RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/12615/replacing-justice-kennedy-what-kind

They [potential nominees to the Supreme Court] should be asked about the criteria they apply in determining whether to be bound by past decisions.

As the late Justice Antonin Scalia frequently pointed out, his oath of office required him to apply the Constitution, not the decisions of his predecessors on the bench, if those past decisions were wrong.

The second position is that Roe v. Wade was wrong when decided but it has been the law for 45 years, and the nation has come to rely on it as governing law. Accordingly, it should not be overruled, but nor should it be expanded. This is the most likely position that a successful nominee might take.

The two key words in assessing the President’s nominee to replace Justice Anthony Kennedy are stare decisis. This ancient Latin phrase, which means let the decision stand, represents a conservative approach to judging: that precedent imposes constraints on judicial innovation. Put another way, that judicial innovation should be balanced against the need to maintain stability in our legal system. But like most legal terms, stare decisis can easily be manipulated to benefit both conservatives and liberals. Traditionally it has been conservatives who have embraced stare decisis, allowing the dead hand of the law to constrain the living constitution. But liberals, too, embrace the concept when they seek to preserve old precedents that are important to them.

Today, liberals want to use stare decisis to preserve Roe v. Wade, gay marriage and other iconic liberal decisions of the past. Many conservatives would like to see these decision overruled. When the President interviews potential nominees, and when the Senate advises and consents on the nomination, these nominees will be questioned about their positions on important cases of the past and their likely votes in the future. They will decline to be specific claiming the need for judicial independence. But one area of legitimate inquiry will be their institutional views regarding stare decisis.

https://www.frontpagemag.com/point/270589/mueller-targets-trump-over-russian-billionaires-daniel-greenfield

Hillary Clinton’s bag boy is really getting desperate. And the hypocrisy from Team Mueller is becoming radioactive.

Several billionaires with deep ties to Russia attended exclusive, invitation-only receptions during Donald Trump’s inauguration festivities, guest lists obtained by ABC News show.

These powerful businessmen, who amassed their fortunes following the collapse of the Soviet Union — including one who has since been sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department — were ushered into events typically reserved for top donors and close political allies and were given unprecedented access to Trump’s inner circle.

Their presence has attracted the interest of federal investigators probing Russian efforts to influence the 2016 presidential election, three sources with knowledge of the matter said.

But… Team Mueller doesn’t leak.

Now who was that mysterious sanctioned Russian billionaire?

Names on the guest lists of the Candlelight Dinner included Victor Vekselberg, the billionaire head of the global conglomerate Renova Group, who was later sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury “for operating in the energy sector of the Russian Federation economy.” Late last year, Vekselberg and his American cousin and business partner, Andrew Intrater, were stopped at a New York airport by federal agents working for Special Counsel Robert Mueller and questioned, according to the New York Times.

https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/06/27/the-tawdry-and-dumb-nazi-charge-218932

he Nazi analogy has long been recognized as the crudest and dumbest form of argument, but it is enjoying a renaissance.

Former CIA Director Michael Hayden notoriously and unapologetically tweeted a photo of Auschwitz-Birkenau as a response to family separations at the border. Upon a report that parents at the border were being told that their children were being taken to get bathed and disappearing, Chris Hayes of MSNBC tweeted, “What does this remind you of?” Soledad O’Brien chimed in, “Welp, I guess we’ve put to rest the question: ‘Nazi Germany: Could it happen here in America?’”

I have a relaxed attitude toward harsh political rhetoric, but Nazi analogies are over the line, and combined with the left’s taste for personally confronting Trump officials and supporters, they portend greater civil conflict and, perhaps, violence.

You don’t deal with Nazis, you don’t talk to Nazis, you don’t tolerate Nazis. You do to Nazis what happens to them, gruesomely and often, in the Quentin Tarantino film “Inglourious Basterds.” To consider your domestic political opponents Nazis is to place them beyond the pale and beyond the ambit of civil society. They must be confronted and crushed, by means fair and foul.

As Democrats have (another) collective meltdown over this week’s Supreme Court rulings and the impending retirement of Justice Anthony Kennedy, President Trump’s supporters are venting their own rage at another target: NeverTrump Republicans. https://amgreatness.com/2018/06/29/nevertrump-is-now-neverscotus/

Minutes after Kennedy announced he would step down later this year, Washington D.C. talk-radio host Larry O’Connor tweeted that NeverTrumpers “should be spending the day explaining their decision” not to vote for Donald Trump.

Fox News Channel’s Laura Ingraham reminded folks that none of the recent Supreme Court decisions “would have been possible if the #NeverTrumpers had their way.” Her colleague, Sean Hannity, roasted NeverTrumpers in his opening monologue Wednesday night: “For all of you NeverTrumpers, if you would have had your way . . . Hillary Rodham Clinton would have been making now a second appointment.”

And an Investor’s Business Daily editorial posed the question: “Conservatives are celebrating a number of important victories at the Supreme Court, as well as the chance to replace moderate Justice Anthony Kennedy. But none of these wins would have been possible if the Never-Trump crowd had its way. How about a mea culpa?”

I’ll go a step further: If NeverTrumpers had their way, we would now be contemplating the possibility of Associate Justice Barack (or Michelle!) Obama.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/with-trump-supreme-court-coming-democrats-weigh-strategy-1530209462?cx_testId=16&cx_testVariant=cx&cx_artPos=1&cx_tag=collabctx&cx_navSource=newsReel#cxrecs_s

Republicans and Democrats readied for the battle to choose Justice Anthony Kennedy’s successor, with the White House dusting off the plan it used to win last year’s Supreme Court fight and Democrats searching for a way to derail President Donald Trump’s nominee amid a heated midterm election campaign.

The White House again has enlisted Leonard Leo, executive vice president of the Federalist Society, a conservative lawyers network, to assist in a selection process that already is focusing on fewer than a half-dozen candidates. Within hours of Justice Kennedy’s retirement announcement Wednesday, Mr. Leo took a leave of absence from the Federalist Society to serve as Mr. Trump’s outside adviser on the nomination.

People close to the White House selection process anticipate that a nominee will be announced before Mr. Trump departs for the coming NATO summit, which begins in Brussels on July 11, with Republicans hoping for confirmation hearings in mid-August and a full Senate vote ahead of the November midterm elections.

The pick presents the Republican president with the opportunity—and challenge—of seeking to replicate an early success of his presidency, the nomination and swift confirmation of Justice Neil Gorsuch to succeed the late Justice Antonin Scalia.

Marc Short, Mr. Trump’s legislative affairs chief, said in an interview that he “would like to believe that Republican senators recognize” the opportunity to fulfill a longstanding GOP campaign pledge to remake the court.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-mosquemetoo-movement-1530226224

Ms. Kahn’s hubby is imam Feisal Abdul Rauf who wanted to build a mosque near Ground Zero. They were implicated in a $20 million lawsuit alleging her husband, imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, pilfered $3 million from two nonprofits — including her own……rsk

Ms. Khan, founder of the Women’s Islamic Initiative in Spirituality and Equality, is author of “Born with Wings: The Spiritual Journey of a Modern Muslim Woman” (Spiegel & Grau, 2018).

The #MeToo movement seemingly has touched all corners of American society—business, religion, journalism, sports, politics, academia, culture and more. Yet there remains a deep, global pool of alleged perpetrators. Perhaps unsurprisingly, reports of abuse and exploitation have surfaced from within the Muslim community, in the U.S. and abroad.

In February an anonymous Pakistani woman posted on Facebook about being sexually harassed while on the hajj to Mecca. Egyptian-American feminist Mona Eltahawy then shared her own story of abuse as a teenager. This likely marked the birth of the #MosqueMeToo movement. Today Muslim women across the world continue to report stories of inappropriate sexual experiences within their communities and sacred spaces—environments meant to foster spiritual growth.

This has provoked responses ranging from supportive sisterhood to rage and even disbelief. Even Muslim women are deeply divided. Many find themselves torn between centuries of tradition, modern social pressures, and their own beliefs. Like many Muslim women living in the West, I have struggled to find the balance among my religion, my culture and American social mores.