-- Moms For Liberty co-founder Bridget Zeigler, in a text message to husband Christian Zeigler, on his prowling bars in Florida for women for them both to have sex with.
If you sit down and talk with Republicans,
which I advise against doing,
you will notice that they justify nearly every one of their awful policies with a call to states’ rights.
They say they want to take power away from national representatives in Washington, D.C., and redistribute it to state and local governments,
which, they claim, are best equipped to determine the best policies for their constituents’ particular, parochial concerns.
They use this appeal to “federalism” to shield them from moral accountability for their disastrous actions.
Republicans will say, for instance, that their intention is not to take away abortion rights but merely to let the states decide when a person can be forced to give birth against their will.
They are lying, of course.
We know this because whenever Republicans get the power to impose their views by national fiat, they happily do so, states’ rights be damned.
Republicans are for local control right up until a local prosecutor declines to deport an immigrant or a city council decides to ban assault weapons.
Still, “states’ rights” remains their battle cry,
and few things expose the full measure of their antipathy toward democratic norms and civil rights than what they do with the power they’ve given to the states.
Most people are aware of the horrors that await when Republicans take control of statehouses and governors’ mansions.
For recent examples, consider Greg Abbott’s murder moat in Texas, or Glenn Youngkin’s crusade against abortion rights and Pornhub in Virginia.
Fewer, however, recognize the horrors that lie in store when Republicans commandeer the machinery of the law.
Put simply, whichever rights the Supreme Court does not succeed in obliterating, Republican-controlled state courts and Republican attorneys general eagerly chisel away, state by state.
They are the people who, under their own authority, can bend the law to their will and weaponize it against vulnerable communities.
There are currently 27 of them, and they include future Newsmax hosts like
Kansas AG Kris #Kobach, who finds his joy in suing to stop Joe Biden’s student debt relief program;
Florida AG Ashley #Moody, who spends her days fighting whatever “wokeness” conspiracy exists in her head at any given moment;
and Texas AG Ken #Paxton, who has effectively decided to make up his own immigration laws and enforce them at the point of a gun.
Republicans realized long ago that state AGs represent the steel gauntlet inside the velvet glove of states’ rights.
They also realized that they needed an organization to help them make that vision real,
so in 1999 they created one: the
💥Republican Attorneys General Association.💥
Much like the Democratic National Committee or the Republican National Committee or any number of partisan-affiliated outfits, #RAGA identifies candidates, supports their efforts to win elections, and imposes national Republican priorities at the state level
—though that’s far from all it does.
The association sees its mission as “Defending the Rule of Law. Keeping America Safe”
and hails itself as “America’s last line of defense.”
You’d think that means keeping states safe from criminals and fraudsters,
but in most cases RAGA AGs think they’re “defending” us from transgender kids who need to use the bathroom or Uber drivers who take people across state lines to get abortions.
RAGA prosecutors share a hatred of reproductive rights, a love of guns, and an obsession with persecuting the LGBTQ community.
You probably didn’t need me to tell you that, though:
Hating women and gay people while using a .450 Bushmaster as a masculinity supplement when the testicle tanning wears off is simply standard GOP operating procedure these days.
But RAGA AGs are also committed to doing the dirty work for every other hellish Republican policy idea,
from destroying the environment to gutting voting rights to undermining vaccines, because apparently states need “defending” from science, facts, and public health.
No matter what awful thing they’re doing, the AGs always have enough money to do it.
In exchange for this largesse, these corporations get more than one-off lawsuits or the occasional friendly AG.
Beyond backing individual officials, RAGA is involved with bigger, broader strategies.
RAGA attorneys general work hand-in-hand with preferred Trump judges to shape our national laws through targeted cases designed for appellate and eventually Supreme Court review.
They make rulings that trigger nationwide injunctions.
In recent months, RAGA AGs in 19 states have asserted their right to get access to the private medical records of patients seeking care out of state
—most likely so they can be prosecuted for receiving an abortion when they come back home.
In 13 states, RAGA AGs have threatened to sue companies over their diversity and inclusion programs.
Most of the time, the law is hiding in shadows, obscured under thick layers of jargon and confusing rules of procedure.
But RAGA attorneys general are not trying to hide the ball. They’re proud of their work.
These people are elected officials (many with ambitions for higher office), so when they menace a vulnerable community, they want you to know about it.
“Today, the Court strips the EPA of the power Congress gave it to respond to ‘the most pressing environmental challenge of our time,’”
Justice Elena Kagan wrote in a dissenting opinion joined by Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Stephen Breyer.
“Whatever else this Court may know about, ⭐️it does not have a clue about how to address climate change. ⭐️Yet the Court today prevents congressionally authorized agency action to curb power plants’ carbon dioxide emissions.
The Court appoints itself
—instead of Congress or the expert agency
—the decisionmaker on climate policy. I cannot think of many things more frightening.”
A number of energy magnates and fossil fuel trade groups pushed for the case that could kneecap the agency and boost their profits.
But perhaps no one did more to bring West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency to the Supreme Court
— or ensure that ultraconservative justices would be on the bench to decide in the companies’ favor
— than #Charles#Koch. https://theintercept.com/2022/06/30/supreme-court-epa-climate-charles-koch/
Don't be fooled by Charlie Koch's "opposition" to Trump. When Trump wins, Koch will control judicial appointments through his Federalist Society and executive policy through the Heritage Foundation.
In 1996, I made a documentary about the richest guys you never heard of, the Koch Brothers, but no one gave a fk about some schmucks from Wichita. Well, now it's time to give a fk.
In October 2017, the IRGC & its proxies attacked the KRG held areas in & around Kirkuk Iraq, the center of Iraq's massive oil and gas fields. Reports that #Manafort was in the area. This action was to give #Kurdish controlled fields to Rosneft.
Regarding which Trump reportedly held a personal financial interest. Pompeo did nothing. Pompeo's conduct as CIA head was so shocking that I began to examine his past and concluded there was a strong likelihood he had been recruited by the SVR/kgb/putin in Bavaria in late 80s. In any event,
Trump allowed control of the oilfield to #Iran & #Russia and I suspect Trump received a cash payment due to his Rosneft interest.
If Trump opens his mouth about the Iranian attack, #Democrats must call for a full investigation of Trump- Pompeo & their deal to turn over #Kirkuk. Turn the Iranian focus on Trump & his #Koch-owned bag man #Pompeo. Force the CIA to disclose that they had a mole running the agency & that Trump is, and has been for decades, a Kremlin intel asset. -t.h.
Right-wing outlets want you to believe our movement is secretly controlled by billionaires. The reality is we're just ordinary Americans who are using our citizen power to do the extraordinary: Defend our democracy from fascism. Now's a good time to join our "Radical Left Network." https://act.indivisible.org/signup/stay-in-touch?source=mastodon&medium=directpost
Kochen für Olaf Scholz: Kanzleramt sucht Koch (m/w/d) 👩🍳
Klar, auch Politiker müssen essen. Und wenn es nicht zu irgendwelchen Business Lunchs oder Dinner-Einladungen auswärts geht, wäre ein eigener Koch ganz gut – oder eine eigene Köchin. Das könntest du sein!
It’s said that behind every great fortune is a great crime. This is the crime, the genesis of the Kochs’ $120 billion empire—and the foundation of the fearsome Koch Network, that political Death Star, created solely to keep Charles #Koch out of prison.
by Joshua Kaplan, Justin Elliott & Alex Mierjeski @ProPublica
#Thomas has attended at least two #Koch donor summits, putting him in the extraordinary position of having helped a #political network that has brought multiple #cases before the #SupremeCourt.
Ken Burns Sets Record Straight Over Photo With Supreme Court Justice #ClarenceThomas
#KenBurns has made a statement after a photo surfaced of the documentary filmmaker w/ #SCOTUS justice Clarence Thomas & billionaire David Koch. While #Koch has funded one of Burns’ documentaries, Burns maintains that he & the Supreme Court Justice have no connections or relationship.