News of the day

regardless of what anyone thinks of him. The President isn't an idiot..no way in HELL he gives the Senate an easy out and puts out some granola munching extremist from the left that he knows.. as all of do that will NEVER be confirmed..and probably never even given a hearing.


Hell he's a lot smarter than most in Washington. He knows that and how to play the political game. Democrats are pros at letting the GOP let themselves look like spoiled kids throwing a temper tantrum when they can't have their way. He'll appoint a moderate yet well veted to lean the way.. WE who put in office ..want him to lean.
That means not using the court to hold to fight what can not be fought..should not be fought.. this country is changing.. and times change.. the country if it wants to even think of remaining great.. must change as well.

my two cents of course...

ahh.. thanks Scott. I should have known better than to even assume it might have been a sitting member.

Though I wouldn't be surprised if privately, behind the scenes, pressure isn't being applied to not play politics with this.  They have nearly a whole year, and a full judicial term to go through. 

It would obviously be a different case or more grey as to wait if this happened in the summer or especially the fall.

That said.. who do congress really answer to.. their voters and from the polls I've seen. Which way you feel is highly.. HIGHLY defined by ideology.  Interestingly.. moderates are split on the President selecting the new Justice.  I suppose the GOP could.. and likely would risk a move. The same voters that put them in office are likely the same ones that could care less about obstruction and not acting.. even as they bitch about how they government is broken.  Ignorant Idiots..

I could be wrong but didn't one of the justices.. and a conservative one ..call out the Senate today for even considering dodging it's responsibilities.

oh btw...   you know the political year is going to be juicy.. and messy.. when the Pope himself gets involved

Some Mick Points redeemed, for a Pope I really want to believe in, after that disaster of a US trip last fall....


Edited by micky - February 18 2016 at 16:40

In my experience the law is usually quite clear but overzealous litigators or govt (depending on who's petitioning) try to derive new meanings by playing with words which is what breaks the system. A law that would be completely unambiguous as if written in binary code would also be cruel and harsh with little room for relief in a case of genuine hardship. But people interpret words in ways that defy common sense to suit their interests and get away with it surprisingly often.

^ bingo Scott. IMO Law really is little different than life. There very little black and white.. especially concerning anything getting all the way to the Supreme Court. Only many shades of grey and one's interpretation of it is obviously influenced by ones ideology.

That is an interesting article.  I would really like to hear the liberal counterpoint to that.  Because as a chartered accountant who deals with tax law, I don't find anything wrong with going strictly by the law and the notion that THAT's conservative/Republican is strange.  I would say he was simply doing his job as a judge.  It's not for the courts to legislate, it's for governments.  That governments are too populist to take tough decisions cannot be the judiciary's problem; they should remain objective.  I know here in India too the courts have way overstepped their boundaries in the name of activism but it ultimately only leads to problems (they are using the same activism to block reforms to the process of appointment of judges even when the Constitution gives the govt powers to decide the same). Or take their bizarre ruling blocking new registrations of large diesel SUVs in Delhi; they cannot legislate in this way but they have taken it over egged on by the enthusiastic public that sees them as more trustworthy than the govts. 

timothy leary wrote: ^ link does not work

I'll try again:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2016/02/17/im-a-liberal-lawyer-clerking-for-scalia-taught-me-how-to-think-about-the-law/

Epignosis wrote: Antonin Scalia dead at 79.

I enjoyed this article about him.

Will there be a national holiday on Monday in Germany?   Just jk.  Well played Angie.  Serena's a great champion but it's always refreshing to see a different slam winner on the WTA.

Well total meltdown can be an okay thing if one is looking to buy a house or invest in something that's cost will drop.