‘Red Flag’-Supporting Ivanka Trump Is Now Putting Behind-The-Scenes Efforts into Gun Control

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First daughter Ivanka Trump is reportedly working behind the scenes on gun control by reaching out to lawmakers’ offices to gauge interest in new firearms laws since recent shootings in Ohio and Texas.

A White House official said that Ms. Trump “has trusted relationships on both sides of the aisle and she is working in concert with the White House policy and legislative teams,” according to a Tuesday report at Axios.

The first daughter and her husband, Jared Kushner, have already built considerable relationships on Capitol Hill following their work to pass last year’s big criminal justice bill, whose implementation began last month. She has also been working with lawmakers on the issue of paid family leave.

According to the Axios report, Ms. Trump has already spoken with Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.V., and Pat Toomey, R-Penn., who are cosponsors of enhanced background check legislation that failed in 2013 when it was brought up in the wake of the Sandy Hook massacre.

“She called Manchin and said she was trying to get a sense of what bills are out there,” one of Manchin’s aide told Axios. “She had him explain how they drafted the bill, where it stands and what changes needed to be made in order for it to pass.”

So what else is there in addition to the Manchin-Toomey bill? Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., says he’s working on a “red flag” confiscation bill with anti-gun Democrat Richard Blumenthal, Conn., that would incentivize state-level confiscation laws. Graham recently responded to pro-gun rights criticisms of these laws by saying that “The Second Amendment is not a suicide pact.”

In addition to Ivanka Trump’s efforts, President Trump’s policy team has also been quietly meeting with key offices on the subject of gun control. A Wednesday morning report details that White House policy staffers have also reached out to Manchin and Toomey, as well as the vehemently anti-gun Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn.

Since the recent shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, President Trump has come out in favor of both “red flag” confiscation policies — which present concerns about potential infringement of due process rights — and enhanced background check legislation. Ms. Trump also came out in favor of confiscation policies.

There is still zero evidence that new background check laws or “red flag” confiscation policies would have successfully prevented either shooting. (For more from the author of “‘Red Flag’-Supporting Ivanka Trump Is Now Putting Behind-The-Scenes Efforts into Gun Control” please click HERE)

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What the WaPo’s Mass Shooting Numbers Won’t Tell You About Murders in America

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The Washington Post’s Sunday edition printed the name of every mass shooting victim since 1966 in the special section. While the number of victims is meant to be staggering, just a little context changes the big picture.

In a section titled “The Lives Lost,” the newspaper listed 1,196 names of shooting victims along with some descriptions of the shootings and photos of the over 400 people killed between the Sandy Hook massacre and the recent mass killing in Dayton Ohio.

“Eleven hundred ninety-six. That’s the number of names on this page,” a tweet from the paper’s Twitter account reads. “People who were doing ordinary things until they were shot to death by killers bent on mass fatalities.”

“This is a moment to reflect on the horrific human toll of mass shootings in our country and to remember the individuals whose lives were cut short,” said Washington Post executive editor Marty Baron.

While not stated, the gun control message here is fairly implicit. One wonders, when presented with 12 pages of printed names of those murdered, how a country can’t just “do something” about horrors like this. That’s how the anti-gun Brady Campaign publicly reacted.

But that number tells only part of a story.

1,196 is considerably lower than 1,692, which is the total number of people shot just in Chicago — where draconian gun control clearly isn’t doing the job it was intended to do — this year as of Monday, according to data compiled by the Chicago Tribune.

According to FBI statistics, there were 1,591 homicides committed with knives or sharp objects in 2017, which is almost 400 more than over 50 years of mass shootings. And that was a decrease from 2016.

The total number of homicides since 1966 is just south of 1 million, according to CR senior editor Daniel Horowitz’s calculation. That means that the 1,196 deaths equal one tenth of a percent of total homicide numbers.

Furthermore, the violent crime rate has dropped in recent decades as the number of guns and concealed carry permits have gone up.

These 1,196 lives should never have been cut short. Their families and communities should never have been torn apart. The taking of innocent life is always atrocious, regardless of the circumstances.

But hard cases make bad law, the legal maxim goes, and even though that statistic by itself may spur some to reiterate calls to disarm their law-abiding fellow citizens, a more comprehensive look at the numbers won’t back them up. (For more from the author of “What the Wapo’s Mass Shooting Numbers Won’t Tell You About Murders in America” please click HERE)

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Jeffrey Epstein’s Pals Include Bill Gates; Israeli, South American Leaders; Mayors; Hollywood Personalities; Numerous Elites

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By CNBC. Microsoft founder Bill Gates spoke more than once with Jeffrey Epstein, the late financier accused of child sex trafficking, to discuss ways to increase philanthropic spending, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter.

Epstein’s discussions with Gates included at least one meeting, which took place in New York in 2013, while Gates was still Microsoft’s chairman, these people said. It was unclear whether the two also spoke on the phone.

The discussions with Gates occurred years after Epstein served a 13-month sentence for a charge of soliciting an underage prostitute. Epstein was sentenced in 2008 in Palm Beach County.

The revelation is another piece of the rapidly growing mosaic depicting Epstein’s bizarre, confounding influence and ability to get into powerful circles. Gates’ interaction with Epstein is puzzling because the former Microsoft CEO is one of the richest and most influential people in the world. Gates could get philanthropic advice from anyone, and yet he corresponded with Epstein, whose transgressions were well known at the time. (Read more from “Years After Serving Jail Time, Jeffrey Epstein Found a Way to Meet with Microsoft’s Bill Gates to Discuss Philanthropy” HERE)

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Israeli Politician Ehud Barak Often Crashed at Epstein Apartment Building, Neighbors Say

By The Daily Beast. The residents of 301 East 66th St. always knew Ehud Barak was there by the flashy cars parked outside and burly security guards in the lobby. The former Israeli prime minster’s visits were an open secret among the tenants of the Upper East Side building, which is owned by Jeffrey Epstein’s younger brother.

Several residents of 301 East 66th St. told The Daily Beast they had seen Barak in the building multiple times over the last few years, and nearly half a dozen more described running into his security detail. The building is majority-owned by Epstein’s younger brother, Mark, and has been tied to the financier’s alleged New York trafficking ring.

When asked about his stays at 301 E. 66th Street, Barak told The Daily Beast, “Despite the fact that there was no wrongdoing on my part, and that there is not even the faintest suspicion of wrongdoing on my part, I’m not going to address these questions because in the current political environment in Israel, the mere fact of my response to such a question is churned up as spin in the political game.”

“As a former prime minister I’m accompanied by bodyguards everywhere I go,” he added. (Read more from “Israeli Politician Ehud Barak Often Crashed at Epstein Apartment Building, Neighbors Say” HERE)

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Ex-Miami Beach Mayor Says He Doesn’t Know How Jeffrey Epstein Got His Phone Numbers

By Miami New Times. To make something of a severe understatement, many questions remain in the wake of accused sex trafficker and pedophile Jeffrey Epstein’s suicide last weekend. For Miamians, one particular question has gone unanswered: Why did the billionaire’s black book of contacts include 13 phone numbers for former Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine, a noted friend of Bill and Hillary Clinton?

Reached by text message yesterday, Levine told New Times he wasn’t sure.

“Think I met him possibly only two or three times, but briefly maybe over 15 years ago at events,” Levine wrote. “Never had a friendship or business relationship with him. Don’t remember ever giving him my full contact info but possibly did give him my contact card.”

Some of those 13 phone contacts include numbers for people listed as Levine’s driver and two housekeepers. Asked how Epstein obtained contact information for those people, Levine said he had no idea.

“[W]hen I read it, I was also surprised,” he responded. “I truly just don’t know.” (Read more from “Ex-Miami Beach Mayor Says He Doesn’t Know How Jeffrey Epstein Got His Phone Numbers” HERE)

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Jeffrey Epstein’s ‘Teen Sex Slave’ Gave Foot Rub to the Simpsons Creator Matt Groening

By The Sun. Jeffrey Epstein’s former “teen sex slave” claims she gave the creator of The Simpsons a foot massage but almost vomited over his “crusty” toes, court documents allege.

Hours before Epstein’s suicide on Saturday morning, a US court unlocked court papers from a defamation case filed by alleged victim Virginia Giuffre in 2015.

In the explosive docs, Virginia, who alleges she was abused by the convicted paedophile from the age of 15, claims she met legendary cartoonist Matt Groening, 65, on the wealthy banker’s private jet.

She claims Epstein asked to give The Simpsons creator a foot rub while flying from Carmel, California, to Los Angeles.

Virginia, now aged 35, claims the alleged incident happened around 20 years ago when she was aged 16. (Read more from “Jeffrey Epstein’s ‘Teen Sex Slave’ Gave Foot Rub to the Simpsons Creator Matt Groening” HERE)

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Epstein Traveled to Cuba at Castro’s Invitation, Former Colombian President Says

By Miami Herald. Millionaire Jeffrey Epstein, who was accused of sexually abusing minors and committed suicide last week in a federal lockup in Manhattan, traveled to Cuba at Fidel Castro’s invitation, according to Colombia’s former president, Andrés Pastrana, who said Wednesday he accompanied him on the trip.

“Amid journalistic revelations about horrifying and reprehensible sex scandals of financier Jeffrey Epstein, a trip of mine on his plane to Nassau, Bahamas has appeared, to transfer to the final destination of Havana, Cuba, invited by President Fidel Castro,” Pastrana said in a statement posted on Twitter on Wednesday. . .

The Colombian politician denied having been at Epstein’s “now infamous” private island in the Caribbean, off the coast of St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands, where the millionaire took famous guests allegedly to have sex with minors.

Flight records show that Pastrana was aboard one of Epstein’s private planes that left on March 20, 2003, from New Jersey’s Teterboro Airport headed to Palm Beach International Airport. Pastrana also appears in the manifest of another flight the next day from Palm Beach to Nassau International Airport in the Bahamas.

Records show Epstein, his girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, and model executive Jean-Luc Brunel, on both flights. According to the documents, they all returned to Palm Beach, without Pastrana, from the Bahamas on March 23. (Read more from “Epstein Traveled to Cuba at Castro’s Invitation, Former Colombian President Says” HERE)

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Christian Minister Who Officiated Ilhan Omar’s Wedding to Her ‘Brother,’ Refuses to Reveal Any Details

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The one person most likely to be able to throw light on the circumstances of controversial congresswoman Ilhan Omar’s marriage to her ‘brother’ is making it crystal clear she will do nothing to help solve the mystery.

Pastor Wilecia Harris, who officiated at the 2009 ceremony, is rebuffing all attempts to shed light on how she — a Christian minister — got to perform the marriage for two Muslims. . .

Now Marcus Harris has made it clear his wife is not willing to help shed any light on the matter.

‘My wife doesn’t want to be involved or interviewed about Congresswoman Omar,’ he said. . .

The Harrises run the Great and Mighty Works Ministries in Richfield, Minnesota. On their Facebook page, they describe it as a ‘nondenominational, Bible believing, Bible teaching, and Bible living ministry that believes in being a living example of Jesus the anointed one!’ (Read more from “Christian Minister Who Officiated Ilhan Omar’s Wedding to Her ‘Brother,’ Refuses to Reveal Any Details” HERE)

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Skillet’s Lead Singer on Apostasy Among Young Christian Leaders

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John Cooper, lead singer for the rock band Skillet, responded to the litany of recent apostasies among young Christian leaders. In a Facebook post titled ‘What in God’s Name is Happening in Christianity?’ put up on Tuesday, August 13, Cooper directly addressed the reasons given by Hillsong songwriter Marty Sampson for renouncing his Christian faith, before highlighting the need for Christians to stay grounded in a truth-driven faith over an emotion-driven one. . .

I am glad to see one of these ‘influencers’ come out in defense of the authority of Scripture and the importance of a robust faith that can outlast even the harshest of challenges. (Read more from “Skillet’s Lead Singer on Apostasy Among Young Christian Leaders” HERE)

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CONFIRMED: 4Chan Details of Epstein’s Death Posted 38 Minutes BEFORE it Hit the News; FDNY Denies Responsibility

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By Gizmodo. Over half an hour before ABC News first reported that sex offender and accused human trafficker Jeffrey Epstein had been found unresponsive in his Manhattan prison cell, alleged details of his death appeared on anonymous message board 4Chan, Buzzfeed reported.

“dont ask me how I know, but Epstein died an hour ago from hanging, cardiac arrest. Screencap this,” the post, published at 8:16 a.m. ET on Saturday, stated. It was initially met with skepticism by other anonymous users on the site’s /pol/—short for “politically incorrect”—board, a subsection of 4Chan known for its affiliations with Trump . . .

According to a statement by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, Epstein was found unresponsive in his cell at a New York detention facility at 6:30 a.m. on Saturday morning. He was pronounced dead at a hospital sometime later that morning. ABC News reporter Aaron Katersky first tweeted about Epstein’s death at 8:54 a.m. ET on Saturday, while ABC News itself published its first tweet about the incident two minutes before 9 a.m.

In the first of five subsequent posts, which share the initial post’s ID, the author added additional alleged details, including shorthand terminology related to cardiac arrest and treatment that might be familiar to an emergency medical technician: “worked asystole arrest for 40 minutes, als intubated in the field/epi/2 liters NS infused. Telemetry advised bicarb and D50 in field. Pt transported to Lower Manhattan ER and worked for 20 minutes and called. Hospital administrator was alerted, preparing statements.”

Another post in the thread, published under an auto-generated ID different from that of the original poster, lays out other alleged details of the incident but quickly veers into conspiracy-theory territory, claiming that a van allegedly used to transport Epstein “did NOT sign in and we did not record the plate number and a guy in a green dress military outfit was in the back of the van according to the tower guy who let him thru the gate.” It’s impossible to verify whether they were posted by the same author. (Read more from “4Chan Details of Epstein’s Death Posted 38 Minutes BEFORE it Hit the News” HERE)

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Jeffrey Epstein’s Death Was On 4Chan Before Officials Announced It — And Authorities Had To Look Into It

By Buzzfeed News. The New York City Fire Department looked into whether an employee posted about Jeffrey Epstein’s death on a notorious internet message board prior to officials announcing it to the public, BuzzFeed News has learned.

After telling BuzzFeed News the post was “under review,” an FDNY spokesperson said authorities “determined this alleged information did not come from the Fire Department.”

“An investigation is a formal act which brings about a process which includes interviewing witnesses, serving notice, determining credibility of witness statements — and that was not warranted nor did it take place here. This determination was made after a review of the incident. We looked at the information provided by [a BuzzFeed News] reporter and we looked at our own records and there was no match,” said FDNY spokesperson Frank Dwyer, who added that the FDNY’s Office of Healthcare Compliance conducted the review. “It doesn’t match our medical records.” (Read more from “Jeffrey Epstein’s Death Was on 4chan Before Officials Announced It — and Authorities Had to Look into It” HERE)

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Epstein’s Madam, Ghislaine Maxwell Found; Witness Saw ‘Sexual’ Pic of Bill Clinton in Blue Dress in Epstein’s Mansion

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Ghislaine Maxwell Found in Massachusetts

By Bridget Read. Maxwell, a former fixture in elite social circles, hasn’t been seen publicly in three years, adding to media speculation that she could be living abroad. The Daily Mail reports that, finally, she’s been located, in the Massachusetts seaside town of Manchester-by-the-Sea. She is supposedly living with her boyfriend, Scott Borgerson, 43, a tech CEO who owns a company called Cargometrics, described as “an investment management firm that specializes in analyzing data on global shipping.”

With Epstein no longer alive to face charges, attention has turned even more urgently to Maxwell, and to Epstein’s other employees who victims say helped facilitate his crimes. Maxwell, a former girlfriend of Epstein’s, has been accused by several of Epstein’s victims of enabling him to meet with underage girls for sex in what amounted to a trafficking ring. She has also been accused of threatening victims with measures like withholding passports and phones. On Wednesday, one of Epstein’s alleged victims became the first to sue Epstein’s estate and his accomplices — presumably including Maxwell — under New York’s brand-new Child Victim’s Act. (Read more about Ghislaine Maxwell found HERE)

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Portrait of Bill Clinton in a Blue Dress Spotted in Epstein’s Mansion

By ISOLDE WALTERS and CHEYENNE ROUNDTREE. The picture depicting the former president apparently lounging on a chair in the Oval Office, wearing red heels and posing suggestively in a blue dress redolent of Monica Lewinsky was in a room off the stairway of the Upper East Side townhouse. . .

The painting was secretly snapped inside the pedophile’s lavish $56 million home in October 2012, four years after Epstein completed his sweetheart deal for prostitution of a minor and seven years before he was accused of running a sex trafficking ring of underage girls.

The source, who asked to remain anonymous, was visiting Epstein to present a business proposal – an encounter with the pervert which included spotting a girl who seemed to be 14 waiting to see the financier.

The woman said she was shocked to catch sight of the portrait through an open door as she walked through the ornate home with her business partner.

She told DailyMailTV: ‘It was absolutely Bill Clinton. It was shocking – it was definitely a painting of him. It was a very provocative, sexual picture. He was wearing heels, a blue dress and his hand was in a weird position. (Read more from this story HERE)

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Mystery of Ghislaine Maxwell’s Whereabouts Deepens as Jeffrey Epstein Accusers Eye His Alleged Madam

By CNBC. The mystery over Ghislaine Maxwell’s whereabouts deepened Wednesday on a report that the alleged madam for Jeffrey Epstein, an accused child sex trafficker, was holed up in a Massachusetts mansion, as an Epstein accuser filed suit against Maxwell.

Hours after The Daily Mail reported that Maxwell was living in tech-firm CEO Scott Borgerson’s mansion in Manchester-by-the-Sea, NBC News reported that a property manager of an adjacent parcel of land said that Maxwell was living at Borgerson’s residence as recently as two weeks ago.

Borgenson told NBC, however, “she is not at my home.” He admitted knowing Maxwell.

The speculation over Maxwell came as prosecutors and Epstein’s accusers set their sights on her, and on the heels of Epstein’s apparent suicide in jail last Saturday.

Before Wednesday’s reports, the most recent indication of Maxwell’s location was in 2017, when her civil lawyers reportedly told a judge she was living in London, but without a firm address there. (Read more from “Mystery of Ghislaine Maxwell’s Whereabouts Deepens as Jeffrey Epstein Accusers Eye His Alleged Madam” HERE)

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‘Shrieking’ Heard from Epstein’s Cell, Jail Cameras ‘Broken’, Guards Falsified Records; ‘Pedophile Island’ Wired with Video for Blackmail?

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By Tim Constantine. Epstein had requested a meeting for Friday with the newest member of his legal team. That attorney, David Schoen, a longtime friend of Epstein‘s, could not meet on Friday but said the two had met earlier this month for the specific purpose of Schoen joining the defense team. Schoen says Epstein was “engaged” and “excited” during the meeting and very much looking forward to defending himself. The two were scheduled to meet again this coming week. . .

It isn’t unusual that there would be no camera inside a prisoner’s cell, but in the Metropolitan Correctional Center, cells on Epstein’s wing had video surveillance at the entry to each cell. News reports indicate the camera that would normally record who entered and exited his cell was broken. An amazing coincidence?

. . .Reports indicate Epstein had a cellmate that was a muscle-bound former police officer who now stands accused in four murders and that Epstein was fearful of him. In another amazing coincidence, that cellmate was transferred out just hours before Epstein was found dead. What does that former cellmate know? Have Justice Department officials spoken with him? (Read more about the questionable demise of the facilitator of the pedophile island HERE)
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Yes, Epstein’s Pedophile Island Had Dirt on the World’s Most Powerful

By Townhall. If all the other weirdness surrounding Jeffrey Epstein’s death in federal custody last weekend had already generated widespread conspiratorial chatter and theories, several emerging reported details will turn up the volume to a low roar. We still have very few real answers, so allegations and rumors are flooding the zone. For example, was at least one of the guards watching over Epstein (and apparently flouting protocols)…not even a real corrections officer?

One of the two people guarding Jeffrey Epstein when he apparently hanged himself in a federal jail cell was not a full-fledged correctional officer, and neither guard had checked on Mr. Epstein for several hours before he was discovered, prison and law-enforcement officials said.

This development could play into the line of thinking that an under-staffed federal prison system, and over-worked employees, are a recipe for oversights, mistakes and abuses. Plus, as some have pointed out, America’s jails and prisons have a suicide problem — and preventing a determined person from harming themselves can be quite difficult. Two questions, though: Even if all of those factors are true, shouldn’t extra attention been paid to arguably the most infamous federal inmate awaiting trial, especially someone who’d already either tried to kill himself or suffered an assault while behind bars? And especially someone who potentially-to-likely had significant dirt on a whole cabal of wealthy and powerful people?

Jeffrey Epstein once bragged to a New York Times columnist about having potentially damaging information on rich, famous and powerful people, including details about their drug use and sexual tendencies. The billionaire and convicted sex offender claimed in an interview last year that a number of influential people had told him their secrets. Epstein revealed the details to columnist James B. Stewart in an interview at the 66-year-old’s Manhattan mansion on August 16 last year. ‘The overriding impression I took away from our roughly 90-minute conversation was that Mr Epstein knew an astonishing number of rich, famous and powerful people, and had photos to prove it,’ Stewart said. ‘The overriding impression I took away from our roughly 90-minute conversation was that Mr Epstein knew an astonishing number of rich, famous and powerful people, and had photos to prove it,’ Stewart said.

(Read more from “Reports: ‘Shrieking’ Heard from Epstein’s Cell, ‘Pedophile Island’ Wired with Video for Blackmail?” HERE)

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Shrieking Heard from Jeffrey Epstein’s Jail Cell the Morning He Died

By CBS News. On the morning of Jeffrey Epstein’s death there was shouting and shrieking from his jail cell, a source familiar with the situation told CBS News. Corrections officers attempted to revive him while saying “breathe, Epstein, breathe.”

Congress is the latest to start investigating Epstein’s apparent suicide over the weekend, with new reports raising questions about the federal jail where he was being held. One of Epstein’s guards at the Metropolitan Correctional Center on the night he died was reportedly not a regular corrections officer.

On Monday, Attorney General William Barr criticized the detention center where the disgraced financier was held. “We will get to the bottom of what happened and there will be accountability,” Barr said. “I was appalled and frankly angry to learn of the MCC’s failure to adequately secure this prisoner.” . . .

With Epstein gone, potential co-conspirators involved in his alleged sex-trafficking network are shifting into focus. British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell is one of four women accused of recruiting underage girls for sex. She’s denied those claims in the past and has not been charged with a crime. Maxwell is said to be Epstein’s ex-girlfriend turned business associate. Her current location is unknown. (Read more from “Shrieking Heard from Jeffrey Epstein’s Jail Cell the Morning He Died” HERE)
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Corrections officers falsified reports?

By Mola Lenghi. Corrections officers may have falsified reports saying they checked on Jeffrey Epstein as required by protocol, according to a law enforcement source with knowledge of the investigation into Epstein’s apparent suicide. The Associated Press quotes a source familiar with the probe as saying surveillance video showed guards never made some of the checks noted in the prison log.

Multiple sources told CBS News that Epstein’s cellmate at the Metropolitan Correctional Center posted bail last Friday, leaving Epstein alone in his cell the day before he died. Another source familiar with the investigation said it appears Epstein had been dead one to two hours before he was found. (Read more about the death of the owner of Pedophile Island HERE)

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Media Fails to Report on Illegal Aliens Killing Their Own Family Members

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It’s now the position of many in the political world that immigration laws should not be enforced, even against those who engage in identity theft or worse crimes, because it will result in them being separated from their families. But what is not reported is how many of these criminals kill other illegal immigrants, including their own family members.

On Sunday, Silvestre Fuentes-Rosas was arrested in Union Gap, Washington, on a charge of first-degree murder for allegedly shooting his wife three times with a .45-caliber pistol. None of the local media reports mention that he is an illegal alien and that there currently is an ICE detainer on him. ICE spokeswoman Tanya Roman confirmed that his real name is Silvestre Fuentes-Rosas and that he is a Mexican national who was twice deported.

“On Aug. 11, 2019, Silvestre Fuentes-Rosas, a Mexican citizen and repeat immigration violator, was arrested in the city of Union Gap by local authorities on the charge of murder and booked into the Benton County (Washington) Jail,” said Roman in a statement to CR. “U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) lodged a detainer with the jail the same day. Rosas has been previously removed from the United States in 1996 and 2010.”

Fuentes-Rosas is being held in Benton County jail on $500,000 bond. The ICE detainer is to ensure that if he does post bond with the local jail, ICE can apprehend him based on his immigration status, so that he doesn’t abscond.

Local media is reporting, based on court documents, that the couple’s son, Graciela Gomez, found his mother lying mortally wounded on the floor of their home Saturday night in Prosser, Washington. Neighbors heard three gunshots, and detectives later found three shell casings from Fuentes-Rosas’ gun. Police captured him Sunday night about 40 miles northwest in Union Gap.

According to Benton County court records, Fuentes-Rosas was convicted of DUI on October 30, 1996. Because of our broken enforcement system, this man was incentivized to keep coming back and remain in the state.

This atrocity has a number of profound lessons. It’s illegal for illegal aliens to own guns, but they wind up obtaining them anyway. However, as a matter of immigration law, he should never have been able to remain in Washington for the past number of years undetected by ICE. Washington is a sanctuary state, and unless ICE catches someone on its own, illegal aliens are free to live there without fear of being detected, the exact opposite of what the law mandates.

This also demonstrates that the lack of border security allows some of the worst individuals to return to the country, even if ICE successfully deports the criminal, once again proving the important symbiotic relationship between border security and interior enforcement. Now, with more than half the border agents in key areas tied down with babysitting work, it’s truly frightening to consider how many people like Fuentes are successfully entering or re-entering the country undetected.

As I have said before, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, between 73 and 79 percent of homicides are committed by “offenders known to the victims.” When those with criminal records are not removed and kept out with border security, other immigrants (legal or illegal) may be the most harmed, including family members.

Last week, in Alcoa, Tennessee, Jose Rolando Hernandez-Perez, an illegal alien from Mexico, was arrested for stabbing his own son to death. According to local news, they were both working for Lemmer Construction Inc. of Corbin, Kentucky, on highway construction projects around Knoxville. An ICE spokesman confirmed with CR that there is a detainer on Hernandez-Perez.

Neither the case in Washington nor the one in Tennessee is reported in any local media as involving an ICE detainer. The criminality by illegal aliens we fail to remove and keep out will continue to fly under the radar, precluding any robust public policy debate on closing the criminal alien loopholes. We can’t debate what we don’t know exists. (For more from the author of “Media Fails to Report on Illegal Aliens Killing Their Own Family Members” please click HERE)

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NYC Caves on Gun Law to Avoid a Second Amendment Showdown at SCOTUS. Will It Work?

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When the Supreme Court comes back to work in the fall, it’s currently scheduled to take up its first big gun rights case in a while, but not if the city of New York has its way.

The question to be decided in the case of New York State Rifle & Pistol Association Inc. [NYSRPA] v. City of New York, New York — which the Supreme Court agreed in January to take up — is whether New York City’s laws about transporting a licensed, unloaded, and locked firearm to a residence or shooting range outside the five boroughs is consistent with the Second Amendment.

Now, however, New York City claims that because it finally eased the restrictions on transporting firearms for the city’s licensed gun owners, there’s no longer a controversy that requires the Supreme Court’s review of the matter.

“Independently and together, the new statute and regulation give petitioners everything they have sought in this lawsuit,” the city’s legal team argued in a court document in July.

“Time and again, therefore, this Court has ordered cases dismissed … where intervening developments seemingly mooted a case but plaintiffs nonetheless implored the Court to decide it,” the city added. “Put another way, [the Supreme Court] may not ‘rule on a plaintiff’s entitlement to relief’ simply because he ‘won’t take “yes” for an answer,’” the city suggested, citing a previous opinion by Chief Justice John Roberts.

Lawyers for the NYSRPA responded to the city’s position with a letter saying that the case should still go before the Supreme Court.

“Whatever the merits of respondents’ mootness arguments, there is no reason to validate respondents’ efforts to deviate from the ordinary procedures for bringing those arguments before this Court,” the letter says.

The Supreme Court, according to the Washington Post, has told both parties involved to continue filing briefs on the matter and that the court will decide before the October session begins whether to hear the case or not.

The city’s policy reversal came after the city successfully defended the regulations in both federal district and appeals court, the Post pointed out, suggesting that the city doesn’t think it has much of a chance of success in front of the current court, with Trump-appointed Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh.

If the court still decides to press ahead and hear the case despite New York City’s mootness claims, a final decision would come out well before the 2020 general election and possibly during primary season. (For more from the author of “NYC Caves on Gun Law to Avoid a Second Amendment Showdown at SCOTUS. Will It Work?” please click HERE)

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