Former Rep. Beto O&#8217;Rourke (D-TX) revealed on Thursday evening that while he still has not figured out his future plans, he will &#8220;absolutely&#8221; be staying in the political sphere following his twice-failed bid for elected office.
&#8220;Any of you out there who have run for office before and come up short — some part of you wants to go deep into a cave and never come out again,&#8221; O&#8217;Rourke said <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/469548-orourke-says-he-absolutely-plans-to-stay-in-politics">during a telephone call</a> with supporters. &#8220;That&#8217;s a natural part of the reaction, but I don&#8217;t think you get that pass in a democracy.&#8221;
&#8220;This country is counting on all of us,&#8221; he continued. &#8220;And if any one of us fails to do our part to the best of our ability, then we will fail this country and the generations that follow that are counting on us.&#8221;
The former Texas lawmaker announced only a week ago that he was officially ending his presidential campaign and dropping out of the race for the Democratic nomination in 2020. O&#8217;Rourke notably lost his bid to unseat Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) during the 2018 midterm election cycle after serving in the House of Representatives for three terms.
While O&#8217;Rourke claimed earlier in October that his bid for the presidency will be his last shot at elected office, he had already walked back his repeated pledge to Texans that if he lost the Senate race, he would definitively not be running for president in 2020.
O&#8217;Rourke told CNN&#8217;s Dana Bash in October 2018 that he &#8220;will not be a candidate for president in 2020,&#8221; and in the days leading up to the midterm elections the following month, the El Paso congressman again denied he would run against President Trump.
However, only a week after meeting with former President Barack Obama following his election loss, the Texas politician revealed that he had changed his mind and was considering walking back his pledge not to launch a bid for the presidency.
O&#8217;Rourke also told his supporters on Thursday that he is still trying to determine what his next steps are, but pledged to support Democratic candidates nationwide and promote the anti-Second Amendment agenda that ultimately became a keystone of his campaign.
&#8220;I am going to do everything that I can, and what form that takes and in what capacity I don&#8217;t know,&#8221; O&#8217;Rourke said on the call. &#8220;But certainly it will involve supporting great candidates all over this country from school board trustee to the next nominee for the presidency of the Democratic Party.&#8221;
&#8220;All of us have to commit to get behind the nominee from this party to make sure that she or he is successful against Donald Trump,&#8221; he added. &#8220;And then to make sure that once they become president, they help to heal this very divided country.&#8221;
O&#8217;Rourke&#8217;s presidential campaign was consistently struggling to gain traction — both his fundraising and polling numbers were relatively stagnant over the last two quarters despite relaunching his campaign for a third time in August. O&#8217;Rourke had not broken 5% support in any nationwide polls since April 2019, and when he ended his bid for the presidency, he was receiving less than 2% of the vote on average, according to <a href="https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2020/president/us/2020_democratic_presidential_nomination-6730.html">Real Clear Politics</a>.

Democratic Presidential Candidates Attend &#8220;Union For All&#8221; Summit In Los Angeles

After Declaring He Won&#8217;t Run Again, Beto Says He Will &#8216;Absolutely&#8217; Stay In Politics

Beto O'Rourke

Donald Trump

Ted Cruz

Last evening, The Hill <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/469133-graham-predicts-controversial-trump-court-picks-will-clear-panel">reported</a> that U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-SC) plans to bring Halil Suleyman (&#8220;Sul&#8221;) Ozerden back up for a Committee-wide vote this Thursday. Ozerden, who (by pure happenstance!) <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2019/06/13/mulvaney-halil-suleyman-fifth-circuit-1362794">seems to have had</a> Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney as a groomsman at his 2003 wedding, was <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/president-donald-j-trump-announces-judicial-nominees-3/">announced</a> this past summer by the White House as its pick to fill a long-vacant Mississippi-based seat on the crucial U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. In addition to Mulvaney, Ozerden has the backing of each of Mississippi&#8217;s two Republican senators.
Ozerden, who is only a recent convert to Federalist Society membership and whose judicial track record seems <a href="https://www.nationalreview.com/bench-memos/conservatives-voice-concerns-over-potential-fifth-circuit-nominee/">scattershot</a> at best, has long faced <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/key-conservatives-double-down-opposition-trump-josh-hammer">fairly intensive</a> movement conservative opposition. As I <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hammer-sul-ozerden-very-weak-fifth-circuit-pick-josh-hammer">noted</a> last summer in launching my own anti-Ozerden salvo, much of the opposition centers around the 2012 Southern District of Mississippi case of <a href="https://www.clearinghouse.net/chDocs/public/FA-MS-0001-0002.pdf">Catholic Diocese of Biloxi v. Sebelius</a>, wherein the eponymous diocese challenged the intrusive and conscience rights-undermining Obamacare contraceptive mandate promulgated by President Barack Obama’s Department of Health and Human Services. Ozerden, then the district court judge presiding over the case, went so far as to <a href="https://www.clearinghouse.net/chDocs/public/FA-MS-0001-0003.pdf">deny the diocese’s mere motion for oral argument</a> — thereby treating a Catholic diocese pleading a genuine infringement of its right to conscience in much the same manner as a judge swatting away a pro se prisoner&#8217;s filing of a risible habeas corpus petition.
At the time, I <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hammer-sul-ozerden-very-weak-fifth-circuit-pick-josh-hammer">urged</a> Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) to &#8220;lead this battle&#8221; and predicted that, &#8220;[w]ith Cruz’s leadership, it is hard to see how at least [Sen. Josh] Hawley [(R-MO)] does not follow.&#8221; Not to toot my own horn, but that is indeed precisely what happened. Cruz <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2019/09/12/ted-cruz-halil-sul-ozerden-nomination-1492305">came out in public opposition</a> to Ozerden in early September, and <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2019/09/26/josh-hawley-judicial-nominee-1513793">Hawley followed</a> two weeks later. Lacking the votes to pass Ozerden out of the Judiciary Committee with a favorable recommendation, then, Graham <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2019/09/26/josh-hawley-judicial-nominee-1513793">tabled a vote</a> on Ozerden&#8217;s nomination. And in the time since Graham tabled the Ozerden nomination, furthermore, Eliana Johnson of The Washington Free Beacon broke a <a href="https://freebeacon.com/issues/white-house-judicial-nom-violated-judicial-code-of-conduct-ex-wife-alleged/">scandalous story</a> about Ozerden allegedly once pressuring his wife to make an illegal campaign contribution to then-Senate Minority Whip Trent Lott&#8217;s (R-MS) political action committee.
Lacking the Republican votes on the Judiciary Committee and with a genuine scandal garnering headlines in conservative media, it seemed that the Ozerden nomination was heading for a slow but painful death. But rumors started circulating last week that Graham was actively courting Democratic votes on the Judiciary Committee to help favorably pass through Ozerden. Knowledgeable Senate sources confirmed to me this week that Graham planned to try to push through the Ozerden nomination with Democratic votes, and The Hill&#8217;s aforementioned <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/469133-graham-predicts-controversial-trump-court-picks-will-clear-panel">report</a> last evening followed. Sources tell me that the Committee Democrat most likely to cross the aisle to vote for Ozerden is either Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) or Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE).
If Graham follows this through to conclusion, let us call this spade a spade: It would be a betrayal of movement conservatism and the coronation of a thoroughly milquetoast, unfit nominee for the Anthony Kennedy-style swing seat on one of the nation&#8217;s most influential federal courts of appeal. The Fifth Circuit, which covers the red states of Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi, represents the geographical and ideological heartland of post-Reagan conservatism in America. Mississippi, which has two Republican senators, could do a lot better than to nominate a scandal-tied non-movement conservative jurist with an inconsistent judicial track record and an expressed hostility to the foundational issue of religious liberty.
Lindsey Graham should stop what he is doing and not embark upon this path. There is no world in which Democratic votes should be relied upon to pass through a weak nominee who is opposed by large swaths of the conservative movement. Allowing Ozerden to move through would be a tremendous proverbial middle finger to the scores of conservative and religious liberty activists who have opposed his nomination from the get-go.
But if Graham does proceed, then the onus will fall on another courageous Judiciary Committee Republican to join forces with Cruz and Hawley in opposing Ozerden. Perhaps that courageous Judiciary Committee Republican is someone who is allegedly still on the fence, with respect to the Ozerden nomination, and who has a demonstrable <a href="https://www.sasse.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/2019/1/sasse-op-ed-important-win-for-religious-liberty">track record</a> of defending the interests of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3VblIoWpDs">religious liberty</a>.
Are you listening, Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE)?

Lindsey Graham

HAMMER: Lindsey Graham Would Betray Conservatives By Relying On Democrats To Pass Through Sul Ozerden

Ben Sasse

Conservatism

Josh Hawley

Judicial Branch

Judiciary

Mississippi

Trump Administration

In an op-ed for <a href="https://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/politics/468404-mark-zuckerberg-is-right-jack-dorsey-is-wrong">The Hill</a> published Thursday, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) praised Facebook&#8217;s Mark Zuckerberg and slammed Twitter&#8217;s Jack Dorsey for their diverging approaches to political speech following the social media giants&#8217; recent policy announcements.
&#8220;For those who care about free speech, the last couple weeks saw two major developments from two people who have enormous influence over our public discourse,&#8221; Cruz writes. &#8220;First, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, whom I have previously criticized, gave an important address in defense of free speech. In it, he explained Facebook&#8217;s new policy that they would not censor political speech, but would instead allow the marketplace of ideas, the back-and-forth of political debate, to resolve public policy disputes.&#8221;
Cruz is referencing in part Zuckerberg&#8217;s widely covered <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/mark-zuckerberg-defends-free-speech-amid-political-blowback-i-believe-in-people">speech</a> at Georgetown University two weeks ago in which he came out strongly in defense of free speech. &#8220;We can continue to stand for free expression, understanding its messiness, but believing that the long journey towards greater progress requires confronting ideas that challenge us or we can decide the cost is simply too great,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I’m here today because I believe we must continue to stand for free expression.&#8221;
Zuckerberg also made clear in front of Congress the next week that his platform will not be policing political ads.
Dorsey, however, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-twitter-makes-major-move-regarding-speech-from-politicians">announced</a> on Twitter this week that his platform will take a far different approach: it will &#8220;stop all political advertising on Twitter.&#8221;
&#8220;We’ve made the decision to stop all political advertising on Twitter globally,&#8221; Dorsey announced Wednesday. &#8220;We believe political message reach should be earned, not bought. Why? A few reasons a political message earns reach when people decide to follow an account or retweet. Paying for reach removes that decision, forcing highly optimized and targeted political messages on people. We believe this decision should not be compromised by money.&#8221;
The developments, Cruz writes, &#8220;come at a time when Big Tech companies, from Facebook and Twitter to YouTube and Google, have established a pattern of arbitrarily silencing voices – overwhelming conservative voices – with whom they disagree.&#8221;
Cruz notes that leftwing politicians and media influencers have condemned Zuckerberg&#8217;s defense of free speech and praised Dorsey&#8217;s new political ad ban, &#8220;urging Facebook and Google to follow suit and jump on board the censorship train by banning political ads as well.&#8221;
Cruz goes on to lay out why banning ads would be &#8220;profoundly harmful,&#8221; including that doing so &#8220;only stands to benefit two groups: incumbent politicians and the mainstream media,&#8221; both of whom have &#8220;huge megaphone[s]&#8221; for spreading their messages.
Not only does a Twitter-like ban give incumbents and the media massive advantage, it effectively suppresses the voice of the average citizen by preventing groups like &#8220;the Sierra Club, the NRA, Planned Parenthood, AIPAC, or a totally new not-for-profit group trying to advocate for a particular idea&#8221; from reaching people.
Cruz additionally argues that Dorsey&#8217;s ban &#8220;only further empowers Silicon Valley billionaires, who already have a stronghold on defining what is truthful or acceptable speech, to now define what is and what is not &#8216;political.'&#8221;
&#8220;It’s up to them to determine where to draw the line – and they won’t stop here,&#8221; the Texas senator warns. &#8220;Banning ads is just the beginning.&#8221; (<a href="https://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/politics/468404-mark-zuckerberg-is-right-jack-dorsey-is-wrong">Read Cruz&#8217;s op-ed here</a>.)
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/klavan-the-big-silence-the-left-wages-war-on-free-speech">KLAVAN: The Big Silence: The Left Wages War On Free Speech</a>

Zuckerberg Dorsey

Cruz: Facebook&#8217;s Zuckerberg Is Right, Twitter&#8217;s Dorsey Is Wrong

Facebook

Free Speech

Jack Dorsey

Mark Zuckerberg

Twitter

On Sunday, CBS’ “Face the Nation&#8221; host Margaret Brennan played a Saturday-taped interview with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX).
During the segment, Brennan asked Cruz if he believed it was appropriate for President Trump to ask China to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son. Cruz replied, &#8220;Of course not.&#8221;
<blockquote>BRENNAN: So, China&#8217;s a surveillance state.
CRUZ: Yeah.
BRENNAN: Is it appropriate for President Trump to be saying China should look into the Biden family? Is that appropriate?
CRUZ: Look, of course not. Elections in the U.S. should be decided by Americans, and it&#8217;s not the business of foreign countries, any foreign countries, to be interfering in our elections.</blockquote>
Brennan followed up by asking the senator about Ukraine, and specifically Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani:
<blockquote>BRENNAN: Even Ukraine? I mean when you&#8217;re talking about some of this, I mean do you think that, say, the president&#8217;s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, who&#8217;s been talking about China, who&#8217;s been talking about Ukraine. Do you want to hear him testify about this sort of shadow foreign policy?
CRUZ: Listen, foreign countries should stay out of American elections. That&#8217;s true for Russia. That&#8217;s true for Ukraine. That&#8217;s true for China. That&#8217;s true for all of them. It should be the American people deciding elections. I don&#8217;t know what Rudy&#8217;s been saying. I do know though that we should decide our elections. It should be the American people making those decisions.
BRENNAN: And you do want him to testify before your committee?
CRUZ: I think it [would] make a lot of sense for Rudy to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee. That&#8217;s ultimately a question for the committee chairman, Lindsey Graham, but I&#8217;d like to see Rudy testify. Yes.</blockquote>
Cruz’s comments come less than two weeks after the president suggested to reporters that China should investigate the Bidens.
Standing before a gaggle of press outside the White House on October 3, Trump <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/rubio-on-trump-saying-china-should-investigate-biden-i-dont-think-its-a-real-request">said,</a> &#8220;China should start an investigation into the Bidens because what happened in China is just about as bad as what happened with Ukraine.&#8221;
When asked a followup question about whether he’d spoken with Chinese President Xi Jinping, the president replied:
<blockquote>I haven’t, but it’s certainly something we can start thinking about because I’m sure that President Xi does not like being on that kind of scrutiny where billions of dollars is taken out of his country by a guy that just got kicked out of the Navy. He got kicked out of the Navy &#8212; all of a sudden, he’s getting billions of dollars. You know what they call that? They call that a payoff.</blockquote>
The next day, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) was asked about the appropriateness of such a remark. The senator <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/rubio-on-trump-saying-china-should-investigate-biden-i-dont-think-its-a-real-request">stated</a> that it was his belief that President Trump was essentially trolling the media with his China remark. Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/rep-jordan-i-dont-think-americans-believe-trump-thinks-china-is-going-to-investigate">echoed</a> Rubio’s sentiment just days later during an interview on ABC.
Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE) had a decidedly different take on Trump’s remarks, as The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-calls-mitt-romney-a-fool-and-suggests-he-should-be-impeached">previously reported</a>:
<blockquote>In a written statement to the <a href="https://www.omaha.com/news/nation/morton/americans-don-t-look-to-chinese-commies-for-the-truth/article_d229258d-0d9d-5fdf-800a-7c74f6f5c253.html">Omaha World-Herald</a> regarding Trump’s China ask, Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE) said, “Hold up: Americans don’t look to Chinese commies for the truth.” He added, “If the Biden kid broke laws by selling his name to Beijing, that’s a matter for American courts, not communist tyrants running torture camps.”
However, Sasse also accused Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) of “running a partisan clown show in the House.”</blockquote>
The suggestion that the president’s remarks were a troll of the media are somewhat undermined by the following two tweets sent on October 3 and 5:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
As the President of the United States, I have an absolute right, perhaps even a duty, to investigate, or have investigated, CORRUPTION, and that would include asking, or suggesting, other Countries to help us out!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1179925259417468928?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 4, 2019</a></blockquote>
<blockquote>As the President of the United States, I have an absolute right, perhaps even a duty, to investigate, or have investigated, CORRUPTION, and that would include asking, or suggesting, other Countries to help us out!</blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Somebody please wake up Mitt Romney and tell him that my conversation with the Ukrainian President was a congenial and very appropriate one, and my statement on China pertained to corruption, not politics. If Mitt worked this hard on Obama, he could have won. Sadly, he choked!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1180484483147059200?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 5, 2019</a></blockquote>
<blockquote>Somebody please wake up Mitt Romney and tell him that my conversation with the Ukrainian President was a congenial and very appropriate one, and my statement on China pertained to corruption, not politics. If Mitt worked this hard on Obama, he could have won. Sadly, he choked!</blockquote>
After the initial exchange regarding appropriate presidential behavior, Cruz further noted that the Justice Department &#8220;should investigate violations of law &#8230; if there’s credible evidence of a violation.&#8221;
<blockquote>BRENNAN: So the president is often talking about the need to look in to Joe Biden. If he is so concerned, would it be in any way appropriate for him to bring it to his own Justice Department instead of talking about foreign countries looking into his political rival?
CRUZ: I have long advocated that the Justice Department should enforce the law, should investigate corruption, should investigate violations of law, regardless of party.
BRENNAN: But to be clear, you&#8217;re not calling for the Justice Department to investigate the Biden family?
CRUZ: Look, I believe the Justice Department should investigate violations of law. If there&#8217;s credible evidence of a violation of law, yes, they should investigate, and I&#8217;ll tell you what I have called for. I think President Trump wisely released the transcript of his conversation with the Ukrainian government. I think that was good because a lot of what the Democrats had been raising, alleging an illegal quid pro quo, was not in fact backed up by the transcript. But I think actually the administration should do the exact same thing for Joe Biden. That it should release the transcripts of Joe Biden&#8217;s conversations with Ukraine. Use the same standard for President Trump and Joe Biden and let the American people read the transcripts and decide.</blockquote>
<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ICke5cvgbOY?start=270" width="720" height="385" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>

Ted Cruz.

WATCH: Cruz Agrees It’s Inappropriate To Say ‘China Should Look Into The Biden Family’

China

Impeachment

Ukraine

It&#8217;s not often a bipartisan coalition forms naturally around an issue, but the NBA&#8217;s unqualified capitulation to Chinese Communists has managed to bring together perhaps the most mis-matched group of legislators in a decade.
In this case, that shocking bi-partisan team involves Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX), Ben Sasse (R-NE), Tom Cotton (R-AK), Ron Wyden (D-OR), and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) &#8212; not exactly a group that enjoys a robust friendship.
In a two-page letter to NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, the group excoriates the league&#8217;s decision to issue an unqualified apology to Chinese officials after Houston Rockets manager, Daryl Morey, sent a single public Tweet expressing support for pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong.
Over the weekend, both the NBA and Morey groveled at the feet of the Chinese Communists in order to save a business relationship between the league and the global superpower, and followed up its public capitulation with a series of bizarre antics, censoring fans who brought signs, wore tee shirts, or started chants supporting the Hong Kong demonstrators opposing Chinese incursion.
The group <a href="https://www.sasse.senate.gov/public/_cache/files/bc420a63-b1e4-4fe5-bc9e-637d519cfbdb/sasse-nba-letter.pdf">pulled no punches</a>.
“It is outrageous that the Chinese Communist Party is using its economic power to suppress the speech of American inside the United States. It is also outrageous that the NBA has caved to Chinese government demands for contrition,” the group writes.
&#8220;Hundreds of millions of people within China will read your statements as an admission that their government’s propaganda is correct; millions of people in Hong Kong will be dispirited,” they continue. “That you have more potential fans in China than in Hong Kong is no excuse for being over backwards to express ‘sensitivity’ only to one side.”
The letter goes on to suggest that the NBA is hypocritical for its stance on Morey&#8217;s statements, since it has openly encouraged its players to express controversial opinions before &#8212; though largely on domestic issues, not foreign ones. Cracking down here, the group says, is an attack on &#8220;fundamental American values.&#8221;
When the league inked its deals with China, the group argues, they should have anticipated that some day China might be offended by something said by a player or administrator in the league, and pledged to defend their own, even if it meant losing cash in the process. Instead, the NBA has paved the way for the Chinese to use economic means to censor Americans&#8217; protected speech.
The Members of Congress make four demands on the NBA: that the NBA will reiterate its commitment to being &#8220;hands off&#8221; when it comes to the political beliefs of its players and administrators, that the NBA will cease doing business with the Chinese until the Chinese drop their boycott of NBA activities, that the NBA will re-evaluate its operations in China (including operating its training facility for Chinese players in Xianjiang, just a stone&#8217;s throw from where China is operating huge concentration camps for ethnic Chinese Muslims), and &#8220;clarify&#8221; that players and administrators are allowed to speak out on human rights abuses at home and abroad.
The NBA has yet to respond, probably because its still figuring out what to do about its lost Chinese connection. So far, China has dropped its commitment to host a handful of planned pre-season exhibition NBA games and says it will end NBA broadcasts in-country.
NBA players like Steph Curry, who refused to speak on the subject during an interview yesterday, also have multi-million dollar sponsorship contracts with corporations like Nike and Reebok, who sell billions of dollars worth of goods inside China and don&#8217;t want their own economic interests harmed.

A Chinese flag placed on NBA merchandise

Ted Cruz, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Join Forces To Criticize NBA&#8217;s China Cowardice

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

Nine Republican Senators sent a letter to Attorney General William Barr and FBI Director Christopher Wray on Tuesday seeking information on the statuses of four criminal referrals the Senate Judiciary Committee sent to the Department of Justice last year regarding suspicious allegations that were made against then-Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
The letter was sent by Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Mike Lee (R-UT), Ted Cruz (R-TX), John Cornyn (R-TX), Mike Crapo (R-ID), Thom Tillis (R-NC), John Kennedy (R-LA) and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN).
&#8220;In the process of evaluating claims against the then-nominee, committee investigators collected 25 written statements and spoke with 45 individuals. Those investigations culminated in the nominee’s confirmation and the release of a 414-page committee report concluding that there was no credible evidence to support any of the allegations,&#8221; former Judiciary Committee Chairman Grassley said in a statement. &#8220;Last year, then-Chairman Grassley referred to the Department of Justice four individuals for investigation for potential criminal conduct including the submission of materially false statements to the committee, obstruction of Congress and conspiracy to submit false statements or obstruct Congress.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
BREAKING: 9 Republican Senators are asking the Justice Department about the status of 4 criminal referrals made by the Senate Judiciary Committee regarding the baseless allegations made against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh during his confirmation. <a href="https://t.co/XtNKnjczDN">https://t.co/XtNKnjczDN</a>
— Matt Wolking (Text TRUMP to 88022) (@MattWolking) <a href="https://twitter.com/MattWolking/status/1181692293276999682?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 8, 2019</a></blockquote>
The following is the letter from the nine Republican Senators to Wray and Barr:
Dear Attorney General Barr and Director Wray:
A full year has passed since the Judiciary Committee completed its investigation into allegations of decades-old misconduct by Brett Kavanaugh in the course of its consideration of his nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court. During its investigation, the Committee interviewed numerous individuals claiming to have relevant information. While most of those individuals appear to have contacted the Committee in good faith, some did not. The Committee referred four individuals to the DOJ and FBI for investigation of potential violations of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1001 (materially false statements) and 1505 (obstruction), for false statements made to the Committee during the course of its investigation. It also referred two of those same individuals for potential violations of 18 U.S.C. § 371 (conspiracy). We seek information about what actions DOJ and FBI are taking in response to these referrals.
These criminal referrals were not made lightly. In each of the aforementioned cases, the referred individual(s) made false allegations against then-Judge Kavanaugh. These allegations were taken seriously and carefully investigated by Committee staff, resulting in the diversion of significant resources.
1. The first referral, dated September 29, 2018, relates to a false allegation made by an individual who told the Committee that he had direct knowledge that Judge Kavanaugh assaulted a close friend on a boat in the harbor at Newport, Rhode Island in 1985. [1] After the Committee extensively questioned Judge Kavanaugh about the allegation, the individual recanted and apologized on social media for making the false allegation.
2. The second referral, dated October 25, 2018, relates to false allegations made by Mr. Michael Avenatti and his client, Ms. Julie Swetnick.[2] In a September 23, 2018, email to Committee staff, Mr. Avenatti stated that he and Ms. Swetnick were aware of evidence that during the 1980s, Judge Kavanaugh participated in the “targeting of women with alcohol/drugs in order to allow a ‘train’ of men to subsequently gang rape them.”[3] Committee staff interviewed Judge Kavanaugh and ten other individuals in connection with these allegations, which were outlined in graphic detail in a sworn statement to the Committee purportedly written and signed by Ms. Swetnick. After a thorough investigation, the Committee found no verifiable evidence to support any of the allegations made in the declaration. The Committee also found that both Mr. Avenatti and Ms. Swetnick had a long history of credibility issues and may have criminally conspired to mislead the Committee and obstruct its investigation.
3. The third referral, dated October 26, 2018, relates to evidence that Mr. Avenatti falsified a sworn statement to the Committee in order to provide support for Ms. Swetnick’s unfounded allegations.[4] The sworn statement by an unknown declarant claimed that Judge Kavanaugh had spiked the punch at house parties with Quaaludes and/or grain alcohol in order to make “girls more likely to engage in sexual acts and less likely to say ‘No.’”[5] NBC News later reported on a series of contacts with the purported declarant, who stated that she had denied the key allegations in the declaration both before and after the statement was publicly released and that Mr. Avenatti had “twisted [her] words.”[6]
4. The fourth referral, dated November 2, 2018, relates to allegations made by Ms. Judy Munro-Leighton.[7] On October 3, 2018, Committee staff received an email from Ms. Munro-Leighton stating that she was the author of an unsigned letter containing highly graphic sexual-assault accusations against Judge Kavanaugh previously received by the office of Senator Kamala Harris. Ms. Munro-Leighton included the text of the letter in her e-mail to the Committee, claiming that Judge Kavanaugh and a friend had raped her “several times each” in the back seat of a car.[8] When Committee staff interviewed Ms. Munro-Leighton, she admitted that she falsely identified herself as the author of the letter and its allegations and had only claimed authorship “as a way to grab attention.”[9] When asked by Committee investigators if she had ever met Judge Kavanaugh, she said: “Oh Lord, no.”[10]
As the Committee stressed in each of the referrals issued during and after the investigation into allegations against then-Judge Kavanaugh, investigations in support of the judicial nomination process are an essential part of the constitutional role in confirming judges. As Committee members, we are grateful to citizens who come forward with relevant information in good faith, even if they are not entirely sure about the accuracy of that information. But, when individuals intentionally mislead the Committee, they divert important Committee resources during time-sensitive investigations and materially impede its work. Such acts are not only unfair; they are potentially illegal. It is illegal to make materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent statements to Congressional investigators. It is illegal to obstruct Committee investigations.
It is important to protect the constitutional process from being hijacked by bad actors involved in insidious partisan operations. The Committee can bring bad actors to the attention of law enforcement and the American people by being as transparent as possible about its investigative findings. However, it is up to the FBI and the Justice Department to hold those who mislead Congress accountable for the criminal aspects of their behavior. The DOJ has not shied away from selectively filing charges against individuals for alleged violations of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1001 in the past. Martha Stewart, former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich, and ex-Presidential aide Scooter Libby are just a few individuals who have been charged with lying to federal investigators.[11] Lying to Congress is and should be treated as an equally serious offense.
The next Supreme Court nominee should not have to defend himself or herself against baseless and fabricated allegations, and Committee staff should not have to spend valuable time investigating them.
Accordingly, please respond to the following no later than October 21, 2019:
1. For each criminal referral made by the Committee to the FBI, did the FBI open a criminal investigation? If so, which investigation(s) resulted in a referral to the Justice Department for prosecution? If not, why not?
2. For each case that was referred to the Justice Department for prosecution, which cases were rejected and which were accepted for prosecution?
Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter. If you have any questions, please contact a professional staff investigator in Senator Grassley’s Oversight and Investigations Unit at (202) xxx-xxxx.

Brett Kavanaugh

New Update In Criminal Referrals Made Against Those Who Made Questionable Claims Against Kavanaugh

Charles Grassley

Mike Lee

If you&#8217;re worried about the current state of democracy, fear not: Alyssa Milano, Rosie O’Donnell, and their rich anti-Trump friends are here to save America &#8230; by working to remove the duly elected president from office. 
Feel better now?
According to a <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/trump-impeachment-task-force-holding-accountable-1463089">Newsweek</a> report, a group called The Democratic Coalition has created a star-studded &#8220;Impeachment Task Force&#8221; (seriously) &#8220;seeking to hold Trump &#8216;accountable for his betrayal of America.'&#8221;
The task force is &#8220;designed to lead rapid response to Trump during the impeachment inquiry,&#8221; according to The Democratic Coalition co-founder and Twitter #Resistance king Scott Dworkin. 
In addition to Milano and O’Donnell, the group has landed actors Ron Perlman, George Takei, Debra Messing, and Tom Arnold to use their &#8220;massive social media following to protect House Democrats in the front lines of the impeachment inquiry on Trump.&#8221;
&#8220;The task force launched a fundraising effort and basic plan on Thursday. The group has already started meeting and is set to go live with its website next week,&#8221; Newsweek reported. 
Dworkin pointed to &#8220;Trump&#8217;s propaganda machine&#8221; as motivation in the creation of his elite task force. 
&#8220;Trump&#8217;s propaganda machine is going to be in overdrive for the foreseeable future, so we need to be fighting every day, in every way,&#8221; he said. 
&#8220;For now, impeachment is the only way to hold him accountable for his betrayal of America,&#8221; the task force’s chairman Jon Cooper added. 
Dworkin is extremely optimistic that his ragtag group of celebs &#8220;will without a doubt, absolutely, overpower Trump&#8217;s propaganda machine.&#8221; 
As you might recall, during the 2016 presidential election, Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton had scores of celebrities come out to support her publicly — such as Katy Perry, Demi Lovato, Miley Cyrus, LeBron James, Beyoncé, Jay Z, Bruce Springsteen, Robert De Niro, Lady Gaga, Jon Bon Jovi, Meryl Streep, Amy Schumer, and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hillary-clinton-celebrity-supporters-2016-11#sarah-silverman-9">many, many others</a>. As you might also recall, Hillary lost the 2016 election. 
But it’s different this time. Or something. 
&#8220;We&#8217;ve been one of the key groups fighting his propaganda machine for three and a half years,&#8221; Dworkin bragged. &#8220;We&#8217;ve learned a lot. And it&#8217;s kind of led us to this moment.&#8221;
So far, Milano, one of the most vocal members of the task force, has used more than social media hashtags to push for liberal policies and activate against the Right. The actress, with a scowl on her face, for some reason actually attended the hearings for then-U.S. Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh, who was eventually confirmed to the nation&#8217;s highest court. Milano opposed the justice because of a non-specific, decades-old, uncorroborated allegation of sexual misconduct.
Milano also made herself the face of a Hollywood boycott this summer that unsuccessfully attempted to derail pro-life legislation in Georgia that was dubbed a &#8220;heartbeat bill.&#8221; Her passion for abortion even led her to call for a &#8220;sex strike&#8221; to promote abortion &#8220;rights,&#8221; and she appeared on CNN to denounce protections for the unborn. Additionally, last month, the actress pushed gun control in a sit-down talk with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX). 
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/alyssa-milano-uses-young-daughter-push-abortion-amanda-prestigiacomo">Alyssa Milano Uses Young Daughter To Push Abortion</a>

Alyssa Milano

REPUBLIC SAVED: Alyssa Milano, Rosie O&#8217;Donnell Head Trump &#8216;Impeachment Task Force&#8217;

Hillary Clinton

Hollywood

Leftism

On Friday, Sen. Ted Cruz, (R-TX) appeared on Fox News&#8217; &#8220;America’s Newsroom,&#8221; where he blasted the move House Democrats are making toward impeaching President Trump, calling it a three-ring circus. Cruz began by snapping, &#8220;Washington is always a circus, but this is three rings with all the clowns and it’s nuts right now.&#8221; Cruz also had a hilarious analogy describing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, pushed by leftists in her party, announcing Democrats would pursue impeachment proceedings. Cruz quipped, &#8220;Watching her, it almost reminded me of a hostage video; she was blinking SOS.&#8221;
After beginning by noting the three-ring circus, Cruz continued::
<blockquote>And it’s driven at the end of the day — Congressional Democrats are angry. They’re angry about the 2016 election and ultimately they’re angry at the voters. They’re angry that the voters elected President Trump. All of this, from day one, from day one they have been wanting to get this president out of office, and as a result they’re not doing the job. They’re not actually interested in legislating; they’re not actually interested in working together to produce more jobs and raise wages and expand opportunity; it’s just about attacking the president.
What we have seen from the Democrats is a consistent and relentless push to impeach regardless of the facts. So for months and months and months it was all about Mueller. Mueller, Mueller, Mueller, Mueller’s going to prove everything’s wrong. Then the Mueller report came along and it found no collusion, and suddenly all the Democrats who had been screaming “Impeach!” — they had nothing to say. Now, right now, they’re all screaming &#8220;Ukraine! Ukraine! Ukraine!&#8221; and now, oddly enough, it’s the exact same conclusion: Impeach the president. And by the way, in a month or two, it’s liable to be something else. It’s not driven by facts.</blockquote>
Cruz stated, &#8220;I’ve read the transcript carefully; I’ve read the whistle-blower complaint, so-called whistleblower complaint. I’ve gotta say: the transcript sure didn’t live up to its billing. Just a few days ago the Democrats were breathlessly on TV saying, &#8216;You’re gonna see an illegal quid pro quo and it’s gonna prove that.&#8217; Well, you look at the transcript and there’s no illegal quid pro quo in that transcript. The president is asking another foreign leader to assist in investigating, number one: election interference into 2016. Now that investigating election interference into 2016 is a perfectly legitimate and appropriate law enforcement priority that — the Democrats have been talking non-stop about Russian interference; I’m not sure why they somehow think Ukrainian interference shouldn’t be examined.&#8221;
Later, Cruz added, &#8220;The Democrats, starting on Election day, there was like this primal scream — look, we all remember watching and you could see the newscasters on other networks that — I think there’s no mystery for whom they voted in 2016. You could see their look of shock and anger and that anger has never receded.&#8221;
Asked about House Speaker Nancy Pelosi intimating that the move toward impeachment was not politically driven, Cruz answered, &#8220;Let me just say two things about that: one, watching Speaker Pelosi, I think Nancy understands that impeachment is a train wreck for the Democrats. She has been trying to hold back the hordes. And you know, watching her, it almost reminded me of a hostage video; she was blinking SOS. Her extreme Left is angry; they’re marching in the street with pitchforks and torches. And Pelosi — the reason they’re going down the road of impeachment is that she doesn’t have any choice … her base is so filled with rage that sadly, I expect the next year, I don’t think the Pelosi House has any interest in any meaningful substantive legislation.&#8221;
<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/BNxglrIxfjI" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>

Cruz

WATCH: Cruz Has Hilarious Analogy For Pelosi’s Impeachment Announcement

Nancy Pelosi

According to a letter obtained by The Daily Wire, a group of prominent conservative leaders have staked out their opposition to Judge Halil Suleyman (&#8220;Sul&#8221;) Ozerden, the president&#8217;s <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2019/07/16/trump-judicial-nominee-1417561">controversial</a> pick to fill a <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/president-donald-j-trump-announces-judicial-nominees-3/">vacant Mississippi-based seat</a> on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Ozerden, who is presently a U.S. district court judge in Mississippi, has been assailed by many due to concerns stemming from alleged exegetical sloppiness and alleged hostility to religious liberty.
The letter&#8217;s signees include First Liberty Institute President and CEO Kelly Shackelford, Conservative Action Project Chairman Alfred Regnery, Morton Blackwell, Dr. James Dobson, Tea Party Patriots Citizens Fund Chairman Jenny Beth Martin, ForAmerica President David Bozell, March for Life Action President Tom McClusky, and Wallbuilders Founder David Barton. The letter reads, in relevant part:
<blockquote>Conservatives have grave concerns about the nomination of Judge Halil Ozerden to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
Specifically, the undersigned raise issue with his commitment to religious liberty, and more broadly, with his commitment to advancing the original meaning of the Constitution. &#8230;
Ozerden’s indifference to religious liberty in [the case of Catholic Diocese of Biloxi, Inc. v. Sebelius, No. 1:12-cv-00158-HSO-RHW, slip op. at 7–8, 15 (S.D. Miss. Dec. 20, 2012)] is indicative of a judicial style that is short on substance and which demonstrates a troubling indifference to the textualism we would hope to see in a circuit court judge.
A demonstrated commitment to religious liberty and a deference to the Constitution as it was originally written are the hallmarks of a prudent jurist. Principled conservatives must stand against judges being elevated because of who they know, rather than a proven history of a solid conservative judicial philosophy.
As Sen. Ted Cruz, who has argued nine cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, stated, &#8220;for a lifetime appointment on the court of appeals, I believe we should be looking for someone with a strong, demonstrated record as a constitutionalist. I have significant concerns that Judge Ozerden&#8217;s judicial record does not indicate that he meets that standard. For that reason, I do not believe he should be on the court of appeals, and I will oppose his nomination.&#8221; Senator Cruz is correct. Hopefully, other principled senators who care about our courts will join him.</blockquote>
As the letter indicates, stalwart conservative Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) has already <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2019/09/12/ted-cruz-halil-sul-ozerden-nomination-1492305">come out in public opposition</a> to Ozerden&#8217;s nomination. Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) has indicated he will support the Ozerden nomination, while many conservative eyes remain fixed on Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) — a fellow former U.S. Supreme Court clerk and member of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee who has <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/47899/hammer-senator-josh-hawley-most-important-freshman-josh-hammer">already fought multiple battles</a> thus far in 2019 against Trump administration judicial nominees. It is unclear whether Hawley will fight at least one more.
As a recent judicial clerk on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit myself, I wrote a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/48881/hammer-sul-ozerden-very-weak-fifth-circuit-pick-josh-hammer">Daily Wire op-ed</a> in June explaining my own personal opposition to the Ozerden nomination:
<blockquote>What Judge Ozerden did in Catholic Diocese of Biloxi represents nothing less than a deliberate indifference — indeed, perhaps an outright hostility — to the interests of religious liberty. And religious liberty, of course, is easily one of the most indispensable issues by which senators ought to vet and assess judicial nominees. &#8230;
As a very recent Fifth Circuit law clerk, I can attest that the Court&#8217;s en banc votes — in which important cases are brought before all active judges — are oftentimes nail-biting affairs. The Fifth Circuit is being made great again, but it is not quite fully there yet. &#8230; And this Mississippi seat promises to be the proverbial Anthony Kennedy seat on the Court — the swing vote in en banc voting who will decide crucially important matters of intense interest to conservatives.
We should have zero question marks from the nominee for this Mississippi seat.</blockquote>
Some of Ozerden&#8217;s tough-on-crime defenders have attempted to defend his nomination by pointing to his purported tough sentencing practices as a district court judge but, as I tweeted yesterday, even that proposition is unclear at best.
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Pablo Vega-Ontanon, an illegal alien from Mexico, was caught with enough fentanyl to kill 500,000 people. Maximum sentence was life imprisonment and a $10 million fine.
Sul Ozerden sentenced him to six years plus supervised release. <a href="https://t.co/Ko1nPnHNaM">https://t.co/Ko1nPnHNaM</a>
— Josh Hammer (@josh_hammer) <a href="https://twitter.com/josh_hammer/status/1174778372225785856?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 19, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
Time is running short for fellow conservative senators to join Cruz — Ozerden&#8217;s U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation vote will likely be held next week.

US. Fifth Circuit Court Of Appeals

Key Conservatives Double Down On Opposition To Trump Judicial Nominee

Birth Control

Constitution

First Amendment

Lawsuit

Obamacare

Religion

Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick praised former Rep. Beto O&#8217;Rourke&#8217;s (D-TX) failed bid for Senate on Tuesday and slammed the Democratic presidential candidate for demanding a government-run gun confiscation program.
While participating in the Democratic National Committee&#8217;s (DNC) third presidential primary debate, O&#8217;Rourke declared in no uncertain terms that if he were to be elected president, he would impose a nationwide gun confiscation program to size millions of firearms from law-abiding citizens.
&#8220;Hell yes, we&#8217;re going to take away your AR-15, your AK-47,&#8221; O&#8217;Rourke said at the time amid massive cheers. &#8220;We are not going to allow it to be used against our fellow citizens anymore.&#8221;
&#8220;When I heard Beto&#8217;s now infamous statement in the debate last week … my first thought was thank god he lost to Ted Cruz,&#8221; <a href="https://www.danpatrick.org/dan-patrick-on-o-rourke-gun-confiscation-scheme-done-in-texas/?utm_medium=Tweet&amp;utm_source=Twitter&amp;utm_campaign=BetoStatement">Patrick wrote</a> in a statement. &#8220;Because the Texas press never asked him any serious questions in that race, it wasn&#8217;t clear until now what a radical left-winger he is – the most radical of all the looney leftists and socialists currently running for president.&#8221;
&#8220;My second thought was he will never be a threat to Texas politics again,&#8221; he continued. &#8220;He&#8217;s stuck in tiny single digits in the polls, so he&#8217;s not going to be president, but now the Democrats can&#8217;t even put him on the ticket with the hope that he will help win Texas. He&#8217;s a gun confiscator – he&#8217;s done in our state.&#8221;
Accordingly, O&#8217;Rourke unsuccessfully ran to unseat Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) during the 2018 midterm election cycle. As the race tightened to a margin of single digits in the consistently red state, the former Texas congressman received glowing nationwide attention, which ultimately compelled him to launch a bid for the presidency.
However, after his presidential campaign failed to gain traction, O&#8217;Rourke faced mounting pressure to drop out of the race and run for the Texas&#8217; U.S. Senate seat against Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX). Instead, O&#8217;Rourke re-launched his campaign to focus primarily on his anti-gun platform.
While O&#8217;Rourke declined to run for Senate, speculation further emerged that the former Texas Congressman might make a good presidential running mate, with the hopes that he would give Democrats a chance to flip the state blue. However, O&#8217;Rourke&#8217;s strong anti-Second Amendment policies have seemingly squelched the likelihood that he would add any benefit to the ticket in the gun-friendly state.
&#8220;Now he&#8217;s selling T-shirts with his &#8216;hell yes&#8217; statement – another flailing attempt to hide his naked ambition and distract from his doomed campaign,&#8221; Patrick said. &#8220;Beto says he has talked to people in Texas who own AR-15s and they support his confiscation plan – so he found some liberal who agrees with him. It&#8217;s a big state, but the people I talk to don&#8217;t want to give up their guns. They know it is the evil intentions of a shooter, not the gun that is a threat to our safety.&#8221;
&#8220;I will never support banning the AR-15s, AK-47s, or a phony buyback program – the government can&#8217;t buy back something they have never owned,&#8221; he continued. &#8220;This is what our Second Amendment rights are about – making sure the government can never take away our guns.&#8221;

betoorourke.jpg

Texas Lt Gov Nukes O’Rourke In Fiery Statement: ‘He Will Never Be A Threat In Texas Politics Again’

Texas

Last Friday, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra <a href="https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/the-state-worker/article235075187.html">announced</a> that California would ban state-funded and state-sponsored travel to Iowa because the state passed a law barring the funding of gender-transition surgeries under Medicaid, making Iowa the 11th state that California has placed on its travel ban.
Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX), seizing the opportunity, hilariously pointed out something that the California government might have missed: their ban would impede the chances of their own senator, Kamala Harris, from traveling to the state that is the first nominating contest in the Democratic Party presidential primaries. He tweeted, &#8220;Wow, California&#8217;s ban on travel to Iowa&#8217;s really gonna hamstring Kamala Harris&#8217;s presidential campaign.&#8221;
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Wow, California’s ban on travel to Iowa’s really gonna hamstring Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign&#8230;. <a href="https://t.co/sHlkPPMNKI">https://t.co/sHlkPPMNKI</a>
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) <a href="https://twitter.com/tedcruz/status/1173987396817473536?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 17, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
Becerra stated when he made his announcement, &#8220;The Iowa Legislature has reversed course on what was settled law under the Iowa Civil Rights Act, repealing protections for those seeking gender-affirming healthcare. California has taken an unambiguous stand against discrimination and government actions that would enable it. That&#8217;s why my office is adding Iowa to the list of states subject to state-funded or sponsored travel restrictions.&#8221;
Last May, Iowa governor Kim Reynolds signed <a href="https://www.legis.iowa.gov/legislation/BillBook?ga=88&amp;ba=HF766">House File 766</a> into law. Reynolds&#8217; spokesman Pat Garrett stated, &#8220;This narrow provision simply clarifies that Iowa&#8217;s Civil Rights Act does not require taxpayer dollars to pay for sex reassignment and other similar surgeries. This returns us to what had been the state&#8217;s position for years.&#8221;
As <a href="https://caffeinatedthoughts.com/2019/09/california-bans-state-travel-to-iowa-over-medicaid-defunding-of-transgender-surgeries/">caffeinatedthoughts.com</a> pointed out:
<blockquote>It should be noted that Iowa&#8217;s Medicaid program <a href="https://dhs.iowa.gov/sites/default/files/Comm519.pdf?091620192106">does not generally cover any cosmetic, reconstructive, or plastic surgery </a>except breast reconstruction surgery following breast cancer and a mastectomy. A California law, Assembly Bill 1887 (AB 1887), passed in 2017, prohibits &#8220;state-funded and state-sponsored travel to states that enact a law after June 26, 2015 that voids or repeals an existing state or local protection against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression.&#8221; Except it didn&#8217;t; there was never any guarantee of taxpayer funding for sex reassignment surgery nor did the Iowa Legislature repeal the sexual orientation or gender identity language from the Iowa Civil Rights Act.</blockquote>
<a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/california-adds-iowa-to-its-travel-ban-over-refusal-to-fund-gender-transitions">Fox News</a> noted, &#8220;Becerra&#8217;s authority came from a <a href="https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB1887">2016 California law</a> signed by then-Gov. Jerry Brown that bars state-funded travel to other states that undercut LGBT rights. The blacklist already included Alabama, Kentucky, North Carolina, Texas, Oklahoma and Mississippi.&#8221;
Harris has enough troubles of her own without being banned from traveling to Iowa; her <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/51086/tulsi-gabbard-attacked-kamala-harris-sending-her-hank-berrien">poll numbers plunged</a> right after Rep. Tulsi Gabbard slammed her at a Democratic presidential debate and haven&#8217;t recovered; she&#8217;s hovering at a puny 6.2% in the <a href="https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2020/president/us/2020_democratic_presidential_nomination-6730.html">RealClearPolitics average</a>.
And on Tuesday, MSNBC&#8217;s Joe Scarborough, no fan of President Trump, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/51872/joe-scarborough-blasts-kamala-harris-pushing-paul-bois">lacerated Harris</a> for her strident comments about impeaching Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh after a New York Times &#8220;scoop&#8221; alleging that he forced his penis into the hands of a girl at Yale. Scarborough snapped, &#8220;As a prosecutor, she really should put an &#8216;alleged&#8217; in front of the word victims, especially in the case of The New York Times essay, the baffling essay, the baffling editing process that they put forward.&#8221;

California Bans State-Funded Travel To Iowa. Ted Cruz Hilariously Educates Them.

California

Kamala Harris

Actress and left-wing activist Alyssa Milano has appeared to soften her tune after meeting with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) to discuss gun control issues.
The two met to talk about how to reduce mass shootings in a way that would not infringe on Americans’ Second Amendment rights. The discussion was “<a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/if-alyssa-milano-and-ted-cruz-can-have-a-civil-debate-we-all-can">largely amicable</a>,” The Washington Examiner reported. After the discussion, Milano said that Cruz “<a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/he-isnt-a-villain-alyssa-milano-praises-ted-cruz-after-gun-control-meeting">isn’t a villain</a>.”
The meeting occurred after the two took swipes at each other on Twitter last week. The Daily Wire’s Ryan Saavedra <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/51284/milano-wants-know-why-self-defense-god-given-right-ryan-saavedra">reported</a> that Milano asked where the Bible discusses gun ownership.
“Can someone cite which passage of the Bible God states it is a god-given right to own a gun?&#8221; Milano tweeted. &#8220;This guy is unbelievable and is clearly owned by the gun lobby. #NoRA&#8221;
The “guy” she was referring to was Texas State Rep. Matt Schaefer of Tyler, who had tweeted: “I am NOT going to use the evil acts of a handful of people to diminish the God-given rights of my fellow Texans. Period. None of these so-called gun-control solutions will work to stop a person with evil intent.”
Cruz responded to Milano with 10 tweets explaining that defense is essential to the God-given right to life and liberty.
“An excellent Q, worth considering carefully w/o the snark of Twitter,” Cruz tweeted. “It is of course not the right to a modern-day firearm that is God-give[n] but rather the right to Life &amp; the right to Liberty. Essential to that right to life is the right to DEFEND your life &amp; your family.&#8221;
Cruz also cited a bible passage about self-defense and noted several people who had successfully defended themselves with firearms.
“Playing politics w/ these deranged crimes—and trying to use them as an excuse to violate the constl rights of law-abiding citizens—won’t make anybody safer. Forcible gun confiscation (as some 2020 Dems urge) won’t prevent mass-murders. But it would weaken our self-defense,&#8221; Cruz concluded.
The next day, Milano <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/51303/alyssa-milano-responds-ted-cruz-bullsh-challenge-james-barrett">responded</a> to Cruz by saying she would “love to come in and meet with you on the gun issue and many other issues that include life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” The actress added that she would be in Washington, D.C. the following week so the pair could “live-stream the meeting so the American people can hear your bullsh** 1st hand.&#8221;
Cruz accepted, and the two actually met.
On Friday, Milano penned an op-ed for CNN explaining why she met with Cruz and what came of the discussion.
“Cruz and I agree on very little. He is a stalwart conservative; I am a committed progressive,&#8221; Milano wrote.
&#8220;I know we didn&#8217;t change his mind on how we fix gun violence in America. And he didn&#8217;t change ours. But maybe we understand one another a little better,” Milano added. “Here&#8217;s what I came away with that I wasn&#8217;t so sure of before the meeting: Ted Cruz is a human being. He is a real person. He isn&#8217;t a villain in a movie. He cares when these shootings happen. When people on my side of this fight say he doesn&#8217;t, they&#8217;re wrong.”
Milano still appears to hope Cruz will agree to do what she wants on gun control, but perhaps the meeting will help stop gun-control advocates from claiming those who still support the Second Amendment are not okay with murder.

Alyssa Milano Has Nice Things To Say About Ted Cruz After Meeting

Gun Control

CNN&#8217;s town hall on climate change Wednesday gave the relatively few viewers (<a href="https://www.foxnews.com/media/cnns-marathon-town-hall-on-climate-change-finishes-behind-fox-news-msnbc">compared</a> to Fox News and MSNBC) two particularly memorable moments: One featured front-runner Joe Biden getting &#8220;defensive&#8221; over a report that he was about to attend a fundraiser with a guy who co-founded a fossil fuel company. The second moment that has stirred up a strong response was delivered by democratic socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), who emphatically endorsed &#8220;curb[ing] population growth&#8221; through promoting abortion and birth control, &#8220;especially in poor countries.&#8221;
&#8220;Human population growth has more than doubled in the last 50 years, the planet cannot sustain this growth,&#8221; <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/51397/bernie-suggests-funding-abortions-poor-countries-ryan-saavedra">said</a> a teacher CNN gave a chance to ask a question. &#8220;Empowering women, and educating everyone on the need to curb population growth seems a reasonable campaign to enact. Would you be courageous enough to discuss this issue and make it a key feature of a plan to address climate catastrophe.&#8221;
&#8220;The answer&#8217;s &#8216;yes,'&#8221; said Sanders. &#8220;Women in the United States of Americas, by the way, have a right to control their own bodies and make reproductive decisions. And the Mexico City agreement — which denies American aid to those organizations around the world that allow women to have abortions or even get involved in birth control — to me is totally absurd.&#8221;
The socialist senator then drove home his point about population control in poor countries: &#8220;So I think, especially in poor countries around the world where women do not necessarily want to have large numbers of babies and where they can have the opportunity through birth control to control the number of kids they have, it&#8217;s something I very strongly support.&#8221;
In response, Republican Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) issued a news alert that&#8217;s ended up making the rounds on social media: &#8220;In a surprise move, last night Bernie announced Thanos as his running mate,&#8221; he tweeted.
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">In a surprise move, last night Bernie announced Thanos as his running mate <a href="https://t.co/OKaRO0zRkp">https://t.co/OKaRO0zRkp</a>
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) <a href="https://twitter.com/tedcruz/status/1169599737210834944?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 5, 2019</a></blockquote>
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Sanders&#8217; &#8220;curb population growth&#8221; comments have been met with strong pushback, particularly from the right. But Biden has been met with backlash largely from the left for his performance.
The leader of the left-leaning news, The New York Times, described Biden&#8217;s performance at the town hall as &#8220;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2019/democrats-climate-town-hall/joe-biden-climate-change">defensive</a>,&#8221; particularly when he was asked &#8220;the toughest question of the night&#8221;: &#8220;How can he be trusted to stand up to fossil fuel companies when he has plans to attend a fund-raiser tomorrow hosted by Andrew Goldman, a co-founder of Western LNG, a liquefied natural gas production company.&#8221; The Times describes his response:
<blockquote>Mr. Biden appeared caught by surprise at the CNN climate forum on Wednesday night and countered, &#8220;He&#8217;s not a fossil fuel executive&#8221; before pivoting to his history of fighting corporate polluters. Pressed about Mr. Goldman&#8217;s role, Mr. Biden said &#8220;I didn’t realize he does that&#8221; and said he would look into whether the fund-raiser violated his pledge not to accept money from fossil fuel companies. The Intercept, a political news site, first reported the fund-raiser hosted by Mr. Goldman.</blockquote>
&#8220;I was told by my staff he doesn&#8217;t have any responsibility related to the company,&#8221; Biden insisted. &#8220;If that turns out not to be true, then I will not, in any way, accept his help,&#8221; he pledged.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/51413/walsh-bernie-sanders-wants-exterminate-surplus-matt-walsh">WALSH: Bernie Sanders Wants To Exterminate The Surplus Human Population. But Why Isn&#8217;t He In The Surplus?</a>

thanos_gi

Bernie Pushes Population Control In Poor Countries To Save Planet; Cruz Smacks Him

Bernie Sanders

Climate Change

Democratic Party

Disney

Joe Biden

Marvel

Republican Party

Democratic presidential hopeful Andrew Yang suggested on Monday that the news media should consider a moratorium on disclosing the identities of mass shooters so as not to give them notoriety for their heinous acts.
&#8220;I know it would be difficult to implement and is contrary to human nature – but I think we ought to explore not publicizing the identities or motivations of mass shooters,&#8221; Yang wrote on Twitter. &#8220;[It] would discourage those seeking notoriety or to spread twisted beliefs.&#8221;
Yang&#8217;s remarks come in the wake of a mass shooting outside of Odessa, Texas that left seven people dead and injured nearly two dozen others. The murders were carried out after a gunman opened fire on random bystanders following a routine traffic stop.
In a rare move, Odessa&#8217;s Police Chief Michael Gerke also declined to publicly divulge the identity of the shooter during a press conference on the deadly event.
&#8220;I&#8217;m not going to give him any notoriety for what he did,&#8221; Gerke told reporters on Sunday. The police department later revealed the alleged gunman&#8217;s name and age on its social media account.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) expressed his support for Yang&#8217;s proposal, noting that the focus should be on honoring those whose lives were lost and the heroism of law enforcement officers, rather than the attention-seeking murderers.
&#8220;I agree. Of course, law enforcement must investigate. But public officials [and] media (to the extent possible) should NEVER SAY THEIR NAME,&#8221; Cruz replied to Yang. &#8220;These murderers crave notoriety, but they deserve to be forgotten.&#8221;
&#8220;Instead, we should celebrate the victims, the first responders [and] the heroes,&#8221; the senator added.
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">I agree. Of course, law enforcement must investigate. But public officials &amp; media (to the extent possible) should NEVER SAY THEIR NAME. These murderers crave notoriety, but they deserve to be forgotten. Instead, we should celebrate the victims, the first responders &amp; the heroes. <a href="https://t.co/LjSUBvKJ8D">https://t.co/LjSUBvKJ8D</a>
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) <a href="https://twitter.com/tedcruz/status/1168868497495138306?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 3, 2019</a></blockquote>
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Accordingly, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) <a href="https://www.fbi.gov/news/pressrel/press-releases/fbi-statement-regarding-shootings-in-el-paso-and-dayton">issued a statement</a> in early August following back-to-back mass shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio, which sounded the alarm on the likelihood that heavily publicized killings could inspire copycats.
&#8220;The FBI remains concerned that U.S.-based domestic violent extremists could be come inspired by these and previous high-profile attacks to engage in similar acts of violence,&#8221; the law enforcement agency wrote in a press release.
After a steady stream of mass shootings over the past few years, many have questioned whether the media has been inadvertently contributing to these attacks through its coverage.
For years, advocates of the &#8220;no notoriety&#8221; movement have been encouraging media outlets to change how they cover mass violence contending that perpetrators often model their own crimes on other high-profile attacks in a desire for recognition.
A <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0117259">2015 study on mass shootings</a> in America found evidence that backed up the theory of the &#8220;contagion effect,&#8221; which states that national media coverage does result in the increased frequency of horrific mass murders.
The calls to prevent murderers from gaining nationwide attention stems back as far as the 1999 shooting and bomb attack at Columbine High School outside of Denver. The gunmen became household names and even in death continue to be cited as motivation for a host of more recent shooting sprees.
While the FBI appears hesitant to refer to these individuals by name for fear of inspiring copycat killers, many in the legacy media continue to identify the names and motivations of these crimes.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/51303/alyssa-milano-responds-ted-cruz-bullsh-challenge-james-barrett">Alyssa Milano Responds To Ted Cruz With ‘Bullsh**’ Challenge; He Accepts</a>

Ted Cruz Backs 2020 Democrat’s Call To Not Name Mass Shooters

Andrew Yang

In response to actress-turned-activist Alyssa Milano scoffing at the concept that the right to defend oneself with a firearm is &#8220;God-given,&#8221; Republican Sen. Ted Cruz (TX) <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/51284/milano-wants-know-why-self-defense-god-given-right-ryan-saavedra">offered</a> the actress a biblical, constitutional, and historical lesson over the weekend. Clearly not appreciative of the senator&#8217;s effort to educate her, Milano dropped a quick biblical reference herself then challenged Cruz to meet with her in person and &#8220;live-stream the meeting so the American people can hear your bullsh** 1st hand.&#8221; Cruz, a former debate champion, happily accepted the challenge.
&#8220;I&#8217;d love to come in and meet with you on the gun issue and many other issues that include life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, [Sen. Ted Cruz] and also, 1 Peter 4:8,&#8221; Milano wrote Sunday after Cruz responded to her tweet mocking a Republican congressman for saying that self-defense with a gun is a &#8220;God-given&#8221; right. She continued, &#8220;I&#8217;ll be in DC next week. We can live-stream the meeting so the American people can hear your bullsh** 1st hand.&#8221;
1 Peter 4:8 states, &#8220;Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.&#8221;
Cruz, winner of both the U.S. National Debating Championship and the North American Debating Championship, gladly accepted Milano&#8217;s &#8220;bullsh**&#8221; challenge.
&#8220;I&#8217;d be happy to sit down &amp; visit next week about uniting to stop gun violence &amp; about the Constitution,&#8221; Cruz replied. &#8220;If we can have a civil &amp; positive conversation—in the spirit of 1 Peter 4:8 as you suggest—despite our political differences, that might help resolve the discord in our Nation.&#8221;
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">I’d love to come in and meet with you on the gun issue and many other issues that include life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, <a href="https://twitter.com/tedcruz?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@tedcruz</a> and also, 1 Peter 4:8.
I’ll be in DC next week. We can live-stream the meeting so the American people can hear your bullshit 1st hand. <a href="https://t.co/S3ljfjjOtG">https://t.co/S3ljfjjOtG</a>
— Alyssa Milano (@Alyssa_Milano) <a href="https://twitter.com/Alyssa_Milano/status/1168397523951579136?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 2, 2019</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">I’d be happy to sit down &amp; visit next week about uniting to stop gun violence &amp; about the Constitution. If we can have a civil &amp; positive conversation—in the spirit of 1 Peter 4:8 as you suggest—despite our political differences, that might help resolve the discord in our Nation. <a href="https://t.co/YfkB97wAA0">https://t.co/YfkB97wAA0</a>
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) <a href="https://twitter.com/tedcruz/status/1168721087544397829?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 3, 2019</a></blockquote>
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The public feud between Milano and Cruz began when the actress posted a mocking response to Republican Rep. Matt Schaeffer referencing people&#8217;s &#8220;God-given rights.&#8221; &#8220;I am NOT going to use the evil acts of a handful of people to diminish the God-given rights of my fellow Texans. Period,&#8221; Schaeffer tweeted Saturday. &#8220;None of these so-called gun-control solutions will work to stop a person with evil intent.&#8221;
&#8220;Can someone cite which passage of the Bible God states it is a god-given right to own a gun?&#8221; Milano responded. &#8220;This guy is unbelievable and is clearly owned by the gun lobby.&#8221;
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">Can someone cite which passage of the Bible God states it is a god-given right to own a gun? This guy is unbelievable and is clearly owned by the gun lobby. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NoRA?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NoRA</a> <a href="https://t.co/PxVV1RoV2Z">https://t.co/PxVV1RoV2Z</a>
— Alyssa Milano (@Alyssa_Milano) <a href="https://twitter.com/Alyssa_Milano/status/1168293913825693697?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 1, 2019</a></blockquote>
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In his trademark style, Cruz replied to the actress&#8217;s scoffing tweet with a cordial and thorough response.
&#8220;An excellent Q, worth considering carefully w/o the snark of Twitter,&#8221; Cruz wrote in a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/51284/milano-wants-know-why-self-defense-god-given-right-ryan-saavedra">series of tweets</a>. &#8220;It is of course not the right to a modern-day firearm that is God-give[n] but rather the right to Life &amp; the right to Liberty. Essential to that right to life is the right to DEFEND your life &amp; your family. The right to self-defense is recognized repeatedly in the Bible, eg Exodus 22:2: &#8216;If a thief is caught breaking in at night &amp; is struck a fatal blow, the defender is not guilty of bloodshed.&#8217; (Note, though, verse 3 says it IS murder if during daylight (ie, not self-defense).&#8221;
Cruz then turned to our foundational documents: &#8220;The Declaration of Independence acknowledges our rights thusly: &#8216;We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.&#8217; And, for that reason, the Second Amendment provides &#8216;the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, SHALL NOT be infringed.&#8217; It wasn’t to protect people’s ability to hunt, or to shoot target practice, but to defend their lives, their homes &amp; their families.&#8221;
Cruz then cited an example of an American using his God-given right to self-defense to save others&#8217; lives: &#8220;Stephen Willeford exercised that fundamental right when he risked his own life to stop the Sutherland Springs murderer, saving countless others as a result.&#8221;
The senator then got a little more scholarly: &#8220;George Tucker, one of the most important scholars in early America, explained the reasons behind the Second Amendment as follows: &#8216;This may be considered as the true palladium of liberty. . . . The right of self defence is the first law of nature in most govts it has been the study of rulers to confine this right w/in the narrowest limits possible. Wherever&#8230;the right&#8230;to keep &amp; bear arms is, under any&#8230;pretext whatsoever, prohibited, liberty, if not already annihilated, is on the brink of destruction.'&#8221;
Cruz also cited some key examples from American history underscoring the importance of self-defense through firearms: &#8220;That’s also why, post Civil War, disarming Black Americans was a critical objective of the KKK, and was memorialized in countless Jim Crow laws—to strip African-Americans of their God-given right to self-defense from violence.&#8221;
&#8220;I&#8217;m a Texan. What happened in Midland-Odessa—and El Paso, Santa Fe &amp; Sutherland Springs—was sick, deranged &amp; horrifying,&#8221; Cruz concluded. &#8220;We need to do MUCH more to stop violent criminals &amp; those w/ dangerous mental illness BEFORE they murder &amp; I’m leading the fight in the Senate to do so.&#8221;
H/T <a href="https://twitchy.com/samj-3930/2019/09/03/bless-her-angry-little-heart-alyssa-milano-lashes-out-after-ted-cruz-drops-a-whole-lotta-2a-knowledge-on-her-in-epic-thread/">Twitchy</a>
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/51301/beto-mocks-thoughts-prayers-drops-f-bomb-cnn-now-james-barrett">Beto Mocks ‘Thoughts &amp; Prayers,’ Drops F-Bomb On CNN; Now He’s Selling This Shirt</a>

Alyssa Milano Responds To Ted Cruz With ‘Bullsh**’ Challenge; He Accepts

Second Amendment

Far-left activist Alyssa Milano inquired on Sunday about whether self-defense was a God-given right, and she promptly received a first-class education from Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) on the subject.
&#8220;Can someone cite which passage of the Bible God states it is a god-given right to own a gun?&#8221; Milano tweeted. &#8220;This guy is unbelievable and is clearly owned by the gun lobby. #NoRA&#8221;
Milano&#8217;s tweet was directed at Texas State Rep. Matt Schaefer (R-Tyler), who delivered a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/51279/texas-lawmaker-delivers-blistering-rebuke-anti-gun-ryan-saavedra">blistering rebuke</a> to anti-Second Amendment advocates in response to this weekend&#8217;s tragedy in Odessa, Texas, in which a man went on a shooting spree after being pulled over by troopers, taking the lives of 7 people and injuring over 20.
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Can someone cite which passage of the Bible God states it is a god-given right to own a gun? This guy is unbelievable and is clearly owned by the gun lobby. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NoRA?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NoRA</a> <a href="https://t.co/PxVV1RoV2Z">https://t.co/PxVV1RoV2Z</a>
— Alyssa Milano (@Alyssa_Milano) <a href="https://twitter.com/Alyssa_Milano/status/1168293913825693697?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 1, 2019</a></blockquote>
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Cruz responded with a 10-tweet thread, beginning: &#8220;An excellent Q, worth considering carefully w/o the snark of Twitter. It is of course not the right to a modern-day firearm that is God-give[n] but rather the right to Life &amp; the right to Liberty. Essential to that right to life is the right to DEFEND your life &amp; your family.&#8221;
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">An excellent Q, worth considering carefully w/o the snark of Twitter. It is of course not the right to a modern-day firearm that is God-give but rather the right to Life &amp; the right to Liberty. Essential to that right to life is the right to DEFEND your life &amp; your family. 1/x <a href="https://t.co/8pjstMGrGB">https://t.co/8pjstMGrGB</a>
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) <a href="https://twitter.com/tedcruz/status/1168310869425577989?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 1, 2019</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;The right to self-defense is recognized repeatedly in the Bible, eg Exodus 22:2: &#8216;If a thief is caught breaking in at night &amp; is struck a fatal blow, the defender is not guilty of bloodshed.&#8217; (Note, though, verse 3 says it IS murder if during daylight (ie, not self-defense),&#8221; Cruz continued. &#8220;The Declaration of Independence acknowledges our rights thusly: &#8216;We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.'&#8221;
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">3/x The Declaration of Independence acknowledges our rights thusly: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) <a href="https://twitter.com/tedcruz/status/1168312762910617601?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 2, 2019</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;And, for that reason, the Second Amendment provides &#8216;the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, SHALL NOT be infringed.&#8217; It wasn’t to protect people’s ability to hunt, or to shoot target practice, but to defend their lives, their homes &amp; their families,&#8221; Cruz continued. &#8220;Stephen Willeford exercised that fundamental right when he risked his own life to stop the Sutherland Springs murderer, saving countless others as a result.&#8221;
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">5/x Stephen Willeford exercised that fundamental right when he risked his own life to stop the Sutherland Springs murderer, saving countless others as a result.
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) <a href="https://twitter.com/tedcruz/status/1168314027195285505?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 2, 2019</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;St. George Tucker, one of the most important scholars in early America, explained the reasons behind the Second Amendment as follows: &#8216;This may be considered as the true palladium of liberty. . . . The right of self defence is the first law of nature&#8230;.,'&#8221; Cruz continued. &#8220;&#8216;&#8230;in most govts it has been the study of rulers to confine this right w/in the narrowest limits possible. Wherever&#8230;the right&#8230;to keep &amp; bear arms is, under any&#8230;pretext whatsoever, prohibited, liberty, if not already annihilated, is on the brink of destruction.'&#8221;
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">7/x “&#8230;in most govts it has been the study of rulers to confine this right w/in the narrowest limits possible. Wherever&#8230;the right&#8230;to keep &amp; bear arms is, under any&#8230;pretext whatsoever, prohibited, liberty, if not already annihilated, is on the brink of destruction.”
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) <a href="https://twitter.com/tedcruz/status/1168315385969618944?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 2, 2019</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;That’s also why, post Civil War, disarming Black Americans was a critical objective of the KKK, and was memorialized in countless Jim Crow laws—to strip African-Americans of their God-given right to self-defense from violence,&#8221; Cruz continued. &#8220;I’m a Texan. What happened in Midland-Odessa—and El Paso, Santa Fe &amp; Sutherland Springs—was sick, deranged &amp; horrifying. We need to do MUCH more to stop violent criminals &amp; those w/ dangerous mental illness BEFORE they murder &amp; I’m leading the fight in the Senate to do so.&#8221;
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">9/x I’m a Texan. What happened in Midland-Odessa—and El Paso, Santa Fe &amp; Sutherland Springs—was sick, deranged &amp; horrifying. We need to do MUCH more to stop violent criminals &amp; those w/ dangerous mental illness BEFORE they murder &amp; I’m leading the fight in the Senate to do so.
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) <a href="https://twitter.com/tedcruz/status/1168318339409686531?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 2, 2019</a></blockquote>
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Cruz concluded: &#8220;Playing politics w/ these deranged crimes—and trying to use them as an excuse to violate the constl rights of law-abiding citizens—won’t make anybody safer. Forcible gun confiscation (as some 2020 Dems urge) won’t prevent mass-murders. But it would weaken our self-defense.&#8221;
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">10/x Playing politics w/ these deranged crimes—and trying to use them as an excuse to violate the constl rights of law-abiding citizens—won’t make anybody safer. Forcible gun confiscation (as some 2020 Dems urge) won’t prevent mass-murders. But it would weaken our self-defense.
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) <a href="https://twitter.com/tedcruz/status/1168319304590352385?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 2, 2019</a></blockquote>
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Milano, who recently came out and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/50851/alyssa-milano-admits-she-had-two-abortions-1993-paul-bois">bragged</a> about two abortions she had when she was younger, did not respond to Cruz&#8217;s reply to her.

Ted Cruz, Alyssa Milano

Milano Wants To Know Why Self-Defense Is God-Given Right. Cruz Educates Her.

Gun Laws

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) revealed on Wednesday that the organization is officially partnering with the United States Census Bureau to promote Muslim participation in the upcoming decennial census.
“CAIR is proud to partner with the U.S. Census Bureau to ensure American Muslims are fairly and accurately counted in the 2020 Census,” Nihad Awad, CAIR’s National Executive Director, said in <a href="https://www.cair.com/cair_announces_formal_partnership_with_census_bureau_to_promote_u_s_2020_census">a press release.</a> “Full participation in the census ensures that American Muslims will be better represented in Congress and that their communities receive an equal share in state and federal programs.”
The census, which is conducted every decade, aims to count every living person inside the United States and its territories and collect data about the American people and the economy. In addition to allocating the number of seats in the U.S. House of Representatives that each state receives, the census also helps determine how more than $675 billion in federal funding is distributed in the form of public assistance or grant applications.
“CAIR wants to ensure that not only are American Muslim communities being fairly counted, but that their neighbors are getting a fair share in federal and state funding,” the organization wrote in a statement.
The organization will also be working in partnership with the Census Bureau to prevent Muslim communities from being the possible targets of scams.
CAIR, the self-proclaimed largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization in America, has a stated mission to “enhance understanding of Islam, protect civil rights, promote justice, and empower American Muslims,” according to<a href="https://www.cair.com/about_us"> its own website</a>.
However, the organization has strong ties to the Palestinian-Arab Sunni fundamentalist group Hamas and Hamas&#8217;s transnational Sunni Islamist patron, the Muslim Brotherhood. In 2008, the U.S. Department of Justice listed CAIR as an unindicted co-conspirator in funneling millions of dollars to Hamas, as part of a vast network — centered around the now-defunct Texas-based Holy Land Foundation — supporting the terrorist organization. And the United Arab Emirates named CAIR a terrorist organization, along with al-Qaeda and ISIS, in November 2014 due to its ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.
While the United States government has not officially designated CAIR or the Muslim Brotherhood as terrorist organizations, CAIR launched a smear campaign against Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) in 2017 after the Texas senator introduced legislation that would change the Muslim Brotherhood’s terrorist designation.
“The Muslim Brotherhood does not represent the Muslim community; they antagonize it,” Cruz told <a href="https://freebeacon.com/national-security/muslim-brotherhood-ally-falsely-smears-senator-block-terror-designation-bill/">The Washington Free Beacon</a> at the time. “If CAIR’s true mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, and empower American Muslims, it would be of great value to denounce the Muslim Brotherhood, along with its radical teachings and commitment to violent jihad.”
David Reaboi, a national security expert and political warfare consultant, echoed a similar sentiment.
“As the debate on the Brotherhood heats up, Americans shouldn’t be surprised to see those who’ve argued for decades that Hamas isn’t a terrorist group are also adamant that the Muslim Brotherhood isn’t one either,” Reaboi told the Free Beacon.
UPDATE: The U.S. Commerce Department has now reversed its decision to partner with CAIR, according to <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/census-bureau-abruptly-ends-just-announced-partnership-with-muslim-advocacy-group-cair">Fox News</a>.

United States Census

Hamas-Linked Organization Partners With U.S. Census Bureau

CAIR

On Wednesday, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) took aim at Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) for his praise of Communist China, in which Sanders stated that Communist China had made &#8220;more progress in addressing extreme poverty than any country in the history of civilization.&#8221;
Cruz, who has been an aggressive opponent of the Communist China regime and whose knowledge of history, in all likelihood, far outstrips Sanders’, fired back on Twitter, snapping, &#8220;Sure, the Chinese Communists have wrongfully imprisoned &amp; tortured millions, and they have murdered over 65 million people, but Bernie may have a point: when you’re dead, your poverty’s solved, right? #AbsurdLeftistPropaganda.&#8221;
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Sure, the Chinese Communists have wrongfully imprisoned &amp; tortured millions, and they have murdered over 65 million people, but Bernie may have a point: when you’re dead, your poverty’s solved, right? <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/AbsurdLeftistPropaganda?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#AbsurdLeftistPropaganda</a> <a href="https://t.co/dYFpjLHpXf">https://t.co/dYFpjLHpXf</a>
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) <a href="https://twitter.com/tedcruz/status/1166545213906665473?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 28, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
The story that triggered Cruz to demolish Sanders came from <a href="https://thehill.com/hilltv/rising/458976-sanders-china-had-done-more-to-address-extreme-poverty-than-any-country-in-the">The Hill</a>, which lauded Sanders’ &#8220;nuanced view of Beijing.&#8221; Sanders told Hill.TV’s Krystal Ball, &#8220;China is a country that is moving unfortunately in a more authoritarian way in a number of directions. But what we have to say about China in fairness to China and its leadership is if I’m not mistaken they have made more progress in addressing extreme poverty than any country in the history of civilization, so they’ve done a lot of things for their people.&#8221;
This is not the first time Cruz has flattened Sanders, whom he must regard as his own personal punching bag. In February 2017 they debated healthcare, and Cruz <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/13296/watch-7-best-moments-ted-cruzs-smackdown-bernie-aaron-bandler">lacerated Sanders</a> several times. He forced Sanders to admit that former President Barack Obama lied about Obamacare and destroyed Sanders&#8217;s socialist philosophy after agreeing that corruption permeates Washington, D.C., then turning to Sanders and saying, &#8220;If the problem is that government is corrupt, why on Earth would you want more power in Washington?&#8221;
In October 2017 the two senators debated the GOP’s tax reform plan, which Sanders had described as &#8220;Robin Hood in reverse.&#8221; That prompted this classic slam-down from Cruz: &#8220;I think Bernie fundamentally misunderstood that story. Robin was robbing the tax collectors who were collecting too much taxes from the working men and women and taking it from the rich. In Bernie’s analogy, it is the Democrats who are King John and the Sheriff of Nottingham, and Robin is saying, &#8216;Tax collectors, stop hammering people who are struggling, who are laboring in the fields, who are working. Stop taking it to the castle to give out to your buddies.'&#8221;
<div class="embed video fluid-video"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/q30tkLMGQ7I" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></div>
Cruz has also been strong targeting China; in April 2019 he <a href="https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/apr/10/ted-cruz-says-china-is-greatest-us-threat/">stated</a>, &#8220;China is in my view the greatest long-term geopolitical risk to the United States. They are the greatest risk militarily, they are the greatest risk economically, and they are the greatest risk in expanding their world influence and seeking to constrain our own.&#8221;
In June 2019 Cruz teamed with Rep. Francis Rooney (R-FL), who was the vice chairman of the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee before the Democrats took the House in 2018, to <a href="http://www.sunshinestatenews.com/story/francis-rooney-ted-cruz-continue-fight-against-china-stealing-technology-through-american">bring back</a> the &#8220;Stop Higher Education Espionage and Theft (SHEET) Act.&#8221; Cruz stated:
<blockquote>Thirty years ago, the world watched in horror as tens of thousands of Chinese soldiers mowed down protestors who had assembled in Tiananmen Square to demand freedom from the tyranny of Communism. That tyranny lives on today in forms as open as political violence and as insidious as mass ubiquitous surveillance. Today we remember the bravery of Chinese dissidents all around the world. We must stand with the brave men and women who continue to fight for liberty in China, both to honor the legacy of those who died in the fight and to elevate the cause of those who continue the battle today. As we remember their courage, the U.S. must remain steadfast in protecting our own people. The Communist Party is infiltrating American society to censor free speech and steal sensitive research. Groups like Confucius Institutes, China Student Scholars Association and the Thousand Talents program threaten the integrity of our universities and research. We must counter these efforts, and I am proud to reintroduce the SHEET Act.</blockquote>

Ted Cruz, Bernie Sanders

Sanders Praises Communist China. Ted Cruz Crushes Him With One Tweet.

Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne, who resigned from the company on Thursday amid his alleged ties to a government operation, made bombshell accusations on CNN late on Thursday night, claiming that top FBI officials reached out to him in 2015-2016 to conduct law enforcement activities that turned out to be political espionage.
Byrne appeared to indicate that the request came from FBI agents after it was passed down from a top FBI official, who he later says he learned was anti-Trump agent Peter Strzok. Byrne said that the political espionage operation targeted four candidates: Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, Marco Rubio, and Ted Cruz.
Byrne appeared on Fox News with Martha MacCallum before he went on CNN, where he &#8220;said that all of the purported information he gleaned from his experiences ultimately landed in the hands of Connecticut U.S. Attorney John Durham, who has been conducting an investigation into the origins of the Russia probe at the behest of Attorney General William Barr,&#8221; <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/media/patrick-byrne-overstock-claims-interview-politics">Fox News</a> reported.
MacCallum then asked former Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker to respond to the wild allegations that Byrne was making.
&#8220;He&#8217;s describing it like he was being used as a source and being inserted into a situation by the feds, and there are protocols for handling sources,&#8221; Whitaker said. &#8220;All of this can be corroborated. That&#8217;s the key. This whole situation has to be corroborated and the nice thing about John Durham is that he has the full picture of everything that was feeding into this investigation.&#8221;
Last month, <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/reluctant-witnesses-in-fisa-abuse-probe-agree-to-talk-to-doj-inspector-general">Fox News</a> reported that &#8220;key witnesses sought for questioning by Justice Department Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz early in his investigation into alleged government surveillance abuse have come forward at the 11th hour&#8221; in what was described as a &#8220;breakthrough.&#8221;
There is no indication from Fox News&#8217; report that Byrne was one of the people who came forward or that the story involves him.
WATCH:
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne says the FBI in 2015/2016 reached out to him and got him to help with law enforcement activities that turned out to be political espionage against Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, Marco Rubio, and Ted Cruz
Byrne says the request came from Peter Strzok <a href="https://t.co/ArfL8bpzdx">pic.twitter.com/ArfL8bpzdx</a>
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) <a href="https://twitter.com/RealSaavedra/status/1164713067717914624?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 23, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
Byrne claimed: &#8220;[FBI agents], they said, &#8216;we want to be clear, this never happens in the United States, we are the good guys, we don&#8217;t work like the bad guys, but we need to ask you to rekindle a romantic relationship with Maria Butina.'&#8221;
Maria Butina is a Russian national and a convicted spy who is currently serving an 18-month prison sentence &#8220;after she admitted to gathering intelligence on the National Rifle Association and other groups at the direction of a former Russian lawmaker,&#8221; <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/maria-butina-video-convicted-russian-agent-maria-butina-releases-video-from-jail/">CBS News</a> reported.
Byrne claims that the FBI agents told him that the orders were being &#8220;personally supervised&#8221; by three people, two of which he did not name, and the third person he claimed was former FBI Director James Comey.
WATCH:
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none" data-lang="en">BREAKING: Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne claims former FBI Director James Comey was involved in this entire operation <a href="https://t.co/4zfuwBftaM">pic.twitter.com/4zfuwBftaM</a>
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) <a href="https://twitter.com/RealSaavedra/status/1164716230277599232?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 23, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
Byrne claimed that he liked former President Barack Obama, did not vote for Trump, and that he could not believe what was going on that he claims happened.
Byrne claims that the FBI basically allowed the entire Russia scandal to develop so they could &#8220;shake it up and &#8230; spread it all over the Republican Party.&#8221;
Byrne claims that after the investigation was done that &#8220;it became clearer it was more about blackmail than it was law enforcement.&#8221;
WATCH:
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none" data-lang="en">Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne claims the FBI let the Russia scandal develop so they could &#8220;shake it up and &#8230; spread it all over the [GOP]&#8221;
Byrne claims &#8220;when the corruption investigation was done &#8230; it became clearer it was more about blackmail than it was law enforcement&#8221; <a href="https://t.co/ZKCrzdbvrR">pic.twitter.com/ZKCrzdbvrR</a>
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) <a href="https://twitter.com/RealSaavedra/status/1164741111207694337?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 23, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
This is a breaking news story, refresh the page for updates.

Patrick Byrne

Overstock CEO Bombshell Claim: FBI’s Strzok Behind Secret Espionage Operation, Comey Involved

Marco Rubio

Peter Strzok

On Monday, Jon Favreau, former speechwriter for former President Barack Obama and currently a co-host for Pod Save America, decided to attack Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) for his criticism of The New York Times. He should have known better; Cruz calmly took him apart as easily as a surgeon doing a simple operation.
Last Sunday, Cruz (R-TX) fired off a series of tweets lambasting The New York Times after a leaked transcript of a speech from New York Times executive editor Dean Baquet was <a href="https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/08/new-york-times-meeting-transcript.html">published by Slate</a>. As <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/50780/ted-cruz-unloads-new-york-times-after-paper-ashe-schow">The Daily Wire</a> reported, “The transcript showed the editor explaining that since the claim that President Donald Trump colluded with Russia to steal the 2016 election fell apart, the paper will now publish stories claiming Trump is a racist for the rest of his presidency.”
Cruz tweeted, “There was a time when journalists covered ‘news.’ The NYT has given up on even pretending anymore. Today, they are Pravda, a propaganda outlet by liberals, for liberals. These remarks at their ‘town hall’ are a scandal &amp; would be a firing offense at any real journalistic outlet.” He added, “The Editor says (in effect) ‘for 2 yrs, we covered ‘Russia, Russia, Russia,’ facts be damned; now we’ll scream ‘racism, racism, racism’ for 18 mos, and the rest of the media follow us.’ That’s not journalism.”
Cruz continued by slamming the Times’ 1619 Project, tweeting and quoting Baquet as he did so: “E.g., NYT: ‘One reason we all signed off on The 1619 Project [explained below] and made it so ambitious and expansive was TO TEACH OUR READERS TO THINK A LITTLE BIT MORE LIKE THAT.’ Does that sound like news? Or editorial? (Remember, this was the ‘News’ Editor.)”
He added, “What is the 1619 project? In NYT’s words: ‘It aims to REFRAME OUR COUNTRY’S HISTORY, understanding 1619 as OUR TRUE FOUNDING, and placing the consequences of slavery and the contributions of black Americans at the very center of the STORY WE TELL ourselves about who we are.”
That prompted Favreau to take the opportunity to rip Cruz for his criticism of the Times, a left-wing bastion, tweeting, “Ted Cruz picking a bad faith media bias fight with the New York Times and then retweeting all of the glowing coverage from right-wing propaganda sites is literally everything you need to know about <a href="https://twitter.com/tedcruz">@tedcruz</a>.”
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Ted Cruz picking a bad faith media bias fight with the New York Times and then retweeting all of the glowing coverage from right-wing propaganda sites is literally everything you need to know about <a href="https://twitter.com/tedcruz?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@tedcruz</a>.
— Jon Favreau (@jonfavs) <a href="https://twitter.com/jonfavs/status/1163675822730797056?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 20, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
But Favreau should have known that getting into a debate with Cruz, who among other things, has argued cases before the Supreme Court, is not a good idea. Cruz calmly picked Favreau apart, responding on Twitter, “Obama’s speechwriter demonstrates the problem. (1) He attacks, impugning motives, and ignores the substance. (2) With Dems (esp Obama), the media adoringly amplifies every word they say. (3) They refuse to cover any facts that conflict with their chosen Left-wing narrative.”
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Obama’s speechwriter demonstrates the problem. (1) He attacks, impugning motives, and ignores the substance. (2) With Dems (esp Obama), the media adoringly amplifies every word they say. (3) They refuse to cover any facts that conflict with their chosen Left-wing narrative. 1/x <a href="https://t.co/AQ0xYBMpvZ">https://t.co/AQ0xYBMpvZ</a>
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) <a href="https://twitter.com/tedcruz/status/1163807456495046656?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 20, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
Cruz then finished the job, concluding, “So of course I retweet stories about the NYT scandal (from Fox, Wash Times, Daily Wire, etc.) BECAUSE THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA REFUSES TO COVER IT. As best I can tell, ZERO stories in NYT, WaPo, ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN. Like you, they ignore the actual transcript of the NYT town hall.”
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">So of course I retweet stories about the NYT scandal (from Fox, Wash Times, Daily Wire, etc.) BECAUSE THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA REFUSES TO COVER IT. As best I can tell, ZERO stories in NYT, WaPo, ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN. Like you, they ignore the actual transcript of the NYT town hall. 2/x
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) <a href="https://twitter.com/tedcruz/status/1163808730024239104?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 20, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>

Senate Judiciary Committee Holds Confirmation Hearing For Attorney General Nominee William Barr

Cruz Rips NY Times. Obama Speechwriter Attacks Cruz. Cruz Dunks On Him.

Barack Obama

New York Times

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