Veteran Campaigns for Office by Attacking Private Gun Sales and the Right to Own Semiautomatic Firearms

That is simply not true. It’s repeating an intentional deception crafted decades ago by the Violence Policy Center to exploit public ignorance and fear.

“Democrat buys semiautomatic rifle at Va. gun show in under 10 minutes,” The Washington Post crows in a “Gotcha!” headline designed to misuse supposedly “straight news” to stir up a demand for political action:

“Dan Helmer, an Army veteran, said he bought a firearm similar to the one he carried in Iraq and Afghanistan to show how easy it is to legally obtain an ‘in­cred­ibly dangerous piece of weaponry that’s meant for war” from a private seller. He bought the gun less than two miles from a public school, he said.”

Emotionally manipulate the ignorant much? The firearm may be cosmetically “similar,” but you can bet he didn’t carry a semiautomatic rifle when deployed. As for being “meant for war,” you’ll note he’s not questioning why police should have them if that’s the case, plus he’s intentionally ignoring what the citizen militia is entitled to:  Per the Miller Court, “the Second Amendment guarantees the right to keep and bear … ordinary military equipment … that … could contribute to the common defense.”

Plus he’s repeating one of the oldest lies in the gun-grabber playbook.

It’s beyond curious that the monopoly of violence zealots behind semiautomatic bans “justify” them by screaming they are “weapons of war.” Those, of course, are precisely what the Founders deemed necessary for members of the citizen militia to keep and bear. To insist otherwise is to maintain their purpose was to have the “whole people” called forth to be slaughtered – hardly a prescription for a secure or free State.

And this business of “less than two miles form a public school” is pure hysteria –ginning aimed at spooking the herd.  Helmer might as well tell them he thinks they’re ignorant and stupid, which you’d probably have to be to vote for such an obvious manipulator. And besides, if guns are too dangerous to be allowed in such areas, 90% of the country could be declared off-limits.

Helmer took an oath when he enlisted and he’ll take another if elected. How he squares that with active subversion of the Bill of Rights in order to gain political power is left unsaid. Hey,if these guys can get away with it and be rewarded…

And WaPo, of course, has long been in the business of undermining the right to keep and bear arms by the law-abiding, yet somehow ready to turn a blind eye to real and deadly abuses that don’t advance the narrative.  Case in point: When they gave Obama cover over his transparent lie related to OperationFast and Furious “gunwalking.”

As a DSM outlet continually wringing its hands over “gun violence,” here’s a chance to see if they’ll do it again, via one of the comments they allowed to be posted under their article (it won’t “hot link,” but the comment appears at https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/democrats-race-to-prove-who-hates-guns-more-in-northern-virginia-house-primary/2018/05/01/d3ad87a0-4cbb-11e8-b725-92c89fe3ca4c_story.html?commentId=a84d12d5-839e-4907-ba5e-80ec88add3e6&outputType=comment&utm_term=.718ade7a6fed) :

My money’s on the guy turning out to be an anti-gun liar, which is, face it, what all grabbers are.  That said, if the paper’s editorial board is really serious about “gun control,” the comment poster is using their forum to brag that he committed a felony and is a “gun criminal.”

Seeing as how it’s impossible for us to tell if the claim is a lie or the truth, and in the spirit of the Department of Homeland Security’s “If you see something, say something” advice, it will be interesting to see if WaPo rats the guy out and volunteers his information (email and IP addresses, etc.) to the feds.

Also see: “‘He’s LYING’: Tweeters call BS on congressional hopeful’s ‘gun show loophole’ exposé”

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If you believe in the mission of Oath Keepers, to defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic, please make a donation to support our work.  You can donate HERE.

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David Codrea’s opinions are his own. See “Who speaks for Oath Keepers?”

The post Veteran Campaigns for Office by Attacking Private Gun Sales and the Right to Own Semiautomatic Firearms appeared first on Oath Keepers.

WATCH: Cop Shoots Fleeing Teenager In The Back Multiple Times, Then Turn Off Body Cams

While a police officer claimed that a teenager was pointing a gun at him before he opened fire and shot the boy in the back, the body camera footage tells a different story.

The post WATCH: Cop Shoots Fleeing Teenager In The Back Multiple Times, Then Turn Off Body Cams appeared first on The Free Thought Project.

Social Services Worker Fired, Escorted Out by Cops for Having a Gun Permit—NOT a GUN

A social services worker is claiming that she was fired from her job and escorted out of the building by police after her employer learned that she had a concealed handgun license—even though she had never brought a gun to work.

The post Social Services Worker Fired, Escorted Out by Cops for Having a Gun Permit—NOT a GUN appeared first on The Free Thought Project.

Virginia ‘Domestic Terrorism’ Bill is really a Rights-Trampling Power Grab

Leave it to Opposite Day “progressives” to reverse the intent behind Virginia’s state motto.

In one of those occasional convergences that happen every so often, the American Civil Liberties Union is coming down on the right side of pending legislation by opposing a Virginia bill “that would define domestic terrorism and add it to its list of criminal charges,” the Daily Press reports.

The bill “raises ‘significant constitutional concerns,’ particularly with the First Amendment [and] is written in a way that could allow the state government to target minority communities who have ‘unpopular beliefs,’” the report explains. “Specifically, the power that the superintendent of Virginia State Police would hold in labeling groups as domestic terrorist groups — without those groups being notified in advance — is a concern.”

While ACLU’s concerns are valid, the “minority” group the bill is intended to target does not people they are overly concerned about. Understanding that the legislation is a Democrat response to Charlottesville, it should come as no surprise that the intent is to take attention away from threats imported through “progressive” cultural and political “fundamental transformation” policies and point a finger and assumption of guilt toward the native-born.

Look at the two main shakers and movers behind the legislation: Delegate Marcia “Cia” Price and Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring, both “progressive” anti-gun / pro-“immigration” Democrats. So naturally they have no problem limiting rights to freely assemble and associate based on an edict that “defines domestic terrorism as a violent or criminal act that aims to intimidate or instill fear in someone because of their race, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation or disability, or to stop someone from pursuing their constitutional rights.”

That’s a pretty loose benchmark, especially since we see college “safe spaces” and after-event counseling for “snowflakes” overwrought because a “conservative” was allowed to speak on a college campus. What does it really take for such as these to claim intimidation and fear, and why should their neuroses—real or faked — have any bearing on the rights of free people? And this goes a step further: If you “knowingly provide resources” (donate a few bucks, drive members to a rally site, etc.?) to such a group, you could apparently be up for a Class 5 felony.

But wait, there’s more!

“Price’s bill would require the Virginia State Police superintendent to identify groups that meet the definition of a domestic terrorist organization and to list them annually in the Virginia Register of Regulations, which is a guiding document for state agencies,” the report elaborates.  “The bill would require local police departments to report acts of domestic terrorism to the State Police, but those reports could be withheld from the public.”

What could go wrong, not only in giving police such powers to designate who’s who in “domestic terrorism,” but also in keeping the citizens they supposedly work for in the dark?

And understand that as backdrop to all this, there was another story from almost a year ago when Herring held “a town hall meeting at a ‘terror-linked’ mosque in Northern Virginia.”

Does anyone have any doubts as to what these people are doing and why?

Curiously — maddeningly, some would maintain — many Virginians are asleep at the switch. As their state turns from red to blue, with an influx of newly-minted citizens leading the way, the Republicans in the House narrowly missed losing their majority by just one vote in a contest that then had to be decided by pulling a name out of a canister. Literally.

It’s not lost on “progressives” that this is happening in the state that is home to National Rifle Association headquarters. And it’s not lost on a few of us that the end game this enables will allow Democrats to pass whatever anti-gun legislation they wish and to appoint judges who will uphold those “laws.”

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If you believe in the mission of Oath Keepers, to defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic, please make a donation to support our work.  You can donate HERE.

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David Codrea’s opinions are his own. See “Who speaks for Oath Keepers?”

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"Look At That Thing!" - The NYT Reveals The Pentagon"s Mysterious UFO Program

When tinfoil-hat-wearing conspiracy theories cross paths with massive "defense" budgets and excited politicians, "stranger things" happen.

Welcome to The Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program.

As The New York Times exposes, within the $600 billion annual Defense Department budgets, the $22 million spent on the program was almost impossible to find.

Which was how the Pentagon wanted it.

For years, the program investigated reports of unidentified flying objects, according to Defense Department officials, interviews with program participants and records obtained by The New York Times. It was run by a military intelligence official, Luis Elizondo, on the fifth floor of the Pentagon’s C Ring, deep within the building’s maze.

The Defense Department has never before acknowledged the existence of the program, which it says it shut down in 2012. But its backers say that, while the Pentagon ended funding for the effort at that time, the program remains in existence. For the past five years, they say, officials with the program have continued to investigate episodes brought to them by service members, while also carrying out their other Defense Department duties.

The shadowy program — parts of it remain classified — began in 2007, and initially it was largely funded at the request of Harry Reid, the Nevada Democrat who was the Senate majority leader at the time and who has long had an interest in space phenomena.

Most of the money went to an aerospace research company run by a billionaire entrepreneur and longtime friend of Mr. Reid’s, Robert Bigelow, who is currently working with NASA to produce expandable craft for humans to use in space.

And while the clapping of crony capitalism screams alod from those two last sentences, one watch of the following video (just one of many), suggests the boondoggle may be based in some kind of reality after all... (the footage from a Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet showing an aircraft surrounded by some kind of glowing aura traveling at high speed and rotating as it moves. The Navy pilots can be heard trying to understand what they are seeing. “There’s a whole fleet of them,” one exclaims. Defense officials declined to release the location and date of the incident.)

Mr. Reid, who retired from Congress this year, said he was proud of the program.

“I’m not embarrassed or ashamed or sorry I got this thing going,” Mr. Reid said in a recent interview in Nevada.

 

“I think it’s one of the good things I did in my congressional service. I’ve done something that no one has done before.”

While not addressing the merits of the program, Sara Seager, an astrophysicist at M.I.T., cautioned that not knowing the origin of an object does not mean that it is from another planet or galaxy.

“When people claim to observe truly unusual phenomena, sometimes it’s worth investigating seriously,” she said.

 

But, she added, “what people sometimes don’t get about science is that we often have phenomena that remain unexplained.”

Read more here...

What Went Wrong In Charlottesville: At All Levels, Government Is Still The Problem

Authored by John Whitehead via The Rutherford Institute,

Corruption. Graft. Intolerance. Greed. Incompetence. Ineptitude. Militarism. Lawlessness. Ignorance. Brutality. Deceit. Collusion. Corpulence. Bureaucracy. Immorality. Depravity. Censorship. Cruelty. Violence. Mediocrity. Tyranny.

These are the hallmarks of an institution that is rotten through and through.

We have been saddled with the wreckage of a government at all levels that no longer represents the citizenry, serves the citizenry, or is accountable to the citizenry.

It doesn’t matter whether you’re talking about the federal government, state governments, or local governing bodies: at all ends of the spectrum and every point in between, a shift has taken place.

“We the people” are not being seen or heard.

Everything happening at the national level is playing out at the local level, as well.

Take my own hometown of Charlottesville, Virginia, for instance.

In the summer of 2017, Charlottesville became ground zero for a heated war of words—and actions—over racism, “sanitizing history,” extremism (both right and left), political correctness, hate speech, partisan politics, and a growing fear that violent words will end in violent actions.

In Charlottesville, as in so many parts of the country right now, the conflict was over how to reconcile the nation’s checkered past, particularly as it relates to slavery, with the present need to sanitize the environment of anything—words and images—that might cause offense, especially if it’s a Confederate flag or monument.

That fear of offense prompted the Charlottesville City Council to get rid of a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee that has graced one of its public parks for 82 years.

That’s when everything went haywire.

In attempting to pacify one particularly vocal and righteously offended group while railroading over the concerns of those with alternate viewpoints, Charlottesville attracted the unwanted attention of the Ku Klux Klan, neo-Nazis and the alt-Right, all of whom descended on the little college town with the intention of exercising their First Amendment right to be disagreeable, to assemble, and to protest.

When put to the test, Charlottesville did not handle things well at all.

No one—not the armed, violent, militant protesters nor the police—gave peace a chance on August 12 when what should have been an exercise in free speech quickly became a brawl that left one dead and dozens more injured.

The police, who were supposed to uphold the law and prevent violence, failed to do either.

Indeed, a 220-page post-mortem of the protests and the Charlottesville government’s response by former U.S. attorney Timothy J. Heaphy merely corroborates our worst fears about what drives the government at all levels: power, money, ego, politics and ambition.

When presented with a situation in which the government and its agents were tasked with protecting free speech and safety, Heaphy concluded that “the City of Charlottesville protected neither free expression nor public safety.”

Read Heaphy’s report for yourself.

It’s full of drama and intrigue, plots and dueling egos, petty tyrants and ambitious politicians. (There’s even mention of a personal email account and deleted text messages.)

Not much different from what is happening on the national scene.

Commissioned by the City of Charlottesville, this Heaphy report was intended to be an independent investigation of what went right and what went wrong in the government’s handling of the protests.

Here’s what went wrong, according to the report:

1. Police failed to get input from other law enforcement agencies experienced in handling large protests.

2. Police failed to adequately train their officers in advance of the protest.

3. City officials failed to request assistance from outside agencies.

4. The City Council unduly interfered by ignoring legal advice, attempting to move the protesters elsewhere, and ignoring the concerns of law enforcement.

5. The city government failed to inform the public about their plans.

6. City officials were misguided in allowing weapons at the protest.

7. The police implemented a flawed operational plan that failed to protect public safety.

8. While police were provided with riot gear, they were never trained in how to use it, nor were they provided with any meaningful field training in how to deal with or de-escalate anticipated violence on the part of protesters.

9. Despite the input and advice of outside counsel, including The Rutherford Institute, the police failed to employ de-escalation tactics or establish clear barriers between warring factions of protesters.

10. Government officials and police leadership opted to advance their own agendas at the expense of constitutional rights and public safety.

11. For all intents and purposes, police abided by a stand down order that endangered the community and paved the way for civil unrest.

12. In failing to protect public safety, police and government officials undermined public faith in the government.

The Heaphy report focused on the events that took place in Charlottesville, Virginia, but it applies to almost every branch of government that fails to serve “we the people.”

As the Pew Research Center revealed, public trust in the government remains near historic lows and with good reason, too.

This isn’t America, land of the free, where the government is “of the people, by the people [and] for the people.”

Rather, as I make clear in my book Battlefield America: The War on the American People, this is Amerika, where fascism, totalitarianism and militarism work hand in hand.

So what’s the answer?

As always, it must start with “we the people.”

I’ve always advised people to think nationally, but act locally. Yet as Charlottesville makes clear, it’s hard to make a difference locally when the local government is as deaf, dumb and blind to the needs of its constituents as the national government.

Still, it’s time to clean house at all levels of government.

You’ve got a better chance of making your displeasure seen and felt and heard within your own community. But it will take perseverance and unity and a commitment to finding common ground with your fellow citizens.

Stop tolerating corruption, graft, intolerance, greed, incompetence, ineptitude, militarism, lawlessness, ignorance, brutality, deceit, collusion, corpulence, bureaucracy, immorality, depravity, censorship, cruelty, violence, mediocrity, and tyranny.

Stop holding your nose in order to block out the stench of a rotting institution.

Stop letting the government and its agents treat you like a servant or a slave.

You’ve got rights. We’ve all got rights. This is our country. This is our government. No one can take it away from us unless we make it easy for them.

Right now, we’re making it way too easy for the police state to take over.

Stop being an accessory to the murder of the American republic.

Report: Cops Told To Stand Down In Charlottesville and Coverup Followed

By Tim Brown, Freedom Outpost | 

A new report that was commissioned and conducted by the city of Charlottesville on the events surrounding the protests and subsequent violence that took the national stage in Charlottesville, Virginia back in August, and the findings indicate that not only were police told to stand down in the matter, which became deadly, but there was an attempt to cover it up.

One of the posts abandoned by officers was the very place that led to the death of Heather Heyer, who was killed after a white supremacist drove his car through a crowd of people and slammed into several other cars before backing up, hitting other demonstrators.

The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports:

A police officer radioed for help as angry protesters swarmed around her: “They are pushing the crowd my way and I have nobody here to help me.”

Tammy Shiflett, who had just returned to active duty as an elementary school resource officer after two months recovering from a shoulder surgery, was the only person assigned to block traffic at the intersection where a deadly car attack began in Charlottesville on Aug. 12.

Instead of sending reinforcements, a superior instructed her to abandon her post and move the car that had been positioned in the intersection, leaving a wooden sawhorse as the only barrier keeping vehicles out of the area.

Roughly an hour and a half later, a white nationalist drove his car down that very street, striking a crowd of counterprotesters and killing 32-year-old activist Heather Heyer.

Officer Shiflett was not the only officer told to stand down that day.

According to the report, “Supervisors devised a poorly-conceived plan that under-equipped and misaligned hundreds of officers.  Execution of that plan elevated officer safety over public safety.”

So, instead of doing their jobs, police were told to stand down for their own safety, and not enforce the law.

In fact, it was to the point that one of the protesters fired a shot from his gun into the crowd while police watched and did nothing.

ACLU of Virginia
WATCH: Man fired at another person in Charlottesville on Aug. 12. We handed  to LE agencies. The man has been arrested & charged w a crime.

3:28 PM – Aug 26, 2017

 The Richmond Times-Dispatch added additional findings in the report:

The review, led by Tim Heaphy, a former federal prosecutor who now works for Hunton & Williams, also found:

• Despite repeated public statements by state and local officials that officers were not instructed to “stand down,” police had in fact been instructed only to intervene in conflicts between white nationalists and counterprotesters in the event of serious injury.

• A Virginia State Police commander made an “off-plan” decision to keep state officers behind barricades instead of sending them into the streets to break up fights and make arrests.

• After clashes began, Police Chief Al Thomas was heard by several people in the command center saying to “let them fight, it will make it easier to declare an unlawful assembly” and shut down the rally.

• Thomas attempted to obstruct the city’s investigation, deleting relevant text messages, attempting to hide his use of a personal email account to conduct some official police business, and creating planning checklists that were not actually used to plan for the rallies.

The 220-page document is based on hundreds of thousands of documents, video and audio recordings, photos and interviews. It represents the most comprehensive account yet of how public officials handled the “Unite the Right” rally.

Now, consider that the media said that when many outlets were reporting that police were told to stand down, those were just “conspiracy theorists.”  Anyone thinking it was a just a theory now?  Nope, it was clearly a conspiracy and the report is clear that it was a conspiracy to protect cops but not the people they were entrusted to protect.

Once again, it’s those in the alternative media who have been vindicated while mainstream media continues to put out fake news for their corporate bosses.

The post Report: Cops Told To Stand Down In Charlottesville and Coverup Followed appeared first on The Sleuth Journal.

The World’s First Space Nation Now Has A Satellite Flying Above The Earth

On November 12, Asgardia cemented its presence in outer space by launching the Asgardia-1 satellite.  The nation is slowing coming to fruition.

The “nanosat”  is roughly the size of a loaf of bread and undertook a two-day journey from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, the United States, to the International Space Station (ISS). It contains 0.5 TB of data belonging to 18,000 of Asgardia’s citizens, such as family photographs, as well as digital representations of the space nation’s flag, coat of arms, and constitution. While Asgardia’s citizens will remain based on earth, for the time being, the satellite launch brings the nation one step closer to space.

Asgardia-1 made its journey to the ISS aboard the OA-8 Antares-Cygnus, a NASA commercial cargo vehicle.

Now it must wait for about three weeks as vital supplies and scientific equipment are transferred from the NASA ship to the six people currently living at the ISS. The nanosat will then be detached from the NASA vehicle and begin its own orbital journey around the earth. Citizens’ data will remain in orbit for between five and 18 months, the typical lifespan of this type of satellite. It will then burn out and disappear.

Russian scientist Dr. Igor Ashurbeyli founded the world’s first independent nation to operate in outer space in October 2016. Named after a Norse mythological city of the skies, Asgardia is free to join and so far, about 114,000 people have signed up. Within 40 hours of the project being announced in 2016, over 100,000 people had applied for citizenship on Asgardia’s website. After three weeks, Asgardia had 500,000 applicants. Anyone over 18 years old, with an email address, regardless of gender, nationality, race, religion, and financial standing can apply for citizenship — including ex-convicts, provided they are clear of charges at the time of application

According to CNN,  Ashurbeyli says the project’s mission is to provide a “peaceful society,” offer easier access to space technologies and protect Earth from space threats, such as asteroids and man-made debris in space.

For Ashurbeyli, the launch fulfills a pledge he made when establishing the “space nation” to take its citizens to space via their data. “I promised there would be a launch,” he says. “We selected NASA as a reliable partner … because we have to meet the commitments that I made 13 months ago.”

“I was interested in doing something unusual that nobody else was doing,” Ashurbeyli told CNN. “It was my dream to create an independent country.” That ambition became more concrete after Ashurbeyli gave a speech at a conference on space law at McGill University in Montreal in 2016, where he was inspired by a discussion about the laws governing murder, marriage, and divorce in space. “I thought: ‘Why not organize a country?’ Not only for lawyers. But for technicians, for engineers, for every human … because he’s currently restricted by the laws of the country he was born in.”

Buchanan Fears A GOP Bloodbath - The Lesson For 2018

Authored by Patrick Buchanan via Buchanan.org,

The day after his “Silent Majority” speech on Nov. 3, 1969, calling on Americans to stand with him for peace with honor in Vietnam, Richard Nixon’s GOP captured the governorships of Virginia and New Jersey.

By December, Nixon had reached 68 percent approval in the Gallup Poll, though, a year earlier, he had won but 43 percent of the vote.

Contrast Nixon’s numbers with President Trump’s.

Where Trump won 46 percent of the vote against Hillary Clinton, his approval rating is now nearly 10 points below that. He has less support today than on the day he was elected, or inaugurated.

Tens of millions of Americans are passionately for Trump, and tens of millions are passionately against him.

The GOP problem: The latter cohort is equal in intensity but larger in number, and this is especially true in purple and blue states like the commonwealth of Virginia.

There is no way to spin Tuesday as other than a Little Bighorn, and possible harbinger of what is to come.

In George Washington’s hometown of Alexandria and Arlington County, Democratic candidate Ralph Northam won 4-1. In Fairfax and Loudoun counties, the most populous D.C. suburbs, Northam won 2-1.

In the rural counties, however, Republican Ed Gillespie rolled up the landslides.

As there are two Americas, there are two Virginias.

Consider. Of all the delegate seats in the Virginia assembly allocated to Alexandria, Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun and Prince William counties, the GOP can today claim only one.

Northern Virginia is taking on the political and socioeconomic profile of San Francisco.

Another and perhaps insoluble problem for the GOP, not only in the Old Dominion, is demography.

Democrats rolled up their largest margins among African-Americans, Hispanics, single women, immigrants and the young. And these voting blocs are growing.

Gillespie ran up his largest margins among white males near and past retirement age and married white women. These Middle Americans are in inexorable demographic decline.

The Greatest Generation is passing on, and baby boomers born between 1946 and 1951 are now on Medicare and Social Security.

Yet reports of the GOP’s demise are grossly exaggerated.

Though Gillespie lost by nine points, Jill Vogel, who ran for lieutenant governor on Trumpian issues, lost by six.

By 2-1, Virginians do not want their Confederate monuments torn down. Northam, sensing this, moved toward Gillespie’s position as the campaign went on. Also, among the 27 percent of Virginians who regarded taxes and immigration as the top issues, Gillespie won by nearly 4-1.

It was health care concerns, the No. 1 issue, that buried the GOP.

As for mainstream media rage and revulsion at the “racism” of Gillespie ads suggesting Northam supported sanctuary cities and was soft on the MS-13 gang, this reflects an abiding establishment fear of the Trumpian issues of illegal immigration and crime.

Then there was the Republican messenger.

A former chairman of the RNC, Washington lobbyist and White House aide, Gillespie is an establishment Republican unconvincing in the role of a fighting populist conservative. His speeches recalled not Trump’s run, but that of the Republicans Trump trounced.

Ed Gillespie was Virginia’s version of Jeb Bush.

Message from the Old Dominion: A purple state, trending blue, with its economy recession-proof as long as Uncle Sam across the river consumes 20 percent of GDP, is a steepening climb for the GOP. You must have a superior candidate, comfortable with cutting issues, to win it now.

Republicans are being admonished to drop the monuments-and-memorials issue and respect why NFL players might want to “take a knee” during the national anthem.

But if to win in Northern Virginia the GOP must move closer to the Democratic Party, why would the rest of the state want to vote for the Republican Party?

During the campaign, both candidates moved rightward.

Northam rejected sanctuary cities and accepted Lee and Jackson on Richmond’s Monument Avenue, and Gillespie ran Trumpian ads, even if they seemed to clash with the mild-mannered candidate himself.

The lesson for 2018:

While the solid support of Trumpians is indispensable for GOP victory, it is insufficient for GOP victory. Republican candidates will have to decide how close they wish to get to President Trump, or how far away they can risk going and survive.

Facing this choice, Sens. Jeff Flake and Bob Corker decided to pack it in. Other Republicans may follow. But a house divided will not stand.

Republicans should recall that off-year elections are often problematic for incumbent parties. In 1954, President Eisenhower lost both houses of Congress. After pardoning Nixon in 1974, Gerald Ford lost 49 seats. In 1982, Ronald Reagan sustained a 27-seat loss.

In 1994, Bill Clinton lost 53 seats and control of the House. In 2010, Barack Obama lost 63 seats and control of the House.

If the nation chooses to turn Congress over to Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer in 2018, will that be all Trump’s fault? Or should perhaps some credit go to Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell and venerable political tradition?

What The Kennedy Assassination Records Reveal: Uncontrollable Incompetence

Authored by Charles Hugh Smith via OfTwoMinds blog,

Imagine Harvey Weinstein wielding a "top secret" stamp to block any exposure of the uncomfortable truth and you have the FBI, CIA and NSA.

One way to interpret the intelligence community"s reluctance to let all the Kennedy assassination archives become public is that the archives contain evidence of a "smoking gun": that is, evidence that the intelligence agencies of the United States of America were complicit in the assassination of the President.

I think the agencies fear something larger: exposure of their gross incompetence, their "cowboy" recklessness and their disavowal of elected-civilian control. Their fear of this exposure is based on one simple fact: nothing"s changed since 1963. They were unaccountable and incompetent then, and they remain unaccountable and incompetent now. The only difference is their funding has greatly increased.

We rarely get an insider"s glimpse of the intelligence community"s pettiness, hubris and incompetence. The Ministry of Propaganda is tasked with showing the NSA, CIA, FBI, et al. as super-competent, super-dedicated, and focused on defeating evil (which is always presented as unambiguously evil, i.e. anti-American.)

Although it"s 30 years old, I still recommend this account of a top MI5 (U.K.) officer, SpyCatcher: The Candid Autobiography of a Senior Intelligence Officer.

I"ve read many books on the intelligence community, but few (if any) reveal the inter-agency rivalries and bad blood that (as far as I can tell) still exist beneath a formal veneer of co-operation. The CIA and FBI were always envious of the NSA"s SigInt (signal intelligence, i.e. eavesdropping), and so they"ve attempted to create their own versions, with laughably incompetent results in the case of the FBI"s "Russians stole the election" inquiry.

The CIA was also envious of the Pentagon"s Black Ops capabilities, so they created their own Black Ops division as well as SigInt capabilities. They also horned in on the FBI"s monopoly on domestic spying in the 1970s; they wanted it all, and chose to create their own versions of the competing agencies.

Unfortunately for the nation, their petty rivalries, general incompetence and penchant for political vendettas, coups, assassinations, patsies, fall-guys, and other "cowboy" recklessness is vividly revealed by the Kennedy archives.

Rather than protect the nation, these unaccountable and uncontrollable agencies have endangered the nation behind their Iron Curtain of secrecy, a convenient cloak which masks their hubris, incompetence, pettiness and complicity in cover-ups of the truth that cannot be revealed to the American public lest it embarrass the powerful.

Imagine Harvey Weinstein wielding a "top secret" stamp to block any exposure of the uncomfortable truth and you have the FBI, CIA and NSA. Forget the smoking gun, look at the complicity in the cover-ups of incompetence and gross errors of judgment: no conspiracy or tin-foil hat required.

*  *  *

If you found value in this content, please join me in seeking solutions by becoming a $1/month patron of my work via patreon.com. Check out both of my new books, Inequality and the Collapse of Privilege ($3.95 Kindle, $8.95 print) and Why Our Status Quo Failed and Is Beyond Reform ($3.95 Kindle, $8.95 print, $5.95 audiobook) For more, please visit the OTM essentials website.

"Not Another Charlottesville": Richmond Police Enforce Weapons Ban Ahead Of Confederate Rally

With the memory of Charlottesville still fresh in everyone"s mind, Richmond Police have announced that they’re planning to impose strict security measures – including a temporary “weapons ban” – during a celebration of Confederate Heritage set to take place on Saturday near a famous statue of Robert E Lee on Monument Avenue.

By banning most weapons, a decision that was discussed during a city council meeting earlier in the week, police hope to prevent the level of violence witnessed just 70 miles away in Charlottesville last month, when a young woman was killed and dozens were injured after a white nationalist demonstrator drove his Dodge Charger into a crowd of protesters.

“We do not want what happened in Charlottesville to happen in Richmond,” said Richmond Police Chief Alfred Durham in a letter distributed to residents this week.

According to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, authorities are planning to cordon off a “weapons-free assembly zone” around the statue of Robert E. Lee on Monument Avenue in an effort to head off any potential violence at a rally to support preserving Confederate monuments planned for Saturday. After a crowd of protesters destroyed a statue of Robert E Lee in Charlottesville last month, the city is refusing to allow anyone within a designated perimeter of the statue.

In recent months violent clashes between violent fring groups on both the right and the left have become depressingly regular occurrences at conservative speaking events and rallies. Police at the University of Berkeley tightened security on Thursday during a speech by former Breitbart editor and conservative author Ben Shapiro. While the speech was described as a “success” by organizers, and protests were described as “largely peaceful,” Berkeley police still made nine arrests, three on weapons-related charge, according to Fox.

Richmond police said they’re compiling a list of banned items, including knives, bats, pepper spray, sticks and flagpoles – but, in an ironic twist – they’re hesitant to include guns. Virginia is, after all, an open-carry state, and prohibiting guns, even a temporary ban in a designated safety zone, could present thorny legal issues, according to the Times-Dispatch.

“They are cordoning off the area and making it a specific assembly area where you can’t bring certain items in,” Councilwoman Kim Gray told the Fan District Association board on Tuesday evening. “They’ll be listing items you can’t bring into that area, and weapons will be at the top of the list.”

Police have sought to downplay comparisons with Charlottesville: conveniently, the turnout is expected to be small, though, as the Post-Dispatch reports, nobody knows exactly how many demonstrators to expect on Saturday. The rally is being planned by a neo-Confederate group based in Tennessee called “CSA II: The New Confederate States of America.”

NBC12 - WWBT - Richmond, VA News On Your Side

The group is a for-profit business whose primary focus appears to be selling Confederate-themed T-shirts and other paraphernalia, according to the Post-Dispatch. The group is so obscure, apparently, that Virginia’s largest pro-Confederate organization, the Virginia Chapter of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, has advised members not to attend.

“Although authorities acknowledge they’re preparing for the worst, so far they’ve downplayed the parallels between the rally planned for this weekend and the one that took place last month in Charlottesville, which was heavily promoted for months by several large white nationalist organizations.”

“The Richmond rally, in contrast, is being planned by a small, largely unknown Confederate heritage group based out of Tennessee, and so far, only about 50 people have signaled they plan to attend.”

Tara Brandau, a militia supporter who is apparently helping to organize the rally, told reporters at a press conference on the sidewalk along Bank Street in front of the Virginia Capitol on Friday that responses to a Facebook event page is their only gauge of attendance, the Post-Dispatch reported. Though as she admitted, “anybody could show up.”

“It says in the event page 70-something coming, 400 and something interested and there"s over 400 shares,” she said. “You can"t go by that. Anybody could show up with all the media. I cannot tell you a number.”

According to the Post-Dispatch, no Black Lives Matter counter-protesters – who tend to show up early to these types of events – had yet arrived, though several counterprotests were planned, including an “RVA Stands United Rally and March,” which will begin at the Maggie Walker statue at Adams and Broad streets at a time that has not yet been announced.

The police will also be enforcing temporary parking restrictions will begin at 9 am Friday and end at 11 pm Saturday. No parking signs were posted on Monument Avenue and Macenka said that cars were about to be towed out of the area. They have also set up fencing around the area where the demonstration is set to take place.

Monument Avenue closed as fencing goes up ahead of rally tomorrow pic.twitter.com/kjuLOv2NSs

— Ned Oliver (@nedoliver) September 15, 2017

For those traveling through downtown Richmond today, the affected streets are:

• Monument Avenue between North Lombardy Street and North Meadow Street;


• North Allen Avenue between West Grace Street and Park Avenue;


• Westbound West Grace Street between North Allen Avenue and North Lombardy Street; and


• Eastbound West Grace Street between North Allen Avenue and North Meadow Street.
   

Bombshell Report Catches Pentagon Falsifying Paperwork For Weapons Transfers To Syrian Rebels

A new bombshell joint report issued by two international weapons monitoring groups Tuesday confirms that the Pentagon continues to ship record breaking amounts of weaponry into Syria and that the Department of Defense is scrubbing its own paper trail. On Tuesday the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) and the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN) produced conclusive evidence that not only is the Pentagon currently involved in shipping up to $2.2 billion worth of weapons from a shady network of private dealers to allied partners in Syria - mostly old Soviet weaponry - but is actually manipulating paperwork such as end-user certificates, presumably in order to hide US involvement.

The OCCRP and BIRN published internal US defense procurement files after an extensive investigation which found that the Pentagon is running a massive weapons trafficking pipeline which originates in the Balkans and Caucuses, and ends in Syria and Iraq. The program is ostensibly part of the US train, equip, and assist campaign for the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF, a coalition of YPG/J and Arab FSA groups operating primarily in Syria"s east). The arms transfers are massive and the program looks to continue for years. According to Foreign Policy"s (FP) coverage of the report:

The Department of Defense has budgeted $584 million specifically for this Syrian operation for the financial years 2017 and 2018, and has earmarked another $900 million of spending on Soviet-style munitions between now and 2022. The total, $2.2 billion, likely understates the flow of weapons to Syrian rebels in the coming years.

But perhaps more shocking is the following admission that Pentagon suppliers have links with known criminal networks, also from FP:

According to the report, many of the weapons suppliers — primarily in Eastern Europe but also in the former Soviet republics, including Kazakhstan, Georgia, and Ukraine — have both links to organized crime throughout Eastern Europe and spotty business records.

The sheer amount of material necessary for the Pentagon program — one ammunition factory announced it planned to hire 1,000 new employees in 2016 to help cope with the demand — has reportedly stretched suppliers to the limit, forcing the Defense Department to relax standards on the materials it’s willing to accept.

It is likely that the organized crime association is the reason why the Pentagon has sought to alter its records. In addition, the sheer volume of weaponry continuing to ship to the Syrian battlefield and other parts of the Middle East means inevitable proliferation among unsavory terror groups - a phenomenon which has already been exhaustively documented in connection with the now reportedly closed CIA program to topple the Syrian government. The associations and alliances among some of the Arab former FSA groups the DoD continues to support in the north and east remains fluid, which means means US-supplied weapons will continue to pass among groups with no accountability for where they end up.

One of the authors of the OCCRP/BIRN report, Ivan Angelovski, told Foreign Policy that, “The Pentagon is removing any evidence in their procurement records that weapons are actually going to the Syrian opposition." The report is based on internal US government memos which reveal that weapons shipment destination locations have been scrubbed from original documents. 

Falsified and altered Pentagon procurement documents (Click to enlarge):

Is an EUC (End User Certificate) still an EUC if it doesn"t include an end user?

Balkan Insight, which is hosting the original investigative report: "Seven US procurement documents were whitewashed to remove reference to "Syria" after reporters contacted the Pentagon to enquire about whether the exporting countries – Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia, Ukraine and Georgia – had been informed of the destination."

The fact that Foreign Policy, which is the foremost establishment national security publication in the world, would admit that the Pentagon"s Syria weapons procurement program is tied to East European organized crime is itself hugely significant. At this point the evidence is simply so overwhelming that even establishment sources like FP - which itself has generally been pro-interventionist on Syria - can"t deny it.

FP further reports that the Pentagon program "appears to be turbocharging a shadowy world of Eastern European arms dealers." And adds further that, "the Pentagon is reportedly removing documentary evidence about just who will ultimately be using the weapons, potentially weakening one of the bulwarks of international protocols against illicit arms dealing."

Map/Infographic produced as part of the OCCRP/BIRN report, itself confirmed by Foreign Policy magazine. Notice the map denotes that prior CIA weapons went directly to Idlib province (northwest, section in green) and the Golan border region (south). Both of these areas were and continue to be occupied by al-Qaeda (in Idlib, AQ"s Hay"at Tahrir al-Sham). In Idlib specifically, analysts have confirmed genocidal cleansing of religious minorities conducted by AQ "rebels" directly assisted by CIA weapons.

Late last month we featured the story of Bulgarian journalist Dilyana Gaytandzhieva, who was fired from her job after being interrogated by national intelligence officials for exposing the same Pentagon arms network which is the subject of the latest OCCRP/BIRN investigation. At the time, Al Jazeera was the only major international outlet which covered the story, which confirmed that Bulgarian agents interrogated Gaytandzhieva and "tried to find out her sources." An anonymous source had leaked a large trove of internal government files connected to the arms trafficking to the East European-based Trud Newspaper journalist, which was the basis of her reporting. The newest investigation released Tuesday appears to include some of the same documents, also confirmed by Gayandzhieva. 

Read the full OCCRP/BIRN investigation here.

Read Zero Hedge"s original coverage of the Pentagon"s Balkan arms pipeline here.

Antifa: The Political Wolf In Sheep’s Clothing Is Now Revealed

Several things happened with the recent event in Charlottesville Virginia where we’re told that a 32 year old woman was killed and many others were injured when a driver, 20 year old James Alex Fields drove his car into a crowd of protesters. We’ve all seen the story and the controversies surrounding it repeated on both mainstream and alternative media for day. It’s been several days and we can now step back and appreciate the lessons learned in this event, which upon closer inspection reveals shocking truths that everyone in America needs to recognize as soon as possible because the future of our nation depends on this.

To understand the importance and significance of this event look no further than the players themselves. By that I mean not just the villains that the mainstream media and Hollywood celebrities unanimously parroted to no end to remind you of – that being the White Supremacists, “Nazis” and KKK members who decided to jump into the ‘Unite the Right’ protest event scheduled that day- but also the villains on the other side of the fight who got a complete pass from the media and Hollywood as if they did no wrong- that being “Antifa”, the supposedly “anti fascist” good guys who (contrary to video evidence) the mainstream media and their Hollywood talking heads would have you believe are a peaceful pro-America group that means well. Nothing of course, could be further from the truth.

A close inspection of the radical White Supremacists movement in the U.S. reveals that although it exists, Nazism and White Nationalism is now and for the most part always has been a fringe movement here in the U.S.. Generally speaking most Americans reject Nazism and White Supremacy groups. Their speech is not the typical thing you’ll run into on TV, in the movies, the local newspaper or even your local church. They associate with hate and violence and there is no need to convince Americans of this since Americans are generally in unison about how they feel about these groups. A close look at the Antifa movement however, their history, their background, their stated goals and intentions, and how they go about their agenda reveals a different story from the innocent picture the mainstream media is painting of Antifa.

So before we pull the cover from the Antifa “wolf in sheep’s clothing” operation and reveal the story behind Antifa let’s first consider the two main political agendas behind the recent Charlottesville event as I see it.

1- The event was used to try to associate President Trump and his supporters with “Nazism” and “fascism”. Because the direct connection is almost impossible, instead the deep state and their mainstream media went for the “Nazi = alt right = Trump supporters” strategy. In this example one can see that the term “alt-right”, which was created and introduced by Hillary Clinton herself, now serves as the perfect propaganda term that bridges the two groups which the liberal left is trying to associate, that being “Nazis” and “Trump”. This weaponization of the term “alt-Right” seems to have been accomplished very nicely.

2- The other important purpose of the Charlottesville event was to quietly condone, legitimize and perhaps introduce at a national scale the actions of a group unheard of to most Americans until now- “Antifa”. Like it or not, they’re here and this event has served arguably as the symbolic grand entrance of Antifa onto the streets of America and thus the consciousness of Americans. And before we join the Hollywood celebrity and mainstream media propagandists in celebrating the arrival of Antifa let’s take a close look at the history and true identity of Antifa.

A nice summary of the history of Antifa is provided by Grunt Works Media leaving no doubt as to who Antifa is and what their ultimate purpose is.

Antifa, or Anti Fascists, are making headlines around the country … particularly in Berkley, Portland, and other far left strongholds. They are initiating violent protests, counter protests and rioting on college campuses and in the streets of major U.S. cities. For many Americans they appear to be a new organization, one which has sprung to life to protest President Trump’s election. In reality Antifa is nearly 100 years old and has roots that go directly back to Joseph Stalin and post WWI Europe. What is new about the current Antifa movement is their target. They are no longer attacking fascists to springboard a communist revolution in Europe. Their current target is the political rift between Conservatives and Liberals in the U.S. Their goal is to create the conditions for a Communist takeover of the Democrat party and the eventual subversion of our constitutional republic. To this end they are attacking everyone who holds a conservative viewpoint-and for political cover, they are labeling conservatives as fascists while obfuscating their own communist ideology. Antifa and the communist party hope that Americans will focus on the message of anti fascism. They want us to forget that communists have slaughtered far more innocent lives than the Nazis did, and that while fascism has become a worldwide pariah, communism has continued to be a major player in politics around the world. Communism remains a clear and present danger to liberal democracies everywhere.

Fascism first reared its ugly head in Europe during the post WWI era, when communism had already made great inroads in Eastern Europe. Spurred by the industrialized violence of the Great War, many Europeans sought a strong central government which they believed could protect them in the event of another war. In the confusion and turmoil following the collapse of Germany and the subsequent great depression, the far right looked to fascism, and the far left to communism. Both of these political groups saw liberal democracies as weak and obsolete systems, and favored a strong central government run by a committee (communism) or by a dictator (fascism), either of which would be backed by party loyalists.

From 1918 to the mid 1920s several groups of German communists, backed by Stalinists in Russia, made a series of violent attempts to overthrow the newly formed Weimar Republic government of Germany. These attacks were unsuccessful in large part due to lack of central leadership from the communists. After some initial infighting, the major communist group to emerge was the Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands or KPD. The KPD’s main political target going forward would be the fascists, and the paramilitary arm of this anti fascist movement would be Antifaschistische Aktion. During this period in Germany the KPD would garner a respectable 10% of the national vote, making it the strongest European communist enclave outside of Russia.

Strong anti-communist feelings in the leadership of the Weimar Republic were bolstered by these unsuccessful coupes. Concern over these insurrections led to a national call to action to fight against communism. Under the leadership of Gustav Noske, the German defense minister, the Freikorps were formed. These freikorps were government sanctioned paramilitary groups primarily made up of disaffected WWI veterans that used direct action to suppress communists. Freikorps were quickly subverted by the fascists, leading eventually to the brown shirt militias and a Nazi takeover of Germany.

Antifaschistische Aktion and the KPD sank into obscurity during WWII as the Nazis crushed any opposition with an iron fist. During the Cold War the KPD regained some of its former glory in East Germany as well as enclaves in West Germany, but with the primary enemy of communism now seen as the West-capitalism and liberal democracies-there was little reason to utilize the anti fascists, and they were quietly relegated to the role of occasional anarchists on behalf of the communists. They stayed under the radar until the 2016 U.S. presidential election where, very quickly, Antifaschistische Aktion was resurrected as Antifa.

As you can see, when we pull the veil from the “Antifa” operation they are a Joseph Stalin backed militant Communist organization originating in Germany and a group which was unheard of for the most part until the Liberal Left unleashed them on America as an anti-Trump militant color revolution group posing as Anarchists against “fascism”. Other Antifa related sites talk about bringing in more Antifa terrorists from Europe and doing anything necessary to “fight a resurgent far right in the Trump era”. There is nothing in the history of Antifa to make anyone in America believe that they love and respect America, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. All they do is create the needed domestic and national turmoil by stirring up anger based on victimhood. This anger is then harnessed as a weapon to overthrow elected governments around the world. This is a classic example of the Communist “National Liberation” agenda to overthrow nation states as G Edward Griffin explains in this video.

The problem with Antifa’s existence in the United States is that there is no Fascist party in power in America and neither has there ever been. That leaves Antifa in the boxing ring without an opponent.

Enter Hillary Clinton and the presidential election race.

Now we can understand why Hillary made her campaign seem more like a political uprising than anything else. During the campaign season I kept wondering to myself, why is Hillary saying what she is saying? I kept wondering, why instead of addressing the actual issues that people tend to vote on, instead Hillary focused her entire campaign on demonizing Donald Trump and painting him out to be Hitler and a hater. I kept asking myself, where was this going? Looking at events in America 7 months deep into the Trump administration we can now clearly see what the plan was. They were setting the stage for radical militant Communist groups like Antifa and they were creating the impetus for the revolution they would soon wage against the Right and against Trump. Problem Reaction Solution. Hillary was creating the problem (Trump is a Fascist) for which the Soros funded “solution” (“anti-fascist revolutionaries) would be rolled out. This is not speculation as shocking videos revealed by Project Veritas showed radical Left wing pro-Hillary activists planning to provoke violence at Trump rallies. Wikileaks emails revealed the mainstream media and the DNC colluding with the Hillary campaign to make sure she wins the election. Revolution against Trump and the planned overthrow of his presidency seems to have been plan B all along in case Hillary loses and now it is in full effect.

A few months ago I documented how proxy armies were coming to America to disrupt this country the same way that the CIA and Soros have undermined and overthrown governments around the world for decades. I mentioned back then when I discovered a mainstream media article for the first time portraying the militia in positive light. It became clear to me then that this was very likely something we would be seeing here in America. More civilian resistance against the government. Obama even promised in his 2008 campaign an army of civilians “just as powerful” as our military. Think about that. He was hinting back then of what was going to happen.

And with the arrival of Antifa onto the national scene it is a good time to remind readers that they are spreading rapidly all over the country. That’s right. An army of civilians nationwide with a Communist history and who spread Communist ideologies under the banner of fighting victimhood dating back to Germany in the 1920s is growing in America. They’re encouraging Americans to join and if you want to know what their conditions and mission statements are check out their website and see for yourself. Warning, you won’t see any mention of America, the Constitution, freedom, the Bill of Rights or the rule of law on their site and that is because none of these things line up with the Communist agenda. They especially despise the first amendment and free speech and collectively they are a weapon against free speech in America.

The following are just some of the shocking claims on their site regarding their own mission:

If the purpose of your group is to do public organizing where your members are clearly identifiable-organizing anti-Trump rallies or supporting refugees and immigrants-using the antifa label and the traditional antifa symbols will likely lead to blowback that could be avoided by naming your organization differently. “Las Cruces United Against Racism” will not draw the attention that calling yourself “La Cruces Antifa,” and using traditional antifa symbolism, will.

..if AltRight speakers come to town, or if the Daily Stormer holds a meet up, you will be expected to organize a counter-demonstration. If they hold postering or sticker campaigns, you should not only take down their materials but also put up your own; public outreach campaigns should likewise be countered.

Build a culture of non-cooperation with law enforcement. If you have any intention of working with the police, FBI, or other agencies; or if you publically condemn anti-fascists who break the law: don’t call yourself an anti-fascist. The cops will be Trump supporters; do not collaborate with them.

Antifa is deceptively classified by mainstream media as “Anarchists”. They do this because most Americans especially the average working class are less likely to be alarmed if they hear “Anarchists” as opposed to “militant radical Communists” which is what Antifa really is and is originally based on. On their site as you can see, they admit that aside from fighting “fascism” their mission involves resisting President Donald Trump even though Trump has nothing to do with “fascism”. They are even, get this, sworn enemies of the police across the board. When did the concept of local police across the board become equivalent to “fascism”? And why are they more concerned with bringing in immigrants than protecting, honoring and building the country itself, the Constitution, free speech and freedom? Everyone should be asking these questions.

Ultimately the price of not asking these basic questions will be the final destruction of America, freedom, the first amendment, the Constitution and the rule of law. And who will benefit from this mass destruction you might ask? The deep state, the ruling elite, Hillary herself, Obama, and the globalists who want to get their new world global order done. That’s who. They are temporarily using the Antifa “anti-fascism” label to undermined Trump, silence opposing opinions, silence Conservatives, Republicans and anyone on the Right who supports Trump by labeling them all as first “alt-Right” which they are suggesting really means “fascists”. They hope that enough Americans are naive enough to fall for this suddenly resuscitated 1920-style (literally) Communist propaganda because all of Hollywood and the mainstream media are telling them to.

So the final question is, are there enough dumbed-down and brainwashed Americans (who believe mainstream media and Hollywood) to overthrow Trump and overturn the results of our elections which would almost certainly lead to civil war and blood on the streets of America? I hope not but with every day that goes by I’m increasingly worried that this is possible. I am choosing to remain positive for now. I believe that Antifa, as we saw with ISIS in 2014 will eventually be fully exposed for who they really are, where they come from and what their ultimate purpose is here in our streets of America. Unfortunately, it is very likely that the deep state is aware that this tactic may fail and thus very likely this is just one plan among many that they are implementing in their attempted overthrow of Trump. Therefore let us first be aware that this is but one segment of a long process and for now let us not allow this one to succeed. If you agree please share this urgent message.

Related video

ESPN Prez Defends Idiotic Decision To Create A National Controversy That Never Existed

ESPN President John Skipper should probably lookup the meaning of "primum non nocere."  Medical school students all across the country are taught this Latin phrase, meaning "first, do no harm," on their first day of classes as a reminder that, given any problem, their first priority should be to simply not make it worse than it already is.

Unfortunately, Skipper doesn"t seem to subscribe to this theory because if he did he would realize that sometimes the best way to address a controversy that never should have happened is simply to keep your mouth shut and "do no further harm."  Alas, Skipper"s clearly not a doctor and thus we"re all stuck having to read another statement from ESPN attempted to explain why they made a truly moronic decision.

Here"s the new statement in which ESPN now makes it seem as if it wasn"t actually their decision to pull Robert Lee off the air in Virginia, but rather Lee"s decision intended to avoid "social media hectoring and trolling"....

"Given the amount of media attention being generated by on of the countless, routine decisions our local production teams make every day, I wanted to make sure you have the facts.  There was never any concern - by anyone, at any level - that Robert Lee"s name would offend anyone watching the Charlottesville game.

Among our Charlotte production staff there was a question as to whether - in these divisive times -- Robert"s assignment might create a distraction, or even worse, expose him to social media hectoring and trolling.  Since Robert was their primary concern, they consulted with him directly.  He expressed some personal trepidation about the assignment and, when offered the chance to do the Youngstown State / Pitt game instead, opted for that game -- in part because he lives in Albany and would be able to get home to his family on Saturday evening. 

I"m disappointed that the good intentions of our Charlotte colleagues have been intentionally hijacked by someone with a personal agenda, and sincerely appreciate Robert"s personal input and professionalism throughout this episode."

New: internal memo from ESPN prez John Skipper about the Robert Lee decision pic.twitter.com/3yFk4hbDRb

— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) August 24, 2017

...because this path worked out really well for avoiding "social media hectoring and trolling."

Rare photo of #RobertLee announcing Confederates vs Union game pic.twitter.com/lJLRalDTt1

— John Davis (@TheFoundingSon) August 23, 2017

Of course, Skipper"s new statement, which makes it seems as if the decision was all Lee"s idea, somewhat contradicts ESPN"s original statement that said it just "felt right to all parties."

“We collectively made the decision with Robert to switch games as the
tragic events in Charlottesville were unfolding, simply because of the
coincidence of his name. In that moment it felt right to all parties.
It’s a shame that this is even a topic of conversation and we regret
that who calls play by play for a football game has become an issue.”

Skipper, do us all a favor and read the first sentence of this post again...

* * *

For those who managed to ignore this story line so far, below is our post from yesterday.

We"ve been saying this a lot lately, but just when you thought the political climate in this country couldn"t get any more wacky ESPN has to go and pull an Asian-American announcer, who just happens to be named Robert Lee, off the William and Mary vs. University of Virginia college football game because of concerns they might create a mass-triggering of America"s snowflakes. 

Is this even real life anymore?  So the fragile millennial culture now demands that you should be thrown in jail if you call them by the wrong pronoun but it"s totally fine if their insecurities literally derail a person"s career because they refuse to be "assaulted" by the name his parents happened to give him?

Outkick the Coverage broke the story last night with this summary:

In a story that seems made for The Onion, but is actually true, according to multiple Outkick fans inside ESPN MSESPN decided to pull an Asian college football announcer named Robert Lee off the William and Mary at University of Virginia college football game because they were concerned that having an ASIAN FOOTBALL ANNOUNCER NAMED ROBERT LEE would be offensive to some viewers.

Did I mention that Robert Lee is Asian?

Is this even real life anymore? This might even be worse than MSESPN apologizing for the fantasy football slave draft a couple of weeks ago.

To avoid offending left wing idiots Robert Lee, the Asian college football announcer, not the Confederate General who died in 1870 and shares a name with him, was switched to the Youngstown State at Pittsburgh game and Dave Weekley will now call the William and Mary at University of Virginia game.

Meanwhile, ESPN issued the following statement:

“We collectively made the decision with Robert to switch games as the tragic events in Charlottesville were unfolding, simply because of the coincidence of his name. In that moment it felt right to all parties. It’s a shame that this is even a topic of conversation and we regret that who calls play by play for a football game has become an issue.”

Not surprisingly, ESPN has been mercilessly mocked on social media for their truly moronic decision as #RobertLee quickly shot to the top of Twitter"s trending board.

Irony
/??r?n?/
noun

1. Punishing an Asian-American for his last name out of fear of racism.#RobertLee

— Eugene Gu, MD (@eugenegu) August 23, 2017

Just to clarify, the Asian sports announcer named Robert Lee is NOT the General of the Confederate Army. Get it together #espn #Robertlee

— Joni (@jonifabulous) August 23, 2017

Of course, ESPN may be a little sensitive to race issues after being blasted all last week for hosting a fantasy football auction that many people likened to a slave auction...