Monday, August 7, 2017
Maryland city mulling over idea to let undocumented residents vote
A D.C. suburb in Maryland is considering a plan
that would give undocumented immigrants the right to vote, making their
city the largest in the Old Line State to do so.
The city, which is home of the
University of Maryland’s main campus and nearly 30,000 residents, is
weighing approval of the new measure to let noncitizens cast ballots for
mayor and City Council, The Baltimore Sun reported Sunday.
Supporters of the measure say that local elections
focus on issues like trash collection, and other municipal services and
they are issues that affect residents of the city, regardless of their
citizenship status.“These are folks who have a significant stake in our community, and who rely on the facilities in our city,” College Park City Councilwoman Christine Nagle, who is sponsoring the measure, said to the newspaper. “To me, it just made sense.”
Others in the community say that immigrants should not have a say until they have completed the process of becoming a citizen.
"On a personal level, I do not agree that noncitizens should be voting," College Park City Councilwoman Mary C. Cook said before adding that she will listen to her constituents before making a decision.
Jeff Werner, an advocate for tighter immigration restrictions with the advocacy group Help Save Maryland told the newspaper that he felt even more strongly about undocumented immigrants going to the voting booth.
“What gives them that privilege?” He asked.
A total of 10 municipalities across two counties allow noncitizens to vote in local elections. Voters in Takoma Park, a liberal enclave in Montgomery County, narrowly approved a referendum in making the town one of the first to allow the practice in Maryland.
It was preceded by Barnesville — a small town near Sugarloaf Mountain in Montgomery County — has allowed noncitizens to vote since 1918 and Somerset, which approved noncitizen voting in 1976.
The number of communities in Maryland adopting the measure has surged in recent months. Hyattsville in Prince George’s County approved immigrant voting just last year, followed by Mount Rainier, also in Prince George’s County.
The College Park proposal like the other municipalities, does not distinguish between legal permanent residents and undocumented immigrants.
Those in favor of the policy say that’s by design.
“We very intentionally made it so that we did not have questions about citizenship status,” said Patrick Paschall, a former member of the Hyattsville council who championed the legislation there said to the Sun. “It undermines the premise of noncitizen voting to try to draw a distinction.”
North Korea must halt missile tests for talks with US to occur, Tillerson says
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson
said on Monday that North Korea must halt its missile testing if they
want any sort of negotiations with the U.S.
Tillerson -- who made the comments
at a regional security meeting in Manilla, Philippines-- offered his
most specific outline to date of what preconditions the U.S. has for
talks with Pyongyang. He said stopping the launches would be the "first
and strongest signal."
He added the caveat that it would not be as simple as
The Hermit Kingdom simply stopping launches for a few days or weeks,
saying that he would not give a concrete timeframe but that the U.S.
will “know it when we see it.”The Secretary of State also praised the most recent sanctions imposed on North Korea over their recent intercontinental ballistic missile tests, saying that in leaves no doubt in anyone’s mind whether there is a common view on the matter among the international community.
The sanctions against the communist nation include a ban on coal and other exports worth over $1 billion -- a huge bite in its total exports, valued at $3 billion last year.
The comments come after President Trump tweeted late Sunday that he spoke with South Korean President Moon Jae-In and was “very happy and impressed” with the United Nations Security Council's 15-0 vote to hit Kim Jong Un's regime with the tough new sanctions.
The White House added that Trump and Moon “committed to fully implement all relevant resolutions and to urge the international community to do so as well.”
U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley called the resolution “the single largest economic sanctions package ever leveled against the North Korean regime” and "the most stringent set of sanctions on any country in a generation.”
Haley told Fox News' “Sunday Morning Futures,” “What we basically did was kicked them in the stomach, told them to stop and told them they are not going to put up with it anymore and the ball is now in North Korea’s court. They have a big decision to make. They can either respond by pulling back and said that they’re not going to be part of this reckless activity anymore or they can see where it goes and we’ll continue to keep up the strength and keep up the activity to make sure that we stop them.”
The sharp new U.N. sanctions also received a welcome boost on Sunday from China, North Korea’s economic lifeline, as Beijing called on its neighbor to halt its missile and nuclear tests.
For the U.S., it was a long-awaited sign of progress for Trump's strategy of trying to enlist Beijing's help to squeeze North Korea diplomatically and economically. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, meeting with North Korea's top diplomat during the gathering in Manila, urged the North to "maintain calm" despite the U.N. vote.
"Do not violate the U.N.'s decision or provoke international society's goodwill by conducting missile launching or nuclear tests," Wang said, in an unusually direct admonition.
On Monday, North Korea responded to the sanctions, saying that it will launch a "thousands-fold" revenge against the United States.
The North's statement issued Monday on state media came two days after the U.N. Security Council unanimously approved new sanctions, saying they were caused by a "heinous U.S. plot to isolate and stifle" North Korea.
It says the U.N. sanctions will never force the country to negotiate over its nuclear program or to give up its nuclear drive and that will take "action of justice" but didn't elaborate.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Perry Chiaramonte is a reporter for FoxNews.com. Follow him on Twitter at @perrych
White House Warns GOP on 2020 Challenge
The Trump administration sends out a warning to any Republicans thinking of running against the president in 2020.
Following reports that some GOP lawmakers are positioning themselves for a potential presidential-run, White House spokesperson Lindsay Walters quickly fired back.
She says the president is as strong as he has ever been in states like Iowa and every potentially ambitious Republican knows that.
President Trump is already forming his 2020 campaign and began raising money for the effort only weeks after the 2016 election.
Rosenstein: DOJ is Going After Leakers, Not Going After Journalists
OAN Newsroom
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein says the DOJ crack down on Washington leakers will not affect journalists who publish sensitive information unless the circumstances warrant it.
During an interview Sunday, Rosenstein defended the investigations saying he wants to stop the criminals from breaking the law.
He also said reporters do not normally get prison time for printing classified intelligence, but depending on the intent and sensitivity of the leak criminal charges could be filed against journalists.
“We have the same position on that as attorney general holder, and that is we don’t prosecute journalists for doing their job,” Rosenstein said. We look at the facts and circumstances of each case. And we determine whether it’s appropriate to hold them accountable for it. I don’t think you can draw a general line like that, but it depends on the facts and the circumstances. generally speaking reporters who publish information are not committing a crime but there might be a circumstance where they do. I haven’t seen any of those to date, but I wouldn’t rule it out.”
Attorney General Jeff Sessions has said his crack down will also review DOJ subpoena policies for journalists who publish leaked information.
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