Obama-Appointed Judges Halt Trump Administration’s New ACA Regulations on Birth Control

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The judiciary once again struck one for the Obama White House, with a judge issuing a nationwide injunction on a new Affordable Care Act regulation concerning contraceptives. The Washington Post reported that the regulation expanded the exemption clause with regards to birth control; employers can now cite moral and religious as reasons for the exemption. The first ruling only barred implementation of this Trump administration regulation in 13 Democratic states, including the District of Columbia. This latest one once again pits the Obama judicial cohort against the Trump White House (via WaPo):

A pair of federal judges stepped in at the last moment to pause Trump administration rules that would restrict the ability of some women to get birth control at no charge because their employers object on religious or moral grounds.

A Pennsylvania district court judge issued a nationwide injunction Monday afternoon, just as the new policy was slated to take effect. That ruling came less than 24 hours after a California district court judge issued a more limited stay in 13 Democratic states and the District of Columbia, while challenges are being argued.

The rulings in rapid succession, both by judges appointed by Barack Obama, are the latest legal twists in a dispute over an expansion of health benefits for women under the Affordable Care Act that has wound through the courts for years.

The ACA, the sprawling 2010 health-care law pushed through by a Democratic Congress, says that people should be insured for preventive services without paying any out-of-pocket fees — and that women’s health services must be included. Under the law, all forms of FDA-approved contraception have been covered since 2012.

(Read more from “Obama-Appointed Judges Halt Trump Administration’s New ACA Regulations on Birth Control” HERE)

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Pentagon: Another Round of Troops Will Head to the Border

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By Townhall. The Pentagon on Monday announced a mission to extend the length of time active duty troops remain on the Southern border. Troops will continue to assist border patrol with and provide security through Sept 30, Reuters reported. The decision was made based on a request from the Department of Homeland Security, the agency that over sees the border patrol.

New troops heading to the border “will include combat engineers to fortify border crossings and aviation units to help ferry Border Patrol agents,” USA Today reported.

“DOD is transitioning its support at the southwestern border from hardening ports of entry to mobile surveillance and detection, as well as concertina wire emplacement between ports of entry. DOD will continue to provide aviation support,” the Pentagon said in a statement Monday.

The current deployment was issued by former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and was set to expire Jan 30. The new order was approved by Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan. (Read more from “Pentagon: Another Round of Troops Will Head to the Border” HERE)

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Pentagon to Send More Active-Duty Troops to Southwest Border

By USA Today. The Pentagon will send a fresh deployment of active-duty troops to the southern border at the request of officials from the Department of Homeland Security.

Late Monday, the Pentagon also announced that deployments of active-duty troops would extend through September.

The new contingent of troops will include combat engineers to fortify border crossings and aviation units to help ferry Border Patrol agents, according to a Defense Department official who was not authorized to speak publicly.

The troops will also help with surveillance at the border, according to the Pentagon statement.

The new deployment has been anticipated since Homeland Security officials made the request to the Pentagon for additional resources late last month. There are about 2,350 active-duty troops and an additional 2,200 National Guardsmen at the border. (Read more from “Pentagon to Send More Active-Duty Troops to Southwest Border” HERE)

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Why Trump Will Win the Shutdown

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By The Federalist. Compromise. It’s a word President Trump used several times yesterday. He is open to compromise. In this case, that means something short of the $5 billion he wants for a border wall. He’s open to taking less, perhaps in exchange for not applying the law to younger illegal immigrants. This is clearly the easiest way out of the current debacle. But it is something the Democrats, led by “No Wall” Nancy Pelosi, have said they will never support.

This is a problem. Democrats have backed themselves up against a, well, a wall. They have created a situation in which if they give even one dollar to Trump to build a wall, or fence, steel barrier, or whatever, they have lost the political fight. Pelosi, the great speaker of the House who gets things done, has left herself no leverage to get anything done. She could ask for almost anything in exchange for wall funding, but instead, she won’t budge.

Trump is channeling his inner Michael Corleone and telling Democrats that his offer is this: nothing, not even the price of the border wall, which he would appreciate Pelosi appropriating. So here we are.

We all like to knock and mock Trump’s braggadocio claims that he is the best negotiator ever. But in this case, he really has outflanked his opponents. Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer have painted themselves into a corner. They have said, “No funding for a wall.” They say this despite the fact that they have supported barrier funding in the past. So in essence they have given themselves no fallback position. . . .

A president always has an advantage in a government shutdown. The executive branch speaks with a single voice, while Congress is divided between parties. Trump is clearly pointing to and offering a solution. The House Democrats aren’t. And their intransigence is highlighted by the fact that Republican members of Congress are calling them out. (Read more from “Why Trump Will Win the Shutdown” HERE)

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Trump Urged to Temporarily Reopen Government

By BBC. A senior US Republican has urged President Donald Trump to temporarily reopen parts of the government shut down for more than three weeks.

Senator Lindsey Graham, who is close to Mr Trump, said a limited re-opening of a few weeks would allow talks to resume between Republicans and Democrats.

The partial government shutdown has now become the longest in US history.

It has left hundreds of thousands of public workers unpaid and government offices closed.

President Trump is refusing to approve a budget unless it includes $5.7bn (£4.5bn) for a wall along the Mexican border – a key campaign pledge, which the president said that Mexico would pay for. (Read more from “Trump Urged to Temporarily Reopen Government” HERE)

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Cali Wheels out Plan for New Statewide Tax on Drinking Water

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California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) wants to tax the state’s drinking water, a move he says will allow poor people access to safe and affordable water. . .

Newsom’s proposed 2019-20 budget includes the creation a “safe and affordable drinking water fund,” to “enable the State Water Resources Control Board to assist communities, particularly disadvantaged communities, in paying for the short-term and long-term costs of obtaining access to safe and affordable drinking water,” SFgate.com reported.

The Association of California Water Agencies, which represents more than 400 water suppliers across the state, swiftly rebuked the idea of a water tax. In a statement, the association said it would be “highly problematic” and not necessary due to what it calls the state’s ample budget surplus.

“The vast majority of the state’s residents have access to safe drinking water, but a small percentage of the population does not,” the association stated. “This unacceptable reality is a social issue for the State of California. ACWA believes that making access to safe drinking water for all Californians should be a top priority for the State. However, a statewide water tax is highly problematic and is not necessary when alternative funding solutions exist and the state has a huge budget surplus.”

Orange County Republican Travis Allen, who ran for governor in 2018, also blasted the idea.

(Read more from “Cali Wheels out Plan for New Statewide Tax on Drinking Water” HERE)

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Oxford Students Want World’s Top Natural Law Scholar Fired for Religion

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Students at Oxford University have launched a petition calling on the university to remove John Finnis, an emeritus professor of law and philosophy, from his academic position because of Finnis’ purported “discriminatory conduct.” The petition, which has garnered hundreds of signatures, claims the 78-year-old Australian “has a long record of extremely discriminatory views against many groups of disadvantaged people,” and “is known for being particularly homophobic and transphobic.”

Among other things, Finnis is accused of professing that “gay sex is like bestiality—having sex with animals;” that “being gay is ‘evil’ and ‘destructive;’” and that “approving of gay sex is like approving of killing innocent people in a terrorist massacre.” The Oxford Student published Finnis’ response to the charges:

The petition travesties my position, and my testimony in American constitutional litigation. Anyone who consults the Law Faculty website and follows the links in the petition can see the petition’s many errors. I stand by all these writings. There is not a ‘phobic’ sentence in them. The 1994 essay promotes a classical and strictly philosophical moral critique of all non-marital sex acts and has been republished many times, most recently by Oxford University Press in the third volume of my Collected Essays.

. . .

The Oxford petition seeks Finnis’ removal not for anything he has done as a professor, but based solely on his published work. On this point, the petition is clear, noting the university’s harassment policy is unhelpful: “Although it identifies the aims of promoting ‘a positive environment’ of fairness and respect, ‘free from harassment’, it does not provide guidance on how to deal with professors who target disadvantaged people more generally (e.g. through their published work).” . . .

First, the petition signatories view academic research, including scholarship published in top-tier journals and the upper echelon of university presses, as harassment. Second, the petition makes clear that the student signatories view natural law and the precepts of the Catholic church and traditional Christian churches as adopting homophobic, transphobic, and “extremely discriminatory views.” Third, the petition’s reference to awaiting a “person-to-person instance of harassment or victimisation,” exposes the students’ view that a classroom lecture that includes Finnis’ scholarship would be verboten. (Read more from “Oxford Students Want World’s Top Natural Law Scholar Fired for Religion” HERE)

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Supreme Court to Review Illegal Alien’s Gun Possession Conviction

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The Supreme Court will decide whether an illegal alien from the United Arab Emirates was wrongfully convicted of unlawful possession of a firearm.

The case was occasioned in December 2015, when Hamid Mohamed Ahmed Ali Rehaif was arrested in Florida after renting a gun at a shooting range and purchasing ammunition. Federal law prohibits certain classes of people from possessing guns, including illegal aliens.

Rehaif is a citizen of the United Arab Emirates. He came to the United States in 2013 to attend the Florida Institute of Technology (FIT), but was dismissed for academic reasons Jan. 21, 2015. His lawful immigration status terminated shortly thereafter on Feb. 23, 2015. Therefore, he was in the U.S. illegally when he rented the gun and procured ammunition.

At trial, the judge told the jury that “the [prosecution] is not required to prove that [Rehaif] knew that he was illegally or unlawfully in the United States.” The legal question the Supreme Court will decide is whether that instruction was correct.

Rehaif contends the government must prove he knowingly possessed a firearm and knowingly violated immigration law in order to secure a conviction. That point is important because Rehaif claims he did not know his immigration authorization expired after he left FIT. If Rehaif was not aware of his changed immigration status, his lawyers argue, he cannot be convicted for being an illegal alien in possession of a fire arm under the relevant law. (Read more from “Supreme Court to Review Illegal Alien’s Gun Possession Conviction” HERE)

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White House Slams Democrats for Puerto Rico Vacation During Shutdown

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White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders harshly criticized Democratic lawmakers for flying to Puerto Rico for a political event and vacationing during a partial government shutdown.

Democratic lawmakers like New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez were spotted on the beaches of Puerto Rico during a meeting for a political action committee which supports the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. The retreat comes on the 24th day of a partial government shutdown, the longest funding lapse in the history of the U.S. . .

Democrats have refused to budge from their position of $1.6 billion with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi even telling Trump in a situation room meeting last week that even if Trump reopened the government they would not negotiate. Trump is now exploring funding options to begin construction on the wall, including declaring a national emergency. (Read more from “White House Slams Democrats for Puerto Rico Vacation During Shutdown” HERE)

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Russia Derangement Syndrome: Dem Senator Says It’s Not Insane to Ask If Trump Is a Russian Agent

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By Townhall. Russia collusion might be the topic of discussion nowadays with the government shutdown, but it’s still a pathogen that has yet to leave the Democratic Party’s system. Today, Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) suggested that it’s not insane to ask if Trump, knowingly or unknowingly, is a Russian agent. Warner was interviewed by CNN’s Jake Tapper (via NTK Network):

Jake, I think the earlier evidence this week, where the president’s campaign manager – and we’re unaware whether the president knew – where the president’s campaign manager, at whose direction turned over confidential polling data to a known Russian agent, a known Russian agent, who has ties to Putin,” Warner said. “Why would you turn over that information?”

Warner then told Tapper that it was this kind of information that Trump’s campaign manager Paul Manafort gave the Russians that they would have used to interfere in the 2016 election.

(Read more from “Russia Derangement Syndrome: Dem Senator Says It’s Not Insane to Ask If Trump Is a Russian Agent” HERE)

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Trump Targets Dems Over DACA Amid Shutdown Talks

By The Hill. President Trump on Sunday hit Democrats for their hesitance to include protections for beneficiaries of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program in talks to end a prolonged government shutdown, despite his own administration’s insistence that the program be left out of negotiations.

“Democrats are saying that DACA is not worth it and don’t want to include in talks,” Trump tweeted. “Many Hispanics will be coming over to the Republican side, watch!”

The president’s tweet contradicts comments he and Vice President Pence have made in recent days about DACA, which allows young immigrants who came to the U.S. illegally as children to live and work here without fear of deportation. (Read more from “Trump Targets Dems Over Daca Amid Shutdown Talks” HERE)

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Government Shutdown Could Negatively Impact Immigration Courts for Years to Come

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We’re currently in the midst of the longest running government shutdown in American history. The reason for the shutdown is simple: Republicans and Democrats see the issue of illegal immigration and border security very differently. President Donald Trump wants more than $5 billion to build a wall along the southern border while Democrats oppose the move. . .

According to Bloomberg, the lack of funding is forcing immigration courts to pull those who are not detained off the court calendars. Those individuals will be rescheduled once the shutdown comes to an end. The other problem though? Judges’ calendars are booked out for the next three or more years. Rescheduling those individuals will be even more of a challenge because of it.

“Finding available time slots to reschedule hearings could result in years of further delay,” Susan Long, co-director of Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University, which gathers data on federal spending, told Bloomberg. . .

“While there has been a big focus on immigration enforcement, there has not been sufficient focus to the immigration court system. We’re housed in the Department of Justice, and, frankly, the Department of Justice has not advocated either as forcefully or skillfully for us,” [Dana Leigh] Marks told PBS’ Amna Nawaz. “As the Department of Homeland Security’s enforcement resources has grown, what’s happened for the courts is that we have fallen behind and not received proportional increases that we would need to stay current with the cases that come into our system.” (Read more from “Government Shutdown Could Negatively Impact Immigration Courts for Years to Come” HERE)

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Biden’s Brother Explains Why Some Family Members Voted for Trump

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By Townhall. Joe Biden’s younger brother Frank Biden said that not all members of the family were on board with Hillary Clinton in 2016 so they cast their vote for Donald Trump.

Biden told The Palm Beach Post the family members felt “slighted” by the Democratic presidential nominee’s campaign strategy. He said he believes his brother would have been able to pick up states the former secretary of state lost had he run.

“We never would have lost Pennsylvania, and all my relatives — the Finnegan family — who voted for Donald Trump because they felt slighted by Hillary and her campaign,” Biden said. “We never would have not gone to Michigan as the campaign decided not to do because they felt entitled to the votes of those people. (Read more from “Biden’s Brother Explains Why Some Family Members Voted for Trump” HERE)

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Joe Biden Hurt by Obama’s Call for ‘New Blood’ in Politics

By Washington Examiner. Former Vice President Joe Biden, 76, is reportedly slighted by former President Barack Obama’s call for “new blood” in politics.

The 44th president, during a private Obama Foundation reception last week in Hawaii, told attendees there was a “deficit” in political leadership and that there was a need for “new blood.” Though he appeared to be speaking broadly about politics, not specifically the Democratic Party, the Hill reported Sunday that Obama’s comments were a cause of consternation for Biden given the longtime senator’s loyalty to the former president and the way his ex-boss discouraged him from running in 2016 against eventual nominee Hillary Clinton.

“The president loves this guy, loves Joe, thinks the world of him. He would go in a battle ditch with Joe, but that’s different than giving his brand to him,” one Obama ally told the outlet. “He has an incredible soft spot for him. And I’m sure he’ll do everything he can to make Joe feel good, but he won’t come out and make Joe his candidate. And I think that hurts Joe.” (Read more from “Joe Biden Hurt by Obama’s Call for ‘New Blood’ in Politics” HERE)

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