Posts

Thousands Pledge to Get Arrested in D.C. Protests Next Month

/4 Comments/in , /by

The leaders of Democracy Spring, a coalition of far-left groups plotting a mass civil disobedience movement to begin next month, told Breitbart News they have already confirmed 2,912 protesters who pledged specifically to risk arrest.

Those protesters signed an option on the coalition’s website explicitly stating, “I pledge to be one among thousands who will risk arrest to save democracy in DC between April 11 – 16.”

Other pledge options for protests include:

*I pledge to come to Washington DC to support the sit in through legal protest but cannot risk arrest.

*I want to join the march from Philadelphia to Washington DC, sometime between April 2 – 11.

*I want to volunteer to help organize this campaign.

Kai Newkirk, Democracy Spring’s campaign director, explained that his team called each of the 2,912 protesters pledging to risk arrest and spent about twenty minutes on the phone expounding on the movement’s goals as well as helping to coordinate travel and logistics. (Read more from “Thousands Pledge to Get Arrested in D.C. Protests Next Month” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Hundreds of Cities Fight Back Against 'Invasion'

/3 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

By Leo Hohmann.

A massive protest scheduled for July 18 and 19 across the United States is aimed at stopping the influx of Central American children flooding across the border, and more than a dozen smaller community protests already have played roles in stopping the children from being brought there.

Citizens in Westminster, Maryland; Oracle, Arizona; Vassar, Michigan; Greece, New York, and many other places have blocked the importation of illegal aliens into their communities through public protests, letters and official resolutions from elected leaders.

…

Radio host Rush Limbaugh led his show Tuesday with stories about the successful pushback against the illegals going on across America.

“Here’s what you do not know,” he said. “There are towns all over America standing up to this invasion, just like they did in Murrieta, California. You’re not hearing about it, however, and I am here to tell you why you’re not hearing about it. Westminster, Maryland, is a town standing up to it, just like Murrieta, California, did. Oracle, Arizona, is standing up to it.

“In Nebraska they’re gonna stand up to it when they find out. The governor is fit to be tied,” Limbaugh continued. “Upper Michigan, same thing. There are towns all over America standing up to this. There are protests happening, but they’re not being covered.”

Read more from this story HERE.

_______________________________________________________________

Photo Credit: Getty Images

Photo Credit: Getty Images

Reid: Southern border is secure

By Alexander Bolton.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Tuesday asserted the southern border is secure despite the massive surge of illegal minors from Central America that has overwhelmed federal agencies.

“The border is secure,” he told reporters after the Senate Democrats’ weekly policy lunch. “[Sen.] Martin Heinrich [(D-N.M.)] talked to the caucus today. He’s a border state senator. He said he can say without any equivocation the border is secure.”

Reid said lawmakers need to worry less about border security and focus instead on President Obama’s $3.7 billion request to help process the tens of thousands of children from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador who have been apprehended on the border.

Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson warned Congress last week that Immigration and Customs Enforcement is due to run out of money by mid-August because of the large number of minors attempting to cross into Texas. He said Customs and Border Protection would run out of funding by mid-September.

He estimated that as many as 90,000 illegal minors would be apprehended by the end of September.

Read more from this story HERE.

_______________________________________________________________

Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

SESSIONS WARNS ALL OF CONGRESS: OBAMA’S NEW IMMIGRATION STRATEGY ‘THREATENS FOUNDATION OF OUR CONSTITUTIONAL REPUBLIC’

By Matthew Boyle.

Senate Budget Committee ranking member Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) has warned all of his colleagues in Congress that President Barack Obama’s new immigration strategy—his plans to legalize millions of illegal alien adults through executive power—could destroy America as we know it.

“I write to inform you of a development that threatens the foundation of our constitutional Republic,” Sessions, Congress’s top immigration hawk, wrote in a letter that was hand-delivered to all 535 members of Congress on Monday and provided exclusively to Breitbart News.

Sessions cites a recent report from the National Journal, in which reporter Major Garrett detailed how, despite the ongoing crisis at the border, Obama plans to legalize anywhere from five to six million illegal alien adults in much the same way he did for illegal alien minors through the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) in summer 2012.

“Obama made it clear he would press his executive powers to the limit,” Garrett wrote on July 3, as cited by Sessions. “He gave quiet credence to recommendations from La Raza and other immigration groups that between 5 million to 6 million adult illegal immigrants could be spared deportation under a similar form of deferred adjudication he ordered for the so-called Dreamers in June 2012.”

Sessions cites another paragraph from that National Journal piece as well, in which Garrett reported that President Obama has “now ordered the Homeland Security and Justice departments to find executive authorities that could enlarge that non-prosecutorial umbrella by a factor of 10.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Ukraine on Edge after Deadly Clashes Between Protesters, Security Forces (+video)

/0 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: CNNProtests. Talks. Violence. Protests. Talks. Violence.

By early Friday morning, the lone positive point was that — for the time being — Ukraine’s cycle of political and physical infighting was not then at its bloodiest point, as it had hours earlier. Prodded by foreign diplomats, the key players were then talking about not just a bandage for the violence but also a more long-term political solution and maybe the beginnings of healing.

Yet the facts of the last three months and, particularly, the last week show that it’s way too early to celebrate or savor any peace. There have been two truces since Sunday. Each of them collapsed suddenly into carnage centered in Kiev’s Maidan, or Independence Square.

The latest bloodshed was also the worst since the unrest began.

CNN crews at the scene reported that as security forces were moving away from the area after the latest truce, a group of protesters pursued them throwing rocks and Molotov cocktails.

Read more this story HERE.

Protestors Swarm Capitol to Rally Against NSA’s Mass Surveillance

/0 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: Daily Caller Nearly a thousand protestors, sponsored by one hundred public advocacy groups, marched on the Capitol in Washington, D.C. to rally against the National Security Agency’s mass surveillance sweeps on Saturday.

“Why are we here?” former NSA executive and whistleblower Thomas Drake asked the gathered crowd. “We’re against mass surveillance!”

Drake, who was prosecuted by the Department of Justice under the Espionage Act for leaking unclassified information to a Baltimore Sun reporter, declared that the government “tried to bankrupt me, silence me and imprison me,” and that he was fortunate not to end up in prison.

“We cannot let this happen to future whistleblowers,” he said, adding that reform efforts must include whistleblower protection and not rely on an “NSA honor system” that was dependent on the agency admitting to rights violations.

“The NSA does not have an honorable track record of telling the truth when tracking us without our consent,” he said.

Read more from this story HERE.

Illegal Aliens Protest for Tuition Benefits (+video)

/6 Comments/in , /by

students_RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) — Dozens of undocumented students at Wake Technical Community College are pushing for changes to a policy that requires them to pay out-of-state tuition.

The students are forced to pay the out-of-state fees, which are nearly four times the cost of in-state tuition, even if they graduated from a North Carolina high school and have been living in the state for some time.

Five students were arrested at Thursday’s protest after repeated warnings to leave the campus. Wake Tech officials said the group didn’t file the proper paperwork to protest at the college. The five individuals, ranging in age from 17-27, are all charged with second-degree trespassing.

Meanwhile, undocumented students moved their demonstration to the highway demanding equal tuition rights.

“I think it’s discriminatory because they give us the opportunity already to be able to study here. We work really hard,” said undocumented student Jose Rico.

Read more from this story HERE.

Protesters Around the Country Call for Fed’s Prosecution of Zimmerman, But Leading Dem Says not so Fast

/8 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: werthmediaProtesters call for federal civil rights lawsuit in Trayvon Martin case

By Elise Viebeck. Protesters around the country on Saturday are calling on the Obama administration to prosecute George Zimmerman, the man acquitted of killing unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin, on civil rights grounds.

The demonstrations come after President Obama downplayed the possibility that Attorney General Eric Holder would take the case, calling it an issue for “state and local” law enforcement.

Martin’s parents were scheduled to lead protests in New York and Miami in partnership with the Reverend Al Sharpton, who said demonstrations would take place in more than 100 U.S. cities.

For days, activists have rallied around the goal of a Justice Department (DOJ) suit against Zimmerman, who was acquitted of second-degree murder and manslaughter charges in Sanford, Fla.

Zimmerman’s attorneys argued that he acted in self-defense, but many have alleged that racial bias was a factor in Martin’s killing. The 17-year-old was unarmed at the time he died. Read more from this story HERE.

_______________________________________________________________

Leading Dem casts doubt on possible DOJ charges against Zimmerman

By Elise Viebeck. A leading House Democrat questioned Friday whether the Justice Department (DOJ) has the evidence to mount a civil rights case against George Zimmerman, the man acquitted of killing an unarmed black teenager in Florida.

Rep. Henry Waxman (Calif.), the top Democrat on the Energy and Commerce Committee, said in a television interview that “it seems unlikely” Attorney General Eric Holder would file discrimination charges against Zimmerman…

“I haven’t heard that they could show that there was anything with regard to race involved,” Waxman told C-SPAN’s Newsmakers program.

“There was a boy and this fellow Zimmerman thought he was up to no good and they got into a fight. Read more from this story HERE.

_______________________________________________________________

Whether Feds Prosecute Zimmerman or Not, Little Obama Can Do to Rollback ‘Stand Your Ground’ Laws

By Ben Goad and Julian Hattem. President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder have little if any power to compel states to dial back “stand your ground” laws the two have criticized in the wake of George Zimmerman’s acquittal in the death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin.

While the Justice Department may review the case and could seek civil rights charges against Zimmerman, experts say the federal government has little recourse with the stand your ground laws themselves.

“There’s little the Department of Justice can do,” UCLA law professor Adam Winkler told The Hill.

“States are allowed to have their own criminal laws, including self-defense laws,” Winker said. “DOJ may be able to pursue civil rights charges in individual cases, but it has no authority to overturn state laws.”

The stand your ground laws in two dozen states around the country have come under national scrutiny in the wake of last week’s acquittal of Zimmerman, a volunteer neighborhood watchman, in Martin’s shooting death.
 Read more from this story HERE.

Guess Who Reportedly Accompanied Al Sharpton to NYC Rally – Then Got Jeered by Crowd?

/9 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: Getty ImagesWhen the Rev. Al Sharpton and Trayvon Martin’s mother arrived at the Harlem rally for Martin today, they were accompanied by Fox News commentator Geraldo Rivera, according to National Review Online.

NRO adds that Rivera had “no cameraman and seemed to be observing the proceedings as a guest.”

Some protesters apparently spot Rivera and began to complain and shout, “Get Fox out!” and “What are you doing here?”

Read more from this story HERE.

Teamsters, Other Unions Now Protest the Obamacare Nightmare They Helped Create (+video)

/8 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: WNDBy Drew Zahn. Some of America’s top labor unions – including the influential Teamsters – have suddenly realized Obamacare is bad deal, and they’re suffering some serious buyer’s remorse.

“In campaign after campaign we have put boots on the ground, gone door-to-door to get out the vote, run phone banks and raised money to secure [the Obamacare] vision,” wrote three leading labor unions in an open letter to Congressional Democrats last week. “Now this vision has come back to haunt us.”

The letter, signed by James Hoffa of the Teamsters, as well as the presidents of the UFCW and UNITE-HERE, demands Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., “fix” the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act – also known as “Obamacare” – before it “destroy[s] the very health and well-being of our members along with millions of other hardworking Americans.”

“When you and the president sought our support for the Affordable Care Act, you pledged that if we liked the health plans we have now, we could keep them. Sadly, that promise is under threat,” the unions wrote to Reid and Pelosi. “Unless you and the Obama Administration enact an equitable fix, the ACA will shatter not only our hard-earned health benefits, but destroy the foundation of the 40-hour work week that is the backbone of the American middle class.”

According to the letter, Obamacare is laced with “perverse incentives” that create “unintended consequences” and “nightmare scenarios.” Read more from this story HERE.

________________________________________________________

‘Unintended consequences’ causing ‘nightmare scenarios’

By Avik Roy. The union leaders are concerned that Obamacare’s employer mandate incentivizes smaller companies to shift their workers to part-time status, because employers are not required to provide health coverage to part-time workers. “We have a problem,” they write, and “you need to fix it.”

“The unintended consequences of the ACA are severe,” they continue. “Perverse incentives are causing nightmare scenarios. First, the law creates an incentive for employers to keep employees’ work hours below 30 hours a week. Numerous employers have begun to cut workers’ hours to avoid this obligation, and many of them are doing so openly. The impact is two-fold: fewer hours means less pay while also losing our current health benefits.”

What surprises me about this is that union leaders are pretty strategic when it comes to employee benefits. It was obvious in 2009 that Obamacare’s employer mandate would incentivize this shift. Why didn’t labor unions fight it back then? Read more from this story HERE.

________________________________________________________

Obamacare Delay Has Serious Implications

Avik Roy appeared before the Health Subcommittee of the House Ways and Means Committee to testify on the White House’s one-year delay in implementing the employer mandate of the Affordable Care Act (a.k.a. “Obamacare”), which requires firms to offer health coverage to their full-time workers:

“Zimmerman Verdict Means War” and Other Fallout from the Not Guilty Verdict

/13 Comments/in , , /by

Photo Credit: WNDNew Black Panthers: Zimmerman Verdict Means ‘War’

By Aaron Klein. The George Zimmerman verdict is a declaration of war that only the devil can applaud, according to the Twitter feed for the New Black Panther Party.

The Twitter account, managed by the group’s national chairman, Malik Zulu Shabazz, further urged followers to “take to the streets [and] stay there.”

“Were at war,” Shabbazz Tweeted. “Its (sic) silly and immoral to call for peace when war has been declared.”

The NBPP slammed what it called the “white mans (sic) justice system,” claiming the courts base their law on “the white is right theory.”

“Only a devil would applaud that verdict. Only natural born devil. By applauding that verdict you in fact admit that you are a devil,” wrote Shabbazz. Read more from this story HERE.

_________________________________________________________________

$10,000 Offered for Zimmerman’s Head

By Drew Zahn. Now that George Zimmerman has been found not guilty in the murder trial of black teenager Trayvon Martin, threats that some may take “justice” – or vengeance as the case may be – into their own hands become cause for concern.

New York Giants footballer Victor Cruz, for example, tweeted after the verdict was announced, “Zimmerman doesn’t last a year before the hood catches up to him.”

Atlanta Falcons footballer Roddy White followed up with a similar tweet, “All them jurors should go home tonight and kill themselves for letting a grown man get away with killing a kid.”

Though both players later apologized, the tweets reflect upon the words of black activist Mikhail Muhammad, who claimed last year he had professional athletes’ and celebrities’ financial backing in putting a $10,000 bounty on Zimmerman’s head.

While distributing “wanted dead or alive” posters at a press conference in Jacksonville, Fla., Muhammad, the southern regional director of the New Black Panther Party, stated, “The heat is on [Zimmerman]. He’s never going to be able to sleep peacefully. The family of George Zimmerman must understand, a life for a life, a tooth for a tooth, an eye for an eye. If you kill my damn baby, we’re going to kill your damn baby.” Read more from this story HERE.

See the NBPP tweet stream for yourself below:

_________________________________________________________________

Photo Credit: Getty Images‘No justice, no peace’: pro-Trayvon MArtin protesters clash with police in NYC, LA.

By Jason Howerton. Demonstrations erupted across the United States ranging from dozens to hundreds – in support of the family of Trayvon Martin. Protesters marched against the not guilty verdict in the trial of George Zimmerman for the shooting of the unarmed black teenager. Zimmerman claims he shot Martin in self-defense after being physically attacked.

At New York City’s Middle Collegiate Church in Manhattan, congregants wore hooded sweatshirts – as the 17-year-old Martin did the night he was shot.

And in Manhattan’s Union Square, hundreds of people gathered to voice their passions over the verdict, hoisting placards with images of Martin. Protesters shouted a number of chants demanding “justice” for Trayvon Martin.

The chants in NYC included, “No justice, no peace,” “What do you want? Justice! When do we want it? Now!” and “Trayvon! Trayvon! Trayvon!” Read more from this story HERE.

_________________________________________________________________

Photo Credit: Occupy Oakland/TwitterProtesters in Oakland burn flag, smash windows over Zimmerman verdict

By Joe Newby. Protesters in Oakland angry over the not guilty verdict in the Zimmerman case went on a rampage, smashing windows, starting small fires and burned a U.S. flag at a local area McDonald’s, The Blaze reported Sunday.

The protests attracted anywhere from a few dozen to a couple hundred people, Madeleine Morgenstern said. Police said protests continued into the early hours on Sunday.

Some in the crowd broke windows on businesses and started small fires in the streets.

The Oakland Tribune said some of the windows in its downtown office were smashed and video from a helicopter show people attempting to start fires in the street. Others can be seen spray painting anti-police graffiti.

Vandals smashed windows at Dogwood Restaurant located at Telegraph and 17th St. in Oakland, ABC7 reporter John Alston said in a tweet. He later said windows were smashed in an Oakland Sears store. Read more from this story HERE.

Report: Feds Helped Orchestrate Anti-Zimmerman Protests after Trayvon Martin Shooting

/21 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: APBy Fox News. A conservative watchdog group accused the Justice Department of helping manage the “pressure campaign” last year against George Zimmerman in the wake of the Trayvon Martin shooting, citing documents that show an obscure agency spent thousands assisting local demonstrations.

The little-known agency, the Community Relations Service, is described by the Justice Department as their “peacemaker” for community conflicts over race.

The protests last spring over Martin’s death certainly qualified as such a conflict. But while the department claims its “peacemaker” agency does not “take sides” in such disputes, Judicial Watch said the documents and public accounts show otherwise.

“These documents detail the extraordinary intervention by the Justice Department in the pressure campaign leading to the prosecution of George Zimmerman,” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said.

The documents the group received — and has since published online — show the CRS agency filing a series of expenses incurred during the late March and early April demonstrations. Read more from this story HERE.

______________________________________________________________________

Federal Agency Involved in Protests is a Secretive Branch of the Justice Department

By Tom Topousis. A secretive branch of the U.S. Department of Justice was deployed to Sanford, Fla., in the aftermath of the Trayvon Martin shooting to help organize rallies, including one headlined by the Rev. Al Sharpton, calling for the arrest and prosecution of George Zimmerman.

Records obtained by the watchdog group Judicial Watch, under the Freedom of Information Act, showed that members of the Justice Department’s Community Relations Service were sent to Sanford in March and April of 2012 to help manage protests, The Daily Caller reported Wednesday.

The 347 pages of documents obtained from the federal government showed that $5,320 in expenses was claimed by the Community Relations Service for workers assigned to protests and marches in and around Sanford after Zimmerman was accused of shooting Martin. Read more from this story HERE.