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Saturday, February 13, 2016

Where Was Dick Cheney This Morning?

I want to apologize, I kind of feel I shouldn't go here. After all, a man is dead. There's no question that Antonin Scalia was my least favorite judge on the Supreme Court but it is probably bad taste to make a joke about it as he was still a human being.

But as he died on a hunting trip you really have to ask about Cheney's whereabouts.

Ok, I got it out of my system. Too bad he died, but it was the way you would want to, of natural causes in his own bed.

"Associate Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia was found dead at a ranch in West Texas on Saturday."

"Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) released a statement Saturday confirming Scalia's death, calling him "a patriot" and an "unwavering defender of the written Constitution and the Rule of Law."

"Scalia appears to have died in his sleep of natural causes, according to reports."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/antonin-scalia-dead_us_56bfa5f7e4b0b40245c6f0d9?

Ok, so all do respect for the man who has passed. Moment of silence, and rest in peace.

That done, let's talk politics. For this is what this is about. For 30 years the GOP has controlled the SJC. This gives Obama the chance that no one saw to turn it back liberal again.

Of course the GOP is saying that the nomination of a new Justice should wait until 2017 when they hope they will have the WH again.

"There is likely to be significant pressure on the Senate, which is in Republican hands, to hold off on confirming anyone nominated by President Obama, who is in his last year in office."

"A spokesman for Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), a conservative who sits on the Judiciary panel, immediately sent a message on Twitter that no nominee from Obama should be considered."

"Replacing Scalia with a liberal justice could change the balance of the court under Chief Justice John Roberts."

"If a new justice is not confirmed under Obama, this is something both parties are likely to trumpet as the 2016 contest continues."

"It would mean the election of the president could immediately determine the direction of the Supreme Court."

"Scalia's death comes on the day of the latest GOP presidential debate, the last time the candidates are set to meet before the Feb. 20 South Carolina primary. GOP candidates were quick to put out statements lauding Scalia, who has been a leading figure in the conservative movement for decades."

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/269382-reports-justice-scalia-dead

Assuming the GOP hold to this pledge, what happens in the mean time? Are all cases now to be heard by just eight Justices? How are ties to be broken? Does Roberts as the Chief Justice get to do this?

Even if he's not replaced now, simply the absence of Scalia makes this a much less conservative Court. 


15 comments:

  1. Wow! I read it here first.

    "but it is probably bad taste to make a joke about it as he was still a human being"

    (I love the way he says "...from a cup!")

    Not to say Scalia was the equivalent of Falwell.

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    1. LOL. The trouble with Hitchens is that by the time he got to calling him a human being he had talked about him in such stridently unflattering terms it was too late to fall back on calling him a human being.

      Everything he had said other than that seemed to belie it. LOL

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    2. You hadn't heard that Hitchens rant before?

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    3. Speaking of rants, National Review has now come down on Nugent. One of the commenters wrote that as an NRA member, he doesn't think Nugent when he thinks NRA, and thus Nugent should be given a pass. To which I replied:

      "I thought NRA stood for Nugent Republican Army."

      But what's fascinating in the comments section is the number that have been erased. I can only assume that means they were from the StormFront crowd.

      http://www.nationalreview.com/article/431247/ted-nugent-anti-semitism-disgraces-gun-rights-movement-nra

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    4. Maddow has a good piece:
      http://www.bizpacreview.com/2016/02/13/rachel-maddow-declares-cruz-guilty-for-ted-nugents-recent-anti-semitic-rant-you-own-this-305422

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    5. Yes I've heard him rant. I'm just saying his throwing in 'he was a human being' in the middle of that visceral screed kind of doesn't work. LOL.

      Not that I have any particular problem with what he said, LOL

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    6. I don't recall that line. I'll have to watch it again.

      BTW, I don't know if you saw that Maddow piece, but she points out a couple of other unsavories that Cruz openly and unapologetically associates with: a guy who's fine with the idea of putting gays to death ('cause that's what Jesus would do!), and another who describes Hitler as a "hunter, sent by God" because the Jews didn't convert I guess. The latter is not John Hagee, but oddly, that's what Hagee said in 2008, and it's one of the reasons McCain cut his ties with him. The other was his Catholicism = Satanism stance.

      She also brings up Bob Jones University, and the fancy footwork W had to do to justify speaking there in 2000... but now, nobody even gives the GOP candidates any grief for going there. They're also Catholics = Satan there, but oddly, they had not problem with Glenn Beck (the Mormon) crying and blubbering on stage begging them to vote Cruz because Jesus said so, and there may not be another chance for America (it's right there in your Bibles... (and books of Mormon).... as plain as day for anybody with faith!).

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    7. Beck's outrageous crying and blubbering and begging and apocalyptic BS brought applause from the audience BTW... whereas Trump's proxy got booed. Go figure!

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    8. Right I've seen her piece on that crazy preacher. He's scary, it sounds like he's in physical-and mental-pain to be like this.

      As she said Bob Jones used to at least be controversial back when Dubyah went there. Not anymore.

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    9. He and Beck sound like long lost brothers

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    10. What I would have given to see the following: after Beck got the crowd to their feet (which actually happened), he then launches into a full on Mormon spin: how God, out there on planet Kolob, is counting on them! And how great it'll be when they all becomes god's on their own planets... LOL!... I'd want the camera to be turned around though, so we could see the standing ovation get suddenly get uncomfortable.

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  2. If no Obama choice is confirmed, hopefully this will be yet another fire under the seats of anti-Republicans and Democrats to get out there and VOTE!

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  3. Your fledgling Cheney "conspiracy theory" will probably be still born... but I'm sure there are a lot more people out there who think that Obama and/or Hillary must have had something to do with Scalia's death. (Maybe somebody came to him with her most incrimination emails, and he was about to reveal them! Dun-dun-DUH!!)

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  4. O/T: I don't know where to put this one, but I feel I have to go on record with a prediction: the late night guys are going to have some fun with this bit of science news:
    http://www.scienceworldreport.com/articles/37185/20160213/neurology-mini-brains-developed-to-study-neurological-illnesses.htm

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  5. The headline on this one is a God send to Alex Jones:
    https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/texas-tv-station-scalia-died-of-a-heart-attack/2016/02/14/938e2170-d332-11e5-9823-02b905009f99_story.html

    "The death of Antonin Scalia: Chaos, confusion and conflicting reports"

    Oh boy. Now it's Obama's or HRC's fault for sure. Maybe Bill?

    I did a quick scan for salacious details (an unidentified lipstick in the room???? Tub of anal lube???? (with an unidentified red pubic hair in it?)). Haha. Or perhaps he was dressed in a panties and bra, and it was a case of self suffixation... a la David Carradine. But alas, no. At least nothing that anybody is admitting to... yet.

    Still, that's not the kind of thing that Jones was looking for. Jones will no doubt spin a tangled web out of this one!

    BTW, I'm giving your great cover with the above comments. Your piece here looks saintly in comparison.

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