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With the Democratic primary race increasingly looking like it’s heading for a bruising brokered convention, many in the party have been increasingly desperate to determine which candidate to consolidate behind, particularly if that candidate isn’t the currently front-running Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), the most far-left of the already strongly left-leaning field. One of the more helpful voices for the fractured party would be former President Barack Obama, but, apart from a report back in November about him speaking up to “stop” Bernie, his opinion on the various Democratic contenders has remained carefully concealed. In a piece for New York Magazine’s Intelligencer published Monday, Gabriel Debenedetti offers a behind the scenes look at “what Obama is saying in private about the Democratic primary.”

Back in November, Politico’s Ryan Lizza, citing unnamed Obama advisers, reported that the former president would be forced to intervene should Sanders look poised to take the nomination. “Back when Sanders seemed like more of a threat than he does now, Obama said privately that if Bernie were running away with the nomination, Obama would speak up to stop him,” Lizza wrote in a piece about Democratic candidates’ “pilgrimage” to get Obama’s blessing titled “Waiting for Obama.”

“He hasn’t said that directly to me,” one unnamed adviser told Lizza. “The only reason I’m hesitating at all is because, yeah, if Bernie were running away with it, I think maybe we would all have to say something. But I don’t think that’s likely. It’s not happening.” Another source told Politico, flatly, “Bernie’s not a Democrat.”

Obama has also appeared to publicly criticize the more radical candidates, of which Sanders is on the left-most edge, saying at a meeting of top Democratic fundraisers in early November that moving too far left will turn off “the average American.” “Even as we push the envelope and we are bold in our vision, we also have to be rooted in reality,” Obama warned. “The average American doesn’t think we have to completely tear down the system and remake it.”

Buzz about Obama’s reported hesitancy about the party embracing Sanders as the nominee was revived in January, when Fox Business’s Charles Gasparino tweeted: “Dem Party sources who have spoken [with Barack Obama] say former prez is growing increasingly anxious about [Bernie Sanders’] rise in the national polls & where the avowed socialist would take the country; he is considering a public statement addressing it more now.” The claim was quickly refuted by Obama’s camp.

“But the tweet and ensuing hysteria did renew an unsettling round of questions among candidates, elected officials, campaign strategists, voters, and donors: Well, what does Obama think of all of this?” writes Debenedetti.

According to insiders, he writes, Obama’s “choreographed strategy” involves patiently withholding his support until it’s fully clear, or at least reasonably clear, who the nominee will or should be:

With the race looking more and more likely to grow bitter and messy, and maybe even wind up in a contested convention, the former president and those around him are increasingly sure he will need to play a prominent role in bringing the party back together and calming its tensions later this summer, including perhaps in Milwaukee, where the party’s meeting is scheduled to be held in July. So he is committed to not allowing his personal thoughts to dribble out in the meantime, directly or via leaks, conscious of how any sense that he’s taking sides in intraparty disputes could rock the primary in the short run and potentially undermine his ability to play this larger role in the months ahead. “He says one sentence about being woke at some conference, and the Twitterverse freaks out,” recalled one of his friends, referring to the former president’s comments at an Obama Foundation meeting in Chicago that set off a firestorm. He and his advisors “are very aware [of the effect of] one word that Barack Obama says.” And he’s being careful to ensure he can be seen as an honest broker in June and July — a potentially necessary designation given both his status as the party’s most popular figure and the real possibility that Sanders, or another candidate, could enter the summer with a plurality of the delegates needed for the nomination but not an outright victory. “Obama is going to look at the [delegate math to determine] the outcome. If the math brings someone [to the nomination], he’ll back it in full,” one person who still speaks with the former president told me recently. “His biggest dilemma is if Bernie is at 35-40 [percent of the delegates], and no one else is [at] 20. Does he say, ‘You have to go with who won [a plurality of] the delegates, and who looks to be the true front-runner?’”

Debenedetti cites one of the people in Obama’s orbit who put his stance on Sanders as simply as possible: “It’s not gonna happen before the convention, [but] he’s gonna be all-in for Bernie if he’s the nominee.” (Read Debenedetti’s full piece here.)

Related: Bloomberg Qualifies For Nevada Last Second; Trump Sounds Alarm For Sanders

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On Halloween night of 2010 Giants first baseman Aubrey Huff cracked a two-run homer off righty Tommy Hunter to nail down Game Four of the World Series against the Texas Rangers. Overall, Huff batted .294 with five hits, a home run, and four RBIs in the Giants’ first World Championship since Willie Mays was a young man.

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Sadly, Dems see this as a good thing.

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With all the talk of a two-tiered justice system this past week stemming from the corruption in the trial against Roger Stone, there is another two-tiered system in use in cities like San Francisco. Can victims of illegal aliens ever obtain justice if the trial occurs in a sanctuary city? That is the question we should be asking after Jose Garcia-Zarate, the man who shot Kate Steinle on a San Francisco pier in 2015, caught yet another break.

For the parents of Kate Steinle, the hits keep coming. First, in December 2017, a San Francisco jury acquitted Zarate of all murder charges, including manslaughter, related to the July 1, 2015, killing of Kate Steinle. She was killed by a bullet shot from the stolen .40-caliber gun held by Zarate. He is an illegal alien from Mexico who was deported five times and was released from San Francisco jail two and a half months before without notification to ICE. He remained in the country despite seven felony convictions.

Then, when the family sued the city of San Francisco and former Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi for negligence, the Ninth Circuit rebuffed the claim last year.

Last August, a state appeals court threw out the only remaining state charges. In 2015, the same jury that acquitted Zarate of manslaughter also convicted him of felony gun charges. The state appeals court overturned those charges. Zarate admitted to holding the gun that killed Steinle but maintains that the gun fired on its own.

“It is undisputed that defendant was holding the gun when it fired. But that fact alone does not establish he possessed the gun for more than a moment. To possess the gun, defendant had to know he was holding it,” wrote judge Sandra Margulies for the three-judge panel ruling that the trial judge erred in his instructions to the jury.

Finally, the federal government came in and charged Zarate on federal firearms violations. In 2017, he was indicted by a grand jury for being both a felon and illegal alien in possession of a firearm, both of which are federal crimes. The .40-caliber SIG Sauer P239 had originally been stolen from a U.S. Bureau of Land Management agent’s car. But on Friday, U.S. District Court Judge Vince Chhabria, an Obama appointee, ruled that Zarate is not mentally competent to stand trial. Zarate’s future remains unclear.

This man had enough mental acumen to cross our border five times after being deported. He was also competent to stand trial for seven prior felony convictions. What changed now?

The disquieting reality is that after 2015, Zarate was no longer a regular criminal in the eyes of the public. He became one of the most notorious illegal aliens in America. San Francisco politicians, judges, and jurors will do everything they can to ensure he gets off free.

It’s truly shocking how American victims don’t matter in the debate over our own sovereignty. Illegal aliens can sue our state and federal governments for simply enforcing our sovereignty, despite centuries of case law stating they have no standing in our country. Yet whenever Americans harmed by illegal aliens try to get standing to sue against lawlessness that affects their security and the public welfare, they are denied standing. Criminal smugglers can sue our government, yet Kate Steinle’s parents can’t sue San Francisco for harboring the illegal alien who killed their daughter.

However, there doesn’t seem to be a sense of urgency even from Republicans in Congress to pass a law giving victims of sanctuary cities a private cause of action to sue, as Trump called for in his State of the Union address. Instead, top Republicans are promoting a mass amnesty bill. They are also frantically trying to concoct a “DACA” amnesty bill for when the Supreme Court likely sides with Trump on canceling Obama’s clearly illegal executive amnesty program. When will they finally view American citizens like Kate Steinle as highly as they view “dreamers?”

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Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam’s push to ban the sale of so-called “assault weapons” failed on Monday after some of his fellow Democrats balked at the proposal.

Senators voted to shelve the bill for the year and ask the state crime commission to study the issue, an outcome that drew cheers from a committee room packed with gun advocates.

Cheers erupted when the Virginia Senate Judiciary Committee voted to not move forward on HB961, the the “assault weapons” ban and magazine confiscation bill, for the year.@DelegateMark, who had been pushing for the bill, has a priceless reaction. pic.twitter.com/rvvF8JiWcO

— Julio Rosas (@Julio_Rosas11) February 17, 2020

Four moderate Democrats joined Republicans in Monday’s committee vote, rejecting legislation that would have prohibited the sale of certain semiautomatic firearms, including popular AR-15 style rifles, and banned the possession of magazines that hold more than 12 rounds.

TRENDING: Nadler Finds ‘Another Quid Pro Quo’ Hiding in Plain Sight

The bill was a top priority for Northam, who has campaigned heavily for a broad package of gun-control measures. The governor’s spokeswoman, Alena Yarmosky, said he’s disappointed with the result but determined to continue to press for the measure.

“We will be back next year,” she said.

David Majure, a gun-rights supporter who attended the committee hearing, said he’s glad about Monday’s results but not convinced the bill is dead for the year.

“I’m happy about it, but I don’t trust them,” he said.

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Virginia is the current epicenter of the country’s heated debate over guns, as a new Democratic majority seeks to enact strict new limits.

Democrats ran heavily on gun control during last year’s legislative elections when they flipped control of the General Assembly for the first time in more than two decades.

But gun owners, especially in rural communities, have pushed back hard. Last month, tens of thousands of guns-rights activists from around the country flooded the Capitol and the surrounding area in protest, some donning tactical gear and carrying military rifles.

And more than 100 counties, cities and towns have declared themselves Second Amendment sanctuaries, vowing to oppose any new “unconstitutional restrictions” on guns.

The proposed “assault weapon” ban has received the most opposition. Gun owners have accused the governor and others of wanting to confiscate commonly owned guns and accessories from law-abiding gun owners.

RELATED: Virginia Dems Pass Bill To Give All Electoral Votes to Whoever Wins the Popular Vote

Northam and his allies have argued that banning new sales of so-called “assault weapons” and high-capacity magazines would help prevent mass murders.

“This bill will save lives,” Democratic Del. Mark Levine, who sponsored the legislation, said.

Earlier proposals to ban possession of AR-15-style rifles or to require owners to register them with state police have been scrapped.

The governor had hoped a watered-down version would win over enough Democratic moderates for passage.

But moderate Democrats in the state Senate have said for weeks they are uncomfortable passing legislation that would affect so many current gun owners.

An estimated 8 million AR-style guns have been sold since they were introduced to the public in the 1960s. The weapons are known as easy to use, easy to clean and easy to modify with a variety of scopes, stocks and rails.

Lawmakers voted to table the bill Monday with little debate, while noting that there was confusion over what types of guns would constitute an “assault weapon.”

“There are obviously a lot of questions about definitions in this bill. Definitions do matter,” Democratic Sen. Creigh Deeds said.

The Senate has now rejected three of the governor’s eight gun-control measures.

Moderate Democrats have already voted with Republicans to kill a bill that would make it a felony to “recklessly leave a loaded, unsecured firearm” in a way that endangers a minor, and a bill that would require gun owners to report the loss or theft of a gun to police.

Lawmakers in both the House and Senate have already advanced several other gun-control measures and should finalize passage in the coming days.

Those bills include limiting handgun purchases to once a month; universal background checks on gun purchases; allowing localities to ban guns in public buildings, parks and other areas; and a red flag bill that would allow authorities to temporarily take guns away from anyone deemed to be dangerous to themselves or others.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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In Bangladesh, the alleged kidnapping of a pastor and his daughter from a refugee camp for the Myanmarese Rohingya people is bringing to light a series of alleged human rights violations committed on Christians there.

According to the U.K. Daily Mail, the pastor and his daughter were abducted after a mob beat and robbed members of the Christian faith.

The Rohingya people are the most visible of the tribes that have been persecuted by the despotic government in Myanmar. For the most part, the Rohingya are Muslim.

However, a small minority are other faiths, including Christian.

In the Bangladesh camp in Cox’s Bazaar, roughly 700,000 of the Rohingya are Muslim, while another 1,500 are Christian.

TRENDING: Biden Snaps After Interviewer Pulls Out Pic of Kid Obama Admin Put in Cage

According to Human Rights Watch, the alleged kidnapping and ransacking happened last month.

“Taher, a Rohingya Christian pastor, and his 14-year-old daughter were abducted from their shelter in a refugee camp in Bangladesh on the morning of January 27. The previous night scores of men attacked 22 Christian families living in Kutupalong Camp 2 in Cox’s Bazaar,” the group reported.

“The attackers beat up residents, vandalized homes, and looted personal property in the sprawling Rohingya refugee camp. At least 12 Rohingya Christian refugees were injured and hospitalized following the attack. A makeshift Christian church and school were also smashed. After the attack the families relocated to a United Nations transit center and filed a police case against 59 alleged assailants.”

“No one can give me any clear information, but my relatives told me that my daughter has been forced to convert to Islam and marry,” Taher’s wife, Roshida, said.

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The attacks were allegedly carried out by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, a semi-Islamist Rohingya ethno-nationalist group that’s reportedly been previously supported, in part, by Pakistan’s powerful intelligence service.

ARSA has denied the attacks and condemned those who carried it out, saying that it hurt the cause for Rohingya rights.

Despite this, the violence was being described by Bangladeshi authorities as an “ordinary law-and-order incident,” according to BenarNews.

The sympathies of camp officials haven’t exactly been aroused, either.

One man told HRW that the camp authorities “try to avoid our queries,” while another said that if the victims wanted to be safe, they should “go to the moon.”

RELATED: China Kicks Christian Persecution Into Overdrive, Attacks on Faithful Skyrocket: Report

“Rohingya Christians have previously reported facing threats and violence in the camps,” HRW reported.

“The UN special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, Yanghee Lee, has expressed her concern for Rohingya Christian refugees who are facing ‘hostility and violence.’ The Bangladesh authorities should urgently locate Taher and his daughter and bring those responsible to justice. The government should also act immediately to protect all vulnerable groups in the country’s refugee camps, including religious minorities like Rohingya Christians.”

That’s unlikely to happen when you consider the Bangladeshi authorities aren’t actually acknowledging this took place at all.

“We haven’t found any evidence of any missing Christian Rohingya,” case investigator Inspector Samir Chandra Sarker told BenarNews. “But we are trying our best to find the missing family.”

Christian families in the camp report this is, to some extent, for lack of trying.

“We haven’t yet found any trace of Taher [and his family],” 28-year-old Christian refugee named Zohar said.

“We reported [their abduction] to police and also informed the camp in charge, but no effective measures were taken.”

The plight of the Rohingya Muslims is truly horrifying and one that the world, quite rightly, has condemned; any kind of ethnic cleansing is rebarbative, particularly the type practiced in Myanmar.

What often gets lost in the shuffle, however, is the persecution of Christians in Myanmar and elsewhere.

Beyond the plight of the Rohingya Christians in Cox’s Bazaar is the persecution of Myanmar’s Chin people, a mostly Christian ethnic group that’s also faced severe persecution and has a large refugee diaspora.

Yes, they’re smaller in number. Have you heard of them? No — and their persecution is just as acute.

It’s not just Myanmar.

In fact, a 2019 Pew Research Center study found that Christians are the most persecuted religious minority in the world.

This is what the media often doesn’t report — the kind of oppression believers in China, Protestants in Eritrea and Catholics in Burkina Faso face.

Talking about those facing subjugation for living out their religious faith should never be impolitic, no matter what faith it is.

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