Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Can one of the liberal four dissent on anything?

(My new American Thinker post)

What do the last three big Supreme Court decisions have in common?  The liberal four all voted alike.   

What about the conservative five?  They disagreed a lot among themselves.  There is nothing predictable about the five, as many of us learned last week.

On the subsidies, not one of these four liberals raised a single objection: hey, guys, shouldn't we read the law as written?  Is it really our job to rewrite what Congress wrote?  

On the marriage case, not one said this: hey guys, didn't Justice Ginsburg once said that it would have been better to leave abortion in the hands of voters?  Shouldn't we sit back and give the public a little time to figure this out across the land?  Aren't a bunch of states already discussing this?  Let's trust the people and send this one back to the states.    


On the EPA, the liberal four voted together again.  The dissent by Justice Kagan could have been written by The White House:

In dissent, Justice Elena Kagan said it was enough that the EPA considered costs at later stages of the process. 
"Over more than a decade, EPA took costs into account at multiple stages and through multiple means as it set emissions limits for power plants," Kagan said. 
She was joined by Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer and Sonia Sotomayor. 
This is crazy.  We have four automatic liberal votes that can't seem to dissent from the liberal gospel on anything.

You can blame Roe v. Wade for this politicization of the Court.  We used to look for judges with good temperament.  Today, everything is just too political.  It will get worse after the same marriage decision.

P.S. You can listen to my show (Canto Talk) and follow me on Twitter.




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"A law unto themselves" by Frank Burke.





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Monday, June 29, 2015

Dallas-Ft Worth sports with David Busby & Carlos Torres




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And now the fun begins with ObamaCare

(My new American Thinker post)

Chief Justice Robert's opinion on the "subsidies" was hard to understand. However, the Court's decision will keep ObamaCare alive for now and that's good news for those of us who want to kill this terrible law.

According to Robert E Moffit, it will be very interesting:
Roughly 6.4 million persons in thirty-four states could have been negatively affected if the Court struck down the federal exchange subsidies.
But there is a much wider universe of persons adversely affected by the law: the roughly 15 million persons in the individual and small group market who don’t get -- and won’t get -- the federal government’s health-insurance subsidies.
Under Obamacare, millions of Americans are forced to pay more for their government standardized coverage, regardless of whether they like it or not, whether they want it or not, or whether or not it forces them to pay for medical procedures that violate their ethical, moral or religious convictions. 
A couple of days ago, I spoke with a family member who was complaining about their new premium, almost $1,500 a month for a couple whose kids are no longer living at home and working.   

At church, another person told me another nightmare story about premiums.  

The Obama team claims that the AHCA debate is over, specially after the most recent victory in the Supreme Court.  

In fact, the real debate is just beginning as the chickens come home to roost. We are going to get a taste of just how bad this law is this.

If Bernie Sander is the no
minee, he will say that we should have gone for a single-payer plan instead.

If Hillary Clinton is the nominee, she will call for major changes, including the elimination of mandates.

If the GOP wins, I hope that they repeal it!

P.S. You can listen to my show (Canto Talk) and follow me on Twitter.




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The week in review with Bill Katz of Urgent Agenda




Tags: Iran nuclear deal, Supreme Court and same sex marriage, Obama Care subsidies, Clinton vs Sanders, GOP 2016...... To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the My View by Silvio Canto, Jr. Thanks!

Sunday, June 28, 2015

National security stories of the week with Barry Jacobsen




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The latest in US-Cuba talks with Jorge Ponce & Alain Castillo




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Justice Kennedy “y la tremenda corte”

Over the last 48 hours, our Supreme Court has turned into “La tremenda corte”, as John Hindenraker posted:
“Two hundred twenty-four years after the Constitution was ratified, Anthony Kennedy and four loyal Democrats have discovered, hidden somewhere in its provisions, a right to gay marriage. This so-called right, deemed “fundamental” by the five-justice majority, was undreamed of until a few years ago. If you want to read the decision, it is here.
Yesterday’s Obamacare decision told us that we do not live under the rule of law.
Today’s gay marriage decision tells us we do not live in a democracy.
These are dark days.”
With all due respect to those who support same sex marriage, this is not the way to do it.    It would have been a lot more legitimate to go through the state legislatures and voters.   (Ironically, the Court’s decision stopped what was already underway in many states)
Again, honest people can disagree about same sex marriage.    I happen to believe that marriage between a man and a woman is best, as centuries of civilization have proven.    At the same time, I’d be willing to accept same sex marriage if it came about by the will of the people.
Last, but not least, this Supreme Court decision gives many Democrats a victory that they were never willing to fight for in the political arena.
It’s weird.   At least “La tremenda corte” was a comedy.

Tags: The Supreme Court and judicial activism  To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the My View by Silvio Canto, Jr. Thanks!

Another ugly episode of 'SCOTUS knows best'

(My new American Thinker post)

On the surface, this is a victory for so-called "gay rights."

In fact, it is a serious defeat for the Constitution, and for those of us who believe in what the Founding Fathers created.

The Wall Street Journal makes a good point today:
The complication is that the Constitution is silent about marriage and social-policy preferences, which are supposed to be settled by the people and the political branches.
And that's the point!

Over the last 24 hours, I've been hearing words like love or phrases like "right to marry."

In fact, I don't have a problem with love or marriage.  I'm delighted that people in love want to get married.   

My problem is that Justice Kennedy, and four others, found a right that isn't there.  They decided that they know best rather than to let the legislatures and voters make the call.  (By the way, many states had already done so.)

There are huge problems coming down the road:

First, the justices have not settled anything.  They've simply poisoned the political well by imposing their definition of marriage on the rest of us.  
Did Roe v. Wade settle abortion?  No.  It is still a contentious issue, because it happened by judicial fiat rather than voters and state legislatures.   

Second, this new ruling will turn every judicial nomination into a battle over abortion or same-sex marriage.  I can hear the questions: do you believe that the decision over same sex marriage is settled law?  Can you guarantee that you won't overturn it?

David Brooks saw this in the battles for now-justices Alito and Roberts:
Justice Harry Blackmun did more inadvertent damage to our democracy than any other 20th-century American. When he and his Supreme Court colleagues issued the Roe v. Wade decision, they set off a cycle of political viciousness and counter-viciousness that has poisoned public life ever since, and now threatens to destroy the Senate as we know it.
Every judicial appointment, especially any from a GOP president, faces a "Borking" from people who want guarantees that he or she will not reverse the abortion, and now, the same-sex marriage decisions.  It's insane and vicious.

Third, what happens to those of us who believe that marriage is between a man and a woman?  In other words, what happens to those of us who agreed with Senator Obama in 2008 and Senator Clinton in 2004?

Are we suddenly bigots?  Are we going to get sued if we refuse to participate?  Will Catholic schools, or others, have to teach something that they don't believe in?  What happens when some sister in a Catholic school or black minister says that homosexuality is a sin?  Will they be sued on a civil rights challenge?

The Founding Fathers had wisdom, and that's why they left these issues to the people.  The five Justices, Kennedy and the four liberal robots, are arrogant and disrespectful of the people.

Last, but not least, President Obama, and many liberals, were just handed a victory that they never had the courage to fight for in the political arena.  President Obama never went into the political arena and fought for "gay rights."  He gave vague speeches but never went out in 2008 or 2012 and called for same-sex marriage.    

Nothing got settled.  I expect this issue to poison our political rhetoric for years.  We can thank Justice Kennedy for that.

P.S. You can listen to my show (Canto Talk) and follow me on Twitter.






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The US Supreme Court, the debt crisis in Greece plus terror in France...




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Saturday, June 27, 2015

Gov. Abbott of Texas Should say 'No'

(My new American Thinker post)

Over the last few weeks, I've heard Governor Huckabee say that he won't bow to the Supreme Court. He went further today:
Constitution, we have three, coequal branches of government. The courts can interpret law but cannot create it. The ruling still requires congressional funding and executive branch enforcement. The Supreme Court is not the "Supreme Branch," and it is certainly not the Supreme Being. If they can unilaterally make law, and just do whatever they want, then we have judicial tyranny.
Throughout our nation's history, the court has abused its power and delivered morally unconscionable rulings. They have rationalized the destruction of innocent human life, defined African Americans as property and justified Japanese-American internment camps. U.S. presidents, including Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Jackson, and Franklin Delano Roosevelt, ignored Supreme Court rulings, rejecting the notion that the Supreme Court can circumvent the Constitution and "make law."
I also reject the idea of "judicial supremacy" as just another flawed, failed feature of big government, inconsistent with what our founders fought a revolution to establish.

I'm not endorsing Governor Huckabee. I am instead calling on Governor Abbott of Texas to stand up to this ruling by saying something like this:  

First, the Supreme Court is not in the business of creating rights. Justice Kennedy, and 4 others, created a right. They also used the 14th amendment to create a right that was never intended by the people who framed it. Can someone show me where marriage, or the definition of marriage, stands in the context of the 14th amendment?  

Second, the people of Texas voted in huge numbers to define marriage between a man and a woman. What happens to these Texans? Who respects their vote?    

Third, Texas will not accept this decision. We will meet President Obama, or anybody else, at a Constitutional Convention.  

The conventional wisdom is that the issue is now settled, as was abortion in 1973. I don't think so with same-sex marriage. I believe that a governor should challenge it. My guess is that he will find that a lot of other governors will join him.  
We learned this week that Justices can rewrite laws and create rights. It's time for someone to say no.

P.S. You can listen to my show (Canto Talk) and follow me on Twitter.




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The Supreme Court & Pope Francis in the news


Guest:  Jim Yardley, contributor to American Thinker & Canada Free Press plus editor of "Patriot Dreams"...........we will review Pope Francis' statements about climate change & abortion........PLUS review the Supreme Court decisions on Obama Care subsidies......................

Click to listen:


Check Out Politics Podcasts at Blog Talk Radio with Silvio Canto Jr on BlogTalkRadio

Tags: Pope Francis on climate change, Supreme Court on Obama Care,  To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the My View by Silvio Canto, Jr. Thanks!

Friday, June 26, 2015

Scotus Helps the GOP Politically


(My new American Thinker post)

As you know, the Supreme Court decided 6-3 to save the subsidies. 

They did so by reading what the Congress intended to write rather than what they wrote in the statute. 

Am I the only one who finds that a bit scary?

Justice Scalia is right:
“Words no longer have meaning if an Exchange that is not established by a State is ‘established by the State."
It's another legal victory for ObamaCare but a huge political defeat for Democrats. 

First, the decision does not change the objective reality of the law, from deductibles to premiums. Furthermore, the GOP will not have to spend the next six months taking positions about restoring subsidies. I agree with Ben Domenech:

By losing at the Court, conservatives missed out on a chance for another squishout and for that reason should be breathing a sigh of relief. The hard truth was that the Republican Party was absolutely going to cave on the subsidy question anyway, and do so rapidly, and probably get a bag of basketballs and the medical device tax in exchange. That would’ve both depressed the base and put politicians in an untenable position. Given the certainty of Republicans caving on the subsidies, Obamacare would have emerged with Republican fingerprints all over the idea that we need to be taxing people in order to continue subsidizing able bodied working age adults (as it is, only a handful of Republicans have endorsed that idea). Now Republicans get the added benefit of railing against a law that remains unpopular and that drives health insurance costs ever higher across the country without having to put their legislation where their mouths are.
Finally, this decision is a huge opportunity for Republicans to finally take the health care issue away from Democrats in a serious way. It is not an iron law of politics at all that health care reform remain a Democratic issue any more than education policy or welfare policy. President Obama and the Democrats now own every bad thing about the health care status quo. 
Second, this blatant "judicial activism" will not go down well with a public already fed up with a federal government out of control. After all, Americans live in a world where words mean what they mean.   

In the real world, words have meaning. Can you imagine a judge settling a lease agreement dispute saying that "first of the month" does not really mean that the landlord meant the first of the month?   

Let me say it again: The reality has not changed a bit. It is a still a mess and getting messier! The economics of ObamaCare are still a disaster.   

The Supreme Court has kept ObamaCare in the political arena and that helps the GOP.

P.S. You can listen to my show (Canto Talk) and follow me on Twitter.



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Iran nuclear deal, US-China issues, US-Russia tensions and more national security stories




Tags: Iran nuclear deal, Iraq & ISIS, US-China tensions, US-Russia issues, NATO, Korean War, Eisenhower assumes command 1942  To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the My View by Silvio Canto, Jr. Thanks!

Thursday, June 25, 2015

Memo to the race obsessed Democrats: Are you ready to cancel President Wilson’s party membership?

(My new Babalu post)

Over the last few days, we’ve heard some rather silly things.    For example, someone called for the elimination of the movie “Gone with the wind” and another for taking down the Jefferson Monument.
I’m not sure how you eliminate or delete a movie.   Are they going to make it illegal to own a copy or read the book?
How are you going to take down the Jefferson monument?  replace it with what?
Some have called for changing the names of schools, parks or streets.   They want every “racist” deleted for once and for all.
As you can see, the “race obsessed” left is really playing with fire in the aftermath of the flag in South Carolina controversy.
My advice to Democrats is to stop it.   As they say, be careful what you wish for because you may get it!
Let’s take the case of Woodrow Wilson, one of the most popular and often quoted presidents on the Democrat side of the aisle.
There are lots of schools, colleges and a few streets named after President Woodrow Wilson.   In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if there are a few Navy Ships floating around named after him.
Wilson was the 28th president of the US and the first Democrat from the South since the Civil War.   He took the country into World War I and suffered from very bad health at the end of his second term.
Wilson was also a rather well known racist, as Professor William Keylor wrote a bit back:
“Wilson is widely and correctly remembered — and represented in our history books — as a progressive Democrat who introduced many liberal reforms at home and fought for the extension of democratic liberties and human rights abroad.  But on the issue of race his legacy was, in fact, regressive and has been largely forgotten.
Born in Virginia and raised in Georgia and South Carolina, Wilson was a loyal son of the old South who regretted the outcome of the Civil War.  He used his high office to reverse some of its consequences.  When he entered the White House a hundred years ago today, Washington was a rigidly segregated town — except for federal government agencies.  They had been integrated during the post-war Reconstruction period, enabling African-Americans to obtain federal jobs and work side by side with whites in government agencies.  Wilson promptly authorized members of his cabinet to reverse this long-standing policy of racial integration in the federal civil service.
Cabinet heads — such as his son-in-law, Secretary of the Treasury William McAdoo of Tennessee – re-segregated facilities such as restrooms and cafeterias in their buildings.  In some federal offices, screens were set up to separate white and black workers.  African-Americans found it difficult to secure high-level civil service positions, which some had held under previous Republican administrations.
A delegation of black professionals led by Monroe Trotter, a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Harvard and Boston newspaper editor, appeared at the White House to protest the new policies.  But Wilson treated them rudely and declared that “segregation is not a humiliation but a benefit, and ought to be so regarded by you gentlemen.””
Like the late Senator Byrd of West Virginia, who died in 2009, President Wilson was a Democrat from another time.    They were born and raised in the segregated South.   Frankly, it was tough to survive politically in the pre-1960 South without subscribing to those attitudes.
My preference is to move on and stop living in the past.    We have some serious problems, internally and externally.
Let’s remind the Democrats again:  Be careful what you  wish for because you may get it.   You may have to cut ties with a lot of your party’s heroes who waved the Confederate Flag!
P.S. You can listen to my show (Canto Talk) and follow me on Twitter.

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OK the flag is down...can we talk middle class problems?

(My new American Thinker post)

Don't get me wrong.  I understand the sensitivities of this flag issue.  

At the same time, shouldn't we get over it and deal with the real problems impacting the middle class, black, white, brown and whatever other color there is?

According to CNN Money, many Americans are in trouble:
Making the rent is a common struggle for the poor. But it's becoming increasingly difficult among the middle class.One in five renter households making $45,000-$75,000 a year are considered "cost-burdened," meaning they spend more than 30% of their income on rent, according to Harvard's State of the Nation's Housing 2015 report.
In the country's most expensive cities -- like San Francisco, New York and Boston -- almost half of renters making $45,000-$75,000 annually faced "disproportionately" high payments.  Rent prices have been rising faster than paychecks -- especially among the middle class.
"Income growth for those folks has been especially weak," said Keith Gumbinger, vice president of HSH.com.

To be fair, we can't blame all of this on President Obama.   At the same time, we are in year 7 of his presidency and he owns some of the problem.  Let's just say that Democrats would be blaming it on a GOP president if it were the other way around.


Rent rising faster than paychecks!   And income growth is weak!   This is like 1 + 1 equals 1.5 rather than 2!


And there is more bad news, especially for lower income families:
While the overall U.S. housing market has seen a rebound, home prices in many working-class communities are still behind the curve, leaving many owners stuck with properties worth less than their mortgage balances.    
So let's lower the flag, and the volume, and look at the middle class in the US. It is not pretty out there for millions of Americans trying to realize the American Dream. 

P. S. You can listen to my show (Canto Talk) and follow me on Twitter.


Tags: US middle class and economics  To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the My View by Silvio Canto, Jr. Thanks!

The flag controversy plus US-Latin America stories of the week




Tags: South Carolina and the flag, Venezuela, Leopoldo Lopez, Colombia and Venezuela, US-Cuba talks, Mexico and Donald Trump To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the My View by Silvio Canto, Jr. Thanks!

Wednesday, June 24, 2015

The flag and some thoughts about racism

(My new American Thinker post)


As a naturalized US citizen, I don't have a reaction when I see Confederate symbols, from a Confederate flag to a school named after Robert E Lee.   

I learned about it in US history class.    I don't have the emotional attachment of a person who grew up in the South or an African American who sees a symbol of segregation.

I can understand how it may offend a black American.   For example, we Cuban Americans in the US get very angry when we see someone wearing a Che t-shirt.   We think of Che as a criminal and react strongly to the sight of a person living in freedom displaying the face of a totalitarian despot.

On the other hand, the flag also connects honest people to their roots.   I have a very good friend who comes from a family of Confederate military officers.   He is not preaching racism or slavery when he displays Confederate symbols at his home office.  He is simply connecting with his roots and doing so in a respectful way.  He is one of the finest gentlemen I've ever met.

So I say let the people of South Carolina decide.   I'm sure that they know what's best for their state.

We have bigger problems in the country than a flag.

I ask a simple question:   are we going to have an honest conversation about racism after we remove the flag?   Can we discuss the problems in inner cities without being branded a racist?   the lack of jobs?  lousy public schools?  black on black crime?

It's hard to have a conversation when so many people get accused of racism for simply having a different point of view.

I like what Cathy Young wrote today: 
Telling white Americans they are presumed guilty of racism and that they are not allowed to dispute any claim of racism by a person of color -- which happens routinely in progressive discourse -- is no way to move forward on racial issues. An honest conversation also requires an acknowledgment that far more black lives are taken by crime within the community than by racist violence. 
So true.   It's hard to have an honest conversation when people throw the racism charge in your face.   We will continue to hate each other as long as we can't talk honestly about our problems.

P. S. You can listen to my show (Canto Talk) and follow me on Twitter.


Tags: South Carolina and the flag  To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the My View by Silvio Canto, Jr. Thanks!

The latest in US-Cuba talks with Jorge Ponce & Alain Castillo




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Tuesday, June 23, 2015

Mercedes, the young girl who inspired a car name.




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Say bye bye to Hillary's Russian reset

(My new American Thinker post)

President Obama's foreign policy changed a bit today, according to Secretary Carter:
 
"The U.S. will contribute weapons, aircraft and forces, including commandos, for NATO's rapid reaction force, Defense Secretary Ash Carter said Monday, to help Europe defend against security threats, including Russia from the east and violent extremists from the south.Under the plan, the U.S. will contribute intelligence and surveillance capabilities, special operations forces, logistics, transport aircraft, and a range of weapons support that could include bombers, fighters and ship-based missiles. It would not provide a large ground force.Carter announced the new details about the U.S. contribution after meeting with defense ministers from Germany, Norway and the Netherlands. Those countries had agreed to provide the initial troops for the so-called very high readiness task force, which was announced last year at the NATO summit in Wales. The U.S. had pledged to support the task force, but NATO has been waiting to hear specifically what America was willing to provide."
Glad that Secretary Carter has seen the light.    We are finally projecting a little US power and remind our allies that we will be there.   
 
The "reset" was one of the silliest moments of the early days of the Obama administration.  It happened when then Secretary Clinton met with the Russian foreign secretary.   
 
The "reset" had more problems than " translation".     It was a bad idea, as the Washington Post wrote in 2014:   
It's been over five years since the United States and Russia vowed to "reset" their relationship. In that time, the two countries have had to grapple with disagreements over Syria, Iran and Libya, as well as Russia's welcome to U.S. whistleblower Edward Snowden and the U.S. condemnation of a Russian-supported referendum in Crimea.On Monday, the United States imposed sanctions on some of the highest ranking officials in the Russian government. Let's just say it: The reset is dead.
How do you say dead in the water in Russian?  
Let's hope that one of those reporters obsessed with the Confederate Flag will ask Hillary Clinton about the reset 5 years later.  Without question, the Russia policy is one of the biggest failures of the Obama foreign policy.   And Hillary Clinton owns it, reset button and all.
P. S. You can listen to my show (Canto Talk) and follow me on Twitter.




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Let's talk Rangers baseball, ARod 3,000 hits and more baseball




Tags: Texas Rangers, Alex Rodriguez 3,000 hits, AL West  To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the My View by Silvio Canto, Jr. Thanks!

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