|
Post by the Scribe on Apr 4, 2020 9:26:01 GMT
More words of love, unity, togetherness and acceptance from a Trump-supporting politician.Ohio GOP chair calls for Rep. Candice Keller to quit over Dayton shooting remarksOhio Rep. Candice Keller, who blamed mass shootings on drag queens and marijuana, refuses calls for her resignationAOL.com Dillon Thompson,AOL.com 10 hours ago www.yahoo.com/news/ohio-rep-candice-keller-blamed-200000848.html
An Ohio state lawmaker who blamed mass shootings on legal marijuana, gay marriage and "drag queen advocates" is sticking by her comments despite calls for her resignation, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer.
Candice Keller, a state representative from Middletown, Ohio, originally posted the comments to her personal Facebook page on Sunday. The post came just hours after a gunman opened fire at a bar in Dayton, Ohio, early Sunday morning, killing nine people and leaving dozens more injured.
Keller's post blamed a number of sources, including "the breakdown of the American family," "hatred of our veterans" and "snowflakes, who can't accept a duly-elected president."
Now, some state politicians are calling for Keller to step down. Ohio Republican Party leader Jane Timken called the post "shocking" and asked for Keller's resignation, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer.
"While our nation was in utter shock over the acts of violence in El Paso and Dayton, Republican State Representative Candice Keller took to social media to state why she thought these acts were happening," Timken said in a statement. "Candice Keller's Facebook post was shocking and utterly unjustifiable. Our nation is reeling from these senseless acts of violence and public servants should be working to bring our communities together, not promoting divisiveness."
Timken has reportedly not spoken with Keller directly about a resignation. Keller, who is currently running for the Ohio Senate, responded to the public statement with a refusal to stall her political career.
"Establishment moderates have never been fans of mine because I ran against their endorsement and won," Keller said in a statement. "As the only conservative in this race, I will be taking my Senate campaign to the voters to decide."
Other lawmakers, such as Cincinnati City Councilman Chris Seelbach, have also spoken out. Seelbach, who was Cincinnati's first openly gay councilman, specifically took issue with Keller's comments on same-sex marriage. He also urged Ohioans to call Keller directly with their thoughts.
Richard Jones, the sheriff of Butler County — which contains Keller's district — also called for the congresswoman's resignation.
"Candice Keller should resign at once. Shame shame," Jones tweeted Monday.
Police are still investigating Sunday's shooting in Dayton and have said they are not close to establishing a motive.
|
|
|
Post by the Scribe on Apr 4, 2020 9:26:49 GMT
Here's the data on white supremacist terrorism the Trump administration has been 'unable or unwilling' to give to Congress Jana Winter and Hunter Walker 2 hours 30 minutes ago www.yahoo.com/news/heres-the-data-the-trump-administration-wouldnt-give-congress-on-white-supremacist-terrorism-235254627.html
Yahoo News photo illustration; photos: AP, Getty Images
WASHINGTON — Alleged white supremacists were responsible for all race-based domestic terrorism incidents in 2018, according to a government document distributed earlier this year to state, local and federal law enforcement.
The document, which has not been previously reported on, becomes public as the Trump administration’s Justice Department has been unable or unwilling to provide data to Congress on white supremacist domestic terrorism.
The data in this document, titled “Domestic Terrorism in 2018,” appears to be what Congress has been asking for — and didn’t get.
The document, dated April 15, 2019, shows 25 of the 46 individuals allegedly involved in 32 different domestic terrorism incidents were identified as white supremacists. It was prepared by New Jersey’s Office of Homeland Security Preparedness, one of the main arteries of information-sharing, and sent throughout the DHS fusion center network as well as federal agencies, including the FBI.
“This map reflects 32 domestic terrorist attacks, disrupted plots, threats of violence, and weapons stockpiling by individuals with a radical political or social agenda who lack direction or influence from foreign terrorist organizations in 2018,” the document says.
The map and data was circulated throughout the Department of Justice and around the country in April just as members of the Senate pushed the DOJ to provide them with precise information about the number of white supremacists involved in domestic terrorism. While the document shows this information clearly had been compiled, some of the senators say the Justice Department would not give them the figures.
The DOJ did not respond to Yahoo News’ questions about why this data was not sent to Congress.
“I’m troubled by the lack of transparency, given that we haven’t received this critical information after several requests to the FBI and DOJ. They cannot and should not remain silent in the face of such a dangerous threat,” Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., wrote in an email, after being told about the data.
Booker is part of a group of senators on the Judiciary Committee who have raised concerns about how the Justice Department categorizes domestic terror incidents and expressed concerns that white supremacist violence is being downplayed.
An aide for Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., who is also on the Judiciary Committee, said it was “disappointing” to discover the Justice Department has information it has been “unable or unwilling” to provide to senators.
“This is disappointing but unfortunately not surprising. In April, the Justice Department and the FBI briefed Senate Judiciary Committee staff on domestic terrorism, nearly six months after Sen. Durbin’s office first requested the briefing,” the aide said. “At the briefing, the DOJ and the FBI were unable or unwilling to provide precise data on white supremacist terrorism, and neither agency has responded to our repeated follow-up questions since the briefing.”
After the briefing with officials from the Justice Department and FBI, Booker, Durbin and other Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee sent a letter to Attorney General William Barr and FBI Director Christopher Wray in May outlining their concerns about the categorization of domestic terrorism incidents.
“For the past decade, the FBI used 11 different categories for domestic terrorism, including a separate category for white supremacist incidents. The Administration is now using a classification system with only four categories, including ‘racially-motivated violent extremism,’” the letter said. “This new category inappropriately combines incidents involving white supremacists and so-called ‘Black identity extremists,’ a fabricated term based on a faulty assessment of a small number of isolated incidents.”
In the letter, the senators said they were “deeply concerned that this reclassification downplays the significance of the white supremacist threat.” They also indicated that they asked the FBI and DOJ officials involved in the briefing for information about white supremacist terrorism and were not provided with it.
“The briefers provided statistics on racially motivated violent extremism … but could not say how many involved white supremacist violence, other than to acknowledge they were ‘a majority’ of the incidents. If we do not understand the scope of the problem, we cannot effectively address it,” the letter said.
FBI Director Christopher Wray testified during a Senate Judiciary Committee oversight hearing on July 23 and Booker asked him about the bureau’s categorization of domestic terrorist groups. A week later, Booker sent Wray a request for additional information for the record, including the number of attacks and fatalities that “have been attributed to white supremacists since 2000.”
FBI Director Christopher Wray testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee last month. (Photo: Susan Walsh/AP) “During your hearing, I asked you a number of questions regarding the number of violent attacks and fatalities categorized as domestic terrorism, and you were unable to provide that data,” Booker wrote to Wray. Booker’s office said Wray has not responded to his request.
The April 15 document is available online on the New Jersey state government’s website.
In response to questions from Yahoo News, an FBI spokesperson declined to comment on whether the information was given to the senators, but insisted the FBI was regularly working with relevant congressional committees.
“While we don’t comment on congressional engagement, we can assure you that the FBI routinely engages with our oversight authorities in Congress around requests for information and FBI operations,” the FBI spokesperson said.
The FBI declined to comment on the April 15 document, saying the bureau “is not going to comment on somebody else’s product.”
A Department of Justice spokesperson referred Yahoo News to congressional testimony Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brad Wiegmann gave before the House Homeland Security Committee in May for a description of “the department’s efforts in the domestic terrorism area in general.”
The document groups the 46 individuals allegedly involved in domestic terror incidents last year into three categories: “race-based extremists,” “anti-government extremists,” and “single-issue extremists.” But the map also includes more detailed data within these categories and all 25 of the individuals classified as “race-based extremists” are identified as “white supremacists.”
The government’s classification of individuals under specific categories does not indicate they were necessarily convicted of crimes for extremist behavior, or that the actual charges against them included an extremist element. A Yahoo News review of the cases found that many were still pending, and we blurred out details identifying two individuals. In one instance, the status of the case was unclear; in the other, the charges were dismissed.)
Some Democrats on the Judiciary Committee have argued that the Justice Department’s decision to reduce the number of categories, and using only “race-based extremists,” will make tracking white supremacists more difficult.
Law enforcement agencies responding to an active shooter at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, on Saturday. (Photo: Joel Angel Juarez/AFP/Getty Images) “The Trump administration’s irresponsible decision to stop tracking white supremacist incidents as a separate category of domestic terrorism obfuscates the extent of this threat,” Durbin’s aide said.
In his testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee last month, FBI Director Wray, when pressed, said the “majority” of domestic terrorism cases last year involved white supremacists. However, Wray did not provide specific figures.
Booker said he was not surprised to learn the data shows that race-based attacks last year involved white supremacists. He cited a spate of recent high-profile incidents, including the Aug. 3 shooting in El Paso that left 22 people dead as proof of the white supremacist threat.
“While white supremacy is not a new phenomenon in America, it’s incredibly troubling the way the movement has been emboldened and the administration’s efforts to obfuscate the data on these terrorist incidents simply defies logic,” Booker said.
In March, Durbin introduced the Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act in the wake of a shooting at a mosque in New Zealand. The bill called on the DOJ and on FBI offices that monitor, investigate and prosecute domestic terrorism to assess the “threat posed by white supremacists” and to “provide transparency through a public quantitative analysis of domestic terrorism–related assessments, investigations, incidents, arrests, indictments, prosecutions, convictions, and weapons recoveries.” Booker was among the co-sponsors of the bill.
According to Durbin’s aide, the ambiguity in the current classification system and the DOJ’s apparent reluctance to release data on white supremacist terrorism raises concerns about whether adequate resources are being devoted to the threat.
“This highlights the problem with not specifically tracking white supremacist attacks,” the aide said of the document. “If we do not understand the scope of this problem, we cannot effectively combat it.”
Martin de Bourmont contributed research to this article.
_____
Download the Yahoo News app to customize your experience.
Read more from Yahoo News:
FBI document warns conspiracy theories are a new domestic terrorism threat
Marianne Williamson on reparations and her emails with Oprah
'It's blasted across America': How Fox and Sean Hannity amplified a Russia-fueled conspiracy
Democrats resume search for a 'smoking gun' to bring down Trump
360: Should magic mushrooms be legal?
PHOTOS: President faces protests on visit to cities hit by mass shootings
|
|
|
Post by the Scribe on Apr 4, 2020 9:27:39 GMT
Man believes Trump 'ordered him' to attack child for ‘disrespecting’ national anthem by keeping hat on, lawyer saysThe Independent news.yahoo.com/man-believes-trump-ordered-him-203726387.html Chris Riotta,The Independent•August 9, 2019
A man suspected of attacking a child who was wearing a hat during the US National Anthem believed he was encouraged by Donald Trump to carry out the assault, according to his lawyer.
Curt Brockway, a 39-year-old US Army veteran who was charged on Monday in the assault, suffered a traumatic brain injury in a vehicle crash in 2000 that has affected his decision making, attorney Lance Jasper told the Missoulian.
The lawyer said he will seek a mental health evaluation for Mr Brockway, who seemingly became caught up in the heightened animosity and rhetoric gripping the nation, and convinced himself that he was following the president’s orders.
“His commander in chief is telling people that if they kneel, they should be fired, or if they burn a flag, they should be punished,” Mr Jasper said.
He added that Mr Brockway “certainly didn’t understand it was a crime.”
Mr Brockway told a sheriff’s deputy that he asked the boy to remove his hat out of respect for the national anthem before the start of the county rodeo, Mineral County Attorney Ellen Donohue wrote in the document describing the attack.
The boy reportedly cursed at Mr Brockway in response, and the man grabbed him by the throat, “lifted him into the air and slammed the boy into the ground,” Ms Donohue wrote.
Mr Jasper’s comments arrived as prosecutors formally charged Mr Brockway with assault on a minor, a felony that carries a maximum five-year prison sentence and a $50,000 (£41,183) fine upon conviction.
Prosecutors said the boy was airlifted to a hospital for a possible concussion and skull fracture. His condition was not immediately known.
Conduct during the playing of the national anthem has been an issue in recent years, with some NFL players kneeling to protest police brutality.
Mr Trump once called for NFL owners to fire players who kneel or engage in other acts of protest during the anthem.
“Trump never necessarily says go hurt somebody, but the message is absolutely clear,” Mr Jasper said. “I am certain of the fact that (Brockway) was doing what he believed he was told to do, essentially, by the president. ... Everyone should learn to dial it down a little bit, from the president to Mineral County.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report
|
|
|
Post by the Scribe on Apr 4, 2020 9:28:07 GMT
Hate Has Flourished In 2 Years Since 'Unite The Right' Rally In CharlottesvilleHuffPost Andy Campbell,HuffPost 16 hours ago www.yahoo.com/news/charlottesville-anniversary-hate-flourishes-unite-the-right-153455090.html
Extremism experts and law enforcement alike thought the brutality seen at the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in August 2017 might signal the beginning of the end for white supremacist movements across the U.S. Instead, hate and white supremacy have been allowed to thrive.
Since throngs of white supremacists and neo-Nazis gathered in Charlottesville for an extremism rally that left one woman dead and dozens of others injured, some participants have faced jail time or lost their jobs. By 2018, even the FBI characterized white supremacist extremism as a just a “medium threat” and said related organizations would fizzle out through “attrition,” leaving only “small cells and lone offenders,” according to leaked documents obtained by The Young Turks.
Yet as certain hate groups dissolved or retreated from public thanks to ongoing efforts by activists and journalists, other white supremacist movements have grown online ― and received a boost from far-right talking heads, news outlets like Fox News, and even the president of the United States. Only now, two years after the rally in Charlottesville, are some people in power starting to acknowledge that domestic terror and white supremacy are problems.
Acknowledging A Problem White supremacists have carried out numerous attacks across the globe since that deadly weekend in Charlottesville, often with support or endorsement from their peers online. The killing of a gay Jewish college student in January 2018 was cheered on by a violent neo-Nazi group called Atomwaffen Division, to which the alleged killer subscribed. And after a white supremacist shot and killed 17 people at a high school in Parkland, Florida, people on the message board 4chan celebrated by crafting conspiracy theories and hoaxes to further victimize the students.
Domestic extremists, most of whom are white supremacists, killed at least 50 people in the U.S. in 2018 alone, and since Charlottesville have been tied to a long list of massacres, including those in Pittsburgh; Santa Fe, Texas; Poway, California; Tallahassee, Florida; Jeffersontown, Kentucky; and Aztec, New Mexico.
The frequency of white supremacist attacks has forced Congress — or, at least, the Democratic-led House ― to acknowledge the problem by holding committee hearings on hate, white supremacy and domestic terror, but lawmakers have struggled to put any changes in place that can actually combat the problem. The first such hearing didn’t take place until April of this year, and it was derailed by conservatives questioning whether white supremacist violence was even an issue.
A Nazi flag flies during the “Unite the Right” white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, on Aug. 12, 2017. (Photo: Andy Campbell / HuffPost)
Violent racism has long been fueled and tacitly endorsed by U.S. politics. Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), an unashamed white supremacist, still holds a seat in Congress, for example. And Karen Baynes-Dunning, the president of the Southern Poverty Law Center, said Trump’s rhetoric was tied directly to the rise of white nationalist violence.
“This white nationalist fantasy ― that liberal ‘elites’ are conspiring to ‘replace’ white people in our country with immigrants and other people of color ― is the poison that is this movement, with the aid of its champion in the White House, is injecting into our democracy,” Baynes-Dunning said in a statement. “It must be stopped.”
It wasn’t until earlier this month, after a white supremacist shot and killed 22 people at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas ― purportedly with the goal of killing Mexicans, whom he apparently said represented “the Hispanic invasion of Texas” ― that many top conservatives have acknowledged the racism elephant in the room.
Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) ― who in 2002 spoke in front of a white supremacist group founded by former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke ― agreed this week that the federal government desperately needs a statute that outlaws domestic terrorism committed by white supremacists. Fox News host Tucker Carlson lost advertisers and the respect of some of his colleagues after he said white supremacy was a “hoax” and “not a real problem.” Trump even attempted to decry white supremacist violence during a news conference after Democrats linked his rhetoric around immigration to the shooting in El Paso, although he has not appeared to change his stance on immigration and went on to compare anti-fascist groups with white supremacy groups.
Related Coverage
Charlottesville Anniversary: White Supremacy Didn’t Invade. It Was Always Here. www.huffpost.com/entry/charlottesville-white-supremacy-always-here_n_5b688d72e4b0fd5c73dc388e
The FBI Counted 100 Domestic Terrorism Arrests In The Past 9 Months www.huffpost.com/entry/domestic-terrorism-fbi-christopher-wray_n_5d374b1fe4b004b6adb6fd42
How 8chan Became A Breeding Ground For Violent Extremism www.huffpost.com/entry/what-to-know-about-8chan-the-extremist-forum-where-mass-killers-find-an-audience_n_5d476ff5e4b0acb57fce642b
Trump Echoes Infamous 'Both Sides' Quote By Comparing White Supremacy To Antifa www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-white-supremacy-antifa-equal-threat_n_5d4ae062e4b01e44e473a06e
Seeking A Solution Identifying and defeating white nationalist organizations is difficult because they are constantly moving targets ― and because there isn’t a federal statute by which to prosecute domestic terrorism.
Identity Evropa, a prominent hate group with strong ties to the Unite the Right rally, rebranded and changed its name after hundreds of thousands of its chat logs were leaked by an independent media organization called Unicorn Riot. The leak exposed members of the armed services and others as white nationalists, and even uncovered a plot by the hate group to keep King in office.
Identity Evropa fell apart as a brand after that leak, but its members ― and anyone who subscribes to racist ideology ― still have easy access to an online network of supporters and collaborators. Message boards like 4chan and its sister site, 8chan, are breeding grounds for radicals, a safe space for white nationalists and their friends to broadcast hate or violence and hide behind anonymity. Social media platforms YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram act as their own petri dishes for violent extremism, despite attempts to crack down on white supremacist ideology.
The most clear-cut proposals for combatting the issue involve governmental classification of domestic terror and white supremacist crime, and constant reassessment of its scope.
The FBI has identified 100 domestic terrorism arrests in 2019 so far, but federal officials have been hesitant to label certain acts as terrorism because there’s no domestic terrorism statute. As a result, some domestic terrorists have been given more leeway than, say, a similar case inspired by foreign terrorist organizations.
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) in May introduced the Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act, which would require federal agencies to monitor and collect data on the ongoing white supremacist threat. It would also allow them to better assist state and local law enforcement in arresting and prosecuting these cases.
The federal government has been pushing Congress to adopt a domestic terrorism statute, and most Americans say they’re ready for such a law.
Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today.
This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
|
|
|
Post by the Scribe on Apr 4, 2020 9:28:47 GMT
Dayton Mayor Needed Extra Security After Trump Attacked HerHuffPost Mary Papenfuss,HuffPost 7 minutes ago www.yahoo.com/news/nan-whaley-dayton-ohio-threats-065238279.html
The mayor of Dayton, Ohio, needed extra security after President Donald Trump publicly insulted her, The Dayton Daily News reported.
Earlier this month, Mayor Nan Whaley was grappling with the aftermath of a mass shooting where nine people were killed when the president traveled to the city to visit with victims and meet with local leaders.
Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and Mayor Nan Whaley met with President Trump several days after the Aug. 4 mass shooting in Dayton. (Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS)
In a press conference following Trump’s visit, Whaley and Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) discussed the need for more gun control. Brown also called Trump’s visit “comforting,” and Whaley said that first responders and victims were “grateful the president of the United States came to Dayton.”
Trump, however, lashed Whaley and Brown, calling them “very dishonest people” for “misrepresenting” his visit. He also tweeted that their press conference was a “fraud.” Some speculated that Trump may have been parroting a perspective he heard on Fox News.
“I turn on the television and there they are saying, ‘Well, I don’t know if it was appropriate for the president to be here. You know, etc., etc. You know, the same old line,’” Trump told reporters after his visit. “They’re very dishonest people and that’s probably why [Brown] got, I think, about zero percent, that he failed as a presidential candidate.”
Following Trump’s comments, Whaley received numerous threatening emails, phone calls and social media messages. According to The Dayton Daily News, one of the many abusive messages sent to Whaley warned: “Get the hell out of this country you disrespectful trash. Treason is death.”
An extra team of two detectives was assigned to her around the clock for six days after Trump’s comments, the newspaper reported Friday.
Whaley also tweeted that she was surprised by Trump’s insults:
Whaley later described Trump as a “bully and a coward” for the way he attacked her and Brown:
Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today.
Whaley said she was just doing her job when she called for more gun control in the wake of the mass shooting in her city.
“I respected the president and the office of the president, but I strongly want him to do something and the people of Dayton want him to do something, and so it’s my job to say that,” she told the newspaper.
Also on HuffPost
This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
|
|
|
Post by the Scribe on Apr 4, 2020 9:29:21 GMT
|
|
|
Post by the Scribe on Apr 4, 2020 9:29:54 GMT
It should be no surprise that sick people are attracted to sick, like-minded leaders. This cult of Trump will last LONG after he has left this Earth. His image and memory will be right up there with Stalin, Hitler, Mao....Trump Tweets Gushing Support Video With Logo Linked To White NationalistsHuffPost Mary Papenfuss,HuffPost 2 hours 20 minutes ago www.yahoo.com/news/vdare-trump-white-nationalist-anti-semitic-lion-logo-015327908.html
The lion logo linked to white nationalists appears in an independently produced video tweeted by Trump. (Photo: Screen Shot/Donald Trump Twitter)
President Donald Trump tweeted an independently produced video touting his record on Wednesday that included a distinctive lion logo linked to an anti-Semitic and white nationalist site.
The logo — a red, white and blue image of a lion surrounded by stars reportedly representing the “original colonies” that voted for Trump in the GOP primaries — has been used by VDare.com, which the Southern Poverty Law Center characterizes as an anti-immigrant hate group. VDare’s anti-Semitic slurs were linked to in a daily Department of Justice news briefing sent earlier this month to immigration judges. VDare has since been booted from YouTube.
The Justice Department blamed a contractor for sending the VDare link in the newsletter and said it should not have been included. “The Department of Justice condemns Anti-Semitism and white nationalism in the strongest terms,” said Kathryn Mattingly, a spokesperson for the department’s Executive Office of Immigration Review, which is responsible for arranging the briefings.
The lion logo has also been posted by a Dutch white supremacist whose Twitter account was suspended, Mediaite reported.
Now Trump has tweeted the video with the logo over the words: “Trump Pence Keep America Great.” Trump noted at the top of the video: “Thank you for the support as we MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
The Trump campaign told Mediaite that the president “shared an independently-produced video that highlighted the strengths of the economy his policies have created. Any conspiracy connected to white supremacy exists only in the fevered minds of reporters who will believe anything negative about the president.”
The logo clones were apparently noted first by former Snopes managing editor Brooke Binkowski, according to Mediaite.
Medium traced the inspiration for the lion logo to a quote from Italian fascist dictator Benito Mussolini that Trump retweeted in February 2016: “It is better to live one day as a lion than 100 years as a sheep.” Trump later said on NBC: “It’s a very good quote. I didn’t know who said it, but what difference does it make if it was Mussolini or somebody else? It’s a very good quote.”
The lion logo appeared the following month on a website and Twitter account launched by a group calling itself the Lion Guard, which vowed to protect Trump supporters and “forcefully protect” Trump from threats. The logo soon appeared on VDare’s Twitter account.
Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today.
twitter.com/pcliers The Trump video is credited to Twitter user @som3thingwicked, who first tweeted it Sunday. The user indicated he simply randomly chose the lion logo from images he found in a Google search.
VDare tweeted Thursday: “Oh for God’s sake. No we didn’t invent the ‘Trump Lion’ logo. Some anon did.” VDare founder, right-wing English immigrant Peter Brimelow, called leftists “stupid.”
The VDare blog is named after Virginia Dare, the first white English Colonist born in North America in 1587. The blog “regularly publishes articles by prominent white nationalists, race scientists and anti-Semites, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center. The Washington Post reported last week that Trump economic adviser Larry Kudlow had invited Brimelow to a recent birthday party at his home.
|
|
|
Post by the Scribe on Apr 4, 2020 9:30:27 GMT
Quote by ronstadtfanaz: As well it should be. And Trump voters who have started to either have buyer's remorse or revived their own consciences have only themselves to blame (IMHO).
|
|
|
Post by the Scribe on Apr 4, 2020 9:30:55 GMT
Judge Andrew Napolitano: Trump violates Constitution – Spends unappropriated funds, raises taxes on ownwww.foxnews.com/opinion/judge-andrew-napolitano-temptation-tyranny OPINION ·Published 1 day ago
Does the president of the United States have too much power?
That question has been asked lately with respect to President Trump's planned use of federal funds to construct 175 miles of sporadic barriers along portions of the nearly 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico common border. After Congress expressly declined to give him that money, Trump signed into law – rather than vetoed – the legislation that denied him the funds he sought and then spent the money anyway.
The question regarding presidential power has also been asked with respect to Trump’s imposition of sales taxes – Trump calls them tariffs -- on nearly all goods imported into the United States from China. These are taxes that only Congress can constitutionally authorize.
And the question of presidential power has been asked in connection with the presidentially ordered mistreatment of families seeking asylum in the United States by separating parents from children – in defiance of a court order.
PELOSI CLAIMS CONGRESS IS A 'SUPERIOR BRANCH' OF GOVERNMENT www.foxnews.com/politics/pelosi-claims-congress-is-a-superior-branch-of-government
This question of presidential power is not an academic one. Nor is it a question unique to the Trump presidency, as it has risen numerous times before Trump entered office. But the audacious manner of Trump's employment of presidential powers has brought it to public scrutiny.
Here is the backstory.
The Constitution was written in the aftermath of the American Revolution, a war fought against a kingdom, most of whose domestic subjects articulated that the king had been chosen by God to rule over them.
The colonists in America, prodded by radicals like Sam Adams, Patrick Henry and Thomas Jefferson, profoundly rejected that idea. They argued that each individual was sovereign and a repository of natural rights. Jefferson articulated as much in the Declaration of Independence.
So, when it came time to craft a new government here, the drafters of the Constitution, led by Jefferson's friend James Madison, made certain that there would be no king. Congress would write the laws. The president would enforce them. The judiciary would interpret them. This separation of powers is what the late Justice Antonin Scalia called the most unique and effective aspect of American government.
Why is that?
For starters, Madison feared the accumulation of too much power in any one branch of the government. With the exception of the uniqueness and violence of the Civil War, for 130 years, the branches remained within their confines. For that matter, the federal government did so as well.
Congresses and presidents accepted the Madisonian view that the federal government could only do what the Constitution affirmatively authorized it to do, and all remaining governmental tasks would be addressed by the states. This, too, was part of Madison's genius in order to impede the concentration of too much power in the hands of too few.
All that changed when a former professor of constitutional law -- who was not a lawyer -- entered the White House. Woodrow Wilson believed and behaved as though Congress could legislate on any problem for which there was a national political will, except that which was expressly prohibited by the Constitution.
The Wilsonian view of government and the Madisonian view of government are polar opposites.
At the same time that Wilson was turning the Constitution on its head, he was also signing legislation that created the agencies of the administrative state. These agencies, he argued, should be filled with experts in their fields -- the Food and Drug Administration, the Federal Trade Commission, to name a few -- because experts would bring better government.
The agencies were authorized to write regulations that have the power of law, to enforce those regulations and to interpret them. This slippage of constitutional authority to creatures alien to the Constitution -- which branch of government are they in? -- masked a parallel slippage of power from Congress to the presidency.
Just as Wilson persuaded Congress that the feds needed experts to run parts of the government, he and his successors persuaded Congress that the presidency should be the repository of emergency powers.
The Constitution does not authorize any emergency powers; nevertheless, the War Powers Resolution lets the president fight any war for 90 days without congressional authorization, even though the Constitution makes clear that only Congress can declare war. Other national emergency statutes give presidents short-term near-dictatorial powers -- like imposing taxes by calling them tariffs -- without defining what is an emergency.
Scalia railed against all this -- and the Supreme Court often struck down power transfers from Congress to the president. It did so not to preserve the institutional integrity of Congress but to uphold the principle of the separation of powers that Madison crafted as a bulwark against tyranny. The constitutional allocation of power among the branches is not for them to alter.
Its equilibrium was intended to maintain tension and even jealousy among the branches -- and thereby undergird personal liberty. Madison's articulated fear was "a gradual concentration of the several powers in the same" branch. Scalia called this gradual concentration of power in the presidency a wolf in sheep's clothing that became a bare naked wolf.
After years of faithless Congresses legally but unconstitutionally ceding power to the presidency, we have arrived where we are today -- a president who spends unappropriated funds, raises taxes, defies courts and changes immigration laws on his own. I have written before that the Republicans who rejoice in this will weep over it when a Democrat is in the White House. No president should have unconstitutional powers.
I have also written that the guarantees of the Constitution -- separation of powers foremost among them -- are only effective when the folks in whose hands we repose the Constitution for safekeeping are faithful to their oaths to uphold it.
When they are, our freedoms flourish. When they aren't -- power abhors a vacuum -- the temptation of tyranny arises.
|
|
|
Post by the Scribe on Apr 4, 2020 9:31:28 GMT
Black transgender woman found torched in car as campaigners warn LGBT rights are fragile in Trump’s AmericaThe Independent Katie Shepherd,The Independent 10 hours ago www.yahoo.com/news/black-transgender-woman-found-torched-131723109.html
On the still dark morning of September 4, tucked behind a rural Florida neighbourhood dotted with single-story houses painted bright green, turquoise and pink, flames licked the metal frame of a PT Cruiser parked in the grass.
When Hendry County Sheriff's deputies doused the flames, they found a woman's body inside so badly burned she couldn't be identified for days.
Now police say that Bee Love Slater, a black, transgender 23-year-old from South Florida, was murdered.
Investigators have not announced any suspects or leads, and the sheriff's office told reporters they could not say whether the grisly homicide was a hate crime.
"We can't say it's a hate crime yet because we don't know what the motive was," Susan Harrelle, from the Hendry Country Sheriff's office, told ABC 7.
But advocates say Ms Slater was the latest victim in an alarming trend, as transgender murders are spiking across the US - particularly in Florida, where the hate crime statute does not apply to people attacked for their gender identity.
"Our society needs to work to ensure transpeople can live without fear," the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida said in a statement about Ms Slater's death.
Ms Slater's body was found at the edge of Harlem, Florida, a small community about 65 miles west of West Palm. Slater lived about 32 miles away around the southern bend of Lake Okeechobee in Pahokee, Florida, an economically depressed town best known for producing NFL talent.
Her friends say Ms Slater, who transitioned her gender earlier this year, wanted to save money to move to Atlanta, where she believed people would be more accepting of her transgender identity.
"She always had a smile on her face," her friend Desmond Vereen, who called himself her "gay mother," told the Miami Herald. "She always gave hugs and kisses, always told you that she loved you."
But more recently, Ms Slater began posting on Facebook that she'd gotten harassing messages that scared her, a friend told Out Magazine. She reportedly texted a friend that she wanted to leave town the night she died.
"She posted messages saying she felt as if people were after her to attack and hurt her and she had a conversation with one of her best friends the day she was murdered saying she wanted to leave [the city]," her friend Antorris Williams told Out.
"She was willing to sleep in her car until she found a job and things of that nature."
players.brightcove.net/624246174001/default_default/index.html?videoId=6077955319001
Transgender women and gay man dragged from bar in Los Angeles
So far, the sheriff's office says there is "no evidence" about the cause of her death - in part because her car was scorched to its metal frame. Meanwhile, her friends and transgender rights advocates are demanding justice.
"How could someone go to that extreme to get rid of her?" her friend Kenard Wade told WINK news. "I just want justice for her."
At least 18 transgender people have been murdered in the US this year, according to Human Rights Campaign advocates who track the homicides. Last year, advocates counted 26 murders, including five in Florida, the highest number in any state.
While Florida's hate crime statute allows prosecutors to seek stiffer penalties when a crime is motivated by malice towards someone's "race, religion, ethnicity, colour, ancestry, sexual orientation, or national origin," gender identity, including transgender identity, is not protected under the state law. Advocates say that limitation can leave transgender people more vulnerable to violence.
"These victims are not numbers - they were people with hopes and plans, dreams for the future, loved ones and communities who will miss them every day," writes Matilda Young for the Human Rights Campaign, an LGBTQ rights advocacy group.
"Anti-transgender stigma is exacerbated by callous or disrespectful treatment too often seen from media, law enforcement and our highest elected officials."
On September 6, the day Ms Slater was identified by the medical examiner, friends and supporters dressed in pink gathered on the grounds of an apartment complex in Pahokee.
They lit candles arranged to spell out "Bee Love." They sang together and held dozens of pink balloons shaped like hearts and stars.
People took turns telling stories about Ms Slater and remembering her life.
The crowd cheered for Slater as they let go of the balloons, which floated away into the night sky.
"I'm here and I'm going to speak and do whatever I have to do," Mr Vereen said. "Her name is going to live on."
The Washington Post
Read more Trump administration says trans workers can be fired based on gender
I'm a transgender parent in Trump's America. This is what it's like
School's transgender bathroom ban 'discriminatory', says federal judge
Model admits lying about being transgender to avoid backlash
Woman becomes 12th transgender person violently killed in US this year
Tinder is still banning transgender people despite inclusivity pledge
|
|
|
Post by the Scribe on Apr 4, 2020 9:32:29 GMT
While not all conservatives are racist, all racists are conservative. It is the flaming tire around their necks they refuse to address. Instead they go out of their way to attack Liberals and Liberalism with their nihilistic hatred of anything Left as taught to them through right wing media and now online.DHS Warns Against Growing Threat Of White Supremacist Extremism OnlineAmy Russo HuffPostSeptember 21, 2019 finance.yahoo.com/news/homeland-security-white-supremacy-extremism-online-214131887.html
The Department of Homeland Security is sounding the alarm on the growing danger of white supremacy across the country, warning of the internet’s ability to serve as a meeting space and a breeding ground for nationalist extremism.
In a 37-page report called the Strategic Framework for Countering Terrorism and Targeted Violence released Friday, the department emphasized the ease at which potential domestic terrorists can network, drawing a parallel to foreign threats.
“Similar to how ISIS inspired and connected with potential radical Islamist terrorists, white supremacist violent extremists connect with like-minded individuals online,” the report read.
“In addition to mainstream social media platforms, white supremacist violent extremists use lesser-known sites like Gab, 8chan, and EndChan, as well as encrypted channels. Celebration of violence and conspiracy theories about the ‘ethnic replacement’ of whites as the majority ethnicity in various Western countries are prominent in their online circles.”
The report comes less than two months after a gunman killed 22 people at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas. The suspect later admitted to having targeted Mexicans, and is believed to have acted on a white supremacist manifesto shared on 8chan minutes before his rampage began. The currently de-platformed site ― which was dumped by its host, Cloudflare, following the shooting ― was widely known to be a hotbed of extremism.
Gab ― another site where white supremacy runs free ― entered the news in 2018 following the Pittsburgh Tree of Life synagogue shooting. Shortly before the attack, the alleged gunman posted anti-Semitic messages on the site, accusing a Jewish charity helping refugees of bringing “invaders in that kill our people.”
In a speech Friday at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C., Acting DHS Secretary Kevin McAleenan identified white supremacist extremism as “one of the most potent ideologies driving acts of targeted violence in this country.”
“In our modern age, the continued menace of racially-based violent extremism, particularly white supremacist extremism, is an abhorrent affront to our nation, the struggle and unity of its diverse population, and the core values of both our society and our department,” he said.
However, DHS’ concern over white supremacy appears to be at odds with President Donald Trump’s sometimes racist rhetoric, which has notoriously targeted lawmakers of color, immigrants, a Muslim Gold Star family and President Barack Obama ― to name a few examples.
According to a CNN report published in August, DHS officials had to spend over a year convincing the White House that more attention needed to be given to domestic threats.
Related coverage
Hate Has Flourished In 2 Years Since 'Unite The Right' Rally In Charlottesville www.huffpost.com/entry/charlottesville-anniversary-hate-flourishes-unite-the-right_n_5d506f6be4b0fd2733f1f3d4
White Nationalist Arrested For Threatening To Attack Jewish Center In Ohio, Police Say www.huffpost.com/entry/ohio-white-nationalist-jewish-community-center_n_5d597d9ee4b056fafd0d837c
Mass Shootings Are 'Just Getting Worse' As FBI Fights To Keep Up www.huffpost.com/entry/mass-shootings-getting-worse-fbi_n_5d6d29e4e4b011080452b12e
Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today.
This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
|
|
|
Post by the Scribe on Apr 4, 2020 9:33:14 GMT
PROMOTING VIOLENCE!!! The Unholy Trinity: Donald Trump, Fox News, & White Supremacist Terrorists!
Jesse Dollemore 135K subscribers Let's talk about the clear connections between white supremacist terrorists, white nationalist, neo-Nazis, alt-righters, and Donald Trump & Fox News (especially Tucker Carlson & Laura Ingraham). They all speak the same rhetoric and traffic in the same conspiracy theories. I believe, in an effort to ramp up the anger and rage in soon-to-be gun-wielding domestic terrorists!
|
|
|
Post by the Scribe on Apr 4, 2020 9:33:52 GMT
Deplorables: Trump, Brexit and the Demonised Masses
spiked 35.8K subscribers A film about the people who had long been forgotten, but now cannot be ignored -- from the Rust Belt to the Essex coast. Featuring: Salena Zito, Matthew Goodwin, Glenn Loury, Munira Mirza, Paul Embery, Brian Denny and more.
|
|
|
Post by the Scribe on Apr 4, 2020 9:34:32 GMT
onward christian soldiersRight-wing pastor says Trump supporters will 'hunt down' Democrats when he leaves officeThe Independent Alex Woodward,The Independent 13 hours ago www.yahoo.com/news/wing-pastor-says-trump-supporters-165700816.html
President Donald Trump's supporters will "hunt down" Democrats and bring "violence to America" once the president leaves office, according to right-wing Christian pastor and conspiracy theorist Rick Wiles.
On his apocalyptic TruNews programme, captured by Right Wing Watch, Mr Wiles said the president's impeachment or "however he leaves" office will inspire "veterans, cowboys, mountain men" and "guys that know how to fight" to bring "violence to America" by hunting down Mr Trump's political enemies.
Co-host Edward Szall said "once the blood starts flowing, it's near impossible to stop".
Mr Wiles' threat follows an impeachment probe into the president's possible abuses of power in his dealings with Ukraine, as well as multiple witness testimonies that have contradicted Mr Trump's denial of wrongdoing.
The impeachment investigation has ignited a firestorm of protest among Republicans, who stormed into a committee hearing on Wednesday to demand that the impeachment process be "public".
Forty-seven Republicans currently serve in those investigative committees alongside Democrats.
Meanwhile, moments before a World Series game was set to begin, a longtime Major League Baseball umpire threatened to buy an AR-15 and join a civil war if Mr Trump is impeached. Rob Drake wrote his threat on Twitter, then deleted it.
"I will be buying an AR-15 tomorrow, because if you impeach MY PRESIDENT this way, YOU WILL HAVE ANOTHER CIVAL (sic) WAR!!! #MAGA2020," he wrote. "You can't do an impeachment inquiry from the basement of Capital(sic) Hill without even a vote! What is going on in this country?"
On TruNews, Mr Wiles added that "if they get away this, there's no country left. It's done. It's finished."
The comments follow Mr Wiles' legacy of far-right conspiracy, anti-semitism and discrimination against LGBT people, from calling former President Barack Obama a "demon from hell" to calling Jews the "antichrist" and suggesting that 2017's devastating floods in Houston, Texas were God's punishment for the city's LGBT population.
In 2018, Mr Wiles predicted that a "leftist mob" led by CNN’s Anderson Cooper and MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow would decapitate Mr Trump and his family on the White House lawn.
Following Mr Trump's departure, the country will be "plunged into darkness" which Democrats brought "upon themselves because they won't back off," Mr Wiles said.
He added: "They won't let the people express their views. They voted for Donald Trump, they wanted Donald Trump, but they said, 'No, you're stupid, you're racist, you're bigots, we're not going to allow your vote to count.' And they've waged war against those people now for three years."
MAGA Fans Show Hypocrisy at Trump Rally | NowThis
|
|
|
Post by the Scribe on Apr 4, 2020 9:35:16 GMT
Wisdom from Jerry Springer of all people. Jerry Jerry JerryYes, Jerry Springer Really Decried Lack of Civility in America, Gets Immediately Called Out by Stephanie RuhleBy Connor MannionNov 1st, 2019, 10:51 am www.mediaite.com/uncategorized/yes-jerry-springer-really-decried-lack-of-civility-in-america-gets-immediately-called-out-by-stephanie-ruhle/
Jerry Springer: When Leaders Misbehave, It Tells Society We Have No Norms | Velshi & Ruhle | MSNBC
Television host Jerry Springer decried a lack of civility in American society and blamed President Donald Trump, arguing you can’t compare his work on his TV show to what’s going on in the U.S.
“Our leaders … when they misbehave, when they say the norms don’t matter when they say you can use whatever language you want, anything you can get away with, get away with it. If you don’t pay taxes, you’re smart. Demeaning other people. When they have this behavior, it tells society that we really don’t have any norms anymore,” Springer told MSNBC anchor Stephanie Ruhle on MSNBC Live. “We can’t have that in the leadership of our country.”
“Once we do away with civility in terms of our institutions, we’ve lost it,” Springer continued.
Springer, also a former mayor of Cincinnati, famously hosted The Jerry Springer Show–which broadcast messy and frequently uncivil personal disputes to millions of viewers. Ruhle immediately took note of that.
“Jerry, are you saying it’s our leaders that need to set the example?” Ruhle asked. “Because, again, the success of your show in some part was predicated on America’s love of the battle. When people were chanting Jer-ry! Jer-ry! it wasn’t when the people on your stage were hugging it out.”
Springer responded by arguing he was just making a television show.
“First of all, our show was about dysfunctional behavior,” he said. “So obviously everyone who’s going to appear on the show is acting dysfunctionally. That was the point of the show. “But no one ever suggested, never did I do a final thought, and say ‘this is the way you ought to behave.'”
“You can’t compare a crazy television show where you’ve got people that admittedly are dysfunctional and saying, therefore, it’s okay to have an administration that’s dysfunctional … Norms are important,”
Watch above, via MSNBC
Have a tip we should know? tips@mediaite.com
|
|