Common Sense: Sessions strikes

With all the attention being given to the president’s request that Southern District U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara submit a letter of resignation with the other 45 remaining Obama holdovers, little attention has been given to the opening that will result in the Eastern District which includes Brooklyn.

U.S. Attorney Robert Capers, who succeeded Loretta Lynch, is now out of a job in this important office which covers Suffolk County, Nassau County, Queens County, Kings County and Richmond County. Suffice it to say that the president will have no problem finding a qualified Republican or Conservative to fill the role. I can think of a dozen qualified individuals without breaking a sweat.

The circumstances surrounding the Bharara resignation reflect the maturing of the president. Frankly, he should not have indicated back in November that Bharara would be kept on. Logically, and in all fairness, the Justice Department should be doing exactly what has happened. You treat everyone the same. All U.S. attorneys are asked to resign. And then the attorney general and president decide who if any are reappointed.

Bharara should have resigned. Making the attorney general fire him was foolish. If you are a presidential appointee and the president asks you to resign, you resign. Now it is safe to assume that he will not be reappointed, which might have been under consideration if Bharara showed a willingness to work with the new administration. One can only guess what effect Bharara’s benefactor and friend Charles Schumer’s poor standing with the president might have had.

Personally, I would have liked for Bharara to have been allowed to continue with the investigation of Mayor de Blasio and prosecution of several individuals well placed in Governor Cuomo’s orbit.

Fortunately, the replacement of a U.S. attorney does not stop a mature investigation or prosecution from continuing. And of course, just like the Eastern District, the Southern District which comprises the rest of downstate New York, has many qualified Republican and Conservative attorneys.

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Assemblymember Nicole Malliotakis in a letter to Mayor de Blasio listed the 447 crimes that may be committed by an illegal alien that the city under its self-proclaimed sanctuary city designation considers too insignificant to, as required by federal law, notify ICE.

Nicole released this list — which includes crimes like sexual touching, sexual misconduct, bribery, embezzlement, prostitution, even drunk driving — to counter the mayor’s insistence that the 170 crimes on his list shows he is sensitive to the public safety aspect of this issue.

Let’s face it. The mayor is not just liberal, he is a committed progressive who lives in a different world than many Americans. Frankly, I do not want to live in his world.

That is why there are laws passed by elected representatives. And the congressmembers and state legislators who created the criminal statutes that he and the City Council are choosing to ignore are due a greater level of respect. When it comes to law enforcement and public safety, you cannot have two sets of rules. You cannot pick and choose.

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And now for something completely different. The Mets, in banning the use of radar guns around Matt Harvey in his last outing, have probably done more to draw attention to his questionable arm than to hide its shortcomings.

Harvey, more than most baseball players (and this is saying a lot), thinks the world of himself. He had one good season and one okay season. Lifetime, he is 29 wins vs. 28 losses. He certainly is no Tom Seaver or Nolan Ryan, and I doubt he will ever come close.

The Mets need his arm performing like it did in 2015 when he went 13 and 8 with almost 200 strikeouts. I really question if he will even come close. So far, his spring training would support my concerns. If his mediocre spring training is followed by a few poor regular season starts, it might be time to move on.

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