Republicans Say the Darndest Things!

[SteveWhite]

@The_President

do these count?

$\textcolor{red}{\text{Any reason to suspect they’re Republicans?}}$

[YankeeTripper]

Republicans? Maybe.
Trumpicans? Definitely.

[vjvj]

I wasn’t too sure about this quote:

"GOP Sen. Buck Newton brushed off the concerns, saying no one saw “Granny getting arrested in the Walmart pre-COVID” "

Is he saying that won’t be arresting Granny (or other people they like, presumably) even though it is illegal?

[Rastiln]

It sounds like “we will use this law selectively to punish people we don’t like.”

I’d assume if this was a realistic law as opposed to the above, they could just have an add-on charge for “wearing a mask to conceal identity while committing a crime.”

Written this way, if one protester is wearing an N95 for health reasons, they have cause to send police into the protesters, which could cause a disturbance which creates pretense for more arrests.

[knoath]

@vjvj

"GOP Sen. Buck Newton brushed off the concerns, saying no one saw “Granny getting arrested in the Walmart pre-COVID” "

Is he saying that won’t be arresting Granny (or other people they like, presumably) even though it is illegal?

I imagine there won’t be a lot of sightings of Granny post-COVID in some states because many of them died when younger people didn’t respect the mask mandates.

[ArthurItas]

@Rastiln

It sounds like “we will use this law selectively to punish people we don’t like.”

This

Article also says he “thinks law enforcement will use good common sense when applying the law”

Likely means neonazis parading in the street masked is fine, but round up those Palestinian human rights protesters.

[SteveWhite]

Not saying, strictly, but expressing a political opinion.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/16/us/justice-alito-upside-down-flag.html

After the 2020 presidential election, as some Trump supporters falsely claimed that President Biden had stolen the office, many of them displayed a startling symbol outside their homes, on their cars and in online posts: an upside-down American flag.

One of the homes flying an inverted flag during that time was the residence of Supreme Court Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., in Alexandria, Va., according to photographs and interviews with neighbors.

The upside-down flag was aloft on Jan. 17, 2021, the images showed. President Donald J. Trump’s supporters, including some brandishing the same symbol, had rioted at the Capitol a little over a week before. Mr. Biden’s inauguration was three days away. Alarmed neighbors snapped photographs, some of which were recently obtained by The New York Times. Word of the flag filtered back to the court, people who worked there said in interviews.
…
“I had no involvement whatsoever in the flying of the flag,” Justice Alito said in an emailed statement to The Times. “It was briefly placed by Mrs. Alito in response to a neighbor’s use of objectionable and personally insulting language on yard signs.”

Judicial experts said in interviews that the flag was a clear violation of ethics rules, which seek to avoid even the appearance of bias, and could sow doubt about Justice Alito’s impartiality in cases related to the election and the Capitol riot.

The mere impression of political opinion can be a problem, the ethics experts said. “It might be his spouse or someone else living in his home, but he shouldn’t have it in his yard as his message to the world,” said Amanda Frost, a law professor at the University of Virginia.

This is “the equivalent of putting a ‘Stop the Steal’ sign in your yard, which is a problem if you’re deciding election-related cases,” she said.

Interviews show that the justice’s wife, Martha-Ann Alito, had been in a dispute with another family on the block over an anti-Trump sign on their lawn, but given the timing and the starkness of the symbol, neighbors interpreted the inverted flag as a political statement by the couple.

The longstanding ethics code for the lower courts, as well as the recent one adopted by the Supreme Court, stresses the need for judges to remain independent and avoid political statements or opinions on matters that could come before them.

“You always want to be proactive about the appearance of impartiality,” Jeremy Fogel, a former federal judge and the director of the Berkeley Judicial Institute, said in an interview. “The best practice would be to make sure that nothing like that is in front of your house.”

The court has also repeatedly warned its own employees against public displays of partisan views, according to guidelines circulated to the staff and reviewed by The Times. Displaying signs or bumper stickers is not permitted, according to the court’s internal rule book and a 2022 memo reiterating the ban on political activity.

Asked if these rules also apply to justices, the court declined to respond.

The exact duration that the flag flew outside the Alito residence is unclear. In an email from Jan. 18, 2021, reviewed by The Times, a neighbor wrote to a relative that the flag had been upside down for several days at that point.

[tl/dr]same old, same old

[dr_t_non-fan]

@SteveWhite

“It was briefly placed by Mrs. Alito in response to a neighbor’s use of objectionable and personally insulting language on yard signs.”

I do not think this is the optimal response, for anyone.

[SteveWhite]

And some responses:

[AcademicActuary]

Reminded me of this photo:

https://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images?p=girls+at+show+support+at+Manson's+trial&fr=mcafee&type=E210US714G0&imgurl=http%3A%2F%2Fimg2.timeinc.net%2Fpeople%2Fi%2F2016%2Fnews%2F160215%2Fmanson-girls-a-1024.jpg#id=21&iurl=https%3A%2F%2Fs.yimg.com%2Fny%2Fapi%2Fres%2F1.2%2FFG_8uai4fa47Pn6xSOyDuw--%2FYXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTEyMDA7aD03OTM-%2Fhttps%3A%2F%2Fmedia.zenfs.com%2Fen%2Fvc-star-ventura-county-star%2F1092cbd570e0d0fede74bdae53a0ce94&action=click

[Rastiln]

Assuming “Republicans Do” is also allowed: A knock-down brawl between two senior women at an AZ GOP precinct meeting:

Ron Filipkowski (@ronaldfilipkowski) on Threads

Fresh enough that I haven’t seen reporting on what they’re fighting over, but it tickles me to see how many GOP meetings are ending in fisticuffs with other Republicans. In my state, the MAGA majority of the state GOP publicly called traditional Republicans “the enemy within.” And they keep punching each other - or I think one was a kick to the dick.

[SteveWhite]

From my Yahoo news feed

There’s zero reason to question Alito’s ability to rule fairly

“The left wants to tarnish Justice Alito’s reputation, as well as cause him to recuse himself from participating in any case involving Mr. Trump. No such recusal is necessary on ethical or any other grounds. The political views of spouses don’t dictate, or in our experience even influence, how a Justice will rule.” — Editorial, Wall Street Journal

For an apples-to-apples comparison, is that based on how all Justices rule, or how corrupt Justices rule?

[Rastiln]

FWIW, in a hypothetical world where Sotomayor’s husband was a BLM rally organizer and there was a case related to BLM at SCOTUS, I would rail against Sotomayor if she didn’t recuse herself. Justices are allegedly supposed to avoid even the appearance of impropriety.

In the era of Trump, that has devolved to “it’s not technically a crime, and besides, we all do it.” Even if some Justices don’t, e.g. Kagan declining bagels and lox due to concerns how it would look ethically.

[twig93]

To be fair, I think judges and justices are pretty reluctant to recuse themselves unless it’s something absolutely iron-clad such as they were the judge or attorney in a lower court decision.

I don’t think Kagan refusing bagels & lox is indicative of Sotomayor’s likelihood of recusing herself from a BLM case.

It is certainly indicative of Kagan’s likelihood of accepting expensive trips or borrowing 6 figure sums money from an individual not related to her rather than from family or a bank though.

[ArthurItas]

Newsmax: Is this the same bipartisan border bill that you initially co-authored several months ago?

GOP Sen. Lankford: It is

Newsmax: So you still stand by this bill today, but you’re going to vote against it, is that accurate?

Lankford: I am

Biden-Harris HQ (@BidenHQ) on X

[Maphistos_Sidekick]

[vjvj]

@twig93

To be fair, I think judges and justices are pretty reluctant to recuse themselves unless it’s something absolutely iron-clad such as they were the judge or attorney in a lower court decision.

It’s apparently not a rare thing. Or wasn’t? I didn’t run into a easy free source to check. But here’s the scorecard of the SC justices in just 2015 according to The Justices Recused Themselves an Astounding 180 Times Last Term | Fix the Court

[twig93]

Uh, 115 of those 180 are the two newest justices recusing themselves because they were involved in the case before it got to the SCOTUS, so you kind of illustrated my point.

Stock ownership and family ties and being named in the complaint are also pretty iron clad.

So less than once a year, on average, for reasons that don’t fit neatly into an iron clad category.

[SteveWhite]

The darnedest:

and responses (it did not go over well)

and my favorite:

[Rastiln]

https://www.threads.net/@never_trump_republicans/post/C7cbno3Ro7T/?xmt=AQGzV5jl9USN-00CBEZ9aYePAsUpA4k3sWA2JeExZPSZFQ

Both Steve Bannon and Royce White (R-MN nominee for US Senate): “Women have become too mouthy”.