Three Federal Officers May Be Permanently Blind Thanks to Portland Rioters

Three federal officers were injured in a Monday night confrontation in Portland, Oregon, and may not recover their vision after rioters shined lasers in their eyes. The confrontation occurred outside the Mark O. Hatfield Federal Courthouse, where over 1,000 protesters were gathered. Federal Protective Service Deputy Director of Operations Richard Cline said in a news…

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Trump Campaign Blasts Biden Over First ‘Racist’ President Smear

Presumptive Democrat presidential nominee former Vice President Joe Biden smeared President Trump as the first ‘racist’ president. Biden made the remarks in a virtual town hall sponsored by the SEIU. Biden has a history of smearing Republicans as racists, telling Black voters in 2012 about Mitt Romney and Republicans, “They’re going to put y’all back in chains.”

“Biden on Trump blaming China: “No Republican president has done this. No Democratic president. We’ve had racists, and they’ve existed, they’ve tried to get elected president. He’s the first one that has. And the way he pits people against one another is all designed to divide.”

Video:

The Trump campaign’s Katrina Pierson issued a blistering statement calling out Biden’s history on race:

TRUMP CAMPAIGN STATEMENT ON JOE BIDEN’S OUTRAGEOUS “RACIST” ATTACK

“This is an insult to the intelligence of Black voters and is really rich coming from a guy who proudly befriended segregationists, touted an award from George Wallace, honored a former Exalted Cyclops of the Ku Klux Klan, worried his kids would grow up in a ‘racial jungle,’ marveled that Barack Obama was ‘articulate’ and ‘clean,’ bragged about being from a slave state, and repeatedly used the n-word.

“President Trump loves all people, works hard to empower all Americans, and is supported by more Black voters than any Republican presidential candidate in modern history. No one should take lectures on racial justice from Joe Biden.”

– Katrina Pierson, Trump 2020 Senior Advisor

Unmentioned in the statement is Biden telling African-Americans, “You ain’t Black” if they support President Trump over him in the November election.

UPDATE: President Trump responded to Biden at Wednesday’s press briefing:

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Informers/Snitches Are Now Called Moderators

Informers/Snitches Are Now Called ModeratorsDuring the communist regimes, informers and snitches on the payroll of the Security Police collected evidence on their neighbors and the “lives of others” they were assigned specifically to follow and report on. They had to work hard for their pay. They worked long and tedious hours, had to file reports, and keep thick dossiers on their subjects. When the Iron Curtain communism went underground to regroup into the neo-Marxism/globalism of today, the archives were opened and citizens were able to petition to see their dossiers. Based on their visibility and place in society, some had entire volumes of data.

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CA City Approves BLM Mural. Then A Citizen Requests MAGA 2020 Mural. BLM Mural Gets Removed.

A California city approved of a resident creating a Black Lives Matter street mural that was painted for Independence Day, but after another resident requested approval to paint a “MAGA 2020” mural nearby, the city decided to power-wash away the BLM mural.

As RedState reported, city leaders in Redwood City approved of Dan Pease painting a “Black Lives Matter” mural on Broadway Street, even giving him the yellow paint to daub the street, according to the Sacramento Bee.

But then real estate attorney Maria Rutenberg made her request: a “MAGA 2020 mural” near the BLM mural.

“I saw [the] ‘Black Lives Matter’ sign appearing on Broadway Street on the asphalt. I figured that’s gonna be a new public space, open for discussion, and I wanted to get my message out, too,” Rutenberg said.

She told KRON4: “Governments cannot and should not get to pick and choose who should be allowed to speak. Now that cities open up asphalts as public forums, everyone with any political message is free to write their own. I, for one, would like to paint MAGA 2020. At a time like this, it’s especially important that we allow free and open political discussion for all sides, not just BLM.”

After deciding to wash away the BLM mural, the city gave their ostensible reason for doing so, saying it was a traffic hazard that might cause accidents, as CBS San Francisco reported.

City spokeswoman Jennifer Yamaguma told The Washington Post,“Staff is concerned about public safety issues that may arise from painting murals on its public streets, which could result in driver confusion and traffic accidents. Thus, the existing mural has been removed from Broadway and no further art installation will be authorized on the City’s streets.”

Pease said, “Because we were using the poster board paint that would eventually deteriorate over time, my understanding from them was that the mural would last as long as the paint lasted.”

He told The Washington Post, “I’m not upset the piece is being taken down because it’s just words on the street. It doesn’t represent real change. What is upsetting and frustrating is someone who disagrees with the thought of Black Lives Matter has the audacity to come out with … a comparable counter punch to Black Lives Matter. That to me is disgusting.”

A petition on Change.org stated that the removal of the BLM mural represented a victory for “white supremacy,” writing, “A local artist recently painted BLACK LIVES MATTER on Broadway … in Redwood City, CA, similar to the large mural in Washington, D.C. Based on a single complaint by a white woman, the City Council unilaterally decided to remove the mural and did so despite receiving numerous requests from the community to keep it. Such negation of the community’s voice is itself an example of white supremacy — privileging one white voice over the community’s.”

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Another Crushing Blow to the Climate Fearmongers

Michael Schellenberger

On his nationally syndicated radio show, conservative commentator Dennis Prager recently interviewed someone most people have never heard of: Michael Schellenberger. A passionate defender of the planet, the 49-year-old environmentalist is shown below in a picture taken in 1995 in Maranhão, Brazil.  

A TIME magazine “Hero of the Environment” and Green Book Award recipient, Schellenberger is a lifelong Democrat and environmental activist. An internationally respected energy expert, he has been asked by Congress to provide objective expert testimony, and was invited by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to serve as an Expert Reviewer of its next Assessment Report. A frequent contributor to The New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal and Scientific American, Schellenberger has been one of the world’s most vocal environmental alarmists for the last 30 years.

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Fact Check: Joe Biden Claims It’s Donald Trump Who Wants to ‘Defund the Police’


CLAIM: Joe Biden claims that it’s President Donald Trump who wants to “defund the police.”

VERDICT: FALSE. In fact, Trump has just announced new funding for law enforcement in troubled cities like Chicago.

Former Vice President Joe Biden has been under attack recently from President Trump over calls by some Democrats to defund (or abolish) the police. Biden says he does not want to “defund” the police, but “redirect’ funding from police to other priorities. As Breitbart News recently demonstrated, “defunding” and “redirecting funds” mean the same thing.

Biden, caught supporting a radical and deeply unpopular policy, tried to turn the tables at a fundraiser Monday evening:

On Tuesday, Biden repeated the claim in an interview with a local television news station, telling an anchor that Trump’s most recent budget (in February) “calls for cutting local funding for police nationally.” But Biden’s claims are false.

President Trump has never suggested that he wants to “defund the police” or undercut local law enforcement functions.

It is not clear how Biden arrived at his figure of “half a billion dollars.” On Tuesday, he said it was closer to $447 billion. It would appear that Biden is referring to several cuts to federal programs in the White House Fiscal Year 2021 budget proposal, which the administration says are obsolete.

The budget was produced before the coronavirus pandemic, and long before the recent nationwide unrest.

The White House proposed the following cuts:

  • $46 million in Transportation and Safety Administration (TSA) grants reimbursing state and local law enforcement for posting officers at airports. The administration argues that state and local governments have largely taken over that role.
  • $59 million in funding for the TSA Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response (VIPR) Teams, which the White House wants to eliminate because it says the program duplicates state and local law enforcement functions for no real reason.
  • $136 million from the Bill Clinton-era COPS Hiring Program, which was originally designed to help state and local law enforcement agencies hire new officers, but which now subsidizes entry-level salaries and benefits. The White House says the program is not “well targeted to achieve public safety outcomes,” and that it only funds one or two officers per agency. The money is to be reallocated to “higher priority” federal law enforcement functions, such as stopping human trafficking.

Together, those cuts are only $241 million.  There is another cut of $244 million to the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP), which helps state and local agencies incarcerate illegal aliens who commit crimes. The White House wants to eliminate that program and to use the money for border enforcement instead, stopping the problem at its source.

Those cuts add up to just under $500 million. They hardly represent major cuts; most of the money will still be spent on law enforcement.

Moreover, the White House budget proposal actually increases funding for other law enforcement functions, such as a $544 million increase to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Overall, the White House proposes that the Department of Justice budget be decreased 2.3%, focusing more resources on higher priority law enforcement functions, given the drop in violent crime in recent years.

The recent unrest has shifted the Trump administration’s focus toward finding ways for federal law enforcement to assist local law enforcement efforts (or compensate for the lack thereof). On Tuesday, as part of Operatio Legend, the President announced a surge of federal law enforcement officers to Chicago, Albuquerque, and other cities struggling with a surge in violent crime in the wake of Black Lives Matter protests and efforts by local politicians to defund or restrain the police.

Biden and the Democrats have responded to the unrest by criticizing police and calling for their functions to be replaced.

The movement to “defund the police,” which Biden’s “redirected” funding reflects, argues that there is something inherently bad about police work that needs to be replaced.

Biden appears to share that view: last month, he blamed police for “escalat[ing] tension” in communities, appearing to blame them for the unrest erupting nationwide.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). His new book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.

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Bernie Sanders Secures Support from Half of Senate Democrats In Bid to Defund the Pentagon


Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) on Wednesday touted securing the support of half of the Senate Democrats for his amendment to defund the Pentagon by 10 percent and invest in “distressed communities” instead.

Sanders’ amendment to cut 10 percent of the Pentagon’s budget to invest in “human needs” gained support from 23 members of the Senate Democrat Caucus — half of the 45 Democrats in the Senate.

The support was not enough to get the amendment passed and part of the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act, but was a show of support from Democrats for defunding the military.

Sanders said in a statement after the vote:

Today, almost half of the members of the Senate Democratic Caucus — 23 Senators — voted to cut Pentagon spending by 10% and invest in human needs. This is far and away the most significant step forward in recent years in addressing our bloated $740 billion military budget and changing our national priorities.

We are going to continue building a political movement which understands that it is far more important to invest in working people, the children, the elderly, and the poor than in spending more on defense than the next 11 nations combined.

Sanders’ amendment was co-sponsored by progressive Sens. Ed Markey (MA), Elizabeth Warren (MA), Jeff Merkley (OR), Ron Wyden (OR), and was endorsed by Senate Democratic Leader Schumer (D-NY).

Sanders also pointed out that a companion bill in the House received 40 percent support from Democrats.

The amendments to defund the Pentagon come on the heels of progressive activists’ calls to “defund the police.”

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) called Sanders’ proposal “unhinged.”

“Today, the Senate will vote on a Democrat amendment to slash defense spending that was advertised in an op-ed titled ‘Defund the Pentagon.’ From defunding the police to defunding the U.S. Armed Forces. Republicans are going to stand firm and defeat this unhinged policy,” he tweeted.

Progressive groups who back Sanders have been pressuring 2020 Democrat presidential nominee Joe Biden to support defunding the Pentagon.

Sanders and Biden recently worked together to unveil a 110-page domestic policy plan. Biden has said he is open to cutting the defense budget, according to the Washington Post.

President Donald Trump has increased the military’s budget during his tenure to help build back the military’s readiness after two decades of ground wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and deep cuts under sequestration.

Sequestration mandated a $500 billion cut from the Pentagon’s budget over 10 years, on top of a $800 billion planned cut during that time. There were further cuts to training and maintenance budgets, which directly affected the safety of troops.

A Military Times investigation showed a spike in aircraft accidents during sequestration.

Follow Breitbart News’s Kristina Wong on Twitter or on Facebook.

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Poisonous Joy: Trump’s ‘Dystopian’ ‘Secret Police’ Are ‘Kidnapping’ ‘Peaceful’ Protesters

For night two of MSNBC’s The ReidOut on Tuesday, host Joy Reid increased the levels of hatred, lies, and venom for law enforcement, the federal government, and people who simply disagree with her into the stratosphere. Most notably, she claimed that federal forces were a “dystopian,” “militaristic-looking,” “secret police” who’ve been “kidnapping” “peaceful” protesters (read: Antifa) in Portland.
Reid predictably spoke with a cartoonishly dismissive tone of violence in major American cities, claiming at the top of her show that such rising crime was a “distraction” and “fictional.”
 
 
And yet, Trump has “sent his federal police force” anyway, “kidded out in camo gear as if they’re a mini army…to suppress” Portland, Oregon “protesters demonstrating against racial injustice.”
Reid built on her mountain of lies with a rank lie that the Portland crowd has been “peaceful” (and a chyron that read “Portland Protests Have Been Mostly Peaceful”):
Now, just for reference, here are some of the protests that we have seen in Portland. A peaceful group of moms gathered to demonstrate. But Trump would have you believe that America’s cities are criminal wastelands and he’s using the trumped up charge to justify what any other country, particularly an authoritarian, would be called the secret police, responsive only to the Dear Leader.
Violence in Portland has ranged for 55 days and amid the property damage has been the police union’s building and a federal courthouse, but Joy wants you to think this wasn’t real. 
And one has to wonder if Reid thought over 60 people shot over the last two weekends in Chicago was humorous and “fictional.” Never forget that this was how she (and others like CNN’s Chris Cuomo and Don Lemon) react to violent crime.
Speaking with Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA), Reid then claimed that the restoration of law and order was “ominous” with Trump’s “militaristic-looking” “secret police” (which was a lie) were using “unmarked” vehicles (also a lie) and “kidnapping people and holding them without….even talking to the local officials.”
Reid added before playing audio of acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf saying his agency will “do our job” to serve and protect Americans was “one of the most chilling pieces of audio that I have heard in a long time.”
Former Attorney General Eric Holder followed Harris and, despite the fact he was previously America’s top law enforcement official, didn’t correct Reid’s conspiracy theories. This time, Reid ruled that the use of federal military or police forces in cities were no longer “a relief to people of color” (click “expand”):
REID: These forces that we are seeing deployed in to the streets of America’s cities, you know, a generation ago, when federal had forces were deployed in to American cities, it was a relief to people of color because it meant that a little girl may get walked in to school or that a James Meredith could be walked into the University of Mississippi, that they were — you know, the calvary was coming. Now, when federal forces are being deployed into America’s cities, it’s to tear gas and abuse people and in some cases just snatch people off the streets without identifying themselves and essentially to kidnap them. It’s a secret police sort of, you know, vibe instead of a cavalry. What do you make of what’s happening right now?
HOLDER: Well, first of all, you know, congratulations on your show. I’m glad that you’re hiring — having me on, hope I’ll be back up many times. I’ll say that with regard to the use of these forces you are right, in the past, my sister-in-law was escorted into the University of Alabama as a result of the federal forces directed by President John Kennedy. That’s the way in which these forces should appropriately be used. To deploy the forces without any coordination with local authorities, without any kind of indication that there’s a request by local authorities for it to be done, I think runs — it puts us in a very dangerous place. You can’t have an administration in Washington, D.C., using federal resources — federal forces to simply enforce the law in states where, or in cities where it thinks that it wants to project force, especially this administration that is making determinations based on things other than the needs of those local communities and so, I think that Mayor Lightfoot, when she said that, she will accept help if it’s done in an appropriate way, but if it’s not, she will fight the deployment of those — of those forces. That’s — I think that’s an appropriate thing for a mayor to do.
After the bottom of the hour, Reid smugly proclaimed Trump might have had “help from…the Russians” to obtain his wealth and become the “rich, malevolent, really racist man” he’s always been after he “squandered the $370 million he inherited from his tax-dodging daddy.” She then flew venom in the faces of those who disagree with her on Black Lives Matter and kneeling:
Just this morning, he was flipping out again at athletes who kneel for Black Lives Matter. He has launched a Bull Connor-style freak out urging and then self-implementing violent policing to shut down Black Lives Matter protests, using his own secret police.
And when Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) told her that the Trump administration was “bringing tyranny and police states throughout the country,” Reid concurred: “Yeah. That’s a word. You — that’s a word.”
The following advertisers were but a sampling of those that made possible (and thus arguably their endorsement of) Reid’s rampant, vicious lies and venom for law enforcement and those who disagree with her: ADT, Chevy, Liberty Mutual, Mr. Clean, ServPro, and Sleep Number. Follow the links to the MRC’s Conservative Fight Back page for more on how you can, yes, fight back.
To see the relevant MSNBC transcript from July 21, click “expand.”
MSNBC’s The ReidOut
July 21, 2020
7:01 p.m. Eastern
JOY REID: But as he shirks responsibility for the very real health crisis, he’s deploying a federal police force to combat a fictional one. Trump sent his federal police force, kidded out in camo gear as if they’re a mini army sent to Portland, Oregon, to suppress protesters demonstrating against racial injustice, acting against the will of the governor and the mayor. Trump’s forces are snatching people off the streets, forcing them into unmarked vans, reportedly without explanation and now Trump is sending — threatening to send those same dystopian federal police to more American cities and distinctly to cities that happen to be run by Democrats.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, I’m going to do something, that I can tell you because we are not going to let New York and Chicago and Philadelphia and Detroit and Baltimore and all of these — Oakland is a mess. We are not going to let this happen in our country, all run by liberal Democrats. [SCREEN WIPE] In Portland, they’ve done a fantastic job, they’ve been there three days and they really have done a fantastic job in a short period of time. No problem they grab them, a lot of people in jail, they are leaders. These are anarchists. These are not protesters.
REID: As The New York Times reports, no president in modern times has threatened to send in federal law enforcement over local opposition. But this administration is assembling more federal forces, drawing from a grab bag of agencies like the TSA, Customs and Border Protection, ICE, and the Coast Guard, according The New York Time [sic]. Now, just for reference, here are some of the protests that we have seen in Portland. A peaceful group of moms gathered to demonstrate. But Trump would have you believe that America’s cities are criminal wastelands and he’s using the trumped up charge to justify what any other country, particularly an authoritarian, would be called the secret police, responsive only to the Dear Leader. Much like the so-called immigrant migrant caravan that he hyped during his 2018 midterms, this is a new distraction. And as Trump’s ominous new campaign ad suggests, it’s also a campaign ploy intended to stoke lawlessness fears among white suburban voters ahead of the election. [INTRODUCES SENATOR KAMALA HARRIS] And Donald Trump named Oakland, California, among the cities that he’s now decided are these lawless nightmare cities that need to have his secret police on hand.
(….)
7:05 p.m. Eastern
REID: You know, it’s — there’s two pieces of it that are ominous,. There’s the secret police aspect of it. These sort of unmarked, you know, militaristic-looking forces that are essentially kidnapping people and holding them without —
SENATOR KAMALA HARRIS (D-CA): Right.
REID: — any, you know, not even talking to the local officials and just doing it over their will. But also the rhetoric that’s coming out of Washington, just on this sort of — I want to play two pieces of sound for you. One of them is Lori Lightfood, the mayor of Chicago, Mayor Lightfoot was on with us last night and this is what she said about the threat of federal forces coming to her city.
CHICAGO MAYOR LORI LIGHTFOOT (D): Our democracy is at stake and I’ll be darned if I’m going to let anybody, even if their name is Mr. President bring those kind of troops to our city and try to take off our residents. That’s not going to happen in Chicago.
REID: And here is what I think is one of the most chilling pieces of audio that I have heard in a long time. This is Chad Wolf. He is the acting secretary of the Department of Homeland Security and this is what he’s saying about how much the Trump administration and he himself respect the authority of people like Mayor Lightfoot.
ACTING DHS SECRETARY CHAD WOLF: And I don’t need invitations by the state, state mayors, or state governors to do our job, we are going to do it whether they like us there or not.
REID: Is that true? Do they have — do the states have any control over whether these federal secret police come into the town and start arresting people?
(….)
7:10 p.m. Eastern
REID: I want to pick up on what we were discussing — what I was discussing with Senator Harris. These forces that we are seeing deployed in to the streets of America’s cities, you know, a generation ago, when federal had forces were deployed in to American cities, it was a relief to people of color because it meant that a little girl may get walked in to school or that a James Meredith could be walked into the University of Mississippi, that they were — you know, the calvary was coming. Now, when federal forces are being deployed into America’s cities, it’s to tear gas and abuse people and in some cases just snatch people off the streets without identifying themselves and essentially to kidnap them. It’s a secret police sort of, you know, vibe instead of a cavalry. What do you make of what’s happening right now?
ERIC HOLDER: Well, first of all, you know, congratulations on your show. I’m glad that you’re hiring — having me on, hope I’ll be back up many times. I’ll say that with regard to the use of these forces you are right, in the past, my sister-in-law was escorted into the University of Alabama as a result of the federal forces directed by President John Kennedy. That’s the way in which these forces should appropriately be used. To deploy the forces without any coordination with local authorities, without any kind of indication that there’s a request by local authorities for it to be done, I think runs — it puts us in a very dangerous place. You can’t have an administration in Washington, D.C., using federal resources — federal forces to simply enforce the law in states where, or in cities where it thinks that it wants to project force, especially this administration that is making determinations based on things other than the needs of those local communities and so, I think that Mayor Lightfoot, when she said that, she will accept help if it’s done in an appropriate way, but if it’s not, she will fight the deployment of those — of those forces. That’s — I think that’s an appropriate thing for a mayor to do.
(….)
7:33 p.m. Eastern
REID: [S]ure, [Donald Trump] starred in, you know, for a time, for a time, what was a hit TV show, where he pretended to be a successful businessman, when in fact, he had squandered the $370 million he inherited from his tax-dodging daddy, and he needed help from Deutsche Bank and maybe the Russians, but I digress. What Trump has always been, for those who were paying attention, was playing was a rich, malevolent, really racist man whose insecurities caused him to crave power and celebrity and to lash at people more successful, more powerful, and smarter than he is. Think Barack Obama. And Trump, as President, always plays to type. Just this morning, he was flipping out again at athletes who kneel for Black Lives Matter. He has launched a Bull Connor-style freak out urging and then self-implementing violent policing to shut down Black Lives Matter protests, using his own secret police.
(….)
7:44 p.m. Eastern
CONGRESSWOMAN AYANNA PRESSLEY (D-MA): Do you know what I wish? I wish that Donald Trump and the administration would invest as many energies and time on developing a national testing and contact tracing strategy as they are in bringing tyranny and police states throughout the country.
REID: Yeah. That’s a word. You — that’s a word.

via NewsBusters – Exposing Liberal Media Bias

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St. Louis Prosecutor’s Office Busted Altering Evidence; Reassembled Non-Operable McCloskey Pistol To Classify As Lethal

St. Louis Prosecutor’s Office Busted Altering Evidence; Reassembled Non-Operable McCloskey Pistol To Classify As Lethal

Tyler Durden

Wed, 07/22/2020 – 17:00

The pistol Patricia McCloskey waved at protesters who broke down a gate to trespass on their private street was a non-operable ‘prop’ used during a lawsuit they were involved in, so a member of Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner’s staff ordered the crime lab to disassemble and reassemble the gun so they could write that it was "readily capable of lethal use" in charging documents filed Monday, according to KSDK5.

In Missouri, police and prosecutors must prove that a weapon is “readily” capable of lethal use when it is used in the type of crime with which the McCloskeys have been charged.

Assistant Circuit Attorney Chris Hinckley ordered crime lab staff members to field strip the handgun and found it had been assembled incorrectly. Specifically, the firing pin spring was put in front of the firing pin, which was backward, and made the gun incapable of firing, according to documents obtained by 5 On Your Side.

Firearms experts then put the gun back together in the correct order and test-fired it, finding that it worked, according to the documents. –KSDK5

According to the report, crime lab workers photographed the disassembly and reassembly of the pistol.

The McCloskeys attorney, Joel Schwartz, told KSDK that the St. Louis couple intentionally misplaced the firing pin on the gun, rendering it inoperable. They turned the pistol in to their former attorney Al Watkins following the incident last month.

"It’s disheartening to learn that a law enforcement agency altered evidence in order to prosecute an innocent member of the community," said Schwartz.

via ZeroHedge News

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Facebook’s Neutral “Fact Checkers” Exposed As Ex-CNN Staffers And Democratic Donors

Facebook’s Neutral "Fact Checkers" Exposed As Ex-CNN Staffers And Democratic Donors

Tyler Durden

Wed, 07/22/2020 – 14:05

Today in news about the radical left-wing censorship machines our social media companies have become, it was exposed this week that Facebook’s fact-checker, Lead Stories, is an outfit that is stocked to the brim with ex-CNN staffers.

The organization presents itself as neutral yet "most of its employees" have donated to the Democratic party, according to RT.  

The National Pulse reached out to Facebook’s fact checkers this week after a story they published about Black Lives Matter was flagged as "partly false" by the platform. This led TNP to "do some digging" on who was behind the smear. 

What they found was stunning: an organization "staffed almost entirely by Democratic donors, half of whom had worked for CNN in the past."

25% of the organization’s employees were recurring Democratic donors and Lead Stories’ founder, Perry Sanders, has donated over $10,000 to Democratic political campaigns – including Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama’s Presidential runs. 

TNP also exposed that "several other writers" had Democratic contributions on their records. For example, one writer named Gita Smith, was listed in "99 separate small-dollar donations" to various Democratic candidates – in addition to contributions to ActBlue.

The org’s editor, Alan Duke, spent nearly three decades with CNN as a reporter and editor and the org’s senior editor, Monte Plott, spent over 10 years with CNN. Five other names at the organization were also found to have worked at CNN as some point. 

Writer Jessica Ravitz spent 10 years with CNN and also spent "nearly four years with the Anti-Defamation League, a self-styled anti-‘hate’ watchdog that spends most of its considerable resources demonizing political voices that deviate from the neoliberal centrist mainstream-media line."

TNP’s investigation followed Lead Stories taking exception with their article titled:  “Black Lives Matter Website, ‘Defund the Police’ Donations Go to ‘Act Blue’, the ‘Biden for President’ Campaign’s Top Source of Donations”.

Facebook posted the story in the "Hoax Alert" section of its website as a result of Lead Stories’ flagging. The fact checked pointed out that "BLM’s donations go through, not to ActBlue, which is a payment processor for Democratic campaigns and not the ultimate source of the Biden campaign’s cash."

TNP corrected the word "to" to "through" but claimed Lead Stories still would not lift the "partly false" flag on its story.

And so it appears to us what we have yet again is a social media platform clearly acting as a publisher yet not having to incur the legal liabilities that come with it. This slippery slope is going to continue – and only get worse, we predict – until at some point it gets even more blindingly obvious than it is now that these Silicon Valley firms are using their power to nudge the country toward the political ideologies they support, rather than providing unbiased "fact-checked" outlets for public discussion.

via ZeroHedge News

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