Tag Archives: Congress
Shifting the Focus of National Defense
Congress cannot just be “spectators” to national security; they must actively support it as the first duty of the Federal government. “Let me be clear,” said Mattis, “As hard as the last 16 years of war have been, no enemy … Continue reading
Trump’s First State of the Union Address
In marked contrast to his predecessor who loved the sound of “I,” Trump said “We” – a lot. Maybe that’s the reason Trump’s approval rating climbed to its highest level since taking the oath of office a year ago. By … Continue reading
The Emerging Arab Vote in Congressional Districts
The exploding Middle Eastern-North African (MENA) Census Bureau racial population category (if implemented by the Trump administration and Congress) should mean an increase by 2022 of more than the two Muslim Democrats now serving in the U.S. House of Representatives. … Continue reading
Pitfalls to Abbott’s Call for Convention of States
Republican politicians have made repeated promises to restrain federal power through appointing justices who ‘will not legislate from the bench,’ or by passing laws to restrict federal power or rein in the president, but such efforts always fall flat. Rather than further more empty promises or place false hope in a long, arduous process like convention of States that has little chance of achieving the exact amendments desired, conservatives can and must seek an alternative that can work. Considering the public’s outpouring of discontent with Congress and the many challengers to sitting incumbents, the opportunity to pass legislation restraining the courts is ripe for the picking. Continue reading
Congress quietly moves NAFTA superhighway corridors forward in FAST Act
Such NAFTA international trade has all but destroyed the American manufacturing base, it threatens U.S. jobs and has contributed to stagnant wages since its inception in 1992. So the funding and expansion of the NAFTA trade corridors coupled with the porous southern border create another source of angst for American voters as they weigh the current presidential contenders. Continue reading
Is Obama’s Census Bureau Balkanizing America?
The Israeli category is more controversial with some in the Israeli-American community. In Jewish population studies, most American Jews say they are Jewish by religion. Race and ethnicity have a complicated, terrible history for Jews, and American Jewish organizations were among those opposed to census questions about religion in the past reflecting their concerns related to the Nuremberg laws. Germany’s Nazi government used information from its own census to track down Jews. Continue reading
Barack Obama’s Tyranny by Executive Decree
Obama’s actions have gone beyond the simple breaking of campaign promises, though he has done that as well in the same stroke. By picking and choosing the laws he wishes to enforce, he has abrogated the duties he solemnly pledged to honor upon taking the oath of office as well as those responsibilities outlined in Article II of the Constitution, which governs the powers of the executive.
Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Would Impose Global Internet Censorship
The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is being touted as a free trade agreement that will benefit the Pacific Rim countries, Canada, Mexico and the U.S. It is being called “one of the most significant international trade agreements since the creation of the World Trade Organization.” It standardizes 12 countries’ laws, rules and regulations in order to streamline trade. But the American public hardly knows anything about TPP. Secret meetings are being held by un-elected government trade representatives to discuss it. In place of Congress, corporate representatives are making decisions on everything related to trade. Corporate interests are essentially replacing American laws.
Media Bias and Conservative Setbacks in the Federal Shutdown
Following a fortnight of partial federal government shutdown, as Washington returned to business as usual, media and political analysts took the news space and air time formerly ceded to reporting the situation to assessing winners and losers in the national confrontation. Few had little good to say about Republican leaders in Congress, and just as few judged their efforts successful. Rush Limbaugh and other conservative media opinion leaders, in particular, roundly condemned the agreement to reopen federal agencies and institutions without concessions from President Barack Obama and Democrats in Congress.
Trade Promotion Authority is Not the Free Trade Utopia it Seems
Thirty-five of the 36 House Republican freshmen in Congress have said they would like to provide President Obama with “Trade Promotion Authority” (TPA), which would allow him to “fast-track” the negotiation of reciprocal trade agreements, instead of wrangling through the specifics with Congress. Ostensibly, it would make free trade agreements easier to implement.
Killing the Death Penalty
The death penalty is itself experiencing a slow death. This demise is the product of the same alliance of criminal-defense lawyers and activist judges who have done so much in recent decades to undermine public safety. In few arenas is the success of their joint handiwork clearer that in their effort to slow down executions with endless appeals, to the point that capital punishment is becoming all but meaningless.
