Nah unfortunately you’re 100% right, it has never actually been equal in practice. But at least we all could delude ourselves into thinking that we were striving towards that principle. It’s all laid bare now, and it’s fucking ugly. The fact that they’ve been actively working towards these very goals with laser focus, for decades, makes it all the worse.

And who gets to decide if a lower court decision stands? You guessed it, the Supreme Court. This was always going to be their ultimate decision.

Exactly, and that’s how this court is so tricky. By not fully defining what an “official act” is, they’re claiming the power to decide later. Because that very issue will inevitably reach them after some batshit district court ruling. So they ultimately get to decide regardless, and this court regularly makes up ahistorical and completely absurd justifications that don’t pass the smell test, so we’re doomed.

Not “may have,” did. They did legalize any action taken by the person holding the office of the presidency. Trump tried to have his VP killed for fucks sake. That actually happened. It’s no longer the case that everyone in America is equal under the law. The president is now legally allowed to do anything that would get the rest of us thrown in jail. This society isn’t even pretending to be equal anymore. We’re finished.

I’m so fucking tired, and I feel like that was one of the main points of this. Dems are too exhausted and afraid of taking big actions to do anything about this, so like I said, we’re finished.

Yup, this immunity decision and their ruling overturning Chevron deference will fundamentally change how our government functions. If expert agencies are no longer able to rely on their expertise and presidents are officially above the law, then our democracy is over. Whoever holds the office of the presidency is now a de facto king (in the words of Justice Sotomayor). The comparison to the Enabling Act is super useful for people who care at all about history or democracy.

Yeah I hear you, but that door they left open is exactly why it doesn’t matter. By not defining official acts, they essentially gave themselves the authority to make that determination later, which means anything done as president can be considered official, as long as they say so. This was another power grab for them and any republicans who want to use it, but you can be sure the rules would be different for democrats.

In her dissent, Sotomayor made it pretty clear that that doesn’t matter.

“When he uses his official powers in any way, under the majority’s reasoning, he now will be insulated from criminal prosecution,” Sotomayor wrote. “Orders the Navy’s SEAL Team 6 to assassinate a political rival? Immune. Organizes a military coup to hold onto power? Immune. Immune, immune, immune.”

“In every use of official power, the president is now a king above the law,” the justice added.

Ha! I never thought about the underground mansion hideaway. Good stuff. You’re right, they’d be pretty much unstoppable and unbeatable.

It’s a little known fact that Justice Gorsuch’s mother was the EPA Administrator under Reagan, and she resigned after an abysmal record of mismanagement.

He’s clearly got some mommy issues.

If I could bend, I think I’d choose the earth nation. Imagine how much cool shit you could build. Need an extension on your house? Here’s a brand new stone wall in 30 seconds.

I would take it upon myself to solve homelessness, if it existed. You need a house? Done. You need a house? How many rooms? Done.

I would build so. much. stuff. It would get weird.

Omg this happened to me last year in my old shitty apartment, but it was real. Somehow a massive roach ended up on top of my comforter. I had serious trouble sleeping for a while after that, and I was seeing tricky shadows for weeks…

The whole neighborhood had a roach problem, it wasn’t any particular grossness on my part. The general consensus amongst my neighbors at the time was that the nearby restaurants were to blame, but you can be sure I did a deep cleaning after that episode…so glad I don’t live there anymore.

I’ll enthusiastically second ProPublica. They’ve been absolutely killing it lately. They’re the gold standard of investigative journalism.

My whole team and I work remotely, so it’s not the exact same situation as you, but I made a concerted effort from day one to set social boundaries with my colleagues. First week on the job my manager found out I’m single and offered to set me up with people. I acted very weird about it, purposefully exaggerating how uncomfortable the offer made me, and she got the hint. We have a very friendly and cordial working relationship, but she no longer pries into my personal life unless I volunteer information. Been happily working under her for four years now.

That work/life separation quickly filtered down to the rest of my colleagues, to the point where now they act a little weird when a company call starts to get personal. Mission accomplished.

I think the key thing is that you’ll never get through to people if they can’t read social cues. Sounds like your workplace cliques are filled with those types of oblivious folks, so you might just need to be completely explicit about keeping things fully professional. I’m lucky that my manager is emotionally intelligent, but that’s pretty rare these days.

Good luck!!

Edit: queues to cues

I totally agree about Greenwald, but he was pushed out/resigned in 2020, he has nothing to do with them anymore. When he co-founded it, he was still a well-respected journalist. He isn’t anymore, but The Intercept still does exceptional journalism. I recommend taking another look.

Ah got it, thanks for the clarification. Very odd way of referring to strong cannabis.

Yeah I appreciate this take, and I think it’s still mostly accurate, but Glenn Greenwald was pushed out from The Intercept in 2020, when his weird political transformation became apparent. I was very sad to see his weird red-pilling, I really respected the way he handled the Snowden leak. Can’t really take him seriously anymore though. I don’t think they have anyone with his bizarre beliefs on staff anymore.

What? This article, and others on the BBC talk about “skunk” like it’s a totally different thing than “normal” cannabis, and is discussed (according to them) as being incredibly dangerous. Is UK terminology unique or something? I’ve been smoking cannabis for decades, and skunk to me has only ever meant weed that smells skunky.

When people talk about the New York Times’ neoliberal bias, this is what we’re talking about. Lots of people won’t notice because it’s relatively subtle, but it is absolutely biased against progressives/actual liberals.

The New York Times published the headline “Bowman Falls in House Primary, Overtaken by Flood of Pro-Israel Money” — before swapping it out for “Bowman Falls to Latimer in a Loss for Progressive Democrats.”

This is why we need more independent outlets like The Intercept. This shit needs to be called out.

I used to live downwind of an oil refinery, and at least once a year (sometimes 5 or 10 times in a year) there was an illegal emission that blanketed the entire town with particulate matter. The air quality would go from perfectly safe to barely breathable in minutes. As someone with asthma, I felt it immediately, and would have to lock myself indoors with an air purifier.

We’re going to be dealing with significantly more wildfires and increasingly poor air quality thanks to climate change, so the least we could do is ensure that businesses don’t fuck up the air more than it already is.

Fuck the supreme court for doing everything it can to make our lives worse.

I’m a very engaged voter, and I’m pretty sure I won’t be watching this debate. I know more than I need to about both candidates, so the only reason I’d watch is for entertainment value and to see who fucks up the most. That’s not a valuable use of my time, nor is it a good reason for having a debate.

I don’t have much sympathy for undecided voters at this point. If you plan to vote for Trump, for any reason, then I don’t respect you. This debate won’t change that.