|
|
|
Welcome to the official home and wonderful world of Pulitzer Prize Winning Political Cartoonist Michael P. Ramirez, daily editorial cartoonist for the Las Vegas Review Journal |
|
Spineless GOP
|
|
|
|
|
FEBRUARY 13, 2020 BY PAUL MIRENGOFF POWERLINE
SHOULD TRUMP BE CRITICIZED FOR CRITICIZING JUDGES? President Trump is under fire again for criticizing federal judges. His latest criticism of a judge comes in connection with Roger Stone’s case. I can’t discern a good reason for objecting to a president criticizing a judge. I didn’t like it when President Obama, in his State of the Union address, criticized a majority of Supreme Court Justices for their decision in Citizens United. But that was because of the time and place of the criticism. And I did not believe that even criticizing judges during the SOTU constituted any sort of threat to the judiciary or our system of government. It was just bad form. U.S. District Court judge Paul Friedman says that Trump “seems to view the courts and the justice system as obstacles to be attacked and undermined, not as a coequal branch to be respected even when he disagrees with its decisions.” But Trump gives courts the respect they deserve when the administration complies, as it invariably has, with court decisions. Moreover, criticizing a branch of government or its members is not the same thing as viewing it as less than coequal. The executive and legislative branches are coequal and they attack each other all the time. To exempt the judiciary branch from criticism would be to signal that it is greater than, not coequal to, the other branches. It would reinforce the view that judges are our “robed masters.” What about the more specific criticism of Trump that he shouldn’t be attacking the judge who is about to sentence his former associate, Roger Stone? I see no reason to believe that the judge in question, hard core liberal Amy Berman Jackson, will be influenced one way or another by Trump’s pronouncements. I certainly see no reason to think she will be influenced in favor of leniency. This judge isn’t looking for a promotion from Trump. read more
|
|
Top Texas Republican criticizes Trump’s plans to divert $3.8B from military to border wallRep. Mac Thornberry, the top Republican on the House Armed Services Committee, said the move ‘requires Congress to take action’
By Tom Benning 5:04 PM on Feb 13, 2020 THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS WASHINGTON – Clarendon Rep. Mac Thornberry, the top Republican on the House Armed Services Committee, on Thursday criticized President Donald Trump for planning to shift $3.8 billion in military funding to pay for a barrier along the U.S.-Mexico border. The Texan, who’s retiring at the end of this term, said in a news release that the “re-programming announced today is contrary to Congress’ constitutional authority.” “I believe that it requires Congress to take action,” he said, adding that the Trump administration’s move “undermines the principle of civilian control of the military and is in violation of the separation of powers within the Constitution.” Thornberry’s pushback bolstered a deluge of criticism coming from Democrats, who fumed that the siphoning for the wall would take away funds that were slated to go toward fighter jets like the F-35, Navy ships and National Guard equipment. The diversion would come after the Trump administration already reallocated more than $6 billion from military accounts, largely related to construction projects, and other areas to help pay for the barrier. Fort Worth Rep. Marc Veasey, a Democrat whose district has close ties to the defense industry, said in a news release that Trump’s decision was “completely unacceptable” and would “jeopardize our national security and put American jobs at risk.” “The administration must stop these reckless decisions without proper consultation with Congress to fund their bigoted and archaic border wall that both hurts our national security and makes Americans less safe,” he said. Trump’s border wall has been a lightning rod ever since he made it an essential part of his campaign platform. While the president long pledged that Mexico would pay for the “big, beautiful wall,” American taxpayers have instead been left to foot the bill. The Defense Department has started taking the brunt of the costs. Congress has given Trump far less for the border barrier than he’s requested, particularly since Democrats took over the House. So the administration has looked to the Pentagon and elsewhere to make sure that progress continues on revamping and expanding fencing along the border. read more
|
The Dave Sussman Show
Whiskey Politics |