How hilarious it is, to watch “government must keep its hands off Business” Republicans struggle to justify their attempts at government action to keep a business from conducting itself as it sees fit…
It’s the Hypocrisy Games! And conservatives are favored to win! (as they always, always, always are).
Republicans: Corporations are people with first amendment rights
Corporations: We’re choosing not to do business with states that suppress voting rights
Republicans: No not like that
Corporations: Also we’re going to stop publishing this book with outdated racist caricatures
Republicans: Not like that either
Corporations: And we’re going to ban users that advocate overthrowing the government
Republicans: Stop we just meant we just wanted you to hate gay people
Corporations: About that, here’s this new music video we just produced…
IANAL, and would be glad if one of our legal eagles were to weigh in on this, but to me, it sounds like a bill of attainder. Bills of attainder - laws punishing a specific person or group of persons - are specifically prohibited by the Constitution.
Wikipedia, referring to United States v. Lovett (1946):
the Lovett Court said that a bill of attainder 1) specifically identified the people to be punished; 2) imposed punishment; and 3) did so without benefit of judicial trial.
So, this bill would identify a particular corporation to be punished (corporations are people too, per SCOTUS), and it imposes the punishment (revocation of a tax break) without judicial trial.
Like I said, IANAL, so I’d welcome commentary from one of our board lawyers, because we all know that even when the Constitution, let alone the law, appears to be cut and dried, it often isn’t.
It is quite amusing that they’re calling this an instance of ‘cancel culture.’ It doesn’t ‘cancel’ anyone! Nobody’s free speech has been interfered with; nobody’s even been denied a platform here. (The game hasn’t even been canceled, just relocated.)
But maybe this’ll get them to realize that athletes kneeling before ballgames isn’t so bad by comparison. (Oddly enough, their efforts to try to get the networks televising the games to not show the kneeling athletes…that’s apparently not ‘cancel culture’ even though it would deprive said athletes of a platform. I know, expecting consistency from conservatives is futile.)
I, for one, find it… Amusing, I guess? that capitalism is working to save democracy, and might be the only thing that can succeed.
Capitalists want the game rigged in their favor, to be sure.
But even they can recognize that they can’t win if the game turns negative sum.
The Associated Press reports that on Wednesday, the bill stalled in the Alabama Senate Judiciary Committee. How come? “During a hearing, two conservative groups objected because of yoga’s historic ties to Hinduism.” When they aren’t turning your kids Muslim I guess they’re exercising them into Hinduism? It’s hard to say how this works in the mind of the right.
The Alabama Citizens Action Program (ALCAP) legal adviser, Eric Johnston, told the Times that yoga’s important place in the Hindu religion made it dangerous; he said that “it does not need to be taught to small children in public schools.” ALCAP was one of the groups testifying against the bill in the senate committee. To be clear, Johnston says that he does not oppose the practice of yoga as it’s already accepted and taught at some Christian churches. The issue is the slippery slope defense that the religious right has used for years. “You cannot have any kind of religious activities in elementary schools.”
…
Emily Litella: “This is totally unfair to harmless cartoon characters. It’s cancel culture to prohibit Yogi in classrooms. It’s not like he’s naked; he wears a tie and hat.”
Newscaster: “It’s ‘yoga’, not ‘Yogi’.”
E.T.: “Nevermind.”
That bear is a terrible example to the schoolkids! Swiping pic-a-nic baskets from unsuspecting parkgoers. What sort of values are we going to teach the young generation?
It seems that Alabama Republican legislators are not smarter than the average bear.
“The best things in Life are free, when you steal them from the bourgeoisie.” - Country Joe McDonald
They’re not smarter than the average beer, either.
Oh, yeah. That old saw …
Touching your toes lets the devil in … er … the back door (or something like that).
#Murica !
Donation fraud
“Online donors were guided into weekly recurring contributions. Demands for refunds spiked. Complaints to banks and credit card companies soared. But the money helped keep Donald Trump’s struggling campaign afloat.”
We must spare a thought for the poor Republicans, who are flummoxed at every turn by their basic inability to understand simple logic and motivation.
Someone really should start a charitable foundation for these benighted souls.
\
This is a story and a half. Apparently the pre-checked boxes through which the suckers, er, donors gave the Trump people free access to their assets, were filled with miles of verbiage, with the kicker (that the donations would be ‘recurring,’ etc.) in fine print that most didn’t see. A non-firewalled source shows the relevant charts and screenshots:
What is that, Matt Gaetz’s last birthday party?
IIRC Ann Hedonia had a whopper of a post about dealing with those shmucks.
Mike Huckabee:
I’ve decided to “identify” as Chinese. Coke will like me, Delta will agree with my “values” and I’ll probably get shoes from Nike & tickets to MLB games. Ain’t America great?
Here, in case you missed it.