Alito was not nor are the GOP naive enough to think that just because it’s illegal it won’t happen. That guarantee should be dismissed. America is at a crossroads. It either does what’s necessary to get it’s democracy back in the ends of it’s people or it abandons Jefferson’s ideas and lets Putin, the NRA, the Tea Party and Zuckerberg write us a new Constitution. I hope Russia and the NRA did put rubles into the last election. And I hope they get caught. I hope Russia did meddle in the last election and did so with Trump’s approval and I hope they get caught. That’s the only scenario that puts the brakes on a Democracy slipping away from it’s people for 35 years or so.
16 Likes
Not bad for them now. The Justice Department won’t touch them but they’ll suffer in the court of public opinion and they’ll not be able to do it again. It will also set the table for a “reform” political candidate. One will to put it to FaceBook, Russia and the NRA. And SCOTUS will be forced to accept defeat and fix CU.
1 Like
Lock them up! LOCK THEM ALL UP!
5 Likes
Don’t ya hate it when Momma Corp actually gets back to working the mission statement.
1 Like
It doesn’t. Most people think the intent of CU was to open this up. Falling back on “it’s illegal so it won’t happen” would be a silly way to justify abandoning speed limits. They only reason you’d seek to eliminate speed limits is to speed. The only reason you’d seek to ditch limits on political spending and to know the identity of those doing the spending is so you can have this. This is not “just happening right now”. Russia’s has been playing a long game of low buck resurgence. I’m sure they were all in on CU.
8 Likes
“Alexander Torshin, who is a long-time ally of the NRA.”
I am curious to know how his rallying efforts for unfettered gun access are doing in his native Country…???
Yep, thought as much.
4 Likes
With an assist from the American Civil Liberties Union! Which is the #1 problem I have with their insistence that $$$ = Free Speech!
2 Likes
I like your sense of humor: the three words are not etymologically related, except insofar as they all come to us from versions of Greek.
I also like digressions. Why, some of my best friends are digressions.
2 Likes
Pay-per-view?
8 Likes
Yes, and you do it by pretending that the First Amendment (1) says what it doesn’t say; and (2) is absolute.
8 Likes
Excellent article, Ms. Kirkland. Thank you for doing this important work.
(And thanks again to Mr. Thielman for the preceding article.)
8 Likes
Yes, of course it did.
So did Alito and Roberts get their cut? Gorsuch wants to know.
4 Likes
Clearly the more accurate name for the decision would be “Authoritarians United.”
11 Likes
There is no question that John Roberts and Scalia were fully warned of the high probability that our enemies could setup shell corporations and funnel money to influence elections in a direction that would help them neutralize or even bring down the US.
Fast forward: There is no question that the Chinese and the Russians have taken full advantage of Citizens Untied in combination with the highly corrupting US rigged so called capitalistic economic system. Like no other nation other than Israel on the planet, money rules in the US…and it has transformed the US in the last 20 yearsof Republican rule into a corrupt system that is imploding.
History will view John Roberts tenure at the Supreme Court as one of the most damaging and destructive courts to the US Democracy and individual rights in World History…not just US History.
9 Likes
If it becomes clear that the weakness of our campaign finance laws played a role in Trump-Russia, we need to be ready to take advantage of that opportunity to push through laws that will clean up our elections. It’ll be a once-in-a-lifetime chance.
7 Likes
It’s a losing battle, but I do wish that progressives would call that organization by its full name, Citizens United Not Timid. Or, heck, just use the acronym.
1 Like
Did Citizens United Help Russians Funnel Money To NRA?
Is the Pope Catholic?
3 Likes
There are 4 reliable votes on the SCOTUS to declare that freedom of speech includes the right of foreign dictators to spend money in our political campaigns…well, so long as the funds are used to elect Republicans.
Kennedy probably would agree the original ruling is flawed, but would more likely insist that it’s up to congress to fix the problem. However, even that level of resistance to a Russian takeover of our political system is in danger of disappearing. We’re one retirement away from the right wing fever dream of completely repealing 120 years of social and economic progress.
7 Likes
Is this one of those handy ‘Antichrist’ situations?