Because memories are short and fragmented. Originally posted on April 11, 2020 at baldilocks blog.
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This will be a four-part series consisting of fifty items each and I may write an epilogue.
We hear and read accusations of tyranny against President Trump and the reasonable among us – from entire political spectrum -- will ask for examples. These examples will often fall short of the tyranny mark and there are two reason for this:
1) the hollowing out of meaning and definitions, which leads to
2) the inability of many to recognize objective tyranny when it stared us in the face for eight years.
There are many other reasons, but these are the main headings. There are also spiritual reasons.
I am not the author or researcher of these examples.
The author doesn’t want to take credit and told me to say that a “little bird” dropped it in my email box – more like a large and lethal bird of prey. And this 200-item list isn't a complete one; the author just got tired.
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1. The Obama Department of Labor abolished its rules requiring transparency in regard to spending by unions after it became apparent that the rules were too effective in exposing fraud.
2. In the government bailout of the auto industry, Obama illegally put union members ahead of secured creditors with absolute priority; doing so violated bankruptcy law and the Constitution’s Takings and Due Process Clauses.
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3. In firing Inspector General (IG) of the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) Gerald Walpin after Walpin found misuse of federal grants by Kevin Johnson and the St. HOPE Academy, Obama broke a law that he as a senator sponsored; the law requires that the president inform Congress of specific reasons why an IG is removed.
4. The Obama Car Czars illegally shut down 2200 car dealerships as part of the government restructuring of Chrysler and GM; as a result, over 120,000 Americans lost their jobs.
5. Obama tried to unilaterally repeal the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), the law that ensures a minimum standard for voluntary employee retirement and health plans.
6. Obama Acting Assistant Attorney General Loretta King wrote to Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson, informing him that Oklahoma’s proposed state constitutional amendment making English Oklahoma’s official language violated the civil rights of limited English proficient (LEP) persons; King illegally threatened to cut off federal funds to Oklahoma if the wording of the amendment were not changed.
7. Obama administration officials illegally met with lobbyists at coffee houses near the White House in order to avoid the disclosure requirements for White House visitors.
8. The Obama Department of Justice stopped a probe into political ally Bill Richardson, who was being investigated by a federal grand jury for pay-to-play allegations; “It was killed in Washington,” an anonymous source told the Associated Press.
9. Obama unconstitutionally appointed three members to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), bypassing the Senate.
10. Obama used an unconstitutional recess appointment to make Richard Cordray director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) while the Senate was still in session.
11. Obama illegally ordered the EPA to impose the Clean Power Plan after the Senate rejected it; the plan required states to reduce their carbon dioxide emissions, even though neither Obama nor the EPA had the authority to make such sweeping changes.
12. Obama crafted an illegal clandestine deal with the pharmaceutical industry in order to get ObamaCare passed.
13. The Obama IRS illegally provided tax credits and subsidies through federal health exchanges set up by the Department of Health and Human Services; because the law made no provision for IRS involvement, the IRS illegally granted itself the authority to spend $800 billion over 10 years on benefits not authorized by Congress.
14. The Obama IRS illegally granted retroactive tax-exempt status to the Barack H. Obama Foundation, an ostensible charity run by Obama’s half-brother Malik; IRS Director of the Exempt Organizations Unit Lois Lerner signed the paperwork in one month, which legalized the foundation’s previous three years of illegal fundraising.
15. The Obama Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) allowed straw buyers to illegally import rifles into Mexico in Operation Fast and Furious; several hundred murders—including those of two Americans—resulted.
16. Obama illegally offered positions in the Executive Branch to Democratic senatorial candidate Joe Sestak to keep him from running against Arlen Specter.
17. The Obama administration thwarted Inspector General (IG) investigations into Amtrak, the EPA, the Troubled Asset Relief Program, and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB); Obama Attorneys General Eric Holder and Loretta Lynch ignored the findings of dozens of IGs.
18. Obama Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Kathleen Sebelius threatened to put out of business insurance companies that informed their clients of the impact of ObamaCare.
19. The Obama National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) imposed illegal and unconstitutional new rules requiring nonunion businesses to encourage their workers to unionize.
20. The Obama Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) illegally granted exemptions from new emissions laws to companies owned by Obama donors.
21. The Obama Department of Justice illegally stopped enforcing the Defense of Marriage Act.
22. ObamaCare illegally forced taxpayer-funded abortion on the entire country and mandated that health insurance cover abortifacient drugs.
23. The Obama administration worked with investor Steve Eisman to write new for-profit college regulations that allowed Eisman to make a massive windfall in short-selling.
24. The Obama Department of the Interior routinely ignored court orders and was found in contempt multiple times.
25. The Obama Treasury Department saved the pensions of unionized GM workers while allowing non-unionized workers’ pensions to default; the same was done in regard to the pension plans of parts manufacturer Delphi.
26. The Obama White House hid a program that paid union workers taxpayer money to lobby the government for more unions.
27. The Obama Department of Homeland Security ordered Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to enforce the DREAM Act even though the bill was defeated in Congress multiple times.
28. The Obama Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) illegally granted ObamaCare waivers to political allies; nearly 20 percent of the waivers went to Nancy Pelosi’s San Francisco’s district, while Harry Reid’s state of Nevada got a blanket waiver.
29. The Obama National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) illegally imposed the Employee Free Choice Act—which allowed unions to enter negotiations in non-unionized companies—after Congress voted it down.
30. ObamaCare illegally immunized the Independent Payment Advisory Board from lawsuits resulting from the way its decisions impacted patients.
31. The Obama Department of Justice raided musical-instrument manufacturers that had donated to Republicans but avoided Democrat-run manufacturers that used the same exotic wood obtained in the same way.
32. The Obama administration subsidized “green” companies run by donors and campaign supporters; when the companies went bankrupt, their executives collected hundreds of millions of dollars in golden parachutes.
33. The Obama administration threatened private companies whose CEOs criticized Obama’s economic policies.
34. Obama bypassed Congress and illegally ordered new regulations on student loans, government contracts, pharmaceutical drugs, and mortgages.
35. The Obama Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) designed its illegal gun-walking Operation Fast and Furious to bolster a push for tighter gun control in the US [Ed. Note: item #15].
36. The Obama Department of Justice illegally sued Arizona and Alabama for enforcing federal immigration law.
37. The Obama Federal Communications Commission (FCC) ignored Congress and a court order to illegally impose new regulations on the Internet.
38. The U.S. Office of Special Counsel determined that Obama Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius violated the Hatch Act by campaigning for Obama while traveling on official business; federal employees are required to be terminated for this violation, but Obama ignored the law.
39. Obama illegally offered waivers to provisions of the national education law No Child Left Behind.
40. The Obama National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) illegally sued aircraft manufacturer Boeing for trying to open a plant in the right-to-work state of South Carolina.
41. ObamaCare broke existing federal law by conferring benefits on same-sex couples.
42. The Obama EPA illegally and unconstitutionally declared that its decisions would be based on "environmental justice,” which resulted in certain types of pollution being labeled racist.
43. The Obama Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement instructed companies to lie about job losses caused by new regulations on coal.
44. The Obama administration illegally gave filmmakers classified information on the bin Laden raid.
45. The Obama Treasury Department illegally created new rules that made it harder for companies to set up in countries with low tax rates.
46. After Congress banned funding of ACORN, Obama gave $445.6 million to the Illinois Housing Development Authority, run by Joe McGavin, who was at the time still Chicago Operations Manager of the renamed ACORN Housing.
47. In order to enact new climate-change rules, the EPA illegally declared that carbon dioxide is a pollutant.
48. Romney donor Frank L. VanderSloot was publicly named by the Obama campaign Website, and he was audited by the IRS and the Department of Labor for the only time in his life, costing him $80,000 in legal fees.
49. The Obama Consumer Product Safety Commission illegally banned a toy called Buckyballs in a “recall prior to injury,” requiring ZenMagnets to fight a six-year court battle to regain the right to manufacture its product again.
50. Obama political appointees at the Department of Justice vacated a case against the Black Panthers after the department had won.
UPDATE: Welcome again, Instapundit readers and many new subscribers! Three more lists to go.