Democrats have come out against federal law enforcement’s use of lethal force following shootings involving federal immigration officials in Minneapolis and Portland last week, with some going so far as to accuse them of murder.
However, their attitudes about lethal force after a U.S. Capitol police officer killed Ashli Babbitt paint a very different picture of these Democrats’ views on police using lethal force.
As recently as this year, Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who have rebuked Trump administration arguments that shootings involving federal immigration officials last week were justified, also rebuked a multimillion-dollar settlement awarded to the family of Ashli Babbitt earlier this year, calling it a “slap in the face” and a “sickening message to police.” Babbitt was shot and killed by a U.S. Capitol Police officer during the Jan. 6 riot as she was pushing and beating against a door that led into the Speaker’s Lobby just outside the House chamber along with a mob of others.
Several other Democrats who supported law enforcement’s actions on Jan. 6, 2021, have gone off on federal border patrol officials following the Portland and Minneapolis shootings last week, with some going so far as calling them murderers.
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VANCE DOUBLES DOWN ON ‘DISGUSTING’ PRESS AS NEW FOOTAGE FROM ICE SHOOTING SURFACES, ACCUSES OUTLETS OF ‘LYING’
Representative Dan Goldman, D-N.Y., speaks during a House Oversight and Accountability Committee hearing in Washington, D.C.(Tierney L. Cross/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
In Minneapolis, a woman accused of interfering with federal deportation efforts was fatally shot by ICE in Minneapolis, while an illegal immigrant couple who DHS said were deeply involved in criminal activity were shot by CBP agents in Portland after the driver of the car tried to ram his vehicle into agents.
Rep. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y., referred to the actions of ICE in Minneapolis as “murder” in a post on X. However, just days before, on the fifth anniversary of the Jan. 6 riot, Goldman reintroduced legislation to “honor those who defended the capitol” when a mob took it over in 2021.
Rep. Primal Jayapal, D-Wash., who has claimed to have been very close to Babbitt when the Speaker’s Lobby was trying to be breached, has chastised Republicans who she believes have failed to adequately honor U.S. Capitol Police for their work on Jan. 6, 2021. “They were begging for protection from Capitol Police. Yet they refused to honor Capitol Police there[after], refused to accept that it was real,” Jayapal told Teen Vogue in 2022.
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Meanwhile, after the shootings last week, Jayapal too accused federal border patrol officials of committing murder, telling local news the incident “looked like outright murder” to her eyes.
WHY THE FBI CAN EXCLUDE STATE AUTHORITIES FROM MINNESOTA SHOOTING PROBE
Rep. Pramila Jayapal talks at a press conference on Capitol Hill.(Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
Reps. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., and Jason Crow, D-Colo., were also among those Democrats praising Capitol Police for their actions on Jan. 6, 2021 last week, while condemning the federal officer involved in the shooting that occurred as well. Crow complained that a plaque honoring U.S. Capitol Police officers who protected people on Jan. 6 was not hung up because of GOP obstruction, but was unafraid to condemn federal officials for “kill[ing]” someone. Raskin, who has also condemned the multimillion-dollar settlement to the Babbitt family, said he was “sickened” at ICE agents for “killing” a woman in Minneapolis.
Raskin’s colleague from Oregon, Rep. Suzanne Bonamici, D-Ore., demanded on X last week that federal immigration officers be held accountable for their involvement in the Portland shooting. She referred to the illegal immigrant gang members shot as “victims,” even though they tried to ram their car into officers. However, after the Capitol riot in 2021, Bonamici regularly praised the “heroism” of the U.S. Capitol Police and suggested they should be awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.
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Rick Wilson, co-founder of the anti-Trump Lincoln Project, sought to explain the discrepancy between Democrats’ reaction to Babbitt’s shooting versus the ICE shootings in a post on X, arguing “Babbitt was a domestic terrorist,” and the victim killed in Minneapolis, Renee Good, “was a mom, murdered by ICE.”
When reached for comment, Raskin echoed Wilson’s sentiment, arguing two different investigations found the Babbitt shooting was “entirely reasonable and appropriate.” He added that anyone taking the position that Good was treated properly would also have to agree that hundreds of protesters on Jan. 6, 2021 “could have been legitimately shot in the face three times.”
Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., speaks to reporters outside the House Speaker’s office inside the U.S. Capitol building.(Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
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“Without the benefit of any investigation, Trump and his Administration have labeled Ms. Good, a U.S. citizen and 37-year-old mother of three, a ‘domestic terrorist’ and immediately excused her killing after she was shot three times at point-blank range, not while charging at the police but while trying to get away from them,” Raskin said. “In both cases, the Trump Administration is telling the American people to ignore the law and the evidence of their own eyes.”
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Raskin also demanded in his comments to Fox News Digital that, following the Minnesota ICE shooting, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem “must appear to answer questions” before lawmakers on Capitol Hill.
During the subsequent days following last week’s shooting, U.S. Border Patrol Chief Mike Banks slammed rhetoric from left-wing politicians for emboldening folks to do things like ram their cars into federal immigration officials.
“The rhetoric they are putting out. The constant lies they are putting out to their constituents – saying things like kidnapping, disappearing, it’s encouraging these people to continue violating the law. They are actually putting their constituents in danger.”
The University of Oregon’s Board of Trustees voted Tuesday to approve a $1.55 billion operating budget for the next fiscal year.
But they asked university leadership to return with an amended proposal by Dec. 15, when more details about future budget cuts will be known.
FILE — The Board of Trustees recently approved next year’s budget for the University of Oregon. The vote comes several weeks after the school’s president announced that he wants the university to reduce its annual budget as revenues and out-of-state enrollment decline.
Brian Bull / KLCC
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The vote comes several weeks after University of Oregon President Karl Scholz announced that he wants the school to reduce its annual budget by around $65 million.
At a trustees meeting Monday, Scholz said the estimated budget shortfall for next year is just around $23 million. But he said out-of-state enrollment is below historical norms for the second year in a row, and it’s unlikely to bounce back.
“One year can be an aberration. Two years is a pattern,” said Scholz. “And I believe we have to treat it as a new reality.”
Scholz said in May that discussions about the budget would happen over a six-month period. He said no final decisions about cuts would be made over this summer.
On Monday, UO Senate President Dyana Mason told trustees that the Senate had approved a new process to allow for community feedback in the cost-cutting process.
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Mason said the provost will work with the deans on budget proposals, finding “clear rationale” for why programs are considered for elimination.
The provost would then bring those proposals to the Senate Committee for Academic Modifications—which includes staff, faculty and students—for feedback.
Once the plans are nearly finalized, the Senate could then hold a period for public comment.
Mason told trustees that a six-month timeline is better than the three months that frustrated some staff last year, but she recommended taking however much time is necessary.
“The worst situation would be rushing forward to make decisions without appropriate evidence, data, feedback from the people that are most in the know about the impact on our students,” said Mason.
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UO’s Board of Trustees Chair Steve Holwerda said that every week that university delays the decisions could cost them millions of dollars.
Nathan Wilk is a reporter with the KLCC newsroom.This story comes to you from the Northwest News Network, a collaboration between public media organizations in Oregon and Washington.
It is part of OPB’s broader effort to ensure that everyone in our region has access to quality journalism that informs, entertains and enriches their lives. To learn more, visit our journalism partnerships page.
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Last year, a Reddit thread circulated asking the question, “Who is the worst Canadian?” To little surprise, Ted Cruz was among those who were named.
You know Ted, right? That unctuous Texas Senator who revels in appearing smart but who gives off spider vibes? His name being on the list was not a surprise.
Neither was Elon Musk who, while not born in Canada, does bear a Canadian passport since his mother was born there. You know, birthright stuff.
At the time, Elon was dismantling much of the United States infrastructure in the name of DOGE. (Did you ever get your $2,000 check? Do we currently miss USAID in the emerging Ebola zones?) It’s little wonder that Elon scored so well on the dishonor list, never mind that he wasn’t even living in Canada during the polling.
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Other prominent names included hockey legend Wayne Gretzky (a living example of the motif ETTD—Everything Trump Touches Dies—if there ever was one), politician and philosopher Jordan Peterson, who affirms that masculinity is under assault while he assaults everything, plus Gavin McInnes, a Proud Boys founder who had relocated to the good ole USA.
The list morphed into an NCAA playoff structure, with brackets that culled the field down to a final winner. I’m going to ask the editors at City Weekly to create a similar bracket that our readers can vote in to find this year’s Worst Utahn.
Can you imagine a showdown between Mike Lee and Trevor Lee in the finals? I can. Or maybe it could be 2024 Spencer Cox against 2026 Spencer Cox—one cusping on bad, the other embracing it.
Utah’s new favorite authority, Kevin O’Leary, might also be on the Worst Utahn list, due to his proximity to all things powerful and secret at the state government level. If Kevin gets his way with the proposed giant data center in Box Elder County, he might even be a full-fledged Utah resident by then. That means, woefully, I’ll have to boycott Box Elder County.
I’m no good at boycotts. I’m weak—so yeah, I lied. I’ll still eat the great peaches and I’ll still eat at Maddox Steak House in Perry. But only when Kevin isn’t around.
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We’ve been warned, you know. Along with the other worst Canadians on the Canada list was “Mr. Wonderful” himself, Kevin O’Leary. What kind of snipe would embrace calling himself Mr. Wonderful? Especially one as handsome-reverse as Kevin O’Leary? Well, there’s one, and it’s more apropos—the late, great Paul Orndorff of World Wrestling Federation fame. He had a better run at being Mr. Wonderful than O’Leary ever will.
O’Leary didn’t give himself the name. One of his fellow billionaire panelists on Shark Tank provided that moniker after he tried to mind-wrassle an inventor out of a money-making idea. He even trademarked the name. If that sounds Trumpian, it is.
Among the many dubious qualities that are associated with O’Leary is the recurring one that he often emulates president—and fellow self-proclaimed brilliant businessman—Donald Trump. He does sound like him here and there, in both brashness and bullshit.
Utahns don’t need reminding that one day, we were blissfully unaware that anyone was even purchasing land in Box Elder County, only to awaken the next day to find that an O’Leary-led cabal of Utah political sad sacks had quietly compiled a 40,000-acre aggregation destined to become the largest water and land-use boondoggle known to modern man. We Utah historians correctly note that the floods that floated Noah were of grander scale, but this one is right up there.
The hue and cry from all corners were loud and clear: Utah does not welcome the idea of an interloper coming in with paid-off politicians in arms, selling the prospect of a massive data center and arriving without so much as a local hearing. Utah was blindsided.
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When locals protested, O’Leary again donned his Donald Trump costume, marched into the friendly studios of Fox News and spouted off the lies that protesters were bussed in, that we must love our country in this critical time and that China can’t win the data center wars.
The USA has 40% of all data centers worldwide, with more coming. But such information cannot dissuade the average Fox viewer, who is over 65 years old and will be dead when the data center begins siphoning Utah water and cooking the remaining residents of Box Elder County inside their very own Air Fryer.
But O’Leary’s biggest lie was saved for two women—also a Trumpian move. He accused Utah-born Gabi Finlayson and Jackie Morgan (both of Elevate Utah, which is indeed politically aligned toward the Democratic party) as being paid agents of China. Their crime? Exposing O’Leary, Cox and the rest as being as useless as teats on a Box Elder bull.
Finlayson and Morgan took to their own social media, delivering a master class in mockery that accelerated them to social media stardom and exposed O’Leary as a bumbling asshole. Not dissuaded, O’Leary also stupidly punched at Senate candidate Caroline Gleich, who similarly punched back with the reminder that while she has no foreign ties, O’Leary himself is not only Canadian by birth, but is also a citizen of the UAE—who is the foreigner again?
I’m thrilled to no end to see these “masculine” men kneecapped by stronger women.
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If they see this, I’ll buy tequila shooters for Gabi, Jackie and Caroline. By the looks of things, all across the entire political spectrum, it will be women who save us from ourselves and from unwelcome political grabs.
We may need data centers. We don’t need Mr. Not-So-Wonderful.
WASHINGTON COUNTY, Ore. (KPTV) – The Washington County Sheriff’s Office released video of deputies using a drone to track down a man wanted for damaging a car.
On Saturday, May 30, a 911 caller reported a man damaging a car outside their home on Southwest 179th Avenue in Aloha. The sheriff’s office said it was reported the suspect, 21-year-old Santos Paulino Castro-Ramirez, was punching the car.
Deputies used a drone to follow the suspect as he ran toward Southwest Barcelona Lane. The sheriff’s office said Castro-Ramirez then entered a white SUV that did not belong to him on SW Barcelona.
Deputies arrested Castro-Ramirez. He was booked into the Washington County Jail for first-degree burglary and attempt to commit a crime – second-degree theft.
