At least 19 pro-Palestinian protesters were arrested Thursday for disrupting traffic in the nation’s capital as they demanded a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war. The pro-Palestinian protesters snarled traffic by blocking five major roads in Washington during morning rush hour‚ including outside the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. The protesters’ shouts of “Free‚ free Palestine!” and “We demand liberation!” were intermingled with the horns of commuters stuck in traffic as demonstrators stood in the middle of intersections.  The D.C. Metropolitan Police Department reported arresting eight protesters in connection with crowding‚ obstructing‚ or incommoding at the intersection of 23rd Street and Constitution Avenue NW.   U.S. Capitol Police‚ responsible for the grounds at the Capitol‚ reported arresting 11 persons in connection with the same offenses. Three also face charges of resisting arrest‚ police said.   During their demonstration‚ protesters blocked the street in front of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum at 100 Raoul Wallenberg Pl. SW. In response‚ Sacha Roytman‚ CEO of a group called the Combat Antisemitism Movement‚ released a written statement. “These demonstrators‚ in choosing to stage their protest in front of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum‚ an area of the city with no ties to the U.S. military‚ Israel‚ Yemen‚ or the Palestinian people‚ chose to make their protest about Jews‚” Roytman said. “The museum tells the story of the 6 million Jews who were murdered by the Nazis; it has nothing to do with Israel or the U.S. military‚” he said. “In choosing this location‚ instead of the White House‚ the Pentagon‚ or the Israeli Embassy‚ the protesters showed their true colors. This is antisemitism‚ plain and simple.”  U.S. Park Police did not respond by publication time to The Daily Signal’s request for comment on any related arrests.   Have an opinion about this article? To sound off‚ please email letters@DailySignal.com‚ and we’ll consider publishing your edited remarks in our regular “We Hear You” feature. Remember to include the URL or headline of the article plus your name and town and/or state. The post 19 Pro-Palestinian Protesters Arrested After Blocking DC Roads appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis‚ a Republican‚ took a legal victory Wednesday after a federal judge refused to block his demand to oust pro-Palestinian student groups from Florida universities. Two chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine‚ hailing from the University of Florida and the University of South Florida‚ had asked a federal court to stop DeSantis from kicking them off campus after the governor declared that he would do so over the groups’ support for Hamas terrorists who invaded Israel on Oct. 7‚ Politico reported Thursday. Chief U.S. District Judge Mark Walker refused the request of Students for Justice in Palestine to block DeSantis from taking measures to punish them and dismissed the governor as the defendant in the lawsuits. Walker ruled that although the pro-Palestinian groups may perceive DeSantis’ arguments against them as offensive‚ the university has not yet fulfilled his request to kick them off campus and therefore the “threatened deactivation remains merely speculative‚” Politico reported. The judge also argued that‚ even with threats against them‚ the two chapters’ speech had not “reasonably chilled—or chilled at all—for fear of punishment.” BREAKING: A federal court denied our motion for a preliminary injunction‚ ruling Florida officials do not intend to deactivate the University of Florida Students for Justice in Palestine.— ACLU (@ACLU) January 31‚ 2024 The lawsuits by the two campus chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine argued that DeSantis’ push to get them off campus through a “deactivation order” violated their right to free speech‚ according to the American Civil Liberties Union‚ which represented them. The chapters had asked the court to quash DeSantis’ order through a preliminary injunction. “This court does not fault [the students] for feeling anxious about the fact that the governor—arguably the most powerful man in Florida—has repeatedly disparaged [group] members as ‘terrorists‚’” Walker wrote in his ruling Wednesday. “But this court rejects counsel’s suggestion that it should find … that [student groups have] standing simply because someone cloaked with great power makes coercive statements.” “In short‚ the record demonstrates that neither deactivation nor criminal investigation is imminent‚” Walker wrote. “Instead‚ this court finds that no actions have been taken in pursuit of deactivation under the chancellor’s memorandum.” Walker’s decision gives DeSantis the upper hand in his continued fight to have the Students for Justice in Palestine groups removed from their respective campuses‚ Politico reported. The governor may face another legal battle‚ however‚ should his demand for the group’s removal from Florida campuses be granted. Part of the reason DeSantis’ request has not been granted so far is because the universities are nervous about the legal ramifications of kicking Students for Justice in Palestine off campus for speech-related reasons‚ Politico reported. Lawyers representing the universities also argue that DeSantis’ order is the equivalent of an “open letter” and has no authority or enforcement abilities. This report originally was published by the Daily Caller News Foundation Have an opinion about this article? To sound off‚ please email letters@DailySignal.com and we’ll consider publishing your edited remarks in our regular “We Hear You” feature. Remember to include the URL or headline of the article plus your name and town and/or state. The post Federal Judge Gives DeSantis a Legal Win Against Pro-Palestinian Student Groups appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Editor’s note: Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek‚ Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler‚ and other Oregon leaders declared a state of emergency for downtown Portland on Tuesday owing to an explosion of fentanyl use in the city. The state of emergency will last at least 90 days. According to The Associated Press‚ city‚ county‚ and state authorities will coordinate to address drug addiction and to crack down on drug sales in Portland. This comes following Oregon’s decriminalization of fentanyl and other hard drugs in 2020. Daily Signal Signal columnist Jarrett Stepman wrote about the chaos caused by Oregon’s drug criminaliztion in a Nov. 21 article‚ republished here. There’s a price to be paid for bad policies divorced from human nature. The Associated Press reported Sunday that Oregon’s first-in-the-nation law to decriminalize hard drugs is finally facing serious backlash. This may come as a surprise‚ but according to the AP‚ the state has seen an “explosion of public drug use fueled by the proliferation of fentanyl and a surge in deaths from opioids‚ including those of children.” Who could have seen that coming? Measure 110‚ passed by the Oregon Legislature in 2020‚ decriminalized several hard drugs. It also set up a fund with taxes from cannabis sales‚ to invest in “recovery.” What Oregon residents got was a whole lot of drugs with no recovery in sight. The penalties for hard-drug use are now so light as to be nearly worthless. For instance‚ residents caught with under a gram of heroin are subject to a ticket and a maximum fine of $100. That’s barely more than the cost of a parking ticket these days. It gets even better. “Those caught with small amounts of drugs can have the citation dismissed by calling a 24-hour hotline to complete an addiction screening within 45 days‚ but those who don’t do a screening are not penalized for failing to pay the fine‚” the AP reported. In 2021‚ according to the AP‚ “only 1% of people who received citations for possession sought help via the hotline.” I’m shocked—shocked!—to learn that people caught using heroin aren’t following through. What’s really taken off is fentanyl use‚ which has become a national epidemic. It’s made worse‚ of course‚ by Oregon’s permissive environment. So‚ now the state‚ which already had an issue with drug abuse and homelessness‚ is in a full-blown crisis. The situation is so bad that some Democratic state lawmakers are considering rolling back the drug-decriminalization law. “Everything’s on the table‚” said state Sen. Kate Lieber‚ a Democrat who co-chairs a new joint legislative committee created to tackle addiction‚ according to the AP. “We have got to do something to make sure that we have safer streets and that we’re saving lives.” The fentanyl scourge hit Oregon hard‚ but nowhere is the problem more acute than in the state’s most notable progressive paradise‚ Portland. Portlandia has really been hit with a perfect storm of bad policies. In June 2020‚ the city defunded the police following the death of George Floyd in the custody of Minneapolis police. It was then rocked with nearly 200 days of protests‚ many of them violent. Portland was in anarchy. Violent crime exploded to an almost unprecedented extent. Of course‚ Portland now struggles to staff its beleaguered police department‚ despite pivoting and re-funding the police. “With just 1.26 officers per every 1‚000 residents‚ the Portland Police Bureau (PPB) ranks 48th among the nation’s 50 largest cities for its staffing-to-population ratio‚” the Manhattan Institute’s Charles Fain Lehman wrote in September. “As a result‚ PPB struggles to provide even basic service‚ taking up to half an hour to respond to high-priority calls.” Qualified applicants don’t want to be police officers in Portland? Incredible‚ I know. But violent crime and lack of police is only part of the equation. Oregon’s drug decriminalization and Portland’s toxic drug culture are clearly making things much worse. “All roads in downtown lead to fentanyl‚” said David Baer‚ a member of the Portland Police Bureau’s bike squad‚ in an interview with Fox News. “Whether that’s stolen cars‚ whether that’s burglaries or thefts or organized retail theft‚ there’s almost always a fentanyl nexus. So‚ we spend a lot of our time currently policing fentanyl and trying to stop that flow.” Portland city leaders tried to ban public drug use‚ but a state law prohibits local governments from passing laws to criminalize the public use of controlled substances. “The 1971 law was established to address substance abuse as a health problem‚ rather than a crime‚” Oregon Public Broadcasting reported. Now‚ city leaders have poor health and a whole lot of crime. Portland has become the poster-child model city for open-air drug markets on the West Coast. It’s maybe even worse than the situation in San Francisco‚ where a visit last week by a communist dictator prompted the city to clean up a bit and roll out the red carpet. This is only a temporary fix‚ though. In the end‚ the problem for San Francisco and Portland isn’t drugs. Not really. The problem is ideology. Have an opinion about this article? To sound off‚ please email letters@DailySignal.com and we’ll consider publishing your edited remarks in our regular “We Hear You” feature. Remember to include the URL or headline of the article plus your name and town and/or state. The post Oregon Decriminalized Hard Drugs in 2020. Now‚ Portland Declares State of Emergency on Fentanyl. appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Some 150 House Democrats voted Thursday against a bill to allow the deportation of illegal immigrants who have been convicted of driving while under the influence of alcohol and other drugs. “In the United States‚ someone dies in a crash with an impaired driver every 45 minutes‚” the bill’s sponsor‚ Rep. Barry Moore‚ R-Ala.‚ told The Daily Signal in a statement Thursday. “I lost two of my young newlywed constituents to an illegal immigrant driving under the influence of alcohol.” “I’m proud to join with my House Republican colleagues to protect American families from more of these tragedies by passing legislation to deport illegal immigrants who have been caught driving impaired‚” Moore added. The bill‚ HR 6976‚ passed the House of Representatives 274-150‚ with seven members not voting. The bill would “amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to provide that aliens who have been convicted of‚ or who have committed an offense for‚ driving while intoxicated or impaired are inadmissible and deportable‚” according to its text. Every Republican voted for the bill‚ as did 59 Democrats. Many of the Democrats who voted for the bill have been identified by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee as vulnerable in 2024‚ including Virginia’s Abigail Spanberger‚ Nevada’s Steven Horsford and Susie Lee‚ and Michigan’s Dan Kildee. Many prominent Democrats voted against the measure‚ however. California’s Adam Schiff; Florida’s Debbie Wasserman Schultz; Maryland’s Jamie Raskin; Massachusetts’ Ayanna Pressley; Michigan’s Rashida Tlaib; Minnesota’s Ilhan Omar; Missouri’s Cori Bush; New York’s Jamaal Bowman‚ Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Jerry Nadler; South Carolina’s Jim Clyburn; and Texas’ Al Green and Shiela Jackson Lee all opposed the bill. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries‚ who represents New York‚ did not respond to The Daily Signal’s request for comment on why he opposed the bill. “It’s unfortunately not surprising that 150 Democrats opposed this legislation‚” added Moore‚ the bill’s sponsor. “In 2021‚ many of my Democrat colleagues on the Judiciary Committee voted down three Republican amendments that would have made immigrants ineligible for green cards with a DUI conviction. In 2020‚ then-candidate Biden said that illegal aliens with DUI convictions should be allowed to stay in the United States.” Nadler‚ one of the Democrats who voted against the bill‚ emphasized public transportation and ride-sharing programs “so that people have an alternative to driving drunk.” He accused Republicans of blaming immigrants for the problem‚ rather than creating solutions. You can't make this up. @RepJerryNadler thinks we should use your tax dollars to expand public ride-sharing programs INSTEAD of deporting illegal aliens who drive drunk. pic.twitter.com/jZVp7OdnNw— House Judiciary GOP (@JudiciaryGOP) February 1‚ 2024 House Republicans have moved to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas over what they describe as his “dereliction of duty” in handling the crisis levels of illegal crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border. Meanwhile‚ Democrats have attacked Republicans who criticize an as-yet undisclosed border deal being negotiated in the Senate. U.S. border agents encountered a record 3.2 million illegal immigrants at the border in the fiscal year that ended Oct. 1. In January 2020‚ Biden spoke about changing the culture of Immigration and Customs Enforcement‚ pledging to “hold ICE agents accountable if in fact they stepped over my executive orders.” “You only arrest for the purpose of dealing with a felony that’s committed‚ and I don’t count drunk driving as a felony‚” he said at the time. In February 2021‚ ICE announced it would issue guidelines that agents would no longer seek to deport immigrants for crimes such as driving under the influence. “Generally‚ these convictions would not include drug-based crimes (less serious offenses)‚ simple assault‚ DUI‚ money laundering‚ property crimes‚ fraud‚ tax crimes‚ solicitation‚ or charges without convictions‚” then-acting ICE Director Tae Johnson told senior officials in an email at the time. Illegal immigrant drunk drivers caused the 2010 death of Benedictine nun Sister Denise Mosier and the 2018 death of Indianapolis Colts linebacker Edwin Jackson‚ among others. Jose Guadalupe Menjivar-Alas‚ an illegal immigrant who has been deported four times‚ appeared in Colorado court last month for drunk driving charges after he allegedly caused an accident killing a mother and her son‚ Fox News Digital reported. A 2021 Cato Institute study found no correlation between parts of the U.S. with higher levels of illegal immigrants and higher drunk driving deaths. See the full list of Democrats who voted against the bill here. Have an opinion about this article? To sound off‚ please email letters@DailySignal.com‚ and we’ll consider publishing your edited remarks in our regular “We Hear You” feature. Remember to include the URL or headline of the article plus your name and town and/or state.   The post 150 Democrats Vote Against Bill to Deport Illegal Immigrants Convicted of DUIs appeared first on The Daily Signal.

A cat curled up outside a house on a bitter cold day. When the family opened the door‚ he walked in and was ready for change. Lanslo the catChatonsOrphelinsMontrealA volunteer of Chatons Orphelins Montreal‚ an animal rescue‚ was surprised to see a cat (through their outdoor camera) sitting outside their home on a cold‚ snowy day."The stray cat was alone‚ curled up in a ball in front of the door‚" Celine of the rescue shared. When they opened the door to let him in‚ the tabby was nervous but too cold to stay out any longer."He slowly and cautiously walked inside to get warm." He was drawn to the warmth of the house and curled up outside the doorChatonsOrphelinsMontrealThe cat sniffed around as he stepped into the house and inspected the slippers on the floor. After exploring the place‚ he was happy to accept a hearty meal‚ warm blankets‚ and a cozy room to nestle in.It was so freezing outside that the outer layer of his coat was cold to the touch. He was dirty and smelly but relieved to be warm at last. He cautiously walked in when they opened the doorChatonsOrphelinsMontrealAs it turned out‚ the cat didn't have a home and had been wandering in the neighborhood for some time. "He had a family a long time age but was left on the streets. He came to us as a large tomcat with many battle scars on his body.""He had nowhere to go and walked into the volunteer's house to seek warmth. We took him in and named him Lanslo." ChatonsOrphelinsMontrealThat night‚ the tabby dozed off with a full belly in a quiet room‚ making up for lost sleep. "He was finally able to sleep warm."Lanslo tested FIV+ and was neutered and treated for stomach issues. It didn't take long for him to warm up to his foster family and allow them to pet him. Once he realized he was safe with his people‚ his charming personality emerged. ChatonsOrphelinsMontrealLanslo has blossomed into a giant cuddle bug‚ and his affection is unmatched. "He is a gentleman but loves to be babied and enjoys a spacious place where he can run around freely."He likes to follow his people around and objects to closed doors in the house. He enjoys keeping his humans company when they work‚ sitting on the desk with his paws all tucked in. His soft and soothing purrs create the most calming ambiance for work. Lanslo has blossomed into a big cuddle bugChatonsOrphelinsMontreal"He's a big boy but makes little meows when he demands cuddles. He likes to be carried from room to room while purring. He also sleeps in bed with his people and gives them the biggest cuddles."At first‚ Lanslo was puzzled by cat toys and didn't know what to do with them. Over time‚ he showed interest and even started bringing them to his humans as gifts. ChatonsOrphelinsMontreal"He's a teddy bear in a big cat suit. He's curious and likes to see everything happening in the house. He seeks attention and purrs as soon as you look at him."Lanslo is adventurous and seeks out lofty places to perch and survey his surroundings. He is fond of the cat tree by the window‚ where he watches little critters outside from the safety and comfort of his foster home. He has a smile on his faceChatonsOrphelinsMontreal"He lived a rough life‚ fighting to survive on the streets. He was lucky to come to the right home for help."Lanslo adores his new life as an indoor cat and brings endless joy and hugs to his people. "He's a big boy‚ a teddy bear‚ and a gentle soul." ChatonsOrphelinsMontrealShare this story with your friends. More on Lanslo and Chatons Orphelins Montreal on Instagram and Facebook.Related story: Kitten Found Outside Using Only Front Paws to Walk‚ Immediately Wants Play and Affection from Everyone

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