Bad Decisions

 We've taken a remarkable step backwards. 

In a head-spinning 28 hour stretch this past Thursday and Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court (in ascending order of concern) struck down the strictest concealed-carry law in the country, protected police officers from lawsuits if they forget to read the Miranda rights, and overturned Roe v. Wade. While this doesn't completely outlaw abortion in the US, it will allow 26 states to ban any form of pregnancy termination, while possibly overwhelming clinics in the other 24 states. 

This is a rallying point for Christian and social conservatives, a dwindling but obnoxiously vocal minority. Otherwise, this is the most unpopular SCOTUS decision in recent memory. This is the culmination of a brick by brick Republican takeover of SCOTUS, one that began in early 2016, when then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said it too close to a presidential election for President Obama to appoint Merrick Garland to succeed Antonin Scalia. That lead to three straight Trump appointees, stacking SCOTUS to the right by a 2:1 margin for the first time since the Reagan era. 

A short history lesson: even though there were over a dozen consecutive Republican SCOTUS appointees between 1969 and 1993 (Carter had zero) justices like John Paul Stevens and Sandra Day O'Connor proved more moderate or pragmatic than the average tighty righty. That time period included Roe v. Wade in 1973, where a court with five Republican appointees voted 7-2 to legalize abortion as a right to privacy under due process. No one expected Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, or Amy Coney Barrett to make a surprise flip. This ulterior motive was nakedly obvious. 

As a cisgender white male, I can't personally articulate the pain and anguish that I've seen from friends and acquaintances on social media over the last few days. I'm distraught, but I'm letting those directly affected speak first. There are no viable solutions in the short term, which is disheartening. All I can personally do is protest, show allyship, and wish that maybe 15-20 years down the road, a SCOTUS that tilts left can strike down Dobbs v. Jackson.

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I Reemerge

 This month marks 17 years since I started this blog. That might seem random, but I have a personal connection to that number. Regardless, thank you to everyone who's been reading this since the TV.com days and made the transition over to Blogspot. I know I've been very inconsistant about blogging during COVID, and I hope to rectify that over the summer. 

The school year is over, and for the time being I'm burned out. Though there are school districts that have management issues and far worse problems, having two long-term sub assignments in an understaffed school certainly augmented my struggles. Regardless, I've been a substitute for 12 years, and I still intend to fill in for teachers for a 13th. 

The last week of school was trouble compounded by more trouble. Beyond your typical end-of-year rowdiness, my Instagram was hacked on May 24th. Apparently, I replied to a friend's DM on the social media app, not realizing she was hacked. I did not disclose any personal information, all I did was reply. It took 29 days for Instagram to over any viable help; several attempts to contact tech support failed, but something went through on June 22nd. If you want to add me there, I'm @ohhimrallard. 

Then the dog died. Eight months after Duke crossed the rainbow bridge, Hank the Dachshund succumbed to an inoperable tumor in his bile duct. He was a good boy... most of the time. I had mixed feelings about my sister buying him in a pet shop, but he very gradually ingrained himself into the family. 

With that said, this has been an awful week in the news. I'll discuss that in my next dispatch. 

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