Free Republic

U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), sponsor of the federal "assault weapon" and "large" magazine "ban" of 1994-2004, is asking President Barack Obama to direct the BATFE to reinterpret a provision of the Gun Control Act of 1968 to prohibit the importation of various semi-automatic firearms and their parts. In a letter to Obama, the text of which was included in an article published by the Daily Caller on Thursday, Feinstein said that, "at a minimum," the BATFE should: prohibit importation of all semiautomatic rifles that can accept, or be readily converted to accept, a large capacity ammunition magazine of more...

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a stalwart ally of the nation's intelligence agencies, says she is appalled to learn they have been spying on her committee, ignoring federal law and possibly trampling on the Constitution in a heavy-handed targeting of innocent people. Hey! Maybe now she knows how the rest of us feel. Getting Feinstein to denounce the CIA is like trying to get Texas Republicans to disown Ted Nugent. As head of the Intelligence Committee, the California Democrat normally defends the spymasters no matter what. But even the longest rope is finite in length, and Feinstein has hit the end of...

House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa said he is incensed about allegations the CIA spied on the Senate Intelligence Committee, calling it “treason.” “I think Senator Feinstein is as outraged as anyone and I share her outrage. I think the violation of the Constitutional separation of powers should be an offense of the highest level—virtually treason,” Issa told Breitbart News on Tuesday. “Spying on the executive branch—spying on Congress or violating the separation of powers as to the Supreme Court or as to Congress is effectively treason. Treason—it’s written up in the Constitution,” Issa said of Feinstein’s revelations, adding, “I...

The issue at hand is essentially the CIA covertly monitoring the Senate Intelligence Committee as the Senate investigated the CIA. The problem stems from an obvious oversight issue where the CIA takes illegal action to monitor the Senate as they investigate. However, there’s something more within the behavior of the people involved. Dianne Feinstein is clearly outlining the CIA is violating the law. As a consequence the CIA claim to be following instructions from the Obama administration and the White House. That alone represents a big issue – However, the way CIA Director John Brennan is responding to the charges...

Oh, now they’ve done it. They picked on the wrong people this time. The C.I.A. has apparently been spying on Congress. I know. Who would have seen that coming? Spies spying on people? That’s like lawyers legislating or something. Oh wait…. So, Congress is really, really mad at the C.I.A. now. According to a story by the New York Times, the C.I.A. snooped on Senate staffers in order to find out how the Senate got internal C.I.A. documents, some of which were critical of “agency’s detention and interrogation program. Parts of the C.I.A. report cast a particularly harsh light...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The head of the Senate Intelligence Committee says the CIA improperly searched a stand-alone computer network established for Congress as part of its investigation into allegations of CIA abuse in a Bush-era detention and interrogation program.

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Seventeen rural communities in drought-stricken California are in danger of running out of water within four months, according to a list compiled by state officials. Wells are running dry or reservoirs are nearly empty in some communities. Others have long-running problems that predate the drought.

I have heard more than once (from Dems, Dem-e's and RINOs as well) concerning the NSA that "we need to be able to collect the dots so that we can connect the dots." But what about suspicionless dots, as in suspicionless wiretaps or suspicionless meta data mining/gathering? Was it ok for the British to serve a search warrant for an entire city (big or small), so as to try to find the one person they were looking for in that city? No evidence of abuse? Has Congress had near unlimited access to the NSA's activities to see if any abuse...

While much of the United States has experienced a weather year with fewer extremes and an easing drought, the record-breaking California drought – the worst since 1895 – is not leaving the region anytime soon, according to climatologists. The unseasonal balmy but dry weather is the result of an equally unprecedented high pressure ridge lurking offshore and blocking the typical winter storms needed to drop precipitation all along the West Coast. This ridge has persisted for 13 months and the longer it lingers, the less likely it is to leave, points out climatologist Brian Fuchs, from the National Drought Mitigation...

By REBECCA KAPLAN January 16, 2014 Sen. Feinstein: Hillary Clinton Isn’t To Blame For Benghazi Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., has come to the defense of Hillary Clinton against Republicans who she says are trying to inflate the former secretary ofstate’s role in the Sept. 2012 attacks on the U.S. diplomatic facility and CIA annex in Benghazi, Libya. Feinstein, the chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and vice chairman Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., led the committee’s review of the attacks that werepublished in a bipartisan report that was declassified Wednesday. Though their the report faults the State Department for failing to sufficiently...

In a Tuesday night debate over the Kirk-Menendez bill to add sanctions against Iran and its nuclear program, Senator Diane Feinstein (D-Ca) sparked controversy when she announced that "we cannot let Israel determine when and where the United States goes to war." The bill includes a provision that would support Israel in the event that it carries out a preemptive strike against Iran. Feinstein chairs the Select Committee on Intelligence and is considered pro-Israel, but her remarks, which echo those of anti-Israel critics, have provoked outrage. The Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) called on her to apologize, noting that the...

Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) triggered controversy with a fiery floor speech in the Senate on Tuesday night, during which she declared that "we cannot let Israel determine when and where the United States goes to war." Breitbart reports that the speech was made during a debate on a bill that would impose new sanctions on Iran if it fails to comply with the nuclear deal that was reached with it in November. The bill includes a provision offering support to Israel in the event of an Israeli pre-emptive strike on Iran. Feinstein chairs the Select Committee on Intelligence and is...

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) triggered controversy with a fiery floor speech in the Senate on Tuesday night, accusing supporters of the bipartisan Kirk-Menendez bill on Iran sanctions of wanting "regime change" and declaring that "we cannot let Israel determine when and where the United States goes to war." The bill includes a provision offering support to Israel in the event of an Israeli pre-emptive strike on Iran. Feinstein, who chairs the Select Committee on Intelligence and is considered pro-Israel, but her remarks, which echo those of anti-Israel critics, have provoked outrage. The Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) called on her to...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A group of 10 U.S. Senators introduced a bipartisan bill on Thursday to eliminate the corn ethanol mandate, arguing that current law raises the cost of food and animal feed and damages the environment. The bill, introduced by Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat; Tom Coburn, an Oklahoma Republican; and eight cosponsors, faces an uphill battle as many lawmakers from agricultural states support the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS)that dictates that rising volumes of ethanol made from grains, including corn, be blended into motor fuel. Feinstein said the bill supports development of advanced biofuels, including those from made from...

Link to "an edited version of the introductory chapter of a new e-book, Going Postal, by investigative journalist Peter Byrne." snip "The post office is being killed for political reasons, they assert, pointing out that the corporation with the exclusive contract to negotiate sales for the Postal Service's $85 billion real estate portfolio is C.B. Richard Ellis (CBRE). And that the company is chaired by Richard C. Blum, who is the husband of US Senator Dianne Feinstein and a member of the University of California Board of Regents. CBRE's connection to a politically powerful family with a history of accessing...

Twenty years ago Saturday, the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act became the law of the land. This groundbreaking gun-safety law requires background checks on all gun sales by licensed dealers. Background checks on gun purchases work. The law has stopped more than 2 million convicted felons, domestic abusers and individuals with serious mental illnesses from purchasing firearms. But the Brady Act has a big loophole: It does not require background checks on the estimated 40 percent of gun transfers made between private parties. This means anyone can purchase a firearm at a gun show or over the Internet without undergoing...

Yesterday was a red letter day--or perhaps it should be called an Islamic green letter one--for U.S. intelligence. For the first time I can recall, the top legislator on a congressional oversight committee actually made clear what motivates our enemies in what used to be called euphemistically the “War on Terror,” ... What makes this incontrovertible statement so noteworthy? It is the fact that the intelligence community is not allowed to say it. Under Obama administration guidelines, for intelligence officers–and for that matter, law enforcement, Homeland Security and military personnel–to talk about Islamic jihadism and shariah as the motivation for...

Senator Feinstein has said that she wants to ban guns more than once There are many people who advocate for bans on guns, but most of them are smart enough to know that the way to obtain such bans is incrementally, as has been done for the last 75 years.   Why can't you walk down to the corner hardware store and buy a gun muffler for your pistol or rifle, like they do in Finland?  A gun ban passed in 1934.   Why can't you order military surplus rifles mail order, and have them delivered to your door, even though they...

Terry McAuliffe won't take his place as the Governor of Virginia until January, but he isn't wasting any time when it comes to getting ahead on his anti-gun agenda. During the campaign, McAuliffe advocated for a ban on semi-automatic rifles and standard capacity magazines. Now, he's hired Lori Haas, the Virginia State Director of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence [CSGV], to help with his transition team. Haas' daughter was shot during the Virginia Tech massacre in 2007. More from the DC: Despite claiming support for the Second Amendment, Haas’s appointment to this position to help assemble his Administration sends...

It’s not just red-state Democrats who want to take aggressive steps to mend controversial provisions in Obamacare. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said Tuesday that she will co-sponsor a bill by Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) to require insurance companies to continue offering their existing health care plans — a way to make good on President Barack Obama’s promise that consumers can keep their current coverage if they like it.