Leonard Leo Calls the Progressive Movement the “Ku Klux Klan”
The Lever team followed prominent conservative activist Leonard Leo to his summer home in Maine, where he purchased a historical church through a non-profit. Leo is credited with transforming the Supreme Court through his efforts at the Federalist Society and has a decidedly evangelical determination to do the same to all of American society, with education next in his sights.
From the article: “‘Catholicism faces vile and immoral current day barbarians, secularists, and bigots,’ Leo said, ranting about ‘woke ideologies’ and ‘the progressive Ku Klux Klan.’”
He continued: “If you happen to be a particularly prominent Christian, they intimidate and harass you outside your home and in restaurants and stores with the express purpose of driving you into social and professional exile.”
Anyone looking to take a summer trip can join the “progressive klan” in protesting outside both Leo’s home and his new church. Bring the kids and a snack! Also, pack a toothbrush because he’s having people arrested for exercising their First Amendment rights.
The Lever: The Church Of Leonard Leo
New York State on a Budgetary Collision Course
Pandemic era relief is coming to an end for states. Medicaid reshuffling might be slower than expected. High net worth individuals moved out of New York State at four times the rate of previous years during the pandemic. Spending is up, revenue is down and the gap is more than the state has put away in rainy day funds, putting one of the nation’s true economic engines at risk of running extraordinary deficits that might be impossible to plug. All of this speaks to the rocky and inconsistent recovery of the American economy post-pandemic.
From the report: “DiNapoli’s 2022 report on taxpayer migration showed that from 2015 to 2019 a net average of 28,700 personal income taxpayers moved out of New York annually, many of whom were high-income residents. In 2020 a net of 112,400 taxpayers moved out, nearly four times as many in 2019.”
Office of the NYS Comptroller: DiNapoli: State's Fiscal Outlook Declines
Next Up for Supreme Court to Roll Back Rights of the Marginalized…Disabled Americans
Let’s see. Affirmative Action destroyed. Check. Bodily autonomy eliminated? Check. Next up: Disabled Americans. In October, the radical Supreme Court will hear arguments that imperil the future of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), one of the most successful bi-partisan pieces of necessary legislation in modern American history. Why? Because fuck everyone, that’s why.
This is all about defending the profit interests of big business and, given the trajectory of this court, we should all be worried. Essentially, the plaintiff wants to make it hard, if not impossible, for disabled people to bring accessibility lawsuits against businesses by attacking the legitimacy of standing. And it might prove a winning strategy because the court can leave the core of the ADA in place while raising the bar to an extreme height that would eliminate the vast majority of cases brought against businesses.
From the article: “Acheson Hotels’ petition to the court argues against ‘self-appointed testers,’ calling Laufer part of a ‘cottage industry… in which uninjured plaintiffs lob ADA lawsuits of questionable merit.’ Thomas Bacon, one of Laufer’s attorneys, said that wasn’t Laufer’s intent: ‘Nobody complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act until they’re sued,’ Bacon told the Associated Press.”
Mother Jones: Disability “Testers” Keep Businesses Accessible. Will SCOTUS Ban Them?
Unf*cker Comment of the Week
From Aaron E.:
“It's amazing the struggles humanity went through to make life less awful, and now we have half the U.S. voters wanting to unravel it all…”