Yes, Barack,You Did Have Scandals, Part 2

Usually I reserve the early days of the month to review the latest political class insanity. Insane quotes, stupid actions, unlawful activities, the nonsense of the political class is usually grouped together early each month.

But let’s get an early start on June’s political class insanity. Barack Obama has been very quiet over the past few months, almost suspiciously quiet. My theory is that he is laying low given that there is a decent chance that he weaponized the nation’s Federal intelligence agencies and resources to spy on the Trump campaign. If he knew or allowed such despicable behavior to happen it would be an incredible affront to freedom and I suspect his lawyers are telling him to lay low and shut up.

But given the ego and narcissism of Obama, he cannot keep entirely quiet and humble. He dared to speak out recently when he proudly said that his administration had no scandals. We have already killed this fantasy in a series of posts beginning with the following post back in 2016:

https://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2018/05/yes-barack-you-did-have-scandals-part-1.html

But let’s reminisce using a recent list of Obama’s “Lies, Scandals, and Quotes” that was recently printed by the Gateway Pundit website. Despite Obama’s delusion that he had no scandals, the Gateway Pundit came up with an amazing 108 things to dispute his view. Let’s review this insanity with Part 2 of additional comments that were not included in the original list from the Gateway Pundit (note: the first 31 points reviewed can be accessed at the following link: https://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2018/05/yes-barack-you-did-have-scandals-part-1.html):

32. Still on vacation in Hawaii on the first day Obamacare is supposed to begin. Comment: Biggest piece of Washington legislation passed in decades, which unfortunately became the biggest failed piece of legislation in decades, and he cannot even be present at its onset to support it.

31. "ObamaCare will lower costs for everyone." Comment: No, Obama Care raised costs for just about everybody.

32. "More Americans will be insured under Obamacare" Comment: This was a true statement but those who got Obama Care insurance policies paid a lot of money for them with very high premiums and high deductibles, faced very narrow networks as far as doctors and hospitals and as a result ended with policies that were often useless or unusable.

33. "Islam is the religion of peace and tolerance….Muslims are our friends" (then he bows to the muslim leaders). Comment: Then why, according to a 2016 study, were the 450 of the 452 major terrorist attacks in 2015 attributed to Islamic terrorism?

34. “That’s the good thing about being President, I can do whatever I want,” Comment: Which you proved dozens of times when you broke the law, violated the Constitution, and shredded the Bill of Rights.

35. "My father served in WW2.: Comment: So did mine.

36. 2011 Arab spring FAIL. Comment: Do not know what this means.

37. America's 2010 Summer of recovery FAIL. Comment: I assume this refers to the most anemic economic recovery this country has seen in about hundred years, an anemic economic recovery that was not limited to the single year of 2010.

38. Hiring a known Palestinian terrorist to work on Obamacare in Illinois. Didn't bother to check her on e-verify. Comment: no aware of this incident.

39. “I promise 100% transparency in my administration.” Comment: Then why did you hound and harass journalists, redact government documents, and make it often impossible for citizens to easily and cheaply use their Freedom of Information Act rights?

40. "Buying health care insurance will be like using Amazon." Comments: Turns out this could not have been further from the truth, buying health care on the Obama Health Care exchange was harder than doing a root canal on yourself.

41. “I will end Income Tax for seniors making less than $50K a year.” Comment: Not aware this ever happened.

42. "I will bring ALL of our troops home within ONE year."Nope, took a lot longer.

43. “I’ll put the Health Care negotiations on CSPAN so everyone can see who is at the table!” Comment: Never happened, Obama Care negotiations were done behind closed doors with industry lobbyists, never to see the light of day.

44. “I’ll have no lobbyists in my administration." Comment: Ah, yeah, you did.

45. DOJ spying on the free press telephone calls. Comment: Spying was not restricted to the press, it involved just about every American.

46. Blocking veterans from seeing their own WWII memorials during shutdown. Comment: And yet the military golf course Obama played regularly somehow stayed open during the shutdown.

47. Allowing illegals to protest on mall during the same govt shutdown. Comment: Not aware of this incident.

48. Shutting down White House (people's house) tours. Comment: See golf course comment above.

49. Solyndra bankruptcy cost to taxpayers. Comment: Hundreds of millions of dollars lost, an amount that was higher than legally required once the Obama administration put political donors ahead of the American taxpayer during the bankruptcy proceedings.

50. "Obamacare will not be used to fund abortions." Comment: Ah, I believe it was used to fund abortions.

51. Eric Holder -- tooooo much to list with this liar-incompetent. Comment: After lying to Congress and running any number of illegal operations, e.g. Fast and Furious, Obama protected him from any legal and penal ramifications.

52. Millions losing health care coverage. Comment: Despite Obama promising over and over that if you like your current health insurance coverage you could keep it, millions lost their coverage.

53. RECORD welfare rolls. Comment: Again, one of the most if not the most anemic economic recovery ever.

54. RECORD Hollywood parties on the taxpayer's dime. Comment: not aware of this situation.

55. RECORD campaign tours on the taxpayer's dime. Comments: Record number of campaign tours, record number of vacations, and the most Presidential rounds of golf since Eisenhower.

56. RECORD exorbitant vacations on the taxpayer's dime. Comment: At least $100 million in taxpayer expense spent on Obama family vacations.

57. RECORD number of golf games of any president, on taxpayer's dime. Comment: I believe the count was over 300 rounds of golf during his eight years despite his promise that he would forgo any and all vacations and leisure time if elected President.

58. RECORD secret service agents compared to ANY other president, on the taxpayer's dime. Comment: not aware of this situation.

59. Unconstitutional Obama recess appointment. Comment: Which I believe the courts struck down as being illegal.

60. Taking all credit for SEAL Team 6 success. Comment: Of course he did because he is so wonderful.

61. Forcing businesses to violate their abortion religious beliefs with Obamacare. Comment: another Obama attempt to shred the First Amendment which generally failed to work because of court rulings.

62. Obamacare website no-bid contract website-cronyism that cost $634M to build (and the website NEVER worked). Comment: I believe an old college friend of Michelle Obama was given the contract without competitive bidding and which failed miserably and expensively.

63. Supporting the Muslim Brotherhood terrorists with arms and money in Syria, on the taxpayer's dime. Comment: Too many tentacles and unknowns to comment but there was certainly something going which likely got four Americans killed at Benghazi.

64. NSA acting as Obama Gestapo, spying in ALL AMERICAN telephone calls. Comment: Shredding the Fourth Amendment.

65. Proposed amnesty for illegal law breakers. More law breaking by his administration.

66. Spying on Americans, on American soil, with drones. Comment: not aware of this situation but not surprised.

67. NEVER having a balanced budget. Comment: Not ever coming within miles of a balanced budget - first administration to have an annual budget deficit of over a trillion dollars, first administration to have four consecutive budget deficits over a trillion dollars and an administration that created a budget deficit almost equal to ALL previous Presidential administration budget deficits COMBINED.

68. CONSTANTLY contracting economy under Obama. Comment: He did not have constantly contracting economic growth during his administration but the economic growth that did occur was the most anemic in generations.

That i will do it for today, another 37 situations that are either unlawful, disgusting, outright lies or scandalous, bringing our two day discussion to 68. Sorry, Barack, it is not looking good for that “no scandals” statement, we still have another 40 items to review.

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Some Random Observations and Questions Regarding The Political Class

The following news items have been sitting on my desk for a while. They do not fall into a particular category but they did raise my interest regarding the behavior and misbehavior of the American (and foreign) political class:

• How come we never see any caskets of America's war dead any more? Several years ago the Democrats and the mainstream press were indignant that the Bush administration would not allow pictures of American's fallen heroes when the returned from battle fields in caskets? A Washington Examiner article by Byron York recalled that "scores of critics insisted that the Pentagon's ban on such photos was part of a Bush administration plot "to hide the terrible costs of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan." While Obama lifted the ban after he was elected, we never see any pictures even though it was such a big deal when Bush was in office. Given the widening of the Afghan war by Obama, it seems just as important as ever to see those pictures. Could it be that the Obama administration and the Bush administration are not that different in their desire to not have those pictures impinge on their war plans?
• Before the 2008 Presidential conventions, it was reported in the news and highlighted in "Love My Country, Loathe My Government", that many, many major banks contributed millions of dollars to the convention budgets of both major parties. Shortly thereafter, these same banks were given billions of dollars in taxpayer funds to bailout their banks and the poor decisions the heads of those banks made in the subprime mortgage market. We were told at that time, that the TARP payments, i.e. taxpayer bailouts of the private banks, were critical to keep those banks afloat in order to avoid a total meltdown of the financial system. These banks were "too big to fail." I was always suspicious of this arrangement, seemed too cozy. You (the banks) give us (the political class) millions of dollars and we (the political class) will give you (the banks)billions of dollars (in fact, we will give you hundreds of billions of dollars.) Funny thing happened after the TARP giveaway. The banks were not happy with the terms that Washington imposed after the payouts, most notably compensation limits. All of a sudden, the banks were able to raise capital from any number of different sources, e.g. selling additional shares, and within months were able to pay back their TARP funds. The big question is: why couldn't they have raised those same funds back earlier in the year, just several months ago, and not have taken taxpayer bailout money? Looks like they were not too big to fail, they were too lazy or scared to take the necessary and painful steps of getting their financial house in order. They expected their political friends to bail them out as a result of previous campaign and political contributions. Step 6 in "Love My Country, Loathe My Government" would eliminate these types of exchanges by preventing banks and all other groups from contributing to political parties.
• In the November 16, 2009 issues of Business Week, an article by Arlene Weintraub reviewed the current status of drug companies advertising their products on television. We have all seen the ads which are required to list out of the disclaimers and possible side effects of the drugs being advertised. According to Ms. Weintraub, the advertising may actually be counterproductive, not increasing sales by advertising but decreasing sales by scaring people about the side effects. If this is the case, good marketing analyses by the drug companies would would prove the ineffectiveness of TV advertising and they would move to other forms of advertising. Nevertheless, Senator Al Franken of Minnesota has introduced a bill proposing that drug companies no longer be allowed to deduct marketing expenses from their taxes. Not auto companies, not oil companies, not fast food companies, just drug companies. He called their advertising "excessive marketing schemes." Who is to say if a company's marketing plans are "excessive" except for the board of director and shareholders of a company? Would Mr. Franken's efforts and the resources of his staff be better spent on such minor issues as Iraq, Afghanistan, soaring deficits, high unemployment, failing public schools, drug addiction, energy costs, and a pile of other issues more important than drug company advertising that does not even work? As with most politicians, Mr. Franken does not know how to solve the big issues and needs to prove his worth on these trivial issues (see other trivial issues in previous posts including the regulation of TV commercial sound volume, legislation to force a college football playoff system, etc.)
• Going overseas, it seems political classes are the same all over. In the November 20, 2009 issue of The Week (www.theweek.com) magazine, there was a summation of an article from Micheal Glackin who was writing in the Daily Star. His complaint and reporting was about Tony Blair and how he is using his position as "special Mideast envoy" to enrich himself tremendously. While not helping the impoverished Palestinians or promoting discussion of peace with the Israelis, his travels to the area have made him a millionaire through his company, Tony Blair associates. According to Mr. Glackin, Mr. Blair has made himself over $20 million since leaving office by representing JP Morgan and doing such deals as helping British retailer Tesco get established in the Middle East. Much like the use of earmarks, seems that politicians here and abroad are always able to use political cover to advance their needs.
• According to a short blurb in the February edition of Reason magazine (www.reason.com), Ronald Bailey writes about a new study published in Science magazine that finds that the use of biofuels could emit more global warming gases than burning gasoline. Makes you wonder while the government subsides the growth of biofuels, which may endanger the environment, while at the same time wanting an agreement on global warming
• And finally, I am continually struck by the hypocrisy of the Obama administration when it comes to the legal aspects of the war on terror. In the past few days, he has rattled his sword in light of the December Detroit airliner bombing attempt by saying that we are at war with terrorists. Okay, his words, we are at war with terrorists. Then why is he going to bring a handful of the terrorists in custody to New York City for a civilian trial? Shouldn't they be treated as prisoners of war and given military trials? And why only these few, why not all of the current prisoners we have at Guantanamo? According to an article in The Week magazine on November 27, 2009, some of the current prisoners will indeed by tried by military tribunals and some will have no trial at all. Both Obama and Attorney General Holder have already pronounced that the defendants will be found guilty, thus, voiding any administration claim of justice if you know the verdict already. Seems all very confusing and an administration that just keeps on fumbling. But again, they are part of the current political class, fumbling seems to be the status quo.

Just a few random thoughts and observations about the political class, wherever they may be and whatever money and time they may be wasting.


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