Day 824 Wednesday April 10, 2019
572 Days to the 2020 election and 650 Days to Inauguration Day
The Lovin’ Spoonful had a song called, “Did You Ever Have To Make Up Your Mind?”
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Did you ever have to make up your mind?
Say “Yes” to one and let the other one ride?
Did you ever have to make up your mind?
Sometimes you really dig a girl the moment you kiss her,
And then you get distracted by her older sister,
When in walks her father and takes you in line,
And says, “Better go on home, son, and make up your mind.”
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OKAY We are at, or close to, that point.
Lemme explain.
William Barr, the Attorney General, testified to Congress yesterday. Here is a summary (it’s not a summary!) of what he said (and didn’t say):
– He said he would release a report of what Mueller said to the public within a week. Congress goes on a two week Easter break starting this weekend, which means they will be gone by the time he releases it, if he does within the timeframe he set. Nice.
– He did not answer the question as to whether or not the report or any part of it has been shared with the White House.
– When asked about the case his department is bringing to strike down the ACA in its entirety he seemed to be saying that he wasn’t putting much in the way of resources into it and that we should let the courts do their job. He seemed to be hinting that he was doing a pro-forma job and hopefully the courts would throw the case out. Or…
He said that once the law was thrown out the administration was going to (magically) replace it with another health care law.
He also waffled and didn’t really answer the question as to whether the decision to bring the case to get rid of the ACA took into account the millions of people that would be thrown off health care or have huge increases in premiums.
In short, he either didn’t answer questions, or he gave answers that had nothing to do with legality, and he seemed to be just another political hack carrying water for the president.
He will soon have to decide. Is he another toady political hack or is he as the chief law enforcement officer in the country going to do his job and uphold the law? In one case the law is The ACA.
Likewise, all these radical conservative judges that have been forced down our throats that the Republicans are so proud to have put on benches all across the country and who are part of the radical organization called The Federalist Society that claims to be all beholding to the Constitution as originally envisioned are going to have to decide, “Do they support the laws of the land and the Constitution, or do they fold and do the illegal things the president wants?”
Meanwhile Stevie Mnuchin was testifying in a room with a bookcase, god knows to whom, I guess it was some folks in Congress. He’s a weird dude. I always thought so, but he has a odd mannerism of lurching his head forward as he speaks. Maybe, he only does it when he’s lying?
So his situation is this. He’s head of Treasury. The IRS reports to him. However, there is a law on the books that plainly says if the Head of The Ways and Means Committee in the House of Representatives asks for tax returns the Commissioner of the IRS has to provide them. There is a directive that gives this authority to the Commissioner and not the Secretary of the Treasury. Why? So a political hack appointed to head up the Treasury can’t screw it up, that’s why.
So what did Mnuchin do? He apparently inserted himself into the process. What did the IRS Commissioner say about all this? He said it’s not clear who is going to decide what to do. And Steve? He said the lawyers are looking at it. Well, that’s great. Can they read? It’s a simple declarative sentence. Hope they can figure it out.
Then we get back to Barr. A Congress woman asked him a question and he said he would follow the law. She asked him, which law? He waffled. She asked him quoting the number of the statute and holding it up and asked him if that was the law he was going to follow? He said he would follow the law.
Guess you better finally decide.
572 Days to the 2020 election and 650 Days to Inauguration Day
PS “Laocoön” El Greco 1610/1614
Laocoön was a Trojan priest who was killed along with his sons by sea serpents after warning his people about the wooden horse.