Why now?

I guess this is as good an explanation as any, although I've also heard that the Comey firing correlated with the installation of Rosenstein at Justice:

But why fire Comey now? The answer is simple. The day before, President Barack Obama’s former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper repeated, under oath, what he told NBC News’ Chuck Todd on Meet the Press on March 5 — that he had seen no evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government. That gave the Trump administration the breathing room to dismiss Comey — which it simply did not have before.

I heard somewhere that Sean Spicer was asked about Trump's faith in Comey a week ago and Spicer was like: "Oh, I haven't asked him recently."  Which was a weird thing to say, in hindsight.

Out of the blue

NY Times: "F.B.I. Director James Comey Is Fired by Trump."

Everybody's trying to figure out what's going on.  The general feeling is that this was a long time coming because of the way Comey handled the Clinton email investigation:

Mr. Comey broke with longstanding tradition and policies by discussing the case and chastising the Democratic presidential nominee’s “careless” handling of classified information. Then, in the campaign’s final days, Mr. Comey announced that the F.B.I. was reopening the case, a move that earned him widespread criticism.

Of course, the usual suspects are calling this a purge to throw off the Russia probe.  As Charles Krauthammer noted, it took a Democrat less than an hour to make a "Saturday Night Massacre" reference.

Update - Assistant Attorney General Rod Rosenstein lays out the case.

Because of bad stuff he said

Powerline: "ACLU makes it official: The only thing wrong with Trump's travel order is Trump."  In a hearing before the Fourth Circuit, the ACLU lawyer pretty much admitted the order would be Constitutional if submitted by a President Clinton, because she was nicer during the campaign.

Democracy dies in darkness but the narrative is immortal

Ace: ""Hate Crime" Reported on By Washington Post 15 Times Turns Out to Be, Get This, a Hoax; Washington Post Refuses to Run a New Story On the Hate Hoax."

To paraphrase a great movie, when the narrative is threatened by fact, ignore the retraction.

You had one job

Politico: "Coming soon: The fiscal cliff to end all fiscal cliffs - President Donald Trump and the GOP Congress will have to avert a debt default and government shutdown — and that's just for starters."

The new normal for budgeting in Washington is to wait for a crisis, pass a continuing resolution, and wait for the next crisis date to hit.  At its most fundamental level, it's the job of Congress to keep the government running by passing appropriation bills.  Do that.

Le crusher

Fox News: "Emmanuel Macron wins French presidential election over rival Marine Le Pen."  Not even close: Macron almost doubled Le Pen's vote.

The party that cried wolf

Guess what: we're all gonna die.  Exclamation point.  The Corner:

One of the things that’s most galling about the Obamacare debate is the stubborn insistence from all too many activists on the Left that we can have it all. We can have universal, affordable, high-quality health care, and the reasons why we don’t are due to the greed, heartlessness, and hatefulness of our political opponents. Santa Claus is real, they argue, and the only thing keeping him from shimmying down into your house is that spiked grate the GOP put at the top of the chimney.

But the GOP is used to this by now, and so are GOP voters. When it comes to arguments over health care, there truly is nothing new under the sun.

Somehow, we'll have to struggle through the fields of fire.  Heat Street: "Democrats and Media Go into Hysterics over Healthcare Bill, Just Like Everything Else."  Yawn.

It's because of your Diet Coke, Madison

Hit and Run: "Seattle Mayor Proposes Soda Tax To Fight White Privilege."

Serves you right

The Baltimore Orioles beat up on the Red Sox last night, so this is condign punishment.  Hot Air: "Maryland insurer requests 59% premium hike, says Obamacare in first stages of death spiral."

American Health Care Act

Here's a good explanation via USA Today: "What does the Republican Obamacare repeal bill actually do?"  Among the provisions:

The American Health Care Act would let insurers charge older customers five times as much. That’s intended to draw more younger — and healthier — people into the individual insurance market.

If I remember correctly, the original ratio of older health care recipients versus younger Americans was over 6-1.  In other words (unsurprisingly), older Americans use six-times more health care.  Obamacare perverted the very definition of insurance (risk pools, actuary tables) by setting this to a 3-1 ratio.  The kids realized they were getting a bad deal and stayed away, preferring to pay the tax penalty instead of expensive insurance.  Because of the looming death spiral, the Obama Administration had to launch the pathetic "pajama boy" ad campaign to trick the kids into joining the insurance pool.  But they didn't and insurance companies started to lose billions and here we are today.

The new entitlement

Breitbart: "Krauthammer: 'We'll be in a single-payer system' in 'less than seven years'."  "He added that Obamacare “failed at every level.” Yet despite that, “I think Obamacare wins the day, because it changed expectations."

The NY Times falls into a trap of its own making

I've been trying to avoid looking backward to the Obama Administration or Hillary's latest excuses why she didn't win the White House.  It's old news.  But this article by Nate Silver has some great analysis: "The Comey Letter Probably Cost Clinton The Election."

One part I found fascinating was that Silver believes the NY Times played up the letter because they were sure Hillary was going to win anyway.  Plus, the tough reporting was a way to show critics that there's no ideological bias at the Gray Lady:

Why was the Times giving Comey’s letter such blockbuster coverage and at the same time going out of its way to insist that it wouldn’t affect the outcome?

The evidence is consistent with the theory that the Times covered the Comey letter as it did because it saw Clinton as the almost-certain next president — and Trump as a historical footnote. By treating the letter as a huge deal, it could get a head start on covering the next administration and its imbroglios. It could also “prove” to its critics that it could provide tough coverage of Democrats, thereby countering accusations of liberal bias (a longstanding hang-up at the Times). So what if it wasn’t clear from the letter whether Clinton had done anything wrong? The Times could use the same weasel-worded language that it often does in such situations, speaking of the Comey letter as having “cast a cloud” over Clinton.

In testimony before Congress yesterday, FBI chief James Comey said he wishes he could have found a third way between reporting and not-reporting the fact that Huma Abedin had forwarded classified information to Anthony Weiner so they could be printed out.  Either he's be accused of a cover-up, or unduly swaying the election.  The ideological bubble at the Times was so impenetrable, they convinced themselves they could do some tough reporting and it wouldn't hurt their girl.

Oops.

Bret Stephens, uber-troll

Heh-heh, all is proceeding according to plan.  Good....good.

Farewell CT

Legal Insurrection: "ECON 101 Comes to Connecticut: Taxing the Rich Doesn’t Work."  "Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy did the unthinkable for a Democrat: He admitted taxing the rich does not work."

Bookmark this for future reference

MIT professor Richard Lindzen: "Thoughts on the Public Discourse over Climate Change."

The load out

Explain Like I'm 5: "Why is Japan not facing economic ruin when its debt to GDP ratio is much worse than Greece during the eurozone crisis?"

Extra - Zero Hedge: "Greece Reaches Deal With Lenders, Promising Even More Austerity."  Buh-bye pensions.

Whispers gettin' louder

Hot Air: "CNN: Friends seem to think Anthony Kennedy will retire no later than next summer."

Worth the wait

I don't know why this gif of a duckling jumping up a wall is so satisfying.  Maybe we've all had days like him.

Cancel my subscription!

Federalist: "Reaction To Bret Stephens’ Global Warming Column Shows Left Isn’t Interested In Debate."

Tolerance

PJ Media: "Study Finds Democrats Least Tolerant of Opposing Views."  To be sure, it's a small sampling of students at Dartmouth but it's funny that the most welcoming are Republicans.  "Get over here, you Commie, and let's hug it out!"