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Dems introduce high-capacity magazine ban in the House

Thu, 03 Jan 2013 21:57:00 +0000

Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo., introduced a ban on high-capacity magazines in the House earlier today, the first day of the new session of Congress.

According to the AP, DeGette introduced the bill with Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, D-N.Y., whose husband was killed in a 1993 mass shooting on the Long Island Rail Road in New York. From the AP:

[DeGette]'s district includes the site of the 1999 massacre at Columbine High School. It is also adjacent to last year's Aurora movie theater shooting site. In both of those attacks, the shooters' rifles were modified with high-capacity magazines. Those devices allow attackers to fire dozens of bullets without pausing to reload.

Though it's still unclear whether a ban can pass the Republican-controlled House, there were some promising signs from at least one Republican earlier today.

Rep. Peter King, also from New York, said on "Morning Joe": "I voted for the assault weapon ban back in 1994. My father was a police officer. I really don't know why people need assault weapons."

Rep. King says Boehner promises Sandy aid votes

Wed, 02 Jan 2013 21:49:00 +0000

WASHINGTON (AP) — A New York lawmaker says House Speaker John Boehner has promised votes to aid victims of Superstorm Sandy by Jan. 15.

Republican Rep. Peter King says the speaker will schedule a vote Friday for $9 billion in flood insurance and another on Jan. 15 for a remaining $51 billion in the package. The votes will be taken by the new Congress that will be sworn in Thursday.

Boehner's decision to cancel an expected vote Tuesday night had outraged lawmakers from New York, New Jersey and elsewhere, including many in his own party.

King said Boehner made the promise in a private meeting with lawmakers from affected states. King and others said they were now satisfied that the aid will be forthcoming.

Republicans turn on House GOP leadership over Sandy aid

Wed, 02 Jan 2013 18:31:00 +0000

Republicans in states hit hardest by Hurricane Sandy are lining up against House Republican leadership for adjourning before allowing a vote to fund relief efforts.

On Wednesday, Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., excoriated John Boehner and House Republicans, calling it "absolutely disgraceful" and saying that "my world turned upside down last night."

"People in my party, they wonder why they're becoming a minority party," King said on CNN. "They're writing off New York, they're writing off New Jersey. Well, they've written me off, and they're gonna have a hard time getting my vote, I can tell you that."

King added that "anyone from New York or New Jersey who contributes one penny to the Republican Congressional Campaign Committee should have their head examined."

Rep. Michael Grimm, R-N.Y., said he was "utterly devastated" by the decision, and called it "beyond surprising" that the House adjourned without a vote. He said it was ultimately House Speaker John Boehner's call to adjourn without a vote, and that he had received signals from House Majority Leader Eric Cantor that the vote would happen.

5 Islam-bashing Republicans to watch in 2013

Tue, 01 Jan 2013 14:00:00 +0000

When Muslim-American organizations and activists concerned with Islamophobia woke up the day after the election, on November 7, they were elated. Key members of what had been dubbed the House Republican “Islamophobia caucus”had been voted out of office. These Tea Party-affiliated Republicans included Joe Walsh (R-IL), who had warned in August that Islamists were “trying to kill Americans every week” and were lurking in the Chicago suburbs, and Allen West (R-FL), who linked the entire religion of Islam to terrorism.

These fear-mongers won’t be able to spread their hysteria from the bully pulpit of a House seat any longer. But that doesn’t mean that the House Republican caucus has rid themselves of the scourge of anti-Muslim politicians who stoke that sentiment for political gain. On the contrary, the House Republican caucus remains the place where the ugly head of Islamophobia rests comfortably.

Meet the new Peter King

Sat, 01 Dec 2012 12:00:00 +0000

Good news for people who are uneasy with New York Republican Rep. Peter King’s leadership of the House Homeland Security Committee: He’s stepping down thanks to term limits. But there's some potential bad news: His replacement may not be a whole lot better.

Texas Republican Rep. Mike McCaul edged out Michigan Rep. Candice Miller -- who was the GOP’s best hope of getting a female major committee head -- and Mike Rodgers in a close private vote this week. King’s tenure as chairman drew controversy for the series of hearings he held on the radicalization of Muslims in America. Critics didn’t discount the threat of homegrown terror but said King should have expanded the hearings to include all kinds of violent radicalism, including right-wing extremism.

Petraeus testimony changes no minds

Fri, 16 Nov 2012 22:30:00 +0000

What happened at today’s much-hyped congressional hearings featuring disgraced former CIA director David Petraeus? It’s hard to say, since the hearings were classified and reporters were not even allowed to see Petraeus enter and leave, let alone listen to him speak.

To judge by what representatives of each party told the press after the hearing, you’d think they attended entirely different meetings. Republicans seem to think that Petraeus completely undercut the Obama administration’s account of the attacks on U.S. diplomats in Benghazi, Libya, while Democrats insist he backed up that account.

"The fact is, the reference to al-Qaida was taken out somewhere along the line by someone outside the intelligence community ... We need to find out who did it and why,” said Republican Rep. Peter King, the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, who attended the first of two back-to-back hearings with Petraeus. (The second was with senators.) "The general was adamant there was no politicization of the process, no White House interference or political agenda ... He completely debunked that idea," said Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff of the very same meeting.

Sunday show roundup

Sun, 11 Nov 2012 17:16:00 +0000

On this week's Sunday shows, politicians and pundits addressed the resignation of CIA Director David Petraeus, as well as the looming showdown over the federal budget. Here are the highlights:

On Petraeus:

Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., was confused as to why the the FBI didn't alert President Obama to the affair until just last week. “The FBI should have had an obligation to tell the president,” King said on CNN's "State of the Union." “It just doesn’t add up.”

But Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., also on CNN, said everything about the FBI's handling of the revelations appears proper: “I don’t see a conspiracy behind every curtain as some of my colleagues do."

On the budget negotiations in Congress:

Bill Kristol argued that the GOP should not "fall on its sword" defending lower taxes for millionaires. "Don't scream and yell when one person says, 'you know what, it won't kill the country if we raise taxes a little bit on millionaires.' It really won't, I don't think," he said on Fox News Sunday.

FBI “stumbled” across Petraeus affair

Sun, 11 Nov 2012 16:00:00 +0000

Paula Broadwell, David Petraeus’s biographer, inadvertently tipped off the FBI to her affair with David Petraeus after she sent "harassing" emails to another woman, according to FBI officials.

The New York Times reports that the FBI came across information about the affair after the woman, who knows Petraeus and Broadwell, complained:

"When F.B.I. agents following up on the complaint began to examine Ms. Broadwell’s e-mails, they discovered exchanges between her and Mr. Petraeus that revealed that they were having an affair, said several officials who spoke of the investigation on the condition of anonymity. They also discovered that Ms. Broadwell possessed certain classified information, one official said, but apparently concluded that it was probably not Mr. Petraeus who had given it to her and that there had been no major breach of security. No leak charges are expected to be filed as a result of the investigation."

A Congressional official who was briefed on the affair told the Times that the FBI said the investigation “started with two women," but “it didn't start with Petraeus, but in the course of the investigation they stumbled across him."

Should NFL players be forced to wear pink?

Tue, 09 Oct 2012 14:00:00 +0000

As a sports writer, Peter King is undoubtedly used to getting flak for his opinions. So when he tweeted last week in despair at professional football's month-long, rosy-hued display of breast cancer awareness, "Please. Not pink for a month, NFL. A week, great. But a month?" the response was predictably unfavorable. "You got a problem w/ cancer awareness?" wrote one of his Twitter critics, while another asked, "Really? Is it that serious? If it's raising money for cancer is it really worth complaining about?" and yet another declared, "Get over it for those we've lost and survived, we honor them in any way we can."

In the face of the retorts, though, King pressed on, musing, "Is breast cancer the only charity NFL should support?" To the person who asked, "What if each team could pick one week in October where they wear the pink?" he retorted, "Perfect. That'd be ideal." But over at ESPN's radio 104.5, Jay Sanin was appalled. "ARE YOU SERIOUS?" he demanded, suggesting, "Maybe instead of being an ignorant idiot about life-threatening diseases, Peter King should stick to being an ignorant idiot about the NFL."

Peter King: AP has “no moral integrity”

Fri, 31 Aug 2012 20:20:00 +0000

TAMPA -- In order to enter the Republican National Convention, one had to pass through multiple layers of security, which involved so many different law enforcement agencies that I literally lost count. So police issues were on my mind on Wednesday when I spotted Rep. Peter King, the cranky Irish Republican Army apologist from Long Island. I asked if he thought there was any merit to arguments leveled -- by both the left and right alike -- that police departments across the country have been excessively federalized and/or militarized, with the Tampa security situation being a prime example.

"No," King stated plainly. "Obviously, we always have to be looking out at all times that the police maintain their proper role. But I think the Department of Homeland Security, and the police I deal with -- whether it's the FBI or the New York City Police Department -- no, I think civil liberties are being protected. Privacy is being protected. And considering the nature of the threat against us, I would say the police are remarkably restrained."

King: Time to investigate Muslims, again

Tue, 19 Jun 2012 16:25:00 +0000

Everywhere Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., looks, he sees Muslims. You know, the gun-wielding, burqa-wearing, America-hating, “stealth-jihadi,” “creeping Shariah,” terrorist type. They enthrall him. So much so, in fact, that not only has he built his entire political career on championing the fight against them, but he’s also fantasized about their destruction in the pages of a mediocre techno-thriller he wrote in 2003, sensationally titled "Vale of Tears." “This is something I am absolutely fixated on,” he once admitted.

It came as little surprise, then, when the jowly Long Island sexagenarian announced that he would hold his fifth (count ‘em) congressional hearing on the supposed “radicalization” of the American Muslim community.

The spectacle is set to kick off tomorrow in room 311 of the Cannon House Office Building — a stately chamber that in 1967 hosted the House Committee on Un-American Activities’ investigation into links between race riots and Communist infiltration. It is an appropriate place for King’s witch hunt, one might say.

The politicization of the Secret Service scandal

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 17:08:00 +0000

It's hard to work up much outrage about the Secret Service prostitution scandal, in which 11 members of the president's elite protective service and various military personnel were found to have picked up escorts in Colombia, where they were doing advance work for the president's visit. I guess it is probably not a good idea for the people in charge of protecting the president to leave themselves vulnerable to sexual blackmail, but on the other hand we do not live in a John Le Carré novel or "24" episode, and I don't think the threat of a honey-trap assassination conspiracy plot is very credible. If members of the Secret Service want to get drunk and hire escorts after work, that is their business. (As Melissa Gira Grant says, the only actual scandal here -- and the reason this became an international incident -- is that all these guys tried to bilk one of the women out of the money she was owed.)

NYPD must spy on all Muslims to protect us from Iranian photographers

Thu, 22 Mar 2012 19:22:00 +0000

The NYPD is less a "police department" than a secretive and unaccountable international intelligence-gathering organization with a large minority-frisking division and the firepower of a mid-sized army. Lately they have been facing a bit of criticism for their style of intelligence-gathering, which seems to be done with more gusto than concern for civil liberties or... accuracy. Sometimes the NYPD's muscular-but-stupid approach to spying gets them in trouble with the FBI. And when the organization that fights terror by recruiting shady weirdos to try to trick random Muslims into saying "jihad" into tape recorders says your practices are counterproductive and out of line, they are probably pretty counterproductive and out of line.

IRA supporter chides Occupy for “violence”

Wed, 16 Nov 2011 23:37:00 +0000

Rep. Peter King (R-NY) unleashed a blistering attack on Occupy Wall Street on Bloomberg television today, calling out protesters for, among other things, their use of "violence."

"First of all, you try to listen to them and they make almost no sense," King said. "These are people who were living in dirt, these were people who are involved in drugs, there was violence, there was rape, these were a small number of people — you could probably get more people at a Mass in St. Patrick’s Cathedral on a Sunday than you got in Zuccotti Park."

This is pretty much the standard narrative about Occupy on the right, but with an ironic twist.

King, of course, built his political career on his support for the IRA, a movement that used violence against civilians as a tactic for decades. The bombings carried out by the IRA make even the most militant "black bloc" occupiers look downright Gandhian.