Oath Keepers arrival at Ferguson protest ‘inflammatory,’ top cop says

Someone has to step up and do it.

Four white men armed with rifles who arrived early Tuesday at protests in Ferguson, Mo., said they were there to protect journalists, but they were not welcomed by police, who fear their presence could prove "inflammatory" amid demonstrations marking the one-year anniversary of the racially charged police shooting of a black man.
Members of the group "Oath Keepers," an association of current and former soldiers or law enforcement and self-professed guardians of the Constitution, told Reuters they were there to provide protection for journalists from the conservative website Infowars.com. But like the police, the mostly African-American protesters seemed to find their presence provocative.
"I hope some black "oath keepers" show up tonight," read one tweet. Another user tweeted, "If oath keepers were black, they would have been killed by the trigger happy white cops."
Meanwhile, authorities arrested nearly two dozen people during a protest that stretched into early Tuesday, marking the anniversary of the Aug. 9, 2014, fatal shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown, although there was no repeat of the violence that scarred weekend demonstrations. Police and community leaders are desperately hoping to avoid a replay of the rioting that occurred after Brown was shot and again in November, after a grand jury declined to indict Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson.

"Their presence was both unnecessary and inflammatory"
- Jon Belmar, the St. Louis County police chief

On Tuesday, there were no shots fired and no burglaries, looting or property damage during the protest along West Florissant Avenue, St. Louis County police spokesman Shawn McGuire said. That thoroughfare was the focus of months of massive protests and sometimes violent unrest last summer after the killing of Brown by a Ferguson police officer. McGuire said approximately 23 arrests were made, though police were still confirming official totals.

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• Ferguson uprising to continue until 'real change' comes?

Despite the calm, authorities fear any any interference from outside, whether from out-of-town protesters, or groups coming in and claiming to be keeping the peace, could set off new conflict. That prompted some authorities to level criticism at the gun-toting Oath Keepers.
"Their presence was both unnecessary and inflammatory," Jon Belmar, the St. Louis County police chief said, according to Reuters.
It was not the first time Oath Keepers went to Ferguson. In December, members were seen on rooftops and in the streets during protests. The Washington Post reported that members spoke of lending a sense of security to a small community in the national spotlight. Although in both instances, police have threatened arrest, no Oath Keepers were accused of breaking the law.
Founded by Yale Law graduate Stewart Rhodes, the group claims 35,000 members. In a 2008 manifesto, Rhodes warned that Americans will be left to protect themselves and their rights if a "police state comes to America."
"That is a harsh reality, but you had better come to terms with it now, and resolves to not let it happen on your watch," he wrote.

Clinton turns over private server to Justice Dept amid report it contained 'top secret' emails

WASHINGTON –  Hillary Clinton relented Tuesday to months of demands she relinquish the personal email server she used while secretary of state, directing the device be given to the Justice Department.
The decision advances the investigation into the Democratic presidential front-runner's use of a private email account as the nation's top diplomat, and whether classified information was improperly sent via and stored on the home-brew email server she ran from her house in suburban New York City.
Clinton campaign spokesman Nick Merrill said she has "pledged to cooperate with the government's security inquiry, and if there are more questions, we will continue to address them."
It's not clear if the device will yield any information — Clinton's attorney said in March that no emails from the main personal address she used while secretary of state still "reside on the server or on back-up systems associated with the server."
Clinton had to this point refused demands from Republican critics to turn over the server to a third party, with attorney David Kendall telling the House committee investigating the 2012 attacks in Benghazi, Libya, that "there is no basis to support the proposed third-party review of the server."
Republicans jumped on Tuesday's decision to change course, as well as the additional disclosure that two emails that traversed Clinton's personal system were subsequently given one of the government's highest classification ratings.

More on this...

• Report: Clinton e-mails contained 'top secret' material

"All this means is that Hillary Clinton, in the face of FBI scrutiny, has decided she has run out of options," Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus in a statement. "She knows she did something wrong and has run out of ways to cover it up."
Federal investigators have begun looking into the security of Clintons' email setup amid concerns from the inspector general for the intelligence community that classified information may have passed through the system.
There is no evidence she used encryption to shield the emails or her personal server from foreign intelligence services or other potentially prying eyes. Kendall has said previously that Clinton is "actively cooperating" with the FBI inquiry.
In March, Clinton said she exchanged about 60,000 emails in her four years in the Obama administration, about half of which were personal and were discarded. She turned over the other half to the State Department in last December.
The department is reviewing those emails and has begun the process of releasing them to the public.
"As she has said, it is her hope that State and the other agencies involved in the review process will sort out as quickly as possible which emails are appropriate to release to the public, and that the release will be as timely and transparent as possible," Merrill said Tuesday.
Also Tuesday, Kendall gave to the Justice Department three thumb drives containing copies of work-related emails sent to and from her personal email addresses via her private server.
Kendall gave the thumb drives, containing copies of roughly 30,000 emails, to the FBI after the agency determined he could not remain in possession of the classified information contained in some of the emails, according to a U.S. official briefed on the matter who was not authorized to speak publicly.
The State Department previously had said it was comfortable with Kendall keeping the emails at his Washington law office.
Word that Clinton had relented on giving up possession of the server came as Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa said two emails that traversed Clinton's personal system were deemed "Top Secret, Sensitive Compartmented Information" — a rating that is among the government's highest classifications. Grassley said the inspector general of the nation's intelligence community had reported the new details about the higher classification to Congress on Tuesday.
"Secretary Clinton's previous statements that she possessed no classified information were patently untrue," House Speaker John Boehner said in a statement. "Her mishandling of classified information must be fully investigated."
Those two emails were among four that had previously been determined by the inspector general of the intelligence community to have been classified at the time they were sent. The State Department disputes that the emails were classified at that time.
"Department employees circulated these emails on unclassified systems in 2009 and 2011 and ultimately some were forwarded to Secretary Clinton," said State Department spokesman John Kirby. "They were not marked as classified."
The inspector general for the intelligence community had told Congress that potentially hundreds of classified emails are among the cache that Clinton provided to the State Department.
Earlier this week, Clinton said in a sworn statement submitted to a federal judge that she has turned over to the State Department all emails from the server "that were or potentially were federal records." The statement, which carries her signature and was signed under penalty of perjury, echoed months of Clinton's past public statements about the matter.
Clinton has defended her use of the server, saying she used it as a matter of convenience to limit the number of electronic devices she had to carry.

Kerry doubles down on Iran deal, says Tehran has not pursued nuke since 2003

Secretary of State John Kerry doubled down on the controversial Iran nuclear deal Tuesday, telling lawmakers that there was not a better deal available to negotiators and that since 2003 Iran has not pursued a nuclear bomb to the best of America’s knowledge.
Speaking in a moderated discussion on the nuclear deal reached with Iran hosted by Thomson Reuters in New York, Kerry tried to counter Republican claims that a better deal can be reached.
Kerry told the forum that President George W. Bush tried in 2003 and 2008 to get a better deal, but there “is not a better deal to be gotten.”
He went on to say that the argument for a better deal would entail the U.S. maintaining or increasing pressure on Iran by threatening foreign governments and businesses with penalties for doing business with Iran, an idea that Kerry slammed as far-fetched.
"Are you kidding?" he said.
Kerry asserted that European countries wouldn't cooperate with U.S. sanctions, and would walk away from separate U.S.-led penalties against Russia if Congress kills the deal.
He also claimed that the dollar would lose its status as the world's reserve currency, and allies wouldn't support U.S. military action against Iran.
Kerry told participants that there was clearly a period in which Iran was pursuing a nuclear weapon.
“We found them red-handed with facilities they should not have had, with materials they should not have had,” Kerry said.
However, he said that since 2003, Iran has not pursued a weapon to the best knowledge of the U.S. and others.
"They have not pursued a weapon to our best judgment and to the judgment of all our allies, they haven't pursue a weapon, per se, since that period of time," Kerry said.
In terms of the argument for a better deal, Kerry noted that while Iranian leaders issued a fatwah in 2003 that a nuclear weapon should not be pursued, Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) still wants one and has fought against the deal.
“They are opposed to the agreement if that doesn't tell you something,” Kerry said.

Hands Up Cartoon

China Moves to Devalue Yuan, U.S. Dollar Bounces

Currencies in Asia tumbled and stocks in China fluctuated after China's central bank devalued its tightly controlled currency.
The central bank's move sent the yuan down 1.6% against the U.S. dollar early Tuesday. The U.S. dollar rose to as high as 6.3299 Chinese yuan from its close 6.2136 late Monday.
The move comes after disappointing Chinese trade data over the weekend cast doubt on the economic health of the world's no. two economy. It also follows the International Monetary Fund's recent announcement to delay its decision on whether to include the yuan in its basket of reserve currencies.
The yuan's fixing against the U.S. dollar was lowered 1.9% Tuesday from the previous day, its biggest-ever move in a single day. The yuan is allowed to trade 2% above or below the People's Bank of China's daily reference rate against the U.S. dollar.
China shares wavered between negative and positive, a day after the market posted its largest daily percentage gain in a month. The Shanghai Composite Index was last down 0.1% while the smaller Shenzhen market was up 0.3%.
A weaker yuan could threaten other economies in the region that compete with Chinese exports, and the move sent other currencies in Asia lower. A weaker yuan could encourage other central banks in the region to devalue their currencies to stay competitive.
The U.S. dollar rocketed to as high as 1170.80 South Korean won, from 1158.20 late yesterday in Asia. The Korean won was last down 0.8% to trade at 1167.50 to the U.S. dollar.
The Thai baht fell 0.4% to trade at 35.20 to the U.S. dollar while the Singapore dollar fell 0.5% against the U.S. dollar.
The New Zealand dollar and Australian each fell by more than 0.5% each against the U.S. dollar.
Stock markets elsewhere in the region were mixed, following hopes of Chinese stimulus after weak data but a rise in U.S. stocks overnight.
The Nikkei Stock Average was up 0.6%, the S&P ASX 200 is down 0.7% and South Korea's Kospi was up 0.8%.
The recovery on Wall Street as well as expectations for further policy from China to support the economy may help Japan shares, said Hiroichi Nishi, general manager of equity division at SMBC Nikko Securities.
Weak economic data lifted expectations that Beijing would boost spending and continue to prop up the market by buying shares. Talk about a possible merger between China's state-shipping giants revived hopes for reform of state-owned enterprises.
Data Tuesday showed the new yuan loans in China hit a six-year high of 1.48 trillion yuan ($238.3 billion) in July, up from 1.27 trillion yuan in June.
A stronger Japanese yen, often a negative for Japanese exporters, capped the Nikkei's gains. The U.S. dollar traded at Yen124.12, compared with Yen124.61 at late Monday in Asia.
While Brent oil was down 0.5% to $50.14 in Asia trade, prices were up from multi-month lows after on a forecast drop in U.S. shale-oil production and rumors of an emergency meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.

Christian institutions garnering support in ObamaCare challenge

Three Christian universities gained allies Monday in their battle against ObamaCare. Among their supporters: 16 state governments.
Those states, along with a handful of other religious rights organizations, filed friend-of-the-court briefs to the Supreme Court supporting Houston Baptist University, East Texas Baptist University, and Westminster Theological Seminary.
Those schools have appealed the Supreme Court to overturn a circuit court ruling that forces them to expand contraception options in their health insurance plans. The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, the schools’ legal counsel, says the briefs are a major breakthrough.
“This strong show of support for HBU and ETBU (and Westminster Theological Seminary) demonstrates just how important it is that the Supreme Court address the impact of the HHS mandate, particularly on religious groups,” said Diana Verm, Legal Counsel at the Becket Fund, in a statement. “It is especially significant that the 16 state governments are supporting HBU and ETBU at the Supreme Court.”
The case directly challenges the 5^th Circuit Court. That ruling said that the schools were forced to offer all 14 types of contraception spelled out in the HHS mandate of ObamaCare within their health insurance plans. The schools only offered 10 types. They say that the mandate violates their religious freedom. According to the statement, all three schools would have to pay millions in IRS fines if they aren’t allowed exemption.
The Becket Fund identified the 16 states to FoxNews.com as: Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, and West Virginia.
Other organizations that pledged support include the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention, the Christian and Missionary Alliance Foundation, and all 181 members of the Council of Christian Colleges and Universities.
“Today’s strong support is an indication that the Court is likely to decide in the upcoming term whether religious ministries, like religious for-profits, will receive protection from the Mandate,” the statement said.
Verm told FoxNews.com that many businesses have been exempted from the mandate, and that all religious institutions should be afforded the same opportunity.
"The Supreme Court has already issued five preliminary orders in favor of religious organizations facing this choice, and we expect it to protect HBU and ETBU as well," she said.

Fox News host Megyn Kelly addresses Trump 'dustup'

Fox News Channel’s Megyn Kelly refused to apologize Monday to GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump after he accused her of asking an unfair question during last week’s Republican presidential debate.
“Apparently Mr. Trump thought the question was unfair and I was attacking him,” “The Kelly File” host told viewers Monday. “I felt he was asked a tough but fair question. We agree to disagree.”
While Trump leads recent polls, the former reality television star has drawn heated criticism from many in his own party for saying Kelly had "blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever" during a TV appearance Friday night.
Kelly, who called Trump an “interesting man that has captured the attention of the electorate,” decided not to respond to personal attacks he’d lodged against her, saying “I certainly will not apologize for doing good journalism.”
“Mr. Trump, I expect, will continue with what has been a successful campaign so far,” said Kelly. “This is a tough business and I think it’s time now to move forward.”
Fox News Chairman and CEO Roger Ailes reached out to Trump directly Monday, assuring him he'll be "treated fairly" by the station, Trump tweeted Monday.
"Roger Ailes just called. He is a great guy & assures me that 'Trump' will be treated fairly on @FoxNews. His word is always good!" wrote Trump, whose unorthodox campaign is dominating the race and summertime polls.
In a statement Monday evening, Ailes described the conversation as "blunt but cordial" and said the air had been cleared.
"Donald Trump and I spoke today. We discussed our concerns, and I again expressed my confidence in Megyn Kelly," Ailes said, describing Kelly as "a brilliant journalist" whom he supports "100 percent."
Ailes added that he assured Trump "that we will continue to cover this campaign with fairness & balance."
Trump is scheduled to return to the network Tuesday, with appearances on two of the network's shows, "Fox & Friends" and "Hannity," a Fox News spokeswoman said.

At least 23 arrested on fourth night of demonstrations in Ferguson

Get them off government support and put them to work. 

At least 23 people were arrested in Ferguson, Mo. Monday night as protesters confronted police on a fourth consecutive night of demonstrations to mark the one-year anniversary of the death of 18-year-old Michael Brown.
St. Louis County Police spokesman Officer Shawn McGuire said early Tuesday that police were still confirming official totals.
Despite the arrests, there were no reports of injuries or violence. McGuire also said that there were no shots fired and no burglaries, looting or property damage during the protest.
Sunday night's demonstration was thrown into chaos after by gunfire and a police shooting that left an 18-year-old critically injured. Earlier Monday, St. Louis County Executive Steve Stenger declared a state of emergency, which authorized county Police Chief Jon Belmar to take control of police emergency management in and around Ferguson.
By early Monday evening, hundreds of people had gathered. They marched up and down West Florissant Avenue, the thoroughfare that was the site of protests and rioting after Brown was fatally shot last year in a confrontation with a Ferguson police officer.
The protesters chanted, beat drums and carried signs. When some in the group moved into a traffic lane, officers in riot gear forced people out of the street. Some demonstrators threw water bottles and other debris at officers.

More on this...

• High tension, state of emergency in Ferguson 1 year later

• Ferguson One Year Later

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that police began to make arrests at around 10 p.m. local time. At that point, the newspaper estimated, there were approximately 50 reporters, 75 cops, and 150 protesters at the scene. At least nine people were accused of resisting or interfering with an arrest. The paper reported that more arrests were made after midnight Tuesday.
Belmar told The Associated Press: "They're not going to take the street tonight. That's not going to happen."
Ferguson resident Hershel Myers Jr., 46, criticized the police response as aggressive and unnecessary.
A military veteran, he added, "It's wrong for me to have to go overseas and fight with Army across my chest, but we can't fight on our own street where I live."
By 1 a.m., the crowd and police presence along West Florissant had been begun to diminish.
In all, approximately 144 protesters were arrested around the St. Louis area Monday. McGuire said that approximately 64 protesters who blocked afternoon rush-hour traffic on Interstate 70 Monday afternoon were arrested. At midday, 57 protesters demanding the dissolution of the Ferguson Police Department were arrested near the federal courthouse in St. Louis.
On Monday morning, prosecutors announced filing of ten felony charges against Tyrone Harris Jr., whom Belmar said opened fire on officers after an earlier shooting on West Florissant late Sunday. The four officers in the van fired back, then pursued the suspect on foot. The suspect again fired on the officers when he became trapped in a fenced-in area, the chief said, and all four opened fire.
Harris was in critical condition Monday after surgery. All four officers in the van, each wearing protective vests, escaped injury. They were not wearing body cameras, Belmar said.
Harris' father called the police version of events "a bunch of lies." He said two girls who were with his son told him he was unarmed and had been drawn into a dispute involving two groups of young people.
Tyrone Harris Sr. told The Associated Press that his son was a close friend of Michael Brown and was in Ferguson on Sunday night to pay respects.
The elder Harris said his son got caught up in a dispute among two groups of young people and was "running for his life" after gunfire broke out.
"My son was running to the police to ask for help, and he was shot," he said. "It's all a bunch of lies ... They're making my son look like a criminal."
Online court records show that Tyrone Harris Jr. was charged in November with stealing a motor vehicle and a gun, as well as resisting arrest by fleeing. A court hearing in that case is scheduled for Aug. 31.
Belmar said the suspect who fired on officers had a semi-automatic 9 mm gun that was stolen last year from Cape Girardeau, Missouri.
The police chief drew a distinction between the shooters and the protesters.
"They were criminals," he said of those involved in gunfire. "They weren't protesters."
Gov. Jay Nixon agreed, saying in a statement that such "reprehensible acts must not be allowed to silence the voices of peace and progress."