All this Russian Buggery of the US ties directly back to the Citizens United Decision

[Pryderi]

"Last week, the Supreme Court reversed a century of law that I believe will open the floodgates for special interests – including foreign corporations – to spend without limit in our elections." - President Obama 2010 SOTU

[Unclephil]

1. Justice kennedy

That piece of shit who recommended kavanaugh authored this. How did Kennedy ever get a reputation for being a moderate? He was on the wrong side of every important decision. Total asshole.

[Kid Berwyn]

7. Anthony Kennedy's son helped Trump to a billion in loans at Deutschebank

“Say hello to your boy. Special guy.”

https://www.businessinsider.com/anthony-kennedy-son-loaned-president-trump-over-a-billion-dollars-2018-6

[usaf-vet]

14. Take this case. And Trump's kids on the payroll. Same with Pence's family members.....

Gop Senator's family members getting high paying government jobs. Trump's cabinet family members the same corrupt dealings.

Yet with all the corrupt GOP nepotism, they continue to whine about Joe and Hunter Biden.

We need one of our talented DU graphic artists to put together a graphic that lays out all the nepotism of the GOP hierarchy.

A graphic that we all can use to counter the but, but, but Joe and Hunter.

It's starting to be the but, but, but Hillary's emails of 2016.

FINALLY WHERE THE HELL IS THE PRESS. WHY AREN'T THEY COUNTERING THE JOE & HUNTER BIDEN meme?

[Pepsidog]

22. Nothing sticks to Republicans, everything sticks to the Dems.

[certainot]

34. that's the difference 1200 putin-fed radio stations, at $1000/hr worth over $5BIL/yr FREE, make

especially because liberals/dems ignore it.

money in politics?

$1000 x 15 hrs/day x 1200 radio stations = about $5BIL/yr FREE and paid for by advertisers who need to see protests sand boycotts until the ad industry is forced to finally apply market demand to RW radio. when the ad industry has to ask advertisers if they really want to support trump/racism/global warming it will destroy the RW radio monopoly.

a pack of idiot media analysts on MSNBC this morn continued blaming fox for this orange shit. they must all live in cities and it's the biggest political mistake in history not to factor in 30 years x $5BIL/yr in talk radio unchallenged repetition.

[Pepsidog]

38. I agree completely. Fox is who we think of reflexively, but you are correct, 1200

rw radio stations go uncontested. Citizens United was the dagger through the heart of democracy. The memory of Alito shaking his head when Obama called him out at the State of the Union is haunting.

[CrispyQ]

25. For some reason, the corporations that own the media don't seem to care if we go fascist.

Not sure why they aren't concerned with a madman who accuses most of them of being fake news. Why do they think they will be secure if we go full on authoritarian? I hope they are not suffering from "it can't happen here" syndrome. I have lots of family & friends who have that.

[DENVERPOPS]

32. Republican Oligarchs

have been gobbling up ownership of our news media for decades. TV, Cable, print media........someone once told me that 80% of all U.S. media is owned by like 8 wealthy republicans......not sure, but the way they all report the news I could believe it!!!!!!!!!

there used to be rules about how much public media could be owned by one person or one entity. Like one or two.
Reagan (HW Bush, Cheney, etc) changed it to have no limits as I have remember...............

The 1980 "election" should have been a wake up call to everyone...But for alot of people, they just figured they had all done their duty of voting and that the elected officials would actually go to Washington and do what they promised, run the county as they preached they would do during their campaigns.........

I became politically active in about 1981 when I saw all the shit Reagan's administration was doing. Things that would be extremely destructive to Americans at that time, and most assuredly in the future years and decades......

And here we are folks................Nixon, Reagan, HW Bush, W Bush, and the current Senate Republicans, The Republican controlled Dept. Of Jusice, the Republican Controlled Supreme Court, This totally corrupt Republican President, an ever increasing number of Republican Judges across the entire U.S. Court system, and on and on and on.......
Oh, and don't forget the 65 million voters they have brainwashed to assist in this nearly completed Check Mate Coup.......

[certainot]

36. democracy was flawed but was still somewhat working then. the diff last 30yrs is talk radio and

yet the MSNBC panel this morning continued the biggest political mistake in history - ignoring talk radio and blaming fox

limbaugh and sons on 1200 stations had almost 10 years to blast the country (before fox) with corporations are people, money is free speech, media deregulation will lower costs, liberal media etc - democrats listened to music

if americans want media reregulation and progressive pres candidates start with talk radio - trump and the right's most import weapon - now attacking investigators, witnesses, and GOP pols who might think of being patriotic - and it's most vulnerable

[DENVERPOPS]

37. Didn't we try that with

Air America???????

The problem then, and more so now is the mass of Republican owned Media wouldn't put it on the air?????????

the only reason MSNBC even allows Rachel Maddow on the air is that she is the most watched political program in America, even more so than Hannity etc etc. MSNBC just can't not allow that kind of goldmine advertising profits........

[certainot]

39. air america was mom and pop vs walmart and walmart sabotaged them as well

it's never been about 'market demand'. rw keeps selling that, as if 95% of amerricans prefer the hate and lies and ignorance and russian propaganda.....

when the ad industry has to stop bundling advertisers onto those stations to support putin's most important propaganda tool and has to ask clients if they really want to support trump etc it will fall apart

[Pepsidog]

40. They will care when a fascist dictator turns us into another Russia. The first thing they will

take control of is the media. Zuckerberg up Trump’s ass, well does anyone have any doubt that if he could Trump would take Facebook from Zuckerberg. So all these industrialists and Wall Street Tycoons better hope they are on the inside of the next American Dictator is they get their piece of the pie. Just like Putin allowed state owned industry to be distributed to the oligarchs.

[Kid Berwyn]

26. Media owners love the tax cuts, among other things. They are "Them" who're in on it.

Until the media put country above profits, we need to do the lifting.



Here’s a good resource:

https://www.needtoimpeach.com/corruption/nepotism-rampant-trump-administration/

[irisblue]

28. He was wrong on many, but for LGBTQ cases, he was surprisingly good

Source-https://constitutioncenter.orgblog/justice-kennedys-legacy-in-the-gay-rights-decisions


Cases-1996-Romer v. Evans

-2003-Lawrence v. Texas

-2013-United States v. Windsor

-2015-Obergefell v. Hodges



He was on the right side of these cases.


Welcome to DU Uncle phil

[Unclephil]

31. One in a million

and I maintain Citizen's United is far more reaching as a decision..

[irisblue]

33. As I said, welcome to DU. Kennedys' body of work is long.

[I_UndergroundPanther]

51. And don't forget the onerous Patriot act.

[BadgerMom]

29. Buttigieg commented to the effect he'd look for SC Justice

nominees who were like Kennedy. I know cancel culture is short-sighted, but in selecting our nominee, comments like that are powerful indicators of who I want to vote for and support. That comment and his paltry support among Democratic voters of color have led me to send no funds his way and to assure he won’t get my primary vote. If he’s our nominee, of course, he’ll get my support and vote.

[Celerity]

46. no, that was chopped pull-quote hit job on Buttigieg that was thoroughly debunked

The tweet that pull-quoted and kicked it all off ignores his comments in the interview, in which he said his appointments would "definitely be people who share my values," and how depoliticising SCOTUS is personal to him because his marriage exists by a single vote on the court.

Link to tweet

These chop-quote hit jobs or outright misrepresentations (like the outright bullshit lie that Zuckerberg was closely advising his campaign) are almost almost always pushed HARD (and often started, even if not started in this case, put simply amplified) by the Sanderite/TYT/DSA/Jacobin/JD/David Sirota social media sphere, to the point where the shit gets into a trending position, then the mainstream media helps spreads the distortion.

This whole repetitive modus operandi and the Sanderite smear job artists (I am speaking about NON DU) like Nena Turner, TYT, Jacobin Magazine, and Sirota (who are amongst the masters of the it) are becoming so tiresome. They do it to Pete, Warren (especially her, they were the ones who kicked off the bullshit story about her teaching job and the pregnancy), Harris, Biden, Klobuchar, etc etc, basically anyone not named Sanders or Gabbard.

Here is a thread with a lot of my heavy lifting defending Warren (who is not even my first choice but who I constantly find myself defending from false attacks as well, lol) against a smear job started by a Jacobin writer, Meagan Day, which was picked up by the RW scum media who ran with it and blew it up nationally (I show ALL of that with documented links):

https://www.democraticunderground.com/1287303161#post18

[BadgerMom]

47. Good to know. Thank you.

[Celerity]

48. yw

[ProfessorGAC]

2. I Can Buy That

The pun was unintentional!

[uponit7771]

3. Obama ... TOLD ... the Chief Justice during a SOTU speech that fake companies would be able to

... contribute to campaigns !!!

Roberts literally shook his head at the time ...

[perfessor]

8. I remember

... that it was Alito shaking his head (I could be wrong). I also remember Obama responding, almost under his breath, "It's true." It was a personal one-on-one exchange during a nationally televised event. Remarkable.

[Buns_of_Fire]

11. I remembered it as Alito, too. It was notable at the time

because the justices normally just sit and don't react. But Alito seemed to take it as a personal affront. Jerk.

Oh, and welcome.

[KPN]

20. Because he knew he was wrong as did Roberts

and couldn’t help but physically react to cover for their sin.

[mjvpi]

12. That will become a "have you no decency " moment in history.

Hopefully played by future generations. And it was Alito. Roberts was responsible for Citizens United in the first place. He deserve mention anytime that fallout from that decision is discussed.

[uponit7771]

13. 👍🏼

[Pepsidog]

23. Wasn't it Alito as well shaking his head at the State of the Union address.

[uponit7771]

45. yes

[Dave in VA]

4. Exactly this!!!!!!!

[yaesu]

5. This is true, that decision opened the doors of political hell out to destroy this country. nt

[tiptonic]

6. Correct

That was the plan. I wonder how much Russian money, went into the pockets, of the lawyers and Supreme Court Justices (Roberts etc:.

[BootinUp]

9. It would be fantastic to link that in

And rebuild some momentum to correct it legislatively.

[Lonestarblue]

10. The SC under Roberts has made a number of bad decisions.

Roberts (and Scalia) will be remembered in history as the Chief Justice who opened the doors to massive gun ownership by conveniently ignoring the “well-regulated militia” part of the 2nd Amendment when he know quite well that that amendment was passed when the US did not have a standing army and the amendment allowed the government to call people up to serve when needed. In effect, the amendment should have been changed or eliminated after the US established an army.

The declaration that money is free speech just gave huge advantages to the wealthy because they could afford to buy more propaganda than the average person. And giving people the legal right to discriminate is also backfiring with states and local governments now passing laws allowing business owners and medical providers to refuse services to LGBTQ and women. So it’s now perfectly legal in some areas for an emergency room staff to refuse medical care for a woman with an ectopic pregnancy who will bleed to death without the embryo being removed. Ohio legislators pretending to be doctors are taking even this a step further by trying to pass a law requiring doctors to take the embryo from the fallopian tube and implant it in the uterus—a medical procedure that does not exist. These legislators are too ignorant to understand that ectopic pregnancies usually are found about six weeks after conception when the it is an unformed embryo, not a fetus.

Along with Citizens United, the Hobby Lobby decision was in my mind an establishment of the evangelical Christian religion by the government. I cannot understand how this does bot violate the 1st Amendment. While I was happy that Roberts supported the Affordable Care Act, overall his tenure has been mostly in favor of right-wing conservative causes and the SC has moved the country backwards.

[mjvpi]

17. It will be interesting to see if the Democrats,

Assuming we can take both houses and the Presidency, will legislate to dismantle CU. My bet is the most that they will do is to work to plug the holes in it and not dismember it. Big money rules

On second thought, this is an issue that the President should be able to shame the Congress into action. Too much money in politics is the one area that every MAGA person I have ever argued with agrees with me. This is an issue that the most progressive candidates are more outspoken on and, ironically, the citizens are united in their opposition.

[KPN]

21. Glad you had that second thought. The other

option amounts to acquiescence really.

[H2O Man]

15. Recommended.

I wish that I could recommend this 1,000 times. You nailed it!

[pecosbob]

16. I believe specifically in the case of Russia it only opened the tap further

When the Russians do things like this, they typically prepare decades in advance. Vlad's been planning these psyops since the 90's. It's undoubtedly a chapter in a much larger plan to destabilize the western democracies. You can bet the farm that Russia had been giving money to the NRA for decades.

Citizens United made what was already a terrible situation even worse, but these problems predated it.

[YOHABLO]

18. Probably the most damning decision for our Democracy.

How we turn this decision around I don't know. How we elect our public servants has been completely compromised by money. It's no wonder people have decided that it's a power greater than their vote, so they're staying home.

[bluestarone]

19. To me this needs to be overturned at

AT ANY COST! FIRST duty of 2020 victory!

[KPN]

24. It certainly didn't help and definitely made for

multiple layers and measures of Russian interference. Absent Citizens United, they might not have pulled it off.

Citizens United is a choke hold on democracy no matter how you look at it though; and absolutely needs to be overturned as a matter of priority if we do as a nation value democracy.

[grantcart]

27. Really? What connection?

Contributions by foreign companies was illegal and still illegal

Beyond that Russian interference wasn't done by foreign companies but by Russian intelligence services.

Mueller identified and indicted the individuals involved.

What happened in 16 was illegal and is still illegal.

[oldsoftie]

35. I think a lot of folks are missing that

[pecosbob]

41. Like somehow the billions in dark money that poured in from pacs prior to Citizens United

wasn't a problem for some here? You want to tear down the criminal enterprise that is the GOP and pour sunlight on their funding you have to go back a lot further than that ruling.

[uponit7771]

54. Ask Lev and Igor, their funding was caught after the fact ... which is just a tad bit

... below horrible.

[zentrum]

30. ++++100 Billion

[bucolic_frolic]

42. Stalin was Hitler's ally before he was ours

We tend to forget, or ignore

[Joinfortmill]

43. Yup.

Pray for RBG

[mahatmakanejeeves]

44. Please, must we besmirch the ancient and honorable practice of buggery by

associating it with Citizens United?

[UTUSN]

49. K&R

[czarjak]

50. I just remember Coulter was over the moon...

You knew it was bad news for the rest of us.

[UCmeNdc]

52. True!

[Ponietz]

53. This summer the Democracy for All Amendment was unanimously endorsed by Senate Dems

Our Democratic Senators unanimously endorsed a Democracy for All Amendment to the Constitution this summer: [link:https://www.tomudall.senate.gov/news/press-releases/udall-shaheen-and-all-senate-democrats-introduce-constitutional-amendment-to-overturn-citizens-united|

[yardwork]

55. So true.