Obama administration | The Arizona Sun Times

Appellate Court Eliminates Obama Moratorium on Coal Leasing

February 24, 2024 Arizona Sun Times Staff

A federal appeals court ruled Wednesday to essentially axe an Obama-era rule that prohibited new leasing for coal mining on federal lands.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit overturned a previous 2022 court decision that allowed for the reinstatement of an Obama-era regulation that banned new coal mining leases on federally-controlled lands. The 2022 decision overturned Wednesday found that the Trump administration did not conduct an adequate environmental review when it decided to axe the Obama regulation, but the appellate court determined that the case is now moot because the Biden administration revoked the Trump-era reversal at the heart of the case anyways.

Alleged Foreign Agent Law Violations Loom over Hunter Biden as House Prepares to Depose Him

January 18, 2024 Just the News

The U.S. law firm that did work for Ukrainian energy company Burisma Holdings was encouraged by the Justice Department to register as a foreign agent for the same type of work that Hunter Biden did for the company while he was a board member. Burisma was not registered as a foreign agent at the time.

Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP (Cravath) as part of its representation of Burisma and its founder, litigation partner John Buretta met with State Department officials and sent a letter directly to the U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine, according to Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) filings submitted earlier this month.

Commentary: Trump Is Correct About Presidential Immunity

December 30, 2023 Arizona Sun Times Staff

The media has driven itself into a tizzy in recent days, claiming that despite serving as president of the United States (and being poised to reclaim that office in less than a year’s time), Donald Trump should not be granted the same kinds of immunity and executive privilege that every other chief magistrate enjoyed before him. Showcasing their ignorance of both the Constitution and history, the mainstream media has framed the concept as something of a novel innovation for President Trump’s lawyers, who are advocating for “broad immunity,” implying that no other presidential officeholder has ever made that claim. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Commentary: Things Are Much Worse That They Seen as ‘Digital McCarthyism’ Is On the Move

October 9, 2023 Arizona Sun Times Staff

On September 14, 2001, George W. Bush, exercising “the power vested in [him] as President of the Untied States,” issued Proclamation 7463, a “Declaration of National Emergency by Reason of Certain Terrorist Attacks.” That got the ball rolling on the construction of the surveillance state.

At the time, the extreme measure seemed justified. Three days earlier, the United States had suffered its most devastating terrorist attack in history.

Hunter Biden Traveled to at Least 13 Countries with Then-Vice President Father

August 25, 2023 Arizona Sun Times Staff

New reports suggest that Hunter Biden traveled to as many as 13 different countries with his father Joe Biden while he was vice president during the Obama Administration.

As Fox News reports, video footage, messages, and Secret Service records obtained from Hunter’s abandoned laptop indicate that the two Bidens traveled together to such locations as Africa, Asia, Europe, and Mexico. At the time, Hunter was still leading the firm Rosemont Seneca Partners, which he used to broker many of his international business deals.

Commentary: What’s the Difference Between the Chinese Government and the Mob?

June 13, 2023 Admin

China’s regime is trafficking illegal drugs, protected wildlife, and humans. It is laundering cash and participating in ransomware attacks. It steals intellectual property. The ruling group, as a matter of state policy, murders people for their organs.

The Chinese state is not only a dangerous international actor, it is also a common criminal. Perhaps we should say it is an uncommon or state criminal, the most powerful and insidious kind.

Justices Skeptical of States Keeping Full Proceeds of Seizures for Back Taxes

May 1, 2023 Just the News

A Georgetown University law professor who wrote a book arguing for then-President Trump’s impeachment believes that states can legally confiscate a million-dollar home and keep the full sale proceeds to pay $5 in back taxes. Some members of the Supreme Court found that a stretch.

Justices across the ideological spectrum gave Neal Katyal, solicitor general in the Obama administration, a hard time in oral arguments Wednesday in a case with far-reaching consequences for property rights in America, perhaps as consequential as its 2005 Kelo decision that set off a wave of eminent-domain reform across the country.

Lois Lerner 2.0: IRS Chilling Dissent with Interrogation of Nonprofit, Election Integrity Activist Says

February 14, 2023 Just the News

Much as the Obama IRS targeted conservative groups for audits, the tax collection agency has subjected an elections nonprofit to a battery of prying questions about its policy positions, language choices and methodology for arriving at correct opinions and conclusions prior to peremptorily rejecting its application for tax-exempt status without appeal.

Starting in 2010, the IRS Exempt Organizations Unit directed by Lois Lerner targeted the Tea Party and other conservative groups for intrusive scrutiny, effectively freezing them with lengthy audits. After the politically motivated harassment was exposed in 2013, the Obama administration claimed to find the IRS actions “inexcusable.” But after Lerner invoked her 5th Amendment right against self-incrimination to avoid testifying before Congress and the House cited her for contempt, the Obama Justice Department declined to pursue criminal charges.

Commentary: The Ruling Class’ Gaslighting on the Durham Investigation

September 16, 2022September 15, 2022 Arizona Sun Times Staff

In anticipation of Justice Department special counsel John Durham’s final report on the partisan origins of the Obama administration’s investigation into alleged Trump-Russia collusion, the ruling class is scoffing at his findings to date. What a yawner, they say. What a waste of time and money. Never mind that his investigation has already established that the Russian disinformation in the 2016 election came exclusively from the Hillary Clinton campaign.

Commentary: John Podesta’s Ties to Dem Megadonor Back in Spotlight

September 9, 2022September 8, 2022 RealClearWire

Eight years ago, the Obama administration bristled at the word “recusal.” White House Deputy Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters that the reason that top presidential adviser John Podesta would not be involved in the decision-making process involving the Keystone XL pipeline was that the State Department, not the White House, was already evaluating it “in an impartial way.” It wasn’t a “recusal,” Earnest insisted – there just was no need for Podesta to be involved.

Commentary: Russian Appeasement Was a Left-Wing Monopoly

February 4, 2022February 3, 2022 Arizona Sun Times Staff

One way of understanding the 2009-2014 Obama Administration policy of “reset” with Vladimir Putin’s Russia is to recall two iconic incidents.

The first was the 2009 “reset.”

Commentary: Christopher Steele Is a Product of Corrupt FBI

October 20, 2021October 19, 2021 Arizona Sun Times Staff

Just as the special counsel’s investigation into the origins of Crossfire Hurricane—the FBI counterintelligence probe launched in the summer of 2016 to sabotage Donald Trump’s presidential campaign—is showing signs of life, one of the central figures in the hoax is attempting to burnish his sullied image.

ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos has produced a documentary featuring Christopher Steele, the man responsible for the so-called dossier bearing his name. “Out of the Shadows: The Man Behind the Steele Dossier,” streamed on Hulu Monday night; promotional clips hinted that, far from a hard-hitting interview exposing Steele for the charlatan he is, Stephanopoulos gave Steele a chance to spin his story ahead of possible new indictments related to John Durham’s inquiry into the Trump-Russia election collusion hoax.

Commentary: The Left Destroys Everything It Touches

October 13, 2021 Admin

What was the purpose for the insane opposition of the Left between 2017 and 2021? To usher in a planned nihilism, an incompetent chaos, a honed anarchy to wreck the country in less than a year?

No sooner had Donald Trump entered office than scores of House Democrats filed motions for impeachment, apparently for thought crimes that he might, some day, in theory, could possibly commit.

Commentary: Biden’s Desperate Race to the Lying Bottom

September 29, 2021September 28, 2021 Arizona Sun Times Staff

On Monday, Joe Biden uncorked the largest lie of a 50-year political career overstuffed with them.

“My Build Back Better Agenda costs zero dollars,” he tweeted. “Instead of wasting money on tax breaks, loopholes, and tax evasion for big corporations and the wealthy, we can make a once-in-a-generation investment in working America. And it adds zero dollars to the national debt.”

Commentary: Afghanistan and America’s Ruling Class

August 19, 2021August 18, 2021 Arizona Sun Times Staff

The sudden collapse of American power in Afghanistan has triggered the usual partisan blamestorming in Washington. Representative Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) has blamed the Biden Administration. How clueless does a member of the Cheney family have to be to go around assigning blame for Afghanistan? Talking points from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) office show that their plan was to blame Donald Trump for everything. Biden went on TV and blamed Trump for the plan Biden abandoned, the Afghan people for being unwilling to fight, and the Good Humor Man for running out of chocolate chocolate chip.

There’s going to be a lot to sort out in the weeks and months to come regarding this catastrophe, and all the questions that have been asked are legitimate. Should we have been there in the first place? What was our mission? What does the outcome say about the competence of our military?

Commentary: Critical Race Theory and the Threat to the American Family

July 28, 2021July 27, 2021 Arizona Sun Times Staff

In a CNN interview with Anderson Cooper that aired in June, Barack Obama weighed in on perceived GOP anxieties. Instead of worrying about the economy and climate change, worries he thought appropriate for Republicans, “Lo and behold,” he told Cooper, “the single most important issue to them apparently right now is critical race theory. Who knew that that was the threat to our republic?”

I would argue that critical race theory, CRT for short, is not only a threat to the republic but also a threat to our families. Obama has already shown the damage that race can inflict on family, starting with this own. In March 2008, with his campaign floundering after the toxic Rev. Wright tapes surfaced, Obama played the CRT card to salvage his candidacy.

During a critical speech in Philadelphia, Obama reminded his audience that “so many of the disparities that exist between the African-American community and the larger American community today can be traced directly to inequalities passed on from an earlier generation that suffered under the brutal legacy of slavery and Jim Crow.” This was pure CRT. The fact that none of Obama’s relatives descended from slaves went unmentioned.

Rep. Nunes Expects John Durham to Deliver Damaging Report: ‘People Are Going to Jail’

July 19, 2021July 18, 2021 Arizona Sun Times Staff

Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) said he still expects Justice Department Special Counsel John Durham to release a damaging report on the FBI’s corrupt Russia investigation, and while it “may not be as broad as we want it to be,” it will lead to prison sentences for some former senior Obama officials.

Nunes, the ranking Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, told reporter Sara Carter during her podcast Thursday that he still believes justice will be served. According to Carter, the congressman said that Durham’s report could come “as early as next week.”

Ex-Obama Official Charged with Stealing $218,000 from Charter School He Founded

April 28, 2021April 27, 2021 Arizona Sun Times Staff

A former official in the Obama administration was charged Tuesday with stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from a charter school he founded, and using the funds to help finance a luxury apartment in Manhattan.

Seth Andrew, who served in the Obama White House and Department of Education, was arrested on Tuesday and charged with wire fraud, money laundering, and making false statements to a financial institution in connection with a series of banking transactions he conducted in 2019.

Federal prosecutors allege that Andrew ripped off his own charter school organization, Democracy Prep Public Schools, to the tune of $218,005.

Tag: Obama administration