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Recent Appearances...

Home Front: Politix

Trump attacks 'pathetic' Fox News for airing 'loser' Rep. Eric Swalwell and other Democrats

2019-12-10

[USATODAY] President Donald Trump

...The tack in the backside of the Democratic Party...
again slammed Fox News for giving airtime to Rep. Eric Swalwell and his other Democratic critics, tweeting Sunday that it was "pathetic" how "Fox panders."

"Don’t get why @FoxNews puts losers on like @RepSwalwell (who got ZERO as presidential candidate before quitting), Pramila Jayapal, David Cicilline and others who are Radical Left Haters?" Trump tweeted listing three Democratic House members who have frequently spoken out against the president and his policies.

"The Dems wouldn’t let @FoxNews get near their bad ratings debates, yet Fox panders. Pathetic!" he wrote, referring to the Democratic National Committee's decision not to let Fox News host the party's primary debates.

Rep. David Cicilline, D-Ri.I., fired back on Twitter, telling Trump, "while you’re busy tweeting insults, we’re busy working to honor our oath of office to protect and defend the constitution and safeguard our democracy," along with a photo of himself with Swalwell, Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., and Rep. Joe Neguse, D-Colo.

"Thanks for watching, Mr. President. Why won’t you testify about your attempt to get Ukraine to interfere in the 2020 election?" he added.

Link

Home Front: Politix

Elizabeth Warren in New Hampshire: impeachment ‘not a matter of politics’. Really.

2019-09-26

[BOSTONHERALD] U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Being Native American has been part of my story since the day I was born Warren
Elizabeth <q>Being Native American has been part of my story since the day I was born</q> Warren

Elizabeth <q>Being Native American has been part of my story since the day I was born</q> Warren

...Dem Senatrix from Massachussetts, who traces her noble lineage all the way back to Big Chief Spouting Bull. It has been alleged that she speaks with forked tongue but she denies that. She had a DNA test to prove her lineage and it turns out she's colorless...
says impeachment proceedings against President Trump are "not a matter of politics" but of constitutional responsibility ‐ applauding the House for finally launching an inquiry while hedging on its likelihood of success in the Senate.

"This is not a matter of politics. It is a matter of constitutional responsibility," Warren said in the opening of her campaign speech in Keene, N.H., Wednesday afternoon. "Nobody is above the law, not even the president of the United States."

Warren was the first major presidential candidate to call for Trump’s impeachment, doing so in April after the release of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report on the Russia probe.

Five months later, she was praising the House for finally taking action after a whistleblower report said Trump urged Ukraine’s leader this summer to investigate rival and former Vice President Joe Foreign Policy Whiz Kid Biden
...Failed seeker of the Democratic presidential nomination on multiple occasions, vice president under Barack Obama, giving it a last try in his dotage for 2020...
and his son over Biden’s alleged effort to thwart an investigation of an energy company Hunter Biden was associated with.

"I’m glad to see that the House has stepped up," Warren said. "I hope we do it quickly, we can do an investigation here and get this done."

Warren later told news hounds, "I don’t know what the Senate will do under (Majority Leader) Mitch McConnell, but right now, we have to do what is right regardless of the politics."

Link

Home Front: Politix

Rep. Pete King off the reservation again, this time about firearms

2019-08-20

Rep. Pete King (R-NY) is supporting the Democrats’ "assault weapons" ban in order to get rid of what he refers to as "weapons of mass slaughter."
The Frog
The New York Daily News quoted King saying, "They are weapons of mass slaughter." He added, "I don’t see any need for them in everyday society."

The Democrats’ "assault weapons" ban is sponsored by Rep. David Cicilline (D-RI), and has the support of nearly 200 Democrat Representatives.

On August 14, Breitbart News reported that the "assault weapons" push became central for Democrats after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) signaled his willingness to take up gun control when the Senate reconvenes in September. McConnell said that universal background checks will probably "lead the discussion," but he also said an "assault weapons" ban would be front and center.

King has been focused on background checks but recent events renewed his focus for an "assault weapons" bill. He said, "I think the assault weapons ban is timely now, especially in view of the shooting in El Paso and Dayton."

Link

Home Front: Politix

Here Are The 41 Republicans Who Voted Against Securing The U.S. Border

2018-06-23

[Daily Caller] Forty-one House Republicans voted against a bill Friday that would have secured funding for President Donald Trump’s border wall, addressed Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and included E-verify, among other conservative provisions.

Members voted on an amended version of GOP Reps. Bob Goodlatte of Virginia and Michael McCaul of Texas’s bill that provided more border security funding, only granted DACA recipients a temporary protected three-year legal status with no pathway for citizenship ‐ which moderate Republicans are fervently asking leadership to provide ‐ and included other features. (RELATED: What’s Up With Immigration In Congress)

The bill failed in the House in a 193-231 vote Thursday. (RELATED: Goodlatte Bills Failed In The House)

Here the Republican members who voted against the bill:

Paul Gosar of Arizona
Andy Biggs of Arizona
Jeff Denham of California
David, Valadao of California
Steve Knight of California
Dana Rohrabacher of California
Mike Coffman of Colorado
Mario Diaz-Balart of Florida
Carlos Curbelo of Florida
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida
Drew Ferguson of Georgia
Mike Simpson of Idaho
Peter Roksam of Illinois
Steve King of Iowa
Thomas Massie of Kentucky
Justin Amash of Michigan
Fred Upton of Michigan
Erik Paulsen of Minnesota
Frank LoBiando of New Jersey
Tom MacArthur of New Jersey
Chris Smith of New Jersey
Leonard Lance of New Jersey
Rodney Frelinghuysen of New Jersey
Pete King of New York
John Faso of New York
Elise Stefanik of New York
Tom Reed of New York
John Katko of New York
Michael Turner of Ohio
Steve Russell of Oklahoma
Ryan Costello of Pennsylvania
Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania
Bill Shuster of Pennsylvania
Kristi Noem of South Dakota
Louie Gohmert of Texas
Will Hurd of Texas
Mia Love of Utah
Barbara Comstock of Virginia
Dan Newhouse of Washington
Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington
David Reichert of Washington

Some of the members who voted against the bill did so because leadership altered the bill before the final vote, adding on amendments and provisions they deemed "amnesty."

Link

Government

Rep. Pete King: Wrong to go after the Hildebeast over Benghazi.

2014-05-18

[Wash Times] Rep. Peter King, New York Republican, said Friday there are many unanswered questions surrounding the Sept. 11, 2012 terrorist attack on Benghazi, but that to make it a political attack on former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is "wrong."
Hey Pete, we're just kicking the tires, and they're all flat.
"To me, there are major questions here as to why more action was not taken to provide security beforehand, and also when was this decision made, and why was it was made, in the immediate aftermath of the attacks, to say it was caused by a video when nothing on the ground was saying that?" Mr. King, a member of the House Intelligence Committee, said on CNN.
Pete King and Mike Rogers, living proof the 'HPSCI' is an oxymoronic acronym. Sort of like 'New York Republican' if you get my drift.
Mr. King said officials in the CIA, the White House and State Department were coming up with what "appears to be, I believe, a cover story after the fact."
Mind like a steel trap, that Pete King, but he knows when to put down insurance.

Link

Government

Uber RINO Peter King Says Rand Paul Disgraced His Office.

2013-12-20

[Weasel Zippers] Rep. Peter King said fellow Republican Sen. Rand Paul owes the nation's top intelligence official an apology after saying he should resign for "lying" to a Senate committee about a controversial surveillance program.

The New York congressman also said that Paul's comparison of National Intelligence Director James Clapper to NSA leaker Edward Snowden is "absolutely disgraceful."
......but accurate.
"For Senator Paul to compare that ~~patriot~~
admitted liar,
General Clapper, with someone like Snowden, who is an
innocent until proven guilty
traitor, who has put American lives at risk -- Senator Paul should be ashamed of himself," King said Thursday on CNN's "The Situation Room."
Remember, you heard it from Pete King on CNN.
If a tree falls in a forest and no one is there to hear it...

Link

Home Front: WoT

FBI, DHS heads brief House on Boston attack

2013-04-24

The heads of the FBI and the Homeland Security Department (DHS) briefed House members on the Boston bombings Tuesday amid a wave of criticism that the agencies missed red flags that might have prevented the tragedy.

FBI Director Robert Mueller and DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano have come under fire for their handling of the case, particularly their screening of Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the elder suspect, who had been fingered by Russian intelligence for his possible ties to extremist groups.

Congressional leaders leaving Tuesday's briefing were largely silent about the details. But several leading voices on security issues made clear that they think the agencies have plenty of room for improvement.

"I can't comment on the specific information, but suffice it to say that the FBI has a lot of work to do they've admitted as such and that this investigation now, after the fact, has really just begun," said Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee and a sharp critic of the FBI since the bombings.

McCaul said lawmakers are still anxious to learn if the motivation behind the attacks was "homegrown" or might have been related to Tsarnaev's trip to Russia's volatile Caucasus region.

Those options are not exclusive...

"That is the big question, and I think the question has not been answered," McCaul said. "I know that the FBI is working with the Russians to determine what the elder individual did while he was over there for six months."

Rep. Pete King (R-N.Y.), a member of both the House Homeland Security and Intelligence committees, delivered a similar message. He called it a "detailed briefing," but was quick to note that his concerns about the nation's security procedures "are still there."

"It was a very thorough briefing, but not all of the questions have been answered," he said.

McCaul and King have sent a letter to Mueller, Napolitano and James Clapper, the director of National Intelligence, suggesting the FBI's handling of Tsarnaev's trip to Russia was "an intelligence failure."

There's a whole lot there we need to know about what Tsarnaev did while in Russia, who he talked to etc. Very little of that should be made public now but we need to know that the work is going to be done and not swept under the rug.

Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), another member of the Homeland Security Committee, said most lawmakers are praising the response of law enforcers to the tragedy. If there were holes in the FBI's tracking of Tsarnaev after his return from Russia, Thompson said he's confident the agency will plug them.

"I think the policy that they followed will be looked at, and if a policy needs to be changed to say something else, I think the department will do it," Thompson said. "But the general tenor of what I heard is that the members have a lot of praise for professional manner in which all the federal, state and local worked together.

That being the more important point in all this...

"Hearings over the next few weeks or months will probably make some suggestions, in terms of whether or not the resources necessary to make the changes will be there remains to be seen," he added.

Link

Home Front: WoT

They hate us so much, they live here!

2013-03-18

New York isn't just the prime target of al Qaeda plots -- it's the No. 1 recruiting ground for homegrown terrorists, a top terrorism researcher told The Post.

"The picture of New York you get is that you've got people targeting it, you've got [terrorists] living there and you've had it in the past used as a recruitment center, then you have a pretty big problem," said Robin Simcox, a researcher at the London-based Henry Jackson Society.

His latest study, "Al Qaeda in the US," found that New York was home to the largest number of extremists convicted of al Qaeda-linked and al Qaeda-inspired terror schemes in US courts -- plus those who committed suicide attacks on American soil between 1997 and 2011.

The study found:

New York was the most likely place for homegrown terrorist to live for both foreigners residing in the US and those born in America.

A shocking 82 percent of the terrorists were US residents and more than 50 percent were American citizens.

Among all terrorists who resided in the US, New York was home to the most -- 14 percent, followed by Florida with 11 percent and New Jersey with 9 percent.

The most common home state for US-born al Qaeda plotters also was New York -- with 20 percent, followed by California and Virginia, both with 9 percent."To pretend that recruitment isn't happening or isn't desirable in New York I think would be naïve to say the least," he warned Simcox.

More than half -- 54 percent -- of the US-born terrorists were converts to Islam.

"There are well-established ties to militancy in parts of New York and New York City as well, and there is no reason to think that has gone anywhere," said Simcox.

Rep. Pete King (R-LI), who was accused of being "Islamophobic" when he held a series of congressional hearings on the homegrown terror threat, said he felt vindicated by the study.

"It clearly reinforces the point that I was making: that New York is the No. 1 terrorist target and that New York has a significant problem with homegrown terrorism," said King. "We have to constantly be on the alert against it," he said.

Simcox also called on the feds and NYPD to remain vigilant for al Qaeda groups breeding extremism inside New York. He noted that the terrorists' recruitment strategies have become much more sophisticated since the days when the Farouq mosque in Brooklyn was a hotbed of radicalization.

"It's done online and with texts, but I think essentially the way the recruitment first happens is individual to individual," he said.

Link

-Election 2012

Obama Leaks Risk National Security For Political Gain

2012-06-05

Security: From leaks about the late Osama bin Laden
... who no longer has to waste time and energy breathing...
to those detailing cyberattacks on Iran, a disturbing pattern of publicly disclosing classified material to give Barack Obama
I don't sit around just talking to experts because this is a college seminar, we talk to these folks because they potentially have the best answers, so I know whose ass to kick...
a political boost is emerging. Under this president, our enemies don't need spies.

The fact that the Allies in World War II had the ability to intercept and decode German and Japanese military transmissions, leading to critical military victories at Midway and elsewhere, remained a secret until long after World War II was over, and it didn't matter who knew it. "Loose lips sink ships" was then more than a clever wartime slogan.

Last week, the New York Times
...which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize...
published insider accounts of Obama-administration policies, one involving "kill lists" of gunnies being targeted by drones. The other exposed our involvement in cyberwarfare attacks against Iran to disrupt its nuclear program.

The computer virus program, dubbed "Olympic Games," along with many counterterrorism policies and programs, was inherited from the administration of President George W. Bush.

But Bush knew how to keep a national secret and, unlike the incumbent, was aware that national security is more important than the next election.

Thanks to the Times article, details of the previously unknown operation are now known, including how the program was supposed to operate and the involvement of Israeli intelligence in it.

"It's a pattern that goes back two years, starting with the Times Square bomber, where somebody in the federal government, probably the FBI, leaked his name before he was captured," said Rep. Pete King, the GOP chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee.

"That's why he tried to leave the country -- he knew they were on to him." Calling the episode "amateur hour" at the White House, King said: "It puts our people at risk and gives information to the enemy."

Link

Home Front: Politix

Rep. Kings 4th Muslim-American radicalization hearing

2011-12-07

The chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee is hoping his panels hearing on the radicalization of Muslim-Americans within the U.S. military will reveal how the armed services can better protect itself against homegrown attacks.

Rep. Pete King (R-N.Y.) is holding a joint hearing on Wednesday, along with Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), as the next stage in his series of efforts to address the radicalization of American Muslims.

Pointing to the 2009 shootings at the Fort Hood military base in Texas and at a military recruiting station in Arkansas, which killed a total of 14 people and wounded more than two dozen, King said the issue of radicalization within military communities is one that is grossly under the radar. There is an attempt by Islamists to join the military and infiltrate the military, and its more of a threat than the average American is aware of right now, said King in an interview with The Hill on Monday.

Lieberman said his committee has held 13 hearings over the past five years on the issue of violent Islamic extremism and, based on what he has learned, the military is an increasingly large target for attacks. Clearly, the threat of homegrown terrorism has increased dramatically, and clearly, members of the armed services are a high-value target, Lieberman said in a statement.

King said he also hopes to address the minutiae of radicalization on military bases. He used an example of how he has heard of at least one instance in which a copy of the radical Islamic magazine Inspire which has been used as a recruiting tool for terrorist groups was found in a barracks and allowed to remain. But Confederate flags are rightfully banned, he said.

Im using that as an example about whether or not we need to be more aggressive in facing up to the reality. Its Islamic terrorism. Its not just a nondescript, anonymous type of terrorism.

King has held three hearings so far this year on the issue of radicalization of Muslim-Americans within the U.S. The first one drew the most scrutiny, as nearly 100 members of Congress asked him to cancel it or widen the breadth of the radicalized groups he was probing. King lauded the hearing as a success, saying that it brought attention to a taboo subject that is a serious and growing security concern.

The other two hearings focused on the terrorist group al-Shabbabs influence within the U.S., and the radicalization of Muslim-Americans within U.S. prisons.

King is planning to unveil a committee report on the issue at Wednesdays hearing and another joint report with the Senate panel afterward.

He said his next hearing will likely be next year and focus on the use of certain mosques by al Qaeda and Iran in their efforts to radicalize people within the U.S.

Link

Home Front: Politix

CAIR demands Pete King tone down rhetoric

2011-02-03

Rep. Pete King has been called a modern Joe McCarthy by a band of ~~jackals, crybabies and tools~~ civil-rights, community and faith groups in a letter to House leaders.
Funny, I call him a squish...
In a letter to Boehner and Pelosi, CAIR, along with 50 co-signers, demanded that King, head of the House Homeland Security committee, tone down his rhetoric and hold "fair and objective" investigations that examine "all forms of violence motivated by extremist beliefs."

"Singling out a group of Americans for government scrutiny based on their faith is divisive and wrong," the letter stated. "These hearings will almost certainly increase widespread suspicion and mistrust of the American Muslim community and stoke anti-Muslim sentiment."

If King focuses on Muslims, he'll be following in the footsteps of Joe McCarthy.

"That dark chapter in our history taught us that Congress has a solemn duty to wield its investigatory power responsibly," says the letter.

After the Tucson shooting spree, the ranking Democrat on the panel, Rep. Bennie Thompson called for King to expand his focus.

"Attacks are just as likely to come from lone-wolf extremists - like James Wenneker von Brunn, the Holocaust Memorial Museum shooter, or Jared Lee Loughner, who is charged with the tragedy in Tucson, Ariz. - as they are from Muslim extremist groups," he wrote in an op-ed last month.

Link

Home Front: Politix

Congressman ready to investigate local Muslim radicalization

2011-01-16

Rep. Peter T. King, the new chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security is readying a controversial investigation next month into the radicalization of Muslim youth by local religious leaders.

Gonna grab some guns while you're at it, Pete?

King said he has been hearing more stories from federal law enforcement officials that U.S. Islamic leaders have not cooperated with investigations or are instigating trouble.

"There's a systematic effort to radicalize young Muslim men," said King. "It would be irresponsible of me not to have this investigation. If it was coming from some other demographic group, I would say the same thing."

American Islamic leaders said King was being unfair to the Muslim community, which they said had worked with U.S. law enforcement to stop terrorism.

Rep. Keith Ellison said in an interview that he recently went to King on the House floor and volunteered himself and other witnesses as proof that several terrorist plots were initially brought to the attention of officials by Muslims.

"I walked up to him like a colleague and said, 'Pete, I'm kind of concerned about this,' " Ellison said.

Though considering Ellison's offer, King remains unmoved by criticism, stating that his weeklong hearings will go forward.

King noted that the Fort Hood shooter had worshipped at a mosque in Falls Church, Va., where U.S.-born Anwar Awlaki was once a spiritual leader.

King cited three other cases: A young Muslim in Ashburn, Va., was arrested for planning to blow up subway lines feeding the Pentagon; another young Muslim in Portland, Ore., is accused of attempting to bomb a Christmas tree lighting ceremony; and a new convert in Baltimore has plotted to blow up an Army recruiting station.

He said there were signs in each of these cases of influence by local Muslim leaders, and added that 15% of young Muslim Americans in a Pew poll believed suicide bombing was justified.

"I also know of imams instructing members of their mosques not to cooperate with law enforcement investigating the recruiting of young men in their mosques as suicide bombers," said King. "We need to find the reasons for this alienation."

Ellison described a case in which five young men in Virginia traveled to Pakistan to join militant groups, only to "have their parents step forward to stop them" by tipping off the police. He mentioned Faisal Shahzad as well, who was sentenced to life in prison last year for trying to bomb Times Square.

or as Mayor Bloomberg likes to call him: The Obamacare Bomber.

A Muslim immigrant from Senegal alerted police to the suspicious SUV.

Corey P. Saylor, national legislative director for CAIR, said two people from his organization had alerted police to possible terrorist plots.

Saylor said that King's investigation was a "witch hunt." But Ellison said, "I don't think Pete King is an evil person. He's concerned about public safety and homeland security. And there have been cases where Muslims have done awful things. But it's a narrow investigation, and it's going to make a particular group feel targeted."

Link

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