#anita major

[gameofthunder66]

'Infinity Pool' (2023) film

-watched 7/28/2024- 3 [1/4] stars- on Hulu

87% Rotten Tomatoes

Very weird movie but interesting, although some would hate it..

[ink--theory]

surprise!

[possible-streetwear]

[rosietrace]

The Major Arcana; TWST main stories

♝•°•══════ஓ๑♡๑ஓ══════•°•♝

The three tarot cards chosen for each main story represents three key aspects of those stories;

1. The Character

2. The conflict

3. The character's character arc

[ Reblogs > Likes ]

✦•°•══════ஓ๑♡๑ஓ══════•°•✦

▹ †𝆤࿙๋࿙࿚⊱♡⊰࿙࿚๋࿚𝆤† The Fool (0)

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ♡ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ The disappearance of Malory Khione

【 ♛ 】 Meryl Hollow, childlike innocence

˚₊· ͟͟͞➳❥ Upright; Free-spirited, childlike wonder, freedom, faith, laughter, beginner, a student, carefree, naivety, curiosity, learning, new beginnings

˚₊· ͟͟͞➳❥ Reversed; Foolishness, a need for childlike wonder, faithlessness, aimlessness, feeling lost, recklessness, holding back, needing a plan

▹ †𝆤࿙๋࿙࿚⊱♡⊰࿙࿚๋࿚𝆤† The wheel of fortune (10)

˚₊· ͟͟͞➳❥ Upright; Good luck, destiny, life cycles, resolution, a turning point, change, riding the waves of life, opportunity, taking a chance, repeating old cycles

˚₊· ͟͟͞➳❥ Reversed; Bad luck, resistance to change, needing to submit to fate, need for control, refusing to let go, breaking cycles

▹ †𝆤࿙๋࿙࿚⊱♡⊰࿙࿚๋࿚𝆤† The Star (17)

˚₊· ͟͟͞➳❥ Upright; Hope, faith, wish fulfillment, spirituality, spiritual guidance, trust, a wish, good fortune, renewal

˚₊· ͟͟͞➳❥ Reversed; Discontent, self-trust, disconnection, having hope despite it all, holding on, trying one's best

♚•°•══════ஓ๑🜲๑ஓ══════•°•♚

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ♚ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ Fallen Prince

【 ♛ 】 Roya Pendragon Callistis, prince of silver flames

▹ †𝆤࿙๋࿙࿚⊱♚⊰࿙࿚๋࿚𝆤† The Tower (16)

˚₊· ͟͟͞➳❥ Upright; Major changes, unexpected change, chaos, ruin, intense emotions, awakening, upheaval, revelation

˚₊· ͟͟͞➳❥ Reversed; Personal transformation, fear of change, delaying the inevitable, averting disaster, ignoring the truth of a situation

▹ †𝆤࿙๋࿙࿚⊱♚⊰࿙࿚๋࿚𝆤† The Devil (15)

˚₊· ͟͟͞➳❥ Upright; A cunning person, sternness, addiction, sexuality, control, indulgence, deception, self-acceptance, boldness, pride in oneself

˚₊· ͟͟͞➳❥ Reversed; An abuser, manipulator, need for open-mindedness, needing freedom, exploring oneself, detachment, toxic relationships, need for self-acceptance

▹ †𝆤࿙๋࿙࿚⊱♚⊰࿙࿚๋࿚𝆤† Temperance (14)

˚₊· ͟͟͞➳❥ Upright; Moderation, balance, patience, understanding, purpose, grounding, neutrality, living in the present

˚₊· ͟͟͞➳❥ Reversed; Impatience, imbalance, excess, indulgence, needing to ground, feeling out of place, self-healing, realignment

𓆩•°•════ஓ๑𓆝𓆟𓆜๑ஓ════•°•𓆪

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . 𓆝𓆟𓆜 . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ The Lost God

【 ♛ 】 Penelope Pelagia, demigoddess of the Atlantic

▹ †𝆤࿙๋࿙࿚⊱𓆝𓆟𓆜⊰࿙࿚๋࿚𝆤† The Hierophant (5)

˚₊· ͟͟͞➳❥ A teacher, a religious leader, religion, religious structure, tradition, conformity, marriage, sharing knowledge, institution, practicality

˚₊· ͟͟͞➳❥ Reversed; A controlling person, rigid beliefs, freedom, refusing change, needing change, fear of the unknown, needing to research, challenging the status quo, personal beliefs

▹ †𝆤࿙๋࿙࿚⊱𓆝𓆟𓆜⊰࿙࿚๋࿚𝆤† The Hanged Man (12)

˚₊· ͟͟͞➳❥ Upright; An enlightened person, new perspectives, perspective change, an unusual outlook, pause, surrender, letting go, enlightenment, reflection

˚₊· ͟͟͞➳❥ Reversed; Indecision, lacking drive, unwise decisions, delays, being stuck, stalling, refusing personal growth, being mislead/misled, needing a perspective shift

▹ †𝆤࿙๋࿙࿚⊱𓆝𓆟𓆜⊰࿙࿚๋࿚𝆤† Strength (8)

˚₊· ͟͟͞➳❥ Upright; Strength, personal power, self-respect, courage, persuasion, influence, self-control, compassion, resilience

˚₊· ͟͟͞➳❥ Reversed; Inner strength, needing to find strength in oneself, low energy, raw emotion, hidden weaknesses, anger, self-doubt

♝•°•═════ஓ๑【 ♛ 】๑ஓ═════•°•♝

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . 【 ♛ 】 . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ The Mirror Masquerade

【 ♛ 】 Victoria Shard, the beholding

▹ †𝆤࿙๋࿙࿚⊱【 ♛ 】⊰࿙࿚๋࿚𝆤† Justice (11)

˚₊· ͟͟͞➳❥ Upright; Fairness, justice, truth, law, morality, fair decisions, honesty, consequences, responsibility, accountability, equality, cause and effect

˚₊· ͟͟͞➳❥ Reversed; Dishonesty, injustice, unfairness, taking responsibility, lawlessness, unfavorable outcomes, scorn, falsity, fallacy

▹ †𝆤࿙๋࿙࿚⊱【 ♛ 】⊰࿙࿚๋࿚𝆤† Judgement (20)

˚₊· ͟͟͞➳❥ Upright; Rebirth, awakening, absolution, inner calling, dynamic new beginnings, rising up, major choices

˚₊· ͟͟͞➳❥ Reversed; Feeling down, harshly judging oneself, fearlessness, self-doubt, lost momentum, feeling purposeless, clouded judgment, spiritual blockages

▹ †𝆤࿙๋࿙࿚⊱【 ♛ 】⊰࿙࿚๋࿚𝆤† The Moon (18)

˚₊· ͟͟͞➳❥ Upright; Misunderstanding, illusion, dreams, the subconscious mind, important choices, intuition, deception, secrets, risk, confusion, loss of clarity

˚₊· ͟͟͞➳❥ Reversed; Self-deception, inner confusion, overcoming emotions, finding the truth, gaining clarity, this confusion is a phase, magic, release, listen to one's intuition, repressed emotions

†•°•═════ஓ๑【♝】๑ஓ═════•°•†

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . 【♝】 . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ Zenith

【 ♛ 】 Zenith Devi, eccentric 'nymph'

▹ †𝆤࿙๋࿙࿚⊱【♝】⊰࿙࿚๋࿚𝆤† The Magician (1)

˚₊· ͟͟͞➳❥ Upright; A jack of all trades, an entrepreneur, a people person, resourcefulness, cunning, wit, ambition, inspired action, potential, intelligence, possibilities, the elements, opportunities

˚₊· ͟͟͞➳❥ Reversed; Untapped potential, a con-man, a cheater, a liar, trickery, manipulation, lost passion, too ambitious, poor-planning, lack of energy, feeling disconnected from life

▹ †𝆤࿙๋࿙࿚⊱【♝】⊰࿙࿚๋࿚𝆤† The High Priestess (2)

˚₊· ͟͟͞➳❥ Upright; Divinity, a wise person, a spiritual person, intuition, spiritual freedom, the subconscious mind, spirituality, mystery, stillness, passivity, going with the flow

˚₊· ͟͟͞➳❥ Reversed; Overthinking, emotional, discomfort, unrest, ignoring intuition, needing to trust oneself, relying on the wisdom of others, ignoring emotions, secrets, withdrawal, silence

▹ †𝆤࿙๋࿙࿚⊱【♝】⊰࿙࿚๋࿚𝆤† The Empress (3)

˚₊· ͟͟͞➳❥ Upright; A motherly person, femininity, comfort, abundance, generosity, nurturing, harmony, nature, sensuality, emotional support, an empath

˚₊· ͟͟͞➳❥ Reversed; Overbearing, overprotective, giving too much of oneself, needing self-love/self-care, a creative block, lacking empathy, emotional discord

♙•°•══════ஓ๑♔๑ஓ══════•°•♙

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ♔ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ The Golden Rule

【 ♛ 】 Sumeragi Yuuta, the gold that never glitters

▹ †𝆤࿙๋࿙࿚⊱♔⊰࿙࿚๋࿚𝆤† The Emperor (4)

˚₊· ͟͟͞➳❥ Upright; A confident person, a fatherly person, tough love, protection, assertiveness, authority, structure, masculinity, establishment, personal power, hard work

˚₊· ͟͟͞➳❥ Reversed; A corrupt leader, ruling with an iron fist, taking advantage of others, power hungry, lacking confidence, rigidity, stoicism, greed, selfishness

▹ †𝆤࿙๋࿙࿚⊱♔⊰࿙࿚๋࿚𝆤† The Chariot (7)

˚₊· ͟͟͞➳❥ Upright; Boldness, impatience, success, determination, willpower, control, movement, taking action, major events, passion, confidence, moving forward

˚₊· ͟͟͞➳❥ Reversed; Stagnation, impulsivity, aimlessness, opposition, self-discipline, slow goings, lacking control, burnout, anxiety, doubt, lack of passion, needing to take action

▹ †𝆤࿙๋࿙࿚⊱♔⊰࿙࿚๋࿚𝆤† Death (13)

˚₊· ͟͟͞➳❥ Upright; Shedding what no longer serves you, letting go of the old to make way for the new, transitions, transformations, changes, endings, rebirth, release, self-awareness

˚₊· ͟͟͞➳❥ Reversed; Clinging to what no longer serves you, resistance to change, personal growth, inner purging, refusing to move on, living in the past, avoiding an ending

♝•°•══════ஓ๑♡๑ஓ══════•°•♝

[greenhell85]

Never forget weak and always depends on someone! Until you cannot prove anything from that wound u can raise to adulthood without selling it to fuck toy my fart way more valuable in any conversation than anything you can say! Wounded Man! Go work out on a bit of steroids or walk in my shoes in the next 5 years and I saw now how David Major already wearing your raspberry moustache and running from the local youth already knows he fucks little Boys!

[elviramac22-blog]

Week in Review Week of 12/11

This is what has happened this week that I just didn’t get around to reporting. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar had a nasty fall that caused him to break his hip. He was rushed to an LA after attending a concert. I wish him a speedy recovery. Actor Matthew Perry was found to have the drug ketamine which is used to treat depression and anxiety. Which could have incapacitated him causing him to drown. Since…

[automaticsoulharmony]

Guys I know we all make silly jokes about how YJs missions are crazy and scare the new kids and are cryptids for it, but the real reason the team would be seen as spooky and wild… is that the majority of the members aren’t around anymore.

Think about, four out of the eight core members of the team have just, disappeared.

They mention invading a country and Barts like “yeah it was to save Anita’s mom” and the younger hero’s are just like… “who???”

“Oh yeah, we had to deal with Darkseid back in the day, he was weirdly interested in our teammate Secret,” Tim (no real names unless necessary) Drake says casually “okay, ignoring the dealing with Darkseid part because idk how to comprehend that, who the fuck is Secret??” One of the batfam asks wildly. Steph chimes in with a casual “that’s the girl who tried to kill me, right?”

“Man, sometimes I miss Slobo,” Cassie says quietly when they’re chilling and one of the newer titans happens to be near by is just like “what the fuck is a Slobo?”

“Cissie would freak if she saw this,” Kon jokes. Conner Hawke is just like “I feel like I’m supposed to know who that is????”

Like, Secret, Cissie, Anita, and Slobo are just gone, and the new heroes definitely don’t know who they are, and most of the older heroes don’t either.

YJs mission reports are crazy for many reasons. One of which being no one knowing who the fuck they’re talking about.

Not to mention “I wish we still had the Supercycle, I wonder how its kid is doing?” “the What?? How???”

[crimsonender]

Why do you care so much about Lily Orchard

Actually getting this a little backwards. I took notice of Lily Orchard as an individual earlier this year, back in January to March, when she was listed amongst a series of trans creators that are unfairly scrutinized. As she was the only one who had a Tumblr at the time I began following her because I wanted to basically spite transphobes. I've come under fire myself for being trans in the past.

What I discovered in the months I followed her is that she had awful takes and was really dismissive and sometimes outright mean to her fans. I went to a live stream or two, and I watched a couple videos. I soon became critical of her, and decided to do some research. This lead me to Hiding in Private and Sai Scribbles. At the time, I was focused on Lily being a bad YouTuber, both in terms of content and how she treated her fans.

I knew that no one else was going to cover her video on the Coffin of Andy and Leyley because most people dismiss this gothic horror game as problematic and incestuous. As a fan of the genre and the game itself I decided to cover the video. Then as a spur of the moment decision at the end of that stream I decided to cover her latest Kingdom Hearts video as well. This would turn into a an edited video later on where I was very insistant on not focusing on Lily's actions and the allegations. I was mostly concerned with her rhetoric and behaviour as a YouTuber, because I had been wanting to talk about media analysis for a long time. As you can see from my coverage on MatPat, Anita Sarkiseen, Anthony Gramgulia, and iDubbbz. I think there is something fundamentaly flawed with the way the modern internet analyzes media. Each of these individuals has contributed negatively to this rhetoric in their own way, but where people like Anthony and iDubbbz and even Sarkiseen have tried to improve (and in Anthony's case a large reason for the majority of his writing that is worthy of criticism was how he was editorialized by the publications he worked for) Lily has always doubled down and gotten worse. Moreover my biggest issue with Lily right now is how she interacts with her fandom, which is unique to her. She has been publically very sexual towards them, she encourages anti-intellectualism, has a history of abuse, so yeah that definitely is a factor. My last two videos were less about her media analysis and more about how she interacts with her audience and the world around her. I think people like Lily are dangerous.

I don't hate everyone I cover. I'm friends with Anthony and I like his videos and style of writing. He's not perfect but he's also very open to criticism. iDubbbz I'm not a big fan of but for the most part I'm fairly indifferent to. MatPat's videos while I'm highly critical of them, are somewhat of a guilty pleasure for me and I've been watching him since he released his first Starfox video. Sarkiseen I am more critical of but acknowledge she was one of the first people to make videos about feminism in modern media on the scale she was doing it. I wouldn't say anything these people are doing is dangerous.

If Lily was just some woman on the internet with a bad opinion then I probably wouldn't care. It's Lily's control over such a large number of people that worries me. Dismantling her rhetoric is how we show the people she has control over a way out. It's how we teach people that have been trained to turn their brain off that they should think for themselves. Videos like Joon the King's covering her allegations are important don't get me wrong, but unless we teach people to think for themselves, they're just going to fall for the next grifter to come along. The crux of the matter is that no one person should dictate what your opinion is based on how big of a fan you are of them. This problem is so much bigger than Lily. Lily just represents this issue to such a large degree.

[asexual-juliet]

I feel like Band of Brothers fans don’t talk enough about the fact that Grace Nixon was like the coolest lady of all time? She played both piano and cello as a music major at San Diego State University, where she was a member of the Nu Alpha Chi Society for Japanese American students (I did some digging to find this page from her 1942 college yearbook, and you can see her front and center in this photo! She would’ve been around 21 here.)

Her college years were interrupted by Executive Order 9066, which allowed the US government to forcibly remove Japanese American citizens and relocate them to incarceration camps all over the western half of the country. Grace’s family was temporarily relocated to Santa Anita Racetrack, where she managed to retain her optimistic personality–she recalls “dancing the jitterbug at Santa Anita with [her sister] Dorothy and some ‘cute boys from Pasadena’” (quoted in her obituary). She and her family were then relocated to Colorado River Relocation Center in Arizona.

Grace was allowed to leave camp behind when she was accepted into nursing school at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, where she received her degree at the age of 24. She moved to New York and worked as both a nurse and a flight attendant, proving herself to be literally the coolest lady ever!!

[The Pacific Citizen, August 7, 1948, page 3]

[could not find the original source for this article]

Grace married Lewis Nixon in 1956. They never had children, but they “often spent time with their [fourteen] nieces and nephews, teaching them cards and backgammon and playing for keeps over the children’s allowance money. Grace and Lewis traveled the world together, raised a menagerie of pets, and remained happily married for 39 years before Lewis’ death in 1995. 

Grace is featured in Ron Livingston’s Band of Brothers video diary. He describes her as an “amazing woman… smart, vibrant, has an amazing story of her own, and she helped me a lot as far as just explaining kind of what the guy [Nixon] was about.” They are pictured together below.

Grace died in 2016 at the age of 94 and cemented herself in my estimation as the coolest person of all time!! She is only mentioned once in Band of Brothers, but I want everyone to read this and realize how fucking fantastic she was! Genuinely such a role model for me!

[olderthannetfic]

asking both you and any followers/anyone who sees this:

is there a way to reconcile the views that problematic art is acceptable and that the media has to be responsible about the messages it disseminates in society?

because for example, I have no problem with dead dove fic that romanticises abusive relationships since I understand that's just someone's kink; but when a major tv show like game of thrones or pretty little liars does it I do get outraged in an anita sarkeesian sort of way because it's broadcasting harmful values to society.

maybe the difference is that fics are usually appropriately tagged so even if the narrative doesn't condemn the behaviour, there are extratextual elements that put everyone on the same page that "this is bad"? maybe mainstream works should come with those warnings too? idk whether or not that would be enough to make me comfortable.

maybe it's that fic and small/niche content having a much less significant social impact than the mainstream media? though this raises the question of when a creator becomes big enough that now they have to be more responsible.

maybe it's that big media is usually made by a callous cishet man instead of a kink-informed woman/queer person? but then pretty little liars, 50 shades of grey, and twilight are examples of problematic stuff made by women.

--

"Think about the impact you have on the world" is reasonable.

And if we actually approach it from that angle, then it's instantly obvious why audience size is key and why it's a bigger deal to perpetuate common things people unconsciously believe and don't examine than be horny over ~taboo~ kinks everyone knows are taboo.

[girlactionfigure]

THURSDAY HERO: Anita Pollitzer

Arrested For Picketing The White House

Anita Pollitzer was a women’s rights activist and leader of the suffragette movement of the early 20th century. She was instrumental in the passage of the 19th amendment to the U.S. Constitution, granting American women the long-denied right to vote in 1920.

Born in 1894 in Charleston SC, Anita’s parents were Eastern European Jews whose family fled the old country because of antisemitism. Anita’s keen intellect and creative mind were evident at an early age, as was her charismatic personality. She was raised in a traditional Jewish home and as a teenager taught Sunday school at Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim, the oldest continually active congregation in America.

After graduating from high school, Anita moved to New York to attend Teacher’s College, where she majored in art education and became friends with photographer Georgia O’Keeffe. When Anita saw some of her friend’s charcoal drawings in 1915, she was so impressed that she took them to her friend gallery owner Alfred Stieglitz. Stieglitz and O’Keeffe later married and became one of the most famous artistic power couples in American history.

Anita wrote a book about her friendship with O’Keeffe, A Woman on Paper, that wasn’t published until 1988, long after both women were deceased. Book reviewer Lynne Bundesen said, “it is a book that tells you that the voices of the most independent, far-seeing women of the times, the pioneers of women’s rights and visions talked to each other as gushing, enthusiastic, eager and confused schoolgirls straight out of the Victorian era – as they may not have talked with their men.”

Around this time, Anita became involved with the movement for women’s suffrage. Incredibly, seventy years after Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s Women’s Rights Convention in 1848, American women were still unable to exercise the most basic right in a democracy – the right to vote. Anita joined the National Women’s Party (NWP), a political organization formed in 1916 to fight for women’s suffrage. Anita became a party organizer, traveling all over the United States to advocate for her cause. Her friendliness, charm, and reasoned yet passionate arguments for her cause helped create a groundswell of support among both women and men for a constitutional amendment to guarantee women’s right to vote. She spoke to everyday Americans, as well as state legislators and was very successful in bringing her cause to the forefront of public conversation.

In 1917, Anita was a leader of the Silent Sentinels, also known as the Sentinals of Liberty, a group of women from the NWP who picketed outside the White House to protest President Woodrow Wilson’s lack of support for suffrage. They held signs saying “Mr. President, how long must women wait for liberty” and “What will you do for woman suffrage.” This vigil lasted two and a half years, through blizzards and heat waves, and pioneered the “silent protest” activism strategy. During this time, the women were constantly harassed, insulted, bullied. Anita, a visible leader of the movement, was arrested but remained undeterred from her mission.

The protests worked. By 1918, President Wilson supported the federal amendment. It still had to pass Congress, and Anita became a feminist legend when she befriended Congressman Harry Burn of Tennessee and convinced him to cast the deciding vote for the amendment, which passed in 1920, enfranchising 26 million American women.

Anita married press agent Elie Edson in 1928 and they lived in New York together for almost fifty years. Elie encouraged his wife’s activism, and after the 19th amendment passed, Anita continued working with the NWP. She lobbied legislators to pass laws ensuring women’s property rights and ban unfair salary practices. Anita traveled to Europe to use her experience to help women there organize for equal rights.

Elie died in 1971, and soon after Anita suffered a stroke from which she never recovered. Anita Pollitzer passed away four years later in New York City.

For her passionate work to enfranchise 26 million American women, we honor Anita Pollitzer as this week’s Thursday Hero.

[bitter-hibiscus]

Hi! I'm curious- what are your thoughts on what an adult Jason who wasn't killed as Robin would look like? Hero name, weapons, methods, moral code, etc? :)

!!!! Hmm!!!

Well, for appearance, I reckon he'd be pretty short. Like... 5"6 at most, since he was 5"4 when he died.

To be honest, there's a lot of ways to go about Jason not dying. I'm particular to "Tim and Steph never become Robin," honestly, since Damian would've probably been around by the time Jason quits. If we're going with Prime Earth continuity it also begs the question, does Jason ever find out about Sheila? Because that betrayal shapes up a lot of his morals as Red Hood. I enjoy the thought that he does, but only years later, and he thinks Bruce was hiding that information from him, and that's what makes him quit Robin.

For hero names, I'm particularly drawn to Bluejay. It's just too cute. And, also, a nice opposition to Red Hood. I think his primary weapon would be his Robin ropes! Because, well, Wonder Woman. :) Other than that, a hell of a lot of batarangs, since his aim is really good as Robin in canon. I don't think he'd be as good at fighting as he is as Red Hood, because it's likely that Bruce would've been his only trainer.

His moral code and methodology... Well, this might be a hot take, but I think it would basically be what Fanon thinks Red Hood Jason is like, which is essentially just a male version of Catwoman or Huntress. Even if he didn't have a major "falling out" with Bruce, he was still raised by Willis Todd, and the abuse he suffered at his father's hand would have shaped his idea of love and care, and even at his best, Jason would assume caring for someone means some sort of violence. He's also definitely very crime alley focused.

Not what you asked, BUT! If Jason didn't die, then the original Young Justice would have been his team, which is pretty neat. Definitely see him having some kind of romance with Anita especially, because of that one YJ elseworld issue where they're together. It's a cool dynamic to think about :)

Lmk if u want any other thoughts!!

[jpeg-dot-jpeg]

Anita fite and cissie king-Jones have the most underrated dynamic of all time. Theyre best friends. They're enemies. They hate each other. they admire each other. They met through work yet have never actually worked together. They are both major characters. they are both barely acknowledged by fandom. Anita became a hero because she was inspired by cissie at the exact time cissie quit because she didnt want to inspire anyone else to do what she did. Anita offered to do anything to gain cissie's goodwill. cissie told her to quit. Anita immediately responded no. die.

[possible-streetwear]

Cornelia "Nikkie" Anita Dominika Van Lierop

[dccomicsbracket]

Motivations:

Anita Fite (Empress)

Anita Fite was done and has continued to be done dirty for a long time. She spent the original Young Justice run being preyed on by older men, bullied, drawn half naked, been foisted with stereotypical depictions of Vodou, having her major spotlight arc co-opted by a random team up if basically every teen hero, having the climax of her spotlight arc instead going to more Cissie angst, and then receiving an incredibly dumb write out. Literally every member of Young Justice save her (and Slobo, but his circumstances are trickier) has since resurfaced in modern comics. Anita deserves her chance in the spotlight. The current continuity reset means we don't have to stay married to her bullshit ending. There's a lot of potentially interesting ground to cover with her relationships to the loa. She can have more insane homoerotic tension with other women. Maybe she'll almost stab a werewolf to death for looking at the girl she likes wrong again! DC is also sorely lacking a magical team book at the moment. She'd do great on a team as the magic user who actually knows how to throw a punch Bring her back!!!

Stephanie Brown (Batgirl), Cassandra Cain (Batgirl), & Sin Lance

baby birds of prey

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Red-teaming the SCOTUS code of conduct

Tomorrow (November 18) at 1PM, I'll be in Concord, NH at Gibson's Books, presenting my new novel The Lost Cause, a preapocalyptic tale of hope in the climate emergency.

On Monday (November 20), I'm at the Simsbury, CT Public Library at 7PM

Last April, Propublica's Joshua Kaplan, Justin Elliott and Alex Mierjeski dropped a bombshell: Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas had been showered in high-ticket "gifts" by billionaire ideologue Harlan Crow, who subsequently benefited from Thomas's rulings in the court:

https://www.propublica.org/article/clarence-thomas-scotus-undisclosed-luxury-travel-gifts-crow

This was just the beginning: in the coming days and weeks, more and more of Thomas's corruption came to light, everything from the fact that his mother's home had been bought by Crow, to the fact that Thomas's adoptive son went to a fancy private school on Crow's dime:

https://www.propublica.org/article/clarence-thomas-harlan-crow-private-school-tuition-scotus

The news was explosive and not merely because of the corruption it revealed in the country's highest court. The credibility of the court itself was at its lowest ebb in living memory, thanks to the two judges who occupied stolen seats – Kavanaugh and Coney Barrett. One of those judges – Kavanaugh – is a credibly accused rapist. Thomas is also a credibly accused sexual abuser:

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/10/01/30-years-after-her-testimony-anita-hill-still-wants-something-from-joe-biden-514884

Then, this illegitimate court went on to deliver a string of upsets to long-settled law, culminating in the Dobbs decision, which triggered state laws that force small children to bear their rapists' babies:

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/09/health/abortion-bans-rape-incest.html

That was the context for the Thomas bribery scandal, which was swiftly joined by another bribery scandal, involving Samuel Alito's improper acceptance of valuable gifts from Paul Singer, another billionaire who brought business before the court:

https://www.propublica.org/article/samuel-alito-luxury-fishing-trip-paul-singer-scotus-supreme-court

This string of scandals and outrages naturally prompted public curiosity about the Supreme Court's ethical standards, and that triggered fresh waves of incredulous outrage when we all found out that the Supreme Court doesn't have any:

https://www.poynter.org/fact-checking/2023/why-doesnt-the-supreme-court-have-a-formal-code-of-ethics/

When Congress made tentative noises about providing minor checks and balances on the court, the justices erupted in outrage, telling Congress to go fuck itself:

https://int.nyt.com/data/documenttools/supreme-court-ethics-durbin/cf67ef8450ea024d/full.pdf

Chief Justice Roberts went on whatever the opposite of a charm-offensive is called (an "offense offensive?"), a media tour whose key message to the American people was "STFU, you're hurting our feelings":

https://news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/roberts-defends-high-court-against-attacks-on-its-legitimacy

To the shock of no one except billionaires and Supreme Court justices inhabiting the splendid isolation from societal norms that is the privilege of life tenure, America didn't like this. The Supreme Court's credibility plummeted. A large supermajority of Americans – 79%! – now support age limits for Supreme Court justices:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/10/18/the-people-no/#tell-ya-what-i-want-what-i-really-really-want

Support for packing the Supreme Court is at an historic high and gaining ground, now sitting neck-and-neck with opposition at 46% in favor/51% opposed. Among under-30s, there's a healthy majority (58%) in favor of appointing more SCOTUS justices.

As Roberts' wounded bleats reveal, SCOTUS is very sensitive to its plummeting legitimacy. After all, the court doesn't have an army, nor does it have a police force. Supreme Court rulings only matter to the extent that the American people accept them as legitimate and obey them. Transformational presidents like Lincoln and FDR have waged successful wars against the Supreme Court, sidelining its authority and turning it into an unimportant rump institution for years afterward:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/05/26/mint-the-coin-etc-etc/#blitz-em

Now the Supremes are working their way through the (mythological but convenient) five stages of grief. Having passed through Denial and Anger, they've arrived at Bargaining, with the publication of the court's first "code" "of" "conduct":

https://www.supremecourt.gov/about/Code-of-Conduct-for-Justices_November_13_2023.pdf

It's…not good. As Max Moran writes for The American Prospect and The Revolving Door Project, the proposed code amounts to "security theater," a set of trivially bypassed strictures that would not have prevented any of the scandals to date and will permit far worse in the years to come:

https://prospect.org/justice/2023-11-17-supreme-court-objectivity-theater/

The security framing is a very useful tool for evaluating the Supremes' proposal. The purpose of a code of conduct isn't merely to prevent people from accidentally misstepping – it's to prevent malicious parties from corrupting the judicial process. To evaluate the code, we should red team it: imagine what harms a corrupt judge or a corrupting billionaire would be able to effect while staying within the bounds the code sets.

Seen in that light, the code is wildly defective and absolutely not fit for purpose. Its most glaring defect is found in the nature of its edicts – they are almost all optional. The word "should" appears 53 times in the document, while "must" appears just six times:

https://ballsandstrikes.org/ethics-accountability/supreme-court-code-of-conduct-hilariously-fake/

Of those six "musts," two are not pertinent to ethical questions (they pertain to the requirement for a justice to get prior approval before getting paid for teaching gigs).

When the code of conduct was rolled out, the court and its apologists pointed out that it was modeled on the ethical guidelines that bind lower courts. In the wake of the Thomas revelations, these guidelines were a useful benchmark to measure Thomas's conduct against. The fact that other federal judges would have been severely sanctioned or even fired if they had engaged in the same conduct as Thomas was a powerful argument that Thomas had overstepped the bounds of ethical conduct.

But as Bloomberg Law discovered when they compared the lower courts' codes to the Supremes' draft, the Supremes have gone through those lower court codes and systematically cut nearly every mention of "enforce" from their own draft. They also cut the requirement to "take appropriate action" if a violation is reported.

If you are a bad judge or a bad donor, all of this is good news. Nearly everything that it condemns is merely optional, which means that if a judge can be convinced to ignore a rule, they won't have violated the code. What's more, even widespread rulebreaking doesn't trigger an investigation. That's a very weak security measure indeed.

But it gets worse. The Supremes' code also omit key definitions found in the codes that bind the lower courts. The most important definition to be cut is for "political organization," which the lower courts define expansively as both parties and "entit[ies] whose principal purpose is to advocate for or against political candidates or parties." That definition captures "nonprofits, think tanks, lobbying firms, trade associations, grassroots groups" – the whole panoply of organizations whom federal judges must maintain an arm's length distance from in order to preserve their objectivity. Federal judges may not lead, speak at or donate to these organizations.

By omitting this definition, the Supremes open the door to involvement with precisely the kinds of PACs, thinktanks and other influence organizations funded by the billionaires who have benefited so handsomely from the judges' rulings.

What's more, the Supremes carve out an explicit exemption for speaking to "nonprofits, think tanks, lobbying firms, trade associations, grassroots groups," and to serving as a director, trustee or officer of "a nonprofit organization devoted to the law, the legal system, or the administration of justice and may assist such an organization in the management and investment of funds."

As Moran points out, this exemption would cover – among other institutions – the far-right Federalist Society, which satisfies all those criteria. That means a Supreme Court justice could sit on the board and raise funds for the FedSoc without raising any issues with this code – not even one of those squishy "shoulds." Nothing in this code would stop Clarence Thomas or Thomas Alito from accepting lavish gifts, private jet rides, or luxury tour buses from billionaires with business before the court:

https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/justice-thomas-267000-loan-rv-forgiven-senate-democrats-104303972

As Moran writes, these definitional vacuums are a well-understood class of weaknesses in ethics codes. Congress gets a lot of mileage out of this ruse – for example, by narrowly defining "lobbying" to exclude things that most people understand that term to mean, Congress engage in improperly close relations with lobbyists while still maintaining that they hardly ever talk to a lobbyist at all:

https://www.politico.eu/article/jeff-hauser-opinion-watergate-european-union-qatargate/

The same ruse goes for campaign contributions – if you want to accept a lot of campaign contributions that would fall afoul of ethics rules, just narrow the definition of "campaign contribution" until all the money you're receiving no longer qualifies.

Moran closes by calling on Congress to formulate a real, meaningful code of conduct for the Supremes, one that orders Supreme Court judges not to accept corrupting gifts and to maintain the arm's length neutrality that the rest of the federal judiciary is required to keep. Rather than this new code of conduct constituting proof that SCOTUS can be its own oversight, its gross deficiencies should put to rest any question about whether the Supremes can be trusted to regulate themselves.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/11/17/red-team-black-robes/#security-theater

Image: Senate Democrats (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:United_States_Supreme_Court_Building,_July_21,_2020.jpg

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