[NYSUN] The Senate’s confirmation of Neil Gorsuch as the 113th justice of the Supreme Court is certainly the occasion for congratulations. They’re in order not only for the cautious Coloradan but for President Trump and for Senator McConnell and Republican colleagues and to the three Democrats -- Senators Donnelly of Indiana, Heidtkamp of the more northern of the two Dakotas, and Manchin of West Virginia -- who eschewed the politics and voted on the merits.
Much is being made at the moment of the decision of the Senate to dispense with the filibuster. The Democrats are retailing this as the end of bipartisanship and moderation in respect of the justices. What, though, would have been done in respect of bipartisanship and moderation had the filibuster been allowed to stand? The fact is that the rules of the Senate have nothing at all to do, one way or another, with the bitterness that obtains in our politics today.
This obtains because of the fury of a Democratic Party that has lost what it had come to think of in the wake of the New Deal and World War II as its rightful inheritance of moral leadership. It turned out that the party wasn’t up to it. There’s a lot of blame. It really started to come apart, though, with the Clintons, him with his scandalous behavior and her with the sale of her office, and President B.O.’s years of scandal and retreat (and slow growth).
Yet we are in a reserved frame of mind in respect of the new justice. We can see how smart he is, and are no less impressed than any other editorial column with, say, his skepticism of administrative power and his grasp of the religious freedom issues in, say, Hobby Lobby. We didn’t like it, though, when the Justice huffed that he’d have stood up and walked out the door if President Trump had asked him to overturn Roe v. Wade. There was just something off about that answer.
For one thing, we doubt Judge Gorsuch, or any well-brought-up person, would have walked out on the president, even in the face of such a poser. The judge could have said simply that he was uncomfortable with the query, lest he say something that might smack of ex parte deal making. Or he could have said, "Mr. President, I can’t tell you how I’d rule -- for who knows how this question may be presented to the court? -- but I agree with Justice Ruth Ginsburg that court decisions on abortions are in tension."
Posted by: Fred ||
04/09/2017 00:00 ||
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#1
There is much about the NYSUN that I don't like. I am so glad the Justice Gorsuch has been confirmed.
Many of the most head-snapping comments I heard came from Obama’s own top advisers, who had long pushed him to confront Assad more aggressively and viewed his 2013 refusal to take military action against Syria after drawing a “red line” on chemical weapons use as a major American foreign policy debacle. There’s no love lost for Trump in this group, whose members found themselves in the uncomfortable position of cheering a leader they still both loathe and fear.
“Our administration never would have gotten this done in 48 hours,” one former senior official of the Obama administration told me. “It’s a complete indictment of Obama.”
“I feel like finally we have done the right thing,” Anne-Marie Slaughter, who served as Obama’s first-term chief of policy planning at the State Department and long publicly urged a more forceful response to Assad’s horrific attacks on civilians during the six years of war that have wracked Syria, told me. “The years of hypocrisy just hurt us all. It undermined the U.S., it undermined the world order.”
Slaughter, now the head of the New America Foundation and a major backer of Trump’s defeated opponent Hillary Clinton last November, tweeted, “Donald Trump has done the right thing on Syria. Finally!! After years of useless handwringing in the face of atrocities.” I later asked her if it was awkward to be cheering for Trump now. “I’m just glad to see it,” she said. “It was the right thing.”
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/09/2017 00:00 ||
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It undermined the U.S., it undermined the world order.”
And will any of them ever admit that those were the ultimate goals for which he was striving?
Author Michelle R. McPhee's Maximum Harm. Excerpt from page 22:
Something was clearly going on in Cambridge that night that the feds did not want to share with local law enforcement officials. All week there had been whispers about arguments at the Black Falcon Cruise Terminal evidence center. There ten separate viewing stations with computer terminals had been set up along three rows to review the 655 videos that the FBI would later say had been collected as part of the investigation. Cops and agents sat side by side looking for anyone in the footage who looked out of place or nervous, or who was carrying a black backpack - the pieces of which had been the flesh of some of the marathon bombing victims and collected by FBI forensic examiners at hospitals all over the city. Off to one side, remembered one BPD homicide investigator, two FBI agents sat alone. They didn't introduce themselves. They didn't mingle. Instead they compared photos in their lap with photos on their computer screen, a detail cooborated by other witnesses who requested anonymity. The FBI had sent an expert from its Forensics Audio, Video, and Image Analysis Unit, Special Agent Anthony Imel, from his lab at Quantico, Virginia, to Boston to oversee the data collection. Imel did not appear to have any oversight of the FBI agents sitting by themselves, the witness said. A local FBI agent, Kevin Swindon, who supervised the Boston division's Computer Analysis Response Team, didn't either. He was too busy analyzing a security tape taken from inside the Forum restaurant, which in a clear and horrifying way showed the second blast. "We had numerous amounts of employees watching this video over and over and over again," he would later tell ABC News. "We couldn't see anything that stuck out."
One man from the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) finally could not take it any longer. He stood up and confronted the duo: "What are you guys looking at?" There was no response. A retired investigator who was there recalled in an interview conducted on background that the DEA agent said "Fuck you guys. You know who these mutts are and you're not sharing!" The agent stormed out. But his words stuck with the other officers and agents still looking at the videos. Those FBI agents were not seen at the evidence center again.
Multiple police officers assigned to work at the Black Falcon Cruise Terminal but not authorized to speak on the record told me: "They knew. They held it [the information] for days. They knew."
[National Review] Donald Trump’s many detractors tend to forget something important: The power of his office is such that simply by deploying the military might of the United States, he can change the national conversation in an instant. By ordering a missile strike on the Syrian airfield from which the Assad government -- and, perhaps, its Russian enablers -- attacked civilians with chemical weapons, Trump did just that. It isn’t clear yet whether this is the beginning of a more muscular, sensible approach to foreign policy in general and to Syria, Russia, and Iran in particular.
But what we do know is that Trump has just demonstrated a capacity to rethink his previously held positions and to act decisively in response to an outrageous crime -- in other words, the capacity to act like a commander-in-chief. This is something few of his critics thought he possessed. Last night’s strike forced Trump’s media tormentors to stop speculating for the moment about unproven collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. It might also have begun the process of changing the way we think about Trump. We’ve lived through two months of what looked like a presidency in crisis, replete with West Wing palace intrigue and a disastrously failed effort to repeal and replace Obamacare. Trump’s trademark lack of discipline and belligerent disregard for the truth had cratered his favorability ratings, and his failure to break through Washington’s gridlock had created a narrative of incompetence.
#5
I didn’t realize that our military knows what every aircraft in Syria is doing at all times. That’s impressive, bordering on hard-to-believe.
Tracking flying aircraft is child's play. We do it all the time in the US on a daily basis, believe it or not. Otherwise commercial airlines might bump into each other.
Easy to track a plane with all the military radar over their, see its flight path and where it lands so a, "Gee, that plane attacked a town with gas and landed at this airport so this airport is most likely its base of operations" isn't that much of an intel leap.
#6
"Gee,that plane attacked a town with gas and landed at this airport so this airport is most likely its base of operations" isn't that much of an intel leap.
1. A Syrian government aircraft left its base, flew over an inhabited area, and returned to its base. Not much of a leap.
2. A Syrian government aircraft left its base, flew over an inhabited area, dropped ordnance and returned to its base. Plausible given past actions; barring disclosure of BDAs and verifiable intel from the area, it's a bit of a leap.
3. A Syrian aircraft left its base, flew over an inhabited area, dropped ordnance containing a chemical agent and returned to its base. Possible, but the requirement for proof is much higher.
4. The Syrian airbase that the Syrian government aircraft flew from was struck by missiles launched from US naval vessels. Proven. The Russians were notified is plausible. However, the motivation for the missile strike is not necessarily proven.
#7
Why would you doubt BDAs and verifiable intel from the area aren't available to POTUS? The Pentagon and NGA have to be at least that competent. Perhaps it is not in the interests of the deep state to leak it.
#8
Ya'll have it all wrong. According to some far left stuff on Facebook, the ultimate go-to for real information, Outin ordered Trump to do this. Trump is too stupid to do this on his own.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
04/09/2017 15:37 Comments ||
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How would Trump coordinate with Putin without having the coordination revealed by Dem operatives in the intel agencies?
[DAWN] IT is a debate that eventually must be held if the historical record is to be set right. And if Pakistain is to prevail in the fight against militancy, there must be a consistent, historically accurate narrative. Imran Khan ... aka Taliban Khan, who is the lightweight's lightweight... has spoken correctly: creating a culture of jihad and a generation of jihadis to fight the Russians in Afghanistan was a historic blunder. Until and unless Pakistain debates the history of armed jihad in the region, acknowledges the state’s role in fomenting militancy, and formally renounces the idea of jihad as ever again being a part of state policy, the country’s fight against militancy, terrorism and extremism will meander on. Indeed, the caveat offered by Mr Khan -- that just as the jihad against Russia was wrong, it was wrong of Pakistain to participate in the US-led war in Afghanistan against the Taliban and Al Qaeda after 9/11 -- illustrates the difficulty of maintaining a consistent narrative. The war in Afghanistan after 9/11 was sanctioned by the UN and triggered by Al Qaeda’s transnational war on the US.
In a welcome complement to Mr Khan’s candid remarks, army chief Gen Qamar Bajwa has been quoted by the ISPR as having told the Afghan defence attaché in London that he feels the pain of every victim of terrorism in Afghanistan as much as he does that of Pak victims. The general’s comments are important because it signals a shift away from the acrimony earlier this year, especially after the Sehwan carnage and the closure of the Pak-Afghan border. As Gen Bajwa appears to be recognising, language and tone matter; the disputes between Afghanistan and Pakistain are too serious and complex to allow emotionalism, however understandable, to further complicate relations. Pakistain has rightful concerns about anti-Pakistain krazed killer sanctuaries in Afghanistan and the significant gains in the fight against militancy domestically cannot be allowed to be compromised or reversed because of Afghan inaction. Yet, there is a sensible way for Pakistain to press its concerns and a mutually beneficial, cooperative framework can be established. After all, Afghanistan has long-standing concerns and demands of Pakistain and the dictates of geography, history and populations all point to cooperation as the only path to sustainable regional peace.
First, though, an internal reckoning must take place in Pakistain. Between Mr Khan’s candour and Gen Bajwa’s empathy lies a possible response: a combination of reassessing history in light of what are now clear policy mistakes and a people-centric view of security in the region. Afghanistan has been wracked by war almost continuously for nearly four decades now; Pakistain shaken by more militancy and terrorism since the turn of the century. The reasons can be debated, but the connection between peace and stability in Pakistain and peace and stability in Afghanistan is undeniable. All policies of both countries must recognise and positively act on the interconnectedness.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/09/2017 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] THE Jamaat Ulema-e-Islam ...Assembly of Islamic Clergy, or JUI, is a Pak Deobandi (Hanafi) political party. There are two main branches, one led by Maulana Fazlur Rahman, and one led by Maulana Samiul Haq. Fazl is active in Pak politix and Sami spends more time running his madrassah. Both branches sponsor branches of the Taliban, though with plausible deniability... (JUI) is one of the oldest religio-political parties in the subcontinent. It has rendered a valuable contribution towards shaping the contemporary Moslem identity in India and Pakistain, besides influencing religious and political behaviour in other parts of the wider region.
In Pakistain, the faction of the JUI that is led by Maulana Fazlur Rehman
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
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[Armstrong Economics] With all the attacks upon Trump as having some covert connection with Putin to defeat Hillary when nothing hacked from the DNC was ever said to have been faked or altered, just released, one must wonder has this suddenly influenced Trump to attack Syria to prove he is not in league with Putin? If the military advisors are telling him it is Syria who has launched a chemical attack, he really should tread very lightly. This 180 degree turn for Trump may indeed be a trap.
Back in December 2015, I explained what Syria was all about and why the Obama Administration wanted to invade to help Qatar get a pipeline through Syria to compete with Russia selling gas to Europe. I explained there were two pipelines one approved by Russia from Iran through Syria and the other Obama agreed to with Qatar also through Syria. The American press supported Obama by trying to make everyone believe Obama cared about innocent civilians being gassed. Nothing was further from the truth and the US was supplying the weapons to rebels who were slaughtering people and throwing them in mass graves. Obama turned a blind eye because the pipeline was more important than people in Syria.
Finally, after more than one year from when I reported the real truth behind Syria, the Australian Press has now broke the story. The question is why now? It seems the media will now switch the focus and claim Trump is the one doing this for the pipeline now that their favorite son, Obama, is out of the picture. Mainstream media is out to defeat Trump. That is what they are directed to do from their big corporate owners who Dan Rather exposed in 2008, but now defends the press as being honest and real and the devil is Trump claiming they are fake.
Interesting how they can hide the story to help Obama and then flip the same story to attack Trump. It looks like Trump is falling prey to being set up to think this is really about chemical weapons and saving people. Sorry ‐ that was all BS. The evidence came out that it was the rebels supported by Obama who were using the chemical weapons. Investigations revealed that back in 2013, they used sarin gas ‐ not the Syrian government.
#1
Ah, the pipeline thing... if it were about a pipeline, they'd have paid a fucking bribe and been done with it ten years ago.
There's nothing magic about Syria and pipelines. They could have run one across Jordan to Egypt and then met up with the pipelines the Egyptians will be making for their big new natural gas finds, and the ones for the Tamar field...
#3
It all about the oil stupid, Russia will never risk being bypassed thus the reasons it supports the Iran/Syria Axis. If all that Syria grew were carrots it'd be a civil war that no one talked about.
[Detroit Free Press] A pair of activists who wrote a piece for the Detroit Free Press prove they haven’t learned the lessons of ESPN, and recently penned a piece urging athletes to use their sport as a platform for left-wing political activism.
Excuse me, but I thought most of them already were.
#3
When I was a kid I was a big sports fan. I kept following it as I grew up, but bit by bit (strike World Series, lost me; basketball became thug ball, lost me; football endorsed Kapernik, lost me; hockey doesn't work on tv and my minor league team closed down) I quit. Now I read Rantburg.
#4
It strikes me as odd that a commercial designed to encourage the purchase of a product would choose to alienate the higher financial end of a consumer demographic to make a possible impact on a another consumer demographic section by the vilification of the former as an oppressive stereotype. Selling product, not virtue signaling, is the aim of effective advertising....so I'm both disappointed and offended as a former consumer of that beverage.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Maulana Fazlur Rehman
