On the Kennedy case...been a big season for SCOTUS, hasn't it?

The prayer decision is more important than it may first seem. It’s important not just as a restoration of the first amendment, but in that it represents one of the first recent instances of opposition to the Marxist paradigm—that is, all interpersonal interactions always take place between people with dissimilar amounts of power (elites need not be considered), and so the one with more always acts evilly when not actively subjecting himself to the will of the weak. Even if they outnumber and outvote him—that kind of exercise of power wouldn't count.

What this case did was show that the weak need not fear the strong because the strong are not always malign nor even aggressive. This dovetails with the obvious outcomes of victim politics when promoted by people who, as the saying goes, make it harder for actual victims: which is to say, just because you claim to be or even are a victim doesn’t mean you’re right or entitled.

Just look at the dissenting opinion.  There was fear expressed that this decision would "open the door to much more coercive prayer in our public schools," but coercion against prayer has been steadily rising until now.  Congress isn't allowed to do either one.  But it allegedly also "sets us further down a perilous path in forcing states to entangle themselves with religion."  Look, that very same entanglement is what was undone here.  Coach Kennedy was penalized for praying on his own after the game--off duty, that is, when he is no longer acting as an agent of the school.  It's not reasonable to expect someone to be an on-duty representative of some organization 24/7, even if you can demand more from them in limited ways.  

The First Amendment restricts Congress from impeding or promoting religion.  Okay, a public school employee is an agent of the state, after a fashion.  Can he stay silent and not intimidate students who don't share his faith?  Yes, more or less, probably.  But that contributes to a chilling effect on the free expression of religion by people who is share his faith, which is happening all over the West.  And what about people of other faiths?  Some will be heartened to see anything they recognize as religious, and be encouraged to express and share theirs.  Others will be intimidated not for being irreligious but not fitting into Kennedy's brand.  But if Kennedy accommodated them, what about the ones he's now leaving out?  How can he be sensitive specifically to each of them--sectarian and nonsectarian--without running the risk of excluding any of them--nonsectarian or sectarian?

This is why Congress isn't supposed to meddle at all; why our government is minimalistic in the first place.  Mostly it's best to leave the tolerating up to the individuals.  Otherwise we end up with that scene in "Life of Brian" where the crowd Brian throws a shoe at is arguing about what the shoe means, only instead of a shoe it's civil rights.

Did some of his students feel forced to sit in, a la peer pressure?  Apparently so.  But unfortunately that's human nature--we're social animals.  Student athletes get pressured to drink underage all the time, and while that's not reflected in the First Amendment, it's against much more specific laws, and that kind of behavior is often ignored until the star quarterback drives home drunk right over the head cheerleader.  Did anyone approach the coach to say "hey, no offense but I'm not comfortable getting dragged into this; is this an expectation, or am I going to be all right on and off the field if I don't participate?" 

I can see some kids not being comfortable even bringing it up.  But none?  And no parents?

I don't know all the details, but apparently the problem started when Kennedy's school district asked him to stop out of fear for litigation--another instance of "there isn't an issue, but there's fear of a possibility of an issue." Which smells more like a disgruntled school board member than a principal who has received some difficult phone calls from people who followed up with mail on fancy letterhead.

Actually it didn't even start there; Kennedy started praying on his own, and students started joining him. When he was asked to stop praying in the locker room and on the field, he did, but continued praying by himself after the game.  Apparently that was too much.

Please.  This is not some high-profile representative of a lofty organization abusing his power to tarnish the organization's reputation.  This is a high school football coach.  He's allowed to have a private life.

Even if people can see him having it. 

A few final words on the Dobbs case, at least for now....

For those of you complaining that this was the first crack in the wall protecting abortion rights and that it never should have gotten this far, well, this is the first crack, you're right about that--in a sense.

But you have to keep in mind that Roe was not a piece of legislation.  It was a Supreme Court case we were told to consider to be law.  Now it's back in the hands of the states, where legal questions of life and death are supposed to be handled.

This is a good thing for you.  Now, it is a matter of legislation.  Now any laws that get passed will have a more sound basis than Roe did.  You'll lose some states, but you gain security in others.  And all your threats and promises to leave your reddish communities that voted for Trump or against abortion or whatever the hot topic was, will now be easier for you to consummate.

And for those of you who are demanding that SCOTUS be stripped of its "jurisdiction" to "rule over" abortion, let me enumerate a few of the ways in which that is stupid.

1. That's what the Dobbs case actually was about.  Did you not read the decision, or any of the actual-news articles about it?
2. What do you think would happen when someone wanted to file a lawsuit against a pro-life law, and SCOTUS wasn't allowed to hear it?
3. SCOTUS's powers might not be clearly defined on all sides--I'm just saying for the sake of the argument, not as a legal scholar--but what do you think would a precedent of "there are certain civil, humanitarian, legal, and moral matters the Supreme Court can't weigh in on" in the way you're proposing, do to our country when other people try to apply that logic to other topics?  What if someone challenged certain labor laws?  Proposed mandatory servitude for immigrants?  Moved to repeal the Nineteenth Amendment?  Moved to repeal the Nineteenth Amendment, with the stipulation that women thereby would exempt from all forms of taxation?  Sometimes convincing five justices instead of 51% of voters is an abuse of democracy--so don't talk to me about democratic crises--but it is also a necessary hedge against mob rule.
4. Maybe you're not as dumb as all this, but are playing to the crowd.  That's the name of the game, okay, but do the people who are gullible and ignorant enough to believe you, tend to show up at the polls?

Posted to Reddit: "Department of Misinformation Paused over Free Speech Concerns"

Comment from a Redditor:  "Progressives have been warning about 1984 for decades.  It's republicans who try to bring them to life."

First, that's an interesting juxtaposition between the leftist movement and a specific political party.  The DNC hasn't been in the business of equal civil rights since the 20th Century.

Second, it's the Democrat president Joe Biden who, after a contentious election, brought Minitru to life.  Are you even trying to appear plausible to anyone but the people who already want to believe you?