If Trump Ended Birthright Citizenship by Executive Order, He’d Be Enforcing Existing Law

/in , , , , , , /by

President Donald Trump’s critics have found something else to rend their garments over: his determination to end so-called “birthright citizenship.” Why, they thunder, it’s unconstitutional. And even if it could be changed, it can’t be by executive order.

They’re wrong on both counts.

That probably comes as a surprise to many Americans, including some who consider themselves Trump supporters. Haven’t we all been told for years that if you’re born here, you’re automatically a U.S. citizen? It’s all right there in the 14th Amendment. No matter who your parents are or what their status is, you’re an American. Simple as that.

Or is it? Consider the actual wording: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the States wherein they reside.”

Seems pretty cut and dry, but check out that crucial clause: “and subject to the jurisdiction thereof.” It’s easy to mumble over it, but we shouldn’t. The Senate included it there for a reason when it passed the amendment in 1868: to make it clear that not everyone born here is automatically a citizen.

Being born here is only half the equation. You also must be “subject to the jurisdiction thereof.” The original proposed wording of the amendment did not include that phrase. It was inserted specifically to make it clear that the law did not, in fact, confer citizenship on everyone born here.

Sen. Jacob Howard of Michigan, a member of the Joint Committee on Reconstruction and a strong supporter of the Citizenship Clause, noted that Congress intended to exclude “persons born in the United States who are foreigners, aliens, [or] who belong to the families of ambassadors or foreign ministers accredited to the Government of the United States.” Supreme Court cases decided in the years soon after the amendment’s passage confirm this view.

Moreover, says constitutional scholar Edward Erler:

“It is hard to conclude that the framers of the 14th Amendment intended to confer citizenship on the children of aliens illegally present when they explicitly denied that boon to Native Americans legally present but subject to a foreign jurisdiction.”

Notes Hillsdale College’s Matthew Spalding:

“Few developed nations practice the rule of jus soli, or ‘right of the soil.’ More common is jus sanguinis, ‘right of blood,’ by which a child’s citizenship is determined by parental citizenship, not place of birth.”

In short, it was wise of Congress to limit the scope of the amendment. And those who misinterpret it are wrong. Trump should be commended for trying to bring current understanding back in line with the original intent of the framers.

That leaves us with the question of whether he would be right to set this issue straight via an executive order. Some people who agree with him on birthright citizenship, such as National Review’s Andrew C. McCarthy, believe that he shouldn’t. They argue that it should be done by the same body that issued the amendment in the first place: Congress.

In other words, this is a job for Congress, the branch of government that creates our laws, not the executive, which enforces them.

According to McCarthy, a president cannot “unilaterally change an understanding of the law that has been in effect for decades under a duly enacted federal law.”

Granted, but as constitutional scholar Hans von Spakovsky points out, “that assumes the ‘understanding’ is the correct one. If that understanding actually violates the plain text and intent of the law, the president as the chief law-enforcement officer can, and indeed has an obligation, to direct the federal government to begin applying and enforcing it correctly.”

To put it another way, the president here would not be attempting to make a new law, but to enforce the correct view of an existing law.

Sure, his order would be immediately challenged. Perhaps we’d even wind up with Congress clarifying the original intent of the law.

All the more reason to do it. Fairness demands that we get this issue settled—and soon.

Originally published in The Washington Times

COMMENTARY BY

Portrait of Ed Feulner

Ed Feulner

Edwin J. Feulner’s 36 years of leadership as president of The Heritage Foundation transformed the think tank from a small policy shop into America’s powerhouse of conservative ideas. Read his research. Twitter: .

The Daily Signal depends on the support of readers like you. Donate now

EDITORS NOTE: This column with images is republished with permission. Photo: Ron Sachs/CNP/AdMedia/Newscom.

The Vortex—’Sodomitic Filth’

/in , , , , /by

RELATED ARTICLE: Vatican, US bishops face class-action lawsuit from victims of clergy sex abuse

TRANSCRIPT

What the latest crisis in the Church has caused is the dropping of all pretenses.

Just like Trump’s presence on the political scene has caused all issues and agendas to be brought into the light, so too the newest scandal of cover-ups and lies has focused the white-hot spotlight exactly where it needs to be burning: the sodomitic filth in the ranks of the clergy.

And if you find that phrase a little disquieting or off-putting, then take it up with St. Peter Damian, who wrote to the Pope in the 11th century imploring him to save the Church from “sodomitic filth that insinuates itself like a cancer in the ecclesiastical order, or rather like a bloodthirsty beast rampaging through the flock of Christ.”

The phrase was recently used again, this time by Cdl. Walter Brandmüller in an interview where he lays the blame for the corruption in the clergy squarely at the feet of sodomite clergy.

In so doing, he echoes exactly what Abp. Viganò declared in his first testimony back in August that there is a homosexual current in the Church strangling the life out of the Church, with far-reaching tentacles, like an octopus — his analogy.

Cardinal Raymond Burke has openly said the same thing and that’s not surprising. But what may give a good many people pause is that none other than Fr. James Martin — clerical gay cheerleader himself — has openly admitted that first: there are loads of gay priests — he says thousands.

But add to that, he is now on record at talks and conferences as publicly stating that Pope Francis is deliberately appointing sodomy-friendly bishops and cardinals and even names Cupich in Chicago and Tobin in Newark as two examples.

In so doing, Martin legitimizes another of Viganò’s main points and names the same names. Martin deftly avoids the pressing issue of whether the men themselves are actually same-sex attracted.

Viganò names them as part of the homosexual current, which can be understood in two ways: either being homosexual themselves or allying themselves with the homosexual agenda or both.

That Martin would just come right out with it and add that the reason they were appointed by Francis was precisely to push this new acceptance of homosexuality by lay Catholics and clergy is a bombshell, which of course got tremendous downplay in the usual bought and paid for establishment Catholic media.

So let’s step back shall we — big picture here.

This infestation of gay men into the clergy was first spoken of by Communist Party USA leader Bella Dodd, who claimed to have planted over a thousand Communist agents into American seminaries back in the 1920s and 30s at the prompting of Joseph Stalin to begin a destruction of the Church. Stalin insisted that many of them be homosexual, owing to their immorality.

Undoubtedly, a sizable number of these men rose to positions of authority over the intervening years, and by the time the 1960s rolled around, they were firmly ensconced in the power structure.

They would have been appointing seminary rectors and religious house leaders and so forth who, in turn, would have begun a generational cycle of deliberately recruiting other homosexual men into the priesthood.

The timing here lines up perfectly. That second generation of priest recruits lines up almost identically with the explosion of child sex abuse cases in the 1970s through the 1990s, which came to full light in the early 2000s owing to The Boston Globe reporting and other secular outlets.

Sodomite clergy raping young men — physically mature males in their teens — and homosexual bishops covering it all up. And if the bishops involved in the cover-up weren’t homosexual themselves, they nevertheless played along with it extremely well.

And yet, in the face of all these facts, lying prelates like Blase Cupich — although he certainly isn’t alone — have the gall to say none of this crisis has anything to do with homosexual men in the clergy.

Cupich, being a cardinal and all, is sure to have a larger-than-life presence at the bishops’ meeting in Baltimore because, despite what many other bishops think of him personally, they know he is anointed by Pope Francis to turn the Church gay, and none of them will challenge him.

Many of these men have no supernatural faith; if they ever did have it, they don’t now. Their mission is destroy, plain and simple, and they are legion.

Some of the more good-willed bishops, extending a little too much good will in fact, just can’t seem to comprehend that there are enemies of Christ in their midst sitting right next to them in their meetings — priests of Satan.

It’s like the Last Supper when Judas was doing his thing, and the Apostles were absolutely clueless, thinking when he left to go spring the trap, that he had instead gone out to get something for the meal.

The men of good will among the bishops better wisen up and realize what’s at stake here. Many of them were recruited by this wicked cabal precisely because they were seen as weak men who could easily be manipulated and fooled and would never confront the evil.

Back in their own seminary days, they were being watched and studied and determinations were made that they would go along with whatever they were told. They were handpicked because of their lack of confrontational spirit. They would ensure the status quo would remain in place so the work of destruction could carry on out of site.

Weak men are the best allies of evil men. So here we have sodomitic filth in the clergy, for successive generations now, a hapless group of good-willed but incredibly naive clergy who are, for the most part anyway, unwittingly complicit and a laity being ravaged by all of it.

And now, the moment arrives for the laity to stand up and be counted and call for an end to the episcopal sodomy, and the bishops hire extra security, try to move venues at the last minute and then lie about us to the cops — painting us as violent Antifa-type protestors.

Thank God it’s not a massive, massive crisis where the bishops can investigate themselves and conclude it has nothing to do with homosexuality.

We’ll be keeping you updated on the goings on here in Baltimore in the coming days, and please remember to tune in to the live-stream of the Silence Stops Now rally beginning at 1:25 p.m. ET tomorrow, Tuesday the 13th.

EDITORS NOTE: This video was first published in The Vortex.

Florida Media Is Adjusting Recount Expectations Downward

/in , , , , , /by

Several major Florida media outlets are running stories today explaining that the likelihood of the contentious Florida election recount changing the results of Tuesday’s elections are very small. That is good news for Republicans, bad news for Democrats, on a couple of fronts.

The state’s largest paper, the Tampa Bay Times, reported:

“…a recount that reverses an initial margin of more than a few hundred votes would be unprecedented in the recent history of American elections.

According to an analysis by the nonpartisan group FairVote, which advocates for electoral reforms that make it easier to vote, out of 4,687 statewide general elections between 2000 and 2016, just 26 went to a recount. Of those 26, just three recounts wound up changing the initial result of the race: The 2004 Washington governor’s race, the 2006 Vermont state auditor’s race and the 2008 Minnesota U.S. Senate race. The average swing in those three elections after the recounts? About 311 votes.”

The state’s second largest newspaper, the Miami Herald, ran essentially the same story and statistics. Expect more to follow.

Remember, Republican Gov. Rick Scott has a 12,500-vote lead over Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson and Republican Congressman Ron DeSantis has a 34,000-vote lead over Democrat Andrew Gillum in the governor’s race after official tallies were in. While those are tiny leads in such a big state, they’re huge leads for a recount.

For a recount that does not find a major “error” or corrupted system (Broward County?) there is nothing remotely suggesting that this week’s recount will do more than change a few hundred votes. But even if it changes a few thousand votes, the results would still remain the same.

The difference between this time and 2000 in Florida — and the 2008 Minnesota race for U.S. Senator — is that the margins now are much larger and there are no more votes being added to the total. The uproar raised by Republicans and Republican lawyers to stop Broward and Palm Beach counties from continuing to “find” votes well past the legal deadline were successful in both the courts and the eyes of the public.

So unless some court wrangling and a liberal judge allows Broward to manufacture some more Democrat votes — yes, that sounds cynical but it’s pretty hard not to be — then these are the vote totals. The recount will just find anomalies.

That’s why Gillum was in church Sunday politicking away and demanding every vote be counted, because he knows without more votes added to the total, the recount won’t give him the election.

The fact that the media is running these stories this Monday morning is also an important sign. Their readership is heavily Democratic for obvious reasons, and this acts to adjust expectations as those reporters who actually understand Florida voting laws and history realize the chances of changing the outcome of the two big races are very tiny.

If the recount does maintain these results, the left will still fly into hysterics and rage and march and protest and generally throw a tantrum. But they’ve been doing that almost every day since Donald Trump was elected president anyway.

RELATED ARTICLES:

Democrats demand removal of Illinois election judge after she reported fraud

Illegal Ballots Mixed in w/ Broward County Election Results

Yes, Florida Elections Have Had Their Moments, Like 200,000 Non-Citizens Possibly Voting In 2012

EDITORS NOTE: This column originally appeared in The Revolutionary Act.

Why We Need More Climate Change Skeptics

/in , , , , /by

Instead of demonizing such skeptics, we need to encourage and respect such people who work hard to identify where biases have interfered with the pursuit of truth.

Climate scientists are not prophets. Those who believe them on faith provide no good service to the pursuit of truth.

Those who blame climate change for every storm or forest fire are silly. Equally silly are those who claim that a particularly cold day proves that climate change is a farce.

Fear of environmental calamity has caused human destruction before, such as when Rachel Carson’s book, Silent Spring, led to the banning of the pesticide DDT. As a result of the “success” of the environmentalist movement in banning DDT, an estimated 30-50 million people in Africa—mostly children—died from malaria carried by the renewed growth in the mosquito population. Malaria deaths increased from tens of thousands per year pre-ban to millions per year post-ban. The story was similar in India. These were preventable deaths that resulted from stoked fears.

Now the target is carbon dioxide. We are told that 97 percent of climate scientists agree with their own scientific consensus. But that’s a misleading statement in an important way. The actual figure refers to “97 percent of climate scientists actively publishing in scientific journals.” To understand the relevance of this 97 percent figure, we need to know: what are the determiners of “actively publishing?”

Could the selection process for entry and success (“actively publishing”) in the climate profession create a bias that compromises the information we rely on to make our critical decisions about climate?

Let’s ask the question, calmly and rationally, and see where it takes us.

1. It is reasonable to consider that children raised in climate-conscious families are more likely to become interested in the environment than those raised by families who either don’t care or who deny. The climate-conscious children are more likely to undertake science fair projects and write papers about climate change. Climate work is rewarded in school, so it shouldn’t be any surprise if such children, more than others, later consider environmental science as a college major. If this occurs, which seems likely, this childhood process would be Distillation Step 1 in creating a future climate scientist. More speculatively, if sufficiently reinforced, some of these youths might even develop some neuronally hardwired (unchangeable) biases as the brain matures.

2. As is true in all fields, college climatology professors encourage the most dedicated students in introductory environmental studies classes to pursue climate science as a major. Other students—such as those who are skeptical—may never again see the inside of a climate science classroom. The selection of academic major is Distillation Step 2.

3. When students pursue their master’s degrees, the crop of future climate scientists is further distilled. Those who don’t align with their professors’ views are less successful getting into PhD programs. Then, success within a PhD program relies (in any field) on abiding by one’s dissertation committee’s wishes so as to get their PhD in as few years as possible and finally make some money. During this phase, those who best comply will be more likely to obtain their doctorate and get set up in post-doc positions working for experienced senior scientists. Distillation Step 3 has occurred, along with further psychological reinforcement to agree with those more senior. The climate liquor is getting more concentrated.

4. To succeed in academia, the newly minted PhD must apply for grants, mostly from government agencies or his own university. He chooses hypotheses and writes his grant application with care, knowing he’ll need the approval of committees populated with scientists who are invested in promoting their previously published papers and who make their living from government-funded studies of climate change. If he fails to craft his project to appeal to the needs of the reviewers on the committee, he won’t get funded. Funding failure increases the likelihood that he will wash out of academia. This selection of research grants to write is Distillation Step 4.

The process of nurturing and selection of the climate scientist starts in kindergarten and proceeds through high school and college, then to grant funding, manuscript preparation, and publication. His research is then only seen through the lens of the media’s selective presentation. The many reinforcing layers of bias create a distillate of pure concentrated climate orthodoxy, and this liquor is what we are offered to drink.

5. Successfully obtaining funding allows the young academic to perform a research project that will buttress the beliefs of the grant committee that channeled funding to him. Research studies are these days (improperly) designed to accomplish the affirmation of the hypothesized outcome as opposed to examining the truth of a hypothesis. If his project (done well or done poorly) appears to prove his hypothesis, then he tries to publish a paper to join the ranks of the “actively publishing.” He will craft the conclusion and abstract to promote his bias (again, this is true in any field). By the way, we should not underestimate the pressured academic’s skill at justifying to himself the removal of any data from his dataset that adversely affect his ability to get a publishable p value of “less than 0.05” (an arbitrary cut off in statistics that is needed for publication).

Note that if the project fails to prove his hypothesis, the young scientist probably will never write a manuscript about it, and therefore he won’t yet be “actively publishing.” Oh, and often there are multiple hypotheses in a project, and if only one of them is proven, it will be the only one written up and submitted for publication. The disproven hypotheses will not be written up and will never be seen by us. This is all part of Distillation Step 5.

6. Even if a scientist goes to the effort to write a manuscript that fails to support climate change concerns (which would be called a “negative manuscript” as it negates the hypothesis), it will be harder to get it published. Such “negative manuscripts” are, in any field, commonly rejected by the editor before going to peer review.

If a negative manuscript does get to peer review, the reviewers will be more critical because the manuscript will conflict with their prior publications. Then the scientist will have to go to the considerable effort of resubmitting the manuscript elsewhere or have to respond to the reviewers’ critiques by getting more grant money and doing more studies, which will prove difficult. And it just isn’t worth it because publishing such a paper could only hurt his career. So the young academic understandably sticks the rejected manuscript and its data in a desk drawer, never to be seen again. This is Distillation Step #6.

Selective manuscript writing, editorial bias, peer-review bias, and selective re-submission are four important biases in any field. This could be a reason—completely unrelated to scientific facts—as to why climate literature slants the way it does.

After these multiple distillation steps, almost all impurities have been distilled away. Perhaps only 3 percent remains. It should be no more surprising that 97 percent of actively publishing climate scientists agree with the climate change consensus than that 97 percent of actively preaching seminary graduates believe in their religion.

7. Those who make it onto the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), are the most highly distilled, fully vetted climate scientists of all. Pure 200 proof. For this reason and others, consensus at the level of the IPCC is even less useful than “expert opinion.”

In response to climatologists’ complaints that the IPCC is biased against nuclear power, Jonathan Lynn, an IPCC spokesman, rejected the accusation, telling Axios: “We completely reject the idea we are biased about nuclear power or anything else.”

I would call Mr. Lynn’s statement psychological denial. Of course the IPCC is biased. Everyone who cares, one way or the other, is biased. To say otherwise is poppycock.

8. Now, if it bleeds it leads. The lay world only hears the most dramatic climate stories. What self-disrespecting mainstream click-baiting journalist will bother to read anything beyond a research abstract or would waste their editor’s time with anything positive (or even innocuous) regarding climate change? Answer: none. Furthermore, journalists now manage to stick a scary line about climate change in any article they can. Bees, birds, ticks, human migration… it’s all climate change. This continual exposure to unsubstantiated statements from journalists will bamboozle many readers.

What we in the lay world get to read and hear is a highly distilled climate change liquor and the most catastrophic fears of what climate change may cause. The climate-concerned lay reader is unlikely to be presented with, or click on, a climate story that opposes his worldview. Those with defensive personalities will reflexively lash out with vitriol at an author of such an article, as if the author were an infidel, often without reading past the title.

We need to get our heads around the climate in an intellectually comprehensive way. We need science to do that. Unfortunately, the politicized climate field has many reinforcing biases entrenched within it. This must lead to the dissemination of biased or incomplete facts and biased conclusions.

Yet it is important we don’t get this wrong because people suffer and die when science becomes unquestioned dogma.

We need private watchdogs who go to the effort to examine the research that the climatologists produce, looking for flaws, biases, misrepresentations, malincentives, and even manipulations. Instead of demonizing such skeptics, we need to encourage and respect such people who work hard to identify where biases have interfered with the pursuit of truth.

I recognize the importance of a healthy climate. I am not ignoring facts, and I respect the scientific method. I’m not brainwashed by oil companies nor in psychological denial. To the contrary, any skepticism I have arises because I do not deny the weaknesses of the academic process that create a scientist and the research he produces. Reinforcing layers of bias can occur in any field, but politicization exaggerates it.

Let’s remember what saved the whales. It wasn’t Greenpeace. It was, rather, the successful distillation of petroleum that replaced the demand for the renewable fuel known as whale oil. That distillation made petroleum purer and more flammable. The distillation of climate science makes it purer, too—and more incendiary.

Policymakers, teachers, journalists, environmentalists…all of us…really know nothing about climate change other than what trickles down from the climate scientists’ desks. Are the many reinforcing layered biases of the climate field sufficient to have relevant effects on the research results that are presented to us? Are the climate scientists getting some of it wrong, or maybe exaggerating it?

It has happened before—with DDT—with horrific consequences.

And the climate change field is even more politicized.

This article was reprinted from International Man.

COLUMN BY

Doug Casey

Doug Casey

Douglas R. Casey is an American writer, speculator, and the founder and chairman of Casey Research. Casey is a real estate investor, as well as an advisor on how to profit from market distortions and periods of economic turmoil.

RELATED ARTICLES:

The Chill of Solar Minimum

Why Won’t Liberals Look at the Evidence On Climate?

Gov. Brown blames climate ‘deniers’ for worsening wildfires – Scientific evidence refutes him: ‘Less fire today than centuries ago’

EDITORS NOTE: This column with images is republished with permission.

First Gun Confiscation Death

/in , , , , /by

Why 5:17 a.m. – doesn’t appear to have been an imminent threat – this is ridiculous overreaction by law enforcement in the People’s Republic of Maryland and could happen anywhere.

These Red Flag Laws are also known in Florida as Risk Protection Orders under the Marjory Stoneman Public Safety (gun control) Law. We are the only Red state out of 12 which have instigated such laws. Already in Polk County since Sep 14, there have been 121 cases of gun seizures prior to a hearing. Don’t know how many of these cases were proven or unproven (and guns returned or how long it took) but in cases threat not proved, it is certain to generate unnecessary costs to those accused persons who elect to hire attorney and unnecessary humiliation.

Totally unconstitutional and in violation of Due Process. hard to believe Republican dominated Florida Legislature approved this and Governor Scott signed it.

This has got to be challenged in courts and soon before more innocent Americans are killed or put thru this wringer ignoring their 4th, 5th and 14th Amendment rights against false search and seizure and due process of being innocent until proven guilty based on someone’s unproven perception they are a threat!

You could predict this would happen in a state with red flag laws.

Breaking: First Gun Confiscation Killing Reported in Maryland

This is absolutely tragic. Police officers in Anne Arundel County, Maryland arrived at a man’s home to confiscate his guns under the state’s Red Flag law. When he answered the door holding a gun, a fight ensued and they shot him dead.

For months, we have been warning you about the so-called “red flag” bills that are being passed in states around the country. These laws allow family members, friends, and even complete strangers to turn gun owners into police to have their firearms confiscated. It is then up to the gun owner to prove that he or she deserves the right to keep and bear arms. It completely turns the justice system on its head. Under these laws, gun owners are presumed guilty until proven innocent.

On Monday morning, police officers in Anne Arundel County, Maryland showed up confiscate 60-year-old Gary J Willis’ guns. A family member had called police and asked them to suspend Gary Willis’ gun rights, and the local police department was more than happy to oblige.

When the pounding on the door began at 5:17 am, Gary showed up to his door holding a firearm. When he saw it was police, he put the gun down to talk to them. But then, the officers informed him they were there to confiscate all of his weapons.

Imagine how you would feel. You wake up out of a sound sleep to pounding on your door. You grab a gun in case it is a criminal, but it turns out that the police are there to confiscate your guns without even accusing you of committing a crime…

Read more.

EDITORS NOTE: The featured photo is by Bruno Martins on Unsplash.

Trump Calls Out Embattled County Election Official in Florida Vote-Count Mess

/in , , , , , , /by

President Donald Trump is scrutinizing the Florida election-recount process, and he isn’t the only one—largely because of Broward County.

On election night, it appeared likely that Rick Scott, the outgoing Florida Republican governor, had defeated Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson for his seat. It appeared even more likely that Republican ex-Rep. Ron DeSantis defeated Democrat Andrew Gillum, the mayor of Tallahassee, to be Florida’s next governor.

By Friday morning, both Nelson and Gillum were challenging the outcome.

Also still in question is the outcome of the race for the state agriculture commissioner, with the candidates separated by fewer than 500 votes as of Thursday night.

Automatic recounts are triggered under Florida law when the candidates are separated by less than 0.5 percent of the vote. The office of Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner, a Republican, will review the returns on Saturday.

Scott’s Senate campaign and the Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee sued both Broward and Palm Beach counties, seeking to make the counties’ vote counting more transparent and ensure that each is following state election laws. Late Friday, a Florida court ruled in Scott’s favor in the Broward County case.

Nelson’s campaign sued the state Thursday to force a recount. Nelson’s lawyer, Marc Elias, a former attorney for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign, called the Senate race a “jump ball.”

“We’re doing it to win,” he said.

Departing the White House on Friday morning en route to Paris, Trump said there “could be” a federal role for sorting out the electoral mess in Florida, when asked about it by a reporter.

He also referenced Brenda Snipes, the supervisor of elections for Broward County—though not by name. Snipes, a Democrat, was most recently re-elected in 2016.

“If you look at Broward County, they have had a horrible history,” Trump said. “If you look at the person, in this case a woman, involved, she has had a horrible history.

“All of the sudden, they are finding votes out of nowhere, and Rick Scott who won—it was close, but he won by a comfortable margin,” the president said of the Republican hopeful’s vote edge. “Every couple of hours, it goes down a little bit.”

As The Daily Signal reported last year, Snipes admitted, in a lawsuit over the county having more registered voters than eligible voters, that noncitizens and felons might have voted.

In May of this year, a state judge ruled that Snipes violated state and federal law when she destroyed ballots from a Democratic congressional primary in August 2016, even though there was a pending lawsuit seeking access to the ballots.

Her office also posted results of an election 30 minutes before polls closed, which was a violation of the law.

Days before the election this year, the Miami Herald ran an article anticipating problems in Broward County, noting Snipes and her background.

“Bad things have gone on in Broward County, really bad things. She’s been to court. She’s had a lot of problems. She’s lost,” Trump said. “I say this: He [Scott] easily won. But every hour it seems to be going down. I think that people have to look at it very, very cautiously. … What’s happening in Florida is a disgrace.

“Go down and see what happened over the last period of time, 10 years. Take a look at Broward County. Take a look at the total dishonesty of what happened with respect to Broward County,” he said.

Scott was also critical of Snipes.

For her part, Snipes told a South Florida ABC affiliate that her office was counting five or six pages for each person who voted by mail.

“It’s a serious issue with me. … We ran 22 sites, we ran 14 days, we ran 12 hours. We had a big vote by mail, so don’t try to turn it around to make it seem like I’m making comedy out of this,” Snipes told a reporter.

The Associated Press reported Snipes said she wasn’t certain how many ballots remain to be counted.

J. Christian Adams, a former election lawyer with the Justice Department and now president of the Public Interest Legal Foundation, argued against Snipes’ office in a two-week trial in 2017 in Florida.

“Brenda Snipes is one of the most incompetent election officials in the United States,” Adams told The Daily Signal. “She does a terrible job maintaining the voter rolls and enforcing the voter laws. She has been sued three times in the past two years. It’s astounding to me that she keeps her job.”

In 2014, her office was sued over a confusing ballot layout. In 2016, she was again sued regarding the destroyed ballots. Scott’s legal action marks the third lawsuit against her.

Interestingly, Snipes was first appointed to the post in 2002 after her predecessor, Miriam Oliphant, was removed for incompetence. She has since been elected and re-elected to several four-year terms to the county office.

Ballots were counted slowly every year except for 2008 and 2010 under her watch, according to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

The last time the eyes of the political world were on Florida was after the presidential election of 2000. That’s when Florida recounts and a Supreme Court case decided the presidential contest between then-Texas Gov. George W. Bush, a Republican, and then-Vice President Al Gore, a Democrat.

Still, there’s scant legal comparison between then and now, Adams said.

“I don’t even think there’s any similarities,” Adams said. “In 2000, the question was about the intent of the voter. In these cases, we’re not even there yet.”

During his briefing with reporters Friday, Trump also referenced Nelson’s lawyer, again though not by name, and the connection Elias had with the infamous so-called “Steele dossier,” the unverified opposition research document that suggested ties between Trump and Russians.

Elias works for the Perkins Coie law firm, which retained Fusion GPS for opposition research on Trump. That resulted in the document written by a former British spy, Christopher Steele, that became the basis for the federal investigation into alleged collusion between the Trump presidential campaign and Russian operatives to affect the outcome of the 2016 election.

“Then, you see the people, and they were involved in the fraud of the fake dossier, and I guess I hear they were somehow involved with the [Fusion GPS] people,” Trump said referencing Elias.

Elias, Nelson’s lawyer, bickered Thursday with Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., on Twitter.

Elias also heralded the tightening Senate race.

Gillum, the Democratic candidate for governor, said he is just interested in seeing all votes counted. He previously conceded the race, but subsequently rescinded his concession.

DeSantis, the Republican candidate for governor, who has declared victory, has generally continued acting like the victor, the Associated Press reported.

COLUMN BY

Portrait of Fred Lucas

Fred Lucas

Fred Lucas is the White House correspondent for The Daily Signal and co-host of “The Right Side of History” podcast. Send an email to Fred. Twitter: @FredLucasWH.

RELATED ARTICLES:

Dem-Leaning County in Florida Won’t Meet the Recount Deadline. Here’s What That Means For Voters.

BREAKING: Avis Employee Finds Provisional Ballot Box and Election Signs in Back of Returned Broward County Car (VIDEO)

The Daily Signal depends on the support of readers like you. Donate now

EDITORS NOTE: This column with images is republished with permission. Photo: Dan Anderson/ZUMA Wire/Newscom.

Free and Fair Elections?

/in , , , , /by

Why is it that the with the majority of the contested recounts we mostly find tens of thousands of missing ballots for the Democrats and not the Republicans? I mean, what are the odds of that? Slim I would suggest, slim. If Rick Scott of Florida does not take decisive action and steps immediately, his own election along with Ron DeSantis is in serious jeopardy. Am I insinuating that there is voter fraud and election theft taking place in Florida and other states as well? You bet. Now there is plenty of news out there today and in the coming days perhaps weeks about the recounts taking place today that can be found on social media and by scouring the various news feeds. So I will not regurgitate. If you are a true concerned patriot and possibly an activist then I ask you to read the following excerpt from my book Trump and the Resurrection of America provided for you below and share this post everywhere.

Chapter Excerpt

Americans are under the illusion that there is a two-party system in place and that we have free and fair elections and we have a choice. But in actuality, it really is a one–party system serving the same master. I will get into this in the chapter titled “Shadow Government.” Let’s discuss the U.S. free and fair elections. Free and fair elections? Oh really? Ask Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders about free and fair elections.

The United States actually has the worst voting system in the developed world. According to NYU professor Mark Crispin Miller, even Harvard University ranked the U.S. dead last place in the developed world. Professor Miller went on to say that former President Jimmy Carter said in 2006 in a NPR interview that the elections in the U.S. are so poor that we don’t even rise to the minimal level where the Carter Center would bother to monitor them.

You see, we are under the illusion that we have free and fair elections when in fact the candidates are “selected,” funded with full-blown support from the PACS, big corporations, the corrupt, biased media, and then placed into office. We have shed blood across this globe fighting for others to have the right to free and fair elections, yet we do not. It is “they” who get to decide who becomes the President of the United States. Well, that all changed with the election of Donald J. Trump in 2016, being perhaps the only exception in modern history. Consider this.

Voter Fraud and Election Theft

Voter fraud and election theft have been going on for a very long time and perhaps even more so today. Who is guilty? Well, both parties are guilty; depends upon what the shadow government’s agenda is.

We see reports where dead people are voting. During the primaries of 2016, absentee ballots were seen being shredded into a wastebasket. There is gerrymandering taking place as yet another method. There are instances where one person has voted multiple times. There is the corruption in play with the PACS that Donald Trump spoke out against during the primaries of 2015 and 2016. Some years ago, in the Tampa Bay area of Florida, there were sworn affidavits which have been collected by a team spearheaded by attorney Mark Adams, indicating that votes were significantly changed in local elections. Not to mention the onslaught of illegal aliens voting. There are many other instances of fraud. But perhaps the most telling and most disturbing one of all is the fact that the Diebold voting machines are hackable and rigged. Then there is the process known as “skimming.” What is skimming? The following summation of skimming and the GEMS software sections were provided by Dr. Richard Davis of PollMole.

Skimming

  • A very sophisticated method of election fraud
  • The most common way to “steal” an election
  • Manipulate pre-election polls to project a “close race”
  • Design the polls to have a wide margin of error
  • Wide margins rig the system against any effective legal challenge
  • Manipulate the vote to make sure the race is close
  • Fit the official vote to hide within the black hole (i.e., margin of error)
  • Skimming is hard to detect and almost impossible to prove
  • Honest campaigns can only win in real landslides of 10 percent or more, unless a scientific polling technology could be deployed that generates cost-effective, statistically robust results with very small margin of error.

Traditional Polling So with typical polling you see oftentimes a “select” group of people being polled. The number of people being polled is typically five hundred to two thousand. Then with traditional polling you can expect a margin of error to be as high as 6 to 10 percent. This is about as effective as polling a group of steak eaters at a large steak house in one neighborhood and asking them if they prefer steak or seafood for dinner. This is the same method used in political polling. This type of polling is not representative of the electorate across the country. And so the fix is in, and the expectation is set, and the biased media’s talking points set the narrative for the regurgitating puppets, we the “sheeple.”

For example, after the second debate between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, CNN released a poll minutes after the debate, a select group of people totaling just 537, and the poll resulted in Hillary beating Trump 57 to 34 percent in that debate. CNN reported that 58 percent of those polled were democrats.

Anyone who watched, even Hillary supporters, knows that Trump slaughtered her in this particular debate. I rest my case. Skewed, rigged polling, skimming the elections. The plot thickens.

Edison Research Group

What is the Edison Research Group? This group conducts the exit poll results on election day. They provide the data under an exclusive contract to the National Election Pool (a cartel of six huge media conglomerates: ABC, CBS, CNN, FOX, NBC, and AP). Edison is owned by the same six cartel members. How cozy and convenient. And with the GEMS manipulation capabilities in place and if the artificial intelligence (AI) is activated, election theft occurs. Think about it, private for-profit companies tell us about our election results outcome. Are you hearing me? Are you following me? Are you with me so far?

All of the mainstream media (MSM) and now as recently observed even some of the alternative media will never get into the crux of the voter fraud and election theft issue. Sure they might touch on the dead voters, the voter who has voted more than once, and so on, but pre-programmed computers with AI? You probably won’t hear that on the MSM. Discussing computerized election fraud is generally off limits. It’s like discussing how the twin towers came down on 911, not to mention building number seven. These subjects are off limits when it comes to MSM. And so the blackout and gag order are in full force and Americans are once again hoodwinked and a laughing- stock to the world.

GEMS

The GEMS resident software has been installed on virtually all central server voting machines deployed in the U.S. and can easily steal the election, undetected, with extreme precision. This is also known as black box voting. There is some evidence that this technology was used by Hillary to steal her primary from Senator Sanders. The GEMS software has now been placed under the control of an advanced Artificial Intelligence system that can continuously manipulate the “official vote” tally nationwide in nanoseconds, right down to the precinct level, without detection. This system will have been specifically designed and purpose-built to be the perfect tool—leaving no evidence behind—in order to commit the perfect crime.

WikiLeaks has provided credible evidence that the pre-election presidential polls were being rigged as well, in order to set the expectation for a Clinton victory. Meanwhile Clinton and Kaine had been cancelling rallies due to little to no attendance as Trump continued to fill arenas across the nation, with thousands more lined up outside unable to get in. Enough said. There is speculation within inner circles that perhaps a counter AI may have been deployed, ensuring the victory for Trump. We simply don’t know for sure. We do know that the election process in America is fatally flawed for multiple reasons and Russia had nothing to do with this.

Forward Progress

“The people who cast the votes don’t decide an election, the people who count the votes do.” – Joseph Stalin.

The Founding Fathers stated the votes are to be cast in private and counted in public. This of course is no longer being done since the advent of computerized voting. Think about it—have you ever seen a computer count? The following suggestions regarding an overhaul to our flawed corrupt election process were made by NYU Professor Mark Crispin Miller.

  • Eliminate private companies with vested interests in the counting and reporting of votes
  • Return to hand-counted paper ballots
  • Get rid of computerized voting
  • Require automatic registration on birthdays
  • Election Day should be a national holiday.

These in my opinion are sound and simple steps to take to help re- store election integrity. There is another method, yet another way of detecting and deterring voter fraud and election theft. You may recall in my open letter at the beginning of this book I mentioned I spent some time assisting with a startup company leading up the election of 2016. That company was PollMole. So what is PollMole, you may ask? Reminds me of the movie Back to the Future, where the guy says to Marty, “Who the hell is JFK?” This may soon become the case with PollMole. Time will tell. PollMole is a highly disruptive, transformative social networking and connectivity technology. It empowers its users to directly and interactively retrieve, analyze, process, archive, and share opinions, ideas, beliefs, and other forms of complex information, from an almost unlimited number of people, simultaneously, in real time, twenty-four/ seven, and translate this information into actionable intelligence, thus providing extremely accurate, focused, science-based information designed to optimize decision-making ability.

Whew. So how does this relate to the election process? In essence, PollMole bypasses the traditional content controls erected by the big media’s information cartel and delivers real information directly into the hands of we the people. PollMole is a downloadable app that can help to restore election integrity results. When you download your free app and cast your anonymous vote, an electronic affidavit is registered within the technological platform. Should there be an election contest, PollMole can become quite the useful tool as a “weapon of truth” if you will.

If a court order were presented to PollMole, the candidate contesting the election outcome might find PollMole most useful. After all, if there were a large sampling of votes cast across all 180,000+ precincts, say, with twenty million votes having been casted and recorded in the PollMole app with a near zero margin of error, this would detect just where the voter fraud took place and perhaps reveal enough forensic evidence to overturn the election results. This would be historical and a real game changer. In fact, this would change everything.

In addition to detecting voter fraud and election theft, there would be consequences such as prosecution for those who committed the fraud. This can be widespread as you move up and down the channels.

Furthermore, the media and the rigged polling organizations, agencies, and corporations as well as the pundits are caught with their pants down, exposed and discredited, and so the media itself must then become honest and straight or simply lose their audience, ratings, revenues.

And due to the way the firewalls have been constructed within the PollMole back-end technology, the names of those who cast the votes remain anonymous as intended by the Founding Fathers.

You can learn more about this startup company called PollMole by visiting the company’s developing website and by doing a Google search. I am certain by the time the next election cycle rolls around, with a Trump administration in place, we can look forward to significant and much-needed changes to the election process.

Conclusion

I hope you actually took the time to read this book excerpt. As to PollMole, you can learn more by visiting the PollMole archived articles on my website JohnMichaelChambers.com and I will be providing an update on PollMole before 2018 plays out.

RELATED ARTICLES:

Broward voters deserved better from Snipes – she should go | Editorial

A look at Broward elections chief Brenda Snipes’ long history of trouble

Disgraced Snipes, Head of Broward Elections, Mixed Illegal Ballots with Valid Ones

Arizona GOP Claims Democrat Election Official Destroyed Evidence of Ballot Counting ‘Irregularities’

EDITORS NOTE: The featured photo is by Randy Colas on Unsplash

UPDATED: The Latest On The Florida Recount Furor

/in , , , , /by

On election day, Democrat Nikki Fried lost in a very close race to Republican Matt Caldwell for the Florida Cabinet office of agriculture commissioner. But after Broward’s rounds of late — illegally late — vote tallies, she is now ahead by 5,326 votes,

So in a display of dizzying chutzpah, she has claimed victory and started working on a transition team — before the recount…in a race where she is ahead by six-one-hundredths of one percent (0.06). That’s a problem for a few reasons. Of course the closeness, but also the reality that the most recent tallies do not include the overseas votes, which are primarily military and those tend to skew heavily Republican.

Now the mischief in Broward may still cancel those out, but it’s worth noting that all things being equal at this point, the likelihood of her not losing votes in the recount including military ballots is thin.

11/10/18 — 5:55 p.m.

The official recount is underway, and we’ll see if the re-writing of Florida’s election laws after the disastrous 2000 presidential election has created the smoother process that was promised.

Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner called for automatic machine recounts in races for U.S. Senate, governor and agriculture commissioner this afternoon after receiving unofficial vote counts.

This was mandatory. Statewide contests decided by less than a half a percentage point must go through a machine recount — everything is fed back through the machines. This is the case for the races between Gov. Rick Scott and U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson; Congressman Ron DeSantis and Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum; and Matt Caldwell and Nikki Fried.

If after this, the vote is less than one-quarter of one percentage point, then by law the vote must go to a manual recount, which opens the door for the incompetence and mischief of Broward and Pam Beach counties. It looks like the Scott-Nelson race will likely qualify for that.

EARLIER…

11/10/18 — 10:25 a.m.

The recount drama has now expanded to the the U.S. Postal Service.

The USPS is investigating its handling of absentee ballots mailed through a sorting facility in Opa-locka — which is located in Miami-Dade County, just south of Broward County — to “verify that all ballots have been handled in accordance to USPS service standards.”

A group of liberal activists protested outside the federal building, claiming possible voter suppression and sharing photographs they claimed showed scores of uncounted ballots sitting inside the facility’s mail room, according to the Miami Herald.

“At this time, we have no information to suggest any ballots were not properly handled and provided to local election officials, per our established process,” said Debra J. Fetterly, a USPS spokesperson with the South Florida District.

“What we are demanding is some transparency,” said Caroline Thompson of the Advancement Project, a civil rights organization. “Voters deserve to know if their ballots are sitting in a mailing facility.”

But apparently these were ballots that were postmarked after Election Day, and thus not legally eligible to be counted. Democratic Congresswoman Frederica Wilson, whose district includes Opa-locka facility, confirmed that postal officials told her the ballots left behind were postmarked after Nov. 6 — Election Day.

According to the Florida Division of Elections, absentee ballots must be received by the Supervisor of Elections office no later than 7 p.m. on Election Day. A 10-day extension is offered only for overseas voters, primarily members of the military.

11/09/18 — 8 p.m.

Gov. Rick Scott has won the first round in the process battle.

In Palm Beach County, a Circuit Court Judge granted the Scott team’s request for an injunction and ordered the Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections to submit “overvoted” and “undervoted” absentee ballots to the Palm Beach County Canvassing Board for an open and public review of each vote before they are counted.

In Broward County, a judge ordered Broward County Supervisor of Elections Brenda Snipes to allow immediate inspection of voter records after an emergency hearing prompted by Scott’s legal team. The Judge said the Supervisor must allow inspections by 7 p.m. Friday evening.

And another lawsuit has been filed by Rep. Matt Caldwell, the Republican candidate for commissioner of agriculture and consumer services, who had apparently won on election night but now is behind.

Caldwell’s lawsuit asks the court to determine if Snipes, the Broward County supervisor of elections, “illegally included ballots after polls closed” Nov. 6. His campaign also filed a public records request for all vote count communications and emails between Snipes, her team and anyone else regarding ballot counting.

And hundreds of protesters gathered outside the Broward County elections headquarters, calling for Snipes to be locked up. Snipes office called Lauderhill police to provide protection, although it was not clear such a step was necessary.

11/09/18 — 12:30 p.m. Original Story

Well, Broward and Palm Beach counties have screwed up another national election. It cannot be emphasized enough that these are the two most heavily Democratic counties in Florida, and before this election, they were known for incompetence and, particularly in Broward, for corruption.

So those of us who have lived in Florida a long time recognize this pattern of recount corruption. Nonetheless, this time we have a Governor who will come out firing and already has filed a lawsuit against Broward and directed the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to investigate the county elections office. And it goes without saying, yet we will say, we have a President who is more than willing to enter the fray and fight back.

Neither of these leaders existed in the infamous 2000 Florida presidential recount, which absolutely would have eventually gone to Al Gore if the U.S. Supreme Court had not stepped in and said, “Enough!” Remember, Palm Beach was the “hanging chads” county and they would have continued to keep “finding” more Democrat votes.

With that context in mind, The Revolutionary Act will be keeping a running update of the recount shenanigans that will have national implications.

Current Tallies

Republican Gov. Rick Scott leads Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson in the U.S. Senate race by 0.18 percent, about 15,000 votes — down from the 70,000 on election night.

Republican Congressman Ron DeSantis leads Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum by 0.44 percent, about 36,000 votes.

The Democratic voting “indiscretions” have already flipped one statewide Florida race to a Democrat. Nikki Fried now has a lead of 0.04 percent over Republican Matt Caldwell for the Cabinet post of agriculture commissioner. That’s 2,915 votes. But we all know it will only grow for the Democrat. Caldwell had won that race on election night.

Gov. Rick Scott

Scott has accused Broward Supervisor of Elections Brenda Snipes and Palm Beach Supervisor of Elections Susan Bucher of trying to steal the election — and not without merit.

Snipes has a long and well reported history of violating election laws, the last time being when she destroyed ballots too soon in the re-election of Debbie Wasserman-Schulze in 2016. Scott has ordered the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to investigate Snipes.

Scott has the authority to suspend Snipes and/or Bucher from office. To do so, he must cite evidence of malfeasance, misfeasance, neglect of duty or incompetence. It seems there is prima facia evidence for incompetence. If he does that, he can then appoint an interim elections supervisor.

Scott has filed suit against Snipes, alleging noncompliance with Florida’s Public Records Act by not allowing the inspection of the ballots as required under law. “The allegations are part of what appears to be a broader array of inconsistencies in vote counting,” writes Julio Gonzalez at the Federalist Pages.

“It has been over 48 hours since the polls closed” and ballots are still being “found” in Broward and Palm Beach, Scott said. “The people of Florida deserve fairness and transparency” and Floridians should be very worried about “rampant fraud” in Tuesday’s elections.

Later in the evening, Scott announced the lawsuit: “I will not sit idly by while unethical liberals try to steal this election.”

Sen. Marco Rubio

The Senator not known as a bomb-thrower has gone on a tear on the recount fiasco, and its refreshing. This is a little like when Sen. Lindsey Graham went off during the Judge Kavanaugh hearings. Even mild-mannered Republicans have really begun to have enough of what Democrats are doing and the anger and frustration is rising.

Rubio tweeted out a series of pieces of evidence that essentially makes the case that Snipes held back votes in some reserve method to pull out in case of a recount. It’s pretty incendiary, but also pretty compelling.

Here’s the full tweet storm:

“Long but IMPORTANT THREAT ON ELECTIONS IN #FLORIDA.

#BayCounty was hit by a Cat 4 Hurricane just 4 weeks ago,yet managed to count votes & submit timely results.

Yet over 41 hours after polls closed #Broward elections office is still counting votes?  

#Broward supervisor:

  • says she doesn’t know how many ballots are left to be counted; &
  • Isn’t reporting hourly or regularly, but rather releasing thousands of additional votes, often in the overnight hours,that are chipping away at GOP leads

#Broward elections department has a history of violating the law: 

A court found they improperly handled votes by mail:

https://www.politico.com/states/florida/story/2018/08/13/judge-sides-with-florida-gop-in-absentee-ballot-dispute-with-broward-county-555553 …

Court found they destroyed ballots in 2016 in violation of state & federal law:

https://www.politico.com/states/florida/story/2018/05/14/florida-to-monitor-broward-election-chief-after-judge-finds-unlawful-ballot-destruction-in-wasserman-schultz-race-415832 …

Now democrat lawyers are descending on #Florida. They have been very clear they aren’t here to make sure every vote is counted. 

  •  They are here to change the results of election; &
  • #Broward is where they plan to do it. A U.S. Senate seat & a statewide cabinet officer are now potentially in the hands of an elections supervisor with a history of incompetence & of blatant violations of state & federal laws. 

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/broward/article220841135.html

#Broward election supervisors ongoing violation of #Florida law requiring timely reporting isn’t just annoying incompetence. It has opened the door for lawyers to come here & try to steal a seat in the U.S. Senate & Florida”

President Trump

Shortly after Scott announced his lawsuit, the President took to Twitter, condemning what he called a “big corruption scandal” brewing in Broward County, adding, “Florida voted for Rick Scott!”

Other State Leaders

Florida’s Republican House Speaker-designate Jose R. Oliva released this statement:

” I fully support and commend the Governor for directing FDLE to investigate. The power of the vote is only as strong as the trust in the count. With each new ballot ‘found’ that trust erodes.”

This is a long way from being resolved. Recounted ballots can be sent to the Florida Department of Elections beginning today (Friday.)

But if history is any guide, Broward and Palm Beach will keep “counting” long after today and keep finding more Democrat votes.

RELATED ARTICLES:

Broward Mystery Boxes Tossed Into Trucks After Missed Deadline; Gaetz Forcibly Removed While Filming

Dem-Leaning County in Florida Won’t Meet the Recount Deadline. Here’s What That Means For Voters.

BREAKING: Avis Employee Finds Provisional Ballot Box and Election Signs in Back of Returned Broward County Car (VIDEO)

EDITORS NOTE: This column originally appeared in The Revolutionary Act.

PODCAST: Judicial Watch’s Weekly Update: New Awan Bros Dem IT Suit

/in , , , , , /by

Clean House at Justice Department

Attorney General Jeff Sessions has resigned, bringing an end to his controversial tenure as the nation’s top law enforcement officer. He advanced some significant policy advances for the rule of law, but made a terrible mistake in recusing himself needlessly from the so-called Russia investigation. This led to the abusive, unconstitutional Mueller special counsel investigation of President Trump. Frankly, President Trump has been terribly victimized by Justice Department and FBI corruption.

And disappointingly, the Justice Department under AG Sessions was a black hole in terms of transparency. It covered up institutional misconduct and, unbelievably, went out of its way to defend misconduct by Hillary Clinton and other Obama administration officials.

I hope transparency and rooting out corruption and abuse becomes the focus of any new attorney general.

Now that President Trump has removed AG Sessions and appointed Matthew Whitaker as acting attorney general, the new DOJ leadership should end the abusive Mueller investigation and finally do a serious prosecution of Clinton’s email crimes and other misconduct.

In the meantime, your Judicial Watch will continue its independent oversight of the Justice Department through its myriad Freedom of Information Act lawsuits on Deep State abuses.


Major New Lawsuit on Awan Brothers Democratic IT Scandal

Of the many bizarre corruption stories in Congress, one of the strangest was the IT scandal in the House of Representatives on the Democratic side of the aisle. This scandal is of heightened public interest now that Democrats have gained control of the House.

As is often the case when the government refuses to fully investigate itself, we have stepped in, filing a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the Justice Department for all records of communications relating to the investigation into former Democratic information technology (IT) staffers Abid Awan, Imran Awan, Jamal Awan and Hina R. Alvi (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of Justice (No. 1:18-cv-02563)).

Imran Awan and his family were banned from the House computer network in February 2017 after the House’s top law enforcement officer wrote that Imran is “an ongoing and serious risk to the House of Representatives, possibly threatening the integrity of our information systems,” and that a server containing evidence had gone “missing.” The inspector general said server logs showed “unauthorized access” and procurement records were falsified.

Imran Awan was Democratic Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s top information technology aide. Most lawmakers fired Awan in February, but Wasserman Schultz kept him on until he was arrested in July, trying to board a flight for Pakistan.

Imran Awan was allowed a plea deal. He pleaded guilty to federal bank fraud, but prosecutors found no evidence that Awan “violated federal law with respect to the House computer systems.”

Color us skeptical that DOJ conducted a full investigation.

In October 2017, I participated in a discussion between House members and experts regarding the Wasserman Schultz/Awan Brothers/IT affair. During this discussion, I stated:

“Frankly when it comes to crimes with a political component, I fear the Justice Department is going to fear to tread. And because of the political nature of what went on (with the Awan family) they’re not going to push the House … and I fear that the Justice Department will be fearful of raising these issues with the House for fear of embarrassing the leadership of both parties … and that’s something we need to push the Justice Department on. That they don’t under-charge or under-investigate this for fear of the consequences that will happen if they push further and find something that no one wants to find, which is a national security threat at our breast here in the House.”

That is why Judicial Watch sued after the FBI failed to respond adequately to two FOIA requests.

The FBI claimed it could neither confirm nor deny records related to the first request, filed on May 26, 2017, seeking:

  • All records related to any investigations or preliminary investigations involving former congressional IT support staffers Abid Awan, Imran Awan, Jamal Awan, and Hina R. Alvi. As part of this request, searches should of records [sic] should include, but not be limited to, the FBI automated indices, its older manual indices, and its Electronic Surveillance (ELSUR) Data Management System (EDMS), as well as cross-referenced files.
  • All records of communication sent to or from FBI employees, officials or contractors involving the subjects in bullet item 1.

The timeframe for the requested records is May 2015 to the present.

Further, the FBI claimed that records related to a July 3, 2018, FOIA request were located in an investigative file and exempt from disclosure. That request sought:

  • All records related to any investigations or preliminary investigations involving former congressional IT support staffers Abid Awan, Imran Awan, Jamal Awan, Hina R. Alvi and Rao Abbas. As part of this request, searches of records should include, but not be limited to, the FBI automated indices, its older manual indices, and its Electronic Surveillance (ELSUR) Data Management System (EDMS), as well as cross-referenced files.
  • All records of communications, including but not limited to emails (whether on .gov or non-.gov email accounts), text messages, instant chats or messages on the Lync system, sent to or from FBI employees, officials or contractors involving the Awan brothers, Ms. Alvi and Mr. Abbas. Records of communications searched should include but not be limited to those between FBI officials, employees and contractors and officials with the Capitol Police, the Office of the Inspector General of the House, and the Office of the Chief Administrative Officer of the House.

It’s time for the full truth to come out about the House Democrat IT scandal, especially with the impending change of power in the House. Let’s hope the new leadership at the DOJ will bring transparency to this case, as well as many other pending FOIA investigations.

President Trump is aware of this strange situation. On June 7, 2018, he tweeted, “Our Justice Department must not let Awan & Debbie Wasserman Schultz off the hook. The Democrat I.T. scandal is a key to much of the corruption we see today. They want to make a “plea deal” to hide what is on their Server. Where is Server? Really bad!”

“Really bad” is right and Judicial Watch aims to get more of the truth about this major congressional scandal.

Judicial Watch Sues for Docs on Influence Peddling Scandal At Energy Department 

Michael Cohen was a personal lawyer for President Trump from 2006 until President Trump fired him in May 2018, a month after a federal investigation of Cohen became widely public. On August 21, 2018, Cohen pled guilty to eight counts of campaign finance violations, tax fraud, and bank fraud.

Coincidentally, we have also been looking into a questionable deal involving Cohen, the Energy Department and an investor in a nuclear plant project.

We have filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Energy for all records of communications relating to Michael Cohen and the application for a $5 billion federal loan guarantee for the Bellefonte Nuclear Power Plant (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of Energy (No. 1:18-cv-02208)). Cohen, who was reportedly offered a $10 million “success fee” and paid a monthly retainer for his efforts on behalf of the Alabama nuclear-power project, never registered as a federal lobbyist.

The suit was filed after the Department of Energy failed to respond to an August 22, 2018, FOIA request for:

  • All records of communications between the Department of Energy (DOE), including oral communications, and Michael Cohen relating to the loan application for the Bellefonte Nuclear Power Plant.
  • All records of communications between the DOE and Michael Cohen in relation to any other loan application.
  • A copy of and all records related to the application of Nuclear Development, LLC for a loan application relating to the Bellefonte Nuclear Power Plant in Alabama.
  • A full and complete copy of DOE’s response to an August 9, 2018, letter to Secretary Perry from Senator Ed Markey regarding Franklin Haney, Nuclear Development, LLC, and Michael Cohen.

On August 2, 2018, The Wall Street Journal reported that Franklin D. Haney, “a major donor to President Trump agreed to pay $10 million to the president’s then-personal attorney [Michael Cohen] if he successfully helped obtain funding for a nuclear-power project, including a $5 billion loan from the U.S. government …” The contract reportedly was given to Cohen “in early April to assist his efforts to complete a pair of unfinished nuclear reactors in Alabama, known as the Bellefonte Nuclear Power Plant …”

On August 10, 2018, the Washington Examiner reported:

“Cohen was also given a retainer payment for each month of lobbying on top of the $10 million ‘success fee’ for gaining final approval of a $5 billion loan guarantee from the Energy Department. Cohen had made calls in the spring to the Energy Department to see if there was any way to speed up the approval process. The agreement between Haney and Cohen was reportedly rescinded, but Markey says the issue warrants further investigation to examine the integrity of the loan guarantee program that Perry oversees.”

Mr. Cohen may have broken basic lobbying disclosure and other laws in setting up a deal to advocate for a loan guarantee from the Energy Department. It is disappointing that the Energy Department is giving us the run around on this simple request, forcing us to go to federal court.

Government Warning: Narco-Terrorism will Worsen Under New Leftist Leader

Mexico held an election this year, too – on July 1 – and the result is not good for the United States, as our Corruption Chronicles blog reports. Our border is about to get a lot more dangerous.

The overwhelming majority of illegal drugs in the United States already come from Mexico, and Mexican traffickers are the greatest criminal threat to the nation, but things are about to get worse when Mexico’s new leftwing president takes over. His name is Andrés Manuel López Obrador (known popularly as AMLO), he opposes hardline anti-drug policies and believes in amnesty for drug war criminals.

A State Department document obtained by Judicial Watch warns that Obrador, who takes over on December 1, will seek to decriminalize marijuana and poppy cultivation early in his term. He will also end Mexican military intervention in the drug war and pardon some drug offenders, according to the document which was issued recently by the agency’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security and is titled “Mexico’s Drug War & AMLO” and subtitled “Crime; Drug Trafficking; Narco-Terrorism.”

Narco-violence and cartel-associated crime is already one of most dangerous threats against U.S. private-sector interests in Mexico, according to the State Department, and Obrador’s new policies will only worsen the crisis. “The promised amnesty deal with organized criminal groups and the pledge to investigate and prosecute corrupt politicians, many of whom are in business with the cartels, prompts concern about increased impunity for violent offenders,” the new memo states.

It identifies “hot spots” for Mexican Criminal and Narco-Violence and reveals that the drug war and cartel infighting has caused severe, nationwide security repercussions. Five Mexican states (Colima, Guerrero, Michoacán, Sinaloa, and Tamaulipas) have such high levels of violence that the U.S. government warns against travel. Common crimes include homicide, kidnapping, carjacking, and robbery. “In these states, gang activity, including gun battles, is widespread,” the State Department writes. “Criminal organizations operate freely and sometimes with impunity. Local law enforcement has limited capability to respond to violence in many parts of these states, as criminal organizations have laid territorial claim to significant portions of the region.”

In 2017, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) handled 116 kidnappings in Mexico, 81 for ransoms, and during the 2018 general elections there were 774 attacks against politicians. More than 150 politicians were killed in the attacks, the State Department reveals, and 371 non-elected officials. On election day alone, 138 assaults were reported in Mexico and seven politicians were murdered, compared to nine during the entire 2012 election season. Clearly, our neighbor to the south is a perpetually unstable, crime-infested cesspool. Intra-cartel violence remains the most prevalent type of crime much like an outlaw society taken over by thugs.

“Although Mexico employs strict gun-control laws, criminals are often armed with guns, which has resulted in the increase of homicide incidents in Mexico,” according to the State Department memo. “While most of these homicides appeared to be targeted, criminal organization assassinations, turf battles between criminal groups have resulted in violent crime in areas frequented by U.S. citizens. Shooting incidents injuring or killing bystanders have occurred. In some states, members of these groups frequently maintain roadblocks and may use violence towards travelers.”

It’s difficult to imagine that the Mexican crisis will worsen in a few weeks. For years a variety of government audits have documented that the overwhelming majority of illegal drugs in the U.S. come from Mexico and Mexican traffickers remain the greatest criminal threat to the country. A recent one that comes to mind is the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) 2015 National Drug Threat Assessment proclaiming that Mexican cartels are in a class of their own, that “no other group can challenge them in the near term.” The government classifies them as Transitional Criminal Organizations (TCOs) and they smuggle in enormous quantities of heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine and marijuana. We’re talking about sophisticated operations that have been smuggling huge amounts of illicit drugs into the U.S. for some time.

It doesn’t end there. The DEA has confirmed that major Mexican cartels are actually operating in the United States. They include the Beltran-Leyva Organization (BLO), New Generation Jalisco Cartel (Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generación or CJNG) the Los Cuinis, Gulf Cartel (Cartel del Golfo or CDG), Juarez Cartel, Michoacán Family (La Familia Michoacána or LFM), Knights Templar (Los Caballeros Templarios or LCT), Los Zetas, and the renowned Sinaloa Cartel.

Mexican drug cartels have long benefitted from our susceptible southern border and the situation is more serious than ever because traffickers have joined forces with Middle Eastern terrorists to enter the U.S. Years ago Judicial Watch broke a story detailing how smugglers (“coyotes”) working for the Juárez Cartel help move ISIS terrorists through the desert and across the border between Santa Teresa and Sunland Park, New Mexico. To the east of El Paso and Ciudad Juárez, cartel-backed “coyotes” also smuggle ISIS terrorists through the porous border between Acala and Fort Hancock, Texas. Judicial Watch’s high-level government sources say these specific areas were targeted for exploitation by ISIS because of their understaffed municipal and county police forces and the relative safe-havens the areas provide for the unchecked large-scale drug smuggling that was already ongoing.

EDITORS NOTE: This column with images is republished with permission.

Florida Dems: Steal Going Strong?

/in , , , , , , /by

There are plenty of threats to democracy, but what happens in the voting booth shouldn’t be one of them! Tell that to the people of Florida. Days after the media called the Senate and governor’s races for Rick Scott (R) and Ron DeSantis (R), election officials have suddenly “found” tens of thousands of Democratic votes. And we’re concerned about other governments meddling in our elections?

Unfortunately for Republicans, this isn’t the first time Broward and Palm Beach Counties have been caught cheating the system. More people have been burned by voter fraud on the west side of Florida than the sunshine. Brenda Snipes, the head of Broward County’s election board (and a registered Democrat), could have faced five years in jail for tampering with votes two years ago. Now, Snipes is back to her dirty tricks, telling reporters she has no idea how many ballots are left to count in a race for governor that the Democrat already conceded.

In testy exchanges with reporters, Snipes was visibly upset when Local 10 News asked why two days had gone by and she still didn’t have a final count. “But, Dr. Snipes, it’s now Thursday. We’re still counting ballots in Broward County.” “We’re counting five pages or six pages for each of the people who voted,” Snipes fired back. “But other counties have been able to do it,” he replied. “Other counties didn’t have 600,000 votes out there,” she argued. “Well, Miami-Dade did,” the reporter said simply. “Don’t try to turn this around [on me],” Snipes said and stormed off.

But people who know Snipes’s history say it is on her. In 2016, a judge found her guilty of destroying ballots from a primary in the middle of a lawsuit. In August, she was charged with “improperly handling mail-in ballots,” opening them in secret. Even fellow Democrats, Governor Rick Scott (R) reminds everyone, accused her of “individual and systematic breakdowns” in 2014. Tim Canova, one of the victims of her political sabotage, said, “We’re dealing with organized crime. I don’t trust anything that comes out of this office…”

Neither does Florida Senator Marco Rubio (R), who blasted the counties’ leadership for trying to steal the election. Bay County, he points out on Twitter, “was hit by a Cat 4 Hurricane just four weeks ago, yet managed to count votes and submit timely results. But over 41 hours after polls closed Broward elections office is still counting votes?” Pictures snapped by the South Florida Sun-Sentinel show stacks of ballots that supposedly still haven’t been counted. “A U.S. Senate seat and a statewide Cabinet officer are now potentially in the hands of an elections supervisor with a history of incompetence and blatant violations of state and federal election laws.”

Then there are the other inconsistencies: a passerby allegedly sees ballots being transported in private vehicles and transferred to rent truck on Election night and posts the video “This violates all chain of custody requirements for paper ballots,” Rubio fumed. “Were the ballots destroyed and replaced by a set of fake ballots? Investigate now!” At Miramar Elementary School, a teacher stumbled on an entire box labeled “Provisional ballots” left behind on Tuesday. Republicans in Palm Beach complained that they weren’t allowed to monitor the county’s handling of damaged absentee ballots, which is a serious violation of protocol. And it gets even fishier in Minnesota, where a woman who hadn’t lived in Florida for five years says she got a Florida ballot in the mail.

Governor Scott, whose race for Senate against Bill Nelson (D) had been called by all of the major news networks, now seems headed for a recount, thanks to the magical appearance of 42,000 Democratic ballots. How unusual is that? Well, according to the Florida Department of State, there hasn’t been a recount for governor or senator in state history. And now, suddenly, there are two in one year?

“Late Tuesday night, our win was projected to be around 57,000 votes,” Scott told reporters yesterday. “By Wednesday morning, that lead dropped to 38,000. By Wednesday evening, it was around 30,000. This morning, it was around 21,000. Now, it is 15,000.” Scott, who filed a lawsuit and launched a state investigation, told Fox News’s Sean Hannity, “We don’t know how many votes they’re gonna come up with. But it appears they’re going to try to come up with as many votes as it takes to win this election…” But, he promised, “We’re gonna fight this… No ragtag group of liberal activists or lawyers from D.C. will be allowed to steal this election from the voters in the state of Florida.”

After the antics and outright lies we’ve seen from the Left this year’s, no one can be surprised at how low they will stoop to get their hands on more political power. But this isn’t just about 2018. It’s about 2020, 2022, and every election that comes after. Democrats, Republicans, Independents — we all have a stake in making the democratic system an honest one.

Tony Perkins’ Washington Update is written with the aid of FRC senior writers.

RELATED ARTICLES:

Yes, Democrats Are Trying To Steal The Election In Florida

Florida election supervisor mixed bad provisional ballots with good ones

Broward County Is An Embarrassment, And The Potential For A Stolen Florida Election Is Real

Florida Vote Scandal Coverage Shows Media-Democrat Complicity. Again.

A Washington Post Mortem on SPLC

Voters Recoil at House Gun Agenda

EDITORS NOTE: This column with images is republished with permission.

When Corporations Ask You to Vote, Whose Values Are They Promoting?

/in , , , , , /by

Last month, Levi’s urged Americans to vote. 2ndVote noticed that their ostensibly neutral ad came just weeks after they put one million dollars into a gun control campaign.

They are one of four companies we want you to know are trying to influence your votes today. Levi’s, Lyft, Patagonia, and Walmart are using their corporate power to put politicians who oppose your values into office.

Patagonia

Patagonia’s endorsement of two liberal Democrats is important for two reasons. First, the company clearly is serious about its environmental values — even though cap-and-trade would devastate the U.S. economy and the Paris climate deal was a bad joke. Second, Patagonia is a direct funder of Planned Parenthood. As we noted late last year:

On his way out the door in early 2017, then President Obama issued an executive order designating the Bears Ears National Monument over objections by the Utah government and congressional delegation. Obama’s order also designated the Gold Butte National Monument in Nevada. The designation, which was essentially a land-grab by the federal government, severely restricts recreational and economic use of the land, such as livestock grazing and timber harvesting.

After President Donald Trump partially reversed course, Patagonia’s founder said he would not “let evil win.” This despite sending tens of thousands of dollars to Planned Parenthood!

Walmart, Lyft, & Levi’s

As mentioned above, Levi’s has urged people to vote with its ad — which, we admit, is pretty slick. However, slickness doesn’t dodge the fact that Levi’s is clearly pushing liberal values. The same is true for Walmart and Lyft, which The New York Times highlighted last month for working with Patagonia and Levi’s (among many other less-political companies) on getting out the vote:

Patagonia, for example, is currently suing Mr. Trump for his decision to shrink the size of several national monuments. Walmart’s chief executive, Doug McMillon, chastised Mr. Trump after Charlottesville. And Lyft made a symbolic $1 million donation to the American Civil Liberties Union after Mr. Trump announced his initial travel ban targeting Muslim-majority countries last year.

Patagonia is shutting its corporate campus and its retail stores in the United States for the entire day. Levi’s is giving corporate employees five hours to vote on Election Day, and retail employees will get three hours. Walmart created a website with resources to help people get informed and to the polls.

And Lyft is providing discounted rides to polling places, and will provide free rides to people in underserved communities, which it is identifying with help from nonprofit organizations including Voto Latino and affiliates of the Urban League.

Here’s the thing: go and vote. Please. All Americans who can legally vote ought to do so, especially if they are educated on what direction in which they want America to go. It is good that employers are letting their employees off of work to vote.

But let’s be real about what these companies want. Lyft is working with the Urban League, organization that support same-sex marriage and sanctuary city policies and opposes the right to self-defense. And Lyft’s donation to the ACLU is hardly “symbolic,” given that the ACLU has declared virtual war on the Trump administration.

So there we are. Please stop reading and go vote. The nation needs your 2ndVote values to influence your first vote.

Help us continue providing resources like this and educating conservative shoppers by becoming a 2ndVote Member today!

EDITORS NOTE: This column with images is republished with permission. The featured photo is from Shutterstock.

Progressives Want to Burn Down Any Institution That Doesn’t Favor Them at the Moment

/in , , , /by

Sometimes progressives do a great job of becoming caricatures of themselves.

The progressive worldview is marked by a tendency to embrace Utopian dreams, and a general disregard for tried and true traditions and institutions.

Ted Kennedy captured this instinct in 1968 when he said, quoting George Bernard Shaw: “Some men see things as they are and say, why; I dream things that never were and say, why not.”

But while laws and norms sometimes need to be changed, there is something to be said for recklessly overturning a system that has been at the heart of the strongest and freest country that’s ever existed.

This progressive instinct for change at any cost has gone off the rails.

Historically, progressives have sought to bring about a radical social transformation, and in order to achieve it, they have indulged a tendency to try to upend the constitutional system put in place by the Founding Fathers. But more pathetically, in recent days, they have sought to upend the Constitution for short-term political gain.

When President Donald Trump defeated Hillary Clinton in 2016, the left wanted to abolish the Electoral College.

When Trump nominated now-Justice Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, the left considered packing or even abolishing the Supreme Court.

Now that Kavanaugh is on the court and Democrats control the House, the left wants to get rid of the Senate, which remains in Republican hands.

Most of the criticism of these institutions is that they aren’t “democratic” enough. But, of course, they were not designed to be democratic. The Founders didn’t believe a purely democratic system would be the best preserver of our natural rights, or even a strong country.

In most of these cases, the left-wing narrative is that the system is “rigged” against them.

Progressives are coming up with increasingly absurd “evidence” to prove this—despite the fact that it seemed to work just fine as recently as 2008 when Democrats controlled every branch of the federal government.

They’ve embraced the same line of argument they used against the Electoral College, coming up with a Senate popular vote stat, which the left believes would favor Democrats.

Besides the absurdity of throwing the composition of the Senate to a mass popular vote, this idea upends the idea of representation to begin with.

Even The Washington Post threw water on this hot take, calling the Senate popular vote stat “bogus” for a host of reasons.

“The biggest problem with it is that not every state is up for reelection, leading to a skewed picture,” wrote the Post’s Aaron Blake. “If more Democratic seats are up for reelection, it stands to reason that Democrats will do well in the popular vote. And that’s exactly what happened in 2018: Democrats were defending 26 states, and Republicans just nine.”

On top of this, California, the most populous state in the union, didn’t even have a Republican senator up for election due to its peculiar primary system. Millions of votes that would have likely went to a Republican instead went to a Democrat.

Nevertheless, progressives insist that we shake the system to its core because it’s all so unfair to them.

Ezra Klein of Vox actually argued that taking a hatchet to these constitutional institutions will add legitimacy to the system.

“American politics is edging into an era of crisis,” Klein wrote. “A constitutional system built to calm the tensions of America’s founding era is distorting the political competition between parties, making the country both less democratic and less Democratic.”

To restore legitimacy now that Democrats have lost some elections, Klein suggests that progressives could cross the Rubicon and begin “pushing the system to a breaking point.”

Does that sound like a good way to promote legitimacy and stability to a republic?

Ultimately, Klein’s argument to upend American government based on its unfairness to progressives is thin gruel at best.

But it isn’t the thinnest of gruel.

The award for that distinction goes to Joy Behar, co-host of “The View,” who rolled incorrectly on the progressive roulette wheel of things to blame for electoral defeats.

Behar hilariously said on the show that the reason Republicans do well in Senate races is that they gerrymander districts to make them more favorable to the GOP.

This is complete nonsense given the fact that Senate races are statewide. There are no districts to redraw.

Whether it’s the nonfactual nonsense of Behar or the pseudo-sophisticated sophistry of Vox.com, temporary political frustrations are a poor reason to upend the American system of governance that has been a miraculous blessing for the American people for over two centuries.

These “reforms” should be seen for what they are: naked power grabs by people who have no respect for the Constitution.

They make it particularly hard to believe that they’re somehow trying to save the country from Trump breaking constitutional norms, when they are perfectly fine breaking any norm at all when it suits them.

Perhaps instead of trying to game the system created by the Founders, which they have so little understanding of and respect for, progressives can try to work within our constitutional system to convince Americans that their ideas are actually the best ideas.

Therein, of course, lies the problem.

COMMENTARY BY

Portrait of Jarrett Stepman

Jarrett Stepman

Jarrett Stepman is an editor and commentary writer for The Daily Signal and co-host of “The Right Side of History” podcast. Send an email to Jarrett. Twitter: .

RELATED ARTICLES:

5 Ways House Democrats Plan to Put Heat on Trump

Meet the 8 New Members of the Senate

Podcast: Conservative Women’s Victories Ignored, and Left Turns on White Women

The Daily Signal depends on the support of readers like you. Donate now

EDITORS NOTE: This column with images is republished with permission. Photo: G. Ronald Lopez/ZUMA Press/Newscom.

Governor Scott Sues Broward County Over Election Fraud

/in , , , , /by

Earlier today, The Federalist Pages reported its prediction that Governor Rick Scott, despite the votes still remaining to be counted, would win Florida’s senatorial race against incumbent Senator Bill Nelson, by a razor-thin margin of less than 0.25%.  That was based, among other factors, on an estimated number of about 30,111 early votes in Broward County that had yet to be counted.  This number of outstanding early ballots was based on the reported difference between the counted 665,688 ballots and the 695,799 turned in ballots in Broward.

Now, Fox News is reporting Broward County was claiming there were 707,223 ballots cast on Election Day, and that the number had subsequently increased to 712,840 ballots.  Interestingly, as of this writing at 2235 on November 8, 2018, the Florida Division of Elections is showing 680,568 ballots cast in Broward County.

In the meantime, in Palm Beach County, where The Federalist Pages was unable to determine how many ballots had been cast and were outstanding, Fox is reporting that 15,000 new ballots have appeared.  This while in the remaining 65 other Florida counties, the only ballots remaining to be counted, as required by law, are the military mail-in ballots and the provisional votes.

In the meantime, the election indiscretions have already flipped the Agricultural Commissions race from Republican to Democrat.

Since the publication of The Federalist Pages‘ prediction, Senator Marco Rubio took to Twitter to call attention to the possibility of voter tampering in Broward County.  His series of tweets include an explanation of applicable Florida elections law and images of boxes full of ballots being unloaded in Broward County.  If correct, such an act would be a violation of Florida elections laws.

In the meantime, a Democrat funded team of attorneys has arrived in Florida with the stated intent of “winning the election.”  And in another, late-breaking development, Governor Scott has filed suit against the Broward County Supervisor of Elections, Dr. Brenda C. Snipes, alleging noncompliance by the Supervisor of Elections with Florida’s Public Records Act by not allowing the inspection of the ballots.  The allegations are part of what appears to be a broader array of inconsistencies in vote counting.  For example, mail-in ballots and early votes are supposed to be counted on the day prior to the election so that they may be recorded within 30 minutes after the polls close.  Two days later, neither Broward nor Palm Beach Counties have complied. Additionally, in erroneously filled or damaged ballots, it falls upon the county canvassing board to determine the voter intent, if possible, and to fill in a substitute ballot under public scrutiny. There are allegations made that the Broward County Supervisor of Elections Office is undertaking that process at this time behind closed doors.

It is interesting to note that Broward is the same county that encountered such difficulties in the 2000 presidential election. Also of significance is Dr. Snipe’s history of election indiscretions as determined by a judgment against her for having destroyed ballots in the 2016 congressional race.

Although nothing is known for certain relating to the Broward County Election results, this is going to be a long process for the State of Florida.

RELATED VIDEO: Rick Scott press conference regarding ‘rampant fraud’ in Senate election process.

RELATED ARTICLES:

What The Hell? Broward And Palm Beach Counties Ignore Court Ruling On Vote Counts; UPDATE: Reporters Threatened?

Accusations fly over Broward County ballot shenanigans: Mystery truck deliveries, slow counting and more

Caught On Video: Crews Violating ‘all chain of custody requirements for ballots’

Judge Rules in Governor Scott’s favor in Broward Election Records Request

EDITORS NOTE: This column originally appeared in The Federalist Pages. The featured photo is by Element5 Digital on Unsplash.

VIDEO: Senator Marco Rubio’s comments on Florida Election Recount [English and Español]

/in , , , , /by

Below is new video of Senator Rubio commenting on what’s happening in Broward County following the Florida elections.


Marco Rubio English from Mo Moghari on Vimeo.

A continuación está un nuevo video del Senador Rubio comentando lo sucedido en el Condado de Broward tras las elecciones en la Florida.


Marco Rubio Spanish from Mo Moghari on Vimeo.

RELATED ARTICLES:

GOP Senate candidate Rick Scott files bombshell lawsuits accusing Dem Florida election officials of trying to ‘steal the election’

Woman Overseeing Broward Vote Count Illegally Destroyed Ballots in Previous Race

VIDEO: ‘We Know Where You Sleep at Night’: Mob Goes to Home of ‘Racist, Sexist, Bigoted’ Tucker Carlson

/in , , , , , , , , /by

A left-wing mob showed up outside Fox News host Tucker Carlson’s house Wednesday evening, posted pictures of his address online, and demanded that he flee the city of Washington, D.C.

ADDED VIDEO: Activist Mob outside of Tucker Carlson’s home. Unbelievable. Published by Vee:

Carlson, a co-founder of The Daily Caller and host of “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” was at the Fox News studio when the angry crowd showed up outside of his house.

At least one of the protesters went all the way up to Carlson’s front door, where they left a sign with his family’s home address written on it and rang his doorbell.

Video of the group, Smash Racism DC, shows one of the mob’s ringleaders leading the crowd in chants of “racist scumbag, leave town!” and “Tucker Carlson, we will fight! We know where you sleep at night!”

“No borders! No walls! No USA at all!” the protesters chanted in another video.

The group posted a picture of the sign with the Carlson family’s address on it to Twitter.

“Tucker Carlson, you cannot hide from the people you hurt with your rhetoric, your lies, and your hate,” the group wrote on Twitter, adding the hashtag “#KnockKnockTucker.”

Twitter removed the tweet with Carlson’s address after an inquiry from The Daily Caller News Foundation.

NBC’s Megyn Kelly denounced the mob tactics toward Carlson.

“This has to stop. Who are we? What are we becoming? @TuckerCarlson is tough & can handle a lot, but he does not deserve this,” Kelly, also a former Fox News host, wrote on Twitter.

“His family does not deserve this. It’s stomach-turning,” Kelly added.

“Smash Racism DC” previously chased Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz and his wife out of a restaurant during Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearings.

The group later posted a message warning Cruz that he’s “not safe.”

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, please email licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

COLUMN BY

Portrait of Peter Hasson

Peter Hasson

Peter J. Hasson is a reporter for The Daily Caller. Twitter: @peterjhasson.

RELATED ARTICLE: Red Alert: Leftists Groups Target Over 900 Cities Tonight. Mobs Forming?

EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Signal column with images is republished with permission. The featured image by OpenClipart-Vectors on Pixabay.

Copyright © 2024 DrRichSwier.com LLC. A Florida Cooperation. All rights reserved. The DrRichSwier.com is a not-for-profit news forum for intelligent Conservative commentary. Opinions expressed by writers are solely their own. Republishing of columns on this website requires the permission of both the author and editor. For more information contact: drswier@gmail.com.