Obamacare mandate ruled unconstitutional
I know this looks like it should be a headline from several years ago but it is not, this is actually a story that slipped under the radar last week: a Federal Court ruled that because the tax penalty for not having healthcare insurance was removed in Donald Trump’s tax cuts back in 2017 the mandate was no longer Constitutional because its Constitutionality hinged on the power of the Congress to tax. With no tax there can be no mandate. Here is more:
A three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed Wednesday a trial judge’s decision invalidating the mandate, saying it could no longer be justified as a tax because of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. The mandate and the rest of the ACA will remain in effect, however, because the trial judge put his own decision on hold while litigation continues.
The decision is being appealed and the Court has ordered a stay until the case is fully adjudicated, but even if the mandate is upheld by the Supreme Court it is hard to see to what end because without the mechanism to enforce the mandate in place it really cannot be considered a mandate any more, can it? This seems a little anti-climatic at this point.
And of course there are no guarantees when it comes to how the Supreme Court will rule because you might remember that John Roberts changed his vote at the last minute and had to do some verbal acrobatics in order to uphold the mandate the last time around so there is no telling what he will do this time around.
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
Sunday, December 22nd open thread: ‘One Thing Leads to Another’
“This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.” (Psalm 118:24 KJV)
Here is this week’s open thread. Please feel free to post links to interesting articles and to discuss whatever issues arise during the course of the day. Nothing is off-topic here.
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Here is The Fixx performing “One Thing Leads to Another” live from 1983:
A different take on Elizabeth Warren’s ‘wine cave’ comment
Apparently there was yet another Democratic debate the other night and now Elizabeth Warren is facing heat for attacking some dude name Pete Buttigieg who is apparently running for President.
I have read a few articles about this little back and forth, as well as about the backlash the elitist Senator from Massachusetts is facing, and I have to say you can chalk up the victory in this round to Mayor Pete. The irony of a millionaire elitist lecturing anyone on high stakes fundraisers was not lost on anybody, but that is not what I want to focus on because I think one aspect of Elizabeth Warren’s comment deserves comment although the irony of this particular part of the comment seems to have been lost on most people.
Let us look at the comment:
“We made the decision many years ago that rich people in smoke-filled rooms would not pick the next president of the United States,” Warren said. “Billionaires in wine caves should not pick the next president of the United States.”
While all of the focus has been on the “wine cave” portion of Elizabeth Warren’s comment I would like to touch on the “smoke-filled rooms” cliche the Massachusetts Senator threw out there.
While I happen to agree with Mrs. Warren that party insiders should not be deciding behind closed doors who the nominee is going to be, and I also agree that the primary system is supposed to guarantee the people get to choose the nominees, perhaps Elizabeth Warren has forgotten that the Democratic party has a differing opinion on this issue.
Sure the smoke-filled rooms are a thing of the past but the Democratic insiders still pull the strings and determine who the nominee will be and the Democratic voters only have the illusion of having the final say. One needs to look no further than the 2016 election and the way the Democratic party stole the nomination from Bernie Sanders and handed it to Hillary Clinton.
The smoke-filled rooms have been replaced by super-delegates but for all intents and purposes the results are the same and millionaire and billionaires are determining who the nominee will be. Elizabeth Warren would do well to remember this if she wants to have any chance at winning the nomination.
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
The House passes the USMCA deal
For months Donald Trump has been pressuring Nancy Pelosi to pass the deal he negotiated to replace NAFTA, the USMCA, but unwilling to give the President a victory the Speaker of the House put partisan politics ahead of the country and refused to bring the deal to the floor of the House.
After the bill languished in the House for a year Nancy Pelosi announced the House would finally take up the measure. This announcement came just one hour after she announced the House would bring articles of impeachment against Donald Trump so that the Democrats’ radical base would not realize she was about to hand the President a political victory after the party vowed to resist everything.
Today the House has passed the USMCA, here is more:
The House of Representatives on Thursday approved legislation championed by President Donald Trump that will revamp the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with overwhelming bipartisan support.
The U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), passed by a vote of 385-41, will modernize the U.S.’s trading relationships with neighbors Canada and Mexico and represents a major victory for President Trump and his administration. 38 House Democrats opposed the bill, while two Republicans and Rep. Justin Amash (I-MI) voted against it. The bill will now go to the Senate, where it will sit until the conclusion of the upper chamber’s impeachment trial. Its passage comes one day after the House approved two articles of impeachment — abuse of power and obstruction of Congress — against the president.
“House passage of the USMCA with such huge bipartisan support is a major milestone and shows just how much President Trump is successfully changing U.S. trade policy so it works for the benefit of American workers, farmers, ranchers and businesses,” said Lighthizer. “The USMCA is expected to create between 176,000 and 589,000 new American jobs and substantially increase economic growth. The International Trade Commission’s analysis shows that USMCA will have a more positive impact on our economy, jobs and wages than any other U.S. trade agreement ever negotiated.”
I am not sure it is true that the Senate will not take up this measure until the impeachment hearing is over but if that is true it is disappointing. Especially if the Democrats refuse to sent the articles of impeachment to the upper chamber.
Again the timing of this vote is hilarious; coming one day after the House impeached the President so as to not draw attention to the fact that the Democrats approved something Donald Trump wanted. This deal will be a victory for the American people but the Democrats’ base will not be happy because they care more about taking down Donald Trump than doing what is best for the country and the Democratic leadership is afraid of angering them.
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
House Democrats float the idea of delaying impeachment
Last night the Democrats made history by making Donald Trump the first President to be impeached not based on “high crimes and misdemeanors” because they believe his alleged abuses of power are so great that he poses a grave threat to our democracy.
He is such a threat in fact that now that he has been impeached the Democrats are actually floating the idea of not sending the articles of impeachment over to the Senate for a trial right away.
Here is more on this strange new development:
A group of House Democrats is pushing Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other leaders to withhold the articles of impeachment against President Trump that emerged from the House on Wednesday, potentially delaying a Senate trial for months.
The notion of impeaching Trump but holding the articles in the House has gained traction among some of the political left as a way to potentially force Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky, to conduct a trial on more favorable terms for Democrats. And if no agreement is reached, some have argued, the trial could be delayed indefinitely, denying Trump an expected acquittal.
The phrase “more favorable terms for Democrats” really tells us all we need to know; this is strictly driven by partisan politics. If you honestly believe Donald Trump is a threat to our democracy, and is on the verge of declaring himself a dictator as we have heard the left claim, than to not move to remove him from office as soon as possible is a dereliction of duty. Of they were truly convicted on this they would bring the evidence forward and fight for the country.
The brutal truth is that the Democrats know Donald Trump is going to be acquitted in the Senate, they know he will not be removed from office and the dirty little secret is they know he has done nothing deserving of removal from office. But they have been driven to this point by their rabid, radical base and now they are trying to back down without it looking like that is what they are doing.
The plan all along was not removal from office, it was to put a black mark on Donald Trump’s record and to have this hanging over his head during the election. If the President is acquitted quickly it will not help them politically and so they are looking to delay the inevitable as long as possible so they can continue to use impeachment as a political tool as long as possible.
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
Devin Nunes calls for an end to the FISA court
Yesterday a judge on the FISA court came out and rebuked the FBI after the Inspector General report found 17 so-called mistakes in the rogue agency’s application to spy on Donald Trump.
Last night Devin Nunes appeared on television and basically said that while it was all well and good that the FISA court spoke out about the FBI abuses the secret court has a shared responsibility in the scandal and should be disbanded. Here is more:
Appearing on Fox News’ show “The Story” with Martha MacCallum Tuesday evening, Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) said that it is past time for Congress to take active steps against the FISA court. The ranking Republican member on the House Intelligence Committee said that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) is just as responsible for the improper wiretapping of former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page as the FBI. And, he said, the court knew about it years ago, yet decided not to act.
“I’m glad to see the FISC court come out and make a statement but your viewers need to know that the FISC court is also culpable in this madness, and I say that because we sent them two letters—very specific letters,” Nunes told MacCallum Tuesday night. He then went on to explain that Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee sent Collyer the first letter in February of 2018. The second letter was sent in the summer of that same year. In both cases, Collyer and her fellow FISA judges decided to do… absolutely nothing.
“The point here, Martha, is the court knew about all this,” Nunes explained. “I’m glad they’ve acted, I’m glad they said something, but the court has to be ended.”
I could not agree more and it is great to see a politician actually stand up and say the FISA court needs to be ended. (I am sure somewhere along the line Ron and Rand Paul must have called for its closure.) However, unlike Devin Nunes, I am not just calling for the FISA court to be shut down over this scandal. I have always believed this secret court is unconstitutional and needed to be shut down and I have been saying so here for years. This court has always had the potential for abuse and now we are seeing it.
Sadly though Americans have made the choice we were warned about all those years ago and we have given up some privacy for some pretend security and we will never get it back.
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
FISA court rebukes the FBI for mistakes
We now know according to the Inspector General report that 17 acts of what James Comey calls “sloppiness” occurred while the FBI was applying for a FISA warrant so they could spy on an American citizen. Now a judge on the FISA court has stepped forward and rebuked the rogue agency, here is more:
The secret federal court that approves orders for conducting surveillance on suspected foreign terrorists or spies issued a strong and highly unusual public rebuke to the FBI on Tuesday, ordering the agency to say how it intends to correct the errors revealed last week by a Justice Department report on one aspect of the FBI’s investigation of Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign.
Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz said the FBI made serious and repeated mistakes in seeking under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, to conduct surveillance of Carter Page, a former Trump campaign adviser.
The FBI’s submission to the court made assertions that were “inaccurate, incomplete, or unsupported by appropriate documentation,” the report said.
Rosemary Collyer, presiding judge on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, said in the unusual public order that the report “calls into question whether information contained in other FBI applications is reliable.” She ordered the FBI to explain in writing by Jan. 10 how it intends to remedy those problems.
Collyer said the FBI’s handling of the Page case “was antithetical to the heightened duty of candor” required by the law that established the surveillance court. Judges on the court rely entirely on the government’s submissions. Because they are the only documents the court sees, the government has a heightened duty of candor, she said.
Of course we never hear anything from the secret, unconstitutional FISA court so just the fact that a member of the court actually spoke out shows us just how serious these infractions really were.
We have allowed the left to win the battle over the definition of certain words over the years and somehow they have managed to redefine the word “mistake.” These were not mistakes made by the FBI, they were intentional acts designed to create evidence, or to suppress exculpatory evidence, to obtain a warrant on a United States citizen for political motives and it cannot go unpunished.
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
Latvian government flagged suspicious payments to Hunter Biden in 2016
Donald Trump is on the verge of being impeached because of shady dealings Hunter Biden had with Ukraine. It sounds unbelievable when it is put like that but that is an accurate assessment of the situation. If Hunter Biden was not crooked Donald Trump would not be in hot water with the Democrats for trying to expose it but the one good thing about this situation is that try as they might to hide the nefarious activities of Hunter Biden they are slowly but surely coming to light.
It has already been reported that Hunter Biden got $16.5 million in illegal payments from Ukraine and that billions may have been funneled to the Democratic party and now it is being reported that the Latvian government flagged suspicious payments made to Hunter Biden and asked Ukraine for help investigating the situation. Here is more:
As the U.S. presidential race began roaring to life in 2016, authorities in the former Soviet republic of Latvia flagged a series of “ suspicious” financial transactions to Hunter Biden and other colleagues at a Ukrainian natural gas company and sought Kiev’s help investigating, according to documents and interviews.
The Feb. 18, 2016 alert to Ukraine came from the Latvian prosecutorial agency responsible for investigating money laundering, and it specifically questioned whether Vice President Joe Biden’s younger son and three other officials at Burisma Holdings were the potential beneficiaries of suspect funds.
“The Office for Prevention of Laundering of Proceeds Derived from Criminal Activity … is currently investigating suspicious activity of Burisma Holdings Limited,” the Latvian agency also known as the FIU wrote Ukraine’s financial authorities.
The memo was released to me by the Ukrainian General Prosecutor’s Office and confirmed by the Latvian embassy to the United States.
the memo adds to the mounting evidence that there was ongoing investigative activity surrounding Burisma Holdings and Hunter Biden’s compensation as a board member in the weeks just before Joe Biden forced the firing of the Ukraine prosecutor overseeing the Burisma investigation in spring 2016.
The Latvian law enforcement memo identified a series of loan payments totaling about $16.6 million that were routed from companies in Beliz and the United Kingdom to Burisma through Ukraine’s PrivatBank between 2012 and 2015.
There is that $16 million number again…
It is becoming more and more clear that Joe Biden’s son was involved in some shady dealings in Ukraine and the Democrats are in a race against time to stop Donald Trump before any more comes out. Whatever happened to that saying about not killing the messenger…
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
House Judiciary Committee report accuses Trump of crimes not included in the articles of impeachment
Earlier today the House Judiciary Committee released its report on the House impeachment inquiry and according to this article the report accuses Donald Trump of bribery and fraud. Here is more:
The report, released Monday ahead of Wednesday’s anticipated vote on impeachment, accuses Trump of violating 18 U.S.C. § 201 — federal criminal bribery — because he “demanded” an announcement of investigations, which the report describes as a thing of “value.” In return, the report alleges, the president was influenced in his performance of official acts. (The report disagrees with recent Supreme Court precedent that a “meeting” is not an “official act.”) In addition, the report rejects that there was “any public purpose” associated with Trump’s request for investigations.
Moreover, the Judiciary Committee report adds a new, previously undebated crime — namely, honest services fraud: “In addition to committing the crime of bribery, President Trump knowingly and willfully orchestrated a scheme to defraud the American people of his honest services as President of the United States. In doing so, he betrayed his position of trust and the duty he owed the citizenry to be an honest fiduciary of their trust,” the report declares.
Bribery and fraud are some serious charges and if they are true Donald Trump should be impeached and removed from office. Oddly enough, however, these are not charges because they are not included in the articles of impeachment. In fact there are no crimes listed in the article of impeachment. Do you find it as strange as I do that crimes which are impeachable offences are listed in the impeachment report but not in the actual articles of impeachment themselves?
I believe the Democrats know they are on shaky ground with impeachment so they are trying to make what they are doing seem more justifiable with the American people by making it look worse for Donald Trump than it really is, but in reality they have no proof of these accusations, they just made them up, so they cannot bring these charges against the President.
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
Joe Biden claims he got Republicans to vote for Obamacare
One of the claims Joe Biden is making on the campaign trail is that he is the only candidate who can bring both sides back together, and to prove this he decided he had to come up with an example of how he has been able to do this in the past.
Do you remember the great compromise? I am not talking about the one in 1787 or even the one in 1850, but rather the great compromise of 2010 on Obamacare when the Democrats were able to bring the Republicans together with them to pass Obamacare without resorting to parliamentary tricks or reconciliation to pass the bill with absolutely not one Republican vote in the House or in the Senate?
Yeah, neither do I but apparently Joe Biden remembers those days. Here is what he had to say on the campaign trail the other day:
The fight ahead of us is not about just what we have planned, its about … whose going to take on and get these things passed. We need someone with proven ability to bring people together and do the hard work of getting legislation passed. I’ve done that, I’ve done that before. Finding Republican votes for … Obamacare.
We know this is not true and Joe Biden has to know it is not true as well, so either he is lying and he knows he is lying or he honestly believes what he is saying and if that is the case it is obvious the man is not fit for the office he is campaigning for.
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
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