« Daylight | Main | The More Things Change »

September 30, 2022

Comments

Leap year occurs every four years, except when the year is divisible by 100, when it doesn't unless the year is divisible by 400.

Or, as it was expressed on the Royal Museums Greenwich website, "To be a leap year, the year number must be divisible by four – except for end-of-century years, which must be divisible by 400. This means that the year 2000 was a leap year, although 1900 was not."

Probably everyone knows this. But it's date-related trivia, so why not?

Happy October!

Interesting, the comments on the link. Nobody seems to have picked up on the fact that many ancient calendars started in the spring** (often close to the equinox), rather than the dead of winter. My recollection is this had to do with it being the time of spring planting -- in short, a new beginning.

Another bit of date trivia: Christ wasn't born even close to the date that is now Christmas. (That was chosen to preempt the pagan mid-winter revels.) Consider the words in the gospels, Luke 2:8, about shepherds in the fields watching their flocks. When are sheep grazing in the fields? Right after the harvest, when they are grazing on the stubble remaining. That is, relatively early in the fall.

** Although the Byzantine Empire used one starting in September.

Mary must have a had a very short or very long pregnancy given when the feast of his conception used to be celebrated (not to be confused with the feast of the conception of Mary which relates to Christ's granny conceiving Mary).
One hypothsis I read is that Christ's birthday was too close too Easter while there was a dearth of non-pagan feasts late in the year, so jumping on the sol invictus bandwagon (in preparation for taking the reins) was an opportunity to solve two problems at once. Another hypothesis is that the sol invictus cult did the same and that emperor Aurelian deliberately chose the Christian 'feast gap' in winter (while also putting it at the end of the Saturnalia thus in a way usurping them).

That the Romans shifted new year while keeping the now false names of the months was a direct result of a political and military inconvenience. They had started a war abroad pre regular election time and considered it silly to change supreme command of the armies after two months. Since elections and new year were linked by law they decided to change the whole calendar instead (so the new consuls could take command from the start).

July and August used to be Quinctilis (the fifth) and sextilis (the sixth) until the names were changed first for Iulius Caesar (born in July) and then Augustus (who accidentally would die in August but was born in Spetember). Since the 13th century there is a legend that Augustus nicked two days from February to get 'his' month to 31 days (as Caesar's July had) but this was done by Caesar long before Octavian go the title of Augustus.

Back when I was still half-connected to the milieu of my childhood, I was surprised to find out how many Catholics thought the Immaculate Conception was the conception of Jesus rather than Mary. This, despite years of catechism classes.

I was also always bemused by the exactitude of the dates: conception on December 8, birthday on September 8. Anne mother of Mary had the perfect 9-month pregnancy!

And finally, in googling around about this stuff I ran across the usage "Mama Mary," apparently in place of Virgin Mary. Half a second's googling didn't tell me anything useful about it, and I don't care enough to pursue it, but it makes me wonder if the puritanical powers that be decided that "Virgin" is far too direct a reference to sex for the (sorry) virgin ears of the faithful?

Old roman new year started 1 March, so yes October is 8th month.

Put the leap-days at the END of the year, which is the sensible thing to do.

That's the way leap-seconds are handled, mostly.

If your operating system includes a program for generating calendars -- eg, the UNIX/Linux cal command -- pull up September 1752 and see if they include Great Britain's shift to the Gregorian calendar. On my machine, Wednesday the 2nd is followed by Thursday the 14th.

I'd be particularly interested in knowing what is shown in countries like Denmark, which changed in 1700.

Back when I was still half-connected to the milieu of my childhood, I was surprised to find out how many Catholics thought the Immaculate Conception was the conception of Jesus rather than Mary. This, despite years of catechism classes.

It wasn't just the Catholics. The Protestant (Lutheran) church where I took catechism classes referred to "Blessed Mary ever virgin" -- which pretty well makes Jesus' the Immaculate Conception. And so that was taught as well.

I also recall my mother remarking, caustically, that Joseph must have been one impressive man. Since, when Jesus wanted an analogy to explain God to his followers, the one he chose was "father." She thought Joseph got way, way too little notice/credit in Christian theology.

"Immaculate conception" refers to the fact that Mary was the only human being ever conceived without original sin. It has nothing to do with whether sex was involved. (As far as I know.) Or rather, my guess would be that it does involve the implication of sex precisely because she was conceived in the ordinary way but was uniquely non-ordinary in relation to the taint of original sin.

Oh, and "ever virgin" isn't in contradiction to "immaculate conception." Jesus was conceived in some miraculous/divine way by the intervention of the deity. No sex was involved.

Joseph got aged by theologians already in antiquity and this was taken up by artists. There were two reasons:
1. By making him old enough to be Mary's grandfather, sex was unlikely (assuming Joseph was a non-perv which they took as a given).
2. It allowed for an earlier marriage producing all the other kids (4 named boys and girls in plural) that the NT refers to as siblings of Jesus. Since Mary was not allowed to have had further (non-divine) kids by fiat of said theologians, this would remove one all-too-blatant contradiction in the Bible.
But this compromise got rejected later and Joseph got forced into a "Joseph marriage", i.e. completely sexless with Mary his one and only wife.
But the aging was not reversed.
Those other kids got redefined (despite unambiguous choice of words in the text) as cousins (ideally at least 2nd grade) or (the default option) ignored like the wife of St.Peter (despite the first thing we hear about Peter in the Bible is that he is absent because his mother-in-law was ill).
There is a lot of stuff in the NT that is in clear contradiction to catholic dogma and this kept theologians busy.

As for calendar and absurd precision: The traditional Christian dating of the world includes the time of day despite days being created on the first day of creation. How can one put a time on it when the time piece (the sun) only appears later in that day? I am not aware that some canonical text states in what position G*d created the sun thus setting the time of day and how long that was after creating first heaven and Earth and then light (yet without a sun).

And then there is that 'sun standing still above Gibeon' for several hours. Did G*d do an optical trick, so in other places the sun moved in the normal way (thus leaving no reports about the event from other places)?
Attempts have been made by evangelicals to find proof for that (e.g. by checking the width of daily rings on old corals).
Luther rejected Copernicus for this reason. If the Bible states that the sun stopped moving it can't be the Earth that's actually the moving part. On that I always think of the absurdity of G*d hypothetically telling Joshua in a lengthy lecture that his ideas on astronomy were wrong and that he should ask for the Earth temporarily stopping in its rotation instead. I'd assume that G*d would simply go with the intent of the request without that kind of pedantry (and the inevitable timeloss given that Joshua would probably take a while to grasp the concept of a spherical Earth orbiting the sun and rotating once a day around its axis).

The idea of Mary staying a virgin through and after the birth of Jesus derives from a non-canonical gospel (Protoevangelium of James).
Artists depicting the event often go for birth by beaming.
The idea of a very flexible hymen is never seriously discussed.
But we also never hear how Loki gave birth to a mutant horse while being in male humanoid shape. Mythmakers rarely care about such details. It's something for theologians to come up with (in particular from the 20th century).

I've always wondered how the conversation went.

Mary: "Joe darling, I'm pregnant."
Joseph: "But Mary, we haven't...who...how could you?"
Mary: "It's all right, it was the Holy Ghost. And the angel Gabriel told me first."
Joseph: "I see, I'll have to give this some thought."

and later

Joseph: "Mary, my love, I had a dream last night where an angel told me it's true what you said about the Holy Ghost. So we can still get married."
Mary: "Good. Do you mind if we still don't, you know, do that thing married people do. Because I've found favour with God and wouldn't want to let him down."
Joseph: "Yes, I see your point, OK."

Do you mind if we still don't, you know, do that thing married people do.

Or maybe they both were simply into oral sex...? All kinds out there. And always have been.

Matthew and Luke both give genealogies for Jesus. Never mind they're different. What I wonder is: why do they both go through Joseph the Cuckold?

The god-botherers currently infesting the SCOTUS could surely rule on that question, should the paternity suit come before them.

--TP

Officially, Jesus was the son of Joseph (and he does not object to be called that in the Bible).
For the evangelists it was necessary to draw a line (ideally two) from Jesus to king David. At the time only the male line counted (the understanding that one becomes a Jew through one's mother originates from the later diaspora iirc).
To go through both Joseph and Mary to David is probably an extra assurance that this Jesus guy is the prophesied new king indeed.
That's an opinion also shared by a certain group of modern (usually evangelical) antisemites who claim that the Jews (bad) are not the Biblical Hebrews (good) but impostors. Joseph and Mary are supposed to be of racially pure old Hebrew stock not tainted by the Jewish cultutral appropriators. Of course other Christian Jew haters think that the earthly father of Jesus was an Aryan from abroad (a Roman officer the prime suspect). The Life of Brian pokes fun at that in a certain interpretation.

Site unavailable from my side for about a day.
Same with you all (given that no new comments have shown up since then)?

Site unavailable from my side for about a day.
Same with you all (given that no new comments have shown up since then)?

Site unavailable from my side for about a day.

Yup, same here. So probably a glitch with the host. Sigh.

Yes, it was out for about 24 hours my side.

I'd assume that G*d would simply go with the intent of the request without that kind of pedantry

This made me smile. Also, I'm sure I told you all this when I discovered it a few months ago, but the expression in Dutch for pedantry is "ant-fucking".

The German informal terms is "sh|tting raisins".

A thought occurs, with this outage:
We may be welcoming October. But is October welcoming us?

Trivia: My birthday, which coincides with John Lennon's is in October.

ALso I need to find homes for ten kittens. Any takers? They are all tough little survivors.

But is October welcoming us?

Couldn't see the mountains yesterday, but the clouds retreated enough this morning to see the high peaks. Snow! It will melt the next sunny day, but it's nice to see even a small Pacific storm go through. Turned the furnace on this morning.

Don't know if the outage was related to our discussion of Mary etc, so important to find out if that is the case.

The discussions of sex remind me of Clinton and Monica Lewinsky and the possibility that, for many Baptists from the South, sex has a narrower meaning.
https://edition.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1998/01/26/time/kirn.html

That might be assigned to the facts you really didn't want to know, but about a year ago, there was a discussion of soaking and jump-humping
https://www.insider.com/mormon-teens-tiktok-soaking-jump-humping-avoid-thrusting-during-sex-2021-9

and that's what I was thinking when I read about Joseph and Mary. Though I don't think that the beds back then allowed any kind of bounciness.

Anyway, let's see if that results in another 24 hour outage...

Anyway, let's see if that results in another 24 hour outage...

Apparently any (putative) censorship takes a bit of time to kick in.

As for the Mormon kids, their Elders should be relieved. Their sort of puritanism was, IMHO, one of the big reasons for the exodus from the Catholic church a few decades back; if the kids are playing word games like they were all budding lawyers, their church hasn't lost them. Yet.

You find one tenet of your religion ridiculous, ignore it, and then it's slippery slope time on the way to the exit. (No pun, etc. intended.)

Have you ever wondered why the Space Shuttle booster rockets were the size they were? Especially when the engineers wanted them a bit bigger in diameter. Here it is.

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/joergstorm_inspiration-technology-automotive-activity-6982316529681891328-tr20

Eternal Rome indeed!

"The SRBs are made by Thiokol at their factory in Utah ."

Everyone had to get their share of the loot from the space program.

The rockets were also too long to ship by rail. So they were sent in sections and assembled using O-rings. Which proved to be lethal.

And that flaw was introduced into the final design to make it more cost effective. The original design had O-rings too but in a way that would not have led to the catastrophe. The designers were fully aware that this change made the system less safe but got overruled. "Old " NASA would not have tolerated solid fuel boosters in the first place for manned flights since one cannot switch them off in an emergency.

Just throwing money at a problem does not guarantee that it will be solved but going cheapscate will almost guarantee that it will be not (or even create the problem in the first place).

Everyone had to get their share of the loot from the space program.

Which is why Mission Control is in Houston. (At the launch site would make more sense.) And why there is a major facility in Huntsville, Alabama -- which, in turn, why the new US Space Force may well be headquartered there.

The snopes take on the railway gauge is interesting

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/railroad-gauge-chariots/

Reportedly the SRBs were 12.17ft in diameter. Standard track gauge is 4.71ft. Standard railcar width in the USA is 10.5ft. So the claim that the SRBs had to fit through a tunnel slightly wider that the track is false.

But it's plausible that the SRB width was restricted by the width of a rail tunnel.

The snopes take on the railway gauge is interesting.

It may be relevant that the European standard gauge is 1,435 mm -- i.e. the same 4' 8.5" used in the US. More Roman chariots. (And no Civil War victory, which Mikkelson argues was critical to the US standard.)

And why there is a major facility in Huntsville, Alabama -- which, in turn, why the new US Space Force may well be headquartered there.

Space Force headquarters may eventually be in Huntsville. It now appears that the US Space Command function will remain in Colorado. Part of that is no one wants to pay to recreate the antenna farms. Another is geography: once you're several miles east of the mountains out on the plains you're in the only place in the US where (a) you're reasonably close to a large urban area, (b) the farthest west geostationary satellite slot you can reliably "see" can also reach Japan and Korea, and (c) the farthest east geostationary satellite slot you can reliably see can reach Eastern Europe.

The geography thing is one of the reasons Colorado punches above its weight in the satellite businesses.

The geography thing is one of the reasons Colorado punches above its weight in the satellite businesses.

Not just side-to-side geography. There's also the fact that, since you are mile or so above sea level (without having to drive a winding road up the side of a mountain!), there's significantly less atmosphere to punch thru. Which matters for some applications.

...there's significantly less atmosphere to punch thru.

And semi-arid. Some frequencies just really don't handle liquid water well.

lj: thank you for that very entertaining info on Mormon non-sex sex. Yet another reason for us atheists to look on, marvelling.

Was looking at the PokerStars website troubleshooting an issue, and came across the info that their software was unavailable in Estonia. . . and Colorado.

It may be relevant that the European standard gauge is 1,435 mm

Though I remember, travelling from France to Spain, we had to wait an hour while they changed the gauge of the train so it could run on Spanish rails. And this being the internet, two interesting links, the first explaining the process of changing the gauge

https://mediarail.wordpress.com/different-track-gauges-in-europe-what-are-we-talking-about/

and a second with some gauge history
https://www.trains.com/trn/railroads/history/a-history-of-track-gauge/

their software was unavailable in Estonia... and Colorado.

We have select online gambling games now, and regulation of same. There are probably aspects of the statutes that they want to steer clear of. Like the substantial tax rate, and public service announcements about gambling addictions.

their software was unavailable in Estonia... and Colorado

California may be next, as we are in the process of fiddling around with our on-line gambling rules.

Hmmm
Some 24 hours without a comment. For all that, except for the past hour, the site has been up. Odd. At minimum I would have expected something on Herschel Walker's latest implosion.

P.S. And naturally, when I went to post this, 6 hours ago, . . . it was down again. Sigh

A while back, we were talking about the DART probe's asteroid impact. Which included a discussion of the difference it makes what kind of structure the asteroid has. Well, it appears that the asteroid in question was likely a rubble pile. At least, that's the speculation for why the plume from the impact was so much bigger than expected.
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap221005.html

A while back, we were talking about the DART probe's asteroid impact. Which included a discussion of the difference it makes what kind of structure the asteroid has. Well, it appears that the asteroid in question was likely a rubble pile. At least, that's the speculation for why the plume from the impact was so much bigger than expected.
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap221005.html

NASA now says there are 20 SLS subsystems that have to be checked to see if their safe-to-use lifetime has expired. Also, when asked about most of the winter launch windows being at night, said something like, "We would, of course, prefer to have first launch for a new rocket during daylight."

This is what happens when you start stacking your rocket in October 2020, finish stacking in October 2021, and still haven't launched by October 2022.

And now for something completely different:

Does any of you experience ASMR ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASMR )?

I only ask because I just listened to a voicemail that make my head tingle pleasurably, enough so that I listened to it a few times just for the sensation. Voicemails seem to trigger it more than anything else, I think because of the digital noise. Women's voices cause it far more often than men's, and the sounds of J's and S's momentarily heighten the sensation.

I have a very early memory of experiencing it as a child while getting my hair cut. The sound of the clippers made my head tingle before the clippers touched my head. Once the clippers did touch my head, the vibration sort of turbocharged the ASMR to the point that it was making my entire upper body tingle. It was wonderfully relaxing.

Weird, right?

hsh, I confess that, upon reading the linked article, I thought that someone was engaged in a truly elaborate prank. Having never heard of, let alone experienced, such a thing.

But given your testimony, I must conclude that it is merely that ObWi has once again led me to discover something never heretofore dreamed of.

Luckily for me (because I find it so frustrating) I missed the latest ObWi outage.

On the ASMR question, I did try listening to some a few months ago, and definitely experienced some tingling, not unpleasurable but not nice enough to try again.

But today after reading an article in the Grauniad about it, I tried listening to "brown noise", even though I don't have ADHD (and apparently people who do get particularly beneficial effects), and found it very relaxing. Whether I'll remember to try it again, is another matter.

And by the way, FWIW wj, what is there to say about Herschel Walker? Just another absurd attempt by the GOP to appeal beyond their normal target audience, and with any luck just as hopeless as the time when a rightwing R friend (I know, I know) told me in all seriousness that McCain's choice of Palin would help with women who would otherwise have voted for HRC (who at that time was still running). And this analysis, believe it or not, from an otherwise rather brilliant (if politically misguided) person. They were very taken aback when I laughed uproariously at the thought that anybody who would vote for HRC would favour any ticket that included Palin.

Hmmm ... that sounds like an extreme form of identity politics to me. I thought that was only for Democrats. ;^)

that sounds like an extreme form of identity politics to me. I thought that was only for Democrats

Well, having accused the Democrats of "identity politics" for years, it is hardly amazing that today's GOP would decide to have a go at it themselves. They've changed their spots on everything from Russia to the working poor to race (I can remember when "the Party of Lincoln" was preferred by blacks, and not just in the South). So why not on this, too?

Of course, their accusations of "identity politics" were minimally accurate, so it's no surprise that their attempts to embrace it are seriously flawed....

Meanwhile...

Maybe chess.com got it all wrong and Hans Niemann was just bitten by a radioactive bishop?

wj: it's projection, as always.

Meanwhile, in another part of the forest:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/oct/06/the-most-terrifying-case-of-all-is-about-to-be-heard-by-the-us-supreme-court

I'm sure you're all very aware of this, but for anybody who isn't:

The heart of the Moore case is a formerly fringe legal notion called the Independent State Legislature (ISL) theory. This theory posits that an obscure provision in the US constitution allowing state legislatures to set “time, place, and manner” rules for federal elections should not be subject to judicial oversight. In other words, state legislatures should have the absolute power to determine how federal elections are run without court interference.

***

It is disturbing that the supreme court used its increasingly diminished credibility with the public to take on a case that has no real purpose other than what I am describing in this column. In the United States, our highest court only rules on approximately 70 cases a year out of the 7,000 petitions for review that are presented. It is a relatively lazy court. In contrast, the supreme court of Brazil rules on approximately 100,000 cases a year. If the US court agreed to accept the Moore case for review, it almost certainly plans to endorse this rogue ISL theory, that could blow up elections and democracy in the United States as we know it.

Context is important. This situation did not just come out of nowhere, but really is the product of a multi-decade strategy by a coalition of corporations and rightwing religious fundamentalists dating back decades to take control of the US government.

***

While many are focused on the January 6 proceedings, the real coup has been going on quietly in the supreme court without a single shot being fired. As the judicial branch is set to deliberate a case that could drastically weaken the other branches of government, never has it been more clear that it is time to rein in the power of our least democratic institution.

Snarki, but usually they are projecting onto the other side something that they themselves are already doing. Rather than adopting something that the other side was putatively doing.

Snarki, but usually they are projecting onto the other side something that they themselves are already doing.

They were already doing it. They've always been doing it. Everyone has. It's an inherent aspect of politics as conducted by humans. They just decided to make a big deal out of it as though it were some novel thing liberals invented relatively recently. See also cancel culture.

This is just excellent from Biden.
https://twitter.com/POTUS/status/1578097875480895489

For an over the hill old fart, he’s doing pretty well.

About bloody well time!**

After all, marijuana is only a Schedule 1 drug because those who set up the drug regime believed that is was primarily used by blacks. (And, perhaps, other unsavory types -- musicians and such.)

Certainly pardons for those jailed merely for possession makes more sense than those bestowed on Trump's scum henchmen.

** I speak here as one with no personal skin in the game. Being personally highly allergic to even second hand marijuana smoke. And in the slightest quantities.

Nobody f**ks with a Biden!!!

By the way, re nous @1.09, I forgot to tell you all about the commenter who said, on the accession of Charles as King, "OMG, things are going to be so different, don't they realise he`s only going to be able to move one square at a time?"

In other news, this:

Two Russians have crossed the Bering Strait by boat in order to avoid conscription to fight in Ukraine and landed on a remote Alaskan island where they have appealed for asylum, according to reports from the region.
Also this:
https://www.thedailybeast.com/russian-infighting-in-ukraine-war-peaks-with-calls-for-suicide-and-execution
“Yes, really, many are saying that… a defense minister who allowed such circumstances to arise could, as an officer, just shoot himself. But, you know, for many the word ‘officer’ is not clear,” one of Russia’s puppet leaders in Kherson said Thursday in the latest sign of the wheels falling off the Russian war machine.
Now all they need to recognize is that Putin is said defense minister....

Initial sentiment seemed to be that Putin's hold on power was robust enough that he could weather any unhappiness with his mobilization order. But it begins to look like that may be as accurate as the predictions that the mighty Russian war machine would take Ukraine in less than a week.

I have, running thru my head, the tag line from a commercial (zero recollection of for what):
"Wanna get away?"

After all, marijuana is only a Schedule 1 drug because those who set up the drug regime believed that is was primarily used by blacks. (And, perhaps, other unsavory types -- musicians and such.)

In Germany it was the result of a campaign sponsored by the chemical industry that did not like the cheap competition of home grown pot ("Knaster") to their newly developed substances (that included the not yet infamous heroine).

Two Russians have crossed the Bering Strait by boat in order to avoid conscription to fight in Ukraine and landed on a remote Alaskan island where they have appealed for asylum, according to reports from the region.

As reported by Sarah Palin. She saw the whole thing from her house. (I know ... she didn't really say she could see Russia from her house, but it's still funny.)

I didn’t recognize her, as I don’t watch CNN regularly, but I just heard the host ask some talking head about “the war on inflation”. Aside from WTF does that even mean, is CNN Fox-Lite now?

Aside from WTF does that even mean, is CNN Fox-Lite now?

What it ought to mean is telling the Saudis to not only reverse OPECs announced production cuts, but boost production beyond that. Otherwise a) we are withdrawing all military support, and b) ceasing to sell any munitions or replacement parts to them. And then follow thru.**

As for CNN, inflation is a real concern to a lot of people. (With gas prices just the most visible symptom.) Not that the administration, or the government generally, has a magic wand to deal with it. This time, it's being driven by the war in Ukraine. And dropping sanctions on Putin is about as likely to help as it would if Trump were in Putin's place -- gratitude just isn't in their DNA.

**Who knows, it might even improve our relations with Iran, another potential petroleum source. Maybe even enough to get the nuclear arms agreement back in place.

This time, it's being driven by the war in Ukraine.

Inflation was already baked in. The war just exacerbated it.

Re. Moore v Harper. If the far right on the Supreme Court really does win a vote for the absurd 'Independent State Legislature' theory, then that should be the end of all deference to the Supreme Court, which would have abandoned all pretence that its rulings are anything but the exercise of raw power against democrary and in the interests of the Republican Party.

I would expect the three moderates on the Court to adopt a position of disrespectful dissent.

I get the "inflation" part. It's the "war" part I take issue with. War on drugs, war on climate change, war on Christmas. Don't even get me started on eastasia/eurasia.

The Fox (& social media) business model is rage and divisiveness, and a problem to be solved doesn't raise the temperature nearly as effectively as a War that needs to be fought - with a clear winner and loser. But CNN - you're not helping. When I hear stuff like "war on inflation" it conjures an image of some hapless bloke wildly flailing at invisible bees. And that image does not inspire any hope of actually addressing whatever it is that we are "at war" with in a sober and practical way.

So I am officially declaring war on being at war against things! Erm... waitaminute...

And now that I think about it, does one go to war with something or against something? Or is it the same thing? Which is kinda confusing.

I think the whole "war on" meme is a leftover from WW II. That was a time when pretty much the whole country pulled together to accomplish something. So if you want everybody to join in eliminating something (drugs, poverty, etc.), total effort, that's the image you use.

Likewise (c.f. "war on Christmas") when you want to rally lots of people by making them think the other side is united in opposition to something they hold dear.

then that should be the end of all deference to the Supreme Court

As far as I'm concerned, that ship has already sailed. Hopefully it's redeemable, but the Roberts Court will be remembered for the notable shift in definition from a deliberative judicial body to that of a King's.

As far as I'm concerned, that ship has already sailed.

Completely agree. As for Hopefully it's redeemable one can hope, but unless drastic action is taken (e.g. some combination of: term or rather age limits, impeachment of people who lied in their confirmation hearings, increase of numbers of justices, clarification of when new nominations have to be considered) that is probably a forlorn hope.

CNN certainly has its sights set on becoming Fox-Lite.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/sep/10/objective-cnn-rightwing-week-in-patriarchy

First, though, they have to break through the years of antipathy wrought by right wing propaganda about how corrupt and biased they are.

If the far right on the Supreme Court really does win a vote for the absurd 'Independent State Legislature' theory...

Even if they go down that road, there are a bunch of subsidiary questions they have to answer. Can the independent legislature delegate its authority? Congress has the only say on new state entrance to the union, and at least a couple of states included ballot initiatives with no subject restrictions in the constitution accepted by Congress. Does that override the independent state legislature thing? Across the western states, there are hundreds of state laws about federal elections that were passed by initiative. Are they all null and void?

The last one was included in the Arizona v. Arizona opinion that upheld the power of the people in a state to take redistricting authority from the legislature. Ginsberg wrote that one, with I believe a bunch of guidance from Kennedy, the only westerner on the Court at the time. Diving down the independent legislature rathole is a guarantee that there will be hundreds of new cases filed to try and sort things out.

Diving down the independent legislature rathole is a guarantee that there will be hundreds of new cases filed to try and sort things out.

If they do go that way, I think it's pretty much a certainty that those hundreds of cases will be decided on the basis of "What decision helps our side more right now?"

With no concern about whether the decision contradicts the last one. Let alone whether it contradicts the explicit text of the Constitution. The law becomes a straight up exercise in "What we want when we want it. And to hell with everybody else."

From nous' link: "The way CNN is going I wouldn’t be surprised if they make Trump their new election integrity analyst next week."

I knew about Stelter, but Harwood? The guy comes from CNBC and the WSJ - not exactly bastions of progressivism. Cooper and Acosta next to get the sack?
----

Even if they go down that road, there are a bunch of subsidiary questions they have to answer.

The more they can cloud the issue, the easier it becomes to justify whatever rule-bending and nebulous interpretations meet their needs. Chaos is the point. If they even want to bother with the pretense. As Dobbs has shown, they might not.

This author argues that even if the Supreme Court endorses some version of the ISL theory, it wouldn't have much impact. At least not in presidential elections.

"However, the ISL theory’s potential effect on presidential elections is being misunderstood and overstated by some critics of the conservative majority on the Supreme Court. Even as somebody who mostly disagrees with the theory, I’d like to sound a note of caution. Popular progressive talk show host Thom Hartmann, for example, flatly endorsed the interpretation that ISL would enable the worst possible election subversion schemes, and that the Supreme Court is plotting to use it to steal the 2024 election for Republicans. This is wrong, and it’s important for even those who disagree with ISL doctrine to be able to explain why.
...
Given the likelihood that the Supreme Court will endorse some version of the independent state legislature theory, it’s important for opponents of Trump-style election subversion to not overstate the effect it would have. No matter what the court rules in
Moore, it will remain unlawful and unconstitutional for state legislatures to overturn presidential election results after the fact."
The Limits of Independent State Legislature Theory

The more they can cloud the issue, the easier it becomes to justify whatever rule-bending and nebulous interpretations meet their needs. Chaos is the point. [Emphasis added]

Not, I think, for the Justices. The Supreme Court needs some measure of order. And civil structure. Otherwise their pronouncements will have no effect. (It's not like there are enough of them, nor athletic enough, to go out and enforce anything themselves.)

So the question becomes: Do they realize what they are unleashing? And can the judge when to put on the breaks? I'm guessing not, should it come to that.

If they manage to install a permanent GOP 'majority' then they will have all the enforcement they need.
There is only a 'problem', if their scheme fails and the Dems keep enough control for long enough to finally take effective countermeasures. If Roberts got his way with his salami tactics, chances would be good that the scheme would succeed. But not as good with the instant gratification demanders currently in charge.

This made me smile:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/oct/08/fox-news-college-kids-sex-obsession-week-in-patriarchy

Greg Gutfeld’s creepy rant is just the latest example of the US right’s obsession with sex

Not, I think, for the Justices.

Agreed. It's stuff like ISL and abortion laws with bounties and interstate prohibitions - legislation that's designed to confuse - that creates the chaos. And that, in turn, gives the Court the latitude to justify crazy sh*t like Dobbs, whereas cleaner legislation might constrain them a bit more.

In theory, anyway. With this bunch, who knows? I'm very curious to see what, if anything, comes out about Ginni and Thomas' potential recusals in Thursday's hearing, given what's on the Court's current slate. Probably nothing, of course, because Justice Thomas is "uninterested in politics" and they "never" discuss cases before the Court. Which totally does not strain credulity.

Re: Gutfeld:

I find that I am also “rejecting the truth in beauty”. But I didn’t really have a say in the matter. I blame my parents.

Aw, hell. Do… do we gotta fight the war on beauty now?

This made me smile:

I got a serious eyeroll out of the last item, about the upscale restaurant for . . . dogs. Bad enough the TV ads for over-the-top specialty dog foods. But a restaurant with $75 doggie meals? The super-rich has gone barking mad!

Presumable this is another reason why they need more tax breaks. That kind of pet food has to be financed somehow.

I find that I am also “rejecting the truth in beauty”. But I didn’t really have a say in the matter. I blame my parents.

For not being rich enough to pay for plastic surgery for you...?

Well, mostly the genetic thing. But also the plastic surgery thing. Come to think of it, also the rich thing. ;-)

I would have been making much more healthy life decisions in college in the 90s had I been asexual...just saying. A lot of these kids are just trying to avoid getting into toxic relationships and being distracted - which they cannot afford to have happen because all the safety margins for college success without excessive debt have been stripped away. They have a very narrow set of marks to hit.

I would not have hit those marks. It took me over a decade to hit those marks in a much more fortunate time.

Give me a room full of Ace (asexual) students over a room full of horny, hungover frat kids any day.

Give me a room full of Ace (asexual) students over a room full of horny, hungover frat kids any day.

(Known) membership in a fraternity during college would be an almost instant disqualification for any job I was hiring for. OK, maybe not dishwasher or something on that level. Maybe. But in general.

I have had some excellent students who were member of a frat/sorority. I have a lot of respect for service fraternities and the students they attract. But the social frat students are about the most concerned with their appearance and with "networking" (though my rich Chinese nationals run a close second here).

Not so much an indictment of frats as thick description of their horndog proclivities.

Speaking as faculty, having asexual students reduces the awkwardness and self-consciousness of office hours, too, and reduces the temptations for the more ethically challenged in the ranks.

Service fraternities are an entirely different animal.

I was thinking of residential fraternities. For whom, the priorities appear to be

  1. drinking
  2. sex
    Followed by
  3. networking
    And far, far behind
  4. actual education.
Things may have changed since I was in college, of course. But I wouldn't be money on it.

In short, the kind of guys that made the revelations at Justice Kavanaugh's confirmation hearings readily believable. Unsurprising, even.

The comments to this entry are closed.