Entire Portland Police Rapid Response Team Resigns

Members of a specialized Portland, Oregon, police unit that deals with crowd control have resigned from the assignment en masse a day after a fellow officer was indicted on an assault charge stemming from alleged illegal use of force during a protest last year.

The Portland Police Bureau’s Rapid Response Team, which is primarily responsible for providing public safety at crowd events, consisted of approximately 50 officers, all of whom resigned Wednesday, the bureau announced. The assignment is voluntary and the officers will remain on the force and continue their regular assignments, the bureau said.

The mass resignation comes a day after a grand jury indicted Portland Police Bureau Officer Corey Budworth on one count of fourth-degree assault, a misdemeanor, for what prosecutors allege was an “excessive and unlawful use of force” during a protest in August 2020.

Budworth, who at the time was on the bureau’s Rapid Response Team, is accused of striking a woman in the head with a baton during an Aug. 18, 2020, demonstration outside the Multnomah Building. The indictment marks the first time a Portland police officer has faced prosecution for striking or firing at someone during a protest, according to the Oregonian. (Read more from “Entire Portland Police Rapid Response Team Resigns” HERE)

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GOP Rep. Says Trespassing Warrant Issued for Swalwell Investigator Who Served Lawsuit (VIDEO)

Republican Alabama Representative Mo Brooks has announced that an arrest warrant for trespassing has been issued against private investigator Christian Seklecki. Seklecki was hired by Democratic California Representative Eric Swalwell to serve a subpoena against Brooks. The subpoena is part of Swalwell’s lawsuit alleging that Brooks incited the January 6 insurrection at the Capitol.

On June 6, Seklecki drove behind the vehicle of Brooks’ wife, Martha Brooks, as she pulled into their home garage, according to Mo Brooks. Seklecki then allegedly ran outside of his car and “illegally” entered Brooks’ garage.

Mo Brooks posted surveillance camera footage of Seklecki serving the subpoena in a tweet posted on June 7. The video shows Martha Brooks confronting the investigator as he re-enters his car and then departs.

(Read more from “GOP Rep. Says Trespassing Warrant Issued for Swalwell Investigator Who Served Lawsuit (VIDEO)” HERE)

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Biden’s DOJ to States: Bans on Transgender Youth Health Care Are Unconstitutional

The Department of Justice (DOJ) on Thursday filed court documents saying recently passed laws in Arkansas and West Virginia restricting transgender rights are unconstitutional.

The legal briefs, shared on Twitter by The Huffington Post, argue that the state laws violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution’s 14th Amendment.

The DOJ called the Arkansas law “dangerous governmental intrusion.” One of the provisions in the state law prevents doctors from performing gender reassignment surgeries.

“Rather than rely on the judgment of medical professionals and evidence-based treatment guidelines, Arkansas has inserted itself within one of the most confidential and personal of relationships: the physician-patient relationship,” the DOJ wrote. (Read more from “Biden’s DOJ to States: Bans on Transgender Youth Health Care Are Unconstitutional” HERE)

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House Democrats Block Defense Assistance for Israel (VIDEO)

A Motion to Recommit (MTR) that would have affirmed the U.S. policy of providing defense articles including munitions, aircraft, and technology to Israel was voted down by 217 House Democrats Thursday afternoon.

The measure would have required President Biden and his administration to develop “contingency plans to provide Israel with necessary defense articles and services” and allowed Biden to “direct the immediate transfer to Israel of such defense articles or defense services… necessary to assist Israel in its defense” when Israel is under military threat.

In a floor speech supporting the motion, Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX)—who serves as the Republican Leader on the House Foreign Affairs Committee—noted last month’s rocket attacks by Hamas terrorists were “a stark reminder of the dangerous threats that Israel faces.”

(Read more from “House Democrats Block Defense Assistance for Israel (VIDEO)” HERE)

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Biden Announces His Number One National Security Strategy: Imprison Right Wing Extremists

President Joe Biden’s administration on Tuesday unveiled a national security strategy that focuses exclusively on domestic terrorism, naming white supremacists and militia extremists as “the most persistent and lethal threats” to America among ideologies motivating domestic terrorists.

Continuing its broad effort to combat violence from homegrown extremists, the administration published the 32-page strategy and the president vowed to both address the violence and the factors that lead to domestic terrorism.

“We cannot ignore this threat or wish it away. Preventing domestic terrorism and reducing the factors that fuel it demand a multifaceted response across the Federal Government and beyond,” Biden said in the strategy’s introduction.

While domestic terrorist attacks have been a threat to the United States for centuries, officials with the National Strategy for Countering Domestic Terrorism said, a resurgence of the homegrown violence has been seen in recent years, including in the surge of attacks against Jews and the mass shooting at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas in 2019.

The domestic terrorists of today have a range of motivations, including racial or ethnic bigotry and anti-government sentiment. They can act alone or be part of small, informal groups. Some are part of larger networks. (Read more from “Biden Announces His Number One National Security Strategy: Imprison Right Wing Extremists” HERE)

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Yuck! Parents Send Kids’ Masks to Lab for Analysis

A group of Florida parents concerned about the potential harm of wearing masks during the school day sent their children’s face coverings to a lab for analysis.

“We need to know what we are putting on the faces of our children each day. Masks provide a warm, moist environment for bacteria to grow,” said a parent who participated in the analysis, Amanda Donoho.

Of the six masks that were examined, five were contaminated with bacteria, parasites and fungi, noted Scott Morefield of Townhall.com. Three of the masks had dangerous pathogenic and pneumonia-causing bacteria.

No viruses were detected on the masks, although the test is capable of detecting them. (Read more from “Yuck! Parents Send Kids’ Masks to Lab for Analysis” HERE)

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Major Bank Cancels Trump Supporter’s Account Without Warning

A banking corporation, without apology and without much explanation, has shut down a bank account for America First activist Lauren Witzke, but has denied it had anything to do with her conservative beliefs and politics.

A statement from Wells Fargo said the decision was made “appropriately,” but the actions generated a warning from Andrew Torba, the chief of Gab.com, who also has faced banking obstacles because of politics.

“Today it’s Lauren; yesterday it was Gab; and tomorrow it can and will be you,” he warned.

The National File said Witzke, who was a Republican candidate for Senate in Delaware in 2020, confirmed the bank corporation shut down her bank account, removing her money from the entire system.

It left her with a “zero balance” and she would have been stranded had she not been with friends out of state at the time. (Read more from “Major Bank Cancels Trump Supporter’s Account Without Warning” HERE)

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Florida Governor To Send Officers to Southern Border

Florida will send its own law enforcement officers to the U.S.-Mexico border to assist federal, state, and local police responding to the border crisis in Arizona and Texas, where the governors have asked every other state to send in reinforcements.

“We are the first state to commit support for this effort in response to the request that was submitted by the governors of Texas and Arizona, and we’re proud to lead, yet again, on issues that matter to Floridians,” Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Wednesday afternoon.

Officers from the Florida Highway Patrol, Florida Department of Law Enforcement, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Brevard County Sheriff’s Office, Escambia County Sheriff’s Office, Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, Holmes County Sheriff’s Office, Lee County Sheriff’s Office, Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office, Pasco County Sheriff’s Office, Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office, and Walton County Sheriff’s Office will head roughly 1,000 miles west to the southern border. The Florida Division of Emergency Management will oversee the deployments.

“You have a governor who is saying we’ll step up to protect Floridians. This is what real leadership looks like. Leadership is not sending someone down there to beg people not to come,” Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody said at the press conference, referring to Vice President Kamala Harris’s previous statements telling migrants not to travel to the border. (Read more from “Florida Governor To Send Officers to Southern Border” HERE)

[Photo credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/gageskidmore/45569056165.]

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Juneteenth Bill Passes House, Set To Become 11th Federal Holiday

The House of Representatives has passed a milestone measure to create a federal holiday for Juneteenth, the nation’s oldest commemoration of the abolition of slavery and celebration of African American emancipation.

The US Senate unanimously passed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act on Tuesday. It now heads to President Joe Biden for his signature.

The measure, carried by Democratic US Rep Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas, where Juneteenth was first commemorated in 1866, had more than 160 co-sponsors.

Following decades of organising for federal recognition, the proposal has gained considerable support over the following year amid racial justice uprisings across the US.

According to a count compiled by CNN, the Republicans who voted against it were Thomas Massie of Kentucky, Mo Brooks of Alabama, Scott DesJarlais of Tennessee, Andy Biggs of Arizona, Tom Tiffany of Wisconsin, Doug LaMalfa of California, Tom McClintock of California, Mike Rogers of Alabama, Matt Rosendale of Montana, Ronny Jackson of Texas, Ralph Norman of South Carolina, Andrew Clyde of Georgia, Chip Roy of Texas and Paul Gosar of Arizona. (Read more from “Juneteenth Bill Passes House, Set To Become 11th Federal Holiday” HERE)

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Missing Military Firearms Found After Violent Crimes

In the first public accounting of its kind in decades, an Associated Press investigation has found that at least 1,900 U.S. military firearms were lost or stolen during the 2010s, with some resurfacing in violent crimes.

At Fort Campbell, from 2013 to 2016, soldiers stole machine gun parts and other items that ended up with online buyers in Russia, China, Mexico and elsewhere. The civilian ringleader from Clarksville, who was found with a warehouse of items, was convicted. Authorities said he made hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Weapons disappearances have happened across the armed forces.

Government records covering the Army, Marine Corps, Navy and Air Force show pistols, machine guns, shotguns and automatic assault rifles have vanished from armories, supply warehouses, Navy warships, firing ranges and other places where they were used, stored or transported. These weapons of war disappeared because of unlocked doors, sleeping troops, a surveillance system that didn’t record, break-ins and other security lapses that, until now, have not been publicly reported. (Read more from “Missing Military Firearms Found After Violent Crimes” HERE)

[Photo credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/soldiersmediacenter/3720913706.]

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