US Will Designate Antifa As A Terrorist Organization, President Trump Says

The United States will officially designate Antifa as a terrorist organization, President Donald Trump announced Sunday on Twitter.

The move comes following days of protests, riots, looting and violence across the country in response to the police-custody death of George Floyd. Reports from Minneapolis, Minnesota — the origin of the unrest — suggest large numbers of Antifa members are acting as catalysts for violence and looting.

“Antifa” is short for “anti-fascists,” and the group has been responsible for violence at dozens of protests in recent years.

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1267129644228247552?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1267129644228247552&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fdailycaller.com%2F2020%2F05%2F31%2Ftrump-antifa-terrorist-organization-george-floyd%2F

Attorney General Bill Barr confirmed on Saturday that his Justice Department would be actively prosecuting activists who crossed state lines to participate in protests and riots. Leaders in Minneapolis and Washington, D.C. credited these out-of-state actors with instigating most of the violence.

“Unfortunately, with the rioting that is occurring in many of our cities around the country, the voices of peaceful protests are being hijacked by violent radical elements,” Barr said, according to Politico. “In many places it appears the violence is planned, organized, and driven by far left extremist groups and anarchic groups using Antifa-like tactics.”

There is some precedent for declaring terrorist organization domestically. San Francisco declared the NRA a domestic terror organization in 2019, but the announcement had no legal ramifications beyond expressing the opinion of the city. It is unclear what legal teeth a federal declaration against Antifa would have.

Trump made the announcement after congratulating the National Guard for its work to quell violence in Minneapolis on Saturday night. Authorities there reported they successfully enforced a curfew, something dozens of other cities failed to do.

Trump also criticized the media’s coverage of the riots, saying their work is contributing to the unrest.

COLUMN BY

ANDERS HAGSTROM

White House correspondent.

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27 Photos From a History-Making and Tumultuous Weekend

2018 Keith Ellison and Antifa

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FLORIDA: Muslim researched targets for jihad massacre, including at Honeymoon Island

Here yet again authorities are not asking and will not ask what may be the most important questions: where did Muhammed Momtaz Al-Azhari learn his understanding of Islam? What mosque did he attend in the Tampa area? Has that mosque been investigated? Why not? What if it is teaching jihad

“Tampa Man Faces Terrorism Charges In Honeymoon Island Plot, Authorities Say,” by Julio Ochoa, WUSF News, May 27, 2020 (thanks to the Geller Report):

A 23-year-old Tampa Man has been charged with attempting to support ISIS by carrying out terrorists attacks in Florida, including one at Honeymoon Island, according to authorities.

Muhammed Momtaz Al-Azhari was arrested on Sunday following an investigation by the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force, which included police departments in Tampa, Clearwater and St. Petersburg and sheriff’s offices in Pinellas, Pasco and Hillsborough counties. If convicted, Al-Azhari faces up to 20 years in prison.

In a release, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said Al-Azhari expressed his admiration for Pulse nightclub shooter Omar Mateen and talked about his desire to conduct a similar mass shooting.

Al-Azhari researched and scouted out several potential targets in the Tampa Bay area, including Honeymoon Island, authorities said. He went as far as rehearsing the attacks, including what he would say during them, they said.

“We are grateful for the hard work and swift action by our law enforcement partners and concerned citizens during this investigation,” said U.S. Attorney Maria Chapa Lopez for the Middle District of Florida. “Their coordination and cooperation in this matter allowed us to interrupt a serious threat, without harm to anyone.”

Al-Azhari has a criminal history with terrorism charges in Saudi Arabia.

During the investigation, he tried to buy multiple firearms and eventually acquired a Glock pistol with a silencer, authorities said….

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Morocco: Police arrest actor for blasphemy against Islam after he calls on people to “perform prayers with whiskey”

The Financial Times Calls Israel A “Segregated Society”

EDITORS NOTE: This Jihad Watch column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

Trump On George Floyd Riots: ‘I Will Not Allow Angry Mobs To Dominate’

President Donald Trump criticized George Floyd protesters who have turned to rioting across the country Saturday, saying he would not allow them to “dominate.”

Trump made the comments at Kennedy Space Center in Florida soon after NASA and SpaceX launched American astronauts into space from American soil for the first time since 2011. While Trump critiqued the “angry mobs,” he said he stands with those who are peacefully protesting against Floyd’s death.

“We support the right of peaceful protests and we hear their pleas, but what we are now seeing on the streets of our cities has nothing to do with the memory of George Floyd. The violence and vandalism is being led by antifa and other radical left-wing groups who are terrorizing the innocent, destroying jobs, hurting businesses and burning down buildings,” Trump said.

“I will not allow angry mobs to dominate. It’s not going to happen,” he added.

Trump soon turned his speech back to the return of  Americans to spaceflight, however. He announced that as he was speaking, astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley had arrived safely in low-Earth orbit. Their final destination is the International Space Station.

Trump went on to praise SpaceX founder Elon Musk, calling him a “great brain.” NASA and SpaceX plan to continue their partnership to bring American astronauts back to the moon and eventually be the first to land on Mars.

COLUMN BY

ANDERS HAGSTROM

White House Correspondent.

RELATED ARTICLES:

Jewish Minneapolis Mayor in the Spotlight as Riots Spread

President Trump: Protesters are ‘organized groups’ that ‘have nothing to do with George Floyd’

‘F*** Fox News!’: Protesters Chase Fox News Reporter Outside White House

George Floyd Protests In Washington DC Throw White House Into Brief Lockdown

Some Press Groups Remain Silent About Assault Against Fox News Reporter As Others Condemn It

RELATED VIDEO: Videos Of Protests Nationwide Show Images Of Chaos, Mass Violence

EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

Exploiting George Floyd’s Death

99.9% of our American family is saddened and outraged over the wrongful death of George Floyd. We want the responsible police officer prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

And yet, rather than bringing our nation together, fake news media and Democrats are excitedly throwing gasoline on the flames of racial hate and division. Their message is America is still a hellhole of racism in which blacks are routinely murdered by whites and police. Blacks must continue voting for Democrats to keep racist white America at bay.

As expected, Democrats and fake news media are absurdly blaming Trump for Floyd’s death. These vile human beings in the media will say anyone wearing a MAGA hat is a racist complicit in Floyd’s death. Minneapolis rioters chanted, “Kill the white folks.”

The mayor of Minneapolis absurdly said the riots and looting in response to Floyd’s death are justifiable because they represent 400 years of pent-up black rage. That is such a crock of pandering leftist nonsense. The rioters are nothing more than paid domestic terrorists and ghetto-trash exploiting the incident to go on an illegal shopping spree.

The vast majority of the rioters wreaking havoc have never experienced an ounce of racism in their entire lives. Americans have been trained to know they better kiss blacks’ derrieres at every opportunity or suffer crucifixion by Democrats and fake news media. For crying out loud, beginning in kindergarten, leftist controlled public schools teach white students that they were born racist scum. Therefore, all whites must feel forever guilty, apologetic, and accommodating to blacks.

The dirty little secret is Democrats love creating race-based crisis because it allows them an opportunity to demand more sure-to-fail Ga-zillion dollar government-fix-it-programs which end up fattening Democrat pockets. Along with selling their lie that America sucks, Democrats believe spreading racial hate and division wins them votes.

When I speak of ghetto trash I am not referring to poor people. I was raised in an all-black 11 story high-rise government project in Baltimore Maryland. Grateful residents kept their apartments immaculate. Other residents were trifling ghetto trash with zero respect for the brand new building, taking every opportunity to destroy it. I was around 9 years old. Everyone told me everything wrong was always the white man’s fault. I said, “How can we stop mean white people from sneaking into our building at night; breaking the elevators, smashing liquor bottles, breaking light blobs, and urinating in the stairwells?”

Democrats are all over TV exploiting Floyd’s death to falsely claim that blacks are routinely persecuted today the way they were in the 1950s. Democrats and fake news media are behaving as if 8 years of America’s first black president never happened.

Sadly, the behavior of one bad cop, helps Democrats and fake news media demonize all cops. Data confirms that cops are the greatest defenders of black lives

In truth, the greatest threat to black lives is other blacks. Democrats and fake news media remain dead silent about 30 to 40 blacks murdering each other every weekend in urban Democrat hellholes like Baltimore, Chicago, and Washington DC. Shouldn’t those black lives matter? Where are the outrage and anger?

Democrats and fake news media only care about black lives when it furthers their socialist/communist political agenda.

Democrats and fake news media literally worship Planned Parenthood which targets blacks for abortion. Black women make up only 14% of the country’s childbearing population. And yet, 36% of all aborted babies are black. Democrats and fake news media actually celebrate the death of aborted black babies. Clearly, they are saying black baby lives do not matter.

As a proud grateful American who happens to be black, it is appalling to witness Democrats and fake news media exploiting the tragic death of Mr. Floyd. They are stirring the pot of racial hate to instigate violence while disrespecting blacks as useful idiots.

Blacks have experienced unprecedented prosperity and historic low unemployment under Trump. To separate black voters from Trump, insidiously evil Democrats will use Floyd’s death to outrageously say reelecting Trump will mean open season for police to murder blacks. As baseless and stupid as that sounds, it reflects Democrats’ low opinion of blacks. It is the sort of emotional brain-dead lie Democrats believe will win over easily deceived black voters.

©All rights reserved.

FLORIDA: Governor Ron DeSantis Appoints Renatha Francis and John Couriel To Fill Vacancies on Florida Supreme Court

(Orlando, FL) Today, Governor Ron Desantis announced the appointment of Judge Renatha Francis and South Florida attorney John Couriel to the Florida Supreme Court. These two appointments replace former Justices Barbara Lagoa and Robert Luck, who were both promoted to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta by President Trump last year.

Judge Renatha Francis currently sits as a trial court judge on the 15th Circuit Court in Palm Beach, a position she was appointed to by Governor DeSantis in 2019 and immediately prior to that served as a county court judge in Miami Dade County.

John Couriel is a is a highly respected lawyer and a partner at law firm Kobre & Kim LLP based in Miami where he specializes in the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, money laundering, extradition and cross-border frauds involving financial products and services.Florida Family Policy Council President John Stemberger issued the following statements today regarding these appointments:

Judge Renatha Francis is a woman with an extraordinary life story, solid character and deep faith.  She has a personal depth and a grace in that will serve her well. I know her personally and she is also clear on the limited and restrained role of the court and is a “textualist” in the tradition of Clarence Thomas in her judicial philosophy. As the first Jamaican / Caribbean American Justice on the Florida Supreme Court, Francis is an experienced and brilliant choice for Florida’s future.” She is highly qualified with the unique perspectives of having served as a County Court judge, a Circuit Court judge, and ten years as a judicial law clerk for the First District Court of Appeals in Tallahassee. As a wife, mother and former business owner Judge Francis will bring valuable real life experiences with her to the court.”

Attorney John Couriel is a highly respected lawyer with stellar credentials and a conservative judicial philosophy.  Born in Miami, Florida, Couriel graduated from Harvard Magna Cum Laude and received his J.D. from Harvard Law School.  He has served as a law clerk to the Hon. John D. Bates of the U.S. District Court, D.D.C.  He also served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of Florida for five years. Couriel is a member of the Federalist Society and speaks both English and Spanish fluently.  Couriel is giving up an extremely lucrative salary to serve on our state’s highest court. When I served as a member of the Judicial Nominating Commission for eight years, we were always impressed when we found candidates who were not pursuing judicial positions motivated by an increase in salary.  This is not the first time a practicing lawyer who has never served as a judge to be promoted directly to the Florida high court.  Several past Florida justices have served coming directly from private practice.”

Renatha Francis’ and John Couriel’s appointments will fill the final vacancy left on the Court after Justices Lagoa and Luck left late last year. However, there is a legal nuance about Francis’ appointment.  The Florida Constitution requires a Florida Supreme Court Justice to be a member of the Florida Bar as a lawyer for at least 10 years. Judge Francis’ bar membership began on September 24, 2010, which means that she could not fill the seat until later this year after September 24, 2020. However, both conservative and liberal legal scholars say that she can legally be appointed and not assume the office until September. Of interest, Judge Francis’ appointment was supported by many prominent black lawmakers, including the Florida Conference of Black State Legislators and the Legislative Black Caucus.  The Supreme Court has been without either a woman or African-American member since Justice Peggy A. Quince resigned in 2019.

Personal Background and Professional Bio of Renatha Francis:

Judge Renatha Francis was born in Portmore, Jamacia, in 1977.  Francis is a past student of St Hugh’s High school and the University of the West Indies, Mona, where she obtained her Bachelor’s degree in law.  Afterwards, she migrated to the US, where she received her Juris-Doctor from Florida Coastal School of Law in Jacksonville, Florida in 2010. She primarily represented insurance providers in personal injury protection litigation matters, specializing in the interpretation and application of automobile insurance policies.  In 2017, Francis was appointed by Governor Rick Scott to the Miami-Dade County Court.  In 2018, she was appointed to the 11th Circuit Court, and in 2019, to the 15th Circuit Court.  She lives in South Florida with her husband Philip Fender and her two children.

Renatha Francis’ 59 page application to the Judicial Nominating Commission can be found here.

Renatha Francis’ interview before the from Supreme Court Judicial Nominating Commission can be watched on video 34:50 to 1:04:40 here.

Personal Background and Professional Bio of John Couriel:

John Couriel’s 68-page application to the Judicial Nominating Commission can be found here.

John Couriel’s interview with the Supreme Court Judicial Nominating Commission can be watched on video from 29:00 to 56:20 here.

©All rights reserved.

VIDEO: Naturalized US citizen, former DC cab driver, indicted for attempting to join jihad terror group

When Liban Haji Mohamed was admitted into the country as a “refugee” and later granted American citizenship, was any attempt made to determine his views vis-a-vis Islamic jihad violence? Of course not. Any such endeavor would have been denounced as “Islamophobic.”

“Somali Refugee Indicted for Attempting to Join Islamic Terrorist Group,” by John Binder, Breitbart, May 26, 2020:

A Somali-born naturalized United States citizen was indicted this week for allegedly attempting to join Islamic terrorist group al-Shabab.

Liban Haji Mohamed, a 34-year-old Somali native who has been previously identified as a refugee to the U.S., was indicted on charges he allegedly conspired and attempted to provide material support to al-Shabab.

Mohamed was placed on the FBI’s “Most Wanted List” back in January 2015 after the alleged terrorist had a “red notice” issued for him by Interpol.

Mohamed, according to a criminal complaint, allegedly left the U.S. in July 2012 by crossing the southern border into Mexico with the intent to join al-Shabab in Somalia. Mohamed, prosecutors allege, wanted to fight for al-Shabab and help recruit Westerners.

In one case, Mohamed attempted to recruit an undercover federal agent to join al-Shabab in Somalia. Mohamed, prosecutors say, was a close associate of terrorist Zachary Chesser who was convicted for trying to provide material support to al-Shabab.

As previously reported, sources have said that Mohamed first arrived in the U.S. as a refugee and was then allowed to adjust his status to become a lawful permanent resident. After adjusting his immigration status, the federal government allowed Mohamed to become a naturalized U.S. citizen.

Mohamed previously drove cabs in Washington, D.C. area and lived in the suburbs of Fairfax County, Virginia….

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Islamic Republic of Iran: Father beheads his 13-year-old daughter in honor killing

EU Foreign Affairs Chief Denounces Potential Annexation of West Bank by Israel

EDITORS NOTE: This Jihad Watch column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

Still Waiting for Full Accountability on Abuse [Video]


The horror of the sexual abuse of minors by Catholic priests, an unspeakable crime, has been compounded in many cases by the decision of Church leaders – bishops and religious superiors – to downplay grave allegations, and to refuse punishing priests found guilty of criminal behavior. The recent exposure by Christine Niles at ChurchMilitant.com of horrendous wrongdoing by priests and superiors of the Society of St. Pius X, founded by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, is one more chapter in the shameful history of clerical criminals being protected by negligent, and thus complicit, superiors.

VIDEO:  Spotlight—SSPX: ‘Sympathetic to Perverts’.

John Lamont reacted to these stunning revelations in an essay that merits careful attention. He spells out a sad reality that is often ignored when considering the sordid history of why church leaders too often have done little or nothing about the criminal behavior of those subject to their authority:

One should begin this analysis by acknowledging that when most people encounter evidence of sexual abuse, they don’t want to hear about it and do their best to deny or ignore it. This is one of the most shocking discoveries made by those who are themselves abused or who attempt to help victims of abuse. The reason for it is that recognizing the existence of sexual abuse leads to accepting difficult, upsetting, and threatening responsibilities. . . .In order to justify this denial, they often attack the victim, whom they resent for having placed them in an uncomfortable situation.

We’ve heard the plea from bishops who were confronted by evidence that they had shielded priests guilty of sexual molestation of minors: “I am not a policeman.” While that is true, there are policemen ready to handle the situation if summoned. Calling the police, however, requires courage and the conviction that it is the bishop’s duty to turn in one of his priests who has committed criminal acts.

It can be an “upsetting and threatening responsibility” to act against a brother priest, but when that priest has misused his authority and power to inflict grave harm upon a young person, personal considerations of comfort are irrelevant if justice is to be upheld. When a crisis lands on the episcopal desk in the form of an accusation of criminal turpitude by a priest any reluctance to act or hostility towards the accuser is simply out of order.

This is the point that Lamont is getting. When powerful men, such as the SSPX superiors, refuse to act justly in confronting and punishing a grave injustice by one of their subjects, they put their own convenience ahead of everything else. For these high ecclesiastics, it is easier to ignore the grievances of the victims of clerical sexual abuse than to remove the abuser, a clerical colleague who may even be a friend.

Victims have been treated as bothersome money-seekers who would ruin the tranquility of the diocese or religious order if their complaints became known, let alone found to be true after a serious investigation.

The revelations of SSPX shifting molester priests around from assignment to assignment show how the evasive, make-believe mindset of the superiors – “there is nothing to worry about here, so please do not bother us with further complaints about how we handle these matters” – remains a problem in the Church.

The legal order in most free countries places the investigation and punishment of crimes in the hands of a justice system that is in important ways independent of the rulers. Impartiality is better guaranteed when professional prosecutors and non-political judges handle crime and punishment.

In the Catholic Church there is no such separation of powers as is found, for example, in the American Constitution. The bishop of a diocese is the executive, legislative, and judicial authority (major superiors of religious orders enjoy a somewhat similar authority).

This concentration of episcopal power is only subject to the higher authority of the pope. That is why the faithful continue to appeal to the pope for action. This month marks the first anniversary of the promulgation of the papal legislative document Vos Estis Lux Mundi containing new norms dealing with sexual abuse and cover-ups by ecclesiastical authorities. The norms are good, but their consistent application has not been noteworthy.

Christopher Altieri at the Catholic Herald raises pertinent questions about the resignation of Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Binzer of Cincinnati, who had failed to notify his Archbishop of credible accusations of sexual abuse by a priest of the diocese, Fr. Geoff Drew. It is not clear if the procedures of Vos Estis were used in this case.

Vos Estis investigations are underway in the dioceses of Brooklyn and Crookston, but the investigation in the diocese of Buffalo, which led to the resignation of Bishop Richard Malone, surprisingly took the form of an Apostolic Visitation, not a Vos Estis investigation, even though there was sufficient cause to invoke these new norms designed to combat clerical sexual abuse and episcopal cover-ups.

June 20 is the second anniversary of the public revelation that Theodore McCarrick, the laicized former Cardinal Archbishop of Washington, had been credibly accused of the sexual abuse of a minor. We continue to await the promised publication of the results of the Holy See’s internal investigation of the McCarrick matter. Anger and dissatisfaction with the hierarchy will only be dispelled when transparency and accountability are in fact visible.

Fr. Gerald E. Murray

The Rev. Gerald E. Murray, J.C.D. is a canon lawyer and the pastor of Holy Family Church in New York City.

Related articles and videos:

Spotlight: ‘He’s a Good Liar’ 

SSPX Cone of Silence SSPX Gave Pedophile Repeated Access to Boys

SSPX Bishops Ordained Known Gay Predator SSPX Admits Abuse

SSPX, Police Protected Child Rapist

Criminal Negligence by the SSPX

SSPX Whistleblower Speaks

Church Militant’s Response to SSPX

The Vortex: Not Looking Good at All

The Vortex: Big Liar

The Vortex: Why the Silence, Trads?

The Vortex: You Call That a Response?

The Vortex: A Gold Mine of Abuse

KBI Tip Line for SSPX Clergy Abuse

Church Militant’s Action Arm for Whistleblowers, Investigators

EDITORS NOTE: This Catholic Thing column is republished with permission. All rights reserved. © 2020 The Catholic Thing. All rights reserved. For reprint rights, write to: info@frinstitute.org. The Catholic Thing is a forum for intelligent Catholic commentary. Opinions expressed by writers are solely their own.

VIDEO: Election Judge Pleads Guilty to Ballot Stuffing for Democrats

A former elected official in Philadelphia who accepted large payments from a political consultant to stuff ballot boxes for Democratic judicial candidates has pleaded guilty as part of a continuing federal investigation.

The Justice Department announced Thursday that Domenick J. DeMuro, 73, who was an election judge in South Philadelphia, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to deprive city voters of their civil rights by fraudulently stuffing ballot boxes in the 2014, 2015, and 2016 primary elections.

DeMuro, a judge for the 39th Ward, 36th Division, also pleaded guilty to violating the Travel Act, which forbids use of any facility in interstate commerce—in this case, cellphones—with the intent to promote certain illegal activity—in this case, bribery.

The Justice Department said the case is part of an ongoing investigation by the FBI and the Pennsylvania State Police.

In these trying times, we must turn to the greatest document in the history of the world to promise freedom and opportunity to its citizens for guidance. Find out more now >>

The judge of elections is an elective office and a paid position in Pennsylvania municipalities responsible for supervising the local election process.

“DeMuro fraudulently stuffed the ballot box by literally standing in a voting booth and voting over and over, as fast as he could, while he thought the coast was clear,” U.S. Attorney William McSwain of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania said.

“This is utterly reprehensible conduct,” McSwain said. “The charges announced today do not erase what he did, but they do ensure that he is held to account for those actions.”

During his guilty plea hearing, DeMuro said an unnamed political consultant gave him directions and paid him money to add votes for certain Democrats who were running for judicial office. Their campaigns had hired the consultant.DeMuro also admitted to casting illegal votes for other candidates for federal, state, and local offices at the consultant’s request.Prosecutors said the political consultant solicited monetary payments from his clients in the form of cash or checks as “consulting fees,” then used some of the money to pay election board officials, including DeMuro, to tamper with the election results. DeMuro said payments ranged between $300 to $5,000.In a press release, McSwain said:

Voting is the cornerstone of our democracy. If even one vote is fraudulently rung up, the integrity of that election is compromised. I want the public to know that this investigation is active and ongoing, and my office is taking every possible step that we can to ensure the integrity of the upcoming primary and general elections in the nine counties of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Citizens of Philadelphia and Pennsylvania should be confident of election integrity, said Capt. Leo Hannon, director of the special investigations division of the Pennsylvania State Police.

“As this investigation clearly illustrates, the Pennsylvania State Police will relentlessly pursue any breach of the sacred trust bestowed upon our public officials,” Hannon said in a prepared statement. “Our agency is proud to partner with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the United States Attorney’s Office, and the United States Department of Justice as a whole to root out corruption at any level of our government.”

The probe is a positive step forward in prosecuting voter fraud, said former Justice Department lawyer J. Christian Adams, president of the Public Interest Legal Foundation, an election integrity group.

“Right now, other federal prosecutors are aware of cases of double voting in federal elections as well as noncitizen voting,” Adams said in a written statement, adding:

Attorney General William Barr should prompt those other offices to do their duty and prosecute known election crimes. Those who are considering election crimes should take note of U.S. Attorney McSwain’s work. Now, they have something to fear before they violate federal election laws.

COLUMN BY

Fred Lucas

Fred Lucas is the White House correspondent for The Daily Signal and co-host of “The Right Side of History” podcast. Lucas is also the author of “Tainted by Suspicion: The Secret Deals and Electoral Chaos of Disputed Presidential Elections.” Send an email to Fred. Twitter: @FredLucasWH.


A Note for our Readers:

This is a critical year in the history of our country. With the country polarized and divided on a number of issues and with roughly half of the country clamoring for increased government control—over health care, socialism, increased regulations, and open borders—we must turn to America’s founding for the answers on how best to proceed into the future.

The Heritage Foundation has compiled input from more than 100 constitutional scholars and legal experts into the country’s most thorough and compelling review of the freedoms promised to us within the United States Constitution into a free digital guide called Heritage’s Guide to the Constitution.

They’re making this guide available to all readers of The Daily Signal for free today!

GET ACCESS NOW! >>


EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Signal column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

VIDEO: 5 Questions for the Press

It doesn’t get much better than this.

After a 6 minute barrage of the same question pertaining to the safety of opening community Churches and houses of worship from the biased liberal media, Kayleigh McEnany stunned reporters by flipping the press conference on its ear asking if any “good journalist” had “taken it upon themselves” to pose a question about the Obama administration’s federal crime and felony offense to “unmask Gen Michael Flynn?”

WATCH:

©All rights reserved.

RELATED VIDEO: Kayleigh McEnany stuns reporters asking why no questions about the unmasking of Gen Flynn.

VIDEO: Jessie Jane Duff on Trump, China and Biden

Tom Trento, Director of The United West, interviews U.S. Marine Corps Gunnery Sargent (Ret.) Jessie Jane Duff on China, President Trump and Joe Biden.

RELATED VIDEO: Sergeant Jessie Jane Duff on Veterans Affairs Claims

©All rights reserved.

Ramadan in Texas: Shooter at Corpus Christi Naval Air Station identified as Adam Salim Alsahli

Cue up those establishment media stories on “Islamophobia”: there has been a jihad attack in Texas.

“Suspect shot at NAS-CC incident has been identified,” KRISTV.com, May 21, 2020:

The man killed in this morning’s shooting at Naval Air Station-Corpus Christi has been identified.

NBC News reports that the suspect’s name is Adam Salim Alsahli.

FBI Supervisory Senior Resident Agent Leah Greeves said the incident was “terrorism-related” and the alleged shooter is dead.

Greeves added that authorities believe a second potential suspect remains at large.

“We may have a potential second related person of interest at large in the community,” she said….

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Texas: FBI says shooting at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi is “terror-related”

Shock! Pensacola Shooter Turns Out to Be Al-Qaeda Operative Who Plotted His Attack for Years

Maltese Ambassador resigns after saying that Germany’s Merkel had “fulfilled Hitler’s dream” to “control Europe”

After India helped Bangladesh gain independence from Pakistan, Muslims have repeatedly brutalized Hindus there

UK: Public outcry forces government to reverse itself, publish report on ethnicity of Muslim rape gangs

9/11 jihad plotter now claims to have renounced terrorism, al-Qaeda and the Islamic State

RELATED VIDEO: Robert Spencer ZOA webinar on “The Palestinian Delusion”

EDITORS NOTE: This Jihad Watch column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

Sen. Lindsey Graham Demands ‘Unmasking’ Records on Trump, Members of His Family and Campaign

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham requested records Tuesday of Obama administration officials who made so-called unmasking requests for information on President Donald Trump, as well as members of his family and campaign.

Graham’s request, submitted to Attorney General William Barr and Richard Grenell, the acting director of national intelligence, is a follow-up to the release of a list on May 13 of 39 Obama-era officials who submitted requests that unmasked the identity of Michael Flynn in government intelligence reports.

The list showed that officials like former Vice President Joe Biden, former FBI Director James Comey, and former CIA Director John Brennan made Flynn-related requests.

Graham is seeking similar documents related to requests for information on Trump and members of his family, Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump, and Jared Kushner.

He is also seeking unmasking records for documents related to Trump campaign aides Corey Lewandowski, Paul Manafort, Steve Bannon, Kellyanne Conway, Sam Clovis, Chris Christie, Carter Page, and George Papadopoulos.

“Given the extensive number of requests for the unmasking of General Flynn’s name during this short time period, it raises the question of whether these or other officials sought the unmasking of the identities of other individuals associated with the Trump campaign or transition team,” Graham wrote Barr and Grenell on Tuesday.

Graham, a South Carolina Republican closely allied with Trump, is also seeking documents that explain the reason for the individual requests.

While U.S. government officials commonly submit unmasking requests, Republicans have accused Obama administration officials of abusing the process by making politically-motivated requests for information on Trump administration officials.

Republicans have focused on the unmasking issue to figure out who leaked classified information regarding a phone call that Flynn had in late December 2016 with Sergey Kislyak, the Russian ambassador to the United States.

Details of that call were leaked to The Washington Post for a column published on Jan. 12, 2017.

The list released May 13 did not contain an unmasking record that explained a request for documents related to Flynn’s call with Kislyak.

Graham is also asking Barr and Grenell to provide an explanation for why the list released last week did not show a request for records related to the Flynn-Kislyak call.

Graham has made an aggressive push in recent weeks to declassify documents central to the FBI’s investigation of the Trump campaign. He has published transcripts of FBI informants’ conversations with Page and Papadopoulos. He also published less-declassified versions of the four Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act applications that the FBI obtained against Page.

Graham said Monday he will hold a vote on June 4 to subpoena 53 individuals involved in the investigations of the Trump campaign.

COLUMN BY

Chuck Ross

Chuck Ross is a reporter for The Daily Caller News Foundation. Twitter: @ChuckRossDC.

EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved. Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities for this original content, email licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

Mexico Demands Explanation for Obama-era Gun-walking Scandal

Nearly a decade has passed since the public first learned of the botched Obama-era gunwalking scandal Operation Fast and Furious. These days, Barack Obama spends his time collecting money from a lucrative Netflix contract, shuffling between lavish homes in Washington, D.C. and on Martha’s Vineyard, and occasionally offering his tepid support for presumptive democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden. Former Attorney General Eric Holder enjoys a profitable position as a “rainmaker” at high-powered D.C. law firm Covington. Meanwhile, those who lost loved ones to the Obama Department of Justice’s misguided gun trafficking scheme are still searching for answers and accountability.

On Friday May 8, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador​shared his intent to demand that the U.S. provide Mexico with further information on Operation Fast and Furious. According to Reuters, the failed operation has once again come to the forefront of Mexican politics “amid a debate over historic U.S.-Mexico cooperation on security.” Speaking of the gunwalking scheme at a news conference, Obrador said, ​”How could this be? A government that invades in this way, that flagrantly violates sovereignty, international laws​.”

The following Monday, Mexico Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard announced in a video message that the country had sent a diplomatic note to the U.S. Embassy seeking information on Operation Fast and Furious. The minister made clear who he wanted information on. Reuters reported that “In the video, Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard cited former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder as saying Mexican authorities knew about the 2009-2011 scheme known as ‘Fast and Furious’​” and that “It was the first time Ebrard or President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador had made direct reference by name to a key U.S. figure connected to the program since the issue resurfaced in Mexico a week ago.”

Operation Fast and Furious was largely run out of the Tucson and Phoenix ATF field offices. Agents would allow suspected illegal purchases of firearms by gun traffickers to take place and then track the guns with the purported goal of uncovering the workings of a larger criminal organization for which these individuals were purchasing firearms. In some cases, concerned FFLs were instructed by ATF to go forward with suspicious transactions. Rather than interdicting these firearms, ATF permitted the guns to flow into Mexico.

On December 14, 2010, Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was shot to death in a gunfight with armed criminals near the Mexican border. Following the incident, firearms used by the criminals were traced to Operation Fast and Furious. Subsequently, whistleblower ATF Agent John Dodson, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), intrepid gun rights supporters, and CBS journalist Sharyl Attkisson helped bring the truth of what happened to the public. Illustrating the opacity of the Obama DOJ, the DOJ inspector general was forced to open an investigation into whether the government had retaliated against Dodson after he came forward with information on the botched gunwalking scheme.

Word of the failed operation struck a nerve with gun rights advocates. Around the same time as the operation was taking place, American gun rights were being blamed by the Obama Administration for Mexico’s crime problem.

In March 2009, then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton scolded Americans, stating, “Our inability to prevent weapons from being illegally smuggled across the border to arm these criminals causes the deaths of police officers, soldiers and civilians.”​In an interview with NBC’s Andrea Mitchell that same month, Clinton endorsed a ban on commonly owned semi-automatics firearms. Mitchell brought up the problem of Mexican violence and a potential “assault weapons” ban, to which Clinton responded “I think these assault weapons, these military style weapons don’t belong on any one’s street.”

By its conclusion, the failed operation involved as many as 2,000 firearms. The firearms have been found at numerous crime scenes in Mexico. As of 2016, Operation Fast and Furious firearms were linked to at least 69 killings. That same year, CBS news reported that one of the firearms was found at the hideout of notorious Mexican drug lord Joaquin “el Chapo” Guzman.

In 2012, the U.S. House of Representatives voted 255-67 to hold then-Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress for failing to hand over requested documents related to Operation Fast and Furious.

Mexico’s request for further information on Operation Fast and Furious is understandable, given the Obama administration’s extensive efforts to conceal the details of the gunwalking scheme.

RELATED ARTICLES:

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EDITORS NOTE: This NRA-ILA column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

11 More Cases in Which Responsible Gun Owners Saved Lives

In recent weeks, several instances involving the reckless use of firearms dominated national headlines. In one case, a Georgia man tragically lost his life when armed civilians crossed the line between defensive necessity and vigilantism.

But such headlines tell only one side of the story. Every day, many law-abiding and responsible Americans use their firearms lawfully to defend their lives, liberty, and property.

In fact, as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention concluded in 2013, almost every major study on the issue has found that Americans use their firearms in lawful self-defense between 500,000 and 3 million times a year.

These instances of proper defensive gun use provide an important but often unreported counterbalance to the national conversation.


In these trying times, we must turn to the greatest document in the history of the world to promise freedom and opportunity to its citizens for guidance. Find out more now >>>


For this reason, The Daily Signal has been publishing a monthly series highlighting some of the news stories of defensive gun use that you may have missed—or that might not have made it to the national spotlight in the first place. (Read accounts from 2019 and 2020).

The lawful defensive uses of guns below represent only a small part of the many stories we found last month. You can explore more examples by using The Heritage Foundation’s Defensive Gun Use Database, an interactive map that allows users to find recent defensive gun uses from all over the country quickly and easily.

  • April 2, Wolf Creek, Oregon: A homeowner was forced to defend himself with his firearm after confronting a man who was firing guns on the homeowner’s property. The intruder—who previously had been convicted of attacking a family member with a samurai sword during an argument—threatened the homeowner. Police said the homeowner acted in lawful self-defense when he shot and killed the man.
  • April 4, Chicago, Illinois: A doorbell camera captured a homeowner’s incredible defense against two armed, masked men who brazenly tried to rob the residence in broad daylight. The video shows that when the homeowner answers the door, two would-be robbers force their way inside. A struggle ensues off-camera, and the homeowner is next seen chasing down and fighting with one of the intruders on his front lawn. When the homeowner returned inside, police said, he found the second intruder pointing a gun at his wife and children. The homeowner retrieved his own gun from a safe, then shot and killed the assailant in defense of his family.
  • April 8, Asheboro, North Carolina: A homeowner, leaving for work, discovered that two of his vehicles had been ransacked during the night. As he went back inside to alert others in the house, he heard noises inside the garage and grabbed his firearm to investigate, police said. The homeowner discovered an intruder sitting in the front seat of one of his cars. He held the burglar at gunpoint until police arrived.
  • April 11, Fredericksburg, Texas: A woman came to her fiancé’s defense by shooting and killing an intruder who had brutally assaulted him in the couple’s home, police said. The woman begged the intruder to stop as he beat her fiancé and put him in a chokehold, but to no avail. As her fiancé began to lose consciousness, the woman retrieved a handgun and fatally shot the intruder.
  • April 17, Gaffney, South Carolina: When a homeowner asked a man to leave his property, he became irate, pulled out a handgun, and threatened the homeowner. The homeowner retreated, grabbed a rifle from inside the house, and again told the man to leave. The intruder then opened fire on the homeowner and five others, including a small child, police said. He fled when the homeowner defended himself and his household with the rifle. Police later arrested and charged a suspect.
  • April 18, Fairfield, Connecticut: A homeowner, awakened by his barking dogs in the early morning, was confronted by a machete-wielding intruder. He fled when he realized the homeowner was armed, police said.
  • April 20, Sacramento, California: A robbery suspect led multiple law enforcement officers on a chase through two counties, at times driving the wrong way and endangering other motorists. The suspect eventually crashed the car and ran through a residential neighborhood. Police said he approached an elderly homeowner sitting on his back patio and the homeowner, fearing for his life, shot and wounded him.
  • April 22, Las Vegas, Nevada: Local prosecutors determined that a concealed-carry permit holder acted in lawful self-defense when he shot and killed a man who fired a gun at him. The permit holder and a woman were eating fast food in a parking lot when the man, apparently angry over a failed gun purchase earlier in the day, randomly chose to vent his frustrations on them. Police said the man began shooting at the permit holder, who hid behind a trash can and returned fire with at least 11 rounds.
  • April 24, Lexington, Kentucky: A man who was the subject of active arrest warrants for robbery and domestic violence broke into his ex-girlfriend’s home and opened fire on those inside, police said. An armed resident returned fire, killing the ex-boyfriend and ending the threat long before police could have arrived.
  • April 24, Des Arc, Arkansas: Two inmates at a county jail attacked their guards, stole their keys, and escaped. Authorities captured one inmate within minutes, but the other—in jail on capital murder charges—was on the run for more than eight hours, police said. When the escapee finally was captured, it wasn’t by law enforcement but by armed citizens who found him hiding in an abandoned car.
  • April 29, Yoder, Colorado: A couple relied on the Second Amendment to defend themselves from four armed attackers who police believe mistook the couple’s legal hemp farm for an illegal marijuana operation. Hundreds of rounds reportedly were fired in a shootout, and the four intruders eventually fled.

It’s true that gun owners sometimes overstep the lawful bounds of the Second Amendment, and the failure to act responsibly with firearms can have devastating consequences.

But it’s equally true that, for countless Americans, the lawful defensive use of firearms has been the only thing standing between them and the devastating consequences of crime.

Whether it’s a woman rescuing her fiancé from certain death, or armed citizens unexpectedly helping to end a cross-county manhunt, it’s clear that the right to keep and bear arms plays a vital role in promoting public safety and protecting individual rights.

COMMENTARY BY

Amy Swearer is a senior legal policy analyst at the Meese Center for Legal and Judicial Studies at The Heritage Foundation. Twitter: .


A Note for our Readers:

This is a critical year in the history of our country. With the country polarized and divided on a number of issues and with roughly half of the country clamoring for increased government control—over health care, socialism, increased regulations, and open borders—we must turn to America’s founding for the answers on how best to proceed into the future.

The Heritage Foundation has compiled input from more than 100 constitutional scholars and legal experts into the country’s most thorough and compelling review of the freedoms promised to us within the United States Constitution into a free digital guide called Heritage’s Guide to the Constitution.

They’re making this guide available to all readers of The Daily Signal for free today!

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Obamagate — How Obama administration apparently weaponized intel agencies for political attacks

There is strong evidence that President Barack Obama’s administration improperly weaponized U.S. intelligence agencies in multiple and shocking ways against Donald Trump and other political enemies.

It appears the Obama administration did this in a number of ways, including: fraudulently obtaining Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrants to spy on American citizens; promoting the Democratic National Committee-funded dossier assembled by former British spy Christopher Steele that was filled with lies about Trump; politicizing intelligence analysis; leaking intelligence; and spying on political opponents and journalists.

In the period when he was a presidential candidate and president-elect, Trump and his aides seemed to have been the major targets of this misuse of American intelligence for political purposes. But they were not the only targets.

It is imperative to uncover the extent of the Obama administration’s abuse of U.S. intelligence for political purposes. This must include a full list of every American unmasked from intelligence reports – Trump aides, members of Congress, and ordinary Americans – and who made these requests.

It would be irresponsible for the intelligence community and Congress to turn a blind eye to this abuse simply because it happened years ago. Wrongdoing by the Obama administration in this scandal – which President Trump has dubbed “Obamagate” – must be exposed to ensure such actions never take place again.

This week’s revelation that an astounding 39 Obama administration officials – including then-Vice President Joe Biden – made 53 requests to unmask incoming Trump National Security Adviser Michael Flynn’s name from National Security Agency phone intercepts between Election Day on Nov. 8, 2016 and Jan. 12, 2017 was a bombshell.

The stunning revelation regarding Obama administration spying on Flynn by secretly recording his conversations with the Russian ambassador to the U.S. at the time appears to confirm allegations by President Trump and his supporters of a broad effort by the Obama administration to weaponize intelligence to undermine the Trump presidency shortly before it began.

Flynn was simply carrying out his duties by making contact with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak during the transition period after Trump was elected president. It is perfectly routine for incoming members of a new presidential administration dealing with foreign affairs to contact foreign officials to introduce themselves before taking office.

Making this worse, the 53 unmasking requests by Obama administration officials are probably the tip of the iceberg of the Obama administration’s abuse of National Security Agency intelligence to target Trump aides.

House Intelligence Committee ranking member Devin Nunes, R-Calif. confirmed this in a Fox Business interview this week on “Lou Dobbs Tonight” when he said the Flynn unmasking scandal is “even worse than this” because “a whole lot” of other Trump associates were unmasked.

With this in mind, it is frustrating to see former Obama officials, the mainstream media and some former intelligence officials brush off the Flynn unmasking requests by claiming such requests are “normal and routine” and that all relevant rules and laws were complied with.

As a former CIA officer who helped process requests to unmask the names of U.S. citizens from National Security Agency reports, I know that unmasking requests are not normal and routine. And I believe these requests raise serious civil rights and legal issues that have not yet been addressed.

From my 25 years working in U.S. government national security jobs, I know how sensitive and rare unmasking requests are.

Names of U.S. citizens mentioned in U.S. intelligence reports – often National Security Agency communications intercepts – are redacted because under U.S. law, America’s foreign intelligence services are normally not permitted to spy on U.S. citizens.

Although senior U.S. officials are permitted to ask for the identity of a redacted name in an intelligence report (an unmasking request), such requests are unusual and the requestor must have a “need to know” the identity of the U.S. person to understand the foreign intelligence information or assess its importance.

When the request is approved, the unmasked identity is released only to the person who requested it – not to everyone who might have seen the original version of the report.

For example, during my time at the State Department from 2001-2006, Deputy Secretary Richard Armitage made about 100 demasking requests. Then-Under Secretary of State John Bolton only made 10 in four years.

Ironically, Senate Democrats made Bolton’s unmasking requests an issue during his 2005 nomination to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations by falsely claiming these requests were improper and made to intimidate people and gain political advantage.

Then-Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., said at the time that unmasking requests were “rarely requested” and made “infrequently” by “non-career political appointees such as Mr. Bolton.”

An April 14, 2005, New York Times article said this about unmasking requests in connection with the Bolton confirmation hearings: “The identities of American officials whose communications are intercepted are usually closely protected by law, and not included even in classified intelligence reports. Access to the names may be authorized by the N.S.A. only in response to special requests, and these are not common, particularly from policy makers.”

The above statements about the rarity of unmasking requests are consistent with what I witnessed during my government career. In addition, the National Security Agency tightened the rules in 2005 on unmasking because of the controversy over such requests caused by the Bolton hearing.

The Obama administration, however, appeared to weaken the unmasking rules.

The Obama administration expanded access to National Security Agency information in February 2016 and on January 12, 2017. Both changes appeared to allow larger numbers of government officials to have access to unmasked names of Americans in intelligence reporting.

Even more troubling was a major rollback by the Obama administration in rules protecting members of Congress from unmasking requests.

I know from my five years on House Intelligence Committee staff of longstanding sensitivity by lawmakers that U.S. intelligence agencies could be used by the executive branch to spy on a president’s political enemies. For this reason, until 2013 there were strict limits to keep members of Congress out of intelligence reporting and to prevent unmasking their names.

Under a policy in effect in the 1990s, unmasking requests of the names of members of Congress were extremely limited and generally had to be reported to the House and Senate Intelligence Committees.

According to the Wall Street Journal, these rules were tightened further with “a 2011 NSA directive [that] required direct communications between foreign intelligence targets and members of Congress to be destroyed, but [gave] the NSA director the authority to waive this requirement if he determines the communications contain ‘significant foreign intelligence.””

However, in 2013 the Obama administration significantly weakened rules on unmasking the names of members of Congress from intelligence reports. The requestor’s reason could now merely be “to fully understand the intelligence.”

Rules on notifying Congress also were weakened. National Security Agency officials henceforth would notify Congress when members were unmasked from intelligence reports “as appropriate” and would determine “whether and to what extent congressional notification would take place.”

The Obama administration appeared to take advantage of these rules changes in 2015 when it obtained private conversations from National Security Agency reports of U.S. lawmakers who opposed the Iran nuclear deal in meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The rule changes on unmasking the names of members of Congress have a direct bearing on the Obama administration’s unmasking of Trump aides.

Since there no longer was a prohibition on using U.S. intelligence agencies to spy on members of Congress, Obama officials probably reasoned there was nothing to prevent them from spying on members of a presidential campaign or an incoming presidential administration. This helps explain the hundreds of unmasking requests regarding Trump aides in 2016 and early 2017.

So what should happen now?

In addition to an investigation of spying on American citizens by the Obama administration, all Obama administration rule changes making it easier to unmask the names of members of Congress and ordinary Americans from intelligence reports need to be reversed immediately.

There also should be a requirement in the law restricting when U.S. officials can unmask the names of members of a presidential campaign or incoming administration from intelligence reports or otherwise spy on them. These rules should include a requirement for congressional notification if such spying is deemed necessary in the future.

Finally, I want to know why career intelligence officials cooperated with unmasking Trump campaign and transition officials at the request of the Obama administration.

Since the prohibition on spying on American citizens and keeping the names of U.S citizens out of intelligence reports are cardinal rules of the U.S. intelligence community, how could career intelligence officers agree to process hundreds of these requests? Why did none of them file complaints with their inspector general or the congressional intelligence oversight committees?

The hundreds of unmasking requests of Trump campaign and transition officials made by the Obama administration were in no way routine and necessary. I believe carrying out these unmasking requests was a huge ethical lapse by dozens – maybe hundreds – of U.S. intelligence community employees that must be addressed by the White House and the leaders of our intelligence agencies.

Originally published by Fox News

COLUMN BY

About Fred Fleitz

Fred Fleitz is President and CEO of the Center for Security Policy. He recently served as a Deputy Assistant to President Trump and Chief of Staff to National Security Adviser John Bolton. He previously worked in national security positions for 25 years with CIA, DIA, the Department of State and the House Intelligence Committee staff. Read his complete bio here. Follow Fleitz on Twitter @fredfleitz.

EDITORS NOTE: This Center for Security Policy column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.