The Senatorial Kayfabe On Mayorkas Changes Nothing - But It Is Entertaining...,

KATV  |  Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., chastised Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas Thursday over his alleged mishandling of the southern border.

Mayorkas has been the subject of intense GOP scrutiny as the migrant crisis continues to overwhelm U.S. sanctuary cities. While the House issued articles of impeachment against the border czar this week, the Senate was quick to shoot them down.

Nonetheless, Mayorkas remains a polarizing figure on Capitol Hill. Sen. Paul criticized Mayorkas while hearing his testimony during a hearing of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

“How did the murderer of Laken Riley get into this country?” the senator asked, invoking the name of the 22-year-old allegedly slain by illegal migrant Jose Ibarra. “What is the statute that allowed you to do it? How could you sleep at night having done that?”

Also slamming Mayorkas was Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., who grilled him over repeatedly changing his answers when asked about how Ibarra entered the U.S.

“[Ibarra] was paroled into the United State due to lack of detention capacity,” Sen. Hawley said. “You and I both know you know this.”

You just never wanted to cop to it,” the senator added. “You testified falsely under oath.”

Mayorkas also took heat this week from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., who suggested he “should have deported” Riley, a U.S. citizen, to keep her safe.

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"Her parents would have appreciated that," the congresswoman added.

U.S. sanctuary cities are now using significant funding to care for migrants. New York City recently announced a $53 million pilot program to distribute prepaid debit cards to migrant families. Denver Mayor Mike Johnston last week touted his decision to cut back on $45.9 million worth of expenses as the city deals with an ongoing influx of migrants.

Mayor Q. Gillum NOT ABOUT To Upset The Local Criminal Public Safety Union...,

kcur |  Kansas City currently has a highly unusual setup for its police department. The department gets its funding largely from the city of Kansas City, but it is not directly controlled by the mayor or city council as other departments are.

Instead, since the late 1930s, it has been under state control and the governor appoints a five-member board to oversee it. Mayor Quinton Lucas is part of that board. The police chief reports to the board, not to the city council or to the city manager.

Read KCUR's "FAQ: Why Kansas City Doesn't Have Local Control Over Its Police Department And How That Could Change" 

Over the years there have been periodic calls to return the department to local control, in line with the way most big-city police departments are governed.

Supporters say local control would be one way to hold the police department accountable and more directly address the city’s serious violent crime and homicide problem.

Emanuel Cleaver III, who was among several local Black leaders who stood behind Lucas as he spoke, said he hadn't seen a movement like this in his lifetime. 

"I'm extremely hopeful and believe that we're going to see significant change," Cleaver said.

Cleaver said local control could open the door to other reforms — particularly the establishment of an independent police review board that would handle police complaints. 

Pastor Ronald Lindsay of Concord Fortress of Hope Church in south Kansas City said it's time for Kansas City residents to have a voice in the debate.

"I think that this is a transformative moment to rethink what community is and what being engaged in a health community and culture really looks like," Lindsay said. "It's hard work, it's ugly, but it's absolutely necessary."

Still, local control remains a controversial proposal. 

Opponents fear that it would make the police department vulnerable to political interference. And local control has often been opposed by the Fraternal Order of Police in Kansas City.

Lucas said while Kansas City Police Chief Rick Smith was informed of Thursday's announcement, they had yet to sit down and talk about it. 

On Thursday, several groups applauded the mayor’s announcement. The Metro Organization for Racial and Economic Equity, or MORE², said it was pleased with Lucas’ support of a ballot measure this year to garner voter support.

AG Bill Barr Say He Still Tryna Bring Coup Plotters To Justice

CTH |  AG Bill Barr notes John Durham will bring criminal charges against those in the previous administration: “he is looking to bring to justice people who were engaged in abuses if he can show that there were criminal violations; and that’s what the focus is on.”

INGRAHAM – John Brennan was smashing the President’s firing of Inspector General Michael Atkinson, let’s listen:

BRENNAN – “By removing Mr. Atkinson, and I think also sending a signal to others, Mr. Trump continues to show his insecurity in terms of trying to stop anybody who was going to expose, again the lawlessness, that I think he not only has allowed to continue, but also that he abets.”

BARR – “I think the president did the right thing in removing Atkinson. From the vantage point of the Dept. of Justice, he had interpreted his statute; which is a fairly narrow statute that gave him jurisdiction over wrong-doing by intelligence people; and tried to turn it into a commission to explore anything in the government, and immediately report it to congress without letting the executive branch look at it and determine whether there was any problem.  He was told this in a letter from the department of justice, and he is obliged to follow the interpretation of the department of justice, and he ignored it. So I think the President was correct in firing him.”

INGRAHAM – “An it’s the second inspector general he’s fired since the beginning of this pandemic. And of course that’s used to say: ‘well, the president doesn’t want a watchdog’.”

BARR – “No, I think that’s true. I think he want’s responsible watchdogs.”

INGRAHAM – What can you tell us about the state of John Durham’s investigation? People have been waiting for the, the final report, on what happened with this, what can you tell us?

BARR – “Well I think a report y’know, may be, and probably will be, a by-product of his activity; but his primary focus isn’t to prepare a report, he is looking to bring to justice people who were engaged in abuses if he can show that there were criminal violations; and that’s what the focus is on. And, uh, as you know, being a lawyer yourself, building these cases, especially the sprawling case we have between us that went on for two or three years here, uh…, it takes some time, it takes some time to build the case.”

“So he’s diligently pursuing it, uh.. My own view is that, uh, the evidence shows that we’re not dealing with just mistakes or sloppiness, there was something far more troubling here; and we’re going to get to the bottom of it. And if people broke the law, and we can establish that with the evidence, they will be prosecuted.”

give it back...,

whitehouse |  Your Majesties, Your Royal Highnesses, distinguished members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, citizens of America, and citizens of the world:

I receive this honor with deep gratitude and great humility.  It is an award that speaks to our highest aspirations -- that for all the cruelty and hardship of our world, we are not mere prisoners of fate.  Our actions matter, and can bend history in the direction of justice.

And yet I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the considerable controversy that your generous decision has generated.  (Laughter.)  In part, this is because I am at the beginning, and not the end, of my labors on the world stage.  Compared to some of the giants of history who've received this prize -- Schweitzer and King; Marshall and Mandela -- my accomplishments are slight.  And then there are the men and women around the world who have been jailed and beaten in the pursuit of justice; those who toil in humanitarian organizations to relieve suffering; the unrecognized millions whose quiet acts of courage and compassion inspire even the most hardened cynics.  I cannot argue with those who find these men and women -- some known, some obscure to all but those they help -- to be far more deserving of this honor than I.

sissy pit pretends a hissy fit, but who is calling the tune?

firstlook | Two top Senate leaders declared Tuesday that the CIA’s recent conduct has undermined the separation of powers as set out in the Constitution, setting the stage for a major battle to reassert the proper balance between the two branches.

Intelligence Committee chair Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), in a floor speech (transcript; video) that Judiciary Committee chair Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) immediately called the most important he had heard in his career, said the CIA had searched through computers belonging to staff members investigating the agency’s role in torturing detainees, and had then leveled false charges against her staff in an attempt to intimidate them.

“I have grave concerns that the CIA’s search may well have violated the separation of powers principle embodied in the United States Constitution, including the speech and debate clause,” she said. “It may have undermined the constitutional framework essential to effective congressional oversight of intelligence activities or any other government function.”

She concluded: “The recent actions that I have just laid out make this a defining moment for the oversight of our intelligence community. How Congress responds and how this is resolved will show whether the Intelligence Committee can be effective in monitoring and investigating our nation’s intelligence activities, or whether our work can be thwarted by those we oversee. I believe it is critical that the committee and the Senate reaffirm our oversight role and our independence under the Constitution of the United States.”

She also accused the CIA of obstructing her committee’s torture inquiry in general, and of disputing findings that its own internal inquiry had substantiated.

The document at the heart of this confrontation is an internal review conducted by the CIA of the materials it had turned over to Feinstein’s committee during the course of the four-year congressional investigation into the Bush-era torture practices.

Feinstein said the document, which has become known as the Panetta Review after then-director of the CIA Leon Panetta, was first discovered by committee staff using CIA-provided search tools in 2010. It became particularly relevant later, after the committee completed a scathing 6,300-page report in December 2012, and the CIA sent its official response in June 2013.

The committee’s detailed report is still classified, but it is known to be highly critical of both the CIA’s role in the torture regime and its campaign to deceive Congress about it. The CIA vehemently took issue with those conclusions.