Did Obama Just Break the Law on His Own Iran Deal?

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On May 7, just minutes before passing the Corker-Cardin Iran bill, Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) smugly and deceitfully noted the following: “It was in the 1990s that Congress started to impose sanctions against Iran for its Nuclear weapons program. Only Congress can remove those sanctions or permanently change it.”

Cardin was smiling that day because he knew his bill would be sold to the public as a mandate for congressional approval of the impending Iran treaty – antithetical to what the bill actually accomplished. He knew that, in fact, this bill would de facto require two-thirds of both houses to disapprove of the treaty in order to prevent Obama from lifting sanctions. He also knew that Democrats would never deliver the requisite votes to disapprove of the deal and he would certainly never fight for that outcome. In other words, sanctions would be lifted unilaterally by Obama, not by two-thirds of the Senate affirmatively ratifying the deal, in contravention to the Treaty Clause of the Constitution.

Now, Obama is violating even the pathetic terms of the Corker-Cardin bill by preventing Congress from even mustering the two-thirds opposition to the deal. Ben Cardin is nowhere to be seen.

Foreign Policy magazine is reporting that UN Ambassador Samantha Power plans to submit a 14-page draft resolution to the UN Security Council as early as next week for approval of the Iran deal.

You might be thinking, what happened to the 60-day period of congressional review, pursuant to the Corker Cardin bill, when Obama was to be restricted from lifting sanctions? Can’t Congress at least be afforded the 60 days to attempt to muster the 67 votes needed to disapprove of the deal?

No chance. Obama is reneging on the very essence of the agreement and the bill he signed into law in May – an agreement that to begin with, violates the Senate’s treaty powers. By taking this deal straight to the Security Council for approval, although the implementation of the deal will not take effect until later this year, Congress would be in violation of international law by rejecting this treaty – if they miraculously mustered the votes in September.

Secretary of State John Kerry blatantly and brazenly admitted that they have double-crossed Congress:

“If Congress were to veto the deal, Congress — the United States of America — would be in noncompliance with this agreement and contrary to all of the other countries in the world. I don’t think that’s going to happen,” U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry told reporters Tuesday.

Where is Ben Cardin and his merry band of faux pro-Israel Democrats now?

Appallingly, the text of the Iran deal takes into account Iran’s parliament for approval of some aspects of the enforcement measures but completely ignores the U.S. Senate.

At this point, conservatives must train their fire on Ben Cardin and expose him for the fraud that he is. As the top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, he has placed party loyalty over his own stated views on Iran and emphatic promises he made to win support for his unconstitutional bill.

Conservatives must also hold up all nominees and budget bills until Obama agrees to back off his intent to violate the terms of his own unconstitutional agreement with Congress. Sen. Ted Cruz (TX) is promising to hold up the State Department reauthorization bill as well.

The behavior of some Jewish Democrats in Congress led by Ben Cardin as it relates to this Iran issue is truly indefensible and transparently insidious. They have played both sides of the fence for too long. This is their Waterloo. Not only does this deal endanger America and reward those who murdered over a thousand U.S. troops, it represents an urgent and existential threat to Israel. This deal even contains a provision (page 142) obligating the five western powers to help Iran with their nuclear program and prevent any “sabotage” of their nuclear security – clearly a warning to Israel.

For Ben Cardin and his fellow liberals, the time for choosing is now. (“Did Obama Just Break the Law on His Own Iran Deal?”, originally posted HERE)

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Watch: The SHOCKING Police Shooting Video so Controversial It Took 2 Years to Be Released

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A federal judge ordered the release of video which police had tried to keep from public view for over two years.

The footage was taken by police car dash-cams on June 2, 2013, and shows Gardena, California, (just south of Los Angeles) police officers seeking to arrest what turned out to be three unarmed men. The police mistakenly thought they had been involved in a bike robbery.

The police dispatcher also erroneously reported the crime as “high priority,” indicating that the suspects may have firearms.

Ricardo Diaz-Zeferino, 34, one of the three men police had cornered in the video, was actually the brother of the man whose bike had been stolen. Witnesses say he was trying to tell the officers they had the wrong men.

In the video, the police yell at him, “Get your hands up!” Diaz-Zeferino raises and lowers his hands a couple of times and steps forward, apparently trying to reason with the officers.

From one angle, his palms are open and facing upward. Footage from a second camera behind two of the police officers showed Diaz-Zeferino’s right hand briefly swinging out of view at his waist when the police opened fire . . .

The Los Angeles Times reports: “The district attorney’s office declined to file charges against the officers. Deputy Dist. Atty. Rosa Alarcon wrote in a memo about the shooting that Diaz Zeferino ignored police commands and that toxicology tests after his death were positive for alcohol and methamphetamine. His right hand, she wrote, was no longer visible from the officers’ angle when they opened fire and it was reasonable for them to believe he was reaching for a weapon. (Read more from “Watch: The SHOCKING Police Shooting Video so Controversial It Took 2 Years to Be Released” HERE)

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Taxpayers Spend $3.5 Million to Find out Why Lesbians are Fat

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A U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) study to understand why lesbians are fat has now cost taxpayers over $3.5 million to-date.

The study, “Sexual Orientation and Obesity: A Test of a Gendered Biopsychosocial Model,” seeks to determine why there is a disparity in the obesity rates between straight women and lesbian women and straight men and gay men.

According to the study, “It is now well-established that women of minority sexual orientation are disproportionately affected by the obesity epidemic, with nearly three-quarters of adult lesbians overweight or obese, compared to half of heterosexual women. In stark contrast, among men, heterosexual males have nearly double the risk of obesity compared to gay males.” (Read more from “Taxpayers Spend $3.5 Million to Find out Why Lesbians Are Fat” HERE)

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Obama Says “No” to Revoking Medal of Freedom for Disgraced Bill Cosby

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President Barack Obama said Wednesday that there is no precedent for revoking the U.S. Medal of Freedom — as some have called for him to do — given to comedian and actor Bill Cosby. But the President did outline his definition of rape.

“There’s no precedent for revoking a medal. We don’t have that mechanism,” he said.

The President then paused, and while he would not comment on the specifics of a case in which criminal or civil charges could be brought, he instead offered a definition of rape.

“If you give a woman — or a man, for that matter — without his or her knowledge a drug and then have sex with that person without consent, that’s rape,” Obama said Wednesday at a White House press conference.

Earlier this month, details of a 2005 lawsuit were revealed that showed that Cosby admitted to getting prescription Quaaludes to give to women he wanted to have sex with. (Read more from “Obama Defines Rape When Asked About Bill Cosby” HERE)

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Is Trump Right? Guess Which Rapists Don’t Appear on National Sex Offender Registry

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The national database of sex offenders is missing one crucial sub-element of society — illegal immigrants.

CNN’s John Walsh fought for years to get a national database of sex offenders — like the one who kidnapped and murdered his son, Adam Walsh.

The result was the National Sex Offender Public Registry.

There’s only one problem. The registry only lists the names of offenders who are U.S. citizens — it doesn’t include people who are living here illegally . . .

“How can a country, that can put a Mars Rover on Mars to send back pictures of ice crystals at a cost of $44 billion not be able to track convicted offenders, especially sex offenders — especially illegal alien sex offenders,” Walsh asked CNN host Erin Burnett. (Read more from “Is Trump Right? Guess Which Rapists Don’t Appear on National Sex Offender Registry” HERE)

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Ancestry.Con: College Professor’s Claims of Indian Heritage Debunked

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A tenured California professor is the latest academic to be accused of re-writing their personal history when claiming Cherokee heritage.

Andrea Smith, an associate professor at the University of California Riverside and a noted scholar in Native American studies, has been called out by critics who say she, like former Harvard Law professor Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D- Mass., and Ward Churchill, a former University of Colorado professor who infamously likened 9/11 victims to Nazis, used the phony claims to enhance her faculty pedigree.

“Wannabes like Andrea use the myths of Cherokees hiding in the hills, passing for white or being saved by righteous whites, to perpetuate their lies,” said David Cornsilk, a Cherokee genealogist who researched Smith’s lineage and found no evidence of Cherokee bloodlines.

Cornsilk, 56, a citizen of the Cherokee Nation who has been employed as a tribal enrollment researcher, wrote in Indian Country Today that Cherokees are generally very well documented, and debunking bogus claims is easy. Although Cornsilk refused to speak to FoxNews.com, in his article, he lamented “two centuries of non-Cherokees trying to lay claim to our lands and treasury, if not by force, then by subterfuge.”

Smith, who did not return requests for comment, issued a statement saying her belief was based on “what I knew to be true, ” and that she has been “and will always be Cherokee,” although she seemed to base her claim to the heritage on her own work and perceptions, rather than her ancestry. (Read more from “Ancestry.Con: College Professor’s Claims of Indian Heritage Debunked” HERE)

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Democrats Divided: Biden Dispatched to Hill to Twist Arms on Iran Deal

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The White House dispatched Vice President Joe Biden to Capitol Hill Wednesday to sell Democrats on the newly announced Iran nuclear deal, as several influential members voiced reservations about giving it their seal of approval in a vital vote this fall.

Biden was meeting first with House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, though the tougher lift may be on the Senate side. In the aftermath of the deal announcement in Vienna, senior Democratic senators made clear they were withholding judgment.

“We’re basically legitimizing Iran’s nuclear program,” Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., told Fox News, voicing concerns about what Tehran gets in return, including the likely lifting of an arms embargo and leverage over the timing of certain nuclear inspections.

“At the end of the day, the challenge here is that 10 to 12 years from now, does Iran have a pathway towards a full industrial-sized nuclear program and the possibility of breaking out to a weapon? And if so, all you’ve done is delayed the question of Iran’s nuclear ambitions.”

Menendez is a leading skeptic but plenty more are staying on the sidelines and could face more pressure from constituents during the August recess. (Read more from “Democrats Divided: Biden Dispatched to Hill to Twist Arms on Iran Deal” HERE)

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Mind Your Own Business! Federal Reserve Chair Warns Congress

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Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen urged lawmakers to tread lightly when it comes to overhauling the central bank, warning that proposed changes could undermine its ability to support the economy.

In prepared testimony, Yellen will tout the Fed’s own efforts to boost its transparency as a way to discourage lawmakers from pushing their own proposals to bring the Fed under stricter oversight.

“Efforts to further increase transparency, no matter how well intentioned, must avoid unintended consequences that could undermine the Federal Reserve’s ability to make policy in the long-run best interest of American families and businesses,” she said.

Yellen’s testimony Wednesday before the House Financial Services Committee will come one day after that panel held a hearing in which Republicans blasted the Fed as being unaccountable.

While Yellen will argue in her testimony that Fed tweaks could subject the central bank to political pressure and make it less effective, GOP lawmakers have argued the Fed holds up its political independence as a way to avoid scrutiny. (Read more from “Mind Your Own Business!: Federal Reserve Chair Warns Congress to Be Wary of Fed Reforms” HERE)

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Angela Merkel Doesn’t Believe in Gay Marriage – ‘I Don’t Want Discrimination… But I Make a Difference at Some Point’

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The German Chancellor backed equal benefits for same-sex couples – such as tax breaks – and said that while discrimination should be “eliminated” she drew a “difference” between civil partnerships and marriage.

But the committed Christian, who has been married twice, gave her personal definition of marriage as ‘a man and a woman living together’, in a YouTube interview with Florian Mundt, a YouTube known under the alias LeFloid who has a significant online following.

“I’m someone who is very supportive of us eliminating all discrimination. We have come a long way; when I remember, 25 years ago, many people didn’t dare to say that they are gay or lesbian,” she said, according to the Huffington Post . . .

Ms Merkel went on to say stress that marriage should be strictly defined as between a man and a woman, adding: “I am for registered civil partnerships. I am for our not having any discrimination in tax legislation. And wherever we still find discrimination, we will continue to dismantle it,” according to German broadcaster Deutsche Welle.

Explaining further, the German leader said: “I don’t want discrimination and [I want] equality, but I make a difference at some point.” (Read more from “Angela Merkel Doesn’t Believe in Gay Marriage – ‘I Don’t Want Discrimination… But I Make a Difference at Some Point'” HERE)

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Where are the Fiscal Conservatives? GOP Bailing Out Failed Highway Fund

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It’s almost as if every week the GOP-controlled Congress passes more legislation to increase spending with gimmicks for offsets. Today, the House plans to bail out the failed Highway Trust Fund, which should have been devolved to the states long ago, with offsets that can only be described as intangible, and to the extent they are actualized, they will represent tax increases. I’m sure many of you had this in mind when voting for Republican candidates in 2014.

After completion of the Interstate Highway System in 1992, it would have been more efficient for the federal government to return responsibility for highways and bridges – along with the revenue from the federal gas tax – to the states. The federal system, which costs roughly $52 billion per year, only brings in about $34 billion -$39 billion in annual revenue from the gas tax. As a result, the trust fund has received $65 billion in bailout funds since 2008.

The reason the trust fund continues to lose money is because so much of the funds are diverted for special interest projects or wasted by the inefficient process of having Washington lobbyists divvy up a vital function that is inextricably dependent on the diverse geographical needs of 50 states. For example, according to the Heritage Foundation, Davis Bacon prevailing wage mandates jack up the cost of construction projects by 22%. Mass transit accounts for 15% of the cost, even though the gas tax was supposed to be a pay-as-you-go tax for those who use highways and bridges, not the holy grail of urban politics.

In addition, the Transportation Alternatives Program (TAP), which diverts gas tax funds for bike paths and highway beautification projects, sucks up over $800 million per year. The Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement (CMAQ) Program is a slush fund of mandates from environmental regulations to social engineering projects that cost several billions. Taken as a whole, these wasteful programs and federal laws account for most, if not all, of the funding gap in the Highway Trust Fund.

Finally, the paralysis, waste, and fraud that is associated with the lobbyist-driven federal transportation policy should prompt any sane lawmaker to support returning transportation policy to the states where the cost and benefit of each project could be measured fairly and efficiently.

Yet, given that both parties are stuck on stupid, they plan to spend another $8.1 billion bailing out the trust fund until December 18 – without any reforms. The reason they chose that date is because members are willing to pass anything in order to go home for Christmas. The impending doom of a highway funding lapse could then be used as a catch-all bill that will contain a number of odious provisions and more spending.

The bill before the House today (H.R. 3038), is being sold as legislation that is fully offset and budget neutral. So which other government program is being eliminated or cut as a result of this bill, you might ask? None.

For starters, this is another case of Congress offsetting a four-month expenditure with “savings” spread out over 10 years. But it gets worse. The biggest offset— $3.1 billion worth— comes from TSA travel fees…from the years 2024-2026! Under current law, the TSA is prevented from spending that revenue through 2024 and must use it for savings. This bill extends that accounting until 2026. You try paying for an immediate expenditure with potential revenue from 9-11 years from now!

The remaining $5 billion in offsets originates from what the political class refers to as “increased tax compliance.” In the real world that either means illusory and intangible savings or (if aggressively enforced) a straight up tax increase. The bulk of this projected revenue would come from empowering the IRS to force banks to document more information from borrowers, more aggressively reassess tax returns with alleged misrepresentation of property value, and squeeze out more revenue from the death tax. Suddenly Republicans are all in favor of the death tax and empowering the IRS.

Furthermore, in the absence of any serious reforms, such as devolution or refocusing the core priorities of the trust fund, Congress should at least offset the cost of this temporary patch by enforcing tax compliance of federal workers. Let the federal employees lead by example. According to an IRS report from last year, federal employees collectively owed $3.3 billion in unpaid taxes. How come this offset is never proposed for the endless list of bills increasing spending?

What is so offensive about their desire to spend more money and find more tax revenue is that the Treasury is bringing in more revenue than ever before. Due to surging revenues from a booming Wall Street, the Treasury has received $2.4 trillion in tax revenue for the first three quarters in FY 2015 and is projected to end the fiscal year with $3.1 trillion.

It’s quite evident that not only are Republicans and Democrats – many of who rail against wasteful spending – inexorably opposed to reducing the size of government, they can’t even subsist on record-high revenue. We already know that there are no social conservatives left in Washington. Where are the fiscal conservatives? (“GOP Declares: “My Way for the Failed Highway Fund”, originally posted HERE)

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