Where’s RBG?

[Crunch]

The last time she was seen was on December 6, 2018, when she heard arguments in person at the Court.  Since then, she underwent surgery on December 21 of last year after two cancerous growths from her left lung were discovered and removed.  All official statements have been issued by people close to her and meant to assure the public that she is recovering quietly.

However, RBG has missed oral arguments this month for the first time in her 25-year career on the bench, and it is raising anxieties about how well and if she is recovering.

RBG has cancelled multiple events as well. When Melania had a surgery and wasn’t seen for 20 days the media went into meltdown mode. Now, after 2 months not being seen, you have to hunt for RBG missing and this is a far bigger thing than Melania. It’s almost like the MSM doesn’t want you to know.

The SOTU is Tuesday night. If RBG is not there, I’m really gonna start wondering and think we may be owed a proof of life.

[D.W.]

Thanks for that ghoulish post.  It almost warrants some sort of cartoon vulture wearing a MAGA hat to go along with it.

[TheDrake]

That hasn’t stopped pro-Trump internet characters from suggesting that Democrats are covering Ginsburg’s near-death state. Some even claim that she’s already dead, but Democrats won’t admit it because they don’t want Trump to fill her seat.

The idea has its roots in QAnon, the pro-Trump conspiracy that posits that Trump is engaged in a secret war against powerful pedophiles in the deep-state and the Democratic Party.

Enough said about that.

Fox News inadvertently fueled the theory last Monday, when it accidentally aired an obituary graphic for Ginsburg. Conspiracy theorists pointed to the slip-up as proof that Ginsburg was already dead.

Oops?

[Crunch]

Thanks for that ghoulish post.  It almost warrants some sort of cartoon vulture wearing a MAGA hat to go along with it.

How is it ghoulish? She’s been very ill and disappeared from sight for over 2 months. Melanie not being seen for 3 weeks was a major ordeal, RGB is a bit bigger a deal isn’t it? It was reasonable to ask this about Melania, it’s a horror about RGB. Maybe you can explain the difference?

I genuinely hope RGB is fine and just taking a while to recover but as she remains out of sight and does not go to court it begins to beg the question: is she ok? Can she continue to fulfill her obligations?

How long can she remain unseen before you question things? Hopefully she turns up at the SOTU tomorrow night looking spry and engaged. But I think it’s worth asking, what if she doesn’t? If she’s not there, this will become a big story

[D.W.]

Maybe you can explain the difference?

Why would I?  Did I ask about her?  (to save you time looking, I didn't)

Glad to hear you are just a conspiracy nut or entertain yourself by entertaining hypothetical conspiracies.  (I can't say I'm above doing the latter myself, I did love me some Ancient Aliens.)  Wouldn't want anyone to peg you as someone cheering for her death or at least forced retirement in order to open the way for another appointment.

Don't know how I could have reached such a ghoulish conclusion.  Nothing to see here. 

[TheDrake]

I genuinely hope RGB is fine and just taking a while to recover but as she remains out of sight and does not go to court it begins to beg the question: is she ok? Can she continue to fulfill her obligations?

RGB is a color scheme, the SCOTUS justice is RBG.

The difference with Melania started with the lack of detail concerning her illness. People have always been curious about Melania's actual relationship with Trump, for better or for worse, which started back with her delay in relocating to the White House residence.

Then there are things like this:

“She’s doing great. She’s looking at us right there,” the president told reporters, gesturing toward a window in the White House residence. But, in a twist worthy of Poe or Coleridge, when said reporters turned to the window to look for Melania Trump, she was nowhere to be found.

[Crunch]

Maybe you can explain the difference?

Why would I?  Did I ask about her?  (to save you time looking, I didn't)

I think you would because you’re implying there is none. Or did you see questions about Melania similarly ghoulish?

Glad to hear you are just a conspiracy nut or entertain yourself by entertaining hypothetical conspiracies.  (I can't say I'm above doing the latter myself, I did love me some Ancient Aliens.)  Wouldn't want anyone to peg you as someone cheering for her death or at least forced retirement in order to open the way for another appointment.

Don't know how I could have reached such a ghoulish conclusion.  Nothing to see here.

So what, in your mind any questions about RBG are out of bounds? Can’t ask, won’t ask, everyone just shut up. A Supreme Court Justice is missing, but she’s liberal so let’s pretend she’s not. OK, let’s see how that works out in the long run.

[Crunch]

I genuinely hope RGB is fine and just taking a while to recover but as she remains out of sight and does not go to court it begins to beg the question: is she ok? Can she continue to fulfill her obligations?

RGB is a color scheme, the SCOTUS justice is RBG.

The difference with Melania started with the lack of detail concerning her illness. People have always been curious about Melania's actual relationship with Trump, for better or for worse, which started back with her delay in relocating to the White House..

[/quote]

The difference is purely political. Let’s not pretend otherwise.

[TheDrake]

Melania Trump and RBG are so similar, that only politics can explain any differences between the two situations? I'm sure its like that for QAnon, they certainly weren't concerned about the missing First Lady.

[D.W.]

Or did you see questions about Melania similarly ghoulish?

OK... I'll bite.

I'm not even sure what questions you are referring to.  I do recall some blurbs about "Where is the first lady?"  If that's what you are referring to.  It didn't occur to me to label such as ghoulish because I had no reason to believe that she was dead or that in asking the question others were hoping for her ill health or death. 

I do think it was tabloid-esque and without class because MY take, was that people seemed to be suggesting that she wanted nothing to do with the spotlight that is public life as first lady and that maybe, (tee-hee) things weren't all roses in the Trump household. 

THAT, is why I made no comments on the first lady.  Mostly I cut her slack.  As much as she seems tone-deaf in most of her statements, she tries to keep to herself and I don't fault her for that.  I get the impression that this is not what she signed up for.  Going so far as to say she'd leave the man if she could and the compromises she made for whatever transactional relationship she had previously agreed to would be nothing but tabloid speculation.  Something that, while this particular president seems to thrive in, I still feel is in poor taste. 

It's hard to condemn the degradation of the office of president while taking part in the muckraking...  So while I may have a viscous streak when it comes to wishing ill of Trump, only because he's in a position to impact my life, I don't much care, (or try hard not to) about Melania.


There, is that sufficient to answer your question?  Or should I have just said, "I don't give a *censored* about Melania."?

So what, in your mind any questions about RBG are out of bounds?

Not at all.  I think questions about the fitness of a SCJ to do their job, as it is a lifetime appointment, is entirely relevant.  To dive off the deep end and claim the woman is dead and there is a conspiracy hiding the fact to deny this president a chance to make another appointment though?  That takes you from being hyper-partisan into troll. (or if you believe the assertion, nuts.)  AKA ghoulish.

If I missed something, and people ARE speculating that the first lady being out of the spotlight for any amount of time means she may have already died!, then YES, I do in fact find that ghoulish, and ridiculous. 

[TheDeamon]

RGB is a color scheme, the SCOTUS justice is RBG.

And here I remembered RBG being Random Battle Grounds in World of Warcraft. 

[cherrypoptart]

Is she friends with Bernie Sanders? Maybe she is there for the weekend.

[Pete at Home]

Really Big Gazoongas?

[TheDeamon]

Really Big Gazoongas?

Not in the era of #metoo

[Pete at Home]

Really Big Gazoongas?

Not in the era of #metoo

Just wait.  I'm disgusted with the way that the f-narcs subverted #metoo to point the whole thing at males generally. giving female abusers a pass. What we law types call "both overinclusive and underinclusive at the same time." Can't wait until #metoobitch tells the rest of the story.

[Crunch]

She’s been seen

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is making her first public appearance since undergoing lung cancer surgery in December.

The 85-year-old Ginsburg is attending a concert at a museum a few blocks from the White House that is being given by her daughter-in-law and other musicians. Patrice Michaels is married to Ginsburg’s son, James. Michaels is a soprano and composer.

The concert is dedicated to Ginsburg’s life in the law.

The justice sat in the back of the darkened auditorium at the National Museum of Women in the Arts.

The National Constitution Center, which sponsored the concert, did not permit photography.

She should be at the SOTU tonight and we can see how she’s doing.

[Crunch]

WAPO reports that it’s unlikely she will attend the SOTU as RBG generally only attends when Democrats are in power.

WAPO also reports that most people had no idea she was even there. So don’t ask. At least one person that was there says they never saw her but it seems like that was planned so no surprise she didn’t see RBG.

Photos accompanying the article on media outlets are stock photos from a couple of years ago. In the age of cellphone, it seems weird not a single person took a photo. Maybe one will pop up.

[TheDrake]

It was probably a body double at the concert. They knew the impostor would not hold up to scrutiny, thus the dark room and lack of fanfare.

You're welcome, #QAnon

[D.W.]

The greatest tragedy of this presidency is the damage done to the art of satire.   

[Crunch]

Apparently the only person claiming she was there is RBG’s daughter-in-law:

Spotted at a concert by her daughter-in-law, the notorious RBG out for the first time after her surgery in December!" NPR reporter Nina Totenberg posted to Twitter.

One person who claims to have attended says RBG was not there. It’s kind of like seeing bigfoot.

Given the propensity of the media to lie, the motive they have for lying about RBG and her health, and the utter lack of evidence of any kind, I’m just not sure I believe this report.

I don’t think she’s dead, at least I hope not. But I’m wondering if she’s physically up to fulfilling her obligations as a Supreme Court Justice. I really don’t know. The fact that she’s unable to go to work for over 2 months now leads me to believe she’s not.

Given the stakes, I think we havea right to know if she’s able to do her job.

[TheDrake]

Oddly, this has happened before - if indeed anything is happening.

At age 76 on December 31, 1974, while on vacation with his wife Cathleen in the Bahamas, Douglas suffered a debilitating stroke in the right hemisphere of his brain. It paralyzed his left leg and forced him to use a wheelchair. Douglas, severely disabled, insisted on continuing to participate in Supreme Court affairs despite his obvious incapacity. Seven of his fellow justices voted to postpone until the next term any argued case in which Douglas's vote might make a difference.[44] At the urging of Fortas, Douglas finally retired on November 12, 1975, after 36 years of service.

Rehnquist also worked from home and in chambers during a battle with thyroid cancer. He was missing for several months. I suppose you were probably equally concerned that he was secretly dead, Crunch?

Of course, no one even needed to hide Scalia's death, they just decided not to let Obama fill his seat.

[Crunch]

Well, Rehnquist did in fact die due to the the thyroid cancer you mention so kind of a moot point.

[Wayward Son]

Well, Ruth is back on the job.  So I guess all the angst turned out to be moot.

I hope she received your Get Well card in time, Crunch.

[Crunch]

It was a closed door meeting, so apparently those reporting she was there never actually saw her and there’s not a single photo. It’s also not known if she will be in court next week.

The court will reconvene for oral arguments on Tuesday. Ginsburg is expected to be back in her seat beside Chief Justice John Roberts, but court officials could not confirm her attendance.

All that probably fuels the tinfoil hat crowd. Sightings of RBG are almost on par with sightings of bigfoot at this point.

I’m sure she’s got a heartbeat. What I’m not sure about is her ability to do the job. She’s 85 years old, her physical health is far from good.

After more than 2 months not being seen and only secondhand reports of anyone actually seeing her, I think it’s fair to question her ability to do the job and ask for her to be seen by the people her rulings will affect. Maybe she’ll be seen on Tuesday.  Maybe not.

Why is that so controversial?