Tag Archives: political parties

Blue about Blue Slips?

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For a long time—nearly a century, according to Senator Dianne Feinstein (D, CA)—the Senate had a tradition (not a rule) that Senators from the home State of a judicial nominee had to approve that nominee—send forward a “blue slip” before that nominee could be considered, or even sent to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

The administration of President Donald Trump has tended to disregard that tradition.  In fact, he’s sent seven—according to Feinstein, again—appellate court nominees to the Senate over “the objection of home-state Democrats” and—the horror—gotten them confirmed, including a number to the California-based 9th Circuit.

Feinstein’s latest peeve concerns Ken Lee and Dan Collins, whom Trump has nominated—to the 9th Circuit.  Both Feinstein and her California colleague, Senator Kamala Harris (D) withheld their blue slips for both of these two judges.

Feinstein is pretending to object on the basis of tradition, which itself cynically holds tradition to be inviolate, no matter the circumstances.

Democratic senators have made and continue to make good faith efforts to find consensus picks for the circuit courts.
As Senator Harris and I have made clear, we’ve been willing to work from the start with this president to choose consensus, mainstream nominees to the 9th Circuit….

Except that they have not. These two nominees, along with the other Trump nominees—and confirmations, including to the 9th—are textualists: they hold that the Constitution (and laws) mean what they say; they are not open to reinterpretation according to a judge’s view of the “needs” of society.  It doesn’t get any more mainstream than that. Indeed, any lack of consensus just shows how out of touch with our supreme Law, how out of the mainstream, modern Liberal judges are.

But the fact is, Feinstein and her fellows are not objecting on the basis of tradition.  They’re objecting on the basis of the loss of their ability to dictate who they will permit to be nominated, their ability to avoid open debate on the fitness of a nominee.

We’ve seen, too, the quality of the “faith” with which Feinstein and her fellows have been willing to work from the start with this president on judicial nominees.  These Progressive-Democrats made that clear with their smear campaign on then-Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.

The blue slip policy is a tradition the Progressive-Democrats have badly abused to the point of its partisan destruction.

A Desperate Establishment?

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It’s not often I agree with Congresswomen Ayanna Pressley (D, MA) or Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D, NY), but on this I do.  It seems that the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee intends to blacklist political firms that support primary challenges to current (senior) Progressive-Democratic Party Representatives and Senators in Congress.

Here’s Pressley on the Party’s attempts to limit voter choice:

If the DCCC enacts this policy to blacklist vendors who work with challengers, we risk undermining an entire universe of potential candidates and vendors—especially women and people of color—whose ideas, energy, and innovation need a place in our party[.]

Here’s Ocasio-Cortez’ tweet on the Party’s attempts to limit voter choice:

The @DCCC’s new rule to blacklist+boycott anyone who does business w/ primary challengers is extremely divisive & harmful to the party.
….

Yewbetcha.

This is a shameless attempt to deny American citizens their own choices regarding whom they’ll have represent them in Government.  It’s a demand that putative challengers and us citizens—both—should just sit down, shut up, do what we’re told, and enjoy the portions we’re given.

It’s a mark of the desperation of the Progressive-Democratic Party’s leadership.

It’s instructive of the nature of the Party’s reign were it to succeed in taking over our Federal government.

Pied-à-Terre Tax

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New York City wants one, and The Wall Street Journal, among a host of other folks, think it’s a terrible idea.

The idea is what the politicians are calling a pied-à-terre tax—which is French for “give me your money, fat cat.”

I’m not sure I agree with the WSJ.  I see the pied-à-terre tax as a vast boon to New Yorkers, and to others.

a Journal analysis this week suggested it could crash New York’s luxury property market.

There actually are strong upsides to this tax. Fewer of New York’s rich folks will be hurt by the SALT cap on Federal income tax deductions as they leave this high and higher tax State for better States.

To the extent the WSJ‘s analysis is accurate, the luxury property market’s crash will have cascade effects that will make all housing property cheaper—and more affordable—for middle- and lower-class folks in New York at large as well as in New York City.  And that will have its own knock-on effect: even fewer people impacted by the SALT cap.

I’m having trouble seeing the downside to NYC’s pied-à-terre tax.

Progressive-Democrat Disingenuousness

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The manufactured anxiety of many Progressive-Democrats and their support entities over release of the Mueller report is breathtaking.

Senator and Progressive-Democratic Party Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders (I, VT) wants

the whole damn report.

Senator and Progressive-Democratic Party Presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren (D, MA)”

The American people deserve to see the full report.

Senator and Progressive-Democratic Party Presidential candidate Amy Klobuchar (D, MN):

Today, like everyone else, I want to see that Mueller report.  It’s time to make the entire report public. That’s justice.

Senator and Progressive-Democratic Party Presidential candidate Kamala Harris:

…a short letter from Trump’s hand-picked Attorney General is not sufficient.”  The American public deserves transparency and accountability and the Mueller report must be made public for a full accounting of what happened….

Congressmen and Committee Chairs of six House Committees, Jerry Nadler, Adam Schiff, Elijah Cummings, Maxine Waters, Richard Neal, and Eliot Engel wrote a letter to AG William Barr demanding release of the report “within a week.”

Senator Patrick Leahy (D, VT):

The next step: the full release of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report, with its underlying evidence, and with only limited redactions for truly classified material. Not a summary.

Congressman Peter Welch (D, VT):

The American people have a right to know what’s in his report.  If the Attorney General refuses to make it public, Congress should demand its immediate release and subpoena it if he refuses.

Public Citizen:

[Nine] in 10 Americans believe the complete Mueller report should be public…. The demand is vocal, obvious, and must be met.

What these folks are carefully ignoring as they emphasize their hysteria is that Barr has already, and repeatedly, promised as complete a release as the law and DoJ regulations allow and as quickly as possible.

This disingenuous personally aggrandizing worry should be kept in mind during the campaign season.

Control

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Senator and Progressive-Democratic Party Presidential candidate Kamala Harris (D, CA) wants the Federal government to pay a significant fraction of public school teachers’ salaries.

What a terrible idea.

The Federal government paying a significant fraction of public school teachers’ salaries means Federal government control of our public schools. Those schools are in enough trouble; we don’t need the Feds getting in the way, also.

Aside from that, this is just another Progressive-Democratic Party attempt to grab our money, this time to deny it to our heirs.  Again.

Apart from both of those, this is another example of the Progressive-Democratic Party’s contributing to the erosion of our families, illustrated by this claim of Harris’:

Our country’s success is a product of the two groups who raise our children: parents and teachers. We are not paying our teachers their value[.]

Teachers help raise our children? No, that’s the exclusive province of parents; schools are not ex loco parentis child care centers, and teachers must stop being babysitters and do the only thing they’re hired to do: teach.