ICE Arrests More Than 100 Illegals as Agency Targets California Sanctuary Cities

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ICE Arrests More Than 100 Illegals as Agency Targets California Sanctuary Cities

Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested more than 100 illegal immigrants with criminal histories in California over the past few weeks as part of an ongoing sting operation.

ICE officers took into custody 128 people in Los Angeles, San Diego, and San Francisco between Sept. 18 and Oct. 3, according to Department of Homeland Security Chief Chad Wolf. About 96% of those arrested had criminal convictions or pending criminal charges at the time of arrest, but had been released from jail by sanctuary cities, Wolf said.

One illegal immigrant arrested in Los Angeles was a 40-year-old El Salvador native convicted of first-degree murder in 2009. The illegal immigrant was released by the Los Angeles County Jail shortly thereafter, Wolf said.

These arrests were apart of ICE’s ongoing deportation sting, which has specifically targeted sanctuary cities, such as Los Angeles.

“When we target sanctuary city policies — or sanctuary cities — it’s not about Republicans, not about Democrats, not about elections,” Wolf said, according to the Washington Examiner.

“It’s about dangerous policies that are dangerous for that community … We’re going to go in there. We’re going to pick up individuals that should not be in those communities — so wherever they’re at. Obviously, we understand, and we know that California has a number of sanctuary cities in their jurisdiction.”

As these stings continue, local neighborhoods and workplaces in sanctuary cities should expect “a more visible ICE presence in California and other noncooperation sanctuary city policies remain in effect,” Wolf said, adding that these operations wouldn’t be necessary if state and local officials simply worked with ICE.

“We’re going to continue enforcement actions across the country,” he said. “ICE has no choice but to conduct more at-large arrests in local neighborhoods and its work sites, which inevitably result in additional collateral arrests instead of targeted arrests at jails where enforcement is safer for everyone involved.”

Disney Slams Newsom For Keeping Calif. Theme Parks Closed

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Disney Slams Newsom For Keeping Calif. Theme Parks Closed

Disney Parks and several other amusement parks in California slammed Gov. Gavin Newsom this week for refusing to allow theme parks in the state to reopen.

Newsom did not offer an explanation for why theme parks in the state could not open, but said during a press conference that California “is in no hurry in putting out guidelines” that would aid the reopening process.

Disney announced last week that it would lay off more than 28,000 employees due to the continued shutdown.

In a letter to employees, Josh D’Amaro, chairman of Disney Parks, Experience, and Products, blamed California’s “unwillingness to lift restrictions that would allow Disneyland to reopen” for the job losses.

But Newsom—who faced harsh criticism for allowing his own winery to remain open during the lockdowns—insisted that the situation was “very complex” and that state officials do not anticipate allowing any larger theme parks to reopen in the immediate term, reported the California Globe.

“There’s disagreements in terms of opening a major theme park,” Newsom said.

“We’re going to let science and data make that determination,” he continued. “I understand the dialectic, the friction, that many business leaders have that they want to move forward sectorally to reopen, but we are going to be led by a health-first framework and we’re going to be stubborn about it.”

Just last month, however, Newsom alluded that amusement park reopening guidelines were imminent.

“We will be making announcements soon as it relates to theme parks and amusement parks,” he said. “I am not here today to make that presentation, but want folks to know we are actively working in a number of sectors.”

The chief medical officer for Disney Parks, Experiences, and Products slammed Newsom in a statement, arguing that Disney has gone above and beyond to make sure its parks are prioritizing the health of its visitors.

“We absolutely reject the suggestion that reopening the Disneyland Resort is incompatible with a ‘health-first’ approach,” Dr. Pamela Hymel said in a statement.

“The fact is, that since March we have taken a robust science-based approach to responsibly reopening our parks and resorts across the globe,” she continued. “Our health and safety protocols were developed in consultation with epidemiologists and data scientists, and after considering guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and experts in local government and health agencies.”

Hymel pointed out that every single other Disney facility in the U.S. and around the world has been allowed to reopen, and not one has experienced a health crisis.

This proves “our ability to operate with responsible health and safety protocols,” Hymel added.

Forcing California’s theme parks to remain closed will crush one of the state’s most valuable industries,  said Erin Guerrero, executive director of the California Attractions and Parks Association.

“We find it disconcerting that Governor Newsom has no planned timeline for issuing guidance for theme parks, and of great concern that he does not anticipate theme parks opening soon,” Guerrero said.

“Each day that parks are closed further decimates the amusement park industry,” she continued. “The Governor’s ‘no big rush’ approach is ruining businesses and livelihoods for thousands who could responsibly be back at work.”

Cal Cunningham Refuses to Answer Questions About Multiple Mistresses

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Cal Cunningham Refuses to Answer Questions About Multiple Mistresses

Democratic Senate candidate Cal Cunningham of North Carolina refused to answer questions Friday about whether he carried on other extramarital affairs after he admitted last week to sending inappropriate text messages to a married woman who is not his wife.

In his first press conference since the scandal broke, Cunningham repeatedly dodged questions about allegations that he had been seeing multiple mistresses.

“I have taken responsibility for the hurt that I’ve caused in my personal life,” Cunningham said, according to the News & Observer. “I apologized to it, I apologized for it. And I know that this campaign — our campaign is about things that are much bigger and more important than just me. It’s about the very issues and people we were just talking to right here.”

Cunningham was caught sexting with Arlene Guzman Todd, a California public relations strategist who is also the wife of an army veteran.

But a week later, another North Carolina-based woman accused Cunningham of another affair.

“He’s been having an affair with a good friend of mine since 2012. Not the woman mentioned in the story. Needless to say, my friend was devastated. But my feeling is, if they’ll cheat WITH you, they’ll cheat ON you!,” Lawyer Elizabeth Brinkman wrote on Facebook, according to National File.

But Cunningham has tried to argue that his personal life has nothing to do with his political campaign against incumbent Sen. Thom Tillis, who he accused of using this scandal to “distract” from important policy issues.

“Of course he’s going to want to talk about my personal life,” Cunningham said. “I’m going to stay focused on North Carolinians.”

Tillis fired back and said that Cunningham owes North Carolina voters “a full and thorough explanation.”

“Cal Cunningham’s recent scandal isn’t just about sex. In fact, it’s mostly about hypocrisy. It’s possible that some voters have become desensitized to sexual immorality from a politician, but what they undeniably still desire above all things is for their elected leaders to be genuine,” Tillis said in a press release on Thursday.

Whitmer Exposed in Lie after Claiming Anarchist Kidnapping Plotters Were Trump Supporters

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Whitmer Exposed in Lie after Claiming Anarchist Kidnapping Plotters Were Trump Supporters

Michigan’s Democrat Gov. Gretchen Whitmer was caught in a blatant hoax after attempting to scapegoat President Donald Trump for what she claimed was an alleged right-wing conspiracy.

The FBI announced it had foiled a plot, months in the planning, to kidnap Whitmer at her summer home and possibly use explosive devises to blow up a highway bridge in order to divert authorities.

At a press conference Thursday, Whitmer launched into an unhinged tirade against the Republican president, falsely distorting his recent statements to claim Trump’s rhetoric had been a “rallying cry.”

Twitter sleuth Robby Starbuck exposed the lie, pointing out that the plot’s ringleader, Brandon Caserta, had posted videos that displayed an anarchist flag behind him—a symbol widely embraced by left-wing anti-government radicals such as the domestic terrorism group Antifa.

“Trump is not your friend, dude,” Caserta said, according to reporting from Townhall.

“And it amazes me that people actually believe that when he’s shown over and over and over again that he’s a tyrant,” he continued. “Every single person that works for government is your enemy, dude.”

During last week’s presidential debate, Trump was ambushed by a question from left-leaning moderator Chris Wallace in which he was asked to denounce “white supremacist” and “militia” groups—falsely implying that the president had condoned them previously, despite dozens of public statements condemning right-wing extremism.

The president sarcastically responded by directing the mostly peaceful, multi-ethnic Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by” while insisting that Democrat candidate Joe Biden denounce in kind the violent left-wing fanaticism of groups like Antifa.

Biden refused to do so, insisting that Antifa was an idea and not an organization.

The demonstrably deceptive talking point has widely circulated among leftist media, with Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-NY, insisting the group was a “myth.”

FBI Director Christopher Wray also misleadingly lumped together anti-government groups and rioters—without making a distinction about their ideology—during recent congressional testimony.

Antifa has largely relied on urban guerilla-warfare techniques to blend in with presumably nonviolent protestors while using social media and encrypted messaging apps to organize. Its training sessions have been exposed by undercover watchdog groups like Project Veritas, and it has its own handbook outlining its radical tactics and beliefs.

In addition to Whitmer’s mischaracterization of Trump’s debate statements, the governor also repeated a ubiquitous false attack on the president’s response to a 2017 clash between extremist groups in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Although he had explicitly denounced violent ideologues, including neo-Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan, Trump defended nonviolent demonstrators who had been protesting the Democrat-run city’s illegal attempt to remove historic statues of Confederate generals Robert E. Lee and Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson.

Only days before last week’s debate, Trump issued an order to designate both the KKK and Antifa as domestic terrorist groups.

Despite having been thoroughly debunked, Whitmer’s claims continued to circulate in the leftist echo-chamber with few attempting to provide context or clarification.

Not surprisingly, YouTube continued its efforts to actively suppress the information by blocking videos that showed Casera’s politically inconvenient statements.

Whitmer, whose state is one of several key battlegrounds in the upcoming November election that cleared the path for Trump’s landslide 2016 victory, has been busted engaging in partisan, extralegal operations before.

Her scandalous mishandling of the coronavirus involved draconian lockdowns that restricted the freedom and movement of healthy citizens while forcing infected nursing-home patients to intermingle with those uninfected, likely resulting in thousands of deaths.

That resulted in widespread citizen protests, including a peaceful takeover of the capitol building in Lansing by demonstrators exercising their Second-Amendment right to bear arms.

According to the Associated Press, some of those arrested in the recent sting and a separate plan to storm the capitol were linked with a group called the Wolverine Watchmen that had been involved in the earlier demonstration.

The FBI quoted one of the men as saying Whitmer “has no checks and balances at all. She has uncontrolled power right now. All good things must come to an end.”

Earlier this week, the state Supreme Court shot down as unconstitutional Whitmer’s authoritarian policies—for which she had invoked an outdated, 1945 law—only to have governor-appointed cronies in the state health department dismiss the court decision and use an even earlier law to reassert their lockdown authority.

Whitmer’s health department was also busted over the summer for attempting to grant a no-bid contact-tracing contract to a leftist political canvassing group recommended by Democrat party leaders in the state.

Razor Blades on Trump Sign in Mich. Slice Man’s Fingers

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Razor Blades on Trump Sign in Mich. Slice Man’s Fingers

(Associated Press) Authorities were trying Friday to determine who taped razor blades to the bottom of a Trump 2020 campaign sign, slicing the fingers of a worker tasked with removing signs that were too close to a roadway in southeast Michigan.

The 52-year-old Commerce Township building inspector needed stitches after cutting three fingers Wednesday afternoon, the Oakland County sheriff’s office said in a release.

A second sign also was found to have razor blades taped “all along the bottom edge,” according to the sheriff’s office.

Both signs were along a road in front of a home in Commerce Township, which is about 30 miles northwest of Detroit.

A township ordinance requires campaign signs to be 33 feet from the center of the roadway.

The signs being removed were 24 feet from the center of the roadway.

“Deputies spoke with the homeowner (who) indicated their signs had previously been stolen, and when they returned from out of town the signs were back in their yard,” the sheriff’s office said in a release.

Pelosi Questioned About HER Sanity After 25th-Amendment Scrutiny of Trump

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Pelosi Questioned About HER Sanity After 25th-Amendment Scrutiny of Trump

(Headline USA) House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is questioning President Donald Trump‘s fitness to serve, announcing legislation Thursday that would create an unconstitutional commission to allow Congress to intervene under the 25th Amendment to the Constitution and remove the president from executive duties.

But almost immediately after announcing the bill, which she said she plans to discuss with media on Friday, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said in an interview on Mark Levin’s radio show that he and a number of his House colleagues plan to bring scrutiny against the Speaker and her mental condition. He did not provide details.

Last month the conservative House Freedom Caucus urged McCarthy to bring a motion to remove Pelosi from her post as Speaker.

House Republican Whip Steve Scalise addressed Pelosi’s irrational antics on “Fox & Friends” Friday morning:

She has been fixated for the last four years with overturning the results of the last election. And here she is again on the heels of Vice President Pence winning handily in the debate against Kamala Harris.

She’s now trying to overturn the results of next month’s election. She’s wanted to remove President Trump from office because she doesn’t agree with the people’s choice from the last election. Look, they started with the Russia hoax. They did impeachment. This is what she’s spent and wasted her Speakership on.

She should be fighting for families and small businesses, not trying to overturn the results of the election because she knows how well President Trump’s doing. And, by the way, what a signal that is to Joe Biden that she’s spending her time trying to remove President Trump from office because clearly she must not have confidence in Joe Biden’s abilities.

Just weeks before the Nov. 3 election, Pelosi said Trump needs to disclose more about his health after his COVID-19 diagnosis. She noted Trump’s “strange tweet” halting talks on a new coronavirus aid package and said Americans need to know when, exactly, he first contracted COVID as others in the White House became infected. On Friday, she plans to roll out the legislation that would launch the commission for review.

“The public needs to know the health condition of the president,” Pelosi said, later invoking the 25th Amendment, which allows a president’s cabinet or Congress to intervene when a president is unable to conduct the duties of the office.

Trump responded swiftly via Twitter.

“Crazy Nancy is the one who should be under observation. They don’t call her Crazy for nothing!” the president said.

The president’s opponents have discussed invoking the 25th Amendment for some time.

Trump says he “feels great” after being hospitalized and is back at work in the White House. Trump plans to resume campaigning soon.

Any serious consideration of the measure is not going to happen, so Pelosi’s move is best characterized as a political stunt with less than a month before Election Day. The bill serves as a political tool to stoke questions from a biased media about Trump’s health as his own White House is hit by an outbreak infecting top aides, staff and visitors, including senators.

On Friday, Pelosi along with Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., a constitutional law professor, plan to roll out the legislation that would create a commission as outlined under the 25th Amendment, which was passed by Congress and ratified in 1967 as way to ensure a continuity of power in the aftermath of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination.

Raskin is famous for being on record that he planned to impeach Trump before his inauguration.

Adapted from reporting by Associated Press.

BIDEN: I’ll Tell You My Position on Court-Packing AFTER the Election

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BIDEN: I’ll Tell You My Position on Court-Packing AFTER the Election

In a session with reporters yesterday, Democrat presidential nominee Joe Biden told reporters “you’ll know my opinion on court-packing when the election is over.” He reasoned that if he answered the question, the headline in every newspaper will be about that — as if there is something wrong with that.

Watch Biden’s remarks above.

Next Trump-Biden Debates Uncertain, Though Oct. 22 is Likely

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Next Trump-Biden Debates Uncertain, Though Oct. 22 is Likely

(Headline USA) The campaign’s final debates between President Donald Trump and Democrat Joe Biden were thrown into uncertainty Thursday as the rival camps offered dueling proposals for the remaining faceoffs that have been upended by the president’s coronavirus infection.

The chair of the nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates told The Associated Press that the final debate, scheduled for Oct. 22, was still slated to go on with both candidates present as planned. But next Thursday’s debate seemed to be gone, after the Trump team objected to the commission’s format change.

The whipsaw day began with an announcement that the town hall-style affair set for Oct. 15 in Miami would be held virtually, a decision the commission made unilaterally without consulting the Trump campaign — and possibly the Biden campaign too. The commission cited health concerns following Trump’s infection as the reason for the change.

Trump said he wouldn’t participate if the debate wasn’t in person. Biden’s campaign then suggested the event be delayed a week until Oct. 22, which is when the third and final debate was already scheduled.

Next, Trump countered again, agreeing to a debate on Oct. 22 — but only if face to face — and asking that a third contest be added on Oct. 29, just before the election. But Biden’s advisers rejected squaring off that late in the campaign.

After the release late Thursday of a letter from Trump doctor Navy Cmdr. Sean Conley that the president had “completed his course of therapy” and could resume campaigning this weekend, the Trump campaign called on the commission to hold next week’s debate in person as originally scheduled.

“There is therefore no medical reason why the Commission on Presidential Debates should shift the debate to a virtual setting, postpone it, or otherwise alter it in any way,” said Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien.

But commission chair Frank Fahrenkopf said late Thursday that the decision to hold the debate virtually, guided by its medical advisers at the Cleveland Clinic, was not going to be reversed.

The commission said it made the announcement in order to “protect the health and safety of all involved,” including the everyday citizens invited to ask questions of the candidates.

The debate commission already came under scrutiny after the first debate between Trump and Biden deteriorated, with the president frequently interrupting his opponent and the moderator unable to take control.

The Oct. 22 debate in Nashville, Tennessee, is scheduled to feature a format similar to the first. Biden’s campaign has suggested that it be modified to the “town meeting” format, though the Trump campaign has not weighed in.

Founded after the 1984 presidential election, the commission has organized every general election debate since 1988 — and typically selects the dates, moderators, formats and locations without input from the candidates.

Biden moved quickly to make sure he would still appear in front of a television audience next week. Instead of debating Trump on Thursday, he will take part in a town hall sponsored by ABC News. As he campaigned in Arizona, Biden said he would indeed attend the Oct. 22 debate.

“We agreed to three debates back in the summer,” Biden said. “I’m showing up. I’ll be there. And if, in fact, he shows up, fine. If he doesn’t, fine.”

In an interview with Fox Business anchor Maria Bartiromo shortly after the commission’s announcement, Trump insisted he was in “great shape” and called the idea of a virtual debate a “joke.”

“I’m not going to do a virtual debate,” he declared.

Stepien said Trump would stage a rally rather than debate next Thursday.

Adapted from reporting by Associated Press.

Chauvin’s Release on Bail Triggers Fresh Race Riots in Minneapolis; 51 Protesters Arrested

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Chauvin’s Release on Bail Triggers Fresh Race Riots in Minneapolis; 51 Protesters Arrested

(Headline USA) Fifty-one people were arrested during protests Wednesday after a former Minneapolis police officer charged in the death of George Floyd was released on bail.

Derek Chauvin had been in custody in a Minnesota prison as he awaits a March trial on charges of murder and other counts.

He was released Wednesday after posting a $1 million bond. He had been held in a state prison instead of a local jail for security reasons.

On Wednesday evening, about 300 people marched peacefully near the site where Minneapolis police tried to arrest Floyd on May 25 for allegedly passing a counterfeit $20 bill at a convenience store.

Floyd—who was found to have a fatal level of fentanyl in his system, died in police custody as Chauvin was restraining him.

Among the protesters was Gabriel Black Elk, whose brother, Paul Castaway, was killed by police in Denver in July 2015.

“I’m out here as a family member too to show support and say today shouldn’t have happened. He should have stayed in there,” said Black Elk, an organizer for Native Lives Matter.

“It’s tiring for us justice families to see these cops getting away with murder. It’s just too much. It’s too much to see it happen again and again,” he continued.

Later Wednesday, tensions rose outside a Minneapolis police station as law enforcement moved in and ordered the crowd to disperse. A live feed from Unicorn Riot showed several people being ordered to the ground in preparation for arrest.

Police spokesman John Elder said 49 of the arrests were for misdemeanors. Many of those were cited for unlawful assembly. One person was arrested for fourth-degree assault and another was arrested on a felony warrant.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

SPEAK UP: ‘Sesame Street’ Special Urges Kids to Become Anti-Racist Thought Police

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SPEAK UP: ‘Sesame Street’ Special Urges Kids to Become Anti-Racist Thought Police

(Headline USA) “Sesame Street” has always pressed for inclusion. Now in the wake of the national reckoning on race, it’s going further—teaching children to stand up against racism, and to report any violators to the nearest authority figure.

Sesame Workshop — the nonprofit, educational organization behind “Sesame Street” — will later this month air the half-hour anti-racist special “The Power of We” and hopes families will watch together.

It urges children who encounter racism or hear someone else be the victim of it to call it out.

“When you see something that’s wrong, speak up and say, ‘That’s wrong’ and tell an adult,” 6-year-old Gabrielle the Muppet advises.

The special, composed of little skits and songs in a Zoom-like format, will stream on HBO Max and PBS Kids and air on PBS stations beginning Oct. 15.

In one animated skit, a black Muppet is told by a white Muppet that he can’t dress up like a superhero because they’re only white.

Though hurt, the black Muppet nevertheless refuses to stop playing superheroes, saying they can come in all colors. The white Muppet soon apologizes. “Racism hurts and it’s wrong,” is the message.

In the song “How Do You Know?” racism is dealt with head-on. “Hey, Elmo, how would you feel if I said, ‘I don’t like you ‘cause I don’t like the color red?’” sings Tamir, a black, 8-year-old Muppet.

Elmo responds: ”Elmo wouldn’t care what you said ’cause Elmo is proud, proud to be red!” It concludes with the lines: “Speak up. Say something. Don’t give in.”

“We believe that this moment calls for a direct discussion about racism to help children grasp the issues and teach them that they are never too young to be ‘upstanders’ for themselves, one another, and their communities,” said Kay Wilson Stallings, executive vice president of creative and production at Sesame Workshop, in a statement.

Viewers are offered tips to help their communities unite, including chalk drawings, making positive signs and going to sing-a-longs. When outside, all the puppets wear masks, even the letter puppets. The special concludes with the slogan “Listen. Act. Unite.”

“Sesame Street,” which last year celebrated its 50th anniversary, has a history of explaining the world to children, tackling everything from foster care to substance abuse.

The latest special comes on the heels of “Sesame Street” contributing to “Coming Together: Standing Up To Racism,” a CNN town hall special in June hosted by Van Jones and Erica Hill.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

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