It is difficult to add much to the tributes being shared on social media right now. The trail-blazing life of Ruth Bader Ginsburg left an indelible mark on this nation. She was the living embodiment of gender equality. She fought her way through the door and into the room where it happens.
She was a consistent voice of reason on the Supreme Court. She understood the importance of civil rights and the value of our democracy. She never wavered in her belief that the Constitution of the United States was meant to protect freedom, not oppress it. She held firm to that sacred conviction even as cancer kept trying to silence her voice.
This diminutive giant finally passed away at 87 yesterday, but her voice will never be silenced. It will echo throughout this country for a long, long time. Every women who has felt objectified in the workplace owes her a debt of gratitude. Every little girl who dares to dream big dreams will remember her name. Her life was proof that a woman can be brilliant, kind and determined all at the same time.
Even if Ruth Bader Ginsburg had never sat on the Supreme Court her work as a lawyer would have left a lasting legacy. If you have not seen the film "On The Basis Of Sex" you should. It is a profile in courage about a woman who simply refused to allow discrimination to stand.
We knew her death would launch a political firestorm. We didn't expect Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to step on her memory the day she died. His announcement to immediately replace her may have been the most callous moment in the history of American politics. People were just absorbing the news when McConnell turned it political. Never has the difference between integrity and dishonor been more clear. The Republicans did not allow the country to mourn the loss of an American icon. They made it about them.
It is doubtful that Senate Republicans can get a confirmation hearing done before the Nov. 3 election. Beyond the mere logistical challenge many Republican senators in tight races don't want that kind of circus right before the election. They don't want McConnell's hypocrisy of blocking Merrick Garland's appointment in 2016 to take center stage. They would prefer to proceed during the lame duck session after the election. But that's no slam dunk. Three Republican senators have already indicated their preference to allow Joe Biden to make the pick if he wins the election. If one more GOP senator joins them McConnell's ploy will fail.
That is why it is so crucial to defeat Donald Trump on Nov. 3. If he wins the Supreme Court will have a 6-3 conservative split. The progressive dream will die in court for decades. Everything RBG fought for her entire life could be lost.
So vote. Get your friends to vote. Donate money to a candidate. Carry a sign. Work at a phone bank. Write a letter to the editor. Do whatever you can to preserve a life's work that's worth preserving. Do it for her. She earned it.
DEAR RED STATES... WE'VE DECIDED WE'RE LEAVING.
We've decided we're leaving. We intend to form our own country, and we're taking the other Blue States with us. In case you aren't aware, that includes Hawaii, Oregon, California, New Mexico, Washington, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois and all the Northeast.
We believe this split will be beneficial to the nation, and especially to the people of the new country of New Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam and Washington D.C. We also get Costco and Boeing.
To sum up briefly: You get Texas, Oklahoma and all the slave states. We get stem cell research and the best beaches.
We get the Statue of Liberty. You get Branson, Missouri.
We get Intel and Microsoft. You get WorldCom. We get 85 percent of America's venture capital and entrepreneurs. You get Alabama. We get two-thirds of the tax revenue, you get to make the red states pay their fair share. Since our aggregate divorce rate is 22 percent lower than the Christian Coalition's, we get a bunch of happy families.
Please be aware that Nuevo California will be pro-choice and
anti-war, and we're going to want all our citizens back from Iraq at once. If you need people to fight, ask your evangelicals. They have kids they're apparently willing to send to their deaths for no purpose, and they don't care if you don't show pictures of their children's caskets coming home.
With the Blue States in hand, we will have firm control of 80 percent of the country's fresh water, more than 90 percent of the pineapple and lettuce, 92 percent of the nation's fresh fruit, 95 percent of America's quality wines (you can serve French wines at state dinners) 90 percent of all cheese, 90 percent of the high tech industry, most of the U.S. low-sulfur coal, all living redwoods, sequoias and condors, all the Ivy and Seven Sister schools, plus Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Cal Tech and MIT.
With the Red States, on the other hand, you will have to cope with 88 percent of all obese Americans (and their projected health care costs), 92 percent of all U.S. mosquitoes, nearly 100 percent of the tornadoes, 90 percent of the hurricanes, 99 percent of all Southern Baptists, virtually 100 percent of all televangelists, Rush Limbaugh, Alex Jones and Rand Paul.
We get Hollywood and Yo*se*mi*te, thank you.
Additionally, 62 percent of you believe life is sacred unless we're discussing the death penalty or gun laws, 44 percent say that evolution is only a theory, 53 percent that Saddam was involved in 9/11 and 61 percent of you crazy bastards believe you are people with higher morals then we lefties.
Oh, and you can have all The new Corona cases since you're too dumb and self- centered to wear a mask.
Peace out, we are the people!
Thank you Angelica Kefalas
“Sixty years ago, Ruth Bader Ginsburg applied to be a Supreme Court clerk. She’d studied at two of our finest law schools and had ringing recommendations. But because she was a woman, she was rejected. Ten years later, she sent her first brief to the Supreme Court — which led it to strike down a state law based on gender discrimination for the first time. And then, for nearly three decades, as the second woman ever to sit on the highest court in the land, she was a warrior for gender equality — someone who believed that equal justice under law only had meaning if it applied to every single American.
Over a long career on both sides of the bench — as a relentless litigator and an incisive jurist — Justice Ginsburg helped us see that discrimination on the basis of sex isn’t about an abstract ideal of equality; that it doesn’t only harm women; that it has real consequences for all of us. It’s about who we are — and who we can be.
Justice Ginsburg inspired the generations who followed her, from the tiniest trick-or-treaters to law students burning the midnight oil to the most powerful leaders in the land. Michelle and I admired her greatly, we’re profoundly thankful for the legacy she left this country, and we offer our gratitude and our condolences to her children and grandchildren tonight.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg fought to the end, through her cancer, with unwavering faith in our democracy and its ideals. That’s how we remember her. But she also left instructions for how she wanted her legacy to be honored.
Four and a half years ago, when Republicans refused to hold a hearing or an up-or-down vote on Merrick Garland, they invented the principle that the Senate shouldn’t fill an open seat on the Supreme Court before a new president was sworn in.
A basic principle of the law — and of everyday fairness — is that we apply rules with consistency, and not based on what’s convenient or advantageous in the moment. The rule of law, the legitimacy of our courts, the fundamental workings of our democracy all depend on that basic principle. As votes are already being cast in this election, Republican Senators are now called to apply that standard. The questions before the Court now and in the coming years — with decisions that will determine whether or not our economy is fair, our society is just, women are treated equally, our planet survives, and our democracy endures — are too consequential to future generations for courts to be filled through anything less than an unimpeachable process.”
Link: https://obama.medium.com/my-statement-on-the-passing-of-justice-ruth-bader-ginsburg-5a925b627457
My Statement on the Passing of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Sixty years ago, Ruth Bader Ginsburg applied to be a Supreme Court clerk. She’d studied at two of our finest law schools and had ringing recommendations. But because she was a woman, she was rejected. Ten years later, she sent her first brief to the Supreme Court — which led it to strike down a state law based on gender discrimination for the first time. And then, for nearly three decades, as the second woman ever to sit on the highest court in the land, she was a warrior for gender equality — someone who believed that equal justice under law only had meaning if it applied to every single American.
Over a long career on both sides of the bench — as a relentless litigator and an incisive jurist — Justice Ginsburg helped us see that discrimination on the basis of sex isn’t about an abstract ideal of equality; that it doesn’t only harm women; that it has real consequences for all of us. It’s about who we are — and who we can be.
Justice Ginsburg inspired the generations who followed her, from the tiniest trick-or-treaters to law students burning the midnight oil to the most powerful leaders in the land. Michelle and I admired her greatly, we’re profoundly thankful for the legacy she left this country, and we offer our gratitude and our condolences to her children and grandchildren tonight.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg fought to the end, through her cancer, with unwavering faith in our democracy and its ideals. That’s how we remember her. But she also left instructions for how she wanted her legacy to be honored.
Four and a half years ago, when Republicans refused to hold a hearing or an up-or-down vote on Merrick Garland, they invented the principle that the Senate shouldn’t fill an open seat on the Supreme Court before a new president was sworn in.
A basic principle of the law — and of everyday fairness — is that we apply rules with consistency, and not based on what’s convenient or advantageous in the moment. The rule of law, the legitimacy of our courts, the fundamental workings of our democracy all depend on that basic principle. As votes are already being cast in this election, Republican Senators are now called to apply that standard. The questions before the Court now and in the coming years — with decisions that will determine whether or not our economy is fair, our society is just, women are treated equally, our planet survives, and our democracy endures — are too consequential to future generations for courts to be filled through anything less than an unimpeachable process.
I hope there is still time to undo the damage.
LINK
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