Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) turned down an offer to tour a Housing and Urban Development (HUD) facility in Baltimore with HUD Secretary Ben Carson on Wednesday.
The agency extended an invitation on Tuesday but Cummings turned down the request.
When reporters asked Carson about why Cummings was not present at a press conference, he responded Cummings may have been absent due to a scheduling conflict but did not elaborate on why he skipped the tour.
Carson visited the Baltimore facility soon after a series of weekend tweets from President Donald Trump criticized Cummings for being a “brutal bully,”alleging his district was in disrepair because of his lack of oversight.
Cummings fired back, reportedly blaming racism and Trump for Baltimore’s problems.
While critics have called Trump’s remarks “racist,” not many people have been able to counter Trump’s claims about Baltimore’s corruption, high-murder rate, and rat problems.
President Trump: "Baltimore's been very badly mishandled for many years…Baltimore is an example of what corrupt government leads to…If they ask me, we will get involved."
“The government has been pumping billions of dollars to no avail. Baltimore is an example of what corrupt government leads to. … I feel so sorry for the people of Baltimore, if they ask me we will get involved,” Trump told a crowd of reporters Tuesday.
The PRIDE Act will give new handouts to homosexual couples.
By Shane Trejo
Last week, Democrats in the U.S. Houseapprovedthe PRIDE (Promoting Respect for Individuals’ Dignity and Equality) Act by a voice vote, unanimously rubber-stamping what is tantamount to reparations for homosexual couples.
The PRIDE Actamends the federal tax code to remove gender-specific language such as “husband” and “wife” that may be offensive to those practicing the LGBT lifestyle. It also allows LGBT members to claim tax benefits that they were denied before the Defense of Marriage Actwas unilaterally struck down by the robed lawyers on the Supreme Court in 2013.
The Joint Committee on Taxation estimates that this new LGBT give-away could cost the taxpayers as much as $67 million. The Democrats are patting themselves on the back for pushing another handout.
“In passing the PRIDE Act, Democrats are honoring our diversity and providing long-overdue justice to countless same-sex couples across the country who have been denied critical tax refunds because of who they are and who they love,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said.
Sen. Elizabeth ‘Pocahontas’ Warren (D-MA) is the lead sponsor for the Senate’s version of the PRIDE Act. This could be seen as an attempt on her part to buy votes as she campaigns for the Democratic Party’s nomination for the presidency in 2020.
“The federal government forced legally married same-sex couples in Massachusetts to file as individuals and pay more in taxes for almost a decade,” Warren said in a public statement. “We need to call out that discrimination and to make it right — Congress should pass the Refund Equality Act immediately.”
Fox News contributor Tammy Bruce noted in a column that the PRIDE Act opens the door to create more welfare schemes for the LGBT community. She called out Pocahontas in particular for her shameless pandering.
“What Ms. Warren doesn’t mention to people is the IRS already allows everyone to amend the last three years of returns,” wrote Bruce, who is a gay conservative herself.
“Instead, she wants couples to be able to amend their tax returns for the entire time they were married in one of the 10 states allowing gay marriage prior to federal recognition,” Bruce added.
Bruce gave an example of how the policy could be expanded in the future by Democrats who are always inventing new schemes to paper over their victim-group constituencies.
“But why stop there? What about all the gays and lesbians who never had a chance to marry at all because of the Clinton administration’s Defense of Marriage Act?” Bruce asked.
“That has to be asked because this has nothing to do with tax fairness and everything to do with reinforcing the politics of resentment and victimhood,” Bruce argued.
“For the Democratic Party machine, however, there can never be success, there always has to be a new appended wrong or violation, some new campaign to convince you that victimhood will never end, and you must always resent, well, everyone,” she added.
It is unlikely that the PRIDE Act will be passed, or even considered, by the Republican-led Senate.
A North Carolina gun shop is facing liberal backlash for using a promotional billboard to mock the four freshmen congresswomen known as “The Squad.”
The advertisement for Cherokee Guns shows Democrat Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.), Ilhan Omar (Minn.), Rashida Tlaib (Mich.), and Ayanna Pressley (Mass.), with the message “The Four Horsemen Cometh (are Idiots).
“Signed, the Deplorables,” it says.
The display was criticized Monday by far-left group Coalition to Stop Gun Violence (CSGV), who called it “disgusting anti-government violent rhetoric.”
“Threats against members of Congress, particularly minority members are (rising) and it is driven by the president’s racial rhetoric,” said the coalition in a Facebook post.
Pressley – the “Ringo” of the Squad – also took to Twitter to condemn the humorous billboard, calling on Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) to take action against the gun shop.
“#Racist rhetoric from the occupant of the @WhiteHouse has made hate our new normal. We are still vulnerable. @RepMarkMeadows – Cherokee Guns is in your district & you and I serve on a committee together. Here’s your chance to finally do the right thing,” Pressley tweeted Tuesday.
Pressley’s criticism is rich given Antifa firebombed an ICE facility two weeks after she stood outside a similar facility warning the left “will bring the fire.”
However, Cherokee Guns doubled down in the face of the liberal outrage, announcing they would start giving away bumper sticker versions of the 4 Horsemen ad.
“Alright my fellow Infidels for Trump…due to OVERWHELMING demand…you may come by the shop (next week) and get your very own FOUR HORSEMEN COMETH STICKER…simple…eat a piece of bacon…tell us you’re voting for Trump in 2020…then get your limited edition bumper sticker!! (While supplies last!) Snowflakes and Liberals are not eligible…sorry…”the gun shop said on Facebook.
When contacted by a reporter, a Cherokee Guns employee explained how to deal with “threatening liberals” should they decide to get confrontational.
“Show them the door, or your gun, and tell them they can buy their own billboard and pay for it like I did,” the staff member reportedly said.
“The ‘Squad’ is a very Racist group of troublemakers who are young, inexperienced, and not very smart,”Trump tweeted last week.
“They are pulling the once great Democrat Party far left, and were against humanitarian aid at the Border…And are now against ICE and Homeland Security. So bad for our Country!”
The first night of the second 2019 Democratic debate on CNN had some wild moments.
We’re not going to bother with the moments the candidates or the CNN audience liked.
We want to point out some of the crazier moments that will probably be overlooked by the media.
Here are five examples.
5. Marianne Williamson
While talking about Democrats taking corporate donations, Williamson invoked a joke from Seinfeld and suggested that voters are going to “yadda, yadda, yadda, right over them. Watch:
Marianne Williamson: "For politicians… who themselves have taken tens of thousands & in some cases, hundreds of thousands of dollars from these same corporate donors… I don't think the Democratic Party should be surprised that so many Americans believe yada, yada, yada." pic.twitter.com/50qlTYVB1j
When the subject of the minimum wage came up, Pete Buttigieg, who frequently implies that he is more Christian than anyone else, suggested that you are not a decent Christian if you don’t support raising the minimum wage. Watch:
CNNhost Don Lemon was included as a moderator in this debate for some reason. He is not a journalist, he is an opinion guy and he absolutely hates Trump. He made that crystal clear with this question. Note the wording:
This is a real question CNN "journalist" Don Lemon asked tonight at the #DemDebate:
"What do you say to those Trump voters who prioritize the economy over the president's bigotry?"
John King, another CNN host, said something factual in his post-debate analysis. He suggested that this field of candidates is further left than any Democrat who has ever won the presidency, including Obama. Watch:
John King of @CNN calls Democrats in the 2020 race "way to the left of the last Democrat who won, Barack Obama, way way to the left of Bill Clinton" and says they’re further left than Democrats running for President have been in our lifetime. #DemDebatepic.twitter.com/99ee2rms74
When asked a direct question about whether her healthcare plans would raise taxes on the middle class, Warren refused to give a straight answer. What a surprise. Watch:
Elizabeth Warren refuses to answer whether she backs middle class tax hikes for government health care takeover. #DemDebatepic.twitter.com/WvrV4L9aYB
President Trump has been labeled a racist for using the word “infested” to describe Baltimore’s rat problem, but Elijah Cummings used the exact same word to describe the city back in 1999.
As the video below highlights, CNNslammed Trump for using the word “infested” to describe Baltimore, suggesting that the president was dehumanizing black people.
However, during 1999 testimony, Elijah Cummings referred to his own district as a “drug infested area.
I guess Elijah Cummings is racist too.
As we previously highlighted, Bernie Sanders also claimed Trump was “attacking” an American city by calling Baltimore rat infested yet Sanders himself repeatedly said the place resembled a “third world country” back in 2015.
Meanwhile, Benny Johnson visited residents in Rep. Cummings district to find out what life is really like there.
Common themes; Rats, trash, crime, corrupt politicians.
We are in a political firestorm over the condition of Baltimore. So what is life really like there? I spoke with residents in Rep. Cummings district. Here's what they had to say: Rats. Trash. Crime. Abandoned by politicians. Begging for change. Want the truth? Please WATCH @TPUSApic.twitter.com/rkHwwHc1kf
The expansion of home tech products to make life increasingly convenient requires consumer privacy sacrifices, the full extent of which won’t be revealed for years to come, but have been hinted at through a slew of missteps.
This past week Amazon hit headlines after its virtual assistant Alexa was caught passively recording couples arguing, having intimate family discussions and even having sex (apparently sex noises can trigger Alexa-activated Echo speakers).
Data is the new dominant commodity of the 21st century and the trade-off of convenience for privacy and security has been highlighted in a plethora of cases involving consumer ‘smart products’ in recent years.
Amazon Echo as murder witness?
Take the November 2015 case of James Bates, who was suspected of the murder of his friend Victor Collins at a house party in his home. Police issued multiple search warrants to Amazon in the landmark case, in an attempt to gain access to the records of Bates’ Echo device.
“I have a problem that a Christmas gift that is supposed to better your life can be used against you,”Bates’s attorney, Kimberly Weber, said at the time. Eventually, Bates himself decided to turn over the data, foregoing his right to privacy in the interest of proving his innocence and clearing his name.
Much like Amazon, Apple has been found surreptitiously recording users’ sexual encounters, drug deals and medical appointments, though more worryingly, these audio recordings were sent to human ‘graders’ for evaluation, according to recent, explosive revelations from a whistleblower.
Apple’s virtual assistant Siri stores users’ identifiable utterances for up to six months, before removing the unique user ID information and storing the clips elsewhere for up to two years – in the interest of improved customer experience, of course.
Google Mini & passive spying
Google’s domestic virtual assistant Google Mini has also been caught passively spying on consumers in their own homes. Worryingly, however, Google employs hundreds of so-called “language experts” to parse snippets of audio, some of which contain embarrassing or sensitive information, to better understand the nuances of human language.
In 2017, writer Artem Russakovskii went to the product’s unveiling at the SFJazz Center in San Francisco. After a couple of days he checked his voice activity log to find thousands of inadvertent entries that should never have been logged; the device had been spying on him 24/7 due to an apparent ‘hardware flaw’, as the company claimed at the time.
Hacking tech teddies
The idea for a teddy bear that allowed parents and children to share affection when long distances apart was good in theory, but ultimately proved terrifying in practice.
Through Cloudpets (and various other interpretations of the idea), children could record short messages for loved ones far away that would be transmitted via bluetooth to a nearby smartphone and beamed across the country or, indeed, the world.
Alas, it didn’t take long before data belonging to some 800,000 customers, totalling roughly two million messages between children and adults, which were stored in an online database, was hacked and held for ransom.
There was no encryption or authentication between the bluetooth devices in the stuffed animals and the smartphone app, meaning unscrupulous actors could invade people’s most heartfelt moments with their children.
Backdoor Barbie
Mattel’s ‘Hello Barbie’ was billed as the world’s first “interactive doll”complete with a microphone that records children and sends the messages to third parties for processing before a response is generated.
However, security researchers quickly discovered that the wifi-connected doll was vulnerable to hacking, and those with the relevant knowhow could access the doll’s system information, account information, stored data including audio files, and the doll’s built-in microphone.
Researcher Matt Jakubowski claimed that it was “just a matter of time until we are able to replace their servers with ours and have her say anything we want.”
But the ghoulish details didn’t stop there; hackers could theoretically take over a home’s wifi network via the doll and gain access to other connected devices such as laptops and phones, allowing them to pilfer a wealth of personal and financial information.
High-tech takeover
White hat hacking work by a team of researchers at China’s Zhejiang University showed how inaudible “commands” could be used to remotely trigger a potential victim’s smart device. The team used various clever strategies, including playing frequencies above 20kHz as the victim was recording, rendering the inaudible frequency as a trigger to access the device.
The researchers managed to hack the voice interfaces of Amazon, Apple, Google, Microsoft and Samsung devices and command them to, for example, visit specific malicious websites or even send emails and text messages all while dimming the screen and lowering the device volume to conceal the attack, leaving the victim completely unaware.
The team even managed to remotely place phone and video calls to listen in and observe the victim’s surroundings. They infamously also managed to hack the navigation system of an Audi SUV.
Baltimore Mayor Bernard “Jack” Young (D) said Monday that President Donald Trump should send federal assistance to the troubled Maryland city instead of criticizing its management — though the mayor’s budget is already spending $66 million in federal grants this year alone.
“If he really wants to, he needs to send us the federal assistance — not only to Baltimore, to cities around this country that are in the same situation that Baltimore is in — but he’s so interested in childish tweets,” Young (pictured) said in an interview with CNN New Dayco-host John Berman.
Young’s remarks follow a string of fierce criticisms from President Donald Trump directed at Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD), whose district encompasses Baltimore. Over the weekend, the president blasted the 13-term congressman for the Maryland city’s worsening conditions, calling it a “disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess” and a “very dangerous & filthy place.” He also said conditions in the city are “far worse” and than those at the U.S.-Mexico border detention centers.
“I mean, if you want to help us, help us. Don’t talk about it, send the resources we need to rebuild America,” Young stated. “He’s talking about he wants to ‘make American great again.’ Put the money in the cities that need it the most and that way you can make America great again.”
According to the official copy of the city’s Fiscal Year 2019 budget, Baltimore is already spending “$66.3 million in federal grants,” and its “federal fund operating appropriation is budgeted at $165.9 million.”
“In Fiscal 2019… the Federal government is providing a combined $30 million for the renovation of City streets, highways, and traffic engineering projects,” the document reads on page 185.
Several line items of “Federal Fund Appropriation” include $1 million for “general services,”$2.38 million for “Youth Violence Prevention,” $8.77 million for “Housing and Community Development,” and a whopping $29.19 million for “HIV Treatment Services for the Uninsured.”
The city’s budget was finalized under former mayor Catherine Pugh, who resigned just months ago amid a scandal alleging “self-dealing” arrangements, where entities seeking to do business with the city reportedly bought thousands of copies of a children’s book by Pugh to boost its sales numbers. Young, who was city council president at the time of her resignation, became acting mayor and will potentially face his first election for the position in 2020.
If President Trump were to send federal assistance to Baltimore, he would not be the first president to do so in the last decade. In 2009, Baltimore received $1.8 billion from then-President Barack Obama’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) — however — the Democrat-controlled city has yet to see its fortunes turn around despite the massive investment.
As the Washington Free Beacon reported, the Obama administration allocated $1.8 billion of its 2009 stimulus to Baltimore. Of the investment, $26.5 million was aimed at crime prevention, $26 million to revitalize vacant buildings, and $9.5 million to tackle homelessness.
Despite receiving considerable aid, violence continues to plague Baltimore with homicides on track to pass 300 for the fifth consecutive year. A Breitbart News analysis of 2018 homicide rates shows Baltimore’s homicide rate, which stands at 51 per 100,000 residents, was, in fact, “higher than Honduras and nearly the same as in El Salvador.”
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