News and Headlines: In The News, Politics, World News, Commentary/Opinion.
In The News:
Twelve statues, memorials vandalized during National Mall rioting: National Park Service
The graffiti on the Lincoln Memorial and World War II Memorial has received the most attention, but a total of 12 statues and memorials were defaced by vandals during recent rioting that spread to the National Mall, according to the National Park Service.
The other memorials vandalized were the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial and the U.S. Navy Memorial, as well as eight statues, including the statue of Mahatma Gandhi, leader of India’s nonviolent independence movement.
Interior Secretary David Bernhardt said in a June 1 statement that the service is “restoring our national icons to their rightful state — places that recognize the wars fought, battles won, heroes that have come before us and injustices that have been overcome throughout history.”
And like that, America’s history is scrubbed
Commentary/Opinion:
For years, Democrats and those on the left have been trying to suppress America’s true history — the one that tells of American Exceptionalism, the one that speaks of the genius of the Founding Fathers, the one that speaks of freedoms for the individual as coming from God, not government.
The left is on a rampage right now, busily tearing down any semblance of American history from America’s public eye.
Sadly, they appear to be winning.
National Guard soldiers found glass in pizza they ordered while deployed in DC, report says
The startling discovery was made amid the dough and cheese after the pie arrived at the Marriott Marquis Hotel where the troops had been staying, according to The Post and Courier newspaper, citing a report from the Department of Defense.
“The command says that the soldiers are OK, and that this was the only incident to their knowledge,” Capt. Jessica Donnelly, a spokeswoman for S.C. National Guard, told The Post and Courier.
Donnelly added that the soldiers were advised to file a police report, but D.C.’s Metro Police Department says nothing yet is on file.
$8K Reward Offered for Man Who Allegedly Slashed Florida Cop’s Neck
Police described the man as a white/male. He is seen wearing glasses and a blue face mask along with a dark shirt with orange or red print, blue jeans, and dark shoes. The letters on the shirt say, “Explore.”
A video posted on Twitter by the sheriff’s office shows the suspect allegedly jumping on a police vehicle and then later, beating and attacking the officer.
The reward includes $3,000 from First Coast Crime Stoppers and $5,000 from the Florida Sheriff’s Association
$454 Million: Corporate America Floods Social Justice Causes with Cash amid Floyd Protests
Many of the big companies are pushing their employees to do the same.
Some businesses are donating to controversial bail funds like the Minnesota Freedom Fund that seek to bail out protesters and rioters.
Here is a list thus far.
College in Boston apologizes for letting police officers use its bathrooms
The school’s public safety department, in a Facebook post, said Boston Police have been staging officers near the institution since a May 31 demonstration in memory of George Floyd.
This past Sunday, officials let the cops use the Berklee Performance Center’s restrooms after an informal decision was “made on the spot.”
“We have heard from many of you personally and across social channels of your hurt and anger that this access was permitted, especially as the facility is not currently open for students and members of our community,” the statement read.
“Allowing police officers into the space was in no way meant to undermine Berklee’s support for Black Lives Matter.
White UCLA professor under investigation after reading MLK’s ‘Letter from Birmingham Jail’
Kelsey Hire, an undergraduate UCLA political science student in the class, told Fox News that Peris issued a “trigger warning” before reading the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” and featuring clips from a documentary, that both included the n-word.
Peris, an Air Force veteran, issued an apology the day after the June 2 class for behaving in a way that was “offensive and hurtful” to the students.
He canceled the next class, and made the final exam optional as a “no-harm assignment, meaning … it can only improve your grade.”
Neither UCLA nor Peris immediately responded to a request for comment.
But Hire told Fox News that Peris, “did nothing wrong.”
Although unable to attend a town hall Tuesday night about Peris, Hire called the students’ actions “bullying” and the administration’s response “disturbing.”
The Complex Funding and Ideology of Black Lives Matter
BLM describes its own founders as “three radical Black organizers” named Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi, who “created a Black-centered political will and movement building project… in response to the acquittal of Trayvon Martin’s murderer, George Zimmerman.”
BLM’s history page proudly salutes the radical causes built into its DNA since its 2013 founding, including “liberation” politics and transgenderism.
In fact, BLM thinks other black civil rights movements aren’t nearly radical enough, especially when it comes to the gender politics of the hard Left:
“Black liberation movements in this country have created room, space, and leadership mostly for Black heterosexual, cisgender men – leaving women, queer and transgender people, and others either out of the movement or in the background to move the work forward with little or no recognition.”
Officer down: Deputy shot in the face; ambushed by suspect hiding out near department
Paso Robles Police Chief Ty Lewis said that the incident started when a dispatcher monitoring the department’s security cameras advised officers that there was a suspicious person walking around the building. The dispatcher saw him start shooting.
Officers responded to search for the suspect. As units from neighboring agencies arrived to assist, the gunman shot towards arriving police cars.
About an hour into the search, around 4:19am, the suspect again started shooting, this time striking a deputy in the face.
7 Arrested In Miami For Vandalizing Christopher Columbus Statue, Spraying Communist Symbol
Protesters spray painted the statues with “BLM” (Black Lives Matter), George Floyd, and a hammer and sickle and police reported being assaulted and having their vehicles damaged by violent protesters, according to ABC News.
Officials used surveillance cameras to identify the seven people who were not named, according to the Miami Herald.
Police were making arrests Wednesday after they said officers were assaulted and police vehicles were damaged, the Miami Herald reported.
RefuseFa uses ANTIFA-like tactics, Organizer Claims they Secured Money from Soros, Met with Steyer
Project Veritas today released undercover footage of a RefuseFascism national organizer detailing who is funding their militant operation and shares their objectives.
“There is no question Antifa is well-organized and well-funded.
It’s not just George Soros or Tom Steyer who may have interest in domestic terrorist groups like RefuseFa and Antifa, this video also brings in players in Silicon Valley,” said Project Veritas CEO and founder James O’Keefe.
Politics:
Tucker: Our leaders used a health emergency to subvert democracy
Commentary/Opinion:
You were played. We all were.
Corrupt politicians scared us into giving up control over our own lives.
At the same time, they gave more power to their obedient followers, while keeping the rest of us trapped at home and censored online.
They used a public health emergency to subvert democracy and make themselves kings.
How were they able to do this? Because we let them do it. We believed them.
Leftist Groups, Including La Raza, to Monitor Police Under Reform Bill Modeled after Obama Plan
The police reform bill introduced by Democrats in Congress empowers leftist groups such as the open borders National Council of La Raza (NCLR) to monitor cops nationwide and creates development and training programs based on an Obama initiative to hire minority police officers by disregarding the criminal records of candidates from “underrepresented communities” and lowering standards on written exams.
Known as the Task Force on 21st Century Policing, the Obama plan is repeatedly cited in the new bill’s 134-page text and promotional material and clearly serves as a key model.
The recently crafted Justice in Policing Act of 2020 gives “community-based” and “grassroots” organizations the authority to supervise police misconduct.
The recently crafted Justice in Policing Act of 2020 gives “community-based” and “grassroots” organizations the authority to supervise police misconduct.
Besides the NCLR, the bill lists the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the National Urban League among groups that will receive compensation from the government via “public safety innovation grants” to keep police in check.
Senate approves subpoenas of Obama officials in Russian collusion probe
In a 12-10 vote along party lines, the panel’s move is a dramatic escalation of its investigation into the FBI and Justice Department’s handling of the Trump-Russia collusion probe during the 2016 presidential election.
The subpoenas would cover testimony from former FBI Director James Comey, FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, ex-National Intelligence Director James Clapper, former CIA Director John Brennan and former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates and others.
It would also cover documents, communications and testimony from top FBI and Justice Department officials James Baker, Bruce Ohr, Lisa Page, Peter Strozk and Bill Pirestrap.
U.S. intel viewed Steele dossier as ‘highly politically sensitive’ and mostly uncorroborated
The so-called Annex A of the official Russian election interference Intelligence Community Assessment was declassified this week by Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe, providing the most definitive proof to date that the U.S. intelligence in December 2016 as President Obama was leaving office was wary of a dossier that was essential to the FBI probe into now-disproven Trump-Russia collusion.
The intelligence community assessment also warned that Steele appeared to have leaked his information to the media just before Trump was elected Nov. 8, 2016.
The intelligence community assessment also warned that Steele appeared to have leaked his information to the media just before Trump was elected Nov. 8, 2016.
Measure to reopen North Carolina bars, gyms heads to Cooper’s desk
Cooper vetoed a similar bill Friday, and the House considered overriding that veto. Instead, House Speaker Tim Moore, R-Cleveland, opted to call the vote on HB 594.
The measure includes a provision that would allow Cooper to close bars if COVID-19 cases surge.
The governor would have to seek approval from a panel of state leaders, called the Council of State.
“I believe it’s common sense, and there’s a good middle ground to the bill that was originally presented to the governor, House Bill 536,” Hall said.
Chicago mayor considers property tax hikes as residents fear exodus from city
“I can’t take it off the table, but it is truly the last thing I want to do,” Lightfoot said at a press conference this week.
Laying off city employees could be on the table too as the city faces an estimated budget shortfall of $700 million.
But Chicago will likely lose out on hundreds of millions of dollars after coronavirus caused the city to cancel large gatherings including the Lollapalooza music festival scheduled for later this summer, according to the Anderson Economic Group. Canceling Lollapalooza alone will result in 300 fewer jobs for the Chicago economy as well, Anderson Economic Group estimated.
Meanwhile, many business owners are picking up the pieces after looters ransacked their stores on the weekend of May 29.
Joe Biden Snaps when NAACP Claims Young People ‘Concerned’ by Policing Record
Biden snapped at Ed Gordon during a forum on Tuesday when Gordon said he received some emails from people who say because Biden wrote the 1994 crime bill, that he “wouldn’t be able to steer” his way past “traditional policing” and that he favors more of a “hard line” strategy.
“What do you tell them?” Gordon asked.
Moments later, Gordon revisited the issue and Biden grew testy.
World News:
Leaked Document Exposes China’s Secret ‘Gestapo’
The “610 Office,” one of the Chinese regime’s deadliest and most notorious agencies tasked with clamping down on dissent, exacts enormous influence within the Party and enjoys unchallenged power to persecute religious minorities, an internal document obtained by the Chinese-language Epoch Times shows.
The office, formally known as the Central Leading Group on Preventing and Dealing with Heretical Religions, is an extra-legal Party organization similar to Nazi Germany’s Gestapo, with various names as disguises in public.
The practice became enormously popular—with roughly 100 million adherents in China by 1999, according to official estimates. Threatened by this number, which was greater than the number of Party members, Jiang ordered the brutal suppression of Falun Gong practitioners.
Thai seafood restaurateurs sentenced to nearly 1,500 years in prison for cheating public
Apichart Bowornbancharak and Prapassorn Bowornbancha, executives at Laemgate Seafood, were accused last year of offering tickets to seafood buffets at low prices, the Bangkok Post reported.
The promotion had customers post their orders online and send their payments to a bank account. Around 20,000 people ordered online, Thai PBS reported.
The orders were canceled after the restaurant announced online that it did not have enough to meet the demand. Around 350 filed complaints with the police, seeking refunds worth of $64,300.
Polish President Vows to Protect Children from ‘LGBT Ideology’, Support Traditional Families
The Polish president promised to ban the propagation of LGBT ideology in public institutions and the promotion of homosexuality in schools.
“It is a foreign ideology. There is no consent for this phenomenon to happen in our country in any way.” Duda said, stressing that “parents are responsible for the sexual education of their children”.
On Wednesday, he unveiled a ‘Family Charter’ of proposals which includes pledges to preserve and expand popular schemes subsidising pensioners and families who have children.
Trump Authorizes Sanctions Over ICC Afghanistan War Crimes Case
In announcing the action, Trump administration officials said the Hague-based tribunal threatens to infringe on U.S. national sovereignty and accused Russia of manipulating it to serve Moscow’s ends.
“We cannot, we will not stand by as our people are threatened by a kangaroo court,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in announcing the move and warned other nations.
“I have a message to many close allies in the world. Your people could be next, especially those from NATO countries who fight terrorism in Afghanistan right alongside us,” he said.
Iran Says Coronavirus Cases Soar to 180,000 and Climbing
Health ministry spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari said 2,238 new infections in the past 24 hours took the total to 180,156.
She said 78 new deaths brought the overall toll to 8,584.
Iran reported its first COVID-19 cases on February 19 — two deaths in the Shiite holy city of Qom.
The government has struggled to contain what quickly became the Middle East’s deadliest coronavirus outbreak.
Monument honoring abolition of slavery vandalized in France
Statues to people with links to France’s colonial past and slavery have been placed under police protection over the past week, as protesters have toppled or vandalized monuments to similar figures in the U.S., Britain and elsewhere.
On Thursday, authorities in the southern city of Pau were alerted to damage to a monument celebrating France’s abolition of slavery.
The bronze monument, showing a black person in chains looking to the sky, was doused in white paint, and a paint can bearing the words “White Lives Matter” in English was left nearby, according to a city official.
US: Resurgence of world power competition across Mideast – TV7 Israel News 11.06.20
1) German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas concluded a visit to both Israel and Jordan, during which he called on all relevant sides to the Palestinian-Israel conflict to reach a consensus by means of diplomacy that will avert potential prospects of regional conflagration.
2) Jerusalem warns Ramallah that its ongoing rejection to engage with Israel goes against Palestinian interests.
3) Commander of the United States Central Command accuses Iran of being the greatest threat to Mideast stability and security, while highlighting an evident resurgence of global power competition across the region.
Commentary/Opinion:
Poor People and Minorities Are Victimized by “Predatory Cities”
Another very serious problem is the way local and state governments impose a plethora of fees, fines and charges that can wreck the lives of the less fortunate.
In a column for the New York Times, Professor Bernadette Atahuene of the Chicago-Kent College of Law opines on the problem of greedy local governments.
Every decent human being should get upset about the grotesque way that politicians are mistreating their residents.
Especially since poor people are being disproportionately victimized.
‘Black Lives Matter’ Is Not Helping Blacks
The evidence is clear:
Police brutality is simply not the biggest issue facing blacks in America, yet this is all that ‘Black Lives Matter’ activists seem to care about.
Black lives do matter—and they deserve the truth about the REAL issues facing black Americans.
What are these issues, and how can they be solved?
Derryck Green of Project 21 joins Will Witt to discuss.
Police Brutality: A Presentation of the Facts | Ep. 43
Today’s episode of Common Sense provides a presentation of the dramatic facts being deliberately covered up by Antifa, the mainstream media, and many Democrats so that they can justify their war on law enforcement.
This episode exposes it all.
BLACK LIVES MATTER AIMS TO ‘DISRUPT’ FAMILY STRUCTURE, EXCLUDE FATHERS
“We disrupt the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure requirement,” the site declares, “by supporting each other as extended families and ‘villages’ that collectively care for one another, especially our children, to the degree that mothers, parents, and children are comfortable.” The word “fathers” is deliberately excluded, replaced by the gender-neutral “parents” despite already naming “mothers” as pillars of the family.
The statement goes on to denigrate male influence on the family as oppressive. “We build a space that affirms Black women and is free from sexism, misogyny, and environments in which men are centered,” the group says, calling single mothers’ “double shifts” of working and parenting a “patriarchal practice.”
On a page describing the group’s “herstory,” BLM writes that part of the reason for its emphasis on intersectional sexual politics is that black liberation movements have historically overemphasized the voice and role of straight men:
In contrast, some black leaders who promote racial unity assert that black communities continue to struggle because of so-called progressive social policies that have incentivized single-mother families.
Rev. Bill Owens, president of the Coalition of African-American Pastors, told Breitbart News recently one of the primary reasons racial tensions still exist is because of policies that have torn apart the fabric of black families.
“We’ve seen decades of policies that helped destroy the black family and the black community,” Owens explained.