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« on: February 07, 2019, 12:44:18 PM » |
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The Patriot Post Digest 2-7-2019
From The Federalist Patriot
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The Patriot Post® · Mid-Day Digest
Feb. 7, 2019
https://patriotpost.us/digests/61025-mid-day-digest
THE FOUNDATION
“We must take human nature as we find it, perfection falls not to the share of mortals.” —George Washington (1786)
https://patriotpost.us/fqd/61024-founders-quote-daily
IN TODAY’S EDITION
Virginia Democrats are finding the bed they made rather uncomfortable.1
Judicial obstruction has been taken to a new level in the last two years.2
Trump called out “ridiculous partisan investigations.” Dems ramped them up.3
Daily Features: More Analysis4, Columnists5, Headlines6, Opinion in Brief7, Short Cuts8, Memes9, and Cartoons10.
IN BRIEF
Virginia Dem Scandal Spirals11
Thomas Gallatin
It’s a tough time to be a Democrat in Virginia. For the rest of the country, it’s been like watching an episode of “House of Cards,” only this is no fictional TV show. Wednesday provided the latest twist in what can only be described as a slow-motion political train wreck.
Following the initial revelation12 of Gov. Ralph Northam’s racist 1984 yearbook photograph and that in another yearbook he was known by the nickname “Coonman,” Democrats across the country were quick to call for his resignation. Many assumed Democrats were in the perfect position to prove their party’s commitment to “social justice.” However, almost immediately following Northam’s controversy, Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax found himself knee-deep in his own scandal13, this time over allegations of sexual assault. His accuser has released a detailed statement14 of her accusations. Suddenly, with Virginia’s top two Democrats facing growing pressure to resign, the question of succession was raised. According to the Commonwealth’s Constitution, should both Northam and Fairfax resign, the office of the governorship would fall to Democrat Attorney General Mark Herring.
For Democrats, should that worst-case scenario unfold, it would be painful, but at least a Republican wouldn’t take over. Or at least that was the thinking until Wednesday afternoon, when AG Herring admitted that he too had dressed in blackface once in 1980 when he was in college. Cue the outrage posse.
Suddenly, Virginia’s top three Democrats are all damaged goods — two racists and a sex offender. Ironically, one of the Democrats who had called for Northam’s resignation was none other than Herring, who stated on Saturday, “It is no longer possible for Governor Northam to lead our Commonwealth and it is time for him to step down. I have spoken with Lieutenant Governor Fairfax and assured him that, should he ascend to the governorship, he will have my complete support and commitment to ensuring his success and the success of our Commonwealth.” So, if Herring does not resign for the same “crime,” would he not be outing himself as a total hypocrite and political opportunist?
And, to rub a little salt in the Democrats’ wound, guess who’s in line for the governorship should all three Democrats resign — Virginia House Speaker Kirk Cox, a Republican.
Finally, Mark Alexander observes, “I think Demos are regretting jumping on the resignation bandwagon because there are very likely other stupid yearbook photos, fraternity pranks, etc., in many backgrounds. The issue with the two blackface cases versus sexual assault are very different, and Northam’s fumbling story change compounds his problems, but the point is that just about everyone out there has stupid stuff in their past. Will the category of offense be widened from just the Demo favorites of race and #MeToo?”
https://patriotpost.us/articles/61022-virginia-dem-scandal-spirals
Lower Courts Obstruct Trump at Unprecedented Rate15
Lower federal courts have issued injunctions blocking President Donald Trump’s executive actions a record 30 times. “That number,” The Daily Signal reports16, matches “the total for the first 42 of the 45 presidents so far in American history.” We knew judicial activism was a problem, but that’s astounding.
The majority of the injunctions, the Signal explains, were “against Trump administration policies providing extreme vetting of immigrants from countries deemed to be failed states; denying funding to sanctuary cities that won’t cooperate with federal law enforcement on immigration law; and tightening the asylum process for illegal immigrants, among other issues.” In other words, policies that aren’t exactly conventional.
To make matters worse, these injunctions weren’t merely regional in scope but national. Not surprisingly, the source for most of the injunctions came from judges sitting on some the country’s most left-leaning courts, such as the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Prior to 1963, no lower court had ever issued national injunctions, and it wasn’t until the 1980s that nationwide injunctions began to become more common.
In fact, Barack Obama’s Justice Department pushed back against the practice, arguing, “A trial court abuses its discretion by fashioning an injunction, which is overly broad.” And last year, House Republicans proposed the Injunctive Authority Clarification Act, which would have put limits on nationwide injunctions, confining the rulings for the most part to the district over which the court presides, but it was never voted on.
Back in 2016, Justice Samuel Alito noted the obvious problem with lower courts being empowered to issue nationwide injunctions, writing that it “invites the loser to seek to obtain in court what they could not achieve in the political arena.” Precisely. What we have witnessed through the first two years of Trump’s presidency attests to the reality of this problem.
Michael Morley, an assistant professor at Florida State University College of Law, points out, “All it take is a single litigant anywhere in the nation to win one time, and then they are able to obtain effectively nationwide relief enforcing the rights of all people throughout the nation. So, you have a fundamental asymmetry where the government has to win everywhere, whereas to have a policy or a regulation or an order invalidated, a challenger only has to win once.”
One thing is certain — the more lower courts continue to issue nationwide injunctions against Trump, the more the pressure grows for legislation to be passed that prevents this abuse.
https://patriotpost.us/articles/61010-lower-courts-obstruct-trump-at-unprecedented-rate
Dems Ramp up ‘Ridiculous Partisan Investigations’17
Nate Jackson
“An economic miracle is taking place in the United States — and the only things that can stop it are foolish wars, politics, or ridiculous partisan investigations,” Donald Trump declared in his State of the Union Address18 Tuesday night. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi defiantly responded, “It was a threat. It was an all-out threat. The president should not bring threats to the floor of the House. He said he wasn’t going to cooperate unless we didn’t exercise our constitutional responsibility to oversight.” Cry us a river.
The Democrats’ strategy since Trump’s surprising election win has been to hamstring him with investigations. That’s what the Mueller/Comey/Clinton collusion19 is all about. And as we’ve asserted before, a recession that boosts Demo chances in 2020 would be a cherry on top for them20.
Democrats wasted no time after the SOTU. On Wednesday, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff launched a new probe into the president’s foreign business relationships and if those are affecting U.S. foreign policy. “He has no basis to do that,” Trump retorted. “He’s just a political hack who’s trying to build a name for himself. It’s just presidential harassment and it’s unfortunate and it really does hurt our country.” The Hill also reports21, “The House Intelligence Committee on Wednesday voted to give special counsel Robert Mueller transcripts from dozens of witness interviews from the panel’s Russia probe.”
Meanwhile, on the House Ways and Means subcommittee docket today: examining the disclosure of presidential tax returns — a move clearly meant as a shot across the bow for Trump’s decision to withhold his own returns22. |
