Poll: Majority of Americans Want First Amendment Rewritten

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A majority of Americans believe the First Amendment should be rewritten and are willing to crack down on free speech, as well as the press, according to a new poll.

More than 60 percent of Americans agree on restricting speech in some way, while a slim majority, 51 percent, want to see the First Amendment rewritten to “reflect the cultural norms of today.” The Campaign for Free Speech, which conducted the survey, said the results “indicate free speech is under more threat than previously believed.” . . .

Of the 1,004 respondents, young people were the most likely to support curbing free expression and punishing those who engage in “hate speech.” Nearly 60 percent of Millennials—respondents between the ages of 21 and 38—agreed that the Constitution “goes too far in allowing hate speech in modern America” and should be rewritten, compared to 48 percent of Gen Xers and 47 percent of Baby Boomers. A majority of Millennials also supported laws that would make “hate speech” a crime—of those supporters, 54 percent said violators should face jail time.

American hostility to the First Amendment did not stop at speech. Many would also like to see a crackdown on the free press. Nearly 60 percent of respondents agreed that the “government should be able to take action against newspapers and TV stations that publish content that is biased, inflammatory, or false.” Of those respondents, 46 percent supported possible jail time.

The poll was released just two days after two University of Connecticut students were arrested for allegedly saying racial slurs in a viral video. The 21-year-old suspects were allegedly playing “a game in which they yelled vulgar words,” according to the police report. Lystad said such incidents and the rise of social media may be behind the increased willingness of Americans to curb speech rights. (Read more from “Poll: Majority of Americans Want First Amendment Rewritten” HERE)

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Only 7(!) Republican Senators Are Ruling out Removing Donald Trump

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Earlier this week, the conservative Daily Caller website asked the offices of each of the 53 Republican senators whether they opposed the impeachment and removal of President Donald Trump. Just seven of them said yes. . .

The seven who did confirm they oppose impeachment to the Caller are: Sens. James Inhofe (Oklahoma), Cindy Hyde-Smith (Mississippi), Thom Tillis (North Carolina), Roger Wicker (Mississippi), Mike Rounds (South Dakota), Rob Portman (Ohio) and Jerry Moran (Kansas). . .

Of the 46 Republican senators who didn’t expressly reject impeachment, almost half — 22 — simply declined to comment to the Caller. Which, in and of itself, is telling! Many of the others criticized House Democrats for their impeachment inquiry but failed to rule out the possibility of voting to remove him from office if it came to that. . .

“The picture coming out of it, based on the reporting that we’ve seen, I would say is not a good one,” Sen. John Thune, the second-ranking Republican in the Senate told CNN’s Ted Barrett Wednesday morning regarding the testimony of US diplomat Bill Taylor this week. “But I would say also that until we have a process that allows for everybody to see this in full transparency, it’s pretty hard to draw a hard and fast conclusions.” (Read more from “Only 7(!) Republican Senators Are Ruling out Removing Donald Trump” HERE)

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Alarming Poll: Here’s How Many Americans Think We’re on the Verge of Civil War

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Partisan political division and the resulting incivility has reached a low in America, with 67% believing that the nation is nearing civil war, according to a new national survey.

“The majority of Americans believe that we are two-thirds of the way to being on the edge of civil war. That to me is a very pessimistic place,” said Mo Elleithee, the executive director of Georgetown University’s Institute of Politics and Public Service.

And worse, he said in announcing the results of the institute’s Battleground Poll, the political division is likely to make the upcoming 2020 presidential race the nastiest in modern history.

Highlighting findings that show voters angered with compromise and growing unfavorable ratings of President Trump and most 2020 Democratic presidential candidates, he said the poll “paints a scenario, a picture of a highly negative campaign that will continue to exacerbate the incivility in our public discourse.”

He added, “It will be a sort of race to the bottom, or has the potential to be a race to the bottom.”

The Civility Poll is an offshoot of the famous bipartisan Battleground Poll conducted by Democratic pollster Celinda Lake of Lake Research Partners and Ed Goeas of the Tarrance Group. (Read more from “Alarming Poll: Here’s How Many Americans Think We’re on the Verge of Civil War” HERE)

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WATCH: Republicans Force Their Way Into Secret Impeachment Proceedings, Causing Adam Schiff and Witness to Walk Out; Top Republicans Demand Democrats Call Whistleblower to Testify Publicly

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By The Blaze. Decrying a lack of transparency in the House Democrats’ impeachment process against President Donald Trump, House Republicans gathered in the basement of the Capitol Wednesday morning to demand entry into proceedings they’ve been barred from thus far. And they reportedly got in.

At a news conference outside the SCIF, dozens of Republican representatives announced that they would seek to gain entry to the secure room — in which the Democrats of the three committees behind the current impeachment push were conducting a deposition — by demanding to be let in as a group.

SCIF stands for Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility. It’s a secure room where classified intelligence and other secret information is discussed. Congress’ SCIF is where much of the House Democrats’ investigation has so far taken place and where Republicans not on the investigating committees have not been allowed to enter. . .

According to a senior GOP source who witnessed what happened next, the group went into the anteroom of the SCIF and chanted, “Let us in” outside the door guarded by Capitol Police. After that, the source said, the door opened, someone grabbed it, and a group of Republican members forced their way in.

After members attempted to sit in on the closed-door testimony that was occurring, “Chairman Schiff immediately left with the witness,” Rep. Michael Waltz (R-Fla.) told reporters while flanked by a handful of other House Republicans. (Read more from “Republicans Force Their Way Into Secret Impeachment Proceedings, Causing Adam Schiff and Witness to Walk Out” HERE)

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Top Republicans Demand Democrats Call Whistleblower to Testify Publicly

By CBS News. The top Republicans on the House committees pursuing the impeachment inquiry are demanding the public testimony of the whistleblower who reported concerns about President Trump’s dealings with Ukraine, as well as other officials referenced in the individual’s complaint, according to a letter obtained by CBS News.

The request is the first time Republican lawmakers involved in the impeachment probe have formally asked Democrats to call witnesses, a possible indication they intend to pursue more traditional channels to counter the investigation even as members seek to disrupt the proceedings themselves. (Read more from “Top Republicans Demand Democrats Call Whistleblower to Testify Publicly” HERE)

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Gun Owners Beware: Facebook Using Photos to Keep Track of Your Weapons

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It’s no secret that technology plays an important role in our lives. Almost every single aspect of our life is ruled by technology, from smart phones to computers and the internet. That’s why it’s not surprising to know that Google and Facebook are keeping tabs on gun owners’ firearms.

According to The Firearms Blog (TFB), the two tech giants are scanning users’ pictures to look for serial numbers. They’re then creating an index of every person’s firearms based on the image scans. If you’ve posted a picture of your firearm on a social networking site and didn’t smear out the serial number, chances are it’s indexed on Google images. Simply type in the serial number in quotes and search images. What comes up?

The guys at TFB went through their image library and found images of various firearms and silencers where the serial number is clearly visible. They then typed it into Google and viola! Every image from their website showed up in the image results.

Although it’s unlikely for a random person to have your the serial number on your firearms, it is absolutely dangerous for social media giants to have this information. Facebook and Instagram are both owned by the same company. Same with YouTube and Google. When these platforms data mine this information, this creates an extremely dangerous situation. (Read more from “Gun Owners Beware: Facebook Using Photos to Keep Track of Your Weapons” HERE)

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Ironic Twist: Democrats’ Impeachment Probe Interfering in Ongoing Presidential Race

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By Breitbart. The House Democrats’ impeachment inquiry into whether President Donald Trump attempted to influence the looming 2020 elections may interfere with the outcome of the presidential race in an ironic twist.

In other words, the Democrats are doing what they accuse Trump of trying to do: interfering in the ongoing presidential race. House Democrats launched the impeachment inquiry on September 24, months before the American public goes to the polls to elect the next president in November 2020.

Until the American public votes in November 2020, it will remain unclear whether the Democrats’ impeachment effort will hurt or benefit Trump. The impeachment probe, however, is already having an impact on the ongoing 2020 presidential election, potentially changing the minds of some voters.

Mainstream media outlets have acknowledged that impeachment could have collateral effects linked to the 2020 elections.

“Impeachment could drastically affect the 2020 election,” MSNBC conceded on September 25, a day after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) announced the impeachment probe. (Read more from “Ironic Twist: Democrats’ Impeachment Probe Interfering in Ongoing Presidential Race” HERE)

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How the Impeachment Inquiry Could Affect the 2020 U.S. Election

By Quartz. . .Because 2020 is an election year, both sides will manage proceedings with an eye to the November poll. It is possible the house will vote before the end of the year: the decision to impeach Bill Clinton for lying under oath was made in the last three months of 1998.

Clinton was cleared by the Senate by the following February, so it is also possible the Senate will hold its own proceedings before most of the presidential primaries commence. It takes two-thirds of the Senate to remove a president from office, which has never happened.

While several Republican house representatives have expressed concern about the president’s behavior, the overwhelming majority of Republican politicians are either supporting him or remaining silent. . .

At the moment, Elizabeth Warren challenges Biden’s lead in the polls, with Bernie Sanders the only other candidate consistently supported by more than 10% of Democrats. None of the others in a crowded field—12 have qualified to take part in the next televised Democratic debate—have much support, and they will start to drop out once the primary season begins in February 2020.

If Biden continues to lose support, there is room for someone to emerge as the moderate front-runner, given that both Warren and Sanders represent the more radical instincts of the party. This is presumably why so many candidates are determined to continue campaigning, even when some of them rarely muster 2% in the polls. (Read more from “How the Impeachment Inquiry Could Affect the 2020 U.S. Election” HERE)

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CIA ‘Rattled’ by DOJ Inquiry Into Russia Investigation Origins

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The Justice Department’s review of the origins of the Russia investigation created “unease” at the CIA, according to a reporter who has followed its progress.

Uncertainty over what investigators are seeking and whether the inquiry has become a criminal investigation has prompted some CIA analysts who played a role in the intelligence assessment of Russia’s activities during the 2016 campaign to hire lawyers.

“It’s really not clear where he’s going with this, but a lot of people are very rattled. Those CIA analysts I mentioned had to hire their own lawyers because no one’s even sure whether this is a criminal investigation or not. And if it is a criminal investigation, what is the allegation of wrongdoing? No one I talked to can answer that,” Ken Dilanian said on Monday’s episode of Morning Joe on MSNBC. . .

A similar report was published by the New York Times that notes President Trump granted Barr expansive powers for the inquiry, but Durham lacked subpoena power and could only request documents and interviews when he was tasked with the review earlier this year because a criminal investigation was not opened. The report also states, however, that it is unclear whether the status of the review has changed.

“There’s a lot of unease at the CIA and disquiet about the notion of federal prosecutors going over and rooting in their files,” Dilanian said. “Not because they think they did anything wrong, but because these are sources and methods — some of the most highly classified documents and secrets in our government. And they are kept to a small set of people for a reason. It’s a need-to-know situation. And they’re questioning what is the need for John Durham and his prosecutors to go over and talk to them about that in the absence of any allegation of wrongdoing?”

(Read more from “CIA ‘Rattled’ by DOJ Inquiry Into Russia Investigation Origins” HERE)

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University Dumps Professor Who Found Polar Bears Thriving Despite Climate Change

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Nobody has done more to sink the claim that climate change is endangering polar bears than zoologist Susan Crockford — and she may have paid for it with her job.

After 15 years as an adjunct assistant professor, Ms. Crockford said the University of Victoria rejected without explanation in May her renewal application, despite her high profile as a speaker and author stemming from her widely cited research on polar bears and dog domestication.

Ms. Crockford accused officials at the Canadian university of bowing to “outside pressure,” the result of her research showing that polar bear populations are stable and even thriving, not plummeting as a result of shrinking Arctic sea ice, defying claims of the climate change movement.

Her dismissal, which she announced Wednesday in a post on her Polar Bear Science blog, has spurred alarm over the implications for academic freedom and the rise of the “cancel culture” for professors and scientists who challenge climate catastrophe predictions. . .

Ms. Crockford cited numerous instances of the university promoting her interviews and work, including her participation in a 2007 PBS “Nature” documentary about dog domestication and evolution, as well as her appearances at K-12 schools and adult groups for 10 years through the University of Victoria Speakers Bureau. (Read more from “University Dumps Professor Who Found Polar Bears Thriving Despite Climate Change” HERE)

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General Motors Employee Just Gave 2020 Democrats a Big Warning

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Democrats say they’re the champions for the middle and working class. Beware of those evil Republicans; they’ll screw you over. For years, that’s been the playbook. And for the most part, it worked. Obama ran with that and won two elections. Mitt Romney was the perfect foil for this messaging attack, as many looked at Mitt and viewed him as the person who would fire you not hire you. The Obama ads slicing his time at Bain Capital resonated with the working-class areas of Ohio. . .

Yet, as the 2020 Democratic field vies for who can be the looniest of the loony bin, the professional, snobby, and over-educated elite that infest the party is starting to show. It’s quite simple. For liberals, if you’re not college-educated, you’re trash who shouldn’t be acknowledged or listened to because what could you possibly know, right? That has seeped into this cycle. Only the comfy, privileged liberal elites can think that “Medicare For All” is a good idea. Giving illegal aliens health care is a popular proposal, and decriminalizing border crossings is a tenet of inclusivity. Forced “Medicare For All” means the end of private insurance. No one likes giving illegals welfare, and open borders are not tenable. The Left’s intense hatred of fracking, which has created jobs, supercharged local economies, and has led the country to become more energy independent is also seen as another middle finger to the working class. Talk smart about jobs and the economy—they’ll listen. These folks are not die-hard Republicans. They’ve voted for Democrats before and they’re winnable for either party, but the Left’s left-wing thrust is forcing these folks into the GOP fold. One General Motors worker voiced his concerns in September, noting that Democrats really don’t know any working-class people and that their agenda, especially on health care, puts union workers’ plans on the chopping block. For all the fear tactics about the GOP taking away people’s health care, we have Democrats who want to do just that (via Detroit Times):

Matt Moorhead, a General Motors Co. employee who recently transferred to the Lansing Grand River Assembly Plant from the idling Lordstown plant in Ohio, said the health care under the current UAW contract “allows a freedom that a lot of people in society don’t have.”

“It scares me that (some Democratic candidates) don’t know working-class people,” said the 47-year-old self-described liberal who voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016. “It scares me that Democrats turn people away by some of the things they say… My fear is they will lose votes from working-class families who are union.

Government-run health care isn’t the way to do it,” Moorhead continued. “There are systems that run better. There needs to be government involvement, but there also needs be a free market, as well.”

(Read more from “General Motors Employee Just Gave 2020 Democrats a Big Warning” HERE)

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NEW WHISTLEBLOWER: George Soros Behind DNC Pressure to Fire Ukraine Prosecutor at Center of Impeachment Inquiry; Where Is The Original Whistleblower?

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By The Blaze. [New Ukraine whistleblower, Andrii Telizhenko] was an adviser to former Ukrainian chief prosecutor Viktor Shokin, who was ousted during an investigation into Burisma, the Ukrainian energy company where former Vice President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, sat on the board. The Obama administration claims that the Ukrainian prosecutor was fired over alleged corruption. Biden even bragged, with cameras rolling, that he threatened to withhold a billion dollars in U.S. aid to Ukraine “if the prosecutor is not fired.”

According to Telizhenko, however, Shokin was fired because a George Soros funded non-governmental organization (NGO) wanted him gone. (Read more from “NEW WHISTLEBLOWER: George Soros Behind DNC Pressure to Fire Ukraine Prosecutor at Center of Impeachment Inquiry” HERE)

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One Person Is Missing in the Democrats’ Impeachment Inquiry: The Whistleblower

By Reuters. Democratic lawmakers leading an impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump have heard days of testimony from a parade of senior government officials. But they have yet to hear from the whistleblower who sparked the probe – and may never do.

In the end, it may not matter, some Democratic lawmakers said, because the other officials who have testified, Trump’s own statements, a trove of texts between top U.S. diplomats, and other White House documents have largely substantiated the whistleblower’s complaint that Trump pressured Ukraine to investigate political rival Joe Biden.

Talks between lawyers for the whistleblower and representatives of the House of Representatives and Senate committees that want to question the intelligence official have all but deadlocked, three sources familiar with the negotiations told Reuters. (Read more from “One Person Is Missing in the Democrats’ Impeachment Inquiry: The Whistleblower” HERE)

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