Month: June 2020

Commentary: Trump’s Greatest Challenge Now

Virginia Star Staff

President Trump faces the greatest challenge of his very eventful life, and also an immense opportunity to silence his detractors. Not since Charles de Gaulle faced a prolonged general strike in France in 1968 has the leader of a large Western democracy faced something so closely approximating an insurrection as the situation President Trump faces now.

Fortunately, as de Gaulle demonstrated, in such circumstances there is almost always overwhelming support for the legitimate government as long as it restores order with no more force than is necessary and in the impartial national interest.

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Former President George W. Bush on Riots: ‘Protest Shows Strength’

Admin

Former President George W. Bush weighed in Monday on the riots that have torn across the United States, saying that “lasting justice will only come by peace.”

Bush spoke out following the seventh night of destructive riots following the demise of George Floyd, a black man who died after a Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for several minutes, according to footage of the incident.

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Police: Retired St. Louis Police Captain Killed Amid Unrest

The Associated Press

ST. LOUIS, Missouri (AP) — A retired St. Louis police officer was shot and killed early Tuesday by people who had broken into a pawn shop during the unrest that followed a peaceful protest over the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, police said.

David Dorn, 77, was found dead on the sidewalk in front of Lee’s Pawn & Jewelry. Police have not released details of what led to the shooting about 2:30 a.m. Tuesday and no one has been arrested.

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Medicare to Ratchet up Enforcement Against Nursing Homes as Coronavirus Fatalities Exceed 25,000

Virginia Star Staff

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) unveiled enhanced enforcement actions on Monday against nursing homes after preliminary federal data shows that at least 25,923 nursing home residents across the country have died from coronavirus.

“This data, and anecdotal reports across the country, clearly show that nursing homes have been devastated by the virus,” CMS Administrator Seema Verma and Centers for Disease Control Director Robert Redfield wrote in a letter to U.S. governors on Sunday.

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George Floyd Had ‘Fentanyl Intoxication’ and ‘Recent Methamphetamine Use,’ Autopsy Shows

Virginia Star Staff

George Floyd had fentanyl in his system and had recently used methamphetamine before his death, which was ruled a homicide, according to a county medical examiner autopsy released Monday.

The Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s autopsy report said Floyd experienced “fentanyl intoxication” and “recent methamphetamine use” were “significant conditions” leading to his death. The report ultimately deemed his death a “homicide” due to law enforcement restraint and “neck compression” that contributed to a heart attack.

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Biden Blasts Trump’s ‘Narcissism’ in New Phase of Campaign

The Associated Press

Joe Biden mounted one of his most aggressive attacks against President Donald Trump on Tuesday, deriding the commander in chief’s disregard of core constitutional values and blistering him for being “more interested in power, than in principle.”

“He thinks division helps him,” the presumptive Democratic nominee said in a speech at Philadelphia’s City Hall. “This narcissism has become more important than the nation’s wellbeing.”

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Nine States Plus D.C. Vote Amid Coronavirus Pandemic, Social Unrest

The Associated Press

Voters across America navigated curfews and health concerns Tuesday in a slate of primary elections amid dueling national crises as Joe Biden looked to move closer to formally clinching the Democratic presidential nomination.

In all, nine states and the District of Columbia were hosting elections, including four that delayed their April contests because of the coronavirus outbreak. While voters cast ballots from Maryland to Montana, Pennsylvania offered the day’s biggest trove of delegates. The state also represented a significant test case for Republicans and Democrats working to strengthen their operations in a premier general election battleground.

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Newt Gingrich Commentary: Antifa and The Left’s Civil War Against America

Admin

The news media wants to ignore the depth of the violence and the forces causing the violence and simply rerun their permanent refrain that this is all about racism (see the Washington Post story that “Racial inequality in Minneapolis is Among the Worst in the Nation” as an example).

The news media will resist deeply the idea that Antifa is a factor and that the violence is designed to hurt America.

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Louisville Police Chief Fired in Aftermath of Fatal Shooting

The Associated Press

Louisville’s police chief was fired Monday after the mayor learned that officers involved in a shooting that killed the popular owner of a barbecue spot failed to activate body cameras during the chaotic scene.

David McAtee, known for offering meals to police officers, died early Monday while police officers and National Guard soldiers were enforcing a curfew amid waves of protests over a previous police shooting in Kentucky’s largest city. Police said they were responding to gunfire from a crowd.

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President Trump: ‘I Swore an Oath to Uphold the Laws of Our Nation, and That is Exactly What I Will Do’

Virginia Star Staff

President Trump delivered remarks from the Rose Garden early Monday evening to address the widespread civil unrest concentrated in urban areas across the country.

Afterward, Mr. Trump surprised the media by walking out the front door of the White House to St. John’s Episcopal Church. The 204-year-old landmark was set ablaze by rioters Sunday night.

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Judge Sullivan Defends Delay, Says Justice Department Reversal in Flynn Case ‘Unusual’

The Associated Press

A federal judge on Monday defended his decision not to quickly approve the Justice Department’s request to dismiss its own criminal case against former Trump administration national security adviser Michael Flynn, saying that the department’s reversal was unusual and he wanted to consider the request carefully before ruling on it.

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Gun Stocks Skyrocket as Violent Riots Continue

Virginia Star Staff

Gun stocks have skyrocketed as protests and riots continue throughout the United States following the death of George Floyd.

Activists set cars ablaze, smashed property, and looted businesses across the country as rioters protested the death of Floyd, a black man who died after a Minneapolis, Minnesota, police officer knelt on his neck for several minutes, video of the incident shows. The police officer, Derek Chauvin, has been fired and charged on 3rd degree murder and manslaughter charges.

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Kansas City Police Say Bricks Staged Near Protests Were ‘To Be Used During a Riot’

Virginia Star Staff

Kansas City police officers found bricks and rocks staged near protest sites around the city, stoking concerns that individuals or groups had pre-planned looting and destruction that hit the city over the weekend, the department said Sunday.

“We have learned of & discovered stashes of bricks and rocks in & around the Plaza and Westport to be used during a riot,” the department said in a tweet on Sunday.

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Publishers Sue the ‘Wayback Machine’ Internet Archive Over Scanning of Books

The Associated Press

Four of the country’s biggest publishers have sued a digital library for copyright infringement, alleging that the Internet Archive has illegally offered more than a million scanned works to the public, including such favorites as Toni Morrison’s “Song of Solomon,” Malcolm Gladwell’s “Blink” and Cormac McCarthy’s “The Road.”

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Commentary: This Is What Social Justice Looks Like

Virginia Star Staff

If you did not grasp what the amorphous words “social justice” look like in a concrete sense, then after seeing so many examples of it this weekend defining the phrase no longer requires explanation. Live on television, I saw people social justicing at Ross Dress for Less, Aldi, Alexander McQueen, Target, the Apple Store, Hot Topic, Adidas Originals, Target, and Best Buy.

Protesters, strangely enough, also enthusiastically social justiced at Family Dollar. Clearly not all social justicers, despite their outlook’s stated egalitarianism, are created equal.

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AG Barr Says Regional Joint Terrorism Task Forces Directed to Locate, Apprehend Antifa Leaders, Other ‘Radical Agitators’

Anthony Gockowski

U.S. Attorney General William Barr said in a Sunday statement that the regional Joint Terrorism Task Forces of the FBI  have been directed to locate and apprehend Antifa leaders.

His statement was issued after President Donald Trump announced that the U.S. would be declaring Antifa a domestic terrorist organization for its alleged involvement in the terrorizing of major cities after the death of George Floyd.

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Commentary: The Shame of Proxy Voting in the House of Representatives

Virginia Star Staff

For the first time in history this week, members of the House of Representatives voted without actually being in the chamber. More to the point, they had other members cast their votes for them.

Proxy voting, as it is known, was an extraordinary change to the House rules jammed through alongside Nancy Pelosi’s $4 trillion COVID-19 “relief” package, and it allows Members to delegate their voting responsibility – the one they fought so hard in an election to obtain – to another Member.

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Jake Tapper’s Attempt to Blame ‘Far Right Groups’ for Protest Violence Fizzles with Trump’s National Security Advisor

Virginia Star Staff

On CNN Sunday morning, after several nights of antifa and Black Lives Matter-fueled violence in multiple American cities, anchor Jake Tapper asked President Trump’s national security advisor if white supremacists were using the unrest to start a race war.

“What can you tell us about any of the far-right groups that might be trying to use this as a predicate to prompt a race war as Vice News reported?” Tapper asked NSC advisor Robert O’Brien.

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PBS Pulls Film Linked to Chinese Foreign Agent Over Editorial Concerns

Virginia Star Staff

PBS has pulled a documentary produced in association with a Chinese foreign agent over concerns that it did not meet the federally-funded media outlet’s editorial standards.

PBS SoCal, a PBS affiliate that co-produced the film “Voices from the Frontline: China’s War on Poverty,” is also conducting an internal review of the funding for the documentary, the organization said in a statement.

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North Carolina Asks for More Details on Republican National Convention’s Safety Plan

Virginia Star Staff

 North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mandy Cohen asked Republican National Convention organizers Friday for more details about their safety plan to carry out the event in Charlotte.

The Republican National Committee sent a list of proposed safety protocols for the GOP convention Thursday. Cohen responded Friday with a list of follow-up questions that fall under the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance.

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Top FBI Lawyer Who Authorized Carter Page Surveillance Forced to Resign

Virginia Star Staff

The FBI lawyer who signed a surveillance order against former Trump aide Carter Page that the Justice Department has deemed invalid submitted his resignation on Friday, the FBI said.

Dana Boente, the FBI general counsel, has recently come under scrutiny over his role in the various investigations against former Trump advisers, including Michael Flynn and Carter Page.

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Sen Ron Johnson Considers Subpoenas for Clinton Cronies Who Peddled a Second Trump Dossier

Virginia Star Staff

Sen. Ron Johnson, the Republican chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, is weighing subpoenas for two longtime Hillary Clinton associates who peddled a dossier of allegations about Donald Trump that mirrored those in the infamous report compiled by Christopher Steele.

Johnson seeks documents and testimony from Sidney Blumenthal and Cody Shearer, the two Clinton cronies, and 33 other witnesses as part of a sprawling probe of the FBI, State Department and other agencies.

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Ellison Says Black People in Minneapolis Have Reason to Fear and Distrust Local Police, Claims MPD Has ‘Endemic Problem’

Anthony Gockowski

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said during an interview Sunday morning that he believes African-Americans in Minneapolis have reason to distrust and fear their local police.

“Sadly, yes. There is a history that has been repeated time and time again. I want to say that many officers are great people. I know so many of them and I think the chief is an extraordinary person, and the mayor and the council deserve a lot of credit for appointing Mr. Arradondo, but it is an endemic problem in the Minneapolis Police Department,” Ellison said on Fox News Sunday.

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