From my friends at Townhall:
Category Archives: Uncategorized
Is This Just Careless Or Mean-Spirited?
On Saturday, One America News reported that Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., has again been denied Secret Service protection by Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
The article reports:
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has threatened to take legal action against the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) after being denied secret service protection for the fifth time.
Department Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas concluded that Kennedy does not require Secret Service protection, in a letter to the Kennedy campaign dated March 28th. This decision was made after conferring with an advisory committee that included the Senate Sergeant at Arms and prominent members of Congress.
Kennedy’s lawyer, Aaron Siri, responded to Mayorkas’ series of denials in a letter on March 29th, which was posted to X, labeling them “capricious, an abuse of discretion, and clearly politically motivated.”
…In the letter, Mayorkas and the DHS are accused of “ignoring the real risks” to Kennedy, citing an instance at a campaign event that involved a guest carrying two loaded handguns.
The Secret Service has extended protection to presidential and vice-presidential candidates since the 1968 assassination of Kennedy’s father and then-Democratic presidential candidate, Robert F. Kennedy.
Kennedy Jr. is also the nephew of the late President John F. Kennedy, who was killed in office earlier that decade.
According to the Secret Service website, requirements for protection include declaring oneself in public, being the target of “general or specific threats” and, in the case of independent and third-party candidates, polling at 20% or higher in the Real Clear Politics national average for a minimum of 30 days.
Kennedy’s national average for Real Clear Polling as of Thursday was approximately 11%.
The family history alone should be reason enough for Secretary Mayorkas to provide Secret Service protection. This is simply one more in a list of things that make the Biden administration look vindictive and petty.
Another Consequence Of Our Open Southern Border
On April 16th, The Center for Immigration Studies posted an article about the infiltration of the Mexican drug cartels into some American Indian reservations.
The article reports:
On April 10, I joined three tribal leaders at a hearing held by the U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources to examine the threat to Indian Country communities posed by foreign drug cartels. Those leaders expressed alarm at how Mexican drug cartels have rapidly established a foothold on drug trafficking and other criminal activities in their communities, and they literally braved death threats to appear at the hearing.
Representatives of two tribes in Montana and one from Arizona implored Congress and federal agencies to prioritize the well-being of the citizens in Indian Country by securing the border and providing resources to help them eradicate the cartels. Said Jeffrey Stiffarm, president of the Fort Belknap Indian Community: “It seems like [the feds] are more concerned about the immigrants coming across the border than concerned about what they’re doing here once they get here … and to me more importantly, the first people of this country they’re coming into.”
The Sinaloa cartel in particular has targeted several Indian reservations in northern Montana, including Blackfeet, Rocky Boy’s, Fort Belknap, and Fort Peck, for expansion of their drug-trafficking enterprise. They are attracted primarily by the opportunity of huge profit margins, as fentanyl pills can be sold for as much as $100, compared to three to five dollars in urban areas of the country. Other factors that work in the cartels’ favor are the remote geography, relative scarcity of law enforcement, and jurisdictional complications between tribal police and local and federal authorities.
According to tribal leaders, the cartel operatives can “blend in” to the native communities, and in some cases have “married in” to become embedded in the reservation community and to facilitate the recruitment of street-level dealers, who are often local people who become vulnerable to cartel control through addiction and substance abuse. The tribes have experienced a spike in sex trafficking, child abuse and neglect, domestic violence, and theft that they attribute to the burgeoning drug addiction problem fostered by the cartel. The week before the hearing, two residents of the Rocky Boy’s reservation were killed in what was described as a cartel hit.
Stiffarm stated that the Fort Belknap reservation police deal with cartel-related crime on a daily basis, but they generally have no jurisdiction over non-tribe members, and the cartels know it. Federal authorities, including Border Patrol, ICE, and the FBI are rarely present on these tribal lands. Verlon Jose, chairman of the Tohono O’odham Nation, lamented that “the feds don’t follow their own mandates” to enforce immigration and other federal laws, and that his tribe, which is located on the U.S. southern border, spends half of its law enforcement budget on border-related crime, including investigating everything from the deaths of crossers to stolen property.
A lot of our law-enforcement problems could be solved very quickly simply by closing the southern border to all but legal immigrants.
Moving Quickly In The Wrong Direction
On Monday, Breitbart posted an article about the renewal of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). Somehow the House of Representatives managed to make the law even worse than it was.
The article reports:
Despite the outrage at the passage of the legislation, 110 Republicans also voted for an amendment proposed by House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner (R-OH) and committee Ranking Member Jim Himes (D-CT) that would seek dramatically expand the ability for the government to surveil Americans’ communications.
The measure updates the definition of electronic service provider to also include “any other service provider who has access to equipment that is being or may be used to transmit or store wire or electronic communications.”
The amendment would significantly expand the number of businesses and their employees who could be compelled to spy on their customers and provide warrantless access to their communications systems in accordance to this controversial FISA provision.
This provision has been referred to by privacy advocates as a “trojan horse” for “PATRIOT Act 2.0.”
Steve Bradbury, a distinguished fellow at the Heritage Foundation and former Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel at the Justice Department under George W. Bush, told Breitbart News during a press conference on Monday that the Turner-Himes is so vast in scope that experts may not truly understand how many companies, staffers, and other entities may be forced to surveil Americans.
The article concludes:
Those on the left have also cried foul at the Turner-Himes proposal, referring it to as the “Everybody Is a Spy” amendment.
Demand Progress Policy Director Sean Vitka said in a written statement on Monday:
These moves from the Intelligence Committee add up to a brazen and deliberate attempt to sneak through one of the most terrifying expansions in the history of government surveillance. This is not speculative: the amendment clearly allows the government to secretly conscript uninvolved Americans and American businesses to spy on each other. These KGB-style powers pose an existential threat to our civil liberties. The Senate must block this provision.
If the Senate fails to remove this amendment from the bill, it will be handing the president, and whoever the next president is, a knife to ram through the back of democracy. [Emphasis added]
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), after the House passed RISAA, said in no uncertain terms:
The House bill represents one of the most dramatic and terrifying expansions of government surveillance authority in history. It allows the government to force any American who installs, maintains, or repairs anything that transmits or stores communications to spy on the government’s behalf. That means anyone with access to a server, a wire, a cable box, a wifi router, or a phone. It would be secret: the Americans receiving the government directives would be bound to silence, and there would be no court oversight. [Emphasis added]
He added, “I will do everything in my power to stop this bill.”
Congress took a bad bill and made it worse.
From my friends at Power Line Blog:
The Value Of The Abraham Accords
On Monday, Robert Zimmerman posted an article at Behind the Black about the attack on Israel this past weekend. The article notes how the Abraham Accords, initiated during the Trump administration, helped protect the nation of Israel.
The article reports:
Over the weekend the Iranian attempt to bomb Israel drove home starkly the effectiveness of the Abraham Accords that Donald Trump pushed through during his term between Israel and a number of its Arab neighbors.
The effectiveness of the accords was not only illustrated by the moral and technical support given to Israel by the UAE and Bahrain (two accord signatories), the good will these agreements produced between Israel and the Arab world caused other Arab nations to add their own support as well.
First, when Iran tipped off several Arab countries of its intentions — which likely included both Jordan and Saudi Arabia (neither of which has signed the accords) — those countries then immediately passed that information to the United States, knowning full well it would then be passed to Israel. Iran had thought the Arab world was united with it, when in truth at least half the Arab world is now allied with Israel (either overtly or covertly).
Then Jordan denied Iran permission to use its airspace, and then followed this up by first opening its airspace to Israel and American fighter jets. All three then proceeded to shoot down Irans missiles and drones, preventing almost all from even reaching Israel.
The article concludes:
The situation of course remains very complex, but it will simplify enormously after Israel finishes Hamas off and then demonstrates its determination to rebuild Gaza as a sane place for both the Gazans and its neighbors. Despite the absurd screams of “genocide” by stupid Hama supporters, Israel’s neighbors very much want to get Hamas destroyed. They might mouth some complaints about the lose of civilian lifes in Gaza, but those protests are not to be taken very seriously. Hamas has done nothing for them except instill disorder and violence in the region. Remove it, and they know everyone will benefit.
The Trump administration was working toward peace in the Middle East. I am not sure what the Biden administration is working toward.
That Was Then; This Is Now
On Monday, the trial of President Trump for paying ‘hush money’ began. One of the points being made by the media and other left-wing sources is that keeping the story of Stormy Daniels quiet influenced the 2016 election causing Hillary Clinton to lose (yes, they said that). The money that was used to keep the story silent was put in bookkeeping entries as legal fees. That essentially is the crime that is being charged. But wait a minute–what about the money Hillary Clinton paid to create the Russia Hoax?
An article at PJ Media on April 15th notes:
Before the 2016 election, Hillary Clinton’s campaign denied that it had funded the infamous Steele dossier behind the debunked Russian collusion claims.
The funding was hidden as legal expenses by then-Clinton campaign general counsel Marc Elias. (The FEC later sanctioned the campaign over its hiding of the funding.). When a reporter tried to report the story, he said Elias “pushed back vigorously, saying ‘You (or your sources) are wrong.’” Times reporter Maggie Haberman declared, “Folks involved in funding this lied about it, and with sanctimony, for a year.”
Likewise, John Podesta, Clinton’s campaign chairman, was called before congressional investigators and denied categorically any contractual agreement with Fusion GPS. Sitting beside him was Elias, who reportedly said nothing to correct the misleading information given to Congress.
Yet, there were no charges stemming from the hiding of the funding, though it was all part of the campaign budget.
How is using campaign funds to pay for a fraud different from using campaign funds to hush up a damaging story?
This is the world we currently live in. The justice system in America has been corrupted to the point where it doesn’t matter what you did–it matters who you are. Unfortunately, because of an amendment to the FISA bill that was passed in the House of Representatives on Monday night, things are going to get worse for those of us who do not parrot what the mainstream media tells us. The Himes-Turner amendment to FISA dramatically expands the ability for the government to surveil Americans’ communications, updating the definition of electronic service provider to include “any other service provider who has access to equipment that is being or may be used to transmit or store wire or electronic communications.” This expands the number of businesses and employees who could be asked to spy on customers and provide warrantless access to their communications systems.
In the immortal words of the Chad Mitchell Trio, “If mommie is a commie, then you gotta turn her in.” Only today it’s, “If mommie does not support the Biden regime, you gotta’ turn her in.”
Protesting Is Legal; Civil Disobedience Should Have Consequences
On April 16th, Townhall posted an article illustrating how the pro-Palestinian protestors that tried to block roads on Monday were treated in Florida.
The article reports:
Pro-Palestinian protesters shut down major bridges, roads, and highways across the United States on Monday, with CNN reporting that over 150 arrests were made. But whether in Chicago, where demonstrators blocked a road to Terminal 1 at O’Hare, or in San Francisco, where protesters brought traffic to a halt on the Golden Gate bridge, there was generally tolerance of the disruptive and dangerous demonstrations by those tasked with upholding law and order.
…Traffic was also affected in two other areas in the Bay area by the protesters, with California Highway Patrol Chief Don Goodbrand saying “it was an orchestrated event.”
“They blocked three separate locations on freeways. They prevented law enforcement, paramedics, ambulances from getting to their points of destination,” he added.
The article includes a screenshot of how these protestors were treated in Florida (this is the address if you want to watch the video– https://twitter.com/i/status/1779976321629565433):
Protesting is legal under the First Amendment; blocking roads and bridges is not.
The Problem With The Statement
This is President Biden’s Statement regarding the attack on Israel (from Townhall):
Earlier today, Iran—and its proxies operating out of Yemen, Syria and Iraq—launched an unprecedented air attack against military facilities in Israel. I condemn these attacks in the strongest possible terms.
At my direction, to support the defense of Israel, the U.S. military moved aircraft and ballistic missile defense destroyers to the region over the course of the past week. Thanks to these deployments and the extraordinary skill of our servicemembers, we helped Israel take down nearly all of the incoming drones and missiles.
I’ve just spoken with Prime Minister Netanyahu to reaffirm America’s ironclad commitment to the security of Israel. I told him that Israel demonstrated a remarkable capacity to defend against and defeat even unprecedented attacks – sending a clear message to its foes that they cannot effectively threaten the security of Israel.
Tomorrow, I will convene my fellow G7 leaders to coordinate a united diplomatic response to Iran’s brazen attack. My team will engage with their counterparts across the region. And we will stay in close touch with Israel’s leaders. And while we have not seen attacks on our forces or facilities today, we will remain vigilant to all threats and will not hesitate to take all necessary action to protect our people.
There are a few problems with the statement. First of all, the attack was not simply against military facilities–it was also against civilians.
The article also notes that President Biden is demanding that Israel refrain from a military response to the attacks. What other nation in the world would be asked to do that?
Who Does Student Loan Forgiveness Benefit?
On Sunday, The American Thinker posted an article about President Biden’s plan to forgive approximately $5 billion more in student debt. The article reminds us that forgiving student debt is simply transferring wealth from those who could not afford to go to college to those who took out loans to go to college.
The article reports:
In a desperate attempt to win votes in the upcoming presidential election in November, President Biden has transferred $153 billion in wealth from middle and lower income-earners to the rich. How has he done that? Student loan forgiveness is the answer.
In January 2022, Forbes conducted a study that found that a significant portion of student debt belongs to high-wealth households. Additionally, an article from Brookings emphasizes that student loan forgiveness tends to be regressive, which benefits higher-income individuals more than lower-income ones. Some studies indicate that students from high-wealth families owe at least 60% of the total student debt.
Students from wealthy or affluent families can qualify for student loans more easily than those from less affluent families. In the past few years, Biden has forgiven $153 billion in student loans, mainly benefiting high-wealth households.
The article concludes:
So long as we have an authoritarian, Constitution-ignoring dictatorship running this country, we will have no control over our financial well-being. The Constitution provides that our elected officials rule with the consent of the people. I didn’t give my consent, nor did my representative in Congress, nor did anyone’s representative in Congress. This is an authoritarian act solely by President Biden without the consent of the Legislative or Judicial Branch of government. So much for checks and balances.
This administration continues to add more debt for us to pay and spends our money without limitation, increasing inflation and the national debt with every dollar spent. Remember, the government has no money of its own. What it spends is money it collects from the American taxpayer in the form of taxes. It just spent $153 million without consulting Congress, which the Supreme Court has ruled is unconstitutional.
In pre-Revolutionary times, the people declared that taxation without representation was tyranny. Will America wake up?
Standing Up For Women Athletes
On Friday, Zero Hedge posted an article about a soccer team in the NorthWest Association, a league in Australia.
The article reports:
Calling itself the “biggest LGBTQIA+ women’s and non-binary football club in the world,” the Flying Bats FC has made international headlines for fielding 5 self-identifying transgender players, with at least nine transgender players in the wider NorthWest Association.
Critics have said the Bat’s domination of the four-week pre-season Beryl Ackroyd Cup, which followed an undefeated season in 2023 that produced scorelines disproportionate to other teams’ results, was a direct result of the inclusion of male-born transgender players.
According to the feminist and pro-woman online news source, Reduxx, president of St. Patrick’s Football Club Frank Parisi said a March discussion over the Flying Bats FC’s ease of victories had prompted an informal meeting with stakeholders of the Northwest Sydney Football Association to address “concerns around how implausible it has become for any team to win against the Flying Bats as well as physical safety concerns.”
Incensed by the Flying Bats’ domination, other clubs asked the league’s governing body Football NSW to force them into playing in a mixed-sex league.
One club official told the Daily Telegraph, “Our girls are here to play for fun and expect to play in the female competition. They did not sign up for a mixed competition. It was so disheartening for them to see the huge difference in ability—they’re killing it.”
The involvement of transgender athletes in sports is a current hot-button issue, as policymakers grapple with how to balance the effects on women’s players, versus the “rights” of female-identifying players born as biological men
Any soccer team with biological males on it is going to beat a team composed of only biological women. Although there are occasionally women who have the muscle structure to compete with men, they are rare. This is totally unfair competition. It is like adding five professional baseball players to a high school team so that they can have a winning season. Kudos to the women who walked away from the unfair competition.
The ‘Chamberlain Approach’ Has Never Worked
Those of us who grew up before the age of ‘reconciliation’ with bullies know how to deal with bullies–you beat them up severely and they never bother you again. Unfortunately, America’s leaders forgot that principle shortly after World War II. Now, because they have forgotten that principle, they are on the verge of starting World War III. Neville Chamberlain was the Prime Minister of England from May 28, 1937, to May 10, 1940. In the Munich Agreement of September 30, 1938, he and Premier Édouard Daladier of France granted almost all of Hitler’s demand that Czechoslovakia cede the Sudetenland to Germany. That agreement left Czechoslovakia defenseless. Neville Chamberlain returned to England after signing the Munich Agreement a popular hero, speaking of “peace with honour” (echoing an earlier prime minister, Benjamin Disraeli) and “peace for our time.” His intentions were good–he wanted to prevent war. However, it didn’t turn out well. Hitler invaded Czechoslovakia on March 15, 1939.
On April 14th, The U.K. Daily Mail reported the following:
- President Biden has made it clear to Benjamin Netanyahu that US forces will not join offensive operations against Iran, according to reports
- The comments were made by Biden during a phone call between the two leaders after Iran unleashed a drone and missile attack on Israel
- Biden released a statement following the call between the two leaders saying it had reaffirmed America’s ‘ironclad commitment to the security of Israel’
How can America have an ‘ironclad commitment to the security of Israel’ if we tell them not to attack the people who are attacking them?
The following was also noted at The Gateway Pundit on April 13th:
Tonight, as Iran launches attacks on Israel, it is important to remember that exactly one month ago the Biden administration granted new sanctions relief to Iran that gave the country access to billions.
The move was criticized by Republicans and downplayed by Democrats and the liberal media.
It’s just another reminder that Biden has a habit of making the exact wrong decision on foreign policy every single time.
It is very possible that America paid for the drones used against Israel.
This Is Called Changing The Subject
A lot of us are very unhappy that the law allowing warrantless surveillance of Americans was extended. FISA stands for Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Most of us would be okay if the act was strictly used to surveil foreigners, but history tells us that it has been used illegally to spy on innocent Americans. The fact that many Republicans voted to extend the act is unfortunate. That is not what they were elected to do. Unfortunately, according to the list of people who voted for the extension that I have seen, our own Representative, Greg Murphy, voted for the extension. I can only assume that these Representatives were told that if there were a terrorist attack and the bill was not extended, they would be held responsible by the media. Knowing the intelligence community’s ability to stage false-flag events and the media’s ability to mislead the public, this might have been the tactic used. That is simply my opinion.
President Trump, who did not support the extension but wanted to save the day for the Republicans, held a press conference with Speaker Johnson at Mar-a-Lago.
On Friday, The Epoch Times reported:
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and former President Donald Trump are urging support for a bill aimed at preventing non-citizens from voting in federal elections.
At a Friday, April 12, press conference at the former president’s Mar-a-Lago residence, the Republican leaders announced the bill as part of larger efforts to bolster election integrity.
“What we’re going to do is introduce legislation to require that every single person who registers to vote in a federal election must prove that they are an American citizen first,” Mr. Johnson said.
This is a great idea, but will create some problems. What will be required of voters in order to prove their citizenship? I was talking to someone today who does not have a birth certificate–the person was born at home in rural America and the birth was recorded in the family Bible. How can that person prove that they are an American? How many elderly Americans do not have birth certificates, passports, or documents to prove they are Americans? Does your social security card prove you are an American (those can be counterfeited)? It will be interesting to watch what happens to this plan as it moves forward.
How Is This Helpful To Americans?
On Friday, The Gateway Pundit posted an article that illustrates the problem with treating people who are here illegally as if they are above the law. We need to remember that one of our founding principles as a nation was ‘equal justice under the law.’
The article reports:
ICE Boston said the Middlesex County Superior Court did NOT honor their detainer request and released into the community – without notice – a highly dangerous 53-year-old Brazilian illegal alien indicted on 10 counts of aggravated child rape in Massachusetts.
“This Brazilian national has been charged with some horrific and disturbing crimes,” said ICE Boston Field Office Director Todd M. Lyons. “This is certainly not the type of person that we want interacting freely with the children of our neighborhoods. ERO Boston will continue to work tirelessly to arrest and remove noncitizen child sex predators from our New England communities.”
The article provides some background on the illegal alien:
“The Brazilian national was admitted to the United States in Miami, Florida, on Sept. 6, 2001, as a nonimmigrant with authorization to remain in the United States until March 5, 2002. He failed to leave the United States by that date.”- ICE said in a statement.
He was deported in 2008 and illegally reentered the US at an unknown date.
“On Feb. 12, 2008, a Department of Justice (DOJ) immigration judge in Boston granted the Brazilian national voluntary departure from the United States to Brazil. The DOJ immigration judge gave him until June 11, 2008, to depart the country,” ICE said.
“He voluntarily departed the United States June 6, 2008. However, he unlawfully reentered the United States on an unknown date and at an unknown location without being inspected, admitted or paroled by a U.S. immigration official,” ICE said.
The illegal was arrested again in Everett, Massachusetts on December 20, 2021 for the charges of indecent assault and battery on a child and rape of a child.
However, the Middlesex County Superior court released him into the community.
“The Middlesex County Superior Court failed to honor ERO’s request and released the Brazilian noncitizen from custody Nov. 23, 2022.” ICE said.
An elite ICE unit tracked down the child rapist and took him into custody on March 28.
Not only does the illegal alien belong in jail until he is deported, but the person who released him should be arrested.
From my friends at Townhall:
Priorities?
At a time when many Americans are struggling to make ends meet, I question how Congress is spending our tax dollars.
On Thursday, Breitbart reported the following:
Non-profit theater companies across the country would receive a $5 billion taxpayer-funded bailout under a new plan being promoted by a group of Democrats in the Senate. The proposed bailout comes as prominent stages are facing unprecedented financial crises following their embrace of woke identity politics, which has alienated audiences and donors.
Among the companies poised to receive the new federal dollars would be New York’s Public Theater, which staged the gruesome stabbing death of President Donald Trump in its infamous 2017 production of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar.
Sen. Peter Welch (D-VT) is leading the way with the legislation, which is called the Supporting Theater and the Arts to Galvanize the Economy (STAGE) Act of 2024.
What about Americans who are facing ‘unprecedented financial crises’?
The article concludes:
The wave of unprecedented financial crises hitting prominent theaters comes as their far-left agendas continue to drive away loyal audiences and even some donors. Combined with Bidenflation that has caused their operating costs to soar, companies are facing catastrophic budgetary shortfalls and are resorting to layoffs and shutdowns.
Institutions hit hard by the perfect storm include The Public Theater in New York, Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre, the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles, the Lookingglass Theater in Chicago, The Artists Repertory Theatre in Portland, and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.
I realize that theatre is an important part of culture, but movies and theatre need to consider what their audiences want to watch. What we are seeing here is the free market at work, and as usual Congress is attempting to interfere with free market forces.
This Isn’t Going To End Well
American ‘Sanctuary Cities’ are going out of their way to feed, house, and clothe people who are here illegally. That makes no sense at all when Americans are homeless. We need to find a way to help America’s homeless before we take in someone else’s homeless. Some cities are doing amazing financial acrobatics in order to meet the needs of the influx of homeless, jobless, needy illegal immigrants.
On Thursday, The Daily Caller reported:
The Democratic-run city of Denver, Colorado, plans to defund its police department to pay for illegal immigrants.
Denver, which is commonly referred to as a “sanctuary city,” announced on Wednesday that it will spend $89.9 million on services for incoming illegal migrants, pulling some of the funding from roughly $45 million in public programs and services. Denver’s police department will be hit with an $8.4 million reduction — about 1.9% of its total operating budget, the city confirmed to the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Denver became the top destination per capita for incoming migrants in 2023, having had more than 40,000 arrive that year alone — putting the total migrant population at roughly 710,000, according to NBC News. Denver already spent over $42 million in 2023 in housing and medical services for migrants and plans to spend over $100 million on similar costs in 2024.
The fire department will also suffer a $2.5 million reduction, or about 0.8% of its total operating costs, the city told the DCNF. Half of those reductions will also come from vacant positions.
Today, we shared a new budget and a more sustainable newcomer program.
Proud of our city for welcoming those most in need. Proud of our city teams who found ways to minimize budget without major impacts.
Note the use of the word ‘newcomer’ instead of illegal immigrant.
The article concludes:
Over 15,000 migrants have flooded into Denver since May 2023 as a result of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s busing effort. The Lone Star state sits at the epicenter of the illegal immigration crisis.
More broadly, illegal immigration in cities and states across the U.S. has surged under the Biden administration. There were roughly 1.6 million migrant encounters at the northern and southern border in fiscal year 2021, compared to over 2 million in fiscal year 2023 and roughly a million in the first five months of fiscal year 2024, according to Customs and Border Protection data.
Every state is becoming a border state, and every city is becoming a sanctuary city.
Time to Save America
Author: R. Alan Harrop, Ph.D.
Our country is faced with an election this fall of great importance. The outcome will determine the fate of this country for the present and future generations. Fortunately, we have two candidates for the presidency who both have a track record of what we can expect if they are elected. The decision must be made on their policies and actions, not on any other factors such as personality or a single issue. Since the end of WWII we have fought against worldwide communism/Marxism. We are now at a crossroad of whether or not we will remain a constitutional republic with unprecedented freedom, liberty and opportunity. Here are the documented differences between Trump and Biden. Your vote will decide the fate of this country.
Immigration: Trump secured the borders, built a wall, instituted a “remain in Mexico” policy. He favors legal immigration and will deport people here illegally. Biden has not only implemented an open border policy but is actively encouraging illegal entry by providing free housing, food, and medical care. The result is the largest influx of illegals in history (over 10 million), which is larger than the population of 40 states.
Inflation: Trump: Inflation was about 2% during his administration; mortgage rates 3%, gasoline $2 per gallon. Biden: Prices have increased at near record levels with food, energy and essential products up over 20% in just over three years and continuing to rise. Mortgage rates are at or near 7%, and gasoline is at $3+ per gallon. The average American’s standard of living has decreased substantially.
Safety: Trump: Lower domestic crime rates, supported law enforcement, no new foreign wars. Biden: Major cities not safe with crime at record levels, criminals released not prosecuted, law enforcement unable to fill vacant positions, cities overrun with drug addicts, major foreign wars with emboldened enemies like Russia, Iran and China, talk of a nuclear World War III not heard since the 1950s.
Constitutional Freedoms: Trump: Strong support for free speech, right to bear arms, and consumer choice through reduction of government regulations. Biden: Use of social media to restrict speech, using the Department of Justice to go after political opponents (especially Donald Trump), weaponizing the FBI against U.S. citizens, restricting consumer choice with electric vehicles, gas stoves, and so-called green energy.
Indoctrinating Children: Trump: Encouraged school choice and pro-American instruction, no transgender sports participation. Biden: Encouraged the teaching of Critical Race Theory, Diversity-Equity-Inclusion, and transgender instruction in all public schools, opposes school vouchers/choice.
The above represents some of the most obvious differences between Donald Trump and Joe Biden. There are many others. The choice could not be clearer: America as we have known it or Marxism and the destruction of all we have fought to maintain since the founding of this great country. It is up to us to see very clearly what is at stake in this election. As Lincoln once said, “If America is to be destroyed, it will be by our own doing.” You know what to do!
Register to vote! Get out to the polls and save this country! It is time to take America back!
Will The Courts Uphold The Law?
There was a time in America when you were arrested when you did something illegal. That was then; this is now. Just for the record, crossing into America illegally is a crime. Technically, illegal aliens should be sent back to their home countries. It has been a while since we have seen that happen.
On Wednesday, The Daily Caller reported:
Republican Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signed a bill Wednesday that will allow both state and local enforcement officials to arrest illegal immigrants who reentered the U.S., as well as authorizing state courts to deport them.
Bill SF 2340, which is expected to go into effect July 1, allows the state to enforce immigration laws and prevent illegal reentry into the state, according to a press release. If caught by officials within the state, illegal immigrants could potentially face up to two years in prison.
“The Biden Administration has failed to enforce our nation’s immigration laws, putting the protection and safety of Iowans at risk. Those who come into our country illegally have broken the law, yet Biden refuses to deport them. This bill gives Iowa law enforcement the power to do what he is unwilling to do: enforce immigration laws already on the books,” Reynolds stated.
The article concludes:
While the Iowa Legislature passed the bill last month, there appear to be questions and concerns over how officials should go about the new addition.
Des Moines Police Chief Dana Wingert told the Associated Press in March that immigration status is not a part of the department’s efforts to protect the community. Wingert told the outlet they were “not equipped, funded or staffed” to aid in the new responsibilities.
President of the Iowa State Sheriffs and Deputies Association and Linn County Deputy Sheriff Shawn Ireland told AP News in March that many officials would have to seek guidance from their county attorneys on how to properly implement and enforce the new legislation.
This will undoubtedly wind up in the courts. It will be interesting to see how they rule.
The March Inflation Numbers
On Wednesday, MSNBC posted the March Inflation Numbers. As any consumer can tell you, inflation is still and issue.
The article reports:
- The consumer price index, a key inflation gauge, rose 3.5% in March, higher than expectations and marking an acceleration for inflation.
- Shelter and energy costs drove the increase. Energy rose 1.1% after increasing 2.3% in February, while shelter costs were higher by 0.4% on the month and up 5.7% from a year ago.
- Following the report, traders pushed the first expected rate cut out to September, according to CME Group calculations.
The article notes:
Stocks slumped after the report while Treasury yields spiked higher.
Shelter and energy costs drove the increase on the all-items index.
Energy rose 1.1% after climbing 2.3% in February, while shelter costs, which make up about one-third of the weighting in the CPI, were higher by 0.4% on the month and up 5.7% from a year ago. Expectations for shelter-related costs to decelerate through the year have been central to the Fed’s thesis that inflation will cool enough to allow for interest rate cuts.
Food prices increased just 0.1% on the month and were up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. There were some big gains within the food category, however.
The measure for meat, fish, poultry and eggs climbed 0.9%, pushed by a 4.6% jump in egg prices. Butter fell 5% and cereal and bakery products declined by 0.9%. Food away from home increased 0.3%.
Elsewhere, used vehicle prices fell 1.1% and medical care services prices rose 0.6%.
The past three years or so have not been a good time for most Americans. Inflation has increased the cost of simply maintaining an average lifestyle. It will be interesting to see if inflation can be brought under control by November and if people will vote their pocketbooks.
From my friends at Townhall:
If I Leave A Jacket Behind In A Restaurant…
If I leave a jacket behind in a restaurant and don’t come back to claim it, what happens next? If the restaurant owners sell it at a second-hand shop, can they be put in jail? If I find a wallet on the street and take the money, can I be put in jail? I’m not talking about what should be the right thing to do–I am talking about the legal consequences. At a time when career criminals are being routinely let out of jail, the woman who found Ashley Biden’s diary under a mattress at a rehab facility and sold it will be spending a month in jail.
On Monday, The Gateway Pundit reported:
Aimee Harris, 41, was sentenced by Biden’s Department of Justice (DOJ) to prison, followed by a period of home confinement for her role in the alleged theft and distribution of a diary belonging to Ashley Biden.
As previously reported by The Gateway Pundit, Ashley Biden, Joe Biden’s youngest daughter, left her diary under a mattress at the Palm Beach rehab home following a stay at a treatment facility. Two individuals who found Ashley Biden’s diary at a halfway house later sold the diary to James O’Keefe and Project Veritas.
In a January 2019 entry, Ashley Biden recalled how she used to shower with her father, Joe Biden, and suggested it may have contributed to a sex addiction.
If you leave something behind and someone picks it up, is that stealing? It would have been nice to return it, but I can’t remember a similar case ever resulting in jail time. To me, this is just one more example of how skewed our justice system has become.
About Those Jobs Numbers
We have all read the reports of some major manufacturing companies and retail stores laying off employees and shutting down stores. So why is the Biden administration so enthusiastically touting their jobs numbers? Could it be that those numbers do not actually reflect what is actually happening?
On Wednesday, The Federalist reported the following:
Last week, the Labor Department issued its jobs report for March 2024. Democrats will tell you the report is rosy and bright, that the economy is heading in the right direction, and that your negative instincts and impressions about the economy are wrong. In reality, the report is abysmal. Below are the facts about employment that Democrats won’t mention: Fewer Americans have full-time jobs, and more of those with full-time jobs are also working part-time jobs to make ends meet.
Democrats claim that the economy added 303,000 jobs in March — but it added no full-time jobs at all in March. The economy actually shed 6,000 full-time jobs that month. In fact, full-time employment in the United States has dropped in each of the past four months. Since November, there are 1,787,000 fewer Americans with full-time employment.
So how do Democrats claim the economy added 303,000 jobs in March? What Democrats do not tell you is that the vast majority of these jobs — 75 percent — are second jobs. Under the Biden economy, the number of people who have had to simultaneously work both a full-time job and a second part-time job just to make ends meet has hovered at historical highs. In March, the number of people who added a second part-time job on top of their other full-time employment totaled 225,000. The Democrats’ “good news” is just you having to work longer and harder to survive.
The article also notes that there is much more growth in government jobs than jobs in the private sector. This is NOT good economic news.
The article reports:
The U.S. has faced another insidious problem for decades that gets little attention. There are more than 3,000 counties or county equivalents in the United States. Yet, half of the 10 wealthiest counties in the U.S., measured in terms of median household income, are suburbs of Washington, D.C. According to U.S. Census data, 50 years ago only five suburban D.C. counties made the list of the top 50 richest U.S. counties or equivalents. By 2020, this figure had more than tripled to 17.
It’s long past time to shrink government and cut taxes!
Listening To The People
I recently posted three articles (here, here, and here) about the renewal of FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) Section 702. Note that the law is called “foreign intelligence surveillance” act–not the spying on your political opponents act. Unfortunately the act has been used 278,000 times to conduct illegal searches on Americans. That is why I oppose the renewal of Section 702.
On Wednesday, The Hill reported:
A group of House Republicans on Wednesday tanked a procedural vote to begin debate on a bill to reauthorize the nation’s warrantless surveillance powers, leaving the chamber scrambling on how to address the important spy tool before it expires next week.
Nineteen Republicans joined Democrats in voting against a rule for legislation to renew Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), blocking the measure from advancing 193-228.
The move comes after former President Trump on Wednesday urged Republicans to “KILL FISA” — throwing a wrench in an already contentious debate.
The failed vote marks yet another instance of members of the GOP tanking what is typically a routine party-line vote to protest legislation put forward by leadership.
If you haven’t figured it out yet, The Hill is part of the Operation Mockingbird media. The public has also urged Congress to kill FISA, but the author of the article chooses to overlook that.
On Wednesday, The Hill also reported:
Former Attorney General Bill Barr on Wednesday denounced former President Trump’s exhortation for Congress to kill the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) as “crazy and reckless” and warned there will be “blood on people’s hands” if the intelligence community’s surveillance authority expires and there’s a terrorist attack on the United States.
Barr, who served in Trump’s Cabinet in 2019 and 2020, noted that Trump at one time supported the expanded surveillance powers authorized under Section 702 of FISA and warned that political “posturing” against extending that authority would be dangerous to national security.
“I think it’s crazy and reckless to not move forward with FISA. It’s our principal tool protecting us from terrorist attacks. We’re living through a time where those threats have never been higher, so it’s blinding us, it’s blinding our allies,” Barr told The Hill in an interview.
You mean those allies that aided in the Russia Hoax?
Section 702 is a step toward a government that can surveil its political opponents without any limitations. They don’t need a warrant and the people surveilled don’t have to know they are being watched. That is a violation of the Fourth Amendment, which states:
Fourth Amendment
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
Bill Barr is a lawyer. He is supposed to know the U.S. Constitution.
From my friends at Townhall:
