theblaze--2020-01-28--Mitch McConnell tells Republicans he doesn't have enough votes to prevent new impeachment witnesses

Mitch McConnell tells Republicans he does n't have enough votes to prevent new impeachment witnesses But the process is not @

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) reportedly told his caucus that he did not have the votes to prevent the Democrats' demands for new impeachment trial witnesses.
The possible inclusion of new witnesses has been a contentious debate between Democratic critics of President Donald Trump and his Republican allies and supporters.
On Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal reported that McConnell admitted that enough Republicans had crossed over to support the demands from Democrats. However, many Republicans remained uncommitted on the issue.
Fox News confirmed the report but added that it was unclear just what the claim meant, since some Republicans are willing to make concessions in order to call Hunter Biden to testify.
Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) said that he was among those Republicans who wanted to hear from new witnesses, including John Bolton, Trump's former national security adviser.
Bolton reportedly claimed that Trump was withholding military aid from Ukraine, a central accusation of the impeachment articles, in an upcoming book.
Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) warned Republicans publicly on Monday that if they voted with Democrats for new witnesses, they could face political repercussions.
Here's a video about the development:


theblaze--2020-01-30--Jon Miller explains why CNN talking heads are all but handing the 2020 election to Trump

On Wednesday's episode of "White House Brief," Jon Miller discussed sanctuary city policies that allow murderers, rapists, robbers, and the worst offenders you can think of to roam free. Then, BlazeTV host Chad Prather joined the show and discussed talking heads on CNN who are all but handing Trump a November victory with their open mockery of rural voters. Jon and Chad also laughed about the MSNBC reporter's flub of the word "Lakers" while discussing Kobe Bryant's untimely death.
Watch the video below for more details.
Use code WHB to save $10 on one year of BlazeTV.
Want more from Jon Miller?
To enjoy more of Jon's take on what's happening at the White House that the mainstream media isn't telling you, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution and live the American dream.


theblaze--2020-01-29--National Security Council found top secret info in Bolton book manuscript, warned classified details

National Security Council found top secret info in Bolton book manuscript, warned classified details must be removed

National Security Council found top secret info in Bolton book manuscript , warned classified details must be removed The NSC @ @ @ @ @ before The New York Times reported on the draft

The National Security Council notified an attorney for former national security adviser John Bolton last week that the manuscript for Bolton's upcoming book "appears to contain significant amounts of classified information" that must be removed prior to publishing or any other kind of disclosure.
Three days later, the New York Times reported on the details of the unpublished draft.
What are the details?
A letter from NCS official Ellen Knight to attorney Charlies Cooper dated Jan. 23 was obtained by several news outlets on Wednesday.
Knight warned that a preliminary review of the manuscript of the book, reportedly titled, "The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir," appears to contain top secret information that could "'cause exceptionally grave harm to the national security' of the United States if disclosed without authorization."
Fox News reporter John Roberts noted on Twitter that the letter "was transmitted 3 days before the @nytimes article came out."
CBS News reported that "Bolton submitted the manuscript to the NSC on December 30 for a standard prepublication review."
In Knight's letter, she writes, "The manuscript remains under review in order for us to do our best to assist your client by identifying the classified information within the manuscript, while at the same time ensuring that publication does not harm the national security of the United States."
Knight adds, "We will do our best to work with you to ensure your client's ability to tell his story in a manner that protects U.S. national security."
According to the Times article, Bolton claims in his book that President Donald Trump told him "in August that [the president] wanted to continue freezing $392 million in security assistance to Ukraine until officials there helped with investigations into Democrats including [Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden]."
House Democrats are currently seeking to have the president removed from office over allegations that President Trump withheld aid from Ukraine to try to get dirt on the Bidens.
Following the publishing of the Times story, Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) declared it is "increasingly likely" that Republican senators will vote in favor of calling Bolton as a witness in the upper chamber's ongoing impeachment trial.
The Department of Justice has already spoken out disputing reported assertions made by Bolton in his book, and President Trump has heavily criticized Bolton in recent days while calling the book "nasty and untrue."


theblaze--2020-01-29--Lee Zeldin calls reporters 'shills' for Adam Schiff after fiery exchange with NBC reporter

Lee Zeldin calls reporters 'shills ' for Adam Schiff after fiery exchange with NBC reporter '' ... the problem is @ @ @ @ @ your audience . ''

Republican lawmakers had such a contentious briefing with reporters about the impeachment trial that one representative called the media "shills" for Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), the lead impeachment manager.
Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.) was being aggressively questioned by Heidi Przybyla of NBC News when he made the comments.
"Congressman, so DOD certified this money in May, they said Ukraine met all anti-corruption standards, so what specifically happened that made the president all of a sudden concerned about corruption? What specific corruption was he chasing?" asked Przybyla.
Zeldin gave a lengthy response about the corruption in Ukraine prior to the decision that Trump made to hold the military aid in question. Przybyla interrupted to ask him to focus in on why the president became so concerned with corruption at a specific time.
"You have to let me answer your questions," Zeldin said after Przybyla interrupted. "If I give a good answer, that doesn't mean that you have to cut me off. OK? I know that if I give a bad answer you'd probably let me go all day."
"I know it's a hard question," Przybyla said. "The president is not on the record mentioning anything other than Biden and CrowdStrike, that's it, and you haven't mentioned anything else."
When other reporters jumped in to challenge Zeldin along the same lines, he accused them of being biased.
"You're doing a great job as Schiff's shills," Zeldin said. "This is the problem, the problem is that you're actually insulting your audience."
Zeldin and Przybyla continued their feud on Twitter after the interaction.
Zeldin accused NBC News of cutting out his answer, while Przybyla responded that he didn't answer her question.
The Senate impeachment trial is not expected to result in a vote that would remove the president from office.
Here's video of the entire exchange:


theblaze--2020-01-29--Watch: Cultural Appropriation DEBUNKED

Watch: Cultural Appropriation DEBUNKED

Is it appropriation or appreciation ?

On Wednesday's episode of Slightly Offens*ve, Elijah Schaffer offers a "daily dose" of reality about the trending progressive concept known as "cultural appropriation."
In this clip, Schaffer shared an attn.com video featuring the "Party of Five" cast members Brandon Larracuente, Emily Tosta, and Niko Guardado, as they share the "five things you didn't know about cultural appropriation" and explain why white people are automatically guilty of these social offenses, "even if you're not racist."
Watch the video below to get your "Daily Dose" with Elijah Schaffer:
youtu.be
Want more from Elijah Schaffer?
Subscribe to Elijah's "Slightly Offens*ve" channel on YouTube for FREE access to his man-on-the-street interviews, protest coverage and more craziness that happens everyday in the USA.


theblaze--2020-01-29--Steven Crowder fact-checks Trump's tweet that called a CNN anchor 'the dumbest man on television!'

Steven Crowder fact-checks Trump 's tweet that called a CNN anchor 'the dumbest man on television ! '

On Tuesday's episode of "Louder with Crowder," Steven Crowder fact-checked a tweet from President Donald Trump that called CNN anchor Don Lemon the "dumbest man on television (with terrible ratings!)."
Why did Trump call Lemon dumb?
Over the weekend, a video of Lemon and his panel mocking Trump supporters went viral, prompting Trump to react on Twitter.
What did Trump tweet?
"Don Lemon, the dumbest man on television (with terrible ratings!)," Trump tweeted.
What else?
Crowder went on to explain the top reasons Don Lemon is "a piece of s***." Crowder began with Lemon's performance as a debate moderator, Lemon's reaction to meme Trump tweeted, and his claim that he is not partisan.
Watch the video below for more.
youtu.be
Use code LWC to save $10 on one year of BlazeTV.
Want more from Steven Crowder?
To enjoy more of Steven's uncensored late-night comedy that's actually funny, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution and live the American dream.


theblaze--2020-01-29--Miami Police Department suspends Hispanic police captain who said he identifies as a black male

Miami Police Department suspends Hispanic police captain who said he identifies as a black male Captain 's declaration has 'drawn @ @ @ @ @ and the community '

The Miami Police Department has suspended Capt. Javier Ortiz, according to a new report in the Miami Herald.
What's a brief history?
On Jan. 17, Ortiz declared that he is black, and not Hispanic, despite identifying as Hispanic for most of his life.
"I'm a black male," he said, citing the "one-drop rule," which he claims says that "if you have one drop of black [blood] in you, you are considered black."
"Yes, I am. And I am not Hispanic. I was born in this country. That's how I feel," he said during a public hearing, which was part of a commission studying allegations of racism against black Miami Police Department employees.
His remarks ended up drawing heavy criticism from within the community.
Fraternal Order of Police President Tommy Reyes, for one, decried Ortiz's comments, saying, "I am embarrassed and saddened by Javier's public comments. He can identify however he'd like, but I do not believe he is a black male."
What are the details?
The suspension took place on Wednesday, according to the outlet. Ronald Papier, Miami deputy police chief, said that Ortiz is on indefinite suspension pending an investigation.
The Herald reported, however, that Ortiz's recent public declaration has "drawn the ire of his bosses and the community."
Other incidents involving Ortiz included a 2016 incident in which he publicly called for a boycott of performer Beyoncé, saying that she paid homage to the Black Panthers in her songs and dance routines. He also said that the award-winning entertainer was anti-police.
To note, Ortiz has also faced accusations of discrimination from some of Miami's black citizens in the past.
You can read more about his previous controversies here.
Anything else?
Rodney Jacobs, who is assistant director of Miami's Civilian Investigative Panel — an independent agency responsible for investigating complaints against local officers — decried Ortiz's remarks, saying that his declaration "minimizes what it means to be black."
"By citing the 'one-drop rule,' and using 'negroes' in the same sentence as 'I am a black man' is the trifecta of insensitivity," Jacobs said, according to the outlet. "It categorically undermines and demeans the essence of black culture, existence, struggle and history in America."
Ruben Roberts, chairman of the local NAACP chapter, also hit out against Ortiz's claim.
"Ortiz's behavior is a stain on the city of Miami and especially to the officers who work arduously to perform their sworn task to protect and serve in a fair and impartial way," Roberts said. "The Miami-Dade branch calls for Capt. Javier Ortiz immediate dismissal for his reckless behavior as a city of Miami police officer."


theblaze--2020-01-29--Intense video shows LA firefighters rescuing a person from the sixth floor of a burning building

Los Angeles firefighters rescued 15 residents from a high-rise residential building that burst into flames on the city's west side Wednesday. Authorities said two people have been critically injured.
Billows of smoke alerted residents of the danger and sent many scrambling toward the exits, but when flames entered into the stairwells it left some residents trapped.
That's when firefighters decided to execute a risky rooftop evacuation, where one-by-one those in danger were attached to a line and hoisted into a helicopter to be transported to safety. At one point, firefighters lifted a small white dog into the copter, ABC News reported.
"We have rarely done rooftop evacuations for medical purposes. Rarely," Los Angeles Fire Chief Ralph Terrazas said. He added that the strategy, in this case, proved to be "very effective."
An amazing video provided by ABC News shows firefighters rescuing a person stranded near the sixth story of the 25-story building. The individual is seen carefully maneuvering on the edge of the building toward a rescuer on a ladder.
Deputy Fire Chief Armando Hogan recalled that one man was hanging onto the edge of the building and considering jumping when firefighters reached him and pulled him to safety.
Police do not yet know what the caused the fire, but are investigating all possibilities, including arson.
Eight people were injured in the incident, including a 3-month-old child and two men in their 30s for critical injuries, Terrazas confirmed, according to KABC-TV. Most of those patients suffered from smoke inhalation and six have been hospitalized.
There were earlier reports that some people had jumped from the building, but authorities have rebuked that claim.


theblaze--2020-01-29--Far-left Philly mayor appoints first transgender woman of color to run his LGBT Affairs office

Far-left Philly mayor appoints first transgender woman of color to run his LGBT Affairs office 'Trans folks are not being @ @ @ @ @ said .
'They are not accepted within the LGBT community .
They are also not @ @ @ @ @ . '

Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney on Tuesday appointed the first-ever transgender woman of color to run his Office of LGBT Affairs, KYW-AM reported.
What are the details?
Celena Morrison — slated to start as executive director in March — will "drive the city's LGBT policy and community engagement and educate and advise the mayor's office and the city about the needs of LGBT individuals at work, in the community and beyond," the station said.
"While Philadelphia is known as a progressive, LGBTQ-friendly city, we still have work to do," Kenney said in a statement. "I look forward to working with Celena to build a more inclusive city for our residents."
Morrison added to the station that being transgender and black will be an asset when it comes to the job's demands of dealing with issues of race and gender.
"Trans folks are not being accepted," Morrison told KYW. "They are not accepted within the LGBT community. They are also not accepted within the black community. That double marginalization calls for a different type of support."
The North Carolina native has been a "progressive LGBT advocate in Philadelphia for a decade," the station reported, adding that Morrison was director of programs at William Way LGBT Community Center for two years and began serving on the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations in 2018.
Here's a brief clip of Morrison from 2017:
youtu.be
What else has Kenney said and done?


theblaze--2020-01-29--At least one Democratic senator thinks Hunter Biden is a relevant witness

As Democrats push for witness testimony from former national security adviser John Bolton in the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump, at least one Democrat thinks the Senate should hear from another relevant witness: Hunter Biden.
After hearing from the House impeachment managers and Trump's defense team, both of whom referred to Biden heavily in their opening arguments, West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin believes partisanship should be put aside in search of the complete truth.
"I think so, I really do. I don't have a problem there because this is why we are where we are," Manchin told MSNBC when asked if Biden was a relevant witness. "Now I think he can clear himself, what I know and what I've heard, but being afraid to put anyone that might have pertinent information is wrong, no matter if you're a Democrat or a Republican."
There is no denying that Biden's activities in Ukraine are central to impeachment. One of the articles of impeachment asserts that Trump abused his power to coerce Ukraine to investigate his political rival, Hunter's father, Joe Biden.
That sought-after investigation concerned Hunter's appointment to the board of Ukrainian energy company Burisma, and whether Joe Biden used his status as vice president and Ukraine point man to protect Hunter and Burisma from anti-corruption investigations.
Trump's defense team argues that seeking such an investigation, even if it carries some personal political benefit to the president, also serves a public interest because there were serious concerns about a potential conflict of interest involving the Bidens.
The House impeachment managers, led by Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), spent a significant portion of their opening argument claiming that there was no corruption by the Bidens in Ukraine, and that Trump's desire for an investigation was purely for his political benefit.
The Senate will likely vote Friday on whether or not to call new witnesses such as Bolton or Hunter Biden to testify in the trial.


theblaze--2020-01-29--Rashida Tlaib speaks out — but doesn't apologize — after retweeting fake news report about 'violent'

Rashida Tlaib speaks out — but doesn't apologize — after retweeting fake news report about 'violent' Israelis killing Palestinian boy

Rashida Tlaib speaks out — but does n't apologize — after retweeting fake news report about 'violent ' Israelis killing @ @ @ @ @ in New York blasts Tlaib over spreading what he referred to as 'blood libel '

Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) decided to speak out three days after helping to promote a fake news item last weekend about Israelis reportedly killing a Palestinian boy.
What are the details?
The child, 7-year-old Qais Abu Ramila, went missing over the weekend. Authorities later discovered his body in a pond, ruling his death as accidental drowning.
Hanan Ashrawi, a Palestinian official, shared a tweet that alleged "violent Israeli settlers" had kidnapped the boy and assaulted him. According to the report Ashrawi cited, Israeli settlers threw Ramila into a well, where he froze to death.
She captioned the tweet, "The heart just shatters. The pain is unbearable. No words."
Tlaib, in turn, retweeted Ashrawi's message to her 900,000-plus followers without comment.
After the initial allegations proved to be false, however, Ashrawi recanted her original tweet and issued an apology Saturday.
Ashrawi wrote, "My apologies for retweeting something that's not fully verified. It seems that the news of his being kidnapped is not certain."
On Tuesday, Tlaib retweeted Ashrawi's apology, adding, "In this era of inaccurate and manipulative news, I will also strive to hold myself to the highest standards for what I share."
"Know that I always seek truth as we uplift the oppressed and fight for equality, justice, and freedom," she concluded.
Tlaib has not made any other remarks on the issue at the time of this writing.
What else?
As highlighted by the Times of Israel, Dani Dayan, who is the Israeli consul general in New York, blasted Tlaib over spreading what he referred to as "blood libel."
"I am always extremely cautious in criticizing US elected officials," Dayan wrote on Twitter. "However, when an American elected official retweets an unfounded blood libel against Jewish Israelis, I cannot remain silent. Congresswoman @RashidaTlaib just did."
Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, blasted Tlaib for not vetting the news before sharing it;
"This is an example of how the blood libel works in 2020," he wrote on Twitter. "@Rashida Tlaib retweets a vicious lie steeped in centuries-old accusations used to demonize Jews, then says nothing when it's disproven. An apology is overdue."


theblaze--2020-01-29--China has more cases of coronavirus than it had of SARS, but a vaccine could be on the horizon

China has more cases of coronavirus than it had of SARS , but a vaccine could be on the horizon @ @ @ @ @ very active outbreak '

China now has more cases of Wuhan coronavirus than it did of the SARS virus during the 2002-03 outbreak, according to the country's own numbers, but a vaccine could be on the way soon.
According to the New York Post, China has reported 5,974 cases of the fast-spreading illness, which surpasses the 5,327 cases of SARS the country experienced over a decade ago. The Associated Press, however, notes that Wednesday's death toll of 132 is well below the SARS outbreak's Chinese death toll of 348.
But while it appears to be less deadly, CNN notes, the Wuhan virus is spreading much faster than SARS, taking less than two months to hit around 75 percent of the total number of worldwide infections of the 2002-03 outbreak, which took place over a period of nine months.
The news comes on the same day as a World Health Organization official described the rapid spread of the virus as a matter of "grave concern" at a news conference at the organization's headquarters in Geneva.
"These developments in terms of the evolution of the outbreak and further development of transmission, these are of grave concern and has spurred countries into action," said Dr. Mike Ryan, executive director of the WHO's health emergencies program. "What we know at this stage, this is still obviously a very active outbreak and information is being updated and changing by the hour."
WHO numbers released Wednesday show over 6,065 confirmed cases worldwide, with the vast majority of them being in China. But WHO director-general Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced Wednesday that he had called an emergency committee meeting regarding the matter, explaining that "some person-to-person transmission" in three countries outside of China indicates "potential for further global spread."
The rapid spread of the new virus — which originated from the city of Wuhan, China — didn't come as a big surprise to Eric Toner, a scientist at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. Three months ago, he conducted a hypothetical pandemic and found that a rapid-spreading disease similar to coronavirus could infect people in every country on earth within a six-month window.
"I have thought for a long time that the most likely virus that might cause a new pandemic would be a coronavirus," Toner said.
While that may sound dire, Toner also said, "If we could make it so that we could have a vaccine within months rather than years or decades, that would be a game changer." And that's exactly what a Philadelphia-based pharmaceutical company is trying to make happen.
Fox News reported that Inovio Pharmaceuticals — which was previously known for its seven-month turnaround on producing a Zika vaccine a few years ago — is hoping to have a coronavirus vaccine available to the public in the next few months.
"We hold the WHO record for producing a vaccine from bench to people for the Zika virus outbreak in 2015. And that was seven months from the bench, from first getting a sequence to putting it in people with seven months," an Inovio spokesman told the outlet. He added that they company thinks they get the vaccine ready for public consumption even faster this time around.


theblaze--2020-01-29--Fox refuses to OK Super Bowl ad for abortion survivors, but had no problem approving an ad featuring

Fox refuses to OK Super Bowl ad for abortion survivors, but had no problem approving an ad featuring drag queens

Fox refuses to OK Super Bowl ad for abortion survivors , but had no problem approving an ad featuring drag @

On Tuesday, news broke that two former contestants from "RuPaul's Drag Race" would appear in a Super Bowl commercial this Sunday, marking the first time that drag queens are to be featured in an ad for the big game.
The same will apparently not be true for abortion survivors.
What are the details?
Now, the pro-life group, Faces of Choice, is calling out Fox Sports for allegedly refusing to approve an ad the group desired to run during this year's Super Bowl, LifeSite News reported.
Faces of Choice — who ran an ad at the 2020 March for Life featuring the faces and stories of 14 abortion survivors — say they submitted the application to run a 30-second version of the ad in July, but were repeatedly stonewalled.
"We were one of the very first people to submit anything to them. We met every single stipulation that they asked for and every time we met the line they moved the line further to request something else," Lyric Gillett, the founder of Faces of Choice, told LifeSite News.
Here is the 30-second version of the ad:
www.youtube.com
Gillet said that she was originally told by Fox that she would receive word on whether or not her application was accepted by October 2019, but that no answer was given.
From there she described being given the runaround by Fox's legal department, which allegedly kept stringing her along before informing her in November that all the slots were full. She asked for her application to be authorized in case any slots became available, a request she says they failed to grant.
LifeSite reported that "when Fox announced last week that more slots had become available, Gillett re-submitted the application." She has yet to hear back.
At one point, Fox even requested that Gillet give information about everybody who donated to the ad, a request she found "untenable," but that she ultimately fulfilled.
"I think it's very clever what they're doing," Gillett said. "If they directly said 'no' then we could say 'this is asinine, look at the suitable ad that Fox rejected,' but they haven't directly said 'no,' they've ignored us, wasted our time, refused to give an answer and refused to either give us clearance or simply say 'no.'"
Abortion survivors are being 'ignored'
Gillett added that abortion survivors "have been ignored their whole lives and that they now faced being ignored again."
She told FaithWire, "The main goal [of the commercial] is for every day Americans to actually see choice — to be able to look it in the eye. It is ironic and it is incensing to me that these survivors of abortion had their very voices almost stolen from them from the moment of conception, and now the media is doing that again."
Gilet said she hopes to present America with the faces and voices of survivors so that others would see that they are humans, too, and not just a "choice."
"Every single humanitarian effort, every civil rights effort that has actually made a difference has been through the voice of a survivor, and that is because the culture actually realized these people are human," she argued.
Faces of Choice, in cooperation with the conservative advocacy organization, My Faith Votes, has launched a petition demanding that Fox Sports stop blocking the ad because the survivors' "voices must not be silenced."
TheBlaze has reached out to Fox Sports regarding Gillet's allegations and the story will be updated with any comments the network provides.
The Kansas City Chiefs battle the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl LIV at 6:30 p.m. ET Sunday in Miami.


theblaze--2020-01-29--Man pounds, kicks couple's front door, damaging property and making threats in middle of night. So h

Man pounds, kicks couple's front door, damaging property and making threats in middle of night. So husband grabs gun and fires.

Man pounds , kicks couple 's front door , damaging property and making threats in middle of night .
So @ @ @ @ @ .

Atlanta police said a husband and wife were asleep when a man began banging and kicking their front door around 3:30 a.m. Sunday, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
So the husband called police — and got his gun, the paper said.
What happened next?
The banging was so aggressive that the door was shaking, police told WAGA-TV.
What's more, the man was damaging property on the couple's front porch, police told the paper.
"The homeowners could hear the individual talking making threats against them," Capt. Jessica Bruce added to the station. "At that point, the homeowners felt threatened for their life."
That's when the husband fired one shot through the door, police spokesman Sgt. John Chafee told the paper.
What happened to the suspect?
Officers found Brandin Davis, 26, on the home's front porch, the paper said, adding that he was shot in the shoulder.
Brandin Davis Image source: Fulton County Sheriff's Office
After Davis was released from a hospital, he was booked into jail where he remained on a $2,500 bond, the Journal-Constitution said. Investigators also told the paper that Davis had an outstanding warrant for failure to appear on a traffic violation.
An officer at the scene told WAGA that Davis seemed under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
What about the homeowner?
Police added to the station that they won't file any charges against the homeowner who shot the man.


theblaze--2020-01-29--Joe Biden says he needs a VP who could take over for him because he's so old

Joe Biden says he needs a VP who could take over for him because he 's so old Not what @ @ @ @ @ a potential president

Some voters are hesitant about electing a president who is in his or her mid-to-late 70s, citing concerns about physical and mental fitness, as well as life span. Former Vice President Joe Biden, 77, did nothing to ease those concerns Tuesday.
Biden, discussing his criteria for selecting a vice presidential candidate, said he wanted to choose someone who could take over for him in case his age prevents him from carrying out his duties in one way or another.
"I can think of at least eight women, at least four or five people of color, that I think are totally qualified to be vice president of the United States," Biden said. "But for me, it has to be demonstrated that whoever I pick is two things. One, is capable of being president, because I'm an old guy. No, I'm serious. Look, thank God I'm in great health, I work out, no I'm serious, you know I work out every morning. I'm in good shape."
Joking or not, Biden's age does add an additional level of significance to his running mate selection. If elected, he would be 78 years upon his inauguration. President Donald Trump is the oldest person ever to be elected president, and he is currently 73.
Additionally, Biden has had a series of missteps on the campaign trail that raise questions about how sharp he is mentally. He has mixed up facts, made up stories, and even forgotten where he is at different times during the primary. Those are issues that seem unlikely to improve as he approaches his 80s and deals with the stress of the presidency.
Biden's other comment, about women and people of color as candidates for VP, may indicate a high likelihood that he would select a minority woman as his running mate.
Some names that have been floated over the past few months include Stacey Abrams, who ran unsuccessfully for governor of Georgia in 2018, and Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), who dropped out of the presidential primary in December.


theblaze--2020-01-29--Glenn Beck celebrates #GirlDad in honor of Kobe Bryant's love for his daughters

Glenn Beck celebrates # GirlDad in honor of Kobe Bryant 's love for his daughters

As the world continues to mourn the tragic deaths of NBA legend Kobe Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, dads everywhere are paying tribute to Bryant, the father of four girls, by using #girldad to share stories of their own love for their daughters.
After the basketball superstar and his daughter, along with seven others, were killed in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, California, Sunday, ESPN's Elle Duncan started the #girldad trend when she shared a story about meeting Bryant and learning how much he loved his own daughters on ESPN's "SportsCenter" Monday night.
"Girls are amazing," Bryant told Duncan in the ESPN report. "I would have five more girls if I could — I'm a girl dad."
On "The Glenn Beck Radio Program" Wednesday, Glenn talked about the many lessons to be learned from the Bryant family tragedy, even for non-sport fans like himself.
Bryant always strove for excellence, and not just on the court but in his family life as well, Glenn said. Through this terrible tragedy, we are reminded never to take life for granted and to be a better parent, he added.
Watch the video below for more:
Use code BECK to save $10 on one year of BlazeTV.
Want more from Glenn Beck?
To enjoy more of Glenn's masterful storytelling, thought-provoking analysis and uncanny ability to make sense of the chaos, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution and live the American dream.


theblaze--2020-01-29--Democratic congressman claims John Bolton tipped him off about looking into ousted Ukraine ambassado

Democratic congressman claims John Bolton tipped him off about looking into ousted Ukraine ambassador after leaving WH 'Ambassador Bolton has @ @ @ @ @ few months that he has more to say on this issue '

A top House Democrat said Wednesday that former national security adviser John Bolton tipped him off months ago about the ouster of a former U.S. diplomat to Ukraine.
In a statement sent out shortly before the Senate's impeachment trial resumed on Wednesday, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.) issued a statement saying that Bolton got in touch with him in September and said to look into the removal of Marie Yovanovitch as U.S. ambassador to Ukraine.
"President Trump is wrong that John Bolton didn't say anything about the Trump-Ukraine Scandal at the time the President fired him," Engel's statement revealed. "He said something to me."
Engel explained that his staff reached out to Bolton on Sept. 19, shortly after he departed his job at the White House, at Engel's request, explaining that the two "have a cordial and respectful relationship and I wanted to thank him for his service." At the time, Engel said that Bolton's ouster was proof that the administration's foreign policy was "in complete disarray."
When Bolton returned Engel's call on Sept. 23, the statement said, "Ambassador Bolton suggested to me — unprompted — that the committee look into the recall of Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch. He strongly implied that something improper had occurred around her removal as our top diplomat in Kyiv."
Engel's statement added that he didn't say anything publicly about it because it was a private conversation, "but because this detail was relevant to the Foreign Affairs, Intelligence, and Oversight Committees' investigation into this matter, I informed my investigative colleagues. It was one of the reasons we wished to hear from Ambassador Bolton, under oath, in a formal setting."
The question of President Trump's motives for recalling Yovanovitch from her post in Ukraine became one of the many focal points of the House's impeachment investigation last year, with Democrats contending it was a part of an administration pressure campaign to get Ukrainian officials to look into allegations of corruption involving the Bidens. Yovanovitch herself appeared as a witness both during the closed-door and public hearing portions of the House's probe.
A Sept. 23 phone call between Bolton and Engel would have put their conversation just a day ahead of the announcement of "an official impeachment inquiry" by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).
"Ambassador Bolton has made clear over the last few months that he has more to say on this issue," Engel said. "And now that the President has called his credibility into question, it's important to set the record straight."
Engel's statement came as allegations about the withholding of Ukraine aid contained in Bolton's forthcoming book have sparked a re-intensified debate about whether or not to call Bolton as an impeachment trial witness. While things still remain in flux on the testimony question, multiple Hill Republicans have dismissed the impact that Bolton's testimony might have on the overall case.
But whether Engel's statement will have any bearing on Senate Republicans' overall willingness to draw out the length of the trial with more testimony remains to be seen.
"This is hardly groundbreaking or relevant," Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) — one of the House Republicans on President Trump's impeachment team — tweeted in the wake of Engel's statement. "The more noteworthy item is that this is magically coming out 127 days into this impeachment process —on the eve of President Trump being acquitted, as Democrats rapidly lose momentum. You can smell their desperation."
When asked whether he was concerned about whether the new information would motivate his GOP colleagues to call for Bolton's testimony, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) told reporters "I don't think so. That particularly? I doubt it." He added that "I think if they want to, they will."


theblaze--2020-01-29--Social media tries to cancel Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes after old Trayvon Martin-George Zimmerman twe

Social media tries to cancel Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes after old Trayvon Martin-George Zimmerman tweets resurface. Social media apparently didn't do its research.

Social media tries to cancel Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes after old Trayvon Martin-George Zimmerman tweets resurface .
Social media apparently @ @ @ @ @ .

Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes is under fire after some of his old tweets regarding the Trayvon Martin case resurfaced.
George Zimmerman, a former neighborhood watch leader, fatally shot 17-year-old Martin in 2012.
The incident took place one evening in Sanford, Florida, when Zimmerman — who was 28 years old at the time — was reportedly patrolling the neighborhood. Zimmerman said he ran into the teen during the patrol, and the two engaged in a physical altercation. Zimmerman ended up fatally shooting the teen during the exchange.
A jury later acquitted Zimmerman on murder charges in 2013, concluding that he was not guilty of second-degree murder.
You can read more about the case here.
Mahomes and the Chiefs are getting ready to play the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl LIV on Sunday in Miami.
What are the details?
According to Fox News, Mahomes' tweets resurfaced ahead of the AFC Championship game on Jan. 19, which prompted many critics to accuse Mahomes of defending Zimmerman.
One post, which dated back to 2011 — when Mahomes was about 16 years old and a year before Trayvon Martin's death even occurred — suggested that citizens should never resist arrest.
"Stop resisting or assaulting a cop," the tweet read.
Social media had an issue with the tweet, and some users even tied it to a later Mahomes tweet directly about the Zimmerman case, which said, "No one knows what actually happens, which is why he is not guilty, but a crime could have occurred." He also noted that the situation was "an absolute tragedy."
One user shared screenshots of the tweets and wrote, "Patrick Mahomes defending George Zimmerman in a series of tweets from 2011. Black twitter do ya thing. Cancel Patrick Mahomes."
Even the Miami Herald pointed out Mahomes' tweets, writing, "The importance of scrubbing your Twitter cannot be understated."
A variety of other social media also users piled on Mahomes' old tweets, calling him insensitive and more over his remarks.
What then?
What people failed to notice is that Twitter user B-Magic shared a full conversation that appears to take place between Mahomes and a teammate in which it's clear that Mahomes does not support Zimmerman.
The user captioned the screenshots, "For all the people that think Mahomes defended Zimmerman."
Another user shared one of Mahomes' old tweets for context, captioning it, "It seems #PatrickMahomes was not suprised [sic] but still disappointed at the verdict from the wrongful murder of Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman. Note the tweet and date at the bottom. Mahomes was 18 years old at the time."
Mahomes' tweet read, "Knew this was going to happen[. A]t least you know Zimmerman will never be able to go out in public again."


theblaze--2020-01-29--Horowitz: Congressional Budget Office projects trillion-dollar deficits indefinitely

When Barack Obama took office in 2009 and racked up trillion-dollar deficits , it shocked the nation and spawned the Tea Party movement to push reductions in spending .
Thanks to passage of the Budget Control Act under a GOP Congress , deficits declined to roughly $ 400- $ 600 billion during Obama 's second term in office .
Fast-forward to the new decade , and despite high revenue and record low unemployment , annual deficits will forever remain above $ 1 trillion , barring major structural reforms to government , according to the latest budget and economic outlook from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
According to the 2020 budget outlook released on Tuesday , the deficit for this year is projected to reach $ 1.015 trillion .
There will be no turning back from there , as deficits are slated to grow every year for the remainder of the 10-year budget window , topping $ 12.4 trillion of cumulative new deficits by the end of the decade .
Perhaps the most shocking element of this report is the fact that unemployment is so low , yet deficits are as bad as they were during the worst @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Not since World War II has the country seen deficits during times of low unemployment that are as large as those that we project — nor , in the past century , has it experienced large deficits for as long as we project , '' said CBO Director Phillip L. Swagel in a news conference on Tuesday .
It 's no coincidence that since the debt has exploded over the past generation , we 've never achieved solid economic growth , despite record low unemployment .
Previously , during years in the 1960s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ periods of low unemployment coincided with years of 4-5 % GDP growth .
Yet despite the lowest unemployment rate in half a century , the economy is growing right around 2 % .
After missing 3 % growth in 2018 by a hair , we have failed to achieve 3 % annual growth since 2005 and 4 % since 2000 .
The CBO projects gross domestic product will grow by just 2.2 percent this year and at an average pace of 1.7 percent over the next decade .
At the same time , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the late 1960s , when there were years of over 6 % growth .
As the CBO notes , with increasing federal deficits , `` crowding out of private investment occurs gradually , as interest rates and the funds available for private investment adjust in response to increased federal deficits . ''
Overall , the CBO projects that the accelerating level of debt , which is slated to more than double as a share of GDP over the next 30 years , will `` dampen economic output over time . ''
It also @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with that debt would increase interest payments to foreign debt holders and thus reduce the income of U.S. households by increasing amounts . ''
The time for growing our way out of the debt bomb seems to have long passed , as the debt itself is acting as a wet blanket on economic growth and efficient investments , even during a period of job creation .
What 's the No .
1 driver of the debt ?
While Social Security is the single biggest expenditure for an individual program , federal spending on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the price tag of America 's iconic retirement program .
The CBO projects spending on health care , which largely funds third-party and fourth-party vendors who interfere between the patient and the doctor , will cost $ 1.3 trillion this year .
By the end of the decade , the Medicare program alone is slated to pass Social Security as the most expensive cost to the federal government .
Federal spending on health care ( not including state expenditures ) is projected to be $ 19.2 trillion over the next 10 years , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the military .
By 2050 , health care spending will be about 25 % greater than the insolvent and crushing cost of Social Security .
As such , health care in itself is the largest driver of the other great crisis , the mushrooming cost of the interest on the debt itself .
Health care spending will be greater than all the revenue from payroll taxes and corporate income taxes combined and almost as large as individual income tax revenue .
However , as the CBO noted , the stagnation and disruption from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ '' CBO Director Swagel noted that because other countries are doing even worse than we are financially , the U.S. is still an attractive place to invest , thereby allowing government to continue servicing debt on the cheap , which is forestalling the doomsday moment .
`` We 're not saying that there 's an imminent , urgent problem , '' he told reporters .
`` The challenge is over time . ''
For lawmakers in both parties , it is that grace of time that will incentivize them to continue doing nothing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ They subscribe to the Louis XV mentality of `` after me , the deluge . ''

When Barack Obama took office in 2009 and racked up trillion-dollar deficits, it shocked the nation and spawned the Tea Party movement to push reductions in spending. Thanks to passage of the Budget Control Act under a GOP Congress, deficits declined to roughly $400-$600 billion during Obama's second term in office.
Fast-forward to the new decade, and despite high revenue and record low unemployment, annual deficits will forever remain above $1 trillion, barring major structural reforms to government, according to the latest budget and economic outlook from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).
According to the 2020 budget outlook released on Tuesday, the deficit for this year is projected to reach $1.015 trillion. There will be no turning back from there, as deficits are slated to grow every year for the remainder of the 10-year budget window, topping $12.4 trillion of cumulative new deficits by the end of the decade.
Perhaps the most shocking element of this report is the fact that unemployment is so low, yet deficits are as bad as they were during the worst times of the Great Recession.
"Not since World War II has the country seen deficits during times of low unemployment that are as large as those that we project — nor, in the past century, has it experienced large deficits for as long as we project," said CBO Director Phillip L. Swagel in a news conference on Tuesday.
It's no coincidence that since the debt has exploded over the past generation, we've never achieved solid economic growth, despite record low unemployment. Previously, during years in the 1960s, mid-1980s, and late 1990s, periods of low unemployment coincided with years of 4-5% GDP growth. Yet despite the lowest unemployment rate in half a century, the economy is growing right around 2%.
After missing 3% growth in 2018 by a hair, we have failed to achieve 3% annual growth since 2005 and 4% since 2000. The CBO projects gross domestic product will grow by just 2.2 percent this year and at an average pace of 1.7 percent over the next decade. At the same time, unemployment hasn't been this low since the late 1960s, when there were years of over 6% growth.
What gives?
As the CBO notes, with increasing federal deficits, "crowding out of private investment occurs gradually, as interest rates and the funds available for private investment adjust in response to increased federal deficits." Overall, the CBO projects that the accelerating level of debt, which is slated to more than double as a share of GDP over the next 30 years, will "dampen economic output over time."
It also warns that "rising interest costs associated with that debt would increase interest payments to foreign debt holders and thus reduce the income of U.S. households by increasing amounts."
The time for growing our way out of the debt bomb seems to have long passed, as the debt itself is acting as a wet blanket on economic growth and efficient investments, even during a period of job creation.
What's the No. 1 driver of the debt? While Social Security is the single biggest expenditure for an individual program, federal spending on all health care programs together tops even the price tag of America's iconic retirement program. The CBO projects spending on health care, which largely funds third-party and fourth-party vendors who interfere between the patient and the doctor, will cost $1.3 trillion this year. By the end of the decade, the Medicare program alone is slated to pass Social Security as the most expensive cost to the federal government.
Federal spending on health care (not including state expenditures) is projected to be $19.2 trillion over the next 10 years, dwarfing the cost of Social Security and the military. By 2050, health care spending will be about 25% greater than the insolvent and crushing cost of Social Security. As such, health care in itself is the largest driver of the other great crisis, the mushrooming cost of the interest on the debt itself. Health care spending will be greater than all the revenue from payroll taxes and corporate income taxes combined and almost as large as individual income tax revenue.
However, as the CBO noted, the stagnation and disruption from our debt only "occurs gradually." CBO Director Swagel noted that because other countries are doing even worse than we are financially, the U.S. is still an attractive place to invest, thereby allowing government to continue servicing debt on the cheap, which is forestalling the doomsday moment.
"We're not saying that there's an imminent, urgent problem," he told reporters. "The challenge is over time."
For lawmakers in both parties, it is that grace of time that will incentivize them to continue doing nothing with no regard for the future. They subscribe to the Louis XV mentality of "after me, the deluge."


theblaze--2020-01-29--Democrat-majority election board threatens arrests if Pledge of Allegiance is recited at meetings af

Democrat-majority election board threatens arrests if Pledge of Allegiance is recited at meetings after protesting attendees say it on their own

Democrat-majority election board threatens arrests if Pledge of Allegiance is recited at meetings after protesting attendees say it on their @ @ @ @ @ backlash was swift

A North Carolina election board voted 3-2 recently to not recite the Pledge of Allegiance at public meetings, the Bladen Journal reported, adding that all three Democrats on the Bladen County Board of Elections voted against saying the pledge while both Republicans on the board voted in favor of saying it.
Oh, yeah?
Elizabethtown resident Daine Smith — an attendee at the Jan. 14 meeting — told those gathered in the room that they could join him in reciting the pledge right then and there if they wanted to, the paper said.
Image source: YouTube screenshot
And join him they did. Video shows what appears to be most of the attendees standing up, placing their hands over their hearts, and reciting the pledge. Appearing to join them were both Republican board members, Michael Aycock and Emery White.
"Being in the military, we honor the flag all the time," White, who motioned for the pledge to be added to meetings, told the Journal. "I just think it should be on the agenda. There is no way we should have a meeting without it. It's like having a prayer. Why do we object to the Pledge of Allegiance?"
'Disruption of the meeting'
Turns out board chairwoman Louella Thompson — one of the members who voted against saying the pledge — didn't much care for the impromptu recitation.
In fact, at the end of the meeting she told attendees that saying the Pledge of Allegiance was a "disruption of the meeting, and ... if that happens again, law enforcement will be called. Because it is against the law to disrupt a meeting that is going on. And that is what happened today with the reciting of the pledge. So, be prepared for that."
Bladen County Board of Elections Chairwoman Louella Thompson (center), a Democrat, speaks to meeting attendees as two Republican members (right) and two other Democrats (left) listen. Image source: YouTube screenshot
Later Thompson issued a statement to WECT-TV that went even further:
The Bladen County Board of Elections received a request to add the pledge of allegiance to the agenda of our business meeting. After a period of public comment the board voted 3 to 2 to deny the request. A few individuals present refused to accept the decision of the board and disrupted the meeting to protest the vote by standing and reciting the pledge. That disruption violated the law NC GS 143.318.17 Disruption of official meeting. Those present were made aware of the violation and told that any future disruption would result in arrest.
'An opportunity here to create a sense of unity'
Smith told the station he couldn't understand Thompson's reluctance to include the pledge.
"When I spoke to the chairperson, I said, 'You have an opportunity here to create a sense of unity, and it's easy to do; just add it to the agenda. If you don't want to recite it or stand for it, you don't have to. But the folks who do want to do that, have the opportunity to do so,'" he added to WECT. "Then I just thought while I was standing, we should just say the pledge. So we did."
Smith also told the station that the "passion that the people on both sides of the aisle share is precisely what their passion is: It's for the flag, at it's root, and the pledge" but that the board's reasons for not including the pledge "are just not good reasons."
When the Journal asked why she voted against reciting the pledge, Thompson replied, "That's my right, and I exercise it."
A swift change of heart
Then lo and behold, Thompson changed course days later after backlash hit and said the pledge could be recited at meetings after all, WPDE-TV reported.
She said she had a change of heart after speaking with community members, legal experts, and the local and state Democratic Party, the station said, citing news outlets, The board hasn't recited the pledge since members were seated last spring, the station said.
Turns out one of Thompson's critics regarding her previous pledge position is Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper, who appointed Thompson to the board as chairwoman, WPDE said.
"The governor leads the Pledge of Allegiance before every Council of State meeting," Cooper spokeswoman Sadie Weiner told the station. "He doesn't agree with the action taken and he thinks it's a good practice to say it before a board of elections meeting."
The State Board of Elections last month admonished the Bladen County Board of Elections over social media posts from Thompson and another Democratic member that the local Republican Party leader said disparaged President Donald Trump, WPDE reported.
Here's video of the Jan. 14 meeting. The impromptu Pledge of Allegiance takes place after the 15-minute mark, and Thompson's threat to call police if it happens again takes place after the 42-minute mark:
youtu.be
(H/T: Blue Lives Matter)


theblaze--2020-01-29--LIVE VIDEO: Republicans finally get their chance to question Adam Schiff's impeachment crew

LIVE VIDEO : Republicans finally get their chance to question Adam Schiff 's impeachment crew Now it could get interesting

The Senate will reconvene at 1 p.m. ET Wednesday to begin the questioning phase of the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump. You can watch a live feed of the proceedings below once it begins.
Lead House impeachment manager Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and his team made its case for three days last week, presenting the House's impeachment articles and the evidence behind them.
President Trump's defense team wrapped up its three days of opening arguments Tuesday afternoon.
The Senate will begin two days of questions for both the impeachment managers and the defense. Senators will submit all questions in writing to Chief Justice John Roberts, who is presiding over the trial.
When the questioning phase has concluded, the Senate will vote on whether to subpoena more documents and/or call witnesses — including possibly former Trump national security adviser John Bolton; former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden; and maybe even the whistleblower who revealed the controversial call between President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that is the center of the impeachment efforts.
www.youtube.com
This story has been updated.


theblaze--2020-01-29--DOJ says a major health records vendor helped drug companies push opioids on patients in exchange fo

DOJ says a major health records vendor helped drug companies push opioids on patients in exchange for kickbacks

An electronic health records vendor was ordered to pay $145 million in damages and penalties for allowing drug companies to help create medical alerts in its software that push doctors toward prescribing more opioids, according to the Department of Justice.
San Francisco-based Practice Fusion both sought and received kickbacks from an opioid company, and in return, it allowed that company's marketing department to help craft alerts that influence physicians to prescribe potentially addictive opioids.
"Practice Fusion's conduct is abhorrent. During the height of the opioid crisis, the company took a million-dollar kickback to allow an opioid company to inject itself in the sacred doctor-patient relationship so that it could peddle even more of its highly addictive and dangerous opioids," Christina E. Nolan, U.S. attorney for the District of Vermont, said. "The companies illegally conspired to allow the drug company to have its thumb on the scale at precisely the moment a doctor was making incredibly intimate, personal, and important decisions about a patient's medical care, including the need for pain medication and prescription amounts."
Practice Fusion solicited "sponsorship" payments from drug companies, the DOJ said, and in exchange for those payments, Practice Fusion then allowed the drug companies to influence the process of creating clinical decision support alerts in its software.
Not only were the companies allowed input in setting the criteria for the CDS alerts to be sent to physicians, they were sometimes allowed to influence the actual text of those alerts — a shocking conflict of interest, considering the financial interest drug companies have in pushing their product.
Practice Fusion sold the arrangement to the drug companies explicitly by emphasizing the profitability of the scheme for the drug companies, who would have a chance to more than recoup their original investment. One opioid company paid Practice Fusion nearly $1 million.
In addition to the criminal aspect of the settlement, Practice Fusion will pay out millions in a civil settlement for concealing the fact that its software did not comply with all applicable certification requirements, and misled the certifying body in order to obtain the certification anyway.
Of the $145 million, Practice Fusion is paying $118.6 million in criminal fees and forfeitures, and $26 million to the federal government and state governments in civil settlements.


theblaze--2020-01-29--This CEO's LinkedIn post about putting family over work has gone viral

This CEO 's LinkedIn post about putting family over work has gone viral 'We 're all human .
Let 's @ @ @ @ @ . '

Daniel Abrahams is the owner and CEO of Hustlr, an Australian-based digital marketing agency. He is also a father of three, and when one of his kids was going to receive an award at her school, he left work early to go. It's as simple as that.
Then Abrahams decided to share his experience — and what it teaches about the work-life balance and transparency on the job — in a post on his LinkedIn page.
"I left the office at 1pm. In the morning, I told my team I'd be leaving early. I didn't say I had a client meeting, or a doctor's appointment. I told them the truth. I was going to watch my daughter receive an award at her school assembly," Abrahams wrote.
"Why? Because I'm human," he added.
"As a leader, it starts with me," he continued. "No one should hide their personal life at work, or apologise for it."
"We're all human. Let's be real about our lives," he concluded.
The post quickly went viral as it resonated with millions of working people around the world.
Three weeks later and it has reached more than 26 million people, Abrahams told ABC's "Good Morning America" on Wednesday.
The post evidently struck a chord as so many in the working world feel the angst and difficulty of balancing their work life and their home life.
Abrahams wants his employees to know that he understands they are more than just employees — they are people, too. People with families.
"Essentially the post says that if you have to choose between work and your family, pick your family, and be honest about it at work because people will understand. It took me five minutes to write it," he told ABC News.
Abrahams added that he hopes employers will read the post and "see the need to bring a more personal, human touch to the workplace. It's actually good for their business."
"I think there's too much fear amongst employees who feel they have to hide their personal lives because, if they don't, their career opportunities will be hampered," he explained. "This leads to employee unhappiness, regret and resentment. I don't want people to ever feel guilty about making their family a priority. In my opinion, employers who treat their staff like humans and show they care about them on a personal level, will receive more buy-in, loyalty, and trust."
(H/T ABC News)


theblaze--2020-01-29--It's not just gun control: Virginia Democrats advancing their abortion agenda, too

It 's not just gun control : Virginia Democrats advancing their abortion agenda , too 'These folks are just wiping @ @ @ @ @ sense restriction on abortion '

Since Democrats took control of Virginia's state Legislature earlier this year, their efforts to clamp down on citizens' Second Amendment rights have made national headlines. However, Democrat-led efforts to undo protections for the unborn are also currently making their way to becoming law in the Old Dominion as well.
The Associated Press reported that the Virginia House approved a bill Tuesday that would remove multiple abortion restrictions, including a 24-hour waiting period for abortion procedures and a requirement that women seeking abortions get an ultrasound beforehand. The measure would also end a requirement that only doctors can perform abortions in the state, thereby allowing nurse practitioners to perform them as well. It passed 52-45 with one Democratic legislator voting against it and two abstaining.
"The Reproductive Health Protection Act passed the House today and is headed over to the Senate," Democratic House Majority Leader Charniele Herring — who introduced the bill — tweeted after the vote. "I am proud to carry this bill, and happy to see medical decisions out of the hands of legislators and into the hands of women and their clinicians."
Abortion proponents celebrated the House's vote.
In a tweet following the vote, NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia said that it was "thrilled" about the House's passage of the bill "and that legislators understand that the majority of Virginians trust a woman to make her own healthcare decisions."
The American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia cheered the vote, saying that the bill removes "medically unnecessary restrictions on abortion."
Opponents of the measure, however, say that Democrats are putting women's health and safety at risk. As the Senate version of the legislation passed out of committee last week, House Minority Todd Gilbert said in a story at WTVR-TV that his colleagues' abortion agenda "goes far beyond just the mantra that they repeat about a woman's right to choose."
"What we're seeing is regardless of common sense, regardless of widely supported restrictive measures," Family Foundation President Victoria Cobb said in the same story, "these folks are just wiping out any, any common sense restriction on abortion."


theblaze--2020-01-29--California lawmakers want to raise the age limit for juvenile offenders to 19 — some say it's a ploy

California lawmakers want to raise the age limit for juvenile offenders to 19 — some say it's a ploy to keep the state’s juvie facilities open

California lawmakers want to raise the age limit for juvenile offenders to 19 — some say it 's a ploy @ @ @ @ @ s juvie facilities open

California lawmakers are considering raising the age limit of individuals who would be tried and sentenced as juveniles from 17- to 19-years-old.
The author of the bill, Democratic state Sen. Nancy Skinner, says that "under the bill, 18- and 19-year-olds would be treated as juveniles in criminal proceedings."
"When teenagers make serious mistakes and commit crimes, state prison is not the answer. Processing teenagers through the juvenile justice system will help ensure they receive the appropriate education, counseling, treatment, and rehabilitation services necessary to achieve real public safety outcomes," she added in a statement on her website.
Skinner points to similar laws that restrict alcohol and tobacco use for those under 21 to argue that teenagers should not be deemed adults before the law.
Some proponents of the bill also point to scientific studies that show the human brain is not fully developed until a person is in their 20s, the Los Angeles Times reports.
"The science says [people] between 18 and 24 have less than fully developed prefrontal cortexes," argued Brian Richart, president of the Chief Probation Officers of California. "Their decision making is inhibited. They act impulsively and we know this, yet we treat them as if they are fully developed."
Just a ploy to keep juvie facilities open?
Undoubtedly many will see the bill as just another attempt to extend adolescence in America and protect 18- to 21-year-olds from facing consequences for their actions, but that is not the only gripe against the proposed bill.
Daniel Macallair, executive director of the San Francisco-based Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice, says he believes the bill is just an attempt to protect jobs for those who work in the state's juvenile system.
He pointed out that juvenile arrests have been steadily declining in California for several years and that some facilities, like one in San Francisco, are in danger of closing down.
California arrested 17,200 minors under the age of 17 for felonies in 2018 and that same year about 14,400 people age 18 and 19 were arrested on felony charges, the Los Angeles Times reported. The San Francisco Chronicle also explores the steady drop in youth crime in California in its Vanishing Violence series. It says the trend has left "almost every juvenile hall in California more than half empty."
Based on an analysis conducted by his organization, Macallair says that raising the age limit for juvenile offenders would pack the juvenile facilities once again by sending thousands of new inmates their way.
"You've got juvenile halls that are sitting empty and they are seeking a population to fill it," he argued. "I think what's prompting this is not a desire to necessarily do things in a different way, but I think [it] is out of concern that the juvenile hall population is declining."
Richart, the head of the probation chiefs association, dismissed Macallair's notion as conspiracy, arguing he has seen firsthand the negative effects of sending a teenager to state prison.
"Our proposal ... is saying that in the eyes of the criminal justice system, we really need to look at the age of maturity, not adulthood," he said.


theblaze--2020-01-29--Trump impeachment defense team member Doug Collins announces Senate bid; GOP senatorial campaign arm

Trump impeachment defense team member Doug Collins announces Senate bid; GOP senatorial campaign arm slams him for 'selfishness,' 'shortsightedness'

Trump impeachment defense team member Doug Collins announces Senate bid ; GOP senatorial campaign arm slams him for 'selfishness , @ @ @ @ @ voters choose ?

A key defender of President Donald Trump in the House of Representatives announced a bid for Senate Wednesday morning, but a key GOP national campaign arm is calling the move selfish and shortsighted.
"For months, I have given serious deliberation to the role I should serve that would best benefit GA, the country and [President Trump]," House Judiciary Committee ranking member Doug Collins (R-Ga.) tweeted Wednesday morning. "Today, I have officially launched my campaign for Senate to do just that."
The Georgia Republican also said on Fox News' "Fox & Friends" that "I've still got a lot of work left to do to help this president finish this impeachment out, and we're going to make a bigger announcement down here in Georgia."
The announcement will put Collins up against the Senate's newest member — Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler — in the state's upcoming special election. Loeffler was appointed to the seat in December by Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) upon the departure of former Sen. Johnny Isakson (R), who stepped down due to health problems.
During his Fox appearance, Collins — who is also a member of the president's impeachment defense team — said that he wasn't concerned that a potentially contentious intra-party showdown with Loeffler might open the seat up for a Democrat to sweep in and take the seat. But the National Republican Senatorial Committee — Senate Republicans' campaign arm — doesn't see things that way.
The committee's executive director Kevin McLaughlin criticized Collins' announcement in a statement siding with Loeffler and saying that his Senate bid would prove harmful to the party.
"The shortsightedness in this decision is stunning," the statement reads. "Doug Collins' selfishness will hurt David Perdue, Kelly Loeffler, and President Trump. Not to mention the people of Georgia who stand to bear the burden of it for years to come. All he has done is put two senate seats, multiple house seats, and Georgia's 16 electoral votes in play."
An Atlanta Journal-Constitution poll from earlier this month shows Collins with a double-digit lead over Loeffler in favorability with registered voters — 34.5% of those polled had a favorable view of Collins with just 22.7% saying the same for the incumbent.
Under current Georgia law, Republicans and Democrats would face off in a "free-for-all" election in November, with a runoff to take place later if needed, a separate story at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution explained. However, some lawmakers in the state have been trying to pass a bill that would force Loeffler and Collins to face off in a primary election in May.


theblaze--2020-01-29--Amy Klobuchar helped jail a black teen for life — but there are serious questions about the investig

Amy Klobuchar helped jail a black teen for life — but there are serious questions about the investigation She tells @ @ @ @ @ racial justice credibility

Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a Democratic presidential candidate, regularly cites her role in prosecuting the person responsible for the murder of 11-year-old Tyesha Edwards as a way to bolster her credibility as an advocate for racial justice.
However, the person she helped put in prison for life was another black teenager, Myon Burrell — and the legal process that resulted in his conviction was riddled with shortcuts and flaws, according to the Associated Press.
The murder
Edwards was shot and killed by a stray bullet in 2002 while she was sitting in her home doing homework in Hennepin County, Minnesota, where Klobuchar was county attorney from 1999 until 2007.
The shooting inflamed racial tensions in the community, which was still dealing with the consequences of the war on drugs and perceptions of minority gang members as dangerous "super predators." Authorities were under immense pressure to secure a conviction in Edwards' death.
The investigation
There was only one eyewitness in the case: 17-year-old Timmy Oliver, who was a gang rival of Burrell's. Oliver claimed he could see the 5-foot-3 Burrell shooting even though he was obscured by a wall that was 5 feet high, and he was standing about 120 feet away.
Ike Tyson, who was 21 at the time, has confessed that it was he, not Burrell, who fired the shots that killed Edwards. He said Burrell wasn't even on the scene. He said he and another person wanted to fire some warning shots to scare Oliver, who had waved a gun at them recently.
But Tyson said he was under pressure from police to implicate Burrell, who had been named by a prison informant who was motivated by the potential to get his sentence reduced. The informant gave up Burrell's name after a conversation with Oliver — who later told a friend he actually didn't know who fired the shots, because he couldn't see where they were coming from.
Tyson is serving a 45-year sentence.
Police were willing to pay "major dollars" for names, even if they were only hearsay. The chief homicide detective at that time paid a man $500 for giving Burrell's name up as a the shooter.
Authorities called on at least seven jailhouse informants leading up to the second trial. One of them, Terry Arlington, said he was coached on what to say and offered a 16-year reduction on his sentence in exchange for his cooperation.
"They basically brought me through what to say. Before I went before the grand jury, they brought me in a room and said … 'When you get in, hit on this, hit on this.' I was still young and I had fresh kids that I was trying to get home to, so I did what they asked," Arlington told AP.
Oliver, the only eyewitness, died in a shooting in 2003, before Burrell's case was retried. Police don't want to take Tyson's word that he was the actual shooter, claiming his inconsistency of accounts takes away his credibility.
"I already shot an innocent girl," Tyson said. "Now an innocent guy — at the time he was a kid — is locked up for something he didn't do. So, it's like I'm carrying two burdens."
According to the Associated Press, the gun used in the shooting was never recovered. Fingerprints were insufficient for identification. And police didn't run a ballistics test on Tyson's jacket to check his assertion that he was actually the shooter.
Burrell has refused to even confess to being at the scene of the crime, even though he knows doing so could've allowed him to be out of jail by now.
Klobuchar's response
Klobuchar said through a spokesperson that Burrell was tried and convicted twice, and that if there is any new evidence it should be reviewed immediately. She was no longer the county attorney at the time of the second trial.


theblaze--2020-01-29--Joe Biden puts hands on voter, angrily responds when confronted about climate change

Joe Biden puts hands on voter , angrily responds when confronted about climate change 'Joe Biden is the Democratic candidate @ @ @ @ @ Trump '

Democratic presidential front-runner Joe Biden is taking heat online after a viral clip showed him putting his hands on an Iowa voter who asked about climate change, then instructing the voter to not support him.
"I'm going to support you if you win the nomination because we got to get rid of Trump but what are we going to do about climate change?" the man, identified as Ed Fallon, asked Biden.
"We have to stop building and replacing pipelines," Fallon added.
Biden responded by placing his hands on Fallon, pushing him away, then angrily telling Fallon to not vote for him.
"Go vote for someone else [if] you're not gonna vote for me in the primary," Biden responded.
Biden then chided Fallon for asking to take a picture with the former vice president, and reiterated that he did not want Fallon's support if Fallon did not plan to caucus for him.
Fallon later responded to the incident, which took place on Sunday, in a blog post where he criticized Biden as the Democratic candidate least likely to defeat President Donald Trump.
He wrote:
[D]espite his repeated calls for unity, Biden rejects my offer to support him in the general election. That really shocked me. What was even more shocking was how Biden pushed and poked me, and then took hold of my jacket with both hands as he lectured me.
I've said this before, and I'll say it one more time: Joe Biden is the Democratic candidate LEAST likely to beat Donald Trump. His demeanor on the stump will inevitably come back to bite him, perhaps repeatedly. His propensity to violate personal space is a huge non-asset in politics, and his frequent gaffes are prime fodder for opponents and the media.
Fallon, as he told Biden and explained in his blog post, is supporting billionaire Tom Steyer in the Iowa caucuses next month.
Steyer responded to the viral video Tuesday, accusing Biden of taking out his frustration on Fallon.
Fallon served in the Iowa General Assembly from 1993-2006. He also unsuccessfully ran for Congress and governor of Iowa.


theblaze--2020-01-29--Lesbian arts and crafts group reported to college 'bias response team' because group allows only bio

Lesbian arts and crafts group reported to college 'bias response team' because group allows only biological female members

Lesbian arts and crafts group reported to college 'bias response team ' because group allows only biological female members The @ @ @ @ @ — is outspoken in its support for 'lesbian Womyn-born-Womyn '

Can't lesbians do their arts and crafts in peace, for Pete's sake?
It appears the answer is a resounding "no" — at least when it comes to a group that was forming last spring at the University of Michigan.
Flyers had popped up around campus advertising an Ann Arbor-based group called "Lez Get Crafty," the College Fix reported. But the problem was that the group only allows biological female members — i.e., "lesbian Womyn-born-Womyn."
And you know what that means: Aside from excluding the usual suspects, such a designation also means biological males who identify as females (and lesbians) are on the outs. As it happens, the group's website puts it much more bluntly.
"A lot of us womyn have been feeling cast out of our previous (LGB)TBBQ communities that now tend to increasingly favor men and the 'identity' and 'gender'-obsessed culture instead, leaving wbw lesbians in the dark," the Lez Get Crafty site notes. "We are here to help remedy that! We hear you. We are your refuge. We have your back. You're not alone, radical sister."
Stop right there!
Apparently the group forming at the prestigious university didn't sit well with at least one person who reported Lez Get Crafty to the campus "bias response team," the Fix reported, citing findings from its open records law request.
There had been "multiple complaints" from an LGBTQ rights group on campus, the outlet said, and the reporting student wrote that "women in our community feel targeted by this kind of exclusivity."
"It is my belief that students should not be subjectified [sic] to discriminatory language of groups such as Lez Get Crafty," the student added, the Fix said.
The outlet said an attempt to contact Lez Get Crafty organizers was unsuccessful. It isn't clear if the group formed at UM or not.
Anything else?
The Fix said the complaint about Lez Get Crafty was one of 72 filed with UM's bias response team between Jan. 1 and July 1, 2019. Others included:
A student claimed two professors were guilty of "repeated name mispronunciation" and that the victim was "being discriminated [against] based on race."
A student was overheard joking about the March 2019 mass shooting in New Zealand, comparing it to the Call of Duty video game and saying the shooter was "49-0." The complaining student said the culprit was "insensitive of a serious situation and continued to disregard the lives of those affected."
Following a student recital, an instructor publicly apologized for featuring musical works written by white men. The complaining student reported the instructor for apologizing.
A student reported another student for "running a series of disturbing Google searches" while in class for topics such as "white supremacist hate crimes" and "anti-LGBTQ hate crimes."
When discussing an article about gender construction in class, a student claimed the professor criticized the student's comments as "not relevant" — so the student complained that, "I felt violated, attacked, disrespected, and humiliated. I had never endured such a hostile classroom environment in my entire educational career and particularly felt his attacks and insults about my contributions were deeply lied to my identities. The classroom does not feel safe to me anymore."
The outlet added that many bias reports appeared to be jokes: "We were at a Hillary rally and she farted on us," one student wrote, while another complained "it all started when I was born a poor black child" and still another said to "disregard previous report" since "I have decided that I now identify as a snowflake."


theblaze--2020-01-29--Kobe Bryant's death jolted everyone back to reality and forced us to examine what matters

Kobe Bryant 's death jolted everyone back to reality and forced us to examine what matters This is a time @ @ @ @ @ your life

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. —Romans 8:28-30
The sudden and accidental death of former NBA superstar Kobe Bryant at the age of 41 has been remarkably personal to a lot of different people. Not only those who actually knew him, or at least met him at some point, have been sharing stories about how convicted he was as a basketball player, a businessman and, perhaps most notably, a father.
But even those who only occasionally marveled at him from afar seem to have been punched in the gut, searching for and sharing information about Bryant on social media as if there is a certain holiness to be found in such engagement.
And they would be right.
Just listen to the lost wanderings of middle-aged men on sports radio right now and you know exactly what is going on here. The existential non-sequiturs that normally dominate so much of our daily noise was brutally swept off the table by the news of Bryant's sad end. It made us feel vulnerable and uncertain. It made us feel fragile and lost.
And thank God for that. Because that's called being alive.
Perhaps more than any other time in human history, our various passionate distractions are constantly turned up to 11 to prevent us from having any relationship whatsoever with such feelings. Humility may be spoken of as a virtue, but in practice it is viewed as weakness. There is no dialog. There is no listening. There is no searching. It's all shouting. Demanding. Cornering life into a place where it bends to each and every whim you have.
That's the stuff of the zombie apocalypse. Well-dressed zombies to be sure, but zombies nonetheless. Like the Don Lemon trio that recently received so much attention for their cruel condescension directed at Trump voters. That was less about political bias than it was about the shabby quality of their general state of consciousness. Elitism from the right and the left was included yet it was the same brash nothingness, totally empty of genuine meaning or worthy purpose.
We are all addicted to it on some level. As with the increasing complexity of cellphone technology, it goes hand in hand with the decreasing stamina of our attention spans to other matters. It never gives us permission to hit the pause button to dig deeper. Just more, more, more. And the more we get, we find we don't even want to hit the pause button any more. Because who knows what we'd find there? Not the comfort and ease we've become accustomed to. Not the strawmen we love to burn to the ground. Not the shallow pools we like wallow in while pretending we are actually championship swimmers.
It's the sort of con that marks the time these days for rich and poor alike. Until Kobe Bryant dies. A real life superhero of sorts, who is supposed to take our mind off mortality. Then we're reminded of it in the most startling of ways.
Just a man being a dad to his daughter, taken away for no damn good reason whatsoever. So is that it? Is the meaning of all really that random? That meaningless? It can't be, we insist. And for the first time in who knows how long, our souls cry out and we demand more.
Good. You're uncomfortable. You should be.
Now stay there for a while and watch the miracles happen.


theblaze--2020-01-29--Pro-life student says abortion activist threatened her at March for Life: 'I will f***ing slit your

Pro-life student says abortion activist threatened her at March for Life: 'I will f***ing slit your throat!'

Pro-life student says abortion activist threatened her at March for Life : ' I will f***ing slit your throat !
@ @ @ @ @ discourse

A feminist activist reportedly threatened the life of Selene Cerankosky, president of Robert Morris University's chapter of Students for Life of America, during the recent March for Life in Washington, D.C.
What are the details?
According to a report by the Daily Caller, Cerankosky said the unnamed activist confronted her during the March for Life and threatened her with bodily harm.
The activist, who wore a black hoodie and white pants with "blood on the crotch area," according to the outlet, approached Cerankosky while groups protested outside of the Supreme Court, apparently assuming that the chapter president was part of the pro-life group.
She assumed correctly, and when it was unmistakable that Cerankosky — a 20-year-old junior at Robert Morris University — was a pro-life supporter, the activist reportedly told Cerankosky to "back up or I will f***ing slit your throat!"
Taken aback, Cerankosky responded, "So I said, 'Did you really just say that?'"
The activist spat back, "I swear to God, back up. Back up."
Despite the vile threat, Cerankosky said she refused to back down.
"If we make a habit out of [backing down], the pro-choice bullies will know to keep employing that tactic," she reasoned.
Cerankosky said she reported the incident to authorities. A witness reportedly saw police arresting the activist later during the event.
"I'm a pretty stubborn person as it is, so I wasn't really gonna move," Cerankosky pointed out. "But the fact of the matter is I wasn't touching her. I was in my space first."
Anything else?
Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life of America, told Campus Reform that people with such motives must be held accountable for their threats and actions.
"At Students for Life of America, we are taking stronger steps to protect our staff and students who boldly go to their campuses, communities, and legislatures to say that the human rights issue of our day, abortion, must be addressed. We don't take this trend toward violence lightly," she said in a statement.
“I joined Selene and my staff at the Supreme Court right after the incident to check on their safety and to take my place on the front lines of this struggle to protect both mother and pre-born infants from a predatory, violent abortion industry," Hawkins added. "But we will not be silent. We will keep fighting for those who don't have a voice."
Hawkins warned that the pro-choice movement is growing desperate and dangerous.
“The pro-choice movement is becoming increasingly desperate as abortion is being limited in most states across the country, and so the violence of abortion against people in the womb is now also becoming acts and threats of violence against peaceful pro-life people who care about them," she concluded.
You can read a release on the incident from the Students for Life of America here.


theblaze--2020-01-30--Elizabeth Warren proposes criminal penalties for spreading 'disinformation' to voters online

This is rich coming from someone who has been caught in a lot of mistruths

Democratic presidential candidate and former Native American Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) has laid out a new plan for punishing people who share "misleading" information online, proposing criminal penalties for those who spread "disinformation" on voting.
What are the details?
On Wednesday, Warren's campaign issued the details on her website, where the bureaucracy-lover promised to hold tech companies (and anyone else) responsible for the spread of "disinformation" and vowed to require the firms to ramp up monitoring of users' accounts — calling out Facebook in particular for its "troubling" practice of allowing "users to instantaneously share information in groups."
Warren also said her administration would involve the federal government in taking an active role in controlling online speech, and vowed to implement "tough" criminal penalties for "knowingly disseminating false information about when and how to vote in U.S. elections."
Conservatives were quick to pick up on the irony of Warren's new proposals.
Logan Hall, the Daily Caller's social media manager, shared the news of Warren's free speech crack-down plan in a tweet along with a picture showing a New York Post headline noting that Warren just a few months ago had to delete her "infamous" tweet bragging about the Native American heritage she claimed to have her entire life until she was caught.
Of course, after disclosing that she is likely anywhere from 1/32nd to 1/1024th Native America, she finally apologized amid backlash for the "disinformation" that she was Native American all those years.
The Daily Wire's Emily Zanotti did a great job of detailing how "Warren herself has effectively contributed to the spread of disinformation online on several memorable occasions."
Beyond her fake Native American heritage, Zanotti noted, Warren has falsely claimed on the campaign trail to have been previously fired from a teaching job for being pregnant, and also lied about sending her children "exclusively" to public schools.
Anything else?
Warren, the mastermind behind the business-strangling Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, has made tech firms her next target of massive regulation.
CNBC reported that the Democrat from Massachusetts "has been an advocate for breaking up big tech companies like Amazon and Facebook," and "has said that she wants to make 'big structural changes to the tech sector to promote more competition.'"


theblaze--2020-01-30--Catholic priest apologizes for 'hate-filled' sermon about Muslims and Trump's border wall after CAIR

Catholic priest apologizes for 'hate-filled' sermon about Muslims and Trump's border wall after CAIR complains

Catholic priest apologizes for 'hate-filled ' sermon about Muslims and Trump 's border wall after CAIR complains He said that @ @ @ @ @ Christians and to the United States

A Catholic priest apologized for comments he made during a homily on immigration after the Council on American Islamic Relations complained about the words they described as "hate-filled."
Rev. Nick VanDenBroeke made the comments at the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Lonsdale, Minnesota.
He said in the homily that Christians needed to welcome immigrants as the Bible instructed them to welcome the stranger, but he exempted Muslims from that call.
"Both as Americans and as Christians, we do not need to pretend that everyone who seeks to enter America should be treated the same," he said. "I believe it is essential to consider the religion and worldview of the immigrants or refugees. More specifically, we should not be allowing large numbers of Muslims asylum or immigration into our country."
He went on to add that Islam was "the greatest threat in the world" to Christianity and to the United States.
VanDenBroeke also advocated for the border wall proposed by President Donald Trump, and supporter a pathway to citizenship for illegal aliens already in the country.
His comments were reported in the City Pages, which prompted CAIR to issue a statement demanding a repudiation of the message of the homily.
"We urge leaders of the Catholic Church in Minnesota to repudiate these hate-filled and un-Christian remarks as unrepresentative of the faith they hold dear," said CAIR-Minnesota director Jaylani Hussein.
Minneapolis Archbishop Bernard Hebda agreed that VanDenBroeke's comments were not reflective of the teaching of the Catholic church.
"The teaching of the Catholic Church is clear," Hebda said. "As Pope Benedict XVI noted, 'The Catholic Church, in fidelity to the teachings of the Second Vatican Council, looks with esteem to Muslims, who worship God above all by prayer, almsgiving and fasting, revere Jesus as a prophet while not acknowledging his divinity, and honour Mary, his Virgin Mother.' ... If all of us who believe in God desire to promote reconciliation, justice and peace, we must work together to banish every form of discrimination, intolerance and religious fundamentalism."
VanDenBroeke also apologized after the complaints.
"My homily on immigration contained words that were hurtful to Muslims. I'm sorry for this," he said.
"I realize now that my comments were not fully reflective of the Catholic Church's teaching on Islam," VanDenBroeke concluded.


theblaze--2020-01-30--Sen. Rand Paul blocked from asking questions stating alleged whistleblower's name

Sen. Rand Paul blocked from asking questions stating alleged whistleblower 's name Chief Justice John Roberts has reportedly vowed to @ @ @ @ @ out of impeachment proceedings

Chief Justice John Roberts reportedly refused to read a question from Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) during the ongoing impeachment trial of President Donald Trump on Wednesday, because the name of the alleged whistleblower was included.
What are the details?
Politico reported that Paul has composed questions including the name of the whistleblower, despite Justice Roberts telling senators that he would not read the person's name out loud. According to the outlet, Paul had opened up a "behind-the-scenes fight" with his effort.
A Fox News reporter also reported the block by Roberts, and The Federalist added that "sources say Roberts, at Democrats' urging, had previously vowed to ban any questions about the whistleblower whatsoever, named or not."
Paul has called for the media to expose the alleged whistleblower for months, and several of his Republican colleagues joined him last fall in calling for the purported Obama holdover to testify.
"I think he is a person of interest in the sense that he was at the Ukraine desk when Joe Biden was there when Hunter Biden was working for the Ukrainian oligarch. So simply for that alone, I think he's a material witness who needs to be brought in," Paul said in November.
According to Politico, Paul "has complained that he is being prevented from asking a question about the origin of the Ukraine investigation, although he didn't get into specifics."
The Kentucky Republican told reporters Wednesday, "It's still an ongoing process, it may happen tomorrow."
Anything else?
RealClearInvestigations was the first outlet to name the purported whistleblower, who is reportedly a 33-year-old former intelligence operative.
The Washington Examiner reported that "Republicans and conservative media figures believe" the whistleblower is the person named by RealClearInvestigations, and TheBlaze's Giancarlo Sopo noted "Republicans are not entirely sure if the man in question is indeed the whistleblower."


theblaze--2020-01-30--Yale cancelling popular class because the subject is 'overwhelmingly white, straight' and European

Yale cancelling popular class because the subject is 'overwhelmingly white , straight ' and European Diversity does n't include everyone @ @ @

Yale will stop offering a very popular art class because it covers artists who are "overwhelmingly white, straight," and European.
The cancellation of Western Civilization was detailed in the Yale Daily News.
"Introduction to Art History: Renaissance to the Present" was touted as a quintessential class with a storied decades-long history, but it will be no longer offered because it is simply not diverse enough.
Tim Barringer, the instructor of the course and the chair of the Art history department, said that he saw value in all the objects studied in the class, but added the the focus on white European art was "problematic."
The final iteration of the class will question the idea of Western art before it closes down.
"I want all Yale students (and all residents of New Haven who can enter our museums freely) to have access to and to feel confident analyzing and enjoying the core works of the western tradition," Barringer added. "But I don't mistake a history of European painting for the history of all art in all places."
Students responded to the news that the class was going to be cancelled by filling up the limited spots available quickly.
The Yale Daily News offered no evidence to its claim that students were objecting to the class, but they did supply a quote from a student disappointed that it was cancelled.
"My biggest critique of the decision is that it's a disservice to undergrads," said Mahlon Sorensen.
"If you get rid of that one, all-encompassing course," Sorensen explained, "then to understand the Western canon of art, students are going to have to take multiple art history courses. Which is all well and good for the art history major, but it sucks for the rest of us, which, I would say, make up the vast majority of the people who are taking [the class]."
[H/T: Hot Air.]