Pro-Life Activist Gets First Amendment Win From ‘Planned Parenthood’s Favorite Judge’

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A federal judge in San Francisco handed a leading pro-life activist a major free speech win on Wednesday evening with a tentative ruling that would severely trim down Planned Parenthood’s lawsuit over undercover videos put out by the Center for Medical Progress (CMP).

The ruling from Judge William Orrick — whose “longstanding relationship” with Planned Parenthood has drawn protests from Daleiden’s team — rejected Planned Parenthood’s claim that CMP activists were trying to incite threats and violence against the abortion provider with the release of the investigative footage, a CMP news release explains.

“I am inclined to exclude from the case all damages that stem from third parties’ reactions to the release of the video recordings as impermissible publication damages barred by the First Amendment absent a defamation claim,” Orrick wrote. “This would include costs for personal security for plaintiffs’ staff and security guards for facilities; costs for physical upgrades to plaintiffs’ facilities (e.g., security cameras, fencing, bulletproof glass); costs to fix incidents of vandalism or arson; costs to address hacks of plaintiffs’ computer systems (including lost business due to inability to make reservations), as well as costs to prevent future intrusion into computer systems.”

Orrick said, “These damages are the result of third-party behavior and reaction to the publication of the video recordings.”

However, he added, “This would not include damages for investigating intrusions into plaintiffs’ conferences and facilities and improvements to access-security measures for conferences and facilities” or “nominal or statutory damages.”

In 2015, CMP released the first of many undercover videos showing Planned Parenthood’s alleged involvement in a lucrative fetal tissue racket. Planned Parenthood responded by taking the pro-life organization to court.

CMP said that definitively removing the third-party damage claims could not only decrease the scope of Planned Parenthood’s lawsuit from potentially around $20 million to around or under $100,000, but it would also strike a blow for citizen journalists like Daleiden and his colleagues.

“Now that all the facts, evidence, and testimony are in, even Planned Parenthood’s favorite judge refuses to buy into the abortion giant’s fake news and lies about the honest motives and protected speech of pro-life citizen journalists,” a statement from Daleiden reads. “Planned Parenthood is a government-sponsored crime syndicate selling baby body parts like widgets on an assembly line and should only appear in federal court as a criminal defendant.”

This is not the only court battle that Daleiden is facing for his undercover reporting. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals recently upheld an almost $200,000 fine against the organization over videos released despite a judge’s gag order.

The state of California charged Daleiden with 15 felonies related to the videos in 2017, but the pro-life activist was granted a stay by the California Supreme Court in March. (For more from the author of “Pro-Life Activist Gets First Amendment Win From ‘Planned Parenthood’s Favorite Judge’” please click HERE)

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Presidential Candidates Include Preferred Gender Pronouns in Their Twitter Bios

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In the choose-your-own-gender era, it’s not politically correct to exclusively utilize pronouns that match an individual’s biological gender. Instead, according to the proponents of LGBT ideology, you should use each person’s preferred pronouns and ask people if you’re not sure of their preferences. . .

The Hill reported that Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) has included the pronouns “She/her” in her @ewarren account bio. Her @SenWarren Twitter account does not currently include any pronouns. . .

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio includes “He/him” on his @BilldeBlasio bio. The @NYCMayor bio does not include pronouns.

And Obama-era Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro has pronouns in both English and Spanish (“He/Him/Él”) in his bio. (Read more from “Presidential Candidates Include Preferred Gender Pronouns in Their Twitter Bios” HERE)

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Facebook Is Forming a ‘Supreme Court’ That Will Weigh in on Content Moderation

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There are legitimate concerns about bias within social media. Tweets are hidden, innocuous content is flagged, and people are banned and de-platformed for arbitrary reasons. All of these instances happen almost exclusively to conservatives. At the same time, there are also issues posts with graphic violence. And by that, I mean people live streaming murders. The New Zealand mosque attack was livestreamed on Facebook and the link was up for quite a bit until it was taking down. The harrowing video, which was roughly a half-hour long, showed a white supremacist gunning down scores of Muslims. So, how can these tech giants be more reactive to such posts? Well, they’re creating something that will certainly have conservatives on edge: a supreme court (via WaPo) [emphasis mine]:

Should Facebook take down a doctored video of Nancy Pelosi? Ban a conspiracy theorist like Alex Jones?

These are the kind of content moderation quandaries that have been vexing the world’s largest social network, and after years of controversies and missteps, the company says it can’t make these decisions alone. That’s why Facebook has been building a “Supreme Court” of independent experts that would weigh in on the company’s toughest content moderation decisions — and it’s hope is that it will one day govern decisions across Silicon Valley.

“It’s just going to impact our platforms, but the hope absolutely is that at some point this is going to be an industry-wide body,” said Facebook public policy manager Shaarik Zafar at a panel on free expression online yesterday at the New America Foundation. “At that point you would have some type of consistency across platforms.”

(Read more from “Facebook Is Forming a ‘Supreme Court’ That Will Weigh in on Content Moderation” HERE)

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Iran Seizes Multiple Oil Tankers Near Persian Gulf

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Iran — the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism — has captured a British-flagged and a Liberian-flagged oil tanker on Friday in the Strait of Hormuz, according to U.S. officials.

“Iran has also seized a second tanker, the Liberian-flagged MV Mesdar, according to a US official,” CNN reported. “Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced earlier that its navy has captured a British-flagged tanker ‘Stena Impero’ in the Strait of Hormuz.”

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is designated by the U.S. State Department as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) and has “engaged in terrorist activity since its inception 40 years ago.”

President Donald Trump responded to the developments on the White House lawn before departing the White House.

“So, we’re going to be speaking with the U.K.,” Trump said. “And this only goes to show what I am saying about Iran. Trouble. Nothing but trouble. And remember this, the ridiculous agreement made by President Obama expires in a very short period of time, it was a short term agreement.”

(Read more from “Iran Seizes Multiple Oil Tankers Near Persian Gulf” HERE)

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Report Reveals the Reality of ‘Family Separation’ Under Trump Administration

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By Daily Wire. As Democrats and their media supporters continue to claim that the Trump administration is putting “kids in cages” — despite no such outrage when President Barack Obama did the same — a new report finds that the administration has reunited nearly all of the children separated at the border.

The report, from Republicans on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, looked at data produced by the Trump administration’s Department of Health and Human Services and found that 95% of children who had been discharged from HHS custody had been “reunified with an individual sponsor or released to a parent.”

The data provided had identified 2,648 children who were believed to have been separated at the southern border. The committee only had data from HHS on 1,619 of those children, but found that 99% had been discharged from HHS custody.

“Of the 1,603 discharged children, 1,546 children—or 95 percent—were either reunified with an individual sponsor or released to a parent. Specifically, 1,061 children were released to a parent and 485 children were reunified with an individual sponsor,” the report found.

The remaining 73 children who were discharged but not reunited have also been accounted for. Sixteen are being cared for by HHS’s Office of Refugee Resettlement (which determined four of the 16 hadn’t been separated from a parent), 21 had sought a voluntary departure and went back to his or her home country, 20 turned 18 while in custody and could no longer be held by ORR, eight were sent to another migrant program, six went to a DHS family shelter, one was granted immigration relief, and that last child was a runaway. (Read more from “Report Reveals the Reality of ‘Family Separation’ Under Trump Administration” HERE)

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Homeland Security chief: Family border separations are down

By AP News. A top Trump administration official said Thursday the number of family separations at the border has fallen since last summer’s zero tolerance policy, and they are done only for compelling reasons.

Acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan said fewer than 1,000 children have been separated from families out of 450,000 family groups that have crossed the border since October. He said they are separated because of health and safety concerns, among other reasons. . .

McAleenan was speaking Thursday before the House Oversight Committee investigating border problems. His testimony comes amid a growing outcry over the treatment of migrants at the border, an internal investigation into Border Patrol agents who posted crude and mocking posts in a secret Facebook group and the move this week to effectively end asylum on the U.S.-Mexico border. (Read more from “Homeland Security chief: Family border separations are down” HERE)

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Report: Joe Biden Helped Hollywood Gain Access to the Chinese Box Office

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The L.A. Times on Thursday documented how Hollywood studios owe former vice president and 2020 presidential candidate Joe Biden a few billion favors because he played a pivotal role in helping them gain access to the lucrative box office in China.

“Several of the candidates vying for the Democratic presidential nomination have significant support in Hollywood — [Jeffrey] Katzenberg, for example, has kicked in $2,800 each to 14 of them already — but none has as long a history of delivering for the industry as Biden,” the L.A. Times observed.

These deliverables for Hollywood were largely made possible by Biden’s eight years as vice president, during which time he was able to put Hollywood heavyweights in the room with top Chinese officials — as was the case with Katzenberg allegedly meeting Chinese Communist Party chief Xi Jinping in 2012 and sealing the deal for the $330 million Oriental DreamWorks studio.

Biden was a tireless advocate for Hollywood issues in general during his vice presidential tenure, prominently including the legislative battle over online piracy, which was also a factor in the entertainment industry’s support for the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

Naturally, everyone involved in the relationship Biden helped to foster between Hollywood and China insisted there was absolutely nothing improper or unwise about any of it. Oriental Dreamworks is now fully owned by Chinese companies and has been renamed “Pearl Studio,” but it still collaborates with DreamWorks and Universal. The most notable product of Oriental Dreamworks during its years of joint ownership was the Kung Fu Panda film franchise. (Read more from “Report: Joe Biden Helped Hollywood Gain Access to the Chinese Box Office” HERE)

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Poll: ICE Nearly Twice as Favorable as Left-Wing ‘Squad’

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The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency, tasked with deporting illegal aliens, is nearly twice as favorable among Americans as a group of four progressive Democrat congresswomen known as the “Squad.”

The latest Economist/YouGov survey finds that favorability for ICE among American adults far surpasses the popularity of Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), and Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), who blasted President Trump this week.

Overall, about 42 percent of Americans have a favorable opinion of the ICE agency — which Ocasio-Cortez has advocated for abolishing altogether. Meanwhile, Omar holds a favorability of only 25 percent, Ocasio-Cortez a favorability of only 33 percent, Tlaib a favorability of only 24 percent, and Pressley a favorability of only 22 percent.

Likewise, a plurality of 43 percent of Americans said they oppose Ocasio-Cortez’s plan to abolish ICE. A minority, 33 percent, of Americans said they support abolishing ICE, while 25 percent said they were unsure. . .

This week, Trump slammed elected Democrats on Twitter for “viciously telling the people of the United States, the greatest and most powerful Nation on earth, how our government is to be run” despite arriving “from countries whose governments are a complete and total catastrophe, the worst, most corrupt and inept anywhere in the world.” (Read more from “Poll: ICE Nearly Twice as Favorable as Left-Wing ‘Squad’” HERE)

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People Are Getting Implants in Their Hands to Replace Money

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Thousands of people in Sweden are having futuristic microchips implanted into their skin to carry out everyday activities and replace credit cards and cash.

More than 4,000 people have already had the sci-fi-ish chips, about the size of a grain of rice, inserted into their hands — with the pioneers predicting millions will soon join them as they hope to take it global. . .

Like glorified smartwatches, the chips help Swedes monitor their health and even replace keycards to allow them to enter offices and buildings.

They have particularly caught on, however, by enabling owners to pay in stores with a simple swipe of the hand, a big deal in a forward-looking country that is moving toward eliminating cash.

The microchips were pioneered by former body piercer Jowan Österlund, who calls the technology a “moonshot” — and who told Fortune magazine that he’s been hit up by hopeful investors “on every continent except Antarctica.” (Read more from “People Are Getting Implants in Their Hands to Replace Money” HERE)

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Planned Parenthood Has Revealed Its True Self for the World to See

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. . .In just the latest episode of truth-telling this week, Planned Parenthood is finally giving up its long-running charade as a women’s health organization and is admitting that it is merely a for-profit abortion advocacy group.

The organization publicly dismissed its president over “philosophical differences.” Those differences, according to a letter posted by the ousted head, Dr. Leana Wen, stem from the fact that Wen apparently thought she was working for a women’s healthcare organization that also performed abortions — rather than an abortion advocacy organization with an overtly political agenda.

“I came to Planned Parenthood to run a national healthcare organization,” Wen said in her resignation letter. “The new board has determined that the priority of Planned Parenthood moving forward is to double down on abortion rights advocacy.”

This is a startling admission from Planned Parenthood, which for years has insisted that it is, first and foremost, focused on an all-encompassing view of women’s health. “This is health care,” claimed a recent public relations campaign. The group has maintained for years that abortion only constitutes 3% of its services.

In Wen, Planned Parenthood found an unapologetic advocate for abortion services. However, she also reportedly balked at the rapacious way the organization wanted to advocate, and celebrate, abortions — in addition to its emphatic embrace of a deeply progressive over-arching philosophy. According to reporting from BuzzFeed, Wen routinely deleted the word “sexual” from the phrase “sexual and reproductive healthcare” in Planned Parenthood press releases and documents, and resisted using abortion as a stand-alone term — adding “abortion care” or rewording it entirely. (Read more from “Planned Parenthood Has Revealed Its True Self for the World to See” HERE)

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WATCH: House Chaplain Casts out Demons During Morning Prayer in Capitol Building

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By Townhall. Reverend Patrick Conroy serves as the House of Representatives Chaplain in Washington, D.C. and regularly starts the day off for lawmakers with prayer. Thursday’s invocation was a little more serious than most days for Rev. Conroy. The Roman Catholic Priest prayed specifically to cast out the demons inside Capitol Hill.

As reported by Fox News, Rev. Conroy said, “This has been a difficult and contentious week in which darker spirits seem to have been at play in the people’s House.”

Then, in a dramatic moment, Conroy raised both hands and said, ‘In Your most holy name, I cast out all spirits of darkness from this chamber. Spirits not from You. I cast out the spirit of discouragement which deadens the hope of those who are of goodwill.'”

“I cast out the spirit of petty divisiveness which clouds the sense and the desire to be of fruitful productivity and addressing the issues more appropriately before this House,” he prayed. “I cast out any sadness brought on by the frustration of dealing with matters detrimental to the honorable work each member has been called to engage in.” (Read more from “House Chaplain Casts out Demons During Morning Prayer in Capitol Building” HERE)

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House Chaplain Prays to Cast ‘Spirits of Darkness’ From Congress

By CNN. . .In a brief interview afterward, Conroy said the echo was intentional. But he added that his prayer, which he wrote himself, was more inspired by traditional blessings for homes or other buildings.

“Anoint your servants here in the House with a healing balm to comfort and renew the souls of all in this assembly,” Conroy prayed. “May your spirit of wisdom and patience descend upon all so that any spirit of darkness might have no place in our midst.”

The idea for the prayer came to him, the chaplain said, after Tuesday’s contentious House vote to condemn as racist President Donald Trump’s tweets telling four Democrat congresswomen to “go back” to their home countries. Three were born in the United States, the fourth is a naturalized citizen.

“I was on the House floor on Tuesday,” Conroy told CNN, “and to me, it felt different than other days. It felt like there was something going on beyond just political disagreement. The energy of the House was very off. No one was relishing what was happening.” (Read more from “House Chaplain Prays to Cast ‘Spirits of Darkness’ From Congress” HERE)

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