Calif. sheriff supports ICE deportations

OAN Newsroom
UPDATED 4:25 PM PT – Sat. July 13, 2019

One California sheriff said she supports ICE, as they prepare for mass deportations.
In an interview Friday, Fresno County Sheriff Margaret Mims noted that ICE is doing their job, and complying with law to remove illegal immigrants who have evaded deportation.
She reiterates that these immigrants received due process and went through the court system, but chose to ignore the law and stay in the country illegally.



Several California mayors and the state’s governor have reached-out to illegal immigrants, informing them they don’t have to comply with ice officers if they come knocking on their doors.
Meanwhile, the former acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement slams a Virginia Democrat, following a heated exchange on Capitol Hill.
In an interview Friday, Thomas Homan recapped his testimony before Congress on detention centers at the border, calling out Congressman Gerry Connolly.
Homan said the congressman threw out dirt and wouldn’t let him respond, calling it political theater, and calling Connolly a coward.
Connolly and Homan shared some heated exchanges during the hearing, one in which the Democrat lawmaker yelled at the former border agent.
Homan said the Democrat’s actions are about resisting the president and support for open borders, and not about the truth.

Pastor John Hagee: Secularizing of America will lead to 'heartache and chaos'

Figures in government and media are trying to secularize American culture, which will lead the country away from its founding Judeo-Christian principles, according to Pastor John Hagee.
When the Pilgrims landed in today's New England, they made a promise to God that what became the United States would be a righteous nation based on morality, Hagee said in an interview airing Sunday on "Life, Liberty and Levin."
The relative lack of focus on Evangelicals by the media is, "indicative of the fact that America is slipping from its moral foundations of faith and Bible principles into secularism," the pastor said. "The further into secularism you go, the further away from the Word of God you go."
"And when you're away from the Word of God, you are away from God," Hagee went on. "So, they're out there swimming in an ocean of their own ego -- their opinions, their secular humanist concepts."
Hagee, founder and senior pastor at Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, Texas, claimed that what he sees as the shift from righteous leadership toward secularism will destroy the vision of the Founding Fathers.
"It will produce nothing but heartache and chaos because the real principles of society -- the real principles of this nation -- are still in the Word of God," he said.
"It's rarely taught, I guess, in our government public schools these days: When our Pilgrims landed, they made a covenant with God that this nation would be a nation that served the Lord.
"And our Founding Fathers, when they put the Constitution together, remembered the principles of the Word of God."
Hagee claimed the United States has strayed from that form and must return to a righteous path in order to continue to prosper.
"Our nation today is getting away from anything that looks like righteousness," he said. "... Our country is going the other direction full-speed and it is paying an awesome price -- and that price has just begun."

LA push to develop Skid Row prompts new clashes in California's homeless crisis

The intersection of 6th St. and San Pedro St. in Los Angeles is the center of Skid Row. (Andrew O'Reilly/Fox News)

City officials, developers and restaurateurs in Los Angeles are touting the renaissance of the city’s once-blighted downtown thanks to an explosion of trendy eateries, chic hotels and luxury apartments that have attracted thousands of new – and generally financially well-off – residents to the neighborhood in recent years.
But just a few blocks south of the area where a set-course sushi meal costs around $200 per person – wine or sake not included – is perhaps the country's most notorious tent city and a neighborhood that has been labeled the epicenter of homelessness in America: Skid Row.
The area -- which has been plagued by vagrancy, high crime rates and unsanitary conditions almost since its development in the 1880s -- is an unorganized collection of warehouses, wholesale storefronts and decaying low-rent hotels. Its trash-strewn streets are lined with the blue tarps and fraying tents of those residents unable to afford a solid roof over their heads.
But as development in Downtown Los Angeles steams forward unimpeded, city officials and developers are eyeing Skid Row as possibly the next “up-and-coming” neighborhood – a move causing tensions with advocates and community outreach workers who wonder what this means for the thousands of homeless and itinerant people who currently call the rundown area home.

Advocates and community outreach workers worry what housing development will mean for the thousands of homeless and itinerant people who currently call the rundown neighborhood home. (Andrew O'Reilly/Fox News)

“Most of Skid Row is already being carved up,” Jerry Jones, the director of public policy at the Inner City Law Center in Los Angeles, told Fox News. “We need to help those who live on Skid Row right now.”
The population of Downtown Los Angeles, which encompasses Skid Row and a number of other smaller neighborhoods, has seen its population skyrocket from just 18,000 people two decades ago to currently 76,000. There are also development plans bouncing around city hall that could bring 176,000 new residents to downtown by 2040.
Activists were enraged last June by a city proposal to rezone an industrial section of Skid Row to residential and open it up for market-rate development – a plan that supporters said would continue to the growth of downtown and create much-needed mixed office and living spaces in a city dealing with a major housing shortage.
While the proposal did call for putting social service agencies and permanent supportive housing in other parts of Skid Row, advocates for the neighborhood worried that it would drive up rents and displace some 4,000 people who currently live in the area’s single-room occupancy hotels and other modest lodgings.
In a concession to activists, a new rezoning plan released earlier this month calls for the conversion of parts of Skid Row into housing for residents earning between $10,000 and $58,000 annually. The plan also calls for any new development in bordering neighborhoods like the Arts District and Little Tokyo to include units for low-income residents.
Craig Weber, principal planner for the city of Los Angeles, told the Los Angeles Times that the new rezoning initiative is meant to create "housing opportunities for all."
“The plan seeks to expand the opportunity for affordable housing through policies, zoning and the community benefits program," he said.
Unlike cities like New York and nearby Santa Monica, Los Angeles currently does not have any laws on the books that require developers to mark off a certain percentage of new units for affordable housing.
Skid Row advocates like Jones say that the new rezoning plan is a start, but it doesn’t address the area’s homeless crisis and will most likely still displace the itinerant population of Skid Row into adjoining neighborhoods like Boyle Heights and University Park.
“It’s a huge opportunity that has been lost,” he said. “Any proposal to build in the area should benefit the current residents of Skid Row first.”
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and other city lawmakers appear fully aware that Skid Row has become the epicenter of a homeless crisis flaring across major California cities – specifically prioritizing the neighborhood in the mayor’s plan to tackle homelessness and allocating $7 million from the $124 million the state recently approved for improving the health and safety of city residents. This comes after the city already spent $20 million last year to expand hygiene infrastructure and street cleanups in the community.

Some 4,000 people currently live in Skid Row's single-room occupancy hotels and other modest lodgings, with many more living in tent encampments . (Andrew O'Reilly/Fox News)

“We all know the epicenter of this crisis is Skid Row,” Garcetti said during a press conference on Monday. “It’s where the extreme poverty cuts the deepest, it’s where the racialized elements of this homelessness crisis are most seen.”
He added: “The days of writing off this community are over.”
Besides the hygiene initiative, the city also has plans to build a bin facility for Skid Row residents to store their belongings, start a cleaning initiative that would hire residents to clean the streets and construct crisis beds for women in Skid Row at Downtown Women’s Center.
Activists say that the city’s initiatives are a good start, but to really remedy the dire situation that many on Skid Row find themselves in, a real roof over their heads is the most important thing.
ICLC’s Jones argues that different types of housing are needed to address the complexities of the homeless crisis in Los Angeles – from permanent supportive housing with on-site health professionals to deal with issues like mental illness and drug addiction to transitional housing for homeless youth and families trying to get back on their feet.
“Different people need different housing, but one thing they all need is a house,” he said.

The tent encampment on San Pedro St. in Skid Row borders a parking lot that is slated to become a supportive housing complex with 298 residential units. (Andrew O'Reilly/Fox News)

Most housing development that has been constructed on Skid Row over the last decade has been supportive housing, and a nonprofit organization, the Weingart Center, recently proposed building a 19-story affordable housing tower in the neighborhood on what is currently a parking lot.
The apartment complex would include 298 residential units – all studio apartments – as well as office space for the Inner City Law Center and Chrysalis, a job training and placement services nonprofit. The Weingart Center also has plans to build an 18-story and a 12-story supportive housing building on Skid Row that would have 382 apartments for homeless individuals.

Blackout gives New York's governor opportunity to blast New York City's absentee mayor

One consequence of New York City's Saturday night blackout: It shined a bright spotlight on the tensions between two prominent Democrats, the city's mayor and the state's governor.
As more than 70,000 customers -- plus countless tourists and other visitors -- dealt with the loss of electricity attributed to a transformer fire, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo blasted New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, who was in Iowa campaigning for president when the massive blackout hit Manhattan.
“I can count the number of times I leave the state basically on my fingers,” Cuomo told CNN, responding to a question about the importance of the mayor being in New York during an emergency.
"Mayors are important. And situations like this come up, you know. And you have to be on-site,” he said. "I think it’s important to be in a place where you can always respond. But look, everybody makes their own political judgment and I’m not going to second-guess anyone either. I do my job the way I think I should do my job and I leave it to others to do the same."

"Mayors are important. And situations like this come up, you know. And you have to be on-site."
— New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo

Although both are Democrats, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, left and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo have had a strained relationship. 

De Blasio was at a campaign stop in Waterloo, Iowa, when an equipment failure at a transformer substation shut off power for tens of thousands of people in his city.
The mayor first told CNN he was mulling whether to return to New York, but later decided he would, according to the Washington Examiner. He plans to fly back to the city Sunday morning, a spokesperson said.
Late Saturday, the mayor issued several Twitter messages, indicating he was monitoring the situation back home.
"With the power back on, I’ve directed City agencies to investigate this evening’s blackout," he wrote. "They’ll work with ConEd to get to the bottom of what happened tonight and prevent another widespread outage like this."
Meanwhile, the governor was in New York City, speaking to reporters just before midnight. He confirmed that power had been restored to all affected customers.
“This could have been much worse,” Cuomo added, commending emergency responders. “When things are at their worst New Yorkers are at their best.”
The governor said he would be working with utility company Con Edison to make sure a blackout of Saturday’s magnitude doesn’t happen again.

Anti-American Illegal Alien Cartoons

Democrat pictured on the Left :-)

Labor Secretary Acosta announces resignation amid Epstein plea deal controversy

OAN Newsroom
UPDATED 8:57 AM PT – Friday, July 12, 2019

President Trump announced Labor Secretary Alex Acosta will be stepping down, following the heat he received this week over the decades old Jeffrey Epstein plea deal.
Acosta joined the president as he spoke to reporters outside the White House Friday. President Trump offered praise for the embattled official, and said the Labor Department’s number two official — Patrick Pizzella — will take over as acting secretary.
Acosta also blasted the media over its coverage connecting Epstein to the Labor Department before saying he would step aside for the greater good of the administration.

Labor Secretary Alex Acosta, right, accompanied President Donald Trump, left, speaks to members of the media on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Friday, July 12, 2019, before Trump boards Marine One for a short trip to Andrews Air Force Base, Md. and then on to Wisconsin. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

“I do not think it is right and fair for this administration’s Labor Department to have Epstein as the focus rather than the incredible economy that we have today and, so I called the president this morning and I told him that I thought the right thing was to step aside,” he stated. “You know, cabinet positions are temporary trusts — it would be selfish for me to stay in this position and continue talking about a case that’s 12 years old rather than about the amazing economy we have right now.”
This comes after Acosta defended his 2008 non-prosecution agreement with Epstein lawyers when he was a U.S. attorney in Southern Florida. The agreement kept alleged sex-trafficking victims in the dark about the so-called “sweetheart deal.”

….Alex was a great Secretary of Labor and his service is truly appreciated. He will be replaced on an acting basis by Pat Pizzella, the current Deputy Secretary.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 12, 2019

Pence slams CNN for 'dishonest' coverage of detention center visit; says America 'deserves the full story'

Vice President Mike Pence blasted CNN late Friday night for what he described as the network's "dishonest" coverage of his trip to a migrant detention center near the U.S.-Mexico border.
Pence, along with reporters and a group of GOP lawmakers, flew to McAllen, Texas, where he participated in a roundtable discussion with Border Patrol agents and toured a detention center. The vice president spoke with several migrant children and asked about their treatment at the facility with the help of a translator.
CNN's primetime coverage, however, featured only visuals of a large group of adult male migrants behind a fence attempting to engage with reporters. During CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360" program, the network played Pence's interview with CNN senior White House correspondent Pamela Brown on a split screen, showing only footage of the adult migrants and none of the footage of Pence visiting with children.
Later, CNN's Chris Cuomo criticized Pence's interview remarks and accused him of providing "spin" on the facility conditions. "Cuomo Prime Time" also made no reference to Pence's visit with the children.
The vice president apparently took notice, as evidenced by Twitter posts.
"CNN is so dishonest. Today we took reporters to a detention facility on the border for families and children and all told us they were being treated well," Pence began. "The crisis at our southern border is not a 'manufactured crisis,' it is real and is overwhelming our system. To show this, we also visited an overcrowded facility for adult men, many of whom have been arrested multiple times. These men were in a temporary holding area because Democrats in Congress have refused to fund additional bed space."
He continued: "Rather than broadcast the full story, showing the compassionate care the American people are providing to vulnerable families, tonight CNN only played video of men in the temporary facility and didn’t play any footage of the family facility at all... ignoring the excellent care being provided to families and children. Our great @CBP agents deserve better and the American people deserve the whole story from CNN!"

"Our great @CBP agents deserve better and the American people deserve the whole story from CNN!"
— Vice President Mike Pence

CNN did not immediately respond to Pence's comments.
Several CNN anchors -- including Cooper, Cuomo, Don Lemon and Wolf Blitzer -- previously rejected President Trump's warning earlier this year that there was a crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border.
"You can build a physical barrier. But why say it's a cure-all to keep back this demonized group of people, like this marauding horde that doesn't exist. [Trump] created all of this. It's all bogus," Cuomo said Jan. 11.
"Let's talk about his imaginary Latin-American migrant conspiracy," Lemon said April 24. "This is part of a long history of him making things up about the caravan and the border crisis."
"President Trump will speak tonight from the Oval Office, trying to sell his border wall to a doubtful nation, as his administration uses falsehoods and misstatements to build the case for what it calls a crisis on the border," Blitzer said Jan. 8.
"Now, it's not our job to advocate for or against a given policy," Cooper said Jan. 8. "It's our job to call out the dishonest pursuit of it. So, as we wait for the president to speak about what he calls the crisis on the border, we're starting with the crisis of credibility he's created for himself."
Fox News media reporter Brian Flood contributed to this report.

House Democrats take aim at AOC's chief of staff for tweet targeting Native American lawmaker

Saikat Chakrabarti and girlfriend :-)

The official House Democrats Twitter account took a shot at the chief of staff of U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Friday night, responding belatedly, but strongly, to a comment he made weeks ago, directed at U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids, D-Kansas.
"Who is this guy and why is he explicitly singling out a Native American woman of color?" the Democratic Caucus posted, in a comment directed at Saikat Chakrabarti, who works for Ocasio-Cortez.
The comment also seemed to be a dig at Ocasio-Cortez herself, following her recent comments accusing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of targeting progressive Democrats based on race.
"Her name is Congresswoman Davids, not Sharice," the House Democrats added. "She is a phenomenal new member who flipped a red seat blue. Keep Her Name Out Of Your Mouth."
Pelosi said Thursday she recently addressed -- “at the request of my members” -- an “offensive tweet that came out of one of the member's offices” that compared centrist Democrats to segregationists. That tweet was authored and then deleted by Chakrabarti.
Ocasio-Cortez has since accused Pelosi of being “disrespectful” to several “newly elected women of color.”
The House Democrats' tweet included a screenshot of Chakrabarti's response to someone on Twitter saying that while Davids is not racist her votes are "enabling a racist system."
"I think the point still stands. I don't think people have to be personally racist to enable a racist system. And the same could even be said of the Southern Democrats. I don't believe Sharice is a racist person, but her votes are showing her to enable a racist system," Chakrabarti tweeted on June 27, the night of the second Democratic presidential debate in Miami.
Chakrabarti responded to the House Democrats' Twitter handle Friday night, asking why they did not point out that he was responding to someone else who brought up Davids.
"Why did you leave that out?" he asked.
"I've known Rep. Davids for a long time, consider her a friend, and encouraged her to run for Congress back in the fall of 2016. I'm glad she did," Chakrabarti tweeted.
"Everything I tweeted 2 weeks ago was to call out the terrible border funding bill that 90+ Dems opposed. It gave Trump a blank check to continue caging people in horrendous conditions. Our Democracy is literally falling apart. I'm not interested in substance-less Twitter spats," Chakrabarti said in a follow-up tweet.
Fox News' Alex Pappas contributed to this report.