Month: March 2021

Jessica Bakeman, a journalist formerly stationed at the New York State Capitol, has come forward as the seventh woman to level allegations of sexual harassment against embattled New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D).

Bakeman broke her silence about Cuomo in an essay published in The New Yorker on Friday, alleging that the governor placed his arm around her shoulders during a party at the Executive Mansion in 2012.

“He left it there, and kept me pinned next to him, for several minutes as he finished telling his story,” Bakeman, now an education reporter for Miami’s WLRN, recalled. “I stood there, my cheeks hot, giggling nervously as my male colleagues did the same. We all knew it was wrong, but we did nothing.”

In another instance, Bakeman alleges that the governor held her body tightly while she said goodnight at a holiday party in 2014.

“He took my hand, as if to shake it, then refused to let go,” she recalled. “He put his other arm around my back, his hand on my waist, and held me firmly in place while indicating to a photographer he wanted us to pose for a picture.”

According to Bakeman, Cuomo’s behavior toward her was not about sex but rather exerting “power.”

“He wanted me to know that he could take my dignity away at any moment with an inappropriate comment or a hand on my waist,” she wrote.

“The way he bullies and demeans women is different,” she added.  “He uses touching and sexual innuendo to stoke fear in us. That is the textbook definition of sexual harassment.”

This story is developing. Check Breitbart News for updates. 

Portland Police Bureau officers and riot teams appeared to ignore the storming of the U.S. federal courthouse in their city on Thursday night. Videos show Antifa smashing windows, spraying graffiti, and setting fires. Portland police were nowhere to be seen in the footage.

Department of Homeland Security agents responded to a Thursday night attack on the Mark O. Hatfield Federal Courthouse as Antifa smashed windows, set fires, and vandalized the property, The Oregonian reported. Rioters told reporters they attacked because federal officials removed the physical barriers that had been protecting the courthouse since July.

“Demonstrators also cited the recent dismantling of protections in front of the courthouse and proceedings in the case of a former Minneapolis police officer charged in George Floyd’s death as reasons they were protesting Thursday night,” the article states quoting journalist Suzette Smith.

Video’s tweeted by KOIN CBS6 journalist Jennifer Dowling show the violent attacks on the courthouse. In the videos, there are no signs of a Portland police.

Federal Protective Services officials responsible for protecting the courthouse made an announcement ordering people to leave the property.

Department of Homeland Security agents deployed to enforce control of the scene and began making arrests.

Federal agents pushed back the crowd on at least three separate efforts and they attempted to secure the building, The Oregonian added. Videos indicate the arrest of multiple people.

Independent journalist Bethany Kerley showed actions by federal agents to move the crowd away from the courthouse.

Journalist Grace Morgan tweeted an image showing a graffiti mural proclaiming “New President — Same Imperialism.”

More protests are slated for Friday in the Pearl District, KOIN6 reports. “Robert King, the mayor’s senior public safety adviser, said the group spearheading recent protests is made up of ‘self-described anarchists,’” the article states.

“Protest is fine, that’s not what we’re talking about,” PPB Deputy Chief Chris Davis told the local CBS affiliate. “With this group, this is a small group that is bent on destroying things. And what they want is a conflict. My advice is — don’t give them a conflict.”

However, no videos appear to show a Portland Police Bureau presence at the Thursday night riot.

Breitbart News reached out to Portland Police Bureau officials for information about the department’s apparent lack of response to criminal activity in their city.

PPB Sergeant Kevin Allen responded that their officers made one arrest at an incident outside the federal courthouse that occurred earlier in the day. “I’m trying to confirm any other involvement we had in any other disturbance,” he added.

On Thursday night, a masked Biden tottered down a long, empty hall to a podium. He then gave the most bizarre presidential address in American history. After a grim recital of “facts” about the last year, Biden emphasized multiple times that Americans had better take the vaccine – and be grateful to him for his amazing ability to get the vaccine to Americans. He also insisted that, vaccines or not, the government’s in control and can lock all of us up all over again.

Here, in no particular order, are the points that struck me:

1. Biden was more alert than he’s been in many months. Given how frail and confused Biden’s been lately, well, let’s just say his verve was suspicious. Even his eyes, which are usually tightly squinted as he struggles to stay alert and read his teleprompter, were wide open, almost scarily so. Still, he got visibly tired near the end, slurring his words and seeming lost.

2. The speech was both bizarre and boring. Despite the teleprompter, it wandered hither and yon, without ever touching clearly on a single point. It was a grim, depressing speech about a miserable year that probably won’t get better even with a vaccine because we must all remain scared and isolated.

3. Biden kept saying that he was going to tell the truth. He quoted a woman he allegedly met who told him her heart’s desire: “‘I just want the truth. The truth. Just tell me the truth.’”

“Tell the truth,” Biden said again.”

“My fellow Americans,” he said, you’re owed nothing less than the truth.”

Later, he added, “I will tell you the truth.”

And then he said, “In the coming weeks and months, I’ll be traveling along with the first lady” and a whole host of others, “to tell you the truth.”

Do you know who says things like that? Someone who’s lying.

4. Biden dragged in, almost randomly, the fact that there is a rash of attacks on Asians of late: “Vicious hate crimes against Asian Americans who have been attacked, harassed, blamed, and scapegoated.”

What he was implying is that people have been so maddened by Trump (whose name Biden never once mentioned) saying that the Wuhan virus originated in China, that it drove maddened white supremacists to attack Asians. As best as I can tell, the attacks against Asians come almost entirely from the Black community – and, more than that, from a segment of the Black community that is not in sympathy with Trump and is therefore unlikely to be influenced by him. What nobody on the left admits is that Blacks have long been hostile to Asians.

5. Biden opened with a nasty swipe at Trump: “A year ago, we were hit with a virus that was met with silence and spread unchecked, denials for days, weeks, then months.”

This was not the truth. In fact, on January 31, Trump stopped travel from China, something every Democrat, from Biden on down, attacked as “xenophobic.” By early March, Trump had swung into action, partnering with the private sector to produce masks, ventilators, pop-up hospitals – and vaccines.

6. Speaking of vaccines, one of the nastiest things about Biden’s speech was his repeated emphasis on how spectacularly his administration had acted with regard to producing and distributing vaccines. This ignored entirely that it was Trump who supercharged their production and distribution. The entire speech was a perfect of example of damnatio memorieae – that is, the cancellation of Trump’s memory as if he never existed.

Trump must have been given a heads-up that Biden would do this for he sent out the following email message on Thursday:

I hope everyone remembers when they’re getting the COVID-19 (often referred to as the China Virus) Vaccine, that if I wasn’t President, you wouldn’t be getting that beautiful “shot” for 5 years, at best, and probably wouldn’t be getting it at all. I hope everyone remembers!

7. The main thrust of the speech was that everyone must get the vaccine (the wonderful Biden vaccine). However, Biden conceded that even with the vaccine, masks and social distancing must continue. Even with everyone vaccinated, by July 4, maybe we can gather with small groups outdoors. In other words, even as we’re all pumped full of a vaccine, nothing will change. But we should trust Biden and remember that we’re all in this together.

8. Here’s the scariest thing Biden said, although he slipped it in so quickly many may not have noticed (emphasis mine): “Fourth, in the coming weeks, we will issue further guidance on what you can and cannot do once fully vaccinated to lessen the confusion, to keep people safe, and encourage more people to get vaccinated.”

The vaccine, rather than freeing us, will bring us even more tightly under government control as the federal government mandates what can and cannot do.

9. When he’d finished reading the teleprompter, Biden ignored a reporter’s shouted question, turned around, and tottered back down that long, empty hall.

If you can’t bear to listen to Biden, here’s a transcript of his speech. Or you can view it below:

IMAGE: John Biden’s address to the nation. YouTube screengrab.