News and Headlines: In The News, Politics, Immigration, World News, Commentary/Opinion.
In The News:
Feds: Over 60 Latin Kings members arrested along East Coast
The FBI and U.S. Attorney’s office said Thursday that among those arrested are the top leaders of the street gang’s East Coast operations and that those arrested face racketeering, drug and firearms charges.
The majority of Thursday morning’s arrests took place in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut.
Authorities say the arrests are the result of a five-year investigation.
New Britain man sentenced to 55 years in the death of his wife
Patrick Miles was sentenced to 55 years in prison yesterday at New Britain Superior Court.
Miles was convicted of killing his 33-year-old wife, Yasheeka Miles. Police said they got a call about a domestic dispute in an apartment building on North Mountain Road.
The caller said they heard two people fighting and the sound of someone being thrown around.
Then, the screaming stopped abruptly and there was silence, the caller told police.Yasheeka was found dead in her home shortly after the Amber Alert was issued, police said.
Homeland Security drops plan to use facial recognition on traveling US citizens
including US citizens.
US Customs and Border Protection, which is overseen by the Department of Homeland Security, said Thursday that it is no longer seeking a regulation change that would have enabled it to use facial-recognition technology to identify all people entering and leaving the United States, including US citizens.
The change follows CBP consultation with Congress and privacy experts.
In 2017 President Donald Trump signed an executive order to accelerate a full roll out of airport biometrics for all domestic and international travelers.
This was also supported by the Obama Administration.
Baltimore Mayor Says Men in White Vans Are Snatching Young Girls for Sex Trafficking
“We’re getting reports of somebody in a white van trying to snatch up young girls for human trafficking and for selling body parts, I’m told, so we have to really be careful, because there’s so much evil going on, not just in the city of Baltimore, but around the country,” said Young, according to WBAL-TV.
None of this is true. The mayor has combined a bunch of practically non-existent fears into one hairball of hysteria.
When asked for the source of his information by the skeptical local reporter Vanessa Herring, he said: “It’s all over Facebook.”
Lower Likelihood of Recession for US Economy: Expert Survey
The findings of Bankrate’s Fourth-Quarter Economic Indicator survey show that the experts, mostly chief economists and senior executives of financial institutions, are currently more optimistic about next year’s economic prospects than a similar cohort of respondents was last quarter.
Job gains have averaged 167,000 per month this year, above the roughly 100,000 needed each month to keep up with growth in the working-age population.
An ADP National Employment report showed private payrolls increasing 121,000 from an originally reported 125,000 gain.
Economists in Bankrate’s survey expected employers would add jobs at an average monthly rate of 119,541 over the next year, which is down from 125,957 in the previous poll.
Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard shooting details emerge, surviving victim in critical condition
(AP Photo/Marco Garcia)
An updated official U.S. Navy incident report obtained Thursday by Fox News describes the shooter as a 22-year-old male active duty sailor assigned to the fast-attack submarine USS Columbia.
Neither the gunman nor the victims have been officially identified yet.
The shooter “opened fire on shipyard personnel with his M4 service rifle and then turned his M9 service pistol on himself,” the report says.
“We have no indication yet whether they were targeted or if it was a random shooting,” said Rear Adm. Robert Chadwick, the commander of Navy Region Hawaii.
The shooter was likely standing watch near the quarterdeck, the entry point to the submarine from the pier, when he opened fire.
‘Worked Exactly As Designed’: Border Patrol Responds To Viral Video Of Alien Climbing Trump’s Wall
Omar Ornelas, a photojournalist working out of Southern California, on Tuesday tweeted out a 38-second video of two men climbing a ladder up a section of border wall.
While the two men climbed, another man could be seen holding onto the flexible ladder for support.
Eventually, one of the individuals successfully reaches the top and slides down the other side, reaching U.S. territory and running off.
A video produced by Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the parent agency of Border Patrol, explained the unseen mechanisms in play that prevent would-be illegal aliens from simply climbing over newly built barriers.
Politics:
Ethics Director Says Stacey Abrams’ Nonprofit Acted As A Political Committee
Georgia Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission Director David Emadi said during a Wednesday meeting that the New Georgia Project and New Georgia Project Action Fund used resources to promote her 2018 gubernatorial campaign, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
Following the end of Abrams’ failed gubernatorial run, the Georgia ethics commission began investigating whether organizations that supported her campaign violated the law.
The commission announced in April it would subpoena bank records from Abrams’ 2018 campaign and also several other groups that raised money to help her candidacy.
Emadi made clear that the investigation is ongoing and the commission has not yet concluded whether coordination took place between the organizations.
However, members of the panel appear to believe that they are obtaining enough evidence to prove illegally activity took place, with Jake Evans, the commission’s chairman, suggesting the organizations may have broken campaign finance laws.
Turley: Democrats offering passion over proof in Trump impeachment
Commentary/Opinion: In my testimony Wednesday, I lamented that, as in the impeachment of President Clinton from 1998 to 1999, there is an intense “rancor and rage” and “stifling intolerance” that blinds people to opposing views.
My call for greater civility and dialogue may have been the least successful argument I made to the committee.
Before I finished my testimony, my home and office were inundated with threatening messages and demands that I be fired from George Washington University for arguing that, while a case for impeachment can be made, it has not been made on this record.
Some of the most heated attacks came from Democratic members of the House Judiciary Committee. Representative Eric Swalwell of California attacked me for defending my client,
Biden’s heated exchange with Iowa voter over Hunter Biden’s work in Ukraine
Joe Biden didn’t like an Iowa voter questioning him about getting Hunter Biden a job in Ukraine, so he challenged him to pushups. Ford O’Connell weighs in.
Rashida Tlaib Headlined Anti-Semitic Hate Fest
Tlaib headlined the American Muslims for Palestine’s (AMP) 2020 election conference late last month in Chicago.
The freshman lawmaker, known for her routine criticism of Israel and its supporters, shared the stage with a who’s who of leading anti-Semitic conspiracy theorists, including Bernie Sanders surrogate Linda Sarsour.
AMP is at the forefront of the anti-Israel movement in the United States.
The three-day AMP conference featured multiple panel discussions advocating for Israel’s destruction and classifying Zionism and support for the Jewish state as a “disease.”
Panelist Nihad Awad, CEO of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), who spoke during a session on how Muslims can sway the 2020 election, has been tied to a network of groups supporting the Hamas terror organization.
Overflow Crowd Turns Out in Blue County to Support Second Amendment
The crowd exceeded the auditorium’s 350-person seating capacity, and a few dozen people wearing “Guns Save Lives” stickers were left lining the walls.
The vast majority came to support residents who requested that the northern Virginia county become a Second Amendment sanctuary, meaning it will refuse to enforce gun laws they consider unconstitutional.
The show of opposition to new gun-control proposals filed by Virginia Democrats, particularly in deep-blue Fairfax County, may cause some of the newly elected Democratic members of the Virginia General Assembly to proceed with caution before backing any bill.
Nancy Pelosi snaps at reporter after question about hating Trump: ‘Don’t mess with me‘
“As a Catholic, I resent your using the word hate in a sentence that addresses me. I don’t hate anyone.
I was raised in a way that is a heart full of love and always pray for the president. And I still pray for the president.
And I pray for the president all the time, so don’t mess with me when it comes to words like that,” she said.
Sinclair reporter James Rosen had asked Pelosi: “Do you hate the president?”
After Pelosi’s presser, President Trump appeared to address the issue on Twitter.
Rep. Tom Graves Announces Retirement From House, Citing Family
(Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Graves is now the 21st GOP lawmaker to announce their retirement in the 116th Congress.
Georgia’s 14th Congressional District, which Graves represents, is staunchly Republican. In 2018, Graves defeated his Democratic opponent by more than 50 percentage points.
And in 2012, he bested his Democratic counterpart by more than 40 points.
On Wednesday, Rep. Denny Heck (D-Wash.), a member of the House Intelligence Committee, announced he is retiring at the end of his term next year.
On Twitter, Heck wrote he is announcing his “retirement from a career in public service that began over forty years ago.
I wrote a brief note of thanks, explanation, and remembrance.”
Voters Question NATO’s Worth
The United States currently contributes nearly one-quarter of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s $2.5 billion annual budget, and just 35% of Likely U.S. Voters believe America should continue to give more money to NATO than any other member country.
The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that 49% disagree and say the United States should not give more money than any other member does.
Sixteen percent (16%) are not sure.
Daily Presidential Tracking Poll
The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Thursday shows that 52% of Likely U.S. Voters approve of President Trump’s job performance. Forty-seven percent (47%) disapprove.
UNIMPEACHABLE? The Continuing Saga
Commentary/Opinion:
World News:
US, Mexico in Meetings to Address Deadly Drug Cartel Threat
The threat of deadly Mexican drug cartels was addressed in Dec. 5 meetings between Mexico’s government and U.S. Attorney General William Barr, with a focus on bilateral cooperation, according to Mexico’s government.
Barr sat down with Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and other senior officials.
Lopez Obrador told a regular news conference the bilateral talks would focus on cooperation, and that during the meetings a document will be reviewed that will serve as a point of reference.
U.S. Says Iran May Have Killed More Than 1,000 in Recent Protests
U.S. Special Representative for Iran Brian Hook said on Thursday.
“As the truth is trickling out of Iran, it appears the regime could have murdered over a thousand Iranian citizens since the protests began,” Hook told reporters at a briefing at the State Department.
He added that “many thousands of Iranians” had also been wounded and at least 7,000 detained in Iran’s prisons.
Israel reportedly strikes IRGC weapons cache in Syria – TV7 Israel News 05.12.19
1) Israel allegedly bombs Iranian weapons-warehouses in Eastern Syria.
2) U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met in the Portuguese capital, Lisbon, during which they focused their discussions on confronting the Islamic Republic’s malign activities.
3) The United Kingdom, France and Germany accuse Iran of breaching U.N. Security Council Resolution 2231, after footage released on social media earlier this year purported to show a previously unseen flight-test of a new Shehab-3 ballistic-missile that is capable of carrying a nuclear payload.
Fires erupt in Paris as general strike creates travel nightmare, closing the Eiffel Tower and subway stations
Protesters have been spotted hurling flares, smashing store windows and setting fires in eastern Paris on Thursday as thousands in the French capital are marching against President Emmanuel Macron’s plan to reform the pension system.
The chaos comes as a general strike launched alongside the march has created a travel nightmare for tourists and locals, prompting the closure of the Eiffel Tower and dozens of subway stations, while hundreds of flights in and out of the city have been grounded.
Indian woman allegedly set on fire by men she accused of rape as she heads to court
The victim told police that she was attacked by the two men and three others on her way to the court hearing in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, in the latest gruesome case of violence against women in the country.
All five men have been arrested and are being questioned, senior policeman Suvendra Kumar Bhagat told AFP, adding the woman has been rushed to the state capital Lucknow for medical treatment.
The incident came to light with India still reeling over a brutal gang-rape and murder of a 27-year-old female vet in the southern city of Hyderabad last week.
Commentary/Opinion:
Tucker Carlson Is Right About Wall Street’s Indifference To America
Like most other members of the Republican establishment and donor class, Singer supports tax cuts and most types of deregulation, but is socially liberal and pro-mass-migration.
He also supports an interventionist foreign policy overseas.
Far too much of the conservative punditry class, and far too many Republican politicians, have no idea what’s been going on in the country over the last 50 years.
They have hijacked conservatism and turned it into something that isn’t conservative.
They drone on about tax cuts, and assume the “little platoons”—families, churches, schools, and community organizations that are the bedrock of conservatism—are just fine.
If they aren’t fine, these idiots blame the amorphous boogeyman of “culture,” without considering how existing policies, that they can change, influence the culture.
Love or hate Trump, he marks only the beginning of the undoing of this type of warped, outdated, and unconservative way of thinking.
The best part of it is that actual conservative voters don’t need to be convinced. They’ve been real conservatives all along, and are dying for their “betters” to better reflect the things they care about.
What Trump Is Like In Private & The Trump Economy (Pt. 2) | Stephen Moore | POLITICS | Rubin Report
Stephen discusses his first negative first impressions of Trump and how he thought he was a blowhard and his run for president was just a publicity stunt.
He also shares how he changed his mind and Trump won him over and how serious Trump is in his pledge to “drain the swamp”.
Stephen also talks about his experience being nominated to be on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors and why he withdrew his nomination.
Citizen Revolt: Resist Refugee Resettlement Dumps
Should U.S. citizens have input into whether their neighborhoods are fundamentally and permanently transformed into United Nations refugee camps full of welfare dependents and tax burdens?
Government-funded charities that profit mightily from the federal refugee resettlement program say: “Hell, no!”
This week, an extraordinary revolt took place in Bismarck, North Dakota, where an overflow crowd of residents braved subzero temperatures to register their opposition to allowing the Lutheran Social Services to dump any new refugees in their backyard.
Thanks to an executive order signed by Trump in September, local communities now have explicit opt-in rights to stem the lucrative tide of refugees coming largely from Third World countries and jihadist breeding grounds.
Open borders legal groups are, of course, challenging the order in court.
These zealots object to states and localities exercising self-determination when it comes to rejecting refugees because it would undermine “national immigration policy,” yet they promote illegal immigrant sanctuary policies in states and localities that create uncontrollable criminal anarchy.