Clarence Thomas' opinion for the court dramatically expands the scope of the Second Amendment, blasting past ostensible restrictions laid out in Heller to establish a new test that will render many, many more gun control laws unconstitutional. https://t.co/QtXnGlobBG

— Mark Joseph Stern (@mjs_DC) June 23, 2022

Before today, about 83 million people—about one in every four Americans—lived in a state that strictly limited concealed carry to those who had a heightened need for self-defense. Now, zero people live in such a state.

— Mark Joseph Stern (@mjs_DC) June 23, 2022

It's difficult to overstate how devastating Thomas' opinion is for gun control laws. This goes so, so far beyond concealed carry. The Supreme Court has effectively rendered gun restrictions presumptively unconstitutional. This is a revolution in Second Amendment law.

— Mark Joseph Stern (@mjs_DC) June 23, 2022

liberals really haven't internalized that thanks to strategic retirement they are NEVER EVER getting the court back without tough reforms. de facto impossible to hold the presidency long enough to break a 6-3 majority

— ryan cooper (@ryanlcooper) June 23, 2022

Cori Bush boosts Biden’s efforts to fight climate change with executive authority https://t.co/KfzMknnd0Z by @austinahlman

— Ryan Grim (@ryangrim) June 23, 2022

Breaking from Colombia 🚨: Gustavo Petro has initiated the re-establishment of diplomatic relations with the Venezuelan government. https://t.co/E8msujPgpd

— David Adler (@davidrkadler) June 22, 2022

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/bernie-sanders-leonard-peltier-biden_n_62a25cf9e4b04a61734c347d

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) “strongly” supports releasing Native American rights activist Leonard Peltier from prison, according to a letter to a constituent obtained by HuffPost.

“As you know, Leonard Peltier has spent over 40 years of his life in prison despite the fact that the government has admitted they do not know who is responsible for the crime he was convicted of,” Sanders said in the June 8 email. “Despite national and international campaigns to free Peltier, he remains incarcerated, where he continues to advocate for the rights of native peoples.”

“For this reason, I have and will continue to strongly support petitions for Leonard Peltier’s release,” Sanders concludes.
A constituent passed the letter to HuffPost. A Sanders spokesperson confirmed its legitimacy, but did not provide further comment on the senator’s views on Peltier’s imprisonment.

The letter means that Sanders is the fourth U.S. senator in recent months to advocate for President Joe Biden to give clemency to the now-77-year-old, ailing activist and send him home. Sens. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) and Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) have separately and publicly called on Biden to release Peltier.

If you haven’t heard of Peltier, think of him as America’s longest-serving political prisoner — a fall guy that the FBI and U.S. Attorney’s Office desperately needed after failing to figure out who murdered two FBI agents in a 1975 shootout on Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota.

If you have heard of Peltier, then you know how problematic his imprisonment is: The blatant 1970s-era racism against Indigenous people that he was up against. The fact that all of Peltier’s co-defendants were acquitted based on self-defense. The reality that the FBI was at least partly responsible for the shootout that day. The admission of U.S. government officials that Peltier’s trial was so flawed he should be released. The decades of outcry from Indigenous leaders, members of Congress, celebrities and human rights leaders, including Pope Francis, the Dalai Lama, Nelson Mandela, Coretta Scott King and Amnesty International, an organization otherwise focused on political prisoners in other countries.

Today, the bottom line is simple: An elderly Indigenous man has been in prison for 46 years and never should have been there in the first place.

A White House spokesperson did not respond to a question about whether Biden is considering granting clemency to Peltier.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/06/24/corporate-greed-destroying-economy-sanders-pushes-windfall-profits-tax

Sen. Bernie Sanders on Thursday slammed oil companies for raking in huge profits on the backs of U.S. consumers and reiterated his case for a windfall tax, a demand that came as President Joe Biden’s call for a federal gas tax holiday faced growing pushback from progressives and top officials in his own administration.

“This is outrageous. Corporate profits soar, working people can’t afford to fill up their gas tank. We need to pass a windfall profits tax now.”

“Corporate greed is destroying this economy. Right now, people all over the country are paying $5, $6 for a gallon of gas,” said Sanders (I-Vt.), the chair of the Senate Budget Committee. “Meanwhile, in the first quarter of this year, oil company profits were $93 billion, and they’re going to spend $88 billion on dividends and stock buybacks for their wealthy stockholders.”

“This is outrageous,” he added. “Corporate profits soar, working people can’t afford to fill up their gas tank. We need to pass a windfall profits tax now.”

In March, Sanders led the introduction of a bill that would impose a 95% tax on the windfall profits of major companies, including oil giants that are taking advantage of Russia’s war on Ukraine to hike prices and pad their bottom lines, helping to push inflation to a four-decade high. The Vermont senator has also signed onto a separate measure that would specifically target Big Oil with a new tax and use the resulting revenue to pay out quarterly rebates to U.S. households.

Price increases in the U.S. have only accelerated Sanders unveiled his legislation, with the average cost of a gallon of gas reaching an unprecedented level earlier this month as oil majors such as Chevron and ExxonMobil tout their surging profits.

“Gas is over $5 a gallon,” Sanders noted Thursday. “Why? Well, oil companies made $93 billion in profits in the first quarter and are spending $88 billion on stock buybacks and dividends to enrich their wealthy stockholders. Yes, it’s time for a windfall profits tax now.”

Under mounting pressure to boldly confront corporate profiteering to rein in prices, Biden earlier this week pushed Congress to enact a three-month suspension of the federal gas tax of 18.3 cents per gallon and the diesel tax of 24.3 cents per gallon—a plan that, like the windfall profits tax, faces long odds in the Senate thanks in part to fossil fuel industry ally Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.).

The president’s call for a gas tax holiday was immediately met with criticism from Democratic lawmakers and even top administration officials who—according to the Washington Post—”said privately that it would probably do little to significantly lower gas prices.”

“I fully understand that a gas tax holiday alone is not going to fix the problem,” Biden acknowledged Wednesday. “But it will provide families some immediate relief, just a little bit of breathing room, as we continue working to bring down prices for the long haul.”

But leading Democratic lawmakers, including Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), countered that a “gas tax holiday won’t make it down to consumers or stop the profiteering of oil and gas companies.”

“It also robs the Highway Trust Fund of necessary infrastructure funds,” Jayapal added. “An excess profits tax on oil companies with a rebate to consumers is a better solution.”

Sanders, too, has rejected the idea of a gas tax holiday, expressing agreement with former President Barack Obama that the proposal is a mere “gimmick.”

“Barack Obama was right,” Sanders said in March. “A gas tax holiday was a bad idea in 2008 and it’s a bad idea today. If we’re serious about providing consumers relief at the gas pump, let’s take on the greed of Big Oil by enacting a windfall profits tax and ending OPEC’s illegal price-fixing cartel.”

While Senate passage of a windfall profits tax is unlikely due to opposition from Manchin and the entire Republican caucus, the proposal is overwhelmingly popular with U.S. voters—which proponents say makes it both better policy and better politics than a gas tax holiday ahead of the November midterms.

One recent poll showed that 80% of U.S. voters, including 73% of Republicans, back the idea of “placing a windfall profits tax on the extra profits oil companies are making from the higher gasoline prices they are charging because of the Russia-Ukraine situation.”

“We need to get gas prices under control, but a gas tax holiday is not the answer,” Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) tweeted Thursday. “We can’t trust oil execs to pass the savings on to consumers—rebates and windfall taxes would be far more meaningful and wouldn’t rob infrastructure funds.”

It’s time for a windfall profits tax. pic.twitter.com/slDwljhPyS

— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) June 23, 2022

Illegitimate court strikes again

if there was any lingering shreds of belief that the Supreme Court protects anyone's rights, this should take care of that https://t.co/kw95lhVEKN

— ryan cooper (@ryanlcooper) June 24, 2022

judicial rule-by-decree is unconstitutional but this particular court is comically illegitimate. one seat was blatantly stolen from President Obama, three others appointed by a popular vote loser. Thomas almost certainly participated in a coup conspiracy

— ryan cooper (@ryanlcooper) June 24, 2022

what a chump https://t.co/ACQk7cDmiQ

— ryan cooper (@ryanlcooper) June 24, 2022

BREAKING: The Supreme Court just overturned Roe v. Wade

It is unjust. It is wrong. And I’m going to fight it with everything I’ve got.

Send me to the U.S. Senate, and I’d *proudly* vote to codify Roe v. Wade into law.

— John Fetterman (@JohnFetterman) June 24, 2022

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/6/24/2105972/-Abortion-now-absolutely-illegal-in-multiple-states-with-no-exceptions-as-Court-decision-roils-U-S

States where abortion is now completely illegal:

Kentucky
Louisiana
Oklahoma
South Dakota

States where abortion becomes illegal as soon as the state legislature or state official issues a declaration recognizing the Court decision.

Alabama
Arkansas
Missouri
Mississippi
Utah
West Virginia
(Update: In the last hour, Attorney General Eric Schmitt has triggered the law in Missouri.)

States where abortion will become illegal as soon as the government officially recognizes the Court ruling.

Wyoming

States where abortion will officially become illegal in 30 days

Idaho
North Dakota
Tennessee
Texas

In addition, ineedana notes that Arizona will, for now, enforce its 15-day ban. But Republican legislators there have already moved to expand this into a total ban.

Technically, abortion is also now illegal in Wisconsin, based on a law that dates to 1849. However, Democratic state attorney general Josh Kaul says he will not enforce that law and has called on the governor and state legislature to repeal it in a special session.

retire you damn old fool https://t.co/b7DPdbuRNT

— ryan cooper (@ryanlcooper) June 24, 2022