GOP showing signs of backing down from vow to block Obama’s Supreme Court nominee automatically

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Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Kentucky Republican, and others have vowed to block any Obama nominee, saying the next president should select Justice Scalia’s replacement. (Associated Press) more >

President Obama called on SenateRepublicans Tuesday to give his eventual Supreme Court nominee a fair hearing in his bid to replace the late Justice Antonin Scalia, as cracks emerged in the Republican leadership’s position of automatically blocking any nominee.

“I expect them to hold hearings. I expect them to hold a vote,” Mr. Obama said at a press conference. “There’s no unwritten law that says it can only be done on off years.”

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Kentucky Republican, and others including presidential candidates Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Marco Rubio of Florida have vowed to block any Obama nominee, saying the next president should select Justice Scalia’s replacement.

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Mr. Obama blasted that rationale.

“This is the Supreme Court, thehighest court in the land,” the president said. “It’s the one courtwhere we would expect elected officials to rise above day-to-day politics. I understand the stakes. I understand the pressure that Republican senators are undoubtedly under. This would be a deciding vote. But that’s not how the system is supposed to work.”

Even before Mr. Obama stated his case, there were signs that Republican unity was wavering on the notion of blocking any nominee out of hand.

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SenateJudiciary CommitteeChairman Chuck Grassley, Iowa Republican, didn’t rule out confirmation hearings and a vote by his panel on an Obama selection.

“I would wait until the nominee is made before I would make any decision,” Mr. Grassley said Tuesday in a conference call with Iowa radio reporters. “In other words, take it a step at a time.”

Asked whether he thought the controversy over filling the court vacancy might endanger his re-election chances this fall, Mr. Grassley said, “I think I have a responsibility to perform, and I can’t worry about the election. I’ve got to do my job as a senator, whatever it is. And there will be a lot of tough votes between now and the next election.”

His comments appeared to be a softening from a statement shortly after Justice Scalia’s death, when Mr. Grassley said it was “standard practice” not to nominate or confirm candidates for the Supreme Court in an election year.

“It only makes sense that we defer to the American people who will elect a new president to select the nextSupreme Court Justice,” Mr. Grassley said in a statement Saturday.

Sen. Thom Tillis, North Carolina Republican, voiced caution about blocking any Obama nominee automatically.

“I think we fall into the trap if [we] just simply say, sight unseen, we fall into the trap of being obstructionists,” Mr. Tillis said on Tyler Cralle’s radio show.

But Mr. Tillis added of the president, “If he puts forth someone that we think is in the mold of President Obama’s vision for America, then we’ll use every device available to block that nomination.”

A top aide to Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, Nevada Democrat, responding to Mr. Tillis’ comments, predicted that Mr. McConnell will eventually retreat from his stance of blocking any Obama nominee without a hearing.

“Sen. McConnell’s rash and unprecedented decision to deny aSupreme Court nominee a fair hearing and floor vote has put Republicans in an untenable position, so it is not surprising to see cracks appear so quickly,” said Adam Jentleson, Mr. Reid’s deputy chief of staff. “The next step in this process will be for Sen. McConnell to back down and give President Obama’s nominee a hearing and a floor vote. That’s a simple reality.”

The White House said Mr. Obama will nominate someone to fill the vacancy after the Senate returns from its recess next week. Justice Scalia, 79, died while on a hunting trip in Texas last weekend.

Fox News legal analyst Peter Johnson Jr. said Mr. McConnell and other Republicans are making a mistake by vowing to block any Obama nominee, and they should “recalibrate immediately.”

“Mitch McConnell has been joined by [presidential candidates] Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio and Donald Trump in saying the president’s nominee to thecourt should not be considered by theSenate,” he said. “That’s an awful lot of Republicans making a big mistake.”

The No. 3 Democrat in the Senate, Charles E. Schumer of New York, said he expects Mr. Obama to select a consensus candidate who could get bipartisan support and predicted that a “huge public outcry” would force Mr. McConnell to back down.

Sen. Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, said, “Refusing to do anything means you’re voting maybe. That’s a cowardly way out.” In Richmond, Vermont, Mr. Leahy said the last time the court was down a jurist was during the Civil War.

But House Speaker Paul D. Ryan, Wisconsin Republican, said he supports the idea of blocking any Obama nomination to the Supreme Court.

“The Supreme Court is not an extension of the White House,” Mr. Ryan told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “The president has absolutely every right to nominate someone to the Supreme Court, but Congress as an equal branch also has every right not to confirm someone.”

Mr. Ryan said an election year is a poor time to make such an important decision.“We are knee-deep into a presidential election, and I think the precedent for not filling a Supreme Court vacancy in such a time is justified,” he said.

The speaker also said Mr. Obama’s nominees to the high court, Justices Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor, have shown tendencies to support the president’s overreaching on executive power.

“The president has tried everything he can to empower the executive branch at the expense of the legislative one,” he said. “His Supreme Court nominees have all contributed to that, those that he has placed on the bench already. So not only does Congress have the authority to stop a nominee, it has an obligation to defend itself against a president and a radically altered court that would continue to seize its powers.”

Mr. Obama said Republicans are being hypocritical and that a delay forSupreme Court nominees in election years is “not in the constitutional text.”

“I’m amused when I hear people who claim to be strict interpreters of the Constitution suddenly reading into it a whole series of provisions that are not there,” he said.

Nearly all of the most vulnerableSenate Republicans support blocking a vote on any nominee, even as Democrats vow to make it a flashpoint in the battle for control of the upper legislative chamber.

Sens. Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Richard Burr of North Carolina, Patrick J. Toomey of Pennsylvania and John McCain of Arizona said they owe it to the American people to delay the nomination process until voters elect Mr. Obama’s successor.

As Mr. Obama pushes ahead with plans to nominate a successor toJustice Scalia, more attention is focusing on Attorney General Loretta Lynch, 56, as a possible candidate. Last year, she became the first black woman to hold the nation’s top law enforcement post.

“The fact that Lynch was vetted so recently for attorney general also makes it practical for the president to nominate her in relatively short order,” said Tom Goldstein, publisher of the SCOTUSblog. “There is some imperative to move quickly, because each passing week strengthens the intuitive appeal of the Republican argument that it is too close to the election to confirm the nominee.”

But Ms. Lynch drew criticism last year for defending Mr. Obama’s executive order on deportation amnesty. She also is under fire for her handling of the Justice Department’s probe into Hillary Clinton’s classified emails. She has resisted Republicans’ calls to appoint a special prosecutor to evaluate the matter.Nor was her confirmation process free of drama.

A former U.S. attorney in New York, Ms. Lynch was nominated by the president on Nov. 8, 2014, to replace Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr., shortly after Republicans won control of the Senate in the midterm elections. Democrats offered to wait until Republicans took over the majority in January to consider her nomination.

Her confirmation process then became mired in political feuds over Mr. Obama’s executive action on deportation amnesty and an abortion provision in legislation against human trafficking. As the debate over Ms. Lynch’s confirmation grew more heated, Sen. Richard J. Durbin, Illinois Democrat and a close ally of the White House, said Republicans were making her “sit in the back of the bus.”

The Judiciary Committee voted 12-8 in favor of her confirmation on Feb. 26, 2015. The full Senate confirmed Ms. Lynch by a vote of 56-43 on April 23, 166 days after the president nominated her.

The lone senator who didn’t vote wasTed Cruz, Texas Republican, who had scheduling conflicts. He voted against Ms. Lynch in a procedural vote and said the majority Republicans could have stopped her nomination.

Others on Mr. Obama’s short list include Judge Srikanth Srinivasan, 48, who was approved by the Senate on a 97-0 vote in 2013 for a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit; Judge Jane Kelly, 51, also given unanimous Senateapproval in 2013 to the appeals court; Judge Paul Watford, 48, of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, formerly a law clerk for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg; and California Attorney General Kamala Harris, 51, who is running in the Democratic primary to succeed retiring U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer.

⦁ This article is based in part on wire service reports.

COMMENTS

National Prayer Breakfast: Obama Preaches "Jesus is a good cure for fear"

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by CHARLIE SPIERING4 Feb 201679

President Obama warned Americans to stay away from fear, as the world grows more troubled under his leadership.

During his speech at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington D.C. this morning, Obama spoke about the dangers of the “primal emotion” of fear – and how to combat it with faith.

“Fear does funny things. Fear can lead us to lash out against those who are different, or lead us to try to get some sinister ‘other’ under control,” he said, alluding to anti-Muslim and anti-refugee sentiment in the country.

Obama added that fear was a “primal emotion” that could destroy community and feed mankind’s “selfish impulses.”

“If we let it consume us, the consequences of that fear can be worse than any outward threat,” he said.

Obama announced that faith was the best way to defeat fear.

“For me, and I know for so many of you, faith is a great cure for fear,” he said. “Jesus is a good cure for fear.”

He declared that Jesus helped Americans stand up “not just to our enemies but to our friends” and helped Christians to be more tolerant and accepting.

Obama cited the recent terrorist attacks and the mass shootings in America as proof that evil was in the world, striking fear into hearts of many.

“Like every president, like every leader, like every person, I’ve known fear,” Obama said. “But my faith tells me that I need not fear death, that acceptance of Christ promises everlasting life and the washing away of sins.”

As he concluded his speech, Obama prayed for more humble politicians, perhaps referring to his presidential successor.

“I pray that our leaders will always act with humility and generosity,” he said.

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Read The Full Text Of Nikki Haley's State Of The Union Rebuttal [VIDEO]

Republican Party Uses State of the Union Response to Attack Donald Trump

OLITICS

 6 hours ago | Updated 5 hours ago.

 Read the full text of Haley's speech below:

“Good evening.

“I’m Nikki Haley, Governor of the great state of South Carolina.

“I’m speaking tonight from Columbia, our state’s capital city. Much like America as a whole, ours is a state with a rich and complicated history, one that proves the idea that each day can be better than the last.

“In just a minute, I’m going to talk about a vision of a brighter American future. But first I want to say a few words about President Obama, who just gave his final State of the Union address.

“Barack Obama’s election as president seven years ago broke historic barriers and inspired millions of Americans. As he did when he first ran for office, tonight President Obama spoke eloquently about grand things. He is at his best when he does that.

“Unfortunately, the President’s record has often fallen far short of his soaring words.

“As he enters his final year in office, many Americans are still feeling the squeeze of an economy too weak to raise income levels. We’re feeling a crushing national debt, a health care plan that has made insurance less affordable and doctors less available, and chaotic unrest in many of our cities.

“Even worse, we are facing the most dangerous terrorist threat our nation has seen since September 11th, and this president appears either unwilling or unable to deal with it.

“Soon, the Obama presidency will end, and America will have the chance to turn in a new direction. That direction is what I want to talk about tonight.

“At the outset, I’ll say this: you’ve paid attention to what has been happening in Washington, and you’re not naive.

“Neither am I. I see what you see. And many of your frustrations are my frustrations.

“A frustration with a government that has grown day after day, year after year, yet doesn’t serve us any better. A frustration with the same, endless conversations we hear over and over again. A frustration with promises made and never kept.

“We need to be honest with each other, and with ourselves: while Democrats in Washington bear much responsibility for the problems facing America today, they do not bear it alone. There is more than enough blame to go around.

“We as Republicans need to own that truth. We need to recognize our contributions to the erosion of the public trust in America’s leadership. We need to accept that we’ve played a role in how and why our government is broken.

“And then we need to fix it.

“The foundation that has made America that last, best hope on earth hasn’t gone anywhere. It still exists. It is up to us to return to it.

“For me, that starts right where it always has: I am the proud daughter of Indian immigrants who reminded my brothers, my sister and me every day how blessed we were to live in this country.

“Growing up in the rural south, my family didn’t look like our neighbors, and we didn’t have much. There were times that were tough, but we had each other, and we had the opportunity to do anything, to be anything, as long as we were willing to work for it.

“My story is really not much different from millions of other Americans. Immigrants have been coming to our shores for generations to live the dream that is America. They wanted better for their children than for themselves. That remains the dream of all of us, and in this country we have seen time and again that that dream is achievable.

“Today, we live in a time of threats like few others in recent memory. During anxious times, it can be tempting to follow the siren call of the angriest voices. We must resist that temptation.

“No one who is willing to work hard, abide by our laws, and love our traditions should ever feel unwelcome in this country.

“At the same time, that does not mean we just flat out open our borders. We can’t do that. We cannot continue to allow immigrants to come here illegally. And in this age of terrorism, we must not let in refugees whose intentions cannot be determined.

“We must fix our broken immigration system. That means stopping illegal immigration. And it means welcoming properly vetted legal immigrants, regardless of their race or religion. Just like we have for centuries.

“I have no doubt that if we act with proper focus, we can protect our borders, our sovereignty and our citizens, all while remaining true to America’s noblest legacies.

“This past summer, South Carolina was dealt a tragic blow. On an otherwise ordinary Wednesday evening in June, at the historic Mother Emanuel church in Charleston, twelve faithful men and women, young and old, went to Bible study.

“That night, someone new joined them. He didn’t look like them, didn’t act like them, didn’t sound like them. They didn’t throw him out. They didn’t call the police. Instead, they pulled up a chair and prayed with him. For an hour.

“We lost nine incredible souls that night.

“What happened after the tragedy is worth pausing to think about.

“Our state was struck with shock, pain, and fear. But our people would not allow hate to win. We didn’t have violence, we had vigils. We didn’t have riots, we had hugs.

“We didn’t turn against each other’s race or religion. We turned toward God, and to the values that have long made our country the freest and greatest in the world.

“We removed a symbol that was being used to divide us, and we found a strength that united us against a domestic terrorist and the hate that filled him.

“There’s an important lesson in this. In many parts of society today, whether in popular culture, academia, the media, or politics, there’s a tendency to falsely equate noise with results.

“Some people think that you have to be the loudest voice in the room to make a difference. That is just not true. Often, the best thing we can do is turn down the volume. When the sound is quieter, you can actually hear what someone else is saying. And that can make a world of difference.

“Of course that doesn’t mean we won’t have strong disagreements. We will. And as we usher in this new era, Republicans will stand up for our beliefs.

“If we held the White House, taxes would be lower for working families, and we’d put the brakes on runaway spending and debt.

“We would encourage American innovation and success instead of demonizing them, so our economy would truly soar and good jobs would be available across our country.

“We would reform education so it worked best for students, parents, and teachers, not Washington bureaucrats and union bosses.

“We would end a disastrous health care program, and replace it with reforms that lowered costs and actually let you keep your doctor.

“We would respect differences in modern families, but we would also insist on respect for religious liberty as a cornerstone of our democracy.

“We would recognize the importance of the separation of powers and honor the Constitution in its entirety. And yes, that includes the Second and Tenth Amendments.

“We would make international agreements that were celebrated in Israel and protested in Iran, not the other way around.

“And rather than just thanking our brave men and women in uniform, we would actually strengthen our military, so both our friends and our enemies would know that America seeks peace, but when we fight wars we win them.

“We have big decisions to make. Our country is being tested.

“But we’ve been tested in the past, and our people have always risen to the challenge. We have all the guidance we need to be safe and successful.

“Our forefathers paved the way for us.

“Let’s take their values, and their strengths, and rededicate ourselves to doing whatever it takes to keep America the greatest country in the history of man. And woman.

“Thank you, good night, and God bless.”

Last Chance to Talk about Himself and Anger America

Obama’s last State of the Union will try to counter electorate’s anger

www.washingtonpost.com

President Obama will deliver his last State of the Union address Tuesday at a moment when fear and anger seem to be driving both the American electorate and the candidates seeking to replace him in the White House.

His challenge? Communicate a message big enough to rise above the election-season vitriol.

To that end, the White House has promised a “non-traditional” speech that, in the president’s words, will cut through the “day-to-day noise of Washington” and celebrate the country’s capacity “to come together as one American family.” Instead of a to-do list of policy proposals that have little chance of passing Congress, he has said he plans to deliver a speech that will describe “who we are” as a nation — or perhaps more accurately, whom Obama, in the last year of his presidency, would like us to be.

The problem for the president in his seventh year in office is that the gulf between his vision of a unified America, one he has trumpeted from his earliest days on the national scene, and the political reality has never seemed wider. This final address from the House chamber represents one of his last, best chances to frame the November election.

On issues including guns, immigration reform and Middle Eastern refugees, Obama faces a deeply divided American public. Some of his signature political victories from 2015, such as the Iran nuclear deal and the opening to Cuba, have provoked a fierce Republican backlash.

From Eisenhower to Obama, presidents seem to have a penchant for some of the same lines in their State of the Union addresses. Whether war or taxes or health care, there are themes that repeat again and again. Take a look back at almost 60 years of history in a little over two minutes. (Jason Aldag/The Washington Post)

The divide is perhaps deepest on issues of war and terrorism, which are likely to dominate Obama’s last year in office as well as the upcoming election.

“We all expected to be in a different place, and we’re not,” said Julianne Smith, a former Obama White House official and a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security.

Obama, his speechwriters and his national security team were still working on drafts of the speech last week and over the weekend, White House officials said.

In the battle against the Islamic State, Obama has struggled to balance intense fear of terrorism after last fall’s attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, Calif., with his conviction that there are no fast fixes to the problems in Iraq or Syria. The Islamic State occupies parts of both countries.

The United States is counting on local forces, backed by U.S. air power, to slowly take territory from Islamic State fighters. A bolstered counterterrorism effort will seek in the coming months to kill the group’s senior leaders through drone strikes and raids, officials say.

Only a year ago, Obama used his State of the Union address to declare the end of an era marked by 15 years of terrorism and continuous war. “Tonight we turn the page,” the president began last January. “. . . Tonight, for the first time since 9/11, our combat mission in Afghanistan is over.”

President Obama waves before giving his State of the Union address on Jan. 20, 2015. Obama will deliver his final State of the Union speech Tuesday. (Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP)

Today there are fewer than 15,000 U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, down from a high of 180,000 when Obama took office. But the president’s “turn the page” metaphor already seems dated. In the past few weeks, seven American troops have been killed in Afghanistan, and the president’s top commander there has said he does not think further cuts to the current force of 9,800 U.S. troops are realistic anytime soon.

The effort to defeat the Islamic State will be “an overarching focus to everything we do around the world this year,” Ben Rhodes, a deputy national security adviser to Obama, told reporters this month.

The president has struggled of late to calibrate his remarks to match the country’s mood. “So much of his legacy was built around ending the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan,” Smith said.

Obama has responded with a campaign that emphasizes the limits of American power to repair the Middle East and seeks to keep U.S. forces from being drawn too deeply into chaotic quagmires. The president’s approach has provoked heavy criticism from Republicans, who are promising more bombs and tighter restrictions on Muslim refugees.

“We will carpet-bomb them into oblivion,” said Sen. Ted Cruz (Tex.), describing his plan for the Islamic State. “I don’t know if sand can glow in the dark, but we’re going to find out.”

GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump has proposed a temporary ban on all Muslim immigrants to the United States.

Obama initially mocked the heated Republican rhetoric as fearful, weak and politically craven. “When candidates say we wouldn’t admit 3-year-old orphans — that’s political posturing,” he said in November.

A few weeks later, in a prime-time addressto the nation, the president took a different course.

“The threat from terrorism is real,” he acknowledged. “But we will overcome it. Our success won’t depend on tough talk or abandoning our values or giving in to fear.”

The State of the Union offers Obama another chance to make his case that the United States is strong and secure enough to stay the course and stick to its values.

But it also presents him a huge political opportunity to talk to the country about what kind of person should replace him. The worry among establishment Republicans is that Obama will seize upon remarks by candidates like Trump to discredit the party.

“I suspect he’ll be very tempted to paint the entire party with a broad brush as anti-immigrant, rather than seek out common ground,” said Michael Green, a former George W. Bush White House official and a senior vice president at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Obama faces a similar challenge on domestic issues such as gun violence, and he has sought to appeal to universal American values.

“The majority of people in this country are a lot more sensible than what you see in Washington,” Obama said at a CNN town hall meeting on the gun issue last week. He derided the capital and Congress as places where “the loudest, shrillest voices” dominate.

At the State of the Union, the president will use silence to make his case. The White House said it will leave one seat empty in the first lady’s guest box to highlight the toll of gun violence on the country.

On no issue has the country’s growing division been more shocking to the White House than on immigration. The president once hoped to find common ground with Republicans on the matter.

He gave up on Congress in late 2014, issuing an executive order that would defer the deportation of up to 5 million illegal immigrants, most of them parents of U.S. citizens and those who arrived illegally as children.

Republicans immediately denounced him as an “imperial president.” Texas and 25 other states sued to block the program, which has yet to enroll a single person as the two sides fight it out in federal court.

Since then, the immigration debate has veered sharply to the right. Trump vaulted to the top of Republican polls in June after he suggested that most Mexican immigrants are “rapists,” “drug dealers” and “killers,” and promised to deport all 11 million illegal immigrants and erect a wall to keep them out.

Obama, meanwhile, has tried to make the case that new immigrants are an essential part of the American story. In December, the president presided over a naturalization ceremony at the National Archives for immigrants from 25 countries.

“In these new Americans we see our own American stories — our parents, our grandparents, our aunts, our uncles, our cousins,” Obama said. “. . . They set out for a place that was more than just a piece of land, but an idea: America — a place where we can be a part of something bigger.”

The December address did not resonate much amid the clamor of an increasingly loud, divisive and angry presidential campaign. The State of the Union gives Obama a chance to command a much bigger audience on what aides called “the grandest stage in all of American politics.”

In the days after his speech, the president will travel deep into the Republican heartland. In Omaha and then in Baton Rouge, he plans to continue to make his case, betting that in even the reddest of states, he will find people who are willing to listen.

COMMENTS

OBAMA’S NEW GUN CONTROL TEAM IS 8X LARGER THAN HIS ANTI-ISIS TEAM

More Resources for Gun Control

We are at war with Islamic extremists, and Obama cannot even bring himself to use terrorist and Islam in the same sentence. Nevertheless, ISIS and other Islamic groups have called for the the destruction of Israel, American and the West unless they convert to Islam. Obama has been absolutely miserly in providing resources to destroy this enemy of America, and insistent that bombing runs drop warning leaflets on ISIS targets before unleashing actual bombs sufficient to turn the tide.

He was wrong, and ISIS is actually gaining strength, or at least was until Russia entered the fray. With the risk so great, and the American people so insistent that this is the number one issue he must address, Obama instead has decided that he will invite tens of thousands of Muslims to come live in the United States, even though the immigration department has clearly indicated that they cannot properly vet the huge number of migrants to ensure they are not agents of ISIS. It is incomprehensible unless you decide that his true goal is the destruction of America.

And now Obama has indicated that gun control is much more important than keeping Americans safe from terrorism. He has shown that by the resources he is willing to dedicate to gun control in comparison to the bigger issue of terrorism.

President Obama plans to build a new gun control force of 430 agents, more than eight times the size of the team of commandos he is sending to the Middle East to hunt down and destroy ISIS terrorists.

According to a White House fact sheet, the president plans to deploy 200 more Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco,Firearms and Explosives agents “to help enforce our gun laws.”

He also plans to add at least 230 new FBI agents to pour over the backgrounds of gun buyers. Said the White House: “The FBI will hire more than 230 additional examiners and other staff to help process these background checks.”

In Iraq, by comparison, the White House is moving to install an estimated 50-200 special operations forces to take down ISIS.

An Associated Press report said the commandos would number around 50, with the rest in supporting roles.

This is wrong on so many levels it is hard to comprehend. Even liberal media outlets have indicated that the proposals made by Obama yesterday would have done little or nothing to quell the gun violence that has been committed in the last several years. The proposals are simply an attack on the ability of law-abiding citizens to purchase a gun and defend themselves without undue intrusion from the government.

The proposals also raise serious issues of government ability to come into an individuals home without a warrant or other protections afforded by the Constitution. The biggest question of all is why Obama is so determined to go against the will of the people and to violate so many laws in order to force his will. And that gets back to priorities.

Given that the new executive order will anger much of the nation, will violate so many laws, and will do nothing to take guns out of the hands of criminals or quell violence, why is gun prohibition or confiscation so high on Obama’s priority list? That is the larger question regarding this lawless and imperial president, and the possible answers so dark and dispiriting.

Source: Washingtonexaminer.com

Absolutely Questions about pregnancy Commitments Soundtrack

Your DOCTOR is now your DICTATOR: Obama gives doctors power to declare you 'mentally ill' and take away your guns

Wednesday, January 06, 2016

by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
Tags: doctors and gun rights, Obama executive orders, mentally ill

(NaturalNews) Through the power of unconstitutional executive orders, Obama has just granted doctors the power to place you on the FBI's "no buy" list for firearms merely for having the opinion that you're "mentally ill."

Yep, there's no scientific test, no hard evidence and no chance to defend yourself... doctors can now simply DECIDE that you're mentally ill and have all your guns taken away.

This power, remember, is being given to a class of corrupt professionals who are almost universally on the take from Big Pharma, receiving routine bribes and drug peddling influence that encourages them to drug everybody with psychiatric drugs that drive people insane.

Even worse, many doctors already believe that anyone who owns a gun is insane to begin with, and there's the catch-22: If you want to own a gun, you must be insane and therefore should be denied the right to own a gun.

All this comes down to just one more good reason who fewer and fewer people are now visiting mainstream (conventional) doctors. They're now SNITCHES for the feds!

Hear all my podcasts at HealthRangerReport.com and also see these sites:

Medicine.news
Guns.news
Liberty.news
Freedom.news
Resist.news

Click here for the full podcast

Wednesday, January 06, 2016
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
Tags: doctors and gun rights, Obama executive orders, mentally ill

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/052537_doctors_and_gun_rights_Obama_executive_orders_mentally_ill.html#ixzz3wYKTfxdu more: http://www.naturalnews.com/052537_doctors_and_gun_rights_Obama_executive_orders_mentally_ill.html#ixzz3wYJy3dnd

Obama, "I'm Fired Up!"

Vacation over, Obama looking at ways to reduce gun violence

hosted.ap.org

AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Hawaiian vacation over, President Barack Obama says he is energized for his final year in office and ready to tackle unfinished business, turning immediate attention to the issue of gun violence.

Obama scheduled a meeting Monday with Attorney General Loretta Lynch to discuss a three-month review of what steps he could take to help reduce gun violence. The president is expected to use executive action to strengthen background checks required for gun purchases.

Republicans strongly oppose any moves Obama may make, and legal fights seem likely over what critics would view as infringing on their Second Amendment rights. But Obama is committed to an aggressive agenda in 2016 even as public attention shifts to the presidential election.

Obama spent much of his winter vacation out of the public eye, playing golf with friends and dining out with his family. He returned to the White House about noon Sunday.

"I am fired up for the year that stretches out before us. That's because of what we've accomplished together over the past seven," Obama said his weekly radio and Internet address.

While in Hawaii, he also worked on his final State of the Union address, scheduled for Jan. 12. The prime-time speech will give the president another chance to try to reassure the public about his national security stewardship after the attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, California.

Congressional Republicans have outlined a competing agenda for January, saying they will spend the first days of 2016 taking another crack at eliminating keys parts of the president's health insurance law and ending federal funding for Planned Parenthood. The legislation is unlikely to become law, but it is popular with the GOP base in an election year.

The debate about what Obama may do on gun violence already has spilled over into the presidential campaign.

Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton has called for more aggressive executive actions on guns, and rival Bernie Sanders said he would support Obama's expected move.

The Vermont senator told ABC's "This Week" that he believes "there is a wide consensus" that "we should expand and strengthen the instant background check." He added: "I think that's what the president is trying to do and I think that will be the right thing to do."

Republican candidates largely oppose efforts to expand background checks or take other steps that curb access to guns.

"This president wants to act as if he is a king, as if he is a dictator," unable to persuade Congress and forcing an "illegal executive action" on the country, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie told "Fox News Sunday."

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, also on Fox, said Obama's "first impulse is always to take rights away from law-abiding citizens, and it's wrong."

In the radio address, Obama said tens of thousands of people have died from gun violence since background check legislation stalled three years ago.

"Each time, we're told that commonsense reforms like background checks might not have stopped the last massacre, or the one before that, so we shouldn't do anything," Obama said. "We know that we can't stop every act of violence. But what if we tried to stop even one?"

Federally licensed gun sellers are required by law to seek criminal background checks before completing a sale. But gun control advocacy groups say some of the people who sell firearms at gun shows are not federally licensed, increasing the chance of sales to customers prohibited by law from purchasing guns.

Obama plans to participate in a town hall Thursday night at George Mason University in Virginia on reducing gun violence. The president will take questions from the audience at the event moderated by CNN's Anderson Cooper.

Despite his deep differences with Republicans, Obama has cited two agenda items for 2016 that have bipartisan support: a free trade agreement with 11 other nations called the Trans-Pacific Partnership and changes in the criminal justice system that would reduce incarceration rates for nonviolent offenders. He often points out that the U.S. accounts for 5 percent of the world's population and 25 percent of its inmates.

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Follow Kevin Freking athttp://twitter.com/APkfreking

COMMENTS

Thai government poll apparently shows 99 per cent of citizens are happy with the leadership

www.telegraph.co.uk

Thailand's military-ruled government has claimed that 99 per cent of the country's people are happy with its performance since it took power in a coup last year.

The survey by the government-run National Statistics Office comes as Prayuth Chan-Ocha, the Thai prime minister, and his ruling National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) are struggling to kick start Thailand’s slumping economy.

Of the 2,700 people questioned for the poll, 99.3 per cent said they were satisfied with the government’s overall performance, while 98.9 per cent said they were confident the NCPO could solve Thailand’s problems.

But the fact that the survey was conducted by a government ministry has raised doubts as to whether it was a truly independent poll.

Speaking on Wednesday, the prime minister defended his crackdown on dissent and brushed aside criticism of his government’s human rights record.

The former general also mounted a vigorous defence of the May 2014 coup that saw the junta topple the electedgovernment of Yingluck Shinawatra.

“Some people say I came to power illegitimately. I’d say we came in to fix things and push needed reforms,” said Mr Prayuth.

Since seizing power, the junta has been accused of gagging the media and of detaining an ever-increasing number of critics of the regime for so-called "attitude adjustment".

There has also been a steep rise in the number of people prosecuted under Thailand’s lese-majeste laws, which are designed to protect the country’s revered monarchy and are some of the strictest in the world. Human rights groups have claimed that the laws are being used to silence the junta's political opponents.

Mr Prayuth dismissed those criticisms during a speech at Government House in Bangkok on Wednesday morning, in which he outlined the NCPO’s achievements over the last year and said that Thailand remained on course to hold elections again in 2017.

“To those who say we have lost our democracy, I’d say I am sorry, but we cannot afford to waste the time we have now to change our country,” said Mr Prayuth. “Those accusing me of breaching human rights need to understand that we are operating in unusual circumstances.”

Mr Prayuth has also sought to boost morale in Thailand by penning his own songs. His latest tune, Because You Are Thailand, was released at the beginning of the week and includes lyrics such as, "If we join hands and breathe together, the day we hope for is not far away". It follows the release of Returning Happiness to the People, which Mr Prayuth composed soon after the 2014 coup.

But the country remains mired in an economic slump. A combination of declining exports and record levels of household debt has resulted in the International Monetary Fund slashing its 2016 growth forecast for the Thai economy from four per cent to 3.2 per cent.

COMMENTS

Democrats Chuck Schumer, Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi all Support Obama’s Dictatorship.

 

 

Democrats Chuck Schumer, Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi all Support Obama’s Dictatorship.

Every congressman, regardless of political party or ideology, takes an oath of office that reads (emphasis added):

“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.”

Granted, the Democrat Party, the party that “booed” God loudly three times at their 2012 convention, probably have a huge problem with the “So help me God” closing, but, nevertheless, they promise to follow the U.S. Constitution.

The beginning body of the U.S. Constitution, Article, I, Section 1, states that “ALL” legislative powers are obtained by the Congress of the United State, not Barack Obama. In one clear, easy to understand sentence, the longest serving Constitution in world history states:

“All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.”

However, Democrats, so desperate to import more undocumented Democrats, overcome with political greed, are ignoring the Constitution their swore to uphold, calling on their Messiah, Barack Obama, to become America’s first dictator, pushing the Marxist community organizer to issue laws where there are none, change laws where there are existing ones, and to not enforce laws that don’t promote the Democrat Party’s communist agenda.

Take immigration.  We do have immigration laws, correct?

Congressional Democrats are violating their oath of office and are urging Obama to break existing immigration laws, encouraging him even to make new immigration “laws” if Congress “fails to act.” Obama himself even promised to issue additional royal edicts to skirt the rule of law.

The Hill  reports on comments from leading treasonous Democrats, who are pressuring weak-kneed Speaker of the House, RINO John Boehner, to agree with Obama’s dictates, pass them in the House, or Obama will be a dictator “act alone.”

“We’re deporting too many people; we’re breaking up families; and he ought to do whatever’s in his executive power to change what is a bad policy,” Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) said Thursday. “It’s the right thing to do.”

Rep. Filemon Vela (D-Texas), a member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) who represents a border district, agreed that the issue demands more urgency from the president.

“He needs to be looking at it now,” Vela said Thursday, predicting no action in the House this year. “We have no Republican bills, whatsoever.”

Democrats are not speaking entirely with one voice on the issue, however. Many party leaders are backing Obama’s delay in the hope that Boehner will launch a last-minute effort to take up immigration legislation this year.

“I’m hopeful,” House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Thursday, during a news briefing to mark the anniversary of the Senate passing its immigration reform bill. “I believe that the Speaker is of good faith on this.

“Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) agreed, arguing that Democrats “have always said that the deadline for getting a bill done feasibly is July 31.”

“Are the chances very small? Very small,” Schumer said Thursday. “But … hope springs eternal. Maybe Speaker Boehner would come to his senses.”

Other liberals are running out of patience with that strategy.

Rep. Rubén Hinojosa (D-Texas), the chairman of the CHC, has long been critical of Obama’s delayed action. Last month, he called on the president “to reconsider.” And this week, he said leading Hispanic lawmakers will amplify that message in a coming visit to the White House.

“I told him that we’d give him time, so we should be going to the White House soon,” Hinojosa said Wednesday.

In other words, change the law by our arbitrary deadline, or Dictator Obama will do it for us. It’s treasonous. Separation of powers be damned!