UPDATED: Rumble in the DOJungle — AG Barr To SDNY US Attorney, “You’re Fired”

Article by Shipwrecked Crew in "RedState":

“You’re Fired!!!!”  — William Barr

How could it get any better that that!?!

After Berman’s petulant “I’m not resigning” press release last night, Attorney General Barr sent him a letter today telling him his services are no longer needed — effective immediately.

Barr’s letter lays out their meeting yesterday, during which Barr confirms he did discuss with Berman other jobs in the Administration he could be moved to, including Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division, or to Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission.  Barr says in his letter that his understanding upon departing his meeting with Berman was that Berman understood he was being replaced, and discussions over what position Berman might move to were to remain ongoing.   Barr says Berman choose “public spectacle” over “public service,” so his he has advised Pres. Trump to remove him from the position immediately, with his Deputy US Attorney taking over the role of Interim US Attorney immediately.     The text of Barr’s letter can be found at the bottom of this story.

Today’s headlines are filled with suggestions of a “standoff” between the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York (SDNY), Geoffrey Berman, and Attorney General William Barr.

There is no standoff.  AG Barr fired Berman yesterday after giving him the chance to resign, but Berman declined to do so.  There are rumors — unconfirmed so far as I can tell — that AG Barr offered Berman the job of Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division in Washington, but Berman declined that as well.  DOJ put out a press release late yesterday announcing that Jay Clayton, current Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, would nominated to be US Attorney for SDNY, and that Craig Carpentino, currently the US Attorney for New Jersey, would serve as interim US Attorney for SDNY until Clayton’s confirmation — all to be effective on July 3.

The US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York is responsible for Manhattan — that’s it.  The other New York City boroughs are outside the jurisdiction of SDNY.  But Manhattan is a lot, it’s important (just ask them), and lots of big cases in politics, finance, business, etc., are handled by the SDNY.

But, SDNY has a reputation — well earned and they are proud of it — that they consider themselves not to be a US Attorney’s Office, they rather the Department of Justice for Manhattan.   Outside direction is not received warmly.   “If we wanted DOJ’s assistance we would have indicted the Attorney General and given him a cooperation agreement” sort of sums up the ethos.

When there is a change in parties in the office of the Presidency following a presidential election, the new President is entitled to ask for the resignation of all 93 US Attorneys who were in office on his first day.  Sometimes Presidents decide to allow certain individuals to remain in the position, and sometimes they hold off accepting the resignation until a new nominee is in place.  Most often the US Attorneys appointed by the prior President graciously tender their resignations and vacate the office — usually with a position in a prominent law firm awaiting them. After their departure the position is filled by someone acting on an “Interim” basis, until a new appointee is confirmed by the Senate.

President Trump did not demand the immediate resignation of all Obama US Attorneys when he took office.  A majority of the positions were vacant with career prosecutors serving in an “Acting” capacity, but even for the Obama holdovers, Pres. Trump did not demand their resignations.  He waited for former Attorney General Sessions to be confirmed, and he allowed Sessions to have a say in whether to keep any in place since Session, while a Senator, had been involved in the confirmation process for all of them.

Preet Bharara was the US Attorney in the SDNY at the end of the Obama Administration.  He did not resign following Pres. Trump’s election or inauguration.  Following the ethos of the office — and likely the instructions of his old boss Chuck Schumer — Bharara made very public comments regarding his intention to stay on and continue in the job of US Attorney.

On March 10, 2017, Sessions asked Bharara and 43 other US Attorneys for their resignations.  Being the gracious professional that he is, Bharara refused to resign and forced Sessions to fire him instead.  He was replaced on an “acting” basis by Joon H Kim, Bharara’s top deputy.  Kim remained as “Acting” US Attorney for nine months, until Sessions announced that Geoff Berman would be appointed “Interim” US Attorney under the relevant statute, a position he could remain in for 120 days.  Berman had been an Assistant US Attorney in the SDNY from 1990 to 1994, and was a partner with Rudy Guiliani in a prominent New York law firm.

On January 3, 2018, after nearly a year of fruitless discussions with Chuck Schumer over a selection — Schumer had wanted Bharara to remain in the position — Sessions named Geoffrey Berman as the “Interim US Attorney, pursuant to 28 USC Sec. 846(c).  That appointment is good for 120 days.  If no Senate confirmed appointee is installed during that 120 days, the the judges of the district court for the district shall appoint someone to the position.  In April, 2018, the district court judges in the SDNY appointed Berman to remain as US Attorney for SDNY.

After the announcement from Barr yesterday, Berman followed it up with an announcement of his own — he had not been informed by Barr of anything, he first learned about the proposed changes from the press release put out by DOJ, and he was not resigning.  He then showed up at the offices this morning in Manhattan and told the assembled press he was there to go to work.

So, what are we to make of the headlines?

First, the reporting is inaccurately stating that Barr said in his press release that Berman was “resigning” — which then set up Berman’s response widely reported by the same media that he was not “resigning.”

What Barr’s press release said is that Berman was “stepping down”.  The press can play all the semantic games it wants with the phrasing, but this is a press release from DOJ to the nation, and when it was put together back in DC I’m confident that a judgment was made to not say Berman was “fired” by Barr — even though that is what seems to have happened.  “Resignation” implies a voluntary move on Berman’s part, so that wouldn’t have been accurate — and the press release does not say he was resigning.  “Stepping down” is an inexact enough phrase to describe what is happening without placing the “act” causing it on either Barr or Berman.

Was that done to deflect criticism for the move or was it done to simply not have that label of “fired” affixed to Berman’s tenure as court-appointed US Attorney — whose to say at this point.

As for what happened today, the announcement yesterday said Carpentino would not take over as Interim US Attorney until July 3.  So the fact that Berman showed up today for work isn’t news — that was the expectation.  If this was all part of some grand strategy to head-off something about to happen in the SDNY involving Trump, why would Barr have left Berman in place for another 2 weeks?

All the left wingers and NeverTrumpers continue to live in a fevered fantasy world where the “other shoe” on Donald Trump is always about to drop.  But let me make this as simple as possible for everyone to understand:

The US Attorney for the SDNY has been “investigating” Donald Trump and Trump, Inc., for FOUR DECADES.  They have yet to find a crime they could indict him for.
 
Let me add something more to that:

The Special Counsel’s Office looked at ALL Donald Trump and Trump, Inc.’s tax returns and accounting records, and reported NOTHING about them in the Mueller Report. 

If you are a prosecutor trying to link Donald Trump, Trump, Inc., and the Trump campaign to foreign interests involving the Russian gov’t and Russian organized crime, you are going to spend most of your time reviewing business and tax records looking for financial links, not talking to and relying on legwork done by idiots like Christopher Steele.  A grand jury investigation has the ability to gain access to all those records without the need to litigate access to them through the courts in the same way Congress and the New York Attorney General are having to do.

So the idea that SDNY is now on the trail of something that has remained hidden from that same office for 40 years, or on the trail of something that the SCO was never able to uncover despite having NO OTHER PURPOSE for its existence, is just a Democrat and NeverTrumper wet dream — nothing else.

So what about the fact that Berman was “appointed” by the district court judges — can he be removed?  In 1979, the Carter DOJ Office of Legal Counsel issued an opinion on this exact question.  As I noted above, 28 USC Sec. 546(d) provides for the appointment by the district court judges of someone to serve as US Attorney when the office has been vacant, or occupied by another “Interim” for 120 days.  But 28 USC Sec. 541(c) says all US Attorneys are subject to removal by the President.  So the question posed in the OLC opinion was whether that “removal” power extended to US Attorneys appointed by the district court, and the opinion came to the conclusion that they are subject to the removal power just like US Attorneys nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate are subject to the removal power.  I’m going to skip for now an explanation of the legal analysis by which they came to that conclusion.

The Opinion also says that the “removal” power does not require any formal Presidential action — the President can orally direct the Attorney General to take whatever action the Attorney General believes is necessary, and the President can validate that action after the fact.  Since Berman’s removal does not happen until July 3, Pres. Trump can always issue a written directive confirming the Attorney General’s action at any time in the next two weeks if Berman does not “step down.”

This OLC Opinion has never been withdrawn or modified by any Presidential Administration in more than 40 years since it was issued.

So what is playing out on the front page of the Washington Post and NYT isn’t reality — it’s fake news.  It’s just another extension of the well-established narrative being driven by the press that Attorney General Barr is going about doing President Trump’s dirty work and nothing else.  They must discredit Barr because of what they know is coming in the weeks and months ahead.

Update:  Text of AG Barr Letter Firing Berman.

"I was surprised and quite disappointed by the press statement you released last night. As we discussed, I wanted the opportunity to choose a distinguished New York lawyer, Jay Clayton, to nominate as United States Attorney and was hoping for your cooperation to facilitate a smooth transition. When the Department of Justice advised the public of the President’s intent to nominate your successor, I had understood that we were in ongoing discussions concerning the possibility of your remaining in the Department or Administration in one of the other senior positions we discussed, including Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division and Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission. While we advised the public that you would leave the U.S. Attorney’s office in two weeks, I still hoped that your departure could be amicable.

Unfortunately, with your statement of last night, you have chosen public spectacle over public service. Because you have declared that you have no intention of resigning, I have asked the President to remove you as of today, and he has done so. By operation of law, the Deputy United States Attorney, Audrey Strauss, will become the Acting United States Attorney, and I anticipate that she will serve in that capacity until a permanent successor is in place. See 28 U.S.C. 541(c).

To the extent that your statement reflects a misunderstanding concerning how you may be displaced, it is well-established that a court-appointed U.S. Attorney is subject to removal by the President. See United States v. Solomon, 216 F. Supp. 835, 843 (S.D.N.Y. 1963) (recognizing that the “President may, at any time, remove the judicially appointed United States Attorney”); see also United States v. Hilario, 218 F.3d 19, 27 (1st Cir. 2000) (same).  Indeed, the court’s appointment power has been upheld only because the Executive retains the authority to supervise and remove the officer.

Your statement also wrongly implies that your continued tenure in the office is necessary to ensure that cases now pending in the Southern District of New York are handled appropriately. This is obviously false. I fully expect that the office will continue to handle all cases in the normal course and pursuant to the Department’s applicable standards, policies, and guidance. Going forward, if any actions or decisions are taken that office supervisors conclude are improper interference with a case, that information should be provided immediately to Michael Horowitz, the Department of Justice’s Inspector General, whom I am authorizing to review any such claim. The Inspector General’s monitoring of the situation will provide additional confidence that all cases will continue to be decided on the law and the facts."

https://www.redstate.com/shipwreckedcrew/2020/06/20/rumble-in-the-dojungle-trump-fires-new-york-us-attorney-but-he-says-no-i-wont-go/

Seattle Police Say They Were Met With Resistance After Responding To Shooting That Left One Dead In ‘CHAZ’

 

Article by Shelby Talcott in "The Daily Caller":

At least two people were shot leading to one fatality inside Seattle’s “Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone” early Saturday morning, according to numerous reports.

The shooting was confirmed by police to Newsweek Saturday, the publication reported. No further details were given by police, although a press release was issued Saturday morning confirming that the incident is a homicide investigation.

“Homicide detectives are investigating following a fatal shooting that occurred early Saturday morning at 10th Avenue and East Pine Street,” the Seattle Police Department’s Public Affairs office wrote. “One man was declared deceased at the hospital and another male is being treated for life-threatening injuries.”

Officers responded to reports of gunfire early Saturday morning within CHAZ, which is a no-cop zone. Police “attempted to locate a shooting victim but were met by a violent crowd that prevented officers safe access to the victims,” the department wrote.

 Seattle Fire also reportedly arrived to help with treatment, but the victims had already been taken out of the area, according to the Capitol Hill Seattle Blog.

“Officers were later informed that the victims, both males, had been transported to Harborview Medical Center by CHOP medics,” according to the announcement.

The victims were reportedly transported to a medical center by volunteers, according to the Capitol Hill Seattle Blog. A spokeswoman confirmed to the Seattle Times that Harborview Medical Center had treated two unnamed gunshot victims.

The suspect or suspects are still at large and there is no description available yet, according to police.

“Homicide detectives responded and are conducting a thorough investigation, despite the challenges presented by the circumstances,” police added.

https://dailycaller.com/2020/06/20/shooting-seattle-capitol-hill-autonomous-zone-chop-police/

New Poll Shows...

Tristan Justice reporting for The Federalist

New Poll Shows 

Americans Deeply Unhappy, 

Which Is What Happens When 

You Lock Them Up And Call Them Racist

American happiness has reached a 50-year low as Americans remain locked up and condemned for past generations' sins.

A new poll out Tuesday shows Americans are the unhappiest they’ve been in 50 years. No kidding, that’s what happens when the government locks everyone up for 10 weeks and calls them all irredeemably racist while anarchists light the cities on fire.

The survey by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago was conducted at the end of May with a majority of the interviews done before the George Floyd riots began, but the data offers a further glimpse into the impact recent events have had on the American psyche.

According to the May 21-29 poll, just 14 percent of American adults said they were “very happy,” down from 31 percent in 2018. As far as social distancing goes, 23 percent said they felt isolated in 2019, compared to 50 percent who say so now.

As polarization over the country’s deepest divides on race reach new heights amid the 21st century woke revolution under tight pandemic lockdowns, these metrics of social isolation have likely only increased while Americans remain deeply dissatisfied with the state of the nation. Eighteen percent said they lacked companionship, which is up from 10 percent in 2018, and 30 percent reported losing their temper more often during the pandemic, compared to just 20 percent who said the same after 9/11.

The psychological stress of pandemic lockdowns had already been well-documented, with 1 in 3 Americans showing signs of clinical anxiety and depression linked to the public health emergency raising fears among experts about the exacerbation of an already existing mental health crisis.

In the nearly three weeks since the newest survey from the University of Chicago had been taken however, a nation in peril has continued to deteriorate under the rising tide of woke progressives launching an American version of the French Revolution, suppressing any dissent to the creed of “Black Lives Matter” with radical demands.

Floyd’s death in the custody of Minneapolis police sparked outrage across the country with protests that began out of earnest to demand justice for Floyd which quickly morphed into an all out cultural civil war featuring left-wing riots terrorizing cities and burning minority communities in the name of social justice.

The contemporary civil rights movement has now embraced fringe measures gone mainstream where even the slightest opposition can provoke the Jacobian mob to exile those not enthusiastically on board with the new world order in a new age of cancel culture.

While Americans remain banned from church as the mob burns down the church, it’s no wonder Americans are so unhappy. Now they’re being called racist at every turn, from their Kellogg’s box being discriminatory to their favorite classics being vilified, even if they feature prominent success stories of black actors. Americans can’t even watch television shows on cops and risk being condemned as racist from their neighbors for not posting black boxes on their social media profiles to declare their support with the latest Marxist movement. And no one would ever dare say “all lives matter,” (which includes black lives by the way), because that can get them fired.

The new racial binary is tearing the nation apart, and worse, it’s making Americans hate their own country.

According to a new Gallup poll on Monday, patriotic pride has reached a record low, with only 63 percent of U.S. adults reported being either “very proud” or “extremely proud” to be American.

It seems the progressive left’s mission to rebrand the nation as an irredeemably racist empire built for the sole purpose to oppress minorities appears to be working.

A new NBC/Wall Street Journal poll out earlier this month shows 80 percent of American voters believe the United States has spun out of control. The other 20 percent must not be paying attention.

Tristan Justice is a staff writer at The Federalist focusing on the 2020 presidential campaigns. Follow him on Twitter at @JusticeTristan or contact him at Tristan@thefederalist.com.

Bye Bye, No More Eskimo Pie

Article by Nick Arama in "RedState":

The latest brand name to get the axe? 

Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream announced they would be changing the brand name Eskimo Pie, the ice cream wrapped in dark chocolate, a name that’s lasted for 99 years, but no more. 

Dreyer’s said in a statement that they had been considering it for some time. 

From NY Post: 

“We are committed to being a part of the solution on racial equality, and recognize the term is derogatory,” the company’s head of marketing said in a statement.
“This move is part of a larger review to ensure our company and brands reflect our people values,” the company added.
Along with the name change, the company will alter the treat’s marketing scheme, which traditionally featured a young boy dressed as an Eskimo in a snowy environment.

Rolling Stone ✔ @RollingStone

The owner of the "Eskimo Pie" brand has called the term "derogatory" and now vows to change its name and marketing. "We are committed to being a part of the solution on racial equality," a brand rep says https://rol.st/2Ciq0n2



The bar was actually invented by Christian Nelson and Russell Stover, because of Nelson’s experience serving a young boy who couldn’t decide whether he wanted ice cream or candy, so Nelson wondered how he could have both. 

National Museum of American History ✔ @amhistorymuseum

Today in 1921: Christian Nelson and Russell Stover agree to market Eskimo Pies. Eskimo Pie Corporation Records, 1921-1996, Archives Center.

This follows brands like Aunt Jemima syrup and Uncle Ben’s saying they would be looking at changing their names or images as well. Cream of Wheat also said they were looking at a change, saying they would be initiating a review.

ForAmerica ✔ @ForAmerica

Called it






https://www.redstate.com/nick-arama/2020/06/20/bye-bye-well-miss-eskimo-pie/

President Trump: Big crowds, lines already forming in Tulsa ahead of rally

OAN Newsroom
UPDATED 9:45 AM PT — Saturday, June 20, 2020

President Trump’s supporters are energized for his upcoming rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Dozens lined up outside the BOK Center for days in advance, awaiting the president’s arrival.
“I’m very excited,” stated one attendee. “I’ve never been to one of the campaigns, one of the rallies, like this, so this is a really big thing for me.”

 President Trump responded to their enthusiasm on Twitter by saying “big crowds and lines are already forming.”

 This will be the president’s first rally since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, but his supporters aren’t fazed by the concerns over the virus.


The Trump campaign recently announced health and safety measures to protect attendees. They will also conduct frequent cleaning and disinfecting throughout the event, especially on high touch areas.
“The Trump campaign will be providing masks for every person who is at the BOK Center, hand sanitizer, and they will be doing temperature checks on every single person who comes to the door,” stated Oklahoma Republican Party Chairman David McLain.


The state’s governor previously relayed a message to those who are worried about attending the event.

“If you don’t feel comfortable, you need to stay at home. …I don’t think it’s right to criticize others for wanting to get out and wanting to go see the president. We’ve had a million requests, so we’re excited to have the president of the United States in Oklahoma.” – Kevin Stitt, Governor of Oklahoma

Despite these concerns, the president’s supporters are eager to see him.
“I really thought this was an important rally for me to go to,” explained supporter Blake Marnell. “It’s the ninth one I’ve been to, but after having been away from rallies for so long, I think that there’s going to be some very important themes the president is going to introduce here and I wanted to be here to support his message.”
 According to the Trump campaign, more than 1 million people have requested tickets for the event. The president has called these numbers amazing and added it’s going to be a great time.

https://www.oann.com/president-trump-big-crowds-lines-already-forming-in-tulsa-ahead-of-rally-2/

In a world of sheep-like conformity...

Andrea Widburg for American Thinker

In a world of sheep-like conformity, Hillsdale College takes a stand

Free Will Baptists founded Hillsdale College in 1844 under the name Michigan Central College.  Despite the founders' religious beliefs, the college has always been nonsectarian, although its teachings are informed by Christianity's moral teachings.  The college assumed its present name in 1853 when it relocated to Hillsdale, Michigan.

The Free Will Baptists who founded Hillsdale were abolitionists and true feminists, so the college immediately began admitting blacks and women.  E.B. Fairfield, who was Hillsdale's president from 1848 to 1869, was one of the founders of the Republican Party, a political party dedicated to abolishing slavery in the United States.

Because of Hillsdale's abolitionist reputation, Frederick Douglass spoke there, as did Edward Everett, who shared the stage with Abraham Lincoln at Gettysburg.  When the Civil War began, Hillsdale sent a higher percentage of students to the Union Army than any other college in Michigan.  Sixty students gave their lives in the fight against slavery.

In the 20th century, as myriad colleges gave up their intellectual independence chasing after state and federal money (and, it seems, Chinese money), Hillsdale refused to do so.  As it has since its founding, it depends entirely on private donations and tuition to meet its needs.  Hillsdale is also one of the few colleges in America that continues the classic inquiring tradition of a liberal education, rather than falling in line with academic leftism and mindless obedience.

In sum, Hillsdale is a bastion of intellectual liberty, founded on a moral and historic bedrock dedicated to the equal rights of all people, regardless of race or sex.  So people began insisting that it issue a statement supporting Black Lives Matter.

It wasn't enough that — unlike every elite college in America — Hillsdale has spent the last 176 years dedicating itself to the principle that, in a world predicated on the Constitution and the Judeo-Christian Bible, all lives matter.  In our new McCarthyite world, Hillsdale was told that "silence is violence."

So Hillsdale spoke.  The official Hillsdale statement does not lend itself to an easy summary.  You have to read it all, especially the last paragraph.  When you're done, you'll find yourself wishing every academic institution and corporation in America would have the courage to issue a similar statement in the face of the Democrats' violent demands for institutional conformity:

Editor's note: The following is a statement from the leaders of Hillsdale College.

Amidst the events of recent weeks, a number of alumni and others have taken up formal and public means to insist that Hillsdale College issue statements concerning these events. The College is charged with negligence — or worse.

It is not the practice of the College to respond to petitions or other instruments meant to gain an object by pressure. The College operates by reasoned deliberation, study, and thought. The following observations, however, may be helpful and pertinent.

The College is pressed to speak. It is told that saying what it always has said is insufficient. Instead, it must decry racism and the mistreatment of Black Americans in particular. This, however, is precisely what the College has always said. 

The College is told that invoking the high example of the Civil War or Frederick Douglass is not permitted. Perhaps it is thought that nothing relevant can be learned about justice and equality from the words and actions of great men and women in history. Instead, the College is guilty of the gravest moral failure for not making declarations about … justice and equality. 

The College is told that it garners no honor now for its abolitionist past — or that it fails to live up to that past — but instead it must issue statements today. Statements about what? It must issue statements about the brutal and deadly evil of hating other people and/or treating them differently because of the color of their skin. That is, it must issue statements about the very things that moved the abolitionists whom the College has ever invoked. 

It is told that failure to issue statements is an erasure, a complicity, an abandonment of principle. The silence of the College is deafening. 

The College founding is a statement — as is each reiteration and reminder of its meaning and necessity. The curriculum is a statement, especially in its faithful presentation of the College's founding mission. Teaching is a statement, especially as it takes up — with vigor — the evils we are alleged to ignore, evils like murder, brutality, injustice, destruction of person or property, and passionate irrationality. Teaching these same things across all the land is a statement, or a thousand statements. Organizing our practical affairs so that we can maintain principles of equity and justice — though the cost is high and sympathy is short — is a statement. Dispensing unparalleled financial help to students who cannot afford even a moderate tuition, is a statement. Helping private and public schools across the country lift their primary and secondary students out of a sea of disadvantages with excellent instruction, curricula, and the civic principles of freedom and equality — without any recompense to the College — is a statement. Postgraduate programs with the express aim of advancing the ideas of human dignity, justice, equality, and the citizen as the source of the government's power, these are all statements. And all of these statements are acts, deeds that speak, undertaken and perpetuated now, every day, all the time. Everything the College does, though its work is not that of an activist or agitator, is for the moral and intellectual uplift of all. 

There may be something deafening in the culture—certainly there are those who cannot hear — but it is not from the silence of the College. 

There is a kind of virtue that is cheap. It consists of jumping on cost-free bandwagons of public feeling — perhaps even deeply justified public feeling — and winning approval by espousing the right opinion. No one who wishes the College to issue statements is assumed to be a party to such behavior. But the fact that very real racial problems are now being cynically exploited for profit, gain, and public favor by some organizations and people is impossible to overlook. It is a scandal and a shame that compounds our ills and impedes their correction. Hillsdale College, though far from perfect, will continue to do the work of education in the great principles that are, second only to divine grace, the solution to the grave ills that beset our times. 

AuntiE’s response to this action and statement by Hillsdale College is..

Welcome to America’s Cultural Revolution

by David Harsanyi for The Daily Signal

Welcome to America’s Cultural Revolution

June 19, 2020

Protests continue all across New York City as demonstrators seek the end to racial injustice and police brutality following the death of George Floyd at the hands of the police, June 6. (Photo: John Lamparski/SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images)

We’re in the dawn of a high-tech, bloodless cultural revolution, one that relies on intimidation, public shaming, and economic ruin to dictate what words and ideas are permissible in the public square.

“Words are violence” has always been an illiberal notion meant to stifle speech and open discourse. Popularized by a generation of coddled and brittle college students, it now guides policy on editorial pages at newspapers such as The Philadelphia Inquirer, The New York Times, and most major news outlets.

The Times can claim that a harsh tone and a small factual error in Sen. Tom Cotton’s recent op-ed was the reason the entire paper had a meltdown, but the staffers who revolted initially claimed that Cotton’s argument for bringing the National Guard into cities put black lives in “danger.”

None of the Times’ editors, all of whom are apparently comfortable with running fabulist histories or odes to communist tyrannies, pushed back against the caustic notion that engaging in debate was an act of violence. They bowed to the internal mob and pleaded for forgiveness.

What editor at a major newspaper is going to stand up for ideals of open and free debate if doing so means putting “black lives in danger” and ends his career? Few, if any.

The Times has been cleansed of reactionary elements. The paper is in the hands of The People. Others will follow.

You may also have noticed another progressive slogan gaining popularity these days: “Silence is violence.” It’s no longer enough not to peddle wrongthink in the op-ed pages of the local paper, but now you must also actively champion woke progressive positions or you, too, are tacitly engaged in violence and racism.

This is a neat trick: To speak out in the wrong way is violence. Not to speak out is violence. Not to speak out in the way progressives dictate is violence. This is why your apolitical local lawn care company is sending out emails promising to dedicate themselves to Black Lives Matter. No one wants to be accused of harboring counterrevolutionary sympathies.

That doesn’t leave much room for dissent, does it? Anyone in the public square who doesn’t conform (save those who work for conservative political journals, perhaps) risks being humiliated and ruined.

Social media have finally given our illiberal activists tools to ferret out suspicious characters and drag them in front of the digital tribunal. By my count, there have been around a dozen struggle sessions for crimes against Black Lives Matter or related issues since last week.

“Dee Nguyen has been fired from MTV sports reality show, ‘The Challenge,’ after making insensitive comments about the Black Lives Matter movement,” reads one story.

Sacramento Kings play-by-play announcer Grant Napear, who’s been calling games since 1988, was forced to resign after saying the words “all lives matter.”

Refinery29 editor Christene Barberich was pushed out for alleged “racist aggressions” (even the wording of the accusations has a mildly communist flavor). Bon Appetit editor Adam Rapoport was booted for the same, but only after “insensitive” photos of him wearing a costume emerged.

In not one of these cases, as far as I can tell, did friends and co-workers rise to defend those whose careers may have been ruined over a bad joke, errant comment, or stupid costume. No, they participate in the ritual shaming along with everyone else.

And while these struggle sessions are primarily about public humiliation and intimidation, they are also ostensibly about self-criticism. Hoping to salvage his future, for example, Rapoport has confessed that he had “not championed an inclusive vision”—and who can blame him?

By the time you read this, Saints quarterback Drew Brees will probably be on his 10th round of ritual public self-flagellation—his wife having already apologized as well—for saying the words: “I will never agree with anybody disrespecting the flag of the United States of America or our country.”

Without an apology, we’re told, Brees would have been unable to work with teammates who are offended because there is no room for dissent on this issue. Brees promises to “listen.” Brees implores all of America to “listen.” “Listen” is a euphemism for groupthink.

Of course, everyone should genuinely listen. They should hear out Tom Cotton as well. Black Lives Matter is a group that is not only home to an inspirational sentiment and good people but also various hard left-wing groups and sentiments that some of us reject. It should not get a dispensation from the rules every other movement lives by.

In a free and healthy nation, no issue should be above criticism or debate. 

We once called that liberalism.

EXCLUSIVE: ‘A Much Dirtier Game’ — Trump Wants To ‘Get Involved’ In Making Advertiser Boycotts Illegal

Article by Christian Datoc in "The Daily Caller":

President Donald Trump wants to personally “get involved” in making advertiser boycotts illegal, he told the Daily Caller in an exclusive interview.

 

Trump spoke with the Caller for more than an hour on a variety of issues — including racial inequality, coronavirus, China, John Bolton and the 2020 election — but opened the conversation by accusing activist groups calling for advertising boycotts, a means of protesting platforms or groups they don’t agree with, of playing “a much dirtier game.”

“A friend of mine bought a couple of conservative sites,” the president stated from behind the Resolute Desk. “And he said, anybody that advertises on the site is being harassed.” 

“Many people are actually frightened off, or they just say, ‘who needs this?'”

“The advertisers are harassed, to a point where they don’t want to do it. They’re either afraid or it’s not worth it,” he continued.

Trump said he empathizes with targets of the boycotts “because the Washington Post goes after people who use [his] facilities.”

“People are going to have a wedding. They get calls from the Washington Post — you can report it if you want — ‘Why are you going there? Why are you doing a wedding with Trump?’ and these are reporters in the Washington Post.”

“It should be illegal,” he stated flatly. “That has to be illegal in some form.”

Furthermore, the president rhetorically questioned why conservative activist groups don’t employ the same tactics against “liberal sites.”

“We have more people,” he told Daily Caller. “How can you possibly allow this to happen? This is really a takeover of the whole system. Why is it that the conservatives don’t when they see somebody advertising on MSDNC, why is it that? It’s a different mindset. They don’t go after the advertisers.”

https://dailycaller.com/2020/06/19/exclusive-donald-trump-advertiser-boycotts-illegal/

Healthcare Worker Indicted for Stealing and Selling Ventilators, COVID Supplies on eBay

President Trump Proven Right Again

Considering the fast-moving news cycles, this DOJ indictment has many elements of seemingly disconnected narratives.  Apparently healthcare workers were not just proficient parading around in their insufferable Tik-Tok videos.

A Seattle healthcare worker -a ‘respiratory therapist’- has been busted stealing COVID-19 supplies, including ventilators, from the VA hospital and selling them on eBay.

WASHINGTON STATE Seattle – A 41- year-old Bonney Lake, Washington, man was charged today in U.S. District Court in Seattle with theft of government property for his scheme to profit by stealing and selling respiratory support equipment from the Veterans Affairs Medical Center (VAMC), announced U.S. Attorney Brian T. Moran.

GENE WAMSLEY was employed as a Respiratory Therapist at VAMC until he was placed on leave from VAMC on June 9, 2020. WAMSLEY made his initial appearance on the criminal complaint today in Seattle.

“Right now respiratory support equipment is critical in medical care for those suffering with COVID-19 infections. To steal and sell equipment needed to care for our veterans is a shocking betrayal,” said U.S. Attorney Brian T. Moran.

According to the criminal complaint, the investigation began in January 2020 when VAMC reported two bronchoscopes missing from the hospital. A third bronchoscope was reported missing in April 2020.

Staff at the VAMC had noticed bronchoscopes listed for sale on eBay from a seller in Bonney Lake, Washington. The investigation linked the sale of three bronchoscopes to WAMSLEY. A further review of eBay records revealed WAMSLEY had sold five ventilators in March and April 2020.

Three ventilators were found to be missing from VMAC during the same time period. EBay records reveal a variety of other respiratory support equipment sold by the account linked to WAMSLEY. Administrators at VAMC confirmed the items were used in the respiratory therapy department.

Law enforcement executed a court authorized search warrant at WAMSLEY’s home on June 9, 2020. Medical supplies and eBay sales records were seized in the search. (read more)

Several months ago President Trump was criticized for stating their was something odd about the amount of COVID supplies that were seemingly missing from shipments made to numerous hospitals; the corporate media went bananas at the implication healthcare workers might be stealing…  Well?

By the Time Trump Gets to Tulsa

David Catron reporting for American Spectator

By the Time Trump Gets to Tulsa

Any remaining doubt that curbing President Trump’s campaign rallies was a key goal of the Democratic response to COVID-19 should be quelled by the Democrats’ antic opposition to Saturday’s Trump rally in Tulsa. They began with shrill fear-mongering, despite data showing that daily case rates have plateaued nationally and death rates are declining. They followed up with absurd claims that the rally’s original date was a racist “dog whistle.” As Rep. Val Demings (D-Fla.) put it, “Tulsa was the site of the worst racist violence in American history. The president’s speech there on Juneteenth [June 19] is a message to every Black American: more of the same.”

Congressman Pocan, who represents Wisconsin’s Second District, issued a statement suggesting that President Trump’s negligence is responsible for the coronavirus pandemic and that he wants to endanger his own supporters. 

Never mind that Juneteenth commemorates the end of slavery, which the Republican Party abolished in the United States after overcoming the violent resistance of the Democratic planter class in the Civil War. The point is to find some pretext to stop President Trump from communicating directly to the American people while his campaign team uses the rallies to register voters and continue to grow Trump’s support using its advantage in digital technology. Key to the latter is an online app that rally attendees can download by providing a phone number. It’s an advanced data mining tool that places the Trump team light years ahead of the Biden campaign on voter outreach. As CNN reports,

The user-friendly Trump app is self-contained, and features tutorial videos from top campaign aides and surrogates like Lara Trump, who explains how to become a “digital activist” on social media and host a “MAGA meet up.” Kimberly Guilfoyle explains how to become a fundraising “bundler” and political director Chris Carr discusses how to be a grassroots team leader.… Some Democrats publicly express concern that the Biden’s campaign’s digital presence is lagging in normal times, even more so in the age of coronavirus with everything happening online.

They know the Trump campaign’s competitive edge in digital technology gave it a significant advantage over the Biden operation while the pandemic interrupted the campaign. Moreover, they justifiably worry that this edge will become even more deadly if they are unable to prevent the president from launching a new series of rallies. This combination of rallies and technology has the Democrats so nervous they found a Tulsa lawyer and a couple of local community groups to sue the operators of the BOK Center, where the rally is scheduled to take place. The judge denied their request for a court order to stop the rally.

Meanwhile, Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) has introduced the “Refusal to Accept Losses or Liability In Every Situation (RALLIES) Act.” Pocan is the co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and claims his bill will “ban enforcement of liability waivers for indoor gatherings of 1,000 or more people in localities where the number of COVID-19 cases has been increasing in the preceding 14 days.” The congressman, who represents Wisconsin’s Second District, issued a statement suggesting that President Trump’s negligence is responsible for the coronavirus pandemic and that he wants to endanger his own supporters:

Since the beginning of this pandemic, the President has refused to take ownership over his administration’s disastrous response to COVID-19. As we see cases continue to rise … this President wants the right to endanger thousands of people at an indoor stadium with impunity. We refuse to let a candidate for re-election threaten the lives of the people of this country for political gain. With over 2 million COVID cases in the United States and over 116,000 deaths, I would hope this president’s actions would prioritize recovery, not a resurgence in cases nationwide.

Predictably, the legacy media mimic the Democratic denunciation of Trump’s plan to hold the Tulsa rally. In the New York Times, Thomas L. Friedman asks, “Is Trump Trying to Spread Covid-19?” The editors of Tulsa World opine, “This is the wrong time and Tulsa is the wrong place for the Trump rally.” The Washington Post’s Michele L. Norris writes that the decision to hold a Trump rally in Tulsa is “an act of diabolical irony.” The St. Louis Post Dispatch insists, “Trump’s Tulsa rally is a dangerous exercise in egotism that could cost lives.” CNN puts it thus: “The remarkable idiocy of holding a Trump rally in Tulsa.”

Why does all this sound and fury seem familiar? This nonsense is little more than a verbatim recitation of the abuse they heaped on Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) when he decided to open his state for business in May. Remember when Florida was going to be the “next New York”? This nonsense, like the rest of the absurdly portentous predictions made about Florida, were comically inaccurate. Perhaps this is why none of Trump’s supporters are paying any attention to these characters. Being lied to by the Democrats and the media is not a new experience for them. NBC reports that they are already arriving in droves:

Supporters of President Donald Trump amassed outside the arena in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Thursday, two days before he is scheduled to hold a campaign rally expected to draw at least 100,000 people.… Despite an uptick of coronavirus cases in the area and fears the event could be a COVID-19 “super-spreader,” many attendees chose to forgo masks and social distancing while in line, where people waited on lawn chairs and with tents. One group even entertained their fellow Trump supporters with an upbeat song about his re-election.

This, rather than a second wave of COVID-19, is what the Democrats truly fear — 100,000 unapologetic Trump supporters showing up for a single campaign event after years of relentless “Orange Man Bad” propaganda. Trump’s probable 2020 opponent had difficulty raising competitive crowds during the pre-coronavirus primaries. Even worse, he recently endured an embarrassingly flaccid response to his address to the Wisconsin Democratic Convention. In presidential politics, size matters, and no one believes Biden measures up to President Trump. This is why the Democrats are terrified of the Tulsa rally and will go to any lengths possible, legal or otherwise, to disrupt the event.

Tucker Carlson: Stepmom of Officer Who Shot Rayshard Brooks Fired From Her Job, ‘This Is Where The Country Is Going’

Article by Nick Arama in "RedState":

On Thursday night, Fox’s Tucker Carlson broke the news that Melissa Rolfe, the stepmother of Garrett Rolfe the Atlanta police officer who has been charged with murder in the shooting of Rayshard Brooks, had been fired from her job.

Rolfe worked for Equity Prime Mortgage as a Human Resources director.

Ian Miles Cheong ✔ @stillgray

The stepmother of Garrett Rolfe, the Atlanta cop charged with murder in the death of Rayshard Brooks, has been fired from her job for being his stepmother.

This is where we're going. Relatives, friends, and family of canceled people are not safe either. 

From Townhall:

“Rolfe was promised that her job was safe, but today she was told, and we’re quoting, ‘We have to terminate our relationship with you.’ No other explanation was offered,” Carlson said.
“Apparently…[her] only crime was being officer Rolfe’s stepmother.”

The Washington Examiner confirmed that Rolfe was scrubbed from the website of Equity Prime Mortgage although she was there as late as May. 

 Equity Prime Mortgage initially just released this statement on Twitter, without even naming Rolfe, which spoke of “severing ties” with an employee. 

Equity Prime Mortgage LLC @Equity_Prime

EPM is dedicated to being an organization that strives for diversity and equality. We are guided by the 23 fundamentals of the EPM Way to be an advocate for financial empowerment in the communities we serve.

 The Washington Examiner pressed them for more of an explanation and got the following. 

 “As an employer, it is imperative to maintain a safe environment for all employees. Melissa Rolfe’s termination was a director result of her actions in the workplace and violation of company policy,” the statement said. “While working with Melissa as she transitioned to a leave of absence granted by our organization, we discovered she violated company policy and created an uncomfortable working environment for many of our employees. As an HR director, she ultimately lost the confidence of her peers, leadership, and many employees who no longer felt comfortable engaging with her. We value diversity of thought and respect Melissa’s personal views and the views of all employees; however, when those views create a hostile working environment, we must make difficult decisions.”

But notice something missing? They don’t state what she allegedly did. The statement is heavy on the ‘she made people feel uncomfortable’ stuff but missing any facts. The last sentence is particularly interesting, where they say that they “respect Melissa’s personal views” but “when those views create a hostile working environment.” So they fired her for views they respect that created a hostile work environment? Really? Do tell. 

If this is because she was Rolfe’s stepmother and that made people feel uncomfortable, as Carlson said, we are hitting new lows in the cancel culture. What were her ‘offensive views?’ That her stepson shouldn’t have been charged or was innocent? 

The case is already troubling because of the overcharging in reaction to the furor without even before the investigation being finished and despite Brooks having resisted arrest, attacked officers, turned and pointed the taser at Rolfe. Rolfe was charged with felony murder as well as multiple other charges. 

From National Review: 

In an outrageous trumping up of a criminal case — to describe this as mere “overcharging” would be woefully insufficient — Fulton County prosecutor Paul Howard Jr. has charged former police officer Garrett Rolfe with felony murder in connection with the shooting death of Rayshard Brooks.
The killing of Brooks, who was violently resisting arrest and attempting to flee, is still under investigation by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI). But in the wake of George Floyd’s recent killing by Minneapolis police officers, the Black Lives Matter demagogues refuse to wait for evidence-based conclusions. They will tolerate no storyline other than the slanderous fiction that we are all expected not just to abide but endorse: Institutionally racist cops are hunting down black men.
So prosecutor Howard, did not wait for the GBI to finish its probe. The mob was demanding a scalp, so he gave them a scalp.

Looks like it took out the stepmom as well. 

https://www.redstate.com/nick-arama/2020/06/19/this-is-where-our-country-is-going-stepmom-of-atl.-officer-who-shot-rayshard-brooks-is-fired-from-her-job/