Yesterday, September 18, 2020, our best hope for continued democratic freedom died.
We hinged everything on the life of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a diminutive Jewish woman whose sheer magnitude of will—the same will that put her on the Supreme Court with a Senate vote of 96-3—gave her the strength to fight off repeated rounds of cancer, but her fortitude wasn’t enough to carry her through to January, and those of us who weep and grieve know exactly what this means for our future.
How? If you don’t understand the power of A so-called “lame-duck session“, now’s the time to learn. This session takes place in the time between the election and the investiture of the election’s winners. Wikipedia defines the concept thusly:
A lame-duck session of Congress in the United States occurs whenever one Congress meets after its successor is elected, but before the successor’s term begins. The expression is now used not only for a special session called after a sine die adjournment, but also for any portion of a regular session that falls after an election. In current practice, any meeting of Congress after election day, but before the next Congress convenes the following January, is a lame-duck session.[1] Prior to 1933, when the 20th Amendment changed the dates of the congressional term, the last regular session of Congress was always a lame duck session.
Congress has held 16 lame-duck sessions since 1940. Recesses preceding lame-duck sessions have usually begun by mid-October, and typically lasted between one and two months. Congress typically reconvened in mid-November and adjourned before Christmas, so that the lame-duck session lasted about a month. Some recesses, however, have begun as early as August 7 or as late as November 3, and ended as early as November 8 or as late as December 31. Lame-duck sessions have ended as early as November 22 and as late as January 3, and have extended over as few as one, and as many as 145, calendar days.
Make no mistake: From November 3 to January 3, Republicans can and will do everything in their power to destroy everything Ruth Bader Ginsburg stood for. Why wouldn’t they? They’ve worked 40 years to take this power and they’re not going to give it up now. Don’t believe me. Here it is, from the Conservative side of the news bias spectrum.
History Is on the Side of Republicans Filling a Supreme Court Vacancy in 2020
I guarantee you there’ll be a new Supreme Court Justice before 3 January 2021 and this is exactly why I have been counting down the days for the last six months.
What Happened With Merrick Garland In 2016 And Why It Matters Now
If you think that Mitch McConnell will suddenly pause to think about his so-called precedent, let me ALSO remind you that he doesn’t give a rat’s ass about precedent if it doesn’t serve his requirements. It took as much time for me to write the original post on Facebook as it took for the Washington Post to publish this steaming pile.
Battle over the replacement of Ruth Bader Ginsburg rages as tributes to late justice pour in
To all those optimists thinking that somehow the Democrats can stop this shit show, let me remind you that there are 53 Republican asses in Senate seats and they got there because you didn’t fucking LIKE Hillary Clinton or Barrack Obama. It’s Biden and Harris this year, and every last Democrat on the ticket, even if they aren’t declared openly.
If you can’t tell by now who is likely to vote on the liberal side, just ask: Is it All Lives Matter or Black Lives Matter. That filter works every time, even for the court system.
Early Voting has already started in several states. More will be dropping their ballots soon. If you can help someone else get to the polls, do it. If you’re just going to sit on your ass and say nothing changes, get the fuck out of the way.
In Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, and North Carolina, we have an opportunity to take the majority back from that bastard, Mitch McConnell. If you can, donate. You have 45 days to get your shit together and do the right thing. Less, if your state allows for early voting.
Donate. Be in line the first day if you can. If you need me to drive you, or you need help with registration, let me know. Whatever it takes.
Throw every last Republican hypocrite out of office this year.
And be prepared to march.
It’s time.
Not just for me but for my kids and my sister’s kids and my cousins’ kids and my friends’ kids. And for all my friends of color, friends on any spectrum (gender or neurodiverse).
I’m a one-issue voter and the issue is humanity.
If you can still see this and you still think it’s okay to vote Third Party, please leave. If I see it on your wall, I will block your ass anyway, so you might as well depart now.
Bitch about the Democrats all you want, but if you’re doing it on Facebook and I see you, I will toss you out the airlock and I don’t give a fuck how long we’ve known each other.
We are DONE.
DONE.
On Facebook. In real life.
Done.
#VoteBlueNoMatterWho
[Edited to remove erroneous information about donations. —CT]