Boots & Sabers

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Tag: Barack Obama

Obama Lifts Arms Embargo on Vietnam

by | 0744, 24 May 1616 | , , | 0 Comments

Once again, Obama acts unilaterally.

Yet it’s just bizarre that Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry seem to think that our embargo was more of a problem than the Communism itself. Even if Red China is itching for a war in the South China Sea.

Arms to Vietnam have a certain logic. It’s like Winston Churchill saying, when the Nazis entered Stalin’s Russia, that if Hitler invaded Hell he’d at least make a favorable reference to the Devil in the House of Commons.

In Southeast Asia the theory is that the Communists in China are more of a threat to American interests than the Communists in Vietnam, China’s traditional foe. Yet Obama is denying that the end of the arms embargo is linked to China.

It was, he insisted, based on “our desire to complete what has been a lengthy process of moving towards normalization with Vietnam.” But he has brushed aside all sorts of red flags about the nature of the regime.

Human Rights Watch sent him a letter nearly a month ago, warning of what he was dealing with in Vietnam’s Communist camarilla. It called Vietnam’s government “one of the most repressive in the world.”

Here’s the thing… I support the selling of arms to Vietnam, but not for the reasons Obama states. As the column above mentions, China has been aggressively expanding into the South China Sea. They are creating islands and placing military bases on them in order to exert control over one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world. They have threatened the United States and other nations who venture into their new “territorial waters.” China is clearly a large geopolitical threat that is emerging into a superpower at the expense of America.

Allowing the Vietnamese, who have historically opposed China, access to advanced American weaponry makes sense as a counterweight in the region. Of course, doing so is to accept the likelihood that the Vietnamese government will continue to do what it it does – oppress the Vietnamese people.

So we have this odd situation where Obama, whose philosophy should lead him to defend the right of the oppressed, is making a decision to oppress them more. Why? Because another part of Obama’s philosophy likes Communism and hates American global dominance. Obama is making the decision to lift the arms embargo as a salve to what he views as America’s wrongs. His rationale is offensive and idiotic, but his decision is correct.

Obama’s Salary Regulation Cuts off Upward Mobility

by | 1646, 23 May 1616 | , | 0 Comments

Yep.

Scholz predicted employers will restructure, moving salaried people to hourly wages and then strictly enforcing their hours.

“The other thing is: You (as an employer) will lose your middle management,” Scholz said. As former managers’ responsibilities are spread around, “you have weakened the management of your company.”

And if those things happen, Scholz added, “You have taken away a career path,” for those who would have worked their way through lower-paid salary positions to higher ones.

Obama Sets New Overtime Regulations

by | 1650, 19 May 1616 | , | 1 Comment

Sigh…

Under the new rules finalized today, those who earn a salary of less than $47,476 a year will automatically qualify for overtime pay of time-and-a-half if they work more than 40 hours a week. Previously, those who earned more than $23,660 were exempt from overtime pay. The new rules will affect 4.2 million workers in the U.S. when they go into effect starting Dec. 1.

First, here we go again with Obama enacting a fairly radical change in the national economy via executive action. Is this a good idea? I don’t think so, but we don’t even get to debate it, do we? There was no debate. No hearings. Nobody in Congress had to vote on it. This was just something that Obama and his minions did. And it’s not like they increased the threshold by 5% or 10%. They more than doubled it.

Second, on the merits of the rule change, it once again ignores the real world ramifications. Or does it? It might be that Obama is well aware of the negative consequences but figures that the positive press the he will get outweighs the consequences that other people will suffer. In any case, this introduces a significant cost increase for businesses and they can’t just print money like the federal government. It has to come from somewhere. So, here are just a few things that businesses are likely to do to employees impacted by this rule in response:

  • Increase salary to $47,477 for a few, fire a few, and work the remaining employees harder
  • Switch employees to hourly, drop benefits, and hire more to cover the workload
  • Focus purely on outcomes. Employees will be required to get their work load done in 40 hours even if it used to take them 50. If they can’t hack it, fire them and find someone who can.
  • Strip out things like PTO, training, team meetings, professional development, etc. from the schedule to allow for more direct work.
  • Outsource to either 1099 workers or overseas

But, of course, Obama gets to pat himself on the back for “helping the common man” or some such nonsense.

 

Obama Directs Schools

by | 0651, 13 May 1616 | , | 11 Comments

What?

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is planning to issue a sweeping directive telling every public school district in the country to allow transgender students to use the bathrooms that match their gender identity.

A letter to school districts will go out Friday, adding to a highly charged debate over transgender rights in the middle of the administration’s legal fight with North Carolina over the issue. The declaration — signed by Justice and Education department officials — will describe what schools should do to ensure that none of their students are discriminated against.

It does not have the force of law, but it contains an implicit threat: Schools that do not abide by the Obama administration’s interpretation of the law could face lawsuits or a loss of federal aid.

First, it is simply unAmerican for the president to issue a decree to state public schools.

Second, there must be an election coming up. After all, we have liberals drumming up a divisive social issue that wasn’t an issue for generations… until today. They won the gay culture war, so now they need something new to create division and call their opponents bigots.

Soldier Sues Obama Over IS War

by | 1959, 4 May 1616 | , , | 0 Comments

He has a point.

WASHINGTON (AP) — An Army captain sued President Barack Obama on Wednesday, alleging that he doesn’t have the proper congressional authority to wage war against Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria.

Capt. Nathan Michael Smith filed the suit in U.S. District Court in Washington as the president is deploying more special operations forces to the region — and a day after a Navy SEAL was killed in combat in Iraq, the third since a U.S.-led coalition launched its campaign against the Islamic State in the summer of 2014.

Smith supports the war on military and moral grounds and considers the Islamic State an “army of butchers.” But he wants the court to tell Obama that he needs to ask Congress for a new Authorization for the Use of Military Force.

The White House did not comment on the lawsuit.

To fight IS, Obama has been relying on congressional authorizations given to President George W. Bush for the war on al-Qaida and the invasion of Iraq. Critics say the White House’s use of post-9/11 congressional authorizations is a legal stretch at best.

I suspect that the courts will be very reluctant to intervene in this separation of powers issue.

Obama Administration Denies “No Boots on the Ground”

by | 2218, 25 Apr 1616 | | 0 Comments

Wow. They aren’t even trying to be creative with the lies. They are just flat out lying and expecting all of us to buy it.

Lee: For months and months and months, the mantra from the president and everyone else in the administration has been, “No boots on the ground,” and now —

Kirby: No, that is not true.

Lee: What?

Kirby: It’s just not true, Matt.

Lee: It is. It’s true!

Kirby: No it’s not. I just flatly, absolutely disagree with you.

Obama Lectures Brits on Brexit

by | 0736, 22 Apr 1616 | | 0 Comments

It’s pretty shameless that Obama would link dead American soldiers to the EU, which was created almost 50 years after the last European war in which those American died.

London (AFP) – US President Barack Obama plunged into Britain’s increasingly poisonous EU debate on Friday at the start of a visit, warning strongly against Brexit and pointing out that US soldiers had died for Europe.

Obama’s intervention ahead of the EU referendum in June drew a furious response from eurosceptics like London Mayor Boris Johnson and UK Independence Party leader Nigel Farage, who said he should “butt out”.

Writing in the Daily Telegraph, a traditional bastion of euroscepticism, Obama argued that Britain’s place in the EU magnified its global influence and was a matter of “deep interest” to the United States.

“I realise that there’s been considerable speculation — and some controversy — about the timing of my visit,” Obama wrote.

Stressing that the choice was purely for the British people, he wrote: “I will say, with the candour of a friend, that the outcome of your decision is a matter of deep interest to the United States.

“Tens of thousands of Americans who rest in Europe’s cemeteries are a silent testament to just how intertwined our prosperity and security truly are.

“And the path you choose now will echo in the prospects of today’s generation of Americans.”

President Flies to Riyadh

by | 2035, 20 Apr 1616 | | 0 Comments

Accomplishes nothing.

Yet even as White House officials stressed that the leaders made progress, a prominent member of the Saudi royal family told CNN “a recalibration” of the U.S.-Saudi relationship was needed amid regional upheaval, dropping oil prices and ongoing strains between the two longtime allies.
Obama landed in Riyadh earlier Wednesday for a summit with Gulf leaders and spent two-and-a-half hours meeting with the 80-year-old monarch on issues that have recently strained the alliance, including the conflict in Yemen, the role of Iran, Lebanon’s instability and the fight against ISIS, U.S. officials said.
Statements after the meeting made clear that deep differences remain on several of these points, with the two sides agreeing to disagree and a U.S. official characterizing the encounter as the start of a discussion rather than a venue for solutions.
But the two leaders glossed over some of the thorniest matters, including a Saudi threat to dump U.S. assets if Obama signs into law a bill that could make the kingdom liable for damages stemming from the September 11 terror attacks.

Obama Weighs in on Active Case

by | 1505, 13 Apr 1616 | , | 0 Comments

Again. That’s twice this week that the president has made his opinion known on issues that are currently being handled by his agencies in an “impartial” manner. It is inappropriate for The Boss to weigh in on these things when they are in process. It unduly influences the outcome – especially when the outcome is being determined by people appointed by said Boss.

But I digress. It’s a suit, and they have a right to sue. And the U.S. Soccer Federation, which they are suing, has a right to defend itself before the EEOC, a bipartisan, independent agency that is supposed to be beyond the influence of crass politicians like the president.

The same president who said Tuesday:

Equal pay for equal work should be a fundamental principle of our economy.  It’s the idea that whether you’re a high school teacher, a business executive, or a professional soccer player or tennis player, your work should be equally valued and rewarded, whether you are a man or a woman.

Uh oh. Just threw that soccer stuff in, I guess. Just like, for example.

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest gets that there’s a problem, and so he was trying to spin away the president’s clear suggestion about how the EEOC should rule:

I think the point of the President’s remarks today was just to acknowledge the facts of that specific situation.  What sort of ruling is handed down by the EEOC is something that the commissioners there will have to conclude on their own.  I think the President is just sort of acknowledging the paid disparity that exists in a variety of professions, including when it comes to the best soccer players in the world.

Now that’s some good spinnin’. In reality, Obama’s point of view on the case is clear.

So, you’re on the EEOC. The EEOC, though independent and bipartisan, is appointed by the president. What do you think you should do now?

“Majoritarian Exercise”

by | 1029, 9 Apr 1616 | , | 0 Comments

Yes, we have learned how the Left defines “bipartisanship.”

But even if we look past Obama’s hypocrisy, his prediction of doom rings hollow. When he says that the refusal of conservatives to confirm a liberal judge may reduce the nomination process to being, “just a majoritarian exercise in the Senate of who controls the presidency and who controls the Senate,” we are forced to ask what is so bad about that? Moreover, what is the alternative that he is proposing that will enable us to transcend partisanship?

The alternative to that “majoritarian exercise” that he offers the GOP is simple: surrender. Republicans are told that they must allow a shaky 5-4 conservative majority in which a swing vote cast by an unpredictable Justice Anthony Kennedy determines close cases to become a solid 5-4 liberal majority enabled by Garland’s confirmation. They must do so, Obama says, because it is good for democracy for us to transcend partisanship. But in order for that argument to work, then both sides must do so.

Obama Flashes Peace Sign

by | 2232, 1 Apr 1616 | | 7 Comments

What a clown.

Surrounded by world leaders, President Barack Obama gave the peace sign as they gathered for a ‘team photo’ during a two-day nuclear summit.

All eyes were on Obama as 54 other presidents and prime ministers joined him in Washington, DC, for crunch talks on Iran and terrorist threats involving nuclear weapons.

Protesters Oppressed for Obama Visit to Cuba

by | 1313, 20 Mar 1616 | , | 19 Comments

We wouldn’t want those unseemly people yearning for freedom to spoil Obama’s support of a tyrannical regime.

President Barack Obama is flying to Cuba for a historic visit to the island and talks with its communist leader.

The two-day visit will be the first by a sitting US president since Calvin Coolidge went 88 years ago.

Mr Obama will meet President Raul Castro – but not retired revolutionary leader Fidel Castro – and the pair will discuss trade and political reform.

Protesters were arrested in the capital Havana just hours before Mr Obama was due to arrive.

Police took away dozens of demonstrators from the Ladies in White group, formed by wives of political prisoners, from outside a church where they attempt to hold weekly protests.

Obama Says Deal With Iran is Great for Iranians

by | 1848, 19 Mar 1616 | , , | 0 Comments

Has anyone figured out what the U.S. gets out of this deal?

President Barack Obama says the benefits of the Iranian nuclear deal are “undeniable” although it may still take time for people to begin enjoying them.

Obama says the deal makes it possible for Iran to rejoin the global economy through increased trade and investment, creating jobs and opportunities for Iranians to sell their goods around the world.

Obama says the U.S. still has “profound differences” with Iran, but he says the fact that the countries are talking regularly for the first time in decades could help solve them.

Obama’s Supreme Court Pick

by | 2007, 16 Mar 1616 | , | 17 Comments

Eh… he’s a fairly ordinary leftist jurist – especially on things like the 2nd Amendment – who hangs out with the Senators at DC cocktail parties. Obama is 75% sure that the Republicans in the Senate are going to stick to their guns (as they should) and not confirm him, but in the event that they do, this allows Obama to also pick a new justice for the DC Circuit Court. Remember that the DC Circuit Court is arguably the second most important federal court since it decides on so many cases regarding the federal government.

WASHINGTON — President Obama on Wednesday nominated Merrick B. Garland to be the nation’s 113th Supreme Court justice, choosing a centrist appellate judge who could reshape the court for a generation and become the face of a bitter election-year confirmation struggle.

In selecting Judge Garland, 63, a well-known figure in Washington legal circles who has drawn praise from members of both parties, Mr. Obama dared Republican senators to ignore public pressure and make good on their promise to block consideration of any high court nominee until after the next president is chosen.

Obama Unveils Choice

by | 0852, 16 Mar 1616 | | 0 Comments

For who will win the NCAA men’s basketball tournament.

President Barack Obama’s tournament bracket wasrevealed on ESPN’s “SportsCenter” on Wednesday morning, his final bracket as president. Just once in his presidency has he successfully predicted the men’s national champion: That came back in 2009, his first year in office, when North Carolina won the title.

In years past, the President has gone chalk, mostly picking favorites. But he changed it up a little bit this year, putting Texas A&M, a No. 3 seed in the West region, in the Final Four. Joining the Aggies in Obama’s Final Four is No. 2 seed Michigan State and No. 1 seeds Kansas and North Carolina.

For the championship game, Obama predicts the Jayhawks, the No. 1 overall seed, will defeat the Tar Heels “in a squeaker.”

Obama “Regrets” His Actions in Senate

by | 2100, 17 Feb 1616 | | 1 Comment

He doesn’t regret his actions at all. He regrets that someone might do it to him. But the Republicans don’t have to filibuster. They are in the majority.

As a first-term senator from Illinois, Obama used a procedural maneuver called a filibuster. Alito was confirmed anyway.

   “Some Democrats engaged in a process of throwing sand in the gears of the confirmation process. And that’s an approach that the president regrets,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters.

    Earnest portrayed Obama’s vote to try to block Alito as “symbolic” and sought to contrast it to “Republicans’ reflexive opposition” to Obama nominating a justice to replace Scalia.

McConnell spokesman Don Stewart said the filibuster that Obama joined undercut the White House’s argument.

Obama Knew

by | 1815, 30 Jan 1616 | | 1 Comment

As we all knew, President Obama knew full well that his Secretary of State was using a private email address to do her government business.

WASHINGTON — The State Department on Friday said for the first time that “top secret” material had been sent through Hillary Clinton’s private computer server, and that it would not make public 22 of her emails because they contained highly classified information.

The department announced that 18 emails exchanged between Mrs. Clinton and President Obama would also be withheld, citing the longstanding practice of preserving presidential communications for future release. The department’s spokesman, John Kirby, said that exchanges did not involve classified information.

Obama Waives $10 Million Claim in Iran Deal

by | 0723, 27 Jan 1616 | , | 0 Comments

It is clear that Obama was willing to – and did – give Iran whatever they wanted to get a deal done.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Nader Modanlo was facing five more years in federal prison when he got an extraordinary offer: U.S. President Barack Obama was ready to commute his sentence as part of this month’s historic and then still-secret prisoner swap with Iran. He said no.

To sweeten the deal, the U.S. administration then dropped a claim against the Iran-born aerospace engineer for $10 million that a Maryland jury found he had taken as an illegal payment from Iran, according to interviews with Modanlo, lawyers involved and U.S. officials with knowledge of the matter.

The surrender of the U.S. claim, which has not previously been reported, could add to scrutiny of how the Obama administration clinched a prisoner deal that has drawn criticism from Republican presidential candidates and lawmakers.

A Washington-based spokesman for the Justice Department declined to comment on discussions over the $10 million, which the jury found that Modanlo was paid to help Iran launch its first satellite in 2005. Modanlo says the money was a loan from a Swiss company for a telecoms deal.

So I have to ask… in this deal, Iran got a bunch of prisoners, tens of billions of dollars with the lifting of sanctions, hundreds of millions in cash for their claim from the time of the Shah, a pathway to nuclear arms, the cherry in this story, and more.

What did America get?

Did Obama Pay a Bribe to Iran?

by | 2225, 22 Jan 1616 | , | 0 Comments

Hmmmm…

The much smaller U.S.-Iranian agreement concerned more than $400 million in Iranian money, dating back to before the 1979 Islamic Revolution and the end of diplomatic ties, which the U.S.-backed shah’s government used to buy American military equipment. The Iranians got that money back last weekend and some $1.3 billion in interest.

The administration said the settlement was decided on its merits, with officials arguing that Iran demanded more than $3 billion and, at some points during the talks, much more for an agreement.

Earlier this week, however, one Iranian military commander painted the payment in a different light. Mohammad Reza Naghdi, head of the Basij paramilitary wing of the powerful Revolutionary Guards, said the wiring of the funds was a payoff for letting the Americans go.

U.S. officials insist that’s not true.

“There was no bribe, there was no ransom, there was nothing paid to secure the return of these Americans who were, by the way, not spies,” State Department spokesman Mark Toner responded, referring to the charges that held each of the Americans in Iranian prison for years.

Obama Introduces New Handout

by | 1508, 17 Jan 1616 | , | 0 Comments

Because that’s what he does.

The proposal would offer experienced workers who now make less than $50,000 a form of wage insurance, allowing them to replace half of their lost pay. The benefit would cover up to $10,000 over two years.

[…]

The White House plan would require states to provide insurance for workers laid off from jobs they had held for at least three years. The plan would be federally-funded, but it would be administered through state unemployment insurance programs.

Other measures proposed by the White House on Saturday included a requirement that all states provide at least 26 weeks of unemployment insurance benefits, and the creation of a permanent program that would automatically provide up to 52 additional weeks of federally-funded benefits for states experiencing rapid job-losses or high unemployment.

The answer to unemployment and underemployment is not to subsidize it.

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