Obama Administration Gets Rid Of Trans Fats

The FDA issued a final decision on trans fats Tuesday that will phase out partially hydrogenated oils (PHOs), the main source of trans fat.  The food industry has three years to do so, according to Politico.

Partially hydrogenated oils are are still used in a wide variety of products from microwave popcorn to cake frosting, writes Politico.

The government’s goal is to prevent cardiovascular disease, writes Politico.  Advocates are cheering the move as a historic win for public health.

Class-action attorneys may use the ruling even before it takes effect to file lawsuits against deep-pocketed food companies that have continued to use trans fat, writes Politico.

Politico states that “the rest of the industry has reduced its use of trans fat by some 85 percent.”

According to Politico, food industry lawyers are poring over the document to see if FDA said anything that could help shield them from litigation.

The FDA on Tuesday ruled that trans fat is not “generally recognized as safe” for use in human food, according to CNN.

The department gave food manufacturers three years to remove the partially hydrogenated oils, or PHOs, from their products.

Companies can petition the FDA for a special permit to use it, but no PHOs can be added to human food unless otherwise approved by the FDA, claims CNN.

Eating a diet rich in trans fat is linked to higher body weight, heart disease and memory loss, states CNN.

It has been shown to raise the “bad,” or LDL, cholesterol in the blood, which can lead to cardiovascular disease — the leading cause of death in the United States.

(Updated article)

http://www.politico.com/story/2015/06/obama-bans-trans-fat-119050.html#ixzz3dLgfiWKx

http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/16/health/fda-trans-fat/

Court Won’t Lift Ban On Obama Immigration Action

On Tuesday, a federal appeals court refused to lift a temporary hold on President Barack Obama’s executive action that would prevent as many as 5 million immigrants illegally living in the U.S. from being deported, according to the AP. The hold allows the deportations to continue.

The U.S. Justice Department had asked the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to reverse a Texas judge who agreed to temporarily block the president’s plan in February, after 26 states filed a lawsuit alleging Obama’s action was unconstitutional. However, on a two-one vote, a panel of the court denied it, writes the AP.

The U.S. Court of Appeals in New Orleans made the decision that the executive action must be delayed until the lawsuit is resolved.

It wasn’t clear if the government would appeal, either to the full appeals court in New Orleans or to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The states suing to block the plan argue that Obama acted outside his authority and that the changes would force them to invest more in law enforcement, health care and education.

The White House has said the president acted within his powers to fix a “broken immigration system.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/27/us/fifth-circuit-court-of-appeals-rules-on-obama-immigration-plan.html?_r=0

Texas Judge Blocks The President’s Immigration Executive Order

MSNBC

A Texas Judge has blocked the president’s immigration order.

Does the president have the right to issue executive orders on immigration?

According to HowStuffWorks, “Executive orders have been used by every American president since George Washington to lead the nation through times of war, to respond to natural disasters and economic crises, to encourage or discourage regulation by federal agencies, to promote civil rights, or in the case of the Japanese internment camps, to revoke civil rights.”

According to the New Republic, Presidents Reagan and H.W. Bush took executive action on immigration.  Reagan and Bush made executive actions to stop the deportation of children and spouses of newly-legalized immigrants. In fact, Bush’s executive action was called the “family fairness” program.

USA Today claims the younger George W. Bush also “…issued a number of small-bore executive orders — to expedite citizenship for immigrants in the military, or to defer deportation for students affected by Hurricane Katrina…”

Talking Points Memo states that the president has ordered fewer executive orders than any president since prior to World War II.  TPM states it comes out to less than 0.1 for every day he’s been in office. “FDR, by comparison, was cranking out close to one per day as he faced the Great Depression and World War II.”  TPM does state that the simple totals “cannot account for the scope and tangible impact of individual executive orders or incorporate other elements of executive power,” which is understandable.

The question is:  what are the grounds for a lawsuit, impeachment, or the claims of lawlessness?

The only possibility is that the executive orders have possibly been too broad in scope.

According to the New York Times, “(m)ost of the major elements of the president’s plan are based on longstanding legal precedents that give the executive branch the right to exercise ‘prosecutorial discretion’ in how it enforces the laws. That was the basis of a 2012 decision to protect from deportation the so-called Dreamers, who came to the United States as young children. The new announcement will be based on a similar legal theory, officials said.” [The New York Times,11/13/14]

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/presidents-most-executive-orders

http://people.howstuffworks.com/executive-order.htm

http://mediamatters.org/research/2014/11/13/right-wing-media-wrong-about-the-legality-of-th/201553

Matthew Hagee Calls For ‘Army Of The Living God’

The John Hagee ministries website says that Pastor Matthew Hagee is the sixth generation in the Hagee family to do Gospel ministry.

“He serves as the Executive Pastor of the 20,000 member Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, Texas where he partners with his father, founder Pastor John Hagee. Pastor Matthew Hagee’s teachings are telecast over world-wide television through John Hagee Ministries. He is fervently committed to preaching all the Gospel to all the world and to every generation.”

He is a graduate of Oral Roberts University School of Business and is the author of “Shaken, Not Shattered” and recently released “Response-Able” both published by Strang Communications.

On yesterday’s “Hagee Hotline,” Matthew Hagee announced the creation of something called “The Sanctuary of Hope,” which will be a “training ground for the next generation of the the soldiers in the army of the of the living God that are going to do great things for his kingdom.”

Secular Talk video.

David Pakman: Is Michelle Obama A Man?

And how do her children fit into it?

The right-wing conspiracy idea was put forth by Alex Jones who got the idea from a joke by the now-deceased Joan Rivers.

David Pakman looks at hate mail, aka “hatriot mail.”

Alex Jones Theorizes About Obama Assassination

Recently, conspiracy-theorist Republican Alex Jones, the host of InfoWars.com, speculated about the possibility of a President Obama assassination.

He explained that it could be part of a larger plot against the U.S. and a “false flag” used to blame Obama’s enemies.

As for Jones’ politics, Wikipedia states “In early 2000, Jones was one of seven Republican candidates for state representative in Texas House District 48, an open seat swing district based in Austin, Texas.”  NYmag.com calls Jones “America’s Leading Conspiracy Theorist.”

Secular Talk video.

Is Giving People Health Care ‘Elitist?’

Meghan McCain – daughter of John McCain – argued in a debate on TakePart Live that Obamacare is “debatably one of the worst things to happen to America in the last 25 years.”

She argued with co-hosts Jacob Soboroff and Baratunde Thurston over the popularity of the health care law and whether Howard Dean was right to say its writers were “elitist.”

Meghan made the confusing claim that the government runs healthcare under the ACA.  The government organizes the exchanges, but it does not actually run the insurance companies.

Some have made the claim that Obamacare is “elitist.”

It’s not clear how getting people covered under health insurance is “elitist.”  Wouldn’t “elitist” be if only a few people have health insurance?

Secular Talk video.

The U.S. Weather Infrastructure

Does the U.S. have difficulty predicting the weather and creating accurate weather forecasts?

Thom Hartmann talks with Kathryn Miles, Journalist & Author of Superstorm:  Nine Days Inside Hurricane Sandy about the U.S. weather infrastructure.

Video by Thom Hartmann.

Right-Wing Religious Broadcasters Fear Obama May Kill More Than Pol Pot, Stalin, Mao

Broadcasters Rick Wiles and Steve Quayle got together for a discussion of Ebola and whether “world leaders [are] preparing for a global Ebola plague.”

They discussed whether the President would kill more people than Pol Pot, Stalin, and Mao.

What do you think – when it doesn’t happen, will these broadcasters backtrack and apologize for saying it?

Kyle Kulinski video.

Alex Jones On Obama And The ‘Black KKK’

Alex Jones mentions “black Ku Klux Klan people” on his show.

Secular Talk video.