Take Down the Statues of Robert Byrd

President Trump had it right when, during his press conference on infrastructure he addressed the nonstop questions on Charlottesville, he asked if those obsessed with fears of white nationalism if they would also remove statues and monuments to George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, both slaveowners, in addition to the statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.

Trump’s critics responded that while Washington and Jefferson were slaveowners, they did not go to war to defend slavery. True enough, but also true is the fact that white nationalism had its roots in the Democratic post-Civil War south and that the KKK was founded by Democrats to suppress blacks liberated by the Republican administration of President Abraham Lincoln.

The alt-left movement, which shares the blame along with arguably racist groups such as Black Lives Matter and Antifa, hate America so much that they want to erase all vestiges of American history and throw them down an Orwellian memory hole to be supplanted by alt-left politically correct ideology.

Notice that no one has demanded that statues of former senator and KKK icon Robert Byrd be removed, statues honoring the hard-core former white nationalist whom Hillary Clinton once called her friend and mentor, including one prominently displayed in the West Virginia state capitol:

With the tearing down of confederate statues, removal of confederate flags, and the destruction of anything from America’s past that is controversial or downright deplorable, one statue has managed to escape scrutiny from protesters.

It involves a U.S. Senator from West Virginia. A prominent, highly successful member of the Democrat party. And a mentor to the woman who almost became President of the United States.

He also happens to be a former card-carrying member of the KKK. In fact, he created his own chapter along with 150 of his friends and colleagues.

Where is the outrage and destruction of this statue?

That is former Senator Robert Byrd who was once elected a top officer – the Exalted Cyclops, whatever the hell that is – in the local Klan unit in the early 1940s.

He is a man who once vowed never to fight in the military along with “race mongrels” or “with a negro by my side.”

After his passing, Hillary Clinton eulogized Byrd in a 2010 video in which she called him “my friend and mentor.”

The alt-left seems very selective in its righteous indignation, ignoring the historical record of a Democratic Party which embraced white nationalism, founded the KKK, and honored one of the great bigots of modern times — Robert Byrd.

The alt-left’s historical amnesia omits the fact that it was Senator Robert Byrd, Democrat of West Virginia and former “Grand Kleagle” with the Ku Klux Klan, who holds the distinction of being the only senator to have opposed the only two black nominees to the Supreme Court, Thurgood Marshall and Clarence Thomas, and led a 52-day filibuster against civil rights legislation.

Sen. Al Gore, father of the former vice president, voted against the act, as did Sen. J. William Fulbright, to whom Bill Clinton dedicated a memorial, current senior Senator from South Carolina Ernest Hollings, Sen. Richard Russell and, of course, Sen. Strom Thurmond, who was a Democrat at that time.

Cory Booker, among others, forgets that it was Democrats who unleashed the dogs and turned on the fire hoses on civil rights marchers. It was Democrats who stood in the schoolhouse door and are still standing there by opposing school choice and trapping minority children in failing schools. It was Democrats who blocked the bridge in Selma.

Booker’s amnesia omits the fact that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 would never have been possible without Republican leadership. Not only was that legislation a personal victory for Illinois Republican Sen. Everett Dirksen, then Senate Minority leader, Republicans in both the House and Senate supported the measure in far greater percentages than Democrats. Only six GOP Senators voted against the act, compared with 21 Democrats. The party of Abraham Lincoln beat back the fire hoses and dogs of the party of Robert Byrd.

As one pundit put it, the Democrats should know a lot about Jim Crow laws, since they are the ones who wrote them. Condoleezza Rice, President George W. Bush’s national security advisor, explained at the 2000 GOP national convention why a black college professor would be a Republican:

“The first Republican I knew was my father John Rice. And he is still the Republican I admire the most. My father joined our party because the Democrats in Jim Crow Alabama of 1952 would not register him to vote. The Republicans did. I want you to know that my father has never forgotten that day, and neither have I.”

President Trump has been roundly and unjustly vilified for allegedly not being forceful enough quickly enough in his condemnation of racism in Charlottesville. Compare this to the free pass given to President Barack Hussein Obama after the murder of five Dallas police officers when he used a memorial, not to condemn the racially motivated shooter, but rather racist cops. As the Washington Times reported:

President Obama defended the Black Lives Matter movement Tuesday at a memorial service for five slain Dallas police officers, saying bigotry remains a problem in police departments across the U.S.

While paying tribute to the fallen officers for sacrificing their lives to protect anti-police protesters from a sniper, Mr. Obama also called on law enforcement agencies to root out bias that he said is contributing to violence on the streets of America.

“We have all seen this bigotry in our lives at some point,” Mr. Obama told an audience of about 2,500 at a concert hall in Dallas. “None of us is entirely innocent. No institution is entirely immune. And that includes our police departments. We know this.”

The officers — Michael Smith, Lorne Ahrens, Michael Krol, Brent Thompson and Patrick Zamarripa — were killed during a Black Lives Matter protest Thursday night by a black sniper who told police he targeted white officers….

Fox News commentator Katie Pavlich added: “Worst part of Obama’s lecture about racial bias today? He did it at a memorial for 5 officers who were killed because they were white.”

The alt-left and the media — apologies for being redundant — are attempting to rewrite some history and make us forget the rest. It is the Democrats who are historically the party of white nationalism, a party that honors racist Klan members, and which ignores a sitting president who glosses over a black nationalist out to kill white cops

The alt-left talks of white nationalism but ignores the true character of movements like Black Lives Matter. As the Daily Caller reported and a video showed:

Black Lives Matter protesters marching on the Minnesota state fair on Saturday spewed violent anti-cop rhetoric just hours after a Harris County, Tex. sheriff’s deputy was ambushed and executed at a Houston-area gas station.

“Pigs in a blanket, fry ’em like bacon,” activists with the St. Paul, Minn. branch of Black Lives Matter chanted while marching behind a group of police officers down a highway just south of the state fair grounds.

We saw their bloodlust in New York as “protesters” of police brutality chanted their lust for dead cops. As Heather MacDonald writes in her new book, The War On Cops (Encounter Books, 2016):

In the summer of 2014, as we have seen, a lie overtook significant parts of the country and grew into a kind of mass hysteria. That lie holds that the police pose a mortal threat to black Americans — indeed, that the police are the greatest threat facing black Americans today. Several subsidiary untruths buttress that central myth: that the criminal-justice system is biased against blacks; that there is no such thing as a black underclass; and that crime rates are comparable between blacks and whites, so that disproportionate police action in minority neighborhoods cannot be explained without reference to racism. The poisonous effect of these lies manifested itself in the cold-blooded assassination of two NYPD officers in December that year. The highest reaches of American society promulgated those untruths and participated in the mass hysteria. President Barack Obama, speaking after a grand jury decided not to indict the police officer who fatally shot Michael Brown, declared that blacks were right to believe that the criminal-justice system was often stacked against them. Obama repeated that message as he traveled around the country subsequently. Eric Holder escalated a long-running theme of his tenure as U.S. attorney general: that the police routinely engaged in racial profiling and needed federal intervention to police properly….

Meanwhile, protests and riots against the police were gathering force across the country, all of them steeped in anti-cop vitriol and the ubiquitous lie that “black lives” don’t “matter” to the police. “What do we want? Dead cops,” chanted participants in a New York anti-cop protest….

The racial hatred spawned by the alt-left and the Democrats goes ignored as chants of “white nationalism” drown out the diminishing mantra of “Russia, Russia, Russia”. The racial insensitivity and hypocrisy of Obama, Holder, and the race-based Democratic Party feed off of identity politics.

Think a statue of Robert E. Lee honors white nationalism and racism? Then what, pray tell, does a statue honoring the likes of KKK leader Robert Byrd represent. If one warrants taking down, then so does the other.

Daniel John Sobieski is a freelance writer whose pieces have appeared in Investor’s Business Daily, Human Events, Reason Magazine and the Chicago Sun-Times among other publications.

With the tearing down of confederate statues, removal of confederate flags, and the destruction of anything from America’s past that is controversial or downright deplorable, one statue has managed to escape scrutiny from protesters.

It involves a U.S. Senator from West Virginia. A prominent, highly successful member of the Democrat party. And a mentor to the woman who almost became President of the United States.

He also happens to be a former card-carrying member of the KKK. In fact, he created his own chapter along with 150 of his friends and colleagues.

Where is the outrage and destruction of this statue?

That is former Senator Robert Byrd who was once elected a top officer – the Exalted Cyclops, whatever the hell that is – in the local Klan unit in the early 1940s.

He is a man who once vowed never to fight in the military along with “race mongrels” or “with a negro by my side.”

After his passing, Hillary Clinton eulogized Byrd in a 2010 video in which she called him “my friend and mentor.”

“The first Republican I knew was my father John Rice. And he is still the Republican I admire the most. My father joined our party because the Democrats in Jim Crow Alabama of 1952 would not register him to vote. The Republicans did. I want you to know that my father has never forgotten that day, and neither have I.”

President Obama defended the Black Lives Matter movement Tuesday at a memorial service for five slain Dallas police officers, saying bigotry remains a problem in police departments across the U.S.

While paying tribute to the fallen officers for sacrificing their lives to protect anti-police protesters from a sniper, Mr. Obama also called on law enforcement agencies to root out bias that he said is contributing to violence on the streets of America.

“We have all seen this bigotry in our lives at some point,” Mr. Obama told an audience of about 2,500 at a concert hall in Dallas. “None of us is entirely innocent. No institution is entirely immune. And that includes our police departments. We know this.”

The officers — Michael Smith, Lorne Ahrens, Michael Krol, Brent Thompson and Patrick Zamarripa — were killed during a Black Lives Matter protest Thursday night by a black sniper who told police he targeted white officers….

Fox News commentator Katie Pavlich added: “Worst part of Obama’s lecture about racial bias today? He did it at a memorial for 5 officers who were killed because they were white.”

The alt-left talks of white nationalism but ignores the true character of movements like Black Lives Matter. As the Daily Caller reported and a video showed:

Black Lives Matter protesters marching on the Minnesota state fair on Saturday spewed violent anti-cop rhetoric just hours after a Harris County, Tex. sheriff’s deputy was ambushed and executed at a Houston-area gas station.

“Pigs in a blanket, fry ’em like bacon,” activists with the St. Paul, Minn. branch of Black Lives Matter chanted while marching behind a group of police officers down a highway just south of the state fair grounds.

We saw their bloodlust in New York as “protesters” of police brutality chanted their lust for dead cops. As Heather MacDonald writes in her new book, The War On Cops (Encounter Books, 2016):

In the summer of 2014, as we have seen, a lie overtook significant parts of the country and grew into a kind of mass hysteria. That lie holds that the police pose a mortal threat to black Americans — indeed, that the police are the greatest threat facing black Americans today. Several subsidiary untruths buttress that central myth: that the criminal-justice system is biased against blacks; that there is no such thing as a black underclass; and that crime rates are comparable between blacks and whites, so that disproportionate police action in minority neighborhoods cannot be explained without reference to racism. The poisonous effect of these lies manifested itself in the cold-blooded assassination of two NYPD officers in December that year. The highest reaches of American society promulgated those untruths and participated in the mass hysteria. President Barack Obama, speaking after a grand jury decided not to indict the police officer who fatally shot Michael Brown, declared that blacks were right to believe that the criminal-justice system was often stacked against them. Obama repeated that message as he traveled around the country subsequently. Eric Holder escalated a long-running theme of his tenure as U.S. attorney general: that the police routinely engaged in racial profiling and needed federal intervention to police properly….

Meanwhile, protests and riots against the police were gathering force across the country, all of them steeped in anti-cop vitriol and the ubiquitous lie that “black lives” don’t “matter” to the police. “What do we want? Dead cops,” chanted participants in a New York anti-cop protest….

via American Thinker

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August 17, 2017

Really Chuck? MSNBC’s Todd Aids in Promotion of Antifa Violence

President Trump drew tremendous criticism from the liberal media when he noted that there was violence in Charlottesville, Virginia “on all sides.” But despite its own hammering of the President, MSNBC brought on a staunch supporter of Antifa during MTP Daily to champion their violent approach to stopping opponents, as they displayed in Charlottesville. Host Chuck Todd, a self-proclaimed political referee, offered little to no push back against his violently radical guest.

The MSNBC host welcomed his guest with open arms, asking: “Mark Bray, you are writing this book Antifa, the Anti-Fascist Handbook. Explain this movement and its roots.”

“So anti-fascism goes back to the beginning of the 20th century when leftists of all stripes fought back against Mussolini and Hitler,” Dartmouth “lecturer” Mark Bray claimed. “The main perspective of Antifa is essentially that rather than simply waiting for the threat to materialize, you stop it from the beginning.” He even admitted that what they did in Charlottesville was try to deny a platform.

After confirming that Bray followed the radical beliefs of Antifa, Todd’s next question wasn’t about the legality or morality of using violence to shut down free speech. It was concerning Antifa making the neo-Nazi’s look good. “What do you say to those that are concerned that: ‘Hey, you’re handing — you’re allowing this — these white supremacists to claim victim hood here,’” Todd probed. “What do you say to that criticism since the President is trying to essentially create a false equivalency here?”

Chuck Todd never questioned his guest’s romanticized explanation about what Antifa stood for or their own anti-semitic streak. He failed to do his due diligence and mention that Antifa promoted communism, a bloody ideology responsible for the deaths of roughly 100 million people.

There was also no mention from Todd of the fact that Antifa’s definition of fascism only applies to those they say it applies too, regardless of whether or not they’re actually fascist, a neo-Nazi, or a white nationalist. It often just applies to those who don’t take the liberal position on any particular issue. Their violence was even felt at world economic summits like the G20 where they’ve clashed with police.

Richard Cohen, president of the Southern Poverty Law Center, was the only one on the panel that appeared to find Antifa’s methods abhorrent. “I think fighting fire with fire under the circumstances is going to lead to what we saw in Charlottesville,” Cohen said. “We don’t need the Antifa to come and make a spectacle out of it, to embolden these people. They love it.”

Unbelievably, Todd actually pushed back on Cohen’s criticism of using violence instead of debate. He even made the Antifa argument for his guest: “The historical aspect of fascism has only been defeated with violence. I assume this the argument you’d make, right, Mark?” Cohen seriously had to remind everyone that in the United States people had the freedom of speech:

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These people have a right to espouse their ideas. No one – Hate is not illegal in this country. Hurting people is illegal, and we have first amendment rights and we can’t squelch them by having people show up at rallies with clubs.

The Antifa advocate’s response was chilling as he denounced the First Amendment. “So, I mean, if no one is praising the Weimar Republic for giving Nazis the right to assemble. No one is really lauding that,” Bray said coldly. “And I’d rather have people confronting them than sitting idly. There are no great memoirs written of people who sat idling by and watch Nazism rise to power.”

Todd was unfazed by Bray; only half-heartedly asking if his guest if he was concerned about violence leading to more violence.

Antifa’s fluid definition of fascism, coupled with their love of violence, makes them a legitimate threat to anyone unlucky enough to attract their ire. And now Chuck Todd just gave them a platform to elevate and promote themselves.

Transcript below:

MSNBC
MTP Daily
August 16, 2017
5:40:06 PM Eastern

…

CHUCK TODD: Well, speaking of that fight, let’s go to that issue there. Mark Bray, you are writing this book Antifa, the Anti-Fascist Handbook. Explain this movement and its roots.

MARK: Right. Right. So anti-fascism goes back to the beginning of the 20th century when leftists of all stripes fought back against Mussolini and Hitler. Most people think of Nazism as something that died with WWII, but it really rebranded itself, grew again in a lot of European countries, in the United States.

And so the modern Antifa movement grows out of the 70s and 80s in Great Britain and Germany when a lot of immigrants, when a lot of leftists, punk rockers had to physically defend themselves from neo-Nazi attacks, predominantly through skinheads. And that’s where it grew and that’s where we can trace its lineage from today.

The main perspective of Antifa is essentially that rather than simply waiting for the threat to materialize, you stop it from the beginning. You say no platform for fascism and that’s what we’re seeing with the attempts in Charlottesville and elsewhere.

TODD: I’m curious, first of all, are you an advocate of this sort of confrontation?

BRAY: Yes, I am. Yes.

TODD: What do you say to those that are concerned that: “Hey, you’re handing — you’re allowing this — these white supremacists to claim victimhood here?” What do you say to that criticism since the President is trying to essentially create a false equivalency here?

BRAY: Well, I think there’s two parts of it. One is how does — how do far right movements grow? I say they grow by becoming normalized, by not being confronted, by being able to present themselves as family friendly and respectable. So part of the reason why the alt-right called themselves alt-right is to present that mainstream image.

And the opposition that people showed in Charlottesville really marred and tainted that. So I think that by showing up and confronting it, it prevents the ability of being able to be presented as mainstream and connect to that, I think, really you need to be able to prevent them from being able to organize. People who are involved in politics know that for movements to expand, they need to be able to organize and grow, and if you stop that, it prevents it.

Historically we can see that Nazism and fascism were not stopped by polite dialogue and reasonable debate. It had to be stopped by force and unfortunately, self-defense is necessitated in the context that we’re seeing today.

TODD: Mark, you didn’t see this, but Richard was shaking his head no. Why do you say that is not the right way to confront these white supremacists groups?

RICHARD COHEN: I think fighting fire with fire under the circumstances is going to lead to what we saw in Charlottesville.

…

We don’t need the Antifa to come and make a spectacle out of it, to embolden these people. They love it. That’s why they came with helmets on and shields, because they want to portray themselves as martyrs. They want to portray the white race as being embattled. The idea that we want to encourage the Antifa to come with clubs, you know, in all due respect it seems crazy to me.

TODD: But address Mark’s other point here. Well, mark, you go ahead. I was going to get him to respond to your other point, which is the historical aspect of fascism has only been defeated with violence. I assume this is the argument you’d make, right, Mark?

…

COHEN: Well, I guess what I would say is we have the police, we have law enforcement, and if, you know, if the neo-Nazis act violently, we can depend upon them shut them down. These people have a right to espouse their ideas. No one – Hate is not illegal in this country. Hurting people is illegal, and we have first amendment rights and we can’t squelch them by having people show up at rallies with clubs.

TODD: Mark, I’ll go ahead and give you the last word.

BRAY: So, I mean, if no one is praising the Weimar Republic for giving Nazis the right to assemble. No one is really lauding that. We’re looking back and saying isn’t it unfortunate that this threat was not taken seriously earlier and stamped out before millions of people could be killed. That’s the historical argument that I make. And I’d rather have people confronting them than sitting idly. There are no great memoirs written of people who sat idling by and watch Nazism rise to power.

TODD: Are you at all concerned about the rise violence begets violence begets violence? Mark.

BRAY: Self-defense is important.

…

via NewsBusters – Exposing Liberal Media Bias

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August 17, 2017

Something stinks about Charlottesville

Some shady characters involved here.

via American Thinker Blog

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August 17, 2017

Trump’s Interior Dept. Takes Massive Stand for Memorials at Civil War Battlefield

Politics

Trump’s Interior Dept. Takes Massive Stand for Memorials at Civil War Battlefields

By Martin Lioll
on August 17, 2017 at 5:24am

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President Trump’s Interior Department is apparently refusing to bow to liberal pressure to remove Confederate memorials on Civil War battlefields, with a spokesman saying that commemorating those that died in those conflicts was “an important part of our country’s history.”

In a statement to E&E News Tuesday, Park Service public affairs officer Jeremy Barnum said the Park Service and the Department of the Interior weren’t going to be removing the statues and monuments any time in the near future.

“The National Park Service is committed to safeguarding these memorials while simultaneously educating visitors holistically and objectively about the actions, motivations and causes of the soldiers and states they commemorate,” Barnum said.

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The remarks came after an attack at a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia — which was originally sparked by the removal of a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee — claimed the life of one counter-protester this past weekend. On Monday, in Durham, North Carolina, a crowd of leftists toppled a Confederate war memorial monument.

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke also said he stood behind the president “in uniting our communities and prosecuting the criminals to the fullest extent of the law,” although he wouldn’t comment specifically on statues and monuments.

“The racism, bigotry and hate perpetrated by violent white supremacist groups has no place in America,” Zinke said. “It does not represent what I spent 23 years defending in the United States military and what millions of people around the globe have died for. We must respond to hate with love, unity and justice.”

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In a speech last month, given at the Antietam National Battlefield in Maryland, Zinke said that “history’s important” when pressed about the Confederate monuments on the battlefield.

“What did the Battle of Antietam bring us?” Zinke told a reporter. “One is that it was the deadliest battle in the history of our country, but also one can argue successfully that it also brought us the Emancipation Proclamation. So there’s goodness that came out of this battlefield, but recognizing two sides fought, recognizing the historical significance of a change in our country. I’m an advocate of recognizing history as it is.”

“Don’t rewrite history,” Zinke said. “Understand it for what it is and teach our kids the importance of looking at our magnificent history as a country and why we are what we are.”

Zinke and the Park Service are taking the right tack. Removing monuments dedicated to those who died on the battlefield won’t undo what men like James Fields or the marchers did in Charlottesville. Instead, it will merely erase a history that we desperately need to contextualize for generations to come.

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H/T The Daily Caller

Please like and share on Facebook and Twitter with your thoughts on the Interior Department’s decision.

via Conservative Tribune

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August 17, 2017

Robert E. Lee Was Actually Against Confederate Monuments. Here’s Why.

The latest debate in our polarized society involves whether or not Confederate monuments should be taken down. The Charlottesville protests were centered around protecting a statue of Robert E. Lee. Ironically, Lee was actually against putting up Confederate monuments.

According to Jonathan Horn, a Lee biographer, Lee opposed proposed Confederate memorials as president of Washington College because he thought that they would only open wounds in a country that was in the process of healing after the bloody Civil War.

“As regards the erection of such a monument as is contemplated; my conviction is, that however grateful it would be to the feelings of the South, the attempt in the present condition of the Country, would have the effect of retarding, instead of accelerating its accomplishment; & of continuing, if not adding to, the difficulties under which the Southern people labour,” Lee wrote in an 1866 letter.

That reasoning is akin to his reasons for rebuffing an invite to visit the site of the Gettysburg battle.

“Lee believed countries that erased visible signs of civil war recovered from conflicts quicker,” Horn told PBS. “He was worried that by keeping these symbols alive, it would keep the divisions alive.”

Horn added that Lee likely would have called for his own monument to be taken down, although you’d “have to ask why.”

“He might just want to hide the history, to move on, rather than face these issues,” Horn said.

Lee was also opposed to a memorial to Stonewall Jackson because he didn’t think it would be right to ask for money from the cash-strapped Confederate veteran families.

It’s worth mentioning that, according to PBS, Lee viewed slavery as a blight on the country but he felt that his state, Virginia, had the right to secede from the country.

There are certainly good arguments in favor of upholding Confederate monuments, with the main argument being that it’s important to keep such history, no matter how vile, crystallized so it’s not forgotten. But Lee was right to fear the divisiveness of such memorials, as now it seems they’re being used as political tools to tear apart the country.

Follow Aaron Bandler on Twitter.

via Daily Wire

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August 17, 2017

Gotcha: Dem Congressman Arrested After Sick Anti-Trump Protest

Politics

Gotcha: Dem Congressman Arrested After Sick Anti-Trump Protest

By Martin Lioll
on August 17, 2017 at 10:10am

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Rep. Luis Gutiérrez, an Illinois Democrat known for his outspoken opposition to any form of immigration law enforcement, was arrested along with 30 protesters on Tuesday after an anti-Trump rally outside the White House became disruptive.

According to The Hill, Gutiérrez was part of a rally, marking the fifth anniversary of President Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals legislation, which was taking place in Lafayette Square just across Pennsylvania Avenue from the presidential mansion. However, he and about 30 others were arrested by the U.S. Park Police after sitting down on the White House sidewalk, The Hill reported.

Before his arrest, Gutiérrez said that he was objecting to the fact that DACA benefits were being taken away by the Trump administration “for no good reason.”

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“The same values that I inculcated in my daughters, that my wife and I raised them, (Dreamers) are an example and exemplify them. Their dreams are just like my kids’ dreams,” the congressman said.

The protest also came amid a legal threat by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to sue the federal government if the Trump administration didn’t rescind DACA by Sept. 5. As Red State points out, the Trump administration hasn’t shown much desire to move toward stopping DACA, a program under which 800,000 individuals who arrived in this country illegally in early childhood are protected from deportation.

Another point of contention for protesters is a program called Temporary Protected Status, which allows citizens of countries affected by natural disasters to seek refuge in the United States. According to The Hill, the Trump administration has indicated it might be willing to end TPS for citizens of some nations, particularly El Salvador and Haiti.

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You may not be surprised to learn that this isn’t Gutiérrez’s first rodeo when it comes to being arrested at protests. He was arrested in 2010 and 2011 outside the White House for similar actions, and was led away in handcuffs earlier this year when he refused to leave a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Chicago.

H/T RedFlag News

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August 17, 2017

Oregon Governor Signs Bill Requiring Free Abortions for All

Peter Muhly/AFP/Getty Images

by Dr. Susan Berry17 Aug 20170

17 Aug, 2017
17 Aug, 2017

Oregon Gov. Kate Brown (D) has signed a bill into law that requires all state insurers to provide free abortions to all – including illegal immigrants.

Enacting the law – the first of its kind in the nation – will cost the state $10.2 million, with $500,000 going toward abortions for some 22,900 women eligible for Medicaid in Oregon, reports the Washington Times.

According to the law, Oregon insurers must provide 100 percent coverage for abortions without co-pays or deductibles. Those Medicaid beneficiaries who are covered by the state’s single nonprofit Catholic health insurance provider will still have their abortion costs reimbursed by the state.

“Thank Kate Brown for signing the nation’s most progressive reproductive health bill into law today!” NARAL Pro-Choice Oregon said in a statement.

Oregon just EXPANDED abortion access, taking a firm stand against Trump’s extreme agenda: https://t.co/r9eeY2pikr http://pic.twitter.com/sIIQfLb8lf

— NARAL (@NARAL) August 17, 2017

Gayle Atteberry, executive director of Oregon Right to Life, however, said Brown has solidified her relationship with the abortion industry by signing the bill into law.

“Oregon taxpayers already cover nearly 50 percent of all abortions in the state whether they like it or not,” Atteberry said, according to the Times. “By making abortion free, this percentage will inevitably increase. We also expect more late-term abortions, which are currently very expensive as well as risky to perform. All completely covered by either insurance companies or by the Oregon taxpayers.”

Planned Parenthood assisted in drawing up the legislation that excludes citizenship status as a requirement for Medicaid coverage.

“We are so grateful for the bold leadership of Gov. Brown and legislative champions who understand that Oregonians don’t want reproductive health care attacked,” said Laurel Swerdlow, advocacy director of Planned Parenthood Advocates of Oregon. “Women, transgender and gender-nonconforming individuals, people of color, immigrants and people of faith are not going to silently stand around while politicians in Washington, D.C., try to take away our health care.”

Rep. Bill Post (R), however, said on Facebook, “The saddest day of my life was when I had to vote on this bill, though of course I voted NO, there was no reason to actually run this bill at all. Oregon should be ashamed and embarrassed.”

Nevertheless, states that wish to remove abortion providers, like Planned Parenthood, from its list of Medicaid reimbursements received encouraging news Wednesday as a federal appeals court ruled that Arkansas may block Planned Parenthood’s Medicaid reimbursement funding in response to the release of videos by undercover journalists that exposed the abortion chain’s alleged profiteering from the sales of aborted baby parts.

via Breitbart News

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August 15, 2017

Harrington: Google Doesn’t Want Any Diversity of Thought

Washington Free Beacon reporter Elizabeth Harrington discussed a Google employee who was fired for a memo about the company’s diversity practices, saying Tuesday that Google does not want any "diversity of thought."

Harrington said on Fox News that engineer James Damore was essentially fired for committing a "thought crime." Rather than being anti-diversity, Harrington said, as it was depicted in much of the media coverage, Damore’s memo delved into the biological differences between men and women, the nature of the tech business, and how Google’s diversity initiatives were flawed.

Google’s new diversity vice president put out a statement that the company would continue to be committed to diversity in the wake of Damore’s firing.

"James Damore did not say that he was against diversity. What that statement is saying to me is yes, we want diversity and inclusion of different races, genders, sexual orientation, but they don’t want any diversity of thought, and that’s exactly what James Damore offered," Harrington said. "A different view on this whole discussion of gender and women in STEM, and he offered a different view … Google said no, thank you, we are only on the left."

Damore noted in his writing that he was concerned about Google’s intolerance for conservative views.

"I hope it’s clear that I’m not saying that diversity is bad, that Google or society is 100% fair, that we shouldn’t try to correct for existing biases, or that minorities have the same experience of those in the majority," Damore wrote. "My larger point is that we have an intolerance for ideas and evidence that don’t fit a certain ideology."

Harrington said people who called it an anti-diversity screed did not read it.

"The scary thing is if you’re fired for your thought, for essentially a thought crime at Google, this company knows a lot about all of us … It’s a little creepy at the end of the day if they’re firing and going after people for just their beliefs," she said.

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August 15, 2017

COUP in Works? Carl Bernstein: GOP, Military, Intel Hi-Ups Say POTUS Trump ‘Unfit to Be President’

Former Washington Post reporter Carl Bernstein of Watergate fame posted a three tweet thread Tuesday afternoon claiming “important Republicans” and “high ranking military and intelligence figures” are privately saying President Donald Trump is unfit to serve as president.

Carl Bernstein, image via Twitter avatar

“(1/3) Important Republicans/conservs/Intel-military hi-ups increasingly saying in private that @realDonaldTrump is unfit to be president.”

“(2/3) BC of lack of ethics, competence, ‘temperament/stability.’”

“(3/3)—Reporters should find out how pervasive such talk may be.”

(1/3) Important Republicans/conservs/Intel-military hi-ups increasingly saying in private that @realDonaldTrump is unfit to be president.

— Carl Bernstein (@carlbernstein) August 15, 2017

(2/3) BC of lack of ethics, competence, ‘temperament/stability.’

— Carl Bernstein (@carlbernstein) August 15, 2017

(3/3)—Reporters should find out how pervasive such talk may be.

— Carl Bernstein (@carlbernstein) August 15, 2017

Bernstein is an infrequent user of Twitter, having only posted 43 times in the year since he opened his account.

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August 15, 2017

Activists Urge Timely Action from Tillerson on Efforts to Save Religious Minorities from ISIS

Catholic leaders and key human rights activists said they were encouraged by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s statement Tuesday that ISIS is one of the world’s biggest threats to religious freedom and is responsible for genocide, but added the administration must take action in the next few months to save minority religious groups in Iraq.

The State Department released a much-anticipated annual report on religious freedom Tuesday. In the preface to the report, Tillerson made his clearest statement to date that ISIS’s mass slaughter of Yazidis, Christians and other religious minorities constitutes a genocide and vowed that the Trump administration will make the protection of these groups a "priority."

"ISIS has and continues to target members of multiple religions and ethnicities for rape, kidnapping, enslavement, and death," Tillerson stated in the preface. "ISIS is clearly responsible for genocide against Yazidis, Christians, and Shia Muslims in areas it controlled."

"ISIS is also responsible for crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing directed at these same groups, and in some cases against Sunni Muslims, Kurds, and other minorities," he continued. "The protection of these groups—and others who are targets of violent extremism—remains a human rights priority for the Trump Administration."

Tillerson followed up with a statement he said was aimed at removing "any ambiguity from previous statements or reports by the State Department."

"We will continue working with our regional partners to protect religious minority communities from terrorist attacks and to preserve their cultural heritage," he said.

The religious freedom report assesses the degree of religious freedom in 199 foreign countries and chronicles what the United States is doing to help protect those rights.

Human rights activists and dozens of members of Congress have spent months pressing the Trump administration to firmly declare the ISIS mass murders of ethnic minorities in the region genocide and quickly change the way the U.S. aid is distributed on the ground in Iraq in an effort to save these religious communities from the edge of extinction.

Andrew Walther, vice president of communications for the Knights of Columbus, one of the largest Catholic fraternal organizations in the world, praised Tillerson for his statement and said the survival of these religious minorities now depends on how swiftly the U.S. government can act over the next several months.

"It’s very important that the genocide committed by ISIS continue to be recognized as a serious threat to religious freedom and it continues to be recognized as a genocide, which the secretary clearly has done," Walther said. "The next few months are critical not only to the final defeat of ISIS militarily but also ensuring that their ideology is not successful in removing these minority religious groups."

"If they are defeated militarily but their agenda—their stated purpose [of wiping out other religions]—continues unabated, then even in defeat they would have achieved the ideological win, and a win that will have consequences for generations for pluralism and the makeup of that region that will have worldwide consequences."

The Knights of Columbus have spent years working with the local Catholic archdioceses in Iraq to try to ensure U.S. aid reaches these communities. Christian Iraqis don’t go to refugee camps where U.S. and U.N. aid is distributed out of fear they will be targeted for persecution.

Congress, in several recent appropriations bills, has specifically designated millions of dollars of funds to try to save the groups from extinction, but the State Department has yet to act on those directives.

"There are ways in which these communities have been left out [of U.S. and international efforts to help ISIS victims]," Walther said. "There is a very clear willingness among the political appointees of this administration. It’s just important that it gets executed in a very timely manner."

"Time is not on our side here," he added.

Nina Shea, an international human rights lawyer who directs the Hudson Institute’s Center for Religious Freedom, and other activists recently criticized the State Department, saying it spent months this year removing or preventing the word genocide from being used in official documents or speeches in relation to ISIS persecution of Christians, Yazidis, and other groups in Iraq.

Shea, a former commissioner on the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, has applauded statements Tillerson and others at State have made to try to respond to the criticism and clarify its position on the genocide issue.

She lauded Tillerson on Tuesday for going further than he has before in stating that ISIS is responsible for genocide in Iraq.

"The secretary’s comments are strong and wide-ranging," she said. "He not only clearly designated ISIS’s genocide but spoke to the immediate crisis of defending the targeted religious minorities and also of the need to act to preserve their culture in the aftermath."

"The last is an urgent issue as their numbers dwindle and their spirits flag from marginalization, not only by their own government but by the U.N., from its aid programs," she added.

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