Trump reciprocates after North Korea's Kim says he's open to third summit

President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un take a walk after their first meeting at the Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi hotel, in Hanoi in February. (Associated Press)

President Trump on Saturday tweeted glowingly of his relationship with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and that a third summit “would be good," citing their personal relationship and knowledge of “where we each stand.”
"I agree with Kim Jong Un of North Korea that our personal relationship remains very good, perhaps the term excellent would be even more accurate, and that a third Summit would be good in that we fully understand where we each stand,” Trump posted to Twitter.
“North Korea has tremendous potential for....... ...extraordinary growth, economic success and riches under the leadership of Chairman Kim," Trump continued. "I look forward to the day, which could be soon, when Nuclear Weapons and Sanctions can be removed, and then watching North Korea become one of the most successful nations of the World!"
Trump’s remarks come a day after North Korea’s state-run media, the Korean Central News Agency, reported Kim said he was open to another meeting during a speech to the country’s rubber-stamp parliament.
"We of course place importance on resolving problems through dialogue and negotiations," Kim said in his address. "But U.S.-style dialogue of unilaterally pushing its demands doesn't fit us, and we have no interest in it."
Trump and Kim first met in June 2018 in Singapore. Talks between the two leaders abruptly ended during their second meeting in Hanoi, Vietnam, in February.
The U.S. said the meeting ended early because of North Korea’s demand for sanctions relief. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said earlier this month he was confident Trump and Kim would meet again.

Trump and Oakland mayor trade Twitter barbs over immigration policies

Mayor empty-headed :-)

President Trump and a California mayor traded barbs over Twitter on Saturday, prompted by the president's repeated threats to release detained immigrants into “sanctuary cities.”
The exchange between Trump and Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf also appeared triggered, at least in part, by recent New York Times articles about the president's immigration policies.
"So interesting to see the Mayor of Oakland and other Sanctuary Cities NOT WANT our currently 'detained immigrants' after release due to the ridiculous court ordered 20 day rule," Trump tweeted.
Schaaf fired back, saying: “It’s time to stop fanning hate and division @realDonaldTrump - I’ve been consistent and clear: #Oakland welcomes all, no matter where you came from or how you got here.”
Trump fired off another tweet soon after: "Just out: The USA has the absolute legal right to have apprehended illegal immigrants transferred to Sanctuary Cities. We hereby demand that they be taken care of at the highest level, especially by the State of California, which is well known or [sic] its poor management & high taxes!"
In 2017, California passed a “sanctuary state” law limiting cooperation between local authorities and federal immigration officials. Administration officials said Trump's proposal to dump undocumented immigrants in "sanctuary cities" was floated and rejected. Trump insists he is still giving the idea strong consideration, according to the Los Angeles Times.
White House deputy press secretary Hogan Gidley said the administration was working with Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to advance the plan.
"They have said they wanted all of these illegal aliens into their communities," Gidley said on Fox News' "Justice with Judge Jeanine." "We're working with DHS, we're working with ICE, to try and make sure that happens because after all, it's what they want. They should not say 'This is retribution politically,' they should say, 'This is an olive branch."
Schaaf told NPR on Saturday that her city would accept a busload of 5,000 migrants if it had to.
"My job as a mayor is to welcome people," she said. "I don't build walls. It's our job to welcome everyone into our city, ensure their safety, ensure that their families can thrive. And that is my job no matter where those people came from or how they got there."
"This is about an outrageous abuse of power," she continued. "The idea that you could use human beings, families as instruments of political payback to use public resources to exact retribution on your political enemies."
Mayors in other cities have also said they are willing to take in migrants.
“We have people who are routinely coming to this city. We have a whole infrastructure that’s built up to make sure that their rights are protected while the city of Chicago has, under the current administration, provided funding for various groups to help support asylum seekers and other people that are going through the immigration court system. I expect it will continue, if not expand upon, those kinds of resources,” said Chicago Mayor-elect Lori Lightfoot.

Ninth Circuit Court Cartoons and Dumb Democrats

Court temporarily blocks halt to Trump policy forcing asylum-seekers to stay in Mexico

A federal appeals court on Friday temporarily halted a ruling that would have stopped the Trump administration from forcing asylum-seekers to wait in Mexico as they wait for immigration courts to hear their cases.
The decision by the three-judge panel on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals blocked a lower ruling from taking effect and gave civil liberties groups until Tuesday to submit arguments on why the asylum policy should be put on hold. The government has until Wednesday to argue why it should remain in place.
On Monday, a federal judge halted the change to the asylum system, saying it violated U.S. law by failing to evaluate the dangers to migrants while in Mexico. The suit was filed by 11 Central American asylum-seekers and advocacy groups who argue forcing asylum-seekers to wait in Mexico puts migrants risk given the uptick in violence there. Ninth Circuit has the second highest reversal rate at 80%.

A girl from the Mexican state of Guerrero passes rows of tents as her family waits at a shelter of mostly Mexican and Central American migrants to begin the process of applying for asylum Friday, April 12, 2019, in Tijuana, Mexico. (Associated Press)

Thousands have fled Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador in recent months amid growing gang violence and abject poverty in the region. The ruling comes as more than 2,000 migrants made their way through Mexico on Friday, hoping to reach the U.S.-Mexico border. Mexican authorities said around 350 migrants broke the locks on a gate at the Guatemalan border Friday and forced their way into the country.
The government is asking the 9th Circuit to keep the asylum policy while the lawsuit makes its way through the courts. It argued halting it would endanger the public.

Central American migrants, part of a caravan hoping to reach the U.S. border, walk on the shoulder of a road in Frontera Hidalgo, Mexico on Friday. (Associated Press)

Families seeking asylum are typically released in the U.S. with notices to appear in court. The new policy began in January at the nation’s busiest border crossing in San Diego. More than 1,300 asylum-seekers have been to Mexico so far, according to the Mexican government.
"I haven't heard of anyone who's been sent back since the judge's order on Monday," American Civil Liberties Union attorney Judy Rabinovitz said.
The Trump administration has said its stance on asylum is a response to a shortage of detention space for migrants and overwhelmed immigration officials as more migrants appear at the border each day.
The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Bill Maher warns Dems against making immigration issue a ‘woke contest’ in 2020

Finally got something RIGHT!

Bill Maher arrives at an Oscar party on Feb. 22, 2015, in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Adrian Sanchez-Gonzalez/AFP/Getty Images)

“Real Time” host Bill Maher warned Democrats that they'll lose the 2020 presidential election if their message on immigration is designed to appeal only to other Democrats.
Turning the immigration issue into a “woke contest” will only hand the election to President Trump, the liberal late-night host said Friday.
During the show's panel discussion, Maher said he didn’t believe that immigration is a top 10 issue “in reality,” but stressed that it was a “campaign issue” on which Trump ran and won in 2016.
“If it becomes a 'woke' contest, then the Democrats lose on this,” Maher said. “Yes, they look better, but it’s impossible not to look better next to him!”
Panelist Wendy Sherman, who served in the State Department during the Obama administration, told Maher that Trump “created this immigration crisis,” pointing to his administration’s decisions on cutting aid to Central American countries (bullshit), separating migrant families and “putting kids in cages.”
Maher, however, only chuckled at her remarks.
“This is what Democrats say, which only gets other Democrats," Maher told Sherman. "This is not the speech that is going to win any [swing] voters. You’ve [already] got the compassion vote!”
The HBO star credited former President Barack Obama for being able to “keep the left” while deporting record numbers of illegal immigrants.

AOC faces backlash for using 'First they came ... ' Holocaust poem in defense of Omar

IDIOT

U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., continues to ignite outrage while defending freshman colleague Rep. Ilhan Omar, this time by using a poem about the Holocaust to defend the Minnesota Democrat.
Omar most recently stirred up controversy when remarks she made last month, referring to the 9/11 terrorist attacks as “some people did something,” surfaced this week.
Ocasio-Cortez slammed President Donald Trump, who shared a grim video featuring Omar’s remarks alongside footage of the Twin Towers being attacked.
“Members of Congress have a duty to respond to the President’s explicit attack today,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted Friday. “@IlhanMN’s life is in danger. For our colleagues to be silent is to be complicit in the outright, dangerous targeting of a member of Congress. We must speak out.”
She also shared an image of the words of "First they came ... ," the famous poem by German theologian Martin Niemöller that was inspired by the tragedies of the Holocaust. (The words are mounted on a wall at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington.)
The poem reads:
“First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—
     Because I was not a socialist.
"Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—
     Because I was not a trade unionist.
"Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
     Because I was not a Jew.
"Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.”
Ocasio-Cortez's tweet sparked major backlash, with critics accusing her of trivializing the Holocaust and slamming her for doing so in defense of Omar, who has repeatedly fought off claims of anti-Semitism.
"There's something deeply disturbing about AOC making Holocaust references to defend an open and unrepentant anti-Semite who is merely being criticized," wrote Ben Shapiro, the conservative author and commentator.
"This is just a shameful attempt to chill speech," wrote David Harasanyi, a senior editor at the Federalist. "It belittles both the real victims of 9/11 and the Holocaust."
"No, @aoc, you do not get to diminish the murder of almost half my family by comparing it to criticism of your antisemitic colleague. You should be ashamed for trying," wrote a Twitter user identified only as @AG_Conservative.
Ocasio-Cortez landed in hot water earlier this week while attacking U.S. Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, a Navy veteran who served in Afghanistan, for his criticism of Omar, telling him he should “go do something” about domestic terrorism. She has also referred to criticism against Omar as “incitement of violence” against women of color.
Another freshman lawmaker, U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., declared that taking Omar’s comments out of context was a “pure racist act.”

Ex-Clinton official leads 'dark money' effort to boot Kavanaugh from teaching gig

Brian Fallon, former press secretary for Clinton's 2016 campaign

George Mason University is a public research university with its main campus in Fairfax, Virginia. Initially founded as a branch of the University of Virginia in 1949, it became an independent institution in 1972.

A top aide to Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign -- now leading a liberal “dark money” group -- is backing a student effort at George Mason University to get Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh fired from teaching a summer course over misconduct allegations.
A student group calling itself “Mason For Survivors” began circulating a petition last month, so far attracting nearly 5,000 signatures, urging to “terminate AND void ALL contracts and affiliation with Brett Kavanaugh at George Mason University” on the grounds that the justice was accused of misconduct.
But the campaign is being given a partisan boost thanks to Brian Fallon, former press secretary for Clinton's 2016 campaign, who’s now in charge of Demand Justice, a liberal advocacy group that doesn’t disclose its funding.
Fallon and his group are paying for Facebook ads that target anyone linked with George Mason University, urging them to sign the petition, in addition to signing a separate petition that calls upon the Democrats in Congress to investigate Kavanaugh, the HuffPost reported.
“Brett Kavanaugh’s performance during his testimony in front of the Senate was a disgrace. His blatant partisan attacks and hostile behavior towards senators calls into question his ability to serve as a fair and impartial judge. His conduct undermines the legitimacy of his decisions and the entire Supreme Court,” read the ad on Facebook on Friday. “We’re calling on Congress to open an investigation into Kavanaugh right now.”
Fallon justified the move in a news release, saying the allegations raised during the confirmation hearing last year, in his view, were credible.
“Brett Kavanaugh has been credibly accused of sexual assault by multiple women whose allegations have not been thoroughly investigated,” Fallon said. “His confirmation to the Supreme Court does not absolve him of guilt, and he should not be given a platform to teach. We stand with survivors and urge the George Mason University administration to fire Kavanaugh.”

“Brett Kavanaugh has been credibly accused of sexual assault by multiple women whose allegations have not been thoroughly investigated. His confirmation to the Supreme Court does not absolve him of guilt, and he should not be given a platform to teach."
— Brian Fallon, former aide to Hillary Clinton

Kavanaugh is set to teach students of the university’s Antonin Scalia Law School next summer in the United Kingdom as a distinguished visiting professor, with the class reportedly having no more spaces left due to overwhelming interest.
The Mason For Survivors group, claiming to be a “student-led advocacy group in solidarity with survivors,” also urges the university to release “any and all documents” concerning the hiring of Kavanaugh, in addition to holding a town hall and a formal apology by university officials.
The school’s top officials are expected at a town hall next Tuesday, where they will face questions over the hiring of Kavanaugh.
But the school has so far rebuffed the activists’ demands and issued a statement affirming the hiring of Kavanaugh on the grounds that the university seeks to have students being taught by the “most influential legal experts in the nation.”

"I respect the views of people who disagreed with Justice Kavanaugh’s Senate confirmation due to questions raised about his sexual conduct in high school. But he was confirmed and is now a sitting Justice."
— George Mason University President Angel Cabrera

“I respect the views of people who disagreed with Justice Kavanaugh’s Senate confirmation due to questions raised about his sexual conduct in high school. But he was confirmed and is now a sitting Justice,” Angel Cabrera, the university’s president, said last month.
“The law school has determined that the involvement of a U.S. Supreme Court Justice contributes to making our law program uniquely valuable for our students. And I accept their judgment,” he added.
“This decision, controversial as it may be, in no way affects the university’s ongoing efforts to eradicate sexual violence from our campuses.”

Sanctuary Cities Cartoons