The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to decide whether the city of Philadelphia may lawfully exclude Catholic Social Services (CSS) from its foster care program because the agency does not place children with same-sex couples due to its religious beliefs.
The case presents sweeping questions of religious liberty and nondiscrimination. Aside from the dispute specific to Philadelphia, the plaintiffs are asking the justices to overturn the 1990 case Employment Division v. Smith, which held that religious believers cannot claim exemptions from laws that apply to everyone in a neutral way. That move would have far-reaching implications.
Smith involved two Native Americans who were denied unemployment benefits after they were fired for ingesting peyote during a tribal religious ceremony.
Though the late Justice Antonin Scalia wrote the Smith decision, legal conservatives are increasingly of the view that it unduly restricts the free exercise of religion. Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, and Brett Kavanaugh signaled they were open to revisiting Smith in a January 2019 opinion.
Monday’s case arose in March 2018, when a newspaper reporter from the Philadelphia Inquirer asked the archdiocese whether CSS would place children with gay applicants. The archdiocese’s negative response appeared in a newspaper article published shortly thereafter. A city official, Cynthia Figueroa, then convened a meeting with CSS, during which time she allegedly told that agency that "times have changed" and it is "not 100 years ago."
CSS and two foster mothers sued Philadelphia in federal court after city officials informed the agency they would not renew its annual contract unless it abandoned its religious objection and agreed to place children with same-sex couples. A federal trial judge and the Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled for the city.
The Third Circuit, relying on Smith, said the city was appropriately acting to enforce its general and neutral nondiscrimination policy in view of an apparent violation.
The three-judge panel unanimously concluded that the agency had not made "a persuasive showing that the City targeted it for its religious beliefs, or is motivated by ill will against its religion, rather than sincere opposition to discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation."
"I’m relieved to hear that the Supreme Court will weigh in on faith-based adoption and foster care," said Lori Windham, senior counsel at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which represents CSS and the foster parents.
"Over the last few years, agencies have been closing their doors across the country, and all the while children are pouring into the system," Windham added. "We are confident that the Court will realize that the best solution is the one that has worked in Philadelphia for a century—all hands on deck for foster kids."
Faith-based agencies place about 57,000 children with foster families each year, according to Becket.
The Supreme Court will likely hear arguments in the fall, with a decision to follow by June 2021. The case is No. 19-123 Fulton v. City of Philadelphia.
President Donald Trump addressed an enormous cheering crowd with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in India on Monday, praising his host country’s progress and economic success.
“America loves India, America respects India, and America will always be faithful and loyal friends to the Indian people,” Trump said to a crowd of more than 100,000 people at India’s Sardar Patel Gujarat Stadium in Ahmedabad.
The president delivered a speech flattering India’s rise to prosperity under Modi as the largest Democracy in the world and a friend to the United States.
“The story of the Indian nation is a tale of astounding progress a miracle of democracy extraordinary diversity and overall a strong and noble people,” he said.
The president acknowledged the strength of India’s democracy and the economic progress achieved under the leadership of Modi, whom Trump described as his “true friend and praised his rise to power beginning as a poor tea-seller in India.
“Everybody loves him, but I will tell you this, he is very tough,” Trump said.
Trump noted that under Modi, India’s middle class was rising, over 270 million people had been lifted out of poverty and more homes had electricity, connections to the internet, and improved infrastructure.
“India’s rise as a prosperous and an independent nation is an example to every nation all over the world most assorting achievements of our century.”
People attend ‘Namaste Trump’ rally at Sardar Patel Stadium in Motera, on the outskirts of Ahmedabad, on February 24, 2020. (MONEY SHARMA/AFP via Getty Images)
The president also promised to continue fighting the threat of “radical Islamic terrorism,” working with both Pakistan and India to crack down on terrorists.
He also praised India’s tradition of faith, which was similar to that of the United States.
“In America and in India, we know we are all born for a higher purpose, to reach toward our fullest potential to work toward excellence and perfection and to give all glory to God,” he said.
Trump praised India’s movie culture in Bollywood, noting they produced nearly 2,000 movies a year and praised their cricket players, religious festivals, and their space program.
He celebrated the Indian-American culture and contributions to the strength of United States from four million Indian Americans.
“They are titans of business, the biggest the best, pioneers of science, masters of the arts, and innovation of technology like few people have been able to see no matter where you go anywhere in this universe,” Trump said.
The president said that he was in the early stages of a trade deal with India, appearing optimistic that the two countries could reach a deal.
U.S. President Donald Trump (2L) and First Lady Melania Trump (L) listen as India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaks during ‘Namaste Trump’ rally at Sardar Patel Stadium in Motera, on the outskirts of Ahmedabad. (MONEY SHARMA/AFP via Getty Images)
“We will be making very, very, major, among the biggest ever made, trade deals,” he said, but acknowledged Modi was a “tough negotiator.”
Trump also boasted of the newfound strength of the American economy under his leadership.
“A booming America is a great thing for India and it’s great for the world and that’s why we’re so happy to announce that we’ve had the greatest economy in the history of the United States.”
The president promised to continue a relationship of strength and prosperity between the two countries with Modi.
“Both of us understand when leaders put the interests of their own citizens first, we can forge strong and fair partnerships, to build a safer more prosperous world,” he said.
Socialist Bernie Sanders, the frontrunner in the race for the Democratic nomination for president, faced widespread backlash late on Sunday night over positive remarks that he made about murderous Cuban communist dictator Fidel Castro.
Sanders made the disturbing remarks on CBS News’ “60 Minutes” with host Anderson Cooper when Cooper pressed him about positive remarks that he had made about brutal communist regimes in the past.
“You know? When Fidel Castro came into office, you know what he did?” Sanders said. “He had a massive literacy program. Is that a bad thing? Even though Fidel Castro did it?”
Sanders’ claim that Castro “came into office” lacks the historical context that Castro was essentially a terrorist who attacked Cuba’s government; he did not win in an election. Sanders’ claim that Castro had a “massive literacy program” is communist propaganda, a point that many critics hit Sanders on in response to his pro-communist remarks.
Among those who fired back at Sanders were people on the political left — including politicians and people who appear on CNN and MSNBC — as well as Republican senators and conservative political commentators.
Left-wing CNN commentator Ana Navarro tweeted: “Castro regime’s been in power in Cuba for +60 yrs w/o free elections. They’ve killed, jailed, tortured thousands. They confiscated assets, expelled priests & nuns… And let’s be clear, Cubans weren’t exactly communicating by grunts. Most knew how to read.”
Castro regime’s been in power in Cuba for +60 yrs w/o free elections. They’ve killed, jailed, tortured thousands. They confiscated assets, expelled priests & nuns… And let’s be clear, Cubans weren’t exactly communicating by grunts. Most knew how to read. pic.twitter.com/kKGM66a8ci
Navarro added, “I was in 2nd Grade when Sandinistas came to power in Nicaragua. They adopted Cuban education model. The books/curriculum taught ideological indoctrination. Children had to recite communist, revolutionary, anti-American slogans. That’s how communist teach people to read and write.”
I was in 2nd Grade when Sandinistas came to power in Nicaragua. They adopted Cuban education model. The books/curriculum taught ideological indoctrination. Children had to recite communist, revolutionary, anti-American slogans. That’s how communist teach people to read and write.
Left-wing MSNBC frequent guest Fernand Amandi tweeted out a series of videos showing Sanders’ repeated praise for communist leaders.
Amandi tweeted, “Here’s avowed socialist @BernieSanders talking about how President Kennedy made him ‘want to puke’ because JFK stood up to and condemned Fidel Castro’s tyrannical totalitarian regime in Cuba”
Here’s avowed socialist @BernieSanders talking about how President Kennedy made him “want to puke” because JFK stood up to and condemned Fidel Castro’s tyrannical totalitarian regime in Cuba??pic.twitter.com/qHXTea08Zp
Amandi continued, “Here is @BernieSanders TONIGHT defending Fidel Castro’s murderous totalitarian Communist regime in Cuba. Democrats, nominating this man will absolutely re-elect @realDonaldTrump and end our Constitutional republic.”
Here is @BernieSanders TONIGHT defending Fidel Castro’s murderous totalitarian Communist regime in Cuba
Amandi added, “Here’s a compilation clip of avowed socialist @BernieSanders talking about ‘how impressed he is,’ with Fidel Castro’s murderous, communist totalitarian regime in Cuba”
Here’s a compilation clip of avowed socialist @BernieSanders talking about “how impressed he is,” with Fidel Castro’s murderous, communist totalitarian regime in Cuba??pic.twitter.com/5xXsXqpeEW
Former Obama White House staffer Christopher Hale wrote: “Fidel Castro was a dictator and a tyrant. He spent his regime murdering dissidents, imprisoning gay people, separating families from each other, banning the free and open practice of religion, and bringing the world to the brink of nuclear war. He’s not worthy of praise.”
Fidel Castro was a dictator and a tyrant. He spent his regime murdering dissidents, imprisoning gay people, separating families from each other, banning the free and open practice of religion, and bringing the world to the brink of nuclear war.
Statistician Josh Jordan responded: “On the same day that Bernie Sanders welcomed an endorsement from anti-Vaxxer Marianne Williamson, he’s got a 60 Minutes interview where he praises Castro’s indoctrination… I mean ‘literacy program.’ I can’t wait to see how this plays with swing voters come November.”
On the same day that Bernie Sanders welcomed an endorsement from anti-Vaxxer Marianne Williamson, he’s got a 60 Minutes interview where he praises Castro’s indoctrination… I mean "literacy program."
Leftist Democrat Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo, who is highly political and hates the Second Amendment, responded, “For the record @BernieSanders, Fidel & Raul Castro, their murdering regime, & co-conspirators have never had a redeeming quality, ZERO. They worked on literacy programs in a State that controls everything available for reading, in essence, literacy was a path to indoctrination.”
“I remember my high school history teacher trying to feed us the literacy achievement line,” Acevedo continued. “My response to him was I would rather be unread than to spend a lifetime reading the communist/socialists propaganda the Cuban government provided.”
I remember my high school history teacher trying to feed us the literacy achievement line. My response to him was I would rather be unread than to spend a lifetime reading the communist/socialists propaganda the Cuban government provided.
Democrat Rep. Donna Shalala (FL) tweeted: “I’m hoping that in the future, Senator Sanders will take time to speak to some of my constituents before he decides to sing the praises of a murderous tyrant like Fidel Castro.”
I’m hoping that in the future, Senator Sanders will take time to speak to some of my constituents before he decides to sing the praises of a murderous tyrant like Fidel Castro. https://t.co/Iwvmay9LOHpic.twitter.com/KT9sQ0pfkh
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) tweeted: “Likely Dem nominee praised the supposed ‘achievements’ Castro regime.
And he’s wrong about why people didn’t overthrow Castro. It’s not because ‘he educated their kids,gave them health care’ it‘s because his opponents were jailed, murdered or exiled.”
Likely Dem nominee praised the supposed “achievements” Castro regime
And he’s wrong about why people didn’t overthrow Castro. It’s not because “he educated their kids,gave them health care” it‘s because his opponents were jailed,murdered or exiled https://t.co/6i41w7zcDe
Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) tweeted: “Shameful ignorance from @SenSanders. The Castro regime has killed & imprisoned dissidents, oppressed its people and propped up murderous dictators like Maduro and Ortega.”
The Castro regime has killed & imprisoned dissidents, oppressed its people and propped up murderous dictators like Maduro and Ortega. https://t.co/ROnmWT9oka
Anderson Cooper did a decent-ish job challenging some of Bernie’s more extreme positions on Sunday’s 60 Minutes. Despite Cooper’s delicacy, Bernie gave away the fact that he dislikes America and dreams of Marxist socialism.
With Bernie now the frontrunner in the Democrat Party, it was natural that 60 Minutes would interview him. In terms of real journalism, the interview is inadequate. You’ll get more information about Bernie’s lifelong Marxism and love for dictators from the videos at the bottom of this post. Still, there were illuminating moments.
Cooper’s narrative reiterates that Sanders is now claiming Denmark, not Cuba or Venezuela, as his model. It doesn’t matter. Denmark’s reality is strikingly different from the myth.
Sanders, without evidence, calls Trump is a “pathological liar.” Untrue. Trump is an exaggerator; Biden is a fabulist; and Bernie is the pathological liar. Anyone who sells communism, as he has for decades, despite the 100 million dead bodies left behind in the 20th century alone, is lying at an almost incomprehensible scale.
Cooper did note that, in the 1980s, Sanders was a fan of the Soviet Union and the Sandinistas. A brief video from the 1980s, interrupted by Cooper’s voiceovers, has Bernie decrying the “authoritarian nature of Cuba” while lauding its “massive literacy program. Is that a bad thing?” Only a Marxist could value literacy over food and freedom.
When Cooper mentioned imprisoned dissidents, Sanders said, “[W]e condemn that” (apparently being frontrunner allows you to use the royal “we”). He then attacked Trump for his practice of being nice to people with whom negotiating (e.g., Kim Jong-un and Putin).
Although Cooper dishonestly called Trump a racist, his question about the men’s different views of America revealed Bernie’s chronic disdain for America:
Cooper: Donald Trump got elected talking to white middle-class Americans, white working-class Americans, promising to– to make America great again. Your stump speech, your critics say sounds like nothing works in America, hasn’t for generations. Is America great? [Editor: Cooper’s saying Trump talked to white people is a lie. Trump talks to all Americans and Americans of all colors are listening.]
Sanders: In many ways, we are. In some ways, very significant ways, we’re not. We’re not great when half of our people today are living paycheck to paycheck. When 500,000 people tonight are going to be sleeping out on the streets, including 30,000 veterans.
(As an aside, these problems are Democrat and government created. The mentally ill are homeless because leftists closed down asylums. Drug addicts crowd Democrat cities that give them food, shelter, and easy access to drugs and alcohol. Poverty in the heartland resulted because Democrats and the Chamber of Commerce sold out American workers and because of Democrat climate policies shutting down businesses.)
Finally, Bernie revealed a mindset typical to those spending other people’s money – he neither knows nor cares how much his plans cost:
Cooper: Two-thirds of Democrats in the Senate have not signed on to Medicare for All, which would cost an estimated $30 trillion to $40 trillion over ten years. And that’s just one of Bernie Sanders’ many proposals. There’s also free public college, cancellation of all student debt, a federal job guarantee, and a Green New Deal to rapidly reduce carbon emissions.
How much will that cost?
Sanders: Obviously, those are expensive propositions, but we have done our best on issue after issue– in paying for them.
Cooper: Do you know how all– how much though? I mean, do you have a price tag for– for all of this?
Sanders: We do. I mean, you know, and– and– the price tag is– it will be substantially less than letting the current system go. I think it’s about $30 trillion.
Cooper: That’s just for Medicare for All, you’re talking about?
Sanders: That’s just Medicare for All, yes.
Cooper: Do you have– a price tag for all of these things?
Sanders: No, I don’t. We try to– no, you mentioned making public colleges and universities tuition free and cancelling all student debt, that’s correct. That’s what I want to do. We pay for that through a modest tax on Wall Street speculation.
Cooper: But you say you don’t know what the total price is, but you know how it’s gonna be paid for. How do you know it’s gonna be paid for if you don’t know how much the price is?
Sanders: Well, I can’t– you know, I can’t rattle off to you ever nickel and every dime. But we have accounted for– you– you talked about Medicare for All. We have options out there that will pay for it.
Here’s the real Bernie:
Anderson Cooper did a decent-ish job challenging some of Bernie’s more extreme positions on Sunday’s 60 Minutes. Despite Cooper’s delicacy, Bernie gave away the fact that he dislikes America and dreams of Marxist socialism.
With Bernie now the frontrunner in the Democrat Party, it was natural that 60 Minutes would interview him. In terms of real journalism, the interview is inadequate. You’ll get more information about Bernie’s lifelong Marxism and love for dictators from the videos at the bottom of this post. Still, there were illuminating moments.
Cooper’s narrative reiterates that Sanders is now claiming Denmark, not Cuba or Venezuela, as his model. It doesn’t matter. Denmark’s reality is strikingly different from the myth.
Sanders, without evidence, calls Trump is a “pathological liar.” Untrue. Trump is an exaggerator; Biden is a fabulist; and Bernie is the pathological liar. Anyone who sells communism, as he has for decades, despite the 100 million dead bodies left behind in the 20th century alone, is lying at an almost incomprehensible scale.
Cooper did note that, in the 1980s, Sanders was a fan of the Soviet Union and the Sandinistas. A brief video from the 1980s, interrupted by Cooper’s voiceovers, has Bernie decrying the “authoritarian nature of Cuba” while lauding its “massive literacy program. Is that a bad thing?” Only a Marxist could value literacy over food and freedom.
When Cooper mentioned imprisoned dissidents, Sanders said, “[W]e condemn that” (apparently being frontrunner allows you to use the royal “we”). He then attacked Trump for his practice of being nice to people with whom negotiating (e.g., Kim Jong-un and Putin).
Although Cooper dishonestly called Trump a racist, his question about the men’s different views of America revealed Bernie’s chronic disdain for America:
Cooper: Donald Trump got elected talking to white middle-class Americans, white working-class Americans, promising to– to make America great again. Your stump speech, your critics say sounds like nothing works in America, hasn’t for generations. Is America great? [Editor: Cooper’s saying Trump talked to white people is a lie. Trump talks to all Americans and Americans of all colors are listening.]
Sanders: In many ways, we are. In some ways, very significant ways, we’re not. We’re not great when half of our people today are living paycheck to paycheck. When 500,000 people tonight are going to be sleeping out on the streets, including 30,000 veterans.
(As an aside, these problems are Democrat and government created. The mentally ill are homeless because leftists closed down asylums. Drug addicts crowd Democrat cities that give them food, shelter, and easy access to drugs and alcohol. Poverty in the heartland resulted because Democrats and the Chamber of Commerce sold out American workers and because of Democrat climate policies shutting down businesses.)
Finally, Bernie revealed a mindset typical to those spending other people’s money – he neither knows nor cares how much his plans cost:
Cooper: Two-thirds of Democrats in the Senate have not signed on to Medicare for All, which would cost an estimated $30 trillion to $40 trillion over ten years. And that’s just one of Bernie Sanders’ many proposals. There’s also free public college, cancellation of all student debt, a federal job guarantee, and a Green New Deal to rapidly reduce carbon emissions.
How much will that cost?
Sanders: Obviously, those are expensive propositions, but we have done our best on issue after issue– in paying for them.
Cooper: Do you know how all– how much though? I mean, do you have a price tag for– for all of this?
Sanders: We do. I mean, you know, and– and– the price tag is– it will be substantially less than letting the current system go. I think it’s about $30 trillion.
Cooper: That’s just for Medicare for All, you’re talking about?
Sanders: That’s just Medicare for All, yes.
Cooper: Do you have– a price tag for all of these things?
Sanders: No, I don’t. We try to– no, you mentioned making public colleges and universities tuition free and cancelling all student debt, that’s correct. That’s what I want to do. We pay for that through a modest tax on Wall Street speculation.
Cooper: But you say you don’t know what the total price is, but you know how it’s gonna be paid for. How do you know it’s gonna be paid for if you don’t know how much the price is?
Sanders: Well, I can’t– you know, I can’t rattle off to you ever nickel and every dime. But we have accounted for– you– you talked about Medicare for All. We have options out there that will pay for it.
Feb. 24 (UPI) — Television actor Jussie Smollett will be arraigned Monday on a six-count indictment charging him with falsely reporting that he was the victim of a racist and homophobic attack near his Chicago home.
Smollett, 37, was expected to plead not guilty to felony charges of disorderly conduct during his appearance in Cook County Circuit Court a day after Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot declared that he should be should be “held accountable” for falsely reporting a crime.
Formerly a cast member of the popular television show Empire, Smollett — who is black and openly gay — was indicted this month by a special grand jury that accused him of filing false police reports in connection with a January 2019 incident in which he said he was attacked by two white men who looped a noose around his neck and poured bleach on him after taunting him with racial, homophobic remarks.
In a case that divided the nation along lines of race and sexual orientation, police ultimately said incident was a hoax and that Smollett staged the assault to bolster his career, and charged him with 16 counts of disorderly conduct. Those charges were dropped a month later in a controversial move by Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx.
A Chicago judge subsequently accepted a petition to reopen the case and appointed former U.S. Attorney Dan Webb to lead a new inquiry. Following a six-month investigation, Webb announced the new charges.
Smollett is expected remain free on bond after entering his plea Monday as he awaits trial. He has steadfastly maintained his innocence and contends police have overlooked witnesses who corroborate his story.
Lightfoot said Sunday Smollett needs to take responsibility for damage caused to the city.
“He needs to face the charges,” she said. “He committed a crime, and he needs to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, and we are going to continue to aggressively make him accountable for the wasted police resources that went into investigating what turned out to be a total hoax.”
In 2018, California implemented the California Values Act, which gave special protection to illegal aliens by mandating that California law enforcement agencies cannot cooperate with federal immigration authorities. Last week, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) thumbed its nose at California and arrested two people in Sonoma County Superior Court.
California has lots of reasons to hang onto its roughly 2.2 – 3.5 million illegal immigrants. They provide cheap, easily-exploited labor. They swell the state’s population, which matters for electors and congresspeople, as well as the distribution of certain federal funds. As illegal immigrants are fed into the system, they provide reliable (legal or illegal) Democrat votes. And they make Californians feel virtuous even as they allow corrupt Latin American states to continue exploiting their own citizens and destroying their economies by relying on remittances from people illegally in America.
For these reasons, California enacted the pompously named “California Values Act.” Although the act refers to “immigrants,” it’s obviously intended to affect only illegal aliens because the Act’s entire purpose is to use the agencies of the state to prevent ICE from gaining access to people illegally in California – including people who have committed crimes in California. This is the type of law that could only come from legislators and other virtue signalers ensconced in comfortable middle- and upper-middle-class enclaves unaffected by felonies that would never have happened but for open borders and sanctuaries.
Throughout the Obama administration, sanctuary cities and states were able to get away with these policies because the Obama administration, despite Obama’s sworn obligation to upload the laws of the United States, approved of open borders. Trump promised to change all that.
During the first three years of his administration, rather disappointingly, Trump was able to have little effect on illegal immigration or on deportation. However, Trump was just getting his ducks in a row. He was hampered by a reluctant Republican Congress, which was superseded by a violently resisting Democrat House. He also had to deal with “resistance” judges who blocked every immigration initiative he made.
Finally, though, things are changing. Trump was able to squeeze money out of Congress for his wall and, even more importantly, with help from Mitch McConnell, he’s changing the judiciary:
With a judiciary that believes in interpreting the law, not making it, Trump’s administration is able to act in accordance with the Supremacy Clause (Constitution, Art. VI, Clause 2):
This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding.
In other words, when there’s a direct conflict between state laws and federal laws, federal laws prevail.
Because the critical mass of judges is no longer deliberately inserting itself as an obstacle between federal laws and illegal immigrants, ICE is beginning to carry out its duty as written under the law:
U.S. immigration agents arrested two people at a Northern California courthouse, including a man detained in a hallway on his way to a hearing, flouting a new state law requiring a judicial warrant to make immigration arrests inside such facilities.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents made the arrests Tuesday at Sonoma County Superior Court, prompting an outcry from criminal justice and court officials who said the action undermines local authority and deters immigrants who are in the country illegally from participating in the U.S. justice system.
ICE said California’s law doesn’t supersede federal law and “will not govern the conduct of federal officers acting pursuant to duly-enacted laws passed by Congress that provide the authority to make administrative arrests of removable aliens inside the United States."
“Our officers will not have their hands tied by sanctuary rules when enforcing immigration laws to remove criminal aliens from our communities," David Jennings, ICE’s field office director in San Francisco, said in the statement.
At long last, in Trump’s America, the rule of law matters again. The reliability of law is one of the essential ingredients of a just and successful civilization. In that context, if you don’t like the law, you change it through the democratic process, not through illegal and unconstitutional resistance.
In 2018, California implemented the California Values Act, which gave special protection to illegal aliens by mandating that California law enforcement agencies cannot cooperate with federal immigration authorities. Last week, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) thumbed its nose at California and arrested two people in Sonoma County Superior Court.
California has lots of reasons to hang onto its roughly 2.2 – 3.5 million illegal immigrants. They provide cheap, easily-exploited labor. They swell the state’s population, which matters for electors and congresspeople, as well as the distribution of certain federal funds. As illegal immigrants are fed into the system, they provide reliable (legal or illegal) Democrat votes. And they make Californians feel virtuous even as they allow corrupt Latin American states to continue exploiting their own citizens and destroying their economies by relying on remittances from people illegally in America.
For these reasons, California enacted the pompously named “California Values Act.” Although the act refers to “immigrants,” it’s obviously intended to affect only illegal aliens because the Act’s entire purpose is to use the agencies of the state to prevent ICE from gaining access to people illegally in California – including people who have committed crimes in California. This is the type of law that could only come from legislators and other virtue signalers ensconced in comfortable middle- and upper-middle-class enclaves unaffected by felonies that would never have happened but for open borders and sanctuaries.
Throughout the Obama administration, sanctuary cities and states were able to get away with these policies because the Obama administration, despite Obama’s sworn obligation to upload the laws of the United States, approved of open borders. Trump promised to change all that.
During the first three years of his administration, rather disappointingly, Trump was able to have little effect on illegal immigration or on deportation. However, Trump was just getting his ducks in a row. He was hampered by a reluctant Republican Congress, which was superseded by a violently resisting Democrat House. He also had to deal with “resistance” judges who blocked every immigration initiative he made.
Finally, though, things are changing. Trump was able to squeeze money out of Congress for his wall and, even more importantly, with help from Mitch McConnell, he’s changing the judiciary:
With a judiciary that believes in interpreting the law, not making it, Trump’s administration is able to act in accordance with the Supremacy Clause (Constitution, Art. VI, Clause 2):
This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding.
In other words, when there’s a direct conflict between state laws and federal laws, federal laws prevail.
Because the critical mass of judges is no longer deliberately inserting itself as an obstacle between federal laws and illegal immigrants, ICE is beginning to carry out its duty as written under the law:
U.S. immigration agents arrested two people at a Northern California courthouse, including a man detained in a hallway on his way to a hearing, flouting a new state law requiring a judicial warrant to make immigration arrests inside such facilities.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents made the arrests Tuesday at Sonoma County Superior Court, prompting an outcry from criminal justice and court officials who said the action undermines local authority and deters immigrants who are in the country illegally from participating in the U.S. justice system.
ICE said California’s law doesn’t supersede federal law and “will not govern the conduct of federal officers acting pursuant to duly-enacted laws passed by Congress that provide the authority to make administrative arrests of removable aliens inside the United States."
“Our officers will not have their hands tied by sanctuary rules when enforcing immigration laws to remove criminal aliens from our communities," David Jennings, ICE’s field office director in San Francisco, said in the statement.
At long last, in Trump’s America, the rule of law matters again. The reliability of law is one of the essential ingredients of a just and successful civilization. In that context, if you don’t like the law, you change it through the democratic process, not through illegal and unconstitutional resistance.
If you are dumb enough to slobber over a socialist then you’re already inclined toward being a hapless mark, so it should be no surprise that you Bernie dorks are about to get screwed over again by the Democratic Party.
Here’s how it’s going to go: Because you are stupid – you support a socialist, so you are presumptively stupid – you think that if you work really hard and win the votes the establishment creeps who own the Democratic Party are going to let you have a say. But, like last time, you won’t get a say. You’ll work real hard – maybe if you worked really hard at actual jobs you wouldn’t be half-wit socialists – and you’ll win the votes, and all your dreams will die as you end up with the nomination going to a malignant midget multi-zillionaire.
I don’t know exactly how they are going to do it – more convenient caucus kerfuffles, super-delegates, shenanigans at the convention – but there is no way your masters will ever let you win. Like I said, you’re socialists, and therefore stupid, so you will get cheated and you will end up having to vote for the Verne Troyer of American big-money politics.
And, like the obedient saps you are, you’ll do it.
Now, at this point, you probably have some complaints about this column. By complaining, you can temporarily distract from the indisputable fact that your own foolishness has put you in the position of being crushingly humiliated by the Democratic elite once again. Let me briefly address your whiny protests.
Yes, I say “socialist” like it’s a bad thing. This is because it’s a very bad thing. Like, to the tune of 100 million corpses bad thing. I’ve actually lived in the ruins of socialism and you, well, you had a man-bunned sociology TA tell you it was swell. And you believed him because you are a dupe. Be glad that I am assuming that you are stupid instead of the only other reason one would ever cavort with these blood-stained goblins: that you are evil.
But he’s a “democratic socialist,” you interject, because you are stupid. Would you feel fine with a “democratic Nazi?” Actually, you probably would, since Nazis are just a genre of socialist with white and black added to the color palette.
Then you’ll claim that the Box Boy won’t be the nominee, no, one of the other pouty posse will get it. Maybe Biden will. You totally want to vote for a guy who thinks his powder-diving, dancer-diddling loser son should totally be getting $83K a month. Man, if you got money like that you could move out of your parents’ place! Or maybe Audie Buttigieg – he seems plausible. No, I’m not laughing! And then there’s Big Chief Sanders Lite. Maybe she could get elected. Really, I’m not laughing. Okay, then Amy Klobuchar – no, I’m not laughing, I’m just scratching my head wondering why she is even still in. Face it. The only viable option besides Vermont Stalin is Scrooge McSuck.
And your next protest will be that Donald Trump is worse than Mini Mike. In fact, you’ll say, Trump is like Hitler combined with…well, Hitler is the only dictator you don’t like, so we’ll just stick with “He’s literally Hitler for real!” Again, you have been suckered. If you were actually raging against the machine rather than aspiring to be a cog in it, you would back him. Now, you may not like it, and you may be too dumb to see it, but Trump is the only disruptor of the establishment in this race. Short Stuff’s gnome-ination is designed to re-establish the establishment. And mark my words: you’ll help him do it.
Yeah, I bet Wall Street is quivering in its collective Guccis over the muffled pitter-patter of the tiny little footsteps of the approaching Bloomberg administration. Bloomberg is not just an eager supporter of the globalist vision but a leading advocate, the Dwarf King of Davos. Trump, not so much. But you’ve been told to hate Trump, and like obedient little ants, you hate him.
In fact, you hate Trump so much that you will vote for the polar opposite of your crusty commie hero even after your preference has been torn from your soft little hands yet again. If you wanted to burn down the system, Trump would be your man. But you don’t…not really. You just want some scraps, like getting out of your loans or making other people pay for your doctor and you’ll be happy. That’s why you’ll give your general election vote to the Stop ‘N Frisk Doughboy even as you assure yourself that the guy who got minority unemployment to record lows is the big, bad racist in this race.
You’ve been had. You’ll cry, but you’ll still go along with the scam as this all plays out.
Suddenly, the media will turn on the Bern in a coordinated attack. Oh wait, that’s happening. Then Frodo Moneybags will start buying off individuals and liberal groups. Oh wait, that’s happening too. Crusty has-been Sam Donaldson decided to show off his new blonde rug during his endorsement; so many more are coming. And I bet it’s not his cash but the power of Mikey’s ideas…okay, now I am laughing.
There will be more primary and caucus “surprises,” except the only people who will be surprised are you suckers. If it gets as far as the convention, your masters will adjourn to the un-smoke-filled rooms and decide for you who you will vote for. And you’ll whine and winge and ultimately obey like the good little suckers you are.
See, you bought into the idea that another four years of prosperity and peace under Donald Trump is much, much worse than reinstalling the party apparatus that has screwed you over in the last two cycles. You’ll ignore the economy, the lack of new wars, the trade rebalancing, and all the other stuff and instead focus on what your masters have commanded you to focus on: that Trump tweeted something mean. Oh, and Russians.
And here’s why you will let the Democrat puppetmasters succeed. It’s because you are stupid. Now, you could stop being stupid. You could refuse to play along. You could even insist Bernie run as a third-party candidate. I like that because it guarantees Trump II: Fossil-Fuel Generated Electric Boogaloo. But it would serve your interests too by forcing the party to recognize and respect you instead of assuming you’ll fall into line once again. But you won’t. You’re all talk and no revolution. Take off that Che t-shirt and put on one with Mini Mayor’s pouty little mug on it. He’s your man. You’re all Bloomberg Bros. Just give it time.
You’re saps, and you’ll take whatever you’re given and tell yourself you like it.
* * *
Speaking of what might happen if America’s urban dummies were foolish enough to elect an out socialist, check out my latest conservative thriller, Collapse, along with the other entries in the best-selling series, People’s Republic, Indian Country, and Wildfire. America breaks in two as leftist foolishness, and evil, becomes unbearable. Action and liberal bashing ensue. Get them all, and also check out my Townhall VIP podcast, “Unredacted” every Monday as well as my new Hugh Hewitt-affiliated Salem podcast, “Fighting Words”!
A history teacher at Loch Haven High School in Towson, Maryland, has come under scrutiny over a classroom lecture that compared President Donald Trump to the German Nazi Party and the communists of the Soviet Union.
According to a report by the Washington Times, a teacher at Loch Raven High School is facing criticism from Republican state lawmakers over her decision to compare President Trump to Nazis and communists during a classroom history lecture.
During an advanced placement history course lecture that took place earlier this year, students were shown a slide that featured an image of President Trump alongside a Nazi swastika and a Soviet Union flag. A caption on the slide stated that all of the images in the picture were associated with political movements that wanted to “round up a group of people and build a giant wall.”
Local lawmakers have pushed back aggressively after receiving a copy of the slide from Delegate Kathy Szeliga. “It is horrific. It is educational malfeasance,” Szeliga said. Another local politician argued that the lecture was a form of “propaganda” that should be eradicated from the classroom.
The school district confirmed that the slide was not provided to the teacher by the district or a third-party lesson plan company. More importantly, Baltimore County Schools spokesperson Charles Herndon claims that people have misinterpreted the slide.
“The topics being discussed in the class included World Wars and the attempts by some leaders throughout history to limit or prevent migration into certain countries. In isolation and out of context with the lesson, the image could be misunderstood,” Herndon said.
Stay tuned to Breitbart News for more updates on this story.
A woman who delivered her own baby in the emergency room on Monday wound up saving a truck driver’s life from a fire on Thursday, just days after she gave birth.
Holly McNally says that despite welcoming a newborn baby into the world before her doctor showed up earlier in the week, it did not stop her from helping a man covered in flames after his truck full of jet fuel overturned on an Indianapolis-area highway on Thursday.
“It’s human nature to not run towards danger,” she toldPeople. “But for me, it was the opposite. I was like, ‘I brought a life into this world, and I get to go home and see my baby and this man could be somebody’s dad or somebody’s child and I want him to make it home to his baby too.’”
The incident took place shortly before 2 p.m. on the I-465 South ramp heading toward I-70 East, the Indianapolis Fire Department tweeted.
1:55 PM – Driver of tanker critically injured after truck carrying 4000 gal. of jet fuel makes contact w/ guardrail, overturns & catches fire at SB I465 ramp to EB I70. Multiple explosions result. Heavy fire & jet fuel runoff makes initial access to the area difficult for crews. pic.twitter.com/Vlaourva74
The fire department added that the tanker had been carrying 4,000 gallons of jet fuel when it slammed into the guardrail, overturned, burst into flames, and caused multiple explosions.
The 35-year-old mother said she was on her way home from the hospital visiting her newborn son in the NICU when she spotted the fiery crash.
McNally said she pulled over, got out of her car, and noticed a man engulfed in flames with his “head on fire, hands on fire.”
It was at that moment when McNally decided to do something.
“I asked him what he was hauling and he told me jet fuel and I was like, ‘Honey, we’ve got to get out of here. I’ve got a newborn that I want to get home to and I’m sure you have family that you want to get home to,’” she told People.
Another Good Samaritan— identified as Mitch Navarre, 50— also showed up to help McNally at that time.
The three worked quickly to get the man down the ramp away from the burning fuel. Both Good Samaritans were able to get the victim to safety and into the hands of first responders. He was eventually transported to a local hospital in critical condition, USA Todayreported.
McNally, reflecting on her whirlwind of a week, credits being in the right place at the right time, and being a mother to three other children for getting her through the week’s challenges.
The mother of four also hopes her story will inspire others to perform acts of kindness, even if it is something simple.
“Everybody should help each other out, and we should be there for other people, even if it’s doing something little like giving someone a dime that they’re short,” McNally said. “Kindness goes a long way. It doesn’t have to be saving somebody’s life, but anything that you can do for someone to help them in any way, make sure you do it.”
Two former Somali specialty market owners in Columbus, Ohio, are facing more than $10 million in food stamp fraud charges, authorities say.
Hassan Nuriso and Abdurahim Nuriso, the former owners of Towfiq Market on Sullivant Avenue, have been charged by a federal grand jury with conspiring to fraudulently redeem more than $10 million in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and WIC program benefits between 2010 and 2019, WCMH reported.
“It’s very clear in all the regulations what you can and can’t do,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney David Bosley. “You can’t give food stamps for cash, you can’t buy items that are not allowed under the food stamp program, you can’t buy things that aren’t food, and you can’t give credit.”
The Nuriso brothers are also accused of trading illegally obtained benefits into cash to spend the money for other purposes.
The five-count indictment also alleges that the Nurisos allowed the benefit recipients to use their benefits to purchase items that could not be redeemable through SNAP, WIC, or other programs.
In total, the Nurisos are accused of redeeming $8 million SNAP benefits and $2.1 million WIC benefits between 2010 and 2019. The federal government says the majority of them are fraudulent.
Investigators often uncover millions, sometimes billions, of dollars worth of food stamp fraud and other welfare fraud charges, mostly from people who run convenience stores in low-income areas where many customers receive food stamps through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) or WIC benefits.
A January 2019 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report found that at least $1 billion in food stamp benefits had been trafficked each year in the U.S.
