SOMEBODY TELL PSAKI… DEMOCRAT-RUN OAKLAND JUST DEFUNDED THE POLICE…
90 PERCENT INCREASE IN HOMICIDES IN OAKLAND … POLICE CHIEF SHAMES CITY LEADERS FOR CUTTING POLICE BUDGET & CALLING DEAD OAKLANDERS ‘SPEED BUMPS’ … ‘WE FIND OURSELVES IN A CRISIS’ … TOWNHALL: Oakland Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong speaks about rising crime in his city and the city council cutting millions away from his department’s budget: “Today, we find ourselves in a crisis…Crime is out of control in the city of Oakland.”(VIDEO)
LAST WEEK… KPIX: Oakland City Council Votes to Defund Police, Stripping More Than $17M from Department Budget (VIDEO)
OAKLAND (KPIX) — The Oakland City Council approved a budget early Thursday evening that will strip $17.4 million in funding from the Oakland Police Department and direct the money toward other programs.
The $18 million is over the course of the next two years.
There was some expectation that the council would delay the controversial decision but, by a vote of 7-2, the Oakland City Council approved a plan that will redirect the funds from the police department to the Department of Violence Prevention with the intention of improving public safety.
The move comes as Oakland has seen an alarming spike in street violence and deadly shootings, including the mass shooting during Juneteenth festivities at Lake Merritt this past weekend.
CHAD GILMARTIN: Despite receiving $190 million from the Biden admin, Oakland’s city council voted last week to cut $18 million from the police. In March, Oakland’s Democrat mayor praised the Defund the Police movement while touting new federal funds. There goes @PressSec’s new talking point!
MICHELE PEREZ EXNER: I guess the WH Press Secretary is going to pretend it wasn’t liberal leaders in cities like NYC, Oakland, Los Angeles, and Baltimore who all voted to defund the police.(SCREENGRABS OF HEADLINES)
INSULT TO INJURY… MEDIAITE: WATCH: Gunmen Foiled Trying to Rob Camera Crew — During Interview of Crime Prevention Chief at City Hall (VIDEO)
Oakland, California’s Department of Violence Prevention Chief Guillermo Cespedeswas being interviewed on the steps of Oakland City Hall by a news crew with the Bay Area’s NBC affiliate KNTV. But the interview was interrupted by an attempted armed robbery, the video of which you can see above.
Writing for East Bay Times, George Kelly reports:
Just after 6 p.m., police said in a statement that two suspects approached a cameraperson filming during an interview at 3:09 p.m. before trying to take the camera at gunpoint.
After a scuffle ensued, “the armed security officer pulled his firearm out, and directed the suspects to leave. The suspects immediately left the area without the camera,” and were still outstanding, police said.
Officers, including a police spokesperson, responded to the scene during an investigation. There were no injuries, police said.
“Please be advised that the suspects are still outstanding,” police said. “We encourage everyone to be vigilant of their surroundings and report all crimes. Please stay safe.”
In a statement, an Oakland city spokesperson confirmed that Department of Violence Prevention Chief Guillermo Cespedes was the person being interviewed outside City Hall.
To add insult to injury, the interview with Cespedes followed a press conference led by Oakland police Chief LeRonne Armstrong to lament a City Council decision to divert $18 million in funding for the police that had been sought for violence-prevention efforts proposed by Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf.
EXAMINER: AOC dismissal of rising crime rates comes despite massive spikes in own city
Progressive firebrand Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tried to tamp down talk of a recent crime surge in the United States despite a double-digit spike in the number of shooting deaths in her home city.
“We are seeing these headlines about percentage increases,” the New York Democrat said during a virtual town hall meeting made available online Sunday. “Now, I want to say that any amount of harm is unacceptable and too much, but I also want to make sure that this hysteria, you know, that this doesn’t drive a hysteria and that we look at these numbers in context so that we can make responsible decisions about what to allocate in that context.” […]
During the first five months of 2021, gunfire killed more than 8,100 people in the country, which is about 54 deaths a day. The average of the same period of time during the past six years was 14 deaths per day, according to an analysis by the Washington Post and the Gun Violence Archive.
The newspaper and the nonprofit research organization found that the number of casualties and the number of shootings that have killed or injured at least one person are on pace to beat 2020 numbers, which finished as the deadliest year in terms of gun violence in 20 years.
In Ocasio-Cortez’s hometown of New York City, shooting incidents in May jumped 73% compared to the same period last year, according to the New York City Police Department. Overall hate crimes have increased by 98% this year, compared with the first five months of 2020, while crimes against the LGBTQ community jumped 188%, with 23 hate crimes reported through May 31, 2021, compared to eight during the same period in 2020. Antisemitic hate crimes in New York City have also been on the rise, jumping 37% this year compared to 2020, the NYPD said.
DC ACTIVISTS FIGHT TO KEEP STREETS COVERED WITH HOMELESS PEOPLE… DCIST: D.C. Nearly Cleared A Homeless Encampment For A Streatery. Now Advocates Want Changes To Permitting
A small homeless encampment in Dupont Circle was scheduled to be cleared earlier this month, the tents slated to make way for café tables and chairs. At the last minute, D.C. switched to a trash-only cleanup, meaning that the people living there wouldn’t have to leave the area.
Advocates for people experiencing homelessness say it’s the first encampment clearing they’ve seen scheduled to make space for an outdoor “streatery,” the additional outdoor restaurant and café seating that has popped up across city sidewalks and parklets during the pandemic. Bill McLeod, the executive director of Dupont Circle Main Streets, applied for the public-use permit from the District Department of Transportation, listing coffee shop Zeleno as the beneficiary of the temporary sidewalk seating.
Shortly before the scheduled clearing on June 8, advocates posted about it on social media, drawing outrage. But ultimately, it was put on hold because the table and chairs for the space had not arrived, according to city officials and McLeod.
Now, some local government officials and advocates are calling on the city not to issue permits in public spaces where unhoused residents are living, raising concerns that the Dupont permit was specifically designed to displace people. McLeod denies this. […]
The two residents who live on the overpass at the intersection of Q Street and Connecticut Avenue NW say they believe the permit intentionally targeted them. And the owners of the coffee shop the permit lists as the intended recipient of the space say that they were interested in having expanded seating right outside their storefront, not across the street where the tents are located and the clearing was scheduled.
FLASHBACK… DC’S HOMELESS NEWSPAPER, ‘STREET SENSE,’ REPORTED ON THIS JUNE 16… June 8 Dupont encampment cleanup downgraded to trash-only following criticism from activists
The Office of the Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services (DMHHS) coordinated a trash-only cleanup on June 8 at two encampments located on a bridge at the intersection of Q St. NW and Connecticut Avenue NW near Dupont Circle.
DMHHS originally scheduled a full cleanup for one of the encampments, rather than a trash-only one, but downgraded it the day before it was set to take place. Before this change, advocates criticized the proposed cleanup — through testimony at a D.C. Council hearing and on social media — for forcing homeless residents out of the area to make room for a “streatery,” or outdoor dining space for a nearby cafe.
The permit applicants have pushed back against that criticism, saying they filed for the permit to use the space before the encampment residents were living there. The question is on hold for now because no full cleanup was carried out. But the dispute briefly made it the center of a larger conversation about who has the right to public spaces like streets.
DID YOU KNOW? THE CDC ISSUED PANDEMIC GUIDANCE FOR HOMELESS ENCAMPMENTS: DON’T CLEAR THEM…
Considerations for encampments
If individual housing options are not available, allow people who are living unsheltered or in encampments to remain where they are.
Clearing encampments can cause people to disperse throughout the community and break connections with service providers. This increases the potential for infectious disease spread.
Encourage those staying in encampments to set up their tents/sleeping quarters with at least 12 feet x 12 feet of space per individual.
If an encampment is not able to provide sufficient space for each person, allow people to remain where they are but help decompress the encampment by linking those at increased risk for severe illness to individual rooms or safe shelter.
Work together with community coalition members to improve sanitation in encampments.
Ensure nearby restroom facilities have functional water taps, are stocked with hand hygiene materials (soap, drying materials) and bath tissue, and remain open to people experiencing homelessness 24 hours per day.
If toilets or handwashing facilities are not available nearby, assist with providing access to portable latrines with handwashing facilities for encampments of more than 10 people. These facilities should be equipped with hand sanitizer (containing at least 60% alcohol).
BECERRA VISITS HORROR SHOW AT FT. BLISS, THEN PUSHES AMNESTY… NYT: The head of H.H.S. says care of migrant children is improving, but urges Congress to act.
Xavier Becerra, the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, pressed Congress on Monday to overhaul the nation’s immigration system after he visited an emergency shelter for migrant children on the Fort Bliss military base near El Paso.
“I would really encourage our colleagues in the House and the Senate to consider taking that proposal on so we can get to a system that works,” Mr. Becerra said on a call with reporters, referring to a plan that President Biden offered early in his administration. Passing a measure is becoming increasingly unlikely.
THAT ‘PLAN’? AMNESTY… FLASHBACK… FEB… NYT…
The U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021, formally introduced by a dozen Democratic lawmakers in the House and Senate, amounts to a lengthy wish list for pro-immigration activists and a down payment on Mr. Biden’s campaign promise to provide a path to citizenship for 11 million undocumented immigrants.
It would allow virtually all undocumented immigrants to eventually apply for citizenship; increase legal immigration; add measures to secure ports of entry and speed processing of asylum seekers; and invest $4 billion in the economies of Central American countries to reduce migration.
HERE’S WHAT CBS REPORTS HAS BEEN GOING DOWN AT FT. BLISS… CBS: Migrant children endure “despair and isolation” inside tent city in the Texas desert
The level of distress among migrant boys and girls held by the U.S. government at a tent city in the Texas desert has become so alarming that they are constantly monitored for incidents of self-harm, panic attacks and escape attempts, people who worked at the federal site told CBS News.
Some children held at the large tent complex at the Fort Bliss U.S. Army base have required one-on-one supervision 24 hours a day to ensure they don’t hurt themselves. Others have refused to eat or spend most of their days sleeping on cots. Workers said they saw migrant girls and boys with cut marks on their wrists and arms.
Federal officials became so concerned about migrant teens harming themselves that they banned pencils, pens, scissors, nail clippers and regular toothbrushes inside tents housing hundreds of children, according to an internal document. Workers at the site said they were even instructed to remove the metal nose clips from N95 face masks. […]
During one incident in May, a group of teenage boys protested inside a tent, issuing a list of demands to improve their living conditions, three workers said.
On May 4, five children unsuccessfully tried to run away from Fort Bliss by jumping a fence near the recreation area. After being transferred to another facility with stricter security protocols, one of the boys said he tried to escape from Fort Bliss because it was too crowded, hot and the food was not good, according to a report reviewed by CBS News.
POLITICO: California bans state-funded travel to Florida and 4 other red states
OAKLAND — California is adding Florida and four other states to its official travel ban list after Attorney General Rob Bonta said Monday the states passed anti-LGBTQ laws that are “directly targeting transgender youth.”
The announcement, which came at a press conference on the 52nd anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, means that California is now banning state-funded travel to 17 U.S. states based on a 2016 law. Bonta announced that Arkansas, Montana, North Dakota and West Virginia are joining Florida as the newest states on the list.
“California must take action to avoid supporting or financing discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people,” Bonta said.
Five years ago, California prohibited most taxpayer-funded travel to states deemed to have passed laws that discriminate against LGBTQ people. Assembly Bill 1887 was prompted by outrage in California over a North Carolina law that required people to use public bathrooms based on the sex shown on their birth certificate.
Before Bonta’s announcement Monday, 12 other states were already on the California ban list: Alabama, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee and Texas. The law has limited exemptions, such as travel necessary to enforce California laws, participate in litigation or protect public health. College teams have used private funds to continue traveling to banned states for athletic competition.
CHRISTOPHER BEDFORD: Let that ridiculous claim that the right is inventing a Culture War die with California banning government travel to five of its sister states for not castrating children.
CHANGE THE RULES, PROTECT THE RULER… California Democrats Try To Change Recall Laws To Aid Gavin Newsom
Democrats in California’s Legislature are taking steps to change the recall process in order to aid Gov. Gavin Newsom at the polls, the Associated Press reported.
Democratic Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis can set an earlier election date if the state Legislature removes legislative review, which would set an earlier voting date, potentially aiding the governor’s current position in the race, the AP reported.
Democrats previously lengthened the recall process when California state Sen. Josh Newman faced a recall election in 2018, the AP reported. The election date was pushed back to coincide with the 2018 primary, with the hope that higher turnout would aid the Democrat.
Newman lost the recall, though he did regain his seat in 2020.
“They’re trying to create a situation that is most favorable for the partisan outcome that they favor,” Jack Citrin, a political science professor at the University of California, Berkeley, told the AP. He noted that changing the calendar threatens to reinforce the narrative that politicians will do whatever they want to stay in power.
AXIOS: Clarence Thomas says federal marijuana ban may no longer be necessary
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas wrote Monday that the federal prohibition on marijuana may no longer be needed because of the government’s “mixed signals” on the issue. […]
Thomas said the court’s 2005 ruling in Gonzales v. Raich, which upheld federal laws making marijuana possession illegal, may now be out of date.
“Whatever the merits of Raich when it was decided, federal policies of the past 16 years have greatly undermined its reasoning,” Thomas wrote. “Once comprehensive, the Federal Government’s current approach is a half-in, half-out regime that simultaneously tolerates and forbids local use of marijuana.”
“This contradictory and unstable state of affairs strains basic principles of federalism and conceals traps for the unwary,” Thomas wrote, adding that “though federal law still flatly forbids the intrastate possession, cultivation, or distribution of marijuana … the Government, post-Raich, has sent mixed signals on its views.”
Tucker Carlson Says He Has Confirmed The NSA Is Spying On Him (VIDEO)
Fox News host Tucker Carlson said Monday night that the National Security Agency (NSA) is spying on him and reading confidential texts and emails in order to try and take his show off the air.
Carlson said that a whistleblower from inside the federal government informed Carlson that the NSA was monitoring his online communications. Normally, Carlson said, he would be skeptical of such claims, the whistleblower reportedly repeated back to him information about a story that he is working on that could only have been gathered through Carlson’s private texts and emails.
The Fox News host alleged that the NSA plans to leak Carlson’s communications in order to try and get his show taken off the air.
“It’s illegal for the NSA to spy on American citizens, it’s a crime,” Carlson said. “It’s not a third-world country. Things like that should not happen in America.”
MEANWHILE, AT CNN… ‘Gonna Break Your Arm Jerking Yourself Off’: Chris Cuomo Posts Pic Of Flexed Bicep In Response To Critic (PHOTO)
CNN host Chris Cuomo posted a photo of his flexed bicep Monday in response to someone who said Cuomo was going to break his arm “jerking [himself] off.”
“You’re gonna break your arm jerking yourself off,” Twitter user @Legalize_LSD1 tweeted at Cuomo. “That how this happened?!” Cuomo replied, with a picture of his flexed bicep. “Hahahaha. Come on, baby, dont hate – facilitate. You can do better than this petty bs.”
MEANWHILE, AT THE NFL… NFL Sends Out Message That Says ‘Football Is Gay’ (VIDEO)
The NFL got everyone’s attention when it posted a video with messages that read “Football Is Gay” and “Football Is Lesbian,” among others.
“If you love this game, you are welcome here,” the Monday post on NFL’s Instagram read. “Football is for all. Football is for everyone.”
“The NFL stands by the LGBTQ+ community today and every day,” the post added. […]
The league’s post included a brief video with several messages that flashed across the screen. The first was “Football is Gay” followed by “Football is Lesbian,” “Football is Queer,” “Football is Transgender” and “Football is Bisexual.”
At the end of the clip, there was information about the how to support the Trevor Project, the “world’s largest suicide prevention and crisis intervention organization for LGBTQ youth,” according to its website.
MEANWHILE, AT VOGUE… ED O’KEEFE: ON THE COVER: @DrBiden profiled in the next edition of @voguemagazine, with a focus on her work as a community college teacher. (PHOTO)
MEANWHILE, AT THE OLYMPICS… ‘Y’all Are Obsessed With Me’: Gwen Berry, An Olympian Who Turned Away From The Flag During National Anthem, Responds To Criticism
Gwen Berry, the Olympic hammer thrower who made headlines for turning her back on the flag when the national anthem played during Saturday’s Olympic trials, said that critics like Republican Texas Rep. Dan Crenshaw were “obsessed” with her.
“At this point, y’all are obsessed with me,” Berry said in a Monday tweet.
Her post was in response to Crenshaw, who said on Fox News that Berry should be kicked off the team for turning away from the flag.
“We don’t need any more activist athletes,” Crenshaw said. “She should be removed from the team. The entire point of the Olympic team is to represent the United States of America. That’s the entire point.”
BY THE WAY… UP UNTIL YESTERDAY, GWEN BERRY’S TWITTER BIO SAID ‘SPONSOR ME!’ ….
OLD BIO: 2016 OLYMPIAN, Indoor World Record Holder, Tokyo 2020 hopeful!! sponsor me ! New York Athletic Club Pro Athlete, email me: GDBERRY50@gmail.com
UConn Pitcher Shares Terrifying Details About He And His Family Escaping Miami Condo Collapse
UConn pitcher Justin Willis shared the terrifying details about how he and his family escaped their condo collapse in Surfside, Florida, while on vacation.
“It felt like a first gust of wind from a storm,” Willis shared with the Hartford Courant in a recent piece about the collapse at Champlain Towers South condominium. It has that left 10 dead and 151 missing, CNN reported.
“Then the second one felt kind of like [Super Storm] Sandy, the way I remember it,” he added. “It kind of seemed normal for the moment. Then the third one felt like a jet took off right on top of our building. I was expecting to see a plane come right over our balcony.”
The college pitcher said he and his sister saw dust and debris billowing up on their 11th-floor balcony overlooking the ocean and it was then they gathered their stuff to get out of there.
“It was just a big cloud,” Willis shared. “We gathered all the stuff we could and walked down, tried to see what was happening.”
When the family walked out to take the elevator all they found was two gapping holes where they were supposed to be and could see the apartment next to them was totally gone.
Willis, his sister and their parents then made their way to the staircase to descend 11 floors and get out of the 13-story building.
“We were so naïve, and we don’t know the building well enough to know that more than half the building collapsed,” the college player shared. “The lights were out, and we were just trying to get out of there as fast as possible.”
During their harrowing escape they came upon an elderly woman with a cane, who was missing one sandal and praying in Spanish that she had had a “good life.”
“She was 88 or 89 years old,” Willis shared. “She was saying, ‘I’ve had good life,’ and this and that, and my father speaks Spanish. He told her, ‘We’ll get you out of here.’”
