General Research #19711 >>>/qresearch/15587616

States one step closer in uphill, unconventional approach to amend Constitution, limit federal govt power

17 states have passed the resolution calling for a convention of states

By Teny Sahakian | Fox News | February 9, 2022

A state senator calling for constitutional amendments said that "overreach on the part of the federal government" has forced states to attempt reform in a way never accomplished before.

The Nebraska Legislature passed a resolution Jan. 28 calling on states to begin the formal process to pass constitutional amendments that would limit the federal government's spending and jurisdiction, as well as set term limits for members of Congress.

"What's driving this as much as anything is overreach on the part of the federal government," Nebraska state Sen. Steve Halloran, who sponsored the resolution, told Fox News.

"The Founding Fathers had anxiety that that might happen," he said. "I don't believe they imagined that it would get to this point."

Under Article V of the Constitution, state legislatures can bypass Congress to propose and vote on constitutional amendments through a convention of states.

Halloran's resolution, LR14, is Nebraska’s application for a convention that would discuss amendments to "impose fiscal restraints on the federal government, limit the power and jurisdiction of the federal government, and limit the terms of office for its officials and for members of Congress."

"It's become abundantly clear with the history of Congress that they have no sense of limiting their spending and the accrued debt that's happening upon our nation," Halloran said, calling the U.S.’s $30 trillion national debt "unsustainable."

"We have effectively kicked that can down the road on repayment of any of that, but we cannot kick the can down the road every year," he continued.

It takes 34 states to call the convention and 38 states are needed to ratify an amendment. Nebraska was the 17th state – marking the half-way point – to pass such a resolution since the effort started in 2013. Wisconsin passed one the week prior.

Halloran urged other states to "seriously consider" the legislation to call for a Convention of States.

"It's an exercise in what the Constitution is," he told Fox News. "I think it would be a great civics lesson once it happens."

The resolution has passed one chamber in eight states, and legislation is pending in 15 more state legislatures. A convention of states under Article V has never been called.

Amendments instead have been proposed through Congress. Only 27 have been added since the Constitution was adopted.

"We have to look at the historic surroundings of when the Constitution was drafted in Philadelphia in 1787 and understand full well what the Founding Fathers had in mind for the states to have equal footing with the Congress in proposing amendments," Halloran said. He told Fox News he believes this is the states' opportunity to reclaim powers they relinquished to the federal government.

Halloran said he believes the Founding Fathers would have supported term limits if they had the power of hindsight. He told Fox News that such issues are why they gave states the power amend the Constitution.

"We have career politicians now instead of citizen statesmen," he said.

"We can't operate this country on fear, uncertainty and doubt," Halloran added.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/states-one-step-closer-in-uphill-unconventional-approach-to-amend-constitution-limit-federal-govt-power

General Research #19711 >>>/qresearch/15587671

Senate Republicans Vow To Block Iran Deal As Finish Line In Sight

A group of33Senate Republicans are warning that they will try to block a revival of the Iran nuclear deal if President Biden doesn’t present the terms for the agreement to Congress for review and approval.

Led by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), the Republicans said in a letter to Biden that the president is required by a law passed in 2015 to present Congress with any new “agreement” made with Iran for a 60-day review period. Under the law, Congress could pass a resolution of disapproval that can block the nuclear deal.

If Biden doesn’t submit the agreement to Congress, the Republicans didn’t specify how they would try to block the deal. But the letter pointed out that since the nuclear deal, known as the JCPOA, isn’t a treaty, it could be torn up by the next administration if a Republican is elected in 2024.

“Any agreement related to Iran’s nuclear program which is not a treaty ratified by the Senate is subject to being reversed, and indeed will likely be torn up in the opening days of the next Presidential administration, as early as January 2025,” the letter reads.

Any nuclear agreement with Iran would never get the two-thirds approval needed in the Senate to become a treaty since virtually all Republicans and some Democrats would oppose it. This has posed a challenge for the US and Iran’s negotiations.

Tehran wants guarantees that the US won’t withdraw from the JCPOA again if it is revived. But President Biden cannot promise that future administrations will stay in the agreement. In earlier negotiations, the previous Iranian government settled for a guarantee that Biden wouldn’t leave the JCPOA during his term, but Biden refused to make the vow.

The JCPOA negotiations in Vienna resumed on Tuesday. Going into the talks, the State Department warned time is running out, but also said an agreement is “in sight.” Iranian officials said progress depends on whether or not the US is willing to lift the necessary sanctions.

https://news.antiwar.com/2022/02/08/senate-republicans-vow-to-block-iran-deal-if-biden-skips-congressional-review/

Hull numbers 700 and 711, Canadian Navy, departing Halifax. Not much else going on there

USNS BOB HOPE arrived in pearl Harbor this morning

I "acquired" this next door

>>118962 (me)

HMCS SUMMERSIDE (MM711) & HMCS KINGSTON (MM700). Kingston-class coastal defense vessels appear to be pursuing fishing vessels BRITTNEY JAMES and FREDRICK SISTERS

General Research #19713 >>>/qresearch/15589764

Biden White House in Panic Mode over Truckers – Psaki Claims Freedom Convoy is More Disruptive Than the Authoritarian Mandates They’re Protesting

As thousands of truckers continue to protest, disrupting the supply chain by shutting down major ports of entry across the northern US border, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki attempted to slander the protesters during Wednesday’s press briefing by claiming that the grassroots movement has become more of a disruption than the freedom-crushing mandates that they are protesting.

In response to a reporter’s question about the Biden administration’s plan to handle the gridlock on the Ambassador Bridge at the Windsor-Detroit crossing, which is used to transport an estimated $450 million in goods each day, Psaki downplayed the effect of the protesters, claiming that they are not the cause for the “congestion.”

Yes, really – The blockade of truckers is not the primary reason for the bridge shutdown is seriously what they are going with. And in a prepared statement, no less.

It’s all falling apart, and the White House knows it.

“Well let me first start by saying I know there’s been some suggestion, not by reporters necessarily at all, but, that this congestion is related to the vaccine requirements. It’s not… but the protests going on across Canada which have spread to a bridge, are leading to sporadic congestion and blockages.

“I would, just going back to my point I was trying to make, is that across what we’ve seen, with these requirements, is across a range of industries, vaccination requirements have been implemented with no disruptions, have helped increase vaccinations, these requirements help protect more people from COVID, and there has been zero indication across these industries that they would lead to disruptions, including on this policy.”

Zero indication? As if the Trucking Companies haven’t been warning for months that a Trucker mandate would “devastate the economy.” What a convenient piece of information to ignore. It’s almost as if they are trying to spin a narrative or something.

On the other hand, despite claiming that the truckers have little to do with the current standstill, Psaki adds that the freedom convoy participants have become more of a disruption to everyday life than the arbitrary restrictions that have been placed on citizens for disobeying the tyrannical public health regime.

Psaki continues by claiming the current regime, “of course,” “as you know” (really have to hammer it home), support the right to freedom of speech and protest, but – and that’s an awfully damning ‘but’ – apparently not if they begin to impact the regime’s bottom line:

“We of course, support, as you know, the right to freedom of speech and protest. But, while we do see some of these congestions due to protests this is clear that these disruptions have broadened in scope beyond the vaccine requirement implementation. Beyond that, we are of course in touch with our Canadian counterparts, but I don’t have any updates in terms of specific steps.”

Kind of the point, no? The elitist hacks who have been parroting the Covid fear porn for years have enjoyed the hypocritical protection of their status, galavanting around maskless while the ‘common folk’ around them are forced to work with their faces covered, or, worse yet, have been purged from their ability to make a living completely because of the vaccine mandates.

Throughout the pandemic, elites have felt little disruption at all, but the trucker convoy’s civil disobedience is finally hitting them where it hurts – their wallets.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/02/biden-white-house-panic-mode-truckers-psaki-claims-freedom-convoy-disruptive-authoritarian-mandates-protesting-video/

General Research #19714 >>>/qresearch/15589979

CA bill would require parents to notify schools of guns in the home

SB 906, authored by longtime anti-gun politician Anthony Portantino, would compel parents of K-12 students to inform their local schools whether or not they own firearms, as well as how those guns are stored in the home.

Commencing with the 2023–24 school year, and each school year thereafter, a local educational agency shall do both of the following using the model content developed by the department pursuant to Section 49391:

(1) Require the parents or guardians of a pupil to disclose, on a form used to enroll or register a pupil for the school year, whether any firearms are located at the home of the pupil and, if so, to answer questions about the ownership, storage, and accessibility by the pupil of the firearms.

(2) Include in the annual notification required pursuant to Section 48980, information relating to the safe storage of firearms.

(b) In addition to the annual notification, the local educational agency may include information relating to the safe storage of firearms on the disclosure form described in paragraph (1) of subdivision (a).

Portantino is pointing to the school shooting in Oxford, Michigan as his justification for the bill, telling a reporter from the website LAist that “”As we saw in Michigan, a school was notified of a credible threat, and then hesitated to take action and that led to tragic results.”

That sounds like a reason to introduce legislation to ensure that schools take threats seriously, and in fact the one portion of the bill that sounds reasonable to me is the requirement that schools search the locker and personal belongings of a student if they’ve been deemed a “credible threat” to student safety. Rather than stop there, however, instead Portantino made the heart of his legislation an unserious and unconstitutional attempt to demonize gun ownership in general that also violates the privacy rights of California gun owners.

Even if there weren’t glaringly obvious concerns with the constitutionality of Portantino’s proposal, the bill is so fundamentally flawed that it would be useless in actually preventing a school shooting.

First, the presence of a firearm in the home is not an indication that a student will act out violently, so signaling out gun-owning parents and putting them under the microscope accomplishes nothing except ticking them off.

The bill also apparently doesn’t get into the repercussions of not informing the school of your gun ownership or storage habits, so it’s unclear what, if any, consequences there would be for failing to comply.

The bill also states that parents or guardians must disclose their gun ownership and storage habits when a student is first enrolled or registered. What happens if, as in the case of the parents of the accused murderer in Oxford, Michigan, the gun is purchased during the school year? As the bill is written, the parents would not have been under any obligation to disclose their purchase to the school, because it happened after the school year had begun.

Honestly, though, those issues pale in comparison to the assault on our individual rights presented by the overriding ideology behind the legislation. We’ve already seen California move to allow anti-gun academics access to personal and identifying information about individual gun owners, and now anti-gun lawmakers want every anti-gun school administrator and teacher to be informed about which families have guns in their home.

By the way, do you think those who illegally possess a gun in the home are going to come clean to a school principal or guidance counselor? Yeah, me neither.

https://patriotrising.com/ca-bill-would-require-parents-to-notify-schools-of-guns-in-the-home/

General Research #19716 >>>/qresearch/15591649

Human trafficking ring smashed as suspect traced in Liverpool

A suspected 'high-ranking' member of a significant human trafficking network has been arrested in Liverpool.

A spokesman for the NCA said the arrest is the latest phase of an investigation into the smuggling of mainly Vietnamese migrants into the UK in the backs of lorries in August, September and October 2020.

The NCA has around 50 ongoing investigations into the "top tier of organised immigration crime or human trafficking"

9 FEB 2022

https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/human-trafficking-ring-smashed-suspect-23037132