Do Democrats really care about Dreamers? No, they will do anything to score political points

Democrats are threatening to shut down the federal government, refusing to pass a spending bill unless it contains a path to legal status for the so-called “Dreamers” protected under President Obama’s DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) program.

Are the Democrats really concerned with the status of these young people brought to the U.S. illegally as children, or with reforming our broken immigration system? No. They are trying to score political points.

Let’s review:
Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., recently went to a closed-door meeting at the White House to push his immigration plan. He was so genuinely intent on getting a bipartisan deal done to save the Dreamers that he torpedoed the entire undertaking by running to the microphones and claiming President Trump’s made a “racist” comment about “s---hole” countries.
Does that make any sense? No, it does not.
Durbin knew full well when he made his accusation that President Trump used such vulgar language that a media firestorm would be unleashed. He was betting that if the talks broke down, and Congress failed to resolve the Dreamer issue, President Trump would be blamed.
That, to Durbin and his Democratic colleagues – Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California – is much, much more important than actually lifting the cloud of uncertainty that hovers over the heads of the so-called Dreamers.
Here is the reality: Democrats are scared to death that a Republican Congress and a Republican president may actually effect some reform of our flawed immigration system. They have pursued the Hispanic community vigorously for many years, seeking to solidify their support within the country’s fastest growing demographic.
Part of the Democratic strategy has been to demonize the GOP as racist and anti-immigrant. Trump’s candidacy and his careless comments about Mexicans greased the skids.
In their eagerness to curry favor with Hispanics, Democrats have increasingly abandoned their earlier professed support for secure borders. Though they continue to pay lip service to protecting against illegal immigration, many have opposed the use of E-verify and other approaches that might reduce the allure of entering the U.S. without authorization.
The Democrats have also encouraged the spread of sanctuary cities, where local governments limit their cooperation with federal officials on the enforcement of U.S. immigration laws. And they just hate Trump’s proposed wall along our southern border.
Now many Democrats are insisting they will not vote for a spending bill needed to keep government operating beyond Friday night unless it includes a lopsided DACA fix proposed by Senators Durbin and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., which allows Dreamers a path to legal status but skimps on border enforcement.
Though nearly everyone supports protecting Dreamers against deportation, Republicans and the White House want to couple that with enhanced border security, to make sure that what some are calling “amnesty” does not result in great numbers of new people flooding in without permission. 
Democrats are taking a risk. Most Americans are compassionate and welcoming to immigrants, recognizing the invaluable contributions of those who have come to the U.S. from other nations legally.
But, at the same time, most Americans favor border enforcement. Hillary Clinton found that out the hard way, when WikiLeaks exposed her making this comment in 2013: "My dream is a hemispheric common market, with open trade and open borders, sometime in the future.…”
Those remarks gave candidate Trump the ammunition he needed to paint his opponent as weak on protecting our borders; it didn’t help that the lines came from a paid speech Clinton made to a Brazilian bank.
Polling has shown that 65 percent of Americans favor coupling legal status for the Dreamers with tougher immigration enforcement. Some 79 percent of those surveyed think employers should have to verify the legal status of their workers, for instance. Democrats balking at such a compromise are on the wrong side of this issue.
Many in the liberal media argue that the GOP will be blamed for any spending impasse that forces a government shutdown, since Republicans have a majority in both houses of Congress and occupy the White House. But Americans understand that passing a budget requires 60 votes in the Senate, which Republicans do not have. Republicans will need at least 10 Democratic votes.
Democrats are in a pickle. They can anger the nation by blocking a proposed spending resolution that lacks a DACA fix but that would fund our military and provide a six-year extension of the popular Children’s Health Insurance Program. Or they can infuriate Hispanics by keeping the federal lights on and working to resolve the Dreamer problem as part of a broader immigration package.
Latinos do not look to Republicans to fix this problem; they expect Democrats to do so. It isn’t the office of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., that has attracted a protest demonstration by immigration activists – it is Chuck Schumer’s.
Everyone wants changes to our immigration system, including the White House. And nearly everyone wants to protect the Dreamers. There’s lots of room to negotiate, and President Trump has signaled support for a compromise.
But a compromise – a win – on immigration would be another nightmare for Democrats. The optics of President Trump hosting a signing ceremony in the White House to celebrate passage of an immigration bill, which has eluded the past several presidents, would be unimaginably valuable for Republicans as we approach the November elections.
A new immigration law would be almost as valuable for Republicans as the millions of workers getting bonuses and wage hikes because of the GOP tax bill that President Trump signed into law.
A few more wins and Democrats are going to have a hard time persuading voters that President Trump and a Republican Congress aren’t indeed Making America Great Again.

Democrats Schumer, Pelosi quick to blame Trump after Senate fails to avert shutdown

After a midnight deadline came and went Friday night in a bid to avert a government shutdown, Democrats in Washington were quick to assign blame.

“There’s no one more to blame for the position we find ourselves than President Trump," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said on the Senate floor early Saturday. "Instead of bringing us all together, he’s pulled us apart.”

Throughout his speech, Schumer used the phrase “Trump Shutdown” -- an apparent reaction to the Republicans' insistence during the week that any shutdown should be labeled a "Schumer Shutdown."
Tom Perez, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, also saw responsibility lying with the president -- but also with other Republican leaders.
“What a massive failure of leadership. Donald Trump, Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell and Republican lawmakers pulled out all the stops to give a massive tax break to their wealthy donors, but now that it’s time to take care of the rest of America they can’t get their act together," Perez said in a statement.
"The American people clearly want Congress to take care of veterans, combat the opioid crisis, ensure children have long-term access to health care, and protect Dreamers. Instead, Republican leaders have pushed our government into a needless shutdown. This is Trump’s Republican Party: chaotic, destructive and driven by greed. Voters won’t forget who the GOP truly cares about on Election Day.”
In her response, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi quoted President Trump as having said that "our country needs a good shutdown."
"There is no such thing as a good shutdown of government," Pelosi responded. "Republicans’ total inability to govern is once again threatening our economy, weakening communities, and dangerously depriving the military of the certainty they need to keep our nation safe.
“I am proud of House and Senate Democrats’ unity in insisting on a budget that supports our military and the domestic investments that keep our nation strong, and that honors our values by protecting the DREAMers.
“I hope that we can now conduct bipartisan negotiations where we find our common ground to honor our responsibility to meet the needs of the American people.”
U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J. -- who earlier in the week took criticism for his questioning of Homeland Security Secretary Kristjen Nielsen during a Senate hearing -- tweeted that Republicans had "failed" the American people.
"(A)nd now the American people will suffer," Booker concluded.
Republicans control the Senate 51-49. The GOP needed 60 votes to pass a temporary spending plan late Friday to avert a shutdown, but the tally was 50-49. Five Democrats voted in favor of the measure. Five Republicans voted against it.
The Senate adjourned early Saturday, with plans to resume negotiations later in the day in hopes of reaching a spending agreement and ending the shutdown.

Dems deserve blame for 'Schumer Shutdown,' GOP leaders say

Republican leaders blamed their Democratic counterparts after the Senate failed to pass a spending bill by midnight Friday to avert a government shutdown.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and the GOP needed 60 votes to pass a measure that would have kept the government running until mid-February, but not enough Democrats went along with the plan. The tally was 50-49, with five Democrats voting in favor of the measure and five Republicans voting against it.

“Most of the stuff we agree on. One reason we ended up here, the shoehorning of illegal immigration into this debate,” McConnell said after the vote failed, adding that the Senate would resume talks later Saturday to prevent a prolonged shutdown.
At the center of the soured negotiations was the Obama-era DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) program, which has protected some young immigrants from deportation.
After the Senate adjourned for the evening, McConnell underscored that the shutdown was “avoidable,” while calling the Democrats' decision to filibuster “irresponsible.”
On Twitter, McConnell, R-Ky., singled out Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., claiming he “doesn’t even have an immigration bill.”
“The facts before us are simple. Right now, the Democratic leader has no compromise immigration bill on the table. No bill exists,” McConnell tweeted. Why do Americans need to suffer from a government shutdown when he doesn’t even have an immigration bill?”

"Right now, the Democratic leader has no compromise immigration bill on the table. No bill exists. Why do Americans need to suffer from a government shutdown when he doesn’t even have an immigration bill?”

On Friday, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders had labeled the potential disruption of government services a “Schumer Shutdown,” in a statement Friday, faulting Democrats for behaving like “obstructionist losers” who put “politics above our national security, military families, vulnerable children, and our country’s ability to serve all Americans.”
Vice President Mike Pence echoed those sentiments in a Tweet late Friday night.
"Rather than solve problems, Democratic leadership preferred a shutdown that has dangerous consequences for our national defense. Their action tonight – or lack thereof – is unconscionable," Pence said.
Tweeting before the vote, President Donald Trump suggested Democrats wanted a shutdown in an effort to “diminish the great success of the Tax Cuts,” with a pessimistic undertone that doubted a deal could be reached in time.
House Speaker Paul Ryan called the Democrats' decision to block a four-week stopgap extension “reckless.”
“Senate Democrats have let down our troops, our children, and all Americans. All of this is just unnecessary. It is reckless. Senate Democrats have brought us to a shutdown,” Ryan said in a statement posted to Twitter.
However, during his closing remarks on the Senate floor, Schumer said no one deserves the blame more than Trump. Schumer claimed that Democrats were willing to compromise with the White House on a U.S.-Mexico border wall in exchange for DACA protection policies.
The spin from both sides was intended to aid the prospects of candidates facing re-election in 2018.
For now, the military, health inspectors and law enforcement were all scheduled to work without pay, while the brunt of the shutdown won’t be felt until Monday as hundreds of thousands of federal employees are set to be furloughed if a deal isn't reached over the weekend.
The Senate planned to reconvene Saturday afternoon, in hopes of reaching a bipartisan agreement to prevent of prolonged shutdown. McConnell has filed a procedure to introduce another short-term spending bill that would fund the government through Feb. 8, but the earliest the Senate could hold a vote would be Monday.
If the Senate bill passes, it would then return to the House for a reconciliation vote.

Border Wall Cartoons

Grade school's anti-border wall posters describe police as predators

At first glance, the posters displayed inside classrooms at El Camino del Rio/River Road Elementary School seemed innocuous.

"Immigrants Welcome," the posters read.

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But there was more. There was a drawing that included wire cutters and a barbed-wire fence. And there was more writing:
"The border is not a wall - it's a system of control. It doesn't protect people; it pits them against each other. It doesn't foster togetherness; it breeds resentment. It doesn't keep out predators; it gives them badges and guns," the posters read. "The border does not divide one world from another. There is only one world, and the border is tearing it apart."
Eugene, Ore. radio station KLCC reports there was also a website address on the posters -- directing readers to a pro-anarchist website called, "Crimethinc.com.
Crimethinc describes itself as a "rebel alliance" and an "international network of aspiring revolutionaries extending from Kansas to Kuala Lumpur."
The organization is a "secret society pledged to the propagation of crimethink."
So why would teachers at an elementary school expose children to a self-proclaimed "international network of aspiring revolutionaries?"
Continue reading at ToddStarnes.com.
Todd Starnes is host of Fox News & Commentary. His latest book is “The Deplorables’ Guide to Making America Great Again.” Follow him on Twitter @ToddStarnes and find him on Facebook.

Trump DOJ asks Supreme Court to overturn DACA ruling

The Department of Justice on Thursday formally asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a lower court’s ruling to block, in part, the Trump administration’s decision to phase out the Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals program.
The unusual step bypasses the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which would have been the normal move to overturn U.S. District Judge William Alsup’s ruling.
Last week, the San Francisco-based judge ordered the Trump administration to renew parts of DACA and start accepting renewal applications from those already part of the program while related lawsuits make their way through the legal system. However, Alsup did not demand that new applications be accepted.
On Tuesday, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said Alsup’s ruling “defies both law and common sense” and said the department’s Supreme Court request would happen by week's end.
DACA, which impacts roughly 700,000 people dubbed “Dreamers,” had been set to expire March 5 after Sessions announced in September the Trump administration was rescinding the Obama-era program.

House panel releases Glenn Simpson testimony transcript

The co-founder of the opposition research firm Fusion GPS told the House Intelligence Committee this past November that "people were arrested or died mysteriously" after the existence of the now-infamous "Trump-Russia dossier" was made public.

However, Glenn Simpson did not say whether those affected actually contributed information to the unverified dossier, which was compiled by former British spy Christopher Steele and which BuzzFeed published in January of last year.

"I do believe there was a bit of an old-fashioned purge," Simpson told the committee, before adding, " to my knowledge, it wasn't anyone that helped us. I think it was more likely people who were taking the opportunity to settle scores or were falsely accused ... and/or were sources of the U.S. Intelligence Community, not us."
'SOMEBODY'S ALREADY BEEN KILLED' BECAUSE OF TRUMP DOSSIER, FUSION GPS REP REVEALED
In August, Simpson's attorney told the Senate Judiciary Committee that "somebody's already been killed" as a result of the dossier's publication, but did not identify who the person was.
The Committee voted unanimously Thursday to released the transcript of Simpson's six-hour Nov. 14 appearance before the committee, one of three congressional panels investigating Russian actions during the 2016 presidential election campaign.

CLICK TO READ THE FULL TRANSCRIPT
Simpson told the committee that he and Steele began shopping the dossier to media outlets in late October of 2016, after then-FBI Director James Comey announced that the Bureau was re-opening the investigation into Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton's private email server. He said he was "angry" that Comey, in Simpson's view, had "violated the sort of one of the more sacrosanct policies, which is not announcing law enforcement activity in the closing days of an election."

"We decided that if James Comey wasn't going to tell people about this investigation ... we would only be fair if the world knew that both candidates were under FBI investigation," Simpson said.
However, Simpson denied that Fusion GPS leaked the dossier to BuzzFeed and told the committee he was "not happy" when it was published.
"I was very upset," he said. "I thought it was a very dangerous thing and that someone had violated my confidences."

In his testimony, Simpson described how Fusion GPS was retained by Perkins Coie, a law firm representing the Democratic National Committee and the Clinton campaign, in the summer of 2016. He said the committee was paid a "flat fee" of $50,000 per month, plus expenses to research Trump on the Democrats' behalf.
"I'd say, in general, we were the architects of the research and we made most of the decisions about what to look for and where to look," he said.
Simpson also detailed facts Fusion GPS claimed to have uncovered about the president while the firm was contracted by the conservative Washington Free Beacon to do research on then-candidate Trump and other GOP contenders for the White House.
CONSERVATIVE WEBSITE FUNDED INITIAL FUSION GPS TRUMP OPPOSITION EFFORT
"Various [Russian] criminals were buying [Trump] properties," said Simpson, identifying one by the underworld name Taiwanchik. "I think he was running a -- his associates were living in Trump Tower, ·and he was running a high-stakes gambling ring out of Trump Tower, while he himself was a fugitive for having rigged the skating competition at the [2002] Salt Lake Olympics and a bunch of other sporting events."
"When Mr. Trump went to the Miss Universe pageant [in Moscow] in 2013," Simpson added, "Taiwanchik was there in the VIP section with Mr. Trump and lots of other Kremlin biggies."
The dossier made headlines for its salacious claims about Trump's sexual proclivities, but Simpson denied that the firm had wanted to investigate Trump's sex life, saying he "just didn't think it was a useful subject to investigate."

However, he added that the existence of such claims "is a big deal for Chris Steele ... This is something he has dealt with his entire adult life.
"So I can't tell you he wasn't looking·for that, because it was probably something that was among the things that he would have asked someone to check," Simpson said.
The committee's top Democrat, California Rep. Adam Schiff, said in a statement that Simpson had made "serious allegations that the Trump Organization may have engaged in money laundering with Russian nationals ..."
"Mr. Simpson ... testified that if the Trump Organization did engage in money laundering with the Russians, it would be with the knowledge or approval of the Kremlin and constitute powerful leverage over the President of the United States," Schiff added.
At one point during the committee interview, Simpson was asked the central question at the heart of the congressional investigations and that of special counsel Robert Mueller -- whether the Trump campaign had coordinated with Russia to influence the outcome of the 2016 presidential election.

Simpson did not say yes or no, but said the patterns of behavior that emerged from the investigation raise questions.

"I think that the evidence that has developed over the last year, since President Trump took office, is that there is a well-established pattern of surreptitious contacts that occurred last year that supports the broad allegation of some sort of an undisclosed political or financial relationship between the Trump Organization and people in Russia," Simpson said.

In Chile, pope met by protests, threats, burned churches

SANTIAGO, Chile –  As he does during every papal visit, Pope Francis produced plenty of surprises in Chile: He married a couple during a flight, stopped his motorcade to help a fallen police officer and wept with victims of sex abuse by priests.
But the pope also faced protests and a level of hostility unheard of in modern times for a papal visit. Anti-pope protests had to be broken up with tear gas, attackers burned at least 11 Roman Catholic Churches and pamphlets were found threatening Francis that the "next bomb would be in your cassock."
"This kind of violence during a papal visit is absolutely unprecedented. And Chile is historically a very solidly Catholic nation," said Andrew Chesnut, the Catholic Studies chair at Virginia Commonwealth University.
It remains to be seen whether the friction in Chile was a fluke or a harbinger of what to expect in future papal trips.
The neighboring country of Peru, where Francis went Thursday, isn't taking any chances. Authorities have banned demonstrations because they "impact the image of the country," police spokeswoman Veronica Marquez said.
Papal visits sometimes attract demonstrations. In 2010, thousands in London protested the visit of Pope Benedict XVI, condemning his stance on condoms, women's rights and homosexuality, among other things. But the ferocity and firebombing of churches in Chile went beyond anything in modern memory.
"These violent acts may be a first in the history of the 'traveling papacy,'" said Massimo Faggioli, a theology professor at Villanova University in Philadelphia. "It is striking also because Latin America is supposed to be friendly territory for Francis" — the first pope from the region.
Chile has changed radically, from its economy to politics, in less than a generation. Those changes, combined with a pedophile priest scandal and what many argue was a bungled response by the church, has accelerated a move away from Catholicism. Last year, 45 percent of Chileans identified as Catholic, a sharp drop in just a decade from the mid-60s, according to Latinobarometro's annual poll.
One of the pope's sharply contested decisions — to appoint a Chilean bishop with close ties to the country's most notorious pedophile priest — soured many on the visit before it even began.
A few days before Francis arrived, a group angry about the cost of the papal visit briefly occupied the Nunciature in Santiago where the pope would sleep.
The same day, several churches were burned. Over the next couple of days during the pope's visit, several more churches were torched, along with three helicopters.
It was unclear who was behind the arson attacks. Outside some of the churches, pamphlets were found supporting the cause of indigenous Mapuche. Pamphlets outside one threatened the pope.
The Mapuche, Chile's largest indigenous group, are fighting for a return of ancestral lands, recognition of their language and an end to discrimination.
Much of Francis' trip was dedicated to the conflict. During his homily Wednesday in the heart of Mapuche territory, he took both the Mapuche and Chilean officials to task, calling for a halt to violence and for government engagement that goes beyond just "elegant" agreements.
The burning of churches is a tactic frequently employed by radical Mapuche groups: Nearly two dozen have been firebombed the last two years. That 11 were then attacked in just a few days is a possible sign that these groups saw the visit as an opportunity to bring more attention to their cause.
"The burning of churches is an expression of the disgruntlement" that many Mapuche feel for the Catholic Church, said German Silva, a political analyst at the Universidad Mayor in Santiago.
During Chile's 1973-1990 dictatorship, several bishops spoke out in defense of human rights and worked closely with indigenous populations. Today's bishops are much less visible, arguably less hands-on with the poor and in general the church has nowhere near the same moral authority.
Other groups protested the pope himself. While Francis celebrated Mass on Tuesday at a large park in Santiago, riot police shot tear gas and arrested dozens of protesters as they tried to march on the service.
Protesters included members of the country's LGBT community, socialists and people angry at the church's reaction to the sex abuse scandal that many Chileans don't feel has been resolved.
"There will be no peace for an accomplice who helps and protects a rapist," read one sign.
"Burn, Daddy!" read another.
Hours before Francis left Chile, he made comments that all but overshadowed his entire visit, and certainly would have added to the protests if they had come sooner. When asked why he defended Bishop Juan Barros, the former protege of the pedophile priest, Francis said there was no proof Barros knew about the abuse and called those accusations against him slanderous.
"After saying those things, if he came back here his reception would be even worse," said Erivano Luna, a computer technician in Santiago.

China secretly bought North Korean coal as US watched from above: report

The Glory Hope 1 is shown in a satellite picture, where it reportedly took on illicit North Korean coal.  (U.S. photo submitted to the United Nations)

At least six cargo ships linked to China furtively violated U.N. sanctions by taking on North Korean coal late last year, potentially providing a significant boost to the rogue regime's coffers, the U.S. alleges.

The U.N. Security Council in August hit North Korea with sanctions that were projected to cut nearly $1 billion from its annual exports revenue of roughly $3 billion, banning exports of coal, iron ore, and other products.

The move, which China ultimately endorsed, came after the isolated country fired two intercontinental ballistic missiles that raised international tensions.
But the six vessels, which the U.S. tracked by satellite and formally reported to the U.N. as sanctions violators in December, defied the sanctions by bringing North Korean coal to Vietnam, Russia, or other ships in mid-sea transfers, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing U.S. officials.
The paper found that the six ships are either managed or owned by Chinese companies or firms registered in Hong Kong. The U.S. also sought to have four other ships that have no apparent connections to China labeled as sanctions violators.
One of the Chinese-linked cargo ships, the Glory Hope 1, began violating the sanctions just days after they were passed in August, U.S. officials said, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The Chinese-owned ship flew a Panamanian flag and turned off its automatic identifying transmitter as it headed into a North Korean port on Aug. 7, the Journal reported.

The Chinese-owned ship Kai Xiang was photographed appearing to load North Korean coal.  (U.S. photo)

Meanwhile, the U.S. was watching from above, using spy satellites to observe the ship that officials estimate could hold up to $1.5M worth of black-market coal.
The Glory Hope 1 loitered for an extended period at a Chinese port after arriving from North Korea, U.S. officials told the U.N.
U.S. officials suspect the unusual maneuver was a ruse to make it appear that the crew was taking on Chinese cargo, according to the Wall Street Journal.
All U.N. members would have to ban the Glory Hope 1 and the other five ships from their ports in order to formally designate them as sanctions violators.
China’s foreign ministry told the Journal that it fully complies with U.N. resolutions. Several of the ship-owners and managers linked to the ships have reportedly been questioned by Chinese authorities.
U.S. National security advisor H.R. McMaster last month threatened harsh consequences for ships that continue to defy the sanctions.
“A company whose ships would engage in that activity ought to be on notice that that might be the last delivery of anything they do for a long time, anywhere,” McMaster said.

CNN Jim Acosta Cartoons

Dr. Manny Alvarez: FDA makes incredible progress under Trump administration, approving new life-saving drugs

Without great fanfare and out of the glare of the media spotlight, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is making enormous progress under the Trump administration in approving new medications to help us live healthier and longer.

In fact, the FDA today is operating more efficiently and effectively than it has in the past 20 years. This is good news for us all, because undoubtedly some of us will benefit from the new drugs being approved more rapidly than before.

Among its many duties, the FDA regulates medical innovation and the creation of new therapies in the biotech sector. Remarkably, the agency increased the number of new drugs it allowed on the market by 20 percent in 2017 – an unprecedented increase.
Take, for example, Roche’s new multiple sclerosis drug Ocrevus. Multiple sclerosis is a chronic, inflammatory autoimmune disease that disturbs communication between the brain and the rest of the body, affecting 2.5 million Americans. The approval of Ocrevus in March provided great hope for those suffering from the most debilitating forms of the disease.

As a practicing doctor for over 30 years, I have witnessed firsthand the speed and intensity with which other countries – especially in Europe – were outpacing the United States when it came to making often life-saving drugs available to patients.

We’ve also seen an influx of cancer immunotherapy drugs to stimulate the body’s own immune system to attack cancer cells. These drugs are used in place of classic chemotherapy and radiation cocktails that can have unwanted and lasting side effects. Many of the world’s leading cancer doctors consider immunotherapy to be the future of cancer treatment, and there is a lot of research now to backup those theories.
As a practicing doctor for over 30 years, I have witnessed firsthand the speed and intensity with which other countries – especially in Europe – were outpacing the United States when it came to making often life-saving drugs available to patients. Plagued by a lack of leadership and an embedded bureaucracy that did not allow for expedited reviews, the FDA has for decades been lagging.
That’s why I think President Trump’s appointment of Scott Gottlieb as commissioner of the FDA was quite brilliant, paving the way for progress.
Under Gottlieb, we are beginning to see an increase in competition that is expected to drive down drug prices, just as President Trump promised on the campaign trail. In addition, this new approach is creating incentives for researchers in the private sector to bring new therapies and improved therapies to the market.
And that’s something we can all get behind.
Dr. Manny Alvarez serves as Fox News Channel's senior managing health editor. He also serves as chairman of the department of obstetrics/gynecology and reproductive science at Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey. For more information on Dr. Manny's work, visit AskDrManny.com.

CNN star Jim Acosta should be kicked out of the White House press corps

CNN, the most profane name in news, sank to a new low after an ugly Oval Office encounter involving President Trump and the networks’ senior White House correspondent.

Jim (Little Jimmy) Acosta badgered the president with a series of racially-charged questions during a photo-op with the president of Kazakhstan.

“Did you say that you want more people to come in from Norway? Did you say that you wanted more people from Norway? Is that true Mr. President?” Acosta hysterically shouted.
“I want them to come in from everywhere… everywhere. Thank you very much everybody,” Trump responded as Acosta continued hollering.

Little Jimmy brought great shame upon himself and his network. And he embarrassed our president and the nation. He owes President Trump and the president of Kazakhstan an apology for his disrespectful behavior.

“Just Caucasian or white countries, sir? Or do you want people to come in from other parts of the world… people of color,” Acosta shouted.
Trump then pointed directly at Acosta and simply said, “Out!”
CNN is known for hiring journalists and broadcasters lacking in social graces. In recent days, the network has allowed reporters to use the word “s---hole” uncensored on-air.
The Media Research Center reports that CNN anchors and guests uttered the profanity at least 195 times in one day.
Little Jimmy is not exactly a fair and impartial White House correspondent. He recently told Anderson “Giggles” Cooper that “deep down this president may just be a racist.”
Honestly, I’m surprised President Trump did not grab Little Jimmy by the ear and personally toss him out of the Oval Office.
Little Jimmy brought great shame upon himself and his network. And he embarrassed our president and the nation. He owes President Trump and the president of Kazakhstan an apology for his disrespectful behavior.
Beyond that – the White House Correspondents Association should sanction Little Jimmy by either revoking his press credentials or at the very least issue a public censure.
Just because you happen to be a professional journalist gives you no right to be a loud-mouthed jerk.
Todd Starnes is host of Fox News & Commentary. His latest book is “The Deplorables’ Guide to Making America Great Again.” Follow him on Twitter @ToddStarnes and find him on Facebook.

Judge Andrew Napolitano: Did Trump change his mind on domestic spying?

Late last week, Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, repeated his public observations that members of the intelligence community -- particularly the CIA, the NSA and the intelligence division of the FBI -- are not trustworthy with the nation’s intelligence secrets. Because he has a security clearance at the "top secret" level and knows how others who have access to secrets have used and abused them, his allegations are extraordinary.

He pointed to the high-ranking members of the Obama administration who engaged in unmasking the names of some people whose communications had been captured by the country’s domestic spies and the revelation of those names for political purposes. The most notable victim of this lawlessness is retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser, a transcript of whose surveilled conversation with then-Russian Ambassador to the United States Sergey Kislyak found its way into print in The Washington Post.

During the George W. Bush and Barack Obama years, captured communications -- digital recordings of telephone conversations and copies of emails and text messages -- did not bear the names of those who sent or received them. Those names were stored in a secret file. The revelation of those names is called unmasking.
Nunes also condemned the overt pro-Hillary Clinton bias and anti-Trump prejudice manifested by former CIA Director John Brennan, former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, former FBI Director James Comey and their agents in the field, some of whose texts and emails we have seen. The secrets that he argued were used for political purposes had been obtained by the National Security Agency pursuant to warrants issued by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.
Yet Nunes voted to enhance federal bulk surveillance powers.
Bulk surveillance -- which is prohibited by the Constitution -- is the acquisition of digital versions of telephone, email and text communications based not on suspicion or probable cause but rather on geography or customer status. As I have written before, one publicly available bulk surveillance warrant was for all Verizon customers in the United States; that’s 115 million people, many of whom have more than one phone and at least one computer. And it is surveillance of Americans, not foreigners as the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act contemplates.
How did this happen?
It happened in the dark. The NSA has persuaded the FISC, which meets in secret and only hears the government’s arguments, to permit it to spy on any American it wishes on the theory that all Americans know someone who knows someone else who knows someone who could have spoken to a foreign person working for a foreign government that could wish us ill.
This is the so-called judicial logic used to justify the search warrant on all of Verizon’s customers. This is what happens when judges hear only one side of a dispute and do so in secret.
The FISA amendments for which Nunes and other House members voted, which are likely to pass in the Senate, would purport to make bulk surveillance on all Americans lawful. At present, it is lawful only because the FISC has authorized it. The FISA amendments would write this into federal legislation for the next six years.
And these amendments would permit the FBI and any American prosecutor or law enforcement agency -- federal, state or local -- to sweep into the NSA’s databases, ostensibly looking for evidence of crime. If this were to become law, there would no longer be any unmasking scandals, because the stored data contains the names of the participants in the communications and would be readily available for harassment, blackmail or political use.
It would also mean that the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution -- which guarantees privacy in our persons, houses, papers and effects -- would have been gutted by the very officeholders who swore an oath to preserve, protect and defend it.
Does the American public know this? Does the president?
Last week, I made an impassioned plea on Fox News Channel directly to the president. I reminded him that he personally has been victimized by unlawful surveillance and the political use of sensitive surveillance-captured data; that the Constitution requires warrants for surveillance and they must specifically describe the place to be searched and the person or thing to be seized; that warrants must be based on probable cause of individual behavior, not an area code or customer list; that the purpose of these requirements is to preserve personal privacy and prohibit bulk surveillance; and that he took an oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution.
About an hour later, the president issued a tweet blasting bulk surveillance and unmasking. Two hours after that, he issued another tweet supporting the enactment of the FISA amendments.
What’s going on here?
I suspect that leaders in the intelligence community hurriedly convinced the president that if he sets aside his personal unhappy experiences with them and any constitutional qualms, they will use the carte blanche in the FISA amendments to keep us safe. This is a sad state of affairs. It means that Donald Trump changed his mind 180 degrees on the primacy of personal liberty in our once-free society.
The elites in the federal government and the deep state -- the parts of the government that are unauthorized by the Constitution and that operate in the dark, what candidate Trump called “the swamp” -- have formed a consensus that marches the might of the government toward total Orwellian surveillance.
This is a march that will be nearly impossible to stop. This is the permanent destruction of the right to privacy. This is the exaltation of safety over liberty, and it will lead to neither. This is the undoing of limited government, right before our eyes.

President Trump reveals winners of his ‘Fake News’ awards

President Trump revealed the winners of his self-proclaimed ‘Fake News’ awards Wednesday night on Twitter -- with The New York Times topping the list.

CNN also came out as a “winner,” with the left-leaning news network making the list four times.

The list, published on GOP.com, noted that “studies have shown that over 90% of the media’s coverage of President Trump is negative.” It went on to call 2017 “a year of unrelenting bias, unfair news coverage and even downright fake news.”
Coming in first place was The New York Times’ Paul Krugman for his prediction that the stock markets would never recover from Trump’s election.
In a bit of irony, the Dow Jones industrial average closed above 26,000 for the first time on Wednesday.
The Times was followed by ABC News’ Brian Ross for his botched report that Trump advised former National Security advisor Michael Flynn to make contact with Russian officials during the 2016 campaign.
The list pointed to a false CNN report that Trump had early access to “hacked documents” from Wikileaks, a video that suggested Trump overfed fish in a visit with the Japanese prime minister and a report that former FBI Director James Comey would deny saying Trump was told he was not under investigation.
The Times appeared on the list again for a false report that the Trump administration hid a report on climate change.
Newsweek sent a tweet out Wednesday evening acknowledging its “award.”
The final “winner” on the list, as Trump described it: “And last, but not least: 'RUSSIA COLLUSION!' Russian collusion is perhaps the greatest hoax perpetrated on the American people. THERE IS NO COLLUSION!”
The website carrying the results of the “Fake News Awards” crashed because it was flooded with visitors after Trump tweeted out the link.
Without naming anyone, Trump also tweeted out his praise for the “many great reporters.”
He continued, “Despite some very corrupt and dishonest media coverage, there are many great reporters I respect and lots of GOOD NEWS for the American people to be proud of!”
Below is the full list of winners of the 2017 Fake News Awards.
1)     The New York Times’ Paul Krugman claiming markets would ‘never’ recover from a Trump presidency
2)     ABC News' Brian Ross’ bungled report on former national security adviser Michael Flynn
3)     CNN falsely reporting the Trump campaign had early access to hacked documents from WikiLeaks
4)     TIME report that Trump removed a bust of Martin Luther King, Jr. from the Oval Office
5)     The Washington Post’s Dave Weigel tweeting that Trump’s December rally in Pensacola, Florida, wasn’t packed with supporters
6)     CNN’s video suggesting Trump overfed fish during a visit with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe
7)     CNN’s retracted report claiming Anthony Scaramucci-Russia ties
8)     Newsweek report that Polish First Lady Agata Kornhauser-Duda did not shake Trump’s hand
9)     CNN report that former FBI Director James Comey would dispute President Trump’s claim he was told he was not under investigation
10)  The New York Times report that the Trump administration had hidden a climate-change study
11)  In Trump’s words, "‘RUSSIA COLLUSION!’ Russian collusion is perhaps the greatest hoax perpetrated on the American people. THERE IS NO COLLUSION!”

California Illegal Alien Cartoons

ICE plans major sweep in California, report says

Trump has repeatedly clashed with California over sanctuary laws, which he argues inhibit his ability to restrict immigration.

Federal officials are planning a major sweep of the Bay Area and other Northern California areas in the coming weeks as part of an operation to target more than 1,500 undocumented immigrants in the area, The San Francisco Chronicle reported, citing a source familiar with the matter.

The source told The Chronicle that the sweep is expected to be the largest of its kind since President Trump took office.ICE officials declined to comment on the operation, the paper reported.

Upon hearing about the planned the operation Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., accused the Trump administration of trying to make a political point.
California has clashed with law enforcement over immigration enforcement for a number of years. In October, California Governor Jerry Brown signed SB54 into law, which effectively limits local police from cooperating with federal authorities.
Trump has repeatedly expressed frustration that such laws encourage immigrants to not cooperate with local law enforcement and inhibit his goal of enforcing immigration laws.
In October, California Gov. Jerry Brown signed SB54 into law, which effectively limits local police from cooperating with federal authorities.
One of the stipulations of the law is that it denies federal officials the ability to detain illegal immigrants who have been placed in local jails.
ICE officials have warned that such standards would force the agency to arrest undocumented immigrants in the communities that hold such policies.
Thomas Homan, the acting ICE director, maintained that SB54 “threatened public safety,” and that under such circumstances, the federal government would be forced to conduct massive arrests in the communities that hold such policies.  

DOJ to appeal San Fran DACA ruling, will ask Supreme Court to end program

The Justice Department on Tuesday said it plans to appeal a lower-court ruling that blocked the Trump administration from ending an Obama-era program aimed at shielding immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children from deportation.

In a separate release, the Justice Department said it will also seek a review by the U.S. Supreme Court –even before a ruling from the appeals court.

Last week, a San Francisco-based federal judge blocked the Trump administration from reversing the Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals program, which has shielded more than 700,000 people from deportation since its inception.
“It defies both law and common sense for DACA—an entirely discretionary non-enforcement policy that was implemented unilaterally by the last administration after Congress rejected similar legislative proposals and courts invalidated the similar DAPA policy – to somehow be mandated nationwide by a single district court in San Francisco,” Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in a statement Tuesday.
Sessions added that the Justice Department would also be “taking the rare step of requesting review on the merits of this injunction by the Supreme Court so that this issue may be resolved quickly and fairly for all the parties involved.”
The president has been vocal on the San Francisco ruling, tweeting just hours after the announcement that America’s court system is “broken” and “unfair.”
“It just shows everyone how broken and unfair our Court system is when the opposing side in a case (such as DACA) always runs to the 9^th Circuit and almost always wins before being reversed by higher courts,” President Trump tweeted.
In September, Trump ended DACA, which had been in place since 2012.
The president is currently negotiating with lawmakers over comprehensive immigration reform, which would include his campaign promise of a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, while Democrats are pushing to protect immigrants under DACA.

Trump cites federal report on foreign-born terrorists to urge immigration reform

President Donald Trump on Tuesday used a new report from the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security — revealing that nearly three out of four individuals convicted on international terrorism charges in the U.S. were foreign-born — to call for immigration reform.

The DHS and DOJ released the report  to “be more transparent with the American people,” abiding by the guidelines of Trump’s March 6 executive order, more commonly known as the travel ban. 

According to the report, at least 549 people were convicted of international terrorism-related charges in the U.S. between September 11, 2001 and December 31, 2016. Of those convicted, 254 were not U.S. citizens, 148 were foreign-born and received citizenship and 147 were citizens by birth.
It also noted that the DHS in 2017 denied U.S. entry to 2,554 people on the terror watch list.
Trump reacted to the report by tweeting: “We have submitted to Congress a list of resources and reforms we need to keep America safe, including moving away from a random chain migration and lottery system, to one that is merit-based.”

....we need to keep America safe, including moving away from a random chain migration and lottery system, to one that is merit-based. https://t.co/7PtoSFK1n2

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 16, 2018

The president has made it clear in recent meetings on immigration with lawmakers from both parties that he wants to end the visa lottery program, aimed at increasing immigrant diversity, and chain migration, when immigrants enter the U.S. through sponsorship from family members already settled in the country.

I am calling on Congress to TERMINATE the diversity visa lottery program that presents significant vulnerabilities to our national security. pic.twitter.com/tW4wOlI4vu

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 2, 2017

The report also found that from October 1, 2011 to September 30, 355,345 non-U.S. citizens were arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement for the purpose of deportation after being convicted of an “aggravated felony” or two or more felony offenses. In addition, 370,098 non-U.S. citizens were deported for the same offenses during that time period.
A senior administration official said Tuesday that the report “is part of the administration’s efforts to illuminate basic statistics that should be at the hands of the American people to inform public discourse on the issue,” The Hill reported.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions reacted to the report on Fox News' "Tucker Carlson Tonight" Tuesday.
"We have immigration, we want immigration, but we want to vet these people," Sessions said. "We want to know who they are and make sure they're going to be productive people, people who will flourish in America, who are going to not be terrorists, not be criminals and that’s exactly correct for America."
Sessions added that the U.S. should "tighten up on our admission of people from dangerous areas of the globe, where we can’t vet, where we have high numbers of terrorists that live in those areas. We should certainly be more careful and limit that kind of immigration."