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‘Fight Fascism!’: Left-Wing Groups With History Of Violent Protest Involvement Recruiting Ahead Of Inauguration

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From the Daily Caller News Foundation 

By Robert Schmad

Following President-elect Donald Trump’s victory in the 2024 presidential election, flyers began cropping up around the largest college campus in Washington, D.C., recruiting for groups with a history of participating in violent or otherwise unlawful protests.

Scanning the QR codes that appear on the flyers posted around George Washington University brings up a collection of links inviting individuals to fight fascism by joining groups like the People’s Medic Collective (PMC), the DMV Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and the Socialist Action Initiative (SAI). The trio of groups were recently involved in pro-Palestinian protests that took place in the nation’s capital following Hamas’ Oct. 7 terrorist attacks in Israel, which were rife with illegal activity.

“What now?” one of the post-election flyers reads, directing observers to join the coalition of left-wing organizations. “Fight Fascism! Start Today!” another flyer, bearing a QR code that redirects to sign-up links to the protest groups, reads. “Turn Your Anger Into Action,” a third flyer also recruiting for the groups, says.

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Flyers posted around the Foggy Bottom neighborhood of Washington, D.C. (Robert Schmad/Daily Caller News Foundation)

PMC, which recruits healthcare professionals to provide medical care to demonstrators, has a history of supporting protestors as they engage in violent clashes with the police. The organization, for instance, boasts on social media about having provided “dozens” of protestors with medical aid during the “Arrest Netanyahu” protests in July. During those protests, demonstrators allegedly engaged in violent clashes with police, vandalized statues, tore down an American flag and burned it, The Washington Post reported.

 

DMV SJP helped to organize a pro-Palestinian encampment on the campus of George Washington University in April, the Washington City Paper reported. Over 30 students were ultimately arrested at the encampment in May after failing to disperse when ordered to do so by law enforcement, according to a local media report. Four students at the encampment were charged with assaulting police officers.

Ahead of Trump’s first inauguration in 2017, protestors dressed in black stormed D.C. and engaged in mass violent confrontations with police, Reuters reported at the time. Multiple vehicles were set on fire, six officers were injured in fights, and businesses across the capital suffered property damage. At least 217 people were arrested in confrontations with police.

After being evicted from George Washington University, DMV SJP returned on the first day of classes in August, setting off smoke bombs, attempting to knock over barricades and yelling into megaphones, Campus Reform reported.

DMV SJP has also engaged in violent rhetoric, referring to their activism as “the student intifada,” according to social media posts. “Intifada” refers to “an armed uprising of Palestinians against Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip,” according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary.

SAI collaborated with DMV SJP to stage its pro-Palestinian protests, according to a social media post, and was suspended from operating on George Washington University’s campus over misconduct.

Activists, organized under groups like the American Civil Liberties Union, Planned Parenthood, the Women’s March and the National Women’s Law Center, plan to take to the streets of D.C. ahead of Trump’s inauguration in January 2025, according to The Post. Organizers already estimate that 50,000 people will attend the mass demonstration.

“As in 2017, when Trump was inaugurated for the first time, the Women’s March, Planned Parenthood, and other abortion groups have again announced a mass demonstration in January 2024 to try to disrupt Trump’s second inauguration,” Post Millennial senior editor Andy Ngo wrote on X. “At the 2017 Trump inauguration, a large group of violent Antifa members smashed up buildings and started fires to reject the election while the city was occupied with other leftist protests. D.C. prosecutors dropped all the charges against the suspects. This would empower Antifa to commit more acts of political violence over the next four years.”

Federal prosecutors ultimately did drop all charges against the inauguration protestors in July 2018, NBC News reported.

George Washington University, PMC, DMV SJP and the SAI did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s requests for comment.

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‘A Tremendous Boon’: Trump’s Sec Def Pick Will Give Pentagon Its First Real Wake Up Call In Decades

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From the Daily Caller News Foundation 

By Jake Smith

President-elect Donald Trump’s decision to tap Pete Hegseth for secretary of defense has sent corporate media and the wider defense establishment into a tailspin, with critics taking aim at the veteran’s lack of policy-making experience. Yet, national security experts argue that Hegseth could bring much-needed change to a Pentagon that has lost its way.

Trump announced Tuesday evening that Hegseth would be taking over the nation’s top defense role, touting him as “tough, smart and a true believer in America First.” Hegseth will face a series of challenges that started under the Biden-Harris administration’s tenure, including a recruiting and retention crisis, weapons stockpile shortages, hot-button left-wing policies and two global wars that have dragged in the U.S. 

“He wasn’t on my bingo card, but I just finished his book and was incredibly impressed by what he had to say,” Morgan Murphy, former Pentagon press secretary and national security adviser to Sen. Tommy Tuberville, told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “I think it’s a really good pick by the president.”

Hegseth is in lockstep with Trump’s “America First” approach, having vocalized his rejection of neoconservatism while also not appearing to be in favor of isolationism, either. Hegseth also spoke on the Shawn Ryan show in an interview published on Nov. 7 about the need to strip the Pentagon and military of left-wing policies that some argue have hindered the military’s readiness.

Many corporate media outlets reacted with shock at Hegseth being tapped to head the Pentagon. A number of officials and defense insiders who spoke to some outlets expressed outrage at the choice, arguing that Trump should have picked a Washington establishment figure for the role.

“Who the fuck is this guy?” a defense lobbyist, who has hoping for “someone who actually has an extensive background in defense,” told Politico.

“Folks are shocked,” one current DOD official told the outlet. “He’s just a Fox News personality that’s never worked in the government.”

Democratic lawmakers, too, have raced to cast doubt on Hegseth, voicing similar criticism.

“There is reason for concern that this is not a person who is a serious enough policymaker, serious enough policy implementer, to do a successful job,” Democratic Washington Rep. Adam Smith told The Associated Press.

Yet some people well versed in the national security and foreign affairs world feel differently; though Hegseth’s appointment was a surprise, it could be just what the Pentagon needs right now.

“Hegseth understands the needs of our service members and is committed to refocusing on readiness and core defense priorities, which will help address some recent challenges within the Department of Defense,” former senior Pentagon official Simone Ledeen told the DCNF.

A Princeton graduate, Hegseth joined the military in the early 2000s, serving in Cuba, Iraq and Afghanistan, and was an infantry platoon leader. He has also been active in veterans affairs, having worked for Vets for Freedom and Concerned Veterans for America in the late 2000s through the mid-2010s.

“He has personally fought in the wars that Washington has signed the nation up for, in Iraq and Afghanistan,” Murphy said. “When I look at his resume, that’s what jumps out at me … when you have been a guest of your government in our foreign interventions, I think it gives a perspective that we have not had from a secretary of defense in a long time.”

The ultimate cost for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars is estimated to be between $4 and $6 trillion, with both conflicts resulting in over 7,000 U.S. servicemember deaths and countless others wounded. Further, 13 U.S. servicemembers died during the botched Biden-Harris Afghanistan withdrawal, which initially left thousands of Americans stranded. Around $7 billion in U.S. military equipment was also left behind, ending up in the hands of the Taliban.

Hegseth joined Fox News in 2014 and has been with the network since. He was interviewed by Trump at the Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Tuesday and was chosen for the role on the same day, people familiar with the matter told The Wall Street Journal.

Hegseth has publicly voiced his strong belief in conservatism, especially when it comes to national security affairs.

“[Hegseth]” will be an amazing leader,” former acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell wrote in a postto X on Tuesday. “He loves America and wants to protect her.”

The incoming defense secretary will inherit a number of challenges plaguing the Biden-Harris administration, including the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war and Middle East conflicts. He will also deal with the growing threat from China, which has become increasingly hostile to the U.S. and is rapidly expanding its military.

During an interview with Shawn Ryan last week, Hegseth also raised the issue of the ongoing recruiting and retention crisis in the military. Several branches of the military under the Biden administration have missed their recruiting goals in recent years, prompting the Pentagon to lower some standards to boost enlistment.

That’s an area where Hegseth is likely to fare better than Austin, Murphy told the DCNF.

“It’s going to be, I think, a tremendous boon to recruiting to have a secretary who has served,” Murphy said.

Hegseth is also likely to address a number of policies that the Biden administration and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin have embraced in recent years.

Austin has overseen the implementation of several left-wing initiatives at the Pentagon. For example, the military has established diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) quotas for recruiting and retention. In another example, the DCNF previously learned that the Air Force set a “goal” to reduce the white population in a key recruiting program while setting specific targets for other races.

Austin also established a policy where the Pentagon reimburses servicemembers for travel fees if they have to go to another state to get an abortion.

Trump is already quickly filling spots in his cabinet and administration. The president-elect has selected Tulsi Gabbard to head national intelligence, Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz as attorney general, adviser Susie Wiles as White House chief of staff, Florida Rep. Mike Waltz to serve as his national security adviser, Tom Homan as “border czar,” North Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem as Department of Homeland Security secretary and John Ratcliffe as Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) director.

Republican Florida Sen. Marco was also confirmed Wednesday to be Trump’s pick for secretary of state.

Those picks are a major shift from Biden’s current officials. Hegseth will replace Austin; Wiles will take over from Jeff Zients; Waltz is set to take over from Jake Sullivan; Noem will replace Alejandro Mayorkas; Stefanik will take over from Linda Thomas-Greenfield, and Ratcliffe will fill Bill Burns’ role. Rubio is slated to replace Antony Blinken.

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Daily Caller

President Of Country Hosting UN Climate Summit Defends Fossil Fuels, Slams Media And Green ‘Hypocrisy’

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Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev

From the Daily Caller News Foundation 

By Nick Pope

To accuse us that we have oil is the same like to accuse us that we have more than 250 sunny days a year in Baku.

The president of Azerbaijan, host country of this year’s U.N. climate change conference, defended fossil fuels while slamming the media and climate “hypocrisy” in a Tuesday speech at the event.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev described fossil fuels as a “gift of God,” slammed the “Western fake news” media for criticizing his country’s emissions and stated that countries like his “should not be blamed” for developing their reserves of natural resources and bringing them to the market. The U.N. conference — also known as COP29 — has attracted tens of thousands of attendees to the Azerbaijani capital Baku to discuss initiatives like so-called “climate finance” for developing countries, standards for carbon credit markets and emissions reduction commitments.

Aliyev rattled off statistics about Azerbaijan’s relatively small contributions to global oil and gas production before criticizing the media, politicians and nonprofits for maligning his country for capitalizing on its natural resources.

“I have to bring these figures to the attention of our audience, because right after Azerbaijan was elected as the host country of COP29, we became a target of a coordinated, well-orchestrated campaign of slander and blackmail,” said Aliyev. “Western fake news media and so-called independent NGOs, as if (they) were competing in spreading disinformation and false information about our country. To accuse us that we have oil is the same like to accuse us that we have more than 250 sunny days a year in Baku.”

Aliyev emphasized his view that there are many criteria by which to judge a country, but a nation’s resources and their sale are not one of them.

“I said it several months ago, and now all those who want, I mean international media, to attack me, just quote me that I said that this is a gift of God. And I want to repeat it today here at this audience, it’s a gift of God,” Aliyev said. “Every natural resource, whether it’s oil, gas, wind, sun, gold, silver, copper, all that are natural resources and countries should not be blamed for having them and should not be blamed for bringing these resources to the market because the market needs them.”

Aliyev attacked those who have criticized his country as a petro-state, though Azerbaijan’s economy is “anchored” by oil and gas, which accounted for nearly half of the nation’s GDP and 92.5% of export revenue in 2022, according to the U.S. International Trade Administration.

“Unfortunately, double standards, a habit to lecture other countries and political hypocrisy became a kind of modus operandi for some politicians, state-controlled NGOs and fake news media in some Western countries,” said Aliyev.

COP29 kicked off on Monday, and the Taliban even managed to send a delegation to the conference. The Biden administration, meanwhile, is still looking to be productive at the summit despite the looming return of President-elect Donald Trump, who has pledged to roll back climate initiatives and spending as well as withdraw from the U.N.’s Paris Climate Accords, according to The New York Times.

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