The White House on Tuesday downplayed any personal rift between President Biden and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) as some progressive Democrats ramped up their criticisms of the moderate senator after he voiced opposition to a sweeping voting rights bill and changes to the Senate filibuster.

Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) on Monday called Manchin “the new Mitch McConnell,” likening the Democrat to the Senate minority leader and accusing him of standing in the way of the For The People Act, which passed the House along party lines earlier this year.

“I think we’re going to leave the name-calling to others,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said at a Tuesday briefing. “The president considers Sen. Manchin a friend. He disagrees with him on voting rights and the bill that the senator has expressed he won’t support.”

“The president will continue to advocate for the importance of that moving forward and the reasons why that it’s important and vital for our democracy, but we’ll continue to seek ways we can work with Senator Manchin even while we have areas of disagreement,” she added.

Psaki noted Manchin is proud of his independent streak representing a red state as a Democrat. She shrugged off the suggestion that criticisms of the senator were hurtful to him. . . .

Attacks by settlers in the West Bank have been on the rise for years—and a new Israeli government is no guarantee of change.

The day after Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire, I was working in my garden, in Ramallah, in the West Bank, when I heard shooting near my home. Fear gripped me. My first thought was that the settlers from one of the three major settlements perched on the surrounding hills—Beit El, Dolev and Psagot—had attacked. Days earlier, my nephew had called and said that friends of his had been shot at by the settlers in a nearby valley, where I’m fond of hiking. He warned me not to go. Minutes later, I heard another round of shots—this time even closer to my house. I went inside, certain that armed settlers were marching through Ramallah’s streets, firing at civilians. Later, I learned that the shooting was from Palestinians who were celebrating Hamas’s claim of victory.

Two weeks later, there is a feeling of good riddance at the likely removal of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but no reduction in the fear here. There is no rejoicing that Netanyahu would be replaced by the far-right politician Naftali Bennett, who served as the director general of Yesha, the umbrella organization of Jewish settlements in the West Bank. Bennett supports the annexation of much of the occupied territories, and he is committed to the rejection of a Palestinian state. His ascension is a disappointment for anyone who believed that this was a propitious time for peace negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians. It is a victory for the far-right settlers whom Palestinians fear. . . .

Breitbart News Editor-in-Chief Alex Marlow’s “Breaking the News: Exposing the Establishment Media’s Hidden Deals and Secret Corruption” details the tricks the media use to contort every story to fit their fixed agenda— also known as the rules to properly decipher the New York Times.

The New York Times has revealed shocking details about an unsuccessful attempt by the Trump administration, and then the Biden administration, to secretly obtain the email logs of four reporters at the newspaper. As part of the campaign, the Biden Justice Department placed a gag order on the Times in March to prevent many at the paper from even knowing about the request until a federal court lifted it. In recent weeks the Justice Department also disclosed the Trump administration had secretly obtained the call records of four journalists at the Times, as well as three journalists at The Washington Post and one at CNN. Jameel Jaffer, founding director of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, says subpoenas for journalists’ records are “really troubling” because of their potential chilling effect on critical journalism. “It’s about the right of the public to have access to information about the government,” he says. . . .

An investigation exposing widespread abuse in the palm oil industry and searing photos of Ethiopians fleeing war earned The Associated Press two Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Awards on Thursday.

AP investigative reporters Margie Mason and Robin McDowell won the RFK Journalism Award for international print for a series of stories that uncovered the exploitation of an invisible workforce of millions of men, women and children from some of the poorest corners of Asia. . . .

BMW, Daimler and Ford have set up facilities in China to store data generated by their cars locally, they told Reuters, as automakers come under growing pressure in the world’s biggest car market over how they handle information from vehicles.

Cars are being fitted with an ever-increasing array of sensors and cameras to assist drivers.

But the data they generate can also be used by manufacturers to help develop new technologies, such as autonomous driving systems, raising privacy and security concerns, particularly when the information might be sent abroad.

U.S. electric carmaker Tesla (TSLA.O) is under public scrutiny in China over its storage and handling of customer data in the country.

Last week, Reuters reported that staff at some Chinese government offices were told not to park their Tesla cars inside government compounds due to security concerns over vehicle cameras, according to two people with knowledge of the matter. . .

Meet Mark Robinson. He’s the lieutenant governor of North Carolina. In about three and a half minutes, he’s going to MAKE you wanna gnaw through a raw porterhouse steak before running through a brick wall screaming “CLEAR EYES, FULL HEARTS, CAN’T LOSE!” All while waving an American flag, but I assumed that was understood.

Mark Robinson: “We are Americans”

[On 9/11] we saw policemen and firemen run into those buildings, basically RUN INTO THEIR DEATHS to go help others, because they saw trouble and they knew that they were needed. That’s got to be us in this day right here. We’ve got to run to the trouble, folks. And what is the trouble? The trouble is the Biden administration that is seeking to turn this country into a socialist hellhole. The problem is Antifa, that wants to roam the streets and beat you into submission. The trouble is Black Lives Matter. It claims to care about the lives of black people, but it’s turned a blind eye while violence in black communities is taking lives at a genocidal rate. They’ve turned a blind eye. That’s where the trouble is, and that’s what we’ve got to run to.

And we’ve got all the right in the world on our side. And there ain’t no reason to be afraid. And there ain’t no reason to not take the challenge dead on. … It doesn’t matter what color you are, what nation your folks hail from, or how much money you got. We all share the same name. We are Americans.

Mark Robinson is the epitome of what our Founding Fathers envisioned our elected officials to be. Robinson was nothing more than a concerned citizen who grabbed attention speaking out against gun control at a city council meeting. That was his introduction to politics. Two years later, he’s the second-highest-ranking official in the state of (in Michael Jordan cadence) NORTH -CAR-O-LI-NA! He’s a regular dude (i.e., not a lawyer or college professor) who was called to serve.

Sure, speeches don’t matter much when they aren’t backed up with action. A recurring problem on the right. But it’s not like he’s a Washington politician who thinks “fighting” is holding a hearing and sneaking out the back. Robinson has only been in office for less than six months. The right also has a problem with leaders unable to motivate people outside of saying they are more to the right than their opponent. Motivating voters and the people he serves is clearly a problem Robinson does not have. . . .

From The Daily Caller:

• • Attorneys for Chicago Democratic Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Monday they would provide a sworn declaration to clarify a policy that denied interviews to white journalists.
  • During the Monday hearing related to a suit brought by the Daily Caller News Foundation and Judicial Watch, a district judge ordered Lightfoot’s office to file within the week a declaration under oath about whether the mayor’s policy allowing interviews solely to journalists of color is still in effect or will be in effect in the future.
  • The suit alleged that Thomas Catenacci, a reporter for the DCNF, was denied an interview with Lightfoot after repeated inquiries to her office.
  • “There is no evidence that this policy is not in effect,” an attorney for Judicial Watch said, adding that Lightfoot’s office “hasn’t provided any non-racial reason as to why the interview has not been granted.”
  • An attorney for Lightfoot’s office responded that “the plaintiff has no evidence this policy is in effect.” Lawyers for Judicial Watch replied that “there have been no statements or sworn testimony that the stated policy was rescinded.”

Attorneys for Chicago Democratic Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Monday they would provide a sworn declaration to clarify a policy that denied interviews to white journalists.

During the Monday hearing related to a suit brought by the Daily Caller News Foundation and Judicial Watch, U.S. District Judge John Z. Lee ordered Lightfoot’s office to file within the week a declaration under oath about whether the mayor’s policy allowing interviews solely to journalists of color is still in effect or will be in effect in the future. The suit alleged that Thomas Catenacci, a reporter for the DCNF, was denied an interview with Lightfoot after repeated inquiries to her office.

Judicial Watch sought an injunction last week asking the court to immediately end Lightfoot’s policy, but the mayor’s lawyers argued in the hearing Monday that it was unnecessary, saying the policy is not currently in effect. The plaintiffs disagreed, arguing that the mayor has not provided any evidence of that.

“There is no evidence that this policy is not in effect,” an attorney for Judicial Watch said, adding that Lightfoot’s office “hasn’t provided any non-racial reason as to why the interview has not been granted.”

An attorney for Lightfoot’s office responded that “the plaintiff has no evidence this policy is in effect.” Lawyers for Judicial Watch replied that “there have been no statements or sworn testimony that the stated policy was rescinded.”

Lee disclosed at the start of the hearing that he and Lightfoot worked at the same law firm in the mid-1990s, but that their previous professional relationship did not present a conflict on interest. Attorneys for Lightfoot did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“We look forward to Mayor Lightfoot’s filing on Friday,” Michael Bekesha, senior attorney at Judicial Watch, said in a statement. “The Court is requiring the Mayor to file a statement under oath about whether her racially discriminatory policy still applies to Catenacci’s and the DCNF’s interview request. More than two weeks later, we still haven’t seen any evidence that it doesn’t.”

The suit was originally brought on May 27, just over a week after Lightfoot announced the policy on Twitter May 19. Catenacci attempted to secure an interview on May 20, 21 and 24, according to the lawsuit. After repeated non-responses, Catenacci said there was “no excuse” for Lightfoot’s policy.

“There is no excuse for racial discrimination,” Catenacci said. “Every day that goes by without the Mayor granting my interview request because of my race violates my rights and tramples on the First Amendment.”

Read More Here.

The post Lightfoot’s Attorneys Promise To Clarify Policy That Denied Interviews To White Journalists appeared first on Judicial Watch.

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