Monday, May 9, 2022

"Victory Day"

By Baxter

Surprise! Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau paid a previously unannounced visit to Kyiv yesterday, and with Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland and Minister of National Defence Anita Anand, raised the flag outside the Canadian embassy once again.

They and First Lady Jill Biden were the latest in a small but impressive parade of leaders who have beamed into Ukraine to hang out with President Zelenskyy in the 11th week of what was supposed to be Vlad the Invader's three-day war.

So, things could be going worse over there. While the best thing would be for Vlad to keel over or get bumped off by Russians who want the invasion to end, the desultory "Victory Parade" in Moscow today wasn't exactly boisterous about glory on the current battlefield. Ha.

Meanwhile, back home in the soon-to-be Disunited States, the furor over Roe v. Wade and the Supreme Court leak continues. We cats have to differ with our lefty friends who keep insisting that the leak is not the story — the draft opinion is. While Alito's draft is indeed hideous, the leak is also a 10 on the SCOTUS Richter scale. And this analysis in yesterday's New York Times about the reign of terror that exists inside the Court drove home once again just how momentous it is.

While the rules on Court confidentiality have no law behind them, they're intimidating as hell. For years, clerks have been told that if they don't keep their lips zipped, their careers will be destroyed. (Antonin Scalia once threatened to do it himself.) Staffers are afraid to be seen speaking to journalists — say, in a cafeteria line — for more than 20 seconds. They even try not to smile in the hallways, lest some reporters see them and think an opinion their justices support is coming down.

So while we flirted briefly with the idea that a Justice Breyer clerk is the source — after all, he's retiring — the Times has convinced us anew that it was some nutcase like Ginni Thomas. Or just Ginni Thomas herself. We cats HISS and PURR at the same time.

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