The NYT Was Just Caught Changing a Headline Because It Made Democrats Look Too Bad

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The New York Times changed a headline in an article Saturday morning about the government shutdown that absolves Democrats of blame for the impasse.

“Senate Democrat Block Bill to Keep Government Open Past Midnight, Shutdown Looms,” is the original version of The Times’ headline — one that went through various changes as negotiations on the budget deal broke down.

However, a final version of the headline was published at 12:01 a.m. and appears to dramatically downplay Democrats responsibility in the matter, according to an analysis The Daily Caller News Foundation conducted using NewsDiffs, a website that tracks changes made to high-performing articles.

The final version of the headline states: “Government Shuts Down as Bill to Extend Funding Is Blocked.”

The Times substantially altered the original article as well. Editors nixed a sentence, for instance, noting that, “Senate Democrats blocked passage of a stopgap spending bill to keep the government open.”

The media giant has not responded to TheDCNF’s questions about the reason for the changes, which could include the need to keep up with the hustle and bustle of the budget negotiations. Yet, many other legacy news outlets ran with headlines leveling criticism on Democrats for the inability to prevent a government shutdown.

“U.S. Shutdown Starts as Senate Democrats Block GOP Funding Plan” a Bloomberg headline blared early Saturday morning, referring to the Senate’s inability to agree on a variety of budgetary issues.

The AP chimed in with a similar headline reflecting the sheer anarchy surrounding the budget negotiating process.

Republican and Democratic leaders have not stopped talking through their differences.

Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney, for instance, said late Friday night that the conflict has a “really good chance” of being resolved before the weekend concludes.

Both parties took substantial risks.

Republicans refused to bend to the Democrat’s demands to negotiate, while the minority party largely unified to use the shutdown deadline to exact protections from the GOP for hundreds of thousands of young illegal immigrants.

Republicans tried to sweeten the deal, offering Democrats a long-term extension of the Children’s Health Insurance Program, or CHIP, as well as the delay of some unpopular health-care taxes.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and other Republicans believed the public would blame Democrats if the sweetener was rejected.

McConnell’s party controls 51 seats in the Senate, while Democrats have 49.

It requires 60 votes to pass a spending bill and the majority party cannot use reconciliation to reduce the number of votes required for cloture.

A version of this article appeared on The Daily Caller News Foundation website.

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Major State to Register Illegal Aliens to Vote Automatically

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California will take the next step in blurring the lines between citizens and non-citizens beginning April Fool’s Day when the state complies with a court order to begin automatically registering to vote all those who are granted driver’s licenses.

The state has long provided driver’s licenses to all who simply claimed, without proof, that they were citizens of in the country legally. There were no checks made or documentation required.

But beginning April 1 every person who gets a California driver’s license will be automatically entitled to vote.

“We are very pleased that Californians will have easier access to voter registration,” said Jeremiah Levine, an attorney with Morrison Foerster who represented the voting-rights groups. “We are especially satisfied that changes will be made before California’s statewide and federal primary elections.”

The state complied with the order under a program dubbed the California New Motor Voter Act. Signed into law in October 2015, the new statute requires the DMV to forward records for all eligible applicants to the Secretary of State’s Office for registration unless those applicants elect not to register to vote. (Read more from “Major State to Register Illegal Aliens to Vote Automatically” HERE)

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Feds Quietly Relocating Illegals on Commercial Flights

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Federal escorts dressed in civilian clothing are quietly putting illegal immigrants who cross the U.S.-Mexico border on taxpayer-funded flights and secretly taking them to unsuspecting communities across the U.S., according to a government-watchdog agency.

“In the last few days alone, groups of illegal aliens boarded planes at airports in Texas and Arizona accompanied by a taxpayer-funded government escort in civilian clothes to avoid drawing attention,” Judicial Watch reported Friday. “The first flight originated at Valley International Airport in Harlingen, Texas, and was bound for Minneapolis. The second left from Tucson International Airport and arrived in Salt Lake City, Utah, federal sources said.”

In both cases, illegal immigrants, who appeared to be in their teens, were reportedly escorted by Health and Human Services chaperones.

Judicial Watch said Friday that “high-ranking Homeland Security officials” confirmed its report. The organization said it reached out to HHS for comment but hadn’t received a response from the agency. WND requested comment from HHS on Monday but hadn’t received a reply at the time of this report.

A source described as a “veteran federal official” told Judicial Watch the illegal immigrants, who are given a red HHS wristband, receive “the gold glove treatment.” They’re reportedly boarded on the commercial flights before other passengers and even law-enforcement authorities. (Read more from “Feds Quietly Relocating Illegals on Commercial Flights” HERE)

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Supremes Join Trump to Stop Obama Power Grab

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The Trump administration has worked virtually nonstop since the inauguration to unwind and withdraw some of the environmental campaigns launched by Barack Obama, and on Monday the Supreme Court joined in.

The justices ruled that the Environmental Protection Agency cannot provide a hedge of protection preventing courts from reviewing its actions by requiring such appeals be heard only in some courts.

“Today’s ruling is a victory for the rule of law and for accountability in government,” said James S. Burling, of Pacific Legal Foundation.

His organization worked with farmers, ranchers and other landowners nationwide who wanted to fight the Obama-era Waters of the U.S. ruling . . .

“The EPA’s ‘waters of the United States’ rule may be the most brazen – and lawless – expansion of bureaucratic power in American history. The regulators who imposed it tried to shield it from review by limiting opportunities for the public to bring challenges. The Supreme Court struck a blow for liberty by rejecting this ploy and guaranteeing access to justice for the EPA’s victims,” Burling said. (Read more from “Supremes Join Trump to Stop Obama Power Grab” HERE)

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Former Military Lawyers Just Dropped a Bombshell on ‘Chelsea Manning’s’ Senate Run

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Chelsea Manning has filed to run for Senate as a Democratic candidate in Maryland, but such a run subjects Manning to prosecution for violating Pentagon regulations on political activities, according to former military lawyers.

Manning, the transgender soldier who spent seven years in prison for leaking more than 700,000 sensitive documents to WikiLeaks, recently filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission and is seeking the Democratic Party’s nomination for the Senate seat in Maryland currently occupied by Democratic Sen. Ben Cardin, a two-term senator.

In a Thursday tweet, Manning posted a certificate of candidacy obtained from the Maryland State Board of Elections, an important and required step in the process of running for Senate.

One of the lines of the certificate states: “I am a registered voter and a citizen of Maryland and meet all other requirements for the above listed office.”

The website of the state board shows that Manning filed in Annapolis on Thursday, which is far in advance of the late February deadline and raises the stakes for the Democratic primary in Maryland set to begin at the end of June.

As part of the coverage of Manning’s filing with the FEC and state board, virtually every media organization has declared that Manning is a former Army private. In fact, as the Army confirmed to The Daily Caller News Foundation in September 2017, Manning remains an active-duty soldier, albeit on excess leave and in a non-pay status while his appeal of a general court-martial for violating the Espionage Act and other orders is still underway.

Manning was originally sentenced to 35 years in prison, but then-President Barack Obama stepped in and commuted the sentence as one of his last acts in office, freeing Manning from a military prison in Kansas.

The Army further stated that Manning holds an active-duty identification card and acknowledged his status and access to government health care prior to being released.

While Manning’s felony conviction does not appear to automatically disqualify a run for office, his active-duty status presents a much more troubling issue. Such a status, in other words, has enormous implications for engaging in any kind of political activity, especially a Senate run.

Dru Brenner-Beck, retired Army judge advocate general and president of the National Institute of Military Justice, told The Daily Caller News Foundation that on the face of it, Manning is prohibited by Department of Defense regulations from running for office while serving in an active-duty capacity.

The only exception is if Secretary of Defense Gen. James Mattis grants explicit permission, a power that cannot be delegated by a secretary to anyone else.

According to Brenner-Beck, the regulation in question is Department of Defense Directive 1344.10 Directive 1344.10, Political Activities by Members of the Armed Forces, dated Feb. 9, 2008, para. 4.2.2.

“That paragraph is punitive and violation of it subjects her to courts-martial for violation of a lawful order or regulation under Article 92,” Brenner-Beck told TheDCNF. “Her activities campaigning for herself and fundraising for herself may also violate other provisions of the DoD Directive, themselves separately punishable under the UCMJ, art. 92.”

Brenner-Beck added that prosecution, in this case, is a “discretionary decision by her chain of command.”

Victor M. Hansen, a law professor at New England Law and former military lawyer, also agreed that Manning’s run for office is legally prohibited and could result in prosecution.

“It’s prohibited for the obvious reason that you don’t want someone serving two masters on active-duty,” Hansen stated.

He added: “But in Manning’s case, it’s less of a concern, because she’s on excess leave — she has less connection with the military than GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham did when he was an Air Force reserve judge advocate general and certainly less than Army Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster does while serving as national security adviser to Donald Trump.”

If the Pentagon declines to prosecute, it’s possible that other active-duty members of the military will assume that running for office or engaging in political campaigns or advocacy in ways that overstep the bounds of regulations won’t be met with much resistance.

But Hansen doesn’t think someone as outlandish as Manning would inspire other active-duty service members to violate DOD regulations and run for political office, in addition to other prohibited forms of political involvement. For Hansen, Manning is a bit of an exceptional case.

Brenner-Beck, however, believes that prosecution under the Trump administration is not out of the question because of Trump’s active involvement in disparaging Bowe Bergdahl, who was on trial for desertion and misbehavior before the enemy in Afghanistan. Brenner-Beck believes Bergdahl represents a blatant example of disregarding the principle of avoiding unlawful command influence.

Trump blasted Manning in January 2017, after Obama commuted his prison sentence, calling him an “ungrateful traitor” who never should have been released.

Hansen also warned of the possibility of outside pressure on Manning’s chain of command.

“There’s always the risk that somebody could put pressure on that commander or take it to a higher level and prosecute at that level, so there is a risk of unlawful command influence,” Hansen said. “If someone were to decide that we want to bring charges for Manning on this, that would be the very thing I would look into — who made the decision, why, and was there any outside pressures from above.”

According to Hansen, the Army likely wants the issue of Manning to fade away from the public spotlight rather than having a commander take the time to open an investigation.

In his first interview since filing paperwork with the FEC, Manning denied that the run was merely a PR stunt and insisted that despite Cardin’s popularity and strong base of support, he is dead-set on both running and winning.

“We know it’s a real fight ahead of us,” Manning told The Guardian. “We do want to win, but if we lose our principles then winning wouldn’t matter.”

Manning’s main political positions include closing down all prisons, providing free health care and opening U.S. borders to all immigrants.

“We shouldn’t be denying the absolute right to come into the United States,” he added. “You have a right, everybody does.”

It remains to be seen how other political entities will handle a prohibited run for office. So far, Democratic Sen. Ben Cardin, the incumbent Manning is attempting to challenge, has only stated: “Senator Cardin is looking forward to a vigorous debate of the issues and a robust conversation with Maryland voters.”

Cardin’s office did not respond to a request for comment on Manning’s eligibility to run, neither did the Democratic Party of Maryland.

The Army refused to comment to TheDCNF.

Chelsea Manning did not respond to TheDCNF’s request for comment.

A version of this article appeared on The Daily Caller News Foundation website.

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More Texts Turned over from FBI Agent Taken off Mueller Team

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The Justice Department has turned over to Congress additional text messages involving an FBI agent who was removed from special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigative team following the discovery of derogatory comments about President Donald Trump.

But the department also said in a letter to lawmakers that its record of messages sent to and from the agent, Peter Strzok, was incomplete because the FBI, for technical reasons, had been unable to preserve and retrieve about five months’ worth of communications.

New text messages highlighted in a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray by Sen. Ron Johnson, the Republican chairman of the Senate’s Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, are from the spring and summer of 2016 and involve discussion of the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server. They reference Attorney General Loretta Lynch’s decision to accept the FBI’s conclusion in that case and a draft statement that former FBI Director James Comey had prepared in anticipation of closing out the Clinton investigation without criminal charges. (Read more from “More Texts Turned over from FBI Agent Taken off Mueller Team” HERE)

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Former Milwaukee Sheriff David Clarke Faces Civil Trial

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By AP. Former Milwaukee Sheriff David Clarke’s run-in with a 25-year-old man who shook his head at him while boarding a flight last year is headed to trial.

Daniel Black sued the sheriff for having deputies detain him and question him at Milwaukee’s airport, but Clarke’s taunting social media posts remain the focus of the case. Here’s a look at history of the case and the legal issues that will play out in federal court. The trial starts Monday.

Clarke and Black were boarding a flight from Dallas to Milwaukee on Jan. 15, 2017 — the day Clarke’s beloved Dallas Cowboys were facing the Green Bay Packers in the playoffs. The sheriff was clad in Dallas gear without his trademark cowboy hat and Black said he didn’t immediately recognize him because of that. He asked Clarke if he was Milwaukee’s sheriff, according to his lawsuit, and when Clarke said yes, Black shook his head disapprovingly. (Read more from “Former Milwaukee Sheriff David Clarke Faces Civil Trial” HERE)

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Ex-Sheriff David Clarke Faces Trial over Facebook Taunts Against Plane Passenger

By Huffington Post. Staunch President Donald Trump ally and former Milwaukee County sheriff David Clarke faces trial this month for Facebook taunts against a plane passenger who Clarke thought disrespected him.

Passenger Dan Black filed a civil rights lawsuit against Clarke arguing he violated Black’s First Amendment rights with retaliatory Facebook posts on the sheriff’s page. Wisconsin U.S. District Judge J.P. Stadtmueller ruled Friday that Clarke’s posts could “reasonably be understood as a threat, coercion, or intimidation that punishment … will immediately follow.” A jury is now set to hear the case Jan. 22.

Threatening posts appeared on the sheriff’s Facebook page after Black, a Milwaukee resident, filed a complaint about his treatment by Clarke when the two men encountered each other on a plane heading from Dallas to Milwaukee early last year. Black shook his head when he recognized Clarke, and Clarke directed deputies to detain Black after landing. Black was met by six deputies and two police dogs, questioned and escorted from the airport, according to an FBI account of the events.

Black filed a civil rights suit against the deputies and Clarke — who was once considered for a post as Trump’s deputy secretary of Homeland Security — accusing them of violating his constitutional rights of free speech and due process, and his right against unreasonable seizure. (Read more from “Ex-Sheriff David Clarke Faces Trial over Facebook Taunts Against Plane Passenger” HERE)

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Look Who’s Suing to Quash U.S. Terror Screening

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A group established as a front for the Muslim Brotherhood in the U.S. is suing the federal government’s Terrorist Screening Database, contending it stigmatizes its targets without due process.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations, the Associated Press reported, filed the lawsuit Wednesday in federal court in Dallas on behalf of five Muslim American citizens.

CAIR said the Muslims face consequences for being on the watch list, “including the inability to fly on airplanes, intrusive screenings at airports, and the denial of applications for credit cards and bank loans.”

The database, charged CAIR’s senior litigation attorney, Gadeir Abbas, is “nothing more than a list of innocent Muslim citizens who have not been arrested, charged or convicted of a crime.”

Jihad Watch Director Robert Spencer – noting CAIR was named by the Justice Department as an unindicted co-conspirator in a Hamas terror funding case – asks, with a large dose of irony: “What could its purpose possibly be in wanting to end the Terrorist Screening Database?” (Read more from “Look Who’s Suing to Quash U.S. Terror Screening” HERE)

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Man Who Offered Reward for Info on Seth Rich Murder Is Attacked by Unknown Assailant

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By The Daily Wire. A Republican strategist and lobbyist who offered a financial reward for information on the murder of Democratic staffer Seth Rich was violently attacked earlier this week at his home by an unknown assailant.

Jack Burkman, host of “Behind the Curtain” on Radio America, was attacked at his home in Arlington, Virginia on Tuesday as he approached the front door, The Washington Post reports.

According to the police report, a man in a dark-colored SUV parked in Burkman’s driveway and exited the vehicle when he saw Burkman approaching his home, sprayed him with a “caustic substance,” hit him in the head and then drove off. The Post notes:

Burkman said in an interview, he walked to the grocery store, a short distance from his quiet Arlington street a few blocks from the Potomac. He purchased items for dinner and went home, so lost in his own thoughts that he said he didn’t notice the dark SUV in his driveway until he was about 30 feet away.

As Burkman tells it, a man in a black jacket got out of the SUV on the passenger side and, as he came around to the front of the car, put on a mask that “looked like something you would see in one of the movies of a bank robber.”

(Read more from “Man Who Offered Reward for Info on Seth Rich Murder Is Attacked by Unknown Assailant” HERE)

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Conservative Lobbyist Who Offered Reward for Info on Seth Rich Murder Violently Attacked

By The Daily Caller.A well-known conservative lobbyist was sprayed with a “caustic substance” by a masked attacker outside his Arlington home Tuesday, according to local police . . .

Burkman told WaPo he was returning from the grocery store when a man wearing a ski mask jumped out of a black SUV, sprayed him in the face with what appeared to be pepper spray, and hit him the head before speeding away. He added that he thought “the end is coming,” when he spotted the man coming up his driveway, and said the attack “seemed professional,” though he had trouble pinning down who exactly might have cause to attack him.

“You could have 10 different causal nexi,” said Burkman, who made enemies in 2014 by campaigning to ban gay players from the National Football League.

Burkman drew the ire of many in the capital by fanning Seth Rich conspiracy theories and giving them a platform on a website he created for that purpose shortly after the young staffer’s death. But the attack may have been motivated by more recent developments. (Read more from “Conservative Lobbyist Who Offered Reward for Info on Seth Rich Murder Violently Attacked” HERE)

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Citizens Demand Ivanka Trump Run for President After This Photo Emerges

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A black and white photo of Ivanka Trump taken Thursday whipped Twitter users into a frenzy, with some suggesting the first daughter might make a good president herself someday.

The picture, captured by New York Times photographer Doug Mills, shows Trump — a senior White House adviser — walking across the tarmac after returning from a trip to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with her father.

The first daughter was wearing a black turtleneck and a calf-length wool coat, as well as a pair of pearl earrings, according to The U.K. Daily Mail.

It didn’t take long after the picture was posted for Twitter users to point out that Ivanka Trump looked “presidential.”

According to Michael Wolff — the author of Trump administration tell-all book “Fire and Fury” — Ivanka Trump may indeed have an interest in following in her father’s footsteps and running for president.

Wolff wrote that Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, have agreed that if there is an opportunity for either of them to run, she would be the candidate.

“Between themselves, the two had made an earnest deal: If sometime in the future the opportunity arose, she’d be the one to run for president. The first woman president, Ivanka entertained, would not be Hillary Clinton; it would be Ivanka Trump,” reads an excerpt from the book.

In the past, the first daughter has expressed mixed feelings regarding the idea of running.

“It’s not something I’ve ever been inclined to do, but I’m 34, so who knows?” she told Town & Country magazine in early 2016 after being asked if she had ever considered a career in politics. “At this point I would never even contemplate it, but that doesn’t mean that when I’m 50 I won’t have a change of heart.”

But in April 2017, when asked by CBS co-host Gayle King if she might run for president in 2024, Trump’s answer seemed definitive.

“No,” she said, according to The Hill. “Politics is a tough business.” (For more the author of “Citizens Demand Ivanka Trump Run for President After This Photo Emerges” please click HERE)

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