What Would a Graphic Novel Explaining the Stakes of SCOTUS Fix Look Like

Sorry, I haven’t had the gumption to unpack the atrocities the far right has done on SCOTUS (though I will eventually write up Chatrie, which is a genuinely important improvement under the Fourth Amendment). Or what monster Trump will try to replace Sammy Alito with. (Note NPR posted, then removed an announcement he is retiring.) I’ll link some of the analysis I’ve seen. But in the meantime, I’ve been thinking that prior to any fix for SCOTUS, including expanding the court, there’s a whole lot of political work that needs to be done to explain the stakes for people. I woke up this morning envisioning a graphic novel or podcast, explaining it in ways that are meaningful to normies. How did Sammy Alito go mad watching Fox News for three decades? How do that creepy gym teacher demanding to inspect your daughter’s genitalia explain why equal protection is important? How did John Roberts dilute your vote and expand Elon Musk’s platform? So have at it: Discuss the atrocities, or brainstorm what kind of messaging might help fix this? Whatever is on anyone’s legislative wish list, *none* of it is possible without first killing the filibuster and expanding the court. There can be no restoration of lost rights, and no repairing the damage of the Trump era without first neutralizing the MAGA majority once Dems regain the trifecta in 2029. Support for court expansion and killing the filibuster to do so is my single litmus test for donations to Democratic candidates moving forward. Hi. Thanks for ignoring the post. I DO NOT want to hear your opinion about the legislative tactics of what will get us where we need to go. I DO want to hear discussion about how to discuss SCOTUS in terms that will make it politically salient to normies. And sorry for bitching. I did say this is an open thread. But one of the MAJOR PROBLEMS we have is that people love to talk tactics, which is easy and fun to argue about, and it is the means by which we disappear the very hard political work to get there. There is a graphic version of Timothy Snyder’s book “On Tyranny” that is excellent, but frankly, if you’re trying to think of ways to get “normies” on board for court expansion, any strategy must include social media. I like the “School House Rock” idea, spread on YouTube and TikTok, as well as very simple memes that make the point effectively and repeatedly. I can’t remember specific polling numbers, but I’m pretty sure there is close to a majority if not low 50’s% of Americans who support court expansion. After today, with the right strategies, I’m pretty sure that support could easily grow to 60-65%. A focus on the things a majority of people want to change, and how those changes are impossible with the current corrupt court, would be a good place to start. Partly tongue in cheek, partly not: Hunter Biden has shown an ability recently to connect with with people across the political spectrum. And from hearing him speak, I get the sense that he is familiar with Emptywheel. He could potentially be an influencer reaching normies about SCOTUS atrocities. My idea would be to approach it as an advertising/ marketing campaign. We need to define the problem. Bad breath? Limp hair? A corrupt SCOTUS? In order for it to be effective, it has to entertain and create buy in from the audience. I say go full QAnon style, but embrace the Lizard Aliens in human bodies. You do a graphic novel, but with a community contribution approach. Create a template, with an introduction and an ending, but have different version of what occurs in between. “Jackie Green had been struggling with how to deal with her fellow members on the top court since her appointment. Lawyers always argue, but this was different.. It just didn’t make any logical sense. It almost seemed like they were purposely trying to sabatoge country… “ Next frame, then she decided to go where they told her not to. She honestly just wanted to reach out, get a better understanding on why (pick a ruling). Then she saw them… (justices lizard alien identity revealed in a sauna type room) Shocked and stunned, she sought out the only other two people in the building she thought she could trust. Maybe, together, they had a chance to save our Democracy. They couldn’t go public. Who would believe them? But they couldn’t try and make people understand the consequences of (fill in ruling) (Blank section to be filled in by different authors) Ending- “they hadn’t won yet, but they were still fighting” You then subtly imply through social engagement that these different versions are from ‘people in the know’ or celebrities. “That sounds like something Stephen King would write!” “ Is retired Justice Kennedy sending us a secret message?” No identities can be revealed of any writers or organizers. But early on, certain people are publicly acknowledged as being ‘keepers of the keys’ to be able to confirm or deny, if a usurper tries to claim authority in our movement- “we all know how it went with Q and the Epstein files”. And implications of access to secret knowledge, retired clerks, whoever should be part of the campaign. Layers of intrigue, secret clues, hidden messages. Be purposely dramatic, and subtly make clear that we are using an existing playbook. Is it parody? Shrug… or, could it be true in a way- and that’s why it has to be put out this way? Stay tuned! Create a mad lib version. I am not a great writer, but I think you get the idea. Our current media is geared around a level of participation, like this comment section. We love ‘figuring it out’ and their opinion being valued. Look at how the LLMs/ AI are designed to validate people in their responses, and engage with them. “That was very perceptive of you to point out.” I like the lizard alien scenario because you can use it to explain destructive policies outside of a traditional political ideology frame. You can step away from party lines altogether. It’s humans against aliens!!! Is Hillary a Lizard? Could be… it makes sense of a lot if true! Remember when X happened? I think that’s when they started converting Trump… and we can frame that story with the language from Russian Intelligence on why he was vulnerable to their conversion. Now, that we have stepped back from having to defend or promote a party or person or ideology, we can concentrate on whether decisions are being made on a pro human or anti human level. Our story line premise, and the public cooperative nature of it, allow us a lot of latitude. ‘We’ can’t be wrong, hypocritical, or subject to purity tests. We are anonymous, and just asking questions and allowing people who might have better information than us, to supply that information in a protected way. Are we funded by George Soros? Who knows! Thanks to decisions like Citizens United and other decisions to help hide money , it’s a secret. These decision’s only make sense if you want to orchestrate a secret overthrow of our government- obviously. If ‘they’ really wanted to know, why didn’t they pass or enforce laws to do that? Create little videos of the story lines based on different issues and keep reframing to the Lizard vs Human dynamic. Now that climate change is generally accepted, the denial of responsibility and barriers to mitigate its effects become a fairly basic issue. When you remove partisanship, Lizard Aliens wanting a warmer planet is a pretty easy sell (especially if you want to avoid billionaires targeting you). Along those lines, create group rules to avoid using real names of public figures to avoid attracting the algorithms attention. I get that many might find this idea distasteful- but think of it more along the lines of John Oliver or Colbert. Embrace the crazy. Lick its face.. Also, if ever a day should come where the DOJ wants to go after us like SPLC- imagine the filings! “Defendants, acting under ‘Q4U’ fraudulently enticed victims to believe SCOTUS Justices and other public figures were Lizard Aliens posing as humans.” Create a line of merchandise. A Super PAC controlled by a series of shell companies (there’s no more CTA). Openly discuss using the tools as provided by SCOTUS decisions that also allow Executive Overreach. Use funds to support things like : ‘parades to the polls’, a public movement on voting security and education (get people to ask local election officials to provide public ‘open houses’ where you can practice mock voting, learn how vote counts are verified and what more could be done, and why we need ‘secret’ software by private companies to run a scanner. Tie this in with how ‘Lizards want slaves, not citizens’. Steal their playbook. Be ‘serious, but not literal’. Think of Sartre’s “ They know that their remarks are frivolous, open to challenge. But they are amusing themselves, for it is their adversary who is obliged to use words responsibly, since he believes in words.” I am not advocating we embrace the fascist overall view- but that we quit expecting them to abide by our rules, when they have shown they are ‘amusing themselves’. Disarm them with our own disregard for their arguments/ version of reality. “Prove Thomas isn’t a Lizard Alien! Go ahead… I’m waiting.” You have the stories to make the real points. You have the larger fiction backdrop to drive engagement. Which also gives a path for people to move on from ‘MAGA’, by creating a new narrative where they can be ‘not at fault’, without actually believing the lizard alien story. The reframing now provides a different identity group, and way of viewing divisions as orchestrated by powerful ‘others’. They might not be lizard aliens, but sociopaths are ‘alien’ in many ways… so that option will be introduced in stories as our heroines and heroes seek support from others. Sarah: this isn’t a religion Bob. I understand that it’s hard to believe. You don’t have to believe that they are lizards- but look at the evidence of what they are doing, and ask yourself ‘why?’” Bob: “Maybe they are just greedy. Maybe they don’t like people overall. Maybe they are sociopaths..” Sarah: “Fine. Do you think a group of a few Greedy, sociopaths should be determining the fate of our country? Of our world?” Of course, there is obvious dehumanization. I don’t see it as an issue, because the premise is their actions vs their being. I would have Amy Cohen cast as an unwitting collaborator (she never was in the sauna room!), to add the caveat that people can be wrong, we can disagree, without them being lizard aliens. Thats my long winded pitch. Be grateful I didn’t make story boards. A hearty “YES!” to the use of comic books, info graphics, zines as explainers for prescient and complex political issues, and the solutions that provide the broadest support and relief for our society and nation as a whole. NICABM, ( The National Institute for the Clinical Application of Behavioral Medicine) does an excellent job using info graphics, short animations, and concise videos to explain challenging mental health issues and solutions. Vox does similar things with political and social issues with their explainers. Robert Reich, does as well. We really need artists of all types and abilities to step up and into this moment. Marcy, you’re killing it with your collaboration with podcasters. Now if you can find that graphic artist/ comic book creator to distill your insights even further. Sign Guy, Tom Sullivan, of Digby’s Hullabaloo is an example of what we regular folk can do. ( He’s inspired by the Highway Blogger). [Welcome back to emptywheel. Please use the SAME EMAIL ADDRESS and username each time you comment so that the site recognizes you and community members get to know you. Your use of a different email address triggered auto-moderation; please check your browser’s cache and autofill as future comments may not publish if your email address does not match the one you used on your first comment. We don’t even ask for a working/valid email address, only that you use the same one each time you comment. /~Rayne #te] Raising a cup of tea to the Thames Valley Police on their YouTube video explaining “Consent”. Several years ago, I asked a bunch of local high school students (friends of The Kid) whether their sex ed class covered “consent” and they looked at me like I had two heads. Then I showed this this YouTube, and they were blown away. “I learned more about consent in 3 minutes than I did in three months of sex ed.” Adding the corollary: “Consent – Its not as simple as tea!” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLKWEUhOHss Robert Reich and his team may have ideas to offer, as would Heather Cox Richardson and her team. A big “Amen!” re Tom Sullivan at digbysblog.net. He’s not the answer to Marcy’s specific request, but he’s a fantastic example of doing the work, creatively and consistently, and a legitimate inspiration I’m reminded of the old Superman comics “Bizarro World” . . . where SCOTUS seems inclined to bring back every bad decision the court has ever made and overturn every case that tried to remedy those errors. Making Koramatsu, Plessy, and Dred Scott great again! Eliminating Griswold and Brown as a scourge against democracy! Sweep aside Epperson, Abington School District, Engel v Vitale, and Everson as restrictions on religion! And if SCOTUS could find a way to selectively eliminate Marbury v Madison whenever a Democrat occupies the White House, that would be the icing on the cake. Edit to add: Call it Bizarro Court. So, I think we dig up the numerous Tom Tomorrow cartoons covering the Bizarro conservative world and use those as a basis. That’s one potential place to start. The more extreme a contrast we can present between reality/logic and MAGA (including the MAGA court) in a simple format (I like the graphic novel idea) the better. If SA is going to retire, his replacement will be equally bad. I’m sure Leonard Leo has a raft of ideologues ready to move in. So many of us have been talking about the dangers we have faced w the Court over the years, and it has fallen on deaf ears, as far as voters have noticed. Messaging is urgent, and the court is just one of the critical pinchers. I think we have to link some ruling with another issue that can resonate broadly. The guilded age and affordability seem connected. The court does rule for their patrons. Corruption is rampant. This was my first thought as well! But it’s probably beyond the people we would be trying to reach I was writing in response to Fraud Guy’s comment about Tom Tomorrow. His Bizarro Conservative World panels are incredible Call my graphic novel “Stacked and Jacked.” I’d start with Clarence Thomas being credibly accused of sexual harassment by Anita Hill and confirmed by Republicans anyway, then Mitch McConnell (costumed as The Grim Reaper he is) blocking Obama from appointing a justice for an entire year, then the beer bong confirmation hearing of Kavanaugh with Squee and his other friends hooting in the background, then Alito and his wife flying their upside down Appeal to Heaven bigot flag a few years ago and finally Roberts literally anointing Trump king with the immunity decision. And those illustrations of our current SCOTUS corruption are just off the top of my head. I’m sure there are many, many more. I wish I could draw! An interesting point in the Kavanaugh hearing was the outburst, can’t remember who’s, but it stopped the hearing. If you can find video of that point in the hearing, you’ll see Kavanaugh’s calendar in the lower left part of the screen and on the calendar, you see he noted that he’d be working out with his friend “Squdgie” or whatever the guy’s name was. The exact thing he was attempting to deny. The allegiance to the donor class of far-right members of this court was never more evident following this session. Shielding Monsanto, loosening campaign finance restrictions and the seemingly inconsistent rulings on protecting independent agencies – do what you want just don’t touch the Fed. The backlash against the Epstein Class should extend to their lackeys on this court. MfD – Shielding Monsanto suggests more. Products liability law shifted to if a supervising agency finds no general defect you have no case, absent undeniable proof of a particular faulty product in a particular event. No loosey-goosey causation by vague implication any longer. The plaintiff’s product liability bar is what keeps the insurer defense bar comfortably earning. And it is keeping insurance coverage selling. Where the thing goes from here will be interesting. And when the supervising agency is defunded and further crippled by installing an anti-science, political hack – No findings, no liability. Lol, I’m not a smart man. I spent time googling MfD thinking it was an acronym that the cool kids were using. The disregard/neutering of Congress is also outrageous. These unelected dictators need to be reigned in as well. I would portray Trump as a weak, petulant, boy King who is actually manipulated by others. They let him put on his big shows, and eat all the candy (2 scoops!), while they are loading up Fort Knox in their airplanes going to their own Epstein Islands. Cast Roberts as the shrewd ‘Kings hand’, smarter than Trump. He wants to make sure they have taken everything before anyone notices. Often annoyed at his coconspirators lack of discretion. Amy gets to play the dupe, that Roberts orders around and has play the role he assigns her at each vote. Don’t feed into their public personas. Thomas as the brow beaten husband whose wife makes the real money and rules the roost. Alito as the isolated neurotic, grumpy old man. Kavanaugh as the desperate weirdo trying to be accepted by any group. McConnell as the powerless old man pushed to the side by those he gave power to. Assume their public personas are largely orchestrated by people in advertising, and for a reason. You could even do a ‘game of thrones’ parody. Trump wants to be more ‘king Roberts’- cast him as ’King Joffrey’. Miller sees himself as “little finger”- make him ‘reek’. Just because we see things as a negative, doesn’t mean others do. Put Amy in a dog collar and Roberts holding the leash. Make it brutal. Hold a caption contest. [Moderator’s note: You used what might be your RL name instead of your established username on this comment. I’ve edited it but please check your browser’s cache and auto-fill to ensure it doesn’t happen on your next comment. /~Rayne] The most direct political strategy would be to cast this SCOTUS as the Trump Court, tying its decisions to his least popular actions. Amy Coney Barrett is clearly trying to obviate that argument by taking the rational side in several of these high-profile decisions. Roberts knows that “his” court’s legitimacy teetered off the proverbial knife’s edge years ago, but he keeps gesturing at “restraint” for appearances’ sake. I wonder if Alito’s certain retirement has been delayed for the midterms. Trump will want to replace him with the most confrontationally unqualified hack he can find, and Democrats should be itching to make hay off of that. What I don’t know is how long a justice can delay retiring before the next term starts, but as RBG’s death showed that may not matter. I still think calling this the Trump Court and highlighting its genuflection to his unconstitutional and anti-American kingliness is the best bet. “I still think calling this the Trump Court and highlighting its genuflection to his unconstitutional and anti-American kingliness is the best bet.” I’m sure some clever people can come up with clever ways to depict the failings of the Court. Some potential ideas have been suggested here. But maybe even the simplest, graphic representations will not break through to the low information/low interest Americans. The simplest way to change emotional response and opinion is through association. It can happen outside conscious awareness. So, perhaps linking the Court to Trump and his abetting Republicans while continually degrading their reputation may be the best bet. thesmokies, your comment and gruntfuttocks’s one below made me realize that for this election, putting the emphasis on “It’s the corruption, stupid” might be the best strategy. SCOTUS’s Trump v. USA decision effectively allowed him to pick all our pockets as well as soliciting bribes in whatever form he chooses, while actively ignoring the financial crises afflicting working people. I think this argument, Jon Ossoff’s “Epstein Class” freed to crime away while the rest of us suffer, allows Dems to draw the Trump Court into the story clearly. Remember Tom Maxwell and the Squirrel Nut Zippers? Have You Had Enough? Ginerva, betcha didn’t think you would be typing gruntfuttocks’s today. Hey, neither did I! I don’t think so. It gives Trump the power he craves, and lets the rest off the hook. How does ‘Trumps Court’ lead to court reform? Trumps gone, the problems solved! As I said above, don’t feed into their public personas. “Roberts as the moderate statesman… Trump as the strong man, that poor Roberts is just trying to keep in check. “ This is the basic media narrative/ portrayal that exists because someone wants it to. Flip it. Trump as an ‘Enfant terrible’ that is easily manipulated with Roberts as the evil Machiavellian puppet master in the background, hiding behind his fake smile. He controls his court, and uses Amy as a token to appear ‘moderate’ while he dictates her every decision. He just tells Thomas wife what Thomas needs to do… she’s the one with the money. Alito is a nut- he’s been have dementia with psychosis for years that they have kept hidden- as long as he does as he is told. Kavanaugh just desperately wants to be part of any group, have people who ‘like’ him. Gorsuch can be difficult at times, so Roberts just tries to make sure no native rights cases show up- and he gets his ‘special perks’ (no one will talk about it). With Roberts latest move to sell our elections to the highest bidder- he is at his zenith. Showing that he has the power to control every branch- because those at the top know he can always choose to put his thumb on the scale. He just proved it. We don’t have a Democracy- we just have Roberts Court. [Moderator’s note: SECOND REQUEST — You used what might be your RL name instead of your established username on this comment. I’ve edited it but please check your browser’s cache and auto-fill to ensure it doesn’t happen on your next comment. ** FIX THIS — YOU JUST POSTED A THIRD COMMENT TONIGHT THAT I WILL HAVE TO EDIT AND FREE FROM AUTO-MOD. ** /~Rayne] The birthright citizenship case may be the best example of corruption even though it was a “win.” Given the language of the 14th Amendment, how was it not 9-0? What happened to all the professed textualists? Couldn’t agree more, but after Trump v. United States I’m not surprised Section 1 of the 14th Amendment begins: All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States…” Gorsuch and Thomas: The majority adds to the sad history of the Fourteenth Amendment, which was designed and understood to secure equal rights for the freed blacks but has instead been repurposed for political projects that the Reconstruction Congress did not support. Alito: Careful analysis of the text of the Fourteenth Amendment and the process that led to its adoption shows that it does not degrade the concept of United States citizenship in this way, Instead, the Fourteenth Amendment confers citizenship on only those children who, at birth, owe allegiance solely to this country. Peterr is right to call it Bizarro Court Alito is wrong in so many ways, it’s hard to count them, in the way Trump is corrupt and self-dealing in so many ways, they are hard to count – and to continue to recognize him as corrupt, rather than the normalizing Trump being Trump. The 14th Amendment does not speak to a person on these shores holding allegiance “solely” to the United States. If the drafters had wanted to say that, they could have easily done so. It does not say allegiance, it speaks only of being subject to the jurisdiction of the US. They wanted to make citizenship for those born here the general rule, with only a narrow exception. Alito and his racist brethren would reverse that grant, because it personally offends them, and make extending citizenship the exception rather than the norm. Alito’s argument is circular and pure invention. Allegiance encompasses duty, commitment, a primary loyalty. In comparison, being subject to a state’s jurisdiction means compliance with its laws. A resident of Ohio, for example, when visiting Pennsylvania, owes the latter compliance with its laws. That does not make them a resident of Pennsylvania. Similarly, a citizen owes allegiance to their home country, including being subject to its military service or draft requirements. A tourist, student, or business visitor does not. They are, however, subject to their host country’s laws and are subject to its penalties, if they violate it. Moreover, a child has no legal capacity. He or she cannot owe, at birth — as Alito insists – or until adulthood, a duty of allegiance. Alito’s argument also ignores dual citizens, who are citizens of two or more countries, and owe loyalty and allegiance to all of them. Sam Alito personally does not like the 14th Amendment. As he does with other laws he does not like, he limits its reach or declares it invalid. He’s an intellectual poseur and a liar. One last point. Alito is replacing a “subject to the jurisdiction thereof” standard actually in the 14th Amendment, with an allegiance standard that’s not in the amendment. It is common, though, in the adult citizenship naturalization process. Children, though, like women and people of color, before and after the Civil War, have no legal capacity. Their legal standing is derivative. Absent birthright citizenship, they would acquire a de facto duty of allegiance through their parents. If their parents have none, the children can have none. When they become adults, they would remain foreigners unless and until they go through a naturalization process. Sam Alito knows all that, and knows where he intends the false logic of his arguments to lead. Fewer Democrats, fewer citizens, more immigrants subject to increasingly unrestrained executive power to deport them. Alito expresses the attitude of Matt Damon’s character in the Good Shepherd, who’s demanding help from an Italian-American mob boss, played by Joe Pesci. Pesci lists the things Italian Americans and other ethnic minorities in America have. He asks Damon’s James Angleton what he and his white Ivy League male peers have. Damon replies, “America. The rest of you are just visiting.” sry to be happy, man, but in a shocker the SC 6-3 upheld the Statue of Liberty and stopped her from sailing away to sea (Paul Simon). Also, sometimes, rare times, New York Times gets it right: quotes fwd by Amy Qin, NYT: Cecillia Wang, the national legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union who argued the case for birthright citizenship before the Supreme Court, celebrated today’s ruling. “The court’s decision reaffirms a fundamental American promise — if you are born here, you are a citizen,” said Wang, who is herself a birthright citizen. “A president cannot change the Constitution by executive fiat.” ——— The descendants of Wong Kim Ark, the Chinatown cook whose 1898 victory at the Supreme Court secured birthright citizenship for all Americans and set the precedent for today’s ruling, said in interviews that they were elated — and relieved. “You’re born here, you belong here,” said Sandra Wong. “We have had that for 150 years.” Reflecting on her ancestor Wong Kim Ark, she added: “My great grandfather never set out to become a symbol,” she said. “But he stood up for what was right and that made a difference.” Sandra’s brother, Norman Wong, said there was a broader lesson to be taken from Wong Kim Ark’s legacy and today’s ruling. “All Americans need to stand up for their rights,” Wong said. “Our rights are not privileges, and we can’t let the government or anyone in it take them away.” ——- My gramma got in through Ellis Island and got on a train to be a cook in Cleveland, ergo I exist. Also, Dr. Wu got in, and her 1956 experiment showed Weak force not parity symmetric, leading to the Cronin-Fitch 1964 experiment, ergo matter-antimatter billion to one assymetry, and why we all exist. Sry, but so glad that this thing didn’t go the other way. …as with everything GOP, it’s all a lie. Did you see campaign finance? [Moderator’s note: THIRD REQUEST — You used what might be your RL name instead of your established username on this comment. I’ve edited it but please check your browser’s cache and auto-fill to ensure it doesn’t happen on your next comment. ** FIX THIS — YOU JUST POSTED THIS THIRD COMMENT TONIGHT THAT I WILL HAVE TO EDIT AND FREE FROM AUTO-MOD. ** /~Rayne] I think doing both a graphic novel and a podcast would be very effective. …a book with stickmen, so that even Trump can understand it. Since its an open thread, never forget how we got here: Jane Hamsher reports that Nancy Keenan and the national NARAL PAC are lying to Connecticut voters on behalf of Joe Lieberman. They endorsed him even after he voted for cloture on Samuel Alito and came out against CT NARAL’s signature issue of last year (trying to require all publicly funded hospitals to provide Plan B contraception to rape victims — Joe famously said that after being raped they were free to take a “short ride” to another hospital if they wanted to). https://inthesetimes.com/article/why-is-naral-lying-for-joe-lieberman I think we got here because the left acquiesced to notion that ROE was a good decision and settled law. It has irked me with how casual the left is with clear rights that can be either easily explained or make those argument look obtuse. When I ask the right to lifers where their right to manage their neighbor’s womb originates, they have a real problem explaining where this ability to step in to someone’s life originates. It is my deeply held belief that the State has no compelling interest in whether a woman bears a citizen into our Republic and that voting for the GOP since Roe was decided has wrecked our Federal and State Governments due to the weak minded people elected to run our Republic over this clear Federal right. Paging punaise . . . “My contempt for Joe Lieberman will never subside” (or words to that effect) Hey, I resemble that remark! And yes, that was one version of my “paean” to the late Rape Gurney Joe. Joe Lier-Man is stlll around? Wasn’t he like 80 years old in Y2K? Joe died in 2024, at the age of 82, so much younger in Y2K. The article referred to above was from 2006. I’m prone to think in terms of animation where worlds can be created which could never exist in reality. There are bad guys galore, but good guys are hard to see at present. Setting the frame is the most important task. What happens between the beginning and where you end up is the story. Once these limits are set all stories are the same; how did you get from A to B. As an example the current regime states that Iran has caused problems for 47 years. A different frame is set if you start the story in 1993 with the ouster of Mosaddegh and the story becomes the US has caused problems for Iran for the last 73 years. The end of the Civil war may be a good start or maybe reconstruction. I personally believe we’ve reached the end of the second reconstruction. But I don’t think you need to be limited to a period or place. Setting the scene in the distant future or ancient past, may work better than the present, but a futuristic, imperial city of the present or class struggle slums of the turn of the 1900’s might work. I find an easy image to create is one where the supreme court justices are bats or vampires, black robes and all. Overlords and underdogs are a staple. Concept product placement could provide interesting anachronism. If you watch children’s movies they are filled with a moral framework and it’s easy to understand why the radical right thinks modern culture is against them Typo alert: 1953, not 1993 When I was a kid, I watched cartoons and it was always very clear who the bad guys were. As a young adult, I naively thought that I should be able to tell the bad guys from the good guys, but no! The bad guys pretended that they were good guys and looked like good guys while they lied, cheated, and stole. It was a rude awakening for me to realize that. I think some of that is happening with the magats. They are conned- believing the lies. So what if we acknowledged the difficulties in discerning someone’s character; e.g., showing the supremes in their robes, then peeling the image off to expose the bats and vampires underneath? With some witty or dramatic dialogue explaining this truth- the truth of the lie. It is a numbers game where Federalist Society litmus test packed the Court badly and where Roberts has been less than good as Chief. The dismantling of Feingold – McCain stands as worse outcome, and the ravage of Alito against Roe stands as the shabbiest excuse for judicial reasoning out of this Court. The ages of sitting Justices is such that no reform will happen short of Court membership expansion. That is why I have a hard time keeping up with the carnage. That and the general depressing nature of what is happening, opinion by opinion, make it hard to want to study the outcomes and the over-long opinions. Sophistry is my judgment, and it is hard to keep reading the Court’s output. That is a focus upon the arguably two worse Roberts Court items, and almost an intellectual flag of defeat against a 6 – 3 general nose counts. At least they got birth citizenship outcome correct. Leonard Leo, whoever he is answerable to, has done his job. Expansion seems the only escape. Coney Barrett has been something better than expected, Alito has been the smuggest worst, and they have more havoc in them. I apologize for not facing the newest outcomes one by one, studying and critiquing, but I am tired and that Court keeps moving and erring. Following them is depressing. imma go with a new take on “Schoolhouse Rock” – 3 minute musical animated videos that illustrate with humor steps that need to happen. Filibuster / Fox Rot / Extreme Supremes / Standing up and Standing Firm… Need lyric and music writers / animators / editors [No AI] $$ – Kickstarter? I thought the same. For a twist—and a bit of fun-poking—maybe the writers/animators, et al could infuse some peak-era MAD Magazine attitude into a SHR- type cartoon. Where’s Sergio Aragones when you need him? He’s still alive & kickin’ at 88… “I’m just a shill I am only a shill but I’m sitting here on Capitol Hill . . .” Is that you JD Vance? Which one of your principles are you doing a 180 on today? Remember Tom Maxwell and the Squirrel Nut Zippers? Have You Had Enough? That, and something like Sesame Street for the less-literate. Someone who has been watching Fox News for years wouldn’t think that Alito watching Fox News would make him mad, for obvious reasons. Many people would consider anyone watching Fox News for years as someone as not normal but then the Fox News watchers would consider that person not normal for not watching Fox News. That is a line of adapted reasoning from a book I am reading about common knowledge by Steven Pinker titled “When Everyone Knows That Everyone Knows …..”. To discuss any Supreme Court fix rationally would require common knowledge and an agreement about how to act on it to everyone’s benefit. The book has multiple examples of how difficult that is. A common education (Trump is shedding the Education Department with full knowledge by anyone that cares about it) and a unified ideal as the object of that education about what our nation is would be crucial, among many other things. We don’t have or value those goals. In that sense the Supreme Court is not the problem but only a symptom. We as a people have given un-elected representatives chosen by other representatives life time tenure, no seat-holding accountability to the people, no overriding judicial standards, and judicial review power to overturn amendments and laws at majority will that the people and their representatives create. I don’t know how everyone comes to understand/internalize that situation, especially when the Supreme Court is the blinding agent of so many different dreams of society for so many people. The AAAS used to have a ‘dance your PhD’, or somesuch. Can we all dance Trump’s corruption? Let’s do the Trump quadrille. One step forward, take his tiny hand, Step to the right, bow, showing deference, One step back, give him all public lands, Step to the left, building a higher fence, All together now, blame everybody else :- ) They still do. 2026 winners are here. Maybe reach out to the people who run smbc-comics(dot)com or lawcomic(dot)net for possible collaboration? Just to be thorough, smbc-comics some can be NSFW depending on your definition… For framing I would suggest something in the style of Voltaire’s Candide, but as a graphic novel. It fits with Trump’s constant blathering about how he is the best at everything, when objectively things are going to shit for the great majority of us, MAGA included. Trump lends himself to that style of absurdist send-up, however unwittingly. A lot like The Book of Genesis, illustrated by R. Crumb. A totally fabulous work of art. Every panel is a beautifully balanced composition. And a shout-out to Peterr: if you don’t already have Crumb’s book, it’s well worth getting. Looks interesting. And the combination of Robert Alter and the King James Version for the text is . . . intriguing. Indeed. I was not very much taken with Alter’s version of the Book of Psalms. It seemed — thin, somehow, even, non-poetic. But the Crumb Genesis is fantastic, two works of art, shaking hands, as it were. I suggest a series of alternating comic panels that mix scenes from the various Ignobel Awards with the related tRump Regime “face plant.” Or, perhaps road runner cartoon screen shots of coyote opposite Regime 47. You gotta have narrative; but narrative too easily shades over into conspiracy type stuff because conspiracy aims to make an incoherent reality forcibly coherent. That said: A comic with Leonard Leo as an undead mastermind, sending out his minions, each with a special mutation designed to capture one of the justices. Maybe with Fox as the smiling public face of the Leo Team. Ultimate Leo goal: conversion of the US into a theocracy, maybe with a second plot surprise at the mid-point – Leo has himself been psychologically captured by the undead corpse of Calvin? To make this work, you would need a hero to track down and neutralize the minions so probably a washed-up reporter whose career was derailed by the mutant machinations, and who cleans himself/herself up in order to fight. Maybe said reporter should also be a sort-of mutant with their own special powers (which don’t work on everyone). This is as far as I can push it on a first go-around. Model it on “Spider-Noir” maybe. One segment of the comic should include the refusal of the Judicial Council to do its duty under the 1978 Ethics in Government Act and examine Thomas’ inability to fill out financial disclosure forms correctly thus making the Supremes above and beyond the law, the way the Supremes have made the [Republican] President above and beyond the law. With the House and Senate preferring to go to recess instead of legislating, we simply do not have a working government any more. Graphic novels and animations that are available to kids and teenagers at school and online that relate the importance of the court but also civics in general. Make it fun , kind of like that song/animation with the bill on the capital steps that was around a long time ago. This might not be a now fix but planting seeds for the future. Unfortunately mom’s for armageddon or some such will shit on it . But screw ‘em. They can teach the value of authoritarianism at home I guess. Also people have to be reached where they spend time. Perhaps making entertaining and informative shorts on you tube and instagram etc might be able to break through to some extent. While not necessarly appropriate for children, I recommend Dwaine Booth’s website Clowncrack.com. He pulls no punches. Could we get Lin-Manuel Miranda to create a Hamilton style musical? Imagine the scenes of a dancing Alito and Thomas or the rapping of Kavanaugh in some drunken state. So many opportunities . . . [Welcome to emptywheel. Please be sure to use the same username and email address each time you comment so that community members get to know you. /~Rayne] Ominously shadowed graphic novel with Leo L a Satanic figure spawning a shadow army of grotesques being carefully transformed into normal looking human beings through dark gatherings and emerging from Yale Law School (gotta hit on those elites!), cunningly sent into areas where their malignant powers are honed and tested in Federalist Society, Opus Dei (gotta work in that cabal), clerks to Supreme Court etc I keep on imagining the Bad Witch and her flying monkeys though I propose a comic book version of the main stories from the Bible. The idea would be to teach the stories as they are now understood by mainstream religions. And the climax of each story would be But SCOTUS said NO! I have always liked the Parable of The Workers In the Vineyard. It’s a great example of the teachings of Jesus about how people complain when they see someone getting something they don’t get. So, the story might be about student loan relief under Biden, with a brief explanation of the law’s emergency preoviisons. We see a bunch of people bitching about it. Then one of them says like “hey don’t you remember what Rev. S____ said on Sunday about the workers in the Vineyard? Then we get the story in several panels. Then we get an explanation about how the parable works in the context of the person getting loan relief. Then we get the climax. But SCOTUS said NO!. For better or worse, here goes. Stealing an idea from Thomas Hobbes that Fintan O’Toole recently opened with, I say: Zombies. The Supreme Court’s majority is composed of Zombies of The Holy Roman Empire. Fintan’s opening paragraph: Gift link: https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2025/06/12/can-the-church-evolve-fintan-otoole/?share_key=0eaef76bfe71 Zombie stories are great attention grabbers, no? Bring on the story board graphics! Taking that one step further, can we do it as Calvin and Hobbes? Good one! Oh gods, yes, the Roberts SCOTUS right-wing majority is playing Calvinball with the Constitution and federal law. Thanks for posting this. You are right, It’s Calvinball in the Supreme Court. The brilliance of Calvin and Hobbs is proven yet again by the longevity of it’s relevance. The thing that stands out the most to me, that’s so obviously naked hypocrisy, is Slaughter and Cook on the same day. In one, it’s a 6-3 decision that no, Congress can’t limit Trump’s ability to fire anyone, for any reason. In the other, it’s a 5-4 decision that actually, Trump can’t fire members of the Fed, because… Uh… Money is important? The only distinguishing factor for Roberts and Kavanaugh is that Cook would have hurt their bank accounts, while Slaughter only really affects the peasantry. That and four of them were ready to rule the Fourteenth Amendment doesn’t say anything, but that one is slightly harder to parse than “these two rulings directly contract one another and were made on the same day.” I like the idea of a School House Rock type of animation. Maybe someone would need to play on repeat the School House Rock originals (on tik tok and youtube) before the updated versions drop, because people in their 30s and 40s do not seem to know what I am referring to when I make a reference to those memorable songs. In the medical environment, patients sometimes seem to distrust the truth if told to them directly compared to when they overhear two doctors talking about the case. Perhaps rightward leaning normies might get the message if they watch cartoon versions of the Trump administration say something at the podium and then overhear/witness those same characters whisper the “naked truth” to each other out of earshot of the mic. Or to really get past some normies’ mental defenses, a cartoon Trump character could start every whispered/overheard conversation with “The most interesting thing about the Hunter Biden case is” followed by a truth packet about the Trump administation. Or “The most interesting thing about Hillary Clinton is” followed by a truth packet about the Trump administration. School House Rock might have already done the heavy lifting. Let’s celebrate America’s 250th and watch on repeat repeat repeat “No More Kings!”, followed by “The Preamble”! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvOZs3g3qIo Some great material already to draw from (pun intended). I used many illustrators teaching including the great resourse Visualizing Economics with Catherine —-?—-. Yikes can’t recall her name. I had an idea like this just yesterday – more long the lines of billboards (dates me I know), with a series, Jack Ohman style, each one taking apart one lie at a time and exposing the opposite actions. My idea focused on the mandarin candidate (can’t recall Rayne’s nickname), for example ‘He said: No more wars!’ in first box, followed by one BS, fraudulent, corrupt move after another. There is enough material to do a series of 20-30 or more. Each large billboard could handle six or eight illustrations. Ohman doesn’t really box in a panel as much do a large canvas so lends itself to billboards. There could be a tag line like, “Conman, serial abuser, fraudulent loser….” Sorry, my dog is calling so that’s all I’ve got…not so creative I know but I believe in the power of the creative collective…and yes, this focus on SCROTUS offers so many possibilities to skewer the crime-iest of them with the sharpest truth stilettos. You know who would be an excellent partner to work on a graphic novel regarding the SCOTUS fix stakes? George Takei. He’s already done one marvelous graphic novel, They Called Us Enemy, explaining what internment did to Japanese Americans during WWII. He’s published it on a popular comic platform as well — Naver’s Webtoon. And George has just started another series on Webtoon, It Rhymes With Takei, in which George “shares the full story of his life in the closet, his decision to come out as gay at the age of 68, and the way that moment transformed everything.” Not only does he know his way around graphic novels, but based on his social media streams you can tell he has a solid grasp of the issues and the stakes. https://bsky.app/profile/georgetakei.bsky.social/post/3mpk2pq2ag32h He’s very popular, has a massive following on Bluesky and Mastodon, has nearly 1.75M followers over these two platforms combined. Does this answer the question about the content of the graphic novel? Nope — but I’d sure try to pitch the concept to George. The order of the day is “…there’s a whole lot of political work that needs to be done to explain the stakes for people”. What people need explaining? Honestly, I don’t think that the reasonable voting public cares at all. The remaining MAGA will never be convinced, so it is a waste of time. The only ones who really need some convincing and explaining are the timid centrist Democrats. So, just do it, period. Ain’t complicated: do it while you increase subsidies for the ACA, and restaure the Child Tax Credit (CTC). We still need a critical mass of voters who are savvy enough to vote for candidates who will remedy SCOTUS. It won’t include MAGA but it may include poorly informed Never-Trumpers and conserva-Dems, as well as young voters who’ve been poorly educated and are reachable. This is an existential battle for many of us; pooh-poohing doing ALL the work to reach that critical mass is a sign of privilege. So many good ideas above to get the urgency of SCOTUS reform out to the masses in a visceral way–I cannot add anything else. I would, however, expand the task to laying out a Project-2029 agenda–and the whys and wherefores–including court reform. We have so much work to do once we get the keys back from the current drunks and crooks, work to put our country back on the right path, and help lift up voters’ lives and fortunes. They need to feel it in their bones. Write a series of articles on the follow subject. There is a town called “Alitoville.” Where, hypothetically, the readers of the articles live. What happens to the readers as they live their life in Alitoville is determined by what Alito says can happen to them (what the government can get away with, how the government can act illegally and leave you without a remedy to sue, how you can lose your freedoms, etc., etc., in his opinions, including his dissenting and concurring opinions. Discuss in conversational prose how Alito’s views of the laws and the Constitution- whether expressed in dissents, concurring opinions or majority opinions — once adopted by the Court would adversely affect the daily lives of the residents of Alitoville. Make clear to the reader that daily life in Alitoville would really suck. Discuss topics where Alito has taken extreme positions that will make people uncomfortable. This will require some work (to review his opinions) and some creativity ( to properly articulate how his views, if they have been or might be adopted, will adversely affect people in their everyday lives. The work product could be published in a manner in which Dickens published Bleak House, with “installments” (chapters) published weekly which are later aggregated into a book. Each installment could focus on how a specific opinion or view articulated by Alito, once adopted, would make life for the residents of Alitoville very unpleasant. I would love to do this myself, but my current personal circumstances don’t allow me the time to do this. I want to see depicted, Kavanaugh’s wife and daughters cowering in dark corners terrified of his ugly, rabid, rodent, raging drunken self tearing through their home looking to paw and violate each of them. [To be clear, I do not wish that on them in RL. Though I imagine they know in their bones who their father truly is.]