A Federal judge in California issued a ruling on Tuesday that blocked President Donald Trump’s attempt to withhold federal funding to ‘sanctuary cities.’ Obama appointee and major fundraiser William Orrick III granted the injunction sought jointly by Santa Clara and San Francisco, California.
As conservatives and libertarians strain to build a durable Conservatarian coalition, the gulf between the two exists not only on on foreign policy, but on two key domestic issues: the federal war on drugs and immigration.
How to explain this seeming departure from the normal American pattern of accepting the electoral facts, and then continuing the fight in the various constitutional and other forums the system provides? Why is it so different this time? Why are presidential tax returns more important than an eyeball to eyeball confrontation in Northeast Asia? Why must we place the travel and residential preferences of non-US citizens over the security of Americans? Why must non-leftists be barred from the Supreme Court?
With his boyish good looks, fat wallet, and the hottest chick in America on his arm, Jared Kushner is emerging as the boy-wonder in the Trump administration. From his cushy west wing office (a very short walk from the Oval Office), the all-access pass to meetings with foreign leaders and the ability to jettison off to the middle east for a boots on the ground scoop from the troops, young Mr. Kushner is garnering attention from the left, right and all points in between. And it appears that his presence, so prominent in Trumpville, is irritating absolutely everyone who have had the unfortunate fate of crossing his path.
Instead of creating new rules, the order merely directs agencies to look for ways to promote both goals. The Buy American Act is already on the books and the law of the land. It was passed all the way back in 1933 and has never been repealed or overturned. However, a mountain of waivers, carve-outs, and simple lack of enforcement have long since crushed the spirit of this law. President Trump is looking to breathe new life into this eighty-four-year-old law.
Today is April 20th, but to those who seek to de-stigmatize marijuana, it is also 4/20, a day to rally around weed, celebrate it, and use it. But how did it get that way?
While we may not have a real budget hawk in the White House, we at least have someone committed to preventing the deficit from growing. As he heads back into the legislative arena for round two on health care, the stakes are even higher than the previous fight. A second knockout would devastate Trump. Perhaps bargaining the health care plan against the promise of tax cuts is the winning combo for a victory against his old nemesis Senator Cruz.
The United States Supreme Court has a full complement of Justices once again. President Trump’s new appointee, Neil Gorsuch, will face his first high-profile test Wednesday when the court hears a religious freedom case that also has implications for the limit of states’ rights. The final ruling of the court may be overshadowed, however, by analysis of Gorsuch’s opinion.
A senior economist at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has published a working paper entitled “The Macroeconomics of De-Cashing.” In his twenty-six-page paper, Alexei Kireyev outlines what governments need to do to establish a cashless society and why it helps states to adopt such a world. This is essentially the blueprint for the war on cash, a battle that has certainly escalated in the last two years.