Climate change legal development

In what is a real surprise, the Republican Supreme Court has allowed American cities to sue major polluters like oil companies for climate change damages in state courts. I did not expect this. The polluters have been fighting this for years. The Guardian writes:

‘Like a dam breaking’: experts hail decision to let US climate lawsuits advance

Cities bringing climate litigation against oil majors welcome US supreme court’s decision to rebuff appeal to move cases to federal courts

The decision, climate experts and advocates said, felt “like a dam breaking” after years of legal delays to the growing wave of climate lawsuits facing major oil companies.

Without weighing in on the merits of the cases, the supreme court on Monday rebuffed an appeal by major oil companies that want to face the litigation in federal courts, rather than in state courts, which are seen as more favorable to plaintiffs [cities].

ExxonMobil Corp, Suncor Energy Inc and Chevron Corp had asked for the change of venue in lawsuits by the state of Rhode Island and municipalities in Colorado, Maryland, California and Hawaii.

Six years have passed since the first climate cases were filed in the US, and courts have not yet heard the merits of the cases as fossil fuel companies have succeeded in delaying them. In March, the Biden administration had argued that the cases belonged in state court, marking a reversal of the position taken by the Trump administration when the supreme court last considered the issue.

Maybe this will mark a shift in the balance of power in America's climate change wars. Up to now, the polluters had all the power by corrupting the federal government in their favor. The next key questions to be answered are whether (i) the polluters will be found liable in state courts, and (ii) state court verdicts will be upheld after the polluters appeal to the rigidly pro-capitalism and pro-pollution Republican Supreme Court.

This just might turn out to be a game-changer. 

News bits: China's digital tyranny update; Etc.

China appears to be the model for the human condition if democracies fall to various kinds of tyrannies, including plutocracies, theocracies and kleptocracies. That's why I keep an eye on developments in tyranny technology there. The government there is trying to build a tyranny that will last forever. The effort is heavily grounded in an aggressive, intelligent array of digital technologies. At this point, China has built and now works to perfect a system that looks to me to be almost completely impervious to forces in favor of democracy, civil liberties and reasonably distributed power and wealth. 

The NYT writes about what is now routine tyranny practice in China, namely exerting full control over all sources of media: 

China Says Chatbots Must Toe the Party Line  

The Communist Party outlined draft rules that would set guardrails on the rapidly growing industry of services like ChatGPT 

According to the regulations, companies must heed the Chinese Communist Party’s strict censorship rules, just as websites and apps have to avoid publishing material that besmirches China’s leaders or rehashes forbidden history. The content of A.I. systems will need to reflect “socialist core values” and avoid information that undermines “state power” or national unity.”  

Experts are divided on how difficult it will be to train A.I. systems to be consistently factual. Some doubt that companies can account for the gamut of Chinese censorship rules, which are often sweeping, are ever-changing and even require censorship of specific words and dates like June 4, 1989, the day of the Tiananmen Square massacre. Others believe that over time, and with enough work, the machines can be aligned with truth and specific values systems, even political ones.

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The WaPo writes about Biden's announcement today: Biden announces he is running for reelection in 2024 President formalizes his intent to seek another term, setting the stage for a tumultuous election.

Maybe this could be the final beginning of the end of secular democracy and civil liberties. The rule of law has already fallen under Biden and Merrick Garland. The outcome of the 2024 elections will be very interesting indeed.

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From the Well Duh! Files: Inexplicably, the WaPo Editorial Board asserts something about the US response to COVID that was obvious years ago, while the pandemic was still raging. The Editorial Board writes:

Looking back at the U.S. response to the pandemic, many setbacks and mistakes are well-known. But a closer examination by a team of seasoned experts has brought to the surface a profoundly unsettling conclusion. The United States, once the paragon of can-do pragmatism, of successful moon shots and biomedical breakthroughs, fell down on the job in confronting the crisis. The pandemic, the experts say, revealed “a collective national incompetence in government.”

It took a team of seasoned experts to come to that beyond blatantly obvious conclusion? We’re in deep doo-doo. 

A note to the WaPo Editorial Board

Honestly, Editorial Board, what freaking planet have you been living on? It sure ain’t Earth. What do you ignorant fools think the ruthless capitalist, Christofascist Republican Party has been doing to the federal government for decades? Supporting it in good will? 

Hey idiots, here’s something you don’t know: The GOP has been attacking, subverting and destroying the federal government for decades, and it has been a significantly successful effort so far. Wake up you morons. You fools. Or, have you just been subverted and co-opted?

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From the Judicial Rot Files: It seems that another Supreme Court justice, the radical Christian nationalist, brass knuckles capitalist Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch has also been hiding dirty secrets. Politico writes:

For nearly two years beginning in 2015, Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch sought a buyer for a 40-acre tract of property he co-owned in rural Granby, Colo.

Nine days after he was confirmed by the Senate for a lifetime appointment on the Supreme Court, the then-circuit court judge got one: The chief executive of Greenberg Traurig, one of the nation’s biggest law firms with a robust practice before the high court. Gorsuch owned the property with two other individuals.

He and his wife closed on the house a month later, paying $1.825 million, according to a deed in the county’s record system. Gorsuch, who held a 20 percent stake, reported making between $250,001 and $500,000 from the sale on his federal disclosure forms.

Gorsuch did not disclose the identity of the purchaser. That box was left blank.

Since then, Greenberg Traurig has been involved in at least 22 cases before or presented to the court, according to a POLITICO review of the court’s docket.

This is just business as usual for fascist Republican elites.

Don Lemon Fired By CNN—Minutes After Tucker Carlson Out At Fox News

 

TOPLINE

 

Longtime CNN anchor Don Lemon announced Monday he was fired by the network in a move that left him “stunned,” which came less than an hour after Fox News said it had parted ways with host Tucker Carlson in another massive shakeup to the cable news landscape.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/nicholasreimann/2023/04/24/don-lemon-fired-by-cnn-minutes-after-tucker-carlson-out-at-fox-news/?sh=402257af408e

Washington — Fox News Media and Tucker Carlson have decided to part ways, the network announced in a statement Monday.

Carlson's final broadcast of "Tucker Carlson Tonight" aired Friday. The show "Fox News Tonight" is set to air as an interim show led by rotating hosts until his successor in the 8 p.m. time slot is named, Fox said.

"FOX News Media and Tucker Carlson have agreed to part ways. We thank him for his service to the network as a host and prior to that as a contributor," Fox News said in a statement.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tucker-carlson-leaving-fox-news/

SPECULATE!

News bits: Why the COVID story will never be known; Blocking election rights; Power flow analysis

How authoritarians deal with inconvenient truth -- they hide it and deny it: The NYT writes: 

Chinese Censorship Is Quietly Rewriting the Covid-19 Story 

Under government pressure, Chinese scientists have retracted studies and withheld or deleted data. The censorship has stymied efforts to understand the virus.

Early in 2020, on the same day that a frightening new illness officially got the name Covid-19, a team of scientists from the United States and China released critical data showing how quickly the virus was spreading, and who was dying.

The study was cited in health warnings around the world and appeared to be a model of international collaboration in a moment of crisis.

Within days, though, the researchers quietly withdrew the paper, which was replaced online by a message telling scientists not to cite it.

This is standard practice for tyrants and tyrant wannabes. Inconvenient facts and truths are simply swept away to the extent they can be. The same is true for tyrant wannabes in America today.

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Evidence of nascent tyranny in America: There are some excellent reasons why the pro-tyranny Republican Party hates elections and voting rights. Those reasons are mostly about wealth, power and worshipping rigid, intolerant ideology. The NYT writes: 

Losing Ballot Issues on Abortion, G.O.P. Now Tries 

to Keep Them Off the Ballot

After abortion rights supporters swept six ballot measures last year, Republican legislatures seek to make it harder to get on the ballot, and harder to win if there is a vote.

Now, with abortion rights groups pushing for similar citizen-led ballot initiatives in at least six other states, Republican-controlled legislatures and anti-abortion groups are trying to stay one step ahead by making it harder to pass the measures — or to get them on the ballot at all.

The biggest and most immediate fight is in Ohio, where a coalition of abortion rights groups is collecting signatures to place a constitutional amendment on the ballot in November that would prohibit the state from banning abortion before a fetus becomes viable outside the womb, at about 24 weeks of pregnancy. That would essentially establish on the state level what Roe did nationwide for five decades.

Polling in Ohio, as in nearly all other states indicate that a majority of voters support  abortion rights. Not surprisingly, tyrant wannabes, fascist Republican Party elites in this case, don't care about contrary public opinion. Getting rid of elections and voting rights makes perfect sense to fascists.

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Keeping Eyes on Where Power Flows: The WaPo writes: 

The conservative [radical, actually] campaign to rewrite child labor laws

The Foundation for Government Accountability, a Florida-based think tank and lobbying group, drafted state legislation to strip child workplace protections, emails show

When Iowa lawmakers voted last week to roll back certain child labor protections, they blended into a growing movement driven largely by a conservative advocacy group.

At 4:52 a.m., Tuesday, the state’s Senate approved a bill to allow children as young as 14 to work night shifts and 15 year-olds on assembly lines. The measure, which still must pass the Iowa House, is among several the Foundation for Government Accountability is maneuvering through state legislatures.  

The FGA achieved its biggest victory in March, playing a central role in designing a new Arkansas law to eliminate work permits and age verification for workers younger than 16. Its sponsor, state Rep. Rebecca Burkes (R), said in a hearing that the legislation “came to me from the Foundation [for] Government Accountability.”

“As a practical matter, this is likely to make it even harder for the state to enforce our own child labor laws,” said Annie B. Smith, director of the University of Arkansas School of Law’s Human Trafficking Clinic. “Not knowing where young kids are working makes it harder for [state departments] to do proactive investigations and visit workplaces where they know that employment is happening to make sure that kids are safe.”

Power flow analysis

The standard question when government gets neutered (“deregulated”) is what is the power flow situation? The answer is usually pretty clear, simple and about the same when radical right Republican elites are acting. Power flows directly from government and indirectly from average people, children in this case. It flows to special interests, including huge corporations, that are increasingly using undocumented children as cheap, easy to abuse labor. Those huge corporations have no discernable moral or social qualms about being illegal employers or abusing children. It’s just business for them.

Keeping an eye on power flows isn’t relevant to just commerce and business. It applies everywhere. Take abortion for example. When Republican Christofascist elites make abortion illegal, where does the power flow? It flows from people who support abortion rights and governments who can no longer protect abortions. Where does it flow to? It flows to radical Christofascist elites who oppress women and everyone else by their sacred, dictates demanded by their vision of infallible God.

The same analysis applies to gun safety law, tax code enforcement, environmental protection laws, civil liberties, and etc. 

Defense of democracy operations tip: Always keep your eye on power flows. 👀

News bits: Supreme Court justice goes full blown radical partisan

From the Crossing New Lines Files: The Hill writes about comments that hyper-radical right justice Sam Alito made in the abortion pill decision the Supreme Court just handed down. Alito was in a minority dissent that would have supported continuance of blocking access to mifepristone. Alito was pissed:

In a dissent from the Supreme Court’s order pausing mifepristone restrictions from taking effect, Justice Samuel Alito said there were “legitimate doubts” that the Biden administration would have followed a court decision that went the other way.

“Here, the Government has not dispelled legitimate doubts that it would even obey an unfavorable order in these cases, much less that it would choose to take enforcement actions to which it has strong objections,” Alito, one of the court’s conservatives, wrote.

For context, Alito appears to me to be just as hyper-radical as Clarence Thomas. Those two are probably the most fascist of the six Republican Christian nationalist partisans on the court.

Alito's comments directly undermines the credibility of the court's independence. His comments reinforce a belief that the Supreme Court is a supporting part of the fascist Republican Party.

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Christofascism watch - Radical right Republican legislators keep pushing Florida toward fascism: The Independent writes: 

Republican lawmakers in Florida have sparked outrage after passing a bill that LGBTQ advocates say will strip trans children from their parents' custody.

SB254 — which one former lawmaker has called "fascist" legislation — would allow the state to rip children from their parents when they are "at risk" or "subjected" to gender-affirming health care. The bill is written so that even a child of Floridian parents living out of state could trigger the law.

“I can’t believe I’m writing this,” Carlos Guillermo Smith, a former House lawmaker, and the state’s first Latino LGTBQ representative, wrote on Twitter last month. “This is fascist.”

That speaks for itself. 

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Tennessee legislature punts on gun safety regulations: The TN legislature kicked two Dems out of the legislature because they disrupted the legislatures in a peaceful demonstration over gun safety laws not being passed. One GOP leader claimed the Dems were kicked out because they disrupted the legislature's ability to deal with gun safety regulations. My response to that was that the radical right TN legislature had no intention of passing any guy safety laws, ever. The NYT writes:

On Friday, just under a month after the attack at the school, Republicans instead cut short the year’s legislative session and punted on any measure dealing explicitly with guns, capping a whirlwind three months of lawmaking that underscored the power of the far-right flank of the Republican Party in Tennessee and saw the brief expulsion of two Black Democratic lawmakers.  

Within two hours of the legislature’s hasty departure, the state’s Republican governor, Bill Lee, announced that he would summon lawmakers back for a special session to revisit the debate, with details expected in the coming weeks. Mr. Lee, whose wife lost a friend in the attack, had pushed the legislature to pass an order of protection law, which, in an effort to win conservative support, had become so limited in scope that some experts said it would not even qualify as the type of “red flag law” scorned by gun rights supporters.  

But it was clear as the legislature departed on Friday that any measure that would limit access to guns, even one as narrow as the proposal championed by Mr. Lee, would face steep odds with the Republican supermajority.

The only apparent reason for Lee to call the legislature back is because his wife is in a funk about a friend being gunned down and murdered. If that had not happened, Lee would not be calling the legislature back for a watered down, meaningless safety law. This is how the radical right does politics.

News bits: A GOP Senator got fooled?; Judicial rot watch update; Purging government of pro-democracy sentiment

From the Totally, Totally Wrong Files: MSNBC reports:

Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk [the fascist anti-abortion pill Trump judge] has some explaining to do after The Washington Post reported over the weekend that, when he was being considered for the judgeship, he asked a Texas law journal to remove him as the author from a controversial article he had previously submitted criticizing Obama-era protections for abortion and transgender people.

The article was published under the name of his colleagues from the religious conservative legal group he worked for at the time, which offered a strange explanation in response to the Post's questions about the name swap. The group said Kacsmaryk was just a "placeholder" when he submitted the article until the final authors were named.

Lisa Murkowski (R-AL) was one of the 52 senators to confirm the judge who, in an unprecedented ruling earlier this month, attempted to suspend the Food and Drug Administration's 2000 approval of the commonly used abortion pill mifepristone. The Supreme Court has temporarily blocked the ruling (which had been narrowed somewhat by an appeals court) from taking effect at least through Friday.

In light of the Post story on the undisclosed article, Politico reported that Murkowski said in an interview Wednesday:

You want to talk about the ultimate bait and switch? I feel like I got duped. I feel like voted for somebody based on what had been presented to me. And you do this? That is totally, totally wrong.

What is really totally, totally wrong is (i) US Senators being incredibly cynical, stupid and/or naïve, and (ii) Kacsmaryk and other people lying about people lying about Kacsmaryk's authorship of a controversial paper to keep clueless Senators deceived. Despite the deceit, there was plenty of evidence that Kacsmaryk was a fascist. Murkowski is a cynical liar, stupid and/or inexcusably naïve.

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From the Rotting Judiciary Files: HuffPo writes: 

Judge Who Ruled Against Abortion Pill Didn’t Disclose 

Christian Radio Appearances: CNN

U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk was required to submit a lengthy report on all of his writings and appearances during his confirmation

The federal judge who suspended the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of an abortion pill failed to disclose two interviews on a Christian radio show where he discussed his extremist views on contraception and gay rights, CNN reported Thursday. Neither were included in paperwork he submitted to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Again, fascist Republican bad faith, ill will and contempt for both ethics and the rule of law are on public display. Like Clarence Thomas, fascist Republican elites hide inconvenient truths, the law and ethics be damned.

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The WaPo writes about a sentiment that now appears to be dominant among fascist Republican politicians. That sentiment is purging from government employees who are competent, experienced employees and loyal to the rule of law, the constitution and civil liberties. Those bureaucrats are to be replaced with incompetent goons loyal to the party and the reigning dictator candidate, Trump at present. That is the same tactic that Viktor Orban used to kill democracy in Hungary in 2010-2012. The WaPo writes:

WEST OLIVE, Mich. — The eight new members of the Ottawa County Board of Commissioners had run for office promising to “thwart tyranny” in their lakeside Michigan community of 300,000 people.

In this case the oppressive force they aimed to thwart was the county government they now ran.

The new commissioners, all Republicans, swore their oaths of office on family Bibles. And then the firings began. Gone was the lawyer who had represented Ottawa County for 40 years. Gone was the county administrator who oversaw a staff of 1,800. To run the health department, they voted to install a service manager from a local HVAC company who had gained prominence as a critic of mask mandates.

As the session entered its fourth hour, Sylvia Rhodea, the board’s new vice chair, put forward a motion to change the motto that sat atop the county’s website and graced its official stationery. “Whereas the vision statement of ‘Where You Belong’ has been used to promote the divisive Marxist ideology of the race, equity movement,” Rhodea said.

Her proposed alternative, she said, sought to unite county residents around America’s “true history” as a “land of systemic opportunity built on the Constitution, Christianity and capitalism.’”

She flipped to her resolution’s final page and leaned closer to the mic. “Now, therefore, let it be resolved that the Ottawa County Board of Commissioners establishes a new county vision statement and motto of ‘Where Freedom Rings.’”

The commission’s lone Democrat gazed out in disbelief.  

In the fall of 2020, the Ottawa County health department learned of a coronavirus outbreak at his daughter’s Christian school and ordered the school’s leaders to comply with the governor’s mask mandate. When they refused, state and county officials chained shut the school’s doors for more than a week and warned parents that continued resistance could bring fines and imprisonment.

Suddenly, Moss realized that those dangerous people that his pastor had been talking about on Sundays were not just in Washington and Lansing, the state capital. They were in West Olive, where the county government was headquartered. “In 2020, I became a threatened parent,” Moss said on the campaign trail. “I was threatened specifically … by Ottawa County.”

Purging government of bureaucrats loyal to democracy and the rule of law is a big part of how Orban killed democracy in Hungary in 2010-2012. The fascist Republican Party is trying to do the same thing wherever it has the power to do so.

Besides fascism, what does the GOP want? Two things. 

One is the fascist GOP wants corrupt brass knuckles capitalism with its intent to take more power and wealth from average people and move it to wealthy and powerful politicians and business elites. 

The other is bigoted, racist Christian nationalist theocracy, where the Constitution and secular are subordinate to God's infallible Christian Sharia law and its intolerant, wealthy White, heterosexual male Christian Taliban culture.

Ottawa County: 

Radicalized by COVID

Q: Is this characterization of the GOP grossly hyperbolic, more wrong than right, or more right than wrong?