Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi Join Effort to Take President Trump Down in 2020

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By Washington Examiner. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and former President Barack Obama have joined a 2020 “unity” movement. And it’s deeply dividing.

The goal: “Defeat Donald Trump and his Republican enablers.”

Fresh off the House’s impeachment vote of the president, Pelosi has penned a fundraising letter for the Democratic Unity Fund that aims to raise millions to defeat Trump, maintain Democratic control of the House, and turn the Republican Senate blue.

“We all know what’s at stake in this election. Right now, we have a president who clearly has no respect for our Constitution, our democracy, or the rule of law. Every day he makes more false promises while his policies continue to hurt hardworking Americans in every corner of our country. We simply cannot afford four more years of a Donald Trump presidency,” she penned.

“That’s why President Obama and I are proud to work with the DNC to ensure that our future nominee and Democratic candidates running for every level of office have the resources they will need to win back the White House, flip the Senate, and hold our valuable House majority,” she added. (Read more from “Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi Join Effort to Take President Trump Down in 2020” HERE)

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Trump 2020 Campaign Raised $46 Million in Final Quarter of 2019

By Newsweek. Donald J. Trump for President, Inc. on New Year’s Day announced that the president’s re-election campaign had raised $46 million in the last quarter of 2019—making the 4th quarter the campaign’s best since the beginning of the 2020 election cycle.

Despite being impeached by the Democrat-led House in mid-December, Trump’s campaign ended the year with $102.7 million cash on hand. The amount only represents fundraising for Donald J. Trump for President, Inc. and does not include finances raised by the Republican National Committee (RNC) or any other joint fundraising committees. The fourth quarter ran between October 1 and December 31.

“President Trump’s unprecedented fundraising is testament to his wide grassroots support and his stellar record of achievement on behalf of the American people,” Brad Parscale, the manager for Trump 2020 campaign, said in a statement emailed to Newsweek.

“Democrats and the media have been in a sham impeachment frenzy and the President’s campaign only got bigger and stronger with our best fundraising quarter this cycle,” he added. “The President’s war chest and grassroots army make his re-election campaign an unstoppable juggernaut.” (Read more from “Trump 2020 Campaign Raised $46 Million in Final Quarter of 2019” HERE)

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Congressman: Sheriffs May Go to Jail to Protect ‘Second Amendment Sanctuaries’

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By Washington Examiner. Kentucky Republican Rep. Thomas Massie thinks some local law enforcement leaders will be willing to go to jail rather than comply with state gun control laws they deem unconstitutional.

“Attended my first 2A sanctuary meeting today in Lewis County (where I live). Standing room only. Friends and neighbors spoke passionately and articulately. County officials unanimously passed a resolution,” Massie tweeted on Dec. 30. “This grassroots movement feels even stronger than the Tea Party in 2010.”

“Second Amendment sanctuary” municipalities last year sprouted up in Illinois, a state with some of the strictest gun control laws. They then spread to Colorado, Kentucky, New Mexico, New Jersey, Oregon, Virginia, Washington state, and other states.

Massie cited Weld County, Colorado Sheriff Steve Reams, a critic of the state’s “red flag” law, who has offered to put himself in his own jail rather than enforce the state law.

“His county government has already voted to fund his legal fees should he end up in a protracted legal battle that might go all the way” to the Supreme Court, Massie told the Washington Examiner. (Read more from “Congressman: Sheriffs May Go to Jail to Protect ‘Second Amendment Sanctuaries’” HERE)

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Nye County Board Declares ‘2nd Amendment Sanctuary’ to New Gun Laws

By 8 News Now. Nye County is officially declining to enforce new regulations on background checks on most private gun sales.

The Nye County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday unanimously approved Resolution 2019-39, declaring a “Second Amendment Sanctuary County.” Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak signed legislation early this year requiring background checks on most private party gun sales.

While a resolution does not have the force of law, it signals that Nye — and likely several other rural Nevada counties — will hold to their opposition of the new law. (Read more from “Nye County Board Declares ‘2nd Amendment Sanctuary’ to New Gun Laws” HERE)

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China Passes Tighter Restrictions on Religious Practice

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By Breitbart. The Chinese Communist Party has passed a series of draconian administrative measures for religious groups, which will go into effect on February 1, 2020, bringing them completely under government control.

Religious organizations must henceforth “spread the principles and policies of the Chinese Communist Party” by educating “religious staff and religious citizens to support the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party,” reported AsiaNews, the official press agency of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions.

All religious activities or rallies and even programs of religious communities must have the approval of the Religious Affairs Office, according to a communication published this week by Xinhua news agency, as the new measures seek to complete the “Regulations on religious affairs” that went into effect on February 1, 2018.

The government’s religious affairs department will assume absolute control over religious groups and “should perform their functions such as guiding and supervising the groups’ operation,” Xinhua revealed Monday.

More broadly, the new regulations “stipulate how the groups should designate their officials, carry out their work and manage their own affairs,” the report stated. (Read more from “China Passes Tighter Restrictions on Religious Practice” HERE)

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Religion in China in 2020: from bad to worse

By Mercatornet. On February 1, 2018 the New Regulation on Regulation Affairs, enacted in 2017, came into force. It was the legal embodiment of President Xi Jinping’s new policy on religion, the most restrictive since the Cultural Revolution.

A new law was not needed to crack down on the Black Market of groups banned and persecuted as xie jiao, such as The Church of Almighty God (the single most persecuted movement in China) or Falun Gong. Draconian measures organizing their suppression were already in place.

Most scholars agreed that the aim of the 2017 Regulation was to gradually eliminate the Gray Market of the religious organizations not explicitly banned as xie jiao but resisting incorporation into the Red Market of the authorized and government-controlled Five Authorized Religions.

The largest segment of the Gray Market consists of Protestant House Churches. The regulation that came into force in 2018 aimed at compelling them to join the pro-government Three-Self Church, thus entering the Red Market, threatening, if they refused, to destroy their places of worship and arrest their pastors.

On December 30, 2019, the decision sentencing Pastor Wang Yi of Chengdu’s Early Rain Covenant Church, one of the best-known figures in the House Church movements, to nine years in jail was announced. Perhaps not coincidentally, on the same day, the CCP announced that new “Administrative Measures for Religious Groups” have been approved and will come into force on February 1, 2020. Two years after the 2017 Regulation on Religious Affairs, the religious policy of Xi Jinping will have a new legal tool at its disposal. (Read more from “Religion in China in 2020: from bad to worse” HERE)

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Nudist Resort Burns Down in Major Fire During ‘Nude Year’s Eve’ Party

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Firefighters from three states responded to a nudist resort as a major blaze broke out during its “Nude Year’s Eve” party.

Avalon Resort’s lodge, located on 140 acres of woods in Paw Paw, West Virginia, was a total loss, but the pool and bar were spared, firefighters told the Cumberland Times-News. . .

“On New Years Eve we had a fire in the lodge. Thankfully no one (including pets) was injured. The aquatic center was not affected at all. The Nudsino needs some work and clean-up, but can be back up and running. The Bare Barn was untouched,” according to the resort’s Facebook page. “We are temporarily closed but are already working on plans to reopen.” (Read more from “Nudist Resort Burns Down in Major Fire During ‘Nude Year’s Eve’ Party” HERE)

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Mexicans Protest Trump Administration’s Latest Deportation Plan

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Migrants stationed near the U.S. southern border pleaded with the Mexican government to stop a tentative plan by the Trump administration to deport Mexican nationals to Central America.

Protesters, most of whom were Mexican migrants themselves, gathered around Tijuana offices of the National Commission of Human Rights on Monday, requesting that the government provide more rights and resources to Mexican migrants fleeing violence, according to The San Diego Union-Tribune. Additionally, the demonstrators asked their government to prevent the White House from sending Mexican asylum seekers to Guatemala — an idea the Trump administration has left open.

“We came here to complain because they want to send us to Guatemala. We, Mexicans, are asking for political asylum and the truth is that’s not a safe country,” said Luis de Jesus Carreño Díaz. “So now they want to send us to a worse place? We have no family there. There is no work. There are no shelters. What are we going to do? Turn to crime to eat? I don’t think so.”

Several people being held in an immigration detention center in San Diego, according to Carreño, said they are being told they will be transferred to Guatemala after the new year. The stories are causing him and his family to reconsider crossing the border and claiming asylum in the U.S.

The Trump administration — after implementing a number of policies aimed at reducing the flow of Central American migrants appearing at the southern border — is forced to deal with changing demographics. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced in November that, for the fist time in roughly a year-and-a-half, the majority of those apprehended by Border Patrol are Mexican nationals. (Read more from “Mexicans Protest Trump Administration’s Latest Deportation Plan” HERE)

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WATCH: Here’s an Update on How Trump Admin Plans to Deal With Attack on Embassy in Iraq

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Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Tuesday night that the Trump administration will not be backing down in Iraq after the attack this week by Iranian-backed terrorists on the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.

Appearing on Fox News’s “Special Report” with guest host Mike Emanuel, Pompeo said that the administration has no plans to evacuate the embassy in Baghdad and no plans to withdraw the troops that are in Iraq.

“This is 40 years of the Islamic Republic of Iran engaged in global terror campaigns, nuclear weapons dreams, and nuclear enrichment capability to existing today,” Pompeo said. “We came in when the previous administration had provided lots of money, lots of money that was used for that nuclear program, lots of money that had been used for terror all around the world develop their missile program.”

“The Trump administration’s taking a very different view,” Pompeo continued. “We put real pressure on the Islamic Republic of Iran. We will continue to do so and we saw the president say today we will continue to hold the Islamic Republic of Iran accountable wherever we find their malign activity, and we’ll make sure we have the resources to do so.” . . .

“We’ve imposed an incredible economic burden on the regime,” Pompeo said. “We’ve watched the Iranian people demand that their leaders behave differently. You’ve seen the protests. Unfortunately, Iranians responded by killing hundreds of their own citizens.”

(Read more from “Here’s an Update on How Trump Admin Plans to Deal With Attack on Embassy in Iraq” HERE)

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GOP Senator Gives Impeachment End Date

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On Tuesday, one of the GOP’s leaders in the Senate, Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO) said he thinks President Trump’s impeachment trial will be over by the time Trump delivers the State of the Union speech on February 4. Blunt told KSSZ the Senate trial would be “pretty predictable” and happen “quickly,” adding, “My guess is we’ll be done with this by the time the president comes.”

Blunt opined, “What’s happening on the impeachment front doesn’t seem too be complicated; it’s an issue I wish the country wasn’t dealing with. I said on a couple of the Sunday shows a week or two ago that for the first 180 years of the country’s history we’d only gone to presidential impeachment one time and here in the last 46 years or so, we’ve gone to this process three times in a way that is almost become dangerously routine.”

He continued, “If a majority of the House of Representatives can impeach a president as sort of a routine, “Well, we’ve done this 20 years ago and we did it 20 years before that and let’s send it over to the Senate and see what happens,” I think that’s concerning, but Nancy Pelosi said at very start of the year if impeachment wasn’t bipartisan, it wouldn’t work and it clearly was no bipartisan in the House, not a single Republican voted for the articles of impeachment and a couple of Democrats didn’t either. That’s not an overwhelmingly bipartisan vote but it certainly means it wasn’t a bipartisan decision that this is something in an election year we should move forward with.” . . .

Asked if there were a timetable set for the Senate trial, Blunt responded, “Well, at one time both the House and the Senate were of the view that this is constitutionally important that this is something that needs to happen quickly. I think it will still happen quickly. Just reading yesterday in the information we received about the state of the union, that the president’s been invited by the Speaker to come and give the State of the Union speech on February 4th, my guess is we’ll be done with this by the time the president comes.” (Read more from “GOP Senator Gives Impeachment End Date” HERE)

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Atheist Group Asks IRS to Investigate Church for Hosting Trump Rally

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The infamous atheist group Freedom From Religion Foundation has written a letter to the Internal Revenue Service urging an investigation into a Miami area church’s tax exempt status after the church agreed to host a Friday rally for President Donald Trump.

The church, King Jesus International Ministry in West Kendall, is pastored by Guillermo Maldonado. The church was chosen to host a gathering of 70 Christian pastors for the “‘Evangelicals for Trump’ Coalition Launch,” according to Fox News. The event is scheduled for Friday at 5:00pm ET.

The selection of the site already caused some controversy locally, as local Hispanic leaders criticized the predominantly Spanish-speaking congregation for hosting the president, and some expressing concern that any parishioners who are illegal immigrants might be deported if they attended.

Maldonado, for his part, dismissed these criticisms as ridiculous, saying, “I ask you: Do you think I would do something where I would endanger my people? I’m not that dumb… I don’t think the president would do such a thing. Don’t put your race or your nationality over being a Christian. Be mature … If you want to come, do it for your pastor. That’s a way of supporting me.” (Read more from “Atheist Group Asks IRS to Investigate Church for Hosting Trump Rally” HERE)

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Additional Troops Are Headed to the Middle East in Response to Attack on U.S. Embassy

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By The Blaze. The Department of Defense announced Tuesday night that an additional 750 troops would be promptly deployed to the Middle East in response to Tuesday’s attack on the United States Embassy in Iraq, and that another 3,000 were preparing for possible deployment in coming days.

Secretary of Defense Mark Esper issued a written statement, saying, “This deployment is an appropriate and precautionary action taken in response to increased threat levels against US personnel and facilities, such as we witnessed in Baghdad today.” According to the statement, the deployment was ordered by President Donald Trump, who has placed blame for the attack squarely on the Iranian government.

Overall, an additional 14,000 troops have been deployed to the Middle East since May 2019 in response to Iranian aggression in the area. (Read more from “Additional Troops Are Headed to the Middle East in Response to Attack on U.S. Embassy” HERE)

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Several American Troops Wounded and a U.S. Contractor Killed in Rocket Attack on Kirkuk Base

By Fox News. Officials with the U.S.-led mission to defeat ISIS said Friday that a U.S. civilian contractor was killed and several American troops were wounded in a rocket attack targeting an Iraqi base in Kirkuk.

The attack, which occurred Friday around 7:20 p.m. local time in Iraq, also wounded several Iraqi personnel, officials with Operation Inherent Resolve told Military Times in an emailed statement.

The Iraqi military posted to social media Friday that several missiles struck the K1 camp in Kirkuk, which houses coalition forces.

“Iraqi Security Forces are leading the response and investigation. Further information will be released as it becomes available,” OIR said in a statement Friday.

OIR and Iraqi officials provided no other details about the attack. No group has claimed responsibility for the rocket attack against the Kirkuk facility. (Read more from “Several American Troops Wounded and a U.S. Contractor Killed in Rocket Attack on Kirkuk Base” HERE)

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Trump Drops Big Statement About Attack in Iraq; U.S. to Deploy 750 Troops After Embassy Attack; Protesters Break Into U.S. Embassy in Baghdad Following American Airstrikes (VIDEO)

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By Daily Wire. American military forces arrived on scene at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq, on Tuesday to stop a terrorist attack against the embassy that was being carried out by thousands of attackers.

President Donald Trump announced that Iran would be held “fully responsible” for any lives lost or damage to the facility and that they would pay “a very big price.”

“The U.S. Embassy in Iraq is, & has been for hours, SAFE! Many of our great Warfighters, together with the most lethal military equipment in the world, was immediately rushed to the site,” Trump tweeted. “Thank you to the President & Prime Minister of Iraq for their rapid response upon request Iran will be held fully responsible for lives lost, or damage incurred, at any of our facilities. They will pay a very BIG PRICE! This is not a Warning, it is a Threat. Happy New Year!”

The terrorist attack on the U.S. Embassy started early on Tuesday morning when thousands of supporters of the Kataeb Hezbollah terrorist organization attacked the facility in response to U.S. forces killing dozens of terrorists from the organization just a few days ago. (Read more from “Trump Drops Big Statement About Attack in Iraq” HERE)

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Pentagon: U.S. to Deploy 750 Troops After Embassy Attack in Iraq

By Breitbart. Department of Defense Secretary Mark Esper announced Tuesday evening that he has approved the deployment of 750 U.S. soldiers to the Middle East following an attack by pro-Iran forces on the U.S. Embassy in Iraq.

Esper wrote in a trio of tweets that the troops will be deployed “immediately,” and additional forces are prepared to follow if needed.

(Read more from “Pentagon: U.S. to Deploy 750 Troops After Embassy Attack in Iraq” HERE)

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Protesters Break Into U.S. Embassy in Baghdad Following American Airstrikes, Gunshots Reportedly Heard

By Daily Caller. Protesters stormed the U.S. embassy in Baghdad, Iraq on Tuesday, getting through a main gate amid demonstrations against recent American airstrikes in Iraq on an Iran-backed militia group.

As hundreds protested against the airstrikes from Sunday, some began to try and break into the embassy according to CNN, who cited two sources at the scene. Security personnel used tear gas to prevent anyone from entering the building. The protestors scaled the walls of the compound, the outlet added. . .

The protesters who broke in could be seen breaking embassy windows and security cameras, drawing graffiti on the walls and burning items just outside of the building. Some were heard shouting “death to America!” as well, according to the Washington Post.

They were about 200 meters from the main building and separated from the embassy’s security staff by glass windows, the Associated Press reported.

(Read more from “Protesters Break Into U.S. Embassy in Baghdad Following American Airstrikes, Gunshots Reportedly Heard” HERE)

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