Republican Governor in California?

President Trump is the “pivotal reason” why a Republican likely will finish in the top two in California’s nonpartisan gubernatorial primary and even has a fighting chance to become the next governor of the deep-blue state, according to a long-time observer of Sacramento politics.

John Cox, a businessman from Illinois, was endorsed by Trump last week, noted Ben Boychuk, a regular columnist with the Sacramento Bee newspaper, and is just behind former Democratic Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom and way ahead of the rest of the mostly Democratic pack, according to two recent statewide polls.

In California’s blanket primary system, the top two candidates go on to the general, regardless of party. A survey and electoral modeling by Competitive Edge Research & Communication, released Thursday, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported, shows Newsom with 26 percent and Cox with 22 percent.

Last week, Trump tweeted his endorsement of Cox, declaring “California finally deserves a great Governor, one who understands borders, crime and lowering taxes.” . . .

Boychuk wrote that while Democrat usually are the top two vote-getters in the governor’s race, this year could be different. (Read more from “Republican Governor in California?” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Two Guys Stroll Into an Indian Restaurant in Toronto, Drop an IED and Split

The blast from the improvised explosive device planted at the Bombay Bhel restaurant in Mississauga — just west of Toronto — wounded 15 people, according to police, three of whom suffered critical injuries, according to police.

The two men didn’t say anything when they dropped off the bomb at the Indian restaurant, and it’s unclear what their goals were, Peel Regional Police Sgt. Matt Bertram told reporters.

“We have no indication to call it a hate crime or any kind of terrorism act,” Bertram said. “It appears they just went in, dropped off this device and took off right away.”

Both men, believed to be in their mid-20s, were wearing masks and clothing to conceal their identities. Police have circulated a photo captured from security cameras.

“Glass was broken in the street,” neighbor Andre Larrivee said. “There was a child’s birthday party. Everything was destroyed. Lots of blood in the floor. Many people were screaming. They were trying to run out from the restaurant. There was a guy with glass inside his eyes. Many people were bleeding so much.” (Read more from “Two Guys Stroll Into an Indian Restaurant in Toronto, Drop an Ied and Split” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Rep. Hurls Stunning Accusations Against Robert Mueller

Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) made shocking and outrageous claims against special counsel Robert Mueller, including the accusation that he had protected radical Islamists “his whole career.” . . .

“This is consistent with Mueller,” he said, “he has protected radical Islamists his whole career, with the FBI, and even as special counsel but, uhm, 911, we knew who, we found out who the perpetrators were, there were no question, that was radical Islam.”

“And immediately after that, the anthrax scare occurred, and he was looking for something to take the attention away from the concern about radical Islam,” he explained, adding that he believed Mueller botched the anthrax investigation in order to distract from the threat of Islam. . . .

Friday on CNN, former CIA director Leon Panetta responded to Gohmert’s accusations, saying, “Wolf, as a former congressman, I would say with great respect to that particular congressman, he has no idea what the hell he’s talking about.”

“Bob Mueller was FBI director when I was the director of the CIA,” he explained. “He committed himself to going after terrorists. To going after extremist Islam in order to protect this country. And whatever he’s implying is absolutely not only wrong, but in many ways it reflects the kind of unfounded attacks that people are resorting to here in order to undermine what Bob Mueller is doing in this investigation.” (Read more from “Rep. Hurls Stunning Accusations Against Robert Mueller” HERE)

_____________________________________

During His 12-Year Tenure at the FBI, Mueller Embraced Radical Islam

By Jordan Schachtel. Special counsel Robert Mueller’s career is rife with examples of prioritizing politically correct sensitivities over the unfiltered, and sometimes difficult, truth of the matter. And this issue came to the forefront at the beginning of President Obama’s second term in office, when Mueller decided to purge hundreds of counter-terrorism training materials that arguably rendered America less safe in the face of a growing domestic Islamic extremist problem.

While serving as FBI director, Mueller (the current head of the special counsel investigation of the 2016 election) presided over an effort to silence counter-terrorism experts from discussing the threat posed by radical Islamic ideologies. His decision to choose this approach could call into question his judgement while presiding over an incredibly politically toxic debate surrounding the 2016 election.

Instead of providing the tools his agents needed to fight the ideological war against the continuing rise of radical Islam in America, Mueller handicapped his agents because he seemingly prioritized making sure that nobody was offended over keeping America safe.

Radical groups exposed Mueller’s weakness as an opportunity to deliver a critical blow to the United States’ counterterrorism apparatus following a series of leaks sent to far-left journalist Spencer Ackerman, who claimed that the FBI was teaching about radical Islamic terrorism in an “anti-Islam” manner.

In his “exposé” for Wired magazine, Ackerman argued that counter-terror trainers were promoting “Islamophobia.” One of Ackerman’s key sources for his reporting was Mohamed Elibiary, an Obama administration political appointee who is “known for his almost daily advocacy for the Muslim Brotherhood,” according to the Clarion Project.

Following Ackerman’s report, a coalition of Islamist groups wrote a letter to then-Director Mueller, demanding that he purge training materials that they deemed offensive to Muslims.

“The undersigned civil and human rights groups write to express our deep concern regarding recently-publicized FBI training materials that manifest anti-Muslim bias and factual inaccuracies,” read the letter co-signed by some groups that are tied to the global Muslim Brotherhood.

But “no fewer than six known Muslim Brotherhood-associated organizations” leveraged the far-Left campaign to empower their position with Mueller, according to terrorism expert Stephen Coughlin’s “Catastrophic Failure: Blindfolding America in the Face of Jihad.”

At an October 2011 congressional hearing, Mueller appeared to push for a training regimen that would conform to politically correct norms.

Instead of defending his organization’s work, Mueller decided to meet privately with members of the radical groups that expressed offense. Some of these groups were identified as unindicted co-conspirators in the Holy Land Foundation trial, which was the biggest terror-financing case in American history.

Mueller attempted to keep the meeting secret, and details of his embrace of radical Islamic groups were only made possible after Judicial Watch filed a lawsuit for the records. In a sign of troubling times ahead, leaders of the fringe groups expressed gratitude to Director Mueller for taking their concerns seriously.

In one such statement, Nihad Awad, the Hamas-supporting director of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), thanked Mueller “for his pledge to perform a ‘top to bottom’ review of FBI counterterrorism training.”

The Mueller FBI released a statement on the matter in 2011, revealing that it was “conducting a comprehensive review of all training and reference materials that relate in any way to religion or culture.” Moreover, the FBI would “consult with outside experts on the development and use of training materials.”

Following the Mueller meeting with radical Islamic groups and the continuing pressure campaign from leftist groups like the ACLU, the “purge” began in February 2012. Then, the FBI decided to eliminate training materials according to four criteria: “factual errors”; “poor taste”; “stereotypes”; or anything that “lacked precision.”

The six-month review process eliminated almost 900 pages and 392 presentations of FBI training materials. In doing so, Mueller rendered his FBI helpless in properly training its agents about the threats posed by radical Islamic doctrines.

The FOIA lawsuit by Judicial Watch brought to light some information related to the purge of training materials.

The FBI said that one such article was purged because it “inaccurately argues that the Muslim Brotherhood is a terrorist organization.” Another document was scrubbed to “remove references to mosques specifically as a radicalization incubator.” A third piece of material was censored because the shielded “outside expert” took issue with the author grouping “Islamic militancy” with “terrorism.”

Dr. Sebastian Gorka, who recently served in the White House as a national security expert to President Trump, was at the time contracted to train FBI agents. As soon as the purge was implemented, Gorka recalls that the Department of Justice “created a body of anonymous reviewers,” whose identities remained unknown to this day.

“If this faceless body deemed anything to be anti-Islamic, xenophobic, or inflammatory, the individual instructor was told, ‘You must remove that material. You must remove that slide, or you will never be allowed to lecture,’” he said.

Gorka tells CR that his training materials only “quoted primary jihadi texts,” and that he offered to debate the contested items with the anonymous body tasked with censoring his work. However, Gorka says he was told that there was no right of repeal and that he wasn’t allowed to know who the anonymous reviewers were.

“Not even the FBI unit that hired me was allowed to know who these faceless individuals were,” Gorka said.

The Mueller FBI not only shielded the identities of these “outside experts,” it decided to classify the purged documents, making it extremely difficult even for prominent members of Congress to grasp what had happened.

At the time, former Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., was a member of the House Intelligence Committee. She was only able to view the classified documents in person and was not allowed to speak publicly about what she saw.

“This is truly censorship by our government, the government purging itself of documents,” Bachmann said after reviewing the files in June 2012. “We are not only seeing documents purged. We are seeing trainers purged and we are seeing the FBI library purged.”

Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, also reviewed the purged documents and said he was “shocked at the material that has been removed.” He chalked up the purge to “political correctness,” arguing that the PC mentality usurped the “interest of truth and properly educated justice officials.”

“We are blinding our law enforcement officers from the ability to see who the enemy actually is,” he added.

Mueller’s PC attitude and apparent blindness to the jihadi ideology showed not only in his purge of counter-terrorism materials, but also in the FBI’s law enforcement operations during his tenure as FBI director, which stretched from 2001 to 2013.

The Mueller FBI repeatedly ignored warnings about Boston Marathon bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev. The deceased jihadi attended the Islamic Society of Boston, a known terrorist recruitment mosque.

Mueller said his agents had invested in “outreach” efforts there, but admitted he was entirely unaware that the mosque was started by a prominent terrorist financier. Mueller refused to allow his agents to receive an education on the possibility that radical mosques could serve as incubators to terrorism, something that Arab-Muslim allies such as the UAE, Jordan, Bahrain, and other countries regularly discuss in deterring extremism.

Kyle Shideler is the director of the Threat Information Office at the Center for Security Policy. For years, he has researched the influence of fringe domestic Islamist groups. Shideler tells CR that the Mueller FBI “expressed a willingness to include Islamist groups – even those under active U.S. investigation – in discussions about how best to deal with Islamic terrorism.”

“This resulted in these groups having what amounted to an unacceptable veto over what could or could not be said by law enforcement, and what could or could not be trained,” he said. “The negative impact this has had on our homeland security, measured in both taxpayer dollars as well as American lives, has been almost incalculable.”

Instead of maximizing the FBI’s efficiency as the nation’s premier domestic law enforcement agency, time and time again, Mueller preferred to take the sensitive, inoffensive route in order to gain acceptance inside the mainstream media and Obama administration.

Given his botched tenure at the FBI, it seems only fair to speculate what political forces will impact Robert Mueller’s decisions this time around in his current duties to investigate the 2016 election. (Read more columns like this HERE).

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Giuliani Says New Information Should End Mueller’s Investigation – Here’s Why

By The Blaze. Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani said Friday that he will make a request that will lead to the end of the Mueller investigation into Russian election interference and alleged collusion with the Trump campaign. . .

Giulani is calling for a review from the Department of Justice of the documents that led to the opening of Mueller’s investigation, and believes that this will reinvigorate the accusation that the probe was illegitimate and should be ended.

Giuliani, who is one of Trump’s defense lawyers, spoke to the Associated Press about his claim that accusations of “spying” on the Trump campaign may delegitimize Mueller’s investigation.

“If the spying was inappropriate,” he said. that means we may have an entirely illegitimate investigation.”

“Coupled with Comey’s illegally leaked memos,” Giuliani explained, “this means the whole thing was a mistake and should never have happened.” (Read more from “Giuliani Says New Information Should End Mueller’s Investigation – Here’s Why” HERE)

___________________________________________

Giuliani: White House Wants Briefing on Classified Info

By Associated Press. President Donald Trump’s legal team wants a briefing on the classified information shared with lawmakers about the origins of the FBI investigation into Russia’s meddling in the 2016 presidential election and may take it to the Justice Department as part of an effort to scuttle the ongoing special counsel probe.

Rudy Giuliani, one of Trump’s attorneys, told The Associated Press on Friday that the White House hopes to get a readout of the information next week, particularly about the use of a longtime government informant who approached members of Trump’s campaign in a possible bid to glean intelligence on Russian efforts to sway the election. Trump has made unproven claims of FBI misconduct and political bias and has denounced the asset as “a spy.” . . .

Suggesting that the probe was launched on the backs of inappropriately obtained information was Giuliani’s latest effort to discredit the investigation by painting it as a purely political event. The FBI began a counterintelligence investigation in July 2016 to determine if Trump campaign associates were coordinating with Russia to tip the election. The investigation was opened after the hacking of Democratic emails that intelligence officials later formally attributed to Russia. (Read more from “Giuliani: White House Wants Briefing on Classified Info” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Prime Minister: Pro-Life Law ‘a Legacy of Shame’

By The Daily Wire. On the eve of Ireland voting on whether or not to enshrine abortion as a constitutional right, the country’s far-left Prime Minister condemned Ireland’s pro-life record as being “a legacy of shame.”

The abortion activists in Ireland could not possibly have a greater ally than Prime Minister ​Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, who has been pushing a far-left agenda ever since his ascendancy in 2015 that saw the overturn of traditional marriage. Leading up to the vote on overturning the country’s Eighth Amendment, the PM has aggressively pushed the pro-abortion agenda.

“There has been in Ireland a legacy of shame in many ways,” Varadkar said, the Irish Examiner reports. “The fact that 170,000 women have had to travel, sometimes in secret, to another jurisdiction to end their pregnancies.” . . .

These are the same talking points pushed by Irish actor Liam Neeson just a few weeks ago. LifeNews responded by debunking the false picture of Ireland’s handling of women’s health painted by pro-abortion activists:​ . . .

Irish doctors have been some of the most outspoken advocates against abortion, saying the repeal of the Eighth Amendment would do nothing whatsoever to help Irish women.

(Read more from “Prime Minister: Pro-Life Law ‘a Legacy of Shame'” HERE)

_________________________________________________

Exit Polls Show That Voters in Ireland Might Have Just Legalized Abortion by a Landslide

By The Blaze. Irish citizens voted on Friday over whether or not to lift the ban on abortion in the country, and exit polls are showing that the bid to allow the practice appears to have been quite successful.

In 1983, the eight amendment to the Irish constitution was ratified, which outlawed abortion in the country. Since then, roughly 170,000 Irish women have traveled to other countries to have pregnancies terminated.

A poll conducted by RTE Television showed that almost 70 percent of respondents voted to repeal the abortion ban, and another poll for The Irish Times was similar — showing 68 percent of those surveyed voted for repealing the eight amendment, against 32 percent who said abortions should still be banned in the country.

The results also exposed large divisions between age groups, with voters over 65 mostly voting against repealing the ban on abortions, and 18 to 24-year-olds voting for repeal at roughly 87 percent. (Read more from “Exit Polls Show That Voters in Ireland Might Have Just Legalized Abortion by a Landslide” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Check out These Pics of the ‘Wolf-Like Creature’ Shot in Montana

It’s Friday, so it’s the perfect time for a story about a mysterious “wolf-like creature” shot in Montana that has people talking about the “Dogman” conspiracy and the continued existence of a prehistoric species of wolves.

“We have no idea what this was until we get a DNA report back,” said Bruce Auchly, information manager for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, of the wolf-like animal shot near a ranch in Montana. “It was near a rancher’s place, it was shot, and our game wardens went to investigate. The whole animal was sent to our lab in Bozeman. That’s the last I ever heard of it.”

The Great Falls Tribune reports that the creature, which “at this point, no one is 100 percent sure” how to identify, was shot and killed on May 16 on a ranch outside of Denton. “With long grayish fur, a large head and an extended snout, the animal shared many of the same characteristics as a wolf; but its ears were too large, it’s legs and body too short, its fur uncharacteristic of that common to a wolf,” the Tribune reports.

Social media in Lewistown exploded with theories over the creature last week, with some saying it was a starved “grizzly cub,” others suggesting it was a descendent of prehistoric dire wolves, and others going right over the conspiracy cliff with the “Dogman” theory.

“That could very well be what’s being called Dogman,” one person speculated. “They’re spotted each day and the government quells any and all reports. Several people report being strong armed into keeping quiet about their reports by men wearing black suits. These are just facts. Look into if if you don’t believe it.” (Read more from “Check out These Pics of the ‘Wolf-Like Creature’ Shot in Montana” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

U.S. Government Employee in China Experiences ‘Sensations of Sound and Pressure,’ Similar to ‘Sonic Attacks’ on Diplomats in Cuba

On Wednesday, the State Department’s “travel” Twitter account uploaded a story followed by a warning for personnel in China:

Speaking before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said:

The medical indications are very similar, and entirely consistent with, the medical indications that were taking place to Americans working in Cuba. One incident – we announced it to the workforce while we slept here last night. We have medical teams that are moving to be on the ground there. We are working to figure out what took place both in Havana, and [now] in China as well. We’ve asked the Chinese for their assistance in doing that, and they have committed to honoring their commitments under the Vienna Convention to keep American foreign service officers safe.

In 2016 and 2017, U.S. diplomats in Havana, Cuba reported feeling as though they had been prey to “auditory and sensory phenomena in their homes or hotel room,” according to a study published in March 2018.

The 21 individuals who were evaluated in the study had allegedly developed “cognitive, vestibular, and oculomotor dysfunction, along with auditory symptoms, sleep abnormalities, and headache.” The study adds that the individuals “appeared to have sustained injury to widespread brain networks without an associated history of head trauma.” (Read more from “U.S. Government Employee in China Experiences ‘Sensations of Sound and Pressure,’ Similar to ‘Sonic Attacks’ on Diplomats in Cuba” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

No Shame: Protesters Shout As Trump Meets With Families Of MS-13 Victims

By Conservative Tribune. President Donald Trump has a knack for exposing Democrats and liberals for their tendency to stand in defense of criminals, murderers and terrorists, all in an effort to oppose Trump at every turn.

This was recently on display after the president referred to brutal MS-13 gang members as “animals,” prompting many elected Democrats and liberal media figures to defend the gang members as those worthy of dignity.

It was no surprise then that when Trump traveled to Long Island, New York, for a round-table discussion about how to confront and defeat the criminal gang, his visit was met by liberal protesters, according to WABC.

Those protesters accused Trump of inflaming and spreading “xenophobia and racism” and declared the president “not welcome” in Long Island or New York City, despite having been invited by many local politicians who attended the discussion, as well as families of the gang’s victims.

Organizers of the protest declared they were “resisting Trump’s assaults on immigrant families and communities and call on elected officials across the region to stand with them in solidarity and reject Trump’s visit.” (Read more from “No Shame: Protesters Shout As Trump Meets With Families Of Ms-13 Victims” HERE)

______________________________________________

Protest Held Ahead Of President Trump’s Ms-13 Visit To Long Island

By ABC 7. . .New York Congressman Pete King’s office said they’re expecting the president to travel to Bethpage, one week after Trump raised eyebrows when he used the word “animals” to describe some people who enter the country illegally in response to a comment about MS-13.

“As law enforcement departments from both counties stand next to this man, let’s remember that his type of hatred and rhetoric only fuels gang recruitment,” said Sergio Argueta, with the group Strong Youth.

But Nassau County’s executive, Democrat Laura Curran, said she’s attending in the hopes it’ll help in the fight against MS-13.

“It’s the president of the United States,” she said. “He’s coming to Nassau County. Perhaps we can get some resources and federal help, and I am open to having that bi-partisan conversation.”

At least 27 murders are now blamed on the notorious gang. (Read more from “Protest Held Ahead Of President Trump’s Ms-13 Visit To Long Island” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Disaster: Agent Who Quit Over Rigged Hillary Investigation Heads To Congress

An FBI agent who allegedly quit the bureau over his belief that the Hillary Clinton email investigation was rigged will testify before the House of Representatives, The Hill reported . . .

Democrats, of course, have complained that it exists at all, since anything that distracts from the endless investigation into how President Donald Trump is really a Russian plant is simply frivolous — particularly if it implicates former FBI Director James Comey, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton or former President Barack Obama in any wrongdoing.

Well, now we’re finally about to see some fireworks. Three top witnesses are going to testify before lawmakers: John Giacalone, who was in charge of the Clinton investigation for the first seven months; Bill Priestap, assistant director of the FBI’s counterintelligence division; and Michael Steinbach, former head of the FBI’s national security division and the man who succeeded Giacalone.

All three are of particular interest, especially since Priestap was the supervisor of FBI agent Peter Strzok, whose anti-Trump text messages have thrown the objectivity of the entire investigation into doubt.

However, the real headliner here may be Giacalone. Shortly after then-FBI Director Comey announced he wouldn’t be pursuing charges against Hillary Clinton for the email server, Fox News pundit Judge Andrew Napolitano wrote a column in which he claimed Giacalone had quit the bureau because he believed the investigation was rigged. (Read more from “Disaster: Agent Who Quit Over Rigged Hillary Investigation Heads To Congress” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Fake Black NAACP Pres Hit With Felony Welfare Fraud Charges

Apparently, the money Rachel Dolezal earned from her recent Netflix documentary wasn’t exactly enough for her, because the very Caucasian former local NAACP president who passed herself off as African-American is now facing felony welfare fraud charges.

According to KHQ-TV, Dolezal — who has legally changed her name to Nkechi Diallo — is accused of lying to obtain almost $9,000 in child welfare assistance from the state of Washington.

Court documents reveal that the state’s Department of Social and Health Services began investigating Dolezal/Diallo in March 2017. That was after she published her autobiography “In Full Color: Finding My Place in a Black and White World.”

While not outselling “Twilight” or anything like that, I’m sure the book by the self-proclaimed “trans-racial” woman who was outed by her parents as white after a stint heading the Spokane chapter of the civil rights organization probably found a small but dedicated audience who read it as unintentional comedy.

Whatever the sales may have been, it probably wasn’t the case that Dolezal’s “only source of income was $300.00 per month in gifts from friends” at the time, which is what she told state officials. (Read more from “Fake Black NAACP Pres Hit With Felony Welfare Fraud Charges” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.