The Death of Justice Scalia: A Turning Point for America

Antonin_Scalia_Official_SCOTUS_PortraitWhen my 88 year old uncle died alone in his room clearly from having gotten confused and taken more of his medicine than he was supposed to (his little am/pm pill boxes were open and empty beyond the day and time they should have been), his doctor very somberly questioned those in the family who had seen him last. The doctor felt that Uncle Al was too healthy to die suddenly, and although exhibiting early signs of dementia, should have been capable of keeping up with such a simple system to take his meds. Clearly, the doctor wanted to rule out the possibility that someone had a hand in getting Uncle Al to take too much medication. My uncle had a paranoid cast of mind and always thought people were after his money–little of it though there was–and the doctor wanted to be sure there wasn’t more to Uncle Al’s suspicions than he had credited. The reality is, there were 13,000 murders in the United States that year motivated by all sorts of things–jealousy, rage, personal gain–when someone dies, it makes sense to ask “Cui bono?” Who benefits?

When Justice Scalia died, my first thought was, “Heavy-set guy, 79, probably died of a heart attack…sounds reasonable.” I did notice that he was not at home at the time, so his wife was not with him to verify the circumstances of his death, and that he was reported as animated and well when he was last seen–aren’t there oftentimes warning signs of a heart attack? At this point, I usually get on my headlamp and start down the rabbit hole, and in this case, I might even have seen the rabbit hole in advance.

Ever since Donald Trump made highly controversial comments about immigrant rapists just one week before the murder of Kate Steinle seemed to validate his viewpoint, I flagged the whole Trump phenomenon a probable psyop. When CNN reported that El Chapo tweeted angrily at Trump within 24 hours of his dramatic prison break, my suspicions were buoyed. You can think this sort of thinking is conspiranoid, but when a theory has predictive value, it cannot be merely dismissed out of hand no matter how dark or disturbing.

I had to ask myself, What could the purpose be of a Trump psyop? My first thought was that in order to get the country behind an establishment candidate such as heir apparent JEB Bush, the people would have to see how “dangerous” a populist favorite could be. As the primary race unfolded and Trump gained in popularity (almost entirely through the unprecedented free press he received from national media), I realized something dramatic would have to happen to get JEB in the pole position by Super Tuesday (March 1)–I called it the “February Surprise,” and I predicted it would upend the primary race, hurting Trump and boosting JEB.

Could Scalia’s death be that February Surprise? Even if there is this sinister a plot afoot, why would Republicans ever want to lose “the most conservative” of the Supreme Court justices? I think they would actually, because Scalia wasn’t “conservative” so much as he was a strict Constitutionalist. This is the position Republican politicians claim to hold to woo their constituents, but it’s not really how they operate…they do not want someone on the Court who would make them abide by the Fourth Amendment or require declarations of war.

In addition to my prediction of a February Surprise, discussing 2016-to-come, I had both an on-air call (12/26/15 show hour 2, 13:00 minute mark) predicting high-ranking funerals in 2016 and a tweet predicting the murder or resignation of two Supreme Court justices

I didn’t snap to the monumental significance of such an event at the time, and when I predicted a February Surprise I had more in mind a terrorist attack or Trump getting death threats and stepping aside, but the death of Justice Scalia may have the political impact of changing the momentum in Bush’s favor over the next month. We shall see.

But what we shall never see is definitive proof of whether or not there was foul play in the death of Justice Scalia. Previously, this would drive me to distraction, but in this case, the curiosity and frustration I experience in the face of the kind of corruption that could easily be behind this, is overwhelmed by my genuine desolation at the loss of quite possibly the most important defense we had against the end of the American Experiment of limited government and sovereign citizenship.

The last barrier between the world and world government is the United States Bill of Rights…even in its battered state, it provides the last defense we have against government tyranny, and Justice Scalia was its last, best defense. Thankfully, Justice Thomas remains on the Court, but as for Supreme Court Justices going forward, never again will we have a true, uncompromising defender of the individual rights at the heart of the American Experiment. Never again will we have a combination of education, experience, brilliance and integrity in the position of defending this country’s foundational principles and documents. Even if such a jurist existed, neither Democrat nor Republican would want him.

I’m not going any further down the rabbit hole on this one–for once, it doesn’t even matter what really happened. The damage is done. All that’s left to do is to mourn and to grieve–for Justice Scalia, our country and ourselves.

Update (3/18/2016): Maybe I wasn’t paying close enough attention…check out the comments from Cory in this post.

Update (12/22/17): Again, I can’t believe it, but I guess I’ve gotta get even more cynical–I think these guys are right about Scalia – makes sense of what otherwise made no sense.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m91TSr-2k0g

3 thoughts on “The Death of Justice Scalia: A Turning Point for America”

  1. Well said but the last defense is actually the American people but they remain ineffective while hoping that the ballot box will bring about change. That’s about to be dashed so many will start considering alternatives.

    Will Yankee ingenuity discover a way out of this mess?

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