Because nothing sums up Trump better than even-handed, moderate decisions.Originally Posted by LA Ute
Because nothing sums up Trump better than even-handed, moderate decisions.
I suspect it totally depends on whether Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski and maybe a couple of others will show a spine. Right before midterms, he is going to want to throw out a lot of red meat.
How ridiculous is the supreme court, though? We have our nation's ever-dividing big issue - abortion - and its fate lies in the hands of this group of ancient academics, appointed for life. The composition of the court doesn't necessarily ever reflect the needs/desires of the nation, and any one president can have a disproportionate influence on the course of the nation by nothing more than the dumb luck of timing. I have liberal friends who are in full panic mode over the retirement of just one old guy. Bruni - one of the better NYTimes writers - is dramatically anticipating the collapse of all human rights. It's a messed up system.
Imagine how conservatives felt with Obama nominating Elena Kagan and Sonya Sotamayor? People's rights will survive. John Roberts and other conservatives in the court have all expressed their belief in stare decisis. It won't be that easy to overturn Roe v Wade and who knows what else.
I know it will be alright. I'm just pointing out how silly this system is. We have justices who were nominated decades ago.
From the outside, it looks like belief in stare decisis just means you have to do a little more gymnastics when writing your opinion. They vote how they want to vote, and there's plenty of wiggle room in the interpretation of precedent to do it.
Senate Democrats should drape a big "Mitch's Team" banner across the back of the chambers and filibuster any nominee Trump names, then refuse to consider anyone he nominates after they take back the Senate.
The Biden Rule applies during presidential election years. It's about who gets to nominate the justice, not who gets to confirm him.
Last edited by LA Ute; 06-27-2018 at 10:51 PM.
"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
--Antoine de Saint-Exupery
"Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
--Yeats
“True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”
--John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell
This kind of stuff reminds me of board games as a kid, you just make up new rules to make sure you win
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lol.
I know conservatives want to criminalize abortion, and remove what's left of the ACA. What else is on the right wing agenda? Seems like a lot of litigation lining up against what Scott Pruitt is doing at the EPA, maybe we'll see the whole concept of environmental regulations thrown out? Majority rules on letting states & municipalities codify religious law - as long as it's not the feds, right?
(I believe that was the argument regarding Santa Fe HS in Texas when the ACLU defended a Mormon & Catholic family against prayers over the PA from student body officers for Jesus to help the Mormons & Catholics see the light and the error of their cultish ways and come to the one true savior.)
I have to admit I don't understand LA's hope that it's not another arch-rightist.
Didn't take long for the North Koreans to defy Trump... not that it will make any difference to adherents of the Trump Party: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2018/06...ze-report.html
Anyone want to take any guesses about the results of the Trump-Putin summit coming up? We pulled out of the UN Human Rights Commission, taking care of that potential snag.
Well, since Putin owns Trump (those naked photos of him, you know) I'm sure we can expect a joint agreement on something like a Russian-American non-aggression pact. Maybe cooperation in intelligence matters, free U.S. college education for Russian kids, a Russian wing added to the White House. The possibilities are endless.
time_trump_russia.jpg
"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
--Antoine de Saint-Exupery
"Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
--Yeats
“True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”
--John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell
What's interesting to me is that the whole country now convulses, politically, when a SCOTUS position opens. The Supreme Court may have become more important than it ideally should be.
"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
--Antoine de Saint-Exupery
"Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
--Yeats
“True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”
--John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell
I'm opposed to the harassing of politicians in their private lives, and I am especially opposed to personal threats, but I am finding it quite amusing that Maxine Waters is now complaining about the public harassing her as a politician.
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So if it’s not ok to nominate SCJ in election years I assume presidents who are the subject of an investigation should also refrain
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So it sounds like Trump wants to meet privately with Putin in his upcoming employee review. Anybody okay with that?
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Ha, maybe they are going to watch the [strike]pee tape [\strike] World Cup together.
In response to Pruitt's resignation today.
:eyeroll:
Snowflakes...
Seth Lipsky, Long-time conservative pundit in the Reagan mold:
https://nypost.com/2018/07/11/losing...uable-lessons/This line of thinking was nicely articulated the other day by The New York Times’ David Leonhardt in a column urging liberals not to despair. Leonhardt didn’t go so far as to suggest that a right-wing court would be the “best” thing in years. He did, though, urge a course of realism and a new strategy for pursuing liberal policies.
Like, say, winning elections.
“Over the last half-century, conservatives have put more energy into building a movement,” Leonhardt wrote. Above all, he added, “winning local, state and congressional elections.”
Democrats, meanwhile, “have emphasized higher-profile politics, like the presidency and landmark court cases.” Leonhardt suggested Democrats “can’t afford to do so anymore.”
Those strike me as wise words as we stand at the brink of what might yet come to be called the Trump court. And they are words to mark for the conservative caucus, too.
After all, we were there once.
"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
--Antoine de Saint-Exupery
"Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
--Yeats
“True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”
--John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell
Many years ago a then-Republican friend of mine said that the Warren Court created New Republicans and energized existing ones. I didn't disagree with him. Hope we see the same phenomenon the next decade. I'm not sure it will, though. That Court helped create the law and order Republicans. I don't see a new issue coming out of this Court that will create a new issues where the camps are not already well established. Sounds like Lipsky has a good point.
I just think the SCOTUS has become too doggone important.
"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
--Antoine de Saint-Exupery
"Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
--Yeats
“True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”
--John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell
You know, I lost an argument with scratch about precedent, but so many people feel like I do. I read some op-ed's about the justice vacancy. They range from measured to hysterical, but they all seem to think Roe v Wade could be overturned. No one seems to think precedent will be a major obstacle if their minds get made up.
Anyway, I agree. There is imbalance in our checks and balances, with the judicial/executive taking power from an impotent legislative.
Also, to the surprise of no one, the arguments have flipped. Now the democrats will use the "don't legislate from the bench" line, and the republicans will forget they ever said such a thing.
This movement will give some Democrats who want to be president a chance to triangulate.
"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
--Antoine de Saint-Exupery
"Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
--Yeats
“True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”
--John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell
I hope every Dem presidential candidate disavows this kind of BS.
That’s what I meant. Dem candidates could use these folks to position themselves in the middle.
"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
--Antoine de Saint-Exupery
"Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
--Yeats
“True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”
--John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell
And I think they will.
This group is certainly a fringe group.
Tomorrow in Salt Lake they’re part of a group calling for an independent elected citizens board who would have sole power to “judge” police officers and determine punishment.
That was the second half of their press release, the first half was spent telling everyone that cops are just scared of everyone.
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WHAT ROBERT MUELLER KNOWS—AND 9 AREAS HE'LL PURSUE NEXT
https://www.wired.com/story/what-rob...l-pursue-next/
Wall Street Journal Editorial Board:
*****
The Trump First Doctrine
Putin respects strength but Trump showed weakness.
Donald Trump left for Europe a week ago with his reputation enhanced by a strong Supreme Court nomination. He returned Monday with that reputation diminished after a tumultuous week of indulging what amounts to the Trump First Doctrine.
Mr. Trump marched through Europe with more swagger than strategy. His diplomacy is personal, rooted in instinct and impulse, and he treats other leaders above all on how much they praise Donald J. Trump. He says what pops into his head to shock but then disavows it if there’s a backlash. He criticizes institutions and policies to grab headlines but then claims victory no matter the outcome.
The world hasn’t seen a U.S. President like this in modern times, and as ever in Trump World everyone else will have to adapt. Let’s navigate between the critics who predict the end of world order and the cheerleaders who see only genius, and try to offer a realistic assessment of the fallout from a troubling week.
• NATO. The result here seems better than many feared. Mr. Trump bullied the allies with rhetoric and insulted Germany by claiming it is “totally controlled” by Russia. But his charges about inadequate military spending and Russia’s gas pipeline had the advantage of being true, as most leaders acknowledged.
The 23-page communique that Mr. Trump endorsed is a solid document that improves NATO’s capabilities to deter and resist a threat from Russia. Mr. Trump’s last-minute demand that countries raise military spending to 4% of GDP was weird, but he is right that more countries are likely to meet the 2% target.
One risk is that Mr. Trump’s constant criticism of NATO will undermine public support for it in the U.S.—and, more dangerously, undermine the alliance’s deterrence against Russia. If Vladimir Putin concludes Mr. Trump isn’t willing to protect the Baltic states, he may pull another Crimea.
• The Brits. Mr. Trump turned a friendly visit into a fiasco by criticizing Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit strategy in an interview with the Sun newspaper. He backtracked a day later, calling his own comments on tape “fake news,” and Mrs. May was gracious.
But Mr. Trump should encourage a U.S.-British post-Brexit trade deal both in the U.S. interest and to help Britain negotiate the most favorable Brexit terms from the European Union. Other leaders will conclude from his rude treatment of Mrs. May that working with Mr. Trump is more perilous than fighting him.
• The EU. In contrast to NATO, Mr. Trump does seem to want to undermine the European compact. He called it a “foe” on trade, which will make negotiating a better trade deal even less likely. He seems determined to impose a 20% or higher tariff on European autos to strike at Germany, which would also hit France and others.
The U.S. isn’t part of the EU, but American Presidents have found it useful as an ally to leverage sanctions against, say, Russia or Iran. Mr. Trump is stoking European resentments that will bite back sooner or later when he wants Europe’s help.
• Russia. Details from the private Trump-Putin talks in Helsinki will spill out in coming days, but Monday’s joint press conference was a personal and national embarrassment. On stage with the dictator whose election meddling has done so much harm to his Presidency, Mr. Trump couldn’t even bring himself to say he believed his own intelligence advisers like Dan Coats over the Russian strongman.
“I have—I have confidence in both parties,” Mr. Trump said. “So I have great confidence in my intelligence people, but I will tell you that President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today.” Denials from liars usually are strong and powerful.
The charitable explanation for this kowtow to the Kremlin is that Mr. Trump can’t get past his fury that critics claim his election was tainted by Russian interference. And so he couldn’t resist, in front of the world, going off on a solipsistic ramble about “ Hillary Clinton’s emails” and Democratic “servers.” He can’t seem to figure out that the more he indulges his ego in this fashion, and the more he seems to indulge Mr. Putin, the more ammunition he gives to his opponents.
For a rare moment in his Presidency, Mr. Trump also projected weakness. He was the one on stage beseeching Mr. Putin for a better relationship, while the Russian played it cool and matter of fact. Mr. Trump touted their personal rapport, saying the bilateral “relationship has never been worse than it is now. However, that changed as of about four hours ago. I really believe that.” In four hours?
Mr. Putin focused on his agenda of consolidating Russian strategic gains in Syria, Ukraine and arms control, and suggesting that the American might help. Mr. Trump even seemed to soften his stance against Russia’s Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline to Germany.
***
By going soft on Mr. Putin, Mr. Trump will paradoxically find it even harder to make deals with the Russian. Republicans and Democrats will unite in Congress, as they should, to limit his diplomatic running room. Mr. Trump may decide to court Mr. Putin anyway, like Barack Obama did Iran’s mullahs, but political isolation concerning a foreign adversary is a weak and dangerous place to be.
Appeared in the July 17, 2018, print edition.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-tru..._copyURL_share
Last edited by LA Ute; 07-17-2018 at 11:16 AM.
"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
--Antoine de Saint-Exupery
"Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
--Yeats
“True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”
--John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell
I think this is a thoughtful piece. "As early as February 2016, this column described Mr. Trump as a 'democratic accident' waiting to happen: 'What began as a scheme to become more famous is in danger of running away with the country.'” Ouch.
*****
Is President Trump Illegitimate?
By Holman W. Jenkins, Jr.
July 20, 2018 6:38 p.m. ET
I think this is a thoughtful piece.
Donald Trump never expected to be president. And, we might reasonably surmise, perhaps didn’t really want to be. Think about that as President Trump seeks to remake America’s relationship with the world as dramatically as any president in 70 years.
The Greek witch-goddess Circe gave her son a magic weapon to protect him on his search for his father, Odysseus. When father and son finally met, Odysseus was accidentally killed by the magic weapon. Oops.
Then-FBI Director James Comey received a magic weapon that, in his own mind, justified his usurping of the Justice Department’s decision whether to prosecute Hillary Clinton or her aides in the email case. Without Mr. Comey’s initial intervention, there never would have been his second intervention, reopening the Hillary case shortly before Election Day. Oops.
If veteran political analyst Ronald Brownstein is right, blue-collar white women in the upper Midwest elected Mr. Trump. What better antidote for the “Access Hollywood” scandal, then tanking the Trump campaign, than the revelation that the Hillary case was not only back but entangled with the underage sexting adventures of former Democratic Rep. Anthony Weiner.
If any Russian involvement helped Mr. Trump, this was it. As we know from credible reporting and from Mr. Comey’s own elliptical memoir, he was in possession of a captured Kremlin intelligence document that cited an alleged agreement between the Obama Justice Department and the Clinton campaign to bury the email case. This was Mr. Comey’s magic weapon.
Amanda Renteria, the Clinton campaign aide named in the Russian intelligence, has stated plainly that the information was “made up by the Russians.” The Justice Department’s inspector general said the info was viewed inside the FBI as “not credible” and “objectively false.” According to CNN and the Washington Post, some considered it a deliberate Kremlin plant.
Yet Mr. Comey, in a recent interview with PBS’s Judy Woodruff, described the information as “legitimate” and expressed agnosticism over whether it was “accurate.”
He told NBC’s Chuck Todd, “I’m just not, by my silence, agreeing with your predicate that it was false documents.”
What the heck is going on here?
This episode represents the only possible way Russia affected the election outcome. Other claims about its decisive effect are implausible.
Former Obama intelligence chief James Clapper flatly opines, based on his decades of experience, that Russia elected Mr. Trump, which might be more persuasive if his decades of experience were in U.S. electoral politics, not spywork and disinformation.
The Economist magazine, in honor of last week’s U.S. indictment of Russia’s GRU hackers, says the Kremlin only had to shift 0.03% of the total vote and therefore Mr. Trump may be illegitimate.
What these analysts ignore is net effect. Bernie voters and Catholics had reason to be offended by leaked Democratic emails, but these were one-day stories early in the race. The overall impact of Russia hacking and social media trolling not only was small on its own terms; it was swamped by the blowback on conventional media, which daily amplified accusations of Hillary supporters and Never Trump Republicans that Mr. Trump was in Vladimir Putin’s pocket.
Replay the election in your head, in fact, and it’s hard come to any conclusion other than Mr. Trump would have been much better off if Russia wasn’t a subject. Voters don’t vote on foreign policy. They do vote on character. There can’t be 75 people in America who cared that Mr. Trump promised better relations with Russia. There must have been hundreds of thousands or millions who followed half the GOP pundit and foreign-policy establishment in opposing Mr. Trump on character grounds, including his alleged footsie with the Kremlin.
I’ll say it again: It is overwhelmingly likely that Russian efforts, aside from their presumably unforeseen and accidental impact on Mr. Comey, cost Mr. Trump more votes than they got him.
As early as February 2016, this column described Mr. Trump as a “democratic accident” waiting to happen: “What began as a scheme to become more famous is in danger of running away with the country.”
It was entirely possible for Mr. Trump to be the last man standing in a crowded GOP primary field full of candidates who might have bested him one on one. He clearly lucked out with Hillary as his Democratic opponent. Of course, the totality of effects decides even a close election. But if you’re looking for a single, conscious, deliberate action by any human being that influenced the outcome, you’re left with Mr. Comey and his Russia-supplied magic weapon.
By the way, this doesn’t make Mr. Trump an illegitimate president. He’s a natural-born U.S. citizen of the requisite age and won a majority of the Electoral College.
Appeared in the July 21, 2018, print edition.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/is-pres...d=hp_opin_pos2
"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
--Antoine de Saint-Exupery
"Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
--Yeats
“True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”
--John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell
I re-read the piece twice - did he mention the social media activities and Wikileaks revelations? Anyway, the election was the election - two pretty unappealing candidates.
What I'm interested to see is how things go forward from here. Forget about reactions from Democrats... look instead at the reactions from Republicans - both the more aggressive camp of Sasse, Corker, McCain, et al, and the to-this-point reluctant to criticize the President camp (which is sizable - Ryan, Hatch, et al) - and from members of his own cabinet, at what happened in Helsinki.
Trump made an extraordinarily rare backpedal, along the lines of Charlottesville, but since has announced Putin will be visiting this fall, maybe right before the elections.
Relegated to about Page 8 are new threats to apply tariffs on *all* Chinese imports, which is certain to drive up inflation and negate the modest tax relief most Americans got from tax reform.
As a coworker sometimes quips "why are we in this handbasket, and where are we going so fast?"
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