Category: Uncategorized

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Trump Supporter Pulls Gun On Crowd At Portland March

Tense moments at a Portland march yesterday as a right-wing agitator and Donald Trump supporter pulled a gun with a large capacity magazine on the crowd.

From Raw Story:

Michael Strickland, the right-wing agitator and Trump supporter seen in this video brandishing a gun at a peaceful Black Lives Matter rally, has been charged with two class A felonies after being arrested and initially released Friday morning on his own recognizance without bail.

At his arraignment today at the Multnomah County Courthouse in downtown Portland Strickland was hit with two felony counts of “unlawful use of a weapon,” as well as misdemeanor charges of menacing and disorderly conduct.

The hearing took place on the same block where Strickland pulled a Glock 27, swept the gun at the crowd while yelling “Get the hell back!” He subsequently outfitted the gun with a large capacity magazine.

At the scene, Strickland said he was only armed in self-defense. But the Multnomah County District Attorney revealed in court that Strickland had six magazines of ammunition on him.

In videos of the incident, Strickland also appears to be far out of the range of any protesters when he menaced them with his gun. Some protesters can be seen facing Strickland with their hands up and urging him to put the gun away and to leave.

As reported first by The Raw Story, the police found a live round chambered in his gun. In its case, the state also said there was an undercover cop in the crowd threatened by Strickland.

That led a judge to slap Strickland with $250,000 in bail and he was returned to custody in the Multnomah County jail. If convicted of the two felonies, he could be sentenced for a maximum of 20 years prison on each count.

The gun comes out in the first few seconds of the video.

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Dale Hansen Speaks Truth About The Dallas Shooting

Sportscaster Dale Hansen of Dallas’ WFAA has a history of speaking truth to his audience.

And in the wake of last night’s deadly shooting, he unleashed an unfiltered white light on the facts of what happened in downtown Dallas and how we got there.

You have to watch this.

Text of the video:

The Rangers lost to Minnesota last night, and I’m almost embarrassed to tell you I know that.

I’m in my office, watching the game, and then all hell breaks loose in our city.

Reporters in our newsroom were scrambling. Producers were yelling. We turned off the lights, just in case… and I kept watching the game.

It was another shooting in America. It was in our city this time and police officers were being killed, but it was a couple of blocks away and the Rangers were being shut out.

This is what I have become. This is what too many of us have been for a long time now.

We’ll fly our flags at half-mast, we’ll say all the right things, we’ll make promises we won’t keep, and then, nothing will change.

Our lives will go on, while the lives of so many others won’t, because we expect it now and we accept it.

It wasn’t this way when I was a boy, but it is life in America now.

But shooting a police officer is not the answer to a problem that too many people deny: Police officers are not like you and me — they’re better.

They run into the darkened alley where we won’t go. They run into the buildings we run from. They look for the person we try to hide from.

But they’re not allowed to make the human mistakes that we all make, because they have the power of God strapped to their hip and the authority to use it.

When we talk about blindly supporting the blue and when we try to show our support for these brave men and women, we fail to realize we can’t defend them all and we shouldn’t defend them all.

A white man in America doesn’t die for selling cigarettes on a street corner, he gets a ticket. A white man in America doesn’t die for driving with a broken tail light, he gets a ticket, too. And the officers who abuse the badge and the power they have should be punished, but too many times they are not.

But what possible purpose does opening fire on the streets of Dallas do to right the wrongs too many people deal with every day?

As one of those on the city streets last night told a reporter, the shooter might have killed the good cops.

A person of color has always hated to be painted with a broad brush — to suffer the indignity of the stereotype so many people claim as fact. And then that killer last night did exactly the same thing — shooting at anyone in blue, because don’t we all really know, they’re all the same.

America’s problem has come to Dallas now, and our lieutenant governor blames the peaceful protestors, because our lieutenant governor is a fool.

It was not just an attack on the Dallas police, it was an attack on our basic humanity and the common decency we used to cherish in America.

But that’s all gone now — we lost that a long time ago.

The Rangers lost last night, 10 to 1. And I’m almost embarrassed to tell you I know that.

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NYPD Says No To Donald Trump “Photo Op” In Wake Of Dallas Police Deaths

The New York Police Department said “no” to presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump regarding a request to speak at an NYPD roll call on Friday in light of the deaths of five Dallas police officers Thursday night.

According to the New York Daily News, Trump’s campaign reached out to the NYPD through his head of security, Keith Schiller. The specific request was to address a roll call at the NYPD Midtown North Precinct, but Police Commissioner Bill Bratton was unequivocal in his answer.

“Our interest is staying out of the politics of the moment, and not to provide photo ops,” Bratton told reporters.

“If Mr. Trump wants to speak to me, I would be happy to brief him on what we’re doing.

“If Sen. Clinton wants to speak to me, I would very happy to brief her on what we’re doing. But we are not in the business of providing photo ops for our candidates.”

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Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick: Dallas Protesters Are “Hypocrites” For Running From Shooter

At a time when the city of Dallas, in fact the entire country, is working to unite and come together, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick chose to divide his constituents by calling the peaceful protesters last night “hypocrites” during a Fox News interview

From Dallas News:

“All those protesters last night, they turned around and ran the other way expecting the men and women in blue to protect them. What hypocrites!” an audibly emotional Patrick said.

As Gov. Greg Abbott issued on open letter calling on Texans to calmly unite and come together, Patrick took a more combative tone. He blamed Black Lives Matter protesters for the violence against police and said people “with big mouths are creating situations like we saw last night.”

“We have to have their back,” Patrick said of police. “And I’m sick and tired of those who are protesting our police and putting their lives in danger.”

It’s important to note the Black Lives Matter march in downtown Dallas last night was a peaceful protest bringing attention to the recent deaths of black men in Louisiana and Minnesota this week.

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Massachusetts Becomes 19th State To Enact LGBT Non-Discrimination Protections

Via The Human Rights Campaign:

Today, Massachusetts Republican Governor Charlie Baker signed into law legislation extending commonsense, non-discrimination protections to transgender residents and visitors to the state. While Massachusetts state law already prohibits discrimination against transgender people in housing and employment, the new law extends these same crucial protections to public accommodations, such as access to restaurants, malls, restrooms, and locker rooms.

“By signing this bipartisan legislation into law, Governor Baker has joined the growing list of fair-minded Republicans who are standing up for equality,” said HRC President Chad Griffin. “Equality is not a Republican or Democratic value, it’s an American value. This crucially important measure will help ensure transgender Bay State residents and visitors are protected from discrimination in public spaces.”

Massachusetts becomes the 19th state with non-discrimination protections on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity in public accommodations, housing, and employment. In addition, similar protections exist in more than 100 cities across the country, including Atlanta, Dallas, and Louisville.

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Toledo’s Take The Cake Bakery Refuses To Sell Birthday Cake To Lesbian

A bakery in Toledo, Ohio, has refused to sell a birthday cake after viewing the customer’s Facebook page and realizing she is lesbian and in a same-sex marriage.

To clarify, the customer – Candice Lowe – was not looking for a wedding cake. This was a birthday cake meant as a surprise for her wife, Amanda, of two weeks.

The couple, who are sill celebrating their recent nuptials, were stunned to get word via text message that the bakery would not sell them a birthday cake because they “do not do cakes” for same-sex parties.

“I just realized you are in a same-sex relationship and we do not do cakes for same-sex weddings or parties…I’m so sorry, I wasn’t aware of this exactly until I saw your [Facebook] page. Take care :)”

The bakery’s Facebook page has been inundated with comments supporting the Lowes.

LGBT activist Dan Savage weighed in on his blog:

Refusing to bake a cake for a same-sex wedding says, “I don’t think you people should be able to celebrate or solemnize your relationships because same-sex marriage is a sin.” Refusing to bake a birthday cake for a lesbian says, “I don’t think your birth is something to celebrate because the world would be better off if you didn’t exist.”

Welcome to America — where bigoted bakers do background checks to avoid selling cakes to lesbians (because Jesus) but we don’t require merchants at gun shows to do background checks to avoid selling weapons of war to crazed terrorists, abusive spouses, and the mentally ill (because freedom).

According to the local ABC affiliate, the bakery had indicated they were open to comment on the story, but as you can see in the report below, the owners stopped answering or returning calls to reporters.

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U.S. Economy Adds 287K Jobs In June – Unemployment Under 5% For Nine Straight Months

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported this morning that the U.S. economy added 287,000 jobs in June.

The unemployment rate moved up .1 to 4.9%. The upward tick is actually good news as it means more people were actively looking for jobs.

These numbers show the unemployment rate has remained under 5% for nine months, the first such period in 8 years.

Last month was the 69th consecutive month of positive job growth – the longest continuous period of job growth in the U.S. in the country’s history.

(source)

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Former Tea Party Congressman Joe Walsh: “This Is Now War – Watch Out Obama”

Former Tea Party Congressman Joe Walsh from Illinois (currently a right-wing talk radio host) poured gasoline on the fire last night regarding the deadly shooting in Dallas last night taking to Twitter posting the above message.

“3 Dallas Cops killed, 7 wounded. This is now war. Watch out Obama. Watch out black lives matter punks. Real America is coming after you.”

Basically calling for a race war or violence towards our president at a time of heightened tensions is reckless, Mr. Walsh.

#Idiot #StopDividingAmericans

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Update: Deadly Dallas Shooting Leaves 5 Police Officers Dead, 7 Injured

What we know about the deadly shooting in Dallas last night:

• The shooting broke out late Thursday during what had been a peaceful protest against shootings by police officers that claimed the lives of black men in Minneapolis and Baton Rouge, La. Approximately 800 people were marching through downtown, accompanied by 100 police officers.

• 5 police officers killed; 7 more injured, some critically; 2 civilians also injured.

• According to the Los Angeles Times, the gunman has been identified as 25-year-old Micah Xavier Johnson. The Times reports he had no known criminal history or ties to terror groups.

• The Pentagon has reported, via CNN, that the shooter had served in the Army Reserves.

• During a stand-off with police, Johnson told police he wanted to kill white people, especially police. Police Chief David Brown told reporters the shooter was upset about police killings of black people.

“The suspect said he was upset about Black Lives Matter. He said he was upset about recent police shootings. The suspect stated he wanted to kill white people, especially white officers. The suspect stated he was not affiliated with any groups and he stated that he did this alone.”

• The police negotiated with the shooter for several hours, exchanging more gunfire. The suspect was eventually killed by an explosive device sent in remotely using a police robot.

• Three suspects have been taken into custody but are not cooperating with the police.

President Obama issued this statement:

2016 presidential nominees Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump issued these statements via Twitter: