This is from LoveWhatMatters.com, written by Matthew Lee Whitt, 39, of Texas. Matthew worked as a flight paramedic for Air Evac Lifeteam which covers the Texas/Mexico border in order to treat and transport critically ill patients from the area to larger facilities in San Antonio.
“So I am going to break a self rule about not posting in regards to work and politics. Well, I am actually going to stand by my rule because what I am really doing is coming to the defense of the US Border Patrol and Customs, Texas DPS, and MYSELF since we were all part of the separation of children from their parents on the border.
Yes. You read that correctly. I was a part of the ‘human rights violations’ taking place on the border. Through the course of my career I have spent, off and on, 15 years working as a medic on the border. I’ve worked everywhere in Texas from Brewster and Presidio Counties, Eagle Pass, Del Rio, and Laredo. I know several Texas EMS paramedics that are deployed by the state and federal government to these “camps” running from El Paso to Houston currently.
Rarely do I ever speak or write about what I see as a paramedic. Most of the time I never say anything to my wife Natalee or my family and I never comment, post, or talk about the graphic stuff I have seen in my career to people other than my colleagues. That is going to change with this post so if you think you might have a problem with graphic details please stop reading.
I flew for Air Evac which has more border bases than any other air medical services in Texas. I was based out of South Texas and often covered shifts that were within viewing distance of the Mexican border. I love the Mexican people, their culture, and their customs. I married a woman from San Antonio who is of Mexican decent. My sons are half Hispanic. My heart is often broken seeing their plight as they take the ardent journey north for a better life.
But..
There is another side to some of the immigrants that most people don’t witness. Most of the children that started coming across the border 3 or 4 years ago were alone or with smugglers that worked double duty with the cartels. The adults that were with them often lied and said they were the parents which was not true. Even the children that were with their parents or parent were often times in dangerous situations. These children were separated back then and are still separated to this day. It is heartbreaking to see such events unfold and nobody, from the Border Patrol, Texas Law Enforcement or Texas EMS professionals were happy to be tasked with such work. We did not abuse any children. Instead, we cared for them. We fed them and gave them water, clothes, medical care and comfort.
All of these kids were sick or ill. It might be something as simple as dehydration but often times it was more than that. Much more.
Such as the 10-year-old girl that I flew who had been raped no less than 10 times on her journey. Her private parts torn by the continued trauma inflicted each night of her stay in the dessert. Her screams and cries of mistrust still haunt me to this day when I think about it.
Then there was a little boy who was only 5-years-old covered in scabies, flees, and abscesses with a broken jaw from being hit by a smuggler for crying.
There were many kids that were so malnourished and dehydrated that they could not hold any solid food down and were delirious from sun exposure. Most of these kids had never slept under a roof their entire lives. They certainly never slept in a bed as they often slept on the ground with animals in their home countries.
At the centers where these children were housed they cried aloud. Why wouldn’t they? Most had been on a journey that no human should ever go through. Most have never been able to trust a single soul their entire lives, even their parents. They were afraid of the future.
But what these professionals did at the centers was phenomenal work. They fed these kids. They immunized these kids. They LOVE these kids. They have counselors on hand to help with these children. Some of these kids are put into the foster care system which, while not the greatest it could be, is almost certainly better than where they came from and the abuse they have suffered at the hand of cutthroats and drug cartels.
The people that are actually working this crisis are good people. In fact, they are better than most people. They put their lives on hold to help children that they don’t even know while spending months at a time without seeing their own families. These people probably save more lives than anyone else in the US right now.
So I encourage you all to look at all sides of this situation. There are no winners but please don’t take up an opinion that comes from a media source that only has one agenda in mind: to discredit the current president.
Personally I could care less what you think of President Trump but where I draw the line is when we start taking down innocent people and painting them as villains in an effort to destroy someone else. These GOOD POEPLE working on this crisis have done so for the past 15 years without one word from anyone else until just recently.
Ask yourself why?
God Bless you all.”
An amazing and true story. Capped with an excellent question.
With two major caveats: the issue isn’t “new” by a long shot, and the massive bulk of persons illegally entering the US aren’t “refugees.”
Leftists, Demorats, American Media Maggots and some Republicans are weeping about children being separated from “refugee families” at our border. This is not a new policy, of course. These things occurred under the Bushes and also under Obama.
Oddly enough it wasn’t an issue then — not even under Barack Hussein Obama. That in and of itself bespeaks volumes about the biased bleating of the groups indicated above. Translated: when administrations other than Trump do it, no problemo. Under Trump: heinous.
Obama, in fact, featured the ATEP policy — the Alien Transfer Exit Program, also called Lateral Repatriation. You’ll see why. Here is an example:
Montes was put on a plane, flown halfway across the country and bused to the California-Mexico border. At 2 a.m. Tuesday, U.S. border authorities took off his handcuffs and escorted him to a gate leading to the desert city of Mexicali. Montes was back in Mexico, but about 1,200 miles away from where he started.
But wait; did you read of this then or hear of it now — Obama’s policy? Of course not.
But immigrants’ rights activists had long cautioned that Lateral Repatriation breaks up families. The reason is fairly simple: many male Mexican nationals who are detained trying to cross the border often come with their families in tow. When ATEP is used, the men are captured and taken thousands of miles away, while their wives, partners and children are placed in immigrant detention centers.
More, under Obama:
Single Mexican fathers or men who traveled without an adult female companion while attempting to cross the U.S.-Mexico border with children, when subject to ATEP, had their children separated from them. Unaccompanied minors would then be placed into the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement. Such custody is supposed to be temporary and ORR is supposed to release children to an identified family member or sponsor.
Because of Homeland Security’s dismissal of the need for accountability, it’s unclear exactly how many children were separated from their families under this Obama-era policy.
But that’s okay, It was Obama after all — the single smartest and most compassionate man in any room, anywhere, any time.
Caught at a brief moment in time when she was relatively cogent, Nancy Pelosi plays the Religious Card. Nancy Pelosi believes in “church” to the extent that the Hells Angels believe in “church.”
Nancy Pelosi blasts ‘the hypocrisy of all people of faith’ over border policy dispute
by Douglas Ernst
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi unleashed a broadside against “all people of faith in our country” on Friday over prosecutions of illegal immigrants on the southern border.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ recent comments that respecting the rule of law is a biblical principle sparked a scathing response from the California Democrat on Friday. Mrs. Pelosi accused the Trump administration, its surrogates and all people of faith of gross hypocrisy for not agreeing with her preferred policy regarding the children of illegal immigrants.
Parents who illegally cross into the U.S. are briefly separated from children for up to three weeks while their case is adjudicated. Minors are given medical care, meals, and educational material in accordance with federal regulations.
“The very hypocrisy of the Attorney General to quote the Bible, the hypocrisy of all people of faith in our country not to clamor for what the administration is doing to end — whether it’s to deprive the dreamers of the respect they deserve or whether its taking babies away from their mothers and fathers,” Mrs. Pelosi said Friday, the Daily Caller reported.
San Fran Nan, pot meeting kettle under the color of black? That would be you madame. First, someone must have caught you at a semi-lucid hour. What AG Sessions actually said was:
We are not sending children to jail with their parents. Non-citizens who cross our borders unlawfully, between our ports of entry, with children are not an exception. They are the ones who broke the law. They are the ones who endangered their own children on their trek. The United States, on the other hand, goes to extraordinary lengths to protect them while the parents go through a short detention period.
One word: true. But let’s go further and examine how the face of illegal immigration has changed over the years. Ten, twenty years ago the primary immigrant was male and Mexican. Gradually women were brought and then children and families.
The Trump administration isn’t changing the rules that pertain to separating an adult from the child. Those remain the same. Separation happens only if officials find that the adult is falsely claiming to be the child’s parent, or is a threat to the child, or is put into criminal proceedings.
It’s the last that is operative here. The past practice had been to give a free pass to an adult who is part of a family unit. The new Trump policy is to prosecute all adults. The idea is to send a signal that we are serious about our laws and to create a deterrent against re-entry.
Let’s not forget this very salient fact that, naturally, Leftists, Demorats and the American Media Maggots wish to Bleach Bit your brain from.
The United States Code. Specifically 8 USC § 1325. The United States Code delineates crimes against the United States. The first violation of this statute is a misdemeanor. Illegal re-entry is a felony. A crime. Congress built and authorized these statutes. You know, Congress: the Legislative Branch of the US government.
The clearest description of procedure I’ve yet found is again from NationalReview.com:
When a migrant is prosecuted for illegal entry, he or she is taken into custody by the U.S. Marshals. In no circumstance anywhere in the U.S. do the marshals care for the children of people they take into custody. The child is taken into the custody of HHS, who cares for them at temporary shelters.
The criminal proceedings are exceptionally short, assuming there is no aggravating factor such as a prior illegal entity or another crime. The migrants generally plead guilty, and they are then sentenced to time served, typically all in the same day, although practices vary along the border. After this, they are returned to the custody of ICE.
If the adult then wants to go home, in keeping with the expedited order of removal that is issued as a matter of course, it’s relatively simple. The adult should be reunited quickly with his or her child, and the family returned home as a unit. In this scenario, there’s only a very brief separation.
That’s the easy part. What’s happen now is that the bulk of illegals coming north from Mexico — with children — are seeking “asylum.” Many are provided cards from which to read so that the precise “buzz words” and phrases can be spoken at the border to US authorities. Even back in 2016 this was a very serious issue. From the WashingtonExaminer.com in 2016:
Illegals seeking asylum up 900%, get cash, welfare, school loans
by Paul Bedard
The number of illegals seeking asylum to gain easy access to the United States has jumped 900 percent in less than 10 years, greatly expanding the immigration population receiving Social Security benefits, school loans, green cards, welfare and other taxpayer funded services, according to figures from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
While about 8,000 mostly Latin Americans in 2009 sought asylum, the number is expected to reach 80,000 or more this year, according to a projection from the Center for Immigration Studies.
The report said 80 percent come from just three countries that have already flooded the border with youths and young families, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. Most claim a fear of torture, abuse, or retaliation, fulfilling the U.S. requirement that they must voice some credible fear of returning home.
Of course, there is much that Leftists, Demorats, the American Media Maggots and — the Republicans — are failing to tell you. From the NYTimes.com:
The Flores settlement (Flores v Reno, 1997) required immigration officials to “place each detained minor in the least restrictive setting appropriate” — for example, providing food, water and toilets. The government also agreed to release immigrant children “without unnecessary delay” under an established preference ranking for custody.
The Obama Administration screwed the pooch with regard to detained children and, hence, our illustrious 9th Circuit weighed in.
In 2016, the Ninth Circuit of Appeals ruled that the Flores settlement “unambiguously applies both to minors who are accompanied and unaccompanied by their parents.” It also overturned a Federal District Court’s decision that the government must also release the parents.
As a result the Trump White House has been responding to an all-out frontal assault by Leftists, Demorats and the American Media Maggots who are giddy that, finally, Trump is hemmed in. That part is true.
Under Flores, the government has three options: releasing families together, passing a law that would allow for family detention or breaking up the families. The Trump administration has so far chosen the third option.
Gosharoo. I wonder which one of those three options has been touted all over the media this past weekend? Something about perpetually-open borders, n’est-ce pas?
The Emos thusly weighed in the past weekend to include Republicans. Remember that option regarding “passing a law”? From the WashingtonTimes.com:
Republicans abandon Trump, demand end to zero-tolerance border policy
by Stephan Dinan and Dave Boyer
Congressional Republicans beat a full-scale retreat Monday from the administration’s zero-tolerance border policy, joining Democrats to demand that President Trump stop jailing parents and find ways to keep families together while trying to stop a new surge of illegal immigration.
High-profile Republicans said they are writing bills that would end family separations, and Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker, a Republican, said he will no longer allow his National Guard troops to assist with border security as a protest against Mr. Trump’s policies.
Former first lady Laura Bush also weighed in, comparing family separations to internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II.
How odd. GW Bush didn’t have to face the situation. Here is the full Kirstjen Nielson press gaggle on Monday, June 18th.
Why should illegals skate the “parent/child conundrum” whilst other US citizen arrestees are afforded no such luxury? Further, because illegals know it is working, more and more adults — not the parents — are taking children to the border and claiming they are the parents. These could be sex traffickers. These could be slave traders. That too is on the increase. People are not stupid; they know when advantages exist and how to acquire those advantages. Not everyone is Juan Valdez and his innocent family.
Acting ICE Director Thomas Homan tells us the truth about the situation:
When I came upon a scene as a California law enforcement officer in which parents were going to jail and children were present, I arrested the parents and ended up taking custody of the children if no other responsible adults were available. Arrangements were made to take them to what was termed the Children’s Receiving Home and it was up to the County to make further placement plans. The presence of children didn’t affect my arrest decisions whatsoever — and neither should they affect decisions of ICE or the USBP. Unlawful is unlawful no matter the circumstance.
Which is why the issue, I insist, goes back to Congress.
If you as a whole, Congress, US citizens, don’t care for the laws on the books, change the laws on the books. But until you do, your law enforcement personnel are going to have to work within the legal boundaries set forth in the USC as well as fiscal boundaries.
Simultaneously, Leftists, Demorats and the American Media Maggots are attempting to Cloward-Piven the situation. That is to say, overloading the system in order to precipitate a crisis that would lead to a replacement of the system with another — one to the liking of Leftists, Demorats and American Media Maggots.
Not entirely dissimilar to the teachings of Saul Alinsky.
You want to see an agenda? You want to see a wanton display of rudeness, arrogance and emotions based upon political bias? You must go no further than this video.
What a “journalista.” A guy that writes for Playboy magazine. At least he supports my previously-juvenile retorts fifty years ago about buying the magazine for the articles.
Let me also reveal this fact: in California and most all states, adults and juveniles cannot lawfully be mixed in custodial situations. Jails and prisons are just like detention centers. Would you mix a male with a female in custody? Would you mix an adult with a juvenile in custody? Would you mix a sophisticated criminal arrested on a violent felony in custody with someone charged with an infraction or a misdemeanor? Would you mix someone charged with a hate crime, child abuse, elder abuse, with the general population?
If the answer is “no” to ANY of the above questions in normal custodial situations in the US, why would you throw them out the window for federal detentions?
Two words: you wouldn’t.
But that’s not the issue. The issue is to stretch and distend and tax the federal system to the breaking point — to where it collapses but upon itself because of weight and politics and unsustainable policies and regulations.
WHEN OBAMA WAS PRESIDENT FAMILIES WERE SEPARATED AT THE BORDER! YES IM TALKING IN ALL CAPS! STOP ACTING LIKE THIS A BRAND NEW AND TRUMPS FAULT. pic.twitter.com/n5DL1vwzc9
Muster the votes. Convince the American Taxpayer. Make your case, your argument. Against borders. Against walls. Against proscriptions. Against detentions. Against current laws.
But let’s cut to the chase. Altogether too many Republicans won’t interfere with the illegal immigrant status quo because they benefit from cheap labor. This is why Republicans purposefully fail to rally around making the utilization of E-Verify a federal law. For everyone. All the time.
Regarding Demorats, they have locked onto illegals because their former voting bloc — blacks — is letting them down. Blacks aren’t carrying enough water for Demorats and, let’s be honest, they’re not having enough babies to keep up the future voting bloc lock. What to do?
Demorats have now decided: let’s hang our hopes now and in the future with illegals from the south. The brown people will lead us to the Promised Land of a voting lock in perpetuity. Blacks are — harumph, kinda like Kanye West — starting to throw off the Demorat chains.
By most standards, there are seven continents on our planet.
They include Africa, Antarctica, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America and South America.
I live in North America. The continent direct beneath North America, South America, threatens us in ways I submit altogether too many people don’t recognize, from our politicians to our electorate. You and me, we are aware — and all our bells and klaxons are going off.
We already know that both major US parties — Demorats and Republicans — have been corrupted into promoting the continuing rush of more illegals from Mexico. I value clarity and honesty. So let’s be honest and clear. The Demorats want as many illegals as possible to enter the Untied States because its present citizenry can no longer be counted upon to vote Leftisten masse in perpetuity. The election of Donald Trump was their proverbial Political Turd In The Punchbowl.
And altogether too many EstabliHack Republicans, let’s be blunt, want to utilize immigrants as Cheap Labor. Keep their capitalist friends happy. I have nothing against Capitalism. I just want the playing field tilted towards actual American citizens.
It’s shockingly easy to draw this conclusion — no matter what Republicans say — for one very simple reason. The GOP hasn’t rallied around E-Verify and sent bill after bill demanding that all US businesses comply with its usage. E-Verify isn’t mandatory. It’s just a kinda-sorta-maybe “hint.” I rest my case.
Listen to Ron Paul. He illustrates perfectly why I separate with Libertarians here. He makes a straw man argument instead of the one he should make: real Americans keeping real American jobs.
In a sense, universal use of E-Verify would be a major step toward making legal status a labor standard. Few employers are tempted to hire children, after all, and that’s only partly out of fear of punishment; it has become a social norm, a habit, not to hire kids. But while it’s easy to tell if a job applicant is an 11-year-old, employers need E-Verify to tell if he’s a legal worker.
Why isn’t E-Verify already in use nationwide? Politics. Democrats in Congress have held E-Verify hostage to amnesty; they consider it a bargaining chip. But the source of the public resistance to amnesty is the belief — the certainty — that it would simply be a replay of 1986, with the promises of future enforcement dropped as soon as the amnesty was complete.
Mandating E-Verify would not only be an important enforcement tool, it would also be an important political step toward resolving our current immigration mess.
In other words, why not try to stop those tempted to enter the US illegally before they actually approach the physical proximity to our southern border? Doesn’t that make the most sense of all — at least in terms of the “jobs” aspect?
Further, H1-B visas are popular in the GOP world because they enable corporations to kick Americans aside for their less expensive and eminently-willing replacements. Check the slant of this article. After all, why shouldn’t Prakeem Prakesh take your job when he’s willing to work at a lesser wage rate than you — the penultimate selfish Americano bastardo/bastardette? You’re a cog. You must be replaced. By a cheaper cog. Doing the same job. You submitted a
Disney has already kicked out Americans for cheaper H-1B imports. Worse yet: those Americans were forced to train their foreign replacements.
Pink Slips at Disney. But First, Training Foreign Replacements.
by Julia Preston
ORLANDO, Fla. — The employees who kept the data systems humming in the vast Walt Disney fantasy fief did not suspect trouble when they were suddenly summoned to meetings with their boss.
While families rode the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train and searched for Nemo on clamobiles in the theme parks, these workers monitored computers in industrial buildings nearby, making sure millions of Walt Disney Worldticket sales, store purchases and hotel reservations went through without a hitch. Some were performing so well that they thought they had been called in for bonuses.
Instead, about 250 Disney employees were told in late October that they would be laid off. Many of their jobs were transferred to immigrants on temporary visas for highly skilled technical workers, who were brought in by an outsourcing firm based in India. Over the next three months, some Disney employees were required to train their replacements to do the jobs they had lost.
“I just couldn’t believe they could fly people in to sit at our desks and take over our jobs exactly,” said one former worker, an American in his 40s who remains unemployed since his last day at Disney on Jan. 30. “It was so humiliating to train somebody else to take over your job. I still can’t grasp it.”
Disney executives said that the layoffs were part of a reorganization, and that the company opened more positions than it eliminated.
Thank you and fuck you. Get out. Oh yeah. Train your replacement first. But wait; there’s more. Oh so much more.
We haven’t even touch the issue of Merit-Based Immigration, the same type of immigration system Canada has (shhh, quiet, don’t tell anyone) had for years. Chinese immigrants to Canada had to have an occupational skill and a minimum of $10,000 bankable for entry. Okay. For once, Canada had a great idea. Yay Canucks.
Then there is the cry of the “political refugee” or the “asylum” seekers.
Mexico, Central America, South America, is a political, societal, cultural and budgetary powder keg waiting to explode into our North American faces. It isn’t just about Mexico; oh no. So much more.
These days, of course, you’d be stupid to take the former “Mexican Riviera” cruise on any number of cruise lines these days. You’d just as likely be killed or kidnapped at Cabo San Lucas. No more “king’s X” for Cabo. If you want hanging dead bodies, well, look no farther than Cabo.
Six bodies hung from bridges near Mexico’s Los Cabos tourist resort
by Reuters Staff
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – The bodies of six men were found hanging from three different bridges near the Mexican tourist resort of Los Cabos on the Baja California peninsula on Wednesday, local authorities said.
The authorities did not give details on what happened to the men, but drug gangs often hang the bodies of their murdered victims in public to intimidate rivals. Drug gang violence is set to make 2017 Mexico’s deadliest year in modern history.
There were once-friendly tourist areas in Mexico. Not so much now. Maybe it really is time to call for more tequila. On your own back porch. Right here in the US.
Because the dirty little lie, the dirty little concealed truth is, this, from TheGuardian.com:
‘Breathtaking homicidal violence’: Latin America in grip of murder crisis
by Tom Phillips
Region has experienced 2.5 million murders since 2000 and report paints bleak picture of extreme violence and deteriorating security
Latin America has suffered more than 2.5m murders since the start of this century and is facing an acute public security crisis that demands urgent and innovative solutions, a new report warns.
“The sheer dimensions of homicidal violence are breathtaking,” says the report by the Igarapé Institute, a Brazil-based thinktank focused on security and development issues.
The publication, released on Thursday, paints a bleak portrait of what it calls the world’s most homicidal continent.
Wait for it.
Latin America suffers 33% of the world’s homicides despite having only 8% of its population. One-quarter of all global homicides are concentrated in four countries – Brazil, Colombia, Mexico and Venezuela – all of which are gearing up for presidential elections in which security is a dominant theme.
“Latin America is a large area and there are lots of variations. But as a region – including Mexico down to Central America and South America – the rate of homicide is set to continue increasing up until 2030.The only other places we are seeing similar kinds of increases are in parts of southern and central Africa and some war zones.”
Perchance time to dial back your enthusiasm for a future Mexican, Central or South American vacation fling.
“The overall trend right now in Latin America is one of increasing homicides and deteriorating security,” said Robert Muggah, one of the report’s authors.
“Latin America is a large area and there are lots of variations. But as a region – including Mexico down to Central America and South America – the rate of homicide is set to continue increasing up until 2030.The only other places we are seeing similar kinds of increases are in parts of southern and central Africa and some war zones.”
Then there’s simply the issue of Venezuela. Nicolas Maduro was “elected” again and has been the 63rd president of the country since 2013 under the United Socialist Party of Venezuela. In the meantime, following the reign of Hugo Chavez and his death, Maduro has managed to turn Venezuela into a ruined nation where people have eaten zoo animals, are turning their children over to orphanages because they can’t afford to take care of them, they sell their hair, there are mob riots over food shortages, almost 90% of Venezuelans live in poverty and, on average, have lost 24 pounds.
Currency controls restrict food imports, hyperinflation eats into salaries, and people line up for hours to buy basics like flour. If it can be found at all. Concurrently, prices in Venezuela rose 4,068% in the 12 months to the end of January, according to estimates by the country’s opposition-led National Assembly, broadly in line with independent economists’ figures.
Nations bordering Venezuela are directly affected, of course. From Venezuelanalysis.com:
Colombia, Brazil Deploy More Security Forces to Venezuela Border
by Ryan M. Outtrim
Colombia says it will send more than 2000 more troops to its border with Venezuela, with Brazil replicating the measure.
On Thursday, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said he had ordered the deployment of 3000 additional security personnel to the Venezuelan border. This figure included 2120 more soldiers. He claimed the reason behind such moves was to control problems created by Venezuelan migrants.
Among the new restrictions was the suspension of a daily visitor card for Venezuelans.
Similar border measures have also been introduced by Brazil, which has announced plans to double its border patrols on the Venezuelan frontier.
The new measures come at a time of increased tension between Venezuela’s left-wing government, and the right-wing governments in Colombia and Brazil.
The Venezuelan military is being affected as well. Because, as history indicates, when a dictator loses his military he also loses his safety. From the WSJ.com:
‘Pressure Cooker’: Discontent Rises in Venezuela Military as Economy Dives
by John Otis and Juan Forero
The coup plot by disgruntled Venezuelan military officers in March was audacious: Seize control of the capital’s military bases, arrest President Nicolás Maduro and install a provisional government to replace his authoritarian regime.
To avoid detection for a year, conspiring officers eschewed phone calls, texts and emails, and instead sent messages via couriers, said an Army captain who helped plan the thwarted coup. They plotted during seemingly impromptu soccer matches.
Before they could act, though, Mr. Maduro’s intelligence services discovered the plot—described by military analysts as the most serious to date against his government. Authorities quickly arrested nine of the rebel officers, including the head of the largest armored battalion in the capital, and Mr. Maduro’s former interior minister.
Discontent in the barracks is at an all-time high, current and former military officers say. Shortages of food, evaporating salaries and desertions have turned the armed forces into a cauldron of conspiracies against Mr. Maduro, these people say.
One air force lieutenant, who deserted in March after a decade in uniform, said in a telephone interview from Argentina that the collapse of the currency had reduced his monthly paycheck to the equivalent of $10. Unable to afford a car or an apartment, he rode a bicycle to the base and moved in with his wife’s parents.
“What kind of military forces its officers live with their in-laws?” he said.
What’s really going on in Venezuela?
Then there’s Nicaragua. Nicaragua is in revolt these days President Daniel Ortega’s social security reforms aren’t playing well with the electorate which has created a general anti-government uprising. Recent protests left 27 people dead, shot by government forces. In the meantime Ortega installed his wife as Vice President in 2017. What nepotism? Electoral fraud and censorship abound. At least for the time being, Daniel Ortega is now what he found against in the 80s.
Finally, there’s Mexico itself. Again. Directly adjacent the US. What happens when — not if — Mexico goes hard aport?
The front-runner in Mexico’s July presidential election is Andre Manuel Lopez Obrador (known as AMLO), and he happens to be great friends with Jeremy Corbyn, the massive UK Leftist leader of the Labor Party.
Both AMLO and Corbyn support Maduro, love Communist Cuba and all things a fusion of Communist/Socialist. If AMLO is elected as is forecasted, another potential Venezuela abuts the United States.
‘IT’S A HUMAN RIGHT’ — MEXICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE CALLS FOR MASS EXODUS TO AMERICA
by Dominic Mancini
Mexican presidential candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) called for mass immigration to the United States during a speech Tuesday declaring it a “human right” for all North Americans.
“And soon, very soon — after the victory of our movement — we will defend all the migrants in the American continent and all the migrants in the world,” Obrador said, adding that immigrants “must leave their towns and find a life in the United States.”
He then declared it as “a human right we will defend,” eluniversal.com reports.
This is Mexico itself attempting to Cloward-Piven the entire United States, with Leftists, Demorats and the American Media Maggots in full lock-step. They — the LDAMM — have no idea what that would truly mean for the US.
This is what we want in the United States, US politicians? Are you sure of that, US politicians? From CNBC.com:
More than 100 politicians have been murdered in Mexico ahead of Sunday’s election
by Natasha Turak
More than 100 politicians in Mexico have been killed since September in the lead-up to the country’s election this Sunday, and more than 13,000 Mexicans have been killed since January.
In an 11 year war on drugs, Mexico has failed to control organized crime and criminal infiltration of local governments and law enforcement.
Some 20 or so percent of voters remain undecided, and security is expected to be a major factor in how they choose to vote.
Guadalajara, Mexico, June 10, 2018. According to official figures, more than 200,000 people have been murdered and over 30,000 have disappeared since the government launched a controversial military offensive against organized crime in late 2006.
Violence hit a record peak in Mexico last year with over 30,000 murders — and it is not slowing down. More than 100 politicians alone have been killed in the lead-up to the country’s election this Sunday.
Public officials and avtivists in Mexico face deadly threats even in broad daylight. Fernando Puron, a congressional candidate in the border city of Piedras Negras, was taking a selfie with a supporter when a gunman shot him in the head from behind. He was the 112th political hopeful to be killed since September.
The deaths reveal the depth of a crisis Mexico has failed to control: organized crime and criminal infiltration of local governments and law enforcement. And ahead of this weekend’s presidential and congressional elections, no candidate has been able to offer a credible plan to fight it.
Again I ask US politicians: are you sure you want these statistics in the United States? Are you sure you want more Steve Scalise situations, on both sides? Because by keeping the border doors open this is precisely what you are going to get.
More on Venezuela. What wonderful times Maduro has brought to Venezuela.
Venezuela’s sky-high inflation soared to 24,571 percent in the past 12 months, lawmakers said Monday.
President Nicolas Maduro’s socialist government controls most of the country’s economy and is in the midst of an ever-deepening crisis with food and medicine in short supply.
Analysts blame what they call mismanagement of a state-led economy. That includes its control over hard currency, as well as low oil prices. Venezuela depends on crude oil for its earnings.
The government blames US sanctions and businessmen speculating on the problems.
Of course the US is at fault. Ask anyone on any topic. The US is always to blame.
The bottom line is this: literally every country to the south of the United States is either destabilized, in the throes of an evil government, subject to elitists ruling peasants, or in the process of being destabilized whilst killing any number of dissidents.
And it is during these times, concurrently, that Leftists and altogether too many Republicans are either indifferent or pushing hard against border controls for the United States.
The LDAMM are asking; no, demanding — that the same thing occurring in Mexico and farther south be replicated right here in the US: more corruption, more chaos, more bankrupt theories, more Socialism that never works. I’m sorry, we have enough of that right now in the US courtesy of the LDAMM.
Do you see any potential future threats building, I ask?
What happens when an entire continent wants to acquire refugee and/or asylum status in the US?
Here is an accurate summary from a recent Department of Justice (DOJ) report regarding crimes and illegal aliens.
And here is an accurate summary and series of questions from Tucker Carlson.
To which DOJ report is Tucker Carlson referring? And why is the release of the report germane at this time?
You see, the general public wouldn’t have been privy to this information regarding the true impact of illegal aliens on crime in the United States were it not for an executive order signed by President Trump on January 25th of 2017. Numbered EO 13768, entitled Enhancing Public Safety in the Interior of the United States, the order explicitly states that the numbers of foreign born individuals currently in US federal prison system custody must be reported quarterly.
There was no such requirement emphasized beforehand because, frankly, Leftists, Demorats, the American Media Maggots and a number of Republicans simply didn’t want to know.
It would not have furthered their collective and individual agendas and it would have interfered with their collective and individual cash flows. Moreover, they didn’t want you, The American Taxpayer, to know.
What? Illegal aliens not the huggy, lovable, honest, charitable persons they’ve been made out to be? Heresy! Apostate! Malcontent! Troublemaker! Radical!
A total of 58,766 known or suspected aliens were in in DOJ custody at the end of FY 2017, including 39,455 persons in BOP custody and 19,311 in USMS custody.
Of this total, 37,557 people had been confirmed by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to be aliens (i.e., non-citizens and non-nationals), while 21,209 foreign-born people were still under investigation by ICE to determine alienage.
Among the 37,557 confirmed aliens, 35,334 people (94 percent) were unlawfully present. These numbers include a 92 percent unlawful rate among 24,476 confirmed aliens in BOP custody and a 97 percent unlawful rate among 13,081 confirmed aliens in USMS custody.
A highly-important note:
This report does not include data on the foreign-born or alien populations in state prisons and local jails because state and local facilities do not routinely provide DHS or DOJ with comprehensive information about their inmates and detainees. This limitation is noteworthy because state and local facilities account for approximately 90 percent of the total U.S. incarcerated population. DHS and DOJ are working to develop a reliable methodology for estimating the status of state and local incarcerated populations in future reports.
According to the numbers, one-in-five individuals incarcerated in DOJ custody — 20% — were born outside of the U.S. and a significant number are illegal aliens.
Besides the physical cost and toll taken on true Americans in the population — up to and including murder, rape, robbery, sodomy, various sex crimes and child abuse crimes — Illegal alien incarceration costs American taxpayers nearly$2 billion dollars per year.
Not exactly the way the argument has been framed by lovers of illegals, lovers of DACA and lovers of lawbreaking.
Tucker Carlson also spoke to Mark Steyn on the issue.
From Carlson’s show on December 21st:
“According to statistics from the U.S. Sentencing Commission, non-citizens are actually far more likely to commit serious crimes than Americans are.”
“Non-citizens account for 22 percent, more than a fifth of all federal murder convictions.”
“18 percent of fraud convictions.”
“33 percent of money laundering convictions,” added Carlson.
“29 percent of drug trafficking convictions and 72 percent of convictions for drug possession.”
“Meanwhile, the non-citizen percentage of the American people? About 7 percent.”
Let’s be bottom-line honest.
The Demorats want illegals because they are useful voting tools. Demorats want to be elected in perpetuity by ensuring the demography of Free Cheese Demanders skews their way. Yes. That would be illegals and “minorities.”
Leftists and the American Media Maggots want illegals for those reasons and take into account additional GOWP, fear, PC and racist factors against Caucasoids.
Republicans want illegals because they work for lesser wages than other Americans and that saves on the business bottom line.
Call me wacky, call me a tinfoil-hat-wearer, but I still believe that the so-called “three million vote advantage” that Hillary had over Donald Trump was due to voter fraud and illegals voting unchecked. In terms of lawful votes, I believe that Trump equaled if not exceeded the votes for Hillary Clinton.
First, for those unfamiliar with the situation and why I’m writing this post in terms of an open letter to a fellow Sheepdog, I provide the following background from a number of news sources.
First, from KGW.com, the local NBC affiliate in Portland, Oregon.
ICE not alerted when sex assault suspect released from jail in 2016, official says
PORTLAND, Ore. — A man accused of breaking into a 65-year-old woman’s home, sexually assaulting her and stealing her car was arrested after allegedly assaulting another woman and running from police.
Of course this is not the most egregious part of the story. Read on.
According to court documents filed in March 2017, Martinez has a history of illegal entry into the United States. He has been a transient in the Portland area for more than a year and has been deported 20 times.
That is not a typo. Martinez has been deported twenty times.
Martinez has at least five probation violations for re-entering the United States. His most recent removal was in November 2016, according to the March court documents.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) lodged an immigration detainer against Martinez, asking authorities to notify them before releasing Martinez to allow ICE to take him into custody. The Department of Homeland Security said a detainer was requested for Martinez in December 2016, but he was released into the community and authorities did not notify ICE.
Released by whom? The Multnomah Sheriff’s Office, whose sheriff is in charge of the jails in that county, one of 36 in Oregon. Portland is within Multnomah County and is in fact not only the largest city in Oregon but the county seat as well. The next paragraph is vastly disappointing.
Earlier this year, Multnomah County leaders and Sheriff Mike Reese wrote a letter to the community saying, “The Sheriff’s Office does not hold people in county jails on ICE detainers or conduct any immigration enforcement actions.”
This story went global too, as illustrated by the UK’s DailyMail.com.
Illegal Mexican immigrant, 31, who was deported TWENTY times ‘rapes woman, 65, at knife-point’ just months after Portland released him from jail under ‘sanctuary’ policy
by Keith Griffith
Sergio Jose Martinez, 31, charged in assault on two women in Portland Monday
Martinez has lengthy history of arrests, illegal entry and deportations to Mexico
Admitted meth and heroin user told jail staff that he drinks up to 10 beers a day
Portland jail officials released him in December in defiance of federal request
State of Oregon has forbidden local law enforcement to cooperate with ICE
Now Martinez is accused in sickening sex assault on a 65-year-old stranger
An illegal immigrant with a long history of deportations to Mexico, and who was released by local jail officials in defiance of a federal immigration hold, is now accused of raping one woman and assaulting another in a sickening crime spree.
Sergio Jose Martinez, 31, is charged with 13 counts – including burglary, kidnapping, sodomy and sex abuse – in the knife-point attacks on two women in Portland on Monday.
But wait, there’s more.
Six months ago, on December 7, jail officials in Portland had Martinez in custody when they received a request from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, asking the jail to notify ICE before his release.
What happened?
Yet the local officials released him the next day in defiance of the federal immigration detainer, an agency spokeswoman told the Oregonian.
Oregon has a state law forbidding local law enforcement from using any resources to enforce federal immigration law.
Stop. Correct. Oregon has a law from 1987 entitled the Revised Statutes 181A.820.
The criminal spree on Monday began around 7pm, when a suspect broke through an open window into a 65-year-old woman’s home, on NE Halsey street in the Sullivan’s Gulch neighborhood.
The suspect, who police say was Martinez, used scarves and socks from her closet to bind and gag the woman before sexually assaulting her, according to court documents reported by Fox12.
Martinez slammed the elderly woman’s head into the wooden floor, punched her, and stole her phone, credit cars, and car, speeding away in it, according to police.
The woman was able to get to a neighbor’s home and call 911.
The crime spree continued unabated. There was yet another female lawful Oregonian victim to come.
Just hours later, police say Martinez had made his way to a parking garage, where he crouched in a dark corner until he spotted a woman.
He approached the woman saying he wanted to ‘talk’, but then produced a knife and forced the woman to walk towards her car, according to police.
Her plight, luckily, was not quite so dire as the first victim of Martinez, the 20-time and ignored potential deportee.
He is now charged with two counts of unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, two counts of second-degree assault, one count of kidnapping, two counts of burglary, two counts of robbery, three counts of first-degree sexual abuse, and one count of first-degree sodomy.
I, like many others, find the recent events involving the processing of Sergio Jose Martinez through your jail both confounding and shocking, simultaneously.
I’d have thought, would have hoped, that you’d been better than that. Instead, I find you in lockstep with some seriously twisted elements in our society. Elements political in nature and, truthfully, the most political in nature.
Those elements who simply wish to do away with the terms “illegal” and “alien” and for that matter, “citizen.” Because what is a citizen if not “lawful” in the eyes of the state itself? Are there true citizens? Or are there merely “occupants”?
You’re a “new” Sheriff and not an entrenched official. That provides you some leeway.
You seem to, however, have aligned yourself with the wrong elements when you created a recent investigation, from KOIN.com:
Sheriff Reese investigates deputies helping ICE
by Jennifer Dowling
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Multnomah County Sheriff Mike Reese said Thursday his office is still investigating a number of emails showing that his deputies were involved in assisting Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in their efforts to deport illegal immigrants.
In a normal world, this would be a normal act. That is to say, an act committed by those wishing to see that justice is served. These days, an abnormal act.
This is you, sir, drawing a line. A line that didn’t reflect your entire good will but instead reflected your political interests and those of the persons to whom you answer or to those to whom you believe you answer.
Separate and disparate.
You have an incredible opportunity here. You have the opportunity to set a precedent not unlike that of another sheriff, in Texas, via Sally Hernandez in Travis County.
She showed remarkable heroism. I must admit.
For the wrong side. You can weigh in afresh and strong.
I challenge you sir to, at minimum, pen a letter to the victims — plural, both women — of the illegal alien your department released directly back into the community, apologizing for your actions and ensuring them your lockstep obedience of injurious and corrosive Oregon laws will end and cooperation will occur between your department and ICE in terms of timely notification for relevant holds and detainers.
I challenge you, sir, to further step up to the public podium and take the necessary political stand against so-called sanctuary cities and states because you are full well cognizant of the deleterious and life-altering consequences of allowing serial illegal alien criminals to continue abusing Oregon laws originally designed to protect the lawful citizens of your state.
Repudiate your most terrible of laws. Take a stand. Sally Hernandez did. You can do no less. Take a stand. Or simply stand by and watch your citizens be scourged by more aliens completely uninvested in your area.
Signed,
BZ
This, Sheriff Reese, has been my open letter to you.
One final question to you, Sheriff Reese.
What are you?
Are you a Sheep?
Or are you well and truly a Sheepdog?
The only one who can make that decision is you.
BZ
P.S.
For those unfamiliar with the relationship between sheep, wolves and Sheepdogs please see my post here about Lt Col Dave Grossman’s article entitled “On Sheep, Wolves and Sheepdogs.”
This is from LoveWhatMatters.com, written by Matthew Lee Whitt, 39, of Texas. Matthew worked as a flight paramedic for Air Evac Lifeteam which covers the Texas/Mexico border in order to treat and transport critically ill patients from the area to larger facilities in San Antonio.
With two major caveats: the issue isn’t “new” by a long shot, and the massive bulk of persons illegally entering the US aren’t “refugees.”
By most standards, there are seven continents on our planet.
And here is an accurate summary and series of questions from Tucker Carlson.