Author Archives: Bok
Nuclear Options Players
As expected, Mitch McConnell pulled the trigger and made Chuck Schumer’s filibuster glow in the dark. As for the boy in the husky pants who runs North Korea: he’s keeping his nuclear options open for now.
Democrat’s Self-Immolate Over Filibuster
Well, Chuck Schumer went with the filibuster. And that caused the Democrats to self-immolate when Mitch McConnell applied the nuclear option. Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch rose from the ashes.
Here’s how they voted.
Now that the filibuster has been vaporized, Senate Democrats are defenseless against the Republican majority’s future high court whims. Which does make for a nice fund raising theme. Not to mention that Republicans will be in the same boat when the tide turns.
War on Coal
Trump ended Obama’s war on coal, as promised. Come to think of it, I don’t know why Obama declared the war in the first place. Or why Hillary signed on for it. The natural gas industry went to war against coal for them. Gas is cheap, clean, and – despite President Obama’s efforts – plentiful.
So, looks like a rout.
Sanctuary Cities Federal Funds
Attorney General Sessions says sanctuary cities are violating the law. So he plans to punish them by withholding federal funds.
They say that’s against the law.
What Could Be Worse Than Russian Interference?
Kimberly Strassel has an idea of what could be worse than Russian interference. In her WSJ column she says the bombshell news story of the week was drowned out by the uproar created by California Rep Adam Schiff, the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee. Schiff is outraged that Committee Chairman Devin Nunes violated protocol by viewing classified documents at the White House, and briefing Trump rather than sharing with the committee.
The real news is what’s in the documents.
First, there were dozens of documents with information about Trump officials. Second, the information these documents contained was not related to Russia. Third, while many reports did “mask” identities (referring, for instance, to “U.S. Person 1 or 2”) they were written in ways that made clear which Trump officials were being discussed. Fourth, in at least one instance, a Trump official other than Mr. Flynn was outright unmasked. Finally, these documents were circulated at the highest levels of government.
To sum up, Team Obama was spying broadly on the incoming administration.
