Don’t Tell Climate Change Fanatics This Piece of News

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By Daily Wire. . .According to a new study published in Nature, in the roughly quarter century between 1982 and 2016, global tree canopy cover increased by 865,000 square miles.

While the area of bare ground and short vegetation is diminishing, forest area is growing. As Ronald Bailey notes in Reason, “Forests in montane regions are expanding as climate warming enables trees to grow higher up on mountains.”

The greatest increase in tree canopy occurred in Europe, including European Russia, where it exploded by 35%. A close second was found in China, where tree canopy gained 34%. In the U.S., tree canopy increased by 15%. (Read more from “Don’t Tell Climate Change Fanatics This Piece of News” HERE)

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Climate Change Warnings Cut From Trump Power-Plant Proposal

By Bloomberg. Warnings about potentially severe consequences of climate change were deleted from a Trump administration plan to weaken curbs on power plant emissions during a White House review.

Drafts had devoted more than 500 words to highlighting the impacts — more heat waves, intense hurricanes, heavy rainfalls, floods and water pollution — as part of the proposal to replace Obama-era restrictions on greenhouse gas emissions. That language was left out of the Trump administration’s final analysis of the Environmental Protection Agency proposal, when it was unveiled Aug. 21.

Among the abandoned assertions: an acknowledgment that “the climate has continued to change, with new records being set” for global average surface temperatures, Arctic sea ice retreat, carbon dioxide concentrations and sea level rise, all markers of the phenomenon.

The administration also scrapped a reference to numerous “major scientific assessments” that “strengthen the case that GHGs endanger public health and welfare both for current and future generations.” (Read more from “Climate Change Warnings Cut From Trump Power-Plant Proposal” HERE)

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As School Starts, Military Company Slammed With Orders for This Specific Item

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The latest accessory for heading back to school has more to do with survival than grades.

An Israeli company that developed a bulletproof backpack is seeing sales soar as American schools open for the new school year.

“In two months we have sold hundreds and are gearing up to increase production rates to 500 units per month,” said Masada Armour chief executive Snir Koren, according to Yahoo News.

Koren said the American market was the impetus for the product.

“We designed a bulletproof backpack at the request of our distributors in the United States after the huge trauma caused by the February shooting in Florida,” Snir Koren, CEO of Masada Armor, told AFP on Thursday, according to the Times of Israel.

Seventeen people were killed on Feb. 14 in a shooting at a Parkland, Florida, school.

Protection is not cheap.

The standard model backpack, weighing about six pounds, protects students against 9mm rounds. It sells for $500.

The company also makes an 11-pound version to protect against rounds from an AR-15 or an M-16. That one sells for more than $700.

Masada Armour is developing models for younger students as well.

“We are developing a lighter model for their type of morphology,” said Snir.

Not everyone is sold on the idea.

“We don’t believe in sending teachers to schools with guns and I don’t believe in sending students to school with armor,” said Stamford, Connecticut school board chair David Mannis, according to the Stamford Advocate.

Parent Shira Tarantino called bulletproof backpacks a “Band-Aid.”

“If parents want to buy their kids those items, that’s their prerogative,” said Tarantino, project director for the Stamford Pediatric Gun Safety Project. “I don’t think it changes the safety any way in the schools.”

Joe Curran feels differently. His Massachusetts-based company, Bullet Blocker, sells protective backpacks.

“We see an uptick in sales anytime there’s violence worldwide, and not just gun violence — any violence,” Curran said. “With Parkland and Newtown, we saw a very large upswing. We’ve consistently had growth over the years and we always get a growth at back-to-school, but this year is larger than the past.” (For more from the author of “As School Starts, Military Company Slammed With Orders for This Specific Item” please click HERE)

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Immigrants Jump off Government Assistance, After Trump Admin Threatens to Cut Green Card

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Significant numbers of immigrants, in the United States legally and illegally, are reportedly leaving federal assistance programs out of fear it could hurt their chances of obtaining permanent legal status.

Politico reports that 18 states have noticed a decline of up to 20 percent in the number of people applying for the WIC federal nutritional program for pregnant women and infants.

The decline has been attributed not just to an improving economy, but a rumored federal rule change by the Trump administration regarding eligibility to obtain a green card based on prior use of government assistance programs.

“Under a provision known as public charge, U.S. immigration law has for more than a century allowed officials to reject admission to the country on the grounds that potential immigrants or visitors might become overly reliant on the government,” according to Politico. “But until now, officials have looked narrowly at whether someone would need cash benefits such as welfare or long-term institutional care.”

The news outlet claimed there is a move within the Trump administration to include a larger array of services such as programs like Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, or commonly known as food stamps), Head Start, Medicaid and WIC.

WIC, first launched in 1974, has traditionally been for the most part immigration status-blind regarding eligibility.

When Trump took office, there were 7.4 million women and children enrolled in WIC. As of May, the most recent data available, the number had dropped to 6.8 million.

Similarly, there were 42.7 million enrolled in SNAP in Jan. 2017, which has declined to 39.3 million as of May, or a difference of 3.4 million.

The evidence the Politico piece offers that part of the decline is due to the possible Trump administration rule change is anecdotal. Any change to federal regulation regarding the programs would have to go through a public comment period before being adopted, and would likely be challenged in court before taking effect, meaning a final determination could take several months or years.

“It’s a stealth regulation,” said Kathleen Campbell Walker, an immigration attorney at Dickinson Wright in El Paso, Texas regarding the possible change to WIC. “It doesn’t really exist, but it’s being applied subliminally.”

Jennifer Mejias-Martinez, who works with the WIC program in Topeka, Kansas, recalled receiving a panicked call from an immigrant family wanting to unenroll after hearing a report on Univision that receiving government benefits could hurt their chances in immigration proceedings.

“They were very, very scared,” Mejias-Martinez said. She tried to assure them that the policy had not changed, but they dropped from WIC anyway.

It made me very sad, and quite frankly upset,” she said.

A WIC administering agency in Longview, Texas reported losing an estimated 75 to 90 participants per month to public charge fears, according to Politico.

The Trump administration has argued that it is not trying to alter immigration law, but clarify and enforce existing statutes.

“The goal is not to reduce immigration or in some diabolical fashion shut the door on people, family-based immigration, anything like that,” said Francis Cissna, director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, at the National Press Club earlier this month.

The Department of Agriculture, which oversees WIC, is conducting multiple studies looking into why eligible families are not participating in, or choosing to drop their enrollment from, the program.

“The USDA is committed to the health and well-being of all WIC eligible mothers, infants and children and supports families seeking assistance,” the agency said. (For more from the author of “Immigrants Jump off Government Assistance, After Trump Admin Threatens to Cut Green Card” HERE)

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California Legislators Prohibit Schools From Starting Before 8:30am. the Reason Will Have Parents Groan.

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By Townhall. Lawmakers in the Golden State on Friday voted to prohibit middle and high schools from starting before 8:30a.m., one of the final bills the legislature was able to pass during its last day in session, Fox News reported.

The bill, SB328, was extremely controversial. Proponents of the bill say teenagers are facing sleep deprivation when their natural sleep cycle keeps them up late but school forces them to get up early, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), roughly 80 percent of California’s middle and high schools start before 8:30a.m., something proponents believe needs to change.

“Research shows teens do better in school, have lower rates of depression and anxiety and fewer car accidents when school start times start later,” the Chronicle reported.

The bill goes into effect in 2021, should Gov. Jerry Brown (D) sign it. The exceptions to the start time would be made for rural schools or extra periods that begin before the normal school period. (Read more from “California Legislators Prohibit Schools From Starting Before 8:30am. the Reason Will Have Parents Groan.” HERE)

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California Votes to Bar Schools From Starting Before 8:30am to Help Give Students More Sleep

By AP. California lawmakers voted Friday to bar middle and high schools from starting before 8:30 a.m., one of dozens of proposals debated in the Legislature on the final day of its legislative session. . .

Lawmakers also announced they were shelving several high profile bills, including one that would have declared gay conversion therapy a fraudulent business practice.

Nearly 80 percent of California middle and high schools started earlier than 8:30 a.m. in 2012, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Read more from “California Votes to Bar Schools From Starting Before 8:30am to Help Give Students More Sleep” HERE)

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Actor Uses Disturbing Child Rape Case to Push for Border Wall Construction

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Conservative actor James Woods is generally a commenter on the news, but a Woods tweet over the weekend is making news of its own.

In the Twitter post, Woods drew his 1.68 million followers’ attention to a case out of New York City that features a suspected MS-13 member’s alleged rape of an 11-year-old girl.

And Woods’ readers responded with revulsion.

According to Fox News, the arrest involved Julio Ayala, 18, a native of El Salvador.

Fox reported that Ayala was arrested Saturday after a manhunt that started Wednesday night, when he allegedly “climbed into the girl’s bedroom in Brooklyn through the second-floor window about 11:30 p.m. and raped her.”

According to the New York Post, Ayala carried a federal Permanent Resident Card, known as a “green card,” which would mean he was in the country legally.

But given the suspect’s purported membership in the notorious MS-13 gang, which has well-known ties to illegal alien networks – and crime — it was a reminder of what is at stake in the illegal immigration debate.

And Woods made his support for one of President Donald Trump’s proposed solutions to the illegal alien problem quite clear: #BuildTheWall.

The rape of a child is horrific, but it’s a crime that would likely pass under the national radar if it weren’t picked up by a conservative with the kind of recognition and Twitter following that Woods has built.

Considering that, the Ayala case might get more recognition than it would have without Woods’ publicizing it — and the price the country pays as a whole for an immigration system that permits criminal gangs like MS-13 might become more apparent.

According to the New York Post, Ayala has been charged with “sexually motivated burglary and first-degree rape.”

As he was led away, according to the Post, neighbors cheered.

“That makes me feel unsafe in my own home,” one woman, a 42-year-old resident of the Brooklyn neighborhood, told the Post.

Woods, and many of his followers, could relate. As the midterms approach, more tweets like this might have an impact on what happens at the ballot box in November. (For more from the author of “Actor Uses Disturbing Child Rape Case to Push for Border Wall Construction” please click HERE)

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Texas Sheriff Heartbroken After Illegal Aliens Murder 2 Police Dogs

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Over the weekend, two canines, who were helping Aransas and Refugio County Duputies, were strangled to death by an illegal immigrant. The dogs were assisting in a police chase after more than a dozen individuals jumped out of a truck.

The chase started when a police officer pulled over a black Ford pickup north of Holiday Beach. The pickup pulled over, but then took off leading to a high speed chase.

The truck then hit a brush line where 14-16 people jumped out of the truck and fled on foot.

According to a Facebook post by the Aransas County Sheriff’s Office, Refugio County offered canines to assist in the chase that were “non agressive, non-bite trained.”

The Sheriff’s Office writes that, while they had dogs they could deploy that could defend themselves, they chose to use these dogs to protect individuals that were caught in a chase such as this.

Officers soon located three individuals and apprehended two of them. However, one individual evaded capture and yelled out in Spanish, “If you want me, come and get me.”

It was then that the officers found the two canines strangled to death. The sheriff’s office wrote, “The collars carrying trackers had been twisted tightly about their necks causing their deaths.”

Six individuals were eventually captured including the individual believed to have been responsible for the death of the dogs. The sheriff’s office writes that those who were captured are believed to be from Honduras, Guatemala, and Mexico.

“While most “Bail Outs” end with detentions after exhaustive searches they do not show this level of aggressive behavior,” the sheriff office writes, “Serving as a reminder to officers yesterday afternoon that while we are still dealing with individuals who may have questionable immigration status these encounters can turn just as violent as any domestic dispute we respond to.”

They continue by saying, “And while every effort is being taken to insure everyone’s safety, we are reminded that not everyone we encounter shows the same level of respect for the rule of law and or life even for highly trained animals.”

The office reminded its readers that these dogs aren’t originally intended to track dangerous suspects, but rather individuals who are missing due to dementia and Alzheimer’s.

They write, “It was an afternoon that left me wondering how many lives of Dementia and Alzheimer’s individuals in the future may have been put at risk with the deaths of these two Canines.” (For more from the author of “Texas Sheriff Heartbroken After Illegal Aliens Murder 2 Police Dogs” please click HERE)

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The DOJ Goes After Harvard for Discriminating Against Asian Applicants

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Imagine if a private college – even one that took no federal funds – openly skewed its admission standards in a way that would ensure qualified blacks would be rejected in favor of less qualified whites. Every tool of state and federal government, the media, the virtue-signaling industry, and of course the courts would force it to change course. Yet this is what Harvard has been doing openly for 45 years to Americans of Asian heritage, even though, as part of its agreement to take federal grants, the school commits to not discriminating based on race. Now, Attorney General Jeff Sessions is calling Harvard out on it.

Liberal elites, such as those who run the Harvard faculty, believe in equal outcomes for their specific protected classes, not equal opportunity and equal application of civil rights laws for everyone. Thus, through affirmative action, they will stop at nothing to distort reality and not only violate the principles of meritocracy but downright make up facts in order to discriminate against classes that are out of favor with them.

In the case of Harvard’s admission standards, the school has openly bragged for years about using race as a factor in admission in order to achieve its convoluted goals of diversity rather than treat all applicants as individuals. The fact that many Americans of Asian heritage tend to score very high academically created an inconvenient reality undermining the desire for an arbitrary racial balance. Thus, the administrators ditched the merit-based academic scores for racial targets that ensured a number of better-qualified Asian-Americans were displaced by less qualified individuals simply because of a target racial balance.

What scheme did they use? The DOJ charges that Harvard used a personal rating in addition to academic scores that included “subjective” factors, such as a “positive personality,” “likability,” and being a “good person” with “human qualities.” DOJ asserts that this progressive elite institution “admits that, on average, it scores Asian-American applicants lower on this ‘personal rating’ than applicants of other races.” The DOJ’s finding is really nothing new, because Harvard’s own internal investigative division found the same thing in a 2013 report. It found that racial balancing resulted in a 140 percent increase in the Hispanic proportion of the class and a 400 percent increase in the African-American proportion of the class. Also, merely being black was the second-strongest factor in admissions, just behind the factor of “strong personal rating,” which in itself was, on average, arbitrarily padded for black students and downgraded for Asians.

Harvard is essentially repeating the overt discrimination in admissions that it employed 100 years ago when administrators grew concerned that too many Jews were being admitted.

Plaintiffs in a recent lawsuit assert that Harvard uses ethnic balancing tools to achieve almost the exact same ethnic makeup every year, creating a floor for African-Americans and a ceiling for Asian-Americans. Every academic year, the racial breakdown is as follows: White – 50-53 percent, Asian-American – 18-20 percent, African-American – 10-12 percent, Hispanic – 10-12 percent, and Native American – 2 percent. According to research provided to the federal court in Massachusetts by plaintiffs, the racial balancing is so skewed that is serves as the dominant factor. “An Asian-American applicant with a 25% chance of admission, for example, would have a 35% chance if he were white, a 75% chance if he were Hispanic, and a 95% chance if he were African American,” wrote lawyers for the students in a June memorandum seeking summary judgement.

Talk about monkeying up the admission standards! This is hard-core racism. To ignore the reality of individuals’ higher scores and to arbitrarily concoct a system whereby they erroneously label Asians as less likable and personable in order to demonstrate they are less qualified is disgraceful. According to the DOJ, given that Harvard accepts millions in federal grant money, this practice violates Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.

On Thursday, Attorney General Sessions announced that because Harvard accepts federal grants, the DOJ filed a statement of interest in the pending lawsuit of a group of Asian-Americans, Students for Fair Admissions, against the school. They assert that the school has shown no need for such racial balancing, has failed to divulge how administrators weigh the racial factors, has failed to explore any racially neutral criteria, has used race as the overarching factor instead of a contributing factor, and has not limited its manipulation to a specific time period, all criteria required by the Supreme Court in Grutter v. Bollinger (2003).

This is yet another welcoming sea change at the DOJ from Sessions. In the past, the department has been used as a tool to actually promote discrimination under the guise of fighting it, by mandating that government or private institutions purposely factor in race over meritocracy. Sessions is doing the opposite in order to follow the true intent of civil rights laws.

Harvard’s egregious slight of Asian-Americans is likely the tip of the iceberg of discriminatory affirmative action throughout higher education institutions. It is quite evident that Sessions desires to systemically reorient the mission of the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, and it would not be surprising to see more action taken against other institutions. When asked if we should expect more investigations against other institutions, a spokeswoman for the department said, “As a matter of policy, DOJ does not confirm or deny the existence or nonexistence of investigations.” (For more from the author of “The DOJ Goes After Harvard for Discriminating Against Asian Applicants” please click HERE)

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Report: NBC Used Threats to Silence Reporting on Harvey Weinstein

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A former NBC News producer who was working with Ronan Farrow when the reporter was investigating sexual misconduct allegations against former Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein stated on Thursday that an order to “stand down” on the story came from “the very highest levels at NBC.”

Rich McHugh, the producer who left NBC earlier this month, made this claim to The New York Times, saying executives were “resistant” throughout the eight-month reporting process.

“Three days before Ronan and I were going to head to L.A. to interview a woman with a credible rape allegation against Harvey Weinstein, I was ordered to stop, not to interview this woman and to stand down on the story altogether,” McHugh said.

He told Fox News in a statement, “That (order) was unethical, and a massive breach of journalistic integrity. Is there anyone in the journalistic community who actually believes NBC didn’t breach its journalistic duty to continue reporting this story? Something else must have been going on.”

“As a journalist for 16 years I do know that when you have an explosive story you never let it walk out the door,” McHugh added. “You keep digging for more so you can publish it at your network. NBC owed it to those brave women who spoke to us to get their stories out.”

The Daily Beast reported, based on multiple sources familiar with the matter, that NBC News General Counsel Susan Weiner made multiple phone calls to Farrow “threatening to smear him if he continued to report on Weinstein.”

A spokesperson for NBC News, speaking on a condition of anonymity, described the allegation as “absolutely false.”

“There’s no truth to that all. There is no chance, in no version of the world, that Susan Weiner would tell Ronan Farrow what he could or could not report on,” the spokesperson said.

ABC News reporter Chris Francescani, a former coworker with McHugh and Farrow, supported McHugh’s account, saying he is telling the truth and NBC is not.

NBC News denied McHugh’s allegation, saying in a statement, “The assertion that NBC News tried to kill the Weinstein story while Ronan Farrow was at NBC News, or even more ludicrously, after he left NBC News, is an outright lie.”

The network claimed it assigned Farrow to investigate Weinstein and supported him through the eight months he worked on the story.

However, in August 2017 when he came to NBC News executives stating the story was ready to air, they disagreed because Farrow “did not yet have a single victim of — or witness to — misconduct by Weinstein who was willing to be identified.”

Noah Oppenheim, the president of NBC News, told The Times, “(McHugh) was never told to stop in the way he’s implying.”

“We repeatedly made clear to Ronan and Rich McHugh the standard for publication is we needed at least one credible on-the-record victim or witness of misconduct,” Oppenheim said. “And we never met that threshold while Ronan was reporting for us.”

The NBC News chief added that the day before Farrow’s scheduled trip to Los Angeles to interview an alleged victim of Weinstein, he asked permission to pursue the story with another outlet.

“Ronan reached out to us and said: ‘I want to get this out now. I have a magazine that’s willing to do it. Will you be OK if I take the reporting to this magazine?’” Oppenheim said. “And we granted him permission to do so.”

“We said: ‘You’ve asked for permission to go elsewhere. You can’t use an NBC camera crew for another outlet. You can do whatever you want to do. And you don’t work for us,’” Oppenheim added.

Farrow took the piece to The New Yorker, which published its explosive exposé on Weinstein in October 2017, days after The New York Times published a story about the Hollywood producer’s sexual predatory behavior.

In April, Farrow was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his reporting along with The New York Times. Farrow left NBC in January for a position producing documentaries with HBO, Fox News reported at the time.

Appearing on MSNBC’s “Rachel Maddow Show” following the breaking of his New Yorker story last October, Farrow was asked about NBC News’ decision not to run it.

“You would have to ask NBC and NBC executives about the details,” Farrow replied. The reporter noted that he was threatened personally with a lawsuit by Weinstein, implying perhaps NBC received the same threats.

Maddow followed up saying NBC claimed the story wasn’t “ready to go” when Farrow brought it to their attention. He immediately shot that notion down.

“I walked into the door at The New Yorker with an explosively reportable piece that should’ve been public earlier,” Farrow said. “And immediately, obviously, The New Yorker recognized that, and it is not accurate to say that it was not reportable.”

He added, “In fact, there were multiple determinations that it was reportable at NBC.”

Weinstein was arrested in May and charged with three felony counts of first-degree rape, third-degree rape and first-degree criminal sexual act.

Farrow praised McHugh on Twitter last fall writing, he “refused to bow to pressure to stop, through numerous shoots, even when it meant risking his job.” He also called McHugh an “unsung hero of this entire story.” (For more from the author of “Report: NBC Used Threats to Silence Reporting on Harvey Weinstein” please click HERE)

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Remember That Guy Who Stole a Teen’s ‘MAGA’ Hat? He Just Got Some Bad News.

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Remember that brave 30-year-old man who assaulted a teenage boy in a Whataburger restaurant in San Antonio, Texas, for the crime of wearing a pro-Trump “Make America Great Again” hat? Yeah, he’s been indicted for theft — since the attacker stole the boy’s “MAGA” hat after cursing him out and throwing a drink in his face — and is facing up to two years behind bars. . .

“Kino Jimenez was indicted Wednesday on a charge of theft of person, which is a state jail felony. He was located in Universal City in July by San Antonio police robbery task force detectives who took him into custody on an arrest warrant,” reports My San Antonio.

In July, footage of Jimenez’s assault of 16-year-old Hunter Richard was posted online and quickly went viral. The footage went so viral, in fact, that the oldest Trump son, Donald Jr., publicly commented on the despicable harassment and arranged for Richard to receive a new “MAGA” hat signed by President Trump.

“F*** the president. You ain’t supporting s***, n****,” screamed Jimenez, seen snatching Richard’s MAGA hat and throwing a large drink in the teen’s face. “B**** a** motherf***er!” . . .

Prior to the assault, Jimenez racked up misdemeanor offenses for marijuana possession and driving while intoxicated on his criminal record, notes My San Antonio. Still, Jimenez is eligible for probation or deferred adjudication if convicted. (Read more from “Remember That Guy Who Stole a Teen’s ‘MAGA’ Hat? He Just Got Some Bad News.” HERE)

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Driver Who Allegedly Killed Oregon Couple in DUI Crash Is a Illegal Alien

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The man suspected of killing an Oregon couple in a high-speed drunk driving collision earlier in August is an illegal immigrant from Mexico, The Daily Caller News Foundation learned.

Eduardo de la Lima Vargas, 39, allegedly ran a red light on a state highway in Salem, Oregon, on Aug. 19, striking a motorcycle being driven by Logan Wilson, 34, and his wife Jessi, 32. The collision tossed the Wilsons from the motorcycle, fatally injuring both.

Vargas blew a .10 blood alcohol level on a breathalyzer roughly two hours after the crash, according to a Salem police report. Investigators believe he was probably driving at twice the legal alcohol limit at the time he crashed into the Wilsons, who are survived by four young children.

Following the wreck, Vargas was booked into the Marion County jail on two counts of manslaughter, as well as one count each of reckless endangering, reckless driving and driving under the influence. He remains in state custody on a $500,000 bond.

Additionally, Vargas is now the subject of a federal immigration detention request. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) confirmed the detainer Aug. 24 in a statement to Salem-based crime researcher David Olen Cross, who shared it Thursday with TheDCNF. (Read more from “Driver Who Allegedly Killed Oregon Couple in DUI Crash Is a Illegal Alien” HERE)

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