Supreme Court upholds CFPB funding rules | Ted Bartelstone posted on the topic | LinkedIn (2024)

The latest kerfuffle about a Supreme Court Justice - this time Justice Alito - is patently an attempt to harm an ideological foe. It has nothing to do with any so-called ethical failure. We know this because there have been many other judges with similar, and worse "offenses" who, surprise - were not ideological foes, but friends, such as Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg and others. If the attempt by the left was not such a serious perversion, this would be comical. As noted in this article, the "goal is power, not ethics.""The left’s campaign against the Supreme Court took a comical turn last week when theNew York Timesreported that an upside-down flag briefly hung outside JusticeSamuel Alito’s Virginia home in January 2021. Some supporters ofDonald Trumphave used the inverted flag, a traditional symbol of distress, to express their view that the 2020 election was stolen. Cut to the calls for Justice Alito to recuse himself from any case involving Mr. Trump, the 2020 election or its aftermath.""Do Mrs. Alito’s political views, whatever they may be, create a reasonable question about Justice Alito’s impartiality? Not if we follow precedent.JudgeStephen Reinhardtof the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals didn’t recuse himself from a 2011 case challenging California’s same-sex marriage ban, even though his wife directed an American Civil Liberties Union chapter that had joined two district-court briefs in the case. “The views are hers, not mine, and I do not in any way condition my opinions on the positions she takes regarding any issues,” Reinhardt wrote. Judicial ethics experts led byStephen Gillersfiled a brief defending Reinhardt on grounds that his wife’s “opinions, views, and public pronouncements of support for the district court decision below do not trigger any reasonable basis to question Judge Reinhardt’s ability to honor his oath of office.”"Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg—herself, not her late husband—was outspokenly anti-Trump in 2016. She called the Republican candidate a “faker” and criticized him for not releasing his tax returns. She didn’t recuse herself from any case involving Mr. Trump, includingTrump v. Mazars(2020), which concerned a congressional subpoena for his tax returns. And in 1998 she donated a signed copy of one of her opinions to the National Organization for Women, which sold it in a fundraising auction. Ginsburg didn’t recuse herself from any case in which NOW filed a brief.JudgeNina Pillardof the D.C. Circuit didn’t recuse herself from theMazarscase either. Her husband is the ACLU’s national legal director and had written a blog post agreeing with the district court’s decision before the full appellate court that included his wife reviewed it.The left claims to uphold norms but violates them by inventing recusal standards to pressure and delegitimize the court. The goal is power, not ethics."

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A fabulous article by Jason Riley contrasting former Pres Obama's 2013 uplifting Commencement address to mostly black Morehouse College, and Pres Biden's recent address of despair.Obama's message of responsibility and hope -"Mr. Obama emphasized the importance of individual responsibility in black advancement and counseled the graduates to guard against self-pity. He said that while his job as president was to advocate policies that “generate more opportunity for everybody,” government efforts go only so far. “There are some things, as black men, we can only do for ourselves,” he said. Among them was being a role model. “Just as Morehouse has taught you to expect more of yourselves, inspire those who look up to you to expect more of themselves.”Mr. Obama said that too many young black men in the U.S. continue to make bad personal choices and then blame others. “And I have to say, growing up, I made quite a few myself,” he noted. “Sometimes I wrote off my own failings as just another example of the world trying to keep a black man down. I had a tendency sometimes to make excuses for me not doing the right thing. But one of the things that all of you have learned over the last four years is there’s no longer any room for excuses.”Pointedly, the former president said that while racism and discrimination still exist, they shouldn’t be used as a crutch. “Nobody cares how tough your upbringing was. Nobody cares if you suffered some discrimination. And moreover, you have to remember that whatever you’ve gone through, it pales in comparison to the hardships previous generations endured—and they overcame them. And if they overcame them, you can overcome them.”Biden's message of despair and victimhood - "When Mr. Biden took the stage on Sunday, he didn’t see an audience of black men with limitless opportunities awaiting them. Instead, he saw an audience of black victims who should question their prospects. “You started college just asGeorge Floydwas murdered and there was a reckoning on race,” Mr. Biden said. “It’s natural to wonder if democracy you hear about actually works for you. What is democracy if black men are being killed in the street?”Only in Mr. Biden’s imagination would it be “natural” for the black people in that audience—many of whom were second- and third-generation college graduates—to wonder if democracy is working for them. Atlanta has had black mayors going back to the 1970s, and Georgia currently has a black Democratic U.S. senator (a Morehouse graduate) who won re-election by defeating a black Republican."

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Universities should not allow their commencement speakers to promote hate. But, that is what Pres Biden did at his Morehouse College speech."He can’t run on that record, so he is trying to change the subject by dividing Americans with racial demagoguery. It’s not a message worthy of a President, though it looks like it’s the best Mr. Biden has to offer.""Less forgivable was the President’s attempt to stir resentment among the graduates on what should be a day to appreciate what they accomplished and to inspire hope for the future. Here’s what Mr. Biden said instead:“You started college just asGeorge Floydwas murdered and there was a reckoning on race. It’s natural to wonder if democracy you hear about actually works for you.“What is democracy if black men are being killed in the street?“What is democracy if a trail of broken promises still leave black—black communities behind?“What is democracy if you have to be 10 times better than anyone else to get a fair shot?“And most of all, what does it mean, as we’ve heard before, to be a black man who loves his country even if it doesn’t love him back in equal measure?”Thanks for the uplift, Mr. President. Since Mr. Biden is asking questions, is this what he wants these young graduates to believe about their country—that American democracy is defined by its racial animosity, as if they still live in theJim CrowSouth?"

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"Higher education" is in real trouble. It promotes intolerance. The answer is that universities should allow respectful and civil dissent and, as an institution, never take sides, but condemn and punish demagoguery or violence."The graduation season that brings it all to a seasonal climax has only underscored how deep the corrosion is: Commencement ceremoniescanceledornoisily disruptedby theHamasniks; a professional football player hauled through the stocks of public disapproval fordaring to suggestthat motherhood might be a high calling. And then on Sunday the president of the United States using a commencement address as aplatform for abject demagoguery. He told a class full of young black Americans that the country he leads is irredeemably racist and that his political opponents are bringing back Jim Crow, banning black history books and denying water to black people waiting in line to vote.""Yet grim as it all is, there’s another story—one of teachers and administrators who practice and preach the ideal of a university, of students eager to absorb and participate in a traditional education that deepens the intellect and broadens the mind, exposing themselves to ideas that challenge them.""This is an essential point: If we want to repair the rifts in our national fabric, we could start by practicing tolerance in our places of learning. Notre Dame is far from alone. In recent weeks we have seen other universityleadersand faculty—and even, most encouragingly,students—take a stand against intolerance."

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Free markets are no longer thought of as an ideal. Even some "conservatives" promote the idea of controlling the economy in one way or the other (for example, trade barriers).Here is a thoughtful article demonstrating that free market capitalism is the best way to promote the well-being and prosperity of the people, and to reduce poverty. And, free markets make all of us better people in part because capitalism means, if we are to succeed, we must serve the interests and desires of others."“Markets produce the growth that gets us out of poverty,” Mr. Gregg says. “But they also encourage virtues that make us better people while simultaneously working with, rather than against, human nature. All these things make markets morally superior to all the alternatives.”"But capitalism, Mr. Gregg says, is better not only when everyone plays fairly. Even when nations cheat, protectionist retaliation harms those who impose it—such as tariffs that raise the price of foreign steel. While those tariffs may make things better for U.S. steel producers, they make things worse for the many more Americans who consume steel, from construction companies to car buyers. Some critics liken tariffs to trying to defeat your enemy by blockading your own ports.“The way to beat China is not to become more like China,” Mr. Gregg says. “It’s to make our economy even more competitive.”"“Blue-collar people today are economically much better off than they were in, say, the 1950s or 1970s,” Mr. Gregg says. “Their inflation-adjusted average overall income and benefits are considerably higher,their houses are bigger, and they have access to labor-saving technologies their grandparents couldn’teven envisage.”

I have listened to more than my share of commencement speeches. Most wise speakers know they are not the main attraction, but perhaps a footnote in the lives of the graduates. Most speakers take too long to deliver their message, some valuable, some less so.Here, US Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas delivers an amazing five-minute address that starts and ends with "courage." If you are a graduate, or know a graduate, take five minutes to listen to this message. It will be well worth your time.https://lnkd.in/ghEp3qkV

Remember the "Hur Report?" Biden is hoping you don't. Hur was the special prosecutor who decided that the Justice Department should not indict Joe Biden for his classified documents violations, not because he didn't do it, but because likely he lacked the mental capacity necessary to prove the case.Hur interview Pres Biden and with not Biden objection, the transcript of that interview was released to the public (i.e. - the People who pay his salary). Now, legislators want to hear the audio of the interview, but Biden all of a sudden claims "executive privilege." His decision to resist this disclosure is not based on anything other than pure political motives. Biden knows his mental capacity is being challenged and it is a legitimate issue given all the evidence of his deterioration. Why wouldn't the People be entitled to know whether the man who wishes to serve another four years can stand up to the mental challenges of the presidency?The problem with executive privilege, like any privilege in law, once it is waived you cannot undo the waiver."The privilege claim is bogus on two grounds. First, once a President waives a privilege right, it can’t be reclaimed. Mr. Biden conceded that the interview wasn’t privileged, and there’s no legal basis to say that a recording is different from a transcript.Even if Mr. Biden had first claimed privilege over the interview, that wouldn’t pass legal muster because the interview subject didn’t concern his presidential duties or White House deliberations. It concerned his handling of documents while in the Senate, as Vice President, or as a private citizen.""But Republicans want the audio to judge the tenor and credibility of Mr. Biden’s responses and Mr. Hur’s conclusion that the President’s faulty memory was cause not to bring an indictment in the case. The White House claim of privilege over the recordings isn’t intended to protect executive power. It’s intended to avoid presidential embarrassment."

I have generally thought that the major problem with public education is teacher unions, not teachers. Notwithstanding this, some teachers deserve negative attention. In Chicago, hundreds of teachers whose salaries are paid for by the People, walked off the job to lobby the Illinois legislature for more money - a Billion Dollars more! All while 80% of Chicago's minority children cannot read at grade level."The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) professes to care about students, but the lessons it cares most about are political. On Wednesday hundreds of teachers played hooky and abandoned their students to lobby lawmakers in Springfield for an extra $1 billion they say the state owes the city.The Chicago Public Schools granted the field trip as a paid day off at the union’s request. Nice non-work if you can get it.""The equity claim doesn’t hold up to scrutiny. Gov.J.B. Pritzkerhas increased school funding by $350 million a year since 2017, or more than $2 billion. Chicago schools get more funding than half of all Illinois schools under the formula. The state is facing an $800 million shortfall in Mr. Pritzker’s 2025 budget, if lawmakers don’t approve his proposed tax increases.The CTU is flexing its political muscle ahead of contract negotiations that begin in June. Teachers have asked for 9% annual raises, housing assistance for teachers and families, and pension divestment from funds contributing to climate change. CTU PresidentStacy Davis Gatessays the union wants “$50 billion and three cents.” When pressed on where the money would come from, Ms. Gates said “stop asking that question. Ask another question.”We can explain, if she can’t. The money comes from taxpayers whose children are ill-served by Ms. Gates’s failing public schools. Eighty per cent of Chicago’s minority children can’t read at grade level, according to Wirepoints. But Ms. Gates knows that. She sends her son to private school."

DEI - a slow realization that it is not beneficial and evenharmful"Itwas a great racket while it lasted, but so-called diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives have spent the last year in retreat — compelling the practitioners of discriminatory “social justice” to conduct a flailing rearguard action in a flight to more defensible terrain.""TheSupreme Court foundthat explicitly racially conscious college admissions were flatly unconstitutional. And the private enterprises that committed vast sums to mollifying the activist class by parking DEI functionaries in sinecures within their human-resources departments began paring back their beneficence. AsNPR reportedlast August, the job-posting index Indeed saw DEI-related job postings decline by 38 percent over the first half of 2023 — a trend that hasonly acceleratedin the intervening months.""DEI’s embittering pseudo-academic framework establishes in the minds of its adherents a racial hierarchy and sorts Americans into oppressed and oppressor camps. That is the same implicit prejudice that has led too many students to erase the distinction between Israelis, Zionists, and Jews. It is an ideology that prescribes negative as well as positive discrimination to right perceived historical wrongs. It justifies all manner of antisocial conduct in the pursuit of that perverted notion of justice, including the emotional blackmail and extortion that siphons funds from institutional operating budgets to support the DEI consultancy. UNC Chapel Hill has finally had enough of this game, and they’re not alone."

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