Jason Kessler, Charlottesville rally organizer, says he's in hiding

Jason Kessler, who organized the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Va., told Fox News late Thursday he's in hiding after getting a string of death threats.

Last Saturday, a car rammed into a crowd of counter-protesters in Charlottesville, killing one woman and injuring some 19 other people. The next day, protesters chased Kessler from a press conference he was trying to hold.

The nationalist blogger maintains his group is not a collection of white supremacists, but rather a “civil rights group.” He said he graduated from the University of Virginia, voted for Barack Obama in 2008 and once attended an Occupy Wall Street rally in Charlottesville.
His grievances are rooted in what he calls the identity politics of today. “Some are the discriminatory policies of affirmative action, college admissions, history books being rewritten, blaming American whites for slavery,” when it was a worldwide institution.
“Every culture had slavery,” he said.
He also blamed the “existential crisis of immigration, mass immigration from third world countries.”
Kessler said he “never met” James Alex Fields Jr., the suspected driver in the deadly crash. As for the death of the woman, Heather Heyer, Kessler said: “no comment.”
In preparation for last Saturday’s rally, he met repeatedly with Charlottesville police and was assigned a police liaison. He says she went over the city’s safety plan with him, let him see it, but would not let him photograph it. He said that the captain “let slip” that in preparation for the rally, the city and police “did not use government servers because they did not want to get FOIA’d” — referring to the Freedom of Information Act.
He said he has received no calls, no visits from police or federal investigators since the event. “I’ve done nothing wrong,” Kessler said.
Kessler said the organization’s funding came from “donations to our PayPal account, before it was shut down.” Now, “we fund ourselves, because most of us have or used to have jobs, before this.”
He said that police had given the white nationalists a specific entry way to the park. But that as they arrived at the park at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday, the road to that entrance was blocked by police. The caravan of shuttle busses that the nationalists had rented had to detour to the opposite side of the park, where most of the Antifa demonstrators were positioned.
That was the point at which tensions rose meteorically, he said. They had to pass through Antifa, Black Lives Matter, and other opponents at close range.
The body armor, clubs and helmets his people wore during the rally were strictly defensive, “for our own safety,” he said.

U.S. Takes Firm Stance During NAFTA Negotiations, New Zealand Possibly Signing Free Trade Deal

New Zealand’s Trade Minister Todd McClay speaks with media during the 3rd Intersessional Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Ministerial Meeting in Hanoi, Vietnam May 22, 2017. REUTERS/Kham

U.S. trade representatives are looking to make big changes to NAFTA.
American delegates laid down hard lines during the first day of formal negotiations, saying they would not settle for ‘cosmetic changes’ to the trade agreement.
In the past, President Trump has called the decades old trade agreement the worst deal in history.
Meanwhile, the New Zealand trade minister says there is a good chance of signing a free-trade deal with other nations despite the U.S. pulling out.
Todd McClay said the 11 remaining members of the Trans-Pacific Partnership are committed to quickly completing the deal with only minor changes.
He announced the New Zealand government approved a mandate to push ahead with negotiations Thursday.
However, TTP partners say the deal could still face many hurdles as the New Zealand elections will be held next month.

Christopher Columbus Statue in N.Y. May Not Receive Landmark Status

A Christopher Columbus statue in New York may or may not receive landmark status.
The White Plains Historic Preservation Committee will be holding a public forum on the issue.
This comes after the idea of whether the explorer is worth celebrating sparked controversy in July.
Many Italian Americans supported the statue, which was built by the “Sons of Italy” more than 100 years ago.
However, one local argued Columbus was a slave owner who killed Native Americans.
Local law says a statue can receive landmark status if it has special value or is part of the cultural, political, or social history of the city, state, or nation.

Planned Parenthood Cartoons ( Bringing Down America )

Herman Cain: Trump's critics can't make 'racism' claim stick

Critics and the liberal media can’t make a claim of racism stick against President Trump, former Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain said Wednesday on “Hannity.”

Speaking amid the controversy surrounding Trump's comments about the racially-charged violence in Charlottesville, Va., over the weekend, Cain said attempts from the president's opponents to change the narrative have failed.

“They couldn’t make ‘Russia, Russia, Russia,’ stick. They couldn’t make ‘refugees, refugees, refugees,’ stick. So, now the desperate attempt is ‘racism, racism, racism,’” Cain said.
“But here’s what they don’t understand: the American people are not stupid. Those people that are supporting Donald Trump because of the results he is getting and he is trying to get are not going to persuade Trump supporters to move over to the dark side. They have not just crossed the line, they’ve gone over the cliff. And the only people that are going over the cliff with them are those people that are just as deceived and deranged as they are. That’s what this is all about,” Cain said. “It’s their desperate attempt to try and get people to follow them off the cliff.”
TRUMP 'ENTIRELY CORRECT'' TO BLAME BOTH SIDES FOR CHARLOTTESVILLE VIOLENCE, WHITE HOUSE SAYS
Those attempts, Cain said, derive from what he's called “TDS” – Trump Derangement Syndrome.
“They are never going to get over it,” he said. “They are still stuck in ‘Hillary should have won.’ She should not have won because she was not the best candidate. They’re stuck in Trump Derangement Syndrome.”
Cain added: “It’s sad, it’s unfortunate and it doesn’t help this country. But that’s what they are trying to do, is to destroy and divide this nation with all of this racist rhetoric that they are continuing to put out there.”
Despite the rhetoric surrounding recent events, Cain said, the American people “are not stupid.”
“They see past this,” he stated. “The only ones that are following this racist rhetoric and this racist indication of what they think defines America are the people who are already predisposed to their position. Here’s what they don’t understand: Violence does not define America. Violence does not define who we are. They don’t understand that. The liberal media believes that if they say it often enough, over and over and over, that more people are going to fall into their camp but that simply is not happening.”

Oregon abortion law funds procedures for illegal immigrants (Bringing Down America)

Oregon has passed the nation’s most progressive abortion bill, requiring state insurers to provide free abortions for all, including illegal immigrants.

Gov. Kate Brown, a Democrat, signed the historic health bill Tuesday, after the Legislature approved it in July. It would require Oregon insurance companies to cover reproductive procedures, all on the taxpayers' dime.

The $10.2 million bill takes effect immediately, allocating $500,000 for abortions for the estimated 22,873 women eligible under the Oregon health pan, the Washington Times reported. This will include abortions for immigrants who are otherwise ineligible under the state’s Medicaid program.
Opponents argued that the bill will force people who morally object to abortions to assume some of the costs. They also predicted that lawsuits will quickly follow, arguing that the new law violates the Weldon Amendment, a 2004 congressional provision that prohibits Health and Human Services funds for states that discriminate against health care providers that refuse to cover abortions, the Washington Times further reported.
Providence Health Care, a nonprofit Catholic health care provider that is also the only insurer operating in Oregon that does not cover abortions, will have its expenses reimbursed by the state.
Two other states, California and New York, also require state insurers to cover abortion.

Pres. Trump Disbands 2 Economic Advisory Councils

U.S. President Donald Trump answers questions about his responses to the violence, injuries and deaths at the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville as he talks to the media in the lobby of Trump Tower in Manhattan, New York, U.S., August 15, 2017. (REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque)

President Trump is pulling the plug on two of his economic advisory councils.
In a tweet Wednesday, the president said quote, “rather than putting pressure on the business people of the Manufacturing Council and Strategy and Policy Forum, I am ending both.”
This comes after several executives have stepped down from the president’s Manufacturing Council, which is separate from the Economic Advisory Panels.
President Trump blasted the CEO’s Tuesday, saying he has many others that can take their place.

Baltimore Removes 4 Confederate Statues, N.Y. Church Set to Remove Another

Workers remove a monument dedicated to the Confederate Women of Maryland early Wednesday, Aug. 16, 2017, after it was taken down in Baltimore. Local news outlets reported that workers hauled several monuments away, days after a white nationalist rally in Virginia turned deadly. (Jerry Jackson/The Baltimore Sun via AP)

 Bringing Down America.

Days after the deadly unrest in Virginia, confederate monuments in the city of Baltimore are removed overnight.
On Monday the Baltimore City Council voted unanimously to remove the statues immediately, and crews began taking them down late Tuesday.
The city’s mayor says by 5:30 a.m. local time all four of Baltimore’s confederate statues had been removed.
Local reports say the statues removed in Baltimore include the Roger B. Taney Monument, and monuments honoring Generals Robert E. Lee and Thomas Stonewall Jackson.
Meanwhile, another General Robert E. Lee plaque at a New York church in Brooklyn is set to be removed.
Officials for Saint Johns Episcopal Church in Fort Hamilton say custodians will take down the 105-year-old plaque sometime Wednesday.
It marks where the general planted a maple tree in the early 1840s while stationed there.
He was among many military men who allegedly worshipped at Saint Johns, and gathered in a nearby structure that predates the current building.
The issue was brought up by protesters demanding the streets General Lee Avenue and Stonewall Jackson Drive be renamed.