Defying Trump again, Jerry Brown pardons immigrants about to be deported

Sacramento Bee

"Escalating the state’s showdown with the Trump administration over illegal immigration, California Gov. Jerry Brown used a Christmas holiday tradition to grant pardons Saturday to two men who were on the verge of being deported for committing crimes while in the U.S.

"Brown, pairing his state’s combative approach to federal immigration authorities with his belief in the power of redemption, characterized the pardons as acts of mercy.

"The Democratic governor moved as federal officials in recent months have detained and deported immigrants with felony convictions that resulted in the loss of their legal residency status, including many with nonviolent offenses that occurred years ago.

With the pardons, the reason for applicants’ deportations may be eliminated, said attorney Kevin Lo of Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Asian Law Caucus, which represented some of the men in a recent class-action lawsuit.

. . . Two of Brown’s pardons are Northern California Cambodian men picked up in October in those immigration sweeps, Mony Neth of Modesto and Rottanak Kong of Davis.

Kong was convicted on felony joyriding in 2003 in Stanislaus County at age 25 and sentenced to a year in jail. Neth was convicted on a felony weapons charge with a gang enhancement and a misdemeanor charge of receiving stolen property with a value of $400 or less in 1995 in Stanislaus County.

Both men came to the United States as children after their families fled the Khmer Rouge regime, and neither has engaged in criminal activity since being released from prison.

Kong and Neth were scheduled to be deported Monday, but a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order last week in the lawsuit filed by Lo’s team, delaying their departure.

Neth, 42, was unexpectedly released from Rio Cosumnes Correctional Center on Friday, said his wife, Cat Khamvongsa, and is back home with his family – albeit with an ankle monitor.

. . . Neth said he plans on becoming a U.S. citizen if he is able, and encouraged other immigrants in his situation to remain optimistic.

“When I was in (detention), I think I was taught a few lessons, that I am not alone. God is always with me,” Neth said. “I’m not pretty outspoken, sometimes can’t find the right words to say, but just have hope.”. . . 

. . . Multiple investigations – including one requested by Brown’s office – determined that Coley was wrongfully convicted of murder after spending nearly 40 years in prison. Concluded Brown: “I grant this pardon because Mr. Coley did not commit these crimes.” . . .

Obama's cocaine fueled nuclear deal with Iran

Michael P. Ramirez:  The Josh Meyer article published once more; The secret backstory of how Obama let Hezbollah off the hook

"An ambitious U.S. task force targeting Hezbollah's billion-dollar criminal enterprise ran headlong into the White House's desire for a nuclear deal with Iran."
The full story by Josh Meyer here

Media Blackout on Obama’s Hezbollah Scandal Revives the Iran-Deal ‘Echo Chamber’

Their refusal to report on his appeasing Iran by spiking of an investigation into drug-running widens the partisan divide.

"In May 2016, deputy national-security adviser Ben Rhodes took a victory lap in the New York Times to celebrate the Obama administration’s signature foreign-policy win. Rhodes had helped orchestrate the campaign to ensure that Congress would fail to stop President Obama’s Iran nuclear deal from going into effect, and in a remarkably unguarded interview for a New York Times Magazine profile, the failed novelist–turned–foreign-policy spinmaster boasted of how a tame press corps that he dubbed an “echo chamber” had done his bidding." . . .

The Iran Echo Chamber Smears Politico . . . “ 'Non-fact based anti-Iran Deal propaganda,” sneers former deputy national security adviser and creative-writing expert Ben Rhodes. “The story is so manufactured out of thin air that it’s hard to push back except to say that it’s a figment of the imagination of two very flawed sources,” says Tommy Vietor, who has a podcast. Note that Vietor is obviously wrong: The piece has far more than “two very flawed sources.” Note as well that neither Rhodes nor Vietor ever actually bother to challenge those sources or the facts provided to Politico." . . .
. . . "What former Obama officials were reacting to wasn’t some innovative argument against the Iran deal, but damning evidence of Obama’s reckless disregard for national security in pursuit of a fantastic rapprochement with Iran. And their outrage reminds us is that what the Left needs now more than ever isn’t journalism. It’s resistance to Trump."

Justin Trudeau On Returning ISIS Fighters: They'll Be An 'Extraordinarily Powerful Voice' For Canada

The Canadian Prime Minister believes reformed Jihadists will help prevent radicalization. How does he know they are "reformed"? And why should they make the big leap from wanting to kill us "infidels" to a desire to help us against their Islamic brothers?

Daily Wire

. . . "To say that's wishful thinking, well, that might just be an understatement.

"Now that ISIS is nearly 98% defeated — a product of an increased offensive line against the Jihadists in Iraq and elsewhere — Canada anticipates that some of their departed brethren who left to join in the fight for the Caliphate, will return to their motherland. Unlike the United States, apparently, Canada plans on welcoming the ones who claim to be reformed back with open arms.

And Trudeau thinks that's a good thing.

"We know that actually someone who has engaged and turned away from that hateful ideology can be an extraordinarily powerful voice for preventing radicalization in future generations and younger people within the community,” he told the news network.

"This puts him at odds with the man in charge of rehabilitating returning radicals, Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale, who recently told the same news network that it might be nearly impossible to completely reform an ISIS fighter hardened from the battlefield. In fact, Goodale said, once a Jihadist has left to join the violent crusade, the chances of him returning with good intentions are almost zero.

“ 'If you want to have a good solid hope of some kind of successful intervention, it has to be at a much earlier stage. You have to prevent the problem before it exists,” Goodale said. “Once a person has been in a war zone, once they’ve been actively engaged in terrorist-related activities, the capacity to turn them around is pretty remote.' ” . . .

Tucker Carlson Shares Hilarious List Of 100 ‘Racist’ Things

The media doesn't help.

Daily Caller  "Fox News’ Tucker Carlson tweeted out Friday a hilarious list of 100 things people have deemed “racist” this year, and some of the entries are just unbelievable. 

"The Daily Caller founder geared up for the list by telling his followers that “we live in revolutionary times” and that some “wild things” happened in the past year.

Miami University Students Try to Ban Lucky Charms  . . . "In another James O'Keefe production, undercover Miami University students visited the diversity office on campus, claiming Lucky Charms discriminates against Irish-Americans by portraying them as "little green plaided gnome hucksters" and asked for the product to be banned in school cafeterias because it is offensive and racist." . . .

#8. Disney movies "Kat George, a writer for Vh1’s website, insisted in 2017 that some of your favorite Disney movies are racist. The Little Mermaid was listed as an offender because Sebastian, Ariel’s crab sidekick, spoke in an exaggerated Jamaican accent." . . .

Much more at the link...

Pennsylvania family ordered to take down Jesus Christmas display after neighbor said it was ‘offensive’

Fox News

"A Pennsylvania family was ordered by their homeowner’s association to take down their Jesus Christmas display after one of the neighbors reported it as offensive.

"Mark and Lynn Wivell of Adams County, a Gettysburg subdivision, said they put up their Jesus display last Saturday, FOX43 reported.

" 'As part of our Christmas decoration, we would display the name Jesus to point out to everyone that we in this family believe that the reason for the season is to celebrate the birth of Jesus," said Mark Wivell told FOX43.

"But the homeowner’s association wasn’t having it." . . .

The Wreck called Hillary Clinton

Youtube "A parody about the treachery of the Clintons throughout the years and their ultimate political demise at the hands of Donald Trump. Sung to the tune of "The Wreck of the Edmond Fitzgerald'."

Ravens Blame 'Noticeable' Attendance Drop on National Anthem Protests

Daily Wire

"We’re sorry...sort of.

"That’s the tone of Baltimore Ravens president Dick Cass’s non-apology apology letter to season-ticket holders. Sent earlier this week, Cass was addressing the “noticeable” number of no-shows at M&T Bank Stadium since more than a dozen players knelt during the National Anthem before a Sept. 24 game in London.

“ 'We have had significant numbers of no-shows in the past when our play on the field has not met the high standard we and you have set for the Ravens,” Cass wrote. “But this year has been different. The numbers are higher, and it is noticeable. There are a number of reasons for the no-shows, but surely the one-time protest in London has been a factor.”

"That protest, because it was held in London, was the first on a Sunday during which more than 200 NFL players sat or kneeled during the National Anthem. Since then, the NFL’s TV ratings and attendance have steadily fallen, in no small part thanks to the players’ Anthem protests.

"In his letter, Cass attempted to portray the team’s protest as just one factor, even though he implies the reason for no-shows in the past was poor performance — not an issue for this year’s 8-6 Ravens team, which is in the heat of a playoff race." . . .

Biting the dust in Norkland?

All cartoons added by TD

Richard Rail  . . . "How are we to understand this goofball boy who seems to think himself a superhero?  Kim went to school in Switzerland and because of that should speak fair English, should understand Western thinking and Western styles.  But the lessons must not have taken.  He dresses like Mao in a bad mood and combs his hair like a clown going to a prom.  When you look as silly as Kim does, it's hard to credit that this actually is a head of state.

"But he has his hands around the necks of his 24 million countrymen.  They are literally starving and have been for decades, such that they average six inches shorter than their genetically identical brothers across the DMZ.  The North Korean guard who escaped over that DMZ weeks ago was found to have hideous parasites in his body, probably because shortages of fertilizer force northern farmers to use night soil.

"It's fashionable in the West to think of Kim as an outlier among national leaders.  Actually, he's the logical end product of socialism, of big, suffocating government run amok, of the corruption that inevitably sets in when a system isn't required to practice self-restraint by respecting human rights, due process, and rule of law that holds everyone, even the number-one guy, accountable.

"We watch hopefully to see how Donald Trump is going to bring Kim to bay.  We're learning that Trump, contrary to all the nonsense about him, is unusually smart and has an extraordinary sense of timing.  Perhaps his biggest strength is that you always know where you stand with him.  He is straightforward and direct.  He knows how to use power and doesn't fear using it." . . .

Marxist Professor Teaches “Smash” White Rule, White Man’s Constitution

Independent Sentinel  "A Marxist professor at Diablo Valley College is dividing his students along racial lines, telling minority students they are not subject to the Constitution and they shouldn’t be standing for the Anthem or saying the pledge.

Video from Red Elephants

"Assistant Political Science Professor Albert Ponce says they must “smash white supremacy”, and basically the Constitution and the Pledge as well. He suggests “legal means” aren’t enough.

"He previously worked at Lake Tahoe Community College and studied at UCLA at LA and UC Berkeley. He is an admirer of Antifa.

“ 'We’re taught to stand up and pledge allegiance to the flag every single day — but the flag is not really representative of everybody who is standing up in that room,” Ponce tells his class in the footage. “All those who this flag represents stand up, and maybe 50% of this room stay sitting down because it’s not for you.”

"Ponce called the Constitution “the white man’s constitution.”

“ 'Abolition means we must destroy it, not reform it. No vote is going to help. No writing your Congressman — we need to smash white supremacy,” Ponce states. “We try to use legal means, but are legal means enough?' ” . . .

Professor Calls For Violent Overthrow Of “White Supremacist” America

. . . "Since we started the Facebook page called “Film Your Marxist Professors,” this will be the first video to go up on that page.  I think that this will be a great tool to fight the Marxist curriculum in these schools since it appears that the left has the education system on lock.

"This clip was just showing a compilation of a few of the divisive comments made by Ponce though.  In the full version there were many others.

"The student who sent us this, who shall remain unnamed, wrote the following about the occurrence;" . . .Keep reading here.

The professor would love to create more students like these: Hundreds Plan to Protest a Vigil Being Held For Kate Steinle in San Francisco

Mosul morgue workers had a front row view of the unspeakable brutality of ISIS

UK Daily Mail

"Staff at the morgue sometimes faced up to 60 or 100 corpses a day as ISIS fanatics dropped them off in lorries

They saw dozens of beheaded corpses, stoned women and men who had been thrown from top of buildings

On some occasions, the terrified workers helped get bodies back to families - and even sewed heads back on

WARNING: DISTURBING CONTENT "

Pictured: Chief medical assistant Raid Jassim adjusting his
gloves before inspecting a body Mosul morgue.

. . . " Yet the morgue men of Mosul found ways large and small to defy their captors by honouring the dead as best they could.

" 'Our profession as doctors is all about humanity,' said the morgue's senior examiner, Modhar al-Omari. 'They were doing the exact opposite.'  

"Some were the mangled bodies of ISIS fighters and sometimes civilians killed in bombings by the US-led coalition or fighting with Iraqi troops. Others bore the marks of ISIS's brutal enforcement of its radical version of Islamic law. 

"A broken skull on a man with internal bleeding could mean he was thrown from a rooftop, the punishment for those suspected of being gay. 

"A woman with a split skull from blunt force was likely stoned to death, the sentence for accused adulterers. Then there were punishments for spying or blasphemy: a gunshot wound through the head or decapitation.

"Convinced its 'caliphate' was here to stay, ISIS fanatics were keen on keeping records like a government. As they put together death certificates, the examiners quietly documented ISIS atrocities. 

"They surreptitiously put an Arabic letter alif to mark a member of the group, and an M, the first letter in the Arabic word for 'executed,' for the group's victims." . . .

. . . 

. . . "Al-Azzawi recounts how tragedy after tragedy gradually broke him down.

One day, he was going through the latest body bags when he saw a name he recognized pinned to a corpse. It was his cousin. The face was unrecognizable - he had been shot in the head for alleged spying.

" 'I couldn't believe it, I was reading the piece of paper over and over,' he said.

Months later, al-Azzawi tried to escape Mosul with a smuggler's help. He and a dozen others hid under boxes of potato chips in a truck but were caught near the Syrian border. He spent 10 days in detention, released only after he signed a pledge never to flee again on pain of death.

"After that, 'anything they ask for I do without complaint.'

"One day after seeing 60 bodies, he went home and smashed his TV set.

Iraqi troops liberated western Mosul in the summer of 2017, and much of the medical complex where the morgue is located was bombed into ruins during the fighting that drove out the militants.

"A stench now pervades the morgue from bodies that were in the refrigerators and are now buried in the rubble. The metal desks in the morgue offices have ISIS stickers on the drawers. Written on a wall is one of the slogans of the group: 'Baqiya' - Arabic for 'We will remain.' Next to it, someone has scrawled an insult: 'Son of dog.'

"Freed, the morgue men struggle with what they endured. Jassim can't sleep without popping multiple Valium pills. His 13-year-old son - fearing for his father - won't sleep apart from him. Some staffers have disappeared since liberation, simply not showing up to work."   Full article and photos

Data from Curiosity rover excites those seeking life on Mars Continued

"The rounded appendages certainly don’t look like any kind of
rock feature I’ve seen before. We’ll have to keep an eye out for
xenomorphs once we get the manned missions going."

DiscoveryTheWord   "Thanks to science and the increasing development of technology, we now know exactly what Mars looks like, seeing as NASA has managed to put two rovers on our neighboring planet. For years, the rovers traveled across the surface of the planet, taking photographs and performing tests on the soil. In the process, they have made some incredible discoveries that may prove the existence of life on Mars.
. . . 
"Among all the data which has been sent over the years have been more than a few interesting things, some of which point to the very likely fact that Mars once hosted life. It may not be the kind of little green aliens books and movies have told us about, but it remains incredible, nonetheless."

Liquid Life   "If finding liquid water is the primary goal of NASA in regards to Mars, maybe they’ve already found it. Keen-eyed folk noticed this picture taken by the Mars rover which appears to show liquid water flowing from a rock formation, creating mud down the hillside. Could this be the proof NASA needs?"  Via NY Daily News.

A deafening media silence on the Obama-Hezbollah scandal

NY Post

"Politico published a jaw-dropping, meticulously sourced investigative piece this week detailing how the Obama administration had secretly undermined US law enforcement agency efforts to shut down an international drug-trafficking ring run by the terror group Hezbollah. The effort was part of a wider push by the administration to placate Iran and ensure the signing of the nuclear deal.

SEE ALSO

Obama protected Hezbollah drug ring to save Iran nukes deal

"Now swap out “Trump” for “Obama” and “Russia” for “Iran” and imagine the eruption these revelations would generate. Because, by any conceivable journalistic standard, this scandal should’ve triggered widespread coverage and been plastered on front pages across the country. By any historic standard, the scandal should elicit outrage regarding the corrosion of governing norms from pundits and editorial boards.

"Yet, as it turns out, there’s an exceptionally good chance most of your neighbors and colleagues haven’t heard anything about it.

"Days after the news broke, in fact, neither NBC News, ABC News nor CBS News — whose shows can boast a collective 20 million viewers — had been able to find the time to relay the story to its sizeable audiences. Other than Fox News, cable news largely ignored the revelations as well.

"Most major newspapers, which have been sanctimoniously patting themselves on the back for the past year, couldn’t shoehorn into their pages a story about potential collusion between the former president and a terror-supporting state.

"Perhaps if President Trump had tweeted about the story, outlets would’ve squeezed something in.

"Even when outlets did decide to cover the story, they typically framed it as a he-said/she-said." . . .