DEVELOPING STORY: Dozens Killed in France, Over 100 Wounded

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By Steve Almasy. A long white truck ran into a crowd of people in Nice, France, on Bastille Day, killing “probably” 30 people and injuring 100 more, a local prefecture official told CNN.

One witness, an American who was about 15 feet from the truck, said the driver pointed his tractor trailer into the crowd, mowing bodies over. The witness said the driver accelerated as he hit those bodies.

There was gunfire, he said. A CNN affiliate in France, BFM-TV, reported police exchanged gunfire with people in the truck. (Read more from “Dozens Killed in France” HERE)

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Official: Dozens dead after truck hits crowd in Nice, France

By FoxNews.com. DEVELOPING: A large truck drove into a crowd of people who had gathered for a Bastille Day fireworks show Thursday in the southern French city of Nice, killing at least 30 people and injuring 100 more in an apparent terror attack, officials said.

A police official told France’s BFM TV that the driver of the truck was also dead. A witness, Wassim Bouhlel, told the Associated Press that he saw the truck drive into the crowd, then witnessed the driver emerge with a gun and start shooting.

“There was carnage on the road,” Bouhlel said. “Bodies everywhere” . . .

The Nice-Matin newspaper quoted one of its reporters as saying the truck driver “mounted onto the Prom and he drove on everyone.” The reporter added, “people are running, it’s panic.” (Read more from this story, “Dozens Killed in France,” HERE)

FBI Agents Irked at Unusual Actions in Clinton Email Probe, See ‘Inside Deal’

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The words “inside deal” are being used by FBI sources as they discuss the agency’s conclusion not to seek prosecution against Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton for her use of a private, unsecure email server to handle classified material.

The New York Post on Wednesday reported that current and former FBI agents said it was highly unusual that agents who were part of the yearlong probe into Clinton’s emails were required by the agency to sign something called a “Case Briefing Acknowledgment” form that, in essence, prevents them from publicly disclosing what they found out about Clinton’s emails.

“This is very, very unusual. I’ve never signed one, never circulated one to others,” said one retired FBI chief.

A current FBI agent agreed. “I have never heard of such a form. Sounds strange,” the agent said.

The Post also quoted agents expressing “disappointment” over the decision not to press charges against Clinton. In announcing the decision, FBI Director James Comey said, “To be clear, this is not to suggest that in similar circumstances, a person who engaged in this activity would face no consequences. To the contrary, those individuals are often subject to security or administrative sanctions.”

“FBI agents believe there was an inside deal put in place after the Loretta Lynch/Bill Clinton tarmac meeting,” one source told The Post.

The week before the FBI announced its decision, Lynch and former President Bill Clinton had a clandestine meeting on her plane at the Phoenix airport. The meeting was widely assailed as a conflict of interest. Hillary Clinton has reportedly expressed an interest in keeping Lynch in her job if Clinton wins the presidential election. (For more from the author of “FBI Agents Irked at Unusual Actions in Clinton Email Probe, See ‘Inside Deal'” please click HERE)

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The 5 Bills House Conservatives Plan to Push Before Election

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Protecting religious liberties, keeping Americans secure from foreign and domestic threats, and holding government accountable are the goals of the House Freedom Caucus for 2016.

The members of the Freedom Caucus held a press conference Wednesday to unveil their policy priorities. Five bills were at the forefront of the proposal.

Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, chairman of the Freedom Caucus, said the five bills are specific priorities that can be passed before the presidential election and reflect what the American people want.

“So to the American people, we say we hear you,” Jordan said. “We want to spend more time on legislation that will restore and protect your freedoms, and we do have time to take action this fall. And the House Freedom Caucus is committed to doing so.”

Here is a recap of each bill:

First Amendment Defense Act

Introduced almost a year ago, the First Amendment Defense Act aims to protect individuals and organizations who hold traditional views about marriage. A hearing was held Tuesday on the bill in the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

Rep. Raúl Labrador, R-Idaho, sponsored the legislation that would prevent those with traditional views of marriage from being denied federal grants and loans, tax-exempt status, or from being fired from the federal government.

“This bill does not alter anything or modify any civil rights protections or negate any federal anti-discrimination laws,” Labrador said at the press conference. “It’s really important to read the bill. A lot of the testimony yesterday in committee was refuted just by a simple reading of the bill.”

Welfare Reform and Upward Mobility Act

Introduced in May, the Welfare Reform and Upward Mobility Act has three main goals: “to help individuals receiving assistance under means-tested welfare programs obtain self-sufficiency, to provide information on total spending on means-tested welfare programs, [and] to provide an overall spending limit on means-tested welfare programs.”

Jordan sponsored the bill, but Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., discussed it at the press conference Wednesday.

“Consistently, I have found from even the most liberal to the most conservatives, there is a real desire to make sure that we provide the needs for those who are truly needy,” Meadows said. “But also, there is a real desire to hold those accountable who take advantage of the situation.”

Agency Accountability Act

Sponsored by Rep. Gary Palmer, R-Ala., the Agency Accountability Act would require all federal agencies—except for the the U.S. Postal Service and Patent and Trademark Office—that collect money directly through fines, fees, penalties, or settlements to deposit that money in the general fund of the U.S. Treasury.

Palmer called it a “step toward restoring constitutional government,” as Article 1, Section 9, of the Constitution says money can only be drawn from the Treasury by an appropriation of Congress.

Resettlement Accountability National Security Act

The Resettlement Accountability National Security Act would suspend the admission of refugees into the United States until Congress passes a joint resolution that gives the secretary of Homeland Security the authority to continue to admit refugees.

Sponsored by Rep. Brian Babin, R-Texas, the act would also require the comptroller general to submit a report examining the costs of providing benefits to refugees. The report would have to be submitted within 90 days after the bill passes into law and would look at data over the last 10 years.

The bill was introduced last year and has been referred to the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration and Border Security.

Conscience Protection Act

Originally introduced as the Abortion Non-Discrimination Act in 2011, the Conscience Protection Act is intended to prevent discrimination against providers of health services who decline involvement in abortion.

As an example, the bill, which the House passed Wednesday, mentions how California’s Department of Managed Health Care requires coverage for all elective abortions in all health plans. Despite members of Congress having questioned the Department of Health and Human Services surrounding California’s decision, the issue has not been resolved. The bill would address this and similar issues.

“Remember, the majority of Americans today are pro-life,” Rep. John Fleming, R-La., said at the press conference. “But even a greater majority believe that even if it is a woman’s choice, that they shouldn’t be forced to participate or to fund what is someone else’s choice in taking the life of a preborn human being.” (For more from the author of “The 5 Bills House Conservatives Plan to Push Before Election” please click HERE)

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Cop Accused of Trading Favors for Sex Invokes ‘Hillary Defense’

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A lawyer for one of the NYPD cops accused of doing favors for bribes — including mile-high sex with this hooker on a free trip to Las Vegas — said his client’s behavior was no worse than Hillary Clinton’s.

“It’s similar to what the FBI said about Hillary Clinton, and why she wasn’t charged,” said John Meringolo, a lawyer for James Grant, who pleaded not guilty in Manhattan federal court Wednesday.

“She was unaware she was committing a crime. Here, there is no crime whatsoever.”

Meringolo described his client’s alleged actions — swapping police favors for expensive gifts like the wild trip with prostitute Gabi Grecko — as mere violations of police conduct. (Read more from “Cop Accused of Trading Favors for Sex Invokes ‘Hillary Defense'” HERE)

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Look Who’s Targeting Target’s Restrooms

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It’s another case of creepy peepers snooping on women and girls in Target: A man named Sean Patrick Smith who identifies as a woman by the name of Shauna Patricia Smith was arrested on charges tied to taking photographs of women inside a dressing room at a Target retail store in Ammon, Idaho.

Target, which recently opened its bathrooms and dressing rooms to both genders, allowing users to visit the facility that most corresponded with their chosen sex – so men could use women’s facilities, and vice versa – has caused widespread outrage among shoppers. The American Family Association, for example, launched a petition signed by more than 1.3 million demanding a reversal of the open-door policy. Shareholders concerned about falling stock prices confronted CEO Brian Cornell at a June meeting in California and asked him to consider a return to single-sex bathrooms, as WND previously reported.

And Franklin Graham, president of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, issued a scathing criticism of Target over what he called a policy that “encourages sexual predators and puts women and children in danger,” as WND reported.

Graham’s prediction seems to have come to pass.

Smith, a 46-year-old Idaho Falls man, was booked into the Bonneville County Jail on a felony count of voyeurism after a woman reported to deputies how a man, dressed in women’s clothing, entered the female dressing room at Target and started snapping pictures. East Idaho News reported he took pictures of the woman in the stall next to his, while she was changing. (Read more from “Look Who’s Targeting Target’s Restrooms” HERE)

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PUZZLING DISMISSAL: Still Unclear Why Dallas Gunman Was Honorably Discharged From US Military

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Almost a week after the Dallas sniper attacks, it’s still unclear how the gunman obtained an honorable discharge from the military even though Army officials sent him home from Afghanistan with a recommendation that he be thrown out of the armed forces.

An attorney appointed by the military to represent Micah Johnson in a sexual harassment case speculated last week that Johnson’s behavioral record could be more serious. The attorney says he’s now under strict orders not to discuss the matter with reporters.

Johnson, 25, served in the Army Reserve for six years before the July 7 sniper attack, which killed five Dallas police officers. (Read more from “PUZZLING DISMISSAL: Still Unclear Why Dallas Gunman Was Honorably Discharged From US Military” HERE)

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‘God’s Not Dead 2’ Billboard Nixed at GOP Convention After Being Called “Incendiary”

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Attendees arriving in Cleveland for the Republican National Convention next week will be greeted by a giant billboard with President Ronald Reagan’s image, quoting him saying, “We establish no religion in this country.” The sign was purchased by an atheist group called the Freedom From Religion Foundation.

What convention attendees won’t see, though, is an even larger sign with a pro-religion message that would have advertised the DVD release of God’s Not Dead 2. That’s because, after two months of back-and-forth with the movie’s distributor, the billboard company, Orange Barrel Media, may have deemed the Christian-sounding messaging needlessly provocative.

The sign, which would have measured 32 feet by 60 feet, would have draped down one side of a large building in downtown Cleveland and was to feature a picture of Melissa Joan Hart, who plays a teacher in trouble for invoking scripture in the classroom. Alongside the image of the actress was the text: “I’d rather stand with God and be judged by the world than stand with the world and be judged by God.”

Orange Barrel told Pure Flix, the distributor, it didn’t like the “judged by God” message, calling it “too political” and “way too incendiary,” according to emails obtained by The Hollywood Reporter. On another occasion, insiders said the billboard company complained that even the title of the film was considered problematic.

Early on, Orange Barrel cited Republican National Committee rules barring “scandalous” signage, though Pure Flix argued that the RNC would have no problem with their message, especially since former GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee is in the movie. In fact, the GOP has partnered with Pure Flix for a worship service the night prior to the start of the convention, followed by a screening of the movie (with food provided by Chick-fil-A). (Read more from “‘God’s Not Dead 2’ Billboard Nixed at GOP Convention After Being Called “Incendiary” please click HERE)

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PA Senate Committee Approves Bill Banning Abortion After 20 Weeks

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A Pennsylvania Senate judiciary committee passed a bill Tuesday that would ban abortions after 20 weeks of gestation.

The bill passed the committee in a 9-5 vote, reports Philadelphia magazine. All Republicans on the committee voted for it, while all the Democrats voted against it. The bill already passed the House with a 132-65 vote.

HB 1948 would ban abortions after 20 weeks of gestation, unless the woman’s life is in danger or the doctor believes that major bodily harm will come to the woman if an abortion is not performed.

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf stated that he would veto the bill should it reach his desk.

“This legislation would be a step backwards for women and for Pennsylvania,” Wolf said. “I urge the Senate to reject this bill. If this legislation reaches my desk, I will veto it. This is a bad bill for Pennsylvania and we cannot afford to allow it to go forward.”

The bill also restricts abortions performed on married women. A married women can only receive an abortion if she can provide a written statement proving her husband is aware of the procedure. If a married woman proves that her husband is not the father of the child, or she cannot find her husband or she has been a victim of sexual assault, then she can get an abortion.

The bill also bans dismemberment abortions, in which the doctor pulls the unborn baby limb from limb out of the womb using a forceps or scissors.

“In a dismemberment abortion, fully-formed babies are brutally torn apart limb from limb,” Maria Gallagher, legislative director of the Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation, told LifeSiteNews.

“In the state that’s leading the way for dramatic, life-preserving surgeries for the smallest lives, we’re going to end the inhumane practice of dismemberment abortions, which tears a living human being to pieces. We can do better than that, and Pennsylvania’s women and girls deserve better,” Representative Kathy Rapp,the bill’s sponsor, said in a video message. (For more from the author of “PA Senate Committee Approves Bill Banning Abortion After 20 Weeks” please click HERE)

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The Freddie Gray Cop Trials: Mosby Grossly Overcharged, Is Getting Nada

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Six Maryland police officers may indeed have erred in their treatment of Freddie Gray after they arrested him. But so far they are all getting off, in large part because State Attorney Marilyn Mosby grossly overcharged them in order to score political points with her fellow Democrats and Black Lives Matter.

When the charges were announced on May 1 of last year, noted lawyer Alan Dershowitz declared that “This is a show trial. Today had nothing to do with justice. Today was crowd control. Everything today was motivated by a threat of riots and a desire to prevent riots.”

He rejected the charges. “There’s no plausible, hypothetical, conceivable case for murder under the facts as we now know them,” he said. “You might say that conceivably there’s a case for manslaughter. Plainly nobody wanted this guy to die. Nobody set out to kill him. Nobody intentionally murdered him.”

The Story

Gray, a 25-year-old black male with a lengthy criminal history, started running away when he saw Baltimore police officers. The six officers arrested him, which they said they were required to do in that high-crime area. They found a switchblade on him, and included that as an additional reason for the arrest. It is disputed whether the switchblade was illegal.

He was put in a police van and allegedly given a “rough ride” designed to bang him around the inside of the van. He was not put in a seatbelt as departmental policy requires. When the van arrived at the police station, Gray fell into a coma and later died of injuries to his spinal cord. Riots engulfed Baltimore for several days afterward.

There was reason to believe the charge. The Baltimore Sun reported that at least two people have won lawsuits against the city for rough rides, as a result of becoming paraplegics. A former Baltimore police officer testified during one of the paraplegics’ lawsuits that rough rides do occur. Charles J. Key said that police vans are deliberately “driven to cause ‘injury or pain’ to unbuckled, handcuffed detainees.” The practice was referred to as “bringing them up front,” he testified; the van driver would slam on the brakes to slam the detainee up against the cage behind the driver’s seat.

State Attorney Marilyn Mosby accused the police of racism and brought severe charges against all six officers — even though three, including the driver, are black. So far three, including the driver, have been acquitted. Judge Barry G. Williams stated that he did not find any concrete evidence Gray had been given a rough ride.

Investigators initially determined that Gray’s fatal injuries were caused by the van ride. There were reports he had pre-existing injuries due to prior back surgeries, but the evidence is conflicting.

The van made three stops on the way to the police station. After his arrest, Gray was handcuffed and put into the van. At the first stop, he was placed in leg irons — but still no seatbelt. At the third stop, he was discovered lying on the floor and asking for medical attention, but the officers merely placed him back on the seat, but did not belt him in.

The second prisoner officers picked up along the way has said Gray was intentionally trying to harm himself. Witnesses said he was rocking the van up until the second stop. If true, that could have been prevented had he been placed in a seat belt. But defense attorneys argued that the officers did not put him in a seatbelt because he was struggling with them and that attempting to put an unruly detainee in a seat belt can be dangerous.

Mosby’s Over-Charging

State’s attorney Marilyn Mosby charged the black van driver, Caesar Goodson, with second degree murder, “depraved-heart murder,” manslaughter by vehicle by means of gross negligence, manslaughter by vehicle by means of criminal negligence, and other offenses. She charged the other five officers Goodson was working with too. Sgt. Alicia White was charged with not just involuntary manslaughter but manslaughter. Mosby charged both Lt. Brian Rice and William Porter with involuntary manslaughter, as well as lesser offenses.

As a result of Mosby’s grossly unfair handling of the incident, prosecutors have been unable to get a single conviction yet on any of the officers. Two of the officers were acquitted in bench trials. A third case, Lt. Porter, resulted in a hung jury, so he will be retried. On Tuesday, Judge Williams threw out one of the charges against Lt. Rice. Closing arguments will be heard on Thursday. Officers Alicia White and Garrett Miller have yet to be tried, and have filed motions to dismiss along with Porter.

If Mosby had brought the proper charge of negligence for failing to put a seat belt on Gray against the officers, perhaps they would have been convicted. It means the only likely outcomes are that the officers will be over-punished or, as in this case so far, receive no punishment at all.

“There’s no question she acted irresponsibly,” Dershowitz told the Associated Press after the acquittal. “She acted politically. She acted too quickly, and the public ought to make her pay a price for seeking to distort justice.” (For more from the author of “The Freddie Gray Cop Trials: Mosby Grossly Overcharged, Is Getting Nada” please click HERE)

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Bush Gives Heartfelt Speech at Service for Dallas Officers

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Former President and native Texan George W. Bush gave a somber speech Tuesday at an interfaith ceremony honoring the five Dallas officers murdered last week.

Discussing the recent discord the country is facing, Bush started off by acknowledging how hopeless things can seem, especially in the face of such a horrible tragedy.

“At times, it seems like the forces pulling us apart are stronger than the forces binding us together,” he said. “Argument turns too easily into animosity. Disagreement escalates too quickly into dehumanization.”

However, his speech wasn’t all grim. The former president used the reminder of his time to remind the audience on what it is that truly unites us — American values.

“We have never been held together by blood or background,” he said. “We are bound by things of the spirit, by shared commitments to common ideals. At our best, we practice empathy, imagining ourselves in the lives and circumstances of others.”

His speech was a message of respect and honor for those who wear a badge, and a reminder of the things that make this country great.

“Your loved ones’ time with you was too short. They did not get a chance to properly say goodbye, but they went where duty called,” Bush said. “They defended us, even to the end.”

President Obama’s tone, however, was a bit different. He used his time to discuss race relations, lecturing the attendees, admitting that bias still remains. But he assured Americans that we are “not as divided as we may seem.” (For more from the author of “Bush Gives Heartfelt Speech at Service for Dallas Officers” please click HERE)

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