.
TheFrontPageCover
~ Featuring ~
Federal Judicial Vacancies Getting Worse
by Thomas Gallatin
.
President Trump Vows to ‘Win’
on Border Wall Funding Fight
by Jim E
{thepoliticalinsider.com} ~ This morning, President Trump said that he’s determined to “win” on the current border wall funding fight... being waged with intransigent congressional Democrats. Yesterday, the White House signaled it may be willing to compromise on a spending deal to keep the government open past the Friday deadline. Trump is currently demanding $5 billion for construction of the border wall. To obtain that amount of money from current spending packages, the Senate needs to OK the appropriation by 60 votes. With only 51 Republican senators, that means garnering support from Democrat senators, all of whom are digging their heels in to oppose the measure. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders suggested that Trump would sign whatever spending package comes to his desk, and would later pay for the wall from funding at other government agencies. Trump is reassuring his base by reminding them that the fight isn’t over now and that wall-supporters will ultimately win. The President also outlined his vision for “the wall,” clarifying what will actually be built. It’s unclear what kind of spending package Congress will send the President to keep the government open past Friday. Right now, all signs suggest congressional Republicans will surrender and not fund the wall... https://thepoliticalinsider.com/trump-win-border-wall/?utm_campaign=TPI_Morning_Newsletter_12_19_2018&utm_source=criticalimpact&utm_medium=email&utm_content=4b4ea4948726422aa6473c7b9fa19141&source=CI.
Reporter who broke news of Steele dossier used
to surveil ex-Trump aide calls its claims largely 'false'
by Gregg Re .
Iran: Toward a Plan B
by Amir Taheri.
In crippling the WTO, the US disarms weapons
against Chinese high-tech protectionism
by Claude Barfield
{aei.org} ~ As it often does with trade policy, the Trump administration is undercutting one of its own goals with a campaign... yea, vendetta against the dispute settlement system the Dispute Settlement Understanding, or DSU of the World Trade Organization (WTO). For two years, while vetoing all reform proposals, the administration has irresponsibly refused to advance ideas of its own to bring the WTO legal redress system up-to-date. Soon, the WTO legal system will grind to a halt, and, as a result, China’s violations of its WTO obligations may go unpunished. Specifically, the US has refused to allow the appointment of new judges to the WTO Appellate Body (AB), the group of judges that review findings of the WTO’s lower level dispute panels. In an attempt to meet US concerns, the European Union and a group of 10 other WTO members including China, India, and New Zealand, put forward a set of new rules governing AB rules and practices. Briefly, they include provisions that would mandate that the AB make decisions within 90 days, as originally dictated by WTO rules; direct the AB not to add obiter dicta issues outside the specific points of contention; limit the AB’s ability to second guess the original panels on interpretations of WTO members’ domestic laws; and limit the precedential reach of individual decisions. Another proposal would extend the term of AB judges and make them full-time appointments. These changes would come in the form of amendments to the original Uruguay Round agreement — and would have to be adopted in the future by WTO consensus. The US rejected the reforms out of hand, with Dennis Shea, the US representative to the WTO, arguing that “they would not effectively address the concerns that members have raised.” This obdurate stance will badly undermine efforts to rein in China through the WTO....
Why President Trump Is Right To Consider
Pardoning Green Beret Matthew Golsteyn
by Julio Gonzalez
{thefederalist.com} ~ All too predictably, The New York Times is hyperbolically criticizing President Donald Trump for saying that he would review the case of Maj. Matthew L. Golsteyn... a Green Beret accused of killing an Afghan man in 2010. The New York Times called Trump “impulsive” and accused him of exercising “undue command influence.” But Golsteyn’s case is exactly the situation for which the presidential pardon must be considered. By all accounts, Golsteyn was serving in Afghanistan in 2010. His service took him to the battle for Marja, in which more than 15,000 coalition troops fought. Dozens of Americans were killed during that battle, including two members of the Green Beret, who were working with Golsteyn. They were the victims of an Afghan roadside bomb. While clearing homes around Marja, Golsteyn and his team captured a suspected Taliban bomb maker. To identify the prisoner, he was taken to an Afghan tribal leader secretly working for the United States. The tribal leader identified the man as a member of the Taliban and expressed his fear of being killed by them if the suspected bomb maker ever revealed the tribal leader’s cooperation with the Americans. After completing their investigation of the bomb maker’s identity, the American forces concluded they were not authorized to kill this particular individual. As best as can be told, the bomb maker was to be released. Afraid of the suspected bomb maker’s ability to kill more Americans after his release and of identifying the local informant, Golsteyn and another soldier took the Afghan bomb maker off base and killed him, seemingly without authorization... The enemy would do the same and has..Federal Judicial Vacancies Getting Worseby Thomas Gallatin: There are currently 126 vacancies in U.S. district courts and the 13 U.S. Courts of Appeals. Back in July 2016, Sen. scumbag-Cory Booker (D-NJ) warned of a “vacancy crisis,” and yet thanks to the partisan obstructionist tactics of his party, that crisis has now increased by 52%. The Daily Signal notes, “We’re in the longest period of triple-digit vacancies in 25 years.”
We have repeatedly exposed the Democrats’ obstructionist tactics as they have sought to prevent President Donald Trump from filling as many of these judicial vacancies as possible. However, as this lame-duck session of the Senate comes to a close, it has been a Republican who is most to blame. Departing Sen. rino-Jeff Flake (AZ) has made the obstruction of Trump’s judicial nominees his lasting legacy. Couched in his ridiculous demand that legislation be voted on that would prevent Trump from ending dirty cop-Robert Mueller’s investigation, Flake has thrown up roadblocks to Trump’s picks, hampering Americans’ ability to access their judiciary.
rino-Flake and Senate Democrats are doing long-term damage to America’s judiciary, all out of a desire to pander to the Left. Hopefully, with rino-Flake gone and a larger majority, Senate Republicans can make up lost ground and get Trump’s nominees confirmed at a rapid pace.
~The Patriot Post
https://patriotpost.us/articles/60117?mailing_id=3955&utm_medium=email&utm_source=pp.email.3955&utm_campaign=snapshot&utm_content=body
Comments