‘Mass Shooting’ Data Hyped by Media Reveal Obama’s Record Worse than Trump’s

Ben Sellers
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California responsible for 1 in 8 attacks, despite more than 100 gun restrictions…

(Ben Sellers, Liberty Headlines) An analysis of the statistics used by left-wing media to hype the “mass shooting” epidemic in America may also help debunk several of the gun–control myths being promoted by them.

Among the revelations from the nonprofit Gun Violence Archive:

  • A typical NFL game in Baltimore is likely to include at least one mass shooter.
  • California accounts for an eighth of all the mass shootings nationwide, despite having the most gun laws.
  • The average number of attacks (and deaths) by mass shooters in former President Barack Obama’s last two years of office exceeded the average in President Donald Trump’s first two years.

‘Mass Shooting’ Semantics

Cop with a GUN Prevents Another Mass School Shooting
Evacuating students at Dixon High School/IMAGE: WQAD

The media once again sought to manipulate gun violence statistics to create a sense of panic in the wake of two mass shootings over the weekend in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio.

According to the Agence France Presse, a global wire syndication service that distributes to many other news outlets, the tragic attacks were the 250th and 251st “mass shooting” incidents this year.

Naturally, to reach such a sensationalist number, it was necessary for the journalists to apply a loose definition of “mass shooting” while manipulating statistics drawn from the Gun Violence Archive.

The group insists it is not an advocacy organization and that its goal is simply to document incidents for use in analyses and reports.

“It is hoped that this information will inform and assist those engaged in discussions and activities concerning gun violence, including analysis of proposed regulations or legislation relating to gun safety usage,” says its website.

But by leaving out the context of its “mass shooting” data, the group is, in fact, providing deceptive and misleading statistics that virtue-signaling, liberal journalism outfits are more than happy to cite without further scrutiny.

The mass shooting total “counts any attack in which at least four people are killed or wounded, not including the shooter,” according to the AFP report.

However, when you remove injuries from that tally and look only at incidents in which four or more people were killed, the number drops from 251 to 20 for the year.

Even by expanding the data to include incidents in which one or more people were killed, the number is 126—meaning roughly half of the mass shootings the group is claiming involved no fatalities.

Such incidents, far from being domestic terrorism, could simply be ones in which a single person was targeted and other injuries were collateral damage from being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

When the number of fatalities is raised to two or more, the total drops again to 53 “mass shootings” this year. For three or more deaths, it is 31.

While these counts are certainly too high for anyone’s liking, additional context may debunk the oft-repeated leftist trope that the cause of the incidents is an uptick in “homegrown domestic terrorism” as a result of President Donald Trump’s rhetoric.

Gangs and Drugs?

U.S. City with Highest Murder Rate Paying to Defend Illegal Aliens
Baltimore/Photo by Chris Erwin (CC)

Not surprisingly, many of the mass shootings take place in major urban areas where drug- and gang-related violence are prevalent.

In Baltimore, for instance, after many Democrats attacked Trump’s recent criticism of the crime-plagued Maryland metropolis and called the president “racist,” the Charm City reached another milestone of 200 homicides over the weekend—during a supposed community “ceasefire,” the Baltimore Sun reported.

Of the slayings in Baltimore this year, according to data from the Baltimore Police Department, a total of 176 homicides involved firearms as of the end of July.

In fact, based on the Gun Violence Archive, the Democrat-run city—represented in Congress by Elijah Cummings—has been responsible for 10 “mass shootings” this year, although all involve no more than a single homicide.

By that measure, which amounts to a per capita rate of 1:62,000, the typical crowd on any given Sunday at the 71,000-capacity M&T Bank Stadium, where the Baltimore Ravens play, would include a mass shooter. (Thank goodness for security!)

Chicago, a city of 2.7 million that is notorious for its gun and gang violence, is doing comparably well, with a mere 23 mass shootings this year—only one of which involved multiple fatalities (2).

Red State vs. Blue State

'Mass Shooting' Data Hyped by Left Reveal Obama Worse than Trump
2016 Electoral Map / IMAGE: Screenshot via 270toWin.com (click for larger size)

According to an article from CNBC  last year touting the effectiveness of gun laws, the states with more Draconian restrictions had fewer incidents than those without.

However, the latest data may belie those claims.

Since Gov. Gavin Newsom took charge in January, California alone, it seems, has been responsible for 32 mass shootings—or roughly one-eighth of the nationwide total.

Even before Newsom took office, as of February 2018, the state already had 108 gun laws according to CNBC—and that number has surely risen this legislative session.

On the low end of the scale is Alaska, which is sparsely populated by comparison and had a mere four gun laws in the CNBC analysis. It has had zero mass shootings so far this year.

In total, the 30 states that supported Trump in the 2016 election accounted for 136 of the “mass shooting” incidents this year, or about 53 percent.

Including the two recent incidents in Texas and Ohio, which brought the count up by 32 more victims, there have been 175 mass shooting fatalities in Trump-won states this year.

Although those numbers may still be staggering, even more so is that the remaining 47 percent of mass shootings—including 100 of the 275 fatalities (36 percent)—come from the 20 Hillary-supporting blue states with extreme gun-control laws.

The Obama Legacy

The Most Unprecedented Thing About Trump's Presidency Is Obama and Hillary's Behavior
Donald Trump & Barack Obama/PHOTO: WhiteHouse.gov

Of course, those who seek to blame Trump and his rhetoric are more than happy to overlook the many such incidents in the Barack Obama presidency—during which disturbed individuals like the Aurora, Colorado movie-theater gunman and the Newton, Connecticut school shooter flouted the many laws and red flags in place that should have hindered them.

For the final two years of Obama’s presidency (2015-2016), the average number of “mass shootings” per year was 359, including a yearly average of 410 fatalities, according to the Gun Violence Archive.

For the first two full years of Trump’s presidency (2017-2018), the annual average of “mass shootings” was 343, including a yearly average 405 fatalities.

Clearly the partisan posturing over gun control and political finger-pointing over divisive rhetoric—although they may be exacerbating the problem—are doing nothing to meaningfully address it.

MICHELLE OBAMA: ‘Zero Chance’ She Is Plotting a Presidential Run

Ben Sellers
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‘It’s just not for me…’

Michelle Obama: I Left Trump's Inauguration Thinking 'Bye, Felicia'
Michelle Obama/IMAGE: The Tonight Show via Youtube

(Ben Sellers, Liberty Headlines) While speculation continued to mount that Michelle Obama may be planning a behind-the-scenes bid to commandeer the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, the former first lady issued an unequivocal denial.

“Just between us, and the readers of this magazine—there’s zero chance,” Obama told 12-year-old journalist Hilde Lysiak for Amtrack’s magazine The National.

“There are so many ways to improve this country and build a better world, and I keep doing plenty of them … But sitting behind the desk in the Oval Office will never be one of them,” she said. “It’s just not for me.”

The latest denial came after left-wing provocateur Michael Moore began making the rounds on talk shows, including “Late Night with Seth Meyers” and a recent MSNBC panel, where he actively called for Mrs. Obama to enter the race.

“We’re going to run a beloved candidate who is a streetfighter,” Moore obliquely told Meyers last week. “I’m serious—folks, if we put up the wrong horse in this race, we’re doomed again. Let’s not do that.”

He later went on to clarify for Brian Williams that the candidate he had in mind had a name that rhymed with “Obama.”

“In fact, it is Obama. Michelle Obama,” he said. “Everybody watching this right now knows she is a beloved American and she would go in there and she would beat him.”

The comments prompted well-trafficked conservative site The Drudge Report to openly speculate on the possibility, which others—including radio personalities Rush Limbaugh and Mike Huckabee already had begun to allude to.

In April, Liberty Headlines reported on several red-flag indicators that Obama might be setting the stage for a late entrance into the race.

Among the signals was the recent appointment of her ex-chief of staff, Tina Tchen, to oversee the restructuring of the Southern Poverty Law Center, which has half a billion dollars in assets that could potentially be converted from nonprofit to super-PAC status.

In addition, former President Barack Obama announced that he was folding his former campaign arm, Organizing for Action, into the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, a group targeting red states for court-forced gerrymandering that is overseen by Obama ‘wingman’ and former Attorney General Eric Holder.

Obama and Holder Team to Take Out Walker in 2018, Flip Ryan's Seat
Eric Holder & Barack Obama/PHOTO: WhiteHouse.gov

Although super-PACs are not technically able to coordinate with a campaign, having two loyal devotees at the helm would ensure that campaign finance rules might be blurred just enough to skirt FEC and IRS regulations.

A deal inked last year with Netflix might further fit into the equation. The total figure of the multi-year deal, though undisclosed, is believed to have netted the couple hundreds of millions in added wealth that they could potentially use to self-finance and avoid the early fundraising free-for-all.

The position also gives the Obamas unfettered access to a widely used media platform that they could, again, use to duck campaign restrictions for political advertising while pushing their message—even if they were to later recuse themselves from the company.

One of the biggest indicators, though, of Obama’s potential aspirations, would be the pair’s notable silence on the current Democratic horse-race, which has seen many of the candidates veer to the extreme Left.

By contrast, Michelle Obama has carefully curated her own public persona to appear as a voice of moderation and motherliness, shedding the image of anger and resentment that drew backlash during her husband’s runs by rushing to condemn the calls for violence conveniently voiced by Holder and others.

At least two recent surveys have named her the ‘most admired’ woman in the world.

Obama’s past comments, while demurely discounting any interest in a run, had left the door open that she might heed the populist call if an organic “Draft Michelle” groundswell were to spontaneously spring from within Democratic ranks.

The best chance of something like that happening would be the onset of some sort of precipitating event—like, say, a massive race riot in the Obamas’ hometown of Chicago.

Even so, conservative voices like Breitbart doubted that Obama could effectively unify the Left any more than the current field of prospects—particularly if she were to lose the element of surprise.

During the last round of debates, several of the 2020 hopefuls began attacking the Barack Obama presidency as a means to criticize his vice president, current front-runner Joe Biden.

“Michelle Obama is charismatic. But she is not a moderate, and could not stop the party’s stampede to socialism if she tried,” opined Breitbart editor Joel Pollack.

“… Socialism is on the ballot; Democrats want it on the ballot,” he continued. “They will win, if the country hates Trump enough. If not, Michelle Obama can wait.”

Inspector Gen. Refers Comey for Prosecution; DOJ Declines to Do So

Ben Sellers
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‘Comey entered the FBI chief’s job with a reputation for excellence but ran a bureau that suffered from ineptitude, political shenanigans, leaking and significant human failings…’

Justice Deparment Let Mueller Be Special Counsel Despite 'Conflict of Interest'
Robert Mueller, James Comey and Barack Obama / IMAGE: The Obama White House via Youtube

(Ben Sellers, Liberty Headlines) Despite the ongoing efforts of Democrats like Reps. Jerrold Nadler, D-NY, and Adam Schiff, D-Calif, to keep the Mueller investigation on life-support, much attention has now shifted to the Department of Justice investigations into possible collusion on the Left.

The first domino to fall in the DOJ probes of the scandal’s origin—including the discredited Steele Dossier and the FBI’s use of it to warrant spying on the Trump campaign—may be former FBI Director James Comey, as reported in a recent op-ed from The Hill penned by investigative journalist John Solomon.

DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz this week referred Comey for prosecution to Attorney General William Barr‘s office over the disgraced director’s role in leaking sensitive information, indirectly, to the media, both before and after his May 2017 firing by President Donald Trump.

However, prosecutors declined to pursue the charges due to a lack of compelling evidence to establish illegal intent.

The DOJ did not want to “make its first case against the Russia investigators with such thin margins and look petty and vindictive,” according to Solomon’s sources.

An official in the IG’s office, citing its policy of refusing to confirm or deny the existence of investigations, declined to comment on questions from Liberty Headlines.

A similar case against former FBI counterintelligence chief Peter Strzok—a key player in the bureau’s investigations of both Trump and his opponent, Hillary Clinton—was earlier declined by DOJ prosecutors despite finding evidence of illegal leaking.

Comey is widely known to have kept memos of classified conversations with Trump and relayed them to the press with the express intent of triggering a special-counsel investigation in Congress.

That investigation—led by Comey’s close friend and former boss, Robert Mueller—which ran nearly two years and cost an estimated $35 million, ultimately found no evidence of conspiracy or obstruction from the president.

But according to Solomon and his sources, the soon-to-conclude IG’s investigation is expected to disclose several findings that will, at the very least, raise major questions about Comey’s ethics and judgment while leading the nation’s top investigative agency.

A release of public documents to transparency and accountability watchdog Judicial Watch earlier this week revealed that FBI agents were sent to Comey’s home to retrieve the purloined memos and scrub them of sensitive information but that two still remained unaccounted for.

“These extraordinary FBI docs further confirm that James Comey should never have had FBI files on President Trump at his home and that the FBI failed to secure and protect these private and classified files,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton in a press statement.

“Mr. Comey’s illegal leaking these FBI files as part of his vendetta against President Trump (directly resulting in the corrupt appointment of Robert Mueller) ought to be the subject of a criminal investigation.”

Regardless of the recent decisions not to prosecute Comey and Strzok for their leaking, there is reason to believe that the IG referrals may be prelude to a much bigger case being built against the corrupt FBI officials.

“There are significant issues emerging with how the FISA was handled and other conduct in the investigation, and everyone involved remains under scrutiny,” an anonymous source told Solomon.

In addition to the IG investigation, special prosecutor John Durham has been working closely with Horowitz’s office on its own investigation.

Durham’s appointment came not long after Barr riled Democrats during an appearance before the Senate Appropriations Committee by using the word “spying” to refer to the FBI conduct.

“I think spying did occur,” Barr said. “The question is, was it was adequately predicated? I’m not saying it wasn’t.”

Barr confirmed at the time that he was proceeding with the investigation.

“I am reviewing the conduct of the investigation and trying to get my arms around all the aspects of the counterintelligence investigation that was conducted during the summer of 2016,” Barr told the committee.

President Donald Trump also took the step of declassifying many of the documents related to the FBI’s investigation into the Russia conspiracy hoax.

As Solomon concluded, “the IG report, at least, reaffirms what has become painfully clear to Americans the past two years: Comey entered the FBI chief’s job with a reputation for excellence but ran a bureau that suffered from ineptitude, political shenanigans, leaking and significant human failings.”

On Thursday, in response to a tweet from Rep. Mark Meadows, R-NC, a close Trump ally and head of the Freedom Caucus, Comey weighed in with his spin on the latest developments.

GOP Sen. Overreaches w/ Gov’t Attempt to Cure Social Media ‘Addiction’

Ben Sellers
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‘Too much of the ‘innovation’ in this space is designed not to create better products, but to capture more attention by using psychological tricks…’

GOP Sen. Aims to Break Online Addiction w/ Bans on Snap Streaks, Infinite Scrolling 2
LoboStudioHamburg (CC) via Flickr

(Ben Sellers, Liberty Headlines) A new bill being pitched in the Senate could change the way people interact with sites like Facebook, Twitter and the teen-popular Snapchat.

While its aim is to help empower users to break free of their social media addictions, some fear that the overreaching legislation could create a cure worse than the disease.

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., introduced the legislation, which he hoped would help curb the manipulative practices tech companies have developed to keep users logged on.

“Big tech has embraced a business model of addiction,” Hawley said in a press statement on Tuesday.

“Too much of the ‘innovation’ in this space is designed not to create better products, but to capture more attention by using psychological tricks that make it difficult to look away,” he said.

Among the regulations contained in Hawley’s Social Media Addiction Reduction Technology (SMART) Act would be an end to infinite-scrolling interfaces and auto-playing videos.

The bill also proposes a ban on rewards-based features like “streaks,” popular on the photo-sharing Snapchat app, which offer users a special badge for continuously engaging with others.

The proposed legislation additionally would force sites to include tools that track how long users are online with timers and pop-up notifications.

However, some—such as free-market advocate Shoshana Weismann—worry that the proposals go too far in micromanaging or restricting online behavior.

“Unfortunately, policymakers are too confident that simply throwing more government at the problems—whatever those may be—will fix them, and are proposing a number of solutions that are well-intended but largely ill-conceived,” Weismann wrote in an article recently published by technology journal The New Atlantis.

The new regulations might have widespread implications beyond the practices of leading social media sites, instead empowering the Federal Trade Commission and state attorneys general to target or shut down any website, simply for encouraging user-engagement.

“[O]perators of innumerable websites collect personal data, and many of them probably wouldn’t realize that the legislation might apply to them,” Weismann wrote about an earlier piece of similar legislation proposed in the Senate. “In fact, it is not even clear which cases this legislation would apply to.”

Moreover, what some see as unsavory trade practices, others may argue is simply a reflection of the networks’ success in appealing to users, calling into question the government’s authority to regulate time they spend scrolling.

In a tweet thread criticizing Hawley’s new bill, Weissmann argued that social media was a form of entertainment and not a necessity that warranted government intervention.

She also criticized the overly invasive legislation for delving into clearly personal areas like online dating services.

Hawley, however, said the aim was simply to give users more of a choice in the face of the “obstacles” that the sites put up to prevent people from unplugging.

“Social media is sold to us as a way to connect with distant friends and relatives,” he said in his press release. “But tech giants don’t stop there. They design platforms with a bottom-line goal in mind: Capture as much of our attention as possible and immediately sell that attention to advertisers.”

In support of his proposals, Hawley noted that over the past seven years there has been a 56 percent increase in the time users spend on social networks, up from an hour and 22 minutes in 2012 to two hours and eight minutes currently, according to a 2018 report from GlobalWebIndex.

GOP Senate Candidate Takes on Google as Attorney General
Josh Hawley/IMAGE: Fox Business via YouTube

Moreover, networks such as Snapchat and video-sharing platform TikTok are often targeted toward younger audiences who are unprepared to make informed choices about their social-media usage—leaving them vulnerable to threats like surreptitious data mining and online predators.

“Social media companies deploy a host of tactics designed to manipulate users in ways that undermine their well-being,” said Josh Golin, executive director of Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood.

“We commend Senator Hawley for introducing legislation that would prohibit some of the most exploitative tactics, including those frequently deployed on children and teens,” Golin said.

The bill’s proposal comes on the heels of a recent Pew Research Center survey that revealed, nationwide, a decline in perceptions and attitudes about social networks.

Only half of Americans now see them as having a positive impact, while a third of Americans see a predominately negative impact.

The companies also face increasing scrutiny and regulation on a variety of fronts—including accusations from conservatives, such as Sen. Ted Cruz, that they have engaged in blatantly biased practices to suppress and censor dissenting voices.

The companies themselves claim it is merely an effort to maintain their subjective community standards, block hate speech and preserve election integrity.

As with political censorship, critics of Hawley’s proposal said any efforts to rein in the way users interact with social media would lead lawmakers down a slippery slope.

CNN ‘Gotcha’ Attempt Makes Fraudulent Comparison Between Baltimore & Ala.

Ben Sellers
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‘CNN’s hyper-partisan, anti-Trump motivation blinded them to the truth…’

(Ben Sellers, Liberty Headlines) As many in the public seemed to agree with President Donald Trump’s assessment of Baltimore as a “rat infested” hell-hole, far-left mouthpiece CNN was obliged to shift its strategy from weepy-eyed indignation to finger-pointing deflection.

On Tuesday, correspondent John Berman used the dying outrage over Trump’s attack last week on Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md.—in which he criticized the House Oversight chair for ignoring his own district—to springboard to an entirely different region, the Tennessee Valley of Alabama.

Berman directed his snipe at Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Ala., an outspoken member of the House Armed Services Committee and a supporter of the president’s agenda.

“Democrats aren’t the only members of Congress who represent districts of distress,” Berman said, while interviewing Republican Party Chair Ronna McDaniel. “Mo Brooks, who represents Alabama-05, right, they have a median household income which is less than Maryland-07, where Elijah Cummings represents.”

Berman continued his inapropos attack on Brooks: “[S]o, Mo Brooks spends a lot of his time defending the president, why should he do that by your logic and not go home and deal with the issues in your district?” he asked McDaniel.

It turned out, however, that Brooks was more than happy to field that question himself, issuing a well-sourced take-down of CNN’s claims while defending his district with statistics of his own.

“Fake News CNN and John Berman get an ‘F’ for failing to do their homework,” Brooks said in a press release issued by his office. “If they had, they would know the Tennessee Valley is experiencing what may very well be the best economic boom in our prosperous history.”

He said the network’s attack was “mean spirited and just plain dumb” while failing to account for the vastly different costs of living that impact quality of life in the two regions.

“CNN’s hyper-partisan, anti-Trump motivation blinded them to the truth,” Brooks said.

Congress Members on Mueller Investigation: ENOUGH!
Mo Brooks/IMAGE: YouTube

He noted that, with the booming economy, his district’s greatest concerns were finding enough workers to fill high-paying jobs and the need for additional infrastructure to accommodate those flocking to the area.

‘If the rest of the country is as economically ‘distressed’ as the Tennessee Valley is, we should consider electing Donald Trump president for life!’ Brooks said.

After running down a litany of recent accolades from publications ranking Huntsville, Ala., as one of the best and most affordable places to live, Brooks noted that Baltimore—despite its close proximity to Washington, D.C., and many to natural and historic attractions—was in active decline due to mismanagement.

Brooks said the Maryland city has double the unemployment and murder rates of Huntsville and that its population numbers are falling. Meanwhile, the cost of living there is 25 percent higher than in northern Alabama.

“Baltimore (which has been governed by Democrats for decades) is a very ‘challenging’ place to live,” Brooks said. “That’s why Baltimore residents are smartly fleeing it.”

New Cuomo Law in NY Forbids Schools from Arming Teachers

Ben Sellers
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‘While the federal government turns its back on gun violence and prevention, we’re committed to preventing tragedies and saving lives…’

NY Gov Cuomo to Sue Fed Govt over Zero Tolerance Immigration Policy
Andrew Cuomo (screen shot: CNBC/Youtube)

(Ben Sellers, Liberty Headlines) From late-term abortions to resisting federal immigration authorities to trying to force the release of President Donald Trump’s state taxes, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has been on the forefront recently of passing spiteful legislation to make a point to the White House.

Cuomo’s latest grandstanding spectacle was a law that would prevent schools in the state from arming teachers, even though none were clamoring to do so.

In the wake of a California shooting that left three victims dead at a garlic festival, Cuomo’s effort rather seemed a pre-emptive bid to defuse any practical solutions to gun violence that did not fall in line with his far left agenda: a de facto repeal of the Second Amendment.

“The answer to the gun violence epidemic plaguing this country has never been and never will be more guns,” Cuomo said in a statement released Wednesday by his office, “and today we’re expanding New York’s nation-leading gun safety laws to further protect our children.”

In addition to preventing teachers from arming to protect their classrooms, Cuomo touted a second piece of legislation that would establish state police procedures for “the Safe Removal of Illegal, Unsecured, Abandoned or Unwanted Firearms,” intended to uniformly regulate gun-buyback programs throughout the state.

The bills take effect immediately.

“These measures will help slow the proliferation of guns by keeping unneeded firearms out of school zones and helping to ensure unwanted or illegal guns don’t fall into dangerous hands,” Cuomo said.

In a companion statement, Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul got more to the point.

“While the federal government turns its back on gun violence and prevention, we’re committed to preventing tragedies and saving lives,” she said.

The pair of laws follow three earlier anti-gun laws signed this year, including a controversial “red flag” law that authorizes authorities to confiscate the weapons of anyone they deem to “show signs of being a threat to themselves or others.”

Critics have expressed alarm that the vague and subjective phrasing could offer a blanket protection for corrupt authorities to violate the constitutional rights of citizens.

Cuomo’s other laws extended the waiting period for background checks, reinforced a federal ban on bumpstocks enacted last year by Trump, banned “undetectable” guns (such as those made from plastic using 3-d printers) and imposed new requirements on the safe storage of firearms.

The regulations are all part of what Cuomo has labeled his “Justice Agenda” in the first 100 days of the state’s legislative session. An accompanying slogan says “No time to wait.”

Not all of the Empire State’s aggressive anti-gun laws have been successful.

In May, fearing that the Supreme Court would overturn a law that attempted to limit licensed gun owners from taking their guns outside the city, officials scrambled at the last minute to repeal the law in order to render moot an unfavorable decision.

De Blasio Says Dems Only ‘Occasionally’ Respectful of Black Women

Ben Sellers
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‘I say there’s plenty of money in this world, and there’s plenty of money in this country. It’s just in the wrong hands…’

1
Bill de Blasio / IMAGE: screenshot via Essence.com

(Ben Sellers, Liberty Headlines) According to New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, one particular set of left-leaning voters needs to be held above the rest.

“I want to say, as a Democrat, all black women should be praised and appreciated for being the backbone of this party, for being the difference makers, and this is the year where I think that’s going to come into full focus,” de Blasio said during a recent interview at the Essence Festival in New Orleans.

“Democrats need to not pay lip service and not be occasional—occasionally respectful of black women but every single day,” he said in the Essence interview, published Thursday.

De Blasio may have been trying to score points with his wife, who is black, by addressing the group as the Democratic Party’s “No. 1 voting base,” or perhaps he was simply pandering to the lifestyle magazine’s target readership demographic.

“In so many ways, black women have been disrespected in our society when, in fact, they need to be put on a pedestal to thank them for the contributions they make,” he said.

But in a race that includes an actual black-identifying woman, Sen. Kamala Harris of California, as one of the front-running candidates, it is no surprise that de Blasio remains mired in the gutter.

While directing his appeal at a very narrow niche of Americans, de Blasio’s popular support has topped out at 1 percent in most polls, and he has been begging for $1 donations in order to meet the threshold of 130,000 donors to qualify for the third set of debates in September.

As far as outlining his actual agenda, de Blasio hoped to cast himself as a left-wing populist in contrast with the elitist faction of his party.

“I am very concerned—I wanna make this point bluntly on the political level—the Democratic Party, to too many Americans, to too many African Americans, to too many Americans of all backgrounds, doesn’t always seem like the party of working people,” he told Essence.

“It doesn’t always seem like it’s on the side of the everyday person who’s struggling to make ends meet—and that’s the vast majority of Americans,” he said.

While conservative populists like President Donald Trump have sought to appeal to working-class Americans by promising to “drain the swamp,” de Blasio said that the country needed more government, not less, to enact a massive wealth re-distribution program.

“In New York we put that in reverse,” he said. “We show that you can actually put money back in the hands of working people.”

He pointed to his past policies, including “free” healthcare and pre-school, which he claimed helped right the wrongs of systemic racism and economic disparity.

“These are the kinds of things that go at those structural problems,” he said, “that help folks, particularly in underserved communities, to have not only real possibility, real opportunity, but to have hope.”

Of course, some may beg to differ, he noted.

“There’s a lot of folks who are doing very well who would like to keep things the way they are,” de Blasio said.

“There’s a lot of folks who say—when you talk about investing in everyday people—they say, ‘There’s not enough money, we can’t afford that.’ And I’m very blunt about that,” he continued. “I say there’s plenty of money in this world, and there’s plenty of money in this country. It’s just in the wrong hands.”

De Blasio also came out strongly in favor of the controversial Green New Deal, referring to global warming as “the existential threat.”

He said New York already had begun to implement many of its eco-conscious proposals, such as retrofitting old buildings, promoting electric cars and setting requirements for renewable energy.

However, some have pointed to the strain on the electric grid due to New York’s demanding “green friendly” policies as the prime reason for the city’s massive recent blackouts.

De Blasio continues to face harsh criticism from many those who work with him.

On Monday, New York’s former chief of police, Louis Anemone, sharply savaged the mayor’s “disgraceful” anti-law-enforcement rhetoric and policies, which he said posed a danger to officers, following a spate of water-throwing incidents.

Trump also weighed in last week, attacking de Blasio for his encouragement of the disrespectful conduct.

Meanwhile, members of de Blasio’s own staff in New York’s City Hall have dismissed his presidential run as a vanity project and criticized the mayor’s constant absenteeism.

But despite the derision, he continues to tout his record on the 2020 presidential campaign trail.

“What I have been doing as mayor of New York City is what I want to do as president, which is to recognize we need a redistribution in this country, and we need to be honest about it,” de Blasio said.

NFL Player to Keep Kneeling in Protest for Upcoming Season

Ben Sellers
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‘We’ve got to keep fighting. Got to keep agitating…’

NFL Won't Sign Anthem Protester; Says He'll Kneel No More
Eric Reid & Colin Kaepernick/IMAGE: YouTube

(Ben Sellers, Liberty Headlines) With the NFL season just a month away, the controversy over players kneeling during the national anthem will return for its fourth season—if Carolina Panthers safety Eric Reid has any say.

Sports Illustrated reported that Reid would continue his protest, which he began alongside former quarterback Colin Kaepernick when both played for the San Francisco 49ers.

Reid has continued the vaguely race-related protest since joining the Panthers last season under far-left owner David Tepper.

“If a day comes that I feel like we’ve addressed those issues, and our people aren’t being discriminated against or being killed over traffic violations, then I’ll decide it’s time to stop protesting,” Reid told the Charlotte Observer. “I haven’t seen that happen.”

The statement echoed past comments the Louisiana native has made—including, most notably, in a New York Times op-ed published in September 2017, where he outlined his rationale for the unpatriotic act.

Reid said he still saw an urgency to deliver the message, which he hoped would put political heat on lawmakers to take some kind of action.

“We’ve got to keep fighting,” Reid added. “Got to keep agitating. Got to keep making sure that we put pressure on the people who make the laws, and the decisions, in this country.”

It remained unclear, however, what sort of resolution would be enough to satisfy the kneelers. On the contrary, Reid said he thought progress seemed to be sliding in reverse of late.

“It feels like we’re going backwards,” Reid said. “You’d like to think we’re past certain things, the way we treat people. I thought we were at a time where you love your neighbor as yourself. But as I’ve studied history—it hasn’t repeated itself necessarily, but it’s dressed a little different and is acting the same.”

He did not comment on whether the divisiveness of his protest may have contributed to the compounding malaise.

Kaepernick, who was benched as the starting signal-caller during the 2016 season, did not renew his contract the following year. Since then, he has remained an unsigned free agent, with an increasingly unlikely chance of returning to the NFL.

However, he has only gained in exposure—and wealth—after scoring a highly lucrative contract as a pitchman for Nike.

He most recently ignited scandal anew by insisting that the apparel giant pull a line of shoes featuring the American “Betsy Ross” flag from its original colonial days, claiming the flag carried racist connotations.

Kaepernick and Reid also settled a lawsuit against the NFL in which they accused team owners of discrimination and collusion for their apparent blacklisting—even after Reid landed a new team.

Other high-profile athletes have since joined in the kneeling effort, such as women’s soccer player Megan Rapinoe, an LGBT activist and vocal critic of President Donald Trump, who praised Reid and his team during a recent visit to Charlotte.

“Shoutout to the Carolina Panthers for a) seeing Eric Reid’s talent and b) not only supporting his right to do that but really putting their full weight behind that,” she said. “I’m a big Panthers fan now.”

RAND PAUL: ‘I’m Willing to Contribute’ to Ilhan Omar’s Ticket to Somalia

Ben Sellers
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‘She can look and maybe learn a little bit about the disaster that is Somalia…’

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Rand Paul / IMAGE: Fox News via Youtube

(Ben Sellers, Liberty Headlines) Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., has been known to break ranks with President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans on many issues, such as  budget spending and executive authority.

But he stood firm with the president recently amid Democratic accusations of racism—and even raised the stakes on Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn.—after Trump declared that she and other anti-American congresswomen ought to “go back” to the countries they pledged allegiance to.

Paul said Omar—a Somali refugee who became an American citizen—might appreciate her adoptive country more by getting a better understanding of what she left behind as a child.

“I’m willing to contribute to buy her a ticket to go visit Somalia,” he told Breitbart News last week during Turning Point USA’s annual Teen Student Action Summit in Washington, DC.

“And I think she can look and maybe learn a little bit about the disaster that is Somalia—that has no capitalism, has no God-given rights guaranteed in a constitution, and has about seven different tribes that have been fighting each other for the last 40 years,” Paul continued.

Paul told Breitbart he had encountered many people who had endured oppressive governments under communist regimes and that they expressed their gratitude at having escaped the despotic systems.

“I’ve met people who have come here from behind the Iron Curtain—they got away from communism,” Paul said. “They’re some of the best Americans we have, because they really appreciate how great our country is, and then I hear Rep. Omar say America is a terrible place.”

He said Omar’s own personal story belied her frequent rhetoric that the U.S. is hostile to immigrants and people of color.

“Well, she came here and we fed her, we clothed her, she got welfare, she got [schooling], she got healthcare, and then, lo and behold, she has the honor of actually winning a seat in Congress, and she says we’re a terrible country?” Paul said. “I think that’s about as ungrateful as you can get.”

Trump made his offending tweets two weeks ago following the attacks from members of “The Squad”—four socialist-leaning freshman House members backed by the Justice Democrats—that included Rep. Alexandria Ocasio–Cortez‘s comparison of border detention facilities to Nazi concentration camps and Rep. Rashida Tlaib‘s declaration, on her first day in Congress, that she was “gonna impeach the motherf***er.”

Of the four, only Omar—most notorious for her anti-Semitic remarks and her comments downplaying the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks—is known to have been born outside the U.S.

Tlaib, nonetheless, identifies closely with her Palestinian heritage, and Ocasio–Cortez’s family moved to New York from the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico, whose governor resigned last week while plagued by accusations of corruption.

Following the tweets, Trump incurred further wrath when, during a North Carolina rally, his supporters initiated a chant of “Send her back” in reference to Omar.

He also riled the Left by criticizing the district of Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., which includes much of majority-black Baltimore, calling it “rat-infested.”

Subsequent tweets by the president showed footage from the district strewn with garbage and riddled with crime.

Omar embraced her status as a “victim” of the GOP bullying by saying that it was insufficient for Trump opponents simply to disapprove of the comments, but that they must take action.

“It is not enough to condemn Mr. Trump’s racism,”she wrote in an op-ed for The New York Times. “We must affirmatively confront racist policies.”

She then proceeded to outline several economic and social programs, such as increasing the minimum wage and allowing open borders, that would, in fact, exacerbate many of the problems faced by lower-income Americans and minorities.

Michael Moore Reveals Dems’ Two Secrets to Winning 2020 Race

Ben Sellers
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‘You don’t want safe right now. … We need a street fighter…’

(Ben Sellers, Liberty Headlines) Rabid left-wing movie director Michael Moore on Thursday launched one of his most piercing and offensive attacks yet on the supporters of President Donald Trump: He compared them to him.

Moore visited “Late Night with Seth Meyers,” where he also offered insights for left-wingers into winning next year’s election that largely borrowed from Republicans’ own playbook.

Moore’s appearance came a day after he made headlines and was retweeted by the president over his criticism of former special counsel Robert Mueller‘s congressional testimony.

The guest and host compared notes on the respective insults each had received from Trump, with Meyers saying he had been called marble-mouthed and Moore boasting about his presidential nickname, “Sloppy Mike.”

But the overweight provocateur managed to land a low blow in return by implying that Trump’s legions of deplorables comprised a less-than-desirable demographic.

“He’s a little afraid to come completely at me because, essentially, I’m his base,” Moore said. “I’m an angry white guy over the age of 50, and I have a high-school education.”

While most high schools require some sort of a basic civics course to issue their diplomas, though, Moore seemed to lack that while engaging in a discussion about impeaching the president.

Fortunately his rant made up in animated gesticulation for what it lacked in basic knowledge.

“I don’t know what’s wrong with the Democrats—for history’s sake, for the children, you have to say ‘this is wrong,’ presidents cannot break the law,” Moore said. “And yes, I know that what everybody says is, ‘Well yeah but the Senate…’ The Senate doesn’t impeach.”

Although impeachment, by definition, is the act of arraigning a president or other figure on formal charges within the legislative body, it does not presuppose guilt or even bear the burden of evidence.

The only thing preventing the Democratic majority in the House from doing so would be the political consequences they would face from a wasteful and polarizing partisan spectacle.

Several Democrats have, in fact, already attempted unsuccessfully in this congressional session to file articles of impeachment against the president.

Much like his faux documentaries, Moore preferred his own definition of impeachment to a traditional textbook one that was rooted in facts.

“Impeach is only done by the House, and it means that your behavior has caused us to impeach you, and now we’ll send it to the Senate for trial,” he offered astutely.

He likened the first step toward removing the president to a losing team playing a better team in a baseball series.

“The Detroit Tigers do not say, ‘I don’t want to go to New York and play the Yankees. We’re just gonna lose,” Moore said.

“You know? ‘Let’s not do impeachment cause we’ll lose in the Senate and we’re Democrats and our feelings get hurt…'” he continued. “No. We need to fight. We have to fight, fight, fight.”

2020 Visions?

Michael Moore Reveals Democrats' Two Secrets to Winning 2020 Race
‘Sloppy’ Michael Moore / IMAGE: Late Night with Seth Meyers via Youtube

While the hope of impeachment seemed to be dimming for many Democrats, Moore did propose two shrewd strategies for retaking the White House next year—both of which he stole from winning Republican strategies.

He said, first and foremost, that Democrats had to do a better job of energizing their base by running a “beloved” candidate who could tap into the energy of Barack Obama’s campaigns, but who could also go toe-to-toe with Trump.

“You don’t want safe right now. You’ve gotta fight Trump with whatever our version of—he’s a street fighter,” Moore said. “We need a street fighter. That’s the only way you’re gonna defeat him.”

Moore said he also was encouraging party leaders to take a page from the playbook of former President George W. Bush and his campaign advisor, Karl Rove.

Like the Bush campaign—which successfully got ballot referendums against gay marriage in 14 states—Moore said his home state of Michigan in 2018 had managed a blue sweep of major offices by getting voters to turn out for measures legalizing marijuana and banning gerrymandering.

“Instead of putting all our hopes in one politician to carry the thing we have to get these ballot proposals on in the swing states that will bring out people to vote,” he said.

Moore said it was crucial that Democratic operatives work to secure ballot initiatives that would pander to traditionally left-leaning demographics of women, minorities and young voters.

“We all have to agree, we’re gonna all vote for the person that isn’t just gonna beat Trump—cause I think there’s four or five candidates now that could beat him—but beating isn’t good enough,” Moore said. “Hillary beat him. We have to crush Trump. It has to be orange crush.”

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