Texas Weekly Online

Texas-trans-white
Menu
Menu

Author:

Edward Snowden calls on Biden to veto FISA renewal after Senate vote

Edward Snowden calls on Biden to veto FISA renewal after Senate vote

Whistleblower Edward Snowden called for President Joe Biden to veto the renewal of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) on Saturday after the Senate voted to pass the re-authorization on Friday.  “The House has voted to approve unconstitutional, warrantless searches of Americans’ communications,” Snowden wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “Now the Senate has too—late on Friday, after the media had gone home. Only the President can stop it from becoming law, and he won’t—because he’s the one that asked for it.” Snowden’s statements come after the upper chamber voted 60-34 to pass the re-authorization. Section 702 serves as a critical tool used by the government to gather intelligence on foreign subjects using the compelled assistance of electronic communication service providers.  SENATE PUSHES FORWARD FISA SURVEILLANCE BILL AS EXPIRATION LOOMS The measure is now headed to Biden’s desk for his signature.  Attorney General Merrick Garland issued a statement following the vote, calling Section 702 “indispensable to the Justice Department’s work to protect the American people from terrorist, nation-state, cyber, and other threats.”  “In today’s heightened global threat environment, the Justice Department will continue to use Section 702 to ensure that our efforts to keep our country safe are informed by the most valuable and timely intelligence, as we continue to uphold our commitment to protect the rights of all Americans,” Garland said in the statement.  The provision lapsed for less than an hour at midnight on Friday. Had the provision expired, companies would not have been forced to comply with government requests for surveillance aid under the bill. The government would then be required to obtain a warrant to compel any such assistance from companies. Bipartisan coalitions have grown on both sides of Section 702 renewal, with some arguing that the provision is a vital national security necessity, and others expressing concern over its violations of constitutional protections. ‘CONSTITUTIONAL AUTHORITY’ OF SENATE DEMS QUASHING MAYORKAS IMPEACHMENT TRIAL QUESTIONED BY EXPERTS Amendments proposed by Sens. Rand Paul, R-Ky., Roger Marshall, R-Kan., Ron Wyden, D-Ore., Josh Hawley, R-Mo., Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., were voted on prior to the bill’s final consideration.  “We cannot continue sacrificing our freedoms in the name of security. Rather than reining in FISA overreach, RISAA expands it dramatically,” Paul said before voting on his amendments commenced. “I urge my colleagues to support meaningful reforms that protect both national security and civil liberties.” Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., spoke out against the consideration of the amendments given the short deadline. None of the amendments secured enough votes, however, and were not added to the bill as a result.  The House of Representatives voted to pass the bill earlier this month, placing Speaker Mike Johnson in a tough spot between privacy and national security hawks within his conference.  Fox News’ Julia Johnson and Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report. 

House overwhelmingly passes $26 billion aid to Israel, Gaza as tensions with Iran escalate

House overwhelmingly passes billion aid to Israel, Gaza as tensions with Iran escalate

The House of Representatives showed overwhelming bipartisan support for a $26 billion foreign aid bill providing funding for Israel and humanitarian aid to Gaza. The bill predictably polarized the most right and left-wing members of Congress; the former are furious over the $9 billion in aid aimed at the State Department for civilians in Gaza, while the latter are opposed to more lethal aid to Israel.  The measure passed 366 to 58, and the chamber broke into applause after the bill passed. In a win for the House GOP’s razor-thin majority, the bill also prohibits funding from going toward the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), a Palestinian refugee agency alleged to have ties to Hamas. The bill’s passage is a resounding victory for Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., as he navigates an exceptionally fractured political environment. It’s part of a wider set of bills, totaling roughly $95 billion in foreign aid, that Johnson put on the House floor Saturday. The slate of bills also included aid for Ukraine and the Indo-Pacific as well as a fourth bill containing various national security priorities. TENSIONS ERUPT ON HOUSE FLOOR AS CONSERVATIVES CONFRONT JOHNSON ON $95B FOREIGN AID PLAN The vote comes as tensions in the Middle East escalate dramatically, particularly between Israel and Iran as Israel fights a war on the Palestinian terror group Hamas.  Israel carried out limited strikes against Iran on Friday in retaliation for a barrage of airstrikes Tehran fired on Israel, the first such direct attack from the Islamic fundamentalist government. No large-scale damage or casualties were reported in either incident. The issue of Israel has also been a divisive one for Democrats, as a growing faction of left-wing lawmakers criticize Israel’s invasion in response to Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack.  DEMS SAVE JOHNSON’S $95B FOREIGN AID PLAN FROM GOP REBEL BLOCKADE Republicans, for the most part, have been united in backing Israel and its conservative government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Johnson has put two previous Israel funding bills on the House floor, one that offset the funding with cuts to the IRS, and one which provided the funding without any strings attached. Neither was taken up by the Senate. This time, however, fiscal conservatives decried the lack of offsets and funding for Gaza. HOUSE TAKES KEY TEST VOTE FOR JOHNSON’S $95B FOREIGN AID PLAN AFTER DEMS HELP IT ADVANCE “I will always stand with our greatest ally in the Middle East, Israel. But I rise today to express my serious concerns with a very flawed supplemental. In November, I supported the first security supplemental for Israel, which was financially paid for and would have provided weapons and equipment for Israel’s fight against Hamas. The cost was offset by rescinding Democrats unprecedented expansion of the IRS. Today, we are considering a vastly different bill, one that is all borrowing another 26 billion of debt with no rescission,” House Freedom Caucus member Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Ga., said during debate on the bill. “The legislation also contains 400 million for FEMA, which has nothing to do with supporting Israel, and over $9 billion for humanitarian aid in…Gaza and the West Bank.” Clyde cited a Heritage Foundation report that said Hamas and other terror groups controlled the flow of all international humanitarian aid operating in Gaza. “It is therefore highly likely U.S. taxpayer-funded humanitarian aid to Gaza, including some of the aid in this bill, will again be diverted to support further Hamas attacks against Israel,” he said.

House passes $60B Ukraine aid bill as GOP rebels threaten to oust Johnson

House passes B Ukraine aid bill as GOP rebels threaten to oust Johnson

The House of Representatives has approved sending $60 billion to Ukraine for its defense against Russia’s invasion, an issue that has roiled Speaker Mike Johnson’s already perilously slim majority. The aid package passed 311 to 112, with more Democrats voted in favor than Republicans – and just 101 Republicans voted for the bill while 112 voted nay. In a dramatic moment toward the end of the vote, Democrats began passing around Ukrainian flags — in violation of House protocol, according to the lawmaker presiding over the vote, Rep. Marc Molinaro. The left side of the aisle exploded in cheers when the timer on the vote reached zero, earning admonishment from Molinaro, who told them the flag-waving was in violation of the rules and called it “inappropriate,” to which Democrats jeered. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., took to the microphones to chide, “Put those d–n flags away,” earning more verbal backlash from Democrats before the chamber was called to order for the next vote. DEMS SAVE JOHNSON’S $95B FOREIGN AID PLAN FROM GOP REBEL BLOCKADE House lawmakers are in session on a rare Saturday working to pass Johnson’s foreign aid plan, which also includes aid bills for Israel and the Indo-Pacific, as well as a bill with other national security measures. The close margins within the GOP alone show what a divisive topic Ukraine funding has become for the right. A growing number of fiscal conservatives have been skeptical about the U.S.’s continued financial involvement with Ukraine, while others have raised questions about corruption within Kyiv’s government.  Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s proposal to strip all funding related to Ukraine from the Ukraine funding bill predictably failed Saturday in a 71 to 351 vote. More traditional Republicans and national security hawks warn that Ukraine’s victory is critical to preventing a wider conflict between NATO and Russia, warning that its President Vladimir Putin is rapidly forming a second “axis of evil” with Iran and China. Johnson, who like his conservative colleagues was skeptical of Ukraine aid before becoming speaker, gave a sober warning earlier this week. “I really do believe the intel and the briefings that we’ve gotten that I believe [Chinese President Xi Jinpimg] and Vladimir Putin and Iran really are an axis of evil. And I think they’re in coordination on this. I think that Vladimir Putin would continue to march through Europe if he were allowed. I think he might go to the Balkans next. I think he might have a showdown with Poland or one of our NATO allies,” he told reporters. “To put it bluntly, I would rather send bullets to Ukraine than American boys,” he said. HOUSE TAKES KEY TEST VOTE FOR JOHNSON’S $95B FOREIGN AID PLAN AFTER DEMS HELP IT ADVANCE But his support for foreign aid, particularly Ukraine, is also threatening to cut short his tenure as House speaker. Greene filed a resolution for a House-wide vote to oust Johnson, known as a motion to vacate, last month in protest of his work with Democrats on government spending and foreign aid. Two more House Republicans — Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., formally backed her resolution this week. “[R]ather than spending the resources to secure our southern border and combating the invasion of 11 million illegals and despite repeated promises there would be no additional money going to Ukraine without first securing our border, the United States House of Representatives, under the direction of the Speaker, is on the verge of sending another $61 billion to further draw America into an endless and purposeless war in Ukraine,” Gosar said in a statement on Friday. “I have added my name in support of the motion to vacate the Speaker. Our border cannot be an afterthought.” TENSIONS ERUPT ON HOUSE FLOOR AS CONSERVATIVES CONFRONT JOHNSON ON $95B FOREIGN AID PLAN House leaders do not have to put Greene’s resolution up for a vote unless she files it as “privileged,” at which point it’s required that lawmakers act on it within two legislative days. Several Democrats, however, have indicated that they were open to helping save Johnson’s job if he put the Ukraine aid bill on the House floor. The bill with roughly $8 billion for the Indo-Pacific overwhelmingly passed 385 to 34 earlier on Saturday.

Fetterman highlights need for ‘safe, pure, taxed’ marijuana in 4/20 push to legalize weed

Fetterman highlights need for ‘safe, pure, taxed’ marijuana in 4/20 push to legalize weed

Sen. John Fetterman, D-Penn., made his case for marijuana legalization ahead of April 20, known as a holiday of sorts for those who enjoy smoking or otherwise consuming the drug.  “Right now, we’re doing this interview in Washington, D.C., and right now I could leave [and] go buy marijuana legally,” Fetterman told Fox News Digital in an interview on Friday. He compared the capital’s policy on the drug to that of his home state Pennsylvania, which only allows residents to legally use marijuana for medicinal purposes.  “Pennsylvanians wanted this five years ago,” he claimed, recalling his time campaigning throughout the state. “We’re still not there.” SENATE PASSES FISA SURVEILLANCE TOOL RENEWAL MINUTES AFTER MIDNIGHT DEADLINE Fetterman noted that most of the states surrounding the Keystone State had already made the drug legal for adults. “It’s not complicated. Other states have done that,” he said.  Ohio, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia, which surround Pennsylvania, have legalized marijuana for adult recreational use in small amounts.  The origins of 4/20’s association with marijuana are not agreed on, but it has been speculated that the holiday could have started in several ways. Some theorize that the number 420 was used by police to reference the drug, while others point to Bob Dylan’s “Rainy Day Women #12 & 35,” noting that when the numbers are multiplied they equal 420. Despite the various theories, there does not appear to be consensus on how the day began.  GOP LAWMAKERS SLAM BIDEN ADMINISTRATION’S NEW TITLE IX PROTECTIONS FOR ‘GENDER IDENTITY’ “It needs to be safe, pure, taxed and available,” Fetterman said, explaining that illegally purchased versions of the drug are difficult to trace and could be cut with dangerous substances, such as fentanyl. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, marijuana in small amounts has been made legal for recreational use by adults in 24 states, as well as Washington, D.C., and two U.S. territories.  “Any adult should be allowed to do that legally without any criminal … blowback,” the Pennsylania senator said.  REPUBLICANS ACCUSE BIDEN, SCHUMER OF EMBOLDENING IRAN PRIOR TO ATTACK ON ISRAEL Fetterman told Fox News Digital that he has encouraged President Biden directly to take federal steps towards “liberalizing” the drug.  He has also lobbied Biden to deschedule marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), under which the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) currently lists it as schedule I. This schedule includes drugs “with no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.” Marijuana is included in the list of schedule I substances, alongside heroin, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), ecstasy, and peyote, among others.  Fetterman stressed he doesn’t believe “anyone [should] have their lives impacted criminally for a nonviolent marijuana charge.” ‘CONSTITUTIONAL AUTHORITY’ OF SENATE DEMS QUASHING MAYORKAS IMPEACHMENT TRIAL QUESTIONED BY EXPERTS As for illegal markets that still exist in states where marijuana has been legalized, he noted that no states have implemented the policy perfectly, “but I think you’ll see that that will continue to evolve.” “Marijuana is going to continue” to become cheaper as policy develops, and “that will absolutely eliminate any of [those] illegal markets,” he claimed.  The senator also emphasized the bipartisan nature of efforts to reform marijuana policy. “Republicans want legal weed. Democrats want legal weed,” he said. “And I think this is a [place] where we could come together in a bipartisan way to say, ‘Look, let’s do this and just get on with it.’” 

ICE chief says this foreign adversary isn’t taking back its illegal immigrants

ICE chief says this foreign adversary isn’t taking back its illegal immigrants

The head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) told lawmakers this week that China is one of the top three countries he has identified as not doing enough to receive their illegal immigrants — just as the number of Chinese nationals has increased dramatically at the southern border. At a House Appropriations Committee hearing, acting ICE Director Patrick Lechleitner was asked by Rep. John Rutherford, R-Fla., to identify the top countries that are the most difficult to send back their nationals who are being deported from the U.S. “We’ve got Bhutan, top of the list there, Cambodia, they’ve been challenging, the People’s Republic of China, although we’ve had some recent cautiously optimistic progress with the Chinese, so I want to say it’s moving in the right direction there.” SPIKE IN ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS FROM THIS US ADVERSARY BLOWS LID OFF PREVIOUS YEAR’S RECORD  He also said that ICE is working with both other DHS agencies and the State Department in trying to rectify recalcitrant countries, but he noted that “it’s not an easy issue for them either,” given other factors, including geopolitical issues. DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas recently told lawmakers in the House that there recently had been one deportation flight to China after he spoke to counterparts in the communist country. The number of Chinese nationals entering the United States illegally and stopped by Border Patrol so far this fiscal year has exceeded the enormous number seen in all of fiscal year 2023 — with six months still to go. CLICK HERE FOR MORE COVERAGE OF THE BORDER SECURITY CRISIS According to Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data, in the first six months of fiscal 2024, which began in October, Border Patrol had caught 24,296 Chinese nationals crossing illegally between ports of entry. That exceeds the 24,125 caught in all of fiscal year 2023. For comparison, in fiscal 2022, there were just 1,987 apprehensions, and in fiscal 2021 there were just 342.  CHINESE ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT ARRESTED AFTER DRIVING ONTO MILITARY BASE IN CALIFORNIA Those numbers only account for those entering illegally between ports of entry. Including ports of entry, there have been 41,970 encounters, compared to 52,700 in fiscal 2023. Lawmakers and officials have raised concerns about the migrants’ potential ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the movement of fentanyl into the U.S. Last month, a Chinese illegal immigrant was detained in California after entering a Marine Corps base without authorization and ignoring orders to leave.