@kathleen I think once TFG's first criminal conviction comes along in the next couple of months and things ramp up for the documents case in the latter half of the year, things will go pretty quickly in that regard. I don't know why I think that will be the timeline, but that's the feeling I get. That would give Mr. Biden two court picks, possibly three if Roberts follows them out, but I don't think he will right now. That would at least give us a 5-4 liberal court and might kick the can down the road a bit on expansion of the courts, although I do think that's probably also in the cards over the next four years. Term limits for justices isn't going to happen anytime soon because that's hard-coded in the Constitution and would require an amendment, so expanding the court is the best option for now. Ideally, it would grow to 13 seats to match the number of Circuit systems currently in place.
@ghandigirl A backlash is coming for the GOP... big time. With the exception of women like our Trump-appointed Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett; she is a Republican and was a "Handmaiden" in the Indiana religious cult she belonged to--just like Margaret Atwood's dystopian novel "The Handmaid's Tale." One assumes Justice Barrett is happy to bow down and bang her head on the floor before her male masters.
On the other hand, it is my sense that most American women in both parties will go to the polls in droves this Fall to keep Fish Lips and throw-back authoritarian patriarchs out of office... on Federal and state levels.
We are not pleased.
@freya The tail has been wagging the dog for a long time, and the tyranny of the minority has been ruling the majority. Most of us in the majority want a democratic government, want our children to thrive and be educated, and most of all to progress and do the right thing by each other. We don't want to scream at each other or threaten lives, we just show up and vote. So, to your point, yes.
@tgraf66 Interesting to think about matching the number of SCOTUS justices to the 13 seats in the US Circuits. It begs the question of whether this should have been the number of SCOTUS seats established during the early days of our young country. Or, maybe the reason for the 13 systems was extraneous to SCOTUS's original purpose. I read that FDR pursued expanding the justices to 19 when he couldn't change their deadlocked refusal to break up the monopolies that were choking our free enterprise, but I don't know why the number 19. I'm sure there are pros and cons to increasing the number, but I very much hope that you're right in your feeling that the departures of two of our most conservative justices will clear the way for a more egalitarian and pragmatic SCOTUS. This time period in our country has been a near-constant success for revisionists.
@lovendures I was literally looking up where I need to go to protest!!! I'm pissed off!!!!
It begs the question of whether this should have been the number of SCOTUS seats established during the early days of our young country.
A brief history: When the Court was established under Chief Justice John Jay in 1789, there were only six "circuits" of local courts, and in addition their SCOTUS duties, each justice was assigned a circuit that they were required to ride twice a year to preside over those courts. That requirement was later lowered to once a year and then once every two years before finally being abolished with the establishment of Circuit Courts of Appeals by the Evarts Act in 1891.
There have been several changes to the number of justices on the high bench, ranging from a low of five to a high of ten, but the number was set at nine with the Judiciary Act of 1869, and each of the nine (at the time) circuit courts came under the direct supervision of one SCOTUS justice with the Evarts Act. Since then, there have been an additional four circuits created, so four of the current justices have direct supervision over two circuits, while the remaining five supervise one each.
While there is certainly a political element to wanting a larger number of justices on the Court, there's also the need to return to the plan established in 1869 of one supervising justice per circuit in order to reduce the workload of each of the justices and perhaps speed up the judicial process.
@tgraf66 I knew you'd likely have this info or quick access, thank you! So, there is weight and reason to more SCOTUS justices on the bench. Maybe Biden and his outstanding team are thinking along the same lines.
Been thinking a lot about “The Great Turning” lately. Probably partially because of the impending surgery, and partially from the effects of the eclipse. I’ve talked a little about this before but I’m going to talk about it again now with what I’m noticing now. Grateful to you @jeanne-mayell for opening a new post Eclipse thread because I feel this even more now.
When I first came here I didn’t understand how people could “evolve” and others not. I was thinking a physical transcendence (think the Ancients in Stargate if you ever watched it) and it just didn’t track. Not that there aren’t a multitude of things that I can’t wrap my brain around. The fact that space is expanding into something but we don’t know what, meaning there’s something beyond space and maybe even something beyond that breaks my brain.
But the evolving thing? I am completely understanding it now.
My wife forced me back onto Facebook (okay not really but she wanted me to reactivate my account so she could tag me in updates from the hospital and have a larger reach) I came back to Facebook after 4 years away and curiosity got the better of me. It’s… different now. More people are pushing back against MAGA and stupidity. Yes, the others are still there but one of the reasons I left was because I felt I was fighting against the world and now the world has joined the fight.
But what’s REALLY hit me lately is the impact of the ripple effect. My posts, which are daily from now until the day of the surgery are talking about the surgery, the program, the process, and most importantly - the journey from last August to here. Having been gone from Facebook for as long as I was I expected the algorithm would have edited me out of people’s feeds. It hasn’t. Hundreds of comments, emoticon responses, private messages, etc. I’ve edited most of the posts to also feature some of the “good humans” who have helped along the way, and I end with “be a good human today.” I’ve had people tell me they registered to be a deceased donor because of my posts. I’ve had a couple of people reach out to ask for more information about becoming a living donor. This to me makes me cry the most because in their cases, they don’t know anyone who needs an organ - they want to see if they qualify for a stranger. Social media helped me make some big ripples and I am an emotional wreck every time I check my Facebook account now - just in a good way.
You know how I feel about my boss but there has been some good that’s come from her being here. I went from mentoring one new teacher on the sly (former boss wouldn’t allow it) to mentoring 3 teachers two years ago, to mentoring 5 last year and nearly 20 this year. I really spent some time meeting the teachers literally where they’re at (I visit them during their preps once a month) and that in and of itself has provided some ripple effects. I’ve been doing my last visits for this year. Some have graduated (it’s a 3 year coaching cycle), some are moving from year 2 to year 3 (where we move to quarterly instead of monthly) and some are moving from year 1 to 2. (I have a year 0 program for the folks who come in on alternative paths because there is not a single program I’ve come across that actually prepares second career teachers for what they’ll walk into.)
All of these “last meetings of the year” have been emotional - both for me and them. Every single one of them has said that they’ve gotten more out of the 9 hours I’ve spent with them this year (more than that for a few) than they have from their administrators and building mentors. Most have shed some tears. And several of the ones who cried (which also made me cry) were big, hulking guys you wouldn’t expect to see that from. By just coming in and talking with them once a month, making sure they were okay and supported they got something I never dreamed when I designed the coaching cycle. The two questions I ask at the end of each year are “In what ways have you grown in your practice this year” and “What goals would you like to set for yourself next year?” - they all reported having more patience and understanding for their kids, coworkers, the parents, etc. It’s not because of me, but they attributed it to me. They’re creating ripples too. Many of these schools, despite having SEL programming still have major compassion and empathy issues. These teachers I’m training are getting support in their specific content and practice but I always weave SEL into things and they’re embodying the spirit of it in a way that no store bought curriculum can muster. And whatever is happening with me spiritually is bleeding over into those I’m interacting with. Even my boss was nearly in tears last week as we had a meeting that could be our last for this school year and she told me “I know you’re not religious but I am and I will be praying for you. HARD.”
So what does this have to do with evolution? Quite a bit. Those ripple effects disturb other waters. I have very little anger left in me right now - since the eclipse I’ve felt a crescendo effect of something I cannot describe growing inside me every day. I’ve always liked to THINK I’m growing as a human but since the eclipse in particular I’m feeling it - like I’m a teapot on the stove (I’m a little teapot but nowhere near short nor stout) and the water is almost ready to pour. I am practicing more compassion and empathy. I’m looking at the news and realizing as dire as it seems it’s not reality. The best revelation I gave to a. Friend was the realization that I left social media because of how bad it all seemed and I needed to find the good in the world.
What I learned in that practice is social media feeds us the bad, and all you have to do is turn it off and look around a little in the real world to see the good. There is a lot of it. And it’s growing.
And it’s far more powerful than anything MAGA, TFG, and the far right can ever stand against.
Not everyone I know is there. Out of curiosity I pulled up some of the people I muted when I was still there regularly. They have not grown. This too has helped me see how far I’ve evolved. So I get it now. Evolution in this case is a mental and spiritual thing, not a physical thing. I’m not going to turn into a being of white light like the ancients in Stargate (again, it’s a great show if you need a fun binge and Danny isn’t my real name but it’s based on Daniel Jackson from Stargate who was the best of some very finely drawn characters) leaving everyone behind. But spiritually I could beam enough light out of me to change some views, help others see the good I was looking for and that is keeping me going.
My reflection on the turning today.
It's not a linear process. We've talked in previous turning threads about how this can often times feel like we're taking two giant steps forward, and then suffer a setback that moves us back. The point is we keep moving forward.
Yesterday was not a day I allowed myself to feel the light you and so many have been sending me over this past year. It's my final week at work (done at Thursday) and I've put an incredible amount of time into winding things down earlier than they're supposed to be wound down and putting some safeguards in place for some important project work should something bad happen. (I'm not worried about something bad happening - but I'm a preparer and I'm prepared.). This included scheduling many emails to keep project work others are taking over for me going on autopilot during my absence. It included me writing 12 letters to my wife - one for each month starting in May, again - in the event that something goes wrong (which again I'm not worried about - but if it does, I know her and I know how she'll mourn and I don't want that for her. So I basically recreated the book P.S. I Love You for her and put another friend in the horrible situation of mailing them out for me. I fully anticipate we'll laugh about them when I return home and hand her the stack vs her receiving them in the mail.)
My posts on Social are raising awareness of donation, and I have people requesting more information on getting tested. All of these are incredible things. It's been work, but beneficial work that's got me buzzing with light and energy.
This week I saved what was supposed to be the "easiest" call for yesterday. Transportation for the twins. I called the bus garage and was told no because the bus they'd be on was full. Obviously I understand full busses, but it was an outright dismissal and not a "here are some things to consider instead" and for all those remarkable steps forward I've taken, I took a big step back as I allowed some pent up anger and frustration to consume me. I'm still flushing it out. I don't have a resolution to this yet but I've forced myself to calmly (on the outside) work through the proper channels before escalating it further. (I alerted the girls principals and the superintendent yesterday for help - today I'll be contacting the two board members I'm friends with if needed)
And today I will do my best to keep this from happening again when I call our local hospital. I have to have a COVID PCR test on Friday and I could not make another trip down to Detroit happen with my schedule. Again, I will work through the proper channels here first but I've already contacted my primary care physician to help me do an end run around hospital bureaucracy if the need arises. I don't like doing these things but sometimes you have to.
So today, in an attempt to get myself back in the headspace I've been in, my social post was on my Dancing with the Y Stars dance partner. Those of you who have been tuning into the Dannyboy Dramedy Hour for the past year know I competed in and won a dance competition back in October, and my partner was one of the first people to know I was starting this journey. She's a breast cancer survivor and so incredibly strong. She also told me last week she's getting a divorce from her husband of nearly 20 years. She's broken and devestated, trying to understand what happened. I don't think anyone can understand sometimes why these things happen.
But what we can do is remind those of us who have given us strength in the past that they have this strength. My post today was about how her own journey inspired me and got me over my fears of being in this program. I'm going to be in a lot of pain next week. I'm going to be hooked up to tubes and machines everywhere. But in the scheme of things, I'm not going through months of chemotherapy. I'm not dealing with the pain of a mastectomy. I also know my outlook is far better than hers was when she received her diagnosis.
So today, I take another step forward in my own personal "Great Turning" and try to push along the bigger "Great Turning" by reminding P that she is strong. She is beautiful. She is an exceptional human. She's got this because she "got" that. She rang the bell and kept putting one foot in front of the other.
We can and should use our light to inspire the same light in others. That's how we keep this turning going.
Light and love to you all today my friends.
Florida looks at Texas and says "hold my Corona"
The following quote was plucked from a Miami Herald article (which is paywalled), so i won't bother with the link. Someone found it posted on Xitter, so of course, i won't link to that, either. But still...
Hispanic restaurant owner Richard Gonzmart is a Republican who voted for DeSantis. Now he’s panicking because DeSantis’ new immigration law forced him to fire 19 members of his staff and pay a $500k fine because they are undocumented.
This next piece was from another right-wing cesspool: Newsweek. Or, as i call it, NewSpeak:
The roughly four dozen migrants that Florida GovernorRon DeSantishelped fly from Texas to Martha's Vineyard about a year and a half ago have been granted legal designations due to theRepublican's crimes against the "victims."
On September 14, 2022, DeSantis emulated immigration policies enforced by Texas GovernorGreg Abbott—who has become known for busing migrants to liberal, sanctuary cities like New York and Chicago—and sent two planes of about 50 migrants, including children, from San Antonio to the small, liberal island south of Cape Cod, Massachusetts.
The migrants applied for U nonimmigrant status (or a U visa), described by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services as a visa "set aside for victims of certain crimes who have suffered mental or physical abuse and are helpful to law enforcement or government officials in the investigation or prosecution of criminal activity."
You can tell that this came from a right-wing source by the scare-quotes they put around "victims" of the Republicans. And also by the inane insistence on reminding the reader that New York City, Chicago, and Cape Cod are liberal places (scared yet?). But at least they ran the story. No one else in the so-called Liberal Media seems to have bothered.
iHoy no, Satanas!
(Not today, DeSatan!)
Florida looks at Texas and says "hold my Corona"
The following quote was plucked from a Miami Herald article (which is paywalled), so i won't bother with the link. Someone found it posted on Xitter, so of course, i won't link to that, either. But still...
Hispanic restaurant owner Richard Gonzmart is a Republican who voted for DeSantis. Now he’s panicking because DeSantis’ new immigration law forced him to fire 19 members of his staff and pay a $500k fine because they are undocumented.
Link to article without paywall. https://archive.fo/o2ayk
Want to express my gratitude to Jeanne and Co. of empaths who taught & facilitated the latest Deeply Intuitive class. When asked at the onset what I wished to achieve/accomplish, I’d stated “more confidence in reading tarot.” Well, I definitely achieved that aim but, even greater, I found a calming and reassuring inner and guided voice that raises and doesn’t placate itself aimlessly.
In search of my empowering and powerful subconscious and conscious knowing, I felt like Dorothy and learned that “I’ve had the power all along.” While I knew this, I truly realized my abilities and potential growth during our time together. There’s a true comfort and offering of resilience, for me, in the knowledge that we’re not alone. Isn’t that one main reason why we ended up here? I always loved feeling and being “different” but wasn’t able always to express this lifelong revelation. Connecting to my intuitive self has brought me full circle, in a way, to my younger intuitive self who just knew, dang nabbit!, what others denied and couldn’t see.
I’m “turning,” of course, as we all are; but, for the first time, it’s w a whole lot less fear and worry. Namaste!
I am so happy for you, what a wonderful message to read! Jeanne will love reading this! Looks like her class will have life changing impacts for you as it has for many of us. So happy you were able to take it!
@earthangel what a gift your post is to me. I can’t think of anything that makes me happier than what you wrote. I thank you, thank you, thank you. I’m so glad that something touched you over the last two months and that you find yourself operating at a deeper and higher level. I hope you will stick around and join us for reading the world, now and in the future. We help each other awaken and rise together
@jeanne-mayell do you remember when we used to have a thread where we could practice reading Tarot cards on each other? Does anyone think that that would be fun to do again?
Great question! I thought that was a kinda cool thread!
It's a terrible time to be a woman in America.
Anyone see any improvements on the horizon besides the general election?
More improvements: Arizona house has voted to get rid of the abortion ban law!
https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2024/04/24/politics/arizona-house-abortion-law
@april Yes! Yes! And Arizona is also going after Trump and his Arizona electors, as well as Rudi Guiliani for trying to overthrow the election. I love the video they made of themselves breaking the law, then clapping for themselves. They are so guilty.