Supporters of U.S. border security make a human wall to
demonstrate their support for a border wall between the U.S. and Mexico,
at Sunland Park, N.M., Feb. 9, 2019. (Hericka Martinez/AFP/Getty
Images)
Just days after President Trump said his
administration was prepared to “build a Human Wall if necessary” to
protect the nation from illegal immigration, a group of his supporters
in New Mexico joined hands along the U.S.-Mexico border in support of
the construction of a border wall. Waving
American flags and holding handmade signs, advocates for tougher border
security formed a human shield along the partially fenced border at
Sunland Park, N.M., just across the line from Ciudad Juarez in Mexico's
Chihuahua state. AS BORDER WALL FUNDING DIVIDES WASHINGTON, NEW MULTIMILLION-DOLLAR BARRIER WILL SOON BREAK GROUND IN TEXAS
Supporters of U.S. border security make a human wall to
demonstrate their support for a border wall between the U.S. and Mexico,
at Sunland Park, N.M., Feb. 9, 2019. (Hericka Martinez/AFP/Getty
Images)
Trump cited “Tremendous numbers” of people entering
the U.S. through Mexico as the reason for his "human wall" pledge in a
Tuesday tweet. Last Sunday, the Pentagon announced nearly 4,000 additional active duty troops will be deployed
to the U.S.-Mexico border. Congress has wrangled over Trump's demand
for $5.7 billion to construct a border wall. The impasse led to a 35-day
partial government shutdown. Congress is reportedly nearing a deal that
would include far less money for the wall -- about $1.6 billion. But
whether Trump would accept the plan, which would also avoid another
government shutdown, is unknown. In January, Trump signed a resolution
to temporally reopen the government while lawmakers negotiate over
border security funding. He has said he may declare a national emergency
to avoid another shutdown when the resolution ends on Feb. 15.
Rob Lowe's tweet about Sen. Elizabeth Warren was not well-received by some in Hollywood. (Reuters)
Actor Rob Lowe removed a Twitter post that poked fun at U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren on Saturday out of concern that “some peeps got upset.” Earlier in the day, Lowe responded on the social media platform after the Massachusetts Democrat officially launched her 2020 presidential campaign with a kickoff event in Lawrence, Mass. “Elizabeth Warren
would bring a whole new meaning to Commander in ‘Chief,’” Lowe wrote in
the now-deleted post, in an apparent reference to the controversy over
Warren’s claims of Native American heritage.
But many social media users – including fellow Hollywood actors -- were not amused. “What a raw blow!” “Star Wars” star Mark Hamill wrote. “That’s not funny,” actor Vincent D’Onofrio added. “Don’t. Jesus,” “Hot in Cleveland” star Valerie Bertinelli chimed in. “Just
when I was liking Rob Lowe after his moving comments about being his
mom’s caretaker — he takes a page from Trump. Ick,” former NBC
correspondent Soledad O’Brien wrote. ROB LOWE DEFENDS PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE, CALLS CALIFORNIA COLLEGE'S INITIAL BAN 'IDIOCY' Other users defended Lowe. “Rob Lowe was just joking,” one user wrote.
“Everybody is so sensitive these days. Just a bunch of snowflakes!
#ElizabethWarren2020 is the person who lied about her race for votes.” "Rob Lowe has no f---ing rights," another commented. "he isn't protected under the constitution. i said what i said." Another
user retweeted the image of the State Bar of Texas registration card,
on which Warren had identified herself as “American Indian.” The senator recently apologized for claiming Native American ancestry on the 1986 card, hinting that other documents with a similar claim may exist. Ultimately, Lowe decided it was best to remove the post. "I
deleted my Elizabeth Warren tweet," he wrote. "It was a joke and some
peeps got upset, and that’s never my intention. On the GOOD side: I just
got to use the Oxford comma!"
Looking fairly normal, because the leftist media are now picking the photos of her acting less crazy.
But photos posted on the net never go away, especially the ones here and below.
The True Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez :-)
The Republican Party
has a secret weapon for 2020. It’s especially effective because it’s
stealthy: The Democrats seem oblivious to its power. And the GOP needn’t
lift a finger for it to work. All Republicans have to do is sit back
and watch 29-year-old Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez . . . exist. AOC,
as she’s better known, today exists largely in front of the cameras. In
a few months she’s gone from an unknown New York bartender to the
democratic socialist darling of the left and its media hordes. Her
megaphone is so loud that she rivals Speaker Nancy Pelosi as the face of
the Democratic Party. Republicans don’t know whether to applaud or laugh. Most do both. GREEN NEW DEAL: OCASIO-CORTEZ AIMS TO MAKE AIR TRAVEL OBSOLETE, AID THOSE ‘UNWILLING’ TO WORK
Ms. Ocasio-Cortez is a freight train gaining speed by the day—and helping Republicans with every passing minute.
For
them, what’s not to love? She’s set off a fratricidal war on the left,
with her chief of staff, Saikat Chakrabarti, this week slamming the
“radical conservatives” among the Democrats holding the party “hostage.”
She’s made friends with Jeremy Corbyn, leader of Britain’s Labour
Party, who has been accused of anti-Semitism. She’s called the American
system of wealth creation “immoral” and believes government has a duty
to provide “economic security” to people who are “unwilling to work.” As
a representative of New York, she’s making California look sensible. On
Thursday Ms. Ocasio-Cortez unveiled her vaunted Green New Deal,
complete with the details of how Democrats plan to reach climate nirvana
in a mere 10 years. It came in the form of a resolution, sponsored in
the Senate by Massachusetts’ Edward Markey, on which AOC is determined
to force a full House vote. That means every Democrat in Washington will
get to go on the record in favor of abolishing air travel, outlawing
steaks, forcing all American homeowners to retrofit their houses,
putting every miner, oil rigger, livestock rancher and gas-station
attendant out of a job, and spending trillions and trillions more tax
money. Oh, also for government-run health care, which is somehow a
prerequisite for a clean economy. Keep reading Kimberley Strassel's column in the Wall Street Journal.
Nearly 60 percent of African-Americans in Virginia want Gov. Ralph Northam to remain
in office despite the recent scandal surrounding a racist photo on the
Democrat's 1984 medical school yearbook page, according to a poll
released Saturday. The Washington Post-Schar School poll,
conducted Wednesday through Friday, found Virginia's broader population
to be split evenly about Northam’s fate, with 47 percent wanting him to
stay and the same percentage wanting him to resign. African-Americans, however, prefer that the Democrat remain in office, 58 percent to 37 percent. Whites are more evenly divided. The poll
also found that 11 percent of Virginia residents have either worn
blackface or known someone who has. Northam has denied that he is one of
two men shown on his yearbook page, backtracking an earlier admission.
The photo shows one person in blackface and the other dressed in a Ku
Klux Klan hood and robe. “Initially, I could have forgiven him,
and I think he could have gotten past it. It was something that was 35
years ago,” David Hughes, an African-American sheriff's deputy in
Newport News, told the Post. “What really bothered me was the change in story.” Hughes, 54, thinks the governor should resign. Louise
Butler, 76, of Richmond, grew up during segregation and was bothered by
the Klan costume, which she said brought back memories of violence and
discrimination directed at African-Americans before the Civil Rights
Movement. She told the paper she believed Northam was committed to racial equality despite whatever views he may have held in 1984.
This image shows Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam’s page in his 1984
Eastern Virginia Medical School yearbook. (Eastern Virginia Medical
School via AP)
“He’s been a good governor, and he’s been good, as far as I know, to black people,” Butler said. In an interview Saturday, Northam said he wants to heal the wounds that some feel after the racist photo emerged. "There
are still some very deep wounds in Virginia, and especially in the area
of equity. ... There are ongoing inequities to access to things like
education, health care, mortgages, capital, entrepreneurship," he
said. "And so this has been a real, I think, an awakening for Virginia.
It has really raised the level of awareness for racial issues in
Virginia. And so we’re ready to learn from our mistakes.” Other results from the poll revealed about a third of Virginians think Attorney General Mark Herring
should resign after he admitted to wearing blackface at a party in
college. Most residents are still undecided – 65 percent – on the future
of Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax, who is accused of sexual assault by two women. Fairfax denies the accusations. Respondents were not asked about the second allegation against him, that was made public Friday after the poll began.
Critics: Ralph Northam can't possibly come up with another way to explain himself out of the yearbook mess. Northam: Hold my beer. The embattled Virginia governor says
he's certain he's not one of the two men shown in a racist photo in his
1984 medical school yearbook -- because the men in the photo are
holding beers in their right hands while he’s left-handed. Northam, who initially apologized for the racist photo,
but later backtracked and said he doesn’t believe he’s actually in it,
has been fighting for his political life ever since the picture showing a
man in blackface and a man in Ku Klux Klan garb emerged Feb. 1. LIBERAL HYPOCRISY: DEMOCRATS' CALLS FOR NORTHAM TO RESIGN FADE AS THREE SCANDALS THROW VIRGINIA INTO CHAOS Most
top Democrats and his party have issued statements calling for him to
resign amid the controversy, but Northam insists on his innocence and is
trying to convince others that the picture was added to the yearbook by
mistake and doesn’t feature him. Northam's left hand-versus-right hand theory. Northam
reportedly told his staff that the photo struck him as odd because,
while attending the medical school, he particularly had trouble using
his right hand and even struggled to use a scalpel with it. He
claimed that his left hand is his dominant hand and pointed out that
another picture in the yearbook shows him holding a beer with his left
hand. VIRGINIA DEMS REPEAT CALL FOR NORTHAM TO RESIGN, BUT NOT FAIRFAX OR HERRING But
the latest theory isn’t convincing many on social media, with many
users noting that Northam, even while being left-handed, has been
pictured comfortably using his right hand, including to hold beer and
sign bills. Northam, who admitted wearing blackface as part of a
Michael Jackson costume in a different instance the same year, is
looking for ways to withstand the calls to resign by coming up with
policy initiatives that tackle Virginia’s history of racism. He’s
also begun a learning process and started reading works written by
black Americans, according to the outlet. The books include the 1976
Alex Haley novel “Roots” in addition to the Ta-Nehisi Coates 2014 essay
“The Case for Reparations."
Details of a likely bipartisan border-security deal in Congress are
being worked out after the White House indicated it will accept an
agreement giving President Trump just a fraction of the money he's demanded for his proposed U.S.-Mexico border wall. Congressional
negotiators said the money allocated to the border wall will be far
below Trump’s requested figure of $5.7 billion, a demand that led to a
showdown with congressional Democrats and the longest-ever federal
government shutdown. The figure is likely to be somewhere around $1.6
billion. The
deal would not only partially fund the wall, it would also prevent
another government shutdown next weekend. Trump threatened to go with
the shutdown again, though congressional Republicans are unlikely to
have the stamina for another shutdown for which they have been held
responsible. One White House aide indicated that Trump will accept
whatever agreement comes out of the negotiations as he understands
there isn’t enough willpower among Republicans to fight for the full
border-wall funding. But even with a breakthrough in negotiations,
Democrats are insisting that the money given to the border security
shouldn’t be just for the physical barrier. “Throughout
the talks, Democrats have insisted that a border security compromise
not be overly reliant on physical barriers,” Evan Hollander, a spokesman
for Democrats who control the House Appropriations Committee, told the
Associated Press. “We will not agree to $2 billion in funding for
barriers.” The White House may still attempt to get the additional
funding for the wall by using executive action, though such a move is
likely to be met with resistance and lawsuits. The negotiations
also include talks about the type and location of the barriers. The
question of the number of beds the federal Immigration and Customs
Enforcement agency could have for detained migrants has also been
raised, in addition to some high-tech surveillance equipment and the
number of personnel. Still,
some GOP lawmakers believe the deal’s details could be too much for
Trump to swallow, with Rep. Mark Meadows saying “I'm not optimistic
it'll be something the president can support.” A bipartisan deal
is likely to pass even without the votes of conservative Republicans,
who demand more money for the border wall, and progressive Democrats,
who oppose funding of immigration authorities.
This image shows Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam’s page in his 1984
Eastern Virginia Medical School yearbook. (Eastern Virginia Medical
School via AP)
