The post-Parkland gun control push may have netted zero action in Congress but it has certainly found takers in one of the most unlikely of places—five Republican Governors who have surrendered ground on gun control or made clear their intentions to do so.

The state-level slide toward gun control began in Florida, where Gov. Rick Scott (R) signed a $400 million gun control bill into law. Breitbart News reported that the gun controls included firearm confiscation orders, waiting period for long gun purchases, and an increase in minimum purchase age from 18 to 21.

The Los Angeles Times reported that the measure Rick Scott signed also banned bump stocks, which were not even used in the Parkland school shooting.

On April 12, 2018, Vermont Gov. Phil Scott (R) signed a massive body of gun controls into law. Those controls included a ban on private gun sales and bump stocks, although neither private gun sales nor bump stocks were contributors to the Parkland attack.

Phil Scott’s gun controls also bar law-abiding citizens from owning “high capacity” magazines.

Ironically, Phil Scott was able to win the gubernatorial race by proclaiming he saw no need for more gun control in the state of Vermont. On June 22, 2016, he told Vermont Public Radio, “I don’t believe that we need more gun restrictions in Vermont at this time. I think we should enforce the ones we have. I think we should focus more on safety and gun education, but also addressing the violence problem that is systemic across the country – and I don’t have the answers for that, but that’s what’s driving this frustration, this outrage.”

On April 24, 2018, Huffington Post reported that Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) signed a bill which bans bump stocks and implements a law to allow police to confiscate firearms. The firearm confiscation law is described as a “red flag” law.

On May 14, 2018, Breitbart News reported that Gov. Bruce Rauner (R) proposed confiscation laws for his state, as well as a tripling of the 24-hour waiting period on gun purchases. Rauner wants law-abiding citizens to wait 72 hours before being allowed to pick up their guns at the store and take them home.

Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin (R) had the opportunity to roll back gun controls and regulations via permitless carry legislation that reached her desk last week. Instead she vetoed the measure, thereby preserving the requirement that law-abiding citizens obtain permission from their state government before being allowed to exercise rights that “shall not be infringed.”

NRA-ILA executive director Chris Cox responded to Fallin’s veto by saying, “Gov. Mary Fallin vetoed this important piece of self-defense legislation. … Make no mistake, this temporary setback will be rectified when Oklahoma residents elect a new, and genuinely pro-Second Amendment governor.”

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News, the host of the Breitbart podcast Bullets with AWR Hawkins, and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. Sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.

George Soros’s Central European University is prepared to move out of Hungary after his Open Society Foundations announced Tuesday it was also leaving the country.

President and Rector of CEU Michael Ignatieff said that the university “can’t go into another academic year” if the Hungarian government did not sign a deal in the next few months.

“But I will say that if we get pushed, we will not go quietly, and I think they know that,” the former liberal Canadian politician told The Guardian.

The Hungarian government has maintained that the institution operates as an “offshore university”, offering both Hungarian and the U.S. diplomas despite not having an American campus, and is in violation of education laws.

CEU has since established a base at Bard College in New York State, with a Hungarian government spokesman saying that it was examining papers submitted by the Soros-founded institution but that “This inquiry is more complicated than those with other schools because there was no American mother institution originally.”

Open Society Foundations Withdraws from Hungary After Orban’s ‘Repressive’ Anti-Soros Crackdown https://t.co/tso5J8cjw6

— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) May 15, 2018

In April, Deputy Rector Éva Fodor said that the university had already sought a new location in Austria and that if an agreement was not met by mid-June academics “will start planning to move the entire university to Vienna”.

On Tuesday, Breitbart London reported that Soros’s progressive grantmaking Open Society Foundations is closing its Budapest office and will relocate to Germany in response to the government’s “repressive” crackdown on foreign-funded pressure groups.

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s conservative-Christian Fidesz-KDNP coalition won a two-thirds supermajority in parliamentary elections on April 8th, and ran on a patriotic platform of sovereignty, protecting the country’s borders, and stopping intervention from large, foreign NGOs.

Orban: ‘We Will Build a 21st Century Christian Democracy, Not Rebuild a Shipwrecked Liberal Democracy’ https://t.co/IeB5iAfd5g

— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) May 12, 2018

Ignatieff was astounded that Orbán, who has stood firm against European Union demands to open Hungary’s borders and accept migrants from the Middle East and Africa, ran on a platform of promises he intends to fulfil.

“I’ve been in politics. You say a lot of things to win elections,” the former liberal Canadian politician told the newspaper.

“I genuinely don’t know if this was just to win an election or is there something else. There’s no question this is a government with a very strong point of view. Is this an ideology? Is this a vision? How far are they going to go with that vision?”

The government’s vision for the country appears to be one that will strive to build a “Christian democracy” and protect the country’s borders, as per Mr. Orbán’s speech during his inauguration on May 10th.

Follow Breitbart London on Facebook and Twitter.

Facebook removed a staggering 2.5 million examples of “hate speech” from its platform in the first quarter of 2018, according to data released by the social network.

Facebook, which like Google is currently working on A.I. technology to identify “hate speech”, admitted that its current hate-speech-detection technology “still doesn’t work that well” and that automatically flagged content “needs to be checked by our review teams”.

Nevertheless, Facebook said that it “removed 2.5 million pieces of hate speech in Q1 2018”, and that 38 percent of it was flagged by the social network’s automated systems.

The hate speech numbers were released as part of Facebook’s first “Community Standards Enforcement Report”, which contains aggregate data on some of Facebook’s enforcement actions.

Absent from the report is a precise number of how many accounts and pages have been banned or suspended from the platform over “hate speech”, and how many have been mistakenly suspended and then restored. Facebook often mistakenly suspends the accounts of prominent conservatives only to restore them later — the most recent example being Islam critic Pamela Geller.

Also contained in the report:

• Facebook banned “about 583 million fake accounts — most of which were disabled within minutes of registration.” (note: this is not the same as monthly active users.)
• Facebook took down approximately 3.5 million pieces of violent content in Q1 2018, 86 percent of which was automatically detected by the social network’s technology.
• Facebook took approximately 21 million pieces of adult nudity and sexual activity in Q1 2018, 96 percent of which was automatically detected.
• Facebook took down 837 million pieces of spam in Q1 2018.

Facebook says the release of these numbers is part of its commitment to transparency. But, as noted above, it has not released data on how many accounts were mistakenly suspended, particularly for hate speech. Nor has the tech giant followed Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale’s suggestion that Facebook opens up its lists of banned content for independent oversight.

Facebook has admitted that its systems for automatically detecting “hate speech” don’t “work that well,” and Mark Zuckerberg himself was unable to provide a definition for “hate speech” when questioned on the subject by a Senate committee. Nevertheless, the Facebook CEO says he aims to have a functioning A.I. system to root out “hate speech” on the platform within 10 years.

Allum Bokhari is the senior technology correspondent at Breitbart News. You can follow him on Twitter, Gab.ai and add him on Facebook. Email tips and suggestions to allumbokhari@protonmail.com.

TEL AVIV — A Washington Post article reporting on yesterday’s Hamas-organized Gaza riots typifies the biased nature of much of the news media’s coverage of the Hamas campaign that openly seeks to storm the Israeli border and murder Jews.

The title of the Post article is “Israelis kill more than 50 Palestinians in Gaza protests, health officials say.”

Those “health officials” are further described inside the article as “local health officials.” Later, the article cites the “Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza” as reporting that “more than 2,700 people were injured … including 1,359 from live ammunition.”

“The dead included six children under the age of 18, among them a 15-year-old girl and a medic, the ministry said,” continued the Post piece.

The newspaper failed to tell readers that the “Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza” is controlled by the Hamas terrorist organization that organized the riots and has a vested interest in inflating casualty numbers. The Post also did not inform readers that Hamas has a history of exaggerating such claims.

The third paragraph of the article portrays the “protests” as attended by “many” who came to protest “peacefully”:

Tens of thousands of Palestinians had gathered on the edges of the fenced-off and blockaded territory from midmorning. Many came to peacefully demonstrate, bringing their children and carrying flags. Food stalls sold snacks and music blared.

The next paragraph allows that “the protests appeared to have a more violent edge than in previous weeks. Some young men brought knives and fence cutters.”

Quotes from so-called protesters buried 23 paragraphs later in the article betray the violent nature of the riots.

The Post reported on armed rioters boasting about their desire to kill Jews if they can penetrate the Israeli border:

While some said they would abide by official calls to keep the demonstrations peaceful, others talked about their enthusiasm to break into Israel and wreak havoc.

“We are excited to storm and get inside,” said 23-year-old Mohammed Mansoura. When asked what he would do inside Israel, he said, “Whatever is possible, to kill, throw stones.”

Two other young men carried large knives and said they wanted to kill Jews on the other side of the fence.

The newspaper claimed the “vast majority” of “demonstrators” were unarmed, but went on to cite one man who pulled out a gun and downed an Israeli drone:

The vast majority of demonstrators were unarmed, but near a parking area, a man pulled out an AK-47 and took aim at an Israeli drone dropping leaflets. He let off a stream of bullets into the air and brought it down. Later, more gunfire was heard as Palestinian factions argued over who would keep the downed drone, onlookers said.

It was not clear how the newspaper could state as fact that the “vast majority” of “demonstrators” were unarmed. The Post did not relate how it obtained such data.

The Post reported organizers may have deceptively sent rioters toward Israeli soldiers using false information:

At a gathering point east of Gaza City, organizers urged protesters over loudspeakers to burst through the fence, telling them Israeli soldiers were fleeing their positions, even as they were reinforcing them.

Hamas organized yesterday’s massive escalation to coincide with the official opening ceremony of the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem and the Palestinians’ commemoration today of so-called Nakba Day, which mourns the “catastrophe” of Israel’s founding.

Hamas has been selling the nearly two-month-long mass riots as “return rallies,” marketing the fiction that Palestinians have a so-called “right of return” to the State of Israel while also demanding a state immediately.

The Palestinians have infamously turned down every Israeli statehood offer, including those that came with a shared capital in Jerusalem. Those offers were made at Camp David in 2000, Taba in 2001, the Annapolis Conference in 2007, and more offers were made in 2008 and reportedly in 2014. In each of these cases, the PA refused generous Israeli offers of statehood and bolted negotiations without counteroffers. Only yesterday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yet again called on the Palestinians to return to the negotiating table.

The only thing standing in the way of the Palestinians having a state — even one with a foothold in Jerusalem — is the Palestinians’ own abject refusal to accept numerous statehood offers while rejecting Israel’s very existence.

Aaron Klein is Breitbart’s Jerusalem bureau chief and senior investigative reporter. He is a New York Times bestselling author and hosts the popular weekend talk radio program, “Aaron Klein Investigative Radio.” Follow him on Twitter @AaronKleinShow. Follow him on Facebook.

President Donald Trump spoke at the Annual Peace Officers Memorial Service on Tuesday and called for the death penalty for criminals who killed police officers.

“We must end the attacks on our police and we must end them right now,” Trump said. “We believe criminals who kill our police should get the death penalty. Bring it forth.”

Trump spoke at the ceremony which memorialized 199 slain members of law enforcement, on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC as part of National Police Week.

He specifically recognized the family of slain New York City Police Officer Miosotis Familia, calling them up to the podium to give them hugs and shake their hands.

Familia was shot and killed in July 2017, specifically targeted for wearing the police uniform in New York City by a man who had anti-police rants on Facebook.

Her partner, Officer Vincent Maher, gave Trump a challenge coin from his precinct and offered a tribute to his slain partner.

Maher said that despite getting injured, she volunteered to return to patrol one of the roughest areas of New York City.

“She may have been lost that night but she saved a lot of lives in return, because of her memory and everything that transpired after the fact,” he said.

Trump hugged Familia’s 90-year-old mother Adrianna Valoy.

“You’re representing something very important,” Trump said, praising the family. “She loved the department.”

He acknowledged that it was a painful day for families who lost loved ones but urged them to know the love that the nation had for them.

“We will never forget our heroes ever,” Trump said.

He shared a personal message to young children who lost their parents.

“I want you to know that your moms and dads were among the bravest Americans to ever live. When danger came, when darkness fell, when destruction loomed they did not flinch, they were not afraid, they did not falter,” Trump said.

Trump recalled the stories of Officer Charles Hartfield who was killed while he responded to the Las Vegas shooting at a country concert in October.

“He gave his life so that so many others could live,” Trump said.

Trump also paid tribute to Rogelio Martinez, a border patrol agent who was killed in Texas in November 2017. He called for more tough action against criminal gangs and drug dealers.

“We don’t want it any longer, we’ve had it. Enough is enough,” Trump said.

He explained that his administration had their own version of a “catch and release” program for illegal immigrants.

“It’s called we catch them and we release them in the country they came from,” Trump said as the audience applauded. “We’re getting them out or we’re putting them in prison.”

 

 

 

Twitter has acknowledged that it is working to artificially limit the reach of “troll-like” accounts on the platform — “shadowbanning” users in all but name, a practice that the company has repeatedly denied.

In an announcement earlier today, Twitter said they were taking steps to limit “behaviors that distort and detract from the public conversation” by downranking content that exhibits such behaviors from search results and “public conversations.”

In other words, if your behavior is considered “troll-like” by Twitter, it will be harder for other users to find your posts on the platform. The practice of limiting the visibility of content without formally suspending the content owner, notifying them, or deleting the content in question the definition of shadowbanning.

Although Twitter employees have been caught on camera admitting that shadowbanning takes place on the platform, the company continues to publicly deny that it engages in the practice — they have even made such denials in Senate hearings.

Twitter has made little effort to be transparent about the kind of signals it looks for when seeking to identify accounts that, in their words, “distort the conversation.” One of their employees was caught on camera admitting that accounts that post too much about “God, guns, and America” are likely to be classified as “bots,” but there is no acknowledgment of that in Twitter’s announcement.

Twitter only provided a few examples of the kind of signals they look for.

There are many new signals we’re taking in, most of which are not visible externally. Just a few examples include if an account has not confirmed their email address, if the same person signs up for multiple accounts simultaneously, accounts that repeatedly Tweet and mention accounts that don’t follow them, or behavior that might indicate a coordinated attack. We’re also looking at how accounts are connected to those that violate our rules and how they interact with each other.

Buried at the bottom of the announcement post is another admission: Twitter has given itself the authority to restrict content that doesn’t even violate its policies.

These signals will now be considered in how we organize and present content in communal areas like conversation and search. Because this content doesn’t violate our policies, it will remain on Twitter, and will be available if you click on “Show more replies” or choose to see everything in your search setting.

Although considerable political attention has been focused on Facebook over its alleged political censorship, Twitter has a far worse track record. Conservatives and critics of progressivism are still routinely kicked off the platform, often for no other reason that presenting facts and political arguments.

Allum Bokhari is the senior technology correspondent at Breitbart News. You can follow him on Twitter, Gab.ai and add him on Facebook. Email tips and suggestions to allumbokhari@protonmail.com.

JERUSALEM, Israel — Leaders of the White House Faith and Opportunity Initiative gathered on a rooftop overlooking the Temple Mount on Tuesday to salute President Donald Trump’s success in moving the U.S. embassy to Israel’s capital city — and to thank the faith community for their role in making it happen.

The president created the Faith and Opportunity Initiative earlier this month under Executive Order 13831 “to assist faith-based and other organizations in their efforts to strengthen the institutions of civil society and American families and communities.”

Pastor Paula White, who is spearheading the initiative, praised the work that Christian and Jewish leaders had done to advocate for the embassy move. She also lauded the work of White House officials Jared Kushner and Jason Greenblatt, as well as U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman.

Ralph Reed, leader of the Faith and Freedom Coalition, called the embassy move “an incredible moment in history, something that we as Americans cherish.” He referred to Jerusalem as the “ancient, eternal, and indivisible capital of Israel.”

He also commented: “I don’t think that it was an accident that the first trip that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made … was to Israel.”

Former Rep. Michele Bachmann declared her “thanks and appreciation for the faithful rabbis and the faithful pastors who for the past decades faithfully preached the Word of God.”

She added: “Without that, there perhaps wouldn’t have been the political will to do this. President Trump acted out of his heart, I believe, and because of his love for the Jewish state, but also because the heart of the American people was with this move.”

Pastor Jim Garlow of California’s Skyline Church declared: “Where people know, love, and read the Bible, they stand with the Jewish people and the nation of Israel.”

He added: “Donald Trump does not come from amidst us. … [But] God knew what Israel needed.”

Later, he added: “You watch — he’ll be another Cyrus,” referring to the Biblical ruler of Persia, who permitted the Jews to return from exile to rebuild their temple.

“[Trump] has done more for religious liberty and Israel than any president we’ve ever had.”

Lourdes Aguirre of the Latino Coalition for Israel said that President Trump’s message in moving the U.S. embassy had been consistent with his message of peace.

She said that the humanitarian work Christians do in Syria, in coordination with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), is possible in part because of President Trump’s support.

“We are protected because the President of the United States stands for peace for all religions, for all faiths,” she said. “When our president came to the Middle East, he called upon everyone to unite, and to go against one common enemy: the terrorists.”

Ramiro Pena, pastor of Christ the King Church in Waco, Texas, praised Israel’s example of religious freedom: “As Americans, as peace and freedom-loving people, we celebrate the only true democracy in the Middle East. Where there is freedom, there is freedom to worship God as conscience dictates.”

“I have never seen in my lifetime what this president has accomplished in one year,” said Jay Strack, president and founder of Student Leadership University.

He stressed that the love Americans felt for Israel did not mean that they did not love the Palestinians, too — and added that most Israelis care for the Palestinians as well.

Strack said of President Trump: “He has a heart that is strangely warmed by the word of God.”