Tag Archive for: police

Legal Group Joining Anti-Tesla Movement Has Violent, Far-Left History

A legal organization with ties to the far-left Antifa movement has joined forces with anti-Tesla activists angry about CEO Elon Musk’s role in the Trump administration.

The Oregon-based Civil Liberties Defense Center (CLDC) has been giving virtual training to groups leading anti-Tesla protests. The CLDC is known to help alleged Antifa agitators fight charges in court, adheres to their anti-police ideology and lost one of its volunteer workers in a shootout with law enforcement in 2019.

“It’s time to be strategic and effective, but it’s not time to be afraid or silenced,” CLDC Executive Director Lauren Regan told a virtual audience in a March 19 “Tesla Takedown” video call. She warned that protesters should be aware of their “geography” to avoid getting arrested.

“There are going to be some areas of the country that are very conservative and are going to be hard on dissidents or activists no matter what the timing, and then there are other places that are going to be less so,” Regan said.

The CLDC did not respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.

A post shared by #TeslaTakedown (@tesla.takedown)

The CDLC came under scrutiny in 2019 after its volunteer worker Charlie Landeros was fatally shot by police at his daughter’s middle school.

Landeros had come to the school in a fit of rage over custody decisions related to his daughter and ex-wife and began firing a handgun at an officer who confronted him before another officer killed him, according to a district attorney’s investigation that found no wrongdoing by police. The district attorney also revealed the FBI had received a tip about Landeros allegedly “posting violent anti-government messages on social media” such as, “time to start killing pigs,” referring to police officers.

The CLDC earned criticism from pro-police advocates for claiming Landeros’s death was not investigated thoroughly. The group casted suspicion by emphasizing that “people of color are disproportionately the victims of police violence.”

Among other past clients, the CLDC defended Antifa supporter Alissa Azar after Oregon prosecutors accused her of inciting a protest that devolved into a brawl between leftists and right-wing Proud Boys in 2021. The CLDC lost the case when a jury convicted Azar of felony riot and second-degree disorderly conduct, while deadlocking on a charge of illegal use of mace.

The CLDC later complained about Azar’s “dystopian” sentencing to 14 days in prison, saying she was just a “journalist” who was “truthfully reporting on the growing rise of fascist political violence and hate.”

Regan previously told a local newspaper she got her start in criminal defense work on behalf of environmental protesters who were arrested in 1997 for climbing on trees to stop them from getting cut down. She founded the CLDC under the pretense of keeping government authority in check after 9/11, according to the group’s “about” page.

An Antifa-linked “Stop Cop City” movement behind arson and attacks on police in Georgia in 2023 also drew the sympathy of the CLDC. The group declared in 2024 that “Cop City resisters” had been “labeled as ‘terrorists,’ even though none of them engaged in acts that fall within the federal definition.”

Through virtual video talks, the CLDC recently helped anti-Musk activists prepare for a “Global Day of Action” on March 29 that resulted in protests at Tesla facilities across the country and a few reports of assaults and violent threats from Tesla haters. Online organizers of the event with the “Tesla Takedown” movement said they “oppose violence, vandalism and destruction of property.”

TODAY: Man confronts anti-Tesla protester:

“I’m not voting Democrat again … because of the stuff that I’ve seen and the vandalism and all that stuff … I’d rather not vote than vote Democrat at this point. And I’ve voted Democrat for 25 years! So what does that tell you?” pic.twitter.com/L9L8MEI5S2

— Hudson Crozier 🇺🇸 (@Hudson_Crozier) March 29, 2025

“Tesla Takedown” does not appear to be a formal organization. The DCNF used the website’s contact form and did not receive a response.

The CLDC also reportedly gave a “know your rights training for activists” on March 21 in Eugene, Oregon with Indivisible, a left-wing group that participated in the March “Day of Action.” Indivisible did not respond to a request for comment.

An online warning from CLDC on March 26 gave anti-Musk and anti-Trump protesters instructions on how to deal with getting arrested or questioned by authorities.

“Our communities often cannot rely on or trust police, so we need to think, plan, and practice how we can help each other be safer,” the CLDC declared.

“Political movement participants do not cooperate or snitch to the State – which is often your political adversary,” the group said.

AUTHOR

Hudson Crozier

Contributor.

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


All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

Anti-Musk Group Behind ‘Day Of Action’ Against Tesla Offers Tips On ‘Jail Support,’ Finding ‘Target’s’ Home Address

A nonprofit organizing nationwide protests against Elon Musk’s Tesla teaches activists how to find a “target’s” home address and lend aid to those who have been arrested, materials shared on the group’s website show.

The nonprofit, Disruption Project, cheered on Black Lives Matter protesters but is now leading the “Tesla Takedown” movement to stop Musk from destroying “democracy” through his government oversight role in the Trump administration. Disruption Project helped coordinate “Global Day of Action” on Saturday that saw more than 200 protests scheduled in the U.S. — a few of which reportedly turned violent.

Disruption Project joined activists online in calling for the event, archived webpages show. Dozens of scheduled protests were registered on Action Network, a website for posting petitions and activism plans. Disruption Project did not respond to multiple requests for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.

“[Our] research and analysis of the Tesla Takedown Movement has revealed an extremely sophisticated, extremely coordinated effort to engage in aggressive intimidation and political violence to ‘resist’ President Trump and destroy the Tesla company by any means necessary,” Gregory T. Angelo, president of the New Tolerance Campaign, told the DCNF in a statement.

New Tolerance Campaign gathers data on “hard left extremism” and released a “Hate Alert” warning of potential violence at the Saturday gatherings beforehand. There were reports of anti-Musk protesters physically attacking other people and displaying messages such as “Burn a Tesla save democracy” at demonstrations in IdahoNew York and California that were scheduled through the “Day of Action” page.

Disruption Project co-sponsored Saturday’s protests with Troublemakers, a group that calls Musk’s agenda a “coup” but stresses “nonviolent action” as its policy. The “Day of Action” webpage was later changed to “#Tesla Takedown,” removing references to Troublemakers or Disruption Project. Troublemakers did not respond to a request for comment.

Organizers of the event wrote that they “oppose violence, vandalism and destruction of property” and cited “our First Amendment right to peaceful assembly.” However, Disruption Project’s website offers resources for left-wing activists such as “jail support,” “finding a target’s home” and “what to do in an uprising,” or a mass protest that may provoke a police response.

The “jail support” webpages on the site advise protesters to use encrypted programs so that law enforcement can’t view their communications and to form “group legal support for people who may risk arrest.”

“For actions and demonstrations[,] the role of support in a civil disobedience action is crucial to those risking arrest,” one webpage says. “In actions where no one is planning on risking arrest, support roles are also important to think out in advance, both for taking on necessary tasks during legal actions, and to prepare for the contingency of unexpected arrests.”

Another webpage recommends keeping quiet if any detainees are “undocumented” migrants and to “get them out of jail before the police realize, then get them a lawyer.”

The website’s information on “what to do in an uprising” says it draws inspiration from chaotic Black Lives Matter protests in Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014 and the leftist “Occupy Wall Street” movement, which together led to hundreds of arrests and millions of dollars in property damage and law enforcement costs.

“First, do what you think is necessary for the struggle, not what everyone else is doing,” reads a document linked on the “uprising” webpage. “Know that you will have to use your own agency, no one else will tell you what to do during an uprising.”

The document claims activists should be prepared for risks because police have repeatedly “overreacted” to mobs of protesters.

“Armed struggle is a legitimate tool throughout the world, and though we are not advocating it here, as folks in Baltimore said, ‘Broken windows are less important than broken spines,’” the document says. “There are no good and bad protestors, we cannot let the power structure divide us.”

Disruption Project also encourages activists to visit a “target’s home address” because “in some cases, going to an office building is insufficient.” It suggests finding addresses through public databases such as White Pages, property records, and voter registrations and “scouting the property” before protesting.

Disruption Project describes itself as “dedicated to supporting uprisings, resistance and mass direct action” on its “about” page. The group says protesters around the world have been known to “nonviolently topple dictatorships and illegitimate governments.”

“Our belief is that when mass numbers of people stand up and take action against the unjust systems of racial capitalism, the heteropatriarchy, white supremacy and settler colonialism, we have the ability to force ruptures and dismantle these systems,” the organization’s “about” page says.

The Trump administration’s FBI has formed a Tesla-focused task force in response to several alleged instances of arson and vandalism around the country.

The FBI’s press office told the DCNF, “Director [Kash] Patel has been unequivocally clear: The FBI will be relentless in its mission to protect the American people.”

“Acts of violence, vandalism, and domestic terrorism — like the recent Tesla attacks — will be pursued with the full force of the law,” the FBI said.

“The FBI does not investigate solely based on protected First Amendment activity,” the agency told the DCNF. “The FBI focuses on individuals who commit or intend to commit violence and criminal activity that constitutes a federal crime or poses a threat to national security.”

Tesla’s press office did not respond to a request for comment.

AUTHOR

Hudson Crozier

Contributor.

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


All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

‘Leading’ Police Group Backing Harris Actually Run By Dem Political Operative

Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign bragged on Monday that a “leading” law enforcement group had endorsed Harris, however, the organization is only a few months old and is run by a veteran Democratic political operative.

Police Leaders for Community Safety, which endorsed Harris on Sept. 23, only launched publicly on June 11, according to a press release from the group. A registration document filed with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) indicates that the organization is led by Gail Hoffman, a long-time Democratic staffer who worked on John Kerry’s 2004 presidential campaign as director of surrogates and in the Clinton administration in various high-level roles, according to a biography on her website.

Hoffman has never worked for a police agency, per her biography.

Despite the organization’s recent founding and ties to the Democratic Party, Fox News Digital, which was given an advance copy of the endorsement, initially described the organization as a “leading law enforcement group,” language that the Harris campaign later used to tout the group’s backing. Days after publication, Fox changed its headline and removed the word “leading,” noting that “Police Leaders for Community Safety is comprised of former law enforcement leaders and not a leading group.”

The Fraternal Order of Police, the nation’s largest law enforcement interest group, took issue with framing Police Leaders for Community Safety as a “leading” organization in a statement to the Daily Caller News Foundation.

“Prior to Police Leaders for Community Safety announcing their endorsement earlier this week, we were totally unfamiliar with the group,” a Fraternal Order of Police spokesperson told the DCNF. “We are very active, and aggressive in fact, in our interactions here in Washington [D.C.] and we’re present at basically every law enforcement-oriented meeting that happens here and we have never crossed paths with this organization nor are we familiar with its goals and objectives.”

The Fraternal Order of Police endorsed former President Donald Trump on Sept. 6, according to a press release. Police Leaders for Community Safety claimed to be “the only national police leadership organization that endorses candidates for political office” when announcing its support of Harris.

Police Leaders for Community Safety defended its status as a leading law enforcement organization, with a spokesperson telling the DCNF that it had been informally organizing since 2022 and filed registration paperwork with the IRS in 2023, with June 2024 representing the group’s public launch. The organization lists a few dozen law enforcement members, virtually all of whom are retired, on its “national advisory board.”

The Fraternal Order of Police, by contrast, had approximately 377,000 members as of this month, per a press release.

A spokesperson for the Harris campaign would not say whether or not it was accurate to call the Police Leaders for Community Safety a “leading” organization, instead pointing out that they had used the same language as Fox. The campaign did not respond to a follow-up inquiry after Fox changed its headline.

💪💪💪 pic.twitter.com/g6m4EztyDa

— Kamala HQ (@KamalaHQ) September 23, 2024

Police Leaders for Community Safety justified its nonpartisan bona fides in its statement to the DCNF, claiming that it is “comprised of Democrats, Republicans and independents” and that its endorsements are “based on issues of concern to law enforcement leaders, not on parties.”

All five of the people sitting on the organization’s board of directors, which includes Hoffman, are either Democrats or have a history of making liberal statements. Despite this, Police Leaders for Community Safety describes itself as a “nonpartisan national advocacy organization.”

David Mahoney, the organization’s treasurer, ran as a Democrat to serve as sheriff of Dane County, Wisconsin in 2018, ultimately winning the office. Susan Riseling, the chair of the organization’s board, meanwhile, uses social media almost exclusively to support Democrats and oppose Republicans, sharing posts from left-wing fake news operations like the Palmer Report as well as other large Democratic-aligned accounts like Occupy Democrats and MeidasTouch.

“Now I am a Democrat [because] the Republicans have no ideas beyond hate,” Riseling wrote on Twitter in 2021. “I can not understand any veterans voting Republican,” she said a year later.

Police Leaders for Community Safety vice chair Rick Myers, meanwhile, has used his LinkedIn account to advocate for expanded gun control, calling AR-15s “weapons of mass destruction,” and describing the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot as an “insurrection.”

“Despite the fact that our Founding Fathers had black powder muskets that could only shoot one round without reloading, and fashioned our unique Constitution and its Amendments to ensure our freedoms such that freedom to bear arms was designed for ‘a well regulated militia,’ we continue to allow unfettered weapons of mass destruction among our own citizens,” Myers wrote in 2021, reacting to a mass shooting in his area. “AR-15[s] are killing machines.”

Cynthia Herriott, the organization’s fifth board member, was a registered Democrat as of at least 2021, according to public records.

Herriott, Riseling and Myers are all retired police chiefs.

“Police Leaders for Community Safety is the only national police leadership organization that endorses candidates for political office, and this is the group’s first endorsement,” the group’s endorsement of Harris reads. “This and future endorsements will be based on candidates’ alignment on issues vital to law enforcement.”

Harris praised the defund the police movement multiple times in 2020.

AUTHOR

Robert Schmad

Contributor.

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


All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

D.C. Finally Clears Pro-Hamas Encampment in President’s Backyard

General George Washington nearly lost the Revolutionary War because local political leaders refused to supply him with needed reinforcements. This past week, his namesake’s university nearly lost the Battle of Gaza Plaza for the same reason. Pro-Hamas demonstrators erected an encampment four blocks from the White House complex at George Washington University (GWU), where it remained for two weeks until Wednesday morning.

On Thursday, April 25, activists descended on GWU’s University Yard (U-Yard) to erect a “Gaza Solidarity Encampment” or “Popular University for Gaza,” where stands a statue of George Washington.

“That encampment of these pro-Hamas anti-Semites was using the George Washington Statue as ground zero,” Senator Steve Daines (R-Mont.), who witnessed the encampment firsthand on Tuesday, said on “Washington Watch.” “The statue of George Washington [was] covered in stickers that say, ‘Free Palestine. … A Palestinian flag replac[ed] the American flag” in Washington’s hand. “His head was covered in a keffiyeh. … A large whiteboard at the base of that statue … laid out the encampment rules.”

Of course, the American flag stands for freedom, limited government, and the rule of law, while the terrorist-controlled, autonomous regions of Palestine stand for religious extremism and anti-Semitism. Muslim Arabs enjoy freedom and rights in Israel, while the only Jews left alive in Gaza are Hamas’s hostages.

The activists further demonstrated their historical illiteracy by vandalizing the Washington statue’s base with “Genocidal Warmonger University” (for GWU) in red spray paint. Washington only ever fought defensive wars, usually against people of the same skin color — just like the modern nation of Israel.

In a refreshing contrast to the spinelessness of university administrators elsewhere, the GWU administration showed little tolerance for this unlawful form of activism. On April 25, they ordered the activists to disperse by 7 p.m. When the protestors refused to do so, the administration asked the D.C. Metro Police Department (MPD) to clear the encampment early Friday morning.

Then top city officials ordered MPD to stand down. MPD had assembled to clear then encampment at 3 a.m. on Friday when the police chief’s and mayor’s offices countermanded the operation. According to anonymous insiders contacted by The Washington Post, city leaders were “worried about the optics of moving against a small number of peaceful protesters.”

Without law enforcement reinforcements, GWU president Ellen Granberg did what she could with her own authority and suspended seven students who organized the protest.

Foresight could have predicted what hindsight proved — that GWU was right to want the protest shut down as soon as possible. The activist encampment — which included non-students from the beginning — quickly grew rowdier. On Day Two (April 26), it spilled out of U-Yard and took over the adjacent H Street NW. On Day Four (April 28), hundreds of activists stormed a police barricade and tore it down. On Day Eight, the protestors lowered the university flag and raised the Palestinian flag in its place.

While at the campus, Daines spoke with “a group of Jewish students who told me they were afraid to walk on campus. They’re scared just being in classes.”

Granberg skewered the MPD excuses days later:

“When protesters overrun barriers established to protect the community, vandalize a university statue and flag, surround and intimidate GW students with anti-Semitic images and hateful rhetoric, chase people out of a public yard based on their perceived beliefs, and ignore, degrade, and push GW Police Officers and university maintenance staff, the protest ceases to be peaceful or productive. All of these things have happened at GW in the last five days.”

Then Congress got involved. After seven days of tepid law enforcement, the House Oversight Committee summoned D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) and MPD commissioner Pamela Smith to explain themselves at a hearing scheduled for 1 p.m. on Wednesday.

Shortly after 3 a.m. on Wednesday morning, MPD surrounded U-Yard, delivered three more warnings for activists to leave, and then moved in. More than a dozen activists refused to leave and were arrested. About a block away, a group of protestors rushed a barricade of police bikes, pushing against it and attempting to break through. The police responded to this physical aggression on the part of activists by deploying tear gas. All told, MPD arrested 33 activists.

After MPD cleared the encampment Wednesday morning, the hearing scheduled for that afternoon was canceled, Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) announced. “It was unfortunate the situation at GW forced the Oversight Committee to act; however it was apparent that the DC police force was not going to do their job,” he said. “I am pleased that the potential Oversight hearing led to swift action by Mayor Bowser and MPD Chief Smith.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) made a similar argument. “It should not require threatening to haul D.C.’s mayor before Congress to keep Jewish students at George Washington University safe.”

Obviously, city officials were never going to agree with this embarrassing interpretation of events. Bowser and Smith claimed they decided to clear the encampment because “the protest was becoming more volatile and less stable,” citing evidence that protestors were “casing” university buildings for a break-in and had “gathered improvised weapons” to accomplish a more resilient occupation.

This interpretation of events relies on the audience’s selective memory loss. The encampment was never legal; GWU suspended organizers for violating the student code of conduct in no less than nine different ways. As soon as the activists refused the first order to leave, they could rightfully be arrested for trespassing. Activists then escalated their lawbreaking on numerous occasions, including unlawfully occupying a city street, tearing down a police barricade, and intimidating Jewish students.

If these escalations did not precipitate a police response, it’s difficult to see what did trigger city officials to green-light clearing out the encampment, besides congressional action. The pro-Hamas activists were undoubtedly planning further escalations, as they have done elsewhere, but they hadn’t actually carried out their plans. If, as reported, city officials fretted over the “optics” of arresting “peaceful” protestors, nothing had happened that would change their calculus.

The only significant event that corresponds to the Wednesday morning clear-out is the Oversight Committee hearing scheduled for that afternoon. This changed the calculus for city officials by introducing a completely different set of “optics.” D.C.’s far-left electorate and media are far more skeptical of legitimate uses of police powers than ordinary Americans and their congressional representatives are.

The racially-tinged lenses of Marxism distort the circumstances. In reality, police are just doing their jobs to enforce laws passed by the popularly elected representatives of the people, while a small but stubborn group of activists seeks to defy those laws in increasingly disruptive ways. But Marxism makes the aggressive activists illegally camping on a university lawn and city street seem like courageous heroes fighting for revolutionary, generational change. Marxism also makes law enforcement officers who necessarily have to wear riot gear look like brutal agents of a reactionary, oppressive state. Actions that seem sensible within the parameters of this distorted reality look just as silly in real life as someone wearing a VR headset.

Many members of Congress do not wear the reality-defying glasses of Marxism. So city officials, whose job it is to govern in the real world, not an imaginary one, were embarrassed to defend their silly indulgence of Marxist fantasies from the skeptical questioning of the Oversight Committee’s skilled interrogators. Rather than face this eye-opening experience, they chose instead to order the encampment cleared.

Further indicating that the Wednesday morning clear-out was a policy change, rather than a consistent response to changing circumstances, is the criticism it drew from those still viewing the world through the lens of Marxism. “Less than 10 hours ago, I was pepper sprayed and assaulted by police,” who “destroyed a beautiful community space that was all about love,” complained one Palestinian GWU student. He insisted they were punished “because we decided to pitch some tents, hold community activities and learn from each other. We built something incredible. We built something game-changing.”

No, the United States of America is something incredible. The U.S. Constitution — which replaced the unworkable articles that so hampered General Washington — was game-changing. American civil society is virtuous not because it is “all about love” but because it creates an even playing field with fair and just rules — unlike this supposedly loving community united by hatred of Jews. Those who built this country risked their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor; those who want to tear it down insist they should risk nothing. Fortunately, we live in the real world, not Marxism’s optical illusion.

AUTHOR

Joshua Arnold

Joshua Arnold is a senior writer at The Washington Stand.

RELATED ARTICLE: ‘A Post-Religious America’ Helped Spark Anti-Semitism in Schools, Experts Say

EDITORS NOTE: This Washington Stand column is republished with permission. All rights reserved. ©2024 Family Research Council.


The Washington Stand is Family Research Council’s outlet for news and commentary from a biblical worldview. The Washington Stand is based in Washington, D.C. and is published by FRC, whose mission is to advance faith, family, and freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview. We invite you to stand with us by partnering with FRC.

Capitol Police Commander: ‘J6 Was Not an Insurrection’

A former Washington, D.C. Capitol Police official is declaring that the events of January 6, 2021, were not an insurrection, and alleging that government agencies have attempted to silence his firsthand testimony. Former U.S. Capitol Police (USCP) Lieutenant Tarik Johnson posted on Twitter on Thursday, “I’ve been saying publicly for a year that J6 was not an insurrection but not many people would listen.” Johnson explained that he was the commander who ordered the House and Senate evacuations that day, noting, “No one would benefit more than I if J6 was an insurrection…”

According to Johnson, he was “begging” Assistant Chief Yogananda Pittman for permission to evacuate the Capitol while “she sat comfortably in the Commander Center watching the events unfold on CCTV while Chief Steven Sund was obtaining National Guard approval and getting assistance from local law enforcement agencies.” The former lieutenant explained that since Pittman ignored his request, he ordered the evacuation without her permission.

Three days afterwards, he called then-Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), who was serving at the time as president pro tempore of the U.S. Senate, to file a report against Pittman. “[A]pproximately an hour after I got off the phone with the senator I was contacted by the USCP internal affairs section and informed I was suspended,” Johnson continued. “The suspension lasted for 17 months and I was under a USCP gag order not to speak about the events of January 6, 2021 to the media until I separated from the Department.” The former commander also stated that he was required to remain in his home from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. from Monday through Friday due to USCP orders and was afraid his job would be terminated if he even set foot off his property.

After the events of January 6, former Montgomery County, Maryland, police chief John Thomas Manger was hired to lead the USCP. Johnson called Manger “arguably the most corrupt politician in the country” and alleged the chief was hired specifically to “cover-up” the true events surrounding January 6.

Johnson’s post was in response to a video clip featuring Republican presidential primary contender Vivek Ramaswamy discussing January 6 during a Wednesday night CNN Townhall event. In the clip, Ramaswamy quipped, “If you had told me [in 2021] that January 6 was in any way an inside job the subject of government entrapment, I would have told you that was crazy talk, fringe conspiracy theory nonsense.” He continued, “I can tell you now having gone somewhat deep in this — it’s not.”

The presidential hopeful noted that the federal government has lied on a number of subjects, including the origins of COVID-19, the Hunter Biden laptop, and the alleged Trump-Russia collusion of 2016, which investigative journalist Lee Smith exposed as a Democratic Party-led hoax in his books “The Plot Against the President” and “The Permanent Coup.”

“Now we come to January 6,” Ramaswamy continued. “The reality is we know that there were federal law enforcement agents in that field, we don’t know how many.” When CNN moderator Abby Phillip interrupted Ramaswamy to say that he had no evidence to support his claims, the businessman-turned-presidential hopeful responded, “So why before Congress, when pressed on what the number was, they [the FBI] didn’t say there were none, they just couldn’t say how many there were? … We’ve seen multiple informants suggesting that there were, we know people were FBI informants.”

He also asked why the Congressional January 6 Committee only released 12 hours of video footage from the day and suppressed the other hundreds of hours of footage, which included video of police firing rubber bullets and tear gas at the crowd outside the Capitol. When Phillip accused Ramaswamy of “cherry-picking” incidents to craft a narrative, he responded, “You know who cherry-picked? The government did. The government cherry-picked 12 hours of footage, when there was 200 hours of footage.”

In a Twitter post accompanying the video clip, Ramaswamy wrote, “There is clear evidence that there was at the very least entrapment of peaceful protestors, similar to the fake Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping plot & countless other cases.” He noted that newly-released video footage from January 6 shows that Capitol Police fired rubber bullets and tear gas at the crowd and then “willingly later allowed [the crowd] to enter the Capitol.” He concluded, “That doesn’t add up & the actual evidence turns the prior narrative upside down: if the deep state is willing to manufacture an ‘insurrection’ to take down its political opponents, they can do anything.”

Johnson had posted, “If presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy would like more FACTS to disrupt the insurrection narrative, I will inbox his designated representative my personal phone number. God bless our country now and in 2024.” Ramaswamy reposted the former officer’s testimony with the caption “This is wild.”

AUTHOR

S.A. McCarthy

S.A. McCarthy serves as a news writer at The Washington Stand.

EDITORS NOTE: This Washington Stand column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved. ©2023 Family Research Council.


The Washington Stand is Family Research Council’s outlet for news and commentary from a biblical worldview. The Washington Stand is based in Washington, D.C. and is published by FRC, whose mission is to advance faith, family, and freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview. We invite you to stand with us by partnering with FRC.

U.S. Police Face Hiring Crisis: ‘I’m Drowning in This Politically-Charged Atmosphere’

Since the George Floyd riots of 2020, law enforcement in the U.S. has taken a hit, with resignations at an all-time high, and recruitment at a dangerous low.

In New York City, over 2,500 officers have turned in their badge this year. According to NYPD pension data, this year marks the fourth highest number of police officers who have resigned in the last 10 years. “The number of cops quitting before they reach the 20 years required to receive their full pensions also skyrocketed from 509 in 2020 to 1,040 so far this year — an alarming 104% increase,” The New York Post reported.

Additionally, NYPD plans to cancel the next five Police Academy classes. Cuts such as these are projected to bring the NYPD department down to “29,000 cops by the end of fiscal year 2025 — the lowest level since the mid-90s,” the Post added. A glance at the last couple of years, however, could very well explain this crisis.

Not only does law enforcement put their lives on the line in the fight against crime, but many police officers and sheriff deputies sacrifice time with their families and loved ones as well. What most people have heard from law enforcers in the past is that helping the community makes the risks and sacrifices worth it. But the increased resignations and decreased recruitments suggest that thousands of men and women don’t believe it’s worth it anymore. And it’s no wonder, because they are demoralized at every turn.

In a matter of years, police officers have gone from heroes to the targets of utter hatred in many circles. Especially after Floyd’s death, a movement to “defund the police” went from spark to blaze. According to The New York Times’s Mariame Kaba, police are “set up” or even designed for violence. Her view of law enforcement is that the world is better without it. While I really couldn’t disagree more with Ms. Kaba’s article, she has provided a clear example of the kind of criticism thrown at police quite often these days.

According to a report by the International Association of Chiefs of Police, lack of recruitment can be attributed to a number of influences, but it’s mostly due to the public image of law enforcement. They found, “Scrutiny of the police, cellphone recordings of interactions between the police and public, media coverage, and popular entertainment portrayals of police have led many young people to view police differently than their parents may have. Overall, a majority of police officers feel their jobs have gotten more difficult since high-profile use-of-force incidents have dominated the national conversation.”

In June of 2021, Officer Lindsay Rose faced chastisement as riots broke out in Asheville, North Carolina. She said she was spit on and yelled at. Even after she took several months off to recover, once she came back to the field, she was still met with backlash. After she came back she decided to quit, ending seven years of service. “I’m drowning in this politically-charged atmosphere of hate and destruction,” she said. What Rose shared reflects the experience of many in law enforcement.

In addition to the political backlash, crime is on the rise. Violent crime in Washington, D.C. has skyrocketed, thanks in part to lax local laws. Complicating the issue, the District also has about 400 less officers than three years ago. And of course, even when the city’s police do succeed at catching criminals, little to no prosecutions follow the arrests, which puts dangerous people back on the street to commit even more offenses.

While D.C. becomes a hive of crime, local officials have decided that the priority is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars — not on public safety — but on anti-police messaging. Just this week, the District blew approximately $270,000 worth of tax dollars “touching up its ‘Black Lives Matter’ street painting,” Fox News reported. In response, Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, said, “D.C. crime is out of control but local leaders continue to waste … tax money promoting the extremist Black Lives Matter movement in the heart of Washington, D.C. that is racist, anti-police, anti-American, and often violent.” And D.C. is just one example of the rampant crime spreading across the country.

Stores continue to get ransacked, and at least nine Targets throughout four states, four Walmarts in Chicago, five Walgreens in San Francisco, and other retailers have closed or will be closing as a result. Across the board, an MPD report revealed violent crime in total is up 40% from last year.

We are clearly in need of law enforcement, but the lack of support (or rather the abundance of opposition mixed with displaced priorities) has caused the protective ranks to dwindle.

Jacob Kersey, who is currently FRC Action’s operations coordinator, formerly served as a police officer. He shared with The Washington Stand, “Law enforcement officers head to work every day knowing the risks associated with the profession.” For Kersey, there are many reasons why someone may enter law enforcement, but often “one of the most rewarding, although challenging, aspects of the job is the opportunity to give of yourself and protect your community.”

He continued, “Rarely do officers get dispatched to a scene where those present are overflowing with gratitude that the officers are there because they often encounter citizens during the worst day of their lives — which is why support from the people you serve goes a long way in making all the sacrifice feel worth it.” He concluded that with “recent high-profile incidents leading to mass negative public image of police across the nation, veterans and recruits alike struggle with justifying the risks of donning a badge and gun.”

So the question remains: What do we do about it?

Ken Blackwell, former Cincinnati mayor and senior fellow for Human Rights and Constitutional Governance at Family Research Council, told TWS, “There is a real downside to that ‘romantic’ view of defunding the police or repurposing the police. But the pressure is on because … people are not safe in their homes, in their communities. Their kids are not safe in their schools.” For Blackwell, what we are seeing on the streets “underscores this whole embrace of lawlessness.”

It boils down to “if you turn a blind eye to bad behavior, you can’t be surprised that you get more of it,” Blackwell stated.

As for what can be done, Blackwell concluded that it’s going to take time and better leadership. Now that some cities see the consequences of their actions, changes may be in sight.

Considering the country’s police hiring woes and crime crisis authorities must deal with now, “They’ve dug themselves a hole that they’re not going to be able to climb out of quickly,” Blackwell concluded.

AUTHOR

Sarah Holliday

Sarah Holliday is a reporter at The Washington Stand.

EDITORS NOTE: This Washington Stand column is republished with permission. All rights reserved. ©2023 Family Research Council.


The Washington Stand is Family Research Council’s outlet for news and commentary from a biblical worldview. The Washington Stand is based in Washington, D.C. and is published by FRC, whose mission is to advance faith, family, and freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview. We invite you to stand with us by partnering with FRC.

Police Departments Lower Standards Due to Shortages while Threatening to Fire Bible-Believing Officer

Following the tragic death of Tyre Nichols during a January 7 traffic stop by officers of the Memphis Police Department, in which Nichols was beaten so severely by the officers that he died from his injuries three days later, reports have surfaced that two of the officers involved in Nichols’s death were hired after the department lowered its recruiting standards.

As reported by The Daily Wire, Officers Tadarrius Bean and Demetrius Haley, who have since been fired and charged in Nichols’s death, were hired in August 2020 two years after the department dropped its requirement for new recruits to have at least an associate’s degree or 54 college credit hours.

According to law enforcement official Karan Parmar, “[T]he 5 charged officers weren’t hired through the usual structured PD hiring process. City leaders felt the existing process was too strict and kept certain people from getting jobs at the department. City leaders began their own hiring process and then pushed new hires into the agency, bypassing the testing procedures in place at the department. … All 5 of the charged officers were hired by the City, and didn’t go through the rigorous PD testing process.”

The Memphis Police Department’s hiring practices fit a nationwide trend in law enforcement of lowering hiring standards. In March 2022, the Chicago Police department announced it was waiving a college credit requirement for new recruits. Philadelphia also dropped its college requirement for new hires in recent years as has New Orleans. The trend is being linked to a nationwide shortage in officers.

Experts worry that the lowering of police recruiting standards could lead to unqualified individuals being hired, which could consequently lead to more tragedies like the deaths of Tyre Nichols, George Floyd, and others who have died under controversial circumstances while in police custody.

“They’re desperate. They want police officers,” Mike Alcazar, an adjunct professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and a retired NYPD detective, told The New York Post. “They’re going through it, they check off some boxes, saying, ‘Ok, they’re good enough, get them on.’”

“Police departments have to take the screening process of candidates to be police officers seriously and not rush to hire officers that might not be qualified,” Alcazar argued.

Meanwhile, officers like Jacob Kersey of the Port Wentworth Police Department in Georgia who otherwise have spotless work records are being pulled off duty and threatened with termination for expressing a biblical view of marriage on social media.

On January 2, Kersey tweeted from his personal account while off-duty: “God designed marriage. Marriage refers to Christ and the church. That’s why there is no such thing as homosexual marriage.”

“I was led to believe I was being fired originally,” Kersey said on “Washington Watch” last week. “They told me to turn in everything that belonged to the city. So I had a long, restless night trying to figure out if I really wanted to lose my dream job over this. … And then a week later, when they brought me back, they told me that I could come back to work. But they’re creating a new department policy that says that if someone, somewhere is offended by anything else that I say from here on out, then I could be fired for it.”

Kersey ultimately resigned. “I did not believe that my department had my back,” he said. “I didn’t really want to go back and play that game and just wait to be fired because I know it would happen at some point and I just didn’t think it wise as dangerous of a job as law enforcement is.”

Speaking to The New York Post, Kersey explained that his track record as an officer was impeccable. “I joined the police department, and for over eight months, I only heard great things about my work,” he said. “People had nothing but good things to say about my work as a police officer.”

Kersey was inspired to join the force after being witness to the kindness officers showed him during his childhood when they were called to his family’s house on multiple occasions due to domestic problems. The police “made such a massive difference in my life at a very young age,” he said.

Despite being disappointed about losing his “dream job,” Kersey does not hold bitterness toward the Port Wentworth Police Department.

“In America, most of us will not be called to face physical death for our beliefs,” he said. “But we might be called to face the death of our dreams, we might be called to face the death of our reputation, or we might be called to have other people think bad things about us. But what’s important is what God thinks about us.”

AUTHOR

Dan Hart

Dan Hart is senior editor at The Washington Stand.

RELATED ARTICLE: Pro-Life Activist Mark Houck Found Not Guilty Months After Family Home Raided By Biden’s FBI

EDITORS NOTE: This Washington Stand column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved. The Washington Stand is Family Research Council’s outlet for news and commentary from a biblical worldview. The Washington Stand is based in Washington, D.C. and is published by FRC, whose mission is to advance faith, family, and freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview. We invite you to stand with us by partnering with FRC.

Did They Murder Him?

“Self-control is strength. Right thought is mastery. Calmness is power.” – James Allen


Please watch the below video of Dr. Andreas Noack, a chemist and graphene expert unlike any under in the EU. He got attacked on a livestream months ago by special police for laughable reasons.

Now, just hours after publishing this work, the forces that be decided that he hit the mark so hard with uncovering their plans, that they decided to take him out.

Was this a hit by the elite to silence this good doctor for exposing their ugly truths? You decide.

Forbidden Knowledge in a column titled “German chemist Dr. Andreas Noack was arrested by and armed police unit during YouTube live stream” reported:

On November 18, 2020, well-known German chemist and a top graphene expert in the EU, Dr Andreas Noack was arrested by an armed police unit in the middle of his YouTube livestream.

Now, just hours after publishing his latest video a few days ago, he died suddenly and mysteriously.

Best News Here in an article titled “Murder? Just Hours After Publishing the Secret of the Vax the Doctor Is Dead (Must Video)” reported:

This video is of This is Dr. Noack, a chemist and graphene expert unlike any under in the EU. He got attacked on a livestream months ago by special police for laughable reasons.

Now, just hours after publishing this work, the forces that be decided that he hit the mark so hard with uncovering their plans, that they decided to take him out.

Was this a hit by the elite to silence this good doctor for exposing their ugly truths? You decide!

©Fred Brownbill. All rights reserved.

RELATED TWEET:

FORMER CHIEF OF POLICE MAURICE RICHARDS: In A Time Of Violence, Americans Must Take A Stand Against Lawlessness

Periods of civil disorder, like elections, are a time for choosing sides. Democrats have chosen their side — against police, against safety and against the rule of law. On November 3, the American people will choose whether to join them.

For more than three months we have witnessed riots, lawlessness and political violence instigated by antifa and Black Lives Matter (BLM) radicals — cities burned, stores looted, police officers and citizens attacked and even killed. Vicious mobs felt emboldened to “occupy” our streets, block traffic and invade our neighborhoods.

While Democrat mayors, governors and prosecutors refused to stop the violence, President Trump refused to surrender to the mob, standing up for our police and for the safety and security of American families.

Their rhetoric now seeks to rewrite history, but when the moment came to pick sides, Joe Biden, Kamala Harris and the Democrats cast their lots with the mob, not the law-abiding citizens being terrorized in their homes. Their silence — and in some cases outright support — allowed our cities to descend into chaos. The Democrats denied the violence and tried to convince us that the arson, looting and beatings were actually just “peaceful protests.”

But we all saw the truth with our own eyes.

In Portland, the mob dragged a man from his truck, then beat, stomped, savagely kicked him in the head before leaving him for dead in the street. In New York City, violent radicals attacked three NYPD supervisors, opening a huge gash in one officer’s head. One of the attackers was arrested, only to be immediately set free to continue rioting under New York’s radical “bail reform” law — the same policy of eliminating cash bail that Kamala Harris hopes to implement nationwide. In Kenosha, Wisconsin, a 71-year-old man defending his business was viciously beaten by a group of thugs, suffering a broken jaw at the hands of the “peaceful protestors” who then stepped over him to loot and burn his store.

This mob violence spread and intensified because Democrat mayors prevented the police from confronting it, and even gave the rioters moral sanction to run wild.

When a Black Lives Matter mob in Washington, D.C. threatened innocent bystanders who were peacefully dining outdoors, demanding the diners shout their slogan, they went unchallenged by police. Radicals took note that such behavior would be tolerated, and now the same type of intimidation has spread to Rochester and Pittsburgh.

Another mob set upon peaceful citizens departing the Republican National Convention. Among the victims were U.S. Senator Rand Paul and his wife. Surrounded and in fear for their lives, the couple only escaped the possibility of serious injury or death thanks to the extraordinary action of four brave police officers, who kept the antagonists at bay until Sen. Paul and the others made it to safety. Biden and the Democrats refused to denounce the mob — after all, the violent rioters are their base, and they hoped to ride that kind of “enthusiasm” into the White House.

No Democrat official has acted more shamefully than Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler. For 104 days and counting, he has allowed mobs to riot, destroy public and private property, and even attempt to burn police officers alive. Wheeler has openly supported the violence, literally standing with the mob while law enforcement officers were being attacked. Even when rioters threatened a federal courthouse, Wheeler refused President Trump’s offers of assistance while his prosecutors continued to let those responsible out of jail without posting a cent of bail. His tolerance for violence reached its inevitable result on August 29 with the assassination of a Trump supporter.

This dramatic politically-motivated violence grabs headlines, but it’s just the tip of the iceberg. Toleration of violence and disorder by those tasked with maintaining public safety and order only breeds more violence. Predictably, violent crime is going through the roof in Portland, Seattle, Chicago, New York, Baltimore and other Democrat-run cities.

New York City has seen a 166 percent increase in shootings and a 34 percent rise in murders from August 2020 compared to the same period last year. In Chicago, shootings have increased by 52 percent and murders by 49 percent, with 2,152 people shot and 503 murdered already this year. During July and August alone, 1,087 were shot and 168 killed in the Windy City.

As demonstrated in Chicago and Minneapolis, Democrat mayors have legitimized the activists’ belief that looting is an acceptable response to any perceived injustice involving the police. Inevitably, Black Lives Matter interpreted that as permission to go even further. “No justice, no peace” has now evolved into a belief that looting is justified as a form of reparations for slavery.

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are the official, acknowledged leaders of their party. They could — and should — have exercised real leadership and condemned these radicals. But at the Democratic National Convention, neither Biden nor Harris, nor any other Democrat uttered a word condemning the riots and mob violence that had already been going on for months by that point. Instead, they used the anti-American lie of “systemic racism” as a central theme of the convention, making common cause with activists who believe America is evil, illegitimate, and inherently racist.

They approved a Democratic Party platform that enshrines the false and dangerous myth that police are “systemically racist,” slandering the brave men and women of American law enforcement and giving their imprimatur to radical rhetoric likening federal agents to the Ku Klux Klan and police officers to Nazi “stormtroopers.”

The violence we are seeing now is a direct result of the false narrative about systemic police racism. Democrats may just be trying to win an election, but in the process they have dealt a significant blow to the legitimacy of the police in the eyes of many citizens, and law-abiding Americans are suffering mightily for it.

American civilization rests upon the will of the people, not the fury of the mob. If we lose the rule of law, we lose our country. Democrats have shown how they run cities — in the process making it clear that our families will not be safe if they are allowed to run our country. They have chosen their side, but it’s not too late for us to choose President Trump’s — and our own.

COLUMN BY

MAURICE RICHARDS

Maurice Richards is the former Chief of the Martinsburg Police Department in West Virginia. He served as Chief from 2015 to 2020 after 24 years as an officer and lieutenant in the Chicago Police Department. Richards holds a doctorate in Adult Education from Northern Illinois University.

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

Former MPD Officer’s Lawyer Says He’ll Argue That George Floyd ‘Killed Himself’

Former Minneapolis police officer Thomas Lane’s lawyer said he plans to argue that George Floyd “killed himself” and no officer was responsible for his death.

Floyd died during an arrest May 25, 2020 after former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck for over nine minutes. His death sparked protests around the country that are still continuing today, and all four officers at the scene that day have been charged.

Chauvin was charged with murder and Lane, Alexander Keung and Tou Thao have been charged as accomplices. Although two autopsies determined Floyd’s death to be a homicide, Lane’s lawyer Earl Gray said he will argue none of the officers killed him, the LA Times reported.

“None of these guys — even Chauvin — actually killed him,” according to Gray. “He killed himself.”

Gray’s defense argument, he added, will use toxicology and autopsy reports. The lawyer will argue that Floyd actually died from overdosing on fentanyl, an opioid. Gray will also argue that Floyd had an underlying heart condition, the LA Times reported.

“We are going to show that my client and the other cops were doing their jobs,” Gray said.

Lane’s lawyer noted in a motion July 7 that Minneapolis police training included a section detailing how to handle a suspect who is not cooperating. The motion included a photograph that shows a method of arrest similar to what the officers did, according to the LA Times.

“Sudden cardiac arrest typically occurs immediately following a violent struggle,” the instructions warn.

The Minneapolis City Council banned the use of chokeholds and neck restraints by officers in June following Floyd’s death.

COLUMN BY

SHELBY TALCOTT

Media reporter.

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

WOW! Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot defends ban on protesters on her block: ‘I have a right to make sure that my home is secure

Right but YOU don’t have the same right to a safe and secure home. My God, the hubris!

Hunchback can’t see her own hunch.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot defends ban on protesters on her block: ‘I have a right to make sure that my home is secure

By: MSN, August 20, 2020:

Mayor Lori Lightfoot defended the Chicago Police Department’s ban on protesters being able to demonstrate on the block where she lives, telling reporters Thursday that she and her family at times require heightened security because of threats she receives daily.

A group of people wearing costumes: Some protesters hold umbrellas while facing off with police near Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s home in Logan Square on July 23, 2020. © Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune/Chicago Tribune/TNS Some protesters hold umbrellas while facing off with police near Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s home in Logan Square on July 23, 2020.

Lightfoot refused to elaborate on the specific threats, but said she receives them daily against herself, her wife and her home. Comparisons to how the Police Department has protected previous mayors’ homes, such as Rahm Emanuel’s Ravenswood residence, are unfair because “this is a different time like no other,” Lightfoot told reporters.

“I think that residents of this city, understanding the nature of the threats that we are receiving on a daily basis, on a daily basis, understand I have a right to make sure that my home is secure,” Lightfoot said.

Lightfoot and Chicago police Superintendent David Brown were asked at an unrelated news conference about a Tribune report noting police have banned protesters from demonstrating on her block in the Logan Square neighborhood, ordering officers to arrest anyone who refuses to leave.

The directive surfaced in a July email from then-Shakespeare District Cmdr. Melvin Roman to officers under his command. It did not distinguish between the peaceful protesters Lightfoot regularly says she supports and those who might intend to be destructive, but ordered that after a warning is given to demonstrators, “It should be locked down.”

Activists and police sources could not cite instances when the city repeatedly locked down her predecessor Emanuel’s block against protesters. The Kenwood block where former President Barack Obama lived with his family when his primary residence was in Chicago was shut down for access only by residents after his election.

But Lightfoot said such comparisons “don’t make any sense,” after Brown referenced the ongoing coronavirus pandemic as well as civil unrest that have flared since the George Floyd killing at the hands of Minneapolis police.

“I’m not going to make any excuses for the fact that, given the threats I have personally received, given the threats to my home and my family, I’m going to do everything I can to make sure they’re protected,” Lightfoot said. “I make no apologies whatsoever for that.”

Sign up for The Spin to get the top stories in politics delivered to your inbox weekday afternoons.

Since the order, and even for a time just prior to its writing, Chicago cops have repeatedly blocked protesters’ access to the block with groups of officers and barricades. Police have often kept protesters contained at the nearby corner of Kimball and Wrightwood avenues, though one standoff between activists and officers last month saw police go as far as bringing in an armored vehicle in case things got out of hand.

Aside from the expanded police presence to block protesters from reaching her home, Lightfoot already receives 24/7 protection from cops including officers stationed at the residence. The aggressive policing has sometimes siphoned away resources from the area’s police district, some sources with knowledge of the situation said, leading to quiet grumbling.

Both Lightfoot and Brown noted there are laws on the books banning residential protests, but Brown acknowledged the Police Department does not always enforce them. Brown said the city tries to give “wiggle room” for protesters.

Brown also cited instances where peaceful protests have been “hijacked” by agitators as reason for keeping demonstrators off Lightfoot’s block.

“We have seen very peaceful First Amendment protests for the most part but embedded in each of those protests have been very violent people. And they’re embedded. They put up umbrellas. And they come for a fight,” Brown said. “So we have to prepare for what we’ve seen.”


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EDITORS NOTE: This Geller Report column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

VIDEO: Massive Pro-Police #BacktheBlue Rally at Seattle Hall

Outside Seattle City Hall, rally to stop the defunding of the Seattle Police Department.

Photos thanks to Orange Martyr.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Geller Report column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

VIDEO: Media Refuses To Cover George Floyd Body Cam Footage

The Daily Mail obtained leaked body cam footage from the police officers who arrested George Floyd, and the full video is not good for the Black Lives Matter narrative.

The footage shows that Floyd was resisting arrest, impossible to deal with, and was complaining about not being able to breathe well before he was put on the ground. Yet the media has hardly covered this new footage because of course it hurts the idea that this was an intentional murder of a man because he was black.

LISTEN: 

COLUMN BY

AMBER ATHEY

Podcast columnist.

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

PODCAST: Hit or Myth? Dems Call Riots Fake News

You have to give the Democrats credit. They’ve found a way to justify their silence on the riots: refusing to admit they exist! Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) tried that when he ran into a citizen who asked him if he disavowed the Antifa violence in Portland. “That’s a myth,” he insisted, “being spread only in Washington, D.C.” Well, if it’s a myth, Oregon residents will tell you, it’s a pretty convincing one.

To the hundreds of police and federal officers taking cover from mortars, fireworks, and hammers, the idea that Portland’s mayhem belongs in a league with Sasquatch is more than a little deranged. Videos of protestors burning streets, hauling down fences, and lobbing Molotov cocktails at buildings are a lot of things, but faked is not one of them. “Sir,” Austen Fletcher pressed, wondering if he’d heard the congressman right, “There’s videos everywhere online,” Mr. Fletcher continued. “There’s fires and riots, they’re throwing fireworks at federal officers. DHS is there. Look online. It gets crazy, Mr. Nadler.”

Nadler, whose staff is desperately nudging him to the car at that point, is nonplussed. And why not? This is a man who stood on the House floor and called Antifa — a group so dangerous that President Trump declared them a terrorist organization — “imaginary.” Good luck persuading the people of Portland, who’ve woken up to the sounds of sirens and destruction every night for 60 days. It’s not only real, reporters say, it’s a war zone. “I interviewed a veteran,” the Daily Caller’s Jorge Ventura explained on “Washington Watch,” “who told me it actually reminds him of his time in Iraq. That’s how bad [it’s gotten] here.” But to hear it’s a myth? “It was shocking,” Jorge said. “I mean, an Antifa member actually stabbed a black Trump supporter on Friday night.”

“Democrats can’t seem to make up their minds,” Kaylee McGhee writes. “First they deny that protests in Portland and Seattle are violent, [then they] claim that President Trump and the GOP are propagating this ‘myth’ to win over voters… Now, after hours of video evidence and multiple insider reports, Democrats are finally admitting that the riots on the West Coast are indeed riots, but with one caveat: Trump is to blame.”

Jorge, like other conservative journalists, have gone to Portland to see for themselves what’s happening. And to a person they’ll tell you: the things they’ve seen are a whole lot worse than the media’s admitting. “I’ve been covering protests all across the country, and I’ve never seen anything like we’re seeing here in downtown Portland. These groups are very well organized. They have medic teams. They actually have their own kitchen called Riot Ribs across the park that feeds these protesters and actually supplies them with shields and eyewear and other things they need to be out here. It’s just, I’ve never seen anything like it.”

The cache of weapons alone is astounding. “We’re talking about mortars, fireworks, hammers, all types of things that we’ve actually never seen on the ground.” He talked about federal officers injured and hospitalized in the blasts. Other police officers, he explains, who were possibly blinded for life because of the high-powered lasers thugs are training on their eyes. “We saw some power tools being used on the high fences… guarding the federal courthouse… I’ve just never seen the organization level that we’re seeing here in Portland.”

So who, exactly, is fueling the effort? Antifa, Jorge said. No doubt in his mind. They’re “taking in money and donations online.” And that, to a large extent, is what’s supplying these mobs. “One thing that we’ve been noticing here [is] that numbers of people have been driving up to the parks with all types of things. We’ve been seeing gas masks delivered here, eyewear, bats, shields, you name it… [and] a lot of these folks here are not from Portland.” Some are driving in from Seattle, and others are “bigger members of the Antifa group, bringing in these types of weapons into the riots.”

And to the extent that the media is covering the story, they’re only telling one side of it. “I call it a media war,” Jorge explains. If the local journalists or national press uploads videos or pictures to social media, they edit it so that all people see is the police response — not the violence that led up to it. “The New York Times just put out a piece basically putting the blame on Trump and the federal administration. But what we’ve been seeing here on the ground is that’s just really not the case.”

If it’s a myth Democrats are looking for, start there. Because this president isn’t starting the fires. He’s only trying to contain them.

EDITORS NOTE: This FRC-Action podcast is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

EXCLUSIVE VIDEOS: Hours-Long Battle In Downtown Portland Ensues As Rioters Refuse To Back Down On Day 58

PORTLAND, Ore. — The 58th day of protests in Portland drew thousands to the federal courthouse, where an unlawful assembly was announced and an hours-long battle between rioters and officers ensued.

Friday’s protests saw an even bigger turnout than Thursday’s protests, and the night began with peaceful speeches and a crowd that spanned multiple blocks. Included in the crowd were Portland’s “Wall of Moms,” a group of mothers who have joined demonstrations in the city. Reporters on the ground for the Daily Caller also noticed a new group dubbed the “Wall of Vets.”

Some members of the crowd quickly focused on the fencing surrounding Portland’s Mark O. Hatfield Federal Courthouse. A number of people pushed the fence in unison around 11 p.m., coming close to breaking it down but ultimately failing.

Federal officers issued warnings against tampering with the fence and emerged from the courthouse after loudspeaker announcements were ignored by many.

Officers consistently deployed tear gas, rubber bullets, flash bangs and more in an attempt to disperse the crowd, according to reporters on the ground.

Rioters, however, appeared undeterred and organized. Many had gas masks, helmets and makeshift shields to protect themselves from the officers’ crowd control efforts, leading to an hours-long battle.

Some rioters attempted to use electric saws to break the fence down while others tied ropes and tried to pull it down. As the night wore on, others launched various objects over the fence at officers. Water bottles, glass bottles and fireworks were among the items tossed at federal officers.

Members of the crowd also chased down tear gas canisters thrown by officers, grabbing them and launching them back over the fence. Both federal officers and protesters brought leaf blowers, which have been used often in Portland demonstrations to push tear gas away.

WATCH:

Federal officers declared the scene an unlawful assembly early Saturday morning as the standoff continued and rioters made a large fire in the street. The remaining rioters refused to budge as they battled officers inside the fence. Squads eventually arrived en mass from streets surrounding the courthouse to further disperse the crowd.

Officers successfully dispersed many remaining rioters, marching down numerous blocks and using various crowd control munitions. Portland police officers were also seen in the street early Saturday morning.

The police department issued a statement just before 4 a.m. Saturday noting that they responded to reports of a stabbing in the area, according to Oregon Live.

COLUMN BY

SHELBY TALCOTT

Media reporter. Follow Shelby on Twitter

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