Book Review: A Young People’s History of the United States, by Howard Zinn, as adapted by Rebecca Stefoff with contributions by Ed Morales, published for Kindle 01/04/’11 with 298 pages (in paperback, 464). Recommended for ages 10-15, or grades 6-9, Lexile measure 1010. Please note: this book is in the Pageturner library for one class only and will require student requests per class for additional titles to be purchased.
Yesterday , July 1, 2024, the Supreme Court effectively made U.S. presidents kings, as Chief Justice Roberts wrote, "[Held:] Under our constitutional structure of separated powers, the nature of Presidential power entitles a former President to absolute immunity from criminal prosecution for actions within his conclusive and preclusive constitutional authority. And he is entitled to at least presumptive immunity from prosecution for all his official acts. There is no immunity for unofficial acts. [Pp. 5–43]." Immediately, this 6-3 ruling assures that Donald Trump cannot face trial before November's election, for either his role in preventing a peaceful transition of power in 2021 OR for his refusal to turn over, or even preserve, classified documents belonging to the government, because it specifically states that each act must be determined by a court to be either official or unofficial. But the effect goes far beyond Trump. It guarantees that all future decisions will be made by the ultra-wealthy; is it hyperbole to suggest that this kills our republic?? It should be noted that four of the 6 justices who joined this ruling were appointed by presidents who LOST the general election, so we've been headed in this direction for some time. As we listen to and watch this week's fireworks in celebration of the Fourth of July, we should remember that it's a performative imitation in praise of war; we should be aware that the Star Spangled Banner is a racist hymn celebrating White supremacy. Here is part of the third stanza: Their blood has wash'd out their foul footstep's pollution./ No refuge could save the hireling and slave/From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave,/ And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave/O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave." Freedom in this context was clearly limited, then as now. Today, the word 'freedom' has been bastardized to mean freedom only for the few, and restrictions against life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for everyone else.
In his introduction, Prof. Zinn writes, “It seems to me it is wrong to treat young readers as if they are not mature enough to look at their nation’s policies honestly. Yes, it’s a matter of being honest. Just as we must, as individuals, be honest about our own failures in order to correct them, it seems to me we must do the same when evaluating our national policies. Patriotism, in my view, does not mean unquestioning acceptance of whatever the government does. To go along with whatever your government does is not a characteristic of democracy. I remember in my own early education we were taught that it was a sign of a totalitarian state, of a dictatorship, when people did not question what their government did. If you live in a democratic state, it means you have the right to criticize your government’s policies. The basic principles of democracy are laid out in the Declaration of Independence, which was adopted in 1776 to explain why the colonies were no longer willing to accept British rule. The Declaration makes it clear that governments are not holy, not beyond criticism, because they are artificial creations, set up by the people to protect the equal right of everyone to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” And when governments do not fulfill this obligation, the Declaration says that “it is the right of the people to alter or abolish the government.” And, if it is the right of the people to “alter or abolish” the government, then surely it is their right to criticize it. I am not worried about disillusioning young people by pointing to the flaws in the traditional heroes. We should be able to tell the truth about people whom we have been taught to look upon as heroes, but who really don’t deserve that admiration. Why should we think it heroic to do as Columbus did, arrive in this hemisphere and carry on a rampage of violence, in order to find gold? Why should we think it heroic for Andrew Jackson to drive Indians out of their land? Why should we think of Theodore Roosevelt as a hero because he fought in the Spanish-American War, driving Spain out of Cuba, but also paving the way for the United States to take control of Cuba? Yes, we all need heroes, people to admire, to see as examples of how human beings should live. But I prefer to see Bartolomé de Las Casas as a hero, for exposing Columbus’s violent behavior against the Indians he encountered in the Bahamas. I prefer to see the Cherokee Indians as heroes, for resisting their removal from the lands on which they lived. To me, it is Mark Twain who is a hero, because he denounced President Theodore Roosevelt after Roosevelt had praised an American general who had massacred hundreds of people in the Philippines. I consider Helen Keller a hero because she protested against President Woodrow Wilson’s decision to send young Americans into the slaughterhouse of the First World War. My point of view, which is critical of war, racism, and economic injustice, carries over to the situation we face in the United States today.”
Yesterday , July 1, 2024, the Supreme Court effectively made U.S. presidents kings, as Chief Justice Roberts wrote, "[Held:] Under our constitutional structure of separated powers, the nature of Presidential power entitles a former President to absolute immunity from criminal prosecution for actions within his conclusive and preclusive constitutional authority. And he is entitled to at least presumptive immunity from prosecution for all his official acts. There is no immunity for unofficial acts. [Pp. 5–43]." Immediately, this 6-3 ruling assures that Donald Trump cannot face trial before November's election, for either his role in preventing a peaceful transition of power in 2021 OR for his refusal to turn over, or even preserve, classified documents belonging to the government, because it specifically states that each act must be determined by a court to be either official or unofficial. But the effect goes far beyond Trump. It guarantees that all future decisions will be made by the ultra-wealthy; is it hyperbole to suggest that this kills our republic?? It should be noted that four of the 6 justices who joined this ruling were appointed by presidents who LOST the general election, so we've been headed in this direction for some time. As we listen to and watch this week's fireworks in celebration of the Fourth of July, we should remember that it's a performative imitation in praise of war; we should be aware that the Star Spangled Banner is a racist hymn celebrating White supremacy. Here is part of the third stanza: Their blood has wash'd out their foul footstep's pollution./ No refuge could save the hireling and slave/From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave,/ And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave/O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave." Freedom in this context was clearly limited, then as now. Today, the word 'freedom' has been bastardized to mean freedom only for the few, and restrictions against life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for everyone else.
In his introduction, Prof. Zinn writes, “It seems to me it is wrong to treat young readers as if they are not mature enough to look at their nation’s policies honestly. Yes, it’s a matter of being honest. Just as we must, as individuals, be honest about our own failures in order to correct them, it seems to me we must do the same when evaluating our national policies. Patriotism, in my view, does not mean unquestioning acceptance of whatever the government does. To go along with whatever your government does is not a characteristic of democracy. I remember in my own early education we were taught that it was a sign of a totalitarian state, of a dictatorship, when people did not question what their government did. If you live in a democratic state, it means you have the right to criticize your government’s policies. The basic principles of democracy are laid out in the Declaration of Independence, which was adopted in 1776 to explain why the colonies were no longer willing to accept British rule. The Declaration makes it clear that governments are not holy, not beyond criticism, because they are artificial creations, set up by the people to protect the equal right of everyone to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” And when governments do not fulfill this obligation, the Declaration says that “it is the right of the people to alter or abolish the government.” And, if it is the right of the people to “alter or abolish” the government, then surely it is their right to criticize it. I am not worried about disillusioning young people by pointing to the flaws in the traditional heroes. We should be able to tell the truth about people whom we have been taught to look upon as heroes, but who really don’t deserve that admiration. Why should we think it heroic to do as Columbus did, arrive in this hemisphere and carry on a rampage of violence, in order to find gold? Why should we think it heroic for Andrew Jackson to drive Indians out of their land? Why should we think of Theodore Roosevelt as a hero because he fought in the Spanish-American War, driving Spain out of Cuba, but also paving the way for the United States to take control of Cuba? Yes, we all need heroes, people to admire, to see as examples of how human beings should live. But I prefer to see Bartolomé de Las Casas as a hero, for exposing Columbus’s violent behavior against the Indians he encountered in the Bahamas. I prefer to see the Cherokee Indians as heroes, for resisting their removal from the lands on which they lived. To me, it is Mark Twain who is a hero, because he denounced President Theodore Roosevelt after Roosevelt had praised an American general who had massacred hundreds of people in the Philippines. I consider Helen Keller a hero because she protested against President Woodrow Wilson’s decision to send young Americans into the slaughterhouse of the First World War. My point of view, which is critical of war, racism, and economic injustice, carries over to the situation we face in the United States today.”
Howard Zinn’s honesty is desperately needed today. Our public school system is being systematically bankrupted by school vouchers allowing White people to perpetuate racial discrimination by taking money out of public schools and giving it to families for the private schools they could always afford, anyway. Trump’s Secretary of Education, Betsy Davos, pitched the voucher system into high gear. (1) (Her brother Erik founded the private, mercenary army called Blackwater, which committed atrocities during the Iraq War (a war based on lies George W. Bush told us). Four Blackwater employees were tried and convicted by juries in federal court, one of murder, 3 of manslaughter and weapons charges. In 2020, all four were pardoned by Trump (2)--now a convicted felon himself. (3)
Parents in red states have handicapped education further by imposing politics into classrooms, insisting that teachers be muffled to teach outright lies as history. (4) More than 3,000 books, many of them classics, have been banned. (5) And in Oklahoma, their Secretary of Education has now mandated that all teachers must teach the Bible or lose their licenses (5); Oklahoma ranks 49th in education among the 50 states. This is an egregious violation of the Constitution’s opening clause, which bluntly states,
“First Amendment: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” Yet, people are losing their careers in speaking out against genocide in Palestine and the West Bank. College students are being punished for peaceful assembly (7) while Israeli disruptions have been allowed, even when violent. (8) Nor does it matter what the Constitution says, when Supreme Court Justices appointed by Trump consider the establishment of White patriarchal christian nationalism to be their personal holy war. (9) (N.B. I do not capitalize “christian” when it’s based not on the New Testament but on the Old, where Jesus does not exist.) Most recently, they’ve also ruled that the ”bribery“ castigated as felonious in the Constitution is no longer valid and that “gifts” are perfectly within their rights to receive. (10) At the other end of life's spectrum, they've also just criminalized homelessness--now, if you didn't have enough money to provide yourself a roof overhead for a night, you may be ticketed and fined a lot more than Motel 6 would have cost.
"The Supreme Court says cities can punish people for sleeping in public places: In its biggest decision on homelessness in decades, the U.S. Supreme Court today [June 28, '24] ruled that cities can ban people from sleeping and camping in public places. The justices, in a 6-3 decision along ideological lines, overturned lower court rulings that deemed it cruel and unusual under the Eighth Amendment to punish people for sleeping outside if they had nowhere else to go...In a dissent, Justice Sotomayor said the decision focused only on the needs of cities but not the most vulnerable. She said sleep is a biological necessity, but this decision leaves a homeless person with “an impossible choice — either stay awake or be arrested.” https://www.npr.org/2024/06/28/nx-s1-4992010/supreme-court-homeless-punish-sleeping-encampments. So far, this decision only affects the 9th District, which includes California and eight other western states.
The Justices have been stripping us of our rights since assuming their un-elected, lifetime positions; the Dobbs ruling effectively eliminated women's right to essential healthcare and bodily autonomy. (11) This week, they’ve decided to chuck all the scientific expertise available in the federal government, assuming that expertise into themselves (12) when they can’t even get history straight. (13) As for science--on June 28, ’24 (yesterday, as I write this), the Court had to issue a correction after Justice Neil Gorsuch mistook the highly dangerous air pollutant nitrogen oxide for nitrous oxide, commonly called ‘laughing gas'--5 times. (14) And now these same people will decide whether or not they will protect us from the planet-burning corporations that have ‘gifted’ them with as much or more than they are paid as government employees. And they claim nobody, not even Congress, can do a thing about it! They’ve also ruled this week that the fed cannot prosecute January 6th insurrectionists for obstruction, although they stormed the Capital with the singular purpose to disrupt certification of the presidential election by any means necessary, including the hanging of Vice President Pence. The Court ruled the statute only refers to written instruments. (15) Conversely, as above, civil protests against genocide are being banned.
It can reasonably be expected, after Justice Alito’s appalling statement that this is, in effect, a holy war to be fought to the death ( not HIS, of course)-- that there will be no peaceful transition of power after the next presidential election, and that MAGAs in Congress will begin it by refusing to certify the election or seat incoming Democratic House members. A coup d’etat by a formerly legitimate head of state who remains in power illegally is called an autogolpe, attempted in 2021; since Trump has been out of office since, this time it's a coup d'etat. We may lose our democracy altogether. MAGA, no longer a political party because its sole intent is to assume power and hobble the federal government, now risks being deemed a terrorist fascist organization seeking to rule by force. (16). But the problem isn't merely Project 2025, the right wing's manual for fascism; we've been ignoring the seemingly unwritten or, at least, unpublicized project that's been in place since the rich reacted in horror to FDR's New Deal in the 1930s-'40s and Eisenhower's successful taxation of extreme wealth, in the 1950s.
Meanwhile, mainstream media, now corporate-owned by billionaires, has abandoned journalism to hawk as a conventional presidential candidate a convicted felon and twice adjudicated rapist who is utterly incapable of telling any truth whatsoever. "Is American Journalism Headed Toward an ‘Extinction-Level Event’?...The Times was once a pillar of the American media establishment, celebrated in David Halberstam’s classic media study, The Powers That Be. Now it has become a national exemplar of what the journalist Margaret Sullivan calls the “ghosting” of the news—the gradual withering of news-gathering muscle as once-proud publications become shadows of their old selves...The news industry has been in steady decline for two decades. Expecting some kind of free-market-based turnaround is lunacy. If journalism is essential for preserving democratic self-government, perhaps only democratic self-government can preserve journalism." https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/01/media-layoffs-la-times/677285/
Meanwhile, mainstream media, now corporate-owned by billionaires, has abandoned journalism to hawk as a conventional presidential candidate a convicted felon and twice adjudicated rapist who is utterly incapable of telling any truth whatsoever. "Is American Journalism Headed Toward an ‘Extinction-Level Event’?...The Times was once a pillar of the American media establishment, celebrated in David Halberstam’s classic media study, The Powers That Be. Now it has become a national exemplar of what the journalist Margaret Sullivan calls the “ghosting” of the news—the gradual withering of news-gathering muscle as once-proud publications become shadows of their old selves...The news industry has been in steady decline for two decades. Expecting some kind of free-market-based turnaround is lunacy. If journalism is essential for preserving democratic self-government, perhaps only democratic self-government can preserve journalism." https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/01/media-layoffs-la-times/677285/
Now that bribery is legal, regulations (on which insurance companies depend for guidance) are out the window, and poverty is a crime, there's not much left of America's "noble experiment." Yet in still other news, today, for the first time in recorded history, we face Hurricane Beryl as a Category 4 hurricane--in June--when hurricane season has traditionally started in late summer. So long as the Supreme Court is in the deep pockets of big oil and gas, the planet will continue to devolve into climate chaos. "Why Hurricane Beryl Has Already Made History; Hurricane Beryl is already a historic storm for this early in the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season and poses an ominous sign for the months ahead...the 75 mph intensification in 36 hours had never previously happened in June, and only twice in July. When it usually happens: The season's first hurricane usually holds off until late July or early August, leading into the first of three months with the most activity. According to the National Hurricane Center, the season's first Category 3 or stronger hurricane usually happens by Sept. 1, two months later than Beryl. "
https://weather.com/storms/hurricane/news/2024-06-30-hurricane-beryl-historic-unusual-early-season. Already, FEMA, the nation's crisis manager, is running out of money, because our nation's leaders spend trillions for war readiness and weapons sales, but very little to protect us from the dangers mega-corporations inflict. "After $25B in disasters this year, FEMA is running out of money: The United States has been rocked by an extraordinary number of tornadoes and devastating storms this year that have already left a staggering price tag. Now heading into what forecasters say will be an extreme summer – from punishing heat waves to severe weather and hurricanes – the nation’s disaster relief agency is expected to run out of money before it’s even over. The US has been thrashed with 11 extreme weather disasters with costs exceeding $1 billion so far this year, with a total price tag of $25.1 billion, according to an updated tally from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.That is worrying news for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, whose major disaster relief fund could slip into the red by the end of summer – a more than $1.3 billion shortfall in August, according to a May report." https://www.abcactionnews.com/news/state/after-25b-in-disasters-this-year-fema-is-running-out-of-money
Like Prof. Zinn, we must insist on honesty, about both our history and our present, dire predicament. At issue: will Americans ever be able to vote again, after this next presidential election? Will we find ourselves instead in a second, deadlier civil war? SCOTUS has permitted more weapons of war to circulate among us than there are people, and now they’ve allowed bump stocks that essentially turn those weapons into machine guns. One gunman killed 58 and injured 400 more, with bump stock AR-15s. (17) From 2019 to 2021, gun deaths among teens rose by 50%. (18) Gun suicides soared by 18%. (19) Americans are 26X more likely to die by gun than in any other wealthy country. (20). Firearm injuries are now the leading cause of death among US children and teens, following a huge decade long rise. (21)
This brings A Young People's History of the United States up to date, but only for the current week! Prof. Zinn et al help fill in the gaps, although it doesn't include the calamitous 2010 Supreme Court decision in Citizens United that has allowed a flood of untraceable dark money into politics by its inane holding that corporate money is free speech. https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/citizens-united-explained?ref=foreverwars.ghost.io It was also too early to George Floyd, Black Lives Matter, and the ongoing killings of people of color, including children, by police. https://apnews.com/article/utica-new-york-police-shooting-teen-killed-c3cf272ccfaf12d48eaf93d235ace444 This article recalls the shooting of Tamir Rice, a 12-year old killed in 2014 for having a toy gun, only this killing occurred June 29, 2024. Video shows this boy, 13, had already been tackled by police and was on the ground when shot. He, too, had a replica gun.
Students need to know what's happening now because it will profoundly impact the rest of their lives.
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(1) “Since the enactment of universal school voucher programs, states are struggling with the programs’ cost and lack of transparency and accountability. Overwhelmingly, school vouchers are being used by families with children already in private school to subsidize their tuition. Voucher programs’ skyrocketing costs will divert funding not only from public schools, but also other critical public services.” https://www.nea.org/nea-today/all-news-articles/no-accountability-vouchers-wreak-havoc-states
“Trump and his Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos have touted ineffective and harmful voucher schemes, and attacked educators and educator unions, only putting more strain on our students. DeVos, however, has used her wealth from long before then, when she lived in Michigan and left schools in tatters with her voucher and for-profit charter schemes. Bringing her privatization agenda with her, DeVos now attempts to siphon off much needed funding from public schools to private institutions that only benefit a small group to the detriment of the 90 percent of our students who attend public schools. During a global pandemic and months of protests against racial injustice, her voucher proposals support racist institutions that only benefit wealthy, white Americans.” https://www.nea.org/advocating-for-change/new-from-nea/school-vouchers-enduring-racist-practice
(2) ‘Nicholas Slatten, Paul Slough, Evan Liberty and Dustin Heard were convicted six years ago in the killing of 14 Iraqi civilians and the wounding of 17 others. Witnesses described how the American men ambushed the civilians unprovoked, firing on Baghdad's Nisour Square with heavy gunfire and grenade launchers.
“The massacre took place in 2007, when the four were working as guards for Blackwater, a private military contractor, on an assignment in Baghdad.
“The U.N. Human Rights Office says it's "deeply concerned" by the pardons.
"These four individuals were given sentences ranging from 12 years to life imprisonment, including on charges of first-degree murder," spokesperson Marta Hurtado said in a statement. "Pardoning them contributes to impunity and has the effect of emboldening others to commit such crimes in the future."
“Human Rights Watch says the pardons "show contempt for the rule of law." https://www.npr.org/2020/12/23/949679837/shock-and-dismay-after-trump-pardons-blackwater-guards-who-killed-14-iraqi-civil
(3) NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump became the first former American president to be convicted of felony crimes Thursday as a New York jury found him guilty of all 34 charges in a scheme to illegally influence the 2016 election through a hush money payment to a porn actor who said the two had sex.(4) They Came for the Schools: One Town's Fight Over Race and Identity, and the New War for America's Classrooms, by Mike Hixenbaugh. For a shorter version of how White supremacist Chris Rufo captured national attention with the phrase “critical race theory” (only taught in grad schools) to provoke a war against the teaching of real history and DEI, first in Southlake TX and then across the nation, inserting heavy-handed politics even into elementary grades, see: https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/05/us/critical-race-theory-southlake-carroll-isd-trnd/index.html
(5) “Book bans surged in the latter half of 2023, PEN America reports : NPR. Book bans surged in the latter half of 2023, PEN America reports According to PEN America, 4,349 books were banned from schools between July and December 2023, more than the entire previous school year. More than 3,000 of those bans were in Florida.” https://www.npr.org/2024/04/16/1245037718/book-bans-2023-pen-america This site includes a map of the U.S. showing the numbers of books banned per state. Texas and Florida show between 5,001-6,000 books banned.
(6) “Oklahoma Schools Are Now Required to Teach the Bible and Ten Commandments
"The Bible is an indispensable historical and cultural touchstone," said Oklahoma Superintendent Ryan Walters, adding that he expects schools' "strict" adherence to the mandate. https://people.com/oklahoma-schools-required-teach-bible-ten-commandments-8671175
(7) “Google fires 28 employees involved in 'Googlers against Genocide' sit-in at New York, Sunnyvale offices” https://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/google-fires-28-employees-involved-googlers-against-genocide-sit-corporate-headquarters N.B. This is one example among many.
“More than 2,100 arrested during pro-Palestinian protests on US college campuses” https://apnews.com/live/college-protests-palestine-updates
(8) “Supporters of Israel attacked a pro-Palestinian protest camp at the University of California in Los Angeles on Wednesday, hours after New York City police arrested some 300 protesters, as days of mounting tensions on some US college campuses boiled over.
Eyewitness videos from UCLA, verified by Reuters, showed people wielding sticks or poles to hammer on wooden boards being used as makeshift barricades to protect the pro-Palestinian protesters before police were deployed to the campus.
(9) “…[A] documentary filmmaker released audio clips she had recorded of the justice discussing ideological battles in the U.S. he said "can't be compromised."
Shared exclusively with Rolling Stone, tapes recorded by filmmaker Lauren Windsor at the Supreme Court Historical Society's annual dinner on June 3 include comments from Alito about the need to return the country to "a place of godliness" and suggesting that he sympathizes with right-wing activists who believe they can't "negotiate with the left." https://www.commondreams.org/news/alito-2668492585
(10) “Today, the Supreme Court held 6-3 that a federal bribery statute, 18 U.S.C. § 666(a)(1)(B), does not criminalize after-the-fact “gratuities” paid to state or local government officials in recognition for official acts, where there was no quid pro quo agreement to take those acts.https://www.gibsondunn.com/supreme-court-holds-that-federal-bribery-law-applies-only-to-quid-pro-quo-exchanges-and-does-not-extend-to-after-the-fact-gratuities/ “In recognition for official acts”--that’s bribery, folks. The quid pro quo here is merely sotto voce, but clearly expected by both parties. This decision, like so many of these MAGA rulings, is gobsmacking.
(11) “Examining the Roberts Court’s output through OT 2017-2018, Senator Whitehouse catalogues 73 partisan majority opinions—joined by only the five conservative members of the Court, against liberal dissenters—in areas spanning voting and money in politics, protection of corporations from liability and regulation, civil rights, and advancing a far-right social agenda. His analysis concludes that in nearly 55 percent of these cases, the “Roberts Five” ignored precedent, congressional findings, and even their favored doctrines, such as originalism and textualism, to reach partisan and corporate-friendly outcomes. This pattern of outcomes speaks to a Roberts Court that, far from calling “balls and strikes,” appears intractably captured by powerful forces of special-interest influence. https://www.acslaw.org/issue_brief/briefs-landing/a-right-wing-rout-what-the-roberts-five-decisions-tell-us-about-the-integrity-of-todays-supreme-court/ And this was in 2019, BEFORE they eliminated bodily autonomy for women, a right preserved for 50 years! Still worse, Roberts wrote Citizens United, which declared corporate money, whether real or merely expected, to be free speech. This guaranteed a flood of untraceable monies to campaign funds, giving the ultra-right a huge advantage over the rest of us
(12) “The Supreme Court on Friday curtailed the executive branch's ability to interpret laws it's charged with implementing, giving the judiciary more say in what federal agencies can do.
Why it matters: The landmark 6-3 ruling along ideological lines overturns the court's 40-year-old "Chevron deference" doctrine. It could make it harder for executive agencies to tackle a wide array of policy areas, including environmental and health regulations and labor and employment laws. Justice Elena Kagan, in a dissenting opinion, wrote that the ruling Friday was "yet another example of the Court's resolve to roll back agency authority, despite congressional direction to the contrary…She warned the decision "is likely to produce large-scale disruption…"In one fell swoop, the majority today gives itself exclusive power over every open issue — no matter how expertise-driven or policy-laden — involving the meaning of regulatory “This Is Why the Supreme Court Shouldn’t Try to Do the EPA’s Job. Conservative justices this week confused nitrous oxide with nitrogen oxides and then insisted that they, not the EPA, were the final word on environmental regulations. https://www.axios.com/2024/06/28/supreme-court-chevron-doctrine-ruling
(13) “On Roe, Alito cites a judge who treated women as witches and property. There are at least two problems with Alito’s reliance on history. First, Alito has misrepresented the actual historical record. As abundant historical research establishes, the common law that governed America in its first decades and beyond did not regulate abortion before “quickening” — the moment when a pregnant woman first detects fetal movement, which can happen as late as 25 weeks into pregnancy. Alito reports that Hale “described abortion of a quick child who died in the womb as a ‘great crime’ ” while glossing over the key part of that passage. Hale wrote that abortion was a crime “if a woman be quick or great with child.” Note the “if.”
Second, Alito relies on sources such as Hale without acknowledging their entanglement with legalized male supremacy. The men who cited Hale as they constructed the early American legal order refused to give women the right to vote or to otherwise enjoy full citizenship. Relying on that history of injustice as a reason to deny modern women control over their own lives is a terrible argument but apparently the best Alito can do.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/05/09/alito-roe-sir-matthew-hale-misogynist/.
(14) “This Is Why the Supreme Court Shouldn’t Try to Do the EPA’s Job
Conservative justices this week confused nitrous oxide with nitrogen oxides and then insisted that they, not the EPA, were the final word on environmental regulations. It’s hard to overstate how bad this week has been for (among many other things) environmental regulations. On their own, the Supreme Court’s rulings on either Ohio v. EPA or Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondowould be bad news. Together they spell out a new reality where our country’s robed clerics—guaranteed employment until death—have final say over how and whether government agencies can do their job. On Thursday, the justices ruled in favor of Ohio and several other states that challenged the Environmental Protection Agency’s plan to bring them into compliance with ozone pollution–control requirements. The justices’ ruling allows the EPA’s plan to remain paused as the states’ challenge proceeds through the courts. Laying out the context for that decision, Justice Neil Gorsuch—who authored the majority opinion—noted that the EPA “set as its target the reduction of the emissions of one ozone precursor in particular: nitrous oxide,” going on to explain that the agency “sought to impose nitrous oxide emissions control measures that ‘maximized cost-effectiveness.’” “Nitrous oxide is a colorless, odorless gas used for sedation and pain relief, commonly referred to as “laughing gas” and administered by dentists. It’s also a greenhouse gas and ozone precursor that can be generated by industrial activity, but Gorsuch presumably meant to refer to nitrogen oxides, the broader category of nitrogen-oxygen compounds that the EPA is trying to regulate through the Good Neighbor Plan. In total, Gorsuch—writing on behalf of the court’s conservative majority—mistakenly referred to nitrous oxide rather than nitrogen oxides five times in his decision.” https://newrepublic.com/article/183285/supreme-court-chevron-gorsuch-nitrous-oxide
(15) “Supreme Court throws out obstruction charges lodged against hundreds of Jan. 6 rioters. “The Supreme Court on Friday rejected the most severe charges lodged against more than 300 of the violent insurrectionists who broke into the U.S. Capitol three years ago. In a 6-3 decision, the court’s conservative majority said the rioters may not be prosecuted under a financial recordkeeping law that criminalized destroying evidence and obstructing an official proceeding. https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2024-06-28/supreme-court-rejects-obstruction-charges-for-hundreds-of-jan-6-rioters
(16) “Fascism Is an Underestimated Threat to US Democracy The American Experiment in democracy is being tested to its outward limit. https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/fascism-threat-us-democracy This article clearly states the what, how, and why w are losing so many of our longstanding rights.
(17) What to know about bump stocks and the Supreme Court ruling striking down a ban on the gun accessory. “The replacement stock allows an AR- or AK-rifle to shoot up to 800rounds per minute… According to court documents, more than 520,000 bump stocks were in circulation by the time the government reversed course and imposed a ban that took effect in 2019… More than 22,000 people were attending a country music festival in Las Vegas on Oct. 1, 2017, when a man opened fire on the crowd from the window of his high-rise hotel room. He fired more than 1,000 rounds in the crowd in 11 minutes, leaving 60 people dead and injuring hundreds more. Authorities found an arsenal of 23 assault-style rifles in the shooter’s hotel room, including 14 weapons fitted with bump stocks.
In the aftermath of the shooting, the ATF reconsidered whether bump stocks could be sold and owned legally. With support from Trump, a Republican, the agency in 2018 ordered a ban on the devices, arguing they turned rifles into illegal machine guns.” https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-gun-bump-stocks-explainer-a0c5dc21948d1dc2ef4f304a1cfa7cfd N. B. In his ruling, Clarence Thomas alleged that with a bump stock, only one bullet could be fired each time the trigger is pressed. That’s a wiggle-worm statement, if not an outright lie! “[The bump stock] uses the weight of the weapon, and the recoil to make the “pulling of that trigger” an automatic, involuntary response. The net result — of course, is that it can now fire nearly as quickly as a fully automatic submachine gun, even though the user is not really “manipulating” any finger “movement.” The shooter just holds the finger in a “tight rigid” state, and the gun does the movement.” https://www.quora.com/Do-bump-stocks-technically-fire-one-round-per-trigger-pull
(20) https://www.bradyunited.org/resources/statistics Every day, 23 minors are shot. Every day, 327 people are shot, 117 of whom will die.
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