Law

The recent Supreme Court ruling regarding presidential immunity while in office begs the question, what about congress. Article 1, Section 6 of the US Constitution protects legislators from lawsuits stemming from their work in Congress and ensures s Article I, Section 6 of the U.S. Constitution protects legislators from lawsuits stemming from their work in Congress. Does this mean they are above the law. One of the concerns is that a person can be charged after leaving office and thus inhibits the activity while in office. One case that comes to mind involves President Obama. Justice Sotomayor made the outlandish suggestion that a president could order Seal Team 6 to kill someone and he would be immune from prosecution but the case involving Obama show this is not that outlandish. Obama ordered the killing of an American citizen without a trial. The Obama administration today argued before a federal court that it should have unreviewable authority to kill Americans the executive branch has unilaterally determined to pose a threat. Is this acting above the law.

Harris

The scrutiny concerning a Harris administration has intensified since the Biden debate performance. On some of the more important issues she has record. She will push the New Green Deal which includes more subsidies for wind, solar and EV's. She will continue her support of the war in Ukraine. She will continue the Biden border policies and opposes a wall. She will continue no cash bail and support for DA's who are hesitant to put felons in jail. She will not renew the Trump tax cuts. She will push to cancel student loan debt and wants free college tuition. She will back cultural issues like men in women's sports and gender change for minors. She will increase regulations on business and push for new taxes on business. She will champion diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) while emphasizing critical race theory, cancel culture and identity politics. She opposes fracking and the fossil fuel industry in general. She is pro choice and is for government paid abortions. She wants a path to citizenship for all illegal migrants. She wants universal health care and a $3,000 refundable tax refund to all families earning less than $50,000. This is only a partial list but it shows that she is part old time liberal and new time progressive. Her positions on issues will not be as important as her perceived ability to carry them out.

Biden

The poor debate performance by Biden has sparked new concerns about his not conducting interviews with the press. This is from April of this year from the NY Times. The Times in a statement called it "troubling" that Biden "has to actively and effectively avoided questions from independent journalists during his term". Others have suggested that this goes back to the 2020 campaign when Biden stayed out of sight using Covid as the reason. They also wonder why he refused the soft ball interview at the Super Bowl. Many say that in order to clear the air Biden should start doing interviews on a regular basis but there are some who feel this would do more harm than good. The debate was an eye opener and surprise to many who never watch Fox News. A number of these people believe that they have been misled concerning Biden's mental and physical fitness. Insiders now admit that not having a primary and keeping Biden under wraps has hurt his chances for reelection.

Defencd

On NPR today they interviewed a woman who talked about the maternity leave in Sweden. The parents receive 480 days paid leave. My first question was is the birth rate increasing but in fact it is decreasing. This was just one more of those comparisons that people often make between Europe and the US. What was not mentioned was that Sweden spends 1.3% of their GDP on defense while the US spends three times that much at 3.9%. This is typical of many European countries especially those in NATO who depend on the US to defend them against any invaders. The US has over 1,000 facilities overseas staffed by 170,000 people at a cost of $173 billion dollars per year. Is it time for these countries to start taking on more responsibility for their own defense. There are 31 countries in NATO and the US pays 22% of the budget.

Censor

The Supreme Court threw out the Social Media Censorship case. Censorship is something the government is not allowed to do but private parties can censor. The government did not go directly to Facebook and demand that certain items be censored but they went through Non Governmental Organizations (NGO's). Most NGO's are funded by government grants. This ruling will allow NGO's to attempt to influence social media. It is a back door way for the government to censor. NetChoice, a lobbying group representing and funded by nearly 40 major tech companies consider this decision a victory. Government agencies and government officials are forbidden from regulating or restricting speech or other expression based on its content or viewpoint.

Justice

The question keeps coming up as to whether the Justice Department is weaponize and the answer is an easy yes. The proof is in the Special Counsel case against Trump regarding presidential immunity. The primary concern of Jack Smith, the Special Counsel, is not getting conviction but getting one before the election.

Mika

On Morning Joe today Mika said that Trump has been a threat to democracy for ten years. She has forgotten how Trump called into her show three or four times a week during his 2016 campaign. It was programs like hers that brought Trump billions in free advertising. She relished his calls as the her ratings rose. Here is a December 2020 quote from Joe. Joe Scarborough Regrets Hosting Trump So Often ahead of 2016 Election: ‘I Wish It Hadn’t Happened’ Here is a report from 2016. It has been well established at this point that 2016 was a landmark year for cable news. That statement holds true for MSNBC, which had its most-watched year since the network launched in 1996. Mika's assessment of the debate is that Biden didn't do well but the worst part is that he was unable to challenge the lies told by Trump. While the election remains close the assumption is that if Biden had done well he would win easily in November.