Saviolo
Saviolo's JournalExclusive: President Trump's Supreme Court Pick, Confirmed
Source: Independent Journal Review
Two high-ranking administration sources have confirmed to Independent Journal Review that President Donald Trump's Supreme Court pick is Colorado Judge Neil Gorsuch.
Speaking on background, an administration source instrumental to the SCOTUS selection process tells IJR, “Yes. It is Gorsuch. 100 percent. The Hardiman thing is a head fake.” Thomas Hardiman is the other Judge Trump was considering for the vacancy, who is also in Washington, D.C.
A second source within the Trump administration confirmed IJR's reporting.
Gorsuch, at the age of 49, will become one of the youngest SCOTUS appointments in history. Gorsuch reportedly cried when he found out about Justice Scalia's death. The Colorado native attended Harvard Law with former President Barack Obama and is a firm Constitutionalist.
Gorsuch has made some past statements that seem to indicate how he would make major Supreme Court decisions. Most notably, he has praised the late Justice Antonin Scalia’s dedication to “textualism,” or the interpretation of laws based on the actual text rather than trying to decipher the “intent” of lawmakers or other potential consequences.
To the delight of Trump supporters and conservatives, Gorsuch has also routinely sided in favor of religious liberty. He famously sided with Hobby Lobby and Little Sisters of the Poor when they claimed Obamacare’s contraceptive mandate violated their religious beliefs.
Read more: http://ijr.com/2017/01/790802-exclusive-president-trumps-supreme-court-pick-confirmed/
Great. A very young Scalia fanboy as Trump's SCOTUS pick (probably).
Something big is coming.
I'm reminded of this interaction from Aaron Sorkin's Sports Night:
DAN: Rebecca isn't here, Isaac isn't here, there's a strangeness about this day.
DAVE: 30 seconds live.
DAN: Eli's coming.
CASEY: Eli?
DAN: From the Three Dog Night song.
CASEY: Yes.
DAN: Eli's something bad. A darkness.
CASEY: "Eli's coming, hide your heart girl." Eli's an inveterate womanizer. I think you're getting the song wrong.
DAVE: In ten--
DAN: I know I'm getting the song wrong, but when I first heard it, that's what I always thought it meant, and things stick with you that way.
Something's going to happen. Something big. Something that the GOP and Trump will tell everyone we need to rally behind. Will the GOP create it? Maybe, if they have to. It's far more likely they'll find something that is about to happen, let it happen, and exploit it for political gains. Uniting the country behind a strong leader, etc... We've seen it all before under Bush Jr.
Everyone has to stay vigilant, and everyone needs to make sure that they know what's happening and what's changing. There are going to be changes. I've seen this post circulating on Twitter about resisting a fascist totalitarian regime, and one of the first things you need to do is track all of the small things that change, the things that are normalized. Look around on Twitter for it, it's usually accompanied by a terrifying list of things that have been changing almost imperceptibly.
Eli's coming.
Gorillaz release first new song in 6 years, unapologetically anti-Trump: Hallelujah Money
Keep an ear out for lyrics about walls matching KKK marches in the imagery behind.
We should not be surprised about Trump's nominations, but angry
I've seen a few posts expressing surprise and concern over how unqualified Betsy DeVos is for Dept. of Education, or about the conflict of interests regarding Sec. of State nominee Rex Tillerson.
Just to be clear: This is not a bug, this is a feature of these nominees. It is exactly what the GOP intended. They have very few explicit goals for their time in office, and they come down to two different categories:
#1: Nominees like DeVos. These are people who are massively unqualified for the role that they have been nominated for. They are dogma driven, uninformed, and incapable of managing a complex portfolio. Again, this is intended. These nominees are selected in order to cause the department they are heading to buckle and crumble so that the small gov't Tea Partiers and GOP hard line can point at it and say, "Yup, see? Gov't can't do this, let's privatize it and leave it to free enterprise. Business can do this better than government." We're going to see attacks on many departments such as the department of Education, EPA, Housing and Urban Development, NEA, etc... All of those departments that the right loves to hate, many of which just happen to assist poor and at-risk segments of society.
#2: Nominees like Tillerson. These are the foxes guarding the henhouse. Their main job is to loot the larders and make way for big business. They will be super-efficient at their jobs, and they will plow through regulations like a hot knife through butter. We will see taxes fall for corporations in the name of "job creation." They will remove environmental protections and any regulations that may get in the way of businesses doing exactly what they'd like, and we'll see, again, that mostly it is at-risk communities that will be put in further risk so that the profit motive goes unhindered.
This really should surprise no one, it's been the stated goal of the Tea Party since its inception. Don't be surprised, be angry. Call your representative and let them know you wish for them to stand up against corporate control of major gov't departments. Take the fight to Trump and his new band of deplorable nominees.
Did Trump drain the swamp? He had to, he brought his own swamp with him, and it's bigger and better than the swamp that was there before. The best swamp. Believe it.
This has got to stop
Bernie would have beat Trump in the general!
How could he win in the general if he didn't win the primary?
DNC cheated in favour of Hillary!
Bernie isn't a Democrat!
It's all a big circular argument and it goes round and round and round and round and please, everyone, let's leave it behind, okay? Please? That part's done, now. The time has come for the fight to move forward. Hillary talked some really good policy during her campaign (not that you'd know it from the news coverage or anything), and she and Bernie both put forth progressive platforms. But the whole process has demonstrated that there are some serious shortcomings in the DNC and the Democratic party's approach, and that liberals and progressives have got to come together and figure out what to do next.
There are going to be lots and lots of fights over the next four years, but those fights have to be in the direction of the PEOTUS and his new cabinet. Not even in power yet and we're already looking at defunding Planned Parenthood, repealing Obamacare, dismantling the EPA, dismantling the department of education, etc... This is BEFORE THE INAUGURATION. Let's imagine the first 100 days. Now is the time for resistance and liberals and progressives and Democrats need to come together to put up resistance to the potential fascists taking power.
Bernie's been making lots of noise, which is great. He's an elected official and he's standing up for progressive causes. Hillary has done great work, and she's taken some time off after a brutal election season. She's not an elected official, and she'll continue to do the great work with the Clinton Foundation. But now everyone who is against Trump needs to just be against Trump. He doesn't have any political will of his own, so he's written a blank cheque for every regressive policy that the GOP has been dying to put through for decades. Say goodbye to protections for women, people of colour, LGBTQ, immigrants, the poor, etc... Newspapers are already bowing down to Trump's obvious lies. Now is the time to make a ton of noise. Call your representatives, call your congresscritters, call everyone who will take a call.
(Note: I had originally posted this in General, but it was locked as off-topic because it was thought it should go here. So, I'm reposting it here)
This has got to stop
Bernie would have beat Trump in the general!
How could he win in the general if he didn't win the primary?
DNC cheated in favour of Hillary!
Bernie isn't a Democrat!
It's all a big circular argument and it goes round and round and round and round and please, everyone, let's leave it behind, okay? Please? That part's done, now. The time has come for the fight to move forward. Hillary talked some really good policy during her campaign (not that you'd know it from the news coverage or anything), and she and Bernie both put forth progressive platforms. But the whole process has demonstrated that there are some serious shortcomings in the DNC and the Democratic party's approach, and that liberals and progressives have got to come together and figure out what to do next.
There are going to be lots and lots of fights over the next four years, but those fights have to be in the direction of the PEOTUS and his new cabinet. Not even in power yet and we're already looking at defunding Planned Parenthood, repealing Obamacare, dismantling the EPA, dismantling the department of education, etc... This is BEFORE THE INAUGURATION. Let's imagine the first 100 days. Now is the time for resistance and liberals and progressives and Democrats need to come together to put up resistance to the potential fascists taking power.
Bernie's been making lots of noise, which is great. He's an elected official and he's standing up for progressive causes. Hillary has done great work, and she's taken some time off after a brutal election season. She's not an elected official, and she'll continue to do the great work with the Clinton Foundation. But now everyone who is against Trump needs to just be against Trump. He doesn't have any political will of his own, so he's written a blank cheque for every regressive policy that the GOP has been dying to put through for decades. Say goodbye to protections for women, people of colour, LGBTQ, immigrants, the poor, etc... Newspapers are already bowing down to Trump's obvious lies. Now is the time to make a ton of noise. Call your representatives, call your congresscritters, call everyone who will take a call.
'Irresponsible' populism: Lisa Raitt slams Kevin O'Leary, Kellie Leitch
Conservative leadership candidate Lisa Raitt waged a frontal assault against potential rival Kevin O'Leary today, accusing him of using Donald Trump-style tactics and theatrics that would kill any chance of the party's return to power.
Raitt, a former cabinet minister under Stephen Harper, held a news conference to officially launch her new website www.StopKevinOLeary.com, a pre-emptive strike against the businessman and reality show celebrity who has not yet officially entered the race.
She also took aim at fellow contender Kellie Leitch for ripping from the president-elect's playbook and pinning the country's problems on immigrants.
"Kevin O'Leary and Kellie Leitch are both taking lessons from what we just saw recently in the U.S. election, and they're embracing a style of negative, and I would say irresponsible, populism," she said.
Raitt is the latest in a string of candidates who have lashed out at O'Leary.
On Tuesday, Andrew Scheer called on him to "fish or cut bait," and make a decision on whether to run before the Jan. 17 French language debate in Quebec City. O'Leary, who does not speak French, has tasked an "exploratory" team and launched his own website to drum up public support.
Leitch issued a statement in response to Raitt's attack, saying her Conservative rival drew a line in the sand and showed she "stands with the Liberals and media elites."
"She does not think it is important to ensure that the people we welcome into our country share our historic Canadian values of hard work, generosity, freedom, and tolerance," she said."The choice is clear: I am the only candidate in this race who will screen newcomers to Canada for those Canadian values."
Long-time Conservative strategist Chad Rogers said O'Leary is under attack because candidates are trying to drum up donations and membership by appealing to those "repelled" by him. He said Conservatives have also learned from other recent leadership races where name recognition has played a significant factor.
"We look south of the border at Mr. Trump, we look here in Canada at Justin Trudeau, on the front end of their campaigns people didn't take it seriously and they underestimated the value of starting the race with dramatically higher name recognition with average Canadians than other politicians," he said.
I'm happy to watch the right in Canada eat its own tail for as long as it likes. Also, I'll be extremely happy if Leitch and O'Leary in particular are left forgotten and irrelevant by the time this is all over. Go ahead, conservative party! Tear yourself apart trying to follow in Trump's slimy shit-stained populist footsteps!
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Gender: MaleHometown: Ottawa, Ontario
Home country: Canada
Current location: Toronto, Ontario
Member since: Wed Oct 29, 2008, 04:34 PM
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