell's Senate majority will exist until Jan. 3, 2021. Why this advantage that the American voters decided is considered 'raw political power' is a mystery to me.

Somehow Trump naming a replacement and the Senate confirming it is an affront to the legacy of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Or something like that. But what if Trump waited? And what if he was re-elected in Nov. And what if the GOP held on to their majority in the Senate? What would be the argument then and why would it be different from now?

[Onkel Neal]

Besides, what side of the political system are the White Nationalists and Boogaloo boys on any way, sure as heck isn't the democratic side. What BS!


I'm gonna have to ask, exactly how many of these types of people are there in the US? It seems like the left types are foaming at the mouth with Nazi-fever. Nazis here, Nazis there, Nazis everywhere! Reminds me of the Committee of Public Safety in the French Revolution. :hmmm:

How many White Nationalists and Boogaloo boys are there? Estimates? I've never met one.

And: if you support President TRUMPS, does that automatically make one suspect? Does that automatically make one a White Nationalists, Boogaloo boy, Patriot Pride, etc?

I get the feeling these days that if you are not a Democrat then you're termed a far-right, racist Nazi.

[Jimbuna]

https://i.postimg.cc/Y2v2Zw31/119986138-10220098204984564-5383560788318647168-n.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

[skidman]

How many White Nationalists and Boogaloo boys are there? Estimates? I've never met one.


Stop posting BS.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_white_nationalist_organizations#United_Sta tes

[Catfish]

What about the "Proud Boys" lmao
Seems there are quite some of them if you attend Trump rallies.

[Onkel Neal]

Stop posting BS.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_white_nationalist_organizations#United_Sta tes

What BS? I never met one. I've never heard of anyone who knows one. Deal with it.

[skidman]

Well it's high time to broaden your mind then:

https://www.splcenter.org/hate-map?state=TX

[u crank]

You should pick a better arbiter of racism than the Southern Poverty Law Center. Not a highly regarded organization.

[Onkel Neal]

Oh my gosh, they're everywhere!:haha:

Soooo... some of the groups you are concerned about are not even white nationalists, apparently ...

ISRAEL UNITED IN CHRIST
6 chapters

BLACK SEPARATIST

Hmm... there's quite lot of them

NEW BLACK PANTHER PARTY
BLACK SEPARATIST
HOUSTON


PROUD BOYS
Established in the midst of the 2016 presidential election by VICE Media co-founder Gavin McInnes, the Proud Boys are self-described “western chauvinists” who adamantly deny any connection to the racist “alt-right,” insisting they are simply a fraternal group spreading an “anti-political correctness” and “anti-white guilt” agenda.

Nope, you cannot be anti-political correctness” and “anti-white guilt”, that makes you racist!


Here's one, yeah, that fits what I was saying, these people aren't white nationalists, by any stretch.

THE REMEMBRANCE PROJECT
ANTI-IMMIGRANT
HOUSTON

Yup, their site says:
A voice for victims killed by illegal aliens.

So there you go, SPLC distorts the truth by labeling them anti-immigrant when they are anti-illegal immigrant. Big difference. Unless you feel it's ok to dismiss the law.



Hey, the wiki link you provided claims the KKK, the grandaddy of all hate groups, numbers 5,000 and 8,000 members. In a nation of 330 millions, that's a fraction of a drop in the pool. There are 5 million and 14 million people in the U.S. diagnosed as compulsive hoarders.

I'm never said and I'm not saying they don't exist, I'm saying they are rare and unusual. In any society there is a small segment of freaks. Right now the left is blowing it out of proportion as a reason to go wild in the streets. That's more of a psychologic deviance than anything else.

[skidman]

I'm sure the information on the map is good enough to help you finding a white-supremacist in TX once you discover the filter mode. If you want to assess the threat imposed by extremist political groups, you can not solely rely on numbers. You have to consider dynamics and their propensity to violence. You are concerned about the left and BLM "blowing it out of proportion" I am concerned about a 55% increase of members of White nationalist hate groups since Trump is POTUS as reported by the Guardian, the "Unite the right rally" in Charlottesville, the El Paso massacre with 26 killed, the attack on the synagogue in Poway. They may be rare and unusual but their action speak louder than your words.

[Onkel Neal]

Sure, they exist. I'm here, in Texas, but as I said, they are so rare, I've never met one. How many have you met in Texas? You doing first hand research or just googling your way along?

[Mr Quatro]

I feel sorry for the undercover agencies (pick any three letter group) that has to infiltrate these hate groups to see what they think from the inside out. :o

Some are so evil that they can tell if your not one of them and shorten the time you have left on the earth :yep:

[MaDef]

I'm sure the information on the map is good enough to help you finding a white-supremacist in TX once you discover the filter mode. If you want to assess the threat imposed by extremist political groups, you can not solely rely on numbers. You have to consider dynamics and their propensity to violence. You are concerned about the left and BLM "blowing it out of proportion" I am concerned about a 55% increase of members of White nationalist hate groups since Trump is POTUS as reported by the Guardian, the "Unite the right rally" in Charlottesville, the El Paso massacre with 26 killed, the attack on the synagogue in Poway. They may be rare and unusual but their action speak louder than your words.

So you have 2 shootings and only one was done by a "white Nationalist", but according to you they're hiding under every other bed in America. I've seen more mountain lions in my life than I've seen white nationalists except on television.

[August]

Sure, they exist. I'm here, in Texas, but as I said, they are so rare, I've never met one. How many have you met in Texas? You doing first hand research or just googling your way along?


Of course he's just googling it. He can't see our reality with his own eyes. He has to rely on what he is spoon fed by the media.

[skidman]

Sure, they exist. I'm here, in Texas, but as I said, they are so rare, I've never met one.

Have you ever met an ANTIFA or BLM person in real life?

[skidman]

So you have 2 shootings and only one was done by a "white Nationalist", but according to you they're hiding under every other bed in America. I've seen more mountain lions in my life than I've seen white nationalists except on television.

Ah I see, two shootings are not good enough. Maybe you should talk to the victims' parents, partners and kids. That might change your mind. I never said "they're hiding under every other bed". Stop putting words in my mouth. But to state "I never met one, white nationalism does not pose a problem" is hardly a adequate way to address the matter.

You insist this is about numbers. It isn't. This is about people thinking: Sure, they are few, but there are enough of them to drive the car. I'll be in the back seat. Smiling.

[skidman]

Of course he's just googling it. He can't see our reality with his own eyes. He has to rely on what he is spoon fed by the media.

Leven Jung, had I noticed you sat next to me yesterday, I'd have treated you to a beer.

[Onkel Neal]

Have you ever met an ANTIFA or BLM person in real life?

I never made any claims I did. They're very rare too.

[Bilge_Rat]

Despite its high sounding name, the "Southern Povery Law Center" is a left wing political organisation with a very dubious record of lying about data to achieve its political aims. They have been caught in many scandals where they were trying to label main stream conservative groups as "white nationalists" or " hate groups". They have no credibility whatsoever.

The myth that right wing groups are rising under Trump is just that, a myth, just like "Russia collusion". :haha:

[MaDef]

Ah I see, two shootings are not good enough. Maybe you should talk to the victims' parents, partners and kids. That might change your mind. I never said "they're hiding under every other bed". Stop putting words in my mouth. But to state "I never met one, white nationalism does not pose a problem" is hardly a adequate way to address the matter.

You insist this is about numbers. It isn't. This is about people thinking: Sure, they are few, but there are enough of them to drive the car. I'll be in the back seat. Smiling.

Technically it was one shooting, and one vehicular killing/assault. You are also the one sitting 5,000 miles away and trying to convince me that racists groups are a systemic problem in the U.S., I'm telling you they are nowhere near as problematic as you seem to think.

You insist this is about numbers. It isn't. This is about people thinking: Sure, they are few, but there are enough of them to drive the car. I'll be in the back seat. Smiling.

You haven't taken the First Amendment of the Constitution into account. Just because you're allowed to say what's on your mind doesn't mean that we approve or agree with it, but it is your right to say what's on your mind (collective you, not you in particular), at least until the First Amendment is rescinded.

[Bilge_Rat]

Rabbis Condemn Southern Poverty Law Center, Call on Amazon Smile to Drop It

Prominent Jewish rabbis—including leaders in the Rabbinical Alliance of America and Young Israel—are urging Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos to eject the Southern Poverty Law Center from the Amazon Smile program.

The Southern Poverty Law Center ostensibly strives to expose hate groups. It rightly identifies numerous groups, such as the KKK and the Nation of Islam, as hateful, but it also leverages its credibility to wrongly apply that label to others.

It targets groups engaged in countering ideological extremism, which deprives itself and others of valuable allies in the fight against white supremacy, anti-Semitism, and radical Islamism.

For that reason, a chorus of Jewish leaders are decrying the Southern Poverty Law Center as “uniquely detrimental and even dangerous to the Jewish community.”

Defamation is nothing new to the organization. In 2018, it paid $3.4 million and issued a public apology for calling Maajid Nawaz, executive director of the Quilliam Foundation, an “anti-Muslim extremist.” Nawaz is himself a Muslim who has devoted his life to fighting Islamism, white supremacy, and neo-Nazism. How shameful that the organization nearly derailed his worthy mission to eliminate such hate.

In the same publication, it called Daniel Pipes of the Middle East Policy Forum—one of the most reputable opponents of anti-Semitism—“anti-Muslim.”

Pipes warned that the Southern Poverty Law Center has strayed far from its mission of defeating racism.

“The SPLC has turned into a left-wing hatchet group, using its accumulated prestige to go after legitimate organizations and individuals. Along the way, ironically, SPLC itself acquired some of the reprehensible characteristics it was created to fight. The result is a hugely rich institution with a formidable reputation lacking a raison d’etre or even a moral conscience. It has become a parody of itself.”

https://www.heritage.org/civil-society/commentary/rabbis-condemn-southern-poverty-law-center-call-amazon-smile-drop-it

[Bilge_Rat]

The Southern Poverty Law Center is a hate-based scam that nearly caused me to be murdered

I’ll never forget the moment I learned we were on lockdown. It was Aug.15, 2012. My frustration mingled with fear. Trapped on the sixth floor, we knew someone had been shot. We knew we couldn’t leave yet. We knew little else.

While I was missing lunch, a crime scene played out in the office lobby below me. My coworker and friend Leo wasn’t armed, but he had played the quick-thinking and inadvertent hero, disarming a young man on a mission to kill me and as many of my colleagues as possible. The gunman had packed his backpack with ammo and 15 Chick-fil-A sandwiches — later admitting that he had planned to smear them on our lifeless faces as a political statement. Leo took a bullet in the arm but managed to hold the attacker until law enforcement arrived.

I wrote and edited for the Family Research Council, a public advocacy organization that promoted the principles I have cared about since childhood: protecting the family, promoting the dignity of every human life and advocating for religious liberty. It reads like a tagline, but it’s also just what I believed and the way I chose to match my career with my convictions.

Biology is not bigotry:My daughter thinks she's transgender. Her public school undermined my efforts to help her.

I never expected that everyone would celebrate or share my beliefs. But I did expect to be able to discuss and debate these differences without becoming a political target in an act of terrorism, the first conviction under Washington, D.C.’s 2002 Anti-Terrorism Act.

The Southern Poverty Law Center labeled us a 'hate group'
It was the type of violent incident that one could expect a group that purportedly monitors “hate,” like the Southern Poverty Law Center, to notice, research and decry. In fact, we were on the center’s radar but for all the wrong reasons. The assailant acknowledged later in FBI testimony that he had selected our office precisely because the SPLC had labeled my employer a “hate group.”

It has always been easier to smear people rather than wrestle with their ideas. It’s a bully who calls names and spreads lies rather than thoroughly reading a brief’s legal arguments or challenging the rationale underlying a policy proposal. The SPLC has chosen to take the easy path — to intimidate and mislead for raw political power and financial benefit.

For years, former employees revealed, local journalists reported and commentators have lamented: The Southern Poverty Law Center is not what it claims to be. Not a pure-hearted, clear-headed legal advocate for the vulnerable, but rather an obscenely wealthy marketing scheme. For years, the left-wing interest group has used its “hate group” list to promote the fiction that violent neo-Nazis and Christian nonprofits peacefully promoting orthodox beliefs about marriage and sex are indistinguishable. Sometimes, it has apologized to public figures it has smeared, and it recently paid out millions to settle a threatened defamation lawsuit.



https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2019/08/17/southern-poverty-law-center-hate-groups-scam-column/2022301001/

[Bilge_Rat]

HOW THE SOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER STARTED INVENTING "HATE GROUPS"

In the earliest days of the SPLC, the Alabama-based civil rights law firm did target truly racist and hateful groups, most famously the United Klans of America, which the SPLC devastated in a successful lawsuit it launched in 1984. The result was financial largesse. Money flowed into the SPLC, driven by Dees’s brilliance for direct-mail campaigning and the hope of white liberals that a strong SPLC would mean the end to racism and hatred in America.

But to keep the money flowing, the SPLC kept insisting hate groups and white supremacy were expanding. To do this, an ever-widening definition of hatred was required. The SPLC expanded its list of “hate groups” to include not just the shrinking numbers of vile KKK and neo-Nazi groups, but groups that were merely controversial and even harmless.

Pro-life and pro-family religious groups were targeted beginning in the 1990s. Following 9/11, national security organizations concerned with Islamic terrorism (including this author’s employer) were targeted. Immigration policy groups and religious freedom organizations all fell into the SPLC’s sights at the same time those issues became increasingly a focus for conservatives.

For its efforts the SPLC was richly rewarded, posting nearly half a billion dollars in assets, including more than $120 million in offshore accounts.

Things started unraveling Dees and the SPLC in 2018, when the organization was forced to settle with Maajidd Nawaz for more than $3 million. Nawaz, a liberal Muslim reformer, sued for defamation for being named to the SPLC’s “Hate List.”

More than 60 other conservative and Christian organizations targeted by the SPLC announced in 2019 that they too were considering lawsuits, and former SPLC staffer Bob Mosey publicly wrote in The New Yorker what many SPLC former staffers had quietly said for some time, “It was hard, for many of us, not to feel like we’d become pawns in what was, in many respects, a highly profitable scam.”

https://thefederalist.com/2020/04/24/how-the-southern-poverty-law-center-started-inventing-hate-groups/

[Catfish]

^ Sure. For anyone criticizing far right wing politics there will be (since Trump) a hundred right-wing media outlets trying to belittle the reason, call it fake news, trying to shout them down. And "The Federalist" lol

So the Southern Poverty Law Center is a "hate group"? I do not think so, but when "The Federalist" say so it must be true.
So they criticized the KKK? I take it some hate against this or the "Proud boys" or generally against racism would be in order.

[Bilge_Rat]

^strawman....

i.e. no one is defending the KKK

[skidman]

07:42 AM Rabbis Condemn Southern Poverty Law Center, Call on Amazon Smile to Drop It

07:49 AM The Southern Poverty Law Center is a hate-based scam that nearly caused me to be murdered

08:00 AM HOW THE SOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER STARTED INVENTING "HATE GROUPS"


Rate of fire like a Gatling gun, very impressive. If I had known about your obsession with the SPLC, I would have chosen another way to make Texan White nationalists available to Neal. I thought the map was handy, cause TX is such a big state and I don't know where he's based (You know that old joke about the difference between Europeans and Americans, don't you: Europeans think 200 miles is a long drive. Americans think 200 years is a long time.).

[Bilge_Rat]

actually it is like shooting fish in a barrel.

The SPLC is such a discredited organisation, I'm surprised anyone would use it as a source.

[skidman]

Technically it was one shooting, and one vehicular killing/assault. You are also the one sitting 5,000 miles away and trying to convince me that racists groups are a systemic problem in the U.S., I'm telling you they are nowhere near as problematic as you seem to think.

How is it, you (collective you) are mostly discussing technical aspects (size of ammo clips, caliber of weapon used) after a mass murder has taken place? A mother who lost her son does not care if he died in a shooting or in a vehicular killing.

You are right, I'm sitting on the other side of the pond and I can understand the reflex from the US side "What does he know?" Take this into account: A lot of people from Europe are very much into US politics. Why is that? Because we think that changes happening in the American society can be seen as a forecast of what will happen to us later.

When evaluating the present political situation in your country, what is actually turning the balance? Things happening in your neighborhood, or the things on TV, in the papers, on the socials and the www? Of course my perspective is different from yours, but that's not because I'm 5000 miles away.

Do I believe racists groups are a systemic problem in the U.S.? No.

Do I think White nationalism and alt-right groups are a growing problem? Yes, because obviously the U.S. society slowly but surely moves from the center towards both extremes.

And whose fault is that? All the people's who make a living from inciting Joe Sixpack and Jane Doe. And a president's who has taken this principle to the next level.

[Onkel Neal]

Rate of fire like a Gatling gun, very impressive. If I had known about your obsession with the SPLC, I would have chosen another way to make Texan White nationalists available to Neal.

You still haven't. I know there are some out here somewhere, come on over and help me search for them.

[August]

I would have chosen another way to make Texan White nationalists available to Neal.


You're making them available to Neal? What for? Are you some kind of recruiter for white nationalists anonymous foreign guy?

[skidman]

You still haven't. I know there are some out here somewhere, come on over and help me search for them.

Have you ever come across posters/stickers from the "Patriot Front"?

[skidman]

You're making them available to Neal? What for?

Maybe he could find out about alt-right nationalism in his home state. The ADL (I know, another communist scum of the earth organization) lists more than 600 incidents involving white supremacy propaganda in TX in 2019/20. So there is a fair chance to get together. Unfortunately Neal always just misses them.

[Bilge_Rat]

The ADL (I know, another communist scum of the earth organization)

exactly...

The Anti-Defamation league's sad slide into just another left wing pressure group




https://thefederalist.com/2017/07/28/anti-defamation-leagues-sad-slide-just-another-left-wing-pressure-group/

I always get a kick out of groups like the ADL trying to argue that Trump is an anti-semite when his daughter is jewish, his son-in-law and right hand man in the WH is jewish, his grand-children are jewish and he is the most pro-Israel President in a long time.

[Bilge_Rat]

The other thing to remember about the ADL and many of these orgs is that that deliberately inflate the number of so-called "extremist" acts by lumping in a bunch of unrelated crimes. Makes for good copy, but basically means that the left-wing rhetoric that right wing violence is on the rise is a lie.

The ADL's extremism statistics make it seem like ultraright-wing violence in the US is more common than it actually is

In 2015, Michael Augustine Bournes, 59, murdered his wife and three young children, then set his house on fire, before finally fatally shooting himself. An acquaintance told police that Bournes had called him after the murders and said his wife had been "mocking him and riding him all day." The family was living "off the grid" in a house in Montana not hooked up to public utilities. Police said Bournes was "a constitutionalist who didn't believe in government" and had anti-government literature in his pickup.

In 2008, Cynthia Lynch, 43, filed an online application to join an Oklahoma branch of the Ku Klux Klan. During her initiation ceremony, police say Lynch either tried to back out or got into an argument with the Klansmen; she was shot to death and mutilated, her remains dumped nearby.

In 2006, four members of the white supremacist Aryan Brotherhood took 46-year-old Jack Christen to a remote location and demanded to know what he told police about their methamphetamine operation. One of them shot and killed Christen.

Each of these crimes is counted as an "extremist incident" by the Anti-Defamation League, whose statistics have been presented by media outlets as the gold standard for reporting on extremists of the white nationalist, anti-government, left-wing anarchist, and radical Islamist varieties in the US.


These are each deeply upsetting stories of horrific acts of violence, but when you read them, do you think "terrorism"?

https://www.businessinsider.com/adl-extremism-ultraright-wing-violence-statistics-anti-defamation-league-2020-4

If you want to make a case that right-wing extremism is on the rise in the USA, you need something more solid than relying on manipulated data put out by left-wing groups like the SPLC and ADL.

[August]

Maybe he could find out about alt-right nationalism in his home state. The ADL (I know, another communist scum of the earth organization) lists more than 600 incidents involving white supremacy propaganda in TX in 2019/20. So there is a fair chance to get together. Unfortunately Neil always just misses them.


You are that arrogant to think that you can lecture a person about their own home? That you have a better view than he does about anything regarding Texas? :nope:

[skidman]

^Leven Jung, a lack of reading comprehension and a argumentum ad hominem. I'm puzzled.

[mapuc]

Haven't meet any.

Have you met persons expressing their support for these extremists.

I have met a few of these in real life(not worth becoming a friend) and on FB(those got blocked)

Markus

[iambecomelife]

Umm...not going to comment on the political implications. First off, let me just say I regret the tone of some of my prior posts in this forum. To all those I was angry at earlier, I apologize.

As for the Justice, I am saddened by her death. One of my family members worked with her on the job, and she was kind in her dealings with subordinates. She and her husband were really sweet on each other despite being married for decades; I always admire elderly couples. :) How do they tolerate each other for so long...lol.

She was good friends with Justice Scalia despite their political differences and they used to hike together....perhaps a good lesson for all of us. :yep:

And the late Mr. Ginsburg taught me briefly several years ago when I took a tax course; he was just as down-to-earth and courteous as she was. Condolences to her family.

[Mr Quatro]

Umm...not going to comment on the political implications. First off, let me just say I regret the tone of some of my prior posts in this forum. To all those I was angry at earlier, I apologize.



Very nice of you iambecomelife ... Plus how rare ... :yep:

You and me are the two best guys on here and I'm not too sure about you :D

[Aktungbby]

Very nice of you iambecomelife ... Plus how rare ... :yep:

You and me are the two best guys on here and I'm not too sure about you :Dthat's plagiarism! You read my sig!:03: and it's "You and I" you illiterate bugger...Good thing Sailor Steve's not around; he got me a few times for plagiarism: Yellow tag for sure BBY! :oops::shucks:

[Mr Quatro]

that's plagiarism! You read my sig!:03: and it's "You and I" you illiterate bugger...Good thing Sailor Steve's not around; he got me a few times for plagiarism: Yellow tag for sure BBY! :oops::shucks:

Why don't you just take Steve's job while your at it? :hmmm:

I forgive you and me too :yep:

[Catfish]

[...]
I forgive you and #MeToo :yep:
Corrected :D

[Onkel Neal]

Maybe he could find out about alt-right nationalism in his home state. The ADL (I know, another communist scum of the earth organization) lists more than 600 incidents involving white supremacy propaganda in TX in 2019/20. So there is a fair chance to get together. Unfortunately Neil always just misses them.


Lol, my name is on my profile and you seem to have trouble spelling it kerrectly. If you cannot note the basic things right in front of your face I'm not sure how accurate you are with your facts, sir.

600 incidents. Ha.

[skidman]

Lol, my name is on my profile and you seem to have trouble spelling it kerrectly.

Sorry, corrected.

Maybe you missed my question in #60:

Have you ever come across "Patriot Front" posters/stickers?

And what do think about this organization?

[Buddahaid]

Speaking for myself, no, I've never come across them and don't know what to think about them because, I've never heard of them, seen them, encountered them, talked to them, anything of them. Maybe they're overrated.

[skidman]

Thank you Neal :O:

[Jimbuna]

Most fitting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIjzSNnm7Zg

[Onkel Neal]

Sorry, corrected.

Maybe you missed my question in #60:

Have you ever come across "Patriot Front" posters/stickers?

And what do think about this organization?

I don't think I have but to be 100% honest, I don't pay attention to these kind of groups, along with religious groups. Maybe I am oblivious, it's possible I have seen a Patriot Front sticker and did not register it.

I don't disagree that these groups exist but my I think they are tiny numbers per capita. Let me give you an example: I'm 60 and lived in Texas my whole life. The Ku Klux Klan is supposedly the most notable hate group I've ever heard of. I've met and known probably 5000 people in my 40 years as an adult, and I have never known or heard of a single guy who is in the KKK. None. Not a crazy neighbor or a co-worker, hunting friends, motorcycle buddies. None. The closest thing I know of is my best friend's ex-wife's brother, who spent a lot of time in prison and there are white power groups there. Which makes sense, prison is where bad people go. (Which circles back to my long time gripe that our justice system needs to keep these kind of people in prison longer.)

My whole point in our discussion is: the huge protest crowd- thing is more about GTA cosplay than real "systemic racism"; the Left is blowing the problem of racism out of proportion to what I have seen and lived with here. And the "Nazi" thing, imo, that's just nonsense created by people who use it as a club to silence and intimidate people who have opinions other than their own. I've seen THAT a lot more than "Nazis in Texas".

[em2nought]

Alt-right in the USA is mostly a myth or deliberate mislabeling "for now". :03:


I wonder if RBG's funeral is going to eclipse King John McCain's?

[mapuc]

I can conclude by following my friends on FB

The people on the right are one track minded and see only left wing ghosts

The people on the left are one track minded and see only right wing ghosts.

Markus

[Gerald]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump on Saturday announced conservative appellate judge Amy Coney Barrett as his third U.S. Supreme Court appointment, setting off a scramble in the Republican-led Senate to confirm her before Election Day in 5-1/2 weeks.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-court-trump/trump-announces-conservative-judge-barrett-as-supreme-court-pick-idUSKBN26H0GI

“I love the United States and I love the United States Constitution,” Barrett said, adding that she was “deeply honored” in the confidence that Trump had shown in her. Yes, yes...i'ts sounds good..

[Jimbuna]

I can conclude by following my friends on FB

The people on the right are one track minded and see only left wing ghosts

The people on the left are one track minded and see only right wing ghosts.

Markus

QFT

[MaDef]

I can conclude by following my friends on FB

The people on the right are one track minded and see only left wing ghosts

The people on the left are one track minded and see only right wing ghosts.

Markus

Then might I suggest you get out more?

[mapuc]

Then might I suggest you get out more?

You're right I shouldn't have generalised.
It's not every person on the left or right who is one track minded.

Markus

[Aktungbby]

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-court-trump/trump-announces-conservative-judge-barrett-as-supreme-court-pick-idUSKBN26H0GI

Yes, yes...i'ts sounds good..Till you consider that VP Pence is Catholic, and with Ms Barrett, there will be 6 out of 9 Catholic justices on the Supreme Court...but "methinks I doth protestant too much"; and they should all register as foreign 'agent's of the Vatican'....as required by law!:hmmm::timeout::shucks:

[Mr Quatro]

Till you consider that VP Pence is Catholic, and with Ms Barrett, there will be 6 out of 9 Catholic justices on the Supreme Court...but "methinks I doth protestant too much"; and they should all register as foreign 'agent's of the Vatican'....as required by law!:hmmm::timeout::shucks:

Biden is not a real Catholic willing to trade his faith for the democratic parties love for killing babies even after they stick the little head out with a sharp instrument in the back of the head. :o

I'm glad my mother didn't have that option :oops:

[August]

Till you consider that VP Pence is Catholic, and with Ms Barrett, there will be 6 out of 9 Catholic justices on the Supreme Court...but "methinks I doth protestant too much"; and they should all register as foreign 'agent's of the Vatican'....as required by law!:hmmm::timeout::shucks:


I'm a Catholic. Does that make me a foreign agent too?

[Aktungbby]

I'm a Catholic. Does that make me a foreign agent too? not if you're properly circumcised by a moyl like me! :03: I attended Lutheran college, sent my only acknowledged Congregationalist offspring to a local Cathlic school, and occasionally insure peaceful worship, in full gear, armed, of diety-of-choice at both a small mosque and a local Jewish temple during their respective high holidays. Thus, I'm open minded on the subject. As Blaise Pascal said: it costs nothing to believe; if nada finiswise, yer out nuthin'; if yes ...yer in like Flint!...only to be recycled back to this spinning hellhole mudball by a vengeful god after a brief soul-refit??!!:damn:

[August]

not if you're properly circumcised by a moyl like me! :03: I attended Lutheran college, sent my only acknowledged Congregationalist offspring to a local Cathlic school, and occasionally insure peaceful worship, in full gear, armed, of diety-of-choice at both a small mosque and a local Jewish temple during their respective high holidays. Thus, I'm open minded on the subject. As Blaise Pascal said: it costs nothing to believe; if nada finiswise, yer out nuthin'; if yes ...yer in like Flint!...only to be recycled back to this spinning hellhole mudball by a vengeful god after a brief soul-refit??!!:damn:


Dude put the drugs down. I think you have had enough! :)

[Aktungbby]

Dude put the drugs down. I think you have had enough! :)Cmon now! In Napa today, approaching 100F.as a DC-10
tanker flies overhead to contend with a 1000 acre grass fire in nearby Angwin, probably necessitating a rolling-blackout shortly by the electric company...the drug of choice is a smoketainted Cabernet Sauvignon; mostly to drown out my retired DA wife's incessant rant over Ms Barrett's nomination, even though she is a grad of Jesuit stronghold Boston College in her own right:timeout:; even while she's praying to the baseball gods that the Giants win today to get the wildcard for the playoffs...even though her true God, Buster Posey, isn't playing this Covidtainted short season!!:roll::woot::hmmm: Religion 101: "those whom the gods destroy, they first make mad!"

[Catfish]

Biden is not a real Catholic willing to trade his faith for the democratic parties love for killing babies even after they stick the little head out with a sharp instrument in the back of the head. :o [...]
Not only that, Biden and all democrats eat new-born babies for breakfast, and even worse: with Heinz BBQ sauce!

[Buddahaid]

Biden is not a real Catholic willing to trade his faith for the democratic parties love for killing babies even after they stick the little head out with a sharp instrument in the back of the head. :o

I'm glad my mother didn't have that option :oops:

Does it ever occur to you that maybe God can handle meting out His punishment without the human interference?

[Mr Quatro]

Yuck yuck :haha: you mean like if Trump wins it would punish the naysayers :hmmm:

[August]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENA7deXaC78

[Dowly]

Wow, that guy's a piece of crap. :doh:

[Buddahaid]

Wow, that guy's a piece of crap. :doh:

Satin is as important as God for religion to mean anything. It gets rendered pointless otherwise.

[Jimbuna]

Amen

[August]

Satin is as important as God for religion to mean anything. It gets rendered pointless otherwise.


Do you believe in either of them?

[Buddahaid]

It never mattered so I don't even think about it.

[August]

It never mattered so I don't even think about it.




Satin, sateen. It's all just cloth right?

[Buddahaid]

So you say.