UC Berkeley Student Protest Cartoons

UC Berkeley students threaten to sue over Ann Coulter visit

Students at the University of California at Berkeley who invited conservative commentator Ann Coulter to speak on campus are threatening to sue the university if it does not find a proper time and venue for her to speak next week.
Harmeet Dhillon, who represents the Berkeley College Republicans, said in letters sent Friday to UC Berkeley’s Interim Vice Chancellor Stephen Sutton and chief attorney Christopher Patti that if Coulter is not allowed to give a speech on campus on April 27 she will file a lawsuit in federal court because the university is violating the students’ constitutional right to free speech.
"It is a sad day indeed when the birthplace of the Free Speech Movement, is morphing before our eyes into the cemetery of free speech on college campuses," Dhillon wrote.
School officials told the Berkeley College Republicans on Tuesday, and the nonpartisan Bridge USA which coordinated the event, that it was being cancelled due to security concerns.
Chancellor Nicholas B. Dirks said that police have "very specific intelligence regarding threats that could pose a grave danger to the speaker," her audience and protesters if the event goes ahead next Thursday.
Officials offered an afternoon event on May 2, when they can offer an "appropriate, protectable venue" but Coulter rejected it, saying she is not available that day. She also tweeted, "THERE ARE NO CLASSES AT BERKELEY THE WEEK OF MAY 2." The period is known as Dead Week, when students are studying for final exams.
"You cannot impose arbitrary and harassing restrictions on the exercise of a constitutional right," Coulter told "Hannity" on Thursday night. "None of this has to do with security."
It is the latest skirmish in a free-speech fight involving conservative voices on college campuses across the country, including at Berkeley. In February, masked rioters at the school smashed windows, set fires, and shut down an appearance by former Breitbart News editor Milo Yiannopoulos. Last week, the Berkeley College Republicans said threats of violence forced them to cancel a speech by writer David Horowitz. Writer Charles Murray's appearance at Middlebury saw riots last month, and Heather Mac Donald's speech at Claremont McKenna College was streamed online earlier this month after protesters blocked the door to the venue.
Berkeley has been the site of clashes between far-right and far-left protesters, most recently at a rally last weekend called in support of President Donald Trump in downtown Berkeley.

French presidential election: Voters take to the polls under heightened security

French voters began to flood the polls Sunday under heightened security to kick-off the start of a tense first-round poll that has been seen as a test for the spread of populism around the world.
Security around the more than 60,000 polling stations was tightened up in wake of the deadly shooting on the Champs-Elysses on Thursday, which left one police officer and a gunman dead. The government mobilized more than 50,000 police and gendarmes to protect the polling places and an additional 7,000 soldiers were on patrol.
It is the first time in recent memory that a presidential election, in which 47 million people are eligible to vote, taking place during a state of emergency, which was put in place after the Paris attacks of November 2015.
The vote "is really important, mainly because we really need a change in this country with all the difficulties we are facing and terrorism," said Paris resident Alain Richaud, who was waiting to cast his vote.
Opinion polls point to a tight race among the four top contenders vying to get into the May 7 presidential runoff that will decide who becomes France's next head of state.
Polls suggest far-right nationalist Marine Le Pen and Emmanuel Macron, an independent centrist and former economy minister, were in the lead. But conservative Francois Fillon, a former prime minister, appeared to be closing the gap, as was far-left candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon.
France's 10 percent unemployment, its lackluster economy and security issues topped concerns for the 47 million eligible voters.
Hard-line right-winger Nicolas Dupont-Aignan, who rails against Europe, was the first of the presidential candidates to vote Sunday morning in his constituency in the leafy Paris suburbs. Far-left candidate Nathalie Arthaud cast her ballot soon after in the Paris suburb of Pantin.
Fillon will vote in Paris, but his wife — who's been handed preliminary charges for her role in the fake jobs scandal that rocked her husband's campaign — voted 250 155 miles away near their 14th century manor house in Sarthe.
If Le Pen or Melenchon win a spot in the summer’s runoff, it will be seen as a victory for the rising wave of populism reflected by the votes for Donald Trump and Brexit.
Macron and Fillon are committed to European unity and would reform labor rules.
Political campaigning was banned from midnight Friday hours ahead of polls opening in France's far-flung overseas territories such as Guadeloupe, French Polynesia and French Guiana, which all voted a day early Saturday.

Kim Jong Un party paradise: North Korean dictator's resort revealed as his people starve

These aerial pictures show Kim Jong Un’s party island– dubbed ‘North Korea’s Ibiza’ – where the nuke-loving dictator entertains his cronies and plots world domination just like a James Bond villain.
The sprawling resort comprises of luxury villas dotted around Kim’s giant private palace on a wooded estate on the east coast of the hermit nation.
GAS STATIONS IN NORTH KOREA'S MAIN CITY RESTRICT SERVICES, SPECULATION THAT CHINA IS REDUCING SUPPLY
As millions of North Koreans starve, the despot’s guests – members of the nation’s political elite – dine on the finest imported food like lobsters, scallops and French cheeses and wash it down with bottles of champagne, fine wines, whisky and brandy.
Former Chicago Bulls basketball star Dennis Rodman – who has struck up a bizarre friendship with the dictator – was a guest at the private retreat.
Rodman, who experts claim has had more contact with the tyrant than any other American, talked about the party resort comparing it to Spanish island Ibiza.He said: “It’s like going to Hawaii or Ibiza, but he’s the only one that lives there.
“He’s got 50 to 60 people around him all the time – just normal people, drinking cocktails and laughing the whole time.
“If you drink a bottle of tequila, it’s the best tequila.
“Everything you want, he has the best.”
Guests of Kim are given rooms decorated with imported antique furniture, paintings and tapestries.
His seaside party pad – close to the port of Wonson – has its own marina and secluded bays patrolled 24 hours a day by heavily armed troops.

North Korea threatens to strike US aircraft carrier to show 'military's force'

North Korea threatened Sunday to sink a U.S. aircraft carrier to demonstrate its military prowess as two Japanese navy ship joined a U.S. strike group for exercises in the Philippine Sea.
“Our revolutionary forces are combat-ready to sink a U.S. nuclear powered aircraft carrier with a single strike," according to North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party’s newspaper, the Rodong Sinmum.
The paper also likened the USS Carl Vinson to a “gross animal” and said a strike on the carrier would be “an actual example to show our military’s force.”
President Trump ordered the USS Carl Vinson to sail to waters off the Korean Peninsula in response to the rising tensions over Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile tests and threats to attack the U.S. and its allies. Vice President Pence said Saturday that group would arrive “within days.”
The Vinson and two other U.S. warships were joined by two Japanese destroyers as they continued their journey north in the western Pacific Ocean, the U.S. Navy said in a statement. The U.S. group also includes a guided-missile cruiser and a guided-missile destroyer.
The aircraft carrier had canceled a scheduled visit to Australia to divert toward North Korea in a show of force, though it still conducted a curtailed training exercise with Australia before doing so.
The Navy called the exercise "routine" and said it is designed to improve combined maritime response and defense capabilities, as well as joint maneuvering proficiency.
The Vinson group has conducted three previous bilateral exercises with the Japanese navy since leaving San Diego on Jan. 5 for a western Pacific deployment. The most recent one was in March.
Analysts believe that North Korea could be gearing up for its sixth nuclear test in wake of a failed missile launch and ahead of the 85th anniversary of the founding of the Korean People’s Army, which takes place Tuesday.
North Korea conducted two of its five nuclear tests last year and is believed to be working to develop nuclear-tipped missiles that could reach the mainland U.S.

Bill O’Reilly statement blasts far-left ‘brutal campaign of character assassination’

An attorney for Fox News host Bill O’Reilly released a statement Tuesday blaming “far-left” organizations for a smear campaign against him, saying that he’ll be revealing evidence of his claim.
“Bill O’Reilly has been subjected to a brutal campaign of character assassination that is unprecedented in post-McCarthyist America,” the statement from attorney Marc Kasowitz read.
The statement appeared to be in reference to the accusations of sexual harassment against O’Reilly, who is on vacation this week from his show. In recent weeks, he’s been assailed by protests and a social media campaign that has forced his show to hemorrhage dozens of advertisers.
“This law firm has uncovered evidence that the smear campaign is being orchestrated by far-left organizations bent on destroying O’Reilly for political and financial reasons,” the statement concluded. “That evidence will be put forth shortly and it is irrefutable.”
The statement offered no evidence of the claim it made.
CNN reported Tuesday that their sources claimed O’Reilly and Fox News were already in talks about his exit from the network.
The  campaign to get rid of  O’Reilly from the air began when the New York Times revealed a report saying he and Fox News had settled lawsuits to the tune of $13 million. O’Reilly responded by saying that he had settled in order to protect his children from a rancorous court battle had he chosen to fight the allegations.
But his case wasn’t aided by yet another accuser making sexual harassment claims against him Tuesday.

21st Century Fox CEO James Murdoch Leftist?

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), a critic of Fox News, weighed in in the controversy saying that O’Reilly should go to jail over the sexual harassment charges.

 Leftist Democrat

Document suggests Media Matters is behind O’Reilly advertiser exodus

An email obtained by conservative radio host Glenn Beck suggests that progressive media watchdog group Media Matters orchestrated the advertiser exodus from embattled Fox News host Bill O’Reilly’s program.

“For years,” the email begins, “Bill O’Reilly has been one of the worst purveyors of misinformation on Fox News. A serial misinformer, pushing many of the most extreme, sexist, racist, homophobic, and xenophobic conservative theories on TV.”
The correspondence was written by Mary Pat Bonner, president of the Bonner Group.  According to the New York Times, Bonner served as a “donor adviser” to former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s campaign.

Through her firm, Bonner connects big money donors to liberal groups seeking donations. Bonner’s contracts give her company a sizable commission — around 12.5 percent — on any money she brings in. In addition to Clinton, the Bonner Group has also advised Media Matters and the American Bridge super PAC.
“The Bonner Group gets us the best fundraising product for the lowest cost,” David Brock, founder of Media Matters and American Bridge, told the Times. “In my experience, the commission incentivizes the fundraiser to meet the ambitious goals we set.”
In the email, which was sent April 13, Bonner heralds the success of her firm and Media Matters’ “advertiser education campaign” against O’Reilly.
“We are currently at a critical juncture in this campaign,” she wrote, before inviting recipients to join a couple of “update calls” on Thursday and Friday.
Bonner’s email was revealed just hours after one of O’Reilly’s lawyers, Marc Kasowitz, claimed that the Fox anchor “has been subjected to a brutal campaign of character assassination that is unprecedented in post-McCarthyist America.”
“This law firm has uncovered evidence that the smear campaign is being orchestrated by far-left organizations bent on destroying O’Reilly for political and financial reasons,” he continued. “That evidence will be put forth shortly and it is irrefutable.”
Dozens of advertisers have pulled their commercials from O’Reilly’s 8 p.m. time slot in the weeks since the Times reported that O’Reilly and 21st Century Fox, Fox News’ parent company, have settled to the tune of $13 million with at least five women who have accused the network host of sexual harassment.
And according to Media Matters, the number of brands that have shifted ads away from “The O’Reilly Factor” has topped 80, “with dozens more quietly taking the action or keeping them off in the first place.”
Angelo Carusone, president of Media Matters,  said “many expect more women will come forward” with allegations against O’Reilly. He also asserted Fox News Co-President Bill Shine “will go too.” Carusone offered no evidence to support either claim.
“What’s happening now is a giant smear campaign, and they work,” Beck said on his radio program Wednesday morning, later adding that the left is “splitting the conservative movement and they’re taking the bear out of the door.”
The Wall Street Journal, which is owned by News Corp, a media conglomeration founded by Fox News CEO Rupert Murdoch, reported Tuesday night that the news network is preparing to sever ties with O’Reilly.
The Journal’s report comes the week after news broke that 21st Century Fox CEO James Murdoch was reportedly ready to cut O’Reilly, who is on vacation until April 24. However, at the time, Rupert Murdoch, James’ father, and 21st Century Fox Co-Chairman Lachlan Murdoch, James’ older brother, were “more inclined” to stand by the host.
But now it appears the Murdochs are nearing a unanimous decision. And in Beck’s mind, it’s all about money — not principles.
“They’re making the decision based on money, and money has nothing to do with principle,” he said, after earlier telling listeners he “would not be saying this if I had personal information” that the accusations against O’Reilly were true.
If the harassment claims end up being true, Beck said he would be “highly disappointed” with O’Reilly. “If there is evidence that something happened, that’s something different,” he said.

Fox News after Roger Ailes and Bill O'Reilly

That is the billion-dollar question surely on the mind of James Murdoch, the chief executive officer of 21st Century Fox, who is slowly but surely taking over his father's company and seeking to impose order on its most controversial asset.

Fox News supplies more than $1 billion in profit to 21st Century Fox each year, accounting for roughly 20% of its total profits. It does so largely by stoking America's partisan divides and preying on conservative anxieties -- an editorial approach Murdoch has never been entirely comfortable with, according to sources close to him.
But if you think Murdoch's discomfort will cause him to change Fox News' programming and risk tampering with the company's cash cow, think again, sources with knowledge of his thinking say.
Even with Ailes and O'Reilly out, the network looks set to stay the course as a conservative juggernaut. If anything, Fox News looks likely to become more conservative, and more friendly to President Trump, than it is now.


Replacing O'Reilly in the 8 p.m. hour is Tucker Carlson, who delights in criticizing and arguing with liberals and exposing what he sees as inconsistencies of the left-wing worldview. In the first 100 days of Trump's presidency, he has been a staunch Trump defender.
Moving to the 9 p.m. hour are the co-hosts of "The Five," the roundtable opinion program on which conservative co-hosts outnumber their liberal foils. The show's new co-host is Jesse Watters, who hosted an often controversial segment on O'Reilly's show in which he ambushed unsuspecting interviewees and, in some cases, made fun of their ethnicity.
Sean Hannity, the most unabashed and outspoken Trump cheerleader on cable news, will continue to host his show at 10 p.m. Indeed, with O'Reilly out, Hannity has become Fox's most valuable player and the man the company can't afford to lose.
Many speculated that Megyn Kelly would become the face of the network, ushering in a less partisan, more news-focused era. Kelly's departure to NBC News put the kibosh on that idea, but the more down-the-middle Fox never really made sense, because its value comes from being the only game in town for cable-watching conservatives. Indeed, it was never actually the plan, according to sources at the company.
By the same token, predictions that O'Reilly's viewers will abandon the network are likely exaggerated. It will undoubtedly be hard for Carlson to match O'Reilly's ratings. But he's already been a major ratings draw since replacing Megyn Kelly at 9 p.m. earlier this year after she left for NBC.


Moreover, if you're a 72-year-old conservative who likes to watch conservative opinion at night -- the median O'Reilly viewer was 72 -- where else are you going to go? Your choices are news (CNN's Anderson Cooper) or liberal opinion (MSNBC's Rachel Maddow). Carlson may not be O'Reilly, but the opinions he'll offer are more or less the same.
Ten years ago, Murdoch told the journalist Michael Wolff, "Fox [News] is an important brand, but it needs to develop, and, to some extent, be reformed."
That was before Fox News was making 21st Century Fox more than $1 billion a year. And if Murdoch did not reform Fox News in the last decade, there is little reason to believe he'll do it now.

Bill O’Reilly Going To Continue With His Tour

Millions of Fox News supporters were enraged to hear that political host Bill O’Reilly was let go from the station. This was in response to numerous sexual assault allegations that several women brought upon him. These allegations came with no proof and are very shady at best. These need to be investigated thoroughly to see if the truth can be found. It is too late for Bill O’Reilly to continue on Fox News, but he is far from done.

It was reported by The Hollywood Reporter that Bill O’Reilly will still go on with his “The Spin Stops Here Tour,” even though many arenas are trying to cancel it. The tour will begin in New York City on June 17th with two shows. They are both sold out and will have Dennis Miller and Jesse Watters as comedians.
The tickets currently go at $65 for a standard ticket and $500 for a VIP on Ticketmaster.
After New York City, he has many other dates planned. He will go to the NYCB Theatre at Westbury in New York. He will then go to Baltimore, Tampa, Las Vegas and Anaheim. But there is now a liberal petition that is trying to get the entire thing cancelled. This is exactly what the liberals are trying to do to Bill. They want to destroy his entire life and if he is not careful, they will. They are backed by many powerful liberal elites.

Care2 manager Julie Mastrine said she cannot say how far they will go.
“There are no plans for protests now, but we will not rule it out, either. We have not delivered the signatures yet, so it is impossible to say.”
Bill O’Reilly needs your prayers now more than ever before. He needs your support. Are you sick and tired of these hateful liberals?

Wave of Illegals Cartoons

Backlash

Justice Dept threatens sanctuary cities in immigration fight

Little Dutch Boy trying to plug the dam leak with a finger?

Dam Leak.

The Trump administration intensified its threats to crack down on so-called sanctuary cities that refuse to comply with federal immigration authorities, warning nine jurisdictions Friday that they may lose coveted law enforcement grant money unless they document cooperation.
It sent letters to officials in California and major cities including New York, Chicago, Philadelphia and New Orleans, all places the Justice Department's inspector general has identified as limiting the information local law enforcement can provide to federal immigration authorities about those in their custody.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions has warned that the administration will punish communities that refuse to cooperate with efforts to find and deport immigrants in the country illegally. But some of the localities remained defiant, despite risking the loss of funds that police agencies use to pay for everything from body cameras to bulletproof vests.
"We're not going to cave to these threats," Milwaukee County Supervisor Marina Dimitrijevic said, promising a legal fight if the money is pulled.
CALIFORNIA GOP MOVES FORWARD WITH PLAN TO PUNISH SANCTUARY CITIES

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Attorney General Sessions speaks after he and Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly toured the ports of entry and met with Department of Justice and DHS personnel in El Paso, Texas, Thursday, April 20, 2017. (Ruben R. Ramirez/The El Paso Times via AP)

Playing off Sessions' recent comments that sanctuary cities undermine the fight against gangs, the Justice Department said the communities under financial threat are "crumbling under the weight of illegal immigration and violent crime."
After a raid led to the arrests of 11 MS-13 gang members in California's Bay Area "city officials seemed more concerned with reassuring illegal immigrants that the raid was unrelated to immigration than with warning other MS-13 members that they were next," the department said in a statement.
The federal law in question says state and local governments may not prohibit police or sheriffs from sharing information about a person's immigration status with federal authorities.
The money could be withheld in the future, or terminated, if local officials fail to prove they are following the law, wrote Alan R. Hanson, acting head of the Office of Justice Programs. The grant program is the leading source of federal justice funding to states and local communities.
Kevin de Leon, leader of California's state Senate, rejected the administration's demand, saying its policies are based on "principles of white supremacy" and not American values.

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FILE - In this Jan. 25, 2017 file photo, a woman holds a sign at a rally outside of City Hall in San Francisco. The Trump administration is moving beyond rhetoric in its effort to crack down on so-called sanctuary cities that refuse to cooperate with federal immigration authorities. The Justice Department is forcing nine communities to prove they are complying with an immigration law to continue receiving coveted law enforcement grant money. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File) (Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

"Their constant and systematic targeting of diverse cities and states goes beyond constitutional norms and will be challenged at every level," he said.
Leaders in Chicago and Cook County, which shared a grant of more than $2.3 million in 2016, dismissed the threat. So did the mayor's office in New York City, which received $4.3 million. The Justice Department singled out Chicago's rise in homicides and said New York's gang killings were the "predictable consequence of the city's soft-on-crime stance."
"This grandstanding shows how out of touch the Trump administration is with reality," said Seith Stein, a spokesman for the New York City mayor's office, calling the comments "alternative facts." Crime is low thanks to policies that encourage police cooperation with immigrant communities, he said.
The jurisdictions also include Clark County, Nevada; Miami-Dade County, Florida; and Milwaukee County, Wisconsin.
They were singled out in a May 2016 report by the Justice Department's inspector general that found local policies or rules could interfere with providing information to immigration agents. Following the report, the Obama administration warned cities that they could miss out on grant money if they did not comply with the law, but it never actually withheld funds.
The report pointed to a Milwaukee County rule that immigration detention requests be honored only if the person has been convicted of one felony or two misdemeanors, has been charged with domestic violence or drunken driving, is a gang member, or is on a terrorist watch list, among other constraints.
It also took issue with a New Orleans Police Department policy that it said might hinder communication with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. That city received nearly $266,000 in grant money through the program in fiscal year 2016. New Orleans has used Justice Department funding to pay for testing DNA kits, police body cameras, attorneys for domestic violence victims and other expenses.
Zach Butterworth, Mayor Mitch Landrieu's executive counsel and director of federal relations, said the city drafted its policies in consultation with federal immigration and Homeland Security officials. It was reviewing the Justice Department's letter.
"We don't think there's a problem," he said.
Butterworth said the New Orleans Police Department has seen a 28 percent drop in calls for service from people with limited English since November.
"People are scared, and because of that, they're less willing to report crime," Butterworth added.
Other places also insisted they were in compliance. Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo, the elected head of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, said the city and county were wrongly labeled sanctuary cities.
Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele said that community is hardly succumbing to violence.
"Milwaukee County has its challenges but they are not caused by illegal immigration," he said in a statement. "My far greater concern is the proactive dissemination of misinformation, fear, and intolerance."