Six members of SCOTUS: Cruel, Unusual and Heartless?

So dear reader let us pray for relief from all of this constant mayhem, all of this constant growling, and distraction, and instead unite to reaffirm the rule of law and even put into practice some key Biblical parables. Remember, in the Old Testament of Psalms and Proverbs, the poor were explicitly defended. Remember, Mohammad wanted the poor served. Few if any religions distain or mock the poor. So, it is wrong to treat immigrants as less than human. Finally, we must respond to the request of George Washington in 1792 when as President, he asked every American to embrace patriotism for the United States of America.

Did they forget their catechism – “You shall have no other Gods before ME”

I am 88 years old, a grandfather, a retired small business owner, and a writer by avocation. I am an Army veteran with two older brothers buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

Dear reader, I keep reminding myself that in my second year of posting blogs, that one of them will certainly be a dying declaration!

I am a Christian who promised God five years ago that I would honor His name because I had just recovered from three months in a death-defying hospital recovery from cancer surgery that went awry. So here I am with a stomach bag and a painful left arm (post shingles neuralgia). What keeps me going? The children and grandchildren of the world who need our immediate assistance, and if I may, my great Detroit Tigers baseball team!

We are now continuing in a very dangerous time in our history. Plato said, “Democracies pass into despotism”. So now some members of SCOTUS, some members of the Heritage Foundation, some members of the Federalist Society, and of course all of those who participated in creating Project 2025, some members of the Fox News punditry (and of course Fox owner Rupert Murdoch) and lastly CPAC, are all swinging for the bleachers to make a stronger unitary Executive, with much more immunity in the White House. In effect a more powerful Presidency. Oops! They have forgotten that way over half of the American population does not want a king, a dictator or an authoritarian. What then? Dear reader over half of the American population want to follow the rule of law, the U.S. Constitution, and to fulfill the political hopes of those 55 men in Philadelphia in 1787 – our Founding fathers as it were. Those great gentlemen created a document of, by and for the people. They hoped for leaders of honor, honesty and decency. Men of goodwill. They rejected those who sought power and money with too much vigor and ambition. They obviously knew that power corrupts.

So let’s join together as millions and millions of Americans who are absolutely not ready to surrender to the forces of power and money. Americans really are unique; they will not bend the knee to serve a dictator. As a dear girlfriend once stated, “you better get your big boy pants on”, and stop this abject political baloney aimed at freedom loving Americans. The baloney must go, the B.S. must go. We must unite around one of the greatest creative living documents to exist in government. The 238 year old United States Constitution!

We are not a country that beats up and arrests for example, an undocumented immigrant, one who has three American Marine Corps sons! We do not go around arresting judges, congressmen or others affiliated with government for simply trying to stop the improper deportation of immigrants often simply being attacked by lawless masked ICE agents, paid handsomely to overlook our laws. We don't refer to Federal judges that want to embrace the U.S. Constitution and the rule of law as “rogue judges”! We don’t approve of some MAGA Republicans (CPAC), that hold Vladimir Putin and Viktor Orban in higher regard than they do former great Presidents like George Washington and Ronald Reagan. Finally, we don't approve of sending undocumented immigrants (who are needed on farms, and at hotels and restaurants), to a foreign country to be thrown into a strange prison with no real legal foundation other than making perhaps 40% of the arrests, simply a numbers game to fill their deportation quotas. This is a terrible scar on the soul of America. Gestapo Germany in 1935, should come to mind for every reasonable American citizen. Who would ever believe that we are using tactics handed down from some of the worst governments and dictators ever put on this Earth?

Dear reader, the above is simply a small portion of the chaos and mayhem being embraced by these overzealous, MAGA Republican rabble rousers. And would you believe their thoughtlessness, their cruelty, their baseless activities are primarily for blue states only. Yes, the divide and conquer strategy of their rank politics. Now California has had to allow their own National Guard, to be taken over by the U.S. President. Four thousand total were Federalized, along with almost 1,000 U.S. Marines. They were put to use around Los Angeles to stop the so-called “riots” that were “out of control”. Out of control? The Governor, two Senators, the Mayor of Los Angeles, and the police officials in all of those areas were not asking for help. Remember America, the cost of the $200 million bill for all of this military work is taxpayer money. Forget that at your own peril. In Washington DC on June 14th, the American military paraded throughout the city with many representatives of our military forces. Was it impressive? Yes, it was impressive, but for $50 million we generally do not have a military parade for the birthday of the President of the United States. Please fact check everything I'm saying. And remember, many of the grandstands were half empty. Meanwhile over 5 million Americans the same day, hit the streets gathering to denounce any ideas of a king in America. Again, everything I say, please fact check!

Anyway, dear reader what do we do with so many MAGA Republicans in unity with their leader? They pour on the disinformation, they pour on the hostility, they pour on the innuendo and proven lies. What's the point of all of this? It's a political strategy called divide and conquer. Pour it on like they did to our former President Joe Biden. Divide and divide, pour it on even though Biden’s record was literally twice as good as that of President Trump’s first term. Dear reader, don’t forget that all of these folks believe that civility is a sign of weakness. Tough guys always prevail according to them. Conversely, does SCOTUS show softness and favorability to these negative forces accumulating on the political scene? The public certainly believes it to be true according to polls. Now we have a President who seems anti-American and un-American, with his views of our government. He has activated laying off 20,000 employees of the IRS. He has stripped the DOJ of agents fighting white collar crime in our country. He pardons tax cheats.

Over 65% of Americans believe in a Christian God according to polls over the years. Christ said, “what ye do for the least of my brethren ye do for me”. Well let me remind you we have federal employees getting laid off without any justification. We have over 150,000 African children, now dead since USAID was dismantled in February, cutting off the food supply for these starving children and for many adults needing medicine. Please fact check, and fact check again! We have immigrants not even knowing why they were charged, being sent to prisons never having been given due process according to the rule of law. We have six members of SCOTUS lending and creating a powerful new Executive branch of government with a presumption of immunity on actions taken by the Executive. Is this the birth of a monarchy perhaps? You betcha!

So, I encourage you dear reader to take these following words of our Creator, and find a way to put a stop to this chaos, mayhem, and torture authored by so many who as Plato said, now seem to have a desire for despotism instead of what we had in October 2024. That was when as a nation, we were the envy of the free world economically. Is SCOTUS really against the U.S. Constitution? Have they tortured the soul of America with their many decisions that harm the least among us? Please read the following two quotes from the New Testament, and make up your own mind on each parable.

Luke 16: 19-31 from the new international version titled, The Rich Man and Lazarus

“There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.

“The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried.

In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side.

So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’

“But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony.

And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’

“He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family, for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’

“Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’

“‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’

“He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’”

The second quote is from Matthew 25: 31-46, same version, titled, The Sheep and the Goats

When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne.

All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?

When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you?

When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink,

I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

“They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’

“He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

“Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

Remember what Saint Peter said when he demanded that we “honor your government and pay your taxes”. So dear reader let us pray for relief from all of this constant mayhem, all of this constant growling, and distraction, and instead unite to reaffirm the rule of law and even put into practice the above Biblical parables. Remember, in the Old Testament of Psalms and Proverbs, the poor were explicitly defended. Remember, Mohammad wanted the poor served. Few if any religions distain or mock the poor. So, it is wrong to treat the immigrants as less than human. Remember, Vice President JD Vance actually disagreed with both Pope Francis and Pope Leo XIV's interpretation of the immigrant community. Are we to believe that the Vice President of the United States has a superior view over how to handle immigrants than two Popes?

Finally, we must respond to the request of George Washington in 1792 when as President, he asked every American to embrace patriotism for the United States of America.

Note well dear reader, this is a message to all truth seekers, religious or not religious. We must unite and hold our flag high for the good of everyone.

Opening Image: BibleGateway.com, Supremecourthistory.org/Collection of the Supreme Court of the United States,  Adobe Stock, Stablediffusion.com