Welcome back to the Scuttlebutt. We’re back at home now for a few weeks, before heading out to Mt. Rushmore for the scattering of my favorite Aunt. We’ve got a full plate today, from SCOTUS decisions, to opportunities to watch the far left eat themselves in Gamer Geek Culture, and a lot more.
As always, please notice the cup at the tip jar Where we restock the bar . By the way, while you can do a paid subscription here at Sub stack, and it’s a welcome donation, Stripe (the folks that handle the money for sub stack) get a cut. The Tip jar money all goes straight to me.
Ready? Let’s begin!
Let’s start with the SCOTUS rulings. We keep hearing that the Supreme court is this horribly activist right wing outfit that’s out of control, and needs to be: Abolished/packed/Impeached… Yet with the Murthy V Missouri case, they just proved that not only are they not ‘in the pocket of the rightwing reactionaries’ but they’re frankly trying desperately to avoid making game changing rulings.
Murthy, if you have forgotten, was a lawsuit brought by Missouri and Louisiana against the Biden administration stating that Biden’s people were leaning on social media to censor speech that the administration claimed was ‘miss-information.’
The ruling by SCOTUS was a rejection of that suit on the most limited possible terms. They sent it back to 5th Circuit to retry the case, with the understanding that the states suing do not have ‘standing.’ Now, I’m not a lawyer, I don’t play one on TV, and I didn’t stay in a Holiday Inn Express last night, BUT basically, as I understand the law, ‘Standing’ is interpreted as “you are the injured party, and thus can have a claim against a party doing the damage.”
So what they did, was say: “Hey, the States aren’t who got hurt here, so they don’t get to sue.” This is the most popular, easiest, way for a court to get out of hearing a case they don’t want to rule on. Barrett, who wrote the majority decision, wrote: “At this stage, neither the individual nor the state plaintiffs have established standing to seek an injunction against any defendant. We therefore lack jurisdiction to reach the merits of the dispute.” The 3 judge minority disagreed vigorously with this position. Sadly, this is really a ‘non decision’ posing as a ruling. What it does, is allow the government to at this time, continue to lean on private enterprise to do the censorship the government isn’t allowed to do on its own. It’s also an indication that the court is uncomfortable pushing the meter any further than they must.
For free speech, it’s a loss, but not a major one, more of a setback really, and it is liable to get lost in the rulings still to come. SCOTUS has a lot of really game changing rulings still to announce, rulings that they are dragging their feet HARD on. If those come out in the favor of freedom, liberty, and limited government, expect the Left to start REEEing again about how they’re all a bunch of Nazis. They’ll forget this ruling if SCOTUS rules in favor of presidential immunity from prosecution, for the Jan 6 defendants, or several other cases that are powder kegs. See the list here: https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-undecided-cases-
SCOTUS also ruled against the second amendment, again in a very limited way, saying that it was reasonable to remove the second amendment rights of citizens subject to Domestic Violence Restraining Orders. As Chief Justice Robers wrote: "We conclude only this: An individual found by a court to pose a credible threat to the physical safety of another may be temporarily disarmed consistent with the Second Amendment." There’s a couple of key words here, “Found by a Court” and “temporarily.” Anticipate left leaning jurisdictions to attempt to push this issue hard, and try to make “found by a court” mean ‘ruled by a bureaucrat’ and “temporarily” changed for ‘for life.’ In playing ‘lets rule as narrowly as we can’ games, SCOTUS is unintentionally ensuring that they’ll be ruling on this issue again.
On the “we hate Jews” front we have a couple of entries.
The first one involves the Gamer Geek community (please note this is not meant to be slanderous, while I am a “casual” from the perspective of most modern gamers; Dudes, I have Avalon Hill games older than you that have been played until you can’t read the tiles. Get over yourselves.) Well, the BIG convention of the year for gamers of all stripes is Gen Con. They have an awards group, called the CRIT Awards, (it’s a cutesy and linguistically stretched acronym to cover the gamer language that a crit roll is a ‘dude, your character is dead’ roll.) The group that runs that award came out this year with a new rule, on top of their already uber woke inclusive, diverse, politically correct standing rules. This is covered in detail by Tom Knighton at
and you should go and read the whole thing there, but the big takeaway is in a quote from their rules:
1. Inclusivity and Respect
1.1. No Racism: We do not tolerate any form of racism, racial discrimination, or xenophobia. Treat all individuals with respect and fairness, regardless of their race, ethnicity, or cultural background.
1.2. No Homophobia: We embrace diversity and do not condone any homophobic behavior or discrimination against individuals based on their sexual orientation or gender identity.
1.3. No Ableism: We are committed to being accessible and accommodating to all individuals. Avoid ableist attitudes or behaviors and strive to make the CRIT Awards inclusive for people of all abilities.
1.4. No Sexism: Gender-based discrimination, stereotypes, or harassment will not be tolerated. We promote gender equality and a supportive environment for all genders.
1.5. Individuals who identify as Zionists, promote Zionist material, or engage in activities that without a doubt support Zionism are not eligible for nomination.
SO, it’s not OK to hate on: gays, ‘otherly abled,’ any race*, any of the 53 or whatever sexes!
*Except the Jews! Everyone hates the Jews, and if you don’t hate the Jews, you’re not welcome here!
Well, that only lasted a day, before Gen Con apparently had words with these little Himmler wannabes and let them leave gracefully.
Tom didn’t get to this part, because it hit after his press time. Ah, but wait, there’s more!
There’s a bunch of Tic-toc types, including “Dinner and a Game” “the TREVOR project” and “the Critical Bard” along with a shit ton of other woke types, that are now attacking Gen Con for having the audacity to disassociate with antisemites. Gen Con has been leftist, and in fact, rabid leftist to the point that they banned Gary Gygax’s son from attending for some perceived sin (I think it was being white.) (If you don’t know who Gary Gygax is, he invented Dungeons and Dragons.)
I advocate for eating popcorn and watching the show, hopefully they will do each other in, in a large political version of a five-way cage match, and we can get back to playing games and having fun!
Also, in the ‘it’s ok to hate the Jews’ department, we have the same DA who moved heaven and earth to find a way to make an internal book keeping practice into 34 felony counts, deciding to drop all charges against the people (most of them, it turns out where not students, but professional agitators) who took over Hamilton Hall at Columbia. It seems that in the case of 31 of them, “there is a lack of evidence.” In spite of the fact that they were arrested inside the hall! The other 14 were offered a diversion, where if they didn’t get arrested for six months, the charges would be dropped. They REFUSED THE DEAL! As a result, those 14 will be back in court on July 25, where DA Bragg will no doubt find some other deal to avoid charging them. After all the election is coming up and those professional agitators are going to be needed to riot for the left, so that we don’t get ‘evil orange man’ back!
In LA a mob of Pro Hamas Muslims gathered in front of the Adas Torah Synagogue last Sunday to beat the shit out of the members of that congregation. Only one person was arrested, for having a “spiked flag.” The maceing and bear spraying of the congregation was apparently not worth arresting anyone over. The LAPD protected the mob, and turned away the Jews from the front of their own fucking place of worship! Forcing them to use a ‘secret back entrance.’ https://www.dailywire.com/news/jews-beaten-by-pro-hamas-extremists-outside-synagogue-in-los-angeles
Then we have my very own Senator Patty Murray, who is proudly announcing her goal of getting a carve out of $2,500,000 in federal funds for the “Muslim Association of Puget Sound, on top of the $850,000 she got them earlier this year. (it’s worth noting, this is a third of their annual budget.) This outfit’s leader Mohammad Joban preaches that Jews are “despicable apes” an “Arrogant breed of people,” and called on Allah to “eradicate them from existence.” He continually calls for the eradication of Israel, and the Jewish people. /dem-sen-patty-murray-seeks-millions-for-anti-semitic-mosque-whose-leader This is where your tax dollars are going if Patty has her way.
Finally on this front, a little more good news.
Jamall Bowman, you remember him?
He’s the dude that pulled the fire alarm to stop the vote on something he didn’t want to pass. He’s also the token penis in ‘the Squad’ the AOC backed; uber left, uber Muslim, we hate the US, Israel, and Jews in general, group of congressmen.
Well, he’s gone. He lost his primary by about 20 points. Of course he claimed that “the Jews spent millions of dollars to brainwash people against him.” https://freebeacon.com/latest-news/jamaal-bowman-says-jewish-money-helped-brainwash-voters-into-opposing-him/ Buh bye asshole.
In other news:
CDR Sal knocked a couple out of the part recently: First calling the Commander of the National Guard out for being a politician, and a hypocrite instead of a military officer, in
which talks about how the head of the No-Gos is saying that; guarding the boarder is a waste of our time, and we could be better utilized somewhere else. The actual quote is “There is no military training value for what we do,” he told the Senate Appropriations Committee during a hearing on the National Guard’s budget. “That time, I think, would be better utilized building readiness to deter our adversaries.”
Yeah, a fucking General thinks that a secure border isn’t something that the National Guard should be wasting their time doing. Uh, wow, I got nothing. General Hokanson, you’re either a moron, or a traitor… I’ll take providing aid and comfort to the enemy for $1000 please Alex. Someone please court-martial this idiot.
Then there’s this piece:
No Sal isn’t suggesting we’re communists (yet) but he is saying that we’re looking more and more like the Old Soviet military, and less and less like the guys that beat them. He says this not out of defeatism, but as a call to FIX THIS SHIT. Could we please listen to the man?
Biden’s choices continue to amaze and confound reason:
His appointment of Kristen Clarke to head the DOJ’s ‘Civil Rights Division’ is showing up as more of a mistake than ever, she’s now subject to three ethics complaints and a criminal charge. The charge is based on her lying about having no criminal charges against her, when asked point blank by Senator Cotton about the issue, during conformation hearings. Seems she “forgot” the DV charge that is still playing out, for slashing her then husband’s finger to the bone with a knife during a domestic squabble. You would think that a Division Head in the Department of Just Us, would know that Domestic Assault with a deadly weapon, is a crime. Of course the charges for perjury would have to be brought by the DOJ, so…
His student loan giveaway has been blocked AGAIN by judges in Missouri and Kansas. You remember this giveaway, it’s the one where he bragged that ‘the Supreme Court told me this was illegal, but I’m doing it anyway!”
He’s also brought back the idea of using the US Surgeon General as a stalking horse (or stocking whore, depending on how you want to look at it.) to achieve more gun control, having him claim once again (This was done back under Clinton, and specific laws were written to stop it then.) that “gun-related violent crime is a public health crisis.” And you know what that means:
After all, we proved during Covid that in a “Public Health Crisis,” (PHC) the constitution goes out the window. If it’s a PHC, the first amendment rights of peaceable assembly, and freedom of worship are null and void, we can lock you up in your home, we can lock up the churches, and charge you with a crime if you enter, we can close public offices, WE CAN DO WHAT WE WANT, AND FUCK YOUR CONSTITUTION. So is it a reach to think that maybe if it’s a PHC we can ignore the second amendment too?
Finally, he’s decided to allow Iran to run voter stations on US soil for the Islamic Republic’s Presidential election. Iran says that 30% of Iran’s expats are in the US with estimates from a half million to over one million people. Iran will be allowing them to vote in their election. I tell ya folks, you can’t make this shit up.
QOTD: “Gun ownership is not a communicable disease, it’s a constitutional right.”
“This is just one more effort by the Biden administration to demonize guns and the law-abiding citizens who own them. The problem with violent crime is not that it is a disease, but a symptom of failed leadership, from the White House on down. From the day he took office, Joe Biden has treated gun owners like social lepers. He considers us second-class citizens who should be ostracized as though we are spreading a plague.”
Alan Gottlieb, Chairman of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms.
Yours in Service,
William Lehman