TEXAS LOSES COMPELLED SPEECH CASE BEFORE THE SUPREME COURT, WITH AN UNUSUAL MAJORITY

In simple terms if a newspaper printed a letter to the editor which defamed someone, then the newspaper was liable.  Everyone knew the rule.  But then came the internet, where libel came to have a life of its own.

This case is more interesting than Free Speech.  Here you had the Republican state of Texas telling corporations they had to allow everyone to speak even if it was defamation or disinformation.

The key here is you had Texas Republicans telling major corporations Texas would now decide their moderation policies.  What happened to small government?

This is a major shift in dogma for the Republicans and as we are seeing more and more corporations are pulling their PAC money from the most extreme Republicans.

YOU HAVE TO READ HOW THE OPINION CAME DOWN - 

"In an unusual alignment the five justices in the majority were Chief Justice John Roberts, Stephen Breyer, Brett Kavanaugh, Amy Coney Barrett and Sonia Sotomayor.

Liberal Justice Elena Kagan was joined by conservative justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch, who would have denied the request.

The Supreme Court order is a loss for Texas. The state argued that its law, HB 20, which prohibits large social media firms from blocking, banning or demoting posts or accounts, does not violate the First Amendment."

CNN: 

This decision is interesting for how liberal Justice Kagan joined the end abortion Justices, Thomas, Alito and Gorsuch.

It is also further evidence of the realignment of the  Republican Party to go from hands off to regulating how you can conduct your business. 

It has long been precedent you cannot compel speech.  Associate Justice Kagan's  decision to go against this long held precedent tells me she cares no more about precedent than those seeking to undo Roe v. Wade.

The great Trump has failed at every effort to start a new social media where defamation and disinformation would rule. He has failed.

So my question is, when the market place does not give these Republicans what they want, why are they turning to pass laws to compel the market place? 

As I noted last week Florida lost a similar case before their federal court of appeals.

Again it is not lost on me Florida is now seeking to ban speech it finds objectionable, while Texas is demanding objectionable speech not be banned on social media.

The Republicans have clearly lost all respect for Freedom of Speech.  Texas and Florida seek to ban objectionable books, while seeking to compel corporations to allow for the publication on their platforms objectionable discourse. 

 SUPREME COURT UPENDS REDISTRICTING LAWSUITS NATIONALLY BY ALLOWING THE DOJ TO SUBPOENA STATE LEGISLATORS FOR DEPOSITION AS IT RELATES TO THE ISSUE OF MOTIVATION

The underlying case involves the state legislative map of Texas and not the federal House map. But the case now opens the door to legislators being compelled to testify in the many redistricting lawsuits still pending ahead of the November election.

Source: CNN

 Before there were any free platforms for blogging I coded my own blog and ran nationally Balancing the Issues.  It cost money to maintain.  Any real blogger pays fees to several services for access to documents.  I still pay annually to maintain ownership of balancingtheissues.com  I do not publish under the .com, because unlike during the early days, you could buy a program which allowed you to code your own publication in a very user friendly format.  It is not a question of money, it is a question of bad programs.  No one has a program which matches my original program.  Archives are important.  The ability to search archives is important.  On my side what I saw were subtopics, under which each post was archived by subtopic.  It was easy to save the post and retrieve it.  I could edit the code to fix printing problems.  It is funny when it went free, the quality of  the programs went down hill.

SO WHERE AM I

Well after checking with the state and Cameron County Appraisal district, so long as I only have one homestead in one state, I can maintain my residency in Texas, while living at least half the year in another state. My time in Texas will be somewhat limited.  My home is a good investment.  In five years I will be able to sell it for a lot more.  When in Texas I will live in my home.  Nothing on that issue will change.

But to be clear, I have no interest in Brownsville or Texas, unless it touches upon a national issue.

The other home is owned by a trust which gives me a life interest to live in the home.  All bills are paid by the trust.  When I die the home will be sold and the money given to the final beneficiary.

AS A REPUBLIC THE U.S. IS NO MORE BECAUSE THE PEOPLE CHOSE TO END IT

 It is inconceivable to me the Founding Fathers ever imagined the type of deadly rifles we have today.  I do concede they were educated enough to know technology would change and the quality and effectiveness of guns would improve.

They saw fit to insure the People could change things by providing for the amending of the constitution.  They were very shortsighted on how divided the people really were.  The only thing many people had in common was a desire to sever ties with England.  And even on that issue, many people could not have cared less. 

During the second Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, when England tried to take back the colonies, the states were not even united on that issue.  In the beginning support for the war was soft.  The southern states were already regretting the Union.

THE GOVERNMENT BELONGS TO THE PEOPLE AND NOT THE INSTITUTIONS THE PEOPLE CREATED TO MANAGE THEIR AFFAIRS

The pollsters tell us the overwhelming number of people support Roe v. Wade.  We are fairly certain the Supreme Court will overturn Roe v. Wade.  True to form our press attacks those Justices who said Roe was settled law, but now seem poised to vote to overturn it.

The press is not focusing in on the key word.  Many of these Justices during their confirmation hearing made clear when precedent is egregious it is subject to change.  Some used words similar to egregious.  Well, in justifying the overruling of Roe, Justice Alito bases his majority opinion on use of the  word egregious. The problem is not one Senator bothered to ask the nominees what would make for egregious precedent. If you want to blame someone, blame the Democratic Senators for not asking what would make for egregious precedent. 

Where are the people?  Ever since abortion ended in Texas for all practical purposes, there has effectively been no meaningful protest.  Even when the draft opinion overruling Roe was leaked, we saw a few small protests, but nothing like the million man march, and any type rally Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. could produce.

The people seem indifferent.  Why?  Because they feel it is not their job to take back their government.  The Republic is dead.  In my lifetime I do believe some states will secede although the Supreme Court has  found it not permissible.  Texas v. White, which made the finding is probably the most common law treasonous opinion ever penned by the Supreme Court. Secession was the foundation of our Republic as written by Thomas Jefferson. 

The movement for secession has been around for centuries with Vermont leading the way, not Texas.  Growing up on Long Island, it was common to speak of Nassau and Suffolk counties becoming a new state, breaking away from NY in the same way Vermont did centuries earlier.  The movement is still there.

The California movement ranges remaking the state into 5 states, to outright secession. 

The federal government is powerless.  They are not going to send troops to suppress secession of any state if it happens.  There will come a point, a state either on the left or the right will say, they are done.

THE ONLY HOPE

This fracture has to end.  But the reality is the fracture has existed between the North and South since the beginning and  then the west after the Treaty of Guadalupe wherein Mexico lost the west to the U.S.  Only California and Texas were allowed to become Republics, to only later dissolve their Republics to join the union.

The Republic is dead and it is time you decide where you want to be, and where you want your children to be.