Chalk up another one for the Supremes

Obama: I'll act on my own on immigration

The Democrats tricked Reagan in 1986 when he granted amnesty to illegals with the promise the border would be shut down. Now were back in the same boat today.

Barry is trying to pull off the same stunt. I watched his news conference and wasn't surprised when he said he's sending the Homeland Security Department Secretary and Eric Contempt of Congress Holder aka Mr Fast & Furious to beef up the security at the border. This was his feeble attempt to smooth over the Republicans. It shows you just how out of touch Barry is. Does he really think Republicans are going to fall for this again? BTW..  Stedman, Mexicans, and the Border Patrol... is not a good mix. Judging by his past what American would place their trust in anything he had to say?

Obama directed Homeland Security Department Secretary Jeh Johnson and Attorney General Eric Holder to present him by the end of the summer with steps he can take without congressional approval.

Couldn't have picked a better guy to circumvent the Constitution!

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WASHINGTON —

Conceding defeat on a top domestic priority, President Barack Obama blamed a Republican "year of obstruction" for the demise of sweeping immigration legislation on Monday and said he would take new steps without Congress to fix as much of the system as he can on his own.

"The only thing I can't do is stand by and do nothing," the president said. But he gave few hints about what steps he might take by executive action.

Even as he blamed House Republicans for frustrating him on immigration, Obama asked Congress for more money and additional authority to deal with the unexpected crisis of a surge of unaccompanied Central American youths arriving by the thousands at the Southern border. Obama wants flexibility to speed the youths' deportations and $2 billion in new money to hire more immigration judges and open more detention facilities, requests that got a cool reception from congressional Republicans and angered advocates.

The twin announcements came as the administration confronted the tricky politics of immigration in a midterm election year with Democratic control of the Senate in jeopardy. The fast-developing humanitarian disaster on the border has provoked calls for a border crackdown at the same moment that immigration advocates are demanding Obama loosen deportation rules in the face of congressional inaction.

Obama's announcement came almost a year to the day after the Senate passed a historic immigration bill that would have spent billions to secure the border and offered a path to citizenship for many of the 11.5 million people now here illegally. Despite the efforts of an extraordinary coalition of businesses, unions, religious leaders, law enforcement officials and others, the GOP-led House never acted.

"Our country and our economy would be stronger today if House Republicans had allowed a simple yes-or-no vote on this bill or, for that matter, any bill," Obama said in the Rose Garden. "They'd be following the will of the majority of the American people, who support reform. And instead they've proven again and again that they're unwilling to stand up to the tea party in order to do what's best for the country."

Obama said that House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, informed him last week that the House would not be taking up immigration legislation this year.

A growing number of advocates and congressional Democrats already have declared immigration dead, the victim, in part, of internal GOP politics, with the most conservative lawmakers resisting the calls of party leaders to back action and revive the GOP's standing with Latino voters. The Central American migrant surge, along with the surprise defeat of House Majority Leader Eric Cantor at the hands of an upstart candidate from the right who accused him of backing "amnesty," helped kill whatever chances remain.

Boehner blamed Obama for the outcome.

"I told the president what I have been telling him for months: the American people and their elected officials don't trust him to enforce the law as written. Until that changes, it is going to be difficult to make progress on this issue," he said. Boehner called Obama's plan to go it alone "sad and disappointing."

Obama directed Homeland Security Department Secretary Jeh Johnson and Attorney General Eric Holder to present him by the end of the summer with steps he can take without congressional approval.

For now the White House said he'd refocus resources from the interior of the country to the border, a move that would effectively further reduce the number of deportations in the country's interior by stressing enforcement action on individuals who are either recent unlawful border crossers or who present a national security threat, public safety, or border security threat.

Johnson made his third visit Monday in the last six weeks to the Border Patrol's McCallen station in southernmost Texas, touring the location with Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell. He said 150 more agents are being sent to the region to help deal with the surge.

Johnson has been weighing various additional steps to refocus deportation priorities on people with more serious criminal records, something the administration has already tried to do with mixed results. But advocates are pushing Obama for much more sweeping changes that would shield millions of immigrants now here illegally from deportation by expanding a two-year-old program that granted work permits to certain immigrants brought illegally to the U.S. as children.

It's not clear if the administration will take such steps, but in a meeting with advocates prior to his announcement Monday Obama pledged to take "aggressive" steps, according to three people who attended who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private meeting.

Many of those same advocates reacted harshly to Obama's plan Monday to seek $2 billion emergency money from Congress that would, among other things, help conduct "an aggressive deterrence strategy focused on the removal and repatriation of recent border crossers."

The Border Patrol has apprehended more than 52,000 child immigrants traveling on their own since October.

"A policy that speeds up their return at the risk of their due process rights is both heartbreaking and immoral," said Kica Matos, director of immigrant rights and racial justice at the Center for Community Change.

Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, accused Obama of seeking a "blank check" with no real solutions. "President Obama created this disaster at our Southern border and now he is asking American taxpayers to foot the bill," said Goodlatte.

Chalk up another one for the Supremes

Some people are to stupid to live

North Korea will try two American tourists for 'carrying out hostile acts against the country' such as 'leaving a bible in a hotel room'

Of all the places to go on vacation…the best they could come up with is North Korea?

The planned itinerary:

 First dinner with Kim Jong-un and Dennis Rodman

  Then jet off to hike along the Iranian border 

 Followed by a short hop to IRAQ so they can celebrate Ramadan with ISIS

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• Americans Matthew Todd Miller and Jeffrey Edward Fowle are being tried in North Korea for 'hostile acts against the country'

• Diplomatic sources said Fowle was detained for leaving the Bible in his hotel room

• A spokesman for Fowle's family said the 56-year-old from Ohio was not on a mission for his church

• North Korea remains highly sensitive to any actions it considers political and is particularly wary of anything it deems to be Christian proselytizing

By Associated Press

Published: 00:20 EST, 30 June 2014 | Updated: 03:01 EST, 30 June 2014

North Korea said on Monday it is preparing to try two Americans who entered the country as tourists for carrying out what it says were hostile acts against the country. Though a small number of U.S. citizens visit North Korea each year as tourists, the State Department strongly advises against it.

Investigations into Americans Matthew Todd Miller and Jeffrey Edward Fowle concluded that suspicions about their hostile acts have been confirmed by evidence and their testimonies, Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency said in a short report.

KCNA said North Korea is making preparations to bring them before a court. It did not specify what the two did that was considered hostile or illegal, or what kind of punishment they might face. It also did not say when the trial would begin.

Jeffrey Edward Fowle wil face trial for charges including 'perpetrating hostile acts' and he allegedly left a bible in a hotel room

Fowle arrived in the county on April 29. North Korea's state media said in June that authorities were investigating him for committing acts inconsistent with the purpose of a tourist visit.

Diplomatic sources said Fowle was detained for leaving the Bible in his hotel room. But a spokesman for Fowle's family said the 56-year-old from Ohio was not on a mission for his church. 

His wife and three children said they miss him very much and 'are anxious for his return home,' according to a statement after his detention that was provided by a spokesman for the family.

KCNA said Miller, 24, entered the country April 10 with a tourist visa, but tore it up at the airport and shouted that he wanted to seek asylum. 

One Austrian named Justin Short, 75, was detained in North Korea for distributing religious pamphlets in Pyongyang but was later deported after issuing an apology.

Historically, North Korea has been harsher on U.S. Citizens and some experts believe they are using prisoners as a bargaining chip with the United States.

A large number of Western tourists visited Pyongyang in April to run in the annual Pyongyang Marathon or attend related events. Miller came at that time, but tour organizers say he was not planning to join the marathon.

North Korea has also been separately holding Korean-American missionary Kenneth Bae since November 2012. He was convicted by a North Korean court and is serving 15 years of hard labor, also for what the North says were hostile acts against the state.

Kenneth Bae, a Korean-American Christian missionary has been detained in North Korea for more than a year

The latest arrests present a conundrum for Washington, which has no diplomatic ties with the North and no embassy in Pyongyang.

Instead, the Swedish Embassy takes responsibility for U.S. consular affairs in the North. State Department officials say they cannot release details about the cases because they need a privacy waiver to do so.

Pyongyang has been strongly pushing tourism lately in an effort to bring in foreign cash. The tourism push has been directed at Chinese, who by far are the most common visitors to the North, but the still small number of Western tourists to North Korea has been growing.

Despite its efforts to bring in more tourists, the North remains highly sensitive to any actions it considers political and is particularly wary of anything it deems to be Christian proselytizing.

After Miller's detention, Washington updated its travel warning to the North to note that over the past 18 months, 'North Korea detained several U.S. citizens who were part of organized tours.

Do not assume that joining a group tour or use of a tour guide will prevent your arrest or detention by North Korean authorities.'

It added that efforts by private tour operators to prevent or resolve past detentions of U.S. citizens in the DPRK have not succeeded in gaining their release.

The Korean Peninsula is still in a technical state of war because the 1950-53 Korean War ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty. About 28,500 U.S. troops are stationed in South Korea.

Some people are to stupid to live

Barry's own words on the IRS scandal

President Obama blasted the findings of the investigation into the Internal Revenue Service's heightened scrutiny of conservative groups as "intolerable and inexcusable."

"I have now had the opportunity to review the Treasury Department watchdog's report on its investigation of IRS personnel who improperly targeted conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status. And the report's findings are intolerable and inexcusable," he said in a written statement hours after Treasury released the report.

"The federal government must conduct itself in a way that's worthy of the public's trust, and that's especially true for the IRS. The IRS must apply the law in a fair and impartial way, and its employees must act with utmost integrity. This report shows that some of its employees failed that test." Obama said he's directed Treasury Secretary Jack Lew "to hold those responsible for these failures accountable, and to make sure that each of the Inspector General's recommendations are implemented quickly, so that such conduct never happens again."

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That was then this is now:

Barry talks a good game. But did just the opposite.

 The problem is, except for FOX, no one ever follows up on his bullshit.

Barry now refers to this as a phony scandal. "There's not a smidgen of corruption" he said. 

(Smidgen's emails and everyone she sent an email to is now missing)  

Josh Earnest:
Picking up where Carney left off  >Lying<

According to Rhonda Knehans Drake, assistant professor at New York University the odds of these seven drives crashing is 1 in 3.1 million. Add to the probability of not being able to retrieve the data from each one and the odds are approaching that of you alone being hit by a meteor.

"Two rogue employees in Cincinnati" has become a bigger lie than "It was the video". 

A recent poll shows 76% of the American people believe Smidgen and her  cohorts emails were deliberately deleted.

(The other 24% have their brain contained in their ass) 

Even Barry loving CNN is getting into the act

If video won't load click post title

Video 72

With the preposterous account of what happened coming out of the IRS you have to wonder what level of absurdity has to be arrived at before the rest of the MSM runs with the story.

Barry's own words on the IRS scandal

Obama Lie Montage

And this doesn't even scratch the surface.

(There's also a special appearance of a few other liars in this administration)

(If video won't load click post title)

Video 71

Denigrate a great religion? I lie within a lie.

Obama Lie Montage

Almost forgot about this one

Barry tried to pull another fast one when he appointed three people to the National Labor Relations Board in 2012 while the U.S. Senate was taking a break from regular business. Of course, it only took 2 years to strike it down. In his l-o-n-g list of lawbreaking this is a speeding ticket compared to the IRS, VA, and Benghazi scandals… just to mention a few.

Supremes strike down Obama recess appointments

The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that President Obama overstepped his bounds when he tried to circumvent the Senate and install his nominees to key positions — but the justices left the heart of the executive's recess appointment powers intact.

In a ruling freighted with constitutional implications, the justices said the president must wait for Congress to break for at least three days before he can use his recess powers, and said lawmakers on Capitol Hill generally get to decide what constitutes a recess.

But it was the way the court ruled — deferring to what it said was long-standing practice — that may have the broader implications. Justice Antonin Scalia, in a stinging opinion, said the court had opened the door to clever lawyers finding yet more ways to expand the president's powers beyond what the country's founders intended.

"The real tragedy of today's decision is not simply the abolition of the Constitution's limits on the recess appointment power and the substitution of a novel frame work invented by this court. It is the damage done to our separation-of-powers jurisprudence more generally," Justice Scalia wrote.

The decision was 9-0, with all of the justices agreeing Mr. Obama overstepped by making recess appointments at a time when the Senate was meeting every three days specifically to deny him his recess powers.

But five of the justices, led by Justice Stephen G. Breyer, said the president should still have broad powers when a recess lasts at least 10 days.

Justice Breyer said the Constitution itself was unclear, but said the practice of the last century show both the president and the Senate have come to a general understanding, and Thursday's ruling essentially ratifies that understanding.

"The president has consistently and frequently interpreted the word 'recess' to apply to intra-session recesses, and has acted on that interpretation. The Senate as a body has done nothing to deny the validity of this practice for at least three-quarters of a century. And three-quarters of a century of settled practice is long enough to entitle a practice to 'great weight in a proper interpretation' of the constitutional provision," Justice Breyer wrote.

While the ruling was a loss for Mr. Obama, it is a win for the executive branch more generally. Indeed, it returns the situation to where it was before Mr. Obama took office, when presidents generally waited for breaks of 10 days or more before using their powers, but other than that had few limitations.

Justice Breyer said the Constitution was unclear, so he said he had to look at what the practice has been. He said the executive branch has had a broad interpretation of its powers for nearly two centuries, and even the Senate has embraced that broad interpretation for nearly 100 years.

The key clause of the Constitution reads: "The President shall have Power to fill up all Vacancies that may happen during the Recess of the Senate, by granting Commissions which shall expire at the End of their next Session."

The problem is that the words "recess" and "session" have several meanings in the Constitution and as used in legislative procedure on Capitol Hill.

Justices were deciding a case stemming from Mr. Obama's efforts in 2012 to name three members to the National Labor Relations Board. He was unable to get quick Senate confirmation so he decided to act alone — even though the Senate was meeting every three days specifically to deny him his recess powers.

Republicans said the recess maneuver was a political stunt. They said two of the nominees Mr. Obama made recess appointments for weren't even sent to the Senate until Dec. 15, and Mr. Obama made his recess appointments just three weeks later — a much shorter period of time than even non-controversial nominees take to wind through the process.

"The administration's tendency to abide only by the laws it likes represents a disturbing and dangerous threat to the rule of law. That's true whether we're talking about recess appointments or Obamacare," said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who led fellow Republicans in joining the suit against Mr. Obama. "I hope the Obama Administration will take away the appropriate lessons. Because the Court's decision today is a clear rebuke of that behavior."

But Senate Democrats — who had used the same three-day procedure to deny President George W. Bush his recess powers — embraced Mr. Obama's move, saying the GOP left them no choice.

Thursday's court ruling tinkers with some of the fundamental balances between Congress and the executive branch, though it falls short of the full-scale upheaval that lower courts — and a four-justice minority of the Supreme Court — said should happen.

Now, Congress and the president will have to work out a new normal for recess appointments, and that could involve the executive testing never-used powers to force Congress to adjourn.

In the near term the opinion will have little effect, because Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid — possibly anticipation the court's ruling — last year detonated the "nuclear option." That was a bold parliamentary move to change Senate rules and reduce the number of votes needed to overcome a filibuster on nominees to just a majority vote, rather than the 60 required to end most filibusters.

That means Mr. Obama can get most of his nominees through without having to worry about a GOP filibuster — though it does make the process more tedious.

But if a future president were faced with a Senate held by the opposite party, the justices' ruling would give those senators exceptional leverage in nominations.

In a statement, Mr. Reid said the court's ruling justifies his use of the nuclear option.

"Without that reform and with today's ruling, a small but vocal minority would have more power than ever to block qualified nominees from getting a simple up-or-down vote on the floor," he said. "Since the November reform the Senate has been confirming qualified nominees at a steady pace and today's ruling will have no effect on our ability to continue ensuring that qualified nominees receive an up-or-down vote."

(What else would you expect from Reid)

Almost forgot about this one