Video 252
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Friday, June 24, 2016
Supreme Court blocks Obama amnesty plan
Watch Barry Make the Case Against Executive Amnesty
The good news...
The good news...
Video 251
and the bad.
If Scalia was still around this would have wound up 5-4 against putting it to bed. The fact it is 4-4 is crucial.
A vote for Killary is a vote for Amnesty.
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If Scalia was still around this would have wound up 5-4 against putting it to bed. The fact it is 4-4 is crucial.
A vote for Killary is a vote for Amnesty.
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The Supreme Court on Thursday blocked President Obama’s immigration executive actions, in a tie decision that delivers a win to states challenging his plan to give a deportation reprieve to millions of illegal immigrants.
The justices' one-sentence opinion on Thursday marks a major setback for the administration, effectively killing the plan for the duration of Obama's presidency.
The judgment could have significant political and legal consequences in a presidential election year highlighted by competing rhetoric over immigration. As the ruling was announced, pro-immigration activists filled the sidewalk in front of the court, some crying as the ruling became public. Critics of the policy touted the decision as a strong statement against "executive abuses."
"The Constitution is clear: The president is not permitted to write laws—only Congress is. This is another major victory in our fight to restore the separation of powers," House Speaker Paul Ryan said in a statement, adding that the ruling rendered Obama's actions "null and void."
Obama, though, said the decision “takes us further from the country that we aspire to be.”
He stressed that earlier changes his administration made to immigration policy are not affected, but acknowledged his most recent 2014 changes cannot go forward and additional executive actions are unlikely.
While Obama accepted the ruling, he also made his own full-court press, saying the split decision underscores the importance of the current court vacancy and the appointment of a successor to the late Justice Antonin Scalia, to "break this tie." So far, Senate Republicans have not considered Obama's nominee, Merrick Garland.
"The court's inability to reach a decision in this case is a very clear reminder of why it's so important for the Supreme Court to have a full bench," he said Thursday at the White House.
The 4-4 tie vote sets no national precedent but leaves in place the ruling by the lower court. In this case, the federal appeals court in New Orleans said the Obama administration lacked the authority to shield up to 4 million immigrants from deportation and make them eligible for work permits without approval from Congress.
Texas led 26 Republican-dominated states in challenging the program Obama announced in November 2014. Congressional Republicans also backed the states' lawsuit.
The decision lands in the middle of a heated election season in which immigration is a central issue. Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, won the primaries while railing against Obama administration immigration policies as dangerous.
Democrats have, in turn, called his rhetoric racially divisive while defending the administration's move to expand existing programs that would effectively give temporary legal status to some undocumented residents.
Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton countered Ryan's statement saying the decision was "purely procedural" and leaves "no doubt" the programs were within the president's authority. Referencing the 4-4 split on the court, she again urged the Senate to give Obama's nominee to fill the remaining court vacancy a vote.
"Today’s deadlocked decision from the Supreme Court is unacceptable, and show us all just how high the stakes are in this election," Clinton said in a statement.
The immigration case dealt with two separate Obama programs. One would allow undocumented immigrants who are parents of either U.S. citizens or legal permanent residents to live and work in the U.S. without the threat of deportation. The other would expand an existing program to protect from deportation a larger population of immigrants who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children.
Obama decided to move forward after Republicans won control of the Senate in the 2014 midterm elections, and the chances for an immigration overhaul, already remote, were further diminished.
The Senate had passed a broad immigration bill with Democratic and Republican support in 2013, but the measure went nowhere in the GOP-controlled House of Representatives.
The states quickly went to court to block the Obama initiatives.
Their lawsuit was heard initially by U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen in Brownsville, Texas. Hanen previously had criticized the administration for lax immigration enforcement. Hanen sided with the states, blocking the programs from taking effect. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals also ruled for the states, and the Justice Department rushed an appeal to the high court so that it could be heard this term.
Texas officials hailed the decision Thursday.
“The action taken by the President was an unauthorized abuse of presidential power that trampled the Constitution, and the Supreme Court rightly denied the President the ability to grant amnesty contrary to immigration laws," Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said in a statement. "Today's ruling is also a victory for all law-abiding Americans—including the millions of immigrants who came to America following the rule of law."
Supreme Court blocks Obama amnesty plan
Thursday, June 23, 2016
Man Who Set Up Hillary's Private Server Pleads the Fifth More Than 125 Times!!!
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Yesterday former Clinton IT employee Brian Pagliano, who set up Hillary Clinton's private, unsecured server inside her home in Chappaqua, New York, was deposed by Senior Judicial Watch attorney Ramona Cotca. As we now know, Clinton stored at least 2000 pieces of classified information on that server.
During the deposition, Pagliano didn't answer a single question and invoked the Fifth Amendment more than 125 times. Judicial Watch has been doing it's own investigation of server and has filed a number of lawsuits surrounding the issue.
"We were prepared he would be invoking his Fifth Amendment privilege however not to quite to every single question that we asked," Cotca told Fox News Thursday. "He either invoked the Fifth Amendment or his attorney instructed him not to answer because the questions he deemed out of scope. We obviously disagree with that. I don't believe all of the questions dealt with or gave rise to fear of prosecution however that is what happened. Either the privilege was invoked or he refused to answer questions based on what his attorney advised."
Cotca continued by saying Judicial Watch is looking for the truth about the server, specifically why it was set up in the first place. Further, they are looking into how the State Department played a role in allowing Clinton to maintain the server after seeing emails sent back and forth to officials regarding government business.
Naturally, the RNC is all over Pagliano's non-compliance.
“The fact Hillary Clinton’s former IT staffer pleaded the Fifth an astounding 125 times is another reminder of how much she has to hide and how serious the FBI’s criminal investigation really is. It’s important to remember that this wasn’t just any staffer; this was a longtime aide who obtained an unusual political appointment and was paid on the side for the sole purpose of maintaining Clinton’s illicit off-the-books server," RNC Chairman Reince Priebus released in a statement. “This unprecedented arrangement was an obvious attempt to skirt government transparency laws in order to conceal her shady dealings as Secretary of State, and it ultimately led to the exposure of classified information on more than 2,000 occasions and put our national security at risk. Clinton’s extraordinarily reckless conduct and dishonest attempts to avoid accountability do not fit the profile of someone worthy of the highest office in the land. Clinton’s actions in this case alone are disqualifying and her aide’s stonewalling today is just a prelude to the kind of White House she would run.”
Judicial Watch will be questioning top Clinton aide Huma Abedin and State Department Under Secretary for Management Patrick Kennedy next week. According to attorneys, neither are expected to plead the Fifth.
Man Who Set Up Hillary's Private Server Pleads the Fifth More Than 125 Times!!!
Wednesday, June 22, 2016
Tuesday, June 21, 2016
FBI comes to their senses
After outcry, FBI releases full transcript of Orlando nightclub shooting call
The FBI on Monday afternoon released a full transcript of the 911 call Orlando Pulse nightclub shooter Omar Mateen made during his June 12 rampage inside the club, which left 49 people dead.
"I let you know, I'm in Orlando and I did the shootings," Mateen told the dispatcher in the 2:35 a.m. call, according to the transcript.
When the dispatcher asked for his name, Mateen replied: "My name is I pledge of allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi of the Islamic State."
The Islamic State, also known as ISIS, or its leader, al-Baghdadi, were not mentioned in a partial transcript of the call the FBI released Monday morning. The agency said it didn't want to provide a platform to a terror group.
But after news organizations and public officials like Republican House Leader Paul Ryan complained, the agency released the full, unredacted transcript of the call in the afternoon.
In explaining its change of mind, the FBI said in a news release: "As much of this information had been previously reported, we have re-issued the complete transcript to include these references in order to provide the highest level of transparency possible under the circumstances."
The ISIS reference was not a surprise. CNN has previously reported that Mateen pledged allegiance to ISIS during a 911 call from the gay nightclub, citing a U.S. official.
Summaries released:
In addition to the transcript, the FBI also released summaries of three calls between Mateen and crisis negotiators -- one at 2:48 a.m., another at 3:03 a.m. and the final one at 3:24 a.m.
In those calls, which lasted a total of 28 minutes, according to the FBI's timeline, Mateen identified himself as an Islamic soldier and "told the negotiator to tell America to stop bombing Syria and Iraq and that is why he was 'out here right now.' "
"When the crisis negotiator asked the shooter what he had done, the shooter stated, 'No, you already know what I did,' " according to the document.
He also claimed he had explosives in a vehicle outside the club and an explosive vest similar to those used by the Paris attackers, and warned of similar attacks in the days to come.
Authorities found no explosives, and so far have found no credible threats of additional violence, Hopper said.
The timeline released by the FBI shows that the first call to police came in at 2:02 a.m. Within two minutes, officers were on the scene. At 2:08 a.m., officers entered the club and "engaged the shooter."
According to the timeline and Orlando police Chief John Mina, that's the last time shots were fired inside the club until nearly three hours later when police used explosives to blow a hole in the club's wall and an armored vehicle to enter the club.
By 5:15 a.m., Mateen was dead, according to authorities.
Police response defended
Mina and others defended the police response against what they said were misconceptions by some in the media and public about how events unfolded.
He said the initial engagement by officers minutes after the rampage began drove Mateen into hiding in a club bathroom and stopped the shooting.
He also said officers were in and out of the club, repeatedly rescuing people.
Hopper called the work of law enforcement officers that night "nothing less than extraordinary."
As for what motivated Mateen, FBI Special Agent Ron Hopper of Orlando said that authorities have no evidence that a foreign terrorist group directed his violent plot. Instead, they said, it appears he was radicalized domestically.
Investigators have conducted more than 500 interviews trying to determine his precise motive for the shootings, Hopper said.
Paul Ryan speaks out
Attorney General Loretta Lynch's decision to release only the partial transcript created a minor firestorm.
"Selectively editing this transcript is preposterous," Ryan said in a statement. "We know the shooter was a radical Islamist extremist inspired by ISIS. We also know he intentionally targeted the LGBT community. The administration should release the full, unredacted transcript so the public is clear-eyed about who did this, and why."
Authorities also defended the decision, saying it was meant to avoid lending credence to terrorist leaders.
"We're not going to propagate their rhetoric, their violent rhetoric," FBI Special Agent Ron Hopper said.
He also said the decision not to release audio, or details of victims' calls to 911, was to avoid further traumatizing those who were inside the club.
Gun control measures
In the aftermath of the Orlando nightclub shooting, the four proposed gun control measures up for consideration by the Senate failed to reach the 60-vote threshold required to pass on Monday.
The Senate rejected a Republican proposal to update the background check system for gun purchases to include information on mental health records in a national database. The measure included a provision calling for law enforcement agencies to be alerted when a gun is purchased by an individual who'd been on a government terror watch list in the last five years
Senators also defeated a Democrats' proposal to expand background checks on individuals to include gun shows and online purchases.
A Republican proposal to delay gun sales to individuals included on a government terror watch list failed in a mostly party-line vote of 53-47. And a Democratic option, proposed by Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein's, that sought to bar all gun sales to those individuals on the terror watch list, failed 47-53. This is the second time this measure has been defeated. Feinstein pushed the same proposal in December after the mass shooting in San Bernardino.
Senate Republicans said the Democratic measure that would ban gun sales to people on the terror watch list would violate individuals' Second Amendment rights. They said many people mistakenly end up on the federal terror watch list.
Meanwhile, Florida Governor Rick Scott said Monday that the Obama administration has rejected the state's request for $5 million in federal emergency funds following the nightclub shooting. The governor's press office referenced in a statement the $253,000 in federal assistance the state will receive to help pay overtime for the first responders following the attack.
FBI comes to their senses
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