March 23, 2025

LUTTIG IS JUST ANOTHER DEFECTIVE PRODUCT OF BOEING. Josh Blackman not impressed with former-judge Luttig’s latest offering in the NYT.

I think every sentence is demonstrably incorrect. First, the Court has no power to “assert” its own authority. The Court lacks the power of the sword or purse.

Second, I can say with a high degree of certainty that a “rebuke” from the Supreme Court would do little to “cripple Mr. Trump’s presidency and tarnish his legacy.” As for the “legacy,” if two impeachment trials, an alleged insurrection, and federal and state indictments didn’t keep him out of the White House, then a few pages in the U.S. Reports will hardly leave a mark. By contrast, I think such a feeble effort to control Trump very well could “cripple” the Supreme Court.

Third, Luttig tries to invoke Marbury, but in that case Chief Justice Marshall had the good sense to not assert any authority agains Jeffrson. The Court did not order the Jefferson Administration to deliver the commission, as such an order would likely be ignored. Likewise, Marshall never ordered President Jackson to do anything. Marbury teaches the judiciary to avoid unwinnable conflicts with the President.

The last time such a conflict occurred, FDR rolled the Court producing the Surrender Of 1937, when New Deal programs started getting upheld after the “switch in time that saved nine.”

Plus: “Let me try to put this conflict in perspective. Donald Trump was able to roll over Jeb Bush, Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and every other politician that stood in his path. Does anyone think John Roberts can do better? Does anyone think Roberts’s press statement to respond to Trump’s social media post even moved the needle? Op-eds like this from people like Luttig likely give the Chief some faint echoes of praise within his echo chamber, but will not register beyond the Capital District. (I think Texas would be considered District 12.)”

Related: Federal judges’ Trump hate is only harming the courts themselves. “Chief Justice John Roberts has frequently expressed concern with the ‘institutional legitimacy’ of the federal judiciary. At times that’s seemed limited to gaining the approval of the editorial pages of the Washington Post and the New York Times. But he may need to consider what the rest of America thinks, lest he wind up on the 20% side of an 80/20 issue — an awkward place to be when you’re concerned about legitimacy.”

Posted at 6:47 pm by Glenn Reynolds

IT’S WEIRD THAT PEOPLE DON’T TRUST THE PUBLIC HEALTH ESTABLISHMENT:

Posted at 6:21 pm by Glenn Reynolds

DISPATCHES FROM AL SHARPTON’S NETWORK: MSNBC: Segregationist Trump Has Ushered In A New Era Of Jim Crow.

Co-host Michael Steele also got into the act. He approvingly read a statement by a “real dear buddy” who wrote:

“Jim Crow has left the South and now roams the country as his grandson, James E. Crow, Esquire. The segregationists played the long game while we were asleep at the wheel.”

This is a stale echo of Biden’s ranting about the Republicans representing “Jim Crow 2.0.” If Trump is such a racist, why did he receive a higher percentage of the black vote than any Republican presidential candidate in 48 years?

How do things compare to 2009, when Steele — still describing himself as a Republican at the time — sat there and took it when a CNN host said that the 2008 Republican National Convention “literally look[ed] like Nazi Germany?”

CNN host D.L. Hughley turned to the standard left-wing tactic of playing the Nazi card against Republicans on his program on Saturday evening: “The tenets of the Republican Party are amazing and they seem warm and welcome. But when I watch it be applied — like you didn’t have to go much further than the Republican National Convention….It literally look[s] like Nazi Germany.” He went on to say that blacks weren’t welcome in the party: “It just does not seem — like not only are we not welcome — not only are we not welcome, but they don’t even care what we think.” He later described the GOP as “reactionary.”

Yes, I got John McCain confused with Hitler all the time back then, too – as did much of the left, until he magically became the good Republican to beat up Trump, even more so after his death. Writing up McCain’s funeral in his 2018 USA Today column, Glenn wrote that  McCain as Hitler comparisons were all the rage among the left in 2008:

The Atlantic ran a pre-election cover story on McCain, but the cover photo was taken by celebrity photographer Jill Greenberg. It made McCain look like Emperor Palpatine’s older, less-attractive brother. This was not by accident, but by design. On her blog, Greenberg actually bragged about her dirty trick of getting him to stand above a strobe placed on the floor to make him look old and scary.

Obama surrogate Congressman John Lewis (D-Georgia) invoked Alabama racist George Wallace in talking about McCain and his running mate Sarah Palin. Jonathan Martin noted in Politico that McCain was being called racist without basis, simply because it was helpful to the Democrats. The Nation weighed in on McCain’s wartime use of the term “gook” as evidence of his racism.

Then-famous music star Madonna opened her concert tour by calling McCain Hitler and encouraging people to vote for Obama. And the popular Democratic blog DailyKos, not to be outdone, published a comparison of McCain to both Hitler and Stalin.

And, of course, the treatment was repeated with a different target in 2012, when Mitt Romney was given the same Hitler treatment. It’s as if every Republican who is in power, or who might be, is Hitler — but only as a temporary condition. (I’m old enough to remember when George W. Bush was Hitler). As soon as a new Republican target appears, the old Hitler gets rehabilitated, and even employed, by way of comparison, as a way to criticize the new one.

How much was John McCain rehabilitated by the left, particularly after his death? This much: Cindy McCain appointed to Joe Biden’s transition team.

—The Washington Examiner, September 28th, 2020.

Posted at 6:14 pm by Ed Driscoll

ANNALS OF LEFTIST AUTOPHAGY: Moment Bernie Sanders storms out of ‘nonsense’ interview leaving ABC reporter stunned after he asked simple question.

Sen. Bernie Sanders abruptly ended his sit-down interview with ABC News.

The Vermont independent left This Week host Jonathan Karl stunned when he refused to answer whether he thinks his progressive partner in the House Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez should run for the Senate.

Sanders said the interview was ‘nonsense’ after Karl pushed him if AOC should replace Senate Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer after he voted for the Republicans budget to avert a government shutdown.

After trying to shut down the line of questioning, the firebrand senator stood up in the middle of the interview and stormed out of the room – a moment that was caught on camera as Karl urged Sanders not to cut it short.

No longer on-camera, Sanders called the discussion ‘inside the beltway stuff’ and suggested there are bigger fish to fry then speculating over the future of the leadership in the Democratic Party.

The senator then conceded and allowed Karl to get in one last, non-AOC-related question that centered around his political future.

Related: Oceania has always been in favor of border walls:

Curiously, on the eve of the Covid lockdowns, Bernie was suddenly fine with illegal immigrants after previously strongly opposing them: Bernie Sanders’s evolution on immigration, explained. Bernie Sanders was once wary of immigrant workers. Now he’s on their side.

—Vox.com, February 25th, 2020.

Posted at 5:45 pm by Ed Driscoll

IMMIGRANTS CONTRIBUTE SO MUCH TO AMERICA. WHY DO DEMOCRATS HATE HIM?

Posted at 5:00 pm by Glenn Reynolds

JON GABRIEL: Waiting for the Chainsaw.

I come from the Ron Swanson school of government spending. If an official says, “We need to cut expenditures by 32%,” I’ll reply, “Let’s make it an even 40,” before starting a chant of “Slash it! Slash it!”

So, imagine my surprise to learn that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is destroying America as we know it. At least that’s what I’ve gathered from the headlines.

“Elon Musk’s DOGE unit is causing confusion — and raising security and legal concerns.” “Veterans groups raise the alarm about DOGE cuts at the VA.” “DOGE cuts at NOAA will impact hurricane forecasting and data gathering on storms.” And those are just from NPR, paid for by the federal government and listeners like you.

Obviously, legacy media will oppose nearly every move made by a Republican administration, let alone by the Bad Orange Man and his First Bro, Elon. But conservative platforms also are sounding the alarm. National Review warns Elon Musk to “Cut Spending by Using the Law, Not by Breaking It.” Jonathan V. Last of The Bulwark stokes fears about “The Illegality of DOGE.” Fellow Weekly Standard alum Stephen Hayes points out “The Downside of DOGE,” despite the fact that he praised government gridlock in 2013 because it forced Washington to deal with the national debt.

The debt in 2013? A paltry $16.7 trillion. Today it clocks in at more than twice that.

Many self-proclaimed conservatives have been demanding that we shrink the government as long as they’ve been alive. Now that it’s finally happening, they’re getting squeamish. Whether you love Trump or hate him, fans of limited government should heed the advice of Mrs. Thatcher: “This is no time to go wobbly.”

Much faster, please. Read the whole thing.

Posted at 12:00 pm by Ed Driscoll

FIVE YEARS AGO TODAY: Boris Johnson orders UK lockdown to be enforced by police.

Boris Johnson will order police to enforce a strict coronavirus lockdown, with a ban on gatherings of more than two people and strict limits on exercise, as he told the British public: “You must stay at home.”

The prime minister ratcheted up Britain’s response with an address to the nation on Monday evening, warning that people would only be allowed outside to buy food or medication, exercise alone once a day, or to travel to work if absolutely necessary.

All non-essential shops will close with immediate effect, as will playgrounds and libraries, he said in the address from Downing Street.

After days of being accused of sending mixed messages about what the public should do, Johnson significantly escalated his language as he urged people to comply with the more stringent measures.

“You should not be meeting friends. If your friends ask you to meet, you should say no. You should not be meeting family members who do not live in your home. You should not be going shopping except for essentials like food and medicine – and you should do this as little as you can,” he said.

“If you don’t follow the rules, the police will have the powers to enforce them, including through fines and dispersing gatherings.”

“You should not be meeting friends. If your friends ask you to meet, you should say no.” Some found that order rather difficult to follow, not least of whom was “Professor Lockdown” himself: What Neil Ferguson’s booty call tells us about modern politics.

The conspiratorial left, convinced the world is run by secret cabals of bankers and cigar-chomping media moguls, thinks the Neil Ferguson story is a ‘dead cat’. In other words, they think the Daily Telegraph – Evil Tory Rag – revealed that Ferguson carried on bonking his mistress in defiance of a lockdown that he himself bears much responsibility for in order to distract attention from Britain overtaking Italy with the highest Covid death toll in Europe. A ‘dead cat’ strategy is when a sensationalist story is introduced to the mix to divert attention from a far more serious political crisis. Ferguson’s sexual antics are the Tory regime’s dead cat to Britain’s corona death toll, apparently.

This sums up the political infantilism of the left. It is actually incredibly important news that Ferguson, the Imperial College modeller who said it was possible 500,000 Brits would die if we didn’t lock down, defied the lockdown. It deserves the frontpage treatment it is getting today. For Ferguson’s booty call with his married lover actually reveals a great deal about the 21st-century elites and how they view their relationship with the masses. It’s one rule for them and another for us. They can carry on enjoying sneaky freedoms because their lives and jobs are important; we can’t because we are mere little people, whose silly work lives can casually be disrupted, whose love lives can be turned upside down, and whose families can be ripped apart. The Ferguson affair provides an illuminating insight into the new elitism.

As does the person with whom Ferguson hooked up with on said booty call:

On at least two occasions, Antonia Staats, 38, traveled across London from her home in the south of the capital to spend time with the government scientist, nicknamed Professor Lockdown,” reported the Telegraph.

Staats, we later learn, lives with her husband and two children in a £1.9 million home in south London. She’s a “left-wing campaigner” who is reportedly in an open marriage. According to the Telegraph, “She has told friends about her relationship with Prof Ferguson, but does not believe their actions to be hypocritical because she considers the households to be one.”

Ah yes, the old our-households-are-one-because-I’m-in-an-open-marriage argument. Never mind that a week before Ferguson and Staats’ first meeting, Britain’s Health Secretary had said even couples not living together must stay apart during the lockdown.

* * * * * * * * *

One rule for the poor people, another rule for us elites. And they wonder how they got Brexit.

But “Professor Lockdown” and his paramour weren’t the only high-ranking brits to violate Boris Johnson’s strict lockdown orders. There was also some chap called…Boris Johnson: U.K. “Partygate” probe reveals details of illegal, booze-fueled parties at PM Boris Johnson’s house during COVID lockdown.

Some of the 16 events under investigation were held at 10 Downing Street — Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s official home and office — and the Cabinet Office, and should not have been allowed to take place, investigator Sue Gray concluded in her 37-page report, adding that “other events should not have been allowed to develop as they did.”

In April, Johnson was for attending his birthday party, making him the first British prime minister ever found to have broken the law while in office.

“What took place at many of these gatherings and the way in which they developed was not in line with COVID guidance at the time,” Gray said.

The report included 10 redacted photographs, including four that show Johnson himself attending a birthday party in his honor in June 2020, and four others that show him raising a glass at another event. Both events were held at his Downing Street office.

Or to put it another way: Boris Johnson Missed His Churchill Moment. The pandemic was Boris’s biggest test. He failed.

The entire world had surrendered to the People’s Republic of China, adopting its totalitarian disease-control strategy, and unlike France or Poland in World War II, we surrendered without a shot being fired. If any man in the world was well-positioned to stand against this, it was the garrulous British renegade, Boris Johnson. Instead, the United Kingdom became a police state.

Well, not the entire world: How Sweden proved the world wrong about lockdowns: The evidence is clear: authoritarian restrictions did not save more lives.

As for Boris’ future, Theodore Dalrymple reviews his autobiography at City Journal and concludes:

How will history—that is to say, those who write history—judge Boris Johnson, and what of his own future? Will he be seen just as a mountebank and an opportunist, who rode a wave of discontent to assuage his own demanding, not to say imperious, ego? To return to the question: Behind the frivolous facade, were there just layers of frivolity ad infinitum, or was there a bedrock of serious intent?

I find it difficult to answer. Again, it is hard to be too damning of a man whom one has met and liked. That was, after all, why George Orwell did not want to meet the authors of the books he reviewed. At the same time, I understand those who splutter at the mention of his name.

As to Boris’s future, I think it would be a mistake to write him off. Public memory is short, and at the next election, in 2028, he will be only 64, by which time, if he continues his present trajectory, Keir Starmer will be the most reviled man in recent British history. Boris will be able to pose again as the only way through an impasse: I got Brexit done; now, I will remove Starmer!

Just pay no attention to what I did during 2020 and 2021…

Posted at 10:53 am by Ed Driscoll

ARRESTING POLITICAL OPPONENTS APPEARS TO BE THE DESPERATION-TACTIC-OF-CHOICE NOWADAYS:

If you can’t get regime change via elections, you may get it via bloody revolution. If that happens, the people arresting opponents need to become ugly warnings to those who would so elsewhere.

Posted at 8:59 am by Glenn Reynolds