The most wanted terrorist in Europe, considered the mastermind in November’s multi-targeted attack in Paris that left 130 people dead, was arrested Friday by Belgian authorities.
But residents in the Molenbeek district of Brussels, where Saleh Abdeslam was captured, didn’t breathe a sigh of relief. Within hours, the district, which has a majority Muslim population, erupted into riots. Dozens of Abdeslam’s fans attacked police with bottles, stones, and other objects, local press reported, angered by the arrest of their “hero.”
The situation is developing.
Worse yet, Belgian newspaper De Morgen reported that “the whole neighborhood” knew where Abdeslam was ever since the Paris attacks. Nobody tipped off authorities.
The violence and code of silence over Abeslam’s hideout is not as surprising as it might seem. As we’ve noted previously, the Paris attacks were hatched in Molenbeek, in addition to the 2015 attack on the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo’s offices. (Read more from “MISUNDERSTANDERS OF ISLAM: Violence and Riots Break out in Molenbeek After Paris Terror Suspect’s Arrest” HERE)
00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2016-03-19 01:09:512016-04-11 10:51:22MISUNDERSTANDERS OF ISLAM: Violence and Riots Break out in Molenbeek After Paris Terror Suspect’s Arrest
By Eliza Collins. Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County is relishing the opportunity to host Donald Trump at a rally on his own turf Saturday — and serve as the muscle at the same time.
After taking a few days off from his long streak of attention-grabbing rallies, Trump is cranking back up this weekend, and has scheduled one of his events right in the backyard of the long-serving and controversial Arizona sheriff.
“Here I’m gonna be kinda wearing two hats — in charge of the security there in the town and also participating, I would imagine, with Trump in the rally, so it makes it interesting,” Arpaio said in an interview with POLITICO, adding that it “is going to be a lot of fun taking care of business there.”
Arpaio, who officially endorsed Trump back in January, said that he’s expecting protests at Saturday’s event. But the 83-year-old sheriff who has repeatedly been accused of racial profiling Hispanic residents says Trump’s clashes pale in comparison to his own. (Read more from “Sheriff Arpaio to Police Trump’s Arizona Rally” HERE)
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Latino, Immigrant Activists to Protest All Trump Arizona Events
By Griselda Nevarez. Hundreds of Latinos and immigrant rights advocates plan to protest Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump when he speaks this weekend at several campaign events in Arizona, which holds its presidential primary Tuesday.
Trump is scheduled to attend an event Saturday morning with Fox News anchor Sean Hannity in downtown Phoenix before traveling about 30 miles to another event in Fountain Hills. He’ll end the day with a rally in Tucson. Organizers say they’re working out the details as they plan to have a presence at all three of Trump’s events.
“We’re coming together to stand up against the hate and the violence that Donald Trump is inciting towards our people,” said Carlos Garcia, director of Puente Arizona, one of the groups helping to organize the protests.
Garcia said he and other protesters “will not be there to antagonize or to be anything less than nonviolent, but we do have to be careful.” He noted that in July, when Trump made his first presidential campaign stop in Arizona, Trump supporters yelled racial slurs at protesters. Some protesters were also spat on, shoved and hit by Trump supporters. (Read more from “Latino, Immigrant Activists to Protest All Trump Arizona Events” HERE)
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Protesters Block Traffic Around Trump Rally
Dozens of protesters blocked traffic near a Donald Trump event in Arizona on Saturday, while demonstrators marched in New York City to protest the GOP front-runner.
The protesters in Arizona parked vehicles sideways on Shea Boulevard, blocking both lanes of traffic into Fountain Hills, where Trump held a rally Saturday afternoon, Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Joaquin Enriquez told CNN.
Enriquez described Shea Boulevard as the main artery into the area and the protesters’ actions were causing motorists to drive into oncoming traffic as they tried to get around them. Traffic was backed up for miles due to the blockage. (Read more from Protesters Block Arizona Rally HERE)
Following President Barack Obama’s nomination of Chief Judge Merrick Garland of the D.C. Circuit to fill the vacancy left by sudden passing of Justice Antonin Scalia, there has been an intense clamor from the left for the Senate to “do your job!”
By this, they mean that the Senate has a constitutional obligation to give Garland a hearing and an up-or-down vote, which Senate Republicans have announced they are not going to do. But is the Senate obligated under the Constitution to do so?
The answer is clearly “no.”
The president “shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint … Judges of the supreme Court ….” That’s all Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution says about the confirmation process for justices to the Supreme Court of the United States.
The Senate can, if it so chooses, “do its job” by withholding its consent and advising the president that it will not consider any nominee to fill this vacancy until after the forthcoming election.
Then Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., had no doubt that the Senate could “do its job” by refusing to consider a nominee for the Supreme Court.
He made that point crystal-clear in 1992 when President George H.W. Bush was in office when he said:
The Senate … must consider how it would respond to a Supreme Court vacancy that would occur in the full throes of an election year. It is my view that if the president goes the way of Presidents Fillmore and Johnson and presses an election-year nomination, the Senate Judiciary Committee should seriously consider not scheduling confirmation hearings on the nomination until after the political campaign season is over.
Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., clearly had this same understanding when he announced a year and a half before the end of the George W. Bush administration that the Senate should not confirm any nominee to the Supreme Court should a vacancy occur until after the next election.
In 2005, Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., also reminded us:
The duties of the Senate are set forth in the U.S. Constitution. Nowhere in that document does it say the Senate has a duty to give presidential nominees a vote. It says appointments shall be made with the advice and consent of the Senate. That is very different than saying every nominee receives a vote.
And, of course, then Sen. Barack Obama D-Ill., certainly felt he was doing his job when he helped to lead a filibuster against the nomination of Samuel Alito—in other words, an effort to deny him an up-or-down vote—to the Supreme Court, something he now says he regrets.
According to the non-partisan Congressional Research Service, out of the 160 men and women whose names have been submitted by presidents to the Senate for consideration for positions on the Supreme Court, 36 were not confirmed, and 25 of those did not receive a vote.
You would have to go all the way back to 1888 for the last time an election-year nominee was confirmed under divided government, as we have now.
In that year, Democratic President Grover Cleveland nominated Melville W. Fuller to be chief justice, who was confirmed by a Senate in which the Republicans had a two-vote majority. Suffice it to say that, in marked contrast to earlier times, today, two facts are obvious: The Supreme Court plays a far more active role in deciding issues that were formerly resolved by the people through the democratic process, and the confirmation process is far more politicized—both developments Scalia decried.
What the Senate chooses to do is, of course, up to the Senate. But those who are now saying that by choosing not to schedule a hearing for Garland, the Senate is not “doing its job” or is otherwise failing to carry out a constitutional obligation are dead wrong. (For more from the author of “Liberals Told Senators ‘Do Your Job’ on Court Nominee. What the Constitution Says.” please click HERE)
00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2016-03-19 01:08:152016-04-11 10:51:23Liberals Told Senators ‘Do Your Job’ on Court Nominee. What the Constitution Says. [+video]
Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin gave an update Thursday about her husband’s condition, following his serious snowmobile accident over the weekend.
The 51 year-old former “First Dude” Todd Palin suffered multiple broken ribs, a broken shoulder blade and clavicle, and knee and leg injuries in the Sunday wreck . . .
Thank you for lifting Todd up in prayer. He’s still in ICU under care of a superbly skilled staff. A long surgery repaired numerous breaks in Todd’s upper body, docs essentially lifted and secured every rib with steel bands, anchored the broken clavicle with plates and rods, set aside repair of a broken shoulder for later (also later are more minor things like ACL/MCL knee injuries), still mechanically inflating one collapsed lung while other bruised lung, liver, etc., are watched; chest drain is working overtime to keep things clear. [See Sarah’s full post below]
She added, “some gnarly incisions to enter his innards will be reminders of how life can change in the blink of an eye. (And skating through TSA detectors with bionic parts will now be anything but the blink of an eye!)” (Read more from “Wow: Sarah Palin Just Gave Startling Update on Her Husband Todd, It’s Tough to Read…” HERE)
“A good laugh and a long sleep are the two best cures for anything.” – Irish Proverb
Thank you for lifting Todd up in prayer. He’s still in ICU under care of a superbly skilled staff. A long surgery repaired numerous breaks in Todd’s upper body, docs essentially lifted and secured every rib with steel bands, anchored the broken clavicle with plates and rods, set aside repair of a broken shoulder for later (also later are more minor things like ACL/MCL knee injuries), still mechanically inflating one collapsed lung while other bruised lung, liver, etc., are watched; chest drain is working overtime to keep things clear.
Requiring a bit more than our usual fix-all up here – Duct tape – some gnarly incisions to enter his innards will be reminders of how life can change in the blink of an eye. (And skating through TSA detectors with bionic parts will now be anything but the blink of an eye!)
So thankful for today’s medical technology including 3-D X-rays, temporary pain blocks and epidurals. I’m voting for their continued use until a resting position is found that allows minimal wincing with each breath.
We say Mat-Su Regional Hospital (https://matsuregional.com) is the best place to start life – all our babies are Mat-Su born – and these ER and ICU days show our local medical experts are most outstanding at continuing life, too… by the grace of God.
It’s all good though, and I hope whatever challenges you face today – physical, emotional, financial – you’ll have confidence in the care around you, and you’ll apply Todd’s consistent advice: “Don’t sweat the small stuff.”
Your care for Todd is more appreciated than I can express. Thank you. And thank you to the still-mysterious snowmachiner(s) who came upon the wreck and provided critical help that night. I hope to meet you soon!
00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2016-03-19 01:07:482016-04-11 10:51:23Wow: Sarah Palin Just Gave Startling Update on Her Husband Todd, It’s Tough to Read…
Republican front-runner Donald Trump has been the target of vitriolic attacks from all sides — including the GOP establishment, the media, and of course, the left. The Chicago rally that was cancelled last week underscores the malevolence behind the planned protests and, as it appears, the mayor’s office may have contributed to the chaos as the Democrat at the helm of the city wasn’t all that anxious to keep the peace and maintain order.
Paid protesters from Black Lives Matter (BLM), anarchists and Occupiers, as well as supporters of Democrat presidential candidate Bernie Sanders came together to cause the mayhem when they clashed with Trump fans before the rally that had been scheduled at the University of Illinois facility. According to conservative pundit and author Ann Coulter — herself an avid Donald Trump supporter — sources inside the Chicago Police Department disclosed a stunning order supposedly given by Mayor Rahm Emanuel.
Apparently, however, some officers didn’t get the memo, as a handful of arrests were reportedly made during the very tense and highly charged clashes between Trump supporters and protesters.
The billionaire businessman eventually called off the event, stating, “After speaking with law enforcement, I just thought it would be a wise thing for us to postpone this rally.”
One Windy City policeman who wished to remain anonymous posted that the media failed to report on the level of chaos that occurred prior to the event that Trump decided to postpone. Sanders’ backers were reportedly throwing debris at Trump supporters and running through parking lots breaking the windows of cars bearing Trump bumper stickers. (Read more from “Sources Reveal the Disturbing Order Chicago’s Rahm Emanuel Gave Cops During Trump Protests” HERE)
00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2016-03-19 01:07:192016-04-11 10:51:23Sources Reveal the Disturbing Order Chicago’s Rahm Emanuel Gave Cops During Trump Protests
A Muslim working as an Uber driver is suspected of raping a woman at an Anaheim motel after giving her a ride from a Fullerton bar.
Police believe there may be more victims and are asking for the public’s help in finding them.
Omar Mahmoud Mousa, 52, of Anaheim was arrested on a $100,000 bond and assigned a court date of April 8 to face felony charges of rape, forcible oral copulation and sexual penetration by foreign object. The alleged rape occurred Oct. 25, according to the Orange County District Attorney’s Office, but Mousa had been out of the country until recently. He was arrested March 7 as he disembarked from a plane landing at Los Angeles International Airport.
Authorities were not saying what country he had traveled to or whether he was a native-born American, a naturalized citizen or some other status.
Uber issued a statement that read: “Uber has a zero-tolerance policy for violent behavior, and our thoughts are with the victim of this atrocious crime. We immediately blocked this individual’s access to the Uber platform upon learning of this incident and actively assisted law enforcement in their investigation.” (Read more from “Muslim Uber Driver Charged With Raping Woman” HERE)
A passenger jet circled a southern Russian airport in high winds and poor visibility before making a second, fatal attempt at landing Saturday, killing all 62 people aboard.
The flydubai Boeing 737 jet crashed at the Rostov-on-Don airport after traveling from Dubai, Russia’s Southern Regional Emergency Center said Saturday.
Our thoughts and prayers are with the passengers and crew of #flydubai flight 981 in Rostov-on-Don and their families.
All those on board Flight FZ981 died, Russian state news agency Tass reported, citing an official at the emergency center. (Read more from “Flydubai Plane Crashes in Russia; 62 Aboard Reported Dead” HERE)
By Cheryl Chumley. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid tapped into tea party-type fears about the Republican leadership’s ability to stand fast in the face of President Obama’s storm of demands, and put out a Twitter message saying bluntly: Yes indeed, the GOP is already on its way to caving on Merrick Garland.
Garland was announced as Obama’s pick for the Supreme Court seat left vacant by Justice Antonin Scalia’s sudden death.
He wrote: “Republicans are backing down so quickly that they’re already bargaining about what month they will fully cave and confirm Obama’s nominee,” Mediaite found.
And in another tweet just four minutes later, Reid wrote: “No question in my mind that Sen. McConnell will cave, and President Obama will fill this vacancy this year” . . .
On an MSNBC appearance with host Chris Matthews, Reid called the Republican Party’s attempt to hold off hearings on any Obama nomination to the court a “hurtful” move for the country. (Read more from “Harry Reid: GOP Will Confirm Obama’s SCOTUS Pick” HERE)
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Prediction: Garland Will Be Confirmed
By Allahpundit. Crafty of O to wait until the morning after Trump’s backbreaking wins last night to stick McConnell with this. Now Senate Republicans will face maximum pressure from both sides.
If they cave and decide to give Garland a hearing after all, Republican voters who are still cool to Trump might decide to vote for him in a burst of “burn it all down” rage. A betrayal here hands Trump the nomination — assuming there’s any doubt that he’s already on track to win it. If, on the other hand, McConnell stands firm, he’s blowing an opportunity to confirm a nominee who’s likely to be more “moderate” than what President Hillary will offer next year. The conventional wisdom on Trump right now is that he’s a dead duck in the general election barring some sort of national crisis. I don’t agree with it, but it’s not out of left field: His favorable rating, for instance, is toxic and it’s an open question whether he could organize a national campaign capable of matching Hillary’s. If McConnell agrees with that CW, that Hillary’s a prohibitive favorite to win and that the backlash to Trump will hand Democrats the Senate, then refusing to confirm Garland now clears the path for Democrats to nominate and confirm a young hyper-liberal justice next year. Garland is already in his 60s and is no far-lefty; if Hillary wins big, liberals will insist that she exploit her mandate by engineering a new Warren Court. (Garland, ironically, clerked for the most liberal member of the Warren Court but he hasn’t followed the same trajectory as a judge.) So what do you do if you’re Mitch the Knife? Accept a quarter-loaf here by confirming a guy whose centrist credentials will be used to show just how unreasonable and obstructionist the GOP is in blocking him? Or risk having no loaf at all when Democrats win this fall and ram through whoever they want? (Read more from this story HERE)
By Stephen Conway. President Obama has named Merrick Garland as his nominee to succeed Antonin Scalia on the U.S. Supreme Court.
Garland, a federal appeals judge for the District of Columbia, came out on top of a short list of potential nominees devised by the president.
“It’s not a responsibility I take lightly,” Obama said of his choice during a Rose Garden ceremony Wednesday.
Judge Andrew Napolitano, senior judiciary analyst for Fox News, said during an appearance on the network this morning that the nomination is a “lose-lose” for the President.
“It’s dangerous to appoint somebody to the court with a 19-year track record,” said Napolitano, pointing out that such a long record gives opponents plenty of rulings to criticize. “This is not a win for President Obama.”
Napolitano went on to say that Garland is the most conservative appointee a Democrat president has nominated. That could frustrate Senate Republicans, who must pledge to block the nominee of someone who is relatively conservative in nature. (Read more from “When Judge Napolitano Saw Obama’s Supreme Court Pick, He Dropped a BOMBSHELL Obama Will Hate” HERE)
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Democrats Plan Push to Force Hearings on Supreme Court Nomination
By Mike DeBonis and Juliet Eilperin. Democrats began laying out an aggressive strategy Thursday to get Judge Merrick Garland considered by the Senate and seated on the Supreme Court, over what appears to be implacable Republican opposition.
The approach, which is being implemented in part by a well-organized group led by former aides to President Obama, involves targeting vulnerable GOP Senate incumbents for defeat by portraying them as unwilling to fulfill the basic duties of their office. The idea is to so threaten the Republicans’ Senate majority that party leaders will reconsider blocking hearings on Garland’s nomination.
“You’re going to be surprised at how hard we’re going to work to make sure this is on the front pages of all the papers,” Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) told reporters after meeting with Garland on Thursday.
At the White House, Obama held a conference call with thousands of supporters across the country while senior adviser Valerie Jarrett met on Capitol Hill with members of the Congressional Black Caucus. White House press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters he had no details of a specific request Obama was making on the call. “But I think the president sent a pretty clear signal, though, that this a high priority of his, and he hoped that this would be a priority that people all across the country would share,” he said. (Read more from “Democrats Plan Push to Force Hearings on Supreme Court Nomination” HERE)
00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2016-03-18 00:35:352016-04-11 10:51:24When Judge Napolitano Saw Obama’s Supreme Court Pick, He Dropped a BOMBSHELL Obama Will Hate
Despite his newfound respect for the Second Amendment, he’s also a gun control advocate who once joined with the Clintons to pass the 1994 Assault Weapons Ban.
Ohio Governor John Kasich learned of last October’s shooting at Umpqua Community College in Oregon, which left 10 dead, during a televised interview. While informing him of the shooting, an NBC reporter called Kasich a “supporter of gun control” who once earned an F rating from the National Rifle Association (NRA).
The Republican presidential candidate immediately corrected him. “I’ve received an A rating since I’ve been governor,” said Kasich, who won his first gubernatorial term in 2010. “You can strip all the guns away, but the people who are gonna commit crimes or have problems are always gonna be able to have the guns,” he added. “People feel like, ‘I’d like to be able to protect myself.’”
In 1993, following a different mass shooting, Kasich saw the issue another way. After a man used an automatic pistol to fatally shoot eight people at a San Francisco law firm, he was one of 215 House members to vote for a ban on assault weapons that became law in 1994. It was that vote that earned Kasich the failing NRA grade.
Kasich is the prototypical GOP establishment drone, who is staying in the race — not to win — but to try to take the nomination process to the convention where insiders will try to steal the trophy from Donald Trump or Ted Cruz.
A vote for Kasich is a vote for chaos. (For more from the author of “GUN-BANNER JOHN KASICH: His Horrible, Terrible, Awful Track Record on the Second Amendment” please click HERE)
00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2016-03-18 00:34:402016-04-11 10:51:24GUN-BANNER JOHN KASICH: His Horrible, Terrible, Awful Track Record on the Second Amendment
