Unhinged Left Cartoons

Actress Meryl Streep renews harsh criticism of Trump in emotional speech

Unhinged Left

In an emotional speech on Saturday night, actress Meryl Streep doubled down on her harsh criticism of President Donald Trump, and spoke of becoming a target at the Golden Globes in January.
At a fundraising gala for the Human Rights Campaign, a national LGBT group, Streep referred to Trump's tweet after her Globes speech, in which he called the celebrated actress "overrated."
"Yes, I am the most overrated, over-decorated and currently, I am the most over-berated actress ... of my generation," Streep said.
Streep said she wished she could stay at home and "and load the dishwasher" rather than take a podium to speak out adding that "the weight of all these honors" she's received in her career compelled her to speak out.
"It's terrifying to put the target on your forehead," she said. "And it sets you up for all sorts of attacks and armies of brown shirts and bots and worse, and the only way you can do it is if you feel you have to. You have to! You don't have an option. You have to."
Streep was receiving the group's National Ally for Equality Award.
She clarified that she indeed likes football too after previously saying that football and martial arts weren't arts in her Globes speech.
The actress also praised the organization for defending LGBT rights.
Streep then spoke about cultures used to put men at the top, but that women, people of color and other minorities began achieving their deserved rights at some point in the 20th century. "We shouldn't be surprised that fundamentalists, of all stripes, everywhere, are exercised and fuming," she said.
Turning to Trump, she said: "But if we live through this precarious moment — if his catastrophic instinct to retaliate doesn't lead us to nuclear winter — we will have much to thank this president for. Because he will have woken us up to how fragile freedom really is."
Streep said the country has now learned "how the authority of the executive, in the hands of a self-dealer, can be wielded against the people, and the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. The whip of the executive can, through a Twitter feed, lash and intimidate, punish and humiliate, delegitimize the press and all of the imagined enemies with spasmodic regularity and easily provoked predictability."
"All of us have the human right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness," the actress said.
"If you think people were mad," Streep said, "when they thought the government was coming after their guns, wait until you see when they try to take away our happiness."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Several GOP States Move to Block Their Own Funding to Sanctuary Cities

A number of GOP states have moved to introduce legislation to block their own state funding to so-called sanctuary cities.
The moves come in conjunction with President Donald Trump's executive order to block federal funding to cities that refuse to comply with federal immigration authorities.
The states include Idaho, Texas, Iowa, Michigan, Ohio, Tennessee, Florida, North Carolina and Pennsylvania.
Cities nationwide including New York City, Chicago, Philadelphia, New Orleans, Boston, Baltimore and Washington, D.C., have all adopted sanctuary status.

Amid protests over President Trump’s executive order aiming to block federal funding to so-called sanctuary cities, Republican legislators across the country are moving to deny their own funding to cities that refuse to comply with federal immigration authorities.
The Texas state Senate on Wednesday passed a measure to block state funding to cities in which law enforcement officials disregard federal immigration laws. The measure would require police agencies to hold anyone in custody until U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement is able to verify their immigration status, or risk losing state funding.
Similar legislation has been introduced in Ohio, Tennessee, Florida, North Carolina, Iowa, Idaho and Pennsylvania. Other laws are likely to be introduced in the coming weeks. Many are inspired by Trump’s executive orders barring refugees and blocking all immigration from seven Muslim-majority countries.
“What he’s doing is a great idea. We need to protect Americans, we need to protect Tennesseans,” state Sen. Mark Green (R), author of his state’s version of the sanctuary city ban, said in an interview. “We’re going to take it a step further and enhance what the president is doing and take state dollars from cities that decide, because they want to, to ignore ICE detainers.”Civil rights groups that oppose bans on sanctuary cities say the measures are questionable, and many promised to challenge the bills in court if they become law.
Local law enforcement agencies that decline to participate with federal immigration authorities say their approach helps them build trust with immigrant communities. If undocumented immigrants are afraid for their own safety, they are less likely to report crimes or cooperate with local police.
“Many cities and some states and other municipalities have made the decision that they’re not going to use their jails, their police officers, their city resources to do immigration enforcement,” Omar Jadwat, a senior attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union’s Immigrants Rights Project, told The Hill last year. “And that is completely within their rights.”
Local law enforcement agencies are not required to enforce immigration statutes or to comply with detention requests from ICE. But the new round of state proposals would use state grant money as leverage to require local compliance.
Some of the new proposals go farther by holding local officials accountable for their city’s actions. In Ohio, a proposal backed by state Treasurer Josh Mandel (R) — who is challenging Sen. Sherrod Brown (D) in 2018 — would charge officials with a fourth-degree felony, punishable by up to 18 months in prison, if an undocumented immigrant is charged with a crime.
A Florida proposal would require government officials to report possible violations to the state attorney general or risk expulsion from office. The Florida bill would fine local governments up to $5,000 a day for maintaining sanctuary policies.
North Carolina’s version would withhold tax revenues from natural gas, telecommunications and beer and wine sales from any locality that maintains a sanctuary policy. State lawmakers banned sanctuary cities in 2015, though that measure has no enforcement mechanism.
In Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott (R) has already moved to block about $1.8 million in state grants to Travis County, where the local sheriff has implemented a sanctuary policy.
“I will not tolerate sanctuary city policies that put the citizens of Texas at risk,” Abbott said in a statement Thursday. “Elected officials do not get to pick and choose which laws they will obey.”
Trump’s order has already forced one local government, Miami-Dade County, to drop its sanctuary policy.
Since the day after Trump won election, Democrat-led states have pursued an opposite path in hopes of protecting undocumented residents, setting up likely legal clashes.
California legislators are working on a package of laws that would create legal defense funds for those swept up in immigration raids, while Oregon Gov. Kate Brown (D) ordered state agencies to avoid asking about immigration statuses of those with whom they come into contact.
“In California, immigrants are an integral part of who we are and what we’ve become,” Gov. Jerry Brown (D) told legislators in his state of the state address last month. “We will defend everybody, every man, woman and child, who has come here for a better life and has contributed to the well-being of our state.”
There is no legal definition of a sanctuary city, county or state. But hundreds of jurisdictions across the country — including the entire states of California, Connecticut, New Mexico and Colorado — label themselves as such.
Washington, D.C.; Arlington, Va.; Philadelphia; New York City; Boston; Baltimore; New Orleans and other major cities have all adopted sanctuary policies.

Massive crowd protests Trump, anti-LGBT law in North Carolina

Unhinged Left

A massive crowd took to the streets in North Carolina on Saturday in opposition of President Donald Trump and to a state law limiting LGBT rights for an annual civil rights march.
The "Moral March on Raleigh" was led by the North Carolina NAACP for an 11th year.
Officials in Raleigh didn’t provide any information on crowd numbers. Organizers of the event predicted about 20,000 protesters.
The surface area that the crowd covered neared the march's previous peak from 2014.
March participants promoted different issues from gerrymandering and immigration to public education.
The protesters also want a House Bill 2 repeal, which limits LGBT rights and which bathrooms transgender people can use.

Japan, US condemn North Korea's missile launch over the Sea of Japan

Unhinged

The United States and Japan held a joint press conference on Saturday night following reports that North Korea fired a ballistic missile in what would be its first such test of the year.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe condemned North Korea's latest missile launch calling it, "absolutely intolerable."
President Donald Trump assured Japan that the U.S. stands behind the country completely.
“The United States of America stands behind Japan, its great ally, 100 percent,” Trump said during the conference at Trump’s south Florida estate.
Abe read a brief statement in which he called on North Korea “to fully comply with relevant U.N. Security Council resolutions.” He said Trump has assured him of U.S. support and that Trump's presence showed the president's determination and commitment.
North Korea reportedly fired a ballistic missile early Sunday in what would be its first such test of the year and an implicit challenge to President Donald Trump's new administration.

More on this...

• North Korea reportedly test fires missile, challenging US

• How to really deal with the North Korean nuclear threat

A spokesman for U.S. Strategic Command said in an emailed statement to Fox News that the, "U.S. Strategic Command systems detected and tracked what we assess was a North Korean missile launch.”
The missile splashed down into the sea between the Korean Peninsula and Japan, according to the U.S. Strategic Command. Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters that the missile did not hit Japanese territorial seas.

The appropriate officials “remain vigilant in the face of North Korean provocations and are fully committed to working closely with our Republic of Korea and Japanese allies to maintain security,” the spokesman said in the statement, adding that the launch was from “a medium- or intermediate-range ballistic missile.”
The missile launch reports come as Trump was hosting the Japanese leader and just days before North Korea is to mark the birthday of leader Kim Jong Un's late father, Kim Jong Il.

Made in China Cartoons

Trump assures Japan after friendly phone call with China

President Trump Friday met with Japan’s prime minister one day after a phone call with China’s leader that was reportedly friendly and one where Trump vowed to honor a “one China” policy.
Japan, a major U.S. ally in the Pacific, has long been a suspicious of its neighbor
Welcoming Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to the White House with a hug, Trump said he wants to bring the post-World War II alliance with Japan "even closer."
Although Japan is a historic rival of China, Trump said that his long and "warm" conversation with Xi was good for Tokyo, too."I believe that will all work out very well for everybody, China, Japan, the United States and everybody in the region," Trump said at a joint news conference with Abe.
VIDEO: TRUMP TALKS ABOUT THE US' RELATIONSHIP WITH JAPAN
Trump, fresh off patching up ties with China, reassured Japan's leader that the U.S. will defend its close ally. Together, the pronouncements illustrated a shift toward a more mainstream Trump stance on U.S. policy toward Asia.
Welcoming Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to the White House with a hug, Trump said he wants to bring the post-World War II alliance with Japan "even closer."
While such calls are ritual after these types of meetings, from Trump they're sure to calm anxieties that he has stoked by demanding that America's partners pay more for their own defense.
Abe, a nationalist adept at forging relationships with self-styled strongmen overseas, was the only world leader to meet the Republican before his inauguration. He is now the second to do so since Trump took office. Flattering the billionaire businessman, Abe said he would welcome the United States becoming "even greater."
He also invited Trump to visit Japan this year. Trump accepted, according to a joint statement.
Other leaders of America's closest neighbors and allies, such as Mexico, Britain and Australia, have been singed by their encounters or conversations with Trump.
But the optics Friday were positive. After a working lunch on economic issues, the two leaders boarded Air Force One with their wives for a trip to Trump's Mar-a-Lago Club in Florida. They dined with New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft at the club Friday night. Trump and Abe are scheduled to play golf Saturday.
Stepping carefully into Japan's longstanding territorial dispute with China over uninhabited islands in the East China Sea, Trump said the U.S. is committed to the security of Japan and all areas under its administrative control. The implication was that the U.S.-Japan defense treaty covers the disputed islands, which Japan which calls the Senkaku, but China calls the Diaoyu.
Beijing opposes such statements, but Trump's wording allowed for some diplomatic wiggle room. The joint statement released later was more explicit, however, in spelling out the U.S. commitment.
Abe has championed a more active role for Japan's military. He has eased constraints imposed by the nation's pacifist post-war constitution and allowed forces to defend allies, even if Japan itself is not under attack.
There was less agreement on economics.
One of Trump's first actions as president was to withdraw the U.S. from a 12-nation, trans-Pacific trade agreement that was negotiated by the Obama administration and strongly supported by Tokyo.
Diverting from Trump's stance that the Trans-Pacific Partnership is bad for America, Abe stressed the importance of a "free and fair common set of rules" for trade among the world's most dynamic economies.
"That was the purpose of TPP. That importance has not changed," Abe said through an interpreter, though both leaders held out the possibility of a future bilateral, U.S.-Japanese deal.
Trump has also criticized Toyota Motor Corp. for planning to build an assembly plant in Mexico and has complained Japanese don't buy enough U.S.-made cars — though on Friday, Japanese government spokesman Norio Maruyama said Trump expressed appreciation to Abe for Japanese investment in the U.S. and looked forward to it expanding.
Abe told U.S. business leaders Friday that "a whopping majority" of the Japanese cars running on American roads are manufactured in the U.S. by American workers. That includes 70 percent of Toyotas. Abe said Japanese business supports some 840,000 jobs in the United States.
That may not be enough for Trump, who is highly sensitive to U.S. trade deficits.
Japan logged the second-largest surplus with the U.S. last year, behind only China, and there had been some expectation Abe would use the visit to propose new Japanese investments to help Trump spur American job growth. There was no such announcement Friday — only agreement to launch a high-level dialogue on economic cooperation.
While such calls are ritual after these types of meetings, from Trump they're sure to calm anxieties that he has stoked by demanding that America's partners pay more for their own defense.
Abe, a nationalist adept at forging relationships with self-styled strongmen overseas, was the only world leader to meet the Republican before his inauguration. He is now the second to do so since Trump took office. Flattering the billionaire businessman, Abe said he would welcome the United States becoming "even greater."
He also invited Trump to visit Japan this year. Trump accepted, according to a joint statement.
Other leaders of America's closest neighbors and allies, such as Mexico, Britain and Australia, have been singed by their encounters or conversations with Trump.
But the optics Friday were positive. After a working lunch on economic issues, the two leaders boarded Air Force One with their wives for a trip to Trump's Mar-a-Lago Club in Florida. They dined with New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft at the club Friday night. Trump and Abe are scheduled to play golf Saturday.
Their Oval Office meeting came hours after Trump reaffirmed Washington's long-standing "one China" policy in a call with Chinese President Xi Jinping. That statement will similarly ease anxieties in East Asia after Beijing was angered and other capitals were rattled by earlier suggestions that he might use Taiwan as leverage in trade, security and other negotiations.
Stepping carefully into Japan's longstanding territorial dispute with China over uninhabited islands in the East China Sea, Trump said the U.S. is committed to the security of Japan and all areas under its administrative control. The implication was that the U.S.-Japan defense treaty covers the disputed islands, which Japan which calls the Senkaku, but China calls the Diaoyu.
Beijing opposes such statements, but Trump's wording allowed for some diplomatic wiggle room. The joint statement released later was more explicit, however, in spelling out the U.S. commitment.
Abe has championed a more active role for Japan's military. He has eased constraints imposed by the nation's pacifist post-war constitution and allowed forces to defend allies, even if Japan itself is not under attack.
As a candidate, Trump urged even greater self-reliance, at one point even raising the notion of Japan and South Korea developing their own nuclear weapons as a deterrent to North Korea.
He made no similar remark Friday, and according to Japanese officials, did not raise the issue of cost-sharing for defense. Instead he thanked Japan for hosting nearly 50,000 American troops, which also serve as a counterweight to China's increased regional influence. He said freedom of navigation and dealing with North Korea's missile and nuclear threats are a "very high priority."
There was less agreement on economics.
One of Trump's first actions as president was to withdraw the U.S. from a 12-nation, trans-Pacific trade agreement that was negotiated by the Obama administration and strongly supported by Tokyo.
Diverting from Trump's stance that the Trans-Pacific Partnership is bad for America, Abe stressed the importance of a "free and fair common set of rules" for trade among the world's most dynamic economies.
"That was the purpose of TPP. That importance has not changed," Abe said through an interpreter, though both leaders held out the possibility of a future bilateral, U.S.-Japanese deal.
That may not be enough for Trump, who is highly sensitive to U.S. trade deficits.
Japan logged the second-largest surplus with the U.S. last year, behind only China, and there had been some expectation Abe would use the visit to propose new Japanese investments to help Trump spur American job growth. There was no such announcement Friday — only agreement to launch a high-level dialogue on economic cooperation.

Trump reportedly considers new immigration order after court defeat

Idiots

Although President Trump said he is convinced that his travel ban will eventually win in court, he said Friday that he is considering crafting a “brand new order."
He said any action would not come until next week, but he stressed that “we need speed for reasons of security.”
The comments, which were made on Air Force One, suggest that he is going to take bifurcated strategy, according to The Wall Street Journal. In that case, his administration could continue a legal fight for his first order all while crafting another.
“I have no doubt that we’ll win that particular case,” Trump said at the White House, during a press conference alongside visiting Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
The Justice Department is weighing its options, which also include appealing to a broader panel of judges or the Supreme Court.
The decision Thursday was made by a panel of three judges with the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals based in San Francisco.
In their unanimous decision , the judges refused to reinstate Trump's immigration order and rejected the government’s position that such presidential decisions on immigration policy are “unreviewable.”
“There is no precedent to support this claimed unreviewability, which runs contrary to the fundamental structure of our constitutional democracy,” the judges wrote. “…Although our jurisprudence has long counseled deference to the political branches on matters of immigration and national security, neither the Supreme Court nor our court has ever held that courts lack the authority to review executive action in those arenas for compliance with the Constitution.”
The initial order, which was signed Jan. 27, suspended entry for visitors from seven predominantly Muslim countries for at least 90 days and froze the entire U.S. refugee program, The Journal reported.
Josh Blackman, a professor at South Texas College of Law in Houston, said the "million-dollar question" is whether the Trump administration would appeal to the Supreme Court.
That could run the risk of having only eight justices to hear the case, which could produce a tie and leave the lower-court ruling in place.
"There's a distinct risk in moving this too quickly," Blackman said. "But we're not in a normal time, and Donald Trump is very rash. He may trump, pardon the figure of speech, the normal rule."