Unmasked: Matt Rivitz, Founder of Sleeping Giants, Organized Social Media Mobs Against Breitbart and Other Conservatives

The Daily Caller discovered that Matt Rivitz, an award-winning ad writer in San Francisco, is the anonymous founder behind Sleeping Giants, an activist group that organized boycotts against conservative voices that include Breitbart, Fox News’ Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly and Laura Ingraham, in an effort to shut them down. Sleeping Giants organized campaigns on social media and through leftist media outlets to apply pressure against advertisers who support conservatives until they pull their ads. Breitbart lost 90% of its advertisers in two months. They also pressured investors of a hedge fund, Renaissance Technologies, until the company’s CEO, conservative billionaire Robert Mercer, stepped down and sold his stake in Brietbart. It is ironic that the agents in Sleeping Giants, who are linked to the advertising industry, want to keep their identities hidden to prevent counter-boycotts against their own clients. -GEG

Sleeping Giants launched boycott campaigns against Breitbart and other right-wing voices.
The group’s founder took steps to protect his anonymity.
The Daily Caller News Foundation has revealed his identity.

The founder of Sleeping Giants, a left-wing activist group that has targeted right-wing voices with boycott campaigns, has managed to keep his identity a secret, even as his own group has become a major political player among liberals. Until now.

Sleeping Giants was founded by Matt Rivitz, an award-winning ad copywriter based in San Francisco, a Daily Caller News Foundation investigation has found.

Matt Rivitz Screenshot/Twitter

Following this article’s publication, Rivitz confirmed that he founded Sleeping Giants.

The group’s original stated goal was to cripple Breitbart, the pro-Trump website whose former chairman, Steve Bannon, worked in the White House as President Donald Trump’s chief strategist.

To accomplish that goal, Sleeping Giants has waged an intense campaign to pressure Breitbart’s advertisers into pulling their ads from the website. It’s worked pretty much as designed.

Breitbart lost 90 percent of its advertisers over the span of two months in 2017. Sleeping Giants has both maintained its pressure on Breitbart’s remaining advertisers and expanded its focus.

Sleeping Giants began pressuring investors in October 2017 in Renaissance Technologies — a successful hedge fund — to pull their investments because the company’s CEO, conservative billionaire Robert Mercer, had a financial stake in Breitbart. Less than two weeks later, Mercer sold his stake in Breitbart and stepped down from the hedge fund.

Sleeping Giants also boosted Parkland student David Hogg and Media Matters’ boycott of Fox News host Laura Ingraham in March over a tweet she sent about Hogg. Rivitz’ group posted the name, position and email address of a Hulu vice president and encouraged its tens of thousands of followers to email her and demand that the streaming website boycott Ingraham’s show.

But even as Sleeping Giants became a major political player — described by The Washington Post as “the mysterious group that’s picking Breitbart apart, one tweet at a time” — the person who launched the group managed to remain anonymous.

Read full article here…

San Francisco: Illegal Alien from Peru Charged on 4 Counts of Rape, Dubbed the ‘Ride-Share Rapist’

Orlando Vilchez Lazo, 36, a Peruvian national residing in the US illegally, has been dubbed the “ride-share rapist,” because he would allegedly drive his car around clubs in Northern California and pose as a driver. Vilchez Lazo was arrested on four counts of felony rape and is currently jailed since he was unable to come up with $4.2 million in bail.

Federal officials revealed on Tuesday that a suspected serial rapist in Northern California that posed as a ride-share driver is an illegal alien.

Orlando Vilchez Lazo, 36, is a Peruvian national and is illegally in the United States, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Fox News reports:

Vilchez Lazo has been dubbed the “ride-share rapist,” because he would allegedly drive his car around clubs in the city and pose as a driver. The New York Times, citing authorities, reported that he even had a sticker on his car to indicate he was working for a company.

Vilchez Lazo was arrested last week on four counts of felony rape and is currently jailed since he was unable to come up with $4.2 million in bail.

Read full article here…

Planned Parenthood Shows its True Mindset by Producing A TV Ad That Asks for Donations To Promote The “Right to F***”

Planned Parenthood of New York is rolling out a video ad that urges viewers to contribute to its latest campaign called “Freedom to F***”. Planned Parenthood reportedly banked $1.5 billion from federal and state programs from 2013 to 2015. The Republican Congress fully funded Planned Parenthood in its 2018 record spending bill.

Between 2013 and 2015, Planned Parenthood and its affiliates dug deep into taxpayers’ pockets, banking a whopping $1.5 billion from federal and state programs like Medicaid, Medicare, Title X, and the Children’s Health Insurance Program.

The Republican Congress fully funded Planned Parenthood in their 2018 record spending bill.

Planned Parenthood of New York City released a new ad this week “F*ck New York and Everyone In It.”

The actors drop the f-bomb 11 times in the 60 second ad.

Your tax dollars are paying for this.

See the video here (language warning)…

Why Did Trey Gowdy Stop the Movement to Impeach Rod Rosenstein?

Trey Gowdy, Chair of the US House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, is considered as a ‘conservative’ in the Republican Party. However, he has come under scrutiny for his puzzling record of (1) leading his committee in gathering evidence of grave wrong-doing by key FBI figures, such as Rod Rosenstein and Robert Mueller, but (2) doing everything possible to prevent them from being impeached or prosecuted. Radio show host and attorney, Mark Levin, who worked in the administration of President Reagan and was Chief of Staff for Attorney General Edwin Meese, says that Gowdy ignored many sound reasons for Rosenstein’s impeachment – and sees his performance in this matter as a repeat of Gowdy’s “go-nowhere” treatment of the Benghazi investigation, which he also chaired. [The unspoken question has arisen about Gowdy being a ‘mole’ among conservatives acting to appear to be a champion of reform but actually working to prevent it.] -GEG

University of Minnesota Plans to Require Students and Professors to Use Preferred Pronouns Or Face Expulsion and Firing

The University of Minnesota has proposed a policy that could punish students by expelling them, and professors by firing them, if they do not use someone’s preferred gender pronoun. Students are allowed to choose from a list of personal pronouns on the campus website: He/him/his, none, prefer not to specify, she/her/hers, they/them/theirs, or ze/zir/zirs. They can also specify their gender as follows: Agender, gender nonconforming, genderqueer, man, nonbinary, prefer not to specify, two spirit, woman, or they can enter their own. This policy is dangerous because it goes beyond censorship and actually compels speech.

The University of Minnesota has proposed a policy that would punish students and professors for not using someone’s preferred gender pronoun. Failure to do so may result in expulsion for students or firing for professors.

The draft policy, titled “Equity and Access: Gender Identity, Gender Expression, Names and Pronouns,” states that UM wants to provide an environment “free from discrimination and harassment based on gender identity and gender expression …” The school will do so by providing gender inclusive options available for housing, restrooms and locker rooms.

The school will allow students and faculty to “specify a name and/or gender identity that differs from the name and/or sex, sex assigned at birth, and/or gender identity listed on their legal documents.” They will also be allowed to specify their preferred pronouns (such as he, she, ze, or something else) “without being required to provide documentation of their gender identity.”

Students and faculty can specify their preferred pronouns and gender identity either in writing or verbally. School officials “must take reasonable steps” to maintain the person’s original names and sex in university records if they differ from the preferred gender identity and pronouns.

Students are allowed to choose from a list of personal pronouns on the campus website: He/him/his, none, prefer not to specify, she/her/hers, they/them/theirs, or ze/zir/zirs. They can also specify their gender identity as one of the following: Agender, gender nonconforming, genderqueer, man, nonbinary, prefer not to specify, two spirit, woman, or they can enter their own.

Read full article here…

San Francisco Will Allow Non-Citizens to Vote in Education Elections

Non-citizens can vote in San Francisco’s Board of Education elections after the city’s Department of Elections ruled to do away with citizenship requirements. Non-citizens seeking to vote in San Francisco’s Board of Education elections must be at least 18 years old and residents of the city, and must also be parents, caregivers or legal guardians of children under 19 years old who reside in the city. School boards determine property tax rates. Illegal immigrants can obtain driver’s licenses, state-paid medical insurance, receive in-state college tuition, and may practice law in California.

Non-citizens can vote in San Francisco’s Board of Education elections after the city’s Department of Elections ruled Monday to do away with citizenship requirements.

Non-citizens seeking to vote in San Francisco’s Board of Education elections must be at least 18 years old and residents of the city, CBS SF Bay Area reported Monday. They must also be parents, caregivers or legal guardians of children under 19 years old who reside in the city.

Those serving time for a felony conviction, as well as those persons on parole for a felony, cannot vote in the city’s Board of Education elections. Those deemed by the court to be mentally incompetent are also barred from voting in the elections.

The new requirement comes after San Francisco voters passed local Proposition N, allowing non-citizens to vote in education elections. The proposal passed 54 percent to 46 percent and will continue taking effect until 2022, wherein the Board of Supervisors will have to decide whether to preserve or abandon the law.

Up until the 1920s, a number of states, cities and municipalities allowed non-citizens to vote in elections as long as they were residents of that city, state or municipality.

Read full article here…

Chicago Police Killed a Man Who Reached for His Gun, Violent Protests Still Threaten the City

There were violent protests over the weekend in Chicago after police shot and killed a black man, Harith Augustus, 37, a barber who goes by the name ‘Snoop’, after he fled when they accused him of selling loose cigarettes. Chicago Police Department released a single-angle, muted without sound, police bodycam video that shows Augustus reaching for his firearm. Protesters are threatening to take to the streets again because they want the remaining police bodycam videos for context.

The city could see a fourth day of protests Tuesday over the Chicago police shooting that killed 37-year-old Harith Augustus over the weekend.

Officers were trying to detain the barber Saturday in the city’s South Shore neighborhood when the shooting happened.

Police quickly released body camera video, without audio. It appears to show Augustus had a gun and that he was reaching for it when he was shot.

Body cam video of moments prior to the fatal police shooting of Harith Augustus. This is 1 of 2 videos released on Sunday. CPD added slow-motion effect.

But there is more video, which the police department will not release at this time.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel may weigh in on the police shooting Tuesday. He has returned to Chicago from China and has a few public events planned for the morning.

Community members protested for three nights after the deadly police shooting.

Hundreds demonstrated in South Shore Monday night. They want more body-camera video released with audio. But city officials said there are no immediate plans to do that.

On Saturday night, police tried to detain Augustus outside a store near West 71st Street and South Jeffery Avenue for carrying a gun.

Less than 24 hours later, CPD released a portion of one body-camera angle.

Read full article here…