Major U.S. City Terminates Contract With ICE

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Caving to progressive demands, the city of Philadelphia announced it is ending a major contract with Immigration and Customs Enforcement sharing real-time arrest information. . .

The information, contained in Philadelphia’s Preliminary Arraignment Reporting System (PARS), alerts authorities when new arrests are made, and includes arrestee’s full names, countries of origin, and Social Security numbers. While PARS does not indicate immigration status, Democrats charged that ICE nevertheless abused the database to investigate potential immigration violations.

Anyone who interacts with law enforcement is entered into the database, including those who are arrested, victims and witnesses, with some limits on what ICE officers can view. (FoxNews.com)

“I cannot in good conscience allow the agreement to continue,” Democratic Mayor Jim Kenney, who celebrated the city’s sanctuary status last month, told the Philadelphia Inquirer. “We’re not going to provide them with information so they can go out and round people up.” . . .

[I]n a statement to Fox News, ICE officials reiterated that the agency had not breached its agreement with Philadelphia in any way, including by engaging in racial profiling or accessing information without the city’s approval. They added that they were “deeply disappointed” in the city’s decision, saying the city had not pointed to any specific instances of alleged misconduct by ICE.

(Read more from “Major U.S. City Terminates Contract With ICE” HERE)

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Maxine Waters Responds Defiantly to Trump’s Threat to Shut Down the Government

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Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) responded with scorn and defiance to a tweet from President Donald Trump threatening to shut down the government if his border wall wasn’t funded by Congress. . .

“A shutdown, a government shutdown isn’t good for either party. Nobody looks good when one happens,” said anchor David Gura. “How did you react to what the president tweeted this morning? How real a threat do you think it is we could be facing a government shutdown in the fall?” . . .

“He’s not going to shut down anything,” she claimed. “As a matter of fact, people will remember that he said he was going to build this wall, and he was going to make Mexico pay for the wall. They said they weren’t going to pay for anything.”

“Now he wants the American citizens to pay for this wall,” Waters continued, “American citizens are not going to pay for this wall.”

“He’s not going to shut down the government,” she concluded, “and we are not going to be intimidated by his bluffing and his bullying.”

(Read more from “Maxine Waters Responds Defiantly to Trump’s Threat to Shut Down the Government” HERE)

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Man Steals Border Patrol ATV After Knocking Agent off It With Rock. So Agents Pull out Their Guns.

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By The Blaze. A man reportedly brought a rock to gun fight with Border Patrol agents — and wasn’t terribly successful in the end.

San Diego police said the man — believed to be 19 years old — was stopped by agents in an area known as Spooner’s Mesa near the U.S.-Mexico border around 2:30 a.m. Sunday, KSWB-TV reported.

Police said a fight broke out and an agent was knocked off his ATV with a rock, the station reported, adding that the suspect jumped on the agent’s ATV and took off.

A pursuit ensued but soon ended when the suspect lost control of the ATV, crashed into a fence, and was taken into custody, KSWB reported.

During the incident, at least two agents fired their weapons at the suspect and hit him at least once, the station said. The suspect was taken to a hospital for treatment of a gunshot wound that wasn’t believed to be life-threatening, police told KSWB. (Read more from “Man Steals Border Patrol ATV After Knocking Agent off It With Rock. So Agents Pull out Their Guns.” HERE)

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Border Patrol Shoots Teen Suspected of Throwing Rock, Stealing Agent’s ATV

By Fox 5. A man is accused of hitting a Border Patrol agent with a rock and stealing his ATV before he was shot by agents and arrested near the Tijuana River estuary early Sunday.

The man was taken to a hospital for treatment of a gunshot injury, which was not believed to be life-threatening, police said.

The incident began around 2:30 a.m. in an area known as Spooner’s Mesa, between the US-Mexico border and Monument Road, San Diego police Homicide Captain Thomas Underwood said. “In the course of that contact a fight ensued, and an agent was knocked off his ATV with a rock. The suspect then jumped onto the agent’s ATV and a pursuit ensued where the suspect eventually lost control, crashed and was taken into custody. During the incident at least two border patrol agents fired their weapons at the suspect.” (Read more from “Border Patrol Shoots Teen Suspected of Throwing Rock, Stealing Agent’s ATV” HERE)

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Boy Suffers Horrible Injuries Because of This Online ‘Challenge’ Teens Are Taking

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A fifteen-year-old in Indianapolis, Indiana, suffered painful injuries after his alleged friend poured scalding hot water on him while he slept as a part of the “hot water challenge.” . . .

The “hot water challenge” is a fad among teenagers who record each other pouring boiling water on themselves or others, or trying to drink scalding water through a straw. The absolutely foolish “challenge” has led to terrible and sometimes lethal consequences.

Kyland Clark suffered second degree burns on his back, his chest and face because of the misguided act of his friend.

He says that he and his friend looked up the challenge on the internet and decided to participate. But when he fell asleep, his friend decided to surprise him. . .

Clark was treated for his injuries in the hospital for a week. Doctors say his skin should heal, but it will take several months.

(Read more from “Boy Suffers Horrible Injuries Because of This Online ‘Challenge’ Teens Are Taking” HERE)

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Trump Asked If He Has a ‘Red Line’ on Border Funding — His Response Invokes Obama

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By The Daily Caller. President Trump answered tough questions about his border wall and immigration plan Monday at the White House during a joint press conference with Italian Prime Minister Giuesppe Conte. . .

“Are you saying you would be willing to shut the government down in September if it does not fully fund $25 billion for the border wall and also deliver the immigration priorities that you listed in your tweet? Or are you leaving some room for negotiation there?” [Saagar] Enjeti asked. Earlier Monday, Trump threatened shutting down the government in a tweet:

. . .

As a follow up, Enjeti asked “Is the $25 billion a red line for you?” The Trump administration is requesting $25 billion for the creation of a border wall.

Trump took the opportunity to dunk on his predecessor President Obama in the response.

“I have no red line unlike President Obama. I just want great border security. Okay?” Trump said. (Read more from “Trump Asked If He Has a ‘Red Line’ on Border Funding — His Response Invokes Obama” HERE)

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Trump Praises Italy’s Immigration Policies

By Reuters. U.S. President Donald Trump praised Italy’s increasingly hard-line approach to immigration on Monday, at the start of a meeting with Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte at the White House.

“I agree very much with what you are doing with respect to migration, and illegal immigration, and even legal immigration,” Trump told Conte in the Oval Office. “He has taken a very firm stance on the border, a stance that few countries have taken. And frankly he is doing the right thing in my opinion.”

Conte took office last month promising to bring radical change to Italy, including more generous welfare provision and a crackdown on immigration.

Immigration was a major election issue after an influx of hundreds of thousands of mostly African asylum seekers. Italy has seen more than 650,000 migrants reach its shores since 2014.

Conte has said his government would end “the immigration business.” (Read more from “Trump Praises Italy’s Immigration Policies” HERE)

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Kavanaugh Has His Most Important Meeting yet for the Supreme Court

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Judge Brett Kavanaugh met with Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia for 90 minutes Monday, his first private interview with a Democratic lawmaker since his nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Manchin, who is standing for re-election this November in a state President Donald Trump won by 40 percentage points, pressed the judge on health care, as another challenge to the Affordable Care Act (ACA) advances through federal courts.

“Judge Kavanaugh and I had a productive meeting and talked about his experience, record and a variety of issues that will impact West Virginians, including his views on healthcare,” Manchin said after the interview. He noted another challenge to the ACA is currently advancing through the federal courts, which could imperil insurance coverage for some 800,000 of his constituents with pre-existing conditions.

Kavanaugh’s record with the ACA is somewhat complex. He was openly hostile to the law’s contraception mandate in a 2015 decision, arguing it placed a substantial burden on the rights of religious dissenters. However, in a 2011 opinion he declined to strike the ACA down, instead finding that the case before him should be dismissed for technical reasons.

In arguing for dismissal, Kavanaugh maintained that the ACA’s individual mandate — which requires people to obtain health insurance or pay a penalty — qualified as a tax for purposes of a federal law called the Anti-Injunction Act. One year later, a five-justice majority on the Supreme Court also concluded the mandate was a tax, but on different grounds than Kavanaugh. (Read more from “Kavanaugh Has His Most Important Meeting yet for the Supreme Court” HERE)

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Police Refused to Help ICE Agents Who Called 911

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Portland, Oregon, police refused to respond to at least two 911 emergency calls from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) employees inside their offices where violent protesters held week-long demonstrations.

The National Immigration and Customs Enforcement Council, a union representing ICE employees, wrote a cease-and-desist letter to Mayor Ted Wheeler, asking him to ensure the police enforce the law equally and protect innocent people.

“Your current policy forbidding Portland law enforcement agencies from assisting employees of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency who request law enforcement assistance while at or away from work is a violation of the United States Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause,” the letter says.

Demonstrators, some affiliated with the domestic terrorist organization Antifa, set up a city of tents outside the ICE offices. After setting up camp, they became violent and incited violence several times.

“Every person in law enforcement knows there are few things as dangerous or as unpredictable than an angry mob,”said Chris Crane, president of the national union, WWeek reported Monday. “No one could have responded quickly enough to protect our employees who were trapped inside this building. All of this because the Mayor of Portland has a beef with the president of the United States.” (Read more from “Police Refused to Help ICE Agents Who Called 911, Agents Say” HERE)

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Nunes Sends Ominous Warning About What Was Really Redacted in FISA Documents

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By The Daily Caller. House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes claimed Sunday that the American public will be “shocked” when it sees the remaining blacked out portions of the FBI’s applications for spy warrants against former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.

“We are quite confident that once the American people see these 20 pages, at least for those that will get real reporting on this issue, they will be shocked by what’s in that FISA application,” Nunes said in an interview with Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo.

Nunes’ comments raise expectations about what information remains hidden behind 20-plus pages of the FBI’s fourth and final application for a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant against Page. . .

Nunes and his fellow Republicans on the Intelligence Committee asked President Donald Trump in a June 14 letter to declassify 21 pages from the final FISA application, which was signed by deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.

The unredacted portions of the applications confirmed much of what has already been made public through two memos released earlier this year by Republicans and Democrats on the House Intelligence panel. (Read more from “Nunes Sends Ominous Warning About What Was Really Redacted in FISA Documents” HERE)

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FBI, DOJ Stalling, Hoping GOP Loses House in Midterms, Rep. Nunes Says

By Fox Business. President Trump’s team is likely reviewing requests to declassify parts of the heavily-redacted Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) application used by the FBI to obtain a warrant to surveil former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page during the 2016 election.

“I think his lawyers are looking at this to see if they can declassify it sooner rather than later,” said House Intelligence Committee chair Devin Nunes, R-Calif., during an interview on “Sunday Morning Futures.” “But the sooner this comes out, the better off we all are because what I’ve said is what’s left that’s redacted, the American people really need to know what’s underneath it.”

Nunes, who along with his team sent a letter to the White House in June asking for just 20 pages of the FISA application to be declassified, remarked that he is unsure whether Trump himself has read the committee’s document, but added that Americans “will be shocked by what’s in that FISA application” if they look at the pages that could become declassified. The California Republican said the 20 pages contain the “bulk” of what the committee wants to see, though he wouldn’t be opposed to the release of even more declassified material from the application. (Read more from “FBI, DOJ Stalling, Hoping GOP Loses House in Midterms, Rep. Nunes Says” HERE)

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American Society Would Collapse If It Weren’t for These Myths

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Shouldn’t there be riots in the streets every day? Shouldn’t it all be collapsing? Look outside. The streets aren’t on fire. No one is running naked and screaming (usually). Does it look like everyone’s going to work at gunpoint? No. We’re all choosing to continue on like this.

Why? Well, it comes down to the myths we’ve been sold. Myths that are ingrained in our social programming from birth, deeply entrenched, like an impacted wisdom tooth. These myths are accepted and basically never questioned.

Myth No. 8—We have a democracy. If you think we still have a democracy or a democratic republic, ask yourself this: When was the last time Congress did something that the people of America supported that did not align with corporate interests? … You probably can’t do it. It’s like trying to think of something that rhymes with “orange.” You feel like an answer exists but then slowly realize it doesn’t. Even the Carter Center and former President Jimmy Carter believe that America has been transformed into an oligarchy: A small, corrupt elite control the country with almost no input from the people. The rulers need the myth that we’re a democracy to give us the illusion of control. . .

Myth No. 7—We have an accountable and legitimate voting system. Gerrymandering, voter purging, data mining, broken exit polling, push polling, superdelegates, electoral votes, black-box machines, voter ID suppression, provisional ballots, super PACs, dark money, third parties banished from the debates and two corporate parties that stand for the same pile of fetid crap! . . .

Myth No. 6—We have an independent media that keeps the rulers accountable. Our media outlets are funded by weapons contractors, big pharma, big banks, big oil and big, fat hard-on pills. (Sorry to go hard on hard-on pills, but we can’t get anything resembling hard news because it’s funded by d**ks.) The corporate media’s jobs are to rally for war, cheer for Wall Street and froth at the mouth for consumerism. It’s their mission to actually fortify belief in the myths I’m telling you about right now. Anybody who steps outside that paradigm is treated like they’re standing on a playground wearing nothing but a trench coat. . .

Myth No. 5—We have an independent judiciary. The criminal justice system has become a weapon wielded by the corporate state. This is how bankers can foreclose on millions of homes illegally and see no jail time, but activists often serve jail time for nonviolent civil disobedience. Chris Hedges recently noted, “The most basic constitutional rights … have been erased for many. … Our judicial system, as Ralph Nader has pointed out, has legalized secret law, secret courts, secret evidence, secret budgets and secret prisons in the name of national security.”

(Read more from “American Society Would Collapse If It Weren’t for These Myths” HERE)

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U.S. Cardinal Steps Down Amid Mushrooming Sex Abuse Scandal

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Pope Francis on Saturday accepted the resignation of Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, one of the U.S. Catholic Church’s most prominent figures who has been at the centre of a widening sexual abuse scandal.

McCarrick, 88, the former archbishop of Washington, D.C., is the first cardinal in living memory to lose his red hat and title. Other cardinals who have been disciplined in sexual abuse scandals kept their membership in the College of Cardinals and their honorific “your eminence”.

The allegations against McCarrick, which first surfaced publicly last month, came with Francis facing an image crisis on a second front, in Chile, where a growing abuse scandal has enveloped the Church in the Latin American country. . .

McCarrick’s sudden fall from grace stunned the American Church because he was a widely respected leader for decades and a confidant of popes and presidents. . .

Since then, another minor has come forward with allegations that McCarrick abused him when he was 11 years old, and several men have come forward to allege that McCarrick forced them to sleep with him at a beach house in New Jersey when they were adult seminarians studying for the priesthood. (Read more from “U.S. Cardinal Steps Down Amid Mushrooming Sex Abuse Scandal” HERE)

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