Talk about suffering fools, not gladly, but with mind-bending grace, patience, and poise. The SCOTUS confirmation hearings this week are enraging to listen to. I find myself just screaming at the TV before I come back to myself. But I did love the way Senator Mazie Hirono revealed Josh Hawley's diatribe to be the hollow thing it was. My favorite tweet on her brilliant dismantling of his arguments about nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson having handed down what he tried to characterize as the soft sentencing of a child predator was this: "Mazie Hirono just put Josh Hawley in the trunk and drove him to an undisclosed location." She did, too. And what is it with all these Republicans crowing about child predators when they did nothing about their emperor president and his pedophile friends, or about the child abusers sitting next to them on the GOP side of the congressional chamber. I guess they just want their out-of-context sound bites for Fox news and social media, to be swallowed whole by their Q-conspiracy base, no matter how absolutely idiotic they sound. Hello? Tom Cotton? I sat watching him with my mouth hanging open, wondering how this actual idiot managed to bumble his way into the Senate. I can only imagine the thoughts rolling through Ketanji Brown Jackson's brain at some of the Republican judiciary committee members' ridiculously irrelevant, spectacularly ignorant, yet breathtakingly entitled and aggressively racist questioning. On the other side of the room, Senator Cory Booker tried to balance the
scale. His voice quavered as he told the nominee how proud she made him,
how she was the dream of their ancestors, and a great American. Judge
Jackson’s eyes welled and a tear spilled over. I was so moved by Cory Booker's full-throated support of his sister in arms. But I
also knew the emotion in that moment was born of trauma, the shared
trauma of walking through America in black skin. Hang in there, Queen. You're so far above and beyond those vile little men who came at you with such shriveled souls. You know who you are. A supremely qualified soon-to-be Supreme Court Justice, that's who you are. I'm proud of you, too.
Yes, yes and yes. You said it well, I have nothing to add.
ReplyDeleteMy Mother had no tolerance for nonsense from anyone. Her advise to me was always: "Rise above the fray." Queen Ketanji is doing just that and with grace and aplomb. She is a remarkable woman and American's can be very proud.
ReplyDeleteLindsay Graham reminded me so much of the Airing of Grievances during Festivus. Ted Cruz, as always, just made me want to take a shower. Queen Ketanji was remarkable.
ReplyDeleteAmen.
ReplyDeleteAmen to that. It's all about the next election, and stooping to such lows has become all too predictable on the Republican side. It's really sickening.
ReplyDeleteAmen to what you wrote and to what Senator Booker said to Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson.
ReplyDelete“Today, you’re my star. You are my harbinger of hope."
"Don't worry, my sister, don't worry."
Amen to that sublime portrait of Judge Jackson. She will rise.
As I watched the hearings for Ketanji Brown Jackson, a refrain from a poem by Maya Angelou, Still I Rise, came pouring into my head:
ReplyDelete"You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I’ll rise."
AND she will, and she will be confirmed and the joy for all of us, will rise as well.
Judge Jackson was a champion and didn't rise to their awful attacks. They looked like idiots while she looked calm, poised, dignified, and Supreme court justice deserving.
ReplyDeleteI don't know how you managed to sit thought that. I can barely stand to read the headlines. I will just wait to see how this unfolds and hope with all my heart that she will be a Supreme Court Justice.
ReplyDeleteSupreme Court hearings are all about political posturing and trying to get on the radar of voters. They're just bullies, saying what they think will get them noticed.
ReplyDeleteAnd she will rise. I have never seen such a disgusting display of racism, hatred and ignorance as was shown by Cruz, Hawley and Graham. They know she is qualified and that they are not and will never be a fraction of the person Judge Jackson is. She endured their harassment (because that's what it was) with dignity and grace. And you are right, she did suffer those fools, not gladly.
ReplyDeleteI listened to some of it on the radio and yes I was yelling that those stupid republicans and their feeble attempts to make her look bad while they were really showing us how ignorant they are. Thom Tillis going on about how packing the Supreme court with left extremists is bad without acknowledging that that's exactly what the republicans did during Trump's term, packing the court with right extremists that he voted for. They criticised her for less than extreme sentencing for child pornographers when her rulings weren't any more lenient that what republican judges have issued on similar cases, Blackburn cherry picked a 'quote' from her on compassionate release accusing her of wanting all criminals to be released when it was just the preface to Jackson's actual ruling that the person should not be released. And that slimy bastard Ted Cruz going on about her pushing CRT (she hasn't ever) just because she's on the board of a school that teaches it while Ted sends his daughters to a private school that has a curricula that supports anti-racism. they constantly tried to get her to tell them where she stood on cases that are currently being adjudicated which she rightfully declined to answer. The lies, hypocrisy, and outright ignorance the republicans displayed was disgusting and disheartening both. Can you imagine if she had acted like Kavenaugh did during his hearing?
ReplyDeleteYikes. America not looking good at the moment. However, Canada has its moments also. If she is not approved, I may throw my iPad through a window or something.
ReplyDeleteI had to stop watching the confirmation hearings because the gross spectacle of watching her public abuse was a trigger. Why abusers are allowed to publicly abuse and not suffer consequences is precisely why abuse happens unabated. Why was it necessary for her to endure abusive behaviors attempted to humiliate, discredit and embarrass her?! I became so angry, while she remained so poised and dignified... I can only imagine what she was feeling on the inside, at how blatant their venom and hatred were so publicly dispensed. The Racism and Misogyny were on full display while very little was done to shut it down and allow it to become such an embarrassing and infuriating spectacle. Why? So a rabid Base of The Cult could be appeased and codified, it's making them fearful and enraged that they cannot stop her being confirmed so their desperation was also on full display. The fuckery known no bounds and it's supported by too many Americans, which is the REALLY frightening thing to me.
ReplyDeleteYou said it all so perfectly. I keep thinking, "why?" Why do we allow the abuse. Why was it not stopped by the others. The Democrats, too? Marsha Blackburn? All of them -- a ship of fools and craven people. I actually hate the system, and I know I shouldn't be cynical or any of it, but "why?"
ReplyDeleteI didn't watch the confirmation hearings, they sound like they were a nightmare for a sane person.
ReplyDeleteOur elected officials are an embarrassment, so is their ignorance.
ReplyDelete