“I Will NOT Comply” 6–26–2022

Today, let’s take a steely-eyed, galvanizing look to a now clearly compromised and illegitimate SCOTUS that for all intents and purposes is the legal equivalent where the patients are running the asylum.

To fully appreciate the historical context I feel it necessary to begin at the unexpected, or at least no one in Monty Python ever expected them, the Spanish Inquisition. With a new Star Chamber fully in place all we need do is to wait for the intimidation, torture and more likely than not incidents of State-sponsored death looming on the horizon.

I say this inclusive of both those seeking a life-saving abortion in a hospital, those who must once again, return to those dark days of “back alley” abortions and those who resort out of lack of money, choice and fear, a self-induced abortion without any medical assistance. Back to history.

It is generally accepted the Spanish Inquisition was created on November 1, 1478 by the papal bull of Pope Sixtus IV pursuant to the request of dual monarchs, Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragon seeking to unite their kingdoms located on the Iberian Peninsula.

The reasoning given to the Pope was to “root out” heresy and ensure the unification of their new country would be united under one religion and culture. There is no single scholastic agreement as to the actual motives behind the Inquisition, the most likely being to establish and extend Isabella and Ferdinand’s political power and to assure the creation of a Catholic state.

We do know the Inquisition originally targeted “heretics” among the Jewish and Islamic communities who converted from their religion of origin to Catholicism. Although there is no official number, it is speculated that anywhere from 3,000 to 5,000 persons were actually killed (estimates go as high as 300,000) as a result of the Inquisition.

If we are willing to accept the notion that a number of rogue states are planning to secede from the Union and form a theocracy, the connectivity between ancient Spain and today are nothing less than stunning. In fact, if we substitute abortion for heresy the only question left is how far will modern day America go in its quest for domination over democracy, religious preference, and now, women.

I find it of extreme interest that in his so-called “legal” opinion, the now tainted and disgraced Samuel Alito cites another situation on American soil where in the name of religion, the perpetrators of the heinous acts were employing the logic of certainty spawned by religious fervor and insanity.

The Supreme Court majority has made no bones about it that one of their historical precedents relies on the “legal” assumptions of Matthew Hale (1609–1676), who presided over the trial and execution of two elderly widows for practicing the dark arts of witchcraft.

The Inquisition and the Salem Witches Trials are both considered unimaginable stains upon our world’s shared reputation, but that doesn’t stop Alito from using the burning of witches as an excuse to ban abortions. Just another day in the crazy making factory we used to call the Highest Court of the Land.

With our feet now firmly planted in post-Constitutional/Revolutionary America we see in the early 1800’s a sudden uptick in the interest of religion in America. Collectively known as the Second Great Awakening (SGA), I guess you had to be “woke’ in some way back then too, this was a time when new ideas about spirituality and religion flourished.

This is the time when out of the Church of England, the American Methodist Episcopal Church (MEC) achieved its highest growth in membership. It is also the time when the public seems to have discovered that Calvinism was for the average adherent a bit too bleak, and perhaps most notably, the publication of the Book of Mormon by Joseph Smith and the subsequent organization of the Church of Christ, later to be named the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

It is often speculated that the sudden rise in religion morphed or at least influenced the introduction of the antebellum life in the South, the rise of Colonialism, and yes, both continued if not expanded slavery ending in the US Civil War.

It is also notable the SGA led directly to the evils of heavy drinking and the desirability of “temperance” of the middle-class leading to the failed attempt at prohibition.

Another ill effect of the SGA surfaced in domestic politics in the form of renewed hostilities against the native tribes, in particular the Cherokee Nation that resulted in the Indian Removal Act of 1830 and yet another atrocity, the forced march that is known today as the Trail of Tears.

To its credit, the SGA was also a major influence on the Abolitionist movement to end slavery as it represented an evil institution. It also tied the demise of slavery to become an integral part of the growing movement for women’s rights.

Needless to say, but I’ll say it anyway, the good and bad consequences of the SGA era of our history is alive, ill, and well, and reverberating right up to and including the overturning of Roe v. Wade.

It is indeed unfortunate that after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln the fate of equality was left up to the pro-slavery southerner Andrew Johnson whose policies all but gutted the Reconstruction and allowed for the re-introduction of the black codes in the form of what became the Jim Crow laws of continued second-class citizen status and separation for the newly freed slaves.

In an interesting, but unfortunate parallel, isn’t it true this animosity from the latter half of the 19th Century is now being transferred onto the rights of women? The very right of bodily autonomy over one’s self so long the burden of the African American, but now a cross borne by women of America? Sustained by of all things a minor senate rule started to quell black sentiment and now a weapon used against women, the filibuster? Coincidence? I think not. Mitch.

In sticking with our American theme, it is no accident that after World War I the sudden awareness and increase in immigration sparked a revival of what is now referred to as the Rise of the Second Klan.

The combination of nationalism, religion and politics was at its highest visibility on September 13, 1926 when the Ku Klux Klan march on Pennsylvania, Washington DC was attended by an estimated 30,000 marchers and a whopping 150,000 spectators.
Although never confirmed, this was probably the peak of the Klan’s popularity.

Although World War II had a considerable effect on America, with domestic hate groups still denying the Holocaust while relying on the Nazi brand of racial inferiority as an excuse for their philosophy and violence, the true Nazi model in all its horrors has yet to take hold of mainstream social and political dialogue (this is what is referred to as the “normalizing” of extreme views into general public discourse) and remains at the fringes of what could be described as legitimate in nature and highly suspect.

No, there are not good people on both sides and thankfully most of us know the difference.

It is indeed sad that after the enormous gains achieved as a result of the various civil rights acts of the1960s and continuing through rights associated with recognizing the rights of the LGBTQ community, including decriminalizing sodomy, workplace protections and approving of same same sex marriage as an act of equality.

Why, when it came to racism and discrimination in America we went as far as to elect a man of color to the Presidency. I loved it, you loved it, but “they” did not to the degree they elected, worshiped and even hailed as the second coming a human being so bereft of any decency to do nothing more than as we now know, bring our nation to the brink of losing our democracy and with it our unique, and exceptional American way of life.

In 2016 it is doubtful many considered the lengths of the depravity and lack of conscience the movement to install an autocratic dictatorship in the White House for life would go including setting loose a violent mob upon the Capitol Building.

But they did. They did not hold back, they did not hesitate. Their only regret is that it did not work and I guarantee you, if not stopped, they will try again. Much like the cost of eternal vigilance to protect our democracy, the fascists internally hide in the shadows waiting for their next opportunity.

In the meantime, those who would suppress our rights as Americans do everything in their power to weaken us. Presently, the insurrectionists and seditionists are denying us universal health care to keep us sick. They are trying to take away our Social Security so we are destitute. They continue to foster these so-called “culture wars” over statues to keep us divided.

Now, they have declared a war on women, more than half of our total population in what appears to be an effort to once again, classify females as property or chattel, or as I see it, a commodity with the insidious inference of second-class citizenship.

If we combine Dobbs with Bruen, it seems to me that our illegitimate due to its lack of any hint at judicial legitimacy, has decided in America, women have three fifths (3/5th) the rights of a gun. Another travesty of out of control, partisan judicial activism at its finest and therefore its worst.

What do we do? As always, we do what we can while showing strength and unity with our democratic brothers and sisters currently fighting for the very soul of America. If you can speak, speak. If you can write, write. If you can read, read. If you can peacefully protest, do that and get some air while you are at it.

If you can do anything to help the cause and restore our privacy rights, including the right to a safe abortion and snipping, as in vasectomy, in the bud any further attempts to attack contraception and freedom to make familial decisions without government interference in the bedroom no less, then do it, with no action or gesture too small.

If you want another tactic from someone who knows the SCOTUS has no enforcement powers of its own and must employ extreme state legislators, religious zealots, and hate groups to implement their naked pose grab, you can join me and state “I WILL NOT COMPLY” as publicly, often, and possibly as loud as need be.

Remember the Supreme Court only functions if we agree to follow it and with the recent “stench” of partisan politics leading to a loss of a fundamental rights enjoyed by the citizenry for over 50 years, well let’s throw in Roberts, Thomas, Alito, Barrett and Kavanaugh must resign immediately or face the possibility of ruining the reputation and hence legitimacy for the SCOTUS for all time.

Can the institute of the federal Judicial Branch be restored? As of this moment, I don’t know and anything I add would be speculation at best and that I refuse to do. But I do want to leave you with what I do believe is the bigger question. If given the chance, do we want to? Your comments and criticisms are not only welcome but as I feel I explained above, crucial.