Tag: 2018

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Divide & Profit

In Alexandra Pelosi, The Speaker’s daughter, I find a kindred voice. Her travels around “real America” revealed a country very different than the one portrayed on cable news everyday. Pelosi’s documentary Outside the Bubble is on HBO.

“If I hear the term ‘blue wave’ one more time, I am going to personally walk up to MSNBC and punch someone in the face,” she joked, in the HBO cafe overlooking the New York Public Library. “Yes, there’s a blue wave coming out of Manhattan and Los Angeles, where people are sitting home knitting their vagina hats. There’s no blue wave in Alabama. There’s no blue wave in Ohio.

If bridging today’s partisan chasm seems an Augean endeavor, Ms. Pelosi believes cable news is to blame. “There’s too much profit being made right now on the divide,” she said. “How many people in those cable news studios ever really go spend the night in America, not just in the Four Seasons in wherever Trump is at the moment, but I mean really go to somebody’s house, have dinner and talk to them?”  – New York Times, October 24, 2018

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Stepford Think

The Stepford Wives. A fictitious clan of suburban women who were somehow transformed into robotic subservient mates. Kind of a modern Handmaid’s Tale. Programmed to obey their masters. Men. Who made them do things in lock-step as a group. Sound familiar? It’s what Democrat feminists expect. Obsequious sycophants who vote and march as their proprietary parade.

Susan Chira’s analysis pointed out the irony and hypocrisy of this political movement in her NYTimes article, Women Don’t Think Alike. Why Do We Think They Do?

An excellent question.

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Trump & His Jesters

New York Magazine’s Olivia Nuzzi was heading out of the White House to the North Gate when she got a call on her cell phone. She didn’t recognize the number, but answered. It was Sarah Huckabee Sanders asking Olivia to come back. Trump had heard that Nuzzi was poised to write a hit piece about chaos in the administration. She was especially going to focus on rumors that he was ready to replace Chief of Staff John Kelly with Nick Ayers.

What ensued was an Oval Office farce. As Nuzzi sat opposite Trump at his Resolute Desk, a parade came through the door behind her. John Kelly. Mike Pence. Pence’s pawn Nick Ayers. Mike Pompeo. They were purportedly there for a pre-ordained “lunch” meeting. Yet sat on the couch as Trump regaled Olivia with his greatness and then solicited their allegiance.

Surprising? No. But Nuzzi writes a brilliantly revealing funny piece which shines the light on a Petulant Adolescent President. MUST READ. Tomorrow. Lunch with Kanye!

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First Woman President?

Nikki Haley’s path to the White House. Governor of South Carolina. Ambassador to the United Nations. Lindsey Graham replaces Jeff Sessions as Attorney General. Haley fills Graham’s seat as Senator from South Carolina. She then runs for President 2024. Wins.

First woman President. Al Smith Dinner 2018.

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Two Stateswomen

Senators Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski. From Maine and Alaska. Close colleagues who took very different votes on Brett Kavanaugh. Both made deliberate, diligent, thoughtful, non-partisan decisions. Collins supported his nomination in a factual studied listing of his centrist opinions on the bench. She cited the presumption of innocence as a critical component of American values. Murkowski agreed with much of Collins’ reasoning, yet felt that in the end Kavanaugh has the wrong demeanor to be a Supreme Court Justice for this time.

Both Republicans. Different conclusions. Both stateswomen.

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New Justice

There may or may not be a new Justice on the Supreme Court named Brett Kavanaugh. However, there is a new justice in the country. Maybe it is necessary to swing the pendulum toward taking accusations of sexual assault more seriously. Yet it’s a dangerous precedent.

Overreach has again taken over a valid debate. Media interviews with roommates and classmates whose sources are neither vetted nor corroborated have thrown journalism standards out.

Ben Sasse of Nebraska took to the Senate floor to rail against the mishandling of the Kavanaugh nomination. He said he’d suggested nominating a woman before anyone was chosen because he knew the current cast of characters couldn’t have a nuanced discussion of sexual harassment issues. He was right. Overreach usually begets backlash. We’ll see in the mid-terms.

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Sarah & The Supremes

Sarah Baumgartel for petitioner – ScotusBlog

Gundy v. United States, presented to the Supreme Court today by Attorney Sarah Baumgartel, Federal Defenders of New York:

Sarah argued that her petitioner’s case, “Combines criminal law-making and executive power in precisely the way that the Constitution was designed to prohibit.”  Justice Neil Gorsuch agreed saying Congress gave the attorney general a “blank check.”  Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said that Gorsuch had concisely stated Baumgartel’s argument. Sarah joked she should end her arguments right there, saying “I’ll cede my time,” drawing laughs from the crowd.     – The Hill

High praise from RBG. Doesn’t get any better than that!

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Supreme Argument

Our niece-in-law Sarah Baumgartel brought a case to the Highest Court last year which was accepted to be heard. As Brett Kavanaugh awaits his fate in the wings for the 9th Supreme seat, Sarah will be center stage arguing her case before the current 8 Justices.

Wall Street Journal article.

October 2. Gundy v. United States – The question before the Supreme Court in Gundy is whether SORNA’s (Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act) delegation of authority to the U.S. Attorney General to retroactively impose the law’s registration requirements violates the nondelegation doctrine. This rarely invoked constitutional principle prohibits Congress from delegating away its lawmaking power without an adequate guiding principle to rein in the delegatee’s exercise of independent decision-making.

Well done and good luck, Sarah!

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Catching Magic

Dr. Husband captured magical sighting from our South Fork porch.
Jumping dolphin.

Then. We snatched summer’s last North Fork harvest.
Sweet corn. Heirlooms. Squash.

 

Back to the City in time to catch…
the miraculous comeback story of Tiger Woods.

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Senate Coots

Sad in and of itself. Same guys who were less than gracious to Anita Hill are still around for the Christine Ford – Brett Kavanaugh fiasco. Sitting on the Judiciary Committee were/are Patrick Leahy, Orrin Hatch, Chuck Grassley. Potential Presidential candidate Joe Biden also on the Committee then wasn’t woke either. After they trashed Hill, they voted for Clarence Thomas.

There is no equivalency here. Anita Hill had grievances as a professional employee. Christine Ford loosely recounts Kavanaugh’s alleged behavior at a drunken party in high school.