ted cruz

Obama’s Supreme Court Nominee

by Dave

Suppose they held a Miss America contest, and the plan was, just after crowning the winner, they were either going to push her off the stage or mug her as she was leaving the pageant.   That’s exactly what’s going to happen to Obama’s nomination.

Well,  I stated on Feb 18  that I thought Judge Jacqueline Nguyen was likely going to be Obama’s choice, but I thought it could go to Sri Srinivasan.  Based on recent leaks,   I now think Obama will nominate  Sri  Srinivasan.   I rule out Merrick Garland because he is 63 years old, and Paul Watford, because of prior Republican opposition in the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.  He was confirmed 61 to 34.

I also believe no hearing will take place.  If a hearing does take place, Republicans  will attempt to show the nominee is unqualified.  Ted Cruz would like the chance to tell the country that Obama has nominated the worst possible Supreme Court candidate ever.

The Republicans  will  not allow the nomination to go forward.   So, pushed off the stage, or mugged on the way out-  the Supreme Court will have 8 justices for at least a year, maybe longer.

It’s a terrible precedent.  It is not politics as usual- as it has never been done before.

Stay tuned,

Dave

 

 

 

 

Love thy Enemy

by Dave

This isn’t about Trump and Univision.  It is about Ted Cruz and the nagging Canadian birth question.

Before anybody starts to pick up stones,  let me say (I’m already ducking) that Ted Cruz was an American fom  the moment  he was conceived.   Let’s  at least get that out of the way.

Some very prominent lawyers and professors of law aren’t so convinced that someone born outside of the US meets the conditions to run for the president.  A case has never come before the Supreme Court, for their interpretation of “natural born” citizens.

As Laurence Tribe, a professor at law at Harvard, has written,  if this question ever comes before the Supreme Court,   the judges which are most likely to side with Cruz, are the liberals, which of course Ted Cruz hates.

The court isn’t divided politically- it is divided philosophically.   Those in the conservative camp,  tends to interpret the constitution   based on the text of the constitution (textualism) and what the founding fathers intent was (originalism). when the constitution was written.  They would apply these standard to interpreting the law.

The conservatives with their narrow focus, would ironically be Cruz’s worst nightmare, because there is  historical support for the contention, that what “natural born” means,  the person must be born within the territory of the US

If the case makes it to the Supreme Court,  it’s the liberals that will support Cruz because they tend to include more into the interpretation of what is written. They see the constitution as a “living document”  providing guidance but also factoring other considerations.  I also think Cruz should win, as a practical matter, because he been a citizen from the day he was born, just as all other citizens.  His situation is not uncommon,  as many American  families work abroad, and have children.   I think he would be a terrible president, but that’s up to voters, not the courts.

Laurence Tribe’s Comments

Stay tuned,

Dave

 

Debt ceiling increased – Yeah!!!!!

by Dave

3:00 am, Oct 30, 2015.  The combined spending and debt ceiling package passed the Senate.   If it had failed, the morning news would have been, “Dow futures down 800 points, as default on debt  looms.”    It passed 63-35.  Republicans could have blocked it, but more reasonable minds prevailed.   Republicans voting for the measure were John McCain and Lindsey Graham.  The Nays were all Republicans,  including Cruz, Rubio and Paul.

Government will function a bit better today, relieved that this time around, the neo-conservatives did not push the US into sovereign default as a means to promote their own agenda.

Who not to vote for:  Cruz, Rubio and Paul.

Links:

Roll Call – US Senate

 

NAYs —35
Blunt (R-MO)
Boozman (R-AR)
Burr (R-NC)
Cassidy (R-LA)
Coats (R-IN)
Corker (R-TN)
Cotton (R-AR)
Crapo (R-ID)
Cruz (R-TX)
Daines (R-MT)
Enzi (R-WY)
Ernst (R-IA)		 Fischer (R-NE)
Flake (R-AZ)
Gardner (R-CO)
Grassley (R-IA)
Heller (R-NV)
Hoeven (R-ND)
Inhofe (R-OK)
Isakson (R-GA)
Johnson (R-WI)
Lankford (R-OK)
Lee (R-UT)
Moran (R-KS)		 Paul (R-KY)
Perdue (R-GA)
Portman (R-OH)
Risch (R-ID)
Rubio (R-FL)
Sasse (R-NE)
Scott (R-SC)
Sessions (R-AL)
Shelby (R-AL)
Sullivan (R-AK)
Toomey (R-PA)

Stay tuned,

Dave

Who definitely not to vote for

by Dave

Rand Paul and Ted Cruz.  Probably Marco Rubio too.  They are not willing to pass a clean debt ceiling increase, which we need to avoid disaster.  We will see how the rest muddle through the question on Wednesday’s debate on whether to raise the debt ceiling.

We don’t want a president who lacks any government experience or who is so extreme that they would cause great harm to the US credit rating.

Stay tuned,

Dave Lord

Debt ceiling again – and the white knight republicans

by Dave

Yes, the government spends too much, it borrows too much, it spends money on stupid things.  But just stop right there. PLEASE.

Nov 5, 2015 is when the debt ceiling has to be raised.  At least, it is now the best estimate of Sec’y Lew.

Debt ceiling has nothing to do with how much the government can spend or borrow.  It is not like your credit card limit. It is called a debt ceiling, but it should be called “Permission to pay what the US Government has already spent.” It is like permission to pay your credit card bill when it arrives.  But it’s worse, because if the US Government fails to pay, they have now defaulted on their obligations.

The US has never, ever defaulted.  Companies who fail to pay their obligations find their credit ratings cut very quickly, and soon they are facing bankruptcy.

A temporary debt ceiling “patch”  was passed in 2014, which temporarily suspended the debt ceiling  to March 15, 2015.

So,  the alarms at the Treasury have been sounding since March 6, 2015 that Congress has to take action.   Eight times, Lew sent letters to Congress.  Obama has stated the same thing countless times.  This is the economic nuclear bomb.

If a debt ceiling bill is passed with demands that Obamacare or Planned Parenthood are to be defunded (which has nothing to do with the debt ceiling)  you basically destroy the power of the President to execute those laws passed by Congress.  Obamacare is in effect because was passed into law by Congress.  Now Congress can defund Obamacare, they can defund Planned Parenthood, but not as a condition to prevent an economic crisis.

Secretary Jack Lew sent letters on March 6, 13, 16 and 17 warning that he was forced to take emergency step (extraordinary measures) to avoid default.  He then sent letters on 7/29, 7/30, 9/10 and two days ago (Oct 1, 2015) with the Treasury’s best estimate of when the funds used during this period would be exhausted.  Each letter stated the exact date could not be predicted, because it would depend on the money coming in and out of the Treasury every day.

There was a nice way to deal with this.  Congress used to pass budgets,  and when the budget passed, automatically the debt ceiling was raised.  This is why during the Bush administration, nobody was concerned with debt ceilings.  But, this was done away and the rest is an awful mess.

Republicans have the chance to make a major and permanent change in our economy, by pushing our country into default for refusing to pass a simple clean debt ceiling increase.  Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, and Rand Paul may lead the charge. Why not, they are behind in the polls.

Republicans will try to put the blame on Obama, as crisis hits, and they will get plenty of air time on Fox news, by emphasizing that we are trillions in debt and they are some kind of white knights to save the day.  All they really do, is slay the princess and let the dragon loose.

Is it worth it?

Stay tuned,

David Lord