While we were all distracted by Robert Mueller’s testimony and the Democrats’ talk of impeachment the Supreme Court handed the President a victory today which all but slipped under the radar.
Donald Trump’s plan to use $2.5 billion in defense money to build the wall on the Mexican border hit a snag when the ACLU challenged the President’s authority to do so and the lower courts put a freeze on the money, but earlier today the Supreme Court ruled that the President could indeed use this money to build the wall.
Here is more:
The Supreme Court cleared the way Friday for the Trump administration to tap billions of dollars in Pentagon funds to build sections of a border wall with Mexico.
The court’s five conservative justices gave the administration the greenlight to begin work on four contracts it has awarded using Defense Department money. Funding for the projects had been frozen by lower courts. The court’s four liberal justices wouldn’t have allowed construction to start.
The justices’ decision to lift the freeze on the money allows Trump to make progress on a major 2016 campaign promise heading into his race for a second term. Trump tweeted after the announcement: “Wow! Big VICTORY on the Wall. The United States Supreme Court overturns lower court injunction, allows Southern Border Wall to proceed. Big WIN for Border Security and the Rule of Law!”
This is a big win for Donald Trump and construction of the wall should begin immediately. Slowly but surely Donald Trump is making good on his campaign promise to build a wall on the Southern border.
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
Judge blocks Donald Trump’s new asylum rule
Well, that did not take long! Yesterday a Federal judge refused to block Donald Trump’s new asylum rule from going into effect while the rule is challenged in the courts but today another Federal judge reversed that decision and blocked the rule.
Here is more:
A federal judge in San Francisco on Wednesday blocked the Trump administration from enforcing a new rule that aimed to bar almost all asylum applications at the U.S.-Mexico border.
U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar in the Northern District of California issued a preliminary injunction blocking the rule, which would require asylum-seekers to first pursue safe haven in a third country they had traveled through on their way to the United States.
The decision makes inconsequential a ruling by Washington D.C. District Judge Timothy Kelly earlier in the day that declined to block the rule in a different lawsuit brought by immigration advocacy groups, lawyers said.
And the beat goes on…
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
Jeffrey Epstein found ‘injured’ in jail cell
Accused pedophile Jeffrey Epstein was found “injured” in his jail cell in what is being called a possible suicide attempt. Here is more:
Accused pedophile and wealthy Manhattan financier Jeffrey Epstein was found injured and in a fetal position inside his cell at a New York City jail, according to sources close to the investigation.
Epstein, who is being held in Metropolitan Correctional Center during his trial for conspiracy and sex trafficking, was found semi-conscious with marks on his neck, two sources told News 4. Investigators are trying to piece together exactly what happened, saying details remain murky.
According to the article linked to above it is possible this was not a serious suicide attempt but rather an attempt at getting himself transferred, while an attack by another inmate has not been ruled out and somebody else has been interviewed about a possible attack. (The interviewed man is a former cop who is in jail for murder–I find that to be a little interesting…)
In general pedophiles do not do well in jail but when you are an accused pedophile who has the goods on dozens of politicians your odds of surviving prison go down exponentially. When you are a pedophile, have goods on dozens of politicians, and one of them is Bill Clinton suicide is always an option–if you get my meaning–and then when you remember Nancy Pelosi’s daughter admitted some of their “faves may be implicated” it is almost certain you are never going to make it to the trial.
The only thing that has me questioning whether or not this was a hit is the fact that Jeffrey Epstein is still alive, it seems just a little too sloppy.
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
Last week Donald Trump announced a new, tougher asylum rule which says that if a person seeking asylum from their country passes through another country on their way to America they must first apply for asylum in that country.
This new rule (and to be honest I thought this already was a rule anyway) was met with an immediate court challenge and a request for a temporary restraining order pending the outcome of the court case.
Today the request for a restraining order was denied and the new rule will remain in effect for the duration of the court hearings. Here is more:
A federal judge decided Wednesday to leave in place a Trump administration rule that imposes restrictions on individuals seeking asylum in the United States if they passed through a third country on their way to the border between the U.S. and Mexico, potentially leading to a sharp reduction in Central American migrants entering the country.
The rule, published in the Federal Register last week, requires people seeking asylum to first apply in one of the countries they pass through on their way to the U.S., with certain exceptions. The rule was quickly met with a legal challenge from advocacy groups, who moved for a temporary restraining order blocking the rule. After a hearing in Washington, D.C. federal court, District Judge Timothy J. Kelly denied the motion. The rule will remain in place for the duration of the case, unless the decision is successfully appealed.
We will have to wait and see if an appeal is made but Donald Trump has been quietly racking up some court victories lately and I have to wonder if this decision might be an indication of how the court is going to end up ruling on this new rule.
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
Bernie Sanders campaign hit with Federal labor complaint
Things are not going so well for the Sanders campaign lately; first he was accused by campaign staffers of paying “poverty wages” when he is promising to fight for a $15 an hour minimum wage and now, according to this story, he is facing a Federal labor complaint for the way he treats him employees. Here is more:
Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-VT) presidential campaign is facing a federal complaint made by an unnamed individual alleging violations of the National Labor Relations Act, including allegations of retaliation, repudiation, interrogation, discipline, and discharge, it was revealed Tuesday.
An unnamed individual filed the complaint to the National Labor Relations Board July 19, alleging five potential violations.
The NLRB is now looking into the complaint but if this turns out to be true it will be another example of his hypocrisy. As if it were not bad enough that he refuses to pay his employees what he thinks all employers should pay their employees, the man who thinks workers are treated unfairly by their employers in a capitalist system stands accused of the same.
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
Donald Trump reaches budget deal with the Democrats to increase spending and raise the debt ceiling
Apparently spending, the deficit, and the debt ceiling are issues that most Republicans no longer care about because it appears as if a budget deal has been reached which raises all three. According to this story this deal ends the sequester cuts, raises spending by $320 billion, and increases the deficit. The increased spending will allegedly be “offset” with $75 billion in cuts somewhere at some time.
Here is more:
“I am pleased to announce that a deal has been struck with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy – on a two-year Budget and Debt Ceiling,” Trump wrote on Twitter.
Here is even more:
White House and congressional negotiators reached accord on a two-year budget on Monday that would raise spending by $320 billion over existing caps and allow the government to keep borrowing, most likely averting a fiscal crisis but splashing still more red ink on an already surging deficit.
If passed by Congress and signed by President Trump, the deal would stop a potential debt default this fall and avoid automatic spending cuts next year. The agreement would also bring clarity about government spending over the rest of Mr. Trump’s term, though Congress must still fill in the details, program by program.
The President called this a compromise deal which I suppose means there will be an increase in military spending, although I have read nothing about wall funding other than this:
The deal also means Democrats will not try to block Trump from transferring federal funding to help build the wall on the Southern border
I have only seen that in the Breitbart article so I do not know where it comes from but even if it is true does anybody think the Democrats are going to honor this, especially when there are already lawsuits making their way through the system?
Not everybody is happy with this deal:
“It’s pretty clear that both houses of Congress and both parties have become big spenders, and Congress is no longer concerned about the extent of the budget deficits or the debt they add,” said David M. McIntosh, the president of the Club for Growth, a conservative group that advocates free enterprise.
And this is what Ted Cruz had to say:
“The budget deal reached by administration negotiators and congressional leadership is yet another missed opportunity to rein in excessive government spending. This deal irresponsibly jacks up spending by $320 billion without real offsets, and suspends the debt limit into 2021. Instead of finally dealing with our nearly $1 trillion deficit and $22 trillion debt, this deal just kicks the can down the road again. Three years ago, the American people voted to move away from the big-government spending of the Obama era. We should work to restore fiscal sanity, rather than perpetuating Democrats’ big government programs. I urge administration negotiators to go back to the bargaining table and fight for the president’s priorities.”
I could not agree with Ted Cruz any more: whatever happened to the promise to reign in Federal Government spending and the Republican promise to bring fiscal responsibility back to Washington? The truth is neither party is fiscally responsible, they both just want to be the party in control of the spending. At least the Republicans are not trying to hide it anymore.
The only upside to this deal that I see is that for the first time in something like 10 years we actually have a real budget deal and will no longer be running the government through continuing resolutions every couple of months.
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
Inspector General report to show James Comey was spying on Donald Trump and had an agent in the White House
The Inspector General report we had expected to be released sometime in May was mysteriously delayed indefinitely but now it is being reported it will be released sometime in September.
If we actually see the report at all, and if this story is true, the report is going to show that James Comey misled Donald Trump, was spying on him covertly and without warrant “incidentally”, and had an agent in the White House. Here is more:
According to investigative reporter Paul Sperry, Comey was running a “counterintelligence assessment” on Trump on the sly. Comey didn’t even need to keep files or get surveillance warrants on Trump, he may just have covertly made Trump the subject of investigation by spying on him incidentally. Comey of course denies he did this in book ‘A Higher Loyalty.’
Comey had an agent inside the White House reporting back to the FBI about Trump and his aides, sources tell Paul Sperry.
Sources tell RealClearInvestigations that Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz will soon file a report with evidence indicating that Comey was misleading the president. Even as he repeatedly assured Trump that he was not a target, the former director was secretly trying to build a conspiracy case against the president, while at times acting as an investigative agent.
Two U.S. officials briefed on the inspector general’s investigation of possible FBI misconduct said Comey was essentially “running a covert operation against” the president, starting with a private “defensive briefing” he gave Trump just weeks before his inauguration. They said Horowitz has examined high-level FBI text messages and other communications indicating Comey was actually conducting a “counterintelligence assessment” of Trump during that January 2017 meeting in New York.
In addition to adding notes of his meetings and phone calls with Trump to the official FBI case file, Comey had an agent inside the White House who reported back to FBI headquarters about Trump and his aides, according to other officials familiar with the matter.
I am still not expecting to see this report but I am holding out hope that eventually the truth will be known and we will get to the bottom of the Russia hoax. Until then all the focus this week is going to be on Robert Mueller and what he has to say in front of the Congress. Hopefully Michael Horowitz will get his time to shine as well.
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
Sunday, July 21st open thread: ‘Show Me How To Live’
“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.
You can subscribe to America’s Watchtower to receive email updates and you can also follow America’s Watchtower on Facebook and Twitter by clicking the links on the right.
My Son’s band, The Noise, played their first gig in several years last night and they pulled out a few cover songs, including “Show Me How To Live” by Audioslave:
Federal Judge hands Donald Trump a victory on Obamacare
Last year Donald Trump signed an Executive Order which gave Americans more healthcare options than they had under Obamacare by setting up Association Health Plans and short term insurance plans. This order allowed for cheaper non-Obamacare compliant plans to be offered to young, healthy people who did not need all of the coverage Obamacare forced insurance companies to provide in all plans.
But apparently the Democrats did not want Americans to have a less expensive option to Obamacare because they sued to stop the Executive Order, but yesterday a Federal Judge in DC came down on the side of the President.
Here is more:
D.C. District Court Judge Richard Leon upheld Trump’s expansion of short-term health insurance plans, which are less expensive compared to Obamacare plans. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in 2018 expanded short-term plans to offer Americans more affordable options.
Short-terms plans cost less than Obamacare plans because federal statute does not require the insurance plans to comply with all of Obamacare’s onerous insurance regulations, thus they serve as a good alternative for many younger and healthier Americans.
The Trump administration’s rule allowed Americans to purchase short-term plans for up to 364 days and renew the plans for up to three years. The Barack Obama administration curbed these rules to encourage Americans to purchase Obamacare
One study found that these plans could cost up to 80% less than the cheapest Obamacare plan, and by opposing this Executive Order the Democrats proved their support of Obamacare had nothing to do with making healthcare affordable to more people in the first place…
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
According to this story it looks as if Bernie Sanders is facing a bit of a revolt within his campaign because although he advocates for a $15 an hour minimum wage he refuses to practice what he preaches. Here is more:
Presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders has pledged to American workers that he would institute a $15-per-hour minimum wage if he wins the White House in 2020.
But unionized workers on Sanders’ own campaign say they wish he would start now — by paying a higher wage to them.
According to a report, members of Sanders’ staff have been using the senator’s own campaign rhetoric against him as they try to wrestle more pay from the self-described democratic socialist.
In a letter to Sanders campaign manager Faiz Shakir, the campaign staffers claim they “cannot be expected to build the largest grassroots organizing program in American history while making poverty wages,” the Washington Post reported.
“Given our campaign’s commitment to fighting for a living wage of at least $15.00 an hour,” the letter continues, “we believe it is only fair that the campaign would carry through this commitment to its own field team.”
“Many field staffers are barely managing to survive financially,” the union letter says, “which is severely impacting our team’s productivity and morale. Some field organizers have already left the campaign as a result.”
So his workers are making what they describe as “poverty wages” while he promises to force others to pay a living wage if he becomes President, but what did they expect? Apparently they really fell for his rhetoric, which is not surprising because they somehow feel as if this millionaire is one of the average people.
Socialists are always generous with other people’s money, but not so much with their own…
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
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