Former Democratic Adviser Has a Proposal to End the Shutdown That Includes Wall Funding, but There’s a Catch

It’s the longest government shutdown in American history. When will it end? Nobody knows. House Democrats and President Trump are not budging from their positions that set off this chain of events. Trump wants $5 billion for a border wall. Democrats don’t want to give him one cent. One side wants to secure our borders, curb illegal immigration, human trafficking, and the transportation of narcotics. The other side doesn’t. For the Left, it’s all about sticking it to Trump. And so, the shutdown drags on. So, what could break the impasse? How about giving Trump everything he wants in terms of border wall funding in exchange for…the Robert Mueller protection bill Democrats, and some Republicans, have been clamoring about? Now, Morley Winograd, a senior policy adviser to former Vice President Al Gore, floated the idea, which for argument’s sake—isn’t necessarily that off base in terms of having a discussion. At the same time, Winograd thinks the shutdown is a way to distract us from the pending Mueller report (via Brookings):

To end the government shutdown, the Democrats should give Trump what he wants—$5 billion for the wall—and insist in return on what the country needs: complete protection of the Mueller investigation and the full public disclosure of its report.

President Trump’s shutdown is nothing more than a shiny bauble to distract the American public from the real threat to the president’s future—Special Counsel Mueller’s investigation and his forthcoming report. The president has insisted that he will not agree to reopen parts of the federal government, even those agencies whose functions have nothing to do with border security unless Congress appropriates $5.7 billion to start fulfilling his most well-known campaign promise to create a wall on the Mexican border. Even as this idea has morphed from Mexico paying for the wall to U.S. taxpayers picking up the tab, and from a concrete barrier to a set of steel slats, Trump has continued to insist his presidency depends on its construction.

There is a simple way to get past Trump’s latest PR stunt and end the government shutdown at the same time.

The House Democrats should pass all the remaining appropriations bills that have passed both the House and the Senate at least once already—but with just a few amendments. The first change would be to add up to $5.7 billion for construction of an effective barrier on the southern border as Trump has insisted upon. The second set of changes would be to insert and amend the current bipartisan Senate bill designed to protect Robert Mueller’s investigation and his ultimate report.

(Read more from “Former Democratic Adviser Has a Proposal to End the Shutdown That Includes Wall Funding, but There’s a Catch” HERE)

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Wow: Here’s Why Democratic Leaders Worked Behind the Scenes to Kill a Censure Vote Against Steve King

Given the multiple concurrent controversies surrounding members of Congress and alleged bigotry, a report from Politico on some behind-the-scenes maneuvering by Democratic leaders this week strikes me as telling. A few days ago, the House of Representatives voted almost unanimously to rebuke Iowa Republican Steve King for comments that appeared to defend white supremacy and white nationalism. King, who has drifted toward nativism while amassing a rap sheet of inflammatory rhetoric, claims that his quote was misunderstood, eventually voting in favor of the resolution that was targeting him. His protestations have evidently failed to convince many within his own party, whose leaders stripped him of committee assignments and strongly condemned him in public. Nevertheless, a number of Democratic members stated publicly that the chamber’s action against King was not robust enough, demanding that he be formally censured. That did not happen. Why not? It turns out that Nancy Pelosi, Steny Hoyer, and James Clyburn worked intensely to avoid it. Their reasoning may surprise you:

House Democratic leaders have quietly rejected a push by rank-and-file members to force a rare and potentially divisive vote on censuring Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), according to multiple Democratic sources. The House moved Wednesday to essentially shelve a grassroots attempt to further punish King for racist remarks that he made to the New York Times this month. If it had succeeded, King could have faced one of the most severe punishments that a lawmaker can receive…behind the scenes, Democratic leaders, led by House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.), were clear about their opposition, according to multiple Democratic lawmakers and aides. “Leadership has been full-court press on not bringing it up,” one Democratic aide said..Clyburn and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), were warning rank-and-file members that going as far as censure could come back to harm Democrats…Privately, Clyburn also warned that it would divide the caucus, or even put vulnerable Democrats at risk.

(Read more from “Wow: Here’s Why Democratic Leaders Worked Behind the Scenes to Kill a Censure Vote Against Steve King” HERE)

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National Emergency? Trump Will Make ‘Major Announcement’ on Border Crisis

Is it coming tomorrow? House Democrats are still holding the line on denying President Trump his border wall. The $5 billion proposal led to the current shutdown, now the longest in American history. Trump wants to at least get part of the border wall built. Democrats are not in a bipartisan mode. They just retook the House on the overarching promise to fight this White House not work with it.

As the two sides dig in, the crisis at the border is worsening. Yes, we do have a crisis on the southern border. The Washington Post and The New York Times reported on it. Former President Barack Obama even said there was a crisis. With another migrant horde setting off for the U.S. border, something has to get done.

(Read more from “National Emergency? Trump Will Make ‘Major Announcement’ on Border Crisis” HERE)

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Prominent Democratic Donor Charged in Teen Sex Abuse Case

Prominent LGBT activist, Democratic donor, and strong supporter of Barack Obama, Terry Bean, was indicted earlier this month on two counts of sodomy and one count of sex abuse against a teenage boy. . .

Fox News details the long and difficult task that prosecutors faced after Bean was first charged with sexual abuse in 2014:

Bean, a gay rights activist who donated almost $70,000 of his own money to former President Barack Obama’s campaign, was charged with sexual abuse in 2014 but the case was dismissed after the alleged victim did not testify. Prosecutors refiled the charges after this, court records stated, according to The Oregonian. The ‘alleged victim is not named in the new indictment’ but the dates are similar to the previous charges, KGW8 noted.

Bean, a real estate developer, and his former boyfriend, Kiah Lawson, allegedly had sex with a 15-year-old boy in a Eugene, Oregon, hotel in September 2013. They allegedly used the app Grindr to arrange the sexual encounter. Lawson was also charged but his case was dismissed.

According to KGW8, Bean continually donated to Democratic politicians after the 2014 charges were dropped, including Portland City Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty and head of the Portland Parks and Recreation Department and Bureau of Environmental Services Nick Fish. While Hardesty declined to comment, Nick Fish said that as long as Bean is presumed innocent, he will not return the donation. (Read more from “Prominent Democratic Donor Charged in Teen Sex Abuse Case” HERE)

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Large Group of Migrants Tunnels Under Arizona Border Wall

Border patrol agents in Arizona this week were overwhelmed after the largest caravan of migrants ever to cross into the United States tunneled beneath the border wall near San Luis, Arizona. According to ABC News, the migrants immediately turned themselves into Customs and Border Protection.

“Migrants can be seen marching toward Border Patrol agents by the hundreds,” reports ABC News. “Smugglers dug a series of seven holes, only a few feet long beneath the steel border fence, with hundreds going beneath the wall and a smaller number clambering over it.”

The migrant group included 376 people, 179 of which were reportedly children, 30 of whom were unaccompanied minors. While the number of illegal crossings has dropped significantly since its peak in 2001, Customs and Border Protection says the demographics of today’s migrants have noticeably changed due to the overwhelming number of parents crossing with children.

“Parents with children now comprise over 80 percent of the total apprehensions of those crossing the 2,000-mile long border with Mexico,” reports ABC News. “The vast majority of them, like the group near Yuma Monday, surrender immediately or seek out Border Patrol agents in order to begin the asylum process.”

One particular case highlighted by ABC News was a man who paid coyotes $5,000 to lead him and his 12-year-old daughter up from Guatemala to the U.S. border, leaving behind his wife and two daughters. The case recalls that of the crying girl in the famous Time photo whose mother also took her from her family via coyotes. (Read more from “Large Group of Migrants Tunnels Under Arizona Border Wall” HERE)

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After Canceling Pelosi’s Trip, Trump Bans ALL Congressional Travel on Government Aircraft Without WH Permission

Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., made a mistake when she tried to troll President Donald Trump by postponing the State of the Union address. You cannot out-troll Donald Trump. It is not physically possible. And Trump continues to prove that with a new order from the White House.

On Friday, the Trump administration acting Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought sent a memo to all heads of executive departments and agencies instructing that members of Congress cannot travel on government aircraft without express permission from the White House.

“Under no circumstances during a government shutdown will any government owned, rented, leased, or chartered aircraft support any Congressional delegation, without the express written approval of the White House Chief of Staff,” the letter states.

So it’s not just Pelosi’s trip that’s been canceled now, but all air travel on government planes by members of Congress.

You cannot out-troll Donald Trump. (For more from the author of “After Canceling Pelosi’s Trip, Trump Bans ALL Congressional Travel on Government Aircraft Without WH Permission” please click HERE)

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BuzzFeed’s Trump-Russia Michael Cohen ‘Bombshell’ Has Massive Holes in It

BuzzFeed’s latest Trump-Russia collusion hit claims that President Trump directed Michael Cohen, his former attorney, to lie to Congress about a prospective building project in Moscow. The felonious allegation has spun the legacy media into a full-on frenzy. It is perhaps the biggest Trump-Russia story since The Guardian published an evidence-free claim (which turned out to be bogus) that short-lived Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort recently met on multiple occasions in London with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

Media pundits, leftist partisans in and out of government, and NeverTrumpers are citing the latest BuzzFeed article as evidence that the president committed a felony in lying to Congress and therefore that impeachment proceedings must begin at once.

It’s time to pump the brakes on that insanity. Here’s why you should take a cautious approach to BuzzFeed’s latest production.

All anonymous sources, no documentary evidence

There is not one on-the-record source. Nor is there a single physical document provided to back up the claims made in the piece. It relies wholly on the spoken word of “two federal law enforcement officials,” who may or may not have a political axe to grind against the president, and documents that may or may not exist. We have to rely entirely on the credibility of not only the reporters who transcribed the claims, but the officials who hide under the cover of anonymity.

“The special counsel’s office learned about Trump’s directive for Cohen to lie to Congress through interviews with multiple witnesses from the Trump Organization and internal company emails, text messages, and a cache of other documents,” the report claims, adding that “Cohen then acknowledged those instructions during his interviews with that office.”

Notably, none of these emails, memos, texts, or documents make it into the story.

Michael Cohen is a serial liar

Much of the BuzzFeed story relies on the apparent claims of Michael Cohen, who will soon be going to jail for his history as a serial criminal fraudster.

Michael Cohen clearly has a serious credibility problem. Last month, he pleaded guilty to defrauding banks and lying to the government about his taxes, resulting in years of upcoming jail time for the former Trump associate. Moreover, one of the president’s current attorneys, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, has accused Michael Cohen of being a “pathological liar.”

When Cohen registered his guilty plea last month, he claimed that his lies were a result of his “blind loyalty” to the president, not that he was told to lie. Cohen never claimed that he was “directed” to lie. If the BuzzFeed article has the truth, then Cohen apparently lied in his guilty plea.

Moreover, the story quotes President Trump telling Michael Cohen to “make it happen” concerning the Moscow project and a personal meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The third-hand “make it happen” quote is sourced to the two anonymous officials, who appear to be relying on complete hearsay from Michael Cohen.

Reporter has admitted to not seeing any of the evidence

In a CNN interview this morning, BuzzFeed reporter Anthony Cormier openly admitted that he has not seen a single piece of evidence to corroborate his report.

Asked whether he had seen any of the evidence put forward in his own report, Cormier replied, “not personally,” but insisted that “the folks we have talked to … are fully, 100 percent read into that aspect of the Special Counsel’s investigation.”

The “Moscow Project” never came close to a reality

The BuzzFeed story insists that “negotiations” over a prospective Trump Tower in Moscow “occupy an important place in Mueller’s investigation, as agents try to learn whether it is connected to the Kremlin’s interference campaign and whom Trump associates were in contact with to close the deal.”

The much-hyped Trump building proposal in Russia was just that – a proposal. Nothing was built. There was no contract signed.

Prior to his presidential run, Donald Trump had long considered bringing his business enterprises to Russia, which is not illegal, nor particularly uncommon for major corporations such as the Trump Organization. BuzzFeed and the Mueller special counsel have attempted to position the “Moscow Project” as a puzzle piece in a conspiracy that proves the president colluded with Russia, when in fact, the project never amounted to anything and there is nothing particularly abnormal about a real estate developer attempting to legally expand his business horizons.

Co-author of story has a fake news past

Jason Leopold, whose name appeared first on the byline of the story, has a serious credibility problem.

The Columbia Journalism Review has documented that Leopold has been “caught making stuff up” on more than one occasion and “had his own memoir cancelled because of concerns over the accuracy of quotations.”

No Trump-Russia collusion evidence has ever emerged

Many in the media are pointing to BuzzFeed’s “scoop” as evidence to sustain their conspiracy theory that President Trump is compromised by the Russian government and that he colluded with Moscow to win the 2016 presidential election.

Not a single piece of evidence has emerged to show that the Russian government impacted a single vote. Putting aside the preposterous collusion allegations, no evidence has surfaced that President Trump has even the most remote personal or business ties to the Russian government.

Not fit for publication

The BuzzFeed story bases its main claims on hearsay and conjecture. The reporters who wrote the piece admitted that they did not see any of the evidence, and there are no on-the-record sources to verify these claims. It also relies on the hearsay of a convicted criminal liar. The piece would not meet the editorial standards for publication at Conservative Review. (For more from the author of “BuzzFeed’s Trump-Russia Michael Cohen ‘Bombshell’ Has Massive Holes in It” please click HERE)

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Southern Poverty Law Center Slapped With Racketeering Suit

The Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) has filed a lawsuit against the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), claiming that SPLC operators Richard Cohen and Heidi Beirich have violated the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) by “falsely designating CIS as a hate group.”

CIS describes itself as “an independent, non-partisan, non-profit, research organization” that “pursue[s[ a single mission – providing immigration policymakers, the academic community, news media, and concerned citizens with reliable information about the social, economic, environmental, security, and fiscal consequences of legal and illegal immigration into the United States.”

The SPLC, on the other hand, describes itself on its website as “dedicated to fighting hate and bigotry and to seeking justice for the most vulnerable members of our society. Using litigation, education, and other forms of advocacy, the SPLC works toward the day when the ideals of equal justice and equal opportunity will be a reality.” . . .

“CIS’s much-touted tagline is ‘low immigration, pro-immigrant,’ but the organization has a decades-long history of circulating racist writers, while also associating with white nationalists,” SPLC continues. . .

“SPLC and its leaders have every right to oppose our work on immigration, but they do not have the right to label us a hate group and suggest we are racists,” (CIS Executive Director Mark) Krikorian said. “The Center for Immigration Studies is fighting back against the SPLC smear campaign and its attempt to stifle debate through intimidation and name-calling.” (Read more from “Southern Poverty Law Center Slapped With Racketeering Suit” HERE)

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Here We Go: Leftists Begin Smearing Young Woman of Color Nominated to Replace Kavanaugh

. . .Undeterred, the Professional Left and the media are again ramping up their smear machine, this time to target President Trump’s nominee to replace Kavanaugh on the influential DC Circuit Court of Appeals. Activists are dredging up some of the well-qualified nominee’s decades-old, college-era writings, and casting them in the most “problematic” light possible, in order to sully her reputation and diminish her (still strong) confirmation prospects. They are thus demonstrating that their attack apparatus is willing to personally impugn anyone with the “wrong” sort of judicial philosophy, whether it be the ‘privileged white male’ who was recently promoted to SCOTUS, or the young woman of color slated to assume his former position on the bench. Philip Klein views this fight as a prelude to the unprecedented rumble that would undoubtedly explode over a potential third Supreme Court vacancy during Trump’s term:

Neomi Rao is a brilliant legal mind and an extremely well-qualified pick to replace Justice Brett Kavanaugh on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. But because she’s a rising star on the Right who has been floated as a potential replacement for Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, she must be destroyed. So it’s natural that the Left is trying to make her the latest victim of character assassination. On Monday, Buzzfeed published a story that dredged up some op-eds Rao wrote as an undergraduate at Yale in the 1990s. My colleague Quin Hillyer already posted on how the story distorted her work to portray it in the worst possible light. But it’s worth also looking at the process behind the article.

Look at the quotes themselves, and you’ll discover that they’re not even remotely disqualifying, though some can be portrayed provocatively. Klein also reviews how lefties launder their opposition research through their partners in the mainstream press:

The story notes that it was the “the liberal advocacy group Alliance for Justice” that “first highlighted Rao’s college writings to BuzzFeed News.” In other words, the story was based on opposition research conducted by a liberal group that is tasked with fighting conservative judicial appointments…With the hit pieces out in the media, Alliance for Justice then issued a press release titled, “Rao’s Writings are Disqualifying,” that claimed the organization had “learned” about the writings, citing media reports. So, to sum up: A liberal group dumped oppo to the media, the media played it up, then the liberal group cited those media reports to proclaim the nominee disqualified.

(Read more from “Here We Go: Leftists Begin Smearing Young Woman of Color Nominated to Replace Kavanaugh” HERE)

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GROUNDED: Nancy Pelosi Tried to Go Overseas During the Shutdown, President Trump Just Killed the Trip

President Trump sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi Thursday afternoon informing her an upcoming taxpayer funded, military escorted trip overseas has been postponed.

“Dear Madame Speaker. Due to the Shutdown, I am sorry to inform you that your trip to Brussels, Egypt, and Afghanistan has been postponed. We will reschedule this seven-day excursion when the Shutdown is over. In light of the 800,000 great American workers not receiving pay, I am sure you would agree that postponing this public relations event it totally appropriate. I also feel that, during this period, it would be better if you were in Washington negotiating with me and joining the Strong Border Security movement to end the Shutdown. Obviously, if you would like to make your journey by flying commercial, that would certainly be your prerogative,” President Trump wrote. . .

The trip was part of a larger congressional delegation through the Department of Defense and President Trump denied her military aircraft. According to Fox News, Pelosi was scheduled to leave at 3 p.m. eastern on Thursday afternoon. The letter was sent at 2:20 p.m. An Air Force bus is currently sitting outside House offices, waiting to take lawmakers to the airport. Many of them are on the bus.

(Read more from “GROUNDED: Nancy Pelosi Tried to Go Overseas During the Shutdown, President Trump Just Killed the Trip” HERE)

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