Category: D. S. Mitchell

Moving On

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Moving On

Moving On

 

D. S. Mitchell

 

I went to 27 different grade schools, and it probably won’t surprise you; I’ve been married five times. The only reason I’m confiding these tidbits of ancient information is to cue you to the fact that I’m no stranger to packing up the car and moving on.

So, now you ask, “are you going somewhere?”

“Aahhh, yes, and as always, I have no idea where.”

I came to the charming Southern Oregon town of Grants Pass in 2022, lured by an older double wide mobile home on a beautiful lake front lot. I bought it and have been loving it ever since.

So, now you ask, “why would you leave; if you love it?”

Aahhh, because somewhere deep inside me there is a malfunctioning gene. A gene that will never let me be stay in one place; no matter how well things seems to be going. In fact, the better that things seem to be going all the better reason to move on. Sounds a bit crazy, doesn’t it? Well, I think you’d be absolutely correct. Unhinged, perhaps? Spoiled? Entitled? Probably all of those things and a few more unflattering descriptors, when the truth is known.

On the other hand, in two capitols thousands of miles apart, two sociopathic heads of state show their willingness to throw their soldiers and citizens into their psychopathic conflict. A war with no purpose, other than to keep Bibi out of jail and the Epstein files out of the headlines. A war that conservatively is costing the United State a fuckin’ billion dollars plus per day. That ought to make your hair stand on end as you wait in the unemployment office for an interview, or you struggle over how to pay for groceries, or fill the gas tank. A fuckin’ billion dollars a day; while rural hospitals are closing across this country. Again while Trump and Bibi burn up a billion dollars a day Health and Science Universities across the United States are experiencing dramatic federal funding cuts. Outrageous, scandalous an unbelievable middle finger to civilized nations.

For the last week I have watched near 24/7 coverage of Donald and Bibi’s War against Iran. It is here I want to say that despite all my malfunctioning genes and general bullshit over the years my craziness has never cost one person their life; certainly not 185 school girls, leveled  a city, destroyed oil fields and stored reserves,  or sank ships and their crews at sea. Why aren’t these two guys in jail or a padded cell? How does it happen that these two men, both criminals, run two of the most powerful countries in the world? Where are the restraints? What went wrong in the election? Right now we have two of the most dangerous men in history threatening the world military and economic stability.

Trump while raving illogical “short term pain and long term gain,” he and his brother in pain are  running wild with Tomahawk missiles and endless bombing raids against Iran. If congress can’t stop them, the American people and the Israeli public CAN halt this despicable activity, but that requires action. Action on the street. Protests. Screaming our damn heads off. Time to put the American people first, that means affordable housing, access to child care, universal health care, basic income, and superlative public education.

It’s time for the few remaining sleeping Americans to come out of the MAGA coma and see Trump for what he is. Show your disapproval for this president and his fuckin’ foreign wars. Register for the No Kings Protest, and turn out with whistle, drum and sign, March 28, 2026. A goal of 10 million Americans on the street will move even psychopaths to change course. Come on America, PROTEST!

 

Free the Snake River

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Free the Snake River

Free the Snake River

By D.S. Mitchell 

 

Continuous Legal Action

For nearly 40 years the Native American tribes, who consider the salmon part of their spiritual and cultural identity, conservation and fishing groups, and the states of Oregon, Washington, and Idaho have waged a legal battle against the federal government to ensure protections for migrating salmon. The migrating salmon are killed in large numbers by the massive dams that have been constructed along the Columbia and Snake Rivers, most particularly four dams on the lower Snake River.

Biden Agreement

In 2023, things began to look up when in a landmark deal the Biden Administration paused the legal action in favor of finding long term solutions; in fact, promising to spend more than a billion dollars over the next decade to restore salmon viability while boosting tribal clean energy projects. The historic agreement was torpedoed in 2024 when Trump came back into office, declaring the agreement “radical environmentalism,” sending the multiple plaintiffs back to court.

Federal Judge Steps Up

On 2/25/26, U.S. District Judge Michael Simon, in Portland, Oregon, lamented what he described as “a disappointing history of government avoidance and manipulation instead of sincere efforts at solving the problem.” Oregon and other plaintiffs had asked Simon to lower the levels of reservoirs behind the dams, which proponents argue would help fish move through them faster and increase the amount of water spilling past them which can help the fish pass over the dams instead of through the dam’s turbines. The Trump administration on the other hand sought higher reservoir levels.

The Size of Texas

The Columbia River Basin is approximately the size of Texas and was once the world’s greatest salmon producing river system with 16 stocks of salmon and steelhead. Today, four are extinct and seven are threatened or endangered. Another iconic Northwest species, the Orca or killer whale, who are dependent on salmon are starving. Almost 50% of the chinook salmon in the Columbia River Basin previously came from the Snake River and her tributaries.

The Dams Are The Problem

Salmon habitats in the Snake River Basin remain in good shape. The dams are the problem, removing them is the single greatest opportunity to restore salmon to the NW. The habitats are there including over 5,500 miles of cool clean streams, many in protected wilderness areas. Federal fisheries experts concluded in 2022 that removing the lower Snake River dams is “essential” to any serious plan for salmon recovery.

How Dams Hurt Salmon Runs

The dams harm salmon in numerous ways, including forcing the salmon into turbines, warming the slow moving water in the reservoirs to intolerable high temperatures, while dramatically slowing the young salmon’s journey to the Pacific Ocean. Before the construction of the dams juvenile fish reached the Pacific in two or three days from the upper Snake River, pushed along by the river’s swift moving currents. Today, the journey past the eight dams literally takes weeks, during which time the young fish are exposed to multiple predators and other dangers.

What Experts Are Saying

Fishery experts from Oregon, Idaho, and Washington found that the removal of four dams on the lower Snake River and restoring the ecological health of that section of river “is the single largest step we can take to increase salmon abundance for orcas at critical times of the year.” These dams produce low value hydropower which can be replaced with renewable energy sources and energy conservation.

Popular Myths

There are five popular myths that keep coming up when discussing changes to these dams. The dams in question on the lower Snake River are Little Goose, Ice Harbor, Lower Monumental, and Lower Granite and on the Columbia River The Bonneville, The Dalles, John Day and McNary.

MYTH 1: We Need the Hydropower

Most all power produced by the Snake River dams is produced mostly in the spring when demand is low and lots of hydropower is available. Most of the year the Snake River Basin flows are much lower than in the Columbia River Basin because of drier regional conditions, thus producing very little energy in summer and winter when it is needed the most. Replacing the Snake River dams with renewable energy that generates power at crucial times could result in $69-$143 million per year of energy value above and beyond what the lower Snake River dams provide. Financially the removal makes sense. The hydropower turbines are 50 plus years old and need continuing and extensive maintenance; and will soon require replacement, estimated at more than a billion dollars. These pending upgrade costs add risk to BPA’s competitiveness and make no sense with the lower cost of renewable energy.

MYTH 2: We Need Them for Shipping

An early purpose of the dams was to facilitate barge navigation through the lower Snake River accommodating the shipment of grain and other agricultural commodities. What used to be is not today’s reality. Today the locks that allow passage through the lower Snake River dams are 5 decades old and need maintenance and rebuilding which makes no economic sense considering that river shipping has declined by over 70% in favor of rail transport.

MYTH 3: We Need Them for Irrigation 

These dams provide minimal irrigation. Only one of the four dams even provides water for irrigation, and for only a handful of irrigators; 92% of the irrigated lands are managed by only nine land owners. Irrigation options are available, such as adjusting intake pipes to pump water from river level rather than reservoir level and increasing depths of current wells.

MYTH 4: The Dams Provide Flood Control

The lower Snake River dams are all “run-of-river” dams and are not designed for flood control. It is true that many of the Columbia River Basin dams provide important and necessary flood control for risky areas like Portland, Oregon. However, the Snake River dams in question do not provide flood control and were never intended to provide flood control.

MYTH 5: The Dams are Needed for the Economy

The fact is that there are many more benefits from removing the dams than keeping them. (1)The restoration of Snake River salmon will be a big help for NW fishing economics. Experts estimate an added 1 million spring chinook salmon annually. (2) The native peoples paid a big price when these dams flooded tribal lands and choked off fisheries. It would be a good time to honor tribal treaties and restore the cultural and economic value the tribes surrendered when the dams were built. (3) Hydropower should be replaced with modern solar and wind generation, energy efficiency, along with demand-response technologies that will create jobs. (4) Local investment to reduce the impact of the dams removal; such investments include added rail capacity for grain shipping and riverfront improvements in Clarkston, WA, Lewiston, ID, and other effected communities.

Support For Salmon Recovery Is Growing

Leadership for salmon recovery in the Snake and Columbia Rivers is growing exponentially. It is time to remove these Snake River dams and allow the Snake River restoration. Unfortunately, as long as Trump is in office that is an unlikely scenario. When we vote it is important to include environmental activity in our voting calculus.

Sources: Portland Oregonian, February 26, 2026 and the Sierra Club Restoration Campaign Bulletin 2024.

 

 

Why Your Vote Is So Important

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Why Your Vote Is So Important

Why Your Vote Is So Important

By D.S. Mitchell

 

The 2024 Election

I talk to people; lots of people everyday, and I am sad to tell you folks that a surprisingly large group of my friends, neighbors, co-workers, and even my favorite barista did not vote.  I’m genuinely surprised. I thought it was just someone else, somewhere else that did not vote. How could it in fact be people I know, lots of people I know. Usually, a federal election brings the voters out, but not in 2024. I’ve heard the low voter turnout related directly to Trump winning.

Staying Away From the Polls

When I asked each of them why they hadn’t voted the answers varied. Several people said they were busy and totally spaced it out. What? How is that possible? I don’t believe them. But, why are they lying? A handful of others said they didn’t vote because politicians are all a bunch of crooks just with a different party affiliation. So why bother? A few commented that the whole election system was rigged. One woman even told me she was “protesting” by not voting. How can not voting be a protest against anything; you are doing nothing. Several said they didn’t like any of the candidates. And finally the last half a dozen people I quizzed said their one vote didn’t make a difference. How could it; its just one of millions.

What Can I Say?

To those who said they had been “too busy” I can only say, shame on you for not taking the few minutes required to vote. We have few covenants with our democracy;  the principle one is that we vote. Regarding the “all politicians are crooks” belief is understandable. Lobbying is a bad practice and weakens our system. However, it is up to us to demand our officials are accountable for any misdeeds in office. Some ways that is accomplished is with term limits and strict ethics rules, but most importantly a vigilant electorate. The rigged election ‘reason’ is based on a politically motivated attack on our independent state voting system by powerful people with loud voices and a significant bully pulpit. Even a lie, told repeatedly will find believers. As far as not liking either candidate; do a little research and I bet you discover there is a huge difference between the candidates and you might find you really do like one better than the other. The last and most often stated reason people didn’t vote was because they believed that their one vote doesn’t make a damn bit of difference. This last reason I am going to spend some time on. Just like the late Reverend Jesse Jackson I know enough of history to know that one vote has changed the course of history more than a few times.

When One Vote Changed History

  • One vote made Oliver Cromwell Lord Protector of the Commonwealth and gave him control of England, Scotland and Ireland from 1553 until his death in 1558.
  • One vote caused Charles I, King of England, Scotland, and Ireland to lose his head.
  • One vote kept Aaron Burr (later charged with treason) from becoming President of the United States.
  • One vote made Texas part of the United States and led to the Mexican American War and the acquisition of a lot of real estate, including, California, New Mexico, and Arizona.
  • One vote changed France from a monarchy to a republic.
  • One vote per precinct would have elected Richard Nixon rather than John Kennedy as president in 1960.
  • One vote in the German Reichstag in 1933 gave Adolf Hitler dictatorial powers and launched catastrophic global upheaval and led eventually to WWII.
  • One vote maintained the Selective Service System only 12 weeks before Pearl Harbor.
  • In 1920, Tennessee became the final state needed to ratify the 19th Amendment, granting women the right to vote. The state legislature was deadlocked on the issue, and a single vote—cast by Harry T. Burn—secured its passage.
  • The acquisition of Alaska from Russia, commonly known as ‘Seward’s Folly’ was approved by a single vote in the Senate in 1867.

OPINION: Trump Derangement Syndrome

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OPINION:

Trump Derangement Syndrome

OPINION:

Trump Derangement Syndrome

Editor: This article written by me is dated 5/14/2017.  Nearly 9 years ago…hard to believe I am still fighting this lawless SOB. Recently, while watching some nameless TV political show one of the Trump sycophants used the “Trump Derangement Syndrome” term.  I hadn’t heard the phrase in a while and thought it was worth my time to pull this article out of the archives and replay it. So, if you’ve forgotten what TDS is -just keep reading.

D. S. Mitchell

The first place I ever saw the term ‘Trump Derangement Syndrome’ was in a December 2016 LA Times Op Ed, written by Justin Raimondo, the editorial director of Antiwar.com. Justin Raimondo, a Republican, is a self described “conservative-paleo-libertarian” whatever that is supposed to mean. Wikipedia calls it a philosophy that is “in opposition to social progressivism”. I give you this little tidbit to allow you to fairly and appropriately weigh his comments.

In his Op Ed, Raimondo states the Trump Derangement Syndrome disorder develops in stages. I will briefly outline those stages of development as Raimondo describes them:

In the early stages of Raimondo’s described ‘disease,’ the victims “lose all sense of proportion.” In Trump’s case, “every tweet arouses a firestorm” of reaction.

At mid-level stages, Raimondo believes that the victims begin to lose control of their vocabulary. In fact, according to Raimondo’s description, “sufferers speak a distinctive language, consisting solely of hyperbole”. To quote, he says, “the liberals will over react to anything that Trump may do, evidence of the progression of the disease”.

He cites Trump’s decision to keep his own security staff, headed by Keith Schiller, a 16 year Trump employee, after he moves to the White House. Raimondo references the liberal uproar at hearing of that decision. Many calling the action, the security team a “brownshirt,” security force, an obvious reference, to Hitler’s personal security guard.

Such “illogical leaps” of thinking are a “pathway to the next stage of Trump Derangement Syndrome,” Raimondo claims, “a state of constant hysteria”.

Raimondo theorizes that as TDS progresses, the victim loses ability “to distinguish fantasy from reality,” opinions “unmoored from facts”.

Finally, in the advanced stages of the disease the victim “will lose touch with reality,” where life “resembles a dark fairy tale in which the villain (Trump) is an amalgam of all the worst tyrants in history”, while Trump’s critics become the heroes, “akin to the Resistance fighters of World War II.”

In the final stages of the Trump Derangement Syndrome epidemic “violence against a democratically elected leader,” will result, “unless a cure for TDS is found, this is where we are headed”.

The only reason I have brought this up today is I have, since reading this article six months ago, heard the term kicked around recently by Hannity (FoxNews), Adam Gopnik (New Yorker), Fareed Zakaria (Washington Post & CNN) and David Goldman (Spengle/PJ Media).

The theory is that the hatred of President Trump becomes so intense that it impairs an individual’s judgement, where nothing Trump says or does can illicit anything but a negative response.

My theory in contrast, is that the usually semi-somnolent  American public, has been so shocked, and their personal beliefs so unpleasantly jolted by Trump’s narcissistic and virulent attacks on our institutions, by his comments, his tweets and actions, he has awakened a sleeping giant.

Pundits can point to the Internet, social media, the 24 hour news cycle, political bloggers, the “psychological torment” of the Trump presidential win, as the cause of Trump Derangement Syndrome, but I believe the reason for the stiff push back reaction is that Trump’s thinking and morality is in direct opposition to mainstream America. We on the liberal left detest this man because he is, detestable.

I don’t need to be told by right wing crack pots, in this case Justin Raimondo and Sean Hannity, that I am afflicted with a psychological disease. Screw them. What does bother me, is that some of the main stream media are actually picking up on this bullshit, and passing it on to their audience.

This TDS was dreamed up by the right, to make fun of those of us who loudly disagree with Trump. I don’t like the idea that I’m being mocked by these right wingers, accused of having a mental disorder because I am resisting the policies of this out of control kleptocrat, currently occupying the White House.

I refuse to be made out as a psychopath because of Trump’s extreme unpopularity. The reason for Trump’s unpopularity is based on Trump’s behavior and his policies, not on some “sickness” of mine, or 60% of the American public. If I am wrong because I have a mental disorder, then approximately 60% of the country has been afflicted.

Jonathan Tobin in a February 2017 article for The National Review (conservative blog) stated, “the extremism and paranoia of the anti-Trump camp is matching, or exceeding the bad judgement being exhibited by the White House.”

I am neither paranoid, nor extreme.

As each day passes and the White House fills the airways with lies, and Trump pounds out Executive Order after Executive Order, assaulting the environment, and the foundation of our government, I become more and more convinced that it will be people like myself, ordinary citizens, that will eventually stop this madman.

So, if you are enraged by the policies of Trump; speak up, push back, and refuse to accept their lies as truth. There is no such thing as Trump Derangement Syndrome, it is just a device to mock and joke about one of the most dangerous individuals I have ever seen assume office in this country.

I believe it will be the voices of citizens crying out for law and justice that save this democracy. If you are against Trump, you are on the right side. Don’t let some conservative jackass sway your conviction. Trump is on the wrong side of history, and it is our duty to stop him. That’s called democracy.

Join the Resistance

The Trump Stench

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The Trump Stench

The Trump Stench

 

Editor: When I read Cate Rees-Hessel’s 50 Things She Trusts More than Trump I was motivated to do a bit of a take off on her piece. Forgive me, I couldn’t help myself. Here are just a few of the thoughts that came to mind as I read her piece.

By D. S. Mitchell

 

  1. We can thank our own Agent Orange for all the environmental deregulation.
  2. Left over unrefrigerated milk found in the WH pantry. Bobby’ll drink it! Bobby’ll drink it! We hope.
  3. MOLD WARNING. Not all mold forms are deadly just the smelly toxic orange variety.
  4. I heard Greg Bovino and Pam Bondi are offering at home body piercing. Och, och, och. Show me your papers!
  5. The government was forced to get supersized Porta-Potties for DHS ‘cuz Kristi Noem and Cory Lewandowski do everything together.
  6. The smell of an outhouse on a hot summer day, has nothing on the Trump White House.
  7. Got stomach acid? I’ve been told the Trump store is running a special on gold sprayed Rolaid packets.
  8. Dirty diapers found in the bushes at Mar-a-Lago’s front gate, apparently left following an Epstein memorial party.
  9. Puppy pee pads? OMG! Where’d they bury that poor puppy? I bet Kristi knows.
  10. The foul odor of used Kitty Litter lingers persistently in the air after every Cabinet Meeting.
  11. A box of sexually transmitted disease video tapes found at the Trump Tower after an Epstein memorial training.
  12. A bag of torn prophylactics found with the video tapes. What do you think? I say party favors.
  13. The stench of a dumpster on a hot summer day smells much like the image of Corporate America taking the knee for their revered Mango Mussolini.
  14. The fermenting odor of the Epstein Files permeates every space Trump enters. You don’t want to get caught in any tight spaces with DJT.
  15. Windmills are killing whales and causing cancer Donald tells us, but he’s got clean coal and Venezuelan oil for us.
  16. The ghosts of the demented Ronald Reagan and the criminal Richard Nixon have nothing on the crazy ass Mafioso king pin currently running our country.
  17. Trump has been given a second term to rape and rob the people of the United States. There’ll be no more emergency PayDay loans for Donnie Boy, now it’s direct hand-to-hand-cash in the billions from the Middle East dictators and potentates and who knows who else.
  18. Some rumors never end, especially the one about how Melania lost her virginity to an ICE agent who dummied up an Einstein visa for her ‘extraordinary intellectual abilities’. How bad does that smell; it’s been rotting in Melania’s closet since 1996.
  19. Trump is a publicly diagnosed power-mad narcissist demanding his name be placed on government buildings and that an arch be built with his name emblazed on it, all while threatening to withhold monies for already allocated major projects unless he gets his monuments. The only monument I want to see Trump’s name on is the one in the above photo.

 

 

Street Feet

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Street Feet

Street Feet

 

By John Curran

I’m told we’re gonna have another Saturday street fest. A ‘pop up’ they’re callin’ it. The next big ones not gonna be ’til March 28th, 2026 but I guess since this party thing has gotten to be so much fun; well Grants Pass just can’t wait til then. So much fun and actually, the shit has gone nationwide. Killer you could say, don’t we know.

And since I help out my presence is definitely encouraged, I push wheelchairs see, among other things, chores, alla’ that. ‘N hey, I get into it too. It’s a hoot. Maybe I’ll bring my little bongo drum, its a good excuse to do something with it besides having it just sitting there in the corner of my room. Yeah there might be a drum circle, for sure there’s good DJ action, There’s a guy workin’ it out of the back of van. People are decked out in all kinda’ crazy ways, bunny outfits,  dogs dressed as dinosaurs, clown acts, everything.

Speaking of clown acts, we got two sides o’ the street setup to really liven it up-kind of an us ‘n them sort of standoff. Its great. We yell at them and they yell back at us, man you hear all kinds of funny and amusing ranting and raving and I must say, the excitement is in the air. Usually there’s a whole lot more of us than the themmers on the other side, some people just more inclined to party I guess, but the thems are catching on, I think,  they know we be serious about some lively action and this, without  fail, will be that.

‘Course we don’t have the real edge that some city’s been having, the kind of thing that really sends the shit into overdrive, not yet, anyway. And actually, if you think about it, nothing spoils a good party more than a public execution of an innocent person right there in front of everybody, definitely a party pooper that.

So we be good, so far; so I will say, Minneapolis ain’t so far away so, serious partiers we are and will be.  I push wheelchairs see,  and whatever. Just glad to be there and glad to help, however I can. Do I love it? Damn right I do, and all the dogs and cats do too.  ‘Course the one cat will make ya wonder, sometimes. One in every crowd, I guess.

At the Point S

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At the Point S

At the Point S

Editor: I needed a break from Donald 2026.  So as a temporary escape from the minute by minute Trump coverage I went to the tire shop.

 

By D.S. Mitchell

It was time for an oil change and a tire rotation so I called and made an appointment for Friday at the Point S in Grants Pass. These folks are awesome on the kindness scale, and reasonable on the prices. I added on a bad tail light and a broken grab bar and a safety check when I got there. Anyway, I settled in for an hour plus wait. As I’m flippin’ through the old magazines in the lobby I spot a great article in the May 2024 Real Simple magazine. In the Get It Done section Erica Finamore & Hannah Baker offered 14 easy and inexpensive DIY home projects that have big impact for a very small investment in time and money.  I’m only going to pass on the 7 I liked the best. I just wish I had pictures. So here we go:

1.) Add attractive storage for those oversized cookbooks at the end of your kitchen island simply by adding a couple of shelves, then paint the new shelving a bright surprise color.

2.) Stencil the walls of a nook or entry area. It is important to choose a stencil with a registration mark, “these are the small design elements cut into the edge of the stencil that help you repeat the pattern evenly.” A big impact for a small space.

3.) Fake the art. If you’re hanging art over a sofa or buffet, the frame should be two thirds the width of the furniture.  Soooo, if you have an 8 foot couch the wall hanging should be about 5 feet, four inches wide. The height of the art is up to you. Once you decide how big your piece of art needs to be based on the above measurements its easy to create a giant piece of art. Maybe a colorful shower curtain stretched over a frame. In my case, I just went to the fabric store and found a bright ‘modern art’  piece of material and cut it and stapled the material on to a canvas stretcher. Voila! A real scene stealer.

4.) Replace the pantry door in your kitchen with an antique door, something to give the space a unique look.

5.) I love this one! Even if you aren’t an artist you can still project a design you like onto an exterior wall or even a shed wall, or maybe the pool house wall. Project the image you like onto that wall and with chalk out line the design in colors similar to the paint colors you will ultimately use. This will help you remember what color goes where. They suggest two coats of outdoor paint for the project, and a one inch brush for crisp sharp edges. A three or four inch brush is good for filling in the larger areas they suggest.

6.) Crown molding takes a plain jane room to a Parisian retreat. On this one I’d call my son. If you don’t have a carpenter in the family on speed dial you might want to find a licensed and bonded contractor.

7.) Let’s add beams to the ceiling. Hell, yeah, I say. Again, here’s where I’d call my son, or that licensed and bonded contractor. They don’t have to be big massive beams, smaller beams are lighter and easier to install. In fact, the writers suggest 2 x 6 cedar boards in long lengths to fully cross the ceiling width.

What fun. If you want pictures of the above projects go on line and check out the May 2024 edition of Real Simple magazine.

 

The Spider Series-Available on Amazon

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The Spider Series-By D.S. Mitchell

As bodies fall we need to know, is she guilty?

The Spider Series-By D.S. Mitchell

Available on Amazon

The Rigged Game

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The Rigged Game

The Rigged Game

Editor: The Jan-Feb 2026 edition of Mother Jones published a scathing indictment of the sitting Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, John Roberts, and the actions that have directly led to the “corrupt and abusive Trump reign”. What follows are direct quotes (with large parts of the article left out because of copyright issues) from that brilliant article by Pema Levy and Ari Berman. All items within parentheses are added by this writer for clarification. Please subscribe to Mother Jones and support its 50 years of fearless journalism; it’s definitely worth the money. Call 1-800-438-6656 for subscription information. Sign up for newsletters at motherjones.com/daily-news-D.S. Mitchell, aka “Calamity”.

Excerpts from “Blame John Roberts for Everything”

By Pema Levy and Ari Berman

 

“Today, as the Robert’s court rewrites the Constitution in the image of Trumpian autocracy, it’s become clear that Robert’s promise (when he was testifying to the Senate at his confirmation hearing) to be a neutral umpire was a lie. We are watching a rigged game, and Roberts set it up.”

“Twenty years ago, John Roberts promised (the Senate, the country and the media) that as chief justice of the Supreme Court, he would be like an umpire, calling balls and strikes. The delusion was so powerful that for two decades the media defaulted to portraying him as a moderate institutionalist.”

“The Robert’s court has spent Trump’s second term not applying the law so much as clearing it out of his (Trump’s) way. In a matter of months, the court’s 6-3 GOP aligned majority has permitted a long list of lawless actions, including firing independent agency commissioners, using racial profiling in immigration sweeps, disappearing immigrants to authoritarian and war-torn nations, and defying Congress’ power of the purse.”

(This didn’t start yesterday,) “Robert’s has been embedding white-dominant authoritarianism into the country’s source code for two decades. It is impossible to imagine today’s crisis without the Robert’s court having first undermined the foundations of our democracy.”

“(Representative) Democracies are built on the right to vote and choose representatives. The United States finally recognized this right for all people with the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (and 1982).”

“As chief justice (Robert’s) has helped craft a string of rulings knee-capping (the Voting Rights Act of 1965 & 1982) laws, starting with his 2013 Shelby County v Holder. The decision overruled Congress and freed states with histories of discrimination to change their voting rules, spurring the creation of 115 voter suppression laws in more than 30 states. Many were inspired by Trump’s election lies.”

“After oral arguments in a Louisiana redistricting case, observers expect Roberts and the GOP justices to declare that the districts drawn to preserve representation for voters of color are either unconstitutional or subject to insurmountable barriers. It’s a decision that would turn the 14th and 15th Amendments-passed during Reconstruction to give formerly enslaved people citizenship and equal rights-on their heads, and turbocharge Trump’s gerrymandering push.”

“Such redrawn (gerrymandered) maps could shift up to 19 eats to the GOP in 2026 and runs the threat of creating a permanent GOP control of Congress.”

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