With the election of President Trump, some liberal activists have called for Justice Sonia Sotomayor to step down so Democrats can appoint someone else on the bench before Inauguration Day. Earlier this week a CNN commentator floated the idea of Joe Biden nominating Kamala Harris to the U.S. Supreme Court before he exits office in January. However, Sotomayor reportedly shut down that idea. Sotomayor, the most senior liberal justice on a conservative-majority Supreme Court, made clear she has no intentions to step down. “She’s in great health, and the court needs her now more than ever,” one individual close to the justice said, according to CNN. Justice Sonia Sotomayor has no plans to retire, resisting liberal calls to quit ahead of Trump presidency —WSJ pic.twitter.com/NPO9JijaN0 — NewsWire (@NewsWire_US) November 10, 2024 The Wall Street Journal reports: Sotomayor, appointed in 2009 by then President Barack Obama, is the senior member of the court’s liberal minority, which by custom makes her its leader. Outnumbered by six conservatives, including three appointed by Trump during his first term, the liberals have increasingly been reduced to dissenting opinions that argue the majority has made grave errors on matters from abortion rights to presidential power. Sotomayor, who has written a bestselling memoir and children’s books, appeared on “Sesame Street,” and championed civics education, is among the better-known justices. In February, a Marquette Law School poll found that while many Americans were unfamiliar with the court’s membership, Sotomayor was viewed more favorably than any other justice. “This would probably be a good day for Sotomayor to retire,” David Dayen, executive editor of the liberal American Prospect magazine, wrote the day after the election on social media. The same day, the former MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan, noting the justice has had Type 1 diabetes since childhood, resurfaced his April op-ed suggesting that it was time for Sotomayor to go. Animating the discussion of Sotomayor—and of potential retirements by conservative justices of similar age—is Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death at age 87. Ginsburg had resisted calls from liberals to step down in the early 2010s while Obama and the Democrats held appointment power. Her death in September 2020 allowed Trump to solidify the court’s conservative majority by appointing Justice Amy Coney Barrett shortly before Democrats captured both the White House and Senate. Sonia Is Staying: Despite calls from some liberals for Justice Sotomayor, 70, to step down while Democrats can fill her seat before Inauguration Day, she has no plans to retire, people close to her said https://t.co/AMNt6eV33L via @WSJ — @jessbravin.bsky.social (@JessBravin) November 10, 2024 Per CNN: Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders said Sunday that he doesn’t think Sotomayor should step down from the court. “I don’t think it’s sensible,” Sanders, an independent who caucuses with Senate Democrats, said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” The process of moving a Supreme Court nominee takes considerable time — often several months. Even assuming there are no problems with a potential nominee, there is not likely enough time for Biden to secure a confirmation before the GOP takes control of the Senate in early January. Sotomayor, who is 70, has been public about living with type 1 diabetes, though she has shown little sign of slowing down. She is a relentless questioner during oral arguments and has appeared in public repeatedly in recent months.

Famous people you probably never knew were U.S. Marines. 

Dutch politician, heroic Geert Wilders has been living under police protection since 2004. He is guarded round-the-clock by armed police, lives in a government-provided safe house isolated, and sees his wife only once or twice a week. Security must first “clear” the area when he appears in public. He receives hundreds of death threats a […] The post Terror in The Netherlands! Geert Wilders Calls for Deportation appeared first on www.independentsentinel.com.

'How can I keep some money in my pocket and how can I stay safe?'

'Shit, why would I go get the governor of Minnesota?'

Little did they know a Trump victory was incoming, MSNBC's Morning Joe co-host Joe Scarborough joined contributor Michael Beschloss in fretting early on Election Day without any evidence that a Donald Trump win would result in less freedom of speech. Scarborough also falsely asserted that Trump  "said he was going to execute Liz Cheney," and put down MAGA Republicans, declaring that they "apparently didn't go to civics class." At 6:37 a.m. Scarborough started fretting about, whether Trump wins or loses, how to deal with the 70 million or so people who will vote for the Republican nominee:     Even in that best case scenario for the Harris people and for what you're talking about here, we still have an electorate -- 70 million plus that will be voting for a man who said he was going to assassinate for treason the chairman of the Joint Chiefs because he didn't support him on January 6th -- who said just in recent days he was going to execute Liz Cheney with that firing squad -- nine guns pointed and shooting at her face... After listing a few other remarks by Trump, Scarborough recalled conversations with MAGA supporters who refuse to believe anti-Trump warnings, with the MSNBC host then adding: There's a sort of Russian embrace of disinformation, a radical disvaluing -- devaluing of truth over the last nine to 10 years, and a complete ignorance on civics and what the term "Madisonian democracy" even means, what checks and balances even means, what judicial review even means, what the rule of law even means. How do we, as a nation, even post-Trump, how do we reach those Americans who apparently didn't go to civics class -- apparently didn't learn the basics of this Constitution, and have just been overwhelmed with disinformation over the past nine years? A bit later, as MSNBC contributor Michael Beschloss declared that freedom of speech was on the line: ... if historians in the future are allowed to write books -- and, by the way, that question is open this morning. And if people are allowed to go on television and say what they think in the future -- which, again, that question is open this morning, in the future, historians are going to look back on this day and say this is the day that America made a choice between freedom and democracy on one side and authoritarianism and dictatorship on the other. Scarborough jumped in to speculate that billionaires may censor speech by liberals as he fretted over the recent decision by Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos to block the paper from printing an endorsement of Democrat Kamala Harris. Beschloss predictably brought up Germany Nazis and Italian fascists from the 1930's: "It is, and that's what happens when strongmen come to power. That happened in Italy in the 1920's and 1930's, Germany in the 1930's."     Transcript follows: MSNBC's Morning Joe November 5, 2024 6:37 a.m. Eastern JOE SCARBOROUGH: But what happens, though, Jon, as a historian, tell us, and then we'll get to Michael, what happens if Donald Trump loses tonight? And let's say he even loses convincingly -- and there's no evidence that he will do that -- not at all -- but let's say he does. Even in that best case scenario for the Harris people and for what you're talking about here, we still have an electorate -- 70 million plus that will be voting for a man who said he was going to assassinate for treason the chairman of the Joint Chiefs because he didn't support him on January 6th -- who said just in recent days he was going to execute Liz Cheney with that firing squad -- nine guns pointed and shooting at her face -- a man who has said that he is going to shut down CBS because he didn't like how they edited an interview -- a man who said he was going to be a dictator from day one -- a man who said he was going to terminate the Constitution -- a man who said he was going to use the Army and he was going to use the National Guard on his political opponents. I literally could go on all day, and yet, you talk to Trump voters, and they'll go, "He didn't say that. Wait, no, I didn't hear him --"  And then you say, "Well, here's the quote." And they'll go, "He didn't mean that." So there is a -- there's something far, far more long-lasting than just Donald Trump the candidate. There's a sort of Russian embrace of disinformation, a radical disvaluing -- devaluing of truth over the last nine to 10 years, and a complete ignorance on civics and what the term "Madisonian democracy" even means, what checks and balances even means, what judicial review even means, what the rule of law even means. How do we, as a nation, even post-Trump, how do we reach those Americans who apparently didn't go to civics class -- apparently didn't learn the basics of this Constitution, and have just been overwhelmed with disinformation over the past nine years? JON MEACHAM: We are on trial. Donald Trump is not the only person on the ballot. We are. The American citizenry is on the ballot. (...) 6:42 a.m. WILLIE GEIST: Michael, you and Jon and other great historians often talk about hinge days in history -- hinge moments in history -- and we could go through them all over the last 250 years in this country. This does feel in many ways like a hinge day, which is to say we're going down one of two very different paths by perhaps tomorrow morning. MICHAEL BESCHLOSS: Yes, and that's what -- if historians in the future are allowed to write books -- and, by the way, that question is open this morning. And if people are allowed to go on television and say what they think in the future -- which, again, that question is open this morning, in the future, historians are going to look back on this day and say this is the day that America made a choice between freedom and democracy on one side and authoritarianism and dictatorship on the other. SCARBOROUGH: Michael, can I restate something -- can I restate something for you? BESCHLOSS: Sure, please. SCARBOROUGH: It's not that historians won't be able to write those books. It may be that the billionaires and the corporations that own the publishing houses will refuse to print those books. BESCHLOSS: Absolutely. SCARBOROUGH: And we've seen that with the L.A. Times -- we have seen that with the Washington Post -- I will not get into details. We have even seen that with other countries. Liberal democracies who so fear Donald Trump that they are already preparing -- already preparing for the worst. We see billionaires on Wall Street who six months ago expressed contempt for Donald Trump. People that walked away from him after January the 6th saying that he was bad for American democracy who are now preemptively kowtowing to -- someone they fear will be an authoritarian leader. So this is not high drama. This is the reality we live in. Who would have ever believed three weeks ago that the Washington Post who rewrote the rules of journalistic history with Woodward and Bernstein by keeping politicians accountable -- who would ever have believed a few weeks ago that the Washington Post would have written an opinion endorsing Kamala Harris and their billionaire owner would scuttle it a few days before the election because he was so fearful that a vengeful Donald Trump would go after his business? Not just the Post, but Amazon, his AI business. Who would have believed that? But now, that's the world we live in. MIKA BRZEZINSKI: Yes. BESCHLOSS: It is, and that's what happens when strongmen come to power. That happened in Italy in the 1920's and 1930's, Germany in the 1930's. Certainly it's happened in Hungary, and Viktor Orban, of course, is one of Donald Trump's most notorious heroes. He said we should follow that model, and so it may be. And this is what happens when America begins to go toward dictatorship. And I think all of us, you know, talking right now, we would have all said -- I'll speak for all of us, and if I'm wrong, correct me. If we had discussed this 20 years ago and we had said one of the two major party nominees is promising -- just as Joe was saying, suspend the Constitution, pit the Justice Department, the Defense Department against political enemies and run this country out of the White House telling businesses what to do -- small businesses, labor unions -- it's all done by one leader in the White House giving orders. We would have said that person could not get 50 percent of the vote. As we speak this morning, the polls that you all are talking about say that a presidential nominee -- you have to give Donald Trump credit for this. He's been very straightforward. He has said, "If you elect me, you're going to get violence, you're going to get dictatorship for at least a day." He has made very clear what's going to happen. That's a campaign promise. And what I cannot understand is that half the country seems to think that that's fine.