Scott Boehmer

Category: Politics

  • Fourth Amendment?

    The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

    Fourth Amendment of the Constitution

    The Fourth Amendment protects every individual’s constitutional right to be “free from arbitrary interference by law officers.” Brignoni-Ponce, 422 U. S., at 878. After today, that may no longer be true for those who happen to look a certain way, speak a certain way, and appear to work a certain type of legitimate job that pays very little. Because this is unconscionably irreconcilable with our Nation’s constitutional guarantees, I dissent.

    Justice Sotomayor

    25A169 Noem v. Vasquez Perdomo (Supreme Court)

  • The Freedom to Let Children Die

    Florida plans to become the first state to end all vaccine mandates, including for schoolchildren, rejecting a practice that public health experts have credited for decades with limiting the spread of infectious diseases.

    Dr. Joseph A. Ladapo, the Florida surgeon general, made the announcement on Wednesday alongside Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican. Mr. DeSantis rose to national prominence during the coronavirus pandemic, and over time he has espoused increasingly anti-vaccine views.

    “Who am I to tell you what your child should put in their body?” Dr. Ladapo, a vocal denigrator of vaccines, said to applause during an event on Wednesday in Valrico, Fla., near Tampa. “Your body is a gift from God.”

    He added that the administration would be “working to end” all vaccine mandates. “Every last one of them is wrong and drips with disdain and slavery,” Dr. Ladapo said, without elaborating.

    Patricia Mazzei

    Florida Moves to End Vaccine Mandates for Schoolchildren (The New York Times)

  • A Notional Design Studio

    Because, yes: this “America by Design” page is shoddily made, and poorly written. But the authoritarian impulse — to erase histories, to control a narrative, to single-mindedly focus on image and aesthetics — shapes not just the site’s text, but its design as well. Its text erases the history and work of the people who quietly labored to create better digital services for the public; in their place, it proposes that one man alone can define “design” for the country. And we find that new definition in the way the site’s constructed: it is digital design intended for the privileged few, one that actively excludes people who don’t conform to a specific, discriminatory definition of “eligible.”

    All of this should and must be rebuked by the design community; it must also be actively, urgently dismantled.

    Ethan Marcotte

    A notional design studio. (Ethan Marcotte)

  • The Unforgivable Sin of Ms Rachel

    This video from Lindsay Ellis discusses empathy, antisemitism, genocide, and Ms Rachel. It is long, but well worth watching.

    The Unforgivable Sin of Ms Rachel (YouTube – Lindsay Ellis)

  • It’s Not Coming, It’s Here

    This clip is from the beginning of the month, but I didn’t see it until this week. In it Rachel Maddow explains how we’ve crossed the line into the United States being an authoritarian country with secret police, concentration camps, intimidation of companies and universities, and the military being turned against residents. The time since the video was made just makes the argument stronger with the National Guard deployed in D.C. and threats to move them into Chicago and New York next.

    Maddow: U.S. profoundly changed by authoritarian leader; ‘We’re beyond waiting and seeing now’ (YouTube – MSNBC)

  • Slavery Was Very Bad

    It is important to pause a moment and state this directly: Donald Trump, the current president of the United States, believes that the Smithsonian is failing to do its job, because it spends too much time portraying slavery as “bad.”

    Clint Smith

    Actually, Slavery Was Very Bad (The Atlantic)

  • How Does Trump’s Federal Takeover End?

    What’s happening doesn’t look like a carefully regimented and organized attempt at standing up a military dictatorship. Trump seldom acts with that sort of discipline. Instead, it looks like an improvisational and opportunistic grab of power—Trump seeing what he can get away with and what he can normalize. With no stated goal, and with an acquiescent Congress and Supreme Court, the country could end up with the U.S. military occupying its major cities before most Americans realize what’s happening.

    David A. Graham

    How Does Trump’s Federal Takeover End? (The Atlantic)

  • Trump & Putin

    President Donald Trump emerged today from his summit with Russia’s Vladimir Putin without a deal and without much to say. Trump rarely misses a chance to take advantage of a global stage. But when he stood next to Putin at the conclusion of their three-hour meeting, Trump offered few details about what the men had discussed. Stunningly, for a president who loves a press conference, he took no questions from the reporters assembled at a military base in Alaska.

    Jonathan Lemire

    Well, What Did You Think Would Happen? (The Atlantic)

  • State Capitalism

    If “state capitalism” were proposed by Democrats or progressives, it would be considered socialism or communism. Done by a neofascist president — as chronicled by the The Wall Street Journal — it’s simply considered inefficient (as the Journal concludes).

    Robert Reich

    Trump’s “State Capitalism” (Robert Reich)

  • The President’s Police State

    “This is liberation day in D.C.,” Trump said. Nothing says liberation like deploying hundreds of uniformed soldiers against the wishes of the local elected government. District residents have made clear that they would prefer greater autonomy, including congressional representation, and they have three times voted overwhelmingly against Trump. His response is not just to flex power but to treat the District of Columbia as the president’s personal fiefdom.

    David A. Graham

    The President’s Police State (The Atlantic)