Head of anti-abortion group promises to spend $41M during 2020 election cycle

The president of the nation’s largest anti-abortion advocacy group said Monday night it would spend $41 million in the 2020 cycle to re-elect President Trump and “pro-life” members of Congress while advocating for more abortion restrictions at the state level.

The goal, said Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the Susan B. Anthony List, is to eventually overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark Supreme Court decision that established a woman’s right to abortion.

“We’ll work closely with our local allies on the most ambitious pro-life legislative agenda in history to aggressively challenge, erode and finally overturn Roe v. Wade,” Dannenfelser said at the organization’s annual fundraising dinner Monday night in Washington.

“On top of this, we’ll be protecting our pro-life Senate majority, increasing our ranks in the House, and re-electing Donald Trump.”

https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/446779-head-of-anti-abortion-group-promises-to-spend-41m-during-2020-election

The mask drops at Al Jazeera

If any question remained about whether Al Jazeera is an independent news network or an organ of radical Islamist propaganda, it has now been put to rest.

The television news channel headquartered in Qatar was recently forced by the Federal Communications Commission to file a report disclosing its relationship to its foreign principal, in keeping with an amendment to last year’s National Defense Authorization Act. It transpires that the sole owner and shareholder of the parent company, Al Jazeera International, is none other than “The Emir of the State of Qatar,” listed explicitly in the legal documents as “Head of State.”

According to the regulations cited by the FCC, that means Al Jazeera is subject to the Foreign Agents Registration Act and should be subject to all the disclosure and restrictions that pertain to registered foreign agents operating in the U.S.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/op-eds/the-mask-drops-at-al-jazeera

California state bar moves to suspend Avenatti's law license, saying he poses 'substantial threat of harm to clients or the public'

The California State Bar, which oversees discipline for all California-licensed attorneys, issued a "consumer alert" Monday evening concerning Michael Avenatti, saying it was moving to suspend him from the practice of law because his alleged conduct "poses a substantial threat of harm to clients or the public."

The sudden development further accentuated Avenatti's dramatic public fall from grace – he was once celebrated in liberal media circles as a potential challenger to President Trump – as he faces numerous federal criminal charges in both California and New York courts for allegedly trying to blackmail the clothing giant Nike, impersonating a client, misappropriating client funds for personal purchases, and related matters.

"The State Bar of California has filed a petition to enroll this licensee on interim inactive status, alleging that the licensee’s conduct poses a substantial threat of harm to clients or the public," the State Bar said on its website, noting Avenatti is presumed innocent but that it expects to ultimately disbar him entirely from the practice of law. "The petition involves a charge that the licensee engaged in a major misappropriation of client funds."

Reached by Fox News late Monday, Avenatti responded, "The action by the CA State Bar is nothing more than a 'pile-on' and was entirely expected in light of the pending charges. I offered to cooperate with the Bar and instead they decided to issue a press release as a stunt. I look forward to being fully exonerated by the facts."

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/california-state-bar-moves-to-suspend-avenattis-law-license-saying-he-poses-substantial-threat-of-harm-to-clients-or-the-public

Russia denies withdrawing specialists from Venezuela, says cooperation is set to expand

Reports of a mass exodus of Russian military and technical specialists from Venezuela are not true, Russian officials have said. Cooperation with Caracas is going on as usual and is set to expand, they said.

In a Sunday story, the Wall Street Journal reported that Russian military and technical personnel had left Venezuela en-masse, with the numbers diminishing from some 1,000 to several dozens. The newspaper explained the alleged exodus with a lack of contracts and the fact that Moscow supposedly realized that Caracas lacks any funds to pay for the services of the Russian hi-tech and military hardware corporation Rostec.

On Monday, the corporation itself dismissed the report.

"The figures provided in the piece by the Wall Street Journal have been exaggerated tens of times. The numbers of our staff there has remained the same for many years," the press service of Rostec stated.

The corporation explained that aside from having a permanent representation, it sends groups of technical specialists "from time to time" to Venezuela to perform maintenance and repairs of equipment supplied by Russia. "Just recently, the maintenance of a batch of aircraft was completed," the press service added.

Russia's state military hardware exporter, Rosoboronexport, on its part, said that Moscow and Caracas are actually planning to increase cooperation. Russian companies "remain committed to deepening cooperation with the Ministry of Defense and other departments of the Venezuelan government," the exporter stated.

Shortly after the dismissal, US President Donald Trump announced on Twitter that Russia had "removed most of their people" from Venezuela. It was not immediately clear what he meant, since apart from the Russian companies' denial, there has been no official word from Moscow so far.

https://www.rt.com/news/461002-russian-specialists-stay-venezuela/

Mexican Officials Reject any Proposal Requiring Them to Keep Migrants in Mexico…

The hypocrisy and ideology of the Mexican position would indicate the tariffs are certain to take place. Factually, after Mexico has made their “red line” position clear, one could argue there’s no reason to go through the graduated timeline; the U.S. might as well just start applying the full 25% tariff amount on June 10th.

https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2019/06/03/mexican-officials-reject-any-proposal-requiring-them-to-keep-migrants-in-mexico/

Mexico Says It Is Holding Back 250K Migrants amid Tariff Threat

Mexico’s top diplomats issued a veiled threat to the U.S. government suggesting that without their efforts, 250,000 more Central American migrants could proceed north. The statement follows President Donald Trump’s threat of raising a 5 percent tariff if Mexico does not strengthen its borders.

On Monday evening, Mexico’s Foreign Relations Secretariat posted a statement claiming the country was effectively providing humanitarian visas to Central American migrants and strengthening immigration enforcement operations in southern Mexico.

“Without these important Mexican efforts in immigration matters, the U.S. would receive 250,000 additional migrants, only in 2019,” the prepared statement revealed. The veiled threat was buried at in the middle of a document where Mexican officials claimed to have deported more than 80,000 migrants and arrested 400 suspected smugglers in conjunction with U.S. officials.

https://www.breitbart.com/border/2019/06/03/mexico-says-it-is-holding-back-250k-migrants-amid-tariff-threat/