Widget Image
Follow PPD Social Media
follow
1,000 Followers
follow
0 Followers
follow
People's Pundit Locals Community
Sunday, March 9, 2025
SECTIONS
logo
mobile-logo
HomeStandard Blog Whole Post (Page 875)
Opinion, Video

(Video H/T: RightSightings) George Will, Judy Woodruff, Liz Cheney, and Juan Williams join Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday panel to discuss the cyber attack by North Korea. The FNC panel weighs the severity of the attack, and potential response by the United States.

(Video H/T: RightSightings) The FNC panel talk about a potential Jeb Bush run in 2016, and the normalization of U.S.-Cuban relations announced by President Obama last week.

George Will, Judy Woodruff, Liz Cheney, and

Politics, Video

(Video H/T: RightSightings) Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani joined Fox and Friends this morning to react to the execution style assassination of two NYPD officers Saturday. America’s Mayor had few nice words for the current mayor of NYC, Mayor Bill de Blasio, who is taking enormous heat from the police unions.

NYPD officers sent a clear message by turning their backs on leftist Mayor de Blasio as he entered a Brooklyn hospital to pay his respects to two murdered officers — you’re a mayor without a police force. The demonstration was captured by WPIX11 News, and even included the president of the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, Patrick Lynch, and the Sergeants Benevolent Association, Ed Mullins.

Officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu were pronounced dead at Woodhull Hospital after 28-year-old Ismaaiyl Brinsley, shot and killed them execution style outside of the Tompkins Houses in Bedford-Stuyvesant around 3:00 P.M. ET Saturday as “revenge” for Eric Garner.

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani

Video, World

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehbXqaih2n0

Al-Aqsa television, a Hamas propaganda station, aired a children’s program featuring a young boy reciting a poem describing Israelis as “barbaric apes” and “filth,” which the holy city of Jerusalem “vomits.”

The host of the show, a young girl, asked the boy to give his “message to the enemy” by reciting the poem “I do not fear the gun.”

“Oh sons of Zion, Oh the most evil of creatures, Oh barbaric apes, Jerusalem rejects you and vomits your filth,”  rants the boy, who was identified by the Middle East Media Research Institute as Abd Al-Rahim al-Zarad.

“You are nothing but herds of deluded idiots,” the boy also says. “Humiliation and suffering have been decreed on you.”

Meanwhile, the Israeli military confirmed a rocket was fired from the Gaza Strip into southern Israel on Friday, in the first such attack since September. Officials say the projectile — that set off air raid sirens in the Eshkol region — landed in an open field, causing no injuries or damage.

Israel fought a 50-day war just this past summer with the Islamic militant group Hamas, which controls Gaza. In repeated violations of previously agreed upon cease-fires, Hamas launched thousands of rockets and mortars deep into Israel, which responded by carried out an aerial campaign and a ground invasion first aimed at “ending Hamas rockets once and for all,” but expanded in scope when a vast and sophisticated network of terror tunnels dug from Gaza under Israel were discovered.

Examinations of the structures found Hamas was using the very concrete supplied by Egypt, Israel, the U.S., and the U.N. for the construction of schools and infrastructure.

In the end, the war left more than 2,100 Palestinians dead, according to Palestinian and U.N. officials, while the Israelis lost 66 soldiers and six civilians. If not for the Iron Dome missile defense system, the death toll would have been much higher among the Israeli military and civilian populations.

Al-Aqsa television, a Hamas propaganda station, aired

US, Video

mayor-de-blasio-press-conference
Mayor Bill de Blasio gives a press conference Saturday Dec. 20, 2014, following the execution of two NYPD officers as “revenge” for Eric Garner. (Photo: JOHN MINCHILLO/AP)

NYPD officers sent a clear message by turning their backs on Mayor de Blasio as he entered a Brooklyn hospital to pay his respects to two murdered officers — you’re a mayor without a police force. The demonstration was captured by WPIX11 News, and even included the president of the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, Patrick Lynch, and the Sergeants Benevolent Association, Ed Mullins.

“That blood on the hands starts on the steps of City Hall in the office of the mayor,” Lynch said in statement. “When these funerals are over, those responsible will be called on the carpet and held accountable.”

Officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu were pronounced dead at Woodhull Hospital after 28-year-old Ismaaiyl Brinsley, shot and killed them execution style outside of the Tompkins Houses in Bedford-Stuyvesant around 3:00 P.M. ET Saturday as “revenge” for Eric Garner.

Police have been furious with de Blasio since he aligned himself with Al Sharpton and protestors, calling a horrific assault by protestors on NYPD officers “alleged,” despite the fact it was caught on camera. Further, in a press conference following a Staten Island grand jury’s decision not to indict Police Officer Daniel Pantaleo, a 29-year-old, eight-year veteran of the force over Garner’s death, de Blasio claimed that he had told his own 17-year-old, mixed-race son, Dante, to be careful around police officers.

“[The Garner case] was profoundly personal for me,” de Blasio said, because of “the dangers Dante may face, we’ve had to literally train him in how to take special care in any encounter he has with the police officers who are there to protect him.”

Lynch shot back at de Blasio, stating the mayor was “throwing them under the bus” for political gain. Shortly after, the NYPD police union was urging cops to tell Mayor de Blasio not to bother showing up to their officer’s funerals in the inevitable event they are killed in the line of duty.

“Mayor de Blasio, the blood of these two officers is clearly on your hands,” Mullins said in a statement to his union members Saturday night. “It is your failed policies and actions that enabled this tragedy to occur. I only hope and pray that more of these ambushes and executions do not happen again.”

De Blasio’s spokesman Phil Walzak tried to turn the tables on the police Saturday, stating it was disappointing for leaders to bash the mayor in a time of grief.

nypd-cops-turn-backs-on-de-blasio
A hallway at Woodhull Hospital filled with cops showing de Blasio their back sides as he walks a blue gauntlet is shown in a video captured by WPIX11 News. (Photo: WPIX)

“It’s unfortunate that in a time of great tragedy, some would resort to irresponsible, overheated rhetoric that angers and divides people,” Walzak said. “Mayor de Blasio understands this is the time when we must come together to support the families and friends of those brave officers New York City lost tonight — and the entire NYPD community.”

Meanwhile, protesters part of Al Sharpton’s “Million Marchers” chanted “What do we want?… Dead cops!” as they marched in New York City last Saturday. Outrageously, despite being caught on video, the so-called reverend tweeted out the following:

“I am outraged at the killing of 2 police officers in Brooklyn. That is why we stress non violence as the only way to fight for justice.”

NYPD officers sent a clear message by turning

US

rahm-emanuel-son-mugged

Police on Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s security detail talk to a U.S. Postal Service employee Saturday afternoon. Emanuel’s 17-year-old son, Zach, was injured in a robbery outside his North Side home late Friday night. Craig M. Newman / Sun-Times)

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s son Zach, a teenager, was mugged and assaulted outside the family’s home on the city’s North Side late Friday, according to police.

Police said the 17 year-old was walking outside the house shortly after 10:00 P.M. local time when he was grabbed by two men, who went through his pockets, stole his cell phone and fled. As of late Saturday night, they were still at large.

“Yesterday evening, Mayor Emanuel’s son Zach was assaulted in a robbery during which his phone was stolen,” mayoral spokeswoman Kelley Quinn said. “He sustained injuries that required medical treatment but was able to join the family for a long-planned trip. The mayor’s focus is on his son’s well-being.”

The Emanuel’s had a long-scheduled holiday trip to Chile.

The teenager suffered a chipped tooth and a fat lip when he was punched in the face during the attack, according to the police report, which also states that one of the attackers asked Emanuel “What else you got?” after taking the phone.

The perpetrators, according to the Chicago Sun-Times, which first reported the attack, made Zach enter his security code to unlock the phone before fleeing the scene.

Police said that no weapons were used in the attack. A photo taken by a newspaper photographer showed police officers gathered on the porch of the Emanuel home. On Saturday night, MyFoxChicago reported that an unmarked police car was parked in front of Emanuel’s house.

According to a Chicago Police Department Crime Summary Map seen by MyFoxChicago, there have been 17 robberies in the same police district as Emanuel’s home between Nov. 20 and Dec. 13.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel's son Zach, a

Economy, News

gm auto bailout cost us treasury

GM auto bailout cost US Treasury more than government estimated it would after selling its last share.

The government closed out its last big position taken during the 2008 bailout of U.S. banks and automakers, selling its remaining shares in the former financing arm of General Motors (NYSE:GM), the U.S. Treasury said on Friday.

The U.S. Treasury decided to sell their roughly 55 million shares in Ally Financial (NYSE:GOM.CL) for a total of $1.3 billion, which a Treasury official said was organized to take advantage of strong stock prices seen in the last few days.

Shares in Ally Financial, which was formerly known as GMAC, rose 3.7 percent in Friday morning trading.

Treasury’s sale of the shares leaves taxpayer investments in the financial industry at less than $1 billion, but the position is “diversified” among 35 small community banks, said Timothy Bowler, a deputy assistant secretary at the Treasury, in a telephone call with journalists.

In 2008, during a financial crisis and profound recession, Washington bailed out a host of banks, big and small, as well as automakers General Motors and Chrysler. As of Wednesday, taxpayers had spent $426 billion under the Troubled Asset Relief Program signed into law by former President George W. Bush.

Taxpayers have recovered almost all of their TARP investments. Though they lost money on automakers, it was offset by profits from the financial sector. According to surveys, confidence in U.S. banks among American adults remains below levels measured prior to the 2008 financial meltdown. Now, one-third of Americans fear they will lose their money due to bank failure.

A new Rasmussen survey found that 31 percent of American adults are at least somewhat concerned they will lose their money due to a bank failure, which is down only slightly from November. Meanwhile, 65 percent are not worried about losing their money, including 8 percent who are “very worried” and 25 percent who are “not at all worried” about losing money in a bank failure.

The TARP program also pumped money into housing programs, and continues to do so.

closed out its last big position taken

US

suspect-nypd-killings

Ismaaiyl Brinsley, the black suspect who shot and killed two NYPD officers sitting in their patrol cars, is wheeled into the ambulance. (Photo: DEBBIE EGAN-CHIN/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS)

DEVELOPING: Two NYPD officers were shot and killed Saturday after a gunman opened fire on them as they sat inside a patrol car as “revenge” for Eric Garner.

Ismaaiyl Brinsley, who allegedly shot and seriously wounded his girlfriend hours earlier in Baltimore, Maryland, fired at the officers in their squad car outside of the Tompkins Houses in Bedford-Stuyvesant in Brooklyn. Both officers later died at Woodhull Hospital.

The attack in Brooklyn took place at around 3 P.M. ET, with both officers shot in the head at point-blank range.

“The perp came out of the houses, walked up behind the car and lit them up,” a high-ranking police official told PPD. “It’s was execution style.”

Brinsley boasted about wanting to kill cops just hours before he ambushed the officers on Instagram, where he posted a comment alongside a photo of a silver handgun and a series of hashtags referencing the deaths of Eric Garner and Michael Brown.

“I’m Putting Wings On Pigs Today. They Take 1 Of Ours…Let’s Take 2 of Theirs,” Brinsley wrote.

“They basically dragged two cops out their car,” a witness said. “I saw it. One was shot in the face. There was blood coming out of his face.”

“He just walked up and shot that cop in the head,” another man said. All witness claimed the officers never even saw the shooter coming.

Following the ambush, Brinsley ran around the corner to the Myrtle-Willoughby Avenues subway station where he cowardly shot himself in the head, according to the NYPD.

“They engaged the guy and he did himself,” one investigator said.

Emergency responders were called to the scene in the hope he would face prosecution, but he was later pronounced dead.

The shooting comes as police officers in New York and nationwide have taken heat over the circumstances surrounding the death of Eric Garner, a black man who resisted arrest after he was stopped by police for selling loose cigarettes, which followed a Missouri grand jury deciding not to indict Officer Darren Wilson for shooting 18-year-old Michael Brown in self-defense.

Demonstrators around the country have protested since a Staten Island grand jury decided on Dec. 3 not to indict Police Officer Daniel Pantaleo, a 29-year-old, eight-year veteran of the force over Garner’s death. Several New York police officers were assaulted during demonstrations, including one that drew thousands to the Brooklyn Bridge.

Yet, leftist Mayor Bill de Blasio aligned himself with Al Sharpton and protestors, calling the assault “alleged” despite the fact it, too, was caught on camera. Further, in a press conference following the grand jury’s decision, de Blasio claimed that he had told his own 17-year-old, mixed-race son, Dante, to be careful around police officers.

“[The Garner case] was profoundly personal for me,” de Blasio said, because of “the dangers Dante may face, we’ve had to literally train him in how to take special care in any encounter he has with the police officers who are there to protect him.”

The NYPD police union, which is urging cops to tell Mayor de Blasio not to bother showing up to their officer’s funerals in the inevitable event they are killed in the line of duty, fired back at de Blasio.

“That’s not true!” shouted Police Benevolence Association (PBA) Patrick Lynch. “Our city is safe because of police officers. All of our sons and daughters walk the streets in safety because of police officers. They should be afraid of the criminals. That’s what we should be teaching.”

“We need a mayor to stand up with and for us,” Lynch added, stating that NYPD officers feel as if de Blasio is “throwing them under the bus.”

Meanwhile, protesters part of Al Sharpton’s “Million Marchers” chanted “What do we want?… Dead cops!” as they marched in New York City last Saturday. Outrageously, despite being caught on video, the so-called reverend tweeted out the following:

“I am outraged at the killing of 2 police officers in Brooklyn. That is why we stress non violence as the only way to fight for justice.”

The last shooting death of an NYPD officer came in December 2011, when 22-year veteran Peter Figoski responded to a report of a break-in at a Brooklyn apartment. He was shot in the face and killed by one of the suspects hiding in a side room when officers arrived. The shooter, Lamont Pride, was convicted of murder and sentenced in 2013 to 45 years to life in prison.

Two NYPD officers were shot and killed

Economy

economic news

Business and investors can count on a final revision of third-quarter GDP and competing housing market data throughout the week leading up to Christmas Day. All U.S. banks and securities markets are closed Thursday for the Christmas holiday.

The third report on third-quarter GDP will come out Tuesday, and economist expect t to show a $15 billion upward revision, of which, roughly $7 billion is expected to come from construction spending. That increase will represent both private and public construction spending, so it will be interesting to note the breakdown.

According to analysts at IHS Global Insight, roughly $5 billion will come from the Census Bureau’s third-quarter Quarterly Services Survey. As a result, third-quarter real GDP growth is expected to be revised to 4.3 percent, up from 3.9 percent in the second estimate.

A report on existing home sales is due out Monday, which is expected to show a 3.2 percent drop to 5.09 million in the month of November, which follows two consecutive months of increase. Mortgage applications also dropped in October, and there were four fewer days to register a sale in November than there were in October, according to IHS Global.

However, the National Mortgage Risk Index (NMRI) for Agency purchase loans rose in November to 11.69 percent, up from the average of 11.29 percent for the prior three months (revised). The risk indices for Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, the FHA, and the VA all hit series highs in November, which we will discuss the map out on Monday.

A report on consumer sentiment is due out Tuesday, which economists expect will show an increased of 0.4 percent in November. When adjusting for inflation, spending is expected to have increased by just 0.6 percent, in part due to strong auto sales last month and also falling gasoline prices.

A report on durable goods orders, or manufacturing products expected to last three years or more, will come out Tuesday, and is expected to show an $11.5 billion increase, or 4.7 percent gain in November.

However, mostly aircraft orders will prop the numbers up. Vehicles, core capital goods, and machinery should indicate a modest “but not great” month, according to the IHS analysts. Unfortunately, those modest gains are expected to be outweighed by a tank in defense orders, which skyrocketed by 21 percent in October.

Business and investors can count on a

News, Politics

[wzslider info=”true” lightbox=”true”]

Washington, DC | WARNING: Graphic Content – Attorney General Eric Holder, who announced in September he was resigning, putting an end to what has been a controversial tenure, told Congress that guns illegally supplied to drug cartels as part of the Obama administration’s Fast and Furious gun-running scandal would continue to show up at crime scenes “for years to come.”

Unfortunately, Holder was right.

Newly released images and previously discovered documents show a 2013 gang-style assault in Phoenix, AZ, was perpetrated by assailants armed with AK-47s traced to Fast and Furious.

The government watchdog group Judicial Watch released graphic crime scene photos taken at the site of a 2013 gang-style assault on a Phoenix, AZ, apartment building, including a close-up image clearly depicting the serial number of the AK-47 rifle used by the assailants.

“Another Obama administration Fast and Furious cover-up has been undone by Judicial Watch. These crime scene photos graphically illustrate the legacy of President Obama and Eric Holder’s deadly Fast and Furious lies,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “Even as the evidence and casualties mount, the Obama administration is still secreting information about its reckless program. These photos show the American people firsthand the bloody consequences when an out-of-control administration will not even admit – or correct – its own mistakes.”

The images were obtained as a result of a October 2, 2014, public records lawsuit filed by Judicial Watch, but the AK-47 assault weapon has already been traced to the Obama administration’s gun-running scheme, Operation Fast and Furious, which was carried out by the Department of Justice (DOJ) under AG Holder. The photos were also provided by the Phoenix Police Department in response to Judicial Watch v. City of Phoenix (No. CV2014- 012018) lawsuit.

Police investigating the 2013 shooting that resulted in two wounded found an AK-47 assault rifle in the front passenger area of the suspect’s vehicle, which had crashed into a fence surrounding the apartment complex. Documents unveiled on October 16, 2014, through Judicial Watch’s October 2 lawsuit, confirmed congressional investigators had discovered the weapon’s serial number was tied to the Fast and Furious gun-running operation.

In an October 16 letter to Deputy Attorney General James Cole, Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA) and House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. Darryl Issa (R-CA) confirm the discovery:

Based on the serial number [1977DX1654] from the police report obtained by Judicial Watch and documents obtained during our Fast and Furious investigation, we can confirm that the assault rifle recovered in the vehicle on July 30, 2013, was purchased by Sean Christopher Stewart. Stewart pled guilty to firearms trafficking charges resulting from his involvement with Operation Fast and Furious … Stewart purchased this particular firearm on December 8, 2009, one of 40 that he purchased that day while under ATF surveillance. [Emphasis in original]

Further, a report obtained by the Phoenix Police Department confirms the Justice Department/ Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) (ATF) traced the firearm on July 31, 2013, just one day after Phoenix police officers recovered it.

“Yet, over a full year has passed, and the Department has failed to notify the Committees,” the letter further stated. “This lack of transparency about the consequences of Fast and Furious undermines public confidence in law enforcement and gives the impression that the Department is seeking to suppress information and limit its exposure to public scrutiny.”

On June 28, 2012, Holder was held in contempt by the House of Representatives over his refusal to turn over documents widely thought to prove he and other administration officials lied to Congress, marking the first time in U.S. history a sitting Attorney General was held in contempt of Congress.

Holder’s resignation came just one month after the first federal judge — U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson, an appointee of President Barack Obama — ruled he could no longer hide behind Obama’s executive privilege as a way to withhold documents long-sought by Congress. The administration again lost another ruling when a second court agreed with Judge Berman just two short days before Holder’s announcement.

“The disgraced Holder’s exit is past due accountability for Holder’s Fast and Furious lies, and I hope it brings some solace to the family of U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry and the hundreds of innocent Mexicans likely killed thanks to the Holder Justice Department’s scheme that armed the murderous Mexican drug cartels,” Mr. Fitton said in a statement regarding the resignation.

The documents and images show the City of Phoenix also failed to turn over the damning photos to congressional investigators, who made multiple requests for such information. According to sources who spoke to Judicial Watch, investigators knew at the scene and during the requests that the AK-47 traced to Fast and Furious and, worse, know it is likely not the only one.

Three weeks after the assault on July 29, 2013, Phoenix police detectives and investigators from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) apprehended four suspects in a joint raid. Local press reports claimed “numerous rifles and handguns” were found when, “Detectives from the Phoenix Police Department and Homeland Security Investigations served federal search warrants” (H/T Judicial Watch).

The presence of DHS investigators immediately raised questions because Phoenix was the central location of the ATF’s deadly Fast and Furious gunrunning operation. Operation Fast and Furious was a Justice Department/ Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) program in which the Obama administration allowed guns to go to Mexican drug cartels

The newly released images from the violent shooting in Phoenix — which consequently, was the location of primary ATF office where Fast and Furious was conducted — represent the latest violent crime resulting from the Obama administration’s gun-running policy, a scheme to arm Mexican drug cartels in the hopes that the guns would end up at crime scenes, thereby advancing left-wing gun-control policies. Sadly, the guns have been traced to the murders of U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry (Dec. 2010), Special Agent Jamie Zapata (Feb. 2011) and hundreds of Mexican nationals.

While the case of Brian Terry received a relatively small amount of coverage from national media, the tragic case of Mr. Zapata is less known.

On February 15, 2011, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Special Agent Jaime Zapata was ruthlessly gunned down in the line of duty when his vehicle was ambushed by suspected members of a Mexican drug cartel. Leaked documents show that one of the guns found at Zapata’s murder scene was supplied by convicted gun-runner Manuel Barba, an ATF customer named in Fast and Furious records.

Barba had been under ATF surveillance for six months before one of the guns he illegally supplied to Mexican drug lords was used to murder Special Agent Zapata.

Newly discovered images and documents show a

People's Pundit Daily
You have %%pigeonMeterAvailable%% free %%pigeonCopyPage%% remaining this month. Get unlimited access and support reader-funded, independent data journalism.

Start a 14-day free trial now. Pay later!

Start Trial

Subscribe