Trump cites 2005 Obama remarks to support immigration policy

President Trump turned to an unlikely source Tuesday evening to find support for his hard-line immigration policies: his predecessor, Barack Obama.
Trump tweeted a 2005 video in which Obama, then a senator, made a statement against illegal immigration, accompanied by the comment "I agree with President Obama 100%".
"We are a generous and welcoming people here in the United States," Obama says in the 31-second clip. "But those who enter the country illegally and those who employ them disrespect the rule of law and they are showing disregard for those who are following the law. We simply cannot allow people to pour into the United States undetected, undocumented, unchecked, and circumventing the line of people who are waiting patiently, diligently and lawfully to become immigrants into this country."
Obama is not the only Democrat cited by Trump and his supporters to justify crackdowns on illegal immigration. Another is former President Bill Clinton, whose State of the Union address in 1995 featured the following:
"All Americans ... are rightly disturbed by the large numbers of illegal aliens entering our country," Clinton said that night. "The jobs they hold might otherwise be held by citizens or legal immigrants. The public service they use impose burdens on our taxpayers. That's why our administration has moved aggressively to secure our borders more by hiring a record number of new border guards, by deporting twice as many criminal aliens as ever before, by cracking down on illegal hiring, by barring welfare benefits to illegal aliens."
"We are a nation of immigrants," Clinton added. "But we are also a nation of laws. It is wrong and ultimately self-defeating for a nation of immigrants to permit the kind of abuse of our immigration laws we have seen in recent years, and we must do more to stop it."
Tuesday's tweet came as the Trump administration wrestles with what to do if a caravan of some 7,000 people that originated in Central America arrives at the U.S.-Mexico border. The march appeared to begin as a group of about 160 who decided to band together in Honduras for protection against the gangs who prey on migrants traveling alone; it snowballed as the group moved north. It now has thousands of people and is facing more than 1,000 miles, likely farther, to the end of the journey.
The caravan comes on the heels of a surge in apprehensions of families at the southern border, which has given Trump a fresh talking point to rally his base ahead of next month's midterm elections. Nearly a third of all people apprehended at the U.S.-Mexico border during the budget year 2018 were families and children — about 157,248 out of 395,579 total apprehensions.
In a letter to the Department of Homeland Security and the State Department on Tuesday, Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, suggested that the administration make a "third party" agreement with Mexico that would force any caravan members seeking asylum to do so in their country of arrival — Mexico. The lawmakers said the process already works that way in Europe.

Evil Grandpa George Soros Cartoons

Rep. Kevin McCarthy's Bakersfield office attacked with massive rock, he says

Two men apparently attacked the Bakersfield office of House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., on Monday night, throwing a massive rock through one of its windows and burglarizing office equipment inside.
McCarthy posted four photographs documenting the alleged episode on Instagram -- three showing the individuals he identified as possible suspects, and one providing a clear view of a massive slab of rock lying on the floor amid shattered glass.
"Does anyone know these two guys?" McCarthy wrote on the social media site, next to images of two people spotted near his office.
The Bakersfield Police Department did not comment on the alleged incident when reached by Fox News and said it would have more information on Tuesday.
McCarthy, like several other congressional Republicans, has faced threats and harassment in the past several weeks. In August, protesters in Sacramento chanting "No justice, no peace" disrupted McCarthy's event at the Public Policy Institute of California.
Ironically, on Thursday, McCarthy retweeted President Trump's "#JobsNotMobs" slogan, underscoring the deteriorating level of civility in politics ahead of the Nov. 6 midterm elections.
Earlier this month, for example, it was revealed that a Democratic congressional aide accused of publishing the private information of at least three Republican lawmakers also allegedly threatened to leak senators’ children's health information if a witness told anyone about his activities.
And prominent Republicans, including Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., have been harassed in recent weeks while eating at public restaurants with their wives by hostile liberals. Other top GOP officials, such as Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, were similarly accosted over the summer, although Nielsen's security detail kept the protesters at bay.
Meanwhile, authorities on Monday responded to the home of billionaire progressive investor George Soros after an explosive device was reportedly located by one of his employees.
WATCH: PROTESTERS SHOW UP AT DHS SECRETARY NIELSEN'S HOME, TAUNT HER
Just last week, a Republican who's running for a seat in the Vermont House of Representatives said she received a letter with death and rape threats from an alleged socialist. Deserae Morin, of Colchester, published a photo of the vulgar letter -- comprised of cut-out block letters -- on her Facebook page over the weekend. It read, in part, "My comrades will kill you and the Constitution. ... Socialism is here. Open season for Republican death in Vermont."
Republican Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., revealed to Fox News earlier this month that his wife had received a similar graphic message, along with a video depicting a beheading. Gardner also told Fox News that someone has publicly posted the names and addresses of his family members.
Mobs of progressive protesters even attempted to claw their way into the Supreme Court during Kavanaugh's swearing-in.
Although House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., was verbally confronted by protesters last week at a campaign stop, Republican politicians have been targeted dramatically more often -- a fact the president has repeatedly emphasized on the campaign trail.
"Democrats produce mobs, Republicans produce jobs," Trump said in Arizona last week, adding that the Democrats have become too extreme to be entrusted with power. He described them as an "angry, unhinged mob."

Trump, at Texas rally, backs Cruz, slams Democrats for 'assault on the sovereignty' of US

President Trump on Monday night voiced his support for Sen. Ted Cruz in his re-election, calling the Texas Republican "a really good friend of mine."
Speaking at a "Make America Great Again" rally at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas, the president said while the pair's relationship has previously been rocky — "in the beginning it was a love fest" — he encouraged rallygoers to vote for the senator.
MASSIVE HOUSTON TAILGATE AWAITS TRUMP RALLYING FOR CRUZ
"Nobody has helped me more with your tax cuts, with your regulation, with all of the things that we're doing ... than Senator Ted Cruz," Trump said.
Monday's rally was one of a series the president has participated in recently as he aims to keep GOP control of the Senate and the House. Cruz is running against Democratic Rep. Beto O'Rourke.
Before introducing Trump — who frequently referred to the senator as "Lyin' Ted" during the 2016 campaign — Cruz made it clear the two no longer have bad blood and predicted that "in 2020 Donald Trump will be overwhelming re-elected."
Trump, meanwhile, called O'Rourke a "stone cold phony" who "pretends to be a moderate, but he's actually a radical open-borders left-winger."
"The Democrats," Trump said, "have launched an assault on the sovereignty of our country."
Trump told the crowd, which Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo said consisted of 18,000 to 19,000 people, with another 3,000 watching outside, that his administration is "putting America first, it hasn't happened in a lot of decades."
The president labeled himself a “nationalist” because he cares about the U.S. and less about the world overall.
“A globalist is a person that wants the globe to do well, frankly, not caring about our country so much,” Trump said. “We can’t have that. You know, they have a word — it sort of became old-fashioned — it’s called a nationalist.
“We’re not supposed to use that world. You know what I am? I’m a nationalist, OK? I’m a nationalist," he said to chants of "USA!"
Trump often railed against the Democrats during the rally, which lasted around two hours.
A so-called “blue wave” of potential Democrat victories, he said, “is being dissipated a little bit.”
Trump reiterated what he's tweeted in recent days — that he believes the Democrats "had something to do with" the migrant caravan recently traveling to the U.S. from Mexico. Without evidence, he said Democrats were "encouraging millions of illegal aliens to break out laws, violate our borders and overwhelm our nation."

Georgia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams helped torch state flag during college protest

FILE- In this May 22, 2018, file photo Georgia's Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams waves in Atlanta. Abrams is trying to reach voters who don’t usually vote in midterm elections in the hopes to drive up turnout in her race against Republican Brian Kemp. (AP Photo/John Bazemore, File)

The Democratic gubernatorial nominee in Georgia, Stacey Abrams, helped light a state flag on fire on the steps of the state's Capitol in June 1992, as part of a protest that her campaign on Monday night characterized as an effort to "overcome racially divisive issues."
The flag at the time incorporated designs from the Confederate battle flag, and Abrams, then a freshman at  Atlanta's Spelman College, was one of about a dozen demonstrators involved, according to contemporaneous newspaper accounts and several social media posts that surfaced the issue late Monday.
An article from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution shows Abrams torching the flag in a photograph. A 20-year-old senior at the school told the paper that the protest was designed to "send Georgia's racist past up in flames," and "fight fire with fire. ... Burn, baby, burn!"  No arrests reportedly occurred at the protest.
Abrams is set to face off in a debate Tuesday against her Republican opponent, two-term Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp, who had called her an "extreme" candidate before Monday's dramatic revelation.

Graphic rendering of the Georgia state flag from 1956 to 2001, including the Confederate battle flag markings. (Public domain image)

The two are neck-and-neck according to most polls; Abrams is hoping to become the first female black governor in the country's history.
“During Stacey Abrams’ college years, Georgia was at a crossroads, struggling with how to overcome racially divisive issues, including symbols of the Confederacy, the sharpest of which was the inclusion of the Confederate emblem in the Georgia state flag,” read a statement from Abrams' campaign, first obtained by The New York Times. “This conversation was sweeping across Georgia as numerous organizations, prominent leaders, and students engaged in the ultimately successful effort to change the flag.”
The statement continued by highlighting Abrams' long career in local politics.
AFTER CONFEDERATE STATUTE CONTROVERSIES, STATES MOVE TO TEAR DOWN MONUMENTS DEEMED OFFENSIVE TO NATIVE AMERICANS
"Abrams’ time in public service as deputy city attorney and as a state legislative leader have all been focused on bringing people together to solve problems," her campaign said.
Last year, Abrams, 44, called for the removal of a Confederate carving in Stone Mountain, saying it was a symbol of white supremacy. Kemp defended the carving for its historical value.
It was not immediately clear what effect Monday's sudden revelation would have on the gubernatorial race. A recent poll from the AJC/Channel 2 puts Abrams and Kemp within two points of each other, reinforcing many political analysts’ prediction of the Peach State turning purple.
The last Democratic governor was Roy Barnes, elected in 1998 -- and, as The Times reported, his support for changes to the Confederate symbols on the state flag may have cost him his job.
The state adopted a new flag without the Confederate battle flag symbols in 2003.
Robert Howard, a political science professor at Georgia State University, told Fox News it’s not a matter of if but when Georgia sees a blue wave, considering its dramatic demographic changes.
The metro Atlanta area’s nonwhite population nearly doubled from 1970 to 2015, according to a Georgia State University study.
“If it’s not quite a bellwether state, it is moving towards that column,” Howard added, noting the stronghold the Democratic Party has on minority voters across the country.

Explosive device found at George Soros’ home: report

An explosive device was found at the Westchester, New York home of Billionaire George Soros on Monday. (AP)

An explosive device was found on Monday at the Westchester, N.Y., home of billionaire George Soros.
The Wall Street Journal, citing local law enforcement, reported that police received a phone call from the residence about a suspicious package.
An employee that works at the home found the package and opened it, revealing what appeared to be an explosive device, according to a press release from the Bedford Police Department. The employee then placed the package in a wooded area until authorities arrived.
The department told Fox News that a suspicious package was found in a mailbox. Police referred Fox News to the F.B.I's New York office, which did not confirm the report.
Soros was not home at the time of the incident, according to the New York Times.
The bomb squad deactivated the device, and authorities have said there is no further threat to the area, according to the Journal.
The investigation has been turned over to the Joint Terrorism Task Force Division of the FBI.
The wealthy liberal donor started his philanthropic efforts in 1979, but his contributions have not always been welcomed.
Campaigns against Soros emerged in Romania, where the billionaire was accused of financing "evil" as well as in Macedonia, Serbia and Slovakia – and have escalated to some extent since President Donald Trump took office.
Soros, who made his fortune in hedge funds, has donated heavily to liberal causes and is vilified on the right.
He is also the subject of many unfounded conspiracy theories. Recently, conservative critics have, without evidence, accused him of secretly financing a caravan of Central American migrants to make their way north toward Mexico and the U.S.
Others have falsely accused him of being a Nazi collaborator during World War II, when he was a child in Hungary.
Activists frequently post the addresses of homes he owns in Westchester County, north of New York City, on social media sometimes accompanied by ill wishes
The 88-year-old has focused his efforts as of late on the midterm elections in the U.S., and has funneled upwards of $15 million to Democrats as they push to regain control of Congress.
Soros told the Times in July that for every Trump supporter "there is more than one Trump enemy who will be more intent, more determined."
In October, Soros was linked to a non-profit group called the Center for Popular Democracy (CPD), which rose to prominence for organizing civil disobedience actions and confronting several Republican lawmakers during the contentious hearings for then-Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
Soros’ organization has donated to the CPD over the years, giving $1.5 million to the non-profit in 2016 and 2017 through his Open Society Foundations, the records show. He also donated in the past two years another $1.2 million to the nonprofit’s sister organization Center for Popular Democracy Action.

2018 Blue Wave Cartoons

DeSantis wins tense Florida gubernatorial debate against Gillum, Trump claims

President Trump late Sunday took to Twitter to congratulate Ron DeSantis, the GOP candidate for Florida governor, for a "great debate victory" against his Democratic challenger Andrew Gillum.
Gillum likely cares little about Trump's analysis and spent most of the debate working to connect DeSantis with the president. At one point he called DeSantis Trump’s acolyte.
DeSantis said the state’s governor’s relationship with the president – whether he or she agrees with the office or not—is important for the state.
"You need to be able to work with the president," DeSantis said. "Andrew can't do that. He wants to impeach Trump, he's always saying bad things about him ... I think I will be better positioned to advance Florida’s priorities because I have a productive relationship with the administration."
CNN’s Jake Tapper, the debate’s moderator, asked DeSantis about his now-famous "monkey this up" comment and DeSantis used his time serving as a Navy officer in Iraq to talk about his feelings on race.
"When we're downrange in Iraq, it didn't matter your race," he said. "We all wore the same uniform, we all had that American flag patch on our arm and that was end of story," he said. "I'll be a governor for all Floridians."
Gillum implied that DeSantis has aligned himself with racists through social media and speeches he's made.
"The monkey up comment said it all and he has only continued in the course of his campaign to draw all the attention he can to the color of my skin," Gillum said. "And the truth is, you know what? I'm black. I've been black I'll my life and as far as I know, I'll die black."
Trump tweeted that Tallahassee – the city where Gillum serves as mayor – is one of the "worst run, and most corrupt" cities in the state. He said "Gillum will make Florida the next Venezuela."