US Appeals Court Overrules Texas GOP’s In-Person Convention

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US Appeals Court Overrules Texas GOP’s In-Person Convention

(Headline USA) A federal appeals court has overruled a judge’s decision allowing the Texas Republican Party to hold an in-person convention in Houston.

In an order issued Saturday, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals stayed Friday’s ruling that would have permitted the Republican Party of Texas to host an in-person convention at the George R. Brown Convention Center.

It came one day after Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner vowed to appeal the case.

Judge Lynn Hughes, of the Southern District of Texas, had ruled Friday that the city of Houston violated the GOP’s constitutional rights by canceling the event.

Turner, a Democrat, had directed convention center operators earlier this month to cancel the Texas GOP’s contract to hold an in-person convention this weekend.

The mayor said he believed the three-day event could not be held safely.

The party sued, alleging breach of contract, but it lost an appeal at the Texas Supreme Court on Monday.

The in-person convention was initially set to run from Thursday to Saturday.

But James Dickey, chairman of the Republican Party of Texas, said Friday the party was still on-track to try a virtual gathering this weekend.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press.

Nick Freitas, Rand Paul-Backed Green Beret, Wins Virginia GOP Primary

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Nick Freitas, Rand Paul-Backed Green Beret, Wins Virginia GOP Primary

(Headline USA) Virginia Republicans have picked state Del. Nick Freitas as their candidate to face off against U.S. Rep. Abigail Spanberger this fall in one of the country’s marquee congressional races.

News outlets report Freitas won a convention Saturday to be the GOP nominee for a Richmond-area congressional district.

Freitas, defeated state Del. John McGuire and several other candidates in a hard-fought convention that took several hours and three rounds of voting before a winner was declared.

Freitas is a libertarian-leaning former Green Beret who is backed by U.S. Sen. Rand Paul.

He unsuccessfully sought the GOP nomination for the U.S. Senate in 2018 and had to mount a pricey write-in campaign to keep his state House seat last year after failing to get his campaign paperwork in on time to ensure his name was on the ballot.

He failed to get his paperwork in on time again this year for the congressional race, but a state elections board recently voted 2-1 to give him an extension.

Spanberger is a former CIA officer who is one of several radical freshmen Democrats who flipped districts won by President Donald Trump.

She defeated former U.S. Rep. Dave Brat two years ago. Brat, a tea party favorite, won a stunning primary victory over House Majority Leader Eric Cantor in 2014.

Adapted from reporting by Associated Press.

Portland Mayor Tells Trump to Remove DHS Agents from City

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Portland Mayor Tells Trump to Remove DHS Agents from City

The mayor of Portland demanded Friday that President Donald Trump remove militarized federal agents he deployed to the city after some detained people on streets far from federal property they were sent to protect.

“Keep your troops in your own buildings, or have them leave our city,” Mayor Ted Wheeler said at a news conference.

Democratic Gov. Kate Brown said Trump is looking for a confrontation in the hopes of winning political points elsewhere.

Brown’s spokesman, Charles Boyle, said Friday that arresting people without probable cause is “extraordinarily concerning and a violation of their civil liberties and constitutional rights.”

Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum said she would file a lawsuit in federal court against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the Marshals Service, Customs and Border Protection and Federal Protection Service alleging they have violated the civil rights of Oregonians by detaining them without probable cause.

She will also seek a temporary restraining order against them.

The ACLU of Oregon said the federal agents appear to be violating people’s rights, which “should concern everyone in the United States.”

“Usually when we see people in unmarked cars forcibly grab someone off the street we call it kidnapping,” said Jann Carson, interim executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon. “The actions of the militarized federal officers are flat-out unconstitutional and will not go unanswered.”

Federal officers have charged at least 13 people with crimes related to the violence so far, Oregon Public Broadcasting reported Thursday.

Some have been detained by the federal courthouse, which has been the scene of violence. But others were grabbed blocks away.

“This is part of the core media strategy out of Trump’s White House: to use federal troops to bolster his sagging polling data,” Wheeler said. “And it is an absolute abuse of federal law enforcement officials.”

One video showed two people in helmets and green camouflage with “police” patches grabbing a person on the sidewalk, handcuffing them and taking them into an unmarked vehicle.

“Who are you?” someone asks the pair, who do not respond. At least some of the federal officers belong to the Department of Homeland Security.

Customs and Border Protection said in a statement that its agents had information indicating the person in the video was suspected of assaulting federal agents or destroying federal property.

“Once CBP agents approached the suspect, a large and violent mob moved towards their location. For everyone’s safety, CBP agents quickly moved the suspect to a safer location,” the agency said.

In another case, Mark Pettibone, 29, said a minivan rolled up to him around 2 a.m. Wednesday and four or five people got out “looking like they were deployed to a Middle Eastern war.”

Pettibone told The Associated Press he got to his knees as the group approached. They dragged him into the van without identifying themselves or responding to his questions and pulled his beanie over his eyes so he couldn’t see, he said.

“I figured I was just going to disappear for an indefinite amount of time,” Pettibone said.
Pettibone said he was put into a cell and officers dumped the contents of his backpack, with one remarking: “Oh, this is a bunch of nothing.”

After he asked for a lawyer, Pettibone was allowed to leave.

“Authoritarian governments, not democratic republics, send unmarked authorities after protesters,” Democratic U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley said in a tweet.

U.S. Attorney Billy Williams in Portland said Friday he has requested the Department of Homeland Security Office of the Inspector General to investigate the actions of DHS personnel.

In a letter Friday, Oregon’s two senators and two of its House members demanded that U.S. Attorney General William Barr and Homeland Security Acting Secretary Chad Wolf immediately withdraw “these federal paramilitary forces from our state.”

The members of Congress also said they’ll be asking the DHS inspector general and the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate the presence and actions of federal forces in Portland.

On Thursday night, federal officers deployed tear gas and fired non-lethal rounds into a crowd of rioters.

Wolf visited Portland on Thursday and called the rioters “violent anarchists.”

Wolf blamed state and city authorities for not putting an end to the protests. But Portland police said Friday they wound up arresting 20 people overnight.

At least two protests occurred Thursday night, one near the federal courthouse and the other by a police station in another part of the city. Police told protesters to leave that site after announcing they heard some chanting about burning down the building.

Protester Paul Frazier said Friday the chant was “much more rhetorical than an actual statement.”

Portland Police Chief Chuck Lovell told reporters Friday that his officers are in contact with the federal agents, but that neither controls the others’ actions.

“We do communicate with federal officers for the purpose of situational awareness and deconfliction,” Lovell said. “We’re operating in a very, very close proximity to one another.”

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press.

Antifa Psycho Burns Himself Trying to Torch Police Car at Supreme Court

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Antifa Psycho Burns Himself Trying to Torch Police Car at Supreme Court

Cody Tarner, 22, is just an average Satanist-anarchist from Hagerstown, Maryland whose concerns about police brutality and fascism led to the steps of the fabled U.S. Supreme Court.

There, Tarner decided to raise awareness about his concerns by lighting a police car on fire.

But, as they say, the best-laid plans often go to waste — and in Tarner’s case, his best efforts landed him in the hospital with severe third-degree burns and multiple federal felony charges.

As HeadlineUSA previously reported, a court staffer recalled being unnerved by loud bangs while eating lunch with friends on the National Mall. They looked in the direction of the strange noise and noticed flames shooting from under a car.

“A second later, the whole thing was literally a fireball,” the staffer said.

Somewhere in the blaze, Tarner had set himself on fire. Police and firefighters responded by extinguishing the flames and stabilizing the young man, who the Washington Metropolitan Police Department identified on Friday.

But a look into Tarner’s Facebook account shows that he is no well-meaning anti-racist college kid, as news reports often identify Antifa members.

Instead, his social media posts show a dangerously unhinged left-wing radical capable of extreme violence.

Cody Tarner/PHOTO: Facebook

“It appears as long as I do not Jump fence they will allow me to remain. Come to White House front door to End This Admin,” he posted on April 23.

Another post, dated July 1, is titled “/666/ SHEEP MOBILIZATION /666/.”

“I REALLY wanted to be finished But it appears That Trump’s First National Security Advisor Has FINALLY defeated ME,” he wrote. “Excuse me sorry, It looks like those were Tears But it was only from Laughter Children of Light Vs The Children of Darkness?”

Tarner also posted an MSNBC video clip from showing “NeverTrump” Republican Steve Schmidt saying that President Donald Trump’s “betrayal of U.S. troops is impossible to overstate.”

Image of Cody Tarner’s Facebook wall/IMAGE: Facebook

Tarner also posted a Fox News video from June 29 that reported the arson attack on St. John’s Church near the White House.

Insane ramblings follow, including the blurb: “You say, The 13th Amendment Ended Slavery Yet what I read Is that it just prohibits it Unless you produce Prisoners At High Demand So you Brutalize Demographics who only wish to survive When Haiti is a Native American island Colonized by Europeans Yet Today is Only Black.”

Defunding the police, Antifa, nuclear holocaust and dark, highly disturbing Satanic images and references litter Tarner’s Facebook timeline.

“I paid my Dues, Now your Greatest and Gods couldn’t defeat what began as a PsyOp,” his account tagline reads.

Tarner remains in the hospital as of Friday afternoon and has been charged with felony destruction of property and using fire to destroy property, among other counts. An adjacent vehicle was also damaged during the arson attack.

His Facebook posts offer a frightening view into the mind of an Antifa radical who may be one of many such ticking time bombs currently involved in nationwide social justice mobs.

Newly Declassified Documents Further Undercut Steele Dossier

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Newly Declassified Documents Further Undercut Steele Dossier

The Senate Judiciary Committee released newly declassified documents on Friday that “significantly undercut” the “reliability” of the Steele dossier — the basis for the phony investigation Democrats relied upon to launch the debunked Russian collusion conspiracy — according to Chairman Lindsey Graham.

The first document is a summary of a three-day interview with ex-British spy Christopher Steele’s primary sub-source. The source, according to the committee, told the FBI in 2017 that the information Steele provided in the dossier was “unsubstantiated and unreliable.”

Steele’s source told the FBI multiple times that he “disagreed with and was surprised by” the way Steele conveyed his intel in the dossier.

Despite this, the FBI, led at the time by Director James Comey, pursued the Russiagate hoax anyways.

The document also reveals that Steele’s primary source on election reporting was not a current or former Russian official, but a non-Russian-based contract employee who worked for Steele’s firm. That means Steele’s primary source was giving him “second- and third-hand information at best.”

The source told the FBI that he “did not recall” where some of the information Steele had attributed to him came from, and accused Steele of “re-characterizing” some of the information to make it seem more credible and “less attenuated” than it really was, according to the committee. And in some cases, Steele flat-out lied and “implied direct access to information where the access to information was indirect.”

The second declassified document obtained by the committee contains type-written notes by former FBI special agent Peter Strzok, in which Strzok disagrees with certain assertions made in a New York Times article about the Trump campaign’s alleged ties to Russia.

In the notes, Strzok admits that “recent interviews and investigation … reveal Steele may not be in a position to judge the reliability of his sub-source network.”

Strzok also wrote that “the FBI may have been using foreign intelligence gathering techniques to impermissibly unmask and analyze existing and future intelligence collection regarding U.S. persons associated with the Trump campaign,” referring to former Trump campaign aide Carter Page.

Graham, R-SC, said he was “very pleased” with the results of his committee’s investigation.

“What have we learned from the release of these two documents by the Department of Justice? Number one, it is clear to me that the memo regarding the FBI interview of the primary sub-source in January 2017 should have required the system to stop and reevaluate the case against Mr. Page,” Graham said in a statement.

“Most importantly after this interview of the sub-source and the subsequent memo detailing the contents of the interview, it was a miscarriage of justice for the FBI and the Department of Justice to continue to seek a FISA warrant against Carter Page in April and June of 2017.”

Moreover, Strzok’s comments “are devastating in that they are an admission that there was no reliable evidence that anyone from the Trump campaign was working with Russian intelligence agencies in any form,” Graham continued.

“These documents, which I have long sought, tell a damning story for anyone who’s interested in trying to find the truth behind the corrupt nature of the FBI’s investigation into the Trump campaign in 2016 and beyond,” he concluded.

Calif. Churches Sue Gov. Newsom for Exec. Order That Forbids Singing

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Calif. Churches Sue Gov. Newsom for Exec. Order That Forbids Singing

Three northern California churches filed a lawsuit against Gov. Gavin Newsom and other public health officials for passing a policy forbidding singing and chanting in houses of worship during the coronavirus pandemic.

Calvary Chapel of Ukiah, Calvary Chapel Fort Bragg, and River of Life Church in Oroville, Calif. allege that Newsom’s recent executive order violates the churches’ constitutional right to worship freely without obstruction.

Newsom’s order, passed on July 1, states, “Places of worship must therefore discontinue singing and chanting activities,” citing coronavirus-related concerns.

The governor’s order unfairly targets churches and other places of worship, the lawsuit states, since it does not mention the mass protests over the George Floyd that took place with chanting and shouting.

“Despite the ongoing and even increasing restrictions on the protected First Amendment rights to freely assemble and engage in religious exercise as it relates to places of worship, Newsom has been unwavering in his support of massive protests in California,” the lawsuit reads.

Singing and praying aloud “is an integral part of worship for believers,” the churches argue, pointing out that Scripture instructs followers to sing.

“Singing in church is a biblical mandate,” said Kevin Green, pastor of Calvary Chapel in Fort Bragg.

Restricting that right is an “unconstitutional abuse of power,” said Jordan Sekulow, executive director of the American Center for Law & Justice.

“And to do it in the name of a pandemic is despicable,” Sekulow said in a statement. “This ban is clearly targeted at religion. It is clearly a violation of the First Amendment and a direct violation of religious liberty.”

Newsom’s office has not commented on the lawsuit, but he did recently implement several restrictions as coronavirus cases in the state increase.

The churches pointed out, however, that the three counties in which they are located have not been placed on the governor’s COVID-19 watchlist, which means they are exempt from the extended restrictions.

That Newsom hasn’t taken this into consideration proves he is “unfairly” and “aggressively” targeting houses of worship, ACLJ said in a press release.

Mayor Calls McEnany ‘Karen’ for Criticizing Chicago’s Out-of-Control Crime

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Mayor Calls McEnany ‘Karen’ for Criticizing Chicago’s Out-of-Control Crime

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot lashed out at White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany on Thursday, calling her a “Karen” for publicly criticizing the way Chicago has dealt with rising crime in the city.

During a press briefing on Thursday, McEnany said that President Trump is just as concerned about violence in Democratic-run cities as he is with the coronavirus pandemic.

“There are other things the President has to focus on: namely, Democrat cities not controlling their streets; namely, the mayor of Chicago — people dying in her — in her — on the streets of her city every weekend. And the President sent her a letter saying, ‘You must secure your city,‘” McEnany explained.

McEnany went on to call the violence in Chicago “unacceptable,” warning Lightfoot that if she does not do something to address crime, Trump will “take action.”

“The derelict mayor of Chicago should step up and ask for federal help because she’s doing a very poor job at securing her streets,” she said.

In response, Lightfoot told McEnany to “watch her mouth”:

Unsurprisingly, Lightfoot refused to address McEnany’s point, which is that her abdication of responsibility has led to an enormous amount of crime and violence in Chicago.

Several users pointed out Lightfoot’s attempt to dodge criticism and urged her to do her job:

AOC Protege Takes Out Another Establishment NY Democrat

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AOC Protege Takes Out Another Establishment NY Democrat

(Associated Press) Former middle school principal Jamaal Bowman has toppled 16-term U.S. Rep. Eliot Engel in New York’s Democratic primary in another upset victory for the party’s insurgent wing.

A political novice who has never held public office before, Bowman, 44, was a progressive African American challenger who said Engel, the 73-year-old chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, had lost touch with his economically and racially diverse district.

Bowman declared victory in the race on June 24, a day after the primary election. The Associated Press was able to call the race Friday after obtaining an absentee vote count that showed Engel narrowly ahead among votes received by mail, but not by nearly the margin necessary to overcome Bowman’s Election Day advantage. 

Bowman earned his extraordinary win in a campaign season upended first by the coronavirus outbreak, then by protests over the death of George Floyd.

“I’m a black man who was raised by a single mother in a housing project. That story doesn’t usually end in Congress. But today, that 11-year old boy who was beaten by police is about to be your next Representative,” Bowman said in a statement.

Bowman said his campaign was anchored in the fight for racial and economic justice “and it resonated in every part of the district.”

Alexandra Rojas, executive director of Justice Democrats, a progressive organization that backed Bowman, said in a statement, “This win proves that a black man who survived poverty and police violence at 11 years old has the power to transform his community and country.” 

Both candidates were unable to do traditional campaigning because of social distancing restrictions, but Bowman criticized Engel for staying at his home in Maryland as the pandemic turned his district in the Bronx and suburban Westchester County into one of the virus’s most deadly hunting grounds.

Engel said he was working on behalf of the district from Washington.

Then, after protests over Floyd’s death in Minnesota gave way to two nights of looting, Engel had a bad gaffe while appearing at a Bronx event where he joined other local politicians appealing for peace. 

“If I didn’t have a primary, I wouldn’t care,” he said while pleading with the lead organizer for a chance to speak, in a comment picked up by a live microphone.

Engel, who is white, said he has “always believed that Black lives matter” and said his comments were taken out of context, but Bowman, who has spoken of his own experiences with police brutality, said they illustrated why the district needed new leadership.

By defeating Engel, Bowman replicated the success of democratic socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who defeated another powerful New York City Democrat, Joe Crowley, in a neighboring congressional district two years ago.

A message seeking comment was left with an Engel campaign spokesman on Friday.

The AP called the race after obtaining the absentee vote count from Westchester County. Votes cast by mail in the Bronx have yet to be released, but an AP analysis of absentee ballots counted so far indicated that Bowman’s lead from votes cast in person is too large for Engel to overcome.

The campaign was the latest proxy battle between the party’s progressive and pragmatic wings. Bowman was endorsed by Ocasio-Cortez and U.S. Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren while Engel picked up support from Hillary Clinton and U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer.

Bowman grew up in public housing in New York City. He was a teacher and school counselor for several years before becoming the founding principal of a Bronx middle school, the Cornerstone Academy for Social Action.

Candidates Chris Fink, Sammy Ravelo and Andom Ghebreghiorgis also appeared on the ballot, although Ghebreghiorgis withdrew from the race and endorsed Bowman.

The district is heavily Democratic, so the primary winner is virtually assured of victory in the general election in November.

Liberals Freak Out as Lara Trump Lets Dog Rip Apart Pelosi Doll

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Liberals Freak Out as Lara Trump Lets Dog Rip Apart Pelosi Doll

Eric Trump’s wife, Lara, posted a video on Twitter on Friday showing her dog tearing up a Nancy Pelosi doll, and liberals immediately cried foul.

In the video, Lara Trump holds up the Nancy Pelosi doll, which is dressed in pearls with an American flag pin, and asks one of her kids, “Hey, Luke, what’s the doll called that Ben has? What do we call this toy?”

Her son replies, “Nancy.”

“Nancy, that’s right,” Lara Trump said as she laughs and hands the toy back to her dog.

Unsurprisingly, liberals were not amused with the Trumps’ joke.

Other users, however, said they wanted the Pelosi doll, too.

Justice Ginsburg Says Cancer Has Returned, But Won’t Retire

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Justice Ginsburg Says Cancer Has Returned, But Won’t Retire

(Associated Press) Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said Friday she is receiving chemotherapy for a recurrence of cancer, but has no plans to retire from the Supreme Court.

The 87-year-old Ginsburg, who spent time in the hospital this week for a possible infection, said her treatment so far has succeeded in reducing lesions on her liver and that she will continue chemotherapy sessions every two weeks.

“I have often said I would remain a member of the Court as long as I can do the job full steam. I remain fully able to do that,” Ginsburg said in a statement issued by the court.

She said her recent hospitalizations, including one in May, were unrelated to the cancer.

A medical scan in February revealed growths on her liver, she said, and she began chemotherapy in May. 

“My most recent scan on July 7 indicated significant reduction of the liver lesions and no new disease,” she said. “I am tolerating chemotherapy well and am encouraged by the success of my current treatment.”

Ginsburg, who was appointed by President Bill Clinton and joined the court in 1993, has been treated four times for cancer.

In addition to the tumor on her pancreas last year, she was previously treated for colorectal cancer in 1999 and pancreatic cancer in 2009.

She had lung surgery to remove cancerous growths in December 2018.

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