06/28/24
Good morning! It’s Friday, June 28th.
Christopher Street Day.
Christopher Street Day began in 1969 when the Stonewall pub was violently raided by police. Stonewall is on Christopher Street What followed was six days of riots in reaction to the raid as well as the inhumane law that deemed homosexuality a crime punishable by jail.
Cities around the country, and world, now commemorate the day with pride events on the last Saturday in June. So today is Christopher Street Day, but tomorrow is when some cities may do events to celebrate.
And now, the news.
More Supreme Court Rulings
-via CBS News (Idaho), AP News (Purdue), and
Let’s start with the Supreme Court, which again dropped a series of decisions – this time, on purpose.
First, as yesterday’s leak promised, a 6-3 decision will temporarily allow medically necessary abortions in Idaho to continue while lower court fights play out.
This is not a win for abortion rights, I can’t be clear enough about this.
First, the court allowed a ban on medically necessary abortions to be put in place back in January, while it considered this case. So they already prevented six months of medically necessary abortions for what is now, essentially, no reason.
Because the ruling that was leaked on Wednesday and became official on Thursday simply says they took the case too soon. They didn’t even get to the mustard of the case (that’s not a real saying but… should it be??) – if EMTALA and emergency abortions supersede a state’s abortion ban. Something that feels insane to even have to ask, and more insane to have not gotten clarity one. Though again – this is not the court we want making these decisions.
I said it yesterday and I think it bares repeating today… if the opinion was ready yesterday – why wasn’t it read? Why was this decision delayed? Is the court playing political games with their decisions?
There were other decisions dropped on Thursday as well (and no, before you ask… presidential immunity has not come out yet) –
The Supremes rejected a deal for the Sackler family, who own Purdue Pharma, the makers of OxyContin, to settle suits over the damage the pills did by just casually declaring bankruptcy as a company but not personally.
The deal was rejected because it would have extended protection from civil lawsuits to company owners who didn’t seek personal bankruptcy.
Not sure what this means for the Sackler deal – since it was supposed to ultimately put $6 billion towards those suits and help families, and communities, wrecked by a product they pushed.
There was also a decision in an EPA case that puts on hold an initiative that would reduce smog-forming pollution from power plants and factories that blow across state lines. A “good neighbor” plan that now allows Ohio, Indiana, and West Virginia (the states that brought the case) to be bad neighbors because they believe the initiative is just too hard and therefore illegal. With this decision-less decision, the case is punted back down to the lower-level courts.
Naturally, the liberal bloc of ladies dissented.
This case is interesting because it leapfrogged over the lower court, taking it on an emergency basis while it continued playing out in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.
Emergency basis for an initiative that wouldn’t even go into effect until 2026.
Meanwhile, they paused medically necessary abortions in Idaho for six months, for no reason at all.
Quite the court we’ve got!
Side note – there will be a special episode of the news if the presidential immunity case gets dropped on our noggins today. Otherwise hey, there’s always Monday? Maybe?
Quite the court we’ve got!
Trump Crime Update Time
-via CNN
And over to a court that is technically different but, vibes wise…
Judge Aileen Cannon, of the classified documents crimes case, wants to hold additional hearings on Trump’s challenges on the evidence in the case, including hearings that will allow his lawyers to question witnesses about the investigation.
She didn’t say when these hearings would be held but wants you to know that she is a very serious judge who is both good at her job and totally not trying to do Trump a favor. Because in an 11-page order, she wrote: “There is a difference between a resource-wasting and delay-producing ‘mini-trial,’ on the one hand, and an evidentiary hearing geared to adjudicating the contested factual and legal issues on a given pre-trial motion to suppress.”
Yeah babe, we know there’s a difference. That’s never been the question. The question is… which side of the coin are you on?
So – more hearings are coming. No dates have been set.
Lovely.
Oklahoma Demands the Bible
-via NY Times
Remember last week when Louisiana’s governor decided that every single public school classroom needed to display the Ten Commandments and I (and everyone else) called out what a clear violation of the First Amendment that was?
Well… apparently Ryan Walters, Oklahoma’s superintendent, isn’t a listener of this show. Because on Thursday he announced that all public schools must teach the Bible and Ten Commandments.
It’s not immediately clear what this means, though his memo did reference grades 5th through 12th as an example. He also said that the state may supply Biblical teaching materials to “ensure uniformity in delivery.”
Suits have not yet been announced, but this one’ll end up in court for sure.
But before it ends up in court, it’s going to end up in Substack. Just as important, I’m sure. Head to kimmoffat.substack.com because that’s what today’s post is all about.
Presidential Debate
-via CNN
But, of course, the big news was the debate! And it was… exactly what you imagine. Was Biden as rousing and enthusiastic as he was at the State of the Union? No, unfortunately not.
Did Trump lie the entire time about basically everything? Sure did! Including lies about Democrats wanting abortions after the baby is born (which is a lie and also not an abortion – that would be murder. That is not an abortion and not supported) as well as an attempt to rewrite history including his comments about calling Nazis in Charlottesville very fine people, lowering the cost of insulin, the war in Ukraine… everything.
Dude tried to say that historians actually call him the worst president in the entire history of the country – which is the factual opposite of what they’ve called him.
Look – what do you want me to say? Trump is a liar. He was a bad president, he would be a worse president. He would devastate our economy and be the end of democracy. That is his plan. Project 2025. When asked about January 6th, he first attempted to try and not even answer the question and then blamed Nancy Pelosi.
It’s June. I don’t know how much this debate will actually matter. CNN didn’t do any fact-checking. Honestly, it was pretty astonishing to watch them allow Trump’s blatant lies, before thanking him for answering and moving on.
Trump refused to accept the results of the election – he started to say that he would only do it if he thought the election was fair, but never finished the sentence before going back to attacking Biden. He will not accept the results. We know this. Eventually, after being asked three times, he said he would accept the results but then said the 2020 election was stolen so…
And by the way – no. CNN did not fact-check to say the 2020 election wasn’t stolen.
Great job CNN. JUST KIDDING YOU WERE TERRIBLE.
And that’s it. That’s the news.
I’m proud of… I guess… I don’t know. I’m proud the debate’s over. That’s nice.
I don’t even know what to say – that debate really took it out of me. We really just have to beat Trump. He’s terrible. I haven’t listened to him in so long, I forgot how absolutely exhausting his voice and lies are. I hate it here.
I’m proud of ou.