“It’s Dangerous and She Should Immediately Apologize for That” – DHS Secretary Chad Wolf Blasts Nancy Pelosi After She Compares Federal Agents to Nazis

Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf blasted Democrats and Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Sunday Morning Futures this morning.

Leftist terrorists and Marxist thugs have looted businesses and destroyed property in cities across the US for nearly two months now.

Instead of condemning the leftist rioting and violence Speaker Pelosi blamed law enforcement and compared federal agents to Nazi stormtroopers.

On Sunday Chad Wolf told Maria Bartiromo on Sunday Morning Futures that Speaker Pelosi needs to apologize to federal agents.

DHS Secretary Chad Wolf: The comment from Speaker Pelosi that our law enforcement officers, civil law enforcement officers are stormtroopers, or the Gestapo, or thugs is absolutely irresponsible. It’s dangerous and she should immediately apologize for that.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/07/dangerous-immediately-apologize-dhs-secretary-chad-wolf-blasts-nancy-pelosi-compared-federal-agents-nazis-video/

Soros Says 'Trump Will Disappear In 2020 Or Sooner' In Ominous Message

Billionaire progressive activist George Soros made an ominous comment at this week's World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

After explaining that he considers the Trump administration to be "a danger to the world," Soros then said he sees it as "a purely temporary phenomenon that will disappear in 2020 or even sooner," according to CNBC.

With no impeachment on the horizon, we are only left to speculate as to what he meant by 'even sooner.'

Soros - who reportedly lost around $1 billion trying to short the market after Trump's 2016 victory, also claimed that the US is now on course for nuclear war with North Korea.

"The fact of nuclear war is so horrendous that we are trying to ignore it, but it is real," he said, adding "Indeed, the United States is set on a course towards nuclear war by refusing to accept that [North] Korea has become a nuclear power."

"This creates a strong incentive for North Korea to develop its nuclear capacity with all possible speed, which in turn may induce the United States to use its nuclear superiority pre-emptively, in effect to start a nuclear war to prevent a nuclear war, obviously a self-contradictory strategy."

"Not only the survival of open society but the survival of our entire civilization is at stake," he continued. "The rise of leadership such as Kim Jong Un in North Korea and Donald Trump in the United States have much to do with this."

Soros recommended a "carrot and stick" approach which would incentivize North Korea for "suspending further development of nuclear weapons."

Soros also compared Trump to Russian President Vladimir Putin, claiming without evidence that the US President would like to create a "mafia state" which suppresses individual rights - but that he's prevented "because the Constitution and the institutions and a vibrant society won’t allow it."

According to the billionaire, he's using his foundation to "protect the democratic achievements of the past" (like slavery?), and will be mobilizing his forces to help defeat Trump.

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/soros-says-trump-will-disappear-2020-or-sooner-ominous-message

Chicago Mayor Lightfoot: ‘We Will Not Allow Federal Troops in Our City’

Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said she would not allow President Donald Trump to send federal police officers to quell protests in the city of Chicago.

Lightfoot said, “This is not about working with the Trump administration. For decades now in major cities across the country, FBI, DEA, ATF, those agents have been in our districts and work in concert with local law enforcement to help support a number of efforts, not the least of which is violence in our cities. So the opportunity presented itself under the management of the U.S. attorney here. I stress that because that’s unlike what we saw in Portland, where the Trump administration parachuted in these additional federal agents without consulting anybody locally and ignoring the local U.S. attorney.”

“Very different circumstance here in Chicago,” she continued. “I have drawn a very hard line. We’ll not allow federal troops in our city. We will not tolerate unnamed agents taking people off the street, violating their rights and holding them in custody. That’s not happening here in Chicago. So I have drawn a very, very tight line and made it clear to every federal authority that I’ve spoken with, and they understand that if they cross that line, we will not hesitate to use every tool at our disposal to stop troops and unwanted agents in our city.”

https://www.breitbart.com/clips/2020/07/26/chicago-mayor-lightfoot-we-will-not-allow-federal-troops-in-our-city/

Natalie Portman, Joaquin Phoenix Lead Hollywood Call to Defund Police and End ‘Police Terror’

Hollywood celebrities are renewing their calls to defund police departments around the country by throwing their supporting behind a new petition from the Movement 4 Black Lives that is demanding an “end to police terror.”

Stars including Debra Messing, Natalie Portman, John Legend, Jane Fonda, Kendrick Sampson, and Joaquin Phoenix have added their names to the petition, which is urging local politicians to slash police spending and to increase funding for community programs and other local initiatives

“We join in solidarity with the freedom fighters in Minneapolis, Louisville, and across the United States. And we call for the end to police terror,” the petition reads.

Actress Debra Messing promoted the petition in a tweet Sunday in which she also thanked Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors, the Hollywood writer-actress who described herself and fellow BLM activists as “trained Marxists” in a 2015 interview.

Please join me and sign this petition. Thank you @patrisse ullors for your leadership. https://t.co/apz67U6V6n

— Debra Messing✍🏻 (@DebraMessing) July 26, 2020

The petition outlines three demands for local politicians:

Vote no on all increases to police budgets

Vote yes to decrease police spending and budgets

Vote yes to increase spending on Health care, education and community programs that keep us safe.

The petition also calls out immigration enforcement for defunding.

“Black communities are living in persistent fear of being killed by state authorities like police, immigration agents or even white vigilantes who are emboldened by state actors,” the petition reads. “Despite continued profiling, harassment, terror and killing of Black communities, local and federal decision-makers continue to invest in the police, which leaves Black people vulnerable and our communities no safer.”

The Movement 4 Black Lives is an umbrella racial justice group that includes Black Lives Matter. On its official site, the group describes itself as “anti-capitalist,” saying that “we believe and understand that Black people will never achieve liberation under the current global racialized capitalist system.”

Other celebrities who have signed the petition include Taraji P. Henson, Rooney Mara, Dakota Johnson, and Chloe Grace Moretz.

https://www.breitbart.com/entertainment/2020/07/26/natalie-portman-joaquin-phoenix-lead-hollywood-call-to-defund-police-and-end-police-terror/

McCarthy: Dems ‘Have a China Problem — ‘I Don’t Know What China and the Communist Party Has on the Democrats, But It’s Being Very Effective’

During an appearance on Fox News Channel’s “Justice” on Saturday, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) criticized his House Democrat colleagues for their inaction on China, particularly with regards to the origins of the coronavirus pandemic.

McCarthy noted House Democrats’ refusal to allow legislation critical of China and described the situation as Democrats having a “China problem.”

“The Democrats who control Congress are doing the exact same thing they are doing it Portland, Chicago and New York,” he said. “They’re doing nothing. So if you want to feel safe and secure, you want to have a change not only in Congress but across this country. Because what you’re finding today is not only did China lie to the world about this virus. Here we are as Americans using the ingenuity that the innovative spirit to solve this problem, we are coming on vaccines very soon and therapeutics. The President has done an amazing job with this. Now, we’re finding China is trying to hack into these companies. So I produced a Bill that would sanction anybody who is doing that because it slows the process down. It came to the floor. And you know what happened? The Democrats voted against it.”

“Not only did they vote against it, the chairman of Armed Services said it’s not China’s fault with this virus,” McCarthy continued. “Then you watch that Adam Schiff said it’s not China’s fault. Then you’ve watched their own Speaker of the House. Nancy Pelosi hold bills up to hold China accountable to not bring them to the floor. The Democrats have a China problem. I don’t know what China and the Communist Party has on the Democrats, but it’s being very effective, that they’re holding back any accountability to China and ability for us to go in not only to punish them for the virus, but they’re actually slowing the process down for a vaccine that they won’t punish individuals when they want to hack into it.”

https://www.breitbart.com/clips/2020/07/26/mccarthy-dems-have-a-china-problem-i-dont-know-what-china-and-the-communist-party-has-on-the-democrats-but-its-being-very-effective/

Seattle Police Chief Warns Residents They Are on Their Own After Democrat Politicians Block Them from Stopping Rioters – FULL LETTER

Seattle Police Department

July 24. 2020

Dear Business Owner and/or Resident:

Please know that the Seattle Police Department is

committed to addressing life safety incidents and calls

for service. and responding to ongoing demonstrations and

unrest in the city.

Please also know that the City Council Ordinance 119805

Crowd Control Tool goes into effect this weekend on

Sunday. July 26, 2020. This ordinance bans Seattle Police

officers the use of less lethal tools. including pepper

spray that is commonly used to disperse crowds that have

turned violent. Simply put. the legislation gives officers

NO ability to safely intercede to preserve property in the

midst of a large, violent crowd.

It is important to bring to your attention that yesterday.

I sent the City Council a letter ensuring them that as the

Chief of Police, I have done my due diligence of informing

them numerous times of the foreseeable impact of this

ordinance on upcoming events. The letter is attached for

your reference.

For these reasons, Seattle Police will have an adjusted

deployment in response to any demonstrations this weekend

– as I will never ask our officers to risk their personal

safety to protect property without the tools to do so in a

safe way.

Sincerely,

Carmen Best

Chief of Police

https://www.investmentwatchblog.com/seattle-police-chief-warns-residents-they-are-on-their-own-after-democrat-politicians-block-them-from-stopping-rioters-full-letter/

Roundup cancer attorney pleads guilty to extortion attempt

A Virginia lawyer who helped represent the first Roundup cancer plaintiff to take Monsanto to trial pleaded guilty on Friday to trying to extort $200 million from a chemical compound supplier to Monsanto.

Timothy Litzenburg, 38, admitted to a scheme in which he and another lawyer threatened to inflict substantial “financial and reputational harm” on the supplier unless that company paid the two attorneys $200 million disguised as a “consulting agreement.”

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Litzenburg allegedly told the company that if they paid the money, he was willing to “take a dive” during a deposition, intentionally undermining the prospects for future plaintiffs to try to sue.

Litzenburg was charged with one count each of attempted extortion, conspiracy and transmission of interstate communications with intent to extort. He pleaded guilty to one count of transmitting interstate communications with the intent to extort.

Lawyer Daniel Kincheloe, 41, pleaded guilty to the same charge for participating in the scheme. The men are scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 18 in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia.

“This is a case where two attorneys blew well past the line of aggressive advocacy and crossed deep into the territory of illegal extortion, in a brazen attempt to enrich themselves by extracting millions of dollars from a multinational company,” Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski said in a statement. He said that the plea shows that “when crimes are committed, members of the bar, like all members of the public, will be held accountable for their actions.”

Litzenburg was one of the attorneys for Dewayne “Lee” Johnson leading up to Johnson’s 2018 trial against Monsanto, which resulted in a $289 million jury award in Johnson’s favor. (The judge in the case lowered the verdict and the case is currently under appeal.)

The trial was the first of three that have taken place against Monsanto over allegations that the company’s glyphosate-based herbicides such as Roundup cause non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Monsanto, and its German owner Bayer AG, have lost all three trials to date but are appealing the verdicts.

Though Litzenburg had helped prepare Johnson for trial, he was not allowed to participate during the actual event because of concerns about his behavior held by The Miller Firm, which was his employer at the time.

The Miller firm subsequently fired Litzenburg and filed a lawsuit in early 2019 alleging Litzenburg engaged in self-dealing, and “disloyal and erratic conduct.” Litzenburg responded with a counter-claim. The parties negotiated a confidential settlement.

The criminal complaint against Litzenburg did not name the company Litzenburg tried to extort, but said that he contacted the company in September of 2019 year stating that he was preparing a lawsuit that would allege the company supplied chemical compounds used by Monsanto to create Roundup and that the company knew the ingredients were carcinogenic but had failed to warn the public.

According to the federal charges, Litzenburg told a lawyer for the company he was trying to extort that the company should enter into a “consulting arrangement” with him so as to create a conflict of interest that would prevent him from filing the threatened litigation.

https://usrtk.org/monsanto-roundup-trial-tracker/roundup-cancer-patients-attorney-pleads-guilty-to-extortion-attempt/

Schiff Condemns U.S. For ‘Escalation’ By Stopping Chinese Spying; Other Democrats Accused Of Covering For Chinese Communist Party

Numerous top Democrats were accused of running interference for the Chinese Communist Party this week over comments that they made on a wide range of issues.

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA), who repeatedly lied during the Russia investigation, condemned the Trump administration late this week for shutting down the Chinese consulate in Houston.

The State Department said that the consulate was closed because China had been engaging “for years in massive illegal spying and influence operations throughout the United States against U.S. government officials and American citizens.”

Schiff acknowledged that China engages in criminal activity against the United States, but said that the Trump administration’s move to close the consulate was a “very dramatic and sudden escalation,” and that it was “all about politics.”

On Tuesday, House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith (D-WA) was accused of defending the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) by claiming that it was not their responsibility to warn America about the pandemic. China repeatedly lied about the pandemic and delayed telling the world what it knew

“It’s not actually their job to warn the American people,” Smith said. “It’s the president’s job to warn the American people.”

“Talk about someone who has done a horrible job of warning us of the true dangers of the virus,” Smith continued. “You don’t like mandates? Okay, that’s fine. Let’s have the leader of our country tell us what we ought to do to protect ourselves. He is the one who is not warning the American people of the true danger of this virus.”

The coronavirus, which originated in China, has caused significant economic damage to most nations around the world, and has led to at least 640,000 deaths

http://www.scoopyweb.com/2020/07/schiff-condemns-us-for-escalation-by.html

Chinese Oil Giants Sell $56 Billion Worth Of Pipelines

Chinese state-owned oil and gas majors have sold pipeline networks worth a total $56 billion as part of a government plan to restructure the nation’s energy industry by setting up a separate pipeline operator.

Bloomberg reports that the assets were sold above book value, quenching investor concerns that the government could try to shortchange the energy giants. PetroChina, the report said, got 1.2 times the book value of its pipeline assets, and Sinopec got 1.4 times the book value of its assets.

The assets are being bought by the new state-owned entity, dubbed China Oil & Gas Network, or PipeChina, which was set up last December. The latest deal under this restructuring drive was only announced yesterday, for a natural gas pipeline that was the property of Sinopec. The state giant sold it to PipeChina for $457 million.

The purpose of PipeChina was to combine all midstream assets of the state oil and gas companies into a separate entity in order to make these companies focus more on their upstream activities. This fit in with the country’s plans to boost local oil and gas production in order to reduce its reliance on imports. According to analysts, PipeChina could be worth between $80 billion and $105 billion if it went public.

As part of the reform, China will also open up access to its oil and gas pipeline infrastructure to foreign and private oil and gas producers. The move is seen as the biggest energy reform in the country since 1998 when a restructuring round led to the creation of Sinopec and PetroChina.

“We see these announcements as positive for the companies as the valuations are market friendly,” Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. analysts said in a note quoted by Bloomberg. Following the deals, both PetroChina and Sinopec were likely to reward their shareholders with special dividends, which was more good news for said shareholders. The two will also receive minority stakes in the new company.

https://www.investmentwatchblog.com/chinese-oil-giants-sell-56-billion-worth-of-pipelines/

Friends of the IDF Lobby Group Secures Forgivable US COVID Loans for Israeli Soldiers

A non-profit organization that supports IDF soldiers received a $2.5 million PPP loan under the guise of a “religious organization,” but adds up to a mere pittance of the continued bonanza of American tax-payer dollars flowing to the apartheid state.

A non-profit organization that “that provides for wellbeing of the soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF)” was awarded a $2.5 million forgivable PPP loan by the (Small Business Administration) SBA. The Friends of Israeli Defense Forces (FIDF) is the only organization “authorized to represent the IDF across the United States and Panama” where they claim to operate 20 regional offices, with a P.O. Box in New York.

The FIDF’s loan was filed under the category of “religious organization” in the SBA’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan data, despite the NPO being listed as a Y12 organization under the IRS’ NTEE classification system for non-profits: a “Mutual/Membership Benefit Organization,” which (in the case of FIDF) raises funds for issues relating to “foreign affairs and national security,” according to the tax-exempt organizations database published by ProPublica.

The FIDF is the largest donor organization to the IDF and its CEO, 33-year IDF veteran Maj. Gen. (res.) Meir Klifi-Amir, receives an annual salary of over $1 million. Klifi served as Netanyahu’s military secretary before retiring in 2010 and working as a security consultant, specializing in “national security and strategic planning for governments and agencies worldwide.” He was appointed to the top post of the FIDF in 2014. Questioned about the untoward “bonuses” of half a million dollars he was given by the NPO, Klifi justifies it by asserting that he “manages to raise three times as much as the second largest organization” and claims the job is one that “nobody is enthusiastic about,” despite perks like flying business class as a part of his contract.

The New York-based 501c3 organization raises the vast majority of its average annual haul of $113 million (over the period of Klifi’s tenure) through extravagant gala events and functions attended by major celebrities like Barbra Streisand, Larry King and Arnold Schwarzenegger, among others. Last October, the FIDF National Gala raised “a record” $37 million from top NY real estate leaders. “A Night of Heroes” featured a delegation of 20 IDF soldiers and several high profile guests. Klifi delivered a speech in which he called the IDF “an extraordinary force of humanity. Guided by its official ethical code, the Spirit of the IDF, which holds human life above all else.”

Charity for Murder

The IDF’s track record of holding “human life above all else” is laughable, at best. What Klifi calls an “extraordinary force for humanity” has engaged in a litany of human rights abuses and extrajudicial murder against the Palestinian people over decades and is the prime agent of Palestinian oppression by the Israeli state.

From aiding the wholesale dispossession of Palestinian lands by Israeli settlers to killing children with targeted headshots, the Israeli Defense Forces are anything but a boon for humanity. A timeline counting back to the year 2000 compares the number of Palestinians and Israelis killed since the Second Intifada began in that year. The tally shows the true mission of IDF in the world and exactly what the FIDF’s mission to “provide hope, purpose, and life-changing support for [IDF] soldiers” really entails.

In May, the U.S. Senate approved a $38 billion-dollar package for Israel’s Defense establishment, allocating $3.8 billion a year over the next decade to “upgrade most of Israel’s fighter aircraft, improve its ground forces’ mobility and strengthen its missile defense systems.” The largest military assistance deal in American or Israeli history co-sponsored by Senator Marco Rubio, however, seems to have stalled in the U.S. Congress.

https://www.mintpressnews.com/friends-of-israeli-defense-forces-secures-us-ppp-loan-israeli-soldiers/269774/

Facebook Offers $650 Million to Settle Facial Recognition Lawsuit

Illinois has a state law that protects residents’ biometric information. Five years ago a federal lawsuit was filed against Facebook for violating this law by using facial recognition technology in its “tag suggestion” services. Earlier this week a judge decided that $550M was not enough to settle this case so the company has agreed to pay $650M.

From MSN:

A $550 million dollar settlement was not enough for Illinois Facebook users who allegedly had their privacy rights violated. Instead, the social media giant has agreed to pay $650 million.

Illinois Facebook users could be eligible for up to $400 as part of the new settlement in the class action suit, depending on how many people file claims, according to court documents filed this week in a California federal court.

The settlement stems from a federal lawsuit filed in Illinois five years ago that alleges the social media giant violated a state law protecting residents’ biometric information. Biometric information can include data from facial, fingerprint and iris scans.

Illinois has one of the strictest biometric privacy laws in the country, mandating that companies collecting such information obtain prior consent from consumers, detail how they’ll use it and specify how long the information will be kept. The law also allows private citizens, rather than just government entities, to file lawsuits over the issue.

Regardless, Facebook yuckiness continues. Despite the high cost to settle this lawsuit, the company recently filed a patent for a system that hides audio clips in TV ads in order to trigger phones to start recording background noise. The company is also capitalizing on the pandemic by promoting their Virtual Reality (VR) services despite serious health risks and warnings with the technology, especially to children.

https://www.activistpost.com/2020/07/facebook-offers-650-million-to-settle-facial-recognition-lawsuit.html

Mnuchin: It 'wouldn't be fair to use taxpayer dollars to pay more people to sit home'

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin took a hard line Sunday against the $600 increase in unemployment benefits that was a part of the last coronavirus relief measure, saying, “It just wouldn’t be fair to use taxpayer dollars to pay more people to sit home than they would working and get a job.”

GOP lawmakers have taken a hard line against the enhancement as they negotiate with the White House over a new relief measure. The initial bill won blowback from Republicans who said some people would make more money not working than going to work.

The unemployment benefits are slated to expire at the end of the month, even as the nation deals with a jobless rate of 11.1 percent. Democrats want to extend the increase in the new bill, arguing it will cause more damage to end or limit the enhancement.

The White House and Senate GOP have struggled to reach a deal on a package because of various differences, including the inclusion of a payroll tax cut demanded by President Trump.

While a number of Republicans opposed that measure, Mnuchin on Sunday blamed Democrats, telling "Fox News Sunday" host Chris Wallace, “It was very clear the Democrats were not going to give us a payroll tax cut.”

Wallace brought up the fact that several leading Senate Republicans were also opposed to a payroll tax cut, including Senate Majority Whip John Thune (R-S.D.) and Sens. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), to which Mnuchin responded, “There were other Republicans that supported it.”

He then said another round of direct payments to Americans would be more effective.

“The direct payments are a much quicker way of effectively giving everyone a tax cut — much quicker than the payroll tax cut,” he said, adding that “June retail sales were 1 percent higher than June of last year, so all that money we pumped into the economy, it worked. People went out and spent.”

Mnuchin expressed optimism a deal could be reached in the House to pass the Senate’s version of the relief package, saying liability protections for schools remained a key issue for any legislation.

“We can move very quickly with the Democrats on these issues,” he told Wallace. “If there are issues that take longer, we’ll deal with those as well.”

https://thehill.com/homenews/coronavirus-report/509062-mnuchin-it-wouldnt-be-fair-to-use-taxpayer-dollars-to-pay-more

Mandelblit questions legality of funding for Sara Netanyahu’s attorney fees

Associates of premier lash out at attorney general over position, say he’s ‘decided to topple the prime minister at any cost and is charging at him like a train with no brakes’

Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit said Sunday that the Permits Committee at the State Comptroller’s Office should check whether it was legal for Sara Netanyahu, the prime minister’s wife, to accept financial aid from the premier’s cousin to cover the costs of her attorneys in a criminal case against her.

In a statement to the High Court of Justice, Mandelblit questioned whether Sara Netanyahu’s acceptance of $270,000 from Nathan Milikowsky was tantamount to an unlawful, indirect gift to the prime minister, and said it should be investigated.

In response, a statement from “associates” of the prime minister said Mandelblit had “lost all restraint” and has “decided to topple the prime minister at any cost and is charging at him like a train with no brakes.”

The statement called Mandelblit’s reasoning “baseless” and alleged that his decisions over the past years have been “rife with contradictions” and always went against the premier.

Earlier this month, the Permits Committee forced Netanyahu to return $30,000 received from Milikowsky to fund his own legal defense in the three corruption cases he is accused in.

In that case, Mandelblit had told the committee he opposed Netanyahu’s request to approve the payment, saying the donation was tantamount to an illicit gift.

He made similar arguments about an NIS 10 million ($2.9 million) donation from Spencer Partrich, a Michigan-based real estate magnate, to Netanyahu. The committee had asked Mandelblit for his opinion on the matter because Partrich also happens to be a witness in one of the cases against the premier.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/mandelblit-questions-legality-of-funding-for-sara-netanyahus-attorney-fees/