Lately, I've been busy with a personal project that has taken up lots of my otherwise free time. Accordingly, I've been sort of phoning it in with the blogging lately. Hopefully, I can get some time to get some good content up because there's certainly lots of news out there. Here's what I'm seeing today.
1. Trump fires Acting AG. Sort of the same situation as the clerk in Indiana (or wherever) who wouldn't do her job because she disagreed with it on a moral basis. Can't really do that. This Acting AG should have resigned, but she wanted to make a statement a/k/a grandstand, so she got fired.
2. Trump to announce SCOTUS nominee today. Actually, he's going to do it in tonight, in primetime. For the ratings, I guess. It's truly a television age. It sounds like the Democrats are going to object no matter who is selected.
So it's been a week of Trump. I don't believe any nuclear war has broken out, and I don't think the re-education camps are up and running yet, but hey, it's early. Who knows what week two will bring.
The nice thing is, I didn't vote for Trump. I'm not tied to him. I have no investment in him which I need to defend. I also didn't vote for Hillary, so I don't have to go around lighting my hair on fire every time a few people at the State Department leave so I can try and somehow make the argument that Trump is a failure. I don't have to pass around false stories that the GOP is going to be selling off National Parks. I don't have to pass around false stories about a .27 cent foreclosure. (Keep it up, though, lefties. It's entertaining.)
Trump is wrong-headed about a lot of things. Not everything, but some things. He's wrong on foreign policy and wrong on trade, two give two specifics. I'm not sure we need a wall either. I'm not convinced it will make much of a difference, but I'm pretty sure it won't make things worse, either.
However, there is one thing I like about his Presidency so far: He's taking the rules created by the left over the last eight years and applying them to the left as equally and punitively as they have applied them to the right.
I do civil litigation for a living, which basically means I argue with people and advocate for my clients. In lots of cases, we end up settling the case. That's just the nature of the legal system these days. Contested trials are pretty rare. During settlement negotiations, I'm always trying to convince the other side why I'm right and why they should concede certain things. I'm directly engaging the opposing party/counsel and trying to convince them they are wrong (or at least not as right as they think they are).
However, every once in awhile I get an opposing party/opposing counsel that I just can't reason with. When I finally realize there's no reasoning with them, and that no settlement is possible, I stop trying to convince them that I'm right.
Why? It's a waste of time. It's not necessary anymore because they stop being my target audience. My target audience that point becomes the judge and jury because they are the only people who I need to convince. In a way, it's freeing. I don't have to argue with the other side anymore, I just make my case to the court and try to be a better advocate than the other guy.
That's where we are in politics these days. There's really nothing that either side can do to really convince the other side of anything. There's no point in having committed Democrats make arguments to committed Republicans, and vice-versa. It's mostly a big waste of time. I'm not going to some of my really good friends' minds because they're committed Democrats. And they know they probably won't convince me of much, either. We've all pretty much already made up our minds. And that's okay. We don't have to all agree,and we don't have only politics to talk about.
However, national politics has been in a state of affairs where total war has been declared. The left, supported by with the power of the Presidency, Congress for a few years, journalists, and other fellow travelers have been carrying it out for the last eight years. A few examples:
1. Memories Pizza being driven out of business.
2. IRS targeting of Tea Party groups
3. "I won. Deal with it"
4. "Ride in the back of the bus"
5. "Elections have consequences"
6. Shoving the ACA through using every parliamentary trick available.
7. "I've got a pen and a phone"
8. Killing the filibuster in the Senate
9. Everyone opposed to Obama is a racist.
10. Everyone opposed to Hillary is a sexist.
Democrats were so confident they'd be in perpetual power, they didn't stop and think about the precedents they were setting and the norms they were breaking. They never stopped to consider if the GOP might use these same sort of scorched earth tactics, too. But now the shoe is on the other foot - at least for a little while.
And yes, all glory is fleeting, so I'm sure the GOP won't be in power forever. I have an understanding of history to know that. But spare me the calls for a ceasefire now that your side is out of ammo. Sorry, fellas. Fair's fair.
I've gotten to the point where my offer is this to the left: Nothing. Not even the fee for the gaming licence, which I would appreciate them putting up personally.
That's probably a bit cold-hearted of me, but that's how I feel.
As you may (or may not) know, I'm going through Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin series. I've just finished The Reverse of the Medal, which is the eleventh book in the series of twenty one.
The series is set during the Napoleonic wars, and centers on the exploits of a British naval officer (Jack Aubrey) and his friend (Stephen Maturin), who is an intelligence agent. It's wonderful writing, and I've been enjoying it thoroughly. Although most of the action takes place at sea, the most recent novel deals with Aubrey's being framed for a stock exchange fraud and the civil trial that ensues. It allows O'Brian to give some wonderful commentary on the legal system. Here are a couple of my favorite quotations:
On lawyers: "I do not say that lawyers are bad, but I do maintain that the general tendency is bad; standing up in court for whichever side has paid you, affecting warmth and conviction, and doing everything you can to win a case, whatever your private opinion may be, will soon dull a fine sense of honor."
On truth in the law: "What should like is simply to have my say, like a man called before his captain, and tell the judge and jury just what happened. Everyone agrees that there is nothing fairer than English justice, and if I tell them the plain truth, I am sure I shall be believed"
On the complexity of the law: "It is a game that has been going on for hundreds and hundreds of years, growing more tortuous with every generation, the rules multiplying, the precedents accumulating, equity interfering, statues galore, and now it is such a bitter tangle that a layman is perfectly helpless."
The ideal of the law: "For him they [certain complex civil cases] do not represent the real law at all, but only the technical warfare of pettifogging attorneys. For him the law is something much simpler and more direct - the wise impartial judge, the jury of decent fair-minded men, with perhaps a few barristers to speak for the inarticulate and ask questions designed to bring out the truth, probing questions that he is happy to answer."
So far, his biggest move as POTUS is to effectively cancel the TPP, in what is not really a surprise to anyone. We'll see where it goes with a SCOTUS appointment.
He's turning 50 this year, which is very young in Supreme Court land. He's essentially a younger Scalia, so if he became the nominee, that would be a Trump campaign promise kept.
Not a bad pick. His credentials would make it very tough for Democrats to effectively oppose him.
I'm watching it streaming over twitter at work. Pretty neat. Regardless of what you think of the people, it's always nice to see the peaceful transition of power.
If you don't recall, Manning was the enlisted soldier in the US Army who intentionally leaked tons of information to Wikileaks and was convicted dozens of offenses related to this intelligence loss back in 2010. Manning has been in jail since 2010, after being sentenced to thirty-five years. Oh, and he thinks he's a woman or something.
Anyway, it really must be tough to be a Democrat these days. Right now, the big Democratic talking point is that this is really serious you guys about Russia "hacking the election" and using Wikileaks to do it.
And now Obama decides to take this solider who pleaded guilty to intentionally giving a huge amount of classified material to Wikileaks and let him out of jail...you know...because Manning's sorry.
Oh, you're sorry? Well shucks, why didn't you say that earlier? I guess it's all good then. You're free to go. Have a nice day!
In any event, it seems difficult to say that the Russia/Wikileaks thing is a big deal and bad, while simultaneously saying that it's no big deal and that Manning should walk free.
But hey, I'm guessing by now, the Democrats are starting to realize that Obama really only cares about himself and his feelings. The rub is that the Russians actually did try to undermine our election with what they did, but Obama has essentially killed that whole point.
No worries, Democrats, you've only got two more days of Obama screwing you over.
With one week left in his administration, Obama has decided to eliminate the United States' policy of granting residency to any Cubans who reach America's shores, but turning back those who are picked up in the water - commonly known as the Wet-Foot Dry-Foot Policy.
The idea behind granting Cubans this special status in immigration is that we're acknowledging that Cuba is essentially a prison for it's people and they aren't allowed to immigrate through natural channels. Essentially, the people there are under a dictatorship, and they're seeking freedom in the US.
Apparently, Obama has had enough of treating Cuba as an authoritarian regime, and he's decided to end this policy. Honestly, I wouldn't have a problem with this change in the policy of the US had been able to get Cuba to agree to allow it's people to immigrate normally.
Mattis was scheduled to appear before the House for a hearing related to his appointment, but now that's been cancelled by the Trump transition team.
Mattis has to get approved by both the House and the Senate for his waiver, but that was largely expected to be a done deal, given that he's the best person Trump has picked for anything yet. Even so, Mattis was going to appear before a House committee as a gesture to the fact that the House needs to vote on him.
The U.S. House of Representatives had been due to hear Mattis testify on Thursday and he had agreed to appear. Mattis, who retired from the Marine Corps in 2013, is technically ineligible to be defense secretary since he has not been a civilian for at least seven years. That means Congress would need to grant a waiver, something it has not done since 1950.
House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer said it was his understanding the Trump transition team had blocked Mattis from testifying. Congressional aides also confirmed that Mattis had agreed to testify but the appearance had been blocked.
Mattis is a smart, capable guy who knows what's what. He's a man of respect and honor. He doesn't need this job anyway, but he's agreed to be SECDEF out of sense of duty. If Trump tries to push Mattis around into doing things he doesn't want to do, Mattis is going to be heard on the issue, and he might just up and quit if it gets bad.
If Mattis quits or is pushed out of the Trump administration, that's an indicator that things are going south. Mattis is my "canary in the coal" mine for the Trump presidency. If he's out, things are getting bad.
I hope this isn't a big deal, but it does worry me.
Yep, it's my birthday, and I don't feel a day over the age I was yesterday. Since I've survived another year without being killed by a grizzly bear, I figured I'd go celebrate with the family.
I celebrated my birthday by going to court on a contested case, so you know...the usual. I hope everyone out there is enjoying their birthday as much as I am.
That reminds me, I need to go check out what my blog's birthday is. I've been doing this for awhile, and I need to figure out what day to celebrate myself in another way.
Putin’s goal is not just a little more turf. Russia has a lot of that. His telos—his endgame—is the destabilization, the overcoming, of the whole Western order. This sounds fantastical to Americans because we’re an ahistorical people. That doesn’t mean we’re ignorant of history, although there’s a great deal of that, too. It means the categories with which we apprehend the world are not defined by the past, and we can’t really understand how it could be otherwise.
There's lots more, but I can't use the whole thing. Go read the whole thing. (h/t Insty)
When the Germans broke through the Ardennes, American soldiers from the 28th Division Band and Quartermaster Company, stayed and fought Germans in Wiltz, Belgium, until their ammunition was exhausted. Of the sixty guys in the band unit, all but thirteen were killed or captured.
Sorry for no post today. I had lots to do at work - hearings, arguing with other lawyers, etc. The big snow and ice system is heading in tonight, so Mrs. Permanent Press and I have stocked up on the essentials so we don't need to leave the house.
By essentials I mean a good bottle of Madeira, various meats vegetables, cheeses, coffee, and other sundries.
I also brought in a big stack of firewood and have it stored on the screened-in porch so it won't be wet.
