Congress officially gives the green light to President Obama’s trade agenda

(Screenshot Credit, Rare)

June 24, 2015

Rare:

WASHINGTON (AP) — In a triumph of divided government, the Republican-controlled Congress passed major trade legislation Wednesday that was long-sought by President Barack Obama but vehemently opposed by most lawmakers in his party.

The measure to strengthen Obama’s hand in global trade talks cleared the Senate on a vote of 60-38, and will go to the White House for his signature — less than two weeks after it was temporarily derailed in the House in an uprising of Democratic lawmakers.

A second bill, to renew an expiring program of federal aid for workers disadvantaged by imports, was on track to pass the Senate in short order. It would then go to the House, where a final vote was expected on Thursday.

The rapid sequence of events capped the end of a back-and-forth struggle that played out slowly over months, with Obama, Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., on one side, and the union-backed Democratic leadership of the House and Senate on the other.

The pace accelerated dramatically less than two weeks ago, when House Democrats prevailed in an early showdown that sent the White House and congressional GOP leaders into a rescue operation.

On Wednesday, McConnell, a frequent Obama antagonist, praised the president and Democrats who joined the GOP on the bipartisan measure vigorously sought by the nation’s chief executive.

“We were really pleased to see President Obama pursue an idea we’ve long believed in,” McConnell said. “We thank him for his efforts to help us pass a bill to advance it.”

The measure would allow Obama to negotiate global trade deals that Congress could approve or reject, but not change. The administration was seeking the “fast track” as it works to complete a round of trade negotiations involving 12 nations along both sides of the Pacific Ocean, including Japan.

Obama’s victory comes at a pivotal juncture in his second term. He is bracing for a Supreme Court ruling on his landmark health care law, and next week’s deadline is approaching for reaching a deal on Iran’s nuclear program.

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, hailed the measure as “the most important bill that will pass the Senate this year,” and one that will prove to be an aid to the economy.

Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, countered shortly before the vote that it would be nothing of the sort. He said it would lead to “corporate handouts, worker sellouts,” as he said had been the case with the North American Free Trade Agreement and other deals across the past two decades.

The issue of global trade had opened the most striking breach between a Democratic president and the lawmakers who overwhelmingly backed him on health care and other hard-fought issues. But the White House tried to cast a soft light on the division.

“We have Republican majorities in Congress working closely with Democratic minorities in Congress to build bipartisan support for legislation that then arrives on the desk of a Democratic president,” said White House spokesman Josh Earnest. That’s how policy should be made “in an era of divided government,” he told reporters.

Boehner, the Republican House speaker, called the trade votes “a big win for the American people. Trade is good for American farmers, for manufacturers and small businesses.”

The 12 participating nations in the current Pacific-based talks account for 40 percent of the world’s economy, and include Japan, Malaysia, Australia, Canada and Mexico. China is not a member, and Obama says a ratified Pacific-rim pact will reassert the United States’ muscular role in international standards for commerce, treatment of workers and the environment.

House Democrats dealt Obama a humiliating rebuke on June 12, when they derailed his trade package only hours after he traveled to the Capitol to personally ask for their help. Republican leaders, with White House support, restructured the legislative package and passed its key elements with big GOP margins, plus modest Democratic support.

A final potential hurdle in the House crumbled Wednesday when Democratic leaders said most colleagues would support a job retraining program that Obama wants.

More at Rare

Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Disclaimer: This article was not written by Lorra B.

It’s Not Saying Much For Obama That The UN Threw Him Under The Bus Over The Iranian Nuclear Bomb Deal

June 19, 2015

John A Pappas:

The biggest responsibility of any U.S. president is to safeguard the safety of We The People. As a matter of fact if you come right down to it that’s “the” responsibility, anything else has been just power grabs from the Congress to the Executive Branch. For Obama to hide the real facts in this case Obama knows that the Iranians are cheating with sanctions violations and he’s keeping it away from the American people and disregarding our safety just for the sake of making a deal for he’s so called legacy, is absolutely a dangerous president who as I have been saying and more experts in that field are starting to express the fact that Obama could be mentally ill and if that is the case my friends where does that leave We The People and the preservation of the United States of America?

The following was posted by Joel B. Pollak, published by Breitbart: “As Sangwon Yoon reports at Bloomberg View, the UN report provides clear evidence of sanctions violations, such as the head of the Quds force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps openly violating an international travel ban. However, it says, western countries have stopped reporting Iran’s violations, which could only mean a “reduction of procurement activities by the Iranian side,” or, more likely, a political decision by some member states to refrain from reporting to avoid a possible negative impact on ongoing negotiations.” The report’s evidence suggests a cover-up is the likeliest explanation.”

“The growing impression–now reinforced by skepticism from the UN, of all places–is that the Obama administration is determined to reach a deal with Iran at any cost, even though doing so would prove Iran a path to a nuclear weapon within several years at most, and would grant it hundreds of billions of dollars in frozen funds to support its ongoing proxy wars.”

What can be more frightening than the above paragraph? I can’t believe for a minute that the U.S. Congress is not aware of this. Republicans and Democrats alike must not allow this deal to go through. If there is ever a time for the Congress to show love of country it’s now. I don’t think Congress would want future historians to judge this period of time that it was the Congress catering to a dangerous president that allowed Iran to become a superpower in the Middle East. Congress! Do not let We The People down.

More at John A Pappas

Disclaimer: This article was not written by Lorra B.

House Set To Vote On Fast Track Trade Authority Tomorrow…

Screenshot Credit, The Last Refuge

June 11, 2015

The Last Refuge: by sundance

The key part of this vote is to remove the possibility for trade defeats in the Senate.  If Fast Track authority is passed/granted then a simple majority of 51 votes will be all that is required to approve President Obama’s trade deal.  

Mitch McConnell has essentially granted President Obama new powers not enumerated in the constitution.  John Boehner is about to do the same thing in the House of Representatives.  Paul Ryan has cemented his cross-over to the dark side of Chamber of Commerce Republicans led by CoC head Tom Donohue…..

(Via Washington Examiner) The House will vote Friday on legislation to give President Obama “fast track” authority to secure trade deals.

Republican leaders announced plans for the vote in a closed-door meeting with their rank and file, who are divided over whether to support the legislation.

The vote is likely to be close. With just two days until the vote, GOP leaders continue to negotiate with members to win their approval for the bill.

“Actually we are doing really well,” House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., a chief negotiator, said as he emerged from the meeting. “I think we have addressed lots of concerns and I feel we really have an air-tight case to make. We’re in our closing arguments. We are comfortable. That’s why we are proceeding.”

Passage of the fast track bill, known formally as trade promotion authority or TPA, will depend mostly on Republicans, as fewer than 20 Democrats have said they will support the bill. (read more)

..”We are very close to full construction of the death star.  We only need about 16 more months.  The conservative rebel alliance must be defeated at all costs”.  ~ Emperor Rove

Gov Bobby Jindal: ‘Let’s call his remarks exactly what they are. He (Obama) made the moral case for socialism.’

June 11, 2015

Pundit from anther Planet finds a gem on this one. Bravo Jindal, bravo!

From Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal’s response to a question on Mike Gallagher’s June 10 syndicated talk-radio show about the “moral case” made this week by President Obama for ObamaCare:

“Let’s call his remarks exactly what they are. He made the moral case for socialism. Let’s not sugarcoat it, that’s exactly what he believes. He doesn’t hide it, he doesn’t pretend, we shouldn’t either. This isn’t new. Those who favor socialism always make the moral case for it. The truth is, maybe they actually believe in it, but in the real world, socialism harms, it weakens the economies of countries that have tried it. It just does. Weaker economies hurt everybody in them. Socialism kills incentive, opportunity, freedom. It is the opposite of what America is all about. Look, socialism always harms the people it claims to help the most. It handicaps them, leaving them weaker, less self-determined, less free. We should have this debate out in the open. His “moral case” for ObamaCare is actually immoral. Spending money you don’t have is immoral. Borrowing more money than you can pay back is immoral. Lying to the American people is immoral, so it’s ironic he chooses to use the terms “moral case” or “moral imperative” to make the case for what I think is a very flawed law. The Supreme Court, I hope, rules the correct way. We need to repeal this, replace this. Mike, we cannot measure success by how many people are dependent on government. That’s what President Obama wants. That is the opposite of what America stands for.”

More at Pundit from anther Planet:

Disclaimer: This article was not written by Lorra B.

Harf-Minded Report: Iranian Nuclear Stockpiles Continue To Grow – State Dept. Perplexed By Those Who Take Issue…

(Screenshot credit, The Last Refuge)

June 3, 2015

The Last Refuge: by sundance

The U.S. State Department, via Marie Harf, is explaining Iran’s continued expansion of nuclear material with the same logic that President Obama applies to the U.S. Debt. and deficits.

Note to those harf-minded fools:

Half of something you triple, is not “less” (than you started with).

Carry on.

WASHINGTON DC – International inspectors report that Iran’s stockpile of nuclear fuel has increased about 20 percent over the past 18 months of negotiations, according to The New York Times.

The increase in Iran’s stockpile was based on a report issued Friday by the International Atomic Energy Agency, which monitors nuclear programs for the United Nations.

The report also said Iran had stopped producing certain types of highly enriched uranium since January, 2014 and halted work on facilities capable of producing nuclear bombs.

The Times noted that should negotiators finalize a deal before a June 30 deadline, Tehran would have to reduce its stockpile by more than 9 tons within months.

The newspaper also reported that Western officials and experts were unsure how or why Iran’s stockpile had increased. Some have speculated it was to give them leverage in talks.

The Obama administration has long maintained that Tehran’s nuclear program has been “frozen” as international negotiators work to secure a deal with new limits.

A deal brokered between the U.S., Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China with Iran would lift some sanctions on Iran in exchange for new limits on its nuclear program.

A framework outlined April 2 would force Iran to reduce its nuclear stockpile to 300 kilograms, or about 660 pounds.  (read more)

Disclaimer: This article was not written by Lorra B.

ALERT: Obama Hoped We Were Too Busy With Memorial Day to Notice the Orders He Just Issued

May 28, 2015

tomfernandez28’s Blog:

On the Friday before Memorial Day weekend, President Barack Obama’s administration tried to inconspicuously issue a regulatory agenda containing over 2,300 costly new regulations.

Unfortunately for the president, conservative media were paying attention. And we are disappointed to report that the agenda contained nothing but bad news for America.

For instance, the agenda included what could conceivably be the most expensive regulation ever issued in U.S. history. This regulation would reduce the national ambient ozone standard from 75 parts per billion to 65 to 70 parts per billion.

The Environmental Protection Agency desperately wants this regulation implemented because it believes it would reduce asthma attacks and asthma-related emergency room visits, premature deaths and missed workdays.

The implementation of this regulation is necessary, wrote EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy for CNN, “to clean up our air, improve access to crucial air quality information, and protect those most at-risk — our children, our elderly, and people already suffering from lung diseases like asthma.”

Here’s the ugly truth about blood pressure medication your doctor will never tell you.

Shocking joint ingredient could fix knees in just 1 week?

22-Year Congressman Explains How And When A Dollar Collapse Could Happen— And How To Prepare
The problem is that, according to the National Association of Manufacturers, the regulation would cost up to $140 billion per year. It would also “eliminate 1.4 million job equivalents per year.”

Furthermore, the American Action Forum issued a report arguing that the regulation would be so extreme that even our cherished national parks wouldn’t be able to abide by it.

“Hardly transportation corridors and centers of heavy pollution, many observers would be surprised to know that Death Valley National Park, Sequoia National Park, and Cape Cod National Seashore have ozone readings of 71 to 87 ppb,” the organization wrote.

Clearly, it would be best if the Obama administration were to simply leave the ozone standard at its current level, which has helped cut ozone-forming emissions in half since 1980 (H/T The Liberty Eagle).

But as usual, Obama prefers meddling in things that don’t need to be fixed. And also as usual, Obama is going to make things worse by hurting the economy and negatively affecting the life of nearly every American.

More at tomfernandez28’s Blog:

Disclaimer: This article was not written by Lorra B.

“The Islamic State Is, Or Is On The Verge Of Becoming, What It Claims To Be: A STATE”

(Screenshot credit, Jihad Watch)

May 22, 2015

President Obama would not lie about the Islamic State being on the brink of actually becoming a state, would he? Perhaps Reuters report may have you thinking otherwise, or at least have you wondering if it could actually come to fruition…

Almost a year after Islamic State’s shock capture of Mosul, Iraq’s second city, the black flags of the jihadis have been raised over Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province to the west of Baghdad, seat of Iraq’s increasingly theoretical central government.

Nobody talks of Mosul or recapturing it from Islamic State. It is a forgotten city. Now it is all about the fall of Ramadi, the neighboring ancient Syrian city of Palmyra in central Syria and beyond – the Libyan city of Sirte, hometown of former leader Muammar Gaddafi.

To the eyes of many in the region, the real strategic loss behind the IS seizure of two Sunni cities in Iraq and Syria in a week is the evaporation of any Sunni alternative to the jihadis.

Although many leaders dismissed IS as vainglorious when it declared its cross-border caliphate in eastern Syria and western Iraq last summer, in its cohesion and purpose it is now seen by some – particularly Iraq’s minority Sunnis – as more of a state than the Iraqi government it is fighting.

“Simply put, the Islamic State is, or is on the verge of becoming, what it claims to be: a state,” wrote David Kilcullen who was a key player in the US 2007-08 Iraq troop ‘surge’ and a close observer of the rise of Islamic State.

He argues that unless Washington and its allies urgently change their counter-terrorism strategy the threat will only get worse. A coalition including the United States has been engaged in air strikes against Islamic State last summer, yet the group’s advance has continued.

“ISIS fights like a state… It fields more than 25,000 fighters, including a hard core of ex-Baathist professionals and Qaeda veterans. It has a hierarchical unit organization and rank structure, populated by former regular officers of Saddam Hussein’s military,” added Kilcullen in the Australian Quarterly Essay.

The Islamic State already has the foundations of a state.

It controls territory that includes major cities and covers a third each of Iraq and Syria; it has its own military and security force, a self-proclaimed administration that runs daily life – schools, government offices, utilities, hospitals, taxation and a judiciary system that follows sharia law.

Its resources are vast, including oilfields, refineries and agricultural land. It operates more like a regular army with a recruiting network, training camps and a propaganda machine.

In videos released by IS, its fighters and leader Abu Baqr al-Baghdadi confidently predict “the liberation of Anbar is the start of the liberation of Baghdad and Kerbala from the rawafed” – a derogatory term Sunni jihadis use to describe Shi’ites they condemn as infidels and idolaters.

The jihadis, who intersperse these propaganda films with shots of their training, along with religious slogans, look young, fit, well-armed and clad in crisp new military uniforms – not the picture offered by their opponents.

DEVASTATING DEFEAT

The Iraqi army crumbled in Ramadi in much the same way as it evaporated last summer when IS seized Mosul and overran swathes of north and central Iraq.

Iraq’s security forces were not “driven from” Ramadi, Gen Martin Dempsey, chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff said acidly in Brussels, they “drove out of Ramadi”.

Just as important, the fall of this strategic city comes only weeks after IS itself was pushed out of Tikrit further north, exciting premature speculation that the jihadis might be on the run. The group’s capture of Ramadi happened in tandem with its seizure of Palmyra, with its two millennia-old Roman columns and priceless antiquities.

IS needed no more than a few hundred fighters to take Palmyra, highlighting the acute manpower shortage faced by Bashar al-Assad’s government, now into its fifth year of a civil war that has claimed more than 220,000 lives and displaced around half of Syria’s population.

by Samia Nakhoul

More at Reuters  HatTip Jihad Watch

Disclaimer: This article was not written by Lorra B.

[WATCH] Black Pastor’s SHOCKING Claim About President Obama & His Mother

May 22, 2015

In a post sure to ruffle the Presidents feathers, Mad world News describes how words can work the media into a bit of frenzy, even if only someones opinion…

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but that doesn’t mean words can’t cause a media firestorm. Before the technologically inspired social media era, lots of statements and controversial opinions remained under the media radar because people only spoke verbally. But, thanks to the evolution of computers, we see and hear more now than ever before, which is why one pastor’s shocking claims have gone viral.

Apparently, Dr. James David Manning feels some kind of way about President Obama and his deceased mother, Ann Dunham. So, he decided to voice his opinion during one of his sermons at the All The Land United Holy World Missionary Church in New York, reports Inquisitr. A one-minute YouTube clip highlights Manning’s controversial rant, where he verbally obliterates President Obama’s mom. Manning, who referred to Dunham as “white trash,” delved into her sordid past, touching on the speculation of promiscuity. Needless to say, his jaw-dropping rant was quite shocking.

Surprisingly, that’s not the only statement he had in reference to the African-American community. Manning also had something to say to African-Americans. Apparently, he feels a black president is undeserved. He also has a message for young black males who possess a sense of entitlement.

“Black people do not deserve a black president, because young black men feel that they are owed government benefits because their ancestors were slaves, instead of going out and accomplishing something in life.”

However, this isn’t the first time he’s openly shared his opinion of President Obama’s parents. During a prior sermon, he also took jabs at Obama’s father, Barack Obama Sr, reports MrConservative. He openly bashed their interracial relationship, accusing Obama of purposely seeking one of the “trashier” white women.

“It is common knowledge that African men, coming from the continent of Africa—especially for the first time—do diligently seek out white women to have sexual intercourse with. Generally the most noble of white society choose not to intercourse sexually with these men. So it’s usually the trashier ones who make their determinations that they’re going to have sex.”

Dr. Manning’s critical statements have sparked quite a debate. While some have commended him for his harsh truths, others feel his approach is a bit extreme.

More at Mad world News

Disclaimer: This article was not written by Lorra B.

WHEN YOU LET LITTLE BOYS DO MEN’S WORK

May 19, 2015

If you haven’t checked out Desert Musings, you should! Here is a piece he wrote that I simply can’t argue with. Maybe you have a different opinion?

When you let a little boy do the work of a man, what do you get? You get hammered with the results you’re not looking for. Would you like it if a 4 year old built your new car? Or a 7 year old put together the Freedom Tower in New York City? Of course not! So why in the world are we sending Bobo Obama in to do a man’s job in fighting a war against a fifth rate group of terrorists?

The simple answer is, he’s the commander in chief. The more complicated answer is, he’s costing American lives, and just as deadly, he’s costing America it’s standing in the world. We have the best trained, best equipped, most honored group of fighting men and women in world history. And yet, this man-child of a president isn’t man enough to stand up to a terrorist group and fight them like a man. Instead, he’s afraid of getting drawn into a bigger war. Someone needs to tell him we’re already drawn into the bigger war, and even though it’s not our choosing, sometimes you have to fight.

Every single president going back to FDR has had to undertake military action somewhere in the world. Most of the time, we’ve come out smelling like a rose. Sometimes, when you have a commander in chief that takes that title too literally, and they try to execute the war themselves as opposed to allowing the professionals to fight it, you end up with massacres. I’m thinking things like Vietnam, Mogadishu, and yes, Syria and ISIS. When you let little boys in to do a man’s job, this is exactly what happens.

And we’re stuck with it until 2017. But hopefully, this clown of a president won’t ruin our chances of getting out of it in one piece…even though he’s trying his best. Let’s face it. Bobo Obama doesn’t know how to fight a war. He doesn’t know how to run a business. He doesn’t know how to lead a nation, and he doesn’t know how to work with congress. What does he know? He knows how to smoke pot, and organize people to go to the polls and vote, so long as he has a little flash money.

Obama has usurped so much power from a feckless congress over the past six years, and has bungled every single decision he’s put out there, that congress needs to do some usurping of it’s own. Its’s congress’ duty to declare war, and that’s what they need to do against radical Islam. Notice I didn’t say a country, or a sect of Islam. I said radical Islam. They view this as a holy war…it’s time we did too. If Obama isn’t going to put troops on the ground in Iraq to fight this war, and win this war, congress needs to step in and do the job for him.

This is what happens when you send a boy in to do a man’s work. It’s time we wake up and take matters into our own hands. We need to fight this war, win this war, and defeat the enemy by destroying the enemy. Otherwise, this “war on terror” WILL go on for decades.

Carry on world…you’re dismissed!

Permission was given by Desert Musings to Lorra B. to post his articles in their entirety.

Watch The ‘Dirty Dozen’ – President Obama’s Model Mosque

May 14, 2015

The Counter Jihad Report:

CSP, by Jim Hanson

Banned in Boston. The local FOX and NBC television stations in Boston refused to play this ad. That is certainly their right, but sadly indicative of a culture now where messages about the dangers from the Global Jihad Movement are being suppressed. We don’t think that is healthy for a our liberty or security. So our policy is See Something, Say Something.

There are jihadists in our midst. There are mosques where they congregate. Many of these mosques hand out jihadist literature and the worst of them preach it openly. But we are supposed to stay quiet, we are told that pointing this out is Islamophobia. Keeping quiet led us to the horror of the Boston Marathon bombing, and a mosque in Boston has not just the Tsarnaev brothers, but a Dirty Dozen jihadists associated with it.

Yet this very Mosque, the Islamic Society of Boston, was singled out by President Obama as an example of how his Countering Violent Extremism program is keeping us all safe. He invited members if its leadership to the White House to participate in a summit earlier this year.

Americans for Peace and Tolerance have documented just how bad an example of countering violent extremism this mosque actually is.

Federal agencies in Boston are working with the Islamic Society of Boston and its political arm, the Muslim American Society, which both have links to many extremists who are either in jail, in flight from federal authorities, or have been killed during terrorist attacks. Indeed, as APT research has shown, both the ISB and the MAS are Muslim Brotherhood entities that indoctrinate their followers with radical Islamist ideology. Far from being a model, Boston should serve as a cautionary tale – about deception and denial.

It is long past time to keep quiet about the known wolves in our communities. One shooter in the Garland Texas attack was well known to law enforcement well before his failed attempt to slaughter a room full of peaceful, law abiding citizens.

It appears that this attack is yet another case of what I have termed “known wolf” syndrome, when the suspect is already known to law enforcement and intelligence. Virtually every terror attack in the West over the past year has been by one of these “known wolf” suspects.

The Dallas Morning News reports:

“Simpson was well known to the FBI, ABC News reported. Five years ago he was convicted for lying to federal agents about his plans to travel to Africa, “but a judge ruled the government did not adequately prove he was going to join a terror group there.”

We have been handcuffing our law enforcement and national security agencies in their efforts to investigate and stop these infiltrators for decades. Now in the wake of Garland we are being told that we shouldn’t do or say things that make the jihadists angry. There is nothing in our Constitution that says we have to tolerate those using religion to hide indoctrination into violence or be silent in the face of attempted censorship.

Secure Freedom has launched the CounterJihad Campaign and we will speak freely. We will expose the concerted and organized efforts to use our freedoms against us. We will name the Global Jihad Movement as our enemy, and we will call them out whether they wear fatigues and fly the black flag or business suits and fly the banner of the Muslim Brotherhood and its assorted front groups.

The truth is not hate speech, so if you See Something, Say Something.

More at The Counter Jihad Report

Disclaimer: This was not written by Lorra B.