Tag Archives: harry reid

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Ranch Owner: Scalia Found Dead With a ‘Pillow Over His Head’

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The owner of the ranch where Senior Associate Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, 79, was found dead Saturday shared the details of the judge’s appearance and the events surrounding his death.

John Poindexter, the owner of the Cibolo Creek Ranch, a 30,000-acre luxury ranch in the Big Bend region south of Marfa, Texas, told the San Antonio Express-News that he and a friend of Scalia’s entered the judge’s room three hours after he did not show up at a breakfast meeting at 8:30 a.m.

“We discovered the judge in bed, a pillow over his head. His bed clothes were unwrinkled,” Poindexter said.

Poindexter said Scalia had retired to his room around 9 p.m. Friday night after attending a dinner party with about 40 other guests. Poindexter said that when he found Scalia Saturday morning, he was “lying very restfully,” and “looked like he had not quite awakened from a nap.”

Presidio County Judge Cinderela Guevara told ABC News that Scalia’s death certificate “will say the cause of death was natural, and that he died of a heart attack.” Guevara also said that “no autopsy was necessary.” 

As previously reported, Scalia was appointed to the Supreme Court by President Reagan in 1986, and was the longest-serving current justice.

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) released a statement Saturday saying he thinks Obama “can and should send the Senate a nominee right away.”

“With so many important issues pending before the Supreme Court, the Senate has a responsibility to fill vacancies as soon as possible,” Reid said. “It would be unprecedented in recent history for the Supreme Court to go a year with a vacant seat.”

President Obama said he would nominate a successor in due time. “I plan to fulfill my constitutional responsibility to nominate a successor in due time,” He said, while traveling in Rancho Mirage, California.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said he thinks the next administration should make the appointment to replace Scalia, in hopes that the next president is a Republican.

“The American people should have a voice in the selection of their next Supreme Court Justice,” McConnell said. “Therefore, this vacancy should not be filled until we have a new president.”

[RELATED: Lack of Autopsy in Scalia Death Raises Questions]

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US

Harry Reid Wanted to Stop Anchor Babies: What Happened?

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By Thomas A. Hawk (IVN) – When Donald Trump talks about illegal immigration, ending birthright citizenship, and uses the term “anchor babies,” it gets a lot of attention from the media and from the Democratic Party, who like the portray the GOP front-runner as racist for his comments. Yet, it was not long ago when some leading Democrats shared the same views about illegal immigrants.

In fact, in 1993, former U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid stood on the Senate floor and bemoaned the fact that the United States was offering social services to children of illegal immigrants because they are granted birthright citizenship.

“If making it easy to be an illegal alien isn’t enough, how about offering a reward for being an illegal immigrant? No sane country would do that, right? Guess again. If you break our laws by entering this country without permission and give birth to a child, we reward that child with U.S. citizenship, and guarantee full access to all public and social services this society provides — and that’s a lot of services.” – U.S. Sen. Harry Reid

What would today’s Democratic Party say about Harry Reid then?

Watch the video:

 

Election, Politics, Videos

Watch: Ted Cruz Calls Mitch McConnell A Liar On Senate Floor

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Presidential candidate and Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) shared harsh criticism of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), comparing him to Harry Reid and accusing him of misleading Republican Senators and the public during the debate on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) deal.

“A number of weeks ago when this body was considering trade promotion authority, a group of Senators gathered on this floor and blocked TPA for many minutes because they were pressing for the Export-Import Bank,” Cruz said.

“They huddled on this floor and negotiated a deal in front of C-SPAN and in front of the world. Then when they had their deal TPA had the votes to pass. Shortly thereafter we had a Republican Senate lunch, where I asked the Majority Leader very directly, what was the deal that was just cut on TPA, and was there a deal for the Export-Import Bank? It was a direct question, I asked the majority leader in front of all of the Republican Senators. The majority leader was visibly angry with me, that I would ask such a question. And the majority leader looked at me and said there is no deal, there is no deal…”

“Madam President, I went back to my office, and my staff told me that afternoon, ‘He’s lying to you.’”

“You know, it was striking, a minute ago, to see the Democratic leader, Sen. Harry Reid, calling out the majority leader for filling the tree, for engaging in the same procedural abuse that Harry Reid used over and over again in this body. Now the Republican leader is behaving like the senior Senator from Nevada.”

Watch Cruz’s statements during Friday’s Senate session below.

Featured, US

Harry Reid Names His Successor

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By Kerry Picket

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid endorsed New York Sen. Chuck Schumer to succeed him as Democratic leader Friday.

Reid announced earlier in the day he would not seek reelection in 2016 after 34 years in Congress. Schumer, who many believed would eventually step into the Reid’s position, is currently the third-ranking Democrat in the Senate.

The only real competition would likely come fromm Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin.

“I think Schumer should be able to succeed me,” Reid told a Washington Post reporter on Friday morning during an interview at his home in Washington. Reid believes that Durbin will step aside for Schumer.

The minority leader spoke with Durbin on Friday morning.

Some liberals wonder if Schumer should be leading the party given his connections to Wall Street, but Reid believes they should accept Schumer. He said that members like Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren would continue to represent the more populist part of the caucus.

Schumer, known to reporters on the Hill for often avoiding questions and slipping into elevators to avoid press gaggles, was described by Reid to the Post as “extremely smart” and would have a “different style” than the Nevadan’s soft-spoken delivery.

Featured, Politics, US

Senator Harry Reid Retiring

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By Rachel Stoltzfoos

Democratic Minority Leader Harry Reid is retiring from the Senate.

“We have to make sure that the Democrats take control of the Senate again,” he said in a YouTube video announcing he will not seek re-election. “And I feel it is inappropriate for me to soak up all those resources on me, when I could be devoting those resources to the caucus.”

“My friend Sen. McConnell, don’t be too elated,” he added. “I am going to be here for 22 months and you know what I’m going to be doing, the same thing I’ve been doing since I first came to the Senate.”

Reid has represented Nevada in the Senate since 1987, and has led Senate Democrats since 2005. He insists his decision is not related to an injury he suffered in January, or to his most recent loss of power in the Senate.

“The decision I have made has absolutely nothing to do with my injury, has nothing to do with my being minority leader, and it certainly has nothing to do with my ability to be re-elected because the path to re-election is much easier than probably has been any time that I’ve run for re-election,” he said.

Reid told The New York Times he might have retired sooner, if Republicans hadn’t made such a point of trying to unseat him in his last election.

“I want to be able to go out at the top of my game,” Reid told the Times. “I don’t want to be a 42-year-old trying to become a designated hitter.”

Democratic Sens. Chuck Schumer and Dick Durbin are top contenders for the open minority leader spot.

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Business, Economy, Politics, US

Majority Leader McConnell’s Aides Say Senate Will Vote on Ron Paul’s Audit the Fed Bill

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Former Congressman Ron Paul’s entire political career was dedicated broadly to promoting freedom and liberty. However, during that time, he also successfully brought the subject of monetary policy to the forefront of American political discourse, exposing the shadowy, private Federal Reserve’s built-in conflicts of interest and urging lawmakers to first audit it and then cancel the bank’s charter. The private bank, which has the power to manipulate the value of the US dollar, has been accused of giving sweetheart deals to insiders, such as the time it allegedly gave a $220 million bailout to the wives of two Morgan Stanley executives. Its original mandate was to keep the US currency supply stable, though the dollar’s value has plunged to a fraction of what it was worth when the Fed took over in 1913 and has swung wildly throughout the past decade, generating record profits for connected Wall Street insiders while families struggle to afford the rising prices of life’s necessities.

Ron Paul launched a legislative push to audit the Federal Reserve in 2009, taking advantage of the rising popularity he began to experience following his 2008 presidential bid. The bill he introduced, formally called the Federal Reserve Transparency Act but colloquially referred to by the title “Audit the Fed,” passed the House twice, but was blocked by Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who refused to let the Senate vote on the proposed legislation. Ron Paul’s bill would allow the Government Accountability Office to review the Federal Reserve’s books and retroactively analyze the decisions it makes pertaining to monetary policy. Due to a grassroots push inspired by Ron Paul, a partial-but-incomplete Fed audit was included in the 2010 Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which exposed the fact that Federal Reserve insiders were given conflict of interest waivers that allowed them to invest in companies that they knew were receiving emergency bailouts.

Now, Republicans have taken control of the Senate, and Senator Mitch McConnell, an Audit the Fed co-sponsor who happens to be a close associate of Ron Paul’s son Senator Rand Paul, has been tapped as majority leader. Stephan Dinan at The Washington Times is reporting that aides at Mitch McConnell’s office are saying that he plans to finally bring the legislation to the Senate floor for a vote now that he has the power to do so. Politico notes that Republican Congressman Thomas Massie of Kentucky intends to re-introduce the bill in the House at the beginning of the 2015 session. Kentucky GOP Senator Rand Paul says he will launch the companion bill in the Senate in January. McConnell has not yet indicated when the bill might face a vote in the Senate.

Though the House is likely to pass Audit the Fed again, the Senate will be a tougher fight, as banking interests, known for funding the high-dollar campaigns of senators needing to win massive, state-wide races, oppose the legislation. In a press conference cited by The Washington Times, Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said two weeks ago, “Back in 1978 Congress explicitly passed legislation to ensure that there would be no GAO audits of monetary policy decision-making, namely policy audits. I certainly hope that will continue, and I will try to forcefully make the case for why that’s important.” Opponents of the Fed audit claim that it constitutes Congress meddling in affairs too arcane for it to understand and warn that politicization of monetary policy will have unintended consequences.

Norm Singleton with Ron Paul’s Campaign for Liberty said, “The change in Senate leadership does present us with the best opportunity yet to get a stand-alone vote on ‘Audit the Fed’… This is popular with 75 percent of the American people, but it’s not popular among Wall Street; it’s not popular among banks; it’s not popular among foreign central banks… it’s better odds now than we’ve had before, but it’s not a slam dunk.”

A Senate vote on Audit the Fed will likely pit Ron and Rand Paul’s network of grassroots activists against wealthy banking insiders in a historic battle over the nation’s dollar, with both forces urging senators to pick sides. Senator Rand Paul’s presidential aspirations may also play into the debate, as he can use the platform of his presidential bid to apply additional pressure to promote the Fed audit.

Politics, US

U.S. Government Trying To Force Washington Redskins To Change Team Name

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On Wednesday, the United States Patent and Trademark Office canceled six of the Washington Redskins’ federal trademarks in a 2-1 verdict. The decision stated, “Petitioners have shown by a preponderance of the evidence that a substantial composite of Native Americans found the term REDSKINS to be disparaging.”

While the cancellation won’t force the National Football League to change the team’s name, it does give ground to those who find the term “Redskins” to be a derogatory racial slur. It also weakens the Redskins’ legal protection, and allows counterfeit Redskins merchandise to be sold in the United States.

Once the trademark decision had been made, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid took to the Senate floor to express his opinion, saying, “the handwriting is on the wall.” Reid went on to say that the Redskins’ owner, Daniel Snyder, might be the last person in the world to realize that his team’s name is “racist,” but that “it is just a matter of time until he is forced to do the right thing and change the name.”

Washington Redskins attorneys stated that the team would appeal. Team attorney, Robert Raskopf stated that just as the team prevailed on appeal in an earlier iteration of the case, he was confident that they would succeed once again. “This case is no different than an earlier case, where the Board cancelled the Redskins’ trademark registrations, and where a federal district court disagreed and reversed the Board,” said Raskopf.

The controversy over the Redskins’ team name has been an ongoing one, and when Daniel Snyder was asked by USA TODAY in May 2013, if he would consider changing his team’s name, should they lose their federal trademark, his response was: “NEVER, you can use caps.”

Opinion, Politics, US

LOTFI: So you’re a terrorist- Now What?

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NASHVILLE, April 22, 2014– Long days spent at the Capitol fighting for state sovereignty are finally done. Legislative season is over. The snooze button was hit four (five) times this morning. The Ruger lays clean and loaded a few feet over. The smell of fresh coffee, biscuits and ham fills the air. A country, Spring wind blows over the balcony. Hank Williams III plays in the background. Is this how a “domestic terrorist” spends his morning? According to United States Senator Harry Reid (D-Nev.), yes.

For a sitting United States Senator to call American citizens “domestic terrorists” sets an incredibly dangerous precedent. Not only did Reid call Americans domestic terrorists, he labeled his own constituents as such. When asked to clarify, Reid defended his claims. “(I meant) just what I said.”

Never-mind that Reid has been pushing US tax dollars to fund Al Qaeda in Syria. Never-mind that Bill Ayers bombed several buildings, which include the U.S Capitol and Pentagon, and now sits with Reid and President Obama writing your children’s school books. Yes, Reid actively dines with true terrorists. Of course, no one dare call him the terrorist he is. No, that would be treason.

Now what?

Whether you agree with the Bundy Ranch protest is of little relevance. Your government believes YOU are the terrorists. This came, unapologetically, straight from their mouths.

Why is this important?

Your government has given itself the power to monitor your every move. The National Security Agency (NSA) has been operating under the guise of protecting Americans from potential terrorist attacks. Yet, the NSA isn’t monitoring for potential attacks. Instead, the NSA is monitoring everyone and everything. The NSA is spying on our foreign allies, your Facebook accounts and your pornography viewing habits. In fact, according to a Reuters report, the shared data almost never has anything at all to do with terrorism threats. So then, we are told the purpose of the NSA is to detect terrorism threats, but the NSA is only monitoring you and I. Are you and I the terrorists? Our government seems to believe we are.

Your government has given itself the power to indefinitely detain you, an American citizen, at any time- for the rest of your life. Trial? No shot.

Your government has given itself the power to execute you, an American citizen, at any moment for “suspected terrorism”. Innocent until proven guilty is no more. Guilty until proven innocent is the new.

Were these militia men armed? Absolutely. We have an innate right to keep and bear arms. Not a “constitutional right”, but an innate right. No such thing as constitutional rights exist. All rights are innate. The Constitution simply bans the federal government from attempting to usurp those God given rights. The militia men never once provoked the BLM. On the other hand, the BLM pointed the big guns. The antagonists indeed.

And here we are now. If you try to peacefully protest what you believe to be unjust while exercising your innate right to self defense– your government calls you a terrorist.

The legislative definitions are ambiguous: Terrorist, Battlefield, Extremist, Suspect. No clear definition exists. This is by design. When Reid throws around the word terrorist, he does so with an innately insidious purpose. The word opens a Pandora’s box of federal action. Reid knows this.

Some would accuse us of having tin foil hats. However, the links do not lie.

When your rights are left to the interpreters of vague legislative language no salvation can be found. Liberty and freedom are words of absolute, and ambiguity must find no refuge here.

So you’re a terrorist– Now what? You can connect the dots.

Follow Michael Lotfi On Facebook & Twitter.

Politics, US

Harry Reid Labels Bundy Supporters “Domestic Terrorists” Amidst Questions of Cronyism & Complicity in Bundy Ranch Seige

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Las Vegas, Nev., April 18, 2014- In a sensationalist move Senator Harry Reid has labeled supporters of Nevada cattle rancher Cliven Bundy “domestic terrorists” during an event held in Las Vegas on Thursday.

 While speaking at the ‘Hashtags & Headlines’ event, Reid called Bundy supporters:

“Nothing more than domestic terrorists” saying,

“I repeat: what happened there was domestic terrorism.”

He accused the Bundy supporters of inciting violence claiming, “There were hundreds, hundreds of people from around the country that came there,” adding, “They had sniper rifles in the freeway. They had weapons, automatic weapons. They had children lined up. They wanted to make sure they got hurt first … What if others tried the same thing?”

These claims were made in reference to the standoff, reported on by us last week, in Clarke County, Nevada at the Bundy Ranch, in which the feds brought in over 200 armed agents with sniper teams to confiscate cattle, allegedly due to unpaid grazing fees. Perhaps Senator Reid had forgotten that the only violence that commenced during the standoff was when BLM agents tazed Bundy supporters, threw a 57-year-old woman recovering from cancer to the ground, and attempted to allow a dog to attack a pregnant woman.

The mischaracterization of the Bundy supporters as “domestic terrorists” is the continuation of a narrative that has been forwarded by the federal government for a number of years. First there is the MIAC report, which claimed that potential terrorists include people who own gold, Ron Paul supporters, libertarians, and even people who fly the U.S. flag. Then in 2012 there was a leaked Homeland Security study that claimed Americans who are “reverent of individual liberty,” and “suspicious of centralized federal authority” are possible “extreme right-wing” terrorists.

Reid has promised that the BLM fight with the Bundy family is “not over.” Perhaps his possible complicity in the BLM siege that has been reported extensively, questions of cronyism, as his longtime senior advisor Neil Kornze was confirmed by the Senate last Tuesday as the Director of the BLM, along with his involvement in the Moapa Southern Paiute Solar Project, which is about 35 miles from the Bundy homestead in Bunkerville, Nevada, is causing him consternation.

Many news outlets have attempted to mitigate the situation by claiming the Chinese owned ENN solar deal, brokered by Reid’s son Rory, was shelved, thus laying the issue to rest. This is disingenuous to the facts, as the BLM has attempted to cover up by deleting documents from its website that shed light on the agency’s “Regional Mitigation Strategy for the Dry Lake Solar Energy Zone.”

In a BLM press release on March 14, it was announced that “The BLM’s current action builds on the Western Solar Energy Plan, a two-year planning effort conducted on behalf of the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Energy to expand domestic energy production and spur development of solar energy on public lands in six western states,” adding, “The Western Solar Energy Plan provides a blueprint for utility-scale solar energy permitting in Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah by establishing Solar Energy Zones with access to existing or planned transmission, incentives for development within those Solar Energy Zones, and a process through which to consider additional Solar Energy Zones and solar projects.” It goes on to state, “The Regional Mitigation Strategy for the Dry Lake Solar Energy Zone is the first of several pilot plans to be developed by the BLM.”

Although the current Moapa Solar Project is 35 miles away, the BLM, acting under Sen. Reid’s interests, want Bundy off the 600,000 acre Gold Butte area so they can use the land for future projects. As more facts come to light, it sounds less like the Bundy supporters are “domestic terrorists,” and are much more readily described as concerned citizens waging a protest against a Senator’s corrupt interests and crony capitalism.

 

Follow Jay on Facebook and on Twitter @SirMetropolis

Featured, US

Harry Reid’s Attempted Land Grab thwarted by Bundy Supporters

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As reported by Ben Swann, there was a victory for Nev. rancher Cliven Bundy when the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announced Saturday that it would stand down in its operations of rounding up cattle.

The BLM wanted to avoid potential bloodshed due to the fact that militia members from other states rallied around the Bundy family to help protect his property. A spokesman for the one of the militia groups said to local 8 News Now: I’m not “afraid to shoot,” he said.

The National Review reported that the situation between Bundy and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is over land near Bunkerville, Nev., and the controversy is over whether Bundy owns the feds millions in grazing fees for his cattle being on the land, which he claims is his going back more than a century. 

The situation escalated when the federal government started seizing hundreds of cattle and the people started to fight back. See video.

At the end of the day, it wasn’t free speech that caused federal agents to back down, it was Americans willing to use their 2nd Amendment Right against an encroaching government.

Fortunately, there wasn’t any escalated incident, so far.

However, as Ben Swann reported, there are snipers surrounding the Bundy ranch.

A report by InfoWars.com connected the dots between Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and his little-known connections to a Chinese solar energy giant. Reid’s influence could be playing a major role in the confrontation between the U.S. government and Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy.

The report cites The Blaze’s Diane Loesch connecting the dots with Reid on her blog.

She wrote, “A tortoise isn’t the reason why BLM is harassing a 67 year-old rancher. They want his land. The tortoise wasn’t of concern when Harry Reid worked BLM to literally change the boundaries of the tortoise’s habitat to accommodate the development of his top donor, Harvey Whittemore.”

According to Loesch, Whittemore was convicted of illegal campaign contributions to Reid. Reid’s former senior advisor is the head of BLM, and Reid is using that as his advantage to seize land to pay back special interests.

“BLM has proven that they have a situational concern for the desert tortoise as they’ve had no problem waiving their rules concerning wind or solar power development. Clearly these developments have vastly affected a tortoise habitat more than a century-old, quasi-homesteading grazing area. If only Clive Bundy were a big Reid donor,” continued Loesch.

The Infowars.com’s article hones in on some important questions regarding Bundy’s property and the interests of Reid’s solar connections. These connections should be explored further.

But the principle of Ockham’s razor states that when confronted with limited information it is always the best to choose the simplest explanation. And the simplest explanation here is that this land grab has nothing to do with a tortoise or cattle, but has everything to do with powerful people trying to steal a man’s property for personal gain.

 

Health, Opinion, Politics, US

Reid: Obamacare Delayed Because “People Are Not Educated About How to Use the Internet”

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Another extension has been granted by The White House for its Obamacare enrollment deadline, despite previous reports that the deadline could not be extended beyond March 31st.  Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) attributed this delay to people not being smart enough to use the internet.

“We have hundreds of thousands of people who tried to sign up who didn’t get through,” he said. “There are some people who are not like my grandchildren who can handle everything so easily on the Internet, and these people need a little extra time. The example they gave us is a 63-year-old woman came into the store and said, ‘I almost got it. Every time I just about got there, it would cut me off.’ We have a lot of people just like this through no fault of the Internet, but because people are not educated on how to use the Internet.”

According to Reid, the fact that this woman was “cut off” has nothing at all to do with Healthcare.gov’s embarrassing track record full of errors and security problems, but everything to do with a lack of internet education. He did not specify the problems with the internet that allegedly baffle so many Americans. Enrollment by telephone is an option, but the long wait times might mean that Americans are also not smart enough to use the telephone.

Reid’s accusation about Americans’ ability to use the internet came a month after declaring on C-SPAN that all complaints about Obamacare’s problems are a lie, a huge contradiction to reports all over the country.

Opinion

Obama, Reid & Pelosi Are The Anarchists

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PEL

“We’re diverted totally from what this bill is about. Why? Because the anarchists have taken over. They’ve taken over the House and now they’ve taken over the Senate. People who don’t believe in government — and that’s what the Tea Party is all about — are winning, and that’s a shame,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said on the Senate floor only weeks ago. (emphasis added)

His claims of anarchy were then echoed by many in the democratic caucus. Reid cites that because the SCOTUS upheld Obamacare it is the “law of the land” now and republicans should bow down.

I would remind Harry Reid that democratic federalists also sought to ensure slavery was upheld by the SCOTUS as the “law of the land” and it was only until republicans fought tooth and nail did that change. Furthermore, the SCOTUS upheld that African Americans were property and not humans. In retrospect, perhaps we should really take what the SCOTUS says with a grain of salt seeing as how Chief Justice John Marshall singularly gave the SCOTUS powers it was never intended to have in the first place in 1803 with Marbury v. Madison. Not to mention that Justice Marshall, on more than one occasion, created cases outside of the Court so that they would eventually reach his newly created jurisdiction so he could rule in favor of more central government- thus making his hand crafted cases the “law of the land”.

Justice Marshall, a federalist who wanted a massive central government, acted above the law to create a Supreme Court, which acts above the law. Acting above the law is also known as anarchy.

Back to Harry Reid. Okay, the SCOTUS upheld Obamacare. Then why don’t Reid, Pelosi and Obama just uphold the law of the land? Democrats scream, “Well what do you think they’re trying to do!” No.

Law-of-the-land-Obamacare says nothing about the IRS having authority re-write the healthcare law, which is unconstitutional since only Congress can create and change laws. Yet, the IRS re-wrote the law anyways. Obama has bailed out his huge corporate sponsors giving them deadline exemptions. Law-of-the-land-Obamacare says nothing about the president’s corporate sponsors getting exemptions.  Law-of-the-land-Obamacare also says that members of Congress will lose their subsidy. That didn’t stop above-the-law-of-the-land-Obama from holding secret meetings to give Congress their exemption from law-of-the-land-Obamacare.  In fact, the very act of the SCOTUS declaring Obamacare a tax by rewriting the law was unconstitutional, as only Congress can make laws.

Democrats having been screaming that America will default because of the “republican shutdown”. That is simply a lie. For one, there’s plenty of money coming in to pay creditors. Second, if America did default it would simply be because above-the-law-of-the-land-Obama decided to act above the Constitution in an act of political theater. Sections 4 & 5 of the Fourteenth Amendment explicitly make default unconstitutional as detailed by Robin Koerner.

Lois-above-the-law-of-the-land-Lerner illegally targeted tea party groups under the Obama administration’s direction. She’s now quietly retired with a $50,000/year tax payer funded pension. Pretty sweet deal for an anarchist.

Hillary-above-the-law-of-the-land-Clinton simply stepped down from her position as Secretary of State and will probably win the 2016 democratic nominee for president after the Benghazi tragedy. No jail time, no fine, not even a pink-slip. Another sweet deal for an anarchist.

The list goes on.

You see, it’s really quite the contrary. The tea party, libertarian wing of the Republican party are actually the ones seeking to uphold the law-of-the-land known as the Constitution. A nation of laws is one where Americans prosper. America does not, and has not prospered in this nation of anarchist men, who consistently rule themselves above the law.

(OPINION)

Politics, US

Breaking: John Boehner and Harry Reid Secret Meetings To Protect Their Own Healthcare Subsidies

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As the debate rages on over whether or not Congress should continue its attempt to defund Obamacare, Politico has released leaked emails that indicate Speaker of the House John Boehner’s and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s staffs worked secretly to continue federal subsidies for members of Congress.

The emails first released by Politico, indicate that over a five month period, Boehner’s and Reid’s staffs worked together to create a legislative “fix” for the issue of whether Congressional members and their staffers could continue to receive between $5,000 and $12,000 a year in employer contributions from the Federal Government.

“As part of the Affordable Care Act, lawmakers and aides are required to join insurance exchanges that begin operating on Tuesday, the same day the government shut down.”

At its core, the issue surrounds the Office of Personnel Management and its decision that lawmakers and staff members could not receive those employer contribution subsides any longer once they were enrolled into healthcare exchanges. After pressure from Congress, top White House aides and even the President himself, the OPM reversed its position and issued a regulation saying that the subsidies would continue after October 1st.

So how is this newsworthy? Because during the debate over the government shutdown, Speaker Boehner included a measure that would end those very same subsidies. Subsidies that, again according to the leaked emails, the Speaker of the House fought secretly for.

Among the multiple attempts to create a fix for these subsidies, the emails indicate that Speaker Boehner and Majority Leader Reid attempted to get a private meeting with President Obama to appeal for his help. Whats more, the emails between Speaker Boehner’s chief of staff Mike Sommers and Majority Leader Reid’s top aide David Krone agree that the reason for meeting with President Obama must remain secret.

“We can’t let it get out there that this is for [Boehner] and [Reid] to ask the President to carve us out of the requirement of Obamacare,” Sommers told David Krone, Reid’s top aide in a July 17 e-mail obtained by POLITICO.

That email conversation between Krone and Sommers goes on to claim that the cover story for the meeting with the President could be floated as “next steps on immigration” to which Sommers reportedly says, he isn’t concerned about the cover story so long as the real reason for the meeting remains a secret.

By the way, the meeting with President Obama never materialized. Neither did the legislative “fix” for the subsidies, which Boehner himself reportedly suggested. That suggestion included just hiding the language into another bill.

“‘When I was in the state legislature, we used to stick things in [bills] and no one would notice,’ Boehner said during a private meeting with Reid in July to discuss this issue, the sources said.”

What this story goes to demonstrate is the harsh reality of the false left/right paradigm in Washington. The reality of what is happening in our nation’s capital is so much political theater, so little attempt at actually representing the public.

Politics, US

Ted Cruz Donating Salary To Charity If Senate “Forces” Govt. Shutdown

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Ted Cruz put out a press release on Monday night, in which he vowed to give away his salary to charity if Harry Reid “forces” a government shutdown.

Cruz said, “Harry Reid should not force a government shutdown. I hope that Reid stops refusing to negotiate and works with the House to avoid a government shutdown, and, at the same time, prevent the enormous harms that Obamacare is inflicting on the American people.”

He continued, “If, however, Harry Reid forces a government shutdown, I intend to donate my salary to charity for each day the government is shut down. Elected leaders should not be treated better than the American people, which is precisely why hardworking Americans deserve the same Obamacare exception that President Obama has already granted Members of Congress.”

Republicans in the House will likely blame Harry Reid if the government does indeed shut down. On Monday evening, the Senate rejected a short-term resolution passed by the House that would have funded the government and delayed Obamacare’s individual mandate for a year.

The Senate shows no signs of budging.

President Obama reportedly told House Speaker John Boehner “I’m not going to negotiate. I’m not going to negotiate, I’m not going to do this.”

Ted Cruz will certainly send a strong message by donating his salary to charity in the wake of a government shutdown.

What are your thoughts on the matter?