Jury Finds Eddie Gallagher Not Guilty of Killing ISIS Terrorist

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By Associate Press. A decorated Navy SEAL was found not guilty of murder and attempted murder Tuesday by a military jury in San Diego.

Navy SEAL Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher, 40, was accused of fatally stabbing a young wounded ISIS fighter, posing for a picture with the corpse and shooting two civilians from a sniper’s perch in Iraq in 2017.

Gallagher was found guilty on the charge involving the photo with the corpse. (Read more from “Jury Finds Eddie Gallagher Not Guilty of Killing ISIS Terrorist” HERE)

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SEAL War Crimes Suspect Not Guilty on Murder Charge

By Navy Times. Nine months after he was arrested and charged with murder, attempted murder and a string of other alleged war crimes tied to a 2017 deployment in Iraq, Special Warfare Operator Chief Edward “Eddie” Gallagher walked out of a Naval Base San Diego courtroom, guilty only of appearing in an inappropriate photograph.

Military prosecutors had accused Gallagher, 40, of stabbing to death a seriously wounded Islamic State prisoner of war on May 3, 2017 in a SEAL compound near Mosul, but a military panel composed mostly of combat-tested Marine officers disagreed and found for the chief.

Several junior petty officers in Alpha Platoon, SEAL Team 7 also alleged that he had shot at least two civilians from a sniper perch and later tried to cover up his actions, but the jurors tossed those charges, too. . .

Wearing broad smiles, Gallagher’s legal team led by Timothy Parlatore and Marc L. Mukasey emerged from the courthouse shortly after Navy Times learned of the verdict and announced their victory.

“The jury found him not guilty of the murder, not guilty of the stabbing, not guilty of the shootings, not guilty of all those things,” said Parlatore. “They did find him guilty of taking a photograph with a dead terrorist, which we admitted from the beginning he was in that photograph.” (Read more from “Seal War Crimes Suspect Not Guilty on Murder Charge” HERE)

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Migrants Are Trying to Buy Children to Cross U.S. Border

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U.S. authorities have been warning for over a year now that children are being used and trafficked by prospective illegal immigrants in order to gain access to the American interior. Mexican authorities have now backed up those claims.

A story at the Seattle Times on Sunday details how migrants are trying to literally buy kids off of vulnerable single mothers in Tijuana, Mexico, so they can more easily get across the border. That’s because they know that if they cross the border posing as a “family unit,” they have a much higher probability of being released by authorities.

Now, the report explains, authorities in Tijuana are telling mothers to keep an extra-close watch on their children following reports of men trying to purchase kids.

“They want to rob our kids so they can cross into the United States,” 44-year-old migrant mother Antonia Portillo Cruz told the newspaper. “I can’t go to work because I can’t take my eyes off my boys.”

The migrant from Honduras said she personally witnessed men in the shelter where she’s staying asking to buy children, some of them offering the equivalent of $350. A Mexican police spokesman confirmed the reports to the paper and said that federal authorities are investigating the matter.

This is not a new problem. Government officials warned that catch-and-release loopholes surrounding family units would incentivize kidnappings as early as 2016. In May 2018, numbers from the Department of Homeland Security showed an “eye-popping increase” in such cases. Some children are now being recycled by human smugglers, according to immigration officials.

Meanwhile, a pilot rapid DNA testing program at the border revealed that roughly 30 percent of those suspected of posing as fake family units were indeed defrauding immigration officials.

At a press conference at the border on Monday, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, blamed the ongoing endangerment of children created by such loopholes squarely on Congress’ inaction on fixing the immigration system.

“Our policies, the loopholes that Congress has put in place, [are] encouraging people to risk their lives and even more tragically, it’s putting children in harm’s way,” Sen. Cruz said. “Today, roughly 50 percent of the adult men crossing into the Rio Grande sector have a child with them. The reason for that — the fault of that — is the U.S. Congress, because we have told the traffickers … ‘If you bring a child, that child is essentially a get-out-of-jail-free card.’”

Cruz went on to call the current system “an incentive from the United States Congress: ‘Go and find a small child and take that arduous journey, risk that child’s life.’”

(For more from the author of “Migrants Are Trying to Buy Children to Cross U.S. Border” please click HERE)

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You Can’t Look at Trump’s North Korea Moves Without Looking at China

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President Trump set foot several feet into North Korea. Is that a big deal? No other president has done it. Was it a symbolic gesture? Yes. Did it provide a great photo op for the North Korean leader? Absolutely. Was it seen as a stunt by the mainstream media in the U.S.? Of course. Does anyone think credit would be given to President Trump for any action he takes? We are talking about a huge segment of the U.S. media that would cheer for the enemy during a fight if it meant they could blame the president.

I’ve spent years watching and analyzing the events in North Korea and spent some of my military years preparing for a conflict with that nation. I’ve looked at issues ranging from potential individual actions all the way up to nation-state conflict. Here’s the reality: Kim Jong Un is not the leader of a sovereign nation. He is, as his father was, the person who inherited the job of overseer of China’s primary proxy fighter.

To put it more bluntly, Kim Jong Un runs the rabid dog Beijing keeps on a short leash. To believe that at any level of government, North Korea is an independent nation that can be approached by any other nation without approval or oversight from China is simply naive. North Korea is and has been for decades a threat to world peace – a threat that was proven indelibly in one horrific war already. North Korea is and has been a tool for China to leverage against the United States. Push China too far, and out comes the rabid dog.

So, is it possible for Mr. Kim to commit to any agreement without first receiving guidance from his puppet masters in Beijing? Is it possible to pry North Korea away from the orbit of China?

The answer to both questions is a resounding no.

Would China go to war before it would accept North Korea ending up in a Western-dominated environment?

You can bet your bottom dollar on it.

Since North Korea is not a sovereign nation, the next logical question is: Why is the U.S. seemingly wasting its time talking to a puppet?

Perhaps the U.S. is using Kim as a leverage point on a much larger issue. Perhaps this is all about countering the long-term Chinese vision for the region.

When you’re involved in preparing for war, you understand the true purpose of North Korea. So once you know your enemies’ tactics, you must set a plan to counter them. Can the U.S. and others show the people of North Korea there is a better way of life out there? In the end, is the issue of North Korea about North Korean nuclear weapons – weapons China would never allow North Korea to use without approval – or is it about containing the Chinese dragon?

Is it better to threaten Kim Jong Un and win a few votes back home come election time, or is it far more effective to play nice with him despite anything he might say or do? How does Beijing argue with President Trump agreeing to take a few steps into North Korea? How would the Chinese government paint that in a bad light? Seen from my foxhole, that move was pure genius.

If Team Trump has figured out how to play to the weaknesses of the primary Chinese proxy tool in a way not based on threats of total destruction, then I suggest his team has found a path that might just work. Does it give the appearance of going soft, as in the Clinton, Bush, and Obama years? No. Those administrations had a sadly simplistic approach to North Korea: avoidance. Team Trump seems to be on a mission to create pressure between the puppet proxy kingdom and its overlords in Beijing.

If it is indeed true that Team Trump is approaching this with a “peace through strength” strategy to counter China – the real player in the theater – and not from one of weakness that so defined his predecessors, then how will we know if the plan is working?

Well, that answer was on display just last week when Xi Jinping, the leader of China, visited his puppet kingdom. CNN reports that it was the first time a Chinese head of state has visited North Korea in 14 years. It demonstrates that China needed to show not just Mr. Kim, but his military commanders, who really calls the shots for North Korea. Jinping knew President Trump might take advantage of the G-20 summit trip. How could he not show up to make sure key people know where they stand? Let the trade talks continue to go badly for China, and they are, and you will see the puppet leader do something newsworthy.

Can Xi Jinping order North Korea to completely walk away from President Trump’s efforts? Yes. Another ballistic missile test or the cancellation of talks with South Korea would be disastrous for the 2020 election bid. The reality is, the puppet nation is still a tool at the disposal of the number one thereat to the U.S. President Trump is taking a calculated gamble.

In the end, it’s not only about the nukes, folks. Divide and conquer: It’s a timeless game the U.S. better remember how to play. (For more from the author of “You Can’t Look at Trump’s North Korea Moves Without Looking at China” please click HERE)

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Rand Paul Reveals the Reason GOP Killed Planned Parenthood Bill

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Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., dropped a truth bomb on an audience of pro-life conservative Christians last week when he revealed that Republican congressional leadership refused to take up legislation to defund Planned Parenthood because “we might win.”

Speaking at the Faith and Freedom Coalition’s “Road to Majority” conference last week, Paul described how his 2018 amendment defunding Planned Parenthood was rejected by GOP leadership because they wanted Democratic votes for a massive spending package.

“We still lose in the legislation,” Paul said. “Sometimes we lose because the people who come to you and give you lip service and say, ‘Oh I’m pro-life, I’m pro-life,’ and then they don’t seem to vote that way.”

He continued:

Last year, I tried to attach to a spending bill a prohibition to have any money spent by Planned Parenthood. You know what happened? They sat me down, and one of the senior Republican senators said, “We cannot have the vote today.” I said, “Why?” He said, “We might win.”

There were audible gasps in the audience when Paul told his story.

“You have Republicans that are more concerned with spending money than protecting the unborn,” Paul told the audience.

Being pro-life in name only is a problem that’s not exclusive to politicians. Recall that in 2015, when conservatives were fighting to defund Planned Parenthood after the Center for Medical Progress exposed the abortion giant’s reprehensible practices, National Right to Life remained silent and stood by as GOP leadership killed the effort.

Rand Paul is speaking to a bigger problem than one failed effort to defund Planned Parenthood. Ruling class interests in Washington D.C. don’t want Planned Parenthood defunded, and right now those ruling class interests run the Republican Party. Pro-lifers need to pay attention. (For more from the author of “Rand Paul Reveals the Reason GOP Killed Planned Parenthood Bill” please click HERE)

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Kamala Harris: Bring Back Busing, Because Schools Are ‘as Segregated’ Today as They Used to Be

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Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., currently two of the four highest-polling Democratic presidential hopefuls, could not have more divergent views when it comes to the benefits of busing.

Busing is the practice of moving minority students to schools, often outside of their own districts and typically using buses, in order to promote desegregation. There is currently a law in place to prevent the use of federal funds from being used for the purposes of busing “to overcome a racial imbalance in any school or school system or to carry out a plan of racial desegregation.”

During NBC News’ Democratic debate on June 27, Harris challenged former Vice President Joe Biden’s civil rights record. She told a story about a young girl who was bused to school during the early years of desegregation. “That little girl is me,” she concluded to cheers.

Speaking to reporters on Sunday, Harris elaborated on her views on busing. “I support busing,” she said. “Listen, the schools of America are as segregated, if not more segregated, today than when I was in elementary school. And we need to put every effort, including busing, into play to de-segregate the schools.” She added that “where states create or pass legislation that created inequality, there’s no question that the federal government has a role and a responsibility to step up.”

That same day, Sanders was asked about busing on ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos.”

“No, we’ve — busing is certainly an option that is necessary in certain cases, but it is not the optimal,” Sanders answered. “Does anybody think it’s a good idea to put a kid on a bus, travel an hour to another school and to another neighborhood that he or she doesn’t know? That’s not the optimal. What is the optimal is to have great community schools which are integrated, that’s what I think most people want to see. That’s what I want to see.” (For more from the author of “Kamala Harris: Bring Back Busing, Because Schools Are ‘as Segregated’ Today as They Used to Be” please click HERE)

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TERRIFYING FOOTAGE: Elderly Man Horrifically Beaten with Crowbar by Antifa Activists; Police Attacked by Protesters

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By Daily Wire. During the violent rioting by Antifa protesters in Portland, Oregon this weekend, two men attending a “Him Too” gathering were viciously beaten by the far-left activists.

One of the victims, identified by commentator and journalist Michelle Malkin as John Blum, suffered a bloodied face after he was beaten with a crowbar. The other man, identified as Adam Kelly, had his head split open by criminal Antifa members, suffering a concussion; he needed 25 stitches.

Blum and Kelly were in Pioneer Courthouse Square to attend a demonstration for the “Him Too” movement, which purports to raise awareness for male sexual assault victims and men falsely accused of sex crimes. The men apparently stepped into the Antifa chaos trying to “help a gay man in a sun dress being chased down the street,” according to Malkin.

“While John was being pummeled by the mob in the center, Adam was struck in the head with nunchucks, metal water bottles, some sort of metal rod, and fists,” Malkin reported on Sunday. “John was sprayed with mace and blinded. He was led away as blood dripped down his face, then dragged to a sidewalk. Another observer notes that one of Adam’s attackers appears to wield something like a sock and padlock.”

(Read more from “Elderly Man Horrifically Beaten with Crowbar by Antifa Activists” HERE)

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Antifa Brings Chaos to Portland

By USA Today. Oregon’s largest city was calm and quiet Sunday after a day of chaotic, competing protests that clogged Portland streets, crippled public transit and left at least eight people injured.

Police in riot gear broke up the demonstrations as clashes developed among law enforcers, anti-fascist “antifa” protesters and right-wing groups. Three people were charged with crimes ranging from assault on a police officer to harassment, police said.

As the violence increased, police declared a civil disturbance and ordered the protests dispersed. Pepper spray was used by demonstrators and police, Assistant Chief Chris Davis said. . .

Protesters also clashed with police, throwing water bottles and eggs at officers, and three were among those injured, police said. There were reports of protesters throwing “milkshakes” – with a substance mixed in that was similar to a quick-drying cement, police said.

Portland Fire Medics were embedded with the police so the injured could quickly receive medical attention, police said. (Read more from “Antifa Brings Chaos to Portland” HERE)

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City Takes down Church’s ‘Jesus Welcomes You’ Sign Overnight

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For four years, those who drove into a small town in Texas were greeted with a sign that said: “Jesus Welcomes You to Hawkins.”

But overnight, after a lengthy court battle, the town abruptly took down the sign. City officials say it’s on public land and in the way of future development. . .

The sign along U.S. 80 leading into the Hawkins, a Texas town with a little over 1,300 residents, was put up in 2015 in front of a Hawkins coffeehouse, on property owned by Jesus Christ Open Altar Church. Until it was taken down, members of the flock stood watch over the “Jesus” banner. . .

“The city employees destroyed our church property, pulled up our crosses and destroyed everything,” [Church trustee Mark] McDonald told the Longview News-Journal Friday.

“We’re treating it like a hate crime of religious discrimination that was conspired by the city. We have enough documents to prove that,” McDonald added. “The city was warned (Thursday) by our attorneys not to touch it and not to bother it. There’s been closed meetings, closed records (and) a lot of things wrong.” (Read more from “City Takes down Church’s ‘Jesus Welcomes You’ Sign Overnight” HERE)

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Doctors Repeatedly Asked If She Wanted an Abortion. She Ignored Them and Gave Birth to a Healthy Baby Boy

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In Scotland, a young pregnant mother was repeatedly advised to abort her baby over medical concerns. Her son was just born a few weeks ago.

A report at The Scotsman tells the story of 21-year-old Lauren Webster and her newborn baby boy, Ollie, who was born weighing 5 lbs 14 oz on May 23.

Webster, the story explains, had previously gone through two miscarriages, and scans revealed a bladder blockage; she was “asked by medics repeatedly” if she wanted to abort her unborn child.

After seeing some problems on her 13-week scan, a doctor at the Princess Royal Maternity Hospital in Glasgow first asked if Webster wanted an abortion, citing a low chance of the child’s survival. When she declined, doctors agreed to monitor the pregnancy via weekly scans.

“Every week she was asking me if I wanted to terminate,” Webster recalled. “She said she had to ask me.”

Webster remembers that that “was around Christmas time and I was feeling very down” as a result.

“I said to her ‘don’t ask me that again because I’m keeping it,’” Webster added. “By 18 weeks she had noticed that the bladder had repaired itself.”

Additionally, doctors were also worried about the possibility that Ollie might have Edwards syndrome, also known as Trisomy 18, a rare genetic condition with a very short life expectancy.

“She asked me again if I wanted to terminate, saying he wouldn’t survive beyond four if it was Edwards syndrome,” Webster recalled.

Despite the warnings that her child might not survive, Webster told the Scottish outlet that she had a “gut feeling” that the baby would make it. Later, she said, she left the doctors “gobsmacked” when Ollie came into the world just fine, aside from showing up a few weeks early. According to the story, the bladder issue fixed itself and specialists ruled out another “serious condition” Ollie was initially thought to have.

“When I found out I was pregnant, I was very scared because of what had happened before … But I just had a gut feeling that this was my time,” Webster said. “Everything they told me turned out not to have happened.”

Now, despite all of the worry, Webster says, baby Ollie “sleeps good and is feeding well.”

The new mom also has some advice for anyone else facing a challenging or devastating diagnosis: Don’t give up on life.

“If someone else was to go through that experience,” Webster said, “I wouldn’t want them to terminate because you don’t know what’s going to happen.”

“I just think everyone should read my story and never give up hope,” Webster added.

A sad story from Ireland underlines the point. Following legalization of abortion in Ireland, a couple opted for an abortion after getting a diagnosis of a fetal abnormality. A later test, however, would show that no abnormality was present, meaning that the couple had aborted a healthy child for no reason. (For more from the author of “Doctors Repeatedly Asked If She Wanted an Abortion. She Ignored Them and Gave Birth to a Health Baby Boy” please click HERE)

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Pro-Life Groups Raise Almost $50,000 to Help Mothers and Babies at the Border in Under a Week

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As of Monday, a nationwide effort of pro-life groups to bring relief and supplies to the current border crisis has brought in just under $50,000 in supplies and monetary donations in under a week, representatives from two groups leading the effort told Blaze Media. The goal is to get as many supplies for women and babies to the border as they can provide.

The effort is called “Bottles to the Border” and is the result of collaboration between pro-life New Wave Feminists (NWF) and And Then There Were None (ATTWN), the pro-life ministry for former abortion workers founded by former Planned Parenthood director Abby Johnson.

Pamela Whitehead, the program director of the Texas-based ATTWN, told Blaze Media in a phone interview that as of Monday, the effort has raised over $30,000 in donations and over $17,500 worth of materials, meaning that the campaign has raised a total amount of $47,500 in just its first six days.

The campaign is being spearheaded by NWF founder Destiny Herndon-De La Rosa and launched last Tuesday.

Ultimately, Herndon-De La Rosa says, this issue “goes well beyond politics.” She calls it “a people issue” and points out that pro-lifers’ concern for human life should extend to vulnerable populations like those at the border, those being trafficked, and others.

“It’s not something where you can just say ‘I only care about these people,’” she concluded. “No, we are a movement that’s built on caring about the human dignity of all human beings.”

This isn’t Herndon-De La Rosa’s first time providing humanitarian aid, nor her first time teaming up with ATTWN to do it. The two organizations also worked together to provide feminine hygiene products to shelters around the Houston area in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey in 2017, because those items were left out of most donations, she says.

“I became known as the tampon lady at Costco,” Herndon-De La Rosa remembers with a laugh. “It was ridiculous.”

After that, Herndon-De La Rosa says that her organization’s first foray into helping out the situation at the border started back in December when NWF raised around $9,000 to help out the Respite Center in McAllen, Texas.

But she said after seeing the kind of situation created by America’s ongoing crisis, she actually went through some “burnout” when she got back. “Here I felt like we did so much,” she told Blaze Media over the phone, “but these supplies will be gone in a week because there’s just so much need down there.”

This time, however, Herndon-De La Rosa says she’s approaching this with far more support. A report at Catholic News Agency said that as of last week, over 40 different pro-life groups had signed on to the effort. This week, Herndon-De La Rosa says that number is up to 50.

And though it’s not the typical effort that pro-life groups tend to pursue, it’s all a part of living out a pro-life worldview, Whitehead explains.

“If I lived in a world where abortion was unthinkable but hunger, homelessness, and hopelessness all increased, would I have accomplished my pro-life mission?” Whitehead asked. “If I really want to care about people, then I have to live that out.”

“I don’t think there’s any talking point that’s going to prove that to anyone,” Whitehead says, adding that she believes that actions like these are the best way to change people’s minds.

For the next two weeks, interested donors can still provide monetary assistance to the campaign, which ends on July 13. Whitehead says that monetary donations are far more helpful than sending things to the border.

“If you send stuff to the center, it creates work,” Whitehead explained during the interview. “The last thing I wanted to see was this respite center get a lot of work” like sorting through donated materials.

Those interested in donating to the campaign can go to NWF’s website, where all donations between now and July 13 will be put toward the Bottles to the Border campaign.

“I encourage us as a movement to not just be against abortion. Let’s be a movement that is FOR more than we are against,” Johnson said in a Facebook post last week. “Let’s be a movement that reaches out to those who need our physical and emotional assistance…whether those people are walking into an abortion clinic, at the border, or are homeless.” (For more from the author of “Pro-Life Groups Raise Almost $50,000 to Help Mothers and Babies at the Border in Under a Week” please click HERE)

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Oregon Democrat Senator Was Busy Tweeting About Cats While Portland Antifa Beat a Gay Journalist Bloody

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Why is a U.S. senator from Texas demanding justice for victims of violent mob assaults in Portland, Oregon, instead of Oregon’s U.S. senators?

Over the weekend, gay Vietnamese-American independent journalist Andy Ngo was brutally beaten by Antifa thugs in black masks. His injuries included a brain hemorrhage.

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The response to these violent assaults from many Democrats, including Oregon Sens. Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden, is disgraceful silence. Neither senator could be bothered to release a statement condemning the violence in their state. In fact, Merkley spent the weekend tweeting about National Adopt a Shelter Cat Month, failing to acknowledge Ngo’s hospitalization, the three arrests for assault, or the disgusting chorus of progressive journalists cheering on the bashing of a gay journalist they hate because he reports on left-wing violence.

It was Republican Sen. Ted Cruz, who represents Texas, who stepped in to demand justice for Wyden’s and Merkley’s Oregon constituents. Cruz has called for the assailants to be found and prosecuted, and he wants a federal criminal investigation into Portland’s Democrat Mayor Ted Wheeler for previously ordering police to stand down during Antifa mob rallies.

The bare minimum role of government is to secure people’s rights, to protect them from violence. By failing to speak up for Ngo and the other victims, Wyden, Merkley, and other silent officials prove themselves derelict in their duty as representatives for Oregon and unworthy of their office. (Read more from “Oregon Democrat Senator Was Busy Tweeting About Cats While Portland Antifa Beat a Gay Journalist Bloody” please click HERE)

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