Trump stuff; Billionaires wait for huge USSC decision

One source summarized it like this: Florida Man Facing 91 Criminal Counts Wins Iowa Caucuses

But it wasn't a big blowout for the IFM (indicted Florida man), which is rather good news.

Another source commented: Trump poised to win 98 out of 99 Iowa counties

The AP commented: In his closing pitch to Iowa Republicans, Trump says their votes can help him punish his enemies

Germaine’s learned analysis: The GOP is what it is, pro-corrupt dictatorship, and what it is really sucks.

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Lots of sources are reporting that tomorrow, America's authoritarian radical right USSC will hear arguments in two related cases brought by fishermen unhappy about fishing quotas the federal government imposed to keep fish stocks from collapsing due to overfishing. The cases are Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, and Relentless v. Department of Commerce. 

What this is really about is gutting the power of essentially all federal agencies to make and enforce regulations. Billionaires and elite brass knuckles capitalists desperately want this case to be a win for the fishermen. That would be a gigantic win for regulation-free power and the access to more wealth that power brings to the elites. 

The NYT writes:

A Potentially Huge Supreme Court Case Has a Hidden Conservative Backer

The case, to be argued by lawyers linked to the petrochemicals billionaire Charles Koch, could sharply curtail the government’s regulatory authority

The Supreme Court is set to hear arguments on Wednesday that, on paper, are about a group of commercial fishermen who oppose a government fee that they consider unreasonable. But the lawyers who have helped to propel their case to the nation’s highest court have a far more powerful backer: the petrochemicals billionaire Charles Koch.

The case is one of the most consequential to come before the justices in years. A victory for the fishermen would do far more than push aside the monitoring fee, part of a system meant to prevent overfishing, that they objected to. It would very likely sharply limit the power of many federal agencies to regulate not only fisheries and the environment, but also health care, finance, telecommunications and other activities, legal experts say.

“It might all sound very innocuous,” said Jody Freeman, founder and director of the Harvard Law School Environmental and Energy Law Program and a former Obama White House official. “But it’s connected to a much larger agenda, which is essentially to disable and dismantle federal regulation.”

The lawyers who represent the New Jersey-based fishermen, are working pro bono and belong to a public-interest law firm, Cause of Action, that discloses no donors and reports having no employees. However, court records show that the lawyers work for Americans for Prosperity, a group funded by Mr. Koch, the chairman of Koch Industries and a champion of anti-regulatory causes.  

The law firm’s board of directors includes a top lawyer at the firm that has represented Koch Industries in a range of cases, like the company’s past defense against lawsuits linked to its handling of petroleum coke, a byproduct of oil refining, and in its opposition to stronger regulations on the substance.

The lawyer also represents Koch Industries in an ongoing lawsuit filed by the Minnesota attorney general that accuses the company of deceptive practices related to climate change.

As usual, corrupt billionaires and big corporations operate in as much secrecy as they can to hide their clearly authoritarian, government-hating wealth and power agenda. The capitalists (like Christian theocrats) want and mostly seem to get effective plausible deniability for the criticism they are corrupt plutocrats (or theocrats) with no social conscience. 

A decision in these two cases could easily gut the much of the power of federal agencies, which are already vehemently hated by the authoritarian radical right Republican Party (ARRRP). In essence, this case could wind up killing the mythical “socialist deep state”, causing a massive flow of power from citizens and the government to elite radical authoritarian plutocrats and Christian theocrats.

So even if DJT does not win the White House in the 2024 elections, the anti-democratic ARRRP monster has a life and vitality of its own. As I have warned many times here, the radicalized, authoritarian USSC is a major part of the radical right’s democracy-hating monster and it operated independently from the corrupt dictator DJT. In the end, one will probably eat the other. Right now, I don’t know which beast will eat and which will be eaten.