Free Republic

Socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) made radical statements Monday night on Twitter, suggesting that the United States should not have authorized the use of force against those who perpetrated the 9/11 attacks — the deadliest terrorist attack in world history. Ocasio-Cortez's comments came as she was defending Rep. Ilhan Omar's (D-NY) most recent anti-Semitic remarks from over the weekend. "It is disturbing that Rep. Omar continues to perpetuate hurtful anti-Semitic stereotypes that misrepresent our Jewish community. Additionally, questioning support for the U.S.-Israel relationship is unacceptable," Democrat Rep. Juan Vargas (CA) tweeted. "Israel has and remains a stalwart ally of the...

Senators urge president to enforce provisions 'as enacted and intended' Leading Democrats are taking aim at the Obama administration for its opposition to newly passed legislation that aims to bolster the U.S.-Israel economic relationship and combat boycotts of Israel, according to a statement issued this week. The Obama administration announced that it opposes portions of a bipartisan trade bill that would strengthen economic ties between the U.S. and Israel and force trade partners to sever ties with backers of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, an anti-Israel movement that seeks to economically isolate the Jewish state. President Barack Obama...

Robert S. Wistrich, who died suddenly last week, was considered the foremost scholar of anti-Semitism, which he called “the longest hatred,” one that appears to be metastasizing in the current era. Writing about Nazi anti-Semitism ruffles no feathers within academia and other elite circles. Mr. Wistrich, however, had been warning that “anti-Semitism has undergone a process of growing ‘Islamicization,’ linked to the terrorist holy war against Jews and other non-Muslims with its truly lethal consequences.” This “new” anti-Semitism,” he added, targetsIsrael, the only state with a Jewish majority: “the collective Jew.” “New” is a relative term: It was 40 years...

U.S. Rep. Grace Meng (D-NY) announced Sunday that she has spearheaded a bipartisan letter calling on the French government to cancel plans to release a convicted terrorist who was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of an American and an Israeli diplomat. The letter, which was sent to France’s Ambassador to the United States, urges French officials to stop the release of George Ibrahim Abdallah, the former head of the Lebanese Armed Revolutionary Brigade who was convicted in 1987 of killing an Israeli diplomat and a U.S. military attaché. The U.S. State Department has also expressed its opposition...

While state legislators pay lip service to local decision-making, they also claim a divine right to intervene in local conflicts by siding with one faction or the other, even when it means overturning ordinary governmental and legal processes. Sen. Juan Vargas, who made it back into the Legislature last year by the skin of his teeth, embraces that dubious, time-dishonored practice with measures that would intervene in two local development flaps. ... Meanwhile, another Vargas bill, SB 469, inserts the state into a long-running controversy in San Diego over development of "superstores" by Wal-Mart and other big retailers, taking the...

The state Senate barely passed today a labor-sponsored bill aimed at Wal-Mart and other large retailers by requiring cities and counties to review an economic impact report before deciding whether to approve superstore projects. The law would apply to retail projects greater than 90,000 square feet that devote significant space to selling groceries. Affected retailers such as Wal-Mart would have to pay for the city or a city contractor to do the report, which would have to give local officials insight into the expected revenues from the new store, the net impact on jobs in the area and the long-term...

A Capitol political battle lasting years over placing restrictions on Wal-Mart and other big box retail stores flared anew Wednesday when the Senate Governance and Finance Committee approved union-backed legislation. The bill, Senate Bill 469 by Sen. Juan Vargas, D-San Diego, would require proposed "superstore" projects to undergo an "economic impact report" before approval by local governments. It's the latest in a long-string of anti-big box bills; predecessors were vetoed by former Govs. Gray Davis and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

In an era when political tawdriness is so commonplace that much misbehavior barely elicits shrugs, it takes a truly audacious act to make jaws drop. Congratulations are thus in order for Juan Vargas for doing something that stuns even jaded political junkies. On Monday – the same day Vargas' Assembly successor was sworn in – the San Diego Democrat and longtime chairman of the Assembly Insurance Committee became vice president of California external affairs for Safeco, a big Seattle-based insurance company that hopes to expand aggressively in California. This by itself is outrageous, but it becomes far more so when...

SAN DIEGO -- A sexually violent predator with a 20-year history of assaulting male hitchhikers can be released from a mental hospital into the community as long as a treatment plan is in place, a judge ruled Tuesday. Douglas Badger, 63, shook hands with his attorney, Richard Gates, as Superior Court Judge David Gill made his ruling. The judge scheduled a Jan. 27 status hearing to start a process for placing Badger back into San Diego County, where he can be supervised in an outpatient setting. No such plan currently exists, according to court testimony. Assemblyman Juan Vargas, D-Chula Vista,...