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JANUARY 27,  2022

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – OVERNIGHT:

WHAT A DISGRACE – OVERNIGHT:  Cori Bush, perhaps the most left-wing member of Congress, had a bit of bother in her home state of Missouri earlier this week, when her empty car came under fire.  Bush's response to the assault was sickening.   From Fox:  Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., said Thursday that she is unharmed after her unoccupied vehicle was hit by gunfire over the weekend in the St. Louis area.  "I'm touched by everyone who has reached out," Bush tweeted. "Thankfully no one was harmed. But any act of gun violence shakes your soul. That's why our movement is working to invest in our communities, eradicate the root causes of gun violence, and keep everyone safe."  Bush’s vehicle was parked in the St. Louis area when it was hit by gunfire Saturday morning, a local NBC affiliate reported. A source told the outlet that there was evidence that someone had tampered with the door handles of other cars in the vicinity at the time of the shooting.  Notice her comment.  There was not a single word about apprehending the perpetrators.  Not one word.  And where are those perpetrators now?  They're probably in some poor neighborhood shooting at innocent black kids.  But Cori Bush cares not.  Mentioning the criminals who shot at her car would have violated one of the basic rules of the hard left:  Criminals aren't really criminals, just victims of society.  That idea is corrupt and sickening.  It has resulted in the murder of citizens in the large cities of our country.  Ms. Bush should be ashamed, but she has no shame.

January 27, 2022       Permalink

HMM, THIS COULD TURN OUT TO BE IMPORTANT – OVERNIGHT:  Wild speculation is growing as to who President Biden will nominate for the Supreme Court, now that Justice Breyer has been shoved out gracelessly.  Inevitably, the talk turns to getting that nominee confirmed.  The Senate is divided 50-50.  Well, some experts say, even if each side holds all its members, Vice President Kamala Harris would break the tie in favor of the Biden nominee. 

But wait.  It may not be so.  Laurence Tribe of the Harvard Law School, a certified and celebrated liberal, believes those experts have it wrong.  From Daily Caller:   

Laurence Tribe, a Harvard Law professor and legal ally of President Joe Biden’s administration, has stated that vice presidents do not have the authority to make a tie-breaking vote for a Supreme Court nominee’s approval in the Senate.

News of Justice Stephen Breyer’s intent to retire broke Wednesday. The news puts Biden in the position of having to pass a nominee through a 50-50 Senate, raising the question of whether Harris can cast a tie-breaking vote.

Tribe has previously advised the administration on at least one questionable legal move: the extension of a federal eviction moratorium in August.

Tribe previously weighed in on the issue in September of 2020, when he argued “the vice president doesn’t have the power to break a tie” on an appointment. Tribe made the statement as Republicans were gearing up to approve former President Donald Trump’s final SCOTUS nominee, then-judge Amy Coney Barrett.

“While the vice president has the power to cast a tiebreaking vote to pass a bill, the Constitution does not give him [or her] the power to break ties when it comes to the Senate’s “Advice and Consent” role in approving presidential appointments to the Supreme Court,” he wrote.

Asked about his past position on Wednesday, Tribe was regretful, but didn’t back down.

“I wrote that piece around 15 months ago and have not thought about the issue since,” he said in a statement to RealClearPolitics reporter Philip Wegmann. “I doubt that I would reach a new conclusion upon re-examining the matter even though, given the current political circumstances, I obviously wish the situation were otherwise.”

COMMENT:  Well, well, well, now ain't that grand?  If Tribe is correct, it would take 51 votes in the Senate to confirm.  That means the Dems would have to convince one Republican to vote with them, and that assumes that every Dem is kept in line.

Big trouble there.   If Biden appoints a reasonably sane person, some Republicans may be inclined to vote for her, to prevent an even greater national divide.  But Biden is under pressure to name a hard leftist, someone acceptable to the Squad.  If he does, the 50-vote Republican mass may well stay solid, and the nomination will fail. 

Real drama.  Real world.  High stakes.

January 27, 2022       Permalink

JANUARY 26,  2022

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – OVERNIGHT:

NEW YORK, NEW YORK, IT'S A WONDERFUL TOWN, OR WAS – OVERNIGHT:  We thought the pandemic might break New York.  It didn't.  Massive crime may be a different story.  From the Daily Mail:   Brazen thieves have been hitting the same Upper East Side Rite Aid for months, forcing it to close - and now, numerous small businesses in the upscale Manhattan neighborhood, where residents say they are on high alert because of rising crime, are worried they will soon suffer the same fate after a string of thefts.    Shelves are already bare in the Rite Aid store, located at the corner of 80th Street and 2nd Avenue because it will shut its doors for good on February 15, the manager told DailyMail.com, a day after a thief was caught on video boldly sauntering out with shopping bags full of stolen goods.   The brazen incident in one of New York City's wealthiest neighborhoods was only captured on camera because actor and comedian Michael Rapaport had stopped by to pick up his prescription mood stabilizers.  He said it was 'pathetic' that brazen crime continues to spiral in the Big Apple because of soft-on-crime policies.  'These criminals know there are no ramifications. We have to put more of these people in jail,' he fumed...
...Robbery in New York City has spiked by about 33 percent in the week ending on January 23, according to the NYPD's most recent data, with 944 incidents compared to 709 incidents reported during the same timeframe last year. Overall crime has gone up by nearly 39 percent, with 7,230 incidents this year as compared to last year's 5,211.  We have a new mayor, Eric Adams, who is saying the right things about breaking the crime wave.  But there are powerful leftist forces within his Democratic Party who are against him.  They believe that the criminals are the victims, and that the police are oppressors sent by white supremacist groups.  There are no guarantees that Adams will succeed, and no guarantees that New York will survive as a great city.    

January 26,  2022     Permalink  

AS CRIME RISES, SOME CITIZENS ARE FINDING IMAGINATIVE WAYS TO GO AFTER D.A.'s WHO WON'T DO THE JOB – OVERNIGHT:  San Francisco once again shows us a prime example of wokism gone wild.  From Fox: 

An Asian-American man who was violently attacked in 2019 is suing San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin, accusing the prosecutor of mishandling the case against his assailants – who beat him with a baseball bat, threatened him with a glass bottle and told him, "I’m going to kill you," court papers show.

Anh Lê’s lawsuit against Boudin was filed just one day before the San Francisco Police Department announced an astonishing 567% increase in hate crimes against Asian-American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) individuals.

The now-69-year-old victim slammed the liberal district attorney for refusing "to uphold the fundamental rights of Asian American victims of racially-motivated violence," and in turn failing to "recognize their humanity," the lawsuit states.

"In this case, as disturbing as the attack on Mr. Lê is, equally disturbing is his mistreatment by the DA’s office in the aftermath of his violent attack by the Tanner family," the complaint charges, referring to the suspect in the case. The 111-page suit was filed Monday in the Northern District of California.

"I am a survivor of a horrendous attack that took place in San Francisco with no consequences to the attackers," Lê said during a news conference announcing the suit. He said suspect Jimmy Tanner, whom he described as being 250 pounds, was arrested for felony terroristic threat, felony elder abuse and battery – but ultimately got off with a misdemeanor.

He added: "Justice has not been served."

Lê was walking in San Francisco’s Chinatown on the afternoon of Nov. 2, 2019, when he saw a teenager riding his bicycle "very quickly on a crowded sidewalk" and headed toward him and other pedestrians, court papers state.

"You have to be careful, there’s people all over," Lê allegedly told the youth. The teen’s father, Jimmy Tanner, was nearby, according to the suit.

COMMENT:  D.A. Chesa Boudin is the son of two lovelies.  Both his parents, the well-known Kathy Boudin, and the lesser-known David Gilbert, were members of the Weather Underground, the notorious leftist extremist group.  Both were convicted of murder.  While they were in prison, Chesa was raised by Obama pal Bill Ayers and his charming wife, Bernardine Dohrn, who spent considerable time running from the police.

With parents like that, what did you expect?  Dick Tracy? 

January 26,  2022     Permalink