The Latest Religious Schools Case

 So it wasn't exactly the biggest news story of the day, but earlier this week on Tuesday (election day), the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in yet another case involving religious schools and the free exercise clause. I think it's worth dwelling for a moment on just how extreme and unsympathetic the religious right's position in these cases has become. 

Those who still mentally inhabit a sane world where there is an Establishment clause that courts respect—and who therefore haven't quite internally caught up with recent developments in First Amendment jurisprudence from the Roberts Court—might be forgiven for presuming that it must be unconstitutional for state governments to fund the teaching of religion. 

Patriots and Collaborationists

 Yesterday, before the good news broke about the U.S. midterm elections, the New York Times home page displayed a pair of bad news stories out of Venezuela. Apparently, the U.S. military is not only increasing its direct "collaboration" with the Venezuelan authorities—they are also preparing for a long-term military presence. 

In other words, the quisling regime in power in Venezuela is doing what quislings have always done—they are serving as obedient puppets. And so, they are clearing the way for an indefinite U.S. military occupation of their country. 

Takes One to Know One

 Over on my other blog, I was ranting today about what a terrible snot J.D. Vance is. 

A friend of mine read the post and messaged me afterward to convey that he sensed a certain joyless and hectoring tone in the whole thing. "I understand why you're frustrated, but could you please lower your voice?" he half-seriously remarked. 

The Apostate

 Okay, so I thought Haley Stevens was perfectly entitled to her own opinions on El-Sayed's campaign in Michigan. I even thought it was legitimate for her to try to influence him to tone down or shift his rhetoric or positions. But to switch sides and back his MAGA opponent—as she did yesterday—just two days out from the election—is indeed what Sen. Chuck Schumer called it: a "despicable betrayal" of party and principle. 

There's something almost eerie about the psychology that could go back on one's own prior words so brazenly. Time and again, Stevens had denounced the GOP candidate for a host of valid reasons. Now, at the last minute, she declares that she wants him to be a U.S. Senator. As Lord Byron wrote of the erstwhile Jacobin-cum-Laureate Robert Southey: he "turned his coat — and would have turned his skin"—and that seems to be what happened here too. 

The Dewey Arch

 The New York Times ran a guest column yesterday that described the history of "triumphal arches," which Trump is obviously trying to imitate in the construction of his new so-called "Arc de Trump" in D.C. 

But the Times piece leaves out of the story one of the closest parallels from our own history: the Dewey Arch, which was built in New York's Madison Square in 1899 and demolished a year later. 

Calumny

 The New York Times ran an article yesterday in which they detail how, in the last few days before the midterm elections, Republican candidates are resorting to the most rancid possible personal attacks to try to chip away at Democrats' clear lead in the polls. In some cases, they are dredging up details from the opposition candidates' personal lives that ought to be treated as off-limits. 

But in other cases, they are simply making up outrageous and lurid accusations out of whole cloth. One Republican candidate calls his opponent a "groomer," based on no evidence whatsoever. Our vice president darkly implies that a Democratic candidate could only have stood up for the rights of trans children in the past because he has some creepy sexual fixation on the subject. 

Double Injustice

 The New York Times reported yesterday that the Trump administration is apparently planning to deport more than a hundred Afghan nationals to Pakistan—with the full knowledge and deliberate intent, as part of the agreement, that Pakistan will then subsequent force them back across the border to their home country. 

The planned group of deportees reportedly includes people who would be obvious targets for persecution or assassination if they are sent back to Afghanistan, including relatives of people who risked their lives to aid the U.S. war effort against the Taliban.