What does a TRUMP presidency look like?

[Valmy]

I mean, it's no RBG retirement but I'll take it.  Just hope Trump doesn't drop the ball.

I would be surprised if he doesn't just do what the party wants him to do in this case. So I think you should be fine.

But hey it's Trump so him nominating his son's drinking buddy is always a small possibility.

[Jacob]

I skimmed over it and it does not make much sense.  Unions in the US have a legal obligation to bargain on behalf of the excluded employees but now the excluded employees get to be free riders.

It makes perfect sense if the goal is to fuck over unions.

[The Minsky Moment]

The union decision overturned a 40 year precedent.  I suppose that could be justified if the prior precedent was self-evidently contrary to law but that clearly wasn't true - in fact it was *unanimously* decided.

  It's also not like American business stagnated because of the old rules, on the contrary profits reached unprecedented levels despite (or because of?) Abood.  Apparently still not enough for some.

[Oexmelin]

I suppose plutocracy is in line with what some of the founders hoped for America... the Koch brothers have already signaled their intention to exercise their seven figures freedom of speech on the matter of the new justice. Good thing Trump is tremendously impervious to collusion and corruption.

[The Minsky Moment]

There is a sort of logic to the decision, one that follows a series of recent decisions all reinforcing the sovereignty of wealth.  It's the re-definition of "speech" to mean "money".  Speech or political advocacy is no longer associated with conversation, oratory or writing. Rather the ne plus ultra of speech is the expenditure of funds.  That is the logic that legalized systematic corruption in Citizen United and the logic that now sweeps away the last vestiges of trade unionism.

[FunkMonk]

I mean, it's no RBG retirement but I'll take it.  Just hope Trump doesn't drop the ball.

At the end of the day, Mitch McConnell will decide if Donald's nominee will become the next Justice.

Mitch McConnell is the most powerful man in Washington.

[Kleves]

It's also not like American business stagnated because of the old rules, on the contrary profits reached unprecedented levels despite (or because of?) Abood.  Apparently still not enough for some.

Does the decision impact private-sector unions?

[The Minsky Moment]

The Janus case addressed public sector unions, but the reasoning could be applied to the private sector given that collective bargaining rights are authorized by the state.

[The Minsky Moment]

Further: the Janus decision was prefigured by the 2014 decision - Harris v. Quinn - which sharply criticized the old Abood precedent w/o overruling it. What is interesting is that Harris also was critical of the precedents that established the right of *private* sector unions to negotiate union shop arrangements.  This is another shoe that could easily drop, especially given the coming personnel change.

[garbon]

Portlantifa...

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/jul/01/riot-in-portland-as-far-right-marchers-clash-with-anti-facists

Riot in Portland as far-right marchers clash with anti-fascists
Police use pepper spray and non-lethal ammunition on rival protesters after rally

A riot was declared in downtown Portland, Oregon on Saturday evening, as the city exploded into its worst protest violence of the Trump era.

More than 150 supporters of the far-right Patriot Prayer group fought pitched street battles with scores of anti-fascist protesters. In total, nine people were arrested.

The far-right march had started near Schrunk Plaza in the city centre, where the rightwing group had held a rally, led by the Patriot Prayer founder and Republican US Senate candidate Joey Gibson.

As soon as the group left the plaza, they clashed with anti-fascists who had been waiting across a heavily barricaded street nearby.

As the two groups came to blows, Department of Homeland Security officers fired non-lethal ammunition towards the counter-protest.

Later the groups met on another street nearby, where the worst of the violence took place.

Patriot Prayer supporters – many of whom wore the colours of a rightwing fraternity called Proud Boys – were seen hitting counter-protesters with flagpoles, trash can lids, and their fists.

One Proud Boy was seen to floor an anti-fascist protester with a single punch. Later in the day he was seen being cuffed by police officers.

Counter-protesters, some clad in "black bloc" clothing and masks, released deafening fireworks, and punched back at Patriot Prayer supporters.

While anti-fascists used pepper spray, Patriot Prayer members had been unable to take theirs into a federal park. The melee lasted several minutes before Portland police revoked the permit for the march and cleared the street. The groups clashed again soon after and police used pepper spray to separate them and declared a riot at 6.15pm local time.

People in both groups suffered head and facial wounds in the fighting.

Patriot Prayer protesters made their way back to Schrunk Plaza and vented their rage in speeches.

Regular Patriot Prayer rally attendee Katherine Townsend told the group that Portland police had "set us up", and accused them of "disarming us and herding us towards antifa".

Townsend said: "It's not Portland any more, it's Portlantifa." But she and other members of Patriot Prayer said they would come back to the city to assert their message of "freedom of speech".

Gibson said they would "storm city hall" if necessary to get their message heard.

On Facebook, Gibson echoed Townsend's remarks, writing that: "Portland police allowed criminals to charge our permitted march then declared our march a riot and revoked our permit."

Unlike recent protests, many participants on the Patriot Prayer side had travelled from around the country, after Gibson issued a national call for assistance.

In a statement, Portland police deputy chief Bob Day said: "Portland police planned for today's protest so that people could exercise their first amendment rights to speech and assembly.

"However, once projectiles, such as fireworks, eggs, rocks, bottles and construction equipment were thrown and people were injured, we ordered people to disperse."

A spokesman for the groups organising the counter-protest, Rose City Antifa, said they were "not surprised by the level of violence, given Patriot Prayer's rhetoric on social media in the lead-up to the rally".

[mongers]

Portlantifa...

Riot in Portland as far-right marchers clash with anti-fascists
Police use pepper spray and non-lethal ammunition on rival protesters after rally

A riot was declared in downtown Portland, Oregon on Saturday evening, as the city exploded into its worst protest violence ofthe Trump era.
.
.

That's a concept now? :worried:

[Valmy]

Sounds like the Portland police did a good job. Any major injuries?

[Sophie Scholl]

Fucking Proud Boys.  Why would a right wing group go to Portland except to provoke a response and a counter protest?

[jimmy olsen]

Shades of Weimar.

[Maladict]

Poor Mark 

https://twitter.com/mickbk/status/1013854103208898566

TRUMP: "The EU... If we do work it out, that will be positive. And if we don't, it will be positive also, because – "

DUTCH PM MARK RUTTE: "No."

TRUMP: "— just think about those cars that pour in here."

RUTTE: "It's not positive. We have to work something out."