Justice Sonia Sotomayor Shares How She Welcomed Brett Kavanaugh After His Confirmation

Intellectual Takeout

"Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor related one of her first exchanges with Justice Brett Kavanaugh following his bitter confirmation during a wide-ranging interview Saturday with CNN.

"In welcoming Kavanaugh, Sotomayor recounted a story about Justice Clarence Thomas’ arrival at the Supreme Court in 1991.

“ 'It was Justice Thomas who tells me that when he first came to the court, another justice approached him and said, ‘I judge you by what you do here. Welcome.’ And I repeated that story to Justice Kavanaugh when I first greeted him here,” Sotomayor told CNN political commentator David Axelrod.

"Like Kavanaugh, Thomas was accused of sexual misconduct during his Senate confirmation hearings.

"Elsewhere in the interview, Sotomayor explained that collegiality is essential to the high court’s work, particularly since the justices serve with one another for long periods of time.

“ 'When you’re charged with working together for most of the remainder of your life, you have to create a relationship,” Sotomayor said. “The nine of us are now a family and we’re a family with each of us our own burdens and our own obligations to others, but this is our work family, and it’s just as important as our personal family.”

“ 'We’ve probably spent more time with each other than most justices spend, who have spouses, with their spouses,” she added."

The justices projected normalcy and camaraderie after Kavanaugh joined the court. During his first day on the bench, the justices were unusually lighthearted and deferential to one another.

In his first and, to date, only remarks on the Kavanaugh confirmation, Chief Justice John Roberts promised to protect the integrity and impartiality of the court, approvingly quoting statements the new justice made during his ceremonial installation at the White House.

“As our newest colleague put it, we do not sit on opposite sides of an aisle, we do not caucus in separate rooms, we do not serve one party or one interest, we serve one nation,” Roberts told an audience at the University of Minnesota Law School.

The Pilgrims Didn’t Invent Thanksgiving, So Stop Blaming Them And Be Grateful

The Federalist

We should celebrate Thanksgiving as our ancestors did, a moment to reflect on the extraordinary blessings of our time.

. . . "So, sure, we can argue about whether the injustices Native Americans suffered taint Thanksgiving, or whether it’s right or wrong to remember this moment of unity at all. We can delve deep into the historical context and argue about whether the Europeans bear moral responsibility for the diseases they carried with them, and dispute whether children using paper bags to dress as Pilgrims and Indians is a charming tradition or supremely insensitive.

"Or we can celebrate Thanksgiving as our ancestors did, as a moment to reflect on the extraordinary blessings of our modern era, when hunger and disease and infant mortality, so common in the past, are now so rare that we see them as a great tragedy rather than a natural part of life.`"

Here's What Happened to the Leftist-Supported Caravan Riders Who Tried to Storm the United States Border

Beth Baumann

"Late Sunday evening, hundreds of illegal aliens attempted to rush the United States-Mexico border, something they talked about a few days ago. What the caravan riders didn't expect, however, was the Border Patrol utilizing tear gas to keep them from successfully crossing into the United States. 

"Roughly 500 caravan riders rushed past a barricade created by Mexican officials. They then went to rush the border, at which point the Border Patrol deployed tear gas to protect agents.
. . .

" 'After being prevented from entering the port of entry, some of these migrants attempted to breach legacy fence infrastructure along the border and sought to harm CBP personnel by throwing projectiles at them," Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen said in a statement. "DHS will not tolerate this type of lawlessness and will not hesitate to shut down ports of entry for security and public safety reasons. We will also seek to prosecute to the fullest extent of the law anyone who destroys federal property, endangers our front-line operators, or violates our nation's sovereignty.' " . . .

Leftists On U.S. Side March To Border Crossing To Support Migrants   "Notice the Che hat and other leftist regalia. How nice supporting folks who attacked the Border Patrol." Video

Anybody hearing about just how far left the caravan organizers are?

. . . "Had enough? It just gets worse, with its list of demands, including this beauty:

3. The US government must publicly acknowledge a) its role in Honduran Coup in 2009, b) that the Honduran government is a US supported dictatorship, and c) recognize the political and social crises throughout Central America as caused by US foreign policy.

"This is nutbag, far-left stuff. That's not about moms and kids, that's about the political demands of Hugo Chavez's Venezuela. And as you read further in their "demands," you can read that they also want American officials prosecuted. This is the caravan agenda as it throws hapless women and children in front of the cameras, leaves Tijuana a humanitarian agenda area, and leaves Mexico with the prospect of a completely shut border. As they say: By any means necessarily, and those migrants are their pawns. Now is the scenario clearer?

"And are there any questions as to why the caravan migrants are overwhelmingly military-aged unemployed young men, as this Univision screengrab from Mexicali unintentionally shows? (That reporter look uncomfortable)."

John Kerry joins Hillary warning Europe of threat of immigration

Donkey Hotey

Thomas Lifson  "It’s starting to look like some members of the Democrat establishment understand that open borders is a losing issue. It would be too dangerous to take on the issue domestically, so acknowledging that Europe is being harmed by mass immigration/asylum and turning to politicians who will control the borders is a first step. When Hillary Clinton warned of the danger of Europe turning to populists in order to stop the influx, it was startling. But now, it is a trend.

John Kerry has joined fellow failed presidential nominee Clinton in warning Europe that its refugee policies have been a disaster. Ryan Saavedra reports in the Daily Wire:" . . .

. . . "Illegal immigration is currently the top concern of Americans.  While the radical wing of the Democrats is explicitly in favor of open borders, the issue drives support to Republicans in key states. It is possible that the old guard of the Democrats is citing Europe and urging border control there as a means of opening the issue for debate in choosing the 2020 nominee.

"On the other hand, there is a striking similarity in both the Clinton and Kerry announcements. Both came under the auspices of the UK Guardian, which ispushing the issue of European populists gaining victories. It is possible that after discussing the issue in interviews and other sessions with The Guardian, both Hillary and Kerry independently changed their minds. But because both of them waited until after the midterms (with the cooperation of the Guardian that withheld those comments before the vote was in), it suggest that a strategy is being implemented." . . .

Hillary Wakes Up on Immigration  "None other than Hillary Clinton has advised Western Europe "to do something to lessen the flow of migrants from the Middle East and North Africa."  

"But don't jump to conclusions. Madam Hillary has not undergone an epiphany similar to the one Saul encountered on the way to Damascus. The reason Clinton said this is not because the massive influx of these migrants has strained Europe's welfare system, increased violent crime, and seriously degraded the culture and life-styles of the countries in which these immigrants reside." . . . 

Caravan migrant who disdained donated Mexican food as fit 'for pigs' expects free U.S. health care  . . . "But for us in the U.S., the apology revealed even more undesirable things. She apologized because she said she was coming to the U.S. to get health care for her daughter, who had some expensive medical conditions? That's a rationale for ingratitude? Because it's important to make gringo pay instead? She wasn't looking to escape violence, she was coming for the free stuff." . . .

108 caravan migrants arrested for crimes in Tijuana, so far...  . . . "The Department of Homeland Security took a lot of flak for identifying 500 migrants traveling with the Central American caravan as known criminals. And President Trump was blasted in the press for saying the caravan had a lot of "rough people." But what's undercover intelligence compared to the media narrative that the caravan is just moms and kids, fleeing gangs?

"Actually, the migrants are the gang." . . .

Monica Lewinsky says Bill Clinton hinted she should perjure herself, arranged a farewell Christmas tryst before dumping her

Thomas Lifson  "Now that #MeToo has made heroines out of women accusing powerful men of sexual abuse, Monica Lewinsky is providing her side of the story of the encounters that led to Bill Clinton’s impeachment. Had Hillary Clinton won the presidency, the same array of forces that circled the first Clinton White House to dismiss her as one of the “nuts and sluts” (hat tip: James Carville, who is all but invisible in the media) would be suppressing her story. But now that Hillary is a loser and embarrassment, and Bill old, feeble, and evoking shame among those Dems that are capable of that emotion, the former intern has a platform and an audience.

"The A&E cable network is running a six part documentary series, featuring new interviews with now middle-aged Monica Lewinsky. The UK Daily Mail has a lengthy account of what is contained in the episodes broadcasts so far, including:" . . .  Daily Mail video here.
. . .
"In case anyone doubted that Bill Clinton is a cad (I know, it’s an old fashioned word in this era of Grinder and hookups), her account of his arranging a final tryst before letting her know that her services were no longer required settles the question." . . .

Intelligencer Does Puff Piece Praising Dem Senators Who Made Kavanaugh ‘Hysterical’

Weasel Zippers

"Via Twitchy:

New York Magazine’s Intelligencer section is presenting a feature on women and power, focusing on the four female senators on the Senate Judiciary Committee who asked the questions that made now-Justice Brett Kavanaugh hysterical.

There’s always time for a photo shoot, isn’t there?

Dianne Feinstein … isn’t she the one who sat on Christine Blasey Ford’s letter for a month and a half before using it as a Hail Mary when it looked like Kavanaugh’s confirmation was a done deal? Let’s never let that be forgotten whenever the story of the Kavanaugh confirmation is told

Keep reading…

Ex-CIA officer claims he’s flooded with requests from Democrats on how to take Trump down: ‘They’re going after him with a hatchet’

Raw Story  "Appearing on CNN on Friday morning to address Donald Trump’s defense of the Saudi cover-up of the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, an intelligence and security analyst said Democratic House members are ready to come after the president over possible financial entanglements with the Middle Eastern nation.

"Speaking with host Jim Sciutto, former CIA case officer Robert Baer said he is already being flooded with calls from the newly empowered Democrats who will chair and hold majority positions of the House committees with the power to investigate Trump.

“ 'The Saudi foreign minister already parroted back the president’s doubts about the CIA assessment [of the murder],” Sciutto began. “We are in a different situation because you have Democrats taking over the House.”

“ 'That gives Democrats powerful chairmanships of committees, and we have Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) now who will be the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee saying, among the things, that he wants the committee to investigate is whether Trump Organization has financial ties in Saudi Arabia that is influencing the president’s decision here,” the CNN host continued. “How impactful could an investigation like that be?”

“ 'Oh, Jim, it’s going to be huge,” Baer enthused. “I have already gotten e-mails this morning from Congress asking who should they put in front of committees.' ” . . .

Maybe they can investigate this Democrat. Naaaah.

The state of liberal media

Saint Michelle Cashes in, Big Time  "Michelle Obama has a new memoir out called "Becoming." Add two words: "Very Wealthy." The Obamas struck a $65 million book deal for his-and-hers memoirs, and next to it is their $50 million production deal with Netflix. They are set to cash in to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars. One outlet has called them a "billion-dollar brand." None of their media sycophants find this the tiniest bit controversial. They are the royal family. They cannot possibly be compensated enough. 

"(President Trump's wealth? Wealth generated by a lifetime of work in the private sector? Unacceptable.) 

"Mrs. Obama's interviews -- entirely with women, and mostly black women -- are servile in every "objective news" venue and even worse during TV promotional pit stops. Ellen DeGeneres aired a sappy tribute video stuffed with adoration and proclaimed that Obama is "a human being that we all look up to." She said, "you inspire all of us. So, we put together a little something for you to just show you how amazing you are."

"No one asks about any Obama scandal, like the 2012 Benghazi attack. No one asks about her controversial, heavy-handed school lunch rules, which Trump thankfully threw out. And no one asks about greed. She has a 10-city stadium tour charging $300 a ticket or more for the superfans to hear her speak. Is it appropriate to cash in on her FLOTUS status this way? How much, if any, has gone to charity? These kinds of questions are unacceptable. This is Michelle Obama." . . .

6 Memorable Clashes at Presidential News Conferences

Welcome to Thanksgiving: 'The Neighborhood' Equates ‘Conservative’ with ‘Racist’

MRC  "On Monday night, The Neighborhood on CBS had a special racist Thanksgiving episode.

In the episode, titled “Welcome to Thanksgiving,” Dave Johnson (Max Greenfield) invites his next-door neighbors, the Butlers, over for Thanksgiving. Both families are excited until Dave finds out that his mother, Paula (Marilu Henner), is coming from Michigan. Upon learning the news he
decides he has to uninvite the Butlers because he's worried his mom will say something offensive or embarrassing. "Remember when she went off on that lady about how we need to 'Build the wall?'" he asks his wife.

"According to Dave, "she can be pretty conservative"… but to the Butlers, that is a synonym for racist." . . .

One Anita Hill moment was enough, voters say

Noemie Emery  "Did Dianne Feinstein lose the Senate for Democrats by trying to turn the battle of Justice Brett Kavanaugh into a second Anita Hill-Clarence Thomas fight? The answer is most likely yes.

"Sen. Feinstein, D-Calif., didn’t intend this when she made the calculated decision to create the fiasco. But decide she did. She sat for more than two months on the letter that Christine Blasey Ford sent her. She released it only when Kavanaugh’s hearings were over, so that a new, stand-alone hearing would have to take place. She refused Ford’s request that she be allowed to testify in private and in California, as was her preference, making her instead come to Washington to participate in a day-long, nationally televised he-said-she-said extravaganza.

"Was it because Feinstein wanted this to have the same look and feel as the Hill-Thomas hearing, which she saw as a win for her side and her party, and which also had made her a star?

"If the Republicans won in the sense that Justice Clarence Thomas has served and still serves on the Supreme Court, a case can be made that the Democrats won even more. Liberal rage at the outcome made 1992 the Year of the Woman; empowered former President Bill Clinton and his lovely wife, Hillary; gave a rebirth and reboot to the feminist movement; gave the Democrats an issue to run on in perpetuity (or at least until 1998 and the Monica problem); and, last but not least, brought in four new female senators, Feinstein among them. Two of them are still in the Senate today, and three of them stayed a very long time.

"No wonder Feinstein remembered the experience as something good for her party and worth reliving.

"But although the script and the players both appeared similar, the conditions around them had become very different. Feinstein thought that the court fight would swell the blue wave and make it unstoppable. In fact, it was stopped in its tracks.

"The rule in politics is to unite and excite your own party members while using wedge issues against your opponents that split their own people. But in using the courts, Feinstein had found the one issue that binds all Republicans together. Democrats were already so incensed by President Trump that they could add little more to their rage. Polls on engagement, which favored Democrats by double digits when the hearings started, had evened out by the time they closed." . . .

Left dumps Clinton for Paula Jones

Hess wrote, "Clinton’s advisers trashed her on television. Carville said this: 'If you drag a $100 bill through a trailer park, you never know what you’ll find.' George Stephanopoulos compared Jones to Tonya Harding: just another woman seeking cash for telling a tabloid tale."

Don Surber  . . . "America's left is purging itself of the House of Clinton, and embracing Paula Jones 20 years after the fact.

"There are several reasons for the left turning its back on Bill and Hill, not the least of which is they lost which makes them losers. I would argue they were the biggest losers in presidential history given their advantages in money and media. 

"The 20th anniversary of the impeachment of him is as good an excuse as any to dump the American Ceaușescus.

"A and E have a six-part series on the scandal, which is the best we can do as David Frost, alas, is not here to give a Nixon Interview to Wee Willie Clinton.

"The series and the publicity surrounding it teach a new generation that Clinton deserved impeachment. The New York Times had Amanda Hess, a 20-something writer, review the series. Much of her review reads like the conservative version of the story (aka, the truth).

"Hess is woke.
. . . 

"'Much of the buzz around the A and E series has focused on the participation of Monica Lewinsky. Though the filmmakers — the director Blair Foster and the producer Alex Gibney — interviewed more than 50 subjects, including James Carville and David Brock, the one boldfaced name in the network’s news release is hers. This prime-time appearance caps her comeback. After spending a decade and a half out of the public eye, she has returned with a perch at Vanity Fair, a TED Talk and an anti-bullying cause. She has called herself  Patient Zero of online shaming. She has emerged from years of media torture as an unexpected darling of the press," Hess wrote." . . .

Frankly, the Clintons bore me. Once she lost, we all laughed, and then laughed again at the tears of the clowns who worshiped her.

Bill and Hill stayed on the stage too long. Other presidents usually serve and go home. Jimmy Carter busied himself with a worthy charity building houses for the poor.

But for 16 years, Hillary stayed on stage in DC.

The penalty for not going away is severe.

Let that be a warning to the House of Obama.

Video

Did Chief Justice Roberts just urinate on my leg?

Discussing the Ninth Circuit Court in California

John Dietrich  Chief Justice John Roberts recently wrote, "We do not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges."  

"The chief justice knows that this is not true, and I find it extremely insulting that he believes that I am stupid enough to believe it.  As he relieved himself on my leg, he told me it was raining.  Roberts's statement was a response to President Trump's criticism of "Obama judges" who ruled against the administration.

"The president replied, "Sorry Chief Justice John Roberts, but you do indeed have 'Obama judges,' and they have a much different point of view than the people who are charged with the safety of our country. It would be great if the 9th Circuit was indeed an 'independent judiciary'[.]"

"Dov Fischer at the American Spectator claimed, "[I]t sounds ridiculous – even borderline delusional – to deny that today's federal judiciary is chock-full of Obama judges and Clinton judges on a mission to stop President Trump's agenda."  

"Justice Roberts is not delusional.

"Justices do not have the name of the president who nominated them in their titles.  In this respect only, Justice Roberts is correct.  However, they generally reflect the philosophy of the president who nominated them.  Robert Barnes of the Washington Post remarked, "[S]tudies show there are clear ideological differences between judges nominated by presidents of different parties."  Do we actually need studies to illustrate this?  . . . 

Kellyanne Conway’s attorney husband went toe-to-toe with President Donald Trump on Thursday, this time defending the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals

Thomas Lifson: Chief Justice Roberts is wrong in two distinct ways in criticizing Trump

Roberts has remained silent as a series of outrageous decisions from federal district judges has substituted a single judge's decision on what the POTUS should do for the authority granted to the chief executive by the Constitution.
Another time that the chief justice remained silent happened in the 2010 State of the Union Address, when President Obama explicitly attacked the Supreme Court's decision in Citizens United, and his colleague, Justice Alito, mouthed "Not true," only to be rebuked by many commentators.