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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."
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-Lurid Crime Tales-
Frustrated Rep. Rohrabacher Trying to Get Hearing on Russia, Manafort and the Clintons
2017-11-01
[PJ] Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) has been trying unsuccessfully to get a hearing on Russia, Manafort and the Clintons for months because Special Counsel Robert Mueller has a major conflict of interest in his Russia probe that casts into doubt his ability to conduct the investigation fairly. He vented his frustration on Tucker Carlson Tonight on Monday evening.

Manafort is alleged to have laundered $18 million of the $75 million that flowed through his offshore accounts. Rohrabacher pointed out that this is chump change compared to the Clintons' money grubbing.

"What about Hillary, who got 150 million dollars for the Clinton Foundation and Bill Clinton, who got 500 thousand dollars in his pocket by these very same Russian oligarchs?" the congressman asked, referring to the massive kickbacks the Clintons allegedly received while the Uranium One deal was being negotiated.
"And guess who was supposed to investigate that?" he added. "Mr. Mueller himself! He was the director of the FBI!"

Rohrabacher told Carlson about the FBI informer who had been part of an FBI probe of the corruption surrounding the deal and who was placed on a gag order. "Mueller kept him under a gag order all this time, although no charges were ever filed against the Clintons," Rohrabacher complained.
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-Lurid Crime Tales-
Julian Assange Says He Will Provide Evidence Russia Narrative Is False in Exchange for Pardon
2017-09-30
[PJMEDIA] WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has offered to provide evidence that the Russian collusion narrative is false in exchange for a pardon from President Trump.

The president, apparently, has not yet gotten the message. On Saturday, President Trump told news hounds that he has "never heard" of Assange's offer to make a deal.

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher
...Representative for Caliphornia's 48th congressional district, and previously the 46th, 45th and 42nd, serving since 1989. He is a member of the Republican Party and a former speech writer for President Reagan...
 (R-Calif.) told The Daily Caller that Trump is being blocked from knowing about the potential deal with Assange. "I think the president’s answer indicates that there is a wall around him that is being created by people who do not want to expose this fraud that there was collusion between our intelligence community and the leaders of the Democratic Party," Rohrabacher said.

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Afghanistan
Republican Congressman Rohrabacher Backs Plan To Privatize Bulk Of Afghan Endless War
2017-08-09
[Daily Caller] California Republican Rep. Dana Rohrabacher told The Daily Caller Tuesday that he is supportive of a plan to privatize much of the war in Afghanistan.

Blackwater founder Erik Prince is lobbying the White House to use former special operations troops and a private air force to conduct America’s nearly 16-year long war in Afghanistan. Prince told USA Today Tuesday that this would require 5,500 private military contractors that would be embedded with combat units, unlike American mentors who are currently more distant from the battlefield, as well as a 90-plane strong private air force.

Rep. Rohrabacher called this "exactly the right approach," and told TheDC that Prince’s plan is being considered seriously within the White House. A source familiar with the situation previously told TheDC that the plan was well received by White House chief strategist Steve Bannon, but that national security adviser H.R. McMaster would rather incorporate conventional military forces to solve the conflict.

"A big problem of course is that the military hates anybody that is not under their command going into a combat area and involving themselves in combat activities," Rohrabacher, a member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, said.
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Home Front: Politix
Obama-linked activists have a ‘training manual’ for protesting Trump
2017-08-08
[NYPOST] The manual, published with OFA partner "Indivisible," advises protesters to go into halls quietly so as not to raise alarms, and "grab seats at the front of the room but do not all sit together." Rather, spread out in pairs to make it seem like the whole room opposes the Republican host’s positions. "This will help reinforce the impression of broad consensus." It also urges them to ask "hostile" questions -- while keeping "a firm hold on the mic" -- and loudly boo the GOP politician if he isn’t "giving you real answers."

"Express your concern [to the event’s hosts] they are giving a platform to pro-Trump authoritarianism, racism, and corruption," it says.

The goal is to make Republicans, even from safe districts, second-guess their support for the Trump agenda, and to prime "the ground for the 2018 midterms when Democrats retake power."

"Even the safest [Republican] will be deeply alarmed by signs of organized opposition," the document states, "because these actions create the impression that they’re not connected to their district and not listening to their constituents."

After the event, protesters are advised to feed video footage to local and national media.

"Unfavorable exchanges caught on video can be devastating" for Republican politicians, it says, when "shared through social media and picked up by local and national media." After protesters gave MSNBC, CNN and the networks footage of their dust-up with Chaffetz, for example, the outlets ran them continuously, forcing Chaffetz to issue statements defending himself.

The manual also advises protesters to flood "Trump-friendly" politicians’ Hill offices with angry phone calls and emails demanding the resignation of top White House adviser Steve Bannon.

A script advises callers to complain: "I’m honestly scared that a known racist and anti-Semite will be working just feet from the Oval Office ... It is everyone’s business if a man who promoted white supremacy is serving as an adviser to the president."

The document provides no evidence to support such accusations.

Protesters, who may or may not be affiliated with OFA, are also storming district offices. Last week, GOP Rep. Dana Rohrabacher
...Representative for Caliphornia's 48th congressional district, and previously the 46th, 45th and 42nd, serving since 1989. He is a member of the Republican Party and a former speech writer for President Reagan...
 blamed a "mob" of anti-Trump activists for knocking unconscious a 71-year-old female staffer at his Southern Caliphornia, an impregnable bastion of the Democratic Party, office. A video of the incident, showing a small crowd around an opening door, was less conclusive.
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-Land of the Free
Soetoro's DOJ let Russian lawyer into US
2017-07-13
[THEHILL] The Russian lawyer who penetrated Donald Trump’s inner circle was initially cleared into the United States by the Justice Department under “extraordinary circumstances” before she embarked on a lobbying campaign last year that ensnared the president’s eldest son, members of Congress, journalists and State Department officials, according to court and Justice Department documents and interviews.

This revelation means it was the Obama Justice Department that enabled the newest and most intriguing figure in the Russia-Trump investigation to enter the country without a visa.

Later, a series of events between an intermediary for the attorney and the Trump campaign ultimately led to the controversy surrounding the president's eldest son.

Just five days after meeting in June 2016 at Trump Tower with Donald Trump Jr., presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner and then Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, Moscow attorney Natalia Veselnitskaya showed up in Washington in the front row of a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on Russia policy, video footage of the hearing shows.

She also engaged in a pro-Russia lobbying campaign and attended an event at the Newseum in Washington, D.C. where Russian supporters showed a movie that challenged the underpinnings of the U.S. human rights law known as the Magnitysky Act, which Russian leader Vladimir Putin has reviled and tried to reverse.

The Magnitsky Act imposed financial and other sanctions on Russia for alleged human rights violations connected to the death of a Russian lawyer who claimed to uncover fraud during Putin's reign. Russia retaliated after the law was passed in 2012 by suspending Americans' ability to adopt Russian children.

At least five congressional staffers and State Department officials attended that movie showing, according to a Foreign Agent Registration Act complaint filed with the Justice Department about Veselnitskaya’s efforts.

And Veselnitskaya also attended a dinner with the chairman of the House subcommittee overseeing Russia policy, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) and roughly 20 other guests at a dinner club frequented by Republicans.
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Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Iran’s supreme leader calls for jihad against Israel
2017-06-28
[Dhaka Tribune] Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei
...the successor to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and the actual dictator of Iran...
 has said Moslems today are obliged to fight Israel with whatever means they have because Paleostine is the foremost issue of the Islamic world.
Tell that to those fighting for survival or conquest in Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Nigeria, and so forth, O Ayatollah Khamenei.
"According to Islamic jurisprudence, when an enemy takes over Moslem lands, Jihad in any possible form becomes everyone’s duty," Khamenei told Moslem ambassadors, Iranian officials and the public in Tehran on Monday during a meeting on the occasion of Eid-ul-Fitr, reported Iran’s state-owned news media Press TV.

"Paleostine is the number one issue of the Islamic world, but some Islamic countries are acting in such a way as to have the Paleostinian case ignored and forgotten."

He referred to remarks this month by the US politician Dana Rohrabacher
...Representative for Caliphornia's 48th congressional district, and previously the 46th, 45th and 42nd, serving since 1989. He is a member of the Republican Party and a former speech writer for President Reagan...
 appearing to support a terror attack in Tehran by the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
 and implying that it was President Donald Trump
...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States...
’s strategy.

Ayatollah Khamenei said, "A US congressman defending a Sunni community against Shias, while they are hostile to the essence of Islam and Moslems, is a vicious conspiracy.

"And this matter calls for awareness and concern, but unfortunately, the authorities of the Islamic states are neglecting these hostilities," he added.

The Iranian leader’s remarks come at a time of growing conflicts between the country and the Arab states.

Several Arab states in the Middle East and North Africa, led by Soddy Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face...
, have recently slapped paralysing sanctions on the Gulf state of Qatar
...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates...
, ordering it to sever its ties with Iran and to shut down the Al Jazeera news network.

Iran has responded by sending food and other resources to the country. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has condemned the move and said Tehran will stand by Qatar’s government.
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-Lurid Crime Tales-
Rohrabacher Staffer, 71, Knocked Unconscious By Protestors Delivering Cards
2017-02-16
[LOSANGELES.CBSLOCAL] Orange County Congressman Dana Rohrabacher
...Representative for Caliphornia's 48th congressional district, and previously the 46th, 45th and 42nd, serving since 1989. He is a member of the Republican Party and a former speech writer for President Reagan...
 says a 71-year-old staffer at his Huntington Beach office was knocked unconscious during a protest, but the protestors say they were delivering Valentine’s Day cards.

The "assault" on Rohrabacher’s district director, Kathleen Staunton, happened Tuesday afternoon during a protest by a group calling themselves Indivisible OC. Police confirmed they were called to the scene, but made no arrests.

Staunton was trying to exit through the front door of Rohrabacher’s office to visit a restroom when, according to Rohrabacher, a protester yanked the door open, causing her to fall and hit her head. The door also pushed over a 2-year-old child who was apparently brought along with the crowd, but she was not injured, the congressmen said.

Staunton, who has managed Rohrabacher’s office since his first term in 1989, was treated by paramedics and taken to a local hospital, Rohrabacher said in a statement released Wednesday.

"I am outraged beyond words that protesters who mobbed my Huntington Beach office violently knocked down my faithful district director, Kathleen Staunton, causing her to be hospitalized," Rohrabacher said. "And, yes, deliberate or not, the incident came as part of a mob action that not only intimidates but coerces. Though the protesters think of themselves as idealists, they engaged in political thuggery, pure and simple."

The protest was part of a nationwide movement calling itself "Indivisible" and pledged to resist President Donald Trump
...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States...
’s agenda. Rohrabacher said the group came to demand a town hall meeting with him even though he was working in Washington D.C. with the House of Representatives in session.

The group’s Twitter page confirmed they were at Rohrabacher’s Huntington Beach office Tuesday ‐ but according to their page, it was to deliver Valentine’s Day cards.
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Europe
US Senator: break up "Macedonia"
2017-02-10
Senator Dana Rohrabacher, who chairs the US Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Europe, Eurasia and emerging threats, suggested the landlocked nation should be divided between neighbouring states. The 70-year-old said that “division” in Macedonia meant “they will never be able to live together in future”.
It's an interesting point and one that we've covered in the past here at the Burg. The FYR of Macedonia has an Albanian core in its west and a Bulgarian core in its east. It's a papered-together country. The region was fought over several times in the run-up to World War One, and it took Tito's considerable influence (and jackboots) to keep the region from blowing up after World War Two. There's a low level Albanian insurgency that wants to split off the western part, and the Russians (of course) have been meddling.
“Kosovars and Albanians from Macedonia should be part of Kosovo and the rest of Macedonia should be part of Bulgaria or any other country to which they believe they are related,” he told Albanian TV channel, Vizion Plus. “The idea is to keep Macedonia alive because someone 30 years ago decided it is a configuration that should come out of the dismantling of Yugoslavia, does not lead to an explanation that this idea is still held.”

A landlocked country in Southeast Europe's Balkan peninsula, the Repcublic of Macedonia is one of the successor states of the former Yugoslavia, from which it declared independence in 1991. It became a member of the United Nations in 1993, but as a result of an ongoing dispute with Greece over the use of the name "Macedonia", it was admitted under the provisional description the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

Mr Rohrabacher's comments echo a suggestion by Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov. In 2015, he said that “ideas have been floated” about giving the Republic of Macedonia “to Albania, and another part to Bulgaria”.

Asked if Donald Trump would support his idea, Mr Rohrabacher said he “had influence” on US policymakers and his committee would hold hearings in the “coming months”.

His comments provoked a furious response from the Macedonian foreign ministry which accused him of inflaming "nationalistic rhetoric".

“His expressed views generated immense anxiety regarding Macedonia and the region,” it said in a statement. “They inflame nationalist rhetoric in the neighbouring regions, taking us back into the past. We believe that the US State Department will adequately remove any doubt about the stated positions and will affirm its policy towards Macedonia and the Balkans.”
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Home Front: Politix
Democratic Congresswoman Says U.S. Is Funding And Arming ISIS
2016-12-11
Source link fixed.
[Daily Caller] Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard said on Twitter Saturday that the United States is funding and arming Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State.

"If you or I gave money, weapons or support to al-Qaeda or ISIS, we would be thrown in jail. Why does our gov get a free pass on this?," the congresswoman from Hawaii
That's why she's a Democrat. Hawaii appears to be a one-part state, so she had no choice.
wrote. Gabbard is a U.S. Army veteran and a member of the House Committees on Foreign Affairs and Armed Services.

She introduced the Stop Arming Terrorists Act Thursday. While introducing the bill, Gabbard cited New York Times and Wall Street Journal articles that said the rebels the U.S. is supporting in Syria are allied with Al-Nusra, an Al-Qeada affiliate.

"The CIA has also been funneling weapons and money through Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Qatar and others who provide direct and indirect support to groups like ISIS and al-Qaeda," Gabbard said. Gabbard’s claim is backed up by a speech former secretary of state Hillary Clinton delivered to Goldman Sachs. Clinton said Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates are funding Jihadists in Syria.

"This madness must end. We must stop arming terrorists," Gabbard said. Her bill will prohibit any federal agency from supporting a terrorist group or funneling support through other countries that directly or indirectly support terrorists.

A few weeks ago Gabbard met with President-elect Donald Trump at Trump Tower. Her bill is co-sponsored by Trump ally California Rep. Dana Rohrabacher.

She said on CNN Friday that she’s glad that Trump’s "talking about ending our country’s interventionist regime change policies."
"Tho' I've belted you and flayed you,
By the livin' Gawd that made you,
You're a better man than I am, Gunga Din!”
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Afghanistan
Karzai reluctant to endorse Pakistan as ‘State Sponsor of Terrorism’
2016-10-06
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The former Afghanistan's Caped President Hamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai
... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtun face on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use...
 appeared reluctant to endorse the move to label Pakistain as ’State Sponsor of Terrorism’ as he considered the goodwill of Pak people towards the Afghan people.

In an exclusive with Times Now TV, Karzai emphasized on the role of the Pak people for hosting millions of Afghan refugees as he was asked if he would support to label Pakistain as ’State Sponsors of Pakistain’.

The former Afghanistan's Caped President said ’Well, see Pakistain is not only the Pak government or the Pakistain military establishment.

Pakistain is also the people of Pakistain and nearly 200 million people of Pakistain who are victims of terrorism as much as Afghanistan is India is. So, I wish the people of Pakistain will and I would never want to use a word or an action that would in any manner that would reduce the peace prosperity and the dignity of people of Pakistain."

Karzai further added "But in regard to the establishment of Pakistain and as regard to the military we should do all we can and to bring them to recognizing that there is a different way in behaving with neigbors and that way is a civilized and peaceful relation."

This comes as two powerful American politicians introduced an act in the US House of Representatives late last month to designate Pakistain a State Sponsor of terrorism.

Congressman Ted Poe, who is Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Terrorism, said "It is time we stopped paying Pakistain for its betrayal and designate it for what it is: a state sponsor of terrorism."

The act, Pakistain State Sponsor of Terrorism Designation’ (HR 6069) has been introduced by Republican Poe along with Congressman Dana Rohrabacher
...Representative for Caliphornia's 48th congressional district, and previously the 46th, 45th and 42nd, serving since 1989. He is a member of the Republican Party and a former speech writer for President Reagan...
 of the Democratic Party, who is Ranking member of this influential Congressional Committee on terrorism.

Poe further added "Not only is Pakistain an untrustworthy ally, Islamabad has also aided and abetted enemies of the US for years."

"From harboring the late Osama bin Laden
... who is no longer with us, and won't be again...
 to its cozy relationship with the Haqqani network, there is more than enough evidence to determine whose side Pakistain is on in the War on Terror. And it’s not America’s," he alleged.

According to Poe, the bill will require the Obama Administration to formally answer this question.

The President must issue a report within 90 days of passage detailing whether or not Pakistain has provided support for international terrorism, he said.

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India-Pakistan
American lawmakers move act to designate Pakistan ‘State Sponsor of Terrorism’
2016-09-22
How exciting! [Khaama (Afghanistan)] Two powerful American politicians have introduced an act in the US House of Representatives to designate Pakistain a State Sponsor of terrorism, it has been reported.

Congressman Ted Poe, who is Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Terrorism, has reportedly said "It is time we stopped paying Pakistain for its betrayal and designate it for what it is: a state sponsor of terrorism."

The act, Paistan State Sponsor of Terrorism Designation’ (HR 6069) has been introduced by Republican Poe along with Congressman Dana Rohrabacher
...Representative for Caliphornia's 48th congressional district, and previously the 46th, 45th and 42nd, serving since 1989. He is a member of the Republican Party and a former speech writer for President Reagan...
 of the Democratic Party, who is Ranking member of this influential Congressional Committee on terrorism.

Poe further added "Not only is Pakistain an untrustworthy ally, Islamabad has also aided and abetted enemies of the US for years."

"From harboring the late Osama bin Laden
... who is now sometimes referred to as Mister Bones...
 to its cozy relationship with the Haqqani network, there is more than enough evidence to determine whose side Pakistain is on in the War on Terror. And it’s not America’s," he alleged.

According to Poe, the bill will require the Obama Administration to formally answer this question.

The President must issue a report within 90 days of passage detailing whether or not Pakistain has provided support for international terrorism, he said.
It's almost October now. Assuming President Obama vetoes it immediately and the veto is overridden, issuing that report is likely to be the last thing he does in January before his successor is sworn in.
He also added "Thirty days after that, the Secretary of State must issue a follow-up report containing either a determination that Pakistain is a State Sponsor of terrorism or a detailed justification as to why Pakistain does not meet the legal criteria for designation."
That'll be the new Secretary of State. I strongly suspect that if Hillary Clinton wins and lives long enough to be sworn in, she will want her own person in the SoS slot...hopefully not her husband.
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