Dossier Architects Claimed They Wanted to Protect Identity of Sources. One Was Unmasked Anyway

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Former British spy Christopher Steele and Fusion GPS founder Glenn Simpson claimed to have concerns about the safety and security of one of the sources for the dossier, but outed him anyway by talking to journalists.

Steele told a State Department official in October 2016 that “source protection” was a focus in his investigation of President Donald Trump, according to notes from the meeting released earlier this month.

That purported concern was also shared by Simpson, who hired Steele on behalf of the Democratic National Committee and the Clinton campaign. He told Justice Department official Bruce Ohr on Jan. 20, 2017, that he was worried about the safety of a dossier source he believed was about to be identified in the media.

Sergei Millian was outed four days later.

On Jan. 24, 2017, ABC News and The Wall Street Journal identified Millian, an American citizen born in Belarus, as an unwitting source for Steele. Described interchangeably as Source D, Source E and an “ethnic Russian associate of Trump,” Millian was the source who claimed that the Kremlin was blackmailing Trump with a salacious sex tape and that the Trump campaign had conspired with Russia to influence the election. (Read more from “Dossier Architects Claimed They Wanted to Protect Identity of Sources. One Was Unmasked Anyway” HERE)

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Dan Crenshaw Remembers His Fallen Brothers in Powerful Tribute

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Every Memorial Day millions of Americans take time to remember those who have fallen in service to country — but for some, like Republican Texas Congressman Dan Crenshaw, it’s personal.

Crenshaw, a retired Lieutenant Commander and Navy SEAL, marked the day by sharing a series of photos memorializing his own brothers-in-arms — each of whom willingly paid the ultimate price for their friends, their families and millions of complete strangers.

(Read more from “Dan Crenshaw Remembers His Fallen Brothers in Powerful Tribute” HERE)

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Privately-Funded Border Wall Construction Begins

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By The Blaze. Construction has begun on a section of border wall in El Paso, Texas, with the help of a privately funded organization that saw an area of need, according to Fox News.

The organization, called “We Build the Wall,” is seeking to close a large gap in the El Paso sector, which is a large and heavily-trafficked crossing area where authorities say 930 people are apprehended per day. According to former Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, this is only the beginning.

“We’ll keep on building as long as people keep chipping in. The average contribution has been only $67 but so many people have chipped in,” said Kobach, who is involved with We Build the Wall and who served as an immigration advisor to President Donald Trump during the 2016 campaign.

The barrier is being built on private land—land which the Army Corps of Engineers have said is too rugged for fencing, Kobach said. (Read more from “Privately-Funded Border Wall Construction Begins” HERE)

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Judge Blocks Trump from Building Sections of Border Wall

By Fox News. A federal judge has blocked President Donald Trump from building key sections of his border wall with money secured under his declaration of a national emergency, delivering what may prove a temporary setback on one of his highest priorities.

U.S. District Judge Haywood Gilliam Jr.’s order, issued Friday, prevents work from beginning on two of the highest-priority, Pentagon-funded wall projects — one spanning 46 miles (74 kilometers) in New Mexico and another covering 5 miles (8 kilometers) in Yuma, Arizona.

On Saturday, Trump pledged to file an expedited appeal of the ruling.

Trump, who is visiting Japan, tweeted: “Another activist Obama appointed judge has just ruled against us on a section of the Southern Wall that is already under construction. This is a ruling against Border Security and in favor of crime, drugs and human trafficking. We are asking for an expedited appeal!”

While Gilliam’s order applied only to those first-in-line projects, the judge made clear that he felt the challengers were likely to prevail at trial on their argument that the president was wrongly ignoring Congress’ wishes by diverting Defense Department money. (Read more from “Judge Blocks Trump from Building Sections of Border Wall” HERE)

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GOP Rep. Admits He’s Taken Photo with Dead Combatant

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By Fox News. US Rep. Duncan Hunter of California acknowledged taking a photo with a dead combatant during his time as a Marine as he defended a Navy SEAL charged with multiple war crimes, including killing a teenage fighter.

The Republican congressman, who was re-elected last November as he faces corruption charges, made the comments during a town hall Saturday in his San Diego-area district, the Union-Tribune reported.

Hunter has advocated for a pardon for Edward Gallagher, who’s charged with stabbing to death a teenage Islamic State fighter under his care in Iraq in 2017 and then holding his reenlistment ceremony with the body.

Prosecutors said the Navy SEAL chief texted a photograph of himself next to the dead fighter and wrote he “got him with my hunting knife.” He’s also accused of shooting two civilians in Iraq and opening fire on crowds.

Hunter said he also posed for a photo next to a dead combatant but said he did not text it or post it to social media. The congressman said “a lot of us have done the exact same thing,” referring to fellow service members in Iraq and Afghanistan. (Read more from “GOP Rep. Admits He’s Taken Photo with Dead Combatant” HERE)

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Hunters — Father and Son — Hold Town Hall to Discuss Border Security

By The San Diego Union-Tribune. The event put on by the American Liberty Forum of Ramona was billed as “The Border, Then and Now.” For nearly an hour (the elder Hunter departed after 20 minutes for another engagement) the two discussed issues familiar to their East County constituents: border security and immigration. . .

Hunter said that the waves of immigrants who have come to the border and overwhelmed border security agencies is a “drug cartel-driven catastrophe.” He said cartels assemble large groups of people to cross illegally in one area, including what he called “fake families” of children with unrelated adults who then ask for asylum under international law. While the Border Patrol is busy processing a large group, Hunter said, cartels smuggle drugs across a less guarded area a few miles away.

While drug smuggling by cartels has long plagued the border, it’s unclear how much the crime groups are involved in moving people. A RAND Corporation study released in April said that there was a range of people involved in smuggling migrants into the U.S. from Central America, and concluded that there was little evidence that drug cartels — or Transnational Criminal Organizations — engage in human smuggling. But the study also said that “Drug-trafficking TCOs might also coordinate unlawful migrants’ border crossings to divert attention from other illicit activities and recruit or coerce migrants to carry drugs.”

The younger Hunter also addressed some other issues, including the pending court martial case against San Diego-based Navy SEAL chief Edward Gallagher and Army Capt. Mathew L. Golsteyn. Both are charged with committing war crimes during their service — Gallagher in Iraq and Golsteyn in Afghanistan. (Read more from “Hunters — Father and Son — Hold Town Hall to Discuss Border Security” HERE)

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Trump: ‘Sleepy Joe Biden’ Hasn’t ‘Apologized’ for Involvement in 1994 Crime Law

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President Trump late Monday criticized former Vice President Joe Biden, the front-runner among Democrats seeking to unseat Trump in 2020, for his support of a controversial 1994 crime bill, saying he hasn’t “apologized” for supporting it.

Trump tweeted that his own criminal justice reform legislation – The First Step Act – “had tremendous support” and “fixed” problems in the law Biden championed.

Biden, who in the late 1980s became chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee as Delaware senator, said at the time his aim was to pass legislation that would combat violent crime.

The 1994 Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, signed by then-President Bill Clinton, was seen by many analysts as the culmination of efforts of those like Biden. . .

A 2015 headline in the New York Times, published in the run-up to the 2016 presidential election, claimed that Biden’s “role in ’90s crime law could haunt any presidential bid.” (Read more from “Trump: ‘Sleepy Joe Biden’ Hasn’t ‘Apologized’ for Involvement in 1994 Crime Law” HERE)

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Anti-Israel Bernie Sanders Adviser Meets with Palestinian Spokesman

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By Breitbart. Matt Duss, a vehemently anti-Israel foreign policy adviser to Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), met recently with Palestinian spokesperson Hanan Ashrawi and reportedly denounced President Donald Trump, whose administration recently denied Ashrawi a visa to the U.S. . .

Duss is from a family of anti-Israel activists, and was Middle East director of the left-wing Center for American Progress (CAP) during a 2012 controversy that saw several other staffers depart the organization over their use of antisemitic rhetoric. Duss himself has compared Israel to the segregated South and backs a boycott of the Jewish state.

At the time, CAP’s vice president, Faiz Shakir, admitted that the language used by the CAP staffers was antisemitic. Shakir is now Sanders’s campaign manager.

The meeting between Duss and Ashrawi is the latest sign that the Sanders campaign has taken an explicitly anti-Israel turn. Earlier this month, he suggested that he would move the U.S. embassy back to Tel Aviv from Jerusalem if elected president. Last month, he told a CNN town hall that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government was “racist.” (Read more from “Anti-Israel Bernie Sanders Adviser Meets with Palestinian Spokesman” HERE)

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Foreign Policy Bernie Advisor Meets Palestinian Official

By The Jerusalem Post. According to the statement, “the two parties discussed the Trump administration’s hostile approach in the region and its destructive policies that undermine the prospects of peace and the Palestinian people’s inalienable rights to freedom.”

Moreover, the two also considered what the release describes as “Trump administration’s vindictive actions against the Palestinian people and leadership, including as reflected recently in the rejection of Dr. Ashrawi’s visa application.”

On May 13, Ashrawi, who is a PLO Executive Committee member, took to social media to share the fact that her request for a US visa had been denied.

“It is official! My US visa application has been rejected. No reason given. Choose any of the following: I’m over 70 & a grandmother; I’ve been an activist for Palestine since the late 1960’s; I’ve always been an ardent supporter of nonviolent resistance,” she wrote on Twitter. (Read more from “Foreign Policy Bernie Advisor Meets Palestinian Official” HERE)

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The NSA Lost Control Of A Cyberweapon. Now It’s Being Used Against American Cities.

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In 2017, the National Security Agency (NSA) lost control of some of the hacking tools it used “to spy on other countries,” The New York Times reported. The NSA, it appeared, had itself been hacked — or infiltrated:

Fifteen months into a wide-ranging investigation by the agency’s counterintelligence arm, known as Q Group, and the F.B.I., officials still do not know whether the N.S.A. is the victim of a brilliantly executed hack, with Russia as the most likely perpetrator, an insider’s leak, or both. Three employees have been arrested since 2015 for taking classified files, but there is fear that one or more leakers may still be in place. And there is broad agreement that the damage from the Shadow Brokers already far exceeds the harm to American intelligence done by Edward J. Snowden, the former N.S.A. contractor who fled with four laptops of classified material in 2013.

Some of the tools appeared to have been obtained by a group called the Shadow Brokers, who went on to taunt the agency while disclosing information about highly classified operations. . .

The Times reported Saturday that Baltimore and other cities have been targeted by “state hackers in North Korea, Russia and, more recently, China.” In Baltimore, hackers had “frozen thousands of computers, shut down email and disrupted real estate sales, water bills, health alerts and many other services.”

The computer screens of city workers would suddenly lock, the Times reported, and a message would appear demanding $100,000 in Bitcoin to unlock the screens. The message appeared in broken English, just like the messages from Shadow Brokers two years earlier. (Read more from “The NSA Lost Control of a Cyberweapon. Now It’s Being Used Against American Cities.” HERE)

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Meteorologist Shuts down Hysterical Climate Claim from Ocasio-Cortez

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A prominent research meteorologist shut down claims about the climate from socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) last week after the 29-year-old lawmaker revealed that she did not understand the difference between weather and climate.

Ocasio-Cortez, a climate extremist who has repeatedly insisted that the world will seemingly end in 12 years unless her policies are adopted, claimed that a tornado warning in Washington, D.C., was proof of climate change.

“A tornado watch, issued by the National Weather Service was tweeted 2:47 PM Thursday afternoon for the D.C. area. A watch means conditions are favorable for a particular weather event, while a warning means be prepared to move to a protected area,” HotAir noted. “A warning is issued when a tornado, for example, has been spotted in the sky or radar shows intense low-level rotation. In other words, a person should pay attention to weather conditions and be cautious under a watch but if a warning is issued, that is the time to act.”

“The climate crisis is real y’all,” Ocasio said on Instagram. “Guess we’re at casual tornadoes in growing regions of the country?”

Ryan Maue, who has a Ph.D. in meteorology, quickly fact-checked Ocasio-Cortez, writing on Twitter: “I thought this was fake but it’s from [Ocasio-Cortez’s] Instagram story. No idea what she means with “casual tornadoes” and how this line of severe thunderstorms is proof of any ‘climate crisis.’ It’s just the weather in D.C.”

(Read more from “Meteorologist Shuts down Hysterical Climate Claim from Ocasio-Cortez” HERE)

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Here’s the Story Behind the Viral Photo of Soldier Placing Flag at Tomb of Unknown Soldier

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By The Blaze. During a severe thunderstorm that ravaged our nation’s capital last Thursday, a solider with the 3d U.S. Infantry Regiment was photographed placing a small flag at the Tomb of the Unknown Solider.

That image, and the story behind it, has gone viral ahead of Memorial Day. . .

In a Facebook post, The 3d U.S. Infantry Regiment — which is also known as “The Old Guard” — described the moment as “one of the most extraordinary displays of discipline and dedication to duty ever to be witnessed at Arlington National Cemetery.”

(Read more from “Here’s the Story Behind the Viral Photo of Soldier Placing Flag at Tomb of Unknown Soldier” HERE)

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Soldier Places Flags Honoring Unknown Soldier in Downpour at Arlington National Cemetery

By WTHR. A torrential downpour did not deter The Old Guard from honoring fallen soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery.

Every year, the 3d U.S. Infantry Regiment, “The Old Guard,” plants flags at each grave in the Virginia cemetery ahead of Memorial Day weekend. . .

But as onlookers ran for cover, the soldiers carried on. Determined to honored the fallen, some of the soldiers were ordered to stand down until the worst of the weather passed.

In a Facebook post Friday night, The Old Guard described “one of the most extraordinary displays of discipline and dedication to duty ever to be witnessed at Arlington National Cemetery” at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. . .

“For the select few who saw this moment, it was jaw-dropping,” the post read. “Humans have their limits, but The Old Guard has yet to meet theirs.” (Read more from “Soldier Places Flags Honoring Unknown Soldier in Downpour at Arlington National Cemetery” HERE)

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PRO-LIFE WIN: Another State Passes Major Abortion Ban

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On Friday, Missouri Gov. Mike Parson, a Republican, signed into law one of the most pro-life laws in the nation, outlawing abortion at eight weeks, save an exception for the life or risk of major physical harm to the mother. The legislation does not include an exception for rape or incest, and sex- , ability- , and race-selective abortions are also banned outright.

The law is set to go into effect on August 28, though pro-abortion organizations are expected to challenge its constitutionality. As noted byFox News, the Missouri law was crafted to stand up to legal challenges, not provoke a showdown over Roe v. Wade: “If the eight-week ban is struck down, the bill includes a ladder of less-restrictive time limits at 14, 18 or 20 weeks.” . . .

Responding to criticism over the lack of exceptions for abortion post-eight weeks, Gov. Parson argued that two months is enough time to decide to get an abortion, even in tough cases.

“Is it a terrible thing that happens in those situations? Yes it is,” the Republican acknowledged, according to Fox. “But the reality of it is bad things do happen sometimes. But you have two months to decide what you’re going to do with that issue, and I believe in two months you can make a decision.” . . .

Democrats have responded to sweeping pro-life legislation with their own proposed bill: the euphemistically-named “Women’s Health Protection Act,” or WHPA. The bill, sponsored by Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Rep. Judy Chu (D-CA), would block and upend vital pro-life legislation, such as so-called “heartbeat bills” — which protect unborn babies with a detectable heartbeat from abortion — waiting periods, and mandates on ultrasounds, among other abortion restrictions, as reported by The Daily Wire on Friday. (Read more from “PRO-LIFE WIN: Another State Passes Major Abortion Ban” HERE)

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