Sen. Schumer’s dissembling on judicial nominations

Given the track record of this President and the experience of obfuscation at the hearings, with respect to the Supreme Court, at least: I will recommend to my colleagues that we should not confirm a Supreme Court nominee EXCEPT in extraordinary circumstances.

donkeyhotey

Volokh Conspiracy in WaPo  "Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) is upset that some Senate Republicans have announced their intention to prevent President Obama from filling a Supreme Court vacancy before the next election. I agree with Schumer that this sort of thing is bad for the judiciary, and I have long argued that all judicial nominees should receive prompt consideration and an up-or-down vote. But that’s not Schumer’s view, and it never has been. He should not pretend otherwise.

"In 2007, 16 months before the election, Schumer delivered a speech at the American Constitution Society in which he declared that Senate Democrats should adopt a presumption against allowing President George W. Bush to fill another seat on the Supreme Court. (Here’s the video.)" . . .

From the text of his speech on the ACS website:

for the rest of this President’s term and if there is another Republican elected with the same selection criteria let me say this:

We should reverse the presumption of confirmation. The Supreme Court is dangerously out of balance. We cannot afford to see Justice Stevens replaced by another Roberts; or Justice Ginsburg by another Alito.

Either Carry a Big Stick—Or Shut Up!

Victor Davis Hanson

. . . ""Such liberal self-moralizing is never termed chauvinistic or culturally arrogant, because its practitioners are so often liberals who want all others to become as liberal as themselves. Nonetheless, many of our current tensions in the world result from our enemies’ dislike of our smug sense of moral superiority.

"Lecturing Egypt to respect a "largely secular” Muslim Brotherhood’s electoral win means that the U.S. is safely distant when one-election/one-time Islamists dismantle the process that brought them to power and seek an Islamic state.

"British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, as a champion of Western rationalism and British fair play, was convinced that he could persuade Adolf Hitler to play by Europe’s post-Versailles Marquess of Queensberry Rules. . . .

"And Hitler’s reaction?

"He not only interpreted Chamberlain’s magnanimity as contemptible weakness to be exploited, but also was goaded on all the more by Chamberlain’s smug scolding.  . . ,"

Clinton email chain exposed CIA asset in Afghanistan

Rick Moran  "An email chain involving Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Richard Holbrooke, special envoy to Afghanistan, which was stored on Clinton's unsecured server, contained "Top Secret" information on a CIA asset in Afghanistan, according to an exclusive report by Fox News.

The discussion of a foreign national working with the U.S. government raises security implications – an executive order signed by President Obama said such unauthorized disclosures are “presumed to cause damage to the national security."
The U.S. government official said the Clinton email exchange, which referred to a New York Times report, was among 29 classified emails recently provided to congressional committees with specific clearances to review them. In that batch were 22 “top secret” exchanges deemed too damaging to national security to release. . . .

 . . . "As these revelations keep dribbling out, you can sense the noose tightening around Clinton.  But there is still no indication that Clinton herself is the target of an FBI investigation, although the use of her unsecure server is.  This leaves the question open whether the Obama Justice Department, despite overwhelming evidence of Clinton's guilt, would fail to throw the book at Clinton and charge her with mishandling classified information."

Sheriffs: Beyoncé is ‘inciting bad behavior’ and endangering law enforcement

All on Obama's watch, is this not?

WaPo

"At first, Sheriff Robert Arnold said he had no explanation for why shots were fired outside his home in Rutherford County, Tenn., on Monday night — except perhaps for an undercurrent of anti-police sentiment in America.“ 'You do make people mad when you do your job; so that’s the only thing I could think of,” Arnold said at a news conference Tuesday, according to edited video of his comments posted by the Daily News Journal."But then another possibility came to mind, and Arnold blamed Beyoncé.“ 'With everything that happened since the Super Bowl… that’s what I’m thinking: Here’s another target on law enforcement,” he said."He went on: “You have Beyoncé’s video and that’s kind of bled over into other things, it seems.”"In a subsequent statement, Arnold said that his remarks “reflect the violence and senseless killing of seven deputies in the U.S. since the show aired. My comments are an observation of the violence that has occurred but in no way is meant to offend anyone.' ” . . .

Requests for TPD officers to work Beyonce concert unfilled

"Beyonce has taken a lot of heat for her new song “Formation,” which critics claim has an anti-cop message. Some Tampa Police officers might agree, if the request to work her upcoming Tampa concert is any indication. No one has agreed to do it." . . .

Do you REALLY want to know what it will be like to "feel the Bern"?

HopeNChange  "Thanks to Bernie Sanders and rampant national ignorance, socialism is enjoying newfound popularity amongst those who can never imagine themselves working hard enough to pay taxes. And according to Bernie and alleged-filmmaker Michael Moore, life in socialist countries is pure paradise!

"But here's an interesting reality check from a (non-political) friend's Facebook post:

"Actual conversation today...

Us: "So how do you like living in Brussels? Her: Well, you know, it's a socialist country so they're always on strike. The last time we flew in we couldn't get home from the airport due to the transportation strike. Us: Why are they striking? Her: For higher wages; with the 40% tax it's hard for people to make a living. A US couple started a coffee shop to create jobs helping women out of the sex trafficking industry, but the government requires all businesses for the first year to hire people released from prison. Yeah, and they're just all very laid back. When we first moved there the movers tried 3 times to get my armoire up the stairs and then just said, 'You'll just have to find some other way, we can't do it.' Customer service is practically non-existent."

"This is the same Brussels, by the way, which just busted another terror cell of radical Islamists several days ago. Apparently socialism makes it easy for people to live comfortably without actually working, leaving more time for hobbies like waging jihad." . . .

More on health care and life in general under socialists here.  The above author/cartoonist's struggle with government bureaucrats made plain to see.

An excerpt:

Now, imagine these kinds of interactions for every aspect of your life - and you've got the Socialist utopia that Hillary, Bernie, and millions of brain-dead millenials are hoping to foist off on our nation. Your every hope, dream, and aspiration would depend on the approval of some anonymous, non-accountable dolt who would see you only as a file. Or would if you weren't eternally at the bottom of a metastasizing stack of "millions of files."

 

Does this not seem to be true?

President Obama Is Skipping Justice Scalia’s Funeral. Well, it's what Obama does

Obama to skip Scalia's funeral

The president and first lady will instead pay their respect to the Justice when he lies in repose at the Supreme Court on Friday.

" President Barack Obama will not attend Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia’s funeral on Saturday, the White House said, adding that Vice President Joe Biden and his wife Jill Biden will be at the services.

Obama and first lady Michelle Obama instead will go to the Supreme Court on Friday “to pay their respects to Justice Scalia” while the justice lies in repose in the Great Hall, press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters Wednesday.

"The most recent member of the Supreme Court to die was Chief Justice William Rehnquist in 2005. In that instance, President George W. Bush not only attended the funeral, he also eulogized Rehnquist, who had been nominated to the court by Richard Nixon." . . .

YoungCons

Razor  Obama won't attend the funeral of a Supreme Court justice, but sent 3 reps to one for a convenience store robber. …

"Unreal. 3 representatives for Michael Brown. But the president can’t show up for a Supreme Court Justice?

"This goes way beyond partisanship.

For you, Judge.

"This is an extremely disrespectful ideological play.

"What President Obama has never really understood is that there are some things that are bigger than politics.

"Showing up to Justice Scalia’s funeral is one of those things.

"President Bush had the right idea and this is just another example of the difference in character between the two men."

Scalia's skipped funeral puts him in noble company   . . . "Here are six people whose funerals the Obama administration took less seriously." 
than Brown’s." As of Aug, 2014.

• Margaret Thatcher. "No senior White House officials were sent to the funeral of our staunchest Cold War ally, former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. " . . .
• Chris Kyle. " . . .not only did the White House make no statement, the White House sent nobody to his funeral. " . . .
• Nicholas Oresko, "The Medal of Honor recipient for heroism during World War II died at age 96 last year. President Harry Truman gave him the Medal of Honor after he wiped out two enemy bunkers during the Battle of the Bulge despite being gravely wounded. There was no reported White House attendance at his funeral."
• Lech Kaczynski. The Polish president was killed in a plane crash in 2010. President Obama originally announced he would attend the funeral, but cancelled, then golfed the day of his funeral.
• Aunt Zeituni. . . . " As The New York Times reported, “Mr. Obama helped pay funeral expenses and sent a condolence note, Ms. Onyango’s family members said, but the president did not attend, as he was golfing.”
• James Foley. "Foley’s funeral is not scheduled until October 18. On Sunday, however, his family held a memorial service for the journalist beheaded at the hands of ISIS. "

"President Obama’s delegation to Michael Brown’s funeral sends an important message. That message isn’t lost on the families of the soldiers and cops, teachers and firefighters, citizens who aren’t killed under disputed circumstances, don’t become the subject of riots, and who therefore don’t receive presidential aides at their funerals."

Obama or Biden should have attended Gen. Greene's funeral  But Snopes says no.

. . . "It was reported that “several hundred people attended” the funeral for U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Harold J. Greene, including Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel and other military officers."What struck me is the absence of the president and/​or the vice president, who are yet again living it up on vacation in the trendy Hamptons or Martha’s Vineyard."

Battle for the Seelow Heights; Germany's last stand to keep the Soviets out of Berlin (UPDATED)

HistoryNet: Battle of the Seelow Heights Very good account.

picsearch

Battle of the Seelow Heights  . . . "Close to one million Soviet soldiers of the 1st Belorussian Front (including 78,556 soldiers of the Polish 1st Army), commanded by Marshal Georgi Zhukov, attacked the position known as the "Gates of Berlin". They were opposed by about 110,000 soldiers of the German 9th Army, commanded by General Theodor Busse, as part of the Army Group Vistula." . . .
Photo: Hitler Youth casualties at the Seelow Heights

der-reichsleiter.tumblr.

The battle of the Seelow heights – a battlefield tour

Still wearing their boots and helmets, the Germans who fell fighting Russians at the Gates of Berlin

70 years on, troops sacrificed in Hitler's doomed last stand are unearthed. The Battle of the Seelow Heights was part of the Soviet assault on Berlin and lasted three days in April 1945. Estimates of Russian casualties range from 5,000 to 33,000, with 12,000 Germans killed 

The Association for the Recovery of the Fallen in Eastern Europe

"Defending the German position were 110,000 soldiers of the 9th Army.

"Seelow Heights was where some of the most bitter fighting in the overall battle took place. Fighting began in the early hours of April 16 with a massive bombardment by thousands of artillery weapons.

"On the third day the final line of the Seelow Heights was breached leaving nothing but fractured German divisions between the Red Army and the chancellery in Berlin."

The weapon appears to be a Sturmgewehr 44 , shown below, and here.

"The number of Russian soldiers thought to have died ranges from 5,000 to 33,000, while some 12,000 German troops perished.

"By April 23, the German capital was fully encircled and the Battle of Berlin entered its last stage. Within a fortnight, Adolf Hitler was dead and the war in Europe was effectively over.

"For many of the German soldiers who died in the battle where they fell is where they have remained ever since – buried deep in mud and soil - until now."

. . . "The association's mission statement on its website says: 'We are searching for the nameless dead, who lay without commemorative stones in the mass graves of War or were buried somewhere, as individuals and are considered as missing. 

• " 'We want to restore people to their name, which was taken from them over 60 years ago.
  "'We are not looking for soldiers of the Wehrmacht, not for U.S. GI's, Marines, soldiers of the red army or Polish Military - not for infantry, soldiers, sailors or airmen - not for Good or Bad.
  "'We are looking for people - Sons, Fathers, Brothers.
  "'Fallen soldiers are also victims - victims of a gruesome war, which they had not caused and had not wanted.'
  
  

A tourist's visit

UPDATE: Hitler's War The Eastern Front - ''The Death Trap''
"A terrible account of the last days on the Eastern Front. By this time STuGs made up a very large percentage of available German armour."

While we're on the subject of resisting the forces of socialism, read more of the Tunnel Wall here.

Rough times for Hillary...kinda

Rough Weekend

. . . "No, we don't think Hillary had Scalia killed.  But we certainly expect her to seek political benefit from his death by pushing the importance of her election for the purpose of picking a possible successor (if Obama's nominees are blocked). Additionally, some of the issues under review by the Court (with Scalia expected to be the deciding vote) could have been damaging to the Left - and those running on the Left - if the decisions had been finalized before election day." . . .

More Hypocrisy: Hillary Clinton Also Tried To Filibuster Bush SCOTUS Nominees, Now Says To Do So ‘Is Disgrace’

. . . "Ahem. Hillary Clinton, like Barack Obama, filibustered President Bush’s last Supreme Court pick. She also joined obstructionist Senate Democrats in filibustering a host of Bush nominees to crucial appeals court seats, including a top-flight Hispanic nominee named Miguel Estrada, who was held in limbo for two years before finally withdrawing. Back then, Hillary and her allies framed the act of denying Bush his selections as the fulfillment of a righteous duty. Now that the shoe is on the other foot, it’s a giant disgrace, or whatever." . . .Keep reading…

Hillary’s race pandering hits a new low  "As she sees the presidential nomination slipping away from her once again, Hillary Clinton plumbs new depths of craven race-pandering, ginning up racial resentment with a bizarre invocation of racism.  Shushannah Walshe and Liz Kreutz of ABC News report:" . . .
"There are no limits to her venality."

Forget Hillary -- Does America really need Bill Clinton back in the White House?   "Hillary Clinton is not merely a flawed candidate – she is a pant-suited catastrophe dragging down her party." . . .

"And if all that is not enough, there is one more obstacle to Hillary being handed the keys to the White House that no one is talking about – yet. If America chooses Hillary, they get a heaping helping of Bill, too.

"The fact is that Bill Clinton is no longer Bill Clinton, or at least not the Bill Clinton those of us remember from the 1990s. It’s been 16 years since Bill left office. Thanks to a worshipful mainstream media and the willful blindness of his fans, the same guy who lied under oath about harassing vulnerable women morphed into a lovable rogue."

Hillary Clinton’s Candidacy Reveals Generational Schism Among Women

“People no longer hear, ‘Do you want a woman to be president?’” she said. “They hear, ‘Do you want that woman?’” 

Approving Obama's choice for Supreme Court; Hypocrisy, Thy Name is Schumer

Western Free Press

"Watch the short video below, in which Sen. Chuck Schumer piously condemns Sen. Ted Cruz for opining that the Senate should not confirm a Supreme Court nominee with the presidential election so close.

"Says Schumer: The Democrats don’t do that kind of thing!

"But not only do Democrats do that kind of thing, it was Schumer himself who did it!

"Adding to this breathtaking hypocrisy, Schumer has the chutzpah to wrap himself in the US Constitution to support his “case”. Just listen to the devil quote scripture in this short video.

Via Edwin Macey Conservative Voter Coalition

Weasel Of The Week Nominees!! – 02/16/16

Noisy Room  

"It’s time once again for the Watcher’s Council’s ‘Weasel Of The Week’ nominations, where we pick our choices to compete for the award of the famed Golden Weasel to a public figure who particularly deserves to be slimed and mocked for his or her dastardly deeds during the week. Every Tuesday morning, tune in for the Weasel of the Week nominations!   Here are this week’s nominees…"

Denver Bronco’s Quarterback Peyton Manning!!

. . . "But getting a pass on poor sportsmanship for losing a game is one thing; sexually assaulting a woman then ruining her career afterwards is a whole new level of weasel-dom, and for that Peyton Manning gets my weasel of the week nomination. Oh, and for being such a Manning bootlick let’s throw in Papa John CEO John Schnatter while we’re at it."

BuzzFeed Editor Rachel Zarrow!!

"The Noisy Room: My nomination for Weasel of the Week goes to BuzzFeed editor Rachel Zarrell this time around. She posted a couple of tweets rejoicing at the news of the death of Justice Antonin Scalia and then tried to cover it up. She then quickly deleted them. She also retweeted a GQ writer who wrote, “Boy is my Twitter feed not sad.” Her initial tweet consisted of a party popper emoji. Then she followed up with a tweet mocking the statement put out by Sen. Ted Cruz on the news of Scalia’s death." . . .

Reince Priebus, Head of the Republican National Committee!!

"Neutrality? You kidding me? Ted Cruz and Donald Trump are both livid at the RNC’s stacking the audience at the last GOP debate with pro amnesty, representatives of the donor and consultant class whose job was to wildly cheer Marco Rubio and Jeb Bush’s every word, especially on amnesty for illegal migrants. And to boo Cruz and Trump on virtually anything they had to say." . . .

President Obama Vs. Senator Obama: Now Against Filibustering SCOTUS Nominees, Then Voted To Filibuster Alito

Weasel Zippers

"President Obama was asked today how did he reconcile his objections to the GOP position not to vote on a Supreme Court nominee when he himself had supported a filibuster against Bush nominee, Samuel Alito. 

"Needless to say, he was a bit miffed at the reporter who raised the question, and his answer amounted to ‘strategic reasons’

"I don’t think Senator Obama would like President Obama."