Here are my observations and opinions on selected news of the day.
LAUGH-OF-THE-DAY – Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), it has been learned, had a private phone call with President Trump earlier this week during which it is said that he “pressured” the president to nominate Judge Merrick Garland to replace Justice Anthony Kennedy on the Supreme Court. That had to be one of the president’s shortest conversations.
THE CONSTITUTION WILL BE FOLLOWED by whomever is nominated by President Trump to replace Justice Anthony Kennedy on the Supreme Court because all of the 25 individuals on the president’s list are strict constitutionalists.
UNLIKE FORMER PRESIDENT OBAMA, who we can remember saying, “(The Constitution) is an imperfect document, and I think it is a document that reflects some deep flaws in American culture.”
AND WE ARE REMINDED of his nominations to the Court – Justices Sonia Maria Sotomayor and Elena Kagan.
MICHELLE OBAMA MUST BE SO PROUD – The 44-year-old migrant of the Democratic Republic of Congo, who climbed the base of the Statue of Liberty on the 4th of July, emerged from court on bail to say, “Our beloved first lady Michelle Obama, who I care so much about, said that when they go low we go high and I went as I high I could.”
“Our motto is: When they go low, we go high.” –Michelle Obama, 7/26/16
This from the woman who wasn’t proud to be an American during her adult years until her husband became president. That’s odd. That’s about the time I became embarrassed at what he was doing to my country.
Maxine Waters, the face of the Democrat party. (Pin it)
SOMEBODY’S GOT TO STAND UP to Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), and it is Judicial Watch the conservative watchdog activism group. Tom Fitton, president of JW, filed an ethics complaint with the Office of Congressional Ethics against Waters for her encouraging followers to gather crowds and intimidate members of the Trump administration in restaurants, department stores and gas stations.
The filing isn’t likely to result in any action taken against Waters, but it is better than ignoring her lack of civility.
PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH – In January 2016, Iran embarrassed President Obama, Secretary of State John Kerry, Secretary of Defense Ash Carter and all patriotic Americans when they held 10 U.S. Navy sailors and two boats hostage for allegedly “straying into Iranian waters.”
Candidate Donald Trump, appearing at a rally in Pensacola, Florida later that year, vowed that if Iran inappropriately approached U.S. ships, they would be “shot out of the water.”
Of course, CNN reporters wrote that “Taking such action would have tremendous ramifications and would likely be considered an act of war.”
Evidently, President Trump’s voice of peace through strength was heard in Iran. Lucas Tomlinson, Fox Pentagon reporter, updated readers on Iranian harassment of U.S. warships @LucasFoxNews reporting 22 in 2015, 36 in 2016, 14 in 2017 and 0 so far in 2018.
NORTH KOREA – Secretary of State Mick Pompeo completed another meeting in North Korea in an effort to “move the ball” toward denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, seeking a recommitment to the promises made in the Singapore summit.
Pompeo has his work cut out for him in convincing President Trump, who is anything but patient, even though he has repeatedly cautioned that the goal of denuclearization would take some time.
I predict that the media will soon try to get under the president’s skin with talk of the deal-maker’s failure to negotiate a deal with Kim Jung un.
When Pompeo meets with the president in London, I’m sure his briefing will have to be more than the “there are complicated issues, but we made progress” statement given to the media.
PAUL MANAFORT, who served as Donald Trump’s campaign manager for just 49 days, is currently being held in solitary confinement in a Virginia cell for 23 hours a day, according to his lawyers. He is being secluded because correctional officials “cannot otherwise guarantee his safety.” Really?
DON’T LET THE DOOR HIT YOU on the way out, Leandra. When Richard Cordray announced his resignation as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau last November, he appointed his deputy Leandra English to be acting director.
President Trump had other ideas and chose to nominate Mick Mulvaney as acting director under the authority of the law. English stayed on to fight for her job, but clearly, Mulvaney was in charge.
English took her battle to the courts but lost and on July 6, 2018 she announced that she was stepping down.
IT’S HARD TO BELIEVE that former conservative commentators like George Will and Bill Kristol are advocating that Republicans should vote for the Democrats in the midterms to “punish” President Trump (for what I don’t know), and to save the Republican Party.
Writing in PJ Media, Charlie Martin reminds us that by pushing for votes to “punish Trump” or “save the Republican Party” they’re advocating: Raising taxes through the repeal of the Trump tax cut, a flawed $15 minimum wage, universal single-payer health insurance, open borders, and impeachment.
“I just don’t understand how they (Will and Kristol) can justify it to themselves,” concludes Martin, who adds that “it doesn’t make a lot of sense to me.”
May God bless the United States of America.
