Federal Government Workers Donating Overwhelmingly to Democrats

Employees who work at federal government agencies are continuing their trend of overwhelmingly donating to Democrats for the 2018 election cycle, records show.

Government workers shunned Donald Trump while giving generously to Hillary Clinton’s campaign during the 2016 presidential cycle, The Hill reported last October.

The publication noted that while Republicans tend to do worse with government workers, Trump received just 5 percent of all federal government donations compared to Mitt Romney’s 14 percent in 2012. Government workers at 14 agencies gave a total of $2 million during the last presidential cycle with $1.9 million—or 95 percent—going to Clinton.

Despite President Trump now occupying the White House, government workers are still overwhelmingly supporting Democrats, according to a review of employee donations at a handful of agencies.

Department of Justice employees have given nearly $30,000 in contributions for the 2018 cycle to date, data that covers contributions of $200 or more from the Center for Responsive Politics shows. Of the $30,000 in contributions, $23,233 (79 percent) was given to Democrats while $4,350 (15 percent) went to Republican campaigns.

The 79 percent of DOJ employees who have given money to Democratic campaigns this cycle has dropped slightly from the 87 percent who gave to Democrats in 2016, the data shows.

Individuals at the U.S. Department of State have given $78,364 for the 2018 cycle with $74,220 of this amount given to Democrats (95 percent) and only $3,965 going to Republicans. In 2016, 93 percent of the donations from employees at the State Department ultimately ended up going to Democrats.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency workers have only contributed $9,848 this cycle, with 87 percent of the donations ($8,609) going to Democrats and 10 percent ($1,000) to Republicans. During the last election cycle, nearly $250,000 was given from EPA employees to Democrats, which constituted 96 percent of contributions from those at the agency.

At the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, a total of $53,547 has been given from its employees for the 2018 cycle. Ninety percent ($47,929) has gone to Democrats while only 6 percent was donated to Republicans ($3,138).

"Government employees are, on balance, more moderate or more liberal as opposed to the general population," David Schultz, a political science professor at Hamline University, told the Hill last year of government worker contributions. "Not across the board, but in general."

Individuals at government agencies are also "more likely to believe in government as opposed to, let’s say, a privatization program," Schultz added, "programs that we would view as hostile to government."

The post Federal Government Workers Donating Overwhelmingly to Democrats appeared first on Washington Free Beacon.

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Roman Theater Uncovered at Base of Jerusalem’s Western Wall

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli archaeologists on Monday announced the discovery of the first known Roman-era theater in Jerusalem’s Old City, a unique structure around 1,800 years old that abuts the Western Wall and may have been built during Roman Emperor Hadrian’s reign.

The edifice’s elegant masonry was found during excavations carried out in the past two years below the Western Wall tunnels, a warren of ancient subterranean passageways running alongside a contested Jerusalem holy site built by King Herod in the first century B.C. The excavations plunged over 6 meters (20 feet) below ground, exposing eight previously uncovered courses of the Temple Mount’s western retaining wall.

Jews consider the Temple Mount the holiest site on earth, while Muslims refer to the walled compound as the Noble Sanctuary and consider it the third holiest after Mecca and Medina. It was the site of two Jewish temples in antiquity — the second renovated and expanded by Herod — and today is home to the Al-Aqsa Mosque and Dome of the Rock.

Joe Uziel, an Israel Antiquities Authority archaeologist heading the dig, said that the theater-like structure is believed to date to the second or third centuries — the period after Rome razed the city in 70 and the Emperor Hadrian rebuilt it in the mid-second century as a Roman colony, Aelia Capitolina.

Ancient historical accounts mentioned the presence of theaters in Roman-era Jerusalem, but until now archaeologists had not found any of the structures.

Uziel speculates that the unfinished semi-circular theater may have been intended to serve as a small odeon, a venue for musical or theatric performances, or a bouleuterion, a place of assembly for the colony’s municipal officials.

It was relatively small, and might have been designed to seat around 200 people. The excavations have exposed the first row of seats, orchestra area, and part of the stage. Wilson’s Arch, part of a monumental causeway leading into the temple that soars above the theater, may have been employed for its acoustic properties.

“One of the amazing things is that because we’re beneath an arch, they would have had the arch to use as their roof,” Uziel said.

What remains unanswered is why the building wasn’t finished.

“After putting in all this effort of building such a grandiose building, what would cause them to stop,” Uziel wondered and suggested that the outbreak of the second Jewish revolt against Rome, from 132-135, could have halted construction and left the theater unfinished.

Zeev Weiss, a Roman archaeologist at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem who wasn’t involved in the excavation, said the discovery of such a central civic building was “a great find.”

Most of the major public structures from Roman Jerusalem — the large theater, forum, basilica and bathhouse — remain undiscovered.

“Hopefully one day those will be found as well,” Weiss said.

Uziel hopes further excavation of the theater will better inform scholars about daily life in Roman Jerusalem in the decades after Jerusalem and its temple were razed.

“I believe that this is one of the indications that also during that period between the Second Temple and between the rise of Christianity, Jerusalem was also an important Roman colony, not just a wasteland, no-man’s land where the legion sat around,” he said.

via Breitbart News

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EPIC! Donald Trump Jr. Trolls Hillary Clinton Using Her Own Words

Donald Trump Jr. is on a roll again!

As previously reported, the Clinton Foundation won’t return one cent of Harvey Weinstein donations to the corrupt foundation.

NOT ONE CENT!

Donald Trump Jr. slammed Hillary Clinton using her own words and it was glorious!

Hillary claimed she was “shocked and appalled” in her carefully crafted statement in response to Harvey Weinstein’s decades of sexual harassment and sexual abuse of young starlets.

Don Jr. responded to the news that the Clinton Foundation will not be returning Weinstein’s $250,000 in donations by tweeting, “I’m shocked and appalled… Ok, ok I’m not shocked at all.”

There is a standing motto with the Clinton Cartel that was first discovered thanks to Wikileaks.

“Take the Money!”

Hillary staffers encouraged each other to take shady donations.
It’s part of the Clinton culture of corruption.

Don Jr. knows exactly how to zing evil Hillary! This is why we love him!

The post EPIC! Donald Trump Jr. Trolls Hillary Clinton Using Her Own Words appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

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Clinton Foundation Pockets Harvey Weinstein’s $250,000 Donation

Clinton Foundation Pockets Harvey Weinstein’s $250,000 Donation

16 Oct, 2017
16 Oct, 2017

The Clinton Foundation will not return or re-donate disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein’s $250,000 worth of contributions to the organization, claiming that the funds have been used.

The foundation told the Daily Mail Sunday that the organization used the $100,000 to $250,000 worth of donations to support women and girls in developing nations and lower the cost of HIV medication, adding that Weinstein’s last contribution to the foundation was in 2014.

Clinton Foundation spokesperson Craig Minassian doubled down on those claims in a tweet Sunday evening, citing that Weinstein’s donations “have been used to help people across the world.”:

The foundation offered this explanation after board member Chelsea Clinton evaded questions from reporters Saturday about whether the Clinton Foundation would return Weinstein’s donations.

Many Democratic politicians and other organizations have pledged to return or re-donate Weinstein’s contributions in light of the growing number of rape accusations.

The Clinton Foundation is no stranger to accepting contributions from donors with questionable reputations, especially those with records of perpetuating violence against women.

In 2006, the foundation accepted a $25,000 donation from Jeffrey Epstein, a convicted sex offender.

The foundation has also accepted millions of dollars from countries with records of violence against women, such as Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

Breitbart News Editor-at-Large Peter Schweizer’s book Clinton Cash exposed a lot of the shady deal-making between the Clinton Foundation’s donors, Bill Clinton’s six-figure speeches, and the U.S. State Department’s actions while Hillary Clinton was secretary of state.

The Clinton Foundation laid off a good chunk of its staffers and closed the Clinton Global Initiative as a result of Schweizer’s book.

via Breitbart News

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Saints players stay on knee during moment of silence for fallen police officer—and fans aren’t happy

What happened?

  • Most New Orleans Saints players took a knee prior to the national anthem at their Sunday home game against the Detroit Lions and then stood for the anthem, just as they did the previous week, ESPN reported.
  • Problem was that players remained in their take-a-knee position during a moment of silence for fallen New Orleans Police Officer Marcus McNeil, 29, who was killed in the line of duty Friday, NOLA.com said.

How did fans react?

  • Fans apparently didn’t like that one bit, and they booed the players, NOLA.com added.
  • Fans then cheered as the players stood for the anthem, NOLA.com said.

Here’s a clip:

What happened to Officer McNeil?

  • McNeil was one of four officers patrolling an area around 12:15 a.m. Friday when they “saw something that aroused their suspicion,” NOPD Superintendent Michael Harrison told NOLA.com in a separate story.
  • When at least one officer exited a police car, a gunman opened fire and struck McNeil several times, the outlet reported.
  • McNeil collapsed at the scene and was pronounced dead at a hospital, NOLA.com said.
  • The gunman was shot several times and later surrendered to a SWAT team, Harrison told the outlet, which reported that the gunman was arrested and is recovering at a hospital.
  • McNeil was sworn in as an officer April 2, 2015, and is survived by his wife and two children, ages 2 and 5, NOLA.com reported.

What did others have to say about the Saints’ kneeling?

via TheBlaze.com – Stories

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NRA Spokeswoman Forced to Move After She Received Death Threats

Dana Loesch / Facebook

Dana Loesch / Facebook

BY:

October 16, 2017 9:55 am

National Rifle Association spokeswoman Dana Loesch announced Sunday on Twitter that her family had been forced to move suddenly after she received multiple death threats from gun control advocates.

Loesch, a conservative commentator and syndicated talk radio host, followed the announcement of her family’s move by condemning the way politically progressive society has treated not just her, but conservative women as a whole.

In the wake of Harvey Weinstein’s sexual misconduct allegations, many women are telling their stories of assault on Twitter, using the hashtag, #MeToo. Loesch used the hashtag to tell her story of how she is being threatened for her views on guns and the Second Amendment.

First, Loesch tweeted out a picture of a number of filled garbage bags piled up as she prepared for the move.

Loesch said it wasn’t just her who was targeted, but her family as well.

Loesch also tweeted about the way conservative women are treated generally in society.

The NRA spokeswoman specifically mentioned people who have praised the victims of Weinstein, yet have criticized conservatives like Loesch who have been treated similarly.

Some, who are at odds with Loesch politically, rose to her defense and called out such threats, including Chelsea Clinton.

via Washington Free Beacon

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Silence of the Republican Lambs

Harvey Weinstein, darling of the left, Mr. Hollywood himself, Democrat fundraiser extraordinaire, an actual “god” to Meryl Streep and other liberal entertainers, falling from grace faster than his pants fell in front of an aspiring actress.

Ginned-up protests, designed to make Trump look bad, to paint him as a racist, white supremacist, the narrative set by the media and their Democrat allies. Tearing down hundred-year-old statues that bothered no one until November 8 when Donald Trump won the election.

Where are the Republicans? Where is the pushback? These events are a wonderful opportunity to explain, to teach, as Rush Limbaugh does on his radio show. Progressive politics and behaviors are on full display, ruining the NFL, lifting the veil off the Hollywood cesspool.

Recall the “hand up don’t shoot” hoax, bought hook, line and sinker by the media, President Obama, and Congressional Democrats, who wasted no time in seizing the moral high ground, posing in Congress and for the cameras with their hands up. Their high ground turned out to be quicksand, but that didn’t stop them.

I’m not suggesting that Republicans engage in silly theater or stunts like their Democrat brethren do, but their silence is deafening. Where are former presidential candidates Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio? I’ve heard little from them over the past year. It’s safe to assume that they will be taking another run for the White House after President Trump’s second term.

Any other Congressional Republicans want to chime in? Or other prominent Republicans such as Mitt Romney, Jeb Bush, John Kasich, Scott Walker, and others who could be speaking out as Hillary Clinton does. Despite all the preening, moralizing, and virtue signaling, Hollywood is a trash bin of bad behavior and hypocrisy. Those who claim to be for women’s rights prefer to degrade and abuse women. Or stand by and say nothing until the pile-on is well underway and it’s politically safe to tweet a bit of outrage. These are the real deplorables.

Ditto the NFL, which has become the sports branch of Hollywood. What a golden opportunity for Republicans to rightly take the moral high ground and condemn trashy behavior.

Big media, part of the left-wing establishment, has joined the progressive deplorables. Whether the New York Times sitting on the Harvey Weinstein story for over a decade, or NBC refusing to run Ronan Farrow’s Weinstein exposé. Then the daily barrage of fake news from CNN and the other alphabet networks claiming falsely that President Trump wants to increase our nuclear arsenal ten-fold or that his cabinet is on the verge of removing him from office via the 25th Amendment. Why is it only Trump calling out fake news?

This is a perfect chance for Republicans to speak out, to push back. Public opinion is on their side. Democrats keep losing elections at the national, state, and local levels. Four of the five most polarizing brands in the U.S. are CNN, NY Times, NBC News and MSNBC. A George Soros funded study found that Trump voters feel, “disconnected and disrupted by the conflation of economic and cultural change.” And that they “feel muzzled” by politically-correct dogma. These are winning issues for Trump. And for Republicans, if they choose to speak out about it.

Why are Republicans silent? Why are they not on the capitol steps speaking out as Democrats do at any perceived slight to their liberal agenda?

The Democrats never let a crisis go to waste. They find the TV cameras and microphones, making their case against their political opponents. What to Republicans do? Nothing. They remain silent. If you don’t stand for something, you stand for nothing.

Why is it only President Trump speaking up, aside from a few talk radio and Fox News hosts? Where are the elected Republicans? Adam Schiff and Maxine Waters are on TV far more than Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz. Why are they silent?

Do they secretly support liberal causes? Or is their dislike of President Trump so intense that they are willing to squander their once-in-a-lifetime electoral majorities over petty grudges?

Nine months into Trump’s presidency and ObamaCare is still the law of the land. Congress struck out three times trying to repeal it. Inning over. Tax cuts don’t look like they are faring any better. Judges are being held up by the Republicans over arcane rules that they refuse to push through.

Now Trump is at bat, swinging the axe at ObamaCare through his recent executive order, decertifying the Iran deal, putting the ball back in the lap of Congress, which means little will happen. Republicans grimace and whine but still they do nothing.

Trump, as a party of one, along with 63 million supporters, will do his best to carry out his campaign promises. The 2018 midterms are just a year away, a potential bloodbath for do-nothing Republicans. They will either be sent packing in the primaries as Steve Bannon is pushing for, or ignored on election day as frustrated Republican voters stay home.

At some point, we ask why even have a legislative branch of government. Totally bought and paid for by the donor class, unable to pass meaningful legislation, devoid of any fiscal responsibility or restraint, they have abdicated relevance of their branch of government. Congress is nothing but a retirement home with, to borrow Kim Jong-un’s description, a bunch of doddering do-nothings, some of whom are taking Alzheimer’s medications. And so opportunities are squandered.

Get out in front of the culture war. Pound the left on the issues Republicans always talk about when campaigning, but are now silent about. Advance the President’s agenda, the same one they supported when running for reelection and chosen by the 63 million Americans who voted for the same last November.

The silence of the Republican lambs is deafening. As I’ve written in these pages, why vote Republican? As they say in Texas, all hat and no cattle. Thankfully President Trump wears the hat and has the cattle to advance his agenda, even without the support of a political party.

Brian C Joondeph, MD, MPS, a Denver based physician and writer. Follow him on Facebook,  LinkedIn and Twitter

America’s culture war is on full display and the left is losing badly. Public opinion is not on the side of left-wing social justice causes and moral preening. Where to begin?

NFL players disrespecting law enforcement and the national anthem, kneeling or sitting to protest “oppression” and “injustice.” Ratings are down and the NFL is now one of the most divisive brands in the U.S. Not a winning business formula.

Harvey Weinstein, darling of the left, Mr. Hollywood himself, Democrat fundraiser extraordinaire, an actual “god” to Meryl Streep and other liberal entertainers, falling from grace faster than his pants fell in front of an aspiring actress.

Ginned-up protests, designed to make Trump look bad, to paint him as a racist, white supremacist, the narrative set by the media and their Democrat allies. Tearing down hundred-year-old statues that bothered no one until November 8 when Donald Trump won the election.

Where are the Republicans? Where is the pushback? These events are a wonderful opportunity to explain, to teach, as Rush Limbaugh does on his radio show. Progressive politics and behaviors are on full display, ruining the NFL, lifting the veil off the Hollywood cesspool.

Recall the “hand up don’t shoot” hoax, bought hook, line and sinker by the media, President Obama, and Congressional Democrats, who wasted no time in seizing the moral high ground, posing in Congress and for the cameras with their hands up. Their high ground turned out to be quicksand, but that didn’t stop them.

I’m not suggesting that Republicans engage in silly theater or stunts like their Democrat brethren do, but their silence is deafening. Where are former presidential candidates Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio? I’ve heard little from them over the past year. It’s safe to assume that they will be taking another run for the White House after President Trump’s second term.

Any other Congressional Republicans want to chime in? Or other prominent Republicans such as Mitt Romney, Jeb Bush, John Kasich, Scott Walker, and others who could be speaking out as Hillary Clinton does. Despite all the preening, moralizing, and virtue signaling, Hollywood is a trash bin of bad behavior and hypocrisy. Those who claim to be for women’s rights prefer to degrade and abuse women. Or stand by and say nothing until the pile-on is well underway and it’s politically safe to tweet a bit of outrage. These are the real deplorables.

Ditto the NFL, which has become the sports branch of Hollywood. What a golden opportunity for Republicans to rightly take the moral high ground and condemn trashy behavior.

Big media, part of the left-wing establishment, has joined the progressive deplorables. Whether the New York Times sitting on the Harvey Weinstein story for over a decade, or NBC refusing to run Ronan Farrow’s Weinstein exposé. Then the daily barrage of fake news from CNN and the other alphabet networks claiming falsely that President Trump wants to increase our nuclear arsenal ten-fold or that his cabinet is on the verge of removing him from office via the 25th Amendment. Why is it only Trump calling out fake news?

This is a perfect chance for Republicans to speak out, to push back. Public opinion is on their side. Democrats keep losing elections at the national, state, and local levels. Four of the five most polarizing brands in the U.S. are CNN, NY Times, NBC News and MSNBC. A George Soros funded study found that Trump voters feel, “disconnected and disrupted by the conflation of economic and cultural change.” And that they “feel muzzled” by politically-correct dogma. These are winning issues for Trump. And for Republicans, if they choose to speak out about it.

Why are Republicans silent? Why are they not on the capitol steps speaking out as Democrats do at any perceived slight to their liberal agenda?

The Democrats never let a crisis go to waste. They find the TV cameras and microphones, making their case against their political opponents. What to Republicans do? Nothing. They remain silent. If you don’t stand for something, you stand for nothing.

Why is it only President Trump speaking up, aside from a few talk radio and Fox News hosts? Where are the elected Republicans? Adam Schiff and Maxine Waters are on TV far more than Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz. Why are they silent?

Do they secretly support liberal causes? Or is their dislike of President Trump so intense that they are willing to squander their once-in-a-lifetime electoral majorities over petty grudges?

Nine months into Trump’s presidency and ObamaCare is still the law of the land. Congress struck out three times trying to repeal it. Inning over. Tax cuts don’t look like they are faring any better. Judges are being held up by the Republicans over arcane rules that they refuse to push through.

Now Trump is at bat, swinging the axe at ObamaCare through his recent executive order, decertifying the Iran deal, putting the ball back in the lap of Congress, which means little will happen. Republicans grimace and whine but still they do nothing.

Trump, as a party of one, along with 63 million supporters, will do his best to carry out his campaign promises. The 2018 midterms are just a year away, a potential bloodbath for do-nothing Republicans. They will either be sent packing in the primaries as Steve Bannon is pushing for, or ignored on election day as frustrated Republican voters stay home.

At some point, we ask why even have a legislative branch of government. Totally bought and paid for by the donor class, unable to pass meaningful legislation, devoid of any fiscal responsibility or restraint, they have abdicated relevance of their branch of government. Congress is nothing but a retirement home with, to borrow Kim Jong-un’s description, a bunch of doddering do-nothings, some of whom are taking Alzheimer’s medications. And so opportunities are squandered.

Get out in front of the culture war. Pound the left on the issues Republicans always talk about when campaigning, but are now silent about. Advance the President’s agenda, the same one they supported when running for reelection and chosen by the 63 million Americans who voted for the same last November.

The silence of the Republican lambs is deafening. As I’ve written in these pages, why vote Republican? As they say in Texas, all hat and no cattle. Thankfully President Trump wears the hat and has the cattle to advance his agenda, even without the support of a political party.

Brian C Joondeph, MD, MPS, a Denver based physician and writer. Follow him on Facebook,  LinkedIn and Twitter

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Chaffetz: I Don’t See the Case for Keeping McConnell as Majority Leader

Former GOP congressman Jason Chaffetz said on Fox News Monday that it was hard to see the case to keep Sen. Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) as Majority Leader in the wake of struggles to pass Republican agenda items.

"Does Mitch need to go?" Fox News host Doocy asked.

"Again, I don’t know what the case is to keep him," Chaffetz said. "With all due respect, he’s a very nice gentleman. He’s very accomplished. But you’ve got to actually produce things, and they haven’t been able to do that.

Relations between McConnell and President Donald Trump have been tense since the failure of Republicans to repeal and replace Obamacare this summer; at one point, the two had a reported shouting match over the phone. A number of conservative organizations called on McConnell last week to "step aside."

Trump and McConnell are scheduled to meet Monday on tax reform, the budget, and judicial nominees, and Doocy asked Chaffetz to discuss their fraught relationship.

"When the team isn’t performing well and putting wins up on the board, a lot of people on that team want to see a change in the coach," Chaffetz said of calls for McConnell’s ouster.

Chaffetz didn’t give McConnell credit for helping ensure the confirmation of Supreme Court justice Neil Gorsuch, Trump’s principal accomplishment to date. People are looking at Congress, Chaffetz said, and wondering where the tax reform bill is and why the Obamacare repeal failed.

 

Chaffetz became a Fox News contributor this year after stepping down from his Utah congressional seat.

The post Chaffetz: I Don’t See the Case for Keeping McConnell as Majority Leader appeared first on Washington Free Beacon.

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AP Lingo Police: Use ‘Gender Confirmation’ Surgery for Sex Change, Avoid ‘Born a Boy or Girl’

Our longtime colleague Ken Shepherd at the Washington Times reported the AP Stylebook team are re-jiggering their politically correct terminology again on the transgender issues. They call themselves “the journalist’s bible.” They took to their @APStylebook Twitter page on Tuesday to offer an update.  

First, “Use transgender for people whose gender identity doesn’t match the sex or gender they were identified as having at birth.” Then, let people forget someone switched genders if possible.

“Call people transgender only if relevant; give the name they use publicly; avoid references to being born a boy or girl,” wrote @APStylebook during the interactive Twitter session. 

The wire agency then urged writers to “[a]void transgendered or transsexual; don’t call someone a transgender; trans is OK on second reference and in headlines.”

In a subsequent tweet, the AP prescribed the terminology to be used to refer to an individual’s medical procedures for transitioning: “For medical procedures often but not always used for a transition, say sex reassignment or gender confirmation.”

They added for emphasis: “This usage of gender confirmation is new to the gender entry on Stylebook Online today.”

Calling genital mutilation a “gender confirmation” is purely Orwellian language. Once again, AP is all about bowing to the “social identity” lobbyists. “Avoid references to being born a boy or girl” is basically telling reporters “avoid inconvenient facts when convenient fictions are preferred.” 

In March, the AP cited “leading medical organizations” as their authorities that gender is now a “social identity,” not what you look down and see, and they implied these medical experts see a gender blur or spectrum, not two genders. “Not all people fall under one of two categories for sex or gender, according to leading medical organizations, so avoid references to both, either or opposite sexes or genders as a way to encompass all people.”

The AP is also bending on using “they” and “them” to refer to one gender-confused person who insists on identifying as a plural. In March, they felt avoiding this usage was “preferable” to insure “clarity.” But the position is melting. Now it’s “They/them/there [sic] is OK in limited cases as a singular and/or gender-neutral pronoun; do not use other neutral pronouns like ze.”

When they were asked by one reader, “Why are neutral pronouns like ze/zir not OK?”, @APStylebook professed a willingness to shift with the cultural winds: “For broad audiences, it’s best to use terms with which people are most familiar. We are open to revisiting if usage increases.”

For people who dislike these terms, AP also added that the use of “homophobia” is fine when describing conservatives: “Homophobia is acceptable in broad references and quotes. When describing individuals’ actions, use more specific language.”

via NewsBusters – Exposing Liberal Media Bias

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Police announce another Las Vegas shooting timeline update that adds major twist to investigation

Las Vegas investigators have once again revised the timeline of the Oct. 1 Las Vegas shooting, which took the lives of nearly five dozen people and injured more than 500 others.

What do police say now?

Clark County Sheriff Joseph Lombardo said Friday investigators now believe the shooter, Stephen Paddock, shot and injured a Mandalay Bay security guard, Jesus Campos, around the same time he opened fire on concert-goers at a country music festival on the Las Vegas strip, according to the New York Times.

It wasn’t clear whether Paddock was already firing on the crowd when he turned and shot at Campos or if he shot him and then turned on the crowd. Paddock had cameras in and around his room so he could monitor police activity.

Police last changed the timeline on Monday, saying that Paddock shot Campos at 9:59 p.m. before opening fire on the crowd at 10:05 p.m. They originally said Campos was shot after Paddock finished firing at the crowd.

Why did they change the timeline again?

Police altered the shooting’s timeline after MGM Resorts, the company that owns the Mandalay Bay, publicly disputed the updated timeline and said they did not believe the revised timeline was correct.

Instead, MGM said the 9:59 p.m. report was “manually created after the fact” and not accurate.

“We know that shots were being fired at the festival lot at the same time as, or within 40 seconds after, the time Jesus Campos first reported that shots were fired over the radio,” MGM said in a statement on Thursday. Lombardo corroborated this on Friday.

Why is MGM defending themselves so earnestly?

MGM’s response will come under scrutiny as lawsuits are prepared. So, the company wants to position themselves as doing everything in their power negate any possible liability. From NBC News:

How exactly the carnage developed remains in the center of the dispute between MGM and the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department.

The casino hotel’s liability — and when it may have first alerted police to the shooting — is coming under question as potential lawsuits are prepared. The first such lawsuit was filed Wednesday by a shooting survivor against MGM, as well as the concert promoter and the manufacturer of so-called bump stocks, the rapid-fire gun modifications purchased by Paddock.

The two remaining major questions:

  1. What was Paddock’s motive? Two possible motives have so far been revealed: an undiagnosed mental illness and Islamic terrorism. Both are unconfirmed.
  2. Why did Paddock stop shooting when he did? It was more than an hour between his last shot and when SWAT teams breached his hotel door.

via TheBlaze.com – Stories

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