If your car is running low on gas, don’t carjack another car.

If you do try to carjack another car, don’t take it from a guy outside a gym — a place where you’re much more likely to run into someone who knows mixed martial arts.

If you still manage to steal the car, make sure it’s an automatic or that you know how to drive a stick shift.

Finally, if you don’t know how to drive stick, get back in your car. If you have to abandon it during the ensuing police chase, don’t assume you can outrun a K9 dog named Titan.

This should all be taught in Criminal Behavior 101, but it appears a few suspected carjackers disregarded some — if not all — of those basic lessons.

Report: Judge Judy Ditches Longtime Bailiff Because of Cost Concerns – But She Makes $47 Million Per Year

According to WUSA-TV, the trouble began around 5 p.m. Tuesday outside an Anytime Fitness in Stafford, Virginia. Multiple callers told police that three men attacked another man with a stick so large the potential victim said he thought it was a baseball bat.

Sheriff’s deputies said the motive was — get this one — the men were running out of gas in their car and, instead of filling it up, they just tried to gank another one.

The problem was the potential victim had training in mixed martial arts. He fought back — but eventually dropped his keys.

However, when the suspected carjackers picked them up and got in the MMA aficionado’s car, they discovered something unfortunate for them: It was a manual transmission, which they didn’t know how to drive.

By this time, others inside the gym noticed what was going on and came outside to stop the carjacking. Given that learning how to use a clutch and a gearshift isn’t the easiest thing to do when you’re in the midst of a crime, deputies say the attempted carjackers got back into their car and drove off.

VIDEO

“Deputies learned the suspects were driving a white Acura sedan with Mississippi plates and they were quickly spotted by a deputy who attempted to pull the car over on Garrisonville Road near I-95. Instead of stopping, the suspects took off and headed northbound on I-95,” WUSA reported.

“The pursuit reached a speed of 98 mph, deputies said. Near mile marker 145, the suspects entered the HOV lanes by crashing through the barrier arm and began driving northbound while traffic was headed southbound.”

Eventually, the men stopped and ran into a wooded median; the Virginia State Police and other law enforcement officials found them using a K-9 named Titan and were able to set up a perimeter.

The men were then told they could either give up or the dog would be unleashed. Only two suspects were wise enough to give up voluntarily.

Sick Discovery in Loudoun County ‘Cover-Up’: Boy Who Allegedly Raped Girl in School Bathroom Had History of Sex Assault

“The third suspect incorrectly judged his own speed or K-9 Titan’s speed and attempted to run away. This attempt was futile as K-9 Titan was released and apprehended the suspect within 50 yards,” Stafford County deputies said.

I suppose if you decide carjacking is a good solution when your car’s low-fuel warning light is on and you go the wrong way in the HOV lane, you might be the kind of person who believes you can outrun a K-9 unit.

“The suspects were identified as 19-year-old Jabez Clark, 18-year-old Korey Richardson, and 20-year-old Jacob Land,” WUSA reported.

“Clark is charged with carjacking, robbery, conspiracy, malicious wounding, assault, vandalism and possession of burglary tools. Richardson is charged with carjacking, robbery, conspiracy, eluding, reckless driving and hit and run. Land is charged with carjacking robbery, conspiracy and vandalism.”

All three were held without bond. However, if you want to know which suspect was allegedly misguided enough to believe they could outrun a police dog, WUSA noted, “Land briefly went to the hospital for treatment of a dog bite.”

Say what you will about Clark and Richardson: Even if they did what they stand accused of, they had enough sense to know K-9s named Titan are bad news.

New York City mayoral candidate Eric Adams met with a Chinese Communist Party-run foreign influence flagged by the U.S. government for seeking to “directly and malignly influence” officials to push pro-Beijing policies.

Adams, the Democratic Party nominee in the upcoming New York City mayoral election, met with leaders from the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC) during a 2017 trip to China.

The CPAFFC has been dubbed the “public face” of the United Front – a billion-dollar effort executed by the Chinese Communist Party seeking “to co-opt and neutralize sources of potential opposition to the policies and authority of its ruling Chinese Communist Party” and “influence foreign governments to take actions or adopt positions supportive of Beijing’s preferred policies,” according to the federal U.S.-China Security and Economic Review Commission.

Also referred to as “avowedly an arm of the party-state,” CPAFFC has been flagged by the U.S. State Department for its campaigns to “directly and malignly influence” American officials.

Despite the CPAFFC’s track record of conducting foreign influence operations, Adams met with the group in October 2017 during his ongoing tenure as the Borough President of Brooklyn, New York. A CPAFFC press release – “Director Zhang Heqiang Meets with the Mayor of Brooklyn, New York City” – describes the meeting, which took place in Beijing.

The Director “introduced to him the work functions of [CPAFFC] and its work in the United States.”

“In the future, he hopes to further promote Brooklyn’s exchanges with China and enhance bilateral cooperation in the fields of youth exchanges, culture, and commerce,” CPAFFC summarized regarding Adam’s takeaway from the meeting.

CHANTILLY, Va. — A 22-year-old man has been arrested following a sexual assault that occurred at 8 a.m. on Sept. 27 inside Chantilly High School. Officers responded to the school at 4201 Stringfellow Road after the victim’s mother contacted police advising her daughter had been assaulted two hours earlier.

Officers discovered a man wearing a mask entered the school with other students early in the morning. He approached the female victim, who believed he was another student. The man initiated a conversation and then inappropriately touched the victim. She was able to get away as other students approached. She contacted her mother and returned home prior to alerting school officials.

Upon hearing from the mother, officers searched the area surrounding the school and located Galata Bekele Bengessa, of Fairfax, on foot near Route 50 and Fairfax County Parkway. He was identified as the offender and taken into custody. During the arrest, Bekele Bengessa “made statements to officers that led him to be taken to a nearby hospital to receive treatment,” police said.

Last night, Bekele Bengessa was arrested and taken to the Adult Detention Center. He was charged with abduction by force, sexual battery, and trespassing on school property. Further Investigation led officers to two additional victims, who reported similar incidents involving the suspect that occurred away from school property.

A House panel investigating the Jan. 6 incursion of the U.S. Capitol will get tough with anyone who dares to cross it, one committee member said Thursday.

Democratic Rep. Stephanie Murphy of Florida took a severe stance when she was interviewed on MSNBC.

“We intend to enforce our subpoenas,” she said. “And the first step will be for us to pursue criminal contempt.

“What that means is that the committee will put together a report and then refer it to the House floor. There will be a vote, and then it goes to the Department of Justice.”

The Justice Department could then decide whether to pursue the case or not, although Murphy said she was confident that the Biden administration would support taking as tough a line as possible with any Trump administration officials or supporters of former President Donald Trump that it has targeted.

Lawmakers: CDC May Be Manipulating COVID Data, Underreporting Vaccine Side Effects by Factor of 5

“I fully expect this Department of Justice to uphold and enforce that subpoena,” she said.

Murphy called the Capitol incursion “an attempt to use political violence to change the outcome of an election.”

She said she wants those who defy the committee to face “the full extent of consequences that is available by the law.”

“I would recommend the full extent of consequences — jail time, fines. We need to make sure that these people understand that this is not acceptable,” Murphy said.

When asked how the panel plans to haul those it wants to hear from before it, Murphy said the effort to do so will be intense.

“I know that we have engaged with a wide variety of law enforcement offices, including the U.S. Marshals, in order to issue the subpoenas, and we will use everything — as you said, with all due respect — we will use all of the agencies and all of the tools at our disposal to issue the subpoenas and then enforce them,” she said.

The committee has subpoenaed Mark Meadows, former chief of staff for Trump; Steve Bannon, a former White House strategist who had left the administration by the time of the incursion; Trump aides Dan Scavino and Kashyap Patel; and various organizers of the rally that took place that day. Bannon has said he will not appear.

Murphy said she wants to know how those in Trump’s orbit were involved in the election protest that eventually devolved into rioting.

Capitol Police Officer Indicted for Obstructing Justice in Jan. 6 Investigation

“Of Mark Meadows and anyone else in front of us, I want to know how much planning was involved,” she said. “Who was involved in that planning. Who funded it. How they — what their intent was when they came into that day.

“And then what they knew as that day unfolded and the safety and security of people like the vice president and members of Congress were at risk, what they did to either respond or not respond on that occasion.

“What we have to do is lay out the full set of facts and let the American people understand how perilous we were in that moment, how close our Democracy was to going over the cliff. And to ensure that we can lay out the facts and figure out how to fix the situation so that we don’t have anybody who tries to take the opportunity to try to undo a fair and free election.”

Trump has criticized the panel.

“Why isn’t the January 6th Unselect Committee of partisan hacks studying the massive Presidential Election Fraud, which took place on November 3rd and was the reason that hundreds of thousands of people went to Washington to protest on January 6th?” the former president said in a statement issued Wednesday.

“Look at the numbers now being reported on the fraud, which we now call the ‘Really Big Lie.’ You cannot study January 6th without studying the reason it happened, November 3rd,” Trump said.

“But the Democrats don’t want to do that because they know what took place on Election Day in the Swing States, and beyond. If we had an honest media this Election would have been overturned many months ago, but our media is almost as corrupt as our political system!”

NEW!

“Look at the numbers now being reported on the fraud, which we now call the “Really Big Lie.” You cannot study January 6th without studying the reason it happened, November 3rd.” – President Donald J. Trump

MORE: pic.twitter.com/HwTiDjxWJg

— Liz Harrington (@realLizUSA) October 13, 2021

In a statement on Monday, the former president said, “The highly partisan Unselect Committee is just a sideshow to distract America from MASSIVE failures by Biden and the Democrats.

“What happened to the Capitol would have never happened if the people in charge did their job and looked at the intelligence. They abandoned the officers on the ground, just like Biden abandoned Americans in Afghanistan.

“Instead of holding bad leaders accountable, the Democrats are going after innocent staffers and attacking the Constitution.”

It’s showdown time in Chicago, as the leader of the union representing its police officers squares off with Democratic Mayor Lori Lightfoot over her demand that all city workers report their vaccination status to the city by Friday or be put on unpaid leave.

Fraternal Order of Police President John Catanzara said that the union will resist and take the city to court if it tries to enforce its mandate on vaccine reporting.

“He’s threatening litigation, I say, bring it,” Lightfoot said, according to The Washington Post.

Catanzara said that if the union heeds his advice and the city plays hardball by implementing its threat, Chicago streets will be very different.

“It’s safe to say that the city of Chicago will have a police force at 50 percent or less for this weekend coming up,” according to NBC.

Report: Judge Judy Ditches Longtime Bailiff Because of Cost Concerns – But She Makes $47 Million Per Year

“Whatever happens because of that manpower issue, that falls at the mayor’s doorstep,” Catanzara said in a Youtube video message to Chicago police officers.

He made it clear that he expects to win a war of wills.

“I can guarantee you that no-pay status will not last more than 30 days,” Catanzara said, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. “There’s no way they’re going to be able to sustain a police department workforce at 50 percent capacity or less for more than seven days without something budging.”

He said that the city has refused to work with the union.

“The reality is the city acknowledged from the beginning their obligation to bargain in good faith over this subject,” Catanzara said, according to WGN-TV. “They have refused.”

Catanzara has said that the union’s issue is not whether or not to be vaccinated.  He said he opposes the mandate and the requirement to disclose an officer’s vaccination status.

He has urged union members to file requests for exemptions to the rule on Thursday, the day before the city’s deadline, and not tell the city their vaccination status.

Lightfoot has said the city is ready for whatever comes after Friday.

Prosecutors Release 5 Suspects in Deadly Gang Shootout with No Charges, Citing ‘Mutual Combat’

She said that Catanzara was “doing a patent disservice to his members every single day” by opposing her mandate, according to the Post.

“What we’re focused on is making sure that we maximize the opportunity to create a very safe workplace,” Lightfoot said, according to NBC.

“The data is very clear. It is unfortunate that the FOP leadership has chosen to put out a counter-narrative. But the fact of the matter is, if you are not vaccinated, you are playing with your life, the life of your family, the life of your colleagues and members of the public,” she continued.

But the union is not budging.

“I don’t know how the mayor in good conscience can force this to go forward, and risk sending half the police department home, and subjecting the citizens of this city to that,” Catanzara said, according to WLS-TV.

Aldermen Marty Quinn and Matt O’Shea issued a letter to the mayor that said, in part, “We are extremely concerned that our communities will be put in serious danger.”

Alderman Anthony Napolitano made his case clear.

“I think the mayor has done her due diligence, as well, but we’re asking that there be a repeal of this mandate,” he said.

A restaurant owner in Portland, Oregon, wrote a letter to city leaders saying she loves her city but it is no longer safe for business as liberal policies continue to allow crime to surge.

“Over the last year and a half, the occurrence of close contact psychotic outbursts from houseless people, aggressive behavior, abuse and damage to our property is a daily norm,” Kristen Murray, owner of the Maurice cafe in downtown Portland, wrote in her letter, according to Fox News.

“It threatens myself, my staff, my customers, my business, your citizens and the mass of unwell people need so much support as well. Our lives are all valuable,” she added.

Murray talked about the situation Thursday morning on Fox News’ “Fox & Friends.”

When asked why she wrote the letter, she expressed her love for her city.

Report: Judge Judy Ditches Longtime Bailiff Because of Cost Concerns – But She Makes $47 Million Per Year

“I love Portland, and I believe in Portland being able to come out of this. It’s just gotten so wildly unbalanced right now and it’s not safe, unfortunately,” Murray said.

Her letter has led to an upcoming meeting with city officials and other business leaders to address Portland’s crime problem.

“The city is at a breaking point and it has been, but things have really exploded over the last couple of months, weeks, and I really don’t want to close up shop,” she added.

“The city has to make some dramatic changes,” Murray said.

Some have blamed the city’s rising crime on its attitude toward policing. In June, the city went after a police officer for his actions during one of the many leftist riots in Portland in 2020, leading the city’s team of anti-riot cops to resign and disband.

Oregon Public Broadcasting reported that Portland Police Bureau Officer Corey Budworth was indicted on a charge of fourth-degree assault relating to an Aug. 18, 2020, incident in which he struck a rioter with a baton.

Leftist Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schmidt charged Budworth.

Today, Multnomah County @DAMikeSchmidt announced that a grand jury indicted Portland Police Officer Corey Budworth with one count of Assault in the Fourth Degree for alleged criminal conduct that occurred during a protest in August of 2020. https://t.co/iUoe4uqUzf pic.twitter.com/owYOdkAYZq

— Multnomah County DA’s Office (@MultCoDA) June 15, 2021

Lt. Col. Scheller Pleads Guilty to All Charges of Contempt and Disrespect of Superior Officers, Failure to Obey Orders

“In this case, we allege that no legal justification existed for Officer Budworth’s deployment of force, and that the deployment of force was legally excessive under the circumstances,” Schmidt said in a statement.

“My office will continue to do everything we can to ensure justice is done without error or delay and that we make sure our work and practices are rooted in fairness and equity,” he said.

Schmidt pursued Budworth, who was working as a member of the police bureau’s all-volunteer Rapid Response Team during last summer’s incident.

Oregon Public Broadcasting reported the officer with the baton in the following Twitter video is Budworth:

WARNING: The following video contains vulgar language that some viewers may find offensive.

Cop 37 shoves woman hitting her from behind in the head with baton, then hits her again in the face with baton while she is sitting on the ground pic.twitter.com/t4phwbWpsK

— John #FreePalestine (@Johnnthelefty) August 19, 2020

Budworth was found to have done nothing wrong by his superiors, given the circumstances. But he was hit with a criminal charge, to which he pleaded not guilty on July 12.

The establishment media has neglected, yet again, to cover a story concerning voter fraud.

What a surprise. (Sarcasm intended.)

On Monday, it was announced that three Michigan women had been charged with crimes related to their alleged attempts to commit voter fraud in the 2020 election.

“These cases highlight the scrutiny applications and ballots undergo throughout the election process, as well as the thorough investigative process that ensues when instances of attempted fraud are suspected,” Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said in a statement.

“We will not hesitate to prosecute anyone who attempts to undermine our elections.”

Vaccine Tyranny: UCLA Doctor Escorted Off Property for Refusing Vax, Then He Reveals His Plan

Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson added that “our election system is secure, and today’s charges demonstrate that in the rare circumstances when fraud occurs we catch it and hold the perpetrators accountable.”

“These charges also send a clear message to those who promote deceitful claims about widespread fraud: the current protocols we have in place work to protect and ensure the integrity of our elections. It’s time to share that truth and stop spreading lies to the contrary,” Benson said.

But a look at what these women were charged with tells a different story and illuminates the many potential pathways to voter fraud.

It also raises an important question: Are the American people supposed to trust government officials to catch each and every instance of fraud when mail-in voting makes it so easy to cheat the system?

The first of the women, Trenae Myesha Rainey of Macomb County, was an employee at a nursing home.

Rainey stole a stack of “roughly two dozen absentee voter applications” meant for nursing home residents, filled them out, forged the residents’ signatures and had the applications turned in.

Again, under the universal mail-in voting system Democrats so desperately want, this sort of fraud couldn’t be any easier to commit.

The second woman, Carless Clark of Wayne County, returned her grandson’s absentee ballot by mail “despite her grandson deciding to vote in person.”

The third woman, Nancy Juanita Williams of both Wayne and Oakland counties, was a caretaker for legally incapacitated people.

Former South Philly Judge of Elections Charged in Voter Fraud Scheme, Cast Fraudulent Votes at All Levels of Government

Williams “implemented a plan to obtain and control absentee ballots” for those individuals under her care “by fraudulently submitting 26 absentee ballot applications to nine identified city and township clerks, seeking to have absentee ballots for those individuals mailed directly to her.”

A total of 50 charges were brought against the women, including 36 felonies.

Thankfully, these alleged culprits were caught and are being held to account. If Democrats get their way with their reckless election laws, however, there’s no guarantee the next fraudsters will be apprehended.

And when more fraud does occur, the American people likely won’t know until it’s too late.

Veteran journalist was involved in 2016 doc that misrepresented gun-rights activists

Katie Couric admits in her forthcoming memoir she intentionally cut out Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s criticism of NFL anthem protests from a taped interview in order to protect the Supreme Court justice’s legacy, the latest instance of the veteran journalist selectively editing interviews.

Couric reveals in Going There that a 2016 interview with Ginsburg was edited to omit the liberal icon’s statement that NFL players who kneeled for the national anthem displayed a “contempt for a government that has made it possible for their parents and grandparents to live a decent life.” The former Today Show host, who is a member of the Aspen Institute’s commission on media disinformation, wrote that she wanted to protect Ginsburg from public backlash and that she did not believe the octogenarian justice fully understood her question, according to the Daily Mail.

Couric’s admission marks a pattern for the reporter. In 2016, the makers of a documentary featuring Couric admitted that they edited her interview with a gun-rights group in order to portray it in a negative light. The documentary, Under the Gun, showed members of the Virginia Citizens Defense League sitting in an extended, awkward silence in response to a question from Couric about gun purchases. But audio of the interview provided to the Washington Free Beacon revealed that the group members promptly responded to Couric’s question. Couric and the filmmakers defended their deception in statements to the Washington Post.

Couric’s handling of the Ginsburg interview could call into question her credentials for serving on the Aspen Institute Commission on Information Disorder. The commission, for which England’s Prince Harry serves as a vice chairman, says that disinformation has caused a “modern-day crisis of faith in key institutions.”

Tech billionaire Craig Newmark funds the Aspen commission. Newmark, the founder of Craigslist, funded a New York University study published earlier this year that said without evidence that emails from Hunter Biden’s infamous laptop were “stolen material.” The study also said that Twitter and Facebook made “reasonable” decisions to block links to articles in the New York Post about Biden’s emails.

https://freebeacon.com/media/repeat-offender-katie-couric-edited-rbg-interview-to-remove-criticism-of-nfl-protests/

Walgreens said Tuesday that it will be closing five more San Francisco locations due to the rampant, organized theft across the city.

“Due to ongoing organized retail crime, we have made the difficult decision to close five stores across San Francisco,” a Walgreens spokesperson Phil Caruso said in a statement to news outlets. “Each store will transfer prescriptions to a nearby Walgreens location within a mile radius and we expect to place the stores’ team members in other nearby locations.”

The firm has already closed down more than 10 of its San Francisco locations since 2019, according to local media.

San Francisco Supervisor Ahsha Safai also confirmed the closure, saying that the loss of a store on Mission Street downtown is significant.

The Mission Street store that “has been a staple for seniors, families, and children for decades,” Safai said. “This is a sad day for San Francisco,” he wrote in a Twitter post. “We can’t continue to let these anchor institutions close that so many people rely on.”

Walgreens said the closures were triggered by “organized retail crime” that has impacted retailers across San Francisco.

“Retail theft across our San Francisco stores has continued to increase in the past few months to five times our chain average,” Caruso said. “During this time to help combat this issue, we increased our investments in security measures in stores across the city to 46 times our chain average in an effort to provide a safe environment.”

I am completely devastated by this news – this Walgreens is less than a mile from seven schools and has been a staple for seniors, families and children for decades. This closure will significantly impact this community.

— Ahsha Safai 安世輝 (@Ahsha_Safai) October 12, 2021

Shoplifters in San Francisco have been emboldened by a statewide referendum that lowered the penalty for stealing goods worth less than $950 from a felony to a misdemeanor.

Frustration and fear over thefts have been fueled by widely circulating images of shoplifting caught on video. This summer, shoplifters in masks carrying armfuls of designer handbags sprinted from a downtown Neiman Marcus department store and into getaway cars.

In June, a masked man was caught on video at a Walgreens, stuffing items into a trash bag before cruising out of the store on a bicycle. A suspect was arrested in that theft.

San Francisco Police Chief William Scott earlier this year suggested that California’s Proposition 47, which voters passed in 2014 lowering the criminal penalties, is being exploited by crime rings.

“Some people calculate, ‘Hey, you know, I don’t want to go over the $950, so let me steal $949 worth of property,’” Scott said in an interview in July.

“If it’s a felony, our officers can take action,” he continued to say. “But if it’s a misdemeanor, that arrest has to be a private person’s arrest. And that makes a difference because they have to be willing to do that.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/walgreens-closing-5-more-san-francisco-stores-over-organized-thefts_4046946.html?utm_medium=epochtimes&utm_source=telegram

Highlighting the extent to which cancel culture ensures that private opinions have public consequences, Las Vegas Raiders head coach Jon Gruden resigned late Monday after old emails were made public.

The emails contained slurs that mocked the masculinity of multiple NFL figures, including Commissioner Roger Goodell; criticized having women as referees; and railed against the league for pressuring a team to draft an openly gay player, according to The New York Times.

“I have resigned as Head Coach of the Las Vegas Raiders,” Gruden said in a statement released by the team.

“I love the Raiders and do not want to be a distraction. Thank you to all the players, coaches, staff, and fans of Raider Nation. I’m sorry, I never meant to hurt anyone.”

“I have resigned as Head Coach of the Las Vegas Raiders. I love the Raiders and do not want to be a distraction. Thank you to all the players, coaches, staff, and fans of Raider Nation. I’m sorry, I never meant to hurt anyone.”

Jon Gruden

— Las Vegas Raiders (@Raiders) October 12, 2021

Lawmakers: CDC May Be Manipulating COVID Data, Underreporting Vaccine Side Effects by Factor of 5

Rich Bisaccia, the Raiders’ special teams coordinator, will serve as interim head coach, the team announced.

The emails that were examined covered a period from 2011 through 2018, when Gruden was working for ESPN as an analyst for “Monday Night Football.”

Gruden’s comments came to light because they were sent to Bruce Allen, the former president of the Washington Football Team.

As part of an NFL investigation into the workplace culture of the Washington team, investigators combed through about 650,000 emails. The results of that investigation were shared with the league, which then alerted the Raisers to the content of what Gruden was writing.

One email from Gruden made public last week slammed DeMaurice Smith, the leader of the NFL players union, with a reference to the size of his lips, which many outlets described as “racist.”

The coach said Friday that his comment about Smith “went too far,” adding, “I never had a blade of racism in me.”

The Times reviewed more of the private emails and published some of their contents on Monday, saying, “Taken together, the emails provide an unvarnished look into the clubby culture of one N.F.L. circle of peers, where white male decision makers felt comfortable sharing pornographic images, deriding the league policies, and jocularly sharing homophobic language.”

Some of those emails took issue with the NFL’s focus on player concussions and opposed player protests over the national anthem.

Another Day, Another Minority Canceled by ESPN for Not Fitting Leftist Mold

Gruden’s targets for criticism included Caitlyn Jenner, former President Barack Obama and current President Joe Biden during his stint as vice president. The coach referred to Biden as a “nervous clueless p****.”

Some observers said the ousted Raiders coach was the victim of a double standard.

Deshaun Watson has been accused of sexually assaulting 24 different women. He is currently eligible to play in the NFL. Yet Jon Gruden was just forced to resign as a coach because of years old derogatory emails. Actions used to matter more than words. Now it’s the opposite.

— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) October 12, 2021

Richard Sherman was arrested for domestic violence this past summer. He is currently playing for the Bucs. Jon Gruden used vulgar language in private emails several years ago. He is now out of a job. If you think this is about simple “accountability,” you’re a moron.

— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) October 12, 2021

If Jon Gruden had his personal emails released and in those emails he mocked straight people, insulted the looks of a white man, and said Christians are stupid, he’d still be employed today. Probably with a new book deal. And everyone knows it.

That’s power. https://t.co/82QP2xSRQm

— Jesse Kelly (@JesseKellyDC) October 12, 2021

Gruden was not with the league at the time of the emails.

He won a Super Bowl with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2002 and returned to the Raiders as head coach in 2018.

One person was killed and 14 people were wounded early Sunday after gunshots rang out inside a St. Paul, Minnesota, bar.

Three men have been arrested in connection with the shootings, according to the St. Paul Pioneer Press.

Steve Linders, a police spokesman, described the scene inside the Seventh Street Truck Park as “hellish.”

The bar was crowded “when multiple individuals decided to pull out guns, with no regard for human life, and pull the trigger,” he told reporters.

Police Chief Todd Axtell said the city has not seen that level of casualties in one incident during his more than 30 years in the department.

Stunning Biden Gaffe: ‘Last Night I Was on the Television, on Television, I Was on … the … Telephone’

Linders said that after police responded to the 12:15 a.m. call, they found victims outside on the sidewalk and in the street as well as inside the bar, the Pioneer Press reported. He said citizens helped clear a path for first responders to reach the wounded.

BREAKING: A woman is dead and 14 people are wounded following a shootout in a St. Paul bar early Sunday morning. https://t.co/CJ2Xcc41Mg

— Star Tribune (@StarTribune) October 10, 2021

“I think about the young woman who died,” Linders said. “One minute she’s having a good time, the next minute she’s lying in her friends’ arms who are trying to save her life and she didn’t make it. I can’t think of anything worse.”

The woman who was killed was pronounced dead at the scene.

All other victims are expected to live.

Scene at the club following the shooting in St. Paul pic.twitter.com/kvVyTBJjAR

— Chuck (@VikeKang_) October 10, 2021

No motive for the shooting has been confirmed, Linders said. He was asked if the shooting was random.

“Random in the sense that innocent victims were struck, yes. Random in the sense that … the people shooting at each other didn’t know each other, probably not,” he said, according to the Pioneer Press.

The investigation is a “complex investigation” with “bullet holes all over in the bar,” Linders said, as police try to determine what took place.

“My heart breaks for the woman who was killed, her loved ones and everyone else who was in that bar this morning,” Axtell said in a statement, according to the Pioneer Press.

“In an instant, they found themselves caught in a hellish situation. I want them to know that we have the best investigators in the country, and we won’t stop until we find the people responsible for this madness. We will do our part to hold them accountable.”

John Maloney, who lives in an apartment above the bar, heard the shooting.

“All of a sudden — I lost count — I heard multiple gunshots, pop, pop, pop, pop,” he told the Pioneer Press.

He said when the shots ended he saw a “mass influx of people leaving the bar out onto the street. People were screaming and hollering and yelling and running everywhere … I’ve never seen anything like it.”Do Democrats use crimes like this to push gun control?

“Our community is devastated by the shocking scenes from last night,” Mayor Melvin Carter said in a statement.

Active Shooter Reported at Texas School, Multiple Victims Down

“As our St. Paul officers work to bring those responsible for these senseless acts into custody, our work to build more proactive and comprehensive public safety strategies is more urgent than ever. We will never accept violence in our community.”

The three men arrested were identified as Terry Lorenzo Brown Jr., 33; Devondre Trevon Phillips, 29; and Jeffrey Orlando Hoffman, 32. They were being treated Sunday for wounds suffered in the shooting, according to the Pioneer Press.

Multiple United States cities that defunded their police departments in the aftermath of George Floyd’s death have begun reallocating funds to their law enforcement agencies in an attempt to fight growing crime rates a year after slashing critical police spending money, the New York Times reported.

According to the New York Times, local policymakers in cities from New York to Los Angeles voted to boost spending on law enforcement.

The New York Police Department received an additional $200 million in funding.

The Los Angeles Police Department got a 3 percent hike in their budget allotment, according to the Times.

Burlington, Vermont, is reportedly handing out $10,000 bonuses to police officers to remain in their jobs.

Stunning Biden Gaffe: ‘Last Night I Was on the Television, on Television, I Was on … the … Telephone’

Burlington is the city where Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders served as mayor before embarking on a congressional career.

The Times report pointed to “rising levels of crime in major cities last year, the exodus of officers from departments large and small and political pressures” as the reasons for these cities’ change of mind.

As previously reported by The Western Journal, ever since the May 2020 demise of George Floyd, the ensuing defunding of police departments in several cities across the country resulted in skyrocketing rates of murder and other violent crimes.

Democratic leaders, such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez of New York, dismissed the peoples’ concerns over such criminal activity as products of “media hype.”

Anti-police propaganda touted by Black Lives Matter and several Democratic leaders led to manpower shortages in many police departments as officers either quit their jobs or moved to police-friendly communities.

The growing crime rates also raised calls for action, giving rise to political pressure that eventually made many cities overturn their politically motivated police-defunding plans.

Among the many cities reconsidering their police defunding plans, the most significant change came from Dallas, according to the Times.

After protests last year, the City Council decided to slash some funding from the city’s police department, the Times reported.

But this year, Dallas’ Democratic Mayor Eric Johnson, in addition to advocating the restoration of police funding, has called for increasing the number of police officers on the city’s streets.

Police Furious After Billboard Near Site of Officer’s Death Is Defaced with Sickening Message

Johnson even wrote a blog post this summer saying that “Dallas needs more police officers.”

“Dallas needs a more robust community policing effort to fight violent crime and strengthen neighborhoods,” Johnson wrote.

“And to get there, the city needs to hire more police officers. There is no question about it.”

“A police force that once had roughly 3,500 officers in its ranks just five years ago has hovered for years around 3,000 or so after a mass exodus caused largely by the pension crisis. Violent crime has increased during those years. Response times have slowed. The police department has been strained, blowing through overtime money just to keep up with residents’ needs for their services.”

“Dallas stands out for the amount of investment that the local government is putting into the department,” Executive Director of the Major Cities Chiefs Association Laura Cooper told the Times.

“As an African American male who came of age in the 1990s, I remember a lot of people whose lives were devastated by violence,” continued Johnson.

“I don’t want to go back there.”

An 18-year-old who eyewitnesses say opened fire in a high school in Texas this week was released from jail on bail on Thursday.

Timothy Simpkins walked out of the Tarrant County Jail accompanied by relatives and entered a vehicle without speaking to reporters.

He was released on $75,000 bond.

Simpkins must wear a GPS monitor and was ordered by Tarrant County Magistrate Judge Brooke Panuthos to remain under home confinement and submit to drug and alcohol testing, WFAA-TV reported.

The release drew criticism from some.

“How does this keep managing to get worse,” the sister of Timberview High School teacher Calvin Pettitt wrote on Twitter.

Pettitt was one of four people shot by Simpkins after a fight broke out in a classroom on Wednesday in the high school, according to police and school officials.

Witnesses told police officers that they saw two male students fighting, one of whom was identified as Simpkins. When somebody intervened in the brawl, Simpkins went to his backpack, grabbed a gun, and opened fire, according to an arrest affidavit.

All of the victims survived the shooting.

The firearm was a .45-caliber handgun that was said to have been possessed illegally.

Simpkins turned himself in and was charged with three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

Relatives of the suspect say he was bullied in recent months and had became fearful of going to school, driving him to take a weapon.

“I’m not trying to justify the gun that was brought, but when you’re being bullied, when there’s bullies, throughout this nation you hear of young people … committing suicide,” Carol Harrison Lafayette, a relative acting as the family’s spokesperson, told reporters on Wednesday night.  “The decision he made, taking the gun, we’re not justifying that. That was not right. But he was trying to protect himself.”

“We ask as a family for forgiveness of any type of hurt,” she added when asked if she had a message to victims and their families.

One of the victims, a 15-year-old student, needed surgery but was recovering, officials said. An adult male, 25, identified by family members as Pettitt, was in good condition, while a teenage girl who was struck was released from the hospital after treatment. The fourth victim, a pregnant adult woman, did not require hospital care.

Video footage circulating on social media appeared to show the fistfight that preceded the shooting and Kevin Kolbye, Arlington’s assistant police chief, said officers are aware of the bullying allegations.

“Even if you’re bullied there are other options besides carrying a gun into a school and using a gun in a situation like that. That’s just not acceptable,” he told KDFW-TV.

Officials have seen an increase in youth carrying weapons in recent years, he added, which he described as “not a solution to any type of violence or anything like that.”

Mansfield school district spokesperson Donald Williams told reporters Wednesday he wasn’t sure if the shooting was linked to bullying. He said an investigation would probe the matter.

“We’re going to continue to investigate this particular situation and the students that are involved will be dealt with in accordance to our Student Code of Conduct,” Williams said.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/texas-school-shooting-suspect-freed-on-bail_4038869.html?utm_medium=epochtimes&utm_source=telegram

A Texas teenager who allegedly shot a classmate and a teacher on Wednesday was freed on bail Thursday as his family members tried to paint the suspected shooter, Timothy Simpkins, as the victim of bullying.

In the shooting, which followed a fight, Simpkins, 18, has been accused of wounding a 15-year-old boy multiple times at Timberview High School in Arlington, Texas, according to The Dallas Morning News. Teacher Calvin Pettitt was injured when he was shot in the back while trying to break up the fight.

Two other people were injured in the incident. One student was grazed on the arm by a bullet, and a teacher fell in the confusion of the fight and its aftermath.

Cint Wheat, a cousin of Simpkins, posted on Facebook that “At the end of the day my lil cousin was bullied I don’t know to feel about this he not no bad kid.”

Carol Harrison Lafayette, who identified herself as a family member and said she would speak for the family, said Simpkins had been robbed at the school in the past, according to the Morning News.

Pharma Company Behind Miracle COVID Pill Is Marking Up Price 4,000%

“He was robbed,” she said. “It was recorded. It happened not just once, it happened twice. He was scared, he was afraid.”

“There is no justification of anybody … being hurt,” she said.

Bullying is not acceptable, PERIOD! Selby was way bigger than Simpkins and he took advantage of it.

‘He Is The Victim’: Family of Student Injured in Timberview High School Shooting https://t.co/ldWxJHcPYV

— ReinaR123 (@R123Reina) October 8, 2021

“We have to take a look at the fact that bullying is real. And it takes us all. And I do apologize. We ask as a family for forgiveness of any type of hurt.”

Simpkins lives in a $400,000 home with his grandmother and drives a $35,000 Dodge Challenger, according to the Daily Mail.

“He was able to get things that other teenagers cannot have; because he wore nice clothes, because he drove nice cars, he was like a target,” Lafayette told the outlet.

Simpkins had been held by police on a $75,000 bond on three charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, but Thursday, the bond was posted, and he left Tarrant County Jail, the Daily Mail reported.

Timothy Simpkins released on bail less than one day after his school shooting.

Four people were hurt in the shooting including two teachers and two students. One 15-year-old boy was critically injured.

pic.twitter.com/hx2IrWFqeD

— Tomas Morales 🇺🇸 (@TomasMorales_iv) October 7, 2021

Officer Reportedly Slain After Shooter Opens Fire Aboard Amtrak Train in Arizona

One Twitter poster who said her brother was a victim was outraged that Simpkins was freed.

how does this keep managing to get worse https://t.co/OuyGQxa9cM

— rhino (@g_grae) October 7, 2021

The Daily Mail reported that Pettitt was still hospitalized with a wound that narrowly missed his aorta, and the 15-year-old Simpkins allegedly was fighting with was in critical condition.

This is how the Shooting started, a fight broke out and Timothy George Simpkins Started shooting. He is currently missing, Arlington Police say he may be driving a 2018 Silver Dodge Charger LP: PYF6260 pic.twitter.com/p9lvR8tJo6

— FortWorthTX TV (@FortWorthTXTV) October 6, 2021

A police report outlines what allegedly took place, according to the Daily Mail: “Multiple teachers and coaches were working to break up the altercation between Simpkins and the juvenile victim. Once the fight was broken up, the juvenile witness observed Simpkins go to an orange backpack and retrieve a black firearm.

“The witness observed Simpkins point the firearm at the juvenile victim and sees Simpkins shoot, from her account, seven to eight times. The witness then observed the juvenile victim fall to the ground.’

If someone tells you he or she would rather walk into oncoming traffic than do something, chances are they’re being hyperbolic. For New York state Assemblywoman Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn, not so much.

Hermelyn is the chairwoman of the Brooklyn Democratic Party in New York City, which is currently beset by a patronage and nepotism scandal regarding the city’s Board of Elections.

While the BOE in NYC is never a particularly functional organ of city government — witness the ranked-choice voting debacle in this year’s mayoral primary — it’s now engulfed in a controversy regarding who’s being appointed to plum positions in the BOE hierarchy.

This is hitting both parties considering that county leaders for the Democrats and GOP are the ones who have sway over the patronage and how elections are run.

Sources who talked to New York City cable news outlet NY1 said “the top positions are divided up among party leadership. So, behind the scenes, the top-level jobs with the highest pay are doled out to certain county leaders and organizations to appoint.”

Video: Biden Humiliates Himself Again, Refers to ‘Everyone in This Room’ While Delivering Outdoor Speech

That makes Hermelyn one of the key figures at the center of this scandal, given her position.

According to NY1’s Courtney Gross, Hermelyn initially agreed to give an interview but backed out. Gross decided to pressure the assemblywoman on the matter and followed her to a fundraiser.

Hermelyn then decided to split:

.@bkdems chair @AMBichotte was not interested in talking to us about patronage and nepotism at the @BOENYC. We’ll have more tonight on @InsideCityHall in the second part of our series “Ballot Blunders.” pic.twitter.com/J9Ps8cmOXu

— Courtney Gross (@courtneycgross) October 5, 2021

I’m guessing she didn’t leave because they overcooked the yolk on the poached eggs. (Also, nice mask, assemblywoman.)

According to a Tuesday article by Gross at NY1, Hermelyn crossed Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn. For the uninitiated, Flatbush is one of the major north/south arteries in the borough; darting into the middle of it to avoid an interview isn’t just a bad look, it’s dangerous. She’d apparently rather risk getting hit by a car than answering a reporter’s questions.

Hermelyn, in a statement, cited “unprofessional behavior and reportorial tactics” regarding her decision to flee the interview and insinuated Gross’ allegations of patronage were tinged with racism.

“Courtney Gross questioned if I was related to a black Board of Elections Commissioner with a similar name based on an unfounded tip,” she said, according to the Daily Mail, claiming  a “simple fact-check would have confirmed that we are not related.”

“Still, she continued her pursuit of the false story. This agitating behavior perturbed me, and when I refused to engage in an interview at the breakfast event for that reason, she continued to follow and question me, then filmed me leaving.”

Shock Video: Alleged Stalker Nearly Catches Defenseless Woman, But 1 Thing Could Have Turned the Tables in a Heartbeat

And then came the racism allegation: “Although Courtney may not have been aware of it, black people still experience the ‘you all look alike to me’ portrayal, often with harrowing consequences. I advise that Courtney take cultural competency training classes.”

Twenty bucks says the person teaching the cultural competency training classes is a patronage hire.

NY1 wasn’t buying Hermelyn’s explanation, either, saying on Twitter that “Courtney is a respected journalist with a long history of covering issues important to New Yorkers” and that “NY1 rejects any implication that Courtney’s reporting was motivated by anything other than the facts.”

NY1 stands behind Courtney Gross and her exclusive reporting of the NYC BOE. Courtney is a respected journalist with a long history of covering issues important to New Yorkers. NY1 rejects any implication that Courtney’s reporting was motivated by anything other than the facts.

— Spectrum News NY1 (@NY1) October 5, 2021

This kind of nepotism isn’t a small matter, by the way, when you’re dealing with a system as dysfunctional as New York City’s.

According to Gross’ piece, “each borough has a chair for the Republican and Democratic parties. Those leaders typically recommend who gets nominated to the 10-member Board of Elections. The City Council usually approves (some say rubber stamps) those appointments, essentially meaning each county leader and organization has a seat on the board.

“That system trickles down to the staff as well. Sources at the board tell NY1 the top positions are divided up among party leadership. So, behind the scenes, the top-level jobs with the highest pay are doled out to certain county leaders and organizations to appoint.”

Douglas Kellner, the co-chairman of the state Board of Elections, told NY1, “It can be very frustrating for the executive director and the co-executive director who find that the staff who theoretically report to them often have greater loyalty to the party county leader who sponsored their appointment at the board.”

“That directly relates to the competence and the capacity of the agency to fulfill its mission.”

Of course, the mission of the Board of Elections might actually have as much to do with granting patronage as it does with, you know, running elections.

If that were the case, at least the BOE could brag that it’s good at one of those things. It’s not the whole elections-conducting business, however.

In 2020, some of the city’s vote-by-mail Democratic primaries weren’t decided until August, a full two months after the primary was held. At the time, Frederic M. Umane, secretary of New York City’s Board of Elections, said that his “staff was decimated by Covid.”

Fair enough. But explain 2021’s ranked-choice voting debacle, in which the mayoral primary was thrown into chaos after 135,000 test ballots were accidentally counted as actual votes during the first round.

Eric Adams’ statement, which goes there pic.twitter.com/xhYORu3Mqy

— Dana Rubinstein (@danarubinstein) June 29, 2021

They got caught.
This is egregious fraud.
It’s all coming down. https://t.co/R019poP7Mk

— Benny (@bennyjohnson) June 30, 2021

That mistake led to plenty of theories, none of which reflected well on New York City or the Board of Elections.

It’s tempting to answer those theories with an adage known as Hanlon’s Razor: “Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.” In other words, there was no conspiracy or malevolent intent, the BOE is just stocked with people who aren’t the best for the job, they just know the folks in power.

Then again, if the BOE is stocked with people who are there because of patronage, perhaps this qualifies as malice of a different sort.

Gov. Greg Abbott responded to a mass shooting at a school in Arlington, Texas, on Wednesday, saying the alleged gunman possessed the gun illegally.

Timothy George Simpkins, an 18-year-old student at Timberview High School in Arlington, was charged with three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. He turned himself in to police hours after the incident unfolded, police said.

Three of the four victims were hospitalized, including a 15-year-old boy in critical condition, a 25-year-old man who was shot and is in good condition, and a teenage girl who suffered minor injuries and has since been released, officials said.

Abbott, a Republican, addressed the shooting Wednesday while police were still searching for Simpkins.

Abbott told reporters that “under Texas law, it is illegal for the shooter to possess or have purchased the gun that was used in … [the] crime,” before saying that the shooter possessed the gun “illegally.”

It came as some Democrat elected officials attempted to link Abbott and his administration to the shooting.

“GOP Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick on every problem has failed Texas and made things worse,” Matthew Dowd, who is seeking the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor, wrote on Twitter. “After mass shootings he made gun violence more likely.”

Several Democrat state lawmakers also alleged that Republicans in the state Legislature supported laws relaxing gun-control measures, including one that took effect last month that allows Texans to carry handguns without a license.

In his statement, Patrick remarked: “Texans are heartbroken and outraged by news of the shooting at Timberview High School in Arlington. Please join Jan and me in praying for all the victims to make a full recovery, and for their families and friends. Please also join us in prayer for our brave law enforcement officers who put their lives on the line to protect us every day.”

Abbott also released a statement, saying that “our hearts go out to the victims of this senseless act of violence.”

“Thank you to the law enforcement officers and first responders who arrived on the scene to help the victims and prevent further violence,” he said. “I have spoken with the mayor of Arlington and offered any assistance the state can provide, and I have directed the Texas Department of Public Safety to make state resources available to help bring the criminal to justice.”

Meanwhile, a family member of Simpkins wrote that the teen “was bullied” at the school.

“I don’t know to feel about this he not no bad kid,” wrote his cousin, Clint Wheat, on Facebook, according to the New York Post. Another relative, Carol Harrison-Lafayette, alleged that Simpkins was robbed twice at the high school, according to the Dallas Morning News.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/gov-abbott-alleged-texas-school-shooter-possessed-gun-illegally_4037041.html?utm_medium=epochtimes&utm_source=telegram

A racist social media post advertising a fraternity party sparked outrage at a North Carolina university and death threats against the white student supposedly behind it.

Now, it appears the post was a hoax carried out by a black student from another fraternity.

The message first appeared on the anonymous social media site Yik Yak and promoted a Theta Chi party with one ugly stipulation: “no blacks.”

According to WITN-TV, the name and number of Theta Chi member Austin Hunter were included in the post.

“To be accused of something that I didn’t do, that really sucks,” Hunter told WITN. “My name and number were posted in the college newspaper, and I was being harassed with calls and texts and I even received death threats.”

Video: Biden Humiliates Himself Again, Refers to ‘Everyone in This Room’ While Delivering Outdoor Speech

Although Yik Yak allows posters to remain anonymous, it logs detailed information about who is using its service — and how.

A Greenville Police Department investigation quickly landed on James Edwards, a member of the rival Pi Lambda Phi fraternity.

According to the Greenville Daily Reflector, Edwards was booked on Oct. 1 on a charge of cyberstalking.

Kristen Hunter, a spokeswoman for the Greenville Police Department, had a message for anyone looking to use an anonymous app for similar ends.

“If you have any kind of social media app, there is a digital footprint,” Hunter told WITN.

“There is a way to track this kind of activity and behavior. So I would certainly caution anybody who’s looking to utilize anonymous apps that we can find you.”

While the student and fraternity implicated in the hoax post have now been cleared, fake hate incidents like this are becoming all too common in a progressive society that places victims — real and imagined — on a pedestal.

One recent hate hoax endangered the lives of sleeping college students.

Victoria Unanka, a black student at Wisconsin’s Viterbo University, hinted that a fire that had threatened her dorm in April was the result of a hate crime because it was next to her room.

Hate Hoax? Black Woman Charged with Making Terroristic Threats After Allegedly Pretending to Be White Male KKK Member

Upon review of video evidence, her story changed to reflect the fact that she had actually set the fire intentionally.

Perhaps the most famous fake hate incident involved actor Jussie Smollett, who allegedly staged a racially motivated attack against himself in 2019.

While Smollett claimed he was targeted by rope-wielding racists roaming the streets of Chicago, evidence suggests two men were paid by the actor to carry out the fake attack.

According to those on the far left, our country is full of racists just waiting for the opportunity to kill or otherwise harm minorities.

Unfortunately for this radical element, the victims of headline-ready “hate crimes” often seem to be the ones committing them.

Eighteen former NBA players were charged by federal prosecutors Thursday in a fraud scheme related to the league’s health care plan.

According to ESPN, the players were indicted for defrauding the NBA out of nearly $4 million in fraudulent health and welfare benefits. The case was brought to the Manhattan federal court, and prosecutors said they were planning to hold a press conference Thursday to discuss the case details.

ESPN said the indictment described the players’ effort as “a widespread scheme to defraud the plan by submitting false and fraudulent claims to get reimbursed for medical and dental expenses that were never actually incurred.”

From 2017-2020, approximately $3.9 million in false claims were filed to the NBA’s health and welfare benefits plan, the indictment said. The defendants in the case were said to have received $2.5 million in proceeds from the fake claims.

Terrence Williams, a 2009 first round draft pick by the then-New Jersey Nets, allegedly served as the scheme’s ringleader, WMAQ-TV reported.

Denmark and Sweden Halt Use of Moderna COVID Vaccine for Everyone Under 30

According to NBC News, “Alan Anderson, Anthony Allen, Shannon Brown, William Bynum, Ronald Glen “Big Baby” Davis, Christopher Douglas-Roberts, Melvin Ely, Jamario Moon, Darius Miles, Milton Palacio, Ruben Patterson, Eddie Robinson, Gregory Smith, Sebastian Telfair, Charles Watson Jr., Antoine Wright, and Anthony Wroten” were the other 17 players indicted.

Desiree Allen, the wife of Anthony, was the nineteenth defendant charged in the scheme, NBC reported.

As the de facto leader, Williams allegedly recruited players who were part of the league’s health plan to help carry out the scheme. He reportedly provided some players with fake invoices to substantiate their fraudulent claims to the NBA, and 10 players paid him at least $230,000 for providing those documents.

In addition, Williams is accused of helping Davis, Watson Jr, and Wright secure fake medical letters supposedly justifying their need for some of the fraudulent health benefits, according to WMAQ-TV.

Williams himself allegedly filed a $19,000 claim for chiropractor services he never received. The NBA sent him $7,672.55 for that claim.

A couple of the players charged were fairly successful during their playing careers. For example, Tony Allen was a six-time NBA all-defensive team member, and he played on the 2008 Boston Celtics team that won an NBA Championship.

Perhaps the most well-liked defendant was Glen Davis, who first gained stardom with his “Big Baby” nickname in college at LSU. He was also on that 2008 Celtics team.

Two other defendants are also former NBA champions — Melvin Ely with the San Antonio Spurs in 2007 and Shannon Brown twice with the Los Angeles Lakers.

Tony Wroten averaged the most career points out of the eighteen defendants with 11.1 points per game average in 145 career games. But ESPN described most of the defendants as having “journeyman careers,” never reaching peak stardom.

Fed-Up Shaq Denounces His Status as a Celebrity: ‘These Celebrities Are Out of Their Mind’

Telfair was a high school phenom in New York who was drafted 13th overall by the Portland Trail Blazers in 2004, NBC News reported. Yet his NBA career came to be defined by inconsistency as he bounced around between eight different NBA franchises.

Darius Miles was drafted third overall by the Los Angeles Clippers in 2000. He was named to the first-team NBA All-Rookie team that year, but his overall career was mediocre and featured a 10.1 career points average.

WMAQ said prosecutors are still seeking “any and all property, real or personal, that constitutes or is derived, directly or indirectly” to the alleged fraud.

On Friday night, a 17-year-old valet at Cafe Mawal in Houston made some decisions that led to heartbreak for three families.

According to KTRK-TV, valet Ahmedal Tayeb Elnouman Modawi and 16-year-old fellow valet Mohammed Alkatip took a customer’s white Infiniti G37 and did donuts in a nearby private parking lot.

Police approached at around 10:30 p.m., and Modawi fled the scene, leading them on a short — but destructive — chase.

The teen driver hit speeds up to 60 mph, double what the area was zoned for. At some point during his flight, he hit three other valets later identified as 18-year-old Fnan Measho, 22-year-old Eric Orduna and 23-year-old Nick Rodriguez who worked at Prospect Park Sports Bar.

After going about .6 of a mile, Modawi crashed and flipped the sedan. Alkatip was ejected from the vehicle, breaking both legs.

Video: Biden Humiliates Himself Again, Refers to ‘Everyone in This Room’ While Delivering Outdoor Speech

When Modawi was removed from the vehicle, he, too, had a broken leg. Both he and Alkatip were taken to the hospital, but the three valets he’d struck were pronounced dead on the scene.

Police determined that no alcohol was involved, and it appears that the teen panicked and made some very poor choices.

At a vigil tonight, Chief @TroyFinner joined friends & family of the three young men killed by a fleeing suspect Friday.

Their lives were honored in a tribute culminating with the release of white & red balloons.

Meanwhile, the suspect remains hospitalized & charged with murder pic.twitter.com/vZZiGi6Hvo

— Houston Police (@houstonpolice) October 5, 2021

The families of Measho and Orduna have met and shared their grief, also expressing their anger that none of the businesses involved contacted them to let them know what had happened and appeared to have continued business as usual, according to KTRK.

“We’re not supposed to be burying them,” Eric Orduna’s sister said. “We’re not supposed to be burying them. I’ve never felt so much pain in my life.”

“They’re sweeping what they did under the rug, never [got] a call,” she said of the Cafe Mawal, Prospect Park Sports Bar and the valet company. “These were not animals, they were humans.”

“Look what this did,” Orduna’s older brother, Junior, added. “He’s changed our lives forever. The other family. They’re gone because of that, because of the senseless act.”

The mother of the passenger, Alkatip, also expressed her distress and said “[h]e’s had three surgeries already.”

Announcer for Renowned Late-Night Talk Show Host Dead at 78

WATCH NEWS VIDEO

The saddest part of the whole incident is that it didn’t have to happen. There were multiple opportunities to stop and prevent the disaster that resulted, a fact that Sean Teare with the Harris County District Attorney’s Office emphasized.

“We’re out here because one person decided they didn’t want to get a ticket — or potentially go to jail for a misdemeanor,” Teare said during a news conference, according to the New York Post.

UPDATE: Booking photo of the suspect, Ahmedaltayeb Elnouman Modawi, 17. #hounews https://t.co/HiM5pbyBih pic.twitter.com/i6XzFpwddv

— Houston Police (@houstonpolice) October 6, 2021

Modawi — who is going to high school in the states but is a Sudanese citizen — was charged with three counts of murder and one count of aggravated assault with serious bodily injury. He has no previous criminal charges.

According to KTRK-TV, on Wednesday morning Modawi, using a walker, appeared before a judge. The judge sentenced him to a bond of $100,000 for each murder charge and $50,000 for the aggravated assault charge — a total of $350,000.

The teen will also be required to hand over his passport if he manages to make bond.

The Memphis Police Association is outraged after activists changed two billboards in the Tennessee city to read “defund the police,” including one near the location of a police officer’s death last week.

The altered billboard read “Defund the Police: See all the lives you could save.”

“It’s very frustrating. Officers are already suffering the loss of a co-worker,” Memphis Police Association President Lt. Essica Cage-Rosario said during a Fox News “Fox & Friends First” interview on Thursday.

“This is the third officer we’ve lost in just as many months. So officers are already feeling a sense of remorse,” she said.

The Memphis Police Association is furious after guerrilla activists altered Memphis billboards to read ‘defund the police’ near the site of an officer’s death last weekend.https://t.co/MtHbdEz8Vr

— Fox & Friends First (@FoxFriendsFirst) October 7, 2021

Denmark and Sweden Halt Use of Moderna COVID Vaccine for Everyone Under 30

“They’re very saddened about the loss of their co-worker, and to see someone put up a billboard in the same area saying ‘defund the police,’ it’s a slap in the face,” Cage-Rosario said.

She denounced whoever defaced the billboard.

“This group, they clearly took over someone else’s billboard and committed an act of vandalism, very brazen and very unnecessary if you ask me,” the police lieutenant said.

10/6/21: These billboards were put up in Memphis where a police officer was killed. I’m amazed that anyone is saying to defund the police. pic.twitter.com/sWh9JZDTT1

— Orisha Kulick (@KulickOrisha) October 6, 2021

Asked about the changes in law enforcement, Cage-Rosario also noted a shift that has taken place in the culture.

“Policing definitely has changed,” she said. “It used to be a career where little kids wanted to be the police when they grew up. And over the years that has changed.”

Memphis police Officer Darrell Adams was working the scene of a traffic accident last weekend when he was struck by a semi-truck and tragically lost his life.

City’s Attempt to ‘Defund the Police’ Gets Thwarted by Judge

A fundraiser has been launched in support of his family on Facebook.

“Today, my heart aches again for the loss of another dedicated servant of our city. I am in deep prayer for our officer’s family and the men and women of the Memphis Police Department,” Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn Davis said in a statement.

“Today, my heart aches again for the loss of another dedicated servant of our city. I am in deep prayer for our officer’s family and the men and women of the Memphis Police Department.” – Chief Cerelyn Davis pic.twitter.com/l4FfX15G4I

— Memphis Police Dept (@MEM_PoliceDept) October 2, 2021

A group reportedly claimed credit for defacing the billboards.

“In an email sent to WREG, the group refers to itself as guerrilla activists art collective INDECLINE. It says it took to the highways of Memphis to alter the message of two Geico insurance billboards with a call to defund police,” WREG-TV reported.

Two billboards in Memphis were vandalized with ‘Defund Police’ message. Group takes responsibility https://t.co/4prqBTOp2y

— melissa moon (@MMoon_WREG3) October 5, 2021

City Council members Patrice Robinson and Frank Colvett said that’s the wrong message, according to the report.

“Defunding the police is not what we mean, and we don’t want people to think that’s what we mean. What we really mean is we want to invest more in our young people and people who need support,” Robinson said.

“When the sad tragedy happened in Collierville, they raced into the building to try to solve the problem, when the shooting at [Cummings School] K-12 happened and recent home invasion of a Rhodes student, it’s the Memphis Police Department that needs our support,” Colvett said.

“Not only fund the needs they [police] have, but also recruit and be able to recruit and get the numbers we all know the experts have said to get us to a more safe city,” he said..

Kelley Paul, the wife of Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), said she’s “exhausted and angry” that mobs harassing the couple last year were not charged, but parents at school board meetings are being targeted as domestic terrorists.

“A mob held us hostage for ten minutes, spitting on and threatening to kill us. No charges! Fake anthrax and death threats sent to our home. No charges! Now just learned the person who called Rand’s Senate office threatening to shoot us will not be charged,” Kelley Paul wrote on Twitter Tuesday. “I’m exhausted and angry.”

Last August, after attending a White House event when former President Donald Trump officially accepted the Republican presidential nomination, the couple and other attendees were accosted by a group of people, some of them were holding Black Lives Matter signs. Video shows that protesters shouted toward the couple, and one protester abruptly pushed a police officer and his bike backward, sending the officer into Paul’s shoulder.

Kelley Paul also noted that in May, a woman called Paul’s office threatening to “shoot you all” and she wasn’t charged either.

“Yet if you dare express indignation at a school board meeting about CRT [critical race theory] or forced masks, the Biden DOJ and FBI say you’re a criminal,” Kelley Paul added.

On Monday, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced that he directed the FBI and U.S. attorneys to target any threats of violence, intimidation, and harassment made by parents toward school board members, teachers, and others.

Garland’s move drew instant backlash from parent groups and Republicans. His announcement was criticized as a double standard targeting conservative parents, who have ramped up pressure on school boards over the teaching of critical race theory and the imposition of mask or vaccine mandates.

“When Kelley learned today that a person who threatened to shoot us would not be prosecuted, she felt that it was another example of how violence is excused for the left and a mom who raises her voice at a school board meeting is to be treated as a domestic terrorist by the Biden administration,” Paul said in a statement to Fox News.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for District of Columbia didn’t immediately respond to a request from The Epoch Times for comment.

A record from the prosecutor’s office shows a Florida man, Brennen Sermon, was charged for punching a police officer last year when the officer was protecting the Pauls and others walking from the Whiter House to a hotel. But he was released on his personal recognizance, the record shows.

“The punk who assaulted the policeman defending my wife and I in DC went free but the Biden Admin. labels concerned parents as ‘domestic terrorists?’” Paul wrote on Twitter Wednesday.

Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco defended the new directive during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday.

“I want to be very clear in the memorandum that’s publicly available, the Attorney General issued, talks about the importance of bringing federal, state, local law enforcement together to make sure that there is awareness of how to report threats that may occur, and to ensure that there’s an open line of communication to address threats, to address violence, and to address law enforcement issues in that context, which is the job of the Justice Department, nothing more,” Monaco said.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/kelley-paul-mob-holding-us-hostage-not-charged-parents-at-school-board-meetings-criminal_4034877.html?utm_medium=epochtimes&utm_source=telegram

Being stalked is many women’s worst nightmare and a reality for far too many. Those who want to protect themselves — especially in crime-ridden areas — tend to keep their wits about them, carry some kind of deterrent and get training in self-defense.

One recent video that is creeping out many viewers has been shared by the New York Police Department in the hopes that someone will recognize the man and come forward to identify him.

The incident took place around 2:00 a.m. on Sept. 23 at a Claremont Village apartment in the Bronx.

According to WABC-TV, the video shows a 50-year-old woman hurrying to her apartment door, quickly unlocking it and slamming it shut right as her follower races up to her door.

If she’d taken a moment longer, she would have been in serious trouble.

Ghoulish Fact-Checkers at Twitter Slap ‘Misleading’ Label on Obituary of Mom Who Died from Vaccine-Induced Blood Clot

The man, wearing a white tank top and jeans, tests the doorknob and rings the doorbell before walking away.

The suspect is now wanted for attempted burglary, according to the Daily Mail.

The publication also noted that crime statistics for the area show a disheartening trend, with September showing robberies up 6 percent, assaults up 18.5 percent and overall crime increasing by 2.6 percent.

Many commented on the video to voice their concern over the scenario and share what they do to keep themselves safe.

“My blood just turned cold THAT IS SO SCARY these men are so dangerous out here now he knows where she lives though,” one viewer wrote. “And it’s illegal to have mace in nyc how do you protect yourself?”

“Many of you women NEED to start carrying knives or pepper spray,” another person commented.

Some also commented to say the way the suspect acted indicated familiarity, and it looks like he mouths the word “babe” as he rings the doorbell.

“It looks as if they may have known each other,” a commenter wrote. “Why would he ring the bell? Still, people get hurt or worse by ones they personally know all the time. Glad she got in her apartment safely.”

Note Found in Gas Station Bathroom May Have Saved Woman’s Life, Police Say

Hopefully with the video circulating — and perhaps a print pulled from the doorbell — police will be able to locate the man soon, especially because he knows where the woman lives.

After a recent stalking incident, Colorado State University Police and Safety shared a post on ways to protect yourself and build a case against someone if you think you’re being stalked, starting with being aware of your surroundings at all times.

“Document stalking behaviors, even if you are unsure if there is a pattern or you have not decided to report a concern to the police,” they added.

“Write down the time, date, place, and a description of what happened and who may have been engaging in talking behaviors, such as what the person was wearing, driving, etc. Capture as much detail as possible.

“If you feel you are being followed, cross the street, yell, run and look for a well-lit area or occupied building. If you are driving, drive to a police department or other public place, or call a friend who can meet you at your destination so you are not alone.

“Limit the amount of personal information you post online and on social media accounts. Consider the risk of sharing information that identifies your location, vacation plans, daily schedule, etc.”

And as always, trust your gut, and don’t be afraid to contact 911 if you need to.

An attempt by Kansas City’s political leadership to strip its police department of millions of dollars in funding has been quashed by a judge who said the attempt to hobble the police broke the law.

Jackson County Judge Patrick Campbell said that under the law, the city cannot alter police funding without approval from the Kansas City Board of Police Commissioners, according to WDAF-TV.

The lawsuit came about after Mayor Quinton Lucas pushed to cut $42.2 million from the police budget, and the City Council agreed. The mayor’s plan meant that about 18 percent of the department’s budget would then be reallocated to a Community Services and Prevention Fund, according to the Kansas City Star.

During the hearing, Kristine Reiter, budget manager for the police said the cuts would have meant the department ran out of money by December unless changes were made.

She said the department would need to lay off 1,000 officers and staff members to stay within budgetary limits. Lucas disagreed with that contention.

Schumer’s Signature on Secret, Leaked Agreement Shows Dems Even Dishonest with Each Other

Campbell said his ruling is not a determination on the wisdom of defunding police.

“This judgment does not resolve whether citizens of Kansas City should exert direct political control over their law enforcement agency,” he wrote.

“It is not a referendum on the Chief of Police, the Mayor, or any other appointed or elected official. These are subjects of vigorous social debate and should be finally resolved by a healthy democracy. However, they are not legal issues pending before this Court,” he wrote.

Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt, who had sided with the police against the city, released a statement, according to KMBC-TV.

“Today, a Jackson County Judge sided with the Kansas City Board of Police Commissioners and the Attorney General’s Office and struck down Kansas City’s illegal attempt to defund the police. This is a huge win for the people of Kansas City and law enforcement officers who work every single day to keep their communities safe. I will always stand up for Missouri’s law enforcement and fight back against craven attempts to defund the police,” he said.

Lucas indicated that he and the council will not let the matter drop.

“I imagine the Council will set the expectation that any dollar received by the Department over statutory requirements must be negotiated and focused squarely on preventing violent crime in our community. Discussions about next year’s budget have already started,” he said.

“The City will weigh all options going forward, including appeal,” he continued.

Brad Lemon, president of the Kansas City Fraternal Order of Police, said the decision was a victory, but it “does little to repair the damage the City’s misguided decision has had on KCPD and our members’ morale,” according to WDAF-TV.

Pope Francis Joins Others in Calling on Missouri’s Governor to Grant Clemency to Death Row Inmate

“KCPD has seen a record number of resignations and retirements in This year more than 100 officers have resigned or retired and 35 more will leave this year, numbers that represent nearly double the total number of resignations and retirements than any other year in KCPD history,” he said.

He said the city should not keep pushing to cut police funding.

“It is the FOP’s sincere hope the City and the BOPC can put this unfortunate situation behind them and focus their efforts, instead, on finding ways to recruit and retain officers. If we revisit this terrible situation again next year, the Department will not be able to withstand its effects and the results will be catastrophic for public safety in Kansas City,” he concluded.

Sad to say, we keep killing each other. New FBI statistics show that, even though we practiced widespread isolation during the pandemic, the nation’s murder rate grew last year at the fastest rate ever—up 29.4 percent. There are fewer homicides now than during the peak years of the early ’90s, but not since the federal government began keeping track in the ’60s has the annual jump in homicides been as big as it was in 2020.

The Washington Post’s news alert on the bureau’s announcement carried the headline: “U.S. killings soared nearly 30 percent in 2020, FBI data shows, with more slayings caused by guns.”

Um, really? To my mind, murders don’t occur because of a gun, a knife, a bow and arrow, or any other weapon you can think of. Murders happen because someone decides to carry out a fatal attack on another. Yes, guns are frequently the weapon of choice, but it is the offending human being who causes the death.

This may seem like a language nitpick, but to someone who writes for a living, words matter. Precise words are important, especially when discussing the ultimate crime: murder.

The media’s shift away from using terms long associated with crime disturbs me. Columnist Nicole Gelinas wrote about this recently, pointing out that The New York Times routinely refers to killings caused by “stray bullets.” Murders are reported as being committed because of “botched robberies.”

“As violent crime has soared, such language has become ubiquitous in news stories,” Gelinas wrote. “It is lazily inaccurate—and absolves killers of responsibility.”

Several media outlets follow this word-bending trend, blaming the soaring murder rate on inanimate objects (stray bullets) or on criminals who meant to commit some other, lesser crime like a robbery.

Why would a journalist fail to highlight the human causation of a murder? Did they just not bother to ask police about whether the suspect was an ex-spouse, an angry next-door neighbor, or a random stranger? Or is it because so many murders occur in gang-infested inner cities, like Chicago, New York, Atlanta, or Los Angeles, and news outlets shy away from mentioning the gang connection for fear of being called “racist?” After all, they would argue, when you read about a murder committed by a suspected gangbanger, your first thought is not someone who is white.

That’s probably true, but this squishy manipulation of language makes it seem as if reporters are deliberately leaving out pertinent facts so as not to be branded bigots, when their job is to present all the details they can dig up. The truth sometimes hurts, but it is still the truth.

Here are some uncomfortable facts:

• There are some 33,000 violent street gangs in the United States, mostly headed by white, black, Hispanic, and Asian people.
• Gang territory wars often result in random shootouts, which injure and kill thousands of every year, including children.
• There is more police presence in minority neighborhoods because those areas have the highest crime rates.
• Cross-racial killings are rare. Black people most often take the lives of other black people. White people most often murder other white people.
• According to Heather Mac Donald, a lawyer, crime statistician, and author, a police officer is 18.5 times more likely to be killed by a black male than an unarmed black male is to be killed by a police officer.

The media’s worry about its image and failure to use accurate language does a service to no one. Certainly not to the inner-city mother trying to keep her children safe; not to legitimate gun owners who keep their firearms locked away; and not to law enforcement who are keenly aware of local crime hot spots and want support to bring criminals to justice.

There is so much written about gun violence being at the core of this nation’s violent crime problem. The fact is, an overwhelming majority of the 425 million civilian-owned firearms are never used in the commission of a crime. It is the relatively low percentage of criminals who are at the center of the homicide problem. So why isn’t the focus on getting them off the street?

We can’t start seriously tackling the homicide problem until we have a full and honest conversation about its root causes. Are we ready?

https://www.theepochtimes.com/the-media-soft-pedals-the-root-cause-of-murder_4033165.html?utm_medium=epochtimes&utm_source=telegram

The first black woman to be elected mayor of Rochester, New York, on Monday completed her journey from groundbreaker to lawbreaker in a plea deal that requires her to resign by Dec. 1.

Lovely Warren cut a plea deal that resolves election law charges against her as well as pending weapons and child endangerment charges that were not related to her job as mayor, according to the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle.

The deal allowed Warren to escape with a misdemeanor conviction for knowingly violating campaign contribution limits in 2017. She could have faced a felony conviction if her election law case went to trial.

Mayor Warren is now at the podium. She is admitting to “knowingly and willingly accepting excess campaign funds in violation of election law” – when asked how does she plead, she says “guilty, your honor” @news10nbc

— Jennifer Lewke (@WHEC_JLewke) October 4, 2021

Skin Problems, Neuropathy, Paralysis All Part of Over 500,000 Adverse Events Reported After COVID Vaccine

Two co-defendants — Albert Jones Jr., Warren’s campaign treasurer, and Rosiland Brooks-Harris, the current city finance director and the treasurer of Warren’s 2017 political action committee — also pleaded guilty to the same charges as Warren, according to the Democrat & Chronicle.

Warren and her estranged husband, Timothy Granison, had also been facing a charge of criminal possession of a firearm and two counts each of endangering the welfare of a child and failure to properly secure firearms.

Granison still faces charges in connection with what police said was a drug trafficking network, but Warren is now cleared of those allegations, the report said.

Monroe County Assistant District Attorney Jacob Ark said she will face an attorney grievance committee that will weigh the future of her law license.

Warren also faces a child protective investigation over allegations her daughter was in the home with unsecured guns.

The mayor said on Monday that the plea deal was in her interest and “her daughter’s best interest,” according to the Democrat & Chronicle.

Lovely Warren, the embattled Democratic mayor of Rochester, New York, agreed to resign on Monday after accepting a plea deal on multiple state charges stemming from campaign finance violations, as well as child endangerment and gun charges. https://t.co/jBPmSL1oHS

— The New York Times (@nytimes) October 4, 2021

The irony, or privilege, of the Lovely Warren story is that she was shown infinitely more mercy than she has ever shown. She started destroying careers and livelihoods for spite as soon as she became mayor, and has done so right up to the present.

— Bob Lonsberry (@BobLonsberry) October 5, 2021

Investigation Underway After Artist Who Famously Drew Muhammad Cartoon Dies in Strange Accident

“Our democracy depends on fair elections,” Monroe County Legislator Rachel Barnhart, a Democrat who lost to Warren in a 2017 Democratic primary, said in a statement, according to WHEC-TV. “Public corruption cannot be tolerated, and we have a lot of work to do at the state and local level to ensure ethical conduct.”

“Lovely was able to raise well over $100,000 more than she was allowed from these donors because almost all of them had interests before the city,” she said.

“This is an important step in our larger efforts in promoting ethical elections in our state,” Sandra Doorley, the Monroe County district attorney, said in a statement, according to The New York Times.

“The ramifications of the Mayor’s conduct spans beyond the criminal justice system,” the district attorney said.

Although Warren is forced to leave office, she will take something with her.

Because she pleaded to a misdemeanor, she gets to keep her public employee pension, according to a spokeswoman for the state comptroller’s office.

Over the weekend, Illinois prosecutors released without charge five men connected to a deadly gang-related shootout in Chicago, citing a lack of evidence and the legal term “mutual combat” as justification.

The shootout took place Friday morning between two factions of the Four Corner Hustlers gang — the “Body Snatchers” and the “Jack Boys” — at a single-family home in Austin, a community of Chicago’s West Side. The shootout left one gang member dead and two wounded, according to a police report and law enforcement source, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

The source said that police sought to charge all five suspects with a pair of felonies — first-degree murder and aggravated battery. But by Sunday morning, a police spokesperson announced that all suspects had “been released without charges.”

Later, Cristina Villareal, a spokesperson for the Cook County state’s attorney’s office, explained that the prosecutors “determined that the evidence was insufficient to meet our burden of proof to approve felony charges.”

Though Villareal didn’t detail what specific evidence the prosecutors would need to file the charges, the Sun-Times found that the police report “framed the state’s attorney’s office’s decision to decline charges in a different light: ‘Mutual combatants was cited as the reason for the rejection.’”

Skin Problems, Neuropathy, Paralysis All Part of Over 500,000 Adverse Events Reported After COVID Vaccine

Mutual combat, according to the Chicago Criminal Lawyer Blog, is defined as a physical confrontation in which two individuals willingly engage each other “usually because of an instantaneous quarrel where tempers are at their heights.” The blog explains that mutual combat can be used as “another version of ‘self-defense’ when “the alleged victim is proven to be the actual aggressor in the confrontation.”

The Cook County state’s attorney’s office did not explain how a legal principle allowing for consensual physical altercations between two people — such as a drunken fistfight outside of a bar — can expand to justify gang warfare.

Last week, Cook County prosecutors, led by Democratic State Attorney for Cook County Kim Foxx, reportedly used the same “mutual combat” rationale when declining to charge a 17-year-old boy who stabbed to death 18-year old Manuel Porties Jr. during a fight in a northwestern Chicago suburb, WGN-TV reported.

The law enforcement source expressed concern that Cook County’s trend to reject criminal charges for gang fights “could encourage more brash violence,” in the words of the Sun-Times.

On Monday, Democratic Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and five Democratic aldermen sent Foxx a letter pleading that she reconsider her decision that felony charges not be filed in the case.

“[W]e simply do not understand the decision not to seek felony charges,” they wrote. “Giving these kinds of violent offenders a pass when their crime is fully captured on video with police on the scene is simply unacceptable.”

Here’s the letter Mayor Lori Lightfoot and West Side aldermen sent to State’s Attorney Kim Foxx pic.twitter.com/AAbcZWE5il

— Gregory Pratt (@royalpratt) October 4, 2021

Friday morning’s deadly gang shootout ended when a police cruiser pulled into the block in Austin, causing the “Body Snatcher” faction to flee the scene, leaving a fatally wounded gang member behind. The other “Jack Boys” faction refused to leave the house, leading to a standoff with a SWAT team. In the end, 70 shell casings were found outside the house where the fight went down.

Investigation Underway After Artist Who Famously Drew Muhammad Cartoon Dies in Strange Accident

Much of the mayhem was captured on police video starting when officers first arrived on the scene.

The law enforcement source described the confrontation as something out of a Hollywood movie set. “It’s just like the wild West,” the source said.

Still, the shootout wasn’t even included in the Sun-Times’ list of shootings that occurred over the weekend. In the timeframe between 5:00 p.m. Friday night until 5:00 a.m. Monday morning, the newspaper reported that four people were killed and 41 were wounded across Chicago. One of the dead victims was 17-year-old Martinus M. King, who was shot in a basement in Chicago’s Far South Side.

The previous weekend resulted in even more devastation with 10 dead and 58 wounded. The outlet did not name any arrests resulting from the multiple events over both weekends.

Foxx has come under fire for what critics call her “lower threshold for fighting crime” since she took office in 2016.

According to her website, Foxx was re-elected in March to lead the second-largest prosecutor’s office in the U.S. Her platform included a pledge to reform the justice system by prioritizing “violent crime and keeping our communities safe, rather than using resources to prosecute non-violent, low-level offenders.”

The Democrat’s prioritization resulted in the highest homicide rate in the Cook County Medical Examiner’s history in 2020, according to a report the office released in January. In 2020, the office handled more homicide cases — 970 — than its previous record dating back to 1994, when its homicide cases totaled 838.

The year 2020 saw more than a 40 percent increase in murders from numbers the medical examiner’s office obtained in 2019. And according to its latest numbers from June 2021, gun-related homicides are up 15 percent as compared to last year, with African-Americans and Latinos identified as 99 percent of the victims.

In Woody Allen’s classic film “Annie Hall,” we encounter the paranoia of the lead character Alvy Singer, who spots anti-Semitism even where there is no anti-Semitism to be found. At one point he tells his friend Rob that an NBC executive kept asking him, “Jew eat?” Of course, the man was asking Alvy, “Did you eat?” But Alvy only heard, “Jew eat?” The anti-Semitism that Alvy could not find in society, he generated in his own mind.

I keep recalling this incident every time I read or hear on TV, which is a lot, how parental resistance to critical race theory (CRT) in schools is a form of “whitelash.” The accusation is launched against parents in more than 200 school districts who are organizing and protesting against racial indoctrination in their children’s schools. Whitelash is one of those neologisms that basically means “backlash,” except since it is evidently coming from whites, it has been renamed whitelash.

Recently, the online magazine Slate alleged that the parents who fight against CRT are mostly bigots and white supremacists who fear “white replacement” in their communities and are motivated by a desire to “protect whiteness.” Pundits on TV routinely attribute the mobilization against CRT to “white resentment,” “white fragility,” and “white rage.”

Attempting to give these charges an empirical foundation, NBC News journalists Tyler Kingkade and Nigel Chiwaya offered a stash of data to prove that parents nationwide are reacting against “rapid demographic change” and “the exposure of white students to students of color.” NBC showed that in 22 of 33 school districts under review, parental activism could be explained by “backlash over equity initiatives” in districts that are “diversifying faster than the national average.”

NBC embedded its data in a larger narrative that seems glibly lifted from the civil rights era of the 1960s, in which all resistance to change is automatically attributed to people who seek to revive Jim Crow, racial segregation, and the night-riding of the Ku Klux Klan. In a familiar but by now tedious mode, NBC invokes the dark days of the past in which some of these very same school districts actively segregated their school districts to exclude blacks.

But when researcher Christopher Rufo—a leading critic of CRT—reviewed the NBC data, he noted that one third of the districts in the study had diversified slower, instead of faster, than the national average. Moreover, NBC itself noted that parental protest against CRT had been counted in more than 220 school districts, implying that NBC cherry-picked its data from 15 percent of the sample size, ignoring a whopping 85 percent of the evidence.

Let’s zoom in to two counties of Virginia, Fairfax County and Loudoun County, where parental opposition to racial indoctrination has been particularly severe. One might expect, taking NBC’s word, that the leadership of the opposition would be some old-school white male, perhaps someone with direct ancestral ties to the Confederacy. In Fairfax, however, Rufo notes, the parental opposition is led by an Indian American woman, Asra Nomani, who reviles CRT for debasing academic standards and for legitimizing systematic discrimination against high-scoring Asian American students.

In Fairfax and Loudoun counties, the parents who are up in arms are not stereotypical rednecks but rather educated, affluent, and racially diverse, Rufo observes. While both counties have rapidly diversified over the past 20 years, Loudoun County has the same proportion of blacks as it did in 2000. The highest rate of population expansion has been among Latinos and Asians, and it turns out that they oppose CRT by the same two to one margin as whites.

As Rufo demonstrates, data consistently show that the more parents learn about CRT, the more likely they are to oppose it. This is why the first move of CRT defenders was to deny that it was even being taught in schools. Pundit Joy Reid and many others insisted CRT was a highly abstruse legal theory that was merely the subject of specialized academic debate in law schools. The message here was clear: No need for parents to worry; this is not something that’s actually going on.

But parents knew this was a lie. One of the silver linings of COVID-19 is that with students at home, and classes being conducted online, parents are in a much better position to see firsthand what their children are being taught. Moreover, why would teachers unions and the U.S. Conference of Mayors endorse CRT in public education if there was no effort under way to teach it?

Once the first line of defense—“we aren’t doing it”—collapsed, advocates of CRT were forced to switch to “here’s why we’re doing it.” And the best they could come up with is the claim that they are merely teaching established historical facts and that critics were motivated by nothing more than bigotry or “whitelash.” The absurdity of this is clear from the simple fact that survey data show that CRT is opposed by huge margins not only by white parents but also by Latino parents, Asian American parents, and yes, black parents.

Rufo points out that opposition to CRT isn’t even partisan. Both Loudoun and Fairfax counties went heavily for Biden in 2020, one by a 25-point margin, the other by a 39-point margin. Even so, parents oppose CRT in those liberal bastions by an eight-point margin, and 59 percent of public school parents express concern that their children are subject to racial indoctrination.

The problem with CRT is that it’s a poisonous brew of half-truths and lies. The bad news is that this indoctrination seems to have infected, if not taken over, American public education. The good news is that more and more parents, Democratic and Republican, white, black, Hispanic, and Asian, are waking up to the lie and they’re exposing it, resisting it, and warning of a very painful political price if this newest form of child abuse continues in the public school classroom.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/the-fallacy-of-whitelash_4029151.html?utm_medium=epochtimes&utm_source=telegram

In a city aflame with crime, firefighters will get new protection against being singed with the violence Democrats have been unable to control.

Firefighters in Portland, Oregon, will soon have the option of wearing bulletproof vests when responding to calls, according to Oregon Live.

The decision reflects a “changing landscape” in which firefighters often brave a gauntlet of hostility when they respond to a call, Portland Fire & Rescue spokesman Terry Foster said.

“First responders, as they go in, we can become targets,” said Alan Ferschweiler, president of the Portland Firefighters Association, according to KGW-TV.

The city will order 200 vests and is working out the rules governing when they are to be worn in addition to the heavy load of gear firefighters already wear, which includes their turnout gear, boots, a helmet, an air tank and other items.

After Deputy Stops to Help Her, 96-Year-Old Woman Demands to Speak with His Supervisor

Isaac McLennan, vice president of the Portland Fire Fighters’ Association, noted a 2018 case in which a man shot at first responders after allegedly setting a building on fire as a way to ambush them.

Since then, the city has changed for the worse.

Portland has suffered more than 870 shootings to date with 283 people injured and 46 others killed, Democrat Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler said Sept. 15, according to KGW-TV.

Through all of 2020, there were 891 shootings with 57 homicides, which was the highest number of killings since 1994. Portland has had 62 homicides so far in 2021.

Wheeler said he is trying to get a handle on the violence, but he could not say when that might happen.

“The hard part is actually deploying the strategies and the resources to make it happen and that’s where I’m focusing my attention and my energy,” he said.

The bottom line for first responders is that the risks have risen.

“Even if you look at the totality of the city, it’s definitely become a less safe place to work for their firefighters,” Ferschweiler told KGW-TV.

“There’s no way to mince any words.”

Mother of Gabby Petito Issues Demand Aimed Directly at Brian Laundrie: ‘Mama Bear Is Getting Angry’

Foster said the vests would be red and say “Medic” on them.

“For us everything is about safety, so this is just another level of safety,” he said.“You never know when it’s going to happen.”

Portland is not alone. Firefighters in Seattle and San Francisco have also been equipped with bulletproof vests.

Foster said the rules for first responders will not change.

“Until police secure the scene, we will not send members in,” he said.

Ferschweiler indicated the added protection is a sad sign of the times.

“Unfortunately,” said Ferschweiler, “It’s another tool we’ll put in the toolbox to make sure that our firefighters get home every day.”

After he allegedly refused to give black students special treatment at the request of a “non-black” student amid protests over the George Floyd death last year, University of California-Los Angeles professor Gordon Klein was essentially shuffled off to the back room by his school.

He was suspended and the university tried to terminate him, the accounting and finance professor said. That didn’t work, but by the time the ordeal was over, he’d lost most of his income, which came from his consultancy. UCLA had all but called him a racist in public statements.

Now, Klein, who started teaching at UCLA in 1981, according to a school biography,  is suing the University of California system.

In a piece written for former New York Times journalist Bari Weiss’ Substack newsletter and published Friday, Klein said he had been singled out because “I refused to discriminate against my students.”

The dust-up began after a June 2, 2020, email from a student who said black students should be graded with more “leniency” due to the trauma caused by the death of Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25. Klein did not identify the race of the student, but described him as “non-black.”

After Deputy Stops to Help Her, 96-Year-Old Woman Demands to Speak with His Supervisor

“The unjust murders of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and George Floyd, the life-threatening actions of Amy Cooper and the violent conduct of the [University of California Police Department] have led to fear and anxiety which is further compounded by the disproportionate effect of COVID-19 on the Black community,” the student reportedly wrote. “As we approach finals week, we recognize that these conditions place Black students at an unfair academic disadvantage due to traumatic circumstances out of their control.”

The student then suggested that the final be counted as a “no-harm” test for black students, meaning it only counted if it helped their grades.

Klein said the email “struck me as deeply patronizing and offensive to the same black students [the writer] claimed to care so much about.”

“Are there any students that may be of mixed parentage, such as half black half-Asian? What do you suggest I do with respect to them? A full concession or just half?” he wrote back.

“Also, do you have any idea if any students are from Minneapolis? I assume that they are probably especially devastated as well. I am thinking that a white student from there might possibly be even more devastated by this, especially because some might think that they’re racist even if they are not.”

Once this email was publicized, a petition for Klein to be fired garnered almost 20,000 signatures in a period of days. The school suspended him just three days after the email, with the dean of his school saying that it was “deeply disturbing to learn of this email, which we are investigating. We apologize to the students who received it and to all those who have been as upset and offended by it as we are ourselves.”

“This implied I didn’t believe in equality for all — when that was exactly what I believed and continue to believe,” Klein wrote.

The professor also received death threats, he said, such as one he said came June 11, 2020 that read:

“You are a typical bigoted, prejudiced and racist dirty, filthy, crooked, arrogant Jew k**e mother f***er! Too bad Hitler and the Nazis are not around to give you a much needed Zyklon B shower.”

Young Not Stupid: Conservative Students Harassed and Accused of Racism in Viral Video… The School’s Response Is Telling

And yet, Klein wrote that UCLA’s threat manager didn’t reach out to him until 10 days after this incident.

Within three weeks, after an attempt to fire Klein failed, he was reinstated, Klein wrote. However, the money from his consultancy dried up after he was pilloried in public, costing him “the lion’s share of my annual income,” he said. That’s part of the reason why he’s filing suit.

“No employee should ever cower in fear of his employer’s power to silence legitimate points of view, and no society should tolerate government-sponsored autocrats violating constitutional mandates,” he wrote.

“As the Supreme Court ruled in a 1967 case in which a university professor refused to sign an oath stating he was not a communist, professors should never be coerced into an unthinking timidity. ‘Academic freedom,’ Justice William Brennan wrote, ‘is of transcendent value to all of us.’”

In an interview with the Daily Caller, also published Friday, Klein said that at UCLA, “[professors] are becoming more like robots … They avoid anything that may be controversial or colorful or humorous … Anyone who goes anywhere near a controversial topic runs the risk of being cancelled, being fired, being suspended.”

He also said the dean of students for UCLA’s Anderson School of Management, Antonio Bernardo, set the tone for the school with staff emails and public memos on racial issues that name-checked, among others, Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors on the issue of defunding the police and abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

“The dean seems to believe he is a racial justice crusader as opposed to someone in charge of giving people an objective and elite education,” he added. “The purpose first and foremost of a dean is to run a fine educational institution and maintain its elite status. In that regard, by any subjective or objective measure, he has horrifically failed.”

As has the University of California system. Klein’s case is emblematic of how far academia has degenerated, where “academic freedom” only means the freedom to repeat certain leftist outlooks.

If you find yourself outside of that, you’ll end up reaping a whirlwind of hate the way Gordon Klein did — and that’s not even taking into account the career consequences. Given the enormity of the failure, one hopes injunctive relief is in the cards.

An 18-year-old woman with 12 years’ experience training in karate was able to fight off a sexual assailant on her Southern California college campus and chase him away last week.

A suspect was later identified on security cameras and surrendered to the college, which notified the police. He’s been arrested on charges relating to the assault.

At 12:40 a.m. on Sep. 24, the victim was sitting at a picnic table outside her dorm on the campus of Chapman University in Orange, California, talking with her boyfriend in Hawaii, according to KTTV-TV in Los Angeles. A man wearing a skeleton mask approached her and hit her.

“He punches me in the face, I hit the trash can behind me,” she told the station.

She said her assailant wore a horrifying mask.

After Deputy Stops to Help Her, 96-Year-Old Woman Demands to Speak with His Supervisor

“At first, it reminded me of ‘The Scream,’ sort of, because the eyes were blacked out,” she said, likely referring to either the Edvard Munch painting or the 1996 horror movie called “Scream” where the mask featured prominently.

“I couldn’t see any eyes. I specifically remember the skeleton part on top and mouth being blacked out as if he was wearing the full thing and had a mask on, too.”

The attacker pinned her down and sexually assaulted her, but the black belt managed to fight back.

“Somehow, he got off me and I chased him up the stairs cursing him out,” the spirited young woman explained.

Meanwhile, two male students in a nearby dorm heard her screams and rushed to her aid — knocking out the screen in the window of their room to get to her faster.

“We heard screaming outside,” Michael Zapesotsky told WTTV. “You knew something was wrong.”

“I push the screen out the window and we both jump out the window and run over towards where the noise is coming from and there’s this girl there and she’s just freaking out,” the other young man, Joe Hoodenpyle, told the station.

Suspect Dalante Jerome Bell, 22, of Anaheim, was brought to Chapman by a family member and subsequently arrested by members of the Orange Police Department and charged with assault with intent to commit rape, WTTV reported. He is being held at the Orange County jail on $100,000 bail, according to jail records.

After a photo of the suspect was released to the public, 22-year-old Dalante Jerome Bell was brought to Chapman University to surrender by a family member and Chapman University notified the Orange Police Department. https://t.co/OhX5Dt5QuQ

— FOX 29 (@FOX29philly) September 29, 2021

Taliban Allegedly Beat, Mutilated and Slaughtered Pregnant Police Officer In Front of Own Family

“We will not tolerate this type of heinous criminal activity in Orange. We hope the students and staff of Chapman University and residents of Orange can regain a sense of safety knowing this suspect has been arrested and we are confident he will be held to answer on the charges,” Orange Police Chief Dan Adams said, according to WTTV.

A report on the arrest from KABC in Los Angeles is below:
https://www.youtube.com/embed/_OH9wQCrR_g?feature=oembed

The university intended to increase security following the attack.

This is a great story that shows both the importance of being prepared to defend yourself and refutes the lie of “toxic masculinity.”

While the monster who tried to assault this girl absolutely got what he deserved, it’s sick to think of what he might have gotten away with had she not been a karate black belt who had trained nearly her whole life to protect herself.

Meanwhile, although she did successfully manage to literally chase off her assailant alone, two young men at the college felt so urgently they needed to come to her aid that they actually broke through their window’s screen to run and help her.

This is the difference between one man’s sickness and criminal depravity and another’s positive, virtuous masculinity.

Thank goodness that this young woman had both the defensive skills to protect herself — and two young men nearby willing to run toward danger to help her. That is what good men do.

The FBI’s latest annual report on hate crimes seemed to deliver more grim news about race relations in America, announcing a nearly 40% rise in anti-black hate crimes in 2020. Major news outlets trumpeted the headline-grabbing statistic, noting that it coincided with a rise in “white nationalism” and came amid a surge in anti-black “hostility” caused by summer 2020 protests. Attorney General Merrick Garland quickly promised “a comprehensive response” by the Department of Justice.

But a closer look at the data reveals a more complicated picture. Some of the biggest increases in anti-black hate crimes occurred in Democratic Party strongholds yet, perhaps surprisingly, almost no increases were reported in major cities riven by the racially tinged protests and riots after George Floyd’s murder. It’s no surprise, then, that experts caution against using these numbers to claim an epidemic of anti-black crime–both because of the FBI data’s limitations, as well as the small absolute and relative size of the reported increase.

The recent FBI dataset tallies reported hate crimes, not the number proven in court. It’s unknown whether the “true” number of hate crimes committed in 2020 is higher or lower than the FBI’s reported total. On one hand, not all crimes are reported to police, which could lead to undercounting. On the other, it’s likely that some portion of reported hate crimes would not withstand legal scrutiny, meaning the FBI’s figures might be inflated. The high evidentiary threshold required to prove a hate crime in court is illustrated by the fact that Derek Chauvin–the white cop cast as a racist convicted of murdering George Floyd last year–was not charged with a hate crime.

Whether the FBI’s data over or understates the true number of hate crimes, the total number of reported anti-black hate crimes is relatively small. In 2020, the FBI recorded a total of 7,759 hate incidents—which the FBI defines as “one or more offenses committed by the same offender, or group of offenders acting in concert, at the same time and place”—in a country of 330 million people. Assailants with anti-black biases allegedly initiated 2,755 such incidents, targeting some 3,769 victims. This was the highest number of anti-black incidents recorded by the FBI since 2008, but at that time there were 13,690 law enforcement agencies submitting hate crime data, versus the 15,136 agencies reporting such data last year, reflecting the imprecise nature of hate crime statistics.

What was the nature of these reported crimes? Most of the anti-black offenses recorded by the FBI in 2020 were acts of intimidation and vandalism; roughly 1,200 (approximately 30%) involved violence. One bias-motivated crime is too many, of course, but the number of reported black hate-crime victims pales in comparison to the reported black victims of other crimes.

For example, there were over 189,000 reported black victims of aggravated assault in 2020—more than 50 times the number of victims in all anti-black incidents combined. Black homicide victims dwarfed the total number of victims of all anti-black incidents in 2020. According to the FBI’s Expanded Homicide Data, there were more than 9,900 black homicide victims recorded by the FBI in 2020. Of the more than 3,700 black victims in single offender/single victim homicide cases, over 85 percent of the offenders were black. Among all anti-black offenses reported nationally in 2020, the FBI recorded a total of five murders and nonnegligent manslaughters—less than 1/10^th of 1% of the total homicides committed against African Americans.

While the absolute increase is relatively small, there’s no doubt that reported anti-black hate incidents rose significantly in 2020. A majority of states (37) reported year-over-year increases to the FBI. However, only 14 of these states—including Ohio, which submitted its figures after the FBI released its report—saw increases of more than 20 cases.

Further, state data available on the FBI’s Crime Data Explorer site reveals that just six states—California, Ohio, Texas, Oregon, Indiana, and Colorado—were responsible for more than half of the national increase between 2019 and 2020.

Charles Lehman, a fellow at Manhattan Institute and an expert on policing and public safety, told RealClearInvestigations that one reason the number of reported anti-black hate crimes varies significantly across states is that state and local police departments differ in how they classify criminal incidents. In other words, some states are more willing than others to label certain criminal incidents as hate crimes. State laws, too, vary with respect to hate crimes, which can affect the types of incidents that are ultimately reported as such. Lehman pointed to the disparity between Alabama and Arizona as an illustrative example, noting that Alabama has more than twice as many black residents as Arizona but recorded only seven anti-black hate incidents in 2020 compared with Arizona’s 124.

City-level data complicates the story further. Several solidly blue cities that figured prominently in the summer’s protests—Minneapolis, Portland, New York, Kenosha, Seattle, Washington, D.C., Atlanta, and Chicago—did not record meaningful increases in anti-black hate crimes between 2019 and 2020. Minneapolis recorded nine anti-black hate incidents in 2020 after failing to report in 2019. Portland and New York City each had two additional reported anti-black hate incidents between 2019 and 2020; Seattle’s total fell from 84 in 2019 to 52 in 2020. Chicago had five total reported incidents in 2020, down from seven in 2019. Kenosha and Atlanta recorded zero incidents in both 2019 and 2020.

Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino, cautioned that municipal hate crime data can be imperfect.

“The problem is, when you get to a place like Kenosha, or some other places, they have no levels of reporting. During these kinds of protests, when 911 systems are overwhelmed, you may not get all those [hate crime] reports in. In addition, there are issues with regard to trust [with] those police departments,” Levin told RealClearInvestigations.

Sample size is also a significant issue with hate crime data. The relatively small number of anti-black hate crimes reported annually makes it difficult to distinguish genuine trends in the data from random noise.

The issue is underscored by the FBI’s findings regarding hate crimes perpetrated against other groups. Asian Americans, for example, suffered a 70% increase in reported hate crimes during 2020 – to a total of 274. This was trumpeted as a “surge” in anti-Asian hate incidents, but the absolute numbers are so small relative to the population that it’s unclear whether the increase is due to a bona fide spike in “hate” against Asian Americans or randomness.

Some researchers argue that traditional hate crime statistics are unreliable more generally. Jacob Kaplan, the chief data scientist in research on policing reform and accountability at Princeton University, explained in his book on the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting initiative (UCR) that hate crimes are the most difficult category of crime to track at the national level because of reporting irregularities and the relative infrequency of hate crimes.

“[The hate crimes dataset] is also the most under-reported UCR dataset with most agencies not reporting any hate crimes to the FBI. This leads to huge gaps in the data with some states having zero agencies report crime, agencies reporting some bias motivations but not others, [and] agencies reporting some years but not others,” he said. “While these problems exist for all of the UCR datasets, it is most severe in this data. This problem is exacerbated by hate crimes being rare even in agencies that report them—with such rare events, even minor changes in which agencies report or which types of offenses they include can have large effects.”

Lehman echoed Kaplan’s concerns about underreporting, noting that the “number of jurisdictions that actually report [hate crimes] at all is small and varies wildly, and people’s willingness to report also varies significantly.”

Levin argued that the Bureau of Justice Statistics’ National Crime Victimization Survey proves that a significant number of hate incidents go unreported each year. He also claimed that southern states such as Mississippi and Alabama have historically underreported the number of hate crimes, which has had the effect of depressing the national numbers.

“We were having more hate crimes in Eugene, Oregon, than in multiple Southern states combined for a while,” he said.

The reporting disparities across states and localities make it difficult to draw meaningful conclusions about reported hate crime data. The nebulous nature of “hate”—most crimes involve some element of malice, after all—adds to the challenge. Despite these limitations, Lehman argued that the reported surge in anti-black hate crimes warrants federal attention.

“I think it warrants serious attention,” he said. “In absolute terms, non-hate crimes are a much bigger deal, and I’d prefer limited resources go there. But we should always take it seriously when there’s a spike in heinous offenses, and I think hate crimes qualify.”

This article was written by John Hirschauer for RealClearInvestigations.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/second-thoughts-about-that-fbi-report-of-a-40-spike-in-anti-black-hate-crime_4025223.html?utm_medium=epochtimes&utm_source=telegram

Ozy Media, the digital media company embroiled in controversy after reports that one of its top staffers impersonated a YouTube executive in context of funding talks with investment bank Goldman Sachs, is shutting down.

The company’s board of directors announced the decision in an Oct. 1 statement.

“At Ozy, we have been blessed with a remarkable team of dedicated staff,” the statement said. “Many of them are world-class journalists and experienced professionals to whom we owe tremendous gratitude, and who are wonderful colleagues. It is therefore with the heaviest of hearts that we must announce today that we are closing Ozy’s doors.”

The announcement came on the heels of a damning expose by The New York Times, which claimed that Ozy co-founder and chief operating officer Samir Rao pretended to be a YouTube executive on a conference call with Goldman Sachs several months ago as the investment bank was closing in on a $40 million investment in the media company.

Rao—pretending to be the YouTube executive—reportedly said on the call that Ozy was well-regarded by YouTube and popular on the platform, while praising the leadership of the company’s founder and chief executive officer, Carlos Watson.

After the misrepresentation came to light, an investigation was launched, reportedly involving the FBI, and Watson apologized on behalf of Rao and the company, attributing the incident to a mental health crisis.

Watson on Friday sent a letter to company investors, according to Axios, that read, in part: “As you know, Ozy has been materially and adversely affected by recent events. After considering all alternatives and input from many of you, we have determined that ceasing operations and beginning the process of winding down the company with an eye toward preservation of value is in the best interest of all stakeholders.”

A financial restructuring advisory firm will be helping bring Ozy operations to a close, Watson said in the statement.

Watson co-founded Ozy in 2013 with Rao. Both are Harvard graduates and both at one point worked for Goldman Sachs.

On Friday, Watson resigned from NPR’s board of directors, while Ozy Media chairman, billionaire hedge fund manager Marc Lasry, stepped down earlier in the week.

Ozy produces left-leaning podcasts, television series, and events.

The Epoch Times has reached out to Ozy for comment.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/ozy-media-shuts-down-amid-allegations-of-deceitful-business-practices_4028784.html?utm_medium=epochtimes&utm_source=telegram

A new poll has found that a majority of voters who chose former President Donald Trump in the 2020 election are in favor of a national divorce, while roughly four in ten voters for President Joe Biden are in favor of the same idea.

One would of course have to be living under a rock to be unaware of the cultural and political divide in the country. Have you ever seen such partisan division?

Still, when polled about the idea of separating into two distinct countries, a stunning number of Americans are in favor of splitting up, according to a new poll from the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics.

“Significant numbers of both Trump and Biden voters show a willingness to consider violating democratic tendencies and norms if needed to serve their priorities,” the poll noted.

“Roughly 2 in 10 Trump and Biden voters strongly agree it would be better if a ‘President could take needed actions without being constrained by Congress or courts,’ and roughly 4 in 10 (41%) of Biden and half (52%) of Trump voters at least somewhat agree that it’s time to split the country, favoring blue/red states seceding from the union,” the poll added.

‘Such a Level of Ignorance’: Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee Scorched for Making Laughable Claim About ‘Secure’ Border

While the idea of states, both red and blue, seceding from the union is nothing new, UVA’s poll found that support for the idea is popular among both Republicans and Democrats nationwide.

Apparently, Republicans don’t want socialism forced down their throats. Meanwhile, Democrats can’t stand the idea of being able to think and act for themselves. That isn’t the least bit surprising.

The last 18 months or so have definitely exposed the partisan divide in the country. More than half of the people who told UVA they voted for Trump are willing to walk away from the United States and carve their own path.

Despite seeing their party in power in Washington and in control of entertainment, academia and sports, people who chose Biden in the 2020 election would be content with seeing their states seceded. Power is never enough.

UVA Center for Politics director Larry Sabato commented on the release of both the poll and its findings.

“The divide between Trump and Biden voters is deep, wide, and dangerous,” Sabato said. “The scope is unprecedented, and it will not be easily fixed.”

Voters seemed more divided when asked more specific questions, according to the poll. A vast majority of both Trump and Biden voters said they view their political opponents as dangerous.

Asked if they view the elected officials from the opposing party as a “clear and present danger to democracy,” 80 percent of Biden voters either somewhat or strongly agreed. Meanwhile, 84 percent of Trump voters answered the same way.

Asked if their counterparts “no longer believe in the ideas that make America great,” the divide was also apparent. Seventy-two percent of people who said they voted for Biden told the pollster they believe their opponents’ views are counter to what might make the country great.

GOP Lawmaker Says ‘Enough Is Enough,’ Demands Vote on Secession Be Put Before the People

Eighty-seven percent of Republicans told UVA that Biden voters hold views that can’t make the country prosper.

When paying attention to current events and conversations about politics and policy, it’s impossible to imagine a time when the country was more divided. Still, seeing so many Americans willing to call it quits and go their own way is a tragedy — considering all the country has been through across two-and-a-half centuries.

UVA’s Center for Politics polled 1,001 Trump voters and 1,011 Biden voters from July 22 to Aug. 4 and reported a margin of error of +/- 2.2 percentage points.

or more A.F. Branco cartoons, go to WesternJournal.com/cartoons.

In March, WGCL-TV in Atlanta reported on a series of incidents in the suburb of Douglasville in which families were receiving letters from “a local racist who is hoping to spread fear.”

“I received one two days ago, and I was alarmed at what I read,” one father told the station.

“The letter is using the N-word, talking about the KKK, hanging people, killing kids, killing whole families, and setting houses on fire,” he said, adding that he had given the letter to police, who had hoped to find forensic evidence on the note.

Other residents had told the station they’d received similar notes starting in December; on one street alone, at least seven black families reportedly had been targeted.

Video of ‘Furious’-Looking Pelosi at Congressional Baseball Game Blows Up Online

In arguably the least shocking update this story could have received, police say the incidents are a hoax — that the perpetrator is a 30-year-old black woman named Terresha Lucas who identified as a 6-foot white man with a red beard and as a member of the Ku Klux Klan.

WGCL reported Thursday that Lucas, a Douglasville resident, was arrested and charged this week with making terroristic threats to residents on Manning Drive in the Georgia city from Dec. 21, 2020, to Sept. 6 of this year.

Douglasville police said in a Facebook post that they “received the break they needed on Labor Day, Sept. 6, when evidence was found linking the notes to the house of Terresha Lucas. Detectives said they were able to gather enough evidence to obtain a search warrant.”

For 11 months, black families in an Atlanta suburb were terrorized w/letters from someone saying they’re a white KKK member who will burn the houses & kill them. Following an extensive investigation, police charged Terresha Lucas, a black woman. #HateHoax https://t.co/eCpOLefnoJ

— Andy Ngô 🏳️‍🌈 (@MrAndyNgo) October 1, 2021

“During the search, detectives found other evidence which ties the suspect to the incidents,” the statement continued.

Police said the notes all had similar handwriting, tone and verbiage, leading them to the conclusion they were all written by one person.

The notes said they were from a 6-foot white man with a long, red beard. In initial reportage on the notes, no one seemed particularly concerned about the fact that hate criminals don’t usually identify themselves if they’re leaving anonymous letters in neighbors’ mailboxes.

More Protection Demanded for Fauci, Others; Critics of Scientists Could Face Hate Crime Charges Under One Idea

What would have been surprising in an incident as brazen and blatant as this is if the suspect arrested hadn’t been a minority.

Take a high-profile case of racist graffiti at Emory University in Atlanta. In August, the Emory Autism Center was hit with a burglar who left behind racial slurs and a swastika.

“These acts of racism and antisemitism are painful for all of us at the EAC and in the Emory community. They will not be tolerated and every effort will be made to bring the perpetrators to justice. Our priority remains the wellbeing and safety of our faculty, staff, learners, patients and their families, and upholding our values and Emory’s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion,” the university said in a statement.

“As we heal in the days and weeks ahead, it is important that we continue to support and provide strength to one another. Our goal will remain to provide an environment and a learning community focused on each other and maintaining an inclusive society where everyone’s identity is valued and celebrated.”

On Sept. 22, the university announced the arrest of Roy Lee Gordon Jr. on a charge of second-degree burglary. That statement was much drier, save for a pro forma statement about how racism and anti-Semitism remain “painful for the entire Emory community.”

Unmentioned were Gordon’s race or prior employment history. According to WGCL, he’s black and a former part-time employee of the Emory Autism Center.

In the St. Louis metro area, Parkway Central High School in Chesterfield, Missouri, was the site of a student walkout after racist graffiti was discovered in bathrooms last week.

“The walkout at Parkway Central was organized on social media on Wednesday evening, students said, by those fed up with similar incidents. Students stood outside the administrative building on campus on Wednesday, chanting ‘no justice, no peace’ and passing around a megaphone to share their experiences with prejudice at school,” the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported on Sept. 24.

“Students at the rally circled around Principal Tim McCarthy and yelled questions and complaints through a megaphone, some cursing at him, asking how school policies would change to discourage racist behavior.”

The reason for the invective apparently was a supposed pattern of racist incidents at the school: “We just absorb it, most of us,” senior Ronald Griffin told the Post-Dispatch. “There’s a ton of people that act friendly, but then you hear about things people have said … off to the side.”

“It’s messed up, and it’s not funny,” said senior Joe Siervo. “We want to see a change … but this happens every year.”

This past Wednesday, the Post-Dispatch reported a black student had admitted to writing the graffiti. A participant in the walkout called it “embarrassing” but said it didn’t diminish their message.

However, as the newspaper noted, this was the second time in recent years that the school has seen a hate-crime hoax; in 2017, a non-white student eventually admitted to writing “White Lives Matter” in a bathroom.

And these, it’s worth noting, are just the arrests made in September. Given that, the only real shock here would have been if Douglasville, Georgia, police had found a 6-foot-tall Klansman with a red beard.

Last week a mom read aloud to the Fairfax County School Board excerpts from library books found in an FCPS library.

Shocking sexually explicit material was included in these books. Fortunately, parents are more aware than ever of what students are learning and the resources that are available to them. But this is not a new fight in Virginia. Not by a longshot.

The final debate in Virginia’s gubernatorial campaign gave us a glimpse into the heart of former Gov. Terry McAuliffe, and a brief history lesson about parental rights in Virginia is now in order.

Does McAuliffe really believe it’s his responsibility to “not … let parents come into schools and actually take books out and make their own decisions”?

Does he really believe what he said at the debate: “I don’t think parents should be telling schools what they should teach”? We know that he does, because he proved it at least twice in his previous stint as governor.

Video of ‘Furious’-Looking Pelosi at Congressional Baseball Game Blows Up Online

In 2016 and 2017, two separate bills (nicknamed the “Beloved” bills after the Toni Morrison novel) that provided notice to parents and students about sexually explicit material in assigned books were introduced in the Virginia General Assembly. Unknown to parents or students, within various assigned books (especially in AP courses) were instances of pedophilia, rape and even bestiality.

Since presumably, the teacher assigning the books would know about their content, simply notifying parents of that content is not much to ask. The education lobby maintained that parents should have to read all the assigned books to find out which ones had explicit sexual content. But if schools are truly partnering with parents, why the secrecy?

Why not disclose to the parents what is going to be read by their children, which the teachers well know is in the material? What about the rape victim in class who will be assigned a book that will depict the heinous crime committed against her? Does she have the right to know?

Both bills passed with bipartisan support as Republicans and Democrats agreed that parents should be informed when their child is assigned books containing graphic sexually explicit content. Remember when Republicans and Democrats could agree on things?

To be clear, both bills continued to give teachers complete autonomy in the book selection process. What both bills simply provided was a notice to both students and parents of potentially graphic sexually explicit content within the assigned material.

Students then had the ability to request an alternative book. Requesting an alternative assignment is not unusual or unprecedented. Some students have religious objections to animal dissection assignments in biology classes, for example. Those students are allowed an alternative assignment. Students who do not attend field trips for whatever reason are given alternate work.

Bowing to pressure from education lobbyists for teachers unions and publishers, in 2016, then-Gov. McAuliffe vetoed the first of the bills. Undeterred, parents continued to press for this modest request — simple notification that their child might be confronted with literature containing salacious descriptions of sexual acts.

Seeking to accommodate (overblown) concerns about “censorship” ginned up by groups like the ACLU and Pen America, the 2017 bill was more specific. While still ensuring teacher control over the book selection process, the bill required notifying parents of books that include acts that actually are considered felony crimes in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Again, the books could still be assigned. The only requirement was parental notification about content considered a sex crime in the state where that material would be read by minors.

Viral Trend Shows the Destruction of Our Education System by Out-of-Control Students

This allowed for the ability to distinguish between books like “Romeo and Juliet” or “To Kill a Mockingbird” and gratuitously explicit or age-inappropriate books containing acts that constitute felony sex crimes in most states.

The second bill narrowed the scope of notifying parents to those acts that actually are considered felony crimes in the Commonwealth of Virginia. This way books like “Romeo and Juliet” would not be flagged, but books containing graphic depictions of rape, incest, pedophilia and bestiality would.

McAuliffe vetoed these bipartisan bills two years in a row.

While there was unity between Democrats and Republicans as to this commonsense measure, McAuliffe decided to veto both bills. With a disdain for parents that was on full display at the final debate of this campaign, then-Gov. McAuliffe did the bidding of education lobbyists rather than honor the role that parents play in our children’s lives.

We don’t have to wonder who he will listen to if he wins again. It won’t be parents.

SHREVEPORT, La.—A Louisiana coroner’s office has released the name of a baby found dead in a lake after his mother allegedly threw him and his older brother into the water.

The child was identified as 10-month-old Joshua Black, the Caddo Parish Coroner’s Office said in a news release Wednesday night. Police had previously given his age as 8 months old.

An official cause of death was pending based on autopsy results, coroner’s office spokesman John Andrew Prime said in an email.

The baby’s mother, Ureka Black, is accused of throwing Joshua and his 5-year-old brother into Cross Lake in Shreveport last Friday.

Her sisters, Felicia and Pycolyia Black, told KSLA-TV that they’ve long been concerned about Black’s mental health, but she rejected any suggestion of treatment.

“Every time we tried to get her help, she refused,” Felicia Black said. “She just felt like nothing was wrong with her.”

Ureka Black was arrested on charges of second-degree murder, which has a mandatory life sentence, and attempted second-degree murder, which carries at least 10 and up to 50 years.

She is represented by the Caddo Parish Public Defenders Office. Her attorney was in court when The Associated Press called for comment Thursday.

A yard crew working near a bridge alerted authorities to the baby’s body, and the Cross Lake Marine Patrol found the older child floating on his back, KTBS-TV reported. Rescuers thought at first that he was dead, but tapped him and he opened his eyes, the station reported.

Black’s sisters told KSLA that the family had tried weeks earlier to get custody of Black’s children.

“We just knew something wasn’t all the way right with her, but I didn’t want to hurt her in that way of taking her kids. We feeling guilty that we should’ve,” Felicia Black said.

Calls to Child Protective Services were fruitless because Ureka Black acted normal, they said. The sisters said they hadn’t known that she had a baby.

“For my mom, the first time she will ever see that grandchild is in a casket,” Felicia Black said.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/louisiana-coroner-releases-name-of-baby-found-dead-after-mother-allegedly-threw-him-into-lake_4025628.html?utm_medium=epochtimes&utm_source=telegram

A Democratic state senator from Tennessee who has been convicted on federal fraud charges won’t say whether she will heed calls to resign from office.

State Sen. Katrina Robinson was found guilty on four of five counts of wire fraud on Thursday, according to WHBQ-TV.

Robinson had been accused of misusing federal money to pay for her wedding and personal expenses.

Lt. Gov. Randy McNally said Robinson should step down.

“While Senator Robinson’s convictions did not stem from actions taken while in office, they are nevertheless very serious,” he said in a statement.

Marine Who Pulled Baby Over Wall at Kabul Airport Now Under Investigation for Appearing at Trump Rally

“As public servants, we are held to a higher standard. My personal opinion is that it would be in the best interest of the state and her constituents for Senator Robinson to step down at this time.”

Robinson, who could face up to 20 years in prison, hedged about her future.

“My service to the state Senate — I’m still committed to that,” she said. “However, I have not yet made a decision about how we move forward.”

The Democratic lawmaker, who will be sentenced on Jan. 5, said the guilty verdict changed nothing.

“First, let me say that I entered this process knowing that I am innocent and still maintain that I am innocent,” she said, according to the Daily Memphian.

“We strongly feel that the jury did not get it right, that the jury got it wrong. We feel that, in fact, somehow the burden fell upon us to prove her innocence. We feel that was wrong,” Laurenzi said.

Robinson was charged with misusing more than $600,000 in a 20-count indictment.

Fifteen of the counts against Robinson were dismissed last week.

FBI Stats: 2020 Saw Twice as Many People Killed with Knives than with Shotguns and Rifles Combined

The five charges that remained accused Robinson of using federal dollars to pay for two vendors for her wedding, a makeup artist and a caterer.

Prosecutors claimed she told her accountant the money was for a community event and not her wedding.

Robinson faces federal charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering in another case in which she and two others are accused of defrauding an individual out of $14,470.

Having a dissenting view within the prevailing orthodoxies of many universities today can lead to “a death by a thousand cuts,” according to a lawyer who specializes in constitutional law.

Samantha Harris, with Allen Harris Law in Connecticut, represents Stephen Porter, a professor at North Carolina State University (NCSU). Porter filed a lawsuit on Sept. 14, alleging that faculty members in his department were discriminating against him, violating both his First and Fourteenth Amendment rights by retaliating against his free speech.

“In some ways, it’s nothing new,” Harris told The Epoch Times, “but what I’ve observed in recent years is these institutions have gotten smarter in knowing that they can’t just fire someone.”

Over the last 20 years, Harris said she’s seen multiple strategies on how universities censor unpopular speech of faculty and students.

Death by a Thousand Cuts

Rather than termination or direct punishment, Harris said the latest is the adoption of an incremental strategy, in which the institution subjects the dissenter to investigations, removal from committees, and accusations of professionalism violations.

This subtle death by a thousand cuts can complicate the livelihood for someone who expresses an unpopular belief, Harris said, and blur the line between First Amendment rights and the institution’s overreach.

“It can make it difficult for people to advance their careers, as well as to get justice for what’s happening to them,” Harris said.

Race-Focused Worldviews

On the predominant social justice ideologies being debated—such as what Porter said he was contesting at NCSU—Harris said she avoids using phrases like Critical Race Theory (CRT), the Marxist philosophy that suggests society is a class struggle between oppressors and the oppressed, labeling white people as the oppressors and all other races as the oppressed.

“That’s become shorthand for what I would call this very race-focused view looking at how we should as a country deal with issues of race and identity,” Harris said. “As a result, people who ascribe to what I would call a more traditional civil rights view of treating people equally and viewing each person as an individual has fallen out of favor on many campuses and is often the accused of being racist itself.”

Color blindness, which used to be the standard for not being racist, is now considered in many circles to be racist, she said.

“Critical Race Theory is a school of thought that evolved out of the universities, and that has informed a lot of thinking, but what I really call it is this very race-focused view of the world, the way humans interact with one another, and the way policies should be made,” Harris said.

Opinions Targeted

Most of her clients are people who have landed on the “wrong side” of these views by expressing opinions not in line with “this very race-focused world view.”

“The same goes for gender identity,” Harris said. “Interestingly, I’ve had clients who are feminist who do not ascribe to the current views on gender identity and have found themselves targeted for that.”

Most frequently, Harris said what she’s observed is the suppression of traditional, conservative views at liberal universities.

Before setting up her own firm, Harris worked for 15 years at the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), a nonprofit academic and individual rights advocacy center set up to be a resource for students and faculty members who have had their freedom of speech infringed upon.

“FIRE is a faculty rights organization that does some targeted First Amendment litigation at public universities, but they also advocate on behalf of the students and faculty at private universities who are facing censorship,” Harris said.

On her transition from “big-picture advocacy” at FIRE to “getting into the trenches” to represent individual clients at her law firm, Harris said her focus is primarily on freedom of speech and due process, ensuring those who are accused of misconduct can go through an impartial investigation before facing disciplinary action.

Freedom of Conscience

The firm also defends freedom of conscience, or the freedom to hold one’s own thoughts and beliefs free from governmental interference.

“The seminal freedom of conscience case was when a court held that Jehovah’s Witness students could not be forced to salute the flag in class,” Harris said. “That violated their freedom of conscience, the right to be free from compelled speech and compelled beliefs.”

In the 1943 case of West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, the board adopted a directive requiring all public-school students to salute the flag and recite the Pledge of Allegiance or be expelled.

A group of Jehovah’s Witness students challenged the directive on the pretense that saluting the flag conflicted with their religious beliefs prohibiting idol worship, therefore violating their freedom of religion and speech, and the Supreme Court concurred.

Similarly, the freedom of conscience comes into play with what Harris said are “intrusive training” methodologies in which world views and theories aren’t shared, but required.

In North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson’s Fairness and Accountability in the Classroom for Teachers and Students task force report, teachers and parents anonymously provided testimony and examples of curriculums of what they were seeing in North Carolina classrooms.

One teacher alleged in the report that white staff members were told that they were unaware of their racism and required to attend “professional development” sessions related to “microaggression” and “equity” as it relates to race and gender.

Porter’s Case

What brought Harris’ client, Stephen Porter, to the attention of his faculty members at NCSU was his blog posts challenging the social justice ideologies of his department.

“Faculty at public universities have the right to speak as private citizens on matters of public concern,” Harris said. “When a faculty member or public employee has a private blog in which they express their opinions about important societal issues, they have the right to free speech to do that.”

Porter told The Epoch Times that for three years his own department has been attempting to isolate and drain him of resources in retaliation for opposing “the broader push for social justice ideologies within our college.”

After writing a blog criticizing the Association for the Study of Higher Education research conference, which he said had become a “woke joke,” the president of the conference, during her keynote speech, had a picture of Porter behind her at the conference, where he said, “she spent 10 minutes castigating me and my blog posts, accusing me of white fragility.”

In addition, Porter said the department had engaged in untested research methodologies to inquire about diversity being taught in the classroom.

“My background is in survey methodology, so, not realizing this would start a furor, I began asking simple questions,” Porter said.

In the lawsuit, Porter alleged that he had been “systematically excluded” from meetings and activities related to higher education programs and the advising of students, which Porter said prevented him from getting new advisees.

As Porter experienced his own “death by a thousand cuts,” he said he slipped into depression, concerned that he was going to lose his job and the means to provide for his family.

After meeting with Harris and filing the lawsuit, he said he’s in “a much better place, particularly since we filed.”

“I feel like I’m fighting back for my rights, and quite honestly, I’m doing this to restore my job to what it was a few years ago,” he said.

Another reason he filed the lawsuit was to give others the courage to take a stand.

“This is happening in universities around the country,” Porter said. “People are afraid to speak up, and I’d like to provide an example that says, ‘It’s possible to stand up for yourself and fight for your rights. It’s OK to be a conservative in academia, although my colleagues would obviously disagree.’”

When reached for comment, a spokesperson for NCSU said the university does not comment on pending litigation.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/ostracizing-university-faculty-with-nonconforming-opinions-has-become-a-common-trend-constitutional-lawyer_4023217.html?utm_medium=epochtimes&utm_source=telegram

The following is an installment in a weekly series of commentary articles by Cameron Arcand, founder of the conservative commentary website Young Not Stupid and a contributor to The Western Journal.

From the moment I arrived at Arizona State University last month, the faculty stressed the importance of diversity and inclusion in the college community.

In fact, ASU’s charter says the school is “measured not by whom we exclude, but rather by whom we include and how they succeed.”

One of the oft-mentioned tenets of this creed is the need to respect others’ political affiliations, and the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education has given ASU a green light for its First Amendment policies.

But a recent incident shows that although the university promotes ideological diversity on paper, the student body still has work to do when it comes to political tolerance.

A viral video from the “multicultural space” on ASU’s Tempe campus features liberal students arguing with two conservative students.

A woman confronts the conservative men over a laptop sticker that says “Police Lives Matter.”

“What did I do wrong?” the student with the pro-police sticker asks.

“You’re offensive. Police lives matter?” the woman recording the scene says.

WARNING: The following video contains graphic language that some viewers will find offensive.

🚨 This insanity is happening on college campuses pic.twitter.com/BrVxICZYqP

— Libs of Tik Tok (@libsoftiktok) September 24, 2021

The argument continues, with the woman saying the men are “making the space uncomfortable.”

“But you’re white!” the woman says. “Do you understand what a multicultural space [is]? It means you’re not being centered.”

“White’s not a culture?” says one of the men, who is wearing a “Did Not Vote For Biden” T-shirt.

“No, it’s not a culture. White is not a culture,” the woman says. “This is the violence that ASU does and this is the type of people that they protect. OK? This white man thinks he can take up our space.”

Student Journalist Told To Resign from Management Position After Jacob Blake Tweet

When one of the students says he’s not racist, the woman responds, “You are racist. Your sticker’s racist.” When he apologizes and says he didn’t mean to offend anyone, another woman says, “But this offends us automatically because these people kill people like me and like us, right? So you’re promoting our murderers.”

In the full video, the two men eventually leave as the situation escalates.

ASU’s dean of students released a statement condemning the altercation.Does the left really value ideological diversity?Yes No
Completing this poll entitles you to The Western Journal news updates free of charge. You may opt out at anytime. You also agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

“The Dean of Students Office is aware of the incident between a handful of students that was captured in a video circulated on social media. The Dean of Students Office will be discussing it with all involved,” the statement said.

“ASU is a community of more than 100,000 people from all 50 states and more than 150 countries. Differences of opinion are part of the university experience. The university expects respectful dialogue between students in all engagements.”

It’s clear that ASU’s administration is trying to attract and appease left-wing students and faculty, and will likely sweep this incident under the rug.

With that being said, it is undeniable that the university has a significant conservative plurality, making it more reflective of the nature of American politics than many schools.

Let’s be honest: ASU is no University of California, Berkeley, when it comes to leftist hostility.

But this video shows that its political climate leaves a lot to be desired. All students must do a better job respecting the ideological diversity the school claims to value.

They say when life gives you lemons, you make lemonade. When it comes to Vice President Kamala Harris, she can count on energetic admirers in the press who take on the task of making lemonade out of her lemons.

Take Washington Post White House reporter Cleve Wootson Jr., who accentuated the positive in a Sunday story headlined “Handed a pile of no-win issues, Harris builds a network: Gains credit with liberals focused on migration, abortion and the vote.”

One would think that being handed “volatile social issues” such as illegal immigration, abortion and voting rights may be very damaging for Harris. But no! Wootson touted that, “behind the scenes, Harris has been quietly seizing the opportunity to build a liberal national network of dedicated activists that is convinced she embraces its causes.”

Wootson found delighted leftists who appreciate the allyship of Harris. “Advocates invited to the White House, or to Harris’s ceremonial office in the adjacent Eisenhower Executive Office Building, often express appreciation that their opinions and standing are being amplified by a political star.”

Is this reporting? Or merely advertising? Cuddly Cleve has a way with sweet talk.

The story began with Harris meeting with abortion advocate Amy Hagstrom Miller, founder of Whole Women’s Health in Austin, Texas. Miller said she appreciated how Harris would “talk straight to the extreme politicians in this country,” and she meant Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.

That’s fascinating. The House of Representatives just passed a bill called the “Women’s Health Protection Act” with 218 of 219 Democrats that is so extreme on untrammeled abortion that it would require states to allow abortions of an unborn baby viable outside the womb if one physician can proclaim that an abortion would protect the woman’s health. An army of Gov. Ralph Northams could make post-birth abortions happen across America.

But sure, tag the anti-abortion Republicans as the “extreme politicians in this country.”

Liberal extremism is no vice in the pursuit of the presidency. Wootson added, “If Harris has a path to the presidency, it is likely to run through an energized liberal base — not, as it did for Biden, through blocs of centrist Democrats and moderate Republicans.”

Political scientist Matthew Wilson argued that Harris doesn’t need to be broadly popular to win the presidency, but can triumph as the “champion of a base cause.”

The Washington Post story noted Harris was “dogged” by Republicans on the issue of “irregular migration.” She was hounded as the “border czar” who wouldn’t go to the border. But when she (sort of) went there in June, to El Paso, it was a triumph with her base.

Fernando Garcia of the left-wing Border Network for Human Rights, a group bearing hashtags such as “#HugsNotWalls,” told Wootson, “I made remarks in regard to not forgetting our history — this border, the U.S.-Mexico border, is the new Ellis Island. And then when she went over and had a press conference at the hangar, she said the same thing.”

Wootson concluded the story by telling readers that an audience with Harris gives activists the proverbial “seat at the table,” and then they will feel they are heard and this will make them more open to “bring about a Harris administration,” whenever Joe Biden isn’t going to be president anymore.

“She’s breaking ground, and Black women will keep fighting and keep supporting her,” said Melanie Campbell of the Black Women’s Roundtable, another leftist collective.

Harris is not exactly holding a pile of press conferences, so almost no one can name her press secretary. But keep an eye out for Wootson. He’s making a good case for himself.

https://rightandfree.com/news/2021/09/28/no-win-kamala-still-has-fans-in-the-press?utm_campaign=AmEagles&utm_source=AmEagles-20210930&utm_medium=email

Mandela Barnes hobnobs in Bay Area with liberal prosecutor Chesa Boudin, state lawmaker who wants to abolish ICE

A Wisconsin Democratic Senate frontrunner held a San Francisco fundraiser with the son of left-wing terrorists and a California state lawmaker who wants to abolish Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Mandela Barnes traveled to the Bay Area on Tuesday to hobnob with San Francisco district attorney Chesa Boudin and California state senator Scott Wiener, a photo shared by California Democratic Party vice chair David Campos shows. Boudin—the son of two Weather Underground terrorists who has ended cash bail and repeatedly declined to prosecute serial offenders—faces a recall effort sparked by a murder surge in his city. Wiener, meanwhile, has called for the abolition of ICE, because it is a “force of oppression” that makes “communities less safe.”

Barnes is running to succeed incumbent GOP senator Ron Johnson. While the San Francisco soirée may have helped his coffers, the guest list may not play well with local voters who have helped make him the frontrunner in a crowded primary. In an August Remington Research Group poll, Milwaukee County Democratic primary voters identified “lowering crime and increasing neighborhood safety” as their top issue. That same poll showed Barnes with a 24-point lead in the primary. 

Republicans in the swing state have accused Barnes and the rest of the party of being soft on crime. Barnes referenced “overpoliced communities” and refused to distance himself from the “idea behind ‘defund the police'” in a TV Interview. Wisconsin Republicans have pointed to the clip to accuse Barnes of caring “more about appeasing the far left and violent criminals than standing up for public safety.”

Barnes did not return a request for comment.

In addition to Wiener’s efforts to abolish ICE, the Democrat in 2016 called for “[California] & other states to become sanctuary states.” Boudin also campaigned on his intention to hold “zero cooperation with ICE” and prosecute ICE agents. In 2019, he bragged he “helped pioneer San Francisco’s sanctuary city policy.”

Boudin, who served as a translator for the late Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez before taking office, has faced criticism for his failure to charge serial offenders who have gone on to commit heinous crimes. 

In January, for example, police arrested 45-year-old Troy McAllister after the San Francisco resident hit and killed two women while drunkenly driving a stolen vehicle through a red light. Months before the tragedy, Boudin’s office offered McAllister a plea agreement for a robbery charge that kept him out of jail. Police went on to arrest McAllister on multiple occasions for drug and theft crimes, but prosecutors did not charge the career criminal.

After the January arrest, assistant district attorney Ryan Kao wrote in a court filing that McAllister’s “pattern of criminality has done nothing but increase over the years” and acknowledged Boudin’s office “missed defendant’s out-of-control spiral while on parole.” San Francisco police admonished Boudin over his role in the incident.

“Had the DA done their job, Mr. McAllister would’ve been in custody and you would not have grieving families,” San Francisco Police Officers Association president Tony Montoya said at the time.

Boudin in 2020 lobbied disgraced former New York governor Andrew Cuomo (D.) to grant clemency to his father, David Gilbert, who faced a 75-year sentence for second-degree murder over his role in a 1981 Brinks truck robbery, which left two police officers and a security guard dead. Boudin’s mother, Kathy Boudin, also participated in the deadly heist. Cuomo granted Gilbert clemency before resigning from office in August.

Barnes became lieutenant governor of Wisconsin in 2019 after serving as a state legislator for four years. While a September poll released by Barnes’s campaign shows him in a tie with Johnson, the Republican has not yet decided to run for reelection.

https://freebeacon.com/democrats/dem-senate-frontrunner-fundraises-with-radical-san-francisco-liberals-to-flip-wisconsin/

September 29, 2021

Republican gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin should rally Virginia parents over Terry McAuliffe’s statement that teachers’ unions – not parents — have the final say on children’s education. 

I think Terry McAuliffe made a huge error in last night’s debate when he asserted that parents really should have no influence on what is taught to their children. This race can break wide open if Glenn Youngkin can focus, in a disciplined way, on rallying every parent and grandparent in the state who believes that parents should  have a role in their children’s education. Employing this tactic will drive home the point that the teachers’ unions own McAuliffe. For the Democrats, it is about control and power, not freedom and personal choice. 

I will reflect more on this and welcome your thoughts in our Inner Circle town hall event on Thursday, Sept. 30. If you haven’t already joined, please consider a subscription to my Inner Circle members program today. 

-Newt

There’s the “War on Terror” and the “War on Drugs” but the real war our leaders fight with any perspicacity is the “War on Truth,” second only to that even older, perhaps oldest and most crucial of all, wars known colloquially as CYA.

The latter is fought to the bitter end and takes precedence.

We find this on display frequently in Washington, D.C. and Sept 28 was no exception.

During testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee, both Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mark Milley and U.S. Central Command Gen. Kenneth McKenzie insisted, under oath, they had advised against President Biden’s precipitous and, to be as polite as humanly possible, ill-conceived exit plan from Afghanistan.

Milley said he urged Biden to leave 2,500 troops in place. This would have left enough military to guard Bagram air base and prevent it becoming the staging area for the Chinese air force it likely will become.

They also would have been able to arrange for either the destruction or the recovering of the 80+ billion dollars of U.S. weaponry, much of it high-tech, now in Taliban (and therefore Chinese, Russian and Iranian) hands.

It goes without saying too, most importantly, an operable Bagram could have saved myriad lives, American and Afghan, and would continue to do so.

President Biden denied hearing any of this. Or, more precisely, he didn’t recall hearing this.

The real question is—was he lying? Most likely, yes. From law school onwards he has plagiarized and lied multiple times. Falsus in uno, falsus in omnibus, as they say.

But there are other possibilities.

One is that President Biden’s cognitive issues are so severe that he couldn’t understand or actually allow himself to hear what the generals were advising. He had been so completely locked into an idée fixe of getting out of Afghanistan on whatever schedule he thought politically useful (Sept. 11?) nothing permeated.

A yet more disturbing alternative is that he was counseled against the generals’ view by some of his own advisors. Normally, that would make little sense, considering the disaster that occurred, but many actions of the Biden administration can be read as being against the long-term interests of the United States, actually weakening it deliberately, and in favor of the globalists or the Chinese communists, assuming they are not, in reality, one and the same.

The recent indictments and leaks from the Durham investigation lend credence to this possibility. Many of the officials in the Biden administration, in the State Department and elsewhere, are holdovers from the Obama administration, just in different positions as if reseated in a game of musical chairs.

How many of these people really want a strong U.S. military in a position to be guardians of the free world as it has been for decades? Wouldn’t they prefer it to fall apart? It’s worth thinking about.

But enough “paranoid” speculation. What about the head man in this CYA fiesta, General Milley?

When Sen. Tom Cotton, among others, asked Milley why he didn’t resign after the Afghanistan debacle, he replied as follows:

“Senator, as a senior military officer, resigning is a really serious thing—it’s a political act—if I’m resigning in protest. My job is to provide advice—my statutory responsibility is to provide legal advice or best military advice to the president, and that’s my legal requirement.”

Perhaps the general has short-term memory loss.

No American general in this century has been more overtly “political” than he.

Has he forgotten that for some time he has been referred to as the “woke” general?

Nothing is more political than “woke.” Indeed, that is its intention, to turn everything in our lives into politics—the food we eat, the air we breath, our educational system, our entertainment, our press, who gets a job, who gets promoted, who appears in a commercial, who goes to a restaurant, what we can say on social media, who’s skin color is best, who’s the biggest victim, what sex we declare ourselves to be, our pronouns and on and on.

Not very long ago, General Milley made a speech sympathetic to that flagship of “woke”—critical race theory. That the chairman of the joint chiefs would do that is astonishing and, in a sense, revolutionary.

He has, in effect, politicized the military that is supposed, for very good reason, including winning wars, to be neutral.

Also with good reason, we could dub him General “Woke.”

But now, of all a sudden, in Senate testimony, he self-righteously claims the military should not be politicized. He would never do such a thing.

Actually his vision of politicization is, in itself, completely politicized. He wouldn’t resign from Biden, no matter what the issue, and the current one is unbelievably extreme, but could well have resigned from Trump.

It wasn’t that long ago that he made a public apology for merely accompanying the then president to the torched St. John’s Church:

“I should not have been there. My presence in that moment and in that environment created a perception of the military involved in domestic politics. As a commissioned uniformed officer, it was a mistake that I have learned from, and I sincerely hope we all can learn from it.”

Learn what exactly? That the chairman of the joint chiefs is a hypocrite? We certainly learned that.

During his questioning by Sen. Marsha Blackburn we also learned Milley is a kind of creepy gossip who likes to make sure the likes of Bob Woodward know the general’s side of the story for the journalist’s forthcoming—is it fiction or non-fiction— best seller. After all, General “Woke’s” legacy is in play.

I’m not going to go into the telephone calls to the Chinese general, interesting as that may be, because I suspect more facts will be coming out.

What I will say is that, as usual “woke”—or in this case General “Woke”—is the opposite of really woke. What business was it of his to supersede the commander-in-chief and telegraph our intentions to the enemy?

Milley seemed to think that was his job, that he was just being internationally “woke.” Many would disagree.

Yes, CYA trumped the War on Truth, as it almost always does, in Washington Tuesday.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/general-woke-upends-the-president-in-front-of-the-senate_4024239.html

US Vice President Kamala Harris applauded a student who accused Israel of “ethnic genocide,” saying “your truth cannot be suppressed.”

During a discussion with students about National Voter Registration Day on Tuesday, US Vice President Kamala Harris did not challenge a comment by a student at George Mason University in Virginia who accused Israel of “ethnic genocide” and defended her right to say it.

The student, who identified herself as part-Yemeni, part-Iranian and “not an American,” also expressed outrage at US funding of the Iron Dome.

She said America affects her life “every day” due to military funding it gives to Saudi Arabia and Israel.

“You brought up how the power of the people and demonstrations and organizing is very valuable in America,” she said. “But I see that over the summer there have been protests and demonstrations in astronomical numbers standing with Palestine. But then just a few days ago, there were funds allocated to continue backing Israel, which hurts my heart because it’s ethnic genocide and displacement of people, the same that happened in America, and I’m sure you’re aware of this.”

The student questioned why money was going to Israel and Saudi Arabia instead of to social issues in America.“

The people have spoken very often of what they do need, and I feel like there’s a lack of listening, and I just feel like I need to bring this up because it affects my life and people I really care about’s [sic] life,” she said.

In response, Harris said she was “glad” the student spoke up.

“Your voice, your perspective, your experience, your truth cannot be suppressed, and it must be heard,” she said.

Harris said democracy is strongest when everyone participates and is weakest when anyone is left out.“

That’s not only about being physically present but that your voice is present,” she said. “Our goal should be unity, but not uniformity. Unity should never be at the expense of telling any one person, ‘For the sake of unity, oh you be quiet about that thing.’ That’s not unity. Then we see where that ends up in a healthy debate about the issue.”

Regarding the student’s reference to Middle East policy, Harris said: “We still have healthy debates in our country about what is the right path, and nobody’s voice should be suppressed on that.”

Former US ambassador to Israel David Friedman expressed outrage at Harris’s statements, tweeting: “Shameful. There is truth and there are lies. No one is entitled to their personal truth. This attack on Israel is simply a lie and VPOTUS should have called that out.”

Shameful. There is truth and their are lies. No one is entitled to their personal truth. This attack on Israel is simply a lie and VPOTUS should have called that out.

https://t.co/leLOO5C6Cs#FoxNews

— David M Friedman (@DavidM_Friedman) September 29, 2021

Harris has consistently expressed support for Israel, telling former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu the US is against the International Criminal Court’s investigation into alleged war crimes by Israel and supporting Israel’s right to defend itself against rockets from the Gaza Strip.In a call with President Isaac Herzog in August, Harris expressed a “strong commitment” to Israel’s security.

https://www.jpost.com/american-politics/vp-harris-to-student-who-accused-israel-of-genocide-your-truth-must-be-heard-680603

President Joe Biden isn’t the only delusional Democrat in Washington, D.C.

In a party known for mixing hardball politics with blatant dishonesty, outright liars are easy to come by — from Nancy Pelosi and Adam Schiff in the House to Chuck Schumer and Richard Blumenthal in the Senate.

But for sheer disassociation from reality, for Biden-level oblivion to the obvious, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas has proved again that she’s difficult to beat.

Jackson, a Houston Democrat who’s spent a quarter-century in Congress — God help us — has a well-deserved reputation for spewing nonsense.

Her remarks can be merely stupid — like when she called for gun control while displaying her utter ignorance about what Democrats love to call “assault weapons.” They can be stupidly dangerous – like when she spread an unfounded story that a white man had murdered a young black girl in Houston two years ago.

World-Class Athlete Says He Regrets Getting COVID Vaccine, Now Has Serious Problems

But on Wednesday she veered into the land of lunacy during a House Judiciary Committee hearing, making a statement about the Biden administration’s border crisis that literally any thinking American knows to be flat false.

“Let me pronounce to my friends that the border is both sovereign and secure,” Jackson Lee said. “It is obviously subjected to biased and unfair narratives for political purposes.”

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee says that the southern border is actually “sovereign and secure,” claiming that it is “subjected to biased and unfair narratives for political purposes.” pic.twitter.com/QSVLccryFj

— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) September 29, 2021

If Jackson Lee considers the southern border secure, it’s difficult to imagine what insecure would look like.Will the border disaster hurt Democrats in the 2022 midterms?Yes No
Completing this poll entitles you to The Western Journal news updates free of charge. You may opt out at anytime. You also agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

Would a secure border be witnessing month after month of record numbers of illegal crossings? (The year’s total is projected to be about 1.85 million, according to the Washington Examiner, eclipsing a 20-year record set in 2000.)

Would a secure border require a state government to begin building a wall to defend its own territory because the Democrat in the White House has abdicated his responsibility to the country?

Would a secure border see thousands of illegal immigrants camping out under a bridge until a politically impotent administration allows them into the country — with a wink and a nod and the legal fig leaf of a future court hearing that all parties know will likely be ignored?

Obviously, the answer to those questions is no.Related:Watch: Obama Comes Out Firing Against Biden’s Border Crisis, Says ‘Open Borders’ Are ‘Unsustainable’

More importantly, just about any American with a modicum of interest in the matter would be well aware of the conditions at the border. Just as any American interested in the truth of the matter would be well aware that if there’s anyone using the illegal immigration crisis for political purposes, it’s Jackson Lee’s own Democrats.

(Just ask the Border Patrol agents being railroaded for doing their jobs on spurious accusations of “racism.”)

Jackson Lee clearly doesn’t have much interest in the truth. But it’s entirely possible, given her long record of dubious statements, that she simply lacks the ability to grasp what the rest of the country is seeing.

Regardless, her comments were met with a blizzard of scorn on social media. Rarely has that kind of scorn been so well deserved.

We gotta do some drug testing….

— Rob Winters (@Rob_Winters) September 29, 2021

So the pictures are not real…

— ASG (@ASG_ison2nite) September 29, 2021

“It’s a shame that people with such a level of ignorance get elected to the US Congress,” one Twitter user lamented.

It’s a shame that people with such a level of ignorance get elected to the US Congress.

— criteriologo (@criteriologo) September 29, 2021

Sounds like she is the one spewing “biased and unfair narratives for political purposes.”

— Anti-Machiavellian (@Boerneman) September 29, 2021

It would be easy to just brand Jackson Lee a liar. After all, she’s a prominent member of a political party that has spent the entirety of the 21st century building its power on lies.

But her brand of untruth goes far beyond the usual Democratic dissembling to nearly being divorced from reality.

Baselessly accusing Border Patrol agents of “racism” is garden-variety leftist lying. It’s doubtful anyone truly believes it, but Democrats keep spitting it out and the establishment media keeps lapping it up. If some innocents happen to get hurt in the process, well, there’s a news cycle to “win.”

Claiming that a border plagued by chaos thanks to Biden’s embrace of illegal immigration is actually “sovereign and secure” is a distortion worthy of the doddering president himself.

A Democrat is going to be in the White House for the next three years. Fortunately, voters have a chance to kick Jackson Lee’s party out of power on Capitol Hill in next November’s midterms.

The entire border debacle — and Democratic lies and delusions about it — should be near the top of the list of targets for Republicans trying to retake Congress.

Jackson Lee’s seat is almost certainly safe, of course. She won re-election in 2020 with 73 percent of the vote. But it shouldn’t be.

Most of her Democratic colleagues aren’t nearly as safe. And they shouldn’t be, either.

Prince William County limits public comment amid debate over COVID, woke curricula

Parents are criticizing Virginia’s Prince William County School Board over a rule limiting public comment, a move community members say is an attempt to stifle debate around hot-button issues.

The school board approved changes to its “Citizen Participation” rule during a tumultuous Sept. 15 meeting. The updated rule limits time for public comment to one hour and prohibits attendees from bringing posters or signs into meetings without prior approval from the board.

The rule comes as Prince William County parents and teachers debate COVID-19 policies and “woke” curricula. The changes demonstrate the board’s apathy toward concerned parents and taxpayers, several attendees and concerned community members told the Washington Free Beacon.

“They don’t want to hear from the citizens. They don’t care what we have to say,” Carol Fox, a former Prince William County Public Schools teacher who attended the Sept. 15 meeting, said. “They’re going to run the school how they want to run it, and they don’t care.”

Prince William County is one of several Virginia counties where school board meetings grew contentious throughout the pandemic. Parents in some districts have organized to oust school board members who promote critical race theory or refuse to reopen schools. Fairfax County Public Schools officials cut off one mother from speaking after she began reading graphic material from a novel offered to high school students.

The Prince William County School Board was set to vote on a swath of measures during the Sept. 15 meeting, including changes to guidelines for public comment. While the board was in private session, parents on either side of the critical race theory debate began loudly taunting each other, one attendee told the Free Beacon. Security ended the meeting after local Democratic leader Tonya James began shouting “fuck you” at attendees.

William Deutsch, a former school board member who attended the meeting, said a select few attendees were allowed back into the meeting space for the board to vote on its agenda.

The newly passed rule only allows for one hour of public comment at school board meetings. Half of that time is dedicated to agenda items, leaving only 30 minutes for parents to discuss other issues. During that 30-minute period, only 10 attendees are permitted to speak for three minutes each.

The school board implemented the rule “in order to conduct its business in a timely and orderly fashion,” the final draft of the updated measure states. Those who are not able to speak at meetings due to the time limitation are encouraged to submit their concerns via video message or email.

Deutsch told the Free Beacon he thinks the rule change could give board members the opportunity to tee up a slate of friendly speakers and exclude dissenting voices.

Several attendees at the Sept. 15 meeting said they had gone to debate the district’s coronavirus mitigation strategies and its embrace of critical race theory. Though the school board denies using critical race theory in its curriculum, the district has adopted the Virginia Department of Education’s equity plan. The state’s “Road Map to Equity” cites controversial “antiracist” scholar Ibram X. Kendi and the educational arm of the left-wing Southern Poverty Law Center.

Prince William County Public Schools’ equity statement commits district employees to “examine and interrupt beliefs, implicit and explicit biases, policies and/or practices that perpetuate systemic racism and discrimination.”

According to Deutsch, now is not the time for the school board to stifle public comment.

“We’re at a time when there is increasing polarization and division within our school system and it’s up to our leaders to lead by example and listen to the public,” Deutsch told the Free Beacon. “Sadly, the school board has made it clear that they are not willing to listen to the public and shut down viewpoints they disagree with.”

https://freebeacon.com/campus/virginia-parents-say-school-board-gag-rule-stifles-criticism/

If the Democrats in Washington, D.C., have their way, Sen. Rand Paul is going to be a busy man this holiday season.

The Kentucky Republican is famous for his “Festivus Report” every December in which the spending hawk airs his grievances regarding the most ridiculous items the federal government spent money on that year. Last year’s report included lizards on treadmills, studies on whether hot tubs lower stress and yacht subsidies.

Tis’ the season for the 2020 Festivus Report…..totaling over $54 billion in government waste. https://t.co/BU1CjiZdgS pic.twitter.com/5W2pOvPLUw

— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) December 22, 2020

Unfortunately, this year will find us with a Democratic president as well as Democratic majorities in both the House and Senate. We’ve already burned through trillions in spending and, if moderate Democrats don’t derail it, we’re about to sign on for $3.5 trillion more via this year’s bloated budget.

And, believe you me, there are some whopping grievances in there that need to be aired, at least if the bill passes in its current form.

It’d be difficult to go through all of the waste in the budget. Paste each sheet of paper from the 2,465-page bill on a wall, throw a dart at it and you’re more likely than not to hit some item of proposed governmental profligacy.

However, if you want some of the most ridiculous provisions of the bill, there are four preposterous uses of taxpayer money hidden in the budget that need to be seen to be believed.

1. “Tree equity”: $3 billion

Equity is every liberal’s favorite word these days. It’s a way of saying “equality of outcome” without the stigma attached to the concept. Any spending item with the term attached should raise a red flag, particularly if it involves trees.

According to Fox Business, the Agriculture Committee earmarked $3 billion to plant trees — but not just anywhere. Instead, the program promises “a priority for projects that increase tree equity.”

The term “tree equity” isn’t defined in the bill, because of course it isn’t. However, Fox Business noted the definition from conservation group American Forests, which says the concept “identifies the cities that can gain the most significant health, economic and climate benefits by increasing tree canopy in places of high need.”

Spending $3B on “tree equity” is the perfect encapsulation of Democrats in 2021. https://t.co/FWPDbd6z8F

— Matt Whitlock (@mattdizwhitlock) September 27, 2021

The Truth About Democrats’ Tax Bill Revealed, Middle-Class Americans Are in for a Nasty Surprise

There’s plenty of other wasteful environmental spending where that came from; for instance, there’s also a “Civilian Climate Corps” ($7.5 billion) and money for “climate justice” block grants ($5 billion). However, “tree equity” is a fair representation of how much woke spending we can expect.

2. Bias training in health care: $25 million

While not necessarily up there with “tree equity” in terms of the amount of money spent, the $25 million for “anti-discrimination and bias training” in health care is another sign of how misplaced the bill’s priorities are.

According to the New York Post, the budget calls for the Treasury to give the money to nonprofits in order “to develop, disseminate, review, research, and evaluate training for health professionals and all staff who interact with patients to reduce discrimination and bias in the provision of health care, with a focus on maternal health care.”

Wait, maternal? Maternity sounds like a loaded concept when it comes to gender. After all, not all mothers are women, according to the left. Shouldn’t it have been “a focus on health care for birthing persons?” Check your privilege, Democrats. Maybe you can cut off another $25 million to spend on bias training for members of the House of Representatives, because you clearly need it.

3. “High-performance green buildings”: $1 billion

When I first read reports about the budget and the pork that was squeezed into it, I had a strange image in my head of what constituted a “high-performance green building.” I was picturing a house with a huge biodiesel-powered V-8 out back. This, unsurprisingly, turned out to be incorrect.

A so-called high-performance green building is what it sounds like — a building designed to reduce energy consumption. The General Services Administration is getting $1 billion to convert its facilities to this standard, according to the U.K.’s Daily Mail. The process will reportedly take 10 years.

4. Tax enforcement: $78.94 billion

But remember, this whole thing is supposed to cost us nothing. President Joe Biden told us so, after all:

My Build Back Better Agenda costs zero dollars.

Instead of wasting money on tax breaks, loopholes, and tax evasion for big corporations and the wealthy, we can make a once-in-a-generation investment in working America.

And it adds zero dollars to the national debt.

— President Biden (@POTUS) September 26, 2021

So, how’s he going to do this? Not only does it involve raising taxes, it involves giving the Internal Revenue Service $78.94 billion to shake American taxpayers down.

According to Fox Business, among the most controversial outlays would be the nearly $80 billion the IRS would receive for tax enforcement. Because what every American said was that we needed the IRS to be more aggressive when it came to taking our tax dollars.

“Tree equity” is already a cinch for Paul’s Festivus list, assuming it becomes law. Everything else deserves to be, particularly the nearly $80 billion for America’s least-loved federal agency in order to make itself even less lovable. And these are just the worst offenders we’ve found so far. Considering the size of this bill, who knows what else is lurking in there?

Earlier this month, a 21-foot-tall bronze statue of Robert E. Lee—perhaps the most famous monument to the Confederate general—was removed from Monument Avenue in Richmond, Virginia. Supporters of the statue’s removal, including Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D), hailed the event as a triumph for racial justice.

The left has decided that Lee, the most recognized and celebrated figure of the Confederacy, is intolerable, a man who should be erased from American history. This maelstrom surrounding Lee has reached a fever pitch in recent years, as the woke movement has grown.

In short, anyone who dares mention Lee at all better demonize him as pure evil or else face the wrath of the progressive mob. This is retroactively imposing cancel culture on the past, while silencing free speech today.

In this context, Allen Guelzo’s newly released biography on the Confederate general, “Robert E. Lee: A Life,” is especially welcome and important.

We need to be able to study history in a mature and unsentimental manner, examining the past honestly and insightfully regardless of the subject matter. Guelzo does this with remarkable success in his new and engaging book.

Guelzo, an award-winning historian and best-selling author, is director of the James Madison Program Initiative on Politics and Statesmanship and senior research scholar in the Council of the Humanities at Princeton University. I had the pleasure to discuss Lee with him on the latest episode of my podcast, “Newt’s World.”

In his book, Guelzo has the audacity to look at Lee objectively, as a man of great consequence who is worth remembering. Yes, Lee committed treason and fought for the Confederacy, which wanted to uphold the institution of slavery. But it would be childish—and the height of folly—to use that as a reason not to study him. Yet, this is precisely what many people are advocating today.

Indeed, we’re witnessing an attack on history from the woke left. In recent years, we’ve seen a relentless effort by progressives not to reexamine America’s history honestly but instead to rewrite and even erase it. This is wrong.

Standing up for history doesn’t mean standing up for the values of Lee or any other flawed person. It means standing up for the fact that they are a significant part of American history and deserve to be studied as part of our nation’s past. And, in the case of Lee, studying the role of slavery and the Civil War helps us better understand America—our scars, where we come from, the ongoing fight for freedom, and how to learn from the past to create a better future.

As Guelzo explains, Lee was a complex figure who had to make tough decisions in situations not of his making. For example, his decision not to accept command of the American Army just before the outbreak of the Civil War was motivated by multiple complicated factors. And Lee didn’t just proceed to join the Confederacy overnight. In fact, he initially remained neutral and wanted to broker a peace settlement to reunite the country over time. He didn’t want secession.

These are important and fascinating bits of history that get lost amid the zealous attempts of the left to erase select aspects of our past.

Lee was also a brilliant military general, a master tactician on the battlefield and the only Confederate commander with a true strategic vision for victory. He’s certainly worth studying for this reason as well.

If we wish to unite as a country and alleviate some of the damaging political polarization that has taken hold, we need to understand who we are. That means Americans must be able to study, confront, and embrace our nation’s history—scars and all—not erase it. A good place to start would be to read Guelzo’s new biography on Robert E. Lee—not to endorse what Lee did, but to recognize he’s more than some caricature and worth remembering.

From Gingrich360.com.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/gen-lee-the-importance-of-preserving-american-history_4021248.html?utm_medium=epochtimes&utm_source=telegram

Two people were killed in Philadelphia on Sept. 25, pushing the city’s total number of homicide victims this year past 400, a milestone that has only been surpassed once since 2007.

Two men, ages 35 and 28, were shot multiple times in South Philadelphia at about 9:30 p.m., according to CBS Philly, citing the Philadelphia Police Department. Both were taken to Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, where the younger man died of his injuries and the 35-year-old is in critical condition.

Another shooting that took place about an hour later left a 39-year-old man dead and two people injured, police said.

“I am heartbroken and outraged that we’ve lost over 400 Philadelphians to preventable violence already this year,” Mayor Jim Kenney said in a statement released to The Philadelphia Inquirer. “I want all residents to know that our administration takes this crisis very seriously and we’re acting with urgency to reduce violence and save lives.”

Neither of the two Saturday shootings has so far led to an arrest. According to Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, just 29 percent of homicides and 15 percent of nonfatal shootings in the city result in arrests.

“We should all be outraged that senseless, preventable violence continues to claim and break lives here in Philadelphia and in communities across the country that are also experiencing alarming increases in gun violence,” Krasner said in a Sept. 26 statement. “We have seen cycles of increased homicides before, and we have more research and data than ever on which to formulate solutions.”

Solutions to the homicide surge start with investment in children, according to Krasner. He said that would include providing all children with “safe, structured learning environments” in buildings free of neurotoxins, regular access to nutritious meals, and reliable after-school options.

As for the criminal justice system, Krasner argued that institutions must be “restructured” to make violence prevention their “true priority.” He said that would mean using forensic technologies to solve shootings with no witnesses or not caught on camera, and “shoring up” training and staffing for homicide and nonfatal shooting investigations.

The news comes as the United States saw a nearly 30 percent increase in homicides in 2020 compared to 2019—the largest single-year increase ever recorded by the FBI.

According to the FBI’s latest Uniform Crime Report (UCR), there were 21,570 homicides in the United States in 2020. The overall violent crime rate, including murder, assault, robbery, and rape, was up by 5.6 percent from the 2019 number, while property crimes continued to decline and dropped by 8 percent from 2019.

The actual numbers are likely to be even higher, considering that just 15,897 of the 18,619 federal and local law enforcement agencies eligible to participate in the UCR program voluntarily submitted their crime data to the FBI last year.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/homicides-in-philadelphia-for-2021-surpass-400-after-weekend-shootings_4019216.html?utm_medium=epochtimes&utm_source=telegram

Ozy Media took donations from Ford Foundation, Laurene Powell Jobs, Charles Koch Institute

The taxpayer-funded Corporation for Public Broadcasting and several progressive billionaires have partnered with a digital media company now under FBI investigation for attempting to defraud investors.

Ozy Media is accused of trying to defraud executives from Goldman Sachs earlier this year, the New York Times reported this week. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting in 2018 gave the media company a $500,000 grant to produce a documentary series featuring interviews with liberal celebrities. Ozy has lured in other wealthy investors, including Laurene Powell Jobs, the widow of Apple founder Steve Jobs. Marc Lasry, the hedge fund billionaire whose son is running for Senate in Wisconsin, is Ozy’s board chairman. Lasry organized a $35 million investment round for Ozy in 2019.

Founded in 2013, Ozy bills itself as a “modern media company” with a knack for spotting rising stars in entertainment and politics. According to the Times, Ozy cofounder Samir Rao represented himself as a YouTube executive and touted Ozy’s viewership statistics on the video platform. Rao also hyped the leadership of Ozy’s president Carlos Watson. According to the Times, Ozy has vastly overstated its traffic numbers for years. Google, which owns YouTube, contacted the FBI about Rao’s scheme. Federal agents have contacted Goldman Sachs, the newspaper reported.

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting partnered with PBS and the left-leaning Ford Foundation on Ozy’s 12-part documentary series, according to a press release of the partnership. Watson interviewed a number of liberal public figures for the series, including Comedy Central host Trevor Noah, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D., N.Y.), and Carmen Yulin Cruz, the mayor of San Juan, Puerto Rico. Congressional Republicans have for years called for cutting funds for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, citing a perceived liberal bias in the organization’s programming.

The Ford Foundation gave Ozy $1.95 million in grants in 2016 and 2017, according to its grants database. The foundation supports a number of left-wing causes, including a journalism center at Howard University that will be led by Nikole Hannah-Jones, the creator of the 1619 Project. The foundation also awarded a $50,000 grant to Dr. Ibram X. Kendi, a controversial proponent of critical race theory.

The Ford Foundation has received effusive praise from Ozy in the wake of its contributions to the media startup. Earlier this year, Ozy’s Watson hyped Ford Foundation president Darren Walker during an interview for the Carlos Watson Show, which aired on Ozy’s YouTube channel. Watson called Walker “one of the biggest, boldest thinkers in the world.” The Ford Foundation’s earlier funding for Ozy was not disclosed in the 23-minute program.

The Charles Koch Institute, the think tank funded by billionaire libertarian Charles Koch, paid $500,000 to Ozy in 2018 as an independent contractor for media services, according to tax filings.

Taxpayer Dollars Flowed to Media Company Now Under FBI Investigation (freebeacon.com)

NBA players reject COVID-19 vaccine mandate

Woke millionaire Kyrie Irving and other NBA players are stupid conspiracy theorists who literally want all of your family members to die. Rolling Stone reports there is significant opposition among NBA players to the league’s proposal to mandate the COVID-19 vaccine, considered by many to be a “non-starter.”

Irving, whose Instagram feed is filled with homages to Malcolm X and the Black Panther Party, has urged Americans to “do your own research”—not as it relates to the COVID-19 vaccine, but rather as to whether the Earth is round or flat. His views on the vaccine, however, can be extrapolated with a high degree of confidence.

For example, Irving has started liking Instagram posts from conspiracy theorists claiming that “secret societies” are using the vaccines to fulfill “a plan of Satan” by implanting black people with microchips connected to a master computer. Similar conspiracies have reportedly spread throughout the NBA.

Irving is a vice president on the executive committee of the NBA players’ union, which held its annual meeting last month to discuss vaccine mandates and other issues ahead of the upcoming season. According to the NBA’s most recent health and safety guidelines, the anti-vaccine players were successful in forcing the league to accept nearly all of their demands.

The league and the players’ union are still negotiating a number of contentious issues, such as “prohibitions on accessing indoor bars, clubs, and lounges.” NBA superstar LeBron James, who has repeatedly refused to discuss his vaccination status, violated the league’s health and safety protocols (but was not punished) earlier this year by attending an indoor tequila party with Drake and other celebs.

Weeks prior to the party, James’s former teammate Dennis Schröder told a German media outlet that “LeBron and I” were the only players for the Los Angeles Lakers yet to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. James has insisted that believing in science (or not) is “a private thing,” despite vowing to use his platform to speak out on “everything that’s going on around this country and around the world,” except for China.

Irving has also refused to comment on his vaccination status, but all evidence suggests he is not. His aunt, Tyki Irving, told Rolling Stone: “There are so many other players outside of him who are opting out, I would like to think they would make a way.”

The NBA may have caved to its anti-vaxx players, but some state and local governments have sought to impose their own vaccine requirements. New York City, where Irving plays for the Brooklyn Nets, will require athletes to show proof of at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose in order to play indoors.

On Monday, the Nets hosted a media day at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Irving, who would have had to present proof of vaccination to attend, wasn’t there. In a virtual interview, he once again refused to discuss his vaccination status. “I like to keep that stuff private,” Irving said. “I’m not able to present there today, but that doesn’t mean that I’m putting any limits on the future of me being able to join the team.”

It remains unknown why Irving, who took a two-week leave of absence to protest the riot at the U.S. Capitol, wants his fellow Americans to die as a result of his reckless behavior. For whatever reason, sanctimonious white liberals were significantly less vocal, if not completely silent, in response to the Rolling Stone report.

Shut Up and Get Vaxxed: These Woke Millionaires Are Literally Killing People (freebeacon.com)

MEMPHIS, Tenn.—A Tennessee state senator charged with stealing $600,000 in federal grant money from a health care school she operated has been acquitted on 15 of 20 charges, according to court records.

U.S. District Court Judge Sheryl Lipman filed the order Sunday after lawyers for Sen. Katrina Robinson filed a motion Friday seeking acquittal on all charges, Memphis news outlets reported.

Robinson, 40, a Memphis Democrat elected to the Tennessee General Assembly in 2018, was charged in July 2020 with wire fraud as well as theft and embezzlement involving government programs after the FBI searched the school and her home.

She was accused of stealing federal grant money awarded to The Healthcare Institute, which provides training in the health care field, including nursing assistant jobs in geriatric care.

The school received more than $2.2 million in federal grants from the Health Resources and Services Administration, an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The federal grant money was earmarked for student scholarships from 2015 through 2019.

Robinson’s attorneys argued for an acquittal Friday after federal prosecutors rested their case. They argued that prosecutors didn’t prove allegations that Robinson used the federal grant funds on personal expenses.

The trial was expected to continue Tuesday on the five remaining charges, court filings show..

State Senator Acquitted on 15 Charges in Federal Theft Case (theepochtimes.com)

Singer R. Kelly was found guilty by a New York jury on Sept. 27 on all charges in his federal racketeering trial after he was accused by multiple witnesses of grooming and exploiting young women for years.

The 54-year-old, whose real name is Robert Sylvester Kelly, potentially could be sentenced to decades in prison. He was first indicted in July 2019 and pleaded not guilty to the charges in 2020. His trial started on Aug. 18 with testimony from more than 45 witnesses over the span of several weeks.

Kelly was charged with a total of nine counts, including racketeering, with 14 underlying acts that included sexual exploitation of a child, bribery, kidnapping, and sex trafficking charges. He also faced several additional counts of violations under the Mann Act, a sex trafficking law.

The “I Believe I Can Fly” singer also faces federal charges in Chicago, as well as local charges in Illinois and California.

The charges were based on an argument that the entourage of managers and aides who helped the singer meet girls—and keep them quiet—amounted to a criminal enterprise. Several accusers testified during the trial, alleging that Kelly subjected them to abuse when they were underage.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Maria Cruz Melendez said Kelly was a serial abuser who “maintained control over these victims using every trick in the predator handbook,” although the singer’s defense lawyers said the accusers were “stalkers” who were trying to exploit him and peddled “lie after lie” to defame him.

“You made a choice,” Deveraux Cannick, one of Kelly’s lawyers, told one unnamed woman who testified. “You participated of your own will.”

“They’re all working on those paydays,” Cannick said of the accusers, referring to lawsuits against Kelly. “These folks are capitalizing.”

“You can’t blame folks for trying to make a living but that’s totally separate from trying to take away someone’s liberty.”

But in closing arguments, Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Geddes stated that Kelly “used lies, manipulation, threats, and physical abuse to dominate his victims” and weaponized his “money and public persona” to hide the crimes.

“Of course we’re disappointed with the verdict. We’re even more disappointed with the prosecution for bringing this case given all the inconsistencies,” Cannick said in a statement after the verdict, the New York Daily News reported. “I don’t think anyone is prepared for an outcome like this when you know the truth.”

Kelly, who never took the stand, is known for numerous hits that earned him 26 Grammy Award nominations over the years while selling millions of albums.

But in 2002, the singer was indicted on 21 counts of child pornography before he was cleared on all counts. Throughout his career, Kelly has been dogged by allegations of abuse and trafficking.

In a 2019 CBS News interview with Gayle King, Kelly emotionally denied all the allegations against him and portrayed it as part of a conspiracy. Some of the accusers, he suggested in the interview, were trying to gain fame.

“Believe me, man! This is not me! They lying on me! They’re lying on me! I’m cool, bro,” he yelled. “I’m cool. I’m good. I’m not afraid because I’m telling the truth. I’m not afraid because I’m telling the truth!”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

R. Kelly Found Guilty of Racketeering, Sex Trafficking (theepochtimes.com)

For a guy with the support of billionaires, millionaires, China, Mainstream Media, and Social Media, his numbers are WAY worse than Trump ever [US Patriot]

President Joe Biden’s approval rating has hit a new record low at just 40 percent, according to a poll released on Monday by Rasmussen Reports.

The poll of likely U.S. voters also revealed 58 percent of likely voters disapprove of the president’s job performance.

Among those, 50 percent selected “Strongly Disapproved.”

In contrast, only 21 percent selected “Strongly Approve.”

The current approval rating places him below former President Donald Trump, who was at 43 percent approval at this point in his presidency, according to Rasmussen.

Biden National Security Advisor May Be Guilty of Perjury Related to Clinton Campaign’s ‘Collusion’ Claims Against Trump: Report

Today’s #bidenapproval numbers are out, continuing down to a new record low:https://t.co/uzsUlTESNa

Sponsored by The ANTIFA by @JackPosobiec pic.twitter.com/Z4rpISTdj7

— Rasmussen Reports (@Rasmussen_Poll) September 27, 2021

The daily poll has followed Biden’s approval rating since his first day in office.

He ranked as high as 55 percent approval on May 26. Since then, his approval has dropped by 15 percent.

According to a Rasmussen Reports Twitter post Monday, the majority of Americans oppose Biden’s $3.5 trillion spending bill, his plan to raise the debt ceiling and his pandemic restrictions.

Coming Up Today:@JoeBiden daily presidential job approval % is – now at a new record low.

– Majority Oppose $3.5 Trillion Spending Bill
– Majority Against Raising Debt Ceiling
– Majority Now Believe Pandemic A Trojan Horse For Permanent Socialism pic.twitter.com/XB2r7zFGQF

— Rasmussen Reports (@Rasmussen_Poll) September 27, 2021

The Democratic spending bill will be a central focus this week as Speaker Nancy Pelosi seeks a House vote on Thursday. The California Democrat has claimed to have the votes to pass the bill, but some House members remain uncertain.

Biden’s recently announced vaccine mandates for federal workers and companies with 100 employees or more has also led to widespread frustration with many Americans. Several states have opposed the measure through letters and across social media.

Taliban Endgame: Former National Security Advisor Warns Extremists Could Secure 150 Nuclear Weapons

Georgia Republican Gov. Brian Kemp and South Dakota Republican Gov. Kristi Noem have both vowed to sue the Biden administration over the issue.

Daily tracking results for the daily poll are collected via telephone surveys of 500 likely voters per night and reported on a three-day rolling average basis, according to Rasmussen Reports.

The margin of sampling error for the full sample of 1,500 Likely Voters is plus or minus 2.5 percentage points with a 95 percent level of confidence.

A poll from Fox News last week showed Biden’s approval rating with independent voters had experienced a strong drop. Since January, his approval rating plummeted 24 points.

WATCH: Joe Biden’s approval rating collapses 24 points among independent voters. pic.twitter.com/a8YxNMmyQJ

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) September 23, 2021

“Very, very weak numbers,” Fox News host Martha MacCallum said in the report.

Joe Biden’s Approval Rating Sets Another Record, Is Now Lower Than Trump’s (westernjournal.com)

Should companies that alienate customers and hamstring themselves in the name of wokeness be held to account by investors in court? Sen. Marco Rubio thinks so — and he introduced a bill that would do just that.

The Mind Your Own Business Act, unveiled by the Florida Republican on Thursday, would force corporate directors to testify in court that they were acting in their company’s best interest when taking political actions if sued by shareholders.

“Patriotic Americans who love their country and the opportunity it provides should be able to fight back against the growing tyranny of the woke elites running corporate America,” Rubio said in a statement.

“These are often nationless corporations that amass fortunes divorced from the fate of our great country while pushing socially destructive, far left policies like boycotts and cancel crusades at home,” the sentator said.

“My Mind Your Own Business Act would put the burden of proof on corporations to show that their far left actions were in shareholders’ best interests, and make corporate directors and officers personally liable if they can’t prove it.”

Biden National Security Advisor May Be Guilty of Perjury Related to Clinton Campaign’s ‘Collusion’ Claims Against Trump: Report

The bill would require a company listed on public stock exchanges to provide large shareholders “certain privileges with respect to claims for breach of fiduciary duty” if that corporation “takes an action on a primarily non-pecuniary basis in response to State law, boycotts a class of persons or industry on a primarily non-pecuniary basis, or uses primarily non-pecuniary public reasoning for an action.”

It’s not difficult to identify examples of all three.

In the first class — actions taken in response to state law — you have the anaphylactic reaction of corporate America to a relatively moderate voter integrity law in Georgia, a reaction that included moving the MLB All-Star Game from Atlanta to Denver.

In the second class, you have banks that won’t deal with gun manufacturers.Do you support Rubio’s bill?Yes No
Completing this poll entitles you to The Western Journal news updates free of charge. You may opt out at anytime. You also agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

In the third class, pretty much any self-sabotaging corporate posturing that surfs on the crest of a wokeness wave would qualify.

As Rubio pointed out in an Op-Ed for Fox Business published Thursday, shareholders theoretically should be able to sue these companies for damages already — but the cards are stacked against them.

“One solution is to empower shareholders to push back,” the senator wrote. “If you own a stock, invest in a mutual fund, have a company-sponsored 401k, then you are a shareholder and are owed legal duties by the corporations you invest in. The truth is that corporate executives keep you in the dark about your right to hold them accountable for how they spend your money.

“Under current law, a shareholder has the right to sue corporate officers when they take actions like these that are motivated by their politics rather than your financial interests. But corporations have stacked the deck to make these lawsuits hopeless. They tweak provisions in their bylaws to protect themselves as they leave America behind.”

Thus, Rubio said, his legislation would “provide a clear path forward for shareholders when they sue in response to these actions” by putting the burden of proof on companies.

Biden State Department Blames Cuban Protests on COVID, Ignores Bone-Crushing Communist Brutality

“No more legal tricks that shield these corporate executives from accountability. If they really believe that being woke is good for business, they should have to say so — and prove it — under oath in court.”

The tactic would be an interesting one. For instance, imagine the corporate officers of Nike going to court to justify their 2019 decision to nix a shoe with the Betsy Ross flag on the side — reportedly at the behest of Colin Kaepernick, a Nike endorser who reached out to the company to complain that the flag had offensive historical connections.

Nike’s fealty to Kaepernick has mostly been forgotten by the former NFL quarterback and his allies, who’ve moved onward and upward. For conservatives, however, the affair still sticks in their craw. Was it a good pecuniary choice for Nike? More importantly, did executives believe it was?

The senator’s proposal was applauded by the Free Enterprise Project, a conservative shareholder activist group.

“We heartily endorse Senator Rubio’s efforts,” said FEP director Scott Shepherd, according to a news release. “This is an important first step toward reining in the most aggressively politicized American corporations.”

“Increasing numbers of corporate executives have indulged their own personal policy preferences at company – shareholder – expense, taking controversial, inflammatory and oft-times discriminatory and illegal positions on behalf of their companies,” Shepherd added.

“All of this has to stop. The left and the right should be able to agree that no one wins if corporate executives are permitted to abandon their obligations to shareholders in order to act as unelected, unappointed policy czars. Senator Rubio’s legislation should sound as a fire bell in the night to those executives.”

This has no chance of passing in this Congress, given that Democrats are in control of both chambers and corporate wokeness is a virtue in their books.

However, if and when the GOP is back in control of things, the Mind Your Own Business Act could force companies to make a tough choice: position themselves to mollify the left or create value for shareholders.

Senator Rubio Rolls Out New Bill That Would Force Woke Companies to Make a Tough Choice (westernjournal.com)

California is a mess. But it doesn’t use the word “alien” in official state codes anymore.

The state is in the midst of a homelessness crisis. It has the highest gas prices in America. Its COVID lockdowns and mask restrictions have decimated small businesses. Its leaders don’t feel bound by it — least of all Gov. Gavin Newsom, whose infamous dinner at the French Laundry has become emblematic of how our ruling class doesn’t play by their own rules.

But at least it doesn’t use the word “alien” in state code anymore.

Last week, U.S. Labor Department data revealed unemployment claims in California had skyrocketed, reaching their highest level since April. The state is dealing with an epidemic of shoplifting thanks to a 2014 law that turned theft into a misdemeanor provided under $950 of items were stolen. The state is currently in the midst of a spate of wildfires which are threatening its sequoias.

But, thank heavens, they’re not using the word “alien” in state code anymore. I was getting worried there.

Proving that neither he nor the rest of California’s Democrats learned anything from the recall election other than he won by a sizable margin, Newsom signed legislation Friday which, yes, struck the word “alien” from the state’s code.

The bill, AB 1096, “removes the derogatory term ‘alien’ used to describe foreign-born individuals,” according to a media release from Newsom’s office.

“As the nation’s most diverse state, we are stronger and more vibrant because of our immigrant communities,” Newsom said in the statement.

“This important legislation removes the word ‘alien,’ which is not only an offensive term for a human being, but for far too long has fueled a divisive and hurtful narrative. By changing this term, we are ensuring California’s laws reflect our state’s values.”

Wait, how is widely accepted legal terminology “an offensive term for a human being”? Let Newsom’s office explain.

“The term ‘alien’ has been used to identify individuals who were not born in the United States by the federal government since 1798 and in California since 1937,” the statement read.

“In the 1990s, the word ‘alien’ began to be used as a political dog whistle to express bigotry and hatred without using traditionally racist language. By 2015, the term was officially replaced with ‘noncitizen,’ however ‘alien’ is still widely used in many aspects of California law.”

Ah, yes, the old “dog-whistle” feint. In case you haven’t encountered this liberal tactic, if the left wants to declare certain language off-limits, one easy way to do it is to call it a dog-whistle.

For instance, “undocumented migrant” sounds a lot nicer than “illegal alien.” The latter gets to the heart of the matter: It’s a foreign-born individual who’s not legally in this country. The former sounds almost like someone who lost a few immigration papers.Related:

Biden’s Constant Cough Raises Eyebrows Among Establishment Media, So They Confront Psaki

Ergo, “alien” is a dog-whistle. No evidence needs to be presented. Just stop using it.

Even the media release demonstrated Newsom’s misplaced priorities. In addition to AB 1096, his office announced, he’d “signed a series of bills to protect the health and safety of immigrants, including legislation to clarify safety standards at detention facilities, ensure rights and protections for unaccompanied undocumented minors, and cement protection for immigrants under hate crime legislation.”

Each one of those is more substantive than removing the word “alien” from California’s state code. Whether or not you agree with those things is beside the point — they have a tangible effect.

What did Newsom’s office tout right at the top of the release? Extirpating a “dog-whistle” word from the books because it’s “fueled a divisive and hurtful narrative.”

Newsom may have won the recall election by a reasonable margin, but he still fails to understand why there was a recall in the first place — and why the polls were reasonably close until his campaign started raising and spending huge amounts of cash on the race.

California’s COVID policies paralyzed the state’s economy. The state remains as unaffordable as ever. Homelessness is rampant. Its leaders are hypocrites. The state is going to pot.

What needed fixing? That word, apparently.

California had its chance to stop this madness in 2021. It has another chance in 2022. If its citizens don’t avail themselves of the opportunity, they have only themselves to blame for their problems.

As California Goes to Pot, Gov. Newsom Signs Woke Legislation to Remove 1 Word from State Laws (westernjournal.com)

MIAMI—Police have arrested one man for his alleged role in the mass shooting that killed three people and wounded 20 others outside a Northwest Miami-Dade banquet hall in May.

Davonta Barnes, 22, of Miami Gardens, was booked into a Miami-Dade jail Thursday night on three counts of first-degree murder and 20 counts of attempted murder, records show. He is being held without bond.

His was the first arrest made so far for the May 30 shooting at the El Mula banquet hall that shocked South Florida.

That early morning, a crowd had gathered for a rap show at El Mula, 7630 NW 186th St., when gunmen opened fire. Surveillance video showed the crowd scattering in panic as people crumpled to the ground wounded, with puffs of dust exploding in the air from bullets hitting the walls outside the venue.

Killed in the shooting were Desmond Owens and Clayton Dillard III, both 26, and Shankquia Lechelle Peterson, 32.

Miami-Dade police later said at least three gunmen in ski masks and hoodies had gotten out of a stolen white Nissan Pathfinder and opened fire on the crowd. They rushed back to the SUV and drove off as others in the parking lot returned fire.

The stolen SUV was later found in a canal in the area of Northwest 154th Street and Second Avenue.

Investigators said during a news conference that the targeted attack was connected to an ongoing rivalry between two groups.

Police believe Barnes acted as a suspected lookout for the men who opened fire on the crowd.

According to a police arrest report, Barnes was picked up for questioning Thursday and confessed he was with the attackers before the shooting. “He saw at least one of the subjects was armed with a firearm,” according to an arrest report.

Police said Barnes confessed he was part of a group that was looking to kill a specific man who was going to be at the show. Barnes admitted “he drove to the location of the shooting, in his mother’s Nissan Altima, acted as a lookout just before the shooting, and reported back to the other subjects whether [the intended target] was present at the location,” the report said.

Barnes was not accused of firing any weapons.

The mass shooting at El Mula was among a slew of high-profile shootings in public spaces in May and June.

Among them were a wild car chase-and-shooting near a Miami casino, a mass shooting in Wynwood that left one dead and six wounded, the murder of the son of a former state senator, and a shooting outside a swank South Beach restaurant that ended in one man paralyzed and a rapper behind bars.

The spate of violence spurred Miami-Dade and other police departments to launch “Operation Summer Heat,” which was described as a crackdown on violent criminals and guns.

©2021 Miami Herald. Visit at miamiherald.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

One Man Arrested in Shooting at Miami-Area Rap Show in May That Left 3 Dead and 20 Wounded (theepochtimes.com)

LAS VEGAS—Former UFC champion Jon Jones was jailed in Las Vegas early Friday after an incident at Caesars Palace that police said led to his arrest on charges of domestic battery and damaging a vehicle.

Details of the incident that led to Jones’ 5:45 a.m. arrest at the Las Vegas Strip resort were not immediately made public by Las Vegas police.

Jail and court records showed Jonathan Dwight Jones, 34, posted $8,000 bail and was due for an initial court appearance Saturday, with an Oct. 26 date for prosecutors to file criminal charges. The domestic battery charge is a misdemeanor. The vehicle charge is a felony, with damage reported at more than $5,000.

It was not immediately clear if Jones had an attorney.

Caesars Entertainment Inc. declined to comment, citing an active police investigation.

“JacksonWink Academy is aware of the allegations and is conducting its own review of the matter. It would be inappropriate to comment further at this time,” said James Hallinan, a spokesman for the Albuquerque, New Mexico, gym where Jones trained.

Jones lives in Albuquerque, but he attended a Thursday night UFC Hall of Fame induction ceremony at the Park MGM hotel honoring his 2013 fight with Alexander Gustafsson.

Jones (26-1, 1 no-contest) had three separate stints as the UFC’s light heavyweight champion from 2011 to 2020, and he is widely considered one of the greatest fighters in MMA history.

But his UFC career has been defined more by misbehavior outside the cage than his excellence in it.

In 2012, a year after becoming the youngest champion in UFC history, Jones was arrested for DUI after crashing his Bentley into a telephone pole in upstate Binghamton, New York.

Jones then lost his title in 2015 when he was arrested and charged with a felony stemming from a hit-and-run accident in New Mexico in which he broke a pregnant driver’s arm.

Jones pleaded no contest to disorderly conduct in 2019 after an incident with a waitress at a strip club in Albuquerque, and he was arrested last year in Albuquerque on charges of aggravated driving under the influence and negligent use of a firearm.

Jones has failed several drug tests from the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, which runs the UFC’s antidoping program.

He was forced out of a fight with Daniel Cormier at UFC 200 in 2016 after testing positive for two banned substances that he blamed on a sexual enhancement pill.

He then tested positive for an anabolic steroid in 2017, prompting the UFC to strip his light heavyweight title for a second time. The California State Athletic Commission overturned the result of his victory over Cormier at UFC 214, and Jones received a 15-month competitive suspension.

Because of his arrests, suspensions, and various disputes with the UFC, Jones has fought only eight times in the last eight years during the ostensible prime of his career. He hasn’t fought since beating Dominick Reyes in February 2020 for his fourth consecutive victory.

Jones relinquished the light heavyweight title last year and declared his intention to move up to heavyweight. He told reporters Thursday night he wants to weigh 270 pounds when he makes his heavyweight debut, hopefully, next spring.

By Greg Beacham and Ken Ritter

Former UFC Champ Jon Jones Jailed in Vegas Battery Incident (theepochtimes.com)

Despite the passage of laws in some states banning Critical Race Theory (CRT) from being taught in schools, some educators are teaching other educators how to “back-door it” into the classrooms.

A teacher in Iowa posted a video teaching other educators how to circumvent the ban on teaching Critical Race Theory in her state.

In Florida, a Duval County teacher was removed from her position because she refused to remove a banner in support of Black Lives Matter from outside the door to her classroom.

The Zinn Education Project has collected the names of nearly 7,500 educators who vow to keep pushing CRT into classrooms despite the passage of laws banning CRT in a growing number of states.

While the head of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), Randi Weingarten, denied that critical race theory was even taught in elementary schools or high schools, she vowed to fight back against “culture warriors” who are “bullying teachers.”

Not only did the National Education Association adopt a resolution to prioritize their effort to implement CRT in “K-12 and higher education,” it vowed to use all resources at their disposal—including friendly media—to go after those who are “attacking educators doing anti-racist work.”

In June 2020, the Florida Board of Education unanimously passed a rule banning CRT from being taught in the schools.

But on Sept. 20, Florida Atlantic University sponsored a webinar where Dr. Gholnecsar (Gholdy) Muhammad—an associate professor of language and literacy at Georgia State University—taught educators in Miami Dade, Broward, Martin, and Palm Beach County how to creatively slip the divisive subject matter through the back door of any classroom, regardless of subject matter.

This was not the first time Muhammad made a conscious effort to promote CRT in the classroom. During a 2020 interview, Muhammad discussed her plans for revising the entire education system in five steps.

First, Muhammad believes educators “need to get a team together to write new learning standards that are embedded in identity, skill development, intellectualism, joy, and criticality.”

Second, Muhammad said they need “new standards for folks who are writing curriculum,” suggesting  they “will no longer write a curriculum that’s absent of identity and cultural-responsiveness.”

Third, “we need to change the way we think about standardized testing,” she added. “Skills-only does not measure success for a child’s life.”

Fourth, Muhammad wants schools to “stop hiring folks who don’t have a justice-centered mindset.”

“If they don’t have this justice-centered mindset, stop hiring them as Secretary of Education, stop hiring them as school board members, as superintendents, as principals, as teachers, as staff. Period,” Muhammad said.

“The fifth part of the plan is teacher education,” Muhammad concluded, suggesting “diversity” cannot be “learned in one class” but rather it needs to be “threaded throughout the entire program.”

“This calls for hiring conscious professors who know how to research and teach within the realms of critical race theory and other theories like it,” she said.

The Epoch Times reached out to Muhammad for comment.

Difficulties in Defining CRT

“This is very similar to what has happened here in Loudoun,” Patti Hidalgo Menders—president of Loudoun County Republican Women’s Club in Virginia—told The Epoch Times. “They’re implementing CRT under the guise of equity and diversity.”

Menders explained how the new principal at Parkview High School—Dr. Jason Jefferson—immediately removed the heads of all departments and “fired the bookkeeper because she wouldn’t take the equity training.”

“Then he gave a speech about how he wanted to ‘dismantle and disrupt the American public education system,’” Menders said. “So they’re making it very clear what their progressive ideas are.”

“Dr. Jefferson asked Park View’s department chairs to re-apply for their positions,” Wayde B. Byard, public information officer for Loudoun County Public Schools told The Epoch Times. “This is a common practice used when administrations change so that the principal can interview the department chairs and get to know them. At Park View, all the department chairs reapplied and all were reappointed.”

Byard also said “there was no bookkeeper at Park View when Dr. Jefferson assumed his position on May 25. Thus, he fired no one.”

“Dr. Jefferson related to me that he did not make the following statement: ‘dismantle and disrupt the American public education system,’” Byard stated further. “I would hope that anyone who would make such an accusation would be willing to stand behind it. Attributing such a quote anonymously would be cowardly.”

Menders also shared how the Loudoun County school board “spent hundreds of thousands of dollars hiring equity consultants.”

“One group is called The Equity Collaborative,” Menders explained, “and while the superintendent of Loudoun Public Schools claims they are not teaching CRT in schools, it talks about CRT training right on their website.”

“The LCPS Ad Hoc Committee on Equity created an Equity Resolution that was adopted by the Loudoun County School Board on September 24, 2019,” the website explains.

“As a part of the on-going equity work in the school division, on June 8, 2021, the newly appointed superintendent, Dr. Scott Ziegler, recommended that the Equity Resolution be reaffirmed by the current School Board. By consensus, the board recommended that this resolution [pdf] should be publicly available.

“In recent days, media reports and social media posts have sought to distort the equity work by Loudoun County Public Schools,” LCPS Superintendent Dr. Scott Ziegler states on the LCPS website. “Misconceptions and misinformation persist. I want to take a moment to clarify LCPS’ efforts to ensure every student, employee and member of the community is treated in an equitable, respectful manner.”

“In explaining LCPS’ equity priorities, it might be helpful to state what they are not,” Ziegler explains. “They are not an effort to indoctrinate students and staff into a particular philosophy or theory. What they are is an effort to provide a welcoming, inclusive, affirming environment for all students.”

However, the Equity Collaborative website clearly states that their “goal is to help organizations develop their own capacity to create educational equity and social justice by addressing bias and oppression.”

“That means creating an environment that is capable of holding staff members in a place where they are uncomfortable enough to change, but not so uncomfortable as to disengage or revolt,” the Equity Collaborative explains.

The Epoch Times reached out to LCPS for clarification regarding what some, like Menders, see as a contradiction in claims.

“Loudoun County Public Schools has said—repeatedly—and I will repeat now,” Byard told The Epoch Times regarding this separate matter. “Critical Race Theory is not part of our curriculum.”

“They’re very good wordsmiths,” Menders said. “They’re re-branding CRT and calling it ‘equity, diversity, and inclusion.’”

Autry Pruitt, CEO of New Journey PAC, agrees.

CRT By Any Other Name

“All they do is take the various aspects of CRT propaganda and change the language, change the name,” Pruitt told The Epoch Times, explaining how textbooks used to mention “Critical Race Theory, or Race Theory” by name.

“Now when you open those same textbooks, you’ll read things such as ‘diversity and inclusion or equity theory,’ which is the same baseline as CRT,” he explained. “That’s one way they back-door it.”

Asked how people can oppose “critical race theory and other theories like it” being taught in schools, Pruitt said parents can provide the first line of defense themselves.

School Boards

“The best avenue is to take over the school boards to monitor and fire teachers who are determined to push CRT,” he said bluntly. “They also have to be represented in the education department at the state level. It’s not enough to take over the school board and have a blue governor. Even if you have a red governor, like in Florida. You’ll still get resistance in the education department.”

“What needs to happen is almost like the spoil system,” Pruitt went further, “where parents take over school boards and conservative governors are elected, and then the governor basically wipes out the entire state-level education bureaucracy and puts in new people. That’s the only real way to solve it.”

Publishers

While Pruitt anticipates the pushback from parents at school board meetings will continue to increase, as will the number of parents who send their kids to different schools or resort to a home school program, pro-CRT publishers are going to keep “pushing the agenda they want” through the textbooks they provide to their supporters throughout the school system.

“Under a different name with new adjectives and nouns, CRT is concealed, shrouded, veiled, or disguised in the Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH) ELA curriculum,” Pruitt noted. “With the use of subliminal messages, teachers are guided to teach Social Emotional Learning (SEL), equity, diversity, inclusion, etc. Feelings are more important than facts.”

As The Epoch Times reported on June 8, HMH declared on its own website a “commitment” to Black Lives Matter (BLM) and “social justice.”

“We believe the education system needs to change,” the website states, “and we will continue to use our platform to make that change.”

Members of the Collier County School Board (CCSB) were made aware of this during a June 7 meeting by CCSB Vice-Chair Jen Mitchell, who said she learned of the “commitment” through an email she received from a concerned citizen. Mitchell further revealed that one of BLM’s greatest advocates in the education field—Dr. Tyrone Howard—had been given a platform to promote the principles of CRT and BLM through the HMH blog site.

“It will be a wait-out, like everything else with the left,” Pruitt explained. “In other words, they don’t have to win. The left has a hold of the publishing world, and they are teaching it in higher education. So it doesn’t matter what the textbooks say in K-12.”

Textbooks

Pruitt strongly suggests parents “actually open and read the textbooks and highlight passages and send it out to people to show other parents what their children are being taught.” According to Pruitt, “most parents don’t understand the language of diversity and inclusion.” He posited that, when people were first waking up to CRT, it was because it was easy to find if one only bothered to look. They used words like “white people” and “oppression,” which most people found to be “troublesome and problematic.”

“But when you use language like diversity and inclusion,” Pruitt suggested, “it doesn’t come off as rough.”

“The people haven’t changed. The committees haven’t changed. The publishers haven’t changed,” Pruitt said. “It’s the language they’re changing.”

“By the time these children graduate, they will not be able to read but they will be great activists who hate their families, God, and America,” Pruitt predicted. “What a horrible thing to do to a child.”

Pruitt said “we all breathed a sigh of relief” when the Florida Board of Education banned the teaching of CRT in Florida, “embracing a traditional American education.”

“Wonderful we thought, Florida students will be getting a great education. The entire nation said we must use Florida as an example,” he recalled. “How wrong we were. We must remember that Communists NEVER stop.”

It is the opinion of Pruitt that the curriculum department of the Florida Department of Education is either “incompetent and never reviewed the texts and curricula that they approved” or they’re “undermining Governor DeSantis and Commissioner Corcoran.”

“In either case,” he admonished. “they should be fired.”

Despite Bans on CRT, Educators Are Teaching Other Educators How to ‘Back-Door It’ Into the Classroom (theepochtimes.com)

Hypocrisy! The radicals in Congress, from Maxine Waters to the Squad, are calling to ‘Defund the Police,’ but they spend large sums of campaign cash on private security and Capitol Hill police protection wherever they go in America.

They rely on all of this security while pushing legislation in Congress that would take cops off the streets in our communities, and they still want to increase their own Capitol Hill police force with YOUR taxpayer dollars.

You may recognize them as “the Squad,” but Law Enforcement Loyalty PAC sees them for what they truly are: two-faced charlatans who publicly attack law enforcement and beg private firms to keep them safe. Many employees at private security firms are former and retired law enforcement and military, so the irony is not lost on us…

Law Enforcement Loyalty PAC is fighting back against the Squad’s hypocrisy and history of hatred for police by supporting principled candidates who will Back the Blue in Congress and oppose drastic measures to strip law enforcement of critical resources.

Roll up your sleeves with us as we prepare to make critical endorsements ahead of the 2022 Midterm Elections. Chip in $25, $50, $100, or more toward our effort to send our team to Congress to combat the Squad.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley, and Cori Bush have spent more than $100,000 on private security this year alone. They believe they should have police protection while you and your neighbors fend for yourselves.

That’s why they’re ramping up their attacks on law enforcement officers:
Ocasio-Cortez backed a rowdy anti-police protest in New York City, where activists shouted “punch a cop!” as they held signs reading “hit ‘em!” and “don’t let these pigs touch us!”
AOC even endorsed the most radical ‘Defund’ candidate for NYC Mayor.
Ilhan Omar took “Defund the Police” to the extreme, backing a ballot initiative to abolish the Minneapolis Police Department in its entirety and replace it with social workers with clipboards. She called Minneapolis police “incompetent” and “brutal” after months of rioting and protests.
Cori Bush is a professional BLM activist who told America to “suck it up” when she was first criticized over her private security expenses, and
Ayanna Pressley is using a D.C.-based political action committee to endorse anti-police candidates all the way down the ballot in states across the country…

They won’t stop until they’ve unleashed their activist mob on your community and left you defenseless and at their mercy. Defunding the police is only the beginning.

STAND WITH LAW ENFORCEMENT – DONATE TODAY

Americans overwhelmingly oppose the Squad’s radical agenda, and we’re stepping up to support principled candidates before the ‘Defund’ Democrats get their wish!

Law Enforcement Loyalty PAC is comprised of former law enforcement and military servicemen, and we’re uniquely positioned to take on the Squad before they force “Defund the Police” and other radical policies through Congress.

Your support is critical as we call out the Squad’s hypocrisy and fight to put an end to the dangerous “defund” agenda emanating from Washington.

Law enforcement officers have your back every day in our communities – now we’re asking you to have ours. Chip in what you can.

For your safety,

Tony Palmer, SGT (Ret), Virginia Beach Police Dept
Chairman of the Advisory Board
Law Enforcement Loyalty PAC

STAND WITH LAW ENFORCEMENT – DONATE TODAY

The ‘criminal first’ policies of the radical left are getting innocent Americans killed in the streets. For example, a Kamala Harris/BLM-backed slush fund bailed domestic abuser George Howard out of jail in August, and he allegedly shot and killed a man in cold blood on the highway just a few weeks later!

Howard is just one of the thousands of criminals that have been released back onto our streets by progressive politicians and activists who are fighting to defund the police in Washington and across the country.

This is part of the left’s all-out assault on our criminal justice system – from defunding the police in Congress to BLM organizations across the country bailing criminals out of jail to Soros-funded prosecutors refusing the put bad guys behind bars.

I patrolled some of the toughest neighborhoods in Dallas for 22 years as a cop, and I’m ready to fight back against the far-left and their reckless policies in Congress

As a Proud, Black American and Law Enforcement Veteran, I’m taking my pro-American, pro-law enforcement message to Washington to counter the efforts of Kamala Harris and BLM. Please chip in $25, $50, $100, $250, $1,000, or more and help me succeed TODAY!

During last Summer’s riots across America supported by Antifa, BLM, and leftist politicians, Kamala Harris drove thousands of left-wing activists to contribute to the “Minnesota Freedom Fund,” which used more than $35 million raised from BLM and ‘Defund the Police’ activists to pay thousands of dollars to release George Howard from jail last month, and dozens of others just like him.

Their crime-spree slush fund freed registered sex offenders, murderers, and child rapists. And for two months, MFF helped free six men accused of domestic violence. The list goes on and on…

I’m running for Congress to restore law in order in Washington and around the nation. Please join me with your donation of $50, $100, or even $1,000 TODAY before Kamala Harris puts more criminals in your neighborhood.

The “activism” side of BLM and ‘Defund the Police goes hand-in-hand with the disastrous policies that Harris, Joe Biden, BLM, and the Progressive Democrats in Congress are pushing. Squad-member Cori Bush went on a hypocritical tirade on national television calling for defunding the police while funneling thousands of dollars in campaign cash to hire private security. As a veteran law enforcement officer, I’m taking a stand, and I want you by my side!

Will you help me fight, stand by our law enforcement officers and keep our communities safe by stopping the Kamala Harris “criminal first” agenda? Please invest what you can today – be it $1,000, $250, $100, $50, or even $25.

You and I must stop the anti-cop, criminal first agenda and put the safety and security of American taxpayers first. So roll up your sleeves and join me today.

Back the Blue,

Tre Pennie

Cop for Congress

STAND WITH TRE

With advisers like Joint Chiefs of Staff head Gen. Mark Milley, former President Donald Trump hardly needed enemies — at least, if Bob Woodward and Robert Costa are to be believed.

Woodward and Costa’s new book “Peril,” about the events surrounding the 2020 election and unprecedented instability encompassing it, isn’t even out yet and the allegations contained therein have led to calls for Milley’s resignation.

In one excerpt from the book, Milley is alleged to have talked to the Chinese twice to assure them the United States wouldn’t launch an attack — and if they did, he would give Beijing a heads-up. Milley also reportedly told senior officers that if there was any move toward a nuclear launch, while a president could give the order, he needed to be consulted.

That whole series of episodes, if true, skirts with treason when you consider he would be warning an enemy of an attack. Perhaps more crucially, it undermined the bedrock principle of civilian leadership of the military, one of the principles that separates us from an authoritarian state.

When it came to domestic threats, however, Woodward and Costa say Milley was considerably less concerned — so much less that he called the George Floyd riots “penny packet protests.”

According to an excerpt from the book obtained by Fox News, Milley pooh-poohed White House fears that the riots were insurrectionary and “burning America down” during the summer months last year.

“Mr. President, they are not burning it down,” Milley reportedly said. “They used spray paint, Mr. President, that’s not an insurrection.”

According to the book, the conversation took place near the end of May. The date isn’t given, but the protests had spread well beyond Minneapolis by May 27, according to a timeline of events from The New York Times. That’s just two days after Floyd’s death.

A May 30 timeline from Fox News mentions protests or riots in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, Miami, New York City, Philadelphia, Phoenix and St. Louis, among many others.

“More than a dozen cities instituted curfews and thousands were arrested, while thousands of National Guard members were deployed in at least 15 states,” Fox News noted.

“When Milley spoke to Trump, however, he reportedly cited data at that time that said there had only been two cities with major protests, while elsewhere it was 20-300 protesters.”

According to Woodward and Costa, Milley then pointed to a portrait of former President Abraham Lincoln and said the protests and riots couldn’t be compared to the attack on Fort Sumter which started the Civil War in 1861.

“We’re a country of 330 million people. You’ve got these penny packet protests,” Milley said, adding that it couldn’t be compared to the riots which engulfed the country in 1968, according to the book.

Milley also reportedly blamed systematic racism for the protests and said anger had “pent up in communities that have been experiencing what they perceive to be police brutality.”

Milley was, if nothing else, a bad prognosticator.

The George Floyd riots would go on to cost America up to $2 billion in insurance claims, according to estimates obtained by Axios in September of last year. That would likely make them the most costly riots of all time, surpassing the Los Angeles riot of 1992; that cost $775 million in insurance claims at the time, which would be $1.42 billion in 2020 dollars.

The three most costly riots of 1968, meanwhile, barely topped $300 million in damage when adjusted for 2020 dollars.

More importantly, the George Floyd riots would rend our national fabric more than any domestic event in recent memory. It would enable the worst elements in the Black Lives Matter and antifa movements.

The protests — and the so-called anti-racist movement they supercharged — also became an avenue for expressing explicitly anti-American sentiments. How many times, for example, did we witness scenes like this?

Protesters cheer as they burn American flags at the guillotine outside the police bureau #PortlandProtest #Portland pic.twitter.com/R9I6dobNiv

— Brendan Gutenschwager (@BGOnTheScene) August 23, 2020

Those weren’t the riots that Milley was worried about, though. According to the book, he was more concerned with the Capitol incursion, which the book alleges he perceived as being “indeed a coup attempt and nothing less than ‘treason.’”

The book goes on to say Milley was afraid Trump wanted a “Reichstag moment” — referring to the Reichstag fire, a relatively minor incident in 1933 which Adolf Hitler used as an excuse to consolidate power in Nazi Germany — and that the attack was “so unimagined and savage, could be a dress rehearsal for something larger” for Trump supporters.

It’s not that Milley was the only man expressing these overheated sentiments about the Capitol incursion — but if these reports are true, at some point during the past year, Milley became one of America’s wokest generals, if not the wokest. There’s a clear throughline from his remarks about the George Floyd riots to his testimony before Congress defending his inclusion of critical race theory in military education, and it’s one that doesn’t bode well for the future.

Everything in the report comes with a huge asterisk, of course, given Bob Woodward’s history of problematic investigative journalism. If true, however, it’s more evidence Milley needs to resign posthaste.

Calling the George Floyd riots nothing more than graffiti artists and “penny packet protests” doesn’t rise to the level of treason, but it’s more evidence that this isn’t the man who should be one of the president’s top military advisers.

What Gen. Milley Secretly Revealed to Trump About George Floyd Riots: Report (westernjournal.com)

• The number of homicides in six major cities across the country has increased compared to last year, disproportionately affecting black people, according to crime data.
• “We are seeing an uptick in violent crime across the country, specifically gun violence,” Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava told The New York Times.
• In Chicago, black people have been the victims of roughly 81 percent of the 317 murders in the first six months of 2021, data shows. They were the victims of about 70 percent of the 295 murders committed in the first six months of 2020.
• “I am proud to lead a City Council that took the first step to responsibly reduce Baltimore’s budget dependence on policing,” former Baltimore City Council President Brandon Scott, who is now the city’s mayor, said after the council voted to strip funding from the city’s police last year, the Baltimore Sun reported.

The number of homicides in six major cities across the country has increased compared to last year, disproportionately affecting black people, according to crime data.

Black people have represented a massive share of murder victims in six major cities through the first six months of 2021 compared to last year, which itself saw a large crime surge, according to data analyzed by the Daily Caller News Foundation. The DCNF analyzed both police department data and homicide reports compiled by local news outlets to determine how black people have been victimized in the wake of the 2020 crime spike.

“We are seeing an uptick in violent crime across the country, specifically gun violence,” Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava told The New York Times earlier this month.

The DCNF collected homicide data from Chicago, Baltimore, Milwaukee, Pittsburgh, Los Angeles, and Indianapolis, some of the only cities in which such data is readily available. Most major cities have limited statistics tracking 2021 murders and homicide victims.

The percentage of murder victims in Chicago that were black increased from 70 percent in 2020 to 81 percent in 2021 while that figure increased from 60 percent to 90 percent year-over-year in Milwaukee, the data showed. In one of the cities analyzed, the percentage of black victims decreased, but the raw number of black victims still increased.

Democratic leaders of most of the cities examined voted to greatly reduce police funding amid widespread Black Lives Matter protests last year. In the wake of the death of George Floyd, who died after former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin kneeled on his neck in May 2020, thousands of protests and riots took place across the country.

University of Missouri criminologist Richard Rosenfeld blamed the uptick in violence seen nationwide on the lack of trust between police and citizens, according to the NYT.

“When police legitimacy is greatly reduced, you get more crime because people are no longer relying on the criminal justice system for assistance,” Rosenfeld told the NYT. “People are less willing to cooperate with police in investigations, less willing to report crimes or other problems to the police, and more willing to take matters into their own hands.”

While murder statistics in just six cities were analyzed, the number of homicides has spiked roughly 18 percent across the country compared to 2020, according to a random sample of 37 cities, the NYT reported. In 2020, the number of murders increased by 36.7 percent compared to 2019, according to data analytics reporter Jeff Asher.

As Violent Crime SURGES across America, some politicians and some in the media are gaslighting the public into thinking the Police are the Problem…

Homicides:
Atlanta ⬆️ 58%
Portland ⬆️ 533%
Philadelphia ⬆️ 37%

Shootings:
New York City ⬆️ 64%
Los Angeles ⬆️ 51%
Chicago ⬆️ 18% pic.twitter.com/5RbhbKY312

— National Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) (@GLFOP) June 22, 2021

Chicago, Illinois

At least 317 total homicides were committed in Chicago between Jan. 1, 2021 and June 22, 2021, according to a Chicago Sun-Times database. In that same period last year, 295 murders were committed.

While black people represented 207 of the murder victims in Chicago through the period last year ending on June 22, 2020, they represented a whopping 257 of the victims this year, according to the Sun-Times database. That means black people have been the victims of roughly 81 percent of murders this year while they were the victims in about 70 percent of 2020 murders.

Meanwhile, Democratic Mayor Lori Lightfoot proposed an $80 million cut to Chicago Police Department funding in October, according to Injustice Watch.

“While we will slow the rate of growth, with a resulting $80 million in corporate fund savings, on my watch we will never make cuts or policy changes that inhibit the core mission of the police department, which is to serve and protect,” Lightfoot said, according to the Sun-Times.

Illinois became the first state to completely abolish its cash bail system earlier this year, NBC News reported. The legislation laid out a new, stricter decision-making process for judges to determine if a person charged with a crime presents a threat.

“This legislation marks a substantial step toward dismantling the systemic racism that plagues our communities, our state, and our nation and brings us closer to true safety, true fairness, and true justice,” Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker said after signing the bill in February, according to NBC News.

Baltimore, Maryland

In Baltimore, black people represented 69 of the 152, or 45 percent, of total murder victims between Jan. 1, 2021, and June 17, 2021, according to a Baltimore Sun database.

While murder statistics between that same period in 2020 were unavailable, black people were the victims of 130, or 39 percent, of the 335 total homicides committed in Baltimore for all of last year, the database showed.

The majority of murder victims in 2020 and 2021 were listed without racial information in the Baltimore Sun database. Black people represented the vast majority of victims with their race listed.

But the Baltimore City Council agreed to cut $22 million from the city’s police budget in June 2020, according to the Baltimore Sun.

“I am proud to lead a City Council that took the first step to responsibly reduce Baltimore’s budget dependence on policing,” former City Council President Brandon Scott, who is now the city’s mayor, said after the vote, the Baltimore Sun reported. “This is just the beginning, and I intend to continue leading this process to redirect our public dollars and reimagine public safety in Baltimore.”

In March, Baltimore City State Attorney Marilyn Mosby, the city’s top prosecutor, announced she would no longer prosecute prostitution, drug possession, or other minor offenses, NBC affiliate WBAL-TV reported.

After multiple shootings in a popular area of Baltimore earlier this month, 37 businesses threatened to stop paying taxes unless Scott addressed surging crime, according to Fox affiliate WBFF-TV. The business owners argued that allowing minor crime to continue leads to major violent crimes.

Milwaukee, Wisconsin

The number of total murders increased in Milwaukee from 75 in the period between Jan. 1, 2020, and June 17, 2020, to 87 committed over that same period this year, according to murder reports compiled by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Black people were the victims of 79, or 90 percent, of the total murders this year, the database showed. While isolated victim data wasn’t available for the first six months of 2020, black people represented 74 percent of all murder victims in Milwaukee last year.

The Milwaukee Common Council approved a police budget cut in November that reduced the department by 120 officers, the Journal Sentinel reported.

“Although the proposed budget cut would undoubtedly impact the operations of the Milwaukee Police Department, we remain committed to working and engaging with our community, elected officials, and public safety partners to ensure that all of our neighborhoods are safe, vibrant and livable,” the department said in a statement after Democratic Mayor Tom Barrett proposed the budget, according to the Journal Sentinel.

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

In Pittsburgh, black people made up 90 percent of murder victims between January and April, according to county data. In comparison, 60 percent of murder victims during the same time period last year were black.

There were 20 murders between January and April this year and 10 in that same period in 2020, according to Allegheny County. Data beyond April 31, 2021, hasn’t been made available.

The Pittsburgh City Council approved a police department hiring freeze in July 2020, according to WPXI-TV. The council also ordered the department to redirect 10 percent of the budget to social service programs every year.

The Pittsburgh Bureau of Police said the actions would “greatly impact” its ability to increase diversity within its ranks, WPXI reported.

Los Angeles, California

Between Jan. 1, 2020 and June 21, 2020, black people were the victims of 92 of the 272 homicides committed in Los Angeles County, which includes the city and surrounding communities, according to a Los Angeles Times database. In the same period this year, they represented 103 of the 315 total homicides.

The data showed that the share of black murder victims in the county has stayed level at around 33 percent year-over-year. However, the uptick in violence this year has caused at least 11 additional deaths in Los Angeles County’s black community compared to last year.

Hispanic people, who are the largest demographic group in the county, accounted for the majority of murder victims in Los Angeles County in both 2020 and 2021 while black people accounted for the second-highest number of murder victims, according to the database. Hispanic people were the victims of 50 percent of the murder victims between Jan. 1, 2020 and June 21, 2020 and 57 percent of the victims in that same period this year.

The Los Angeles City Council approved a $150 million cut to the city’s police department in July 2020, ABC affiliate KABC-TV reported. Democratic Mayor Eric Garcetti supported the massive budget cuts.

“It will take years to recover from that,” Los Angeles Police union spokesman Dustin DeRollo told the DCNF last summer. “And it will result immediately with less officers patrolling the streets.”

“What that means simply is longer response times to emergency calls,” he continued. “It means less time to do community-based policing like building relationships in neighborhoods. And it also will mean less ability to implement the training that everybody wants our officers to have.”

But, amid the increased violent crime, the Los Angeles County Metro unanimously approved a $36 million budget boost for transit police in March. Garcetti, who serves on the Metro’s board, voted in favor of the budget increase.

Indianapolis, Indiana

Black people represented 58 of the 98 murder victims in Indianapolis between Jan. 1, 2021 and June 1, 2021, according to a homicide database created by the Indianapolis Star. Last year, black people were the victims in 53 of the city’s 70 total murders.

While the percentage of homicide victims who were black decreased from 75 percent to 59 percent in that period, the number of total black homicide victims still increased, the data showed.

Democratic Mayor Joe Hogsett resisted calls for defunding the city’s police department budget last year, the Indianapolis Recorder reported. Instead, he proposed a $7 million police budget increase.

Homicides Have Skyrocketed in These Six Democratic Cities; Black People Are Disproportionately the Victims, Data Shows (theepochtimes.com)