245 Comments
User's avatar
Jukesgrrl's avatar

My sympathy. Call if you want the number for Mayflower Movers.

Expand full comment
Jukesgrrl's avatar

In fairness, it does take longer to style a wig.

Expand full comment
boll ocks's avatar

Preach it, man!!

Expand full comment
DutchS's avatar

Teachable moment here. The Constitution was written by the rich urban elite. And thank God for it, because if the process had been really democratic, we wouldn't have the Constitution. Because a LOT of people did not like having any central government except the most rudimentary. They were called the Anti-Federalists and they tended to be more rural and less educated. The one thing we can really thank them for was an explicit Bill of Rights, but everyone pictured it as limiting only the powers of Congress. It was not until Gitlow v. New York (1925!) that SCOTUS held that the First Amendment applied within the states. "Banned in Boston" once meant exactly that. Separation of Church and State? Cantwell v. Connecticut, 1940(!) Since then, the so-called Incorporation Doctrine has extended most of the Bill of Rights to the States, piecemeal, as cases arose.

We have always had a Tea Party. There has always been a strong undercurrent of opposition to applying the Bill of Rights at the local level. And there has always been a strong undercurrent of belief that the Federal Government has only the most minimal powers. The Framers omitted the "expressly" that had been in the Articles of Confederation, but the Tea Party keeps writing it in over the White-Out. There's a direct lineal descent from extremists of the McCarthy Era to today's Tea Party.

Okay, so nullification? Well, lest you think only nut cases do it, like South Carolina in 1832, realize that Virginia and Kentucky called for it in 1798 with regard to the Alien and Sedition Acts, and Wisconsin in 1859 with regard to the Fugitive Slave Act. The theory justifying nullification typically invokes the Ninth and Tenth Amendments. Failure to mention something doesn't constitute grounds for denying it, and anything not listed is reserved to the states and the people. Since neither nullification nor secession are expressly prohibited, ergo, the states can do them. If you, like, ignore the Supremacy Clause and Article III.

Expand full comment
DutchS's avatar

Same reason the Declaration of Independence used a lot of words to say "We're out of here." Or the Emancipation Proclamation used a lot of words to say "If you can get out of rebel territory, you're free."

Expand full comment
Dudleydidwrong's avatar

Goddamn bucket list gets longer and longer and at my age there just isn't that much time.

Expand full comment
Dudleydidwrong's avatar

If that happens don't you need to just buy a truss? What's the big deal about that? Seems pretty civilized to me.

(Oh, "rApture" hmmmm)

Expand full comment
Shananigan's avatar

Someone always wants a loophole, I guess. "No, wait! There's gotta be some legit way I can fuck you over still!"

Expand full comment
BadKitty904's avatar

Speaking as a Floridian, descended from generations of Floridians dating back to when we were still part of the Spanish Empire, I can certainly sympathize.

Expand full comment
Dudleydidwrong's avatar

My recent browsing experience on Wonkette was crappy until I downloaded a new Adobe Shockwave. Things seem to have stabilized. (Knocks on wood--no, not THAT wood.)

Expand full comment
Dudleydidwrong's avatar

A lot of southerners have some incredible relatives. (Yes, I'm a "southerner" by birth.)

Expand full comment
Dudleydidwrong's avatar

He can't do that. He hasn't paid all the installments on his new tinfoil headgear.

Expand full comment
BadKitty904's avatar

Patimokkha or bust!

Expand full comment
BadKitty904's avatar

Are they shooting craps?

Expand full comment
m3bosha's avatar

Dear RWNJs, I'm am going to quote a fine singer, Miss Lily Allen...

Fuck you, fuck you, fuck you very much. I really hate you and all the things that you do, so please don't stay in touch.

Expand full comment
willi0000000's avatar

my brother moved to Tennessee a few years back . . . i never dreamed he'd be this successful teaching those idiots how reality works.

[ note to self: self, must call him and offer congratulations ]

Expand full comment