The Kind-Hearted Smart Aleck

Podcast: I Feel Snitty Episode 202: The Extreme Court Premiere Date: 6/28/2022 Length: 10:22 (1,637 words) Link: https://ifeelsnitty.podbean.com/e/the-extreme-court/ Transcript:  Welcome to I Feel Snitty , episode 202, entitled, “The Extreme Court.” I’m your host, Craig Rozniecki.   Well, it happened. On Friday, June 24 th of 2022, after 50 years of protecting women’s reproductive rights, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade – leaving it up to the states to ultimately decide whether or not women should be treated as 2 nd -class citizens.   The votes were along ideological lines, at 6-3, and immediately after the decision was announced, Republican-led states – like Missouri – signed laws to make abortion illegal, except for in cases where men get pregnant, of course…   Extreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas added his no-sense two cents in the decision, writing, “In future cases, we should reconsider all of this Court’s substantive due process precede...

The latest episode of my podcast ("I Feel Snitty"), entitled, "The Extreme Court," is now available! Here's a brief description of it: In this episode, I tell anti-choice men without uteruses/uteri what they can do to themselves. The show can be heard here. - https://ifeelsnitty.podbean.com/e/the-extreme-court/

The latest episode of my podcast ("I Feel Snitty"), entitled "Supreme Jackasses," is now available! Here's a brief description of it:  In 2016, South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham said to use his own words against him. In this episode, I do just that, as well as put other hypocritical GOP senators in their rightful place. Rest In Power, RBG. Rest In Pieces, GOP. The show can be heard in its entirety here: https://ifeelsnitty.podbean.com/e/supreme-jackasses/

I think it's safe to say, just a year and a half into his tenure, Donald Trump is the worst, most embarrassing president in U.S. history. Amid all his mistakes, lies, and public embarrassments, Trump and his supporters have consistently been able to point toward one accomplishment: the Supreme Court. After the passing of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, then President Barack Obama nominated Merrick Garland. Congressional Republicans blocked this move, and after Donald Trump was inaugurated, he and Congressional Republicans successfully moved conservative Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court. Now that Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy has announced his retirement, it appears as if Donald Trump may very well be able to get another conservative judge onto the highest court in the land. Following the Gorsuch vote and now the Kennedy announcement, I've heard seemingly countless Republican talking heads saying, "You see how great President Trump is? He's done more in h...

Not long ago, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of a Colorado baker who refused to bake a wedding cake for a gay couple due to his religious beliefs. In the past 24 hours, it was reported that Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was asked to leave a Virginia restaurant due to her affiliation with the Trump administration. Since that time, members on Yelp , who have never experienced the restaurant, posted reviews based on their political beliefs. My question to all the before-mentioned parties is, is this really the America we want to be living in? I don't think the Supreme Court realizes what a mess they may have made with their bakery ruling. Can we now just refuse service to any person we may not agree with in one area or another? The Constitution may allow us to believe as we so choose, but the law is supposed to successfully counter any prejudices we may have and provide equality to all as a result. The baker may not personally agree with the morality of gay marriage, and ...

NRA spokesperson and woman most likely to be voted He-Babe of the Year by conservatives - Dana Loesch - just said the following about the recent Supreme Court Colorado bakery decision on her show, Relentless : "This is clearly a victory for Jack Phillips (the baker). The desire of really big, statist government progressives to force people to engage in expression, of course this whole bake the cake thing is far from over. But surprisingly, over in California, a judge just ruled that baker Cathy Miller, yet another baker, was under no obligation to make a wedding cake for a same-sex marriage. Now in the ruling, Kern County Superior Court Judge David Lampe said, quote, 'The right to freedom of speech under the First Amendment outweighs the State's interest in securing a freely accessible marketplace,' and 'the right of freedom of thought guaranteed by the First Amendment includes the right to speak, the right to refrain from speaking, and sometimes the most profoun...

When away from the workplace, people are free to believe as they so choose, no matter how discriminatory or inaccurate those beliefs might be. They're free to believe in God, worship the devil, pray to a stuffed rabbit they call Tiger. However, when at the workplace, while we're still free to believe such things, we can't use them to impose on the freedoms of others. At least, that's what I thought prior to the most recent wedding cake-bakery decision by the Supreme Court, which sided with Colorado baker Jack Phillips and his denial of wedding cake services to gay couples. I'm sorry, but how can we legitimately call ourselves the "land of the free," a believer in the Constitution, if, in professional settings, certain groups of people aren't protected by the law? Jack Phillips is free to believe in the Christian religion, but like everyone else, he has to make some sacrifices when he steps outside of his home and into his workplace. We may be afforde...

As most of the world has heard by now, former Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia was pronounced dead yesterday at 79-years-old. He was seen by many Republicans as the bedrock of the Supreme Court and of conservatism. Democrats, meanwhile, tended to see him as the largest obstacle in their fight for progression. While it was inevitable, especially in an election year, that Scalia's departure from SCOTUS would be talked about ad nauseam shortly after his death (and for days, weeks, and months to come), I was highly disappointed, to the point of embarrassment, by some fellow progressives' comments regarding the matter. Some were celebrating, exerting jubilation about the news, saying, "Today's a great day!" Look, I know many of us despised Justice Scalia with just about every fiber of our being, but even so, this was a human being, a person who had friends and family he left behind, and we should be much classier than to celebrate this tragic news.

Given the far-right's rhetoric I've heard over the past few years, it's extremely difficult for me to come away surprised by a fallacy used by such individuals to discredit the LGBT community as deserving of equal rights, especially with regard to marriage. The most common fallacy used by the anti-LGBT community is that of the slippery slope: "Well, if we legalize gay marriage, then what's next? Multiple spouses? Marrying animals? Marrying a pet rock named Softy?" In saying all of that, however, I'm still shaking my head by what Mississippi Supreme Court Justice Josiah Coleman recently said about the Supreme Court's same-sex marriage ruling. "[The Supreme Court's marriage equality decision is like] a United States Supreme Court decision that held the Constitution of the United States required every household in America to own a giraffe." No, actually, it's not. In what has to be one of the most bizarre, most ridiculous quotes I...

Those familiar with his quotes of the past shouldn't be at all surprised by this, but RedState editor-in-chief, Fox News contributor, and man with the most redundant name this side of Jar Jar Binks - Erick Erickson - decided to strike the head-up-his-own-ass pose once again when being recently asked by Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) president Russell Moore about America's culture wars and whether or not they were over. He responded with this: "No, I don't think the culture war is over primarily because the people who appear to be the victors right now are the least likely to procreate, so we will eventually breed them out of existence demographically. So the culture war continues and will continue. And I don't mean to be flippant by that statement. But if you look at the demographic trends in this country, in the next 50 years, the country will be filled with young Christian Hispanic families who listen to country music, and that's just - de...

Last night, I read an article by a pastor by the name of Rob Shepherd with regard to the Supreme Court's gay marriage ruling and how people on both sides of the marriage equality debate should be more empathetic of one another. To his credit, Shepherd wrote in a very respectful manner and seemed to genuinely believe what he was saying. In most instances, I'd say he makes a great point, but I don't think that's the case here. Both he and Fox News' Bill O'Reilly made sports analogies with regard to the public's reaction, saying that those celebrating were like sore winners, rubbing the victory in the face of their opponents, I'm sorry, but I just don't see things like that. I see it more like an athlete, embattled with health issues for most of his or her life, fighting through to qualify in and win a gold medal in the Olympics, and celebrating. This is what the LGBT community has had do deal with for all of their lives. Many tried to deny who they w...

Following the Supreme Court's landmark marriage equality ruling on Friday morning, social networking sites spread the news faster than the NRA spreads fear and paranoia, and while most of the posters (from my vantage point anyway) appeared to be in quite the celebratory mood, there were of course a few whom were disappointed. With regard to the latter group, one such post I read was a Facebook meme, attributed to Duck Dynasty 's Phil Robertson, but which was really said by pastor Rick Warren, and said this: "Our culture has accepted two huge lies. The first is that if you disagree with someone's lifestyle, you must fear or hate them. The second is that to love someone means you agree with everything they believe or do. Both are nonsense. You don't have to compromise convictions to be compassionate." First of all, these words weren't uttered by Phil Robertson, so please stop including his picture on the memes. Secondly, and more importantly, stop refe...

After the Supreme Court ruled in favor of marriage equality on Friday morning, it was all but inevitable that far-right politicians and talking heads would fill the airwaves with lovely commentary. Here are ten of my favorites: Canada: Some conservatives said, "If gay marriage is legalized here, we're moving to Canada!" First of all, why is it always Canada? I suppose it is our neighbor to the north, but still, whenever one threatens to move somewhere, it seems to always be Canada. Secondly, Canada legalized gay marriage in 2005, so it looks just a tad silly to move from one country, due to gay marriage being legalized, to another that's had it legalized for ten years. It reminds me of some conservatives' reaction to Obamacare. They said, "If Obamacare is passed, we're moving to Cuba!" Guess who has universal health care? That's right, Cuba. While these conservatives are at it, they should make the following threat: "If these gun control ...

So, I just looked outside and noticed the world hasn't ended yet. I know, shocking, isn't it? Sarcasm aside, it's about damn time! Some conservatives, however, seem to be confused by the word oppression , in claiming that the Supreme Court's ruling is an oppression on religious beliefs. I'm sorry, but that's not oppression. People are still free to believe as they so choose. Oppression is a person being disowned by family after coming to terms with who they are. Oppression is being fired from a job due to whom they're sexually attracted. Oppression is being denied hospital visit rights of a partner. Oppression is being denied service because of who a person is. Oppression is being beaten on the streets for looking a certain way. Oppression is being withheld equal rights under the law. The LGBT community has been oppressed for far too long and it's about damn time they're provided equal marriage rights! Congratulations to all of my gay and lesbian f...

Former George W. Bush Press Secretary and current co-host of the Fox News show, The Five , Dana Perino, joined fellow guests Lewis Black and Brad Garrett on The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore this past Thursday, where she uttered something I'm still scratching my head about three days later. When the three guests were discussing the Supreme Court's pending gay marriage decision and conservatives' comments to it, Wilmore noted that some conservatives blamed gay marriage for Hurricane Sandy, the mass killing of animals, 9/11, Sodom and Gomorrah, and 900,000 abortions over the next 30 years. He, Lewis Black, and Brad Garrett all laughed at the notion and poked fun of it along the way. Dana Perino then said, "Some people have blamed climate change for the same kinds of stuff." Hmm... Let's look at that comment a bit more closely. When's the last time someone blamed climate change for Sodom and Gomorrah? Never. When's the last time someone blamed cli...

I've felt for some time that Mike Huckabee has been veering further and further to the side I like to refer to as "crazy town," but based on his most recent such comments, it appears as if the man has now officially lost it and will now be permanently residing in crazy town. During a recent conference call with conservative pastors, organized by the uber-conservative Family Research Council, Huckabee made the following comments: - "Christian convictions are under attack as never before. Not just in our lifetime, but ever before in the history of this great nation. We are moving rapidly towards the criminalization of Christianity." - "If the courts rule that people have a civil right not only to be a homosexual but a civil right to have a homosexual marriage, then a homosexual couple coming to a pastor who believes in biblical marriage who says 'I can't perform that wedding' will now be breaking the law. It's not just saying, 'I...

Most importantly, as I've written about previously, the Supreme Court's Citizens United ruling in 2010 was awful for this country. Think people were fed up by big money in politics before the ruling? Of receiving seemingly countless fliers in the mail? Of seeing nothing put campaign commercials during dinner? Of thinking their voices meant little to nothing? Well, after the ruling, things just got worse on all of those fronts. Campaign spending increased, and with that, so too did the release of fliers and television ads, not to mention people's voices began feeling even smaller than before. But, while the ruling was awful for the country as a whole, it's also been awful for the Democratic Party. The Republican Party wasn't phased a great deal by the ruling. They've increasingly become the party of the top 1%, so to them, what would better give them a chance come election day than providing that very top 1% unlimited contribution capability? For the Democratic P...

While I proudly call myself progressive and tend to lean Democratic as far as party affiliation goes, I still can't stand the political system in this country. More than two parties should be able to have a legitimate chance at winning on election day. Voting should be encouraged and made easier, so that every eligible voice can be heard and counted. A national holiday should be implemented so more people are able to take election day seriously and make certain to go and vote. Corporations should not be able to donate unlimited dollars to certain candidates. Misleading ads should not be permitted. Every candidate should have a voice during debates. "News" personalities should not be able to persuade the public through lies (if they do, it should be made mandatory that the program is referred to as opinion and not "news"). Fact-checkers should be given more time after debates (and speeches) to sort through the questionable comments, as opposed to party representa...

In light of the Supreme Court's ruling on the Hobby Lobby contraception-mandate case, it seems that the far-right's defense to liberals' commentary about women's rights being limited is, "They (Hobby Lobby) still cover(s) 16 of 20 contraceptives. They just don't cover the abortion ones." First off, to me, that reads, "They still cover 80% of contraceptive options. That's 20% less than most such companies, but still, it's better than nothing. That'd be a solid B- in a college course. So, they'd carry with them a 3.00 or a 2.67 GPA, depending on the school they attended. So, yeah - far out, right on, and stuff." Secondly, they'd be scientifically inaccurate with the latter portion of the statement. The four contraceptives in question (Plan B, ella, and IUDs) do not cause abortions. Even leading medical authorities, such as the National Institute of Health and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, say as mu...