53percenter's Blog

Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) suggests Snopes debunked the claim he “made [a] serious threat to nuke gun-owners.”

On November 16, 2018, Breitbart News reported that Swalwell defended his push for an “assault weapons” ban, saying that if gun owners defied it “the government has nukes.”

The backlash against Swalwell was incredible. leading him to circle back and say he was being “sarcastic” when he talked about nuking gun owners. He mentioned reporter Joe Biggs, against whom the reference to nukes had been made, and said he “sarcastically [pointed] out USA isn’t losing to [Joe Bigg’s] assault weapon.”

Now Swalwell is tweeting about a Snopes “Fact Check” article which he claims clears his name:

Well this should end the faux-outrage from gun groups. @snopes DEBUNKS @DailyCaller and others who claimed I made serious threat to nuke gun-owners.

Let’s move on to what really matters: ensuring our right to be safe is paramount. #EnoughIsEnough https://t.co/nabjYSySmv

— Rep. Eric Swalwell (@RepSwalwell) November 19, 2018

Snopes reported:

In a tweet on 16 November, Swalwell responded to a gun rights enthusiast who said the Democrats’ proposal to confiscate or buy semi-automatic rifles would result in “war” due to resistance from the gun owners, stating “it would be a short war” because “the government has nukes.” They note that he later said he was just making “a joke,” therefore, they suggest it is only partly true to say he intended to nuke U.S. gun owners.

Again, this was the heart of the exchange between Biggs and Swalwell:

And it would be a short war my friend. The government has nukes. Too many of them. But they’re legit. I’m sure if we talked we could find common ground to protect our families and communities.

— Rep. Eric Swalwell (@RepSwalwell) November 16, 2018

If you think about it, nuking U.S. gun owners would be tantamount to simply nuking the U.S. Who would nuke his own country simply to get rid of commonly-owned semiautomatic firearms?

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News, the host of the Breitbart podcast Bullets with AWR Hawkins, and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. Sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.

 

Those who stayed up on election night 2016 remember the images of Hillary Clinton supporters crying and screaming and political commentators claiming that the country was doomed — women and minorities especially.

Celebrities are apparently still dramatizing their feelings over that night for sympathy, as actress Amber Tamblyn did on Sunday at her “Feminist AF” reading at Vulture Fest. Those attending the reading no doubt found her account of post-election night panic horrifying and all too real, while the rest of us sane people hear these kinds of histrionics and roll our eyes.

The Hollywood Reporter (THR) framed Tamblyn’s reading as an “emotional story” about election night. The story was exactly what we’ve come to expect from entitled millennials who turn every feeling into some sort of crime against nature.

Tamblyn read from her upcoming political memoir Era of Ignition: Coming of Age in a Time of Rage and Revolution, which details her “political awakening,” according to THR. She was the last reader of the night, and recalled spending election night with actress America Ferrera and “comedian” Amy Schumer. Singer Katy Perry was also there (obviously, these women face grueling oppression). Tamblyn was pregnant with her daughter at the time, and described her realization that Clinton might not win the presidency.

“I swigged some more Zantac, and my baby shoved her foot into my ribs, as if to foreshadow the pain that was yet to come,” Tamblyn read, according to THR.

She realized Clinton had definitely lost when her campaign chairman, John Podesta, said Clinton wasn’t going to speak to the crowd at Javits Center that night.

“A dark realization swallowed me: I was going to bring a baby into this world. And not just any baby: a girl,” Tamblyn read. She also said she imagined giving her daughter to Canadians or Swedes to protect her from whatever damage she believed President Donald Trump would do to the country (as of this writing, Tamblyn has not given her daughter away for political reasons).

The day after the election, Tamblyn said, she was at a subway station and started experiencing pain and shortness of breath. She said she collapsed, and a “homeless man” offered to cut the umbilical cord if she was going into labor.

It turns out, Tamblyn was just having a self-induced panic attack because her preferred candidate lost.

“How can I keep her safe?” Tamblyn said she asked her doctor about the baby after the attack. Tamblyn said the doctor suggested listening to a one-minute recording each day to remind her of their bond. She then played a one-minute recording of her daughter’s heartbeat for the audience.

The “Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” actress ultimately gave birth to her daughter and still resides in America with her husband, “Arrested Development” actor David Cross.

The migrant caravan from Central America — which President Donald Trump has repeatedly warned about, and which the liberal media have repeatedly dismissed as not a threat — has continued to slowly work its way through Mexico, with the first waves of the thousands-strong group reaching Tijuana on the Mexican-U.S. border in recent days.

Unfortunately for the migrants who arrived in Tijuana, they have found a far less welcoming reception from local residents than they likely were led to believe they’d receive by the caravan organizers.

Indeed, many of the Mexicans who live there are none too pleased about the arrival of the migrants — who largely hail from Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua — and have made sure that the migrants are aware of their great displeasure.

Hundreds of Mexican protesters from Tijuana marched on a shelter set up for the migrants Sunday, with some chanting that they intended to “kick them out,” according to reporter Emily Green in Mexico City:

Anti migrant protestors in Tijuana headed to shelter where 2,000-plus Central America. migrants are taking refuge to “kick them out.” pic.twitter.com/iYURtdFlZN

— Emily Green (@emilytgreen) November 18, 2018

TRENDING: Watch: Crazed Antifa Woman with Purple Hair Punches, Spits at, Tries To Assault #HimToo Activist

Some have attempted to portray the angry Tijuana residents as being “racist” toward the Central American migrants, while others have characterized the anti-migrant protests as a sort of vigilante mob seeking justice — which would indeed be wrong — but that isn’t exactly the case.

NPR reported that the protesters had initially attempted to march on the mayor’s office to demand he take action, but finding that route blocked off by police, shifted their destination toward an old baseball stadium converted by the government into an ad hoc migrant shelter.

The Tijuana residents — many of whom chanted “Tijuana!” and “Mexico!” and sang the Mexican national anthem while flying Mexican flags — also carried numerous signs, reading “Mexico First,” “No Illegals” and “No to the Invasion,” among other choice phrases.

Police managed to block the protesters from reaching the migrant shelter — which reportedly held about 2,500 migrants — and ordered the migrants to stay inside the shelter to avoid provoking any potential conflicts in the streets.

“We want the caravan to go; they are invading us,” 62-year-old protester Patricia Reyes said. “They should have come into Mexico correctly, legally, but they came in like animals.”

Another protester, Magdalena Baltazar, said, “Tijuana is a place that welcomes anyone, but you must have papers, you must identify yourself. We work hard here. We don’t get handouts. The government shouldn’t be giving things to migrants when plenty of Mexicans are in a difficult position.”

As for the mayor of Tijuana himself — Juan Manuel Gastelum — he has loudly stood up for his own citizens amid the arrival of the migrant caravan, and was even spotted wearing a Trump-style red hat that read “Make Tijuana Great Again.”

Gastelum recently said of the caravan to local media, “I would dare say that not all of them are migrants.” He added, “Sure, there are some good people in the caravan, but many are very bad for the city.”

RELATED: If Caravaners Are Fleeing Starvation, Isn’t It Odd This Migrant’s Calling Free Food Slop for ‘Pigs’?

The biggest concern for Gastelum and his “Mexico First”-aligned constituents — aside from the many criminals embedded in the group — is that resources intended for city residents have now been diverted to care for the migrants, most of whom will have to wait for months before they can apply for asylum in the U.S., an application that will also most likely be denied.

In apparent support for Gastelum, President Donald Trump tweeted Sunday, “The Mayor of Tijuana, Mexico, just stated that ‘the City is ill-prepared to handle this many migrants, the backlog could last 6 months.’ Likewise, the U.S. is ill-prepared for this invasion, and will not stand for it. They are causing crime and big problems in Mexico. Go home!”

We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.

But Trump…

Via Daily Star:

After months of talks, the country is set to go ahead with the proposals that will see farms seized without compensation – something critics have said will be devastating.

The country’s president, Cyril Ramaphosa, has been attempting to amend South Africa’s constitution for months, but has been met with stiff opposition.

But now the controversial seizures will become legal after the changes were approved by a parliamentary review committee.

South Africans have spoken loud and clear, and we listened to their cry,” said Lewis Nzimande, the co-chair of the committee.

Critics of the plans have previously warned the land seizures will lead to mass starvation and riots.

Ian Cameron, of South African trade group AfriForum, previously warned: “We’re really heading for a state of anarchy if something doesn’t change drastically.

“I’m convinced this year we’ll see between 21,000 to 22,000 people having been murdered in the past year.”

Keep reading…

HT: Wirecutter

Breathless, unbelievably heartbreaking coverage on the Honduran-centric caravan working its way up through Mexico from Time magazine, Oct. 21:

“Nelson Uribe, 20, told TIME how gangsters murdered his brother and then threatened him for being a witness in the city of Comayagua,” Time reported. “‘I was hiding in my house, terrified to go out. The caravan gave me a chance to leave,’ he said. However, others cite poverty and hunger, especially following recent price hikes. ‘We just can’t afford to live. It was a question of leaving or slowly starving to death,’ said Orisa Fernandez, 40.”

Time magazine didn’t have much, well, time to talk about the problems and externalities caused by the caravan or the precedent it would set, but there was a lot of prose so empurpled I swore I was watching a Colorado Rockies victory parade. (Opening line: “Lining up on the rocky bank of the Suchiate river, which runs along Mexico’s southern border with Guatemala, a thronging crowd from the migrant caravan shouted to their companions squatting on the international bridge…”)

These individuals are starving to death, Time notes. Just don’t expect them to be wholly grateful when they’re given free food.

Deutsche Welle’s Spanish-language service, DW Español, traveled to Tijuana, Mexico. The border city has become ground zero for caravan coverage over the past few days as the first wave of members arrives, and some of the locals were enraged.

TRENDING: Watch: Crazed Antifa Woman with Purple Hair Punches, Spits at, Tries To Assault #HimToo Activist

Upon reviewing this report, The Daily Caller’s Benny Johnson noticed something curious. (Note: The video is in Spanish. The relevant part is translated below.)

Honduran migrant on free food she is receiving in Mexican caravan camp in Tijuana:

“The food that they’re handing out here is terrible.Refried beans? As if they were feeding the pigs.If we don’t eat this, we will die of hunger.”https://t.co/I3MlfpfZxX pic.twitter.com/Dagmhn3iD2

— Benny (@bennyjohnson) November 19, 2018

In one of the segments, DW reporters interviewed caravan members inside migrant camps in the city. A woman complained about the food being given to them, comparing it to slop.

“The truth is, the food that they’re handing out here is terrible,” the unidentified woman said, holding up the container of food.

“Look at what they’re giving us. Refried beans, as if they were feeding the pigs. And the truth is, we don’t have any other options. If we don’t eat this, we will die of hunger.”

OK, first, we must note that this is an incredibly limited sample size. Last we reported on this, roughly 3,000 people had already arrived in Tijuana from the caravan. That makes this officially the opinion of 0.03 percent of the caravan members in Tijuana. Up to 10,000 caravan members are expected, so that sample size is going to be further diluted.

Yes, the food in refugee camps is generally terrible, especially when those refugee camps can’t be planned. Most major cities, no matter what their size, cannot just absorb 10,000 individuals with limited resources. In addition to food, there are concerns over shelter, security, sanitary facilities, those sorts of things.

If fleeing starvation and arriving in Tijuana on a moment’s notice in order to hope the free food to be of a high culinary caliber is your plan A to escape malnutrition, I hesitate to even wonder what plan B was.

RELATED: ‘No Climbers’: Trump Tweets Wall’s Brutally Efficient Upgrade

There is an incongruity here, and I’d just as soon as not point it out, but point it out I will: People dying of starvation with no other options in their home country because of persecution generally aren’t seen making these complaints.

There are several interpretations one can infer from this. I will leave them to you to infer. I will merely say that I tried to give her the ultimate benefit of the doubt here — that all of this woman’s motives in participating in this caravan and asking for asylum were pure in toto — and found it eminently difficult to do so based on this clip.

This is the smallest sample size you can ask for — a solitary woman. As conservatives, it confirms our in-built biases, which means we should be careful into making her a synecdoche for the entire caravan. However, in a pointillistic narrative of the caravan, this is yet another dot of paint that reveals a picture wholly different from the stock narrative.

This was supposed to be a fake political narrative only hypernationalistic conservatives cared about — namely, the Trump administration, which got taken to task by Jim Acosta for even using the word “caravan” in a very, very infamous clip.

To liberals, this interpretation was pure racism against Central and South Americans — except for the residents of Tijuana, who are Mexican and not particularly jazzed over how this has progressed.

This was said to be spontaneous — except for the anti-American Honduran socialist leaders who have openly said they’re behind it. This was all about ordinary people fleeing unbearable conditions and asking for asylum — except for those with criminal backgrounds, and those who admitted they were fleeing because of economic reasons, and those who said they were asking for asylum for other reasons not covered under asylum law.

This, in short, is complicated. We won’t hear that over the next few days. What we’ll hear is stories of heartache, juxtaposed with stock footage of Donald Trump looking angry.

Anger over refried beans doesn’t refute this, but it’s a sign that this — like so many other things in our political life — is messy. It needs to be covered as such.

We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.

On Monday night, actor James Woods went all-in to help save a suicidal veteran who had tweeted that he was going to kill himself. Although the vet deleted his tweets, a look at Woods’ tweets gives a pretty clear idea of the dialogue Woods initiated and Woods’ efforts to help keep the vet talking while Woods launched a search to find him. In the process, Woods showed his empathy by acknowledging that he, too, like most people, had experienced some depression at one time in his life, and encouraged the vet to hold on so that he could be an inspiration to other vets who experience the same feelings.

Woods’ persistence may well have saved the vet’s life. Here’s how events unfolded:

One veteran, moved by Woods’ efforts to save a fellow vet, tweeted his appreciation:

Woods responded:

Then, some possible good news:

USA Today reported:

Maitland Police Public Information Officer Lt. Louis Y. Grindle informed USA TODAY Tuesday morning that authorities were able to reach MacMasters, though his whereabouts are unknown.”Our agency was able to make contact with him by phone earlier this morning, where he advised he was OK but did not wish to have contact with law enforcement,” the emailed statement read. “Our officers are still working to try and physically locate him to determine his well-being.”

Woods’ father, Gail Peyton Woods, was an army intelligence officer. The protean actor’s first film break came in the legendary director Elia Kazan’s 1972 film, “The Visitor,” in which Woods played a Vietnam veteran, a role that was the beginning of his long and storied career.

In September 2017, Woods tweeted, “So long as a single veteran is homeless, I’m only interested in spending tax $$ on the needs of American citizens. After that, we’ll see..”

Stars and Stripes reported in June:

The VA released its newest National Suicide Data Report on Monday, which includes data from 2005 through 2015. Much in the report remained unchanged from two years ago, when the VA reported suicide statistics through 2014. Veteran suicide rates are still higher than the rest of the population, particularly among women.

In both reports, the VA said an average of 20 veterans succumbed to suicide every day. In its newest version, the VA was more specific. The report shows the total is 20.6 suicides every day. Of those, 16.8 were veterans and 3.8 were active-duty servicemembers, guardsmen and reservists, the report states. That amounts to 6,132 veterans and 1,387 servicemembers who died by suicide in one year. The VA’s 2012 report stated 22 veterans succumbed to suicide every day – a number that’s still often cited incorrectly. That number also included active-duty troops, Guard and Reserve, VA Press Secretary Curt Cashour said Wednesday.

Acting VA Secretary Mr. Peter O’Rourke said in June , “Suicide remains a top clinical priority. One life lost to suicide is one too many. Suicide is a serious public health concern in the Veteran population and across all communities nationwide. These data offer important insights to help VA to build effective networks of support, communication and care that reach veterans where they live and thrive.”