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Friday, May 31, 2019

Why European Populism Is on the Rise

Over the weekend, the countries making up the European Union held elections for representatives to the EU parliament. As the results came in, it became clear that Europe is becoming increasingly divided. Nationalist parties gained significant ground, though pro-EU groups still maintained a sizable majority. In Britain, the months-old Brexit Party was the big winner, garnering 32% of the vote, clearly sending the message that Britons are not happy with the soon-to-be-departing Prime Minister Theresa May’s failure to secure a Brexit deal. May’s Conservatives and the left-wing Labour Party were routed.

In Italy, Matteo Salvini, leader of the conservative League Party, celebrated a big election victory by declaring, “There is a wind of positive energy. It has brought in fresh air.” Salvini’s populist party campaigned heavily against the EU’s pro-migrant policies. After years of nearly uncheck mass migration from mainly Muslim-majority countries in the Middle East and North Africa, many Europeans have tired of being relegated to the status of second-class citizen by their elitist, globalist-minded leaders. They’re turning to new populist/nationalist parties to fix it.

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7 Reasons You Should Still Keep a Paper Map in Your Glovebox

Ever since Google Maps launched its app in 2008, I’ve been using GPS to get around town, and across the country. For a decade, a digital voice from my phone has led me, turn-by-turn, in cities I’m not familiar with and even cities I’ve lived in for years.

But during the past year or so, I’ve become uncomfortable with my reliance on GPS for a variety of reasons.

So I bought a paper map of my fair city of Tulsa, as well as a road atlas of the United States. (Apparently, I’m not alone in this; sales of the classic Rand McNally Road Atlas have, counterintuitively, been rising in the last several years). And I’ve been pleasantly surprised by how enjoyable it’s been to use old-fashioned maps to get around town, and country. In fact, I’ve gone to using “analog” maps as my primary method of navigation, only relying on Google Maps as a back-up.

Here’s why I’ve made this navigational switch, and 7 reasons — from the practical to the philosophical — why you might consider putting a paper map back in your glovebox too:

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‘TURNING THE RULE OF LAW ON ITS HEAD’ — JUDICIAL WATCH PRESIDENT CALLS FOR INVESTIGATION OF ROBERT MUELLER

Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton called for an investigation into Robert Mueller for suggesting “wrongdoing by an innocent person without any foundation.”

Fitton’s Wednesday night appearance on Fox Business’ “Lou Dobbs Tonight” comes after the former special counsel delivered prepared remarks regarding his investigation.

“Well, I don’t know what reputation he had that deserved any credence until now, but it’s no longer there,” Fitton told Dobbs. “He’s really destroyed whatever reputation he’s had with this political attack on the president, turning the rule of law on its head, suggesting the president is guilty and, because he can’t prove otherwise, we should conclude that he should be impeached.”

Calling it “an abuse of power,” Fitton said that Attorney General Barr has been “too deferential” to Mueller and should have “shut down” the “report before it was even written.”
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Inheritance Welfare Liberals — The Effluent of Generational Wealth and Privilege

Irony: Legions of leftist cadres hate the wealthy elite benefactors who gave them rise.
“I must study politics and war, that our sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. Our sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history and naval architecture, navigation, commerce and agriculture in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry and porcelain.” —John Adams (1780) 
(Note: I have referenced what I call “inheritance welfare liberalism” in columns for two decades. What follows is a long overdue column devoted to this cultural malignancy eroding our nation’s foundational legacy of Liberty. It is especially virulent among affluent millennials who embrace leftist political and social organizations and policies, and spend their time and money propagating the same.)

Founder John Adams, before serving as vice president to George Washington and following him as our second president, was a Boston lawyer and Revolutionary War leader. In 1774, on the insistence of his second cousin Samuel Adams (my favorite of the Founders after Washington), John Adams played a key role in the drafting of the letter of grievances to King George III.

A year later, it was Adams who nominated Washington as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army. And in June of 1776, Adams organized and chose the Committee of Five who would draft our Declaration of Independence: Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Robert Livingston, Roger Sherman, and Adams himself.

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Rep. Steny Hoyer Calls for DC Statehood

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., announced his support for Washington D.C. statehood.

Hoyer’s announcement came in a column posted Thursday on The Washington Post website.

“Our founders, who prescribed the creation of a national capital not within the jurisdiction of any individual state, never intended for those living in it to be denied representation,” he said.

“For 228 years, our government has denied them that voice. More than 700,000 Americans remain unable to cast votes for an equal voice in Congress.”

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HILLARY CLINTON LAMENTS ‘MADAM PRESIDENT’ TITLE IN COLLEGE COMMENCEMENT SPEECH

Two-time presidential loser Hillary Clinton bemoaned her coveted “Madam President” title during a college commencement speech on Wednesday.

In her opening remarks, Clinton thanked Hunter College President Jennifer Raab for having her as the commencement speaker, calling her “Madam President” before saying, “That has a nice ring to it.”

“I am thrilled. I’m thrilled to be part of it today, Madam President. That has a nice ring to it,” she said, hinting at her own missed chance of becoming the U.S. president in 2016.

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Federalist Editor Takes Mueller To The Woodshed: Your Whole Operation Was A Political Hit Job

Watch out, folks! The Federalist’s Sean Davis is dragging the beaten hypothetical corpse of Robert Mueller through. He just took the man to the woodshed in his latest piece and rightfully so. The Russia investigation is over. Special Counsel Mueller is done. He’s done talking about it. He directed us to read the report that was compiled after two years of digging and to leave him alone. Oh, and Democrats, go ahead with impeachment wink* wink*. He twisted the words of his investigation’s findings on Russian collusion; none was found. But Mueller phrased it in a way that left it open for interpretation. And if we know anything about that, impeachment-obsessed Democrats will take it, run with it, and totally go off the rails—and they have. The Mueller report exonerated the Trump White House of Russian collusion. That’s a fact. Done. This circus is over. I wish it were over, but Mueller had to rehash and pour gasoline over the obstruction allegations, which the DOJ determined didn’t have enough to bring forward formal charges.

Again, it’s over. But the Left, promising their base a fight, are going to impeach Donald Trump. It’s only a matter of time. They need to; it’s a key 2018 campaign promise. House Democrats wouldn’t be running the show in the lower chamber if they hadn’t pushed for of heavily insinuated that this would be an agenda action item. Mueller decided to fan those flames again, and now we have a brushfire over a presser that really didn’t unveil anything new. If anything, it was what Attorney General William Barr outlined prior to the redacted report being released to the public. It’s that outline that apparently reeks of a cover-up, an allegiance to Trump, and possible perjury. Even after the case has been closed, the nothing burgers keep being served. Only Democrat whose brain function has been depressed by over consuming this myth for the past two years would believe this were a rational take. Everyone else knows it's not. Mueller is now patient zero, spreading impeachment Ebola that has spread like a brush fire among congressional Democrats.


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The CDC is trying to warn people about tick bites in a really gross way

It's that time of year again: The weather is warming up, people are spending more time in the great outdoors, and that means they need to be on their guard against parasitic insects that can spread disease.

The Centers for Disease Control tried to get this message out through social media on Wednesday, but did so in a way that might just ruin your enjoyment of a popular breakfast pastry.

A Facebook post from the federal agency informs followers that "Ticks can be as small as a poppy seed," before challenging them to find the five ticks that are supposedly sitting on top of a poppyseed muffin in a picture below.

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Smallest recorded baby, born at 23 weeks, is now going home healthy

A baby who was born at less than a pound in San Diego, and who was the smallest-recorded surviving infant in the world, has gone home five months after being born as a healthy baby, according to The Associated Press.

Saybie (the name used by the doctors caring for the baby at the hospital) was born at 23 weeks and three days, and weighed in at a mere 8.6 ounces at birth. She was able to go home this month, weighing about five pounds after spending five months in neonatal intensive care.

"After experiencing severe pregnancy complications, Saybie's mother gave birth via emergency cesarean section at 23 weeks, 3 days gestation in the womb," a hospital representative said at a news conference. "Doctors said the preterm birth was necessary after they found that the baby was not gaining weight and her mother's life was at immediate risk."

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ACTOR JEFFREY WRIGHT: WHEN WE GET THE POWER, EVERYBODY ELSE F**KING DUCK

Actor Jeffrey Wright on Wednesday appeared to warn that when the political left in America “get the power” back from Republicans, “everybody else” should “f**king duck.”

“Message from the @GOP:” Jeffrey Wright began, “There are no principles — not ethical, moral, legal, constitutional, religious, spiritual — NONE. There’s only power. And when we get the power, everybody else f**king duck.”

“Lesson for everybody else: Get the power,” the Westworld star’s message concluded. It came as former Special Counsel Robert Mueller delivered remarks at the Justice Department on Wednesday about the conclusion of his election interference investigation.

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Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak Vetoes National Popular Vote Bill

Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak (D) on Thursday vetoed a bill which would have pledged the state’s six electoral votes to the winner of the popular vote for President of the United States.

Assembly Bill 186, which recently passed the Senate on a 12-8 vote, would have seen Nevada join with 14 other states in an agreement to vote for the winner of the popular vote. The Assembly had voted in favor of the measure 23-17.

“Once effective, the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact could diminish the role of smaller states like Nevada in national electoral contests and force Nevada’s electors to side with whoever wins the nationwide popular vote, rather than the candidate Nevadans choose,” a statement via Sisolak reads. “I recognize that many of my fellow Nevadans may disagree on this point and I appreciate the legislature’s thoughtful consideration of this important issue. As Nevada’s governor, I am obligated to make such decisions according to my own conscience. In cases like this, where Nevada’s interests could diverge from the interests of large states, I will always stand up for Nevada.”

Earlier this year, Colorado, Delaware, and New Mexico signed laws joining the compact, while Oregon and Maine are mulling bills of their own. Had Sisolak signed the measure, the group would have a total of 195 votes.

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Customer Foils Robbery by Shooting Suspect Multiple Times

A Coatesville, Pennsylvania, convenience store customer foiled an alleged Tuesday night robbery attempt by shooting the suspect multiple times.

Daily Local News reports the incident occurred in the Turkey Hill Market, where the suspect allegedly displayed a firearm and “demanded money from employees.”

The concealed permit holder went into the store, drew his gun, and shot the suspect multiple times.

Fox 29 reports that the suspect was identified as Lawrence Galloway. He suffered “multiple gunshot wounds to the lower torso” and was transported to a hospital for treatment.

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Tom Del Beccaro: Hillary Clinton, the queen of obstruction, demands accountability after Mueller speaks

Robert Mueller had perhaps his final say on Wednesday but Hillary Clinton apparently had not. Mueller said that he couldn’t prove Trump was innocent. Meanwhile, Hillary, the person who did commit crimes, is demanding accountability.

Welcome to Alice in D.C. land.

Robert Mueller, the special prosecutor, told us Wednesday that he could not say if Donald Trump committed a crime. When I was in law school, I took a criminal procedure class. If I had said, the prosecutor could not prove that no crime was committed, I would have received an “F."

In Washington, however, that qualifies you to be a special prosecutor. In D.C. Land, you get to turn the world upside down and claim moral righteousness.

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https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/tom-del-beccaro-hillary-clinton-the-queen-of-obstruction-demands-accountability

Mueller's Disgraceful Exit

Special Counsel Robert Mueller, in remarks that demonstrate how once-admirable FBI directors become power drunk on Potomac political water, declared that his investigation was over and that he was closing his office and retiring. And not a minute too soon…

Mueller used his Wednesday press conference to take a few final partisan digs at President Donald Trump, encouraging House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-NY) to move forward with their obstructionist impeachment charade based on some conjecture about obstruction of justice. Again, “obstructing” something neither Mueller nor his water carrier, Clinton-supporting FBI Director James Comey, nor his coup co-conspirators could find.

Of course, the latter is a key element of the Demos’ 2020 campaign strategy to undermine Trump’s MAGA economic success.

Responding to Mueller’s dog whistle, Pelosi said, “We do want to make such a compelling case, such an ironclad case [for impeachment] that even the Republican Senate would … be convinced of the path that we have to take as a country.”

Nadler insists, “Special Counsel Mueller reaffirmed his report … that the president sought to obstruct Mueller’s investigation over and over again. He also confirmed three central points: he did not exonerate the president of the United States of obstruction of justice, obstruction of justice is a serious crime that strikes at the core of our justice system, and the Constitution points to Congress to take action to hold the president accountable.”

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Exclusive – Steve Hilton: Joe Biden ‘Has Taken Billions of Dollars in Bribes from the Chinese Government’

Former Vice President Joe Biden took “billions of dollars in bribes from the Chinese government,” Steve Hilton, host of Fox News Channel’s The Next Revolution, told hosts Rebecca Mansour and Joel Pollak during an interview on Breitbart News Tonight on Tuesday.

On April 28, Hilton laid out details of financial dealings between Hunter Biden, Joe Biden’s second son, and foreign governments, companies, and oligarchs.

The Biden family’s financial ties to the Chinese state will become a central election issue if the former vice president secures the Democrats’ presidential nomination for 2020, predicted Hilton.

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Williams: Slavery is neither strange nor peculiar

The favorite leftist tool for the attack on our nation’s founding is that slavery was sanctioned. They argue that the founders disregarded the promises of our Declaration of Independence “that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” These very ignorant people, both in and out of academia, want us to believe that slavery is unusual, as historian Kenneth Stampp suggested in his book, “Peculiar Institution: Slavery in the Ante-Bellum South.” But slavery is by no means peculiar, odd, unusual or unique to the U.S.

As University of Nebraska-Lincoln political science professor David P. Forsythe wrote in his book, “The Globalist,” “The fact remained that at the beginning of the nineteenth century an estimated three-quarters of all people alive were trapped in bondage against their will either in some form of slavery or serfdom.” Slavery was common among ancient peoples — Egyptians, Babylonians, Assyrians, Hittites, Greeks, Persians, Armenians and many others. Large numbers of Christians were enslaved during the Ottoman wars in Europe. White slaves were common in Europe from the Dark Ages to the Middle Ages. It was only during the 17th century that the Atlantic slave trade began with Europeans assisted by Arabs and Africans.

Slavery is one of the most horrible injustices. It posed such a moral dilemma at our 1787 Constitutional Convention that it threatened to scuttle the attempt to create a union between the 13 colonies. Let’s look at some of the debate. George Washington, in a letter to Pennsylvania delegate Robert Morris, wrote, “There is not a man living who wishes more sincerely than I do, to see a plan adopted for the abolition of it.” In a Constitutional Convention speech, James Madison said, “We have seen the mere distinction of color made in the most enlightened period of time, a ground of the most oppressive dominion ever exercised by man over man.” In James Madison’s records of the Convention he wrote, “[The Convention] thought it wrong to admit in the Constitution the idea that there could be property in men.”


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Pelosi’s latest spending shenanigans are exactly what people hate about the DC Swamp

On Tuesday afternoon, Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., joined his fellow House conservative Chip Roy, R-Texas, in blocking a house leadership effort to send a disaster spending bill to the president’s desk without scheduled debate or a regular roll call vote.

The objections got the two criticized by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., as “heartless,” to which Massie responded by pointing out that Pelosi showed her real level of concern for the bill by sending a House freshman to take her place behind the gavel that day.

So what’s actually going on here?

Massie and Roy objected to requests to move the bill forward by “unanimous consent.” Despite all the procedural requirements that typically exist for a bill to become law, Congress can get a considerable amount of business done as long as nobody in the chamber objects. The way the unanimous consent process works in the House is fairly straightforward: After getting clearance from leadership, a member requests unanimous consent of the chamber to do something like consider a bill or change debate time. If there’s no objection, the motion goes through.

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Is AOC A White Supremacist?

During her livestream last night, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez may have exposed her true self - if recent liberal attacks on the innocent are to be applied - as she unleashed something so awful, so disgusting, so fascist and racist that it likely left many of her viewers triggered and in need of a safe space.

For the safety of young impressionable non-liberals, we have blurred the image to protect the innocent from being drawn into her apparently spiteful ways... As Ashley St.Clair asked, clearly a worried Twitter member, "Why did Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez flash a white power symbol on her livestream last night"

In case you are confused, the left has vehemently attacked anyone who dares to unleash such a horrific sign. Here are just some of the latest examples of the idiocy:

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The Death of Merit and the Race to Mediocrity in Our Increasingly Marxist Universities

The television series “The Enemy Within” begins by informing the viewer that there are 100,000 foreign spies in the United States working to undermine and destabilize America. China has sent hundreds of thousands of students to America to gain maximum access to the West’s advanced knowledge and technology, some through education alone, some through espionage.

While the foreign threat is real and serious, it pales beside the internal threat represented by the North American education complex. There are 756,900teachers and professors in Canada, and 5.2 million in the U.S. Almost all of these professors and teachers are daily resolutely and relentlessly attacking Western culture, rejecting American culture, and advocating cultural Marxism.

How did this come about? During the 1960s and 1970s, two converging social movements transformed the culture of education. One was the adoption of Marxism by a wide range of North American university professors in the social sciences and humanities. The other was the widespread adoption of feminist theory. Together, Marxism and feminism redefined North American society as a hierarchy of oppression, with white, patriarchal capitalists at the top, and poor lesbians of color at the bottom. All citizens were redefined as members of racial, economic, gender, sexual, and ethnic classes, with people of white oppressing people of color, males oppressing females, rich oppressing poor, heterosexuals oppressing LGBTQ++, Christians and Jews oppressing Muslims, and so on. This approach is called “social justice” theory.

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Freight Trains To Run Through Berlin Once Again

BERLIN – Freight trains are expected to return to the tracks through Berlin next month.

The Maryland & Delaware Railroad will resume freight service along the tracks between Berlin and Snow Hill as soon as a few final repairs are made, Mayor Gee William announced at a town council meeting this week. The service hasn’t operated in seven years.

“We’re all pleased to see freight rail service returning after a quite long and unexpected break,” Williams said.

Cathrin Banks, president and general counsel for the Maryland & Delaware Railroad, confirmed in an interview Wednesday that freight trains would again be passing through town in the near future.

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Trump to Replace Alarmist Climate Models With Sound Science

Given the fact that extremist climate-change-prognostication models have been wildly inaccurate, it would be wise to avoid basing any serious environmental policy on them. In fact, anyone interested in following the sound and time-tested scientific method would demand nothing less, and yet the Leftmedia is up in arms over President Donald Trump’s recent decision to do just that. The New York Times blows its climate alarmist’s dog whistle with the headline, “Trump Administration Hardens Its Attack on Climate Science.” Hardly.

The Times fallaciously asserts that “the attack on science is underway,” supposedly evidenced by Trump’s appointment of geologist and former astronaut James Reilly as the director of the United States Geological Survey. And how is Reilly “attacking science”? By insisting upon the practice of sound science. The Times huffs, “Reilly … has ordered that scientific assessments produced by that office use only computer-generated climate models that project impact of climate change through 2040, rather than through the end of the century, as had been done previously.”

In reality, Trump is pushing for the government to return to adhering to sound scientific practice for informing policy decisions, rather than agenda-driven hysterics. James Hewitt, a spokesman for the Environmental Protection Agency, explained, “The previous use of inaccurate modeling that focuses on worst-case emissions scenarios [and] that does not reflect real-world conditions needs to be thoroughly reexamined and tested if such information is going to serve as the scientific foundation of nationwide decision-making now and in the future.”

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Americans Doubt Border Crisis Because MSM Ignores It

The number of illegal aliens apprehended at the border and deemed “inadmissible” hit 103,000 in March and 109,000 in April. That’s “the highest monthly levels in more than a decade,” acting DHS Secretary Kevin McAleenan has advised Congress. McAleenan further noted that in fiscal year 2018, U.S. Customs and Border Protection had “encountered more than 683,000 illegal migrants and inadmissibles,” and “Homeland Security Investigations made more than 34,000 criminal arrests, of which 4,300 were gang-related; and law enforcement agents and the United States Coast Guard seized more than one million pounds of illegal drugs.”

The trouble is much of America hears nothing of these numbers through reports regarding the growing border crisis, because the mainstream media has for the most part chosen to simply ignore it as a non-issue. A recent study from the Media Research Center found that news coverage from the big three networks — ABC, CBS, and NBC — from January 1 to May 15 totaled 234 stories that focused on immigration. Of those stories, only 9% made any mention of the dramatic increase in the number of illegal aliens apprehended crossing the U.S. border.

Thus it’s no surprise to see that a recent Harvard/Harris poll found 87% of respondents believed the number of border apprehensions to be significantly lower than they are, with a majority of survey respondents estimating that less than 100,000 illegal aliens are apprehended per year. Remember, it now exceeds that number every month.

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Amid Influx of Asylum-Seekers, New Mexico Seeks Federal Reimbursement

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham is headed to Washington, D.C., this week to push the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for better communication and federal reimbursement as New Mexico handles an influx of asylum-seeking families.

She has a face-to-face meeting scheduled with the acting secretary, Kevin McAleenan, and will also meet with other federal officials.

Lujan Grisham, a Democrat and former congresswoman, has already spoken with McAleenan by telephone but will use the in-person meeting to relay local concerns centering on the border, a spokesman said.

Charities, churches and other groups in New Mexico are coping with the release of thousands of migrants seeking asylum. Some local governments have set aside hundreds of thousands of dollars to help cover the cost of humanitarian aid, and Deming and Otero County have declared a state of emergency.

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Kessler: Mueller Made a Mockery of Criminal Justice System

With his confusing, contradictory, and ever-changing comments about the results of his investigation of President Trump, Special Counsel Robert Mueller made a mockery of the criminal justice system.

In that system, there is no place for concluding that the subject of an investigation is not criminally charged but is not exonerated. To say, “If we had confidence that the president clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said so” makes as much sense as saying, “The moon could be made of blue cheese, we just don’t know.”

Nor is there any place for implying that a subject would be criminally charged if it were not for the fact that he is president. As Mueller’s own report makes clear, Trump neither colluded with the Russian government nor corruptly covered up, destroyed evidence, or made false statements to mislead investigators, as happened during Watergate when President Nixon clearly obstructed justice.

Now the question of how this outrageous process ever started becomes even more important. While the initial FBI investigation into Russian efforts to interfere in the 2016 election was entirely legitimate, the subsequent counterintelligence investigation that specifically targeted Trump after he fired James Comey as FBI director was based on false pretenses.

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Top sheriff warns: Trump’s ‘done’ if illegal immigration isn’t slashed

One of America’s top sheriffs and supporter of President Trump is warning that if the administration doesn’t curb the explosion of illegal immigration across the southern border, the president will lose reelection in 2020.

“This last election was a mandate,” said Frederick County, Md., Sheriff Chuck Jenkins. “If he doesn’t accomplish something, he’s done. His whole campaign was 75% was based on that,” he told Secrets at an immigration roundtable in neighboring Virginia Wednesday night.

Jenkins, a forceful advocate for Trump and against illegal immigration, was in Culpeper, Va., to talk up that county’s bid to work with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

This is my message to end open borders, America's greatest threat. Stand with many of America's Sheriff's to protect our counties and all Americans. #EndTheBorderCrisis now. pic.twitter.com/5jIBr8vjUF
— Sheriff ChuckJenkins (@1ChuckJenkins) April 23, 2019

He warned that the accomplishments so far to limit illegal immigration would be killed if Trump loses to any of the two dozen Democrats running for the nomination, most of whom support loosening restrictions.

“It will undo everything that we’ve managed to accomplish in the past couple of years which is not a hell of a lot but it will just undo it all,” said Jenkins, dubbed “the next Joe Arpaio” for his toughness on illegal immigration that was ripping his county until he led a crackdown.

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Nearly half of LGBTQ workers fear being "out" can hurt their careers

One of the most rapid social shifts in recent decades is the acceptance of LGBTQ people, from gay marriage to television shows featuring transgender and gay characters. But LGBTQ workers say they're not always feeling the love in their workplaces.

Slightly more than 4 of 10 LGBTQ workers say they aren't fully "out" at work, according to a new survey from employment site Glassdoor, which undertook the survey in advance of Pride Month in June. The reasons for worker reluctance may boil down to fears about bias and discrimination, with about half of those surveyed saying they believe being out in the workplace could hurt their careers.

The findings underscore the fears and concerns many LGBTQ people continue to feel in the workplace, especially at a time when some state lawmakers are sponsoring bills that would limit the rights of LGBTQ people, such as a rash of "bathroom bills" sponsored during the past few years aimed at transgender people.

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Texas' southern border starts on three more miles of wall

U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced Tuesday night that the Rio Grande Valley sector of the southern border, where more illegal immigrants cross from Mexico than any other sector, is set to build another three miles of "wall."

CBP said in a statement that a $43,000,000 contract was awarded to Kiewit Infrastructure West Co. for the construction of the barrier, which is made up steel bars ranging between 18 and 30 feet. Construction will take place on federally owned land and is scheduled to begin in August.

Money for the project comes from funds already appropriated to CBP for fiscal year 2019 and is not tied to President Trump's national emergency declaration.

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Senior Nutrition Programs Cut

BERLIN – Unexpected cuts to a nutrition program are expected to impact thousands of seniors on the lower Eastern Shore.

Last week, MAC Inc. Area Agency on Aging announced state funding for its Senior Nutrition Services program would be cut by $113,000, or 46%, effective July 1.

Initially, the funding cuts will impact 120 to 150 seniors and create extended waiting lists for nutrition services. But the agency noted the cuts would ultimately result in a reduction of more than 15,000 meals for seniors on the lower Eastern Shore.

“Other MAC programs have received cuts in state funding,” a statement reads, “but none as significant as Nutrition Services.”

MAC, which stands for Maintaining Active Citizens, serves seniors in Dorchester, Somerset, Wicomico and Worcester counties by providing programs and services that preserve health and independence.

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Gannett Climbs on Report of Merger Talks With Gatehouse Media

Gannett Co., the publisher that owns USA Today, climbed as much as 9.3% on a report that it held merger talks with Gatehouse Media, a deal that would unite the two largest newspaper chains in the U.S.

Gannett also has discussed deals with Tribune Publishing Co. and McClatchy Co., the Wall Street Journal said, citing unidentified people familiar with the matter. Gannett and Gatehouse didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment from Bloomberg News.

Newspapers giants, plagued by diminishing advertising and competition from digital upstarts, are increasingly looking for ways to team up. But Gannett hasn’t welcomed all comers: It spurned a hostile $1.36 billion offer from MNG Enterprises Inc. in January.

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[Gannett owns the Salisbury Daily Times. --Editor]

Pelosi Attacks Facebook As ‘Willing Enabler’ of Russia

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) has up to $1 million in Facebook, a company she said on Wednesday was a "willing enabler of Russian interference" in the 2016 election.

Pelosi's sharp criticism of the social media giant was a direct response to its decision to flag an altered video of her as false rather than remove it altogether. She told a local California radio station the decision calls into question whether they "wittingly" conspired with Russians to interfere in the 2016 election.

"We have said all along, poor Facebook, they were unwittingly exploited by the Russians," Pelosi said. "I think wittingly, because right now they are putting up something that they know is false."

"I think they have proven—by not taking down something they know is false—that they were willing enablers of the Russian interference in our election," Pelosi said.

Though Pelosi is yet to file her disclosure for 2018, required periodic transaction reports show her husband significantly increased his Facebook investment last year.

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Former Asst. Sec. of State for Diplomatic Security Warned Hillary Clinton Twice About Unsecure BlackBerrys and Personal Emails

Judicial Watch has released the deposition transcript of Eric Boswell, the former Assistant Secretary of State for Diplomatic Security during Hillary Clinton’s tenure as Secretary of State, in which he reveals that Hillary Clinton was warned twice against using unsecure BlackBerrys and personal emails to transmit classified material. A full transcript of the deposition is available here.

Boswell, who was responsible for securing classified and national security information, stated that Clinton and her staff were “wedded to their BlackBerrys.” Additionally, he stated that he and other former State Department employees “were surprised” that Clinton used clintonemail.com to conduct official government business.

In his deposition, Ambassador Boswell stated:

Hillary Clinton and other Senior State Department officials were warned in 2009 that “any unclassified Blackberry is highly vulnerable in any setting to remotely and covertly monitoring conversations, retrieving emails and exploiting calendars.”

Clinton was warned again in 2011 that “We also urge Department users to minimize the use of personal web email for business, as some compromised home systems have been reconfigured by these actors to automatically forward copies of all composed emails to an undisclosed recipient.”

Clinton assured him that she “gets it” when he informed her about dangers of Blackberries.

Clinton and her staff were “wedded to their blackberries” and wanted to continue using them in secure areas even after warning because it was a “convenience issue” to them.

He and other former State Department employees “were surprised” to learn that Clinton used clintonemail.com to conduct official government business. Boswell claimed that they were not aware of such activity while still employed by the government.

Boswell was deposed as part of the discovery granted to Judicial Watch by U.S. District Court Judge Royce C. Lamberth in response to its Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit involving former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s unsecured, non-government email system.

More here

Thank God It's Friday

 
What will you be doing this weekend?

Robert Mueller is a Sleazy, Shameful, Partisan Hack

Robert Mueller should have been disbarred decades ago, along with his enforcer Andrew Weismann; that is how egregious his record of malfeasance is, all matters of public record.

What he did Wednesday morning was his final IED tossed at the President to placate his Democrat overlords who desperately want to impeach Trump. But for what? Mueller gave no list of felonies in his report nor did he detail any crimes of which Trump is even amorphously guilty.

This entire enterprise, the fabricated notion that Trump and/or persons within his campaign colluded with Russians to cheat his way to the presidency was illegitimate from the outset. It did not happen. Not even a very expensive team of Trump-haters could find their way to naming anyone on the Trump side guilty of anything illegal having to do with the election. And we can be certain that if they could have bent and twisted any relationship, any meeting, any friendship, any past association to find Trump guilty of anything, this band of malefactors would have run with it. They found nothing but gossip and innuendo, rather like a clique of mean girls in middle school.

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Trump announces escalating tariffs on Mexico over migrant surge

President Trump said on Thursday that his administration will impose tariffs on Mexico until the country somehow stops the flow of migrants coming across the US-Mexico border.

Trump said on Twitter that the tariffs will go into effect in a matter of days and the levies could get more severe over time if the immigration crisis continues.

“On June 10th, the United States will impose a 5% Tariff on all goods coming into our Country from Mexico, until such time as illegal migrants coming through Mexico, and into our Country, STOP,” Trump wrote on Twitter.

“The Tariff will gradually increase until the Illegal Immigration problem is remedied, …at which time the Tariffs will be removed.”

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