Rep, Gus Bilirakis and his ally got an earful from protesters.
Republican congressman Gus Bilirakis from Florida felt the Bern. He saw his town hall erupt into a heated discussion with his constituents. The Republican lawmaker got to talking about his goal to repeal the Affordable Healthcare Act. His right hand man made an "alternative fact" about how the law (known as Obamacare) having "death panels".
There were boos and shouting matches between Bill Akins and a man who was a supporter of the healthcare law.
He was called a lair by the constituent.
"You called me a liar," said Akins.
"You are a liar...Own up to it!" said the protester.
Akins the secretary of the Pasco County Republican Party was making the claim as well.
Soon as the crowd got rowdy, Akins went on to insult them.
"Ok children, all right children," said Akins.
Many Republicans claim that the protesters are paid agitators. Of course, when they got the love and support of the Tea Party, the Democrats called them paid protesters as well.
See Republicans now figured that they had the wind in their sails. Well I hope that many Americans rise up and show the party that we oppose their agenda and we're going to fight throughout the entire four years of the fuhrer's presidency.
Donald J. Trump, the fuhrer of the United States issued an executive order banning travelers and immigrants from seven majority Muslim nations. Many considered this a Muslim ban.
The executive order attracted major controversy. Many travelers and business executives from the banned nations were turned away. People who wanted to see their families in the United States were denied entry. People with green cards and residency visas were stuck at the gate.
It was two weeks since the Trumpster signed off the executive order. It brought massive protests against the order. They asked the federal courts to put the brakes on it.
It seems like the Trumpster got a major setback to his executive order. A federal appeals court on Thursday declined the Trumpster's request to restore the ban on refugees and travel by immigrants from the Muslim majority countries.
Rejecting arguments, that the government would be "irreparably harmed" if the judicial system reviewed by the Trumpster ban, which he premised on his authority over national security matters, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit determined unanimously that the judiciary has a proper role in safeguarding people's rights.
The fuhrer signals that he wants this to head to the Supreme Court.
SEE YOU IN COURT, THE SECURITY OF OUR NATION IS AT STAKE!
The ban is going against everything the United States stands for. And for the fuhrer and the Republican Party, it's about security. Who's security are we willing to sacrifice for the government?
Bitch McConnell now wants to Democrats to get along and support the fuhrer.
The fuhrer Donald J. Trump nominated Neil Gorsuch for the Supreme Court. Expect this to be a partisan fight. The conservatives are hoping for Trump to keep his word by nominating these type of justices to the Court.
Democrats who are seething from their loss are vowing to delay nominations and not hold hearings on candidates. They will take the route that Republicans done.
Progressives warn Democrats that they better get a spine or continue to lose elections.
When Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) and later Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) spoke in 2016 about the confirmation of a nominee, they said that they will wait until the results of the election when a new president is charge. They gambled their chances and it paid off.
A Republican president, a Republican congress, no problems rights! Uh, not so.
Democrats still can delay the nomination and oppose it. It takes up to 60 Senators to confirm the nominee. If the nominee fails to get a vote, McConnell could impose the "nuclear option".
The option could reduce the nomination confirmation to 51.
Barack Obama nominated Merrick Garland for the position and it ended with no confirmation nor a hearing. Republicans took the legal steps to deny Obama his third justice to the Supreme Court.
I am still amazed that McConnell has the audacity to get on this soapbox to warn Democrats to not clog up Washington. This asshole spent eight years doing so.
Antonin Scalia's death was partisan from the start. Republicans quickly went to social media and the junk food media to warn Obama not to pick a nominee. Obama was constitutionally in the right to pick a nominee. So when he did, the Republicans bemoaned about our country's courts are going to be fundamentally changed forever and it's the end of the world.
Now that Trump is entitled to getting a nomination, he will now face the wrath as well.
Trump is likely to get a nominee confirmed to the court.
The real test for the partisans is how far and how long could this go. Obama is still angered by Republicans and their unrepentant obstruction. Democrats are hoping to capitalize off the anger that Trump's two weeks in office brought upon the nation.
The fuhrer nominates Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court.
Neil Gorsuch is currently a federal appeals judge from U.S. 10th Circuit of Appeals in Denver. He is chosen to be the fuhrer's pick for the Supreme Court. This pick will replace the late Antonin Scalia who passed away a year ago.
Donald J. Trump nominated this judge for the court. Republicans are on board with this pick.
Democrats aren't. So it's likely a showdown for the spot. Democrats are seething over the Republican obstruction to Barack Obama's pick Merrick Garland. The Republicans held off the confirmation hearings and vote. It ended with Garland heading back to the federal court for the District of Columbia. Democrats vow complete obstruction to this guy.
Now the very same Republicans are warning Democrats to get in line or prepare for "nuclear option."
Conservatives are going to praise this guy. Progressives not so much. They're going to hate this guy and the very things he stands for.
The announcement came forth with the spotlights of a reality television show.
Gorsuch would be considered one of
the youngest judges appointed to the highest court. He is currently 49 years old and is married with children.
Hillary Clinton is working to help down ticket candidates. Will it help
Hillary Clinton celebrates her 69th birthday by campaigning in the crucial swing states. Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Arizona and North Carolina are the key to her victory. She sees an advantage in plucking away three states that normally goes to Republicans.
Republican in the Congress are by far the most inept ever to run government. Running on the narratives of agitators in the junk food media, these lawmakers are determined to create scandals where none existed.
Take for example, the John Podesta emails. I don't give a damn about those emails. They are not really important to me. Yeah, this is a scandal for the Democratic nominee, but this is cake compared to the nonsense coming out of Donald Trump's mouth. The Republican nominee and his party are determined to make life miserable for Clinton if she does win.
Right now over 200 days and counting since President Barack Obama nominated Merrick Garland for the Supreme Court. Republicans said that they will not take up any nominee until a new president is sworn in.
The most inept members of the Republican controlled Senate will fight President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton to the bitter end.
Now that it's looking likely Clinton got this in the bag, Republicans are taking back their pledge.
Embattled Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) is leading by five in state polls. The senator and former presidential nominee in 2008 said that he and Republicans will oppose any nominee Clinton lines up in her administration. He walked back the comments after the junk food media called him out on his bullshit.
He already let the cat out the bag. Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) and Sen. Ted Cruz already planning an opposition tour. Lee will likely win his senate race. Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH) also likely to win signaled his opposition to a potential Clinton nominee.
Now Clinton, Obama and Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick have seized upon those comments as a way to prove that Republicans can't govern. Democrats are hoping his "senile" moment will hurt him.
Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) the Majority Leader has been awful stubborn about getting Garland through. Matter of fact, there are a handful of federal appointees wrangled up. It will Obama without most of his nominees confirmed.
John McCain is worthless. The "Maverick" said he and his fellow Republicans will oppose Hillary Clinton's nominees if she wins the election.
This is why Democrats need to retake Congress. Republican obstruction is too much. They have wasted over seven months holding off President Barack Obama's Supreme Court pick Merrick Garland.
Garland who was selected shortly after Antonin Scalia passed away was roundly praised for being fair but the Republicans fear that his confirmation could tip the Court to the left.
When Scalia passed away, Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) remarked that no nominee will come forth until the next president is in office. That led to Republicans rallying around this notion that if they can delay the nominees of Obama, they score a victory.
The president is none too pleased about the hold up. He urges Democrats to come out swinging.
In private, he wants Republicans to buried. Donald Trump has single handedly fucked up the Republican Party. He is openly saying things that Republicans say when the cameras are off.
And by the look of things, it's going to be a longer wait for the ninth spot if Hillary Clinton wins the presidency.
The failed 2008 presidential nominee clapping his choppers. And it may put his crucial seat up for grabs.
He and his fellow Republicans will oppose any Supreme Court nominee, a President Clinton brings to the Senate.
Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) distances himself from Donald Trump after the tapes were released earlier this month. Trump, the Republican nominee was pressured by RNC chief Reince Priebus to support McCain in his tough primary against Kelli Ward, a former state senator endorsed by many Republicans.
McCain roundly beaten her and is now facing a battle against Democratic challenger Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick (D-AZ).
The Democrats are pouring money into the Arizona race with senate candidate Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick (D-AZ). She is taking on worthless Sen. John McCain (R-AZ). Hillary Clinton hopes to pick off Arizona from Donald Trump.
And unfortunately he's leading by eight in polls.
McCain who brands himself as a maverick and a bipartisan leader. McCain is hoping that his distance from Trump. He wants to win those who aren't familiar to Kirkpatrick.
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) who is also facing reelection is mum on the comments. He believes that the president and future presidents deserve their nominee. However, he and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) held Obama's federal judges and Garland up for months.
The federal courts are in emergency crisis. Republicans on pace of having the fewest confirmations in the final term of Obama.
The infamous Alabama supreme court justice Roy Moore is benched.
In 2015, the Supreme Court had repealed all state laws banning gay marriage. The Obergefell vs. Hodges case was the landmark court case that guaranteed same-sex couples the right to marry in the United States and its territories.
The infamous Alabama judge who fought a federal order to remove the Ten Commandments faces another benching. This time the state judiciary board had put the brakes on Roy Moore. They suspended him for the remaining term as Alabama Supreme Court chief justice.
Moore was found in violation of ethics. He sent an order to state probate judges to deny rights to fellow Alabamians.
In defiance of the U.S. Supreme Court, Moore continued this charade of denying the marriage licenses of LGBT couples.
THe Judicial Inquiry Commission had found Moore guilty of these charges.
Canon 1, failing to uphold the integrity and independence of the judiciary.
Canon 2, failing to avoid impropriety and the appearance of impropriety in all his activities.
Canon 2A, failing to respect and comply with the law and failing to conduct himself at all times in a manner that promotes public confidence in the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary.
Canon 2B, failing to avoid conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice that brings the judicial office into disrepute.
Canon 3, failing to perform the duties of his office impartially
Canon 3A (6), failing to abstain from public comment about a pending proceeding in his own court.
Moore is benched until January 2019. He will not be paid for his time off and he will have to pay all legal fees to the state. His attorneys plan on appealing the decision.
Jim Obergefell helped move America forward. Obergefell fought for his late husband and millions of Americans.
The Liberty Counsel attorney Mat Staver said that to suspend Moore is a travesty of justice.
Moore served in the Alabama Supreme Court in 2001 and removed in 2003 during the Ten Commandment controversy.
He was reelected in 2013 and now removed in 2016.
Moore is once again standing for his beliefs and his bigotry. Maybe he might be one of the millions of Americans on food stamps.
According to the softball, there's millions of Americans not working and on food stamps.
Note; I refer Sean Hannity as a "softball" because he admits giving Republicans and controversial figures like Moore softball interviews. He's the official softball of the Donald Trump presidential campaign.
Conservative billionaire could be a nominee for the Supreme Court if Donald Trump wins.
The guy who helped Hulk Hogan take down Gawker Media is a topper for a Donald Trump Supreme Court nominee. Peter Thiel, the co-founder of PayPal is spreading the gospel of being a nominee for the highest court in the land.
Thiel, an openly gay Republican will be a disgrace to the rights of people who speak out against oppression.
Word on the street, that if Trump wins the presidency, that will be the first thing he will do to get the ball rolling with the conservatives. Of course, Thiel who is a billionaire is a libertarian/conservative who opposes LGBT rights. He is strongly against ambush journalism but is willing to fund organizations that attack politicians.
Trump had proposed 11 judges who could fill the void if any of the current eight justices would retire or die in office.
Its been seven months since President Barack Obama made his decision to pick Merrick Garland to replace Antonin Scalia for the court. Republicans vow to not pick a nominee until the next president is sworn in. That hasn't inspired Democrats to action. That was swept under the radar for the Republican debates and primaries.
Republicans are gambling with power. Cause if the Republicans take control of the White House and Congress, Democrats and their progressive allies will spark an all out war against them.
They will do the Republican like they've done Obama. They will grandstand, delay, stall and vote "NO" on everything. They will question the legitimacy of the president and the cycle will continue until the next election.
The smells of desperation continue within the Republican Party. As many flee Donald Trump, he continues to step further into the abyss.
Trump now complains about the debates. He agrees to the debates but he wants the moderators to be vetted.
At a rally in North Carolina, he made remarks that come off as a threat against Hillary Clinton.
Donald Trump on Tuesday said "the Second Amendment people" may be the only way to stop Hillary Clinton from getting to appoint federal judges if she wins the presidential election in November.
“Hillary wants to abolish, essentially abolish, the Second Amendment,” he said as an aside while smiling. “By the way, and if she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks. Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is, I don’t know. But I’ll tell you what, that will be a horrible day.”
The reference to the Second Amendment, the right to keep and bear arms, could be interpreted as a joke about using violence to stop Clinton or her judicial picks.
Trump was speaking at a rally in Wilmington, North Carolina, where he repeated his regular claim that Clinton intends to “abolish” the Second Amendment, presumably by appointing liberal justices to the Supreme Court. But Trump punctuated that line with an aside, suggesting that Second Amendment supporters might be in a position to stop her even if she’s elected.
The Trump campaign rejected the notion that Trump was inciting violence against Clinton or anyone else with his aside at the Wilmington rally. Instead, the campaign said the Manhattan billionaire was simply appealing to the collective political muscle Second Amendment supporters possess.
“It’s called the power of unification – 2nd Amendment people have amazing spirit and are tremendously unified, which gives them great political power," Trump's senior communications adviser Jason Miller said in a statement emailed to POLITICO. "And this year, they will be voting in record numbers, and it won’t be for Hillary Clinton, it will be for Donald Trump.”
The U.S. Secret Service is aware of the comments.
Many Republicans are starting to see the Trump campaign imploding.
The Supreme Court rules in Texas anti-abortion law.
The Supreme Court struck down the anti-abortion law that the state of Texas passed in 2013. The 5-3 decision was a blow to conservatives. This decision eliminates a state's attempt to pass restrictive laws to curb a woman's right to choice. This is the biggest ruling since the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision.
The Texas statute was to close up a handful of abortion clinics in the state. The Court ruled it unconstitutional.
The Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt is the most significant ruling for pro-choice activists. If the ruling went the other way, states would impose stricter laws preventing abortion.
Texas insisted that the HB 2 law was constitutional. Ruth Bader Ginsburg questioned the state's law.
She wondered how this bill would help women who wanted a safe term. Texas was mandating that abortion clinics undergo costly upgrades to look like hospitals and abortion providers must get "special privileges" at hospitals. It was a backdoor plot to eliminate abortion clinics.
Stephen Breyer wrote in his decision that "the surgical-center requirement, like the admitting privileges requirement, provides few, if any, health benefits for women, poses a substantial obstacle to women seeking abortions and constitutes an 'undue burden' on their constitutional right to do so".
Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott wasn't pleased about this decision. Lila Rose and her allies in the anti-choice movement were hoping to gain momentum.
The Center for Medical Progress was partly involved in this as well. The ringleader of the anti-choice group tried to infiltrate Planned Parenthood facilities to expose executives taking pride in terming live fetuses.
Former state lawmaker Wendy Davis got some vindication. She fought this all the way to the Court.
Her failed bid for governor was a downer but to watch Abbott fail at his job is probably the sweetest revenge she's gotten so far today.
Anthony Kennedy joins Elena Kagan, Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Sonia Sotomayor in the decision to spare abortion rights.
Chief Justice John Roberts, Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas dissented the decision.
This polarizing decision comes a week after the Court struck down President Barack Obama's executive action on immigration. Conservatives were happy Obama was handed a defeat. Now this decision will have conservatives concerned.
With an evenly split court, most of the rulings conservatives supported could be at risk of being tossed out or stuck down. Republicans continue to delay the nomination of Merrick Garland.
They believe that Obama's pick could swing the Court in a progressive direction. It's too late.
Truly, this was a blow to conservatives and the anti-choice movement.
Women have a right to choice. Although I am no fan of termination, I do support a woman's right to do so. It's a freedom that helps protect a woman's health.
Would you allow a woman to carry a rapist's baby?
Would you allow a woman to die if the baby was causing her health to decline?
An unwanted pregnancy is a dangerous experience for women. If the Court was to deny women a right to choice, the black market abortion providers would be on the rise.
Supreme Court ruled in an affirmative action case.
With the Supreme Court overwhelmed at eight, cases will be either evenly divided or lopsided with no real results. When the Court rules, it's over. Regardless of who wins or loses, the Supreme Court of the United States is the final leg of a federal case.
Abigail Fisher comes out the loser in her case against the University of Texas Austin.
She took her case of affirmative action to the Court. She was denied entry into the college. The court's 4-3 decision continues the college entry rules.
Fisher v. University of Texas, concerned an unusal program and contained a waring to other university that not all affirmative action programs will pass constitutional muster. The New York Times added, that the ruling's basica message was that admissions officials may continue to consider race as one factor among many in ensuring a diverse student body.
Elana Kagan backed off the case because she had ties to the University of Texas.
Abigail Fisher and her conservative allies lost this one.
President Barack Obama was pleased with the decision. "I'm pleased that the Supreme Court upheld the basic notion that diversity is an important value in our society," he said today.
"We are not a country that guarantees equal outcomes, but we do strive to provide an equal shot to everybody".
Anthony Kennedy sided with the Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer and Sonia Sotomayor in the majority. Kennedy wrote that the courts must give university substantial but not total leeway in designing their admission programs.
The disagreement of consent came from Samuel Alito. He practically slammed the decision. He said that the university had not demonstrated the need for race-based admissions and that the Texas program benefited advantaged students over impoverish ones.
Conservatives were hoping that this decision would eliminate the quotas.
Say if you came from a bad school and graduated at top rank and were accepted to a privileged college but tested lower than the student from a higher performance school, you would be getting a leg up.
It was an evenly divided court that decided on the use of executive orders for presidents. This will affect presidents after President Barack Obama. The 4-4 decision to send the executive order on work permits to immigrants back to the lower court was considered a blow to Obama on his immigration plan.
The liberal and conservative wing kicked the decision back to the lower court which said that it was unconstitutional.
The order would have secured 4 million immigrants living here in the United States.
The Wall Street Journal added that the court's outcome in the immigration case doesn't require the administration to begin deportations of the affected immigrants—all of whom had significant ties to the U.S., such as children who are U.S. citizens or lawful residents. But it does halt the government's plan to normalize their presence by granting them authorization to work.
Speaking from the White House, Obama expressed frustration at the nation's continuing paralysis on immigration policy: "I believe that this country deserves an immigration policy that reflects the goodness of the American people."
The president also complained about the continuation of the open seat at the Supreme Court. Citing the increasingly frequent tie votes, he said that Republicans were extending the court's paralysis by refusing to consider his nominee for the open seat, U.S. Circuit Judge Merrick Garland.
"Republicans in Congress currently are willfully preventing the Supreme Court from being fully staffed and functioning as our founders intended," Obama said.
Republicans have said the next president should decide who should fill the Supreme Court opening.
Obama announced the immigration policies in November 2014, describing them as the furthest he believed he could go using executive authority to normalize the status of illegal immigrants after a Senate-passed immigration overhaul died in the House.
The current members of the Supreme Court. Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Anthony Kennedy, Chief Justice John Roberts, Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas. Without the ninth justice, it's going to be a quagmire of decisions that could gravely affect the nation. Antonin Scalia passed away in February.
The plan sought to assist more than four million people who already are considered the lowest priority for deportation. Authorities, lacking resources to remove most of the more than 10 million illegal immigrants in the U.S., focus on newly arrived individuals and those with criminal records.
By formally suspending the threat of deportation, the program would give affected immigrants the opportunity to obtain work authorization and other prerequisites for participating in society, such as a Social Security number and a driver's license.
Obama demanded that the voters decide on what the future. He said should they vote, should they continue to allow the federal courts and agencies tied up, mass shootings, gridlock in Congress, partisan gamesmanship, and Donald Trump. He urges that the future lies in the Dreamers who believe that they can change the direction of Congress and the presidency.
It's a tall order given the Republicans gerrymandered areas making it harder to win the House.
Republicans and their conservative allies have a megaphone of agitators and simpletons willing to distort the truth.
Donald Trump is leading in some polls against Hillary Clinton. The public equally hates them and Bernie Sanders.
In hypothetical polling, Donald Trump leads Hillary Clinton by five points. The Republicans are seething with joy knowing that Clinton's prolong fight with Bernie Sanders is hurting her in the general. Sanders leads Trump by a seven points in a hypothetical poll.
Trump also got some praise for his very mention of possible Supreme Court nominees if he becomes the president. Trump's picks for the court already cause a great deal of controversy.
The Republicans have ignored their constitutional duties to confirm President Barack Obama's nominee for the Supreme Court Merrick Garland. The death of conservative justice Antonin Scalia gave the Republicans more enthusiasm to winning. They prolong the nomination of Gerrick because they hate the fact that Obama is still in office. They fear that if Obama gets his pick confirmed or Clinton wins, conservatism will lose. The Democrats warn Republicans if Trump wins, they will do him like they've done Obama.
Republicans know that the changing demographics aren't in their favor. So in order to gain a little bit of support, they'll rehash old news to stop Clinton. The allegations thrown at Clinton have started to stick. Matter of fact, Trump's "crooked Hillary" name is now a Republican talking point.
Sanders is also getting flack for having no control over his supporters. Many in the junk food media claim that he's acting like a sore loser. Conservative agitators (i.e.The Drudgelist, Old fart Rush Limbaugh and Softball Hannity) are spewing kookspiracies theories about Clinton "stealing" the nomination from Sanders.
Sanders's supporters are starting to get riled up. Now you're hearing that they'll vote for Trump over Clinton. Of course, liberals who support a sexist, Islamophobic, narcissist asshole are not really supporters of Sandres. They're just trolls who want to create chaos in the Democratic Party.
If you agree that Muslims should be banned from the United States and you're a Bernie Sanders supporter, then you're head is screwed on wrong.
If you agree that illegal immigrants are bringing in drugs, crime, disease and you're a Bernie Sanders supporter, then you're head is screwed on wrong.
As you know, Bernie Sanders joins Clinton and Trump as heavily disliked. His supporters kind of pissed off the Democratic Party. And with good reason. In their minds, they believe that Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) was rigging the primary for Clinton.
Bernie Sanders's negatives are going up.
I agree that the congresswoman is inept. For the sake of the party, she should bow out.
Sanders's problem is the informed public. Most of the public isn't familiar with socialism and they aren't familiar with him. They know enough about Trump and Clinton and they're not really inspired by their messages.
Although Trump gets most of the attention, Republicans seriously believe that the junk food media is in the tank for Hillary Clinton.
Softball Hannity is feeding Trump these allegations of Bill Clinton cheating in another desperate attempt to distract the public from Trump's inept responses to policies. Softball Hannity is a huge concern troll and the most annoying person to ever have a radio or television show. He ignores the allegations of cheating from Trump and hasn't asked the Republican about how to fix the economy or bring back jobs. All Trump's stated so far is platitudes and Republicans are soaking it up. He stuck on this notion that being politically incorrect is the key to winning elections.
Republicans have no real ideas. The Republicans in Congress wasted two session of Congress demonizing Clinton over Benghazi, Obama over the Affordable Care Act, his executive orders, the IRS, the TSA, unions, Planned Parenthood, NPR, and Facebook.
Republicans in control of Congress enacted only 14% of the laws. The current job approval of Congress is 9% job approval. That's terrible and I believe that if Clinton, Sanders or Trump become the 45th President of the United States, they will have the most unproductive Congress ever.
Alabama's most infamous judge is back in the news. Roy Moore now trying to battle the will of the Supreme Court.
Bible thumping Alabama chief justice Roy Moore back on the sidelines after a federal judge stripped him of his gavel. Moore was suspended after the Alabama Judicial Inquiry Commission filed ethics charges against him. Moore will now be tried by the Alabama Court of the Judiciary, and could be removed from the bench if found guilty.
The controversial judge who gained fame in 2004 after his refusal to remove the Ten Commandments from the state capitol is now faced another battle he's losing.
Last year the Supreme Court ruled that gay marriage is legal in the United States. Conservatives have seen their grip on the country unravel before their eyes. The conservatives are so fed up with the direction of the country, they are on the verge of nominating Donald Trump, an emboldment of all the rage they've had against the changing society they "want back".
He will not support marriage. He refuses to acknowledge legal battles in the state that involve same-sex couples who still are blocked from obtaining marriage licenses.
Moore, who stated last year he would "not be bound" by the Supreme Court’s ruling legalizing same-sex marriages because they change the "organic law" of God, was dismissive of the accusations against him.
The controversial justice along with Robert Bentley, the embattled governor of the state have face allegations of corruption and sexual affairs while in office.
Bentley who is caught up in a sex scandal is under federal watch for allowing his goons rough up people who wanted to blow the whistle on the governor and his tryst with a younger woman who wasn't his wife.
Moore who is defiant said that a transvestite and the merry band of secular activists will not move him. He says that he will get the support from the public and he'll be back on the bench shortly.
The Supreme Court divided is a lose-lose situation for conservatives. Pictured: Justice Elena Kagan (back), Chief Justice John Roberts (left), Justices Anthony Kennedy, Ruth Binder Ginsburg, Stephen Beyer and Sonia Sotomayor.
Looks like it's a lose-lose situation for the Republicans. They continue their opposition to President Barack Obama's Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland. And with the Court not at full strength, many issues conservatives took to court are being defeated.
Voting rights is spared for now. The Republican-controlled state of Texas ended up losing a crucial piece of power. The power they had to keep the U.S. Congressional districts in their favor is coming to an end.
Greg Abbott, the controversial Republican governor of Texas might want to wheel himself back to the drawing board. The court found that the Texas redistricting map isn't fair to the constituents and the Court struck it down.
The court ruled that the "one person, one vote" rule allows counting non-voters, including minors, prisoners, ex-convicts and immigrants -- a decision that traditionally helps Democrats.
"We hold, based on constitutional history, this court's decisions, and longstanding practice, that a state may draw its legislative districts based on total population," Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg wrote in delivering the court's opinion.
The plaintiffs -- Sue Evenwel and Edward Pfenninger -- argued that Texas should count only eligible voters in drawing up legislative districts of roughly equal size.
That would have favored rural areas with a high proportion of eligible voters in the allocation of legislative districts, over urban areas with larger absolute populations but a smaller proportion of eligible voters.
Since urban areas tend to vote Democratic and rural areas lean Republican, how the population is counted has a direct political impact.
If a state bases its electoral districting on the total population -- and all 50 states do -- people who are ineligible to vote are counted in the process.
These ineligible populations, such as non-citizen Hispanic immigrants, are usually present in larger numbers in urban areas.
As a result, each eligible voter in those areas proportionally has greater clout.
Samuel Alito, Sonia Sotomayor and Clarence Thomas.
"Even so, it remains beyond doubt that the principle of representational equality figured prominently in the decision to count people, whether or not they qualify as voters," the court said.
"Adopting voter-eligible apportionment as constitutional command would upset a well-functioning approach to districting that all 50 states and countless local jurisdictions have followed for decades, even centuries. Appellants have shown no reason for the court to disturb this longstanding use of total population," the court added.
- Unanimous decision -
The justices heard oral arguments in the case in December before the sudden death of Justice Antonin Scalia on February 13, which has left the court evenly divided between liberals and conservatives.
But even before Scalia's death, the justices had expressed skepticism about the challenge to the Texas law, which was borne out by the unanimous decision.
Had the court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, legislative districts would have had to have been redrawn in states from New York to California.
Civil rights leaders and minority groups backed the status quo, arguing a change would negatively impact Hispanics.
"Our representatives represent people," said Nina Perales of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund.
"Representatives don't represent land. They don't represent acres. They don't represent counties."
The NAACP civil rights group said that 75 million children, 13 million of whom are black, "would have been counted out of the redistricting process" since children cannot vote.
The case, it said, harked back "to nefarious periods in our democracy similar to when black people were counted as 3/5ths of a person for redistricting purposes."
Meanwhile Democratic presidential hopefuls Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders chimed in from the campaign trail in support of the decision.
Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor, and Ruth Binder Ginsburg were the majority of the court.
"In our democracy, every one of our voices should count. Glad the Supreme Court affirmed this fundamental right," Clinton tweeted.
- 'Significant leeway' -
Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito were part of the majority, but wrote separate concurring opinions.
Alito, while agreeing with the majority, rejected the government's argument that there is a constitutional basis for requiring that legislative districts be equal in total population.
In a similar vein, Thomas noted that the court's decision did not provide clear guidance on what exactly "the one person, one vote" principle protects.
"The Constitution does not prescribe any one basis for apportionment within states. It instead leaves states significant leeway in apportioning their own districts to equalize total population, to equalize eligible voters, or to promote any other principle consistent with a republican form of government.
"The majority should recognize the futility of choosing only one of these options. The Constitution leaves the choice to the people alone -— not to this court," he wrote.
Sen. John McCain, the longtime Republican senator from Arizona is facing an insurgent challenge from a political nobody named Kelli Ward. The shrill Sarah Palin-like insurgent is gaining national attention. She wants to be the lawmaker who can take the Maverick down.
Ward is a former state senator who resigned half-term into her state term to run a full on challenge against McCain.
McCain one of the few political moderates in the Republican Party is facing possible defeat in the Republican primary on Tuesday. Some people was the 2008 Republican nominee. He lost in a landslide against Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential election.
He's been a longtime fixture in the Senate. The conservatives had enough of him and they're backing his challenger.
The Trump insurgent wants to take out longtime annoyance John McCain.
McCain has kind of pissed off his Republican base. He said Ted Cruz is a Wacko Bird. He said that Donald Trump's were crazy. That netted a response from Trump. Trump said that McCain is a war hero but he doesn't like the ones who were captured intentionally.
McCain hasn't endorsed a candidate since his best buddy Sen. Lindsey Graham decided to bail out early in the presidential race. He's trying to avoid being on GOP Sundays too much.
The Republicans and their stubbornness on Merrick Garland is also hurting the once bipartisan lawmaker.
People are hoping that McCain could actually do something other than be a senile old fool.
The choice to the Supreme Court is Merrick Garland. If confirmed, the Court could swing in progressives favor. Republicans vow to fight until January 20, 2017.
It's rare that a president gets an opportunity to more than two justices to the Supreme Court. Since 1989, most of the presidents had an opportunity to nominate two to the Court.
Ronald Reagan was the last president to have nominated three to the Court. Of those three were Sandra Day O'Conner who retired in 2005. Antonin Scalia who recently passed away in 2016. Anthony Kennedy, currently the longest serving justice in the Court.
Picking justices for the Supreme Court is controversial. Given the partisan rancor by the Republicans in the current 114th Congress, a simple replacement to the Court is going to be a "showdown".
President Barack Obama has nominated Merrick Garland as his choice for the Supreme Court. Expect the Republican controlled senate to fight with the nomination.
Garland is a centrist candidate who the president decided to pick on. He felt that this choice is the most capable of getting through the Senate.
This choice also signals the end of the conservative lean on the court. With the sudden death of Scalia, Republicans fear that their party is collapsing.
Donald Trump, a brokered convention, the infighting between Republicans in Congress shows the signs of the Republican Party's incapability to lead the nation. Democrats are cautiously hoping that the civil war will split the party.
Obama is not playing games with Republicans.
Inept Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has already signaled that he's not willing to take the matter up until the next president comes forth. That right there is the example of partisanship which is driving Congress to low job approvals.
At 11am, the president will address the nation.
Merrick Brian Galand is the Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, he is 63 years old and a graduate of Harvard University and Harvard Law School.
He is married to his wife Lynn (nee Rosenman). He is a father of two daughters. He is Jewish.
Garland was seen on the shortlist of many qualified judges. Sir Srinivasan and Paul J. Watford were on the short list but faced a difficult path given the partisan rancor in the Senate.
Before Elena Kagan was appointed a justice of the Court, Garland was seen on the short list as well.
Republicans better confirm a nominee to the Supreme Court. Their plan will backfire if they refuse Obama's choice to the court.
Obama warned that if he doesn't get a nomination confirmed, the next president will suffer. Cause I bet you if the Republicans block a nominee to the Supreme Court, the next president (if its a Republican) will face the same obstruction from Democrats.
Rubio says that he, Ted Cruz and Ben Carson being on stage is a sign of diversity. He said that being endorsed by Nikki Haley and Tim Scott shows the Republicans are the party of diversity.
One thing I managed to catch at the Republican debate is the comments by Marco Rubio. He said that the Republican Party is the most diverse party because they have two Hispanic lawmakers and a Black neurosurgeon on stage.
Given the possibility the party may nominate another old White guy, Rubio desperately played the race card at the CNN debate.
Republicans are struggling to win Hispanics and Black voters. Despite the Republican candidate's bold claims about the party being the most diverse, the party is also too damn conservative and too damn White.
Rubio, Cruz and Ben Carson make up about 10% of the Republican Party's diversity. The party is 90% WHITE and 10% EVERYTHING else.
The Republican Party is White like cocaine. They may have minorities in the party, but the policies and their rhetoric isn't diverse. It's pretty damn condescending and outright bigoted.
Donald Trump's rise could bring Blacks and Hispanics voters into the fold. Some are tempted to vote for the controversial media mogul.
I see Donald Trump as Arnold Schwarzenegger. He will bankroll on his celebrity status to win. His bombastic and witty charm woos conservatives and some Democrats.
Given the possibility of Trump winning the election is strong. I don't want to believe it, but it could happen if you don't help the Democrat win. Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders aren't strong contenders and it's going to be a bumpy road for the Democrats. Given Obama fatigue and an inspired Republican voter base, the Democrats got to win back voters.
It's likely a Democrat could beat the Republican nominee. But given the circumstances, it's going to be a TOSS UP.
Trump has tapped into the populist rage that fuels the anti-government resentment towards lawmakers.
John Kasich, Marco Rubio and even Ted Cruz are considered establishment. Cruz calls himself the best choice to take on Washington. But he's been in Washington for two years and haven't really accomplish much since. He's been more of a talker and not a doer. That's hurting him in the race.
Rubio is also the same. Rubio won on the wave of insurgency. He and Rand Paul were elected in 2010 and they been in the senate for most of their term doing absolutely nothing. Even the compromise to immigration reform that was sponsored by Rubio was voted down by him.
When it comes to diversity the Republican Party has a long way to go before it can truly be a diverse party.
Remember the Democratic Party nominated and the American people elected twice the first Black president.
The first Black U.S. Supreme Court justice was picked by a Democrat.
The first Hispanic woman to serve as a U.S. Supreme court justice was picked by a Democratic president who happens to be Black. The first Black man and woman were nominated and confirmed as the Attorney General of the United States.
The first woman as the Speaker of the House is a woman.
The current front runner in the race is a woman. Her opponent is the first Jewish candidate to run.
The Democratic Party's chairperson is a lawmaker who is a woman.
Under a Democratic President who happens to be Black, marriage equality is legal in the United States.
Marco Rubio, Ben Carson, Ted Cruz as well as Donald Trump and John Kasich aren't friends of the Black and Hispanic communities. They're a bunch of myopic dicks.
Shout out to comedian/talk radio host John Fugelsang for also catching the Rubio-Bot self-destruct!
Obama might pick a Republican who might become the U.S. Supreme Court justice. It might destroy the party if they reject their own.
President Barack Obama and the Democratic members of the U.S. Senate say that it will happen and it will happen quickly.
The death of Antonin Scalia has become a political football for the partisans. The president has a constitutional duty to appoint a nominee a person to replace a justice to the Supreme Court.
President Barack Obama has a rare opportunity to get a third pick to the Court. Ronald Reagan was the last president to have an opportunity to nominee three to the Court.
Conservatives are fearing that the pick could sway the court.
Republican governor Brian Sandoval is the front runner in the SOTUS nomination.
The senate's Republicans including Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) are hoping that they can delay or refuse to accept any nominee to the Supreme Court. They vow to have another president pick a justice.
They're willing to shut down the government again. But the pressure is on. The party is facing intense scrutiny over this.
In their last stand, Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz have pledge to not support Obama's pick to the Supreme Court regardless of qualifications.
The delay of the Supreme Court nomination could screw up cases.
One in particular is the Supreme Court's hearing on five residents of the U.S. territory of American Samoa. They are fighting the U.S. government over citizenship.
The residents born in American Samoa are not U.S. Citizens. They are U.S. nationals and they can't get federal aid or veteran's assistance. They have to buy a U.S. passport with the status of national on it. They are saying that if they're born on U.S. territory the deserve automatic American citizenship.
Tuaua v. United States is going to be a major court case. If it goes in the favor of Lene Tuaua, then it may advocate U.S. citizenship and could open up presidential voting rights to those living in the U.S. territories.
The junk food media is reporting that the president is vetting Nevada's Republican governor Brian Sandoval. This may cause a rift within the party. For one thing, Sandoval is a Republican, he's a well liked governor and he's a Hispanic. If the Republicans oppose one of their own, then they may end up costing their chances in the presidential election.
American Samoa is an unincorporated U.S. territory in the South Pacific Ocean. The territory is a chain of eight islands/atolls with the neighboring independent nation of Samoa to the northwest.
The capital of the territory is the town of Pago Pago.
The U.S. territory's governor is Lolo Matalasi Moliga who is an independent but aligns himself with the Democratic Party.
The U.S. territory is demanding American citizenship, voting rights and recognition. There are residents taking the matter into the Supreme Court.
Pago Pago is the capital of the United States territory of American Samoa.
Tuaua v. United States is being heard in the Court. What is being argued among the justices is the granted legal status of people born on U.S. soil. Those who are born in American Samoa are U.S. nationals, not citizens. They are denied voting rights, opportunities to apply for state and federal jobs if they choose to move to the mainland.
The Citizenship Clause of the U.S. Constitution provides that “All persons born . . . in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States.” Federal laws and policies that deny citizenship to people born in American Samoa violate this Clause and are unconstitutional.
I was interested in the matter when comedian/satirist John Oliver of HBO's Last Week Tonight brought attention to voting rights not being established in the U.S. territories.
Lene Tuaua is fighting for the right to be recognized as an American citizen.
We The People's Project has invested heavily in this matter. Lene Tuaua was born in American Samoa. He served in the military and gave his life to the country.
Tuaua v. United States is a court case that originated when a group of American Samoans sued the State Department and the Obama administration. They sued to force the government to award American Samoans birthright citizenship, arguing that the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution guarantees that anyone born in the United States is automatically granted citizenship.
The case originated as a complaint filed in 2012 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, and the case was docketed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in 2013. Briefs were filed in 2014, and an oral argument was made last year.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled 3-0 to deny birthright citizenship to American Samoans, ruling that the guarantee of such citizenship to citizens in the Fourteenth Amendment does not apply to U.S. island territories.
Republican congresswoman Amata Coleman Radewagen is the non-voting delegate from the U.S. territory of American Samoa. She became the first woman and Republican to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Attorneys filed a petition requesting that the Supreme Court of the United States review the Appeals Court's decision.
They are pressuring lawmakers in Washington to full grant citizenship to those living in American Samoa. They are pressuring Congress to grant full voting rights to all residents of the U.S. territories.
The residents on these territories aren't allow to vote for the President of the United States.
Did you know that 4.7 Americans live in the occupied territories administrated by the United States?
The District of Columbia, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, the Northern Mariana Islands and the U.S. Virgin Islands have U.S. Representatives who are non-voting delegates to Congress.
