;)
The Commentariat -- September 16, 2021
Late Morning Update:
Marie: Sorry, I have not been paying enough attention to what Celebrities-I've-Never-Heard-of are saying. But I do belatedly want to award the Stupid Prize to anybody who decided not to get a Covid-19 vaccine because a rapper called Nicki Minaj tweeted that a friend of her cousin became impotent AND his balls swelled up AND his fiancee called off their wedding -- after he got a Covid vaccine.
Rebecca Boone of the AP: "Idaho public health leaders on Thursday expanded health care rationing statewide amid a massive increase in the number of coronavirus patients requiring hospitalization. The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare made the announcement after St. Luke's Health System, Idaho's largest hospital network, on Wednesday asked state health leaders to allow 'crisis standards of care' because the increase in COVID-19 patients has exhausted the state's medical resources. Idaho is one of the least vaccinated U.S. states, with only about 40% of its residents fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Only Wyoming and West Virginia have lower vaccination rates. Crisis care standards mean that scarce resources such as ICU beds will be allotted to the patients most likely to survive. Other patients will be treated with less effective methods or, in dire cases, given pain relief and other palliative care." ~~~
~~~ Marie: This doesn't affect only Covid patients. If you need immediate health care in Idaho, no matter what the reason, your chances of survival will be depend on a triage worker. If your chances look bad, you're dead. This is third-word-country-style health care. And the immediate cause is freeedumb.
The Washington Post's live updates of Covid-19 developments Thursday are here.
What Could Possibly Be Wrong with That? Brian Schwartz of CNBC: "New York Attorney General Letitia James has been talking with her advisors and supporters about potentially running for governor next year, according to people familiar with the matter. In the weeks since James' investigation into former Gov. Andrew Cuomo ended early last month, she and her political advisors have been testing the waters...." MB: Let's see: you order a report that determines the governor is guilty of wrongdoing, forcing him to resign. After getting him out of the way, you run for his job.
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Karoun Demirjian & John Wagner of the Washington Post: "President Biden on Wednesday threw his full support behind the Pentagon's top uniformed officer, who has come under fire after a new book revealed he privately conferred with his Chinese counterpart to avert armed conflict late in the Trump administration. 'I have great confidence in General Milley,' Biden told reporters at the White House, following calls from ... Donald Trump and his Republican allies on Capitol Hill for the removal of Gen. Mark A. Milley as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.... Trump, in denying he had ever contemplated attacking China, called the general's actions 'treason.'... Col. Dave Butler, a spokesman for Milley, issued a statement Wednesday largely confirming what's disclosed in the book, 'Peril'..., and saying that Milley had acted constitutionally and within his established responsibilities." ~~~
~~~ Here's Butler's full statement.~~~
~~~ Marie: Trump's charge is, comme d'habitude, hyperbolic, silly & probably a reflection of his ignorance. Milley told China's military leader that the U.S. had no plans to attack China, which is exactly what Trump is now claiming was his own position. In addition, one of the jobs of the chairman of the joint chiefs is to talk with his counterparts around the world to put out any possible bellicose accelerants. I suppose Trump is upset that Milley told the brass not to launch a nuclear attack, but since Trump says he had no intention to do so, what's the problem? ~~~
~~~ Lara Seligman & Daniel Lippman of Politico: "Claims in an upcoming book that a frantic Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley made secret calls to his Chinese counterpart are greatly exaggerated, according to two people familiar with the discussions.... [One] official said the calls [to China's Gen. Li] were not out of the ordinary, and the chairman was not frantically trying to reassure his counterpart. The people also said that Milley did not go rogue in placing the call, as the book suggest. In fact, Milley asked permission from acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller before making the call, said one former senior defense official, who was in the room for the meeting. Milley also briefed the secretary's office after the call, the former official said.... In an interview Wednesday, Miller told Politico that Milley almost certainly told him he was going to call his Chinese counterpart, but he didn't recall getting a detailed readout of the call after.... Miller said that if the Woodward and Costa report is accurate, 'it would be completely inappropriate and completely contrary to civilian oversight of the military if he was conducting foreign policy activities or national security activities of that nature, but I don't know ... if it's true or not.'"
AUKUS! Tyler Pager & Anne Gearan of the Washington Post: "President Biden announced Wednesday the United States and Britain will share highly sensitive nuclear submarine technology with Australia, a major departure from past policy and a direct challenge to China in its Pacific neighborhood. Biden made the announcement alongside British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who joined the president virtually, as they unveiled a new three-way defense alliance, which will be known as AUKUS. Britain is the only other nation to share U.S. nuclear submarine propulsion technology, an agreement dating back decades and aimed largely at countering the old Soviet Union.... The arrangement could also lead to damaged relations with France, with one former French ambassador to the United States saying on Twitter the countries 'stabbed' France in the back.... In a joint statement, the French minister of foreign affairs and minister of the armed forces said the decision was 'regrettable' and 'contrary to the letter and spirit of the cooperation that prevailed between France and Australia.'" ~~~
~~~ CNN's story, by Kevin Liptak & Maegan Vazquez, is here.: "The new plan will mean the cancellation of a $90 billion deal Australia had already made with France for conventional submarines.... The decision also sparked tensions between New Zealand and Australia, with NZ Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern issuing a statement on Thursday saying Canberra's nuclear-powered submarines would be banned from her country's waters."
** Juliet Macur of the New York Times: "Sitting at a witness table alongside three of her former gymnastics teammates, Simone Biles broke down in tears while explaining to a Senate committee that she doesn't want any more young people to experience the kind of suffering she endured at the hands of Lawrence G. Nassar, the former national team doctor. 'To be clear, I blame Larry Nassar, but I also blame an entire system that enabled and perpetrated his abuse,' Ms. Biles, 24, said Wednesday.... Ms. Biles and hundreds of other girls and women -- including a majority of the members of the 2012 and 2016 U.S. Olympic women's gymnastics teams -- were molested by Mr. Nassar, who is now serving what amounts to life in prison for multiple sex crimes. His serial molestation is at the center of one of the biggest child sex abuse cases in American history. McKayla Maroney, an Olympian in 2012, also testified, describing in detail how Mr. Nassar repeatedly abused her.... In 2015..., she described her abuse to an F.B.I. agent during a three-hour phone call.... 'Not only did the F.B.I. not report my abuse, but when they eventually documented my report 17 months later, they made entirely false claims about what I said,' Ms. Maroney testified.... In a remarkable turn, the F.B.I. director, Christopher A. Wray, acknowledged the agency's mishandling of the case and apologized to the victims." Read on, if you want to be utterly disgusted all over again.
Stephanie Kirchgaessner of the Guardian: "The FBI director, Chris Wray, is facing new scrutiny of the bureau's handling of its 2018 background investigation of Brett Kavanaugh, including its claim that the FBI lacked the authority to conduct a further investigation into the then supreme court nominee. At the heart of the new questions that Wray will face later this week, when he testifies before the Senate judiciary committee, is a 2010 Memorandum of Understanding that the FBI has recently said constrained the agency's ability to conduct any further investigations of allegations of misconduct. It is not clear whether that claim is accurate, based on a close reading of the MOU, which was released in court records following a Freedom of Information Act request. The FBI was called to investigate allegations of sexual misconduct against Kavanaugh during his Senate confirmation process in 2018, after he was accused of assault by Christine Blasey Ford.... The FBI closed its extended background check of Kavanaugh after four days and did not interview either Blasey Ford or Kavanaugh. The FBI also disclosed to the Senate this June -- two years after questions were initially asked -- that it had received 4,500 tips from the public during the background check and that it had shared all 'relevant tips' with the White House counsel at that time. It is not clear whether those tips were ever investigated." (Also linked yesterday.)
Ben Collins & Brandy Zadrozny of NBC News: "The extremist forums that cheered on the Jan. 6 Capitol attack have soured on the planned Saturday rally in Washington, insisting without evidence that the event is a secret government plot to arrest more people involved in the riot. Users in extreme far-right Facebook groups and extremist forums such as TheDonald and 4chan, which previously hosted pictures of users streaming into Washington hotel rooms and even maps of the Capitol tunnel system in the days before the Jan. 6 riot, are largely steering users away from the upcoming event. Those posting on these forums say they largely believe the event to be a setup for a 'false flag' event or 'honeypot,' in which they'll be entrapped and coerced to commit violence by federal agents." ~~~
~~~ Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: "Ever since a pro-Trump mob attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, Republicans have been trying to shift the national conversation away from that dark, violent day.... Then, a former campaign operative of ... Donald J. Trump announced that he was organizing hundreds of protesters to return to the Capitol on Saturday for a rally in support of the defendants charged in connection with the deadly assault.... Many Republican lawmakers ... said they wanted nothing to do with the event. Not a single member of Congress has confirmed his or her attendance.... Nevertheless, the 'Justice for J6' rally, to be held at noon on Saturday at the foot of Capitol Hill, has created a predicament for Republicans, who are caught between a hard-right base including many voters who consider the rioters righteous and a desire to distance themselves from the attack and its political fallout.... In shunning the event, Republicans are following the lead of Mr. Trump himself, who has been uncharacteristically silent about it even though he has in the past defended the mob." ~~~
~~~ Rachel Maddow reported that protective fencing was going up around the U.S. Capitol in anticipation of the wingnut gathering. She ran video of the fencing operation in progress.
Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "A 20-year Marine veteran and former marksmanship instructor from Florida became the second defendant in the largest Jan. 6 Oath Keepers conspiracy case to plead guilty and agree to cooperate fully with prosecutors in hopes of reducing his prison term. Jason Dolan, 45, of Wellington, Fla., admitted Wednesday to two federal counts of conspiracy and aiding and abetting the obstruction of Congress as it met to confirm President Biden's 2020 election win, felonies punishable by up to 20 years in prison. In a plea deal with prosecutors, both sides agreed that Dolan, who has no prior convictions, could face 63 to 78 months under advisory federal sentencing guidelines. However, the government agreed to request a lower term at sentencing in exchange for his 'substantial assistance.'" MB: Huh. Pretty lame for a heroic political prisoner.
Charlie Savage, et al., of the New York Times: "John H. Durham, the special counsel appointed by the Trump administration to scrutinize the Russia investigation, has told the Justice Department that he will ask a grand jury to indict a prominent cybersecurity lawyer on a charge of making a false statement to the F.B.I., people familiar with the matter said. Any indictment of the lawyer -- Michael Sussmann, a former federal prosecutor and now a partner at the Perkins Coie law firm, and who represented the Democratic National Committee on issues related to Russia's 2016 hacking of its servers -- is likely to attract significant political attention. Donald J. Trump and his supporters have long accused Democrats and Perkins Coie -- whose political law group, a division separate from Mr. Sussmann's, represented the party and the Hillary Clinton campaign -- of seeking to stoke unfair suspicions about Mr. Trump's purported ties to Russia. The case against Mr. Sussmann centers on the question of who his client was when he conveyed certain suspicions about Mr. Trump and Russia to the F.B.I. in September 2016. Among other things, investigators have examined whether Mr. Sussmann was secretly working for the Clinton campaign -- which he denies."
Adam Klasfeld of Law & Crime: "Some months after Attorney General Merrick Garland's Department of Justice signaled it would back ... Donald Trump in a lawsuit filed by E. Jean Carroll, a federal judge refused on Wednesday to let that development prevent the litigation from proceeding in his courtroom. U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan denied Trump's request for a stay of all proceedings, without comment."
Ha Ha. Brad Reed of the Raw Story: "New reporting from Bob Woodward and Robert Costa reveals that former House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) did extensive research on psychological disorders in preparation for dealing with ... Donald Trump.... A New York-based Republican donor who also happens to be a doctor reached out to Ryan and warned him that he would 'need to understand what narcissistic personality disorder is.'... The doctor sent him more information about the condition, including an email with 'thoughts on how to best deal with a person with anti-social personality disorder.' Ryan subsequently did more research of his own and grew more convinced that Trump really was a pathological narcissist."
Thomas Edsell in the New York Times: Scholars argue that opposition to abortion is about patriarchy, racism, sexism, gender identity, religiosity & local sovereignty. Thanks to P.D. Pepe for the link. MB: Since I'm not a scholar, I see the anti-abortion casus belli as falling within that spectrum of those other illiberal views that reflect a closed, parochial mindset.
Elisabetta Povoledo, et al., of the New York Times: "Pope Francis weighed in on Wednesday on a debate roiling the Roman Catholic Church in the United States, where conservative bishops are pushing for guidelines that would deny communion to politicians, like President Biden, who support abortion rights. 'I have never refused the eucharist to anyone,' Francis said, though he added that he did not know of any instance when such a politician had come to him for communion. Bishops, the pope said, should be pastors, not politicians."
Christian Davenport of the Washington Post: "Four amateur astronauts lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center [in Florida] Wednesday evening, making history by becoming the first all-civilian crew to reach orbit in a fully commercial mission operated by Elon Musk's SpaceX and paid for by a billionaire entrepreneur. The launch, dubbed Inspiration4, was the first step in what is planned to be an audacious three-day journey in orbit around the Earth by a group of people who just months ago ... didn't expect to fly to space."
The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Thursday are here.
The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Wednesday are here. (Also linked yesterday.)
Dan Keating, et al., of the Washington Post: "One in 500 Americans have died of covid-19.... People older than 85 make up only 2 percent of the population, but a quarter of the total death toll. One in 35 people 85 or older died of covid, compared with 1 in 780 people age 40 to 64.... Death rates for younger groups, 40 to 64 years old, are much lower, but racial inequities grow larger.... Covid kill[s] Blacks and Hispanics more than three times as often as Whites, and Native Americans almost nine times as much." The article explains some of the reasons structural racism is a factor in increased Covid-19 deaths.
Beyond the Beltway
California. Maegan Vazquez of CNN: "President Joe Biden on Wednesday called the results of California's recall vote 'a resounding win' for Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom's approach to the Covid-19 pandemic, specifically citing the state's strong vaccine requirements.... The results of Tuesday's recall -- which weighed whether to oust Newsom from office before the end of his term -- turned out to be a vote of confidence by California voters in his approach, Biden said. 'This vote is a resounding win for the approach that he and I share to beating the pandemic: strong vaccine requirements, strong steps to reopen schools safely, and strong plans to distribute real medicines -- not fake treatments -- to help those who get sick,' Biden said in a statement." ~~~
~~~ Jonathan Martin of the New York Times: "The [California] recall does offer at least one lesson to Democrats in Washington ahead of next year's midterm elections: The party's pre-existing blue- and purple-state strategy of portraying Republicans as Trump-loving extremists can still prove effective with the former president out of office, at least when the strategy is executed with unrelenting discipline, an avalanche of money and an opponent who plays to type.... For Republicans eying [President] Biden's falling approval ratings and growing hopeful about their 2022 prospects, the failed recall is less an ominous portent than a cautionary reminder about what happens when they put forward candidates who are easy prey for the opposition." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Eric Bradner & Dan Merica of CNN: "California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom delivered a decisive answer to the question of whether voters would penalize those who enacted strict policies aimed at slowing the coronavirus pandemic.... Republicans sought a replay of 2003, when actor Arnold Schwarzenegger attracted support across ideological lines and voters decided to boot then-Gov. Gray Davis. This time, though, the party's leading candidate, talk radio host Larry Elder, stuck much closer to conservative orthodoxy -- making it difficult to attract the sort of broad bipartisan support that it takes for a GOP candidate to win in deep-blue California.... Here are five takeaways from California's recall election[.]" (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: It might be worth bearing in mind that Californians know Gavin Newsom is a jerk. I mean, he married Kimberly Guilfoyle, (Don Jr. loud-mouthed girlfriend) then cheated on her with the wife of his campaign manager. But they also know Gavin is no Larry Elder. However, I don't see much of a "lesson" for Democrats in the recall election. Newsom is so far (there are still millions of votes to count) getting a slightly higher percentage of votes than he did when he was elected in 2018. So yeah, it's a wipeout. But it was a wipeout then, too.
Massachusetts. Joanna Slater of the Washington Post: "Boston voters will choose between two women of color when they elect their next leader -- a contest that has always been won by White men, until now -- after Michelle Wu and Annissa Essaibi George emerged victorious from a diverse slate of candidates in a preliminary election Tuesday. The race is a milestone that reflects a shift in the city's demographics and self-image. It also sets up a showdown between the progressive and moderate factions of the Democratic Party. Wu, a Harvard-educated daughter of Taiwanese immigrants, is a longtime city council member. A proponent of rent control, free public transportation and a new Green Deal for the city, she counts Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) as a supporter and mentor. Essaibi George, who identifies as Arab American, grew up in the diverse neighborhood of Dorchester, where she was raised by immigrant parents from Tunisia and Poland.... Analysts say her base of support -- particularly among older, moderate Democrats and White voters -- represents more continuity....
"For some of Boston's Black residents, the results of the preliminary election were disappointing. Two Black women, acting mayor Kim Janey and City Council member Andrea Campbell, each received nearly 20 percent of the votes, behind George's 22 percent (Wu won 33 percent)."
Pennsylvania. Elise Viebeck & Rosalind Helderman of the Washington Post: "Republican lawmakers in Pennsylvania on Wednesday approved subpoenas for a wide range of data and personal information on voters, advancing a probe of the 2020 election in a key battleground state ... Donald Trump has repeatedly targeted with baseless claims of fraud. The move drew a sharp rebuke from Democrats who described the effort as insecure and unwarranted and said they would consider mounting a court fight. Among other requests, Republicans are seeking the names, dates of birth, driver's license numbers, last four digits of Social Security numbers, addresses and methods of voting for millions of people who cast ballots in the May primary and the November general election. Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf (D) called Wednesday's vote 'merely another step to undermine democracy, confidence in our elections and to capitulate to Donald Trump's conspiracy theories about the 2020 election.'"
South Carolina. Southern Gothic Saga, Ctd. Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs of the New York Times: "Alex Murdaugh, a prominent South Carolina lawyer who is at the center of multiple investigations after his wife and son were shot and killed at the family's home in June, plans to turn himself in on Thursday on charges that he staged his own assassination, even as he continued to deny any involvement in the killing of his family.... The stunning turn came on the same day that authorities in South Carolina announced they had opened an investigation into the 2018 death of a housekeeper at Mr. Murdaugh's home. The death of the housekeeper, Gloria Satterfield, 57, was attributed in court documents to a 'trip and fall' accident, but Angela Topper, the coroner in Hampton County, S.C., said the death was never reported to her office and no autopsy was conducted.... The [Murdaugh] case has already captured attention because of the Murdaugh family's powerful history in the South Carolina Lowcountry, where members of the family served as top prosecutors for a five-county region for more than eight decades." ~~~
~~~ Marie: So that's four killings, an attempted murder & an embezzlement scheme since 2018: Murdaugh's wife & son, a young woman the son killed in an alcohol-fueled boating accident, and the housekeeper, Alex Murdaugh's shooting as part of an insurance scam, and a charge by his law partners that he embezzled millions from the firm.
News Lede
CBS News: "The number of U.S. workers filing for first-time unemployment benefits edged up to 332,000 last week from a pandemic low, a sign that rising COVID-19 infections could be weighing on the economy. The numbers are an increase from 312,000 the prior week -- the lowest weekly claims figure since the pandemic slammed the economy in March 2020."
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Reader Comments (9)
GOODY, ROCK, & FRANCIS:
Back in the fifties a scientist named Goody Pincus and his associates were involved in the birth-control movement, but were having trouble with Catholic backlash. Since Pincus and his band of brothers were Jewish, what they needed was a doctor who was a Christian, preferably a Catholic to help them.
Enter John Rock, Harvard educated, head of GYN at Harvard, Irish, and Roman Catholic who was almost denied the sacrament of marriage to Anne Thorndike in 1925 because he performed a cesarean section, an operation then forbidden by the Church––BUT the Cardinal of Boston–-friend of the family–- performed the ceremony himself, and over-ruled the local priest.
Rock was a conservative–-argued against admission of women to Harvard Med, School, told his own daughter they were not capable of being doctors. BUT his views on birth control evolved steadily, thought it was shocking to see the "big family" glorified. Keep in mind that during this time magazines, T.V. shows also glorified "the family"––woman as wife and mother happy in her role but actually screaming to to get out. As Betty Friedan acknowledged, contraceptives could offer women choices--free them of the cumbersome concern of becoming pregnant.
Once the Jews got the Catholic to get on board it was smooth sailing getting the pill approved by the FDA in 1960.
Here we are in 2021 and the Church is still messing with us and Anti-abortion dolts are messing with us. Francis is in the forefront trying to be a decent human being BUT his message will not be heard by those that are so sure they are following the fella they believe in, whether it's a god or Trump––in the end reason is rejected and it becomes a fool's paradise.
History makes no sense without pre-history and pre-history makes no sense without biology.
https://thehill.com/policy/international/572534-france-says-biden-acted-like-trump-in-australian-submarine-deal
There has to be a reason that France was not part of the deal.
Was it only money--again? Who gets the billions for arming the Aussies? And who gets pissed when they don't?
My first thought: Seems dumb to create a split in what once was the western alliance...but then a lot of dumb things are done for money...
Guessing Putin is smiling in his dacha.
Great seeing jokes on the page from yesterday. In the small level, the destruction in Murdaugh's wake is not unexpected considering his origin story. I bet the locals have a thing or two to say about pappy and grandpappy.
PD: Good back story on contraception. I see a direct line from that history to Mrs. Murdaugh having only a single child.
Marie: I, too, had no knowledge of who the heck Nicki Minaj was until Joy Reid did a number on her the other night. Nicki evidently has been promoting an anti-vax message for quite awhile and since she has a large following Joy was furious and said:
"Come on, sister, stop it! What in blazes do you think you are doing!"
Ya gotta give credit to N.M. for imagination–-evidently she knows how low she gotta go to frighten the males–-could we say that balls are in her court on this one?
Nicki Minaj’s elephantiasis-sized balls connected to a friend (or cousin’s friend of whatever), are being ardently pursued by TuKKKer KKKarlson. I won’t speculate as to the reason Tuckums is chasing some guy with giant balls, but I’m guessing it has something to do with Horrible Shit That Vaccines Do. Either that or he’s a teabagging fan. In any event, it shows just how desperate these people are to hold up (so to speak) “evidence” of Joe Biden’s evil.
But just think of this pitch to a Faux executive. “Hey, there’s a guy with huge balls. I want him on my show!”
“Ummm…big balls, huh?”
“Yeah, and we can pin it on Biden and Fauci!!”
“What, the balls?”
“Sure…why not? The stockholders will love it.”
“You have a graphic for this?”
Honestly, as bad as the mainstream media is….
https://www.businessinsider.com/tucker-carlson-asks-nicki-minaj-cousin-friend-contact-him-2021-9
Headlines Matter!!
An NPR story has this headline:
The Democratic Push to Tax the Rich More is Forty Years in the Making.
What??!?
More????!?!
How about “At all”?
This headline makes it sound like those poor billionaires have been pursued for decades by greedy, unscrupulous Democrats who want their money.
No. In fact, over the last forty years, “the rich” have gotten tax break after tax break, to the point where plenty of them pay nothing at all, or if they do, it’s a tiny, tiny quantum realm percentage of what middle class taxpayers fork over.
I really don’t care what’s in the body of the report. The headline does its best to glom on to longtime GQP talking points about how the poor “makers” are being unfairly attacked by the “takers” and the sleazy democratic pols.
How about “Democrats trying to make the rich pay their fair share, which they haven’t done since the Beatles were on Ed Sullivan.”
Fuck sake.
I wonder if the vaccine we've now heard so much about was self-administered because That Guy? thought it was an aphrodisiac requiring direct application...These folks don't seem like the brightest of bulbs.
And just read the sub deal with Australia is not nearly a done deal. Only a statement of intent.
Will temper my dudgeon. Still time (at least 18 months) for the Biden team to play nice with France and send a little money its way..
United Front, Mr. President.
Legal Journalism Is Broken
"But the unwillingness or inability to engage with the Court as it is, instead of what pundits imagine it to be, quietly carries water for a conservative legal movement that depends for its success on public acceptance of the fantasy of the objective, apolitical judiciary. This myopic focus on process over substance has serious consequences for how people understand and evaluate what the country’s nine most powerful lawyers are doing. In less than two decades, the Roberts Court has merrily set about the task of reshaping American life as it sees fit, eviscerating the power of labor unions, ushering in a new era in First Amendment law of quasi-official Christian supremacy, and reducing your right to vote to a pile of smoldering rubble. If your exposure to media coverage of the Court were limited to a quick scan of these headlines, though, you’d think the justices were getting along famously, and would have no reason to believe anything is amiss."