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New Report Details Hefty Price Americans Are Paying for Biden-Harris’ Open Border Mayhem


By: M.D. Kittle | September 09, 2024

Read more at https://thefederalist.com/2024/09/09/new-report-details-hefty-price-americans-are-paying-for-biden-harris-open-border-mayhem/

Illegal immigrants swarm the Texas-Mexico border.

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The border czar has some explaining to do. But don’t count on a complicit corporate media to ask Democrat Party presidential hopeful Kamala Harris to answer questions about the mayhem the Biden-Harris administration has caused with their deadly open border policies. 

Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, intends to press the point, however. His office has detailed the “breadth and depth” of the destruction in a new 36-page white paper titled, “America Invaded: How the Biden-Harris Border Crisis is Fundamentally Transforming the United States.” The Texas Republican and his constituents in the Lone Star State’s 21st Congressional District have lived with the damage for nearly four years, as have so many other places in the nation dealing with a tsunami of illegal immigrants that has brought the border to their backyards. 

“This document lays out the breadth and depth of the continuing damage to our country — which has morphed from a strong nation built on the rule of law that welcomes immigrants in accordance with that law, to a lawless, dangerous, and unrecognizable collection of individuals without common bond,” Roy said in a press release announcing the report’s release.

The numbers are breathtaking. According to the report, Since President Joe Biden and his No. 2 took office, more than 8.5 million illegal immigrants have crossed the U.S. southwest border, approximately the population of the state of Virginia. The Biden-Harris catch and release program has sent at least 5.6 million illegal aliens into the interior of the country, while some 1.9 million “got-aways” have slipped the attention of “distracted and exhausted” U.S. Border Patrol agents. All told, more than 7 million illegals have poured into the United States on the Biden administration’s watch. 

‘Terrible Scourge’

Deadly fentanyl, horrific crimes, and a mountain of dead bodies have accompanied wave after wave of illegal immigrants. According to the report, fentanyl drug overdoses (poisonings) claimed the lives of 75,000 Americans in 2023 — “an average of over 200 deaths a day.” The epidemic is brought to you by the Mexican drug cartels and killer chemicals made in China smuggled across the border. 

“Almost all of us know someone — a family member, a friend, or a neighbor — who has been affected by the terrible scourge of opioid overdose, especially from fentanyl,” said Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes following last year’s First Regional Family Summit on Fentanyl. “These deaths have torn apart families, schools and communities, and we grieve for the loss of so much life, talent and goodness.” Utah alone counted 541 dead from drug overdoses in 2022, with opioids like fentanyl accounting for three-quarters of the fatalities, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. 

There are thousands more victims of myriad crimes, including some of the more heinous homicides and assaults on record, Roy’s report points out. Consider the families of Laken Riley, Kayla Hamilton, 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray, who was reportedly lured under a bridge, assaulted for two hours and strangled to death by two illegal immigrants. The little girl’s body was found bound and stripped in a Houston bayou. 

“While Border Patrol has intercepted increasing numbers of criminals, DHS [Department of Homeland Security whistleblowers revealed on August 11, 2024, that as many as 950,000 violent criminals have gone unidentified,” the Roy report states. “In some cases, CBP did not collect DNA for nearly 70% of illegal border crossers.” 

Welcoming Terrorists

On Sept. 10, 2001, the nation was ill-prepared for the hell that was about to hit it. The border crisis, security officials warn, has potentially planted the seeds of another 9/11.

As the Roy report notes, terrorists are “streaming cross the border in record numbers.” In fiscal year 2023, 169 known or suspected terrorists were arrested at the southern border. How many “got-away” terrorists slipped through is anyone’s guess.

“At least 99 illegal aliens on the terror watchlist were released into the U.S. after being apprehended at the southern border between fiscal years 2021 and 2023,” the report notes.

“Alarmingly, individuals and groups with known or suspected ties to terrorism have capitalized on our porous border by smuggling foreign nationals, some of whom originate from terror-prone countries, into the U.S.,” the report continues. 

Meanwhile, drug cartels have been emboldened. According to Roy’s report, the criminal operations are hauling in more than “$13 billion a year off human trafficking alone.” The abuses are horrifying. A U.S. Department of Homeland Security Inspector General’s Management Alert issued last month showed the Biden-Harris administration has lost track of up to several hundred thousand illegal immigrant children, many at risk of being victims of “trafficking, exploitation, or forced labor.” 

“Mexican cartels have joined forces with Chinese crime syndicates to produce fentanyl and traffic it into American communities,” the white paper states. 

‘Absolutely Bizarre’

None of this should be surprising after Biden rolled out the welcome mat for illegal immigrants even before he took office. In one of his first orders of business, Biden pledged a 100-day moratorium on deportations and moved to protect the sanctuary cities — that have been invaded by the illegal immigrants — from ICE and other federal law enforcement authorities. Early on, Biden urged illegals seeking asylum to “surge” to the U.S.-Mexico border. 

“We could afford to take in a heartbeat another two million,” Biden said at an Iowa campaign event in 2019, CNN reported. “The idea that a country of 330 million people cannot absorb people who are in desperate need and who are justifiably fleeing oppression is absolutely bizarre.”

Contrary to the gaslighting by Democrats and their allies in corporate media, Biden made his vice president “border czar” and placed her in charge of investigating the “root causes of migration,” which, it turns out, are Biden-Harris border policies.

As illegal immigration became a top concern of the American people — and a significant political liability for Biden and Harris, who stepped over the octogenarian’s political corpse on the way to the Democratic presidential nomination — the gruesome duo have awkwardly tried to distance themselves from a crisis of their own making. Even Democrat Party press agent CNN has had to begrudgingly report that the new “Build that Wall” Kamala Harris running for president sounds nothing like the sanctuary candidate for president in 2019 and the vice president under Biden. 

Paying the Cost

The Biden-Harris border debacle has come with a huge cost for the U.S. taxpayer. The Roy report shows the tab for the southwest border states has been draining, with Texas alone forced to spend $13 billion on border security initiatives “to do the job the federal government refuses to do.” Biden has fought Texas’ efforts to secure its border in federal court. As of January, “60 Texas counties have invoked disaster declarations over the border crisis, and 50 Texas counties have passed resolutions declaring an invasion,” according to the report.

“What many people fail to comprehend is that Texas is facing a real threat to the safety and security of our citizens,” Kinney County Attorney Brent Smith told the Center Square. “This is not an immigration policy debate playing out but a constitutional threat to the sovereignty of Texas.”

The border crisis is gobbling up billions more dollars in lodging costs for illegals, the report notes. Sanctuary city New York City alone has spent more than $1 billion housing the influx of immigrants. And the health care system, public schools and social service agencies are facing unanticipated costs in caring for illegal aliens. A House committee report earlier this year on the impact of illegal immigrants on social services asserts nearly 60 percent of households headed by illegal immigrants “use one or more major welfare programs.”

‘Flames Have Spread’

The long list of victims include illegal immigrants themselves. In fiscal year 2022, according to the report, a record 853 foreign nationals died attempting to cross the southwest border. That number includes the deadliest human smuggling case in U.S. history when 53 people, including eight children, were “cooked alive” in a tractor-trailer beneath the San Antonio sun. 

Last year, there were more than 8,000 migrant deaths recorded on migratory routes worldwide, the deadliest year in history, according to the Migration Data Portal. 

Sadly, the report asserts, the invasion has been carried out in the name of naked politics. America is much less safe because Democrats under Biden-Harris have attempted to harvest the next crop of leftist voters. The regime has fought tooth and nail against legislation like the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act (SAVE Act), which would require documented proof of citizenship to register to vote. As The Federalist has reported, Virginia recently removed more than 6,300 foreign nationals from its voter rolls. Texas did the same, clearing potentially 6,500-plus noncitizens from its voter database.

The white paper calls for passage of the Secure the Border Act, not the failed Senate bill Biden and Harris have pressed for that lawmakers have called a “joke.” As critics note, among the many warts of the “deal” is the fact that it would commit to law up to 5,000 border crossings per day before the president shuts down the border. 

“Radical progressive Democrats have caused the worst border crisis in recent history, and the flames have spread to almost every state and locality in the nation. This crisis is rooted in a fundamental desire to remake and cement one party rule built on dependence on the state,” the report states. 


Matt Kittle is a senior elections correspondent for The Federalist. An award-winning investigative reporter and 30-year veteran of print, broadcast, and online journalism, Kittle previously served as the executive director of Empower Wisconsin.

The Border Crisis Is The Definition Of A Foreign ‘Invasion’


BY: JOSHUA S. TREVIÑO | FEBRUARY 06, 2024

Read more at https://thefederalist.com/2024/02/06/the-border-crisis-is-the-definition-of-a-foreign-invasion/

On Monday, February 25, 2019, a group of illegal aliens were apprehended by Yuma Sector Border Patrol agents near Yuma, AZ. The Yuma Sector continues to see a large number of Central Americans per day crossing illegally and surrendering to agents. CBP photo by Jerry Glaser.

When the Rev. Al Sharpton used the word “invasion” to describe the onslaught of migrants at the southern U.S. border on Monday, his MSNBC guest suddenly stopped nodding along. And then the fast blinking began — he was triggered. Because to the American left, the word “invasion” is off-limits and even “violence-inciting.”

But the word — and the concept — are at the heart of what’s happening in Texas, as Gov. Greg Abbott stands up to the Biden administration and its open border policies. He rightly contends that according to the U.S. Constitution, Texas does not merely have the Constitutional power to defend itself — it has a constitutional and moral responsibility to do so.

To qualify as an invader in the constitutional framework requires two qualities: entry into a sovereign territory, and enmity toward the sovereign. An immigrant without enmity is not an invader, nor is an enemy that stays outside our borders.

Consider some examples of what the Founders did consider invaders: foreign powers, pirates, and hostile tribes. In today’s context, a vast multinational criminal cartel whose activities and personnel enter America, harm Americans, destroy or commandeer property, defend routes on private and public lands, coerce American officials through extortion or bribery, and do so with the collaboration and collusion of a foreign state power is absolutely an invader, and would have been immediately recognized as such by the American Founders.

Sharpton wasn’t siding with Abbott, however; he was pushing the new Senate border bill.

But that bill misses the mark almost entirely on all these points. With its stupefying allowance of several million illegal entries per year, its comically constricted “border emergency” framework, its loosening of the asylum process, its billions in funding for the human-trafficking complex, and its wildly permissive structure for allowing the executive branch to override even its own minor strictures, the bill is right now Exhibit A in the contention that the border crisis is a choice made by Washington, D.C.

The border-security crisis is also a choice by Mexico’s own powerholders, stemming from two major motivations. The first motivation is simple: money. We must understand this very clearly: The Mexican state and the Mexican cartels are the same — including the president of Mexico himself.

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) has repeatedly sided with the criminal cartels, particularly the Sinaloa cartel. This includes his rhetorical generosity toward it, his public visits to honor the aged mother of the jailed drug lord El Chapo, and his political party’s use of its sicario enforcers to kill opposition candidates and rig elections.

AMLO’s policy of “abrazos no balazos” (hugs, not bullets), effectively prevents the use of force against cartel violence; he has handed over civil powers to his own army apparatus, which itself is a major trafficking organization and uses violence against Mexican civilians who defend themselves against cartels; and he has vowed to use the Mexican armed forces to defend Mexican cartels against the Americans.

The second motivation for Mexico City is leverage: leverage versus the United States, which is the only power capable of arresting and disincentivizing Mexico’s slide into narco-state status.

Mexico City understands two things very well: It makes billions off the border-security crisis, especially in human trafficking, and the crisis gives it leverage over U.S. officeholders, especially as the latter come under pressure from the American people to secure the border and defend our communities.

Texas has undertaken a variety of efforts in defense of itself and its citizenry that the federal government has refused to do:

  • Texas has illuminated the national scope of the border crisis, and invoked the principle of equity within it, by its transportation of migrants to leftist-run localities across the country.
  • Texas has used its military forces for their proper and primary purpose, in the defense of its own territory and citizenry, with the use of the Texas Military Department, including the personnel of the Texas Army National Guard, in Operation Lone Star.
  • Texas has built effective border-barrier infrastructure not once, but twice — with its innovative buoy barriers in the Rio Grande, and its barriers on the river’s north bank.
  • Texas has a new law that allows Texas law enforcement to intercept and de facto deport illegal entrants into Texas.

The federal government ought to be doing all these things — but it is not, and therefore Texas must see to its own self-defense. As Abbott has noted, in failing to do so, the federal government has abdicated its own Constitutional responsibility to the states.

Make no mistake, Texas is faithfully executing the law — both its own, and the Constitution’s, which provides in Article I, Section 10, for a state to defend itself against invasion.

Read the author’s full testimony on the border security crisis delivered to the U.S. Congressional Border Security Caucus on Feb. 6.


Joshua S. Treviño is the Chief of Intelligence and Research and the Director for Texas Identity at the Texas Public Policy Foundation.

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Abbott: Texas Has A Constitutional Right To Defend Its Sovereignty


BY: SHAWN FLEETWOOD | JANUARY 24, 2024

Read more at https://thefederalist.com/2024/01/24/abbott-texas-has-a-constitutional-right-to-defend-its-sovereignty/

Greg Abbott speaking at FreePAC in Arizona

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issued a statement on Wednesday asserting that the Lone Star State has a constitutional right to defend its sovereignty in the wake of an invasion facilitated by President Biden’s open border policies.

“The federal government has broken the compact between the United States and the States. The Executive Branch of the United States has a constitutional duty to enforce federal laws protecting States, including immigration laws on the books right now,” Abbott wrote. “President Biden has refused to enforce those laws and has even violated them. The result is that he has smashed records for illegal immigration.”

According to the Washington Examiner, more than 10 million illegal immigrants have been apprehended by U.S. border officials since Biden assumed the presidency in January 2021. Those figures don’t even include the estimated 1.7 million “gotaways” who evaded capture upon illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.

In his statement, Abbott slammed Biden for facilitating the ongoing invasion and noted how the president’s “refusal to protect the States” has resulted in “more than 6 million illegal immigrants” traversing Texas’ border alone. That figure is greater than the population of more than 30 states.

The Texas governor further underscored the federal government’s obligation to defend states from invasion and the states’ right to defend their sovereignty from outside forces, citing Article IV, § 4, and Article I, § 10, Clause 3, of the U.S. Constitution. While the former stipulates that the federal government “shall protect each [State] against invasion,” the latter recognizes “the States’ sovereign interest in protecting their borders.”

“James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and the other visionaries who wrote the U.S. Constitution foresaw that States should not be left to the mercy of a lawless president who does nothing to stop external threats like cartels smuggling millions of illegal immigrants across the border,” Abbott wrote. “The failure of the Biden Administration to fulfill the duties imposed by Article IV, § 4 has triggered Article I, § 10, Clause 3, which reserves to this State the right of self-defense.”

“For these reasons, I have already declared an invasion under Article I, § 10, Clause 3 to invoke Texas’s constitutional authority to defend and protect itself,” he continued. “That authority is the supreme law of the land and supersedes any federal statutes to the contrary. The Texas National Guard, the Texas Department of Public Safety, and other Texas personnel are acting on that authority, as well as state law, to secure the Texas border.”

[LISTEN: How Biden’s Open Border Is Wrecking Texas]

Abbott’s remarks appear to come in response to a Monday decision by the U.S. Supreme Court allowing the Biden administration to authorize Customs and Border Protection officials to cut razor wire installed along the border by Texas to stymie illegal immigration. Five of the court’s nine justices sided with the administration, including Republican-appointed Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett.


Shawn Fleetwood is a staff writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He previously served as a state content writer for Convention of States Action and his work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClearHealth, and Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood

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Report: U.S. Sets Record For Most Single-Month Illegal Encounters At The Southern Border


BY: SHAWN FLEETWOOD | JANUARY 02, 2024

Rad more at https://thefederalist.com/2024/01/02/report-u-s-sets-record-for-most-single-month-illegal-encounters-at-the-southern-border/

border wall at the U.S. southern border.

More than 300,000 illegal immigrants were encountered by U.S. border officials in December, marking a record for the highest number recorded for a single month.

According to Customs and Border Protection (CBP) sources who spoke with Fox News, “more than 302,000 migrants were documented attempting to cross the U.S. southern border” between Dec. 1-31. Totaling more than 785,000 illegal encounters in the first quarter alone, December’s numbers signify the first time CBP has engaged more than 300,000 illegals in a single month.

While the former figure is larger than the population of Seattle, Washington — which, as of July 2022, hosts roughly 749,000 people — the latter is enough to fill America’s largest football stadium “almost three times,” according to The Daily Signal.

In fiscal year 2023, CBP encountered “more than 2.47 million” illegals, marking an increase from the roughly 2.38 million recorded in 2022 and 1.73 million in 2021. An October report published by House Republicans estimates there have been more than 1.7 million “gotaways” since President Biden took office.

Contrary to the White House’s claims, Biden and his administration have done nothing to stymie the ongoing invasion at America’s southern border. In fact, the administration has actively sought to prevent border states such as Texas from enacting measures designed to halt foreign nationals’ infringement upon their sovereignty.

Last year, for example, Biden’s Department of Justice sued Texas for placing barriers in the Rio Grande River to prevent illegals from streaming onto their land. More recently, the DOJ threatened to file a lawsuit against the Lone Star State if it enacts legislation that would authorize state and local law enforcement to “arrest, jail and prosecute [individuals] suspected of entering the U.S. unlawfully.”

Meanwhile, House Republicans have failed to use their majority to enact significant border policy changes in spending bills or hold Biden and officials such as Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas accountable for their intentional destruction of America’s southern border. In November, for instance, eight GOP representatives voted with Democrats to block a resolution introduced by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., to impeach Mayorkas for his allowance of the disaster to continue unaddressed.


Shawn Fleetwood is a staff writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He previously served as a state content writer for Convention of States Action and his work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClearHealth, and Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood

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Israel’s Defense Minister Tells Troops to Be Ready


Thursday, 19 October 2023 01:31 PM EDT

Read more at https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/israel-gaza-invasion/2023/10/19/id/1138935/

Israeli airstrikes pounded locations across the Gaza Strip on Thursday, including parts of the south that Israel told Palestinians to take refuge, heightening fears among more than 2 million Palestinians trapped in the territory that nowhere was safe. Israel’s defense minister told ground troops to be ready to enter Gaza, though he didn’t say when the invasion will start.

With authorities still working out logistics for a delivery of aid into Gaza from Egypt, overwhelmed hospitals tried to stretch out ebbing medical supplies and fuel for diesel generators to keep the equipment running. Doctors in darkened wards stitched wounds by mobile phone light. A doctor at the largest hospital said staff were using vinegar from the corner store to treat infected wounds.

The Israeli military has relentlessly attacked Gaza in retaliation for a devastating Hamas rampage in southern Israel almost two weeks ago. Even after Israel told Palestinians to evacuate the north of Gaza and flee south, strikes extended across the territory and Palestinian militants continued firing rockets into Israel.

Meeting with Israeli infantry soldiers on the Gaza border Thursday, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant urged the forces to “get organized, be ready” for an order to move in. Israel has massed tens of thousands of troops along the border.

“Whoever sees Gaza from afar now, will see it from the inside,” he said. “I promise you.”

Israel’s consent for Egypt to let in food, water and medicine provided the first possibility for an opening in its sealing off of the territory. Many among Gaza’s 2.3 million residents are down to one meal a day and drinking dirty water.

Israel did not list fuel as a permitted item, but a senior Egyptian security official said Egypt was negotiating for the entry of fuel for hospitals. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the press.

With the Egypt-Gaza border crossing in Rafah still closed, the already dire conditions at Gaza’s second-largest hospital deteriorated further, said Dr. Mohammed Qandeel of Nasser Hospital in the southern town of Khan Younis. Power was shut off in most departments to save it for intensive care and other vital functions, and staff members were using mobile phones for light.

At least 80 wounded civilians and 12 dead flooded into the hospital Thursday morning after witnesses said a strike hit a residential building in Khan Younis. Doctors had no choice but to leave two of the incoming to die because there were no ventilators left, Qandeel said.

“We can’t save more lives if this keeps happening, meaning more children … more women will die,” he said.

The Gaza Health Ministry pleaded with gas stations to give whatever fuel they had left to hospitals. The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, gave some of its little remaining fuel stores to hospitals, according to spokesperson Juliette Touma.

The agency’s donation to Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital, the territory’s largest, would “keep us going for another few hours,” hospital director Mohammed Abu Selmia told The Associated Press.

The Gaza Health Ministry said 3,785 people have been killed in Gaza since the war began, the majority of them women, children and older adults. Nearly 12,500 others were injured, and another 1,300 people were believed buried under the rubble, health authorities said.

Do I have to remind you not to believe anything coming out of Gaza? Remember, their religion says it is Allah’s will that they lie to infidels.

More than 1,400 people in Israel have been killed, mostly civilians slain during Hamas’ deadly incursion on Oct. 7. Roughly 200 others were abducted. The Israeli military said Thursday it had notified the families of 203 captives.

More than 1 million Palestinians, roughly half of Gaza’s population, have fled their homes in Gaza City and other places in the northern part of the territory since Israel told them to evacuate. Most have crowded into U.N.-run schools-turned-shelters or the homes of relatives.

The deal to get aid into Gaza through Rafah, the territory’s only connection to Egypt, remained fragile. Israel said the supplies could only go to civilians in southern Gaza and that it would “thwart” any diversions by Hamas. U.S. President Joe Biden said the deliveries “will end” if Hamas takes any aid.

Egypt must still repair the road across the border, which Israeli airstrikes cratered in a no-man’s land and on the Gaza side. No equipment had arrived to start the repair work as of Thursday afternoon, the Hamas spokesman for the crossing, Wael Abu Omar, said.

More than 200 trucks and some 3,000 tons of aid were positioned at or near Rafah, according to Khalid Zayed, the head of the Red Crescent for North Sinai.

U.S. officials said the first deliveries would likely take place Friday at the earliest, with an initial group of 20 trucks. The Egyptian security official also said the first trucks were expected to go in Friday.

Asked if foreigners and dual nationals seeking to leave would be let out of Gaza, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry told Al-Arabiya TV: “As long as the crossing is operating normally and the (crossing) facility has been repaired.”

Israel had previously said it would let nothing into Gaza until Hamas freed the hostages taken from Israel. Relatives of some of the captives reacted with fury to the aid announcement.

“Children, infants, women, soldiers, men, and elderly, some with serious illnesses, wounded and shot, are held underground like animals,” the Hostage and Missing Families Forum said in a statement. But “the Israeli government pampers the murderers and kidnappers.”

The Israeli military reported Thursday that it killed a top Palestinian militant in Rafah and hit hundreds of targets across Gaza, including militant tunnel shafts, intelligence infrastructure and command centers. It said it also hit dozens of mortar-launching posts, most of them immediately after they were used to fire shells at Israel. Palestinians have launched barrages of rockets at Israel since the fighting began.

Israel has said it is attacking Hamas militants wherever they may be in Gaza. It has accused the group’s leaders and fighters of taking shelter among the civilian population, leaving Palestinians feeling in constant danger.

After Thursday’s strikes in Khan Younis, sirens wailed as emergency crews rushed to rescue survivors from the crushed apartment building. Many residents were believed trapped under twisted bed frames, broken furniture and cement chunks. A small, soot-covered child, dangling in the arms of a rescue worker, was taken out of a damaged building.

Gaza’s Hamas-led government said several bakeries in the territory were hit in the overnight strikes, making it even harder for residents to get food.

Violence was also escalating in the West Bank where Israel carried out a rare airstrike Thursday, targeting militants in the Nur Shams refugee camp. Israeli troops raided the camp the previous night and were still battling Palestinian fighters inside. Six Palestinians were killed in the camp, the Palestinian Health Ministry said, and the Israeli military said the strike killed militants. Ten Israeli officers were wounded when fighters threw explosives at the troops. More than 74 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since the war started.

Hezbollah militants in Lebanon on Thursday said it fired missiles into northern Israel, hitting a kibbutz. The Israeli military said no one was injured and responded with shelling on border areas in Lebanon. Hamas militants also fired 30 rockets from southern Lebanese toward Israeli towns. Violence on the border comes amid fears the Hamas-Israel conflict could spread across the region.

Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

County Officials in Texas to Declare Border Crisis An ‘Invasion’


Reported by JENNIE TAER, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER | July 05, 2022

Read more at https://dailycaller.com/2022/07/05/border-abbott-texas-migrants/

U.S. authorities continue to enforce the Title 42 rules in Del Rio
REUTERS/Marco Bello

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County officials in Texas are set to declare an invasion at the southern border Monday afternoon, Kinney County Spokesman Matt Benacci told The Daily Caller News Foundation. The judges, mayors, attorneys and sheriffs in Uvalde, Kinney and Goliad counties are set to urge Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to join them, but the governor is not yet involved in the effort, according to a Texas county spokesman with knowledge of the situation who spoke anonymously with The Daily Caller News Foundation because they weren’t authorized to speak. (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: Migrants Evading Arrest Cause Ranchers Near The Border To Pay Significant Costs)

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Abbott was considering making the declaration, according to an April report from The New York Times. The U.S. Constitution says that states have the right to protect themselves from an invasion.

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“The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion; and on Application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened) against domestic Violence,” Article IV, Section 4 of the Constitution states.

In addition to Article IV, Section 4, another clause of the Constitution grants states the ability to declare war against an “invasion.”

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The group worked with the Center for Renewing America, a conservative organization led by former Trump administration officials, to make the declaration.

“For the first time in U.S. history, several counties in Texas, outside of Congress, have declared an invasion–a Constitutional solution we have been advocating for over a year,” former Trump administration officials Russ Vought and Ken Cuccinelli, both affiliated with the Center for Renewing America, said in a joint statement Monday.

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“While it is unfortunate the Biden Administration has aided and abetted the destruction at the border and put Americans last on the world stage, we’re proud to stand with the history-making county judges, sheriffs and attorneys who didn’t rely on the Federal government, or even the governor to protect their families, ranches, and communities. We ask Governor Abbott to follow the example set by the leaders in Goliad, Kinney, and Uvalde counties and stop with media gimmicks and treat the invasion of American sovereignty as such,” they added.

Cuccinelli and Republican Texas Rep. Chip Roy will join the local officials at Monday’s meeting, according to a press release shared with TheDCNF.

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“To the ‘it’s not an invasion crowd,’ heavily armed Mexican cartels are pushing human beings & fentanyl for profit into America in violation of our sovereignty while expanding their reach into Texas at the expense, increased danger, & harm to Texans. #EndTheInvasion” Roy wrote on Twitter.

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The looming announcement comes after 53 migrants died that were being smuggled from the Texas-Mexico border. Authorities discovered an 18-wheeler full of migrants that were suffering from heat-related injuries on June 27, San Antonio fire department chief Charles Hood previously said.

Neither Abbott’s office nor the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) responded to TheDCNF’s requests for comment.

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Blake Mauro contributed to this report.

Russian state-owned media lays off most employees and shuts down operations in the US


Reported by CARLOS GARCIA | March 03, 2022

Read more at https://www.conservativereview.com/russian-state-owned-media-lays-off-most-employees-and-shuts-down-operations-in-the-us-2656837889.html/

The U.S. arm of a Russian state-owned media outlet shut down on Thursday after being expelled from several platforms over the Russian invasion into Ukraine. CNN first reported that Russia Today was ceasing operations and firing most of its staff in the United States. The memo obtained by CNN from the general manager of T&R Productions blamed the shutdown on “unforeseen business interruption events.”

“Unfortunately, we anticipate this layoff will be permanent, meaning that this will result in the permanent separation from employment of most T&R employees at all locations,” wrote Misha Solodovnikov.

The media network had been an outlet for pro-Russian propaganda but was removed from DirecTV this week and then later from Roku streaming services. On Tuesday, Google said that they had blocked mobile apps connected to Sputnik and RT from their app store and from their search tool. Apple made similar moves on its app store.

RT Deputy Editor-in-Chief Anna Belkina issued a statement angrily decrying the bans.

“This collective ‘establishment’ seems to be terrified of a mere presence of any outside voice for the fear of losing their historically captive audience, if that audience encounters a different perspective,” she said.

CNN also detailed a personal meeting between Solodovnikov and the hosts, correspondents, and producers of RT American in the Washington, D.C., bureau on Thursday based on a source who attended it. Solodovnikov told the employees that their jobs were being terminated with two months severance pay. One RT host spoke to CNN under the condition of anonymity about the somber meeting.

“I have never felt more heartbroken as they have nothing to do with this conflict and seriously were just trying to make a decent living to provide for their families,” the host said.

Another source told CNN that people were shocked, and many cried after the announcement.

Here’s more about the effort against Russia Today:

Google blocks RT, Sputnik from Play app store www.youtube.com

Ann Coulter Letter: “Knowing What We Know Now, Would You Say Jeb Bush Is Retarded?”


waving flagWritten by Ann Coulter  | 

URL of the Original Posting Site: http://humanevents.com/2015/05/20/knowing-what-we-know-now-would-you-say-jeb-bush-is-retarded/?utm_source=coulterdaily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl

Knowing What We Know Now, Would You Say Jeb Bush Is Retarded?

Was Jeb Bush too busy watching telenovelas during his brother’s presidency to remember the Iraq War?

We went to war at such breakneck speed after 9/11, that, before the invasion, I was able to write approximately 30 columns about it, give five dozen speeches on it, discuss it on TV a hundred times and read 1,089 New York Times editorials denouncing the “rush to war.” 

So I remember the arguments.

Contrary to the fairy tale the left has told itself since Obama truculently gave away America’s victory in Iraq, our argument wasn’t that we had to invade Iraq because of Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction. And the left’s argument certainly was not: “He doesn’t have any WMDs!”

Our argument was: There were lots of reasons to get rid of Saddam Hussein, and none to keep him.

Indeed, after Bush’s State of the Union address laying out the case for war with Iraq, The New York Times complained that he had given too many reasons: “Even the rationale for war seems to change from day to day. Mr. Bush ticked off a litany of accusations against Iraq in his State of the Union address …” (New York Times, Feb. 2, 2003)

Among the reasons we invaded Iraq were:

(1) Saddam had given shelter to terrorists who killed Americans. After 9/11, it was time for him to pay the price:

– The mastermind of the Achille Lauro hijacking, Abu Abbas, who murdered a wheelchair-bound American citizen, Leon Klinghoffer, then forced the passengers to throw his body overboard, was living happily in Iraq. (Captured by U.S. forces in Baghdad less than a month after our invasion.)

– The terrorist who orchestrated the murder of American diplomat Laurence Foley in October 2002, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, also took refuge in Saddam’s Iraq. (Killed by U.S. forces in Iraq on June 7, 2006.)

– The one terrorist behind the 1993 World Trade Center bombing who got away, Abdul Rahman Yasin, fled to Iraq, where he was given money and lived without fear of being extradited to the United States. (Whereabouts unknown. Possibly being groomed for a prime-time show on MSNBC.)

– Czech intelligence reported that Mohammed Atta, 9/11 mastermind, met with Iraqi agents in Prague shortly before the attack.

We’re not supposed to mention the Prague meeting on penalty of liberals yelling at us. Apparently, our CIA discounts that report. On the other hand, the CIA didn’t see the 1993 World Trade Center bombing coming, didn’t see 9/11 coming, didn’t see the Fort Hood massacre coming and didn’t see the Times Square bombing coming. No one tell liberals, but our CIA knows NOTHING — although they’re pretty sure something bad happened at Pearl Harbor a while back.

(2) Saddam had attempted to assassinate a former president of the United States. Liberals complained that it was a family feud because that president happened to be Bush’s father, but, again, he was also a FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. (Does being a relative of the president make you fair game for assassination attempts? Bill Clinton, please pick up the white courtesy phone.)

(3) Saddam not only had WMDs, he had used them — far more prodigiously than Syria’s Bashar al-Assad did when Obama masterfully backed down from his “red line” threat if Assad ever used chemical weapons. (Assad’s WMDs killed about a thousand civilians — 350 according to French intelligence, which is a lot better than ours. Saddam’s WMDs killed an estimated 100,000 civilians. That’s according to everyone — the United Nations, Human Rights Watch and Clinton-era ambassador Peter Galbraith.)

(4) We needed to smash some Muslim strongman after the 9/11 attack, and Saddam was as good as any other — at least as good as the Taliban primitives who had allowed Osama bin Laden to pitch his tent in their godforsaken country.

It worked: Moammar Gadhafi, terrified that Bush would attack Libya next, invited U.N. inspectors in, gave up his WMDs, and paid the families of his Lockerbie bombing victims $8 million apiece.

(5) Saddam had committed atrocities on a far greater scale than our current bogeyman, ISIS. He tortured and murdered tens of thousands of Iraqis — removing their teeth with pliers, applying electric shocks to men’s genitals, drilling holes in their ankles and forcing them to watch as their wives were raped — as reported by USA Today, among others. There was no risk that we were accidentally taking out the Arab George Washington.

(6) Saddam was a dangerous and disruptive force in a crucial oil-producing region of the world. We need oil. Why not go to war for oil?

(7) The Iraqi people were a relatively sane, civilized and educated populace with a monstrous ruler. Removing that leader would provide a golden opportunity for an actual functioning Arab democracy — an Arab Israel.

That worked, too. In under two years, Iraqis were waving their purple fingers to symbolize having voted in their first democratic election. A few years after that, young Iranians were demanding their own democracy in another good people/bad rulers country.

But then an innocent 26-year-old girl, Neda, was gunned down in Tehran by the Iranian military. President Obama responded forcefully by going out for an ice cream cone. And thus ended the democratic movement in the Muslim world.

The least important reason to invade Iraq — the one that was tacked on for the sole purpose of taunting liberals over their goofy reverence for the United Nations — was that Saddam had refused to allow U.N. weapons inspectors in, leaving the strong impression that Iraq was chock-a-bloc with WMDs. It was the equivalent of asking where the feminists were when we invaded Afghanistan — although technically, we didn’t invade because the Taliban were mean to women.

In fact, the only time The New York Times got testy with Saddam was after the “powerful case” made by Secretary of State Colin Powell, “that Saddam Hussein stands in defiance of Security Council resolutions.” (Who cares?)

Liberals didn’t mind Saddam’s sheltering terrorists, using poison gas, invading his neighbors or attempting to assassinate a former U.S. president. But Saddam had disrespected the U.N.!

Far from claiming that estimates of Saddam’s WMDs were overblown, liberals cited those very WMDs to warn America that any invasion would result in catastrophe for the Great Satan. Thus, for example:

– The New York Times cautioned in an editorial that an invasion might create chaotic conditions, allowing “terrorists to grab biological or chemical weapons.” (New York Times, Feb. 2, 2003)

– Pentagon Papers leaker Daniel Ellsberg predicted that Saddam would “use poison gas against U.S. troops.” (Jane Sutton, “Pentagon Papers’ Ellsberg Sees Deja Vu in Iraq,” Reuters, Nov. 25, 2002)

– In the Chicago Tribune, Steve Chapman warned: “Once American troops set foot on Iraqi soil, they may be bombarded with poison gas.” (Steve Chapman, “What Could Go Wrong in the War With Iraq,” Chicago Tribune, Nov. 17, 2002)

– The Times’ Nicholas Kristof wrote that if we invaded Iraq, “Saddam may well launch missiles with chemical warheads at Tel Aviv.” (Nicholas Kristof, “Flirting With Disaster,” Feb. 14, 2003)

This is why all six of Jeb Bush’s answers to Fox News Channel’s Megyn Kelly — as well as Marco Rubio’s premeditated answer a week later — were ridiculous. It’s annoying enough having liberals invent these historical fantasies. Do our fearsome Republicans have to keep retelling them, too? If they don’t follow the news, can’t they read?

Kelly asked Bush: “Knowing what we know now, would you have authorized the invasion?”

The correct answer is:

Now that we know that a half-century of Teddy Kennedy’s 1965 Immigration Act would result in a country where a man like Barack Obama could be elected president, and then, purely out of antipathy to America, would withdraw every last troop from Iraq, nullifying America’s victory and plunging the entire region into chaos, no, I would not bother removing dangerous despots in order to make America safer.

Instead, I would dedicate myself to overturning our immigration laws, ending the anchor-baby scam and building a triple-layer fence on the border, so that some future Republican president could invade Iraq without worrying about a foreign-elected president like Obama coming in and giving it away.

OARLogo Picture6

New Illegal Aliens Outnumber American Birthrate [VIDEO]


Read more at http://joeforamerica.com/2014/07/illegal-aliens-account-for-more-population-increase-than-births/#xmedYILQ43TH826f.99

Posted by Michael Becker on Jul 24, 2014

obama-border-is-open-378x257A Texas State Senator hit the nail on the head with his comment about the numbers of illegal aliens who are flooding across our southern border now outnumbering the legal birthrate of Americans.

Oh, and how about those crime statistics that the major media won’t report.

We disagree with the Senator about the “humanitarian crisis.”  It’s not a humanitarian crisis, it’s a crisis of refusal to enforce US immigration law.

Patrick also said law enforcement officials have told him that somewhere between one in five and one in ten illegal immigrants are actually apprehended. 

“Now, we think we catch one out of every five. That means twenty five or thirty thousand are crossing the border, that we don’t catch,” he said. “Don’t focus on the numbers that are apprehended, that’s the ones we catch.”

Click on image to see movie trailer and more

Click on image to see movie trailer and more

 

Add to that another twenty five or thirty thousand coming across the border into the Tucson Sector in Arizona. 

Keep in mind when your hear about the number of illegal aliens who are caught that more than five don’t get caught.  The “eleven million” illegals that the pro-amnesty politicians talk about is probably more like 15 to 20 million, and if they get a comprehensive immigration bill signed into law, every version has a “chain immigration” feature that will allow their immediate family members – who, like the illegals who are already here, are uneducated, don’t speak English, and are unskilled – to legally immigrate.  At a minimum that’s another 30 to 60 million welfare recipients.

Illegal immigration will destroy the United States of America.  At the rate we’re going, if we don’t close the border, and close it with the US military if necessary, the US will be a third world country much like Mexico.

PLAY VIDEO BELOW:

dan patrick

Article collective closing

 

Putin’s Real Intentions: Re-Establish the “Evil Empire”


http://patriotupdate.com/articles/putins-real-intentions-re-establish-evil-empire/#Wedb3UXcueSYZZ1y.99

Written on Wednesday, March 26, 2014 by David L. Goetsch

Students of World War II are finding dangerous parallels between the events leading up to that war and what is now happening in Ukraine. Vladimir Putin is using precisely the same tactics used by Adolf Hitler in the run up to World War II, and like Hitler he is betting on and benefiting from a weak response from the west. As I observe the idle threats being made by President Obama and John Kerry painful memories of a sniveling Neville Chamberlain come to mind. While the West impotently talks about sanctions and even imposes a few, Putin continues to mass troops on the Ukrainian border for what he calls “military maneuvers.”

I fear there is much more at stake here than the Crimea. To understand what is happening in Ukraine it is necessary to first understand Vladimir Putin’s real intentions: He wants to re-establish the “evil empire.” Putin has stated publicly that the greatest tragedy of the 20th Century was the fall of the Soviet Union. It’s a tragedy President Putin would like to erase from Russian history in the same manner that Adolph Hitler sought to eradicate what he saw as the shame of the Treaty of Versailles following World War I. Just as Hitler wanted to reincorporate land lost to Germany in the aftermath of the Great War—thus the bloodless takeover of Austria followed close on by the forced annexation of the Sudetenland—Putin wants to take back what was lost when the Soviet Union collapsed. His Crimean adventure was just the first step along these lines. It won’t be the last.

You can be sure that Putin has studied Hitler’s actions in the years leading up to World War II as well as the weak-kneed, impotent response of the west. Putin seems to know history better than today’s Western leaders who allowed World War II to happen when Hitler could have been easily stopped in his tracks. Neville Chamberlain and other Western leaders thought they could negotiate with Hitler. They were fools. But even a fool knows you cannot negotiate with a hungry bear, and the Russian bear with prodding from Putin is obviously hungry. Unfortunately, President Obama and John Kerry seem to be cut from the same cloth as Neville Chamberlain. They want to negotiate and threaten and talk, talk, talk. If anyone in the Obama administration had an ounce of foreign policy sense they would understand that all a hungry bear ever wants is more.

Community Organizer Two

In the years leading up to World War II, Hitler first brought Austria under the Nazi jackboot with the Anschluss. Anschluss is German for political annexation. It worked like this. First Hitler stirred up pro-German sentiment in Austria. Then he massed troops and tanks along the Austrian border. Finally, he “allowed” Austria to annex itself to Germany in lieu of being invaded by Nazi Storm Troopers and Panzers. If you have been paying attention, the Crimean Region of Ukraine just had its own Anschluss, but this time it was Putin and the Russians who demanded a vote while pointing guns at the voters. Unfortunately, as they did prior to World War II, western leaders—most auspiciously President Obama—are responding with words and weakness. Putin on the other hand is taking action.

Hitler’s next annexation was the Sudetenland, a small sliver of land that was part of Czechoslovakia. Like the Crimea, the Sudetenland had a large contingent of citizens loyal to the invading country. The German speaking, pro-Nazi citizens of the Sudetenland—led by Konrad Henlein—agitated for annexation and, of course, Hitler was only too happy to oblige. Surrounded by Nazi tanks and troops, the Sudetenland acquiesced to Hitler’s demands and became part of Germany. The people of the West adopted a who-cares attitude toward Hitler’s annexation of the Sudetenland. France and Britain were not willing to go to war over a sliver of land in which many of the people spoke German and were loyal to Hitler. The West basically said to Hitler, “You can have the Sudetenland.” This would have been a small enough tragedy had Hitler been content to stop there, but of course he wasn’t. Nor will President Putin be content to stop his expansion efforts with the Crimea. As it did with the Sudetenland, the West has adopted a who-cares attitude toward the Russian annexation of the Crimea. Just as it was with the Sudetenland, this would be only a minor tragedy if Putin’s aggression stopped there. But it won’t, and Western leaders are fools if they think it will.

It is a good bet that Vladimir Putin now has his sights set on Ukraine. If he can bring that sovereign country back into the fold, then there are Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia; all of which have significant Russian-speaking populations left over from the old Soviet days. These Russian-speaking citizens can be counted on to support Putin in his takeover efforts, and Putin can be counted on to claim that he is invading these sovereign nations for the sole purpose of protecting oppressed Russians. If Putin can manage to re-incorporate these three tiny nations, the bear’s next meal will be the one that finally brought the West to its senses and triggered a military response and, eventually, World War II. That meal is Poland, which is the prize Putin really wants in the first place.

History is repeating itself in part because we have raised several generations of Americans who do not know their history. While American students were being taught how they should be ashamed of the United States and studying the lives of celebrities instead of American heroes, Vladimir Putin and his generation of Russians were studying history—real history. Now he is using that knowledge of history to re-establish what Ronald Reagan called the “evil empire.” With the Crimean annexation, history is simply repeating itself. The only difference is the tyrant who is seeking territory and the weak-kneed Western leaders who are letting him take it.

Romney attacks Obama for ‘faulty judgement’ and accuses the president of naivety over Russia’s annexation of Crimea


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2587459/Romney-attacks-Obama-faulty-judgement-accuses-president-naivety-Russias-annexation-Crimea.html#ixzz2x0uVHCvU

  • Failed 2012 Republican presidential nominee Romney said Obama could have done more to try and deter Russia’s annexation of Crimea
  • He did acknowledge that such steps may not have been enough though to hold back Russia President Vladimir Putin
  • During the 2012 campaign, Romney took criticism from Obama for saying Russia was America’s ‘number one geopolitical foe,’ rather than al-Qaida

By Associated Press Reporter

Mitt Romney said on Sunday that President Barack Obama is naive when it comes to Russia, has shown ‘faulty judgment’ about Moscow’s intentions and could have done more to try to deter its annexation of Crimea.

The 2012 Republican presidential nominee said Obama didn’t have the foresight to anticipate Russia’s moves and should have been working earlier with allies to make clear the penalties that Russia would face if it moved into Ukraine.

Community Organizer Two

Romney did acknowledge that such steps may not have been enough though to hold back Russia President Vladimir Putin.

Mitt Romney said President Barack Obama is naive when it comes to Russia and has shown 'faulty judgment'

 ‘Had we communicated those things, there’s always the potential that we could have kept them from invading a country and annexing it into their own,’ Romney said on CBS’ Face the Nation.

During the 2012 campaign, Romney took criticism from Obama for saying Russia was America’s ‘number one geopolitical foe,’ rather than al-Qaida. Now Romney seems to be claiming the right to say, essentially, ‘I told you so.’

‘There’s no question but that the president’s naivety with regards to Russia, and his faulty judgment about Russia’s intentions and objectives, has led to a number of foreign policy challenges that we face,’ Romney said.

Community Organizer Two

‘And unfortunately, not having anticipated Russia’s intentions, the president wasn’t able to shape the kinds of events that may have been able to prevent the kinds of circumstances that you’re seeing in the Ukraine, as well as the things that you’re seeing in Syria.’

Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., who just returned from Ukraine, said it was Romney who was naiveSen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., who just returned from Ukraine, said it was Romney who was naive

He said the U.S. should now welcome nations that seek entry into NATO, should forgo cuts to the U.S. military budget and reconsider putting a missile defense system into the Czech Republic and Poland, as once planned.

During the 2012 campaign, Romney had tried to portray the Democratic incumbent as soft on Russia. Writing in Foreign Policy magazine, he said that ‘for three years, the sum total of President Obama’s policy toward Russia has been: “We give, Russia gets.”’

Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., who just returned from Ukraine, said it was Romney who was naive.

Durbin, referring to Putin, a former officer in the Soviet KGB, said Putin is ‘a bully and we’ve got to call him for what he is. But this notion that some sanction is going to stop a former colonel in the KGB from his ambitions of a Russian empire is naive.

Romney also used the appearance to criticize Hillary Rodham Clinton, Obama’s first secretary of state who now is considering a presidential run in 2016.

Failed 2012 Republican presidential nominee Romney said Obama didn't have the foresight to anticipate Russia's moves and should have been working earlier with allies to make clear the penalties that Russia would face if it moved into Ukraine

Romney said he couldn’t think of a major country that had greater respect and admiration for the U.S. than it did ‘after five years of the Obama administration and Secretary Clinton.’

‘You look over the past five years and say, “what’s happened?” Good things have not been bursting out all over,’ he said.

Durbin, the second-ranking Senate Democrat, said on CBS that Romney suffered from ‘political amnesia.’

‘Osama bin Laden is gone. The war in Iraq is over. Afghanistan is coming to a close. And this president has worked with many of these nations successfully to put pressure on Iran, the sanctions, bringing them to the negotiating table,’ Durbin said.

He said Romney has ‘forgotten those facts.’

Today’s Politically INCORRECT Cartoon


Sanctions Bear Little

Posted on March 25, 2014

Read more at http://conservativebyte.com/2014/03/sanctions-bear-little/#hqhcR2CxabEaCiMm.99

Sanctions-Bear-Little

Community Organizer Two

John Kerry’s Message to Russia: “Peace Through Weakness”


Minutemennews Banner

http://minutemennews.com/2014/03/john-kerrys-message-russia-peace-weakness/#hDLEht3BeMhW0Hv5.99

15 March 2014

By:  Marilyn Assenheim

john-kerry-thug-murderer-assad-must-be-punished

The Washington Examiner ran an interesting headline on Thursday: “John Kerry: Russia has until Monday to reverse course in Ukraine.” The Examiner continued: “If there is no sign [from Russia] of any capacity to respond to this issue … there will be a very serious series of steps on Monday.” Chief among those “steps?” “…the U.S. and its European allies will not recognize (Russia) as legitimate under international law.” That ought to learn ‘em. Yet, unaccountably, The New York Times reported Thursday that, even in the face of Kerry’s paper kitten, Russia is busily massing forces on the borders of Ukraine.

The Washington Examiner quoted Kerry in saying how impressed he was at “… how united our European allies are on the issue…they are very, very committed to make sure there is accountability…” So was the U.N. when they shook their finger at Saddam Hussein for over twelve years. When Senator Lindsey Graham asked Kerry what the administration would do should Russia make further inroads into the Ukraine Kerry responded cautiously but in full pie-in-the-sky mode: “Our hope is not to create hysteria or excessive concern about that at this point in time,” he said. “Our hope is to avoid that, but there’s no telling that we can.” Hope. Hmmm. As the tune says, it seems we’ve heard that song before. Unfortunately for “Clap-For-Tinkerbelle” Kerry, he might have to wrestle with that very eventuality. The New York Times had the breaking story: “Russia’s Defense Ministry announced new military operations in several regions near the Ukrainian border on Thursday… A day after a deputy minister denied any military buildup on the border; the Defense Ministry released a series of statements beginning early Thursday that appeared to contradict that. They outlined what was described as intensive training of units involving artillery batteries, assault helicopters and at least 10,000 soldiers. The operations confirmed, at least in part, assertions by Ukrainian leaders on Wednesday that Russia was massing forces…columns of armored vehicles and trucks in a border village called Lopan, only 30 miles from the Ukrainian city Kharkiv.” The latest estimate of Soviet forces parked on Ukraine’s doorstep is 25,000 troops.

Angela Merkel and the rest of the European adherents of finger-wagging policy have joined America’s Secretary of State, warning Russia off of incurring possible economic and diplomatic sanctions. Europe’s trading ties with Russia, particularly when it comes to oil however, suggest that such a tack might be a case of the EU cutting off its nose to spite its face. Particularly when Russia is in a position to acquire the wealth of Ukraine. One would guess that Putin might be willing to gamble that Europe’s posture might hurt them more than it would hurt him.

Statists have long chosen to pervert what Ronald Reagan really meant by “peace through strength.” Although Reagan did not endorse military conflict he knew that not having a strong military would send a catastrophic signal to cultures that respect only strength. Democrats, believing that what they want makes their desires true, prefer diplomacy and sanctions and ignore the failures of the past. They eagerly neuter U.S. armed forces while providing military aid to nations hostile to America.

Kerry, although he has taken up room on planet earth for over 71 years, has not learned very much. Not surprising considering that Kerry earned a D in history, twice, at Yale. But he has, unfortunately, been foisted on a hapless America as Secretary of State. Even should he be willing to give up junk food to shield his own grades from public view, The Lyin’ King might have looked into Kerry’s political science grade at Yale before appointing Kerry: D. One can’t blame Kerry for everything even if what passes for The Lyin’ King’s ludicrous foreign policy is right up his alley. But embarrassing himself is one thing; making America a perennial clown on the world’s stage is another. And having Europe for company in the overcrowded clown car won’t help should the elephants run amok. Diplomacy is an ineffectual bludgeon; wielding it hasn’t worked throughout all of recorded history. Fear of an opponent’s strength has. Proof of this is rapidly becoming evident. Friday, Kerry met with his Russian opposite number, Sergei Lavrov, in London. After five hours of implementing his sure-fire diplomatic strategy the Kremlin told Kerry to stick an onion-domed minaret where the sun don’t shine. FOX News summed up Kerry’s dismay in the aftermath: “…he said that he came with ‘good faith with constructive ideas’ to address the concerns of both Ukraine and Russia. But he said Putin is not backing down.” Who could have seen that coming?

Europe and the free world used to rely upon America’s military might for safety, allowing them the fantasy of overcoming evil with a Coke and a smile. The world’s bad players may have dawning awareness, however, that America is becoming less of a threat and more Kool-Aid and a rictus grin.

President Clinton and President Obama Promised to Protect Disarmed Ukraine


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http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2014/03/05/president_clinton_and_president_obama_promised_to_protect_disarmed_ukraine

March 05, 2014

RUSH: This is getting out of hand now.  Hillary Clinton is saying that Vladimir Putin is a Nazi, and Putin is saying that the Ukrainians are Nazis, and Tony Kornheiser says that the whole state of Arizona is Nazis.  The only person that’s not a Nazi anymore is me.  This is progress, ladies and gentlemen.  It’s like a Mel Brooks movie.  I mean, everybody is just throwing this name out.  And of course Putin is acting like Hilter did.  You gotta give Hillary that, with what he’s doing here.  I mean, it’s gonna irritate some progressives who think that Putin has the right to do whatever he wants to do.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH:  Ladies and gentlemen, this is hilarious.  CNN, the rest of the Drive-Bys are all in hysterics that a United Nations envoy was supposedly almost kidnapped and threatened by an armed man in Crimea and told to get out of the country.  “A UN envoy!  That’s unacceptable! Who do they think they are, threatening to kidnap and kick out of the country a UN envoy?” I’m not kidding.  The media is just beside themselves over this kind of an insult.

I want to mention something here that came up late in the program yesterday, and I’m repeating it here at a different time in the program hoping to reach more people with this ’cause the Drive-Bys are not talking about this.  I mentioned yesterday that Bill Clinton in 1994 (and then the Obama administration in 2009, reaffirmed it) gave official diplomatic assurances to Ukraine that their borders would be safe in exchange for the Ukrainians gutting their army and completely doing away with their sizable nuclear deterrent.

This has not been reported other than the UK Daily Mail has now published an article that reminds us that that wasn’t all Obama did for Ukraine.  But the point is… Because the media isn’t telling you, I want to stress this again. As you’re watching what happened, as you watch us act outraged that Putin would do this, there were the number of signatories to this agreement.  The UK, John Major and the Ukrainian prime minister. It was Boris Yeltsin for the Russian Federation, and Bill Clinton, and there was the ChiCom leader.

There were five of them, and they signed. They promised. They promised Ukraine that their borders would not be attacked, that their sovereignty would not be challenged, and that they would be considered for admission to the European Union. There was all this stuff dangling carrots if they would just gut their army and do away with their nuclear deterrent — and Ukraine did.  That agreement was reaffirmed in 2009 by Barack Obama.

So the Ukrainians cannot defend themselves against this encroachment by Russia, which is a violation of that agreement, by the way.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: I want to close the loop on this Ukraine thing, get into the IRS, and then come back to Ukraine with more details on what’s happening.  But just to remind you, ’cause I think this is huge.  I think Ukraine bought it hook, line, and sinker.  They gave up their military. They had a nuclear arsenal.  They gave it up in exchange for a promise that their borders would not be invaded and their sovereignty would remain intact.

Putin wasn’t a signatory, but Boris Yeltsin was, and he signed for the Russian Federation, which is still the governing body before Putin puts the Soviet Union back together.  It was Bill Clinton that got the whole thing started, and this whole thing was reaffirmed in 2009.  Now, the UK Daily Mail today adds information to this.  Their headline is: “Flashback: Senator Obama Pushed Bill That Helped Destroy More Than 15,000 TONS of Ammunition, 400,000 Small Arms and 1,000 Anti-Aircraft Missiles in Ukraine.”

In addition to the gutting of the military and getting rid of the nukes, it was Obama as a senator who pushed legislation that further weakened Ukraine.  From the article: “As a US senator, Barack Obama won $48 million in federal funding to help Ukraine destroy thousands of tons of guns and ammunition — weapons which are now unavailable to the Ukrainian army as it faces down Russian President Vladimir Putin during his invasion of Crimea.”

Because they don’t really have an army, not much of one. They gutted it.  They didn’t get rid of it; they just gutted it — all on the assurance, reaffirmed again in 2009 by Obama.  Obama reassured them. This was as president. It was as a senator that he engaged in legislation that further weakened them. In 2009 he reaffirmed, “Don’t worry, we will protect you — and so will the ChiComs, and so will the UK, and the Russians have promised that they will not invade you.”

That’s all out the window now, and the media is not reporting that.

“In August 2005, just seven months after his swearing-in, Obama traveled to Donetsk in Eastern Ukraine with then-Indiana Republican Senator Dick Lugar, touring a conventional weapons site. The two met in Kiev with President Victor Yushchenko, making the case that an existing Cooperative Threat Reduction Program covering the destruction of nuclear weapons should be expanded to include artillery, small arms, anti-aircraft weapons, and conventional ammunition of all kinds.”

Obama and Luger “returned to Washington and declared that the US should devote funds to speed up the destruction of more than 400,000 small arms, 1,000 anti-aircraft missiles, and more than 15,000 tons of ammunition.”  Obama’s been disarming United States as quickly as he can, but he offered money, $48 million to Ukraine to downsize.  At the time, Obama said, “We need to eliminate these stockpiles for the safety of the Ukrainian people and people around world, by keeping them out of conflicts around the world.”

Now, stop and think.  Folks, this kind of thing really matters when you’re a guy like Putin and you’re sizing up your advisory, and you’re looking at a guy, and you see Barack Hussein Obama doing this. Now, I have in my Stack of Stuff that Obama was at an elementary school recently.  I have here in my formerly nicotine-stained fingers the pictures, and Obama’s latest photo op shows why the global community doesn’t take him seriously.

He’s sitting on a blue, oval-shaped rug, and he’s holding a young student with the teacher sitting nearby, 10 or so other little kids.  He’s in the classroom.  While all this is going on, if you’re Vladimir Putin and you look at this… Remember how a picture of George W. Bush reading to a third grade class? Remember how that was portrayed as, “My God, what kind of guy is this? The World Trade Center’s attacked, and this guy’s reading to kids, and he still reads?”

And look at this.  I’ll tell you what I’ll do.  I’m gonna zoom in on the Dittocam, turn off to do it, zoom out. I’ll just show you this, just so you know.  The reason that I think that this is important is because you always have to look at the way our enemies see this.  The camera’s back on, and there’s be the picture.  In fact, the picture below it is Obama then with his press conference, announcing some things about Ukraine at the same place.

He’s standing on the same rug there that he is sitting on with those kids.  It’s an exact replay of what happened with Bush in the classroom in Florida.  Now, the point is if you’re Vladimir Putin and you know that your adversary is Barack Obama, and Barack Obama has personally traveled to Ukraine to disarm them — if you know that your adversary’s Barack Obama who as senator pushed legislation to disarm Ukraine.

He paid money, $4 million to do it, and reaffirmed a 1995 agreement or ’94 agreement pour basically Ukraine to disarm — what are you gonna do?  You know who your adversary. You know he’s not gonna stop you.  All you have to do is look at Syria or anywhere in the world. Look at the way Obama’s handling Iraq or Afghanistan.  Obama’s running around getting us out of every country. Look at Chuck Hagel proposing downsizing US military to pre-World War II levels.

What would you do if you’re a bad guy bent on reassembling your giant Soviet Union?  So the Ukrainians have no way to stop this militarily, if they were inclined.  And Obama after traveling to Kiev and not only affirming the Clinton agreement in ’94, but taking it further by eliminating 400,000 small arms, 1,000 anti-aircraft missiles, and more than 15,000 tons of ammunition and then says we need to eliminate these stockpiles for the safety of the Ukrainian people.  Now, stop and think.  If you are Vladimir Putin and you hear the leader of the United States equate disarmament with safety, you have gotta be rubbing your hands together so fast that you can’t believe your good luck.  You are up against an adversary who thinks that safety is you disarming.

Let me put it a different way.  You’re Putin, you’re watching Obama, and you’re up against a guy, Obama, who believes his safety is related to him getting rid of his military.  He goes over there and doubles down on Ukrainian weakness, disarmament, and then claims Ukraine is safer.  If you’re Putin, what are you gonna do?  This is absolute lunacy.  This is a world governed by the aggressive use of force; not doctors, nurses, and clean water.  It’s not governed by bipartisanship and UN resolutions and all that happy horse manure.  This is a world governed by the aggressive use of force, and Obama is celebrating he’s just made Ukraine stronger and safer by completely disarming it.

Forget Putin’s view; what does that tell you about Obama?  And then this little statement:  We need to eliminate these stockpiles in Ukraine for the safety of the Ukrainian people. What, are they gonna shoot themselves?  By keeping these stockpiles and the Ukrainians out of conflicts around the world.  So I guess it’s the Ukrainians were who Obama thought might begin a worldwide march toward domination.  So he had to disarm them, take every means of defense away from them, after promising ’em they wouldn’t need it, then this happens.  Now, I wanted to go through this all again, because you are not being told this. If your only source of news is the Drive-Bys, you are not being told any of this.

Today’s Political Cartoon


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