[Babylon Bee] U.S.‐Legislators have begun to hold hearings on impeaching Santa Claus after an overheard conversation seemed to imply he was offering a quid pro quo: gifts in exchange for good behavior.
FBI agents spied on Claus at various malls as he repeatedly said things like, "Sure, I'll get you a pony. But first, I need you to do something for me... be a good little boy!" The FBI was able to obtain a FISA warrant to spy on Claus, because it's easier to get a FISA warrant than to get a Costco membership.
"Ho ho noooooo!" Santa Claus cried as investigators leaped out and cuffed him at a Dayton, OH mall. "Not good! Sad!"
"It was a perfect conversation," Claus said, defending himself in a series of fiery tweets. "Absolutely perfect. I was simply talking to little Billy and asked him to keep tabs on his sister, Sally, who has been involved in some corruption. Who doesn't want to stop corruption? Did I offer Billy a new Nintendo Switch in exchange for his good behavior? Possibly. Am I planning on giving Sally coal because she's a little punk? Maybe. Where's my lawyer?"
Unfortunately, he was assigned a public defender, who turned out to be Rudy Giuliani.
[American Thinker] ...All told, the president has thus far had "158 judicial nominees confirmed to the Federal bench," WhiteHouse.gov informs, including "two Supreme Court justices, 44 Circuit Court judges, and 112 District Court judges." This judicial transformation is historic ‐ but it also can be made history. How?
Aside from the well-known power to impeach judges, Congress can also pack the Supreme Court. Yet it apparently has still another power, one little known: to abolish entire federal courts.
The only federal court mandated by the Constitution is the SCOTUS; as to "inferior courts," Article III states that Congress "may from time to time ordain and establish" them, which it has often done. But implied is that what Congress can make, it can unmake; or, as the Legal Information Institute puts it, the Houses can both "expand and contract the units of the system" (emphasis added).
This is not just theoretical but has already happened: Upset about outgoing president John Adams’s packing of the judiciary with Federalists, the Jeffersonians in 1802 repealed the Judiciary Act of 1801. They then abolished the courts the legislation had created. Moreover, no provision was made for the displaced jurists even though the Constitution guarantees judges lifetime tenure, and a challenge to this apparent omission was rejected by SCOTUS justice William Paterson. And that was that ‐ and thus was a precedent set.
...Now let’s talk about the future. While unlikely in 2020, at some point the Democrats will again control the presidency and both Houses of Congress. We also know that to today’s cutthroat, "woke" Left the end justifies the means. Considering this, do you really think they’re going to let the rulings of some black-robed lawyers ‐ people without an army or police force and who constitute (in theory) the "weakest branch" ‐ stymie their agenda? Not a chance.
The first thing the Left would do is pack the SCOTUS. Know that the number of justices is not constitutionally mandated but is set statutorily by Congress and at times has been more or less than nine.
In other words, a leftist legislature could raise the number to whatever was necessary to ensure an ironclad liberal majority (let’s say, 15), let its fellow traveler president nominate hard-left candidates for those positions and then confirm them. And, "Voila!" the Democrats have a judicial rubber stamp for their whole agenda.
Note that this kind of court packing was not only attempted by Democrat Franklin Roosevelt in the 1930s, but has already been proposed as a near-future strategy.
Impeachment and removal of "conservative" justices could also be pursued. Outrageous? Well, would politicians willing to impeach a president on phony charges be above doing the same to a judge? Remember here that impeaching Justice Brett Kavanaugh, whom leftists claim is illegitimate, has already been proposed, too.
Of course, complete control of SCOTUS suffices to clear the way for a hard-left agenda. If the Democrats did want to expedite matters by eliminating all judicial speed bumps, however, they could pursue Article III court abolition and, if necessary, the impeachment of lower court judges. Any challenges to these actions would meet swift rejection, too, by the in-the-pocket SCOTUS.
And just like that, President Trump’s judicial legacy would go out the window. Too radical to happen, you say? Note that the post-mask-drop Democratic Party is defined by radicalism, wearing it like a badge.
Is the above more radical, after all, than socialism and the Green New Deal? That requires remaking our whole governmental system and economy. Is it more radical than one of the Democrats’ current major causes, eliminating the Electoral College? That requires actually altering the Constitution, which means 38 states would have to sign on. The court-revamping strategy requires only federal control and action, using current constitutional provisions. Sure, the Left would have to misapply them, but has that ever stopped it before?
All this, not to mention that the "power" of "judicial supremacy" is not constitutionally granted but is enjoyed at the other two branches’ pleasure. The moment a president says, paraphrasing Andrew Jackson, "The judges have made their decision ‐ now let them enforce it," it goes bye-bye.
Anyone who thinks today’s "woke," Ocasio-Cortez Democrats won’t embrace some combination of the above measures but will instead obediently abide by Trump judges’ inconvenient rulings, doesn’t know the Left. It’s Machiavellian ‐ and it plays for keeps.
If court-reshaping does come to pass, traditionalists’ only recourse may be state-level nullification, which Thomas Jefferson called the "rightful remedy" for all federal overreach. It would be bold action, too, and thus may some find it uncomfortably radical and revolutionary (like the Founders?). But what are they going to do? Keep filing more lawsuits?
#2
The only use they have for the Constitution is to keep the rubes from open rebellion. It's just an obstruction to their power. Which is why they desperately want to trash the 2nd Amendment.
...Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.
#4
The cartridge box was needed quite some time ago. The reason we're facing these issues is because strong messages were not delivered very early on.
When hostilities commence, there can be no quarter given to the Left, the Right will need to be merciless. No bygones being bygones. Blue States will need to be reduced to Territory status and placed under Military governance until such a time as the Leftist infection is completely removed.
- 2 Associate Justices of the Supreme Court
- 50 judges for the United States Courts of Appeals
- 133 judges for the United States District Courts
- 2 judges for the United States Court of International Trade
There are only 2 openings on the circuit courts of appeal, the least in 40 years, and a surprising number of sitting appellate judges are in their 70's and 80's. Fourth and Ninth Circuits are poised to flip next. Suspect that older judges are holding out in hopes that the 2020 election goes their way. If not there will likely be another massive exodus.
#8
#4 The cartridge box was needed quite some time ago. The reason we're facing these issues is because strong messages were not delivered very early on.
"But that is not who we are!!!"
Conservatism, Inc. Chorus, between noshes at the left wing billionaires' troughs.
#10
Anything can happen eventually. But I find it really difficult to believe the Donks can take the Senate. Looking at the seats up for grabs they are almost all going to stay the same or lean moderately towards Republican.
#3
Sure, but The Slimes is using it to demonstrate how Trump has weaponized the DOJ to destroy his enemies.
Seems like I've heard the fable before.
Posted by: Bobby ||
12/20/2019 9:55 Comments ||
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#4
Maybe Durham can get all the lies straightened out.
Comey, Brennan, Clapper and Obama--Add HRC to the list. She started this $shitshow in a fit of petulance and anger for not getting her way.
#8
Just a hunch, but I suspect it will be discovered that Admiral Rogers was never particularly sanguine about Brennan and Comey's scheming, particularly the 'FIVE EYES' piece. Hopefully he took copious notes.
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/20/2019 19:07 Comments ||
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#10
Interesting, re: FISA Court:
It was also revealed Friday that Collyer, who is also a senior judge on the DC federal court, will resign her position as presiding judge on the FISA court at year’s end. Her current term was set to expire in March 2020.
Chief Justice John Roberts will replace Collyer with James Boasberg, a colleague of Collyer on the FISA court and DC federal bench. He was named to the FISA court in 2014 and is one of 11 judges on the rotating FISA court.
Sources say Collyer, 74, is leaving her presiding judge post because of health reasons.
While Collyer is stepping down as presiding judge, she will remain on the FISC until her term expires in March 2020.
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/20/2019 19:37 Comments ||
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#11
meet the new stamp ... same as the old stamp...
[Washington Examiner] Actor Pierce Brosnan, who once wondered last year how long he'd handle living in the United States under President Trump, praised the state of the economy.
Brosnan, 66, was asked during an interview with ITK what his thoughts now are about leaving the country.
"I think what he’s done for the economy is very good," Brosnan said. "People are working, and that’s a step in the right direction."
He added, "This country is part of my life. I’m an American citizen. I love America and America’s been very good to me. And I want to see happiness come back into our society," he added.
Brosnan did criticize Trump for his handling of environmental issues. He said Trump "has to pay attention to the climate change" and "support the rallying call of the young people."
"He has to get out of the coal business, the oil business. It’s just devouring the Earth around us. And there are other ways. We’ve seen it from other societies, other cultures," the Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again star continued.
Last year, Brosnan, who played James Bond in multiple films from 1995 to 2002, told the Daily Mail that Trump was destroying the U.S.
"That man has torn this country apart, and you have to work out how much longer you can stay here," he said.
[NYT] EVERY MINUTE OF EVERY DAY, everywhere on the planet, dozens of companies ‐ largely unregulated, little scrutinized ‐ are logging the movements of tens of millions of people with mobile phones and storing the information in gigantic data files. The Times Privacy Project obtained one such file, by far the largest and most sensitive ever to be reviewed by journalists. It holds more than 50 billion location pings from the phones of more than 12 million Americans as they moved through several major cities, including Washington, New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Each piece of information in this file represents the precise location of a single smartphone over a period of several months in 2016 and 2017. The data was provided to Times Opinion by sources who asked to remain anonymous because they were not authorized to share it and could face severe penalties for doing so. The sources of the information said they had grown alarmed about how it might be abused and urgently wanted to inform the public and lawmakers.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
12/20/2019 2:04 Comments ||
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#4
If you tell Facebook "I'm at Bella Mia pizza joint," then Facebook knows where you are. If Google asks, "Allow access to your location," Mister Google knows where you are. They gotta know where you are to tell you how to get to Bella Mia. This is not Rocket Surgery.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/20/2019 2:17 Comments ||
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#5
And we can all crush this by giving friends cheap mobile phones and having a handoff system. It could be great fun and a big laugh when gurgle, crapple and fartbook petition the gummint to make it a crime.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
12/20/2019 2:30 Comments ||
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#6
Just think, Big Brother never had to force you to be tagged, you voluntarily and cheerfully do it yourself all in the name of convenience.
#10
Let see the big brother analyze all these data and pull useful conclusions.
I once took a data analysis class where one of the clever things we did was to take smartphone data - location, accelerometers, etc - and use it to tell if the owner was walking, laying down, going up stairs and such.
#11
^ This is routinely done. Why do you think Google etc spend billions to acquire shitty little traffic-monitoring companies?
A: Location-based behaviors, joined with recency & frequency time series data, are far more valuable than search or web-surfing or app usage data alone. Join the two types of data and you have a gold mine of consumer intent.
If you can reliably determine where, when and for what duration a person spent his time-- AND how frequently & recently he went to and stayed at those locations -- you can create a profile of that person's behavior and intentions that is will enable valid conclusions about past events and good predictions about future behaviors.
#12
The states (and FED DOT) use your phone's Bluetooth to monitor traffic flow(s) and destination arrival times you see up on the lighted traffic displays.
Always wondered what else they look for.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
12/20/2019 13:44 Comments ||
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#13
This may or may not be common knowledge. But to turn off tracking on your iPhone:
Settings/Privacy/Location Services :: Off
.../.../Location Services/Location Alerts/Show Maps in Location Alerts :: Off
.../.../Location Services/Share My Location/Find My Phone :: Off
.../.../Location Services/Share My Location/Share My Location :: Off
Settings/Privacy/Motion and Fitness/Fitness Tracking :: Off
Settings/Privacy/Analytics/Share iPhone Analytics :: Off
Settings/Privacy/Analytics/Share iCloud Analytics :: Off
Settings/Privacy/Advertising/Limit Ad Tracking :: Off
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[Babylon Bee] U.S.‐Legislators have begun to hold hearings on impeaching Santa Claus after an overheard conversation seemed to imply he was offering a quid pro quo: gifts in exchange for good behavior.
