Commentary on Breaking Stories re: U.S. Supreme Court: "The current, carefully engineered conservative majority on the court is made up of deeply corrupted individuals"

James Earle Fraser's "Contemplation of Justice" statue, Supreme Court Plaza, photo uploaded by David to Wikimedia Commons

In her latest Letter from an American, Heather Cox Richardson comments on the story I discussed in a posting yesterday noting the report of Jodi Kantor and Jo Becker that Rev. Rob Schenck, formerly leader of an evangelical "pro-life" non-profit engaged in extensive lobbying in D.C., alleges that Supreme Court justice Samuel Alito leaked to friends the ruling in the Hobby Lobby case before that ruling was handed down in 2014. As my posting yesterday noted, Kantor and Becker indicate that Schenck maintains that, through Alito's friends, he himself obtained inside information about the ruling before it came down, and "used that information to prepare a public relations push, records show, and he said that at the last minute he tipped off the president of Hobby Lobby, the craft store chain owned by Christian evangelicals that was the winning party in the case."

As U.S. Elections Near, Charles Pierce Notes: "Every twist and turn in every campaign is wrought by the money power"

Sun parakeet in cage, photo uploaded to Wikimedia Commons by High Contrast

As Perry Bacon Jr. notes, the reason U.S. elections are so close is that the nation is so polarized, with ideological camps that are more or less equally balanced, at least when it comes to those who actually vote.

Seeing GOP Response to Assault on Pelosi's Husband, Charlie Pierce Gives Up

PRRI, Challenges in Moving Toward a More Inclusive Democracy: Findings from the 2022 American Values Survey

Charles Pierce writes, 

"It's Not All in the Past": Commentary on Abuse Stories in the News Now, Across Church Lines and National Lines

“Rev. Marcotte is 32 years old and represents part of the "new guard" of the Catholic Church, yet by all indications, he has been grooming and abusing children since his 2014 ordination.”

Guess it’s not all in the past. #VaticanChikdSexTrafficking https://t.co/kA0PcuXdiD

— Indie Theology (@IndieTheology) October 29, 2019

Irish Voice, "Covering up pedophiles while refusing Joe Biden communion":

Valuable Commentary on Pennsylvania Report: "Spokesperson for the Vatican Reached Wednesday Morning Said It 'Has No Comment'"

Valuable commentary I've read in the past two days about the Pennsylvania grand jury report:

Charles Pierce on Roy Moore as Exactly What Republicans Are All About Now: "Wake Up and Smell the White Supremacist Theocracy"

I'd rather have a pedophile in office rather than a democrat any day of the week and twice on Sunday. Pedophiles only screw kids while democrats screw everyone.

— Carroll Bryant (@CarrollBryant) November 10, 2017

This quote should be hung in museums of American history 50 years from now so people can remember why the Republican Party collapsed. https://t.co/P70omazXeD

— Matthew Chapman (@fawfulfan) November 10, 2017

Charles Pierce hits the nail squarely on the head:

Charles Pierce on Hispanic Catholics As Key to "Catholic Vote" in 2016 Elections

Non-white Catholics are voting 71% for Clinton & 13% for Trump. @PRRIPoll

— Thomas Reese, S.J. (@ThomasReeseSJ) August 28, 2016

White Catholics are voting 44% for Clinton & 41% for Trump. @PRRIPoll

— Thomas Reese, S.J. (@ThomasReeseSJ) August 28, 2016

Yesterday, I wrote, 

Charles Pierce on Pope's Decision to Meet with Kim Davis As Dumbest Thing He's Ever Done — "Undermines Everything He Accomplished on His Visit Here"

Charles Pierce on the pope's meeting with Kim Davis as the dumbest thing he's ever done as pope — and on the disastrous consequences of this meeting for his credibility and what many folks thought he had accomplished on this papal visit:

Baltimore Burns: Limits of Rhetoric of Non-Violence in Face of Systemic Violence Practiced by Powerful vs. Vulnerable

Two takes this morning on what's happening in Baltimore that I find illuminating:

Droppings from the Catholic Birdcage: Charles Pierce (with Love from Sirach) to the Supreme Catholic Men "Antonin, Anthony, Sam, Clarence, and Big John Down in D.C."

Charles Pierce, writing from his Irish Catholic-flavored shebeen with a reminder of what the bible says, to the Supreme Catholic men "Antonin, Anthony, Sam, Clarence, and Big John down in D.C.":

Glenn Greenwald on Jonathan Chait: "What Made the Indignity So Much Worse Was That the Attacks Came from People These Journalists Regard as Nobodies"

As Joan Walsh notes in her valuable critique of Jonathan Chait's recent oy to the universe about, well, the astonishing way in which all those other people (black ones, brown ones, female ones, gay ones) now dare to talk back in the sight of God to well-placed hegemonic straight white men like him,