Somehow I don’t think the Intelligence Committee will have time to get around to investigating this one, what with all of the Ukraine stuff going on, but you never know.
Donald Trump gets blamed for all manner of things by the mainstream media (and their friends in the Democratic Party). Global warming, children in cages and the general decline and fall of civilization are all things he’s typically held responsible for. But this weekend a new “scandal” was tossed onto the pile. The President is apparently the reason that Colin Kaepernick doesn’t have a job as a starting quarterback in the NFL this year. This showed up last night at Yahoo News.
ESPN analyst Stephen A. Smith explained on Hot 97’s Ebro in the Morning that team owners could potentially lose billions of dollars in revenue if they went against Trump, who has been vocal in his hatred of Kaepernick. The NFL is currently trying to get gambling legalized, and that requires the thumbs up from the President and Congress.
“Well, what was going on on Capitol Hill is that the owners, the NFL owners were trying to get involved with that, where they were trying to get a percentage of the bets and all of this other stuff that was going on. So what happens is, we’re talking billions. Well, guess what? In order for that to happen, you need Congress to sign off on it and you need the President to sign off on it. What you don’t need is the President turning his attention towards you and going against you just because he doesn’t like you.”
In case you’re wondering where this latest flap originated, it all appears to have stemmed from one article at an outlet called Pop Culture. And what was their source for this exclusive, breaking news story? A radio interview with an ESPN sports analyst.
Stephen A. Smith is saying that the President holds a lot of influence with the NFL franchise owners. (Possibly true in some cases, but there’s not a lot of intersection there.) From that starting point, he launches into a story about how the NFL wants to see sports gambling further legalized so the league can pick up a big cut of that action. This is also not really in doubt. They’ve been pushing the idea for a while now.
From there, Smith goes on to claim that Trump probably let the owners know if any of them hired Kaepernick he’d be “angry” with them. And if the President is angry, he might not agree to sign off on any deal that would let the legalized gambling move forward.
What evidence does the ESPN analyst offer to show that this actually happened? None. Zero. Zilch. Nada. It’s just a “feeling” that he has. The claim is described as something that Smith “believes.” The social media uproar that followed all quoted him as “suggesting” or “hinting” that this happened.
This is extraordinarily obvious. Every NFL owner knows that if they allow Kap on their team they are going to be excoriated by Trump.
And yet not one shred of evidence has been offered. But hey, who needs evidence of anything in 2019?
There is no movement on further gambling legislation that would benefit the NFL currently in danger of being sent to the President’s desk. There’s not much indication that he even pays any attention to football except where the players do things that intersect with cultural politics and then he rants about it for a while on Twitter. Trump picks on Kaepernick because he’s become something of a cultural touchstone on the right.
Meanwhile, Kaepernick finished his last pro season with a rather mediocre record and there were a lot of seasoned, experienced quarterbacks available out there, along with some highly anticipated rookies. Was he good enough to land a position somewhere? Probably. But as I’ve stated here countless times, there is an unofficial but very real rule in the NFL. The amount of crap your team is willing to put up with regarding your off-field antics is directly proportional to how likely they believe you are to get them to the Super Bowl. (That’s why Antonio Brown still had a job at the beginning of the season. The guy creates endless horrible headlines but he’s a yardage machine.) Kaepernick came out on the losing end of that calculation and that’s why he’s watching the season from home.
Thousands of people in Hong Kong took the streets on Saturday and Sunday, the 16th weekend of rolling protests against the Chinese communist regime and the last before the Communist Party celebrates its 70th anniversary on Tuesday.
Peaceful marches throughout the day – with a “global” theme featuring protesters waving the flags of dozens of nations that have expressed support for their movement – gave way to violence in the evening as police shot tear gas, water cannons, rubber bullets, and, in one case, live gunfire at the protesters. In response, a small group of protesters responded by hurling Molotov cocktails and bricks at police. Flaming barricades appeared throughout the city to keep police at bay.
The Hong Kong Foreign Press (HKFP), citing police and hospital officials, reported on Monday that the violence has resulted in 48 people being hospitalized, one of them a woman described as being in “serious condition.” Police arrested over 100 people.
While no official estimates of the number of people attending these marches is currently available – and likely will never be for Sunday’s given that police did not grant a permit for it – estimates suggest that the number of people taking the streets on Saturday rose to the hundreds of thousands, while several thousands braved the streets on Sunday to call for an end to Chinese repression of Hong Kong.
The weekend began with a peaceful march on Saturday to observe the fifth anniversary of the 2014 Umbrella Movement, a pro-democracy wave of protests against China ultimately subdued by arrests and the use of surveillance technology to silence dissidents. Protesters managed to obtain a permit for Saturday’s march, but not Sunday’s. Despite this, thousands also took the streets on Sunday, urging the world this time to ensure that the 70th year of communist rule in China would be the last.
The Hong Kong protest movement that emerged in June has issued five demands of its government. Chief Executive Carrie Lam has granted one of them: the withdrawal of a proposed law that would have allowed China to extradite any individual present in the city if accused of violating communist law.
The protesters have not dropped their other four demands: freedom for political prisoners, an independent investigation into police brutality, an end to calling the peaceful protests “riots,” and direct election of all lawmakers. Currently, Hong Kong residents are only allowed to elect half of their Legislative Council, the other half appointed by a shady coalition of special interests controlled by China.
Hong Kong is part of China under a policy called “One Country, Two Systems,” which denies Hong Kong sovereignty in exchange for Beijing not imposing communism or restricting its traditional democracy. The protesters contend that China has violated the principle of “One Country, Two Systems,” and has revealed a desire to fully annex Hong Kong through policies like the extradition bill.
The “illegal” protest Sunday also directly targeted the Chinese Communist Party given the upcoming anniversary. Protesters waved Chinese flags with X marked on them, trampled images of Chinese dictator Xi Jinping, and used swastikas and other Nazi imagery to convey the gravity of the threat China poses to the world.
Thousands of people hold an unsanctioned march through the streets of Hong Kong on September 29, 2019, part a coordinated day of global protests aimed at casting a shadow over communist China’s upcoming 70th birthday. (MOHD RASFAN/AFP/Getty Images)
Thousands of people hold an unsanctioned protest march through the streets of Hong Kong on September 29, 2019. (ISAAC LAWRENCE/AFP/Getty Images)
A protester steps on an image of China’s “President” Xi Jinping during an unsanctioned march through the streets of Hong Kong on September 29, 2019, part a coordinated day of global protests aimed at casting a shadow over communist China’s upcoming 70th birthday. (NICOLAS ASFOURI/AFP/Getty Images)
In addition to raising the four remaining demands, protesters called for the world to intervene in Xinjiang, western China, where the communists have built thousands of concentration camps holding 1 to 3 million people, mostly Muslims of the Uighur ethnic minority. Beijing claims the camps are “vocational centers” where Uighurs learn job skills; survivors say they face indoctrination, torture, murder, slavery and live organ harvesting.
“They are treating the Uighurs very inhumanely. They are put in concentration camps,” an unnamed Hong Kong protester told the Los Angeles Times. “These actions should not be tolerated in the world right now. But they are letting it happen.”
Graffiti throughout Hong Kong urged support for the Uighurs in addition to the Hong Kong democracy movement.
Cleaners try to remove graffiti put up by protesters in Hong Kong on September 30, 2019, a day after the protest-wracked financial hub witnessed its fiercest political violence in weeks. (RICHARD A. BROOKS/AFP/Getty Images)
Police cracked down heavily on Sunday’s protest, first with liberal use of tear gas against peaceful protests, then eventually with gunfire. Police officials confirmed that one officer fired “one warning shot” on Sunday because protesters had placed the lives of police “under serious threat.”
Women run covering their mouths after police fired tear gas to disperse pro-democracy protesters ahead of a march on September 29, 2019, in Hong Kong. (Chris McGrath/Getty Images)
Hong Kong police fire tear gas toward protesters taking part in an unsanctioned march through the streets of Hong Kong on September 29, 2019, part a coordinated day of global protests aimed at casting a shadow over communist China’s upcoming 70th birthday. (NICOLAS ASFOURI/AFP/Getty Images)
Police assaulted at least one Hong Kong lawmaker, pro-democracy legislator Eddie Chu, when Chu attempted to approach police and discuss their strongarm tactics. One officer reportedly attempted to hand Chu water and faced threats to stand down from his peers. In a press conference Monday, Chu said the officers who attacked him were illegally operating without displaying proper identification, making it impossible to identify and punish the officer for his use of violence.
The officer’s face is visible on video shared online through the Hong Kong newspaper Apple Daily.
Journalists and activists alike captured images of extreme police abuse in response to the peaceful march. Protesters wearing gas masks and goggles – a necessity after police shot a woman in the eye in August – were seen bleeding on the streets in police custody. In one shocking image to emerge from the protests, police appear to be using a protester strapped to a cot as a gun mount.
Hong Kong police detain a woman (C) near the central government offices after thousands took part in an unsanctioned march through Hong Kong on September 29, 2019, part a coordinated day of global protests aimed at casting a shadow over communist China’s upcoming 70th birthday. (MOHD RASFAN/AFP/Getty Images)
As the sun set, protesters built flaming barricades to keep police from attacking them, setting significant portions of the city on fire.
A water cannon (R) is used to put out a fire (C) during clashes with police following an unsanctioned march through Hong Kong on September 29, 2019. (SAAC LAWRENCE/AFP/Getty Images)
Debris are left burning during clashes with police following an unsanctioned march through Hong Kong on September 29, 2019. (ISAAC LAWRENCE/AFP/Getty Images)
A pro-democracy protester attempts to burn a Chinas 70 anniversary slogan billboard in Admiralty district on September 29, 2019, in Hong Kong. (Anthony Kwan/Getty Images)
A protester throws more debris onto a fire set in the street during clashes with police following an earlier unsanctioned protest march through Hong Kong on September 29, 2019. (MOHD RASFAN/AFP/Getty Images)
Hong Kong police accused “radical” protesters of starting the violence.
“A number of radical protesters had gone on a rampage since the afternoon, vandalising numerous public property and the facilities of several MTR [railway] stations,” a police spokesman said, according to the HKFP. “They set fires at various places, which were fierce at one point, and hurled petrol bombs on the streets as well as into a MTR station and at the Mong Kok police station, posing a grave threat to police officers, MTR staff and members of the public at the scene.”
The Global Times, a Chinese state propaganda outlet, accused the protesters of damaging Hong Kong’s economy.
“Some local observers have already pointed out that young radicals, who risk their lives to do illegal acts such as attacking police officers, damaging public property, and vandalizing government buildings, know there are low costs of breaking the law,” the Times claimed on Monday. “The areas hit by the chaos on Sunday used to be popular areas for shopping and tourism. However, almost all the stores along the roads from Wan Chai to Causeway Bay were shut down on Sunday, and radicals also vandalized the MTR station in Wan Chai.”
Protesters are organizing events against the communist regime for Tuesday, the official anniversary of the People’s Republic of China.
It’s not just Ukraine and not just Hunter. Via NRO: From being appointed senior MBNA vice president (two years out of law school), to a gift of a 2.8-carat diamond from a Chinese energy tycoon, to Burisma Holdings . . . Late Summer 2006: Hunter Biden and his uncle, James Biden, purchase the hedge fund […]
Amari Allen, a sixth grader, said she was ” assaulted” last Monday during recess on the playground at her school, Immanuel Christian School in Springfield, Va.
“They put me on the ground,” Amari told the New York Times on Friday in a phone interview. “One of them put my hands behind my back. One put his hands over my mouth. One cut my hair. They were saying that my hair was ugly, that it was nappy.”
But The Washington Post reported on Monday that the girl has now recanted her story.
“The sixth-grade girl at a private Virginia school who accused three classmates last week of forcibly cutting her hair now says the allegations were false, according to statements from the girl’s family and the principal at Immanuel Christian School in Springfield. School officials met with the girl and her family Monday morning before releasing the statement,” said the Post.
The grandparents of the girl, who act as her legal guardians, put out a statement on Monday.
“To those young boys and their parents, we sincerely apologize for the pain and anxiety these allegations have caused,” the grandparents wrote in a statement sent to The Washington Post by the school. “To the administrators and families of Immanuel Christian School, we are sorry for the damage this incident has done to trust within the school family and the undue scorn it has brought to the school. To the broader community, who rallied in such passionate support for our daughter, we apologize for betraying your trust.”
“We understand there will be consequences and we’re prepared to take responsibility for them,” the statement continued. “We know that it will take time to heal, and we hope and pray that the boys, their families, the school and the broader community will be able to forgive us in time.”
The school’s principal, Stephen Danish, also put out a statement and sent an email to parents.
“We can now confirm that the student who accused three of her classmates of assault has acknowledged that the allegations were false. We’re grateful to the Fairfax County Police Department for their diligent work to investigate these allegations,” Danish wrote. “While we are relieved to hear the truth and bring the events of the past few days to a close, we also feel tremendous pain for the victims and the hurt on both sides of this conflict. We recognize that we now enter what will be a long season of healing.”
A veteran with no surviving family members got a hero’s welcome as dozens of strangers banded together to hold a funeral for a fallen veteran.
Jonathan Whitt— who served in the Army at Ft. Riley in Kansas between 2005 and 2007— died on September 5 at the age of 31 in Brown County, Wisconsin, WBAY reported.
His mother and stepfather already died, and he was estranged from the rest of his family. But many in the community— particularly fellow veterans— showed up at Whitt’s Friday funeral to pay their respects.
“When you serve, when you got to basic training and serve with a group of individuals, it becomes a worldwide camaraderie,” Joe Aulik of Brown County Veterans Services told CNN. “We served our country and we love what we do and we love each other.”
Whitt is not the first veteran who recently died without any surviving family members.
Dozens of family members traveled to Bonifay, Florida, on Thursday to attend the funeral of a reclusive 82-year-old Vietnam War era Air Force veteran and laid him to rest with full military honors, according to the Panama City News-Herald.
The week before, an Air Force veteran with no surviving family members was laid to rest at the Middle Tennessee State Veterans Cemetery in Nashville with a full escort and dozens of mourners, WTVF reported.
According to new reports, the original whistleblower form had been doctored to allow for second hand accounts less than a month before the leaker accused President Trump of wrongdoing. One America’s Chanel Rion has the story from the White House.
A leading member of Congress is demanding that Capitol Hill administrative authorities investigate how and why Chinese state-funded propaganda is being delivered each day to scores of members in both legislative chambers, according to a letter to be sent Monday to the House chief administrative officer and the Justice Department.
Rep. Jim Banks (R., Ind.), a member of the House Armed Services Committee, demanded in a new communication obtained by the Washington Free Beacon that congressional authorities and the Department of Justice begin providing answers about why China Daily, a notorious Communist Party mouthpiece, is winding up on the doorsteps of nearly every congressional office each morning.
The Chinese Communist Party mouthpiece has long touted its wide distribution across Capitol Hill and new information obtained by Banks indicates that a Chinese state-controlled entity is bankrolling the effort to deluge congressional offices with communist agitprop.
The issue has long simmered in the background of congressional efforts to stem China’s dissemination of propaganda within the United States, not just on Capitol Hill but at many American universities and schools. Opponents of this stealth influence campaign by China, like Banks, are demanding that Congress’s oversight authorities address the issue.
"I was hoping you could answer a couple questions to help me understand how Chinese state-propaganda finds its way to my office’s doorstep each morning," Banks wrote in a letter to Philip Kiko, chief administrative officer of the House of Representatives. "Please outline the process by which publications are approved for distribution in Congressional offices."
"I’m certain you are personally opposed to foreign agitprop like the China Daily," Banks wrote in the letter. "So, there must be a legal or administrative roadblock preventing the removal of state-supported propaganda from congressional circulation. Please include it in your explanation. Is there any legislative action I could take which would allow you to overcome this obstacle?"
"If we can’t win the information war in Congressional offices, how can we hope to win it in Hong Kong, or anywhere else?" Banks asked when reached by the Free Beacon for comment on his effort. "I hope Chief Administrator Kiko works with me to block China’s foreign propaganda campaign."
Banks, who sent copies of the letter to the Department of Justice, which oversees the investigation of foreign influence efforts, requested a public accounting "of all state-owned ‘news’ publications that are distributed to congressional offices."
It remains unclear at this point if China Daily is the only piece of communist propaganda being delivered to congressional offices each day. The Justice Department, under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), maintains legally required databases of foreign-controlled outlets like China Daily to provide transparency into influence operations conducted by foreign actors on American soil.
"The company distributing the China Daily, the National News Agency, openly advertises its reach on Capitol Hill," Banks said in his letter. "The companies’ [sic] website states, ‘We will work directly with you to achieve any congressional objective.’ The National News Agency has no scruples disseminating falsehoods on behalf of an authoritarian dictatorship."
The National News Agency group is an outside newspaper logistics company that "delivers a separate list of publications to Congressional offices, bypassing normal Congressional media distribution procedures," the letter states.
Banks further requested that congressional authorities provide a list of all the publications the National News Agency delivers each day in Congress.
China Daily is just one piece of a multi-billion dollar effort by the Chinese government to peddle influence across Washington, D.C., and the wider United States.
The paper is owned and funded by the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China, "the agency responsible for monitoring and controlling all media produced in the one-party state," according to information provided by the lawmaker.
"China Daily’sincreasing reach is part of a broader foreign disinformation initiative started by former premier Hu Jintao," Banks wrote in the letter. "The Chinese Communist Party committed $6.6 billion dollars to foreign propaganda efforts in 2009 and according to Foreign Agent Registration Act (FARA) receipts, has spent over $20 million on the China Daily since 2017. China’s massive financial commitment speaks to the seriousness of their effort to sway foreign sentiment."
The publication, in addition to portraying China in a positive light, also has worked to excuse the communist regime’s mass human rights violations.
While Congress could remedy the issue via new legislation, Banks expressed concern that process would be too time consuming and fail to properly address China’s influence operations.
In an effort to expose the paper for what it is, Banks requested that congressional authorities immediately move to put disclaimers on the publications outing them as Chinese communist propaganda.
"Unfortunately, bills often proceed slowly, while the presence of Chinese-state propaganda in Congress demands an immediate response," Banks wrote. "If you’re unable to immediately stop the dissemination of foreign propaganda in Congress, I strongly suggest you mandate the inclusion of a disclaimer on all state-owned newspapers delivered to congressional offices. Such a disclaimer should identify the newspaper as propaganda and name the foreign government that produces and finances it."
"There’s a lot of rhetoric in Congress about ‘combatting Chinese influence’ and being ‘tough on China,’" Banks wrote. "Americans won’t take our claims seriously if we can’t prevent China from running a propaganda campaign in our own workplace. Mr. Kiko, your response to the above inquiries will help ensure Congress remains an independent body."
A sixth-grader who claimed last week that three white boys at her school pinned her down and forcibly cut her dreadlocks while telling her that she “should not have been born,” admitted on Monday that the attack never happened and that she made the entire story up.
“The 12-year-old, who is African American, said three white boy students held her down in a school playground a week ago during recess, covered her mouth, called her insulting names and used scissors to cut her hair,” The Washington Post reported.
In a statement to The Post, the girl’s grandparents, who are her legal guardians, apologized for the incident:
To those young boys and their parents, we sincerely apologize for the pain and anxiety these allegations have caused. To the administrators and families of Immanuel Christian School, we are sorry for the damage this incident has done to trust within the school family and the undue scorn it has brought to the school. To the broader community, who rallied in such passionate support for our daughter, we apologize for betraying your trust. We understand there will be consequences and we’re prepared to take responsibility for them. We know that it will take time to heal, and we hope and pray that the boys, their families, the school and the broader community will be able to forgive us in time.
Immanuel Christian School Principal Stephen Danish also released a statement in response to the new developments:
We can now confirm that the student who accused three of her classmates of assault has acknowledged that the allegations were false. We’re grateful to the Fairfax County Police Department for their diligent work to investigate these allegations. While we are relieved to hear the truth and bring the events of the past few days to a close, we also feel tremendous pain for the victims and the hurt on both sides of this conflict. We recognize that we now enter what will be a long season of healing.
Left-wing activists pounced on the story when it first came out and used it to attack Vice President Mike Pence’s wife, Karen, who teaches at the school.
A self-described activist that goes by the name “Big Boss” wrote on Twitter: “Three white boys attacked 12-year-old Amari Allen, held her hands behind her back, and cut her dreadlocks. Second Lady @KarenPence, wife of VP Mike Pence, teaches part-time at #ImmanuelChristianSchool. We will protest in Virginia if this isn’t handled.”
Three white boys attacked 12-year-old Amari Allen, held her hands behind her back, and cut her dreadlocks.
Bishop Talbert Swan tweeted: “What does @KarenPence, wife of @VP, the Second Lady of the United States, have to say about 3 racist white boys attacking a 12-year-old Black girl, Amari Allen, at the private Christian school she teaches at? So far, her silence is deafening.”
What does @KarenPence, wife of @VP, the Second Lady of the United States, have to say about 3 racist white boys attacking a 12-year-old Black girl, Amari Allen, at the private Christian school she teaches at?
Left-wing CNN activist Keith Boykin tweeted: “Three sixth-grade white boys pinned down 12-year-old Amari Allen and cut off her “ugly” locs on Monday at Immanuel Christian School in Springfield, Virginia, where Vice President Mike Pence’s wife, Karen Pence, teaches.”
Three sixth-grade white boys pinned down 12-year-old Amari Allen and cut off her “ugly” locs on Monday at Immanuel Christian School in Springfield, Virginia, where Vice President Mike Pence’s wife, Karen Pence, teaches.https://t.co/cc0O5SbEke
Far-left Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) tweeted: “You are beautiful, Amari Allen. You are courageous & strong. You are loved. You see, Amari, you may not feel it now, but you have a power that threatens their core. I can’t wait to watch you use it and thrive. Stay strong.”
You are beautiful, Amari Allen. You are courageous & strong. You are loved.
You see, Amari, you may not feel it now, but you have a power that threatens their core. I can’t wait to watch you use it and thrive.
A former Democratic Senate staffer has become the ninth woman to accuse former Sen. Al Franken (D., Minn.) of sexual misconduct.
The unnamed woman is a military veteran and former staffer for Sen. Patty Murray (D., Wash.), and she leveled a groping accusation against Franken in a New York magazine report published Monday. She met Franken during a 2006 photo-op when he was first considering running for office.
"He puts his hand on my ass. He’s telling the photographer, ‘Take another one. I think I blinked. Take another one.’ And I’m just frozen," the woman said. "It’s so violating. And then he gives me a little squeeze on my buttock, and I am bright red. I don’t say anything at the time, but I felt deeply, deeply uncomfortable."
Franken’s actions, she said, shattered her confidence and her dream of one day running for office. She added that she burst into tears when the initial Franken allegations emerged and considered speaking up at the time. She chose not to after reflecting upon another incident in which her sexual harassment complaints went unheeded.
The newest accusation comes two days after the launch of Franken’s SiriusXM radio show and two months after the New Yorker published an article by journalist Jane Mayer arguing that all eight of Franken’s accusers were mistaken or lying. Seven Democratic senators told Mayer they regretted calling for Franken’s resignation.
Franken first came under fire in 2017 when model Leeann Tweeden accused him of unwanted kissing during a 2006 USO tour, before he was a senator. Tweeden also produced a now-infamous photo of Franken pretending to grope her while she was sleeping during their comedy tour.
On Sept. 17, Ciara Danielle Gallup and her children experienced a terrifying accident when their family van caught on fire and exploded shortly afterward.
They were driving along when the mother of seven noticed something was wrong with their ’96 Ford E-350.
“Six of our children (ages 1, 3, 4, 5, 7 and 8) and I were inside the vehicle when I noticed the smell of burning rubber and flames coming from the hood,” Ciara wrote on GoFundMe. “I reacted by turning the van off immediately and shouting for the kids to get out and run to the nearest building’s sidewalk.”
She recounted how her second-oldest son, Bastian, who was with her in the car, jumped up and helped unbuckle his younger siblings. At only 8, he realized how dire the situation was and immediately got to work.
“I was just able to get my one year old when I looked back at the [flames] and see them starting to cover the windshield,” she continued. “As I gathered everyone, we ran towards a church. Looking back, the driver side seat was then in flames.”
“We are so grateful that everyone made it out before the flames quickly engulfed the rest of the interior … We are so thankful that no one was hurt.”
“All I really remember is just running out of the van and hearing explosions and stuff,” Bastian Gallop told WFLA.
Over the next few days, they recovered from their ordeal. The church they took refuge in helped find some more car seats for the family, since theirs were lost in the fire.
The children drew thank-you cards for the people who helped them out, some of the younger ones using their art supplies as a way to process the terrifying incident they’d just endured.
“My four year old, Savannah, drew a picture of the van during free time at VPK today,” Ciara posted on Sept. 19. “I asked her if she wanted to come with me to the church and give them her thank you cards, but she said she doesn’t want to go anywhere today, just home with mommy. So I guess today we’re just going to relax some more. The teachers at her school are very accepting of this whole thing, they are allowing her to talk about it and express herself.”
While the family was safe, their means of transportation had been destroyed, and so Ciara started a GoFundMe to try to raise funds to get themselves a new set of wheels.
“We didn’t have the savings to buy a new van on such short notice,” she told WFLA.
Thankfully, an anonymous donor saw their story on the news and felt compelled to help out. She had a 2013 Chrysler Town & Country in good condition that she wanted to gift the family.
“God put it on my heart to do it,” the unnamed good Samaritan told WFLA.
“I would have never thought I would be a person who gets to receive something as big and as nice as this,” Ciara said.
“I think it’s going to be way better than the old car,” Bastian added.
“Now that this has settled in a bit more, I have so many thank yous to give out,” Ciara posted on Sept. 26. “I was [speechless] during the interview, but now I can’t stop thinking about ways to say thank you.
“We cashed out the go fund me for new back tires and savings for full coverage towards the van we were donated. But not closing it just to make sure the money goes through. All donated money from now will be refunded and we appreciate all the help we received!!!”
Ciara referred to the donor as an “Earth angel,” and said she and her family are incredibly grateful for the generous gift.
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