Obama's latest edict on Cuban refugees

Having seen Obama's past actions, one must assume he is being spiteful and vindictive toward Republicans. As far as Cuban refugees are concerned, when in the past eight years has Obama stood with the persecuted against tyrants? Iran? Cuba? Venezuela? Islamic rulers? Russians? TD

Obama's timing on Cubans raises some questions

. . . "What happens now?  My guess is that some human rights group will challenge the decision because no one knows what will happen to the Cubans returned, as Senator Marco Rubio indicated.

"Also, did President Obama get any concessions from Raúl Castro that these Cubans won't be treated like traitors when they go back?  In the past, returning Cubans have been targeted by the regime.    

"My hope is that President Trump reverses Obama's decision and calls on Cuba to make some concessions, such as a guarantee that these Cubans will not be targeted.  It could be part of a new deal with Cuba based on helping the Cuban people rather than making a deal for the sake of making a deal".

NY Times: Ordinary Cubans Fret About End to US Immigration Policy  But Havana loves this and got it with nothing demanded in return by Obama.
"The Cuban government hailed President Barack Obama´s decision ending automatic legal residency for any Cuban who touches U.S. soil, while ordinary citizens mourned the end of an easy pathway to a new life in the United States. Average Cubans and opponents of the island´s communist leaders said they expected pressure for reform to increase with the elimination of a mechanism that siphoned off the island´s most dissatisfied citizens and turned them into sources of remittances supporting relatives who remained on the island. The repeal of the "wet foot, dry foot" policy went into effect immediately after a Thursday afternoon announcement."

Obama Caves to Castro—AGAIN!  . . . "First off, this U.S. immigration policy wasn’t invented for Cubans. Our status upon reaching U.S. shores actually had little to do with so­called "political pandering to the powerful Cuban­exile lobby," and everything to do with something called the Refugee Relief Act signed into law by President Eisenhower in August 1953 to assist Iron Curtain refugees. 

"Came Castro's Stalinist regime in 1959 and Cuba’s became a regime more oppressive than East Germany’s or Hungary’s and the Florida straits became a barrier far deadlier than the Iron Curtain. In fact, over twenty times as many Cubans died trying to breach it than Germans attempting to breach the Berlin Wall.

"Essentially the Cuban Adjustment Act of 1966 simply codified the 1953 Refugee Relief Act for victims of tropical Stalinism." . . .

 Hey, POPE?! How ’bout THIS wall?! –TWENTY-TIMES as many Cubans have died trying to escape Communist Cuba as East Germans died trying to escape East Germany

American Silliness; Jan 14, 2017

Using absurdity to illustrate absurdity: Can Chelsea Manning be pardoned for crimes committed while 'she' was a man?
"Chelsea Manning, who as Bradley Manning was convicted of espionage and aiding the enemy, is requesting that President Obama pardon "her" for "her" crimes and release "her" from jail.  But liberals would agree that Chelsea committed these crimes as a man and maintains that he is a woman now.  So, by their logic, how can Manning be pardoned for acts committed when he was a completely different gender, basically a completely different person?
. . .  

. . . "Not everything has been great for Mr. Manning, of course; he has tried to kill himself several times and was alarmed when his guards were briefly replaced with Arab secret agents.  He has also been denied permission to cut off his penis, which upsets him greatly, and is understandable – what woman wants to have a penis hanging around?

Questions for discussion:

1) Could Obama issue two pardons for Manning, one for each gender?" . . .

Ted Cruz Smacks Democrats For Hypocrisy… Defends Jeff Sessions… Laughs At Code Pink  . . . "During the confirmation hearing on Tuesday for Jeff Sessions, the circus came to town. It was choreographed by Medea Benjamin of Code Pink infamy. They had people there dressed as the KKK and others wearing pink tiaras. They screamed for Black Lives Matter. And Ted Cruz did exactly what he should have done as they were being escorted from the chambers… he laughed at them.". . . Sen. Cruz is more than willing to confront them

No, this ain't basketball: White Women's March Madness
. . . "Molly wants to rescue nearby male passengers, fighting for their lives in the frigid sea. Her lifeboat is less than 200 feet from the men screaming for help. The crew refuse, stating that the suction of the sinking ship will drag them under; rather than rowing towards the men, they must get away as quickly as possible. Undeterred, Molly persists:

I don’t understand a one of you. What’s the matter with you? It’s your men back there! We got plenty a’ room for more.

In response, Molly is told that if she says another word, there will be one less occupant in the boat. None of the other passengers come to Molly’s defense. And so they leave; their sons, brothers, husbands and fathers knowingly betrayed and abandoned to await their cruel death."

. . . "Older white men are judged generically and unfairly, embodying Clinton’s basket of deplorable traits: racist, homophobic, Islamophobic, and misogynistic. Why aren’t white women saying no? No! My dad and grandfathers and uncles do not possess these awful traits." . . .

Inauguration Workers Cover Up 'Don's Johns' on Portable Toilets on Capitol Hill  . . . "The name of the Virginia-based portable toilet rental company is apparently too close to that of the president-elect for inauguration organizers." . . .

Has Obama already won?

"Repeal through reconciliation will allow the elimination of the many Obamacare taxes and rules stifling employment.  Providing the coverage for the subsidized insured persons is more problematic.  Presently there are seven similar competing Republican replacement plans.  It is time to coalesce behind one proposal that can muster the necessary Senate votes."

Howard J. Warner  "Donald Trump has promised to repeal and replace Obamacare.  The Senate and House have begun the effort to defund the legislation via the budgetary and reconciliation process, where only 51 Senate votes are required.  However, lost in all this minutia is the fact that Obama has succeeded in altering the discussion on health care.  This change to federalism has legitimatized a role for the national government in health care for all citizens.  This has further weakened the Tenth Amendment.  This is his legacy.

"The narrative is no longer whether the federal government should be involved in health care for all people, but to what extent.  Since over 12 million people now receive health insurance via the federal Obamacare portal, there is reluctance in Washington to eliminate a federal role for providing health care insurance." .  .  .

YouTube has removed Legal Insurrection’s Channel . UPDATE: Now restored

UPDATE, 1/14/2017: Youtube restores Legal Insurrection  Don't mess with a site that has the word "Legal" in its name.

. . . "There was no cause to shut down the channel without warning and without giving any specific reason.  This is a clear case of harassment and intimidation by an organization known for its anti-Israel bias.  They are a prominent member of the BDS movement and unabashedly support the Palestinian cause.

"Mr. Jacobson is a vocal supporter of Israel and a vigorous opponent of the BDS movement.  It is not beyond imagining that MLA brought the copyright claims to silence an effective political opponent.

"Jacobson says the legal battles are not over.  But given the speciousness of MLA's claims, from here on out, their efforts are more of a nuisance than a threat."

Legal Insurrection

"Modern Language Association files complaint after we report on audio statements of anti-Israel activists at MLA Annual Meeting"

 

"UPDATE 1-13-2017 9:50 a.m. — I just received notice from YouTube that the copyright claims were filed by the Modern Language Association based on excerpts of audio of pro- and anti-Israel speakers at the MLA Annual Meeting we reported on in this post, Massive DEFEAT for BDS at Modern Language Association."

Hillary’s E-mails and the Justice Department

Andrew C. McCarthy

"The DOJ Inspector General’s review will focus on the FBI, not DOJ."

. . .  "There will similarly be no inquiry into why the Justice Department allowed subjects of the investigation (who had been granted immunity from prosecution) to appear as lawyers for the main subject of the investigation – despite ethical and statutory prohibitions on such conduct. Nor, evidently, will the IG be probing why the attorney general furtively met with the spouse of the main subject of the investigation – the spouse who just happens to be the president who launched the attorney general to national prominence by appointing her as a district U.S. attorney in the Nineties – on an airport tarmac just days before Mrs. Clinton submitted to a perfunctory FBI interview, after which came Comey’s announcement that charges would not be filed." . . .

CNN Doesn’t Like Being Treated The Way Obama Treated FOX News for 8 Years

Politistick  . . . "The irony of it all is that CNN and other news organizations have talked exhaustively about the problem with “fake news” and many on the Left have used allegations of fake news as a reason for Hillary Clinton’s loss. They still can’t accept that she was simply a terribly flawed candidate whose corruption, lies, and inability to truly connect with the people were just too much to overcome. In addition, her insult of Republicans as a bigger enemy to her than ISIS and Trump supporters as “a basket of deplorables” did not weigh favorably with independent voters and even some Democrats.

"Acosta tried his best to get Trump to take a question saying that he owed it to them to ask a follow-up question, but it didn’t work. Trump told him he was being rude and went with a different reporter’s question.

"Following that presser, Acosta appeared on CNN with Wolf Blitzer and Jake Tapper to talk about the exchange and, of course, made the network, and spreader of fake news, out to be the victim.

"You’ve got to see this." . . .

Jennifer Burke is a Co-Founder of PolitiStick and the Editor-in-Chief. She is a graduate of Texas A&M University and a certified teacher with 12 years experience in the classroom. Jennifer attended what is credited for being the first modern-day Tea Party rally in the country in the Seattle area and from there emerged as a powerful speaker and writer within the movement. . . She brings to Politistick a passion for the fight for freedom for current and future generations.

Hat tip to Jody Hines from Rebels at Heart

Cavuto: CNN Now Knows How Fox News Has Felt for the Past Eight Years

Remember when CNN and others rallied to support Fox against Obama?  . . . "The decision by the network bureau chiefs to stand with Fox News is one of the first instances of the mainstream media defending Fox News against the White House’s claims.

“ 'I’m really cheered by the other members saying “No, if Fox can’t be part of it, we won’t be part of it,’” . . .

What happened to the honeymoon?

Charles Krauthammer

"The shortest honeymoon on record is officially over. Normally, newly elected presidents enjoy a wave of goodwill that allows them to fly high at least through their first 100 days. Donald Trump has not yet been sworn in and the honeymoon has already come and gone.

"Presidents-elect usually lie low during the interregnum. Trump never lies low. He seized the actual presidency from Barack Obama within weeks of his election — cutting ostentatious deals with U.S. manufacturers to keep jobs at home, challenging 40-year-old China policy, getting into a very public fight with the intelligence agencies. By now he has taken over the presidential stage. It is true that we have only one president at a time, and for over a month it’s been Donald Trump." . . .

Trump vs. the media

Judy Gruen: Hollywood: Keep your mouth shut!  . . . "Culturally speaking, political conservatives have few places to go without leftist politics being thrust in.  It's natural and legitimate for art and politics to converge.  But there is also a place for apolitical entertainment, or at least entertainment that doesn't bash conservatives.  That is darned harder to find today – not only in movies or TV shows, but also in books." . . .

Artists, actors, writers, and other artistic creators are free to inject politics in their work and in their public pronouncements, but I wonder if they ever ask themselves if it's worth alienating such a large swath of their audience.  I wonder how many of them ask themselves: is it worth it?

 Killing CNN  . . . "Your time is over, CNN.  Let your liberal cohorts in other parts of the propaganda machine take note.  When you strike at Trump with lies, he will avenge the insult with that most terrifying of all weapons: truth." . . . 

Preparing DC for President Trump: Obama Kicks Cuban Refugees In The Teeth But Gives Money To Sanctuary Cities

RedState  . . . "What does the President care? He’s leaving in a week. It will be somebody else’s mess to clean up.

"Of course, President Obama is happy to employ the policy of sending Cubans back to the dictatorship-led country they risked their lives to escape but provides funds for sanctuary cities who refuse to help federal authorities deport illegal immigrants, including those with a criminal background." . . .

Another speed bump laid by Obama: Obama Issues More Last-Minute National Monument Designations  . . . "Republicans say Trump can either shrink Obama’s monument designations or undo them entirely.

“ 'Anything that you create by executive fiat can be changed by executive fiat,” said Utah Republican Rep. Rob Bishop, Politico reported. “That should be one of the things they do.' ” . . .

Will Barack Obama be the sorest loser of them all?  "Eight days before he leaves office, President Barack Obama is not planning to go any farther than a short distance from the White House after Donald Trump is sworn in to replace him next Friday, while his Mount Rainier-sized ego still basks in the glow of audience reaction to his “farewell speech” Tuesday evening.

"Obama spent 54 minutes essentially talking about himself to an audience in Chicago, his adopted hometown where it appears he has no intention of settling. Other presidents, according to the Wall Street Journal, have gone home and literally gotten out of town, but not Obama." . . .

The unbridgeable divide

"As a conservative living in the Socialist Republic of California, I no longer have representation.  We in California are at the mercy of the left, whose ideology and agenda we do not share.  The stark contrast between us now engulfs the rest of the country in a war for the heart and soul of America. " . . . 

comicallyincorrect

Shari Goodman  "For all practical purposes, there is no longer one America.  Instead, there are now two radically different Americas.  The Democrats led by the left represent both American coasts and urban cities, while the Republicans and their conservative base represent the rest of the country, sandwiched in between the leftist elites.

"In days gone by, our country was represented by two major political parties that had the same end, values, and vision but differed in methodology.  Today, conservatives no longer share the same mission as the left.  Their missions are polar opposites, and the divide is unbridgeable.

"While conservatives seek a return to constitutional principles of less government, a free market, and sovereignty, the left seeks open borders, wealth redistribution, and statism.

"For the last eight years, the left has made considerable inroads with the election of Barack Obama.  Under his administration, businesses are overregulated and heavily taxed.  Health care was socialized, and our borders are wide open.  Sanctuary cities sprang up throughout the land, and the resettlement of migrants from hostile third-world war-torn countries were and continue to be given a welcome mat.  No longer is there any distinction between a citizen and an illegal for many in the media, our universities, and our local institutions.  Schools and law enforcement are told to look the other way when confronted with those who have entered our country illegally." . . .

Shari Goodman is an educator, activist, and political commentator.  Her commentaries have appeared in World Net Daily, American Thinker, Canada Free Press, Family Security Matters, and Israel Today, among others.  She is a red dot residing in the blue state of California.

Splitting From Trump, Defense Pick Mattis Slams Russia, Supports Iran Deal

Foreign Policy

"Like other cabinet nominees, retired Marine Gen. James Mattis differs from his soon-to-be boss on some of the biggest issues that will face the Pentagon."

 

"Retired Marine Gen. James Mattis, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to become the next secretary of defense, staked out sharply divergent views from those of his potential boss on Thursday, strongly backing NATO, lambasting Russia, and accepting the Iran nuclear deal. "He also showed little appetite for rolling back a slate of Defense Department social reforms hated by the Republican Party. 

"Most pointedly, Mattis offered lawmakers in Congress a full-throated endorsement of the NATO alliance, countering months of campaign-trail rhetoric from Trump, who suggested the United States gains little from the alliance and carries too much of the burden. 

“ 'If we did not have NATO today, we would need to create it. It is vital to the United States,” Mattis told a Senate panel, adding that Russian President Vladimir Putin — long an object of Trump’s praise and his hopeful dance partner on the global stage — is “trying to break the North Atlantic alliance.” . . .

Mattis does support living up to our word on the Iran deal, I would hardly call his so-called "support" for it an endorsement:

Although Trump has long said he would renegotiate or pull out of the Iran deal completely, Mattis said it’s important for the United States to live up to its agreement. “When America gives [its] word, we have to live up to it and work with our allies,” he told the panel, admitting that the current deal isn’t one he would have signed off on. 

Mattis is much less naive than Obama on this and was once fired by that president because the General was such a war hawk regarding Iran:

Obama Fires Top General Without Even a Phone Call

President Barack Obama fired General James Mattis, the head of Central Command, without even calling the general to let him know he was being replaced.

On replacing the ACA: Obamacare

I fear this is going too quickly; The Republicans must be sure to get this right. My doctor strongly dislikes Obamacare, but has settled into it now. Any further upheaval has to be a genuine improvement. TD







NRO: The GOP Must Be Practical When Replacing the ACA

The GOP must have a bipartisan plan for a market-based system ready before they repeal Obamacare.

. . . "To succeed in this effort, however, House and Senate Republicans, as well as the incoming Trump administration, must dispense with wishful thinking. There is no plan for replacing the Affordable Care Act (ACA) that is without political controversy. Whatever they do will involve trade-offs, and in some cases they will be attacked by their political opponents for doing what is necessary but perhaps unpopular.

"Further, there is no silver bullet for reforming health care that will solve all the existing problems. Health-care policy is complicated and does not lend itself to simple solutions. What’s needed most of all is the discipline of a well-functioning marketplace. Getting there will require many changes, in public insurance, employer plans, Health Savings Accounts (HSAs), and the individual insurance market. While Medicare changes can be addressed separately from other reforms, it will not be possible to replace the main provisions of the ACA in incremental, piecemeal bills, as has been suggested by some in Congress." . . .  Emphasis mine, TD 

James C. Capretta is a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center and a visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.  He is a long-time analyst of health care and economic issues for National Review.

Mr. Capretta fears the option of repeal without replacing  . . . "Regardless of Trump’s inclinations, however, it would be a terrible idea — for substantive and political reasons — for Republicans in Congress to pursue repeal without replace(sp) in 2017." . . .

GOP-Led Senate Takes First Step Toward Repealing Obamacare…

Via NBC News:

The U.S. Senate took the first major step toward repealing the Affordable Care Act after a marathon voting session that started Wednesday evening and extended into early Thursday.

The vote does not repeal President Obama’s signature achievement, but it does set the stage for Republicans to clear the first procedural hurdle for repeal of the massive health care law. The bill will now go to the House of Representatives for a vote expected to take place on Friday.

“The Senate just took an important step toward repealing and replacing Obamacare by passing the resolution that provides the legislative tools necessary to actually repeal this failed law while we move ahead with smarter health care policies,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said in a statement.

Keep reading…