Daily Archives: May 20, 2021

After budget cuts and months of Black Lives Matter and Antifa rioting, Seattles Police Chief indicated Wednesday that nearly 20 percent of the citys police officers have left in the past year and a half.

The support that we had in my generation of policing is no longer there, veteran Officer Clayton Powell told CBS News, concurring with Interim Police Chief Adrian Diazs assessment. More than 260 officers have quit the force since the beginning of last year.

Following the death of George Floyd, protests and riots erupted in Seattle. Amid radicals looting and attacking police, Seattles homicide rate spiked to a 26-year high. Nonetheless, the Seattle council attempted to slash the police departments budget once more, but to no avail. During the particular uptick in crime, the number of deployable officers in the left-wing stronghold was about 1,200. This is the lowest since 1990.

Jason Rantz, a Seattle-based talk show host on KTTH Radio and a frequent guest on Fox News, told The Federalist that the numbers youre getting only tell a small part of the picture.

You have dozens of officers who are burning their sick and vacation time and will exit the force afterward, Rantz said. You have officers who are applying elsewhere and booked to turn in their equipment and uniform, which means they will be gone but havent yet been reported as part of the separations yet.

Diaz was asked by CBS whether the number of officers leaving the force is concerning, to which he said, It does because we saw our shootings go up. We saw our homicides go up. Indeed, there was a 61 percent spike in murders in 2020 from a year prior. In a memorandum on Jan. 11, Diaz acknowledged the tremendous spike.

Carmen Best, the former Police Chief, left the force after 28 years in March. She announced her decision in August 2020 as a protest against the $3 million worth of funding that the city slashed. 100 officers were either laid off or could not keep working at the department after the budget cut.

We will hit close to or exceed 300 separations by the end of this month since the crisis accelerated last year. This is unheard of. Consequently, you have extremely low staffing numbers in this city, at times below minimal staffing numbers, Rantz told The Federalist.

Cities across the U.S. have moved to defund the police and it has only exacerbated crime. From Minneapolis, New York City, Portland, Oregon, to Los Angeles far-left Democrats have stripped jobs from officers and harmed communities more susceptible to have rioting and looting.

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Nearly 20 Percent Of Seattle Police Force Quits Following Defunding And Black Lives Matter Riots - The Federalist

More than 20 groups have banded together to submit comments opposing the Biden administrations proposed rule mandating taxpayer-funded abortions.

Historically, Title X is devoted to family planning and providing preventative birth control methods to low-income families. Abortion has largely been excluded by Congress to avoid having taxpayers fund the killing of babies in the womb. Under the Trump administration, Planned Parenthood and other abortion organizations even opted out of receiving federal funding to avoid the separation finalized in 2019 between Title X services and abortion.

Under the Ensuring Access to Equitable, Affordable, Client-Centered, Quality Family Planning Services proposal, however, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services would remove the financial and physical separation in funding between Title X activities and abortion activities, circumvent statutes and laws to discourage parental and familial involvement in abortion decisions, and remove certain reporting and regulatory stipulations. The rule would also require providers to give abortion counseling and referrals, even if their objections are protected under the Weldon Amendment and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

Among the groups that are opposed to this proposed measure include conservative think tanks, pro-life organizations, and religious institutions such as Alliance Defending Freedom, Concerned Women for America, the Ethics & Public Policy Center, the Heritage Foundation, the March for Life, the Religious Freedom Institute, and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops seeking relief and protections for conscience-based objections.

Most Americans reject the idea of abortion being used for birth control, which is why they dont want to fund abortion providers through the Title X program, said Roger Severino, Senior Fellow at the Ethics & Public Policy Center and former director of the Office of Civil Rights at HHS. President Biden wants to change the rules to bail out his friends in the abortion industry, who care more about abortion than actual family planning. People are pushing back against an extreme president and HHS secretary who want to not only force people to refer for abortion but have taxpayers fund such taking of life.

The public comment period ends on Monday.

Jordan Davidson is a staff writer at The Federalist. She graduated from Baylor University where she majored in political science and minored in journalism.

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20 Groups Band Together To Oppose Biden's Push For Taxpayer-Funded Abortions - The Federalist

Has-beens, might-have-beens, and never-weres will not move the Republican Party past Trump. Their latest stunt is another group project the Call for American Renewal that threatens to form a third party. Once again, the Never Trump dead-enders will try anything to take back the GOP from Donald Trump; anything, of course, other than appealing to actual Republican voters.

Yes, the GOP needs a new leader. Yet the way to move on from Trump is to move on from Trump, instead of keeping the political world revolving around him.

Trump is now another Florida retiree. Kicked off major social media, he has started a blog that only draws a fraction of his former audience. While he still has influence, he is increasingly irrelevant to the day-to-day work of Republican politics in statehouses and DC.

Thus, there is a strong case to be made that ignoring Trump is the best option currently available to Republicans. Time and irrelevance may sap affection for Trump more than direct attacks ever have. In contrast, endlessly debating the Trump years from the 2016 Republican Party primary to the capitol riot will not move the party forward.

Although doing so may please the small portion of the GOP that wants to see Trump officially repudiated, ultimately, it will only keep rallying the former presidents staunchest supporters while annoying the rest of us. Few Republicans regret supporting Trump over Joe Biden, even if they think it will be time for someone new in 2024.

Keeping the focus on Trump only helps him maintain his primacy for Republican voters. But many of the former presidents enemies dont care that they are helping sustain the man they purport to disdain. For all their talk of character, the current remnants of Never Trump include some of the worst creeps in politics, from the Lincoln Projects sexual predators and grifters to Holocaust deniers. Such people are politically relevant only because of their opposition to Trump; if he fades, they disappear as well.

Thus, instead of keeping the spotlight on Trump, those who genuinely want a post-Trump GOP should focus on developing better options politically as well as in personality and policy. Importantly, any alternatives need to be superior in the estimation of voters, not just consultants, pundits, and ex-officials.

Promoting better political options than Trump and his imitators means finding winners, not a washed-up former something-or-other to announce he is leaving the GOP (again). Rather than attacking Trumps past misdeeds real, exaggerated, and imagined the GOPs future political champions will be found doing the work of politics; governing, legislating, and opposing the Biden administration as best as they can. Winners build alliances, not enemies lists.

Of course, winners are necessarily tough. Personnel is policy, but sometimes so is personality. Trump was less of a fighter (and a less effective one) than the image he cultivated and projected, but he understood that Republican voters want leaders who care more about their good opinion than what the Washington Post editorial board thinks.

This is why Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is having a political moment in the sun, and why Gov. Kristi Noem of South Dakota lost the trust of many voters when she caved to big business pressure on transgenderism. Conservatives need leaders who will work against the ruling class, not surrender to it.

These new leaders will win by developing and prioritizing policies that address the current needs of the nation, rather than the desires of the donor class. Political entrepreneurs succeed when existing institutions fail to adapt to new circumstances. Trump conquered the GOP because the public, starting with the Republican base, no longer bought what the party establishment was selling.

Thus, a successful post-Trump GOP will incorporate some of Trumps populist instincts. It will adjust its agenda to appeal to the working-class voters that Trump brought into the GOP, rather than just relying on these voters fleeing from the ever-more-woke Democratic Party. It will avoid treating minority voters as caricatures and appeal to their actual beliefs and interests. Finally, it will stop trying to sideline the social conservatives whose votes the party needs.

In short, successful GOP politicians will know who their voters (and potential voters) are and what concerns them; an obvious political approach that is surprisingly neglected. Yet they will also avoid needlessly picking fights with their voters, including over the former president. They will be willing to criticize Trump when necessary, but they will not be monomaniacs on the subject there is no need for them to denounce his every blog post.

The truth is that most Trump voters will acknowledge his flaws, but they get their hackles up at being berated for their votes. Doing so is self-indulgent and will only prolong Trumps power over the Republican Party. There is plenty of room in the Republican Party for those who could never stomach Trump, but there is no space for a small minority that is determined to somehow purge the majority.

Setting aside the grifters and attention-seekers, those who seriously engage in projects such as the Call for American Renewal are attempting to satisfy psychological, even quasi-religious, needs. They are, after all, not satisfied with Trump being out of office. Animated by bitterness, they want judgment on him and anyone who supported him.

This explains why they launch doomed efforts that only help Trump retain his hold on the GOP. The point is not to succeed, but to confirm their own righteousness compared to the unregenerate who refuse the call.

Nathanael Blake is a senior contributor to The Federalist and a postdoctoral fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center.

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Dear GOP: Move On From Trump Without Repudiating His Voters - The Federalist

Apple willingly compromises certain privacy and security business practices to build a partnership with the Chinese government, a new report from the New York Times explains.

Not only does the Big Tech company store personal data of Chinese users on servers that are managed and serviced by a firm owned by the communist regime, but Apples CEO Tim Cook has spent years making frequent, statesmanlike visits and meeting with top leaders in the Asian country and caving to its wishes.

Apple often boasts that it believes privacy is a fundamental human right, but the companys relationship with China seems to discard that core value in exchange for doing Chinas bidding such as removing certain encryption technology and digital key that the communist regime disagreed with.

We have never compromised the security of our users or their data in China or anywhere we operate, the company said.

But in data centers similar to the one being built outside Guiyang, China, experts and Apple engineers warn, Apples compromises have made it nearly impossible for the company to stop the Chinese government from gaining access to the emails, photos, documents, contacts, and locations of millions of Chinese residents who they arent afraid to oppress.

The Chinese government also has a long list of human rights abuses including enslaving the Uyghurs, a minority group located in the Xijiang province, and squashing pro-democracy movements in Hong Kong, but once again, Apple is unbothered. Despite offering a long creed promising a commitment to human rights causes, Apple has repeatedly bowed to the wishes of the communist regime to censor apps and blacklist people that government officials think could pose a danger to Xi Jinping or his rule.

Over the last few years, tens of thousands of apps containing content considered objectionable to the communist government were removed from the Chinese version of the app store. Some of the most notable disappearances were apps for worldwide news outlets, pro-democracy organizations, certain religious institutions and figures such as the Dalai Lama, and even apps that provided encryption or shortcuts to users who wanted more digital privacy and security.

After Chinese employees complained, it even dropped the Designed by Apple in California slogan from the backs of iPhones, the Times report says, noting the regimes unwillingness to let Apples branding remain American.

Cook has repeatedly tried to quiet criticism of Apples relationship with China by noting how efficient it makes the company. Not only does Apples partnership with the regime allow for access to, housing for, and factories for Chinese workers who assemble nearly every iPhone, iPad, and Mac to rake in at least $55 billion a year from the region, far more than any other American company makes in China, but it also gives the company an easy global reach.

Chinas power over Cook and the company, however, is quite evident. In addition to bending to the regimes will on censorship and privacy, Apple went out of its way to give data to the Chinese government, despite American laws prohibiting it, by giving legal ownership of user data to Guizhou-Cloud Big Data, a company owned by the government of Guizhou Province, whose capital is Guiyang.

Apple recently required its Chinese customers to accept new iCloud terms and conditions that list GCBD as the service provider and Apple as an additional party, the Times says. Apple told customers the change was to improve iCloud services in China mainland and comply with Chinese regulations.

Apple did not respond to The Federalists request for comment.

Jordan Davidson is a staff writer at The Federalist. She graduated from Baylor University where she majored in political science and minored in journalism.

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Report: Apple Compromises Privacy And Security To Appease The CCP - The Federalist

The U.S Army announced it will begin prioritizing climate change considerations as part of its ongoing strategic operations and threat analysis, according to a newly released memo.

Titled, US Army: Addressing Climate Change Threats, the document classifies climate change as a serious threat to U.S. National security interests and defense objectives, while also detailing how the military agency intends to play a more active role in responding to climate-related issues moving forward.

To prepare for the challenges ahead, the Army will continue to identify and implement steps to enhance readiness and capability in the face of climate related threats and will continue to be a strong steward of the resources offered in the shared operational environment, the memo read. The Army has a lot to be proud of, yet there is a lot of work to continue to operate efficiently across extreme weather and climate conditions.

As part of its response initiative, the agency intends to conduct in-depth assessments of likely climate change effects on the Armys worldwide missions, while also working to lead the way in technology development for tactical vehicles that balances increased capability with decreased climate impacts.

This response will also include an interagency focus on strategizing and planning to mitigate climate threats, with an emphasis placed on soldier resilience, energy reform, and capability enhancement and procurement.

The push to incorporate a left-wing, climate agenda under the guise of U.S. national security has long been a top priority for President Joe Biden since taking office. Last month, Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III foreshadowed how the Defense Department under the administration will utilize the issue of climate change to reshape how the military operates.

We in the Department of Defense are committed to doing our part, from increasing the energy efficiency of our platforms and installations to deploying clean distributed generation and energy storage, to electrifying our own vehicle fleets, he said. The benefits of action extend well beyond the climate, and include opportunities to improve our own operations.

Shawn Fleetwood is an intern at The Federalist and a student attending the University of Mary Washington.

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US Army Takes On Climate Change As 'Serious Threat' To National Security - The Federalist

USA Today Deputy Editorial Page Editor David Mastio authored an op-ed Thursday charging that House Republicans who voted for a change in leadership were a greater threat to the republic than the 9/11 hijackers.

Mastio characterized the recall vote on Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheneys role as Republican conference chair as a singular referendum on President Donald Trumps claim the November election was stolen, which Mastio decries as The Big Lie, a comparison to the Nazi propaganda campaign which led to Holocaust. Cheneys opponents, therefore, are Trumps co-conspirators on a mission to overthrow the government.

As surely as the terrorists of 9/11 wanted to tear down American democracy in 2001, the terrorists of Jan. 6 want to tear down our democracy as well, even as they pose as its defenders, Mastio wrote. And unlike the Sept. 11 attackers, they are going to get another chance.

Mastio argued claims the Democrat Party hijacked the election are the source of revolution.

If our democracy is being stolen, we will rise up in arms, wrote Mastio. If I thought our democracy was being stolen, Id have joined in support of the broader Jan. 6 protests, if not the violence.

On the contrary, it is these exact kinds of inflammatory claims that breed violence. By Mastios own logic, if one truly believes their political opponents are as great a threat as the terrorists who killed almost 3,000 Americans, then the U.S. government ought to wage war. In some respects, U.S. intelligence agencies already have, with double-standards of justice and intrusive dystopian surveillanceconducted, evenby the Postal Service.

When reached for comment, Susan Page, the Washington bureau chief of USA Today, refused to say whether she disagreed with Mastios claim that Republicans who voted against Cheney are worse than 9/11 hijackers who killed 3,000 Americans in the worst terrorist attack in U.S. history. She directed The Federalist to the papers public relations department.

A spokesperson for USA Today did not immediately respond to The Federalists inquiry.

In 2019, the same editor smearing those with he disagrees with who voted for a change in leadership as domestic terrorists, blacklisted The Federalist from being cited in USA Today pages for accurately reporting on the Russia collusion hoax under the Trump administration.

Cheney was ousted from her number three role in House GOP leadership Wednesday after the Wyoming lawmaker and dedicated Never Trumper continued to undermine the conference and engineer an inner-party civil war to rid the GOP of Trump and Trumpism supported by the base.

New York Rep. Elise Stefanik was elected the new conference chair to replace Cheney on Friday.

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USA Today Editor Says Republicans Are A Greater Threat Than 9/11 - The Federalist

While speaking at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy commencement ceremony Wednesday, President Joe Biden scolded the class for not clapping.

You are a really dull class, Biden said. Come on, man. Is the sun getting to you? I would think youd have an opportunity when I say that about the Navy to clap. To be here together.

Biden was attempting to make a joke about how the Coast Guard is what keeps the Navy in check. The graduates then provided an applause once the president showed a bit of insecurity. Later in the speech, Biden seemed to forget the name of a lieutenant commander.

Several years ago, Biden pulled a similar stunt. A video emerged last year of him telling U.S. service members they are dull and stupid bastards at a military base in Abu Dhabi, Arab Emirates in 2016.

Clap for that, you stupid bastards, Biden told the service members when it was silent. Then, Biden appears to tell the individuals in attendance they were a dull bunch and must be slow. At the time, a Biden campaign spokesman told The Daily Beast he was just joking.

Vice President Biden was jokingly encouraging the audience to clap for an airwoman on the stage, and a number of service members can be seen laughing and smiling at the comment. Seconds before, he praised them for the incredible sacrifices [they] make for our country, campaign spokesperson Andrew Bates said. He thanked them for their patriotism and courage throughout, and closed his remarks by saying, youre the finest generation of warriors the world has ever, ever knownreceiving an enthusiastic ovation.

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Biden Tells Unamused US Coast Guard Graduates They Are 'Really Dull' - The Federalist

After Prince Harry described the First Amendment as bonkers last week during a podcast interview with actor Dax Shepard, The Federalist publisher Ben Domenech blasted the former royal on Fox & Friends on Tuesday.

The reality is that Prince Harry should be tarred and feathered and sent back to his grandma, Domenech said. He is not someone who appreciates anything that makes America great.

Domenech pointed out that the former royal has a lucrative partnership with the Aspen Institute to combat media disinformation. If he doesnt even know what the First Amendment is, if he thinks its bonkers, what is he doing participating in a prominent and respected institution that is designed to try to battle disinformation in media? asked Domenech.

Domenech added that Prince Harry should stick to podcasting, not influencing American life, since he clearly has no respect for Americas institutions and founding documents. This is someone who ought not be participating in American society or our reordering anything related to media in any serious way, and yet he is, said Domenech.

The royals are yet another decaying Western institution morally and financially bankrupt, concluded Domenech. I think we ought to dump [Prince Harry] into Boston Harbor along with all the tea.

Evita Duffy is an intern at The Federalist and a junior at the University of Chicago, where she studies American History. She loves the Midwest, lumberjack sports, writing, & her family. Follow her on Twitter at @evitaduffy_1

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Domenech: Prince Harry Should Be Tarred, Feathered, And Sent Back To Grandma - The Federalist

Chinese-owned TikTok, a short-clip video-sharing platform weaponized as a Chinese Communist Party surveillance tool, has reportedly removed satirical impressions of National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Dr. Anthony Fauci.

Comedian Tyler Fischer, whose impressions have gone viral, wrote on Twitter Monday TikTok banned his mocking of Fauci, the face of Americas detrimental lockdowns, over violations of its community guidelines.

Fischer told The Federalist two videos were removed on TikTok but remain up on YouTube, including an impression of Dr. Fauci and an impression of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

TikToks parent company, China-owned ByteDance, did not immediately respond to The Federalists inquiries.

As the novel Wuhan coronavirus pandemic comes to an end, earning its name from its first outbreak in the Hubei province of central China, Fauci has been the fiercest defender of lockdowns despite their colossal costs. The Chinese intelligence tool, TikTok, which U.S. national security officials sought to ban within American borders, has responded to Faucis impending irrelevance with apparent protection from criticism. Fauci has also consistently thrown cover for the China-dominated World Health Organization (WHO) and rejected theories the coronavirus emerged from a lab in Wuhan involved in research funded by Faucis NIAID.

President Donald Trump sought to ban TikTok last year over heightened risks to national security, but the app remains available after a federal judge blocked the order.

Capitol Hill lawmakers on both sides of the aisle remain concerned about TikToks use as a surveillance service for communist China, enough so that the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee unanimously passed a bill last week to ban the app on government devices.

Earlier this month, one of Fischers impressionist videos racked up more than 400,000 views on Twitter alone and more than half a million on TikTok, where he mocks Faucis strict demands that Americans adhere to mask for wearing regardless of immunity status. Fauci often wears two masks despite being vaccinated.

Id say even if you live alone, I would wear a mask in the house, especially in the shower, Fischer said. Because, frankly, droplets can make their way through the drain, and come up through somebody elses toilet, infecting them through the anus.

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China-Owned TikTok Is Banning Satirical Impressions That Mock Dr. Fauci - The Federalist

The U.S. Department of Defense released a memorandum Monday outlining its critical race theory initiative in the Department of the Navy that will take shape through Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Planning Actions (DEI).

The new effort instructs Caroline Kessmeier, Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Manpower and Reserve Affairs, to direct several policies, programs, and operations among the military. Kessmeier has been assigned to be the Chief Diversity Officer and told Defense Daily in April I believe we must embrace and advocate for a diverse workforce and workplace environment.

Acting Secretary of the Navy Thomas Harker signed the memo, which calls for reviews that ensure the branch aligns with its determined goal of imposing affirmative action.

Equal opportunity is the bedrock of our democracy and diversity is one of our greatest strengths; both are critical to the readiness of our Navy and Marine Corps team and, ultimately, to our mission success, Harker said. Aligned with these guiding principles, it is the policy of the Department of the Navy (DON) to continue making transformative and meaningful steps that promote diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in our policies, programs, and operations across the enterprise.

Harker discusses equal opportunity but the memo directly calls for an initiative that resembles an equitable framework or equality of outcome. This includes improving the pace of diversity and the strength of the applicant in the Navy and perpetual reviews by officers to put forth diversity policies.

There are various outlined initiatives by the Navy, which are extraordinarily vague. One calls for a commitment to DEI internally, another relates to partners and contractors, and another introduces a process of [re]naming Navy and Marine Corps assets to identify measures to improve diversity representation. The memo instructs the Navy to only assign those in alignment with the DEI ideology to positions of power, including Senior Executives. Additionally, the Navy says it will examine all authoritative data to foster a diverse, equitable, and inclusive environment.

People need to understand that these words, diversity, equity, and inclusion, dont mean what people think they mean, and theyre used by the people pushing them to install politically friendly apparatchiks under a socially responsible-sounding cloak, James Lindsay, founder of New Discourses told The Federalist. The easiest way to realize this is whats going on is how overtly political yet operationally vague these projects are.

Government agencies have increasingly embraced left-wing doctrine on identity and equity. The Pentagon hired Richard Torres-Estrada as a Diversity Chief, only to be reassigned after inflammatory tweets re-surfaced in which Torres-Estrada compared former President Donald Trump to Adolf Hitler.

The Central Intelligence Agency released recruitment videos promoting arbitrary gender theory and diversity, and the Department of Defense went woke in March in its targeting of Fox News host Tucker Carlson for critiquing the feminization of the military. Earlier this month, Tennessee Republican Rep. Mark Green put forth a measure to ban critical race theory from being taught in U.S. military service academies.

In June 2020, the Navy created a task force to address the issues of racism, sexism and other destructive biases and their impact on naval readiness. This included a woke pledge mandated for individuals to recite if they wish to join the Navy.

The task force will seek to promptly address the full spectrum of systemic racism, advocate for the needs of underserved communities, work to dismantle barriers and equalize professional development frameworks and opportunities within the Navy, the Navy said in a statement last year.

The released memo does not clarify how the Navy plans to ensure legitimate equal opportunity for people of all races.

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US Navy Announces It Will Implement Racist Critical Race Theory Throughout Fleet - The Federalist