Trump blasted Mitch McConnell as 'stupid' and a 'knucklehead' for not scrapping filibuster: new book
July 19, 2021
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Watch: Ted Cruz gets chided at Senate hearing after blowing up on Biden’s DHS chief
March 28, 2023
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas faced off today during a public hearing where the Biden official was slammed over his handling of the U.S.-Mexico border.
"Mr. Secretary, I want to say to you right now — your behavior is disgraceful. And the deaths, the children assaulted, the children raped. They are at your feet, and if you had integrity, you'd resign," Cruz said during the Senate Judiciary hearing.
"And I will tell you, the men and women of the Border Patrol, they've never had a political leader undermine them. They despise you, Mr. Secretary, because you're willing to let children be raped to follow political orders," Cruz continued. "This is a crisis. It's a disgrace. You won't even admit this human tragedy is a crisis."
When Cruz was finished, Chairman Dick Durbin (D-IL) gave Mayorkas the option of responding, but the DHS Secretary declined, saying, "What the senator said was revolting. I'm not going to address it."
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"Your refusal to do your job is revolting," Cruz fired back.
Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA) then chimed in, saying that Cruz's treatment of Mayorkas was "disrespectful."
"I think it's [disrespectful] to suggest or imply that the root causes of a broken immigration system are so simple that they can be answered in two-and-a-half seconds or less," Padilla said.
Watch the video below or at this link.
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A single father, who was separated from his daughter and sentenced on Tuesday to two years in prison over "discrediting" the Russian army, has fled house arrest, officials said.
Alexei Moskalyov, 54, first came to the authorities' attention last year after his daughter Maria drew a picture at school showing missiles next to a Russian flag heading towards a woman and child standing by a Ukrainian flag.
A criminal case was later opened against him for allegedly criticising Russia's assault on Ukraine and on Tuesday he was handed a two-year jail sentence over comments on social media.
But in a dramatic turn of events, court officials said Moskalyov had fled house arrest.
Moskalyov has been separated from his 13-year-old daughter as punishment for his criticism of Kremlin policies, a first in Russia, experts say.
"The verdict was read out in the absence of the defendant, because he disappeared and did not appear at the hearing," Elena Mikhailovskaya, a spokeswoman for the Yefremov district court south of Moscow, told AFP.
Moskalyov's lawyer Vladimir Biliyenko said he was in a "state of shock".
"His disappearance is a total surprise for me. This has happened for the first time in my career," he told AFP.
He said that Moskalyov's daughter Maria could be sent to an orphanage "within a month".
Russia's top human rights organisation Memorial, which has been shuttered by Russian authorities, said on Facebook it considered Moskalyov a "political prisoner".
It added that separation from his daughter was a "repressive act and an attempt to intimidate all opponents of the war not only with prison terms but also the destruction of their families and pressure on children".
The Moskalyovs' case has garnered national attention and led to an online petition calling for the girl to be re-united with her father.
The pair hail from Yefremov, a small town of around 37,000 people some 300 kilometres (180 miles) south of Moscow.
The case against Moskalyov was opened after Maria's headmistress contacted the police about her picture with the flags and the missiles.
Police said an online search uncovered comments criticising Moscow's action in Ukraine on the social media profiles of the girl's father.
In early March, authorities placed Maria in a "rehabilitation centre" for minors, while Moskalyov was put under house arrest.
On Monday, prosecutors demanded a two-year prison term for the father.
Since President Vladimir Putin sent troops to Ukraine over a year ago public criticism of Moscow's offensive in the pro-Western country has been outlawed.
During the height of Stalin-era purges in the late 1930s thousands of children were taken away from their parents.
In modern Russia, the first recorded attempts to strip activists of parental rights were in Moscow in 2019. Prosecutors' attempts to punish two families for taking their children to political protests were not successful at the time, however.
Even Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner paramilitary force spearheading Russia's assault in eastern Ukraine, has voiced support for Maria and criticised the local authorities.
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The UK government raised the terror threat level in Northern Ireland to "severe" on Tuesday, ahead of an expected visit by US President Joe Biden to mark the 25th anniversary of a landmark peace accord.
The domestic spy agency MI5 judged that the risk of an attack had gone from "substantial" to "severe", meaning an incident is judged "highly likely", Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris said.
Northern Ireland saw three decades of sectarian conflict over British rule, known as "The Troubles", that claimed some 3,500 lives.
But the province stands transformed since the Good Friday Agreement was adopted on April 10, 1998.
"However, a small number of people remain determined to cause harm to our communities through acts of politically motivated violence," Heaton-Harris told parliament.
He urged the public to "remain vigilant, but not be alarmed" at the announcement.
It follows a police officer being shot and seriously wounded in front of his son last month, while November saw a failed bomb attack on two officers.
Both attacks have been blamed on a dissident militant group called the "New IRA", which wants reunification with the Republic of Ireland.
The threat level was lowered to "substantial" a year ago -– the first change since 2010.
Chief Constable Simon Byrne, head of the Police Service of Northern Ireland, said the new alteration was "part of an ongoing process of monitoring".
He vowed to "relentlessly pursue those who seek to cause harm and terrorize our communities, and attack my officers and staff".
Heaton-Harris, who insisted there would be "no return to the violence of the past", drew no link to the planned trip by Biden.
The US leader intends to visit both Ireland and Northern Ireland.
It is expected to coincide with the anniversary of the peace deal, which was brokered with US mediation.
'Bad news'
The anniversary comes with the territory locked in political paralysis, as pro-UK unionists refuse to re-enter government in objection to a post-Brexit trade deal agreed by London and the European Union.
More extreme militants in the pro-UK camp have issued periodic warnings about the consequences of the agreement, which they argue leaves Northern Ireland at risk of political and economic divorce from Great Britain.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak defended a recent renegotiation of the elements of the pact, dubbed the Windsor Framework, as he urged the pro-UK Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) to resume power-sharing in Belfast's Stormont assembly.
"I believe the Windsor Framework represents a fantastic foundation for us to move forward and actually just build that brighter future for Northern Ireland which is there for the taking," he told MPs in London.
"The anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement gives us a chance to reflect on the progress we've made, and the opportunities that lie ahead," Sunak added.
DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson called the ruling by MI5 "bad news".
"I look forward to a day when the threat level is removed, but to get there the community must stand with the police and demonstrate there is no space for terrorism in Northern Ireland in 2023," he said.
Donaldson urged the UK government to make good on a commitment to help fund the hiring of 7,500 extra police officers in the territory.
Northern Ireland's Sinn Fein leader Michelle O'Neill, who is set to become first minister if power-sharing is restored, said there is "no place or space for paramilitary groups".
"They must go," she tweeted.
(AFP)
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