Religious liberty activist: Supreme Court decision paves way for legalized polygamy

Carmen Fowler LaBerge practically predicted the Supreme Court's decision legalizing same-sex marriage in all 50 states.

Back in September, the religious liberty activist and leader of the Presbyterian Lay Committee said bluntly that social conservatives were losing the debate over marriage to advocates of government-sanctioned same-sex unions. On Monday, the Washington Examiner reconnected with Fowler LaBerge to get her thoughts on the Supreme Court ruling and what comes next for Americans unhappy with the outcome.

Her message to them: It's going to get a whole lot worse, possibly for years, before it gets better. Fowler LaBerge, married to husband Jim LaBerge since 2011, lives near Nashville.

Read the entire article

Same-Sex Marriage Dissenting Supremes Pushing ‘Treason’

From Jay Michaelson writing at the Daily Beast: 

In controversial cases, is the role of jurist to inflame controversy, or quell it? 

In Loving v. Virginia, the 1967 case which found race-based marriage bands unconstitutional, Chief Justice Earl Warren built a 9-0 consensus—just as he’d done years earlier in Brown vs. Board of Education. He knew that a country divided by race ought to be united, if possible, by a Supreme Court mindful of fundamental values—even if the Court was, as the constitution requires, overturning the will of the majority. 

The four dissents in the landmark case on same-sex marriage, Obergefell v. Hodges, one by each of the conservative justices on today’s Supreme Court, take a very different view. With invective and hyperbole, they pour fuel on the fire of the controversy over same-sex marriage. Rather than merely state their views and disagreements, they use heated language to accuse the five-person majority of imperialism, a “putsch,” and worse. 

Thus, the unprecedented calls of elected officials for open revolt against the Supreme Court—a shocking display of treason—are now accompanied by calls from within the Court itself that Obergefell is illegitimate, and the Supreme Court itself no longer worthy of full respect. 

Why not just tell the Religious Right to buy pitchforks and blowtorches? Chief Justice Roberts’ ironic opinion is immoderate in alleging immoderacy, extreme in alleging extremism. 

Justice Scalia came next. And he begins thus: “I join THE CHIEF JUSTICE’s opinion in full. I write separately to call attention to this Court’s threat to American democracy.”
It seems inevitable that rhetoric 

Read the entire article 

IRS permanently destroyed up to 24,000 Lerner emails after subpoena

Eight months after Congress requested emails from embattled IRS official Lois Lerner, tax agency employees "magnetically erased" hundreds of backup tapes.

"The IRS did not put forth an effort to locate and preserve the backup tapes," said Timothy Camus, deputy inspector general for investigations with the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration. He said 422 backup tapes were destroyed.

The new details about the IRS watchdog's year-long efforts to uncover Lerner's missing emails emerged during a hearing Thursday before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., blasted inspector general officials for leaking speculative numbers of Lerner emails to the press as the investigation unfolded.

"In February, officials from the IG's office briefed our committee and others reporting that they had found 80,000 emails from Ms. Lerner, a fact that was leaked to the press with great fanfare," Cummings said.

"The IG will testify that the total has plummeted to a little more than 1,000 emails that Congress didn't already have," he added. "Well, that's a hell of a drop." Cummings added later that, "time and time again, your numbers were just wrong."

He was joined by Republicans in their anger toward the IRS.

"The truth is not being told," said Rep. Jody Hice, R-Fl. "The directive to not destroy tapes could not have been more clear."

Read the entire article

Customs Agents To James O’Keefe: You’re Being Detained For Investigating The Federal Government

U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents who detained conservative filmmaker James O’Keefe at the airport specifically asked him about the work he’s done investigating the “federal government.”r1

O’Keefe was detained by U.S. customs agents Monday after arriving at the airport in Nassau, Bahamas en route to Miami. Agents told O’Keefe that he was being detained for crossing back and forth across the U.S.-Mexico border while dressed as Osama bin Laden in a video that was published by The Daily Caller. Agents marked his passport with an “X” and explained that he would be detained every time he enters U.S. territory henceforth.

O’Keefe was not allowed to videotape the encounter as he wished. The below transcript, provided to TheDC, was written by O’Keefe as closely as possible to the actual conversation that he had with the customs agents during the standoff at the airport. Here is the dialogue that went down:

Read the entire article

'Fed up' conservatives plot revenge against Boehner

Dozens of members of the House GOP's most conservative faction plan to meet Tuesday to discuss ways to counteract the decision of House Speaker John Boehner and other leaders to seek retribution against members who vote against must-pass measures.

The House Freedom Caucus, a GOP group made up of about 40 of the most conservative members, plans to hold the discussion some time after Tuesday's evening votes, according to lawmakers familiar with the initiative.

Freedom Caucus Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, said Monday in a radio interview that many conservatives were "fed up" with the string of punishment meted out to members who don't vote in line with the Republican leadership on key legislation.

The latest punishment was handed down to Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., for voting against an important procedural resolution to advance "Fast Track" trade legislation the GOP is eager to pass. Meadows last week was stripped of his chairmanship of the House Oversight Government Operations subcommittee.

"So, Mark Meadows, a good man, a good friend, and what they did to him is exactly wrong, and there are a number of us who are fed up with it," Jordan said on the Laura Ingraham show. "And we are looking for ways that we can say, hey, we are going to stay with Mark and be as helpful as we possibly can."

Read the entire article

House expected to pass bill against EPA's power-plant rules

The House this week is expected to approve a bill that would allow states to opt out of emission rules for power plants that are at the center of President Obama's climate change agenda.

The bill, the Ratepayer Protection Act, was passed by the Energy and Commerce Committee in April and will move to the floor Wednesday to be passed ahead of the July 4 holiday recess.

"I'm hopeful for a strong bipartisan vote on the Ratepayer Protection Act to protect hard-working Americans across the country from higher electricity prices and threats to electric reliability," said the author of the bill, Ed Whitfield, R-Ky.

The GOP is strongly opposed to the power plant regulations, seeing it as regulatory overreach by the Environmental Protection Agency that would raise the cost of energy for struggling consumers with very little to show in the way of environmental improvements.

The House bill would allow states to opt out of compliance with the EPA's greenhouse gas rules for existing power plants, if they can demonstrate that compliance with the rules would raise electricity prices or threaten the reliability of the electric grid.

"EPA's unprecedented proposal threatens serious economic harm to the American public and this common-sense legislation will protect ratepayers, reflecting our commitment to jobs growth and affordable energy," Whitfield said.

Read the entire article

Karl Rove: Only Way To Stop The Violence Is To Repeal Second Amendment

Republican strategist Karl Rove said on “Fox News Sunday” the only way to stop gun-related violence, like the Wednesday massacre at Emmanuel African Methodist Church in Charleston S.C., was to repeal American citizens’ Second Amendment rights.

When Chris Wallace asked Rove how we can, “stop the violence,” the long-time gun-rights advocate stated that we have made great strides as a nation in empathizing with the victims of these types of shootings, but the only way to guarantee they will stop is to “remove guns from society.”

WALLACE: How do we stop the violence? 

ROVE: I wish I had an easy answer for that, but I don’t think there’s an easy answer 

We saw an act of evil. Racist, bigoted evil, and to me the amazing thing is that it was met with grief and love. Think about how far we’ve come since 1963. The whole weight of the government throughout the South was to impede finding and holding and bringing to justice the men who perpetrated the [Birmingham] bombing. 

And here, we saw an entire state, an entire community, an entire nation come together, grieving as one and united in the belief that this was an evil act, so we’ve come a long way. 

Now maybe there’s some magic law that will keep us from having more of these. I mean basically the only way to guarantee that we will dramatically reduce acts of violence involving guns is to basically remove guns from society, and until somebody gets enough “oomph” to repeal the Second Amendment, that’s not going to happen. 

Source

Benghazi investigators ponder: Is State Dept lying, or is Hillary?

Last March, when Hillary Clinton made her first public comments on the secret email system she maintained while secretary of state, she took care to say she had turned over everything to the State Department. "I … provided all my emails that could possibly be work-related," Clinton told reporters. "I believe I have met all of my responsibilities and … the State Department will be able, over time, to release all of the records that were provided."

The message was clear. Clinton had turned over everything, and the State Department would make it all public.

Then State sent Clinton's emails that concerned Libya to the House Select Committee on Benghazi. Chairman Trey Gowdy immediately expressed skepticism about the claim that everything had been turned over. "There are gaps of months and months and months," Gowdy said.

Gowdy's suspicions appear to have been confirmed. As part of the committee's questioning of Clinton friend and defender Sidney Blumenthal, who exchanged many emails with Clinton on the subject of Libya, Blumenthal turned over a bunch of emails with Clinton that the committee had never seen before. The State Department had not given them to the committee when State originally turned over what were purported to be all of Clinton's Libya-related emails.

Which led investigators to ask: Did the State Department fail to turn over all the Clinton emails it had pertaining to Libya? Or did Clinton not give all her Libya-related emails to the State Department, which in turn could not pass them on to the committee?

Shorter version: Did the State Department withhold information from the committee, or did Clinton?

Read the entire article

Jeff Sessions on Obamatrade’s ‘New Pacific Union’ Like the EU: Something America Has ‘Never Seen’ Before

Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) has issued yet another clarion call to House Republicans urging them to abandon GOP leadership’s desperate ploys to bring Obamatrade back to life and instead vote against Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) and stop President Obama from getting even more power in his final years in office.

“The House is preparing to vote again tomorrow on providing fast-track executive authority to the President. If adopted, it will be sent immediately to the Senate for final consideration,” Sessions said, before correcting misconceptions peddled far and wide by House Ways and Means Committee chairman Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI).

“It is essential that there be no misunderstanding: fast-track preapproves the formation of not only the unprecedentedly large Trans-Pacific Partnership, but an unlimited number of such agreements over the next six years,” Sessions said. “Those pacts include three of the most ambitious ever contemplated. After TPP comes the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) between the United States and the European Union, followed by the Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA), seeking as one its goals labor mobility among more than 50 nations. Together, these three international compacts encompass three-fourths of the world’s GDP. Including the nations whose membership is being courted for after enactment, the countries involved would encompass nearly 90 percent of global GDP. Yet, through fast-track, Congress will have authorized the President to ink these deals before a page of them has been made public. Then, the Executive sends Congress ‘implementing’ legislation to change U.S. law—legislation which cannot be amended, cannot be filibustered, and will not be subjected to the Constitutional requirement for a two-thirds treaty vote.”

Sessions then laid out how several members of Congress didn’t even know about what they were voting on when leadership forced them to vote—and how it’s not too late for Republicans to see the light and oppose the creation of a new global governance.

“According to the European Commission, the TiSA agreement—which most House and Senate members did not know about when they voted—will follow in the footsteps of the WTO’s Trade in Services Provisions, which has already inhibited the U.S. from making needed immigration changes,” Sessions said. “The European Commission says the EU ‘wants as many countries as possible to join the agreement.’ We have already seen how the EU has curtailed sovereignty in Europe; we do not want to follow in its footsteps.”

Read the entire article

These are documents Clinton's State Dept. didn't want you to read

State Department officials cut out embarrassing passages of a report before publishing it during Hillary Clinton's last days as secretary of state.

Earlier drafts of the final document reveal details about the "undue influence" that is mentioned only briefly in the published version released to the public the month Clinton left office, February of 2013.

The Washington Examiner obtained a dozen drafts of the report that revealed officials under Harold Geisel, the temporary inspector general during Clinton's four-year tenure, let sections be edited out in late 2012.

The deleted information gave details of several investigations stymied by high-level staff in the Bureau of Diplomatic Security.

A draft dated Nov. 16, 2012 contained several passages that explained the extent of interference in investigations from staff in Clinton's office.

"Sources reported that a senior '7th Floor' Department official ordered [diplomatic security] to stop the investigation of an ambassador accused of pedophilia, and another such senior official had [diplomatic security] stop an investigation of an ambassador-designate," the report said.

The seventh floor is often used as a reference to the secretary's office, as it is physically located on that level of the State Department building.

Another deleted passage refers to the Bureau of Diplomatic Security being caught "circling the wagons to protect favored ... rising stars from criminal charges or from embarrassing revelations that could harm a promising career."

Read the entire article

GROVER NORQUIST’S GROUP: OBAMATRADE TAX HIKE WAS A ‘TAX’ INSIDE OBAMACARE, BUT NOT WITH PAUL RYAN’S SUPPORT

“Oh, what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive.”

Grover Norquist’s Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) called a small business fine collected directly by the IRS that is currently included in Obamatrade’s Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) package a tax hike when Democrats put it in Obamacare, but they’re insisting a nearly identical policy is not a tax now in Obamatrade, because House Ways and Means Committee chairman

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) supports the small business tax increase.

“The provision in question increases the penalty for a business not filing a required 1099-MISC tax form from (in most cases) $30 to $50. This is a fine for failing to comply with tax law, not a tax increase,” Ryan Ellis of ATR wrote on Monday afternoon. “This penalty is intended to police bad actors in tax compliance, not ordinary businesses. There are already provisions in the penalty for holding small firms harmless, and this is not changed by this language.”

The exact same Ryan Ellis of ATR—when Democrats put a nearly identical tax increase inside Obamacare—called the tax increase a tax increase.

In a post on ATR’s website on April 5, 2010, Ryan Ellis wrote about how this was a tax hike in a post titled: “Obamacare and Taxes: The Final Tab.”

Sure enough, halfway down the list of taxes on working families worth over $500 billion that Obamacare raised was exactly what Ryan Ellis is calling “not a tax” in 2015.

“Corporate 1099-MISC Information Reporting ($17.1 bil/Jan 2012): Requires businesses to send 1099-MISC information tax forms to corporations (currently limited to individuals), a huge compliance burden for small employers,” he cited was a tax back then.

Read the entire article

Clinton Campaign Makes RNC Staffers Turn Shirts Inside Out At Hillary Launch

Republican National Committee (RNC) staffers were made to turn their anti-Hillary Clinton t-shirts inside out after properly getting into Clinton’s Roosevelt Island campaign launch.

“The Clinton campaign was trying to kick me out of their event to a free speech zone outside, despite me having a ticket,” RNC deputy press secretary Raffi Williams told The Daily Caller. “But while being escorted by security and staffer we convinced them to allow us to stay if we flipped our shirts inside out.”

Williams and fellow RNC staffers Ruth Guerra and Ali Pardo were wearing “Stop Hillary” t-shirts, which were a big no-go inside the event. The Clinton staffers continued to follow him around the event, even after he flipped his shirt.

“Nobody touched me. But they did try to escort me out,” Williams said.

As for the “free-speech zone” where some Republicans rallied outside with “Hypocrisy” signs?

“Honestly I don’t remember the exact phrasing but it was either that or a ‘protest pen,'” Williams said, referring to what the Clinton staffers called the zone.

No injuries were reported during the standoff.

Source

Jeff Sessions Issues Final ‘Critical Alert’: Obamatrade Just Like Amnesty, Obamacare

Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL),the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s subcommittee on Immigration and the National Interest, is issuing one final clarion call against Obamatrade as the House readies to vote on the matter on Friday.

Sessions’ final “critical alert,” one of several he’s issued throughout the Obamatrade process, shows House Ways and Means Committee chairman Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI)

“Promoters of fast-track executive authority have relied on semantic obfuscation in an effort to deny the obvious: the President’s top priority is obtaining fast-track authority because he knows it will expand his powers and allow him to cement his legacy through the formation of a new political and economic union,” Sessions said.

If, as promoters amazingly suggest, the President had more powers without fast-track, he would veto it. The authority granted in “Trade Promotion Authority” is authority transferred from Congress to the Executive and, ultimately, to international bureaucrats. The entire purpose of fast-track is for Congress to surrender its power to the Executive for six years. Legislative concessions include: control over the content of legislation, the power to fully consider that legislation on the floor, the power to keep debate open until Senate cloture is invoked, and the constitutional requirement that treaties receive a two-thirds vote. Legislation cannot even be amended.

It’s unclear what will happen when it does come up for a vote on Friday in the House, but one thing is absolutely certain: Pass or fail, Ryan’s credibility on the right is shot. What’s more, there’s likely to be a conservative grassroots rebellion against establishment Republicans in Washington that may dwarf the one Obamacare caused back in 2010.

Read the entire article

Paul Ryan’s Pelosi-Esque Obamatrade Moment: ‘It’s Declassified And Made Public Once It’s Agreed To’

Chief Obamatrade proponent House Ways and Means Committee chairman Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) admitted during Congressional testimony on Wednesday evening that despite tons of claims from him and other Obamatrade supporters to the contrary, the process is highly secretive. 

He also made a gaffe in his House Rules Committee testimony on par with former Speaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)’s push to pass Obamacare, in which she said infamously said: “we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it.”

“It’s declassified and made public once it’s agreed to,” Ryan said of Obamatrade in Rules Committee testimony on Wednesday during questioning from Rep. Michael Burgess (R-TX).

What Ryan is trying to convince House Republicans to do is vote for Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) which would fast-track at least three highly secretive trade deals—specifically the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), the Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA), and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (T-TIP)—and potentially more deals.

Right now, TiSA and T-TIP text are completely secretive and unavailable for even members of Congress to read while TPP text is available for members to review—although they need to go to a secret room inside the Capitol where only members of Congress and certain staffers high-level security clearances, who can only go when members are present, can read the bill.

Ryan’s exchange in which he made this gaffe came as Burgess, who opposes Obamatrade, and Rules Committee chairman Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX), who stands with Ryan supporting it, were discussing the secrecy of the deal with him. It came right after an incredible exchange where Ryan attempted a ploy to try to save immigration provisions contained within the Obamatrade package as a whole—specifically TiSA—that were exposed by Breitbart News earlier on Wednesday, a problem for which he put forward a phony non-solution designed to get more votes for his Obamatrade agenda but not stop the immigration provisions.

Read the entire article

The Export-Import Bank is the International Bank of Clinton

Hillary Clinton is angry that conservatives are even debating the Export-Import Bank. She says, "I'd like to put Ex-Im Bank on steroids."

Given what we know about Mrs. Clinton's business model, her undying love for Ex-Im tells us something about the agency. Why would she be dedicated to saving and expanding Ex-Im?

The answer: Any tool that increases Washington's involvement in big business — here and abroad — creates opportunities for politicians to demand tribute from corporate and government coffers and increase political control over business. Ex-Im is a goldmine for a transactional politician like Hillary.

This isn't a theory, or merely a prediction of the future. Study Ex-Im's recent history. Look at its deals, its staff, and its revolving-door alumni, and you see it.

Some Republicans, persuaded by K Street, think of Ex-Im as a friend of business. The should instead see Ex-Im for what it really is: The International Bank of Clinton.

Read the entire article

Federal Judge Gives IRS Until Friday To Explain Itself On Lerner Emails

A federal judge says the Internal Revenue Service has until Friday to provide answers on the status of Lois Lerner’s emails that were previously declared lost, a watchdog group announced Monday.

Judge Emmet Sullivan of the U.S. District Court of Columbia issued the order June 4 in response to a June 2 request from Judicial Watch – a nonprofit government transparency group.

“The Obama IRS obstructed and lied to a federal judge and Judicial Watch in an effort to hide the truth about Lois Lerner’s emails,” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said. “The IRS is out of control and Judicial Watch is happy that Judge Sullivan has taken this key step to remind the agency that it is accountable to the rule of law and the American people.”

Judicial Watch argued before Sullivan that newly-recovered backup tapes contain information the watchdog requested through the Freedom of Information Act and that the IRS had to provide details regarding the number of emails and the time-frame that they would be released.

Read the entire article

Obama To Circumvent Congress With ‘Gag Order’ On Firearm Coverage

On June 1 Breitbart News reported on Obama’s Spring 2015 “Unified Agenda.” The gun control measures contained therein which were to be passed by executive fiat.

Since that time Representatives like Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY-4th) have placed riders on a DOJ appropriations bill to stop portions of the executive gun control push in its tracks. Now the NRA-ILA is revealing that the Obama administration is working behind the scenes to stifle reporting on firearms.

From the NRA-ILA:

Even as news reports have been highlighting the gun control provisions of the Administration’s “Unified Agenda” of regulatory objectives, the Obama State Department has been quietly moving ahead with a proposal that could censor online speech related to firearms.

How can this happen?

Like this: The administration is reworking the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR). One of the many things regulated by ITAR are “technical data” tied to “defense articles.” This includes, but is not limited to, “detailed design, development, production or manufacturing information” about ammunition and firearms.

Read the entire article

Two Members of Boehner’s Leadership Team Openly Refuse to Admit if They’ve Read Obamatrade

Two members of House GOP leadership—Majority Whip Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA)  and Rules Committee chairman Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX) —refused to admit through spokespersons to Breitbart News whether they have read the text of the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) Pacific Rim trade deal, but they still support granting President Barack Obama the Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) to fast track it. What’s more, Scalise and Sessions—and others GOP conference-wide, including even perhaps Boehner—could be vulnerable to serious primary challenges if they continue forward with Obamatrade.

Jill Shatzen, a spokeswoman for Sessions, said in an email:

Chairman Sessions has been a strong proponent of TPA in order to ensure the Congress has a major role in overseeing trade deals and ensuring they are representative of what the American people want.Because negotiations on TPP are not complete, the full agreement is not yet available for review by members. However, when it is complete, TPA ensures that all members and the public have 60 days to review the final agreement before Congress acts. The Chairman looks forward to reviewing the final agreement at that time.

That was in response to Breitbart News asking if Sessions had been to the secret room inside the Capitol to read the text of TPP, and if he’d support TPA without reading TPP. The argument Sessions’ office is making—one that’s been echoed by others in leadership, like Scalise’s team and by chief Obamatrade proponent House Ways and Means Committee chairman Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) 

—is that TPA is separate from TPP. While they’re technically correct in asserting that TPA is different from the specific TPP, there is essentially no way to stop a trade deal once it has been fast-tracked. Since fast track was created in the Richard Nixon administration, not one trade deal that started on fast track has been thwarted. As such, a vote for TPA is a vote for TPP, since passing TPA will all but guarantee the successful passage of TPP.

Read the entire article

Export-Import Bank's Solyndra subsidy reeks of politicized financing

Q: When would the U.S. government subsidize a U.S. export that had happened in the previous year and that was estimated to create zero jobs?

A: When the U.S. exporter was politically connected Solyndra, and the subsidizing agency is the Export-Import Bank of the United States.

Ex-Im in 2011 approved a $10.3 million loan guarantee to subsidize the construction of a solar farm in Belgium that was using panels made by Solyndra.

Solyndra had manufactured and shipped the panels to Europe months before Ex-Im even received an application for the taxpayer-backed financing. Installation was completed before the guarantee was approved. At least one internal Ex-Im document estimated that the deal created zero U.S. jobs. The press release announcing the deal didn't provide any number of "jobs supported."

But Ex-Im provided the taxpayer-backed financing for Solyndra's sale after communications with the Department of Energy, which was already exposed to Solyndra's debt. As Solyndra began to crumble and look bad for the Obama administration, Ex-Im rushed in with the subsidy for the already-installed panels.

Read the entire article

The Bernie Sanders Effect: Fawning media coverage normalizes socialism

There’s yet another trend in the trendy news media, identified by more than one concerned critic. Consider a new Investor’s Business Daily editorial titled “The soft-soaping of socialism in the U.S.” The publication focuses on the happy-go-lucky press coverage of a certain Vermont independent making a vigorous run for the White House as a Democrat.

“Bernie Sanders is coming on as a presidential contender, while polls show surprisingly large parts of the public look favorably on the socialism he espouses. The public apparently has forgotten socialism’s record. For years, Sanders, an avowed, unapologetic socialist, was viewed as an anomaly of U.S. political life, an eccentric whose atypical ideology reflected the supposed quirkiness of his home state of Vermont,” the editorial says.

“Now that’s changed, and with Democrats worried about the scandals surrounding their top candidate, Hillary Clinton, Sanders is attracting ever-bigger audiences on the campaign trail. Polls show him at 15 percent of the Democratic tally. Maybe that’s because Sanders is portrayed in the media as ‘a normal guy’ — as a Washington Post headline put it — while liberal media doyen Bill Moyer headlined ‘despite what corporate media tells you, Bernie Sanders‘ positions are mainstream.’ In the Huffington Post, distinguished professor Peter Dreier of Occidental College, one of Barack Obama’s alma maters, declared, ‘Bernie Sanders‘ socialism is as American as apple pie.’ “

Read the entire article

New union-friendly rule from Obama targets small business

Supporters of tougher regulations on businesses usually present them as necessary to curb abuses by large "fatcat" corporations.

However, President Obama's administration is pursuing a new labor rule that would largely ignore big business and instead target small and medium-sized companies.

Under the federal "persuader" rule, businesses currently must disclose whenever they hire somebody to try to convince their employees they shouldn't unionize — hence the rule's name. Now the administration wants to expand the disclosure to include any time managers receive legal advice on the subject.

The persuader rule is part of the Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act, which was passed in 1959 to prohibit stealth anti-union campaigns by employers.

The new disclosure rule won't matter much for large corporations, which have in-house lawyers or are used to disclosing when they hire pricey outside "consultants" to fend off union organizing campaigns. Smaller businesses, on the other hand, would find it much harder to get legal advice, critics charge.

Read the entire article

Senate advances spy legislation but law will lapse

A bill to extend a controversial anti-terrorism surveillance tool cleared a key Senate hurdle Sunday evening, but not in time to prevent it from expiring at midnight.

The Senate voted 77-17 to bring the USA Freedom Act to the floor for debate. The bill would extend surveillance provisions of the Patriot Act with significant reforms aimed at ensuring privacy rights, including a ban on the practice of bulk domestic data collection by the National Security Agency.

Under the bill, only phone companies will collect that data, and they will only hold it for 18 months.

But thanks in large part to objections from Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., a staunch opponent of the spying law, Senate passage is at least days away. That means several sections of the USA Patriot Act will expire June 1, including the provision the National Security Agency interpreted to allow the unwarranted collection of phone and electronic data of Americans for the purposes of preventing terrorist attacks.

But Paul's objections are not the only sticking point.

The bill's outcome is complicated by amendments that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., wants to add to the bill, which already passed the House by an overwhelming bipartisan vote.

McConnell said the amendments "will attempt to ensure the program works as promised."

The bill moved ahead after falling three votes shy of the needed 60 vote threshold in a vote held last weekend.

It passed thanks in part to McConnell, who lifted his earlier opposition to the bill, but only reluctantly.

Read the entire article