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MAY 4, 2022

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – OVERNIGHT:

OH SHUT UP!   The resident intellect of the Biden administration has opened her mouth once more.  Again we are moved by the sheer power of Kamala's genius.  We are, aren't we?  Stop laughing.  From Fox:   Vice President Kamala Harris gave a speech defending the "rights" of women to abort their unborn children in front of activists at an EMILY's List event Tuesday night.  Conservatives on Twitter mocked Vice President Kamala Harris's speech in defense of abortion on Tuesday.  Harris spoke at a fundraising gala for the pro-abortion political action committee EMILY's List and weighed in on the leaked draft of a Supreme Court opinion signaling the end of Roe v Wade.  During her speech, Harris stressed the urgency of the moment and claimed it presents a danger to women’s "rights" and "freedoms" to choose abortion.  In a viral clip of her statements, Harris asked defiantly, "How dare they? How dare they tell a woman what she can do and not do with her own body? How dare they? How dare they try to stop her from determining her own future?"  "How dare they try to deny women their rights and their freedoms?" she added.  Conservative Twitter users blasted Harris for her pro-abortion speech with many noting Harris's use of the term "woman" after Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson couldn't define the term and said, "I'm not a biologist."  Washington Times columnist Tim Young mocked the vice president as a less authentic Greta Thunberg and drew comparisons to the young Swedish climate change activist's infamous "How dare you!" speech.  "Greta Thunberg is better at pretending to be outraged than Kamala Harris," he tweeted.  That's okay.  When you work for Joe Biden you're free to borrow from everyone else's speeches, just as he's done all his career.  It's so nice to know that someone is following in his footsteps, or his copying machine.

May 4, 2022     Permalink

THE DAMAGE DONE BY THE LEAK IS ALREADY SHOWING UP AT THE SUPREME COURT – OVERNIGHT: We still don't know how much ultimate damage will be done to the Court by the outrageous leak of a highly sensitive document, but the early damage is obvious.  From Fox:    

Workers erected a large fence around the U.S. Supreme Court building late Wednesday night, two days after Politico published a leaked draft opinion striking down the abortion precedent Roe v. Wade (1973). The same night, Justice Samuel Alito, the author of the draft, canceled a public appearance.

Work crews erected "tall, non-scalable fencing" around the Court, as Fox 5's Lindsay Watts put it.

Alito scrapped plans to participate in the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals judicial conference, which is slated to begin Thursday. He canceled the appearance for reasons that have not been disclosed, Reuters reported. Alito is tasked with reviewing emergency appeals from the 5th Circuit.

Alito's colleagues, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Clarence Thomas, were slated to give remarks at a similar conference for the 11th Circuit Thursday and Friday, according to a program Reuters acquired. It remains unclear if they will still appear.

Chief Justice John Roberts confirmed Tuesday that Alito's draft opinion in the case Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization was genuine – although the draft dates back to February, and it does not represent the current or final opinion of the court. In the draft, Alito strikes down Roe v. Wade, which struck down state laws across the country, and allows states to again make their own laws on abortion.

The move unleashed a firestorm of controversy, with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., condemning the draft opinion as an "abomination."

Washington, D.C., police activated protest units amid large protests in front of the building Tuesday. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., joined crowds and shouted until her voice became hoarse.

Some Democrats responded by urging Congress to pass a bill codifying Roe, but the Senate blocked just such a measure at the end of February, with Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., joining Republicans in opposing the bill. 

Democratic governors and attorneys general vowed to defend abortion in the state level. States with Democratic legislatures have already passed laws codifying abortion in case Roe gets overturned. Gov. Jared Polis, D-Colo., signed a law creating a "fundamental right" to abortion and denying any right for the unborn. In 2019, Gov. Andrew Cuomo, D-N.Y., signed a law codifying abortion rights and explicitly removing protections from unborn infants. Connecticut's Legislature recently passed a bill effectively combating pro-life laws in other states.

COMMENT:  Removing any protection at all from the unborn seems pretty extreme to me, and is probably supported by only a tiny percentage of the American people.  It reveals just how extreme the Democratic Party has become.   

The Court won't actually hand down its opinion on overturned Roe until June.  Until then, all predictions are speculation.  The Court has a variety of options, including retaining Roe but allowing further restrictions on abortion, which has been the approach of some of the red states.

May 4, 2022     Permalink

MAY 3, 2023

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – OVERNIGHT:

OHIO VOTES:  There were primary races in Ohio, and some in Indiana as well.  The big story of the night is that every candidate endorsed by former President Trump won. He clearly maintains his clout in the Republican Party, and the popularity of his policies still appears strong.

The most-watched race of the evening was the Republican senatorial primary in Ohio.  In November the voters of that state will decide who will replace retiring Republican Senator Rob Portman.  The GOP primary winner, endorsed by Trump, is author J.D. Vance, who wrote "Hillbilly Elegy." It will be Vance's job to hold the seat for the GOP.  He is an impressive speaker.  If he wins, he will be an instant star.  And he has Trump behind him. Watch that Senate race carefully.

May 3, 2022     Permalink

SUPREME COURT LEAK – OVERNIGHT:  It's sickening. The president of the United States is refusing to denounce the Supreme Court leaker, who, for the first time in American history, leaked the draft of an upcoming Court opinion.  Nor has any prominent member of the Democratic Party denounced this betrayal of trust.  From reliable pundit Michael Goodwin of the New York Post:

Political surprises generally come in October. This one came in May, in the middle of the night no less.

The shocking leak of the Supreme Court draft decision that overturns the constitutional right to abortion is already achieving its main objective. It is giving Democrats something to run on this fall besides Joe Biden’s lousy record. 

Never mind that the leak was a dirty trick that is probably a crime, with Chief Justice John Roberts calling it a “betrayal,” and ordering an investigation. GOP Senate leader Mitch McConnell called it an attack on the Court’s independence, saying it is “yet another escalation in the radical left’s ongoing campaign to bully and intimidate federal judges and substitute mob rule for the rule of law.” 

The widely respected SCOTUSblog writes that “This leak is the gravest, most unforgivable sin” and will destroy trust among the justices and the staff. 

All true — but you’re not likely to see a single Dem denounce the leak or the leaker. Quite the opposite. Desperate times lead to desperate actions and, without batting an eye, they embraced the draft’s contents as an opportunity to rally their dejected supporters around a new flag.

Forget inflation, open borders, the murderous crime surge, Ukraine — look over here at this shiny new object. And get mad as hell.

Even President Biden roused himself to appear before reporters and, although much of what he said was half-sentence-gibberish, he did manage to say clearly the leaked draft “goes way overboard” in demolishing Roe v. Wade.

Majority Leader Chuck Schumer had a bounce in his step as he vowed to force the Senate to vote on turning the gist of Roe into federal law. “We will vote to protect a woman’s right to choose, and every American is going to see which side every senator stands on,”

Schumer said, then added that the “rights of one hundred million women are now on the ballot.”

There he goes, exaggerating again. Many women oppose abortion, and Schumer probably can’t get a majority of senators, let alone 60 votes needed to break the filibuster, to support his plan. 

COMMENT:  The refusal to condemn leak and leaker will come back to haunt the Democrats.  It will remind voters of how extreme the Democratic Party has become.  It will remind them of the party's indifference to crime, and its contempt for victims. When the leak was first announced, Democrats were jubilant, believing they had been given a chance to energize their base in November.  I suspect there'll be some second guessing on that judgment. Yes, some pro-choicers will probably become more involved in the political battles.  But other citizens, including many women, may well be repelled by the cheap politicization and exploitation of a serious issue.

Some Washington sources believe the investigation will take only a few weeks, and will yield results. I hope so.

May 3, 2022     Permalink