HUNDREDS OF LOCKDOWN ‘SNITCHES’ FEAR BACKLASH AFTER NAMES, ADDRESSES PUBLISHED ONLINE

Most cases involved small business owners trying to survive amid economic disaster

Zero Hedge – MAY 4, 2020

People across the US have been using quarantine lockdown violations to snitch on others.

Sometimes, it’s a stranger, but more often than not, people are snitching on others they know – sometimes all too well.

Arguably the best single piece of reporting ever published by the now-defunct Splinter News was a piece resulting from a FOIA request on immigration ‘snitches’ – people who report the undocumented to ICE or other federal immigration authorities. Splinter found a surprising pattern of people trying to have family members – more often than not their in-laws – deported.

Now, the Independent reports that hundreds of Missouri residents have had their personal details shared online after the publication of a document that recorded reports made by people tattling on lockdown violators.

Some individuals – who asked to remain anonymous despite being named in a public Facebook group as lockdown snitches – reportedly told the Independent that they are seriously concerned about facing consequences for ‘snitching’ on coronavirus rulebreakers in St Louis County.

The people who were ratted on included mostly small business owners who were reported for flouting lockdown laws – i.e. (in many cases) simply trying to survive – by patrons, competitors and, of course, the haters.

The names and addresses of the 900 ‘snitches’ were released totally legally – via an FOIA request (any jailhouse snitch will tell you to beware the fact that there will always be a record of cooperation for constitutional reasons). They were then rounded up and posted in the Facebook group with the explicit intent of ‘naming and shaming’ them.

“I’m not only worried about COVID, I’m worried about someone showing up at my door, showing up at my workplace or me getting fired for doing what is right,” said a woman named Patricia, who was named as one of the ‘snitches.’

“When there is something that happens next time, I’m not going to feel safe or protected enough to call the local authorities.”

“We’re in a society where doing what’s right doesn’t always get rewarded,” added Patricia. “We have to be extra careful because we don’t have the strength to fight this.”

The complaints resulted in 29 businesses receiving court summons in April. Some of the snitches said they snitched on their employers for abusing them or other workers.

This might be the only incidence where snitching on your small-business tyrant boss might be acceptable, though it’s important to take into consideration the fact that sometimes good, reliable and fair people will do desperate shit to save their livelihoods.

Missouri’s St Louis County has confirmed the most cases and deaths from COVID-19 than any other part of the state. Doug Moore, the head of communications for the county executive, said the names and details of the complainants simply couldn’t be legally redacted.

Moore added that “withholding information goes against what journalists push us to be – as transparent as possible.”

Like the old saying goes: “Snitches get stitches.”

May 4, 2020 0

IN WAKE OF ASSAULTS ON TRUMP SUPPORTERS AT MN RALLY, MEDIA FRET WHETHER SOMALIS FEEL ‘WELCOME’

Whether Trump supporters were made to feel “welcome” wasn’t a question the Star Tribune felt was worth asking

Chris Menahan | Information Liberation – OCTOBER 15, 2019

A host of Trump supporters were violently assaulted by antifa mobs on Thursday night but Minnesota’s largest newspaper’s main concern is whether President Trump’s visit made Somali refugees feel “welcome.”

“Trump supporters are literally fleeing the event after it ended as protestors are waiting around attacking attendees as they leave the arena,” Blaze TV’s Elijah Schaffer commented after capturing one of the mob’s assaults on film. “It is not safe in Minneapolis any longer for Trump supporters.”

Trump supporters are literally fleeing the event after it ended as protestors are waiting around attacking attendees as they leave the arena

It is not safe in Minneapolis any longer for Trump supporters. Please stay away from the vicinity and do not come out with branded gear pic.twitter.com/BLsJbtct0k

— Elijah Schaffer (@ElijahSchaffer) October 11, 2019

Additional video showed Trump supporters being sucker-punched and spit on in the streets.

The Star Tribune chose to either brush over or ignore these assaults.

Whether Trump supporters were made to feel “welcome” wasn’t a question the Star Tribune felt was worth asking, but whether Trump made Somali refugees feel “welcome” is a question they’ve asked twice now in three days.

From the Star Tribune, Oct 12, “Somali-Minnesotans wonder about their welcome after Trump’s speech”:

By Faiza Mahamud and Jessie Van Berkel

Abubakar Abdi skipped his usual after-work stop to visit friends at the local Somali mall on Thursday, heading to his Minneapolis home instead to catch President Donald Trump’s speech.

As he watched, the 22-year-old IT specialist said he was taken aback by the loud boos at the packed campaign rally when Trump mentioned Somalis.

“As you know, for many years, leaders in Washington brought large numbers of refugees to your state from Somalia without considering the impact on schools and communities and taxpayers,” Trump said at the rally. “I promise you that as president, I would give local communities a greater say in refugee policy and put in place enhanced vetting and responsible immigration control, and I’ve done that since coming into office.”

Abdi, born and raised in Minnesota, said the president’s words and the crowd’s reaction left him wondering: “What if my former classmates were among the ones booing? What if it was my former teachers booing?”

“I didn’t know we were hated like that,” he said. “Donald Trump is one man, but what scares me is the amount of support he has.”

Minnesota is home to the nation’s largest Somali population, numbering 57,000 in the latest census, though the current number is believed to be higher. Trump’s remarks about refugee resettlement and about U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, whom he called “a disgrace to our country” during his speech, stung and angered many Somali-Minnesotans, with some using words such as “dangerous,” “disgusting,” and “racist.”

The negative portrayal of people of Somali descent is making it harder for some to go about their lives without fear […]

Try walking down the street in a Trump hat.

By Faiza Mahamud

[…] Trump’s visit also spurred anxiety and fear for many Somalis here.

The nation’s largest Muslim civil rights group and local Somali-elected leaders were sounding the alarm about the long-term implications of Trump’s visit, suggesting it could spark a fresh surge in hate crimes in Minnesota — home to the nation’s largest Somali community.

“We’re also definitely concerned about his anti-Muslim and anti-Somali language,” said Jaylani Hussein, who leads the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), which had urged Muslim-Americans to join protests Thursday.

[…] State Rep. Mohamud Noor, DFL-Minneapolis, said it’s one thing dealing with Trump’s anti-Somali slurs and his hateful posts on social media about immigrants and refugees. But his visit to Minneapolis struck fear close to home, Noor said.

[…] State Rep. Hodan Hassan, DFL-Minneapolis, said she opposed Trump’s visit, asserting that it could have negative blowback on the community.

Hassan and Noor, both Somalis, said they had been going around the community to ease people’s fears. The two now plan to hold community conversations.

“Trump, his hate and his bigotry is not welcome in Minnesota,” Hassan said. “The Somali community here is strong. We know who we are, we know we are a valuable community here and we just want to make sure everyone is safe and protected.”

To address the fear and anxiety in the community, Minnesota Somali leaders said they are working with the FBI, have hired armed security guards to patrol Somali-owned businesses and are urging people to stay vigilant, particularly Muslim women who wear a hijab.

You gotta love how they explicitly say Trump is not welcome.

The Star Tribune publishes nearly this same exact article over and over and over again (and always in the wake of Somali terrorist attacks). Meanwhile, mob assaults carried out by Somalis and antifa rioters assaulting Trump supporters in the streets barely merit a mention.

October 15, 2019 0

Sanders Mega-Donor Advocated for Southern Secession to Rid Country of ‘Dumb’ People

Jane O'Meara Sanders, the wife of Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., center left, stands with actor Danny Glover during the 2019 California Democratic Party State Organizing Convention in San Francisco, Sunday, June 2, 2019. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

By Haris Alic

A major donor who introduced 2020 Democrat presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) at his first 2020 “grassroots fund-raiser” previously advocated for the South to secede so it could stop “dumbing down national politics.”

On Saturday, Sanders’s presidential campaign hosted a star-studded event in San Francisco, which it billed as “grassroots fundraiser and friendraiser.” Tickets for attendance started at $27 and went up to $2,800, the maximum contribution allowed by the Federal Election Commission.

Although the event drew attention with its high-profile speakers, including actor Danny Glover and activist Cornel West, the man who introduced Sanders, Guy Saperstein, received little notice. In its coverage of the fundraiser, The New York Times described Saperstein as a “retired civil rights lawyer” and wealthy “political contributor,” who was out of place given Sanders’ broadsides against big money in politics.

What the Times failed to mention is that Saperstein, a former president of the Sierra Club, has a long and somewhat controversial history in Democratic politics.

As previously reported by the Washington Free Beacon, Saperstein in 2014 was a member of a private Google group consisting of “progressive organizers, reporters, and campaign apparatchiks.” As a member of that group, Saperstein openly discussed his support for Southern secession.

“For more than 100 years, the South has been dumbing down national politics, tilting the country in a conservative direction, supporting militarism, all while demanding huge financial subsidies from blue states,” Guy Saperstein wrote in emails to other members. “It would be 100% fine with me if the South was a separate nation, pursuing its own priorities and destiny.”

When the emails were leaked to Media Trackers, a now defunct Wisconsin conservative news outlet, Saperstein doubled down on his stance.

“Secession would be a gradual process, giving any blacks who felt threatened time to relocate,” he told Media Trackers at the time.

It is unclear if Sanders knew about Saperstein’s prior remarks. The senator’s campaign did not return requests for comment.

The issue, however, underscores a potential vulnerability for the self-described Democratic socialist from Vermont. During his 2016 presidential campaign, Sanders failed to gain traction in the South. Sanders lost every single state in the region to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the eventual nominee. In some states like South Carolina, where African-American voters make up a large portion of the Democratic electorate, Sanders was defeated by landslide margins.

Saperstein is also a former member of the Democracy Alliance, the secretive group of liberal billionaires—which also includes Tom Steyer and George Soros—that funds Democratic campaigns and causes across the country.

June 3, 2019 0

POYNTER ‘BLACKLIST’ OF CONSERVATIVE NEWS SITES WAS CREATED BY SPLC EMPLOYEE

List contains sites such as Free Beacon, Daily Caller, Breitbart

By Joe Schoffstall

A journalism institute released a “blacklist” of media outlets they deemed as “unreliable” that was created by an employee of the left-wing Southern Poverty Law Center and overwhelmingly contains conservative new media outlets.

The Poynter Institute for Media Studies, a Florida-based nonprofit journalism school, released the list on Wednesday and declared dozens of mainstream conservative sites such as the Washington Free Beacon, Daily Caller, Daily Signal, CNS News, and Breitbart as “unreliable” while listing few liberal sites,” Newsbusters reports.

The study notes it trimmed the list “by removing several sites whose stories, though highly politicized, were mostly not fake: alternet.org, cato.org, heritage.org, nationalreview.com, thedailybeast.com, the intercept.com, thinkprogress.org, and weeklystandard.com.”

A majority of the removed sites lean left. Of the removed conservative sites, the Heritage Foundation, a think tank – and not in itself a news site — was taken off the list. However, the Daily Signal, which is hosted by the Heritage Foundation, is included on the list. Another conservative site that was removed from the list, the Weekly Standard, was shuttered in December.

While most of the sites are labeled as “unreliable”, “fake”, or “conspiracy” – or a combination of the three — the Free Beacon is listed as “bias”, a label that prompted further review of the sites that were ultimately removed from the list upon further review and before its release.

Barrett Golding, an employee at the Southern Poverty Law Center, a far-left nonprofit embroiled in controversy over accusations of internal racism from its top management that led to its co-founder, Morris Dees, and president, Richard Cohen, being ousted from the group, created the list for Poynter.

Golding appears to have followed the SPLC “list” model in its creation of “unreliable” news sites, as many of the mainstream conservative sites on the list are thrown in with actual sites that push conspiracy theories. This mirrors the SPLC’s “hate group” list, which contains mainstream conservative organizations alongside racist organizations such as the Ku Klux Klan. The SPLC’s “hate” list, which it is perhaps best known for today, has helped the controversial — and allegedly internally racist group itself towards its black employees – to garner more than $500 million in total assets, $120 million of which is parked overseas.

“These sites stood next to conservative organizations like Alliance Defending Freedom, which represented baker Jack Phillips in the Supreme Court case Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission,” Newsbusters writes. “While the ADF is not a news site, it was likely targeted because Golding works for the SPLC. The ADF is considered a ‘hate group’ by the SPLC and is marked on the ‘hate map.’ The Washington Post even questioned SPLC’s ‘political activism’ and ‘bias.'”

“SPLC has been dropped by Twitter from its Trust and Safety Council and slammed by the mainstream media after multiple scandals rocked the organization. Its hate map even helped shooter Floyd Lee Corkins find the location of the Family Research Council, where he shot and wounded five people.”

Factcheck.org, Fake News Codex, OpenSources, and PolitiFact were also involved in the study alongside Golding.

May 3, 2019 0

TOLERANCE? NYC LGBT Center cancels ‘Walk Away’ town hall for ex-Dems who left party

VAP

MARCH 22, 2019

BY KYLE OLSON

The LGBT Center in New York City has no tolerance for gay Americans who walked away from the Democrat party.

Brandon Straka, founder of the #WalkAway campaign, had scheduled a town hall meeting at The Center next week for ex-Democrats who left the party to support President Trump or become conservatives.

The Center came under intense pressure from liberals to cancel the event, and now it has done just that. Via a statement:

Upon further review and consideration, The Center has cancelled the March 28 Walk Away event. We strongly oppose censorship and fully stand by our commitment to free speech, but as our space use policy states, we reserve the right to cancel any event that promotes discriminatory speech or bigotry; negatively impacts other groups or individuals that use The Center; or conflicts with, or interferes with, Center-sponsored or produced programming. It has become clear that this event would violate all of these important policies.

The Center blamed the panelists for the cancellation:

In recent days we have learned that certain of the panelists announced for this event have made repeated, well-documented past statements that violate our mission, values and the spirit of inclusiveness for all individuals and identities that is core to our work and who we are. Our space is a place of safety and refuge for those most vulnerable among us, and we will do everything in our power to protect that. Permitting this event to proceed would make many of our community members feel unsafe and, among other things, interfere with their ability to participate in other Center programming.

The Center said “the work to heal and rebuild trust begins today.”

Straka says he found out via Twitter.

CAP

“I am just finding out via Twitter that the @LGBTCenterNYC has bowed 2 the pressure of the lies, dishonesty, & bullying of activist leftists,” Straka responded.

“Nobody at The Center contacted me. I am finding out now as u r from this twitter post. We will be pursuing legal action 2defend our RIGHTS.”

The Center didn’t identify which panelist it couldn’t tolerate or what statements they allegedly made.

They were to include Blaire White, a trans YouTuber; Iraq War veteran Rob Smith and writer Mike Harlow, according to the group’s website.

March 22, 2019 0

DEM 2020 CANDIDATES TO ADDRESS ‘LGBTQ ISSUES’ AT SPECIAL FORUM

UCLA to host identity politics debate

Hollywood Reporter – MARCH 19, 2019

Expect to see Bernie Sanders, Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker, Beto O’Rourke — and probably Joe Biden and Pete Buttigieg — when L.A. hosts the discussion on Oct. 10.

As Beto O’Rourke throws his hat into an already crowded field — and boasts $6.1 million in donations in the first 24 hours — Democratic debate season draws ever closer.

And Los Angeles will play host for at least one of those showdowns when UCLA and the Human Rights Campaign present a forum for 2020 presidential candidates in the fall.

It will focus specifically on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues, offering candidates “an opportunity to speak about their policy platforms and plans to move LGBTQ equality forward,” according to a statement.

No media partner has yet been announced, but the forum will be televised.

The event is scheduled for Oct. 10 at Royce Hall, on the eve of National Coming Out Day, and will be held in addition to an already-announced Democratic Primary Debate that month.

Unlike that event, candidates at the UCLA/HRC forum will fully outline their platforms one at a time.

Democratic candidates can qualify for the event by receiving 1 percent or more of the vote in three separate national polls or by receiving donations from 65,000 different people in 20 different states.

According to the most recent polling data, that would mean places at the podium for Bernie Sanders, Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker, Beto O’Rourke, Amy Klobuchar and John Hickenlooper. Should he announce as expected, Joe Biden will be there, too.

But so far only one LGBT candidate has expressed an interest in running: Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana. Having reached 65,000 donors, Buttigieg has qualified for inclusion in the debates, should his exploratory run become an official one. And if that happens, expect Buttigieg to be a breakout star of the LGBTQ forum.

This is the first such HRC-hosted forum since 2007, when Barack Obama appeared alongside Hillary Clinton, John Edwards and others. Like the announced forum in October, that discussion, broadcast on Logo and attended by an LGBTQ-leaning crowd, centered around gay rights.

Twelve years has made a world of difference in that arena. Back then, a majority of candidates felt any advancements in LGBTQ rights should stop short of legalizing same-sex marriage, then only legal in Massachusetts.

Then Sen. Obama argued for a “strong version” of civil unions, saying, “My view is that we should try to disentangle what has historically been the issue of the word ‘marriage,’ which has religious connotations to some people, from the civil rights that are given to couples.”

In 2012, while campaigning for a second term in office, Obama came around to backing same-sex marriage.

Clinton, then a New York senator, took a similar stand, calling her opposition to same-sex marriage a “personal position” but insisting she believed “in equality.” She added: “How we get to full equality is the debate we’re having.”

After a decade opposing it, Clinton eventually voiced her support for same-sex marriage in 2013.

Only two long-shot candidates — Dennis Kucinich, then an Ohio congressman, and Mike Gravel, an Alaska senator from 1969 to 1981 — offered full-throated endorsements of same-sex marriage.

“When you understand what real equality is, you understand that people who love each other must have the opportunity to be able to express that in a way that’s meaningful,” Kucinich said to cheers.

Gravel, meanwhile, said the front runners were “playing it safe” and predicted same-sex marriage “will be a nonissue in the next presidential campaign in 2012.” In fact, it would remain hotly debated until the Supreme Court’s ruling on June 26, 2015, which held all state same-sex marriage bans to be unconstitutional.

LGBTQ issues were largely ignored or de-emphasized by Donald Trump in his 2016 presidential campaign — though Trump did make history by becoming the first Republican presidential nominee to mention LGBTQ rights in his acceptance speech.

Earlier that same year, however, after meeting with the anti-LGBTQ conservative think tank the Heritage Foundation, Trump voiced opposition to same-sex marriage and pledged to appoint justices to the Supreme Court who would reverse the “shocking” Obergefell v. Hodges decision that legalized it.

Since taking office, Trump — who chose Mike Pence, a strident opponent of civil liberties for LGBTQ citizens, as his vice president — is widely seen as having significantly set back LGBTQ rights and advancements in the U.S.

His administration has rolled back workplace protections for LGBTQ workers, scrapped census plans to study the LGBT population, eliminated AIDS research and treatment funding from the federal budget, and announced a ban on transgender personnel in the armed forces.

“Millions of LGBTQ people will have their rights on the ballot in 2020,” HRC president Chad Griffin said in a statement announcing the planned fall forum. “But today we are also a powerful voting bloc that will help determine the outcome. We’re excited to partner with UCLA Luskin and create an opportunity to hear candidates’ agendas for moving equality forward.”

March 19, 2019 0

Illegal Immigrant Demands Change to the Pledge of Allegiance in Hill Op-Ed

By Richard Moorhead

“I pledge allegiance, to the flag, of the United States of America- one nation, invisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

American kids accustomed to beginning their days at school with a recitation of the timeless Pledge of Allegiance may soon have to adapt to some changes, if an illegal immigrant dissatisfied with its content get his way.

Cesar Vargas, an illegal immigrant who has become a practicing attorney in spite of his legal status, authored an op-ed in The Hill on Tuesday calling for the nearly 150-year old pledge to be altered, as apparently it failed to suit his political preferences.

The original pledge was a creation of former Union Army officer George Thatcher Balch, who created it as a means to popularize American patriotism in New York City schools, which were at the time tasked with educating and assimilating the children of many recent Irish and Italian immigrants.

According to Vargas, the pledge is a product of “the fear of a white native-born Protestant culture,” and must “updated” so that it “takes pride in our immigrant heritage and the equality of all Americans.”

The central contraction of the pledge of allegiance to the United States being something that belonged to Americans- not foreign nationals like Vargas- seemed to escape the author throughout the op-ed, treating a venerated tradition of the United States as something which he had the right to impose upon.

An “upgraded” version of the pledge was floated later in the piece:

“I pledge allegiance and love to our indigenous and immigrant heritage, rooted in the United States of America, to our civil rights for which we strive, one voice, one nation, for equality and justice for all.”

Truly touching. Now, instead of pledging allegiance to their country, Americans have the chance to make a daily affirmation in support of immigration, should Vargas get his way.

Vargas is also a leading pro-amnesty and illegal immigration advocate, serving as the leader of the Dream Action Coalition.

January 24, 2019 0