Crime

Trump Is “Supportive Of Efforts To Improve Federal Background Checks” Says Sarah Sanders

Published

6 years ago

February 19, 2018

President Donald Trump elicited howls of outrage when, during a weekend tweetstorm, he blasted the FBI for being too focused on Russia to prevent the shooting at a high school in Parkland, Fla., which left 17 students dead last week.

In a series of tweets, students at the school blasted the president for selfishly using the tragedy for political purposes and blamed him and the broader Republican Party for resisting gun control laws that might’ve stopped the shooter, who had a history of mental illness, from purchasing the AR-15 assault rifle he used during the attack.

Students at the school and others affected by the shooting are calling on Congress to act to improve gun control restrictions, per the Hill.

And in a shocking reversal, Trump appears to have listened to their comments because the White House is saying it’s “supportive” of stricter background-check requirements, according to NPR.

Trump reportedly spoke with Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, who is co-sponsoring a bill with Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy to tighten federal background check requirements, saying that the White House is “supportive” of strengthening background checks.

News of the White House’s tentative change of heart comes as students are planning a nationwide walkout of students on April 20, the nineteenth anniversary of the Columbine massacre.

“Politicians who sit in their gilded House and Senate seats funded by the NRA telling us nothing could have been done to prevent this, we call B.S,” student Emma Gonzalez said at a rally Saturday.

“They say tougher guns laws do not decrease gun violence. We call B.S.”

Of course, this wouldn’t be the first time Republicans said they were “open” to tighter restrictions on gun ownership or background checks, only to quietly drop their support once the tragedy receded from the news cycle. A bill to ban sales of bump stocks, which the Las Vegas shooter used to convert his assault rifles into essentially fully automatic weapons, quietly died after Republican lawmakers and even the NRA tentatively embraced it in the aftermath of the shooting…

Murphy and Cornyn introduced their bill late last year, according to a Washington Post report published at the time. Though it is narrow in focus, it’s primary aim is to close loopholes and fix lapses that helped enable the shooter who massacred two dozen people at a small Texas church last year to purchase the weapon despite a prior conviction for domestic violence.

The deficiencies of the NICS database have come into sharp focus since that attack. The shooter, Devin Patrick Kelly, was able to legally purchased the weapon because the Air Force never reported his conviction to the background-check system.

Democrats

Joe Biden “The Lemon Lot”!

Published

4 years ago

May 21, 2020

michaelam

Is the deeply flawed and dementia impaired Joe Biden the best the Democrats have to offer?

The Democratic establishment has wholeheartedly gotten behind the former vice president of the United States Joseph Robinette Biden, as the Democratic nominee for President of The United States in 2020. Did they give it a test drive, kick the tires, check the engine or even look up the blue book value? The answer is a resounding NO! Joe Biden was the best of a bad socialist lot. There was a plethora of manufactured cookie cutter candidates. Bernie Sanders seemed the logical choice…..but! Bernie was an Independent who caucused with the Democrats. Bernie openly and proudly professed his affinity for socialism, at least coherently. The painful truth for the Bernie Bros was the Democrat establishment would never let an Independent/ Socialist drive the party off of the electoral cliff of a 2020 national election.

The party turned to Joe Biden to save the day. The best of a bad lot. The former VP with a solid connection to the first Black President of the United States and the all important Black vote. This may be death by a thousand cuts. We already know Joe is a walking, talking, stuttering gaffe machine. His son, brother, son-in-law and others have all profited handsomely from his position and name in big time national politics. He has the Tara Reade debacle. There is the firing of the Ukraine prosecutor who was investigating the corrupt Ukrainian gas company his son Hunter was working for. His team seems to be wisely trying to let Joe out in public view only when absolutely necessary. He has more skeletons in his closet than a thriller video! They say when life gives you lemons, make lemonade. Cheers to the left.

By Michael Ameer

Crime

FISA Warrant For Carter Page Exposes Weak Basis

Published

6 years ago

July 22, 2018

Populist Wire Editorial Board

(Via Zerohedge)

The Saturday release of the FBI’s heavily redacted FISA warrant application for Carter Page reveals that the Obama administration, eager to make a case to spy on a US citizen (and arguably the Trump campaign) cobbled together a combination of facts and innuendo from Page’s business dealings in Russia, several press reports of varying reliability, and of course, the infamous Clinton-funded “Steele Dossier,” which the FBI went to great lengths to justify despite being largely unable to verify its claims.

Perhaps the most concerning takeaway, however, is the stark disconnect between the FBI’s multiple allegations against Page versus the fact that he hasn’t been charged with a single crime after nearly two years of DOJ/FBI investigations.

Once issued, the FISA warrant and its subsequent renewals allowed the Obama administration to better spy on the Trump campaign using a wide investigatory net. As such, the October, 2016 application painted Page in the most criminal light possible, as intended, in order to convince the FISA judge to grant the warrant. It flat out accuses Page of being a Russian spy who was recruited by the Kremlin, which sought to “undermine and influence the outcome of the 2016 U.S. presidential election in violation of U.S. criminal law,” the application reads.

In order to reinforce their argument, the FBI presented various claims from the dossier as facts, such as “The FBI learned that Page met with at least two Russian officials” – when in fact that was simply another unverified claim from the dossier.

(Read More)

Crime

‘Pirate Attacks’ More Common In Caribbean

Published

6 years ago

May 26, 2018

Populist Wire Editorial Board

(Via Zerohedge)

Modern-day pirate attacks in the Caribbean and Latin America are out of control, according to a Wednesday report which found a 163% spike in pirate activity that led to the loss of $948,690 in stolen goods. The report, produced by nonprofit group Oceans Beyond Piracy, found that 59% of the attacks involved robberies on yachts.

“We have observed a significant increase in violent incidents and anchorage crime, particularly in the anchorages of Venezuela and the recent violent incidents off Suriname in the first part of this year,” says Maise Pigeon, the report’s lead author. “Pirate activity in 2017 clearly demonstrates that pirate groups retain their ability to organize and implement attacks against ships transiting the region.”

Pirates have hit waters off the coast of Suriname hard.

In April, at least a dozen fishermen from Guyana went missing or were feared dead following a pirate attack in the area.

Guyana President David Granger called the attack a “massacre.”

And a fishing boat captain was shot dead after his ship was attacked in May. The rest of his crew survived.

The buccaneers also attacked anchorages in Venezuela, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Colombia and St. Lucia. -Marketwatch

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