Gun Ban Cartoons

New York Dem running for US House seat backs gun ban -- but won't say so publicly

New York Democratic Congressional candidate Tedra Cobb said she supports a ban on some firearms, but admitted that she will never say so in public out of fear of losing the election.  (Tedra Cobb campaign)

A Democratic congressional candidate in New York state said she supports a ban on some firearms, but admitted that she will never say so in public out of fear of losing the election.
"When I was at this thing today, it was the first table I was at, a woman said, ‘How do you feel about assault rifles?' And I said they should be banned," Tedra Cobb is heard telling a group of teens in a video posted Monday, the Washington Free Beacon reported.
"And I said, you know, people were getting up to go, to go get their lunch because it was a buffet, and I just said to her, 'I want you to know, Cindy, I cannot say that,” Cobb added.

"When I was at this thing today, it was the first table I was at, a woman said, ‘How do you feel about assault rifles?' And I said they should be banned."
- Tedra Cobb

The candidate, who’s running against Republican incumbent Elise Stefanik in New York's 21st Congressional District, in the northernmost part of the state, was rebuked by others for her silence on the issue in the public.
Cobb explained that she cannot publicly come out in support of a gun ban as that will doom her election chances.
"And she said, ‘Well, I want you to,' and I said, ‘I won't win,'" Cobb said. "I said Moms Demand [Action] says, and Tricia Pleau [member of the gun-control group Moms Demand Action] said, ‘Do not say that you want an assault rifle ban because you will not win.'"
Cobb has a platform for addressing gun violence nationwide, including the expansion of universal background checks and banning of bump stocks. But none of her official proposals suggest banning any type of firearms.
The Republican Party jumped on the issue, issuing a stark attack on Cobb, calling her “wildly out of touch” and accused her of “lying to voters.”
"Tedra Cobb knows that she's wildly out of touch with the district, so she's desperately trying to hide her liberal agenda from voters," Chris Martin, regional press secretary of the National Republican Congressional Committee, told the Free Beacon.
“First, she was forced to admit that she raised taxes over 20 times [as a St. Lawrence County official], and now she's being exposed for lying to voters about her support for an assault weapons ban and taking guns away from law-abiding citizens,” he added.
Lukas Mikelionis is a reporter for FoxNews.com. Follow him on Twitter @LukasMikelionis.

Kansas councilwoman allegedly bites corrections officer's thumb hard enough to break it during fight

Huron City Councilwoman Carol Fowler allegedly bit down on a corrections officer’s thumb during her booking process.  (Atchison County Sheriff's Office)

A local Kansas lawmaker is facing felony charges after she allegedly bit a corrections officer’s thumb so hard, she broke a bone.
Huron City Councilwoman Carol Fowler, 48, was taken into custody June 29 after failing to appear for a warrant, KSHB reported. Police allegedly had to use stun guns because she was fighting back, kicking and scratching, the Kansas City Star added.
On July 2, while in custody, Fowler refused to follow booking process instructions and when Atchison County Jail staff tried to remove her jewelry and personal items, she bit down on one of the officer’s thumb, breaking the bone, Sheriff Jack Laurie told the Atchison Globe.
Requests for comment from Fowler and a person listed as her attorney were not immediately answered. 
According to the county’s website, Fowler was still listed as a council member at the time of this report.
Fowler is facing three felony charges for the June 29 and July 2 incidents, including battery on a law enforcement officer.

Lisa Page will not appear for Capitol Hill interview despite subpoena, attorney says

Lisa Page, pictured in January, was due to be interviewed by two House committees Wednesday.  (Ron Sachs / CNP)

Former FBI attorney Lisa Page will not appear for a private interview with two House committees despite being subpoenaed, her attorney told Fox News Tuesday.
In a statement, Amy Jeffress said her client did not have enough time to prepare and had asked the the House Judiciary and Oversight and Government Reform Committees to schedule another date.
"The Committees have not honored this request," Jeffress said. "As a result, Lisa is not going to appear for an interview at this time."
In a statement, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., said: "It appears that Lisa Page has something to hide ... She has known for months that the House Judiciary Committee has sought her testimony as part of our joint investigation with the Oversight Committee into decisions made by the Justice Department in 2016, and she has no excuse for her failure to appear.
"Lisa Page is a key witness, and it is critical that she come before our committees to answer questions as part of our investigation," Goodlatte added.
Other GOP members of the Judiciary Committee slammed Page's refusal to appear, with Ron DeSantis of Florida calling it "pathetic" and Jim Jordan of Ohio said she was "once again showing the double standard."
"One set of rules for regular Americans, a different set for the Swamp!" Jordan added.
Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., a member of the Oversight Committee, said Page's action was "indefensible."
Jeffress added that the FBI had not given her and Page the necessary materials to prepare for her hearing, saying the two had gone to the FBI to review the materials, "but after waiting for more than three hours, we were not provided with any documents."
Page originally was scheduled to appear before both committees Wednesday as part of their investigation into alleged bias at the Justice Department. She and FBI agent Peter Strzok, who is set to testify publicly before the committees Thursday, exchanged disparaging text messages about then-candidate Donald Trump throughout the 2016 campaign.
Page and Strzok both worked on the FBI investigation into Hillary Clinton's emails and, later, special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation. Both were removed from the Mueller probe last year after the Justice Department's internal watchdog made the special counsel aware of the anti-Trump messages.
The Judiciary and Oversight panels have already spent much of the summer holding hearings and interviews critical of the FBI and Justice Department. Democrats have strongly objected to the GOP-led investigation, saying it is an attempt to undermine Mueller's probe and sway public opinion against investigators.
A report by the Justice Department's internal watchdog released last month detailed the inflammatory texts between the two, including an exchange in which Strzok wrote "we'll stop it" in reference to a potential Trump election win.
Strzok was already interviewed privately by lawmakers on the two committees for 11 hours June 27.
The Judiciary Committee also held a contentious hearing June 28 with FBI Director Christopher Wray and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. In the hearing, Republicans angrily accused the officials of withholding documents from them and demanded details about surveillance tactics in the Russia investigation.

Trump, NATO head Stoltenberg have testy exchange at summit

President Donald Trump on Wednesday had a testy exchange with the head of NATO when he asked about energy agreements between Russia and several European countries.
Trump repeatedly pressed Jens Stoltenberg, NATO's secretary general, on why the U.S. continued to pay money to the military alliance while countries continue to purchase energy from Moscow.
“We are stronger together,” Stoltenberg insisted, but acknowledged that there can be differences among allies.
Still, Trump persisted.
“But how can you be together when you’re getting energy from the group you want protection from?” the president asked.
Trump used Germany as an example. He asked Stoltenberg to explain why Berlin was getting energy from Moscow, and asserted that Germany was "totally controlled" by and "captive to Russia" over a pipeline project.
The president appeared to be referring to the Nord Stream 2 pipeline that would double the amount of gas Russia can send directly to Germany, skirting transit countries such as Ukraine. The project is opposed by the U.S. and some European Union members.
Trump said of Germany: "We're supposed to protect you against Russia" and yet you make this deal with Russia.
“Explain that,” Trump said. “It can’t be explained."
The U.S. role in NATO has been a focal point for Trump since before he was elected president. He tweeted Monday that the situation was “not fair, nor is it acceptable.” He said NATO benefits Europe “far more than it does the U.S.”
Trump has called upon NATO allies to meet commitments to spend 2 percent of their GDP on defense.
He tweeted en route from Washington that European countries "want us to happily defend them through NATO, and nicely pay for it. Just doesn't work!"
Brussels is the first stop of Trump's week-long European tour that will include a visit to Britain and a meeting in Finland with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Democratic Supreme Court Judge Cartoons

Judge tosses out Trump administration's lawsuit against California's sanctuary state law

A federal judge on Monday threw out the Trump administration’s legal effort to overturn California’s immigration laws, marking a major defeat to the administration’s war on sanctuary states.
Judge John Mendez approved California’s motion to dismiss the federal government’s lawsuit related to Senate Bill 54.
The state’s sanctuary law also known as the California Values Act, and Assembly Bill 103 – allows the state attorney general to inspect detention centers, the Sacramento Bee reported.
The sanctuary law, SB 54, which prohibits state and local police agencies from informing federal authorities in cases when illegal immigrants facing deportation are released from detention, sparked rebellion by multiple counties across California seeking to opt out of the measure out fears for safety and argued that the state law is unconstitutional.
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA TOWN STANDS UP TO STATE, VOTES TO REJECT SANCTUARY LAW       
Attorney General Jeff Sessions sued the state of California earlier this year over the sanctuary state policies, arguing that state lawmakers overreached their authority.
The administration’s lawsuit against a portion of Assembly Bill 450, which mandates companies to inform its staff within 72 hours of any federal requests to inspect employment records, was also rejected by the judge, the Bee reported.
But Mendez ruled that the suit against other parts of the same law – such as fines to employers who don’t reject requests by the federal officials to enter their workplaces without a warrant – is allowed to move forward.

"Today's decision is a victory for our state’s ability to safeguard the privacy, safety, and constitutional rights of all our people."
- California Attorney General Xavier Becerra

"Today's decision is a victory for our state’s ability to safeguard the privacy, safety, and constitutional rights of all our people," California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said in a statement. "Though the Trump administration may continue to attack a state like California and its ability to make its own laws, we will continue to protect our constitutional authority to protect our residents and the rule of law."
State Sen. Kevin de León, who introduced the sanctuary state law, said the judge’s decision was “a stunning defeat in the president's racist war on immigrants.”
“The federal judge's decision not only affirms the constitutionality of the California Values Act, but our firm belief that our state resources should not be used to torment immigrant communities and tear families apart,” he added in a statement to the Bee.

California's 'foreclosure capital' to give away $500 a month to residents in experimental welfare program

Stockton, California is set to become the first city in the nation to embark on an experiment of Universal Basic Income, paying 100 residents $500 a month without any conditions.
The program’s purpose is to eventually ensure that no one in the city of 300,000 people lives in poverty. The receivers of the cash will be able to spend the money on anything they want without any strings attached.
It will launch by 2019 and the 100 fortunate residents will receive the cash for a full 18-months as part of its testing phase before deciding whether to roll it across whole Stockton.
The city, which was once known as America's foreclosure capital, has recently fallen on hard times, with one-in-four residents living below the poverty line and the median household income nearly $8,000 lesser than the national median.
The city also racked up millions in debt from expensive development projects that led to the city’s bankruptcy in 2012.
“We’ve overspent on things like arenas and marinas and things of that sort to try to lure in tourism and dollars that way,” said Stockton Mayor Michael Tubbs.
Luckily, the experimental program won’t deplete the city’s coffers as it benefits from financial backing by wealthy Silicon Valley moguls. One of those backers is Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes, whose the Economic Security Project contributed $1 million to the project.
“It is such a fundamental idea behind America that if you work hard, you can get ahead, and you certainly don't live in poverty. But that isn't true today, and it hasn't been true in the country for decades,” Hughes told CNN.
“I believe that unless we make significant changes today, the income inequality in our country will continue to grow and call into question the very nature of our social contract.”
Other Silicon Valley elites have also endorsed the idea, though mostly in rhetoric. “Universal income will be necessary over time if AI takes over most human jobs,” Business magnate Elon Musk wrote in a tweet last month.
“We should explore ideas like universal basic income to make sure that everyone has a cushion to try new ideas,” Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg said in May 2017 Harvard commencement speech.
The idea of Universal Basic Income isn’t new, with some European countries adopting some form of it. In Finland, 2,000 unemployed working-age people were given 560 Euros per month. The program, however, came to an abrupt end in April after the Finnish government decided not to extend the funding to the program, The Guardian reported.
In the U.S., the idea remains fairly new but it’s gaining traction in politically liberal areas in the nation such as Hawaii and the San Francisco Bay area.
In Oakland, California, Y Combinator, a startup incubator, is giving out $1,500 a month to randomly selected residents. It’s expected the money will soon be distributed to 100 recipients with a prospect of expanding the program to 1,000 people who will receive $1,000 monthly.