Free Republic

Sen. Dianne Feinstein says the talking points used on the Sunday news shows following the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, were wrong, adding that the administration should have been quicker in calling it a terrorist act. “I think the talking points were wrong,” the California Democrat who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee, said Sunday on NBC´s “Meet the Press.” “I think the talking points should not be written by the intelligence community.” “Unfortunately," she added, "the word extremist was used which isn’t not as crystal clear as terrorist.”

The Talk Shows May 12th, 2013 Guests to be interviewed today on major television talk shows: FOX NEWS SUNDAY (Fox Network): Reps. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., and Adam Smith, D-Wash.; Rep.-elect Mark Sanford, R-S.C.MEET THE PRESS (NBC): Reps. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., and Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill.; Sen. Dianne Feinsweine, D-Calif.; former diplomat Thomas Pickering, who helped lead the State Department's review of the attack against the U.S. in Benghazi, Libya. FACE THE NATION (CBS): Pickering; former Defense Secretary Robert Gates; Sens. Da Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H.THIS WEEK (ABC): Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Jack Reed, D-R.I. STATE OF THE...

That famous golden spike takes on a whole new meaning with the nearly 1 billion dollar rail to nowhere contract that clocks in at a truly golden 35 million dollars per mile. And its recipient, Mr. Diane Feinstein owner of Tutor Perini, just happens to sit in a warm position near the top of the state’s political heap

Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the chairwoman of the Senate intelligence committee, is calling for the repatriation of low-level detainees from Yemen currently held at Guantanamo Bay. Her move comes just as scores of inmates at the prison continue a hunger strike to protest their detention. Fifty-six of the 86 detainees approved for transfer more than three years ago are said to be from Yemen, but President Barack Obama halted any further transfers to that country after the attempted bombing of a Detroit-bound airliner by a Yemen-based branch of al-Qaida on Dec. 25, 2009. In a letter to President Obama’s National...

Out of the entire universe of those who could have won the first phase construction contract for California’s high speed rail boondoggle, who would stand out as the last person who would win it if there were no political patronage. Put another way, who is the most likely person to win it if there is political patronage? Both questions have the same answer: Richard Blum, the husband of California senator Diane Feinstein. So, who won the contract? Blum, of course, as the principle owner of Tutor Perini, the lead firm in the three-firm consortium selected by the California High Speed...

Republican Tennessee State Senator Stacey Campfield posted a photo of a pressure cooker with the words “Assault Pressure Cooker” listed below it on his blog, titled “Here comes Feinstein Again, “in the wake of the Boston bombing to make a point about the double standard of gun grabbers in this country. The hue and cry and lynch mob began to berate him, but he’s not backing down. According to the photo Campfield used of a pressure cooker, he labeled the “dangerous” features of the inanimate object, including a “muzzle break thingy that goes ‘up’” and a “tactical pistol grip.” Additionally,...

Well, get a load of this. On Sunday, Sen. Dianne Feinstein appeared on Fox News to discuss last week’s attack in Boston and terrorism in general, and Chris Wallace wondered whether the people in locked-down Boston last week, with concerns that “this fellow might be on the loose, might break into their house, might take hostages — would people like to have had guns?” “Oh, some may have, yes,” replied Feinstein. (VIDEO-AT-LINK) But it isn’t just “some” Americans who would be partial to having the means to defend themselves from violent criminals on the loose in their neighborhood; as it...

SAN FRANCISCO -- Dianne Feinstein has long been one of the Senate's strongest advocates for pressure cooker control. But few people may know that the California Democrat used to cook for herself. At one time she was highly regarded as an aspiring chef and could wield a mean pressure cooker. Her favorite recipe was for Oxtail Stew. From when she was a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors to being a US Senator, Feinstein has always been pressed for time and was never one to enjoy the luxury of a slow cooker. And she has seen what they...

Feinstein: Watertown Citizens Don’t Need Assault Weapons to Protect Themselves By Andrew Johnson April 21, 2013 1:09 PM Senator Dianne Feinstein (D., Calif.) stood by her push for an assault-weapons ban when Fox News Sunday’s Chris Wallace pressed her on whether Boston and Watertown residents may have preferred to arm and protect themselves on Friday while the suspect was at large. “If where you’re going is, do they need an assault weapon? I don’t think so,” she said.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein said Sunday she “regrets” discussions on whether the surviving Boston bombing suspect should be interrogated as a potential enemy combatant. The California Democrat told “Fox News Sunday” the Obama administration’s High Value Interrogation Group will interview suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, he will be read his Miranda rights at a later date and federal courts, not a military commission, can handle the case. "I really regret all of this discussion, which is creating a conflict that need not be there,” she said. “The administration is ready. … I don’t think all of this is very helpful.” Two bombs placed...

This morning on FOX News Sunday Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) accused Rep. Peter King of being an Islamophobe for suggesting that federal agents pay particular attention to Muslim radicals. Think Progress posted the video: Think Progress posted the transcript: KING: Listen, the threat is coming from within the Muslim community in these cases. In New York. that’s why Commissioner Kelly has 1,000 police officers out in the community. Unfortunately, he gets smeared by the New York Times and the Associated Press, but the fact is we’ve stopped 16 plots in New York because we know

I have been holding off writing anything about the horrific events at the Boston Marathon until the suspect or suspects had been arrested, because until then I couldn’t see any point in discussing it. Then it occurred to me that what I was overlooking was the way that every other media outlet has covered the story. That first night, even Fox devoted every single second to repeating the few facts anyone knew and showing the same ten seconds of video. I’m not suggesting that the catastrophe could or should have been ignored. But without knowing who set off the bombs,...

WASHINGTON – Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Friday named Mark Lippert, a Navy veteran and Pentagon official, as his chief of staff. Lippert, 40, currently assistant secretary of defense for Asian and Pacific security affairs, takes over May 1 as Hagel’s right-hand man. Marcel Lettre, Hagel’s acting chief of staff for the moment, will become Lippert’s deputy, and later move to an still-undetermined senior position, officials said. A White House insider, Lippert has ties to both Hagel and President Barack Obama that stretch back years. He accompanied both men, when they were still senators, on a 2008 visit to Afghanistan,...

Dear Friends, President Obama wanted three things on gun control -- to ban assault weapons, limit magazine sizes, and expand background checks. Fortunately, he lost on all three. I’ve always been confident if the Senate debated the Second Amendment, the Second Amendment would win. Yesterday, the Senate took up, debated, and voted on gun violence legislation. I am very pleased we had this debate, and was always ready and willing to vote in support of what I believe. Here’s how I voted yesterday: Voted Against the Manchin-Toomey Background Check Amendment (Failed 54-46, required 60 votes) No matter how well-intentioned, the...

As the Senate debated the merits of an assault-weapons ban, an emotional Dianne Feinstein urged her colleagues to “show some guts” and vote in favor of the measure. “I am really chagrined and concerned. If anybody cares, vote at least to prospectively ban the manufacture, the sale, the importation of military-style assault weapons,” she said in remarks on the Senate floor. Feinstein is the author of the assault-weapons ban, which was defeated earlier today by a margin of 60 to 40. The compromise on background checks introduced by GOP senator Pat Toomey and Democratic senator Joe Manchin was also defeated,...

Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL) told host Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday that supporters of new gun control legislation do not yet have the votes to pass it, despite defeating a Republican-led filibuster attempt last week. Durbin is the Senate Majority Whip, responsible for counting his party's votes on key legislative proposals. The specific bill facing the Senate is the Manchin-Toomey compromise on background checks, which would expand such requirements to gun shows, among other provisions. Currently, private sales between individuals at gun shows do not require background checks--just as private sales anywhere do not require them. The following is...

During an appearance on MSNBC's Morning Joe, Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) said expanded background checks are "not enough," and private gun sales cannot continue because they allow terrorists to buy guns in the United States. "Can a terrorist currently buy a gun in this country? Yes. Can a felon? Yes. You go to a gun show and virtually no questions are asked," Feinstein claimed. Joe Scarborough chimed in later in the segment to echo Feinstein's claim, asserting, "So now we have al Qaeda terrorists saying, 'Kill Americans, it's easy, just go to gun shows, get an assault weapon.'"

Here is the whole, long AWB including Manchin-Toomey amendments, the "compromise", which is on pages 2613-2618, toward the end. thomas.loc.gov has a "search link" which will expire so I posted the whole thing.   TEXT OF AMENDMENTS -- (Senate - April 11, 2013) [Page: S2598] ---        SA 711. Mrs. FEINSTEIN (for herself, Mr. SCHUMER, Mr. DURBIN, Mr. WHITEHOUSE, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Mr. FRANKEN, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Mr. LEVIN, Mr. HARKIN, Mr. ROCKEFELLER, Ms. MIKULSKI, Mrs. BOXER, Mr. REED, Mr. CARPER, Mr. LAUTENBERG, Mr. MENENDEZ, Mr. CARDIN, Mrs. GILLIBRAND, Mr. SCHATZ, Mr. MURPHY, Ms. HIRONO, Ms. WARREN, and Mr. COWAN) submitted an...

While most in the media have harped the bipartisan compromise concerning universal background checks by manchin and toomey, little notice has been given to the fact that feinstein has reintroduced her assault weapon ban as amendments to the manchin/toomey bill. To see the amendments, go to thomas.loc.gov at the url posted. Then go to 'amendments'. Next, click on each amendment (e.g.711), then 'text of amendment as submitted' to see text of the amendment.

Some days mocking elites is too easy. It would be more fun if they offered a challenge and if the flipside of their misbehavior wasn’t routinely repugnant. Being in San Francisco, one of my favorite snobs to snub is our own Senior Dementia Senator, Dianne Feinstein. Being of autocratic attitude, she is simply ripe for ridicule. She provides everyone – even her admirers – with comic content and which unintended consequences. Yet as you will soon see, she pays no penalty while her betters – people with functioning dendra – are punished for the crime of thinking wrong. (A cop...

<p>Lawmaker: 'They refuse to let us know what is going on'</p> <p>Members of Congress are demanding the Obama administration explain why it is stockpiling a huge arsenal of ammunition and weapons.</p> <p>The Department of Homeland Security bought more than 1.6 billion rounds of ammunition over the last year, as well as thousands of armored vehicles.</p>

President Obama said getting a national “assault weapon” ban was one of his major policy goals of the year. He has already failed. Gun control efforts on the nation level lost a major battle when Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid told a bereft Sen. Dianne Feinstein Monday that her so-called assault weapon ban bill was getting pulled from the gun package coming to the floor next month. Her legislation, which passed the SenateJudiciary Committee last week by a straight party line vote, is the only one of the four gun-related bills that passed out of committee that Mr. Reid axed.

MAYPEARL Texas — Two men are dead after a failed home invasion robbery attempt south of Maypearl in Ellis County. It all started around 1 p.m. when a woman alone in her two-story rural farmhouse on Bee Creek Road heard a rattle at the door. She told deputies she saw two men trying to break in — one of whom was dressed in camouflage with a gun strapped to his back. The woman called her husband, who was pulling into the driveway at about the same time. He raced inside the house and got a gun. Investigators said the homeowner...

<p>Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California wants us to know that she is "not a sixth-grader."</p> <p>Anyone who saw the recent exchange before the Senate Judiciary Committee between Feinstein and Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas over guns and the Constitution might speculate that the reason she said this is because she couldn't pass the entrance exam.</p>

New firearms legislation certain to include 'assault Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced he would not include a so-called “assault weapons” ban in the gun legislation he plans to introduce on the Senate floor, but gun rights advocates warn this is actually Reid’s way of making the ban easier to pass. “It’s a trap! It’s a non-event. What’s going to happen is they’re going to take another bill, and that could be the veterans’ gun ban and then bring that to the floor,” said Mike Hammond, chief counsel at Gun Owners of America, a pro-Second Amendment group. Hammond said bringing...

Last week Republican U.S. Senator Ted Cruz got Democrat colleague Dianne Feinstein’s “dander up,” as she later described her temper tantrum, when during a Judiciary Committee meeting he questioned the constitutionality of an assault weapons ban she had introduced. Feinstein snapped: I’m not a sixth grader. Senator, I’ve been on this committee for 20 years. I was a mayor for nine years. I walked in, I saw people shot. I’ve looked at bodies that have been shot with these weapons. I’ve seen the bullets that implode. In Sandy Hook, youngsters were dismembered. Look, there are other weapons. I’m not a...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- All but ending chances for an assault weapons ban, Democratic leaders said Tuesday the firearms legislation the Senate will debate next month won't include the provision that gun-control advocates pressed for after an assault-type weapon was used in the Newtown school shootings in December.

After a meeting yesterday with Harry Reid (D-NV), Sen. Dianne Feinstein learned that her controversial assault weapons ban mess will not be part of the gun control bill package heading to the senate floor next month.  The AWB could be offered up as an amendment, but the bill was already considered a long shot, as senate democrats will be facing a competitive election cycle for 2014. Many face constituents back home who do not support such legislation. 

Sen. Dianne Feinstein emerged from a closed-door meeting with Majority Leader Harry Reid on Monday — but her ban on assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines didn’t. Mr. Reid turned down her attempt to bring her ban on 157 different weapons and ammunition clips aboard the Democratic Party’s comprehensive gun bill, Politico reported. “My understanding is it will not be [part of the base bill],” said Mrs. Feinstein, California Democrat. “I would like to [see it moved], but the leader has decided not to do it. … You will have to ask him [why].” Her bill instead will have to...

Ted Cruz and Dianne Feinstein had this explosive exchange at a Senate Judiciary Hearing on guns earlier today:

Folks, Keep your eyes on the target. Everyone (for good reason) is crowing over how Sen. Ted Cruz completely creamed Marxist CA Senator Dianne Feinstein. If you haven't seen it, go here here However, this is classic Democrat Party bait-and-switch. If you're old enough to remember FReeping in the Clinton years like I have, you'd remember that the Clinton Democrats will put out a bill so extreme as to generate an uproar, then withdraw the bill and admit that they overreach and introduce "more modest" legislation. Well, the more "modest" gun legislation is none other than Chucky Schumer's Universal Background...

The Senate Judiciary Committee approved a ban on the sale and manufacture of more than 150 types of semi-automatic weapons with military-style features Thursday in a party-line vote. The 10-8 vote came after a heated exchange between Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who Feinstein scolded for giving her a "lecture" on the Constitution. It’s the fourth piece of gun control legislation to make it out of committee, and perhaps the one with the longest odds of becoming law given opposition from Republicans to a new ban on so-called assault weapons. Committee Democrats first beat back four...

The Senate Judiciary Committee passed Thursday Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s “assault weapons” ban by a straight party-line vote, despite Republican efforts to point out the obvious holes in the legislation. The California Democrat’s bill — which prohibits 157 specific firearms, those with a single cosmetic feature she thinks is scary looking and standard magazines that have over 10 rounds — applies to all Americans except current and retired law enforcement officers. She believes this one class is able to use the firearms for self defense. Sen. John Cornyn attempted to point out the flaws in the logic of her legislation. During...

At a Senate Judiciary Committee meeting on Thursday, Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-California) opposed an amendment to her Assault Weapons Ban legislation that would allow military veterans to continue to buy the firearms that would be banned. Feinstein says a veteran may be mentally ill and should be prevented from purchasing firearms.

No, I'm not talking about the non-event of the Sequester of Doom. Nope, this column is not about Gene Sperling's love letters to Bob Woodward. I think the talking heads that inhabit PMSNBC, The Communist News Network (CNN), and the FOX Neocon Channel (FNC) are doing a fine job of working themselves into a frenzy about these topics, so there's no need for lil' ol' me to offer my two cents. I'd rather present to you actual news that no one is talking about. For example, look what I found while snooping around the Department of Housing and Urban Development's...

At a Senate judiciary committee hearing on Thursday, California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein shot down a proposed amendment exempting veterans from her “assault weapons” ban, bizarrely arguing that it’s legal to hunt humans with high-capacity magazines. “The time has come, America, to step up and ban these weapons,” Feinstein said. “The other very important part of this bill is to ban large capacity ammunition feeding devices — those that hold more than 10 rounds. We have federal regulations and state laws that prohibit hunting ducks with more than three rounds. And yet it’s legal to hunt humans with 15-round, 30-round,...

“I don’t know why anyone would object to drying up the supply of these weapons over time,” Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) said in defending her assault weapons ban proposal, asserting that “while gun homicides are down in this country, mass shootings are not.” For her this created a rationale for banning high-capacity magazines and assault weapons such as the AR-15, a semi-automatic variant of the M-16, which she said have a natural appeal to mass shooters. She also argued that the ergonomic “military features” which distinguished assault weapons make them uniquely lethal. “Members, this isn’t going to stop … and...

Published on Mar 6, 2013 - Comments on continuing efforts to restrict the 2nd Amendment, focusing on the Senate Judiciary Hearing, SH-216, February 27, 2013. During that hearing, chaired by anti-gun proponent Diane Feinstein, some of my ballistic test footage was shown by Dr. William Begg. I needed to post a response to his testimony, and highlight that the true roots of gun violence are being ignored. Dr. Begg called for "real gun research". My point is that the research is already there, just disregarded by those with the authority to develop a relevant plan that creates objective solutions to...

WASHINGTON – Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., who once threatened to take out those she perceived as threats with her own gun, today told a congressional hearing, “We cannot allow the carnage … to continue.” She was speaking on behalf of her own “Assault Weapons” Ban of 2013 before the Senate Judiciary Committee. She invited several witnesses to testify in support of her proposed gun ban. Milwaukee Police Chief Edward Flynn testified against allowing citizens to own firearms, saying that “assault weapons are not built for sportsmen.” He said those are “designed for combat” and must be “restricted.” Flynn admitted that...

Full Committee DATE: February 27, 2013 TIME: 10:00 AM ROOM: Hart 216 OFFICIAL HEARING NOTICE / WITNESS LIST: February 25, 2013 NOTICE OF COMMITTEE HEARING LOCATION CHANGE The hearing entitled “Hearing on the Assault Weapons Ban of 2013” scheduled before the Senate Committee on the Judiciary for Wednesday, February 27, 2013 at 10:00 a.m., in Room 226 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building will now take place in Room 216 of the Hart Senate Office Building. Senator Feinstein to preside. By order of the Chairman. Witness List Hearing before the Senate Committee on the Judiciary On “Hearing on the Assault...

(CNSNews.com) - Sen. Richard Burr, a member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, said that the CIA has “flatly refused” to give some Benghazi-related documents to the committee, which is conducting an investigation of the Sept. 11, 2012 terrorist attacks on the State Department and CIA personnel and facilities in Benghazi, Libya. Sen. Burr made the assertion last week at the confirmation hearing for John Brennan, whom President Barack Obama has nominated to be director of the CIA. Brennan currently serves as the president's counterterrorism adviser. “Mr. Brennan, as you know, the committee's conducting a thorough inquiry into the...

On Jan. 17, I attended the Atascadero Democratic Club business meeting and informational forum at 7:30 p.m. on gun safety which had been announced in the Atascadero News calendar to include a field representative from Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s office and a local emergency room doctor, Steven Sainsbury, with 25 years emergency room experience speaking on his perspective regarding gun safety. This program was planned after the Sandy Hook Elementary School killing of 20 first graders and six school personnel trying to protect them. As the gun control/safety issue heated up, the club found itself and meeting date right in the...

Convicted Felons for Gun Control Former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, who was convicted of trying to sell Barack Obama's Senate seat, advocated a ban on all semiautomatic firearms along with a prohibitive gun owner registration fee. Blagojevich also promoted a ban on so-called "pocket rockets," or easily concealable high-caliber handguns. With regard to the latter, many states' concealed carry laws require the firearm to remain exactly that: concealed. Even if it is not illegal to expose or "flash" the weapon, it is generally poor judgment to advertise the fact that you have a weapon. When one deals with liars like...

Manassas, VA --(Ammoland.com)- Senator Diane Feinstein (D-CA) has published some of the details of her new “assault weapons” ban, and it’s even uglier than anticipated. It is expected was introduced on January 22 2013, the first day the Senate accepts bills for the new session. Meanwhile, on the first day of the new session in the House of Representatives, several legislators introduced - or reintroduced - a variety of anti-rights bills. Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY) has 4 bills: H.R.137 requiring background checks on all firearm transfers, H.R.138 banning possession and transfer of magazines with a capacity over 10 rounds, H.R.141 regulating...

Washington, DC Thursday, February 7, 2013 The President's choice to be the new CIA Director, John Brennan, goes before the Senate Intelligence Committee Thursday for his confirmation hearing. If approved, Brennan will replace Acting Director Michael Morell. Several Committee members are vowing to ask Brennan “tough questions,” including questions on the use of American drones overseas and the Obama administration’s drone strike program. He is also expected to field inquiries about the agency's budget. Brennan, currently Obama’s counterterrorism adviser, is a 25-year veteran of the CIA and served both at the agency's headquarters and overseas, including a tour as station...

--IMAGE HERE -- It is becoming increasingly clear that anti-gun advocates, media personalities, and politicians are completely immune to the laws they insist the rest of must abide by, at least in the District of Columbia. While average citizens and veterans who have served our nation with distinction see their lives ruined, prosecutors repeatedly turn a blind eye when the person breaking the law is espousing an anti-gun agenda. It all started with David Gregory. Despite being warned by the Capitol Police that he could not possess a normal-capacity magazine inside the District of Columbia, he did so anyway. Even...

Sheriff Stanley Sniff, Riverside County, California February 1, 2013 The Honorable Dianne Feinstein Washington DC Re: Opposed to "Assault Weapons Ban of 2013" Dear Senator Feinstein: I serve as the elected Sheriff of Riverside County and have done so since 2007. Riverside County, at nearly 2.3 million residents, is California's 4th most populous, as well as the 4th largest in sheer physical size at 7,300 sq miles, of our State's 58 counties. The Riverside County Sheriff's Department, at nearly 2,200 sworn employees and nearly 4,000 full-time employees is the 5th largest of California's police and sheriff's departments. In addition to...

I’ve just finished reading the 122 pages of Diane Feinstein’s latest “gun-control” bill, Senate Bill S.150, and was surprised to find some important things missing. Even more surprising was one small item briefly mentioned on page 13 that has not been reported in any “news” coverage I have seen. It’s a whopper — it invalidates her entire list of guns, and I’ve written ten books on this topic, I know what I’m saying! — but first, here’s what’s missing. 1. Criminals Nothing addresses criminals — everything is aimed at innocent people who haven’t done anything wrong. There is not even...

Dick Durbin told the NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre that background checks WILL deter criminlas from buying guns (apparently at places where background checks are conducted). And so it is good to know that Democrats are going to have background checks set up in "back alleys." /s Dems will also set up "Gun Free Zone" signs all across America in back alleys and the like, so that when criminals see these signs it will deter them from selling hot guns/stolen guns in those "back alleys." /s BTW, why is Sen. Feinstein using a Straw Man argument when she brings up malls...

Analyst says list 'a smokescreen' to conceal true intent of bill A key gun law analyst who has published books on the issue of the Second Amendment and its rights and responsibilities for decades says the Feinstein gun ban bill is just exactly that, a gun ban bill. Not, essentially, a plan to limit certain guns. Not a limit on the size of magazines. Not a plan for restrictions on those with certifiable mental instabilities, a ban on criminals’ access or a plan to encourage gun safety. Alan Korwin is a nationally recognized expert resource on the issue of gun...