In The News, Politics, World News, Commentary/Opinion.
In The News:
California governor: Hundreds of wildfires blazing statewide
VACAVILLE, Calif. (AP) — Crews were battling wildfires in the San Francisco Bay Area and thousands of people were under orders to evacuate Wednesday as hundreds of wildfires blazed across the state amid a blistering heat wave now in its second week.
Police and firefighters went door-to-door before dawn Wednesday in a frantic scramble to warn residents to evacuate as fire encroached on Vacaville, a city of about 100,000 between San Francisco and Sacramento. At least 50 structures were destroyed, including some homes, and 50 damaged.
Ash and smoke filled the air over San Francisco, which is surrounded by wildfires burning in multiple counties to the north, east and south.
Trial date set for legislators’ lawsuit against Newsom over executive order
(The Center Square) – A trial date has been set for Oct. 21 in which two Republican Assemblymen will represent their case against Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration over an executive order the governor issued changing election laws.
The case will be heard by the Superior Court of California in Yuba City.
Assemblymen Kevin Kiley, R-Rockland, and Assemblyman James Gallagher, R-Yuba City, sued Newsom earlier this year over an executive order he issued relating to the state’s election process. Executive Order N-67-20 seeks to implement voting by mail for registered California voters as an alternative to in-person voting.
Facebook’s Ex-CIA ‘Misinformation Manager’ Declares Support for BLM
Prior to working at Facebook, Graham spent over fifteen years at the CIA as an operations officer with the Agency’s Directorate of Operations. Her career at the CIA spanned the years 2004 – 2020, encompassing the entirety of John Brennan’s tenure as Director.
Her LinkedIn profile currently sports a picture of a giant “Black Lives Matter” street mural that was recently imposed upon Washington D.C. at the order of the Democrat Mayor, Muriel Bowser.
That makes Graham having such an overtly political message on her page even more curious. As a “misinformation process manager,” Graham is involved in an area of Facebook’s operations that has been used to censor conservative publications.
Candace Owens Will Sue Facebook over ‘Blatant Censorship’
Candace Owens said that Facebook has suppressed her page after she commented her thoughts on senator Harris being chosen as Democrat nominee Joe Biden’s vice president for the upcoming November election.
“I am SO EXCITED that we get to watch [Kamala Harris], who swore into congress as an ‘Indian-American’, now play the ‘I’m a black a woman’ card all the way until November,” said Owens upon hearing the news. “Fun times!”
In her post, Owens included an Associated Press image from January 3, 2017, when Harris was sworn in as a senator. The Facebook post was later labeled as exhibiting “false information,” which was “checked by independent fact-checkers.”
Another Night Of Gun Violence In New York City Leaves At Least 8 Shot, 1 Killed
William Barr: Nearly 1,500 Arrests Made Under Operation Legend
“That’s more than 90 suspected killers who might still be on the streets without Operation Legend,” Barr told reporters during a press conference in Kansas City, Missouri. “
Our work is just getting started, there is no more important mission for the Department of Justice than keeping our communities safe.”
“In far too many states, the sentences are too lenient and do not incapacitate these violent criminals long enough and do not provide a deterrent,” he added. “Criminals know that.
They know that the federal system means business and we’re putting them out of business.”
President Trump Receives a Border Wall Construction and Operational Update
The White House.
Yuma, AZ.
AG Barr holds press conference on Operation Legend
Attorney General William Barr will hold a press conference on Operation Legend in Kansas City, Missouri.
Nightly riots in Portland force businesses to flee, may cause ‘irreparable damage’ to the city
Unfortunately for the so-called “City of Roses,” businesses are fleeing the city because, as it turns out, nightly riots do not cultivate a productive business environment.
In fact, between the coronavirus-related forced shutdowns and the violent demonstrations, businesses in Portland’s downtown area are hemorrhaging millions of dollars between lost revenue and damage caused by protesters.
Andrew Hoan, CEO of the Portland Business Alliance, said the actual figure of business losses is mind-boggling.
Fire set inside Portland’s Multnomah Building during unrest, riot declared
Portland experienced chaos yet again early Wednesday after a fire was set inside the city’ Multnomah Building prior to the police department declaring another riot.
Police took to Twitter to declare the riot “after individuals vandalized, repeatedly smashed first floor windows with rocks and threw burning material into an office.”
The department retweeted a video posted by Hannah Ray Lambert, a reporter with KOIN News, who filmed a small fire with a crowd in the background chanting, “What did you see? Didn’t see sh–!”
Medical school application asks for ‘lessons learned’ about systemic racism to show ‘sociocultural humility’
“This seeks to identify evidence of a candidate’s ability to treat others with respect, interact with others from diverse backgrounds, recognize bias, adjust behavior in response to others’ needs, and their awareness of how sociocultural factors impact diverse groups of people,” she added.
In light of the racial unrest triggered by George Floyd’s death, universities and teachers are seemingly placing greater emphasis on addressing systematic racism.
In fact, one Iowa State University professor told her students in a syllabus that they could be “dismissed” from her English 250 class if they argued against Black Lives Matter, a movement controversial for the political ideology of some of its top leaders.
Fortunately, that syllabus was amended by university administrators, and the professor was assigned First Amendment education.
Prof lashes out at conservatives, now gets schooled in 1st Amendment
(Maddie Meyer/Getty)
Chloe Clark, an English teacher at Iowa State University, was reprimanded by university officials after she “threatened to dismiss students that purposefully engage in ‘instances of othering,’ which include statements that she interprets to be racist, sexist, ableist, homophobic, and a variety of other classifications,” reported Just the News.
“After reviewing this issue with the faculty member, the syllabus has been corrected to ensure it is consistent with university policy. Moreover, the faculty member is being provided additional information regarding the First Amendment policies of the university.
Politics:
Palm Beach County Confirms Video Showing Ballot Envelopes Displaying Party Affiliation
A video posted by a woman named Tina Brown went viral this week, featuring Brown examining two ballot return envelopes — one which belonged to her Democrat brother and the other which belonged to her, a Republican.
The envelopes, she observed, actually revealed their party affiliations. A “D” appeared within a series of numbers near the bar code of her brother’s return envelope, and an “R” appeared in the series of numbers on hers.
Despite the statement, little has been done to address the concern of voters worried about the potential of voter fraud in the primary elections, given the nature of the primary return envelopes.
Voter Fraud: Man Arrested in L.A. for Voting 3 Times as His Dead Mother
A man from Norwalk, California, in Los Angeles County was arrested and charged last month for voting three times as his dead mother, as well as voting for himself, the Los Angeles District Attorney announced in a statement on Tuesday.
The charges were announced, coincidentally, in the midst of the Democratic National Convention, as Democrats accused President Donald Trump of exaggerating the potential for voter fraud in his push against automatic vote-by-mail.
Los Angeles County agreed in 2019 to remove as many as 1.5 million registered but inactive voters as of April 2018 from its rolls in a settlement with Judicial Watch.
Judicial Watch noted that 112% of the adult population of L.A. was registered to vote.
Indicted state senator has billed state for 10 times more in travel expenses than Tennessee colleagues
A federal grand jury indicted Robinson, D-Memphis, last month on 24 counts of embezzlement involving government programs and 24 counts of wire fraud.
Since taking office in January 2019, Robinson has attended nine conferences – many out-of-state – with expenses paid by the state, administrative data shows. Robinson also collected more than $6,000 in per diem pay on conference days.
In conference travel alone, including noted state expenditures on airfare and taxis, Robinson has traveled on the state’s dime more often and more expensively than any other state legislator, including House and Senate leadership.
Here’s what Trump accomplished in the Middle East just this MONTH (hint: WAY more than Obama, Biden)
Commentary/Opinion:
During night two of the DNC Convention, former Secretary of State John Kerry praised the foreign policy successes of the Barack Obama, Joe Biden administration. Uhhh…which successes are those?
Instead, President Trump has done more in the Middle East this month ALONE than the former president ever did. After the UAE announced normalized relations with Israel, five more countries now are reportedly considering doing the same:
Bahrain, Oman, Morocco, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia. Even more: President Trump destroyed the current threat of ISIS AND moved the Israeli embassy to Jerusalem — something countless presidents before him promised (and failed) to do.
Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany holds briefing | 8/19/20
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany holds a briefing.
O’Reilly: 10 Reasons Joe Biden is Unable to Unite the Country
Commentary/Opinion:
John Kasich says Joe Biden is the candidate that will ‘unite’ America. The former governor of Ohio (and fill-in Factor host) sounding delusional these days.
Watch O’Reilly run down ten specific reasons why Joe Biden will create more division in an already divided America.
Trump vows to work with Kimberly Klacik to ‘bring Baltimore back’
President Trump Tuesday praised the Republican woman running for the late Rep. Elijah Cummings’ former Baltimore seat as someone who will help “bring Baltimore back.”
“Kimberly will work with the Trump Administration and we will bring Baltimore back, and fast,” the president said of Kimberly Klacik, 38, who is running against Rep. Kweisi Mfume, 71. Mfume defeated her in April’s special election. They will now face each other again in November.
“Don’t blow it Baltimore, the Democrats have destroyed your city!” Trump added.
Ingraham: Democrats trot out political failures to promote Joe Biden
Commentary/Opinion:
Are these really the luminaries that Democrats think best represent their party?
Tucker: Democrats browbeat you into accepting their agenda
Commentary/Opinion:
FOX NEWS VIDEO: There are only two kinds of people in this world: Those who enjoy mandatory corporate diversity seminars and those who don’t.
Victor Davis Hanson says media let claims made at Democratic National Convention go unchallenged
Commentary/Opinion:
FOX NEWS VIDEO: Victor Davis Hanson, senior fellow at the Hoover Institute, joins Tucker Carlson on ‘Tucker Carlson Tonight.’
Ex-sheriff ousted after Parkland shooting narrowly loses primary for old post
Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) removed Israel from the sheriff’s post in 2019 over his handling of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, which left 17 dead. DeSantis tapped Tony to take over as the county’s first Black sheriff.
Tony issued a statement declaring victory Tuesday night.
Tony defeated Israel 37 to 35 percent with 99 percent of precincts reporting, according to CBS Miami.
Democrats’ pandemic attacks ignore Trump’s 100-plus executive actions
Democrats have used their presidential nominating convention to forcefully attack President Trump’s leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic, yet their narrative has left out the White House’s long list of actions against the coronavirus.
Just the News compiled a detailed list of more than 100 significant executive actions taken by the Trump administration to fight the virus since it spread from Wuhan, China, earlier this year.
They range from fast-tracking a vaccine through public-private partnerships to sealing the border early on from infected locations.
And last week the White House released a report documenting 78 times the Trump administration used the Defense Production Act since March to fight COVID-19.
The Government You Elect is the Government You Deserve
Commentary/Opinion:
As we make our way to election day on the third of November, we will be bombarded with an overload of information about the candidates, some truths, but mostly lies concocted by partisans on both sides of the aisle to sway the uniformed block of voters.
It is this group of ‘swing voters’ that will decide the election of 2020, as has been the case in previous elections.
It’s not as if there isn’t ample evidence to make a decision as to what candidate is the best choice, not only this election cycle but for the future of our country, our form of government, our rights and freedoms, our families and our way of life.
The evidence could not be any clearer, yet many are still ‘undecided’, ‘not sure’, ‘weighing the options’, ‘waiting to hear more about the candidate’s plans’ or a thousand other clichés born of confusion, misinformation, or just plain stupidity.
World News:
Migrant with Deportation Order Arrested for Stabbing Father of French Girl
The migrant, who was living in France on a student visa that has since expired, injured the 42-year-old man in the city of Toulouse on the 6th of August. He had been on the run until last week when police arrested him in Paris some 400 miles away.
The 20-year-old migrant is said to have made advances to the daughter of the victim, which she refused. He then got into an argument that led to him stabbing the father several times, including in the throat, La Depeche reports.
He claimed the father had approached him and began the confrontation by hitting him with a stick. When questioned by police as to why he fled the scene, the migrant alleged he had not run away but simply left.
Iran surpasses 20,000 confirmed deaths from the coronavirus
The announcement came as the Islamic Republic, which has been struggling with both the region’s largest outbreak and the highest number of fatalities, went ahead with university entrance exams for over 1 million students. Iran is also preparing for mass Shiite commemorations later this month.
Meanwhile, Lebanon reached 10,000 confirmed cases Wednesday after recording nearly 600 new infections. The small Mediterranean country of over 5 million continues to see the number of new cases accelerate.
Iran suffered the region’s first major outbreak, seeing top politicians, health officials and religious leaders in its Shiite theocracy stricken with the virus.
Israel warns Hamas of looming war; IDF Chief: Beirut subjugated to Hezbollah-TV7 Israel News19.08.20
1) Palestinian Islamists launch a rocket toward Israel’s southern communities – prompting retaliatory strikes against Hamas’ militant installations.
2) Israeli President Reuven Rivlin warns the Islamist Hamas – ‘If they desire war with Israel, they will get war.’
3) IDF Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Aviv Kochavi warned that Hezbollah is rapidly growing into a terror army which effectively renders the Lebanese government hollow of any influence across its own sovereign territory.
China Communist Party expels, strips pension of professor-turned-critic
Cai Xia, 68, a former professor at the Central Party School, who once denounced Xi as a “Hereditary [Second Generation] Red” leader, was accused by the school on Monday of serious violations of Party discipline and expelled from the Party.
The school’s announcement said the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the Party School Commission for Discipline Inspection made a joint investigation and decided to criticize Cai’s remarks as “serious political problems that damage the country’s reputation.”
The statement added: “Their nature is extremely vile, the circumstances very serious, and the Party’s political and organizational discipline, and code of conduct for personnel in national institutions seriously violated.”
Australian pilots drafted to help fly UK drones over Syria and Iraq
Australian airforce pilots and private contractors are being drafted in to help fly UK armed Reaper drones over Syria and Iraq amid shortages in RAF crew and concern over the stresses of piloting deadly unmanned aircraft.
Their presence allows the RAF to deploy its trained pilots more efficiently on combat missions and helps plug the crew shortages that are deemed to be the greatest risk to the UK’s £1.1bn future drone programme.
Insiders have acknowledged that the stresses of flying combat missions remotely from the RAF Waddington base in Lincolnshire have been underestimated, while pilots often prefer to fly in fighter jets rather than spend hours in an airbase.
Commentary/Opinion:
A tidy takedown of Media Matters and its propaganda about hydroxycholoroquine
For most thinking Americans, it is unnecessary to bother to fact check the propaganda group Media Matters.
If they have heard of Media Matters at all, they typically understand it’s a smear group funded by donors with political and corporate interests whose names are kept secret. (The last big Media Matters donor whose name was publicly revealed years ago was that of liberal billionaire activist George Soros.)
The problem is, too many news organizations and even journalism groups such as Poynter use Media Matters and their affiliates as if they are legitimate news sources. They are either unforgviably ignorant of Media Matters’ slants— or choose to keep readers in the dark because they agree with the slant.