‘We understand the dynamics that are playing out in Baltimore…’
A monument to Christopher Columbus in Barcelona, Spain / PHOTO: andryn2006 (CC) via Flickr
(Liberty Headlines) Baltimore vandals pulled down a statue of Christopher Columbus and threw it into the city’s Inner Harbor on Saturday night.
They used ropes to topple the monument near the Little Italy neighborhood, news outlets reported.
They say the Italian explorer is responsible for the genocide and exploitation of native peoples in the Americas in the 15th century.
According to The Baltimore Sun, the statue was owned by the city and dedicated in 1984 by former Mayor William Donald Schaefer and President Ronald Reagan.
A spokesman for Baltimore Mayor Bernard C. “Jack” Young told The Sun the toppling of the statue is a part of a national and global reexamination over monuments “that may represent different things to different people.”
“We understand the dynamics that are playing out in Baltimore are part of a national narrative,” Lester Davis said.
Statues of Columbus have also been toppled or vandalized in cities such as Miami; Richmond, Virginia; St. Paul, Minnesota; and Boston, where one was decapitated.
‘The radical view of American history is a web of lies…’
AP Photo: Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.
(Liberty Headlines) President Donald Trump has a vision for his second term, if he wins one, of establishing a “National Garden of American Heroes” that will pay tribute to some of the most prominent figures in U.S. history, a collection of “the greatest Americans to ever live.”
His idea was first conveyed in a speech Friday night at Mount Rushmore and expanded on in an executive order.
The group of 30-plus features Founding Fathers and presidents, civil rights pioneers and aviation innovators, explorers and generals.
The White House and Interior Department declined to comment on how the list was assembled.
Trump on Saturday spoke glowingly about his selections as an “incredible group,” but also noted they “are just a few of the people” he is considering and “are subject to change.”
“But once we make that decision, those great names are going to be up there and they’re never coming down,” Trump said in a speech at his “Salute for America” celebration at the White House to mark Independence Day.
Trump’s list includes George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King Jr., all already represented on or near the National Mall in Washington, along with Susan B. Anthony, Daniel Boone, Davy Crockett, Frederick Douglass, Amelia Earhart, Billy Graham, Douglas MacArthur, Christa McAuliffe, Jackie Robinson, Betsy Ross, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Harriet Tubman, Booker T. Washington and Orville and Wilbur Wright.
Trump also is looking to add Antonin Scalia, the late Supreme Court Justice.
Trump in recent weeks has repeatedly condemned the desecration and toppling of historic statues by violent vandals.
“We will raise the next generation of American patriots,” Trump said at Mount Rushmore. “We will write the next thrilling chapter of the American adventure. And we will teach our children to know that they live in a land of legends, that nothing can stop them, and that no one can hold them down.”
His executive order says the garden should open before July 4, 2024, and he leaves it up to a federal task force to make recommendations about the use of federal money and a proposed site.
The order specifies “a site of natural beauty” that is near at least one major population center.
The order says priority should be given to monuments to former presidents, to individuals and events relating to the discovery of America, the founding of the United States, and the abolition of slavery.
“None will have lived perfect lives, but all will be worth honoring, remembering, and studying,” according to the order.
The order includes language to make clear that non-U.S. citizens who played significant roles in American history also could be honored in the garden.
As examples of individuals who made substantive contributions to America’s public life or otherwise had a substantive effect on America’s history, it cites: Italian explorer Christopher Columbus; Junipero Serra, a Roman Catholic priest who established Spanish missions in California; and the Marquis de La Fayette, a French officer who fought in the American Revolutionary War.
A statue of Columbus was removed this past week from outside the city hall in Columbus, Ohio.
Last month, protesters toppled a statue of Serra in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park.
Trump on Friday again lashed out against a “left-wing cultural revolution” that he says is teaching American children “that the men and women who built” the country “were not heroes, but that were villains.”
“The radical view of American history is a web of lies — all perspective is removed, every virtue is obscured, every motive is twisted, every fact is distorted, and every flaw is magnified until the history is purged and the record is disfigured beyond all recognition,” Trump said.
(Liberty Headlines) A weekly Kansas newspaper whose publisher is a county Republican Party chairman posted a cartoon on its Facebook page likening the Democratic governor’s order to the mentality that led to the Holocaust.
The cartoon on the Anderson County Review’s Facebook page depicts Gov. Laura Kelly wearing a mask with a Jewish Star of David on it, next to a drawing of people being loaded onto train cars.
Its caption is, “Lockdown Laura says: Put on your mask … and step onto the cattle car.”
The newspaper posted the cartoon on Friday, the day that Kelly’s mask order aimed at stemming the spread of the coronavirus took effect.
Dane Hicks, the paper’s owner and publisher, said in an email to The Associated Press that he plans to publish the cartoon in the newspaper’s next edition Tuesday.
Kelly, who is Catholic, issued a statement saying, “Mr. Hicks’ decision to publish anti-Semitic imagery is deeply offensive and he should remove it immediately.”
But Hicks said in an email that political cartoons are “gross over-caricatures designed to provoke debate” and “fodder for the marketplace of ideas.”
“The topic here is the governmental overreach which has been the hallmark of Governor Kelly’s administration,” he said.
As for the cartoon’s reference to the Holocaust, Hicks said critics of President Donald Trump have compared him to Adolf Hitler, and, “I certainly have more evidence of that kind of totalitarianism in Kelly’s actions, in an editorial cartoon sort of way, than Trump’s critics do, yet they persist in it daily.”
Hicks’ newspaper is based in the Anderson County seat of Garnett, about 65 miles (105 kilometers) southwest of Kansas City and has a circulation of about 2,100, according to the Kansas Press Association.
Hicks also is Anderson County’s GOP chairman. Kansas Republican Party Chairman Michael Kuckelman said in a text that posting the cartoon is “inappropriate.”
Hicks said that if Holocaust survivors, their relatives or other Jews are offended, he would apologize to them because he means “no slight to them.”
“Then again, they better than anyone should appreciate the harbingers of governmental overreach and the present but tender seedlings of tyranny,” he added.
Hicks said his social media critics are “liberal Marxist parasites,” adding, “As a traditional American, they are my enemy.”
Some Republicans have criticized Kelly’s order as infringing on personal liberties, though Kansas law allows counties to opt out and Anderson County has done so.
The governor issued the order because of resurgence in reported coronavirus cases that increased the state’s total to nearly 16,000 as of Friday, when Kansas finished its worst two-week spike since the pandemic began.
The state has reported 277 COVID-19-related deaths. The number of infections is thought to be far higher because many people have not been tested, and studies suggest people can be infected with the virus without feeling sick.
Hicks previously criticized Kelly in a blog post for taking a “one-size-fits-all approach to reopening what he called the state’s “bureaucracy-hammered” economy.
Kelly lifted statewide restrictions on businesses and public gatherings on May 26 after weeks of criticism from the Republican-controlled Legislature that she was moving too slowly to reopen the state’s economy.
Conservative GOP lawmakers also have accused her of being heavy-handed and even dictatorial in responding to the pandemic.
Anderson County, with about 7,900 residents, is part of a conservative swath of eastern Kansas.
Registered Republicans outnumber Democrats 2-to-1 and Trump carried it with nearly 73% of the vote in 2016.
The state health department has reported only four coronavirus cases for Anderson County, all of them since May 8. There have been no reported deaths there.
‘These cars will get a lot of talk value beyond simply appearing on a car…’
AP Photo: Driver Bubba Wallace.
(Liberty Headlines) Many a fan is quick to insist they do not like politics in their sports — no kneeling, no raised fists, no T-shirt messages. Just the game or event, please and thank you.
In NASCAR, the colorful paint schemes on the stock cars themselves have taken a decidedly political turn in recent weeks — and will again this weekend.
Corey LaJoie’s car will carry a scheme touting the re-election bid of President Donald Trump during Sunday’s Brickyard 400.
The Patriots of America PAC spent $350,000 for the political advertisement that will be seen by anyone who catches a glimpse of the No. 32 Ford on NBC.
Political ads are not unheard of in NASCAR.
“Let’s just say there’s been a lot of Corey LaJoie stories this week,” said Tom Jensen, manager of curatorial affairs for the NASCAR Hall of Fame. “Historically, I can tell you (NASCAR) sponsorship is a mixture of brand awareness, brand favorability and in some cases to move product directly.”
In February 2004, President George W. Bush attended the Daytona 500 while actively courting a swing-voter group his advisers dubbed “NASCAR dads.”
President Ronald Reagan celebrated Richard Petty’s final Cup victory at a post-race drivers picnic on July 4, 1984, and exactly eight years later President George H.W. Bush witnessed Petty’s final Cup start.
Bubba Wallace, the only Black driver in the Cup Series, helped persuade NASCAR to ban Confederate flags from its events less than two months ago.
He also ran Petty’s famed No. 43 car in a Black Lives Matter paint scheme that did not have a sponsor.
He also wore a T-shirt with the words “I can’t breathe.”
Mike Harmon Racing recently added the phrase #BackTheBlue, a reference to supporting police officers, to one of his Xfinity Series cars after running the message Blue Lives Matter earlier this season.
On Saturday, both of Harmon’s Xfinity cars will carry #StandForTheFlag and We Stand, a move that comes less than a month after NASCAR eliminated a rule that asked race teams to stand, hand over heart, during the national anthem.
Harmon said this week’s theme is about patriotism and is not a critique of NASCAR, which must approve all paint schemes, or any other views. Repairedvehicles.com is the sponsor.
“It’s just our belief,” Harmon said Friday. “I’ve met so many people who have been injured, that have lifetime injuries because they were fighting for our country, fighting for the flag and this is the least we can do for them and for our country.”
LaJoie’s red, white and blue car for Go FAS Racing will carry Trump 2020 in white lettering. The PAC also sponsored a Trump-themed Xfinity car earlier this year and appeared on LaJoie’s car last weekend as an associate sponsor.
Now, though, they will have a more prominent spot for the next nine races.
Trump has called the Black Lives Matter movement a “symbol of hate.”
“These cars will get a lot of talk value beyond simply appearing on a car,” said Jeff Richards, an advertising and public relations professor at Michigan State who was referring specifically to the cars driven by Wallace and LaJoie. “We also need to be aware that one or both of those probably will be subject to some negative remarks, too.”
‘We will be going directly to those who thumb their nose at public health and safety…’
AP Photo: Los Angeles Police officers.
(Liberty Headlines) California Gov. Gavin Newsom warned local elected officials on Friday they risk state sanctions if they don’t enforce health orders, while about 200 state inspectors enforced the orders over the long holiday weekend.
“A local government that refuses to abide by, ensure compliance with, or take enforcement action against noncompliance with these statewide public health directives, or that takes action that is otherwise incongruent with these directives, could jeopardize their eligibility for state funding,” Newsom said in letters to local officials.
The state budget that took effect this week includes $2.5 billion intended to help local governments pay for services that are needed because of the pandemic. But it is contingent on them following emergency health orders designed to slow the spread of the virus.
Law enforcement and other officials in some areas have publicly said they will not enforce the state health orders. But Newsom noted that it is a misdemeanor to violate state or local emergency orders or most local ordinances and encouraged “all peace officers” to enforce the orders.
“We are in unprecedented times,” he wrote, saying it is important to fight the pandemic “as a unified California.”
With testing showing a rising COVID-19 testing positivity rate and increasing hospitalizations, Newsom has rolled back or limited businesses reopening in Los Angeles and 20 other counties.
San Diego County, the state’s second-largest behind L.A. County with more than 3 million people, was added to the state’s watch list on Friday.
Recently reopened bars, indoor restaurant dining and other indoor entertainment venues were ordered closed back down in those counties for at least three weeks.
About 200 state inspectors enforced the health orders on Friday, and similar numbers will be out Saturday and Sunday, said Brian Ferguson, a spokesman for California’s Office of Emergency Services.
About half are from Alcohol Beverage Control, and the rest from the Division of Occupational Safety and Health and other state licensing entities.
They are part of new “strike teams” from 10 state agencies that Newsom on Wednesday said would focus on counties with the most restrictions.
“We will be going directly to those who thumb their nose at public health and safety,” Ferguson said in a statement. “State government will be out in force this weekend to make sure all California businesses and service providers are doing their part to slow the spread of COVID-19.”
The strike teams made 142 contacts with businesses on Thursday, their first day of operation, Ferguson said, and issued seven citations: two in Kern County, three in Los Angeles County and two in Santa Clara County.
Where possible and permitted, the battered restaurant industry moved tables outdoors onto sidewalks or into streets in hope of cashing in on the normally lucrative holiday.
‘This is going to rank up in the top Fourth of Julys that I talk about…’
AP Photo: President Donald Trump speaks at Mount Rushmore National Monument.
(Liberty Headlines) At the foot of Mount Rushmore on the eve of Independence Day, President Donald Trump said that violent arsonists, looters, rioters, and vandals are on a “merciless campaign to wipe out our history.”
“This movement is openly attacking the legacies of every person on Mount Rushmore,” Trump said.
He lamented “cancel culture” and charged that some on the political left hope to “defame our heroes, erase our values and indoctrinate our children.”
He said Americans should speak proudly of their heritage and shouldn’t have to apologize for its history.
“We will not be terrorized, we will not be demeaned, and we will not be intimidated by bad, evil people,” Trump added. “It will not happen.”
During the speech, the president announced he was signing an executive order to establish the National Garden of American Heroes, a vast outdoor park that will feature the statues of the “greatest Americans to ever live.”
Trump in recent weeks has increasingly opposed “left-wing mobs” and visited the nation’s southern border to spotlight progress on his 2016 campaign promise to build a U.S.-Mexico border wall.
The event, while not a campaign rally, had the feel of one as the friendly crowd greeted Trump with chants of “Four more years!” and cheered enthusiastically as he and first lady Melania Trump took the stage.
“They think the American people are weak and soft and submissive,” Trump said. “But no, the American people are strong and proud, and they will not allow our country and all of its values, history and culture to be taken from them.”
Republican Gov. Kristi Noem echoed Trump’s attacks against the terrorists who “are trying to wipe away the lessons of history.”
“Make no mistake: This is being done deliberately to discredit America’s founding principles by discrediting the individuals who formed them,” she said.
The small town of Keystone, which lies a couple of miles from the monument, was buzzing with people Friday hoping to catch a glimpse of the fireworks and the president. Many wore pro-Trump T-shirts and hats.
“This is going to rank up in the top Fourth of Julys that I talk about,” said Mike Stewhr, who brought his family from Nebraska.
About 15 protesters were arrested after blocking a road and missing a police-imposed deadline to leave.
Several people who once oversaw fire danger at the national memorial had said setting off fireworks over the forest was a bad idea that could lead to a large wildfire. Fireworks were called off after 2009 because a mountain pine beetle infestation increased the fire risks.
Noem pushed to get the fireworks resumed soon after she was elected, and enlisted Trump’s help. The president brushed aside fire concerns earlier this year, saying: “What can burn? It’s stone.”
Trump plans a July Fourth celebration on the National Mall in Washington.
‘I have a right to stop you because you’re being suspicious…’
Aurora Police Department: Erica Marrero, from left, Jaron Jones and Kyle Dittrich. Jason Rosenblatt.
(Liberty Headlines) Three officers were fired Friday over photos showing police reenact a chokehold used on Elijah McClain, a 23-year-old black man who died last year after police stopped him on the street in a Denver suburb.
One of those fired is Jason Rosenblatt, a white Aurora officer who helped stop McClain in August for wearing a ski mask and “being suspicious.”
Police put McClain in a chokehold, paramedics injected him with a sedative and McClain suffered cardiac arrest before later being taken off life support.
Aurora Interim Police Chief Vanessa Wilson told reporters that officers sent the photos to Rosenblatt and others two months after McClain died to “cheer up a friend,” without explaining who that was.
Rosenblatt responded with a text saying, “Haha.” Officer Nathan Woodyard, who put McClain in a chokehold, also got the photos but he was not disciplined because he didn’t respond.
“We are ashamed, we are sickened, and we are angry,” Wilson said.
The officers may not have committed a crime, but the photographs are “a crime against humanity and decency,” she added.
McClain’s death has become a rallying cry, with the state reopening the case for possible criminal charges and federal officials looking into a civil rights investigation.
In several places, the chokehold has been banned and other police reforms passed after nationwide protests.
McClain’s family, friends and community activists noted during a rally that justice was swifter for the mocking photograph than the use of force that led to McClain’s death.
The two other officers who stopped the young man are still on the force as authorities look again into possible criminal charges after clearing them last year.
“Rosenblatt got fired not for killing Elijah, not for murdering Elijah, but for making fun of Elijah,” said Terrence Roberts, a community organizer and family friend. “That is the culture that we’re fighting, where a police officer can murder a black man, a black child, and keep his job and stay on the force so he can go make fun of this child.”
Officers Kyle Dittrich, Erica Marrero and Jaron Jones — none of whom confronted McClain in August — smiled and mockingly placed each other in a chokehold in the photos taken in October near a memorial for McClain.
An officer reported the photos to a sergeant late last month, and an internal investigation began.
Rosenblatt, Dittrich and Marrero were fired for conduct unbecoming of an officer. Jones resigned earlier this week.
The Aurora Police Association called the investigation “a rush to judgment.”
The union for officers said on Facebook that the investigation took nine days, while a standard internal affairs case takes months.
Several police agencies have taken swift action to punish officers, including those involved in George Floyd’s death May 25 in Minneapolis that ushered in global demonstrations.
For Elijah McClain’s mother, Sheneen McClain, “it was just devastating to see that people were mocking the murder of her son,” family attorney Mari Newman said.
“The fact that three on-duty, in-uniform police officers thought that it was appropriate to reenact the murder, jokingly, shows that the department is rotten to the core,” she said.
Facing increasing pressure as celebrities and others on social media called for justice, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis last week ordered the state attorney general to reopen McClain’s case.
The officers stopped McClain, a massage therapist, after a 911 call on Aug. 24 reported him as suspicious because he was wearing a ski mask and flailing his arms. He begged them repeatedly to let go of him, according to body-camera video.
A forensic pathologist could not determine what exactly led to McClain’s death but said physical exertion during the confrontation likely contributed.
A prosecutor said he didn’t pursue criminal charges against the officers because the pathologist wasn’t able to determine if their actions caused McClain’s death.
District Attorney Dave Young recently called the young man’s death “tragic and unnecessary” but defended his decision.
Police body-camera video shows an officer getting out of his car, approaching McClain and saying, “Stop right there. Stop. Stop. … I have a right to stop you because you’re being suspicious.”
In the video, the officer turns McClain around and repeats, “Stop tensing up.” As McClain tries to escape the officer’s grip, the officer says, “Relax, or I’m going to have to change this situation.”
As other officers join to restrain McClain, he begs them to let go and says, “You guys started to arrest me, and I was stopping my music to listen.”
Aurora police have said McClain refused to stop walking and fought back when officers tried to take him into custody.
In the video, McClain tells officers: “Let go of me. I am an introvert. Please respect the boundaries that I am speaking.”
The U.S. attorney’s office, the U.S. Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and the FBI announced this week they are looking into whether to launch a civil rights investigation. Federal authorities said they also were considering an investigation into the photos.
‘I want to be someplace where the things I believe in are celebrated…’
AP Photo: Utah County Commissioner Nathan Ivie.
(Liberty Headlines) A Republican voted out of office in a primary after coming out as gay in conservative Utah says a backlash during the campaign has him questioning whether his party has a place for him.
Rancher Nathan Ivie announced his orientation last year while serving as a county commissioner in deep-red Utah County.
He said then he wanted to let people know it’s OK to live authentically as an LGBTQ Republican in an area where most people, including him, are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The faith is against same sex marriage but tries to take a welcoming stance to LGBTQ people.
Since coming out, Ivie has sponsored a successful resolution making Utah County a Second Amendment sanctuary to block gun restrictions. He also backed a resolution supporting more restrictions on abortion.
However, his vote in favor of a contentious property tax increase became a key issue in the race.
Many people were publicly supportive about him coming out.
But he’s also gotten angry messages when posting pictures of himself with his partner on his personal Facebook page.
“We have a lot of work to do in our community,” Ivie said Thursday. “It’s still a very hidden, suppressed thing but as someone living the experiences of discrimination you get it.”
The Utah LGBTQ rights group Equality Utah agreed his sexuality was a deciding factor in the race.
“He is as conservative a Republican as you can get — and the only difference between him and elected officials he serves with, is that he is openly gay,” said executive director Troy Williams
He and his wife separated shortly before he came out but they remain close and co-parent their children, including things like a blended July 4 camping trip with his partner, Ivie said.
The property tax hike also created political headwinds, and his opponent said that was the main determiner in the race.
Former Marine Lt. Col. Tom Sakievich said Ivie’s sexual orientation was referenced by some voters, but it was a “minor, minor issue” compared with the 67% tax hike approved by the commission.
Ivie said many voters understood the tax hike when he explained the real cost to the average homeowner was less than a Netflix subscription. That issue alone doesn’t explain his lopsided loss by 20 percentage points, he said.
The chair of the Utah GOP, meanwhile, pointed out that several incumbents in Utah were ousted this year due to tax issues, and he expects Ivie was one.
Derek Brown said he wants the GOP to welcome LGBTQ people. “As a party, if we have not done as good a job of doing outreach then as the chair I’m committed to making sure we do even better in the future,” he said.
Republican commissioner Tanner Ainge also voted in favor of the tax hike and tweeted his support of his colleague Thursday. He condemned hate mail as appalling and said Ivie “chose what was best for Utah County — not his own re-election.”
Ivie said he may run again for public office but perhaps as a Libertarian rather than a Republican.
“I want to be someplace where the things I believe in are celebrated. It’s certainly not the Democratic party. I’m becoming more and concerned it’s not the Republican party,” he said.
(Liberty Headlines) German lawmakers have finalized the country’s phase-out of coal as an energy source, backing a plan that environmental groups say isn’t ambitious enough and free marketeers criticize as a waste of taxpayers’ money.
Bills approved by both houses of parliament Friday envision shutting down the last coal-fired power plant by 2038 and spending some 40 billion euros ($45 billion) to help affected regions cope with the transition.
The plan is part of Germany’s ‘energy transition’ – an effort to wean Europe’s biggest economy off planet-warming fossil fuels and generate all of the country’s considerable energy needs from renewable sources.
Achieving that goal is made harder than in comparable countries such as France and Britain because of Germany’s existing commitment to also phase out nuclear power by the end of 2022.
“The days of coal are numbered in Germany,” Environment Minister Svenja Schulze said. “Germany is the first industrialized country that leaves behind both nuclear energy and coal.”
Greenpeace and other environmental groups have staged vocal protests against the plan, including by dropping a banner down the front of the Reichstag building Friday. They argue that the government’s road map won’t reduce Germany’s greenhouse gas emissions fast enough to meet the targets set out in the Paris climate accord.
“Germany, the country that burns the greatest amount of lignite coal worldwide, will burden the next generation with 18 more years of carbon dioxide,” Greenpeace Germany’s executive director Martin Kaiser told The Associated Press.
Kaiser, who was part of a government-appointed expert commission, accused Chancellor Angela Merkel of making a “historic mistake,” saying an end date for coal of 2030 would have sent a strong signal for European and global climate policy.
Merkel has said she wants Europe to be the first continent to end its greenhouse gas emissions, by 2050.
Germany closed its last black coal mine in 2018, but it continues to import the fuel and extract its own reserves of lignite, a brownish coal that is abundant in the west and east of the country.
Officials warn that the loss of mining jobs could hurt those economically fragile regions, though efforts are already under way to turn the vast lignite mines into nature reserves and lakeside resorts.
Schulze, the environment minister, said there would be regular government reviews to examine whether the end date for coal can be brought forward.
She noted that by the end of 2022, eight of the country’s most polluting coal-fired plants will have already been closed.
Environmentalists have also criticized the large sums being offered to coal companies to shut down their plants, a complaint shared by libertarians such as Germany’s opposition Free Democratic Party.
Katja Suding, a leading FDP lawmaker, said the government should have opted to expand existing emissions trading systems that put a price on carbon, thereby encouraging operators to shut down unprofitable coal plants.
“You just have to make it so expensive that it’s not profitable anymore to turn coal into electricity,” she said.
This week, utility companies in Spain shut down seven of the country’s 15 coal-fired power plants, saying they couldn’t be operated at profit without government subsidies.
But the head of Germany’s main miners’ union, Michael Vassiliadis, welcomed the decision, calling it a “historic milestone.”
He urged the government to focus next on expanding renewable energy generation and the use of hydrogen, which is being touted as a long-term replacement for natural gas.
According to Germany’s state-funded Fraunhofer Institute, some 55.7% of net electricity generated so far this year for the public power supply came from renewable sources including wind, solar, biomass and hydro. Coal accounted for almost 20%, followed by nuclear and natural gas with about 12% each.
TRUMP: ‘Just another made up by Fake News tale that is told only to damage me and the Republican Party…’
Adam Schiff / IMAGE: CSPAN via Youtube
(Claire Russel, Liberty Headlines) Top staff members for House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., were briefed by intelligence officials about reports that Russia was paying Taliban terrorists to attack U.S. troops back in February, according to TheFederalist.
Schiff’s team traveled to Afghanistan in February, which was when his top staffers were briefed by military officials about the new intel, according to multiple intelligence officials familiar with the matter. He did not, however, inform the gang of eight about these revelations, nor did he inform the house Intelligence Committee about these rumors, despite having the authority to do so.
Meanwhile, Schiff has blasted President Trump for failing to take action against Russia after an anonymously-sourced Deep-State report in the anti-Trump New York Times, even though Schiff himself has acknowledged that Trump was not briefed on this intelligence until recently.
And when asked whether he knew anything about these rumors beforehand, Schiff told the Times this week, “I can’t comment on specifics.”
House Democrats have refused to acknowledge Schiff’s dishonesty, instead attacking Trump for “failing” to take action against Russia.
“Our Armed Forces would be better served if President Trump spent more time reading his daily briefing and less time planning military parades and defending relics of the Confederacy,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said in a joint statement.
Trump has denied reports that Russia paid bounties to Taliban-linked fighters, calling the story a “hoax” that Democrats are trying to use to “damage me and the Republican Party.”
The Russia Bounty story is just another made up by Fake News tale that is told only to damage me and the Republican Party. The secret source probably does not even exist, just like the story itself. If the discredited @nytimes has a source, reveal it. Just another HOAX!
