From the right: So What Have We Learned? It\u2019s all over and Brett Kavanaugh is now a Supreme Court justice. What, asks Jim Treacher\u2026<\/b>
\nFrom the right: So What Have We Learned?
It\u2019s all over and Brett Kavanaugh is now a Supreme Court justice. What, asks Jim Treacher at PJ Media, has this whole sorry episode taught us? For one thing, any doubt that most of the news media are \u201cactively working for the Democrats\u201d was \u201ccompletely erased by the events of the past month.\u201d Second, \u201cDemocrats have no ideas, no principles, just tactics,\u201d insisting their treatment of Kavanaugh \u201cwas no different than what those evil Republicans did to Merrick Garland.\u201d Fact is, \u201cthe Republicans were the only ones fighting for American principles here.\u201d And while Treacher is \u201cglad that the Dems and their enablers didn\u2019t get away with their repulsive, dishonest behavior this time, I don\u2019t look forward to seeing what they do next.\u201d
Foreign desk: America\u2019s New Opportunity in Iraq
Iraq has a new government, which Bloomberg \u2019s Eli Lake says has \u201cevoked two broad reactions in Washington: hope and dread.\u201d Hope, in that the new president and prime minister \u201chave longstanding relationships with the US government,\u201d but dread in that some see Iran as \u201cthe clear winner,\u201d given that the chief of Tehran\u2019s Quds Force brokered the political deal. But neither the Iranians nor the Americans \u201cgot everything they wanted.\u201d And since May\u2019s election, \u201cIraqis are making it clear\u201d though protests \u201cthat they don\u2019t want to be a vassal state of Iran.\u201d This, he says, is Washington\u2019s opportunity: \u201cThe new Iraqi government will have to show its independence.\u201d So \u201cwith a little skill and luck,\u201d the US can give it the support it needs \u201cto push back against Iran and address the economic misery in places like Basra.\u201d
Conservative: Collins Gave the Lecture We Deserved
In her 43-minute speech to the Senate last Friday, contends Commentary\u2019s Noah Rothman, Sen. Susan Collins \u201cput a perfect period on this sordid chapter in American political history\u201d by providing \u201ca stern lecture to a nation that had earned every word.\u201d After first demonstrating that Kavanaugh\u2019s critics \u201chad done him a grave disservice by labeling him an ideologue,\u201d the Maine Republican laced into those she said had used Christine Blasey Ford\u2019s \u201creal pain to advance their own petty political agenda.\u201d But while \u201cthe Democratic effort here backfired,\u201d it \u201chas not been ineffectual.\u201d Because \u201cthe attempt to tar Kavanaugh with criminal, albeit un-prosecutable, allegations will have a deleterious effect on the American civic compact.\u201d Says Rothman: \u201cEveryone involved in this debacle deserved Collins\u2019s lecture. But they didn\u2019t hear a word of it.\u201d
From the left: A Questionable Verdict That Feels Right
Friday\u2019s verdict in the case of Chicago Police Officer Jason Van Dyke \u201cdoesn\u2019t make sense\u201d to the Chicago Tribune \u2019s Eric Zorn, but \u201cdoes strike me as a fair compromise.\u201d Van Dyke was convicted of second-degree murder and 16 counts of aggravated battery for the 2014 on-duty shooting death of Laquan McDonald. But to convict of second-degree, instead of first-degree, murder, the jury had to accept \u2014 and then find unreasonable \u2014 Van Dyke\u2019s explanation that he thought the victim was about to attack him. Yet the dashcam video \u201cshows no indication McDonald was preparing or initiating an attack.\u201d Van Dyke will now \u201cwill do serious time for needlessly taking McDonald\u2019s life, particularly given the additional aggravated battery counts.\u201d Zorn\u2019s \u201cgut feeling\u201d: Fair enough.
Law prof: ACLU Sounding Its Own Death Knell
Among \u201cthe casualties\u201d of the Kavanaugh affair, suggests Alan Dershowitz at the Gatestone Institute, is the American Civil Liberties Union, which claims to be \u201cnonpartisan\u201d yet spent $1 million to oppose his confirmation. Because the organization, which once was \u201ccash-poor but principle-rich,\u201d is now \u201call about pleasing the donors.\u201d Since the rise of Donald Trump, it \u201chas never become so cash-rich, yet principle-poor.\u201d But the money \u201cis not coming from civil libertarians who care about free speech, due process, the rights of the accused and defending the unpopular. It is coming from radical leftists in Hollywood, Silicon Valley and other areas\u201d who care only about \u201cpolitical returns.\u201d These days, the ACLU\u2019s \u201cheart and soul are in its wallet and checkbook. It is getting rich while civil liberties are suffering.\u201d
\u2014Compiled by Eric Fettmann<\/p>\n

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