The New York Times and The Washington Post admitted that mass immigration and changes in demographics were a significant reason that Democrats took complete control of Virginia last week.
Democrats now control the governor&#8217;s seat, both chambers of the state&#8217;s legislature and the lieutenant governor&#8217;s seat for the first time in nearly 30 years.
Following the Democrats&#8217; dominate night in Virginia, The New York Times admitted that years of mass immigration are starting to radically change the electoral map &#8220;from Richmond to Atlanta, Houston, Denver and elsewhere and Democrats are starting to breach Republicans’ firewalls in elections.&#8221;
The New York Times <a href="https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2019/11/10/ny-times-tidal-wave-mass-immigration-hands-virginia-democrats/">reported</a>:
<blockquote>Not long ago, this rolling green stretch of Northern Virginia was farmland. Most people who could vote had grown up here. And when they did, they usually chose Republicans.
The fields of Loudoun County are disappearing. In their place is row upon row of cookie-cutter townhouses, clipped lawns and cul-de-sacs — a suburban landscape for as far as the eye can see. Unlike three decades ago, the residents are often from other places, like India and Korea. And when they vote, it is often for Democrats.
&#8230;
Once the heart of the confederacy, Virginia is now the land of Indian grocery stores, Korean churches and Diwali festivals. The state population has boomed — up by 38 percent since 1990, with the biggest growth in densely settled suburban areas like South Riding. One in 10 people eligible to vote in the state were born outside the United States, up from one in 28 in 1990. It is also significantly less white. In 1990, the census tracts that make up Mr. Katkuri’s Senate district were home to about 35,000 people — 91 percent of them white. Today, its population of 225,000 is just 64 percent white.
“It’s a totally different world,” said Charles Poland, 85, a retired history professor whose family has lived in Loudoun County for four generations. His family farm is now dotted with subdivisions filled with four and five-bedroom homes that sell for $750,000. The family legacy is a road named Poland. “If my parents came back today, they wouldn’t recognize the place. The changes came like a tidal wave.”</blockquote>
The Washington Post essentially <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/in-virginia-republicans-confront-a-fearful-electoral-future/2019/11/09/2bbdc7aa-026b-11ea-8bab-0fc209e065a8_story.html">reported</a> the same thing following last week&#8217;s election results:
<blockquote>Virginia now stands as a fearful avatar for Republicans of what the nation’s unrelenting demographic and cultural changes mean for the party, as the moderate-to-liberal urban and suburban areas grow and more conservative rural areas lose ground. Similar shifts are starting to hit such states as North Carolina, Arizona, Georgia and Texas, as minority populations increase and white college-educated voters continue to turn away from the Republican brand.</blockquote>
The Wall Street Journal&#8217;s Kimberley Strassel <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/eric-holder-takes-virginia-11573167564">noted</a> that another significant factor that went into the Democrats&#8217; electoral sweep in Virginia was former Democrat Attorney General Eric Holder&#8217;s redistricting program in which he used the legal system to get Virginia&#8217;s congressional districts redrawn in a manner that was favorable for Democrats.
&#8220;While most prominent Democrats spent the months following Donald Trump’s election plotting future runs, Mr. Holder was launching the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, committed to domination of electoral map making through the courts and legislatures,&#8221; Strassel wrote. &#8220;The NDRC spent its first years aggressively litigating legislative maps it didn’t like, to great success. Virginia’s election was the first test of the electoral piece of Mr. Holder’s strategy, and it will now serve as the model by which Democrats attempt to gain redistricting power in 11 other key states next year.&#8221;
&#8220;The NDRC claims its efforts are aimed at simple &#8216;fairness in the electoral system.&#8217; It says it’s working to overturn gerrymanders that &#8216;disenfranchise&#8217; voters,&#8221; Strassel continued. &#8220;Don’t be fooled. Mr. Holder’s group has never engaged in blue states where Democrats routinely draw maps to disadvantage Republicans, such as Maryland, Massachusetts or New Jersey.&#8221;
Strassel concluded: &#8220;Democratic groups threw at least $54 million at Virginia—an unprecedented sum in an election that didn’t feature a single federal office—outspending Republicans by some $12 million. Outside groups accounted for at least $22 million of the Democratic effort, nearly four times what they spent in 2015. Three billionaires—Michael Bloomberg, Tom Steyer and George Soros—and their organizations spent more than all outside Republican contributors combined.&#8221;

Honduran Migrants

NYT, WaPo: Mass Immigration, Demographic Changes Fueled Democrat Wins In Virginia

Democratic Party

Eric Holder

New York Times

Virginia

Washington Post

A children’s elementary school distributed a flyer to children as young as second grade that promoted a clinic hosted by a medical volunteer corps. There was one problem: one side of the flyer advertised “free birth control and pre-pregnancy services” as well as free “implants, pills, condoms and more.”
That provoked the ire of one father of a seven-year-old in the class, Richard Penkoski, who runs the online ministry Warriors for Christ. Last Thursday, according to <a href="https://www.christianpost.com/news/father-outraged-school-giving-7-year-old-son-flyer-promoting-free-condoms-birth-control.html">The Christian Post</a>, he confronted the school board in Sullivan County about the incident at Mary Hughes School in Piney Flats. 
The flyer discussed the Nov. 1-3 Appalachian Fairgrounds in Gray hosted by the Remote Area Medical Volunteer Corps.
Penkoski told the school board, “What is more, exactly? And why was this given to my seven-year- old? Since when is it the school’s job to give information to my child about birth control? When did the public schools decide they can teach my child issues regarding morality and sex?”
Penkoski explained that his outrage was triggered by the flyer putting him in a position where he would have to explain sex to a child he felt was too young to start dealing with the issue. He continued, “I know liberals on this council, specifically, will say something like, ‘Well, schools teach reproduction.’ You are right. They do teach biological facts in regard to reproduction. This flyer is not talking about reproduction. It teaches birth control. I also can’t help but notice that abstinence is not on this list.”
Penkoski told the board, “The public schools think they have the right to usurp my authority as their father. This school does not have that right.”
<a href="https://www.timesnews.net/Education/2019/11/07/RAM-birth-control-flier-upsets-parent-of-7-year-old-Piney-Flats-student.html">The Kingsport Times-News</a> reported that Sullivan County Director of Schools David Cox said the flyers were inadvertently distributed, that all the schools in the district distributed the flyers in order to enlighten disadvantaged families as to the presence of the clinic. Penkoski countered that his nine-year-old daughter did not receive one, adding, “The school can say ‘inadvertent’ all they want, but that is like accidentally giving a child with a peanut allergy a peanut.”
<a href="https://www.wbir.com/article/news/local/this-was-done-purposely-birth-control-flyer-sent-home-with-elementary-students/51-0f849632-c26d-46cc-8ac6-c0bc878ed346">WBIR</a> reported that Cox explained, &#8220;What happened on the back of the information, there was another part that was inadvertently sent and it did say free birth control.”
But Penkoski remained unconvinced, telling the Christian Post, “[The school] received two pages and what the principal did was he took the two pages and put them back-to-back to make one copy. Part of it was to save paper but you can’t miss that. It is a whole page and right at the top there are big bold letters that say ‘birth control’ and ‘pre-pregnancy’ and all that stuff.”
Dale Walker, the president of the Tennessee Pastor’s Network, also addressed the board. He asked, “Our question tonight is where is the accountability of this school? Where is the accountability of this teacher? Where is the accountability of this principal? Where are the checks and balances? What are your procedures to block inappropriate subject matter to parents? Since when does our education system pick and choose what our students are exposed to without notification to their parents first?”
Walker stated to The Christian Post:
<blockquote>We have a super Republican majority in Tennessee and many times people think that because we elect so-called conservative Christians that we can just live our lives and not pay any attention to what’s going on in the public space, in our schools and in our counties. Pastors better pay attention to what their children are learning in public schools. At best, we only have a couple of hours a week with children that attend our churches and then they go to secular, godless schools … and they are teaching 7-year-olds how to fornicate.</blockquote>

Condom on white background

School Passes Out Flyer To Seven-Year-Olds Discussing ‘Implants, Pills, Condoms And More’

Children

Former Acting Director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Tom Homan suggested on Monday that if he decides to run for political office in New York state, he would ultimately want to take on Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY).
&#8220;Let me just say this,&#8221; Homan told host Larry O&#8217;Connor during an episode of his &#8220;Examining Politics&#8221; podcast. &#8220;When I do return to New York and if Senator Gillibrand is still around, she won&#8217;t be around because I will take her on.&#8221;
Homan&#8217;s remarks were in response to O&#8217;Connor&#8217;s inquiry as to whether Homan would be interested in replacing Rep. Pete King (R-NY), who announce that after 14 terms in Congress he would not be seeking reelection when his current term expires.
Homan, who was born in New York, noted that he was not currently a resident of the Empire state, but will likely be when he retires, similar to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who previously held the United States Senate seat.
Gillibrand has been an outspoken opponent of the ICE and one of the first Democratic lawmakers to call for abolishing the immigration enforcement agency.
&#8220;I believe we need to protect families who need help, and ICE isn&#8217;t doing that,&#8221; the New York senator <a href="https://twitter.com/SenGillibrand/status/1012525052343017472?s=20">said in June 2018</a>. &#8220;It has become a deportation force. We need to separate immigration issues from criminal justice. We need to abolish ICE, start over and build something that actually works.&#8221;
Gillibrand received widespread backlash after she continued to promote ICE&#8217;s abolishment. She subsequently walked back some of her comments that she claimed were misconstrued. Gillibrand said that despite demanding that &#8220;we need to abolish ICE,&#8221; she stated in September 2018 that she believes America still needs an agency that will fulfill the goals that ICE was created to achieve.
Claiming that the agency has strayed from its intended duties, Gillibrand argued that ICE in its current form should be eliminated, but that a new agency should replace it that will execute the same mission of enforcing U.S. immigration laws and investigating criminal activity of foreign nationals residing within the country.
Homan has been a frequent witness in Congressional hearings where he has been known to get into fiery exchanges with House Democrats. After O&#8217;Connor asked whether he would be providing testimony at Capitol Hill anytime soon, Homan responded that he was scheduled to appear next week.
&#8220;The Democrats don&#8217;t want me up there but when they have these hearings and they want to attack the administration, they have to give the minority, the Republicans in the House, one witness,&#8221; Homan told O&#8217;Connor. &#8220;They&#8217;re quick to call me because I&#8217;ve done it for 34 years, I know the game, I&#8217;ve played it &#8230; if you say something that&#8217;s not right I&#8217;m going to speak up.&#8221;
Homan got into <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/watch-former-ice-director-slams-progressive-lawmaker-for-pathetic-and-sad-dishonesty-in-fiery-exchange">a heated exchange</a> with some Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee in September after he slammed Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) and her Democratic colleagues for holding President Donald Trump and his administration to a different standard than they had for former President Barack Obama.
&#8220;ICE are the good guys. ICE wants to protect the community. ICE wants to take the bad guy off the street,&#8221; Homan told O&#8217;Connor.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand Joins Washington Post Live For Candidate Series

LISTEN: Former Acting ICE Director Mulls Over Running To Unseat Anti-ICE Democratic Senator

Kirsten Gillibrand

New York

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On Monday, Canadian broadcaster Sportsnet fired legendary NHL commentator Don Cherry for comments he made concerning immigrants and fallen Canadian veterans while he was on air Saturday night.
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The controversial comments? Cherry voiced his displeasure with people living in Mississauga and downtown Toronto not wearing poppy pins, which are meant to honor fallen veterans in the days nearing Canada&#8217;s Remembrance Day, which is in the same vein as the United States&#8217; Memorial Day. As noted by <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2019/11/11/canadian-hockey-analyst-criticized-immigrants-his-network-co-host-apologized/">The Washington Post</a>, both areas of Toronto have large immigrant populations.
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“You people love — you, that come here, whatever it is — you love our way of life, you love our milk and honey. At least you could pay a couple of bucks for poppies or something like that. These guys paid for your way of life, that you enjoy in Canada,'&#8221; Cherry said on-air, teeing-up a segment for Remembrance Day.
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WATCH:
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Comment that got Don Cherry fired: 
“People &#8230; come here, whatever it is, you love our way of life, you love our milk &amp; honey. At least you can pay a couple of bucks for poppies .. These guys pay for your way of life that you enjoy in Canada. These guys pay the biggest price.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/QWoQPaiY47">pic.twitter.com/QWoQPaiY47</a>
&mdash; Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) <a href="https://twitter.com/tomselliott/status/1193991343116374016?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 11, 2019</a></blockquote>
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The network quickly buckled under a #FireDonCherry hashtag campaign calling for Cherry&#8217;s ouster. Sportsnet posted a statement on Monday announcing the commentator&#8217;s fate.
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“Sports bring people together — it unites us, not divides us,” a statement from Network President Bart Yablsey said. “Following further discussions with Don Cherry after Saturday night’s broadcast, it has been decided it is the right time for him to immediately step down. During the broadcast, he made divisive remarks that do not represent our values or what we stand for.”
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Statement from Sportsnet: <a href="https://t.co/LRKrww0AQ1">pic.twitter.com/LRKrww0AQ1</a>
&mdash; Sportsnet PR (@SportsnetPR) <a href="https://twitter.com/SportsnetPR/status/1193983313272279040?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 11, 2019</a></blockquote>
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The NHL, too, denounced Cherry&#8217;s comments, which they said are &#8220;in direct conflict with the values of diversity and inclusion.&#8221;
&#8220;While we recognize Don Cherry’s four decades of service broadcasting NHL games, today’s decision was a justifiable response to his comments on Saturday night,” the <a href="https://mobile.twitter.com/JenABarr/status/1194027955070078977" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">statement</a>, which was posted Monday, said. “The opinions he expressed are in direct conflict with the values of diversity and inclusion that we embrace as pillars of the sport.”
Cherry, however, is not backing away from the comments.
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“I know what I said and I meant it,&#8221; the colorful commentator told the <a href="https://torontosun.com/news/local-news/warmington-don-cherry-fired-over-controversial-poppy-comment" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Toronto Sun</a> on Monday. “Everybody in Canada should wear a poppy to honor our fallen soldiers.&#8221;
<div>
“I speak the truth and I walk the walk,” he continued. “I have visited the bases of the troops, been to Afghanistan with our brave soldiers at Christmas, been to cemeteries of our fallen around the world and honored our fallen troops on ‘Coach’s Corner.’&#8221;
</div>
<div>
“To keep my job, I cannot be turned into a tamed robot,&#8221; Cherry added.
<div>
Ron MacLean, Cherry’s longtime broadcasting counterpart, distanced himself from the comments, calling them &#8220;hurtful, discriminatory,&#8221; and &#8220;flat-out wrong.&#8221;
</div>
<div>
<div>
“Don Cherry made remarks which were hurtful, discriminatory, which were flat-out wrong,” MacLean said in a statement, according to The Washington Post. “I sat there, did not catch it, did not respond. … Last night was a really great lesson for Don and me. We were wrong, and I sincerely apologize. I wanted to thank you for calling me and Don on that last night. ”
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A statement from <a href="https://twitter.com/RonMacLeanHTH?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@RonMacLeanHTH</a> <a href="https://t.co/DitYDB4HTO">pic.twitter.com/DitYDB4HTO</a>
&mdash; Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) <a href="https://twitter.com/Sportsnet/status/1193689221422301184?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 11, 2019</a></blockquote>
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<div>Cherry made headline-grabbing comments in 2010 when he railed against &#8220;<a href="https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/pink-protest-follows-don-cherry-s-pinko-rant-1.583508">left-wing pinkos</a>,&#8221; referring to folks who opposed then-Toronto Mayor Rob Ford.</div>
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Don Cherry

WATCH: Don Cherry Fired For Telling Immigrants To Honor Fallen Vets, Responds To Backlash

<blockquote>And so the baker chased this seemingly enchanted Christmas confection as it leaped from the cookie sheet and out the front door, all the while mocking him with a sadistically scornful chant.
&#8220;Run, run, run as fast as you can,&#8221; the baker heard it say. &#8220;You can&#8217;t stop me, I&#8217;m&#8230;&#8221;
Suddenly, the cookie stopped dead in its tracks, appearing distraught as it pontificated how best to identify itself. Alas, it finally sang out: &#8220;The gender-inclusive gingerbread person!&#8220;</blockquote>
Over at Target, the world-famous Gingerbread Man has been given a makeover in the newly featured &#8220;Gender Inclusive Gingerbread&#8221; Christmas sweater, <a href="https://www.target.com/p/gender-inclusive-gingerbread-long-sleeve-sweater-33-degrees-black-xxl/-/A-54577045?ref=tgt_adv_XS000000&amp;AFID=google_pla_df&amp;fndsrc=tgtao&amp;CPNG=PLA_Women%2BShopping&amp;adgroup=SC_Women&amp;LID=700000001170770pgs&amp;network=g&amp;device=m&amp;location=9031118&amp;ds_rl=1246978&amp;ds_rl=1248099&amp;ds_rl=1241788&amp;gclid=CjwKCAiAqqTuBRBAEiwA7B66hUqZ4NyjcGwpRtZLiyPP3sBqVhGXaoSLXhYlNQ4dTdbh5ysj_EQ13BoCVFsQAvD_BwE&amp;gclsrc=aw.ds">available now</a> for the price of $29.99. Behold:
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Introducing the new &quot;Gender Inclusive Gingerbread&quot; Christmas sweater at Target: <a href="https://t.co/LmcIvBaDMy">pic.twitter.com/LmcIvBaDMy</a>
&mdash; Paul Bois (@PaulBois39) <a href="https://twitter.com/PaulBois39/status/1194056371437572096?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 12, 2019</a></blockquote>
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As the image shows, the new &#8220;Gender Inclusive Gingerbread&#8221; (fill in the blank) has no unique features distinguishing itself from the average Gingerbread Man, and yet, the Target online store literally bills it as the &#8220;Gender Inclusive Gingerbread Long Sleeve Sweater&#8221; with absolutely no accompanying description as to what classifies it as &#8220;gender-inclusive.&#8221; It&#8217;s as if the very utterance of Gingerbread Man (or even Gingerbread Woman) is in itself offensive. So what do we get? A sweatshirt with a character that looks exactly like the Gingerbread Man but is instead described as gender-inclusive.
Target is also not the only establishment catching wind of this new trend. According to <a href="https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/cafe-replaces-gingerbread-men-gender-20839491">Mirror</a>, a coffee shop called The Tannery in Auckland, New Zealand, decided to put its own brand of gender-inclusive cookie by calling it the &#8220;gender-neutral person.&#8221;
<blockquote>Gingerbread men often become a staple in our diets at this time of year but one cafe has ditched the traditional treat in favour of a more inclusive biscuit.
When a customer at The Tannery in Auckland questioned why the human-shaped snacks were called &#8216;gingerbread men&#8217; and not &#8216;gingerbread people&#8217;, owner Andre Cettina was inspired to make a change.
The label on the jar has now been changed to read &#8216;gingerbread gender-neutral person&#8217;.</blockquote>
&#8220;It was completely tongue-in-cheek at the start,&#8221; the owner said of this creation. &#8220;We&#8217;ve had a lot of people commenting saying &#8216;stop being so pedantic, it&#8217;s just a biscuit.&#8217; I had to reply to them going, &#8216;did you miss the whole point?&#8217; It used to be that 90 percent of the time we sold [the gingerbread biscuits], it was to kids. There&#8217;s a lot more people buying them now, which is quite funny.&#8221;
While some found humor in the cookie&#8217;s name change, others on Facebook blasted it as another PC gambit run afoul.
&#8220;PC gone mad, always been gingerbread man, why change now. It&#8217;s a biscuit, not a living creature. I find this all so sad!!&#8221; one user said on Facebook.
&#8220;Me too! Soon we won&#8217;t be able to use the term human, we&#8217;ll all be hupeople,&#8221; another commented.
Others felt the gender-neutral cookie opened an important conversation. &#8220;Not sure why people getting so mad. This is a conversation starter, and these issues won&#8217;t be dealt with until we are open to talking about them,&#8221; said another user.  &#8220;People getting mad about this completely miss the point of what it could achieve. It isn&#8217;t &#8216;PC gone mad&#8217;, it&#8217;s an opportunity to take a good hard look at yourself and your feelings around a sensitive topic and do some real introspective work on why you feel the way you do.&#8221;
The Independent <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/coop-gingerbread-gender-neutral-name-person-competition-a8864666.html">also reported</a> earlier this year that U.K.&#8217;s Co-op would be featuring &#8220;a <a class="body-link" href="https://www.independent.co.uk/topic/gender-neutral" data-vars-item-name="BL-8864666-https://www.independent.co.uk/topic/gender-neutral" data-vars-event-id="c6">gender-neutral</a> version of the sweet treat&#8221; while asking customers to coin a new phrase of identity.
&#8220;Our Food team is adding the final touches to a new Co-op gingerbread person, but they’ve yet to come up with a name,” the Co-op website read at the time. &#8220;The plan is to give our new gingerbread fellow some seasonal costume refreshes &#8211; a distinctively Christmassy look for December and something rather spooky around Halloween for example. So they’ll need a name that works for any time of year. We also need to ensure that the name is gender-neutral too.”
Last Christmas, an elementary school principal out of Nebraska <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/nebraska-principal-takes-war-christmas-whole-new-paul-bois">also argued</a> that students should use the term &#8220;Gingerbread People&#8221; instead of Gingerbread Man as well as the term &#8220;Snow People.&#8221;

COOKIE-CUTTERS

Introducing Target&#8217;s &#8216;Gender Inclusive Gingerbread&#8217; Christmas Sweater

Tech giant Google is reportedly engaged in collecting the personal health information of tens of millions of Americans across 21 states — a project dubbed &#8220;Project Nightingale&#8221; — and has not notified patients or doctors about what they are doing.
&#8220;Google began Project Nightingale in secret last year with St. Louis-based Ascension, a Catholic chain of 2,600 hospitals, doctors’ offices and other facilities, with the data sharing accelerating since summer,&#8221; according to internal documents obtained exclusively by The Wall Street Journal. &#8220;The data involved in the initiative encompasses lab results, doctor diagnoses and hospitalization records, among other categories, and amounts to a complete health history, including patient names and dates of birth.&#8221;
&#8220;Neither patients nor doctors have been notified,&#8221; the Journal added. &#8220;At least 150 Google employees already have access to much of the data on tens of millions of patients, according to a person familiar with the matter and the documents.&#8221;
Google teamed up with Ascension, a Catholic chain of 2,600 hospitals spread out over <a href="https://www.ascension.org/About/Facts-and-Stats">21 states</a> and in the District of Columbia, and other doctors offices launch the project last year.
Forbes <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jilliandonfro/2019/11/11/google-ascension-project-nightingale-electronic-medical-records/#2aaa564e7a0a">reports</a> that the project &#8220;involves Ascension moving patient records onto Google’s cloud servers and includes a search product that allows Ascension healthcare providers to see an &#8216;overview page&#8217; about their patients. The page includes complete patient information as well as notes about patient medical issues, test results and medications, including information from scanned documents, according to presentations viewed by Forbes.&#8221;
&#8220;A source familiar with the project said that patients are not aware of Google’s access to their data, though patient privacy laws generally allow the sharing of patient data with third parties without notification if it is for purposes that &#8216;help it carry out its health care activities and functions,'&#8221; Forbes added. &#8220;Ascension employees have raised concerns internally, according to documents, about patient data privacy.&#8221;
The Journal and Forbes both reported that it appeared as though Google&#8217;s actions were not in violation of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA).
The New York Times reported over the summer that Google has been accused of inappropriate access to massive amounts of health care records through the University of Chicago Medical Center.
On June 26, the Times reported, &#8220;The University of Chicago, the medical center and Google were sued in a potential class-action lawsuit accusing the hospital of sharing hundreds of thousands of patients’ records with the technology giant without stripping identifiable date stamps or doctor’s notes.&#8221;
&#8220;The deal with the University of Chicago medical center violated patient privacy, the lawsuit claims, because those records also included date stamps of when patients checked in and checked out of the hospital,&#8221; the Times added. &#8220;The records included patient demographics, diagnoses, procedures, medication and other data. The paper states that the records were &#8216;de-identified,&#8217; except that &#8216;dates of service were maintained.&#8217; The paper also noted that the University of Chicago had provided &#8216;free-text medical notes&#8217; that were de-identified.&#8221;
Late last year, Google was fined $170 million by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in a settlement following the FTC&#8217;s investigation into allegations that Google was violating child privacy laws.
&#8220;Google LLC and its subsidiary YouTube, LLC will pay a record $170 million to settle allegations by the Federal Trade Commission and the New York Attorney General that the YouTube video sharing service illegally collected personal information from children without their parents’ consent,&#8221; The FTC said in a <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2019/09/google-youtube-will-pay-record-170-million-alleged-violations">statement</a>. &#8220;The settlement requires Google and YouTube to pay $136 million to the FTC and $34 million to New York for allegedly violating the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) Rule. The $136 million penalty is by far the largest amount the FTC has ever obtained in a COPPA case since Congress enacted the law in 1998.&#8221;

Google

Google Secretly Collecting Data On Millions Of Americans, Not Telling Patients Or Doctors, Report Says

Former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson — who was unceremoniously fired by President Trump in March 2018 via Twitter amid an ugly public feud between the two — responded Monday to former Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley&#8217;s claim in her new book that he attempted to solicit her help in sabotaging Trump&#8217;s agenda.
Over the weekend one particular passage from Haley&#8217;s new memoir &#8220;With All Due Respect&#8221; made <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/in-memoir-haley-alleges-tillerson-and-kelly-resisted-trumps-policies">headlines</a>: Haley&#8217;s description of how Tillerson and former White House Chief of Staff John Kelly allegedly approached her about joining them in undermining Trump for the supposed good of the country.
&#8220;Kelly and Tillerson confided in me that when they resisted the president, they weren’t being insubordinate, they were trying to save the country,&#8221; she writes. &#8220;&#8230;Tillerson went on to tell me the reason he resisted the president’s decisions was because, if he didn’t, people would die. This was how high the stakes were, he and Kelly told me. We are doing the best we can do to save the country, they said. We need you to work with us and help us do it. This went on for over an hour.&#8221;
&#8220;It absolutely happened,&#8221; writes Haley. &#8220;And instead of saying that to me, they should’ve been saying that to the president, not asking me to join them on their sidebar plan. It should’ve been, &#8216;Go tell the president what your differences are, and quit if you don’t like what he’s doing.&#8217; But to undermine a president is really a very dangerous thing. And it goes against the Constitution, and it goes against what the American people want. And it was offensive.&#8221;
On Monday, Tillerson responded by denying the claim. &#8220;During my service to our country as the Secretary of State, at no time did I, nor to my direct knowledge did anyone else serving along with me, take any actions to undermine the President,&#8221; Tillerson told <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/rex-tillerson-denies-he-tried-to-undermine-trump-says-nikki-haley-was-rarely-present-at-meetings/2019/11/11/70de3520-04d4-11ea-ac12-3325d49eacaa_story.html">The Washington Post</a>.
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&#8220;My conversations with the President in the privacy of the Oval Office were always candid, frank, and my recommendations straightforward,&#8221; said the former ExxonMobil CEO. &#8220;Once the President made a decision, we at the State Department undertook our best efforts to implement that decision.&#8221;
&#8220;Ambassador Haley was rarely a participant in my many meetings and is not in a position to know what I may or may not have said to the President,&#8221; Tillerson said. &#8220;I continue to be proud of my service as our country’s 69th Secretary of State.&#8221;
Tillerson did add one qualifying statement, however, saying, &#8220;if by resistance and stalling, [Haley] means putting a staff process in place … to ensure the (president) knew all the pros and cons of what policy decision he might be contemplating so he could make an informed decision, then guilty as charged.&#8221;
In an <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/haley-responds-to-questions-over-claims-kelly-tillerson-schemed-against-trump">appearance</a> on &#8220;Hannity&#8221; Monday, Haley addressed questions about her accusation and stood by her claim. Asked if she informed Trump at the time about Tillerson and Kelly allegedly approaching her about undermining him, Haley said yes.
&#8220;I did tell the president, and I did tell the National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster,&#8221; said Haley. &#8220;And there were others that knew of my concerns in the process.&#8221;
&#8220;And let’s keep in mind — I mean, what I have said is this wasn’t that these guys thought this was a rogue president,&#8221; she added. &#8220;This was that these guys disagreed with his policy. They disagreed with us getting out of the Paris Climate Agreement. They disagreed with us getting out of the Iran deal. They disagreed with moving the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. So, when the president was charting a different course, and really giving us a strong hand for America and for our friends, they just thought that he was going on in the wrong direction. And so, when they sat me down that day, they were attempting to tell me that if I would work with them, they were trying to save America and keep people from dying.&#8221;
While Tillerson denies attempting to undermine Trump, their conflicting views have been widely reported. As noted by <a href="https://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/2019/11/11/rex-tillerson-said-he-resisted-trumps-decisions-or-else-people-would-die-nikki-haley-claims/">The Dallas Morning News</a>, after Trump fired Tillerson in March 2018 their &#8220;acrimonious relationship&#8221; went public:
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<blockquote>
The diplomat, while still serving, reportedly called Trump a “moron.” Trump then challenged Tillerson to an IQ test. Tillerson, after being let go, said Trump was an “undisciplined” leader who “doesn’t like to read.” Trump responded by calling Tillerson “lazy as hell” and “dumb as a rock.”
That tit-for-tat appeared to end in December, when Tillerson laughed away his former boss’s insults.
</blockquote>
In her new book, Haley describes working with Tillerson as &#8220;exhausting&#8221; and his attitude as arrogant. &#8220;It was no secret that Rex and I had our differences,&#8221; she writes. &#8220;He gave off the unmistakable impression that he knew more than everyone else in the room — including the president.&#8221;
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Nikki Haley and Rex Tillerson

Nikki Haley Accuses Rex Tillerson Of Sabotaging Trump; Tillerson Responds

Donald Trump

Nikki Haley

Rex Tillerson

Former United States Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley addressed questions on Monday that she faced after claiming over the weekend that former chief-of-staff John Kelly and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson approached her and asked her to undermine President Donald Trump.
In an interview with CBS News over the weekend, Haley <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/nikki-haley-was-asked-by-cabinet-members-john-kelly-and-rex-tillerson-to-take-sides-against-president-trump/">said</a>:
<blockquote>Kelly and Tillerson confided in me that when they resisted the president, they weren&#8217;t being insubordinate, they were trying to save the country … Tillerson went on to tell me the reason he resisted the president&#8217;s decisions was because, if he didn&#8217;t, people would die. This was how high the stakes were, he and Kelly told me. We are doing the best we can do to save the country, they said. We need you to work with us and help us do it. This went on for over an hour.
It absolutely happened. And instead of saying that to me, they should&#8217;ve been saying that to the president, not asking me to join them on their sidebar plan. It should&#8217;ve been, &#8220;Go tell the president what your differences are, and quit if you don&#8217;t like what he&#8217;s doing.&#8221; But to undermine a president is really a very dangerous thing. And it goes against the Constitution, and it goes against what the American people want. And it was offensive.</blockquote>
Haley faced scrutiny from some prominent conservatives over her claims, including from radio host Rush Limbaugh, who responded to Haley&#8217;s quote on CBS News by <a href="https://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2019/11/11/did-nikki-haley-tell-trump/">saying</a>, &#8220;Well, no kidding! Did you go tell the president, Nikki? I don’t know that anybody’s asked her that. Did you tell the president these guys were trying to subvert? Did you tell him that they were trying to undermine him? One is the chief of staff; the other one’s the secretary of state. Now, as I said, I was surprised. I was dead wrong about Tillerson. I’m not surprised about John Kelly. And I should have been more up to speed on Tillerson.&#8221;
Haley addressed the questions raised by Limbaugh and others during a Fox News appearance on Trump&#8217;s favorite show, &#8220;Hannity.&#8221;
&#8220;What has gotten a lot of people&#8217;s attention is the conversation about an hour: Rex Tillerson, General Kelly, and I guess tell that story, and out of it — I was wondering, &#8216;Why did you not feel, or did you at any point feel, a need to tell the president, &#8216;Hey, this is what these guys are doing&#8217;?&#8221; Sean Hannity asked.
&#8220;Well, I did tell the president. And, I mean, keep in mind, Sean, this is one page out of 250 pages of the book, but I did tell the president, and I did tell the National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster,&#8221; Haley responded. &#8220;And there were others that knew of my concerns in the process.&#8221;
&#8220;And let&#8217;s keep in mind — I mean, what I have said is this wasn&#8217;t that these guys thought this was a rogue president,&#8221; Haley continued. &#8220;This was that these guys disagreed with his policy. They disagreed with us getting out of the Paris Climate Agreement. They disagreed with us getting out of the Iran deal. They disagreed with moving the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. So, when the president was charting a different course, and really giving us a strong hand for America and for our friends, they just thought that he was going on in the wrong direction.&#8221;
&#8220;And so, when they sat me down that day, they were attempting to tell me that if I would work with them, they were trying to save America and keep people from dying,&#8221; Haley added. &#8220;But we saw, when the embassy moved from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, the sky is still up there. It didn&#8217;t fall, and we didn&#8217;t see casualties. What we saw was a courageous moment by the president that many presidents had tried before that was very successful. And it acknowledged a fact, which Jerusalem is the capital of Israel.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Nikki Haley on whether she notified President Trump that Rex Tillerson and John Kelly were trying to undermine him: “I did tell the president. … this wasn&#8217;t that these guys thought this was a rogue president. This was that these guys disagreed with his policy.” <a href="https://t.co/JGJmBJibSy">pic.twitter.com/JGJmBJibSy</a>
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) <a href="https://twitter.com/RealSaavedra/status/1194161124024803328?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 12, 2019</a></blockquote>

Haley Responds To Questions Over Claims Kelly, Tillerson Schemed Against Trump

John Kelly

Sean Hannity

&#8220;Jeopardy&#8221; host Alex Trebek fought back tears during Monday&#8217;s episode of the show after a contestant made a touching gesture to him during the closing round of the show.
Contestant Dhruv Gaur, who was competing in Jeopardy&#8217;s annual &#8220;Tournament of Champions,&#8221; did not know what the answer to the final Jeopardy question was and decided to write instead, “We love you, Alex.”
Trebek was moved by the gesture, saying, “That’s very kind, thank you.”
Gaur&#8217;s answer cost him $1,995.
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
This is so touching. <a href="https://t.co/6KQ7MBNzDc">pic.twitter.com/6KQ7MBNzDc</a>
— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) <a href="https://twitter.com/yashar/status/1194066519233306624?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 12, 2019</a></blockquote>
In March, Trebek announced that he had been diagnosed with cancer.
“I have some news to share with all of you, and it’s in keeping with my longtime policy of being open and transparent with our Jeopardy! fan base,&#8221; Trebek said. &#8220;I also wanted to prevent you from reading or hearing some overblown or inaccurate reports regarding my health. So therefore, I wanted to be the one to pass along this information.”
“Just like 50,000 other people in the United States each year, this week I was diagnosed with stage IV pancreatic cancer. Now, normally, the prognosis for this is not very encouraging, but I’m going to fight this—and I’m going to keep working,&#8221; Trebek continued. &#8220;And with the love and support of my family and friends, and with the help of your prayers also, I plan to beat the low survival-rate statistics for this disease.&#8221;
&#8220;Truth told, I have to! Because under the terms of my contract, I have to host Jeopardy! for three more years,&#8221; Trebek joked at the time. &#8220;So help me. Keep the faith, and we’ll win. We’ll get it done. Thank you.”
Just two months later, Trebek announced that his cancer had gone away.
“It’s kind of mind-boggling,” Trebek said. “The doctors said they hadn’t seen this kind of positive result in their memory … some of the tumors have already shrunk by more than 50 percent.”
“I’ve got a couple million people out there who have expressed their good thoughts, their positive energy directed towards me, and their prayers. I told the doctors, this has to be more than just the chemo, and they agreed it could very well be an important part of this,&#8221; Trebek continued. “I’ve got a lot of love out there headed in my direction and a lot of prayer, and I will never, ever minimize the value of that.”
In September, Trebek revealed that the cancer returned and he was going to have to resume treatment.
“I was doing so well,” Trebek said. “And my numbers went down to the equivalent of a normal human being who does not have pancreatic cancer. So we were all very optimistic. And they said, ‘Good, we’re gonna stop chemo, we’ll start you on immunotherapy.’ I lost about 12 pounds in a week. And my numbers went sky high, much higher than they were when I was first diagnosed. So, the doctors have decided that I have to undergo chemo again and that’s what I’m doing.”
“As long as I can walk out and greet the audience and the contestants and run the game I’m happy,” Trebek added.

Jeopardy Alex Trebek

WATCH: Alex Trebek Fights Back Tears After Jeopardy Contestant Gives Touching Answer To Host Amid Cancer Battle

Socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) reportedly believes that she was at least somewhat responsible for Twitter&#8217;s decision last month to ban political advertisements, saying that it was not a &#8220;coincidence&#8221; that the social media platform pulled the ads after she attacked Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
NBC New York <a href="https://www.nbcnewyork.com/on-air/as-seen-on/One-on-One-With-Alexandria-Ocasio-Cortez_New-York-564751812.html">reported</a> in a video segment, &#8220;The congresswoman says that her recent grilling of Facebook over the accuracy of political ads on their platform had an impact.&#8221;
&#8220;I don&#8217;t think it&#8217;s a coincidence that Twitter announced that they were going to pulling political ads the following week,&#8221; Ocasio-Cortez told NBC New York.
NBC New York asked Ocasio-Cortez what Republican friends she has made in Congress, to which she refused to give an answer, claiming that these alleged Republican friends that she has would get in trouble if anyone knew.
Ocasio-Cortez suggested during last month&#8217;s hearing that she &#8220;wanted to take advantage of the fact that Facebook tries to not censor political speech from politicians by intentionally lying in her campaign ads, specifically wanting to falsely claim that Republicans supported her $93 trillion Green New Deal,&#8221; The Daily Wire reported. &#8220;Ocasio-Cortez then leveled bogus attacks against The Daily Caller, a conservative publication that has been critical of Ocasio-Cortez’s often flawed ideas and has often called out her false statements and highlighted corruption that involves her.&#8221;
Ocasio-Cortez&#8217;s behavior was condemned by many online who found her attitude and tone to be arrogant and condescending.
Media personality Allie Beth Stuckey wrote on <a href="https://twitter.com/conservmillen/status/1187113825860046848">Twitter</a>: &#8220;My gosh. @AOC tries very hard to seem fierce and operates solely out of a desire for viral clips. These questions are not at all interesting or clever, and she is cringefully arrogant.&#8221;
Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton <a href="https://twitter.com/TomFitton/status/1187143103448309760">tweeted</a>: &#8220;Left pushes @Facebook to censor political ads of @RealDonaldTrump.&#8221;
YouTuber and political analyst Tim Pool <a href="https://twitter.com/Timcast/status/1187140327922130945">wrote</a> on Twitter: AOC just proved exactly why Mark Zuckerberg is right to not police truthfulness of political speech. Poynter runs the fact checking approval for Facebook, she is wrong and is smearing the Daily Caller. Should Facebook ban AOC from saying this on FB?&#8221;
Campus Reform Editor-in-Chief Cabot Phillips <a href="https://twitter.com/cabot_phillips/status/1187113510850977792">wrote</a> on Twitter: &#8220;AOC is somehow even less likable than a man with the social skills of a brick wall.&#8221;
Daily Caller podcast host Derek Hunter <a href="https://twitter.com/derekahunter/status/1187193793117917184">wrote</a> on Twitter: &#8220;It&#8217;s telling how @AOC thinks black people would be so stupid as to believe an ad telling them the wrong election day. That&#8217;s some racism right there.&#8221;
A week after the hearing, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey announced that Twitter was banning all political ads on the website.
&#8220;We’ve made the decision to stop all political advertising on Twitter globally. We believe political message reach should be earned, not bought. Why? A few reasons a political message earns reach when people decide to follow an account or retweet,&#8221; Dorsey said. &#8220;Paying for reach removes that decision, forcing highly optimized and targeted political messages on people. We believe this decision should not be compromised by money.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
A political message earns reach when people decide to follow an account or retweet. Paying for reach removes that decision, forcing highly optimized and targeted political messages on people. We believe this decision should not be compromised by money.
— jack 🌍🌏🌎 (@jack) <a href="https://twitter.com/jack/status/1189634367296901120?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 30, 2019</a></blockquote>
&#8220;While internet advertising is incredibly powerful and very effective for commercial advertisers, that power brings significant risks to politics, where it can be used to influence votes to affect the lives of millions,&#8221; Dorsey continued. &#8220;Internet political ads present entirely new challenges to civic discourse: machine learning-based optimization of messaging and micro-targeting, unchecked misleading information, and deep fakes. All at increasing velocity, sophistication, and overwhelming scale.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Internet political ads present entirely new challenges to civic discourse: machine learning-based optimization of messaging and micro-targeting, unchecked misleading information, and deep fakes. All at increasing velocity, sophistication, and overwhelming scale.
— jack 🌍🌏🌎 (@jack) <a href="https://twitter.com/jack/status/1189634369016586240?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 30, 2019</a></blockquote>
&#8220;These challenges will affect ALL internet communication, not just political ads. Best to focus our efforts on the root problems, without the additional burden and complexity taking money brings. Trying to fix both means fixing neither well, and harms our credibility,&#8221; Dorsey continued. &#8220;For instance, it‘s not credible for us to say: &#8216;We’re working hard to stop people from gaming our systems to spread misleading info, buuut if someone pays us to target and force people to see their political ad … well &#8230; they can say whatever they want!'&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
For instance, it‘s not credible for us to say: “We’re working hard to stop people from gaming our systems to spread misleading info, buuut if someone pays us to target and force people to see their political ad…well&#8230;they can say whatever they want! 😉”
— jack 🌍🌏🌎 (@jack) <a href="https://twitter.com/jack/status/1189634371407380480?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 30, 2019</a></blockquote>
&#8220;We considered stopping only candidate ads, but issue ads present a way to circumvent. Additionally, it isn’t fair for everyone but candidates to buy ads for issues they want to push. So we&#8217;re stopping these too,&#8221; Dorsey continued. &#8220;We’re well aware we&#8217;re a small part of a much larger political advertising ecosystem. Some might argue our actions today could favor incumbents. But we have witnessed many social movements reach massive scale without any political advertising. I trust this will only grow.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
We’re well aware we‘re a small part of a much larger political advertising ecosystem. Some might argue our actions today could favor incumbents. But we have witnessed many social movements reach massive scale without any political advertising. I trust this will only grow.
— jack 🌍🌏🌎 (@jack) <a href="https://twitter.com/jack/status/1189634373890347008?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 30, 2019</a></blockquote>
&#8220;In addition, we need more forward-looking political ad regulation (very difficult to do). Ad transparency requirements are progress, but not enough. The internet provides entirely new capabilities, and regulators need to think past the present day to ensure a level playing field,&#8221; Dorsey added. &#8220;We’ll share the final policy by 11/15, including a few exceptions (ads in support of voter registration will still be allowed, for instance). We’ll start enforcing our new policy on 11/22 to provide current advertisers a notice period before this change goes into effect.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
We’ll share the final policy by 11/15, including a few exceptions (ads in support of voter registration will still be allowed, for instance). We’ll start enforcing our new policy on 11/22 to provide current advertisers a notice period before this change goes into effect.
— jack 🌍🌏🌎 (@jack) <a href="https://twitter.com/jack/status/1189634376121798656?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 30, 2019</a></blockquote>
&#8220;A final note. This isn’t about free expression. This is about paying for reach,&#8221; Dorsey concluded. &#8220;And paying to increase the reach of political speech has significant ramifications that today’s democratic infrastructure may not be prepared to handle. It’s worth stepping back in order to address.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none" data-lang="en">
A final note. This isn’t about free expression. This is about paying for reach. And paying to increase the reach of political speech has significant ramifications that today’s democratic infrastructure may not be prepared to handle. It’s worth stepping back in order to address.
— jack 🌍🌏🌎 (@jack) <a href="https://twitter.com/jack/status/1189634377057067008?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 30, 2019</a></blockquote>

Ocasio-Cortez

Ocasio-Cortez Suggests She Was Responsible For Twitter Banning Political Ads

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

Here is everything you need to know, to-date.
<ul>
<li>April 2014: Hunter Biden <a href="https://www.justsecurity.org/66271/timeline-trump-giuliani-bidens-and-ukrainegate/">joined</a> Ukrainian energy company Burisma.</li>
<li>August 2014: Ukrainian Prosecutor General Vitaly Yarema <a href="https://www.justsecurity.org/66271/timeline-trump-giuliani-bidens-and-ukrainegate/">opened</a> a corruption investigation about Burisma.</li>
<li>Fall 2015/Winter 2015–2016: Then-Vice President Joe Biden first <a href="https://www.justsecurity.org/66271/timeline-trump-giuliani-bidens-and-ukrainegate/">made a public issue</a> out of alleged prosecutor-related corruption in Ukraine.</li>
<li>February 2016: Ukrainian energy company Burisma, which had Hunter Biden as a board member at the time, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/watch-hammer-on-tipping-point-with-liz-wheeler-the-hunter-biden-foia-bombshell">sought to utilize</a> Biden&#8217;s stature as a means to secure a U.S. State Department meeting.</li>
<li>March 2016: Then-Vice President Joe Biden <a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/hunter-bidens-ukraine-gas-firm-lobbied-state-department-to-end-corruption-allegations-emails-show_3137480.html">pressured Ukraine</a> to fire the prosecutor involved with investigating Burisma.</li>
<li>June 2017: Rudy Giuliani <a href="https://www.nationalreview.com/2019/10/the-two-theories-of-trumps-actions-in-the-ukraine-affair/">visited Ukraine</a> and met with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and Ukrainian Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko.</li>
<li>January 2018: Joe Biden was <a href="https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2019/09/27/flashback_2018_joe_biden_brags_at_cfr_meeting_about_withholding_aid_to_ukraine_to_force_firing_of_prosecutor.html">filmed bragging about</a> how he forced the firing of a Ukrainian prosecutor he did not like by threatening to withhold foreign aid to Ukraine.</li>
<li>August 2018: Giuliani was <a href="https://www.nationalreview.com/2019/10/the-two-theories-of-trumps-actions-in-the-ukraine-affair/">hired</a> by a company run by Ukrainian business tycoon Lev Parnas.</li>
<li>Later 2018: Giuliani pressured Lutsenko to open corruption-related investigations about the Bidens and Burisma.</li>
<li>January 2019: Giuliani met multiple times with Lutsenko and, according to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/01/us/politics/biden-son-ukraine.html?module=inline">The New York Times</a>, allegedly pushed Lutsenko on the Bidens, Burisma, and then-U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch.</li>
<li>March 2019: Lutsenko <a href="https://www.nationalreview.com/2019/10/the-two-theories-of-trumps-actions-in-the-ukraine-affair/">opened two investigations</a> — one on the Bidens and one on Burisma. The Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/01/us/politics/biden-son-ukraine.html?module=inline">alleged</a> that Lutsenko also accused Yovanovitch of corruption.</li>
<li>April 2019: Trump <a href="https://www.nationalreview.com/2019/10/the-two-theories-of-trumps-actions-in-the-ukraine-affair/">reportedly told</a> Fox News host Sean Hannity that Attorney General William Barr might investigate allegations about Ukrainian interference in the 2016 presidential election.</li>
<li>May 2019: Yovanovitch resigned as U.S. ambassador to Ukraine.</li>
<li>May 2019: The New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/09/us/politics/giuliani-ukraine-trump.html">reported</a> on an upcoming Rudy Giuliani trip to Ukraine.</li>
<li>May 2019: Giuliani <a href="https://www.nationalreview.com/2019/10/the-two-theories-of-trumps-actions-in-the-ukraine-affair/">expressed</a> his belief in the theory that Ukraine actively assisted the Hillary Clinton campaign during the 2016 presidential election.</li>
<li>June 2019: Giuliani <a href="https://twitter.com/RudyGiuliani/status/1142085975230898176?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed&amp;ref_url=safari-reader%3A%2F%2Fwww.nationalreview.com%2F2019%2F10%2Fthe-two-theories-of-trumps-actions-in-the-ukraine-affair%2F">tweeted</a> that Ukraine was &#8220;abused by Hillary and Obama people.&#8221;</li>
<li>July 25, 2019: Now-infamous <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Unclassified09.2019.pdf">phone call</a> took place between Trump and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky.</li>
<li>September 24, 2019: <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Unclassified09.2019.pdf">Transcript</a> of phone call released between Trump and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky.</li>
<li>September 24, 2019: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/24/us/politics/democrats-impeachment-trump.html">announced</a> that House Democrats would seek to open an impeachment inquiry against President Trump.</li>
<li>September 26, 2019: Whistleblower complaint about the Trump-Zelensky phone call <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/09/26/us/politics/whistle-blower-complaint.html">revealed</a>.</li>
<li>October 2, 2019: <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/02/us/politics/adam-schiff-whistleblower.html">Revelation</a> that Rep. Adam Schiff&#8217;s (D-CA) office had been in contact with the whistleblower.</li>
<li>October 17, 2019: <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/10/17/770714277/read-gordon-sondlands-opening-statement-to-congress">Written testimony</a> of U.S. ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland includes: &#8220;President Trump was skeptical that Ukraine was serious about reforms and anti-corruption, and he directed those of us present at the meeting to talk to Mr. Giuliani, his personal attorney, about his concerns. It was apparent to all of us that the key to changing the President’s mind on Ukraine was Mr. Giuliani.&#8221;</li>
<li>October 22, 2019: <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/10/22/us/politics/william-taylor-ukraine-testimony.html">Written testimony</a> of top U.S. diplomat to Ukraine Bill Taylor notes: By mid-July, it was becoming clear to me that the meeting President Zelenskyy wanted was conditioned on the investigations of Burisma and alleged Ukrainian interference in the 2016 U.S. elections. It was also clear that this condition was driven by the irregular policy channel I had come to understand was guided by Mr. Giuliani.&#8221;</li>
<li>October 29, 2019: Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, who serves on the U.S. National Security Council, <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/11/08/777514772/read-testimony-of-alexander-vindman-the-white-houses-ukraine-specialist">testified</a> that the White House&#8217;s released transcript of the Trump-Zelensky phone call had <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/30/politics/alexander-vindman-testimony-white-house-transcript/index.html">crucial omissions</a> with respect to the Bidens.</li>
<li>October 31, 2019: House <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/10/31/us/politics/trump-impeachment-inquiry-house-vote.html">voted</a> to establish the procedural rules governing the impeachment of President Trump.</li>
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Map of Ukraine

The Complete Timeline Of The Trump-Ukraine Story

Hunter Biden

Impeachment

Joe Biden

Rudy Giuliani

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Volodymyr Zelensky

Television personality Mike Rowe delivered a sobering message on Veteran&#8217;s Day that illustrates how out of touch the campus SJWs are from the reality that America&#8217;s armed servicemen face.
Speaking on &#8220;<a href="https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/mike-rowe-veterans-day-fox-friends-military-safe-space">Fox &amp; Friends</a>,&#8221; Rowe argued that the American military is one of the greatest meritocracies in the world and champions a true diversity.
“Is there a greater meritocracy in the world? Is there a better example of true diversity?&#8221; Rowe said on the program. &#8220;The thing that I’m most proud about when I go to bases when I visit with people, they are utterly colorblind. There’s no conversation about &#8216;trigger words.&#8217; There’s no safe space. The military is not a safe space.&#8221;
“In the military, there’s a set of rules, there’s a different reality, and there’s a different commonality,&#8221; he added.
To illustrate his point, Rowe pointed to his friend, Travis Mills, a quadruple-amputee whom the television host described as having not an ounce of self-pity.
&#8220;In a heartbeat you go from put-upon, in a hurry, trying to take care of your stuff to saying, &#8216;OK, let&#8217;s cancel that, let&#8217;s sit down,&#8217; and I talked to Travis for an hour,&#8221; Rowe said of his friend. &#8220;Some people hit the reset button to start their life over and some people get the reset button hit for them. And that was Travis. He just simply refused to quit.&#8221;
Mike Rowe has never been one to shy away from political correctness or from championing the contributions of America&#8217;s working class. Over the weekend, he delivered a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/mike-rowe-rips-student-loan-crisis-were-rewarding-behavior-we-should-be-discouraging">blistering message</a> on the student loan debt crisis by attacking the pervasive propaganda that tells people to get a university education above all else.
“We have unintendedly maligned an entire section of our workforce by promoting one form of education, in my opinion, at the expense of all of the other forms,” he said. “Forty years ago, colleges needed a PR campaign. We needed more people to get into higher education, but when we gave the big push for college back the in ‘70s, we did it at the expense of alternative education. In other words, we told people, ‘If you don’t get your degree, you’re going to wind up turning a wrench.’ ”
Actor Chris Pratt simultaneously delivered a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/chris-pratt-posts-terrific-tribute-to-his-veteran-brother">powerful message</a> on Veteran&#8217;s Day that was specifically dedicated to his brother.
“I always wanted to be exactly like him. We were the same size despite our three-year difference in age so as a kid I would wear the same clothes he wore, literally the day after he wore them — picking them up off the floor in his room. What can I say? He knew how to match and I liked the smell,” Pratt wrote on Instagram Monday. “One day his friends started to notice and he kindly urged me to wear my own clothes.”
“He is a good big brother,” he continued. “He’s always led with love. Growing up we wrestled for hours every day and smashed every bit of furniture in the house but never actually fought. He taught me everything. He put up with me and my incessant hyperactivity and forced his friends to do the same.”

Celebrities Visit Build &#8211; February 5, 2019

Mike Rowe’s Veteran’s Day Message: No Trigger Words Or Safe Spaces In The Military

Former Massachusetts Democrat Governor Deval Patrick is reportedly considering making a late jump into the 2020 presidential race which comes just days after news broke that Democrat billionaire Michael Bloomberg was also close to entering the race.
&#8220;Mr. Patrick has told party leaders that he doesn’t think any of the candidates running have established political momentum and that he thinks there is an opening for somebody who can unite both liberals and moderate Democrats,&#8221; The New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/11/us/politics/deval-patrick-2020-president.html">reported</a>. &#8220;At the same time, Massachusetts Democrats close to Mr. Patrick have started to reach out to prominent party leaders in early nominating states to alert them that he may run, according to one Democrat who has received an inquiry.&#8221;
Late last year, Patrick traveled to some of the early nominating states but ruled out a run for president because of the impact that he thought it would have on his family.
Last month, when asked to rule out a bid for the White House, Patrick said, “Don’t ask me that question.”
Last week, news broke that Bloomberg, a billionaire Democrat megadonor and anti-gun activist, was strongly considering entering the race after seeing former Vice President Joe Biden struggle to gain any traction.
“Mr. Bloomberg and his advisers called a number of prominent Democrats on Thursday to tell them he was seriously considering the race, including former Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the retired majority leader who remains a dominant power broker in the early caucus state,” the Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/07/us/politics/michael-bloomberg-president-2020.html">reported</a>. “Aides to Mr. Bloomberg also reached out to Gov. Gina Raimondo of Rhode Island, the chair of the Democratic Governors Association.”
In an email to Politico, longtime Bloomberg aide Howard Wolfson said: “We now need to finish the job and ensure that Trump is defeated — but Mike is increasingly concerned that the current field of candidates is not well positioned to do that. If Mike runs he would offer a new choice to Democrats built on a unique record running America’s biggest city, building a business from scratch and taking on some of America’s toughest challenges as a high-impact philanthropist.”
The Associated Press reported on Saturday that Bloomberg was considering an unconventional strategy to win in hopes of winning the race. The AP <a href="https://apnews.com/653386c5e7e040d09836d0e013558815">reported</a>:
<blockquote>The early states offer just a small percentage of the delegates needed to clinch the Democratic nomination. But victories there typically give candidates crucial momentum that helps carry them into bigger states with more delegates on the line.
Bloomberg is calculating that he could build an advantage in those states now with his ability to quickly pour money into staff, television advertising and other campaign operations while other candidates are competing elsewhere.</blockquote>
In a statement, Bloomberg adviser Howard Wolfson <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/bloomberg-to-deploy-unconventional-strategy-in-hopes-of-winning-democratic-primary">said</a>: “If we run, we are confident we can win in states voting on Super Tuesday and beyond, where we will start on an even footing. But the late timing of our entry means that many candidates already have a big head start in the four early states, where they’ve spent months and months campaigning and spending money.”

Deval Patrick

Former Democrat Governor Reportedly Mulling Entering 2020 Presidential Race

Over the weekend, Republicans released their list of witnesses they want to testify in the Democrat-led impeachment hearings, and many Democrats are clearly unhappy about it, decrying the witness list as an attempt to supposedly promote pro-Trump conspiracy theories. While one particularly incensed Democrat told the Republicans to &#8220;GET LOST&#8221; in response to the &#8220;sham&#8221; list, President Trump appears to have given his official endorsement of the people GOP congressional committee members would like to get a chance to ask some tough questions related to Ukraine.
On Monday, Trump retweeted the list posted by House Oversight Committee Ranking Member Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH):
<ul>
<li>The whistleblower and all of the whistleblower&#8217;s alleged sources</li>
<li>Hunter Biden, Joe Biden&#8217;s son who was hired by Ukraine-based energy company Burisma Holdings shortly after his father was appointed as head of U.S.-Ukraine relations</li>
<li>Devon Archer, Hunter Biden&#8217;s former long-time business partner who also served on the board of Burisma</li>
<li>Alexandra Chalupa, a &#8220;Ukrainian-American consultant for the Democratic National Committee who allegedly had meetings with officials at the Ukrainian Embassy in Washington, D.C. to discuss incriminating information about Trump campaign officials during the 2016 presidential election,&#8221; as <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/republicans-hunter-biden-ukraine-whisteleblower-impeachment-witness">Fox News</a> explains. (Chalupa&#8217;s alleged role in trying to dig up dirt on Trump was first reported by <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2017/01/ukraine-sabotage-trump-backfire-233446">Politico</a> in 2017.)</li>
<li>Nellie Ohr, who testified in front of Congress in 2018 that Fusion GPS compiled the salacious anti-Trump Steele dossier in part from information from Ukrainian sources</li>
<li>Kurt Volker, a former envoy to Ukraine</li>
<li>Tim Morrison, a former National Security Council official</li>
</ul>
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Republicans have requested a list of witnesses for the impeachment hearings (alphabetical order):
-Devon Archer 
-Hunter Biden 
-Alexandra Chalupa 
-David Hale 
-Tim Morrison 
-Nellie Ohr 
-Amb. Volker 
-The “Whistleblower” &amp; their sources
Will <a href="https://twitter.com/RepAdamSchiff?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@RepAdamSchiff</a> permit them to testify?
— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) <a href="https://twitter.com/Jim_Jordan/status/1193311587370700803?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 9, 2019</a></blockquote>
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As first reported by <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/republicans-hunter-biden-ukraine-whisteleblower-impeachment-witness">Fox News</a>, Intelligence Committee Ranking Member Devin Nunes (R-CA) accused House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff (D-CA), who&#8217;s heading up the Democrats&#8217; impeachment efforts, in a letter Saturday of overseeing a &#8220;sham impeachment process&#8221; and explained the rationale for the witnesses included in the Republicans&#8217; list.
&#8220;Americans see through this sham impeachment process, despite the Democrats&#8217; efforts to retroactively legitimize it last week,&#8221; wrote Nunes. &#8220;To provide transparency to your otherwise opaque and unfair process, and after consultation with [House Oversight Committee] Ranking Member Jim Jordan and [House Foreign Affairs Committee] Ranking Member Michael McCaul, the American people deserve to hear from the following witnesses in an open setting.&#8221;
&#8220;Because the Democrats’ resolution unfairly restricts Minority rights and because you have provided no information about which witnesses you may invite to testify at future hearings not yet scheduled, we reserve our right to request additional witnesses, if necessary, as you announce additional hearings,&#8221; Nunes wrote. &#8220;Your failure to fulfill Minority witness requests shall constitute evidence of your denial of fundamental fairness and due process.&#8221;
Nunes preemptively defended the choices of the witnesses, including Chalupa, who he said is included because of Trump&#8217;s &#8220;documented belief that the Ukrainian government meddled in the 2016 election to oppose his candidacy, which forms the basis for a reasonable desire for Ukraine to investigate the circumstances surrounding the election and any potential Ukrainian involvement.&#8221; Chalupa, he wrote, &#8220;is a prime fact witness who can assist Congress and the American public in better understanding the facts and circumstances surrounding Ukrainian involvement in the 2016 election.&#8221;
Ohr&#8217;s work with Fusion GPS, which included &#8220;assist[ing] in the production of the Steele Dossier,&#8221; in part allegedly using Ukrainian sources, also makes her a key witness.
As for the whistleblower, Republicans have been increasingly demanding a public testimony so Trump can &#8220;face his accuser.&#8221;
Democrats appear to have been unimpressed by the list, House Democratic Caucus Chair Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) tweeting in response to the &#8220;sham&#8221; list: &#8220;My two cents? GET LOST.&#8221;
Media outlets have since been working to &#8220;fact-check&#8221; the list. While <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/republicans-hunter-biden-ukraine-whisteleblower-impeachment-witness">Fox News</a> took the list of witnesses seriously, explaining the roles the potential witnesses have played in Ukraine-related developments, others, like <a href="https://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/watch/fact-checking-the-reasons-behind-gop-s-impeachment-hearing-witness-list-requests-73210437540">MSNBC and The New York Times</a> predictably approached it with a skepticism mirroring the Democrats.
Along with retweeting the Republicans&#8217; witness list, Trump has been applying even more pressure for the anonymous whistleblower to come forward.
&#8220;The lawyer for the Whistleblower takes away all credibility from this big Impeachment Scam! It should be ended and the Whistleblower, his lawyer and Corrupt politician Schiff should be investigated for fraud!&#8221; Trump tweeted Monday.
&#8220;Shifty Adam Schiff will only release doctored transcripts. We haven’t even seen the documents and are restricted from (get this) having a lawyer. Republicans should put out their own transcripts! Schiff must testify as to why he MADE UP a statement from me, and read it to all!&#8221; he wrote in another, adding later: &#8220;Where is the Whistleblower who gave so much false information? Must testify along with Schiff and others!&#8221;
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/limbaugh-whistleblower-lawyers-past-statements-are-smoking-guns">Limbaugh: Whistleblower Lawyer’s Past Statements Are ‘Smoking Guns’</a>
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President Trump and Melania Trump

Trump Tweets GOP&#8217;s List Of Impeachment Witnesses; Dems Tell GOP &#8216;Get Lost&#8217;; Media Fact-Checks

Republican Party

With fires raging constantly in California, no one would reasonably argue to cut the firefighters’ budget. Yet several leading Democratic presidential candidates recently called for cutting American military aid to Israel despite it increasingly acting as the primary bulwark against rising Iranian aggression and instability across the Middle East. Now is not the time to reduce Israeli military capabilities, but to enhance them.
Just three years after President Obama signed the current 10-year military aid package to Israel, saying it would “make sure that Israel has the full capabilities it needs in order to keep the Israeli people safe … and defend itself, by itself, against any threat,” several Democratic presidential candidates are threatening to void that commitment.
Speaking at the J Street National Conference recently, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), an influential leader of the Democratic base and party, blamed Israel for the dire conditions in Gaza. He argued, “If you [Israel] want military aid, you are going to have to fundamentally change your relationship to the people of Gaza,” adding that “it is fair to say that some of that should go right now into humanitarian aid in Gaza.” Gaza is controlled by the virulently anti-Semitic, anti-Israel <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hammer-israel-must-destroy-hamas-once-and-all-josh-hammer">Islamic extremist organization Hamas</a> — which is armed by Iran, is a U.S.-designated terrorist organization, and regularly launches missile attacks against Israeli civilians. Sanders’ position effectively means a permanent reduction in U.S. military aid to Israel while rewarding Hamas for immiserating Gaza.
South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg suggested a U.S. military aid cut if Israel annexed the West Bank. And Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), the seeming Democratic frontrunner, said a couple weeks ago: “It is the official policy of the United States of America to support a two-state solution, and if Israel is moving in the opposite direction, then everything is on the table.”
Yet former Vice President Joe Biden rejected conditioning Israel aid as “absolutely outrageous” and a “gigantic mistake.” His view is obviously important and welcome, but his policy views don’t seem to resonate with the Democratic base; his political position, furthermore, is slipping.
The focus on conditioning Israeli aid is a very recent phenomenon. Elizabeth Warren co-sponsored a security assistance bill declaring it the policy of the United States “to ensure that Israel maintains its ability to counter and defeat any credible conventional military, or emerging, threat from any individual state or possible coalition of states or from non-state actors.” This passed the Senate in August 2018 with no objection from Bernie Sanders.
The new position for conditioning or cutting military aid to Israel based on the Palestinian-Arab situation misunderstands the purpose of the aid.
U.S. aid doesn’t go to the Israeli government for discretionary spending, but to defense contractors that are overwhelmingly U.S. companies — thereby providing jobs for American workers, who then provide the weapons to Israel.
More important, cutting military support for Israel would undermine U.S. interests. America needs a strong Israel to lighten our own military footprint and financial commitment in the Middle East, as the Democratic presidential candidates all claim they seek. We also need a strong Israel to help reduce threats to U.S. interests in the region.
Israel is an asset of growing importance in confronting the Middle East’s twin threatening forces: Sunni radicalism and Iran’s regional and nuclear expansionism.
With its relentless attacks in Syria, as well as increasingly in Lebanon and Iraq, the democratic Jewish state is the only actor effectively rolling back Iran and its proxies in the region. These proxies pose an existential threat not only to the Jewish state, but also to American allies Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Jordan. Israel is working with Egypt to fight ISIS in Sinai and the Muslim Brotherhood (Hamas) in Gaza. It is working with the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan to protect it from external and internal enemies. The more active the Israeli military is, the less active U.S. soldiers need to be in the region.
America strategically needs a strong Israel now more than ever. Instead of threatening to cut military aid, the U.S. should now be focused on bolstering Israel’s military and deterrent capabilities. For example, accelerating delivery of weapons to Israel, replenishing and updating U.S. weapons prepositioned in Israel, undertaking more joint research and development, elevating Israel’s status for sharing military technology and intelligence with the United States, and concluding a narrowly defined mutual defense pact.
Recently, House Republicans overwhelmingly voted with Democrats to reject President Trump’s policy on Syria. Now congressional Democrats should work with Republicans to reject leading Democratic presidential candidates’ demands to cut aid to Israel, and work with President Trump to bolster Israel’s military and deterrent capabilities.
&nbsp;
Michael Makovsky, a former Pentagon official in the George W. Bush administration, is president and CEO of the <a href="https://jinsa.org">Jewish Institute for National Security of America</a> (JINSA).

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MAKOVSKY: Calls To Cut Aid To Israel Detrimental To U.S. Interests

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The case surrounding death row inmate Rodney Reed has gained national attention since celebrities like Kim Kardashian and Rihanna have come to the convict&#8217;s defense, requesting the governor of Texas to stay Reed&#8217;s execution.
Reed was convicted of the 1996 rape and murder of 19-year-old Stacy Stites due in large part to overwhelming DNA evidence and is set to be executed by the state in less than two weeks, on November 20.
However, Reed, a black man who believes he is a victim of racial bias, claims he did not murder Stites, but was having a secret consensual sexual affair with the teen. When her fiancé Jimmy Fennell, a white police officer, found out, he killed Stites, Reed&#8217;s defense attorneys have theorized.
When Reed was convicted, it was determined Stites was strangled to death by her own belt while on her way to a work at a HEB grocery story in Bastrop, Texas, in April 1996. Evidence also determined that Stites, who was also vaginally raped, was anally raped while being strangled to death. DNA from semen found in the teen&#8217;s vagina and anus matched that of Reed&#8217;s.
The effort to stay Reed&#8217;s execution is primarily due to Reed advocates and his legal team claiming &#8220;a proper examination of forensic evidence shows that Stites was killed hours before she and Reed could have crossed paths,&#8221; the <a href="https://www.statesman.com/news/20190726/judge-sets-nov-20-execution-date-for-rodney-reed">Statesman</a> reported in July.
But with all the celebrity-backed hype and social media fog surrounding the case, what are the facts? Here are some key details that you need to know.
<ul>
<li>Reed denied knowing Ms. Stites to authorities before claiming he was having a secret affair with her.</li>
</ul>
&#8220;I didn&#8217;t know her, never met her, never talked to her, had no idea who she is,&#8221; Reed told Sergeant David Board of Stites, <a href="https://www.scribd.com/document/434185765/Rodney-Reed-Reporter-s-Record-Jury-Trial-Guilt-Innocense-Phase-May-4-1998">court documents</a> show. &#8220;The only thing I know was what I saw on TV.&#8221;
Reed&#8217;s defense team suggested during the trial that Reed first denied he knew Stites because of racial prejudice, suggesting it was good sense for a black man to deny any connection to a dead white woman.
But according to the prosecution&#8217;s opening statement, Reed denied knowing Stites to police &#8220;<a href="https://www.scribd.com/document/434185765/Rodney-Reed-Reporter-s-Record-Jury-Trial-Guilt-Innocense-Phase-May-4-1998">after the defendant knew he had been linked to semen</a>.&#8221;
<ul>
<li>Reed&#8217;s DNA was first matched up against the semen found in Stites body after an intellectually disabled woman named Caroline Rivas admitted to her case worker that Reed, whom she had been dating, anally raped her.</li>
</ul>
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&#8220;Reed began dating Caroline Rivas, an intellectually disabled woman,&#8221; <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/17/17-1093/45899/20180507150103836_Reed%20BIO%20FINAL.pdf">court documents</a> revealed. &#8220;Rivas’s caseworker noticed bruises on Rivas’s body and, when asked about them, Rivas admitted that Reed would hurt her if she would not have sex with him.&#8221;
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&#8220;Later, Rivas’s caseworker noticed that Rivas was walking oddly and sat down gingerly,&#8221; the response to the Supreme Court cert. petition said. &#8220;Rivas admitted that Reed had, the prior evening, hit her, called her vulgar names, and anally raped her.  The samples from Rivas’s rape kit provided the link to Stites’s murder.&#8221;
<ul>
<li>Reed has been connected to the rapes of five other females, including a 12-year-old girl.</li>
</ul>
According to <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/17/17-1093/45899/20180507150103836_Reed%20BIO%20FINAL.pdf">court documents</a>, the victim, only identified publicly as A.W., says she was blindfolded, gagged, beaten, and orally, vaginally, and anally raped while she was home alone. &#8220;The foreign DNA from A.W.’s rape kit was compared to Reed; Reed was not excluded and only one in 5.5 billion people would have the same foreign DNA profile from A.W.’s rape kit,&#8221; the court doc outlined.
As noted by Breitbart News&#8217; <a href="https://twitter.com/brandondarby/status/1193054633276522496">Brandon Darby</a>, Reed has not been exonerated from the rape of the 12-year-old and a number of other women, but such cases were likely not pursued because Reed was served with the death penalty.
&#8220;When someone gets a death penalty, the other cases are often not taken to court because of resources and not wanting to put other victims through trials once ultimate punishment already given. All of those cases are still there and have been the entire time,&#8221; Darby explained.
Lucy Eipper, whom Reed has two children with, <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/17/17-1093/45899/20180507150103836_Reed%20BIO%20FINAL.pdf">claimed</a> he physically abused her, even when she was pregnant. He also raped her “all the time,” including one time in front of their kids, according to Eipper.
There was also Vivian Harbottle, whom Reed was said to have raped six months prior to the murder of Stites. &#8220;When she pleaded for her life for the sake of her children, Reed laughed at her,&#8221; court documents reveal. &#8220;The foreign DNA from Harbottle’s rape kit was compared to Reed; he could not be excluded, and only one person in 5.5 billion would be expected to have the same foreign DNA profile.&#8221;
Reed also allegedly attempted to rape 19-year-old Linda Schlueter after he convinced her to give him a ride home. &#8220;Reed led her to a remote area and then attacked her,&#8221; documents outline. &#8220;After a prolonged struggle, Schlueter asked Reed what he wanted and Reed responded, &#8216;I want a blow job.&#8217; When Schlueter told Reed that &#8216;you will have to kill me before you get anything,&#8217; Reed stated &#8216;I guess I’ll have to kill you then.&#8217; Before Schlueter could be raped, a car drove by and Reed fled.&#8221;
Reed was acquitted of the rape of 19-year-old Connie York. Though he at first denied knowing York, he later <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/17/17-1093/45899/20180507150103836_Reed%20BIO%20FINAL.pdf">claimed</a>, &#8220;Yeah, I had sex with her; she wanted it.”
<ul>
<li>In 2015, a <a href="https://70659d40-1bda-4ecf-9620-35ee056757e2.filesusr.com/ugd/235808_99b68a76d3144c4faac8375a404f376d.pdf">supplemental trial court record</a> showed that it was confirmed that Reed&#8217;s DNA was found inside Stites&#8217; rectum, despite Reed&#8217;s attempts to claim otherwise, and her vagina, underwear, her breasts, and clothing, which was more than the jury knew at the time.</li>
</ul>
&#8220;Indeed, [the jury] knew that Reed&#8217;s genetic profile was consistent with profiles developed from Stites&#8217;s panties and the vaginal, rectal, and breast swabs taken from her body,&#8221; the record stated. &#8220;Reed&#8217;s DNA is now consistent with that found on Stites&#8217;s pants and her back brace, which also include Stites&#8217;s genetic profile; namely, there is a mixture of Stites&#8217;s DNA and male DNA on Stites&#8217;s pants and back brace from which Reed cannot be excluded.&#8221;
&#8220;Essentially, Reed is now found on more pieces of evidence related to Stites&#8217;s murder than ever before,&#8221; it stated.
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<ul>
<li>Fennell, Stites&#8217; fiancé at the time of her murder, was released from prison in 2018 after <a href="https://www.kxan.com/news/crime/stacey-stites-fiance-released-from-prison-after-serving-10-year-sentence/">serving ten years</a> behind bars for his role in the kidnapping and alleged rape of a person in his custody as a police officer in 2007.</li>
</ul>
Following Fennell&#8217;s release, Stites&#8217; family, including sister Debra Oliver, defended Fennell from accusations concerning Stites.
“I guess in a way, part of him died that day too, you know? His life has never been the same,&#8221; Oliver told <a href="https://www.kxan.com/news/crime/stacey-stites-fiance-released-from-prison-after-serving-10-year-sentence/">Kxan News</a>.
“After she was found, he was heartbroken and I’m the one who really sat with him a lot and held his hand,&#8221; she added. &#8220;He is not the murderer in this case, he never was.&#8221;
&#8220;Stacy didn&#8217;t know Rodney, not at any time were they having an affair,&#8221; the sister continued.
&#8220;The difference between Jimmy and Rodney, is Jimmy took responsibility for the bad decision he made and he served his time and he&#8217;s paid his commitment to society,&#8221; she added. &#8220;I&#8217;d love for people to leave him alone and let him move on with his life.&#8221;
A cousin of Stites, who&#8217;s been estranged from the family, views Fennell as the killer, noting that Reed&#8217;s DNA could have ended up in Stites&#8217; vagina and anus &#8220;any other way.&#8221;
<ul>
<li>In October, Arthur Snow, an inmate and one of leaders of the Aryan Brotherhood gang at the prison Fennell was serving time at, signed an <a href="https://www.innocenceproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Signed-Affidavit-of-Arthur-Snow_Redacted_Higher-Res.pdf">affidavit</a> claiming Fennell bragged to him about killing Stites after he found out about an apparent affair with Reed.</li>
</ul>
Snow admitted that Fennell sought him out for protection against other racially-aligned gangs in the prison, and agreed to give up a portion of his commissary for such protection. The two &#8220;were never really friends,&#8221; but Fennell once approached Snow in 2010 and bragged that he had to &#8220;kill&#8221; his &#8220;n*****-loving fiancé.&#8221;
The affidavit has been used by the Innocence Project to advocate for Reed.
<ul>
<li>According to reporting from <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/06/us/rodney-reed-death-row-texas.html">The New York Times</a>, a former friend of the couple, Charles W. Fletcher, said &#8220;Fennell had complained that Ms. Stites was cheating on him.&#8221; But  the alleged affair between Reed and Stites was rejected by the jury and 16 other courts.</li>
</ul>
&#8220;The question then is why was Reed&#8217;s semen found in Stites&#8217;s physically- and sexually-abused body? Reed unconvincingly claims a clandestine, consensual relationship, but that was rejected by the jury and every court to have considered it-without dissent (two state district-court judges, nine state appellate judges, one federal magistrate judge, one federal district-court judge, and three federal appellate judges),&#8221; the trial court record said.
<ul>
<li>The Innocence Project has pushed Jim Clampit, a former sheriff’s deputy, claiming Fennell said, “You got what you deserved,&#8221; while at Stites&#8217; funeral.</li>
</ul>
Robert M. Phillips, Fennell&#8217;s lawyer, said &#8220;the Innocence Project was merely recycling claims that were made at trial,&#8221; <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/06/us/rodney-reed-death-row-texas.html">The New York Times</a> reported. &#8220;It was inconceivable, he said, that the people now coming forward would have stayed silent for so long if their accounts were true.&#8221;
H/t <a href="https://twitter.com/brandondarby/status/1193276408421859328?s=21">Brandon Darby</a>

Celebrity Sightings in New York City &#8211; November 7, 2019

Celebrities Push To Save Death Row Inmate Rodney Reed. But What Does The Evidence Say?

Former Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Julian Castro stated on Sunday that both Iowa and New Hampshire should give up their famed status as the first states in the nation to hold a caucus and a primary due to their lack of diverse constituents.
&#8220;I actually do believe that we need to change the order of the states because I don&#8217;t believe that we&#8217;re the same country we were in 1972 — that is when Iowa first held its caucus first,&#8221; Castro said while speaking to NBC News. &#8220;And by the time we have the next presidential election in 2024, it will have been more than 50 years since 1972. Our country has changed a lot in those 50 years. The Democratic Party has changed a lot.&#8221;
&#8220;What I really appreciate about Iowans and the folks in New Hampshire is that they take this process very seriously. They vet the candidates, they show up at town halls, they give people a good hearing,&#8221; he continued. &#8220;At the same time, demographically, it&#8217;s not reflective of the United States as a whole, certainly not reflective of the Democratic Party, and I believe that other states should have their chance.&#8221;
&#8220;So, yes, of course we need to find other states,&#8221; Castro added. &#8220;That doesn&#8217;t mean that Iowa and New Hampshire still can&#8217;t play an important role, but I don&#8217;t believe that forever we should be married to Iowa and New Hampshire going first, and that&#8217;s just the truth of the way that I see it.&#8221;
Castro&#8217;s remarks come after his Democratic presidential challenger Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) was asked the same question only days earlier while attending an Environmental Justice forum in Orangeburg, South Carolina. Warren notably dodged the question, rather contending that she is just &#8220;a player in the game.&#8221;
While the former Obama official has been polling below 1% on average among Democratic primary voters in both <a href="https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2020/president/ia/iowa_democratic_presidential_caucus-6731.html">Iowa</a> and <a href="https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2020/president/nh/new_hampshire_democratic_presidential_primary-6276.html">New Hampshire</a>, Warren is leading the crowded primary field in both states. As of publication, the Massachusetts lawmaker sits at more than 21% support and 19% support on average in Iowa and New Hampshire, respectively.
Last week Castro&#8217;s campaign revealed that it had fired its entire staff in both New Hampshire and South Carolina as it seeks to focus on opportunities in Iowa and Nevada. The news came after the campaign gave supporters an ultimatum to raise $0.8 million in donations by the end of October or else risk the end of his White House bid.
Castro ultimately surpassed the goal and generated nearly $1 million by the deadline. The campaign said the fundraising haul will provide the presidential hopeful with the necessary resources to &#8220;sustain the campaign and make a push for the November and December Democratic debates.&#8221;
Thus far, only ten candidates in the presidential primary field have qualified for the Democratic National Committee&#8217;s (DNC) next debate — Castro has not yet met the required threshold.
&#8220;I can imagine he&#8217;s frustrated,&#8221; said New Hampshire Democratic Chair Ray Buckley. &#8220;But blaming his campaign&#8217;s challenges on the voters of Iowa and New Hampshire is a bit much.&#8221;

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