Go Guard.

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela’s government said Monday it put down a mutiny by a National Guard unit in a poor neighborhood a few miles (kilometers) from Venezuela’s presidential palace.

The uprising triggered protests in the same neighborhood that were dispersed with tear gas.

The armed forces in a statement said that it had captured all those involved in what it described as “treasonous” acts motivated by “obscure interests tied to the far right.”

It said at around 2:50 a.m. (06:50 GMT), a small group of guardsmen took captive a captain in charge of a police station in western Caracas and then moved across the capital in two military trucks to the poor neighborhood of Petare, where they stole a cache of weapons from another outpost.

They met resistance and were caught hours later at a national guard outpost 3 kilometers (2 miles) from the Miraflores presidential palace.

The armed forces said all the weapons had been recovered and the mutinous troops captured.

A few hours earlier, a group of heavily armed national guardsmen published a series of videos on social media saying they won’t recognize President Nicolas Maduro’s government, which has come under increasing domestic and international pressure over a newly launched second term that the opposition-controlled congress and many nations consider illegitimate.

In one of the videos, a man identifying himself as 3rd Sgt. Figueroa, addressing the “people of Venezuela,” urges his compatriots to take to the streets to show support for their rebellion.

“You asked to take to the streets to defend the constitution, well here we are,” he said in a video shot at night in which several heavily armed men and a national guard truck can be seen in the background.

“You wanted us to light the fuse, so we did. We need your support,” he added.

In the adjacent neighborhood of Cotiza, a small group of residents could be seen banging pots and pans, burning trash and throwing rocks at security forces stationed near the national guard post.

“We must defend our homeland,” Maria Fernanda Rodriguez, a 36-year-old manicurist, told The Associated Press, her eyes welling from the tear gas.

Juan Guaido, president of the congress, said the incident is a sign of growing discontent within the armed forces.

“Our military knows that the command chain is broken by the usurpation of the presidency,” Guaido said in a message on Twitter in which he reiterated a promise to support all members of the armed forces working to restore Venezuela’s democratic order.

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They didn’t learn from the previous shutdowns.

Via The Hill:

Crowdfunding website GoFundMe on Saturday launched what it dubbed the “Government Shutdown Direct Relief Fund” to help federal workers impacted the by the ongoing shutdown.

CEO Rob Solomon announced the initiative in a statement, saying that donations would be “distributed to several nonprofit organizations across the country offering direct assistance to government workers.”

“These nonprofits are doing important work, providing hot meals, necessary counseling, and housing relief. I encourage everyone to support them,” Solomon said, noting that the crowdfunding campaign was launched in partnership with author and speaker Deepak Chopra.

Solomon added that celebrity chef José Andrés’ nonprofit would be among the first to receive funds. Andres has fed about 12,000 furloughed federal workers at his temporary kitchen in Washington, D.C.
“Government workers, through no fault of their own, can’t afford to put diapers on their newborns,” Solomon said in the release. “Employees of the most powerful nation in the world are being forced to work without pay and line up at diaper or food banks. It makes no sense.”

The fund had raised more than $63,691 from over 670 donors as of Sunday evening. Its goal is to raise $75,000.

The government shutdown, which was triggered on Dec. 22 after Democratic and Republican lawmakers failed to reach an agreement on a new Congressional spending bill, has impacted about 800,000 federal workers.

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Cheaper than keeping them.

Via Breitbart:

The Czech Republic is launching a programme to pay non-EU migrants to go home, noting that funding the scheme would cost taxpayers “far less” than if migrant groups remained in the country.

With an information campaign set to be put out on social media and with leaflets and posters from April, the Czech Interior Ministry said it hopes the first migrants participating in its new programme, titled ‘Návraty’ (Returns), will be processed in the third quarter of 2019.

With a particular focus on migrants from Afghanistan, Iraq, Nigeria, Russia, and Vietnam, the programme will offer foreign nationals up to 4,000 euros’ financial assistance towards transportation costs, setting up accommodation in their homelands, and purchasing livestock.

“The project should focus on all categories of foreigners, whether they are in the Czech Republic in an illegal situation or an asylum seeker,” Interior Ministry spokesman Hana Malá told Tiscali.cz.

Three-quarters of the 2.3 million euros currently allocated for the scheme will be paid for out of the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF), local media said, reporting applicants will have to promise not to return to Czechia nor to any other EU country, in order to be eligible for the financial assistance.

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Not a good move there, folks. Do they know something we don’t? Ginsburg is supposed to be back in the Court on Feb 19 when they are back in session.

Fox News just slipped in Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s obituary segment opener pic.twitter.com/PfN6ICltYb

— Chip Douglas (@AreaMan_) January 21, 2019

Facebook is judge and jury.

Via Daily Mail:

Facebook has reportedly refused to authorize ads promoting an anti-abortion movie because the social media network considers the film a political ad.

The producers of Roe v. Wade, a new film starring Jon Voight and Stacey Dash, wanted to buy advertising on Facebook.

But the social network said the ad did not align with its new ‘issues of national importance’ guidelines, according to Breitbart.

Nick Loeb, a pro-life Hollywood producer, is best known as Sofia Vergara’s ex-boyfriend.

He and Cathy Allyn directed and produced Roe v. Wade, a film with a largely conservative supporting cast which includes Milo Yiannopoulos and Tomi Lahren.

According to Breitbart, Loeb and Allyn wanted to run an ad on Facebook that linked to a Hollywood Reporter article about the film.

The ad included a link to an article which was attached to an image of Voight and the hashtag #BringRoevWadeToLife.

Loeb and Allyn wanted to ‘boost’ the post from their own personal Facebook pages, but the social network said the ad was not approved.

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"You white people go back to Europe, this is not your land"

AND PEOPLE ARE YELLING AT #CovingtonCatholic FOR THIS?
WHY? WHY? pic.twitter.com/3T1ONMrwBK

— Nick Monroe (@nickmon1112) January 20, 2019

Translation: too good not to spread about kids in MAGA hats even if it wasn’t true.

Via Daily Caller:

It was the hate crime of the century.

Or so some in the media appeared to think, judging by the condemnations and mass hysteria that followed initial footage of a group of Covington Catholic High School students — some of whom were wearing MAGA hats — supposedly harassing an older Native American man.

Except, what may have seemed to be one thing at first turned out to be something else altogether:

As details emerged, some individuals and outlets who had been quick to condemn the students retracted their words and even apologized.

National Review published a scathing piece by its deputy managing editor, Nicholas Frankovich.

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The left is already encouraging the sponsors of the school to drop them.

One of the many…

I'm running for president. Let's do this together. Join us: https://t.co/9KwgFlgZHA pic.twitter.com/otf2ez7t1p

— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) January 21, 2019

Good call by remaining in Mexico.

Via Fox News:

Thousands of Central American migrants, many of them from Honduras, are taking Mexico up on its offer of temporary asylum and work visas.

Mexican immigration officials said Sunday that 3,691 people associated with various migrant caravans have registered for temporary status in the country, and the number is expected to grow as more people arrive at the border with Guatemala.

Meanwhile, local officials in the southern town of Huixtla provided several buses to transport some of the more than 2,000 migrants on the next stage of their journey towards Tijuana. Others weren’t so lucky and pressed on in blistering 90-degree heat.

Mexico has promised to allow migrants through the border crossing as long as they are orderly, and the country’s new government has agreed to house third-country asylum-seekers while their claims are heard in the United States. The caravan is estimated to contain 1,800 people, including about 100 from El Salvador.

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Well done, Nancy.

JNS.org – House Speaker Nancy Pelosi appointed Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) to serve on the House Foreign Affairs Committee despite anti-Israel statements made by the freshman Democrat, such as tweeting that “Israel has hypnotized the world,” and her support for the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement.

Republicans blasted the move.

“I would love to know what changed because Democratic leaders just promoted a pro-BDS Democrat to a key committee that deals with the State of Israel,” said House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.). “Antisemitism has no place in Congress and certainly not on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.”

House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) said that by appointing Omar, “House Democrats have now just endorsed that ideology.”

The tolerant left.

HT: Daily Wire

Schiff is looking for camera time.

Via Daily Caller:

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff said Sunday he will “absolutely” investigate allegations made in a controversial BuzzFeed article even though the report has been directly disputed by the special counsel’s office.

“Absolutely. Absolutely,” Schiff told CBS’s “Face the Nation” when asked whether he would investigate allegations laid out in a BuzzFeed article published Thursday.

“Congress has a fundamental interest in two things. First, getting to the bottom of why this witness came before us and lied, and who else was knowledgeable that this was a lie,” the California Democrat added.[…]

Schiff said he assumed the Mueller statement was prompted by the reaction to the BuzzFeed story.

“Also it may have to do with the special counsel wanting to use Michael Cohen as a witness in further prosecutions and wanting to make sure that the public didn’t have the perception he was saying more than he was saying, at least to the special counsel,” Schiff said.

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Pelosi isn’t going to negotiate.

Via SF Gate:

President Donald Trump lashed out Sunday at House speaker Nancy Pelosi over stalled negotiations to end the partial government shutdown while rejecting conservative claims that his offer of temporary deportation protections for young immigrants amounts to amnesty.

In a morning tweet, Trump claimed that Pelosi, D-Calif., and other Democrats “turned down my offer yesterday before I even got up to speak.”

“They don’t see crime & drugs, they only see 2020 – which they are not going to win. Best economy! They should do the right thing for the Country & allow people to go back to work,” he said.

Trump also argued that Pelosi, whom he had not directly criticized earlier in the shutdown negotiations, has “behaved so irrationally & has gone so far to the left that she has now officially become a Radical Democrat.”

“She is so petrified of the ‘lefties’ in her party that she has lost control … And by the way, clean up the streets in San Francisco, they are disgusting!” Trump said.

Pelosi fired back at Trump on Twitter with a reminder that “800,000 Americans are going without pay.”

“Re-open the government, let workers get their paychecks and then we can discuss how we can come together to protect the border,” she said.

The squabbling came as the longest government shutdown in history entered its 30th day with prospects for a quick resolution still slim, troubling news for the 800,000 federal employees who have gone without a paycheck and are resorting to food banks, charity and nongovernment jobs to get by.

As states scramble to mitigate the impact of the shutdown, the bipartisan National Governors Association sent a letter to congressional leaders on Sunday, urging the Senate to immediately pass an extension for the federal welfare program known as TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families).

The $16.5 billion block grant program funds cash welfare benefits and other services for low-income families. At least one state is expected to exhaust its funding early next month, the governors’ association said, while the situation in other states varies “based on caseload and enrollment.”

“It is untenable for states to administer effective TANF programs given the current uncertainty,” Oregon Gov. Kate Brown, a Democrat, and Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker, a Republican, said in the letter.

On Saturday, Trump had offered Democrats three years of deportation protections for some immigrants in exchange for $5.7 billion in border wall funding. The proposal was immediately rejected by Democrats and derided by conservatives as amnesty.

Nonetheless, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has said he will move ahead this week on Trump’s proposal. He faces an uphill climb in breaking the Senate’s 60-vote threshold of a filibuster, with Democrats insisting that they will not negotiate on immigration until Trump reopens the government.

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It's Buzz Aldrin's 89th birthday today. Let's not forget the time he punched a moon landing denier in the face. pic.twitter.com/Zu7flIhNDY

— Meredith Frost (@MeredithFrost) January 20, 2019

Via Fox News:

Actor Gary Sinise raised $1.3 million to help members of the military and first responders by selling a1981 Jeep CJ7…twice.

The custom truck was auctioned at the Barrett-Jackson auction on Friday, with proceeds earmarked for the Gary Sinise Foundation, which runs a variety of programs aimed at entertaining and assisting veterans, active duty military, America’s emergency services and their families.

The red, white and blue Jeep was built by Richard Rawling’s Gas Monkey Garage and initially sold for $200,000, with another partner on the project, heavy equipment broker Sunbelt Rentals, donating an additional $1 million to the organization.

The buyer then sent it across the block again and it sold a second time for $100,000.

“My first car auction, it’s going to be hard to top that,” Sinise told The Arizona Republic. “There were a lot of veterans out there in the audience so I got to acknowledge them and say thank you.”

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Just in: Statement of Nick Sandmann, Covington Catholic High School junior, about the event at the Lincoln Memorial: pic.twitter.com/PkuMh2cVZM

— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) January 20, 2019

Brave kid to put his name out there.

Warn the others before they make the trip.

Via San Diego Union Tribune:

Daniel Rodríguez Perdomo endured cold, hunger, sickness, fear and loneliness as he joined thousands of Central Americans who made their way to the Tijuana-San Diego border last fall.

But even with cousins in Tijuana and a job at a car wash, the 24-year-old migrant went back to Honduras last week, unwilling to stay in Mexico and abandoning any immediate hopes of crossing to the United States.

“I feel so alone here, I miss my family, my friends, I don’t feel good,” he said as he prepared to go back to San Pedro Sula, part of a group of three dozen Central Americans traveling from Tijuana back to their countries under a program run by the International Organization for Migration.

As thousands of Central American migrants continue to move north in the third large caravan in less than a year, a smaller but steady flow has been going in the opposite direction.

Even after making the arduous journey to Baja California, close to 1,300 members of the group of some 6,000 migrants who arrived in the state last fall have returned, said Rodulfo Figueroa, who heads the Baja California office of Mexico’s National Migration Institute. The great majority, more than 90 percent, have done so voluntarily, he said.

The largest numbers have gone back after turning themselves over to the Mexican government. But a smaller group has received assistance from the International Organization for Migration, under a program financed by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration.

Through Jan. 15, the IOM’s Mexico office had carried out 520 assisted returns, with 127 of them from Tijuana.

Most first came into contact with the IOM at El Barretal, the provisional shelter run by the Mexican federal government in eastern Tijuana. Before they were accepted, they were interviewed to ensure they do not face danger back home. They also needed travel documents from their home countries, and documentation from Mexican authorities.

“Some people have come to the realization that this did not meet their expectation, or perhaps they have a family situation that calls them back home,” said Christopher Gascon, who heads the IOM’s office in Mexico City.

The migrants are not simply sent back, but given support on the journey, including meals and psychological assistance.

“They are fully accompanied all the way through,” Gascon said. By traveling with the IOM, “one of the big differences is that there is no detention, no presence in a migratory station,” he said.

Nelson Jesús Ceballo, 18, said he joined last October’s caravan in hopes of finding work in the United States and sending money home to his mother and four siblings in the Copan region of Honduras.

“That was the dream, but things got complicated,” he said. Like many, he realized that crossing to the United States would not be easy. The final straw came New Year’s Day, he said, when a group of some 150 migrants urged on by U.S. activists rushed the border fence and were met with tear gas.

“They sent the gas toward all of us, even children,” he said. “I didn’t like it, I told my cousin that I don’t want to cross here.”

Ceballo was among the latest IOM group made up of 32 men and three women who boarded an Aeromexico flight late Monday from Tijuana, arriving hours later in Tapachula in southern Mexico near the Guatemalan border. From there, they took land transportation to their final destinations in Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador. By Thursday, all were all safely back home.

On the day of their departure, their bags bulged with donated clothes to take home. As a steady rain fell outside the Padre Chava shelter near the U.S. border fence, they hungrily down plates of rice and beef — their last warm meal before the journey home. Their feelings ranged from anger to sadness to resignation at the prospect of returning to the places they had fled. Some said they felt a measure of relief.

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Nicely done.

Via Daily Wire:

On Tuesday, Egard Watch Company released an advertisement on YouTube in response to Gillette’s controversial ad regarding alleged “toxic masculinity.”

The video features footage of men in various situations — from fighting fires to hugging their children — while the company’s founder, Ilan Srulovicz, narrates. The footage and narration are accompanied by sobering statistics relating to men.

“What is a man?” Srulovicz asks as a fireman carries a child from a burning building. “Is a man brave?” The on-screen text reads: “Men account for 93% of workplace fatalities.” The number comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

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Leaving water and beans?

Via Fox News:

Four women were found guilty by a federal judge Friday of illegally entering a national wildlife refuge near the U.S.-Mexico border to leave food and water for illegal immigrants crossing the Arizona desert.

The women were volunteers with No More Deaths, a group fighting to end deaths of illegal immigrants crossing the sometimes treacherous desert landscapes along the border, according to reports.

Prosecutors said Natalie Hoffman had been driving a vehicle inside the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge in southwestern Arizona on Aug. 13, 2017, and leaving 1-gallon water jugs and cans of beans, reports said.

She was also accused of entering the refuge without a permit. The other three women — Oona Holcomb, Madeline Huse and Zaachila Orozco-McCormick — were with Hoffman when they encountered a U.S. Fish and Wildlife officer inside the refuge.

They were found guilty of entering the area without a permit and abandoning personal property.

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The Mexican standoff continues.

Via Washington Times:

House Majority Whip James Clyburn said Sunday there would be no negotiations on border security until President Trump agrees to end the partial federal shutdown.

“I can’t see us keeping federal employees, 800,000 people, out of work while we go back and forth on negotiations,” Mr. Clyburn said on “Fox News Sunday.” “These negotiations can take 3 or 4 weeks. We ought to open the government up.”

The South Carolina Democrat also said that he was open to the idea of a “barrier” or “smart wall” along the southern border, adding that a compromise on the four-week impasse could be closer than it seems.

“We can pass a continuing resolution for 30 days, get the government open, get people back to work, and then let’s sit around the table and see where the common ground is,” Mr. Clyburn said. “It may be as simple as taking the ‘temporary’ off the ‘temporary protective status’ fixes.”

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