Patriot Prayer rally in Portland turns bloody; American flag saved from flames

Joey Gibson, left, leader of Patriot Prayer, heads a previous rally in Portland, Ore., June 30, 2018.

Members of opposing groups violently clashed in downtown Portland, Ore., on Saturday night during an event that was billed as a march for “law and order.”

Participants with the conservative Patriot Prayer group and counter-demonstrators with Antifa got into a bloody melee outside a popular bar where members on both sides used bear spray, fists and batons to beat each other, the Oregonian reported.

Police fired pepper balls and other non-lethal impact munitions to break up the brawls and there were no immediate reports of arrests. Earlier in the evening, police reported seeing participants from both groups with hard-knuckle gloves, knives and firearms.
No weapons were reported seized. Authorities said four people received medical attention, but it was not known if any were taken to a hospital.
The two groups have clashed in the city before.
The march, dubbed “Flash March for Law and Oder in PDX,” was organized by Patriot Prayer leader Joey Gibson in response to Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler’s oversight of the city’s police department. (PDX is the abbreviation for Portland International Airport that is sometimes used as shorthand for the city as well.)
The Patriot Prayer group gathered around 6 p.m. near Pioneer Courthouse Square and marched through downtown holding a sign that read “Replace PDX Mayor!”
The violence erupted after Gibson and about three dozen people waving American flags and reciting patriotic chants walked toward a street memorial for Patrick Kimmons, 27, a black man who was fatally shot by Portland police last month.
At the vigil, they were met by counter-protesters chanting “Black Lives Matter.” The fighting broke out 20 minutes later.
Video posted online shows a protester at one point lighting an American flag on fire. Seconds later someone snatches the flag and puts the flames out.
Saturday’s violence unfolded amid a series of clashes between rival political factions that have gained national attention.
Gibson called for the Saturday march in response to an Oct. 6 incident in which a 74-year-old driver clashed with a group that was protesting police brutality. The police department came under scrutiny for what critics saw as a hands-off approach to the event.
“This isn't political, it's just wrong,” a post on the event’s Facebook page reads. “It's a lack of respect for not only the law but just other humans.”
In a video of the incident that went viral, marchers are seen blocking traffic and directing traffic when the motorist drives through a group of marchers and then speeds off. Some protesters catch up to him and begin pounding on the car before the driver leaves.
The driver later said he meant no harm, he just wanted to get away from the protest, Fox News reported.

Doug Schoen: Hillary and Holder hurting Democrats with their amazing and disgusting comments

As Democrats campaign for the Nov. 6 midterm elections, they have plenty of legitimate criticisms to level at President Trump and Republicans who control the House and Senate. But Democrats were hurt in recent days by amazing and disgusting comments made by Hillary Clinton and former Attorney General Eric Holder.
As a Democrat, I want my party to win as many seats as possible in the House and Senate and to capture as many governorships and other state offices as it can. But the Clinton and Holder remarks do not advance that effort – they hurt it.
Former Secretary of State and 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Clinton said Tuesday that “you cannot be civil with” the Republican Party because it “wants to destroy what you stand for, what you care about.” She added that “if we are fortunate enough to win back the House and or the Senate, that’s when civility can start again.”
But even worse than Clinton’s comments were those of Eric Holder, who said at a recent campaign event in Georgia that Democrats should abandon the advice of former first lady Michelle Obama, who said at the 2016 Democratic National Convention that her party and mine should respond positively to negative attacks from the GOP.
Mrs. Obama said that “when someone is cruel or acts like a bully, you don’t stoop to their level. No, our motto is, when they go low, we go high.”
Holder argued just the opposite, saying: “When they go low, we kick them. That’s what this new Democratic Party is about.” He later said he wasn’t advocating violence – not literal kicking.

There is no justification for the angry rhetoric of Clinton and Holder, which only feeds into Republican claims that Democrats are an angry mob that can’t get over Clinton’s loss to Trump two years ago.

I beg to differ with both Clinton and Holder.
The only way the Democrats can regain the majority in either or both houses of Congress is by being civil, and pointing out the differences between Democrats and Republicans on the issues.
As a centrist Democrat, the issue that strikes me most is the degree to which the national debt and the deficit are now out of control.
America faces uncertain and unstable times financially. Yet we are seeing a Republican-controlled Congress that has largely failed to do anything besides provide tax cuts for major corporations and the wealthiest individuals. This is by no means certain to have fundamentally altered the path of the economy or to provide economic growth.
Put another way, what the Trump administration has failed to do is to fix health care and cover pre-existing conditions more fundamentally; lead America in a fiscally responsible way; and pass tax cuts that help the average American. The Trump tax cuts have driven up the national debt and endangered funding for programs that benefit millions of people in our country.
Democrats have long argued the need for a centrist agenda that focuses on:

• Providing health-care benefits – whether private or public – to all Americans to cover expansively all pre-existing conditions.

• Protecting the environment from the policies of the Trump administration that have only encouraged –and I dare say exacerbated – environmental degradation and climate change.

• Promoting a pro-growth, inclusive agenda that seeks to put working people first, and the interests of Washington insiders and economic elites second. President Trump claims that he is doing this – he calls it “draining the swamp” – but this has not happened.

There is no justification for the angry rhetoric of Clinton and Holder, which only feeds into Republican claims that Democrats are an angry mob that can’t get over Clinton’s loss to Trump two years ago.
And Holder looks particularly bad because he was once the chief law enforcement officer of the United States, yet now sounds like he is effectively advocating what appears to be either illegal activities, or metaphorical initiatives that run counter to our traditions and our politics.
Hillary Clinton has said she won’t run for office again, but Holder has said he may run for president in 2020. Whoever the Democratic candidate turns out to be needs to be a responsible and respectable opponent –not one who calls for kicking the GOP or for incivility.
We should have learned from the Senate confirmation hearing for now-Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh that resisting for the sake of resisting doesn’t work. In fact, Democratic attacks on Kavanaugh may well have backfired, recent polls show.
The Democratic Party itself is lost now, without a message, a direction, a strategy, or agenda to confront a Republican Party that is seen as in many ways as having let the American people down.
We need change – but it must be constructive change. This Democrat believes that the comments that Eric Holder and Hillary Clinton made are wrong, counterproductive, and deserve to be rejected by the leadership of the Democratic Party.
American voters generally don’t support extremists. In 1964, Republican presidential candidate and Arizona Sen. Barry Goldwater famously said “extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice.” He won 52 electoral votes, compared to 486 for Democratic President Lyndon Johnson. While Goldwater was a conservative, Democratic extremists on the left have not and likely will not overcome the reluctance of voters to support one extreme or the other.
To be clear, I am not saying that Democrats are the radical, extremist party that President Trump describes them to be, nor do I believe they are the party of crime. I think that is just plain wrong. And GOP claims that Democrats are a bunch of radicals who will turn America into a failed state like Cuba or Venezuela are ridiculous.
However, the hostile rhetoric of Clinton and Holder goes well beyond what the president and Republicans have been saying. I think it deserves a rebuke from a Democrat to make it clear what is appropriate and what is not.

Pro-Abortion Cartoons

Pro-life activist assaulted by abortion protester on campus

Bailey Comment: Does Gabriela Skwarko look like she will ever marry a man and have children? If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, and looks like a duck, it must be a duck :-)

Gabriela Skwarko, a pro-abortion student at Ryerson University in Toronto, shoved pro-life activist Katie Somers Oct. 1. (Toronto Against Abortion)

Police are investigating an incident in Toronto caught on camera where an abortion protester attacked a female pro-life activist.
Gabriela “Gabby” Skwarko, a student at Ryerson University in Ontario who works for the school’s Office of Social Innovation and is part of the Ryerson Reproductive Justice Collective, is seen in a video attacking two members of Toronto Against Abortion (TAA).
“I was shocked and terrified,” TAA Director Katie Somers told Fox News. “When I cried out in pain I kind of thought she would leave me alone but it seemed to make no difference to her.”
Blaise Alleyne, president and founder of TAA, said Skwarko launched the attack out of nowhere as the anti-abortion group was getting to wrap up for the day.
“I don’t like seeing my friends get beat up in the street,” Alleyne said. “We’re in the business of exposing violence to end it. We’re shining a light on this deplorable behavior. Assaulting somebody for having a conversation is not acceptable. We want to expose it and end it.”
Skwarko allegedly targeted Somers and Alleyne for their role in the pro-life group. She kicked over signs, fell on top of one, landing on Somers. Then she threw a metal cart at Somers and ran toward her, grabbed her backpack and reached in, took out her stainless steel water bottle, and threw it on the ground. She shoved Somers and then bumped Alleyne in the chest.
“Let’s go! C’mon,” Skwarko said, taunting the pro-life advocates. EMS and police were immediately called. The Toronto Police Service and the Ryerson Student Conduct Office are currently investigating the situation.
Skwardo is temporarily forbidden from contacting Alleyene, who is a part-time student at Ryerson, and from going within 100 meters of him or any pro-life demonstration he is involved in.
As a result of Skwarko’s attack, Somers has taken time off work to heal, including an injury to her wrist and bruising down her right leg.
The incident comes just a day after a video went viral of a pro-choice activist, Jordan Hunt, a Toronto hairstylist who lost his job and was arrested last week for violently kicking a female pro-life activist after he tried to steal on of their signs.
“We would like the violence against peaceful pro-life protests to stop, but more than anything we would like the violence to pre-born children to stop," she said. "And despite this attack, we will continue to fight for pre-born children until abortion is unthinkable."
Somers said she’s not ready yet to get back out there, although that’s her goal. She posted a video on TAA’s Facebook about why she will continue her pro-life outreach.
“At this point, I don’t feel safe to return to peaceful protests,” she told Fox News. “It’s been really hard and really scary. I’m used to some opposition to the pro-life message but I’m not used to people being willing to resort to violence in opposition to it.”
LEFT-WING STUDENT CHARGED FOR ATTACKING PRO-LIFE PROTEST
Alleyne said Canada, along with China and North Korea, has no legal restrictions on abortion.
TAA demonstrates on the Toronto campus once a week, but is not officially recognized by the university as a club, like the pro-choice group is.
The university did not respond to request for comment.

Driver, 74, says he meant no harm, just wanted to get away from 'angry mob'

Antifa mob threatens motorists in Portland, Oregon; insight from Andy Ngo, journalist and Portland resident.

The driver of a car seen in a viral video driving through a protest in downtown Portland, Ore., last week said Friday that he never tried to run them over, according to reports.

"When you have an angry mob yelling at you and beating on your car you just want to get out of there," Kent Houser, 74, told the Oregonian.

The demonstrators were protesting last Saturday after a fatal police shooting that occurred the previous week.
Progressive activists accused Houser of attempting to mow down the protesters, but he says he had no idea that police had shot and killed Patrick Kimmons, 27, on Sept. 30, according to the paper.
Houser, a southwest Portland resident, said he was driving through downtown to meet his wife, the paper reported.
"I saw them, they saw me, and they rushed my car," Houser said. "Admittedly, I might have given them the one-finger salute when I rolled up."

"I saw them, they saw me, and they rushed my car. Admittedly, I might have given them the one-finger salute when I rolled up."

— Kent Houser, 74, driver involved in viral video

Portland Police Sgt. Chris Burley told Portland's KGW-TV that the driver reported he was shoved during the interaction.
Authorities are investigating the incident.
Houser said he also received a "nasty postcard" recommending that he sign up for anger management training, the Oregonian reported.

John Kelly called Elizabeth Warren 'impolite arrogant woman' after 'insulting' conversation

White House chief of staff John Kelly once described Sen. Elizabeth Warren as an “impolite arrogant woman” after having a telephone conversation with her about President Trump’s travel ban.
“Absolutely most insulting conversation I have ever had with anyone,” wrote Kelly in an email to his top aide, Kevin Carroll, on Feb. 8, 2018, when he was the secretary of Homeland Security, BuzzFeed reported.
“What an impolite arrogant woman. She immediately began insulting our people accusing them of not following the court order, insulting and abusive behavior towards those covered by the pause, blah blah blah,” he added.

"What an impolite arrogant woman. She immediately began insulting our people accusing them of not following the court order, insulting and abusive behavior towards those covered by the pause, blah blah blah."
— White House chief of staff John Kelly

Kelly reportedly refers to an order issued by federal judges to block Trump’s executive order that affected several mostly Muslim countries. The ban was temporarily blocked following a lawsuit by the ACLU.
The Massachusetts Democrat, a likely 2020 presidential contender, has long been an opponent of the travel ban, attended protests shortly after Trump first issued the executive order.
At Logan International Airport, Warren condemned Trump’s order, saying “we will not turn away children,” according to the Boston Globe. “We will not turn away families,” she continued. “We will not turn away people who try to help Americans. We will not turn away anyone because of their religion.”
In March last year, she also took a swipe at Trump, celebrating lower courts’ decisions to block the travel ban. “Turns out, an illegal Muslim ban by another name is still an illegal Muslim ban. So the courts just blocked @realDonaldTrump's second one,” she wrote in a tweet, adding that the ban is a “recruiting tool for ISIS” and a “betrayal of our values.”
SUPREME COURT UPHOLDS TRUMP TRAVEL BAN ON SOME MUSLIM-MAJORITY NATIONS
Earlier this year, however, the Supreme Court upheld Trump’s travel ban and offered a limited endorsement of the president’s executive authority on immigration.
In a written statement, Trump called the ruling “a tremendous victory for the American People and the Constitution.” As critics continued to decry the policy as “xenophobic,” Trump described the court decision as “a moment of profound vindication following months of hysterical commentary from the media and Democratic politicians who refuse to do what it takes to secure our border and our country.”
The top aide to whom Kelly wrote the email about Warren told BuzzFeed: “Too bad Senate Majority Leader McConnell couldn’t order her to be quiet again! Warren is running for president so early, trying too hard, and chasing bad pitches.”

Democrats fear Hillary Clinton's 'kiss of death' as midterms near

Hillary Clinton is viewed as “the kiss of death” for Democratic candidates in the upcoming midterm election, forcing the former presidential candidate stay low and campaign only behind closed doors.
Few Democrats are willing to embrace Clinton on the campaign trail, despite the party’s near-universal support for her just two years ago, with many concerned that a high-profile Clinton presence would only dampen the party's prospects of retaking control of Washington from Republicans.
Throughout the midterm elections, Clinton has rarely rallied together with other candidates, appearing mostly at low-key fundraisers.
“Hillary Clinton is the kiss of death and she represents the part of the Democratic Party that led to historic losses and that elected Donald Trump president,” a leading Democratic strategist told the Washington Examiner.

 "Hillary Clinton is the kiss of death and she represents the part of the Democratic Party that led to historic losses and that elected Donald Trump president."
— A Democratic strategist

“Democrats don't want her to campaign for them because everywhere she goes she carries this stench of death and is the only political figure in America that is less popular than Donald Trump,” the strategist added. “That's a real testament to her.”
Democrats were relieved after Bill and Hillary Clinton announced that their international 13-city speaking tour wouldn't begin until after November’s midterm elections.
“I think they're measuring how they can have the best, positive impact and have kind of decided to wait until after the election,” U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., told the outlet.
BILL, HILLARY CLINTON TO EMBARK ON SPEAKING TOUR AMID #METOO BACKLASH -- WITH TICKETS TOPPING $745
A House Democrat seconded, saying “When I think of people who have been part of our push to retake the House, I just don’t think of them at all. ... I think it’s a very good thing that they’re not being visible. It wouldn’t help our candidates.”

“When I think of people who have been part of our push to retake the House, I just don’t think of them at all. ... I think it’s a very good thing that they’re not being visible. It wouldn’t help our candidates.”
— A House Democrat commenting about the Clintons

But Clinton, while unwanted at the campaigns, continues to make an impact on the election, just not in a way many Democrats would prefer.
“You cannot be civil with a political party that wants to destroy what you stand for, what you care about,” Clinton said earlier this week. “That’s why I believe, if we are fortunate enough to win back the House and/or the Senate, that’s when civility can start again. But until then, the only thing Republicans seem to recognize and respect is strength."
The GOP jumped on the comments amid a relentless harassment campaign against their lawmakers during the confirmation hearings for Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
Democrats like U.S. Sen. Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, whose chances of winning re-election plummeted after her “no” vote on Kavanaugh, had to forcefully come out and denounce Clinton’s remarks.
“That's ridiculous,” Heitkamp said on CNN's “Anderson Cooper 360.” “I mean, I can't imagine how you get anything done if you don't bring civility back into politics, and that goes for both sides.
“I hope that we can find common ground in this country that sexual assault is more prominent than people thought it was," she added.
DEM SENATOR HEITKAMP SLAMS CLINTON CALL TO ABANDON CIVILITY WITH GOP
But not all is over for Clinton. She did her first public event last week, a roundtable on leadership with J.B. Pritzker, the Democratic nominee for governor of Illinois, according to the Examiner.
Later this month she’s set to appear with Florida Democratic gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum, who's in one of the most competitive races in this election cycle.
Clinton also is set to headline a couple of fundraisers for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), together with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. Next week, Clinton will raise funds with U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey as well.
HILLARY CLINTON GEARS UP TO INFLUENCE MIDTERMS -- WHETHER DEMS LIKE IT OR NOT
Her influence could also span beyond her in-person appearances. Onward Together, a group founded by Clinton aimed at “advancing the progressive vision that earned nearly 66 million votes in the last election,” has been quietly giving out money to Democratic candidates and left-wing groups.
The PAC boasts of giving over $1 million in grants in its first year. The disclosed financial records show the organization raised only $115,000 in the last year, but because it’s registered as a nonprofit social welfare organization, the actual money raised and the identities of the donors do not have to be disclosed.
According to Federal Election Commission records, the political organization also gave out $110,000 to various Democrats this election cycle.

Ocasio-Cortez Cartoons

Fusion GPS co-founder to take the Fifth to avoid testifying

Glenn Simpson, the co-founder of Fusion GPS, the firm behind the infamous dossier. (AP)

The co-founder of Fusion GPS, the opposition research firm that produced the now-infamous Trump-Russia dossier, will invoke his First and Fifth Amendment privileges in order to avoid testifying before the House Judiciary Committee next week, his lawyer said Thursday.
The committee had subpoenaed Glenn Simpson to appear for a closed-door deposition last month after attorney Joshua Levy said his client would not participate voluntarily. Simpson has previously sat for three congressional interviews as part of investigations into Russian activities during the 2016 presidential election campaign.
In a letter to committee chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va.,  Levy accused Republicans on the panel of trying to "discredit and otherwise damage witnesses to Russia's interference in the 2016 election, all as part of an effort to protect" President Trump. Levy added that the committee "has abdicated and indeed perverted its constitutional and traditional role" and shown "abundant bad faith" toward Simpson.
GOP lawmakers have focused on the relationship between Simpson and Justice Department official Bruce Ohr, who was also in contact with former British spy Christopher Steele. Fusion GPS commissioned Steele to compile his research on Trump's alleged personal and financial ties to Russia into a dossier. The dossier became part of the evidence used to obtain a secret surveillance warrant to monitor former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page and was published by BuzzFeed News in January 2017.
In previous testimony, Simpson told lawmakers on the Senate Intelligence Committee that he did not have contact with Ohr until after the 2016 election. However, work emails written by Ohr show the two were in touch that August, if not earlier. Ohr's notes also indicate that in December 2016, there was a meeting in Washington, D.C.'s Chinatown between Fusion GPS’ Simpson and Ohr, with Ohr writing, "Glen(n) gave me a memory stick."
In addition, Ohr maintained extensive contact with Steele for months after the bureau cut ties with the former MI6 man in November 2016 for leaking information to the media about his FBI ties.
Fox News' Catherine Herridge and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Change the rules? Why the Left is slamming the Senate and Electoral College

Liberals who are unhappy with the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh are starting to complain that the Senate itself is undemocratic.
Liberals who are unhappy with Donald Trump as president are starting to complain that the way he was elected is undemocratic.
While there's a fascinating political-science debate to be had on both points, it has the potential to smell like sour grapes from those on the losing side.
I just don't think it's a winning argument to say that the problem is these institutions, and rules that have been in place for more than 225 years, rather than the failure to prevail in debates and win elections.
The attack on the Senate stems from the 1787 compromise that is at the heart of the Constitution: House members are elected by population, which favors big states, and each state gets two Senate seats, which gives a disproportionate advantage to small states. Without that, the founders never could have rounded up enough votes.
But now the formula is highly objectionable. NBC reporter Ken Dilanian tweeted, "It may not happen in our lifetimes, but the idea that North Dakota and New York get the same representation in the Senate has to change." He cited a Washington Post piece complaining that senators representing less than half the country were about to confirm a Supreme Court nominee opposed by most Americans.
While we're at it, why don't we just have all public issues settled by polls?
It can seem unbalanced on its face for states with small populations (North Dakota has 755,000 people) to have equal weight in the Senate. But look at the flip side: California has 53 House seats, and North Dakota has one.
And the fear in small states of being overrun is the same as in the late 18th century, when slavery divided North and South.
These days, as The Federalist notes, the formulation doesn’t always favor the GOP:
"If you weren't born yesterday, you might recall that as recently as 2011, the Democrats controlled the White House, 59 percent of the House, and a filibuster-proof 60 percent of the Senate. Under the same laws, the same Constitution, and with an almost identical electorate, the Democrats controlled the political branches of government with huge majorities. How did they lose it all? Because the people did not like what they did with that power once they had it ...
"The focus on small states as Republican strongholds does not survive even the gentlest scrutiny. The senators from the ten smallest states are nine Democrats, nine Republicans, and two independents who caucus with the Democrats. That’s an 11-9 split in Democrats' favor."
A similar argument surfaces with the renewed assault on the Electoral College. And it's not hard to figure out why: Both Trump and George W. Bush, the last two Republican presidents, lost the popular vote while winning the White House.
Suddenly we have criticism like that of Damon Linker in The Week:
"The Electoral College is an abomination. It's long past time we abolished it.
"The Electoral College was a dumb idea when it was first proposed. Today, it's the Constitution's most egregious affront to elementary fairness. In a just and properly functioning political system, it would be eliminated without delay or regret."
And Julia Ioffe, a GQ correspondent, tweeted: "We are a country where two presidents who both lost the popular vote have now placed four justices on the Supreme Court. Democracy in action."
That spurred Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the socialist Democrat running for a House seat in New York, to declare:
"It is well past time we eliminate the Electoral College, a shadow of slavery’s power on America today that undermines our nation as a democratic republic."
I've never been a huge fan of the college. It's never worked the way Alexander Hamilton intended, with the electors a bunch of smart elitists who would make the final choice for president.
But the system does accomplish two things. It prods the nominees to campaign in smaller states, rather than just running up the turnout in New York, California, Texas and other population centers. And it amplifies the winning candidate's margin and avoids the nightmare of a national recount in tight races.
All that is debatable: If proponents can push a constitutional amendment through Congress and win over three-quarters of the states, be my guest.
The Electoral College didn't stop Barack Obama or Bill Clinton from twice capturing the White House. Rather than railing at the Constitution, liberals would do better to figure out how to win again under the longstanding rules.​