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New book claims Obama was a ‘parasite’ who sucked the Democratic Party dry to get reelected
A “parasite” on the Democratic Party is how journalist Edward Isaac Dovere describes former President Obama in his forthcoming tell-all book “Battle for the Soul: Inside the Democrats’ Campaign to Defeat Trump.”

In a chapter entitled “Benign Neglect,” Dovere writes that the section’s namesake is how Obama aides privately described his abandonment of the Democratic Party once in the White House. “‘Negligence’ might be more accurate,” Dovere, writer for The Atlantic and former chief Washington correspondent for Politico, writes.

“The numbers are hard to ignore: during his eight years in office, Obama oversaw a net loss of 947 state legislative seats, 63 House seats, 11 senators, and 13 governors,” he continues.

In 2008, Democrats increased their majorities in the House and Senate, delivering Obama the legislature for his first two years in office. In 2010, Republicans took the majority in the House with the Tea Party wave and Democrats maintained but shrunk their majority in the Senate. In 2014, Republicans gained control of both the House and Senate.

Dovere writes that the 44th president carried himself with a “self-assured self-regard.”

“Obama never built a Democratic bench and never cared to, aside from a few scattered candidates who interested him,” according to the book.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE ON OUR TOP STORY.

In other developments:
– Obama had harsh words on Trump, book claims
– Obama called Trump a ‘f—— lunatic’ in remarks to foundation donors, book claims
– Obama Bros at Crooked Media promoted charity linked to terrorist group Hamas: report
– Kid reporter who interviewed Obama at White House dies at 23

Texas aims to crack down on protesters who block traffic: ‘That chaos won’t be tolerated’
A bill that would increase penalties for protestors blocking roads and obstructing emergency vehicles is on the way to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk.

And the two-term GOP governor who’s running for re-election next year says he’ll sign the measure into law.

“I will sign soon,” Abbott tweeted this weekend. “Peaceful protest doesn’t include blocking roadways & preventing emergency vehicle access. That chaos won’t be tolerated in Texas.”

The governor sent his tweet soon after the Texas Senate voted 25-5 to pass the bill, which would toughen penalties and calls for jail time for protestors who purposefully block emergency vehicles from passing through a roadway, or obstruct a hospital entrance. CLICK HERE FOR MORE.

In other developments:
– ‘Free Palestine’ demonstrators block traffic in Los Angeles: ‘Long live intifada’
– Good Samaritans help Florida deputy under attack during traffic stop, video shows
– Police in this Florida city will start fining protesters who block traffic

Kinzinger charges that McCarthy ‘failed to tell the truth’

Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois is taking aim at Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., charging that the House minority leader is not being honest with Americans.

“I do think Kevin has failed to tell the truth,” Kinzinger said Sunday in an interview with Fox News’ Chris Wallace on “Fox News Sunday.”

Kinzinger was one of just 10 House Republicans who voted in January to impeach then-President Trump of inciting the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol by right-wing extremists aiming to disrupt congressional certification of President Biden’s Electoral College victory over Trump. And the conservative lawmaker first elected to Congress in the 2010 Tea Party wave was one of 35 House Republicans who last week bucked party leadership and voted in favor of a Jan. 6 commission to investigate the attack on the Capitol.

McCarthy last week announced his opposition to the formation of the commission and worked with House GOP leadership to limit the number of defections when the full chamber voted on the matter on Wednesday. While 35 Republicans supported the inquiry, the vast majority of the 212 member GOP conference opposed the move.

Kinzinger charged McCarthy “failed to tell the truth to the Republicans and to the American people and it pains me to say and it’s not like I enjoy standing up and saying this.”

He noted that a sizeable number of the 74 million people who voted for Trump “believe the election was stolen, believe it because their leaders have not told them otherwise. The people they trust have either been silent or not told them the truth.”

In other developments:
– GOP Rep. Kinzinger hauls in big bucks after facing Trump’s wrath
– Kinzinger launches new PAC to ‘take back’ GOP from Trump
– Kinzinger defends Liz Cheney, says McCarthy ignored warnings about Jan. 6 violence

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Source: https://www.foxnews.com/us/obama-described-in-new-book-as-a-parasite-on-democratic-party

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The post Obama described in new book as a ‘parasite’ on Democratic Party first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

President Biden on Thursday announced a set of executive actions and legislative proposals on gun control, saying that gun violence is “a public health crisis” and the administration’s actions do not contravene Second Amendment rights.

The administration aims to “confront not just the gun crisis but what is actually a public health crisis,” Biden said in his remarks in the Rose Garden. He was joined by Vice President Harris.

“Nothing I’m about to recommend in any way impinges on the Second Amendment,” Biden said. “These are phony arguments suggesting that these are Second Amendment rights at stake from what we’re talking about.”

Continuing, Biden said: “But no amendment to the Constitution is absolute … From the very beginning, you couldn’t own any weapon you wanted to own. From the very beginning the Second Amendment existed, certain people weren’t allowed to have weapons. So the idea is just bizarre to suggest that some of the things we’re recommending are contrary to the Constitution.”

BIDEN TO TARGET ‘GHOST GUNS,’ STABILIZING BRACES IN NEW GUN CONTROL ACTIONS

In attendance were several high-profile gun control activists, including Brady United president Kris Brown, former Rep. Gabby Giffords, D-Ariz., and Fred Guttenberg.

An administration official detailed the actions to reporters on Wednesday. Among them, Biden is asking the Justice Department (DOJ) to propose within a month a rule to stop “ghost guns,” which are “kits” people can buy legally to assemble a functioning firearm that does not have a serial number.

Biden is also asking the DOJ to propose within 60 days a rule on braces used for handguns, which make them more accurate; to propose action on “community violence intervention”; to publish suggestions for “red flag” legislation; and is asking his administration to issue a report on gun trafficking.

Biden also formally announced David Chipman as the director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).

A senior administration official Wednesday said that Chipman will respect the Second Amendment while he enforces gun laws.

President Joe Biden speaks about the economy in the State Dinning Room of the White House, Friday, Feb. 5, 2021, in Washington, D.C. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

“I’ve seen with my own two eyes what a bullet can do to the human body … and I’ve fought my entire career to fight this violence and to pass reasonable gun safety measures,” Harris said as she introduced Biden.

“What are we waiting for? Cause we aren’t waiting for a tragedy… We’ve had more tragedy than we can bear,” she said. “The solutions exist… people on both sides of the aisle want action, real people … so all that is left is the will and the courage to act.”

The Biden administration is also expected to throw its weight behind gun control proposals in Congress.

“Enough prayers, time for some action,” Biden said of Congress. “I believe the Senate should immediately pass three House-passed bills to close loopholes that allow gun purchases, purchasers, to bypass the background checks.”

BIDEN ON THE SECOND AMENDMENT: ‘NO AMENDMENT IS ABSOLUTE’

He also pushed for two gun control laws that would go even further than that.

“We should also ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines in this country,” Biden said. He said “there’s no reason” a person would need a weapon that can hold “100 rounds.”

“We should also eliminate gun manufacturers from the immunity they receive from the Congress,” Biden said, referring to the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA), a law that prevents gunmakers from being sued for crimes committed with guns they sell legally.

“This is the only outfit that is exempt from being sued,” he continued. “If I get one thing on my list… give me that one because I tell you what there would be a come to the Lord moment these folks would have real quickly.”

Vice President Harris meets virtually with community leaders on the COVID-19 public education efforts in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, April 1, 2021. (Leigh Vogel/UPI/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Some of Biden’s claims during the press conference are regularly disputed by Republicans, including that gun manufacturers can’t be sued and that background checks aren’t required at gun shows.

Indeed, the PLCAA only protects against suits for “harm solely caused by the criminal or unlawful misuse of firearm products or ammunition products.” This does not count, for example, if a gun is defective or if a gun was knowingly given to a person who is banned from possessing one.

BIDEN TO NOMINATE GUN CONTROL BACKER DAVID CHIPMAN TO HEAD ATF: WH OFFICIAL

Further, the “gun show loophole,” as it is known, is not actually about gun shows. All federally licensed commercial dealers, at gun shows or not, must conduct background checks. But federal law permits some non-commercial sellers who don’t need to be licensed to sell guns without conducting background checks. These sales sometimes happen at gun shows.

Republicans, meanwhile, have expressed their suspicion of Biden’s agenda which goes even further than what he announced Thursday.

“By appointing the anti-gun Merrick Garland as attorney general and nominating David Chipman — formerly a senior staffer at the leading gun control lobby —  to head ATF, Biden has made clear his sights are set on restricting the rights of law-abiding gun owners while ignoring criminals and foregoing substantive measures that will actually keep Americans safe,” the National Rifle Association (NRA) said in a statement.

“Further, the proposals Biden announced tonight could require law-abiding citizens to surrender lawful property and enable states to expand gun confiscation orders. The NRA will fight this nomination and ill-conceived executive actions,” the NRA also said.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., added: “President Biden plans to announce his attempts to trample over our constitutional 2A rights by executive fiat. He is soft on crime, but infringes on the rights of law-abiding citizens. I won’t stand for it. And neither will House Republicans. Follow the Constitution!”

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Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said, “The answer is not to restrict the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens, the answer is to go after violent criminals and come down on them like a ton of bricks.”

Attorney General Merrick Garland also spoke at the event. He said that gun control is needed to prevent further “tragedy” from gun violence.

“We stand here today not at a moment of tragedy but in the midst of an enduring tragedy,” Garland said.

Brady United, one of the highest-profile gun control groups in the U.S., billed Biden and Harris as “the strongest gun safety ticket in history” at an event last fall.

“President Biden’s actions are historic and they will have an immediate impact. These are tangible and powerful policies that will save lives,” Brown said of the president’s executive actions in a statement Wednesday.

Fox News’ Brittany De Lea, Sally Persons and Kristina Biddle contributed to this report.

Source: https://www.foxnews.com/politics/biden-guns-remarks-executive-actions

The post Biden announces slate of gun control actions, claims ‘public health crisis’ first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

“I came down here because I heard of the crisis. It’s more than a crisis, this is a human heartbreak,” House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said during a press conference after touring the El Paso Central Processing Center in El Paso, Texas. “The sad part about all this, didn’t have to happen. This crisis is created by the presidential policies of this new administration. There’s no other way to claim it than a Biden border crisis.”

The trip comes as the Biden administration is facing an influx of migrant children coming to the border as there is limited facilities to hold them. In addition, the trip comes as the House is about to take up two immigration bills that would create a pathway to citizenship for “Dreamers,” undocumented individuals who were brought to the U.S. as children, and farm workers.

McCarthy, along with the 12 other Republican members of the House, said Biden was to blame for the surge after he reversed several of former President Donald Trump’s immigration policies.

“The cartels know when to exploit this southern border, and they’re doing it now masterfully,” said Rep. John Katko, R-N.Y., and ranking member of the House Committee on Homeland Security. “They’re doing it because President Biden rolled back a lot of the orders of the previous administration that were working.”

Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-Texas, pushed back against her Republican colleagues, who blamed the president.

“We first started seeing pretty significant numbers of families arriving at our front door under the Trump administration,” Escobar said during a virtual press conference Monday afternoon. “The flow has never stopped. The journey that these families have been making, it’s never stopped. What the Trump administration did in the last year during COVID, and through MPP and through other really awful and horrific policies, was not stop immigration.

What he did was create some pretty dangerous conditions right outside our front door,” Escobar said.

More: The House is taking up immigration changes this week. Democrats are cautiously optimistic about Senate support

In his first weeks in office, Biden stopped construction on the border wall and began unwinding several of Trump’s hardline immigration policies. However, the Biden administration has kept one key policy in place from the Trump administration, Title 42, which allows the government to expel undocumented migrants coming to the U.S. seeking asylum.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy addresses th press during the congressional border delegation visit to El Paso, Texas on March 15. Justin Hamel/AFP via Getty Images

Over the past several months, the Biden administration has seen a surge of unaccompanied migrant children to the border, and has struggled to quickly move the children from short-term holding facilities to temporary influx facilities run by the Department of Health and Human Services.

As of Sunday morning, more than 4,200 unaccompanied migrant children were being held in short-term holding facilities, according to CBS News. Migrant children are supposed to be moved from the short-term facilities within 72 hours. Those facilities are jail-like and are not suited for long-term containment.

In an attempt to help combat the surge, the administration is deploying officials from Health and Human Services and the Office of Refugee Resettlement to help begin the vetting process for sponsors for these children more quickly. In addition, the Federal Emergency Management Agency has been deployed for the next three months to help receive, shelter and transfer unaccompanied migrant children, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas announced Saturday.

More: Gov. Greg Abbott in South Texas says Biden administration ‘invites illegal immigration’

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Monday the administration is facing “a big challenge” at the border and using “every level of the federal government to help address that.” However, she has not called the surge a “crisis” or a humanitarian disaster.

“They’re playing a number of roles there to address what we feel is a significant problem and a significant challenge, and I think we haven’t … been hiding about that,” Psaki said of FEMA aiding at the border.

Although the White House has yet to label the surge of undocumented children at the border a “crisis,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters Sunday that there is a “humanitarian crisis” at the U.S.-Mexico border.

“The Biden administration is trying to fix the broken system that was left to them by the Trump administration,” Pelosi said. “The Biden administration will have a system, based on doing the best possible job, understanding this is a humanitarian crisis.”

For the trip to the border, McCarthy was accompanied by:

• Rep. John Katko, R-N.Y.
• Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, R-Tenn.
• Rep. Clay Higgins, R-La.
• Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-Texas
• Rep. Michael Cloud, R-Texas
• Rep. Carlos Gimenez, R-Fla.
• Rep. Yvette Herrell, R-N.M.
• Rep. David Joyce, R-Ohio
• Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, R-Iowa
• Rep. August Pfluger, R-Texas
• Rep. John Rose, R-Tenn.
• Rep. Maria Salazar, R-Fla.
   

Salazar, who represents parts of Miami, raised concerns that children coming to the border could become victim to human trafficking. Salazar, who is of Cuban descent, said Latinos from Central America are the ones who are at high risk of being trafficked.

“We need to join forces and send a message that we cannot allow what’s happening on the border, because it’s our girls, Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, the ones who are being raped. It’s our girls, the ones, the children who are being trafficked,” Salazar said.

The Biden administration has also raised concerns about human trafficking. Psaki has previously said that the vetting process for a sponsor for an unaccompanied migrant child is taking longer because they want to make sure the child isn’t falling into a human trafficking situation.

‘Unacceptable’:Border Patrol holding hundreds of unaccompanied migrant children in El Paso

The Biden administration has repeatedly said that the border is currently closed and has called on migrants to stop trying to make the dangerous journey to the United States’ southern border.

Although the Republican lawmakers criticized Biden’s handling of the surge of undocumented migrants, some noted they are open to altering some legal paths to immigration. For example, McCarthy noted those seeking an education in the United States who are from another country should have a system in place to stay and work in the U.S. after they graduate.

“Let’s make a system that actually works, put it on merit, have the ability to come,” McCarthy said.

Reach Rebecca Morin at Twitter @RebeccaMorin_

Source: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2021/03/15/kevin-mccarthy-republicans-slam-biden-migrants-us-mexico-border/4701550001/

The post As Biden faces ongoing surge of migrant children, Republicans criticize White House for border crisis first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

House Republicans and Democrats Thursday blocked each others’ “unanimous consent” requests after President Trump aired grievances Tuesday night to the massive coronavirus stimulus and government funding package lawmakers sent to his desk.

Democrats’ request aimed at sending $2,000 relief checks to Americans. Republicans’ request on revisiting foreign aid, the other element of Trump’s twofold objections to the stimulus and spending legislation.

In order to put forward a unanimous consent request during a pro forma session, as the House was in Thursday, the speaker and the leaders of both the minority and majority must agree.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., who said Democrats’ proposal was “consistent” with Trump’s request, was present to represent Democrats while Rep. Rob Wittman, R-Va., represented Republicans. Each side blocked the others’ attempts to bring unanimous consent requests.

The brief and unfruitful exchange of political barbs came as it’s still unclear whether Trump will veto the original piece of legislation. Even as he attacked it Tuesday he did not explicitly say he’d veto it.

Trump on Tuesday night released a scathing video in which he called panned $600 stimulus checks for Americans as too small, saying the number should instead be $2,000.

He also demanded that “wasteful and unnecessary” spending – Trump specifically listed foreign aid to several countries, along with a few other line-items – be cut from the year-end spending package which lawmakers married to the coronavirus aid so it could all be passed in one vote.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., are backing dueling unanimous consent requests on the House floor on Christmas Eve after President Trump earlier this week aired grievances about the massive government funding and coronavirus legislation lawmakers sent to his desk. (AP)

“A few months ago, Congress started negotiations on a new package to get urgently needed help to the American people. It’s taken forever,” Trump said. “However, the bill they are now planning to send back to my desk is much different than anticipated. It really is a disgrace.”

Some lawmakers, especially in the House Freedom Caucus, voiced process objections to the way the monstrous, 5,000-page-plus legislation was moved through Congress in one fell swoop, saying it should have been split into several votes. Trump, however, appeared to confuse the reason for why the spending and the stimulus came to his desk at the same time.

But that nuance mattered little to Democrats. They immediately seized on Trump’s comments to taunt Republicans and call for them to get on board with the $2,000 checks, which many in the GOP opposed throughout the months-long coronavirus negotiations process from which the president was largely absent.

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In a letter sent to Democratic House lawmakers, Pelosi, D-Calif., said the resolution “affirms the ongoing, existing investigation” and “establishes the procedure” for future investigative steps.

“We are taking this step to eliminate any doubt as to whether the Trump administration may withhold documents, prevent witness testimony, disregard duly authorized subpoenas, or continue obstructing the House of Representatives,” Pelosi said.

Fox News has learned the vote will take place Thursday on the House floor.

It is not an actual article of impeachment, but rather a resolution that sets process ground rules.

MORE QUESTIONS EMERGE ABOUT HUNTER BIDEN’S BUSINESS DEALINGS, EVEN AS TRUMP IMPEACHMENT INQUIRY INTENSIFIES

Republicans hit back Monday at Pelosi over the planned vote, with South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham — the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which would play a role in a Senate impeachment trial — saying, “A vote now is a bit like un-ringing a bell as House Democrats have selectively leaked information in order to damage President Trump for weeks.”

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., told Fox News: “What it authorizes is that we were right. You can’t go back now.”

The White House argued Monday that the move proves Democrats have been conducting an “unauthorized” inquiry.

“We won’t be able to comment fully until we see the actual text, but Speaker Pelosi is finally admitting what the rest of America already knew – that Democrats were conducting an unauthorized impeachment proceeding, refusing to give the President due process, and their secret, shady, closed-door depositions are completely and irreversibly illegitimate,” White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said in a statement.

Republicans for weeks have called for a formal House vote, challenging the legitimacy of the current framework for impeachment proceedings in the absence of one. Earlier this month, the White House wrote a defiant eight-page letter to Pelosi and top Democrats saying it would not cooperate with the impeachment inquiry.

“I take pride in the fact that our vigorous response to their underhanded tactics ended up making the House Democrat position untenable,” Graham said Monday. “Today, they were forced to change course.”

Pelosi made clear in her letter that the vote is being conducted because of the Republican complaints. She accused Trump and his GOP allies of holding the position that “because the House has not taken a vote, they may simply pretend the impeachment inquiry does not exist.”

Even as she announced a formal vote, Pelosi insisted Monday that this argument “has no merit.”

“This resolution establishes the procedure for hearings that are open to the American people, authorizes the disclosure of deposition transcripts, outlines procedures to transfer evidence to the Judiciary Committee as it considers potential articles of impeachment, and sets forth due process rights for the president and his counsel,” she said.

In a statement, California Rep. Adam Schiff, the chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and a key Democrat involved in the inquiry, said: “This week, we will bring to the floor a resolution that establishes the format for open hearings that will be conducted by the House Intelligence Committee as part of the House’s ongoing impeachment inquiry, as well as procedures to transmit any evidence or report to the Judiciary Committee. The American people will hear firsthand about the president’s misconduct.”

Just two weeks ago, Pelosi met with the Democratic caucus and said that there would be no formal vote at that point on the launch of formal impeachment proceedings, despite the GOP pressure. But Democrats said Pelosi is now embracing a vote for strategic reasons.

“She wants to nullify their process argument,” a senior Democratic source told Fox News. “That’s all they talk about. Republicans won’t touch the substance. So this is her way of forcing their hand.”

On Wednesday, the Democratic chairman of the Rules Committee, Massachusetts Rep. James McGovern, said the committee will mark up the impeachment procedure resolution Wednesday. Fox News is told that the resolution should be available for review Tuesday but is not yet complete.

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“As committees continue to gather evidence and prepare to present their findings, I will be introducing a resolution to ensure transparency and provide a clear path forward, which the Rules Committee will mark up this week. This is the right thing to do for the institution and the American people,” McGovern said.

Pelosi on Sept. 24 announced the formalization of the Trump impeachment inquiry, saying at the time that “the president must be held accountable” for his “betrayal of his oath of office, betrayal of our national security, and the betrayal of the integrity of our elections.”

The inquiry was opened after a whistleblower complaint alleged that Trump, during a July phone call, pushed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter as military aid to the country was being withheld.

Fox News’ Chad Pergram, Mike Emanuel, and Brooke Singman contributed to this report.

Source: https://www.foxnews.com/politics/pelosi-says-house-will-vote-this-week-on-resolution-formalizing-impeachment-procedures

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