Immigration Enforcement Expels 159,000 Border-Crossers Under COVID Orders

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Immigration Enforcement Expels 159,000 Border-Crossers Under COVID Orders

(Associated Press) About 8,800 unaccompanied children have been quickly removed from the United States along the Mexico border under a pandemic-related measure that effectively ended asylum.

The Trump administration has expelled more than 159,000 people since the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention emergency order took effect in March, a figure that also includes more than 7,600 adults and children who crossed the border in families.

The figures on children were reported for the first time in a declaration by Raul Ortiz, the Border Patrol’s deputy chief, as part of the administration’s appeal of an order to stop housing children in hotels.

The administration “immediately” expelled most children and families to Mexico but more than 2,200 unaccompanied children and 600 people who came in families were held until flights could be arranged to return home, Ortiz said.

The administration asked the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn a ruling last week that found use of hotels skirted “fundamental humanitarian protections.”

U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee in Los Angeles ruled that using hotels for long-term detention violated a two-decade-old settlement governing treatment of children in custody. She ordered border agencies to stop placing children in hotels by Tuesday.

Justice Department attorneys argued that settlement doesn’t apply during the public health emergency and that hotels were appropriate.

“While in these hotels, the government provides minors with supervision by specialists, recreation, amenities, and protective measures against COVID-19,” the attorneys wrote.

Before the pandemic, unaccompanied children were sent to state-licensed shelters operated by the Department of Health and Human Services and often released to family members while seeking asylum.

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot & Trump Family On Cordial Terms, Despite Public Feud

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Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot & Trump Family On Cordial Terms, Despite Public Feud

(Headline USA) The barbs that have flown between President Donald Trump and his family and Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot haven’t prevented either side from engaging in occasional niceties.

Lightfoot in May called Eric Trump to express her support, according to text messages obtained by the Chicago Tribune through a Freedom of Information Act request.

The mayor’s call occurred as civil unrest surged across the country following the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police. As the city was cleaning up from widespread looting, the younger Trump texted Lightfoot, remarking on a call he describes as “incredibly kind.”

“I have passed along your support to our team and residences. Please know, I and we truly appreciate you,” Eric Trump texted.

In a July text, Eric Trump said he was thinking about her.

“I only imagine how difficult the situation is but know we are all rooting for Chicago . . . I hope you are well. Eric T.”

Lightfoot referenced the text last month after another round of looting and Trump’s disparaging reference during a Wisconsin speech to Lightfoot raising bridges over the Chicago River to stop “hordes of rioters from ransacking the city.”

“One of the bridges we put up is near Trump Tower because our protesters and vigilantes would love nothing more than to attack Trump Tower,” Lightfoot responded at the time. “So those little notes that I get from Eric Trump after every time that we’ve protected that property, if they want us to stop, say the word.”

Lightfoot frequently throws barbs at Trump, who regularly invokes Chicago to bolster his “law and order” campaign theme.

Although the mayor has sparred with Trump, she also has made attempts to work him and his family. Before she was sworn in as mayor, Lightfoot had a meeting in Washington, D.C., with Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter, and a White House adviser.

But the relationship between Lightfoot and the Trumps coarsened over time.

Lightfoot ripped Ivanka Trump last year for a tweet about Chicago violence and slammed her husband, Jared Kushner, for his comments asserting a federal stockpile of medical supplies as not being for the states to use.

Trump tweeted in May during the unrest that “when the looting starts, the shooting starts,” which prompted Lightfoot to accuse the president of destabilizing the nation.

“He wants to show failures on the part of Democratic local leaders, to throw red meat to his base,” Lightfoot said at the time. “His goal is to polarize, to destabilize local government and inflame racist urges. We can absolutely not let him prevail. And I will code what I really want to say to Donald Trump. It’s two words. It begins with F and it ends with U.”

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press.

Georgia Judge Rules Voters Cannot Abolish Allegedly Corrupt Police Department

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Georgia Judge Rules Voters Cannot Abolish Allegedly Corrupt Police Department

(Headline USA) Voters can’t try to abolish an embattled Georgia police department that was wrapped in controversy even before the department oversaw the initial investigation into the fatal shooting of Ahmaud Arbery, a judge ruled Friday.

Superior Court Judge Charles Paul Rose ruled that the referendum on abolishing the Glynn County Police Department is unconstitutional. He also issued an injunction keeping the measure off the Nov. 3 ballot.

The department’s chief and three former high-ranking officers were indicted in March on charges that they ignored an officer consorting with a drug dealer.

And Glynn County officers brought no charges in February after Arbery, a 25-year-old Black man, was fatally shot by white men who armed themselves and pursued him after spotting Arbery running in their neighborhood.

Charges in Arbery’s killing came two months later after the Georgia Bureau of Investigation took over the case.

The referendum would have let voters decide whether to dissolve the Glynn County police and turn its responsibilities over to Sheriff Neal Jump, who currently oversees the county jail and security for the courthouse.

Glynn County commissioners filed suit to stop the vote, saying it infringed on their authority under Georgia’s constitution to provide police services.

County election supervisor Chris Channell told The Brunswick News the elections board would not appeal the decision.

State lawmakers passed the referendum and Gov. Brian Kemp signed the measure amid troubled times for Glynn County police.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press.

Susan Collins Won’t Say if She’ll Vote for Trump in Debate to Hold Senate Seat

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Susan Collins Won’t Say if She’ll Vote for Trump in Debate to Hold Senate Seat

(Headlines USA) Democrat Sara Gideon sought to link Republican Sen. Susan Collins, of Maine, with President Donald Trump during their first debate Friday night, and she demanded several times that Collins say whether she’ll vote for him — a dare Collins wouldn’t take.

Collins, who has said she didn’t vote for Trump four years ago, brushed off the question, saying voters are more interested in talking to her about issues than who she supports in the presidential race.

“Let me say this: I don’t think the people of Maine need my advice on whom to support for president,” Collins said.

But Collins was critical of Trump’s handling of the pandemic after the president acknowledged on tape months ago, to journalist Bob Woodward in comments only recently released, that he deliberately played down the danger to keep the public calm.

“I believe that the president should have been straightforward with the American people. The American people can take hard facts. He had an obligation as president to be straightforward,” Collins said.

Collins, who is seeking a fifth term and long enjoyed a reputation as a moderate who reached across the partisan aisle, is facing the toughest campaign of her career, and Democrats view unseating her as key to retaking control of the Senate.

Gideon, on the other hand, is a far-left Democrat who supports late-term abortion and the expansion of privileges for people who identity as lesbian, gay, bisexual, trangsender, queer, or other.

In attack ads, Democrats have been hammering away at her votes for Brett Kavanaugh for the Supreme Court and for Trump’s tax breaks.

Collins was forced during the debate to defend her support for Kavanaugh, saying she has supported judges nominated by Democrats and Republican over the years as long as they were qualified and committed to precedent and the rule of law.

But Gideon, the speaker of the Maine House, said many of the federal judges nominated by Trump were incompetent.

“What we have seen over the past four years is a concerted effort to change the face of the judiciary, and we have seen nominees come from this president that are unqualified and not fit to be judicial nominees. Yet Sen. Collins has voted, as of this week, for 170 of them,” Gideon said.

Turning the tables, Collins asked Gideon if she would have voted for Chief Justice John Roberts, nominated by Republican President George W. Bush. Collins voted to confirm him in 2005.

Gideon said she would have to “fully study” the issue to answer the question, to which Collins responded, “She’s ducking the question.”

Two independents, businessman Max Linn and educator Lisa Savage, also sought to make their mark during a fast-paced discussion that covered topics including health care, green energy, the environment, the pandemic and the economy.

Making the most of his opportunity, Linn spoke about his independent campaign that simultaneously supports a five-year moratorium on immigration into the United States and student loan relief.

Savage, meanwhile, told Mainers that because of ranked choice voting, they could select her without fear of her being a spoiler and thus promote issues of the “Green New Deal” and climate change and demilitarization.

The voting system, adopted by Maine voters in 2016, lets people rank all the candidates on their ballot. It incorporates extra voting rounds, the elimination of last-place finishers and reallocation of votes to ensure a majority winner.

All four of the candidates decried the role of money in the race, which is already the most expensive in Maine history.

Gideon already has raised more than $24 million, compared with more than $16 million for Collins, according to the latest campaign finance reports. T

hat doesn’t include $3.8 million for Gideon that was crowdsourced by critics of Collins during the debate over Kavanaugh.

The debate was sponsored by News Center Maine, which operates TV stations in Portland and Bangor, along with the Portland Press Herald and Bangor Daily News. There was no audience because of the pandemic.

Both sides expect there to be several more debates before Election Day. Gideon originally suggested five debates, and Collins has agreed to six after proposed debates in each of Maine’s 16 counties.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press.

With Eyes on State GOP Has Lost Since 2008, Trump Campaigns in Nevada

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With Eyes on State GOP Has Lost Since 2008, Trump Campaigns in Nevada

(Headline USA) Pushing for new roads to reelection, President Donald Trump campaigned this weekend in Nevada, which hasn’t supported a Republican presidential candidate since 2004.

Trump defied local authorities by holding public events Saturday and Sunday after officials blocked his initial plans for rallies in Reno and Las Vegas because they would have violated coronavirus health guidelines.

Trump claimed the state’s Democratic governor tried to block him and repeated his false claim that mail-in ballots would taint the election result.

“This is the guy we are entrusting with millions of ballots, unsolicited ballots, and we’re supposed to win these states. Who the hell is going to trust him?” Trump said of Gov. Steve Sisolak. “The only way the Democrats can win the election is if they rig it.”

As part of his ongoing crusade against mail-in voting, lawyers for the president’s reelection campaign are urging a federal judge in Las Vegas to block a state law and prevent mail-in ballots from going to all active Nevada voters less than eight weeks before the election.

Trump claimed that the Democrat’s running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris, would be president “in about a month” if Biden won, asserting that the former vice president would be but a figurehead and that Harris would hold power.

He claimed that the media would treat Biden “like Winston Churchill” if he was able to merely stand on the debate stage in three weeks. And embarking on a swing that would also include stops in Las Vegas and Phoenix, Trump mocked Biden’s slower travel schedule.

“You know where he is now? He is in his damn basement again!”

And, for good measure, Trump invoked his 2016 opponent, Hillary Clinton, leading the crowd to launch into its traditional “Lock Her Up!” chant.

The president claimed he usually tried to stop the chant but on Saturday declared, “I don’t care if you say it anymore,” and Clinton “should be in jail.”

It’s the kind of fight that Trump’s team relishes and underscores the growing importance of Nevada in Trump’s quest for 270 electoral votes as the race against Democrat Joe Biden looks tight in a number of pivotal states.

Trump narrowly lost Nevada in 2016 to Hillary Clinton, and the state has trended further toward the Democrats in the past decade. But Trump’s campaign has invested heavily in the state, relying on its ground game to turn out voters.

Democrats, by contrast, have largely relied on virtual campaign efforts during the pandemic, save for the casino workers’ Culinary Union, which has sent workers door to door.

“The Democrats are scared. They know President Trump has the momentum,” said the state GOP chairman, Michael McDonald.

Both candidates have spent about $4.5 million in Nevada, while Trump has made $5.5 million in future reservations in the state and Biden has allocated $2.5 million, according to the ad tracking firm Kantar/CMAG.

The Trump team originally planned rallies at airport hangars in Reno and Las Vegas, but those were scuttled due to concerns the campaign would not abide by COVID-19 restrictions.

State Republicans blamed Democratic Gov. Steve Sisolak for trying to hurt the president’s reelection chances, even though the Reno rally was canceled by airport officials and Las Vegas airport officials said they were never contacted by the campaign.

Sisolak has limited in-person gatherings indoors and outdoors to 50 people since May, a recommendation based on White House reopening guidelines.

Instead, Trump scheduled an event in Minden, about 45 miles (72 kilometers) south of Reno, on Saturday night.

He planned to host a “Latinos for Trump” roundtable Sunday morning in Las Vegas, followed by an evening rally at a manufacturing facility in neighboring Henderson.

Privately, the Trump campaign welcomed the fight, believing it highlighted a reelection theme: Trump’s insistence that the nation has turned the corner on the pandemic, while Democrats, including Biden and governors, are hurting the nation’s economy and psyche with stringent restrictions.

“The fact that Donald Trump is even considering holding these unsafe events in the midst of a global pandemic is just the latest example of his poor judgment and complete disregard for Nevadans’ public health and safety,” said Madison Mundy of the state Democratic Party.

The White House announced Saturday that Trump will visit California on Monday to receive a briefing on the devastating wildfires racing through the region. He has largely been silent on the blazes, which Oregon’s emergency management director said was a possible “mass fatality event.”

Some Democrats fear a possible Trump momentum gain in Nevada, with the president showing increasing support from Latinos and noncollege educated white voters, two important constituencies in the state.

The tightening race in a number of the most contested states has led to a renewed effort for Trump to expand his electoral map.

The campaign has lavished attention on three Great Lakes states that flipped his way narrowly in 2016.

Several polls earlier this summer suggested Trump may be in trouble, but a handful in both Pennsylvania and Wisconsin following the nominating conventions showed a close race.

Polling in North Carolina and Florida also shows a competitive race, and there is increasing concern within the Trump campaign about Arizona.

The president on Monday planned to return to Arizona, which he has visited multiple times since he resumed traveling during the pandemic.

If he loses Arizona, winning Wisconsin — the most likely Midwest state for Trump to retain — would not be enough even if he keeps Florida and North Carolina. It would require him to win somewhere else, which has led to a renewed focus on Minnesota, New Hampshire and the at-large congressional districts in Nebraska and Maine.

Nevada has become a particular focus, in part because Las Vegas is an appetizing location for Trump to raise money. He scheduled at least one high-dollar fundraiser there over the weekend — as well as one in Washington before he flies west — as he looks to assuage growing concerns that he could fall short of cash.

Couples were asked for $150,000 for the Las Vegas fundraiser.

The Republican National Committee said the $18 million expected to be raised over the weekend, including from a stop Saturday at his hotel in Washington, would be shared by Trump’s campaign, the committee and several state GOP committees.

Trump and Republicans raised $210 million in August, a robust sum but far behind the record $364.5 million taken in by Biden and his party that month. Though the Trump campaign has insisted that it has more resources on hand than it did at this time in 2016, whispers about a financial disadvantage led Trump himself this past week to suggest he may put some of his own fortune into the race.

Nevada’s financial health is dependent on the national economy doing well because the state draws so much revenue from tourism. When the pandemic hit, Nevada’s casinos and all gambling shuttered for about 11 weeks, and the state is trimming about one-quarter of its budget at a time of sky-high unemployment.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press.

MURDOCK: Only ‘Suckers’ Believe Fake News of Trump’s Alleged Veteran-Bashing

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MURDOCK: Only ‘Suckers’ Believe Fake News of Trump’s Alleged Veteran-Bashing

(Deroy Murdock, Headline USA) Facts trump gossip.

The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg on Sept. 3 cited four anonymous sources who claimed that President Donald J. Trump canceled a Nov. 10, 2018 visit to a World War I cemetery in France because the American GIs there were “losers” and “suckers.”

Moreover, Goldberg asserted, Trump “feared his hair would become disheveled in the rain.”

At least 13 former or current U.S. officials who were in Paris with the president have stepped up and, by name, refuted The Atlantic’s vicious libel.

Instead, they corroborate Trump’s explanation: Bad weather jeopardized helicopter travel, and the Secret Service inveighed against a 90- to 120-minute drive each way, partially on rural roads.

An unidentified military aide’s contemporaneous e-mail also cites poor weather and, thus, backs Trump.

Trump defeats The Atlantic, 14-4.

Team Trump’s dismantlement of this disgusting fabrication offers the perfect occasion to compare President Trump’s care and concern for America’s veterans with the deadly neglect that they suffered under the Obama-Biden Administration.

  • President Trump signed the VA Mission Act. It liberated vets to avoid the VA’s long waits and immediately enjoy private care.
  • The President authorized VA Accountability legislation, which speeds the discipline and punishment of inept, corrupt, or sadistic VA employees. Trump subsequently has told some 7,600 such shady staffers: “You’re fired!”
  • Trump approved the “Forever GI Bill,” ending deadlines and letting vets use their educational benefits throughout their lives.
  • He has forgiven the student debts of some 50,000 permanent and totally disabled veterans.

President Trump’s pro-veteran policies are the antidote to Obama–Biden’s toxic treatment of America’s beloved vets. The previous administration ran a veritable killing field for veterans.

As a September 3, 2015 CNN.com headline stated: “307,000 veterans may have died awaiting Veterans Affairs health care, report says.”

The VA’s Inspector General discovered that—as of September 30, 2014—307,173 veterans in the VA’s enrollment system died before being approved.

Among these, 18,100 perished between 2010 and 2012, and 30,706 passed between 2012 and 2014. So, under Obama–Biden, 48,806 vets died while “pending” a “final determination status.”

“People who fought, and who earned the right to VA health care, were never given VA health care,” Scott Davis of the VA Health Eligibility Center told CNN in September 2015.

“They literally died while waiting for VA to process their health care application,” Davis said.

CNN reported that Davis “alerted the White House and senior officials at the VA, but was ignored.”

Under Obama–Biden, as of May 2014, delays and mismanagement contributed to the preventable deaths of at least three veterans at VA medical centers in Atlanta, six others in Columbia, South Carolina; and 40 more in Phoenix.

Even worse, administrators in VA hospitals where vets suffered stomach-turning medical abuses or died while awaiting treatment were not immediately sacked.

Instead, they savored promotions and bonuses under Obama–Biden.

  • Sharon Helman directed Phoenix’s deadly VA Health Care System. She scored a $9,345 bonus atop her $196,000 salary.
  • Notwithstanding chronic management errors and a Legionnaire’s disease outbreak that infected 20 veterans and killed six others, Pittsburgh VA hospital chief Terry Gerigk Wolf earned her $179,700 base salary, a perfect performance review, and a 2011 bonus of $12,924.
  • Despite American Legion warnings, local veterans’ protests, and three preventable patient deaths that the VA inspector general tied to deep mismanagement, Atlanta VA hospital chief James Clark collected $65,000 in bonuses over four years.
  • On Columbia, South Carolina VA regional director Carl Hawkins’ watch, disability-claim backlogs doubled, and at least 95 related documents wrongly were shredded. So what? Beyond Hawkins’ $165,300 salary, his 2007 through 2011 bonuses totaled $79,275.
  • In the 60 VA offices that Diana Rubens oversaw, backlogged disability-benefit claims nearly septupled. Whatever! From 2007 to 2011, she won bonuses of $96,896.

The Atlantic got it perfectly backward: As 700-plus vets attested in an open letter, President Trump has honored and benefited them and their brothers and sisters.

Meanwhile, Obama–Biden treated America’s veterans like losers and suckers.

Deroy Murdock is a Manhattan-based Fox News Contributor, a contributing editor with National Review Online, and a senior fellow with the London Center for Policy Research.

Russia-Hoax Watchers Reading Tea Leaves over Top Durham Prosecutor’s Departure

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Russia-Hoax Watchers Reading Tea Leaves over Top Durham Prosecutor’s Departure

(Headline USA) The resignation of a federal prosecutor who was helping lead the investigation into the origins of the FBI’s Russia hoax could signal that the long awaited investigation is nearing the end.

Or it could signal serious complications as a team led by U.S. Attorney John Durham of Connecticut tries to round its final stretch before the November election.

A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s office in Connecticut confirmed the departure of top prosecutor Nora Dannehy—first reported by The Hartford Courant—but declined to comment further.

The dismissal of staff was one of several indicators that political prognosticators used during special counsel Robert Mueller‘s initial two-year investigation into allegations of collusion between the Kremlin and the Trump campaign.

Mueller’s probe in many ways parallels the task that Durham has faced with investigating the investigators.

Durham’s appointment by Attorney General William Barr was made public soon after the release of Mueller’s report, and both lawmen were authorized by the Justice Department to pursue criminal indictments before a grand jury.

Thus far, Durham has charged only one person—former FBI attorney Kevin Clinesmith—in what many believe was a plea agreement, much as Mueller sought to do with several close advisers to the Trump campaign.

However, insiders have said more charges will be forthcoming shortly in the Durham probe.

In the year and a half since, he has questioned former law enforcement and intelligence officials—former CIA Director John Brennan among them—about decisions made during the course of the Russia probe.

Dannehy had been a top leader on the team, present for interviews with such officials, including Brennan.

Her departure could complicate the final stretch of an investigation already slowed by the coronavirus pandemic as key decisions presumably await before the probe wraps up.

There is also pressure to wrap up soon, given that Justice Department policy frowns on investigative steps that could affect an election.

Barr has said that policy would not apply here since Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden is not a target of the probe.

It’s also not clear that Durham’s work would be permitted to continue if Trump loses in November and Democratic leadership assumes control at the Justice Department.

On Friday, Rep. Brian Babin, R-Texas, urged Barr to move “expeditiously” in reaching his conclusions.

“An election schedule should not dictate when the findings of John Durham’s investigation, once concluded, are made public,” Babin wrote in a letter to the attorney general.

“As potentially one of the country’s biggest political crimes, the American people deserve to know, in an expeditious manner, about any criminal actions that took place in past investigations,” he continued. “Americans are relying on this report to fully inform them of any misconduct by top-ranked federal officials. We have waited for justice long enough.”

Trump himself has indicated that he wants results soon, saying at a White House press conference on Thursday that Durham was a “very, very respected man” and that his work would involve a “report or maybe it’s much more than that.”

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

New DOJ Docs Reveal Mueller’s Investigators Wiped Phones of Important Data

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New DOJ Docs Reveal Mueller’s Investigators Wiped Phones of Important Data

Newly released Department of Justice documents revealed that a number of investigators on former special counsel Robert Mueller’s team “accidentally wiped” their phones of vital information.

Andrew Weissmann, a manager on the Mueller team, reported that two of his special counsel’s office phones were wiped—one by accident, and another by entering the wrong password too many times, according to the documents.

“Wiped phone due to attempting the incorrect password to [sic] many times, believed had less than 10 text messages, and 5 photos of non-investigative or informational significance,” read one entry for assistant special counsel Greg Andres.

Another entry for Kyle Freeny, a former prosecutor on the team, read: “Phone was accidentally wiped prior to records review.”

At least 15 other phones were similarly wiped of information before their review by the DOJ, according to the Federalist’s Sean Davis.

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, sent a letter to the DOJ after the 87-page document drop and demanded to know what was being done to recover the material that had been deleted from these mobile devices.

He pointed out that many of these devices were not wiped until the DOJ inspector general began his inquiry into the origins of the Mueller investigation, which raised questions about the timing.

“It appears that Special Counsel Mueller’s team may have deleted federal records that could be key to better understanding their decision-making process as they pursued their investigation and wrote their report,” Grassley wrote.

“Based on this new information, the number of times and the stated reasons for the deletions calls into question whether or not it was a widespread intentional effort.”

Antifa Arsonist Caught Starting Fire after Left Tries to Blame Proud Boys, Climate Change

Ben Sellers
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Antifa Arsonist Caught Starting Fire after Left Tries to Blame Proud Boys, Climate Change

No longer content with starting Dumpster fires in sanctuary cities, at least one left-wing serial arsonist appeared to have branched out to other parts of the Pacific Northwest.

Blue-state officials and their liberal media allies sought to muddy the waters by suggesting that fringe-right groups might be responsible for the recent series of devastating brushfires.

However, that narrative was seemingly debunked when Washington State police caught radical leftist militant Jeffrey Acord, 36, attempting to start another fire near Tacoma.

Acord was nabbed Wednesday after calling 9-1-1 for the fire he allegedly started in the highway median and attempting to livestream the response on his Facebook page.

He also was placed at the scene earlier that morning after a woman reported him walking around in the area flashing a lighter, the Post Millennial reported.

At the time, he claimed he was looking for his lost camera equipment and was “trying to cover the area thoroughly.”

Even after police caught him in the act, Acord again feigned innocence.

“There’s nothing you can connect to me to this at all,” he claimed in his Facebook stream. “I was literally calling this in.”

Although the fire was quickly contained, police were forced to close an exit ramp.

According to American Greatness, Acord also is suspected of starting two other fires that have raged in the area.

One of those fires has burned more than 800 acres and was only 20 percent contained as of Thursday. Another had destroyed four homes.

Something that is easy to connect Acord to is his history of criminal activity and anti-police activism.

He identifies himself on social media as a professional Door Dash delivery person. However, evidence suggests Acord is linked with the domestic terrorism group Antifa.

In one series of photos posted to Facebook in July, he flashed the middle finger while wearing a shirt that says “F**K YOUR WAR F**K YOUR BORDERS WE WON’T FOLLOW YOUR F**KIN’ ORDERS.”

He also posted video and footage of himself leading a June Black Lives Matter protest in Seattle.

During 2014 protests following the acquittal of police in Ferguson, Missouri, over the Michael Brown shooting, Acord was arrested with a cache of weapons that included a knife with a 7-inch blade, two gun, ammunition and a car full of illegal fireworks, reported the Post Millennial.

While Democrats have spent several months insisting that radicals were engaged in largely peaceful protests, a recent wave of violence has shattered that narrative, forcing even presidential candidate Joe Biden to nominally condemn the rioting.

Last week, an avowed Antifa operative in Oregon was killed in a standoff with authorities who were moving in to arrest him for the murder of an unarmed Patriot Prayer demonstrator in Portland.

Despite Acord’s subversive track record, mainstream media such as the Associated Press refused to acknowledge as of Thursday that leftist radicals were to blame for the fires.

Coverage instead sought to implicate, by insinuation, right-wing demonstrators associated with groups like the Proud Boys.

Some local officials supported the narrative by leaving it up in the air who was responsible and condemning a rush to judgment over “rumors.”

Meanwhile, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, who campaigned for president last year on a radical green agenda, suggested that the only human activity involved in starting the fires was man-made climate change.

St. Louis Police Cite Nine Rioters for Trespassing at McCloskey Home

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St. Louis Police Cite Nine Rioters for Trespassing at McCloskey Home

(Headline USA) Nine protesters have been issued trespassing summonses for marching onto a private St. Louis street in June, a demonstration that prompted a couple armed with guns to confront the demonstrators while defending their home.

Mark and Patricia McCloskey were both charged in July with unlawful use of a weapon despite “castle” laws in the state that protect homeowners defending their property.

The case against the McCloskeys quickly unraveled amid evidence that prosecutor Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner—a Democrat financially backed by globalist mega-donor George Soros—had politically targeted them and later tampered with evidence.

Gardner had previously declared that she would not prosecute any of the rioters engaged in widespread destruction including theft, vandalism, arson and assault.

But police spokeswoman Evita Caldwell on Friday confirmed that nine protesters have been issued summonses.

The St. Louis City Counselor’s office is still deciding whether to issue charges on the citations.

The Rev. Darryl Gray, who led the protest, called the citations an attempt to intimidate peaceful protesters.

“We’re not going to be threatened, and that’s what’s happening across this country,” said Gray, who was not issued a summons.

“You’ve got local governments and states who are trying to charge protesters, financially charge them, wanting them to pay costs,” he continued. “You’ve got others who want to make it a law against exercising our First Amendment right.”

On June 28, about 300 rioters veered onto the private street, where the McCloskeys said they ignored a “No Trespassing” sign and broke through a gate.

Mark McCloskey, 63, came out of the couple’s home with an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle, a probable cause statement said.

Patricia McCloskey, 61, emerged with a semi-automatic handgun. No shots were fired.

Missouri law allows homeowners to use force, even lethal force, to defend their homes. But Gardner said the guns created the risk of bloodshed.

A police probable cause statement said protesters feared “being injured due to Patricia McCloskey’s finger being on the trigger, coupled with her excited demeanor.”

The charges against the McCloskeys drew an angry response from President Donald Trump.

The couple spoke on video at the Republican National Convention, saying they had a “God-given right” to defend themselves and warning that unless Trump is reelected, America faces a future of lawlessness and mayhem.

Meanwhile, Republican Missouri Gov. Mike Parson has said he will almost certainly pardon the McCloskeys if they are convicted. Their case is still pending in court.

While the McCloskeys face felony charges, trespassing is a lower-level crime that is handled by the city counselor’s office, not Gardner’s office.

Deputy City Counselor Mike Garvin told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that his office wants to examine video from the protest “to see where the accused trespassers were at the time.”

Protester Ohun Ashe wrote on Twitter on Sept. 4 that she had received a summons for trespassing outside the McCloskeys’ home.

“I had a gun waved in my face by them but trespassing is what matters?” she wrote.

It wasn’t clear why just nine of the estimated 300 protesters were issued summonses. Police declined comment beyond a brief statement acknowledging the summonses.

A phone message left with the city counselor’s office was not immediately returned.

At least one man, retired St. Louis police Capt. David Dorn, was murdered during the early riots as thugs attempted to loot the pawn shop owned by his childhood friend. Dorn’s death was captured by his assailants in a Facebook livestream.

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