RUTHFULLY YOURS

The company behind the Keystone XL pipeline has taken legal action against the U.S. government for the Obama administration’s shootdown of the cross-border project.

The permitting process was delayed for years by the State Department. When they finally rejected the application in November, President Obama said the pipeline was nixed because it “would not make a meaningful long-term contribution to our economy,” “would not lower gas prices for American consumers,” and “shipping dirtier crude oil into our country would not increase America’s energy security.”

TransCanada responded today by filing a Notice of Intent to initiate a claim under Chapter 11 of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) on the basis that the denial was arbitrary and unjustified, the company said today. The company seeks more than $15 billion in damages.

They’ve also filed a lawsuit in federal court in Houston alleging that Obama overstepped his constitutional authority in blocking pipeline construction.

In what was surely the most sickening display of presidential demagoguery in the history of the United States, President Obama wept – wept – crocodile tears in a calculated effort to gain the support of the ignorant, the clueless, and the stupid while announcing multiple violations of the Bill of Rights yesterday.

Obama’s speech alternated between effeminate weeping, pleading, and sanctimonious, holier-than-thou indignation as he presented a litany of falsehoods, straw man arguments, and outright lies as justification for his plan to strip the American public of constitutionally enumerated rights:

The “Gun Show Loophole” Lie: There is no “gun show loophole.” Contrary to leftist mythology, criminals and terrorists don’t skirt existing laws and purchase crateloads of guns at gun shows. Probably 95% or more of the vendors at gun shows are licensed dealers, who have to abide by the same federal regulations as they do in brick-and-mortar stores. Individual sellers who make an occasional sale are exempt from dealer regulations. Has Obama ever been to an actual gun show? The problem is not that there are too many individual sellers, but too few – dealers often charge inflated prices, while the individual offering a great deal because he needs a few bucks quick is a rarity.

Obama’s real plan is to ultimately ban all private sales (including between family members) so that a paper trail exists on as many firearms as possible to facilitate government confiscation.

The “Internet Gun Sales” Lie: Criminals do not buy guns on the internet. It is literally impossible to buy guns direct on the internet and have them shipped to your house. Even James Comey, director of the FBI, was ignorant of this fact when testifying before Congress recently. Like gun shows, 95% or more of the guns advertised on the internet are advertised by licensed dealers who must comply with federal law. Any transaction between private individuals that crosses state lines must be performed by a licensed dealer in the buyer’s state. Under existing law, the internet can be used only to advertise guns, not supply them directly to a non-dealer.
The “Background Check” Lie: The Constitution does not actually use the phrase “innocent until proven guilty”; that concept is articulated by the Fifth Amendment, which says that the government shall not deprive citizens of “life, liberty, or property” without “due process of law” – meaning that the burden of proof always rests with the government before one’s rights can be suspended. Background checks on gun buyers, which have been in effect for 20 years, are a violation of the Due Process Clause because they require the individual to get clearance from the government before he exercises his Second Amendment rights. Can you imagine government requiring a background check before you vote? Before you publish a newspaper article? Before you preach a sermon? Before you hire a lawyer? Of course not. The leftist emphasis on background checks is merely a foot-in-the-door enabling the government to steadily expand the criterion by which it may preemptively suspend your rights. This is precisely the danger posed by Obama’s plan to conscript physicians into agents of the government for the purpose of entering your medical diagnoses into the background check system.

Congress returns to work this week, and for once those words shouldn’t trigger a panic attack. As early as Wednesday the House will vote to send a bill repealing most of ObamaCare to President Obama, and this may become a consequential moment, assuming Republicans are prepared to make an argument.

Some on the left and right are dismissing the move as pointless because Mr. Obama will veto the measure, and of course he will, but repeal has never before reached his desk. Since the GOP won the House in 2010, Senate Democrats have filibustered health-care improvements and shielded the President, and their obstruction has continued even after they were reduced to a minority.
Republicans are now using the special “reconciliation” procedure that allows a budget bill to pass with a simple majority—which can only be used once a year—to get around Harry Reid’s bone yard. Kvetchers on the right who say the Congress never does anything should be pleased, unless their griping was merely for political show.

This achievement is all the more notable for traveling through the regular channels of constitutional government, without Armageddon-style confrontations or blowing up century-old Senate rules, as some activists have demanded. The bill passed through patient, unglamorous legislative work, with House and Senate Republicans working together to make policy advances instead of degenerating into infighting and recriminations as usual.