Sneak peek at “A republic, if you can keep it”

It's a wonderful day to sit on the deck with a cuppa and enjoy the blue sky and rustling leaves with a good book. But because it's so lovely, the lawn crew has shown up and there's a very loud mower just a few yards away, so I'm back inside. Even after 18 years here in this delightful spot with mature trees and a creek, I'm still thrilled to have them doing it and not Bob.

I'm loving "A republic, if you can keep it," by Neil Gorsuch. In the introduction he introduces us to his roots and branches, some fascinating people. All of us should have to write a paragraph or two about parents, grandparents, great uncles, etc. and their challenges and contributions so we understand how we got here.

Of his mother (pgs 13-14): "My mother was brilliant and a feminist before feminism. Born in Casper, Wyoming, she graduated from the University of Colorado at 19 and its law school at 22. That was a time when almost no women went to law school. She studied and taught in India as a Fulbright Scholar and went to work as the first female lawyer in the Denver District Attorney's Office. There, she helped start a program to pursue deadbeat dads who had failed to pay child support, long before efforts like that were routine. Her idea of daycare often meant me [Neil] tagging along. She never stopped moving. When she ran for the Colorado state legislature, where she was soon voted the outstanding freshman legislator, she wore out countless pairs of shoes walking the entire district again and again. As kids, we just had to keep up. Later, she served as the first female administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency in Washington."

With a mother like that, how could he be anything other than a great lawyer and judge.

Meltdowns of the left--where to start?

There are approximately 50 predominately Muslim countries, and the restriction (put in place by Obama) is for seven who harbor terrorists. The American left/Democrats went apoplectic even though it's shorter than Obama's "bans" and is temporary. Do they want to go on record as blocking all Muslim countries? Obama sent back Cuban refugees his final week--to a Communist country. Not a peep from the left.  And oh how they wept that the temporary attorney general decided to follow her own religion and defied her boss and the law and was fired. I guess judges are not members of unions.  This could be a step to a political career--not that she wasn't political already.  

Then the students are rioting in UC Berkeley--a gay, conservative was on campus to give a speech, and if you remember the 60s, it's sort of like that. Maybe grandpa had told them stories of the good old days.  Burning and trashing buildings and pepper spraying anyone who looked like a Trump supporter. Looks like the DeVos nomination might end in a tie in which case Mike Pence gets to cast the deciding vote. Meanwhile, they are busy trashing Gorsuch as the SCOTUS pick--and he's the one to replace a conservative.  They'd better save their big guns for the next choice, which might be to replace a liberal. If you ever thought opposition to Trump was about him being a fool, a fascist and sexist, then just look at what they are doing to Gorsuch, the closest to Jesus I've ever seen in politics. He's an "originalist" and believes judges should keep their personal politics off the bench.  Oh, horror for wise Latinas! 

And media--our third opposition party. They are horrified at Spicer and Bannon making changes in how they filter and chop and drop the news.  For 16 years we've had to put up with 8 years of anti-Bush, then 8 years of anything goes for Obama.  Now there's a new sheriff in town, and he hasn't even locked them up.  But he is adding to the select pool at the press conferences, and CNN and broadcast are now being called out like Obama demeaned Fox News for years. The media completely fail in its research and analysis during the campaign. Think about your own job/career. If your company, agency or library had misled millions of people for months, would it still be respected? Would the CEO, or even you, still have a job?