What happened when Merrick Garland wrote for himself

"This would likely make a Justice Garland closer to Justice Anthony Kennedy, Justice Stephen Breyer or even Justice Samuel Alito in criminal cases than to Scalia."

Volokh Conspiracy
. . . "Garland’s opinions urging more deference to federal regulatory agencies suggest that a Justice Garland would likely be more deferential to agency decisions than was the justice he would replace. Justice Antonin Scalia was far more likely to reject an agency’s statutory interpretation than Garland appears to have been on the D.C. Circuit. Scalia, unlike Garland, was also sympathetic to underlying claims about the need to limit federal regulatory authority. In two federalism-related cases in which Garland’s majority prompted separate opinions from one or more colleagues — one concerning the application of the Commerce Clause (Rancho Viejo LLC v. Norton), another concerning the spending power (Barbour v. Washington Metro Area Transit Auth.) — Garland interpreted the relevant precedents narrowly and showed relatively little concern for the need to limit federal power." . . .
(Emphasis mine, TD)

Iranians defying the Mullahs by celebrating Nowruz, the pre-Islamic Persian New Year

If the Iranian people want freedom from the mullahs, they know -now- not to expect help from Barack Obama or anyone who thinks like him.

Obama To Iran Green Revolution Dissidents: Drop Dead   "During their brutally suppressed protests in 2009, Iranian freedom fighters sent the White House an urgent memo calling for help. Under Obama, America ignored it.

. . . "President Obama made his choice, and like so often before it was to vote “present*.' ".  * Just to prove a point, this link is from the strongly leftist 2007 "Mother Jones".

All that said, here is the featured post:
Shokooh Mirzadegi  ". . . In order to survive, Iranians have had no choice but to resort to the essence and fabric of their culture of joy, beauty and kindness. Iranians have discovered that culture can be the best antidote to a government’s inhumanity that has brought them nothing but despair, sorrow and anger.

"This year, on the eve of yet another spring and at the dawn of the thirty-eighth year of civil disobedience, we, the lovers of Iranian culture, will once again renew our struggle with this current culturecidal government of Iran. A struggle for our natural rights of freedom and our rights to be happy and inevitably bring down this sullen army of anti-liberty and anti-happiness, ultimately to their knees."

Shokooh Mirzadegi began her literary work, both as a novelist and a poet with Ferdowsi magazine and Kayhān daily in the late 1960s in Iran. Over the past four decades, she has been one of the most active figures in the Iranian literary community, both inside and outside Iran. She is currently residing with her husband in the US.

Remember when young Iranians made this video and were later arrested by the Iran authorities? There was once joy in Iran; Obama could have helped to restore it but chose the Mullahs instead. As was his wont, Obama voted "present".

Oh, how'd that all work out for them?
Iran's 'Happy' Dancers Sentenced to 91 Lashes "The seven young Iranians who were arrested for creating a dancing video response to Pharrell's "Happy" have been sentenced to jail time (ranging from six months to one year) and 91 lashes each, according to Associated Press.
 . . .. "After their May arrest, the seven Iranians were humiliated and forced to repent for their actions on state television. But they found support from a dumbfounded Pharrell, who tweeted that month, "It's beyond sad these kids were arrested for trying to spread happiness." Meanwhile, Iranian police chief Hossein Sajedinia called their "Happy" send-up "vulgar," saying it "hurt public chastity." 

Donald Trump Re-ignites Feud with Fox News’s Megyn Kelly

http://terrellaftermath.com/

Big Government  "GOP frontrunner Donald Trump is once again urging his supporters to turn against Fox News with a Tweet calling for a boycott of Megyn Kelly’s highly rated TV-show.

“Everybody should boycott the @megynkelly show,” the real estate mogul tweeted on Friday evening. “Never worth watching. [It is] always a hit on Trump. She is sick [and] the most overrated person on TV,” the tweet concluded.

. . . "The Trump campaign renewed its attack in reply to the Fox statement.

“Megyn Kelly is a highly overrated reporter and anchor that constantly disparages Mr. Trump with negative and inaccurate reports. Despite the fact he wants nothing to do with her and will not appear on her show due to her extremely biased reporting, much of the program is about him anyway on a nightly basis,” Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks said.
"Trump has repeatedly called Megyn Kelly “crazy Megyn” and accused her of being biased against him. But the feud goes back almost since Trump first announced his campaign for president."

 

List of members of Congress who went to Cuba with Obama:

Mark Knoller

Watch: Al Sharpton In 1992 Endorses Shooting Police Officers…

Weasel Zippers

Generational Whine vs Free Speech

John Stossel   "Samantha Harris (FIRE Director of Policy Research) and Taylor Schmitt (Claremont McKenna student) joins John to discuss the politically correct nitwittery that is crushing free speech principles at American colleges. http://www.LibertyPen.com"

Kasich says he would consider nominating Garland for SCOTUS if he were president

Rick Moran   "You have to wonder what John Kasich is thinking these days as he continues his futile quest for the Republican nomination. 

"With almost the entire GOP united in opposition to Obama's SCOTUS pick Merrit Garland, Kasich scolded Senate Republicans for refusing to meet with the nominee, and claimed that he would consider nominating Garland himself if he was elected president.

. . . 

"But does anyone doubt Garland would be a reliable left wing vote on the high court? On a host of vital issues that will come before the court over the next few terms, Garland would cast his vote with the liberal wing. This is a given, which is why opposition to his confirmation is so universal on the Republican side.

"Kasich is not going to get the nomination. And if he thinks taking liberal positions on the issues will endear him to Donald Trump who might then choose him for vice president, he has no concept of the tenor and mood of the country. "

Secretary of Mistake

HopeNChange

"After much diplomatic hemming and hawing, Secretary of State John Kerry finally admitted that when ISIS beheads, burns, drowns, crushes, stones, and blows up people singled out solely because of their religion...it just might kinda sorta be genocide-ish.

"What he did not say, owing to the fact that he isn't suicidal, is that Hillary Clinton's totally failed tenure as Secretary of State pretty much laid waste to the Middle East and softened up the region for the nightmarish growth of ISIS.

"Rather than blame his predecessor, Kerry made a point of saying that while the determination of genocide is very serious, it won't have immediate policy repercussions because (brace yourself) it's going to be so difficult to bring the genocidal throat-slashing maniacs to court to be tried - no doubt with American taxpayers paying their legal defense bills." . . .

FALSE: U.S. Troops Forced to Observe Ramadan

Snopes   "Claim:   U.S. troops stationed in Muslim countries are being ordered to fast and practice Sharia law during Ramadan." 

. . . "Such claims were based on a single article from the military publication Stars and Stripes which has been greatly exaggerated in the telling. What that article actually reported is that some U.S. military personnel in Bahrain have been briefed about the significance of Ramadan, Navy personnel there have been ordered to dress more conservatively while off-base during that month, and troops have been reminded that activities such as eating, drinking, and smoking in public in the daytime during the month of Ramadan is a violation of local law (and as with other local laws, they can be detained by authorities for breaking them): " . . .

"As a number of servicemen who have been stationed in Muslim countries have observed to us, the restriction against eating and drinking in public during Ramadan didn't affect them much since most businesses, shops, and restaurants in such areas are closed in the daytime throughout that month."

Cuba ordering its dissidents to skip meeting with Obama

LA Times

In Havana on the eve of President Obama's visit, a child runs in front of a wall reading "We keep defending the revolution."

"On the eve of President Obama’s historic visit to Cuba, authorities there are ordering dissidents invited to meet with the American leader to stay home instead, a leading human rights activist said Saturday.

"Elizardo Sanchez, a Cuban anti-government activist who chronicles political detentions month-to-month, said he and most of those invited planned to defy the government order.

"Sanchez, speaking by phone from Havana, said U.S. officials were offering to help the activists get to the meeting with Obama, scheduled for Tuesday.

“ 'Everyone is pretty determined,” he said.

"There was no immediate comment from the U.S. Embassy in Havana, the White Houseor the Cuban government." . . .

It is well to recall when the Iranian people rose up against the Ayatollahs in Iran, Obama sided with the Ayatollahs against the people. 

Fox News fires back at Trump: Enough of your “extreme, sick obsession” with Megyn Kelly

Hot Air   "John flagged Trump’s latest Twitter attack on Kelly in this post last night but you should read Fox’s reply too. Imagine: This guy can all but break the back of conservative resistance to him and become the prohibitive favorite for the Republican nomination by beating Cruz handily in Arizona and Utah on Tuesday night — and this is what he’s busy stewing about. He has a general election campaign coming up, he has fundraising to think about, he has a convention to plan, and he’s sitting in front of his TV fulminating about one of the two hours of programming each day on Trump TV that’s not devoted to glorifying him. (Bret Baier’s show is the other.) Good guy. Definitely a guy who’ll have his priorities straight as leader of the free world." . . .

Our nominee is a disaster: Time may be running out, but Democrats will come to rue Clinton over Sanders

Salon

The writer says there's no chance of him voting for Hillary, then doubles down by telling us we should not either. Not to worry.

"Bernie Sanders is the only Democrat not linked to an FBI investigation. If this doesn’t mean anything to you, then you’re too terrified of Trump’s rallies to realize that Clinton could get indicted. Also, if you can’t fathom the possibility of Donald Trump winning, then keep in mind that most Americans don’t trust or like Hillary Clinton. A general election isn’t a popularity contest among Democrats. In 10 out of 10 national polls regarding favorability, Hillary Clinton has negative favorability ratings nationally in all 10.

"Be very careful what you wish for, because most Americans have an unfavorable view of Clinton and Bernie Sanders already beats Trump by a wider margin. I’m only voting for Bernie Sanders in 2016 and I explain why in this YouTube segment. Most importantly, Democrats should remember that 33% of Bernie Sanders voters will refuse to vote for Clinton in November, if she becomes nominee.

"As stated by The Wall Street Journal, there are a great many Bernie Sanders supporters like myself:" . . .