Election 2020: A Fresh Crop

Lot's of news sprouted in the news fields yesterday. Let's take a look at the sickly crop. First, the Supreme Court never disappoints to disappoint. Former Republican Capt. Ed from Hot Hair, Wipeout: SCOTUS Rejects Election Challenges In Several States

The Supreme Court has had a busy morning deciding what they won’t do. First they declined to block Cyrus Vance’s subpoenas for Donald Trump’s tax records, and then they cleared the decks of the remaining challenges to election results. That made it a very bad day for the former president, but perhaps also for those hoping to settle one important question in Pennsylvania:

Tyler O'Neil at PJ Media, 'Inexplicable': Alito and Thomas Dissent as Supreme Court Strikes Down Pennsylvania Election Lawsuit.   Sundance at CTH, Unbelievable, SCOTUS Refuses to Hear PA Election Challenge AFTER Previously Granting Injunction "The supreme court has taken a knee… let me explain why it is so evident:" Moot. Insty, GUTLESS WONDERS: 

Clarence Thomas Blasts the Supreme Court for Ducking the Pennsylvania Election Challenge. “Few things are worse for public confidence in elections than having the rules changed in the middle of the game (or after it). An epidemic of late-in-the-day changes to the rules was particularly corrosive in 2020. Courts are ill-equipped to referee those changes when partisan tempers are running hot. The Supreme Court just threw away its last opportunity to remedy that problem before the next election cycle. . . . This issue will not go away, and it may return next time surrounded by the same sorts of popular rage that led to the Capitol riot. This was the time for cooler heads to say what the law is.”

There will be a lot more rage next time, I expect.

Ace, #MuhJudges: Kavanaugh and Barrett Refuse to Consider Illegal Ballot-Counting Changes in Pennsylvania

Before the inauguration: Not timely

After the certification: Moot

It's almost as if they're willing to resort to claiming any ol' doctrine to avoid saying that you're not allowed to violate the Constitution when you change election rules last-minute.

Also Capt Ed. Mystery Ended: SCOTUS Refuses To Block Vance Subpoena For Trump Tax Records, on Da Hill, Trump lashes out after Supreme Court decision on his financial records, and Sundance, Supreme Court Clears Path for New York Grand Jury to Receive President Trump Tax Returns. Any judge who releases them must make it absolutely clear that any leak of these returns should be considered a crime by Vance and punished accordingly. Also, some enterprising conservatives need to start fishing for the Supreme Court justices tax returns. 

As bad as the Supreme Court is, it could be worse. Merrick Garland might have been confirmed. Yesterday he testified for his confirmation to be AG, and conservative need to worry. Sundance has the video, in the event you're a masochist: Afternoon Session, Senate Confirmation Hearing for AG Nominee Merrick Garland  Insty summarizes his testimony at MERRICK GARLAND WATCH:

● Garland: Portland Riots May Not Be ‘Domestic Terrorism’ Because Courthouse Was Closed.

● Garland Vows to Prioritize Prosecuting Capitol Rioters and Their ‘Abettors.’

● Garland Won’t Promise to Protect Durham Investigation.

● Garland Says DOJ Would Advance Biden’s Anti-Gun Policies.

● Garland refuses to state illegally crossing the border is a crime.

● Garland Sidesteps Question on Trans Participation in Women’s Sports.

WaPoo, Merrick Garland tells senators Capitol riot investigation will be his first priority as attorney general. Tyler O'Neil, Merrick Garland Vows to Prioritize Prosecuting Capitol Rioters and Their 'Abettors'. Watch out for a liberally applied standard for "abettors." Miranda Devine at NYPo, with Merrick Garland in mind, There shouldn’t be a double standard for law & order. But there is. And points out how Garland cited "white supremacists" in the rioting. 

Which brings us to the Capitol incursion. From Reuters, Oath Keeper claims she met with Secret Service before Capitol riot. Set up, like a bowlin' pin, knocked down, it gets to wearin' thin. Rachel Bovard at Da Fed points out how Court Docs Show Facebook Played Much Bigger Part In Capitol Riot Than Parler, Yet No Consequences, and yet they shuttered Parler for it. I'd miss Facebook, but I'd get over it. At WaEx, What were the Capitol rioters thinking? Objection! Assumes thinking was actually happening. But maybe they thought they were entitled to the same treatment as leftist rioters? Robert Spencer at PJ Media, DHS: ‘Right-Wing Extremists’ Committed Most Deadly Terrorist Attacks Last Year, using a shockingly liberal version for "right-wing extremists." Gleen Grenwalt, (twitter link)

PolitiFact finally acknowledges the truth: nobody has any idea how Brian Sicknick died. His mother said he was never hit and believes he died of a stroke. His brother thinks it may have been pepper spray. Nobody knows:

Can we begin impeachment hearings yet?  Oh the irony. Biden said that he was arrested for trespassing at the Capitol. Dual warning, Michael Moore, and Twitter. 

Oh the irony. Biden said that he was arrested for trespassing at the Capitol. pic.twitter.com/cUid5QAIQ6

— Michael Moore (@mbracemoore) February 21, 2021

But knowing Biden, it's probably a lie. WaPoo whines Lindsey Graham said ‘Count me out’ after the Capitol riot. But he’s all in with Trump again and the NYT, cited at Hot Hair, wonders how Lost Hours: How Confusion And Inaction At The Capitol Delayed Guard Deployment. WaPoo, Impeachment is over. But other efforts to reckon with Trump’s post-election chaos have just begun. 

The goal, according to lawyers and others supportive of such efforts, is to mete out some form of punishment for those who helped undermine confidence in the election results and fueled the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. But even more, they said, they hope to discourage other public officials from rerunning Trump’s strategy of attempting to overturn an election result by sowing doubt about the legitimacy of the vote.

As part of that effort, Dominion files defamation lawsuit against MyPillow CEO over false claims voting machines were rigged against Trump (WaPoo), Hot Hair cites at WSJ Dominion Sues MyPillow And Mike Lindell Over Election Claims, and ex-Republican Capt. Ed, BREAKING: Dominion Files $1.3 Billion Defamation Suit Against Lindell. Suppression of unpopular opinions. When do we get to start to "mete out some form of punishment for those who" who encouraged and abetted the rioting this summer?

Victor Davis Hanson on Impeachment and the ‘Cancer’ of Woke Ideology, via Maggie's Farm.

Bronson Stocking at Town Hall, This New Poll Should Terrify the GOP Establishment "According to a new poll, nearly half of Republicans say they will leave the Republican Party to join a third-party created and led by former President Donald Trump." When you have to wonder what they're good for. Althouse catches Anxious whining, "In his first post-presidential appearance, Donald Trump plans to send the message next weekend that he is Republicans' 'presumptive 2024 nominee' with a vise grip on the party's base..." and Andrew Malcom at Hot Hair reports Trump Emerges From Political Silence, As A GOP Gov Says No To Another Trump Term.

Plenty more at the Wombat's In The Mailbox: 02.22.21 and JJ Sefton's The Morning Report - 2/23/21 at Ace's.