The Friday Filibuster: The one-stop-shop for everything you need to know about this week in politics.
Closing Numbers
7: The number of people killed in Chicago over the July 4 weekend, while another 40 were wounded in gang violence.
40,000: the number of Army troops the U.S. to cut by 2017, even as ISIS and Putin march.
10: the number of years it’s been since Britain’s 7/7 terrorist attacks.
19: the very small percentage of American who know that the First Amendment guarantees freedom of religion.
48: The cost of generating wind electricity is this percentage higher than previous estimates.
99.9: The percentage of gun owners Sen. Bernie Sanders says ‘obey the law.’
347,000: The number of criminal immigrants who roam free in the U.S.
200: The number of sanctuary cities in the U.S.
21 million: the number of social security numbers that were breached in the massive government hack.
Sanctuaries of Lawlessness
Another horrific and entirely preventable murder happened this week when an illegal immigrant who had multiple felonies on his record and had been deported five times shot 32-year-old Kate Steinle in broad daylight (with a gun that belonged to a federal agent) while she was walking with her father in San Francisco. Her murderer admitted he kept coming back to the city because of its sanctuary policies. San Francisco’s sheriff, who was sentenced for domestic abuse in 2012, brought the murderer back to the city. The White House refuses to comment; meanwhile, Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Hillary Clinton tried to save face this week after they are very much on the record defending sanctuary cities. Bill O’Reilly took everyone to task this week over this—from San Francisco city officials to the Obama administration and Congress. Sean Hannity gave other parents whose children have been murdered by illegals the chance to tell their powerful stories this week. And Sen. Tom Cotton has introduced legislation to block sanctuary cities from federal law enforcement grants. The calls are growing louder on Capitol Hill to block federal funding for these types of cities. And senators are demanding to know why DHS is enabling sanctuary cities to harbor dangerous, criminal illegal aliens through the Priority Enforcement Program.
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Campaigns & Elections
Roughly three months after officially throwing her hat in the 2016 ring, Hillary Clinton sat down for an interview with CNN where she insisted her secret emails are a phony scandal and she wouldn’t talk about the Clinton Foundation. Even the mainstream media noticed she lied, a lot, in the interview. But they still let themselves literally be roped off by her staffers. Also this week, Team Clinton admitted they are worried about Bernie Sanders, who seems to have struck a chord with liberal voters. He wasn’t afraid to point out this week that unemployment is actually much higher than Obama will admit, and that the vast majority of gun owners obey the law.
On the Republican side of things, Rick Perry’s address this week on race was excellent. Gov. Scott Walker and Sen. Pat Toomey came out with campaign ads. Alan Grayson has thrown his hat in for Marco Rubio’s open Senate seat. And Former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore will announce he’s running for president next month. There’s no new national polling information concerning the top 10 Republican contenders, but the RNC did tell Donald Trump to tone it down on immigration. One donor even questioned whether he should be barred from the debates.
Concerning the Constitution
Idaho is in no rush to remove the traditional marriage amendment from its Constitution. Sen. Baldwin said he believes the First Amendment applies to institution of faith, but that it doesn’t extend far beyond that. According to a new study, on First Amendment freedoms, Americans are trending libertarian. On 'The View,' Candace Cameron Bure defended Christian bakers' right to refuse service to gay weddings. The NRA meanwhile is reminding gun owners that they shouldn’t view the Supreme Court’s gay marriage decision as a reason to carry their firearms in states that still don’t recognize their CCW permits. Speaking of the Second Amendment, a former CNN anchor said it saved her life and Jezebel is utterly perplexed by gun-owning mothers. In related news, beachgoers tested on basic facts about American history failed spectacularly.
Global Security
The Islamic State is now in Afghanistan and Boko Haram has continued its onslaught unabated. The FBI stopped ISIS-linked terror plots on the Fourth of July. Meanwhile, nuclear talks blew through another deadline this week as Iran added demands. According to reports, the White House is now keeping Israel in the dark on the nuclear talks, and may even extend negotiations indefinitely. Gov. Chris Christie said the Iran deal is the ‘single biggest disaster' of Obama’s presidency.
In other news:
Katherine Archuleta, director of OPM, resigned today after the massive data breach (see story above in closing numbers). New documents also came out showing that there was extensive collaboration between the IRS and DOJ to criminally prosecute conservative groups. And the Eurozone has given Greece until Sunday to get it together.
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