image courtesy swordattheready.com
Flopping Aces has extensively documented the pain Barack Obama has chosen to inflict on this country because his highness is displeased that his servants in the GOP refuse to kneel.
It seems that Obama still has the pedal to the metal screaming down Agony Avenue in the Hurt Limo.
Priests in the military apparently have been banned from serving mass. I they do try to perform a mass, they will be subject to arrest.
Warnings have been issued about the potential abuse of personal information by Obamacare navigators.
Private information you post while signing up for Obamacare may be used against you in a court of law.
Obama has converted the Park Police into his own Gestapo:
Vaillancourt was one of thousands of people who found themselves in a national park as the federal government shutdown went into effect on Oct. 1. For many hours her tour group, which included senior citizen visitors from Japan, Australia, Canada and the United States, were locked in a Yellowstone National Park hotel under armed guard. The tourists were treated harshly by armed park employees, she said, so much so that some of the foreign tourists with limited English skills thought they were under arrest. When finally allowed to leave, the bus was not allowed to halt at all along the 2.5-hour trip out of the park, not even to stop at private bathrooms that were open along the route. “We’ve become a country of fear, guns and control,” said Vaillancourt, who grew up in Lawrence. “It was like they brought out the armed forces. Nobody was saying, ‘we’re sorry,’ it was all like — ” as she clenched her fist and banged it against her forearm.
Obama is spending far more money keeping people out of Parks than he ever would leaving them as they were.
Obama has put an end to therapy dogs visiting sick children:
Volunteers run the dog therapy program, but the veterinarians are on NIH staff and are paid as federal employees. In an Oct. 3 interview on National Public Radio’s Morning Edition, Abbey Whetzel talked about her son, Sam, who is dying of leukemia and enjoyed it when he was visited by the dogs. “They can only come once a week, but it’s the highlight of Sam’s week,” Whetzel said, adding that she was informed that the dogs would not be visiting because of the government shutdown. “He was disappointed,” Whetzel said. “He really looks forward to the dogs coming.
Cancer treatments have been defunded but NPR got a half a billion dollars:
LOS ANGELES – Funding for clinical cancer trials and other life-saving research under the National Institutes of Health was cut off in response to the government slimdown, but it looks like the cookie monster will still be knee-deep in chocolate chips (or is it carrots now?)
According to the Daily Treasury Statement and first reported by CNS News, the administration dished out $445 million to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) on the first day of the slimdown, which means funds for the likes of PBS Newshour, NPR and “Sesame Street” are being spent before cancer research.
“It’s more than irresponsible, it is reprehensible. It’s an ‘in-your-face’ move by the administration, blatantly picking winners and losers in this shutdown,” C. Edmund Wright, a columnist for Breitbart.com and American Thinker, told FOX411. “Public broadcasting is a staple of liberal propaganda.”
And as Media Research Center’s Director of Media Analysis, Tim Graham, pointed out, PBS has hosted two “very friendly” interviews with President Obama in recent weeks.
The CPB argued that it was indispensable, as opposed to cancer treatment:
But the CPB defended their big payday, telling FOX411 in a statement that their funding was “indispensable”and provide jobs for thousands of people.
It was noted that PBS has held two obsequious interviews with Obama over the last two weeks.
These are all Obama choices. They are meant to exert the maximal amount of pain on Americans- the Americans Obama took an oath to protect. This is not just bad judgment- it is evil.
When does the left stop swallowing the Koolaid?
Obamacare was premised on a set of lies- that you could keep your plan, keep your doctor and it was going to cost you less in premiums.
None of that is true.
It was supposed to reduce health care spending.
Obamacare was passed via legislative chicanery and legerdemain. We had to pass to find out what’s in it.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KoE1R-xH5To[/youtube]
Obama unilaterally rewrites existing law from the Oval Office as he pleases, in violation of the Constitution:
Explaining his decision to unilaterally rewrite the Affordable Care Act, he said: “I didn’t simply choose to” ignore the statutory requirement for beginning in 2014 the employer mandate to provide employees with healthcare. No, “this was in consultation with businesses.”
He continued: “In a normal political environment, it would have been easier for me to simply call up the speaker and say, you know what, this is a tweak that doesn’t go to the essence of the law . . . it looks like there may be some better ways to do this, let’s make a technical change to the law. That would be the normal thing that I would prefer to do. But we’re not in a normal atmosphere around here when it comes to Obamacare. We did have the executive authority to do so, and we did so.”
Serving as props in the scripted charade of White House news conferences, journalists did not ask the pertinent question: “Where does the Constitution confer upon presidents the ‘executive authority’ to ignore the separation of powers by revising laws?” The question could have elicited an Obama rarity: Brevity. Because there is no such authority.
This is a bad law, as most that are hyper-partisan and rammed down the throat of America under dubious circumstances.
Please don’t argue that it’s wrong to try to change or defund established law. Dred Scott and Jim Crow laws were laws of the land. They were also bad law. I support any effort to modify or repeal this law, even to the point of default, and if for no other reason than to forever stain the Presidency of this vile, narcissistic and obstreperous man. The GOP is doing exactly the right thing, and one day this will be self-evident. Obamacare is nothing short of a disaster that is unfolding before our eyes.
Isn’t the job of the President to ensure the safety and welfare of America, as opposed to causing it the greatest amount of pain possible? Isn’t that a violation of the Oath of Office? Does it not violate the responsibility of the position?
So the question for you liberals is, when is enough enough?
UDPATE
The walls may be closing in. Obama is down to 37% approval. I don’t really care that people blame the GOP for the shutdown. These are the same stupid people who believed the lies in the first place and they aren’t going to re-elect Republicans in their own districts.
And in a very odd twist, Obama has summoned conservative journalists to the White House.
Likely to torture them on an off-shore black prison, er, I mean ship.
DrJohn has been a health care professional for more than 40 years. In addition to clinical practice he has done extensive research and has published widely with over 70 original articles and abstracts in the peer-reviewed literature. DrJohn is well known in his field and has lectured on every continent except for Antarctica. He has been married to the same wonderful lady for over 45 years and has three kids- two sons, both of whom are attorneys and one daughter who is in the field of education.
DrJohn was brought up with the concept that one can do well if one is prepared to work hard but nothing in life is guaranteed.
Except for liberals being foolish.
Dr. John, the photos comparing the American military veterans being turned away from a barricaded memorial that was dedicated to them with the rally where illegal aliens, people who are not even supposed to be in our country, tells you all you need to know about this Orwellian President.
You see, the Marxists have won. We are finally a nation of people too stupid, too undereducated, to be able to see disaster in human form as it is with Barack Hussein Obama, Jr. Did you ever dream that just 8 years and two months after 19 Muslims slaughtered almost 3,000 Americans we would have a president with a Muslim name? Did you ever think that after how the left screamed about the national debt and demanded that it was all George Bush’s fault, we would see an almost $7 trillion increase in that debt? Did you ever think that the percentage of Americans in our work force would be lower now than it has been in decades or that so many people would be subsiding on government largess? I bet you thought that religious freedom, one of the first things guaranteed us by our Constitution, would never be thwarted by any American president. You were wrong.
Gramsci has won. He designed the perfect way to turn a nation Socialist. Alinsky knew that design, and preached it to a willing listener in Barack Hussein Obama, Jr. And a dumbed down nation, thanks to our public school systems with union teachers, has provided the fodder for the success of Gramsci’s plan. Everyday we look more like North Korea than North America.
But a clash is coming that few see. As the NEH and the ALA push Islam into our elementary and secondary schools, all in the name of “inclusion,” there will be a clash between the Socialists and the Islamists. It is already happening in part of Europe. “The enemy of my enemy is my friend” lasts only until the enemy of your enemy takes out your enemy and then they become your enemy once again.
Perilous times, my friend, and times I am not sure this republic can survive.
Whenever bad optics are created by Obama’s petty vindictiveness he simply deflects and/or stops the action.
So, Obama pulled down the Amber Alert web site, then put it back up.
Obama blamed Reid for all the impasse in Congress over himself.
Obama tried to send in Biden to deal with Congress so he wouldn’t have to; Reid told Biden to get lost.
Obama blows the DOG WHISTLE and his empowered employees in federal positions run to make people hurt.
Those poor folks in Yellowstone.
This whole shutdown week has been a lesson in why government needs a big paring down.
Overstepping their place with their BOSS: the American People, Obama’s army has shown why they need to be culled down to bare minimum.
The astonishing thing is that he gets more than a single-digit approval rating.
Impeach the moron, barrycade hussein obomba , NOW.
The sad fact of the matter is that the leftists have, as mentioned above through Gramscian maneuvers, established the same sort of “breads and circuses” situation that existed prior to the fall of Rome. The great mass of people do not care to expend the energy to educate themselves on the threat of the totalitarian left, because as long as they have food, booze/drugs, entertainment and sexual release, they don’t care about the loss of individual liberty. This mass of folks are all too willing to buy the leftist calumnies against the “rich” – and have no problem allowing envy and jealousy to justify the cultural suicide of a progressive income tax.
The only hope we seem to have at the moment is the rude awakening many LIVs and lazy leftists are experiencing now when faced with the ridiculous increases in health care costs under obamacare….which, incidentally we conservatives were predicting would happen all along.
Leftists are traitors. They do not have the good of the nation as their underlying concern. However I hold special contempt for the RINOs – because we all know leftists are only concerned with amassing their totalitarian power and cannot be trusted. The RINOs keep pretending like they are resisting the leftists, yet are always the first ones to call conservatives names, then bend the knee to their leftist overlords.
It is time to resist the left on every front. It is time to challenge every leftist lie. It is time to shine the light of truth on these progressive cockroaches all the time. Point out their lies about obamacare, about Benghazi, and call them out on the petty tyranny of their selective government shutdown activities. Hell, the threats to arrest civilian contract chaplains serving the military while making bogus First Amendment exceptions for illegal aliens to march in protest is clearly anti-American and treasonous.
The left is utterly despicable and without integrity. They also want to be your slavemasters. Decide what you want for your future, and for your descendents.
Apparently you can make money off of dying people now.
IF you pay their funeral expenses and you get their signature on annuities with death benefits.
Then when they die, they get a ”free” funeral and YOU get millions!
Neat.
Who is doing this?
Terry McAuliffe.
So far, insurers are saying this scheme has cost them between $37 million and $48 million.
I wonder if DOJ will go after Terry?
Nah!
Guess what? Most Americans KNOW this is all the fault of the GOP.
Republican Party’s Rating Plummets To ‘Record Low’
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/09/republican-party-rating_n_4072716.html
Jon Stewart Calls Out Republicans For Not Owning The Shutdown:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/09/jon-stewart-calls-out-republicans_n_4069528.html
Opps…now it’s hitting their pocketbooks after spending tens of millions in support ofthe shut down.
Obamacare fight gets too hot for Kochs: We’re not backing GOP’s shutdown tactics
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/10/09/obamacare-fight-gets-too-hot-for-kochs-were-not-backing-gops-shutdown-tactics/
The Koch Brother had a hand in this…
A Federal Budget Crisis Months in the Planning
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/06/us/a-federal-budget-crisis-months-in-the-planning.html?_r=0
@retire05: I didn’t think it possible that you could top your previous screeds but you surprised me.
You predict a clash between Socialists and Islamists in The United States.
Do you remember Charlie Manson and “Helter Skelter?” You’re prediction reminds me of his and makes just about as much sense,
DrJ, you’re confusing the liberal statists. They have no idea their leader is violating the Constitution — and they tell themselves that even if he were to do so, he must have a good reason — he must know — he’s the leader of the socialize America movement.
I came across an article that shows the extent of the liberal socialist mind confusion, . . . . . “Open Door” for Oil Tar Sands Development: Frank Giustra, Bill Clinton’s Close Colleague, Joins US Oil Sands Board
They just have no idea what to think about their favorite shills — in this case their favorite past President Slick who’s dabbling in those despicable oil, uranium, and other mining projects around the world. Funny that the MSM isn’t right on top of Slick on his ears-deep long-standing in his cesspool of hypocrisy.
@Richard Wheeler:
So you’re a Charlie Manson fan, RW?
@Redteam: Charlie was a sicko with some strange beliefs, including “Helter Skelter.” Socialists vs. Islamists in the U.S is a similarly bizarre scenario.
The Onion would be proud. It’s difficult to believe people with such strong opinions can be this uninformed. Obviously not here in the bubble, but everyone in Washington and elsewhere were well aware the Republicans planned to extort Obama for unilateral concessions with the “destroy the world economy” debt ceiling crisis. Not a secret actually. Ted Cruz kind of peed in Paul Ryan’s pool by jumping the gun (for personal aggrandizement) and forcing an ill-conceived crisis over the CR. The Right seems to have divided into two camps, those who deny this reality (see above) and those who claim there’s nothing underhanded or damaging about the tactic. Jonathan Chait, a real writer who has been unparalleled on the shut down, on Republican’s intransigence and poorly conceived plans gone awry:
And for those conspiracy-minded FA folk (all 95% of you) who doubt the existence of the “Jedi Council” and the fact the Republicans entire strategy was to refuse all budget negotiations in lieu of debt limit extortion,here’s the National Review in August with an eerily prescient article about the coming disaster
http://www.nationalreview.com/node/356602/print
But please don’t let any of these facts deter you from insisting it’s all Hussien Obama’s fault. He is a rather swarthy and untrustworthy looking fellow after all.
@Richard Wheeler:
I suggest you take a good hard look at Europe, Richard. And then ask yourself why there are so many members of the Muslim Brotherhood in high places in our government, especially under the current administration.
I can forgive you for being blind, but not for being stupid.
@retire05: Name the members of The Muslim Brotherhood in high places in our government.
Now the Spite House folks are trying to enlist the low-information voter in their little crusade.
You know, the free-bread-and-circuses folks?
One of my rural neighbors told me that starting next month, her food stamps will be reduced by 20%.
When she called to ask why, she was told that because the Republicans have shut down the government, there’s not enough money.
There is no low to which these liberal scum won’t stoop.
@Richard Wheeler:
You can start with Mohamed Elibiary.
Get a clue, Richard.
@retire05: Any proof Elibiary member of M.B.? “members” Try another
@Richard Wheeler:
Other than Elibiary giving the MB sign on his Twitter page?
or this:
http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/detail/muslim-brotherhood-ties-of-a-dhs-advisor-redux
And anyone who is even mildly informed knew of the MB connections of Huma Abadin, close personal friend of Hillary Clinton and wife of the pervert, Anthony Weiner.
Why try another? You would simply find a reason to discount them.
You really do suffer from analcranial disorder, don’t you, Richard?
@Richard Wheeler: So you’ve spent a lot of time analyzing Charlie?
@Richard Wheeler: you mean other than Obama?
Republican Party Favorability Sinks to Record Low
New Gallup poll results released today show that the GOP’s approval rating has dropped to 28%—the lowest rating either political party has had since 1992, when Gallup began asking the question. As the article points out, that’s a 10 point drop just from last month.
Mr. Boehner should consider the possibility that this may not all be going as planned.
obama is just getting started. Once he feels like he has more powers like a dictator has he will start acting more like one. You haven’t seen anything yet. How long do you think it will be before he suggests he might have to declare martial law?
@Greg: all good, keep it going….
@retire05: Somehow I knew you’d bring in Huma. You’re a joke 05. You got nothing. Why not throw in Obama like your clownish sidekick RT . You two are a real pair and manage to provide continuous humor
Smorg Another humorist–You’ve been worrying about Obama declaring martial law for quite some time now Smorg. Why is that?
One of my friends has been called in to work on the insurance exchange for Obamacare in Colorado. He said that the system is so screwed up, it is not likely to be fixed. It can only be reprogramed and that may take months or even a year or more. If the difficulties in enrolling in Obamacare persist, the costs continue to be so high to be unaffordable, the deductibles so high and available working hours continue to be reduced then government sponsored health care may be dead for decades and those who sponsored it may never be able to maintain the confidence of the voters. The sponsors of Obamacare may be committing political suicide except those like Pelosi who have brain dead supporters who would vote for a dead cat! It may be that if someone can “pull a rabbit out of a hat”, that party may create a dynasty. The biggest fear the liberals should have right now is that if the conservatives are right, liberals who supported Obamacare have provided their opponents a major campaign advantage in 2014 and likely 2016 when the pain is really felt by the voters.
@Richard Wheeler: #24
Let me first say that I don’t read every comment. Sometimes when two people are going on about the same stuff, I don’t even clink on the link in the email. I did read your comment, but it is best to put the different people you are commenting to at the beginning of the comment.
Keep in mind that I think for myself, and don’t just automatically go along with people, even ones I trust completely. I saw martial law coming when obama said he wants a national civilian security force. When I found out about him saying that, I wondered what Hitler’s national civilian security force was called. I found out they were called the Brown Shirts. This is what obama wants to set up for himself.
One democrat representative has now suggested that with marshal law a bill can be passed in just minutes.
http://www.examiner.com/article/sheila-jackson-lee-on-continuing-resolution-we-have-martial-law
I personally can’t believe that she would say such a thing without checking with her superiors in the democratic party. She knows from other people’s experiences that you don’t say anything on your own.
The web sites I looked at all said that she said we are under martial law. She didn’t say that. She just suggested that if martial law was declared, bills could be passed in minutes.
Different times obama has said he is not a dictator. As far as I know, no other president has ever said anything close to that. He has said it different times, as if he is suggesting he would like to be a dictator.
One comment that caught the attention of a well know forensic profiler was when obama said:
Unlike you, I will admit that the profiler COULD be biased against obama, but why does obama keep saying stuff like this? What would your reaction be if Bush had said such things?
When I did a search for web sites about obama wanting martial law, I went to this one:
http://www.westernjournalism.com/n-c-police-lieutenant-warns-of-martial-law-in-early-2013/
I clicked on the video and read this message: “This video is no longer available because the YouTube account associated with this video has been terminated.” The account holder could have cancelled their account, but I’m guessing that YouTube cancelled it. It seems to only happen to sites that are against obama. Google owns YouTube, and Google does all they can to get democrats elected. One way is to shut down or edit conservative content. This in one reason I don’t use Google or YouTube.
You can do a search yourself and pick from the ones who are fearful of obama declaring martial law.
@Richard Wheeler:
Rich,
When you have Park Police ready to shoot tourists for taking pictures things are really screwed up. When does the light go on???
@Smorgasbord: I can google space aliens to attack U.S. or Obama a member of Muslim Brotherhood as well as BHO to declare martial law. That doesn’t mean I gotta BELIEVE what’s there or assume what’s been scrubbed is the truth. C’mon Smorg.
Dr.J. “Park Police ready to shoot tourists.” Sure. I’ll be waiting for you to post pictures of the first casualty among those camera wielding hot dog carrying folks.
@Richard Wheeler:
Tourists were detained under armed guard. Not even Clinton did this.
HOW DOES IT FEEL TO BE TOLD : you have no right to any FEDERAL PARK, OR LAND OR ALL THOSE BARRICADED PLACES, A WOMAN HAS BEEN KILLED FOR BEING THERE ALREADY,
BY THOSE ANSWERING DIRECTLY TO OBAMA,
HE THINK HE OWN ALL AND CAN TAKE IT AWAY FROM YOU EVERYTIME HIS MADNESS RESURFACE,
YOU’R NOT SAFE IN AMERICA,
Obama and his Administration have encouraged all furloughed federal employees to file for Unemployment Insurance.
Looks like they did……
http://www.forbes.com/sites/maggiemcgrath/2013/10/10/weekly-jobless-claims-jump-to-6-month-high/
If things aren’t all that bad so that Obama has to go online to actively look for sob stories, he is willing to make things at least look bad on paper.
Obviously not all Park Rangers are ”liberals.”
The Cliff House ”concession” restaurant sitting on federal land in San Franciso’s Golden Gate National Recreation Area was first told by local Park Rangers to close on Oct 3rd.
See: http://pjmedia.com/tatler/2013/10/09/shutdown-showdown-sfs-cliff-house-defies-obama-admin-reopens-and-is-forced-to-close-again/
They did so.
BUT….The local National Park Service employees who “have fought hard for the Cliff House to be allowed to stay open.”
So….the Cliff House re-opened on Oct 7th.
ONLY AFTER word from Washington DC did the Park Service force the owners to shut down once again.
ONLY AFTER word from Washington DC …..
ONLY AFTER word from Washington DC …..
These DC authorities apparently issued a sterner warning about the consequences of defying their order.
The Cliff House operates 365 days a year and employs 170 staff.
The Cliff House is a successful, independent, privately owned business that does not depend on any tax dollars or federal funding.
Obama is PETTY and VINDICTIVE.
Not all Park Service employees are.
@DrJohn:
This paranoid fantasy is so beyond ridiculous it’s barely worth addressing. Let’s see, in Dr John’s fever dreams, park rangers turn into the Gestapo puppets of Obama. Does anyone here even stop to think that these people have agency in their own lives, that they aren’t dangling from wires? Does anyone even stop to think that Obama ordering park rangers to shoot tourists makes no political sense for Obama whatsoever? Of course not.
It’s sad that, in the face of a disaster of their own making, this what the Right has been reduced to, fulminating over the logical results of Ted Cruz’s government shutdown, as if they thought there would be no repercussions. And it’s all too typical of those who seek to indiscriminately cut the budgets for everything under the sun to then be shocked and angry when things actually change as a result. Do you people not understand the concept of “closed”? Do you go to restaurants at 3AM and bang on the door, upset and confused that all the lights are out and no one is answering the door? The employees of the parks were furloughed. The parks are not staffed. They’re closed.
@Nan G:
Looks like they did… what everyone normally does when they’re furloughed, you mean? Why is this unusual, I hesitate to wonder? Nan, does this have something to do with Muslims?
@Randy: My insurance policy will terminate at the end of the year compliments of Obamacare. So much for the lie that you will still be able to keep your current policy. The cost of my “new” policy? $318 more per month which isn’t as much of an increase in costs that some of my friends are going to experience. Two have altered their retirement plans because of it. So much for the lie that health insurance premiums would go down. People who still claim it isn’t so are either braindead or so blind in their worship of him, that they aren’t worthy of any type of debate on this topic or any other.
@Richard Wheeler:
Aw come on RW, you can do better than that!
@Tom: Nan,tiresome,RT,DrJ and little stinger. They’ll eventually go the way of Michele Bachmann and Joe McCarthy—discredited by their own peers. In the meantime, they spout right wing hyperbole and slander and hurt the very cause they claim to support—True Conservatism.
O5 I know— You think Joe got a bad rap.
@Richard Wheeler: RW, one thing I will agree with you about, and you won’t like the fact I agree, but unless there is some type of MAJOR incident, and I do mean major, there will not be any martial law imposed in the US. There will not be a Brown Shirts forces serving any president either. Yes, I think Obama would like to create some kind of incident that might trigger something, but I don’t think he is smart enough or capable enough to pull it off. The US Congress operates way too slowly to allow laws to be passed that would allow him to seize anything and the US Military would not follow orders implementing martial law, without, as I said, that MAJOR incident. Someone that is directing the presidency might be smart enough to pull it off, but the puppet that is having his strings manipulated, is not capable.
@Tom: 33
Sorry, this one has to be credited solely to King Harry.
@Richard Wheeler:
Joe didn’t get a bad rap, haven’t you ever seen the KGB files that proved that Joe was almost 100% correct? I wish the Liberal Institute of the US would begin to educate their students and devotees.
@Richard Wheeler:
give us an example so that we get it ‘right’ !
Richard Wheeler
And you have what? Instead of offering up a reasonable argument to my statements, you automatically go into typical liberal attack mode slinging insults at me. It is you, Richard, that has nothing; no counterpoint, no alternative argument, nothing.
Why not just admit that you crawl with the rest of the slime and that the only argument you have is to lob pejoratives at others? News flash, Mr. Lib; I have no “sidekicks.” I wouldn’t know Redteam if he walked up to me. And in your arrogance you assume that Redteam and I have never had a difference of opinion. It shows how uninformed you really are.
@retire05: You are the one slandering people and making wild accusations against them.The onus of proof is on you. IMO you’ve shown none.
@DrJohn: #27
There has to be a socket for the bulb to be put in.
How many obama’s does it take for a liberal to switch parties?
@Smorgasbord: Real liberals can not switch parties because they would have to think instead of parroting propaganda.
@Redteam: Examples of right wing hyperbole—quick glance #’s 1,6,13,20,22,27,30. Of course one man’s hyperbole is another man’s truth. There’s the rub.
Has anyone read this?
October 10, 2013
Is Obama’s Shutdown War on Private Business Illegal Racketeering?
By Jonathon Moseley
Has President Barack Obama violated the Racketeer Influence and Corrupt Organizations (“RICO”) Act with his hardball tactics over the government shutdown, to extort taxpayer funds?
“We’ve been told to make life as difficult for people as we can,” an angry National Park Service ranger told Washington Times columnist Wesley Pruden. “It’s disgusting” The park ranger indicated that there is a political motive behind the closure of the open-air memorials.
The Park Service went out of its way to prevent tourists from taking photographs of Mt. Rushmore, far beyond any legitimate closure. The Park Service is actively blockading tourists from simply stopping along the public road to take a photograph from afar.
Government websites cost nothing to leave in place. Yet the government spent extra money to turn websites off.
Mt. Vernon is privately funded and operated, on private land, using no federal funds. Yet the Park Service barricaded a nearby stretch of road where buses turn, to maliciously harass and interfere with the public’s use of the 100% privately funded historic plantation.
Only high-profile, familiar, or popular sites are being shut down. Thousands of lesser-known parks, memorials, and sites remain open. A senior administration official coldly told the Wall Street Journal: “We are winning. … It doesn’t really matter to us” how long the shutdown lasts.
Obama — once editor of the Harvard Law Review and a constitutional law teacher — is committing a huge legal error. In real estate law, a tenant has legal “possession” and control of land under a lease. When private businesses lease federal land, the U.S. government has no authority to interfere with “quiet enjoyment.”
The legal meaning of a lease is that the owner gives up occupancy, possession, and control of land for money. As long as a tenant pays rent and complies with the agreement, a landlord has no legal right to suspend the tenant’s use of property.
For over a week, private inns and businesses along the Blue Ridge Parkway have been barricaded by armed park rangers from the National Park Service, blocking entrances with their police cruisers. The Pisgah Inn filed a lawsuit in Court Tuesday in North Carolina, seeking a preliminary injunction to stop park rangers from harassing the private business.
The National Park Service’s actions are completely illegal. Without going to court and proving that tenants have violated their leases, the government may not suspend or interfere with a tenant’s use of the land they are paying for.
The Pisgah Inn has leased federal land since the 1940s. Manager Bruce O’Connell explains that almost 95 workers are out of work at the busiest time of the year — as the leaves change. In October, his workers normally make much of their money for the rest of the year.
Adding to the farce, the Blue Ridge Parkway itself is open, but many businesses along it have been forcibly closed. Another North Carolina hotel, the Peaks of Otter Lodge, closed. In Philadelphia, NBC 10 reports that the City Tavern restaurant was ordered to close, since it sits inside Independence National Historical Park.
In McLean, Virginia, the non-profit, private Claude Moore Farm Foundation operates a colonial-era farm as a living museum. Since 1980, the Foundation has held a long-term lease from the U.S. government. Yet the Park Service barricaded Claude Moore Farm and shut it down.
In Nevada, Joyce Spencer, 77, and her husband Ralph, 80, were kicked out of their home. The couple has owned the home since the 1970s, under a lease of federal land. They were given 24 hours to get out.
The U.S. government is actually trespassing by interfering with tenants on federal land. The U.S. Supreme Court has found an unconstitutional “taking” in violation of the Fifth Amendment when the government stops a tenant from using leased land (United States v. General Motors Corp, 323 U.S. 373 [1945]). Also, a temporary interruption in the use of real estate can be a taking (First English Evangelical Lutheran Church v. County of Los Angeles, 482 U.S. 304 [1987]). The government is also guilty of tortuous interference with business expectancy and liable to pay for all losses.
Meanwhile, the Obama administration has ordered 1,100 square miles of the ocean closed around Miami’s Biscayne Bay, reports the Miami Herald. The National Park Service ordered all private businesses like charter boats to cease operations in 1,100 square miles of ocean, including Biscayne National Park. This threatens the tourist economy of Florida and hundreds of private businesses, putting pressure on Congress.
The Obama administration’s actions are illegal. The operating licenses involved cannot be suspended on a whim. If you are found guilty of a serious violation, your driver’s license can be revoked or suspended, but not without due process and a finding of fault. No authority exists for the government to stop licensed captains from sailing, even with paying passengers.
Senior Chief Geoff Ross (U.S. Navy, Ret.) is calling for boat captains to break the blockade.
Clearly, this is blackmail. This is a naked shakedown. Individuals within the administration, acting “under the color of law,” are causing unnecessary economic harm, damage, and pain and are intentionally and maliciously harassing and interfering with businesses, tenants, and the general public. The purpose is to obtain taxpayer money from Congress by extortion for Obama’s favored projects and people.
U.S. Supreme Court precedents are clear: a RICO violation includes any type of threats of economic harm in order to gain by coercion money or any financial advantage or benefit. A RICO violation occurs when an “enterprise” operates, through a pattern of two or more predicate acts, to gain any type of benefit, money, or advantage.
A predicate act can be any of hundreds of various illegal acts. (It does not matter if anyone has actually been prosecuted.) However, one example is the Hobbs Act, which prohibits any type of coercion, threats, intimidation, etc. to obtain any money, financial advantage, or other benefit. The Hobbs Act is exceedingly flexible and broad. It does not matter if benefits are received by the wrongdoer or are directed to benefit another person or organization.
Any adversely affected businesses or employees who have lost money can bring their own civil lawsuit to recover triple their losses plus generous attorneys’ fees under RICO. However, only those who have directly lost money have the standing to challenge Obama’s racketeering. Whether brave businesses and attorneys can be found remains to be seen.
At midnight on September 30, the U.S. Government did not shut down. Instead, authority to spend appropriated funds expired at the end of the fiscal year. Congress has not yet passed most of the 13 appropriations bills. Other money exists in dedicated funds, such as the Social Security trust fund, which are unaffected.
But there is no legal authority or basis to “shut down” anything. Yet Obama has interpreted lack of funding for the next fiscal year as a requirement to actively “shut down” all use of any national resources, even if it costs more.
If we do not aggressively challenge this lawlessness and series of abuses, the dream that was America will surely slip into the night. The U.S. House of Representatives is investigating. They should also impeach from office the Director of the National Park Service.
Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/2013/10/is_obamas_shutdown_war_on_private_business_illegal_racketeering.html#ixzz2hLKTUsI2
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@Richard Wheeler: #28
So, are you saying, “There might be something about obama that the propaganda media is saying that MIGHT NOT BE TRUE?” If so, what? You have stood behind him on EVERYTHING so far. Are you actually saying that your super hero might have a flaw?
@Richard Wheeler: There was a retraction today about Terry McAliff.
He was ”merely” an investor who profited off of a con artist who used dying people’s signatures to fraudulently get death benefits for his investors instead of for the dying people’s families as was the intent of the investment arrangement.
Terry will not be gone after by DOJ.
@Richard Wheeler: From 13 From 05 to RW
What? you consider that hyperbole? Sounds like the truth.