He found it on the North Country Trail

I listened to the supreme court hearings most of the day. Sorta anyway. I did listen to some of the words but not always closely and sometimes I was listening more to tones of voice. Man splainin’ anyone? Whether or not you have a law degree, if you haven’t practiced law in umpteen years, maybe you should defer to a woman who has a distinguished law career? And isn’t a politician? Oh, too much to ask, I guess…

That senator from the south? Maybe you know the one? I don’t want to kill him but couldn’t we just send him to a luxurious tropical island somewhere? Pay his bills there? With the stipulation that he STFU? Jeebus. For one thing, I don’t think a person’s chosen religion has anything to do with their job performance, whether you are a supreme court justice or a lowly systems analyst or whatever. I don’t know much but I think we were taught in elementary school that this country was founded (for one thing) on the basis of religious freedom. I *think* that means that no matter what religion (or none) you practice, you are eligible for citizenship here and all of its associated privileges. I didn’t hear him melt down but some folks say he did and I was looking for Southern Senator Meltdown Memes off and on throughout the day. The closest I got was the three-eyed kitten, a tragic story that I won’t link to.

When our most recent supreme court candidate actually got a chance to talk and I was able to listen, I was impressed by her. I don’t know much about being a lawyer but I am always impressed by someone who tries to explain things transparently and put them into context. Too many lawyers do not seem to know how to do this (I’ll talk about crappy lawyers some other day). Except when The Southern “Gentleman” was grilling the candidate unmercifully about her religion, she pretty calmly tried to get her questioners to back up and listen to the facts and context surrounding various cases she has adjudicated. I felt that she succeeded but who knows.

BTW, I listened to the hearings on NPR but I got my OPINIONS from listening to the CANDIDATE answer questions from her GRILLERS. Not from NPR pundits although some of their comments corroborated my independently formulated thoughts.

2 Responses to “He found it on the North Country Trail”

  1. Margaret Says:

    I haven’t listened because I would get too angry.

  2. jane Says:

    I understand that her response to the religion question included the following – it is “very important to set aside one’s views” as a judge and noted also that there “is no religious test” in the U.S. Constitution.
    Having now listened to about 30 minutes total – I agree with Margaret – I am SO angry.