The Rudy

God gets blamed for a lot of bad stuff that happens and people ask "How could God let that happen?" Or they say, "I don't believe in God because if He existed, He wouldn't let all this bad stuff happen." I just don't think God has anything to do with bad stuff happening. Natural disasters happen because of things like weather and shifts in the earth's crust. People get sick because of viruses and infections and cancer cells growing rampantly. Mass shootings happen because crazy people get a gun and go shoot a bunch of people. God isn't some guy sitting on a throne micromanaging the universe and causing all this stuff to happen just to make you miserable or causing good stuff to happen just to make you happy. I don't think God is a guy at all. I think God is love. God is always there. In the background. In the foreground. Just keeps flowing through everything and always there to tap into whenever you need it. Pretty simple, but it works for me.

Don't be fooled folks, the United States Supreme Court is now a completely politicized branch of government and it's controlled by Republicans who can be expected to march in lock-step with the radical right-wing agenda of the party of Trump. People are looking at the relative young age of the Republican members of the Court and saying the Court will be conservative for a generation. Not necessarily so! Surprisingly, the number of Supreme Court Justices is not set by the constitution. The Judiciary Act of 1869 (now codified as 28 U.S.C. §1) fixes the number of Supreme Court justices at 9. That means that it will not take a constitutional amendment to change the number of members of the Supreme Court. FDR famously proposed raising the number to 15 which would have enabled him to "pack the court" with Justices sympathetic to this political agenda.FDR's plan could have been accomplished by a simple act of Congress. However, even members of his own party in Congress balked at the idea. Democrats are despondent today because Mitch McConnell denied a hearing to President Obama's nominee, Merrick Garland and ultraconservatives Neil Gorsuch (51 years old) and Brett Kavanaugh (53 years old) have been elevated to the Court. Liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is 86 years old. Odds are, she will be the next Justice to retire which could shift the balance of power even further to the right if Trump gets a chance to nominate her replacement. But don't despair. We don't have to endure a generation of regressive rulings from a 5-4 or even 6-3 ultra right-wing Supreme Court. We don't have to just sit back and wait for these radical conservative members of the Court to retire or die. Democrats need to rally their voters and take back the Senate in the 2018 mid-terms next month. That will enable Democrats to use the Merrick Garland precedent set by Mitch McConnell to block any future Trump nominees. Then we need elect a democratic president in 2020. At that point, assuming there is a Democratic majority in both houses of Congress, it will be a simple matter to pack the Court by amending 28 U.S.C. §1 to raise the number of members of the Supreme Court to 15 and pack the Court with liberal Democrats who can promptly reverse any decisions handed down by the Supreme Court in the next 2 years. The 2018 mid-term election is the most important in history.

https://youtu.be/_FnKruz-zUY

Lyrics

If my words did glow with the gold of sunshine
And my tunes were played on the harp unstrung
Would you hear my voice come through the music
Would you hold it near as it were your own?
It's a hand-me-down, the thoughts are broken
Perhaps they're better left unsung
I don't know, don't really care
Let there be songs to fill the air
Ripple in still water
When there is no pebble tossed
Nor wind to blow
Reach out your hand if your cup be empty
If your cup is full may it be again
Let it be known there is a fountain
That was not made by the hands of men
There is a road, no simple highway
Between the dawn and the dark of night
And if you go no one may follow
That path is for your steps alone
Ripple in still water
When there is no pebble tossed
Nor wind to blow
You who choose to lead must follow
But if you fall you fall alone
If you should stand then who's to guide you?
If I knew the way I would take you home

Ripple "Ripple" montage. Words by Robert Hunter, Music by Jerry Garcia. Performed by The Rudy