Conservative Blogger
Tuesday, January 2, 2018
Trump calls Kate Steinle verdict 'disgraceful,' says 'no wonder' people are 'angry with illegal immigration'
“A disgraceful verdict in the Kate Steinle case!” Trump tweeted after the jury rejected possible charges ranging from involuntary manslaughter to first-degree murder. “No wonder the people of our Country are so angry with Illegal Immigration.”
Early Friday, Trump reaffirmed his support for the border wall and warned Democrats they will pay a "big price" in future elections for being "weak" on crime.
Jim Steinle, who was walking with his 32-year-old daughter when she was killed, echoed Trump’s sentiments, telling the San Francisco Chronicle the family was saddened and shocked by the verdict.
"There's no other way you can coin it. Justice was rendered, but it was not served," he said in what he called the last interview he would do about the case.
A jury earlier Thursday found Jose Ines Garcia Zarate not guilty in Steinle’s killing on a San Francisco pier during the presidential primary campaign in 2015.
U.S. immigration officials said they will deport Garcia Zarate, who had been deported five times and was wanted for a sixth deportation when Steinle was fatally shot in the back while walking with her father.
The killing touched off a fierce national immigration debate, and was used by then-candidate Trump to push for a wall on the Mexican border.
"From Day 1 this case was used as a means to foment hate, to foment division and to foment a program of mass deportation. It was used to catapult a presidency along that philosophy of hate of others," defense attorney Francisco Ugarte said after the verdict. "I believe today is a day of vindication for the rest of immigrants."
The case spotlighted San Francisco's "sanctuary city" policy, which limits local officials from cooperating with U.S. immigration authorities.
Politics, however, did not come up in the month-long trial that featured extensive testimony from ballistics experts. Defense attorneys argued that Garcia Zarate was a hapless homeless man who killed Steinle in a freak accident. Prosecutors said he meant to shoot and kill her.
Garcia Zarate did not deny shooting Steinle and said it was an accident.
Jurors did find him guilty of being a felon in possession of a firearm, meaning he knowingly had a firearm but there was no intent for him to hurt or shoot anyone. Public Defender Jeff Adachi said the count carries a potential sentence of 16 months to three years behind bars.
The family did not attend the reading of the verdict. Jurors left without comment and the judge sealed their names.
Before the shooting, Garcia Zarate finished a federal prison sentence for illegal re-entry into the United States and had been transferred to San Francisco's jail in March 2015 to face a 20-year-old charge for selling marijuana.
New York Dems Cuomo, de Blasio still seem at odds
It’s difficult to say what’s colder in New York
these days – the winter weather or the frosty feud between the state’s
two most prominent Democrat office holders.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio was sworn in for a second term on New Year’s Day, in a frigid 14-degree outdoor ceremony, with U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders imported from Vermont to officiate.
Where was New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo? He was out on Long Island, swearing in a suburban county executive.Odd couple
Though members of the same party, de Blasio and Cuomo have long been the Democrats’ odd couple.
In September, for example, Cuomo refused to endorse any candidate in New York’s mayor’s race, the New York Post reported, even though progressive de Blasio was a solid favorite to win re-election.
Then in November, the pair seemed to be fighting over who should be considered more “anti-Trump,” the Post reported, citing a fundraising letter in which the more centrist Cuomo urged his supporters to protest outside a Dec. 2 Trump fundraising event in Manhattan.
U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, left, administers the oath of office
as New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is sworn in for a second term, in
New York City, Jan. 1, 2018.
(Associated Press)
Joke from Clinton
The long-running tiff was even a source of public mockery from then-Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton at a New York political dinner just prior to the 2016 presidential election.
Her Republican rival, Donald Trump, was also in attendance.
“Your eminence,” Clinton said to the evening’s host, Roman Catholic Archbishop Timothy Cardinal Dolan, “you do deserve great credit for bringing together two people who've been at each other's throats — mortal enemies, bitter foes.
“I've got to ask: How did you get the governor and mayor here together tonight?”
De Blasio won re-election in November, becoming the first Democrat to return to City Hall in New York since Edward Koch won a third term in 1985."I've got to ask: How did you get the governor and mayor here together tonight?"
Hillary Clinton joked about the Cuomo-de Blasio feud during the 2016 presidential campaign.
(Associated Press)
Why was Sanders the choice to swear in de Blasio? Perhaps because Sanders stumped for de Blasio during the mayoral campaign, where he referred to de Blasio as “the opposite” of President Donald Trump – a characterization undoubtedly popular with de Blasio’s progressive base.
U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders has called New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio "the opposite" of President Donald Trump.
Aside from being ideological allies, Sanders and de Blasio also each have ties to Brooklyn. Sanders was born in the New York City borough, and de Blasio has called it home for many years.
With new year, California becomes 'sanctuary state'
California became a "sanctuary state" Monday, as a
bill that Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law in October
officially took effect.
The law bars police in the nation's
most populous state from asking people about their immigration status or
participating in federal immigration enforcement activities in most
cases, Fox News reported.
The Golden State is home to an estimated 2.3 million illegal immigrants.“These are uncertain times for undocumented Californians and their families, and this bill strikes a balance that will protect public safety, while bringing a measure of comfort to those families who are now living in fear everyday,” Brown said on the day he signed the bill.
But the measure has drawn a rebuttal from an unidentified source, as signs mocking the law have appeared below the "Welcome to California" signs that greet motorists as they enter from Arizona and Nevada.
"OFFICIAL SANCTUARY STATE," the signs declare. "Felons, Illegals and MS13 Welcome! Democrats Need The Votes!"
California passed the bill just as the Trump administration was pledging to crack down on sanctuary cities that refuse to cooperate with federal immigration authorities.
Trump repeatedly pointed to the case of Kate Steinle, a woman who was fatally shot July 1, 2015, on a San Francisco pier by an illegal immigrant. The defendant went on trial for murder, but was acquitted in November 2017.
“No wonder the people of our Country are so angry with Illegal Immigration," the president tweeted after the verdict, which he labeled "disgraceful."
Other members of the Trump administration spoke out against the California proposal.
“The bill risks the safety of good law enforcement officers and the safety of the neighborhoods that need their protection the most,” Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in September, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Added Thomas Homan, acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement: “By passing this bill, California politicians have chosen to prioritize politics over public safety.
“Disturbingly, the legislation serves to codify a dangerous policy that deliberately obstructs our country’s immigration laws and shelters serious criminal alien offenders," Homan's statement continued.
Prior to Brown's approval, California's Legislature passed the measure in September.
Leaked meeting notes show how panicked Iranian regime considered stopping deadly protests: 'God help us'
A leaked report provided to Fox News shows how
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei met with political leaders
and heads of the country's security forces to discuss how to tamp down
on the deadly nationwide protests.
The report covered several meetings
up to December 31 and was provided to the National Council of Resistance
of Iran (NCRI) from what it said were high level sources from within
the regime.
The meeting notes, which have been translated into
English from Farsi, said the unrest has hurt every sector of the
country's economy and “threatens the regime’s security. The first step,
therefore, is to find a way out of this situation.”The report added, “Religious leaders and the leadership must come to the scene as soon as possible and prevent the situation (from) deteriorating further.” It continued, “God help us, this is a very complex situation and is different from previous occasions.”
As the protests continue to spread, the total number dead rose Monday to at least 13, including a police officer shot and killed with a hunting rifle in the central city of Najafabad.
According to NCRI sources and reports from within Iran, at least 40 cities across Iran witnessed protests Monday, including in the capital city of Tehran. These reports state that slogans heard included “Death to the dictator,” and “the leader lives like God while the people live like beggars.”
The regime's notes claimed protesters “started chanting the ultimate slogans from day one. In Tehran today, people were chanting slogans against Khamenei and the slogans used yesterday were all against Khamenei.”
The notes added that the intelligence division of the feared Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is “monitoring the situation” and “working all in coordination to prevent protests.”
It says that a “red alert” has not yet been declared, which would lead to direct military intervention in the protests. But it then predicted that sending IRGC or the Bassij forces would “backfire” and would further “antagonize the protesters.”
Messages of support for the protesters from President Trump and other administration officials were also mentioned in the report. “The United States officially supported the people on the streets.” The notes continued by saying the U.S. and the West “have all united in support of the Hypocrites,” the regime’s pejorative description of the People's Mujahedin of Iran (MEK) which is one of the groups making up the NCRI.
The meeting notes that the leader of the NCRI, Maryam Rajavi, and the “Infidels,” which the translation says refers to "the West," “are united for the first time.” It continued, “Maryam Rajavi is hoping for regime change,” saying the protests are “definitely organized,” and “the security forces report that the MEK is very active and is leading and directing them.”
The notes also warn that all those affiliated with leadership “must be on alert and monitor the situation constantly,” continuing, “the security and intelligence forces must constantly monitor the situation on the scene and conduct surveillance and subsequently report to the office of the leadership.”
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