Now that Brett Kavanaugh has been nominated by Donald Trump to the Supreme Court to replace Anthony Kennedy the vetting process has begun and there are many documents which will be poured through in the coming weeks.
It is being reported here, in what even The New York Times calls an unusual request, that Rod Rosenstein has sent an email to all 93 US Attorneys asking for help in reviewing the Brett Kavanaugh documents. Here is more:
Rod J. Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general, has asked federal prosecutors to help review the government documents of Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh, President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, according to a letter obtained by The New York Times on Wednesday.
Mr. Rosenstein’s request was an unusual insertion of politics into federal law enforcement. While the Justice Department has helped work on previous Supreme Court nominations, department lawyers in Washington typically carry out that task, not prosecutors who pursue criminal investigations nationwide.
But in an email sent this week to the nation’s 93 United States attorneys, Mr. Rosenstein asked each office to provide up to three federal prosecutors “who can make this important project a priority for the next several weeks.” Names were to be submitted to Mr. Rosenstein’s office by the end of Wednesday.
As The New York Times article points out, it is not unusual for the Justice Department to help review documents related to a Supreme Court nominee but it is highly unusual for the request to be sent out to prosecutors. Here is more:
Former law enforcement officials described Mr. Rosenstein’s directive as a troubling precedent.
“It’s flat-out wrong to have career federal prosecutors engaged in a political process like the vetting of a Supreme Court nominee,” said Christopher Hunter, a former F.B.I. agent and federal prosecutor who is running for Congress. “It takes them away from the mission they’re supposed to be fulfilling, which is effective criminal justice enforcement.”
It looks like Rod Rosenstein has a little payback in mind for Donald Trump after the President accused the FBI of becoming too politicized and ironically, if this is the case, this just proves Donald Trump’s point.
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
Lisa Page was scheduled to testify in front of both the House Judiciary and Government Reform Committees today but yesterday her attorney informed the Congress she would not be appearing even though she has been subpoenaed, claiming she did not have enough time to prepare. Here is more:
Former FBI attorney Lisa Page will not appear for a private interview with two House committees despite being subpoenaed, her attorney told Fox News Tuesday.
In a statement, Amy Jeffress said her client did not have enough time to prepare and had asked the the House Judiciary and Oversight and Government Reform Committees to schedule another date.
“The Committees have not honored this request,” Jeffress said. “As a result, Lisa is not going to appear for an interview at this time.”
Here is some of the reaction:
In a statement, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., said: “It appears that Lisa Page has something to hide … She has known for months that the House Judiciary Committee has sought her testimony as part of our joint investigation with the Oversight Committee into decisions made by the Justice Department in 2016, and she has no excuse for her failure to appear.
“Lisa Page is a key witness, and it is critical that she come before our committees to answer questions as part of our investigation,” Goodlatte added.
Other GOP members of the Judiciary Committee slammed Page’s refusal to appear, with Ron DeSantis of Florida calling it “pathetic” and Jim Jordan of Ohio said she was “once again showing the double standard.”
Her attorney is arguing that Lisa Page did not have access to some material to prepare for the interview but that has been disputed by Mark Meadows:
It certainly looks as if Lisa Page is hiding something and it is time for the Congress to grow a set and take this to the next level, the Congress must compel her to appear of face incarceration. The last I knew a subpoena was not voluntary…
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
As you all know Brett Kavanaugh has been tapped as Anthony Kennedy’s replacement by Donald Trump. Honestly, I do not know much about this guy and I have read mixed reviews so I am withholding my opinion on the nominee. The same cannot be said of the left, members of which were standing by with pre-painted signs waiting to find out whose name to add to them and not knowing what they were protesting him for.
And then comes NBC ready to throw fuel on the fire by coming up with a conspiracy theory that goes like this: because Brett Kavanaugh used to clerk for Anthony Kennedy the retiring justice only decided to retire after negotiating with Donald Trump to secure Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination. Here is what NBC Tweeted out:
https://twitter.com/GeoffRBennett/status/1016642192616706050
This of course would be unethical but it did not happen and NBC was forced to correct the story:
Upon seeing this Geoff Bennett also deleted his original Tweet and issued a correction but the damage was done as thousands of people saw the original Tweet and only a few hundred saw the correction.
Just business as usual…
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
For days it has looked more and more like Raymond Kethledge is the front runner for the nomination to replace Anthony Kennedy on the Supreme Court. This is not a popular pick with conservatives for his wishy-washy stance on immigration, and his conservative credentials are in question, so why the push for his nomination?
According to this story Mitch McConnell is behind the push for these very reasons. He does not want a “consistent conservative” because he does not want to fight for him in an election year and he thinks Raymond Kethledge can get the votes of some Democrats. On top of that he is trying to urge the President away from solid conservative candidates, here is more:
Breitbart News has learned that, in private conversations with left-leaning reporters, McConnell is pushing the notion that Judge Raymond Kethledge will be unlikely to raise the ire of his Senate colleagues, potentially sparing him a confirmation battle in an election year.
“McConnell has said he does not want a SCOTUS battle in an election year,” a source familiar with McConnell’s off-the-record conversations with at least one journalist told Breitbart News. “He thinks Kethledge would be easy to confirm because Kethledge is not a consistent conservative.”
According to the New York Times, McConnell has made “multiple phone calls” to the president and White House Counsel Don McGhan urging them to nix conservatives like Judge Amy Barrett.
For years conservatives have dreamed of gaining a solid majority on the Supreme Court and with the retirement of Anthony Kennedy it looked as if the chance was finally here and now we have Mitch McConnell willing to throw the chance away because he does not have what it takes to fight for what he tells us he believes in. He would rather replace Anthony Kennedy with a clone candidate rather than fight for a conservative candidate and this is what is wrong with the establishment Republicans.
It is now being reported by The New York Times that Raymond Kethledge has been ruled out by the President for his stance on immigration and hopefully this is accurate and Mitch McConnell has not swayed the President into making a mistake for the sake of keeping the status quo. It is time for Mitch McConnell to put on his big boy pants and stand up and fight.
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
Sunday, July 8th open thread: ‘The Walk’
Here is the open thread for Sunday, July 8th. Please feel free to post links to interesting articles and to discuss whatever issues arise during the course of the day. Nothing is off-topic here.
Last week we discussed 7 stories, did you miss any of them? If so there is an easy way to make sure it does not happen again. You can subscribe to America’s Watchtower to receive email updates. You can also follow America’s Watchtower on Facebook and Twitter by clicking the links on the right. The Twitter widget in the sidebar is fully interactive. This widget updates my tweets in real time and allows you to respond or retweet my tweets right from the blog.
Here is The Cure performing “The Walk” live on MTV Unplugged, complete with kazoos, from 1991.
frui diem
Mike Pompeo met with North Korea’s Kim Yong Chol for two days in an attempt to make some headway on the denuclearization talks. Mike Pompeo said the meeting went well, was productive, and progress was made although there was still work to be done.
North Korea’s assessment of the meeting was not nearly so optimistic. North Korea released a statement calling the meeting “regrettable.” Here is more:
North Korea’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the U.S. betrayed the spirit of last month’s summit between President Donald Trump and Kim by making “unilateral and gangster-like” demands on “CVID,” or the complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization of North Korea.
It said the outcome of the follow-up talks was “very concerning” because it has led to a “dangerous phase that might rattle our willingness for denuclearization that had been firm.”
“We had expected that the U.S. side would offer constructive measures that would help build trust based on the spirit of the leaders’ summit … we were also thinking about providing reciprocal measures,” said the statement, released by an unnamed spokesman and carried by the North’s official Korean Central News Agency.
“However, the attitude and stance the United States showed in the first high-level meeting (between the countries) was no doubt regrettable,” the spokesman said. “Our expectations and hopes were so naive it could be called foolish.”
But at the same time the two sides have agreed to more meetings in the future so perhaps there is a little gamesmanship happening here. According to the article linked to above, while North Korea was upset with the way Mike Pompeo handled the meeting they went out of the way to mention they still trust Donald Trump.
The odds of reaching an agreement were always long and we know it is going to be difficult if not impossible but with the exception of the people on the left–who want to see the talks fail–most of us are hoping something can be worked out. We know a deal will not be easy but that does not mean it should not be tried no matter how long the odds.
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
Last week Maxine Waters was condemned–not by name but the target was clear–by Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer for comments she had made about going after Trump administration officials while they are on their personal time.
Maxine Waters fired back at the two Democratic leaders, saying they would say anything to hold on to their power. In a post I wrote about this story I rather sarcastically noted it was interesting to note that two white Democratic leaders were trying to silence a black Democrat and nobody was playing the race card.
Well, I guess I should have just waited. About 200 black female leaders have now sent a letter to Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer voicing their displeasure with the two leaders over how they handled the Maxine Waters situation. Here is more:
Black female leaders and allies are blasting House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer for what they see as their “failure” to protect Rep. Maxine Waters from “unwarranted attacks from the Trump administration and others in the GOP.”
“We write to share our profound indignation and deep disappointment over your recent failure to protect Congresswoman Waters from unwarranted attacks from the Trump Administration and others in the GOP,” the group of nearly 200 women wrote in a letter sent Tuesday. “That failure was further compounded by your decision to unfairly deride her as being ‘uncivil’ and ‘un-American.’”
“In doing so, we believe this mischaracterizes her call to action for peaceful democratic assembly and the exercise of her constitutional rights to free speech in support of defenseless immigrant children and their families,” the women wrote.
But that was not all, WAIT. FOR. IT…
“Disparaging or failing to support Congresswoman Waters is an affront to her and Black women across the country and telegraphs a message that the Democratic Party can ill afford: that it does not respect Black women’s leadership and political power and discounts the impact of Black women and millennial voters,” the women wrote.
Now that sounds more like the Democratic party we have come to know over the years.
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
Federal Judge dismisses lawsuit which alleged the Trump campaign conspired with the Russians
You might have missed this story due to the Independence Day holiday today but yesterday a Federal judge threw out a case which alleged the Trump campaign conspired with WikiLeaks and Russia to leak Democratic National Committee emails. Here is more:
A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit alleging that President Donald Trump’s campaign and former Trump adviser Roger Stone conspired with Russia and WikiLeaks to publish hacked Democratic National Committee emails during the 2016 presidential race.
U.S. District Court Judge Ellen Huvelle said in a ruling Tuesday evening that the suit’s efforts to tie the Trump campaign and Stone’s alleged actions to the nation’s capital were too flimsy for the case to proceed in a Washington, D.C., court.
“The Trump Campaign’s efforts to elect President Trump in D.C. are not suit-related contacts for those efforts did not involve acts taken in furtherance of the conspiracies to disseminate emails that harmed plaintiffs,” wrote Huvelle, an appointee of President Bill Clinton. “Campaign meetings, canvassing voters, and other regular business activities of a political campaign do not constitute activities related to the conspiracies alleged in the complaint.”
However, this ruling was based on jurisdiction and not on the merits of the case as Judge Huvelle was very quick to point out in her decision:
“It bears emphasizing that this Court’s ruling is not based on a finding that there was no collusion between defendants and Russia during the 2016 presidential election,” Huvelle wrote. “This is the wrong forum for plaintiffs’ lawsuit. The Court takes no position on the merits of plaintiffs’ claims.”
So the fight goes on, this is not over but it would seem to me that no lawsuit should even come forward until after the Mueller investigation is over in the first place.
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
Happy Independence Day 2018
“And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.”
Those were more than just words, for when the founders affixed their names under those words they did exactly what those words said; they pledged their lives, fortunes, and honor towards the founding of a new nation and a cause that they believed so firmly in that they were willing to die for it.
Independence was officially approved on July 2nd but it wasn’t until July 4th that the final version of the Declaration was voted on and passed with these famous words: “We, therefore, the representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress, assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name, and by the authority of the good people of these colonies, solemnly publish and declare, that these united colonies are, and of right ought to be free and independent states; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the state of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as free and independent states, they have full power to levey war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and to do all other acts and things which independent states may of right do.”
But independence was not yet won.
There would be many years of conflict to follow, there would be more defeats than victories before the war ended, but in the end victory was achieved and a new nation was born.
The war had been raging on for over a year when the Declaration was signed, but up until July 4th 1776 America was in a war which was being fought to reestablish her natural born rights as Englishmen, it was not a war for independence. This document changed that and henceforth this was a war of separation.
While people such as Samuel Adams were clamoring for independence, and while George Washington secretly hoped that America would declare its independence as he was leading the Continental Army against the British, it was a pamphlet called “Common Sense” which was written by Thomas Paine that finally convinced many of the founders and citizens of America that independence was not only justifiable, but was also proper.
Thomas Paine was the first person to actually set down in words the reasoning for American independence, and why it was a noble and worthy cause; and he is credited as the first person to actually brand this nation the “United States of America.”
When the founders signed this document they became traitors to the Crown and if captured they would have been hanged as such– losing all three pledges they had sworn to each other. They all understood this and were willing to pay the price as Benjamin Franklin famously quipped, “We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.”
While they never had to pay the ultimate price for the freedom they have given us–an estimated 25,000 men did, fighting for the cause they believed in–many of them did end up bankrupt or near bankrupt and in debt. So when they pledged their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor there was no turning back. Many of them may have lost their fortunes, but they never lost their honor.
Now it was up to the Continental Army to deliver us the freedom the Declaration rightfully claimed belonged to Americans. The battle went on for many years and it wasn’t until October 19th in 1781 at Yorktown that General Lord Cornwallis surrendered his army to General Washington by sending his second in command to surrender his sword instead of doing it himself as was considered proper in the day–a slight that George Washington was offended by and never forgave–that hostilities ended and a year later the Treaty of Paris was signed and independence was official.
But none of those events would have happened if it wasn’t for the Declaration that was signed on this day in 1776 and so today we celebrate the birth of the greatest nation in the history of the world. ”It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.”
I hope that everyone enjoys their Fourth of July. Let the fireworks and the grilling begin! Please take a little time during this Fourth of July holiday to think about the men and women who are serving this country today– as well as all of those in the past– who have dedicated their lives to ensure that the vision of our founders remains intact and that a ”government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
I am sharing with you two videos this year: The first is a video of Patrick Henry’s infamous “Liberty or Death” speech and the second is the scene from the HBO mini-series “John Adams” when the Declaration is adopted.
Last month it was reported that Imran Awan had reached a plea deal with the Feds but at that time we did not know any of the details. Here is what I wrote back then:
if I had to guess this is bad news for truth and justice because he most likely plead guilty to a lesser crime and this will be brushed by the wayside. With any luck part of his plea deal will be to turn over information on the higher ups involved in this scandal but at this point I would not count on it.
Sadly it looks as though I was right because today we have learned that Imran Awan has plead guilty to lying on a loan or credit application and in return the Department of Justice will drop all other charges against his wife and himself. Here is more:
The Government has uncovered no evidence that your client violated federal law with respect to the House computer systems. Particularly, the Government has found no evidence that your client illegally removed House data from the House network or from House Members’ offices, stole the House Democratic Caucus Server, stole or destroyed House information technology equipment, or improperly accessed or transferred government information, including classified or sensitive information.
It is not expected that Imran Awan will do any jail time and will likely be forced to pay a small fine. This sickens me, although it was not unexpected but just in case you have not been following this story here the background: The Awan brothers are Pakistani nationals who were working as IT specialists for Debbie Wasserman Schultz and the Democratic National Committee, and it was reported that up to 30 Democrats employed their services. Shortly after the election the Awan brothers, with the exception of Imran, fled the country after being accused of hacking into government computers. However, Imran Awan was arrested on bank fraud charges as he attempted to flee the country.
The Awan brothers are accused of funneling money to the Middle East and they allegedly have ties to Hezbollah. During the investigation into the Awan brothers–and this is where the story gets very interesting–one of Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s computers was taken as evidence in the case and she was so distraught that she threatened a police chief if her computer was not returned to her.
Tom Fitton of Judicial Watch is vowing to fight on:
But let’s face it, this is going nowhere and for all intents and purposes this case has come to a sad close and justice has not been served. Thank you Jeff Sessions for nothing…
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
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