Trump Pardons Hammond Ranchers

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By NPR. President Trump signed full pardons on Tuesday for Oregon cattle ranchers Dwight Hammond Jr. and son Steven Hammond, whose long-running dispute with the federal government ended with prison sentences for arson — and later inspired the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge occupation.

In its statement announcing the pardon, the White House said, “The Hammonds are devoted family men, respected contributors to their local community, and have widespread support from their neighbors, local law enforcement, and farmers and ranchers across the West.”

It added: “Dwight Hammond is now 76 years old and has served approximately three years in prison. Steven Hammond is 49 and has served approximately four years in prison. They have also paid $400,000 to the United States to settle a related civil suit.” (Read more from “Trump Pardons Hammond Ranchers” HERE)

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Oregon Ranchers Pardoned by Trump Arrive Home

By CBS News. Father and son ranchers, who were the focus of a battle about public lands and were freed from prison after receiving a presidential pardon, were welcomed home Wednesday in Oregon by relatives and horseback riders carrying American flags. A crowd of 100 people, including supporters who drove from all over the West Coast, also helped welcome the Hammonds home — proudly displaying Americans flags on their trucks and signs praising President Trump, CBS Portland affiliate KOIN reports.

“We’re going to do a lot of decompressing and get back to our families,” Steven Hammond told reporters and well-wishers after he and his father Dwight stepped from a private jet and into the arms of family members in the high-desert town of Burns.

Just 25 miles away is Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, which was taken over in 2016 by armed protesters angered by the five-year prison sentences given to the Hammonds after they were convicted of setting fires on federal land. The standoff lasted 41 days, ending when occupation leaders Ammon and Ryan Bundy were arrested and LaVoy Finicum was killed by authorities.

The occupiers, who believe federal control of public lands violates the Constitution, insisted the Hammonds were victimized by federal overreach. (Read more from “Oregon Ranchers Pardoned by Trump Arrive Home” HERE)

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This Question Was Palin’s ‘Last Straw’ During Mock Interview With Comedian

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Sarah Palin recently revealed she was “duped” by actor Sacha Baron Cohen, who disguised himself as a disabled U.S. veteran to interview her for his upcoming Showtime series, Who Is America?.

And a source tells PEOPLE that the former Alaska governor, 54, walked out of the prank interview after the disguised Cohen asked her a “horrible” question about Chelsea Clinton.

The interview, which taped in November 2017, was booked through a speaker’s bureau that was working with the former Republican vice-presidential candidate at the time. “The request was very sophisticated and looked legit,” the source says.

“All of it was obnoxious, but I think the last straw was when the interviewer asked about what he claimed was a government-funded sex-change operation for Chelsea Clinton,” the source says. “Cohen was trying to get Governor Palin to say something homophobic and hateful. She takes it personally when anyone goes after the children and families of politicians. She just thought, ‘What a horrible thing.’ She was particularly incensed about that.” . . .

Palin previously shared that she and her daughter were asked to travel across the country for the interview, where she claimed Cohen had “heavily disguised himself as a disabled US Veteran, fake wheelchair and all.” (Read more from “This Question Was Palin’s ‘Last Straw’ During Mock Interview With Comedian” HERE)

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CNN Hammers Facebook for Its Continued Promotion of Alex Jones

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Facebook officials struggled on Wednesday to explain why it permits InfoWars, a media organization that is one of the world’s leading purveyors of conspiracy theories, to have a page on its platform.

The company’s failure to produce a satisfactory answer on the matter came at an event Facebook organized in its Manhattan offices where the company aimed to tout its commitment to combating fake news and misinformation.

After a short presentation showcasing Facebook’s efforts to fight misinformation, John Hegeman, the head of Facebook’s News Feed, and Sara Su, a Facebook product specialist for News Feed, took questions from reporters.

When asked by this reporter how the company could claim it was serious about tackling the problem of misinformation online while simultaneously allowing InfoWars to maintain a page with nearly one million followers on its website, Hegeman said that the company does not “take down false news.” (Read more from “CNN Hammers Facebook for Its Continued Promotion of Alex Jones” HERE)

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Stormy Daniels Arrested While ‘Working’

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Stormy Daniels, the porn star who claims to have had an affair with President Donald Trump, was arrested late Wednesday while performing at a strip club in Columbus, Ohio, her lawyer told Fox News.

Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, has said she had sex with Trump in 2006 when he was married, which Trump has denied. She’s suing Trump and his former longtime personal lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen and seeking to invalidate a nondisclosure agreement that she signed days before the 2016 presidential election.

Columbus police did not confirm the arrest to Fox News. The strip club where she was scheduled to perform, Sirens, also did not indicate any arrest was made. . .

Daniels’ lawyer, Michael Avenatti, wrote in a follow-up tweet that she was arrested for “allegedly allowing a customer to touch her while on stage in a non sexual manner.” . . .

“Are you kidding me? They are devoting law enforcement resources to sting operations for this? There has to be higher priorities,” he wrote.“This was a setup & politically motivated,” he said. “It reeks of desperation. We will fight all bogus charges.” (Editor’s note: Columbus prosecutors have since dismissed charges against Stormy Daniels)

(Read more from “Stormy Daniels Arrested While ‘Working'” HERE)

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Trump Breaks NATO: Leaders Pledge ‘Unwavering Commitment’ to Boost Defense Spending

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By The Daily Wire. Leaders of member nations that belong to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) pledged their “unwavering commitment” to increasing their defense funding of the organization after President Donald Trump slammed the group for treating the United States unfairly.

The commitment from European leaders came after Trump publicly embarrassed NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg during a meeting early on Wednesday morning. . .

“So, we’re protecting Germany, we’re protecting France, we’re protecting all of these countries,” Trump said. “And then numerous of the countries go out and make a pipeline deal with Russia where they’re paying billions of dollars into the coffers of Russia. So, we are supposed to protect you against Russia.”

“You tell me if that is appropriate.” Trump continued. “This has been going on for decades. This has been brought up by other presidents, but other presidents never did anything about it.” (Read more from “Trump Breaks NATO: Leaders Pledge ‘Unwavering Commitment’ to Boost Defense Spending” HERE)

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NATO Pledges to Boost Defense Spending After Stern Words From Trump

By Fox News. . .The U.S. and European allies signed a declaration stating they are “committed to improving the balance of sharing the costs and responsibilities of alliance membership.”

The declaration comes after confrontational and testy discussions between Trump and other NATO leaders.

Since the election, Trump has criticized NATO countries for not paying their fair share, while suggesting he would only come to the defense of NATO nations that fulfilled their financial obligation.

Trump also has pressed NATO countries to fulfill their goal of spending 2 percent of their gross domestic products on defense by 2024. NATO estimates that 15 members, or just over half, will meet that benchmark based on current trends. . .

Via Twitter, he called for members to meet the 2 percent commitment immediately. And in a statement Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said Trump, at the summit, “suggested that countries not only meet their commitment of 2 percent of their GDP on defense spending, but that they increase it to 4 percent. Trump wants to see our allies share more of the burden and at a very minimum meet their already stated obligations.” (Read more from “NATO Pledges to Boost Defense Spending After Stern Words From Trump” HERE)

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Republicans Hide Obamacare Bailout Inside Health Savings Accounts Bill

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. . .Multiple Capitol Hill sources confirmed to me on Wednesday morning that the House Ways and Means Committee’s markup of health savings account (HSA)-related legislation later in the day comes with a potential ulterior motive: Committee and leadership staff want to resurrect this spring’s failed Obamacare “stability” legislation—and see the HSA provisions as a way to do so.

When former senator Rick Santorum (R-PA) talked about the problems “if we don’t fix Obamacare” at an event a few weeks ago, he hit the nail on the head. After running for four straight election cycles on repealing Obamacare, House leaders now seem hellbent on propping it up to save themselves from political attacks. . .

The leadership gambit seems simple: with the HSA provisions, placate conservatives who (rightly) don’t want to bail out Obamacare, and allow the package to pass the House solely with Republican votes—because Democrats likely won’t vote to support any “stability” legislation imposing robust pro-life protections. With Democrats intending to make Obamacare premium increases an issue in the November elections, House leaders think the vote would inoculate vulnerable Republicans from political attacks by the Left.

But a “stability” vote would demoralize the Right, by showing how completely Republicans have caved on their repeal promises. It would also set a horrible precedent, officially declaring Obamacare “too big to fail,” which would put taxpayers on the hook for an ever-increasing flow of bailout funds.

That flow would soon vastly overwhelm any small amount of HSA incentives that conservatives received in exchange for their vote. Eventually, lawmakers would run out of other people’s money to spend propping up Obamacare. (Read more from “Republicans Hide Obamacare Bailout Inside Health Savings Accounts Bill” HERE)

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Here’s Why Abolishing ICE Is a Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Idea

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The Left has a new crusade: pushing to abolish Immigration and Customs Enforcement. It’s not because all federal bureaucracies are wasteful, incompetent, and inefficient, a claim that besides surely being true is appealing across the political spectrum. They claim the agency is a “deportation force” ripping families apart.

Erasing the country’s ability to vet who comes into our country is not just being embraced by the radicals of the so-called “resistance,” but increasingly by Democratic Party politicians. The stance was largely confined to the op-ed pages of left-wing and libertarian publications until U.S. senator and likely 2020 presidential candidate Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) supported it. . .

But the demands for abolishing ICE are not about limiting government corruption through reducing its size. Merely eliminating the agency would make America less safe and put the American people at risk. If if another organization merely replaces it instead, that would ultimately accomplish nothing. It would be an expensive symbolic gesture.Either one would also create an incentive to increase illegal immigration. . .

ICE was created in 2003 in the wake of the 9/11 attacks as a part of the Department of Homeland Security, taking over from the Immigration and Naturalization Service. INS failed to catch five of the nine 9/11 hijackers who overstayed their visas. ICE was created because the INS had proved ineffective at enforcing immigration laws.

ICE incorporated the internal enforcement powers of INS and the investigative and intelligence services of the U.S. Customs Service. It has two departments, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO). HSI focuses on things such as arms smuggling, drug trafficking, and other crimes. Here’s an example of some of their work:

(Read more from “Here’s Why Abolishing ICE Is a Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Idea” HERE)

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Court Request From Special Counsel Mueller Hints at Future of Russian Investigation

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A request made from special counsel Robert Mueller in court Wednesday provided a hint of the future of his investigations into Russian election interference and alleged collusion.

While many Republican allies of the president are demanding that Mueller wrap up his investigation, the special counsel requested a hundred more “blank subpoenas” from a federal court in Virginia Wednesday. . .

Recipients of the subpoenas would be expected to appear in a U.S. District Court in Alexandria on July 25 – the date of the beginning of the trial for former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort.

Manafort has been charged with numerous criminal counts including tax evasion and bank fraud, but those that have been made public appear to have been committed before his time as then-candidate Donald Trump’s campaign manager.

Mueller’s investigation has come under attack by those who claim that recent revelations about the bias of certain FBI officials prove that the probe into collusion and interference was politically motivated to damage Trump. (Read more from “Court Request From Special Counsel Mueller Hints at Future of Russian Investigation” HERE)

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Shocking: 22 Sixth-Grade Girls Strip-Searched in U.S. Middle School

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The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has reversed an earlier dismissal of a case involving 22 sixth-grade girls who were allegedly strip-searched down to their bras and underwear after $50 went missing on a school field trip.

According to the suit, the assistant principal at the Lanier Middle School in Houston, Texas, forced a group of 22 girls in a sixth-grade choir class to be strip-searched when $50 went missing . . .

When an initial search did not uncover the missing money, a school police officer suggested “that girls like to hide things in their bras and panties.” The assistant principal then directed the school nurse to “check around the waistband of [their] panties,” and “loosen their bras.” . . .

During a sixth-grade choir class, an assistant principal allegedly ordered a mass, suspicionless strip search of the underwear of twenty-two preteen girls. All agree the search violated the girls’ constitutional rights under Texas and federal law. Even so, the district court dismissed the girls’ lawsuit against the school district for failure to state a claim. We reverse.

For purposes of this appeal, we take as true the amended complaint’s factual allegations. Those allegations describe how $50 went missing during a sixth-grade choir class at Houston’s public Lanier Middle School. Assistant Principal Verlinda Higgins was brought in to investigate. When no money turned up, the school police officer “suggested that girls like to hide things in their bras and panties.” Higgins took all twenty-two girls in the choir class to the female school nurse, who strip searched them, taking them one at a time into a bathroom, where she “check[ed] around the waistband of [their] panties,” loosened their bras, and checked “under their shirts.” The girls “were made to lift their shirts so they were exposed from the shoulder to the waist.” No parents were notified, despite the girls’ requests. No money was found.

(Read more from “Shocking: 22 Sixth-Grade Girls Strip-Searched in U.S. Middle School” HERE)

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Judge Denies Transgender Teen’s Name Change Request – Parents Appealing

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The parents of an Ohio teenager are appealing a court’s decision to deny their transgender “son” a legal name change. . .

Kylen and Leigh Whitaker requested last month that their 15-year-old’s name be officially changed from Heidi to Elliott. Warren County Probate Judge Joseph Kirby declined the request, saying, “Whether [the teen] is experiencing Gender Dysphoria or is just not comfortable with her body is something that only time will reveal. . .

“Age. Develop. Mature,” Kirby further wrote in his decision, reasoning that, “Adolescence is a time of fevered exploration. The Court is sympathetic to the parents of the child and their desire to assuage their child. In essence, the Court isn’t saying ‘no’ to the name change. The Court is simply saying ‘not yet.’” . . .

The Whitakers insist that both they and Elliott are comfortable with formally changing the teen’s name to the preferred moniker. Elliott has been in therapy at Children’s Hospital Medical Center’s transgender clinic since announcing the transition to his parents a year ago.

Leigh said, “We did a lot of therapy to make sure that this was something that was real.” Kylen added, “The judge met with us for 15 to 20 minutes and then decided that he knew better than the parents and the doctors and our child. We just don’t feel that’s right.” (Read more from “Judge Denies Transgender Teen’s Name Change Request – Parents Appealing” HERE)

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