My review of the State of the Union address

Um, I didn't watch it.  The latest episodes of "The Leftovers" came in the mail and, well....

Sounds like fun!  Daily Beast: "Donald Trump’s State of the Union Was Designed to Troll Democrats. It Worked."

Inside man

Hot Air: "DOJ Inspector General Focused On McCabe’s Role In The Final Weeks Of The 2016 Election."

Hey, guess who might be really guilty of obstruction of justice?

Extra - Powerline: "WaPo: McCabe investigation relates to delay on Weiner emails."  And possibly sitting on the Clinton Foundation, too.

Not gonna happen

Atlantic: "There's No Way Mueller Will Indict Trump - Those hoping the special counsel will prosecute the president are engaging in fantasy."

Good article: this guy makes the case that the law indicates that a sitting President cannot be indicted: "These rules bind all Department of Justice employees, and Mueller, in the end, is a Department of Justice employee. More to the point, if we know anything about Mueller, we think we know that he follows the rules—all of them. Even the ones that restrict him in ways he would prefer they not."

NYT - FBI: GTFO

New York Times: "Andrew McCabe Steps Down as F.B.I. Deputy Director Under Pressure."

In a recent conversation, Christopher A. Wray, the F.B.I. director, raised concerns about a forthcoming inspector general report examining the actions of Mr. McCabe and other senior F.B.I. officials during the 2016 presidential campaign, when the bureau was investigating both Hillary Clinton’s email use and the Trump campaign’s connections to Russia. In that discussion, according to one former law enforcement official close to Mr. McCabe, Mr. Wray suggested moving Mr. McCabe into another job, which would have been a demotion.
Instead, the former official said, Mr. McCabe chose to leave.

What was so bad in the IG's report that director Wray decided he just couldn't let McCabe hang out for another six weeks?  Hmmmm.

Maura Healey: wasting Bay State time and money

I've long had a beef with Massachusetts attorney general Maura Healey.  The main output of her office is press releases announcing her opposition to some federal policy which has absolutely no basis in law.  This is true whether it's federal immigration policies or illegal Obamacare subsidies; the press release and the ink in the newspaper is the most important aspect.  Constitutional standing is an ancillary consideration.

In today's Sunday Boston Globe, Jeff Jacoby writes about how the Berkshire Museum is trying to maintain its solvency by selling off some pieces including some Norman Rockwell paintings.  Maura Healey had no objection...until it was time to generate an issue for a press release:

Attorney General Maura Healey, whose office oversees nonprofits and charities, was notified of the museum’s deaccessioning plans in June, weeks before it was announced publicly. She rightly raised no objection. Not until four months later, after art-world purists had created a tumult, did Healey’s office go to court. It procured an injunction to halt the auction while it conducted an investigation of the Berkshire’s planning process.

Yet it’s hard to escape the conclusion that Healey’s investigation became a quest to find something, anything, to justify her belated opposition to the Berkshire’s plan. It isn’t only museum partisans who say so. Ruling on the initial request for an injunction in November, Superior Court Judge John Agostini pronounced it “bewildering” that Healey would try to stop the sale when her office “has uncovered no evidence of bad faith, no conflict of interest, [and] no breach of loyalty.”

That the law is a secondary consideration to every action of the AG's office is troubling.

La La Times Land

Hot Air: "The Very Liberal LA Times Seems To Be Crushing Their Own New Union."  Heh.

La-La Land

Hit and Run: "California Considers $1,000 Fine for Waiters Offering Unsolicited Plastic Straws."

The Offended Olympics

Ben Shapiro: "What right not to be offended?"

Found via this Instapundit meme where a Brit interviewer did her level-best to twist every word this guy said.

Yer gonna crack like that there Liberty Bell

Not gonna happen, Philly.  Boston Globe: "Early betting favors underdog Eagles in Super Bowl."

The impossible dream

Politico: "Immigration talks quickly hit a wall."

Senators crashing on a two-week deadline to come up with an immigration plan are already sparring over funding for President Donald Trump’s border wall, what qualifies as border security — even what the scope of the negotiations are.

It was an inauspicious start Tuesday to the bipartisan effort to break the months-long impasse over Dreamers and the budget that crescendoed with last weekend’s government shutdown. That crisis ended quickly, but Congress could be back in almost the same spot in two weeks absent a deal that can get 60 votes.

Here's what I don't understand: Obama and the Democrats had eight years to put in place some kind of legislative remedy to help the "Dreamers."  But despite a promise as a candidate to make immigration reform "a top priority in my first year as president" he did nothing.  Then, once his Democrat majorities were safely squandered away, he flip-flopped on his Presidential authority and launched the illegal DACA program.

That program would have continued, unhindered, once there was a President Hillary.  Instead, Obama handed Trump a powerful tool in the immigration reform battle.  So - guess what? - the guy who ran a campaign by screaming "Build that Wall" at every stop wants...a wall.  I'm not saying he has a mandate and I'm not saying it's even an effective policy.  But the Democrats misread the public mood terribly on this issue and lost all their government-shutdown leverage.

Having sequentially squandered the initiative, the opportunity, the power, and the debate on immigration reform, who do the Democrats think they are setting terms?

Mammoth cave

Daily Wire: "Democrats in chaos: Pelosi, Progressives Attack Schumer; Democrats Lose Leverage To Protect Illegal Immigrants."

What a complete rout.  Now the Democrats are trying to convince themselves they've forced a Senate vote on DACA, which they haven't, and anything that passes out of the Senate will die in the House.

At least they got "the potential for momentum" goin' for 'em...which is nice.  Just like the Cleveland Browns!

Coming for you, Superbowl 52

This guy:

The Trump exception

Bench Memos on the rash of injunctions against Trump alone: "One year later, it is clear that judicial resistance to this administration is alarmingly broad and almost entirely unmoored from the law. In an editorial this morning, the Wall Street Journal reports that “there have been 19 nationwide injunctions against Administration initiatives ranging from sanctuary cities to new rules on contraceptive coverage. Many of these rulings reject longstanding legal understandings or refer to Mr. Trump’s campaign statements rather than the language of the regulation.”

"Chris Steele might know this Ohr guy"

Powerline: "Simpson tried to deceive Congress on the Fusion GPS/Obama DOJ connection."

This testimony is absurd. Simpson has testified that Fusion GPS has approximately 10 employees, one of whom was Nellie Ohr. His testimony that Bruce Ohr was “someone that Chris Steele knows” was at best deliberately deceptive, at worst outright perjury.

Drip drip.

Hmmmmm

Ace: "#ReleaseTheMemo: Congressmen, Government Officials Tout Report on FISA Abuse They Say Will Rock Country and Implicate Obama."

Crazy squiggly lines

Legal Insurrection: "Supreme Court halts North Carolina court-ordered redrawing of congressional districts."  There's a map at the link and, brother, North Carolina is a crazy-quilt of districts.  As Dr. Jacobson notes, this stay was not altogether unexpected because traditionally the Supreme Court has been reluctant to step in to address what is widely considered a state issue.

What happened to Newsweek?

I can't believe I used to subscribe.  Hot Air: "More Big News From “News”Week: You’ll Never Guess How Hillary Could Still Become President."  Click to see why BleachBit hates her!

DJIA 26K

It's almost like there's a whole new optimism in business nowadays for some reason.  Hot Air: "Apple: Get Ready For Our $350 Billion US Investment — Thanks To Tax Reform."

Sweet soda sticker shock stings Seattle

I love this story from PJ Media: "Soda Tax Sticker Shock Grips Seattle."  The city needed cash (duh) so they decided to tax sugary drinks at the rate of 1.75 cents per ounce.  The authors of this tax hike told themselves that this tax would be borne by the distributors so it was totally cool.

Instead, Costco listed the prices that they were forced to charge for the new "fee".  A pack of Gatorade that went for $16 now went for $26 and change.  Then they went a step further and directed customer to the Costco outside of Seattle city limits to avoid the tax.  How nice for Costco who has the network to re-route customers.  Sucks for you, local merchant.

Bortles has never lost a playoff game

The Patriots are in trouble:

Playoff Losses

Tom Brady: 9
Blake Bortles: 0 pic.twitter.com/wPYLxtFYk6

— Blake Bortles Facts (@BortlesFacts) January 14, 2018