Sanctuary State California Cartoons

ICE chief warns illegal immigration 'not going to be OK anymore': report

Acting ICE director Thomas Homan addresses the White House briefing in Washington in 2017. He said this week he will not back down from enforcing immigration laws.  (Reuters)

In a fiery speech to hundreds of law enforcement officers, the acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement excoriated the political enablers of illegal immigration on Wednesday, saying he’ll “never back down” from safeguarding the border.
Speaking at the Border Security Expo in San Antonio, Thomas Homan singled out sanctuary cities and the ongoing congressional debate over so-called “Dreamers.”
“If we get a clean DACA bill, shame on all of us,” Homan said, referring to the Obama administration’s contentious Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. "You can’t address DACA and reward people that brought children here illegally and not address underlying reasons of DACA.”
Homan, who said that he “100 percent support[s] the wall,” added that he is “sick and tired of the vilification of the men and women of ICE and the Border Patrol,” according to multiple accounts of his speech.
“If you violate the laws of this country, if you enter illegally, which is a crime, it’s not going to be OK anymore,” Horman said.
Sanctuary cities, Homan charged, endanger federal officers because they often force agents to make arrests in homes and workplaces – rather than controlled environments, like state jails.

“If you violate the laws of this country, if you enter illegally, which is a crime, it’s not going to be OK anymore."

- Acting ICE Director Thomas Homan

"They [sanctuary cities] bankroll the very criminal organizations that have killed Border Patrol agents and killed special agents in ICE," Homan said, according to an account of his speech in the Washington Examiner.
"It irritates me that a politician who has never held a badge and a gun, who doesn’t understand what we do every day, makes a decision of putting their own political careers ahead of the health and safety of a law enforcement officer," he said. "A shame!"
The approximately 40-minute speech came on the same day that ICE formalized a policy to send deportation agents to federal, state and local courthouses to make arrests.
The two-page directive said ICE will enter courthouses only for specific targets, such as convicted criminals, gang members, public safety threats and immigrants who have been previously deported or ordered to leave.
Family, friends and witnesses won't be picked up for deportation but ICE leaves a caveat for "special circumstances."
The policy, signed by Homan, says immigration agents should generally avoid arrests in non-criminal areas of the court, like family court and small claims, unless it supervisor approves.
ICE — in a not-so-subtle jab at sanctuary cities— said "increasing unwillingness of some jurisdictions to cooperate with ICE in the safe and orderly transfer of targeted aliens inside their prisons and jails has necessitated additional at-large arrests."

RNC Sets Fundraising Record in 2017

In this May 5, 2017, file photo, Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel addresses Hispanic business owners and community members at the Lansing Regional Chamber of Commerce in Lansing, Mich. Republican senators are bucking President Donald Trump’s calls to revive the health care debate. And Trump just ousted his only top White House aide with deep links to the Republican Party. Trump’s fundraising prowess is the engine of the Republican National Committee and a lifeline for every Republican planning to rely on the party for financial help during next year’s congressional races. “The president is somebody who absolutely is an asset when it comes to fundraising,” Ronna Romney McDaniel said.

The Republican National Committee continues to set fundraising records as it records a new high for a non-election year.

The RNC announced on Wednesday it raised nearly $133 million in 2017. That figure is more than double what the Democratic National Committee raised last year.

RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel said the numbers reflect voters’ optimism and continued support as President Trump fulfills his promises to the American people.
The RNC is said to have almost $40 million on hand, while the DNC has under $7 million on hand with more than $6 million dollars of debt.

Nashville council may probe whether mayor's affair was 'on taxpayers' dime'

Nashville Councilwoman Tanaka Vercher, left, has asked the council's lawyer to determine her authority to investigate the finances of Mayor Megan Barry, top right, who admitted having an extramarital affair with Sgt. Robert Forrest, her former security chief.

The Nashville city council's budget chairwoman is reviewing her options to probe Democratic Mayor Megan Barry’s possible misuse of taxpayer funds during her extramarital affair.

Councilwoman Tanaka Vercher, who heads the budget and finance committee, has asked the council’s lawyer to determine her authority to investigate Barry’s expenses during her tryst with with her former security chief, the Tennessean reported.

Barry racked up more than $33,000 in travel expenses combined between her and the security officer, Sgt. Robert Forrest, from January to late October 2017, and has said all of the trips were business-related.
According to a review by the Tennessean, Forrest accumulated more than $7,000 in overtime working on trips attended by Barry and others.
And in 2017, Forrest and Barry went on nine trips together – including one excursion to Greece -- that they said were "business related."
Forrest said Jan. 17 he would retire Wednesday after 31-plus years with Metro Nashville Police. He spent 14 years of that tenure supervising the mayor's security detail over three administrations.
“Right now the perception is — whether it’s true or not — that this affair occurred on taxpayers’ dime,” Vercher said, the Tennessean reported.

"Right now the perception is — whether it’s true or not — that this affair occurred on taxpayers’ dime.”

Barry vowed during a Wednesday news conference to cooperate with any investigators reviewing her conduct.
“Absolutely,” Barry said. “Our records are available for anybody to look at.
“There were no policies that were violated,” she added. “Nothing illegal happened. The records will absolutely show that the expenses matched what the overtime expected.”
The popular mayor, who was elected in 2015, said she plans to continue in office.

Trump critic and GOP pollster Frank Luntz: 'I owe Donald Trump an apology'

Conservative pollster Frank Luntz reconciled his 2015 public row with Donald Trump, saying Tuesday that he now owes the president an apology after his State of the Union address.

“Tonight, I owe Donald Trump an apology. Tonight, I was moved and inspired. Tonight, I have hope and faith in America again. It may go away tomorrow. But tonight, America is great again,” Luntz wrote in a series of tweets.

“Even in foreign policy and national security this speech (is) a perfect blend of strength and empathy. These heroic stories break our hearts, but sturdy our resolve. This is the Trump his voters wanted him to be,” Luntz continued.

"This is the Trump his voters wanted him to be."

The pollster’s praise for Trump did not stop there. He added that Trump's SOTU address “represents the presidential performance that Trump observers have been waiting for — brilliant mix of numbers and stories, humility and aggressiveness, traditional conservatism and political populism.”
“Only one word qualifies: Wow,” Luntz wrote, admitting in another tweet that he has “criticized the President’s language a lot in recent months.
Luntz famously got into the public spat with then-candidate Trump in 2015 after he ran a focus group following the first Republican presidential debate that torched Trump’s prospects of becoming the Republican nominee for president.
Trump accused the top Republican pollster – describing him as “unfair” and “terrible” – of running biased focus groups because he once refused to hire Luntz’s research firm for the campaign.
"This has been going on, he's putting the arm on me all the time, and then he does these polls that are totally in violation of every other poll that was done," Trump told Business Outsider back then.
"I watch this guy do a really negative report on me, and the only reason he did it, in my opinion, is because I didn't want to hire him commercially.”
Luntz denied the accusations at the time, saying he was focused only on conducting accurate focus groups, noting that Trump "launches an attack on everyone who is even remotely critical."
"If the group had said Donald Trump won this debate ... I would be the world's greatest pollster," Luntz told the publication. "Because it didn't, I'm not."
During the presidential election night in 2016, Luntz asked not be called a Republican anymore because of Trump. “I am not part of this,” he told a Yahoo News host.
“I’m not part of that system, I’m not part of that negativity. This is not something I was involved in this year," he said. "I will leave it to others to explain and to try to get themselves out of this mess.”
But not everyone accepted Luntz’s embrace of Trump. MSNBC’s "Morning Joe" co-host Mika Brezezinski, who had the pollster on the show Wednesday, criticized him for asking why people cannot give deserved credit to Trump.
“I think because he’s literally screwed everybody in that room over a few times too many. He’s been vulgar,” she said. “He’s been racist and accused one of the senators in that room of giving sexual favors for money. He’s insulted the wife of a Republican senator in that room in the worst way possible.”
She added: “You tell me that that room is supposed to respond like this (begins clapping her hands) to the great dictator.”

McCabe learned about Clinton emails on Weiner laptop a month before FBI alerted Congress, report says

Federal law enforcement sources have complained to Fox News that FBI headquarters appeared to slow roll a review of classified Clinton emails found on the laptop computer shared by Anthony Weiner and Huma Abedin; chief intelligence correspondent Catherine Herridge reports from Washington.

Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe knew of thousands of emails related to the Hillary Clinton private server investigation for at least a month before then-FBI Director James Comey informed Congress, The Wall Street Journal reported late Wednesday.

That lag is the subject of an investigation by Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz as part of a wider probe into the FBI's actions prior to the 2016 election. The Washington Post was the first to report that McCabe was a focus of Horowitz's investigation.

The timeline of when the emails were discovered on the laptop of former Democratic Rep. Anthony Weiner emerged in text messages between FBI officials Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, the Journal reported.
McCabe left his position Monday ahead of his planned retirement, effective March 18. The Post reported Tuesday that McCabe had met with FBI Director Christopher Wray to discuss the inspector general's investigation prior to the announcement of his departure.
On Sept. 28, Strzok messaged Page that he had been "called up to Andy's office" earlier that day and told of "hundreds of thousands of emails turned over by Weiner’s [attorney] to sdny," a reference to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York. Strzok added that the email cache "includes a ton of material from spouse," a reference to Weiner's then-wife Huma Abedin, a top adviser to Clinton.
However, the existence of the emails on Weiner's laptop was not made public until Oct. 28, when Comey informed Congress in a letter that the FBI was re-opening the Clinton investigation.
Strzok and two other agents spent the weekend before the Nov. 8 election sifting through about 3,000 emails from Weiner's laptop, the Journal reported. Early on the morning of Sunday, Nov. 6, Strzok texted Page that the team had found "no new classified" emails.
That same day, Comey informed Congress that the Weiner emails had not altered the FBI's initial decision not to prosecute Clinton.
At the time, the U.S. Attorney's office was investigating Weiner for crimes related to explicit messages he sent to a teenage girl. Weiner pleaded guilty to a charge of transferring obscene material to a minor and was sentenced to 21 months in prison.
The conservative group Judicial Watch has claimed that at least 18 emails containing classified information were found on Weiner's laptop. Among them were emails from Abedin's "clintonemail.com" account as well as from her Blackberry. Comey told lawmakers earlier this year that he believes Abedin regularly forwarded emails to Weiner for him to print out so she could give them to Clinton.

Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer Cartoons

Ego much? Obama talked about himself nearly four times as often as Trump in first SOTU speech

President Trump talked long on Tuesday night, “the third-longest State of the Union in the past 50 years, according to The New York Times. But he rarely talked about himself -- unlike his predecessor.

President Obama’s first State of the Union speech in 2010 featured the president saying some version of “I” or “me” nearly 100 times. That was nearly four times more than Trump managed -- 98 personal references to a mere 26.

For all the media have attacked Trump about his ego, it was Obama who earned regular criticism for being self-referential in his speeches. His first 41 speeches showed this tendency was off the charts -- mentioning himself nearly 1,200 times – 1,198 to be exact.

For all the media have attacked Trump about his ego, it was Obama who earned regular criticism for being self-referential in his speeches. His first 41 speeches showed this tendency was off the charts -- mentioning himself nearly 1,200 times – 1,198 to be exact.

Obama’s 2010 speech was littered with “I” or a contraction in some form or another -- 88 times, with another 10 “me.” Here’s a typical example: “But when I ran for president, I promised I wouldn't just do what was popular, I would do what was necessary.” That’s four in one sentence. Trump mustered two in one sentence just once. Obama managed several sentences with multiple “I” comments.
Journalists have been quick to skewer Trump over his ego. Vanity Fair recently asked, “WILL TRUMP’S BRUISED EGO LAUNCH A NUCLEAR WAR?” Politico said Trump’s ego made him prey for Putin. And though former interim DNC Chairwoman Donna Brazile said Obama had a “titanic ego,” that theme was rare in media.
But looking at the numbers, in the battle of egos, apparently Obama’s trumps even Trump’s.

Super Bowl fans should stand for the anthem -- wherever they are, South Carolina governor says

South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster, left, and kneeling New England Patriots players.

 Blls comment: "I'm not a part time American, so I will not be watching the game anyway" :-)

This Sunday won't just be Super Bowl Sunday, according to South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster. It will also be a day to stand for the national anthem.

So McMaster has declared the day “Stand for the Flag Super Bowl Sunday.”

McMaster, a Republican, issued a proclamation to that effect Tuesday as the world waits to see whether players from the New England Patriots and Philadelphia Eagles will take a knee during “The Star-Spangled Banner” this weekend.
“Standing for the national anthem recognizes and honors the sacrifice of generations of men and women who have chosen to serve in the United States Armed Forces,” McMaster said. “I ask that all South Carolinians show the world our state’s resolute commitment to supporting our troops by standing for the national anthem wherever you watch the Super Bowl with your loved ones this Sunday.”
The governor’s decision was quickly blasted on social media, according to South Carolina newspaper the State. Some took exception with the policy, while others criticized McMaster for not doing more for veterans.
A South Carolina restaurant was also feeling the heat after deciding to have an “Honor Bowl” in lieu of airing the Super Bowl.
David McCraw, an Air Force veteran and owner of the Palmetto Restaurant and Ale House in Greenville, told Fox News on Tuesday he is still boycotting the NFL.
“My feelings are basically the same as they always were,” McCraw said. “I find it disrespectful to the people who fought for this country — their coffins are draped in this flag.”
McMaster’s proclamation comes as a tumultuous NFL season winds down. It was a year that saw President Donald Trump reignite the national anthem controversy, suggesting that NFL players should be fired if they participate in national anthem protests.
NBC Sports Executive Producer Fred Guadelli said earlier this month that the network would show kneelers on air.
“When you are covering a live event, you are covering what’s happening,” he said at a Television Critics Association event.
The game between the Patriots and Eagles is set for Sunday at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis.

Illinois Dem mocks Trump's SOTU: 'Whoever translated it for him from Russian did a good job'

U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez mockingly praised President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address Tuesday night, saying in a statement that it was “clear and well-delivered,” and that “[w]hoever translated it for him from Russian did a good job.”

The Illinois Democrat, who has announced he will retire from Congress at the end of his current term, is testing the waters for a 2020 presidential run, Fox News reported.

In his statement, Gutierrez – who has previously called Trump a “major criminal” who wants to destroy families and pollute the environment -- specifically criticized Trump’s immigration policy.
“If you look at how the President has treated Puerto Rico, you have to conclude that he just doesn’t care and probably thinks of Puerto Rico as just another s---hole country,” Gutierrez wrote.

“If you look at how the President has treated Puerto Rico, you have to conclude that he just doesn’t care and probably thinks of Puerto Rico as just another s---hole country.”

The longtime congressman -- whose 4th Congressional District is composed of parts of Chicago and its suburbs -- added that the “White House agenda is to gut legal immigration in exchange for allowing some of the Dreamers to live here” and that Trump’s speech “did nothing to bring the pro- and anti-immigrant sides closer together.”
Earlier in January, Gutierrez suggested he would support a deal funding Trump’s proposed border wall with Mexico if the White House offered protections for so-called Dreamers.
"I'll go down there with bricks and mortar," Gutierrez said last week, adding that he found the idea of the wall offensive.
But after Trump’s State of the Union address, Gutierrez struck a less conciliatory note.
“I was hoping to get through my life without having to witness an outwardly, explicitly racist American President, but my luck ran out,” he said in the statement.