If the left is so loving, tolerant and inclusive, why is it so driven by unquenchable bitterness? What fuels it to divide Americans? No, I’m not talking about the Democratic presidential candidates, though any one of them demonstrates the same theme. The American left is just gorged with angst and apparently on a mission to share its misery. The insanity emanating from leftists today is overwhelming.
Shameful, he completely walks. Via Newsmax: A California state appeals court has thrown out the sole conviction against an illegal immigrant who fatally shot a woman on the San Francisco waterfront in 2015. The 1st District Court of Appeal on Friday overturned a gun conviction against Jose Inez Garcia-Zarate because the judge failed to instruct […]
While the state of the Democratic Party in 2020 may make some Republicans cringe, it could pay off in the long run for Republicans according to Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL).
During an appearance on Huntsville, AL radio’s WVNN on Thursday, Rogers speculated that if former President Barack Obama were one of the candidates in the 2020 Democratic presidential field, he would not win the party nomination for not being “socialist enough.”
“I hear it everywhere I go in my district – people do see them as the face of the future Democrat Party, and they see these presidential debates, and they see how far left they’re going with their rhetoric,” Rogers said. “I just spoke to a civic group in Alex City today at lunch, and I told them – and I really mean this – Barack Obama could not win the nomination in this year’s Democrat field. He is not socialist enough to win. That’s how far left they’ve moved. So yeah, when I hear Omar and AOC and Tlaib all talking, I want them to keep it up because it is turning off Americans from coast to coast.”
Rogers was still optimistic about Republicans chances of picking up the House in 2020 and warned not to read too much into the recent wave of Republican retirements.
“It doesn’t have any effect on it,” he added. “One of the things that drives me nuts about the national news media is they spin these things to support a narrative they’re promoting. The fact that is we’re not having a larger retirement than we usually have. If you take the last three-and-a-half years and you compare it to the previous three-and-a-half years, it’s the same percentage. Every August recess, we have a lot of people announce they’re retiring in part because they get back home in August and realize ‘I like being home. I don’t want to do this anymore.’ It’s a tough way of life. There’s a lot of time away from your family. A lot of time spent fundraising. Social media has made it just a nightmare to have to be in these jobs because people just beat the crap out of you constantly, cable news. A lot of folks just don’t want to do this for a long time.”
“But this is nothing out of the ordinary,” he continued. “One of the things I would urge your audience to look at in the future because I’ve been doing this 17 years now, and I’ve seen this pattern: Every August, especially right at the end of August you get a lot of people announce they’re retiring because they’ve been home for a month and they like being out of Washington and back home. And then after every Christmas break, we have a wave of announcements for the same reason – people are back home with their family. They realize they like the private life and they want to go back to it. So there is nothing unusual about what’s happening right now.”
China’s worst nightmare may be happening: Mainland Chinese citizens are now participating in pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, according to recent reports.
Wall Street Journalreported Wednesday that a “small cohort of mainlanders have joined the demonstrations, taking extraordinary risks to support a society that offers freedoms unavailable back home.”
“My understanding is that ‘one country, two systems’ is a creative set of ideals,” a 24-year-old Chinese graduate student living in Hong Kong with the last name Chen told the paper. “Now those ideals are threatened.”
The mainlanders said they value Hong Kong’s autonomy from Chinese control and have joined marches, signed open letters supporting Hong Kong, and defended the movement on social media.
Their participation is an indication that the movement could spread to mainland China, despite attempts by the government to brand the Hong Kong protesters as traitors.
Chinese authorities are reportedly checking travelers’ smartphones as they reenter China for evidence of participation in the demonstrations.
Another mainland Chinese citizen who took part in the protests has fled to Taiwan where he is hoping to stay, according to a report by Radio Free Asia.
Zhang Wen, 47, who is sleeping on the streets in Taipei after he abandoned a tour group he arrived with, told the outlet, “I definitely don’t want to go back to mainland China now … So I have two options: I can either apply to extend my visa here, or I can apply for political asylum.”
Zhang said he crossed into Hong Kong several times in June and July to take part in the protests. He reportedly has video of himself storming the Hong Kong Legislative Council building.
“The risk that I will be caught for my support for the anti-extradition protests is very high,” he told Radio Free Asia. “I will definitely get arrested for the storming of LegCo, because some people have been detained just for posting that they support the anti-extradition movement online.”
The protesters have been protesting the encroachment of Beijing on their freedoms following the United Kingdom’s handover of Hong Kong to China in 1997.
China and the United Kingdom signed a treaty in 1984 that agreed to a 50-year time period after the handover wherein Hong Kong would enjoy some political and social autonomy under a “one country, two systems” policy, ending in 2049.
However, since then, pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong say they have faced an erosion of that autonomy by Beijing. In 2014, Hong Kong residents were forced to choose their next chief executive from a list of candidates vetted by Beijing, which sparked protests known as the Umbrella Movement.
The recent protests were sparked by a proposed bill that would allow those charged with crimes in Hong Kong to be extradited to the mainland where they could face harsher punishment under an opaque justice system.
The bill was tabled, but Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam has refused to withdraw it altogether, fueling continued protests throughout the summer that risk a violent crackdown by Chinese troops reminiscent of the brutal 1989 crackdown in Tiananmen Square.
Still, most mainlanders in Hong Kong share the Chinese government’s antipathy against the protesters, and some have even fought against the protesters, as the WSJ also reported.
The Chinese government have portrayed the protesters as violent extremists and have accused the U.S. of being behind the protests. Some protesters have carried the American flag as a symbol of freedom.
(AFP) — Police fired water cannon and tear gas to clear Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters from outside the city’s parliament on Saturday, as demonstrators defied a ban on rallying and the arrests of leading activists to take to the streets for a 13th straight weekend.
Police had banned the demonstration on security grounds, then organisers had cancelled it, after last weekend saw some of the most violent clashes in months of political turmoil.
But large crowds, many in their signature black T-shirts and under a colourful canopy of umbrellas, snaked through Hong Kong island anyway, blocking roads and chanting “reclaim Hong Kong, revolution of our times”.
Chaos engulfed the financial heart of the city, with hardcore protesters throwing rocks, starting fires and shining laser pens at a rank of police behind a barricade at the city parliament known as the Legislative Council (LegCo).
Police fired a water cannon and rounds of tear gas to disperse protesters, who hit back with a barrage of molotov cocktails that left fires burning.
As dusk drew in, protesters smashed through the barrier outside the parliament building, but were repelled by tear gas and jets of blue-coloured liquid fired from the water cannon.
Local media reported the colour spray aimed to make it easier to identify suspects.
The LegCo was stormed on July 1 — the 22nd anniversary of the handover of Hong Kong from British to Chinese rule.
Earlier on Saturday protesters marched by the official residence of Hong Kong’s embattled Beijing-backed leader Carrie Lam, who is the focal point of anger after trying to pass a bill which would have allowed extradition to China.
“I’m prepared for the consequences of coming out,” said one protestor, who gave his name as Jay, adding “Hong Kongers have the right to assembly.”
Opposition to the extradition bill — now suspended but not permanently withdrawn — has brought much of Hong Kong to the streets.
The protests have expanded into a wider pro-democracy call and a rejection of attempts by Beijing to curtail the freedoms of the semi-autonomous territory.
Protesters were in defiant mood throughout Saturday, which marked the fifth anniversary of Beijing’s rejection of a call for universal suffrage for Hong Kong that sparked the 79-day “Umbrella Movement” in 2014.
“I’m not afraid to come out here today,” said another 25-year-old protester who gave his surname as Ng.
Many protesters are determined not to let the new movement fizzle out as the Umbrella protests did.
“It’s ‘now or never’ for Hong Kong,” said a 33-year-old accountant who gave her surname as Wong.
“I’m a mother-of-two. They didn’t come today but their grandmother did. We’re defending the right of assembly for the next generation in Hong Kong.”
At least five high-profile activists and three lawmakers were arrested on Friday in a sweep aimed at defanging Saturday’s rally.
Rights groups say the tactics are cribbed directly from Beijing’s protest playbook.
Two of the Umbrella Movement’s leaders, Joshua Wong and Agnes Chow were among those arrested, charged and bailed for “inciting others to take part in unauthorised assembly”.
The European Union’s diplomatic chief Federica Mogherini said the developments were “extremely worrying”, while US President Donald Trump said his economic pressure on China was forcing Beijing to take a more moderate line in Hong Kong.
Protesters sidestep ban
In an attempt to sidestep Saturday’s protest ban, crowds earlier carried Christian crosses and sang “Hallelujah” in religious gatherings — which do not require the same stringent permission from authorities.
The demonstrators, who have earned a reputation for their creativity and unpredictability, also called for “mass shopping trips” in the city centre.
On Saturday morning, LIHKG, the Reddit-like forum used by protesters to communicate, reported via Twitter that its app had suffered the “largest attack it has ever seen”.
Police on Friday confirmed three lawmakers — and a district councillor — had been arrested over their alleged actions in previous protests, but denied the sweep was timed specifically to weaken the weekend’s protests.
More than 900 people have been arrested since June in connection to protests.
Hong Kong’s crisis-hit government has refused to back down over the protests, which have seen millions march peacefully through the streets but also hardcore groups of radical protesters hurl bricks and petrol bombs at police armed with tear gas and rubber bullets.
The violence has damaged Hong Kong’s reputation for stability and prosperity.
China has responded with a campaign of intimidation. State media on Friday reported that fresh military anti-riot drills were held across the border in Shenzhen.
Google will reportedly pay between $150 and $200 million to resolve a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) investigation into YouTube regarding its potential violation of a children’s privacy law, according to a report.
A Politico report detailed that the agency voted 3-2 along party lines to settle with Google. The settlement will then go to the Department of Justice (DOJ) as part of its review process.
The FTC’s settlement with Google serves as the latest move against big tech. The agency fined Facebook $5 billion to resolve its probe over its Cambridge Analytica scandal, which violated millions of Americans’ privacy.
Privacy groups have complained to the consumer protection agency that YouTube violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) by collecting personal information about children and using it to target them with ads without receiving their parents’ consent.
Google’s settlement with the FTC serves as the largest fine for COPPA violations. The agency previously fined Chinese social media company Musical.ly, now TikTok, $5.7 million in February.
Jeff Chester, the executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy, said that the agency should fine Google much more for its COPPA violations.
“I think the message here is that when the commission did have a privacy law to enforce, it refused to do so. The punishment should’ve been at least half a billion dollars,” Chester said. “It’s scandalous. It sends the signal that you in fact can break a privacy law and get away largely scot-free.”
Marc Rotenberg, president of the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), said that perhaps even more important than the fine is the terms the FTC might impose on Google regarding its collection of children’s information.
Rotenberg said, “The critical challenge for the FTC is whether it has the ability to restrain business practices that violate privacy. Imposing large fines does not address that problem.”
Sean Moran is a congressional reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SeanMoran3.
An event hosted by free speech friendly social network Minds.com on racism and political violence will proceed this weekend, despite Antifa threats.
The event was previously set to be held at a theater in Pitman, New Jersey. The theater owner canceled the event after allegedly receiving multiple threats from Antifa, including an alleged threat to burn his theater down.
The Minds.com event has now secured a new venue. The venue will be announced publicly the day of the event.
The event’s lineup includes Daryl Davis, a Christian blues musician famous for using his religious beliefs to engage with members of the KKK, causing many of the white supremacist group’s members to renounce the Klan and racism. Davis will be addressing how to bring racial extremists “back from the edge,” in a one-hour discussion with Minds.com CEO Bill Ottman.
This is the event that the allegedly anti-racist “Antifa,” a far-left extremist movement known for its regular acts of violence against its political targets, is protesting.
Other speakers include British YouTuber and recent political candidate Carl Benjamin, independent journalist Tim Pool, BlazeTV host Lauren Chen, Canadian feminist Meghan Murphy, and many others.
The event will take place Saturday, August 31, with doors opening at 10:45 AM and panel discussions concluding at 7:40 PM eastern time. The venue and addressed will be announced Saturday morning. An after-party will be held at an event near the new venue.
Are you a corporate or Big Tech insider who wants to confidentially reveal wrongdoing or political bias at your company? Reach out to Allum Bokhari at his secure email address allumbokhari@protonmail.com.
Allum Bokhari is the senior technology correspondent at Breitbart News.
The Gateway Pundit reported on May 25th that the infamous Trump Tower meeting in early January 2017 may have initiated the Trump obstruction investigation. Today we provide the pieces to confirm that Obama was involved.
We knew that the Deep State did all they could to assist Hillary’s election for President and to prevent candidate Trump from winning the election. The operatives then attempted to prevent Trump from governing once he won the election.
We now know that Obama was involved from at least as early as January 2017. The IG’s report released a few days ago provides this evidence.
First, there is absolutely no doubt James Comey used his memos akin to FD-302 investigative reports from an FBI agent. Meaning, from beginning-to-end he considered himself an investigative agent against the President-elect and then President Trump.
Note: His recording of his encounter with the target, President-elect Trump should be “treated like FISA derived information in a counterintelligence investigation.” During this January 6th operation, Comey was the active FBI agent gathering evidence for later use. The collected intelligence would be shared with the team via memo #1.
A few weeks ago we reported that noted attorney and author Andrew McCarthy, who served as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, told Sean Hannity in a FOX News interview that Obama knew about the spying on Trump.
Andrew McCarthy: What I’m saying is not that the president sits there and directs that there be counter-intelligence investigations. What I’m saying is that unlike criminal investigations, counter intelligence investigations are done for the president. The only reason to do them is for the president with the information he needs to protect the United States from foreign threats. They’re not like criminal investigations in that regard. So in principle the information for the president. And here we know at various junctures we have actual factual information that this investigation was well known to president Obama.
Sean Hannity: So, if he knew, and this is all happening, he had to know about it from the get-go. Doesn’t it also imply that he would have been updated on this? If he’s the one that needs it for national security decision making?
Andrew McCarthy: Sean if things were working properly the president should have been alerted about it and informed. It was a very important investigation. If they actually believed what they were telling the court that it was a possibility that Donald Trump was actually a plant of the Kremlin, it would have been derelict on their part not to keep the president informed.
In May the Gateway Pundit reported that according to a transcript released from a closed door hearing, the Mueller team noted that an investigation into whether President-elect and then President Trump obstructed justice started long before the Mueller investigation was created:
So we now know –
1. Comey was taking notes immediately after his meeting with President-elect Trump on January 6, 2017. His notes were written in the form of a counter- intelligence investigation.
2. Comey met with Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Susan Rice, Sally Yates the White House Oval Office the day before his meeting with Trump.
3. Counter intelligence investigations are performed on behalf of the White House.
4. President Obama was in the White House when Comey met with President Trump in early January 2017.
5. The Deep State initiated at least one counter intelligence investigation of President-elect and President Trump in early 2017.
6. Because Obama was President in early January 2017, he was involved in the corrupt sham investigation of President-elect Trump.
In June President Trump tweeted out a warning…
President Trump: “Someone should call Obama up. The Obama Administration spied on a rival presidential campaign using Federal Agencies. I mean, that seems like a headline to me?” @TuckerCarlson It will all start coming out, and the Witch Hunt will end. Presidential Harassment!
“Someone should call Obama up. The Obama Administration spied on a rival presidential campaign using Federal Agencies. I mean, that seems like a headline to me?” @TuckerCarlson It will all start coming out, and the Witch Hunt will end. Presidential Harassment!
In an unprecedented move Barack Obama and his corrupt Deep State spied on the opposition candidate during the 2016 election and continued after the election. It was all based on lies that they all knew were lies.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts introduced legislation last month that would cancel student loan debt for tens of millions of Americans. The senator previously stated it’s “obscene” to profit off of students, but she’s doing exactly that with a textbook she authored priced at $258.97. Warren blamed the collective over $1.5 trillion in outstanding student…
Disgusting. Via Fox News: Police released disturbing audio of an Arkansas woman who called for help in the final moments of her life, drowning in her car, only to be met with mockery and disdain by the dispatcher. Debbie Stevens, 47, was on her regular paper route in Fort Smith Saturday, Aug. 24 when a […]
