Is This the Stupidest Time in America’s History? (VIDEO)

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Have we become a nation of toddlers?

Even as our country is grappling with weighty questions about history, racism, and how to deal with a pandemic, we’re seeing an explosion of behavior as rational as that of a small child, high on sugar-laced juice boxes, throwing a tantrum.

Just consider these examples from the past few days.

In a video captured by The Daily Caller’s Henry Rodgers, a white woman is “racesplaining” to African-American police officers. “You’re white, and you’re telling this to two black police officers. Do you see the problem with that a little bit?” asks Rodgers.

“Um, no, I don’t, because you know what? just because I’m white and I haven’t experienced racism myself doesn’t mean I can’t fight for justice,” the white woman responds. “They’re a part of the system. They’re a part of the problem. Just ’cause they’re black doesn’t mean they’re not a part of the problem. I’m allowed to say this to whoever because I’m white. Racism is a white person’s problem. Racism is my problem. I need to fix it. That’s why I’m here, talking to all of them—black, white, f–king brown, purple—.”

(Editor’s note: Crude language used in this clip)

So, apparently, the logic on the left has gone from only people of color can talk about racism to … only liberals, regardless of skin color, can talk about racism. Also apparently, color blindness is in vogue again.

On Tuesday, Twitter slapped a warning on yet another of President Donald Trump’s tweets, sanctimoniously declaring, “We’ve placed a public interest notice on this Tweet for violating our policy against abusive behavior, specifically, the presence of a threat of harm against an identifiable group.”

Ah, you say, but what exactly did our bombastic president say? Well, here’s what he said: “There will never be an ‘Autonomous Zone’ in Washington, D.C., as long as I’m your President. If they try, they will be met with serious force!”

Yes, the “threat of harm against an identifiable group” was … Trump saying a portion of D.C. can’t secede from the United States.

I don’t want to overthink this, but it seems as though if Twitter had been around in the 1860s, this kind of pro-secession talk would have put it on the Wrong Side of History.

Think secession talk is too far? Well, in Seattle’s “autonomous zone,” the police have been kicked out of a precinct building. And when a fight broke out over the weekend, leading to a person being killed, the police said they couldn’t get into the zone to investigate and bring back order.

Who exactly is inciting violence here again? (And I haven’t even started on the fact that journalist Andy Ngo told our own Rachel del Guidice that people in the Seattle zone were distributing literature on creating bombs and killing police.)

But we’re still not done detailing all the stupidity that’s gone down this week!

On Tuesday, a large group gathered around a statue in Washington, D.C., just blocks from the Capitol. “Thursday at 7 p.m.,” a man bellows, per a tweeted video from the Daily Caller’s Richie McGinniss, “we’re tearing this motherf—er down!” The crowd erupts into cheers and shouts of “woo!”

Well, you might say, mob rule isn’t the way to go, but gosh, why do we have so many Confederate statues around America, given that they fought for slavery?

Well, say what you will, but this is a statue of Abraham Lincoln. With a freed slave.

Nor was this eloquent gentleman the only one calling for statue destruction this week. On Monday, Shaun King, a journalist and a liberal activist with over a million twitter followers, tweeted: “Yes, I think the statues of the white European they claim is Jesus should also come down. They are a form of white supremacy. “

Ah, yes, because what we really need now is to take mobs to the churches! (The churches that are still empty or near-empty of believers in many jurisdictions because of coronavirus concerns. But, of course, the good news is that you can’t catch coronavirus when involved in a leftist protest, so there’s no risk of mobs in churches getting infected, unlike the very real perils of believers worshipping together and all giving each other COVID-19. Side note: Isn’t it endearing the medical community is still looking for a vaccine and cures when we could just all protest together?)

Of course, King’s remarks also ignore the rich history of Christianity depicting religious figures as a range of ethnicities. Yes, Jesus was a Jewish man who fit in in Egypt. But He’s also God … a bit more universal a figure. As Bill McMorris beautifully wrote in The Federalist, Catholics have a rich tradition, including in Washington, D.C., of depicting Mary, the mother of Jesus, as being part of a range of cultures. (Although I suppose once King finds that out, he’ll be accusing Mary of cultural appropriation. You really can’t win here.)

Another example from this week? The country lurched into yet another solemn discussion of race relations, this one triggered by the discovery of a rope tied like a noose in NASCAR African-American driver Bubba Wallace’s garage at Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama.

Yet when the authorities investigated, it emerged no nefarious action targeted at Wallace had happened. Instead, the rope had been in place since October, long before it was in Wallace’s garage. Unfortunately, few waited for the facts to emerge, and just immediately saw the rope as more proof of how racist America is.

And don’t even start me on the fact that one activist is calling for “The Star Spangled Banner” to be replaced with John Lennon’s “Imagine,” a sad slouch of a song that includes the apparently not-disqualifying lyric, “Imagine there’s no countries.”

I’m sure I could go on. Except I can’t … because this level of stupidity is just too depressing.

I hate to sound super boring here, but where are the adults?

We have real problems in America right now. We need to solve them with rational discourse, serious conversations, and genuine engagement with each other. We need to work together.

Instead, it’s as though decades of lousy education, a terrible media, and activists who favor retweets over real improvements have all colluded to create the perfect storm of stupidity.

It’s a weird time. We’ve all been locked up and cooped up. We’re worried about the long-term effects of a pandemic. Many Americans are out of work and/or facing the end of their small businesses. We’re horrified by the fact that a cop killed a man who wasn’t resisting arrest, while three other cops watched as the man said he couldn’t breathe.

It’s not surprising emotions are high. But we cannot meet this moment with just our passions. We have to be serious here.

Just consider the fact that a Wisconsin state senator, Tim Carpenter, says he was beaten up on Tuesday by a mob near the state Capitol in Madison (where more statues were torn down). Carpenter tweeted, “I took this pic- it got me assaulted & beat up. Punched/kicked in the head, neck, ribs. Maybe concussion, socked in left eye is little blurry, sore neck & ribs. 8-10 people attacked me. Innocent people are going to get killed.”

He told The Washington Post, “Sad thing I’m on their side for peaceful demonstrations — am a Gay Progressive Dem Senator [who] served 36 years in the legislature.”

I wish I could just laugh off the examples I’ve listed here, but Carpenter’s example shows why we are teetering on the cusp of something far more likely to be tragic than risible.

At a time like this, I can only cry— because nothing less than America’s future is at stake. (For more from the author of “Is This the Stupidest Time in America’s History?” please click HERE)

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Russia Secretly Offered Afghan Militants Bounties to Kill U.S. Troops, Intelligence Says

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American intelligence officials have concluded that a Russian military intelligence unit secretly offered bounties to Taliban-linked militants for killing coalition forces in Afghanistan — including targeting American troops — amid the peace talks to end the long-running war there, according to officials briefed on the matter.

The United States concluded months ago that the Russian unit, which has been linked to assassination attempts and other covert operations in Europe intended to destabilize the West or take revenge on turncoats, had covertly offered rewards for successful attacks last year.

Islamist militants, or armed criminal elements closely associated with them, are believed to have collected some bounty money, the officials said. Twenty Americans were killed in combat in Afghanistan in 2019, but it was not clear which killings were under suspicion. (Read more from “Russia Secretly Offered Afghan Militants Bounties to Kill U.S. Troops, Intelligence Says” HERE)

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AG Barr: DOJ Has Over 500 Investigations Into Violent Rioters; Trump Tweets FBI ‘Wanted’ Poster of Suspected Vandals in Damage of Statue

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By The Federalist. United States Attorney General William Barr announced that the Department of Justice is leading over 500 investigations into the destruction caused by riots across the country. Barr explained the reason for the investigations on Sen. Ted Cruz’s podcast “The Verdict.”

“We’ve had scores of indictments so far for such things as arson, destruction of federal property,” Barr said. “We have right now about 500 investigations underway, so it’s picking up pace. We are committed to holding accountable the people who engaged in this.”

Barr explained the reason for the increase in investigations is heavily associated with the lack of response by other levels of government.

“That’s where the burden is right now, on state and local, and in many places, they’re not stepping up to the plate, they’re not doing their job,” said Barr.

Barr also suggested that many of these riots were protests that were infiltrated by “provocateurs and agitators” with some even having associations to Antifa. (Read more from “AG Barr: DOJ Has Over 500 Investigations Into Violent Rioters” HERE)

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Trump Tweets FBI ‘Wanted’ Poster of Suspected Vandals in Damage of Statue

By The Washington Times. President Trump tweeted an FBI “wanted” poster Friday of 15 suspects sought for vandalizing the statue of Andrew Jackson in Lafayette Square near the White House.

“MANY people in custody, with many others being sought for Vandalization of Federal Property in Lafayette Park. 10 year prison sentences!” the president said. (Read more from “Trump Tweets FBI ‘Wanted’ Poster of Suspected Vandals in Damage of Statue” HERE)

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America or Afghanistan? The Growing Danger to Truckers on America’s Roads (VIDEO)

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It’s the type of nightmare we never envisioned even under a Democrat presidency. Truckers on the nation’s highways and streets now face a serious threat of being surrounded by a mob or potentially dragged out of their trucks and beaten, reminiscent of grisly images we’ve seen in other parts of the world. Where is the Trump administration’s plan to protect the nation’s truckers from the anarchist mobs?

Minneapolis crime watchers reported Wednesday night that a group of four males were attempting to pull truckers out of their cabins. Another trucker was reportedly driving on the Bobby Jones Expressway in Augusta, Georgia, when his fully loaded tanker truck came under gunfire, as if he were traveling in Afghanistan. Similar stories have reportedly occurred on I-70 in Ohio and I-95 in Connecticut. Truck drivers have reported at least two shootings on interstate highways near Memphis, Tennessee. These are some of the most traveled interstate highways in the country, where we now have armed anarchists shooting at motorists.

If securing our interstate highways is not a job for the federal government when states are refusing to protect them, then I don’t know what is. If armed right-wing militias were shooting at trucks or blocking them and attacking the drivers, I don’t think the government would have waited more than 24 hours to take action. We’re now going on four weeks.

According to a poll on trucking app CDLLife, 79 percent of truck drivers said they’d refuse to deliver to any city that defunds the police.

The problem is that even without such legislation, the police have essentially been abolished. Officers get prosecuted for doing their jobs, while rioters escape prosecution. Consequently, they have taken a hands-off approach, resulting in mobsters blocking roads and highways with impunity. The police have been abolished in all but name only, which is why Trump must secure the roads with federal resources until order is restored at the local level.

Fleet of Angels, an equine transportation company, issued a safety advisory for all horse transporters to avoid riot areas and traveling in urban areas at night. Several weeks ago, a man towing a horse trailer was nearly mobbed on I-244 near Tulsa, Oklahoma, and was only spared a grisly fate because he drove through an ad hoc checkpoint set up by the mobsters.

While truckers are the most in danger given how often they travel, the mob control of streets and highways affects everyone. Hundreds were stuck in traffic yesterday in Raleigh, N.C., as rioters blocked I-40. A terrified female driver was surrounded by a mob in Madison, Wisconsin:

This is even happening to the police. On Saturday, a crowd of hundreds blocked a police car responding to a report of a shooting and injured two police officers. All local police officers were called out to deal with the situation.

Trump must realize that this cannot wait until after November. He is president now and will not have more power after the election. He may be counting on a repeat of 1968, when people voted Republican because they were scared of the rioting and chaos. But back then, Republicans weren’t politically correct weenies. The battle lines were clearly drawn, and the public knew what Nixon would do for them if elected. Today, Trump already is president, and yet we are facing the worst anarchy of our lifetime.

I have proposed a 10-point plan for the president to pursue now. Specifically related to the blocking of highways, Trump must federalize the National Guard and deter and apprehend those blocking highways. He should also push right-to-carry reciprocity legislation to allow motorists to carry firearms across state lines, a form of protection that is needed now more than ever.

Senate Republicans should introduce legislation making it a federal crime to block interstate highways and institute tough mandatory minimum sentences for those who do so and even tougher ones for those who violently attack motorists. Mobility and transportation are the lifeblood of our freedom and cannot be sacrificed for another day. The ability to travel on the roads unmolested and the ability of police to respond to emergencies are what distinguish us from the Afghan government, which can’t secure its roads from the Taliban. Or at least they used to distinguish us.

This is no longer a local crime issue. This is a violent insurgency, and it’s time for Trump to treat it accordingly. Not after “the next election.” Now. Otherwise there might not be another chance. (For more from the author of “America or Afghanistan? The Growing Danger to Truckers on America’s Roads” please click HERE)

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Mueller Witness Gets 10 Years in Prison on Child Sex Crime Charges

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A federal judge in Virginia sentenced George Nader, a key witness in the special counsel’s investigation, to 10 years in prison on Friday on child sex crime charges.

Nader, 61, pleaded guilty on Jan. 13 to trafficking a 14-year-old boy from the Czech Republic for sex in 2000.

He faced numerous other charges for other sex crimes, as well as for helping a business associate funnel illegal campaign contributions to Democrats and the Clinton campaign in order to advance their political and business interests.

Nader’s sex crimes were discovered in connection with the special counsel’s probe. The Lebanese-American businessman served as a key witness in the investigation, providing statements to prosecutors about his interactions with Trump campaign advisers, and with the Trump transition officials.

Nader, a longtime adviser to Mohammed bin Zayed, the crown prince of Abu Dhabi, met with Trump officials Steve Bannon and Jared Kushner. Prosecutors were particularly interested in a January 2017 meeting that Nader attended in the Seychelles between Erik Prince, an informal Trump adviser and the head of a Russian investment fund. (Read more from “Mueller Witness Gets 10 Years in Prison on Child Sex Crime Charges” HERE)

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17 Corrections Officers to Be Disciplined in Transgender Man’s Death

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More than a dozen New York City Department of Correction officers will be disciplined for their conduct surrounding the death of Layleen Xtravaganza Cubilette-Polanco, 27, a transgender [man] who died last year while in solitary confinement at Rikers Island jail.

Three officers and one captain will be suspended without pay immediately, the department said in a statement Friday. It was not immediately clear what disciplinary actions the remaining 13 officers would face.

The announcement comes several weeks after Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark declined to file charges following a six-month investigation into the circumstances of Cubilette-Polanco’s death. . .

Several weeks before [he] died, Cubilette-Polanco had been hospitalized at the Elmhurst Hospital Prison Ward for psychiatric care after “showing radical changes in behavior” including shouting, crying, rolling around on the floor, talking to herself, expressing suicidal thoughts and charging at a jail guard, according to a Board of Correction report.

After returning to Rikers Island, jail staff tried to get [him] sent to restrictive housing, or solitary confinement, as a punishment for charging at the guard, according to the report. However, a psychiatrist “verbally stated that due to [his] medical history as it pertains to seizure disorder, that he would not be able to authorized [sic] a cell housing placement” in a restrictive housing unit. (Read more from “17 Corrections Officers to Be Disciplined in Transgender Man’s Death” HERE)

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Senator: Pelosi Claiming GOP Tried Getting Away With Floyd’s Murder Was ‘Most Outrageous, Sinful Comment’

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Appearing Friday on Fox News Radio’s The Guy Benson Show, Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) unloaded on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) for accusing Senate Republicans of attempting to “get away” with “the murder of George Floyd” with their police reform legislation, branding her claim “the most outrageous, sinful comment I’ve heard as a public official.”

(Read more from “Senator: Pelosi Claiming GOP Tried Getting Away With Floyd’s Murder Was ‘Most Outrageous, Sinful Comment’” HERE)

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Judge Orders Trump Adviser Roger Stone to Report to Prison

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A federal judge on Friday ordered Roger Stone, President Donald Trump’s longtime friend and adviser, to report to prison by July 14 to begin his sentence after being convicted of seven criminal counts last year, granting him a 14-day extension over concerns about the coronavirus.

The 67-year-old veteran Republican operative and self-described “dirty trickster,” who lives in South Florida, had been scheduled to report to a federal prison in Jesup, Georgia, by next Tuesday. Florida is experiencing rising numbers of coronavirus infections.

Stone was found guilty by a jury last November of obstruction, witness tampering and lying to Congress under oath during its investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson, who in February sentenced him to three years and four months in prison, granted the extension sought by Stone and ordered him placed in home confinement. (Read more from “Judge Orders Trump Adviser Roger Stone to Report to Prison” HERE)

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Supreme Court Sides With GOP Officials Over Mail-In Ballots; Barr: Voting by Mail Will Lead to Fraud, ‘Counterfeiting’

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By Fox News. The Supreme Court, for now, is staying out of a dispute over whether to allow greater mail-in voting in Texas because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The justices on Friday kept in place a lower court order blocking a request from state Democratic leaders to expand the mail option, at least while the case is being litigated.

“The application to vacate stay presented to [Justice Samuel Alito] and by him referred to the Court is denied,” the order said.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote that “I do not disagree with the decision to refrain from addressing them for the first time here, in the context of an emergency application to vacate a stay of an injunction. But I hope that the Court of Appeals will consider the merits of the legal issues in this case well in advance of the November election.” . . .

In May, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans put on a hold the ruling after a federal judge in San Antonio ruled that Texas must give all 16 million registered voters in the state the option of voting by mail during the pandemic. (Read more from “Supreme Court Sides With GOP Officials Over Mail-In Ballots” HERE)

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Barr: Voting by Mail Will Lead to Fraud, ‘Counterfeiting’

By NBC News. . .In an interview with NPR, Barr was asked if he believes an election conducted mainly by mail can be secure.

“Personally, no. I mean, we just mailed out checks under this program. And what is it? I heard something like 20 percent or something were misdirected,” Barr said, referring to stimulus checks sent out by the federal government as part of a coronavirus relief package.

Barr said that he thinks the same thing can happen with mail-in ballots.

“I know things can happen like that,” he said. “Because I know people move, a very high percentage in the United States, people move all the time. And I also know that you can easily take things out of mailboxes.”

He added, “There’s so many occasions for fraud there that cannot be policed. I think it would be very bad. But one of the things I mentioned was the possibility of counterfeiting.” (Read more from “Barr: Voting by Mail Will Lead to Fraud, ‘Counterfeiting'” HERE)

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WATCH: Steven Crowder Team Books Stay at CHAZ ‘Warlord’ Raz Simone’s Airbnb

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By The Blaze. Seattle rapper and so-called CHAZ “warlord” Raz Simone got a taste of the lawlessness prevalent inside the autonomous zone Thursday when BlazeTV’s Steven Crowder booked a stay at Simone’s Seattle Airbnb and members of Crowder’s team covered the walls with CHAZ-style graffiti.

Crowder posted an image on Twitter shortly after the incident showing the walls of Simone’s high-rise Airbnb draped with spray-painted messages saying, “F**k cops,” “F**k the police,” and “BLM.”

In the caption, Crowder wrote: “No clue why [Raz Simone] is so mad when we paid to stay at his AirBnb. We didn’t even get to stay the night! 1 star.”

Simone, who rose to internet fame for allegedly becoming the de facto armed police force in the zone after city police evacuated, shot back in a tweet of his own, saying: “Hope y’all enjoyed your stay! You’ve seen what I do to people who graffiti walls that aren’t there’s [sic] but I’ll let this one slide cuz it’s cute and y’all funny funny.” . . .

Members of Crowder’s team, “Quarter Black Garrett” and “Even Brendan,” had been passing out fliers to protesters within CHAZ about a party at Simone’s Airbnb Thursday evening after Crowder had booked it. The party was supposed to be a tongue-in-cheek celebration of “New CHAZ.”

(Read more from “WATCH: Steven Crowder Team Books Stay at CHAZ ‘Warlord’ Raz Simone’s Airbnb” HERE)

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Businesses Sue Seattle Over Handling of ‘CHOP’ Zone

By King 5 News. A collection of Seattle businesses, property owners, and residents sued the city over its tolerance of an “occupied” protest zone saying officials have been complicit in depriving them of their rights to their property.

The plaintiffs, including a tattoo parlor and auto repair shop, emphasized in the lawsuit filed Wednesday that they were not trying to undermine the anti-police brutality or Black Lives Matter messaging of the “Capitol Hill Occupied Protest.”

“This lawsuit is about the constitutional and other legal rights of Plaintiffs—businesses, employees, and residents in and around CHOP—which have been overrun by the City of Seattle’s unprecedented decision to abandon and close off an entire city neighborhood, leaving it unchecked by the police, unserved by fire and emergency health services, and inaccessible to the public at large. The City’s decision has subjected businesses, employees, and residents of that neighborhood to extensive property damage, public safety dangers, and an inability to use and access their properties,” the lawsuit reads.

The suit says protesters, who have taken up residence at the CHOP for several weeks, threatened business owners with retaliation if those businesses painted over their graffiti. (Read more from “Businesses Sue Seattle Over Handling of ‘CHOP’ Zone” HERE)

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