Bart Kavanaugh is or was a heavy drinker, and that alone could dramatically shorten his life. He has abused his liver badly for a long time, and when one's liver fails, nothing else matters. I have known of super-heavy drinkers dying in their thirties. Line many alcoholics he may have a chronological age in midlife yet have a very elderly liver. I bragged about a "Mormon liver" and "Mormon lungs" to a physician for reasons that have nothing to do with religious affiliation. (I am not a Mormon; I simply drink little and have never smoked, which are good choices for anyone irrespective of religion). If one wants to live to and advanced age, then following the Mormon code of healthy behavior is a viable solution.
To paraphrase Thomas Hobbes, an alcoholic's life is often "nasty, short, and brutish". Alcoholism may be immature behavior, but it can certainly age a body fast.
Clarence Thomas? He is now old, black, male, and overweight; he would be a tough candidate to underwrite for any form of life insurance that pays out much more than the premium at the time of death. So far he has no really-bad habits other than obesity, and I'm not going to either pry or speculate.
...The actions by some GOP-led state legislatures to cull the vote to favor Republicans, with deeds likely to make voting more discriminatory against non-white and non-Anglo voters or that allow State legislatures or officials to set aside a vote that they dislike seem shady to me in view of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act. Those laws are the legislation that defines who can vote. Denying voting rights to people who have exercised them unless that person is lawfully removed from the electorate (death, moving away, or certain felony convictions) is suspect. It is not up to elected officials or their appointed figures to determine who can vote and can not vote so that one gets some desired result.
I do not ordinarily predict the behavior of litigators or judges, but such legislation has the equivalent of the delicate aroma of skunk spray.
To paraphrase Thomas Hobbes, an alcoholic's life is often "nasty, short, and brutish". Alcoholism may be immature behavior, but it can certainly age a body fast.
Clarence Thomas? He is now old, black, male, and overweight; he would be a tough candidate to underwrite for any form of life insurance that pays out much more than the premium at the time of death. So far he has no really-bad habits other than obesity, and I'm not going to either pry or speculate.
...The actions by some GOP-led state legislatures to cull the vote to favor Republicans, with deeds likely to make voting more discriminatory against non-white and non-Anglo voters or that allow State legislatures or officials to set aside a vote that they dislike seem shady to me in view of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act. Those laws are the legislation that defines who can vote. Denying voting rights to people who have exercised them unless that person is lawfully removed from the electorate (death, moving away, or certain felony convictions) is suspect. It is not up to elected officials or their appointed figures to determine who can vote and can not vote so that one gets some desired result.
I do not ordinarily predict the behavior of litigators or judges, but such legislation has the equivalent of the delicate aroma of skunk spray.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.