Elizabeth Warren shares in blame for suspect's alleged $500 bounty on ICE agents, Republican says

Just hours after a Massachusetts man was arrested for allegedly offering $500 bounties for killing ICE agents, a Republican candidate for a U.S. Senate seat in the state said his Democratic opponent shared in the blame.
GOP candidate Geoff Diehl demanded Thursday that incumbent U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren “both retract and apologize” for the criticism that he said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel have taken from her and other Democrats in recent months, the Boston Herald reported.
“We now have a man putting a bounty on the heads of ICE agents,” Diehl said in a statement. “Senator Warren’s irresponsible statements are partially to blame. She has a responsibility to support our law enforcement officials. Her call to abolish ICE and painting the entire criminal justice system racists are reckless and dangerous.”

"Senator Warren ... has a responsibility to support our law enforcement officials. Her call to abolish ICE and painting the entire criminal justice system racists are reckless and dangerous.”
- Geoff Diehl, Republican U.S. Senate candidate in Massachusetts

The suspect, identified as Brandon Ziobrowski, 33, of Cambridge, Mass., was arrested Thursday in New York, charged with one count of use of interstate and foreign commerce to transmit a threat and injure another person.
MASSACHUSETTS MAN SOLICITED KILLING ICE AGENTS FOR $500, TWEETED DESIRE TO SLIT THROAT OF McCAIN, FEDS SAY
On July 2, Ziobrowski allegedly tweeted: “I am broke but will scrounge and literally give $500 to anyone who kills ICE agent. @me seriously who else can pledge get in on this lets make this work.”
Federal officials also said Ziabrowski had tweeted a desire to slit the throat of U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.
“He appears to be very much against ICE and its mission. He appears to have a violent dislike for at least one Republican senator and law enforcement," U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling said at a news conference announcing Ziabrowski’s arrest.
Diehl, meanwhile, suggested that Warren, too, seemed opposed to ICE and its mission.
“We need a Senator who will support our police and not throw (ICE) under the bus to score political points,” Diehl’s statement continued. “Warren should be putting public safety first. Instead she is prioritizing her White House political ambitions to the detriment of law enforcement.”
Speaking at a rally in Boston on June 30, Warren slammed President Trump’s immigration policies, saying “we need to rebuild our immigration system from top to bottom, starting by replacing ICE with something that reflects our morality and that works.”
Other top Democrats who’ve called for ICE to be abolished include U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, former Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders of Vermont and congressional candidate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York.
DEMOCRATS CALLING FOR ICE TO BE ABOLISHED INCLUDE KIRSTEN GILLIBRAND, ELIZABETH WARREN, OTHERS
But in a response to Diehl’s comments, Warren’s office told the Herald that the senator opposes any form of violence against law enforcement officers.
“We can have respectful discussions and civil discourse on policy while working together to improve lives,” the senator’s office said in a statement.
Diehl, 49, currently serves in the Massachusetts House of Representatives, representing the 7^th Plymouth District.
Warren, 69, has served in the U.S. Senate since 2013.

Why I stopped watching football.

NFL preseason sees kneeling, raised fists, during national anthem

Miami Dolphins defensive end Robert Quinn (94) raises his right fist during the singing of the national anthem, before the team's NFL preseason football game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Thursday, Aug. 9, 2018, in Miami Gardens, Fla.  (Associated Press)

NFL players continued to protest during the national anthem on Thursday night as the league began the first full week of its 2018 preseason.
Some players held their fists in the air, while others decided to kneel, despite the controversy surrounding the action.
Wide receivers Kenny Stills and Albert Wilson, both of the Miami Dolphins, knelt during "The Star-Spangled Banner," ahead of their game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Miami Herald reported.
Robert Quinn, a defensive end for the Dolphins, raised his fist. Philadelphia Eagles Malcolm Jenkins, who plays safety, and De'Vante Bausby, a cornerback, also raised their fists prior to a game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Defensive end Michael Bennett walked out of the tunnel as the anthem played and "spent the anthem walking toward the bench," the news outlet reported. Teammate Chris Long reportedly "placed his arm around Jenkins' shoulder" during the song.
The NFL released a statement on the preseason protests.
“The NFL has been engaged in constructive discussions with the NFL Players Association regarding the anthem and issues of equality and social justice that are of concern to many Americans,” the statement said. “While those discussions continue, the NFL has agreed to delay implementing or enforcing any club work rules that could result in players being disciplined for their conduct during the performance of the anthem.”
The statement went on to say that the league's national anthem policy remained unchanged: it will continue to be played before each game, and all players and team staff on the field are expected to stand for the flag and the anthem. Those who choose not to stand must remain in the locker rooms.
“We remain committed to working with the players to identify solutions and to continue making progress on important social issues affecting our communities,” the statement concluded.

Wide receivers Kenny Stills and Albert Wilson, both of the Miami Dolphins, kneeled during The Star-Spangled Banner, ahead of their game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Thursday night.  (Associated Press)

Across the NFL, players followed former 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick in kneeling during the national anthem last season in protest of social injustice and racial inequality.
It sparked a national discussion about patriotism, and drew sharp vitriol from President Trump, who condemned those who knelt as disrespectful to America.
Trump in June uninvited the Eagles from visiting the White House in honor of their Super Bowl win months earlier. He said the team didn't agree with his belief that NFL players should stand during the anthem.
The NFL modified its national anthem protocol in May, prohibiting any sort of demonstrations for the 2018 season, but allowing players to remain in the locker room during the anthem if they chose to. Individual teams would be responsible for disciplining any demonstrators.
The players' union filed a grievance about the policy change, and late last month, the new policy was put on hold while the NFL and NFL Players Association work on a resolution.
Following Stills and Wilson's reported protests Thursday, Kaepernick tweeted: "My brother @kstills continued his protest of systemic oppression tonight by taking a knee. Albert Wilson @iThinkIsee12 joined him in protest. Stay strong brothers!"

 

Kamala Harris Cartoons

Tammy Bruce: The left's 'identity politics' hypocrisy

Sen. Kamala Harris

Courtesy of California Sen. Kamala Harris, we now have a bit of a hint of the new approach we can expect by the progressives who now control the Democratic Party — focus on identity politics but don’t call it that.
In other words, they will recycle the age-old leftist approach of lying to voters about who they are while vowing to punish those who dare to expose them.
All of this became clear at last week’s “Netroots Nation” political activism conference, which CNN described as “The three-day gathering of thousands of progressive activists amounted to a rejection of warnings from the Democratic establishment that their calls for single-payer health care, abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency and other progressive priorities would alienate moderate and Republican voters who are otherwise inclined to vote against Trump — both in November’s midterm elections and in the 2020 presidential primary.”
When you’ve lost CNN …
Ms. Harris, widely believed to be eyeing a presidential run, is doing what good progressives do — she engaged in promoting identity politics at the conference, and then told everyone that the phrase “identity politics” was a pejorative.
“Now, I am aware that some people would say that what I just said is plain ‘identity politics.’ But, I have a problem, guys, with that phrase, ‘identity politics.’ ‘Cause let’s be clear, when people say that, it’s a pejorative. That phrase is used to divide and it is used to distract …,” Breitbart reported.
As a friend of mine noted, Ms. Harris‘ new approach is to insist that identity politics doesn’t divide us, but calling it identity politics does.
Ms. Harris‘ rhetoric is important as it reveals that she and her likely mentor, former President Barack Obama, have realized the American people have rejected the disaster of liberalism, which relies on dividing and conquering. They, however, remain committed to the disaster their philosophy delivers, but they don’t care; their work remains to obfuscate and punish those who challenge them.
Rising Democratic party star, democratic socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, most famous for not understanding economics, the southern border, or the Israeli-Palestinian issue, was even more blunt about the truth of the new Democratic agenda. About the importance of identity politics she told the Netroots crowd: “We can say that a Muslim man can be the first governor … the first Muslim governor, in this country, in the Midwest. And we don’t have to be afraid of some other that won’t vote for us, because we know that 10 years ago they voted for Barack Hussein Obama.”
No doubt some progressives like Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, believe they’re standing up for people to no longer be consigned to the margins, to finally be recognized as whole people and worthy of recognition. Yet their rhetoric relies on subjecting their perceived opponents to the very “otherness” they say they’re fighting.
There were also no actual policy prescriptions at the conference. Promising “free” stuff to everyone — free health care, free education — abolishing ICE and immigration laws, aren’t policies. They’re empty prescriptions for disaster and chaos.
We can look to the 20th century for the result of so-called leaders who promise absurd things for votes, but it’s best to just look south to Venezuela for today’s example of the cancer of so-called progressive governance.
Oh sure, there’s complete equality in medical care — no one has any. And there’s food for all, but Venezuelans have also found that you can eat your neighbor’s dog only once, and the zoo eventually runs out of animals.
For Hillary Clinton, relying on identity politics didn’t. It also reminds us that “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me” remains relevant. After eight years of Mr. Obama’s economic and foreign policy disasters, being fooled twice was rejected by the American people.
In fact, a new survey from Independent Women’s Voice found when asked if someone will support a candidate because of their sex, 83 percent say gender makes no difference, and only 10 percent will support a female because she is a woman.
That’s good news. While much has been written about the need for more women in government, something worth applauding, it is encouraging that the American voter is rejecting identity politics. This further explains Ms. Harris‘ (and watch Mr. Obama to echo this) effort to ban the phrase but not the action.
As Americans we love underdogs, disruption, and breaking new ground. If the Obama years reminded us of anything, it’s that policy matters, for the country and for our families. Democrats are going to find that out, again, in the midterms, as Americans vote for real policies that improve peoples lives, not for a return to identity politics, contrived divisions and perpetual outrage.
This column originally appeared in The Washington Times.
Tammy Bruce, president of Independent Women’s Voice, is a radio talk-show host, New York Times best-selling author and Fox News political contributor.

ICE employee continued posting pro-Clinton messages despite warnings, Office of Special Counsel says

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrest foreign nationals during a targeted enforcement operation, Feb. 7, 2017.  (Associated Press)

An employee of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agreed to resign this week after admitting she posted more than 100 social media messages during work hours or on agency property in 2016, urging people to vote for Hillary Clinton.
The disclosure came in a news release from the U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC).
The agreement between the employee and the OSC includes a five-year ban from working in the federal government, the statement said.
The posts were considered a violation of the federal Hatch Act, which prohibits most government employees from engaging in most political activities while on duty, the release said.
The woman continued the behavior despite being approached by ethics watchdogs, the OSC said.
“When a federal employee emphatically and repeatedly engages in political activity while on duty or in the workplace, OSC takes that very seriously,” Special Counsel Henry J. Kerner said. “This employee thumbed her nose at the law and engaged in vocal partisan politics both with her colleagues and on social media.

“This employee thumbed her nose at the law and engaged in vocal partisan politics both with her colleagues and on social media."
- Special Counsel Henry J. Kerner

“Considering her knowledge of the Hatch Act and continuing disregard for the law, this employee’s resignation and debarment from federal service are proportionate disciplinary actions. This case serves as an important reminder that federal employees must be mindful of the Hatch Act’s prohibitions, especially given the upcoming midterm elections.”
Most federal employees are allowed to engage in political activities during their personal time.

Hotly contested Ohio race gets closer after hundreds of uncounted votes are found

President Trump's endorsements may give close victories to Ohio House candidate Troy Balderson and Kansas gubernatorial hopeful Kris Kobach; Kristin Fisher reports on the election results.
The nail-biter playing out in Ohio’s 12th Congressional District got even closer Wednesday after 588 uncounted votes were found in a suburb of Columbus, according to county officials.
The ballots were tallied and Democrat Danny O’Connor gained 190 votes on Republican Troy Balderson. The GOP candidate, who was endorsed by President Trump, currently leads by 1,564 votes.
The Franklin County Board of Elections said in a news release that the newly discovered ballots had not been “processed into the tabulation system,” and the issue was corrected.
O’Connor, who is from Franklin County, celebrated the news by tweeting red sirens and informing his followers that he is confident he will soon be declared the winner. He asked for donations to continue to fight that the votes are “counted fairly.”
The Cincinnati Enquirer reported that 3,435 provisional ballots and 5,048 absentee ballots will be counted Aug. 18, ahead of an Aug. 24 deadline. Ohio requires a recount if a candidate wins by less than half a percentage point.
The winner takes the U.S. House seat previously held by Republican Pat Tiberi, who resigned in January.
The early results were considered a major win by Republicans who insist November’s “blue wave” will turn out to be a ripple.
Democrats, who appeared to come up just shy in another special election, considered O’Connor’s turnout a victory in itself. They point to the fact Trump won the district by 11 percentage points in 2016. The district has had a Republican representative for the last three decades.
"It's one more piece of evidence amidst a lot of others that this is a good environment for Democrats, and it provides some opportunities to the party in the fall," Kyle Kondik, managing editor of Sabato's Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia Center for Politics, told the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
Trump claimed credit for his late push to give Balderson the slight edge, but Gov. John Kasich also backed the candidate who is running for his old seat.
Balderson, a state senator, and O’Connor, the Franklin County recorder, want to complete the term of a Republican who retired in January. The race tests voter sentiment before the general election in November, when Balderson and O’Connor will battle again for the full two-year term.
Balderson celebrated his victory late Tuesday night and told supporters that he’s ready to get to work in Congress. He says, “America is on the right path and we’re going to keep it going that way.”

Michael Goodwin: Why it's time for Trump to play his ace in the hole

U.S. President Donald Trump boards Air Force One in Morristown, New Jersey, U.S. July 29, 2018. REUTERS/Eric Thayer TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY - RC14CA639A30

You return from a great vacation and POW — reality hits like a punch in the nose. And that’s not counting the hassle of New York airports and traffic.
The pain begins when you remember that the hapless Jeff Sessions is still the attorney general of the United States. It sharpens with the realization that Rod Rosenstein, officially Sessions’ deputy but really the boss of the Justice Department and FBI, continues to get away with the biggest partisan heist of modern times.
Rosenstein is guilty of three main sins. One, he gives his spawn, special counsel Robert Mueller, virtually unlimited time, scope and budget to target anybody who worked for President Trump’s campaign or administration. As the ongoing trial of Paul Manafort illustrates, the tactic involves throwing the kitchen sink of charges with the aim of terrifying defendants so they will be more inclined to spill any possible beans on Trump in exchange for leniency.
The zealous approach — and exorbitant legal fees involved for defendants or witnesses — serve as deterrents for anyone who might consider public service. And although there is still no indication the president did anything wrong, the search for a crime to pin on him creates a cloud over everything he does and could influence the midterm elections.

Sarah Jeong New York Times Cartoons

Kansas GOP governor primary too close to call; Kobach, Colyer send supporters home

Hours after the polls closed in Kansas on Tuesday night, the state was still awaiting the results of the GOP primary nomination in the heated race between Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach and incumbent Gov. Jeff Colyer.
So both candidates decided to send their supporters home for the night.
The race was still too close to call and results were still trickling in from the state's most populous county in the Kansas City area — where Colyer initially was leading.
The Kobach-Colyer race was considered a key test of whether President Trump's late endorsement would prove decisive for Kobach.
Trump on Monday endorsed Kobach with a Twitter message of support, calling him a "fantastic guy" who would "be a GREAT Governor."
The current governor - who took on his role in January after Gov. Sam Brownback left state politics to join the Trump administration - raised more money than Kobach, received the National Rifle Association's endorsement, committed to his pro-life views and earned support from Kansas political legend Bob Dole.
An early supporter of Trump's candidacy and the former chair of the president's now-shut down federal commission on voter fraud, Kobach is best-known nationally for his hardline stance on illegal immigration and for advising the Trump administration on immigration, non-citizen voter registration and the 2020 Census.

State Sen. Laura Kelly

The state's Democratic nomination went to State Sen. Laura Kelly, who defeated four other candidates in the primary. The 68-year-old has served 14 years in the Kansas Senate and is the top Democrat on the budget committee.

Trump-backed Shuette wins GOP nod for governor in Michigan

Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette, a Republican candidate for governor, speaks during a campaign stop in Lansing, Mich., July 31, 2018.  (Associated Press)

State Attorney General Bill Schuette won the Republican nomination for governor of Michigan on Tuesday night, defeating three other candidates vying to fill the seat to be vacated by conservative Gov. Rick Snyder.
Schuette was endorsed by President Trump, who tweeted his congratulations to Schuette following the victory.
"Congratulations to Bill Schuette. You will have a Big win in November and be a tremendous Governor for the Great State of Michigan. Lots of car and other companies moving back!" the president wrote.
As for the Democratic primary, Gretchen Whitmer, a former legislative leader, won the party's nomination in the gubernatorial race.
She earned the nomination by defeating Shri Thanedar, a chemical-testing businessman, and Abdul El-Sayed, an ex-Detroit health director who was vying to become the country's first Muslim governor.