All posts by nedhamson

Activist, writer, researcher, addicted to sharing information and facts.

Fred Trump III calls uncle Donald Trump ‘atomic crazy,’ says he used racial slur decades ago – ABC News

Fred Trump III, the nephew of former President Donald Trump, said his uncle is “atomic crazy,” that he witnessed him using racial slurs decades ago — and that he plans to vote for Kamala Harris.

The Trump way was to be “complex and sometimes cruel,” Fred Trump said in an interview with ABC News’ Aaron Katersky.

“And within every family — people know this — families are complicated. Every family has their crazy uncle. My Uncle Donald is atomic crazy. And … he has put his mark on the family history,” he said, as he promoted his new book, “All in the Family: The Trumps and How We Got This Way.”

Pressed to explain further, Fred Trump said it “means he does things that, even as much as I know him when he’s out there now, I sort of shudder and say, ‘Is this the same guy I knew? What’s making him change? … What got him this way?’ But that all being said, I’ve always had a good relationship.”

He added, “But he’s done really horrific things to me, which some people will say, ‘How could you still want to have a relationship with him?’ He’s my uncle. He’s family, and that means a lot.”

Source: Fred Trump III calls uncle Donald Trump ‘atomic crazy,’ says he used racial slur decades ago – ABC News

Cu bună știință – ore de drum

Salamanca, 2022

Am pășit într-o instituție cu program de vizite turistice foarte restrâns, în Universitatea Pontificala iezuită, cu gândul la pățaniile liderului acestui ordin analizat și controversat, Sf.Ignațiu de Loyola, un personaj aventuros emanat de ținutul basc, sărbătorit de catolici în fiecare an la 31 iulie.

Am încercat să dau de urma gândurilor și a energiilor care l-au mânat în Salamanca, pentru că fondarea acestei instituții sub egida iezuită se datorează, fără dubii, șederii sale aici…

Source: Cu bună știință – ore de drum

Here’s How the GOP Platform Could Lead to a Nationwide Abortion Ban – Mother Jones

…Kristan Hawkins, the president of Students for Life of America, an influential anti-abortion advocacy group.

In an interview published Monday, Hawkins told the New York Times that, contrary to some mainstream headlines, the latest GOP platform does not represent a “softening” on abortion.

Instead, Hawkins said what leading reproductive rights scholars Mary Ziegler and Rachel Rebouché told me weeks ago: The invoking of the Fourteenth Amendment in the newest GOP platform could grant full citizenship and rights to fetuses—thus offering an avenue to potentially banning abortion nationwide…

Source: Here’s How the GOP Platform Could Lead to a Nationwide Abortion Ban – Mother Jones

Cure For A Broken Supreme Court | Filosofa’s Word

Public confidence in the U.S. Supreme Court was already at an all-time low, when just before leaving for their lengthy vacation on July 1st, the Court published its ruling on presidential immunity – a ruling that enables almost unlimited powers to a president, sitting or former, to break the laws that apply to the rest of us.  In the past two years, the Court has done more damage than any before, throwing out women’s rights, giving a nod to more lethal weapons in the hands of anyone who wishes to kill, and now giving presidents the right to do just about anything they damn well please.  Today, I have zero confidence in the Court’s willingness to do the right thing, to follow their conscience, for they have no conscience – only arrogance and greed.

President Biden would very much like to rein in the Court, to diminish some of its power – a move I fully agree with, but one which is unlikely to fly in light of today’s contrary do-nothing Congress.  However, I want to share with you the OpEd that President Biden wrote and published in The Washington Post yesterday.  It makes perfect sense and if it has a flaw, it’s that it doesn’t go far enough!


JOE BIDEN: MY PLAN TO REFORM THE SUPREME COURT AND ENSURE NO PRESIDENT IS ABOVE THE LAW

We can and must prevent the abuse of presidential power and restore the public’s faith in our judicial system.

By President Joe Biden

29 July 2024

This nation was founded on a simple yet profound principle: No one is above the law. Not the president of the United States. Not a justice on the Supreme Court of the United States. No one.

But the Supreme Court’s 6-3 decision on July 1 to grant presidents broad immunity from prosecution for crimes they commit in office means there are virtually no limits on what a president can do. The only limits will be those that are self-imposed by the person occupying the Oval Office.

If a future president incites a violent mob to storm the Capitol and stop the peaceful transfer of power — like we saw on Jan. 6, 2021 — there may be no legal consequences.

And that’s only the beginning.

On top of dangerous and extreme decisions that overturn settled legal precedents — including Roe v. Wade — the court is mired in a crisis of ethics. Scandals involving several justices have caused the public to question the court’s fairness and independence, which are essential to faithfully carrying out its mission of equal justice under the law. For example, undisclosed gifts to justices from individuals with interests in cases before the court, as well as conflicts of interest connected with Jan. 6 insurrectionists, raise legitimate questions about the court’s impartiality.

I served as a U.S. senator for 36 years, including as chairman and ranking member of the Judiciary Committee. I have overseen more Supreme Court nominations as senator, vice president and president than anyone living today. I have great respect for our institutions and the separation of powers.

What is happening now is not normal, and it undermines the public’s confidence in the court’s decisions, including those impacting personal freedoms. We now stand in a breach.

That’s why — in the face of increasing threats to America’s democratic institutions — I am calling for three bold reforms to restore trust and accountability to the court and our democracy.

First, I am calling for a constitutional amendment called the No One Is Above the Law Amendment. It would make clear that there is no immunity for crimes a former president committed while in office. I share our Founders’ belief that the president’s power is limited, not absolute. We are a nation of laws — not of kings or dictators.

Second, we have had term limits for presidents for nearly 75 years. We should have the same for Supreme Court justices. The United States is the only major constitutional democracy that gives lifetime seats to its high court. Term limits would help ensure that the court’s membership changes with some regularity. That would make timing for court nominations more predictable and less arbitrary. It would reduce the chance that any single presidency radically alters the makeup of the court for generations to come. I support a system in which the president would appoint a justice every two years to spend 18 years in active service on the Supreme Court.

Third, I’m calling for a binding code of conduct for the Supreme Court. This is common sense. The court’s current voluntary ethics code is weak and self-enforced. Justices should be required to disclose gifts, refrain from public political activity and recuse themselves from cases in which they or their spouses have financial or other conflicts of interest. Every other federal judge is bound by an enforceable code of conduct, and there is no reason for the Supreme Court to be exempt.

All three of these reforms are supported by a majority of Americans — as well as conservative and liberal constitutional scholars. And I want to thank the bipartisan Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court of the United States for its insightful analysis, which informed some of these proposals.

We can and must prevent the abuse of presidential power. We can and must restore the public’s faith in the Supreme Court. We can and must strengthen the guardrails of democracy.

In America, no one is above the law. In America, the people rule.

Source: Cure For A Broken Supreme Court | Filosofa’s Word