ACLU Warns of ‘Unchecked Power’ After Facebook, Twitter Suspend Trump

A legislative counsel member from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on Friday warned that the suspension of President Donald Trump’s social media accounts wielded “unchecked power” by large tech companies, Breitbart reported.

Kate Ruane, a senior legislative counsel at the ACLU warned in a statement that the decision to suspend Trump from social media platforms could set a precedent for big tech companies to silence less privileged voices.

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Unelected Group Bans Open Carrying of Guns from Michigan Capitol

Just days after unarmed, mostly peaceful protestors entered the U.S. Capitol in Washington, a group of unelected officials has banned open carrying of guns from Michigan’s Capitol building.

“The Michigan Capitol Commission voted unanimously Monday to ban these firearms from the Lansing building,” ABC said. “Concealed weapons with permits will be still allowed.”

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Dave Portnoy’s ‘Barstool Fund’ Raises $20M, Helps More Than 90 Small Businesses

The Barstool Fund, created by Dave Portnoy, has helped raise more than $20 million, helping nearly 100 small businesses hurt during the coronavirus pandemic lockdowns. Portnoy started the Barstool Fund one month ago with his own $500,000 to help small businesses.

The fundraiser has raised $20,119,270 from more than 156,000 donors and has aided 92 small businesses across the country as of Thursday evening.

Earlier in the day, Portnoy announced his fundraising success on Twitter, but stressed that their mission is far from over.

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Commentary: Academics, Teachers Pounce on the Capitol Chaos Narrative

A nigh-perfect example of why so many believe America’s public schools are filled with progressive ideologues is featured in this Education Week report about Wednesday’s U.S. Capitol mob riot.

Ed Week is little different from other mainstream media; certain terminology and narratives often are utilized despite ridiculous hypocrisy.

And that’s the issue with what happened in Washington, DC: The vast majority of right-leaning folks and Trump supporters do not support what transpired at the Capitol. They do have an issue with the media treating the incident like the apocalypse while every possible excuse was utilized in commentary about last summer’s Black Lives Matter/Antifa protests.

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U.K. Lockdown Could Last Nearly Three Months

Prime minister Boris Johnson confirmed that the end of lockdown may be delayed beyond mid-February and would last until the end of March, telling MPs the government will be “extremely cautious” about lifting restrictions and reopening schools.

On Monday, Prime Minister Johnson plunged England into a third national coronavirus lockdown. The lockdown includes a strict stay at home orders and the closure of all schools.  Mr Johnson resisted calls from Tory MPs to guarantee the rules will start to be eased after the first review on February 15, the prime minister made it clear that a successful roll-out of the vaccine programme  to the most vulnerable will be key to determining when the lockdown measures can be lifted. Adding on a lag for achieving immunity after vaccination and relieving “the pressure on the NHS”, he then tacked on a further two or three weeks, saying “we should remain cautious of the timetable ahead”, Breitbart reported.

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NCAA 2021 March Madness Tournament to be Held Entirely in Indiana

The NCAA is holding its 2021 men’s college basketball tournament entirely in the state of Indiana because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the organization announced last Monday.

When the NCAA decided to relocate 13 of the tournament preliminary round sites in late November and said they were in discussions with Indiana about hosting the annual competition, it was essentially a forgone conclusion but Monday’s announcement made it official.

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Music Spotlight: Cody Wolfe

When I saw that Cody Wolfe had over 400,000 Twitter followers and over 60,000 Instagram followers, I wanted to see what was going on with this popular young artist.

Cody Wolfe is a self-made man. The Connecticut native taught himself to play guitar when he was 16 and was advised early on that to “make it in this industry,” he would need to write songs. He went to a John Fogerty concert and asked his guitar player, James Intveld, what he need to do to make it in the music industry. Intveld said, “You’ve got to write music first. You have a better chance of being an artist if you are a songwriter first.”

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Commentary: If You Believe in Science, Individual Freedom Is the Only Answer

So you believe in science, eh? Excellent! So do I! Well, let me clarify. I don’t “believe” in science; I accept there is reality and this “science-way” of thinking has proven itself the best method for discovering this reality. What you or I believe has no impact on this reality.

And what of this reality? How can we discover it to ensure our continued success and even our continued survival?

Isaac Newton was one of the most influential scientists of all time. He was a titan of his time and a key figure in the culmination of the scientific revolution. His Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica is perhaps the most influential book in all of science.

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Michigan State Professor Peter De Costa: Telling Someone You Can’t Understand Their Accent is ‘Linguistic Racism’

A linguistics and education professor from Michigan State University claims that telling somebody that you can’t understand him is an example of “linguistic racism.”

More specifically, it’s “racist” to ask a person to repeat what he said because you “don’t understand [his] thick accent.”

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#Twexit Movement Picks Up Steam After Trump Banned from Twitter

Many Twitter users are vowing to leave the platform after President Donald J. Trump was permanently banned from using the service Friday evening.

“Twitter bans Trump, but won’t check communist Chinese propaganda defending brainwashing & forced sterilizations of minorities,” the Georgia Log Cabin Republicans said, adding the hashtag #twexit.

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Arizona Lawmaker Introduces First-Ever Resolution Against Court-Packing

A newly-elected member of the Arizona House of Representatives Tuesday announced a resolution calling for a Constitutional amendment against court-packing.

“Democrats’ stated intentions to abuse our nation’s constitutional separation of powers by packing the Supreme Court are not merely an assault on the rule of law, they are a blatant attempt to politicize the world’s most respected legal body,” State Representative-Elect Jake Hoffman (R-AZ-12) said in a press release. “Protecting the independence and integrity of the United States Supreme Court is an ethical and moral imperative that rises to a level of public policy importance rivaled by few other issues.”

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Six Key Points on Efforts to Oust Trump in Final Days

After the riot at the Capitol, congressional Democrats increasingly are calling for the removal of President Donald Trump before his term expires Jan. 20, either through a second impeachment or by invoking the 25th Amendment. 

Rep. Katherine Clark, D-Mass., an assistant House speaker, said  lawmakers could vote on impeachment within a week. 

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U.S. House Moving Toward Beginning Impeachment Proceedings Against Trump

House Democrats could begin formal impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump next week, seeking again to initiate the process to remove him from office, this time during the final two weeks of his term in office.

Multiple media outlets were reporting Friday afternoon that U.S. Reps. Jamie Raskin, D-Md.; Ted Lieu, D-Calif.; and David Cicilline, D-R.I., had drafted a single article of impeachment against Trump over the events that led to Wednesday’s violent incursion of the U.S. Capitol, which led to five deaths.

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National Security Officials in Trump Admin Say They’re Being Snubbed for Jobs, Compared to ‘Hitler Youth’

National security officials who work for President Donald Trump are being snubbed by potential future employers and compared to “Hitler Youth” days before president-elect Joe Biden will take office, Politico reported.

Seven former and current officials spoke with Politico and detailed their job search heading out of the Trump administration. A number of high ranking Trump administration officials resign over the president’s part in the storming of the United States Capitol building Wednesday.

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Biden Says Trump Not Attending His Inauguration Is ‘a Good Thing’

President-elect Joe Biden said Friday that President Donald Trump not attending his inauguration is “a good thing.”

“I was told that, on the way up here, way over here, that he indicated he wasn’t going to show up at the inauguration. One of the few things he and I have ever agreed on. It’s a good thing, him not showing up,” Biden said.

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Republican National Committee Announces Support of ‘Keep Nine Amendment’ to Prevent Packing of Supreme Court

The Republican National Committee (RNC) has come out in support of the proposed “Keep Nine Amendment” that, if enacted, would prevent packing the U.S. Supreme Court.

The Resolutions Committee adopted the resolution of support, the RNC said in a statement Friday.

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Biden Calls Romney ‘a Man of Enormous Integrity,’ Years After ‘Back in Chains’ Attack

President-elect Joe Biden on Friday called Sen. Mitt Romney a “man of enormous integrity,” a stark difference in rhetoric from the presidential campaign trail in 2012, when Biden told an audience with many African Americans that Romney would “put y’all back in chains.”

At a press conference on Friday, Biden said that he spoke to Romney earlier in the day about his opposition to GOP-led efforts to question the results of the 2020 election.

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Wisconsin Teacher Placed on Non-Disciplinary Leave After Apparently Attending D.C. Rally

A high school teacher from Burlington, Wisconsin is on non-disciplinary administrative leave after a student raised concerns about an assignment given while the teacher was on vacation in Washington, D.C. this past week, according to a district press release. Social studies high school teacher Jeff Taff apparently assigned students to watch a video about alleged election fraud, according to The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

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Michigan Facing Slow, but Improving COVID-19 Vaccine Rollout

After months of waiting, the COVID-19 vaccine is out, but a labyrinth lies ahead to get vaccines from the federal government into the arms of Michiganders.

Many of the vaccines were created and approved in less than a year, but it’s unclear how long it will take to immunize all 10 million Michigan residents.

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US Economy Lost 140,000 Jobs in December, Economists Expected a Modest Gain

The U.S. economy reported a decrease of 140,000 jobs in December while unemployment stayed unchanged at 6.7%, according to Department of Labor data released Friday.

Total non-farm payroll employment declined by 140,000 in November, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics report, and the number of unemployed persons stayed stagnant at 10.7 million. The number marked the first time since April, the U.S. reported negative job growth.

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Commentary: The Left Finds Time for One More Big Lie Against Trump

As a preface, let there be no doubt that those who violated the law, acted violently, trespassed federal grounds on Wednesday, January 6, should be prosecuted and punished as prescribed by law for their crimes just as Antifa, Black Lives Matter, and other criminals who brought violence, destruction, bloodshed, and mayhem to Portland, Seattle, and so many other American cities during the months leading up to the presidential election should be arrested, prosecuted, and punished as the law demands for their crimes.

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House Homeland Security Chair Urges Authorities to Put Capitol Rioters on ‘No-Fly List’

Chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security Rep. Bennie Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat, on Thursday urged the TSA and the FBI to place certain members of the Capitol mob on the “No-Fly List.”

“Given the heinous domestic terrorist attack on the U.S. Capitol yesterday, I am urging the Transportation Security Administration [TSA] and the Federal Bureau of Investigation [FBI] to use their authorities to add the names of all identified individuals involved in the attack to the federal No-Fly List and keep them off planes,” Thompson said in a press release.

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Pfizer Vaccine Effective Against Contagious Coronavirus Strain, Study Shows

The vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech protects against a highly contagious strain of coronavirus that originated in South Africa and the U.K., according to a study published Thursday.

The study, which was commissioned by Pfizer, is likely to alleviate some fears that the virus variant would evade protections offered by the vaccine.

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Commentary: President Trump’s Tenure Didn’t Have to End This Way

In the end, almost everyone got what they deserved.

The president’s Achilles’ heel—relying on the wrong people to advance his political interests—led to his final ouster this week. Donald Trump ran out of runway and instead of preparing for a soft landing, he pumped the gas. It’s hard to blame him: His court challenges had been thwarted by the very judges he elevated to the federal bench, his hodgepodge legal team whirred in defeat, and Republican senators he helped elect quickly turned on him.

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Commentary: Our Future

This is no time for despair. This is no time for discouragement, and this is certainly no time for violence. Now is the time to use every constitutional prerogative at our disposal to peacefully fight for the future of our country.

I was deeply disappointed by the outcomes in the Georgia elections and the congressional certification of the electoral college vote making Joe Biden the next President of the United States. However, this is the reality we face, and it is time to acknowledge it.

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Biden Has Finally Announced His Entire Cabinet. Here’s What You Need to Know

Since President-elect Joe Biden won the election in November, he has been announcing the Cabinet nominees who will help him achieve his administration’s agenda.

His nominees, if confirmed by the Senate after he takes office, would comprise the most diverse Cabinet in American history, a promise which Biden made while campaigning. Below is a list of who he has chosen to head departments throughout the executive branch.

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Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger Bashes Republicans in CNN Interview, Intends to Certify Runoff Election for Democrats

CNN found a new darling in Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R), who bashed Republicans and President Donald J. Trump in an interview with the network Thursday.

“For two long months, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger endured, standing in the firing line of Trump’s baseless attacks,” CNN’s Amara Walker said in a television interview featuring Raffensperger.

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Michigan Gov. Whitmer Pocket Vetoes Meijer Tax Break, Property Tax Deferment for Hard Hit Businesses; Industry Leaders Want Answers

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Monday declined to sign two bills into law, exercising a “pocket veto” on legislation that would have given a tax break to Meijer and allowed businesses hit hard by COVID-19 to defer summer 2020 property taxes.

Whitmer vetoed SB 1153, which lawmakers said aimed to give Meijer a tax break on sales and use property taxes on automated consumer goods sorting systems.

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FBI Raids Locations Tied to Former Tennessee House Speaker Glen Casada, Plus Additional Lawmakers and Staff

The FBI on Friday reportedly raided locations tied to former Tennessee House Speaker Glen Casada (R-Franklin) and Republican allies over allegations of possible public corruption.

Current Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton (R-Crossville) issued a statement about the raid that took place at the Cordell Hull Building in Nashville.

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Democrats Set to Control the Sentate as David Perdue Concedes to Jon Ossoff

In a move that will effectively give Democrats the majority in the U.S. Senate, incumbent U.S. Senator David Perdue (R-GA) has conceded his reelection bid to his Democrat challenger.

In a concession statement, Perdue did not mention his opponent, Senator-Elect Jon Ossoff, by name.

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Biden Says Black Lives Matter Protesters Would ‘Have Been Treated Very Differently’ Than Capitol Rioters

President-elect Joe Biden on Thursday said Black Lives Matter activists would “have been treated very, very differently” if they had stormed the Capitol instead of President Donald Trump supporters.

“No one can tell me that if it had been a group of Black Lives Matter protesting yesterday, there wouldn’t — they wouldn’t have been treated very, very differently than the mob of thugs that stormed the Capitol,” Biden said during a speech in Wilmington, Delaware.

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Commentary: The Mainstream Media and Social Media Oligarchs Are to Blame for the D.C. Rioting

The Mainstream Media Are to blame for the D.C. rioting. Through four years they relentlessly pursued a single-minded goal: to take down the fairly-and-squarely democratically elected presidency of Donald Trump. Towards that end, they escalated non-stories into major “news” and elevated non-entities into major public figures. As they did in 2014 with the tragic crash of Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17, they contorted serious news into theater and abandoned their duties to investigate honestly and report dispassionately, fairly, and responsibly.

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Police: Protest Outside Hawley Home Not ‘That Big of a Deal’

The Vienna Police department who responded to protestors who gathered outside of Sen. Josh Hawley’s (R-Mo.) Virginia home Monday evening said “people were peaceful” and left after officers explained local picketing laws, contradicting Hawley who said protesters had threatened his family and “vandalized” his door.

Protesters gathered outside Hawley’s Northern Virginia home in response to his announcement that he would be opposing President-elect Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory, The Hill reported.

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Paul’s Annual Report Details More Than $54B in Wasteful Federal Government Spending

Congress “spent as never before, doing so ostensibly without a care” in 2020, greatly contributing to what is now a $3.1 trillion deficit, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, argues in his annual wasteful spending report.

At the same time, initial 15-day lockdowns to stop the spread of the coronavirus turned into nearly year-long lockdowns, Paul said, “wreaking havoc on Americans’ health, sanity, and economy, while also empowering petty tyrants across the country.”

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Tennessee Senate Considers Bill to Allow First Responders to Live Outside the Jurisdictions They Serve

State Senator Brian Kelsey (R-Germantown) on Wednesday filed SB 29 which would allow first responders to live where they choose, the Tennessee Senate Republican Caucus said in a statement.

Kelsey posted on the caucus’ Facebook page, “This is a public safety bill. It will enable us to hire more police officers, which will help us fight our rising crime rates.”

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Capitol Police Say Four Dead, 52 Arrested at Wednesday’s Massive ‘Stop the Steal’ Rally

Washington, D.C. police announced Wednesday that four people died during riots following the Stop the Steal rally on Capitol Hill.

Rioters stormed the United States Capitol building Wednesday, committing acts of vandalism and postponing the certification process as members of Congress were forced to evacuate the building.

Between Wednesday night and Thursday morning, authorities have made at least 68 arrests, police announced Thursday. Five of these arrests were for illegal possession of firearms, and two people were arrested for other weapons, police said. Police also said they arrested 28 additional people for violating curfew.

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New Jobless Claims Come in at 787,000, Economists Expected 815,000

The number of Americans filing new unemployment claims stayed at 787,000 last week as the economy continued to suffer the effects of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, according to the Department of Labor.

The Bureau of Labor and Statistics (BLS) figure released Thursday represented no change in the number of new jobless claims compared to the week ending Jan. 2, in which there were also 787,000 new jobless claims reported. Roughly 19.2 million Americans continue to collect unemployment benefits, according to the BLS report Thursday.

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Rollout Leaves More Than 70 Percent of COVID-19 Vaccines Unused

More than 70 percent of COVID-19 vaccines have gone unused, still sitting in freezers US health officials said on Monday.

In Daytona Beach, hundreds of senior citizens camped out in their vehicles in chilly overnight temperatures in the low 40s to secure a place in a vaccination line Tuesday morning, a day after seniors jammed the roads to the vaccination site,  NBC Miami reported.

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Commentary: It’s Time for Mitch to Go

Senator Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who currently holds what I suppose we now call the Office of the Outgoing Senate Majority Leader, has to go. He’s a man unsuited for the times. The results prove it.

It is McConnell who has been the architect of Republican defeat in the Senate. Heading into the 2016 election, there were 54 Republican senators. After the election there were 52. Then, in 2018, McConnell backed the disastrous candidacy of Martha McSally for an open seat in Arizona. It was McConnell who picked her and crowded out other viable candidates. That year McSally lost by 2.4 percentage points to Kyrsten Sinema while, at the same time, Republican Doug Ducey cruised to a nearly 15-point win as Arizona’s governor. 

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Senators Blackburn, Hagerty Back Away from Trump to Certify Electoral College

U.S Senators Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty (both R-TN) reversed course late Wednesday night and allowed Arizona’s disputed electoral votes to be counted, WJHL reported.

Just last week, the duo had pledged to contest the Electoral College results, The Tennessee Star reported.

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Michiganders Ages 65 and Older, Frontline Workers, and Educators Eligible for COVID-19 Vaccine Starting Monday

Michigan officials announced Wednesday the state will start to vaccinate a broader group of people starting Monday.

That includes Michiganders age 65 and older, frontline workers including police officers, first responders, jail and prison staff, and PreK-12 teachers and childcare providers.

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Analysis: How the GOP Lost Control of Washington, and What Comes Next

Washington DC

ow that Democrats are poised to control the White House, Senate and House, the traditional game of finger-pointing and recrimination will begin inside the GOP.

The first instinct for politicians will be to assign blame, call names and jockey for position. But the 2020 election wasn’t just an election, it was a political watershed in which the rules and strategy for winning were rewritten.

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Congress Affirms Biden Electoral College Votes; Trump Agrees to ‘Orderly Transition’

A joint session of Congress, completing its work in the early morning hours of Thursday after lawmakers had been forced to flee their chambers by a violent invasion of the Capitol, affirmed that Joe Biden will be the next president of the United States.

The proceedings concluded shortly after 3:30 a.m. EST, drawing to a close an chaotic day in the nation’s house of laws that saw one person shot dead inside the building after some rioters breached its security during a massive rally to support President Trump.

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Star News Network Working to Restore Tens of Thousands of Posts Deleted from Facebook

Tens of thousands of posts containing news stories from The Star News Network’s Facebook pages were temporarily deleted Wednesday. 

“Hi, we are currently experiencing an issue with Facebook and because of that the sharing is stopped and your Facebook accounts are paused,” a third party software used by The Star News Network to schedule and post stories to social media said by email.

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Commentary: Win or Lose on the Electoral College, President Trump Showed America How to Get Tough with China

The House and the Senate will convene in a joint session of Congress on Jan. 6 to hear any and all objections to the Dec. 14 outcome of the Electoral College in favor of Joe Biden, with challenges expected in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

This is President Donald Trump’s last chance to reclaim the White House, but win or lose on Wednesday, the President has already served America with one of the most consequential single terms in our country’s history.

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‘Burn It Down’: Rioters Threaten to Light Portland Precinct on Fire, Damage Police Cruisers

A group of rioters in Portland threatened to burn down a law enforcement precinct, hurled projectiles at officers and damaged police cruisers on Wednesday, authorities said.

Roughly 50 violent demonstrators, some of whom donned gas masks and shields, chanted “burn it down” in reference to a law enforcement headquarters in the city, according to a press release. Members of the crowd destroyed surveillance cameras outside of the precinct, tried to rip down a fence and used spikes to slash the tires of cop vehicles, the Portland Police Bureau (PPB) wrote.

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