Category Archives: Politics

The 8 Best Joe ‘The Gaffe Machine’ Biden Moments… And It’s Only Been 4 Months.

In early August, presidential candidate Joe Biden insisted: “The president’s words have meaning, no matter who he or she is. They are the face of America.”

By that standard, the self-proclaimed “gaffe machine” shouldn’t even be running.

He stumbled through his first campaign speech and it has been downhill ever since.

He may have a “functioning” brain according to his neurosurgeon, but a lot of his behavior suggests otherwise.

1. PARKLAND

Speaking at a gun control forum in Iowa, Biden said he met with the Parkland shooting survivors while serving as Vice President:

“I watched what happened when the kids from Parkland marched up and I met with them, and then they went off up to the Hill when I was vice president”.

Just one problem. The shooting occurred in February 2018 – more than a year after Biden’s departure from office.

He repeated the lie when talking to the press: “…those kids in Parkland came up to see me when I was vice president”. Biden even managed to provide a description of Senators’ demeanors when interacting with the survivors as “basically cowering, not wanting to see them. They did not want to face it on camera.”

2. KENNEDY AND KING

While speaking in Iowa, Biden falsely stated the assassinations of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. occurred “in the late ’70s”.

This error – obvious to most 13-year-olds – occurred while Biden was discussing his involvement in politics at a young age:

“Just like in my generation, when I got out of school, when Bobby Kennedy and Dr. King had been assassinated in the 70s, the late ’70s when I got engaged.”

But Biden was nearly a decade off: Kennedy was shot in June of 1968 and King in April of 1968.

Obviously.

3. MAY AND MAGGIE

Frankly, the differences between these two British prime ministers couldn’t be more stark.

But while discussing responses to President Trump’s comments about Charlottesville – which Biden and other Democratic leaders willfully misrepresent as a defense of white supremacy – he confused former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher with then Prime Minister Theresa May.

“You had people like Margaret Thatc… excuse me,” Biden said, presumably unable to recall Theresa May’s name.

Moving on, he continues: “You had people like the former chairman and the leader of the party in Germany. You had Angela Merkel stand up and say how terrible it was. International leaders looked at us like, ‘what in God’s name is happening to the United States of America?'”

Slip of the tongue? Nope. He made a similar mistake at a fundraiser in May: “Margaret Thatcher, um, excuse me, Margaret Thatcher — Freudian slip”.

4. “JOE30330!”

During the second Democratic Party presidential debate, the would-be president botched his closing statement by telling voters “If you agree with me, go to JOE 30330 and help me in this fight.”

He meant to tell voters to text “JOE” to the five-digit number, but instead left his supporters confused about how to support the campaign. 

The campaign’s attempt to make Biden’s gaffe humorous and endearing while soliciting donations was a flop:

“In case you missed last night’s debate, Joe meant to say ‘Text Joe to 30330’ but left a word out,” clarified the campaign via email. “Oops.” 

It continued:

“The funny part is we text Joe all the time about emails like this. The next time we text him, we want him to know how many grassroots donations have come in.

“So whether it’s $3.03, $30.33, or $303.30, Joe will love to hear that supporters like you are chipping in what they can to this campaign.”

To add insult to injury, the website “Joe30330.com” is run by a Pete Buttigieg supporter.

5. ‘POOR KIDS AND WHITE KIDS’

Joe Biden clearly thinks all black children are poor, or that all white children are rich. Or both. Who knows? Probably not even Joe Biden.

Speaking in Iowa to an Asian and Latino Coalition PAC, he said: “Poor kids are just as bright and just as talented as white kids”.

His campaign declared the comments as a mistake and accused the Trump campaign of being “disingenuous” for sharing the video. The full video. “Disingenuous”. Think about that.

Then think about how many column inches or television segments would have been dedicated to such a gaffe if it came from the mouth of President Trump.

April Ryan would have been thumping the CNN news desk demanding reparations… or something.

6. HEALTHCARE

While discussing his healthcare policy at a town hall event in Hanover, NH, he informed prospective voters that “If you’re not satisfied, you have another option, high-quality options. The public option will be available in my plan”.

However, he described the “public option” as not being “quality”, instead only “affordable”. 

In the same speech where Biden suggested his healthcare plan would not be “quality” he also added that “folks in the working class … will increase their premiums”. He followed up by clarifying: “excuse me, will increase the generosity of the premium tax credit they now get.”

Sigh. The list goes on.

7. G8… G7… GEE WHIZ.

While criticizing Trump’s conduct at the G7 summit, he referred to the meeting between the world’s seven largest advanced economies as the “G8”.

G8, short for “Group of Eight”, was the name of the inter-governmental summit from 1997 to 2014, until Russia was disinvited from the group.

Sleepy Joe can’t keep up with a change from five years ago. But he still wants to be Commander in Chief.

8. WHERE AM I?

In true Abraham Simpson style, the Democrat Party’s front runner has also started to forget where he is.

During a press conference in Keene, New Hampshire, about his impression of the town, he told reporters he had “been here a number of times”. 

When asked how he felt about being in Keene (again, in NEW HAMPSHIRE), he replied: “What’s not to like about Vermont in terms of the beauty of it. What a neat town!”

So neat!

And these are just some the gaffes that the cameras have caught.

While speaking at a California fundraiser, Biden left attendees bemused when he mislabeled the locations of recent mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio as “tragic events in Houston today and also in Michigan the day before”. 

At a Delaware fundraiser, he boasted about accusing President Donald Trump of fanning “the flames of white supremacy”, telling the crowd he made the comments in Burlington, Vermont, rather than Burlington, Iowa.

Biden’s only been in the race for just four months, and this is the treasure trove he’s already delivered.

We’re looking forward to the rest of the campaign, of course. But not so much to a Biden presidency, which would inevitably lead to the former VP trying to find his desk in the west wing of a local D.C. White Castle, instead of the White House.

Natalie Winters is a freelance writer and tweets at @NatalieGWinters

Obama Blasts Buying Big Houses, Then Gets A Mansion for $14.8 Million.

Just last year former President Barack Obama made a speech in South Africa where he criticized wealth inequality, stating: “There’s only so much you can eat. There’s only so big a house you can have. There’s only so many nice trips you can take. I mean, it’s enough.”

Then he bought a $14.8m beachfront house.

The Obama family is dropping nearly $15m on the 7,000-square foot, 29-acre house in Martha’s Vineyard.

It has seven bedrooms, eight and a half baths, a chef’s kitchen, master bedroom with a private deck, a pool – the house has everything.

Maybe the house needed to be 8,000-square-foot to qualify for Obama’s definition of “enough”.

“I’ll pay a little more in taxes… It’s okay, I can afford it,” The former President also stated in his speech.

Reports suggest Michelle and Barack Obama have a combined net worth of around $70 million.

The couple only recently spent $8.1 million on a mansion in Washington, D.C. that they were previously renting.

They also own a home in Chicago, Illinois.

Having and spending earned wealth is of course no bad thing. But hypocrisy is.

The former President’s practices are not aligning with what he has been preaching to others. 

The Obama’s will happily decry wealth inequality, then turn around and buy a nearly $15 million estate.

But hey, at least it only has a 2-car garage, which means their new digs will help them cut their carbon footprint, right?

Because running three massive houses, traveling between them, and jet-setting around the world lecturing poor people on wealth and climate change is just soooooo environmentally friendly!

Sofia Carbone is a reporter for RaheemKassam.com and tweets at @SiCarbone_

Criminals May Soon Be Called ‘Justice Involved Individuals’ by City of San Francisco

San Francisco, a bastion of ultra-progressive liberalism, recently addressed a “problem” facing their community. 

Instead of cleaning up their needle and feces ridden streets, the city’s Board of Supervisors wants to sanitize “hurtful” terminology relating to criminals.

Convicted felons and other criminals will now be referred to as “justice-involved”, a “formerly incarcerated person,” or a “returning resident.” 

The phrase “juvenile delinquents” has been replaced with a “young person with justice system involvement” or a “young person impacted by the juvenile justice system”. 

People on probation and parolees will be known as a “person on parole” or “person under supervision”.

Substance abusers will become “a person with a history of substance use.”

The SF Chronicle presented potential complications of such verbosity for law enforcement and citizens alike:

“The new terminology [for] someone whose car has been broken into could well be: “A person who has come in contact with a returning resident who was involved with the justice system and who is currently under supervision with a history of substance use.”

In other words, someone whose car was broken into by a recently released offender, on parole with a drug problem.”

Many of the proposed terms hold the criminal justice system (as opposed to the actions of offenders) responsible for incarceration. 

According to the proposed resolution, these terms “only serve to obstruct and separate people from society and make the institutionalization of racism and supremacy appear normal.” 

It continues: “Inaccurate information, unfounded assumptions, generalizations and other negative predispositions associated with justice-involved individuals create societal stigmas, attitudinal barriers and continued negative stereotypes.”

Supervisor Matt Haney elaborated: “We don’t want people to be forever labeled for the worst things that they have done.”

The mayor did not adopt the proposal but only because she “doesn’t implement policies based on nonbinding resolutions, but she is always happy to work with the board on issues around equity and criminal justice reform”.

The district attorney’s office approved of the proposed changes, while the San Francisco Police Department made “members aware of the resolution and are researching possible impacts on operations and communications.”

While the San Francisco legislature was busy figuring out how to not hurt criminal’s feelings – forget the victims’ – a shootout on the popular Market street occurred in broad daylight:

One question remains: what will the shooters be called?

Italian Elections: Are We About to Witness Another Berlusconi Comeback?

With Italy’s Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte resigning, an election to determine who will head Italy’s 68th government in just 74 years is on the horizon.

Italy is currently run by a left-right populist coalition compromised of the League and the Five Star Movement.

The turbulent relationship has finally reached its breaking point, with Deputy Minister Matteo Salvini (League) pushing for a snap election.

The League currently polls in the mid thirties, while the Five Star Movement polls steadily around 17.5 per cent.

The League’s numbers may seem small for a general election when compared to the United States, but there are over twenty political parties in Italy, dividing the vote up so much it is exceedingly rare for a single party to gain a governing majority. Coalitions, therefore, are a regular affair.

 

POSSIBLE COALITIONS

With the left-right coalition crumbling, the two potential coalitions in the upcoming election are centre-left and centre-right.

On the left, the Five Star Movement is discussing a potential coalition with the left-wing Democratic Party. Together, they would still fall just short of a majority.

The League, having worked very closely with Brothers of Italy party, has also been in talks recently with Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia party.

With both Forza Italia and Brothers of Italy under ten per cent, Salvini would need to form an alliance with both to compete with a Five Star/Democratic Party coalition.

Beppe Grillo. Photo by Niccolò Caranti
FIVE STAR MOVEMENT

The Five Star Movement (M5S) is led by Luigi Di Maio and is the left side of the left-right coalition currently in power. Di Maio currently serves alongside Salvini as a Deputy Prime Minister of Italy as well as Minister of Labor.

M5S is populist, anti-establishment, and seems to oppose near all legislation the League proposes.

The party was founded by Beppe Grillo, a comedian and blogger, in 2009. Grillo, an anti-establishment outsider himself, founded the party to be just that.

Once regarded as anti-mass migration, the Movement’s views are currently a little for fuzzy on this issue. They have been against the Bossi Fini law, which outlines the expulsion and imprisonment of illegals.

Other main policy points of the Five Star Movement include universal income support, cutting regulations, and raising taxes on banks and oil and gas companies.

However the two lasted as long as they have due to shared anti-establishment, nationalist, and Eurosceptic beliefs.

DEMOCRATIC PARTY

The Democratic Party (PD) of Italy as we know it today was established in 2007, when multiple centre-left parties from the 2006 coalition government and Olive Branch list merged.

However it is not a Democratic Party as we know the name to mean in America, even with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar in Congress.

The Italian PD is an entire party of AOCs and Omars, defined as ‘social democrats’ (which is just a different way of saying ‘socialist’).

One of the major parties that merged into the Democratic Party was the Democrats of the Left, socialist successors of the Italian Communist Party founded in 1921.

LEAGUE

The League (Lega), led by ‘il Capitano’ Matteo Salvini is a right wing nationalist, populist party known for its strength on immigration. Salvini currently serves as Minister of the Interior and Deputy Prime Minister of Italy.

The League was formerly known as the Northern League due to its geographical founding. As its popularity grew, the League dropped the geographical title and rose to the national stage.

Official White House Photo by D. Myles Cullen

As Minister of the Interior Salvini closed the nation’s ports and tightened up the pathway to citizenship. One of the biggest platforms for the League is ensuring Italian citizens are put before refugees.

‘Italy first’, closed ports, and a flat tax are amongst the platforms that have aided in rapidly increasing the League’s poll numbers.

The main nationalist, anti-establishment message of the League echoes that of the Trump administration in the Unites States, though the League is admittedly more to the right.

The turnout for Salvini’s events all around Italy have never before been seen.

BROTHERS OF ITALY

Georgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy (FDI) is a nationalist, conservative party that shares many core beliefs with the League, including being exceedingly Eurosceptic.

Brothers of Italy is “based on the principles of popular sovereignty, freedom, democracy, justice, social solidarity, merit and fiscal equity.”

The main difference between the League and Brothers of Italy is their geographically support. Whilst the League’s base remains largely in the north, Brothers of Italy’s supporters are more centrally and southernly located.

FORZA ITALIA

Named after a soccer chant, Forza Italia (FI), or ‘Go Italy’, is led and founded by the eighty-two year old member of parliament Silvio Berlusconi.

Forza Italia is described as centre-right, liberal Catholic, and liberal democratic, but is more in favor of the EU than the League and Brothers of Italy.

Berlusconi has served as Prime Minister of Italy under four governments and is one of the richest men in Italy. He founded Forza Italia in 1993, then the party dissolved in the late 2000s and relaunched in 2013. Berlusconi continues to the lead the party today.

Berlusconi, accused of corruption multiple times and convicted on tax fraud in 2013, owns Mediaset which controls Italy’s three largest television stations.

Forza Italia has partaken in coalitions before, including with the League in 1994.

If the coalitions form as expected and outlined above, the election is too close to predict based on current poll numbers.

However if the Five Star Movement keeps sinking and the League keeps growing, a Salvini-headed centre-right coalition government is certainly plausible.

Sofia Carbone is a reporter for RaheemKassam.com and tweets at @SiCarbone_

Kassam in Daily Caller: Anthony Scaramucci — An Expert On Losing

The problem was that Anthony Scaramucci thought Donald Trump was his friend.

Not his colleague, not his acquaintance, not his boss. His friend.

There’s a scene in The Brink about this, when Steve Bannon tells erstwhile Trump whisperer Sam Nunberg, “When you reach [Trump’s] level you don’t have grundoons for friends … guys like you and Corey [Lewandowski] and [Roger] Stone think you’re his friends.”

“The Mooch” made a similar mistake.

He thought he was being brought into the White House as a close confidant of President Trump. In reality, he was being used to break a deadlock between established camps in the West Wing. He served his purpose and was shown the door before he could blow a second kiss to the White House press corps.

The Mooch is obviously a sentimental guy. He greeted me with hugs on several occasions, even though I barely knew him. He also told some grievously off color jokes about women to me and a group of gathered friends. Again, without really knowing us. This was while he was in the President’s employ.

READ THE REST AT THE DAILY CALLER.

Commentator Linked to ‘The Squad’: ‘America Deserved 9/11’

“America deserved 9/11.”

The words of Hasan Piker, a commentator for the left-wing news organization The Young Turks, linked to the success of the Justice Democrats group of which Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and others have been a crucial part.

The Young Turks boasts over 4.4 million subscribers on YouTube and has hosted a myriad of leftist voices including Bernie Sanders, AOC, and Elizabeth Warren.

Piker’s live streamed his anti-American, terror-excusing diatribe: “America deserved 9/11 dude, fuck it, I’m saying it… Like we totally brought it upon ourselves dude, holy shit. We did, we fucking did… Look at the way that this dipshit is running his fucking mouth, justifying genocide right now.” 

The “dipshit” in question was Rep Dan Crenshaw (R-TX), a former U.S. Navy Seal and Bronze and Purple Heart medal winner.

Piker sought to rationalize his comments by discussing how the United States engages in massive arms and trade deals with Saudi Arabia.

He later attempted to row back while still refusing to apologize on Twitter:

Twitch – the platform Piker uses to livestream – has not made any moves to suspend Piker’s account despite their policy that “harassing, threatening, abusive, inflammatory, or otherwise objectionable” content is not permitted.

Young Turks founder, Cenk Uygur formed Justice Democrats, a political action committee (PAC) with the intention of unseating candidates “aligning with Wall Street over working men and women.” Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) was the most notable candidate they helped propel to victory, though the group is also linked to Raúl Grijalva, Ro Khanna, Ayanna Pressley, Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, and Pramila Jayapal.

Another founder of the Young Turks-linked Justice Democrats is Saikat Chakrabarti, the outgoing chief of staff for Ocasio-Cortez.

Hasan frequently appears on the The Young Turks’ panel discussions and debates and produces original content on other platforms. He has over 300,000 followers on Instagram and over 171,000 followers on Twitter.

A recent episode of the Joe Rogan Experience with Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) discussing the role and strategies of the American military abroad prompted Piker’s incendiary remarks. 

The “Young Turks” was also the name of the regime responsible for perpetrating the Armenian genocide which led to the death of over 1.5 million Armenians.

Turkish-born Uygur has repeatedly engaged in genocide denial regarding the subject, though he attempted to “rescind” his position in a blog post in 2016.

The Young Turks has a premium partnership with YouTube and Hulu.

Hillary-Backing Psychologist Turns on Clinton Over Tech Bias: ‘Should be Ashamed of Herself’.

A Clinton-supporting psychologist has blasted back against his preferred, failed Presidential candidate after she referred to a report written by him, on the dangers of Google’s online dominance, as “debunked”.

Hillary Clinton was firing back against President Trump’s claim that Google influenced the 2016 election cycle by leading users to more pro-Clinton and anti-Trump coverage. Trump cited Dr. Robert Epstein, who stopped just short of claiming Trump was intentionally targeted for defeat by Google.

“Wow, Report Just Out! Google manipulated from 2.6 million to 16 million votes for Hillary Clinton in 2016 Election!” Trump wrote Monday on Twitter. “This was put out by a Clinton supporter, not a Trump Supporter! Google should be sued. My victory was even bigger than thought!”

Clinton fired back on Twitter: “The debunked study you’re referring to was based on 21 undecided voters. For context that’s about half the number of people associated with your campaign who have been indicted.”

But Epstein, who posted a picture of himself with Hillary Clinton at the end of a Twitter thread on the matter, refused to let her have the last word.

In a “Tweet storm” (his words), Epstein took aim at Trump for claiming there were up to 16 million people impacted by Google’s bias. Instead, he said, it was up to 10.4 million. Still incredibly significant.

The senior research psychologist at the American Institute for Behavioral Research and Technology, and the former editor-in-chief of Psychology Today then turned his ire to his former political heroine: Hillary.

“This is going to hurt me to write, because I & my whole extended family have been strong supporters of the Clintons for decades. I have a framed, signed letter from Bill on the wall near my desk. But Hillary should be ashamed of herself,” he began.

“Hillary has long depended on Google for both money & votes. Her largest donor in 2016 was Alphabet/Google. Her Chief Technology Officer during the campaign was Stephanie Hannon, a former Google exec. And then there’s EricSchmidt, longtime head of Google… A leaked email showed that in 2014 Google‘s Eric Schmidt offered to run Hillary‘s tech campaign… In 2015, Schmidt in fact funded The Groundwork, a highly secretive tech company, the sole purpose of which was to put Clinton into office.

“About 96% of 2016 campaign donations from Google employees went to Hillary. And Elan Kriegel, Hillary’s Chief Analytics Officer, credits his 2012 tech team, informally supervised by Eric Schmidt, for half of Obama’s win margin: nearly 2.5 million votes.

“Hillary: If my work has been “debunked,” why was it included in a volume just published by Oxford U.? Why have I been invited to speak about it at prestigious venues worldwide: Stanford U., Yale Law School (where both you & Bill went), even our Senate (where you served)?

“Hillary: If you examine my work carefully, you will find that it adheres to the very highest standards of scientific integrity. You will also conclude, I believe, that Google poses a serious threat to the free-&-fair election & to human autonomy.”

The Twitter thread went on, underscoring conservatives’ recent points about tech bias:

And while the establishment media paid close attention and gave many column inches to Hillary’s clap back against Trump, they broadly ignored Dr. Epstein’s detailed rebuttal.

The top Google search results on the matter show Politico, New York Times, and CNN articles at the very top. None of the articles detail Dr. Epstein’s rebuttal, and simply hand victory on the issue to Clinton.

A senior Google executive was recently caught on camera by Project Veritas insisting they wanted to stop “the next Trump situation.”

Epstein’s study can be read in full here.

Record Breaking £5.5bn UK Tech Sector Investment Proves Brexit Naysayers Wrong.

The British tech sector has received an unprecedented level of foreign investment in the last 7 months: £5.5bn (or $6.8bn). This record-breaking number even surpasses the American tech sector’s investment per capita amount.

The new report is yet another example that dispels the establishment myth that Brexit would unequivocally and irreversibly destroy the British economy.

Brexit-induced uncertainties would allegedly lead to declining investment, skeptics and anti-democracy Remain campaigners have insisted for the past 36 months.

Even in the past 24 hours, the Financial Times has claimed that a “Quarter of investors avoid UK assets as Brexit fears mount”. 

The FT reporting is based on surveys on the “Interactive Investor” web platform. The article later admits most of the investors polled are holding back from UK assets because they already went in heavily after the original Brexit vote.

Britain’s Culture Secretary Nicky Morgan hailed the news of record tech investment, stating: “These fantastic figures show the confidence overseas investors have in UK tech, with investment flows from the US and Asia at an all-time high.”

The data doesn’t lie: markets may “hate uncertainty,” but real investors still love to do business in the UK. And even more in the post-Brexit world.

In fact, for the first time, the UK was recently ranked the “top investment destination in the world.”

AP reports:

There have been a number of high-profile investments in Britain over the past year, including Comcast’s purchase of satellite broadcaster Sky for around 30 billion pounds (currently $39 billion) and Coca-Cola’s takeover of Costa Coffee for near 4 billion pounds ($5.2 billion).

Will Shu, founder and chief executive officer of Deliveroo, added: “The UK is a fantastic place to start and grow a tech company, attract talent and, ultimately, turn great ideas into products and services that consumers know and love. These figures underline the real potential that the UK tech sector has.”

Looks like the Brexit naysayers have been proved wrong again.

Italy Will Get Its 68th Government in 74 Years Following PM’s Resignation.

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte announced his resignation to President Sergio Mattarella on Tuesday, perhaps prompting yet another change in government in the southern European nation.

Conte’s resignation comes during escalating turbulence in the left-right, populist coalition government.

Announcing his resignation with Deputy Ministers Matteo Salvini of the right-wing League party on his right, and Luigi Di Maio of the left-leaning Five Star Movement to his left, Conte added to the turbulence.

The PM slammed Salvini as “irresponsible and opportunist”, saying he showed “grave lack of constitutional culture” by triggering the government crisis.

But Salvini and his party currently lead in national polls, raising questions over Conte and Five Stars’ relevance in government.

The outgoing PM’s statements coincide with a surge in the League’s poll numbers. He says this demonstrates Salvini’s “political opportunism”.

“I would do it all again,” Salvini blasted back, adding that he is “not afraid of the judgment of the [Italian voters]”, and asserting that some in the Italian parliament “are afraid of the judgement of the Italian people”.

Recent European Union parliamentary elections showed anti-establishment views, including those of Salvini, are not “confusing” to European voters as Conte claimed in his earlier statement. Rather, Italians seem very keen on handing Salvini and the League the full power of the Italian government.

Britain’s Brexit Party won by nearly eleven per cent in the EU elections, gaining 29 seats; while Salvini’s League won by nearly twelve per cent.

Tecnè Election Survey 08.08.2019

In the 2018 general election the League collected only 17.4 per cent of the vote, whilst the Five Star Movement had the plurality at 32.7 per cent.

A year and a half later, the parties have traded places and the margin has grown in the League’s favor.

NATIONAL ELECTION?

Although yet to be confirmed, an election is on the immediate horizon for Italy, and will usher in Italy’s 68th government in just 74 years.

With Prime Minister Conte looking to exit, the government has all but officially fallen apart. Moreover, the Five Star Movement may have just lost its most powerful ally, spelling trouble for the populist, anti-establishment left.

Italy’s Democratic Party is polling ahead of the Five Star Movement at 22.4 per cent, which has led to speculation about a potential coalition between the socialist Democratic Party (PD) and the Five Star Movement.

Although falling short of a majority, the potential center-left coalition could win a plurality over the League on its own.

The League and Salvini know this, and are scouting a coalition of their own which could include the increasingly popular Brothers of Italy alongside Silvio Berlusconi’s party Forza Italia.

If an alliance was to form amongst the three parties, they would be comparable to, if not a few points ahead of the centre-left coalition.

Assuming the alliances form as speculated, the current polling would put the two coalitions too close to call.

Sofia Carbone is a reporter for RaheemKassam.com and tweets at @SiCarbone_

Awkward: Palestinian Cops Ban LGBT Events.

Palestinian police have banned LGBT activity in the West Bank, according to reports from NBC News and per a statement released early this week.

The news creates fresh embarrassment for anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian Democrats who have previously insisted support for “Palestine” is a progressive position.

The alQaws LBGT rights group said on Sunday:

Last night (Saturday, August 17th), the spokesperson for the Palestinian Authority police, Louai Irzeqat, issued a statement concerning alQaws’ activities in the West Bank. This first-ever statement about alQaws declared that the PA police would prohibit any event organized or held by alQaws for Gender and Sexual Diversity in Palestinian Society. The police claimed it goes against “traditional Palestinian values” accusing us as “foreign agents.” The statement went further, calling on citizens to complain about any “suspicious” activities and for the persecution of alQaws staff and activists.

NBC reports:

Police said Sunday they would “pursue this gathering” and seek charges against anyone involved in it, according to The Associated Press. The Palestinian police are under the Western-backed Palestinian Authority, which governs parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Word of the gathering had sparked fierce debate on social media, with some Palestinians defending the activists and others condemning them for violating religious and traditional norms.

The announcement is awkward for “woke” Democrats who have been virtue signaling over “Palestine” in recent weeks following Israel’s banning of Rep Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and Rep Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) for their support for the public boycott of the Jewish State.

Following the ban, the freshmen Congresswomen shared an image from a known anti-Semitic cartoonist once affiliated with Iran’s Holocaust Cartoon Contest.

In 2016 the official Democrat National Convention saw more Palestinian flags being flown than American ones.