Month: November 2018

The Open Society Foundations (OSF) has demanded that Facebook apologize to its founder and primary donor, George Soros, after the tech giant reportedly hired political operatives who revealed his connections to digital rights activists.

According to a recent report by the New York Times, the social media network “employed a Republican opposition-research firm to discredit” its critics in part by linking them to Soros, who donated $18 billion to his international grant-making foundation last year to drive progressive change. The Times described Soros as “a longtime boogeyman to mainstream conservatives and the target of intense anti-Semitic smears on the far right.”

“This was what one would call a black ops, false flag operation,” said OSF President Patrick Gaspard on a recent episode of NPR’s Morning Edition, referring to a term used to describe covert political tactics. “Facebook attempted to give the impression that these critics of their way of operating were somehow being orchestrated towards this criticism by the founder/chairman of the Open Society Foundations, George Soros.”

“We are demanding, insisting on a public apology from Facebook, not just to George Soros and the Open Society Foundations, but to all of those who are practicing their First Amendment rights,” he continued.

The Times report said the consulting company, Definers Public Affairs, “pressed reporters to explore the financial connections” between Soros and several organizations advocating for tighter government regulation of Facebook. It also referenced a document distributed by the firm that “cast Mr. Soros as the unacknowledged force behind what appeared to be a broad anti-Facebook movement.”

Tim Miller, a former spokesman for Jeb Bush who now works for Definers, posted on Twitter: “Definers shared a narrow document about an anti-Facebook group’s funding. It was entirely factual, as Open Markets organizers have acknowledged they get funding from Soros. I have defended Soros from smears and conspiracies that weren’t based in fact.”

Gaspard lashed out at Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg in an open letter, blaming the platform for spreading “hateful blatantly false and Anti-Semitic information” that has “contributed to death threats and the delivery of a pipe bomb to Mr. Soros’ home.” However, he did not cite any specific misinformation or objectionable content attributed to Definers.

“We’re no longer working with (Definers) but at the time, they were trying to show that some of the activity against us that appeared to be grassroots also had major organizations behind them,” Sandberg posted on Facebook. “I did not know we hired them or about the work they were doing, but I should have. I have great respect for George Soros – and the anti-Semitic conspiracy theories against him are abhorrent.”

Definers was also accused of using staff members to write hit pieces disguised as news coverage. Facebook officials said the company never asked Definers to write articles on its behalf or to promote fake news.

“Definers did encourage members of the press to look into the funding of ‘Freedom from Facebook,’ an anti-Facebook organization,” the social media network said in a statement. “The intention was to demonstrate that it was not simply a grassroots campaign, as it claimed, but supported by a well-known critic of our company. To suggest that was an anti-Semitic attack is reprehensible and untrue.”

Follow Jeffrey Cawood on Twitter @Near_Chaos.

The chairman of London’s Metropolitan Police Federation, Ken Marsh, has said that the country’s routinely unarmed police may let violent suspects go if the public does not step in to help.

Mr Marsh suggested the police could no longer be the bulwark between order and criminality without public assistance, saying on BBC Radio 4: “We don’t come to work to get assaulted, and if we’re not going to be backed up…then what is the point?”

“We’re going to come to a point where we’re going to start pushing messages out to our colleagues: ‘Risk-assess it dynamically and, if you think you can’t detain a person, just let them go,’” he added.

The call for assistance appears to contradicts request from other forces for civilians to stay out of policing matters, including London’s neighbouring Essex Police which warned against residents patrolling their communities in “vigilante” groups following an increase in crime.

UPDATE 1700 — Metropolitan Police contradict call for aid, warns public against getting involved

Metropolitan police assistant commissioner Sir Steve House moved to distance the force from the calls for assistance from London Police Federation boss Ken Marsh on Tuesday, when he warned members of the public against getting involved in apprehending violent suspects The Guardian reports.

The senior officer said: “While officers should never expect to be attacked as part of their job, a core part of officer safety training is ensuring they know how to respond to volatile situations.”

He continued: “This training is substantial and delivered in accordance with national guidelines, and we regularly review it to make sure it is fit for purpose. Officers are also issued with personal protective equipment to help protect them and the public.

“I am mindful that members of the public do not have access to such items and, while any officer would be grateful for the public to assist them with a difficult arrest, they should only intervene if they can safely do so.”

Read the original story below:

The federation police chief made the comments after a video was circulated on social media showing the brutal attack of two police officers in Merton, south-west London, Saturday night.

The assaults happened following a routine traffic stop, with three assailants running from the vehicle.

@metpoliceuk Two Police officers assaulted in Merton on Saturday night. A member of the public wearing a motorcycle helmet helped the male officer, but several cars went past without stopping… what is #London coming to? pic.twitter.com/o7IEnwYvi1

— London Gas (@LondonGas) November 20, 2018

During the pursuit, one female police officer suffered a head injury after a suspect aimed a flying karate kick at her, while the second officer was dragged across the street while he pursued the third attacker.

The Telegraph reports that the female officer had attempted to subdue the suspects with a police-issued incapacitant spray, but to no effect.

Several cars were reported to have driven by during the violent altercations, with one motorcyclist stopping to help the unarmed police officers.

Suspect Martin Payne, 20, was arrested and charged with assault causing actual bodily harm and assaulting an officer. Two other suspects are still at large.

Mr Marsh also scolded members of the public for “mocking” police telling the public broadcaster: “If the public now think it’s OK to stand and film and mock my colleagues…then we are in very dangerous grounds.

Moped Thugs Hold Unarmed Police at Gunpoint in Sadiq Khan’s London https://t.co/lRMHCfkf3e

— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) August 31, 2018

“I’m not asking members of the public to suddenly jump in to assist police officers because we are highly trained in what we do.

“But what I’m trying to get across is the simple fact that society has changed so much lately that it seems to be OK [to be] more interested in mocking us and filming us.”

Police forces have come under criticism from the public in recent years over the prioritisation of hate crimes over real crimes, with recent statistics revealing that one in five Britons have experienced a crime.

The Home Office recommends that police do not seek the support of the public, and if a private individual offers to assist, the officer must assess whether to ask the civilian to desist or call off the pursuit.

Following the deadly terror attack in London Bridge in the summer of 2017, a majority of Britons (72 per cent) backed routinely arming police officers such as they are in the U.S.

However, the National Police Chiefs’ Council said that officers are put off from applying to become armed, citing concerns over how they will be treated after shooting a suspect, including fearing suspension and legal repercussions.

Donald Trump’s criticism of the Federal Reserve’s plans to hike interest rates is now getting support from financial markets.

Interest rates futures now suggest that the Fed will only hike interest rates once in 2019. Just a few months ago, futures were indicating two hikes in 2019. The Federal Reserve’s own projections from September revealed that its policymakers were expecting three hikes next year.

Contracts tied to the Fed’s policy rate that are traded at CME Group’s Chicago Board of Trade have fallen in recent weeks. They now say there is just a 72 percent probability of a hike in December, down from readings close to 90 percent.

The Fed’s target interest rate for overnight loans between banks is now a range of 2.0 percent to 2.25 percent. If the Fed hikes as expected in December, that will rise to a range of 2.25 percent to 2.5 percent.

It is in the implied forecast for next year that the biggest change has occurred. A few months ago, the market had a better than even chance that rates would go up at the Fed’s meeting in March. Now the futures point toward the Fed holding steady in March, with just a 36 percent seeing the target move above 2.5 percent.

The first time a hike in 2019 is favored by the futures odds is now June, when the target is expected to rise to a range of 2.5 percent to 2.75 percent.

And after that, there are no more hikes with greater than even probability in 2019. Futures imply that there is only a 32 percent chance that the Fed’s target will be above 2.75 percent to 3.0 percent by December of 2019.

Trump has said on a number of occasions that the Fed was being too aggressive with interest rates, putting the economy’s rate of growth in danger. Now it seems that the market believes Trump is right and that the Fed will have to scale back its plans to hike rates.

Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) suggests Snopes debunked the claim he “made [a] serious threat to nuke gun-owners.”

On November 16, 2018, Breitbart News reported that Swalwell defended his push for an “assault weapons” ban, saying that if gun owners defied it “the government has nukes.”

The backlash against Swalwell was incredible. leading him to circle back and say he was being “sarcastic” when he talked about nuking gun owners. He mentioned reporter Joe Biggs, against whom the reference to nukes had been made, and said he “sarcastically [pointed] out USA isn’t losing to [Joe Bigg’s] assault weapon.”

Now Swalwell is tweeting about a Snopes “Fact Check” article which he claims clears his name:

Well this should end the faux-outrage from gun groups. @snopes DEBUNKS @DailyCaller and others who claimed I made serious threat to nuke gun-owners.

Let’s move on to what really matters: ensuring our right to be safe is paramount. #EnoughIsEnough https://t.co/nabjYSySmv

— Rep. Eric Swalwell (@RepSwalwell) November 19, 2018

Snopes reported:

In a tweet on 16 November, Swalwell responded to a gun rights enthusiast who said the Democrats’ proposal to confiscate or buy semi-automatic rifles would result in “war” due to resistance from the gun owners, stating “it would be a short war” because “the government has nukes.” They note that he later said he was just making “a joke,” therefore, they suggest it is only partly true to say he intended to nuke U.S. gun owners.

Again, this was the heart of the exchange between Biggs and Swalwell:

And it would be a short war my friend. The government has nukes. Too many of them. But they’re legit. I’m sure if we talked we could find common ground to protect our families and communities.

— Rep. Eric Swalwell (@RepSwalwell) November 16, 2018

If you think about it, nuking U.S. gun owners would be tantamount to simply nuking the U.S. Who would nuke his own country simply to get rid of commonly-owned semiautomatic firearms?

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.

 

Those who stayed up on election night 2016 remember the images of Hillary Clinton supporters crying and screaming and political commentators claiming that the country was doomed — women and minorities especially.

Celebrities are apparently still dramatizing their feelings over that night for sympathy, as actress Amber Tamblyn did on Sunday at her “Feminist AF” reading at Vulture Fest. Those attending the reading no doubt found her account of post-election night panic horrifying and all too real, while the rest of us sane people hear these kinds of histrionics and roll our eyes.

The Hollywood Reporter (THR) framed Tamblyn’s reading as an “emotional story” about election night. The story was exactly what we’ve come to expect from entitled millennials who turn every feeling into some sort of crime against nature.

Tamblyn read from her upcoming political memoir Era of Ignition: Coming of Age in a Time of Rage and Revolution, which details her “political awakening,” according to THR. She was the last reader of the night, and recalled spending election night with actress America Ferrera and “comedian” Amy Schumer. Singer Katy Perry was also there (obviously, these women face grueling oppression). Tamblyn was pregnant with her daughter at the time, and described her realization that Clinton might not win the presidency.

“I swigged some more Zantac, and my baby shoved her foot into my ribs, as if to foreshadow the pain that was yet to come,” Tamblyn read, according to THR.

She realized Clinton had definitely lost when her campaign chairman, John Podesta, said Clinton wasn’t going to speak to the crowd at Javits Center that night.

“A dark realization swallowed me: I was going to bring a baby into this world. And not just any baby: a girl,” Tamblyn read. She also said she imagined giving her daughter to Canadians or Swedes to protect her from whatever damage she believed President Donald Trump would do to the country (as of this writing, Tamblyn has not given her daughter away for political reasons).

The day after the election, Tamblyn said, she was at a subway station and started experiencing pain and shortness of breath. She said she collapsed, and a “homeless man” offered to cut the umbilical cord if she was going into labor.

It turns out, Tamblyn was just having a self-induced panic attack because her preferred candidate lost.

“How can I keep her safe?” Tamblyn said she asked her doctor about the baby after the attack. Tamblyn said the doctor suggested listening to a one-minute recording each day to remind her of their bond. She then played a one-minute recording of her daughter’s heartbeat for the audience.

The “Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” actress ultimately gave birth to her daughter and still resides in America with her husband, “Arrested Development” actor David Cross.

The migrant caravan from Central America — which President Donald Trump has repeatedly warned about, and which the liberal media have repeatedly dismissed as not a threat — has continued to slowly work its way through Mexico, with the first waves of the thousands-strong group reaching Tijuana on the Mexican-U.S. border in recent days.

Unfortunately for the migrants who arrived in Tijuana, they have found a far less welcoming reception from local residents than they likely were led to believe they’d receive by the caravan organizers.

Indeed, many of the Mexicans who live there are none too pleased about the arrival of the migrants — who largely hail from Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua — and have made sure that the migrants are aware of their great displeasure.

Hundreds of Mexican protesters from Tijuana marched on a shelter set up for the migrants Sunday, with some chanting that they intended to “kick them out,” according to reporter Emily Green in Mexico City:

Anti migrant protestors in Tijuana headed to shelter where 2,000-plus Central America. migrants are taking refuge to “kick them out.” pic.twitter.com/iYURtdFlZN

— Emily Green (@emilytgreen) November 18, 2018

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Some have attempted to portray the angry Tijuana residents as being “racist” toward the Central American migrants, while others have characterized the anti-migrant protests as a sort of vigilante mob seeking justice — which would indeed be wrong — but that isn’t exactly the case.

NPR reported that the protesters had initially attempted to march on the mayor’s office to demand he take action, but finding that route blocked off by police, shifted their destination toward an old baseball stadium converted by the government into an ad hoc migrant shelter.

The Tijuana residents — many of whom chanted “Tijuana!” and “Mexico!” and sang the Mexican national anthem while flying Mexican flags — also carried numerous signs, reading “Mexico First,” “No Illegals” and “No to the Invasion,” among other choice phrases.

Police managed to block the protesters from reaching the migrant shelter — which reportedly held about 2,500 migrants — and ordered the migrants to stay inside the shelter to avoid provoking any potential conflicts in the streets.

“We want the caravan to go; they are invading us,” 62-year-old protester Patricia Reyes said. “They should have come into Mexico correctly, legally, but they came in like animals.”

Another protester, Magdalena Baltazar, said, “Tijuana is a place that welcomes anyone, but you must have papers, you must identify yourself. We work hard here. We don’t get handouts. The government shouldn’t be giving things to migrants when plenty of Mexicans are in a difficult position.”

As for the mayor of Tijuana himself — Juan Manuel Gastelum — he has loudly stood up for his own citizens amid the arrival of the migrant caravan, and was even spotted wearing a Trump-style red hat that read “Make Tijuana Great Again.”

Gastelum recently said of the caravan to local media, “I would dare say that not all of them are migrants.” He added, “Sure, there are some good people in the caravan, but many are very bad for the city.”

RELATED: If Caravaners Are Fleeing Starvation, Isn’t It Odd This Migrant’s Calling Free Food Slop for ‘Pigs’?

The biggest concern for Gastelum and his “Mexico First”-aligned constituents — aside from the many criminals embedded in the group — is that resources intended for city residents have now been diverted to care for the migrants, most of whom will have to wait for months before they can apply for asylum in the U.S., an application that will also most likely be denied.

In apparent support for Gastelum, President Donald Trump tweeted Sunday, “The Mayor of Tijuana, Mexico, just stated that ‘the City is ill-prepared to handle this many migrants, the backlog could last 6 months.’ Likewise, the U.S. is ill-prepared for this invasion, and will not stand for it. They are causing crime and big problems in Mexico. Go home!”

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