Juries are the second, fundamental participatory element of the People in Government. Juries are important because the Rule of Law, while set by Representatives of the People and enforced by an indirect Representative of the People (the President), must be administered by the People from whom its authority is derived. Judges, appointed by the President and confirmed by the Peoples’ Representatives, are not accountable to the People. Juries are the People.
The answer is simple: Democrats are lazy. And, no, I don’t mean the politicians, I mean the voters. Democrats are lazy and disengaged, reactionary voters. And that’s a major problem because it allows the minority—and, again, that’s the Right and the far-Right combined—to win elections, appoint judges, and set policies. The system of government we have isn’t broken, even if the Government itself is. (And it’s only broken because Republicans like it that way.)
For half a century, Roe v. Wade, 410 U. S. 113 (1973), and Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pa. v. Casey, 505 U. S. 833 (1992), have protected the liberty and equality of women. Roe held, and Casey reaffirmed, that the Constitution safeguards a woman’s right to decide for herself whether to bear a child. Roe held, and Casey reaffirmed, that in the first stages of pregnancy, the government could not make that choice for women. The government could not control a woman’s body or the course of a woman’s life: It could not determine what the woman’s future would be.
In Heller, the Court held, in a 5–4 decision, that (1) the Second Amendment granted an individual right to keep and bear arms unconnected to service in a militia; (2) the right to keep and bear arms is not unlimited; and (3) handgun bans and trigger lock requirements such as those instituted by the District of Columbia are unconstitutional. And they were stupid wrong.
As I have discussed before, the Right is obsessed with power and in order to get it and keep it, they will enact regressive policies on taxes, education, equity and equality, and privacy. It has taken a mere 50 years for them to successfully game the system to its breaking points in order to overturn Roe.
Hiking photos from January 2022 across North Carolina.
Until we combat and successfully defeat these anti-indigenous issues, there’s no amount of holiday proclamations from the White House that will even begin to sooth and heal the—often violent—division between non-native Americans and indigenous, Native communities.
[…] it shall be a felony for any government official, officer or staffer of any government official, or any candidate seeking such a position of Public Trust, to, through the execution of their duties, powers, and/or official functions, knowingly and/or wilfully lie, mislead, or otherwise deceive the public; defame, slander, libel, or vilify a Person or private entity; or misrepresent the facts, data, or science of any matter over which the Office in which they serve or seek to serve has jurisdiction, influence, or regulatory authority.
President Biden announced his administration’s new, more forceful approach to the SARS-CoV-2 virus and COVID-19 pandemic. In the speech, the President clearly illustrated his frustration with conspiracy theories, dis- and misinformation, and political gamesmanship standing in the way of vaccine adoption and the seemingly, but not entirely, inevitable defeat of the virus.
We have, once twice again in as many weeks, suffered the national tragedy and embarrassment of another two more mass murders by domestic terrorists. But, as per usual, because these specific individuals are white males, you will not hear them labeled as such in the public discourse or in the news media, by Congressional leaders or the President. However, you’ll hear a lot about “mental health” in the coming weeks as we once again gnash our collective teeth about—and ultimately fail to act on—gun control.
