Weather Update

I just returned from doing laundry and shopping. Between the time I left the house until I returned, the wind has picked up (out of the north!), the snow – which had been slowing down – has increased, and the temperature feels to have dropped. I have yet to check weather.com. Not that they would have any report on the amount of snow that has fallen so far, but at least I can get the temperature and wind.

Vikings Vs Bears

The Bears are losing this game more than the Vikings are winning. The only bright spot has been Adrian Peterson. Again, how are the Bears 8 & 4?

8 & 4?

The team I am watching play the Vikings are not an 8 and 4 team. The Vikings are not looking any better than they have all season, yet they are ahead by 2 touchdowns. What is with the Bears?

Ouch!

That is going to leave a mark!

(Alternate Brain) Mitt Romney. All the charisma of a plastic picnic fork with three of the tines snapped off. May have run the worst campaign ever. And that includes New Coke, McCain/Palin and France in 39.

You will find a link to the list of the Top Ten Gobsmacking Politically Humorous News Stories of 2012 over at Alternate Brain.

Where Is The Snow?

I was just browsing weather.com. I cannot find anywhere on their site how much snow has fallen. Not anywhere. Seriously, what is up with that? A weather site that does not give the amount of snowfall? Pathetic.

Update: Measured it myself again – front railing has 2.75 inches of snow now.

Interesting, But…….

Not happening!

(guardian.co.uk) In the wake of President Barack Obama’s election win last month – which flew dramatically in the face of Rove and Morris’s confident on-air predictions – the News Corp-owned station is being forced to adjust to a new reality. (EM mine)

Its broadcasting landscape is now one in which four more years of Obama’s presidency stretch out in front of it. That second term was also won in an election many saw as a rejection of a Tea Party-infused Republicanism that saw extreme figures like pizza magnate Herman Cain, social conservatives Rick Santorum and Michele Bachmann and even business mogul Donald Trump briefly leading the Republican field.

As a result, some experts see Fox News as having emerged from the defeat of eventual candidate Mitt Romney in the same shape as the Republican party itself – with a somewhat tarnished image. “It was a damaging election for Fox, not so much down to the result, but in the way that it was handled in the weeks leading up to it and in Rove’s famous on-air meltdown,” said professor Jack Lule, a media expert at Lehigh University.

The incident Lule is referring to happened on election night itself when Fox regular Rove questioned the channel’s own polling unit in deciding to call the crucial state of Ohio for Obama. In a remarkable piece of live television – ordered by Fox News’ co-founder Roger Ailes himself – anchor Megyn Kelly and a camera crew then took Rove’s opinion to the Fox decision desk who stood by their call and debunked Rove’s doubts.

Let me just state categorically: Fox News is not adjusting. It is chastising its pundits and news staff for getting things wrong. It is not any type of adjustment towards the center. After the inauguration they will return to attacking President Obama, Democrats, and liberals in the exact same manner they did during the past 4 years. Right now they are just acting subdued and waiting for this embarrassment to pass by.

Even if their ratings drop, they will not change their stance. In fact, the run up to the elections shows they will double down on their approach. Like Republican candidates that failed to win; they just were not conservative enough! Fox News will simple believe they were not supportive enough of the conservative cause. More of the same, only with more effort!

Snow!!!!!!

When I awoke this morning I was greeted with 1 inch of snow. This was at about 6:30 AM. I just now measured the snow on my front step railing and was rewarded with 2.25 inches. And it looks to not be letting up anytime soon. Pictures are to follow.

Supreme Court To Hear Prop 8 And DOMA Cases

via Michael J.W. Stickings on a post over at The Reaction on a post by Mustang Bobby.

My initial sense is that Chief Justice Roberts (who, I think, thinks about his and his court’s place in history and how he and it will be perceived) will vote with the liberals and that marriage equality will win.

I have to admit, I agree with Michael on this point. When Roberts joined the liberals on ACE he signaled he was more interested in the long view than in maintaining an ideology.

It is important to note that he approached the ACA decision from two different choices, both apparently thought out.

(The Daily Beast) He certainly didn’t trust the dissenters, as he clearly instructed his law clerks to begin working on an alternative majority opinion (the final product was too polished and too long to have been written at the last minute). And he waited to see what was written.

(The Volokh Conspiracy) Notice also that his [Scalia’s] response to Roberts is tacked on at the end, rather than worked into the body of whatever he was writing (see page 64 of his dissent). For example, one would have expected Scalia to directly take on Roberts’ application of the Anti-Injunction Act, but his brief section on that act only mentions what “the Government” argues (see pages 26-28).

Do not for a minute think I believe Roberts is turning liberal. Instead, I believe he is going to make his best effort (we can argue over just how best his effort really is another day) at an unbiased approach towards interpreting the law. All law derives power from the people. At least as far as the Constitution and the Bill of Rights is concerned. If Roberts wants to be seen as a defender of the Constitution, I believe he than needs to pay attention to the majority will of the people.

As an aside, has there ever been a United States Supreme Court Judge impeached and removed from the bench? And yes, I am going to do a Google search right after publishing this post.

Update: Well, I found my answer! Samuel Chase was impeached by the House of Representatives but acquitted by the Senate. So he was not removed.