WHERE EVER THERE IS A BIDEN, THERE IS A PARASITE LAWYER PLAYING PAY-TO-PLAY.
According to Peter Schweizer's new book Profiles in Corruption, Joe Biden met with the President of Costa Rica in 2009 and a few months later news broke of a "new multilateral partnership, 'to reform real estate in Latin America.'" Biden's brother, Frank, envisioned a huge development project with "thousands of homes, a world-class golf course, casinos, and an anti-aging center," in the Costa Rican jungle.[2]
"Biden will impose smothering taxes and regulations, fling open the doors to Red China and other enemy nations, and open the border to an unprecedented flow of migrants from Central America and nations from across the globe. Amnesty for illegals will create the "permanent Progressive majority" Democrats seek. Joe Biden
will line his pockets without restraint and we will lose our country. JAMES SIMPSON
Joe Biden’s Hand in Corruption, Subversion and Crime in Guatemala
By James Simpson
In 2014 and 2015, then-Vice President Joe Biden traveled to Guatemala three times to pressure the government to maintain a United Nations body known as the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG). CICIG was established in Guatemala in 2006 under the pretext of prosecuting "crimes committed by members of illegal security forces and clandestine security structures," during Guatemala's long civil war. Instead, CICIG -- an international body unaccountable to Guatemalan law, worked with Guatemala's Justice Ministry to arrest and jail the left's opponents. Many remain illegally detained to this day without trial. Two prominent doctors and a Guatemalan congressman died in jail. All suffered ill health, did not receive proper treatment and were detained much longer than legally allowed. None got a trial. All were absolved following their deaths.
Biden met with then-Guatemalan President Otto Pérez Molina, who did not want to renew CICIG's charter. The Obama administration had promised a $1 billion aid package to Northern Triangle countries (Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador), but Biden made the aid and upcoming trade agreements contingent upon renewing CICIG's contract. First cajoling then threatening, Biden finally announced, "The CICIG is staying, period." Biden used this same tactic in Ukraine, where he bragged about threatening to withhold loan guarantees until the Ukrainian government fired the prosecutor investigating Hunter Biden. Biden also sought Pérez's help in extending CICIG's rule to El Salvador and Honduras.
Pérez reluctantly agreed to renew CICIG's charter. He was then pressured to resign under accusations of corruption and stripped by the Guatemalan Congress of legal immunity. The day after he resigned he was arrested and thrown in jail. He has remained there ever since, without trial. In a Daily Caller interview from jail, Pérez called these efforts, "a coup without bullets."
Pérez said that, "CICIG amounts to a new form of U.S. interference in Guatemala's affairs and that his country has surrendered its sovereignty over its justice system by allowing the unit to operate."
CICIG's litany of abuses includes arbitrary arrest, detention and interrogation without charges or trial, fabricated evidence, illegal break-ins and denial of due process, pretrial detention for years longer than allowed by Guatemalan law and many other abuses. Some of the charges it has brought are valid, given endemic corruption in Guatemala. But CICIG's goal was not to stem corruption, rather to use it as a pretext to dispatch the left's enemies and install vastly more corrupt individuals who will advance the Communist cause in Guatemala.
CICIG's leader from 2013 forward was Ivan Velásquez Gómez, a former judge from Colombia with close ties to the Colombian narco-terrorist group, FARC. Former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe has said that as a judge, Velásquez battled to absolve the Colombian narcoterrorists of their decades of crime and terrorist atrocities.
In addition to Velásquez Another key player has been Claudia Paz y Paz, chosen to be Guatemala's Attorney General in 2010 under pressure from CICIG and Obama's Ambassador to Guatemala, Stephen McFarland. Paz y Paz is a communist guerrilla sympathizer. Her father was a member of the Castro-supported Rebel Armed Forces (FAR) that assassinated U.S. Ambassador John Gordon Mein in 1968 and Germany's ambassador to Guatemala, Karl von Spreti, two years later.
Paz y Paz oversaw numerous extra-judicial arrests and confinement of political opponents. She was accused of giving illegal orders to judges and her own prosecutors, and shielding from legal action bands of armed leftist militias who roam rural areas terrorizing the indigenous peoples. The militias are remnants from Guatemala's civil war, in truth a Castro-supported communist insurgency (1960-1996).
She particularly targeted the military, which defeated the communist insurgency with help from the rural population. Military men have received multiple life sentences for "crimes against humanity" while judges disbar evidence proving their innocence and guilt of the guerrillas.
In 2012, a young prosecutor named Gilda Aguilar attempted to arrest members of one of these militias. Paz y Paz dropped the charges, calling the militia a "human-rights group." She threw Aguilar off the case and launched an investigation of her. Three weeks later Aguilar narrowly escaped an assassination attempt by the same group. Instead of investigating, the prosecutor asked the court to dismiss the case -- as though it had never happened. Aguilar quit and brought dereliction of duty charges against Paz y Paz.
The Obama administration pressured President Pérez to assure Paz y Paz's reappointment when her term was up in 2014, knowing full well the allegations against her. They similarly supported appointment and advancement of many other radicals, and the State Department continues to do so.
The indigenous populations of Guatemala have faced the brunt of the communist offensive in Guatemala since the beginning of the civil war. With the Obama administration's full knowledge, armed leftist militias, Paz y Paz's "human rights groups" control rural areas, sabotage or block desperately needed economic development and engage in terrorism and crime. The 20-minute video embedded below shares moving testimony from people terrorized by these groups:
The militias' spread was enthusiastically supported by the Obama administration. Their activities dramatically increased with the administration's promotion of leftists like Judge Gloria Porras and Attorney General Paz y Paz to influential positions in Guatemala's legal system. The increase in crime over this period is shown in the colored areas of the map below. They are referred to charitably as "Social Conflict Zones."
The Obama administration responded with the DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) program in 2012. This caused a massive exodus of minors from Northern Triangle nations illegally entering the U.S. In 2011, the Border Patrol apprehended only 4,321 minors. That number increased to 68,541 in 2014. Most came from Guatemala. The migrant caravans that have since swamped our borders were instigated by Central American leftists with assistance from tax-exempt and taxpayer-funded, open borders groups in America. This entire effort was a premeditated campaign by the Obama administration.
More Biden pay to play?
Former President Pérez claimed in a Mexican Newsweek article that Biden pressured him to support a Guatemalan contract with the pharmaceutical firm Baxter International. He said, "We had pressure from Vice President Biden, not only when he came to Guatemala, but when I visited Washington, to grant a contract to Baxter…" Pérez asserted that:
Biden is a partner of Baxter Pharmaceuticals and [he] mentioned that even the U.S. Embassy in the country requested the meeting with his private secretary and his general secretary so they could influence Baxter to win the bid. "They were accompanied by embassy staff, Baxter representatives, to ask us and tell us that Baxter had that contract and that Baxter should win it back," he said.
Pérez's claims were repeated by Julia Amparo Lotán Garzona, the former labor sector representative of the Executive Board of the Guatemalan Institute for Social Security. In testimony before the Guatemalan Truth Commission investigating CICIG, she said:
What we can confirm is that not only this closeness between Baxter and Biden, but we can also confirm that the embassy asked for the meeting with the secretary, but that Otto Pérez Molina, my private secretary and the secretary general were able to influence Baxter to win the bid. "Isn't that influence peddling? - Otto Pérez Molina pointed out, it is influence peddling…. (Translated with DeepL Translator)
According to Truth Commission testimony, CICIG jailed employees of Guatemala's social security system, including Garzona, a nurse and union representative, without trial, on the pretext that all took bribes to replace a contract for Baxter medical equipment with equipment made in Mexico. This action was widely viewed as yet another abuse of power by CICIG, and included some people close to President Pérez. Was it coincidental that this occurred at the same time Biden was lobbying Pérez to extend CICIG's contract, while also lobbying him on behalf of Baxter? Pérez ultimately agreed to both.
We have been unable to confirm a Biden financial interest in Baxter, but in his book, Promise Me, Dad, Biden stated: "The President asked me to take over the job of repairing our wobbly relations across the entirety of the Americas -- the Northern Triangle, Brazil, the Caribbean, everything."[1]
According to Peter Schweizer's new book Profiles in Corruption, Joe Biden met with the President of Costa Rica in 2009 and a few months later news broke of a "new multilateral partnership, 'to reform real estate in Latin America.'" Biden's brother, Frank, envisioned a huge development project with "thousands of homes, a world-class golf course, casinos, and an anti-aging center," in the Costa Rican jungle.[2]
To support the project's energy needs, the Costa Rica National Power and Light Company would build the Guanacaste Solar Park, the largest solar farm in the nation -- with Frank's company Sun Fund Americas as a partner, even though Frank had no experience in the energy field.[3] The U.S. government provided a $6.5 million loan for the project, and $47.5 for another Sun Fund solar project in Jamaica.[4]
Given the Biden family's other pay-to-play schemes in Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, and who knows where else, it would seem reasonable that Biden might expect something in return for pushing Baxter. In fact, with Biden, it would be surprising if there were not some quid pro quo.
Guatemala is now on the cusp of becoming a communist state thanks to Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and their minions. This has also been in the works for decades in America, but has come out of the closet since President Trump's election.
If Joe Biden is elected president, this agenda will be turbocharged. Biden's "Build Back Better" slogan comes directly from the U.N. -- which not coincidentally calls for socialist redistribution in Latin America -- and the World Economic Forum, which envisions using the Chinese communist COVID-19 "pandemic" to "reinvent capitalism." Biden will impose smothering taxes and regulations, fling open the doors to Red China and other enemy nations, and open the border to an unprecedented flow of migrants from Central America and nations from across the globe. Amnesty for illegals will create the "permanent Progressive majority" Democrats seek. Joe Biden will line his pockets without restraint and we will lose our country. Forever. This is the most important election in our nation's history.
Vote.
James Simpson is an economist, businessman and investigative journalist. His latest book is The Red Green Axis 2.0: An Existential Threat to America and the World. Follow Jim on Twitter & Facebook.
SO, WHERE ARE WE NOW THAT WE HAVE THE SOCIOPATH BRIBES SUCKING LAWYER JOE BIDEN FINISHING OFF OBOMB'S REGIME AGENDA?
Need a reason not to vote for Biden/Harris? Here are 50
The modern left must be stopped and thoroughly discredited before it destroys America. Is it too late?
Consider that the modern left and the godless Marxists stand for, actively promote, and/or have accomplished the following:
1. Legalized murder in the womb, AKA abortion
2. Legalized many street drugs
3. Encourage releasing prisoners into the cities
4. Renaming streets and places in the name of cancel culture
5. Renamed sports team
OBOMB OPERATED AND FUNDED THE MEXICAN FASCIST PARTY OF LA RAZA 'The Race' NOW CALLING ITSELF UNIDOSus OUT OF THE WHITE HOUSE.
Unlimited immigration. Obama issued an
unconstitutional executive order – an action he
repeated routinely to counter Congressional action
– that instituted mass immigration of poor,
uneducated third-world people into the U.S., not to
assimilate with our culture but to keep their own
and demand that U.S. taxpayers subsidize them.
Deportations of illegal immigrants under the new
policy were dramatically reduced, even as scores
more poured across the southern border as the
number of border patrol agents decreased.
The Unhinging of America
https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2020/08/the_unhinging_of_america.html
Since my return from the war in Korea (1950-53) I have witnessed America sink into a state of insanity unknown in its history:
Kids shooting classmates at school, people like zombies gazing at little screens while they walk, stand, sit, shop, talk, drive cars, watch TV telling them what to think, women blaming men for not being treated like men, men having their genitals “replaced with vaginas,” women leaving dependent children behind to join the military, mothers having their babies killed when they are ready to be born . . .
By the 1980s the moral and cultural swamp that America was sinking into made me wave red flags in newsletters I published. The acceleration toward and past the turn of the century has been breathless! Many Americans have wondered what happened to America?
Well, to begin with, anti-American activists have pushed hard to fulfill a mission launched by early 20th century Marxists to establish a new world order. It would be a God-free world under a global government run by amoral men smarter than everybody else in the world, past and present. Soon after the start of the 21st century, Barack Obama, latest edition of this breed of visionary, positioned himself to lead the team in Washington to help “transform America” – make it ready, that is, for the new world order.
There has never been a place in my mind for anyone in public office who would harm America and the people he or she is elected or appointed to serve, which is the inevitable consequence of pushing for a moral-free, God-free world. Such action, no matter how packaged, serves evil. They who use their talents to harm their fellow human beings – they’re known as traitors – are placed by Dante in the deepest circle of hell [Inferno].
Now there was someone who wanted to be president who could and would utilize Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals – a book that salutes the devil in its opening pages – to take down America, while pretending to make it better than ever!
Could Obama in truth and honesty have, as president, served “one nation under God, with liberty and justice for all”? Could he have been sincere when he took the oath to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States”? I don’t think so.
My worst fear, that Americans might lose their country if they did not stand up to and shout down the God-haters and Leftists undermining their country – what culture warriors have been fighting for decades – seemed closer than ever to becoming a reality.
Among the warriors “with balls” who saw what was happening, the firebrand Andrew Breitbart rallied converts and fighters against political traitors scheming to destroy America, a first step in establishing their New World Order. (I called it Global Oz.) By the time Breitbart crashed into media and news reporting, a bloated and flabby federal government had enabled the anti-American Obama to run for president. Breitbart was ruthless in exposing this two-faced candidate for president. Shortly after he pledged to release a video showing college-age Obama alongside notorious Weather Underground terrorists, Breitbart died in Los Angeles.
And so a treacherous candidate for president beat a “she’s-not-fit-to-be-president” (Obama.’s words) Hillary Clinton to the White House. Well, Hillary became part of the “America-transforming" team as Secretary of State and Obama, with solemn face and ready platitude, repeated the lie that he would unify America and transform it into a better place for all.
The deeds did not match the words. Regarding unity, Obama stoked the fires of racial division, using his bully pulpit to turn every news event that could be spun into “discrimination against blacks” into an official denunciation of racism. And the corporate media did their part to help bring about a hatred of cops that heedlessly endangered the lives of men and women who daily put their lives on the line to ensure the safety of a public increasingly divided.
Regarding improving the lives of all, the following overview of Obama’s “transformation of America” is based on “The 10 Ways Obama has actively sought to destroy America” by J. D. Heyes (Natural News, December 25, 2015):
ObamaCare was sold on false pretenses by people who knew it wouldn’t work as promised. Failed scheme or intentional failure? The bill was so sloppily crafted that Democrats were basically signing blank sheets of paper when they rushed it through Congress. [“We have to pass the bill so that you can find out what’s in it,” said Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.] ObamaCare’s designers precipitated a constitutional crisis with a provision to cut subsidies for states that didn’t set up health-care exchanges – a provision that would have killed the entire program stone-dead if it had been enforced as written. And whoever was uninsured that did not enroll had to pay an annual penalty fee!
Unlimited immigration. Obama issued an unconstitutional executive order – an action he repeated routinely to counter Congressional action – that instituted mass immigration of poor, uneducated third-world people into the U.S., not to assimilate with our culture but to keep their own and demand that U.S. taxpayers subsidize them. Deportations of illegal immigrants under the new policy were dramatically reduced, even as scores more poured across the southern border as the number of border patrol agents decreased.
The Constitution. Obama was a bigger enemy of our founding document than any president in history. Acting dictatorially, Obama unconstitutionally “legislated by executive order” whenever his will was in conflict with that of Congress or the constitution. [His “liberal” activist judges would back him up, if needed.]
Military madness. Obama pushed social experimentation in the military to a level that could cause lasting damage, such as permitting people to serve who have no idea what sex they are, and allowing women to serve in combat roles despite increases in injuries, mental health issues, effectiveness and morale problems.
Packing the federal courts. Obama “packed” the federal court for the D.C. Circuit with activist, like-minded judges [who place themselves above the Law of the Land they are charged to uphold].
Economic damage. Obama issued more regulations than any president before him, with tens of billions in burdensome new costs such as those incurred by the expensive EPA regulations. His packed D.C. Circuit ruled against states suing to get those rules tossed.
Changes to society. Obama’s open-border policy and unlimited importation of third-world poor and Middle Eastern “refugees” [a gateway to anti-American terrorists] could change the face of the country, culturally and economically.
To object to any of this insanity is a way to get hit with a legal penalty.
The founders of our country and its legion of heroes surely tossed and turned in their graves over the America they had struggled, sacrificed, and died for.
If there is a silver lining to the dark clouds hanging over America it is the hope that the young of every description will turn on the mindless haters of America and launch a course correction. A reset for any semblance of progress starts with a return to the Constitution and the forces that inspired it, which include age-independent Judeo-Christian wisdom.
Anthony J. DeBlasi is a veteran and lifelong defender of Western culture.
Image credit: Abductit, via Flickr // CC BY-SA 2.0
Biden and the Immigration Trap
'Uncle Joe' Agonistes
By Andrew R. Arthur on May 21, 2020
On Tuesday, the Washington Post ran an article detailing the struggles confronting the campaign of presumptive Democratic nominee for president Joe Biden with respect to immigration. There are a few things that the article leaves out, but it is notable (and somewhat shocking) for what it contains. What it ultimately shows is that the former vice president is boxed into an immigration trap.
Specifically, the article details the competing forces that are pulling "Uncle Joe" on immigration as he seeks to wrest the White House from Donald Trump (whose immigration stance, the paper admits, helped propel him to the presidency in 2016).
On the one side is the presumptive candidate's desire to capture the votes of white blue-collar voters in Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin (all won by Trump in the last election), while on the other is his need to turn out the Hispanic vote, particularly in Florida and Arizona. The article states that Latino voters "are expected to become the country's largest nonwhite voting bloc this fall."
Although the Post alludes to Biden's immigration proposals (which are somewhat out there, as I have described here, here, and here), and discusses his more outré ideas, such as suspending deportations for his first 100 days in office and then deporting only felons (which would essentially nullify much of the Immigration and Nationality Act), the Post simultaneously fails to note that those proposals would likely not resound with much of the voting populace, while at the same time contending that these policies don't go far enough for "significant segments of his own party".
Those "segments" are, the paper contends, clamoring for Biden to commit to "removing criminal penalties for those who cross the border illegally, removing barriers from the border [,and] abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement." There is likely a reason that Biden does not want to talk about those ideas on the campaign trail.
Polls don't show support for Biden positions
Polling from August 2018 — when the "Abolish ICE" fever was likely cresting — showed only 24 percent of voters supported the idea, with Democrats, Republicans, and independents staking out that position about equally. Some 40 percent disagreed, while 34 percent had no opinion.
Not to say that Democrats wildly supported the agency — 57 percent of Democrats had an unfavorable view of ICE, with an equal percentage of Republicans in favor of it, and 46 percent of independents took no view. Many of those opposed to abolition but who also don't like ICE likely were concerned about the law of unintended consequences, and by May 2019 Buzzfeed News reported: "'Abolish ICE' Was The Call Of Last Summer. 2020 Democrats Have Moved On".
Further, in July 2019, The Hill noted that a poll found "a plurality of voters, 41 percent, thought those crossing the border illegally should face criminal punishment, while 32 percent said it should just warrant a fine." With respect to independents, 36 percent favored criminal penalties, while "33 percent ... think it should be treated as a misdemeanor, with just a fine as punishment."
I note that this response shows a certain misapprehension of the current state of the law (initial illegal entry is already a misdemeanor, with a fine as an optional but rarely, if ever, imposed punishment, and most of those prosecuted are sentenced merely to time served while awaiting prosecution), suggesting that even those voters — if they knew the facts — would actually want stricter punishment than most aliens who have entered illegally already receive. No wonder the former vice president does not want to discuss the issue, let alone make it a key point for his campaign.
On barriers at the border, the polling is a bit more mixed. In February 2019, Gallup reported that six in 10 Americans opposed a border wall, but that poll was taken directly after a bruising government shutdown that largely focused on the issue. I will note that last Monday, KXAN (the NBC affiliate in Austin, Texas) released a poll showing that excitement for Donald Trump in Texas swamped enthusiasm for Biden in the Lone Star State. Most significantly:
When broken down by party, 19.5% of Democrats said they were extremely excited about Biden and 22.6 said they were "not that excited." Meanwhile, 49.4% of Republicans said they were "extremely excited" about supporting Trump and 9.5% reported they were not that excited about him.
Texas and Arizona are currently the primary sites for new border wall construction, and if Texans were that opposed to what is and has been the president's key immigration proposal, it would likely be reflected in their lack of enthusiasm. It does not seem to have moved the needle, however, or if it did, it is in Trump's favor.
I will note that I spoke on the issue in a debate in February before a largely liberal crowd, and opposition to the wall was an applause point (from an audience that all but defined the "Dunning-Kruger Effect" on the issue), but a lot has changed in three months. The Post itself reported on April 28 that 65 percent of Americans were in favor of a temporary suspension in immigration during the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic, with 34 percent opposed.
Polling found that 83 percent of Republicans and 67 percent of independents were in favor of temporary restrictions, and Democrats were split 49-49 on the issue. Significantly, 67 percent of whites, 61 percent of "nonwhites" (presumably including Latinos), and a majority of 18- to 29-year-olds were in favor. Now again, "temporary suspensions on immigration" and "border wall construction" are two different things, but an influx of illegal entrants during the (traditional) illegal travel season of April to December while lockdowns are still in place could tie the two issues in voters' minds, and gubernatorial inter-state travel restrictions may have done so already.
And voters stuck at home as a result of Wuhan coronavirus restrictions could be only temporarily less inclined to support the entry of aliens, legal or otherwise. That said, the transit of the illness from China could give them pause to take a slightly more charitable view toward Donald Trump's opposition to open borders.
Sound tough on China, or not?
Lest you think I am casting aspersions with respect to the last point (I am not, and consider anyone who blames any American — citizen or immigrant — for the virus to be an idiot), I am really just channeling the former vice president. The Post article on Biden notes: "Some were alarmed when the Biden campaign began airing an ad in battleground states that accused Trump of having 'rolled over for the Chinese' amid the pandemic and 'let in 40,000 travelers from China.'" That is an apt description of the response to that ad on the part of progressives.
In particular, an April 23 Politico article captioned "Biden ad exposes a rift over China on the left: The former vice president's effort to hit Trump as soft on Beijing is backfiring among parts of his base" states:
Joe Biden's effort to outflank President Donald Trump on China is leading to blowback from within his own political base.
Some worry the rhetoric in a new Biden campaign ad could spur anti-Asian bias already on the rise because of the coronavirus pandemic. Others argue that Biden's effort to sound tougher on China than Trump could backfire diplomatically in the long run.
...
"I acknowledge and understand the need and desire to defeat and beat Trump, however, my question is 'Who is the Biden campaign willing to sacrifice along that way?'" said Timmy Lu, executive director of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders for Civic Empowerment.
So why did Biden release the ad? Because he was in a box over his earlier statements criticizing the president for his response to the Wuhan coronavirus the day that the White House announced restrictions on travel from the People's Republic of China. Specifically, Biden, campaigning in Iowa, stated: "This is no time for Donald Trump's record of hysteria and xenophobia — hysterical xenophobia — and fearmongering to lead the way instead of science." (Curiously, the YouTube link to the video of those comments states: "Video unavailable, This video has been removed by the uploader." Hmmm.)
The Post notes that Biden has sought insight into handling the issue of immigration as a candidate from, among others, Sen. Robert Casey (D-Pa.). Casey fought off Republican Lou Barletta — an immigration hawk — in a 2018 challenge for Casey's senate seat, and:
He urged Biden to emphasize the economic benefits of immigration while pledging to secure the southern border to keep drugs and criminals out.
"You have to make it very clear that you stand for border security — and not just that you stand for it, but that you voted for it," Casey said, citing past measures that have won Democratic backing.
But, at the same time, he said most voters want an immigration system that is humane and fair. The separation of families at the border was a wake-up call for some voters, Casey said.
I am not sure how that border security advice squares with Biden's promise that "the only deportations that will take place" under his administration "are commissions of felonies in the United States of America" (meaning that Mexican cartel members who enter illegally will not be deported, for example), but for some reason the Post fails to mention the discrepancy.
That said, such advice is easier given to the former vice president than it will be swallowed by the American people, because of Biden's record.
I would posit initially that recommendations like Casey's are likely the reason that Biden's immigration proposals begin:
It is a moral failing and a national shame when a father and his baby daughter drown seeking our shores. When children are locked away in overcrowded detention centers and the government seeks to keep them there indefinitely. When our government argues in court against giving those children toothbrushes and soap. When President Trump uses family separation as a weapon against desperate mothers, fathers, and children seeking safety and a better life.
The Obama-Biden administration's record
Again, easily said. It will, however, be very
difficult for Biden to distance himself from some
very similar policies enacted under the "Obama-
Biden administration".
There is likely a reason why Biden does not (directly) fall back on the "kids in cages" trope that has become a standard for tendentious discussions of immigration by political hacks. As I have previously noted:
Snopes (not exactly a Trump-friendly outlet) examined the following fact: "The Obama administration, not the Trump administration, built the cages that hold many immigrant children at the U.S.-Mexico border." They deemed that statement "true", explaining:
Pictures of children behind chain-link fencing were captured at a site in McAllen, Texas, that had been converted from a warehouse to an immigrant-detention facility in 2014. Social media users who defended Trump's immigration policies also shared a 2014 photograph of Obama's Homeland Security Secretary, Jeh Johnson, touring a facility in Nogales, Arizona, in 2014, in which the fencing could be seen surrounding migrants there as well. That picture was taken during a spike in the number of unaccompanied children fleeing violence in Central American countries.
That said, there is a direct line from "children ... locked away in overcrowded detention centers and the government [that] seeks to keep them there indefinitely", who cannot access "toothbrushes and soap" and the decisions of the previous administration to erect fencing in Border Patrol processing centers to protect unaccompanied alien children (UACs). One that Biden would likely prefer to be forgotten.
And a direct line to the Obama-Biden administration's 2014 "blanket policy to detain all female-headed families, including children, in secure, unlicensed facilities for the duration of the proceedings that determine whether they are entitled to remain in the United States," which prompted Judge Dolly Gee of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California to find President Obama's Department of Homeland Security in breach of the Flores settlement agreement in July 2015.
Plus, as I have previously noted ad nauseam, the fact that UACs were stuck in the conditions Biden describes had everything to do with Congress's (and especially congressional Democrats') failure to provide funding Trump and his acting Homeland Security secretary had sought for more than a month, and nothing to do with a volitional decision by the administration to keep them there.
These facts may have been elided by a compliant press (the Post did not mention them at all in its Biden immigration piece), but I doubt that they will escape notice during a presidential campaign when the president and independent interest groups can throw money at ads highlighting them.
Pandering to Latino voters
Then, there is the pandering by Biden and his surrogates themselves. Much of Biden's outreach to Latino voters appears to focus on immigration, but is that really the most important issue to those voters?
In a June 2019 survey by Unidos US, "jobs and the economy" was the most important issue an ideal candidate would address (23 percent) for 1,854 eligible Latino voters in Arizona, California, Florida, Nevada, and Texas, followed by "healthcare" (17 percent) and then "immigration" (15 percent). "Gun violence" (8 percent) and "climate change" (7 percent) together equaled that total.
BLOG: OBAMA FUNDED AND OPERATED LA RAZA 'The Race" NOW CALLING ITSELF UNIDOSUS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. IT IS A MEX FASCIST ANTI-AMERICAN POLITICAL MOVEMENT FOR SURRENDER OF AMERICA TO MEXICO.
Unidos US, for those who are not familiar, is the current incarnation of the "National Council of La Raza", which bills itself as "the nation's largest Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization". Hardly a MAGA front group.
Given these numbers, it is no surprise that the Atlantic magazine in February stated that 30 percent of Latino voters support the president, in an opinion piece captioned "Latino Support for Trump Is Real: And that's a problem for Democrats" (not to be confused with the outlet's January 2020 article captioned "Democrats Should Be Worried About the Latino Vote: Political organizers have a warning for the 2020 candidates").
In this vein, in early May, Slate ran an article captioned "Biden Has a Real Latino Problem", which stated:
A recent Latino Decisions poll reveals a clear enthusiasm gap among Latinos for both Biden and the 2020 election itself, with only 49 percent of registered voters currently committed to choosing Biden over Trump, and just six out of 10 planning to go to the polls in November.
That article focuses on Biden's initial reluctance to distance himself from what the outlet deems "the controversial immigration policy of the first two years of the Obama administration" (perhaps too good a sales job by a president whose rhetoric on removals did not match his actions), and Biden's inability to present himself to Hispanic voters due to the current pandemic.
Speaking of which, Slate notes that: "According to the Latino Decisions poll, almost half of all respondents approve of Trump's handling of the coronavirus crisis, with 47 percent saying Trump was delivering 'clear and helpful' information about the pandemic." Again, showing that "immigration" is not the only concern of Hispanic voters.
Back to the pandering, however. The Post notes that Biden's "wife Jill, who is learning Spanish while stuck at home by the pandemic, has begun meeting weekly with small groups of Latino members of Congress, taking notes on a range of issues to share with her husband" (I don't have the heart to tell her they speak English), and the article is accompanied by a photo of Biden "at a campaign stop at King Taco in Los Angeles, with Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti".
The paper also reports that "Biden campaign officials have promised to significantly increase outreach to Latinos and further diversify the staff now that they have raised more money, although," the Post notes, "they declined to provide target numbers."
I suppose that a Spanish-speaking spouse, an ethnically diverse staff, and a documented hankering for regional cuisine may win Biden some votes, but the fact is he is stuck in an immigration box.
If he ties himself to the "Obama-Biden" administration on the issue, it appears that he will alienate both immigration activists and those who favor the Trump administration's reversal of those policies. But, if he panders to those activists, he will likely turn off many of the voters in swing states who supported Trump in 2016 (and especially those who were swayed by the now-president's promises of border security and immigration limitations).
A January article in the Post contained a list of "Bidenisms", folksy aphorisms that the candidate uses on the stump. One is: "My dad had an expression ... 'Joey, don't compare me to the Almighty, compare me to the alternative.''' Most voters already know that the president has his flaws and imperfections, but once voters get to know Biden's immigration record and his proposals, they may pull the level for Trump as the better alternative.
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6. Tearing down monuments and memorials
7. Rioting
8. Looting
9. Arson
10. Murder
11. Mayhem
12. Revisionist history
13. Atheism
14. Marxism
15. Communism
16. Socialism
17. Activist judges
18. Spying on American citizens
19. Race-baiting
20. War on cops and disrespect for rule of law
21. Spying on a presidential candidate
22. Spying on a sitting president
23. Weaponizing intelligence agencies
24. Weaponizing the IRS
25. Sanctuary cities
26. Sanctuary states
27. Leaking of classified information
28. Co-opting the media for partisan propaganda purposes
29. Ballot-harvesting
30. Entitlement programs for illegals
31. Open borders
32. No cash bail
33. Usurping the presidency in 2008 and 2012
34. Green New Deal
35. AOC and the squad
36. Shredding the Constitution
37. Redefining marriage
38. Destruction of the family unit
39. Embrace of BLM and Antifa
40. Disrespecting the flag, the Pledge of Allegiance, and the National Anthem
41. Boys participating in girls' activities and vice versa
42. Destruction of the Boy Scouts
43. Bogus and destructive climate change policies
44. Climate Change fear-mongering based on lies and bogus scientific claims
45. Clinton pay-for-play corruption
46. Biden pay-for-play corruption
47. Destruction of evidence
48. Russia collusion hoax
49. Phony impeachment
50. Barack Hussein Obama and Joe Biden: the most corrupt administration in American history
This list was amazingly easy to compile and nowhere near dispositive. I can come up with many, many more items to add to this list of shame. But this list should be persuasive enough to give anyone pause and provide a clear indication of the threat the modern left poses to the American way of life and our future as a free, secure, and prosperous society.
The unprincipled progressive politicians, the Marxist academics, the race-baiters, the anti-Trumpers, and the despicable media propagandists who constitute the modern left are selfishly pursuing a radical agenda intent on destroying America and its founding principles. This anti-American leftist agenda must be stopped and thoroughly discredited before real and irrevocable harm is done.
Left unchecked, the modern radical left is an
existential threat to our safety, our prosperity, and
our freedom. That means that the Wicked Witch of
the West, Kamala Harris, and Swampy Joe,
runningas a "proud Democrat," must be defeated
on November 3. Anything less and America as we
know it is finished.
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