Tag Archives: law

Article 50!

28 Tuesday Mar 2017

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The UK boldly goes where no European country has gone before!

Theresa May will issue an appeal to the country to “come together” as she formally launches the process for the UK to leave the European Union.

Nine months after the divisive Brexit referendum last June, the Prime Minister will officially trigger Article 50 in a letter that will be hand delivered in Brussels.

At the same time, in a statement to MPs in the Commons, she will pledge to get the right deal for everyone in the UK, including EU nationals living in this country.

“We are one great union of people and nations with a proud history and a bright future,” she will say.

“And, now that the decision has been made to leave the EU, it is time to come together.”

Brexit

“Dear EU: Later losers.” Sky News.

There’s still a potential two-years of red tape; the exit process could be draconian. Could be – no one has ever done it before. Whatever it takes, it will be worth it. No Brit can serve London and Brussels.

We could have used an Article 50 in that … what was it called? Constitution… The 1860’s might have been a lot more peaceful.

God Bless England!

Aiding, Abetting, and Going to Jail

28 Tuesday Mar 2017

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A Massachusetts Sheriff is calling for leaders in sanctuary cities to be charged with federal felonies. They are, after all, committing them.

A Massachusetts law enforcement official testifying before Congress on Tuesday called for leaders of sanctuary cities to be arrested.

Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson told the House Subcommittee on Illegal Immigration that sanctuary cities “have become magnets for illegal aliens, some of which have violent criminal records.”

“If these sanctuary cities are going to harbor and conceal criminal illegal aliens from ICE, which is in direct violation of Title 8 of the U.S. Code, federal arrest warrants should be issued for their elected officials,” Hodgson said. “Our citizens would be safer if we never stopped enforcing immigration law and if we never formed or turned a blind eye toward sanctuary cities.”

Mass of all places! Hats off to this man. And, if the comments with the story are any indication, the Yankees are fed up with the invasion. Hope, that.

hodgson

A lawman for the law. Amazing. CSPAN

You may recalling reading about this concept and Title 8 a while back. I expounded the same thought four months ago.

Now that Trump is headed for the highest office, it remains to be seen if he will follow through. One sign that he might do so is his pick for Attorney General: Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions. Under existing law Trump and Sessions will have great power to tame immigration.

The other side refuses to lie down, even after their electoral beating this month. Their tenacity is to be commended. Like their criminal friends and constituents, their leaders have vowed to evade the law. The mayors of “sanctuary cities” across the nation declare they will allow illegal immigrants to stay in spite of the coming crackdown. Sessions may have a harsh answer for them.

The Senator has indicated he may well use his coming authority to strip said cities of federal funding. He also has a more drastic option at his disposal (or, he will).

8 U.S.C. § 1324 makes aiding, abetting, and harboring illegal aliens a felony:

Any person who …

knowing or in reckless disregard of the fact that an alien has come to, entered, or remains in the United States in violation of law, conceals, harbors, or shields from detection, or attempts to conceal, harbor, or shield from detection, such alien in any place, including any building or any means of transportation …

[Or who] aids or abets the commission of any of the preceding acts,
shall be punished…

in the case of a violation of subparagraph (A)(ii), (iii), (iv), or (v)(II), be fined under title 18, imprisoned not more than 5 years, or both…

Being a mayor or city official is not an exemption to “any person” as contemplated by the law. And certain circumstances elevate some violations to 20-year felony status.

Always ahead on everything. Read it here, today, or wait months for the world to catch up.

By the way, don’t look for too many prosecutions anytime soon. Republicans, we’re dealing with here…

Now We’re Talking: The Genius of Mo Brooks

27 Monday Mar 2017

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A new Bill would repeal ObamaCare with one sentence:

“Effective as of Dec. 31, 2017, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is repealed, and the provisions of law amended or repealed by such Act are restored or revived as if such Act had not been enacted,” the bill states.”

– Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

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Mo Brooks / Scribed.

The beauty of the thing is that it is simple, effective, and out in the open (unlike Ryan’s Whack-a-Bill failure). Thus, the beauty guarantees the GOP will never pass it.

Another Defeat: The Elephants Struggle

25 Saturday Mar 2017

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The Republicans are the Atlanta Falcons of politics. Losers from Loserville. Early last month the real Falcons showed the sporting world how to blow a 25-point lead, insurmountable by practical standards, and lose a Super Bowl in spectacular, if typical, Atlanta fashion. Yesterday, not to be out-done, the GOP squandered control of the House, the Senate, and the White House, losing their bid to reform ObamaCare for something like the 60th time.

It’s worse really, and not just because millions actually depend on the outcome. Atlanta lost to the greatest team, coach, and quarterback in history – all striding through the second half like no team has before (or likely will after). Trump, Ryan, and Co. “lost” to a Democrat party with no clear leadership, no agenda, and no motives. Failure to internally think, plan, and communicate led the Speaker to pull the AHCA Bill just prior to a vote.

Republicans abruptly pulled their health care bill from the House floor on Friday, just minutes ahead of a planned vote, dealing a devastating blow to efforts by President Donald Trump and the GOP to repeal and replace Obamacare.

“This is a disappointing day for us,” Speaker Paul Ryan told reporters shortly after the bill was yanked. “Doing big things is hard. All of us, myself included, will need time to reflect how we got to this moment, what we could have done to do it better.”

Ryan said he told Trump around noon the White House that they didn’t have the Republican votes needed to pass the bill. “I told him that the best thing I think to do is to pull this bill and he agreed with that decision,” Ryan said.

Speaking via phone later at 3:00 p.m. EST, Trump said Democrats in the House — all of whom had planned to vote against the bill — shoulder the blame for the defeat. “Obamacare is exploding,” the president said in the Oval Office. “With no Democrat support, we couldn’t quite get there. We were just a very small number of votes short in terms of getting our bill passed.”

“I’m disappointed,” Trump said, adding, “I’m a little surprised to be honest with you.”

Welcome to Washington, Mr. Trump. The irresistible force has met the immovable object. Even the Donald’s charismatic juggernaut has limits.

A friend and I debated whether the circus clown might be a better symbol for the GOP than the noble elephant. I think I’ve found a better. The elephant is large, powerful, dangerous even. And it is a smart animal, as animals go. No relation to the GOP in the 21st Century. No, a better mascot would be the jellyfish: a brainless, spineless creature dedicating to drifting the currents and soaking up nutrients. As seemingly harmless as it is useless, it can still deliver a nasty sting to those foolish enough to associate with it. Trump feels the burning sting this weekend.

04fish1-jumbo

Carlos Slim’s Blog.

In fairness, the Repubs have been working on repealing, repealing and replacing, or amending ObamaCare for seven years. Only seven. It took the Democrats over 15 years to craft the law – from Bill and Hillary’s hints in 1992-3 to Obama’s collusion with Big Insurance and the Devil in 2010. But the Dems really are stubborn like donkeys. They bide their time and plan strategically. The predictable failure of ObamaCare even fits their long-term plans for socialism.

The “conservatives” have no plans and no idea how to handle authority. Monday, they’ll be on to a similar debacle with tax cuts. However, then (or now), they will find the debt ceiling looming once again on the D.C. horizon. The debt will rise; it always does. This year promises, perhaps, some extra suspense and entertainment.

Well, as much of those things as a jellyfish can generate.

Lock Them Up!

24 Friday Mar 2017

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Bob Woodward seems to think someone from the Obama administration is (or should be) going to jail for various illegal activities related to the wiretapping of Trump Tower.

The Washington Post’s Bob Woodward warned on Wednesday that there are people from the Obama administration who could be facing criminal charges for unmasking the names of Trump transition team members from surveillance of foreign officials.

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., said earlier that he had briefed Trump on new information, unrelated to an investigation into Russian activities, that suggested that several members of Trump’s transition team and perhaps Trump himself had their identities “unmasked” after their communications were intercepted by U.S. intelligence officials.

It’s too soon to tell if this might include Barry himself. If it does, then perhaps he can share a cell with John McCain.

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Have fun, boys.

Developing…

TrumpNet: Just the Facts

19 Sunday Mar 2017

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And this isn’t even the information Trump has promised for the coming weeks:

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Infowars.com have obtained credible information from law enforcement sources regarding individual records of U.S. citizens under National Security Agency (NSA) electronic surveillance in the years 2004 through 2010 – a database that suggests both Donald J. Trump and Alex Jones were under illegal, unauthorized government monitoring during those years.

Michael Zullo, formerly the commander and chief investigator of the Cold Case Posse (CCP), a special investigative group created in 2006 in the office of Joseph M. Arpaio, formerly the sheriff in Maricopa County, an Arizona State Certified Law Enforcement Agency, headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, provided sections of the database to Infowars.com.

The electronic surveillance database, provided to Zullo by a whistleblower in 2013, was apparently created by the NSA as part of the NSA’s illegal and unconstitutional Project Dragnet electronic surveillance of U.S. citizens, first revealed by news reports published in 2005, as further documented by the revelations of whistleblower Edward Snowden in 2013.

Sheriff Arpaio and Chief Investigator Zullo have identified dozens of entries at various addresses, including both Trump Tower in New York City and Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, under which Donald Trump was apparently under NSA electronic surveillance from 2004, during President George W. Bush’s term of office, through 2009, the first year of President Obama’s presidency.

The government has the ability to intercept just about all electronic transmissions these days. And, largely, they do just that. What they do with the information depends on several factors, none of them grounded in the law of Anglo-American jurisprudence.

There was little doubt that Trump has spied on. The question was whether he was targeted for something else. If he was, then he is in a unique position now to extract retribution from those who surveilled him. If he wasn’t, then he still has a unique opportunity to address the constant mass spying against nearly all Americans – spying which people either knew about or should have known about 10 or even 20 years ago.

One would think this sort of thing would be taken seriously in the “Land of the Free”. Then again, a bunch of above-average height men in squeaky shoes are playing with balls right now on the TeeVee.

The people must prioritize.

Developing…

Ryan’s Way or the Highway

13 Monday Mar 2017

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Paul Ryan says his Bill is the only way to save ObamaCare from total collapse.

Casting his ObamaCare replacement bill as the only chance to save America from a complete health-care collapse, Speaker Paul Ryan Sunday countered his conservative critics who say the bill fails to make good on Republicans’ promise to repeal ObamaCare.

“Understand the speaker’s plan doesn’t repeal ObamaCare,” a member of the House Republicans’ Freedom Caucus, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), said Sunday. “Even Charles Krauthammer said that, called it ObamaCare Lite, as you said earlier. It doesn’t bring down premiums and it doesn’t unite Republicans. So, why not do what we all voted for just 15 months ago, clean repeal, and then get focused and build some momentum to actually replace ObamaCare with something that’s going to bring down costs?”

Ryan said his bill, called the American Health Care Act, is in fact the only way to successfully repeal ObamaCare.

It’s collapsing with or without you, Paul. And you guys have had more than a few years to fix this. The time would certainly seem to be now. Do something. That, or prepare to foist the bailout bill on the people – as per your usual policy of ineptitude.

Rand to the Rescue?

08 Wednesday Mar 2017

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The GOP offers an Amend and Replace for ObamaCare, the ACA. Rand Paul is in hot pursuit of a full repeal:

Though Ryan insisted Tuesday that he’d be able to get the 218 votes he needed to pass the bill in the House and McConnell optimistically predicted Senate passage, Paul’s army made clear that the bill didn’t go far enough to scale back former President Barack Obama’s signature Affordable Care Act.

Instead, Paul said lawmakers should first vote on the same repeal bill that passed Congress but was vetoed last year by Obama, then vote on competing replacement proposals from the Republican leadership and conservatives.

“We are united on repeal, but we are divided on replacement,” Paul said. “What’s the best way to get past this impasse? Let’s vote on what we voted on before: a clean repeal.”

If Paul’s coalition holds, it could doom the leadership’s replacement bill in both chambers.

C6AW5h0UwAAkncd

Rand Paul / Twitter.

Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio echoed Rand’s position:

On Wednesday’s Morning Joe, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) said Congressional Republicans should introduce and vote on the “exact same” legislation that repeals Obamacare that was sent to President Obama when he held the presidency. Jordan called on his Republican brethren to “do what we told the voters we were going to do.”

“Let’s do this right and, more importantly, let’s do what we told the voters we were going to do,” Jordan said. “That’s why today I’ll be introducing legislation which just says clean repeal. Let’s vote on the exact same thing — 15 months ago, every single Republican in the House, every single Republican in the Senate voted on. We put it on President Obama’s desk.”

Jordan, like GOP Senator Rand Paul, said the current ‘repeal and replace’ legislation being touted by Speaker Paul Ryan is “Obamacare in a different form” and keeps some of the taxes from the original bill.

It almost makes sense: They were in the minority with a hostile President and they almost passed a full repeal. Now, in the majority and with a Chief Executive itching to sign off, they go soft. Almost. Smells like Republicans alright. And only Republicans could make something so simple into such a problem when confronting something so serious. Maybe Mitch and Paul should switch titles with Rand and Jim.

Better do something quick! The Russian moles are coming…

European Court of Justice: States Can Refuse “Refugees”

07 Tuesday Mar 2017

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There is (or was) a trend in American jurisprudence to show deference to foreign legal precedents. Prior to the 21st Century this was limited almost entirely to decisions under English Common Law; occasionally a Court would site some archaic principle from ancient Greco-Roman-Anglo tradition. Then, liberals decided to open things up, scouring the globe for any shred of justification for dismantling U.S. laws and freedoms.

Here’s one new high court decision from Europe they might be slow to embrace:

Europe’s top court has ruled that European Union member states aren’t obliged to grant humanitarian visas to people who want to enter their territory to apply for asylum.

The decision announced Tuesday came after a Belgian court in October ordered the government to give humanitarian visas to a family in war-torn Syria.

The European Court of Justice ruled that allowing people to choose where to get international protection would undermine the EU system establishing which country should handle asylum applications.

It said that EU law only lays out the procedures and conditions for issuing visas to transit through or stay on the territory of a member state for up to 90 days.

But the Luxembourg-based court said member state courts remain free to rule on visas under national law.

Europe is under literal siege from hordes of “refugees” – mostly fighting-aged men fleeing to better welfare and criminal opportunities. Even the dullest of the globalist cabal begin to see there is a terrible problem brewing.

Even Angela Merkel and her gaggle of anti-Western autocrats realized, in 2015, they were making a terrible mistake allowing in so many unassimilable third-worlders. Yet they feared denials would violate E.U. laws. Their former fears were very justified, the latter turned out to be completely fictional.

Compare and contrast the ECJ’s ruling to the recent rank stupidity from the Ninth Circuit:

…the Executive Order’s effect on their faculty and students who
are nationals of the seven affected countries. These students
and faculty cannot travel for research, academic
collaboration, or for personal reasons, and their families
abroad cannot visit. Some have been stranded outside the
country, unable to return to the universities at all.

The Ninth essentially said, “To hell with law and order, Mohammed has a right to learn a faster way to synthesize TATP while his family lives on the dole. So eat it, America!”

Granted, things are a little worse in Europe, now, than in America. Still, in order to build diverse inclusivity and other liberal, talking point, buzz phrases, Trump should challenge the Ninth to be more open to international law. Be trendy, be hip, and block the invasion before we turn into Germany.

Issue82standard

Preparedness Weekly.

The American Healthcare Act of 2017

06 Monday Mar 2017

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Whack-a-Bill, everyone’s least favorite carnival game is over. And people were really starting to wonder about the Obamacare repeal repeal and replace whatever…

Remember when Nancy Pelosi famously declared, “We have to pass the bill so that you can find out what’s in it?” She was, of course, referring to the Affordable Care Act, AKA Obamacare, and was justly skewered by “conservatives” at the time for the outlandish statement. Fast forward seven years, and now it’s the Republicans doing the exact same thing.

The GOP has chosen to conceal the text of what may become the replacement for Obamacare. Not only can you – someone the bill will most definitely affect – not read it. Members of the U.S. Senate are not even allowed to see what is contained in the legislation.

Senator Rand Paul, who is advocating for a complete repeal of the ACA, has made repeated attempts to view what he refers to as “Obamacare Lite,” but has still been unable to get his hands on a copy of the bill. The Kentucky senator has even gone so far as to wheel a copy machine to where he was told the bill was being housed. Paul, a Republican, was denied access.

The secrecy should be enough to alarm citizens across the U.S. and cause the public to demand to see what kind of health care reform may be about to be shoved down their throats. But what Senator Paul believes the bill contains is the most distressing part of this story.

“When we heard it was secret, we wanted to see it even more because if something is secret, you do worry that people are hiding things,” Paul said speaking to CNN.

Well pass around the cigars.The baby is here! THE FULL TEXT.

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I gave it a brief skim through. Much of this requires adjusting the existing law, 42 U.S.C. 300u–11. I don’t feel so ambitious tonight as to do a full reconcile. You’re on your own in that regard.

I see retroactive modification to the Community Health program, back to 2015. And another $422 Million spent.

They want to reroute Medicaid payments to the States. I heard some GOPers jibbering on the news about this: “Power out of Washington! Back to the States!” What about power to the people (and our money with us too)?

Mandates… Where are the mandates???

Oh heck …going to turn over analysis to Fox News. They are calling it a full replacement:

The sweeping legislation would repeal ObamaCare’s taxes along with the so-called individual and employer mandates – which imposed fines for not buying and offering insurance, respectively.

It also would repeal the Affordable Care Act’s subsidies, replacing them with tax credits for consumers.

The mandate and the fines were what most concerned me. Unconstitutional intrusion and theft (robbery, really), John Roberts’s “reasoning” aside.

House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., told Fox News they also “are not pulling the rug out from under people.” Rather, he said Republicans want to restore power to the states and control costs in Medicaid and elsewhere.

“It’ll amount to the biggest entitlement reform, probably in at least the last 20 years,” he said.

Good. Keep those reforms coming on a monthly basis at least. Aim for 1912!

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said …

Who the hell cares?

Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said the proposal “would cut and cap Medicaid, defund Planned Parenthood, and force Americans, particularly older Americans, to pay more out of pocket for their medical care all so insurance companies can pad their bottom line.”

Yeah, yeah. Killing babies, good; killing old folks, scare tactic… Do shut up, Chuck. He’s probably right about the insurance companies though; they pay Congress well to keep them in the black.

And from possibly the only respectable member of Congress:

However, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said the bill “looks like ObamaCare Lite to me … It’s going to have to be better.”

Then, make the changes, Rand. That’s what committees and reconciliation are for. We may have to settle for ObamaCare Lite. Anything would be better than what we have now – a doomed system on imminent approach to bankruptcy and ruin. I’m not sure about Rand but I know his honorable father would, ultimately, like a return to a free enterprise-based system, one sans Medicare, Medicaid, and all other forms of government mismanagement and tyranny. That’s not going to happen … any time soon.

What has to happen is a reform. Is this it? Who knows. At least we have something to read and work with.

I’ve been hounding Congress to fix this mess since the summer of 2012. Finally, we’re getting somewhere. I’ll go ahead and take the credit. You can thank me tomorrow.