Chicago Sends Bill to Jussie Smollett – Here’s What It’s For

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The city of Chicago sent a letter to Jussie Smollett on Thursday demanding the actor pay $130,000 to the city to offset the costs associated with investigating the alleged hate crime hoax he is accused of concocting. . .

ABC 7 Chicago reports that “the money the city requested in the letter sent Thursday is separate from the $10,000 bond that Smollett forfeited as a condition of the charges against him being dropped.”

“This is a reasonable and legally justifiable amount to collect to help offset the cost of the investigation,” said Bill McCaffrey, a spokesperson for the Department of Buildings.

The Daily Wire reported earlier on Thursday that during an interview with WGN News on Thursday morning, Chicago Democrat Mayor Rahm Emanuel said that the city of Chicago was calculating a bill to send to Smollett.

“The police are assembling the cost [of the investigation],” Emanuel said. “They’ll do that and then the corporation counsel of the city of Chicago will communicate to Jussie Smollett and his legal team about recouping that cost in that effort. And, given that he doesn’t feel any sense of contrition and remorse, my recommendation is when he writes the check, in the memo section he can put the word, ‘I’m accountable’ for the hoax.”

(Read more from “Chicago Sends Bill to Jussie Smollett – Here’s What It’s For” HERE)

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Puerto Rico’s Governor Threatens to Physically Attack Trump

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By Daily Wire. CNN’s Jim Acosta sat back and smiled on Thursday as Puerto Rican Governor Ricardo Rossello threatened to physically attack President Donald Trump, saying that he would punch him in the mouth.

In the interview, which aired on “CNN Right Now With Brianna Keilar,” Rossello said: “If the bully gets close, I’ll punch the bully in the mouth.”

(Read more from “Puerto Rico’s Governor Threatens to Physically Attack Trump” HERE)

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Trump: I’ve Taken Better Care of Puerto Rico Than ‘Any Living Human Being’

By The Daily Beast. President Trump told reporters on Thursday that he has “taken better care of Puerto Rico than any man ever.” “Puerto Rico has been taken care of better by Donald Trump than by any living human being and I think the people of Puerto Rico understand that,” he claimed. “But you do have the mayor of San Juan who, frankly, doesn’t know what she’s doing—and the governor, they gotta spend the money wisely. They don’t know how to spend the money, and they’re not spending it wisely—but I’m giving them more money than they’ve ever gotten[.]” The mayor of San Juan, Puerto Rico, very publicly criticized Trump for his treatment of the U.S. territory in the wake of hurricanes Maria and Irma, going so far as to claim his administration killed people due to “neglect.” The Washington Post reported earlier this week that Trump complained about the amount of aid funding Puerto Rico got in comparison to Florida and Texas to GOP senators.

(Read more from “Trump: I’ve Taken Better Care of Puerto Rico Than ‘Any Living Human Being'” HERE)

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Marijuana-Related ER Visits Have Tripled in Colorado Since Legalization

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Marijuana-related emergency room visits tripled in Colorado since the legalization of cannabis in 2012, according to a study published Monday in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Researchers at UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital reviewed the records of nearly 10,000 patients who had pot-related visits at the hospital between 2012 to 2016. They found a three-fold increase in cannabis-associated emergency department visits during that period.

“Lawmakers rushing to legalize marijuana need to slow down and consider the implications it could bring upon their state,” Dr. Kevin Sabet, founder of Smart Approaches to Marijuana, said in an email to TheBlaze. “They are certainly not receiving information such as this from the pot industry’s army of lobbyists.”

Pot smokers visited the emergency room more often, but edibles accounted for a higher number of cardiovascular and psychiatric symptoms, the study showed. Edibles are food products containing tetrahydrocannabinol, more commonly known as THC. It is the psychoactive ingredient in cannabis. . .

“Acute psychiatric visits like acute panic attacks, acute psychosis, and acute-onset of chronic conditions such as acute exacerbations of schizophrenia were also much more commonly associated with cannabis edibles,” he added. (Read more from “Marijuana-Related ER Visits Have Tripled in Colorado Since Legalization” HERE)

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A Surprising Poll Says How Many Americans Believe Trump Has Been Totally Exonerated of Collusion

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By The Blaze. A surprising poll from CNN shows just how many Americans believe President Donald Trump is totally exonerated of accusations of colluding with the Russian government to influence the 2016 election.

The poll conducted by SSRS shows that a majority of Americans believe the president has not been completely exonerated, while slightly less than a majority say he has been exonerated.

In the poll, 56 percent say the president and his campaign have not been exonerated, while 43 percent say he and his campaign have been exonerated.

Democrats have been demanding more information since Attorney General William Barr issued a summary of the report from special counsel Robert Mueller on Russian election interference and alleged collusion by the Trump campaign. . .

The poll says that Americans are divided on the issue based on partisan identity, with 77 percent of Republicans saying the report exonerated Trump’s campaign, while 80 percent of Democrats say the campaign was not exonerated. (Read more from “A Surprising Poll Says How Many Americans Believe Trump Has Been Totally Exonerated of Collusion” HERE)

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CNN Poll: Majority Says Trump Not Exonerated of Collusion After Barr’s Summary

By CNN. Republicans and Democrats are on opposite sides of this question: 77% of Republicans say the President has been exonerated, 80% of Democrats say he has not. Independents break against exoneration — 58% say the President and his campaign were not exonerated.

Those who say they have heard or read “a great deal” about the report (about 23% of the public), however, are more apt to say the President has been cleared: 56% in that group say Trump and his campaign have been exonerated of any collusion, while 44% say it wasn’t exoneration but that collusion could not be proven.

The 43% overall in the new poll saying the President has been exonerated is about the same as the 42% who said in a CNN poll earlier this year that Trump’s campaign did not collude with the Russian government to help get Trump elected. That suggests the summary letter released Sunday did little to move public opinion on this matter. (Read more from “CNN Poll: Majority Says Trump Not Exonerated of Collusion After Barr’s Summary” HERE)

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Was John Brennan’s House Intel Testimony Also Based on ‘Bad Information’?

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By The Daily Caller. Former CIA Director John Brennan’s recent admission he received “bad information” that led him to inaccurately predict conspiracy indictments in the Mueller probe is raising questions about claims he made to Congress about contacts between the Trump campaign and Russians.

Brennan told the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence in May 2017 the CIA provided the FBI with information on contacts between Russian officials and Trump campaign figures. . .

“I encountered and am aware of information and intelligence that revealed contacts and interactions between Russian officials and U.S. persons involved in the Trump campaign,” he added, noting he had not seen evidence of collusion between the Trump associates and Russians. . .

Brennan acknowledged after Barr’s revelation that he may have relied on “bad information” when he recently predicted conspiracy indictments against Trump associates in the Mueller probe.

“Well, I don’t know if I received bad information, but I think I suspected there was more than there actually was,” Brennan said. “I am relieved that it’s been determined there was not a criminal conspiracy with the Russian government over our election. I think that is good news for the country.” (Read more from “Was John Brennan’s House Intel Testimony Also Based on ‘Bad Information’?” HERE)

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Rand Paul: ‘Source’ Says John Brennan Pushed Discredited Steele Dossier

By Fox News. Citing a “high-level source,” Republican Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul charged in a bombshell Twitter post late Wednesday that anti-Trump ex-CIA Director John Brennan “insisted that the unverified and fake Steele dossier” be included in a classified intelligence community report on Russian interference in the 2016 elections — a decision that ultimately lent credibility to the dossier and may have played a key role in fomenting unfounded fears of Russia collusion for two years.

Paul called on Brennan to testify under oath immediately, as Republicans continue to aggressively seek out the origins of the collusion narrative. Fox News had not independently verified Paul’s source, and Brennan has not replied to Fox News’ requests for comment.

Fox News is told Paul’s tweet specifically accused Brennan of pushing to incorporate the dossier into the January 2017 official intelligence community assessment (ICA) from the FBI, CIA, and NSA that Russia worked to interfere in the 2016 election.

However, the dossier is not referenced in the unclassified summary of the ICA report that has been publicly released. Former Director of National Intelligence (DNI) James Clapper previously testified that the dossier was not ultimately used in the ICA at all.

CNN reported on Jan. 12, 2017, based on anonymous sources, that intelligence officials briefed Trump on Jan. 6, 2017 with a “synopsis” of the contents of the dossier, which was written by ex-British spy Christopher Steele. Among the claims in the discredited dossier were that the Russian government had humiliating and compromising information concerning Trump. (Read more from “Rand Paul: ‘Source’ Says John Brennan Pushed Discredited Steele Dossier” HERE)

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Black Pro-Life Speaker Disinvited From University

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A black pro-life speaker has been disinvited from visiting Cornell, due to her Christian beliefs about sexuality.

Jannique Stewart is a pro-life speaker with the Life Training Institute. Earlier this year, Stewart had been invited to give a talk at Cornell University’s Political Union (CPU) “regarding the fact that abortion is a moral wrong.”

But in a Facebook post dated March 23, Stewart shared that she had been surprised to receive a phone call disinviting her from the event because of her outspoken beliefs regarding Biblical sexuality. Those beliefs included the ideas that sexual activity ought to be reserved for marriage, and that God designed marriage to be between one man and one woman.

Stewart stated in her post that it was made clear to her that those views are what led to her being disinvited. She also said that the university compared her to people holding pro-slavery and pro-holocaust views. . .

When she told the Cornell group that they were being overtly discriminatory by disinviting her over her conservative views, they decided not to disinvite her, but still suggested it would be preferable for another speaker to come in her place, who did not hold such views. (Read more from “Black Pro-Life Speaker Disinvited From University” HERE)

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NASA Nixes 1st All-Female Spacewalk

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By AP. Astronaut Anne McClain was supposed to float out of the International Space Station this Friday with newly arrived Christina Koch, to replace old batteries. But McClain pulled herself from the lineup because there’s not enough time to get two medium suits ready for them. Koch will go out with a male crewmate, Nick Hague.

NASA spokeswoman Brandi Dean said Tuesday that McClain trained before flight in both medium and large spacesuits. She wore a medium when she went out on her first spacewalk last Friday and was supposed to switch to a large this week. But after last week’s spacewalk, she decided that a large would be too big. . .

In 54 years of spacewalking, women have only gone outside with men. That’s because men have always outnumbered women in space. As women continue to make up a greater percentage of the astronaut corps, more gender records will be set and not just in spacewalking, Dean noted. (Read more from “NASA Nixes 1st All-Female Spacewalk” HERE)

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NASA Explains Why It Didn’t Have Enough Space Suits for an All-Female Spacewalk

By BGR. This was supposed to be a history-making week for NASA, with the first all-female spacewalk originally planned to take place on Friday. Unfortunately, a last-second swap has led to one of the expected participants, Anne McClain, being replaced with fellow ISS inhabitant Nick Hague.

NASA’s explanation was that McClain wouldn’t have a space suit available to her for the spacewalk due to sizing, since Christina Koch will be wearing the medium-sized suit that McClain wore during her previous spacewalk last week. This left a lot of people scratching their heads. After all, NASA says there’s two of every size of space suit on board the ISS, so why can’t both McClain and Koch wear the same sized suits? Speaking with CNN, NASA representatives offered a deeper explanation. . .

NASA has two of each size of space suit on the ISS, but only one of them is fully outfitted and ready to use at any given time. The other suits, which are considered backups, can’t be pulled out and used immediately, and they must be prepped for use in space. . .

Training in various space suits on Earth can’t adequately predict what suit will fit you better in space, and in this case the time crunch between the two spacewalks has forced NASA to replace McClain with Hague. It’s obviously a bummer for McClain, but nobody wants to be floating around in space in a suit that doesn’t fit. (Read more from “NASA Explains Why It Didn’t Have Enough Space Suits for an All-Female Spacewalk” HERE)

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1.5 Million Illegal Aliens Expected to Enter U.S. Population This Year

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The United States is projected to add about 1.5 million illegal aliens to the American population by the end of the year, should current rates of Catch and Release, border crossings, and visa overstays pan out.

This year, the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Catch and Release policy — whereby border crossers and illegal aliens are readily released from federal custody into the interior of the U.S. — is on track to release roughly 434,000 border crossers and illegal aliens into the country by the end of the year. This projection is based on current estimates that more than 36,000 border crossers and illegal aliens have been released from DHS custody every month since the beginning of the year.

Additionally, Princeton Policy Advisors researcher Steven Kopits projects that in 2019, there will be up to 500,000 illegal aliens at the southern border who successfully cross into the U.S. undetected by Border Patrol agents. These are foreign nationals whom federal immigration officials are unaware of and are usually only deported after they commit a crime in the U.S.

Also, should visa overstay levels continue at the same pace as in Fiscal Year 2017, there could potentially be about 630,000 illegal aliens added to the U.S. population after overstaying their visas. . .

These projections put the number of illegal aliens added to the U.S. population at around one to 1.5 million, on top of the 11 to 22 million illegal aliens who are already living across the country. This finding does not factor in the illegal aliens who will be deported, die over the next year, or leave the U.S. of their own will. As DHS data has revealed, once border crossers and illegal aliens are released into the country, the overwhelming majority are never deported. (Read more from “1.5 Million Illegal Aliens Expected to Enter U.S. This Year” HERE)

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College Athlete: Teammates DESTROYED Bibles He Gifted Them

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A former walk-on for the University of Southern California football team has written a new book that details the struggles he faced trying to share his love for Christ with teammates.

Ben Malcolmson, who was once on one of the most dynamic college football teams of its day, now serves as the director of external relations for the Seattle Seahawks and special assistant to head coach Pete Carroll. Malcolmson has authored the book, Walk On, what he calls an “unlikely story of football, purpose and following an amazing God.” . . .

Malcolmson said that throughout his time on the team, he tried a number of ways to share his faith with his teammates. . .

Malcolmson sneaked into the team locker room late Christmas Eve 2006 and placed Bibles on the seats in front of each locker. Malcolmson wrote that he felt the locker room fill with an “undeniable holy presence.”

“Everywhere I looked, shredded tissue-thin pages of the Bibles were strewn upon the floor, so much that I could hardly see even a sliver of the cardinal carpet,” he wrote. “I stood frozen in place as my heart sank and I felt the blood drain from my face. Never in any of my daydreams had I envisioned a scene like this.” (Read more from “College Athlete: Teammates Tore up Bibles He Gifted Them” HERE)

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Yep, It’s Official: America Is a Christian Nation

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U.S. Supreme Court stated in the 1892 case of Church of the Holy Trinity v. United States, written by Justice David Josiah Brewer (143 U.S. 457-458, 465-471, 36 L ed 226): “This is a religious people. This is historically true. From the discovery of this continent to the present hour, there is a single voice making this affirmation. The commission to Christopher Columbus … (recited) that ‘it is hoped that by God’s assistance some of the continents and islands in the ocean will be discovered.’ … The first colonial grant made to Sir Walter Raleigh in 1584 … and the grant authorizing him to enact statutes for the government of the proposed colony provided ‘that they be not against the true Christian faith.’ … The first charter of Virginia, granted by King James I in 1606 … commenced the grant in these words: ‘… in propagating of Christian Religion to such People as yet live in Darkness. …’ Language of similar import may be found in the subsequent charters of that colony … in 1609 and 1611; and the same is true of the various charters granted to the other colonies. In language more or less emphatic is the establishment of the Christian religion declared to be one of the purposes of the grant. The celebrated compact made by the Pilgrims in the Mayflower, 1620, recites: ‘Having undertaken for the Glory of God, and advancement of the Christian faith … a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia.’

“The fundamental orders of Connecticut, under which a provisional government was instituted in 1638-1639, commence with this declaration: ‘… And well knowing where a people are gathered together the word of God requires that to maintain the peace and union … there should be an orderly and decent government established according to God … to maintain and preserve the liberty and purity of the gospel of our Lord Jesus which we now profess … of the said gospel is now practiced amongst us.’ In the charter of privileges granted by William Penn to the province of Pennsylvania, in 1701, it is recited: ‘… no people can be truly happy, though under the greatest enjoyment of civil liberties, if abridged of … their religious profession and worship. …’ Coming nearer to the present time, the Declaration of Independence recognizes the presence of the Divine in human affairs in these words: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights. … appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions. … And for the support of this Declaration, with firm reliance on the Protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.’ … These declarations … reaffirm that this is a religious nation.” . . .

Justice Brewer concluded: “While the separation of church and state is often affirmed, there is nowhere a repudiation of Christianity as one of the institutions as well as benedictions of society. In short, there is no charter or constitution that is either infidel, agnostic, or anti-Christian. Wherever there is a declaration in favor of any religion it is of the Christian. … I could show how largely our laws and customs are based upon the laws of Moses and the teachings of Christ; how constantly the Bible is appealed to as the guide of life and the authority in question of morals.” (Read more from “Yep, It’s Official: America Is a Christian Nation” HERE)

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