State Legislature OKs Law to Make California ‘Sanctuary State’

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State lawmakers acted Saturday to clear the last legislative hurdles to make California a “sanctuary state.”

The California Senate passed the bill early Saturday. Democrat Gov. Jerry Brown has indicated he will sign it.

Assemblyman Steven Choi, R-Irvine, who is also a first-generation immigrant from South Korea, said he came to the U.S. legally and the bill created “chaos” for a country built on law and order.

Republicans in the California Legislature remained opposed to the measure on Friday, saying it would tie the hands of law enforcement and compromise public safety.

“A lot of people talk about building a wall. This bill builds a wall between the federal government and our local partners and makes our communities less safe,” said James Gallagher, a Republican state assemblyman.

Some in law enforcement also opposed the new law.

“Our overarching concern remains that limiting local law enforcement’s ability to communicate and cooperate with federal law enforcement officers endangers public safety,” the California State Sheriffs’ Association said in a statement.

The California Values Act would forbid state and local law enforcement agencies from providing information to or acting as the deputies for federal immigration authorities. The bill also prohibits police and sheriffs’ officers from inquiring about a person’s immigration status.

The bill went through an intense amending process. The final version allows jail and prison officials to notify the federal government if they have arrested an illegal immigrant with a felony record and allows federal immigration officers to interview people in custody.

However, the law bans any local jail holding a detainee for additional jail time that would then allow federal authorities to take an illegal immigrant into custody.

The bill does include some exceptions, including suspects accused of the most violent or serious crimes.

“This bill here today helps some of us to believe that California is a safe place for immigrants, that we are a Golden State,” said Democrat Assemblyman Joaquin Arambula.

California is home to an estimated 2.3 million illegal immigrants. (For more from the author of “State Legislature OKs Law to Make California ‘Sanctuary State'” please click HERE)

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Trump Moves Toward Drilling in Arctic Wildlife Refuge for First Time in 30 Years

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President Donald Trump is moving toward allowing energy exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for the first time in several decades, according to a report Friday from The Washington Post.

Interior Department officials are modifying decades’ old regulations that have traditionally prevented the agency from conducting seismic studies seen as the first step towards drilling, the report notes.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service director James W. Kurth told the agency’s Alaska regional director to strike constraints on a rule that allowed exploratory drilling between 1984 and 1986, the last time drilling was allowed in the ANWR, according to a document WaPo obtained.

“When finalized, the new regulation will allow for applicants to (submit) requests for approval of new exploration plans,” Kurth wrote in the August memo. Yet oil and gas drilling within the refuge’s 19.6 million acres can only take place through congressional fiat.

Drilling in the area has become a prickly political football. Environmental activists typically use the remote refuge as a type of Maginot Line upon which the oil industry should never be allowed to penetrate. They believe the area should be off-limits because it houses North America’s last large caribou herds. (Read more from “Trump Moves Toward Drilling in Arctic Wildlife Refuge for First Time in 30 Years” HERE)

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Americans ‘Ignorant’ of Constitution ‘Wanting to Turn to Violence’

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A new survey shows huge swaths of the American public don’t know the most basic tenets of their government, and a Hillsdale College politics professor says the lack of knowledge is playing a huge role in the politics of outrage and violence, since the perpetrators have no idea how the United States is supposed to work.

Earlier this month, the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania released a survey showing a dismal comprehension of constitutional basics. A third of Americans could not name a single branch of government. Another 27 percent could only name one. Only 26 percent could list the legislative, executive and judicial branches.

When asked to name one of the freedoms enshrined in the First Amendment to the Constitution, 37 percent could not name any. Forty-eight percent did come up with freedom of speech, but when asked to name another, only 15 percent could name freedom of religion, 14 percent cited freedom of the press, 10 percent knew of the right to assembly and just 3 percent were aware of their right to petition the government to address their grievances.

Hillsdale College Politics Professor Adam Carrington says these numbers are consistent with what he’s seen in recent years.

“Polls have shown this consistently. This is not an anomaly. This is a consistent lack of knowledge of that by which we are supposed to govern ourselves. So it’s a fundamental and massive problem,” said Carrington. (Read more from “Americans ‘Ignorant’ of Constitution ‘Wanting to Turn to Violence'” HERE)

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Big Ruling on Farmer Banned From Selling Food Due to Faith

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A federal judge has ordered a Michigan city to allow a nearby farmer to participate in its farmers market after concluding officials there likely illegally discriminated against him because of his faith.

The case centers on the issue of same-sex “marriage,” and it isn’t the first time since the U.S. Supreme Court created that status several years ago that courts have ruled the rights of homosexuals supersede the right to exercise religion.

Previous cases were decided in favor of a T-shirt maker in Kentucky and bakers in Mississippi.

The issue remains before the high court in the case of a Colorado baker, Jack Phillips, who was ordered by an enraged state Civil Rights Commission to provide same-sex “wedding” cakes and to undergo a state-mandated indoctrination program.

The latest decision favored farmer Steve Tennes of Country Mill Farms in his case against East Lansing Michigan. (Read more from “Big Ruling on Farmer Banned From Selling Food Due to Faith” HERE)

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Army Reveals 1st Line of Defense Against North Korea

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Country-rock star Charlie Daniels calls North Korea’s Kim Jong Un a “demented little brat” and suggests there are only two approaches to the hermit regime, which this week launched another missile that flew over Japan, according to a new report in Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin.

“A preemptive strike or sit back and wait for Kim to get up in a bad mood one morning and push the button and watch all hell break loose.”

But the U.S. Army has a third option: rely on its first line of defense, the “Dungeon Dragons.”

The Army says its system may help reassure the targets of North Korea’s threats.

The brain of the system is more than four stories below ground, where soldiers from the 35th Air Defense Artillery Brigade provide “24/7 real-time surveillance of the tactical ballistic missile threat on the Korean Peninsula.” (Read more from “Army Reveals 1st Line of Defense Against North Korea” HERE)

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VIDEO: Trump Pegs Hillary Clinton With a Golf Ball in Retweet

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Serious work beckons, but so does Twitter, and on Sunday morning the temptation to share a fan’s GIF that showed Mr. Trump golfing and the ball striking Hillary Clinton proved too much to resist.

The tweet stoked outrage online, generating more than 11,000 replies, many of which condemned the president’s promotion of violent imagery toward Mrs. Clinton, who, as a former first lady, has lifetime Secret Service protection.

But it was also celebrated by Trump supporters, who admonished “crooked Hillary” and accused Mr. Trump’s critics of lacking a sense of humor.

(Read more from “VIDEO: Trump Pegs Hillary Clinton With a Golf Ball in Retweet” HERE)

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Trump Faces Major Week as He Addresses UN for the First Time

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President Donald Trump has a pivotal week ahead of him as he is scheduled to address the United Nations General Assembly for the first time in office.

Trump’s appearance at the U.N. will come amidst concerns over North Korea’s missile program, continued unrest in Venezuela, increasing tensions between the U.S. and Russia, the ongoing civil war in Syria, and a whole host of global issues.

The president has a packed schedule. He will meet with world leaders Monday to discuss U.N. reforms, sit down with the heads of France and Israel to discuss concerns about Iran’s behavior, among other issues. He’ll then host a working dinner with Latin American leaders.

The U.S. has sanctioned Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, and National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster said at a press briefing Friday that it is “unlikely” that Trump will “speak with President Maduro.” (Read more from “Trump Faces Major Week as He Addresses UN for the First Time” HERE)

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Dem Senator Claims Trump Will Back Path to Citizenship for Illegals

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Illinois Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin said Sunday that Democrats are operating under the assumption that President Trump backs a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants.

Both Trump and his legislative director Marc Short said last week that the White House isn’t considering a path to citizenship, however, Democrats insist Trump does.

Sen. Durbin said on “Fox News Sunday” that there was a “basic understanding” made between Trump and Democratic Congressional leaders Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi after a dinner last Wednesday.

“I do believe there is an understanding that down the road there is an eventual path to citizenship,” Pelosi said at a Thursday press briefing. (Read more from “Dem Senator Claims Trump Will Back Path to Citizenship for Illegals” HERE)

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Now They’re Coming for Ben Franklin

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Dallas Independent School District included schools named after three of America’s Founding Fathers on a list of schools that the district is exploring renaming.

The DISD administration has already recommended renaming four schools named after Confederate generals, including Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson. The district is conducting additional research on whether to rename at least 20 other schools named after historical figures. The list of schools, posted by DISD board member Dustin Marshall on Facebook Saturday night, includes schools named after Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison.

“I will not support a name change for Franklin since Benjamin Franklin clearly had many accomplishments that form the basis for why the school was named after him. I don’t believe this school was named after Franklin to send a signal of oppression and control,” Marshall wrote. (Benjamin Franklin Middle School is the only school on the list that falls within Marshall’s district.) (Read more from “Now They’re Coming for Ben Franklin” HERE)

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Emails: Hillary Clinton Invited Putin to Clinton Foundation Gala

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Just two months into her term as secretary of state, Hillary Clinton’s foundation invited Russian leader Vladimir Putin, along with several other prominent heads of state, to the Clinton Global Initiative’s 2009 annual gathering, emails obtained by the watchdog group Judicial Watch reveal.

The March 13, 2009, email from the Clinton Foundation showed that Putin and about 200 other leaders (including others just as controversial) were invited to attend a gathering that occurred at about the same time that the newly appointed secretary of state was attempting a “reset” with Moscow.

The email, which was sent from Clinton Foundation director of foreign policy Amitabh Desai to Assistant Secretary of State Andrew Shapiro and then forwarded to top Clinton aide Jake Sullivan, also highlights the potential massive conflict of interest between a non-profit foundation and the federal government.

This may come as a shock to casual observers of global politics, as Clinton represented herself as a fierce anti-Putin hawk on the 2016 election campaign trail. Clinton routinely reprimanded now-President Donald Trump for not condemning Putin. She called Trump’s stance on Russia “unseemly” and “beyond one’s imagination.”

Even after losing the election, Clinton has continued on the warpath against President Trump’s stance on Russia.

“He doesn’t just like Putin, he wants to be like Putin,” Clinton said of Trump on MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow show Thursday night.

But as secretary of state, Clinton took pains to engage with the Kremlin. Just one week prior to sending out the invites, Hillary flew to Geneva and presented the Russian foreign minister with an actual “reset button” to symbolize a new beginning in U.S.-Russia relations.

She’s also been accused of profiting off of the relationship with Russia. One year after inviting Putin to the Clinton Foundation event, she approved the sale of 20 percent of America’s uranium capacity to Russia. Shortly thereafter, donors connected to the company that was sold to Russia contributed $145 million in donations to the Clinton Foundation.

Beyond the Putin invite, many serious conflicts of interests arose from the sitting secretary of state’s invite list.

Judicial Watch explains further:

The list includes dignitaries from Saudi Arabia, which gave $14.5 million to the Clinton Foundation; Kuwait, which gave between $5 and $10 million; Oman, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar — all of which donated between $1 and $5 million over the years. In February 2015, the Washington Post reported, “A third of foundation donors who have given more than $1 million are foreign governments or other entities … and foreign donors make up more than half of those who have given more than $5 million.”

(For more from the author of “Emails: Hillary Clinton Invited Putin to Clinton Foundation Gala” please click HERE)

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