Today, Amazon customers received an email from Amazon.com explaining that the “AmazonSmile” user choice-based charity support program would be wound down by February 20, 2023.
In 2013, we launched AmazonSmile to make it easier for customers to support their favorite charities. However, after almost a decade, the program has not grown to create the impact that we had originally hoped. With so many eligible organizations—more than 1 million globally—our ability to have an impact was often spread too thin.
We are writing to let you know that we plan to wind down AmazonSmile by February 20, 2023. We will continue to pursue and invest in other areas where we’ve seen we can make meaningful change—from building affordable housing to providing access to computer science education for students in underserved communities to using our logistics infrastructure and technology to assist broad communities impacted by natural disasters.
For ten years, Amazon has garnered an excellent customer following based on countless organizations signing up and promoting donations they could receive based on supporters’ purchases at Amazon.com. Local small organizations have come to embrace and budget based on this income. In February, it is being stopped with only two months’ notice. Tem Years of proven expected income already budgeted for 2023.
To help charities that have been a part of the AmazonSmile program with this transition, we will be providing them with a one-time donation equivalent to three months of what they earned in 2022 through the program, and they will also be able to accrue additional donations until the program officially closes in February. Once AmazonSmile closes, charities will still be able to seek support from Amazon customers by creating their own wish lists.
Although this may help some organizations through the change, it brings a more significant issue for customers, which has weighed heavy on consumers’ minds in recent years. Corporate pressures based on “Economic Sanctions and Environmental Performance.”
Increasing, significantly in recent years, government and nongovernment environmental organizations are pressuring large corporate entities to comply or be sanctioned to implement other than cost-effective practices to avoid lawsuits and extended litigation. Otherwise, forcing those policies and costs on the customers who are not always aware.
Amazon finishes off the email with the following:
As a company, we will continue supporting a wide range of other programs that help thousands of charities and communities across the U.S. For instance:
Housing Equity Fund: We’re investing $2 billion to build and preserve affordable housing in our hometown communities. In just two years, we’ve provided funding to create more than 14,000 affordable homes—and we expect to build at least 6,000 more in the coming months. These units will host more than 18,000 moderate- to low-income families, many of them with children. In one year alone, our investments have been able to increase the affordable housing stock in communities like Bellevue, Washington and Arlington, Virginia by at least 20
Amazon Future Engineer: We’ve funded computer science curriculum for more than 600,000 students across over 5,000 schools—all in underserved communities. We have plans to reach an additional 1 million students this year. We’ve also provided immediate assistance to 55,000 students in our hometown communities by giving them warm clothes for the winter, food, and school supplies.
Community Delivery Program: We’ve partnered with food banks in 35 U.S. cities to deliver more than 23 million meals, using our logistics infrastructure to help families in need access healthy food – and we plan to deliver 12 million more meals this year alone. In addition to our delivery services, we’ve also donated 30 million meals in communities across the country.
Amazon Disaster Relief: We’re using our logistics capabilities, inventory, and cloud technology to provide fast aid to communities affected by natural disasters. For example, we’ve created a Disaster Relief Hub in Atlanta with more than 1 million relief items ready for deployment, our Disaster Relief team has responded to more than 95 natural disasters, and we’ve donated more than 20 million relief products to nonprofits assisting communities on the ground.
Community Giving: We support hundreds of local nonprofits doing meaningful work in cities where our employees and their families live. For example, each year we donate hundreds of millions of dollars to organizations working to build stronger communities, from youth sport leagues, to local community colleges, to shelters for families experiencing homelessness.We’ll continue working to make a difference in many ways, and our long-term commitment to our communities remains the same—we’re determined to do every day better for our customers, our employees, and the world at large.
Thank you for being an Amazon customer.
Personally, as much as corporate stewardship in the community, through donations and support of various charities and even social justice issues, is usually good for society, I personally think that the AmazonSmile program was a unique contract with rural America. In particular, to incentivize patronage despite the economic value through employment and consumer purchases leaving the community.
FBI Confidential Human Source INFILTRATED Proud Boys, Ran FBI Operation on J-6, Reported They Were INNOCENT! See the Texts and Documents IN FULL!!
Will this be the end of Chris Wray? It should be.
The FBI and the Department of Injustice continue to viciously politically persecute American Citizens and terrorize the public.
Now they’ve been caught.
Shame on the McCarthy-like January 6th Unselect Committee for abusing their power and using groups like the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers as fall guys so they can punish their political opposition!
This is not the United States we were promised.
Their lies are being exposed.
A whistleblower has leaked a treasure trove of documents and text messages, some marked “Highly Sensitive”, to the Gateway Pundit. These documents contain incredible exculpatory evidence proving the Department of Justice was aware that a group of Indicted Proud Boys were innocent- yet are prosecuting them anyway.
You can find the entire dump of documents below, which includes hundreds of pages of transcripts of audio-recorded interviews with an Assisting United States Attorney, FBI Agents, and their “Confidential Human Source”. The Confidential Human Source, or CHS, infiltrated the Kansas City Proud Boy Group for over a year and a half before the January 6th event and kept the FBI goons informed on the group’s activity.
Our source is familiar with the FBI informant and has identified him as James Ehren Knowles.
According to the source, Knowles had gained the group’s total trust and was included in all group communications.
The informant told his handlers at the FBI that the Kansas City Proud Boy Group he was infiltrating and accompanied to the Capitol on January 6th “were not involved in, nor did they inspire the breaking of the barriers at the Capitol building. CHS describe the scene as the crowd doing it as a “herd mentality,” and that it was not organized. The crowd was shouting “stop the vote,” as they made their way to the Capitol building…
…There were no overt threats of violence made at that time.”
Not only that, but the informant also testifies to the FBI that Proud Boys planned to come to Washington DC to risk their own safety to protect average Trump Supporters from Antifa attacks so MAGA folk could enjoy the day and “get back to their hotels safely”. Meanwhile, the drinking fraternity, along with the ex-military/law enforcement group the “Oath Keepers”, have become the fall guys along with President Trump for the entire phony “Insurrection.”
Every single Kansas City Proud Boy and other individuals that the rat reported to his handlers in the document dump are indicted and facing decades in prison EVEN THOUGH THE FBI INFORMANT THAT WAS WITH THEM THAT DAY REPORTED THEIR INNOCENCE! One of the men (William Chrestman) has been detained at DC Gitmo in pre-trial detention for over a year and a half to date. A total of six people (including a woman who was pregnant at the time) are being charged with Conspiracy, Obstruction of an Official Proceeding and Aiding and Abetting (this carries a maximum 20 year penalty), Obstruction of Law Enforcement During Civil Disorder and Aiding and Abetting, Threatening a Federal Officer, Entering and Remaining in a Restricted Building or Grounds and Carrying a Deadly or Dangerous Weapon.
** Please donate to TGP’s American Gulag here so we can continue to report the truth on January 6th.
The FBI Plant made it clear to his bosses that the Proud Boys and their friends had no idea what they were walking into, there was NO CONSPIRACY or pre-planning to enter the Capitol, and Proud Boys helped law enforcement inside the Capitol.
He reported that the members of the groups never mentioned: “stopping the electoral college or certification of the election” as the FBI clearly was hoping he would report.
The agents press him throughout his interviews (see full dump of audio recording transcripts below) and obviously did not like what they were hearing as it did not fit their narrative.
** These documents would be buried forever and never see the light of day if they were not leaked to us by a brave whistleblower.
Confidential Human Source (CHS), a collaborative source with direct and indirect access, most of whose reporting has been corroborated , stated the following on 1/6/2021:
CHS stated the Proud Boys were not involved in, nor did they inspire the breaking of the barriers at the Capitol building. CHS describe the scene as the crowd doing it as a “herd mentality,” and that it was not organized. The crowd was shouting “stop the vote,” as they made their way to the Capitol building. There were no overt threats of violence made at that time.
CHS stated that the KC Proud Boys (KCPB) in attendance at the rally entered the Capitol building 30 minutes after the building was breached to help deescalate Trump supporters and law enforcement. Once KCPB entered the building, they told people to stop acting like anarchists and leave. KCPB told the people to start bagging trash from where trash cans were thrown at law enforcement, along with a woman who was saying the same thing to protestors. KCPB told protestors to stop at the doors of the House of Representatives, and that their voice was heard and it was time to go. A law enforcement officer gave a thumbs up to KCPB, as they were trying to clear the area of people trying to fight law enforcement.
No one from KCPB were involved with the battery of a law enforcement officer, nor did anyone damage property in the capital building. KCPB then went back to a rental house and adhered to the curfew in place. CHS stated law enforcement seemed grateful as KCPB ushered individuals out of the building.
One member of KCPB told an older “hefty” white law enforcement that the “Proud Boys deescalated downstairs, they are clearing out.”
Synopsis:
Stop the Steal Rally Update 1/6/21
Please see the entirety of the document here, and scroll down to approximately page 15 where it gets juicy and read till the end.
The informant was also sending texts to his handlers throughout the day. The whistleblower sent us the text message correspondence between the informant on the day of January 6th like the one below.
While the informant does provide an honest assessment of the activity of the group, the videos and photos he took all day long of the group and sent back to his bosses were ultimately used to conjure up a case to present before a Grand Jury and Indict these individuals. The photos and videos he provided- along with names, locations, and phone numbers- ultimately landed these folks raided by the FBI and arrested. See the photos HERE that the snitch sent to the FBI that the whistleblower leaked to us marked “Highly Sensitive”.
“The Department of Injustice has proven that they will stop at nothing to crush innocent and ordinary American Citizens like ants to fulfill their agenda,” said Tina Ryan of Citizens Against Political Persecution. “To them, Trump Supporters are collateral damage. They will ruin lives, destroy real families, and hide exculpatory evidence from the public. Interfere in trials by publicizing false information about groups like the Proud Boys. It is only a matter of time before they come after you and me if we don’t stand up for our fellow American Citizens and demand justice.”
The informant also confirms the authenticity of the story we broke last week by reporting to his FBI bosses that Proud Boy leadership like Chairman Enrique Tarrio, Joseph Biggs, Ethan Nordean and others instructed the thousands of Proud Boys underneath them to be non-violent and ‘defensive and not offensive’ on January 6th. They were told to bring no weapons to the protest. According to the FBI infiltrator, there was no preplanning whatsoever to go inside the Capitol by leadership. The plan was always to defend against Antifa and peacefully march with other chapters.
“This leak is unbelievable,” said Newsmax Host and J6 advocate John Tabacco. “I literally can’t believe what I am reading. It blows my mind that this is real. The extent of evil at play is just mind blowing.”
For transparency, we have attached the “Highly Sensitive” transcripts of the informant’s full audio interviews with the DOJ and FBI below. We encourage other journalists to use these in their fair reporting. We encourage every citizen to read them as a lesson that the government will prosecute innocent American citizens and treat them like terrorists- regardless of the exculpatory evidence available to them- if it benefits their agenda.
These transcripts contain hundreds of pages of FBI agents interviewing their informant, who reports to them over and over again that the Proud Boys did not conspire to go inside the Capitol. There are interesting details that make the Proud Boys endearing- like a story about the group returning a woman’s bag to her that was lost. There are pages upon pages of vindicating statements.
The only thing it seems the informant thought the group was guilty of was falling subject to “herd mentality” and following the rest of the crowd in- he said some even hesitated to go inside. The informant stressed the group was NOT at the front of the crowd like the Unselect Committee has led people to believe.
Here is the original leaked FBI’s CHS “Reporting Document”that summarizes the 4 transcripts. For your convenience, we transcribed an easier version for you to read HERE- TRANSCRIBED CHS Report. Page 15 is where it gets good straight to the end.
We wonder if the defense attorneys for the six prosecuted individuals have this discovery in their possession. If they do not, it is certainly an atrocious violation of Brady disclosure laws. We do know this evidence was certainly not presented to the Grand Jury, or they surely would have not indicted these people.
These horrific and bogus charges have literally destroyed the lives of six ordinary Americans.
We are reporting on the victims in a second post being released soon.
“They don’t care about Americans, regular people. We are like their collateral damage,” said Tina Ryan of Citizens Against Political Persecution. “They will frame decorated veterans, rip a breastfeeding mother away from her infant child to lock her up. What makes you think they won’t do it to you?”
Tomorrow morning at 10 AM EST, the Unselect Committee resumes their “Hearsay Hearings” after their last disaster “star witness” Cassidy Hutchinson claimed her 15 minutes of fame by repeating hearsay and conspiracy theories in the kangaroo court. She was quickly proven an unreliable witness who more than likely committed perjury.
The Unselect Committee criminals (led by Trump Hater Chairman Bennie Thomson and traitor Vice Chair Liz Cheney) plan on throwing the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers further under the bus as the fall guys for their fabricated “Insurrection”. They will more than likely attempt to tie individuals like Roger Stone, Rudy Guiliani and General Michael Flynn to the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers by association, and then somehow convince America to believe that this means Trump was responsible for the phony crimes they have charged them with (like Obstruction of Justice and Seditious Conspiracy). They have literally withheld exculpatory evidence from the public that exonerates these groups so they can have crimes to link Trump to “by association”. They have slandered these people’s names, locked them in solitary confinement and destroyed their chances of a fair trail in order to carry out their devious plan to keep Trump or anyone like him out of office.
“They seriously will never stop until Trump quits and has no heir apparent,” said Ryan. “They won’t stop until they kill the Patriot movement and things return to the establishment norm.”
She continued:
“The Proud Boys literally came to Trump rallies to protect peaceful protesters from radical left violent groups like Antifa. The Oath Keepers provided free security for groups that attended and conservatives public figures that were frequently attacked. They were literally heroes, and now they are all being charged with Sedition Conspiracy and tortured by their own government in pre-trial solitary confinement. They face a lifetime in prison. IT IS ABOUT TIME WE GET THEIR BACKS. If they can do it to these clubs, who is to say that next month they won’t decide to come for Latinos For Trump, or Veterans for America First, or you conservative club, your church group?”
*We at the Gateway Pundit remain dedicated to exercising our First Amendment Constitutional Right to participate in a free press and our obligation to check and balance the government by reporting their wrongdoings.
** Please donate to TGP’s American Gulag here so we can continue to report the truth on January 6th.
Please share this article everywhere to expose the agenda of the January 6th Unselect Committee and the Biden Regime. Send it to other publications so they can be made aware of these documents.
Cara Castronuovais a co-Founder of C.A.P.P. (Citizens Against Political Persecution and The People’s January 6th Commission. She is an Activist, Investigative Journalist, 2-Time Boxing Champion, Celebrity Fitness Trainer and Television Personality. You can watch her on Newsmax at 10PM EST every Saturday night on “Wiseguys”. You can follow her on & Twitter or Instagram @CaraCastronuova. She is currently banned on Fakebook & suing them for defamation of character. You can contact her via the C.A.P.P. website at www.CitizensAPP.us or www.caracastronuova.com if you have any tips or would like to volunteer. She is also running for New York State Assembly (www.Cara4Assembly.com).
First, they came for the Communists And I did not speak out Because I was not a Communist
Then they came for the Socialists And I did not speak out Because I was not a Socialist
Then they came for the trade unionists And I did not speak out Because I was not a trade unionist
Then they came for the Jews And I did not speak out Because I was not a Jew
Then they came for me And there was no one left To speak out for me.
While there is growing speculation that federal agents and Capitol Police were involved in instigating acts of violence during the Jan. 6, 2021 protests and recording responses for the purposes of entrapment, evidence now proves that “plainclothes” members of a special Electronic Surveillance Unit (ESU) were embedded among the protesters for the purposes of conducting video surveillance. Evidence also points to a day of security deficiencies and police provocation for the purpose of entrapment.
According to a report—First Amendment Demonstrations, issued Jan. 3, 2021, by Chief of Police Robert Contee of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), Homeland Security Bureau, Special Operations Division, obtained exclusively by The Epoch Times—the MPD began to activate Civil Disturbance Unit (CDU) platoons on Jan. 4, 2021. Full activation of 28 platoons was scheduled to occur on the following two days.
According to the Department of Justice website, “A CDU is composed of law enforcement officers who are trained to respond to protests, demonstrations, and civil disturbances for the purpose of preventing violence, destruction of property, and unlawful interference with persons exercising their rights under law.”
The objective of MPD was “to assist with the safe execution of any First Amendment demonstration and ensure the safety of the participants, public, and the officers.” CDU personnel and Special Operations Division (SOD) members were to “monitor for any demonstration and/or violent activity and respond accordingly,” according to the report.
There has been speculation that federal agents and Capitol Police were involved in instigating acts of violence during the protests for the purposes of entrapment. As Red State reported in October 2021, “multiple surveillance videos show masked men opening up the doors to the U.S. Capitol Building to allow protesters to enter. In fact, one video shows them entering while Capitol Police officers simply stand around. Yet, we have no idea who those men are.”
The ‘Covert Cadre’ of ‘Provocateurs’
On a Dec. 7, 2021, episode of Tucker Carlson Tonight, the attorney for several Jan. 6 prisoners, Joseph McBride, identified a man tagged on the internet by so-called “Sedition Hunters” as “Red-Faced 45.” The man, dressed in red from head to toe—with even his face painted red—appears in a video engaging in continuous dialogue with uniformed personnel and others whom McBride insists are agents embedded in the crowd. McBride said the man is “clearly a law enforcement officer.”
“He passes out weapons, sledgehammers, poles, mace. Some of those things come in contact with some of the other protesters who have subsequently been charged with possessing dangerous weapons and are using dangerous weapons at the Capitol. That is clearly entrapment.
That is clearly the government creating conditions of dangerousness and entrapping members of the crowd to possess weapons and possibly use them for reasons that we cannot comprehend.”
On Jan. 13, 2021, J. Michael Waller, senior analyst for Strategy at the Center for Security Policy, published a first-hand account of his observations. Waller is also President of Georgetown Research, a political risk and private intelligence company in Washington, D.C.; and was founding editorial board member of NATO’s peer-reviewed Defence Strategic Communicationsjournal (2015–2018), and a senior analyst with Wikistrat. He is convinced people were embedded in the crowd to execute “an organized operation planned well in advance of the January 6 joint session of Congress.”
The Epoch Times reported on Jan. 1 that senior federal law enforcement officials refused to answer questions about an Arizona man named Ray Epps, captured on video the day before the rally wearing a Trump hat repeatedly encouraging protesters to “go into the Capitol” the next day. Many were suspicious of him. Chants of “fed, fed, fed” drown him out. On Jan. 6, he is seen telling the crowd “we are going to the Capitol, where all of our problems are.”
Bobby Powell host of “The Truth is Viral” podcast, has several videos exposing two men, clad all in black, whom he believes are FBI informants. They are seen breaking windows, attacking the Capitol building, and even pushing people inside.
McBride finds it strange that these “provocateurs,” as he calls them, have yet to be charged, despite their having a much more active role in the Capitol incident than some who were charged, including some individuals who never even set foot on Capitol grounds.
The Proof
Unknown to the public until now, the First Amendment Demonstrations report also reveals that an undisclosed number of “plainclothes” MPD ESU “members” were embedded into the crowd to “document the actions of the demonstrators and MPD’s response to any civil disobedience or criminal activity.”
It is unclear who the MPD ESU “members” were. However, they are never referred to as “officers” or “police.” Of the 37 “Specialized Units” listed as part of the MPD, an ESU is not among them. In order for other security personnel to recognize embedded ESU members among the protesters, they wore a specific “bracelet on their left wrist identifying them as MPD personnel,” the report stated.
“While it is admittedly an important type of unit to have in the nation’s capital, electronic surveillance requires warrants,” Waller told The Epoch Times. “The word surveillance itself implies intrusive rather than passive monitoring of people, in which case it would be required for the police to get warrants to conduct electronic surveillance on people. What kind of warrants were asked for and under which jurisdiction? Were they issued? If not, why? Are such warrants necessary for the type of surveillance this unit was doing and how does it work? This raises a huge amount of questions about an entirely new kind of surveillance unit by the police chief of the nation’s capital.”
Waller also said the reference to “members” of the unit, as opposed to “officers” or “agents,” is also very disturbing. While he said “the rest of the memorandum sounds very disciplined in it’s language and specific,” that it doesn’t identify “officers” as members of the Electronic Surveillance Unit “is very troubling.”
“Are they using private contractors? Are they using political volunteers?” Waller posed. “Are using paid agents of different types? We don’t know. This is something the public has a right to know and we need to get to the bottom of it. If the D.C Police is running electronic surveillance on American citizens without warrants, this could be a very serious breach of our civil liberties.”
An Oct. 29, 2021 report by Politico exposed that a 17-page strategy report called “The Civil Disturbance Unit Operational Plan,” showed that police made plans for plainclothes “officers” to monitor protesters and carry out five objectives:
To provide an environment in which lawful First Amendment activity can be safely demonstrated.
To prevent any adverse impact to the legislative process associated with unlawful demonstration activity.
To effectively mitigate actions associated with civil disorder; safely respond to crimes of violence and destruction/defacing of property.
To safeguard and prevent any property damage directed at the US Capitol, West Front Inaugural Platform, and all Congressional buildings.
Establish and maintain a fixed march route while excluding access to counter-protestors to minimize potential for violent interactions.”
However, because the CDU was understaffed and unprepared, it failed in all its objectives.
According to a 140-page report issued by then-Capitol Police Inspector General Michael Bolton—”Review of the Events Surrounding the Jan. 6, 2021, Takeover of the U.S. Capitol”—Capitol Police’s CDU was ordered by supervisors not to use the department’s most powerful tools, like stun guns. Bolton’s report, which has not yet been widely released to the public, also contends “heavier, less-lethal weapons,” including stun grenades, “were not used that day because of orders from leadership.”
The CDU was given riot shields, many locked in a bus some distance away, that “shattered upon impact.” They had expired weapons that didn’t work and inadequate training.
Bolton’s report also noted that officials were warned in an intelligence assessment three days before the protest that “Stop the Steal’s propensity to attract white supremacists, militia members, and others who actively promote violence may lead to a significantly dangerous situation for law enforcement and the general public alike” and that “Congress itself is the target.”
However, reports surfaced that then acting House Sergeant-at-Arms Timothy Blodgett sent a memo to lawmakers informing them that security officials found that “there does not exist a known, credible threat against Congress or the Capitol Complex that warrants the temporary security fencing.”
Some Capitol Police officers were reportedly told to go home amid staffing shortages, reported Business Insider.
According to the “UNITED STATES CAPITOL POLICE TIMELINE OF EVENTS FOR JANUARY 6, 2021 ATTACK,” also obtained by The Epoch Times, “USCP Deputy Chief Gallagher replies” to the Department of Defense (DOD) “via text” on January 3, 2021, “that a request for National Guard support is not forthcoming at this time after consultation” with Chief of Police (COP) Steven Sund.
On Jan. 4, 2021, “COP Sund asked Senate Sergeant at Arms (SSAA) Michael Stenger and House Sergeant at Arms (HSAA) Paul Irving for authority to have National Guard to assist with security for the January 6, 2021 event based on briefings with law enforcement partners and revised intelligence assessment.”
• COP Sund’s request is denied. SSAA and HSAA tells COP Sund to contact General Walker at DC National Guard to discuss the guard’s ability to support a request if needed. • COP Sund notifies General Walker of DC National Guard, indicating that the USCP may need DC National Guard support for Jan. 6, 2021, but does not have the authority to request at this time. • General Walker advises COP Sund that in the event of an authorized request, DC National Guard could quickly repurpose 125 troops helping to provide DC with COVID-related assistance. Troops would need to be sworn in as USCP.
However, the timeline shows it took over three hours and five frantic requests before the National Guard was deployed.
During his opening remarks before two Senate committees on March 3, 2021, Walker told members of Congress he received a “frantic call” from Sund in the early afternoon advising that the security perimeter of the Capitol was being breached. However, military leaders informed him that deploying troops would not be “good optics.”
During testimony before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Piatt and Flynn denied making such comments.
At the hearing, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene informed the committee three people were involved in turning down repeated requests for the deployment of the National Guard. “Chuck Schumer in the Senate, Nancy Pelosi in the House, and Mayor Muriel Bowser. Also involved, are the SSAA Stenger, who answers directly to Schumer, and HSAA Irving, who answers directly to Pelosi.
In stark contradiction to then acting House Sergeant-at-Arms Timothy Blodgett’s assessment that no “credible threat against Congress or the Capitol Complex” existed to warrant “temporary security fencing,” there are multiple admonishments in the First Amendment Demonstrations report of the importance “for the members to monitor the fence line” and orders that “all members” were to “monitor 16th Street and the surrounding area for any potential issues or demonstrations.”
“Members assigned to the bicycle rack” were ordered to “restrict pedestrian and vehicle movement upon making the closure of the police lines.”
“The bicycle rack, in conjunction with police cars and blocking vehicles will create a barrier in which no person or vehicle will be allowed to pass,” the report said.
However, video evidence shows police waving protesters past bike racks and even removing them to open a path into the restricted areas to encourage people to move toward the Capitol Building.
A March 2, 2021, USCP Report of Investigation regarding the incident, also obtained by The Epoch Times, confirms that on Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, “an Unknown Officer violated USCP Directive 2053.013, Rules of Conduct, when they allegedly waived unauthorized persons into a restricted area secured by bike racks toward the US Capitol during an insurrection.” Evidence in the case included the “video posted to twitter, dated 01/06/21 ” and “CCTV of the East Front of the US Capitol, dated 01/06/21.”
On Monday, Feb. 1, 2021, then Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) Commander of the United States Capitol Police, Inspector Michael Shaffer, sent an email with the Twitter video of the unidentified officer (UO) to Inspectors Amy Hyman (Senate Division), Thomas Loyd (Capitol Division), Kimberley Bolinger (House Division) and Acting Inspector Jessica Baboulis (Library Division) requesting assistance in identifying the UO. All parties responded to Shaffer that they were unable to identify the UO.
The recommendation was that the report “be APPROVED and the case CLOSED.”
On Feb. 4, 2021, this case was put on hold pending a review by the U.S. Attorney’s Office of Public Corruption. No further information is available.
Provocation and Entrapment
In a June 10 interview with EpochTV’s “Facts Matter,” Julie Kelly—a political consultant in Illinois and senior contributor for American Greatness—described Jan. 6, 2021, as “an inside job” and “something Democrats and some Republicans and federal agencies put together to entice” and “entrap” people who went to hear President Donald Trump’s speech. She noted that the FBI used agents to try to infiltrate the so-called militia groups.
Jeremy Brown exposed a video of FBI Terrorist Task Force agents attempting to recruit him to spy on fellow Oath Keepers.
The Department of Justice still won’t answer questions about Ray Epps, an Arizona resident captured on video encouraging protesters to breach the Capitol Building.
Video footage found at Gateway Pundit shows flash grenades being launched by Capitol Police into a group of protesters, consisting of women, children, and elderly people, who were standing peacefully behind barriers. According to American Greatness, Capitol Police were also firing on the crowd with rubber bullets. The approximate time of the confrontation was around 1:36 p.m. However, the USCP Timeline does not mention the deployment of these flash grenades.
Another video, which still exists on TeaParty.org, was filmed by Kash Kelly from ground level where the flash grenades went off. Kelly, who is now himself in prison regarding pretrial release violations regarding a previous charge and the subsequent charges related to his presence in Washington, is shown ensuring the evacuation of women in the area where the flash grenades exploded.
“The police started shooting at people,” Kelly says. “There were kids in the crowd.”
More extensive video footage, analyzed by Ray Dietrich of Red Voice Media, shows “the beginning of violence on January 6.”
An unidentified USCP officer is seen repeatedly yelling down to the crowd, assembled peacefully below his position, advising that if they “want to get a good picture” they should “go up into the bleachers.”
“The video shows the moment either stun grenades or tear gas canisters were deployed into the crowd of protestors,” Dietrich says as the video plays out. “The question I have, after a 20-year career in law enforcement, is why were these munitions deployed? I have picked this video apart and many more, and cannot see why the USCP used this force against the crowd. There is no fighting and no violence, so why did they target these people with less-lethal weapons?”
“What happened next?” Dietrich asks rhetorically. “Chaos. Violence. The crowd fought back. The Capitol was breached.”
As the stunned crowd scurries in the attack, police can be seen spraying people in the face with pepper spray. In another segment, three police officers are beating a protester who is being held on the ground. In a measure that further escalates the tension, police begin deploying tear gas into the already frantic crowd. In a course of 20 minutes, a once peaceful scene descends into total chaos.
In June 2021, reports surfaced that the Justice Department had begun to release its own video footage, including footage from body-worn cameras that allegedly show assaults against police officers defending the U.S. Capitol.
A summary of findings shows that:
Evidence shows that until the deployment of munitions, the crowds were peaceful.
MPD Electronic Surveillance Unit (ESU) members were embedded into the crowd to “document the actions of the demonstrators and MPD’s response to any civil disobedience or criminal activity.”
Of the 37 “Specialized Units” listed as part of the Metropolitan Police Department, an ESU is not among them.
The Epoch Times reached out to the Metropolitan Police Department and Capitol Police for comment.
Just finished Lee Child’s most recent novel romp with his donnybrook prone vagabond protagonist Jack Reacher. On this one he’s teamed up with his brother Andrew Child to pen “The Sentinel.”
Former Army MP Reacher — a tall and muscular specimen who appears to survive on a lack of sleep, strong black coffee and greasy burgers — has just been dropped off in the tiny burg of Pleasantville, Tenn., by his latest hitchhike driver, landing by circumstance and mistaken identity into some rather unpleasant and violent contretemps.
Reacher bumps into the town’s recently fired IT manager. It seems the town’s paper archives have recently been destroyed in a fire, which was quickly followed by its computerized data being blocked by a ransomware hack. The IT manager was falsely blamed for not protecting data and he is out to clear his name and somehow recover the data, which is not what a bunch of Russkie spies and a gaggle of neo-Nazis would not like to see happen, for reasons that remain a bit murky. (Coincidentally, the neo-Nazis are planning a huge well-lighted celebration of Hitler’s birthday, which happens to be today, April 20.)
As is Reacher’s wont, on more than one occasion he winds up protecting the IT guy and himself from a half dozen or so of the baddies by using his head — in more ways than one — as well as his fists, elbows, knees and feet in tightly detailed and choreographed combat in which Reacher comes out largely unscathed but the others well scathed and a few hospitalized.
You might assume, as I did, that Reacher is the titular Sentinel, but toward the end it turns out the feds are secretly working on a software program dubbed The Sentinel, which is intended to block malware and ransomware hacks. Or is that a red-herring like so many others? One should not assume all is as it appears.
Looking forward to the next outing with Reacher, but, meanwhile, you likely would enjoy this one. http://dlvr.it/SNzccM
Thank you, Jim Hartman, for pointing out in today’s Elko Daily Free Press that the proposal by Nevada’s two Democratic U.S. Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen to waive the 18.4 cent per gallon federal gasoline tax through 2022 is not only a political gesture, but for Nevadans it is a futile gesture.
Hartman is the first I’ve seen to point out that Nevada has on the books Nevada Revised Statute 365.185, which automatically increases the state gasoline tax “equal to the amount by which the federal tax is reduced,” so it won’t save Nevadans a cent.
Hartman also observes:
It’s a terrible idea. No one likes paying taxes or feeling gouged at the pump, and that’s the appeal to politicians. It’s a transparent political stunt to give political cover to a handful of Democrats up for election in states where gas prices are going up over 40 percent from last year.
Nevada’s gas prices are up $1.07 per gallon from a year ago, reaching an average price in Nevada for regular of $3.97 (Feb. 23). Crude prices recently passed $90 per barrel and the Russian invasion of Ukraine will raise crude prices to over $100.
Cortez Masto’s legislation is a contradiction in her climate politics. Isn’t the central tenet of Democratic climate plans to raise the price of fossil fuels so we use less? Progressives should welcome higher gasoline prices until consumption drops dramatically.
You can’t have an aggressive “green” climate policy and cheap gasoline. You must choose one or the other. http://dlvr.it/SKlQ4w
What are the threats Biden’s Department of Homeland Security is concerned about?
Of course, according to a national terrorism advisory bulletin put out this week by DHS, it is all those quacks spreading “mis- dis- and mal-information” about election fraud and COVID-19.
The bulletin warns against:
The proliferation of false or misleading narratives, which sow discord or undermine
public trust in U.S. government institutions:
— For example, there is widespread online proliferation of false or misleading narratives
regarding unsubstantiated widespread election fraud and COVID-19. Grievances
associated with these themes inspired violent extremist attacks during 2021.
Though it is one of those “government institutions,” nowhere in the bulletin does the word “police” appear, as in, you know, anti-police riots staged by the likes of those calling themselves Antifa and Black Lives Matter.
Who is the enemy?
This alarm over what the bulletin calls “false or misleading narratives, and conspiracy theories” also hints mightily that such “free speech” needs to be curbed in the name of public safety. The bulletin advises: “Keep yourself safe online and maintain digital and media literacy to recognize and build resilience to false or misleading narratives.”
(Does anyone else wince a bit at the use of the term Homeland Security and hear not too distant strains of “Deutschland über alles” in their heads?) http://dlvr.it/SJvPSX
It was interesting to read columnist Larry Elder’s take on equal rights vs. equal outcomes in today’s local newspaper — the same day President Joe Biden promised to nominate the first Black woman to replace the retiring Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer.
Elder lambasts Skip Bayless, a white sports commentator, for being critical of the National Football League after the firing of two Black head coaches, leaving only one Black head coach. Bayless was quoted as saying: “It is shameful, it is disgusting, it is embarrassing and it’s inexplicably wrong.”
Elder wonders what the “correct” percentage of Black head coaches should be. “The NFL consists of 57.5% Black players. Should 57.5% of the coaches be Black?” he asks.
At one point in the opinion piece Elder quotes then-Sen. Joe Biden from 1975: “I do not buy the concept, popular in the ’60s, which said, ‘We have suppressed the black man for 300 years and the white man is now far ahead in the race for everything our society offers. In order to even the score, we must now give the black man a head start, or even hold the white man back, to even the race. I don’t buy that.’”
Elder concluded that, for once, Biden was right.
He then concludes: “MLK spoke of a colorblind society. What is truly shameful, disgusting, embarrassing and inexplicably wrong are people such as Bayless, who demand a society that is color-coordinated.”
Today that same Biden was quoted as saying of his coming Supreme Court nomination: “The person I will nominate will be someone with extraordinary qualifications, character, experience and integrity. And that person will be the first Black woman ever nominated to the United States Supreme Court. It’s long overdue in my view. I made that commitment during the campaign for president, and I will keep that commitment.”
Also in today’s local paper Washington reporter Gary Martin relates that of Biden’s confirmed nominations 78 percent are women and 53 percent people of color. This was contrasted with Trump’s 76 percent of nominees being men and 85 percent white.
Fourteenth Amendment, Section 3: “No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President … who … shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. …”
Or given aid or comfort?
A statement released by Trump’s Save America PAC in September:
“Our hearts and minds are with the people being persecuted so unfairly relating to the January 6th protest concerning the Rigged Presidential Election. In addition to everything else, it has proven conclusively that we are a two-tiered system of justice. In the end, however, JUSTICE WILL PREVAIL!”
Several years ago I penned this for the Review-Journal.
On this day in 1791 the Bill of Rights were ratified by three-fourths of the states. At the insistence of the Anti-Federalists led by Thomas Jefferson the first 10 amendments were added to the new Constitution.
They might more properly be called a Bill of Prohibitions, since they are not so much a delineation of rights as a list of things the federal government may not take away from individuals and the states and local governments. Bill of Rights
This is our day to celebrate the First Amendment prohibition against establishing a state religion, despite odd rulings about nativity scenes and posting the Ten Commandments, and the right of free speech and press, despite McCain-Feingold limits on campaign spending and advertising. (Since somewhat overturned by Citizens United.)
This is our day to celebrate the Second Amendment, despite requirements to register handguns and other laws.
We celebrate the Fourth Amendment prohibition against unlawful search and seizure, despite the Hiibel case in which Larry Hiibel was arrested for not giving his name to a Humbolt County deputy. (Not to mention civil asset forfeitures.)
There’s the Fifth’s protection against taking of property except for public purposes that was bounced by the Kelo decision that let government take property for private development.
As for the Sixth’s right to speedy and public trial? Forget it. No explanation needed.
The right to trial by jury according to the Seventh? Try that in traffic court, buddy.
No cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth’s prohibition. Lifetime sentences for possession of pot belie that one.
The Ninth’s and 10th’s guarantees that rights not delineated are prohibited to feds? Let’s see the states try to set the drinking age or voting age or speed limits.
There’s still the Third’s prohibition against housing troops in private homes. (Right?)
Happy birthday, Bill of Rights, long may you be respected.
A couple of years ago I ran across the Cato video below. As my ol’ Pappy used to say: Great minds travel in the same plane, while fools just think alike.
Actually, the Third is also suspect as I reported here. The courts have since ruled that cops are not soldiers. They sure look alike and are armed alike. http://dlvr.it/SFQjp2
On Monday the Nevada Supreme Court heard arguments in a lawsuit brought by nine parents claiming the state Legislature is not meeting its constitutional requirement to adequately fund K-12 public education, according to the morning paper and the online Nevada Independent.
The 37-page lawsuit was filed in March of 2020, as reported here, but dismissed in October by a Carson City district court judge who said “the Court will not substitute its judgment for that of the legislature with respect to the education policy in the state of Nevada.”
The suit, filed by Educate Nevada Now, says Nevada students “inhabit one of the lowest-rated and worst-performing state school systems in the United States,” and asks the courts to find that the level of funding of public education in the state has fallen short of the constitutional requirement to “ensure a basic, uniform, and sufficient education for the schoolchildren of this state.”
There are two problems the Nevada high court justices must grapple with in deciding this case. One: As the suit itself notes, the Nevada constitution states that the Legislature shall appropriate education funds that “the Legislature deems sufficient …” That would seem to dictate that lawmakers are to determine what is “sufficient” rather than the courts. Two: Past spending increases on public education have produced no discernible improvement in the quality of education. From a 2014 Cato Institute analysis of state by state education spending versus SAT scores.
The Nevada Supreme Court in the case of Guinn v. Legislature in 2003 held that Nevada students have a basic right to a public education under the state constitution, the current suit states. In that case the court decided education funding had to take precedent over a constitutional amendment requiring a two-thirds majority to raise taxes.
Justice Bill Maupin was the only dissenting vote in the case, citing separation of powers, “Again, we are powerless to order co-equal branches of government to exercise individual acts of constitutional discretion. Our authority depends upon whether extraordinary relief is warranted and in exercising our authority to grant relief, we would be restricted to an interpretation of the Constitution, utilizing recognized tenets of statutory construction.”
The current lawsuit neglects to point out that the justices three years later overturned Guinn v. Legislature, largely for the very reason cited by Maupin.
The Educate Nevada Now suit further quotes the state constitution, which says, “The legislature shall provide for a uniform system of common schools, by which a school shall be established and maintained in each school district […].” A school? The quote is cut off before the part that says such schools, however many there are in each district, must be open “at least six months in every year …”
The litigation comes despite the fact Nevada lawmakers in 2015 passed the largest tax hike in history, $1.5 billion, largely to fund education, and lawmakers have since approved 3 percent raises for teachers.
The problem with Nevada public education is not so much a lack of funding as it is a deficiency in accountability.
At one time Nevada high school students were required to pass a proficiency exam in order to graduate. That was dropped in 2018.
With the 2015 tax hike came a requirement that third graders who could not read at a certain proficiency level would be held back to repeat the third grade. That has since been dropped.
At one point 50 percent of teacher evaluations were based on pupil achievement growth. That has been cut to 15 percent.
Another problem is that education evaluations are all over the board. According to Teacher-Certification.com, Nevada now ranks 39th in K-12 education funding and neighboring Utah dead last. According to Education Week, Nevada ranks 18th in quality of education and Utah ranks 10th. According to U.S. News & World Report, Nevada ranks 48th in quality of K-12 education and Utah ranks 21st.
But the bottom line is: The constitution seems clear when it says education funding is whatever “the Legislature deems sufficient …” http://dlvr.it/SDzjFz
