Free Republic

Ever since Obama assumed the office of President, critics have hammered him on a number of Constitutional issues. Critics have complained that much, if not all of Obama’s major initiatives run headlong into Constitutional roadblocks on the power of the federal government. Obama certainly did not help himself in the eyes of the Court when he used the venue of the State of the Union address early in the year to publicly flog the Court over its ruling that the First Amendment grants the right to various organizations to run political ads during the time of an election. The tongue-lashing...

Sovereignty: Even if he's not re-elected, the president hopes to leave behind a treaty giving a U.N. body veto power over the use of our territorial waters and to which we'd be required to give half of our offshore oil revenue. The Law Of The Sea Treaty (LOST) has been lurking in the shadows for decades. Like the Kyoto Protocol that pretended to be an effort to save the earth from the poisoned fruit of the Industrial Revolution, LOST pretends to be an effort to protect the world's oceans from environmental damage and remove it as a cause of potential...

— One Saturday last fall, President Obama interrupted a White House strategy meeting to raise an issue not on the agenda. He declared, aides recalled, that the administration needed to more aggressively use executive power to govern in the face of Congressional obstructionism. -snip- But increasingly in recent months, the administration has been seeking ways to act without Congress. Branding its unilateral efforts “We Can’t Wait,” a slogan that aides said Mr. Obama coined at that strategy meeting, the White House has rolled out dozens of new policies — on creating jobs for veterans, preventing drug shortages, raising fuel economy...

The highest elected official in the United States dished out an extra helping of irony yesterday when, in speaking at a joint news conference with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Mexican President Felipe Calderon, President Barack Obama slammed the Supreme Court as an “unelected group of people” who will have turned to “judicial activism or a lack of judicial restraint” if they strike down Obamacare. The President’s remarks imply that the Court, were it to rule the individual mandate unconstitutional, would be acting recklessly in undertaking judicial review of Congress’ unprecedented use of the Commerce Clause to force Americans...

Former U.S. diplomat John Bolton alleged Thursday that the Obama administration leaked a story about covert Israeli activity in order to foil potential plans by the country to attack Iran's nuclear program. Bolton, who served as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations in the George W. Bush administration, was responding to an article in Foreign Policy magazine that quoted government sources claiming Israel had been granted access to airfields in Azerbaijan -- along Iran's northern border.

President Obama just gave the world a glimpse into his future foreign policy plans this week, should he win a second term. On tap for Obama II: more faith in our adversaries, more betrayal of our traditional allies and more unilateral indulgence in nuclear abolition fantasies. Monday, President Obama told Russian President Medvedev that “This is my last election. After my election, I have more flexibility.” Medvedev responded that he would dutifully report that tidbit to Vladimir Putin back in the Kremlin. The men apparently did not realize their discussion was being caught by a live microphone. Given that the...

It remains to be seen how the media will cover the explosive revelation from ABC's Jake Tapper that Barack Obama asked Russian president Dmitri Medvedev to get Vladimir Putin to give him some "space" on missile defense so that he could be more "flexible" with the Russians in a second term. So far, the tepid coverage from National Journal and the Washington Post suggests that the media doesn't consider a request to another nation to pipe down so an American President can win a second term and deliver more favorable policy to a potential antagonist more than a "gaffe". They...

Britain has decided to cooperate with the United States in a bilateral agreement to release strategic oil stocks, two British sources said, in an effort to prevent high fuel prices derailing economic growth in an election year. A formal request from the United States to the UK to join forces in a release of oil from government-controlled reserves is expected "shortly" following a meeting on Wednesday in Washington between President Barack Obama and Prime Minister David Cameron, who discussed the issue, one source said. Britain would respond positively, the two sources said.

Security: A deputy defense secretary tells Congress that the administration is indeed considering giving Moscow sensitive Aegis ballistic missile defense data. We've gone from "trust but verify" to "appease and surrender." Brad Roberts testified before a House Armed Services subcommittee Tuesday that the Obama administration was actively considering giving Moscow classified missile defense data to allay Russian concerns about the capabilities and intent of our proposed ballistic missile defense system based in Europe to guard against missiles launched from Iran. Roberts testified that the administration believes "cooperation could be well-served by some limited sharing of classified information of a certain...

WASHINGTON – The Obama administration is starting to shut down a program that deputized local police officers to act as immigration agents. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials have trained local officers around the country to act as their agencies' immigration officers. Working either in jails or in the field, the officers can check the immigration status of suspects and place immigration holds on them.

The United States of America is becoming more like Nazi Germany every single day. In fact, the Nazification of America is almost complete. The parallels between Nazi Germany and the United States of today are going to absolutely shock many of you. Most Americans simply have never learned what life was really like back in Nazi Germany. Under Adolf Hitler, Germany was a Big Brother totalitarian police state that ruthlessly repressed freedom and individual liberty. Under Adolf Hitler, Germany adopted socialism, dramatically increased government spending and raised taxes to astronomical levels. Under Adolf Hitler, abortion became legal in Germany, the...

Ever since taking office, President Barack Obama has tried desperately to convince gun owners and sportsmen that he supports the Second Amendment. But actions speak louder than words, and Obama’s latest budget proposal contains numerous sneak attacks aimed at the heart of our firearm freedoms. For example, NRA members and gun owners fought hard for a law to ban government agencies like the Centers for Disease Control from using our tax dollars to produce blatant anti-gun propaganda. Obama wants to kill it in his budget. We fought hard for a law to ban the Obama administration from spending our tax...

El Presidente had issued is edict and it is out of the closet. "Let me be clear, I will do whatever I want, when I want, by passing Congress, the Courts, The Supreme Court, for the good of the American People, whether they want it or not. Sometimes, I must make the tough decisions for you. These decisions may be hard to swallow, like overspending, laying off military personnel, and crony capitalisim. Let me be clear. Parents know better than their children. Therefore I as your President, will do anything to hold onto power till the course I have laid...

The Obama administration is weighing options for sharp new cuts to the U.S. nuclear force, including a reduction of up to 80 percent in the number of deployed weapons, The Associated Press has learned.

COMMENTARY | President Barack Obama has suffered the second embarrassment over oil imports within the space of a week. Brazil, whose offshore deposits of oil were sought by the Obama administration, has signed contracts with China for the product. According to the Washington Times, Brazilian offshore crude may number about 38 billion barrels. Obama went to Brazil last month to put in a bid for the oil, offering loans and other support to develop the oil in an "environmentally responsible matter," The Hill reported at the time. Republicans criticized that initiative, pointing out Obama has placed roadblocks in the way...

It appears that Barack Obama has again ignored the rule of law by signing a defense appropriations bill that prohibits him sharing vital United States leading-edge strategic US missile technology with Russia, yet he has told both houses of Congress that he plans to share the US missile technology anyway. Why is this important? Because it goes light-years beyond partisan politics and into an area where our national defense will be put at unreasonable risk. It is believed that the Russians will pass this technology onto China, Iran and North Korea. I find it bitterly ironic that this president pushes...

As proof that we need a strong and powerful President to reverse the damage done to America by Obama, we are developing a list of issues and actions of the Obama administration to demonstrate the dangerous direction our country is in, e.g. rapidly accelerating debt, deteriorating jobs market, shredding of our Constitutional protections from a rogue government, etc. We need to replace the Marxist in the White House that is hell-bent on bringing America to its knees economically, militarily, socially and with respect to its global standing and reverse everything he has done to us.

Election season is here, and you might think President Obama would be going out of his way to show voters that he can be trusted with the powers of the presidency. But you would be wrong. Just a few days before Christmas, Obama served notice to all Americans that he will continue to abuse executive privilege by seeking new ways to vilify gun owners and further his anti-gun agenda. Congress placed a provision in the $1 trillion omnibus spending bill for 2012 designed to bar the National Institutes of Health (NIH) from using any of its $30.7 billion taxpayer funds...

Defense: The administration announces a leaner version of our military involving the cutting of tens of thousands of ground troops as a leading defense contractor closes a major plant due to budget cuts. In an unusual appearance at the Pentagon on Thursday, President Obama laid out his plans for a "leaner" military based on the need "to renew our economic strength here at home, which is the foundation of our strength in the world." In other words, failed domestic policies require us to cut our military in a dangerous world. Obama insisted that even after the currently budgeted $460 billion...

National Security: Portrayed as just a shuffling of priorities, the president's defense cuts reduce our two-war strategy to maybe one war and cross your fingers. Champagne corks are popping from Beijing to Tehran. Imagine a scenario in the not-too-distant future when an Iranian Shahab missile mated with an unexpectedly ready nuclear warhead is test-fired and detonates somewhere over the Indian Ocean. The next day Iran closes the Strait of Hormuz as China announces a blockade of Taiwan. The administration's defense cuts, or shifts in priorities as President Obama would have us believe, leaves us woefully unprepared for the unexpected in...

Obama recently signed a mysterious new law that proclaims all American soil is a "battleground," thereby allowing the president to indefinitely detain any American citizen without charges. Critics fear Obama will use his fun new unconstitutional powers to make his political enemies disappear, but that may not be necessary. The way things are going, most patriotic Americans will soon be six feet under, felled by apoplectic strokes brought on by reading the latest outrage committed by our "Commander in Chief." He may not have a limit to what he'll inflict; but our collective blood pressure may have a limit to...

Frustrated by his inability to get portions of his agenda passed by Congress, President Barack Obama has forged ahead making appointments and enacting programs without the Constitutionally required consent of the legislature. The appointment of Richard Cordray to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau attracted the most attention. The appointment of Richard Griffin, Sharon Block and Terence Flynn to be on the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) garnered less attention, but appears equally unconstitutional. The President also initiated a summer youths jobs program that Congress previously rejected. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky) criticized the appointments and single-handed enactment of...

President Obama signaled Congress this week that he is planning on providing Moscow with US missile defense secrets. The Washington Times reported: President Obama signaled Congress this week that he is prepared to share U.S. missile defense secrets with Russia. In the president’s signing statement issued Saturday in passing into law the fiscal 2012 defense authorization bill, Mr. Obama said restrictions aimed at protecting top-secret technical data on U.S. Standard Missile-3 velocity burnout parameters might impinge on his constitutional foreign policy authority. As first disclosed in this space several weeks ago, U.S. officials are planning to provide Moscow with the...

The last time the US did this, we at least had the illusion of a “peace dividend� and unrivaled supremacy as the world’s only superpower. Now we’re fighting a tough war in Afghanistan, and China’s expanding its military might, if not its belligerence yet. According to Reuters, Barack Obama will unveil plans to downsize ground troops by “tens of thousands� while investing more in air and naval power: The Obama administration will unveil a “more realistic� vision for the military on Thursday, with plans to cut tens of thousands of ground troops and invest more in air and sea power...

Regime Grabs Power to Detain US Citizens January 03, 2012 BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Yeah, and I can't believe that nobody's talking about that, either: The thing Obama signed on New Year's Eve, the new Defense Authorization Act.I don't know if people don't know what's in this or if other things take precedence. Well, it is being reported because I saw it. I saw it reported. Obama signed this thing, the new Defense Authorization Act on New Year's Eve. Folks, you know what this thing does? It allows the United States military to detain anybody for no reason! They don't...

President Obama released a signing statement with the omnibus spending bill that was passed late last week. In that bill, a provision stated that taxpayer money cannot be used to promote or advocate gun control. President Obama released a statement concerning those provisions.

Obama administration officials are deliberately keeping gun owners in the dark about the president’s gun-control agenda as we head into next year’s national election, because administration officials know that when NRA members and gun owners show up at the polls en masse, anti-gun candidates lose. The Obama campaign’s strategy goes like this: Neutralize gun owners and NRA members as a political force in the upcoming national election by pretending to be pro-gun or at least not focused on pushing a gun-control agenda; With gun owners neutralized, Obama will be able to win the election. After the president is re-elected, he...

And Obama again proves that only gullible, stupid people vote for him. [VIDEO AT SITE] Posted on the pomposity that is the site of the "Office of the President Elect" it says this: Protect Whistleblowers: Often the best source of information about waste, fraud, and abuse in government is an existing government employee committed to public integrity and willing to speak out. Such acts of courage and patriotism, which can sometimes save lives and often save taxpayer dollars, should be encouraged rather than stifled. We need to empower federal employees as watchdogs of wrongdoing and partners in performance. Barack...

Energy Secretary Steven Chu said Thursday he doesn't think taxpayers will recover much of their $528 million loan to bankrupt solar firm Solyndra, calling the situation "extremely unfortunate" while continuing to defend his actions to prop up the company before its failure. Chu testified Thursday for the first time before the House committee investigating the Solyndra loan. He insisted that the decision in late 2009 to approve the loan guarantee was his own and "absolutely was made only on the merits." He said it was not influenced by political considerations. But he acknowledged that chances are dim for taxpayers to...

I’m shaking my head. Never did I ever think we’d see the day when our own government, our own president, would be in collusion with our enemies. I can almost tolerate ignorance and naivety, a la Jimmy Carter. But not when leaders we trust are working on behalf of the other side. » If you like this article, please subscribe to our daily newsletter rsn_betrayal_175The president has overseen a new executive order, via the Justice Department, to prohibit the mention of “Islam” in the training federal law enforcement training manuals. That’s right folks. Law enforcement training can no longer refer...

Tyranny gets a backbench cheerleader: Illinois Democratic Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. told The Daily Caller on Wednesday that congressional opposition to the American Jobs Act is akin to the Confederate “states in rebellion.”Jackson called for full government employment of the 15 million unemployed and said that Obama should “declare a national emergency” and take “extra-constitutional” action “administratively” — without the approval of Congress — to tackle unemployment.“I hope the president continues to exercise extraordinary constitutional means, based on the history of Congresses that have been in rebellion in the past,” Jackson said. “He’s looking administratively for ways to advance the...

New Czars Exercise Unprecedented Control over Government Policies and Programs While Operating Under a “Veil of Secrecy” Judicial Watch, the public interest organization that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, today released “ President Obama’s Czarspdf,” a special report on the President’s appointing of “policy advisors,” many of whom enjoy positions of power and authority in the administration and yet have not been subjected to vetting and confirmation by the U.S. Senate. Judicial Watch’s extensive investigation exhaustively documents these czar appointments and details the control these czars exercise over government operations. From the report’s introduction: “This Judicial Watch Special Report analyzes...

The Obama administration is escalating its crackdown on tough immigration laws, with lawyers reviewing four new state statutes to determine whether the federal government will take the extraordinary step of challenging the measures in court.

A new congressional report spells out in detail how the military would become "hollow" if Congress´ supercommittee fails to agree on deficit reductions, triggering $1.2 trillion in automatic spending cuts. The Army and Marine Corps would lose 200,000 troops, bringing active strength "well below" pre-Sept. 11, 2001, levels, and the armed forces would not be able to carry out its essential mission, says a 14-page analysis by the Republican majority staff of the House Armed Services Committee. The report also says the cuts would deplete weapon systems, further degrading the fighting capabilities of the armed forces. Defense Secretary Leon E....

Fla. Rep. Allen West was asked if President Obama is just inept or if he is intentionally harming the economy. West says he’s definitely doing this on purpose. (Video at the Fox News link.)

What’s happened up until now, and what internal leaks say about what’s coming. Hint: jobs may now be at stake. (This is the twelfth of a series of articles about the Justice Department's hiring practices since President Obama took office. Read partsone,two,three,four,five,six,seven,eight,nine,ten, and eleven.) 113 and Oh. Following the Justice Department’s long-delayed compliance with a Freedom of Information Act request, PJMedia recently published content from the resumes of each career attorney hired to the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division under Attorney General Eric Holder. The articles were written by two former Civil Rights Division attorneys — J. Christian Adams and...

Obama Administration to Ban Asthma Inhalers Over Environmental Concerns 3:00 PM, Sep 23, 2011 • By MARK HEMINGWAY Single Page Print Larger Text Smaller Text Alerts Remember how Obama recently waived new ozone regulations at the EPA because they were too costly? Well, it seems that the Obama administration is would rather make people with Asthma cough up money than let them make a surely inconsequential contribution to depleting the ozone layer: Asthma patients who rely on over-the-counter inhalers will need to switch to prescription-only alternatives as part of the federal government's latest attempt to protect the Earth's atmosphere. The...

By: AJ for NoisyRoom Contributor: Toddy Littman Section 376 of Obama’s tax and spend “jobs” bill ends state sovereignty, turns our Republic into a dictatorship and destroys the foundation upon which our country was built. The fundamental transformation of America is almost complete.Read the bill. (Emphasis added) “SEC. 376. FEDERAL AND STATE IMMUNITY.(a) Abrogation of State Immunity- A State shall not be immune under the 11th Amendment to the Constitution from a suit brought in a Federal court of competent jurisdiction for a violation of this Act. (b) Waiver of State Immunity-(1) IN GENERAL-(A) WAIVER- A State’s receipt or use...

WASHINGTON – The Obama administration on Wednesday stepped up criticism of calls by some members of Congress to withhold or slash U.S. funding of the United Nations, saying such moves were "backward" and would seriously undermine America's role as a world leader. Republican-led efforts in Congress could force the U.S. to withhold half of its annual contribution to the world body. A senior State Department official said the administration's engagement with the United Nations and promise to pay its dues had bolstered once-languishing U.S. influence at the world body that should not be squandered. "We oppose the backwards calls we...

The Obama administration’s fear of offending Muslims will hurt the U.S. war against terrorism, Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) said Thursday in a speech blasting the president’s new counterterrorism strategy. Lieberman said that Obama’s strategy, which was released in June, “was ultimately a big disappointment,” and while it successfully identified the core of the domestic radicalization problem, it did not establish a clear plan of attack to deal with the growing issue. The four-term senator and one-time presidential candidate said one of the key problems with the Obama administration’s strategy was that it continues to call terrorism that aims to harm...

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), said he was "being gamed" by the Obama administration in his investigation into the controversial “Fast and Furious” gun-tracking operation. "We have information that we have been given by third parties that then was redacted when the administration gave us their version of it. When you put them side-by-side we know we're being gamed and we think the time for games should be up," Issa said on Fox News Tuesday. Along with Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Issa, the chairman of the House Committee on Government and Oversight Reform, has doggedly pursued the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco,...

Complete title: JW Uncovers Documents from DHS Detailing Obama Plan to Impose DREAM Act by Suspending Illegal Alien DeportationsRecords Show Obama Administration Began to Implement Provisions of the DREAM Act Rejected by Congress; DHS Official: “And we wonder why ppl [people] FOIA us.” Washington, DC -- September 1, 2011 Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, announced today that it has obtained documents from the Obama Department of Homeland Security (DHS) detailing behind-the-scenes efforts by the Obama administration to bypass Congress and grant amnesty at least one million illegal aliens by suspending immigration deportation proceedings...

JAY CARNEY, WH Press Secretary: "They don't give a lick about the day and time: ED HENRY, FOX News: "Why doesn't he give a speech from the oval office tonight saying here's my plan?" CARNEY: "He wants to speak before Congress because he recognizes that while there are things he can do without Congress, and he will do them, there are actions that need to be taken with Congress that require legislation to grow the economy and create jobs. And he wants to go to Congress, speak directly to members of Congress, and layout his proposals."

This morning, I double-checked to be sure the word “illegal” was still a word in the dictionary. As of this morning, it still means “criminal, felonious, illegitimate, illicit, lawless, unlawful, and wrongful.” However, it is quite obvious, that the longer Progressive Democrats have carte’ blanche to do what they want, the closer the word “illegal” gets to becoming extinct. It is difficult to determine who it is this administration is particularly interested in protecting. Law-abiding, hardworking folks who mind their business and turn their attention to providing for their families, seem to fall by the wayside, while the administration focuses...

Prepare for the rhetoric to heat up in the debate over border security, the Constitution and the use of executive power to selectively prosecute individuals who the administration deems undesirable. If you’re a coal company or a community bank, you’re screwed. If you’re a community organizer here illegally from Kenya or Juarez? Hurra! for you.  “Reacting to intense pressure from the Latino community and aware that President Obama will need their votes in 2012,” writes Albor Ruiz in the NY Daily News, “the White House announced with great fanfare last Thursday a plan to stop the deportation of some undocumented...

The new policy, however, is broader than Pear’s account indicates. Lynn Sweet’s more detailed Chicago Sun-Times post includes quotes and primary materials that make it clear the policy applies to all illegals whose presence cannot be determined to raise a threat to public safety. The new policy is something like amnesty by executive decree. Those Republican congressmen who have objected to the new policy on this ground are on to something. Only last month, addressing The Race, Obama disclaimed the authority to reform immigration policy on his own: THE PRESIDENT: Now, I swore an oath to uphold the laws on...

Barack Obama Cannot Get Congress To Pass Amnesty For Illegal Immigrants So Now He Is Just Going To Ram It Down Our Throats Any Way That He CanAugust 19, 2011 If you are an illegal immigrant and you have not been arrested for committing a crime, the odds that you will ever be deported have now gone way, way down. With the Republicans in control of the House of Representatives, Barack Obama knows that he simply is not going to be able to get amnesty for illegal immigrants passed by Congress. But instead of giving up, Obama has decided to...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 18, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) responded sharply to today's White House announcement that it will essentially halt enforcement against illegal aliens who have not been convicted of criminal offenses. Today's move by the Obama administration amounts to an administrative amnesty and a sweeping overhaul of the nation's immigration policy without approval by Congress, charged FAIR. The announcement was posted on the White House website. Under the guise of setting priorities for immigration enforcement, White House Director of Intergovernmental Affairs Cecilia Munoz lays out entire classes of illegal aliens who will no longer...

They want to cut military pensions. The Obama Administration’s panel of smart guys has decided military retirement has to go. Welfare can stay, free pills for Grama can stay, bogus SSI checks for life can stay, Food Stamps for soda and steak can stay, cushy federal civilian benefits stay, congressional compensation packages remain the same, but pensions for guys on their fourth tour, well, we can’t afford them. You now what this means? It means the military is a small and Republican-leaning voting bloc that the Democrats don’t care about alienating. It means that veterans have no political pull –...

The requirement, which the administration intended to back using data from their own "Fast and Furious" gun smuggling, now faces multiple suits. Firearms retailers, a leading industry trade organization, and Americans’ most powerful gun lobby are making good on a threat to challenge the Obama administration’s attempt to assert gun control measures by executive fiat. The legal challenge is being supported by the Second Amendment Task Force, a bipartisan group of congressional legislators that asserts the ATF lacks the authority “to track the purchases of law-abiding Americans.”J&G Sales in Prescott, AZ, and Foothills Firearms in Yuma, AZ, intend to challenge...